statement were accordingly engrossed in a Petition, which Dr. Lushington
offered to present, and to give notice at the same time of his intention
to bring in a Bill to provide for the entire emancipation of all slaves
brought to England with the owner's consent. But before this step was
taken, Dr. Lushington again had recourse to negotiation with the master;
and, partly through the friendly intervention of Mr. Manning, partly by
personal conference, used every persuasion in his power to induce Mr. Wood
to relent and let the bondwoman go free. Seeing the matter thus seriously
taken up, Mr. Wood became at length alarmed,--not relishing, it appears,
the idea of having the case publicly discussed in the House of Commons;
and to avert this result he submitted to temporize--assumed a demeanour of
unwonted civility, and even hinted to Mr. Manning (as I was given to
understand) that if he was not driven to utter hostility by the threatened
exposure, he would probably meet our wishes "in his own time and way."
Having gained time by these manoeuvres, he adroitly endeavoured to cool
the ardour of Mary's new friends, in her cause, by representing her as an
abandoned and worthless woman, ungrateful towards him, and undeserving of
sympathy from others; allegations which he supported by the ready
affirmation of some of his West India friends, and by one or two plausible
letters procured from Antigua. By these and like artifices he appears
completely to have imposed on Mr. Manning, the respectable West India
merchant whom Dr. Lushington had asked to negotiate with him; and he
prevailed so far as to induce Dr. Lushington himself (actuated by the
benevolent view of thereby best serving Mary's cause,) to abstain from any
remarks upon his conduct when the petition was at last presented in
Parliament. In this way he dextrously contrived to neutralize all our
efforts, until the close of the Session of 1829; soon after which he
embarked with his family for the West Indies.

Every exertion for Mary's relief having thus failed; and being fully