July 25, 2025 • 22 mins
Delve into the captivating life of an American Bondman, as lovingly presented by his daughter, Josephine Brown. This biography not only revisits the significant experiences documented in her fathers own narratives, but also introduces fresh anecdotes and her unique perspective on his life. While the book draws heavily from previously published autobiographical accounts, it is enriched by a narrative style brimming with humor and wit. As observed by Andrews, the biographys exceptional contribution to the legacy of William Wells Brown is the insights it provides into the rhetorical strategies employed by both father and daughter in their united stand against slavery.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapters twenty one and twenty two of Biography of an
American Bondman by his Daughter by Josephine Brown. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty one. Yet
press on, for it shall make you mighty among men,
(00:21):
and from the ear of your eagle thought you shall
look down on monarchs. In eighteen fifty two, mister Brown found,
from the shortness of the lecturing season, which in England
lasts only from November to May, and it is furnishing
a precarious means of living, that he must adopt some
(00:42):
other mode of providing support for himself and his daughters,
And therefore, through the solicitation of some of his literary friends,
commenced writing for the English press. Not having received a
classical education, he had often to re write his articles.
His contributions were mainly on American questions. For instance, his
(01:06):
articles on the death of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, the
Return of Anthony Burns were gladly received by the London press,
and the fugitive was liberally paid for his labours. The
writer of this has known mister Brown to be engaged
all night after the arrival of an American mail in
(01:27):
writing for a morning newspaper. In the autumn of eighteen
fifty two he published his Three Years in Europe, which
paid him well. The criticisms on this work brought the
fugitive prominently before the public and gave him a position
among literary men never before enjoyed by any colored American.
(01:51):
The London Morning Advertiser, in his review, said, this remarkable
book of a remarkable man cannot fail to add to
the practical protests already entered in Britain against the absolute
bondage of three millions of our fellow creatures. The impressions
of a self educated son of slavery, here set forth
(02:15):
must hasten the period when the senseless and impious denial
of common claims to a common humanity on the score
of color shall be scouted with scorn in every civilized
and Christian country, And when this shall be attained among
the means of destruction of the hideous abomination. His compatriots
(02:37):
will remember with respect and gratitude the doings and sayings
of William Wells Brown. The volume consists of a sufficient
variety of scenes, persons, arguments, inferences, speculations, and opinions to
satisfy and amuse the most exigent of those who read
(02:58):
poor sur des sigue, while those who look deeper into
things in view with anxious hope the progress of nations
and of mankind will feel that the good cause of
humanity and freedom, of Christianity, enlightenment and brotherhood cannot fail
to be served by such a book as this. The
(03:21):
London Literary Gazette, in speaking of the book, remarked, the
appearance of this book is too remarkable a literary event
to pass without a notice. At the moment when attention
in this country is directed to the state of the
colored people in America, the book appears with additional advantage.
(03:41):
If nothing else were attained by its publication, it is
well to have another proof of the capability of the
Negro intellect. Altogether. Mister Brown has written a pleasing and
amusing volume, and we are glad to bear this testimony
to the merit of a work by a Negro author.
(04:03):
That a man, said the Morning Chronicle, who was a
slave for the first twenty years of his life, and
who has never had a day's schooling, should produce such
a book as this cannot but astonish those who speak
disparagingly of the African race. The London Critic pronounced it
a pleasingly and well written book. It is said the
(04:26):
Athenian racy and amusing. The Eclectic Review, in its long criticism,
has the following the extraordinary excitement produced by Uncle Tom's cabin,
Will we hope prepare the public of Great Britain and
America for this lively book of travels by a real
fugitive slave. Though he never had a day's schooling in
(04:49):
his life, he has produced a literary work not unworthy
of a highly educated gentleman. Our readers will find in
these letters much instruction, not a little entertainment, and the
beatings of a manly heart on behalf of a downtrodden
race with which they will not fail to sympathize. The
(05:12):
British Manner, edited by doctor Campbell, said, we have read
this book with an unusual measure of interest. Seldom, indeed,
have we met with anything more captivating. It somehow happens
that all these fugitive slaves are persons of superior talents.
The pith of the volume consists in narratives of voyages
(05:33):
and journeys made by the author in England, Scotland, Ireland
and France. And we can assure our readers that mister
Brown has traveled to some purpose. The number of white
men is not great. Who could have made more of
the many things that came before them. There is in
the work a vast amount of quotable matter, which, but
(05:54):
for want of space, we should be glad to extract.
