The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-01-16
Forthe National Era.
POWERSS GREEK SLAVE IN ST. LOFTS.


Many thanks we owe to the appliances of our
ciyiliZation-rather to the genius of mechanism
not only that facilities for rapid travel to and
fro are multiplied a thousand fold over those Of
our grsndfathers, enabling us quickly TO pass
through incredible distances, visiting the works of
art and the monuments Of industry in their reposi
tories, but that they may even be brought to us It
is by these means that hundreds in our city have
beer narmiiie1<e look upoa :his. h Il ~. .
tI~,i ~n0 neVer could have left their shops their
professions, and their families, for this purpose
Yes, IN 81. Louis there has been exposed for
several weeks the nude statue of a tyne of woman
ly beauty chained, with sverted counter too
| proud in her innocence and too selfreliant 70
shrink before the unfeeling multitude thronging
| a market-place in the chief city of the Turk An
exquistely wrought representation of Grecian
maiden, in that stainless marble, which il the
most appropriate emblem of purity aud truthful
| ness, leaning upon n broken column upon which
are carelessly thrown her garments, while from
fold Of these espied locket az if the Gift of
a lover, and a cross, which shows her familiarity
with the maxims of Christianity, bat helpless TO
ADJUST these as modesty and taste would suggest
| helpless on account of chain which closely an
proxmstes one hand to the other And why these
fettersl Has she committed any crime for which
she deserves punishment All, some child-thef
has stolen her, aud brought her from her native
Grecian hills, where she has known neither task
master nor chain and conveyed her to this strange
| land of another language and another creed and
of sympathies which knew no compassion but for
kindred-and offered her for sale TO work out her
| life in unrequited service, or pander to lust
daughter Of the erudite Athenian or the iron
souled Spartan sold in the shambles of Constan-
tinople
| gazed for time on this beautiful work while
| spectators came and went some admiring the mar
BILE some the polish of the surface some the beau
| ty Of an arm or the perfectly turned contour of
| the calf others inspired with the worship of the
beautiful and carried from this human image of
the Unseen, to the contemplation of the hidden
but all-pervading spirit " in whom we live and
move and have our being" But there were others
| whose vision of the beautiful the pure and the
truthful, was dimmed by chain Il despot had
straehAd e. ono h .,sl i4,es 'hho- rr .tnsru-
shaved and living image of the Godlike follow the
behest of msmmon and sensualty
One of those, whose thoughts seemed thus to
be disturbed by this grip of Satan upon this child
of innocence, thus sooquizcd
Beautiful woman, before whom an unchaste
thought would be sacrilegc and contempt of all
that is pure, lovely, and great, in my own soul
who has undertaken to despol thee Of all that Is
good and noble and convert thee TO a brute, to a
beast Of burden, or TO pet of Incidence, luxury,
and passions The symmetry Of thy form, the
elasticity Of thy tread, and the serenity of thy
brow prove this body the habitation of a soul of
divine origin and immortal destiny, which
here requires to be free in free body Poor and
helpless slave, though thou hast The attributes Of
humanity. Yes, thou hast been chained by fell
low~men, who should have been thy helpers in the
rugged path Of this discipline of life, instead Of
| trcading thee in the dust And thou standest not
alone Ia thy letters for how many of thy fair
sisters, with ms purt n complexion and as fine a
form, with feelings as sensitive are brought from
Circassia to this same Turkish mart la Russia,
also, how many of thy sisters are doomed to life
Of slavery, though forbidden to be torn from their
homes; and through all history, how many millions
Of maidens as beautiful rs thou art have been
bought and sold
"Thou, woman in marble hast been brought
from a land we call heather to show MS Chris
tians how much more pure and humane are our
ways than theirs, We are in thy presence re-
minded that no. divine image of humanity wrought
ms thou hast been In white can here be chained
and worked like mere animals. BY thee we are
reminded that in our Christian land no Turk can
lay his traiiickng hand upon skin that is white
and say, mine, for hare paid my monty. Noble
image ofpurity and free spirit all chained as isthy
body, mayest thy memory long remain with me,
TO gladden. my waking thoughts, to chasen my
dreams, and 20 cheer me with the thought that
with the spread Of tho Gospel slavery shall no
more put its chain around a white wrist but
that, under the bcnigDant sway OF Christianity,
this doom shall be confined 10 black people IL is
true, Image Of Beauty, that within few steps Of
the spot which thy presence is consecrating, maid
ems as pure and as sensitive as thou art are week
y bought and sold in place ms public as that Turk
ish market-place where thou vast expos under
the cry of the auctioneer. And It Is true also that
the buyers and sellerSef these have chains and
handouts and whips by which the unwilling
slave shall be made TO 90 whithersoever the mas
ter listeth, and do whatsoever the master willeth.
But get away obtruding affections; ] am gazing
upon an image as white AZ the driven snow, and
in view Of the wrongs Of the kind she represents,
contemplating the complete emancipation Of all
the white people Of the earth, under the genial
| influence Of Christianity; and cannot have my
thoughts perturbed by the intrusion OF such black
and thick-lipped images as these see fitting be-
fore my eye OF Imagination. Away away came
not to think Of ebony maidens or men, or what
humanity requires for them, but to be RECALLED
with the elevating and humanizing sentiments
which dreamed this image should inspire me
with My first emotions were delicious and my
anticipations for my race were glorious, aud why
should they have become just now painfulw
Under the influence of this disappointment Of
feeling, our soliloquzing spectator was about to
retire but the statue, turning just then upon It's
pedestal and seeming TO look him full in the face,
and though without gesture, for the hands were
still unclaimed, aud without motion of lip or con-
traction Of feature, flor the statue never ceases to
wear look Of disdan similar to what our Saviour
IL said TO have exhibited when he was speechless
before Pilate,) addressed to his heart sentiments
plain to him as though uttered in audible accents,
though all unheard by other lookers-on
"Why limit your sympathies 2" was the mute
| Language Of the marble. "Why limit your ap-
plicatiou Of the principles Of justice Now, know
that justice and mercy are no artificial creation,
but that they grew out of the constitution Of the
mind itself, and are common TO all minds which
are capable of approaching and applying them
| Away, henceforth with your sophistrles OF the
multiplied origins Of the human races Man is to
be estimated for what be is for what he feels, for
what no thinks, for what he does, and not for
whence he came If your father came from tho
moon, your mother from saturn, your uncles and
Annts from all the planets and satellites OF tho
solar system and their offspring are found capa-
BILE Of common thought and sympathy, have the
same conceptions Of love, mercy, justice, right and
truth, ys are verify all one brotherhood, privi-
! legged with the same rights and Rmenabls TO the