After leaving Kenilworth we drove to Coventry, where we took the cars
again. This whole ride from Stratford to Warwick, and on to Coventry,
answers more to my ideas of old England than any thing I have seen; it
is considered one of the most beautiful parts of the kingdom. It has
quaint old houses, and a certain air of rural, picturesque quiet, which
is very charming.
Coventry is old and queer, with narrow streets and curious houses, famed
for the ancient legend of Godiva, one of those beautiful myths that
grow, like the mistletoe, on the bare branches of history, and which, if
they never were true in the letter, have been a thousand times true in
the spirit.
The evening came on raw and chilly, so that we rejoiced to find
ourselves once more in the curtained parlor by the bright, sociable
fire.
As we were drinking tea Elihu Burritt came in. It was the first time I
had ever seen him, though I had heard a great deal of him from our
friends in Edinburgh. He is a man in middle life, tall and slender, with
fair complexion, blue eyes, an air of delicacy and refinement, and
manners of great gentleness. My ideas of the "Learned Blacksmith" had
been of something altogether more ponderous and peremptory. Elihu has
been, for some years, operating in England and on the continent in a
movement which many, in our half-Christianized times, regard with as
much incredulity as the grim, old, warlike barons did the suspicious
imbecilities of reading and writing. The sword now, as then, seems so
much more direct a way to terminate controversies, that many Christian
men, even, cannot conceive how the world is to get along without it.
Burritt's mode of operation has been by the silent organization of
circles of ladies in all the different towns of the United Kingdom, who
raise a certain sum for the diffusion of the principles of peace on
earth and good will to men. Articles, setting forth the evils of war,
moral, political, and social, being prepared, these circles pay for
their insertion in all the principal newspapers of the continent. They
have secured to themselves in this way a continual utterance in France,
Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany; so that from week to
week, and month to month, they can insert articles upon these subjects.
Many times the editors insert the articles as editorial, which still
further favors their design. In addition to this, the ladies of these
circles in England correspond with the ladies of similar circles
existing in other countries; and in this way there is a mutual
kindliness of feeling established through these countries.
When recently war was threatening between England and France, through
the influence of these societies conciliatory addresses were sent from
many of the principal towns of England to many of the principal towns of
France; and the effect of these measures in allaying irritation and
agitation was very perceptible.
Furthermore, these societies are preparing numerous little books for
children, in which the principles of peace, kindness, and mutual
forbearance are constantly set forth, and the evil and unchristian
nature of the mere collision of brute force exemplified in a thousand
ways. These tracts also are reprinted in the other modern languages of
Europe, and are becoming a part of family literature.
The object had in view by those in this movement is, the general
disbandment of standing armies and warlike establishments, and the
arrangement, in their place, of some settled system of national
arbitration. They suggest the organization of some tribunal of
international law, which shall correspond to the position of the Supreme
Court of the United States with reference to the several states. The
fact that the several states of our Union, though each a distinct
sovereignty, yet agree in this arrangement, is held up as an instance of
its practicability. These ideas are not to be considered entirely
chimerical, if we reflect that commerce and trade are as essentially
opposed to war as is Christianity. War is the death of commerce,
manufactures, agriculture, and the fine arts. Its evil results are
always certain and definite, its good results scattered and accidental.
The whole current of modern society is as much against war as against
slavery; and the time must certainly come when some more rational and
humane mode of resolving national difficulties will prevail.
When we ask these reformers how people are to be freed from the yoke of
despotism without war, they answer, "By the diffusion of ideas among the
masses--by teaching the bayonets to think." They say, "If we convince
every individual soldier of a despot's army that war is ruinous,
immoral, and unchristian, we take the instrument out of the tyrant's
hand. If each individual man would refuse to rob and murder for the
Emperor of Austria, and the Emperor of Russia, where would be their
power to hold Hungary? What gave power to the masses in the French
revolution, but that the army, pervaded by new ideas, refused any
longer to keep the people down?"
These views are daily gaining strength in England. They are supported by
the whole body of the Quakers, who maintain them with that degree of
inflexible perseverance and never-dying activity which have rendered the
benevolent actions of that body so efficient. The object that they are
aiming at is one most certain to be accomplished, infallible as the
prediction that swords are to be beaten into ploughshares, and spears
into pruning-hooks, and that nations shall learn war no more.
This movement, small and despised in its origin, has gained strength
from year to year, and now has an effect on the public opinion of
England which is quite perceptible.
We spent the evening in talking over these things, and also various
topics relating to the antislavery movement. Mr. Sturge was very
confident that something more was to be done than had ever been done
yet, by combinations for the encouragement of free, in the place of
slave-grown, produce; a question which has, ever since the days of
Clarkson, more or less deeply occupied the minds of abolitionists in
England.
I should say that Mr. Sturge in his family has for many years
conscientiously forborne the use of any article produced by slave labor.
