The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-18 00:00:00

MRS. BEECHE.R STOWE IN GLASGOW.

The authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" arrived in
Glasgow on Wednesday night, accompanied by her hus-
band, Professor Stowe, the Rev. Charles Beecher (her
brother), and Miss Beecher (her sister). Being rather in
a delicate state of health, Mrs. Stowe kept herself pretty
much within doors for two days after her arrival ; but on
Friday night a grand soirée was held in the City Hall, in
her honour. The company which assembled on the oc-
casion was highly respectable, and as numerous as the
hall would contain ; but although Bailie Macdowall, the
senior magistrate occupied the chair, the municipal dig-
nitaries generally did not venture to grace the affair by
their presence. There were likewise scarcely any of
those present who look upon themselves as people of
note. The old anti-slavery leaders were likewiseibsent ;
and this, we a-re informed, Arose from their having been
a split in the camp three or four years ago, when the
present leaders raised a new standard, on which an
evangelical motto was inscribed, which the Smneals, the
Murrays, and others regarded as intended to exclude
association with some of the real abolitionists in America,
and in which consequently. they could not concur. But
notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the meeting was
conducted with great spirit, and seemed abundantly
gratifying to all concerned. _ _ _

The timo for commencing the proceedings was half-
past six o'clock, but it was ten minutes to seven before
the chairman made his appeararce upon the platform,
with Mrs. Stowe leaning upon Isis arm. The company
immediately got upon their feet and gave the lady a very
hearty welcome. Mrs. Stowe and her husband being
seated on the right hand of the chairman, and the Rev.
Mr. Beecher on the left, and the other parties on the
platform arranged in due order.
The Rev. Dr. PATTERSON, at the request of the chair-
man, asked a blessing upon the proceedings.
This was followed by a service of tea and the usual
accompaniments.
Bailie MACDOWALL then, in a short speech, explained
that in the month of November last the ladies com-
posing the comihittee of the "Female New Abolition
Society," in this city, agreed to send an invitation to
Mrs. Stowe to visit this city, which they did through
Dr. Wardlaw, thinking that a visit from that much re-
spected lady would eminently tend to awaken and ex-
tend stronger sympathies in behalf of the oppressed, and
to promote the cause of abolition. To that invitation
Mrs. Stowe frankly and kindly responded, and it was
now their privilege to have along with her her husband
and her brother as their guests this evening. (Loud
cheers.) The chairman concluded by welcoming Mrs.
Stowe to Glasgow in the name of the company.
Professor STOWE, in rising to address the company,
was enthusiastically cheered. Ladies and gentlemen,
le said, to the free of Glaspw, in the name of Mrs.
Stowe, and in my ov. a name, I wish to thank you for
the cordiality of your reception, but I cannot find
words to do it. Is it true that all this affectionate in-
terest is merited ? (Cheers and cries of "Yes.") I can-
not help feeling, in regard to " Uncle Tom's Cabin,"
very much in the same manner as one of the characters
in it felt with regard to herself—" I don't 'specks no-
body ever made that book, I 'specks it growed."
(Laughter.) Under the pressure of a horrid slave law
the book sprung up as it were out of the soil ready
made. (Applause.) I regret exceedingly that in con-
sequence of the very feeble state of Mrs. Stowe's health,
and in consequence of the great pressure of engage-
ments upon myself of a public nature—engagements
in the cause of humanity, which cannot be pretermit-
ted for any private feelings on our part—we are
only able to respond to much of your kindness
with kind wishes in return, as we will not be able
to give you a great deal of our time. Had we con-
sulted our own feelings we would have been very happy
to have spent entire summer amongst you ; but
the state of Mrs. Stowe's health is such that she cannot
bear so much kindness, and the state of my engagements
is such that, besides visiting different places in this coun-
try, by the Ist of June next I must be again in America
to attend to the duties of my situation. Will you, the
people of Glasgow, therefore, excuse us for not being in
a condition to meet all your kindness as we could desire,
and accept this public expression of our thanks for all
the kindness intended to us, as well as for all we have
experienced and can find it in our power to accept. When
I was about to start from Andover a friend said to me,
" Why do you go to Scotland, the people will kill you
with kindness 1" I said, "I fear it will be so," but I
have found that while you are kind, you are at the same
time considerate. It was in this city the idea of inviting
Mrs. Stowe to this country originated, and well might
it have originated here, for when was the city of Glas-
gow not in earnest in the cause of freedom ? You had a
hard struggle yourselves on this subject, and I suppose,
therefore, you can feel for those who are now struggling
in the same cause, and surrounded by far greater diffi-
culties than ever accompanied the anti-slavery move-
ment in Great Britain. I love to think this invitation
came from Glasgow and from. Scotland, for Scotland has
ever been distinguished by its love of freedom. Almost
all the religious denominations in the United States have
been silenced on the subject of slavery, but there are two
denominations which have never been silenced. Those
two denominations have always stood firm, the old
Scotch Covenanters and the old Scotch seceders. (Ap-
plause.) Although lam sorry to say it, this has not.
been altogether the case with the United Presbyterians,
but if they remain slaveholders they must go to another
body. (Applause.) The Congregationalists, lam happy
to say, are generally free from the taint, Although they
are not so open and bold in their opposition to slavery
as they ought, but are a good deal more polite and easy
• of the.subject than the opponents of the system would
desire. But there is one denomination entirely free
from all participation in the evil, and that is the disciples
of old Wm. Penn. (Loud applause.) There is not one
Quaker in the United States who owns a slave, and not
one of them can hold a slave without being excluded
from the body. (Cheers.) At one period, however,
-many of the Quakers were involved in slaveholding as
well as others ; but they set earnestly to work to get rid
of the evil, and they soon succeeded in doing so. They
did not hold public meetings, pass resolutions, and de-
nounce the system ; but they appointed committees of
their number to remonstrate with the w
individualswho
held slaves, and to persevere in their labours until. their
less than
object was attained. And they succeeded in

