such a tragedy with his name,) and directed their course towards the Potomac bridge. At the same moment an African passed by, driving a hack; and beholding his brethren, "----Trembling, weeping, captive led," extended his arm towards them, and exclaimed, "See there! an't that right down _murder_? Don't you call that _right down murder_?" On uttering to him indistinctly, that I did not know, he renewed his request to be answered, and I replied, "I do not know but it is _murder_."----These expressions instantly reminded me of the frequency of murders and deaths, not only of slaves, but of white and free black men, resulting from despotic slavery, and particularly from the slave traffic. Several instances of this kind had very recently come to my knowledge, from unquestionable sources, and at that moment pressed themselves with peculiar force upon my excited imagination; among which I will recite the following: 47. A slave having escaped from his master, in the state of North Carolina, within two or three years past, was seized and brought back, by a being, who, when requested by the master to name the reward he should render him for returning the slave, replied, that all the compensation he desired, was the satisfaction of _flogging_ him. This being granted, the slave was bound to a log, and the "_resounding lash_" applied, until the resentment of his executioner was satiated. The infatuated master then took the ensanguined lash himself, and was about to repeat the process of flagellation, when Death, not then a _king of terrors_, but a generous benefactor, a "_friend in need_" rescued him from the intended protraction of his excruciating torment. After all, let the balm of compassion, rather than imprecations of divine wrath, be administered to these erring mortals. Their egregious mistake may be traced to the mighty force of example, and the deficiency of early, religious, and moral education. This fact having been before published, must be, to many persons, already known. 48. In the state of Pennsylvania, a considerable number of years ago, the proprietor of a furnace took up a black boy, a few years old, and in the presence of his distracted father, wantonly thrust him into the flames and melted metal, where he was instantly consumed! The information of this horrible deed was originally communicated by a respectable citizen of the city of Washington, who formerly resided in the state of Pennsylvania, and it has been further corroborated by another, of the city of Philadelphia. 49. In the state of New Jersey, a female slave, several years ago, was bound to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner across her back, and the gashes stuffed with salt! after which she was tied to a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly terminated her misery. This fact was communicated at Washington, by the same gentleman above mentioned.[14] [Illustration: Paragraph 50.