calculated securely on her being speedily driven back, as soon as the
slender fund she had in her possession was expended, to throw herself
unconditionally upon his tender mercies; and his disappointment in this
expectation appears to have exasperated his feelings of resentment towards
the poor woman, to a degree which few persons alive to the claims of
common justice, not to speak of christianity or common humanity, could
easily have anticipated. Such, at least, seems the only intelligible
inference that can be drawn from his subsequent conduct.

The case having been submitted, by desire of the Anti-Slavery Committee,
to the consideration of Dr. Lushington and Mr. Sergeant Stephen, it was
found that there existed no legal means of compelling Mary's master to
grant her manumission; and that if she returned to Antigua, she would
inevitably fall again under his power, or that of his attorneys, as a
slave. It was, however, resolved to try what could be effected for her by
amicable negotiation; and with this view Mr. Ravenscroft, a solicitor,
(Mr. Stephen's relative,) called upon Mr. Wood, in order to ascertain
whether he would consent to Mary's manumission on any reasonable terms,
and to refer, if required, the amount of compensation for her value to
arbitration. Mr. Ravenscroft with some difficulty obtained one or two
interviews, but found Mr. Wood so full of animosity against the woman, and
so firmly bent against any arrangement having her freedom for its object,
that the negotiation was soon broken off as hopeless. The angry
slave-owner declared "that he would not move a finger about her in this
country, or grant her manumission on any terms whatever; and that if she
went back to the West Indies, she must take the consequences."

This unreasonable conduct of Mr. Wood, induced the Anti-Slavery Committee,
after several other abortive attempts to effect a compromise, to think of
bringing the case under the notice of Parliament. The heads of Mary's