CHARACTER AND DEATH OF I. LEWIS.
I have spoken in the preceding chapter, of a visit from the Rev. S.E.
Cornish, to the colony. He had previously written me, concerning the
object of his proposed visit, which was to obtain the depositions of the
board of managers, relative to all the money received through their agents
for the colony. He was sent to Canada then, and once afterwards, for and
at the expense of A. Tappan, on business pertaining to the law-suit
instituted by I. Lewis against that gentleman, for defamation of
character. The depositions taken in the colony, with the expense of twice
sending an agent to Canada, must have made a round sum for that kind
gentleman to pay, merely for telling a truth already known!
Mr. Cornish had also been informed of my intention to leave the colony,
and that my family were already gone. He, knowing something concerning the
state of things, urged me to remain at least, until his arrival, as will
be seen by a reference to his letter in the appendix.
As I look back on those scenes of labor and trial, I find cause for
deep humiliation and gratitude to God, for His goodness and gracious
protection, over my frail life, through unseen dangers of various kinds,
and for his continued favors and unmerited blessings. Many of my fellow
men have fallen in death's cold embrace since that time, while my health
and life has been mercifully preserved.
Three of the leading characters of the Wilberforce colony are now dead.
Rev. Benjamin Paul, lies in the silent grave-yard in Wilberforce, C.W. His
brother, Rev. Nathaniel Paul, also sleeps the dreamless sleep of death,
and his dust rests in the beautiful cemetery in Albany, N.Y.
Israel Lewis has also finished his earthly career after robbing the poor
of their just dues, and persecuting those who endeavored to defend them;
after living in extravagance--"faring sumptuously every day,"--he became
reduced in circumstances; despised and dishonored, his proud spirit was at
last broken. His health gave way; when at length, unattended and alone, he
found his way to a hospital in Montreal, where he soon after died, leaving
not enough of all his gains to afford him a decent burial!
Oh, what a reward "for all his labor under the sun!" His fame, his wealth,
and his law-suits, all have perished with his memory. Poor man!
Israel Lewis was born a slave, raised on a Southern plantation, and
subjected to all the cruelties and deprivations of a bondman. His natural
abilities were above mediocrity, but having never had the advantages of an
education, or the privileges of a society calculated to cultivate and
refine his natural aspiring intellect, and to direct his indomitable will
in the acquirement of the more imperishable graces of the human heart, he
had come to manhood with a determined, selfish disposition, to accomplish
whatever gratified his vanity or administered to the wants of his animal
nature.
And may we not, with propriety here inquire, whether our common Father,
who has declared himself to be "no respecter of persons," has endowed men
with enlarged capacities for the attainment of that knowledge and wisdom,
so requisite to the elevation of character,--for the express purpose
of seeing them made beasts of burden, and their superior faculties
prostituted by the sensuality imposed by Slavery, and to be sold as
chattels, with impunity? I tell you, nay. The day when Almighty God will
avenge the work of his own hands, hasteth greatly! Were it not so, we
might rejoice in the ignorance of the poor slaves, and pray that none of
them may ever be endowed with a superior intellect to that of the brutes
they are made to resemble. Then would the proud spirit no longer chafe,
and manhood writhe in the unbroken chain; but, like the ox to the yoke or
the horse to the harness, they might submit, without a conscious violation
of their dearest and God given rights. But we were speaking of Israel
Lewis.
A natural energy and strength of character, he had inherited; a malicious,
selfish, and consequently a deceptive disposition, his life as a slave had
undoubtedly bestowed upon him. Intellect must have scope, and when nothing
is left within its grasp but vice, can we wonder that the slave possessing
the most talent, should generally prove the greatest villain.
