On the 21st, I proceeded to the residence of Judge Jay, where I was very kindly received by his wife and family, the Judge himself being from home.  On his return the next day, I had much interesting conversation with him on the prospects of our cause.  He is convinced that it is making steady progress, notwithstanding the schism in the anti-slavery ranks.  He said also, that of the runaway slaves who called at his house, some have told him that their condition had improved of late years; others saw no change in their treatment; not one has complained that they suffered more than formerly, in consequence of the discussions at the North about abolition.  With regard to the free blacks, he fears that the persecution of them by the slave-holders has increased; though at the North the prejudice against them has unquestionably, in his opinion, been much mitigated by the efforts of the abolitionists.  It is an interesting fact, and one that ought to encourage the humble and retired laborer in the cause of truth and righteousness, that this able and distinguished advocate of the claims of the oppressed slaves and people of color, was converted to his present views by Elizabeth Heyrick’s pamphlet, “Immediate, not Gradual, Abolition of West India Slavery.”  Let me for a moment pause to render a tribute of justice to the memory of that devoted woman.  Few will deny that the long and heart-sickening interval that occurred between the abolition of the slave-trade of Great Britain, and the emancipation of her slaves, was owing to the false, but universal notion, that the slaves must be gradually prepared for freedom:  a notion that we now confess is as contrary to reason and Christian principle as it is opposed to the past experience of our colonies.  Yet a generation passed away while the abolitionists of Great Britain were trying to make ropes of sand—­to give practical effect to an impracticable theory; pursuing a delusion, which this honored woman was the first to detect; and that less by force and subtlety of argument, than by the statement of self-evident truths, and by the enforcement of the simple and grand principle that Christianity admits of no compromise with sin.  This was an easy lesson, yet it was one which our senators and statesmen, our distinguished philanthropists, and our whole anti-slavery host were slow to learn.  The pamphlet produced little immediate effect, but to cause its writer to be regarded as an amiable enthusiast and visionary.  It now remains a monument of the indestructible nature, and the irresistible power of truth, even when wielded by feeble and despised hands.