Henry Allen, Iowa City, to Reverend Robert Allen, Dublin.
Iowa City,Iowa. March 17th 1856. Rev. Robert Allen My dear cousin - Your very interesting letter bearing date the 4th of Feb. last was received a few days ago; & though cloathed [clothed?] in mourning was right heartily welcomed by me.It is truly refreshing to peruse such an epistle from such a friend, & from such a country. Your apologies, however were uncalled for. I am not shure [sure?] but I am as much in fault as you are. Why did I not write to you? To this enquiry I can only answer - I knew not certainly where to address you. It is said our bodies are constantly changing, we know we often change our localities. Let us hope that our sentiments of attachment SHALL NEVER CHANGE - Let our prayers be that they may continue to flourish in increasing loveliness & perfection on earth, & mellow, in the eternal world, on the banks of the river of life! Of the death of my two cousins, Mary & Catherine Allen,in Ireland, as well as of that of your sister Mrs Davidson in Alleghany City, in this country, I heard nothing until the receipt of your letter. With your sister I spent, during the meeting of our General Synod last may in Pittsburgh, a few days and nights pleasantly. They were then all enjoying good health Mr Davidson seemed to be doing well as he deserves to do. He was an affectionate husband, & a kind open-hearted friend - such a friend I have no doubt he still continues to be. Our General Synod meets this coming May in Alleghany & I was anticipating a happy sojourn in your sister's family. But alas! how uncertain are all human expectations of earthly good! My dear cousin I shall see no more on earth; but please God we shall meet in heaven where no pestilence can enter & where sickness, & death, & parting shall be known no more! Your labours in your present field are, I have no doubt, many and various. When you look around you & consider the worldliness, the carelesness about spiritual & eternal things - the idolatory & superstition which prevail on every hand & among every class - when you think of the duties resting upon you as a labourer in our Master's vineyard & the obstacles internal & external which lie in the way of their proper performance no wonder if you should be often found adopting the language of Paul & saying "Who is sufficient for these things?" The sentiment of the Psalmist suits me often- "O that I like a dove had wings Said I,then would I fly Far hence,that I might find a place Where I in rest might be." But from this toil & conflict there is no honourable escape He who expects to conquer must fight - he who desires a crown of immortal glory & honour must run the race that is set before him. To assist you in accomplishing the great work lying before you in the fashionable city of Dublin, by lending you material aid, would impart to me great pleasure were it at all in my power. This is a GREAT country & as you will have seen from the heading of this epistle I am now far beyond what a very few years ago was called the "Far West." My home at present is west of the Mississippi "The father of waters" I came to this state last June with the view of being more useful in the Church of God & of obtaining a permanent home for my rapidly increasing family. We have only six children now - three sons & three daughters! The opposition you speak of as existing in the city of Dublin is even here. "Fullness of bread & abundance of idleness" - worldly pride & the monster Romanism are all here. If Rome is losing ground in Europe she is moving heaven and earth to plant & cultivate her heresy in America. Every new place here in the west that is likely to be a place of importance she is occupying , & by those arts known only to her she is labouring to disseminate her dogmas. It is here the great battle of freedom must be fought. And to carry on our operations successfully we need very many meeting houses, the want of which you seem to understand. At every meeting of our Presbytery new places are reported where preaching is wanted, & of course a meetinghouses. In this place, at present the capital of the state, our congregation is small & we have no house of our own wherein to worship. I preach at present in a school room - We may after a while occupy the senate chamber in the state house - should I remain here, which I am not certain I shall do. There is a more encouraging prospect about 60 miles from here, in the city of [Leclaire?], on the banks of the Mississippi, where the people are about to make out a call for me - perhaps I may accept it But as here they have no meeting house there. Our field is large it is almost boundless & we have nothing like a sufficient number of labourers & nothing like a sufficient amount of material means, for its proper cultivation Some how or other Rome can & does build fine chapels - cathederals - convents, & schools wherever she needs them in this country, whereas Protestants can't always do so. Why should not TRUTH be as well supported as ERROR? There is at present a good deal of talk about a rupture between this country & England, here. I fondly hope it will terminate in talk. This is beyond a doubt a FAST country & contains many restless ambitious spirits that are ready for any desperate undertaking. Are there many such over with you? The institution of slavery in this country has been the cause of much unpleasant feeling & talking & acting both in Church & state. The ACCURSED business has brought us to