NOTES
Note 1, page 18. The reader may, perhaps, call to mind the beautiful
sonnet of William Wordsworth, addressed to Toussaint L'Ouverture, during
his confinement in France.
"Toussaint!--thou most unhappy man of men
Whether the whistling rustic tends his plough
Within thy hearing, or thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;
O miserable chieftain!--where and when
Wilt thou find patience?--Yet, die not, do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow;
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies,--
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies.
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind."
Note 2, page 67. The Northern author of the Congressional rule against
receiving petitions of the people on the subject of Slavery.
Note 3, page 88. There was at the time when this poem was written an
Association in Liberty County, Georgia, for the religious instruction of
negroes. One of their annual reports contains an address by the Rev.
Josiah Spry Law, in which the following passage occurs: "There is a
growing interest in this community in the religious instruction of
negroes. There is a conviction that religious instruction promotes the
quiet and order of the people, and the pecuniary interest of the
owners.
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