Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/414

 descended pass into the mass of white inhabitants, all the rights of whom they attain, even though one of their great-grandfathers or great-grandmothers had been a pure negro. But in several other of the states, and Louisiana among them, the African taint never can be got rid of. The most minute and imperceptible drop of African blood, however diluted by the best white blood of the nation, still suffices to degrade him in whose veins it runs into the class of the free colored, who "are not to presume to conceive themselves equal to the whites," but who are specially required "to yield to them on every occasion, and never speak to or answer them but with respect, under penalty of imprisonment." If, therefore, Montgomery, bein seized as a slave, should, in vindication of his liberty, speak disrespectfully to any of the catchpoles, and especially should he venture to repeat the knocking-down process, which he had once tried already on the person of Mr Grip Curtis, even though we should succeed in maintaining his right to freedom, he might still find himself exposed to very disagreeable consequences.

The first thing, therefore, to be done in Montgomery's case was, to prevent his falling into the hands of his claimants. As to Eliza, if we could contrive some way of getting her out of Gilmore's hands, we should then be in a much better position for maintaining her claim to freedom.

Montgomery, as it fortunately happened, had written to his mother just at leaving New York, mentioning, among other things, the name of the packet in which he was to sail; and this letter, by the like good luck, we found in the post office on leaving the lawyer's office.

Colter immediately employed a boat to proceed down the river, carrying a note to Montgomery from his mother. The passage of the packet from New York had been unusually short. She was found a few miles below the city, and according to the recommendation in the note, Montgomery immediately left