moment, it springs forth with a power which defies all check. This
celestial spark, which fires the breast of the savage, which glows in
that of the philosopher, is not extinguished in the bosom of the
slave. It may be buried in the embers, but it _still lives,_ and the
breath of knowledge kindles it into a flame. Thus we find there never
have been slaves in any country, who have not seized the first
favorable opportunity to revolt. These, our hewers of wood and
drawers of water, possess the power of doing us mischief, and are
prompted to it by _motives which self-love dictates, which reason
justifies._ Our sole security, then, consists in their ignorance of
this power, and their means of using it--a security which we have
lately found is not to be relied on, and which, small as it is, every
day diminishes. Every year adds to the number of those who can read
and write; and _the increase of knowledge is the principal agent in
evolving the spirit we have to fear._ * * * By way of marking the
prodigious change which a few years have made among that class of
men, compare the late conspiracy with the revolt under Lord Dunmore.
In the one case, a few solitary individuals flocked to that standard,
under which they were sure to find protection. In the other, they, in
a body, of their own accord, combine a plan for asserting their
freedom, and rest their safety on success alone. The difference is,
that then they sought freedom merely as a good; now they also claim
it as a right. * * * Ignorant and illiterate as they yet are,
they have maintained a correspondence, which, whether we consider its
extent or duration, is truly astonishing."



Thus far Judge Tucker.