Part 5 (2/2)
”Resolved, That the recent outrage committed upon that accomplished and worthy man--Professor William G. Allen--and the general rejoicing throughout the country therein, evinces that the heart of the American people, on the subject of slavery is utterly corrupt, and almost past cure.”
Now for something spicy. The following letter was written to Elder King by a Slaveholder of Mississippi, about five weeks after the mob. The Elder re-mailed it to his daughter while she was in Pennsylvania. Having become the property of the daughter, and the daughter and I now being one, I shall take the liberty of giving this specimen of Southern chivalry to the public. The reader shall have it without alteration:--
”Warrenton, Mississippi, ”March 5th, 1853.
”Rev. Sir:--
”You cannot judge of my surprise and indignation, on reading an Editorial in one of my papers concerning an intending marriage of your lovely and accomplished daughter, with a negro man; which thanks to providence has been prevented by the excited and enraged populace of the enterprising citizens of the good town of Fulton.
”During my sojourn in the state of New York last year, I visited for mere curiosity the Mc. Grawville Inst.i.tute in Cortland Co., which gave me an opportunity of seeing your daughter, then a pupil of that equality and amalgamated Inst.i.tute; and I believe in all my travels north, I never saw one more interesting and polite to those of her acquaintances.
”I have thought much about your daughter since my return home, and do yet, notwithstanding the ignominious connection she has lately escaped from. Your daughter--innocent, as I must in charity presume--because deluded and deranged by the false teachings of the abolition Inst.i.tute at Mc. Grawville.
”My object in writing to you this letter is to obtain your permission to correspond with your daughter if it should be agreeable with herself, for I do a.s.sure you that I have no other than an honorable intention in doing so.
”I reside in Warren County near Warrenton--am the owner of Nine Young Negroes in agriculture, who would not exchange their bondage for a free residence in the north. I am happy to inform you Revd. Sir that my character is such that will bear the strictest investigation, and my relations respectable. I am yet young having not yet obtained my 25th year.
”Well sir, I am a stranger to both yourself and interesting family, and as a matter of course you may desire to know something about the humble individual who has thought proper to address you on a subject which depends on the future happiness of your daughter. For your Reverence's gratification you are at liberty to refer to either or all of the following gentlemen, by letter or in person,--viz., Hon. J. E. Sharkey, State Senator, Warren Co., P. O., Warrenton, Miss.;--Hon. A. G. Brown, Ex-Gov., Miss., now Member of Congress, P. O., Gallatin, Miss.;--Samuel Edwards, High Sheriff, Warren Co., P. O., Vicksburg, Miss.;--E. B.
Scarbrough Clerk, Probate Court, Warren Co., P. O., Vicksburg, Miss.;--M.
Shannon, Editor, Vicksburg, Miss., Whig;--Geo. D. Prentice, Editor, Louisville, Ky., Journal;--and Reed, Brothers, and Co., 177, Market Street, Philadelphia.
”Again Rev. Sir, I a.s.sure you that in writing you this letter, I only do that which is the result of mature deliberation.
”I shall wait anxiously your reply, ”THOS. K. KNOWLAND.”
”P. S.--As Messrs. Reed, Brothers, and Co., are the nearest reference to whom I refer, I enclose you a letter from them.”
The two letters immediately following were received by Miss K. just before she left Pennsylvania for New York. Many other letters were also received by both of us, which are not given in this book, but we can a.s.sure the writers thereof that they have our hearts' grat.i.tude:--
”Fulton, March 27th, 1853.
”My dear and brave Sister:--
”For two weeks past we have been stopping with Mr. B. Yesterday we received four letters--two from my good brother B., and two from Pennsylvania, yours and Jane's. Right glad were we to receive those welcome favors--those little _epistolary_ angels, telling us of your safety, (for safety has of late become quite a consideration) of your affection, of your anxiety, and a hundred things more than what were written.
”Mary, I judge from your letters and notes--from the tone of them--that there are feelings and emotions in your heart utterly beyond the power of words to express. You are resolved, and you are happy in your resolve, and strong in the providential certainty of its success. Yet you tremble for probabilities, or rather for _possibilities_.
”What feelings, dear Mary, you must have in the hour of your departure from this country. Through the windows of imagination I can catch a glimpse of it all. Your flight is a flight for freedom, and I can almost call you _Eliza_. To you this land will become a land of memory. And, oh! what memories! But we will talk of this hereafter.
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