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The following diagrama illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la damiire image da cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »^ signifie 'A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartea. pianchea. tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmte it dee taux de rMuction diffirents. Lorsqua le document est trop grand pour itre reproduit en un seul ciichi. il est fiim^ d partir da I'angie supiriaur gauche, de gauche d droite. et da haut en baa, an prenant le nombre d'imagea n^essaire. Lea diagrammes suivants illuatrant la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 :* K I. .piiiipiiiiMiip '|i ■JE^AWikr, ^^^r Jaba. .SiifFw P«tn'H(!«tj(; -^-^^^ A AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FUGITIVE NEGRO: HIS ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS IN TV- UNITED STATES, CANADA, & ENGLAND. BT SAMUEL RINGGOLD WARD ORONTO. i LONDON: JOHN SNOW, 35, PATEKNOSTER BOW. 1855. /. -■ •^ TO HEE GKACE THE DUCHESS OF SUTHEELAND. i*-'l The frank and generous sympathy evinced by your Grace in behalf of American slaves has been recognized by all classes, and is gratefully cherished by the Negro's lica/t. A kind Providence placed me for a season within the circle of your influence, and made me largely share its beneficent act^^n, in the occasional Intercourse of Nobles and Ladies of high rank, who sympathize In your senti- ments. I am devoutly thankful to God, the Creator of the Negro, for this gleam of his sunshine, though it should prove but a brief token of his favour; and desire that my oppressed kindred may yet show themselves not un- worthy of their cause being advocated by the noblest of all lands, and sustained and promoted by the wise and virtuous of every region. 1 cannot address your Grace as an equal; though the generous nobility of your heart would require that I should use no expression inconsistent with the dignity of a man, the creation of God's infinite wisdom and goodness. I cannot give flattering titles, or employ the language of adulation: a 0^ n 1 i*,ri-.*>v.-V- ^'■"T*pCS<7t*^*-^"-^ "TtV-iiSii ■i IF DEDICATION. iii I should offend your Grace if I did so, and prove myself unworthy of that good opinion which I earnestly covet. To you, Madam, I am indebted for many instances of spontaneous kindness, and to your influence I owe frequent opportunities of representing the claims of my oppressed race. I should not have felt emboldened to attempt the authorship of this Volume, had it not been for a conviction, sustained by unmistakable tokens, that in all classes, from the prince to the peasant, there is a chord of sympathy which vibrates to the appeals of my suffering people. Before your ,Grace can see these lines, I shall be again traversing the great Atlantic. Will you, Madam, pardon this utterance of the deep-felt sentiment of a grateful heart, which can only find indulgence and relief in the humble dedication of this Volume to you, as my honoured patroness, and the generous friend of the Negro people in all lands? I am not versed in the language of courts or the etiquette of the peerage; but my heart is warm with gratitude, and my pen can but faintly express the sense of obligations I shall long cherish toward your noble House and the illustrious members of your Grace'o family, from whom I have received many undeserved kindnesses. I have the honour to be. Madam, Your Grace's most obedient and grateful Servant, SAMUEL RINGGOLD WARD. \i London, Z\st October, l(t,>.5. PKEFACE. The idsa of .'-idng some acco ut of any travels was first sugg^-,.v::e«t to ch, by a gentleman who has not a little v- do v/iib M.c briunn,? ov. A ti Is work. The Rev. Lr. r/ai..fvbell &ho eacoursged the sug- gestion. I then thought that a seriec ^f letters in a newspaper would answer the purpose. Circumstances over which I had no control placed it beyond my power to accomplish the design in that form of pub- lication. A few months ago I was requested to spend an evening with some ardent friends of the Negro race, by the arrange^ >nt of Mrs. Massie, at her house, Upper Clapton. Her zeal and constancy in benalf of the American Slave are well known on both sides of the Atlantic. Nor is there, I believe, a more earnest friend of my kindred race than is her husband. With him I have repeatedly taken counsel on the best modes of serving our cause. Late in August last, Dr. Massie urged on me the propriety of preparing a volume which might remain as a parting memorial of my visit to England, and serve to embody and perpetuate the opinions and arguments I had often employed to pro- A 3 VI PREFACE. mote the work of emancipation. Peter Carstairs, Esq., of Madras, being present, cordially and frankly en- couraged the project; and other friends, in whose judgment I had confidence, expressed their warmest approval. My publisher has generously given every facility for rendering the proposal practicable. To him I owe my warmest obligations for the prompti- tude and elegance with which the Volume has been prepared. I do not think the gentlemen who advised it were quite correct in anticipating that so much would be acceptable, in k Book from me. I should have gone about it with much better courage if I had not felt some fears on this point. However, amidst many apprehensions of imperfection, I place it before the reader, begging him to allow me a word by way of apology. I was obliged to write in the midst of most perplexing, most embarrassing, private business, and had not a solitary book or paper to refer to, for a fact or passage; my brain alone had to supply all I wished to compose or compile. Time, too, was very limited. Under these circumstances, that I should have committed some slight inaccuracies, will not ap- pear very strange, though I trust they are not very great or material. I beg the reader generously to for- give the faults he detects, and to believe that my chief motive in writing is the promotion of that cause in whose service I live. I hope that this Book will not be looked upon as a specimen of what a well educated Negro could do, nor as a fair representa- PREFACE. VU tion of what Negro talent can produce — knowing that, with better materials, more time, and in more favourable circumstances, even / could have done much better; and knowing also, that my superiors among my own people would have written far more acceptably. It will be seen that I have freely made remarks upon other things than slavery, and compared my own with those of other peoples. I did the former as a Man, the latter as a Negro. As a Negro, I live and therefore write for my people; as a Man, I freely speak my mind upon whatever concerns me and my fellow men. If any one be disappointed or offended at that, I shall regret it; all the more, as it is im- possible for me to say that, in like circumstances, I should not do Just the same again. The reader will not find the dry details of a journal, nor any of my speeches or sermons. I preferred to weave into the Work the themes upon which I have spoken, rather than the speeches themselves. The Work is not a literary one, for it is not written by a literary man; it is no more than its humble title indi- cates—the Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro. In what sense I am a fugitive, will appear on perusal of my personal and family history. S. R. W. Kadley's Hotel, 21st October, 1855. / f' k IF IH CONTENTS. AUTOBIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. I^AHiLY History PAGE 3 CHAPTER II. Personal History 14 CHAPTER III. The Fugitives prom Slavery CHAPTER IV. Struggles against the Prejudice op Colour 21 28 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ^avt ».— UNITED STATES. CHAPTER I. Anti-slavery : what : 37 CONTENTS. CHAPTER II, 'a Work begun • » • • CHAPTER III. The Field occupied . . CHAPTER IV. The Issue contemplated CHAPTER V. The Political Question CHAPTER VI. The White Church and Coloured Pastor CHAPTER VII. Terminus op Lapours in the United States PAGE 44 . 52 61 . 73 79 .. 102 m ^ mvt «.— CANADA. CHAPTER I. First Impressions : Reasons for Labours CHAPTER II. Resistance to Slave Policy 133 .. 154 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER III. Fugitives evince true Heroism . . PAGE 169 CHAPTEB IV. Canadian Freemen • » * f t. . . . 189 mtt W.— GEEAT BRITAIN. CHAPTER 1. VorAOB, Arrival, etc. 227 CHAPTER 11. Commencement op Labour in England 243 CHAPTER III. Pro-Slavery Men in England .. 256 CHAPTER IV. British Abolitionism ■ • ■ 28f) CHAPTER V. Incidents, etc. . 304 Xll Scotland CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAGE 330 'M Ireland CHAPTER VII. 360 Wales CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER iX. Grateful Reminiscences-Conclusion 385 398 i 4GE 130 f?0 15 AFTOBIOGEAPHY. Qi^iJKajrwi^^j.,!. AUTOBIOGEAPHI, CHAPTER I. FAMILY HISTOIvY. - I WAS born on the 17th October, 1817, in that part of the State of Maryland, U.S., commonly called the Eastern Shore. I regi-et that I can give no accurate account of the precise location of my birth- place. I may as well state now the reason of my Ignorance of this matter. My parents were slaves. I was bom a slave. They escaped, and took their then only child with them. I was not then old enough to know anything about my native place: and as I grew up, in the State of New Jersey where my parents lived till I was nine years old,' ™d m the State of New York subsequently, where we lived for many years, my parents were always "' danger of being arrested and re-enslaved. To avoid this, they took every possible caution: amon.. then- measures of caution was the keeping of the children quite ignorant of their birthplace, and of their condition, whether free or slave, when born: because children might, by the dropping of a single B 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. word, lead to the betrayal of their parents. My brother, however, was bom i„ New Jersey: and my parents, supposing (as is the general presump- tion) that to be bom in a free State is to be bom free, readzly allowed us to tell where my brother was bom; but my birthplace I was neither per- mitted to teli nor to W. Henee, while fte f^eeresy and mystery thrown about the matter led me, most naturally, to suspeet that I was bom a slave, I never received direct evidence of it, from either of my parents, until I was fonr-aad-twenty years of age; and then my mother informed my wife, m my absence. Generous reader, will you tiierefore k.nd ly forgive my inability to say exactly where I was bom; what gentle stream arose near ■ the humble cottage where I first breathed-how that Steam sparkled in the sunlight, as it mean- dered through g.-een meadows and forests of stately oaks, taut gave its increased self as a contribution to the Chesapeake Bay-if I do not tell you the name of my native town and county, and some in- tei-estmg details of their geographical, agricultural, geological, and revolutionary history-if I am silent as to just how many miles I was bom from Bal- timore the metropolis, or Annapolis the capital, of my native State? Fain would I satisfy you in all tins; but I cannot, from sheer ignorance. I was bom a slave-where? Wherever it was, it was FAMILY HISTOEY. 5 where I dare not be seen or known, lest those who held my parents and ancestors in slaveiy should make a claim, hereditary or legal, in some form, to the OA^nership of my body and soul. My father, from what I can gather, was de- scended from an African prince. I ask no parti- cular attention to this, as it comes to me simply from tradition-such tradition as poor slaves may mamtem. Like the sources of the Nile, my ances- tiy, I am free to admit, is rather difficult of tracing. My father was a pure-blooded negro, perfectly black, with woolly hairj but, as is frequently true ot the purest negroes, of small, handsome features. He was about 5 feet 10 inches in height, of good %ure, cheerful disposition, bland manners, slow in deciding, firm when once decided, generous and unselfish to a fault j and one of the most consistent, simple-hearted, straightforward Christians, I ever knew. What I have grouped together here con- cermng Inm you would see in yom first acquaint- ance with him, and you would see the same throughout his entire life. Had he been educated, free and admitted to the social privileges in early life for which nature fitted him, and for which even slavery could not, did not, altogether unfit him, my poor crashed, outraged people would never have had nor needed a better representation of them- selves-a better specimen of the black gentleman. ^ 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Yes: among the heaviest of my maledictions against slavery is that which it deserves for keep- ing my poor father— and millions like him— in the midnight and dungeon of the grossest ignorance. Cowardly system as it is, it does not dare to allow the slave access to the commonest sources of light and learning. After his escape, my father learned to read, so that he could enjoy the priceless privilege of search- ing the Scriptures. Supporting himself by his trade as a house painter, or whatever else offered (as he was ^ man of untiring industry), he lived in Cumberland County, New Jersey, from 1820 until 1826 ; in New YoiL city from that year until 1838; and in the city of Newark, New Jersey, from 1838 until May 1851, when he died, at the age of 68. In April I was summoned to his bedside, where I found him the victim of paralysis. After spend- ing some few days witli h^m, and leaving him veiy much better, I went to Peimsylvania on business, and returned in about ten days, when he appeared still very comfortable ; I then, for a few days, left him. My mother and I knew that another attack was to be feared— another, we knew too well, would prove fatal ; but when it would occur was of course beyond our knowledge ,• but we hoped for the best. My father and I talked very freely of his death. He had always maintained that a Christian ouglit FAMILY HISTORY. 7 to have his preparation for his departure made, and completed in Christ, before death, so as when death should come he should have nothing to do but to DIE. " That," said my father, " is enough to do at once : let repenting, believing, eveiything else, be sought at a proper time ; let dying alone be done at the dying time." In my last conversation with him he not only maintained, but he felt^ the same. Then, he seemed as if he might live a twelve- month; but eight-and-forty hours from that time, as I sat in the Eev. A. G. Beeman's pulpit, in New Haven, after the opening services, while singing the hymn which immediately preceded the sennon, a telegraphic despatch was handed me, announcing my father's death. I begged Mr. Beeman to preach j his own feelings were such, that he could not, and I was obliged to make the effort. No effort ever cost me so much. Have I trespassed upon youi time too much by these details? Forgive the fond- ness of the filial, the bereaved, the fatherless. My mother was a widow at the time of her mar- riage with my father, and was ten years his senior. I know little or nothing of her early life : I think she was not a mother by her first marriage. To my father she bore thvee children, all boys, of whom I am the second. Tradition is my only authority for mj maternal ancestry: that authority saith, that on the paternal side my mother de- II 8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. scended from Africa, Her mother, however, was a woman of light complexion; her grandmother, a mulattressj her great-gTandmother, the daughter of an Irishman, named Martin, one of the largest slaveholders in Maryland-a man whose slaves were so numeroui, that he did not know the mtm- ber of them. My mother was of dark complexion, but straight silklike hair ; she was a person oF large frame, as tall as my father, of quick discernment, ready decision, great firmness, strong will, ardent temperament, and of deep, devoted, religious cha- racter. Th9ugh a woman, she was not of so pleasmg a countenance as my father, and I am ^Jiouglit strongly to resemble her. Like my father she was converted in early life, and was a member of the Methodist denomination (though a lover of all Christian denominations) until her death. This event, one of the most afflictive of my life, occurred on the first day of September, 1853, at New York Smce my father's demise I had not seen her for nearly a year; when, being about to sail for England, at the risk of being apprehended by the United States' authorities for a breach of their execrable republican Fugitive Slave Law, I sought my mother, found her, and told her I was about to sail at three p.m., that day (April 20th, 1853) for England. With a calmness and composure which she could always command when emergencies re- FAMILY HISTORY. 9 quired It, she simply said, in a quiet tone, "To England, my son!" embraced me, commended me to God, and suffered me to depart without a mur- mur. It was our last meeting. May it be our last parting! For the kind sympathy sho^,7n me, upon my reception of the melancholy news of my mother's decease, by many English friends, I shall ever be grateful : the recollection of that event, and the kindness of which it was the occasion, will dwell together in my heart while reason and me- mory shall endure. In the midst of that peculiarly bereaved feeling inseparable from realizing the thought that one is both fatherless and motherless, it was a sort of melancholy satisfaction to know that my dear parenfs were gone beyond the reach of slavery and the Fugitive Law. Endangered as their liberty always was, in the free Northern States of New York and New Jersey— doubly so after the law of 1851—1 could but feel a great deal of anxiety concerning them. I knew that there was no living claimant of my parents' bodies and souls ; I knew, too, that neither of them would tamely submit to re-enslavement : but I also knew that it was quite possible there should be creditors, or heirs at lawj and that there is no State in the American Union wherein there were not free and independent de- mocratic republicans, and soi-disant Christians, i 10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. "ready, aye ready" to aid in overpowering and capturing a runaway, far pay. But when God was pleased to take my father in 1851, and my mother m 1853, I felt relief from my greatest earthly anxiety. Slavery had denied them education, property, caste, rights, liberty; but it could not deny them the application of Christ's blood, nor an admittance to the rest prepared for the righteous. They could not be buried in the same part of a common gi-aveyard, 1th whites, in their native country; but they can rise at the sound of the first trump, in the day of resurrection. Yes, reader: we who are slaveboi^- derive a comfort and solace from the death of those dearest to us, if they have the sad misfortune to be blacks and Americans, that you know not. God forbid that you or youra should ever have occasion to know it ! My eldest brother died before my birth: my youngest brother, Isaiah Harper Ward, was born April 5th, 1822, in Cumberland County, New Jersey; and died at New York, April 16th, IP-^S, in the triumphs of faith. He was a lad ;-artaking largely of my fatlier's qualitie.^^ vc-cinbimg him exceedingly. Being the youngest of the family, we all sought to fit him for usefulness, and to shield him from the thousand snares and the ten thousand forms of cruelty and injustice .vhich the unspeak- ably cruel prejudice of the whites visits upon the \ • • FAMILY HISTOEY. li head and iho heart of every black young man, in New York. To that end, we secured to him the advantages of the Free School, for coloured youths, m that city— advantages wiiich, I am happy to eay, were neither lost upon him nor unappreciated by Inm. Upon leaving school he commenced learning the trade of a printer, in the office of Mr. Henry R. Piercy, of New York— a gentleman who, brav- ing the prejudices of his craft and of the community, took the lad upon the same terms as those upon which he took whit-, lads: a fact ail tv. more creditab!: to Mr. Piercy, as it was in the very teeth of the abominably debased public sentiment of that city (and of the whole country, in fp^t) on this subject. But ere Isaiah had finished his trade, he suddenly took a severe cold, which resulted in pneumonia, and— in death. I expressed a doubt, in a preceding page, as to the legal validity of my brotlier's freedom. Tme, he was born in the nominally Free State of New Jersey ; true, the inhabitants born in Free States are ffenera% free. But according to slave law, " the child follows the condition of the mother, during life." My mother being born of a slave woman, and not being legally freed, those who had a legal claim to lier had also a legal claim to her offspring, wherever born, of whatever paternity. Besides, at that time New Jersey had not entiidy ceased to be 12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. a Slave State. Had my mother been legally freed before his birth, then my brother would have been born free, because born of a free woman. As it was, we were all liable at any time to be captured, en- slaved, and re-enslaved— first, because we had been robbed of our liberty; then, because our ancestors had been robbed in like manner ; and, thirdly and con- clusively, in law, because we were black Americans. I confess I never felt any personal fear of being retaken— primarily because, as I said before, I knew of no legal claimants ; but chiefly because I knew it would be fextreniely difficult to identify me. I ' -as less than three years old when brought away : to identify me as a man would be no easy matter. Certainly, slaveholders and their more wicked Nor- thern parasites are not very particularly scrupulous about such matters; but still I never had much fear. My private opinion is, that he who would have enslaved me would have "caught a Tartar"; for my peace principles never extended so far as to either seek or accept peace at the expense of liberty-^ if, indeed, a state of slavery can by any possibility be a state of peace. I beg to conclude this chapter on my family history by adding, that my father had a cousin, in New Jersey, wiio had escaped from slavery. In the spring of 1826 he was cutting down a tree, which accidentally fell upon him, breaking both FAMILY HISTORY. 13 thighs. Wliile suffering from this accident his master came and took him back into Maryland. He continued lame a very great while, without any apparent signs of amendment, until one fine morning he was gone I They never tO(.k him again. Two of my father's nephews, who had escaped to New York, were taken back in the most summary manner, in 1828. I never saw a family thrown into such deep distress by the death of any two of its members, as were our family by the re-enslavement of these tvvo young men. Seven-and-twenty years have past, but we have none of us heard a word con- cerning them, since their consignment to the living death, the temporal hell, of American slavery. Some kind persons who may read these pages will accuse me of bitterness towards Americans generally, and slaveholders particularly: indeed, there are mimj professed abolitionists, on both sides of the Atlantic, who have no idea that a black man should feel towards and speak of his tormenters as a white man would concerning liis. But suppose the blacks had treated ymr family in the manner the Americans have treated mine, for five genera- tions: how would you write about these blacks, and their system of bondage? You would agree with me, that the 109th Psalm, from tlie 5th to the 2l8t verses inclusive, was written almost purposely for them. 14 if ' CHAPTER II. PERSONAL HISTORY. I HAVE naiTated when and where I was born, as far as I know. It seems that when young I was a very weakly child, whose life for the first two years and a half appeared suspended upon the most fra- gile fibre of the most delicate cord. It is not pro- bable that any organic or constitutional disease was afflicting me, but a general debility, the more re- markable as both my parents were robust, healthy persons. Happily for me, my mother was permitted to " hire her time," as it is called in the South— ^. e., she was permitted to do what she pleased, and go where she pleased, provided slie paid to the estate a certain sum annually, l^his she found ample means of doing, by her energy, ingenuity, and economy. My mother was a good financier (0 that her mantle had fallen on me ! ) She paid the yearly hire, and pocketed a surplm, wherewith she did much to add to the comforts of her husband and h»,r sickly child. So long and so hopeless was my ill- ness, that the parties owning us feared I could not PERSONAL HISTOET. 15 be reared for the market— the only use for which, according to their enhghtened ideas, a young negro could possibly be born or reared ; their only hope was in my mother's tenderness. Yes : the tender- ness of a mother, in that inUmely free country, is a matter of trade, and my poor mother's tender regard for her offspring had its value in dollars and cents. When I was about two years old (so my mother told my wife), my father, for some trifling mistake or fault, was stabbed in the fleshy part of his arm, with a penknife: the wound was the entire length of the knife blade. On another occasion he received a severe flogging, which left his back in so wretched a state that my mother was obliged to take peculiar precaution against mortification. This sort of treat- ment of her husband not being relished by my mo- ther, who felt about the maltreatment of her husband as any Christian woman ought to feel, she put forth her sentiments, in pretty strong language. This was insolent. Insolence in a negress could not be endured— it would breed more and greater mischief of a like kind; then what would become of whole- son.c discipline ? Besides, if so trifling a thing as the mare marriage rehition were to mterfere with the supreme proprietor's right of a master over his slave, next we should hear that slavery must give way before marriage ! Moreover, if a negress may be allowed fri speech, touching tlic flogging of u % le AUTOBIOGRAPHY. I f i negro, simplj because that negro happened to be her husband, how long would it be before some such claim would be urged in behalf of some other member of a negTo family, in unpleasant circum- stances ? Would this be endurable, in a republican civilized community, a.d. 1819? By no means. It would sap the very foundation of slaveiy— it would be like « the letting out of water " : for let the principle be once established that the negress Anne Ward may speak as she pleases about the flagellation of her husband, the negro William Ward, as a matter ot' right, and like some alarming and death-dealing infection it would spread from plantation to plantation, until property in husbands and wives would not be worth i e having. No no : marriage must succumb to si \^ery, slavery must reign supreme over every right and every institu- tion, however venerable or sacred ; ergo, tliis free- speaking Anne Ward must be made to feel the greater rigours of the domestic institution. Should she be flogged? that was questionable. She never had been whipped, except, perhaps, by her parents ; she was now three-and-thirty years old— rather late for the commencement of training; she weighed 184 lbs. avoirdapoise ; she was strong enough to whip an ordinary-sized man; she had as much Bti-ength of will as of mind; and what di ,ot diminish the awkwardness of the case was she PERSONAL HISTORY. 17 gave most unmlstal '&;■! ; evidences of "rather tall resistance," in cast of an attack. Well, then, it were wise not to risk thisj but one most conve- niejit course was left to them, and that course they could take with perfect safety to themselves, with- out yielding one hair's breadth of the rights and powers of slavery, but establishing them — they could sell her, and sell her they would : she was their property, and like any other stock she could be sold, and like any other unruly stock she should be brought to the market. However, this sickly boy, if practicable, must be raised for the auction mart. Now, to sell his mother im.neJlately, depriving him of her tender care, miglit endanger his life, and, what was all- important in his life, his saleability. Were it not bette: to risk a little from the freedom of this woman's tongue, than to jeopardize the sale of this articU? Who knows but, judging from the pedi- gree, it may prove to be a prime lot— rising six feet in length, and weighing two hundred and twenty pounds, more or less, some day? To ask these questions was to answer them,- there was no resisting the force of such valuable and logical considerations. Therefore the sale was delayed j the young anin.al was to run awhile longer with hi8-(I accommodate myself to the ideas and facts of slavery, and use a corresnondi''in . 1 )menclature) li I I 18 AUTOBIOGEAPHY, — dam. Tlus my illness prevented the separation of my father and my mother from each other, and from their only child. How God sometimes makes the afflictions of His poor, and the very wickedness of their oppressors, the means of blessing them I But how slender the thread that bound my poor parents together ! the convalescence of their child, or his death, would in all seeming probability snap it asunder. What depths of anxiety must my mother have endured! How must the reality of his condition have weighed down the fond heart of my father,' concerning their child! Could they pray for his continued illness? No; they were parents. Could they petition God for his health? Then they must soon be parted for ever from each other and from him, were that prayer answered. Ye whose children are born free, because you were so born, know but little of what this enslaved pair endured, for weeks and months, at the time to which I allude. At length a crisis began to appear: the boy grew better. God's blessing upon a mother's ten- der nursing prevailed over habitual weakness and sickness. The child slept better; he had less fever; his appetite returned; he began to walk without tottering, and seemed to give signs of the cheerfulness he inherited from his father, and the strength of frame (and, to tell truth, of will also) PERSOx'JAL HISTORY. 19 imparted bj his mother. Were not the owners right in their "calculations"? Had they not decided and acted wisely, in a business point of view? The dismal prospect before them, con- nected with the returning health of their child, damped the joy which my parents, in other cir- cumstances, and in a more desirable country, would have felt in seeing their child's improved state. But the more certain these poor slaves became that their child would soon be well the nearer approached the time of my mother's 'sale. Motherlike, she pondered all manner of schemes and plans to postpone that dreaded day. She could close her child's eyes in death, she could lollop her husband to the grave, if God should so order,, but to be sold from them to the far-off State of Georgia, the State to which Maryland members ot Churches sold their nominal fellow Christians— someiimes their own children, and other poor rela- tions-^^a^ was more than she could bear. Sub- mission to the will of God was one thing, she was prepared for that, but submission to the machina- tions of Satan was quite another thing j neither her womanhood nor her theology could be reconciled to the latter. Sometimes pacing the floor half the night with her child in her arms-sometimes kneel- fng for hours in secret prayer to God for deliverance " ■ ^" ^^^'6 eamesi consultation with my 2 'mi^f-'^m^msi^ 20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. father as to what must be done in this dreaded emergency — my mother passed days, nights, and weeks of anguish which wellnigh drove her to desperation. But a thought flashed upon her mind: she indulged in it. It was full of danger ; it de- manded high resolution, great courage, unfailing energy, strong determination; it might fail. But it was only a thought, at most only an indulged thought, perhaps the fruit of her very excited state, and it was not yet a plan ; but, for the life of her, she could not shake it off. She kept saying to herself, " supposing I should " Should what ? She scarcely dare say to herself, what. But that thought became familiar, and welcome, and more welcome ; it began to take another, a more definite form. Yes; almost ere she knew, it had incor- porated itself with her will, and become a resolu- tion, a determination. " William," said she to my father, "we must take this child and run away." She said it with energy; my father felt it. He hesitated ; he was not a mother. She was decided ; and when decided, she was decided with all conse- quences, conditions, and contingences accepted. As is the case in other families where the wife leads, my father followed my mother in her de- cision, and accompanied her in — I almost said, her hegira. 21 CHAPTER III. THE FUGITIVES FROM SLAVERY. What was the precise sensation produced by the departure of my parents, in the minds of their owners-how they bore it, how submissively they spoke of it, how thoughtfully they followed us with their best wishes, and so forth, I have no means of knowmg: information on the.^e questionable topics was never conveyed to us .^-^ any definite, systematic torm. Be this as it may, on a certain evening without previous notice, my mother took her child m her arms, and stealthily, with palpitating heart but unfaltering step and undaunted courage, passed he door, the outer gate, the adjoining court, crossed the field, and soon after, followed by my father, left the place of their former abode, bidding it adieu for ever. I know not their route; but in those days the track of the fugitive was neither so accurately scented nor so hotly pursued by human sae-acity, or the scent of kindred bloodhounds, as now, nor was slave-catching so complete and regular a system as It IS now. Occasionally a slave escaped, but seldom Pli 22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. in such numbers as to make it needful either to watch them very closely when at home, or to trace them systematically when gone. Indeed, our slave- catching professionals may thank the slaves for the means by which they earn their dishonourable subsistence; for if the latter had never reduced running away to system, the former had never been needed, and therefore never employed at their pre- sent wretched occupation, as a system. " 'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody good." At the time of my parents' escape it was not always nec^CoSary to go to Canada; they therefore did as the few who then escaped mostly did — aim for •>. "'^'ree State, and settle among Quakers. This honoured sect, unlike any other in the world, in this respect, was regarded as the slave's friend. This peculiarity of their religion they not only held, but so 'practised that it impressed itself on the ready mind of the poor victim of American tyranny. To reach a Free State, and to live among Quakers, were among the highest ideas of these fugitives ; accord- ingly, obtaining the best directions they could, they set out for Cumberland County, in the State of New Jersey, where they had learned slavery did not exist — Quakers lived in numbers, who would afford the escaped any and every protection con- sistent with their peculi: " tenets — and where a number of blacks lived, wh.> in cases of emergency THE FUGITIVES FEOM SLAVERY. 23 could and would make common cause with and for each other. Then these attractions of Cumberland were sufficient to determine their course. I do not think the journey could have been a very long one : but :t must be travelled on foot, in some peril, and with small, scanty means, next to nothing; and with the burden (though they felt it not) of a child, nearly three years old, both too young and too weakly to perfonw his own part of the journey. One child they had laid in the grave; now their only one must be rescued from a fate worse than ten thousand deaths. Upon this rescue depended their continued enjoyment of each other's society. The many past evils inseparable, from a life of slavery, their recently threatened separation, and the dangers of this exodus, served to heighten that enjoyment, and doubly to endear each to the other; and the thought that they might at length be successful, and as free husband and wife bring up their child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, according to the best of their ability, stimu- lated them to fresh courage and renewed endurance. Step by step, day after day, and night after night, with their infant chaige passed alternately from the arms of the one to those of the other ; they wended on their A^ay, driven by slavery, drawn and stimu- lated by the hope of freedom, and all the vhile trustmg in and committing themaelveE to Him who fes ii i u AUTOBIOGRAPHY. is God of the oppressed. I can just remember one or two incidents of the journey ; they now stand before me, associated with my earliest recollections of maternal tenderness and paternal care : and it seems to me, now that they are b^tli gathered with the dead, that I would rather forget any facta of my childhood than those connected with that, to me, in more respects than one, all-impor- tant journey. Struggling against many obstacles, and by God's help surmounting them, they made good progress until they had got a little more than mid- way their journey, when they were overtaken and ordered back by a young man on horseb? k, who, it seems, lived in the neighbourhood c^ n,y father's master. The youth had a whip, and some other insignia of slaveholding authority; and knowing that these slaves had been accustomed from child hood to obey the commanding voice of the white man, young or old, he foolishly fancied that my parents woulfl give up the pursuit of freedom for themselves and their child at hts hiddinq. They thought otherwise; and when he dismounted, for the purpose of enforcing authority and compelling obe- dience by the use of the whip, he received so severe a flogging at the hands of my parents as sent him home nearly a cripple. He conveyed word as to our flight, but prudently said he received his hurts by THE FUGITIVES FROM SLAVERY. 25 his horse plunging, and throwing him saddenly against a large tree. Through this young man our owners got at the bottom of their loss. There was the loss of the price of my mother, the loss of my present and prospective self, and, what they had had Ro reason before to suspect, the loss of my father ! Some say it was the commencement of a series of adversit'es from which neither the estate nor the owners ever afterwards recovered. I confess to sufficient selfishness never to have shed a tear either upon hearing this or in subsequent reflections upon it. After this nothing serious befell our party, and they safely airived at Greenwich, Cumberland County, early in the year 1820. They found, as they had been told, that at Springtown, and Bridgetown, and other places, there were numerous coloured people ; that the QuPKers in that region were truly, practically friendly, " not loving in word and tongue," but in deed and truth ,• and that there were no slaveholders in that part of the State, and when slave-catchers came prowling about the Quakers threw all manner of ^eac^^wZ obstacles in their way, while the Negroes made it a little too hot for their comfort. We lived several years at Waldron's Landing, in the neighbourhood of the Reeves, Woods, Bacons, and Lippineutts, who were among my father's verv 26 AUTOBIOGEAPHY. best friends, and whose children v/ere among my schoolfellows. However, in the spring and summer '^ 1826, so numerous and alarming were the de- predations of kidnapping and slave-catching in the neighbourhood, that my parents, after keeping the house armed night after night, determined to re- move to a place of greater distance and greater safety. Being accommodated with horses and a waggon by kind friends, they set out with my brother in their arms for New York City, where they arrived on the 3rd day of August, 1826, and lodged the first night with relations, the parents of the Rev. E. H. Garnett, now of Westmoreland, Jamaica. Here we found some 20,000 coloured people. The State had just emancipated all its slaves— viz., on the fourth day of the preceding month — and it was deemed safer to live in such a city than in a more open country place, such as we had just left. Subsequent events, such as the ease with which my two relatives were taken back in 1 828-— the truckling of the mercantile and the po- litical classes to the slave system — the lai-ge amount of slaveholding property owned by residents of New York— and, worst, basest, most diabolical of all, the cringing, canting, hypocritical friendship and subserviency of the religious classes to slavery — have entirely dissipated that idea. I look upon Greenwich, New Jersey, the place ! THE FUGITIVES FROM SLAVERY. 27 of my earliest recollections, very much as most persons remember their native place. There I followed my dear father up and down his garden, with fond childish delight; the plants, shrubs, flowers, &c., I looked upon a,s of his creation. There he first taught mr some valuable lessons— the use of the hoe, to spell in three syllables, and to read the first chapter of John's Gospel, and my figures; then, having exhausted his literary' stock upon me, he sent me to school. There I first read the Bible to my beloved mother, and read in her countenance (what I then could not read in the book) what that Bible was to her. Were my native country freey I could part with any possession to become the owner of that, to me, most sacred spot of earth, my father's old garden. Had I clung to the use of the hoe, instead of aspiring to a love of books, I migli by this time lia^e been somebody, and the reader of this volume would not have been soHcited by this means to consider the lot of the oppressed American Negro. ~irn1i -I m m'dKm>»BS><*ifmm>»r''^' «! 28 CHAPTER IV. STRUGGLES AGAINST THE PREJUDICE OF COLOUR. I GREW up in the city of New York as do the children of poor parents in Invge cities too fre- quently. I was placed at a public school in Mul- berry Street, taught by Mr. C. C. Andrew, and subsequently by Mr. Adams, a Quaker gentleman, from both of whom I received great kindness. Dr. A. Libolt, my last preceptor in that school, placed me under lasting obligations. Poverty compelled me to work, but inclination led me to .study ; hence I was enabled, in spite of poverty, to make some progress in necessary learning. Added to poverty, however, in the case of a black lad in that city, is the ever-present, ever-crushing Negro-hate, which hedges up his path, discourages his efforts, damps his ardour, blasts iiis hopes, and embitters his spirits. Some white persons wonder at and condemn the tone in which some of us blacks speak of our oppressors. Such persons talk as if they knew but little of human nature, and less of Ne^o cha- THE PEEJUDICE OF COLOUR. 29 racter, else they would wonder rather that, what with slavery and Negro-hate, the mass of us are not either depressed into idiocy or excited into demons. What class of whites, e.ccept the Quakers, ever spoke of their oppressors or wrongdoers as mildly as we do ? This peculiarly American spirit (which Englishmen easily enough imbibe, after they have resided a few days in the United States) was ever at my elbow. As a servant, it denied me a seat at the table with my white fellow servants ; in the sports of childhood and youth, it was ever disparagingly reminding me of my colour and origin ; along the streets it ever pursued, ever ridiculed, ever abused me. If I sought redress, the very complexion I wore was pointed out as the best reason for my seeking it in vain ; if I de- sired to turn to accoimt a little learning, in the way of earning a living by it, the idea of employ- ing a black clerk was preposterous— too absurd to be seriously entertained. I never knew but one coloured clerk in a mercantile house. Mr. W. L. Jeffers was lowest clerk in a house well known in Broad Street, New York ; but he never was ad- vanced a single grade, while numerous white lads have since passed up by him, and over him, to be members of the :i>-m. Poor JefFcrs, till the day of his death, was but one remove above the porter. So, if I gouglit a trade, white apprentices would ;"71-'^:-^^^?^^ --_. " * '- <:! ,' V ' " " im ii 30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Lave if I were admitted ; and when I went to the house of God, as it was called, I fouad all the Negro-hating usages and sentiments of general society there encouraged and embodied in the Negro pew, and in the disallowing Negroes to com- mune until all the whites, however poor, low, and degraded, had done. I know of more than one coloured person driven to the total denial of all religion, by the religious barbarism of white New Yorkers and other Northern champions of the slaveholder. ; However, at the age of sixteen I found a friend in George Atkinson Ward, Esq., from whom I received encouragement to persevere, in spite of Negro-hate. In 1833 I beca> e a clerk of Thomas L. Jennings, Esq., one of the most worthy of the coloured race; subsequently my brother and I served David Buggies, Esq., then of New York, late of !• orthampton, Massachusetts, now no more. • In 1833 it pleased God to answer the prayers of my parents, in my conversion. My attention being turned to the ministry, I was advised and recom- mended by the late Kev. G. Hogarth, of Brooklyn, to the teachership of a school for coloured children, established by the munificence of the late Peter Bemsen, Esq., of New Town, N.Y. The most distinctive thing I can say of myself, in this my firrt attempt at the profession of a pedagogue, is y^ -. THE PREJUDICE OF COLOUK. 31 that I succeeded Mr., now the Eev. Dr., Pennin- ton. I afterwards taught for two-and-a-half years m Newark, New Jersey, where I was living in January 1838, when I was mamed to Miss Rey- nolds, of New York; and in October 1838 Samuel Rmggold V^^ard the younger was born, and I became, "to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever," a family man, aged twenty-one years and twelve days. In May, 1839, 1 was licensed to preach the gospel by the New York Congregational Associa- tion, assembled at Poughkeepsie. In November of the same year, I became the travelling agent of first the American and afterwards the New York Anti-slavery Society; in April, 1841, I accepted the unanimous invitation of the Congregational Chm-ch of South Butler, Wayne Co., N.Y., to be then- pastor ; and in September of that year I was publicly ordained and inducted as minister of that Church. I look back to my settlement among that dear people with peculiar feelings. It was my first charge : I there first administered the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, and there 1 first laid hands upon and set apart a deacon ; there God honoured my ministry, in the conversion ot many and in the trebling the numb, r of the members of tlie Church, most of whon., I am de- lighted to know, are still TTcllrvlili! in thu light of m 32 AJTOBIOGRAPHY. kill God. The manly courage they showed, in calling and sustaining and honouring as tlieir pastor a black man, in that day, in spite of the too general Negro-nate everywhere rife (and as professedly pious as rife) around them, exposing them as it did to the taunts, scoffs, jeers, and abuse of too many who wore the cloak of Christianity — entitled them to what they will ever receive, my warmest thanks and kindest love. But one circumstance do I regret, in connection with the two-and-a-half years I spent amoHj them — that was, not the poverty against which* I was struggling during the time, nor the demise of the darling child I buried among them : it was my exceeding great inefficiency, of which they seemed to be quite unconscious. Pour- ing my tears into their bosoms, I ask of them and of God forgiveness. I was their first pastor, they my first charge. Distance of both time and space has not yet divided us, and I trust will ever leave us one in heart and mind. Having contracted a disease of the uvula and tonsils, which threatened to destroy my usefulness as a speaker, with great reluctance I relinquished that beloved charge in 1843, and in December of that year removed to Geneva, where I commenced the study of medicine with Doctors Williams and Bell. The skill of my preceptors, with God's bless- ing, prevailing over my disorder, I was enabled to >*^> THE PREJUDICE OF COLOUB. 33 speak occasionallj to a small Churc:i in Geneva, while residing there ; and finally to resume public and continuous anti-slavery labours, in connection with the Liberty Party, in 1844. In 1846 I be- came pastor of the Congregational Church in Cort- land Village, New York, where some of the most laborious of my services were rendered, and where I saw more of the foolishness, wickedness, and at the same time the invincibility, of American Negro- hate, than I ever saw elsewhere. Would that I had been more worthy of the kindness of those who invited me to that place- of those friends whom I had the good fortune to win while I lived there —especially of those who showed me the most fra- ternal kindness during the worst, longest illness I have suffered throughout life, and while passing through severe pecuniary troubles. My youngest son, Wilham Reynolds Ward, is bm-ied there: and there were born two of my daughters, Emily and Alice, the former deceased, the latter still living. From Cortland we removed to Syracuse in 1851 whence, on account of my participating in the' Jerry rescue case," on the first day of October in tHat year, it became quite expedient to remove in some haste to Canada, in November. During the last few y.ars of my residence in the United States ,1 was editor and proprietor of two newspapers, both of which I survive, and in both of which D 34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. I sunk every shred of my property. While at this business, it seemed necessary that I should know something of law. For this purpose, I commenced the reading of it : but I beg to say, that after smat- tering away, or teaching, law, medicine, divinity, and public lecturing, I am neither lawyer, doctor, teacher, divine, nor lecturer; and at the age of eight-and-thirty I am glad to hasten back to what my father first taught me, and from what I never should have departed — the tilling of the soil, the use of the hoe. I beg td conclude this chapter by offering to all young men three items of advice, which my own experience has taught me : — 1. Find your own appropriate place of DUTY. 2. When you have found it, by all means KEEP IT. 3. If EVER TEMPTED TO DEPART FROM IT, RE- TURN TO IT AS SPEEDILY AS POSSIBLE. II e at this Id know amenced er smat- divinity, , doctor, 5 age of to what ; I never soil, the ng to all my own ^3 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES, &c. iACE OF L MEANS [ IT, RE- ;iBLE. lart 3E. UNITED STATES. wff i " Hlil ' I wii u ^ 37 ANTI-SLAYEEY LABOURS, &c. CHAPTER I. ANTI-SLAVERY: WHAT? It may be thought that the biographical portion of this volume is brief and summary; but it will be seen, as we proceed, that 3ome Pjints, deserving more attention, belong more properly to other parts of the work. In proceeding to write about my anti- slavery labours, I may be allowed to give my own definition of them. I regard all the upright de- meanoior, gentlemanly bearing, Christian character, social progress, and material prosperity, of every coloured man, especially if he be a native of the United States, as, in its kind, anti-slavery labour The enemies of the NegTo deny his capacitv for im- provement or progress; they say he is deficient in morals, manners, intellect, and character. Upon that assertion they base the American doch-ine proclaimed with all effrontery, that the Negro is neither fit for nor entitled to the rights, immuni- ties and privileges, which the same parties say be- long nPturally to all mm; indeed, .omc of them go It 38 ANTT-SLAVERY LABOURS. SO far as to deny that the Negro belongs to the human family. In May, 1851, Dr. Gr? nt, of New York, argued to this effect, to the manifest delight of one of the largest audiences ever assembled in Broadway Tabernacle. True, two coloured gen- tleman, one of whom was Frederic Douglass, Esq., refuted the abominable theory; but Dr. Grant left, it is to be feared, his impression upon the minds of too many, some of whom wished to believe him. A very learned divine in New Haven, Connecticut, declared, to the face of my honoured friend, Eev. S. E. Cornish, that " neither wealth nor education nor RELIGION could fit the Negro to live upon terms of equality with the white man." Another Congregational clergyman of Connecticut told the Writer, in the presence of the Eev. A. G. Beeman, that in his opinion, were Christ living in a house capable of holding two families, he would object to a black family in the adjoining apartments. Mr. Cunard objected to my taking a passage on any other terms — in a British steamer, be it remem- bered ; and Mr. Cunard is an Englishman — than that I should not offend Americans by presenting myself at the cabin table d'hdte. I could number six Americans who left Radley's Hotel, while I was boarding there, because I was expected to eat in the same coffee-room with them, at a separate table, twenty feet distant from them, being ignorant UNITED STATES. 39 of their presence. In but five of the American States are coloured persons allowed to vote on equal terms with whites. From social and business circles the Negro is . cirelj excluded— no, not that ; he is not admitted— as a rule. Now, surely, all this is not attributable to the fact that the Amencans hold slaves, for ^he very worst of these things are done by non-slaveholders, in non-slaveholding States j and Englishm-n, Irish- men, and Scotchmen, generally become tlie bitterest of Negro-haters, within fifteen days of their na- turalization—some not waiting so long. Besides, in other slaveholding countries— Du^oh Guiana, Brazil, Cuba, &c.— free Negroes are not treated thus, in-espective of character or condition. It is quite true that, as a rule, American slaveholders are the worst and the most cruel, both to their own mulatto children a 1 to other slaves; it is quite true, that nowhere in the world has the Negro so bitter, so relentless enemies, as are the Americans; but it is not because of the existence of slavery, nor of the evil character or the lack of capacity on the part of the Negro. But, whatever is or is not the cause of it, there stands the fact ; and this feeling is so universal that one almost regards 'American' and 'Negro-hater' as synonymous terms. My opinion is, that much of tins difference be- tween the Anglo-Saxon on the one and his brother .dPi jftiM^ ! I f ' 40 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Anglo-Saxon on the other side of the Atlantic is to be accounted for in the very low origin of early American settlers, and the very deficient cultivation as compared with other nations, to which they have not attained. I venture this opinion upon the fol- lowing considerations. The early settlers in many parts of America were the very lowest of the English population : the same class will abuse a Negro in England or Ireland now. The New England States were settled by a better class. In those States the Negro is besjt treated, excepting always the State of Connecticut. The very lowest of all the early settlers of America were the Dutch. These very same Dutch^ as you find them ow in the States of New York, New Jersey, ami Pennsylvania, out- American all Amtjiicans, save those of Connecticut, in their maltreatment of the free Negro. The mid- dling and better classes of all Europe treat a black gentleman as a gentleman. Then step into the British American colonies, and you will find the lowest classes and those who have but recently arisen therefrom, just what the mass of Yankees are on this matter. Also, the best friends the Negro has in America are persons generally of the superior classes, and of the best origin. These are facts. The conclusion I draw from them may be erroneous, but it is submitted that it may be examined. UNITED STATES. 41 "We expect, generally, that the progress of Christianity in a country will certainly, however gradually, undermine and overthrow customs and usages, superstitions and prejudices, of an un- christian character. That this contempt of the Negro is unchristian, perhaps I shall be excused from stooping to argue. But, alas I pari passu with the spread of what the pulpit renders current as Christianity in my native country, is the growth, diffusion, and perpetuity of hatred to the Negro ; indeed, one might be almost tempted to accredit the words of one of the most eloquent of English- men, who, more than twenty years ago, described it in few but forcible terms—" the l\egro-hating Christianity." Religion^ however, should be sub- stituted for Christianity ; for while a religion may be from man, and a religion from such an origin may be capable of hating^ Christianity is always from God, and, like him, is love. " He who hateth his brother abideth in darkness." " Love is the fulfilling of the law." Surely it is with no pleasure that I say, from experience, deep-wrought con- viction, that the oppression and the maltreatment of the hapless descendant of Africa is not merely an ugly excrescence upon American religion— not a blot upon it, not even an anomaly, a contradiction, and an admitted imperfection, a deplored weak- ness—a lamented form of indwellini.^ an easilv be- 42 Al^TI-SLAVERY LABOUES. i' R setting, sin; no, it is a part and parcel of it, a cardinal principle, a sine qud non^ a cherished de- fended keystone, a corner-stone, of American faith — all the more so as it enters into the practice, the everyday practice, of an overwhelming majority (equal to ninety-nine hundredths) of its professors, lay and clerical, of all denominations ; not except- ing, too, many of the Quakers ! How these people will get on in Heaven, into which sovereign, abounding, divine mercy admits blacks as well as whites, I knpw not; but Heaven is not the only place to which either whites or blacks will enter after the judgment ! In view of such a conclusion, what is anti- slavery labour? Manifestly the refutation of all this miserable nonsense and heresy — for it is both. How is this to be done ? Not alone by lecturing, holding anti-slavery conventions, distributing anti- slavery tracts, maintaining anti-slavery societies, and editing anti-slavery joui-nals, much less by making a trade of these, for certain especial pets and favourites to profit by and in which to live in luxury; but, in connection with these labours, right and necessary in themselves, effective as they must be when properly pursued, xhe cultivation of all the upward tendencies of the coloured man. I call the expert black cordwainer, blacksmith, or other mechanic or artisan, the teacher, the lawyer, the UNITED STATES. 43 doctor, the farmer, or the divine, an anti-slavery labourer; and in his vocation from day to day, with his hoe, hammer, pen, tongue, or lancet, he is living down the base calumnies of his heartless adversaries — he is demonstrating his truth and their falsity : indeed, all the labour which falls short of this — much more, such as does not tend in this direction — must, from the nature of the case and the facts and demands of the cause, be defective, lamentably defective, to use no stronger term. I shall be understood, I hope, then, if I include the chief facts of my life, whether in the editorial chair, in the pulpit, on the platform, pleading for this cause or that, in my anti-slavery labours. God helping me wherever I ahcW be, at home, abroad, on land or sea, in public or private walks, as a man, a Christian, especially as a black man, my labours must be anti-slavery labours, because mine must be an anti-slavery life. 44 CHAPTER II. S <■;, 1 I WORK BEGUN. I SHALL not inflict the dry details of a journal upon my readers. Treating of my labours in the American States, in this part I shall briefly npeak of the incidents which in Providence led to my entering upon the lecturing field, those connected with my settlement in the ministry, and some events occurring in the course of both, and the reasons for the termination of those labours. That the annoimcement of a meeting for the formation of an anti-slavery society should create a sensation among the coloured people of New York no one will wonder. Having been abused, and befooled, and slandered, disparaged, ridiculed, and traduced, by the Colonizationists, we could not but look on, first, with very great distrust upon any persons stepping forward with schemes pro- fessedly for our good. But a young printer had suiFered imprisonment in Baltimore, for exposing there what Clarkson had long before exposed in Liverpool — viz., the paraphernalia of a gystematic, i UNITED STATES. 