nd some twelve
negro families, men, women and children, were committed to jail on the
charge of sheep stealing. The cases of petit larceny are incredibly
numerous in every township containing negro settlements, and it is a
fact that frequently the criminal calendars would be bare of a
prosecution but for the negro prisoners.

"The offenses of the blacks are not wholly confined to those of a light
character. Occasionally some horrible crime startles the community, and
is almost invariably attended by a savage ferocity peculiar to the
vicious negro. If a murder is committed by a black, it is generally of
an aggravated and brutal nature. The offense of rape is unfortunately
peculiarly prevalent among the negroes. Nearly every assize is marked by
a charge of this character. A prominent lawyer of the Province, who has
held the position of public prosecutor, told me that his greatest dread
was of this offense, for that experience had taught him that no white
woman was safe at all times, from assault, and those who were rearing
daughters in that part of Canada, might well tremble at the danger by
which they are threatened. He told me that he never saw a really brutal
look on the human face until he beheld the countenances of the negroes
charged with the crime of rape. When the lust comes over them they are
worse than the wild beast of the forest. Last year, in broad daylight, a
respectable white woman, while walking in the public road within the
town of Chatham, was knocked down by a black savage and violated. This
year, near Windsor, the wife of a wealthy farmer, while driving alone
in a wagon, was stopped by a negro in broad daylight, dragged out into
the road, and criminally assaulted in a most inhuman manner. It was
impossible to hear the recital of these now common crimes without a
shudder.

"The fugitive slaves go into Canada as beggars, and the mass of them
commit larceny and lay in jail until they become lowered and debased,
and ready for worse crimes. Nor does there seem at present a prospect of
education doing much to better their condition, for they do not appear
anxious to avail themselves of school privileges as a general rule. The
worse class of blacks are too poor and too indolent to clothe their
children in the winter, and their services are wanted at home in the
summer. The better class affect airs as soon as they become tolerably
well to do, and refuse to send their little ones to any but white
schools. In