Connon's Hotel, Edinburgh, Jan. 1st, 1851.
Dear Douglass:—
You will see by the date of this, that I am spending my New Year's day, in the Scotch Capital, in company with our friend Wm. Craft. I come by invitation to attend a meeting of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society.
The meeting was holden on Monday evening last, at which Wm. Craft gave, for the first time, since his arrival in this country, a history of his escape from Georgia, two years ago, together with his recent flight from Boston.
Craft's reception was one of deep enthusiasm, and his story was well told, and made a powerful impression on the audience. I would that the slaveholders, Hughs and Knight, could have been present and hear the thundering applause with which our friend was received on the following evening. Craft attended a meeting of the Edinburgh Total Abstinence Society, before which I lectured, and his appearance here was also [heard] with much enthusiasm. Our friend bids fair to become a favorite with the Scotch.
Much regret was expressed that Ellen was not present. She was detained in Liverpool by indisposition. But Mrs. Craft has so far recovered, that we expect her here to-morrow.
The appearance of these two fugitives in Great Britain, at this time, and under the circumstances, will aid our cause, and create a renewed hatred to the abominable institution of American slavery. I have received letters from a number of the friends of the slave, in which they express a wish to aid the Crafts, and among the first of these, were our good friends, John B. Estlin, Esq., of Bristol, and Harriet Martineau.
But I must give you my impression of this free city. Edinburgh is the most picturesque of all the towns which I have visited since my arrival in this father-land. Its [ ] has been compared to that of Athens, but it is said that the modern Athens is superior to the ancient. I was deeply impressed with the idea that I had seen the most beautiful of cities, after beholding those fashionable resorts, Paris and Versailles. I have seen nothing in the way of public grounds to compare with the gardens of Versailles, or the Champs Elyses and as for statuary, the latter place is said to take the lead of the rest of world.
The general appearance of Edinburgh pre-possesses one in its favor. The town being built upon the brows of a large terrace, presents the most wonderful perspective. Its first appearance to a stranger and the first impression, can scarcely be but favorable. In my first walk through the town, I was struck with the difference in the appearance of the people from the English. But the difference between the Scotch and the Americans, are very great. The cheerfulness depicted in the countenances of the people here, and their free and easy appearance, is very striking to a stranger. He who taught the sun to shine, the flowers to bloom, the birds to sing, and blesses us with rain, never intended that his creatures should look sad. There is a wide difference between the Americans and any other people which I have seen. The Scotch are healthy and robust, unlike the long-faced, sickly look Americans.
While on our journey from London to Paris, to attend the Peace Congress, I could but observe the marked difference between the English and American delegates. The former look as if their pockets had been filled with sandwiches, made of good bread and roast beef, while the latter appeared as if their pockets had been filled with Holloway's Pills, and Mrs. Kidder's Cordial.
I breakfasted this morning in a room in which the poet Burns, as I was informed, had often sat. The convention here turned upon Burns, and the lady of the house pointed to a scrap of poetry which was in a frame and hanging on the wall. It was written, as she said, by the poet, on hearing the people rejoicing in a church over the intelligence of a victory. I copied it and will give it to you.

"Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks?

To murder men and give God thanks?

For shame! give o'er, proceed no further,

God won't accept your thanks for murder."

The fact that I was in the room where Scotland's great national poet had been a visitor, caused me to feel that I was on classic, if not hallowed ground. On returning from our morning visit, we met a gentlemen with a colored lady on each arm. Craft remark in a very dry manner, "If they were in Georgia, the slaveholders would make them walk in a more hurried gait than they do." I said to my friend, that if he meant the pro-slavery prejudice would not suffer them to walk peaceably through the streets, they need go no further than the pro-slavery cities of New York or Philadelphia. When walking through the streets, I amused myself, by watching Craft's countenance; and in doing so, I seem to see the changes experienced by every fugitive slave in his first month's residence in this country. A sixteen month's residency has not yet familiarized with me the change.
On Monday evening next, we have a meeting in the City Hall, Glasgow, over which Mr. Hastin, M. P. is to preside. I will try to give you some account of the meeting. I must conclude this hasty scrawl by wishing you "a happy New Year."
Yours right truly,
Wm. Wells BrownBrown, William Wells

William Wells Brown (c. 1814-84) was born a slave in Lexington, Kentucky, but escaped to freedom in Ohio in 1834, taking the name Wells Brown from a Quaker man who aided his escape. After settling in Cleveland, he worked on a Lake Erie steamboat, from which he helped many fugitive slaves escape to Canada. In the 1840s he moved his family to New York, where he began lecturing for the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society and the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (1843-49). Brown was active in universal reform movements advocating temperance, women's rights, and prison reform. Brown studied medicine informally, but chose to remain active in reforms instead of committing to professional medical practice. In 1847, Brown published his first book, Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself, and moved to Boston. From 1849 to 1854 he traveled and lectured in Europe, meeting many prominent figures and publishing two more books: Three Years in Europe; Or, Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met (1852) and Clotel; Or, The President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States (1853), the first novel known to be written by an African American. After friends in England purchased his freedom in 1854, he returned to the United States to continue his work in the abolitionist, temperance, woman suffrage, and prison reform movements. He also wrote four books about African American history, including The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements, which appeared in 1863 and ran through ten editions in three years. During the Civil War, Brown joined Douglass in recruiting blacks for the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Lib., 12 January 1855; London Lancet, 6 December 1884; R. J. M. Blackett, Beating against the Barriers: The Lives of Six Nineteenth-Century Afro-Americans (Ithaca, N.Y., 1986), 45, 48, 95-96, 101-02; Pease and Pease, They Who Would Be Free, 35, 42, 50-51; DAB, 3:161; DANB, 71-73. .