Catharine Maria Sedgwick (Essay Date 1827)

SOURCE: Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Hope Leslie, pp. 198-201. New York: White, Gallaher, and White, 1827.

In the following excerpt from her novel Hope Leslie, the Native American character Magawisca demands liberty from her white male captors.

The governor replied, with a severe gravity, ominous to the knight, "that the circumstances he had alluded to certainly required explanation; if that should not prove satisfactory, they would demand a public investigation. In the mean time, he should suspend the trial of the prisoner, who, though the decision of her case might not wholly depend on the establishment of Sir Philip's testimony, was yet, at present, materially affected by it."

"He expressed a deep regret at the interruption that had occurred, as it must lead," he said, "to the suspension of the justice to be manifested either in the acquittal or condemnation of the prisoner...