, to a person whose first appearance so strongly
engaged my affection and esteem. In reality my thoughts were turned into a
different channel. I was impressed with an ardent wish, to be able to call this
man my benefactor. Pursued by a train of ill fortune, I could no longer consider
myself as a member of society. I was a solitary being cut off from the
expectation of sympathy, kindness and the good will of mankind. I was strongly
impelled by the situation in which the present moment placed me, to indulge in a
luxury which my destiny seemed to have denied. I could not conceive of the
smallest comparison between the idea of deriving my liberty from the spontaneous
kindness of a worthy and excellent mind, and that of being indebted for it to
the selfishness and baseness of the worst members of society. It was thus that I
allowed myself in the wantonness of refinement even in the midst of destruction.
    Guided by these sentiments, I requested his attention to the circumstances
by which I had been brought into my present situation. He immediately signified
his assent, and said he would chearfully listen to any thing I thought proper to
communicate. I told him the persons who had just left me in charge with him, had
come to this town for the purpose of apprehending some person who had been
guilty of robbing the mail; that they had chosen to take me up under this
warrant, and had conducted me before a justice of the peace; that they had soon
detected their mistake, the person in question being an Irishman, and differing
from me both in country and stature; but that by collusion between them and the
justice they were permitted to retain me in custody, and pretended to undertake
to conduct me to Warwick to confront me with my accomplice; that in searching me
at the justice's they had found a sum of money in my possession which excited
their cupidity, and that they had just been proposing to me to give me my
liberty upon condition of my surrendering this sum into their hands. Under these
circumstances I requested him to consider whether he would wish to render
himself the instrument of their extortion. I put myself into his hands, and
solemnly averred the truth of the facts I had just stated. If he would assist me
in my escape, it could have no other effect than to disappoint the base passions
of my conductors. I would upon no account expose him to any real inconvenience;
but I was well assured that the same generosity that prompted him to a good
deed, would enable him effectually to vindicate it when done; and that those who
detained me