安吉莉娜‧格裏姆凱
(ANGELINA GRIMKE)

對奴隸製作證
Bearing Witness Against Slavery

作為南方人，我感到今晚我有責任站出來對奴隸製作證。這是我親眼所見！這是我親眼所見！

安吉莉娜‧格裏姆凱(1805－1879)和她的姐姐薩拉是南卡羅來納州查裏斯頓的一個富裕、擁有奴隸制的貴族法官的女兒。青年時代起她們就憎恨奴隸制。後來她們搬到了費城，成了公誼會教友，積權參加廢奴運動。1836年，安吉莉娜‧格裏姆凱寫了一篇《致南方基督教婦女的呼籲書》。動員南方姐妹參加廢除奴隸制的戰鬥。她的小冊子在南卡羅來納州被焚燒；兩姐妹也被警告說不許她們回到故鄉，否則就逮捕她們。

1838年5月16日，安吉莉娜‧格裏姆凱在費城的全國反對奴隸制大會上作了如下發言。僅在兩天以前，她剛與著名的廢奴主義者西奧多‧韋爾德結了婚。大會召開前，有人在城裏到處張貼告示，揚言說廢奴運動反對者要搗毀舉行會議的賓夕法尼亞禮堂。在大會召開的三天裏，禮堂外擠滿了喧囂的人群，有許多是從南方趕來的人和當地醫學院南方籍的學生。格裏姆凱發言時，外面的人群連聲起哄，用石塊投擲禮堂的窗戶。第三天會議結束時，眾人 衝進禮堂，將它付之一炬。

你們要問：「北方和奴隸制有什麼相干?」那麼請你們聽吧!聽吧!外面的吵鬧聲告訴我們，奴隸制的幽魂就在眼前，由於我們的集會而怒氣衝天；而自由卻肯定是犯不著這樣唾沫橫飛、怒髮衝冠的，因為她的朋友與日俱增，接二連三的集會將她的美德發揚光大，將她和平安寧的疆土延至遠方。反對我們的勢力表明，奴隸制深深毒害了公民們的心靈。於是你們又要問：「北方應該做些什麼?」我的回答是，首先，把奴隸制的幽魂從你們的心中驅逐出去；然後，幫助南方人，改變他們。在座的各位，不論我們自己的境遇如何，不論我們的手段多麼有限，也不論我們的影響多麼微不足道，都應當著手行動起來。這個國家的大人物們是不會行動的，教會也決不會行動的。他們希望討好世人，希望迎合各個黨派，希望隨遇而安，所以就對奴隸制以及其他所有不受歡迎的問題緘默不語。

作為南方人，我感到今晚我有責任站出來對奴隸製作證。這是我親眼所見！這是我親眼所見！我知道它是如何無可形容地令人毛骨悚然!我是在它的羽翼下長大的。多年來我目睹了它是如何使人道德淪喪、如何毀滅著人間快樂的。我從未見過一個快樂的奴隸。誠然，我見過奴隸戴著鐐銬起舞，但他們並不快樂。快樂和作樂是有很大區別的。一個人剝奪了做人的權利就無法享受快樂。但是，奴隸們卻有可能作樂，有時也作樂。在無望中他們說：「讓我們吃吧，喝吧，因為明天我們就要死了。」[這時，有人往窗戶扔石頭──外面人聲鼎沸，會場裏一片混亂。]

人們吵吵鬧鬧又怎樣?所有的窗子都砸碎了又怎樣?把這座禮堂夷為了平地又怎樣?難道這就證明瞭我們錯了?難道這就證明瞭奴隸制是一個良好健康的制度?要是人們這時朝我們衝進來，攪亂我們的集會，對我們拳腳相待，這與奴隸們所經受的痛苦相比又算得了什麼?不，不。如果我們在危難中退縮。如果我們在奴隸需要我們自我犧牲時不願付出犧牲，那麼我們就忘記了他們是「和我們命運相連」的。[喧鬧聲。]我感謝上帝：生命儘管會對真理動怒，卻還繼續感到了真理的存在；良知還未全然泯滅以至不被無所不在的上帝的真理所感動。[外面又一次傳來了呼喊叫罵聲，會場亂成一片。]

