Douglass believes the underground railroad is not secret, which puts escaping slaves in danger.
which passage supports the inference?
i honor those good men and women for their noble daring, and applaud them for willingly subjecting themselves to bloody persecution, by openly avowing their participation in the escape of slaves
we owe something to the slave south of the line as well as to those north of it; and in aiding the latter on their way to freedom, we should be careful to do nothing which would be likely to hinder the former from escaping from slavery.
i have never approved of the very public manner in which some of our western friends have conducted what they call the underground railroad, but which i think, by their open declarations, has been made most emphatically the upper-ground railroad.
i, however, can see very little good resulting from such a course, either to themselves or the slaves escaping; while, upon the other hand, i see and feel assured that those open declarations are a positive evil to the slaves remaining, who are seeking to escape.