"I forgot to mention that it was at her own special request
that she accompanied me to England--and also that she had a
considerable sum of money with her, which she had saved in
my service. I knew of £36 to £40, at least, for I had some
trouble to recover it from a white man, to whom she had lent
it.

"J. A. W."

Such is Mr. Wood's justification of his conduct in thus obstinately
refusing manumission to the Negro-woman who had escaped from his "house of
bondage."

Let us now endeavour to estimate the validity of the excuses assigned, and
the allegations advanced by him, for the information of Governor Sir
Patrick Ross, in this deliberate statement of his case.

1. To allow the woman to return home free, would, he affirms "be to reward
the worst species of ingratitude."

He assumes, it seems, the sovereign power of pronouncing a virtual
sentence of banishment, for the alleged crime of ingratitude. Is this then
a power which any man ought to possess over his fellow-mortal? or which
any good man would ever wish to exercise? And, besides, there is no
evidence whatever, beyond Mr. Wood's mere assertion, that Mary Prince owed
him or his family the slightest mark of gratitude. Her account of the
treatment she received in his service, _may_ be incorrect; but her simple
statement is at least supported by minute and feasible details, and,
unless rebutted by positive facts, will certainly command credence from
impartial minds more readily than his angry accusation, which has