The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-27 00:00:00

ANOTHER GREAT FIRE IN UPPER

THAMES-STREET.

Yesterday morning the vicinity of Queenhithe, in
Upper Thames-street, was the scene of another very de-
structive fire. It took place in a large warehouse, seven
storeys in height, of corresponding depth and frontage,

LETTER FROM MRS. STOWE.,

(Prom the Glasgow Mail.)

The following letter has been received from Mrs.
Stowe by the Committee of the Ladies New Anti-
Slavery Society, and was read by the Rev. Dr.
Robson at a meeting of committee, held in the Re-
ligious Institution Rooms, yesterday afternoon :

TO THE LADIES NEW ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW,
ANDOVER, Nov. 18, 1853.

Dear Friends,—l have had many things in my mind
to say to you, which it was my hope to have said per-
sonally, but which I am now obliged to say by letter.
I have had many fears that you must have thought
our intercorurse during the short time that I was in
Glasgow, quite unsatisfactory.
At the time that I accepted your very kind invitation
I was in tolerable health, and supposed that I should be
in a situation to enjoy society, and mingle as much in
your social circles as you might desire.
When the time came for me to fulfil my engagement
with you, I was, as you know, confined to my bed with
a sickness brought on by the exertion of getting the
" Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" through the press during
the winter.
The labour of preparing that book, simply as an in-
tellectual investigation, was severe ; but what a risk of
life and health it was for me no one can appreciate better
than myself.
Nothing could have justified me, with my large family
of children, in making such an effort, in the state of
health in which I then was, except the deep conviction
which I had, and still have, that I was called of God's
providence to do it.
In every part of the world the story of Uncle Toni had
awakened sympathy for the poor American slave, and
consequently, in every part of the world the story of
his wrongs had been denied, and it had been asserted
that it was a mere work of romance, and I was charged
with being the slanderer of the institutions of my own
country.
I know that if I shrunk from supporting my position,
the sympathy which the work had excited, would gra-
dually die out, and the whole thing would be looked
upon as a mere romantic excitement of the passions,
without any adequate basis of facts.
Feeble and reduced as I was, it became absolutely
necessary that I should take this opportunity, when the
attention of the world was awakened, to prove the charges
which I had made.

Neither could such a work be done slightly, for every
statement was to be thrown before bitter and unscrupu-
lous enemies, who would do their utmost to break the
force of everything which was said.
It was therefore necessary that not an assertion should
be made without the most rigourous investigation and
scrutiny; and worn as I then was with the subject,
with every nerve sensitive and sore, I was obliged to
spend three months in what were to me the most agoni-
zing distressing researches.
The remembrance of that winter is to me one of
horror. I could not sleep at night, and I had no com-
ort in the day time. All that consoled me was, that I
was bearing the same kind of suffering which Christ
bore, and still bears, in view of the agonies and dis-
tresses of sin in this world.
When I came to Scotland I felt like one out of whom
every drop of blood has been drained. If there had
been any other way to do I think I would not have
accepted the invitation ; but it was absolutely necessary
that I should have a change of scene and association,
and I did not wish to stay here to read the comments of
the press on my labours.
I thought I had had suffering enough without that.
With this feeling I was taken from my sick bed on board
the ship.
I had not the slightest idea of the kind of reception
which was to meet ine in England and Scotland. I had
thought of something involving considerable warmth,
perhaps, and a good deal of cordiality and feeling on the
part of friends, but of the general extent of feeling
through society, and of the degree to which it would be
publicly expressed, I had, I may say, no conception.
I could not help feeling painfully while I was with you
how utterly unable I was to return anything in kind
adequate to the very warm feeling which was shown to
me. How little I could do, and how little I could say
to meet it.

I fear that many must hare felt disappointed in me,
and that my visit must, on the whole, have proved an
unsatisfactory one to you. This, it was my hope in
some measure to repair, by making you another visit in
the autumn, when my health should be in a state to
enable me to receive and return your kind attentions,
and to enjoy more of the pleasures of friendly inter-
course.

