You shock me unspeakably by this news. I
have not heard of it. I should be loath to believe it! I have
spent my own funds in this matter, and I have told my own agents to
do nothing in the slightest contravention of the laws."
"None the less, these things have been done, my dear lady. They
have awakened the greatest feeling in the South--a feeling of
animosity which extends even to the free colonies of blacks which
have been established. The relations between the two great
sections of this country are already strained sufficiently. We
deprecate, indeed we fear, anything which may cause a conflict, an
outbreak of sectional feeling."
"Gentlemen, you must believe me," she replied, firmly and with
dignity, "I have been as ignorant as I am innocent of any such
deeds on the part of my agents. While I do not agree that any
human being can be the property of another, I will waive that
point; and I have given no aid to any undertaking which
contemplated taking from any man what he _himself_ considered to be
his property, and what the laws of the land accorded him as his
property.
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