control; but they
declined, on account of the danger. They did not appear to have any
other objection, and seemed to wish me success. Passing along the
street, I met Captain Sayres, and knowing that he was sailing a small
bay-craft, called the Pearl, and learning from him that business was
dull with him, I proposed the enterprise to him, offering him one
hundred dollars for the charter of his vessel to Washington and back to
Frenchtown where, according to the arrangement with the friends of the
passengers, they were to be met and carried to Philadelphia. This was
considerably more than the vessel could earn in any ordinary trip of the
like duration, and Sayres closed with the offer. He fully understood the
nature of the enterprise. By our bargain, I was to have, as supercargo,
the control of the vessel so far as related to her freight, and was to
bring away from Washington such passengers as I chose to receive on
board; but the control of the vessel in other respects remained with
him. Captain Sayres engaged in this enterprise merely as a matter of
business. I, too, was to be paid for my time and trouble,--an offer
which the low state of my pecuniary affairs, and the necessity of
supporting my family, did not allow me to decline. But this was not, by
any means, my sole or principal motive. I undertook it out of sympathy
for the enslaved, and from my desire to do something to further the
cause of universal liberty. Such being the different ground upon which
Sayres and myself stood, I did not think it necessary or expedient to
communicate to him the names of the persons with whom the expedition had
originated; and, at my suggestion, those persons abstained from any
direct communication with him, either at Philadelphia or Washington.
Sayres had, as cook and sailor, on board the Pearl, a young man named
Chester English. He was married, and had a child or two, but was himself
as inexperienced as a child, having never been more than thirty miles
from the place where he was born. I remonstrated with Sayres against
taking this young man with us. But English, pleased with the idea of
seeing Washington, desired to go; and Sayres, who had engaged him for
the season, did not like to part with him. He went with us, but was kept
in total ignorance of the real object of the voyage. He had the idea
that we were going to Washington for a load of ship-timber.

We proceeded down the Delaware, and by the canal into the Chesapeake,
making