London New Monthly Magazine
The Unionist 1833-08-08
Unionist content
ANECDOTE.—The following anecdote is related in the London New Monthly Magazine for last month.
In that inglorious attack on Buenos Ayres, where our brave soldiers were disgraced by a recreant general, the negroes, slaves as they were, joined the inhabitants to expel the invaders. On this signal occasion, the city decreed a public expression of their gratitude to the negroes, in a sort of triumph, and at the same time awarded the freedom of eighty of their leaders. One of them having shown his claims to the boon, declared that to obtain his freedom had all his life formed the proud object of his wishes; his claim was indisputable; yet now however, to the amazement of the judges, he refused his proffered freedom! The reason he alleged was a singular refinement of heartfelt sensibility: ‘My kind mistress,’ said the negro, ‘once wealthy, has fallen into misfortunes in her infirm old age. I work to maintain her, and at intervals of leisure she leans on my arm to take the evening air. I will not be tempted to abandon her; and I renounce the hope of freedom that she may know she possesses a slave who will never quit her side.'
This is a serious misstep, as it enhaces a stereotype of the gentle slave who remains loyal to the master even when freedom is allowed. This sort of tone-deafness doesn't happen much in later issues.