he nature of the case was; a slave escaping from
her chains--a young woman, a sister--escaping from the bondage in which
she had been held. She made her way to the bridge, but had not reached,
ere from the Virginia side there came two slaveholders. As soon as they
saw them, her pursuers called out, "Stop her!" True to their Virginian
instincts, they came to the rescue of their brother kidnappers, across
the bridge. The poor girl now saw that there was no chance for her.
It was a trying time. She knew if she went back, she must be a slave
forever--she must be dragged down to the scenes of pollution which the
slaveholders continually provide for most of the poor, sinking, wretched
young women, whom they call their property. She formed her resolution;
and just as those who were about to take her, were going to put hands
upon her, to drag her back, she leaped over the balustrades of the
bridge, and down she went to rise no more. She chose death, rather than
to go back into the hands of those christian slaveholders from whom she
had escaped.

Can it be possible that such things as these exist in the United
States?{323} Are not these the exceptions? Are any such scenes as this
general? Are not such deeds condemned by the law and denounced by public
opinion? Let me read to you a few of the laws of the slaveholding states
of America. I think no better exposure of slavery can be made than is
made by the laws of the states in which slavery exists. I prefer reading
the laws to making any statement in confirmation of what I have said
myself; for the slaveholders cannot object to this testimony, since it
is the calm, the cool, the deliberate enactment of their wisest heads,
of their most clear-sighted, their own constituted representatives. "If
more than seven slaves together are found in any road without a white
person, twenty lashes a piece; for visiting a plantation without a
written pass, ten lashes; for letting loose a boat from where it is
made fast, thirty-nine lashes for the first offense; and for the second,
shall have cut off from his head one ear; for keeping or carrying a
club, thirty-nine lashes; for having any article for sale, without a
ticket from his master, ten lashes; for traveling in any other than the
most usual and accustomed road, when going alone to any place, forty
lashes; for traveling in the night without a pass, forty lashes." I am
afraid you do not understand the awful character of these lashes. You
must