nd no anti-slavery organization
existed whose object was to aid fugitive slaves in obtaining an
honourable subsistence in the land of their exile. In most cases they
are thrown upon the support of a few warm-hearted anti-slavery advocates
in this country, pre-eminent among whom stands Mr. Brown's earliest
friend, Mr. George Thompson, M.P., whose house is rarely free from one
or more of those who have acquired the designation of his "American
constituents." This want has recently been attempted to be supplied,
partly through Mr. Brown's exertions, and partly by the establishment of
the Anglo-American Anti-Slavery Association.

On the 1st of August, 1851, a meeting of the most novel character was
held at the Hall of Commerce, London, being a soiree given by fugitive
slaves in this country to Mr. George Thompson, on his return from his
American mission on behalf of their race. That meeting was most ably
presided over by Mr. Brown, and the speeches made upon the occasion by
fugitive slaves were of the most interesting and creditable description.
Although a residence in Canada is infinitely preferable to slavery in
America, yet the climate of that country is uncongenial to the
constitutions of the fugitive slaves, and their lack of education is an
almost insuperable barrier to their social progress. The latter evil Mr.
Brown attempted to remedy by the establishment of a Manual Labour School
in Canada.

A public meeting, attended by between 3000 and 4000 persons, was
convened by Mr. Brown, on the 6th of January, 1851, in the City Hall,
Glasgow, presided over by Mr. Hastie, one of the representatives of that
city, at which meeting a resolution was unanimously passed approving of
Mr. Brown's scheme, which scheme, however, never received that amount of
support which would have enabled him to bring it into practice; and the
plan at present only remains as an evidence of its author's ingenuity
and desire for the elevation of his depressed race. Mr. Brown
subsequently made, through the columns of the _Times_ newspaper, a
proposition for the emigration of American fugitive slaves, under fair
and honourable terms, to the West Indies, where there is a great lack of
that tillage labour which they are so capable of undertaking. This
proposition has hitherto met with no better fate than its predecessor.

Mr. Brown's literary abilities may be partly judged of from the
following pages. The amount of knowledge and education he has acquire