people, in their credulity, hailed the apparent enfranchisement, and had a public rejoicing in the occasion.  But the delusion could not escape the discrimination of Mr. P. He detected it at once, and exposed it, and incurred the displeasure of the credulous people of color by refusing to participate in their premature rejoicings.  He soon succeeded however in convincing his brethren that the new provision was a mockery of their wrongs, and that the assembly had only added insult to past injuries.  Mr. P. now urged the colored people to be patient, as the great changes which were working in the colony must bring to them all the rights of which they had been so cruelly deprived.  On the subject of prejudice he spoke just as a man of keen sensibilities and manly spirit might be expected to speak, who had himself been its victim.  He was accustomed to being flouted, scorned and condemned by those whom he could not but regard as his interiors both in native talents and education.  He had submitted to be forever debarred from offices which were filled by men far less worthy except in the single qualification of a white skin, which however was paramount to all other virtues and acquirements!  He had seen himself and his accomplished wife excluded from the society of whites, though keenly conscious of their capacity to move and shine in the most elevated social circles.  After all this, it may readily be conceived how Mr. P. would speak of prejudice.  But while he spoke bitterly of the past, he was inspired with buoyancy of hope as he cast his eye to the future.  He was confident that prejudice would disappear.  It had already diminished very much, and it would ere long be wholly exterminated.

Mr. P. gave a sprightly picture of the industry of the negroes.  It was common, he said, to hear them called lazy, but this was not true.  That they often appeared to be indolent, especially those about the town, was true; but it was either because they had no work to do, or were asked to work without reasonable wages.  He had often been amused at their conduct, when solicited to do small jobs—­such as carrying baggage, loading of unloading a vessel, or the like.  If offered a very small compensation, as was generally the case at first, they would stretch themselves on the ground, and with a sleepy look, and lazy tone, would say, “O, I can’t do it, sir.”  Sometimes the applicants would turn away at once, thinking that they were unwilling to work, and cursing “the lazy devils;” but occasionally they would try the efficacy of offering a larger compensation, when instantly the negroes would spring to their feet, and the lounging inert mass would appear all activity.

We are very willing to hold up Mr. P as a specimen of what colored people generally may become with proper cultivation, or to use the language of one of their own number,[A] “with free minds and space to rise.”

[Footnote A:  Thomas C. Brown, who renounced colonization, returned from a disastrous and almost fatal expedition to Liberia, and afterwards went to the West Indies, in quest of a free country.]