On the 30th of March of that year (1835) she wrote a letter to
Mr. Garrison,--as _brave_ a letter as was ever penned by the hand
of woman. In it occur these thrilling words:--
If, she says, persecution is the means which God has ordained for
the accomplishment of this great end, _Emancipation_, then, in
dependence upon him for strength to bear it, I feel as if I could say,
_Let It Come!_ for it is my deep, solemn, deliberate conviction
that _this is a cause worth dying for_. I say so from what I have
seen, heard, and known in a land of slavery, where rests the darkness of
Egypt, and where is found the sin of Sodom. Yes! _Let it come--let us
suffer_, rather than insurrections should arise.
Mr. Garrison published the letter in the "Liberator" to the surprise of
Angelina and the great displeasure and grief of her Quaker friends, and
of her sister, Sarah, as well. But Angelina was not dismayed. In 1836
she wrote her "Appeal to Southern Women," and sent it to New York, where
it was published as a pamphlet of thirty-six pages. Mr. Elizur Wright
spoke of it, at the time, as "a patch of blue sky breaking through the
storm-cloud of public indignation which had gathered so black over the
handful of anti-slavery workers." The praise was not exaggerated. The
pamphlet produced the most profound sensation wherever it was read.
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