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.
We spent the evening in talking over various topics relating to the
anti-slavery 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.
The next morning, as we were sitting down to breakfast, our friends
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.
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.
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