During one speech in Leicester in 1838, he declared: "Many will say “This is the slaves’ side of the question. The slave-holders would tell a different story.” You have heard the slave-holders’ story 250 years ago. Now, I think it is time for the slaves to speak." By 1848, his slave narrative had sold over 38,000 copies, with over 5,000 in the Welsh language. He lectured over 2,000 times across Britain and Ireland in Baptist, Independent, Methodist and Quaker churches and town halls in nearly every county in Britain and was one of the few activists to lecture in the Scottish Highlands. The sheer extent of Roper’s lecturing tour is astounding, particularly when one considers his travels to rural communities in Cornwall and Wales. See the references for a map of his speaking locations. Despite the positive feedback Roper received during his lecturing tours, his relationship with some of his abolitionist associates became strained. In Roper’s 1838 edition of his narrative, the Rev. Thomas Price had written a testimonial which bore “unequivocal witness to [Roper's] sobriety, intelligence, and honesty.” His “great ambition is to be qualified for usefulness amongst his own people; and the progress he has already made justifies the belief that if the means of education can be secured for a short time longer, he will be eminently qualified to instruct the children of Africa in the truths of the gospel of Christ.” However, two years later, Price openly criticized Roper for a “desultory and mendicant life.” His incessant “begging” was contrary to his “original and professed design of becoming a missionary” and Price demanded Roper remove his testimonial from the narrative. The debate raged on the pages of The Patriot newspaper in late 1840 with Price charging Roper with reneging on previous promises to become a missionary in Africa. Later editions of his narrative omitted Price's testimonial. Roper also faced charges of falsehood during his lecturing tours by some who refused to believe his accounts of the brutality of American slavery. In 1836, Roper wrote to a local newspaper that a Reverend R. J. Breckinridge questioned “the accuracy of a statement made by me in reference to the burning alive of a slave in the United States.” Roper assured both Breckinridge and the newspaper editor that the story was true and proceeded to relate the “particulars of that melancholy event.” An enslaved man named George was chained