人心是如此地精明巧妙！它盡一切可能地頑抗為把自己從錯誤拯救出來的任何努力！我覺得所有這一切騷擾恰恰證明瞭我們所做的努力是我們最好的選擇。要不是這樣，我們維護奴隸制的朋友們就不會在乎我們的言行了。南方人知道我們的所作所為，應使我們欣慰的是我們的努力觸動了他們。在故鄉我曾多次為奴隸制度掩面哭泣。但沒有聽說有誰與我的感覺共鳴；我也不曾知道有誰為了被壓迫者的解放作過努力。在荒野中沒有聽到過號召人們悔過自新並為此做出實際行動的呼喚。我自感痛心不已。啊，要是我有曾聽說有人作出了這樣的努力，該會使我多麼歡欣鼓舞！只是不知我當時為什麼會有這樣的感覺。然而，在誘惑的包圍中我得以自持，我的同情心日漸溫暖，對奴隸制的憎恨愈加很深蒂固，直至我最後終於流離故土，因為我再也不忍心聽到奴隸們的哀號聲了。我逃到了賓州的土地上，心想在這裏我定能找到對奴隸的同情心，但我落空了。這裏的人們和藹可親、熱情好客，可是他們的心中沒有奴隸的容身之處。我只好將哀怨埋藏心底。我記得自己來自卡羅來納州一個法律認可不平等的地方，南方輕風陣陣、向我吹來了刺耳的抽泣聲、哀鳴聲、慘叫聲、呻吟聲，還夾雜著祈禱聲、狠狠的咒罵聲。我心頭一沈，想到自己是在這一切令人厭惡的事物生長起來並接受教育的。懷著精神的苦痛，我呼喊道：「人們充耳不聞，既無心又無意為奴隸們祈禱，那末我面向他們陌生的眼光對他們揭露奴隸制的殘酷和毒害又有什麼意義呢?但是，現在我的感覺又多麼不一樣啊！希望，不，自由必勝的信念和對人類美好的意願使我振作起來。我要像號角一樣高聲吶喊，告訴我們的人民該做些什麼以影響南方人的思想，最終推翻奴隸制。[呼喊聲，窗戶上石雨如注。]

我們常聽到有人間這樣的問題：「我們該做些什麼?」現在時機已到。在座的各位男人、女人們，可以動手了。我們要表明在狂暴的人群面前我們無所懼怕，在辱罵和恐嚇聲中我們要為瀕臨死亡的人們搖旗吶喊。我敦促每個人去買有關這個問題的書籍，閱讀它們，還要把它們借給你們鄰人。不要再把你們的錢花在助長驕傲和貪慾的東西上了，將我們的錢用來散播「在人民袒露之心上熾烈燃燒的真理的煤炭」，將我們的錢用來傳達我們的呼籲，喚醒基督徒們同情的良知。

有些人說我們的「書刊和傳單說出的不是真理」。那麼請問，為什麼他們不來反駁我們的所言?他們做不到。更有甚者，南方人懇求，不，他們詛咒我們，叫我們住嘴。這樣一來，還有什麼更能證明我們的書刊傳單說出的確為真理呢?

費城的婦女！請允許我以一個南方婦女的身份，心懷對故土的深切留戀，懇請你們著手行動起來。我特別要敦促你們展開請願。男人們可以通過投票來解決這樣那樣的問題，但你們還沒有這種權利。只有通過請願。你們才能把意見傳達到立法機關。因此，請願就特別是你們的責任了。你們會說：「這沒什麼用！但南方人已經因為請願書之多而面色蒼白。他們查閱了有關國會程序的報告，發現請願書中有許許多多來自北方婦女請願奴隸制問題的。那些在奴隸們頭上揮舞棍棒的男人在各立法班子中掌握定奪大權；他們否認我們有請願的權利，告誡我們女性不要這麼不合體統。然而，我們的上帝賦予了我們這些權利。讓我們使用這些權利吧；讓我們牢記，雖然請願書往往被置之不理、束之高閣，但那些不公正的法官們由於請願書纏身還是不免受到影響。因此，讓我們行動起來吧。南方人對我們的舉措密切注視，如臨大敵，這也說明了請願是卓見成效的。所以，沒有理由懷疑，沒有理由絕望！

在英國，婦女在廢除其殖民地奴隸制方面起了引人注目的重要作用。她們現在也並非無所事事。無數的請願書最近呈交 予女王，要求廢除殘酷的徒工制度，其殘酷並不亞於它所替代的奴隸制。呈交的請願書有一張竟長達二又四分之一英里。你們認為這些事是徒勞的嗎?讓以往的歷史來回答吧。當美國婦女們將這樣一份請願書交給國會時，我們的立法者們會像他們的英國同僚一樣，起身而立，說道：「這塊土地上所有的婦女，不論年長年少，都來敲我們的門了，我們該立法了。」讓我們英國姐妹們的熱忱、愛心、信念和努力激勵我們加快步伐吧。這樣，當奴隸們還在受苦，在他們要求解放時，我們才會心境安寧，因為我們「做到了力所能及的一切。」

　

Bearing Witness Against Slavery

Do you ask, "What has the North to do with slavery?" Hear it, hear it! Those voices without tell us that the spirit of slavery is here, and has been roused to wrath by our Conventions; for surely liberty would not foam and tear herself with rage, because her friends are multiplied daily, and meetings are held in quick succession to set forth her virtues and extend her peaceful kingdom. This opposition show's that slavery has done its deadliest work in the hearts of our citizens. Do you ask, then, "What has the North to do?" I answer, cast out first the spirit of slavery from your own hearts, and then lend your aid to convert the South. Each one present has a work to do, be his or her situation what it may, however limited their means or insignificant their supposed influence. The great men of this country will not do this work; the Church will never do it. A desire to please the world, to keep the favor of all parties and of all conditions, makes them dumb on this and every other unpopular subject.

