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Miscellany

Miscellany image
Parent Issue
Day
26
Month
June
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The lenp forliberly, that swccto&t boon of heaven had been adventurod. The desperate struggle was over, and that boon was his, to die with apparently; for he seemed to be trembüng on the extreme3t verge of life. Theic lic vvs, in ihat city-world, great London, whcrein dweil simpes and phases and fuculties of human w.-etchedneas almost infinite ir. number and varicty. But nn American slavc, with the bracelete of the Republic or thcir red trrarks, 611 li is feet and hands, was as uuique a vender ai if n common beggar had never walked the city. Slavery, disguise itself as it niay, can neverhide under the rags ofpoverty, nor merge its chattel mark with tho lineaments of common wretchedness. And therc was this poor man, tremblinc' with a sense of" tho guilt of his skin, tnat origina) sin of his cons'itution. for which he had done penance in a Clirisíian land tbr thirty yearson the treadmill of slavery. It is an affeeüng sight to sec an American slave any where, either at home or nbrcad, while panting with his run for life. Of all human beings, none are goaded by day and night by such a distorted conscience as that which afllicts him. He wears his guilt like the mark of Cain, and every white man bc meets is a species of avengcr of his A frican blood. Had all the law and th prophets been concentrated n the commanri, " Tiou slialt haven white skin and straight hair," he could nothavo borne about with him a more painful sense of unpardonable sin, than that under which he hangs his heau in the presence of his fellow beings. Having suflered, for thirty orforty years, a more degrading punishment for the crime of color, than ever visiled sin ngainst God or man, by human autliority, liow can he divest himself of this unnatural conscience, that, with i scourge borrowed from the driver's hand, chases him through every lane of life, and filis his dreams with the bnying of blood hounds, and the tread of his pursuers! - How can he, in a day, a month, acquire a sensetmd attitude of innocency before the world, nnd stnnd up erect and look the world in the face, and say "1 am 'nol guilty" Not guilty! Gnicious heaven ! what a charge, then, of falso imprisonment you 'can enter at the tribunal of mankind, against those who made you grind in the house of bondage for thirty years! "Not guilty," said the American slave in London; " not guilty," he said treínuously, and he bent his head to his bosom and crouclied towards the fire; for the aguc was on him, for the nights he had lain irpon the cold floor of his prison house. Whnt n desperate plea! wlint an appeal from lbo laws of his country ! from the unaiiimous verdict of six millions of his countrymen, which had pronounced hirn an A frican by blood,and seineneed liim and all his postcrity to the oondition of brute beasts! The bible, God's Magna Chirla of humin HBerty, had been vvound nround wilh the slaveholdcrs lasb, to keep ils divino rcvelations from the bond man. - But there was, in all the dnrknesn that surrounded him, a ray of that lighl which ] lighteth every mnn that comclh into the world; and it feil fainlly and dimly upon his oppressed cons-cience, until ho saw and feit that bis color was not the complexion of crime; and he determincd to encounter the tremendous odds, nnd seek a jury in the wide worlü who should listen 10 bis nppoal and reverse the verdict that hud made him a slavo. He could not read: for it is a breach of tlio laws, which fix bis condition, to teach a slave to read. He could not read the name and destinalion of the shipsthat dlighted in llie harbor, like carrier engles. VVhonce they carne, and whither they went, was a mystery beyond iiis means of solution. He daily saw them spread their great white wing.s and away through the blue occanfirmamont, and wondercd rnuch wliat kind of land they would aiight at - what dndof peoplo would liail their coming. Among these thoughls, this last would steal in - wheather color was crime, on that distant shore. It wns little he knew f the location ofcountries. The North star wns the sun and all of liis geographcal facts. And Canada was directly unler the North star, and all wlio reachetl hat paradise of freedom from Southern bondage, stole away by night, and traveled through foresls, and over mountains, lor weeks and months. This he knew by tradition; but where these ships finished their course and dropped their anchors, which he daily say vanishing in thé distance, wás a question for conjecture. Tliev could not be bound foiCanada; he was sure of that. Bu t did slavery cover all the earth but Cañado? Might not one n ten of these ocean ships anchor by somp foreign shore, wliero a slave might walk a froemaní Hope and failh jointly reared tint thought into a living idea, that filled his mind by niglit and day. His condition could not be worse. He could Ie but a slavc whertver he migh; be cast. The note of preparation about a large merclmntman indicated that it was about to weigh anchor for a fdreign port. - The deck and wlmrf vyere covered with busy men, wrestling with bales, boxes and barrels. But thcre was orc man, colored like half the rest, wlio carried n bng closely by his sidn, not ontered upon the ship's invoics. It was filled with the fragment anl savings from many scanty inenis. With this hefuind his way into a foro prut of the shio, wliere he os-ied a little spacp, which anottier bale or box would cloe from siglit. - While the crew wero busy In stowinj away the freight, he slunk into the narrow nouk with his bag, and the noxt minuto the nperature vvas closed,and to his great joy he was left in utter darkncss. The liurried tramp upon deck waxed louder anti louder; and the fugitiva held fris breatli to listen. " He ! Ho! Hoy!" al lust feil upon hisenrs like the voicc of salvation, and hc closeiy hugged the floor to Ii is bosom, to sti'.l the noise ofhis beating hearl. "lic! Ho! Hoy! - hoy! - oy - ee ! o! hoy!" Tl ie ship is sidling offthè whaff, The volees on deck are suppressed, and the captkio'a is heard a]one - ilAye ! nye! sir !" comes down in response from the throned Spars ; and