reby best serving Mary's cause,) to abstain from any
remarks upon his conduct when the petition was at last presented in
Parliament. In this way he dextrously contrived to neutralize all our
efforts, until the close of the Session of 1829; soon after which he
embarked with his family for the West Indies.

Every exertion for Mary's relief having thus failed; and being fully
convinced from a twelvemonth's observation of her conduct, that she was
really a well-disposed and respectable woman; I engaged her, in December
1829, as a domestic servant in my own family. In this capacity she has
remained ever since; and I am thus enabled to speak of her conduct and
character with a degree of confidence I could not have otherwise done. The
importance of this circumstance will appear in the sequel.

From the time of Mr. Wood's departure to Antigua, in 1829, till June or
July last, no farther effort was attempted for Mary's relief. Some faint
hope was still cherished that this unconscionable man would at length
relent, and "in his own time and way," grant the prayer of the exiled
negro woman. After waiting, however, nearly twelve months longer, and
seeing the poor woman's spirits daily sinking under the sickening
influence of hope deferred, I resolved on a final attempt in her behalf,
through the intervention of the Moravian Missionaries, and of the Governor
of Antigua. At my request, Mr. Edward Moore, agent of the Moravian
Brethren in London, wrote to the Rev. Joseph Newby, their Missionary in
that island, empowering him to negotiate in his own name with Mr. Wood for
Mary's manumission, and to procure his consent, if possible, upon terms of
ample pecuniary compensation. At the same time the excellent and
benevolent William Allen, of the Society of Friends, wrote to Sir Patrick
Ross, the Governor of the Colony, with whom he was on terms of friendship,
soliciting him to use his influence in persuading Mr. Wood to consent: and
I confess I was sanguine enough to flatter myself that we should thus at
length prevail. The result proved, however, that I had not yet fully
appreciated the character of the man we had to deal with.

Mr. Newby's answer arrived early in November last, mentioning that he had
done all in his power to accomplish our purpose, but in vain; and that if
Mary's manumission could not be obtained without Mr. Wood's consent, he
believed there was no prospect of its ever being effected.

A few weeks afterwards I was inform