As the volume, however, is published with a view to
promote the benefit of the interesting fugitive, we deem it
better to give a general opinion by which curiosity may
be wedded than to gratify it by large citation. A
book more worth the money has not for a considerable
(06:15):
time come into our hands. The provincial papers and the
London press united in their praise of this, the first
literary production of travels by a fugitive slave. The Glasgow Citizen,
in its review, remarked, w Wells Brown is no ordinary man,
or he could not have so remarkably surmounted the many
(06:37):
difficulties and impediments of his training as a slave. By
dint of resolution, self culture and force of character, he
has rendered himself a popular lecturer to a British audience
and vigorous expositor of the evils and atrocities of that
system whose chains he has shaken off so triumphantly, and
(06:58):
forever we may safely pronounce William Wells Brown a remarkable
man and a full refutation of the doctrine of the
inferiority of the Nigro. The Glasgow Examiner said, this is
a thrilling book independent of adventitious circumstances, which will enhance
its popularity. The author of it is not a man
(07:19):
in America but a chattel, a thing to be bought
and sold and whipped. But in Europe he is an author,
and a successful one too. He gives in this book
an interesting and graphic description of a three years residence
in Europe. The book will no doubt obtain as it
well deserves, a rapid and wide popularity. The Caledonian Mercury
(07:41):
concludes an article of more than two columns of criticism
and extracts as follows the profound anti slavery feeling produced
by Uncle Tom's cabin needed only such a book as this,
which shows so forcibly the powers and capacity of the
Negro intellect to deepen the impress. Mister Brown's criticism on
(08:03):
Thomas Carlyle brought about his ears a whirlwind of remarks
from the friends of the distinguished scotchman, while a portion
of the press sided with the fugitive and pronounced the
article ably written and most just in its criticism. The
following is the offensive part of the essay and refers
to his meeting mister Carlyle in an omnibus. I had
(08:25):
scarcely taken my seat when my friend, who was seated
opposite me, with looks and gestures, informed me that we
were in the presence of some distinguished individual. I eyed
the countenances of the different persons, but in vain to
see if I could find anyone who, by his appearance
showed signs of superiority over his fellow passengers. I had
(08:47):
given up the hope of selecting the person of note,
when another look from my friend directed my attention to
a gentleman seated in the corner of the omnibus. He
was a tall man, with strongly marked features, hair dark
and coarse. There was a slight stoop of the shoulder
that bend, which is always a characteristic of studious men.
(09:09):
But he wore on his countenance a forbidding and disdainful frown.
That seemed to tell one that he thought himself better
than those about him. His dress did not indicate a
man of high rank, and had we been in America,
I should have taken him for an Ohio farmer. While
I was scanning the features in general appearance of the gentleman,
(09:29):
the omnibus stopped and put down three or four of
the passengers, which gave me an opportunity of getting a
seat by the side of my friend, who, in a
low whisper, informed me that the gentleman whom I had
been eyeing so closely was no less a person than
Thomas Carlyle. I had read his hero worship and Past
(09:51):
and Present, and had formed a high opinion of his
literary abilities. But his recent attack upon the emancipated people
of the West Indies, and his laborious article in favor
of the re establishment of the lash and slavery, had
created in my mind a dislike for the man, and
I almost regretted that we were in the same omnibus.
(10:12):
In some things, mister Carlyle is right, but in many
he is entirely wrong. As a writer, mister Carlyle is
often monotonous and extravagant. He does not exhibit a new
view of nature or raise insignificant objects into importance, but
generally takes commonplace thoughts and events and tries to express
(10:33):
them in stronger and statelier language than others. He holds
no communion with his kind, but stands alone, without mate
or fellow. He is like a solitary peak, all access
to which is cut off. He exists not by sympathy
but by antipathy. Mister Carlyle seems chiefly to try how
(10:53):
he shall display his powers and astonish mankind, by starting
new trains of specula or by expressing old ones so
as not to be understood. He cares little what he says,
so that he can say it differently from others. To
read his works is one thing, to understand them is another.
