Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/98

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tion block; the heavenly gate of knowledge shut against him; the fruit of his hard labour unjustly taken by another; sees himself, and offspring, doomed to a wretched servitude, from which there is no redemption; to all of which he quietly submits and patiently endures. Yet, for one single act of kindness to them and their children, (a kindness for which they have prayed, and enduringly waited the answer of that prayer), now that they have obtained that desire, they will cut the throats of the donors." It is preposterous in the extreme.

I will now refer to a noble example, which glitters in the historic page, relative to this matter. By one single Act of Parliament, the Slaves of the British West Indies were suddenly, as well as peaceably, changed into free men and women: their souls walked abroad on the plains of freedom, in their own majesty, fearless of lash or chains. The British Slaves numbered 800,000, according to Mr. W. Goodell and the Honorable Charles Sumner's report on the subject. The Whites, and Blacks or Negroes, were in the following proportion: 131,000 Whites, distributed as follow:—In the islands of Jamaica (the largest at present), 400,000 Africans, and 37,000 Whites. Barbadoes, 120,000 Africans and 15,000 Whites. In St. Lucia, 19,500 Africans, and 600 Whites. In Tobago, 14,000 Africans, and only 600 Whites. In Monserrat, 600 Africans, and only 150 Whites. In all these