essary for him
to appeal to the history of his family in vindication of his character,
where will he find that history? He goes to his native state, to his
native county, to his native town; but no where does he find any record of
himself _as a man_. On looking at the family record of his old, kind,
Christian, master, there he finds his name on a catalogue with the horses,
cows, hogs and dogs. However humiliating and degrading it may be to his
feelings to find his name written down among the beasts of the field,
_that_ is just the place, and the _only_ place assigned to it by the
chattel relation. I beg our Anglo-Saxon brethren to accustom themselves to
think that we need something more than mere kindness. We ask for justice,
truth and honour as other men do.

My coloured brethren are now widely awake to the degradation which they
suffer in having property vested in their persons, and they are also
conscious of the deep and corrupting disgrace of having our wives and
children owned by other men--men, who have shown to the world that their
own virtue is not infallible, and who have given us no flattering
encouragement to entrust that of our wives and daughters to them.

I have great pleasure in stating that my dear friend W.W., spoken of in
this narrative, to whom I am so deeply indebted, is still living. I have
been twice to see him within four years, and have regular correspondence
with him. In one of the last letters I had from him, he authorises me to
use his name in connection with this narrative in these words,--"As for
using my name, by reference or otherwise, in thy narrative, it is at thy
service. I know thee so well James, that I am not afraid of thy making a
bad use of it, nor am I afraid or ashamed to have it known that I took
thee in and gave thee aid, when I found thee travelling alone and in
want.--W.W."

On the second page of the same sheet I have a few lines from his excellent
lady, in which she says, "James, I hope thee will not attribute my long
silence in writing to indifference. No such feeling can ever exist towards
thee in our family. Thy name is mentioned almost every day. Each of the
children claims the next letter from thee. It will be for thee to decide
which shall have it.--P.W."

In a postscript following this, W.W. says again:--"Understand me, James,
that thee is at full liberty to use my name in any way thee wishes in thy
narrative. We have a man here from the eastern shore of thy state.