CONCLUSION
MY narrative has now come to a close. I may be asked, and no doubt
shall, Are the various incidents and scenes related founded in
truth? I answer, Yes. I have personally participated in many of
those scenes. Some of the narratives I have derived from other
sources; many from the lips of those who, like myself, have run
away from the land of bondage. Having been for nearly nine years
employed on Lake Erie, I had many opportunities for helping the
escape of fugitives, who, in return for the assistance they
received, made me the depositary of their sufferings and wrongs.
Of their relations I have made free use. To Mrs. Child, of New
York, I am indebted for part of a short story. American
Abolitionist journals are another source from whence some of the
characters appearing in my narrative are taken. All these
combined have made up my story. Having thus acknowledged my
resources, I invite the attention of my readers to the following
statement, from which I leave them to draw their own
conclusions:--"It is estimated that in the United States, members
of the Methodist church own 219,363 slaves; members of the
Baptist church own 226,000 slaves; members of the Episcopalian
church own 88,000 slaves; members of the Presbyterian church own
77,000 slaves; members of all other churches own 50,000 slaves;
in all, 660,563 slaves owned by members of the Christian church
in this pious democratic republic!"
May these facts be pondered over by British Christians, and at the
next anniversaries of the various religious denominations in
London may their influence be seen and felt! The religious
bodies of American Christians will send their delegates to these
meetings. Let British feeling be publicly manifested. Let British
sympathy express itself in tender sorrow for the condition of my
unhappy race. Let it be understood, unequivocally understood, that
no fellowship can be held with slaveholders professing the same
common Christianity as yourselves. And until this stain from
America's otherwise fair escutcheon be wiped away, let no
Christian association be maintained with those who traffic in the
blood and bones of those whom God has made of one flesh as
yourselves. Finally, let the voice of the whole British nation be
heard across the Atlantic, and throughout the length and breadth
of the land of the Pilgrim Fathers, beseeching their descendants,
as they value the common salvation, which knows no distinction
between the bond and the free, to proclaim the Year of Jubilee.
Then shall the "earth indeed yield her increase, and God, even
our own God, shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall
fear Him."