A Letter from Charleston William tells Sophie about the new country: America

Dearest Sophie, I write to you from new shores, in a new country, at the dawn of a new age. Greatly interested by what you told me of Mr Wilberforce in your last letter, I took the liberty of writing to him, to tell him something of my travels and fortunes. He has asked me to set down my story, and to send it to him.

So now I am in America Though I did not wish to remain in the Island, I was prevailed upon by friends to come to work in Kingston, the chief Town of the Island, where I found new employment in the counting- house of an American, Mr. Thomas, who is an importer of Books and Musical Instruments: articles which help to make like more civilised, and which are blessedly free of the taint of slavery, tho’ those who purchase them are all too often exploiters of Human Misery.

By this connection,  I was able to secure a Move to his American Counting House: so here I am, My Dear Sophie – a citizen of the New Country of America! My being from Britain has occasioned some sport at my expense, tho’ I have begged my companions to remember that I am a native of Wales, not of England, with all the distance which that implies.  Indeed this is a vigorous new country: and despite their desire to be free of the shackles of the English crown, they are indeed our cousins.

Sadly, dissent is rife here, too.  In Jamaica, the Agitation for the Abolition of Slavery threatens the livelihood of all, rich and poor. Jamaican needs to continue to import slaves because of the terrible death-rate among them: punitively worked in a harsh environment, and worn out by growing sugar, too few have children to maintain their numbers. So the vile trade goes on.

In America the matter threatens to divide Brother from Brother.  In America, a seemingly more enlightened attitude means that families are likely to remain together more often, and some owners have begun to encourage their charges to form small slave communities. Christian Evangelists have done much work among the slaves, and Churches have been built.

‘If a slave is not to be a Beast, how can he then be denied the rights of a Man?’  However, I cannot see that such ‘Liberal’ notions can continue long without the Slaves themselves questioning their lot. So there you have the paradox – how can one be an Enlightened slave- owner? Or to put it more bluntly – if a slave is not to be a Beast, how can he then be denied the rights of a Man? As one good man – though a slave-owner – said to me the other day: ‘Teach a Slave the Gospel, and he will want to learn to read. Teach him to read, and he is no longer a slave.’ How true!

I foretell that this new country will be pulled apart by this matter: indeed the President, Mr Jefferson, a man for whom I have a warm regard – is himself from a family of planters, and owns slaves.

If slavery is to end As indeed it must, I predict that it will be by the efforts and example of men such as Mr Wilberforce that the end will come. What the British began, they must also end. And I will do all in my power to help.

Already the movement is growing And men and women of goodwill are raising their voices here. Slaves are being helped to freedom, and moving North to more enlightened states. I will myself move to Boston, where one is able to do more, and to speak freely.

Dearest Sophie, I hope to be able to travel home across the sea to Wales for the Celebration of your marriage in the New Year. Until then, I remain Your devoted Brother William