I could scarcely believe it possible that there could be such an
abundance and variety of all that is comfortable and desirable in the
various departments of household living within these limits. Mr. Sturge
presents the subject with very great force, the more so from the
consistency of his example.
From what I have since observed, as well as from what they said, I
should imagine that the Quakers generally pursue this course of entire
separation from all connection with slavery, even in the disuse of its
products. The subject of the disuse of slave-grown produce has obtained
currency in the same sphere in which Elihu Burritt operates, and has
excited the attention of the Olive Leaf Circles. Its prospects are not
so weak as on first view might be imagined, if we consider that Great
Britain has large tracts of cotton-growing land at her disposal in
India. It has been calculated that, were suitable railroads and
arrangements for transportation provided for India, cotton could be
raised in that empire sufficient for the whole wants of England, at a
rate much cheaper than it can be imported from America. Not only so, but
they could then afford to furnish cotton cheaper at Lowell than the same
article could be procured from the Southern States.
It is consolatory to know that a set of men have undertaken this work
whose perseverance in any thing once begun has never been daunted. Slave
labor is becoming every year more expensive in America. The wide market
which has been opened for it has raised it to such an extravagant price
as makes the stocking of a plantation almost ruinous. If England enters
the race with free labor, which has none of these expenses, and none of
the risk, she will be sure to succeed. All the forces of nature go with
free labor; and all the forces of nature resist slave labor. The stars
in their courses fight against it; and it cannot but be that ere long
some way will be found to bring these two forces to a decisive issue.
Mr. Sturge seemed exceedingly anxious that the American states should
adopt the theory of immediate, and not gradual, emancipation. I told him
the great difficulty was to persuade them to think of any emancipation
at all; that the present disposition was to treat slavery as the pillar
and ground of the truth, the ark of religion, the summary of morals,
and the only true millennial form of modern society.
He gave me, however, a little account of their antislavery struggles in
England, and said, what was well worthy of note, that they made no
apparent progress in affecting public opinion until they firmly
advocated the right of every innocent being to immediate and complete
freedom, without any conditions. He said that a woman is fairly entitled
to the credit of this suggestion. Elizabeth Heyrick of Leicester, a
member of the society of Friends, published a pamphlet entitled
Immediate, not Gradual Emancipation. This little pamphlet contains much
good sense; and, being put forth at a time when men were really anxious
to know the truth, produced a powerful impression.
She remarked, very sensibly, that the difficulty had arisen from
indistinct ideas in respect to what is implied in emancipation. She went
on to show that emancipation did not imply freedom from government and
restraint; that it properly brought a slave under the control of the
law, instead of that of an individual; and that it was possible so to
apply law as perfectly to control the emancipated. This is an idea which
seems simple enough when pointed out; but men often stumble a long while
before they discover what is most obvious.
The next day was Sunday; and, in order to preserve our incognito, and
secure an uninterrupted rest, free from conversation and excitement, we
were obliged to deprive ourselves of the pleasure of hearing our friend
Rev. John Angell James, which we had much desired to do.
It was a warm, pleasant day, and we spent much of our time in a
beautiful arbor constructed in a retired place in the garden, where the
trees and shrubbery were so arranged as to make a most charming retreat.
The grounds of Mr. Sturge are very near to those of his brother--only a
narrow road interposing between them. They have contrived to make them
one by building under this road a subterranean passage, so that the two
families can pass and repass into each other's grounds in perfect
privacy.
These English gardens delight me much; they unite variety, quaintness,
and an imitation of the wildness of nature with the utmost care and
cultivation. I was particularly pleased with the rockwork, which at
times formed the walls of certain walks, the hollows and interstices of
which were filled with every variety of creeping plants. Mr. Sturge told
me that the substance of which these rockeries are made is sold
expressly for the purpose.
On one side of the grounds was an old-fashioned cottage, which one of my
friends informed me Mr. Sturge formerly kept fitted up as a water cure
hospital, for those whose means did not allow them to go to larger
establishments. The plan was afterwards abandoned. One must see that
such an enterprise would have many practical difficulties.
At noon we dined in the house of the other brother, Mr. Edmund Sturge.
Here I noticed a full-length engraving of Joseph Sturge. He is
represented as standing with his hand placed protectingly on the head of
a black child.
We enjoyed our quiet season with these two families exceedingly. We
seemed to feel ourselves in an atmosphere where all was peace and good
will to man. The little children, after dinner, took us through the
walks, to show us their beautiful rabbits and other pets. Every thing
seemed in order, peaceable and quiet. Towards evening we went back
through the arched passage to the other house again. My Sunday here has
always seemed to me a pleasant kind of pastoral, much like the communion
of Christian and Faithful with the shepherds on the Delectable
Mountains.
What is remarkable of all these Friends is, that, although they have
been called, in the prosecution of philanthropic enterprises, to
encounter so much opposition, and see so much of the unfavorable side of
human nature, they are so habitually free from any tinge of
uncharitableness or evil speaking in their statements with regard to the
character and motives of others. There is also an habitual avoidance of
all exaggerated forms of statement, a sobriety of diction, which, united
with great affectionateness of manner, inspires the warmest confidence.
