As regards the price fixed upon by you for the family, I must say I do not think it possible to raise half that amount, though Peter authorized me to say he would give you twenty-five hundred for them.  Probably he is not as well aware as I am, how difficult it is to raise so large a sum of money from the public.  The applications for such objects are so frequent among us in the North, and have always been so liberally met, that it is no wonder if many get tired of being called upon.  To be sure some of us brothers own some property, but no great amount; certainly not enough to enable us to bear so great a burden.  Mother owns a small farm in New Jersey, on which she has lived for nearly forty years, from which she derives her support in her old age.  This small farm contains between forty and fifty acres, and is the fruit of my father’s toil.  Two of my brothers own small places also, but they have young families, and consequently consume nearly as much as they make, with the exception of adding some improvements to their places.

For my own part, I am employed as a clerk for a living, but my salary is quite too limited to enable me to contribute any great amount towards so large a sum as is demanded.  Thus you see how we are situated financially.  We have plenty of friends, but little money.  Now, sir, allow me to make an appeal to your humanity, although we are aware of your power to hold as property those poor slaves, mother, daughter and two sons,—­that in no part of the United States could they escape and be secure from your claim—­nevertheless, would your understanding, your heart, or your conscience reprove you, should you restore to them, without price, that dear freedom, which is theirs by right of nature, or would you not feel a satisfaction in so doing which all the wealth of the world could not equal?  At all events, could you not so reduce the price as to place it in the power of Peter’s relatives and friends to raise the means for their purchase?  At first, I doubt not, but that you will think my appeal very unreasonable; but, sir, serious reflection will decide, whether the money demanded by you, after all, will be of as great a benefit to you, as the satisfaction you would find in bestowing so great a favor upon those whose entire happiness in this life depends mainly upon your decision in the matter.  If the entire family cannot be purchased or freed, what can Vina and her daughter be purchased for?  Hoping, sir, to hear from you, at your earliest convenience, I subscribe myself,

    Your obedient servant, WM. STILL.

    To B. McKiernon, Esq.

No reply to this letter was ever received from McKiernon.  The cause of his reticence can be as well conjectured by the reader as the writer.