Uneducated as was Lewis, his quick perception, his ungoverned passions,
and his native independence, not only made him a dangerous slave, but an
unfaithful and overbearing companion. He, however, took a wife--a slave
like himself,--whose devotedness and good sense, cannot be made manifest,
more than in her willingness to leave all that was dear to her on earth,
and flee from their birth-place, she knew not whither; but confiding in
the professed love and protection of her husband, she cheerfully followed
him to the dense forest, in search of that freedom, denied them in their
native country,--submitting herself gladly to all the hardships and
fearful anxieties of a fugitive slave. What to her were horsemen, armed
with dirk and rifle! What though the trained and inhuman blood-hound bayed
upon their track! Was not he who had sworn a life-long allegiance to her
by her side! Should he be killed or retaken, what could she desire, but to
be his companion still! Slavery even, bitter as was the cup, might contain
for her _one sweet drop_, while connubial love lighted up their rude
cabin, and sweetened their daily toil; but the additional anticipation of
LIBERTY, to their domestic happiness--oh blessed hope! How it quickened
their weary footsteps, and, with fixed eyes upon the star of the North,
they pressed forward through every difficulty, until they finally reached
Cincinnati, O. There they lived quietly, and with others, suffered the
terrors of the mob, where also he was chosen agent, to seek a more safe
and quiet home for his afflicted and outcast countrymen. The office was
accepted, and Lewis became the founder of the Wilberforce colony.
The personal appearance of Israel Lewis was prepossessing; his manner and
address easy and commanding. To those unacquainted with his private life,
his ungoverned passions, and his unprincipled, revengeful disposition, he
could appear the gentleman, the philanthropist, and the Christian.
His education was limited; yet he had managed to gather a sufficient
knowledge of the sciences to enable him to read and write, together with
quite a fund of general information; and then his shrewdness and tact
accomplished all the rest. To strangers he could appear a ripe scholar, if
left unquestioned. He was a good speaker, and once spake with eloquence
and marked effect before the Legislature, assembled in the Senate Chamber,
at Albany, N.Y.
Had the childhood of Mr. Lewis been passed under more favorable auspices;
had his intellectual faculties been so cultivated as to predominate over
his animal propensities, and his towering aspirations directed toward the
accomplishment of acts, lofty in their benevolence, noble in their
sacrifice, high in their honorable purpose, and great in their purity; I
can but believe that his powerful intellect would have achieved the fame
of a Lundy, or would have bequeathed to his brethren a memory like that of
a Clarkson. Instead, we have found him devoting his energies to the
gratification of his avarice, pride, and ambition--characteristics
directly opposed to the deportment of the humble Christian, and such as
our Heavenly Father has never promised to prosper. How truly has "the wise
man" said, "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that
hateth gifts shall live." How strikingly has this passage been verified in
the course of Lewis! For a few paltry sums of gain, could he consent, not
alone to rob the poor, for whom it was kindly given as unto the Lord, but
to turn scornfully away from that poor, illiterate, and humble slave wife,
whom he had, in their mutual adversity, vowed to cherish in _prosperity_
as well as in all other circumstances through life. That wife, who had
borne with him the sorrows of Slavery--the humble choice of a bondman!
She, who fled with him anticipating additional happiness in a life of
freedom! Poor woman! Disappointment is of an earthly growth, yet God is
merciful; notwithstanding we have the same authority as above, for saying
that "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished."
In the hands of a righteous Judge we leave him, who, for the wealth that
perisheth,--who, for worldly honor and selfish gratification, could barter
his honesty and integrity, as "Esau, who sold his birth-right for a mess
of pottage."
To me the lesson is an impressive one, and I am thinking it would be well
for us all to examine the foundation on which we stand. If based upon the
solid and broad foundation of christianity, doing to others in all things
as we would they should do to us, sacrificing on all occasions our own
ease, and worldly honor, for the benefit of our fellow-men, and the
good of our country, then indeed, we need fear no evil; if the winds
of adversity howl about our dwelling, we shall find it will stand,
being founded on a ROCK. But if we build upon "the sands" of fame or
self-aggrandizement, and, like the towering oak, lift our insignificant
heads in proud defiance of the coming storm, we may expect that our
superstruction will fall! "And great will be the fall of it!"