45 authorized, lucrative slave trade; and this young man being released through ^^he munificence of one of our then wealthiest Pearl Street merchants, we could not doubt the real motives of either of these. Garrison would not suffer imprisonment in our behalf, insincerely; Arthur Tappan would not liberate Garrison from imprisonment, on such a charge, at the cost of one thousand dollars, in- sincerely; indeed, we know too well that no white man would suffer for our sakes, without more than ordinary philanthropy. These gentlemen deserved, and they received, our confidence. In 1830 I heard, in New Haven, Connecticut, at the Temple Street Coloured Congregational Church, the Kev. Simeon S. Jocelyn preach. I learned that, when a young man, a bank-note engraver by trade, he studied theology and entered the ministry, on purpose to serve the colour :^.d people. When a lecture was announced to be delivered on the sub- ject of slavery by that gentleman, I was but i i glad to hear him. I learned to love him as ^ child; I now have the honour of his friendship as a man. His was the first anti-slavery lecture I ever heard, and it was delivered in 1834. In the spring of the same year Professor E. Wright, jun., who liad been in the enjoyment of a Professorship in a Western College, b'lt relinquished it, and with it surrendered a siilarv of eleven hundred dollars 46 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. for one of four hundred, that he might be at liberty to serve the anti-slavery Ciiuse, lectured upon the same subject. I was among his many delighted auditors. The same gentleman is now E. Wright, Esq., of Boston, the Douglas Jerrold of America. A lawyer well known to fame, David Paul Brown, Esq., of Philadelphia, was always ready to render his peerless services in defence of any person claimed as a slave. On the fourth day of July, 1834^ this gentleman was invited to deliver an anti-slavery Qration in Chatham Chapel, and, of course, tlie coloured people mustered in strong array to hear so well known a champion of free- dom ; but the meeting was dispersed by a mob, gathered and sustained by the leading commercial and political men and joi '^nals of that great city. It was Independence Day — a day, of all days, sacred to freedom. What Mr. Brown came to tell that the principles, enunciated in few us was words, in the Declaration of Independence — " We hold these truths to be self-evident truths, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienaLie rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness" — applied as well to black men as to white men. This tlic aristocracy of New York could not endure ; and tlierefore, just fifty-eight years from the very hour that the Declaration of 1776 UNITED STATES. 47 was made, the mob of the New York merchants broke up this assembly. On the 7th of the same month the coloured people held a meeting in the same place, to listen to an address from one of the ablest of their number, Benjamin F. Hughes, Esq. That meet- ing was dispersed by a mob led by a person holding a lucrative political office in the city. This gentleman (I like to indulge in poetry some- times) thought to do as he pleased with the blacks, kicking them about at will ; and while Mr. Hughes was speaking, ordered other parties to come in and occupy the building. Seeing resistance made by some of the coloured people, and fearing he might receive a blow for a kick, he elevated a chair over his head, and stood witnessing the melee himself had begun, when Mr. Jinnings knocked him over with a well-aimed missile. Leaving his men to fight or run, as might seem wisest, this general of the mob escaped from a window 22 feet from the ground, injuring himself so as to keep his house for a fortnight — in his own person the leader of the mob and the only man injured in the affray. The blacks were victors ; every \/hite man was driven from the place. But while a few of us lingered, a reinforcement of the white belligerents came, and, finding some few lads of us in the place, they drove us out with a rush to the door. Then tliev com- 48 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. menced beating us in the most cowardly manner. The public watchman arrested the parties beaten instead of those committing the assault, and it was my lot to be among the former number. For the crime of being publicly assaulted by several white persons, I was locked up in the watchhouse throughout the night. Shortly after my imprison- ment, four others were brought into the same cell by the officers of peace and justice, for the same crime. In the meantime the mob went to the house of Lewis; Tappan, Esq., broke it open, sacked it, and burned the furniture. Mr. Tappan was brother and partner of the gentleman who liberated Garrison; he also believed in the Declaration of Independence; hence the mutilation and burning of his property. My oath of allegiance to the anti- slavery cause was taken in that cell on the 7th of July, 1834. In the morning we were brought before the police magistrate, with other prisoners. Those against whom no one appeared, or whom no one charged with any offence, were discharged. None appeared against us. The w^atchman who arrested us had no charge to bring: he simply said, in the chaste diction of a New York official, " Thur was a row in Chatham Chapel last night, and these niggers was tliere." The magistrate, a sample specimen of the New York Dogberry, abused us, and, instead of discharging us according I If UNITED STATES. 49 to law and custom, remanded us to Bridewell, to give parties an opportunity of appearing against us. I never knew the same course taken in any other case. To Bridewell we went, and were put into a cell with nineteen others. In a most filthy state was that cell. All the occupants, besides my four companions, were charged with crime— one with killing a man ; and though we were searched before we were incarcerated, this man had, and showed us, the knife with which he had inflicted the murder. The murderer, Johnson, had been fet- tered in the same cell, and we saw the chain by which he had been fastened to the floor. When the prison cup was off"ered us to drink from, and when the prison food was brought us, feeling our innocence and our dignity (lads of seventeen seldom lack the latter), we refused both. About ten o'clock my father and G. A. Ward, Esq., procured my' liberation, by paying the turnkey. As an innocent subject, unrighteously doomed to a felon's prison without either accuser or trial, when liberated, I should have gone out free. My fellow prisoners were liberated soon after. That imprisonment initiated me into the anti-slavery fraternity. In July, 1837, 1 was selected to deliver an oration before a Literary Society of which I was a member it was my flrst public attempt at public speaking. Among those present was Lewis Tappan, Esq. E i 50 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. In August of the same year I was invited to speak m the Broadway Tabernacle. In 1839 I was en- gaged in Poughkeepsie, as teacher of the Coloured Lancasterian School. Anxious to pursue further studies, I applied to one or two gentlemen for aid One of them confessed himself but a beginner in one of the branches in which I had made some progress • and he soon after gave me a deeper wound, and more severe discouragement, than any other man ever did. A debate upon the peace question was to occur, in ,a hall of which this gentleman and I were joint proprietors for the time. I had another engagement to speak, at some distance from home within a day or two of the time of the debate! ihis gentleman urged my return in time to par- ticipate in the discussion. I complied, went to the hall. A few only attended ; and after a little con- versation instead of a debate, it was concluded to torm a Literary Society. My friend was requested to pass a paper for the names of such persons present as would enter such a society. He did not solicit my name. He came to me after the proceeding had terminated, and said, " Mr. Ward you must have noticed that I did not hand the paper to you for your signature. I omitted you on purpose, because I saw that if your name was taken several of those present Avould bolt." Then, thouglit I, what IS the use of my acting uprightlv, seekino. If UNITED STATES. 51 to win fame, and gaining it, if in this country a professed friend, a man who goes with me to the house of God, hearing me preach, visits ny house, after all treads upon me to please his neighbours? My determination was formed to leave the country. I accordingly wrote to Mr. Burnley, of the Trin- idad Legislature, a relation of the late Joseph Hume, Esq., M.P., who kindly encouraged my going to that island. I wrote also to Eev. Joshua Leavitt, asking for letters of recommendation. Mr. L. deprecated my leaving America, thinking I might be of some service to the anti-slavery cause. I wrote him again, bitterly stating my utter despair of doing anything for myself or my people amid so many discouragements. The reply I re- ceiyed was an appointment as agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society, to travel and lecture for them. I accepted the appointment, my commission being signed by Henry B. Stanton, Esq., who was then, and Hon. James Gillespie Birney, who yet pro- fesses to be, an abolitionist; these gentlemen being secretaries of that Society; in the same capacity they came to London, to attend the World's Anti- Slavery Convention of 1840. Thus was I intro- duced into the mti-slavery agency. E 2 52 CHAPTER III. THE FIELD OCCUPIED. In November, 1839, 1 made my debut as a lecturer. It cost me a great deal of effort and self-denial. My youtliful wife and my infant boy I must leave, to go hundreds of miles, travelling in all weathers, meeting all sorts of people, combatting some of the most deeply seated prejudices, and in the majority of instances denied the ordinary courtesies of civilized ^ife. I suffered more than can be here described. At length I considered that every Christian has not only a cross to bear, but his peculiar cross; and that God, not man, must judge and decide in what shape that cross must come : aye, and he too would give grace to bear it. Thus fortified, I wen^ forth; and from that day to this I have never been able to see this travelling, homeless, wandering part of the work in any other liglit than a cross. No place cwn be a substitute for home, though the latter be a hovel, the former a palace. No observer can enter into one's inner feelings, live over again one's life, as does the loving wife. In sickness, in sorrow, tn Ul.^x'ED STATES. 53 be away from home adds mountain weights to what the wanderer's bosom must bear; and I may as well add, that the poisoned tongue of censure — cool, deliberate, granite-hearted censure — censure from unbridled but professedly Christian tongues, to be found alike on both sides of the Atlantic, even among orethren and others— doth not diminish the rigour of the cross. Still, witli God's blessing I went forth, making my first speech at a private house, and afterwards speaking in public places until I become accus- tomed somewhat to the sound of my own voice, and a little skilled in the handling of the subject, receiving kind encouragement from one friend and another ; until, being transferred to the service of the New York State Society ?n December 1839, I had the unspeakable pleasure of making the ac- quaintance of some of its most distinguished mem- bers and officers, and, at the same time, of avoiding official connection with the quarrels which divided the Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, and the subse- quent dissensions among them. This same December, 1839, was eventful as the month in which I became personally acquainted with Hon. Gerrit Smith, Kev. Beriah Green, and WilKam Goodell, Esq. — three men whose peers are not to be found in New York or any other State. Gerrit Smith had not then been sent to Conaress, .* ? i I I f i ( 54 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. but he had shown himself every way qaalified for the highest seat in any legislature, for the highest office in the gift of any people. Not that office would adom or ennoble him, but that, in office as everywhere else, the majestic dignity of his mien, the easy graceful perfection of his manners, hi? highly cultivated intellect, his rich and varied learning, his profoundly instructive conversation, his princely munificence, the natural stream spring- ing in and flowing from a most benevolent heart— and, above all, his sweet, childlike, simple, earnest, constant piety, pervading his whole life and spark- ling in all he says or does— these traits would have shed lustre upon any office, and have made their possessor the most admired and most attractive as they make him one of the very best of men. In spite of all that was said of this gentleman by his enemies during his short career in Congress, fourteen years after the time I speak of, the very bitterest of his foes— or, what is tantamount, the ftJsest of his professed friends— were obligerl to acknowledge him to be one f the noblest of earth's noble sons. Never shall I forget the first time I heard that model man speak. Standing erect, as he could stand no other way, with liis large, manly frame, graceful figure and faultless mannerism, richly but plainly dressed, with a broad collar and black ribbon upon his neck (his invariable costume, whatever be ^*. I UNITED STATES. 55 i tlie prevailing fashion), his look, with his broad in- tellectual face and towering forehead, was enough to charm any one not dead to all s' ise of the beau- tiful; and then, his rich, deep, flexible, musical voice, as capable of a thunder-tone as of a v/hisper — a voice to which words were suited, as it was suited to words; 1 t, most of all, the words, thoughts, sentiment truths and principles, he uttered — rendered me, and tlnu sands more with me, unable to sit or stand in any quietness during his speech. This was in May, 1838. Mr. Smith was speaking against American Negro-hate. He is a descendant of the Dutch, who have distin- guished themselves as much for their ill natm-e' towpvrds Negroes as ibr anything else. He be- longed by wealth and position to the very first circles of tlie old Dutch aristocracy ; he was the constant and ridmired associate of the proudest Negro-haters on the face of the earth ; he had for years bef^n a member of that most unscrupulous band of organized, systematic, practical promul- gators of Negro-hate, the Colonization Society : and yet, in Broadway rabernacle, upon an anti- slavery platform, in the city of New ^^ork (tlie worit city, save Pliiladclphia, since the days of Sodom, on this subject), Gcrrit Smith stood up before four thousand of his countrymo'n to denounce this their cherished, honoured, they believe Chris- ^6 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. I if tianlzed vice. To mortal man it is seldom per- mitted to behold a sight so full of or so radiant with moral power and beauty. Among the things he said, I may attempt to recall one sentiment— he asserted that, in ordinary circumstances, a person does not and cannot know how or what the Negro the victim of this fiendish feeling, has to endure! Englishmen coming to America at first look upon It as a species of insanity. We are not all con- scious of what we are doing to our poor coloured brother. "The time was, Mr. Chairman," said this prince of omtors, "when I did not understand It; but when I came to put myself in my coloured brother's stead— when I imagined myself in his position— when I sought to realize what he feels, and how he feels it-when, in a word, I became a COLOURED MAN-then I Understood it, and learned how and why to hate it." To enforce his personal illustration there was one great fact. Mr. Smith had read of One "who made himself of no reputation," and he chose to imitate Him. Long, long before the anti-slavery question agitated the American mind, Mr. Smith and his excellent lady had concluded that, by whomsoever they might be visited, no coloured person sliould be slighted or treated with any less respect in their mansion because of his colour. Mr. and Mrs. Smith knew that they were visited by some of the first UNITED STATES. 57 families of the land — they were such ; their rela- tives were such ; and no inconsiderable number of them were slaveholders. They knew what would be said ; but they also knew what was right, and upon that principle had Mr. Smith invariably acted — scorning, spurning, and trampling upon the vile demon of Negro-hate for twenty years before he made that ever memorable speech. Such was his qualification to make such a speech, in such a pre- sence. Now, a man of no position, a mere mechanic or artisan, who makes himself by means of his cause, and who earns his bread by his pliilanthropy, may talk cheaply enough about what he dares and suffers for the poor slave; but one who, in Mr. Smith's position, gives untold wealth in lands and money, must be judged otherwise. Mr. Smith has given 120,000 acres of land to coloured people — has sacrificed his position, and, from sympathy with the coloured people, has identified himself with them. Here then we see philanthropy, real, pure, self-sacrificing — philanthropy, indeed, such as very few in any country exhibit, and fewer still in that country. But, God be praised. Gen-it Smith belongs to that few. The honour and pleasure of making that gentleman's acquaintance was mine in 1839, at his house, in Peterborougli. No honour I ever enjoyed do I esteem more highly than that I may call the Honourable Gerrit Smith my per- 58 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. sonal friend. Of him I say, sometimes, he is the SLaftesbmy of America; and those who enjoy the pleasure of knowing both know that I honour the noble Earl in nothing more highly than in speaking of his Lordship as the Gerrit Smith of England, of Europe. The Eev. Beriah Green, President of Oneida Institute (the alma mater of several of my dear schoolfellows, among them Heniy Highland Gar- net and Alexander Crummell), was among the acquaintances I had the privilege of making in 1839. Few* clergymen, of any denomination, in any country, equal the profound, the learned, the original Beriah Green. His love for humanity, especially the poorest of the poor, is of the most ardent type. Upon its altar he will lay salary, name, place, reputation, not only, but submit to all manner of abuse and misrepresentation, and toil at any kind of hard labour, " fov dear humanity's sake," to use his own beautiful, expressive, em- phatic phrase. Such was this devoted philan- thropist, sixteen years ago; such is he now, in spite of increasing years and undiminished sacri- fices. I never knew a person who put a higher estimate upon simple manhood, and who relied upon the simple truth more fully, than he. In argument, in analyzing principles, in applying me- t-ipi.ysical tests, I never saw nor read of his equal. UNITED STATES. 59 William Goodell, then the editor of the " I'riend of Man," differs somewhat from both of his contem- poraries, but he is a great man in all that makes a man truly great. He has not the eloquence of Mr. Smith, nor, technically speaking, the metaphy- sical acumen and power of Mr. Green ; but for pm*e, sound, strong logic — for clear, consecutive reasoning — for the keen ability to detect a fallacy, a sophism, a tendency to defect or unsoundness — for a downright refinement and sublimation, as well as an acute and well tempered use, of common sense — William Goodell has not his superior, if his equal, among all whom I have met on either side of the Atlantic. If, then, these gentlemen differ in taste, education, former pursuits, habits of thought, and intellectual character, as doubtless they do, they agree in one thing — the earnest, simple devo- tion of the entire soul to the love of God and the love of man. To have formed the acquaintance of these three personages, to work under their advice and direc- tion, to acquire their friendship, and to be uncon- scious of any diminution of it for sixteen years, was and is, to me, a priceless privilege. This is the best apology I can offer, if indeed any is neetled, for occupying so nmch of these pages in speaking of them. To know them is to love them ; and it is among the most pleasing of one's anticipations of 60 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. the happiness of the future state, that eternity will be enjoyed in such excellent association. Is it not one of the highest proofs of the power of divine grace, that it can and does furnish such specimens of redeemed man, in the midst of a generation how- ever wicked and perverse? Is it not an earnest of God's favour to the anti-slavery cause, that he calls into labour and sacrifice gifts so sound, talent so exalted, intellects so cultivated, piety so Christlike ? i:ji'-_.d 61 CHAPTER IV. THL ISSUE CONTEMPLATED. It is a matier of surprise to people in Englarid that the Americans should profess so loudly the Chris- tian religion, and insist so strongly upon repub- licanism as the only proper form of government, and yet hold slaves and treat Negroes, as they do, in the directest possible opposition both to repub- licanism and Christianity. The opposition which the citizens of the United States, of both the North and the South, make to the anti-slavery cause, is, to Europeans, an inexplicable mystery. Far be it from me to attempt a solution of it. I will endea- vour to state the real issue betwixt anti-slavery men and their opponents ; and, in doing so, I fear I shall make the matter more, instead of less, mysterious. Those who recollect, or who have read of, the opposition Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Buxton had to encounter in their day, on the subject of the slave trade, in the British senate, and from Eng- lishmen interested in the slave trade, know what 62 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. class of argnimeiits were used against the measures of righteousness advocated by them. Precisely the same class of arguments have been made against the abolition of slavery in the United States, by American senators, and by American merchants, theologians, and politicians: indeed, I have seen where the very words used by His Koyal Highness the Duke of Clarence, against the abolition of the slave trade, were uttered in the American Senate against the abolition of slavery there. When the abolition of West India slavery was urged by Brougham, Stanley, and others, they in their turn were assailed with the same sort of opposition which their anti-slavery fathers, so to speak, met ; and just such opposition have Sumner, Wilson, Seward, Giddings, and otliers, to overcome in the American Senate now. We explain the opposition of British slaveholders and slave trad; li to aboli- tion, on the gi-ound of interest, long continued use and abuse of authority, degenerating into petty tyranny and worse than brutal cruelty. These, however, sailed under no flag of boasted freedom. They did not clamour for the equality of all men. They found no fault with other than republican forms of government. They did not set themselves up as universal reformers. They said but little— wisely— about religion, for they had but little religion to talk about: and such as the^ had UNITED STATES. 63 judging from their lives, was more honoured by silence than profession. In America the case was different. Parties hav- ing the least to do with the South, or with slavery, are among the fiercest opposers of the anti-slavery cause. Ladies— save the mark! — and gentlemen of the most amiable and benevolent dispositions, such as contribute to every local charity, listen to all the cries of misery from the Old World, and honour all drafts made upon them for the spread of the gospel among the distant heathen, are the most active and, from their high religious position, the most power- ful abettors and defenders of the slave system — not as it was in some ancient country two thousand years ago, but as it is now in the United States. Northern pulpit orators defend slavery from the Bible, the Old Testament and the New ; and this is not true of one here and there only, it is so of the most learned, most distinguished of them, of all denominations. Tlie very men who cater for British popularity, are the loudest declaimers in favour of this " domestic institution." Another class of them maintain the most studious silence concerning it. If they speak at all, they condemn only " slavery in the abstract," and condemn abolition in the concrete. They neither hold nor treat slavery as sinful ; and when pressed, declare tliat " some sins are not to be preached against." Such was the 64 4NTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. teii .L:ii;^- of f, distinguished theological professor to hip class in a " school of the prophets " in New York State. Besides, all the machinery of the benevolent societie.^ is so framed, and set, and kept at work, as not .Ay not to interfere with slavery, but to pander to it. The American Tract Society not only publishes no tract against slavery, but they favour that abominable system in the two following ways :— 1. If an English woi'k which they republish has a line in it discountenancing slavery, however indirectly, it is either taken out, or so altered as' to lose its force in that particular direction. Their emasculation of " Gumey on the Love of God " is notorious. 2. They refuse to publish a tract on the subject, v/hen other acknow- ledged Christians and Christian ministers propose to write and prepare one, and defray the expense of publishing the same. No, poor slave: dumb as thou art, dumb shalt thou ever be, so far as this Society is concerned. The American Bible Society distributes no Bibles among tlie slave population. To do so, it is freely admitted, were contrary to law in some States— not in all. It is so in nine of the fifteen Slave States, but not in the other six ; and some of these laws were framed, and all of them are upholden, and many of them administered and executed, by mem- bers, friends, and patrons of this Societv= Not one UNITED STATES. 65 word ever escapes the lips of that Society, as such, against these anti-Protestant laws ! In 1841 1 knew of an agent of an auxiliary to that Society who was distributing Bibles in Louisiana, and, being igno- rant of the laws upon the subject, asked a free coloured man if he could read, with the intention of giving or selling him a Bible if he could. Some one overheard him, and informed against him. He was arrested, tried, found guilty, but leniently dis- charged, on account of his ignorance of the law which he had violated. Slaveholders and their abettors belong to and are officers of the American Bible Society, and they control it. That slavery forbids the searching of the Scriptures, which Christ enjoins, is to them not even a matter of complaint, Albeit, they pledge themselves to give the Chris- tian Scriptures to every family in the Union. The American Sunday-school Union stands in precisely the same category, and is controlled by precisely the same influences; and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is, and always has been, both in its policy and its officers, of the very same character. The several religious bodies, with their respective branches, of all denominations, except the Quakers and the Free- Will Baptists (although the majority of their numbers are Northern men), are completely subject to the Gortrol of their slaveholdiRg members. But P 66 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. the most lamentable fact is, that in CongregatioLal New England the sons of Puritan sires are as guilty as the guiltiest enemies of the down-trodden slave. Such was the state of the case in 1839, when my labours began ; such, I regret to say, continues the case at this moment: and here I will take the liberty of saying that, although my connection with the New York State Anti-Slavery Society dis- severed me from the division of the abolitionists in 1840, and although I never belonged to tiie Garrison branch of the abolitionists, so-caller' I will do them* the justice to record, that the least, slightest tendency towards infidelity, or even of impatience with the Churches, was never seen or suspected in them until after the New England clergy, as a body, had taken ground distinctly and openly against the anti-slavery cause {vide Goodall's "History of the Anti-Slavery Cause"). What reason is given for tliis strange action on the part of religious denominations, benevolent institutions, theological professors, and individual clergymen ? I will state it as fairly as I can. Their chief reason is, that it will disturb their existing harmony so to take up, digcuss, and con- sider this question, as, it seems to abolitionists, its importance demands. In the Churches, while they maintain silence upon it, or ignore it altogether, tliey have nothing to cause disagTeemcnt. This I Mt t:«TED STATES. 67 question w n^ l i e an apple of discord, as brethren of c.|ual pietj .'. uld range themselves on opposite sides of it. .;;; it would be in the benevolent societies. Ilarmony, peace, are sought in that country by religious people, at almost any ex- pense ; slaveholders are members of the different religious denominations ,• in fact, one sixth of all the slaveholders belong to Methc lists. Baptists, Episcopalian?^ and Presbyterians. To treat slavery as sinful, would offend these brethren; and what is the use of that? They are good Christians ; they treat their slaves well ; and so long as they give signs of piety, are regular in their standing, pious in conversation, sound in doctrine, and con-ect in other matters,^ save this one of slavery, why should they be disturbed ? why offend them ? Some deny the sinfulness of slaveholding; others shelter themselves behind the faults of the aboli- tionists ; others defend slaveholding from the Bible; but I think their love of harmony is their chief alleged reason for their present attitude. Let it not be forgotten, however, that behind all this— and going very far, I think, to explain it— is the con- tempt they all alike maintain towards the Negi'o. Surely, if they believed him to be an eqtml brother man, such miserable pretexts for, and defences of, the doing of the mightiest wrongs against him, would never for a moment be tliought of. J ) F 2 i, I I ' 1 i ! ANTI SLAVEEY 1.ABOUES. The abolitionists, on the other hand, point out the intrinsic nature and character of slavery— not in the abstract, but in the concrete— not as one might imagine it to be, but as it is— not as it was (or was not) two thousand years ago, more or less, but as it is to-%— its brutalizing, chattelizing ; buying, selling, the image of God and the mem- bers of Christ's body; its adultery, fornication, mcest-and ask if religious men and ministers are really serious in declaring this to be no sin ? If not serious, is it not a matter too grave to jest about? Violating, as it does, every part and parcel of the Decalogue, could He who grve the law from Sinai approve it? They point to the law of love, and ask. Shall mt our black brother receive the treatment, the love, of a brotlier, as well as the Hmdoo 0. the Laplander? They point to the law which denies him the Bible, and ask. Can the God of the Bible approve that law T They hear Christ say, " Inasmuch as ye did it (or did it not) to the least of these my brethren, ye did it (or did it not) unto me." Black men are, in the estimation of these brethren who oppose the anti-slavery cause, "the least." Should not religious men tremble, lest the Son of Man should denounce these terrible words against them ? \/lien told of the piety of slavdiolding professors of religion, they point to the acknowledged piety of .1% ft UNITED STATES. ea the Jewish Church; notwithstanding which God de- nounced them for refusing " to break the yoke and let the oppressed go free" (Isa. Iviii. 1-6). When the harmony and peace of the Church are pleaded for, against them, abolitionists plead for the "wis- dom which is from above, which is first pire^ then peaceable." When urged, as it frequently is, that it is no part of the business of the Church, or her benevolent handmaids, to speak against existing social and political evils, abolitionists remind brethren of the firm lodgment which ti.e evils con- nected with and inseparable f::om slavery have in the Church ; so that, as the gentle and gifted Bir- ney hath it, " the American Church is the bulwark of slavery :" so that, as the amiable Barnes saith, " there is no power out of the Church that could sustain slavery a twelvemonth, if the Church should turn her artillery against it." If abolitionists hear pro-slavery men say there are sins which the Church and the Pulpit ought not and need not rebuke, they point to the preach- ing of all the true prophets, to the Lord, and to the apostles; all of whom took especial pains to rebuke and to denounce the specific forms of iniquity which, in their own times, were most prevalent, most fashionable, most profitable. This sin of oppression was not among the least of them : so when told that some who denounce slavery, III 70 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. M and at the same time inveigh against pro-slavery Churches and ministers, are sceptics, it is with no sort of pleasure that abolitionists recall the time when the most prominent of this class, were as sound and orthodox in their views of divine truth as any of their accusers, and continued to be so until appalled and disgusted by seeing how lament- ably the class who now cry out "Infidel!" exhi- bited that worst, most delusive, most practical form of infidelity— the " holding of the truth in unrigh- teousness," the justifying of the foulest crimes (such as of necessity enter into and form constituent ele- ments of slavery) by God's holy Word. Such was the issue betwixt the anti-slavery cause and its religious opposers in 1839 ; such was it dur- ing my humble advocacy of emancipation; and such were, on the one side and on the other, the sort of arguments I had to meet and to make ; and such is the issue between those who take opposite sides of this great question in that country now — an issue neither beginning nor ending with the rights and the liberties, the weal or the woe, of the poor Negro; but an issue involving tlie honour of Christ, the purity of the Church, the character of God, and the nature of our religion — of Christi- anity — and tlie influence of the American people, religiously, at home and abroad. Wliat sort of Christ is he who, wiiile professing to die for the ti. .■.;^^^'y/.^: ■SJfft' •;l^B4l,'::?*{S-S4^|,:-ji»'-'Y V .-''""^ ':^-iV'in,- '-i:,i- UNITED STATES. 71 » i race^ authorizes the exclusion of the coloured portion thereof— at least three fourths — from the commonest benefits of his salvation ? Even such is the Christ of American pro-slavery religion. What is the character of that God who, giving a moral code from Sinai, right in the fitness of things, as well as because an emanation from himself and a trans- cript of his will, but who authorizes one fourth of those upon whom he makes that law binding to violate and trample under foot every precept and principle of that code, touching the other three fourths of their fellow men? Even that Is the character of the Deity, as seen in the light — or the darkness — of a pro-slavery religion. How pure c^n that Church be which smiles upon, fondles, caresses, protects, and rejoices to defend, a system which cannot exist without turning out a million and three quarters of the women of the country to the unbridled lusts of the men who hold despotic power over them? some of these women, three hundred thousand, being owned by members of the Church, and some sixtv thousand of these women being me 'bevs of it too! Such ia the purity of the American pro-slavery Churcli. What can be the nature of a religion witli whicli all this is con- sistei.' and a part of which it is? Just such is the nature of the pro-slavery religion of my native country; and, what is more grievous to add, just so b I I'm. I ■ 1 (■ 72 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. far as it shall spread in heathen lands, just so far as it passes current in Europe, just so far does this blighting, withering influence go with it. Now, abolitionists — Christian abolitionists — in America, are contending as to whether the religion of Jesus, or that which is fashionable about them, shall pre- vail over themselves and their neighbours. They see that when a system of religion becomes so cor- rupt as to uphold and defend so abominable a system of iniquities as slavery, it is not to be trusted upon anything else. They know that if such a Church be not reformed it must become a sort of mother of harlots, and all manner of abomi- nations. Whether that Church can be reformed or not is, with them, still a question ; with me it is not. But I entreat the reader to look at the issue. It is not whether some men liave wisely or un- wisely pleaded tliis cause, nor whether their mea- sures were commendable or not ; nor merely, what shall be done with the Negi*o? It is, shall religion, pure and undcfiled, prevail in the land; or shall a corrupt, spurious, human system, dishonouring to God and oppressive to man, have tlie prevalence? That is the issue, ^' before Israel and the sun." ^ * ^'Wwm mw^^ 73 CHAPTER V. THE POLITICAL QUESTION. In like manner, the abolitionists, such as' those with whom it was my honour to be associated, inquired how far they could wield their political powers, with the parties of the day, innocently. Abo'i. the time to which I was referring — viz., 1839-iO — they began to see the great fact, that the political parties of the country departed as widely from the old maxims of democracy and republicanism as did the Churches from the gospel. They saw the North divided into two great parties, wielding two thirds of the votes of the nation, each of these having Southern members who controlled them, and both of them catering for the largest share of the Southern vote, which was about one thu'd of the entire suffrage. They saw the best, highest offices, given freely to Southern men, on purpose to propitiate the South ; while the South demanded and accepted this unnatural, undue, and disproportioned amount of })ower and emolument, both as the price of their aid to the party giving I I 74 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. them, and as a means of securing the interests of slavery. Hence it was that the diplomatic agents of the country were sure to he Southerners, or pro- slavery men. Who ever knew any other character at the Court of St. James, or the Court of St. Cloud? Hence it was, too, that ere a Northern man could be qualified for any post of honour in the national gift, he must prove himself to have been always entirely free from the least taint of abolitionism, or to have been thoroughly purged of it, if he had ever been so much as reasonably suspected of it. At the same time, in Northern localities the friends and members of these parties souglit to cajole and seduce abolitionists into voting v.-ith one or the other of them, under the plea that it was more favourable to the anti- slavery cause than its opposite, while manifestly both were the tools and the props of the slave powers. Abolitionists did not fail to see, that to vote Nvith eitlicr of these parties was alike repugnant to their cherished principles and to their self-respeot. Then, they must do one of two things ; either refrain from voting altogether, or concentrate their votes upon candidates of their own selection— in other words, form a political party upon anti-slavery principles. They adopted, wisely, the latter. That party wus formed in August, 1840, at Syracuse. I then became, for ft I SI \)\ UNITED STATES. 75 II for the first time, a member of a political party. With it I cast my first vote ; to it I devoted my political activities ; with it I lived my political life — which terminated when, eleven years subsequently, 1 left the country. • As the abolitionists saw the Churches were trampling under foot the fundamental principles of Christianity, touching slavery, so they saw the Government and the political parties to be false to their own sworn principles of freedom and demo- cracy. They departed from the constitution, which was made " to secure the blessings of liberty," and which ordained that " no man shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law." The Whig-s denied the faith of their revolutionary fathers, whose Whiggism was but another name for self- sacrificing love of liberty. The Democrats, claim- ing Jefferson as their father and boasting of his having written the Declaration of Independence, hated nothing so intensely as Jefferson's writings against slavery — and that very Declaration of Inde- pendence, when, among "ALL men" in it declared to be entitled by God to the unalienable right to liberty, Negroes were said to be included. Both professed to be admirers of the great Washington; but neither of them, like him, coveted the oppor- tunity of using his political power against slavery in his native State. What the abolitionists then >.l t 76 ANTI'SLAVERY LABOUES. demanded, and now contend for, is the simple application of the principles of the Declaration of Independence to the black as well as the white, and that the former should share the benefits secured by the constitution as well as the latter. Believing just what the Declaration of Indepen- dence says, that the riglit of ma'i to liberty is unalienable, they hold that no enactments, no con- stitutions, no consent of the man himself, no com- binations of men, can alienate that which is by God's Jiat made unalienable. They agree with England's greatest living jurist. Brougham, that the idea that man can be the property of man is io be rejected as a "wild and guilty phantasy": neither overlooking nor neglecting other great questions with which governments and parties have to do, they make their basis principle the unalien- able right of man " to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It was to the promulgation of these political principles, and of those religious principles to which I referred in the preceding pages, that, as an agent of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, it was my duty and my pleasure to devote myself. This duty brought me into contact with all classes of the enemies of the cause — made me familiar with ail the different objections urged against it on the one hand; and it gave me the ever-to-be-remembered pleasure of meeting ail ;f:Hilfcif UNITED STATES. 77 classes of abolitionists, profiting by their sugges- tions, accepting their hospitalities, rejoicing in their sympathies, and sharing their devotions. A truer, a more discerning set of men, America does not hold. They are fully alive to the issue before them. They see that, if the principle be admitted that a black man may be legally, righteously en- slaved, so may any other man; that slavery is altogether regardless of the colour of its vixitims : that its encroachments upon th'^. right of petition, the freedom of the press, the freedom of speech — its whipping, tarring and feathering, and lynching, white abolitionists at the South— its enslavement of the light-coloured cL'ldren of white men — its un- scrupulous, insatiate demands, nature, character — all make it the enemy of any and every class opposing it, willing to jeopard and to destroy the liberties of any whom it can crush as its victims. They see tliat the real political issue is, not whether the black man's slavery shall be perpetuated, but whether the freedom of any Americans can be permanentc Blessings on the men who, at all hazards, are pre- pared to welcome and to meet that issue, with all its sacrifices and all its consequences! Whether they succeed or not, whether there is sufficient soundness and vitality in the republic to admit of its being saved or not, they, let the worst come, will ever bear in their bosoms the satisfaction of it 78 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. having done their duty in times of the utmost trial. Yea, blessings on that fearless hand ! Allow me once more to state, what I fear Eng- lishmen but too seldom and too slightly consider — 1. The religious issue betwixt the American anti- slavery men and their opposers is deep, radical, vital, involving the religious weal or woe of the American Church. 2. The political issue is as deep, radical, and vital, in its kind: involving the safety, the stability — not the unity alone, but the very existence, of the republic. It is not like the emancipation question in Great Britain, or the corn-law question, or the reform question. It is not. What are the powers and scope of the Govern- ment, to what limit do they extend, to what classes do they apply, and of what improve- ments are they capable ? It is a question affecting all classes, involving the fate of the whole people, undermining the basis of their best institutions, lying at the root of all constitutional government, and in its gi-asp including the whole range of American rights. .. ., m 79 CHAPTER VI. THE WHITE CHURCH AND COLOURED PASTOR. It was while journeying through Western 'New Yorkj promulgating such doctrines as the above, that I went by appointment to the township of Butler, in the county of Wayne, on a certain Saturday in February, 1841. The meeting was attended by some steady honest farmers and others, with their wives and daughters. It was holden in the CongTcgational Church. As was and still is the custom in that region, the lectm-er was invited to tea by a gentleman of prominence in the neigh- bourhood — George Candee, Esq., who had a heart warm in the anti-slavery cause. At the invitation of several members of the Church, I remained and preached the following day in the forenoon, having an engagement seven miles distant in the evening. As they were without either a pastor or a supply, several members of the Church accompanied me to Wolcott in the evening. On the way, one of the number said something about my settling with them. Thinking it a matter which would not sur- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V ^ ^ fe // ,v''^e. fc^ ^:%^ V V' ^ TL f/. « 1.0 M 1.25 ■-IM ■ 50 ™^" t 1^ M M 1.4 ill! 1.6 ^vy.^^'^y ' O^A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. I4S80 (/16) B72-4S03 \ #s iV V # ^^^ O^ <^ '<^ 80 ANTI-SLAVEKY LABOUES. vive the excitement of the moment, I simply gave them liberty to write to me at Peterborough, my residence. In a few days a letter came; and shortly after, another, from Clarendon Campbell, Esq., M.D., the postmaster, one of the most pious and intelligent members of the Church, inviting me formally and officially to settle. I went to visit them in April, and a series of meetings began which was not discontinued until several persons were converted to God, through Christ's redemption, and I had been called and had agreed to become their pastor. The Church and congi-egation weia all white persons save my own family. It was "a new thing under the sun " to see such a connection. The invitation was unanimous and cordial ; and not one incident occurred during my settlement, on the part of any of the livmg members, to make it even seem to be otherwise. Having spoken elsewhere touching this relation, I choose not here to repeat myself; but I will add, the novelty of such a settle- ment attracted a great deal of notice, and a great many remarks pro and con. I unc'erstood it to be a matter of vast importance, how I should demean myself in so responsible a position ; for I felt it to be such, in two very important points of view- first, in regard to the anti-slavery cause generally j and secondly, in reference to the coloured people ■■"t i' 9\ UNITED STATES. 81 especially. If ^. sliould acquit myself creditably as a preacher, the anti-slavery cause -would thereby be encouraged. Should I fail in this, that sacred cause would be loaded with reproach. So, if I were successful or unsuccessful in this charge would encouragement or disc&aragement come to the people of colour. In the one case, the tra- ducers and disparagers of the Negro would say, " Said we not truly when we affirmed that nothing could be made of, or dene with, the Negro ? Such a one was actually placed in such a position ; but so inveterate and unconquerable were the de- grading tendencies of the NegTO, that he could not sustain himself." Then v/hoever pleaded for Negro equality would be poinded to my failure as a perfect refutation of his doctrine, and a complete and triumphant answer to his argument. On the other hand, if I did succeed, some other young black would feel encouraged to qualify himself for a position of usefulness among his own people ; but while appropriately serviceable to them, he might also be so situated as to do good to others and for his own class. I was not willing to do mischief to the dear anti-slavery cause, nor to that of my beloved people. I hope God spared me from either — from both. Or, at any rate, among the many things wherewithal I have been reproached, this is not one of them. a '•,"< wnm 82 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. During ray residence in South Butler, I was fre- quently called upon to speak, lecture, and preach, elsewhere. Thus were afforded me numerous op- portunities of making known to others than my own congi-egation the gospel of Jesus,- and of spreaamg before others than those of my own neighbourhood what were the doctrines of the abohtionists, and the duties of American citizens, m regard to those doctrines. I had the pleasure of seemg principles of importance taking root sprmgmg up, and becoming productive, and scat- tering seed upon fresh soil. While I cannot agree with some as to the good results and wide extent of my labours, I certainly hope that some good was done. That hope is more based upon the peculiar character of the people of my charge, and those among whom I travelled, than upon anythinc I was enabled to do. My own people were honest^ straightforward. God-fearing descendants of New England Puritans. Living in the interior of the fetate, apart from the allm-ements and deceptions of fashion, they felt at liberty to hear, judge, and determine for themselves, and to act in accordance with what the Bible, as they understood it, de- manded of them. They heard a preacher: they supposed and believed that he preached God's truth. That was what they wanted, and all they wanted. The mere accident of the colour of th^ * I UNITED STATES. 83 preacher was to them a matter of small conside- ration. Some might ridicule: indeed, some did. But what of that ? They received the truth, and it was of sufficient value to enable them to endure ridicule for its sake. Anti-slavery doctrines were unpopular ; anti-slavery practice was still more so. But what said the Bible about these doctrines? Did they agree with the law of love ? "Were they in agreement with — or, what is more to the point, part and parcel of— what Jesus taught? If so, let rectitude take the place of popularity. They could afford to do without the latter. So this honest, right-hearted people loved — so they stood by the pastor — so their influence spread abroad — and so the Lord God of Jacob blessed them, according to his gracious promise. When in South Lutler, also, the people of my own colour called upon me not unfrequently to visit and labour among them. They seemed inclined to take advantage of my position, to make it serviceable j and I was but too happy to accede to their wishes. In doing so, I always sought to inculcate some truth which would have a direct influence on our character and our condition. Being deprived of the right of voting upon terms of equality with whites — being denied the ordinary courtesies of de3ent society, to say nothing of what is claimed for every man, especially every freeborn American G 2 84 ANTI-SLAVEEl LABOURS. citizen-I very well know, from a deep and painful experience, that the black people were goaded into a constant temptation to hate their white fellow- citizens. I know, too, how natural such hatred is m such circumstances ; and all I know of the exhi- bition of vindictiveness and revenge by the whites against their injurers -and the most perfect justice of the Negro regarding the white man according to daily treatment received from him-caused me to see this temptation to be all the stronger: and convinced m 3 also, that the white had no personal claim to any- thmg else th^n the most cordial hatred of the black. How frequently have I heard a Negro exclaim, " I cannot like a white man. He and his have done so much injury to me and my people for so many generations." How difficult, how impos- sible, to deny this, with all its telling force of his- torical fact ! How natural is such a feeling, in such circumstances ! How richly the whites deserved it ! My course was, however to remind them of the manner in which Christ haa been treated by those for whom he died, ourselves included; to direct their attention to the fact, that in the face of bad social customs, and education, and religion, God enabled some whites to do and endure all things for oui- cause, in its connection with their own j to assure them that the number of such was constantly increasing in our native country, while nearly all i i' II UNITED STATES. 85 of tlie white race in Europe were our friends, espe- cially the English, the French, and the Germans; and I felt justified in calling attention to my own position, as an example of improved feeling, and as a sign of hope and a token of encouragement. Accustomed to be soothed, as are my people, hy hopeful, encouraging truth, I never knew these appeals to fail of effec'. In addition to the above, I urged that, as Christ forgave, so should we ; and that he made our being forgiven depend upon whe- ther we forgave our enemies ; that just as surely as the whites were our enemies — a most palpable fact, of every-day illustration— just so surely we must forgi-e them, or lie down for ever with them, amid the torments of the same perdition ! What an aggi-a- vation of our temporal torments, to be obliged to be associated with our injurers, and to be partakers with them in an unrepented, unsanctified, more fiendish state, in the pangs of an endless perdition I I beg to state, that I never taught on this subject what I did not then, and do not now, believe. I seriously believe that the prejudice of the whites against Negroes is a constant source of temptation to the latter to hate the former. I also believe that that same prejudice will aggravate the perdition of both : and I pray, therefore, that my people may be saved from that hatred, and made forgiving; and for the whites of America, my 86 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. highest wish is that thej may all become like the people of South Butler, thus removing danger from themselves, and, by doing justly, remove the most iasidious of temptations from my people, whom, God knows, they have injured enough already. In pleading the cause of the blacks before the whites, while I tried faithfully to depict the suffering of the enslaved, and the injustice done to the nominally free, I never stooped to ask pity for either. Wronged, outraged, "scattered, peeled, killed all the day long," as they are, I never so compromised, my own self-respect, nor ever con- sented to so deep a degradation of my people, as to condescend to ask pity for them at the hands of their oppressors. I cast no reflections upon, and certainly utter no censures against, those who do ; but I never did, and God forgive me when I ever shall. Justice, "even-handed justice," for the Negro— that which, according to American profes- sion, is every man's birthright— ^^a« I claimed, nothing less. The most savage of our tormentors could now and then shed a tear, or at least heave a sigh of pity, and go out and remain the same savage tormentor still ; unchanged, only a little— a very little— softened, to harden again upon the earliest opportunity. Those who have done us the worst injuries think it a virtue to express sympathy with us— a sort of arms'-length, cold-blooded sym- UNITED STATES. 87 pathy ; while neither of these would, on any account, consent to do towards us the commonest justice. What t^>e Negro needs is, what belongs to him — what has been ruthlessly torn from him — and what is, by consent of a despotic democracy and a Christless religion, withholden from him, guiltily, perse veringly. When he shall havf that restored, he can acquire pi*y enough, and all the sympathy he needs, chc':^ wore's as they are ; but to ask for thera insu ■; I ot nis righcs was never my calling. Nor oiiid ^ degrade myself by arguing the equalit) of -ho Negro with the v»-h:te; mj private opinion !«. *^h'-x.^ \j say ihe Neg"y 's equal morally to the white man, i^ to sa^' bat veiy little. As to his intellect aal equality, Cypiian, Augustine, TertuUian, Euclid, and Terence, would pass for specimens of the ancient Negro, exhibiting intellect beyond the ordinary range of modern literati, before the present Anglo-Saxon race had even an origin. And the schoolmate of Henry Highland Garnett, Alexanc • Crummell, Thomas Sipkins Sidney, Charles Lewis Reason, Patrick Henry Reason ; the friend and associate of Frederic Douglass, James William Charles Pennington, Amos G. Beeman, James McCune Smith, Madison M. Clarke, and others of like high and distinguished attainments, might, perhaps, be deemed excusable, if he simply called the names of these gentlemen 88 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. as sufficient to contradict any disparaging words concerning the modern Negro. But the cool impudence, and dastardly cowardice, of denying a black a seat in most of their colleges and academies, and literary and scientific institu- tions, from one end of the republic to the other ; and, in like manner, shutting him out of most of the honourable and lucrative trades and profes- sions, dooming him to be a mere " hewer of wood and drawer of water " — discouraging every effort he makes to elevata himself— and then declaring the Negro to be naturally, morally, intellectually, or socially, inferior to the white — have neither parallel nor existence outside of that head-quarters of injus- tice to the Negre, the United States of America. The coloured people of New York, Philadelphia, Boston — and, I may as well add, all other cities and towns in the American Union — bear themselves as respectably, support themselves as comfortably, maintain as good and true allegiance to the laws, make as rapid improvement in all that signifies real, moral, social progress, as any class of citizens whatever. They do not so rapidly acquire wealth, but it must be remembered that the avenues to wealth are not open to them. The French of Lower Canada— the Irish, the Welsh, the Jews, throughout continental Europe— the Poles— no people in a state of entire or partial subjection — UNITED STATES. 89 ever bore subjection so well, or improved so rapidly in spite of it, as this very much abused class. During the past thirty years, they have furnished their full quota of doctors, lawyers, divines, editors, orators, and poets ; these in their spheres compare most triumphantly with their countrymen, of what- ever colour. With facts of this sort before me, how could I ask pity, sympathy, reason about equality, or anything short of justice, for my own people? There are a few facts connected with the free coloured people of America, to which I may as well ask attention here as elsewhere, for they are facts gathered during the time I had the honour of being one of their public advocates. 1. They number, according to the last census, some 400,000. A majority of these live in the Slave States ; the greatest number is in Maryland, where there are 70,000. They are most numerous where most oppressed, though this has nothing to do with their oppression; for instance, in the great State of New York there are 40,000, in Pennsylvania 50,000, in Virginia 52,000. These are very large (in fact, the three largest) States: while in New England — where, with the exception of despotic Connecticut, they enjoy the same political rights as white men — there are but 20,000. The expla- nation of this is, no Negroes originally came to America otherwise than as slaves. All who are 90 ANTI-gLAVEKY LAB0U2S. now free are the descendants of slaves, therefore; and although slaveij, in earlv times, existed in most of the Northern States, it was never made a permanent system in the JS^.w England States, and lience there never were but comparatively few Negroes introduced into them. In the Middle States, as New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jer- sey, slavery was far more prevalent than in any part of New England ; hence their greater number of Negroes. It may be said, too, that this popula- tion, as a rule, bears certain proportions to the white population ; being most numerous where the latter are so, and vice versd. Besides, those States which border upon Slave States have received ac- cessions to their black population from the adjoining Slave States, by the immigration of both freemen and fugitives. 2. The fact tliat the blacks bear generally good characters, and are making progress as rapidly as any other class— and, all things considered, more rapidly than any other class — is well known to their bitterest enemies, even to those who are most eager to disparage them. I know this remark is not very complimentary to the honour and honesty of American Negro-haters j but if their charac- ters cannot bear truth, it is no fault of mine. I have mentioned the names of several distinguished coloui-ed gentlemen : I beg to say, they are well 1^ UNITED STATES. 