The weekly Anglo-African., 1859-08-20
SPEECH OF WIN. J. WILSON,
DELIVERED AT NEWARK, N. j., AUGUST
1sT, 1859.

orate one OF the most memorable events In
the history of our times. Some remote
finger, passing over the historic page, will
pause and linger round this spot, as its pos
SCISSOR, IN the ecstacy of his joy, exclaims,
"Lo see, here was a people born in
day J" But few days ago, our ears were
greeted with the roar of cannon, and our
eyes beheld the vast heavens red with the
light of patriotic fires, and the hills and
wales were vocal with the voice of the ora
tor. And why these demonstrations of
patriotism The answer comes to us from
the same warm gush of feeling that every
where pervaded that day: 1T is the re-
turn of the day on which our national in
dependence had its birth. Just eighty
three years had rolled away since that
event. Just twenty-five years this day,
100000 bondmen lifted up their hands to
the God of Heaven, and exclaimed, "We
are free p If, as American citizens, we
found cause of rejoicing because of emanci
patton from oppressive laws, shall we not
as such find far greater because of the res
toration to freedom of 100000 fellow-be-
ings, our brethren-not restored to free.
dom merely, but to citizenship, to manhood2
IF the disenthralment from a foreign pow
er was so great an achievement, and is
hailed with somuch joy, is not theunloosen-
ing of thousands of hard pressed bondmen
an achievement still greater And can it
ever be forgotten by us? trust not
A dark cloud once hung over those beau
tiful islands ofthe sea. No single ray of
light penetrated the gloom. Go back with
me to the time before even Wilberforce
or Clarkson appeared, when the dusky
inhabitants of these West India Islands
might be seen with uplifted hands-shack-
led though they wcre-pleading for deliv-
erance. Follow till we perceive their cry
has reached the ear of modest and un-
pretending, though talented youth, who,
through the simple medium of his own col
lege essay, receives the essence Of that cry
into his very soul. Watch him now in his
silent but arduous labors. Behold him in
suited, assaulted, maltreated, yet bearing
all with fortitude and patience-rising at
every stage infinitely superior to all, and
laboring with singleness of purpose and
purity of motive without parallel in
history, and you have before you the phi
lanthropic and inimitable Clarkson, in the
very zenith of his glory, and that glory the
cause of humanity.
Listen now to the mild, but earnest and
resistless, pleadings of Wilberforce; the
manly, the pathetic, and splendid appeals
| of a Burke; the powerful and tremendous
thunderings of a Fox, in the stern, deaf
ear of oppression, and nerved though its
strong arm was with its own gradual atten-
uation, at length it fell paralyzed and pow
erless beside its already decayed and shat
tered body. What moment was that!
and what an epoch will it ever form in the
history of mankind! Then stood 100000
bondmen erect-FREEl and after lapse OF
p years they this day rejoice in the hap
piest results of that freedom and in the
| blessings of glorious prosperity, Of which
| neither the Vaccinations of demagogues
nor the efforts of tyrants can rob them.
The British West Indies are this day free,
and are not only free, but prosperous and
happy / am aware that shareholders and
their abettors, the servile press, and paid
menials, have endeavored to distort this
| truth so as to show an adverse condition of
these islands since emancipation, for these
reasons: If slaves could be emancipated
in the British West Indies without the
shedding of blood, and support themselves
| thereafter without dependence upon some
other than their own arm, and the islands
were still profitable in a commercial sense,
why, then, the whole argument, or rather
| the whole TRADE as to either the propriety,
necessity, or rightfulness of slavery, must
| fall to the pit of oblivion. If the emancl-
pated could sustain these positions, then
the patriarchal institution of the South
must be shorn of its entire support. The
first howl set up by these infamous dogs,
long before the Act of Emancipation pass
ed, was that blood would be shed. The
bill passed, the day for emancipation
rived, and in spite Of their fears, and trem
blings, and howlings, no chickering's oc
Cured, no blood flowed down the hillside
and through the ravines of those beautiful
islands. All was peace and ecstacies of
Joy. Then came the old and Aimsy re-
sort, that negroes could not, and these
would not, (unaided,) take care Of them
selves But the emancipated obtained, by
purchase or otherwise, lands, and COM
menced labor for themselves-for their
own wives and little ones. Homes were
formed, wants supplied, and comforts pro-
duced. The plantation and the master
began to sink into neglect. The once
naughty, insolent, indolent master, became
reduced to his proper level, while the once
trembling slave, by his own efforts, raises
himself to the dignity of man-an hum
bic man, if you will, yet MAN
Then, Eorsooth, we had, by these infa-
nous menial and paid abettors of slavery,
this third and last howl set up, viz: That
these West India Islands were, since
emancipation, non-productive Now sup
pose we grant this-is it any proof of
lack of internal prosperity The real
question here at issue is: Are these islands
and their dusky inhabitants in a prosper
Gus condition at this day2 Suppose own
farm, and the merchants Of the distant
Il. L mol mi