If anyone thinks that I exaggerate, let him sit for
(11:16):
an hour over sar Rosartis, and if he does not
rise from its pages, place his three or four dictionaries
on the shelf, and say, I am right. I promise
never again to say a word against Thomas Carlile. He
writes one page in favor of reform, in tent against it,
he would hang all prisoners to get rid of them.
Yet the inmates of the prisons and workhouses are better
(11:38):
off than the poor. His heart is with the poor.
Yet the Blacks of the West Indies should be taught
that if they will not raise sugar and cotton of
their own free will, Quashi should have the whip applied
to them. He frowns upon the reformatory speakers upon the
boards of Exeter Hall, Yet he is the prince of reformers.
He hates heroes and assassins, Yet Cromwell was an angel,
(12:02):
and Charlotte Corday a saint. He scorns everything, and seems
to be tired of what he is by nature, and
tries to be what he is not. End of chapter
twenty one, Chapter twenty two fling out the anti slavery flag,
(12:23):
and let it not be furled till like a planet
of the skies it sweeps around the world. Mister Brown's
name being often brought before the public through the reviews
of his new book and different sketches of his life,
having been published in the London biographical magazine Public, Good,
True Britain and other periodicals. He was invited to lecture
(12:45):
before literary associations in London and the provincial towns. This
induced him to get up a course of lectures on
America and her great men, sent Domingo et cetera. Thus,
during the lecturing season he was busily engaged either before
institutions were speaking on American slavery. In the spring of
(13:05):
eighteen fifty three, the Fugitive brought out his work Clotel
or the President's Daughter, a book of near three hundred pages,
being a narrative of slave life in the Southern States.
This work called forth new criticisms on the Negro author
and his literary efforts. The London Daily News pronounced it
a book that would make a deep impression, while The Leader,
(13:27):
edited by the son of ly Hunt, thought many parts
of it equal to anything which has appeared on the
slavery question. Thus the Fugitive Slave slowly worked his way
up into English literary society. After delivering a lecture before
the London Metropolitan Atheneum, the managing committee instructed the secretary
to thank mister Brown, which he did in the following
(13:49):
note Metropolitan Athenaeum, one eighty nine Strand June twenty First,
My dear sir, I have much pleasure in conveying to
you the best thanks of the Managing Committee of this
institution for the excellent lecture you gave here last evening,
and also in presenting you, in their names with an
honorary membership of the Club. It is hoped that you
(14:11):
will often avail yourself of its privileges. By coming amongst us.
You will then see by the cordial welcome of the
members that they protest against the odious distinctions made between
man and man, and the abominable traffic of which you
have been a victim. For my own part, I shall
be happy to be serviceable to you in any way,
and at all times be glad to place the advantages
(14:33):
of the institution at your disposal. I am my dear sir,
yours truly, William Strudwick, Secretary mister W. Wells Brown. Through
mister Brown's influence and exertions, an anti slavery meeting was
held on the first of August during the three last
years of his residence in London. The Morning Advertiser describes
(14:57):
one of these occasions in the following terms. It was
on the first of August that a number of men
fugitives from that boasted land of Freedom assembled at the
Hall of Commerce in the city of London, for the
purpose of laying their wrongs before the British nation, and
at the same time to give thanks to the God
of Freedom for the liberation of their West India brethren.
(15:17):
On the first of August eighteen thirty four, at the
hour of half past seven, for which the meeting had
been called, the spacious hall was well filled, and the fugitives,
followed by some of the most noted English abolitionists, entered
the hall amid deafening applause and took their seats on
the platform. The appearance of the Great Hall at this
(15:39):
juncture was most splendid. Besides the committee of fugitives on
the platform, there were a number of the oldest and
most devoted of the slave's friends. On the left of
the chair sat George Thompson Esquire, MP, Sir j Walmsley MP,
Joseph Hume Esquire, MP, and many other equally noted public men.
(16:00):
Not far from the platform sat Sir Francis Knowles BART.
Still further back were Samuel Bowley ESQUIRE. While near the
door were to be seen the greatest critic of the
age in England's best living poet, Becauley, had laid down
his pen, entered the hall and was standing near the
central door, while not far from the historian stood the
(16:20):
newly appointed Poet Laureate, the author of in Memoriam, had
been swept in by the crowd, and was standing with
his arms folded and beholding for the first time, and
probably the last, so large a number of colored men
in one room. The chair was most appropriately filled by
William Wells Brown, the distinguished fugitive slave from America. The
(16:43):
chairman first addressed the meeting in an eloquent and feeling manner,
after which speeches were made by mister George Thompson and others.
