r vast number, as it
would be tedious on account of their similarity to each other.
Whole families were often liberated by a single verdict, the
fate of one relative deciding the fate of many. And often
ancestors, after passing a long life in illegal slavery, sprung
at last, like the chrysalis in autumn, into new existence,
beneath the genial rays of the sun of liberty, which shed at the
same time its benign influence upon their children, and
children's children.

"The titles of the individuals, thus liberated, to their
freedom, were variously derived. Sometimes from deeds of
manumission, long suppressed, and at last brought to light, by
the searching scrutiny of Tyson--sometimes from the genealogy of
the petitioner, traced by him to some Indian or white maternal
ancestor--sometimes from the right to freedom, claimed by birth,
but attempted to be destroyed by the rapacity of some vile
kidnapper, and sometimes from the violation of those of our laws
which manumitted slaves imported from foreign parts.

"The labors of Mr. Tyson, were not confined to a single
district--they extended over the whole of Maryland. There is not
a county in it, which has not felt his influence, or a court of
justice, whose records do not bear proud testimonials of his
triumphs over tyranny. Throwing out of calculation the many
liberations indirectly resulting from his efforts, we speak more
than barely within bounds, when we say, that he has been the
means, under Providence, of rescuing at least two thousand human
beings from the galling yoke of a slavery, which, but for him,
would have been perpetual.

"And here let me join my readers in expressions of wonder and
astonishment at this extraordinary display of human benevolence,
in the person of a single individual--unsupported by power,
wealth, or title, beneath the frowns of society, and against a
torrent of prejudice."

In the year 1789 an "Abolition Society," (see antecedent pages 23 and
24,) was formed in Baltimore, of which Elisha Tyson was a member until
its dissolution, seven years afterwards.

"From that time, Mr. Tyson supported alone the cause of
emancipation in Maryland. Alone, I mean, as the sole director
and prime mover of the machinery by which that cause was
maintained. Assisted, he was, no doubt, from time to time; but
tha