indignantly reply, 'You deserve to remain slaves;' and if he were further
asked, 'What can we do?' he would remark, 'Go and buy a spelling-book,
and read the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner,' which he would then
repeat, and apply it to their situation. He also sought every opportunity
of entering into conversation with white persons, when they could be
overheard by negroes near by, especially in grog-shops,--during which
conversation he would artfully introduce some bold remark on slavery; and
sometimes, when, from the character he was conversing with, he found he
might still be bolder, he would go so far, that, had not his declarations
in such situations been clearly proved, they would scarcely have been
credited. He continued this course until some time after the commencement
of the last winter; by which time he had not only obtained incredible
influence amongst persons of color, but many feared him more than their
owners, and, one of them declared, even more than his God."

It was proved against him, that his house had been the principal place of
meeting for the conspirators, that all the others habitually referred to
him as the leader, and that he had shown great address in dealing with
different temperaments and overcoming a variety of scruples. One witness
testified that Vesey had read to him from the Bible about the deliverance
of the children of Israel; another, that he had read to him a speech
which had been delivered "in Congress by a Mr. King" on the subject of
slavery, and Vesey had said that "this Mr. King was the black man's
friend; that he, Mr. King, had declared he would continue to speak,
write, and publish pamphlets against slavery the longest day he lived,
until the Southern States consented to emancipate their slaves, for that
slavery was a great disgrace to the country." But among all the reports
there are only two sentences which really reveal the secret soul of
Denmark Vesey, and show his impulses and motives. "He said he did not go
with Creighton to Africa, because he had not a will; he wanted to stay