Produced by Suzanne Shell, Richard J. Shiffer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF MOSES GRANDY, LATE A SLAVE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. "Slavery is a mass, a system of enormities, which incontrovertibly bids defiance to every regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power effect, but a TOTAL EXTINCTION. Why ought slavery to be abolished? Because _it is incurable injustice_. Why is injustice to remain for a single hour?" WILLIAM PITT. SECOND AMERICAN FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION. SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS RELATIONS STILL IN SLAVERY. BOSTON: OLIVER JOHNSON, 25 CORNHILL. 1844. *** It is not improbable that some of the proper names in the following pages are incorrectly spelled. M.G., through the laws of the slave states, is perfectly illiterate; his pronunciation being the only guide. INTRODUCTION. About a fortnight ago, the subject of the following brief Memoir came to me, bearing with him a letter from a dear friend and distinguished abolitionist in the United States, from which the following is an extract:--'I seize my pen in haste to gratify a most worthy colored friend of mine, by giving him a letter of introduction to you, as he intends sailing this week (August 8th, 1842) for Liverpool and London, _via_ New Orleans. His name is Moses Grandy. He knows what it is to have been a slave, and what are the tender mercies of the southern slave-drivers. His history is not only authentic, but most extraordinary, and full of thrilling interest. Could it be published, it would make a deep sensation in every quarter. He was compelled to buy his freedom _three times over_! He paid for it $1,850. He has since bought his wife, and one or two of his children; and before going to England will first go to New Orleans, to purchase some of his other children, if he can find them, who are still held in captivity. His benevolence, affection, kindness of heart, and elasticity of spirit, are truly remarkable. He has a good head, a fine countenance, and a great spirit, notwithstanding his education has been obtained in the horrible school of slavery. Just get him to tell you his narrative, and if you happen to have an anti-slavery meeting, let him tell his tale to a British audience.' In the letter of another highly esteemed friend, he is spoken of as 'unsurpassed for faithfulness and perseverance;' in the letter of a third, as a 'worthy and respectable man.' On examining a book containing a list of the donations made him by American friends, in aid of his noble design to rescue from the miseries of slavery his relations, I found the names and certificates of persons of the highest respectability. It will be amply sufficient with those who are acquainted with the Abolitionists of the United States, for me to name General Fessenden, and Nathan Winslow, Esq., of Portland, Maine; the Rev. A.A.