Selections: Frederick Douglass

We find the following extracts from Douglas' narrntive in the Liberator. The succeeding passages are of great Kver. The apostrophe Ho the inoving lultitude of sliips,' seen from the banks f theChesapeake bay - 'Freedom'sswiftvinged angels, that fly round the worló" - partakes largely of the sublime and paliotic: "Ifatany one time of my Hfe more lian another, I was made to drink the kilterest dregs of slavery, that time was ui ing the first six months of my stay vith Mr. Covey. We were worked in 11 weatliers. It was never too hoi or 00 cold; it could never rain, blow, hail, jr snow, too hard for us to work in field. Work, work, work, was scarcely more he order ol the day than of the night. - The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest nights too long for him. wassomewhat unmanageable whenl first vent there but a few months tamed me. VI r. Covey succeeded in breaking me. - . was broken in body, soul, and spirit. - ly natural elasticity was crushed, my ntellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute! Sunday was my only leisure time. - 1 spent thisin a sort of beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake, undersome large tree. At times 1 wou ld rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would dart through my soul, accompanied wilh n faint beam of hope, that flickered for a moment, anc then vanished. I sank down again,mourning over my wretched condition. I wos sometimes prompted to take my life, and that of Covey, but was prevented by a combinalion of hope and fear. My sufferings on ihis plantation seem now like a dream, rather than a stern reality. Our house stood wilhin a few rods of the Chesapeake Bay, whose broad bosom was ever white with sails from every qtfáfter of llie habitable globe. Those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white, so delighiful to the eye of freenoen, were to me so many shrouded ghosts, to terrify and torment me with ihoughls of my wretclied condition. I have often in ihe deep stillness of a summer's Sabbath, stood all alone upon the lofty banks of that noble bay, and tracpd, with snddened heart tind tearful eye, the countless number of sails rnoving off to ihe mighty ocean. The sight o!' these alwnys affected me powerfully. IMy thoughts would coinpel utterance; and there, with no audiénee but the Almighty, 1 would pour out mv soui's cornplaint, in my rude way, with an apostrophe io the moving multitude of ships: - 'You are loosed from your moorings; and ore Cree; I i m fast in my chain, and am a slave! You move merrily before the genllc gale, and I sadly beforo the bloody whip! You are freedorn's swift winged angels, that fly round the worid I om confined in bands of iron! O Urn [ were free! O that I were on one o your gallantdecks, and under your pro tectingwing! Alas! betwixt me and you, the turb'id waters roll. Go on, go ou. - 0 that I could also go! Could I but swimi If I could fi! O, why was 1 bom a man, of whom io ranke a brute! The glad ship is gone, she hides in the dim distance. I am left in the hottest hel! of uuending slavery. O God, save me! God, deliver me! Let me be frer;! Is there any God? Why am 1 a slave? 1 will run away. 1 will not stand il. - Get caught, or get clear, 111 try it. I had as well die with ague as the fever. - I have only one life to lose. I had as well be killed running as die standing. -Only think of it; one Iiundred miles straight north, and I am free! Try it? - Yes! God helping me, I will. ltcannot be that Í shall live and die a slave. 1 willtaketo tho water. This very bay sliall yet bear me into freedom. The steatnboats steered in a nnrtli-east course from North Point. I will do the same; and when I get to the head of the bay, [ will turn my canoe adrift, and walk straight through Delaware into Pennsylvania. VVhen 1 get there, I shall not be required to have a pass; I can travel without being disturbed. Let but the first opportunity offer, and, come what will, 1 am off. Meanwhile, I will try to bear up under the yoke. I am not tbc only slave in the world. "Why should L fret I can bear as mucb as any oftliem. - Besides, 1 am but a boy, and all boys are bound to some one. lt toay be th.-u rm misery in slavery will only increase im happiness when l get free. There i-s ;i betler duy coming.' Thus 1 used to think, and thus I used to speak to myself, goaded almost to madness at one moment, and at the next reconciling myself to my wretclied lot." I With what graphic nowcr is theription of the -sufferings and porils i vhich awaii the flying fugitive in every í uarter of the country, given below! t "At the close of the year 1634, Mr. ' Vreeland agnin lnred ine of my master, ( for the year 1835. But, by this time, i aegan to want to live upon frec land, as veil as idtfft Frezland; & I was no longer ! content, therefore, to live with him or any ' jtTieV slaveholder. I began with the ! nencement of the year,to prepnre myself ( "or a final strugglc,which should decide my ' ate one way or the other. My teudency ' vas upward. I was fnst approaching ! miinhood, and year after year had passed, and I wasstill a slave. These thoughts ' ousedme - I must do something. I therefore resolved that 1835 shculd not pass ! vithout witnessingan attempt,on my part, 0 secure my liberty. But I was not ; ingto cherish this determination alone. ' y fellow-slaves were dear to me. I was anxious to have them particípate witli me in this, my life-giving determination. 1 therefore, though with great prudence, cornmenced early to ascertain their views and feelings in regard to their condition, and to imbue their minds wilh thoughts of freedom. 