91 known in their own country and many of tliern, personally, to defamers who in this country as well as at home, speak of the Negro as liopelessly de- graded, and inferior to the whites. In the city of New York there are several public schools for co- loured children, taught by coloured gentlemen and ladies. The branches taught are orthog*- 'hy, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geogr. • ly^ history, astronomy, and algebra so far as quadratic equations; the girls, I believe, also learn ^^eedle- work. From the branches taught, one may j'ldge the literary qualifications of the teachers ; in each of these schools the-re is a class, the highest class, in which lads from eight to fourteen will bear a most searching examination in any part of the branches named, without a moment's notice. Hav- ing the pleasure of personally kno\/ing the gifted teachers, and having examined the classes myself, I only speak what I know ; and yet, in no city of the Union is the intellect c^ the NegTO so much disparaged as in that same city of New York, under the very shadow of those schools ! James Gorden Bennett, the miserable Irish detractor of the Nfcgro, publishes his vile " New York Herald " within ten minutes' walk of two of those schools — within two minutes' walk of one of the oldest of them : aye, that same Bennett who in his " Herald" says, the Negro never flourishes except in slavery ! 92 ANTI-SLAVEST LABOUKS. Dr. Grant, of New York, preached the doctrine of Negro intellectual inferiority on the same platform with Frederic Douglass ! Dr. Sleigh, another Irish- man, published a work to prove such allegations, in the city of Philadelphia, where there are 20,000 or 30,000 blacks, a due proportion of whom are equal to any of Dr. Sleigh's countrymen, either in America or in their fatherland. Dr. J. McCune Smith met an American in debate upon the ques- tion of the equality or the inferiority of the Negi-o. His disputant deliberately refused to call the Doctor a gentleman, and every time he accidentally did so he corrected himself. Dr. Smith showed himself superior, both as a gentleman and a scholar, to this person, without making the least impression upon his mnaners. The following anecdotes will illustrate my point. During the lifetime of the venerable James Forten, Esq., one of the brightest ornaments of the Negro race, a leading Colonizationist called upon him^at his residence, 02, Fifth Street, Philadelphia. Con- versation ran upon the news of the day, and at that point Mr. Forten produced a newspaper in French, which he had recently received from Hayti. Mr» F. lianded tlie newspaper to his visitor, who confessed he could not read French; whereupon Mr. Morten called his daughter, a most accomplished lady, who easily, gracefully, translated for him. I UNITED STATES. 93 That very man went to a Colonization meeting that same evening, and made a speech denying the intel- lectual power of the Negi-o to receive education ! I was travelling in a railway carriage in 1839, in company with two white persons, the one of whom was an abolitionist, the other was not They discussed the anti-slavery question. The anti-abolitionist was a merchant, a partner in a New York house, having a branch in one of the Southern cities. His objection to abolition was the unfitness of the Negro for freedom. Among other things, he stated, that a short time previous his Southern partner came up to New York on business, and, after finishing it, asked, slaveholder as he was, to be shown the condition of the free coloured people of New York. This man said he showed him the low, dirty Negroes about Five Points — answering to Houndsditch, Rag Fair, and Petticoat Lane, in London; to the Salt Market Wynds, in Glasgow; the most immoral portions of the old town of Edinburgh ; and corresponding portions in Livei-pool, Dublin, and Cork. To show this slaveholder the Five Points, and its inhabitants, as specimens of Negro condition, cha- racter, and habitations, in New York, was about ..A fair as to go to sucli places as I have named, to learn English, Scotch, or Irish character. The abolitionist asked him if he took his friend to see 94 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. the Rev. T. S. Wright, the lamented predecessor of Rev. Dr. Pennington, who was then living. The pro-slavery man professed not to hear, but my friend made him hear, and he coolly answered, "No." Shortly after, Mr. Furman, the abolitionist, arrived at the place of his destination, and left us. The merchant, finding no one but myself near him, began to converse with me ; and, to my utter surprise, I found him intimately acquainted, and on terms of long-standing personal friend- ship, with many of the most genteel, best educated, and most wealthy, of the coloured people of New York State. That was the man who took a Southern slaveholder to the lowest and most de- graded of our population, to impress him with an idea of what we were. I am sorry to say, that ninety-nire in every hundred of the traducers of the Negro in America, whether Yankees born or Englishmen Yankeeized, generally act with equal unfairness, under the aggravation of equal intel- ligence. As a rule— such is my experience and observation— they who treat and speak of the Negro worst, are they who know him best. I could fill this book with sucli instances. 3. In spite of the foregoing facts, the coloured people who are intelligent and prominent make friends for themselves among the very best classes of Americans j and the same is true, in its degree, UNITED STATES. 96 of black men in inferior positions. I have known a black man to move into a neighbourhood where it was difficult for him to rent a, house to live in, because of his colour ; but edging his way in, and proving himself as good a mechanic, farmer, la- bourer, or artisan, as anyone else, he was sure to be patronized and respected by the very best cus- tomers. I have known whites to go to hear a Negro lecture, or preach, just for the fun of the thing : they have come away saying the most extravagant things in his favour. My advice to our people always was, Do the thing you do in the best pos- sible manner : if you shoe a horse, do it so that no white man can improve it ; if you plough a furrow, let it be ploughed to perfection's point; if you make a shoe, make it to bespeak further patronage from the fortunate wearer of it ; if you shave a man, impress hira witii the idea that such shaving is a rare luxury ; if you do no more than black ids boots, send him out of your boot-black shop looking towards his feet, divided in his admiration as between the blacking and the perfection of its application. As one of our own poets hath it, "Honour and fume from no distinction rise: Act well your part — f/wre all the honour lies." I am happy to say, such is the good s. ise and honourable manly ambition of my people, that 96 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUKS. in such advice was always approved and followed: indeed, it was seldom needed. Mr. Douglass, as an orator, is winning for himself and his people not only fame, but, what is far better, the power of great and varied usefulness. Among his most honest admirers are persons in the^ highest walks of life . distinguished alike for their iiigh positions, and their entire fitness for . them. At the risk of seeming immodest, I may say, that my own short career engaged for me the personal friendship of persons who have no supe- riors ; and whose friendship was the more highly prized, as it was the result of my own eflforts— the acknowledgment of an equality previously denied to the Negro, on their part— and a favourable sign for the future of mj people. The same is ti'ue of every prominent coloured man in that country. 4. Tlie coloured people in the United States are in no hopeless circumstances. It has already ceased to be a marvel, that a coloured man can do certain things . denied to be within his power thirty years ago. A State or a National Con- vention of black men is held. The talent dis- played, the order maintained, the demeanour of the delegates, all impress themselves upon the community. All agree, that to keep a people rooted to the soil, who are rapidly improving, who have already attained considerable influence, and are UNITED STATES. 97 marshalled by gifted leaders (men who show themselves qaalified for legislative and judicial positions), and to 'loom them to a state of per- petual vassalage, is altogether out of the question. They cannot be turned back, they cannot be kept stationary; they must and they will advance. Then, it is well known that social progress is made with gigantic strides, when once a move- ment is made in a right direction. That impulse, a mighty impetus, has been given; and already signs of vigorous and hopeful advance have been developed as the result. Then look at the materials which the blacks have at command. They have the world's history before them. They are Americans; they are well taught in the history of their native country; they know the avenues to, and springs of, the most important and characteristic feelings of the American heart. They know what to say, to whom to say it, and at what time. They are wronged : their wrongs are violations of American profession, and what they know ought to be American principle. They are connected socially, by clioice and by force, with the subjects of the most cruel oppression on the face of the earth. The more higlily they are cultivated, the more keenly they feel their wrongs. And I add, with perfect deliberation, and with philosophical objects before me, only thev are of mivprl hUnt] • nnri fl^qt H 98 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. fact, witli the others, makes them at this day, to say nothing of the future, confessedly the most eloquent, the most impassioned, the most powerful, the most impressive, and, when once heard, the most popular, men in the anti-slavery field of labour. This was true many years ago: every year increases its illustrations ; until now, no man is so eagerly, so tearfully, so rapturously, listened to in America, on this subject, as the coloured man. Already has the anti-slavery advocacy, for all effective purposes, passed into their hands: and Araericrt now stands in the position of a great country, nominally free, depriving one sixth of her citizens of freedom, and robbing those not actually enslaved of an equality which God has given to all nations of men, denying them even the title to it and fitness for it ; while these coloured men, armed with the panoply of American birth, feelings, and history— gifted with talents sui-passed by none— burning Avith an indignant sense of their own wrongs, and the enslavement of their brethren — higldy skilled in the use of their powers and talents, and having gained the ears of their fellow citizens— are demonstrating the injustice of the position which they occupy, and the airogaut hypocrisy of that of their enemies. Now, when it is considered that (with perhaps the exception of the Welsh) the Negroes are, in UNITED STATES. 99 not feeling, tlie most religious people in the world, and that in all they do they are guided, restrained, but made the more ardent, by the religious passion within them, you cannot imagine that this people will or can eventually fail in either recovering their rights, or attracting the thunderbolts of di- vine vengeance upon their oppressors. What says all past history, upon this subject? When did God cease to hear the cry of the oppressed? What, in history, is the final result of the upward struggles of an oppressed but advancing, praying, God-fearing people? But, to do as our American brethren like to do—leave out all considerations of divine interpositions, or to calculate upon indefinite forbearance of Deity— neither of which is admis- sible—any one can tell that, left to themselves, these causes must produce one or two important results. The young blacks of the Republic are everywhere acquiring a love for martial pastimes. Their independent companies of military are be- coming common in many of the large towns. This, with other things, shows that they aspire to any' thing and everything within the reach of man. And as their fathers fought bravely in the former wars of the Republic, who can deny them the use of arms? Having almost everything to contend for,^ it is easy to see, that what wrongs they and their brethren suiTer will so stimulate them as to H 2 100 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. draw out energies which not only would not be exhibited, in other circumstances, but which even themselves would scarcely believe to be theirs. The whites have all they want, and are satis- fied. They are already most rapidly degenerating : they are given almost solely to the acquisition of money and the pursuit of pleasure. They will therefore become less and less active, more and more lethargic, while in their very midst the blacks will become less lethargic, and more energetic; until the latter, for all practical purposes, will exhibit, and wield too, more of the real American character, its manliness, its entei-prise, its love of liberty, tnan the former. I speak not as a prophet : I only speak of causes now existing and in active operation, already producing some of their inevitable results. I illustrate my idea by a fact. In 1849 I introduced a young lady into my family, intending that she shoiild teach my children, for which she was then qualified, being older and far better educated than they. In 1851 she recited in the same class with them ; in 1853 she was the pupil of one of them, and lagging behind the other. Thus will it be, in my opinion, as between the blacks and the whites in America. They are now in the relation of teacher and taught, in the matter of liberty and progress ; they will reverse positions ere the struggle be over, unless some sudden un- foreseen chau^^es occur. UNITED STATES. 101 Such are the signs of the times ; nor is this the first time such signs have been seen in similar cir- cumstances. But, aside from this, that some may- regard as an extreme representation of the case, let it he supposed that the free blacks shall go on and progress as they have for the past forty years : if they should do no more than simply improve themselves, without exhibiting the lofty patriotism which now so nobly prompts them to efforts for self-elevation, their gradual improvement would draw toward them the gaze, perhaps the admiration, of all the Old W^rld. Individuals among them would be known in Europe, and public attention would be directed to the class through these individuals ; and it would be altogether vain for Americans to at- tempt to disparage them, as they now do, in Europe. William Wells Brown was a slave ; so was Garnet. Who, that saw them in Germany, France, or Eng- land, would believe any American who should pre- sume to deny the qualities and claims of the Ame- rican Negro ? William Craft was a slave : many who have heard liim with intense delight (as do most who hear) v/ill feel that the American Negro is the most outraged of men — not mere animals, but 7nen. my suffering, sighing people, there is hope for you — hop3 in your improvement, in your own powers ; in the gathering, increasing sympathy of Europe ; but, most of all, in the promises of the faithful God. 102 1 CHAPTEE VII. TERMINUS OF LABOUES IN THE UNITED STATES. Having given a sketch of the na.^ure and cha- racter of my labours in the United States, it remains that I now speak of the events which led to their termination. ; It is well known, that in defiance of law and custom, and what seemed to some the provisions of the constitution, the abolitionists refused to aid in the capture of a fugitive slave ; they rendered him all manner of assistance in effecting his escape; they would secure for him a place of safety; they would aid him on hig way to Canada; they would legally and otherwise protect him, if he remained among them; they would help and encourage him in resisting his pm-suers: in fact, they would do for him just what they would have him do for them in an exchange of circumstances. This was both illegal and unchristian, in the view of the great majority of thi American people, especially the lawmakers and the religious teachers. There was, indeed, a regu- larly organized society, distinct as an organization Wm UNITED STATES. 103 f ^^1 from the Anti-Slaverj Society, to aid fugitives ; and that society, called the Vigilance Committee, at its head quarters, Ne^Y York, annually published its report, held platform meetings, &c. So effective was this action, that it became almopt needless for a slave to go further north than the Border States. In Boston, it was boasted, a slave could not be cap- tured. There were men who said the same of nume- rous other towns : attempts to take them often proved utter failures. Before the anti-slavery movement, a slaveholder or a kidnapper could take any man he pleased, where he pleased and when he pleased. This had been done in every State but Vermont, and any justice of the peace was quite competent to settle for ever the grave question of a man's right to liberty. Now, though the lav/ was not altered, such was the state of public feeling, gene- rated by the abolitionists, that a slave could escape^ go into an adjoining State, tell his story publicly, state who his master was, where he lived, how his escape was effected, through what places he passed, who aided him, and all about it; and the whole community would say to him, " Remain here ; you are safe."' Doubtless this partook somewhat of the Yankee habit of boasting ; it was a profession of freedom and a promise of protection that needed so:ae severe testing, to prove its real strength: but that such was the public feeling, that men 104 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. really and truly meant what they said, there never was the least reason to doubt. The South became exasperated: their chattels, among which were persons inheriting the blood and the lineage of their masters (this strange- sounding xnedley is no more incongruous than true) were escaping from them ; each carried off in his own person from 400 to 2,000 dollars. There was no telling what amount of property had thus been abstracted — or, rather, stolen itself: but certain it was, that every morning some planter found, or rather did nol^ find, some slave or slaves — they had fled. Thej'- were constantly going ; and what made the matter n.ore awkward was, when once gone, they would not return of their own accord, or for the sake of anybody else. The South knew that there is a clause in the Federal Constitution, pro- viding for the extradition of " persons held to ser- vice or labour." They knew that a great majority of the people had been but too successfully taughi the false and foolish doctrine, that those described as " persons," meant slaves. They kr .w as well, that Congi-ess, in 1793, pasKcvi a law for tho en- forcement of this clause » i ilie constitution, with this strange interpretation. They knew also that all the courts held the same view. In 1842 a de- cision was rendered in the Supreme Court to the same effect — i. e., that "persons held to service UNITED STATES. 105 or labour" included slaves. The anti-slavery, or rathe: the strictly legal and common-sense, ob- jection to that interpretation, is, that in law sla.23 are not "persons," but " chattels " — that inasmuch as the clause described them as "persons," they had no right under that clause to capture them as " chattels." As persons and chattels were neither identical nor similar in law, but opposites, and as the clause in question calls them the former, it could not at the same time intend to describe them as the latter. A law must not be interpreted to mean the converse of what it says ' But what of this ? TVere not the Supreme Cc urt judges appointed by a President and a senate always subservient to slavery ? Were not a number of the judges themselves slaveholders? Were not those judges who were non-plaveholders among the bit- terest and most cringing slaveocrats in the nation ? and were they not made judges In view of that fact? Could they have been made judges without it? "Then, as Congress men (the majority of whom are lawyers), and inferior judges, and lawyers, and almost every- one else, took their legal opinions from the Supreme Court, what it held to be law wo^ law, of course. This the South, who are the real rulers of the nation, very well knew ; and knowing their advan- tage, they followed it up, and maintained it. They demanded that the law of 1793 should be enforced II 106 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. —that tills anti-slavery sentiment should Tbe sup- pressed, and that further agitation of the question should cease. . The constitution must be understood Bs they understood it; and therefore slaves escap- ing rmist he given up, Anti-sla\ery sentiment was not suppressed, nor in any one thing were these demands complied with. At last, adopting a two- fold expedient, which never yet failed when once faithfully and vigorously applied— viz., threatening to walk out of the Union, if their demands were not yielded; and appealing to the cupidity, fears ar.d ambition, of leading Northern politicians— they received a promise that something should be done. Accordingly, such Northern men as Daniel Webster and Daniel S. Dickinson (how the name ' Daniel ' can be perverfed!) set themselves about the work of seeking to persuade Northern men to yield. It should have been mentioned, that so powerful had become the hostility to the extradition of fugi- tive slaves, that, taking advantage of the Supreme Court decision in 1842, to the effect that States need not aid in the capture of runaway slaves, but that the duty of doing so rested entirely with the federal officers, some eleven States passed solemn laws forbidding any of their officers from aiding in this horrible business, any of the judges from sitting upon such cases ; forbidding tlic use of any of their jails or public buildings for the detention of a fugitive 11 UNITED STATES. 107 slave, or any of their citizens doing any of these things, directly or indirectly. Mr. Webster, and the men of his class, sought to persuade the people of the North to " conquer their prejudices " against slave-catching. He advised them to perform " the disagreeable duty^^ of playing the human blood- hound. "Any one," he said, "could perform an agreeable duty." The demands of the South, the practical masters of the nation, must be complied with. So in 1850 a law was passed, called the Fugitive Slave Law, providing most minutely, most perfectly, for the catching and the delivery of fugitives, by processes the loosest, the most sum- mary, most contrary to all the old law standards and maxims of the last five centuries. Its provi- sions abolished the inviolability of a man's house,- person, and papers — the right to life, liberty, and property, witliout due process of law — the right of being confronted with one's accusers — the writ of habeas corpus — the necessity of a particular descrip- tion of the place to be searched and the person to be seized — the right if trial by jury, and tiie right of appeal : each of which is solemnly and emphati- cally guaranteed by the constitution. It was a most despotic law, passed by despots and tlieir tools, for the most despotic of purposes — the rcplunging of an American citizen, who liad escaped therefrom, into the hell of American slavery ; and the prohibi- 108 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. tion of American freer 'n from doing aught to aid a flying brother man, threatened with re-enslave- ment! In the Senate, when this Act passed, tliere were as many Northern as Southern senators: in the House of Representatives there was a clear decided majority of Northern representatives. This law of barbarism was passed, therefore, by Northern men. It was taken to the President, for his signature. He too was a Northern man— Millard Fillm.ore, of New York. He had the right to veto it. He was sworn consei^vator of the constitution. It viol-'.ted more principles, provisions, and express clauses, of the constitution, than any law ever framed since the constitution was adopted j it was, in fact, a re- volutionary, a treasonable measure. No one knew this better than Millard Fillmore. But, pshaw! the South must he served. M. Fillmore owed his elevation to them ; they, not the constitution, must be looked aftei-; and, with eager " hot and hurried haste," he signed it, on the eighteenth day of Sep- tember, lacking but one day of six hundred and twenty-four years and three months from the sign- ing of Magna Charta— and it became a law. Now, if a fugitive go to New York, he may be followed and brought back. If any man " liarl^our or con- ceal him, or aid and abet in his escape, or hinder or obstruct the claimant, or rescue him or attem^it to i rm&. Jam t .ce of his being a lad man." * UNITED STATES. Ill sacrifice, r...Z making it. Having put their hands to the p m^^ they could not turn back. They loved the slave, the fugitive, the suffering black, and their Heaven-derived anti-slavery principles, more than money, office, caste, or honours; and now that "the furnace was heated seven rimes hotter than it was wont to be heated," they were blessed with the grace of constancy to refuse, even more resolutely than before, to bow before the golden image to which the gi-eat majority paid obeisance. If trials do not make men, they may develope what they are; and, what is more, they will prove who can endure the stern demands of prin- ciple, in the hour of suffering. And, blessed be the God of the poor ! not a few were there, in that day, in my native countrv, in the senate chamber, the hall of representatives, on the judicial bench, the ministerial office, the pulpit, and in private walks, who, having counted the cost, were not only un- flinching, unwavering, but " w\nxed valiant in the fight." John Parker Hale, William H. Seward, and Salmon P. Chase, were in the Senate ; Joshua E. Giddings, George W. Julian, and a few otliers, were in the House of llepresentatives ; and so lono- as time shall last, so long shall the brav. minority opposition given by these gentlemen to this in- famous measure be remembered with delight and gratitnde. These persons have not been without m 112 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. i iheir successors. Charles Sumner— the learned, classic, elegant, manly, heroic Charles Sumner (whom Lord Elgin told me he regards as a per- sonal friend, because of his anti-slavery principles, as well as high character and shining talents)— has since adorned that Senate; so has Henry Wilson, tlie self-made (another name for God- made) cliarapion of ft-eedom ; and Gerrit Smith, Channey L. Knapp, and others in the House, enough t'> keep the voice of manly remonstrance ever sounding in the ears of the guilty nation. While, to6, the religion of the country had become, if possible, more corrupt than even its politics— while its reverend doctors of divinity, venerable in years and in learning, were counsel- ling obedience to this satanic law (many of whom, by the way, would like to pass, and, unfortunately, with too much complacency and too little scrutiny, do pass, as acceptable anti-slavery men in Eng- land)— there were, in a few scattered pulpits from one end of the land to the other, as if God would have the leaven well diffused, some who ceased not day nor night, in good or evil report, to lift up their voices against these crying abominations-— slavery, the Fugitive Slave Law ; the yielding of the press, the legislature, the courts, and the pulpit, to these demands against God and man. They were for " obeying God rather than maa." They UNITED STATES. 113 # had learned, that such obedience, even in a free Christian country, might cost something: they were prepared for the cost, even though they should be called upon " To weary torturers, and to rejoice in fire." This brilliant galaxy of God-fearing men, shining as stars of the first magnitude in the moral firma- ment of the country, and shining all the brighter, with a light all tlie more welcome, in contrast with the surrounding blackness, included some honoured names which, to be associated with, is akin to the associations of patriarchs, apostles, and martyrs. Honoured of God, they shall be honoured of men, while virtuous constancy, unpurchasable integrity, and heroic devotion to principle and truth, shall be admired of mortals or angels. My pen leaps to name some of them : I cannot mention all. To name some, and omit others, were invidious in any man, but especially ungracious in so humble a coadjutor— follower and admirer, rather— of them as myself I will, however, name one ; one whom all the others deliglit to honour, the chief though not the oldest of his family, a standing living rebuke to the men of his class and profession, but an honour to the iirofessimi iUelf— the bold, the honest, the self-sacrificing, the amiable, Henry Ward Beecher. As an humble advocate of anti-slavery prin- 114 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ciples, it was my duty, under the guidance of the great chiefs of the cause, to adapt myself to those forms and phases of slavery's progress and de- mands which arose from time to time to public view — to drag out to the light cecret plots and mischiev^ous though hidden machinations of the slave power — to preach the gospel of deliverance to the captives — and to aid, counsel and encourage, my own, the black people, in what was needed in their peculiar circumstances. Thus, when the an- nexation of Texas was on the tajjiSy that must be exposed and denounced ; when the war with Mexico was conceived and brought forth, on purpose to lengthon the cords and strengthen the stakes of slavery, that must be made a prominent topic j when the adkiission of new Sluve States, as Florida and Texas, was sought, opposition to that was the duty of the day ; when, as in New York State, in 1846, it was proposed to continue the odious clause of State constitution by which black men were disallowed to vote on terms of equality with whites, the iniquity of that proposition must be holden up ; when it was the intention of slaveocratic politicians to give slavery " aid and comfort" by electing to the Presidential chair some such arrant slaveholder as Henry Clay, or some such convenient, subservient instrument of slavery as Millard Fillmore, and io seduce abolitionists into vntino- for flipm i^ofA iin O 7 ■ ■ ■ UNITED STATES. 115 le of the to those and de- public iots and of the iverancc courage, 3eded in the an* must be Mexico rpose to takes of t topic; Florida was tlie State, in IS clause en were 1 whites, iden up ; )litician8 ig to the lolder as jservient , and io facts ill the long, dark, pro-slavery and slaveholding history of these men must be "kept before the people"; when the Methodist, the Episcopalian, the Presby- terian or the Baptist Church, or some of their benevolent organizations, did as they never failed to do, annually deliver themselves of some addi- tional pro-slavery religious progeny, the testimony of God's Word must be uttered against these; and when the Fugitive Slave Law began to cast the darkness of its shadow upon us, tlireatening its coming self, the country must be warned against this ; and finally, when it had passed, the twofold duty of putting on record, upon the roll of infamy, for the gaze of an indignant posterity, the names of the conspirators against liberty who pn,ssed it, signed it, enfc.jcd it, and executed it, and those worst of all others, who gave it pulpit sanction ; and of giving it our heartiest opposition, at all hazards and under all circumstances — must be per- formed. To what effect, if any, I performed my humble share in this work, it is not for me to say: that I laboured honestly and with good purpose, I trust few will deny who honour me with their acquaintance. In the summer of 1851, business called me to travel in various parts of th country. I visited numerous districts of New York, Pennsjdvania, Ohio, Illinois. Wisco^-iin, Michigan, and Indiana, I 2 V' \ 113 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. as well as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu- setts, and New Hampshire, Smarting as we were under the recently passed Fugitive Law— and these irritations being inflpmed and aggravated by .ue dragging of some poor victim of it from some Northern town to the South and to slavery, every month or so— of course this law became the theme of most I said and wrote. In October, Mrs. Ward accompanied me in a tour through Ohio. We were about finishing that tour, when we saw in the papers an account of the Gorsuch case, in Chris- tiana, Pennsylvania. That was a case in which the Reverend Mr. Gorsuch went armed to the house of a Negro, in the suburbs of the town named, in search of a slave who had escaped from him. The owner of the house denied him admit- tance. Several Negi'oes, armed, stood ready inside the house to defend it against the reverend slave- catcher and his party— the latter declaring his slave was in that house, avowing his determina- tion to have him, if he went to h— 11 after him; and, intending to intimidate the Negroes, fired upon the house with a rifle. Fortunately none of the besieged party were killed ; but, they returned Mr. Gorsuch's fire, and he dropped a corpse ! The authorities arraigned these poor Negroes for murder. Thr jecmed determined to have their blood. Upon reiding this, I handed the paper UNITED STATES. 117 isachu- '^e were d these by .Lie 1 some , every e theme , Ward Te were in the Chris- which to the e town 3d from admit- Y inside I slave- ing his ermina- 3r him; !S, fired none of returned ,f Negroes ive their iG paper f' containing the account to my wife; and we con- cluded that resistance was fruitless, that the country was hopelessly given to the execution of this bar- barous enactment, and that it were vain to hope for the reformation of such a country. At the same time, my secular prospects became exceed- ingly involved and embarrassed ; and willing as I might be to be one of a forlorn hope in the assault upon slavery's citadel, I had no reasonable pros- pect of doing so, consi'Stently with my duty to my family. The anti-sla^ ery cause does not, cannot, find bread and education for one's children. We then jointly determined to wind up our affairs, and go to Canada; and, with the remnant of what might be left to us, purchase a little hut and garden, and pass the remainder of our days in peace, in a free British country. Such was our conclusion on Monday, the 29th of September, 1851. Residing then at Syracuse, we went home, arriving on Wednesday, the fir day of October. We found the whole town in commotion and excitement. We soon learned the A poor Mulatto man, named Jerry, at the cause. suit of his own father had been arrested under the Fugitive Law, had been before the Negro-catcher's court, had escaped, had been pursued an'' retakeii, and was now being conveyed to prison. I went to the prison, and, in company witli t lat true sterling I 118 anti-slaveey labours. friend of the slave, the Keverend Samuel J. May, was permitted to go In and see the man. He had fetters on his ankles, and manacles on his wrists. I had never before, since my recollection, seen a chained slave. He was a short, thick-set, strongly built man, half white though slave born. His tem- perament was ardent, and he was most wonderfully excited. Though chained, he could not stand still ; and in that narrow room, motioning as well as he could with his chained, manacled hands, and pacing up and down as well as his fetters would allow, fevered and* almost frenzied with excitement, he implored us who were looking on, in such strains of fervid eloquence as I never heard before nor sincps from the lips of man, to break his chains, and give him that liberty winch the Declaration of Independence assumed to 'be the birthright of every man, and which, according to the ^aw of love, was our duty towards a suffering brother. I cannot recall the ijpsissirrM verba of his eloquent pleading. As far as I can revive his sentences in my memory, he exclaimed — "Gentlemen, behold me, and these chains ! Why am I bound thus, in a free country ? Am I not a man like yourselves ? Do you not suppose I feel as other men feel ? Oh, gentlemen, what have I done to deserve this cruel treatment? I was at my work, like an honest industrious man. I was trying to act the part oi a UNITED STATES. 119 good citizen ; but they came upon me, and accused me of crime. I knew I was innocent ; but I felt it my duty to go before the court, to declare and to prove my innocence. For that reason I let that little Marshal, I think you call him, put liandcufFs on me. You know, gentlemen, handcuffs don't hurt an innocent man! But after they put the irons on me, they told me they were taking me as a runaway slave! Didn't I tell you I was in- nocent ? They confessed I was. If I had known what they were about, do you think I should have let that little ordinc.ry manimt irons on me? No, indeed ! I have told you bow deceitfully they took me. When I saw a good chance, 1 thought it was not wrong to break away from them. I watched my opportunity : I dashed out of the door ; I ran like a man running for his freedom ; but they overtook me, and brought me back, and here I am like a wild beast, chained and caged. "Gentlemen, is this a free country? Why did my fathers fight the British, if one of their poor sons is to be treated in this way ? I beseech you, gentlemen, as you love your own liberty, break these chains of mine; yes, and break the chains that bind my brethren in the South, too. Does not the Bible say, < Break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free'? Don't you believe the Bible? I can't read it as some of you can, but I believQ ? -tf "^^ f% ' ^. .^ " 120 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. |i 'i .fi *!! 4 : i what it says, and I ask you, gentlemen, to do for me wliat that book coinmands. Suppose that any one of you were in my position. What would you wish me to do ? I beg of you, gentlemen, to do for me what you would wish, were you where I am. Are not ail men born free and equal ? How is it, then, that I must wear these chains ? Give me, O give me, gentlemen, tliat freedom which you say belongs to all men, and it is all I ask. Will you who are fathers, and brothers, see a man dragged in chains to the slavery of Tennessee, which I know is worse thah death itself? In the name of our common nature — in the name of the Declaration of Independence — in the name of that law in the Bible which says, "do as you would be done by" — in the name of God, our common Father — do break these chains, and give me the freedom which is mine because I am a man, and an Aw" ...un." What a sight ! and what sounds ! A slave, in a free Northern city chained as no felon would be chained, with the blood of Anglo-Saxons in his veins. Still, a slave ; the son of a wealthy planter in Tennessee, and still a slave; arrested by a United States officer and several assistants, who Trere sworn to support the glorious Federal Con- stitution, serving under the freest government under the sun, the land of liberty, the refuge for the oppressed of all the world ! And for what was i I r irmr^ ; UNITED STATES. 121 to do for that any ould you to do for re I am. [ow is it, re me, O you say /Vill you dragged 1 1 !inow e of our ration of r in the one by" ther — do tn which .wtiU." slave, in rould be i in his "■ planter id by a its, who ral Con- ernment ifuge for diat was he arrested ? what was his crime ? A love of that liberty which we all declared to be every man's inalienable right ! And this slave was quoting the Declaration of Independence in chains! He was not the subject of some Czar, some " Turbaned Turk or fiery Russ :" no, he was an American by birth, and a slave as well ; so said the chains upon him : and on his lips were liberty's and religion's great watch- words! T never saw extremes so meet. I never saw how hollow a mockery was our talk about liberty, and our professions of Christianity. I never felt how really we were all subject to the slave power; I never felt before the depth of de- gradation there is in being a professed freeman of the Northern States. Daniel Webster had, a few months before, predicted the execution of the Fugitive Law in that very town. The people laughed him to scorn. We now felt, however,, how much better he knew the depths to which Northern men can sink than we did. While these thoughts were galloping througli our brains, this manacled son of a white man proceeded with his oration in his chains, and we felt dumb and power- less. A great crowd gathered about the door ; and after looking on and drinking in as much of tlie scene as my excitable nature would allow, I turned to go away, and at that moment the crowd de- 122 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. I i ii rt mandcd a speech of me. I spoke. I ceased ; but I never felt the littleness of my always little speeches, as I did at that moment. Jeny had made the speech of the occasion, and all I could say was but tame and spiritless in comparison with his " Words that breathed and thoughts that burned." The substance of what I said is as follows; — "Fellow citizens! we are here in most extra- ordinary circumstances. We are witnessing such a sight as, I pray, we may never look upon again. A man in chains, in Syracuse ! Not a felon, yet in chains ! On trial, is this man, not for life, but for liberty. He is arrested and held under a law made by 'Us the People'— pursuant, we pretend, to a clause in the constitution. That constitution was made 4o secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' Here is a man one of 'ourselves'; and the colour he bears shows that he belongs not altogether to my race, but that he is one of the 'posterity' of those who framed and adopted our Federal Constitution. So far are we from ' securing' to him the ' blessings of liberty/ that we have arrested him, confined him, and chained him, on purpose to inflict upon him the curses of slavery. " They say he is a slave. What a term to apply to au Americaul How does this sound beneath UNITED STATES. 123 the pole of liberty and the flag of freedom ? What a contradiction to our ' Declaration of Indepen- dence' ! But suppose he be a slave : is New York the State to recognize and treat him as such ? Is Syracuse the city of the Empire State in which the deeds which make thi.^ a day unfortunately memorable, should be perpetuated? If he be not a slave, then, he is the most outraged man we ever saw. " What did our fathers gain by the seven years' struggle with Great Britain, if, in what are called Free States, we have our fellow citizens, our use- ful mechanics and skilful artisans, chained and enslaved? How do foreign nations regard us, when knowing that it is not yet three short months since we were celebrating the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and to-day we are giving the most pal- pable denial to every word therein declared ? " But I am told that this is a legal transaction. That it is wrong and unwise to speak against a judicial proceeding, not yet completed: 1 admit it all. I make no pretensions to speak wisely. I have heard a speech from Jerry. I feel for him, as for a brother; and under that feeling, I may not speak quite so soberly as I ought. ' Oppres- sion makctli a wise man mad.' I feel oppressed in a twofold sense. Yonder is my brother, in chains. Those chains press upon my limbs. I feel his 124 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. I i suiferings, and participate liis anguish. I feel, and we may all feel, oppressed in another sense. Here are certainly five-and-twenty hundred of us, wild with excitement in behalf of our chained brother, before our eyes, and we are utterly powerless to help him ! We hear his strong, thrilling appeals, until our hearts sicken and our heads ache; but there is none among us that has the legal power to lift a hand in his defence, or for his deliverance. Of what advantage is it that we are free? What value is tliere in our freedom, while our hands are thus tied ? " Fellow citizens, whatever may be the result of these proceedings— whether our brother leaves the court, a declared :' eeman or a chained slave— upon us, the voters of New York State, to a very great extent, rests the responsibility of this Fugitive Slave Law. It is for us to say whether this en- actment shall continue to stain our statute books, or be swept away into merited oblivion. It is for us to say whether the men who made it, and those who execute it before our faces, shall receive our votes, or shall by those votes be indignantly re- buked. Tell me, ye sturdy working men of Onon- dago, shall your votes be consecrated to the latter, or prostituted to the former ? Do you swear fealty to freedom this day? Do you promise, so help you Gof] ! so to vote, as that your sanction never UNITED STATES. 125 more shall be given to laws which empower per- sons to hunt, chain, and cage, MEN, in our midst ? (cries of ' yes, yes.') Thank you, fellow citizens, in the name of our brother in prison ! thank ycu for your bold, manly promise ! May we all abide bv it, until deeds of darkness like the one we now lament shall no longer mar our institutions and blacken our history." But the crowd felt rightly. They saw Gerrit Smith and me go off arm in arm to hold a con- sultation, and, two and two, they followed us. Glorious mob ! unlike that of 1834, they felt for the poor slave, and they wished his freedom. Ac- cordingly, at nine o'clock that evening, while the court was in session trying Jerry for more than his life, for his liberty, the mob without threw stones into the window, one of which came so near to the judge that, in undignified haste, he suddenly rose and adjourned the courts. In an hour from that time, the mob, through certain stalwart fellows whom the Government have never had the plea- sure of catching, broke open the door and the side of the building where Jerry was, put out the lights, took him out in triumph, snd bore him away where the slave-catchers never after saw him. The Marshal of the United States, who had him in custody, was so frightened that he fled in female attire : brave man ! According to the Fugitive Law, w^mh 126 ANTI-SLAVERT LABOURS. f f 3 ■■: I > he had to pay Jerry's master one thousand dollars; for so the law expressly ordains. An assistant Marshal, who was aiding this one, fired a pistol when entree was first made. He injured no one, but a stout stick struck his arm and broke it. Escaping out of a window soon after, he broke the same arm again, poor man! These two were not like a Marshal in Troy, in the same State, who, rather than capture a slave, resi2:n8d his office. The papers in the interest of the Government, in publishing an account of this afiair, connected my name with it in a most prominent manner. The Marshal with broken arm was especially com- mended to my tender regard. Tht Government, under the advice of Daniel Webster (whose Christianity, I find, is highly lauded in this country; it was always a res non in liis own), ordered all the parties, directly or indirectly en- gaged in the rescuing of Jerry, to be put on trial for treason ! For it was the doctrine of Mr. Web- ster and Mr. Fillmore, that opposition to the Slave Law was " treason, and drew after it all the conse- quences of treason." I knew enough to understand that one of the " consequences drawn after treason" is a hem'pen rope. I had already become hope- less of doing more in my native country; I had already determined to go to Canada. Now, how- nm UNITED STATES. 127 111 ever, matters became urgert I could die ; but was it duty? I could not remain in that country with- out repeating my connection with or participating in such an affair as I was then guilty of. If I did my duty by my fellow men, in that country, I must go to prison, perhaps ; certainly, if the Go- vernment had their way, to the gallows. If I did not, I must go to perdition. Betwixt tlie two, my election was made. But then, what must become of my family, both as to their bread in my then circumstances, and as to their liberty in such a country? Recollecting that I had already my wife's consent (without which I could not take any important step of the sort) to go to Canada, I con- cluded that I must go immediately. I went,- and a month or two after, my family followed : 'since which time we have each and severally been, con amorfi, the most loyal and grateful of British subjects. Jerry lived at Kingston, Canada, until the latter part of 1853, when he died, a free man, by virtue of living in British soil. The courts would not entertain the charge of treason against those ac- cused in this case, from its manifest absurdity. They did hold, however, that they had broken the Fugitive Law, and must be tried for that. Luckily, but one person who avus accused was ever con- victed. He died before the court, in its merciless- HM t 128 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. i I ness, could wreak its full vengeance upon him. He was innocent, I know. When the accused were summoned to Auburn, twenty-six miles from Syracuse, to attend trial, the Railway Company provided carriages for the accused and their wives, gratis. Returning from Auburn, several of those ladies were in the large carriage into which the Government prosecutor entered. They unanimously requested his departure. They afterwards made up a purse of thirty pieces of silver, of the smallest coin of the country, and presented to him — wages of iniquity and treachery. The chains (which I helped to file off) of Jerry were packed in a neat mahogany box, and sent to President Fillmore. The Hon. W. ScAvard volun- tarily became bail for the accused. He has been Governor of his native State. He is now one of its senators. This, however, is his highest honour. So he esteems it. , In conclusion I beg to say, that the passage of the Nebraska Bill, and the outrages following it under sanction of the Government in Kansas, but confirms the opinion I formed four years ago, as to the impossibility — by any means now extant, and they are as wise as human ingenuity can invent — of refoiming that country. The Government is too much at the mercy of 62,000 slaveholders; the people are too well content to let things remain m UNITED STATES. 129 they are— the Churches, generally, cling with too great tenacity to tlieir time-honoured pollutions to admit of any prospect of reformation at present, while the gloomiest future seems to overhang the country. The only hopeful sjjot in the American horizon is the gi-owing, advancing attitude of the black people. From the whites, as a whole, I sec no hopes. In the blacks I see some precious vigorous germs springing from seeds formerly sown, watered by many cries and tears, nourished by many prayers — the seed-sowing of Eichard Allen and John Gloucester, Thomas Sipkins, Peter Williams, George Hogarth, Samuel Todd and William Hamilton, James Forten and Theo- dore Sedgewick \\ light, among the departed; of Jehiel C. Beeman, Samuel E. Cornish, James William Charles Pennington, Christopher Push, William Whipper, Timothy Eato, M. M. Clarke, Stephen Smith, and others, among the older living- the latter of whom have been permitted to outlive the darkness of a past and see the light enjoyed by the present generation. God grant that right may prevail, and that all thmgs shall further his glory ! remain m £ ■-r^ -—■"as t 1 i i ! , i ^ s. 1 ." ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES, &c. iiJart M. CANADA I 133 CHAPTER I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS: .iEASONP FOR LABOURS. I MADE my entree into Canada, as a resident and a fugitive, In October, 1851, at ^lontreal. I had been to Queenstown, Windsor, and Kingston, as well as Niagara Falls, at various times within eleven years, as a mere visitor, then little dreaming of the necessity of my going as a set.^er. After spending a very few days at Montreal, I ascended the St. Lawrence, to Kingston ; thence by Lake 0/itario to Toronto, my present residence. It is impossible to convey to an English reader anything like a just idea oi the St. Lawrence River scenery in October. This is my third autumn in Europe; but never, in the British Isles, did I witness such splendour of landscape as that river presents, in autumn. The river is large and majestic— near Montreal, where the placid Ottawa empties itself, it b most magnificent. The Ottawa, as smooth as a polished mirror, openii,g its ample mouth to the width of a lake, gently glides into the St. Law- rence J the latter with a quiet dignity receiving the I 134 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. tribute of the former, as an empress would gra- ciously accept the homage of a courtier, rolling downward towards the gulf, as if created on pur- pose to convey to the ocean the tributes and the trusts committed to it, and as if amply powerful to bear both the honour and the burden. But going upwards, while the St. Lawrence is large and noble enough, it frequently is compressed into a comparatively small size, and falls over cascades. The steamers, however, are accommo- dated with canals, which admit of the continuance of navigation with but little interruption. At times, t]:e St. Lawrence takes the form of a wide bay, studded wit' tiny islets, and tlie latter most densely covered with foliage — which, in early autumn, after the first few touches of the hoar frost, assume the most gorgeously brilliant hues. The intensest crimson, the deepest brown, the most glovving lemon colour, with occasional intermix- tures of the unchanging foliage of the evergreens, and some intermediate colours, give these islets and these bays the appearance of immense vases filled with bouquets of unspeakable beauty and of most imposing grandeur. Those who have seen tlie re- presentation of the brightness and charms of North American autumnal foliage, in Mr. Friend's pano- rama, may feel assured that it is not in the least exaggerated or overdrawn. I doubt if a more de- /i V ■■■..'■.:; _ CANADA. 135 oiild gra- r, rolling L on f ir- s and the )werfLd to wrence is impressed falls over accommo- >ntinuance ;ion. At of a wide alter most in early hoar frost, ues. The the most intcrmix- ivergreens, ! islets and ^ascs filled id of most jen tlie re- is of Nortli nd's pano- 1 the least a more de- lightful autumnal voyage can be made in Nortli America, than that from Montreal to Kingston ; nor do I think that any season presents so many and so varied attractions to the lover of the pictu- resque in nature, even there, as does early autumn. The banks of the St. Lawrence are cultivated to a considerable extent; and that cultivation both bespeaks the industry and enterprise of the yeoman, and tlie profit of living on the great watery highway to the ocean, and near to large and populous grow- ing towns. Beautiful fields of early-sown wheat showed tliemselves at intervals all f long our way ; neat, and in some cases elegant, farm houses, in the midst of orchards or orna?iiental trees, and nice rustic gardens, lent not a little to the beauty and interest of the scenery: and before I knew it, I was preferring the right hand — the British— side of the St. Lawrence, and concluding that on that side things were most inviting, and trying to reason myself into the belief of this with a sort of patriotic feeling to which all my life before I had been a stranger, and concerning wliich I had been a sceptic. Why had I interest in tlic British side of the noble St. Lawrence? What gave me a fellow feeling with those inhabitants ? Simply the ftict, that tliat country had become to me, in a sense in wliich no country ever was before, my own, and those people my fellow citizens. ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. After a most delightful passage of two days, I arrived at Toronto. I then renewed acquaintance, formerly made, with Thomas F. Gary, Esq., one of the sincerest, most generous, practical friends I ever had the honour to call by that endearing name. The Eev. J. Koaf, whom I had formerly met in New York, took me by the hand, as he is ever ready to do in the case of the outcast. Through the kindness of this gentleman I was introduced to the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, of which the Rev. Dr. Willis was and is President. Thus Mr. Roaf laid ire imder a twofold obligation, which I never can cancel, and never forget — that for his personal kindness, and that for affording me the honour and pleasure of the acquaintance, ripened into friendship (if the Doctor will allow me to say so), of the Rev. Michael Willis, D.D. By the advice of these p:entlcmcn and their colleagues in the Anti-Slavery Committee, I began to lecture in Canada, and finally became the agent of the Canadian Anti- Slavery Society. W^hile in this service, it was my duty to travel all over the country, giving facts touching American slavery, seeking to awaken an interest against slavery in Canada, asking aid and kindness towards such fugitives as needed help, forming auxiliary societies, seeking to show the influence correct sentiment in Canada might have upon the adjoining States, and CANADA. 137 ,nd their , I began the agent While in over the . slavery, laverj in rds siicli societies, tinient in ;ates, and doing all that could be done, by advice, encourage- ment, and any other means, to promote the develop- . ment, the progi-ess, all the best moral and material interests, of the coloured people. What I saw, and how I saw it, while thus engaged, shall be the theme of (his part of this volume. At first siglit, one would scarcely allow that anti-slavery labours were needed in a free British colony : most persons think so. The remark was frequently made to me, when proposing a meeting, or when speaking of the subject. But it is to be remembered, that Canada lies immediately next the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, to go no further westward. These States produce some of the boldest pro-slavery politicians, some of the guiltiest of slavery's abettors, some of the most heretical of slavery's pulpit parasites; and it is sorrowful to add, some of the most successful in their several pro-slavery pursuits, that ever dis- graced a free country, or desecrated free institu- tions, or belied our holy religion and its Author. Tlieir history is not only contemporaneous with the lii.^tory of Northern pro-slavcryism, but part and parcel of it. It is easy to see tliat a large popula- tion, infected with a sympathy for the slaveholder, upon our very border, must either have a serious clFect upon us, in corrupting us, or we must exert a ■ f 138 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. good influence upon them, provided we be, as we should be, thoroughly and incorruptibly and ac- tively anti-slaveiy. Unfortunately, the former is the fact, and not the latter. Besides, there is a vast amount of intercourse with the adjoining States, and a great deal of traffic, and Canadians travel extensively in the States, as do the people of the States in Canada. Thus the spread of slaveholding predilections is both favoured and facilitated ; and, what is more, there is abundant evidence that some Americans indus- triously usfe these opportunities f<»r the purpose of giving currency to their own notions. Moreover, in various parts of Canada Yankees have settled, and for miles around them the poison of their pro- slavery influence is felt. Some of them do not scruple to make known their desire to see Canada a part of the Union, and thus brought under the control of the slave power, and made a park for slaveholders to hunt human deer in. In the time of the Rebellion these tilings were said without concealment ; and I have knoAvn cases where Yan- kees, living in Canada for fifteen years, have shown themselves hostile to our Sovereign and our free institutions until they wanted office, and then, all at once, they took the oath of allegiance ! It is not to be forgotten, on the other hand, that in the States bordering upon us are some of the CANADA. 139 most thorough out-spoken abolitionists in the American Union. Having had tlie honour of being one of their humblest oadjutors, I could bear testi- mony to their zeal and trueness; and I felt, in living so near them, I was not entirely separated from them, though in another country, so far as political relations were concerned. I knew very well, and so did the society, that co-operation and sympathy with these benevolent men and women was an object well worthy of our labours. Our fugitives passed through their hands. They con- ducted the underground railway. The goods were consigned to us. When they reached us they ceased to be goods, and became men mstanter. For that purpose they sent them ; for that purpose we received them. On that account they rejoiced in the true practical freedom of our country ; on that account we deemed it a mercy to be permitted to live in such a county. They wrought and rejoiced on one side of the line ; we did the same on the other side of the line. We were yob "Hows, why should we not recognize each other at, ^ach ? We did; we do yet. Tliey attend our annual anti-slavery gatherings, we attend theirs. But I may as well come to some more unwel- come facts, showing the need of anti-slavery labour in Canada. I class them under tAvo heads— Ist, Pro-slavery feeling : and, 2nd, Negro-hate. 140 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 1. I do not now speak of Yankee settlers, visitors,, or travellers : enough has been said of them. I now speak of British-born subjects, who in Canada ex- hibit these two sentiments in a manner that no Yankee can excel. There are men and women in our midst who justify slavery, out and out. Some of these were heretofore planters in the West Indies. The victims of their former power being translated by the law of 1834 into freemen, they never can forgive Lord Grey, Lord Derby, nor the British Cabinet and the British people, for the demanding, advocacy, * and passing, of that law. Their property, their power, their wealth in human beings, are all gone, or nearly so. They are almost all of them friends of slavery, or enemies of the Negro, or both. Others were slaveholders aforetime in the United States. Ciri. amstances of one sort and another have induced them to change their residences, and they now abide in our midst, participating in our free- dom, and seeming to enjoy it; but they cannot forget the "leeks and the onions" of that Egypt in which they once luxm'iated as small-sized, very small, Pharaohs. They are not wont to say a great deal about it, for tliat is not exactly the latitude for the popularity of such sentiments ; but they say enough to show who and what they arc. And, "tell it not in Gath!" some of both these classes of Canadian slaveocrats are coloured men ! ■'5^il<: CANADA. 