No. 25 Cornhill
1845


Entered, According To Act Of Congress,
In The Year 1845
By Frederick Douglass,
In The Clerk's Office Of The District Court
Of Massachusetts.




PREFACE


In the month of August, 1841, I attended an anti-slavery convention
in Nantucket, at which it was my happiness to become acquainted with
FREDERICK DOUGLASS, the writer of the following Narrative. He was a
stranger to nearly every member of that body; but, having recently made
his escape from the southern prison-house of bondage, and feeling
his curiosity excited to ascertain the principles and measures of the
abolitionists,--of whom he had heard a somewhat vague description while
he was a slave,--he was induced to give his attendance, on the occasion
alluded to, though at that time a resident in New Bedford.

Fortunate, most fortunate occurrence!--fortunate for the millions of
his manacled brethren, yet panting for deliverance from their awful
thraldom!--fortunate for the cause of negro emancipation, and of
universal liberty!--fortunate for the land of his birth, which he has