e question came up before
the Supreme Court, this measure was upheld.[22] Encouraged by such
support, the foes of the Negroes forced an execution of the law. The
courts at first hesitated but finally took the position that the will of
the people should be obeyed. The Negroes asked for ninety days to comply
with the law and were given sixty. When the allotted time had expired,
however, many of them had not given bonds as required. The only thing to
do then was to force them to leave the city. The officials again
hesitated but a mob quickly formed to relieve them of the work. This was
the riot of 1829. Bands of ruffians held sway in the city for three
days, as the police were unable or unwilling to restore order. Negroes
were insulted on the streets, attacked in their homes, and even killed.
About a thousand or twelve hundred of them found it advisable to leave
for Canada West where they established the settlement known as
Wilberforce.[23]

This upheaval, though unusually alarming, was not altogether a bad omen.
It was due not only to the demands which the South was making upon the
North and the fear of the loss of Southern trade, but also to the rise
of the Abolition Societies, the growth of which such a riotous condition
as this had materially fostered. In a word, it was the sequel of the
struggle between the proslavery and the anti-slavery elements of the
city. This was the time when the friends of the Negroes were doing most
for them. Instead of frightening them away a group of respectable white
men in that community were beginning to think that they should be
trained to live there as useful citizens. Several schools and churches
for them were established. The Negroes themselves provided for their own
first school about 1820; but one Mr. Wing had sufficient courage to
admit persons of color to his evening classes after their first efforts
had failed. By 1834 many of the colored people were receiving systematic
instruction.[24] To some enemies of these dependents it seemed that the
tide was about to turn in favor of the despised cause. Negroes began to
raise sums adequate to their elementary education and the students of
Lane Seminary supplemented these efforts by establishing a colored
mission school which offered more advanced courses and lectures on
scientific subjects twice a week. These students, however, soon found
themselves far in advance of public opinion.[25] They were censured by
the faculty and to find a mo