I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery.  I have long since ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the Southern white people on account of the enslavement of my race.  No one section of our country was wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides, it was recognized and protected for years by the General Government.  Having once got its tentacles fastened on to the economic and social life of the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country to relieve itself of the institution.  Then, when we rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feeling, and look facts in the face, we must acknowledge that, notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who themselves or whose ancestors went through the school of American slavery, are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe.  This is so to such an extend that Negroes in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers went through the school of slavery, are constantly returning to Africa as missionaries to enlighten those who remained in the fatherland.  This I say, not to justify slavery—­on the other hand, I condemn it as an institution, as we all know that in America it was established for selfish and financial reasons, and not from a missionary motive—­but to call attention to a fact, and to show how Providence so often uses men and institutions to accomplish a purpose.  When persons ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness through which and out of which, a good Providence has already led us.

Ever since I have been old enough to think for myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwithstanding the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the black man got nearly as much out of slavery as the white man did.  The hurtful influences of the institution were not by any means confined to the Negro.  This was fully illustrated by the life upon our own plantation.  The whole machinery of slavery was so constructed as to cause labour, as a rule, to be looked upon as a badge of degradation, of inferiority.  Hence labour was something that both races on the slave plantation sought to escape.  The slave system on our place, in a large measure, took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of the white people.  My old master had many boys and girls, but not one, so far as I know, ever mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry.  The girls were not taught to cook, sew, or to take care of the house.  All of this was left to the slaves.  The slaves, of course, had little personal interest in the life of the plantation, and their ignorance