    As a Southerner, I feel that it is my duty to stand up here to-night and bear testimony against slavery. I have seen it! I have seen it! I know it has horrors that can never be described. I was brought up under its wing. I witnessed for many years its demoralizing influences and its destructiveness to human happiness. I have never seen a happy slave. I have seen him dance in his chains, it is true, but he was not happy. There is a wide difference between happiness and mirth. Man can not enjoy happiness while his manhood is destroyed. Slaves, however, may be. and sometimes are mirthful. When hope is extinguished, they say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." [Here stones were thrown at the windows--a great noise without and commotion within.]

   What is a mob? what would the breaking of every window be? What would the levelling of this hall be? Any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution? What if the mob should now burst in upon us, break up our meeting, and commit violence upon our persons, would that be anything compared with what the slaves endure? No, no; and we do not remember them, "as bound with them," if we shrink in the time of peril, or feel unwilling to sacrifice ourselves, if need be, for their sake. [Great noise.] I thank the Lord that there is yet life enough left to feel the truth, even though it rages at it; that conscience is not so completely seared as to be unmoved by the truth of the living God. [Another outbreak of the mob and confusion in the house.]

    How wonderfully constituted is the human mind! How it resists, as long as it can, all efforts to reclaim it from error! I feel that all this disturbance is but an evidence that our efforts are the best that could have been adopted, or else the friends of slavery would not care for what we say and do. The South know what we do. I am thankful that they are reached by our efforts. Many times have I wept in the land of my birth over the system of slavery. I knew of none who sympathized in my feelings; I was unaware that any efforts were made to deliver the oppressed; no voice in the wilderness was heard calling on the people to repent and do works meet for repentance, and my heart sickened within me. Oh, how should I have rejoiced to know that such efforts as these were being made. I only wonder that I had such feelings. But in the midst of temptation I was preserved, and my sympathy grew warmer, and my hatred of slavery more inveterate, until at last I have exiled myself from my native land, because I could no longer endure to hear the wailing of the slave.

    I fled to the land of Penn; for here, thought I, sympathy for the slave will surely be found. But I found it not. The people were kind and hospitable, but the slave had no place in their thoughts. I therefore shut up my grief in my own heart. I remembered that I was a Carolinian, from a State which framed this iniquity by law. Every Southern breeze wafted to me the discordant tones of weeping and wailing, shrieks and groans, mingled with prayers and blasphemous curses. My heart sank within me at the abominations in the midst of which I had been born and educated. What will it avail, cried I, in bitterness of spirit, to expose to the gaze of strangers the horrors and pollutions of slavery, when there is no ear to hear nor heart to feel and pray for the slave? But how different do I feel now! Animated with hope, nay, with an assurance of the triumph of liberty and good-will to man, I will lift up my voice like a trumpet, and show this people what they can do to influence the Southern mind and overthrow slavery. [Shouting, and stones against the windows.]

    We often hear the question asked, "What shall we do?" Here is an opportunity. Every man and every woman present may do something, by showing that we fear not a mob, and in the midst of revilings and threatenings, pleading the cause of those who are ready to perish. Let me urge every one to buy the books written on this subject; read them, and lend them to your neighbors. Give your money no longer for things which pander to pride and lust, but aid in scattering "the living coals of truth upon the naked heart of the nation"; in circulating appeals to the sympathies of Christians in behalf of the outraged slave.

    But it is said by some, our "books and papers do not speak the truth"; why, then, do they not contradict what we say? They can not. Moreover, the South has entreated, nay, commanded us, to be silent; and what greater evidence of the truth of our publications could be desired?

   Women of Philadelphia! allow me as a Southern woman, with much attachment to the land of my birth, to entreat you to come up to this work. Especially, let me urge you to petition. Men may settle this and other questions at the ballot-box, but you have no such right. It is only through petitions that you can reach the Legislature. It is, therefore, peculiarly your duty to petition. Do you say, "It does no good!" The South already turns pale at the number sent. They have read the reports of the proceedings of Congress, and there have seen that among other petitions were very many from the women of the North on the subject of slavery. Men who hold the rod over slaves rule in the councils of the nation; and they deny our right to petition and remonstrate against abuses of our sex and our kind. We have these rights, however, from our God. Only let us exercise them, and, though often turned away unanswered, let us remember the influence of importunity upon the unjust judge, and act accordingly. The fact that the South looks jealously upon our measures shows that they are effectual. There is, therefore, no cause for doubting or despair.

    It was remarked in England that women did much to abolish slavery in her colonies. Nor are they now idle. Numerous petitions from them have recently been presented to the Queen to abolish apprenticeship, with its cruelties, nearly equal to those of the system whose place it supplies. One petition, two miles and a quarter long, has been presented. And do you think these labors will be in vain? Let the history of the past answer. When the women of these States send up to Congress such a petition our legislators will arise, as did those of England, and say: "When all the maids and matrons of the land are knocking at our doors we must legislate." Let the zeal and love, the faith and works of our English sisters quicken ours; that while the slaves continue to suffer, and when they shout for deliverance, we may feel the satisfaction of "having done what we could."