us; and I felt it my duty to give
them an opportunity to share in my{212} virtuous determination by
frankly disclosing to them my plans and purposes. Toward Henry and John
Harris, I felt a friendship as strong as one man can feel for another;
for I could have died with and for them. To them, therefore, with a
suitable degree of caution, I began to disclose my sentiments and plans;
sounding them, the while on the subject of running away, provided a
good chance should offer. I scarcely need tell the reader, that I did my
_very best_ to imbue the minds of my dear friends with my own views and
feelings. Thoroughly awakened, now, and with a definite vow upon me, all
my little reading, which had any bearing on the subject of human rights,
was rendered available in my communications with my friends. That (to
me) gem of a book, the _Columbian Orator_, with its eloquent orations
and spicy dialogues, denouncing oppression and slavery--telling of what
had been dared, done and suffered by men, to obtain the inestimable boon
of liberty--was still fresh in my memory, and whirled into the ranks of
my speech with the aptitude of well trained soldiers, going through the
drill. The fact is, I here began my public speaking. I canvassed,
with Henry and John, the subject of slavery, and dashed against it the
condemning brand of God's eternal justice, which it every hour violates.
My fellow servants were neither indifferent, dull, nor inapt. Our
feelings were more alike than our opinions. All, however, were ready to
act, when a feasible plan should be proposed. "Show us _how_ the thing
is to be done," said they, "and all is clear."

We were all, except Sandy, quite free from slaveholding priestcraft. It
was in vain that we had been taught from the pulpit at St. Michael's,
the duty of obedience to our masters; to recognize God as the author of
our enslavement; to regard running away an offense, alike against God
and man; to deem our enslavement a merciful and beneficial arrangement;
to esteem our condition, in this country, a paradise to that from which
we had been snatched in Africa; to consider our hard hands and dark
color as God's mark of displeasure, and as pointing us out as the
proper{213} subjects of slavery; that the relation of master and slave
was one of reciprocal benefits; that our work was not more serviceable
to our masters, than our master's thinking was serviceable to us. I
say, it was in vain that the pulpit of St. Michael's