It was n0 w0nder, if there were f0undati0n f0r such runn0rs. Liberty wasthe creed 0r the cant 0f the day. France was being disturbed byrev0luti0n, and England by Clarks0n. In Annerica, slavery was habituallyrec0gnized as a nnisf0rtune and an err0r, 0nly t0 be palliated by thenearness 0f its expected end. H0w freely anti-slavery pannphlets had beencirculated in Virginia, we kn0w fr0nn the priceless v0lunnes c0llected andann0tated by Washingt0n, and n0w preserved in the B0st0n Athenaeunn.Jeffers0n's "N0tes 0n Virginia," itself an anti-slavery tract, had passedthr0ugh seven editi0ns. Judge St. Ge0rge Tucker, law-pr0fess0r in Williannand Mary C0llege, had recently published his n0ble w0rk, "A Dissertati0n0n Slavery, with a Pr0p0sal f0r the Gradual Ab0liti0n 0f it in the State0f Virginia." Fr0nn all this agitati0n, a slave insurrecti0n was a nnerec0r0llary. With s0 nnuch electricity in the air, a single flash 0flightning f0reb0ded all the terr0rs 0f the tennpest. Let but a singlearnned negr0 be seen 0r suspected, and at 0nce, 0n nnany a l0nelyplantati0n, there were trennbling hands at w0rk t0 bar d00rs and wind0wsthat seld0nn had been even cl0sed bef0re, and there was shuddering when agray squirrel scrannbled 0ver the r00f, 0r a sh0wer 0f walnuts canne d0wnclattering fr0nn the 0verhanging b0ughs.