England had given me shelter and protection when the slavehounds were on my track fourteen years before, and her gates were still open to me now that I was pursued in the name of Virginia justice.
Douglass reflects on his need to flee the United States after the Harper's Ferry raid, recalling previous times England offered him asylum from American injustice.
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More from Frederick Douglass
The sentiment that brings us here to-day is one of the noblest that can stir and thrill the human heart.
True it is that this faith was many times shaken by passing events, but never destroyed.
The laws which determine the destinies of individuals and nations are impartial and eternal.
It only abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it did exist.