DISINTERESTEDNESS OF OUR CONVICTIONS. 325 



in a boclj, had the most disinterested wish for the 

 amelioration of the condition of the black races held 

 in thraldom by their white cotempories, (or, to use 

 the words of Lucy Stone, they had " a fellow-feeling 

 in their bosoms for the oppressed of all nations," 

 thouffh whether the "fellow" ever found these mar- 

 tyrs I do not know). Here, I repeat, is an excellent 

 field for their Address ; though, as to whether it will 

 meet with the same contumelious reception as it did 

 in the "land of the free," or meet with a reception 

 adequate to its fitness for the city of Port Louis, 

 a trial only can determine. Perhaps the editor of 

 the Thunderer could bring the feasibility of such a 

 proceeding to the notice of those fair reformers 

 through the columns of his widely-circulated journal. 



In writing the above description of the apprentice- 

 system, I have not only embodied my own, but the 

 collective convictions of the whole crew of the vessel ; 

 and, as two-thirds of them were from Massachusetts, 

 their opinions, if not my own, are worthy of belief: 

 beside, there was no Southerner aboard, to convert 

 us to Southern opinions — not one of us having been 

 reared to the southward of Mason and Dixon's line ; 

 80 that no personal interest or feeling swa3's our 

 description of this evil. Hence I think that our 

 observations are entitled to the regard of those 

 who laud the freedom, philanthropy, and disin- 

 terestedness of the government of the British Islands 

 at the expense of our own; and if I can enable 

 but one of them to see and confess the error of his 

 or her ways, I shall consider ray labor well repaid. 

 And here I now leave this subject. 



I cannot imagine why whalers visit this port in 

 28 



