"When I arrived in Baltimore, they utterly refused to take me in at the tavern or to get me a dinner unless I would go back among the servants. This I refused, not as I thought myself better than the servants, but from the nature of the case, thought it not advisable. I found my way to a tavern where I got my dinner. Friend Barnard Gilbert went with me and was friendly. Jesse Talbot, a very worthy friend, had paid every attention to me; by this time I seemingly had friends on every side. I staid at the home of Elisha Tyson, who offered to be a real friend of the people of color."
While in Baltimore the Captain attended Preparation Meeting. He called on a number of his friends, among whom were Daniel Coker and George Collins, teachers of the African school of one hundred and seven children. At a tea where many colored people were present, Cuffe told about his African visit. Plans were made to form a Society to correspond with the London African Institution and the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone.
Cuffe stopped in Philadelphia and New York and renewed old acquaintances, and also made plans for the organization of Societies to communicate with the African Institution in London and the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone. These societies with the one started in Baltimore were centers for the discussion of questions relating to Africa and for commercial undertakings with their African neighbors.
When Cuffe was in New York, his guide introduced him to two Methodist preachers. One said to him, "Do you understand English?" Cuffe replied that there was a part he did not understand, namely, "that many persons who profess being enlightened with the true light, yet had not seen the evil of one brother professor making merchandise of and holding his brother in bondage." The ministers did not clear up the question, and in Cuffe's own words, "We bid each other farewell without any further conversation." He put this same query to the United Society assembled for the Methodist Conference in New York, but it was received with coldness. While it shows Cuffe's zeal in working for the emancipation of slavery, it also gives an index to the state of the popular mind on this subject fifty years before the Civil War.
Elated over the recovery of the Traveller and permission to land his cargo, he reached Westport on May 23. He expressed his gratitude to President Madison in the following letter:
I stopped short of my duty in not calling to acknowledge the favor that I received from the seat of Government; for which I desire to be excused. But upon serious reflection, feeling that there is an acknowledgment due unto the ruler of the people—certainly there is greater acknowledgment due unto the Father of all our mercies.
May the blessing of heaven attend thee; may the United States be preserved from the calamities of a war, and be favored to retain her neutrality in peace and happiness.
Another letter equally important went out. It recounted his experiences to William Allen and promised continued interest in all things relating to the uplift of the Negro race. "Paul Cuffe," he wrote in closing, "doth not at present go to Africa, but shall send such characters as confidence may be placed in. At present it is thought that I may be as serviceable towards the promotion of the colony, as though I was to remove. However, as my wife is not willing to go, I do not feel at liberty to urge, but feel in duty bound to escort myself to the uttermost of my ability for the good cause of Africa."[29]