141 rs, visitors,. ;m. I now Canada ex- Br that no women in ut. Some ''est Indies. ; translated never can :he British lemanding, ir property, igs, are all til of them ro, or both, the United lother have ;, and they n our free- ley cannot hat Egypt •sized, very ; to say a ixactly the nents; but it they are. both these red men ! Another class were poor in former days, and, going out to seek their fortunes, alighted upon Southern plantations, where they found lucrative employment, in slave-driving; or they have con- tracted marriage alliances with the daughters of slaveholders, and thus become sons-in-law and brothers-in-law to slaveholders and to slavery. Such self-seeking, pelf-seeking, devotees of the institution, are always the most clamorous in its behalf. These obey this rule with all their might. Others dtill — like many, too many. Englishmen — without direct or indirect, present or past, interest in slavery, have travelled in the South ; and, be- longing to that extremely clever class of persons who possess the extraordinary facility of going through a country with both eyes wide open, and seeing nothing but just what they wish to see, return ignorant of any evils in slavery. "Fat, sleek, well contented slaves," were the only ones they saw. There were none but the kindest masters in any part of the country through which they travelled. They cannot distinctly remember to have heard of a slave auction, of the separation of a slave family, of a cas'j of severe flogging, of a chained coffle gang, of murder, incest, fornication or adultery, during all the tour: in fact, they can- not believe that such things do occur ! Slavery, in their eyes— sightless eyes, in chosen circura- 142 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. stances— is a very innocent, happy affair. True, they never wore the yoke, they never even tasted any of those sweets which they are sure were from necessity in shavery ; but they know (that is, they know nothing) and are prepared to testify (albeit their testimony is good for nothing) that slavery is only bad, if bad at all, either in the exaggerated view of the abolitionists, or as the result of the exasperations of the amiable slaveholders by the intermeddling of the abolitionists. Yes, our sacred soil is polluted by the unholy tread of pro-slavery men. Fortunately, but few of them, so far as I know, are ministers of the gospel. Two bishops, one a Roman Catliolic and the other an Episco- palian, have the name of it. I doubt if they are falsely charged ; but still I cannot say, certainly. Some, I know, are very chary of doing anything against slavery. I know of one, an Englishman, in Hamilton (the Yankeeist town in Canada), who is especially cautious ; and another, a Scotchman, "canny" to the last degree, lest he should be suspected of anti-slaveryism. And fame says- no, it was a doctor of divinity who told me— that there is at least one now in Toronto, who was once in Hamilton, who favours the pro-slavery side of the case. But the very difficulty I have in re- collecting these few, after having travelled all over the colony, shows that, with up., anti-slavery is CANADA. 143 me says — I me — that 9 was once cry side of lave in re- led all over -alaverv is the rule, pro-slavery the exception, in our clergy- men, while in the States the converse is true. That is something. But I shall not leave this truth, so gloriously creditable to the ministry of my adopted country, to be merely inferred from the foregoing. I shall by and by have the great pleasure of asserting it in direct terms, as I do now by implication. 2. Canadian Negro-haters are the very worst of their class. I know of none so contemptible. I say this in justice to the Americans from whom I have suffered, in the States, and to whom I have very freely alluded; and in justice, too, to such Yankees as are now resident in Canada. And I beg to say, that I write no more freely than I have spoken, to the very faces of those I am now de- scribing. This feeling abounds most among the native Canadians, who, as a rule, are the lowest, the least educated, of all the white population. Like the same class in England, and like the ancestors of the Americans, they have not the training of gentlemen, are not accustomed to genteel society, and, as a consequence, know but little, next to nothing, of what are liberal enliglitened views and genteel behaviour. Having no social standing such as gentlemen feel the necessity of maintaining, they sufier nothing from doing an ungentlemanlv 144 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. i V deed; and liaving neither a high aim nor a high standard of social behaviour, they seem to be, and in fact are, quite content to remain as they are. It is obvious, too, that such a class will maintain a poor petty jealousy towards those coming into the country who give any signs of prospering, especially if they are, from colour or what not, objects of dis- like. In saying this feeling abounds most among native Canadians of the lower order, I do not mean that it is confined to them ; nor do I mean to say that it is universal, without exception, even among this class — ^others exhibit it, and some of that class are among the freest from it. Still, its chief seat is in their bosoms. A few facts will make my meaning more clear. In many cases, a black person travelling, what- ever may be his style and however respectable his appearance, will be denied a seat at table d^hdte at a country inn, or on a steamer ; and in a case or two coming under my own observation, sucli have been denied any sort of entertainment whatever. A gentleman of my acquaintance,* driving a good pair of horses, and travelling at leisure, with his ladylike wife, was one night, in the winter of 1851-52, denied admittance at some dozen public taverns. His lady, being of lighter complexion than himself, on one or two occasions was admitted, * Mr. Peter O'Banj-on. CANADA. 145 and was comfortably seated hy the fire, and politely treated— until her darker-skinned husband came in, and then, there was no room for either. It was a bitterly cold night; and h^:-^ treated— maltreated— after this manner until nsarly mid- night, they were at length obliged to accept of a room in which they could sit up all night. In December, 1851, a black man anived at Hamilton. He proposed going into an omnibus, to ride up from the wharf at which he landed, to Week's Hotel. The servants on the omnibus de- clared it was full. This being false, and it being pointed out to them, they declared the empty seats were engaged to persons whom they were to take up on the way. Af^er the black had been refused a passage in the omnibus, numbers of whites were freely admitted— in fact, solicited to enter it. The Negro had no means of getting up with his luggage until a kind-hearted Irishman took him in his waggon. Upon reaching Week's Hotel, he ap- plied for lodging, but was distinctly refused a bed, solely on the ground of his colour. Such were' Mr. Week's express orders.* Some six months after that, I heard of the destruction of a large amount of Week's property by fire, without shed- dmg a sin-le tear ! Two cases like these I have not known in the States for twenty ye-'.rs. While * The black person is the Writer. L 146 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 1: these Canadian tavern-keepers have "been apeing the bad character of their Yankee neighbours, they have not participated in some better influences on this subject, which the repeated droppings of the anti-slavery streamlet have caused to take place on the Yankee rock of Negro-hate. In that respect Canadian is beneath and behind Yankee feeling. The instances Avhich have come before me of such occurrences at taverns would be too numerous to mention. I will give two steamboat cases, of many. A gentleman of colour,* who graduated at King's College (now the university) at Toronto, was going to Kingston. He took a first class ticket, and was accordingly entitled to first class fare. When the dinner bell rang, he presented himself at the table. He was forbidden to sit down. He paid no attention to the prohibition, and was about sitting down, when the captain approached him menacingly, and was about to draw the chair from under him; when the black drew another chair, knocked the captain down, and then sat down and eat his Jjnner in peace. On their arrival at Kingston the captain complained of him for assault ; and he of the captain, for inter- ference with his rights. The Court fined the black gentleman five pounds and the captain twenty. And here is the grand difference betwixt Yankee . * Peter Galego, Esq. CANADA. 147 and Canadian Negro-hate — the former is sanctioned by the laws and the courts, the latter is not. In either of the tavern cases to which reference has been made, the parties could have had legal redress. In my own case, I went to a law office, and looked up the law upon the subject, and found it as plain as davlight ; but I did not prcoccute. The other steamboat case was that of a coloured woma-i, with her sister and three children, coming to Canada from New York State, in 1851. The brutal captain, a Scotchman, by the name of Ker, refused them a seat anywhere else save on the cleclr, and refused even to take money from them for a cabin passage. His lyin^ plea was, that it would be offensive to the passengers. Every one of them distinctly denied it; and, what is more, another coloured lady, with her husband, had and enjoyed a cabin passage ! Tell me not that I speak too strongly about this case. The woman is my wife, the children ours ! God forgive Captain Ker ! I was stating this case one night in a lecture, and after- wards learned that among my hearers were several of the relatives of this same recreant Scotchman. Glad was I that the case was told so near home. Speaking at Paris, in the Eev. James Vincent's church, on this subject, one night in February, 1852, the Rev. Mr. Clements, of the Wesleyan denomination, arose after I had done, and testified L 2 UP! I I. J. . HHJ iii«>H..-~. Hi/ «|i«tiM Hiai 148 ANTI-SLAYERY LABOURS. to the truthfulness o£ my statement by giving a case that had come under his own observation. The case, briefly, is this. A Scotchman, named Buchanan, one of Her Majesty's postmasters, re- fused to allow Mr. Clements admittance into his house, on a certain night, although Mr. 0. was his pastor, and the night most stormy, anc\ other friends distant. For what reason, think you? Be- cause Mr. C. had been reported to have eaten at the same table with a black ! I have known several instances in which coloured children were denied their legal right to attend the public schools, by their Canadum neighbours. When Rev. Mr. King app^ed to Lord Elgin for the land upon which Buxton Settleraent now is— a credit to all connected with it— his Lordship was besieged with petitions and remonstrances against allowing land to be sold to Negroes. I never shall forget the cool quiet manner in which the noble Earl told me that he disregarded the prayer of these petitions. 1 knew he had, for I had been upon the land more tlian once ; but to hear it from his Lordship's own lips, in the presence of his Grace the Duke of Argyll, was more than an ordinary privilege. I recollect to liave read of a case in the township of Gosfield, county of Essex, in which the whole mass of coloured voters were driven away from the polling place, and disfran- I ■MM**! CANADA. 149 ivmg a rvation. , named ters, re- into his C. was it\ other a? Be- eaten at coloured tend the ghbours. ilgin for low is — ship was ; against iver shall he noble )rayer of uid been ir it from ;e of his than an read of a di Essex, ters were I disfran- •■*' chised for the time, by a low set of Gosfield Can- adians. The injured parties had recourse to law — • British law, thank Heaven !- and triumphed. Now, far be it from me to complain of any white man's denying any Negro a seat at his table, or the association of his family. I am iree to confess that, so far a? maiority of them are concerned, that would be, . me, no honour — in many cases I could not reciprocate ^ consistently with my own self-respect: and I know I speak the senti- ments of my black fellow Canadians, generally. I know, too, that every man has a right to reject whom he pleases from his own social circle. Exercising this right as I do, 1 should be the last man in the empire to comj)lain of it in any other man, whitr or black ; but when it comes to ordi- nary public, purchased rights, legally provided, constitutionally secured, and judicially enforced, I say I not only may complain, but am entitled so tf comphin that my complaint shall be botli heard and felt, by the aggressor and by all concerned. When at home, I do not scruple to say, as also says the liev. Ilirnam Wilson, " he who, to gratify his petty prejudice, flies in ^he face of British law, to deprive ary Negro (or any other man) of his rights, is a heuel, and as such ought to be treated." Happily for us, we have equal laws in our adop<^ jd country ; and I know of no judge who would sully ■T'^^mm^mmW^mwwk.^iei^.*, tt 150 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. the British ermine by swerving from duty at the bidding of prejudice, in a case coming before him as betwixt a F-gro and a white man. I know of more than one instance in which our Canadian judges have acted with the most honourable im- partiality in such cases ; indeed, I know of no case in which they have done otherwise. In the foregoing cases, it is seen that Canadian Negro-hate is not confined to native Canadians: others share it as well. One thing I have here the greatest pleasure in saying : I never saw the slightest appearance of it in any person in Canada recognized there, or who would be recognized here, as a gentleman. Either that class do not parti- cipate in the feeling, or their good sense and good taste and good breeding forbid its appearance. Perhaps it would not be deemed immodest in me to say, that 1 4iave had as ample opportunities to know " whereof I affirm" as any black man who ever was in Canada ; and I have not observed a solitary fact contradictory to what I am now stating. I do not expect any one to understand how great is my pleasure in saying that, so far as my experience goes (and that is consid3rable), th£ British gentleman is a gentleman everywhere, and under all circumstances. Therefore, in every town of Canada, and especially in Toronto, I see what I gaw in but extrcmelv few and exceptional cases in rt & f CANADA. 151 the States — viz., that among gentlemen, the black takes just the place for which he is qualified, as if his colour were similar to that of other gentlemen — as if there were no Negro-crushing country hard by — as if there were no Negro-hating lower classes in their midst. And now for an anomaly. Fugitives coming to Canada are, the majority of them, young, single men. Many more young than old, many more male than female, come. Then, these look about them for wives. Coloured young women are com- paratively scarce; and, in spite of the prevalent prejudice, they marry among this very lower class of wliose Negro-hate I have said so much. Hence, while you get so much evidence of the aversion betwixt these classes, you see it to be no strange thing, but a very common thing, for a black labourer to have a white wife, of a like class. In other circumstances, one would not wonder at it; but considering the bitter feeling of the whites, it is, to say the least of it, an anomaly, that blacks should propose on the one hand, and that wliites should accept on the other. However, the history of poor human nature and its actions is full of these anomalies. It is certainly without pain that I add, these matches, so far as I know, are happy ones. How ftir this anomaly may tend in future to correct the prejudice, I cannot tell. How powerful, how ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. wide-spread, how speedy, will be its operation, are matters upon which I do not even venture to speculate. That it is a condescension on the part of the white, that it at all elevates the individual Negro, I of course deny. That the progeny of such marriages will be physical and intellectual improvements upon the parental stock of both sides, admits of no doubt : whether a coiTesponding moral advantage will result, is quite another thing. That is a question 0/ posterity; and /or posterity, and to posterity, I beg to leave it. I am sure I have said enough to demonstrate the need of anti-slaveiy labour in Canada. My experience, everywhere, confirmed the views I pre- viously held on the matter. I went at the work under such auspices as I have mentioned, and with such obstacles as 1 have descanted upon. I will close this chapter by stating briefly the class of encouragements afforded me in this field of labour. 1. The hearty co-operation and earnest paternal sympathy of the Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada. 2. The very ready and very kind reception and aid I received from ministers of the gospel, of all de- nominations, and other individuals, almost without one exceptioii. I may say in this place, that, as a rule, the officers and members of the Chuickcs, and the congregation, gave a most ready responat to CANADA. the claims of our cause upon them. I have before my mind's eye some exceptionSj no doubt; but they are in themselves and in their principles un- worthy of further notice either from myself or from you, kind reader. And how do I know but, ere this, they may be converts to our principles ? 3. I must be allowed once more to advert to the strong British feeling pervading the better classes, and, in this connection, to refer to many noble Americans, resident in Canada, whose anti-slavery principles admit of neither question nor com- promise. 4. The co-operation of all the uetter class of the coloured people, and the evident and well defined signs of improvement in the other classes of my own people. Some facts illustrating the last shall be hereafter introduced. % ff 154 11 CHAPTER II. RESISTANCE TO SLAVE POLICY. There are supposed to te in Canada some 35,000 to 40,000 coloured people. One reason why we cannot get at the actual numbers more accurately is, that in taking the Census, designations of colour, thought provided for, were not made. It is only possible, therefore, to give the approximate num- ber, from the best sources at command. The nuiliber, as I have stated it, seems to be generally regarded as correct by those who know best. The majority of these are refugees from American slavery : in fact, I do not believe that, with the exception of the children born in Canada, there are 3,000 free-born coloured persons in the whole colony. There are, however, some, and in truth many— and they are constantly increasing— of the very best classes of the free blacks of both the Northern and the Southern States, who have cast in their lot among us. There is enough to draw them. There is our impartial British liberty— the f I „ « Liberty to feel, 'o " Ucr, and to argue freely — CANADA. 155 such as they cannot Vave (as some of us know from dear-bought experience) in any of the States. Then, the climate is the most pleasant and the most salubrious on the American continent. I speak now particularly of Upper Canada, or Canfida West. The winter there is not so severe as in Lower Canada, or Canada East. Yet, with its clear, cloudless, smokeless, fogless atmosphere — its bright blue sky, its white snowy drapery enveloping the earth — even winter is a most beau- tiful season. Add the sleighing, and an English winter is thrown into the shade completely. The summers are not so hot as in Lower Canada ; and, smTounded as a large portion of the Upper Pro- vince is by vast lakes, we have both the heat and the cold most agreeably modified. I never knew, or heard, or read, of a more healthy country. It would seem as if Providence designed it for a vigorous people. Abundantly watered, beauti- fully diversified, gradually rising and as gra- dually falling, very regularly undulating, with but few unhealthy marshes, and, when some- what damp, becoming dry upon the first felling of the forests, it would seem as if nought but health could abide, nought but vigour could abound, there. And the land is so excellent. None better, to use an Americanism, " lies out of doors." Skilled, 156 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. I persevering labour, is remunerated upon that soil with an unequalled abundance. Besides, Cana- dians (especially since the Reciprocity Treaty) enjoy the best markets, near and distant, on the continent. And, lastly, the land is so cheap. Ihe Government sells the best lands in the country at from six to eight shillings the acre, and allows ten years' credit, at annual payments. There are com- panies and private individuals as well, who are selling lands at most reasonable prices. These advantages prove alluring to some of the best ot our people in the States ; and they see, too, thai all other branches of business flourish as does agriculture. Hence, with that restless and resist- less desire for improvement which the coloured man in all parts of America is now makmg mani- fest, many of them " shake off the dust" of the persecuting cities of their na.' ve land, and come to us The condition, prospects, progress, enterprise, manhood, every way exhibited by this class make them what they deserve to be, the esteemed of all classes wiiose good opinion is worth having. 1 see a recent traveller says, " there is not a respectable coloured family in Toronto." That is like Sam Slick " (Judge Haliburton) saying, " a Negro gen- tleman is out of the question." I would say to that bold false writer, and to that NegTO-dispa- raging judge, what Robert Emmett said to Judge CANADA. 157 Norbury — " There are men united with me * * * * * who are superior to your own conceptions of your- self, my Lord." But, as I have said, and as is well known — too well known in the Slave States — the mass of our Negro population are refugees from American des- potism. So early as 1824* the attention of the American Government was turned to the numbers then escaped and escaping to Canada. In 1827 the Secretary of State f spoke of it as " a growing evil." The same year, the British Government were besought to make a treaty for the extradition of slaves. In 1842, when the Ashburton Treaty was made, they wished to smuggle into it a pro- vision to this effect; and a little while after, an effort was made to pervert the tenth article of that treaty, to make it authorize the delivery of fugitives from slavery, as felons. But the British Govern- ment consenting to none of these propositions, this " evil," as Mr. Clay called it thirty years ago, con- tinues to " grow." Its " growth " is giving us a most vigorous, most loyal, most useful i}opulation, whose presence and increase amongst us is every way most welcome. It is a matter of great difficulty for them to * See Judge Jay's " View of the Action of the Federal Government in behalf of Slavery." t Honourable Henry Clay, I 168 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. .t,ack Canada. It follows, that hut few compara- tively can come. There is no country in the world so much hated by slaveholders, as Canada ; nor is there any country so much beloved and sought for, by the slaves. These two feel thus oppositely to- wards our fair province for the same reason— IT IS A FREE COUNTRY. As Cowper said of England, sp is true of Canada. There, too, " Slaves cannot breathe. " They touch our country, and their shackles fall." Miss Martinaau was told by a gentleman, that the sublimest sight in North America is the leap of a slave from a boat to the Canadian shore. That " leap " transforms him from a marketable chattel to a free man. Hence that " leap " is far more sublime than the plunge of the Niagara Kiver from its natural bed to the deep, deep, receptacle of its voluminous waters, far below. But when it is re- membered how much of difficulty the poor American slave has to encounter, in preparing for his escape, and in making it— how every step of the ^ay is beset with peril and threatening disaster— then one could see in that "leup" so much of the consum- mation of long and fondly cherished hope, hope nurtured on the very brink of despair, so much of real true manhood, as to give a better insight into its real "sublimity" than a more casual glance could afford. To the better feelings of our com- 1 CANADA. 159 mon manhood, it is most gratifying to see a man made free by an effort of peaceful though energetic heroism; but to know how much that effort has cost him, and to know that he has both counted and paid the cost, is more gratifying still. The one gives us, it may be, but a momentary thrill of dehght ; the other awakens and fixes our ad- miration. When I say that our immigrant and oft-coming* fugitives are a most welcome accession to om* popu- lation, the reader may smile and say, " That is all very well in one Negro to say of others of the same class." But I say it in view of the wants of our colony, and of the character of these people. What the former are I will state in few words — labourers of real sterling Industry ; what the latter is shall be inferred from what they show themselves to be, as slaves, as fugitives, and as freemen. I use this pe- culiar nomenclature for the sake of perspicuity and logical correctness. The fugitive is different on the plantation from what he is flying. When he reaches Canada, he is no longer either a slave or a fugitive, but a freeman. 1. I hesitate not to affirm, that the class of slaves who escape to Canada are generally the most valu- * Since the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law they have in- creased rapidly. Those who had been in Free States for years, many of them, were obliged to flee. 160 ANTl-SLAVEEY LABOURS. able of the whole stock. Ordinarily, as Jeff rson says, " men are more apt to bear evils than to put themselves to the peril and trouble of getting rid of them." Ordinary men submit to, and try to make the best of, v^hat they suffer. Besides, oppression cramps and dwarfs the mind so as to make it mean enough, most frequently, to submit to what is imposed upon it, if not without murmurings and repinings, at least without very vigorous efforts, either in the mass or in individuals, to better t\em- selves. I I hope I need not say, that Negroes do not fur- nish the only or the worst illustrations of this fact. Around the American slave, however, are placed all manner of obstacles to his escape, and over him the most vigilant surveillance is constantly exer- cised. The fear of his ruuning away is constantly present to the mind of his master, and against it all manner of precautions are used. The slave may not learn to read or write— it would better prepare him to make his escape; he may not be out after ten o'clock at night, " without written permission"; he may not be absent from his master's premises after nightfall, at all, " without written permission"; he may not be away, any distance from home, day or ni^ht, " without written permission." If found ctherwise, he is apprehended, imprisoned, and ad- vertised, as a runaway. If detected as actually CANADA. 161 .", gniliy . .f Turning away, or of being liable to rea- sonabl. ~tt^] -liion of the crime (for it is such), he will receive, tue severest possible punishment. His punish H, '.s more than ordinarily cruel for the fault— desire for freedom, in the freest country unt!er the sun— both to cure him of any such desire or ten- dency in future, and to intimidate other slaves. All this the slave knows before he starts — indeed, before he determines to start. Then, he occasionally receives a lecture on the bad climate and worse customs of Canada. All manner of bugbears are put oefore him, touching this country. Sometimes, however, they go too far in this direction. I have heard slaves say, " We knew Canada was a good countrj for us, because master was so anxious that we should not go there." Such have learnt to interpret their masters' pretended solicitude in their behalf as the Irish interpret their dreams, " by conthraries." In case a Negro has the stub- bornness (it would be called bravery and fortitude in a white man) to go to Canada, in spite of his master's contrary wish, in spite of all he has heard against it, and in spite of all he has heard and seen of punishment— and, it may be, has felt of it too- then he must consider what he is about. He must impart his secret to no one; not even his bosom friend may be trusted. Then, what he does by way of preparation must be done most stealthfiv. M 162 ANTI-SLxiVERY LABOURS. At that time, of all times, lie must appear best satisfied witli slavery, least anxious for freedom. He lias no means of purchasing the articles he needs for his journey. His conscience may he ten- der as to whether he should appropriate to himseh what he deems necessary for his escape, from his master's possession, without leave. Sometimes their consciences give them far less trouble than the vigilant eyes of their masters. It is true, however, that there are slaves so completely under the cor+rol of i-eligious scruples, as to refuse to appropriave not only what they need for their escape- hut what they need to live upon. Frederic Douglas .-ays, that while a slave, for a length of time he felt conscientiously opposed to the taking of such food or animals as he really needed for his sustenance. An old Negro preacher, however, who was more skilled in casuistry, determined to convert him from his needless scruples. On one occasion he reasoned with him after the following manner :- " Frederic, are not you master's property ? " " Yes," said Frederic. " Well ; is not yon pig master's property also ?" " Yes, I see that." " Well then ; if you take the pig, which is mas- ter's property, and put it insirle of Frederic, which is master's property, has not master got both pieces oi Ilia p'ojjert)/ together?'' CANADxi. 163 *•' Yes," replied Frederic, perfectly reconciled, and relieved of all doubts on the subject from that day forth. Some do, and some do not, become entangled with such difficulties; whether they do or not, thousands of obstacles surround them. Any one may betray their secret, if knowing it, and hence everything must be kept to themselves. A man entrusted with a plan of importance grows with it. If it be the fruit of his own thoughts and one of his own pm-jDoses, he is more of a man for having conceived it. If it must be wrought out with his own unaided hands, it improves him to entertain the intention of doing it. If in the way of his resolution — and, still more, in the way of executing it — there stand many mighty obstacles of which he is well aware, but the existence of whicii appals him not, he has in him all the elements of your moral or physical hero, or of both. Now, the slave intending, planning, determining to escape, is one of that class. He knows he must lie in the woods all day— that he can only travel in the night — that he must not be seen in any public thoroughfare— that no animal of the eartli is so much to be dreaded and avoided as man— tlvdt cold, and wet, and hunger, and thirst, and ap- proaching nakedness, are among the most o]'dinary adjuncts of his toilsome journey. Worst of all, he M 2 K'asswttSfiit 164 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. knows that the keen scent of the well-trained bloodhound— a dog educated like an American, and by an American, to hate and worry a Negro * — a dog bad enough naturally, but made ten thou- sandfold worse by his republican, Bible-defended f training: as well as the swiftest hunter, the most ferocious of all, the human professional Negi-o- catclier— will be upon his track. They may over- take him ; they may overpower him, and drag him back ! Then the hottest part of the hell of slavery is to be his portion. Still he holds on his purpose, defies the dangers, battles the obstacles, stills the palpitations of his own trembling heart, and makes liis preparations and — his exit. Now, not only the philosophy of the case declares this man to be superior to those generally sun-ound- ing liim, those he leaves behind him, but, as in the case of other refugees, the history of the case agrees with its philosophy. The slaves advertised as having run away, or as having been arrested upon suspicion of being runaways— as any one may see in any Soutlicrn newspaper, political or religious — are men and women of mark. " Large frames " are ascribed to tliem ; " intelligent counte- nances j" "can read a little;" "may pass, or at- * These dogs arc tniiued by being set upon young Negroes, in their puppy days. t Tlic divines who defend shvvery from the Bible, defend this practice as well. 'S'j^ ^.&3 "mi * CANADA. tempt to pass, as a freeman;" "a good mechanic ;" "had a bold look;" "above the middle lieigV-', very ingenious, may pass for white ;" "very intel- ligent." No one who has seen such advertisements can fail to be struck with them. A mulattress left her master, Mr. Devonport, in Syracuse, in 1839, who "had no traces of African origin": as adver- tised. Mr. D. said she was worth 2,500 dollars, nearly £500. Such are the slaves who run away, as a rule. I do not deny that some of "inferior lots" come too, but such as those described form the rule. Then, as fugitives, when we recollect what they must undergo in every part of their exodus, we can but see them as among the most admirable of any race. The fugitive exercises patience, fortitude, and perseverance, connected with and fed by an ardent and unrestrained and resistless love of liberty, such as cause men to be admired every- where — that is, ^vh^te men everywhere, but in the United States. The lonely, toiling journey; the endurance of the excitement from constant danger; the hearing the yell and howl of the bloodhound ; tltp, knowledge of close, hot pursuit ; the dread of captii'^'^ and the determination not to be taken alive — all these, furnaces of trial as they are, purity and ennoble the man who has to pass through them. All these are inseparable from tlic ordinary incideuts iu the northward passage of the fugitive : 166 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. and when he reaches us, he is, first, what the raw material of nature was; and, secondly, what the improving process of flight has made him. Both have fitted him the more highly to appreciate, the more fully to enjoy, and the more wisely to use, that for which he came to us, for which he was willing to endure all things, for which, indeed, he would have yielded life itself — liberty. Let me illustrate these points by a few facts. A Negro, Madison Washington by name — a name, a pair of names, of which he was well worthy — was a slave in Virgihia. He determined to be free. He fled to Canada and became free. There the noble fellow was dissatisfied — so dissatisfied, that he de- termined to leave free Canada, and return to Vir- ginia : and wherefore ? His wife was there, a slave. Freedom was too sweet to be enjoyed without her. That she was a slave marred his joys. She must share them, even at the risk of his losing them. So in 1841 he went back to Virginia, to the neigh- bourhood in Avhich his wife lived, lingered about in the woods, and sent word to her of his where- abouts ; others were unfortunately informed as well, and he was captured, taken to Wasliington, and sold to a Negro-trader. One scarcely knows which most to admire — the heroism this man displayed in the freeing of liimself, or the noble manliness that risked all for the freedom of his wife. One cannot CANADA. 167 A help thinking that, as his captors led Madison Washington to the slave pen, they must have been smitten with the thought that they were handling a man far superior to tnemselves. When a load of Negroes had been made up, Madison Washington, with a large number of others — 119, I think — was put on board the schooner " Creole," to sail out of the mouth of the Potomac River and southwards to the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi, and to New Orleans, the great slave-buying port of America. But on the night of the 9th of November, 1841, Madison Washington and two others, named re- spectively Pompey Garrison, and Ben Blacksmith, arose upon the captain and crew, leading all the other slaves after them, and gave the captain the alternative of sailing the vessel into a British port, one of the Bahamas, or of going overboard. The captain, wisely and safely for himself, chose the former; and these three brave blacks, naturally distrusting the forced promise of the Yankee cap- tain, stood sentry over him until he did steer the " Creole " into the port of Nassau, island of New Providence, touching which they became freemen. The United States Government, through the Hon- ourable Edward Ev^erett,* demanded of Lord Pal- * This was during the time when the Honournblo Daniel Webster first was Secretary of Stat . It was the first time the British Govern- ment had rejected such a demand, I am sorry to say. 168 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. merston gold to pay for these men. The Court of St. James entertained the demand — not one mo- ment. What lacked these men of being Tells, Mazzinis, and Kossuths, in their way, except white or whitish skins ? 169 CHAPTEU III. FUGITIVES EVINCE TRUE HEROISM. Among the many who come to us from slavery, it cannot be expected that all, or many, should be such as the three described in the closing part of the last chaf'.jr. I do not pretend any such thing. Slavery is not tlie sort of institution for tlic training and producing of such men. Many, too many, bear with them the indelible marks of the accursed lot to which they have been doomed, in early life. It is almost impossible to spend youth, manhood, and the greater part of life, in such a condition as that of the American slave, and entirely escape, or to any great extent ever become free from, the legitimate influences of it upon the whole character. It is so with slaveholders. They never, during life, lose the overbearing insolence, the reckless morals, the peculiarly inelegant manners, and the profligate habits, which distinguish too many of them. Why should slaves be expected to be better than what they have been made, by the institution which has crushed them ? Indeed, though I recollect nothing ;i k 170 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. of slavery, I am every day showing something of my slave origin. It is among my thoughts, my su- perstitions, my narrow views, my awkwardness of manners. Ah, the infernal impress is upon me, and I fear I shall transmit it to my children, and they to theirs ! How deeply seated, how far reach- ing, a curse it is ! All I claim for the Negro settler is, that as a slave, a fugitive, and a freeman, he is equal to other poor immigrants, superior to many, and from among the Yexy best of his own class ; and that, take him all in all, he is just such a man as our new country needs — a lover of freedom, a loyal subject, an industrious man. I fear that I should leave an unfair impression upon the minds of my readers, if I did not give other instances of the class and condition of fugi- tives, than the case of Madison Washington and his compatriots. Some are not nearly so fortunate. One poor man came to my house, in Toronto, who had fled from North Carolina, leaving behind him a wife and four children, whom he had no expecta- tion of seeing again on earth. He was four-and- thirty years old; and at that age, while enjoying freedom, and having shown the maidiness to escape, bearing all the perils of his flight most bravely, his poor heart must be sunken in sorrow by the gloomy recollection that all dear to him were 1,400 CANADA. 171 miles away, In slavery. Few men, of any race, would retain sufficient energy of body, or soul, or mind, to bear up under sucli evils; but this poor fellow went to work in the service of a friend of mine, who wrote me in 1853 concerning him that " he spends his leisure in learning to read, in which he is quite successful." Another came to me at the age of sixty-one. He had spent his best days in the service of a man who had frequently sent him with six horses, as a teamster, to Pennsylvania (thereby making him free, though the poor man did not know it), and whom he had served till his death. His master's sons sold him to ^ Negro-trader. Keturning to the house at the close of his day's labour, one evening, he was informed of his being sold. He could not believe that lads to whom he had been so kind could sell him. Poor man ! little did he dream of the ingi'atitude of a slaveholding Yankee. He was called to his supper, which, instead of being set in the kitchen as usual, was set in a small room to which there was but one door, and the table stood behind that door. Woodfolk, the Negro-trader, was in an adjoining room, viewing him with pro- fessional interest. The presence of this demi-demon, the arrangements for supper, find the appearance of matters generally, but too clearly revealed to him that the information he had received was quite i( I I 172 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. correct. He saw that, should he sit down there to supper, Woodfolk and the young men could, like tigers, spring upon him ; and there being no chance of escape, he could be overpowered and borne off, in spite of any resistance he might make. Wisely concluding that "discretion is the better part of valour," he went out as if to look after the horses he was accustomed to attend, and never returned. His wife lived some two miles distant: should he visit her, to bid her farewell ? No ! for so soon as they missed him, they would suspect he was gone to see her, and therefore that would be the first place to which they would repair in quest of him. Be- sides, was it not wise to gain time by taking ad- vantage of this fact? He adopted the latter plan, kept the barn behind him, went to the woods, followed the North Star, and journeyed patiently until he arrived, in the character of a freeman, the first time in his life, upon the soil of a free country. At first, I could not make the old man believe that he was really in a free country ; but the kind- ness shown by the Ladies' Society for the Aid of Destitute Fugitives brought the fact gradually, like the approach of dawn to his vision, and then he came to me in haste, demanding to be sent away to work. He needed no more rest ; he was not ill, as he had supposed ; he could scarcely believe he CANADA. 173 was old and weak — he was free! that was youth, health, rest, strength, all things. He was sent to the county of Lincoln, where he obtained em- ployment ; and he is now working out the pro- blems of his maintenance as successfully as any man of his years, in that part of Her Majesty's empire. Another was so unfortunate as to be obliged to travel in the winter. I met him at a ferry on the Niagara River, crossing from Niagara, on the British side, to Youngstown, on the New York side. It was a bitterly cold day, the lltli of January, 1853. Crossing the river, it was so cold tliat icicles were formed upon my clothes, as the waves dashed the water into the feny boat. It was difficult for the Rev. H. Wilson and myself— we travelled together — to keep ourselves warm while driving ; and my horses, at a most rapid rate, travelled twelve miles almost without sweating. That day, this poor fellow crossed that ferry with nothing upon his person but cotton clothing, and an oilcloth top- coat. Liberty was before him, and for it he could defy the frost. I had observed him, wlien I was in the office of the ferry, sitting not at^ but all arcmiul^ the stove; for he literally surrounded and covered it with his shivering legs and arms and trunk. And what delighted me was, everybody in the office seemed quite content that he should IMAGE tVALUATBON TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ // Z 4is < "'' 1 1« Ae value ot my shilling," I expostulated. "So shall I lose mine, if you go to the bottom without paying m advance," was his cool replv I submitted, of com-se. When partly across! ho -.d to me "Stranger, you saw that 'ereW ^ near the stove in the office, didn't you?" " Yes I saw Iiim, ve.y near it, all around It-a^ over It, for that matter." fl. " r^"' '^ f"" '"'' '^' ""^*^""g ^'' J""^> I would hank you, for he is really in need. He is a fugitive. . just now brought him across. I am sure he has nothino- for Iip Ua i 4. r pay his feriy." °' ^"'^ "^"^ *'"'P'"'='= «<> "But you eliarged me a MUmff, and made me pay m advance." " Yes, but I tell you what ; when a darky eomes ■.5U-4jtj^ CANADA. 175 to this feny from slavery, I guess he'll get across, shilling or no shilling, money or no money." Knowing as I did that a Yankee's-a good YanKee's-^^^. is equal to any other man's oath, I conld but believe him. He further told me, that sometimes when they had money, fogitives would give him five shillings for putting them across the feny wh:.h divided what they call Egypt from Canaan. In one case a fugitive insisted upon his taking twenty-four times the regular fare. Upon the ferryman's refusing, the Negro conquered by «aymg, "Keep it, then, as a fund to pa. the terriage of frigitives who cannot pay for them- selves." While I was upon the journey in the course of which the foregoing occurred, a man arrived at loronto who had come fi-om the Soutli, travelling on foot, wearing out his shoes, and freezing his feet so that for a fortnight he could not stand upon them. He, as are all others in like circumstances, was attended to and provided for at the expense of those "Sisters of Mercy," the Ladies' Society, to which I referred in a preceding pagej and being a stonecutter by trade, so soon as he was able to stand he found employment in one of our best stonecutter's yards, and proved to be a most ser- viceable skilful workman. I will give one or two instances of the difficulties 176 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. which beset them on their way. Andrew Jackson, 1^ a well known and dear^-^ beloved man, was, after ^ he started, beset hy five slave-catchers, who were determined to take him back. Andrew told me, that when they demanded his surrender and return,' he pointedly refused, and placed himself in an attitude of defence and defiance. He says, '^ they came upon me, and I used a hickory stick I had in my hands. Striking them as hard and a's often as I could, with each blow I prayed, ' Lord, save! Lord, save!' Now," said he, « had I simply cried, aord, save!' without using my hickoiy, they would have taken me. Now I know that faith and works go together." He conquered; flogging the five, as he said, by God's blessing upon the energetic use of his hickory. I believe him. Who does not ? Another man, of whom the Rev. Mr. },IcClurc (as true a friend to the Negro as ever drew breath) told me, ran away in the absence of his master, not knowing whither he had gone. He arrived at the Niagara River without serious mishap, and was just about to cross, and make the '•leap" of which Hiss Martineau speaks. But he cautiously approaclicd the river's brink, and looked up and down before horrowincj a boat, there being no ferry very near, and he pre- ferring to cross quietly and privately, in tliat CANADA. 177 manner: but down the river he saw a man fishing, whose appearance he did not particularly like. He hesitated. The man turned his face towards him. It was the face of his master ! In an mstant, he ran-almost flew~from the margin of the river, to gain the suspension bridge close at hand, and cross it. His master pursued. On he flew: he gained the bridge; so did his master. He ran for life, and liberty-the master ran for property, the former had freedom to win, the ktter ieared the loss of a chattel. On both ran the Negro being ahead by some few "lengths"' and showing a most practical disposition to keep so. The keeper of the tollgate encouraged the JNegro, who, though breathless, redoubled his en- ergies and almost multiplied his speed at every bound, until he reached the Canadian end of the bridge-when he suddenly stopped, his haste being over, the goal having been reached, the prize won He looked his former master, who had just "arrived m time to be too late," calmly in the eye, with a smile of satisfaction and triumph overspreading his features. The two were equals: both were free. The former slave knew it right well. Hence that calm triumphant smile. I heard of one who, like the man just spoken of, reaehed the E„e River at Black Roek near Buffalo, and m sight of that Canada which hw N ,'# -'iiii'".— H)wp iii.'..|i]i|ii. m !;.i 178 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS, been the object of liis fondest desires, and had actually gone upon the ferryboat to be conveyed to his inuch-wished-for ii'ee home. The ferryman was loosing the boat from the shore, when, to his utter dismay, up rode his master upon a foaming steed, and with a look " Like the sunshine when it flashes on steel," drew his loaded pistol, and plainly told the ferry- man—" If you loose that boat to convey my Negro to the opposite bank, I'll blow your brains out!" The 'Negro in an instant seized a handspike, and, holding it menacingly over the ferryman's head, said, " If you don't loose the boat and ferry me across, I'll heat your brains out !" The ferryman, one of the best of his cHss, a Yankee, friendly to the Negi'o, looked a moment, first at the one and then at the other, seeing both equally determined and decided, and expressed his decision. He said coolly, •' Wall ! I can't die but once; and if I die, I guess I would rather die doing right. So here goes the boat." He loosed it and shoved it off. While this was being done, the slaveholder, seeing his slave, who had always « Fanned him while he slept, and trembled when he woke," defy him, with a threatening gesture at a white man, was thunderstruck. He sate in mute asto- nishment. His countenance reflected the state of CANADA. 179 his surprised mind. He was transfixed, as it were, to his saddle. He gazed with a stupid glare, as if he saw not, while the boat sped her way Canada- wards. The Negro, on the other hand, watched every inch of progress which widened the distance betwixt the two shores, until, not waiting for the boat to touch, he ran back to the stem, and then, with a full bound like a nimble deer, sprang from the boat to the shore in advance of the boat, and, rising, took off his poor old hat, and gave three cheers for the British sovereign. From my native State, Maryland, in 1853, four young men started, under the following circum- stances. One of them was to be sold — a doom which the slave dreads next to perdition. He at once concluded that he would meet the perils of running away before he would suffer himself to be sold from his somewhat comfortable home. He imparted his secret, unhappily, to some few, as he supposed, trusty friends. Arming themselves, they started together. They travelled every night, they concealed themselves during the days, until they reached and crossed the border of Pennsylvania. One morning, f.s they were entering a place of safety for the day, a dog came to them, barking ; the dog was quickly followed by a bi^.cd. The latter, assuming the language of a Quaker for his base purposes, addressed them kindlv, offered them N 2 i/S^SSSSB. mm 'iuTiiiv^^^iisiSnfl si n Hi! 180 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. a breakfast, and bade them follow him into }iis house. They did so. He gave them the first hearty meal they had eaten since lep^ing home. After breakfast, he showed them a place of safety, in his bam. He left them, and returned a few hours after, and brought with him eight men, to take them as fugitive slaves ! Two of thom yielded at once. The other two fought until one of the" - was overpowered. The other continued to pflv- until his right arm was riddled with shot, cj.-* fell powerless at his side; then he thrtVv hi» pistol at them, and they took him. This waQ the leader, the one who first proposed the escape. His captors found his arm needed the care of a surgeon before he could be safely removed. They therefore, instead of taking him back to Maryland immediately, as they proposed to do with the other three, caused him to be put to bed in the second story of the inn where they lodged, and obtair ^d surgical aid for him. Having achieved so signal a victory— these eight brave Anglo-Saxons— over four Negroes, two of whom did not fight! they felt that both their valour and their victory (to say nothing of their stomachs) were worthy of a celebration. A cele- bration, with free drinking of wine, &c., they had, and in it they got into a state of suhlimity. The Negro, knowing what was going on, and, though CANADA. 181 foiled, not defeated, arose stealthily from his bed, took the bedcord out of his bedstead, fastened it to the window, and let himself down, by his left hand and his teeth, to the ground. He dragged himself away to the woods, and made good his escape to a town that shall be nameless— found a friend in the gentleman who gave me the facts, and was finally sent to Canada, where he arrived Q&Mvj a crippled but a free man. This may remind the reader of the case of Wil- lirn Tnomas, a fugitive, of whom, we read in the London ''Times" in August, 1853. This man liad fled from Virginia to Pennsylvania, and was waiter in a hotel at Wilkesbarre, in the beautiful Wyoming Valley, on the banks of the Susque- hannah River. He had lived there some years; but being traced by the agents of his master. Jive men came to the hotel and called for food. Wil- liam waited upon them. They eat and paid ; and while he was going to his master with the money, these cowards came behind him stealthily, and struck him a stunning blow, which brought him senseless to the floor. They then put handcuffs on him, and arrested him as a fugitive; this being the first intimation they gave that such wa3 the purpose for which they had come. In a few minutes poor William recovered partially from the effects of the blow, arose quickly, and with the 182 ANTI-SLAVERY LABO^ T?S. n h handcuffs flogged his five captors; and then, not before, ran to the river. He went into the water up to his chin. His pursuers followed him to the bank, and com- manded him to come out. He plainly declared that he preferred drowning to being carried back to Virginia, a slave. The slave-catchers then shot him in the head. He sank; the blood from his wounded head commingling itself with the waters of the Susquehannah. He soon afterwards rose to the surface, and was about to approach the shore, as the brave men who were in quest of him had left the river, saying that it was " scarcely worth while to take a dead nigger to Virginia" ; but as he came near the shore they returned to take him. He went back into the river, sunk beneath its sur- face, and, while under, made the best of his way unobserved down the stream ; then, after a little while, got out, and stealthily reached the cottage of a poor black woman in the neighbourhood, who kindly took care of him until he was well enough to be sent to Canada. What would such poor fellows do, if it were not for the British American possessions? Can the reader blame me for be- lieving, that the All Merciful One has preserved that land from the hands of the Americans, almost on purpose to shelter the outcast ? I am sorry to be obliged to add, that the United I! fl CANADA. 183 States Circuit Court decided that these five men used no undue, unnecessary, or illegal severity, in their attempt to take William Thomas. So pro- nounced his Honour Judge Grier, an elder in a Presbyterian Church ! A poor fellow, having escaped one day, was pursued in the afternoon by professional man- hunters, Negro-catchers, with bloodhounds. They were upon his track, gained upon him, and would surely have him if he did not resort to some artifice. Fortunately there was, near by, a morass. He knew that in the water the dogs would lose the scent. He therefore went into the morass, sunk down to his neck, threw his head backward beneath some bulrushes, and thus concealed himself while he could see and hear all that passed. The dogs were at fault. The horses could not enter the bog ; or, if they did, they might find it not so easy to come out. The men were vexed. They knew he was there somewhere, but exactly wliere they could not determine. Had they seen him, they would in all probability have shot him. They shouiei' they se had been hid in the bulrushes, a:^'^ +hus saved! One more case must suffice, both to illustrate my position and to close this chapter. It is that of a poor pious man who wrs a slave In Maryland, som.e twenty-seven miles from Baltimore. His master was a lawyer — a free and easy sort of person, who generally visited his plantation but once a fort- night, having his office in Baltimore. The slave I speak of had a wife, and they had a child Pome few months old, all of whom were the property of this young lawyer. These slaves, and some others in the vicinity, had resolved upon being free. They made their arrangements for going to Canada, and wisely arranged to start on the Saturday night on which the master of the man^ wife and child, was not to be at the plantation. They were to meet a waggon at a place some few miles distant, to which they were to travel on foot. They slept in a bedroom next to that in which their master slept. A window, looking out of their bedroom upon the road, was near the partition, and therefore near the master's roomj but besides this, a like CANADA. 185 window was equally near the partition, in his room. Their arrangements were all raade ; the time was approaching; thii Saturdaj came; evening drew on; and with it, contrary co his custom and to their expectations, cane their master. Ordinary pei .3 would have given up, or at least postponed, tins journey. Not so did this couple. They consulted, and determined to pro- ceed with the ^ /an. The wife was especially deter- mined. At length the hour for starting approacl d. They listened : all was still in their maste ^^ i .om, save the noise of his deep breathing, as he slept soundly. It was a clear, frosty, starlight night, peculiar to an American autumn — it was November. In silent prayer this pair bowed, and, rising, felt what seemed to them new inspiration. P^ 'laps it was the calmness of soul resulting from an earnest trust in the God of the poor and the needy ; per- iiaps it was the foreshadowing of new evils to come, and a sort of gathering up the soul's energies for a new conflict; perhaps— but why speculate? They had ccr^mitted themselves to God, " as ;o a faithful Creator/' and they set a'oout what they felt to be duty. Softly they raised the window, and then listened to ascertain whether the sound of it had attracted attention. They heard nothing but the deep breathing of the sleeper in the next apart- ment, within, and the chirrup of the cricket without. 186 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. The man went out of the window : did any one hear? No. Now comes a difficulty. Out of the warm bed, where it had been nestling in its mother's bosom, into the cold frosty air of a No- vember niglit, must this child of a few months be taken, and so passed from the hands of the mother to those of the father. A cry from that child — and how natural that a cliild should cry, in the circum- stances ! — would betray them. Could it be taken out silently ? They must tiy ; they did try ; they succeeded. The babe was still, and lay in a sleep almost motionless, in his father's arms outside the window. Safely, as speedily and silently, the mother moved out, lowered the window. No one heard, all was still ; and they started with hearts beating almost audibly, and leaping almost into their throats. They walked to the place of rendezvous ; but so high were their hopes, so cheerful was their conversation, that they almost realized my friend Joseph Payne, Esq's, favourite quotation — "A good companion on a journey is better than a coach." Almost ere they knew it, they were at the appointed place ; but the waggon and the other parties were not there. There were no footprints, no 'heel tracks : they had not yet come. Tiiey could ifFord, they thouglit, to wait, and they did wait. But, to their grief and disai)pointment, neither the waggon nor the rest of the party appeared ; and they, alter- CANADA. 