to throw the manuscript into the fire, declaring that the government
of Massachusetts had neither the power nor the will to protect him
from the consequences of his daring.

The pamphlet was widely read. It was written in a style of graphic
simplicity, and was such an _exposé_ of slavery as exasperated its
jealous supporters and beneficiaries. Douglass soon had excellent
reasons to fear that he would be recaptured by force or guile and
returned to slavery or a worse fate. The prospect was not an alluring
one; and hence, to avoid an involuntary visit to the scenes of his
childhood, he sought liberty beyond the sea, where men of his color
have always enjoyed a larger freedom than in their native land.

In 1845 Douglass set sail for England on board the _Cambria_, of the
Cunard Line, accompanied by James N. Buffum, a prominent abolitionist
of Lynn, Massachusetts. On the same steamer were the Hutchinson
family, who lent their sweet songs to the anti-slavery crusade.
Douglass's color rendered him ineligible for cabin passage, and he was
relegated to the steerage. Nevertheless, he became quite the lion of
the vessel, made the steerage fashionable, was given the freedom
of the ship, and invited to lecture on slavery. This he did to the
satisfaction of all the passengers except a few young men from New
Orleans and Georgia, who, true to the instincts of their caste, made
his strictures on the South a personal matter, and threatened to throw
him overboard. Their zeal was diminished by an order of the captain to
put them in irons. They sulked in their cabins, however, and rushed
into print when they reached Liverpool, thus giving Douglass the very
introduction he needed to the British public, which was promptly
informed, by himself and others, of the true facts in regard to the
steamer speech and the speaker.