news of this decision spread abroad, subscriptions began to come in. Mr. Lewis Tappan took a lively interest in the Africans, and in one way and another soon got together enough money to send them home to Africa, where they so much wanted to go. "If 'Merica men offered me as much gold as fill this cap," said one, "and give me houses, land and everything, so dat I stay in this country, I say No! No!! I want to see my father, my mother, my brother, my sister." One said, "We owe everything to God; He keeps us alive, and makes us free. When we go home to Mendi, we tell our brethren about God, Jesus Christ and Heaven." One' was asked, if he was again captured and about to be sold into slavery, would he murder the captain and cook of another vessel, and if he wouldn't pray for rather than kill them? Cinquez heard it and replied, shaking his head, "Yes; I would pray for 'em and kill 'em, too."

These people were sent to Sierra Leone in Africa in company with five sainted missionaries. Great Britain sent them from Sierra Leone to their homes, and thus their efforts for freedom were successful,

7

CHAPTER XVIII.

ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION.

Slavery or No Slavery was the question now before the American people. Millions of tracts, pamphlets, circulars and newspapers, besides the ministers and orators of the North, were now making sentiment against slavery. The people of the North were aroused.

The Census of 1850 gave a population of three and one-half million slaves in America, and they lived in the States of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Utah Territory, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Soon after this New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland freed their slaves.

The Political Parties were forced to take up the slavery question. The politicians were wily, and yielded to both sides for policy's sake. The South opposed every legislative act that favored the abolition of slavery. The great Daniel Webster hesitated to take a decided stand either way, and in 1858 Charles Sumner, a staunch anti-slavery man,

came to the Senate from Massachusetts in Webster's place. Mr. Sumner said more and did more for the freedom of the slave than any of the great statesmen of his time. He offered no compromise, and asked only for liberty to the slaves.

The Fugitive Slave Law* allowed masters to capture their slaves in any State of the Union. Hence arose the underground railroad, which was a secret system for transporting runaway slaves into Canada. Some slaves were sent in boxes, and some carried in the night from one person to another until they reached the Canadian line. A great many runaway slaves made good their escape through this system.†

New States coming into the Union caused great discussion as to whether they should come in as free States or slave States. Civil war broke out in Kansas between the inhabitants of that Territory who wanted, and those who did not want, slaves. The anti-slavery people were led by. John Brown, afterwards the leader in an attempt to capture the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and arm the slaves. He was hung as an insurrectionist.

Opposition in the North to the Abolitionists

* It was Chief Justice Taney who, in giving his decision on this law in the Dred Scott case, said: "A Negro has no rights which a white man is bound to respect."

† See Underground Railroad, by William Still.

was manifested by the commercial people, who saw nothing in the whole question but the dollars and cents which they hoped to make out of the slave's products of cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice. But the agitation continued.

Abraham Lincoln, endorsed by the anti-slavery people, was proposed as the Republican candidate for President in 1860, whereupon South Carolina declared if Lincoln was elected she would secede from the Union. Lincoln was elected, and accordingly South Carolina seceded, and was soon followed by the other slave-holding States.

CHAPTER XIX.

EXAMPLES OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD WORK.

WILLIAM and Ellen Craft were slaves in the State of Georgia. Their hearts yearned for freedom. Their minds were at once set to work to formulate some plan of escape. It was at last settled. Ellen being very fair, while William was dark, was to pass for a young invalid planter, William being her slave and servant. Not being able to write, and without beard, she put her hand into a sling and tied her face up; after putting on male attire they were ready to start out. William attended to all the business, such as registering at the hotels and buying tickets. They stopped at a first-class hotel in Charleston, and also in Richmond, finally reaching Philadelphia safely. Ellen gave up her male attire, untied her face, released her arm from the sling, and her speech came to her. They put themselves under the care of the Abolitionists, were sent to Boston, but after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, attempts were made to capture and put them back into slavery again. They were at last sent to England, where they remained for nearly twenty years; then they returned and made their home in Savannah, Georgia, where, we learn, they are still living.