Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-11-07

The Rev. William Troy a coored minister,
delivered an address on Thursday evening, at
the Old King street Baptist schoolroom, on
the moral and the religious condition OF the
fugitive slaves Of Canada. The chairman
(lhe Rev. f. Bosworth having opened the
proceedings with prayer, the lecturer com.
menced by adverting to the laws of the south
ern states of America, which allowed the
slave owner to consider his slaves as part of
his goods and chattes, which he might sell or
mortgage as real estate They were not al
lowed to receive any education, and had no
opportunity for caring for their spiritual well
fare. Since the year 1920, when the first
twenty slaves were taken to America, there
had been continual sorrow, weeping groans
and shedding of tears among the African
race and if, said the speaker, he stood be-
fore them until he grew old with age, he could
not tell them all the scenes of cruelty and
misery he himself had Witnessed He said
that this contempt with which they were
treated by the laws of the American states
had followed them into Canada. He regretted
that the fugitive slaves of Canada should be
thought so degraded he would admit that,
not having opportunities tOr education, they
were ignorant, and his great wonder was that
they were not worse than they were. There
were about As 900 fugitive slaves in Canada,
who have escaped from the slave states, and
were enjoying the privileges of freedom
and yet even in The town of Windsor
in Canada West, where he resided the pre-.
judice against people of color had so fol-
lowed them from the States, that his children
were not allowed to attend the schoolhouse,
for which he, in company with others of the
colored population, paid annual taxes. Upon
his demonstrating with the trustees OF the
school, they told him that if he would find
person who would teach a class of coored
children they would try to obtain a separate
school for them. Thus, though they paid
taxes for school education, they were denied
its privileges; and, as their only chance of
Improvement was education, they had built
schools and chapels OF their own. In speaking
of the industry of the fugitive slaves, the
lecturer said he had known number of in
stances in which they had learned trades and
supported themselves and families shortly
after their arrival. They cultivated the ground
equally as well as their neighbours and some
OF them had managed to purchase farms of
fifty to two hundred acres There were about
eight hundred in the town of Windsor, several
OF whom were men of property. AS regarded
their morals, because they were not all moral,
it was said they were all degraded. Ii was
impossible, he said, that among forty thousand
persons there should be none found immoral.
But it was the purpose of the pro slavery
parry W lldhc lIclu appear W w IiphC
TO immortality and laziness, and therefore
give out that it was infinitely better to keep
them in a state Of bondage. If a black man
became member of church, he must take
his seat away up IN the gallery if the Lords
supper was administered, the colored mem.
bers were compelled to wait till the white men
had partakcn, when they came down after,
wards and shared in the communion by them
selves. There was a disposition in them to
love the worship of God, and Willingness to
hear the gospel He had preached to two
thousand OF these persons at a time, and when.
ever they heard OF Christ and Him crucified,
they seemed anxious to listen to what the
preacher said This eyinced their improved
moral condition, aud wat sufficient to contra.
dict the assertions of their enemies about their
degraded condition. The speaker alluded to
the destitute condition of the fugitves upon
their arrival, some of them having come a
distance of 1900 miles lie had seen men ar
rive with their legs irostbitten by the severi-
ties of the weather, and women carrying their