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There are, as I said, no slaves in England, but there are thousands and tens of thousands in other countries. The greater part of Asia abounds in slaves, and America (the New World) is full of them. Millions of black men are held in bondage by white men, who most cruelly use them, and these poor black men have few friends except in England. As an illustration of what sometimes takes place, I will relate to you a story of a slave.-A black man, a slave, somewhere in Kentucky, having been sent on a message, mounted on a very valuable horse, seized the opportunity of escaping. He reached Buffalo, after many hard days of riding, sold the horse, and escaped beyond the lines of Canada. There, as in all British dominions (God be praised) the slave is no morehe is Free! This man acknowledged that he had not been illtreated; he had received some education, and had been a favourite with his master. He gave, as a reason for flight, that he had long wished to marry, but was resolved that his children should not be born slaves. In Canada, a runaway slave is assured of legal protection; but, by an international compact between the United States and our provinces, all felons are justly surrendered. Against this young man the jury of Kentucky had found a true bill for horse-stealing; as a felon he was therefore pursued, and being arrested was lodged in the jail of Niagara, to be given up to his master, who, with an American constable, was in readiness to take him into custody as soon as the government order should arrive.

The case of the poor fellow excited a strong interest among the whites, while the coloured population, consisting of many hundreds in the districts of Gore and Niagara, chiefly refugees

from the States, were half frantic with excitement. They loudly and openly declared that they would peril their lives to prevent his being carried again across the frontiers, and surrendered to the vengeance of an angry master.

In the meantime, there was some delay about legal forms, and the Mayor and several of the inhabitants of the town united in a petition to the Governor in his favour. In this petition i was expressly mentioned, that the master of the slave had been heard to avow that his intention was not to give the culprit up to justice, but to make what he called an example of him. Now there had been lately some frightful instances of what the slave proprietors of the south called "making an example," and the petitioners entreated the Governor to interfere, and save the man from a torturing death under the lash, or at the stake.

The Governor's humane feelings probably pleaded even more strongly on behalf of the poor fellow. But it was a case in which he could not act from feeling, or "to do a great right, do a little wrong." The law was strictly laid down, and the duty of the governor was clear-i.e. to give up the felon; although to have protected the slave he would, if it had been necessary, have raised the province.

In the meantime, the coloured people assembled from the adjacent villages, and among them a great number of women. The conduct of the black mob, animated, and even directed by females, was really admirable for its good sense, forbearance, and resolution. They were quite unarmed, and declared their intention not to commit any outrage. The culprit, they said, might lie in the jail till they could raise among them the price of the horse; but if any attempt was made to take him.

from the prison and send him across to Lewiston, they would resist at the hazard of their lives.

The sheriff,

The fatal order, however, did at length come. with a party of constables, prepared to enforce it. The blacks, still unarmed, assembled round the jail, and waited till their comrade-or "their brother," as they called him-was brought out and placed hand-cuffed in the cart. They then threw themselves simultaneously on the sheriff's men, and a dreadful scuffle ensued; the artillerymen from the little fort, our only military, were called in aid of the civil authority, and ordered to fire on the assailants. Two blacks were killed, and two or three wounded. In the mélée the poor slave escaped.

But what was the conduct of the women, who on this occasion excited the strongest surprise and interest? They had prevailed on their husbands, brothers, and lovers to use no arms, to do no legal violence, but to lose their lives rather than see their brother taken by force across the lines. They had been most active in the fray, throwing themselves fearlessly between the black men and the whites, who of course shrank from injuring them. One woman had seized the sheriff, and absolutely held him pinioned in her arms; another, on one of the artillerymen presenting his piece and swearing he would shoot her if she did not get out of his way, gave him only one glance of unutterable attempt, with one hand knocked up the piece, and collaring him with the other, held him in such a manner as to prevent his firing. A mulatto woman, who had been foremost in the fray, and whose intelligence and influence had mainly contributed to the success of her people, and many other women, both black and brown, exhibited the most singular heroism.

But as regards the poor slave, "Cato"-what became of

through the crowd with his Before he had proceeded far,

him? After the affray, he fled manacles on his legs and arms. he fell from exhaustion, and the difficulty of walking in his irons. A black-smith-that is, a black who was a smith, and therefore a "blacksmith" in more senses than one-flew from his shop, and with one blow of his hammer shattered the shackles of the slave, while others took them from his wrists and ancles; a third took them up and threw them among the crowd, who tossed them about in the air and among each other, to the infinite amusement of the excited multitude, till at last they were thrown over the walls of the jail in which the prisoner had been confined.

As soon as Cato felt himself free, he threw himself upon his knees and returned thanks to Almighty God. The women then surrounded him, and carried him in their arms out of the crowd to the nearest village, where he was taken care of by some of the black people, who gave him bed, board, and protection for some time. Cato was, however, forced to keep himself very close, as his cruel master, whose name was Thornton, had determined, though foiled at first, to capture him by force should an opportunity present itself. For this purpose he, by means of emissaries, soon found out the place where his runaway slave was concealed; and so bitter in his revenge was he, and so determined on the execution of it, that, taking with him two of his servants, he set out disguised, for the purpose of taking him by force or killing him; and so little did he think of the life of a human being, that he would quite as soon do one as the other.

Cato had been an excellent slave, and now he was free he

was an excellent freeman. He was full of gratitude to his deliverers, and held a very trustworthy place in the family of an honest Dutchman, one Jan Steen, who behaved like a brother to him. Cato was employed in field-work; and one day when he was digging up potatoes, he found himself suddenly surprised by his old master, who sprang from behind a hedge, and attacked him with a hatchet in the most ferocious manner. Cato was unarmed, and had nothing to defend himself with but potatoes. He sprang back, however, and began to pelt his assailant with those missiles, to his no small discomfiture, who received sundry odd punches about the head, face, eyes, nose, and mouth. But the fury of Thornton cared not for these, and he made a rush at Cato, who fell; and there is no doubt but the axe with which he had been attacked would have been fatal to him-for his assailant was just about to give him a finishing stroke-when the old Dutchman observing the fray, ran up, and standing ver the prostrate body of Cato, received the blow meant for the poor fellow's head on the iron of a shovel which he held in his hand to protect him. Several labourers followed up, and the planter, Thornton, was obliged to beat a retreat

His revenge, however, was by no means appeased, and although he retired for the time, he still determined to obtain his slave, dead or alive. His mind, long schooled in the wretched reasoning of slavery, taught him to consider that he had been unjustly deprived of his property, the horse which he had bought and paid for, and also of his slave, whom he had also bought and paid for; and so he meditated revenge fully and deeply, and only retired to his own dwelling to devise the means for its accomplishment. When, however,

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