the pitiful tales which they told me of ill-treatment by their masters and mistresses.  But my views upon this subject had undergone a gradual change.  I knew it was asserted in the Declaration of Independence that all men are born free and equal, and I had read in the Bible that God had made of one flesh all the nations of the earth.  I had found out, by intercourse with the negroes, that they had the same desires, wishes and hopes, as myself.  I knew very well that I should not like to be a slave even to the best of masters, and still less to such sort of masters as the greater part of the slaves seemed to have.  The idea of having first one child and then another taken from me, as fast as they grew large enough, and handed over to the slave-traders, to be carried I knew not where, and sold, if they were girls, I knew not for what purposes, would have been horrible enough; and, from instances which came to my notice, I perceived that it was not less horrible and distressing to the parties concerned in the case of black people than of white ones.  I had never read any abolition books, nor heard any abolition lectures.  I had frequented only Methodist meetings, and nothing was heard there about slavery.  But, for the life of me, I could not perceive why the golden rule of doing to others as you would wish them to do to you did not apply to this case.  Had I been a slave myself,—­and it is not a great while since the Algerines used to make slaves of our sailors, white as well as black,—­I should have thought it very right and proper in anybody who would have ventured to assist me in escaping out of bondage; and the more dangerous it might have been to render such assistance, the more meritorious I should have thought the act to be.  Why had not these black people, so anxious to escape from their masters, as good a light to their liberty as I had to mine?

I know it is sometimes said, by those who defend slavery or apologize for it, that the slaves at the south are very happy and contented, if left to themselves, and that this idea of running away is only put into their heads by mischievous white people from the north.  This will do very well for those who know nothing of the matter personally, and who are anxious to listen to any excuse.  But there is not a waterman who ever sailed in Chesapeake Bay who will not tell you that, so far from the slaves needing any prompting to run away, the difficulty is, when they ask you to assist them, to make them take no for an answer.  I have known instances where men have lain in the woods for a year or two, waiting for an opportunity to escape on board some vessel.  On one of my voyages up the Potomac, an application was made to me on behalf of such a runaway; and I was so much moved by his story, that, had it been practicable for me at that time, I should certainly have helped him off.  One or two attempts I did make to assist the flight of some of those who sought my assistance; but none with success, till the summer of 1847, which is the period to which I have brought down my narrative.