My Bondage And My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

GOOD ARISING OUT OF UNPROPITIOUS EVENTS--DENIED CABIN PASSAGE--PROSCRIPTION TURNED TO GOOD ACCOUNT--THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY--THE MOB ON BOARD THE "CAMBRIA"--HAPPY INTRODUCTION TO THE BRITISH PUBLIC--LETTER ADDRESSED TO WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON--TIME AND LABORS WHILE ABROAD--FREEDOM PURCHASED--MRS. HENRY RICHARDSON--FREE PAPERS--ABOLITIONISTS DISPLEASED WITH THE RANSOM--HOW MY ENERGIES WERE DIRECTED--RECEPTION SPEECH IN LONDON--CHARACTER OF THE SPEECH DEFENDED--CIRCUMSTANCES EXPLAINED--CAUSES CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUCCESS OF MY MISSION--FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND--TESTIMONIAL.

The allotments of Providence, when coupled with trouble and anxiety, often conceal from finite vision the wisdom and goodness in which they are sent; and, frequently, what seemed a harsh and invidious dispensation, is converted by after experience into a happy and beneficial arrangement. Thus, the painful liability to be returned again to slavery, which haunted me by day, and troubled my dreams by night, proved to be a necessary step in the path of knowledge and usefulness.