decorum, and with the strictest regard to every principle of equity," the evidence against me resolved itself into the unlucky witticism about the picture books, in which I had indulged at the hotel dinner table; a piece of personal-disrespect for the commonwealth of Virginia and the institution of slavery, which it was impossible for me to deny, and which I was circumstantially testified to by no less than seven witnesses.
The committee, however, wishing, as they said, to Saar as far as possible, the ancient reputation of Virginia for hospitality, in consideration that I was a stranger and a foreigner, saw fit to dismiss me unpunished; not, however, without a long exhortation half way between a scolding and a sermon, delivered in a rasping nasal tone, by the sharp-nosed, grayeyed chairman, in which he dwelt with great unction, even with tears in his eyes, upon the sin and danger of jesting about sacred things; nor did he wind up without a hint, that, all things considered, I might as well leave Richmond at my earliest convenience.
I lost not a moment in profiting by the kind advice of my sermonizing friend, the chairman; and by the assistance of the lawyer, who seemed really anxious for my safety, I evaded the mob collected in the street, who appeared inclined to put me on trial a second time, and as speedily as possible obtained a conveyance out of town, there to wait the approach of the great southern mail stage coach, my legal friend promising to see that my*baggage was put on at Richmond. Two or three days' ride in this conveyance, in which I was the only passenger, brought me to the little village, a court house, jail and tavern, in which last was the post office, the nearest point on the route
