, that they were forming. This sage epistle was betrayed
into the hands of the Government. The discreet Dick they might very
well have hanged; but that was not worth while. From his connection
with the "Register," they supposed him to be only the agent and cover
for a deeper man,--its proprietor; and at the latter only, therefore,
had they struck. Nothing saved him from the blow, except the casual
fact of his absence in another country, and their being ignorant of
the route he had taken. This his friends alone knew, and where to
reach him. They did so, at once, by a courier secretly despatched; and
he, on learning what awaited him at home, instead of trusting to his
innocence, chose rather to trust the seas; and, making his way to the
coast, took the only good security for his freedom, by putting the
German Ocean between him and pursuit. He sailed for Amsterdam, where
arriving, he thence made his way to Hamburg, at which city he had
decided that his family should join him. To England he could return
only at the cost of a prosecution; and though this would, of
necessity, end in an acquittal, it was almost sure to be preceded by
imprisonment, while, together, they would half-ruin him. It was plain,
then, that he must at once do what he had long intended to do, go to
America.
Accordingly, he gave directions to his family to come to him, and to
Montgomery that he should dispose of all his effects and settle up all
his affairs. These offices that devoted friend performed most
faithfully; remitting him the proceeds.
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