The gathering was the most spirited one of the kind
held in London for many years, and a good impression
was made upon the assembled multitude. American visiting Great Britain, ever,
had better opportunity of becoming acquainted with the condition of
(17:05):
all classes of society than mister Brown. He saw every
phase of life in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He
partook of the hospitality of the lord in his magnificent
country seat and the peasant in his lowly cottage. A
fashionable dinner is thus described by the fugitive in his
sketches of Places and People abroad. It was on a
(17:26):
pleasant afternoon in September that I had gone into Surrey
to dine with Lord C and found myself one of
a party of nine seated at a table loaded with
everything that heart could wish. Four men servants in livery
with white gloves waited upon the company. After the different
courses had been changed. The wine occupied the most conspicuous
(17:47):
place on the table, and all seemed to drink with
a relish unappreciated except by those who move in the
higher walks of life. My glass was the only one
on the table into which the juice of the grape
had not been poured. It takes more nerve than most
men possessed to enable one to decline taking a glass
of wine with a lady. And in the English society
(18:08):
they do not appear to understand how human beings can
live and enjoy health without taking at least a little wine.
But my continued refusal to drink with first one and
then another of the company, I had become rather an
object of pity than otherwise. A lady of the party,
and in company with whom I had dined on a
previous occasion, and who knew me to be an abstainer,
(18:31):
resolved to relieve me from the awkward position in which
my principles had placed me, and therefore caused a decanter
of raspberry vinegar to be adulterated and brought on the table.
A note in pencil from the lady informed me of
the contents of the new bottle. I am partial to
this kind of beverage and felt glad when it made
its appearance. No one of the party except the lady
(18:53):
knew of the fraud, and I was able during the
remainder of the time to drink with any of the company.
The waiters as a mother, but of course were in
the secret where they had to make the change while
passing the wine from me to the person with whom
I drank. After a while, as is usual, the ladies
all rose and left the room. The retiring of the
fair sex left the gentlemen in a more free and
(19:15):
easy position, and consequently the topics of conversation were materially changed,
but not for the better. The presence of ladies is
always a restraint in the right direction. An hour after
the ladies had gone, the gentlemen were requested to retire
to the drawing room, where we found tea ready to
be served up. I was glad when the time came
(19:35):
to leave for the drawing room, for I felt it
a great bore to be compelled to remain at the
table three hours. Tea over the wine was again brought on,
and the company took a stroll through the grounds at
the back of the villa. It was a bright moonlight night.
The stars were out, and the air came laden with
the perfume of sweet flowers, and there was no sound
(19:56):
to be heard except the musical splashing of the little
cascade at the end of the garden, and the song
of the nightingale that seemed to be in one of
the trees near by. How pleasant everything looked, with the
flowers creeping about the summer house, and the windows opening
into the velvet lawn with its modest front neat trellis
work and meandering binds, the small smooth fish pond, and
(20:19):
the lifelike statue standing or kneeling in different parts of
the ground gave it the appearance of a very paradise. There,
said his lordship, is where Cowli used to sit under
the tree and read this reminded me that we were
near church seat, where the poets spent his last days,
and as I was invited to spend the night within
a short ride of that place, I resolved to visit
(20:40):
it the next day. We returned to the drawing room
in a few minutes after the party separated. Although mingling
with some of the best men and women of Europe,
mister Brown never forgot his countrymen in bonds or overlooked
the fact that he was himself closely connected with them.
Nor did his elevated position previt and his speaking out
(21:01):
faithfully against the evils that de great humanity in the
old world. The temperance cause, peace, education, and the elevation
of the laboring classes in Great Britain claimed much of
his time and attention. During his residence abroad, mister Brown
traveled more than twenty five thousand miles through Great Britain,
addressed above one thousand public meetings, and lectured before twenty
(21:23):
three literary societies, besides speaking at religious and benevolent anniversaries.
Few persons could have accomplished more labor than did this
fugitive slave. During his five years absence from America, mister
Brown rendered most valuble services to the cause of freedom
well in England. By keeping on the track of every
pro slavery renegade who made his appearance there as an
(21:46):
advocate of slavery. Reverend Doctor Prime, Doctor Dyer, and others
of the same way of thinking, found the fugitive at
their heels. Wherever they went. He exposed them and held
them up to the scorn and contempt of the people
of Great Britain through the columns of the English journals.
