The History of Mary Prince - A West Indian Slave by Mary Prince
page 57 of 84 (67%)
page 57 of 84 (67%)
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Furthermore, Mary's petition _was_ presented, as Mr. Wood ought to know;
though it was not discussed, nor his conduct exposed as it ought to have been. 9. He speaks of the liability he should incur, under the Consolidated Slave Law, of dealing with a free person as a slave. Is not this pretext hypocritical in the extreme? What liability could he possibly incur by voluntarily resigning the power, conferred on him by an iniquitous colonial law, of re-imposing the shackles of slavery on the bondwoman from whose limbs they had fallen when she touched the free soil of England?--There exists no liability from which he might not have been easily secured, or for which he would not have been fully compensated. He adds in a postscript that Mary had a considerable sum of money with her,--from £36 to £40 at least, which she had saved in his service. The fact is, that she had at one time 113 dollars in cash; but only a very small portion of that sum appears to have been brought by her to England, the rest having been partly advanced, as she states, to assist her husband, and partly lost by being lodged in unfaithful custody. Finally, Mr. Wood repeats twice that it will afford him great pleasure to state for the governor's satisfaction, if required, such particulars of "the woman Molly," upon incontestable evidence, as he is sure will acquit him in his Excellency's opinion "of acting unkind or ungenerous towards her." This is well: and I now call upon Mr. Wood to redeem his pledge;--to bring forward facts and proofs fully to elucidate the subject;--to reconcile, if he can, the extraordinary discrepancies which I have pointed out between |
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