I HAVE often been asked to write my life, as those who know me know
that it has been an eventful one. At last I have acceded to the
importunities of my friends, and have hastily sketched some of the
striking incidents that go to make up my history. My life, so full
of romance, may sound like a dream to the matter-of-fact reader,
nevertheless everything I have written is strictly true; much has
been omitted, but nothing has been exaggerated. In writing as I
have done, I am well aware that I have invited criticism; but
before the critic judges harshly, let my explanation be carefully
read and weighed. If I have portrayed the dark side of slavery, I
also have painted the bright side. The good that I have said of
human servitude should be thrown into the scales with the evil that
I have said of it. I have kind, true-hearted friends in the South
as well as in the North, and I would not wound those Southern
friends by sweeping condemnation, simply because I was once a
slave. They were not so much responsible for the curse under which
I was born, as the God of nature and the fathers who framed the
Constitution for the United States. The law descended to them, and
it was but natural that they should recognize it, since it
manifestly was their interest to do so. And yet a wrong was
inflicted upon me; a cruel custom deprived me of my liberty, and
since I was robbed of my dearest right, I would not have been human
had I not rebelled against the robbery. God rules the Universe. I
was a feeble instrument in His hands, and through me and the
enslaved millions of my race, one of the problems was solved that
belongs to the great problem of human destiny; and the solution was
developed so gradually that there was no great convulsion of the
harmonies of natural laws. A solemn truth was thrown to the
surface, and what is better still, it was recognized as a truth by
those who give force to moral laws. An act may be wrong, but unless
the ruling power recognizes the wrong, it is useless to hope for a
correction of it. Principles may be right, but they are not
established within an hour. The masses are slow to reason, and each
principle, to acquire moral force, must come to us from the fire of
the crucible; the fire may inflict unjust punishment, but then it
purifies and renders stronger the principle, not in itself, but in
the eyes of those who arrogate judgment to themselves. When the war
of the Revolution established the independence of the American
colonies, an evil was perpetuated, slavery was more firmly
established; and since the evil had been planted, it must pass
through certain stages before it could be eradicated. In fact, we
give but little thought to the plant of evil until it grows to such
monstrous proportions that it overshadows important interests; then
the efforts to destroy it become earnest. As one of the victims of
slavery I drank of the bitter water; but then, since destiny willed
it so, and since I aided in bringing a solemn truth to the surface
as a truth, perhaps I have no right to complain. Here, as in all
things pertaining to life, I can afford to be charitable.
General
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