End of Chapter twenty two.
Chapters twenty one and twenty two of Biography of an
American Bondman by his Daughter by Josephine Brown. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain, Chapter twenty one. Yet
press on, for it shall make you mighty among men,
(00:21):
and from the ear of your eagle thought you shall
look down on monarchs. In eighteen fifty two, mister Brown found,
from the shortness of the lecturing season, which in England
lasts only from November to May, and it is furnishing
a precarious means of living, that he must adopt some
(00:42):
other mode of providing support for himself and his daughters,
And therefore, through the solicitation of some of his literary friends,
commenced writing for the English press. Not having received a
classical education, he had often to re write his articles.
His contributions were mainly on American questions. For instance, his
(01:06):
articles on the death of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, the
Return of Anthony Burns were gladly received by the London press,
and the fugitive was liberally paid for his labours. The
writer of this has known mister Brown to be engaged
all night after the arrival of an American mail in
(01:27):
writing for a morning newspaper. In the autumn of eighteen
fifty two he published his Three Years in Europe, which
paid him well. The criticisms on this work brought the
fugitive prominently before the public and gave him a position
among literary men never before enjoyed by any colored American.
(01:51):
The London Morning Advertiser, in his review, said, this remarkable
book of a remarkable man cannot fail to add to
the practical protests already entered in Britain against the absolute
bondage of three millions of our fellow creatures. The impressions
of a self educated son of slavery, here set forth
(02:15):
must hasten the period when the senseless and impious denial
of common claims to a common humanity on the score
of color shall be scouted with scorn in every civilized
and Christian country, And when this shall be attained among
the means of destruction of the hideous abomination. His compatriots
(02:37):
will remember with respect and gratitude the doings and sayings
of William Wells Brown. The volume consists of a sufficient
variety of scenes, persons, arguments, inferences, speculations, and opinions to
satisfy and amuse the most exigent of those who read
(02:58):
poor sur des sigue, while those who look deeper into
things in view with anxious hope the progress of nations
and of mankind will feel that the good cause of
humanity and freedom, of Christianity, enlightenment and brotherhood cannot fail
to be served by such a book as this. The
(03:21):
London Literary Gazette, in speaking of the book, remarked, the
appearance of this book is too remarkable a literary event
to pass without a notice. At the moment when attention
in this country is directed to the state of the
colored people in America, the book appears with additional advantage.
(03:41):
If nothing else were attained by its publication, it is
well to have another proof of the capability of the
Negro intellect. Altogether. Mister Brown has written a pleasing and
amusing volume, and we are glad to bear this testimony
to the merit of a work by a Negro author.
(04:03):
That a man, said the Morning Chronicle, who was a
slave for the first twenty years of his life, and
who has never had a day's schooling, should produce such
a book as this cannot but astonish those who speak
disparagingly of the African race. The London Critic pronounced it
a pleasingly and well written book. It is said the
(04:26):
Athenian racy and amusing. The Eclectic Review, in its long criticism,
has the following the extraordinary excitement produced by Uncle Tom's cabin,
Will we hope prepare the public of Great Britain and
America for this lively book of travels by a real
fugitive slave. Though he never had a day's schooling in
(04:49):
his life, he has produced a literary work not unworthy
of a highly educated gentleman. Our readers will find in
these letters much instruction, not a little entertainment, and the
beatings of a manly heart on behalf of a downtrodden
race with which they will not fail to sympathize. The
(05:12):
British Manner, edited by doctor Campbell, said, we have read
this book with an unusual measure of interest. Seldom, indeed,
have we met with anything more captivating. It somehow happens
that all these fugitive slaves are persons of superior talents.
The pith of the volume consists in narratives of voyages
(05:33):
and journeys made by the author in England, Scotland, Ireland
and France. And we can assure our readers that mister
Brown has traveled to some purpose. The number of white
men is not great. Who could have made more of
the many things that came before them. There is in
the work a vast amount of quotable matter, which, but
(05:54):
for want of space, we should be glad to extract.
