whom I have, not yet alarmed, I will cry _beware!_

But the virtuous reader need not fear, in the following pages, to meet
with vice presented in any dress but her own deformity. No one can
accuse me of giving a single attraction to crime. On the contrary, I
intend my book shall be a warning to those who may hereafter be tempted
by vice; and with the confidence that such it will prove to be, I
commend it to the careful examination of virtuous parents, and am
willing to abide by their unbiased opinion, with regard both to my
truth, my motives, and the interest which the public have in the
developments it contains.

I would now appeal to the world, and ask, whether I have not done all
that could have been expected of me, and all that lay in my power, to
bring to an investigation the charges I have brought against the priests
and nuns of Canada. Although it was necessary to the cause of truth,
that I should, in some degree, implicate myself, I have not hesitated to
appear as a voluntary self-accuser before the world. While there was a
hope that the authorities in Canada might be prevailed upon to bring the
subject to a legal investigation, I travelled to Montreal in a feeble
state of health, and with an infant in my arms only three weeks old. In
the face of many threats and dangers, I spent nearly a month in that
city, in vain attempts to bring my cause to a trial. When all prospect
of success in this undertaking had disappeared, and not till then, I
determined to make my accusations through the press; and although
misrepresentations and scandals, flattery and threats, have been
resorted to, to nullify or to suppress my testimony, I have persevered,
although, as many of my friends have thought, at the risk of abduction
or death.