20 years—l don't know, but in less than 10 years every
Friend was free from this curse. (Applause.) Now, if
every other denomination had proceeded in the same
bAttawlobicourse,vfaeaotermetl silStatess:with_ttabaheatuitdeetnwhi.
,teaayhrbsneieAsrdtowtdttuhahotgyeuhe generallyi
yira.l d not have been a slave in the United
i
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ei
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oasade
prt ,
ietafehdcsrraeleaoers tse. lawlheaam
into
t.
Aoee
pc,frnomwes
dttl 1
hahsrshevotel
passed emancipating
awywr
yerneaemdws vs
aaiwosnnlsuoucei
moitt
sued
calledl revolutionary
him
tainn inbr laegyee;
gi
te:
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dTthheey
ncirstseercrase aocinv, i
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tdt
li
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mat-
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ftoortrwya
ter, but by and by the boatswain came and said,
"Masse give me a 100 dollars, and I won't take that,"
and the court decided that he should be paid the same
wages as white man, and that abolished slavery. (Great 1
applause.) That decision was founded on the true 1
Christian principle that the labourer is worthy of his I
hire. About the same time slavery was abolished in
one half of the States in the Union, many of the slaves
became free. and it was hoped they would all become
free, when Missouri came in amongst them, and from
that moment the cause of emancipation has been going
backward as far as the Government is concerned. But
the Almighty once said, " Thus far shalt now go and no
farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." He
may be saying so now in regard to the feeling in favour
of American slavery ; and I believe it is at present mak-
ing its last desperate efforts before its dying struggle.
(Great applause.) But there are real difficulties con-
nected with this slave question in the States where it
exists. The people who whave been accustomed to it
hardly know what they would do without slaves. I
went out to preach once in an obscure place in Ohio,
where I found in a lone cabin a delicate young woman
with white hands and slender limbs trying to do her
own work, and her husband with something of the same
appearance trying to cultivate a small farm. I inquired
how they came to be in that condition, when I was in-
formed that the husband was a respectable trader in
Richmond, earning a fair livelihood, but that almost all
`their property consisted in a family of slaves, that he
had set them free, and with the little he had left, had
come out there and was trying to make a living by
farming. I said that it was a, very hard position they
were placed in, and asked if they did not wish to be
back at Richmond ; when the woman said—"Ah, no ;
I would rather be oppressed working with my hands,
than have my conscience oppressed." (Applause.) That
illustrated one real difficulty. After mentioning another
case of a similar kind, he went on to show that the
slave-holding states, being, as it were, independent so-
vereignties, constituted another difficulty which had yet
to be met by the anti-slavery movement in this country.
It was the slaveholders themselves who held the power
of emancipation in their own hands, and there were only
two ways by which which a change could be established
—either the slaveholder must be persuaded to emanci-
pate his slaves, or it must be brought about in the end
by a bloody revolution. In these circumstances, it
must be the desire of every Christian mind, that the
slaveholder might be persuaded to do his duty ; and
very few of the slaveholders pretended that the sys-
tem was right, unless when they
_got into a eontro-
versy with the abolitionists. (Hear, hear.) He then
went on to state that Dr. Breakenridge, who debated
the subject in Glasgow at one time with Mr. George
Thompson, was at home a keen opponent of the slave
system ; and that the hearts of the people generally were
better than their tongues. It only required that their
consciences should be awakened, and the only way in
which they could he awakened was by Christian truth
and love. There was nothing rejoiced him more than
to see in Britain the kind feeling entertained towards
the United States. He had not met a man, woman, or
child who had the slightest feeling of hostility towards
the United States. (Great cheering.) The utmost
charity seemed to exist in the minds of all ; and he would
say to them—" Let your kindness and truth abound
more and more, and do not be discouraged, and in due
time the seed will spring up and bear fruit ; God will be
glorified, and man will be freed." (Great applause.) He
then showed that it was the great demand for cotton
which makes slaveholding so profitable, and slaves so
high priced, and that as the greatest consumers of that
article, the people of this country, were as much re-
sponsible in that respect as they were in the free States
of America. So long as the system was profitable, it
would be terrible hard work to persuade men to abandon
it, and the prayers of all Christians and the efforts of all
Christians must be united if there was to be any hope of
bringing it to a speedy end. But still it was his solemn
conviction that nine-tenths of the Americans felt just as
they did, but that the timid and the comfortable, and
those who wished to live easy, were unwilling to meddle
with the matter. Professor Stowe resumed his seat
amidst loud applause. '

