[53] Conversation with Horace Washington, Windsor, Ontario, Aug. 2, 1895. [54] _The Liberator_, April 10, 1846. [55] Conversation with William Edwards, Amherstburg, Ontario, Aug. 3, 1895. [56] Letter of H. C. Harvey, Manchester, Kan., Jan. 16, 1893. [Illustration: This picture of a poor fugitive is from one of the stereotype cuts manufactured in this city for the southern market, and used on handbills offering rewards for runaway slaves. THE RUNAWAY (Slightly enlarged from _The Anti-Slavery Record_, published in New York City by the American Anti-Slavery Society.)] It has already been remarked that slaves began to find their way to Canada before the opening of the present century, but information in regard to that country as a place of refuge can scarcely be said to have come into circulation before the War of 1812. The hostile relations existing between the two nations at that time caused negroes of sagacious minds to seek their liberty among the enemies of the United States.[57] Then, too, soldiers returning from the War to their homes in Kentucky and Virginia brought the news of the disposition of the Canadian government to defend the rights of the self-emancipated slaves under its jurisdiction. Rumors of this sort gave hope and courage to the blacks that heard it, and, doubtless, the welcome reports were spread by these among trusted companions and friends. By 1815 fugitives were crossing the Western Reserve in Ohio, and regular stations of the Underground Railroad were lending them assistance in that and other portions of the state.[58] [57] S. G. Howe, _The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West_, pp. 11, 12. [58] Wilson, _History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power_, Vol. II, p. 63.