187 nating between hope and fear, remained shivering in the cold, until it became but too evident that the others must have met with some hindrance which had prevented their departure. The niglit advanced, morning began to approach. They saw that they must return, and that speedily, or they would not be able to enter their bedroom wltliout awakening either their master or some of the neighbours, To make sure of returning under cover of the night, they must retrace their steps at once. As they returned, one would naturally enough think, their minds would dwell somewhat gloomily upon this sad disappointment. Their conversation, however, was animated, for they were in a dispute. The wife insisted upon a proposal to which the husband would not listen. But she was eloquent : wives, when in earnest, always are. The opposi- tion grew feebler and feebler, until at last he sought peace, as discomfited husbands generally seek it, by saying, " Well, my dear, if you insist upon it, with the help of God I'll try." The victory over- came her : she was silent, tearful, and they walked on, until, collecting herself, she threw her arms about his neck, as he held the child, and said with a full heart, as none but a wife can say, " God bless you, my husband!" Wliy had they been disputing, and about what ? After the disappointment, the wife, with a tena- city peculiar to the sex, found it impossible to give m It 188 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. h up the idea of freedom for some of the party. She could not endure the idea that all of them should returrx to hopeless bondage. Like other women, she thought she could endure more than her hus- band could at home, while she had no doubt of his ability to meet trouble abroad. She therefore proposed that he should go on and seek freedom, while she, with the child, should return. Opposing this, as we have seen, without success, he yielded the contest, but insisted upon accompanying her back to the home they had left a few hours before. They rea;ched it in safety, lifted the window ; the mother listened, took the child, bade her husband adieu, and sank upon the bed in the solitude of dis- consolate sorrow, while he commenc 3d his journey alone, towards the land of freedom. He said to me, in the artless but pious language of a con- fiding heart, as he pointed upward, " I think the Father kept the child still; don't you think so- Mr. Ward ?" " Certainly," said I. Poor man ! He never saw his wife again. He died ere he received tidings of her. But those two simple hearts, reciprocally confiding in each other, and mutually trusting in their God, shall be again united. Indeed, are hearts ever dissevered ? How- ever this may be, they shall be one again when they, and tliose who oppressed them, shall stand before a common judgment-seat ,' I 189 CHAPTER IV. CANADIAN FREEMiLN. It but remains for me to speak of our people resi- dent in Canada as freemen. Once more, let me remind the reader that slavery is the worst school of vice in the universe. I am ashamed to plead so much on this subject, bearing as it does the un- pleasant appearance of special pleading. I will just give my apology for it. When I go to Glas- gow, Scotland, and see along Argyle Street, and near the Tontine, and in High Street, specimens of low, dirty, degraded population, I am told that the parentage, early education, and low origin, of these people, ought to be taken into the account, in mak- ing up my estimate of them. When I complain of the beggary, the want of self-respect, which show themselves in Ireland, in every street and lane of every town, and at the doors of every country tavern, many circumstances, some of them simply historical, others purely imaginary, are made an- swerable for all tnis, and I am reminded of past condition and present improvement. So, when I 190 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. turn out of Fleet Street, the Strand, or Eegent Street, London, and express my disgust at what I find within a stone's throw of those fashionable thoroughfares. Englishmen point to the inadequate education of these people, their deep poverty, their degrading and constant toil, the long neglect of them by better classes, and the very many gin shops to be found iii their midst. Now, the reasonableness and the force of all this I most freely and cheerfully admit ; but why does it not apj^ly with equal force and reasonableness to the case of the formerly, lately, enslaved Negro? I hear him censured as if he and his ancestors had been civilized, evangelized, highly educated, and especially favoured, for the past fifty generations. His faults are set down to the viciousness of his nature. Mr. W. Chambers, the London " Times," everybody, English, Scotch, or Irish, as well as Yankees, can find fault with the Negro ; but few will do him the justice to judge of him, his faults, and his virtues, by the same rule that they would apply to other classes, to their own class. V/hat I affirm of the Canadian Negro is, that he bears himself equal to English, L'isli, Scotch, Dutch, or French Canadians, although he has and they have not been slaves; all I claim for the Canadian Negro is, that same fair rule and standard of cha- racter which is applied to other peoples, and by CANADA. 191 7» which they are estimated. Let us stand or fall by such a rule, and I am content. As any one would judge, the mass of our popu- lation are laboarers. Some are most excellent mechanics and artisans; others are farmers, yeo- men. Too many of them live in and about large towns. That is always unwise in poor people, in my judgment. In these towns they pursue the means of livelihood common to other poor people, and in what they do they are as expert and efficient as any other class : in some things, I think, they excel. A few in large towns are servants in hotels. A small number of the same class are servants on steamers. Exceedingly few of either sex, as com- pared with the coloured people of the neighbouring States, are household servants. This last fact, in connection with another I am about to mention, speaks well both for their independence and for the degree of equality existing betwixt whites and blacks in Canadian towns. There are a great many, as compared with what one sees in the States, engaged in other than menial or semi- menial employments— fewer barbers, bootblacks, and more porters, carters, cabowners, &c. Small shopkeepers, also, are far more numerous, in pro- portion to their relative numbers, in Canada than in the States. Some of the grocers' shops, as well as those of other tradesmen, are on a very respect- TW OS! Il 192 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. . s f'! m able scale, considering the wants of the populace; many are equal to any in the colony. If any class excel, it is our mechanics and arti- sans. We have the best and most clever of the Southern population, Tvhite or black, in this respect, and they add not a little to our stock of industrial wealth as a colony. X know of no better builder in St. Catherine's than a coloured man to whom I was introduced there, in 1853. The best cord- wainers in Middlesex and in Kent respectively are Nelson Moss, of London, and Cornelius Charity, of Chatham. James Madison Jones, of Chatham, has not his superior as a gunsmith in Canada, if indeed in North America. Charles Peyton Lucas, in his trade as a general blacksmith, will compare with any man in Toronto, where he resides ; but as a horse shoer, it is impossible for any man to exceed him. Before he went to Canada, I knew liim to stand at the head of his trade in this respect. The most skilful bricklayer in Toronto I ever saw, was a person as black as myself, whose name I have not the pleasure of knowing. We now have the good fortune to number among us some gentlemen of education and property, who have turned their back upon tlie States, and " who are not mindful of the country from whence they came out." These are educating their children, and fitting them to occupy any position which CANADA. 193 Providence may call them to fill, as all posts of honom: and profit are as open to them as to any other class. They now see many persons taking the positions for which they are fitted, iiTespective of complexional distinction. That is an earnest of what they may enjoy, as they shall be qualified for like situations and honours. Indeed, Negro-hate cannot do them the mischief it does in the States. for the reasons before stated: it has not the sanc- tion of our laws, the spirit of our institutions, or the countenance of our better, more fashionable, more powerful— in a word, our ruling classes. I shall now briefly detail what I have seen in the settlements of the blacks, in Canada. I must express, however, my regret that I have not had the pleasure of visiting two of them— one situated in the township of Oro, county of Simcoe, seventy miles from Toronto, and anotiier in Peel, county of Wellington, about the same distance from Hamil- ton. The Wilberforce Settlement, in Middlesex, near London, has become extinct, having proved, from some cause, a failure. In 1840 a farm was purchased in the township of Dawn, now Gore of Camden, in the county of Kent, by several gentlemen under the guidance of Rev. Hiram Wilson, for the purpose of establish- ing a Manual Labour School. Around this nucleus have gathered several coloured families. It was (/ ?i 194 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 1^' i: ■ '• 1 I ip then an unbroken, undisturbed forest ; now, some of the best farms, approached by as good roads as have been made in Canada, are in that settlement. There are about 150 families in the neighbourhood, among whom resides George Gary, Esq.— as intel- ligent and enterprising a man, as fit for a magis- trate or any other like office, as any person in North Kent. Here lives, too, quite at his ease, in a large farm comprising several hundred acres of most excellent land, the gentlemanly, noble-hearted Dennis Hill, Esq., one of the best educated yeo- men in Canada. Peter Johnson, now living inde- pendently on his ample property, was an ordinary labourer fifteen years ago, carrying a bag of meal fourteen miles through, the forest, on foot. Now, persons come to him from the surrounding towns, to make purchases. Over the same road that he travelled fifteen years ago on foot, with his bag of corn meal as the result of a week's work, he now drives his well fed horses to market, with large supplies. In this neighbourhood, one of the ear- liest and most prosperous settlers, beginning with nothing, mutilated by his brutal master while a slave, coming to Canada when he was forty years old, with a large family-now reposing in comfort upon the produce of eighty acres of as good land as Canada contains-is the honest, the venerable, the beloved Josiah Henson-^^ Father Henson," as most persons affectionately call him. CANADA. 195 The school to which I refer, In this settlement, proved a failure. Like other failures, it involved all connected with it in pecuniary loss, and ren- dered them liable to a great deal of censure. Of the merits of the matter one can scarcely judge, from the criminations and recrimina. /i.s of con- tending parties. I am sorry to say, that whon I visited the settlements, in 18^2, neither the school, nor the buildings, nor the ferm, reflected the least possible credit upon any party concerned. 1 fear that Uttle or nothing, has been done since, to im- prove the affair. It is in the hands of certain gen- tlemen of great eminence in London, but why nothing is done I know not. ^ That the settlement should succeed so well without the school, and by the unaided and ener- getic efforts of the settlers, many of whom were once slaves, all of them from the Southern States, with an exception or two, does them the highest credit. It will not be long before that part of Kent and the southern part of the county of Lamb- ton, adjoining it, will be in the hands of coloured men, chiefly. Most of the whites in the neighbour- hood are very respectable persons, treating their coloured neighbours as neighbours ought; some tew are among the most indescribably offensive wretches I ever saw. They have no claim to sense, manners, morals, character, reputation, nor anything else than what, for them, supplies the II «B^|?^^^*8^r-"^.,r^^^lwsiSi»6ffi5ry;^i oan 'dl I 196 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. lack of all these— a skin which, when clean (as fortunately it is occasionally), if not submitted to too rigid an examination, would, among folks not very discriminating, pass for white, or at least approaching white, though rather dingy. The Sydenham Kiver, which empties into Lake St. Clair, runs through this settlement. It is so deep, though narrow, that steamers and schooners can come to the wharf load and discharge. Thus the Dawn settlement is brought within water commu- nication 'of Detroit, the metropolis of the neigh- bouring State of Michigan. The outlay of a little capital, the continuance of such energy as has brought the settlement to Hs present state, and the yet further increase of that energy (for which there is ample occasion and encom-agement in the re- sources of the country), will make the " Dawn," as it is called, a very flourishing town not many years hence. At the risk of giving offence, as I may perhaps by my freedom, I will here record my opinion as to one of the most lamentable defects I found while visiting •' Dawn." It is, the general, almost uni- versal, want of energy and. enterprise among the young people. It is really painful to sc^ the sons and daughters of fathers and mothers who dared the perils of flight— defied the discomforts of what an ornament to Canadian society, perhaps the most CANADA. 197 attractive of Canadian authoresses * calls "Rough- ing it in the Bush "-partaking so little of the traits of their parents' character, as to suffer such appear- ances to strike the eye and wound the heart, as their neglect makes but too apparent to the most casual observer. Much of the lands professedly tilled m that settlement, if really tilled, would brmg twofold, fourfold, more abundant crops ; while the plough and the axe, the scythe and the cradle, should do much, very much, more, out of doors— the needle and its accompaniments, within. I k-^w I am liable to be reminded that such are not my affairs. In a certain sense, that is quite true. I do not own a square inch of land there j I am not personally affected by any of the evils to which I refer. But when I see what is done on the farms of Messrs. Carey, Johnson, Hill, and others, I cannot but deplore ti„t several persons, whom I refrain from naming, do not profit from such busi- ness energy as these gentlemen display, especially as they have the advantage of their good example. Besides, I write as a black man. I write no more than I have publicly said, in speaking on the subject, in Canada. I have a right to complain. "I do well to be angi-y" with any black man who throws discredit upon our people. I denounce any son of a black man who dishonours his father and * Mrs. Moodv. -^»'»*(i»-«»«SfB^t»saraKre. M --¥y^! y r v^ r?-.~-^^"^l»^s^f the " Europa," that was the person to be deprived of his rights, and not an innocent person ; besides, in my case, the matter was prejudged, and I was made to feel the weight of the regulation, in advance of any disturbance arising from my presence. But, pshaw 1 This is simply the right Rnd tliG law of the case. It must be viewedi I i GREAT BEITAIN. Mr. Cunard thought, in a business light. Yankees are frequent customers; Negroes are not. Now, could not the thing so be managed as to retain the £50,000 given by the Government for canying the mails, retain the patronage of the Yankees, and, if some few Negroes occasionally go on the steamers, partly conciliate them and partly sacrifice them? That is the business view of the matter — th?t is the view of Mr. Cunard ; and I am sorry to say, about ninety-nine out of every hundred Englishmen in America view such matters in the bame light. What is a Negro made for, but to be kicked nbout for a white man's conveniencp ? Then I saw, that the chiefs almost the only busi- ness of the Negro, is to be a man of business. Let him be planter, merchant, anything by which he may make his impression as a business man. Let a fair representation of us be found, not in servile and menial positions, but in business walks —on 'change, in Lombard Street, at the Docks, anywhe^ , but let it be in active prosperous busi- ness life. Let us become of some value as cus- tomers ; then, when such devoted men of business as Mr. Cunard have before them the question of treading under foot some Negro, they will con- clude differently. They will say, " Yes, it is true he is black, and our taste is like yours, gentlemen —a taste wonderfully improved by living with ^gMwa jgh •^'W^IP?^ fi'J^^^^^iJ.; ' ■ -;- '•.'l .«. X:J^ ^ D. -■- - ■- ■ ^ \ - .V 'AS^gS-^, ., 234 ANII-SLAVERY LABOURS. * i 4 you under the 'stripes and stars' of republican freedom and equality; but then, looking at the matter with an eye to business, the fact is, we cannot very well afford to lose the custom of this class." Yes ; black men must seek wealth. We have men of learning, men of professional celebrity, men who can wield the pen, men of the pulpit and the forum, but we must have men of wealth ; and he who does most to promote his own and his neighbouv's weal in this regard, does most to pro- mote the interests of the race. Could we speak of wealthy blacks as we for- tunately can of Eobert Morris and Macon Bolden Allen, of Boston, as lawyers; James McCune Smith, of New York, and John V. Degrasse, of Boston, and Thomas Joiner White, of Brooklyn, as medical men ; Charles L. Keason, William G. Allen, and George B. Vashon, as college pro- fessors ; James William Charles Pennington, William Douglass, William Paul Quinn, Daniel A. Payne, Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, Amos Gerry Beeman, and William H. Bishop, as divines ; James M. Whitfield and Miss Watkins, as poets; Frederic Douglass, William Howard Dry, John J. Gains, Charles Mercer Langston, and William J. Watkins, as orators — we should be looked upon and treated in altogether a different manner. But as we have produced S"'-?h wss^. GREAT BRITAIN. 235 i men as I have named — or rather, as they have, under God, produced themselves — so let us hope and be assured that the day is not far distant when, like the Quakers and the Jews, we shall be well and widely known for the pecuniary prosperity and independence of our class. With the exception of the two annoyances re- ferred to, i had a most delightful voyage, and became a most capital sailor — that is, in the pas- senger's sense of the term, which simply is, to be able to do nothinff, comfortably and perseveringly, without sea sickness. I eat, drank, and slept, well — great comforts, at sea. I had the honour of daily visits from the excellent physician of the vessel, whose acquaintanceship I have the pleasure of still enjoying. Mr. W. M. Thackeray did me the honour to spend an hour daily in my state room. He, too, still honours me with his friendly acquaintance. The Lord Bishop of Montreal called upon me, the day after our first Sunday. Perhaps his Lordship was looking after me as a stray sheep, for I did not attend the service conducted by him on the day before. The service was in the after-cabin. I was not a passenger in that cabin, I was partly pro- scribed, because of my colour, to accommodate the passengers. To be a fellow worshipper with them, on suflferance, was more than my self-respect would allow- I therefore remained in my state room, u 236 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. where, I trust, I found and worshipped the omni- present, the impartial Jehovah. For the kindness sliown me, as well as for the manner of showing it, by the gentlemen referred to, I shall ever be grateful. There were several Americans on board, not one of whom came to me. Of course I did not seek them. On Saturday, the last day of April, we saw land on the coast of Ireland. We then moved gracefully along the coast of Wales, telegraphed our approach at Holyhead, took a pilot early on Sunday morn- ing, and, ,at eleven o'clock precisely, anchored in the Mersey, after a passage of ten days, fifteen liours, and fifteen minutes, mean time. I was in England — the England of my former reading, and my ardent admiration. I was at Liverpool — that Liverpool whose merchants, but sixty years before, had mobbed Clarkson for prying into and exposing the secret inhumanities of their slave trade. I was in a land of freedom, of true equality. I did not feel as some blacks say they felt, upon landing — that I was, for the first time in my life, a man. No, I always felt that; however wronged, mal- ti-eated, outraged — still, a man. Indeed, the very bitterness of what I had suffered at home consisted chiefly in the consciousness I always carried with me of being an equal man to any of those who trampled upon me. My first experience of English dealing was in GREAT BRITAIN. 237 being charged treble fare by a Liverpool cabman, a race with which I have had much to do since. Acting upon the advice given me by Jolm Laidlaw, Esq., I went to Clayton Square, where I found good quarters at Mr. Brown's very genteel Tem- perance Hotel. The Eev. Dr. Willis ht.d very kindly given me a note of introduction to the master of the Grecian Hotel; but I found no reason to desire a change, and therefore remained, while in Liverpool, where I first lodged. Several things arrested my attention upon the first day of my being in England. One was, tho comfort and cleanliness, not to say the elegance of appearance, presented by the working classes. 1 had always, in the United States, heard and read of the English working classes as being ground down to the very earth— as being far worse in their condition than the American slaves. Tlieir cir- cumstances, in the rural and the factory districts, I had always heard described as the most destitute. That they wrought for sixpence a day I had been informed by I know not how many Americans, who had visited England. How many times have I heard from the lips of American protectionists, and seen in the columns of their journals, state- ments such as this—" If we do not maintain a protection tariff, English manufacturers, who pay their nporatives but sixpence a day, will fiood our 238 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. \^\ markets with their products, and the factory opera- tive in America will, in consequence, be compelled to work for sixpence a day, as the English opera- tive now does"! When I was an American pro- tectionist, how I used to "take up that parable," and, believing it, repeat it ! How others with me believed the same too often told falsehood! Here was before me, in Lancashire and her noble port — Lancashire, the head quartei-s of British, if not European, factory interest — almost a manufactur- ing kingdom in itself — a most abundant refutation of what, on this subject, I had nearly a thousand times heard, read, believed, and repeated. But this was Sunday. The next day, having occasion to cress the Mersey, I saw nearly as many well-dressed working men, with their wives and sweethearts, enjoying the holiday of that Monday, as I had seen the day before. This led me, as I travelled further into the factory district, to make (iefinite inquiries into the condition of the opera- tives ; and, as I may not again recur to it, I will put down here, in few words, a sort of summary of the information I obtained. I learned — indeed, saw with my own eyes— that . throughout Lanca- shire t|ie young women in tlie factories dress as well as the young women L had seen at LoM-ell, Dover, Manchester, Nashua, and other manufac- turing towns in Nev/ England. I liad been in W'':'^K. GREAT BRITAIN. 2S9 those towns but a year and a half before ; and now, at Manchester, Bolton, Preston, Wigan, &c., had a fair opportunity of comparing them. I learned -3 well, that the wages of the different grades of operatives varied from highest to lowest, each respectively being about the same as in New England. The hours of labour were not greater ; and upon visiting several factories (among them that of Sir Elkanah Armitage, at Pendleton, Man- chester), I found the work as easy, and the health and cheerfulness of the operatives as good, as I had seen in the same class on the other side of the Atlantic. What was true, comparing the English with the Amevic&n female operative, is equally true of the male. I was agreeably surprised to learn that the condition of these people, as I had heard of it at home, was a misrepresentation of the condition in which I found them. Formerly, the operatives had suffered much from the want of care exercised by themselves, and more from the want of humanity on the part of their employers ; like some persons of other business, of whom we have been speaking, humanity was made to succumb to business : but, by the perseverance of Lord Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) and others. Government exerted an influ- ence between the employer and the: employed, and ied to the adoption of many very important im- isrovements. mmm 240 ANTI-SLAVEKY LABOURS. Here were two truths which the pro-slavery por- tion of the Americans did not at all like to tell, and therefore cleverly and conveniently forgot them: 1, That the improvements referred to do exist. 2, That the British Parliament shows an interest in behalf of these people, who "are worse off than our slaves." It better suits their puijjose to state matters as they wercj than as they are; and to state the truth, that the Government of Great Britain, through its legislature, looks after these people, would rather spoil the parallel between the British free labourer and the American slave ! It is a clever thing to forget just what one chooses not to recollect! Another thing that attracted my attention was, the beautiful twilight of this latitude. Forgetting that I was eleven degrees further north than ever before, I wondered why at eight o'clock it was so light. I then learned how to join Englishmen in the enjoyment of that most delightful part of the d"y. But when I went to Scotland, subsequently, I was still more charmed, especially at midsummer, in the far north, with this pleasing feature of a northern residence. I wondered, also, that I could not realize the vast distance I had come, and the mighty space between me and those loved ones I had left behind. I seemed to be simply in a neighbouring town^ GREAT BRITAIN. 241 when In Liverpool. I could see in this town, and in the appearance of many of its inhabitants, some re- semblance to Boston and the B Estonians. Nothing wore, to my view, the stra:..-; i aspect which I had expected. This, I think, was owing partly to my having travelled so n.. : before, constantly visit- mg strange places and constantly seeing new faces,- partly to the strong resemblance of the New Eng- land people to those of Liverpool ; but, more than either, co the fact that in Canada, especially in Toronto, we are English in habits, manners, &c. I beg to arid, too, that I could not have antici- pated how much my faith would be strengthened, by trusting in God amid the exposures of a voy- age. Faith grew stronger hy its own exercise. For nine consecutive nightf I had lain my head upon my pillow at sea. In the midst of the vas. deep, where our great vessel and all it contained might, like the " President," go to the bottom in an Hvr, leaving none to tell the story of our fate, ^ud no traces of even the whereabouts of our destruc- tion—to trust God in these circumstances— to hear the rolHng heaving ocean, at deep dark midnight, and still to trust him— to listen to the hurried commands, and the rattling of ropes and sails, gnd the hundred and one accompaniments of a storm, and still to trust him— give faith a strength pecu- liar only to its trial amid dano-Prs. r>nn 1^ lot R -fflr^i saei 242 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. It ! help writing to Mrs. Ward, thcat, having long be- fore learned to trust our Heavenly Father as the God of the land, I had now learned to rely upon him as the God of the ocean. I know not how far this accords with the experience of other voy- agers, and have now no means of knowing whe- ther the same ."feeling will continue with myself; but I do know that it at present is far from being one of the least striking or t!ie least pleasing inci- dents of my first voyage. \ 243 CHAPTER II. COMMENCEMENT OF LABOUR IN ENGLAND. The object of my coming to England has been stated. So soon as I begari to speak of it, I found persons responding to it most readily. After pre- senting my letters at Liverpool, I took the train for London, for the purpose of meeting the great leaders of England's unrivalled benevolent move- ments, during the May Meetings. Finding most agreeable travelling companions, and seeing Eng- land in her first of May dress, to my very great delight, I reached jondon at about four p.m., in the midst of &, pouring rain. Unfavourable as was the day for seeing London, yet London has some things, many things, innumerable things, to show, on any day. Here, I was much more impressed with my be?ng a stranger than at Liverpool. There was no such thing as learning my way. There wag neither rational begivining noi ending to the streets. They were so tortuous, that, starting in one of them in a certain dircciion, I soon found myself going in the opposite direction in the same street I Htill, ]{ 2 244 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ; ' i even London can be learned, with all its intrica- cies; and after a while I hecame, in this respect, a Londoner. Delivering my letters to the persons to whom kind friends had commended me, and finding myself expected at the Anti-Slavery Office, I set about the tvork of attending the May Meetings. 1 am sure people must have been amused with my exceedingly awkward, backwoods appearance. A backwoodsman in London is sure to be conspicu- ous. The more he tries to hide the fact that he is such, the more apparent he makes it. But I adopted the easiest, quietest mannerism I could command, and confessed myself a mere colonist, asking no one to take me for more than I was, while I cared not how much they underrated me. Exeter Hall I had often heard of, and went there the first thing after my arrival. A meeting was in progress— with speeches, cheering, passing resolutions, and all that sor+ of thing, to which I was not an entire stranger. A large fine-looking person was in the chair. I took a seat near \o a most aftable gentleman ; and wishing to know who the chairman was, I wrote on a card and handed it to my neighbour, " Who is the gentleman in the chair ? " " The IVIarquis of Cholmondeley," was his reply, on another card. I had seen a no- bieuuin, a lord — for the first time ! GREAT BRITAIN. 245 The Rev. Thomas Binney, to whom I brought letters from Eev. Mr. Roaf, my pastor, received me most kindly. Mrs. Binney acted as if we had been acquainted for the preceding six-and-twenty years; and, being the first London lady with whom I had the pleasure of acquaintance, I saw in her what I have since seen in English people of all ranks, who are really genteel — a most skilful and yet an indescribably easy way of making one feel perfectly at ease with them. I cannot tell how it is done. I saw it in all good English society, but how they did it I know not ; at any rate, they are most successful in making one feel it. I think a part of it is, in being perfectly at ease themselves ; and another part is, the perfectly captivating kind- ness that is seen in all tliey say and do. In this respect, really genteel people, of all ranks, are per- fectly alike ; in this you cannot distinguish a noble- man from a commoner: but the most ridiculous blunders are made by those assuming it to whom it is not liabitual, natural, or educational. My first introduction to any portion of the British public was at the meeting of the Colonial Mis- sionary Society, on the evening of its anniversary, at Poultry Chapel. To the Rev. Thomas James, its excellent Secretary, I had brought letters. On their presentation, this gentleman, as a sort of "Minister for the Colonlos." innh mo W flip ],onf1 24G ANTI-SLAVKRV LABOUUS. Hi i I most warmly. At liis invitation I attended the meeting in ({neation. The Ivev. Mr. Binney kindly introduced me, in a manner which, I fear, my effort did not at all JiiHtify. At that meeting tlie Lord Mayor Ciiallirt presided. I had never before seen a Lord Mayor. His Lordsliip kindly invited me to the Mansion House, in company with several ministers of the Congregational denomination, a few days after. About the same time the meeting of tlie Congregational Union occurred, and I was formally jntrotluced to the body by the Secretary, Rev. George Smith, in company with T.ev. Charles Beecher, wliom I liad not met before. Then came a dinner for the ministers and delegates at liadley's Hotel, at whicii I was called upon for a speech. The amiable Rev. James Sherman, at that time minister of Surrey Chapel, witli his accustomed kindness took me in his carriage to the dinner ; and afterwards, for four months, not only made me hia guest, but made his house my home. I never lived so long with any other person, on the same terms. While 1 live, that dear gentleman will seem to me as a most generous fatherly friend. It was at his home, the best })lace to study a man's character, that I learned who James Sher- man is, and 'ow and why to appreciate him. If I love him more than some persons do, while all admire him and multitudes love him. it is because \\ yyif^^^^^^^j^ik wmis^^ GREAT BRITAIN. 247 I know him Letter and am more indebted to him. His is not the friendship of the passing hour ; it is not that which only smiles when everybody else does, and deserts one in the hour of trial and need ; it is not tlie friendship which easily exhausts itself in a few courtly, complimentary phrases, and com- mon-place, costless, worthless because heartless, flatteries. The friendship of James Sherman is that of a man of feeling, as well as a man of honour; it is that which places at one's disposal whatever he has, whatever he can do, and rejoices in any sacrifice to accommodate whoever may have the good fortune to be admitted to his inti- mate acquaintance. Since the demise of my dear father, 1 have seen no man whom, in adversity and prosperity, in sunshine and in storm, I could so safely trust, in whom I could so implicitly rely in any and all the varying and trying circumstances of life and fortune, as James Sherman. This, I know, is no honour to one so exalted, from one so Immble. But gratitude and affection, it seems to me, are not out of place here ; and I wish to convey to the friends of the Negro on the other side of the Atlantic, what they have a right to receive, my deep und humble though ardent sense of obligation to that gentleman, both in my own behalf and in behalf of my people. Once introduced to their meetimrs. kind brethren P-\-:0s- 248 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. found enough for me to do, Sunday and every other day, until the meetings were over, and I had formed a list of acquaintances well worthy of my crossing the Atlantic. Having served several other causes, it became time to launch my own, especially as I had not dragged it u-ion other people's platforms. I had arrived in England at a fortunate time — not merely because of the May aieetings, but because of the twofold fact that " Uncle Tom's Cabin" was in every body's hands and heart, arid its gifted authoress was the English people's guest. For anti-slavery purposes, a more favourable time could not have been chosen for visiting England. I may be allowed to dwell upon this for a moment. The book came in the very best time, as if by an ordination of Divine Providence. A year before, the expected invasion of England by the French absorbed so much at- tention, that it could not have been so patiently and attentively read, nor could it have made so deep an impression ; a year after, the war with Russia engrossed universal attention: but the issue of that work during a sort of lull in public affairs, between these two events, was most opportune. I regard it, I repeat, as a special ordination of Providence. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had so impressed the GREAT BRITAIN. 249 anti-slavery people of the aristocratic classes, as to lead to the celebrated address of English women to the women of America, in behalf of the en- slaved. This, with its powerful effect, wsm the theme of universal discussion when Mrs. Stowe arrived in England. The book from the one side of the Atlantic, the address from the other side, and the arrival of lier whose gifted pen had been the occasion of the one and the origin of the other, awakened more attention to the anti-slavery cause in England, in 1853, than had existed since the agitation of the emancipation question in 1832. It was my singularly good fortune to meet Mrs. Stowe at the house of Rev. James Sherman, in May; indeed, we were dwellers under his hos- pitable roof, along with Rev. Dr. Stowe and Rev. C. Beecher, for some three weeks. By the advice of Rev. T. James, I invited seve- ral friends of the anti-slavery cause to a meeting at Radley's Hotel, on the 7th of June, to lay before them the objects of my mission. Having been honoured with the acquaintance of Lord Shaftes- bury, I ventured to ask him to take the chair on that occasion ; to whicli, with his Lordship's ordi- nary kindness, he consented. The meeting, ap- proving of my objects, adjourned to Freemasons' Tavern, on the 21st. In the meantime. Lord Shaftesbury kindly procured for me the names of iJ*' :!! 250 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. the following noblemen to attach to the call for that meeting: the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Harrowby, the Earl Waldegrave, and Lord Brougham. Mr. Sherman procured for me the names of Sir James K. Shuttleworth, Mr. Sheriff Croll, and Messrs. Bevan and Tritton the bankers. On the 21st the meeting was held, the Earl of Sliaftesbury in the chair: and a Committee was formed, of which that distinguished nobleman con- sented to be Chairman ; Kev. J. Sherman, and S. H. Horman-Fisher, Esq.,* Honorary Secreta- ries ; arid G. W. Alexander, Esq., Treasurer. Thus, in a manner neitlier anticipated by myself nor by those who sent me to England, was my cause launched, so to speak, upon the broad sea of public British munificence, under such auspices and with such a prestige as favour the missions of but few colonists coming to this country, on any errand whatever. Deep and lasting are the obli- gations under which I was laid. I never shall forget those obligations ; I never can cancel them. It is to me a great relief, in view of my own un- worthiness of them, to know that they had in- finitely less to do with me than with my people ; and that, however unfortunate the latter were in the selection of their representative, they them- * A most devoted friend of the Negro, and a gentleman who honours me with his personal friendship, tested in hours of trial and darknesB; GREAT BRITAIN. 251 selves are far more worthy of the distinguished consideration they received through him. I may be permitted to add, I have the satisfaction of knowing that the Anti- Slavery Society of Canada, who sent me here, have, on more occasions than one, testified their high appreciation of and cordial fraternal thanks for the manner in which the dis- tinguished personages who contributed to our cause, and gave it the sanction of their great names, and laboured in its Secretariat and upon its Committee, served and forwarded the objects of my mission.* As I was under no engagement to labour for the Committee on Sunday, I accepted of an offer kindly made me by the Committee of the Colonial Missionary Society, through its excellent Secretary, Rev. Thomas James, to urge the claims of that very important charity, on the first day of the week. Thus the field of my labours and circle of my acquaintance were enlarged greatly; and as my appearance anywhere, as I understood the matter, brought the slave to mind, I hope that, in that service, I did not mar the great chief object of my coming hither. Occasionally, too, I was honoured by invitations to speak for the London Missionary Society ; while kindred charities, along * The noble Earl of Shaftesbury had made his honoured name fragrant among all the lovers of freedom on the other side of the Atlantic, before this. His Lordship is now revered in every cabin in Canada. 252 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 'I :lt ■ with tliesc, seemed to regard mc as public pro- perty ; and, ere I knew it, I liad the name of a respectable successful beggar. The duty of travel- ling in these causes called me into almost every county in England, into the pulpits of the most distinguislicd Dissenting divines in the land, into company Avitii some of England's noblest sons and daughters, into contact with representatives of the different classes of pro-slavery men in England, whether exotics or natives — in a word, into a splicre of active usefulness which I had before never (tared to covet. It is, as it should be, in America and in the colonies, regarded as a nuitter of importance, for a man wishing to improve both his head and his heart, to visit England. There is so much to be learned here, civilization being at its very summit — society, in consequence, presenting ever}^ attrac- tion, and every form of social improvement and instruction. Here, too, is so much of historic re- collection. England, indeed, is a book, ancient, media3v:ii, and modern, in itself. One cannot but agree Avith those avIio hold the opinion that the best specimens of the Colonial or the American gentleman need European travel for their finishing. English travel, in more ways than one, is the best, choicest portion of European travel. I came to England knowing this, and hoping to enjoy and GREAT BRITAIN. 253 appreciate It in some degree ; but to be associated with that band who have no equals in this world and no superiors in any age, the leaders of the benevolent schemes of England — to be acknow- ledged by them as a coadjutor— to be pcrniitted to share with them in those smaller, lighter portions of their work, for which alone I had any sort of even seeming qualifications— was what I had no right to expect, but what I felt the honour of all the more. Before I had been one month in Eng- land, I had been upon the platforms of the Bible, Tract, Sunday School, Missionary, Temperance, and Peace, as well as the Anti-Slavery, Societies. To the last, in my native country, Negroes are freely admitted, invited, as a matter of course. Who ever saw one of sable hue upon the platforms of the others? Never, as an equal brotlier man, was I welcomed to the national platforms of any of them, until I became a resident of Canada. After ten months' service for the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, through the Committee in London, its affairs were wound up, some £1,200 having been kindly given to its treasury by the philanthropists of England and Scotland. A large meeting was holden at Crosby Hall on che 20th of. March, 1854, the venerable and philanthropic Samuel Gurney, Esq., in the chair ; Kev. James Sherman, Samuel Horman Hovman-Fisher Ego. ^i^ 254 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. L. A. Chamerovzow, Esc, Rev. Jamc Hu lilton, D.D., Kev. John Macfarlnne, "R.A., To8i&)> ' - >nder, Esq., together with ethers, being on the , '-tform; and Josepli Payne, Esq., gracing the ocoudun with his presence, a speech, and a piece of poetry, the last of wliich he kindly gave me. I hold it as a me- mento of its beloved author, and as a remcmbrancp of the friendship wherewith he has been pleased to honour me. I shcill not, I am sure, be expected to give the dry r^ ^tails of a journal, nor a formal account cf the meetings I attended, much less the speeches I made — if speeches they deserve to be called. Nor, 1 hope, ^hnll I be considered wanting in gratitude (a charge brouglit against too many Americans, with but too much justice, it is to be feared), if I do not mention the name of every town in which I received k-ndness, and every family and e^ exy individual to whom I am in- debted. The reason wh)' I shall not do so is simply this : this book must have an end. Where that end would be, vve^e all those recorded, it were impossible for author, publisher, or printer to say ; but I am very srtre no -'^ader would have patience to seek it by consecutive reading. Several incidents— some of the principles I sought to promulgate— a few reflections upon what I saw, heard, and felt — with the mention of some names. GREAT BEITAIN. 255 which must he taken as representatives of all their class — I sliall give : this. I am convinced, is all that can be expected of me. As my time and labours were not exclusively devoted to anti-slavery advo- cacy, in jirrmd, my remarks will not be restricted to that subject. mit mmpiii !'■' t::iwwrv~rw>^nm 256 CHAPTEU III. PRO-SLAVERY MEN IN ENGLAND. On a former page I spoke of "pro-slavery men in England, whether natives or exotics." There is no uses in concealing that there are such, of both classes. The latter do not always choose to be called pro-slavery men ; but that is their position, nevertheless. For example: the Rev. Dr. Cox would like, in England, to pass for the friend of the slave ; but at home he is a justifier of slavery. The llev. Dr. Baird can lecture eloquently about the oppressions the Hungarians suffer at the hands of the Austrians: his lips are sealed, his tongue is dumb, on the oppressions of American slavery. The Rev. Dr. Anderson can inveigh against "Eng- lishmen's singling out slavery for rebuke, passing by other sins :" at home, he has yet to treat it «« a sin, for the first time. The Rev. S. J. Prime, D.D., likes well enough to be seen among British aboli- tionists, but he scorns the company and the prin- ciples of Christian abolitionists at home. His paper, " The New York Observer," with which I have been acquainted, more or less, for twenty ncn in bere is )f both i to be osition, 1'. Cox :iend of slavery. Y about e bands tongue slavery. : "Eng- passing ,t it as a e, D.D., lb aboli- lie prin- i. His 1 wliich : twenty GEE AT BRITAIN. 257 years, is, without exception, the most persevev^'ng pro-slavery paper in tlie country in wliicl), it is published.* Such gentlemen, I repeat, come to tliis country anxious enough to have an anti- slavery reputation here,- ^^hen, like the Rev. Dr. Cliickering- of Portland, Maine, they have no anti- slavery character at home. This is certainly tJie most dangerous, and perhaps the most numerous, class of exotic pro-slavery men. I did not meet any of them personally, but I had the pleasure of seeing them writhe under the earnest, loving, anti- slavery passages in the speech of the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Wriothesley Noel, at Exeter Hall j and I saw how they looked while the Rev. Thomas Binney, upon tiie same occasion (the anniversary of the Pritish and Foreign Bible Society, to which tlie Bishop of Oldo and the Rev. Dr.' De Witt both pro-slavery, were American delegates), poured upon them his huge pity for being "unable" to give the Bible to the slaves : and, as I travelled about, I could every now and then hear of their pro-slavery deliverances. Still they never came out in the face of day and avowed themselves what they are proved to be at home -the friends of s avery, the enemies of anti-slavery, the rcvilers of ih^ Negro, the supporters of the Fugitive Law. * I cannot except even " Bennett's Ilornld," or « Wobb's Courier and Inquirer "; no, not even the " Jounml of Curnnaerce." . S mmmm 258 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. At times, however, in private circles, one would meet a Spanish slaveholdev, or a person who had been a slaveholder in the British West Indies, who would utter, in a very quiet way, denials of anti-slavery truth. I will give a few instances of what I mean by native pro-slavery men, and by exotics. Among the former are such Englislnnen as the editors of the London ''Times," wl'O did their utmost to write down " Uncle Tom's Cabin"— who ridicufc and misrepresent the Negro— and, when respectfully asked to publish a dozen lines in their defence, contei.qituously refuse to do so. Among such, also, is a lawyer of London, who, when hear- ing of a movement for the education of Negroes in the West Indies, wrote a ])amphlet against the movement— of which pamphlet 1 liad the inexpres- sible ideasure of hearing Lord Kobert Grosvenor say, that in all his life he never had seen so many pages of letterpress contain such " an infinite deal of nothing." To the same class belongs a young physician, who, in a pami)hlet concerning Jamaica, published a few weeks since, and whi'i ^ iceived a favourable crltiipie from the " Mornhig Adver- tiser,"* says nil uuunier of bitter thnigs against the Negro. As a specimen of this per. ' u's candour and * I vo,i;nH t'Mei'iliniily that Mr. Gnuit should buvc given currency to 80 ill-temiiert'd and truthless a pamphlet. 5 would ho bad Indies, niiils of niccs of mid by I as the d their "—who [, when in tlieir Among m hear- groes in inat the lexpres- msvcnor 30 many lite deal a young Jamaica, iceivod Adver- ainst the dour and en currency GREAT BRITAIN. 259 veraeity, he say. -a nigger eannot speak English " One would almost think that the writer proved *it to be more diifieult for Iiimself to write truth ^n -h And lastly, to this elass I set down thofe Ljigbshmen who, like Mr. Baxter (successor of the late Joseph Hume in the representation of the Montrose burghs), travel in America, see slav w and return with honied word, in its ftnour, to gar- nish then, speeches and adorn their ])ooks. I ly be pardoned for sparing no more space to them Among the latter are to be included such c'olo- msts as are always seeking to make it appear that prejua.ce against Negroes is ,uite naturaVand ul avoidable, and that a Negro becoming anything el han a mere "hewer of wood and drawer of vater is out of the question. Belonging as I do one ,^ the humblest classes of colonL^^^ but feel ashamed of any one from the distant depe^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Neg^ioes are m the Colo..s, can give utterance to - assertion so utterly c .tradictoiy to hi.orical tnith. ^^^ give excellent ciergynuui of the Established Church voured me with a most cordial invitatio o attend a meetn.g fbr the promotion of Negro edu! s 2 ■t«>W!r!fM I H il l li i I ! I 'I 266 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. man, liolden by Judge Ilaliburton, Is one according to which it may be, after all, no discredit to the Negro race If they do not produce many such spe- cimens. A word as to the naturalness and inevitable necessity of Negro-hate : that word is, " truthless.^'' In proof of it, the language of every speaker on that occasion, with the single exception of Mr. C. S. Hallburton, in respect to the Negro, was most abundant, most triumphant. 3. I beg to say, that sometimes the unfortunately dIsjDroportionate number of Negroes In prisons is pointed out to me as evidence of the very great criminality of my people. I ask any one to say, what chance of a fair and just trial a Negro could have, before such a judge as Mr. Justice Hallbur- ton, when a white man was prosecutor? (I happen to know how Negroes have suffered in such cases.) For it is impossible for a man, when he puts on his judicial robe, to put on another nature : the man and the judge will be very much the same. I know nothing of Judge Haliburton's character, or rather of his history, in this regard ; but judging from his own words, and from the likeness of feeling to himself on the part of his fellow citizens, I do not at all wonder that the blacks of Nova Scotia are deprived of many of their rights by them. The explanation of all this is, that Judge Hall- 9&.] GREAT BRITAIN. 267 burton, and all like him, whether on Yankee or British soil, do not wish to know better. A fair iHustration of the class was given me by G. Ralston, Esq., in the case of an American ladj who was at the Clarendon when Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs gave a complimentary dinner to his Excellency the Honom-able Benjamin Roberts, President of the Republic of Liberia. President Roberts, it is known, is an American by birtli, and of African origin. Seeing— and, though an American, so far above the contemptible pre- judices of his countrymen as to enable me to say, with great pleasure, with delight— that President Roberts was the "admired of all admirers," Mr. Ralston proposed to introduce his fair country- woman to the guest of England's noble Secretary. . With real American feeling, this proud republican dame declined. So do all of the class. They choose not to know coloured persons of distinction, when they might ; or, knowing them, they choose to mis- represent them. I must be allowed to record, just here, the very great delight I had in hearing the real gentleman and nobleman speak, at the meeting referred to, in such terms as they were pleased to use, concern- ing the Negro. Doubt of the Negro's capacity was scouted, as a brainless, senseless thing. Re- joicing in such an opportunity of forwarding such IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V. /. // .%i iM .sr .% 1.0 I.I 1.25 li^lllM 12.5 1^ IM 1 2.2 t 1^ 2.0 1.4 1.8 1.6 Wa <9 /a A 'e}. % > % > /A A ''W Photographic Sciences Corporation # t ^ \ <^ ^9) a>^ C^ Tn ^^>^ ^ ^^- ^^ ^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y, 14580 (716) 672-4503 s 268 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 1 a movement was common to all lips, as it flowed from all hearts ; but the expression which struck me with greatest force was the one which con- veyed the idea of their indebtedness to the Negi-o. Upon this Lord Harrowby and Lord Shaftesbury sstrongly insisted, and the meeting received their words with marked approbation. The Honourable Charles Howard, brother of Lord Carlisle, and Lord Robert Grosvenor, brother to the Marquis of Westminster, dwelt upon this thought as if it were one to which they were no stranger. The Honourable Captain Denman, brother to the pre- sent Lord Denman, daclared that " we had sinned against the Negro in the West Indies ; and while ho could not agree with Mr. Ward, that no evils had followed emancipation, he did trace a natural connection between those evils and the sins which preceded them." The Rev. J. Hampden Gurney, the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, and all the other British gentlemen present, expressed like sentimenis. I need not say, that on my people's behalf I was but too proud of the opportunity kindly afforded me, of thanking such benefactors for such words. If any one should infer that the author of " Sam Slick" appeared awkward and out of place in such com- pany, I am quite willing to bear the responsibility of this inference. Leaving this meeting, and that member of it GREAT BRITAIN. 269 upon wliose words I felt myself called upon to say so much, it may not be inappropriate to say some other things, in this chapter, on this subject. It is not to be denied that a history of the Negro race is unwritten ; no, it is written in characters of blood ! It is a very compact, succinct chronicle : it com- prises but one word and its co^^t^- slavery, slave trade. There is the history of the Negro, at least for the last seven centuries, while what is said of him before that time is interspersed among the annals of other peoples. It would seem from this fact, at first sight, that those who know nothing of the Negro, except as they see him in slavery and m menial positions, are quite excusable. But scholars deserve no such extenuation. They know what is written of the ancient Negro— from which they might, if they chose, infer something con- cerning the modern Negro. Travellers, too, are inexcusable ; for they frequently see in otlier than slave countries, and in some slave countries too, the descendant of Africa in positions anything but servile or menial. True, there was none who cared for us sufficiently to write our history, in modem days -we were unable to write it our- selves -in the lands of our captivity; and in our fatherland, alas! our condition is far from favourable for the furnishing of historical data, fecraps, patches, anecdotes, these are all that bear -iVk.-^ — - 270 ANTI-SLAVKUY LADOURS. 'i 1 record of us. Wc liavc now, fortunatoly, Home living men among us who illustrate our manhood, and live down the diHparagcmenta of our enemies-' ; but a3 a rule, our history is that of lae chain, Jie coffle gang, the slave ship, the middle passage, the plantation-hell ! If, however, it he true that honourable mention is made of many of our fathers, and if, in spite of the most adverse cireumatanees, we have produced some worthy sons of such sires, ought we not to have the benefit of these creditable facts? And yqt, I honestly confess that I fear what I say on this subject will, by some professedly anti-slavery persons, be regarded as somewhat objectionable, or as a point upon which it is not best to say a great deal. But if wc do not vindicate ourselves, who will do it for us ? Alas ! who indeed V for wc are not without experience in that matter. I will venture upon a few points to which I liave had the honoiu- of calling public attention in a lecture on this subject at Ciieltenham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Ulverstone, and Dundee, and before two metropolitan literary societies. In the sacred Scriptures, no mention is made of the son of Ham which in any respect represents him as at all inferior to the sons of Shem or Japhet. I know that " cursed be Canaan" * is * UenesiB ix. 25. GREAT BRITAIN. 271 Hometlmcs quoted as if it came from the lips of God ; although, as tlic Rev. II. W. Becchcr says, and as tlie record reads, tliesc arc but the words of a ricwlv awakened drunken man. Tliere was about as much inspiration in tiiese words, as tlierc might have been in anything said by Lot on two very disgraceful nights in his existence. I admit of course, that the descendants of Canaan have since been tlie " servants of servants" j but I do deny that God is responsible for tlie words of Noah at that time, and I also deny that there is any sort of connection between his prediction and the enslavement of the Negro. The Scriptures nowhere allude to it iu that sense: indeed, I see no more sanction to that prediction than I see approval of his debauch, in the Scriptures. Be- SK^es, how many other than Africans have been enslaved, oppressed, and made " servants of ser- vants," since the time of that prediclion! Aside from this one point, however, is the fact that the first person made a slave, of whom we read m the Bible, was sold to Egyptians. Joseph was sold into Egypt. The Israelites were op- pressed by Egyptians. Moses was called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and was thus heir apparent to the Egyptians, the most powerful throne in the world. After the exodus, and the establishment of the Jewish empire, f\-cquent mention of an honour- ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. able kind is made of the Egyptians, with whom Solomon was on the most friendly terms. He took the daughter of the Egyptian monarch as a wife ; he received the Queen of the South as a dis- tinguished guest, and treated her so, during her royal visit to the Jewish capital. The Assyrians, with their great city Nineveh, were descendants of Ham ; and surely they are not spoken of in the Bible disrespectfully. In 1 Chron. iv. 4 it is written, "And they found fat pasture and good ; and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable ; for they of Ham had dwelt there of old." This, I think, is very important testimony to the peaceable, quiet, industrious character of " them of Ham." A "wide," well tilled land, having "fat pasture and good," speaks well of their energy, industry, skill, aiad success, as agriculturists, as well as of their wealth. They had an ancient, honourable name — " they had dwelt there of old ;" and that " t^ y had dwelt there of old " seemed to be abundant reason, in the opinion of the sacred writer, for the respectability of the country, and its prosperous, wealthy appearance. The "quietness and peaceableness " of the country — the reason given for which was, that "they of Ham had dwelt there of old " — is sufficient testimony to the high character of that people ; and it agrees exactly with what all know, who know anything, of the race : GBEAT BRITAIN. 273 I am not at all foro-etfnl nf +i,« • i i ancien. Negroes ll ,, '-'ckedness of the showed thef Ln " t\T '" """ *'''"^^' "'^^ human race gene X Th °""" "'"'' *''« mns as dW J , "''' committed just such ^yptandthedestcto?!:;.^^™^'^'"-"^ To come down to New Testament times, we find black. Dr £" ~^r ■''"'''' ''^-"«« I'e was black hah^ tf ' " '"' '"=«'^''^« of !>« Which in those days was significant of some such -is.er:S£--7;'*;-^.-Hsher chariot Ph,-lm 1 , '°''^^> ^ believc-to whose to"roLhS?^^''^"^'^'-«°-^-We„ I '^m "Ot again allude to the great theologians T 274 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. of early days, of whom I have frequently spoken * but it is perhaps admissible to step aside to profane history for a few passages of testimony concerning the ancient Negro. Diodorus Siculus says nothing discreditable of the Negro of his times. Carthage was not the meanest of countries, though Hannibal, like his subjects, was black. No doubt there was a good deal going on in Carthage, while Hunnibai was besieging Home, which one could not but oe reminded of last winter ; but that was not (so tM I Crimean campaign shown) peculiar to blacks. But I will fortify this part of the sulyect by a single qnotation, and that quotation shall come from an American, a distin^^;uished American, the Honour- able Alexander 11. Everett. Speaking on this point, he says— "Trace this very civilization, of which we are so proud, to its origin, and where do you hud it? We received it from our European ancestry ; they from the Greeks and the Romans ; those from the Jews; but whence did the Jews receive it? From Egypt and Ethiopia— in one word, from Africa!" He then adverts to the fact, that "Moses, the great Jewish legislator, was a graduate of an Egyptian college." Speaking of their progress and great proficiency in some of the most useful arts, Mr. Everett holds the folloAving language:— "The ruins of Egypt will be, what they are now, the wonder and the admiration of spoken ; I profane ncerning ; nothing Jarthage [annibal, ;re was a [lunnibai >t but De 3t (so tJui ks. But a single from an Honour- on this zation, of where do liuropean llomans ; the Jews I — in one ) the fact, 3r, was a eaking of )me of the folloAving he, what liration of ss j^::»n.. ^ 5 GREAT BRITAIN. 