gh the admission had been fixed as high
as half a dollar, with the view of raising a fund, to carry them to
their native country. Fifteen of them were present, including one little
boy and three girls. Cinque their chief, spoke with great fluency in his
native language; and his action and manner were very animated and
graceful. Not much of his speech was translated, yet he greatly
interested his audience. The little boy could speak our language with
facility; and each of them read without hesitation one or two verses in
the New Testament. It was impossible for any one to go away with the
impression, that in native intellect these people were inferior to the
whites. The information which I privately received, from their tutor and
others who had full opportunities of appreciating their capacities and
attainments, fully confirmed my own very favorable impressions.

One evening during my stay, I took tea with twelve or fifteen colored
gentlemen, at the house of a colored family. The refined manners and
great intelligence of many of them would have done credit to any
society. The whites have a monopoly of prejudice, but not a monopoly of
intellect; nor of education and accomplishments; nor even of those more
trivial, yet fascinating graces, which throw the charm of elegance and
refinement over social life.

I found from the conversation I had with my colored friends, on
different occasions, that the prejudice against them was steadily, and
not very slowly, giving way; yet several instances were mentioned, of
recent occurrence, which show that it is still strong: I will quote one
only. A colored gentleman informed me that last winter a near female
relative being about to take a journey by railway to Philadelphia, she
was compelled, though in delicate health, to travel in the comfortless,
exposed car, expressly provided for negroes, though he offered to pay
double fare 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