I proceeded by way of New York to Hartford in Connecticut, in order to be present at an anti-slavery meeting of the State Society, to which I had been invited.  On my arrival, on the afternoon of the 19th, I found the meeting assembled, and in the chair my friend J.T.  Norton, a member of the Connecticut legislature, a munificent and uncompromising friend to the anti-slavery cause, and one of the delegates to the London Convention.  A black minister of religion addressed the meeting in an able and interesting manner.  Soon after the close of his speech, a circumstance, quite unexpected to me, introduced a discussion on the right of women to vote and publicly act, conjointly with men.  The chairman decided that the motion in favor of it was negatived, but the minority required the names on both sides to be taken down; this consumed much time, and disturbed the harmony of the meeting.  I attended in the evening a committee of the legislature, which was sitting at the court house, to hear the speeches of persons who were allowed to address the committee in support of a petition that the word “white” should be expunged from the constitution of Connecticut.  This change would of course give equal rights to the colored class.  When I entered, the same colored minister I had heard in the afternoon, was addressing the committee.  He was listened to with great attention, not only by the members, but by near two hundred of the inhabitants, who were present.  He was followed on the same side, by a white gentleman in a very strong and uncompromising speech.  The next day I paid my respects to William W. Ellsworth, the Governor of the State, and to one of the judges of the court; and afterwards attended the adjourned meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society.  The vexed question of “women’s rights” was again brought forward in another shape; the names on both sides again called for, with the same result as before.  My belief was fully confirmed, that those who differ so widely in sentiment, have no alternative but to meet and act in distinct organizations.

The Amistad captives arrived at Hartford on the afternoon of the same day, and were to address a meeting in the evening.  An anti-slavery bazaar or fair which I visited this day, furnished ample testimony of the zeal of the female friends of the oppressed slave in this district.  I returned the same evening to New Haven, and subsequently received a copy of two resolutions, approving the proceedings of the general Anti-Slavery Convention, in which it is stated by the Connecticut anti-slavery committee, “they have abundant evidence that the cause of the slave has been essentially promoted thereby;” also recommending “that a convention of men from all parts of the world, friendly to the cause of immediate emancipation, be again called in London, in the summer of 1842.”