275 the civilized world, when St. Peter's and St. Paul's the present pride of London and of Ron e Xh have crumbled into dust " T r1. . ' and St.PaulV'; but the reader ^nt recoLL I Ma^™.ay holds HKe opi.W co« ^ ^ Jolm Russell. I, is „„t St ^, / "^^ f-'-« should hold the.. tC bel^f fvS o^non, th.: nations "ripe and rot," and go aZ 'r;-t 1 ' 'Y"-' ^'" '- «'» -> "'at Egyptian pe—t ■■"'."•"""■y -"' =« ntins, "remain be sought for n, vam. Sueh is this learned gentle n>an's .dea of the superiority of the for„,er. ' In the same speeeh Mr. Everett says, when allud- n to the superior learning of aneient Afrieans ot^rtr:::™! ""'^' '""^'''' ^^"-«--' -^' +v.^ 1 . •'^ '^"** -liomans, to acouiro the omplefon of their edueation, and o give tl iimshnig touch to their verses inJt . poets now travel in P '^'' J"f "^ ""■• «°ns and purpose. " ^'™™y """l ^'"'^ fo'- '' 'ike unwillmg to heheve that anything good or -n° , ever emanated from one weaig a bfack sk n'lnd Wmg that those who eannotlpulitr;. T 2 ANTI -SLAVERY LABOURS. able history of ancient Atricans frequently deny that they were blacks, Mr. Everett remarks—" Sir, some persons say that, although the Egyptians and Ethiopians were Africans, they were not black. Herodotus, the fatlier of history, travelled among them, and he tells you they were black men, with crisped woolly hair ; and I cannot bring myself to believe that Herodotus could not distinguish black from white, when he saw it. Moreover, the same testimony is borne by Greeks and Romans of un- 'doubted veracity, who knew them as well as we know our Canadian neighbours." Mr. Everett was a citizen of Massachusetts, and he made the speech with which I have made so free before the Massa- chusetts Colonization Society, in 1839. This gen- tleman was American Minister Plenipotentiary to China, during the presidency of Mr. Tyler. Another of the Everett family, the Honourable Edward Everett (who, during the administration of the same President, was Minister to the Court of St. James'), bears like testimony concerning the Negro, before the American Colonization Society, at a later date. I regret having no copy of that speech at hand. I hope I have in the several parts of this book ihown that the modern Negro is worthy of his ancient paternity. He has endured oppression the deepest and most degrading— oppression that has fewer redeeming features than any other beneath GREAT BRITAIN. 277 the sun. John Wesley called it " the sum of aU viUanies— the vilest system of oppression upon which the sun of God ever shone." That the modem Negro has endured this, speaks much of his fortitude, and more of God's favour toward him. But in the midst of oppression, the Negro has shown both capacity and desire for improve- ment ; which are not only commendable, but which entitle him to a place among the most progressive of the human race. Curran, Emmett, O'Connell, O'Brien, and Barrington, are names of which Ire- land may justly be proud. To attempt to mention like names, among either the living or the dead, of England and Scotland, were to far exceed the limits of this humble volume. Among the peers of this good realm, how many are there not, who "rose from the ranks," as military men say— rose by the force of their learning, their industry, their talent! Are not the British bar and the British bench a sort of gateway and avenue to the highest distinctions of this kind? Across the ocean, and m the colonies, you see almost the entire popula- tion self-made men. They are justly honoured ol all who know them. Everybody agrees that they are entitled to the greater credit, for having overcome mighty obstacles, in the shape of poverty and Its thousand-and-one discouraging attendants,- but not one of them was obliged to start from such wsfsr^ rm mmmtmiiiftfM ■\.-?:- 278 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ill M 11 a position as that In which slaveiy keeps its victim, or In which it leaves him when he becomes free, either by law or by flight. Those had honour, fame, emolument, to beckon them on ; they had glorious precedents before them ; the path of com- petition was as open to them as to any others ; the road to distinction was as free for them, to travel as for men of any grade or oirth. These had no preceden+3, no encouragements, no lights by the wayside. They were discouraged on every hand. Schools were closed against them ; colleges denied them their classic privileges — honours wtre not for blacks. Fame — fame for a Negro? The very idea was out of the question ! He may fight his country's battles, as did many in the war of the Eevolution ; but after that, he must sink down to the condition of a mere Negro, deprived of the common civilities of social life, denied his rights, and trampled upon by all classes. In the last war between Great Britain and the United States, blacks were twice called out to fight their country's battles. General Jackson said to them, in his second proclamation, " Soldiers ! when I called upon you on a previous occasion, upon the banks of the Sabine, I knew that you possessed an enthusiasm capable of the performance of noble things ; but your deeds of valour upon the field of battle far transcended my most sanguine expecta- 4 GSEAT BRITAIN. 279 tions. ' They came again, at tlieir general's call : they were no inefficient aid in the gaining of the celebrated " victory of New Orleans," 8th Januarys, 1815 : but all who were slaves before they en- tered tlie army were returned to their masters when the battle was over! T^hey were denied the least share in the libertie ..r which they had fought and bled. The Negro has few or nr.e of the stimulants and encouragements which ur^e and allure other men to great attainments. The Insh lad, whose tather was a labourer, knows that if he can find a few friends to aid him, he may enter the university. Acquiring a good education, he may have the same opportunity to distinguish himself that any other Irishman enjoys. Ee may be, in his way, an Emmett or a CuiTan. He knows what made them what they were, and the same opportunities are his. The En-lish boy whose father may be a mechanic or an artisan, and who aspires to some- thing higher than the paternal condition, has but to nerve himself for the conflict with obstacles, and his good cliaracter, a little patronage, hard Btudy, and persevering diligence, will do for him what it has done for some of those who now stand in the highest places in the land. No discouragement towns upon him but such as some one before him has overcome. The path is a trodden onej the ■f^ n m m iWHm\ i i- i I It > I 28 r. ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. goal is before him ; the prize glitters in his sight ; facilities increase as difficulties are overcome. The race may he toilsome, long, requiring great effort : but there are abundant encouragements to run it. The Scotch lad, who desires learning and a place for usefulness, perhsps finds the readiest aids of all others. Hi& minister is botli willing and able to instruct him. A Scottish clergyman takes a pater- nal interest in almost every child in his parish. If any evince talent, the minister is one of the first to find it out ; he is the most anxious to develope it. Educational institutions abound in his country; they are within the reach of persons who are far from being rich. If he be poor, his neiglibours will contribute to nothing more freely than to aid him in the acquisition of learning. He looks about him ; he sees that many of the most able and the most ureful men, in all the learned professions, the ministry included, were once poor lads like himself. Turning his eyes southward, he sees the same re- mark applies, in a very great measure, to England. He easily learns tliat in Wales and in Ireland this is true to a proverb. And as for obstacles, what Scotchman ever turned his back upon titem ? What are hindrances made for, but to be overcome ? and what are Scotchmen made for, but to overcoirie them? The Welsh boy has a history, the lilstory of an GREAT BRITAIN. 281 unconquered people, to stir up his manhood. The Pole recollects the days of former Polish greatness and glorj. The Slavonian eloquently recounts the wrongs of an injured nationality, until he sends a thrill through the hearts of countless sympathizers. The Greek knows no reanon why modern Greece may not, at some time, establish other than mere historical relations to great Greece of old. Why may not he, and others of his generation, do some- what towards this work ? The Jew, proud of his unbroken relations to the patriarchs and the people most honoured of God, hopes for the restoration of Israel, and sees in the growing public favour of his cause, and the increasing wealth of his people, abundant reason to hope for their possession of long withheld rights in Gentile communities, and the dawning of the day when the sons of Abraham shall be gathered and blest. All of these have enough to cheer, encourage, and stimulate them. That under such auspices, they should produce men of power and renown, is not to be wondered at. It is, most appropriately, a subject of uni- versal admiration. But the Negro, especially the American Negro, has no encouragement of the sort. His sky is sunless, starless; deep, black clouds, admitting no ray of light, envelope his horizon. What is there tor him in past history? slavery. What i« the MHM 1 ' 282 ANTF-SLAVEllY LAllOURS. coiulltioit of the majority of liis class? slavery. Wliat are ilie signs of the times, so tar as tlie dis- position of their oppressors is concernetr? continual slavery. If educated, what position may ho ac- quire V that of a meniah Wliat are the op])ortuni- tics for edueatlon'? such only as nuiy be inferred from the rejection of Nei!;roea from moat of tlic halls of learning in tlie land. What encourage- ments has he frim friends, from the feelings of the maSvS of the j)eople, from the institutions of his native country ? none, absohitely none. James McCune Smith was rejected from Geneva College, New York, because of the African blood in his veins. 11 is schoolmate, Isaiah U. De Grassc, was received, because lie was not known to be a co' )ured man. When tlie fact that he was coloured became known, he was treated coolly, made to feel uncom- fortable, by those who always before gave him their friendship. Daniel Ijaing was driven from Ilaward College, where ho was seeking a medical education, because of his colour; so was Martin li. Delaney. Alexander Crummell was denied, as was De Orasse, admittance into the New York Episcopal Theological Seminary (as menj they might be admitted as scini-.slares), when wishing to prepare for the ministry of that denomination. Their bishop gave them plaiidy to understand that they could never take scata in the Convt^ition of iU slavery. ^ tlic clis- coTitimuil y lie nc- [)])()rtuui- intcrrcd 4t of the icoiirage- gs of the IS of his James , (Jollege, •d in his asse, was , co' )ured [1 became 1 uncom- :;ave him veil from I medical 3 Martin n denied, ew York loij tliey wiHliing mination. tand that tfiition of CJREAT UUITAIN. 283 Ids diocese. If a white man be rector of a Cliurch of bhickH, k'. is excluded from *he Convention! Wdliam Doui^lass is the best reader of the Cluirch Service in ri.iUidelpliia: lie has no more seat in the Episcopal Convention of that State, than if he were a dog.* If, then, we liave among us men who have come np from slavery and made for themselves a name— ii few of whom I have taken the liberty freely to refer to-they have done so in spite of discourage- ments, without aid, in tlie absence of cheering, stim- ulating, inviting prospects j indeed, without hopes. This short sentence embodies the history of the struggkvs of all tlic learned and useful black men we liavc in the United States. I beg to add another fact. The educated Negro m America is a greater sufferer than the unedu- cated; tlie more his feelings are refined, the more keenly he f(!els the sting of the serpent prejudice. That is natural; but it is aggravated by the'fact— onc of great discredit to Americans— that an cdu- cated Negro, as a rule, is treated no better than one mieducated. Bnt tliat Is not all: he is made tlic object of peculiarly offensive treatment, because of his superior attainments; he is said to be "out of •This applies both to Novv York «,ul Pennsylvania. In neither 18 a black Kp.scopal minister adnuttcd to he Conventi..n. Tl... Hon rule altered lu Now Y ork, b„t to no purpose MMMMMMlHMMMHSI It > 284 ANTl-SLAVEEY LABOURS. his place"; he is thought to he " assuming the place of a wliite man." Were he only a menial, or an ordinary labourer, then he would not be treated so well as v/hite men in the same position, but then he would be more " in his place." Any one can imagine how acutely an educated man must feel this. I am not an educated man ; but I have seen those, who are, writlic under this worse than brutal treatment, until my heart has ached for them. May I be pardoned for saying, that the educated among us deserve the credit, at least, of a place and a name among the respectable of tlie world ? Othera mitigate their sufferings and mul- tiply their means of enjoyment, by learning: but with us, this does not increase the latter (I mean in an ordinary sense), while it multiplies the for- mer ; and any attempt at education, both in itself and in its consequences, is " the pursuit of know- ledge under difficulties," with a witness ! In this country it is difficult to understand how little difference is made in the treatment of black men, in respect to their position. Englishmen do not expect servants to ride in first-class caniages ; but a person of wealth or position, of whatever colour, has, in this respect, just what he pays for. In New York, however, the Rev. Dr. Pennington can no more ride in an omnibus than any other black person, however inferior to liim. The richest L GREAT BRITAIN. 285 iming the a menial, Id not be 3 position, e." Any ated man an ; but I tlii8 worse ached for , that the least, of a jle of tlie I and mul- ning: but r (I mean 38 the for- h in itself ; of know- stand how t of black ishmen do carriages ; whatever i pays for. *ennington any other rhc richest coloured man in Philadelphia cannot purchase a first-class railway ticket for New rork ; neither could he obtain for his son the opportunity of being educated in a.iy college of the many in either New York or Philadelphia. What progress we have made has been under tlie frown of these obstacles. May it not be hoped that, having com- bated so much, we may overcome more ? In that worst of all countries, the United States, the Negro not only exhibits the fact that " All is not lost," but he shows a tendency for improvement; he gives evidence of having cultivated this tendency ; he displays success in this endeavour. I beg to claim, that if other people have entitled themselves to lasting honour from mankind, for what they have done, for tlie brilliant specimens of manhood they have presented to the world's admiring gaze —specimens of self-made men, in unfavourable circumstances— my people, having done something like it in circumstances a thousandfold more for- bidding, should not be altogether struck from the roll of, at least, the respectahh ammg manldnd. I am quite free to contess that, in this regard, the American is more worthy than the British Negro. The time was, when slavery reigned triumphant in our colonies. Then, if a colom-ed man distinguished himself as did the Honourable n ii| t ' lilt 286 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Mr. Jordan, of Kingston, and others, they did so in thb midst cf the ahuost universal enslavement of th^ir own race. Still they were free, and, as freemen, equal in law to all others. Prejudice did exist, as a matter of social caste ; but it did not destroy legal rights, as it docs in A merica.* When the laws of Jamaica made distinctions as to colour, I doubt if black Jamaica freemen made such attainments and progress as our people, in the States. They acquired more property, but they excelled in nothing else. In these respects they resemble the present free blacks of the Southern States. Now, if we of the British dominions do not advance rapidly, we shall have no excuse ; and, what is worse, we shall burden our cause with reproach. I was at one time most anxious about this matter; but think now, we shall be able "to report progress," as they say in the legis- lature, and to do our share in tlie great work of redeeming and disenthralling the long-outraged race of liani.t * Since writing the above, I leain, from the excellent work of Mr. Phillippo, tlmt in very early days blacks were disfranchised and otherwise oppreaacd in Jamaica. My remark above would apply to a much later period. 1 wish every Englishman would read ''Jamaica in its Past and Present State " (Snow, 35, Paternoster Row). + The improvement of the blacks in Canada may be inferred from Part 1 1, As to those of Jamaica, see Davey and PhillipiK), II GREAT BRITAIN. 287 I know not what is to be our future, but think these are very significant facts— that- fourteen mil- lions of us should be on the American continent : that slavery should have ceased in one lialf of the American States, at so early a day : tliat in the Slave States the Negroes who are bondsmen are being rapidly improved, by the two following pro- cesses, viz.; 1, The constant admixture of the more intelligent slaves, from the move Northern Slave States, among those less intelligent, in the far South— a fact which grows out of the raising of slaves in the former, to sell in the latter. 2, The increasing admixture of Anglo-Saxon blood with that of the Negro. If slavery does not work its own ruin by those two abominations, there is no truth in philosophy. To return: Great Britain has freed all her slaves ; France has freed hers ; other European powers are earnestly discussing measures of a similar kind ; the freed men of all countries are improving rapidly; Brazil has abandoned the slave trade ; commerce with Africa is increasing ; friendly feeling towards the Negro is in the as- cendant everywhere, except in America, and it is increasing even there. It does seem as if God were preserving and educating the Negro for some gi-eat purposes, yet undeveloped; and as if the Anglo-Saxon were in some way to be connected WH MMm ^ii i 288 ANTI-SLAVERY LAIJOURS. with, first, Ilia opprcaaion, tJien his emancipation ; and perlia[)s, .finally, the two are to be associated in some important future service to the family of man. Douhtlesa, all who think on this subject agree in desiring tiuvt whatever may be done shall be done in harnumy with the divine will, as written in the great law of our common brotherhood. |. I'l Ki ■ ! ft I t 289 CEAPTEE IV. BBlTlSn ABOLITIONISM. I WAS honoured, both in 1353 and in 18,54, by .nvitatu,„s to address the British and ,roreii Anti-Slavery Society; in faet, the honou- of a .simdar invitation was conferred upon me this year, but I was unable to attend. Added to the pleasure of kbourmg, however feebly, in the anti-slavery cause was the faet that, upon the oecasion first named, the Earl of Shaftesbury presided. To sustain any relation to that pri„ee of noblemen, even for so short a time, was an honour any man might eovet. Besides, among the gentlemen on the Committee of that Soeiety are some of my dearest personal friends, to serve whom I would aoiuamted with Lord Shaftesbury. No one had mtrodueed me to him, and I was feeling all the ^kwar ness of being a stranger to the nobl myself was near eoneluding, his Lordshin 1„,.„.^ u Ill f h. u 290 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. towards me and said, " I believe you are to speak next, Mr. Ward." Thus the nobleman's affability removed my embarrassment, consequent upon tlie neglect of commoners. Thus I became acquainted with the head of the great house of Ashley : and there commenced a series of kind actions on the part of his Lordship which lay me under unceasing obligations. It is sometimes said, that in Great Britain there is no need of discussing the question of slavery. I Two very strong objections are made against it — one is, that as there are no slaves in the British empire now, there is nothing for the British people to do on the subject ; the other is, that as the dis- cussion of slavery is necessarily, now, the discussion of a subject affecting other nations and governments than our own, such discussion will be regarded by those concerned as an interference with their affairs. This remark is made with especial reference to America and the Americans, who are, of all people in the world, the most sensitive on this particular point. That I was obliged to meet these objections, at different points of my travels, I hardly need say. To answer them formed no small part of my work in England. I hope I shall be pardoned for intro- ducing here what little I have; to say on this matter. 1. It is quite true, I am but too thankful to say, that the British flag does not float anywhere over GREAT BRITAIN. 281 slaves Now, in the colonies as at home, the words ot ^^ iL.ttier apply to every man, woman, and child- " Freedom, hand in hand with labour, Walketh, strong and brave ; While, on t!.e brow of his neighbour, No man writeth— Slave ! " The British people, to their infinite credit, re- sponded to the elarion voiee, of their BrougLn, Kmbb, Buxton, Clarkson, Wilberforee, Macaulay Allen, Cropper, and Bafhbone, and shattered every stone oi the accursed old Bastile of British slavery. Yet .t IS not to be forgotten, that long ere that was done, Br,t,sh hands had become red with the inno- cent blood of millions of slaves. The old slave trade wjth zts horrors (Liverpool being its chief mart); the horrible plantation scenes of Jamaica and other West India islands, the barbarisms of he Mauntms, the atrocities of the Cape-oh, these darkes, most guilty pages of British \Astory, are no to be easily forgotten ! While we were giilty of these abominations, and their attendant crimes, the whole weight of British influence was given to he furtherance of slavey in other eountrief ; wh lelty * :: n, ""''^ "^^ ''^™ ^"P--^ us 1 2 y* """ '""'^<= ^'"'^ """"ceted with the same atrocious system. The miiU „f , '-same endorsed al home- 17. 7"' ""■' , ' "'^y> "'e owners of colonial s.aves were dwellers at the West End of London * TKo4 : , f That ;« scarcely possible, how, ever. u 2 Ill 292 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. I rk ■I our 8enator5« and our peers. Commoners who were planters, in London, Liverpool^ and Glasgow, rolled in untold wealth, the fruit of the l^egro's unpaid toil. They were regarded with a sort of deference, such as is paid to the American slaveholder at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. A baronetcy or a peerage was scarcely more desirable or more honourable, than to be known as a great West India planter, the owner of so many hundred slaves ! Sometimes, indeed, baronet or peer, and , planter, were associated titles of the same distin- guished individual. These brought all the influence of wealth, name, position, patronage, and senatorial place, to bear upon the Government, which but too easily winked at the wickedness and obeyed the demands of the then British slave power. Thank God, I am wTxiixig past history; but history it is! Having done so much for slavery, as a nation and as indiv^iduals, it is not to be denied that the British people have contracted no small share of blame for encouragi ^ the slavery of other peoples, by their evil example. Tt can scarcely be said that tlie al.Viitioa ci the slave trade, the procuring of some few treaties against it in conjunction with other nations, and the abolition of colonial slavery, at a very late day, wiped out all our guilt. in May, 1772, a decision, procured by the per- severing diligence of the immortal Granville Sharpe, GKEAT BRITAIN. 293 was rendered by Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, to the effect that the arrival of a slave upon British soil made him a freeman. In 1814 a number of Negroes escaped from North Carolina to the sliips composing the British fleet, commanded by Admiral Sn- George Cockburn * Upon their l--n^ claimed bj the American authorities, in behalf of their masters, Sir George refused to deliver them, in virtue of tnat decision, declaring the la^ of the SOU to be the law of the ship to which the Negroes had fled. In 18:^5 the American Government v^esured the British Government ty deliver to them slaves who had escaped to Canada. This was re- fused, m accordance with Lord Mansfield's decision. But while, hy virtue of that decision, we freed the slaves of foreigners, when thev touched our soil, ^ve, m spite of that decision, held slaves ourselves ' Naj, more. Several American slave ships, with slave cargoes on board, were driven upon our West India Islands. Touching those islands, the slaves were made freemen. Still, we held hundred, of t^iousands of slaves on those islands -we made our soil free to other people's slaves, while upon the same soil we held slaves ! What a glaring contradiction was here! "British soil IS free soil to the slave, of other countries: it ''I ii j . A If 294 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. is slave soil to our own subjects." That was sub- stantially oui' saying. If the highest court in the empire made British air free to foreign lungs, why did it not make that air equally free to British lungs ? in a word, why did not the poor slave of the colonial plantations receive the benefits of this decision ? I beg to say, I cannot admit that " The why is plain as way to parish church." Is it not true, that we held half a million of slaves in our colonies, in as open contradiction to the law as laid down by Lord Chief Justice Mans- field on the 5th of May, 1772, as do our American brethren at this day hold three millions in contra- diction to their Declaration of Independence as laid down by Jeffer8on,^wr 7/ears two month and twenty- nine days thereafter? and from the date of the former, until 1832, were we one whit better than our neighbours? We gave them the most prac- tical encouragement. We began our hypocrisy more than four years before they began tlieirs. And it is a singular fact, that each nation, at the time to which I refer, robbed about half a million of slaves of rights which, according to public and solemn declarations of both, belonged to the sub- jects, to all the subjects, of each : indeed, ours was the gi'catest inconsistency, as we violated a judicial decision, while they simply trampled upon an ab- stract declaration of political sentiments. They GEEAT BEITAIX. 295 incorporated the same sentiments in their Consti- tution, but this was net until 1789. We had been stultifying ourselves, then, for seventeen years ' I submit whether such sinners, though penitent, bnng forth fruits meet for repentance" without seekmg, if possible, to counteract the effects of their own evil example, by sometliing more than merely emancipating their own slaves. But there is, if possible, a still darker shade in this picture. On the sailing of Sir George Cock- burn's fleet to the West Indies, the American authorities followed it, and renewed their demand for the slaves. Sir George, true to his British principles, repeated and persisted in his refusal to deliver them. The Negroes, of course, remained free. But the American Government, always per- severing in such cases, made tJieir demand for gold m payment for them, through their Minister at London. It was refused. A long correspondence then commenced, which did not terminate until 1836, twenty-two years after. And how did it terminate? By our Government paying, in gold th. sum of £40,000, by way of compensation for the Negroes; and after paying this, twenty-two years mterest was demanded, and we paid tliat! feome six or seven cases are on record, of our com- phcity m American slavery, by paying for the car •goes of slave ships wrecked on our islands 296 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. indeed^ we almost always paid money in such, cases, until after the passing of the Emancipation Act. To say nothing of the perfect impunity with which we allow Spain to violate a treaty against the slave trade, for compliance with which we paid her £400,000, nearly forty years ago, and not to speak of the shamefully loose provisions of our treaty with the United States* for the same pur- pose, let us look at one more fact which shows that we are far from being innocent oi present complicity in the crime of slaveholding. In the Slave States it is law, that a free Negro from abroad or from the Northern States shall, upon * I refer to Mr. Jay again on thia point, and ask attention to what that learned American jurist, the son of the great John Jay, says on the subject. I give the substnm o only of Judge Jay's remarks. It seems that the United States Government proposed to the British Government a convention against the slave trade. The British Go- vernment readily complied. After waiting a reasonable time, the latter gently reminded the former that nothing had been done in the case. Another pause ensued. Then the British Government pre- pared a treaty, and sent it to Washington for sanction. That treaty provided that, if subjects of either Government were found engaged in the slave trade, on the coast of Africa, America, or the West Indies, they should be subjected, on conviction thereof, to certain specified penalties. The American Senate struck out the word "America"; thus exempting their own coast, for obvious reasons, from the opera- tions of the treaty. The treaty also provided that, should subjects of either Government be convicted of being engaged in the slave trade, in vessels owned or chartered by the parties so convicted, they should be punished, &c. GREAT BRITAIN. 297 landing on their shores, be imprisoned until his ship sails. When she sails, the captain must pay the charges of his arrest and imprisonment, or he is to he sold, to pay them, into slavery for life! For thirty years this has hem done to British subjects, to the knowledge of the British Government! The' Honourable Arthur F. Kinnaird has twice, witliin the past two years, brought this subject before the Government, but the answers to his questions have been most unsatisfactory. They reveal the fact, that but little care is felt about this matter in Downing Street. In the winter of 1854-55, one or two of the Atlantic Slave States so modified tlieir law that a British Negro, arriving there, shall be forbidden to land, and the captain is put under heavy bonds, whicli are to be forfeited if the Negro goes on shore. This odious law is made for the security of slave-y, by preventing free Negroes from associating with the slaves and teaching them the The United States Senate purged the treaty of the words -or char- U-redr Hence an American, or any one else, desirous to cngnRc in this abommable traffic, had only to charter-not to put himself to the expense of purchasing or building-a vessel, and proof of its being such exempted him from the punishment threatened in that treaty Agam: the tronty, as it left Britain, provided that punishment should be infl.ctea upon subjects of either Government engaged in the slave teide, under the British or the American flag, upon conviction. The Senate of America struck out "or the American"; so that trading in slaves on the American coast, under the American flag or in a char- tered vessel, is no violation of the treaty, as it now stands! I call this treaty " shamefully loose." Is it not so? 2i)S ANTI-HI-AVKUY LAIUHIKH. f I I \ I A tJ 1 % way to a free coimtiy. Conniving at It, our Go- vcrnniont, ci'ilai'.ily in a dc'-rco, sliarcs its guilt. The rightH of a IJritisli Huhjcct, of wliatcvcr colour, ouglit not to be suUorcd tiius to Ik; jcopanli/AHl for the acconunodation of our trade in Hlavc-^'rown cotton. Considering tlu^ dcptli of our ])ast guilt, and our share in planting, encouraging, and perpetuating slavery in America and cKsewhere, I do not think wo ought to ch)so our lii)s until all whom wo have for centuries uidetl in thi:i win shall bo brought to ivpentance ibr it. Ui)on the high grounds of our common humanity and our holy religion, 1 am sure 1 need not say one word, except it bo to deplore that mere business considt'rations, the arguments of 'iombard Street and the Exchange, shoidd so chid the hearts and dry up "the milk oi" human kindness" in Englishmen's bosoms as to put aside tho claims i)f our suilering brethren. 2. As to its being considered offensive to Ame- rican or other slaveholders that I*]nglislnneu con- demn slavery and labour for its overthrow, it is Avell enough to observe, that part of what we discuss is our own guilty com])licity. Surely this cannot be intermeddling with othi'r people's alfairs. Tho slave being our l)rothor, and tho slaveholder being our brother too, we nuiy claim tho right of obeying the eoniiuaud, "Thou shalt not sutler sin OUKAT IMilTArN. 209 upon thy nei^rhlumr, thou nhalt iim » l^'Mid of. j.et us see. I do not l)clieve the char«-e of tlu. entaibnent of .slavery upon America by the Iblfish. I admit, of course, that nuich guilt and great responsibility, 8uch as I luivc already rcf rrcd to, rest upon the people of Britain ; but as to entailing slavery upon Amcn-icans, how can that be true, when they threw overboard the tea at Boston liarbour, and threw off i^''*»ai;iat.n>,»jgji>t*>'''''i^|'"'*'^''- 300 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. tlie Britisli rule? Could they not have disposed of slavery quite as easily ? If not as easily, had they not the same power over it ? 1 lad tlie IJritish })cople or Government any power over them after they be- came independent '? If they retained slavery after thatj vvas it not because they chose to do so ? They answer these questions by saying, as they do every day, that they found it impossible to agree upon a constitution Avithout agreeing either to let slavery alone, or to secure it ! TJiey claim pay for their slaves, and they claim immunity from rebuke, on the ground that slavery is constitutional. If so, who made it so? If so, what becomes of the charge of its entailment u])on them by Britain ? On the other hand, if it be true that British people did entail slavery upon the Americans, thei/ of all people are the ones to seek the undoing of what they have done. The good example set to other nations by the British Government in this matter, and the sus- tenance given the Government by the British people, entitle them to be heard on the subject. They have sinned, and they have repented. They have a right to " tell their expe. ience.^^ Tlie Negro in America looks to the Englishman as his friend. It is with his especial consent that the Englishman speaks in his behalf. The Englishman's friendly regard for the Negro is well known to tlie latter. GREAT BRITAIN. 301 liaposed of •, liacl they tish people 3r they be- iiveiy after ^0? They Y do every rec upon a iet slavery y for their rebuke, on al. If so, les of the •itain ? at British •icans, they undoing of ms by tlie 1 the Sus- ie Britisli c subject, id. They Hie Negro his friend, nglishman 's friendly the latter. The poor slave, even, cannot be kept ignorant of this. Some Englishmen, I am proud to know, are quite willing to be looked upon as guardians, pro- tectors, and defenders, of the poor and needy Negro. It was with the greatest delight that I found, in every part of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, that abolitionism is not a mere abstract idea, but a practical question of grav^c importance. It is not because, to a certain extent, anti-slavery senti- ments are fashionable and natural, that these per- sons approve them, but because of their intrinsic character. Generally, the children of the abolition- ists of early days are proud of their anti-slavery inheritance. Some few, I regret to say, do not walk in tlicir parents' footsteps : it may be because theii pursuits are somewhat different. Tliere is great occasion for rejoicing in the feet, that the leading abolitionists of Britain are among the most exalted of the land. I have mentioned the names of some of them. At their residences, where I had the pleasure of calling upon them, they impressed me most deeply with the fact. The Earl of Shaftesbury bade me call upon him as often as I pleased, to consult him upon matters relating to my mission. Upon one occasion his Lordship shook me by the hand, saying, " God bless you, my good friend I Call again, when you can." On another occasion he gently rebuked me for not mmm ■ Y\ i ' II 1 ; ii ; i iV. j ^M^B mt m ^^m '' wk\ ■ m. ^ Aa 302 ANTI-SLAVEUY LABOURS. lijivinir i-alk'. Paton, Esq.,' John Smith, Es.}., William Crossficld, Esq., Ed- ward IJaincs, Esq., George Leeman, Esq., are mstances and illustrations of this fact. To know that the anti-slavery cause is in such hands in England and Scotland, and to know that the h.noured names now mentioned are but represen- tatives of a class embracing the best and the purest of the earth, is reason enough why one should feel quite certain of the tinal success of our holy cause. ^ It is a little remarkable to notice the likeness of English to American abolitionists, in character and Htatus. In both countries this precious cause has for Its advocates and standard-bearera the very " salt of the eartli." It is as if God calls into the service of defending the poor and the needy those wlmm by his gi. 3 he has made most like himself. What abundant evidence there is, in tJiis fact, that the caup is his! 304 CHAPTER V. INCIDENTS, ETC. When I arrived in England, I found Miss Green- field, known in America hj the soubriquet of "Black Swan," had arrived here. I had the plea- sure of hearing her sing at Stafford House, at a concert attended by some of the most distinguished of the British nobility. It was a concert given on pui-pose to introduce Miss Greenfield at that house which is nearest in position to the royal palace, and whose mistress is nearest in rank to royalty. What a sight for my poor eyes ! Stafford House, British nobility, and a Negress ! I saw the per- fect respect with which Miss G. was treated by all. The Prussian Ambassador was in raptures at her versatility of voice. Sir bavid Brewster said to me, " she has two throats" — alluding to the perfect ease with which she passed from the highest to the lowest notes. It was plainly enough to be seen that the concert had very significant connections wit^ the anti-slavery cause. Mrs. Stowe and her brot: di were there. The Rev. James Sherman . >». 1 'Mk urn* t H j m GREAT BRITAIN. 305 was among tlie guests. Lord Shaftesbury was among the most conspicuous of them. Tlien to r.^.move all doubt as to the great object of the con- cert, Lord Shaftesbury said to me, "We call this house Aunt Harriet's cabin (the Duchess's name • bemg Harriet) ; and I tell her, that it honours her house to have it used for such a cause and such a purpose." This, said in the warm, earnest manner peculiar to his Lordship, made him ap- pear to m. more noble than ever. After music had ceased, the guests were invited to go over the house. Lord Blantyre* kindly showed us the magnificent pictures in the gallery, and treated us all as most welcome guests, which doubtless we were. The day following, I was invited by Lady Dover to see from her drawing-ror^i, window a review of the troops, it being the Queen's birthday. Soon after, I attended a concert of Miss Greenfield's at Hanover Square Rooms. There I hu. he honour of being introduced to the Earl of Carlisle, at his Lordship's request, by the Eev. C. Beeclier. Mentioning the object of my visit to his Lord- ship, he readily replied, " N,thi„g. ean be more interesting." During a trip down the '.names, I had the honour of an introduction to the Honourable A. F. * Son-in-law to the Duke of Sutherland. X 306 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Kinnaird and his amiable lady ; and, by Mr. Kin- naird, to Lord Haddo. The kind interest taken in the coloured people by these distinguished person- ages, being to me ar. entirely new thing, kept me in a state of ^.ost excited delight. Attending a meeting at vVillis's Eooms, in June of that year, I was introduced by Lord Shaftesbury to Viscount Ebrington. Calling upon the latter at his resi- dence, the next day, he was pleased to bring Jamaica prominently before me, and to express his deep interest in the people of that island. Stephen i^oume, Esq., had suggested it before. When the time came* that I was at liberty to consider the subject more defin'+ely, I took the liberty of writ- ing him on +1 e subject, whereupon his Lordship honoured me with an invitation to dine witli Lady Ebrington and a party. There I was introduced to the Earl of Harrowb^ , the Honourable John Fortescue, Sir James Weir Hogg, Governor W^ode- house, of British Guiana, and several other persons of distinction, all of whom gave me the liighest assurances of their lively regard for the best weal of the Negro. At another time,t I bad tlie very great pleasure of being a fellow traveller with the Duke of Argyll and the Earl of Elgin, from London to Mancliester. The interest these two rcprcser '^atives of the great * In February, 1854. f -■^th November, 1853. ' f GREAT llRITAIJf. 307 houses of Campbell and Bruce took in the anti- slavery cause was far more titan I was nrcnared tor; but the intimate aequaintauceslnp witi, all *),„ windings and intrieaeies o, tl,e America,, slave power, possessed by the great descendant of P.bert Bruce cjulte astonished me. I„ his place as Go- vernor-General of Canada, Lord Elg|„, ,vith his dear eon.prehension of things, has been seeing what was gomg on in the adjoining States so pimnly, ,« to understand American politics and American pohfeians as well as if he had been born m that county. But what pleased me most was the pc-ect knowledge his Lordship showed of the ant,-slavcry question. Charles Sumner, the anti- slavery senator from Massachusetts, is an intimate fi d of Lord Elgin. The career of Mr. Sumn,,r "the Senate he understands perfectly; and with >t, «.s Lordship understands all the minutiae of the ant,-slavery struggle, and its issues. UnKke too many Lnghshmcn, the noble Earl does not keep ^u an , -slavery sentiments secret, when on the act hke them towards coloured men. Being guided b7 Ins own conscientious sense of right, he do not nqun-c what is popular, but treads the path whu=h duo^ makes plain. Making no pretenions to phUanthropy (though one of the most liberal of X 2 308 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOUKS. . 1 II'- all our nobility) , his Lordship, both in his adminis- tration? as Governor, and in his intercourse with others as a gentleman, commingles the strictly just with the charmingly aiFable. Like Lord Car- lisle, Lord Elgin has a fulness and a minuteness of knowledge concerning everything around him which makes him a most ready instructor, as well as a most agreeable companion to men of good breeding, of whatever rank. What I saw of Lord Elgin, that day, left me no reason to wonder that such a Governor-General should carry all hearts with him in Canada and in Jamaica, where his Lordship had been viceregent. I saw just the man to reject the Larwill petition against the Elgin Settlement; and was abundantly prepared, from what I had the great privilege of observing that day, for the two following anecdotes of Lord Elgin : — When * .. ^ /ernor of Jamaica, the noble Lord, like Lord Siigo, carried oui' his own convictions as to the rights and equality of Negroes. On one occasion a black man* proposed to bring his child to the font for baptism. The arrange- ment with the clergyman was completed; but shortly after, the minister learned tliat the Go- vernor was about to bring his child on that Sun- day, whereupon the Negro was advised to postpone * I do not know whether this occurred at Kingston or Spanish Town. ■t^»-S--SSri GREAT BRITAIN. 309 Is adminis- course with the strictly Lord Car- minuteness iround him ;tor, as well en of good , left me no nor-General lada and in I viceregent. vill petition abundantly privilege of ig anecdotes ramaica, the oul: his own ' of Negroes, sed to bring ^he arrange- pleted ; but lat the Go- n that Sun- [ to postpone rston or Spanish the baptism of his child until another time. His Excellency, hearing this, expressed his entire wil- lingness to have the black child brought to the font at the same time with his own; and when the time came, the Governor and the Negro stood, side by side, each for his own child, upon terms of perfect equality, before the altar of God. If any one say that was no more than right, I beg to remind him, that in those days, in an island where the Negio had been most shamefully oppressed, and despised alike by free coloured people and whites— at a time, too, when the status of the tlien recently freed man was much below what it is now, and when there was a universal ill feeling towards the Negroes, on account of what was called the "misfortunes" growing out of emancipation— at such a time, for a Governor-General, high and illustrious in rank, a nobleman, descended from the First of Scots, to make such a demonstration of his practical belief in the equality and the one- ness of our human nature, and the common level upon which we all stand before the Almighty Father, was what we blacks may justly be proud of and grateful for. It was right, simply right ; but in those days right in that direction was of rare occurrence, and therefore the more valuable. The other anecdote of his Lordship I received indirectly, but in a most authentic form. Lord 310 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Elgin was at Wasliington in 1854, as Her Ma- jesty's special ambassador to make what is called the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Canada. It was quite natural that a mem- ber of the British House of Peers should go into Cong-ress occasionally, during a short residence at the American capital: Lord Elgin did so. He was there about the time of the closing scenes of the Congress of 1854 (the 3rd of March). The Honourable Gerrit Smith, from whom I receive the facts, m giving a most graphic account of this scbne, especially the drunkenness of honourable members, says, " but what greatly increased my mortification was, that Lord Elgin, the Governor- General of Canada, sat by my side, and witnessed the intemperance of which I complaiii. I apolo- gized to his Lordship for it, and he remarked that he liad seen disorder and confusion in the House of Commons, in former days." Now, what is there in this remark of Mr. Smith? It is evi- dence that Lord Elgin, when in America, when in Washington, and in Congress, took a seat beside an abolitionist — being neither ashamed, as a peer nor as a representative of the Crown, in a twofold sense, to be found, in the presence of slaveholders and Northern slaveocrats, in such company, though knowing perfectly well how unpopular abolitionism is in that capital j nor disdaining to take his place GREAT BRITAIN. 311 in Congress beside tiie most radical, most decided, abolitionist in the legislature. The reader must know two facts before he can understand how highly I appreciate these two anecdotes, especially the last. 1. He must know what it is to see and feel how strongly the current of public opinion sets, in that great country, against every phase and semblance of abolition. 2. He must know also, how few Englishmen there are who, visiting America, main- tain their British principles cii this subject while there. Throughout his entire career as Governor of Jamaica and^ as Governor-General of Canada, Lord Elgin always honoured his principles. I said his Lordship makes no pretensions to philantliropy : I mean, he is a man above all pretensions— a man of practical realities. What he w, he seeyns; what he seems, he is. I mean also, that Lord Elgin is not one of those who claim any especial favours for the coloured man, or who expect any especial worship fr(m him. This is about the sum of some people's philan- thropy, touching the Negi'o. Lord Elgin, how- ever, does just what the British Negro needs at the hands of a British Governor or a British gen- tleman—treats him as he would any other man in like circumstances. For that I thank him, in behalf of my people. For that reason I was most grateful for tlie Providence which gave me the 312 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. honour of a journey of 8C\eii hours with so illus- trious a fellow passenger. I write the more freely because Lord Elpfin is a public man, because I write in behalf of a grateful people, and because I scarcely believe that this humble volume can travel so far northward as Dunfermline* before its humble author shall be quite forgotten. The Duke of Argyll was also in the carriage at the time to which I allude. I had first seen his Grace at Statfovd House. He did me the honour to say to Mrs. Stowe, he should like to see me. When I waited upon him, I was treated like a friend. 1 know no other term suitably conveying my impression of the easy maimer in which his Grace was pleased to receive and to converse with me. Afterwards, upon all occasions, that noblest of the Cam])bells laid me under obligations for like affability. As a Minister of Her Majesty this young nobleman has already distinguished himself, having been in two successive Cabinets charged with the war with llussia. At the head of one of Hcotland's most noble houses, she may justly be proud of him. Early called to the peerage, at an early age entering the Cabinet, and frequently having to speak in the House of Lords, in debate with some of the most skilful tacticians of the Opposition, always sustaining himself by the ex- * Lord Elgin's residence. GREAT BRITAIN. 313 hibitlon of wisdom beyond lils years, and giving promise of great future usefulness, England may reasonably rejoice that she has the services of one so able nowj so hopeful for the future. Earnest and devoted in religion, the friends of Christian benevolence always find him ready with his purse, his pen, and his influence, to promote tlieir objects and encourage their labours. That the British Negro has such a friend is both a cause of con- gratulation and a sign of future blessing. That the down-trodden slave of my native country may know of one so exalted, whose bosom is so full of benevolent feeling for him, is a matter for great thankfulness. Yes ; we may all thank God for the gift of such a nobleman in our imperial senate, and we may all pray that God may long spare his useful life. The Duchess of Argyll, eldest daughter of the Duke of Sutherland, is t^o of the most devo- tedly benevolent persons in England. Slie seems to have been especially blest with her mother's spirit, and to be thoroughly imbued with her prin- ciples. It seems to cost her Grace nothing to be kind, because it is so natural. She has, as well, a most kind mauner of showing kindness. There is a great deal in that Some persons are so rough or so cold, so ulstant, so haughty, in doing or rather attempting kindness, aa mnllv in snnll if . ■.MMiWiULagg^ ■•*:■■' iii"i"—mF«* :n4 ANTf-SLAVERY LAIJOUUS. but ilic DiuHioHa of Arf;yll iiuikoa licr kindtu'sa double by Ikt Hwcot, Huiiliu":;, winning? way of showing it. I do not wonder that she is a friend of the slave. lEer mother, and her noble maternal ancestry for {j^enerations, have been so; and it would be dillieult for sueh a heart not to feel for the woes of others, and condenni the wrongs in- flicted upon them. In having nuide the acquaint- ance of the Duke of Argyll and her (J race the Duchess — in having seen the kind Christian man- ner in which they devote themselves to works of love, and educate their children to the same — I feci that 1 have enjoyed an honour and a pleasure which fall to the lot of but few colonists, and appreciate it accordinglv% Wishing to see all that I could while in Eng- land, and having a stnnig desire to go to the Houses of Parliament, I communicated my desire to the Honourable Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., and to the Earl of Shaftesbury. Mr. Kinnaird kindly gave me an order for the House of C(nnmonfl, and Lord Shaftesbury procured for me admission to the House of Ijords. In the former there were no questions of interest under discussion, and but few members were in attendance. It was a morn- ing session. Subsequently, Edward I^all, Esq., member for Cambridgeshire, kindly showed me to the visitors' gallery, where I had the pleasure of ''" ' I Ml' "IWm II I iii'iiMraiiiill iii i i B J ii ffi I -ai OTIEAT BRITAIN. 31 5 hearing T.ord I'almcrHton and Mr. Frederick Peel. The veneration I had from my cliildhood felt for ViHcoimt PahnerHton, as liia name and that of Lord John lUiHsell had always been associated in my mind with tlie greatest of past or present British states- men, gave me a pecidiar pkuisurc in iicaring him. It was a peculiar time. The good ship of the State had been but recently committed to his care. There luid just been a sort of mutiny, at least a deser- tion, of some of (he officers. Tiierc Iiad been great dissatisfaction ; alas, there had been great cause for it! The })u])lic mind had been brought, by tho suffering of the army, the seeming want of vigour in the former Cabinet, the apparent need of greater energy in the Crimea, and the exceedingly severe eomments of tlui press, to a state of great excite- ment. (,)uestions were poured in upon the Ministry, like a torrent. The Premier was holden respon- sible not only for what he said, but how he said it, and for honourable mcnd)ers laughing or crying at what he said. It was indeed a most difficult time. A firm, strong, steady hand at helm was needed. Reform must be brov.ght about, the war must be carried on, negotiations must be conducted, de- spondency must be driven from some minds, the doubtful must be assured— in short, all classes made all manner of demands, and the Opposition took all manner of advantage of the crisis. It was \NTI-SLAVERY LAHOUKS. most interesting, on the 23rd of jMarcli, 1855, to see Lord Palmerston, a man of seventy, with the appearance of a man of iifty, at midnight as if it were but noon, keep his phicc, meet the Opposition, endure the public grumbling, maintain a cheerful face, and, by his indefatigable industry and un- wearied attention to public business, conduct the nation through storms and perils in the midst of which, while many found fault and loudly com- plained, few dared, none could, take his place and do his work. I know not of a more interesting occasion to see Lord Palmerston and hear him speak, than that. One seldom has an opportunity of seeing such a Prime Minister in such circum- stances. I shall always remember that night. And, now that Sebastopol is captured, the English press lauds Lord Palmerston. St. Clare said, he judged of Aunt Dinah's cooking "as men judge of generals — by tlieir successes." So is Lord Palmerston now judged by those who, at the time I saw him, could condemn and distrust the Pre- mier, but could neither govern the country nor remedy defects. It was in June, 1853, that I was in the House of Peers. If I was fortunate in the other House, two years after, I was more fortunate at the time I mention. It was during " the season," and be- fore the war — so that many Lords were in at- f- I I GREAT BRITAIN. ai7 855, to dth the as if it )Osition, clicerful md un- [uct tliC aidst of [j com- acc and cresting ;ar him ortunity eircum- ; night. English said, ho ;n judge is Lord the time he Pre- itry nor e House c House, the time and he- e in at- tendance, and local matters of legislation occupied their attention. Lord Shaftesbury, with his natural kindness, met me at the door of one of the passages, and conducted me to the standing place (none but Peers, not even Ambassaujrs, sit in the House of Lords), and pointed out to me tlie several Peers and Bishops. The Earl Waldegrave left his seat, to come and shake my hand. The Duke of Argyll gave me his recognition. I was so fortunate as to hear the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Ilan-owby, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Grey, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, the Earl of Clarendon, and the Earl of Shaftesbury. Siicli a display of senn^orial talent one seldom has the good fortune to witness. But illusti-ious as were the names of those I heard, eloquent as were their speeches — and mortal men never spoke more eloquently than Lord Grey and L:.-d Brougham— the subject of these speeches, and the conclusion to v/hich their Lordships came, interested me far more. After the disposal of some petitions, and other matters of routine. Lord Lyndhurst asked a question of Lord CLarendon concerning the position and intentions of Russia, in the Danubian Principalities. The noble Secretary answered the question to the satis- faction of the great Ex-Lord Chancellor, and chen came on the business of the day. Lord Redesdale « t ^^(^l^itM. .a^i^^SI m^Msmmm 318 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. took tlie cliair, as the House went into Committee, and liis Lordship is Chairman of Committee. The order of the day was Lord Sliaftcshury's Juvenile Mendicant Bill. The Lord Chancellor made a speech against it ; the Lord Chief Justice did the same. Lord Sliaftesbury calmly sat in his place while these attacks wero made. Soon after, the Bill was defended by the noble Premier (Lord Aberdeen) and the Duke of Argyll. Lord Grey jnade a most eloquent speech in its favour. Lord Harrowby brought to its defence the weight of his grdat name. Then uprose the Earl of Shaftesbury in defence of his Bill, mooting the objections of the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, utterly refusing to withdraw the Bill, from a sense of duty to his God and to his fellow men, and declaring that, " from the opposition it had received from the tv/o legal Lords, he had made up his mind that its fate was sealed ; but the responsibility of its being- lost must rest upon their Lordships, and not upon him." The earnestness, the eloquence, with which this speech was delivered, commanded universal atten- tion. It showed that the great prince of British beneficence was a statesman as well as a philan- thropist : it showed that a honest manly sense of Christian responsibility controlled him in the senate as well as in the Ragged School : it was quite '■'"-■ '^''''"'''^^::''"'^^'^I::-'"^J:'^'M^M&^ -ftaite ■'•v*/*' *^;;> ■% ? F>--"S^ip|;^ GREA.T BlilTAIN. 319 quite consistent with the reputation he had earned when ?• member of the House of Commons, devoting himself like a Howard to the welfare of the neg- lected, and to tlie removal of the abuses which crushed them : and it gave me, who had learned to venerate liim, the unspeakable satisfaction of seeing the most decided abolitionist in the House of Lords one of its most influential members; for, after he sat down, in less tlian twenty minutes tlie Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor gave in tl^eir adhesion to the Bill, Lord Brougham spoke in its favour, and it passed unanimously. I cojld not help congi-atulating Lord Shaftesbury upon his success, and he accepted the compliment kindly. Now, what was that Bill? for that it was which impressed me with inexpressible admiration of the British peerage. The title of the Bill indicates tiie class to whom it relates. Its objects, briefly, were, to arrest the mendicant children of London, whose parents compel them to beg for a living. These parents neither sunport, nc- educate, nor in any other way care for their children, but compel them to obtain money by begging or stealing. Tlie con- sequence is, that the.^e children are what Lord Shaftesbury called "a seedplot of crime"; for, in the great majority of cases, they become the worst description of criminals. The Bill provided for the ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. arrest of these children, and placing them under the care of proper per^-ons, to educate and teaeli them some honest way of earning a livelihood. I think it also provided some punishment or fine upon the parents. The debate, therefore, which engaged the most learned and the most eloquent, as well as those highest in rank, in the House of Peers, both in the Ministry and out of it, was upon the question, What shall be done with the mendicant children of the British Metropolis? On both sides, the most tender pity and the most anxious solicitude for tliese poor children was constantly expresaed. The greatest point of difficulty was, to settle how far the legislature could interfere, consistently with the rights of the parties concerned. In the course of the debate a noble IMarquis asked—" My Lords, who is to be the judge as to whether these parents perform their duty, or not? and if not, who is to assume their place, and act in their stead?" In his peculiarly graceful and easy manner, the Lord Chief Justice arose and replied, " I beg to answer the noble Lord by reminding him that the constitu- tion puts the Lord Chancellor in loco parentis to the neglected and deserted children of England." The subject of the discussion, and the result of it— the personages engaged in it, and the spnit m which they addressed themselves to it— filled me with such a sense of admiration for ^,hat senate, as GREAT BRITAIN. 