As the volume, however, is published with a view to
promote the benefit of the interesting fugitive, we deem it
better to give a general opinion by which curiosity may
be wedded than to gratify it by large citation. A
book more worth the money has not for a considerable
(06:15):
time come into our hands. The provincial papers and the
London press united in their praise of this, the first
literary production of travels by a fugitive slave. The Glasgow Citizen,
in its review, remarked, w Wells Brown is no ordinary man,
or he could not have so remarkably surmounted the many
(06:37):
difficulties and impediments of his training as a slave. By
dint of resolution, self culture and force of character, he
has rendered himself a popular lecturer to a British audience
and vigorous expositor of the evils and atrocities of that
system whose chains he has shaken off so triumphantly, and
(06:58):
forever we may safely pronounce William Wells Brown a remarkable
man and a full refutation of the doctrine of the
inferiority of the Nigro. The Glasgow Examiner said, this is
a thrilling book independent of adventitious circumstances, which will enhance
its popularity. The author of it is not a man
(07:19):
in America but a chattel, a thing to be bought
and sold and whipped. But in Europe he is an author,
and a successful one too. He gives in this book
an interesting and graphic description of a three years residence
in Europe. The book will no doubt obtain as it
well deserves, a rapid and wide popularity. The Caledonian Mercury
(07:41):
concludes an article of more than two columns of criticism
and extracts as follows the profound anti slavery feeling produced
by Uncle Tom's cabin needed only such a book as this,
which shows so forcibly the powers and capacity of the
Negro intellect to deepen the impress. Mister Brown's criticism on
(08:03):
Thomas Carlyle brought about his ears a whirlwind of remarks
from the friends of the distinguished scotchman, while a portion
of the press sided with the fugitive and pronounced the
article ably written and most just in its criticism. The
following is the offensive part of the essay and refers
to his meeting mister Carlyle in an omnibus. I had
(08:25):
scarcely taken my seat when my friend, who was seated
opposite me, with looks and gestures, informed me that we
were in the presence of some distinguished individual. I eyed
the countenances of the different persons, but in vain to
see if I could find anyone who, by his appearance
showed signs of superiority over his fellow passengers. I had
(08:47):
given up the hope of selecting the person of note,
when another look from my friend directed my attention to
a gentleman seated in the corner of the omnibus. He
was a tall man, with strongly marked features, hair dark
and coarse. There was a slight stoop of the shoulder
that bend, which is always a characteristic of studious men.
(09:09):
But he wore on his countenance a forbidding and disdainful frown.
That seemed to tell one that he thought himself better
than those about him. His dress did not indicate a
man of high rank, and had we been in America,
I should have taken him for an Ohio farmer. While
I was scanning the features in general appearance of the gentleman,
(09:29):
the omnibus stopped and put down three or four of
the passengers, which gave me an opportunity of getting a
seat by the side of my friend, who, in a
low whisper, informed me that the gentleman whom I had
been eyeing so closely was no less a person than
Thomas Carlyle. I had read his hero worship and Past
(09:51):
and Present, and had formed a high opinion of his
literary abilities. But his recent attack upon the emancipated people
of the West Indies, and his laborious article in favor
of the re establishment of the lash and slavery, had
created in my mind a dislike for the man, and
I almost regretted that we were in the same omnibus.
(10:12):
In some things, mister Carlyle is right, but in many
he is entirely wrong. As a writer, mister Carlyle is
often monotonous and extravagant. He does not exhibit a new
view of nature or raise insignificant objects into importance, but
generally takes commonplace thoughts and events and tries to express
(10:33):
them in stronger and statelier language than others. He holds
no communion with his kind, but stands alone, without mate
or fellow. He is like a solitary peak, all access
to which is cut off. He exists not by sympathy
but by antipathy. Mister Carlyle seems chiefly to try how
(10:53):
he shall display his powers and astonish mankind, by starting
new trains of specula or by expressing old ones so
as not to be understood. He cares little what he says,
so that he can say it differently from others. To
read his works is one thing, to understand them is another.
If anyone thinks that I exaggerate, let him sit for
(11:16):
an hour over sar Rosartis, and if he does not
rise from its pages, place his three or four dictionaries
on the shelf, and say, I am right. I promise
never again to say a word against Thomas Carlile. He
writes one page in favor of reform, in tent against it,
he would hang all prisoners to get rid of them.
