E. GORDON (Duchess Dowager of Gordon).
ANNA M. L. MELVILLE (daughter of Earl of Leven and Melville).
GEORGIANA EBRINGTON (Lady Ebrington).
A. HILL (Viscountess Hill).
MRS. GOBAT (wife of Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem).
E. PALMERSTON (Viscountess Palmerston).
(And others).
SISTERS,--More than eight years ago you sent to us in America a
document with the above heading. It is as follows:--
"A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe, a common
cause, urge us, at the present moment, to address you on the subject
of that system of negro slavery which still prevails so extensively,
and, even under kindly disposed masters, with such frightful results,
in many of the vast regions of the Western world.
"We will not dwell on the ordinary topics,--on the progress of
civilization, on the advance of freedom everywhere, on the rights and
requirements of the nineteenth century; but we appeal to you very
seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of God, how far such a state
of things is in accordance with his Holy Word, the inalienable rights
of immortal souls, and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian
religion. We do not shut our eyes to the difficulties, nay, the
dangers, that might beset the immediate abolition of that long-
established system. We see and admit the necessity of preparation for
so great an event; but, in speaking of indispensable preliminaries, we
cannot be silent on those laws of your country which, in direct
contravention of God's own law, 'instituted in the time of man's
innocency, deny in effect to the slave the sanctity of marriage, with
all its joys, rights, and obligations; which separate, at the will of
the master, the wife from the husband, and the children from the
parents.
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