Several of my countrymen who were standing by, were not a little displeased at answers which I gave to questions on the subject of Slavery; but they held their peace.  The interest created by the appearance of the Iron Collar, closed the examination of my luggage.  As if afraid that they would find something more hideous, they put the Custom-House mark on each piece, and passed them out, and I was soon comfortably installed at Brown’s Temperance Hotel, Clayton Square.

No person of my complexion can visit this country without being struck with the marked difference between the English and the Americans.  The prejudice which I have experienced on all and every occasion in the United States, and to some extent on board the Canada, vanished as soon as I set foot on the soil of Britain.  In America I had been bought and sold as a slave, in the Southern States.  In the so-called free States, I had been treated as one born to occupy an inferior position,—­in steamers, compelled to take my fare on the deck; in hotels, to take my meals in the kitchen; in coaches, to ride on the outside; in railways, to ride in the “negro car;” and in churches, to sit in the “negro pew.”  But no sooner was I on British soil, than I was recognised as a man, and an equal.  The very dogs in the streets appeared conscious of my manhood.  Such is the difference, and such is the change that is brought about by a trip of nine days in an Atlantic steamer.

I was not more struck with the treatment of the people, than with the appearance of the great seaport of the world.  The grey appearance of the stone piers and docks, the dark look of the magnificent warehouses, the substantial appearance of every thing around, causes one to think himself in a new world instead of the old.  Every thing in Liverpool looks old, yet nothing is worn out.  The beautiful villas on the opposite side of the river, in the vicinity of Birkenhead, together with the countless number of vessels in the river, and the great ships to be seen in the stream, give life and animation to the whole scene.

Every thing in and about Liverpool seems to be built for the future as well as the present.  We had time to examine but few of the public buildings, the first of which was the Custom-House, an edifice that would be an ornament to any city in the world.

For the first time in my life, I can say “I am truly free.”  My old master may make his appearance here, with the Constitution of the United States in his pocket, the Fugitive Slave Law in one hand and the chains in the other, and claim me as his property, but all will avail him nothing.  I can here stand and look the tyrant in the face, and tell him that I am his equal!  England is, indeed, the “land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

LETTER II.

Trip to Ireland—­Dublin—­Her Majesty’s Visit—­Illumination of the City—­the Birth-Place of Thomas Moore—­a Reception.