the sound of the íluttering canvass has ready spread the wings of hope h the heart of the Ame-ican slave. The ship moves - slovvly - but it moves. A splash now! It is the hawser, and the sailors aro pulling it in. Now tliere is a gnrgling sound against the ship's 3ide. It moves ! it moves! "The land of the free and the homo oftlie brave" recedes incli by inch. Anothorsail is shaken out to lbo breeze, and the gurgling furrow of tlie keel is deepened. Thoie is aispace which cannot be swum, between him and his master. In ten minutes more it w:ll be düubled. Still another sail fal!s booming from the yard, and the ship creakes beneath the canvass. The last sound from the land of slavery dies away upon his ear, and heis driftingfar out upon the ocean Uubicon. He breathes freer, but not a freemnn; and tlie thought of the tinknown land to which he is bound, displaces the painful idea of the one he had left. The ship koenson its course - üut whitlier heknows not. Is it northward, or southward, or eastward? Ue cannot teil; it is not svestward, rmd thnt cheera his hopeof frcedom. He fearsthe light. lest he should bc discoverod ; bul he longs lor one look froan tho deck, merely tosee f the fea r f ui visión of the land bondnge has disappeared. Now it is niglit ; altliough the night and diy are both alike to him as far ns liglit is concenied. Nature knows when night comes, even to oné bom blind. A nel riights cnrnc to the American slave, and dnys and dreams, and lightsand shades of liope and de-paii-, wille!) ho cou!d not describe. II is story was short aml simpln. [Ie was wrhliing with the agtie, and ibere was a rheumatic f'ever n every joint. - He breathed minfully, and vtith an efFort tfial shook ihe chair in ihc corner. He had nn oíd calicó coat on hirn wlien lic hid himself awnyin the sliip: but littlcyl' that iiow liung upn liis shoulders. It wns the last of November, and lie could say but littlo of'liis perilous passage across fhe ocPan. IIo had done all nature could do to mak e Iiis crackers last until the ship should anchor at some fureign port. He knew lic had notliing to ho.ie of the captain or his men, and he put himself on the cjosest allowance that could suslain'life. Büt t was in vnin. - Twenty-one days he had been out upon the sea, yet 110 cryof land was henrd The last cracker wasjgone. Three days and nights he had lived wi'.hout a morsel of food. Life and liberty seemed to recede; and he clutchcd at tlem in a cry for holii. rearadvenlurc there raight !.c flesli in the captain's hearj, out upon that interminable ocean, and he cned louJcr stil], "Save maf I perish!" f Ie was drngged from his hiding-place, '.rembling nijd laggard, into the presence of the captain, wlio demanded, in á voice of ángry surprise, whenco he cr.mp. In a few broken words ho told his story, and his enlreaties for mercy wore intf rrup'.ed by a vclley of oaths and threats ihut he should"be ser.t back to slavery by the first ship they met bo:md to America. [Ie plead for mercy with all the earncstness of his last hope of freedom, and then in all the slrength of iiisdespair; but in vain. I Ie was ordcred to be put in irons, and to be kr, t u[on ircid iiüd water Iscavo in sighl by wliich the captain and crew might escape conviclioo of humanity, b)' senóing the fugilive back to hïs bondage, 'ïut no such snil was descried, though souglit ín the distanco with the telescope; and the slave hoped on in liis fetters. Ile was on deck, with his hnnds manac!ed ti'igether, whena green land lro:iieJ up from tlie se;i, like a visión of a new world. Life and überty carne back to his despai.-ing heart with all the impulse of their strong yearnings, and hoessayed to wring the iron from his limbs. Now the towers and spires, and the dim outlincs of a distant city, arise before liis cyes, and the ship enlered the waters of the Rhino, and that city was Rotterdam ; and soon they were treadiog their way through a fleet of ve&sels of every flng. - The moment had come, Liberty orDealb was to be the issue of the leap. The sailors were busy in taking n the saus and lelting go the anchor. Now or never - and the A nerican slavo, "nccoutred as lic was," sprang from the deck into tho river. His hands were closcly roned togethcr; but ho struggleri maufuHy with the current for lii'e and libcrty. He was descried by the crew of a Dutcli boat passing nenr, who rescued Inm, just as ho wnssiuking for the last time, and conducted him to the ship to Whieh they belunged. He cnme before the captain, who recogiiized thejewel of a republic, and saw thit the pooi man was an Amrriean s!ave, and in bonds for the color of liis skin. His iron bracelets were wrung by s'rong haids from his, and he was conducted to the English consul; nnd by the iiext steamerof England, in a few hours he trod a soil upon whic'i no slave can breathc. Wlien I saw him, he was still wet with his leap nto the Khiue. A reaction had come over him. The perils of the escape had been encountered. Nature had exhausted all her latent energics in the stniggle for libeity. The sustaining nvigoration of fcar and hope was gone, and he hung his head and crouctied towaids the firp,as f there were nothing left to ask for, but to die a freeman. Nor did hc ask aloud for this, or foi nnything; but sat jiialing with the ngue, and utiered not a cornplaint nor a murmur of pain, except when Ieft alone íor a moment in the room. - U.e-e was a fcllowcountryman, appealing to the world, in the silent remonstrance of his sufienng, ngainsta false imprisonment for color in the American house of bondago. I plead guilty for my counlry, with a sense of sliame I cannot describe. It was the firsttime, 1 believe, that 1 ever had two overcoats at once, and thus was able to comply lit3rally with the gospel precept, and sharo ihcm with a sufTering fellow being. - And as Ihis was llie first time lever enoyed that luxury, I put the best of the twain upon him - ü warm and thiclc one - and feit new comfort in the one I wore. The hat I had wore for two vers fittcd him wel!; nnd I left him with a feeling of gratiiude that F could give even so poor "a frconinn suit" to an American slave in Lomlon. Londoh, Feb. 4th, 1847.

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News