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Page 9
A pleasant passage of about thirty hours, brought us to Halifax, at six
o'clock in the evening. In company with my friend the President of the
Oberlin Institute, I took a stroll through the town; and from what
little I saw of the people in the streets, I am sure that the taking of
the Temperance pledge would do them no injury. Our stay at Halifax was
short. Having taken in a few sacks of coals, the mails, and a limited
number of passengers, we were again out, and soon at sea. After a
pleasant run of seven days more, and as I was lying in my bed, I heard
the cry of "Land a-head." Although our passage had been unprecedentedly
short, yet I need not inform you that this news was hailed with joy by
all on board. For my own part, I was soon on deck. Away in the distance,
and on our larboard quarter, were the grey hills of Ireland. Yes! we
were in sight of the land of Emmett and O'Connell. While I rejoiced with
the other passengers at the sight of land, and the near approach to the
end of the voyage, I felt low spirited, because it reminded me of the
great distance I was from home. But the experience of above twenty
years' travelling, had prepared me to undergo what most persons must lay
their account with, in visiting a strange country. This was the last day
but one that we were to be on board; and as if moved by the sight of
land, all seemed to be gathering their different things
together--brushing up their old clothes and putting on their new ones,
as if this would bring them any sooner to the end of their journey.
The last night on board was the most pleasant, apparently, that we had
experienced; probably, because it was the last. The moon was in her
meridian splendour, pouring her broad light over the calm sea; while
near to us, on our starboard side, was a ship with her snow-white sails
spread aloft, and stealing through the water like a thing of life. What
can present a more picturesque view, than two vessels at sea on a
moonlight night, and within a few rods of each other? With a gentle
breeze, and the powerful engine at work, we seemed to be flying to the
embrace of our British neighbours.
The next morning I was up before the sun, and found that we were within
a few miles of Liverpool. The taking of a pilot on board at eleven
o'clock, warned us to prepare to quit our ocean palace and seek other
quarters. At a little past three o'clock, the ship cast anchor, and we
were all tumbled, bag and baggage, into a small steamer, and in a few
moments were at the door of the Custom-House. The passage had only been
nine days and twenty-two hours, the quickest on record at that time, yet
it was long enough. I waited nearly three hours before my name was
called, and when it was, I unlocked my trunks and handed them over to
one of the officers, whose dirty hands made no improvement on the work
of the laundress. First one article was taken out, and then another,
till an _Iron Collar_ that had been worn by a female slave on the banks
of the Mississippi, was hauled out, and this democratic instrument of
torture became the centre of attraction; so much so, that instead of
going on with the examination, all hands stopped to look at the "Negro
Collar."
Several of my countrymen who were standing by, were not a little
displeased at answers which I gave to questions on the subject of
Slavery; but they held their peace. The interest created by the
appearance of the Iron Collar, closed the examination of my luggage. As
if afraid that they would find something more hideous, they put the
Custom-House mark on each piece, and passed them out, and I was soon
comfortably installed at Brown's Temperance Hotel, Clayton Square.
No person of my complexion can visit this country without being struck
with the marked difference between the English and the Americans. The
prejudice which I have experienced on all and every occasion in the
United States, and to some extent on board the _Canada_, vanished as
soon as I set foot on the soil of Britain. In America I had been bought
and sold as a slave, in the Southern States. In the so-called free
States, I had been treated as one born to occupy an inferior
position,--in steamers, compelled to take my fare on the deck; in
hotels, to take my meals in the kitchen; in coaches, to ride on the
outside; in railways, to ride in the "negro car;" and in churches, to
sit in the "negro pew." But no sooner was I on British soil, than I was
recognised as a man, and an equal. The very dogs in the streets
appeared conscious of my manhood. Such is the difference, and such is
the change that is brought about by a trip of nine days in an Atlantic
steamer.
I was not more struck with the treatment of the people, than with the
appearance of the great seaport of the world. The grey appearance of the
stone piers and docks, the dark look of the magnificent warehouses, the
substantial appearance of every thing around, causes one to think
himself in a new world instead of the old. Every thing in Liverpool
looks old, yet nothing is worn out. The beautiful villas on the opposite
side of the river, in the vicinity of Birkenhead, together with the
countless number of vessels in the river, and the great ships to be seen
in the stream, give life and animation to the whole scene.
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