ed of them are members of the church. Perhaps two
hundred are assembled every Sabbath in the Sunday Schools. In
my own Sunday School are about sixty, and most of them
professors of religion. They are perfectly accessible and
teachable. In the town of my former residence, in New
England, there were three hundred free blacks. No more than
eight or ten of these were professors of religion, and not
more than twice that number could generally be induced to
attend church. They could not be induced to send their
children to the district schools, which were always open to
them, nor could they generally be hired to work. They are
thievish, wretched and troublesome. I have no hesitation in
saying, and I say it deliberately, it would be a great
blessing to them to exchange conditions with the slaves of
the village in which I now live. Their intellectual and moral
characters, and real means of improvement, would be promoted
by the exchange.

There are doubtless some masters who treat their slaves
cruelly in this State, but they are exceptions to the general
fact. Public opinion is in a wholesome state and the man who
does not treat his slaves kindly, is disgraced.

Great and increasing efforts are made to instruct the slaves
in religion, and elevate their characters. Missionaries are
employed solely for their benefit. It is very common for
ministers to preach in the forenoon to the whites, and in the
afternoon of every Sabbath to the blacks. The slaves of my
acquaintance are generally contented and happy. The master is
reprobated who will divide families. Many thousands of slaves
of this State give evidence of piety. In many churches they
form the majority. Thousands of them give daily thanks to God
that they or their fathers were brought to this land of
slavery.

And now, perhaps, I ought to add, that I am not a
slave-holder, and do not intend to continue in a slave
country; but wherever I may be, I intend to speak the TRUTH.

The next document related particularly to _Virginia_,--the largest and
most powerful of the Slave States; but had also a general reference to
the whole south, and the whole question at issue. The sentiments it
contained were entitled to extraordinary consideration, on account of
the source of them. Mr. Van Renselear, was the son of one of the most
wealthy and distingu