Yet the inmates of the prisons and workhouses are better
(11:38):
off than the poor. His heart is with the poor.
Yet the Blacks of the West Indies should be taught
that if they will not raise sugar and cotton of
their own free will, Quashi should have the whip applied
to them. He frowns upon the reformatory speakers upon the
boards of Exeter Hall, Yet he is the prince of reformers.
He hates heroes and assassins, Yet Cromwell was an angel,
(12:02):
and Charlotte Corday a saint. He scorns everything, and seems
to be tired of what he is by nature, and
tries to be what he is not. End of chapter
twenty one, Chapter twenty two fling out the anti slavery flag,
(12:23):
and let it not be furled till like a planet
of the skies it sweeps around the world. Mister Brown's
name being often brought before the public through the reviews
of his new book and different sketches of his life,
having been published in the London biographical magazine Public, Good,
True Britain and other periodicals. He was invited to lecture
(12:45):
before literary associations in London and the provincial towns. This
induced him to get up a course of lectures on
America and her great men, sent Domingo et cetera. Thus,
during the lecturing season he was busily engaged either before
institutions were speaking on American slavery. In the spring of
(13:05):
eighteen fifty three, the Fugitive brought out his work Clotel
or the President's Daughter, a book of near three hundred pages,
being a narrative of slave life in the Southern States.
This work called forth new criticisms on the Negro author
and his literary efforts. The London Daily News pronounced it
a book that would make a deep impression, while The Leader,
(13:27):
edited by the son of ly Hunt, thought many parts
of it equal to anything which has appeared on the
slavery question. Thus the Fugitive Slave slowly worked his way
up into English literary society. After delivering a lecture before
the London Metropolitan Atheneum, the managing committee instructed the secretary
to thank mister Brown, which he did in the following
(13:49):
note Metropolitan Athenaeum, one eighty nine Strand June twenty First,
My dear sir, I have much pleasure in conveying to
you the best thanks of the Managing Committee of this
institution for the excellent lecture you gave here last evening,
and also in presenting you, in their names with an
honorary membership of the Club. It is hoped that you
(14:11):
will often avail yourself of its privileges. By coming amongst us.
You will then see by the cordial welcome of the
members that they protest against the odious distinctions made between
man and man, and the abominable traffic of which you
have been a victim. For my own part, I shall
be happy to be serviceable to you in any way,
and at all times be glad to place the advantages
(14:33):
of the institution at your disposal. I am my dear sir,
yours truly, William Strudwick, Secretary mister W. Wells Brown. Through
mister Brown's influence and exertions, an anti slavery meeting was
held on the first of August during the three last
years of his residence in London. The Morning Advertiser describes
(14:57):
one of these occasions in the following terms. It was
on the first of August that a number of men
fugitives from that boasted land of Freedom assembled at the
Hall of Commerce in the city of London, for the
purpose of laying their wrongs before the British nation, and
at the same time to give thanks to the God
of Freedom for the liberation of their West India brethren.
(15:17):
On the first of August eighteen thirty four, at the
hour of half past seven, for which the meeting had
been called, the spacious hall was well filled, and the fugitives,
followed by some of the most noted English abolitionists, entered
the hall amid deafening applause and took their seats on
the platform. The appearance of the Great Hall at this
(15:39):
juncture was most splendid. Besides the committee of fugitives on
the platform, there were a number of the oldest and
most devoted of the slave's friends. On the left of
the chair sat George Thompson Esquire, MP, Sir j Walmsley MP,
Joseph Hume Esquire, MP, and many other equally noted public men.
(16:00):
Not far from the platform sat Sir Francis Knowles BART.
Still further back were Samuel Bowley ESQUIRE. While near the
door were to be seen the greatest critic of the
age in England's best living poet, Becauley, had laid down
his pen, entered the hall and was standing near the
central door, while not far from the historian stood the
(16:20):
newly appointed Poet Laureate, the author of in Memoriam, had
been swept in by the crowd, and was standing with
his arms folded and beholding for the first time, and
probably the last, so large a number of colored men
in one room. The chair was most appropriately filled by
William Wells Brown, the distinguished fugitive slave from America. The
(16:43):
chairman first addressed the meeting in an eloquent and feeling manner,
after which speeches were made by mister George Thompson and others.
