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.

I was employed during that summer, as I have mentioned already in
trading up and down the Chesapeake, in a hired boat, a small black boy
being my only assistant. Among other trips, I went to Washington with a
cargo of oysters. While I was lying there, at the same wharf, as it
happened