C. had been, with Mr. Sturge, during the afternoon, to a meeting of the
Friends, and heard a discourse from Sibyl Jones, one of the most popular
of their female preachers. Sibyl is a native of the town of Brunswick,
in the State of Maine. She and her husband, being both preachers, have
travelled extensively in the prosecution of various philanthropic and
religious enterprises.
In the evening Mr. Sturge said that she had expressed a desire to see
me. Accordingly I went with him to call upon her, and found her in the
family of two aged Friends, surrounded by a circle of the same
denomination. She is a woman of great delicacy of appearance, betokening
very frail health. I am told that she is most of her time in a state of
extreme suffering from neuralgic complaints. There was a mingled
expression of enthusiasm and tenderness in her face which was very
interesting. She had had, according to the language of her sect, a
concern upon her mind for me.
To my mind there is something peculiarly interesting about that
primitive simplicity and frankness with which the members of this body
express themselves. She desired to caution me against the temptations of
too much flattery and applause, and against the worldliness which might
beset me in London. Her manner of addressing me was like one who is
commissioned with a message which must be spoken with plainness and
sincerity. After this the whole circle kneeled, and she offered prayer.
I was somewhat painfully impressed with her evident fragility of body,
compared with the enthusiastic workings of her mind.
In the course of the conversation she inquired if I was going to
Ireland. I told her, yes, that was my intention. She begged that I would
visit the western coast, adding, with great feeling, "It was the
miseries which I saw there which have brought my health to the state it
is." She had travelled extensively in the Southern States, and had, in
private conversation, been able very fully to bear her witness against
slavery, and had never been heard with unkindness.
The whole incident afforded me matter for reflection. The calling of
women to distinct religious vocations, it appears to me, was a part of
primitive Christianity; has been one of the most efficient elements of
power in the Romish church; obtained among the Methodists in England;
and has, in all these cases, been productive of great good. The
deaconesses whom the apostle mentions with honor in his epistle, Madame
Guyon in the Romish church, Mrs. Fletcher, Elizabeth Fry, are instances
which show how much may be done for mankind by women who feel themselves
impelled to a special religious vocation.
The Bible, which always favors liberal development, countenances this
idea, by the instances of Deborah, Anna the prophetess, and by allusions
in the New Testament, which plainly show that the prophetic gift
descended upon women. St. Peter, quoting from the prophetic writings,
says, "Upon your sons and upon your daughters I will pour out my spirit,
and they shall prophesy." And St. Paul alludes to women praying and
prophesying in the public assemblies of the Christians, and only enjoins
that it should be done with becoming attention to the established usages
of female delicacy. The example of the Quakers is a sufficient proof
that acting upon this idea does not produce discord and domestic
disorder. No class of people are more remarkable for quietness and
propriety of deportment, and for household order and domestic
excellence. By the admission of this liberty, the world is now and then
gifted with a woman like Elizabeth Fry, while the family state loses
none of its security and sacredness. No one in our day can charge the
ladies of the Quaker sect with boldness or indecorum; and they have
demonstrated that even public teaching, when performed under the
influence of an overpowering devotional spirit, does not interfere with
feminine propriety and modesty.
The fact is, that the number of women to whom this vocation is given
will always be comparatively few: they are, and generally will be,
exceptions; and the majority of the religious world, ancient and modern,
has decided that these exceptions are to be treated with reverence.
The next morning, as we were sitting down to breakfast, our friends of
the other house sent in to me a plate of the largest, finest
strawberries I have ever seen, which, considering that it was only the
latter part of April, seemed to me quite an astonishing luxury.
On the morning before we left we had agreed to meet a circle of friends
from Birmingham, consisting of the Abolition Society there, which is of
long standing, extending back in its memories to the very commencement
of the agitation under Clarkson and Wilberforce. It was a pleasant
morning, the 1st of May. The windows of the parlor were opened to the
ground; and the company invited filled not only the room, but stood in a
crowd on the grass around the window. Among the peaceable company
present was an admiral in the navy, a fine, cheerful old gentleman, who
entered with hearty interest into the scene.
The lady secretary of the society read a neatly-written address, full of
kind feeling and Christian sentiment. Joseph Sturge made a few sensible
and practical remarks on the present aspects of the antislavery cause in
the world, and the most practical mode of assisting it among English
Christians. He dwelt particularly on the encouragement of free labor.
The Rev. John Angell James followed with some extremely kind and
interesting remarks, and Mr. S. replied. As we were intending to return
to this city to make a longer visit, we felt that this interview was but
a glimpse of friends whom we hoped to know more perfectly hereafter.
A throng of friends accompanied us to the depot. We had the pleasure of
the company of Elihu Burritt, and enjoyed a delightful run to London,
where we arrived towards evening.