for a place in the regular carriage.  A lady, not of the proscribed class, who has long resided in New York, mentioned to me as a marked indication of a favorable change in regard to color, the holding of such meetings as those at which the Amistad captives were introduced.  Such an exhibition, instead of causing a display of benevolent interest among all classes, would, some years ago, have excited the malignant passions of the multitude, and probably caused a popular out-break.  Another sign of the times was, that white and colored children might be seen walking in procession without distinction, on the anniversaries of the charity schools.  The same lady, in whose veracity I place full confidence, informed me that there is now residing in this city, a native of Cuba, formerly a slave-holder at the Havana, who had narrowly escaped assassination from a negro.  He had threatened the slave with punishment the following day, but the desperate man concealed himself in his master’s room, and in the night, stabbed and killed his mistress by mistake, instead of his master.  Three negroes were executed as principal and accessories; but their intended victim was so terrified that he left Havana for New York.  His fears, not his conscience, were alarmed, for he still carries on his diabolical traffic between Africa and Cuba, and is reported to have gained by it, last year, one hundred thousand dollars.  He lives in great splendor, and has the character of a liberal and generous man, but with the most implacable hatred to the blacks.  “One murder makes a villain, thousands a hero.”  How wide the distinction between this man and the wretches who paid the forfeit of their lives for a solitary murder![A]

[Footnote A:  Sir F. Buxton has shown that two lives at least are sacrificed for every slave carried off from Africa.]

On the evening of the 17th, in company with several of my abolition friends, I started for Albany, where the State legislature was then in session.  The distance from New York is about a hundred and fifty-five miles, and is frequently performed by the steamers, on the noble river Hudson, in nine hours and a half up the stream, and in eight hours down.  On these steamers there is accommodation for several hundred passengers to lodge, and the fare is only one dollar, with an extra charge for beds and meals.  For an additional dollar, two persons may secure a state room to themselves.

As night drew on, and the deck began to be cleared, I observed a well-dressed black man and woman sitting apart, and supposing they could obtain no berths on account of their color, I went and spoke to them.  I told them I and several others on board were abolitionists.  The man then informed us they were escaping from slavery, and had left their homes little more than two days before.  They appeared very intelligent, though they could neither read nor write, and described to us how they had effected their escape.  They had obtained leave to go to a wedding, from which they