321 I cannot express. The House of Lords, discussing their duties towards tlie lowest classes of Her Majesty's subjects! The rights of those classes, though criminals, as adults, and though mendi- cants as cliildren, seemed, to me, most delicately liandled ! The Lord Ohief Justice, speaking both as a peer ard a judp-e, saying that his fellow peer, the Lord GhanceUo. is the guardian, the constitu' tional guardian, of these children of poverty and crime! TJie yieir ^ of that noble House to the eloquent suasion of one of humanity's great British ornaments, the poor man's great model friend, the Eari of Shaftesbury! All these ideas crowded so upon iny bewilcl.red brain, that I was excited almost beyond endurance. It gave me such ideas 01 the British legislature and the British constitu- tion, ^ that I felt more than ever grateful to God that It IS my lot, and the lot of my children, to be and remain subjects of tlie British Crown. How different was all this from what was true of my unhappy native country! There, the poorest Cx the poor are sold in the shambles. There honourable senators are but too anxious to avoid legislating in their behalf: ther., alas! legislation IS chiefly devoted to rivetting the chains that bind them. More of American legislation is devoted to the promotion of slavery, directly and indirectly, thau to any other interest whatever ! Hi^hts oft^e 322 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. poorest, in America! why, one half of the time of American senators is spent in declaring what are the rights of all men, and the other half in depriv- ing the poorest, the most outiage , those needing the most protection from the 1 gislature, of all rights ! Besides, I should not dare visit the capital of my native country. It is in slaveholding territory ; and there I could he legally aiTested either as a runaway slave, or, if it were after ten at night, as a. Negro at large without permission. In the latter case, I must pay £2 fine, or be severely flogged the next morning ; in the former, I should be adver- tisec"! If no one came forward to prove me a free- man, or claim me as a slave, I should be sold to pay jail fees. But I had been in the British senate at the invitation of one of its most influential mem- bers ; I had received from him marked attention ; and I had seen him triumphantly carry what was to him a ftivourite measure, a measure having for its object the suppression and prevention of cringe, and benefiting and blessing the poor. Who can blame a Negro for loving Great Britain? Who wonders that we are among the most loyal of Her Majesty's subjects? In June, 1853, the Rev. T. Binney honoured me with an invitation to be present at the annual examination and dinner, at the Grammar School at GKEAT BRITAIN. 323 Mill Hill * and took me in his carriage. Charles andley Es,., M.P., gave the toa.t .pon civi Id :^:„dr?''^'-"^'-'^-'"^'^--pp»-edt: In June 1854 I was honoured with an invitafon hrough the kindness of James Spieer, E 1 tj dme w.t the Compan, of Fishmongers'. 1^11 aho fell my lot to respond to the toast on eivil and religious liberty. % exeellent friend Charles Makins, Esq has on several occasions m.de me his gues at d n parties and I had to reply to the complimenta,; toasts to Canada, speaking in behalf of my North American fellow subiects- n,. ♦„ y "onii u>v suDjects, or to respond to the ctidivf;:? """^' ''- ^^"'"^ "' - Having intended and hoped to leave England in I.e latter part of the last year, the Chairman of .he Congregational Union of England and Wales, the Rev. A. Morton Brown, LL.D, kindly and publicly 00k leave of mc, in behalf of the body, in a speech full of the generous feeling wherewith his great heart abounds-such as he has always shown me Cham, i„ .h. cwf * *° """"■'""'>■ '"»""• "y !■»"' M»J"' t A gentleman to whom I am under in.iny grent obligations. Y 2 324 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUHS. at his house, in his pulpit, on the platform, and wherever it has hecn my good fortune to meet him. But I cannot give one in a hundred of the inci- dents which made impressions of the most Lasting kind upon me, during my sojourn in England. One chapter I thought must he devoted to them, and that chapter must soon close. Those I have men- tioned, I am sure, serve to demonstrate my most grateful sense of obligation to the many kind per- sons to whom I am indebted. I am equally sure that omissions will not be set down to a want of courtesy. But why write this chapter at all? For the purpose of stating, in connection with it, some two or three things by way of inference, and for the puqiose of saying one word for myself. 1. For myself I only wish to say, that wherever I went, I always recollected that I was the repre- sentative of my i-eoplc, and received in that light all the tokens of respect which were kindly given me. Not that I was ungrateful, but that I very well knew none of these kind feelings were expressed on my own account, stranger as I was, but on account of those whose cause I bear in my person and advocate in my public labours. 2. I mention these incidents as so many proofs that the abolitionism of England is not confined to any one class. It is an individual as well as a national matter. When the Duchess of Sutherland GREAT BRITAIN. 325 tok. mc slic had received abusive letters from American slaveliolders, I could but see tliat Eng- lish abolitionists, of whatever rank, suffer for the s ave as well as feel for him a kind sympathy. When her Grace honoured me with an introduction to her daughter, Lady Kildare, who is, like her mother, an abolitionist, and when I saw the Duchess ot Argyll evince so much of deep feeling for the slave, I said to myself, "the Duchess of Sutherland suffers abuse for us, but that does not induce her to abandon the cause : so far fi-om it, she brings up her daughters to labour and suffer for it, thus giving It the influence of illustrious rank and ex- alted poHi^tion." So, when I knew that Samuel Morley, Lusebius Smith, Ernest Bunsen, Charles Makins Wilson Armcstead, George Hitchcock, James Si)iccr, and Samuel Horman-Fisher, Esns were abolitionists, in spite of opposition, and at large expense to their pocket, I hailed with delight the fact that their principles were personal matters, deeply felt, fully considered, intelligently chosen and of course, firmly held. This is not the sort of Enghslimcn who become pro-slavery men upon going to America. Such degeneracy is only true of those whose abolitionism is mere sentimentality at home, and therefore good for nothing abroad, ihey only drifted with the current, here, in one direction- -- ^ -^^ - •- and they drift with it- th ''■<', m the .T2(> ANTl-HI.AVKKV LAHOUKM. oppoHito. «li.v(t,i(.ii : it is ilrlftwii, mwl tiotl.iuK in<»n', in cither cjihc. (^mlciidiii},' ugaiiiHl tlu-. Hiiviun, in cither ('..iiMtry, in no work of thi'irn. Wni thoHO wlioin I Imvc muncd above, and all like tiicm, were just Ihc |)(>rsonH to IVcc. tiio British nlavo, when that was to he done- to i'eel, labour, and |)ray i'or the Anu-riean slnve, now, and to ])r<)vc tiieniselves true practieiil IVicnds to the. British Nepiro at idl tinu'S. ;{. I wisii to follow in tlic footsteps of MvH. Stowe, in reeordinp: my Inunblo testnnony to an important faet, in contradiction to an ol't-repeat<'d observation in Anu'riea, concerninK the British nobility in ])iirticnlar, anlf^?- j<; more, n'luii, ill 111, ihoHC (', tln'iii, ill Hlavc, itur. 'inil to ])rovc Bril'iHli of MvH. \y to im -r('|K'ntc(.l ', ItritiHli ilitiouintH lu'sc |)cr- vocucy of Mitiou to, lu'ir own luit irt tlio •luy to it. " on pur- rit opinioiL I lev book opi'll to iilciHin as oiu', : but WHS moHt I like mo- niJKAT IJKITAIN. :J27 ^vo in. l.u,I of SI,un<.Hhu.y ,„.] tl.o DuchosH of ^^utl.crlmul an, n.oMt widely kn<,wri as tl.o niont ,,ro- minc. .int.-Hlav.My p(.,.ho„m;^<,h an.on^ the ..ol.iliiy JHcT,«>full tl.<^i.-nu,l<,,lo,„osttoamdiom(., flu. conditio,, of lOnMland'H poor. 1 1... (;, •,»:<, has (.!.,. catcd l„.,r "<'HHeHoftl.f n,a,.y of ilie- jmoiVHt, at horn(!. 'i^i",Hamerei„ai-kai,,,II,.Hto.ro.sepl, Vayuv, IOh(, and all othe.-.s a,„o„o.H,, t|„, ,„|,,,„,. ^^^^J^ ^^^J^ "W. '„ u.e a„(i.Hlave,y caxne in England: tiu^ ;«'•<•■ tl'oMe whc,W. most i,. the ;.reat phtMH of loeal benevoh.,,,, whieh al,.,u,d i„ this v.unutry. No C'>I"t'.Ht han Hpe„t so „„„d. ti,„o auumu; (hese pcr- Hons, at tl,..i,- work, as „,yM.-lf ; a„.I I |,uv(, (..joyod "I'PO'-C'.n.Jes of tesdiyi,... to the tn.th fo„d,i„.- the "»•''«'•'•, «?WqVHi ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. testants. The mention of such names as I have had the honour of recording, names of men whose praises are in all the Churches, is abundant proof of this. I regard it as an evidence of God's great favour to our cause, as I have said before ; and take very great pleasure in assuring these beloved brethren that the great mass of American aboli- tionists, and those of Canada, are of " like precious faith." They rely upon the gospel, as the great effective means of success. Those who think and act otherwise are a very small and diminishing number. They are not the men who either have or deserve the confidence or the co-operation of Christian abolitionists on either side of the Atlantic. I may perhaps, however, be allowed to say, that there is, in my humble judgment, great danger tiiat pro-slavery professors of religion from America will receive too much countenance from British abolitionists. I think the co-operation with and indorsement of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions is a most undesirable step, in that direction. In that Board there is not a man. i believe, who has ever opened his mouth for the slave. As a Board, they have ignored the anti-slavery question, or allowed slaveholders to be appointed missionaries (as in the case of Rev. Mr. Wilson), or provided for and winked at the admission of slaveholders into their Mission GREAT BRITAIN. 329 Clmrches, as in the case of the Cherokees and the Choctaws. Slaveholders, from one end of the country to the other, are members and officers of It; and the most decided pro-slaverj men of the North are its chief promoters. That it should find indorsement in England, among Christian aboli- tionists, is especially to be deplored. Let but pro- slavery men, and slavery-sanctioning organizations, m America, be recognized and treated in this country according to their character at hmne, and they would soon feel compelled to alter their course. While they can obtain the approval of men in this country whose opinions they very well know how to value, they are encouraged to continue in their present attitude. Is this desirable on the part of British anti-slavery men? Can tliey better aid the cause of the slave than by sustaining its friends in America, and rebuking its enemies by their mighty moral power ? 330 CHAPTEK Vi. I SCOTLAND. Many of tlie most prominent members of the Anti- Slavery Society of Canada are natives of Scotland. Knowing the very active part some of the very be^t of their countrymen took in the emancipation struggle, and knowing as well hew warmly the Scottish heart beats for liberty, especially upon its native soil, they kindly gave me letters of introduc- tion to many persons of great eminence there. After I arrived in England, the Committee of the Glas- gow New Abolition Society very cordially invited me to visit the North. What I knew of Scotchmen whom I had met, what I had read, and the natural desire to see such a country and such a people, made me but too happy to accept their kind invita- tion. Accordingly, in October, 1853, I paid my first visit to the land of Bruce and Burns, of Camp- bell, Gordon, and Scott. I was invited to attend a bazaar, and to speak. Though very ill, I made the attempt. The Kev. Dr. Lorimer was in the chair, sustained by some of the most learned of the GREAT BRITAIN. 331 Glasgow clergy, and gentlemen of high standing in other professions. The kind and, I am sure, too partial manner, in which the excellent Dr. Roberton, of Manchester, had written and spoken of me, made me tlie wel- come guest of Captain Hamilton,* of Rutherglen —a fit representative of the Scottish laird and the British officer. William P. Paton, Esq., and Hugh Brown, Esq., laid me under obligations hy kindly receiving me at their homes, and by introducing me to some of the most eminent Scottish mini- sters. It was at the house of the former that I first had the gratification of meeting the Rev. Dr. Urwick, of Dublin, and the Rev. Noble Shepherd* of Sligo. At the house of Mr. Brown I had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. Dr. Arnot. At the hospitable board of the Rev. Dr. Lorimer I was honoured by an introduction to the Rev. Dr. Rob- son. Through the kindness of another friend, John Bain, Esq., I had the privilege of becoming acquainted with the Rev. Dr. Roxburgh.f John Smith, Esq., treated me like a brother, and Mrs. Smith sustained him in it. David Smith, Esq., * Captain Hamilton did me the honour to introduce me to Rev Mr. Monro, of Rutherglen, whose kind people contributed most liberally to our cause. t Dr. Roxburgh invited me to preach for him, and kindly allowed me to plead the cause of the Canadian Anti-Slavery Society in his pulpit. The collection was the largest I ever received, £50. Is. id 332 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. the elder brother of Mr. John Smith, conferred upon me one of the higliest favours a Scotchman could confer or a Negro could appreciate — U gave me a ccypy of Burns' j)oems, from his own library. That was almost equal to proffering me the freedom of Glasgow, or making me a Scotchman! Well did I use that volume, while sojourning in the country which gave birth to it and its immortal author ! O that I liked oaten cakes, haggis, cockie- Uehk, or BAGPIPES, as much as Burns ! May my Scptch brethren forgive me for being so incorri- gible a creature as to cling to old-fashioned likes and dislikes, acquired before I went to Scotland ! I have been speaking of my first visit to Scot- land, in 1853. I was there again in May, 1855, and have therefore seen Scotland in winter and in May. The former taught me, almost as well as a Canadian winter, what Thomson meant when he said, "In Winter, awful Thou!" It was a cold, damp, foggy winter— a winter of such "darkness as may be felt." I had before heard that " a Scotch mist will wet an Irishman to the skin." A Scotch fog went through my skin, and gave me a worse congestion of the lungs than I had before suffered from in twenty years. So severe was it, as to compel me to suspend labour, and return to England. I went to the coast of 1 GREAT BKITAIN. 333 Kent, to recover; and while there, received an invitation from my honoured friend, William Cross- field, Esq., to spend some time at his very pleasant residence, near Live^rjool. In the course of a month I was able to resume my labours. Thanks to my kind hostess. Miss Jurdison, of Ramsgate ; to the very amiable family of Mr. Crossfield, and other numerous friends in Liverpool, including Rev. Dr. Raffles, J. Cropper, Esq., E. Cropper, Esq., Rev. Chas. Birrell, G. Wright, Esq., the Misses Wraith, and others ! Their great kindness did more than medicine towards my restoration. I saw a good deal of Scotland, however, that winter, and became acquainted with some of the very best classes of Scotch gentry. I met, and worshipped with, and preached for, some of the best congi-egations — as Rev. Mr. Munro's, of Ruther- glen;. Rev. Dr. Wardlaw's, Rev. Dr. Roxburgh and others, in Glasgow; Rev. Mr. Campbell's and Rev. Dr. Alexander's, in Edinburgh; Rev. Mr. Gilfil- lan's, Rev. Mr. Lang's, and Rev. Mr. Berwick's, of Dundee; Rev. Dr. Brown's, of Dalkeith; &c. I was in Scotland, alas ! too late to see the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw. I had received from him kind, loving messages of sympathy, fraternity, and en- com-agement. They came like the words of one just entering the wo'-ld of love— were destitute of stiff formality, and fragrant with the spirit of 334 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. heaven. On an appointed day, a party of ub went to his residence, to see him. The carriage which conveyed me arrived just as others were leaving, and the fatigue of the interview could neither be prolonged nor repeated. Thus I lost the oppor- tunity of seeing on earth one of the men to meet whom will be one of the attractions of heaven. I had been equally unsuccessful in seeing Dr. CoUyer, the first day I preached in his chapel. Before I was there again, he and the sainted Wardlaw were witlji Jesus. I had the melancholy pleasure of mingling my tears with the many who heard Rev. Dr. Alex- ander preach Dr. Wardlaw's funeral sermon. I never before heard such a discom-se. It was a noble tribute to the learning, piety, attainments and character, of the deceased, by one who inti- mately knew him and dearly loved him. The oration spoke wonders both for the dead and the living. It showed that the living speaker knew how to appreciate the gi-eat -^nd shining qualities of the deceased. The sci-mon was delivered in the earnest impressive style of Scotch divines, tempered and chastened by the superior refinement of the respected preacher, who is, I think, one of the most finished — if not, indeed, the most finished — pulpit orator I heard in Scotland. The deep sensation felt all through the commer- GREAT BRITAIN. 335 cial metropolis of Scotland upon the death of Dr. Wardlaw, the words of praise which every lip gave him, the reverence with which his name was spoken, testified plainly, to the most casual observer, how deep and firm t. hold he had upon all hearts while living. The same feeling pervaded all classes in ^he provinces. In his case was verified the scripvural expression, "The memory of the just is blessed." Society in Scotland differs from that in England, as does the society of Boston and Massachusetts generally from that of Vermont, ^lew Hampshire, and Maine. I was struck with this while travelling northwards. The northern people are more familiar, more democratic. A Scotchman does not feel under the particular necessity of sitting next you all day in a raiiwa- can-iage loltJiout smjing a word, as an Englishman does. Betwixt different classes tnere is more familiarity, less distance, in Scotland, than in England. The different orders of society seem to approach more nearly to each other, without either losing or forgetting its place. There is less of the feeling, so prevalent in small towns in the South, that merchants and professional men must bv all means avoid contact with shopkeepers. TJie chief order of nobility is the clergy, and all join to pay deference to them ; but the general spread of religion, and the very upright and pious habits of the population— the familiarity of the ministers with 336 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUR'?. people, join to produce a brotherly feeling of one- ness, wliicli is abundantly apparent in tlie national character and in the state of society. Besides, I do not think that mere ceremony is half so much studied by the S<;otcli. They are gi-eat believers in realities; *hey are a substantial people; and what is merely .'brmal, unless it be formal after the Scottish mode, is not commendable to them, and it costs them but little to say, " I canna be fashed wi sic clislimaclaver " Hence, you get at a Scotchman's heart at onc3. He will not profess to be what he is not. When you go to his house, and he extends his hand and says, « Come away," you may know you are welcome. I like this straightforward way of doing things: it is far more expressive of true generosity than the set courtly phrases of mere conventionalism. A sort of independence of character is far more prevalent and observable in the Scot.^h peasantry than in either the English, the Irish, or the Welsh. Everybody expects to find it so ; if not he will find himself much mistaken. Several anecdotes have been given me illustrative of this ; but as I am not at home in telling Scotch tales, I dare not insert any of them. The fact, however, is most palpable. Doubtless the universal difi'usion of education has much to do with it. Ho«^ readily and how generouslyj did the Scot- GREAT BRITAIN. 337 tish people respond to the claims of the anti-slavery cause! Dr. Pennington found it so, wlien he was here; so did iVfr. Garnet; so did Frederic Doug- lass. There is far more of active, organized, anti- slavery vitality, among the three millions of Scot- tish population, than among the seventeen millionj Enn:h8h people. There are classes in England -;.ich the anti-slavery cause never reaches-the classes who , ampose the multitude. It .is not so in Scotland, because the whole population, high and low, attend divine service, and they naturally enough acqmre the habit of attending the kirk on any sub- ject lor which it is open. In England, millions of the workmg classes (not to mention others) do not attend any place of worship, and therefore never hear, know, or care, about the moral movements of the age. The same result is aeen in Ireland. There are multitudes there, to be seen in th streets, who never enter any other than a I^oman Jatholic place ot worship, and who accordingly know literally nothing of what is going on in the gie.t moral held. In Wales, on the other hand, religion i. as universal as education is in Scotland. Hence the Welsh, like the Scotch, go en masse to the meetings tor religious and benevolent purposes. As I travelled about Scotland, both in 1853 and l«oo, I found the anti-slavery feding prevalent, deep, earnest, and intelligent. It is incorporated 338 ANTl-SLAVEUY LABOURS. in the fcelmgs, habits, and characteristics of the people. Tliey are abolitionists from intelligent conviction, lunnan sympathy, and religious prin- ciple. Anti-slavery principle will live in Scotland while religion has an abiding place hi the hearts oi her people. 1 attended meetings in G lasgow, Edin- burgh, Dalkeith, Uunfermline, Dundee, llamilton, Stewartown, Cumnock, Kirkaldy, Falkirk, Stir- ling, Montrose, llutherglen, Greenock, Rothsay, Campbelltown, &c. To the kind friends in those ! towns whose humble guest I had the pleasure of bchig (in one case, when sutfering from an affec- tion of the chest and an intlammation in my feet; in another, when on crutches from a severe lame- ^iess-circumstances which made kindness the more needed and the more acceptable), I beg hereby to tender my most hearty thanks. May the bles- sings of those ready to perish ever be ui)on tlicmi! in Glasgow there are two Anti-Slavery Com- mittees. My inmiediatc connection was with the new one; but Mrs. George Smith, one oi the old Connnittee,withwhomI had the pleasure of break- fasting, is most catholic in her anti-slavery views and feelings. To the slave and his cause she is true, however she may differ from some of her coadjutors. I did not happen to meet any^ other person in Glasgow whom 1 knew as belonging to the old Society. It was not my business to inijuire fJllEAT nRITAIN. 339 into the differences of abolitionists, but I presume tlicy are about the same as tliose between anti- slavery people in the United States. Would that the time were come, when all Christians and all (Christian reformers were prepared to say, "Let there be no strife, I jjray thee, between th'(>e and me, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen for we be brethren." IJow much do we all need to study the lesson taught us by our Lord, in his reply to the disciples, when they informed him that they had I'orbidden some one to cast out devils because he did not follow Avith them ! ' In other towns, I believe, this division happily does not exist. There is a very active society in Edmburgh, whose Secretary, Mrs. Wigham, treated mc most kindly, inviting and introducing me to a meeting of the Ladies' Committee.* That Society, as such, allowed me to be the bearer of a very generous donation to those who sent me hither. They also gave me a token of kind wishes to my- self personally. In D.mdee is an earnest, ener- getic Soei(ity, whose Secretary, Mrs. Borwiek, is nidei'atigable in its promotion. That Society also gave me tangible expressions of personal regard, and of sympathy with my cause, on both occasions * Mra. Wigham sent her carriage to my hotel, to fetch nie to break- fast vv.tl. Wv fa,„ily. There I had the pleasure of making Mr. ^V'i.. ham's .■irmi.'i iif.Mw,,. " • ' 'i* » acuiiiiiiu.'Liw'i z 2 340 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. i-t I of my visiting Dundee. In Greenock a Commitie was formed while I was there, from which great good may he expected, because at its head is a lady* of such untiring energy, that her efforts will effect a great deal With her are associated so many of the truly pious and benevolent of that beautiful town, that there will be no lack of service to the general cause from that very efficient Committee. The Glasgow Society is the leading one, from its position, and the commanding influence of most of ' its members. Glasgow is the chief place of busi- ness north of the Tweed. Its commerce is con- stantly increasing ; and its " merchant princes" and "factory lords" are augmenting their wealth, and that of their town, to an almost incredible degree. Hence, whatever is done in Glasgow is done for the whole of Scotland. The influence of Glasgow merchants and Glasgow ministers is con- siderable, owing to the greatness of this Queen of the West, and to the personal character and great learning which those ministers possess. These two lacts, with the additional one that both merchants and ministers are members of the Glasgow Society, make it to all practical purposes a Society for all Scotland, as it might not improperly be called. Then, the very frateru'^ ' co-operation with it which the Anti-Slavery Societies and the ministers and * Mrs. IIupLuni. GREAT BRITAIN. 341 Churches of the whole country sliow, certainly makes it a national more than a local organization. It is national, in fact, but it is tlie nationality of sympathy and co-operation, which is far better than that of mere name. There is much in Scotland, especially in Glas- gow, for the anti-slavery cause to contend against. There is a great deal of trade between Glasgow merchants and American traders. The former do not like to run the risk of damaging their business, by offending good customers — which they fear would be the result of their taking active, open, anti-slavery ground. This is less commendable, as some of the most prosperous, most successful firms, are anti-slavery men— a fact which certainly ought to assure the timid. But timidity is not all. They are not only " fearful," but " unbelieving." They are not, in heart, with the anti-slavery cause; but they are, in heart, against it. I could mention the names of more than one Lord Provost who refused, when in office, to show the least favour to our cause,' because they did not approve of it. They are mer- cliants, and look at things as Mr. Cunard docs, "in a business light;" but why it should injure them more than it does Messrs. Campbells, G. Smith and Sons, McKeand and Co., Playfair and Bryce, Messrs. Smith, or Mr. W. P. Paton, all of whom are abolitionists, and merchants too I dlmm hen. H it 342 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. !i n ; It li \i ■i . Some few of the clergymen, too, it is not to be denied, seem destitute of all interest in the cause of the slave. Then there are some who were formerly slaveholders in the colonies, and whose being obliged to release their Negroes did not at all change their hearts. But what in this world could have made a pro-slavery man of Mr. Baxter, M.P. for Montrose, I cannot imagine. His father was among the most ready to forward the cause which first took me to Dundee. His venerable grandfather, one of the in-incely patriarchs of Scotland, took me kindly by the hand, and made the largest contribu- tion, save one, that I received in Scotland to the cause. I bowed with him at the altar of prayer ; we united our supplications together : it was eight- and-forty hours after the demise of Dr. Wardlaw, whom the venerable William Baxter soon joined, in heaven. I have his autograph. It is doubly dear to me since his decease. Loving him as I did, I could but feel the deepest regret that a cause to which he was so ardently attached should be wounded by one in whose veins flowed the blood of William Baxter I In Edinburgh I found a warm coadjutor in the person of the excellent Eev. J. R. Campbell, M.A.* The Ilev. Dr. Candlish put himself to some incon- venience to attend my meeting there. Mr. Joseph * Now of Bradford, Yorkshire. GREAT BRITAIN. 343 Watsf n, John Wigham, Esq., Mr. Thomas Russell, and the Rev. Geo. CuUen of Leith, gave me very substantial proofs of their friendly regard for the cause of my poor people. J. B. Tod, Esq., and his amiable family, made their house my home, and a most delightful home it was. Mr. Tod is one of the earliest abolitionists of Scotland. He was warm and devoted in the cause, in days when some were opposing, others doubting and hesitating. Mr. John Dunlop, of Burntisland, was an anti-slavery man in those days too. He sacrificed a small fortune in the cause, rather than retain the ownership of human beings. A more cordial friend the anti-slavery cause has not in Scotland, than John Dunlop, Esq. Much excitement prevailed throughout Scotland in May, 1855, owing to the fact that the mission- aries of the United Presbyterian Church had ad- mitted slaveholders to the communion and member- ship of the body, at Old Calabar, in Africa. The arguments pro and con. showed that the question of the religious character of slaveholders, and of their fitness for fellowship in a Christian Church, was one in which the denomination took a deep interest. Members of other bodies as well shared in the interest excited by this discussion. With- out professing to understand the matter in its length and breadth, I feel quite sure that the honest disposition of all is, to arrive at the truth 344 ANTI-SLAVKUY LAHOUHS. Hill I* • ii If ami to ])r;ictisc it. This ia an earnest, uot only of pre.^ent riglit-niindedness, l)ut of future success in grapplii^i; with tlic tlitlieultios of the case, and overeoniing tlieni : as they must be, if the body be kept ])ure. The same honoured denomination is doinj;* very nuieh to evani^elize Jamaica. No doubt tlieir interest in tlie cause of the Negro will contiiuie, while they are engaged in doiug so nmeh for his very best \v^eal. It is to tiiat body that my eloquent cous-in, Kev. II. H. Garnet, of Westmore- land, county of Cornwall, Januiica, belongs. While I was in Edinburgh, I gladly accepted the kind otter of Mrs. Tod and her accomplished daughter, to accompany me to llolyrood House. I had read so much of that palace, and had made myself so familiar with the history of IVlary, Queen of Scots, and her unhappy husbands (to acconuno- date ouesself to a term not strictly correct), that T was anxious to visit it. Mrs. Tod is an Irish lady — whether of the old school or not, 1 cannot say ; but of the school of kind })oliteness, refined man- ners, well stored intellect, and extraordinary con- versational powers, with an abundance to converse about of that which is far above mere common- place parlance. Her daughter, though born in Scotland, of a Scottish father, is to all appearance and to all purposes an Irish girl, in all that is good, accomplished, ladylike, and simple-hearted, which GREAT nniTAIN. .'$45 tliat term includes. With such compnnI„ns, and a auccesmon of servants to hIiow uh over the different apartnuuitH, we tooic our taur of Ilolyrood IIoumc— for it is no Hmali journey-and were first shown into the n)on, in wliieh Kin- James is mid to have been born. (Jur guide (as, unfortunately, is not very uncommon with s.u.h ofhciais, in that country) was ma state that would pass among ordinary judges for drunk. He made soni,., .stupid blunder" almut the lock of the ,l„or, so tiuit he could not unfasten It to let us out. There we were-Mrs. Tod, Miss Tod, our guide, and myself-locked in the room in which, ho Haid, James the Sixth of Scotland and Fn-st of England M^as born! Imprisoned in Holy- rood House! After the far less than sober guide had exercised his skill u],on the door, th.', lock, and the key, sufficiently to convince us that he could never release us, I took an old battle-axe, affirmed to be (JOG years old (everything is ancient in such places, according to the chronology of guides and ser- vants), and broke the door open, effecting deliver- ance from durance for myself and party. We were shown (^ueen Mary's ])ed, some ta- pestry of her own working, and a thousand and one curiosities connected with that unha])py woman, which every visitor of Holyrood has had pointed out to him, in her apartments. The fabulous blood of Kizzio was shown us, of course; wluit was it ^.<5'^?'^sr*s^'^»r V 346 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. I' kept tliere for, but to be shown? But the most amusing thing was pointing out the stone, on the floor of the ruined abbey, where Queen Mary stood when she was married to Both well/ That was a little "more than I had bargained for"; I there- fore said to the person wlio showed it — " Will you be kind enough, first to tell me ichen she was married to Bothwell, or, whether she was mamed to him or not '? We will see the stone they stood upon when married, afterwards. ^^ " There is, I confess, some doubt about it, in soiiie minds, sir," he remarked apologetically. " And I am one of the most sceptical," said I. The ladies laughed, and the guide kept better " within the record " after that. Going over the apartments recently occupied by the royal family, I was delighted to see the sim- plicity and plainness of the furniture in the bed- rooms. The bedsteads of the princes were just such as Masters Anybody in the kingdom would sleep on. In the royal apartments, which the per- son who showed them told uf. were not exhibited to all visitors (hinting both that we were privileged and that we ought to pay for it), I saw two ele- gant chairs, which were brought from Montreal to the Exhibition of 1851. I was charged with being so delighted with these productions of my own colony, as to almoot forget everything else I saw; GREAT BRITAIN. 347 and the charge, I must acknowlcdg-c, Is more than half true. It was no small gratification, to know- that one's own colony was well and honourably represented in that Exhibition, and to know that the royal family honoured that colony either by the purchase or the acceptance of those articles, and caused them to be placed in the ancient palace of Ilolyrood. When at Stirling and Perth, I was so lame as to be unable either to walk about or ride on horseback; and was therefore obliged to leave both places with- out seeing their great beauties, and their points of almost classic interest. This was, to me, a matter of deep regret; but, indulging the hope of visiting Scotland at some future day, with my family, I con- tented myself with the promise of then seeing the lakes, the highlands, the midsummer twilight of the far North, the city of Aberdeen, and the beau- tiful scenery surrounding Stirling and Perth. I was equally disappointed at Hamilton, Greenock, and Kothsay; but fortunate enough to receive the kind sympathy, active and hearty co-opera- tion, and personal kindness, of the good friends of the cause in those towns. I forgot to say, that the Glasgow New Abolition Society has a Committee of Ladies as well as one of gentlemen. These two, while somewhat Indepen- dent, yet act together. It was my privilege to be 348 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. employed by tliem for twenty days ; and I shall not soon forget either their trueness and devotion to the cause, or their kindness to myself person ally - There are a great many disagreeables connected with an agency, especially a travelling agency ; that was the last I accepted, and I hope never to accept another : but all the unpleasant things naturally and necessarily appertaining to an agency are very greatly modified, if not entirely over- come, by such kindness as that shown me by this society and John Smith, Esq., its respected Secretary. I think I can say of Scottish abolitionists gene- rally, that they are as laborious and self-sacrificing as any band of anti-slavery people I ever saw. I have already said that it partakes of their very intelligent religious cliaracter. But t' Is is not all. It is formed of the traits which make up the whole of Scottish character: the elements of the latter enter into and comprise the former. It follows, that whatever of sterling integrity, deep earnest- perseverance, enlij'tened and ness unfaltering large-hearted humanity, and high-toned religious sentiment, are peculiar to the Scot, both by nature and by education, mark and disiinguish h^o aboli- tionism. Hence, the announcement of a meeting or a contribution brings the true Scot to the place of assemblage, and brings, with him, his donation -_Vtg35fcgi!*3E GREAT BRITAIN. 349 and his prayer. It may rain, liis funds may be low* there may be other obstacles: but what of these? He is a Scotchman. This is duty; its performance, with him, is not to depend upon whether it be convenient or not. Hence, also, when Scotchmen have gone to the colonies, they have made those distant countries feel the impress ot their character in general matters, producing the best -fruits of energy and intelligence,- but when they have so drifted with the stream, in slave- holding countries, as to become partakers of the evil deeds of their neighbours, they have not been restrained from the lowest depths of wickedness to which many of other nations have sunk. Scotchmen, in the West Indies, became slave- holders. They ^/ere severely exacting and op- pressive. It was just like them to demand, and, if possible- to receive, the last " 5«M5ee," from the unpaid toil of their slaves. They required the exhibition of Scottish energy from their bondmen ; if they did not receive it, they were prepared to exhibit Scotch energy in forcing it out of them. Instances of this sort are to be remembered of many Scotch slaveholders (and, alas ! by many Negroes, who were their slaves) to this day. The. record of them, and the names of their perpetra- * " A man miiy tak his neobur's part Yet hae no cash to spare." i !i 350 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. tors, would be the largest, blackest roll and reeord of infamy that ever disgraced the Scottish name or blighted Scottish character. It is therefore most fit that there should be in their native couniry a fearlc3s, persevering band, Avho are redeeming the name and character of the nation, disgraced by such recreants. It is true, also, that among tlie thousand and one vices into which no inconsider- able number of our fellow subjects from the North fell, when slaveholders, was that which violated tl^e seventh commandment. Like others, they treated their children of African blood as half- castes, and denied them social efpiality with whites — raising; them above the conditi(jn of their mothers, depressing tliem beneath that of their fathers — making tiicm a silly, supercilious, unmanly, half- race, unfit for any social position, alike uncomfort- able among Avhites or blacks. But while it is true that, in these matters, Scotchmen showed them- selves but human beings, it is also true that, un- like Yankee slaveholders, they did not, as a rule, trade in the persons of their own children ! They would not disuAvn them ; tiiey would and did edu- cate them, and settle property ui)on them. This is, I believe, commonly true of Scotch slaveholders in America— more commonly than of any others. A Yankee will sell his own child quite as readily as one of his black neighbour's ; and with as little GREAT BRITAIN. 351 remorse or concern, lie can do that and belong to CImrcli, and remain " In good and regular stand- ing." A HcotclinKin, as a rule, says practically, "I canna do that''''\ I must do Scotchmen tlie justice to 'dd, too, that in America they do not ibrgct, so soon as other men from these islands, the fact that they were born in a land of freedom and equality as to races and colours. They do not so easily learn to trample upon a free Negro, and to tread his rights m the dust. 1 do not deny that there are most lamentciblc cases of this description, but I do affirm tliat they are not nearly so frerpient and so numerous as is true of other British nationalities. Perhaps 1 shall be excused for stating a case of some prominence, wliich illustrates my idea. There is in America a total abstinenc(i organiza- tion called the " Sons of Temperance.'' It is, in some respects, a secret society. It has done a great denl to })romote the cause of total abstinence in that country, where such labours are greatly needed; but, like other benevolent societies in America, this order passes the black man by, and accommodates the i)rejudiccs of its members and the eonnnunity by treating coloured persons after the ordiruiry way of treating them—refusing tliem membership upon equal terms with others. This is done by the Churches to which tlieso gentlemen 352 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. belong : and why should not a Temperance Society take the Church for its model ? They also refuse to grant black persons charters empowering them to form Lodges of blacks. In a word, they seem to prefer the gratification of their ill will to the Negro, to allowing him to receive the benefits of their Order. I grieve to say, that they have not changed in the least, in this disposition. They still seem to say, " we prefer the continued drunkenness of the Negro, with all its attendant horrors, to ad- i^itting him to our fraternity. If some one will save him, well ; but as for us and our Order^ we prefer his going to perdition as he is, to tho relax- ation of our rule." In the early history of the Order there was no rule on the subject. Accordingly, in some divisions (as the Lodges are called) remote from New York, blacks were admitted. Several were received in New England; many are in Canada. I was ad- mitted in Cortland ; but the dissatisfaction arising out of my case was so great, that the New York Division sent a deputy* to order my expulsion. In 1851, the National Division passed a rule declaring it " illegal and inexpedient to admit coloured per- sons;" they have since that time confirmed this vote, by refusing to amend or alter it. In my own case, we threw our charter into their teeth, and * Captain Cady. GREAT BRITAIN. 353 dissolved the Division. The presiding officer was a member of my Church ; the next I ank was the clerk of the Chm-ch ; another member was a deacon, whom I had ordained; many more were attendants upon my ministry. Could they submit to a demand to expel their chosen pastor, on account of his colour? Could they consent to belong to a frater- nity demanding it ? No ; they honoured themselves, their principles, and their minister, by indignantly washing their hands of all participation in such nu organization. It follows, that black persons are not legal members ; of course, to such, charters are not to be gi-anted. Besides, if blacks might form constituent Divisions, they would be entitled to be represented in Grand Divisions : that would never answer. It may be, that in anotlier Avorld, whe- ther of bliss or woe, blacks and whites are ^"n close association, or even in close contact; but on eartJi— ^. e., American earth, and among the Sotis of Temperance— snch a thing is out of the quesvon. But what has this to do with Scotchmen? I will show. In the face of this general universal Negro-hate, several Scottish temperanoe n.en in the city of New York withdrew frc ■ 'he Order, formed the Caledonian Division, admitted black members, and granted them charters to wrm black Divisions on terms of the most perfect equality with themselves. The same, 1 am sorry to say, 2 A 354 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS, ■l! ! is not true of any other British nationality; but Englishmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, and Canadians, belong to the Negro-hating Divisions, and help to enforce and sustain the anti-Negro rule. I will take the liberty of saying here, that were all Scotchmen and other British people, upon going to America, to act as did this Caledonian Division, the whole current of pro-slavery opinion in America would be turned. So numerous— and so powerful, after a very short residence— are those who once \ were subjects of Britain, in that country, that they could have long since revolutionized public,; senti- ment on this matter, had they cliosen to do 'o. Let me state a case. The Eev. Mr. AlcClure says, that in one of the Methodist Churches in a large town in New Jersey, tliere were several English, and also several coloured, communicants. The rule was (a rule almost invariable among American Methodists and others), that the black members should not commune until the whites had been served. These Englishmen, in a body, remained until the coloured people were called, and then came and received tlie emblems with them— thus iden- tifying themselves, as Jesus did, with the poor. The conserpience was, that the rule was broken down; and now, whites and blacks are treated alike, as they should be. Mr. McClure observes, that were the same thing, in like circumstances, done by En- Jv"iWt- ^T\ '^ ity; but nadians, . help to I will were all )n going Division, America powerful, vlio once that they die senti- ^0 do '0. lure says, n a large English, ts. The American members had been remained then came ;hus iden- the poor. as broken ated alike, , that were lie by En- GREAT BRITAIN. 355 glislimen generally, in America, they are numerous enough to carry their point in almost every commu- nity. I know that the same would be true of Irish- men and Scotchmen, had they the manliness to try it. Emigrants from England, therefore, wlien going to America and becoming Americanized on lliis sub- ject, not only do great evil to tlie Negro, but fail, guiltily fail, to do him the good which lies in their power. I could not write so freely as I have con- cerning American guilt, and be silent touching the like turpitude of former British subjects. In con- trast with what is too common there, I take great pleasure in bearing testimony to the noble stand of the Caledonian Division ; and beg to add, that one of the aims of the Scottisli Anti-Slavery Societies and those in all other parts of the three kingdoms should be, in my humble judgment, the maintenance of a high-toned Christian anti-slavery sentiment in every part of Britain, for the purpose of warning emigrants against the guilt and danger to which they will be exposed in this matter, wlieii settled in the United States; and, in the event of their falling into such practice, rebuking them for lapsing from principles which it was their pride to avow Avlien at home. While in Scotland, I spoke freely upon this point ; and am proud to be able to say, that I did so with the fullest concurrence of rh;.' ladies and gentlemen of the Anti-Slavery Societies. 2 A 2 " *^'""!SiKWf-? ; 356 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ! i I never saw, before or elsewhere, such cultivation of the soil, as in Scotland. I have travelled from Maine to Wisconsin, and over the finest portions of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio ; but never saw farming so perfect as it is every- whero in the Scotch lowlands. Ayrshire, the Lothians, the valleys of the Clyde and the Tay, the land surrounding Edinburgh, and the valley of the Tweed, exceed not only in fertility, but in highly finished and scientific culture, anything I ever saw. Give Canada such farming, and she will stand among the first agricultural countries of the north temperate zone— if not, indeed, becoming the^ first of them.* Had Australia such farming, her inex- haustible gold mines would be but a subordinate source of wealth. If poor Jamaica were but ad- vanced to an equal pitch of agi-icultural industry, she would become a source of illimitable wealth, and exceed in the future the palmiest days of her past history. Perhaps I did not form so high an estimate of the religious character of the Scottish people as some travellers do ; but what I saw of it was quite sufficient to make me thankful that it is what it is, and that it is doing so much to elevate the character of the colonies, to which its possessors are swarming in such vast numbers every year. My only criti- * Except Scotlaiul, of course. <• »': Mmmm^^W^^X^^&Sfm^ GREAT BRITAIN. 357 cism up6n it is, an expression of the fear that it may possibly be more educational than spiritual, more intelligent than feeling, more doctrinal than practical — more refined, metaphysical, and casu- istic, tlian reformatory. I utter this apprehension with extreme deference, hoping that the remark will be received as coming from a grateful, loving heart, not censuring, but simply criticizing, with the full recollection of my extreme incompetency to judge in such matters. Nor do I agree with the great majority of travel- !'':rs as to the alleged intemperance of the Scotch : indeed, I heard more about mis from Scotchmen than from any others. The Scotch clergy do more in the cause of temperance than the clergy of any other country, save America or Canada. There is more legislation on the subject in Scot- land than anywhere else in Europe. The sub- ject is therefore more frequently spoken of, more thoroughly examined, and its statistics are more prominently brouglit out, than in the South. It is true that custom demands and sanctions, in good society, drinking more whiskey than is used by the same amount of population in England; but that drunkenness is more common among the lower classes, or that the use of whiskey in the North furnishes occasion for saying anything more of the middle classes there than the use of wine here 358 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ; ii/l V' i' affords, is certainly neither according to my obser- vation, nor to any comparison of the two countries on the subject which I was able to make, either from sight or reading. That the temperance cause has yet very much to do in both countries, is most lamentably evident ; that religious men are called upon to look this question directly in the face, and gi'applc with it, is equally evident : and it is most gratifying to say, that the good already done and now doing by total abstinence men is also as evident. Everybody is remarking upon the diminution of wine-drinking, and the almost entire absence of inebriation, in the middling and higher classes. Had the lower orders learned and practised like moderation for the past thirty y^.u's, how different would have been their state! how changed their present condition! What different prospects would both English and Scotch working classes present, as well to their temporal and present as their future and eternal welftu'c ! I spoke of " moderation," and know how that term is hated by some temperance men ; but beg to say, that it is neither an unscriptural nor an unphilosophical term. However, in the case of a man to whom alcoholic beverages present too strong a temptation to allow of any use of such drinks without intoxication, his only course is immediate, ^ m GREAT BRITAIN. 359 lifelong, total abstinence.* May the demon of drunkenness soon be banished from this otherwise happy island ! • That some should abstain, for the sake of example to others, is most praiseworthy self-denial : all I claim is, that so to do is not, as I once believed, the demand of the Bible, in the case of all persons. I do not feel at liberty to write as if I were a total abstainer, now that I am not; yet would not on any account withhold my humble tribute of praise from those who are, nor say a word to injure the temperance cause. i; 'V^^ss.' 360 CHAPTER VII. lEELAND. Ill I MUST beg the generous reader to indulge me in saying but little concerning the Emerald Isle. It is a country so full of interest, making such rapid Strides of improvement, capable of such vast de- velopment, so rich in material and intellectual resources, so deficient in moral and spiritual culti- vation, that it would be most unjustifiable presump- tion, in one who has spent but twenty days there, ten of which were at Killarney, to attempt to speak of it intelligently. If God spare me, I shall know more of that island at some fature day ; then it will be time enough to speak of it at length. I was in Ireland a few days in September 1854, and in June 1855. The first time, I simply crossed from Holyhead to Kingston, spent a day or two there and at Dublin, and passed rapidly, by rail, from thence to Cork, where I spent a night, and hastened the next day, through Mallow, to Killar- ney. There, like others, I did, as nearly as possible, nothing : in fact, went there for that very purpose. ''u^^if. GREAT BRITAIN. 361 We rode, walked, sailed, eat, drank, and slept, daily, with some degree of regularity and perse- verance, each accomplishing his task to his own satisfaction. The rich romantic scenery, the beauty of the lakes, the fine old ruins of Mucruss Abbey and Koss Castle, the beautiful grounds of Mr. Herbert, the affability of the company we met, all gave us a variety of most pleasing sights and sounds ; and, being favoured with extraordinarily fine weather, we could but be gratified with our short sojourn in that picturesque locality. I must not forget, that Mr. Schiell, the gentle- manly master of the Killarney Junction Eailway Hotel, understood as well as any man in that busi- ness ever did, the art and science of making his guests comfortable. I went there to rest— another name for being lazy. So did others. We accom- plished what we went for. Now, please excuse my giving descriptions of what I saw, for I have no descriptive power or talent whatever. I can only say, that after having lived four-and-thirty years in America, 1 was not so well prepared to appreciate Irish lake or mountain scenery as those visitors who had never been out of this kingdom. I appreciated the falls on Mr. Herbert's place, on account of his very great kindness in suffering visitors to witness them; but to one who lives within three hours' sail of Niagara Falls, they cer- IMAGE EVALUATrON TEST TARGET (MT~3) A m c^^ i/.x I/. LO I.I 1.25 ■- IIM ■ 50 "'"^^ IIM M 1.8 :-4 IIIIII.6 V] <^ //, / '^1 ,^..1?> ^3 /<« 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation t sj ,-\ # :\ \ ^\^ p 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 1 4580 (716) 872-4503 3f\2 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ill tainly did not appear ver?/ ivanderful. As to lakes, I live on Lake Ontario, and have frequently sailed upon Lake Erie and Lake Micliigan. When I tell the reader that one of these is 160 and another 180 miles long, he will not wonder that I was not beyond measure astonished at Killarney lakes. Then, as to small and beautiful lakes, I beg to say, with great deference, but most certainly with truth, that Skaneateles Lake, Geneva Lake, Seneca Lake, and Crooked Lake, in New York State, are neither excelled nor equalled by anything it has , been my good fortune to see on this side of the Atlantic. Still 1 was pleased, greatly pleased, with the scenery of Killarney; and the above is introduced less by way of boasting, than apology for not being more perfectly captivated, charmed, delighted, overwhelmed, and " all that sort of thing," which some persons thought "as in duty bound" I ought to have been. I met at Cork some friends and relations of my good neighbour, P. P. Hayes, Esq., of Toronto. Not having time to call upon Father Mathew, as I had promised, if I ever visited Cork, and having learned that he was about to proceed to Florence for his health, I had the melancholy pleasure of sending him my card, and an expres- sion of best wishes for the speedy recover}' of his wonted strength. I had met the venerable GREAT BHITAIN. 3^3 priest at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1851. He was in my native country, pursuing a most laudable work. Differences in religion were of no moment to me as compared ^^ ith the great work of philanthropy! I was but too happy, therefore, to receive the invitation of Father Mathew to visit himj and had circumstances favoured it, should have been delighted to do so. I had not the good fortune to hear the Rev Dr Urwick on the Sunday I was in Dublin; but, at Kingston, had the great pleasure of hearing that most indefatigable and most successful pastor, the Rev. Joseph Denham Smith, whom I had before met m England, and from whom I received the kmdest attention. Mr. Smith is one of the English ministers who have gone to Ireland to do good, and have become most enthusiastically fond of Ireland and the Irish. I saw this in all whom it was my pleasure to meet, during both visits to that country. The singular devotion which the Inde- pendent ministers show to the people among whom they live, and their great admiration for the land of their labours, tend in no small degree to the almost incredible efficiency and success of their labours. Disconnected from the State, receiving not one penny of State pay, they make manifest to all the disinterestedness of their work; and show as well, that great good can be accomplished now, 364 ANTI-SLA\ ERY LABOURS. as in the days of the apostles, by voluntary, per- severing, religious effort. In no country is this more manifest than in Ireland, t 'lerc the ^lass of ministers to which Mr. Smith and his co-labourers belong are obliged to compete with State Church- ism in so many forms. This remark is not made offensively. I am giving utterance to my own religious opinions, without disguise; and repeat, that their correctness, in practical working, never struck me so forcibly as during my last visit to Ireland: nor can I bring myself to believe that any honest, honourable Christian, of what- ever denomination, will find fault with my re- fusing so far to play the neutral, as to write as if I had no opinions or were too unmanly to express them. My second visit to Ireland was on a short anti- slavery tour. Leaving Glasgow on June 1st, I took a steamer at Greenock, at seven p.m., for Belfast. A most pleasant trip down the Clyde, on a moonlight night, and across the placid waters betwixt the Scotch and the Irish coasts, brought us into Belfast at five the next morning. Breakfast- ing at the Imperial Hotel, and taking the first morning train, I started on my way, having to be in Sligo the next day. I travelled by railway only to Armagh; the remainder of the journey, seventy or eighty miles — Irish miles, in that brief ) it: GREAT BRITAIN. 3(i5 period-liad to be made in such conveyances as I could find. At Armagh I found in tlie coach a most ladylike fellow passenger, in the person of Mrs. Caldwell, of Clogher. By this kind lady I was mtroduced to Mrs. Maxwell,* the Secretary of Clogher Anti-Slavery Society. I seemed to Mrs. M. no stranger, as she had been corresponding with my good friend Mr. Armistead, of Leeds, concern- ing me. Professor Allen was to speak there the followmg Tuesday, and both Mrs. Caldwell and Mrs. Maxwell kindly and politely invited me to attend with him. It was with deep regret that I ^ound myyelf unable to do so. I went on to Enniskillen, arriving at about five p.m. I there learned, to my dismay, that there was no public conveyance thence to Sligo until the next morning. I had no other way than to post on twenty-one miles, to Manor Hamilton which I reached at eleven o'clock that night. On Sunday morning I drove eleven miles into Sligo in time to preach for the Rev. Noble Shepherd as per appointment. The next day (Monday, 4th) a very large meeting was convened in Mr. Shep- herd's beautiful church, to hear me speak on slavery. The Right Honomrable John Wynne, at Mr. Shepherd's request, favoured the meeting and the cause by taking the chair. He did so in a * A relative of Lord Cavun, I believe. I t lt»'l I' I I ;i 366 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. manner that showed his interest in the anti-slavery question to be of no recent origin. Mr. Wynne being connected with the first families of the Irish aris- tocracy, both by birth and by marriage, and having been Bccretary to Her Majesty's Eepresentative in Ireland, I may be justly proud of that gentleman's services and favour on that occasion. In that raeet- ing I saw a feature of Irish Protestanism which one does not see in England. The Eev. the Rector at- tended this meeting, and took a lively interest in it. The place was completely tilled, in every part, with a generous auditory, no small propor- tion of them being Episcopalians. A rector would not have attended a meeting in an Independent chapel in England ; there it would have been con- sidered necessary to hold the meeting on " neutral ground" — in a hall, or school-house, or some such place. Except in the case of the Rev. J. McConnel Husse" of Kennington, who took the chair on the 17th of October, 1854, at a meeting held to pro- mote education in a Dissenting community,* I do not recollect ever to have seen an Episcopal clergy- man in England so favouring the objects, and so countenancing the movements, and so recognizing the brotherhood, of Independents. It is a beau- tiful feature, I repeat, of Irish Protestantism— of true catholicity. * Rev. William Leask's school. ,! ! GREAT BRITAIN. 