1 bent myself to devising wavs and means for our escope,and meanwhile strove, on all fitting occasions, to impress them with the gross fraud and inhumanily of slavery. I wenc first to Henry, next to John, then to the others. I found in them all warm henrts and no-, ble spirits. They were ready to bear and ready toact when feasible plans shoulc be proposed. This was what I wanted I talked lo them of our want of manhood if we submitted to our enslavement with out at least one noble effort to be free. - We met often, and consulted frequentlymd told our hoj)es and fears, recounled ' he difiïculties, real and imugined, wliich ( ve should be called on to meet. At times '■ ve were almost disposed to give up, and o try to content ourselves with our vvretch nl lot; at others, we were firm and '' )ending in our detcrmination to go. - I Whenever we suggested any plan, thcre '■ was shrinking - the odds were foarful.- Our palh was beset with the greatest obstacles; and if we succceded in gaining the end of it, our right y et to be free was questionable - we were vet Hable to be returncd to bondage. We could see no spot, this side of the ocean, where we could be free. We knew nothing about Canada. Our knowledge of the north did not extend farther than New York; and to go there, nnd be forever harrassed wilh the frightful liability of being returned to slavery - with the certainty of being treated tenfold worse than before - the thoughtwas truly a horrible one, and one which was not easy to overeóme. - The case sometimes stood thus; At every gate through which we had to pass. we saw a watchman - at every ferry a guard - on every bridge a sentinel - and in every wood a patrol. We were hemmed in upon every. Here were the diificulties real or imagined - the good to be sought, and the evil to be shunned. On the one hand, there stood slavery, a stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us; its robes already crimsoned with the blood ofmilüons, and even now feasling tselt greedily upon our own flesh. On the other hand. away back in the dim distance, under the flickering light of the north star, behind some craggy hill or snowcovered mountain, stood a doubtful freedom - half f rozen - beckoning us lo come ind share ils hospitality. This in itself was sometimesenough to stagger us; btit when we permilted ourselves to survey the road, we were frequenily appalled. Upon either side we saw grim death, assuming the most horrid shapes. Now it wasstarvation, causing us to fat our own flesh j- now we were contending with the waves, and were drowned; - now we were overtaken, and torn to pieces by the fangs of the terrible blood-hound. VVe were stung by senrpions, clinsed by wild beasts, bitten by snakes, and finnlly, aftcr having nearly reached the desired spot,- afterswimming nvers, encountering wild beasts, sleeping in the woods, suffering hunger and nakedness, - we were overtaken by our pursuers, and in our resistance, we were shot dead on the spoi! I say this picture sometimea appalled us, and made. us ratlior bear iliose ills we hnd, Than fiy to odiers tliai wc knew noi of.' . I have been frequentl y asked how I feit wlienl found myselfin a free State. - I have never been able to answer the (jiiusiiuu wiih any satisfacción to myse).. It was a momeut of the highest excilement 1 ever experieneed. I suppose I felt as one may imagine the unarmed mariner fo leel when be is rescued by a friendly man-of-war from the pursuit of a - rate. ín writing to a dear friend, immediately after my orrival nt New York, I said í feit like one who had esca ped n denof hungry lions. Tiiisstnte of mindr howcvcr, very soon subidedj and I wasigain seized with u feeling of great ( ecurity and lonoliness. 1 was vet Jiable ! o be taken back, and subjected to al! liie '' ortures of slavery. This in itself was jnough to damp the ardor oí my enthuiiam. But the loneliness overéame me. There I was in the midst of thousands, ind yot a perfect strangerj without home , ind without friends, in the midst of thousands of my own brethren - children of a :ommon Father; nnd yet I dared not to mfold to any oneorthem my sad ' :ion. Iwasafraidto speak to any one for fear of speaking to the wrong one, ind thereby lalling in tho hands of mon?y-loving kidnappers, whose business it was to lie in wait for the pnnting fugitive, is the ferocious beasts of the forest lie iu wait for their prey. The motto which I idopted when I started frorn slavery was this - 'Trust no man!' I saw in every white man an enemy, and in almost every coloreJ man causo for distrust. It was a most painful situation; and to unerstand it, one must nced ëxpè'rïèncé it, r imagine himself in similar circumstanes. Let jiirn be a fugitive slave in a trange land - a land given up to be the ïunting-ground for slaveholders, whosc nhabitants are legálized kidnappers - vhere he is every moment subjected to he terrible liability of being seized upon by his fellow-men, as the hideous crocodile seizes upon his prey! - I say, let him place himself in my situation - without home or friends - without money or credit - wanting shelter, and no one to give' it - wanting bread, and no money,- and al the same time let him feel that he is pursued by merciless men-hunters, nnd in total darkness as to what to do, where to go, or where tostay,- perfectly lielplessloth as to the :neans of defence and means f escape, - in the tnidst of plenty, yet ufiering the terrible gnawings of hunger, -in the midst of houses, yet having no lome, - among fellow-men, yet feeling is if in the rnidst of wild beasts, whose jreediness to swallow up the trembling md half-fninished fugitive isonly equalled )y ihat with which the monsters of the leep swallow up the helpless fish upon which they subsist, - I say, let hun be )laccd in ihis most trying situalion, - the situation in which I was then,and not till then, will he lully appreciate tlie the hard.ships of, and know how to sympathize with, theloil-worn and whip-scared fugitive slave."