The Rev. Di. WARDLAW came forward to move the
first resolution which was in substance as follows :—The
members of the Glasgow Ladies' New Anti-Slavery Asso-
ciation and the citizens of Glasgow, now assembled, hail
with no ordinary satisfaction, and with becoming gratitude
to a kindly protecting Providence the safe arrival amongst
them of Mrs. Ilarria—Beecher Stowe. Tle-Rev: Dr:said
as a work of art, " Uncle Toni's Cabin" bears upon it
throughout the stamp of original and varied genius.
And yet, throughout, it equally bears the impross of
nature—of human nature—in its worst and its best,
and all its intermediate phases. The man who has read
that little volume without laughing and crying alter-
nately—without the meltings of pity, the thrillings of
horror. and the kindlings of indignation—would supply
a far better argument for a distinct race than the negro.
(Loud laughter and cheers.) He must have a humanity
peculiarly- his own. And lie who can read it without the
breathings of devotion niust, if he calls himself a Chris-
tian, have a Christianity as unique and questionable as
his humanity. 4Cheering.) On the whole, I cannot but
regard the agitation which has been produced as an
auspicious rather than a discouraging omen. It was
when the waters of the pool were troubled that their heal-
ing virtue was imparted. Let us then hope that the '
troubling of the waters by this ministering angel of
mercy may impregnate them with a similar sanative in-
fluence—[the Rev. Dr. here pointed towards Mrs.
Stowe, while the audience burst out with enthusiastic
acclamations and waving of handkerchiefs]—and thus ul-
timately contribute to the healing of the ghastly wounds
of the chain and lash, and to the setting of the crushed
and bowed down erect in the soundness and dignity of
their true manhood. (Loud cheering.) After some
further very eloquent and excellent remarks, the Rev.
Dr. sat down loudly cheered.
The resolution was seconded by Dr. ROBSON, and
adopted by acclamation.

At this part of the proceedings Mrs. Stowe left the
Hall, accompanied by Mr. W. P. Paton, amidst the most
enthusiastic demonstrations of respect and admiration.
The Rev. Dr. KING then proposed the next resolution,
which was a condemnation of American slavery, in a
very effective speech.

The resolution was seconded by the Rev. Dr. ARNOT,
and supported by the Rev. Dr. SMYTHE.
A service of fruit followed, and then
The Rev. Mr. BEECHER delivered a short address.
After some remarks about Scotland and Scotsmen, and
about the latter being the lovers, and the former the'
land of liberty, he went on to show that their desire of
emancipating the slave was just a manifestation of the
same principle which had enabled them to maintain their
own freedom. He then referred to the genius and talent
which had been recognised in his beloved sister's work—
showed that genius was a two-edged sword, which might
be turned to either good or evil account—that God
looked at the spirit with which that sword was wielded
—and if it stood the test, it would stand for ever and
ever. He believed that God was moving in the hearts
of Scotsmen and Englishmen in the cause of freedom,
and carrying them forward by a way which they knew
not, so that they might arrive at an end that they could
not foresee. He then thanked them for the welcome
which had been extended to him as well as his relations ;
and concluded by making a few observations bearing
upon the object of the meeting, in a very religious
strain.

The last resolution was moved by the Rev. Mr.
EDMOND, and seconded by Dr. RUNCIMAN.
The benediction was then pronounced, and the com-
pany separated.