367 ^ On t he 5tli, I journeyed a long, long way, sixty- SIX m.les, from Sligo to Mullingar, in a coach. Coaches, in these railway days, are "slow" enough feixty-six Irish miles are equal to eighty-four Eng- lish. Packed, four of us, in a coach of no very ample dimensions, was, if comfortable, what we were not quite aware of. At a certain stage of our journey, I asked the guard (a most perfect specimen of an Irisliman, "a broth of a bo/')^ " How far is it to Mullingar, guard ?" " Two-and-twinty miies, yer honor." " Irish miles are longer than English miles, are they not?" ' " Yes, yer honor, and quite as wide." We travelled over both dimensions till we reached Mullmgar, heartily tired of cur day's jolting, and heartily glad to be once more in sight of a railway: at least, that was my feeling, and my fellow pas- sengers acted as if they felt so too. After a very pleasant passage from Mullingar to Dublin, some forty miles, I was glad to secure rest at the Hiber- man Hotel, my Dublin home. Early on the morning of the 6tli I took the rail- way to Limerick, being met there by Rev. Wm. Tarbotton, and a gentleman whose " Irish jaunt- mg car" and large Irish heart were ready to wel come me. It's mesclf that's to blame for niver remimbering the gintlcman's name, at all at all j 368 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. and what is worse, I cannot remember the name of his hind lady, nor the name of his brother , nor his brother's lady. Being almost cured of my lameness, I was able, in the excellent company of Mr. Tarbotton, to walk over most of Limerick, which is a fine thrifty town, one of which the people of that country may well be proud. Some of its warehouses are the most massive Ltructu~es of the sort I ever saw. The elements of weahh in the trade and resources of the town, and the sur- rounding country, but more in the enterprise of its inhabitants, ensure for Limerick not only the con- tinuance of its high place among the commercial towns of Ireland., but mark out for it a most bril- liant future. A very full meeting did me the honour to listen to me, in Mr. Tarbotton's church ; William Coch- rane, Esq., kindly taking the chair, in the absence of the gentleman who had generously consented to do so, but to whom an accident had occurred the day before, rendering him unable. The ac- count given of the meeting, the speech and the speaker, and the interest shown in the cause, by the Limerick newspaper, were full and kind ; and I was grateful to see in them tokens of the most genuine anti-slavery feeling, set off with real Irish warmth and cordiality. Keluctantly leaving my kind Limerick friends, OEEAT BRITAIN. 369 ^ Who seemed like old acquaintances, I took the ml wjonthe7thtoCoA,wWe'a„ost owi W tl, W IT""^ greeted n,e, presided over by the Worshipful the Mayor S,V T„I, n V The Eev MAW j T ' '^''"" Gordon. Z,Z : H^'i'"^''" "lad kindly arranged the n.eet.ng ror me. It was convened in his churd. Z -me .n wh.eh Eev. John Burnet had preached whl -Wy :™.ed a number of the Professors of the C^ge to meet me, and these learned gentlemen .-.dl„ar,.pa.e. in the proceedings of'the meet- ■g, vhr,h wr, the most enthusiastic one I ever came ^. i}.. '^ ''''^ '"""^^^ ^« if ^e came o the meeung on purpose to be pleased and was pleased accordindy I am ^ur. iV. Tr . ,, ,. '&V- -L am sure the feeling of the aud,ence, on their o,vn part, had much morfto do w.th that enthusiasm than the speech; and f ts ins: 7"r""' ^"^"""»"' ■* «"'g'" --h to state the matter is, that we had a good meeting a together To the Mayor, to Rev. M^. Hen r ^ 2 f r r ''^ '""'"^^'''' "^^ -P--> thanks S df 1 e ""7'^'"'°*^ --i S-d influences with wh ch the meet„>g was appointed and held. It was my last meeting in Ireland. Wishing to visit my beloved friends Dr. CoUis Browne and his lady, at Queen's Town, and know- ' 2 B 7' ^rt^r^lEgfwn'i^-iM Pii! ! ; 1 i '■sihii 370 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. ing tlie necessity of being in Dublin on tl c evening of the 8th, I rose early on the morning of that day, and took what I think is the most delightful little trip Ireland affords— from Cork down to the Cove of Cork, or Queenstown Harbour as it is now called. Eeturning in the afternoon, I bade the Doctor and Mrs. B. farewell, taking the three p.m. train to Dublin, hoping to see them again in a few days ; but, alas ! the time has not yet come, and it may be that we shall meet no more on earth. I reached Dublin at ten p.m., and on the morning of the 9th set off for Wales and England. Being then able to walk without crutches, I gave mine to two servants at the Hibernian. May they never need them ! That day I breakfasted in Dublin, dined at Holyhead, and supped in Presto a. Thus far ex- tends the account of my two short tours in Ireland. I beg now to say a few words about what I saw while rapidly passing through that most interesting country. 1. I have already spoken of Kev. Joseph Den- ham Smith, of Kingstown, and his labours. I now add, that the Eev. Wm. Tarbotton, Rev. Noble Shepherd, and Rev. M. A. Henderson, occupy posi- tions of like difficulty, influence, responsibility, and usefulness.* They are, in like manner, devoted ' * Doubtless the same is true of other ministers, but these are the only men in such circumstances I had the pleasure of meeting. GREAT BRITAIN. 371 most earnestly to the land' in which, and the people among whom, their lot is cast. I Lw the saL'n the excellent Presbyterian minister at Queenstown • and cannot help repeating my solemn conviction that the Independent ministers, so far as I was able to judge, have specially the position which gives them, m spite of all opposition, the greatest advan- tages of all others in Ireland, in " contending for the faith once delivered to the saints." That position IS one of real issue with Papal Catholicism. Their Umrch government, their independence of both the control and patronage of the State, and the success of their labours, are all-potent Protestant arguments in themselves. The standpoint from which one party sees things, and the ground occu- pied by another party, when exhibiting truth, are manifestly matters of great importance. Tlie So- man Catholic population see Protestant truth from a standpoint whence they view all apparei.tly co- ercive State machinery in religion, with the feeling of a persecuted party. Hence, in my humble judg- ment, the peculiarly happy adaptation of the Inde- pendent branch of the Christian Church to Ireland- for what denomination soever is there connected With the State, less or more, has, in that respect, an unfortunate standing-place for influence with our Koman Catholic fellow subjects : and surely the same remark applies to all other Papal countries. 2 B 2 372 ANTI-SLAVEEY LABOURS. I iu That Ireland la liopeless, no one believes. The truth that prevailed in this and other countries will prevail there. Advancing light, increasing edu- cation, materal improvement, the very increase of wealth, will aid partly in undermining and partly in openly assaulting, but at all events, finally, in the utter overthrow, of the Papal power in Ireland, as elsew^.rc. In no part of Europe, Protestant or Papal, is that system, either tem- porally or spiritually, what it was a hundred years ago. It can never regain its lost prestige, but it must certainly lose its hold, upor the minds of its own votaries. It has no elements adaptable to the middle of Lhe nineteenth century. Its doom is sealed in Ireland, as elsewhere. It is menaced by the emigration of Irishmen, by the spread of edu- cation, by the elevation of tenants, by landlords, hy Agricultuial Societies, and by the onward, roll- ing tide of progress, which, having once set in upon Ireland, will never ebb, but sweep before it all systems and customs wliich accord not with itself. Yet it is right and dutiful to do vvhat has to be done in the very best way : and one who loves Ireland as I do, cannot but grieve that among Protestants things should exist which weaken their power to do good ; while one rejoices to knew that other and better ideas prevail to some extent, and that, in spite of the defects hinted at, good is being im res. The itries will sing edu- ' increase niiig and 11 events, pal power if Europe, tlier teni- Ired years !ge, but it inds of its il'le to the 3 doom is lenaced by- ad of edu- lardlords, ward, roll- nce set in eep before d not with vhat has to who loves lat among eaken their knew that extent, and od is being GREAT BRITAIN. 373 done -the proclamatiua of the gosp.l is being blessed, and its truths will firally become tri- un^phant— in thnt island gem. ^. The resources of Ireland mu.st be immense. The mountams, from all appearance, arc rich ^.n coa sand slate The rive, are large, and of an indefimte mcrease o .^merclal advantage. Some of the harbours arc coual to any in the three kingdoms. The situation of Irdand for commer- cial purposes is most tor^unate and convenient bemg nearer than any other part of Britain tj Amenca. Why Galway, for example, should not be the pomt of entree, I cannot imagine. We sail along he coast of Ireland four-and-twenty hours before A^e reach Holyhead. Why should we not land on that coast? we should greatly shorten the voyage by so domg. But if it be objected, that another sea must be crossed before reaching England, let it be remembered, that those who wish to go to Ireland from England must cross that came sea, and so must all the goods for Ireland landed here ; and descendPnt of an Irishman though I be, I will not' admit that it is any further from Ireland to England than It IS from England to Ireland ! Besides, there IS to be a very great increase of agricultural produce and of manufactured commodities, especially in the north of Ireland; and there are now six millions of population, which doubtless will be very greatly -rimmm'- il I 374 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. increased, in numbers and in wealxli. These will give ample employment, at no very distant day, to a line of steamers devoted to Ireland and America, with one occasionally, or at regular periods, to the West Indies. Hence, whatever may be said about Ireland's being the point of arrival from and de- parture to America, surely Ireland need not always be tributary to this island in that respect, so far as her own commerce is concerned. The soil of that island is most surprisingly rich. The moisture of the atmosphere, and the mildness of the climate, make it the most natural grazing soil in the world. With anything bordering upon Scotch cultivation, there could scarcely be any limits to the agricultural wealth of this country. It was indeed sad to leave Scotland one evening, and to arrive in Ireland the next morning, and witness the great, too great, contrast between the culture of the soil, in the two countries. Ireland never looks worse than when entered from Scotland. The neatly trimmed hedge, the smoothly turned furrow, the air of industry and thrift, with their abundant reward smUing on every hand, were left behind, on the other side. The neglected broken hedge, the slovenly-looking field, the air of neglect, and their legitimate consequences, frowned on ever^ hand upon us and around us, with the rarest CiC- ceptions, from Belfast to Sligo, from Sligo to M^^l- GREAT BRITAIN. 375 mgar, from Dublin to Cork.* Like frowns npon the face of beautj, these Irish farms gave abundant evidence that they were capable of presenting a very different aspect. They told us plainly enough, that what had made sterile Scotland what it is, would have done far more for Ireland. " The hand of Uie diligent maketh rich/' indeed. One could not but be smitten with the unwelcome thought, that the neglect of such land, affording such opportunities for the most ample supply of all needs, is a species ot sinfulness upon which our Heavenly Father looks with the deepest disapprobation. It is the neglect the misuse, of a very valuable talent. It is most gratifying to know, however, that very important improvemente are being introduced, and that a spirit of reform has entered the bosoms of landlords ^-nd tenants, from which the best consequences are to be expected. Having so practical a man as Vice- roy m the Earl of Carlisle, it is quite certain that no suggestion will be withholden by his Excellency and no aid sought refused, by u-liich the improve- ment of Ireland, so greatly needed, and now hap- pily begun, may be promoted. In manufactories, Ireland must ere long be among the first of nations. There is every natural * The most perfectly Irish thing I saw in my tour wasa field whose iiMii 'Jl*^^ ^ \ '/'''. "'^•^^P^'s^!'^^ ill if : Ml' 376 ANTI-^AVEEY LABOURS. and artificial facility for manufacturing, in the north of Ireland, that there is in the north of England* Ulster might be another Yorkshire or Laucashire^ Nor is this confined to the North. When speak- ing of these facilities, I was frequently told that want of capital is an obstacle. But English capi- talists wish to make good investments, and would as readily invest in Ireland as in England, if they could only be " secure," if it would " pay." Belfast and its vicinity answer any query on those points ; so does Limerick. In these material temporal mat- ters, most brilliant is the future of Ireland. 3. Would that I could speak as hopefully of the Irish working classes as of the soil and resources of the country. Happily, the two are so connected, that the improvement of the one will develope the otiier. In America, where lard is cheap, and in Canada, where corrupting influences *are less com- mon than in the United States, I have seen the material improvement of the Irish pauper elevate him above the depressions of mind and morala which were considered inseparable from his lot in Ireland. Then, the next generation almost seem to belong to another race — to have lost the degra- dations, and to have cultivated the upward tenden- cies, of the Celt, to a most commendable degree. That, doubtless, is the reason why they rise supe- rior to the influence of their priests, in tlie colonies GREAT BRITAIN. 377 and in America.. It is impossible to treat Patrick Thaddeus Mulligan, Esq., now, as you treated him when he was nobody but poor, ignorant, ragged, barefoot, Pat Mulligan. What raises Pat to Mr. Patrick, in America, will do it, in snite of any naturally depressing system, in Ireland. I know a man in the county of Kerry, who is a Freemason. He has been to America, made a little fortune, and returned able to live upon his property, although he gratifies his industrious inclination by actively pursuing business. When a poor man, no one was more subject to his priest than he ; now. Dr. Cullen the Primate, and all the priesthood together, are unable to drive him out of Masonry, or to hinder his forming a Lodge in the town of his residence. He told me this with his own lips. Of course I give here no expression of opinion as to Masonry but mention this instance to illustrate my idea' that improvement in the temporal circumstances of our Irish fellow subjects will elevate them mentally and morally, and that in spite of any religious sys- tem The best thing which the Papal system can do for itself is, to adapt itself, so far as it can, really or seemingly, to this inevitable and approaching state of tilings. If it does not this, it must submit, m Ireland as on the Continent, to be shorn of its power over that people ^^^om it has so long en- thralled ,• and when it wanes visibly, palpably, in mm ■ ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Ireland, its power for evil in this world is gone for ever. I verily believe Ireland to be its last strong- hold, the placs where it is to receive its death- wound. I am aware that this full expression of my candid and, it may be, mistaken opinion, will not be pala- table to some who may cast a glance over these humble pages. I have, however, been so accus- tomed to speak plainly, that, to write at all, I must write plainly. I am aware of no reason for with- holding my honest sentiments, being myself alone responsible for them ; and if it is my duty to write, it is included in that duty to do more than seek to offer amusement for the passing hour, on so grave a subject. To offer a book to the public, under any circumstances, seems, in me, little less than presumption ; but that I should impose upon my fellow men a book both brainless and heartless — shallow enough, at best, in thought, and desti- tute of soul — is more than I can consent to attempt. Roman Catholics freely express their opinions : why should not one of the humblest of Protestants? I am conscious of doing so kindly, and should be sorry to speak otherwise. After all, I expect less •fault-finding, with what is said on this and a pre- ceding page, from Romanists, than from squeamish, timid Protestants. Be that as it may, "I have believed, therefore have I spoken." GKEAT BRITAIN. 379 To return from this digression : I could but grieve, joyous as is the prospect before the Irish peasant, that his present condition is so degraded. 1 belong to a degraded race. Of the one hundred and sixty-four millions of my unfortunate race, one hundred and fifty millions are heathen., eight mil- hons are slaves! In speaking, therefore, of the telt s degradation, I do not forget the Negro's nor my own sad inheritance of and share m it' How can I forget an ever-present fact? But I must be permitted to say, as I said freely when m America, that in no part of that country where Negroes are nominally free, much less where they are really free (and I doubt if the same remark will not, with some exceptions, apply to the enslaved class), did I ever see s^.oh degradation as abounds not only m the towns, but in the rural districts, of Ireland. In other countries, poverty is deepest in towns-it recedes as you reach the farming dis- incts; but in Ireland, the roadside cabin and its inhabitants are as dirty, as unthrifty, as scantily fed and clad, as those who swarm in the most densely populated towns. I have seen Ann Street, the worst haunt of the most debased coloured popula- tion of Boston-the Five Points, the Aceldama of New York-the Moyamensing District, the incom- parable, unfathomable slough of Philadelphia's in- decency,- but never saw so large a proportion of ill ft: I 380 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. a population so utterly degraded, as that in the neighbouring island. . I may be told, on the one hand, of Saxon rule as the prolific parent of this terrible state of things ; on the other hand, I am told of Papal religion as the producing cause of it. I will not discuss either of these, but admit the force of both. Who can deny the fact of Saxon rule ? Who can deny the fact of Papal religion ? Who denies that the Irish peasantry have for generations been subject to both? Neither is perfect. All that is true. I will not stop to compare dates as to the priority of these; nor inquire what have been the tenden- cies of either, or both, in other countries. It ia aside from my present purpose either to consult history or to express my opinion upon these points ; for I maintain that degi-adation, idleness, filth, such as abound in Irish dwellings — and beggary, the abominable profession of a very gTcat number of hale, strong, Irish men, women, and children — are self-chosen, self-imposed. Neither Saxon rulers nor Papal priests can hinder a peasant's cleanliness of person, nor his wife's use of the broom and the brush. It is not owing to the rule of the one or the religion of the other that a peasant's cabin is, by the peasant's election, a pigstye. Begging, in- stead of working, is the choice of the Irish beggar. A decent self-respect would make it impossible; GREAT BRITAIN. 381 but you cannot enter a town, nor stop at a country tavern, nor walk the streets, nor stroll on a country road, nor take your way to "the place of praver and praise," but at every yard o. two you are b^set and besieged with persons sound in health and strong of limb, covered with rags and reeking with iilth, begging, an(i doing nothing else, that you can see, for a living. Kingstown swarms with them; m Dublin they dog your footsteps at every turn. The same is true of them in Cork, in Sliffo evervwhere. TUt you will not find among my unfortunate people, in any part of America or elsewhere. " They are poor: " so are the Welsh. " They are taxed to support a religion in which they do not believe: so are the Welsh. " Wages are low ." » they are in Wales. "Their cabins are small, and rudely constructed:" so are Welsh cabins. The landlords do not encourage them:" nor do Welsh landlords. "They cannot p,„ehase eom- tort--.: but they purchase whiskey. "They are under other than Irish rule:" what were they be- fore that? the Welsh are under other than Welsh rule. _ Why I compare these two nations shall ap- pear in another chapter. I introduce it here for the purpose of remarking once more, that, in spite ot all other causes, it must be admitted that the degradation of our Irish fellow subjects is a matter u\ 382 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. o£ their own choosing : so I say of the degradation of the Negro, who in many points is very like the Celt. After all that slavery, like original sin, has done to give us wrong tendencies, it is our business, with God's help, to bid defiance to those tenden- cies, by cultivating self-respect — at least, by imi- tating the good qualities of those around us. Can I say less of the condition and duty of the Irish- man ? The latter is, to rise above his present con- dition, and be a man; the former is of his own election, and therefore his own fault. 4. I now come to the most unwelcome part of my task. Ireland furnishes my native country with a larger proportion of immigrants than any other country in Em*ope — except, perhaps, Germany : I can only say "perhaps," not having statistics before me, and not recollecting the figures accu- rately. Of all Europeans, tiie Irish immigrant becomes, as a rule, the most ready dupe of the pro- slavery men. His low, vulgar habits at home — the general readiness of one low class of population to prey upon another — the example of the Ameri- cans, and the quickness of the immigrant to learn evil habits — most fully account for it, I know; and know as well, that human nature is such a poor, cowardly, knavish thing, that it will readily join in trampling into the duf;t him whom everybody treads upon : and I see nothing in the low Irish GREAT BRITAIN. 383 department of human nature to make it differ from the common type. It turns out, that the man who on h,s native bog is unwashed and unshaved, a fellow lodger with his pig i„ a eabin too filthy for most people's stables or styes, is, when arriv- ing m America, the Negro's birthplace, the free country for which the Negro fought and bled, . .e of the first to ridicule and abuse the free Negro -the Negro, who has yet to learn ho-*, to sink into such depths of degradation as the Irishman has just escaped f^m ! The bitterest, most heartless, most malignant, enemy of the Negro, is the Irish immi- grant. Nevertheless, were the Irishman true to the senti- ments I found prevalent in every part of his native country on this subject, he would with but little ex- ernon turn the tide of persecution from the Negro and proving himself his friend, receive his la- titude; then the two would grow up as brethSn. Ihe wit, warmth, and enthusiasm -the capacity to imitate, to improve, and to endnre-the cheer- fu.ncss, bravery, and love of religion-said to he peculiar to the Colt, are well-known natural characteristics of the Negro. They are in these points, when degraded and ignorant or when edu- cated and refined, alike, in a most remarkable degree. The Negro, perhaps, has most of natural mildness of temper : indeed, if he had not. he would %g-r->--g-ry.-^ 384 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 1! :l be a terror to the Irishman, as the Irishman is to him. How I wish that the immigrant from the Emerald Isle understood the doctrine of the bro- therhood of man, and practised it towards his coloured fellow citizen ! If he did, one of the most serious obstacles to the cause of the Negro would disappear, ir. America. I do hope that Irish aboli- tionists will be true to emigrants, exhorting them to save themselves from the abominations of pro- slaveryism, and rebuking those who ruthlessly trample upon the Negro — who found friends in O'Connell and Madden, and who new, for the best of reasons, blesses the names of Eichard Webb, Mr. Jennings, the Marquis of Sligo, and the Eight Honourable John Wynne. If, however, the present hostility of the Irish towards the black continue, it may pass the bounds of even a Negro's endurance, and provoke 'such a reaction as all must regret. The increasing num- bers, growing intelligence, and advancing progress, of the Negro in America, will one day make him no mean foe for the Celt to contend against. Be- fore such disaster befall both races, and that a spirit of mutual good will may prevail, " let us pray, that come it may, An' come it will for a' that ; That mull to man, the warld all o'er, Sha'l brithers be, an' a' that." 385 CHAPTER VIII. WALES. At the invitation of Eichard Griffiths Eso T accompanied him into Wale, in AugusMsS'"! was my first visit to tlie Principalitv T '->7 Annate in having as tL'^Xt gentleman who Wthe eount^ thoToSl and who conld, ,hen oeeasion required, speafo; mj the language and translate it to me. We XtTd Bangor Holyhead, Beaumaris, Caernarvon, Dan W, Snowdon, Abe^stwyth, Welshpool, 'a^t I wales, but must say that little with very grert i so":;" °" "™'^' ™ p^°p'«' --K tiis alaien^^^^^^^^^^^^ '""^''^' ^^^"-^ *"=- .t»„^ a: ^ ^ ^'''"° """" could not under- tand sufficient English to follow a discourse. TW came, however, because they wished to encourai t\T T^""'""' ^"'i *^ '^ho- their inZZ » the gospel, though preached in a langualro ->uch they could understand but few wo^ W 2 c 386 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. instance, however, there was a sermon ir Welsh from one of the native ministers. This gave those who could not understand me an opportunity to receive benefit in their own tongue. I had a very large anti-slavery meeting in Ban- gor, and the kind feeling of the audience was pecu- liar to that most henevolent people. Fortunately, all the remarks made concerning the s^^ech were in Welsh, whereof I understood not one syllable, and therefore remained in happy ignorance as to whether I was praised or blamed, until they gave me kind, tangibU tokens of their regard. That I understood ; that was not Welsh, it was the lan^ guage of the heart. I do not say that Welsh is not : but only, that I understand the one, and not the other. At Beaumaris I spoke on temperance, part of the evening, and the other part, on anti- slavery ; the same at Holyhead and Caernarvon. On one of the days o.' our sojcura at Bangor we visited the Penryn slate quarries, belonging to the Honourable Cr^onel Tennant. It is a most gigantic wort • tlxo number of men employed would make qrdt.^ :, to,vn, in Canada. The good order, steady industry, and regular habits, of the workmen, were quite evident. The village near the castle, composed of the labourers' cottages, and the school- house and gardens, are the most beautiful and the most comfortable cottages in North Wales : GREAT BRITAIN. 887 indeed I know of none equal to them anywhere. Lady Louisa, Colonel Tenr^nt's wife, had them erected aecording to models of her own drawing. The school, I believe, is at her expense. Neg- lected as the labourers of Wales generally are, It was most gratifying to see this «necimen of kind carefulness. Beaumaris is quite a fashionable ^^atering-place. and It AS a very quiet, neat little town. It has a most capital hotel, quite equal to the great majc rity of English ones. The same may be true of Ban- gor ; but the kindness of Mr. Edwards, our host would not allow us to know. Caernarvon is, of course, x^oh m historic interest ; its castle is a fine nun. I spent somo tvo or three days there very agreeably, being the guest of Mr. Hughes, a most itmd and hospitable gentleman. From his house we made up a party to visit Snowdon- ascending It on foot, and returning in the same; way. A more fatiguing journey of five miles it was never my fortmie, good or ill, to make. Wh.t added to the discomfort of it was, that on reaching the top we saw nothing but a thick Welsh mountain tog! but we had a most delightful view of tie neighbouring hills and dales, from a point about half way to the summit. Being obliged to drive eight miles and speak that night at Caernarvon —to travel ninety-seven miles the next day. m a 2 V 2 388 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. : stage coach— and to preach three times the third ^ay — made no small affair of the exercise. Eeaching Aberystwyth late on Saturday night, I was glad to take the comfortable quarters offered to the w^eary in the Royal Hotel. It had rained all day; but, in spite of rain, it was most de- lightful to travel amid the beautifully diversified scenery betwixt Caernarvon and Aberystwyth. It is bolder than Irish scenery, and the cultivation is far better— tliough not so good, I thought, as the Scotch ; but the farming of Wales is far from being indifferent. I spent some four or five days m Aberystwyth, making some acquaintances I shall ever remember: among them are the excellent pastors of the Churches, and the Rev. Mr. Davies and his excellent mother. I had the honour, too, of making the acquaintance of Mr. Lloyd, one of the leading gentry of the country, now^ Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire. Mr. L. took the chair at a meeting whicli I addressed; and was kind enough to say, one of his inducements to attend was, that the meeting was to be addressed by a gentleman from Canada. Having been in early life stationed there with his regiment, the gallant gentleman liad acquired an interest in my adopted country which did not leave him upon his return to Wales. From Aberystwyth I returned to England by GREAT BRITAIN. le third 389 J night, 3 offered i rained lost de- versified yth. It ^■ation is k, as the far from 5 days in J I shall excellent :. Davies lOur, too, )yd, one 3W Lord took the and was ments to id dressed been in nent, the ist in my lim upon igland by Welshpool, where I spent an evening, and attended a temperance meeting. The drive through that part of Wales is one of the most beautiful in this island of beautiful scenery. It reminds one of the valleys of the Genessee, the Susquehannah, and some portions of the St. Lawrence Vallev. I know not when or where I have enjoyed a drive more than those through North and South Wales. Any- body else would be able to describe the scenery : all I can say is, it was most beautiful. What with the waving, ripened corn, the youthflil-look- ing greenness of the recently mown meadows, the sparklmg streamlets, the dear sky, and the gor- geously brilHant August sunlight, I was charmed beyond expression. I am sorry I cannot tell it better: please kind reader, accept the best I can perform. Since tlien, I have passed through por- tions of Wales in very rapid flying tours, as when returnmg from Ireland, last autumn and last spring- but have not had the pleasure of making any Ptay there. I think, however, that I have seen enough of Wiles and tlie Welsh to have formed some tolerably correct views of their character. First, however, to record an incident of no small interest to me, which occurred during my sojourn at Aberystwyth. A gentleman named Willuims, an agent for one of the wealthiest land- lords in vVales, lives about a mile from Abervst- 390 ANTI-SLA\EIIY LABO^TRS. wyih. I learned that a little boy, a son of Mr. Williams, who was ill, was anxious to see me, and that his parents wished me to call. The Rev. Mr. Davies kindly consented to accompany me, and we drove there. We found Mr. and Mrs. Y/illiams most kind and affable persons ; and upon being in- troduced to the chamber where their son lay, we were struck with his emaciated appearance ; but in spite of this, his eyes beamed with mtelligence, and about his lips a most cheerful smile played constantly. His mother told us he had been a great sufferer. His bones were hat slightly covered with a wasted colourless skin. He could not stand or walk, from lameness ; and I believe there was but one position in which he could lie. When we saw the helplessness of the child, we were glad that we had visited him. He had read '' Uncle Tom's Cabin" ; he felt interested in the slaves, and daily prayed for them; he had carefully laid by the little presents of money which had been given him, and had a donation to give me, for the cause of the slave. But what made the deepest impres- sion upon us was, his mother's telling i^s that, in the midst of the very severe pains which tortm'cd the little sufferer, he would cry out, but imme- diately check hiirself, saying "Mamma, I ought not to complain so. How much more did Jesus suffer, for me I " *: GREAT BRITAIN. 391 We left that house feeling that we had been highly privileged. We had learned the lesson of patient suffering at the bedside of that dear child —had seen a babe, as it were, praising God. That the child could long live, seemed out of the ques- tion ; but the wheat of the surrounding fields was no more ripe for the sickle, than was that child to be gathered unto God. Since that day, I never suffer pain, complainingly, without fancying I see the bright, beaming eye of little Williams rebuking me, as he hushes his own cries, in the midst of anguish, by the recollection of " how much more Jesus suf- fered for him." That child may, ere this, have been called to his restj he may be with Him whose sufferings he learned so early to contemplate : but until I meet him in another world, I shall ever remember the lesson learned at his bedside. Since that time, sone of the severest pangs I ever felt have been mine, both in body and mind; but their coming is accompanied by the remembrance of what that beloved child learned, in agony. And blessed be God! the divine consolations which lulled his pains are abundant, infinite in efficacy I Wales is the most moral and most religious country, and her peasantry the best peasantry, that I know. Doubtless, many will differ from mej but such is my 'very decided opinion, based on the following reasons : — II 392 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOUES. 1. The courts in Wales have fewer cases of scandalous crimes and misdemeanors to deal with than the courts of any other part of the kingdom, of the same population. The difference betwixt Wales and Ireland, in this respect, is immense. 2. But go to a Welsh town (such as Bangor), and how quiet and moral is it, compared with any town of the like population you can name in Eng- land, Ireland, or Scotland ! Not a woman walking the streets for lewd purposes, not a drunkard brawl- ing in the highways, no rows or fights ; quietness i and order reign everywhere. Holyhead is a sea- port; it is the same there, and so in every town I visited. 3. The temperance cause has done more for Wales than for any other part of the kingdom. A drunken peasant is, indeed, a rare sight in Wales. The miners, the farm servants, and the ordinary labourers, all agree, someho-'v or other, to be tem- perate. Not that ail are abstainers ; but a more temperate peasantry, I am free to confess, there is not, even in Maine ! 4. Tliere is no begging in Wales. There are children who run after the carriages of tourists and cry, "ha'penny!" about the only English word they know; and this more for sport than halfpence. B"< there is little or no encouragement given to it by the inhabitants; and there is no GREAT BRITAIN. 393 IS no such thing as a swarm of beggars at every corner, door, hotel, church-gate, and everywhere eke, as in every part of Ireland. 5. The Welsh are poor as well as the Irish : and their landlords sufficiently neglect them, as to their dwelhngs : but the cleanliness of the peasantry IS most striking. The contrast betwixt Holyhead and Kmgstown, within four hours' sail of each other, is most remarkable. One can scarcely be- lieve that he has not been to two opposite sides of the globe, instead of across a narrow channel, ihe reader will now see why I blame the Irish for their defects, in contrast with the Welsh. 6. The industry of the poorer classes in the Pnncipality is most commendable. I know this ha. much to do with any people's moral and re- ligious character. No one believes, ..s no one ought, m a very high-toned and exemplary mo- rality, or a very devoted religion, conjoined with Idleness. I do believe that the Welsh labouring classes arc more correct in this than even the High- landers in Scotland. Patient though not overpaid toil, mitigated by few comforts, is not only the lot, but to all ai^pearance the choice, of the Welsh peasant. I have seen more idlers in one street, in Xingstown~-i). a circumference of 300 yards, in Glasgow-or in a small village, in Essex or Nor- folk—than one can see in the whole of Wales. ::.-■-/'- ^.::-.:,. ■!£!<--■- 'j^j-si-.: j.zii/1- 394 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. 7. The Welsh population not only attend divine service, but are religious : I say " the population," because it is not true, as in England, of a few persons only out of the many, but, like the Scotch, of the people generall}! . There are some curious and interesting facts in connection with this. In the first place, the Welsh are not Episcopalians : nine tenths of them dissent from the Establishment. It is most ridiculous to tax them for its support, for they do not go near it Still, they quietly go to their chapels, and as quietly pay for their support. 'In the next place, they are not mere nominal members of Churches. The majority belong to the Calvinistic Methodist denomination, whose rules are highly and properly rigid. No laxity in morals is allowed to pass unrebuked. Besides, in travelling through Wales, it iii seen that almost wherever there are a dozen houses, one of them is a chapel. The people feel their religious wants, and supply them. Moreover, the ministers of the de- nomination alluded to, and all others, take especial care and pains in looking after their flocks. Their preaching is deeply earnest, practical, scriptural, plain, and personal ; also, most pathetic and affec- tionate. These combined influences are in constant operation, and are producing the very best effects upon a remarkably straightforward, simpleminded people. GREAT BRITAIN. 395 Compare these sturdy, honest preachers, with the priests of Romanism! Compare their flocks with the Papal populations of, I care not what country ! I cannot consent to argue the case : in the living history of present fact it stands out m bold relief. It speaks for itself, in language clear and intelligible; its truths are undeniable, unquestionable : and though our fellow subjects of the Principality are less wealthy and less learned than some more flattered inhabitants of other por- tions of these islands, they excel us all in some of the best, noblest, traits that ever adorned human character. Should they diffuse education more tho- roughly, cling with less tenacity to their mother tongue, draw more largely from the "well of Eng- lish undefiled," and mingle more with the other elements of British population, then that brave little Principality will one day be more often visited and considered: it will take rank as high in other matters, as in morals; and, in peculiar dis- tinctive character, appear, to its present despisers, beautiful as its own valley scenery, elevated as Snowdon's loftiest summit ! I have spoken mostly of the labouring classes in Wales; and have only to add, that the better and higher classes are essentially Englishmen- with the exception, I must once more remark, of being very far behind Englishmen and Scotchm on fane 1, li > ( 396 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. according to the papers of the day, behind Irishmen as well ! ) as landlords. They need to follow more closely the example set by the Honourable Colonel Tennant and the Larly Louisa, in caring for those who minister to their comforts and convenience. I am sure any one who visits the village referred to will join me in this remark. I know what will be said, in other countries than Wales, in reply to what I say of the chastity of the Welsh female peasantry. Eeference will be made to the stupid system of courtship called -''bundling" t— a practice for which there is no defence : most certainly, I have no word to utter in its behalf. Tliat it has not been attended with far worse con- sequences, is to me a marvel. But I have the great happiness to know, that the pulpit, which is more powerful in Wales than in any Protestant country elsewhere, has turned its whole power and influence against this barbarous practice, so that not even it, to any extent, forms a drawback to the remarks I have made upon the morality of the Welsh pea- santry. It is to be hoped that a custom which has nothing better than its antiquity for its apology, but is liable to the very gravest objections on the score of morality and decency, will soon be known merely as a matter of history. Surely, when a CTTstom so pernicious shall once be put away, all will rejoice, and all will wonder that a people of GREAT BRITAIN. 397 such sterling sense should have suffered it to con- tinue so long. It certainly has outlived the former bad taste of the people; and therefore, if for no higher reason, it ought to live no longer. Most earnestly is it to be hoped that this abominable reHc of ancient British barbarism will soon be so completely banished, as no longer to mar the otherwise good and exemplary character of the honest youths and maidens of that delightful Prin- cipality. 398 CIIArTER IX. GRATEFUL REMINISCENCES — CONCLUSION. , m ¥ A n Although I fear having written too much already, without contributing to the amusement or profit of the reader, I cannot conclude without speaking Bomewhat definitely of some things which are, to me, of more than ordinary interest. It is true that I cannot feel an Englishman's interest in relics of antiquity. My life has been spent in a new country, and 1 cannot bring myself to admire old buildings and ruins. Rhyl is pre- ferred, by me, before any other town in Wales, because of its new and fresh appearance ; for the same reason, Cheltenham and Southampton suit me better than any other towns in England. However, I visited Westminster Ablxiy, heard the janitor's tide of who lies here and who lies tlicre, and felt that my knowledg-e of English history, with its dates and figures, was refreshed and increased. But the statues of Pitt, Wilber- force, Buxton, and Clarkson, interested me more than all the ancient things put together : in them GREAT BRITAIN. 899 I saw, not fiimply tlie features of men eminent in days recently gone by, but of tliose wlio were dear to me and my people, on account of their devotion to the cause of freedom. I visited the place wlicre their monuments arc, as one would visit the tomb of his benefactors : they were my benefactors. I wished to convey bac!t to my people the impressions I felt upon looking at the marble which represented, as well as it could, faces and forms once glowing with life and teeming with energy ; both devoted to the cause of the Negro. I went to see the Catliedral at Canterbury, and attended a service in the chapel; also visited, in company with the Rev. J. A. Miller, St. George's Cathedral at Windsor, and attended service in the Knights' Chapel. By invitation of the Earl of Shaftesbury, I attended a service for the charity children, in St. Paul's. The vastness of this great cathedral, the immense number of neatly dressed children, the beauty of the ice, and the n h spiritual sermon of the Bishop of Chester, ove •- whelmed me with feelings and impressions I can- not describe. The Rev. James Parsons, of York, with his usual kindness, requested Miss Parsons to accom- pany me to York MI. ^ter. We attended service, and heard the beautiful intonations in which ca- thedral serv ices arc usually performed. The beauty 400 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. of that great Gothic pile impressed me most pro- foundly. I could l3ut exclaim, " If this be Gothic, a gi-eat many buildings, called ^Gothk; are simply VnnualP^ Mrs. Finley, the niece of Captain Hamilton, kindly dccompanied me to see the Cathedral of Glasgow. It is a fine old structure, full of historic interest, and must be a most charming sight for any one fond of old things; but I, poor back- woodsman ! take far more delight in seeing a newly built, freshly painted building ! , I confess, however, that there were two old buildings, near to Ulverstone, in Lancashire, which I visited with very peculiar interest, in company with the Rev. James Browne. They are historical buildings, and, to me, of great importance, because of their relation to an honoured branch of the Christian Church to ' 'nch my people are very much indebted; those buildings are, the former residence and the .hapel of George Fox.* I saw the house which he frequently visited when a bachelor, and in which he lived after his marriage .- also, the window from which he first preached his principles to the people of the neighbourhood. The chapel is a low place, of small size, but neat and * Bunyan'8 Chapel, at Bedford— Baxter's, Oxendon Street, London —Doddridge's, Northampton— in each f which I have preached, were to me most interesting. GREAT BRITAIN. 401 substantial,, it stands in a pretty, well kept en- closure still used as a burying-place. The meet- ings of the Friends, in that locality, are holden in that venerable chapel. Here arose the " Soc^'ety called Friends, or Quakers." From this humble meetmg-house began that sect whose members are in all parts of England, some of them among the most wealthy of living men. In America, liow many of their meeting-houses are very much lar-er than this, the birthplace of Quakerism! indeed^ I know of none tliere so small as this. Here arose a sect despised, ridiculed, persecuted. They spread however, all over Chnstendom; they preached the gospel of peace to almost all the families and tribes ot livmg man ; they purged their own sect of slave- holdmg; tliey have impressed their principles upon the generations among whom they have lived • thoy nave been, in all times, the friends and helpers of the poor and the needy. No sect better than they deserves the distinct appellation oi Friends. They may not now be increasing in numbers : the very reverse of this is true, in some, many, places. In America there have been some sad divisions, and more lamentable heresies, among them ; some, indeed, have quite forsaken and for- sworn the anti-slavery principles of the sect. But the Society of Friends has accomplished a very important mission ; and it may be that, since their 2 D mm- 402 ANTI-SLAVERT LABOURS. principles and distinctive ideas are so well under- Btood, and so many of the most useful and most catholic of these principles are impressed upon and promulgated hy other sects, this pure and honoured denomination can afford the diminution of its mem- bers. The defections and heresies of which I have spoken seemed, to me, to be gently rebuked by the old Bible of George Fox, which was chained to a desk in the old meeting-house. It is a quaint old volume, of tlie date of 1541, and reads after the style of that day. It was the corner-stone of ! George Fox's faith, the armoury whence he drew his weapons, the directory of his spotless life. No- thing of the antique, nothing of a past age, gave me deeper interest, than the residence, the ch.npel, and the Bible, of George Fox. If not so antique as other places and things, it was the most ancient of Quaker things, the carl , of the interesting relies of tliat sect, which lias done more for mankind than, perhaps, any other of like numbers, since the days of tlic apostles and the martyrs. In connection with this part of the present chap- ter I beg to observe, that in the winter of 1853-54 I had the pleasure of holding a meeting in the Friends' meeting-house in Kendall. The chair- man was the venerable Mr. Braithwaite. He had kindly invited several of the most distinguished personages, including his Worship the Mayor, to GREAT BRITAIN. meet me. The next 403 several mem- mansion, at morning bers of the Braithwaite family, married, at the old family Among the guest- was a daughter of the Mission- ary Moffatt, from Africa. The Scriptures were read, according to the good old custom of the Friends; and then Mrs. Braithwaite, who has been a minister for many years, preached a short ser- mon. I never heard any discourse more pointed, more benevolent, more toucliing. She began upon the fact that tliere were in the room persons from different and distant countries, representatives of different races and climes, professing love towards and faitli in a common Saviour, and worshipping the same Heavenly Father. She dwelt with de- light upon tliat scene, as one somewhat similar to the gathering of the redeemed around a common board in lieaven, at a future day. I do not pretend to give her words, but shall never forget the Chris- tian kindness which was breathed in every one of them. Upon leaving, Mrs. Braithwaite warmly shook my hand, and bade me " farewell," giving me advice as to my health, and commending me to the gracious protection of God. We never sliall meet again on eartli ; but to have met such a dis- ciple of Jesus once, was a privilege worthy of more than ordinary appreciation. John Morland, Esq., a member of tlie Society of 2 D 2 i^ 404 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. Friends, did me the honour, upon hearing me at Croydon, in February last, of coming to me after the meeting, to make arrangements for a lecture in the Friends' School, in Croydon, that the pupils might have an opportunity of hearing me plead in the slave's behalf. The meeting was arranged and held. Mr. Moiiand kindly made me his guest, and took me in his carriage to introduce me to the venerable Peter Bedford, Esq., the coadjutor of Clarkson. After the meeting, the boys of the school presented me with a generous donation, and ,a most kind and aifectionate written address, which I shall preserve as a memento of those most inte- resting young gentlemen. " May the angel who redeemed Jacob from all evil, bless the lads !" To another member of the Socitty of Friends- John Candler, Esq., of Chelmsford— I am under peculiar obligations, and must state them, though without his permission. I had read of that bene- volent gentleman, before coming to Europe— had known of his travels in Brazil, the West Indies, and America, in prosecution of his zealous anti- slavery labours. I knew that, like Forster— the venerable and self-sacrificing i^orster — he was ready, if God pleased, to lay down his life in a foreign country, rather than be disobedient to the dictates of duty, as impressed upon him by the Spirit of God. But it was not my pleasure and GREAT BRITAIN. 405 privilege to meet Mr. Candler until last Novem- ber: indeed, when I was first at Chelmsford, Mrs. Candler, whom I had the pleasure of meeting, informed me that he had not returned from Ame- rica, wnither, at an advanced age, he had accom- panied Mr. Forster on his last errand of mercy to the slave. In December last, by an ai-rangement which Messrs. Wells and Perry had kindly made for me, I spoke in Chelmsford. The Kev. Mr. Wilkinson kindly occupied the chair. A vote of thanks was to be proposed, according to arrangement, and Mr. Candler generously consented to perform this part. In speaking, as his abundant experience and exten- sive travels fully qualified him to do, he entirely confirmed my statements ; and publicly said that, if in going to Jamaica I should visit the parish of St. George, where he owned a parcel of land, I should be most welcome to fifty acres of it. Since that time Mr. Candler has confirmed his gift and given instructions accordingly to his solicitor W. W. Anderson, Esq., of Jamaica. And, that I may do full justice to my benefactor, whose muni- ficence commenced with me in a public meeting, on public grounds and for public purposes, I may venture to add, that Mr. Candler has sold me his entire interest in the tract referred to, at a price so nominal as to make it equivalent to a gift. He 2 D 3 406 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. has also advised Mr. Anderson, who owns the remaining moict/, to treat me with like kindness. I have already arranged with Mr. Anderson for that moiety. Thus, if my family shall be relieved from a position of dependence, after my death — it will, under God, be owing more to Mr. John Candler, of Chelmsford, than to any other man. That I propose clianging the name of the estate from Albary to Candler Park,* will not appear strange. The duty of spending a portion of every year in = Jamaica, until my son shall be old enough to attend to that property, is thus made clear to me. It may be, that our Heavenly Father will permit me to be of some service to my people in that island. I now wish to say, more distinctly than hereto- fore, that I feel under peculiar obligations to the Kev. Dr. Kaffles, for the very gTcat kindness and sympathy he showed me, at the time I received the sad intelligence of my mother's demise. Handing Mr. Bolton's letter, containing the intelligence, to the Doctor, as I sat in his breakfast room, he most readily and most warmly entered into my feelings, and treated me with such kindness and considera- tion as I shall ever feel grateful for. I beg to add, that generous-hearted gentleman has, on all * There is nnother estate called Albany, in the coun.y of Cornwall. This is in the county of Surrey, on the Great Spanish River. GREAT BRITAIN. 407 occasions upon which I have liacl the pleasure of being in his society, tauglit me by his amiable demeanour to look upon him as a friend, and, if I might say so much, a father. Upon several occasions, magistrates of towns have honoured the cause which I came here to plead, by presiding at my meetings. I tender my hearty thanks to John Hope Shaw, Esq., and Mr. "Wilson— each of whom, when Mayor of Leeds, conferred upon me that favour. I am under like obligations to the late Mayor of Bmy St. Ed- munds, the late Mayor of Bedford, the present Mayor of Southampton (Samson Paj-ne, Esq.), the Provost of Dunfermline, tlie Provost of Dundee, the Provost of Montrose, the Mayor of Cork (Sir John Gordon), and George Leeman, Esq. (who, when Lord Mayor of York, not only presided, but gave me other most ample tokens of kind regard). Other exalted personages, not magistrates, but of gi-eat influence and status, have shown me like kindness. To the Right Honourable John Wynne, Samuel Gurucy, Esq., tlie Eight Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, and the Riglit Honourable Lord Calthoii^e, I beg hereby to express tlianks, botli for myself, and those whose cause I Jiumbly plead, and wl'om I feebly represent. I owe tlianks to James Spicer, Esq., for many acts of very great personal kindness, at times and 408 ANTI-SLAVKUY LAHOUKS. under circuniHtjiiicca of peculiar trial. It is most gratify in.^: to acknowledge the obljo-ation in this way, and through this medium. To the many kuid friends (among whom is Isaac lieeman, Msq.) who moat generously contributed to aid me in my own personal nn'ssion, I be^. to say, the accomits of those contributions are with Mr. !Si)iccr; and that, while living, I shall never cease to be grate- ful to him and to them, for their repeated and, I may say, multiplied acts of generous regard. I have reserved for myself until now, the plca- anxe of placing on reccn-d the fact which has given mc most pleasure of all others, during my sojourn in the r,ritish isles. It is, tlic growing, abounding love of the simple gospel, among religious classes of all denonn'nations. The great wealth, high rank, vast learning, and nnrivalled inexhaustible resources, of the ]iritish people, would, one might naturally suppose, tempt them to a proud forgct- fulness of the great matters of the soul. As a stranger, I came here expecting to find among Dissenters an earnestness and a spirituality such as I luid always been taught to believe th^.y pos- sess. I imagined, however, that the prestige of the great names of their fathers, and the world- wide fame of many of their living divines, would naturally have led them away from simplicity. In the Church of England, I took it for granted, qui: AT nUITAIN. 409 State i)ower, social status, and courtly fashion, had eaten up wliatcver of vitality had remained before Traetarianism arose; and that, since its rise and in its progress, the religion of that denomination Iiad been 8wei)t away, or had degenerated into tlic merest formalism. I^he first sermon I lu-ard, however, in Londr)n, was preached by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury. Hearing that sermon not only gave me the most exalted opinion of the venerable 1 rimate, but it led me to conclude that, if the clergy or any considcu-able portion of them were preachers of that stamj), I had been most mistaken in my views concerning the religious state of the Established (Jhurch. When, after- wards, I had the pleasure of hearing the Bishop of Chester, the Kev. E. lloare, the liv.v. Mr. Mar- shall, the Eev. Mr. Goodheart, and a few others (Englishmen, Irishmen, Hcotclmen, and Welsh- men, gave me opportunities to hear kit few), and when I had the pleasure of conversing upon re- ligious subj(!cts with some of the most jmous laymen of that denominaticm, I felt most thankful to bo disabused, and correctly informed, on this most important subject. Two facts always exhibited tlicmselves in connection with this : one was, the deep, earnest, biblical i)Iety, conjoined with moat active benevolence, a readiness to every good word and work, and accompanied by the sweetest sim- ««• ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. plicitj, which the pious cLass of Episcopalians ex- hibit ; the other was, their entire catholicity of spirit. In every part of England, and among per- sons of all ranks, I had the unspeakable happiness to hnd this. Nor was it shown by studiously avoiding such points of difference as lie between themselves and other denominations,- for in the frank, tliough kind, expression of tliem, they showed how capable they were of diffenng with brethren, and loving them as brethren, at the same time. I hardly need say, that towards myself, per- sonally, tliis feeling was invariably exhibited. I was most gratified to find that, among Dissen- ters as in the Establishment, simple faith in Christ's salvation is the great theme of the pulpit. Rev. J. Sherman I heard first; afterward. Rev. John Angell James, Rev. H. J. Bevis, Rev. Dr. Halley, Rev. Dr. Raffles, Rev. J. Baldwin Brown, Rev. Dr. Alex- ander, Rev. S. Bergne, the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Wriothesley Noel, Rev. Henry AUon, Rev. Samuel Martin, and Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. Varied in style, talent, learning, and other peculiarities, as are these genilemen, and different as are the classes of their hearers, they all agree in preaching Jesus and his cross, for the redemption of a sinful world. Thus the Christian Chiu-ches in Great Britain are one in the maintenance and promulgation of that truth which saves; they are one in th- ir love of the GREAT BRITAIN. 411 Simple gospel, and in bringing forth the fruits of that gospel in their lives. Thus, for all practical piuposes, the section of the Establisliment to which I refer, and the Dissenting denominations, " walk together," because "agreed." Coming from a distant colony, as I do, and knowmg how powerful is the Christian Church of this great country in moulding the religious cha- racter of the colonies-knowing, too, how much the colonies have to do with the evangelization of the heathen* contiguous to them-it is impossible for me to express how deep and thorough was my gratification to find the religious state of Great Britain what it is, in this respect : indeed, there is m possibility of exaggerating the extent of holy influence which must, of necessity, flow from this all-important fact. The growth of wealth, in- crease of power, and widening political influence, ot Britain, oeing considered, how thankful ou-ht Britons to oe to Britain's God, for the present reli- gious condition of this mighty empire ! As one of the most obscure of those whose privilege it is to live on British soil, I beg to express hereby my high and grateful appreciation of this, the most _ • I am among those who believe that the British colonies are both the agency by which, and the medium through which, the gospel can ought .„.., be g,ven to the heathen world. The situation, orign growth, progress, language, and relations, of those colonies, aU seem' to me, to pomt in that direction. ' 'mm 412 ANTI-SLAVERY LABOURS. pleasing feature of British society, the most shining trait of British religious character. K I am suspected of forgetting the very lament- able neglect of religion by too many, of all classes, in these islands, I have to say, that I do no^ "or- get, but recollect it vividly, as it stands forth in forms and illu^^crations most painfully abundant, everywhere. What I rejoice to know is, that God, in his infinite mercy, lias been pleased to grant to his people here the power and the privilege of seeing the evils that are around them, and of hold- ii^g and wielding the " spiritual weapons " which, being "mighty through God," fully enable them to " demolish the strongholds of Satan." I know not of a brighter, more hopeful, evidence of God's gracious favo-r to his modern Israel, than the earnest, simple love of the gospel— than its being sought for, preached, believed, felt, and honoured, by all departments and branches of the British Church. Long may this greatest of blessings be vouclisafed to them ! Long may we of the colo- nies be blest with the benefits flowing from it! Widely may it extend, and may it yield fniits most abundant to the praise and glory of the G reat Head of the Church ! London: Printed for John Snow, 35, Paternoster How. L