Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman: Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada WestSteward, Austin
History
Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman: Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West
_Resolved_, That we believe the time is not far distant, when the _Queen
City of the West_, shall be redeemed from the hateful influence of the
slaveholder; redeemed from that cruel prejudice of caste which, hangs like
a mill-stone around the neck of our people; redeemed from all those
unequal laws, which have a tendency to make the strong stronger and the
weak weaker; redeemed from their falsehearted friends, whose sarcastic
smile is more to be feared than the frowns of an open enemy.
_Resolved_, That the untiring exertions of our friends, and the
indefatigable industry of our brethren, are sure guarantees that the State
of Ohio will not long be what she now is,--a hissing and by-word on
account of her iniquitous laws; but that she will rise above every narrow
minded prejudice, and raise up her sable sons and daughters and place them
on an equality with the rest of her citizens.
_Resolved_, That we deeply deplore the loss our friends have sustained in
the destruction of their printing press in Cincinnati.
_Resolved_, That we as an oppressed people, feel it our duty to give our
undivided support to the press and the laborers in our cause.
* * * * *
Mr. Israel Lewis made his way to Canada, and having obtained permission to
establish a colony, he bargained with the Canada Company for one township
of land, for which he agreed to pay the money demanded, in a few days, and
then returned to Cincinnati, by way of Rochester. The poor, persecuted
colored people, had in the mean time made ready for their flight from
their homes, their native land, and from this boasted free Republic, to
seek a residence in the cold and dreary wilds of Canada; to claim that
protection from the English government which had been denied them in the
land of their birth; and like the overtasked Israelites, "they went out
with their wives and their little ones," but with smaller possessions.
During the stay of Mr. Lewis in Rochester, he reported there and
elsewhere, that eleven hundred persons were then in the dense woods of
Canada in a state of actual starvation, and called upon the humane
everywhere, to assist them in such extreme suffering.
To me he also told the story of their destitution, which affected me
deeply. I had at that time just made a public profession of my faith in
the Christian religion and my determination to be governed by its holy
precepts, I felt for the distressed and suffering everywhere; but
particularly for those who had fled, poor and destitute, from cruel
task-masters, choosing rather the sufferings of cold and hunger, with
liberty, than the meager necessities of life and Slavery. I concluded to
go to Canada and try to do some good; to be of some little service in the
great cause of humanity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account