London
Alexander Hamilton
I was brought up in St. Louis, Mo.,—was not very badly used, except that I was not taught to read nor write,—I was not used well enough to stay there. I have seen many very badly used, and many sent down the river to the south. It was a common thing to take off a drove for a cotton farm. I never heard that it was intended to sell me; but I knew it might be so, and I thought I would make hay while the sun shone. I left St. Louis in ’34, at the age of about eighteen. We do n’t know our ages exactly.
I knew one man to cut off the fingers of his left hand with an axe, to prevent his being sold South. I knew of another who on hearing that he was sold shot himself: I saw physicians dissecting this man afterward. I knew of a woman who had several children by her master, who on being sold, ran down to the river and drowned herself: I saw the body after it was taken from the water.
I think that God made all men to be free and equal,—not one to be a slave. Other nations have abolished slavery, and there is no reason why the United States cannot do the same thing. We would many of us like to live in the United States were it not for slavery.
Many separations I have seen,—dragging husbands from wives, children from their mother, and sending them where they could not expect to see each other again.
I reached Canada in 1834. I had only a dollar and a half. I had no need to beg, for I found work at once. I have done well since I came here: have made a good living and something more. I own real estate in London,—three houses and several lots of land. It is a healthy country—Canada.
The colored people in London are all making a living: there is no beggar among them. Some of us would like to live in the South if slavery was done away with, and the laws were right. I am naturalized here, and have all the rights and privileges of a British subject.
Many have gone about, collecting money and clothes for fugitives, but I think that is not necessary now: they can get work.
A great many fugitives are coming into London, they are coming almost every day.