The Ohio star. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1830-1854, 1853-02-23
In certain English colony there lived female.

In certain English colony there lived female
by birth and courtesy received lady. She wal
admitted to the best colonial circles, left and
ceyed cards aud invitations, and set we'll as fl
lowed fashions; for she was we'll educated. wei
looking, and We have heard, attractive, even tt
fascination, in her manners. Not breath o
scandal ever touched her fair fame: not whisper
to her prejudice ever muttered, even over
tea-table within the tropics. ball was dui
formaIty if she not there TO grace it; party
was stiff, tedious, and imperfect in her absence
What romance might be raised upon the inte-
resting charms and social inesmability of this be
witching window! But how did she live! !! how
sustain her high pretensions! how defrny the cosl
OF her elegant Reunions. her gay equpage, and re-
fined establishment Nothing more easy in q
slave colony. Her husband left no property, and
fortunately no debts; but he had small gang oil
good-!ooking mulaitoes and quadroons, and they
maintained his widaw in decency aud comfort. 1t
is true. the whip was occasionally required; even
slaves will not always submit to nfamy without
compulsion, or rot be so unreasonable as to think
that what is nfamy in white skin must be in
f'ny in brunette; but the whip or the cowhde
s most efficient instructor in such cases, and, in
this case the military barracks being most convent
emily situated near the ladys residence. the whip
succeeded in procuring an average return of half
dollar day per slave. from each of the miserable
girls Ifthe authority for this anecdote is desired
it will be found stated in the evidence on the
Maurtus inquiry, by several of the soldiers them
selves. with the addition that the whip-compelIed
daily average (it was paid, however, weekly was
often raised by the humanity of the soldiers to Sc
cure the unfortunate from floggne
A most excellent and benevolent lady, the wirs
of the tnen Chief Commissioner of Police, was en-
barking in boat to tuke her on board ship about
to sail for England She was in the act of step
ping into the boat when poor female slave of this
elnss caught hold of her dress, and in a tone of
humble but earnest entreaty begged to be heard
for one moment. Mrs. B., from whose lips we
received the incident, Immediately turned back to
the shore, thinking that the object was to obtain
her mediation in some case of impending punish
ment, md asked her what she could do fer her
Have you God in your country, ma'an, 7"
"How You ask such question God is
there and here and everywhere.''
No ma'am no Col here, never been here,
ma'am, in his life; no God here. but if God l. We
with you, tell him what we poor slaves suffer-"
Mrs. B. gave her promise thut she wond, and
well did she redeem that promise. England rang
with ths cruelties and the tragedies of the Maurit-
ius. Sir George Murray. then the Colonial Min
lister, pledged hmself to Sir FowelI Buxton for the
emancipation of the smu2gled slaves in that colony.
TO prevent the topic being revived in Parliament in
all its astounding horrors. Long, however. before
the preliminary measures could be taken 10 carry
out this partial measure, the United Kingdom, once
fairly aroused to of the iniunitY raised
such IN oucry that universal emancipation alone
would satisfy her demand, and the case of the
Mauritus was emerged in the case of the slave.
We have referred to this touching incident to
show how entirely the parallel holds. 1t is hgtly
improbable that Mrs. Stowe ever saw Mrs. B.,
even it this lady bo still alive and it is yet more
unlikely that she should have heard this aneedote,
the circumstance having occurred in the year
1925 but it is probable enough that remark pre-
eisely similar should have been made by some
slave in Mrs. Stoves heating, and that it should
have been eicted by sufforings such as those de-
scribed by Classy. " know of no way of escape
but through the grave,' she says There is no
beast or bird but can find allome somewhere even
the snakes and alligators have their places to lie
down and be quiet, but there is no place for u.s.
Down in tho darkest swamps their dogs will hunt
us out and find US. Everybody and everything is
against us; even the very beasts side against u.s.
and where shall we go ?''
In our view it is immaterial to the merits of the
question, whether the victim is white or black or
of any intermediate shade. 1t is the law of COM
mon sense, the law of man and the law of God
that man shall hold no property in man. At this
time of day, in the middle of the nineteenth CEN
tury, and suite of revolutions saneuinary and in
Vulnerable, in favor of The liberal construction
OF personal rights and civil liberty, cannot con-
ceive any man in his senses, arguing upou abstract
principles in favor of system of slavery. The
anti-abolitionists themselves are now the first to
laugh at all the fallacies and sophsms they once
affected to found on perverted texts and garbled
quotations from the jursts while not few of the
most noisy proprietors of former days have in con-
versnton with us, chuc&ed over their twenty mil
lions grant in tone, and sometimes in words, that
confessed exutaton the sne of bad title at ten
u
title had been unobjectionable.
Yet there is such selfish and shabby disposition
in this most shabby age, when shabbiness marks
every measure of policy or reform, to decry all dis
interested efforts for those of another color or an
other country, that it seems worth while to mem
ton that very large proportion of the slaves in
America are as white as Anglo Saxons of the
highest purity of blood. Nor does it rarely happen
that, as the offspring, though illegtmnte, of
wealthy fathers, they have been educated in re-
finement and luxury.
There is one view on the subject opened to us
by Mr.. Hildreth, which is novel and practically
important. Having regard to the facility of kid
mapping afforded by the laws we'll as the feel
ings nnd practice of the slave states British sub
jrcts of color can with snfey set foot within