Page:The Laboring Classes of England.djvu/11

 THE

INTRODUCTION.

In offering the following work to the public, I have been actuated by a desire to diffuse as widely as possible the information it contains; believing it will be interesting and instructive to every well-wisher of the human race.

I have been led to publish the following facts, in consequence of the curiosity manifested by almost every person with whom I have become acquainted in America, to know my history, &c. So great has been the desire to question me upon this subject, that I have felt it, sometimes, to be my duty to refuse to give any information; my own feelings requiring me to forget, as far as possible, the injuries of former years. Whenever I feel my heart beat quicker, occasioned by a retrospective view of my sufferings, my peace of mind demands that I should instantly cry, "peace, be still." I believe, that had I fallen from some distant planet in the Solar system, the desire to know my history, and that of my species, could not have been greater. A single glance at my person, 1*