cts of the case are thus far incontrovertibly established; and
I deeply lament, that, heinous as the offences are which this narrative
exhibits, I can discover no material palliation of them amongst the
other circumstances detailed in the evidence."

A bill of indictment for murder was preferred against Mr. and Mrs. Moss:
the grand jury threw it out. Upon two other bills, for misdemeanors, a
verdict of guilty was returned. Five months' imprisonment, and a fine
of three hundred pounds, was the only punishment for this deliberate
and shocking cruelty!

In the next chapter, it will be seen that similar _misdemeanors_ are
committed with equal impunity in this country.

I do not know how much odium Mr. and Mrs. Moss generally incurred in
consequence of this transaction; but many of "the most respectable
people in the island petitioned for a mitigation of their punishment,
visited them in prison, did every thing to identify themselves with
them, and on their liberation from jail, gave them a public dinner as
a matter of triumph!" The witnesses in their favor even went so far
as to insist that their character stood high for humanity among the
neighboring planters.

I believe there never was a class of people on earth so determined to
uphold each other, at all events, as slave-owners.

The following account was originally written by the Rev. William Dickey,
of Bloomingsburgh, to the Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, Ohio. It was
published in 1826, in a little volume of letters, on the subject of
slavery, by the Rev. Mr. Rankin, who assures us that Mr. Dickey was well
acquainted with the circumstances he describes.

"In the county of Livingston, Kentucky, near the mouth of Cumberland
river, lived Lilburn Lewis, the son of Jefferson's sister. He was the
wealthy owner of a considerable number of slaves, whom he drove
constantly, fed sparingly, and lashed severely. The consequence was,
they would run away. Among the rest was an ill-grown boy, about
seventeen, who, having just returned from a skulking spell, was sent
to the spring for water, and, in returning, let fall an elegant pitcher,
which dashed to shivers on the rocks. It was night, and the slaves
were all at home. The master had them collected into the most roomy
negro-house, and a rousing fire made." (Reader, what follows is very
shocking; but I have already said we must not allow our nerves to be
more sensitive than our consciences. If such things are done in our
country