the confines of civil war. That it will bring about the disolution of this confederacy I have no doubt. The North that is the free states, & the South namely the slave states are becoming more and more alienated. The love of slavery seems to be increasing in the South & the detestation of it to be growing more extensive & deep rooted in the North. The south wishes to extend the boundaries of slave territory the North is becoming more and more determined that it shall not proceed any further. On this momentous question many branches of the Church have really divided - We have the Associate Reformed Church North & the Associate Reformed Church South. The Baptist Church North & the Baptist Church South. the Methodist Church North & the Methodist Church South. & I don't know how many more. I believe the nation is divided in heart in like manner & will at last be really & visibly divided also. Nothing has contributed so much to this alienation of late as the passage of the Kansas & Nebraska bill & with it the repeal of the "Missouri Compromise " - Perhaps "Uncle Tom's Cabin" - which I doubt not you have read & if you havent you should give no rest to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids until you do. helped on the matter very considerably. It is a true picture of slavery and its workings in this country. Is it not a true picture of it & its workings in every country where it exists? A most interesting & exciting trial for some fugitive slaves came off a few days ago in Cincinnati, Ohio. The slaves, six or seven in number, fled from their masters in Kentucky & availing themselves of the frozen state of the Ohio River crossed over on the ice & took refuge in a house in the subburbs of Cincinnati. They were soon missed and pursued their hiding place discovered, a warrant was procured & officers went to the house for the purpose of arresting them. The slaves resisted manfully as long as they were able. Among them was a mother & three children who, finding that they would be captured beyond a doubt resolved to murder herself & children rather than go back to bondage. Hardened by this resolution she seized a butchers knife, cut the throat of one child - slightly wounded another & struck the third on the head but did not do it any serious injury before she was taken into custody. They were all tried & remanded back into slavery. This was hard, you will perhaps say, cruel - It was however what was required in the case by what is called here the fugitive slave law. Had these slaves been brought into Ohio by their masters or with their masters consent they would have been free the moment they touched the soil of Ohio - but coming there as fugitives the law gave them back to their owners - now is it not something remarkable - something that is a disgrace to our common Christianity that the man Archibald H. Gains who claimed the woman who killed one of her children & endeavoured to kill them all rather than they should go back into bondadge, [bondage?] is a member in the Old School Presbyterian Church - the woman is said to be a Methodist. Is this the religion of Jesus? does the mind - the spirit of our Blessed Saviour prompt to acts of such a character? Can that Church be regarded as faithful to God that countenances & legalizes such conduct upon the part of her members? If slavery is right I dont know for my part what is wrong. If the above mentioned Gains can have an honourable place in the visible kingdom of our Lord & Redeemer why may not the drunkard & the impure? While I would not justify the enslaved woman in murdering her dear child is she not inosent [innocent?] before God in comparison with the man who would sell her body & soul into slavery for money? "Give me liberty or give me death!" Such is the language of Patrick Henry a man of whom this country is deservedly proud. We admire the principle as announced by him - Shall we love it less because practised by a poor degraded daughter of Africa? Blessed be God the day is coming in which each one will do to others as he would have others do to him - May it speedily come! Some of us are beginning to care little whether it comes in peace or war so as it comes. Well I shall drop the subject of slavery at present lest I become too much excited - & turn to another subject which perhaps you are more familiar. I have just been reading Thackeray's sketches in Ireland. They are certainly interesting & amusing if nothing more. I am inclined to regard them as instructive also. He relates what he says he saw in the neighbourhood of Westport in the sixth chapter of the second volume. Is that chapter deserving of credence? Were those awful abominable rites performed as he says they were? You must certainly know - Dear robert I want you to write me soon & tell me if those things be so. The friends here are well as far as I know I received a letter from Father a few weeks ago & they were all in the enjoyment of usual health. Father, however is becoming very frail - yet his general health is good - The paper you sent me came to hand in due time - For the favour you have my thanks - you may repeat it as often as you please - Mrs A. thinks you had better come here & get married - she sends you her kindest regards - Remember me to those of my friends you may happen to see - Your loving cousin Henry Allen Send your next letter to Iowa City. Iowa [Addressed] Rev. Robert Allen 53, Wellington Street Dublin Ireland [Postmarked] Iowa City Mar 14 Iowa Three CentsClose