ong his fellows.

The immense fortune he possessed when I left him, (bating one thousand
dollars I brought with me in my own body,) and which he seems to have
retained till that time, began to fly, and in a few years he was
insolvent, so that he was unable to hold the family, and was compelled to
think of selling them again. About this time I heard of their state by an
underground railroad passenger, who came from that neighbourhood, and
resolved to make an effort to obtain the freedom of my parents, and to
relieve myself from liability. For this purpose, after arranging for the
means to purchase, I employed counsel to make a definite offer for my
parents and myself. To his proposal, the following evasive and offensive
answer was returned.

_January 12th_, 1846. J. H----, Esq.

"Sir,--Your letter is before me. The ungrateful servant in whose behalf
you write, merits no clemency from me. He was guilty of theft when he
departed, for which I hope he has made due amends. I have heard he was a
respectable man, and calculated to do some good to his fellow-beings.
Servants are selling from five hundred and fifty to seven hundred
dollars. I will take five hundred and fifty dollars, and liberate him.
If my proposition is acceded to, and the money lodged in Baltimore, I
will execute the necessary instrument, and deliver it in Baltimore, to
be given up on payment being made.

"Yours, &c,

"----."

"Jim was a first-rate mechanic, (blacksmith) and was worth to me one
thousand dollars."

Here he not only refuses to account for my parents, by including them in
his return and proposition, but he at the same time attempts to intimidate
me by mooting the charge of theft.

I confess I was not only surprised, but mortified, at this result. The
hope of being once more united to parents whom I had not seen for sixteen
years, and whom I still loved dearly, had so excited my mind, that I
disarranged my business relations, disposed of a valuable library of four
hundred volumes, and by additional aid obtained among the liberal people
of Jamaica, I was prepared to give the extravagant sum of five hundred
dollars each for myself, and my father and mother. This I was willing to
do, not because I approve of the principle involved as a general rule. But
supposing that, as my former master was now an old man not far from his
grave, (about which I was not mistaken) and as he knew, by his own
shewing, that I was abl