The gathering was the most spirited one of the kind
held in London for many years, and a good impression
was made upon the assembled multitude. American visiting Great Britain, ever,
had better opportunity of becoming acquainted with the condition of
(17:05):
all classes of society than mister Brown. He saw every
phase of life in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He
partook of the hospitality of the lord in his magnificent
country seat and the peasant in his lowly cottage. A
fashionable dinner is thus described by the fugitive in his
sketches of Places and People abroad. It was on a
(17:26):
pleasant afternoon in September that I had gone into Surrey
to dine with Lord C and found myself one of
a party of nine seated at a table loaded with
everything that heart could wish. Four men servants in livery
with white gloves waited upon the company. After the different
courses had been changed. The wine occupied the most conspicuous
(17:47):
place on the table, and all seemed to drink with
a relish unappreciated except by those who move in the
higher walks of life. My glass was the only one
on the table into which the juice of the grape
had not been poured. It takes more nerve than most
men possessed to enable one to decline taking a glass
of wine with a lady. And in the English society
(18:08):
they do not appear to understand how human beings can
live and enjoy health without taking at least a little wine.
But my continued refusal to drink with first one and
then another of the company, I had become rather an
object of pity than otherwise. A lady of the party,
and in company with whom I had dined on a
previous occasion, and who knew me to be an abstainer,
(18:31):
resolved to relieve me from the awkward position in which
my principles had placed me, and therefore caused a decanter
of raspberry vinegar to be adulterated and brought on the table.
A note in pencil from the lady informed me of
the contents of the new bottle. I am partial to
this kind of beverage and felt glad when it made
its appearance. No one of the party except the lady
(18:53):
knew of the fraud, and I was able during the
remainder of the time to drink with any of the company.
The waiters as a mother, but of course were in
the secret where they had to make the change while
passing the wine from me to the person with whom
I drank. After a while, as is usual, the ladies
all rose and left the room. The retiring of the
fair sex left the gentlemen in a more free and
(19:15):
easy position, and consequently the topics of conversation were materially changed,
but not for the better. The presence of ladies is
always a restraint in the right direction. An hour after
the ladies had gone, the gentlemen were requested to retire
to the drawing room, where we found tea ready to
be served up. I was glad when the time came
(19:35):
to leave for the drawing room, for I felt it
a great bore to be compelled to remain at the
table three hours. Tea over the wine was again brought on,
and the company took a stroll through the grounds at
the back of the villa. It was a bright moonlight night.
The stars were out, and the air came laden with
the perfume of sweet flowers, and there was no sound
(19:56):
to be heard except the musical splashing of the little
cascade at the end of the garden, and the song
of the nightingale that seemed to be in one of
the trees near by. How pleasant everything looked, with the
flowers creeping about the summer house, and the windows opening
into the velvet lawn with its modest front neat trellis
work and meandering binds, the small smooth fish pond, and
(20:19):
the lifelike statue standing or kneeling in different parts of
the ground gave it the appearance of a very paradise. There,
said his lordship, is where Cowli used to sit under
the tree and read this reminded me that we were
near church seat, where the poets spent his last days,
and as I was invited to spend the night within
a short ride of that place, I resolved to visit
(20:40):
it the next day. We returned to the drawing room
in a few minutes after the party separated. Although mingling
with some of the best men and women of Europe,
mister Brown never forgot his countrymen in bonds or overlooked
the fact that he was himself closely connected with them.
Nor did his elevated position previt and his speaking out
(21:01):
faithfully against the evils that de great humanity in the
old world. The temperance cause, peace, education, and the elevation
of the laboring classes in Great Britain claimed much of
his time and attention. During his residence abroad, mister Brown
traveled more than twenty five thousand miles through Great Britain,
addressed above one thousand public meetings, and lectured before twenty
(21:23):
three literary societies, besides speaking at religious and benevolent anniversaries.
Few persons could have accomplished more labor than did this
fugitive slave. During his five years absence from America, mister
Brown rendered most valuble services to the cause of freedom
well in England. By keeping on the track of every
pro slavery renegade who made his appearance there as an
(21:46):
advocate of slavery. Reverend Doctor Prime, Doctor Dyer, and others
of the same way of thinking, found the fugitive at
their heels. Wherever they went. He exposed them and held
them up to the scorn and contempt of the people
of Great Britain through the columns of the English journals.
End of Chapter twenty two.
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