This expectation also has, by the Providence of God,
been disappointed.
It only remains for me to supply it as well as I pos-
sibly can by letter ; and I have delayed this long writing
because I wished to observe the state of the antislavery
cause in this country, and be able to give you some de-
finite report of it.
As your society were the means of inviting me to
your country, it may seem proper that, whatever com-
munications I have to make to friends in England and
Scotland, should be made through you.
In the first place, then, the question will probably
arise in your minds, has the recent demonstrations in
Great Britain done good to the anti-slavery cause in
America

The first result of those demonstrations, as might
have been expected, was an intense reaction. Every
kind of false, evil, and malignant report has been circu-
lated by malicious and partisan papers and, if there is
any blessing in having all manner of evil said against one
falsely, we have seemed to be in a fair way to come in
possession of it.
So far as this goes, it simply shows that the testimony
was felt. In order to know whether it did good or evil
to the anti-slavery cause, it was necessary to inquire,
not of the enemies, but of the friends. I, therefore,
have taken some pains to inquire among leading minds
friendly to the cause as so their general opinion.
My husband, who has watched the course of affairs
critically since his return, and my brother, Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher, who has had extensive opportunities for
observation—both consider the results, as on the whole,
decidedly good.
The same opinion was expressed to me with equal de-
cision by the Hon. Charles Sumner, by Cassius M. Clay
of Kentucky, by Frederick Douglas, Lewis Tappan,
and by others too numerous to mention.
I confess this has been a relief and satisfaction to my
own mind ; for I am naturally disposed to shrink from
public demonstration, and to question any form of ad-
vancing the kingdom of God that cometh with observa-
tion.

The testimony which England and Scotland took ad-
vantage of my presence to give has now become a fixed,
historical fact, and its effect, I trust, will in due time
become historical.

The sanction which was given in this matter to the
voice of the people, by the nobility of England and Scot-
land, has been regaided and treated with special ran-
cour ; and yet, in its place, it has been particularly im-
portant. Without it, great advantages would have been
taken to depreciate the ♦alue of the national testimony.
The value of this testimony, in particular, will ap-
pear from the fact that the anti-slavery cause has been
treated with especial contempt by the leaders of society
in this country, and every attempt made to brand it
with ridicule.

The effect of making a cause generally unfashionable
is much greater in this world than it ought to be: It
operates very powerfully with the young and impres-
sible portion of the community ; therefore, Cassius M.
Clay very well said, with regard to the demonstration at
Stafford House, "It will help our cause, by rendering
it fashionable."

I may say here, that from my intercourse with some
members of the aristocracy, I have been led to feel, that
it was not a mere fashionable caprice or the passing
emotion of an hour, but a deep and earnest conviction,
having its root both in religion and humanity.
With regard to the present state of the anti-slavery
cause in America, I think, for many reasons, that it
has never been more encouraging.
And it is encouraging in this respect, that the sub-
ject is now fairly up for inquiry before the public mind ;
and that the systematic effort which has been made for
years to prevent its being discussed, is proving wholly
ineffectual.

I have the beat reasons for knowing, from different
regions in the South, that there is a greater amount of
reading and inquiry on this subject than has ever been
known there for years.

I could not communicate to you some very interest-
ing facts which came to my knowledge without running
the risk of defeating the good thus commenced ; for it
must be ever borne in mind, that any movement towards
the reform of this great abuse, on southern ground must
at first be a secret one. Some passages, however, which
I noticed in the Liberator last week I enclose to you the
class of facts to which I allude :
" LUCRETIA MOTT IN KENTUCKY. —We were deeply
interested in reading the account of Mrs. Mott's recep-
tion tin Kentucky, and of the respectfulatteexnptireosn.
given to her public discourses there, which were upon
the reform questions of the day, including a full
Rion of her views on slavery. The manner in which
Mr. and Mrs. Mott are spoken of by the Kentucky
writer, contrasts strongly with the coarse and vulgar
epistles concerning them from various places recently
visited by them in New York and Ohio. It is a strik-
ing and interesting fact, that slaveholders and neighbours
of slaveholders should have so generally accorded to Mrs.
Mott a candid hearing, and afterwards expressed them-
selves concerning her in terms of respect and admiration,
when so many Northern letter-writers have united to
ridicule and malign her. The motive of these last, how-
ever, is obvious. Their sole aim is to please the pro-
slavery spirit, South and North, in the hope of receiving
some crumbs which might fall from their masters' tables.
But these fellows will find that they have dirtied them-
selves for nothing.' They cannot prevent intelligent
and reflecting people, North or South, from hearing
such women as Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, and Sallie
Holley, whenever an opportunity offers ; and the simple
seeing and hearing them is to cover their low and bru-
tal revilers with shame and contempt.
"In this connexion we may refer, and we do it with
pleasure, to the many proofs we are receiving of an
awakened feeling on the subject of slavery among slave-
holders themselves. Some of these proofs we cannot
now refer to publicly, without the hazard of quenching
the smoking flax.' But, when we find a Southern (Nat-
chez) editor groaning over the fact that the ablest, most
learned, and critical defences of slavery' are not only
littlebsjapwuuetuebs,
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.debt,' while the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,' which has
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