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of bondage, that they would emigrate to the South in larger numbers than would supply the slavemar-kets, and thus occasion some depression in an honorable branch of trade in this republic.
However they might please to explain it, the simple fact was, Mrs. Burke did not allow her slave to go into the street.
Of course, she must have had some other motive than the idea that freedom could be attractive to her. The colored people became aware of the careful constraint imposed upon the woman, and they informed the abolitionists.
Thinking it right that slaves should be made aware of their legal claim to freedom, when brought or sent into the free states, with knowledge and consent of their masters, they applied to Judge Oakley for a writ of habeas corpus, by virtue of which the girl was brought before him. While she was in waiting, Friend Hopper heard of the circumstance, and immediately proceeded to the court-room.
There he found Mr. Morgan and one of his southern friends talking busily with the slave.
The woman appeared frightened and undecided, as is often the case, under such circumstances.
Those who wished her to return to the South plied her with fair promises.
They represented abolitionists as a set of kidnappers, who seized colored strangers under friendly pretences, and nobody could tell what became of them afterward.
It was urged that her condition would be most miserable
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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