Among those records of the past which fill the soul of man with the
keenest pain, and fix the darkest stain on the pages of human
guilt;--on that blood-red sheet that exhibits the mutual rage,
persecution, and burning of religious fanatics, I have found an
account of a woman who was doomed to the stake in such a situation
that in the midst of her sufferings in the flames, she became a
_mother_. The book dropped from my hand as I read this dreadful story,
and I regretted my relation to a race of beings, capable of such
iron-hearted cruelty and infernal guilt. But this was in ENGLAND, and
it was some consolation to my sickening heart to reflect that I was an
AMERICAN. I felt a sort of national pride, and wrapped myself up in
the delusion, in which too many are now slumbering, that such things
belong exclusively to the Old World, and will never blacken the
history of the New. How foolish are such national prejudices; how
absurd and contrary to all experience, to suppose that _local_
circumstances will alter the moral nature of man. The lion loses not
his ferocity by treading the soil or breathing the air of
Massachusetts; and the founder of Providence can testify, that the
pious settlers of New England caught the spirit of persecution as they
were flying from its faggots and fire. Man is _man_, wherever you find
him. By nature a tyrant, and ever glorying in the extension and
display of his authority, every human being is either a pope or a
Nero, and would become as offensive to God, and as dreadful to the
human race as they were, if placed in the same circumstances. With
the exception of those who are brought under the influence of the
spirit of the gospel, this is universally true; and all the
improvements of the arts and sciences and of civilization, are but so
many refined inventions in the rebellion of earth against heaven.
Christianity makes the only grand and radical difference among men.
This brings all who heartily embrace it back to the authority of
heaven, while all others are forcing themselves on to the perfection
of a character as opposed to God and mutual happiness, as Beelzebub is
to the Saviour of the world. I am now going to introduce a sketch
which will evince the aptness of Americans in imitating the cruelties
of Europe. "England _is_ what Athens _was_," says Phillips, and too
soon, I fear will America rival England in those things which she
professes to abhor. With how much reason I apprehend this, the
following account, among others, will shew.
Mrs. Burnham had committed a crime as foul as sin could inspire, and I
am not going to plead her cause. She ought to have been punished, and
that severely, but not at the _time_, nor in the manner she was. She
was married, and at the time of her trial and sentence, it was known
that in a short time she would need a _sort_ and _degree_ of
attention, which prisons were never designed to give; but no regard
was paid to her situation, and she was sentenced to be confined in the
State Prison, to hard labor for a number of years. What a child unborn
had done to be doomed to date its birth in a prison, I leave for those
to determine, who have read more law than I have.
The place of her abode was a small room, with one small and strongly
grated window. From every hall the noise and tumult of the prisoners
was forced directly upon her ears; and in the large space from which
her room was partitioned off, was placed a guard during every night.
Her food was such as the other prisoners had, and her other treatment
of the same kind.
In this place she spent her time till a few days before her
confinement; when she was taken into the keeper's house till her babe
was a few weeks old, and then sent back with it into her room. How she
fared while in the house, I know not, as no prisoner visited that
apartment at the time, to my knowledge; but the report is not at all
in favor of the family residing in the house at the time. How she
fared in the prison I need no one to inform me. One of the men who
attended her, is gone to the world of spirits, and I hope he has found
mercy of his God. Of another that had the care of her I can say, that
if they that _show_ no mercy _find_ none, it is high time for him to
agree with his adversary, lest he, in turn, shall find a small room
till he shall pay the utmost farthing. The insult which that woman had
to suffer--the indignity--the abuse--the oppression, are all recorded
in a book that will be opened in the day of Judgment, and if all men
shall be judged according to their actions, and receive according to
the deeds done in the body, many will regret their conduct towards
this afflicted and injured woman.
I might dwell with painful minuteness on this sketch, but from the
nature of its details, this is no place for them. The great facts are
_enough_ for my purpose, and _too much_ for the happiness or credit of
those who are concerned. The deeply infamous truth on which I wish to
fix the mind of the reader, is, the _situation_ of the woman when she
was sentenced. What the law in such cases may be I know not, but I
envy no man a station which compels him to such a deed as must carry
horror to every mind that has the least sense of propriety, humanity,
or justice. If the law makes no provision in such cases, then have we
attained to a degree of refinement that would disgrace a savage. But
if the law _does_ provide for such cases, where is that man's fitness
for his station who denied this woman all the benefit of that
provision, and inflicted on her a lash which made her unborn infant
bleed?
Another circumstance to be noticed is, her treatment in the prison.
The subject is too delicate to be treated here, with any degree of
particularity. Even the most corrupt of the prisoners was often
indignant at the low and vulgar insults that were offered to her by
those whose only excuse is, that they knew no better.
"Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense."
She survived this train of abuse and cruelty, and the Governor and
Council to their credit, and to the honor of the state, permitted her
to return to her husband and family, as soon as her case could come
before them.
I know not with what feelings the public mind will contemplate the
fact recorded in this sketch; but I hope, most devoutly, that it will
be universally reprobated. I shall carefully observe its effect, and
note it down as a sure indication of the tone of American morals and
American sentiment. My bosom will expand with national pride, or my
cheek redden with national shame, in the same proportion that such
conduct is condemned or sanctioned by public opinion. It is no excuse
for such conduct that the sufferer had sinned. I well know that she
merited the severest punishment; for the soul freezes at the thought
of her crime. But to every thing there is a proper season, and it is
_not_ the proper season to punish a sinning female when a child
_unborn_ is to be put in peril. As well might the Creator send an
unborn infant to hell with its sinful mother.