IS l ike o urselves, eapablcofleeling,of reflection and of judging of what n aturally b elongs to them as a portion of the human race. B y the very c ondition of the relation which subsists between us, we are enemies of each other. T h e y know w ell the wrongs which their ancestors suffered, at the hands of our ancestors, and the wrongs which t hey believe the}' continue to endure, although they may be unable t o a venge t hem. T h e y are kept in subjection only by the superior i ntelligence and superior power of the predominant race. T h e i r b rethren h ave been liberated in every part of the continent of A m e r i c a , e xcept i n the U nited S tates and the B razils. I h ave just seen a n a ct of the President of the Republic of the U nited M e x i c a n S tates, d ated no longer ago than the 15th of September last, by w hich the whole of them i n that Republic have been emancipated. A g reat effort is now making i n Great B r i t a i n , w hich tends to the s ame ultimate effect, i n regard to the negro slaves of the B r i t i s h W est Indies. H a p p i l y for us no such insurrection can ever be attended w ith p ermanent success, as long as our U nion e ndures. It would be s peedily suppressed by the a l l powerful means of the U nited S tates, a nd i t would be the madness of despair in'the blacks that should attempt it. B u t i f attempted i n some p arts of the U . States, what s hocking s cenes o f carnage, rapine, and lawless violence might not. be perpetrated before the a rrival at the theatre of action of a competent f orce to quell i t ! A n d , after it was put down, what other s cenes o f m ilitary r igor and bloody executions would not be i ndispensably necessary to punish the insurgents, and impress their w hole race w ith the influence of a terrible example! O f a ll the descriptions of our population, and of either portion of t he A f r i c a n r ace, the free p eople o f colour are by far, as a class, the most corrupt, depraved and abandoned. There are many honorable exceptions among them, a'nd I take pleasure in bearing testimony to some 1 k now. It is not so much their fault, as the consequence o f their anomalous condition. Place ourselves, place any m en, i n the l ike p redicament, and s imilar effects w ould follow. T h e y are not slaves, and yet they are not free. T h e laws, it is t rue, p roclaim them free; but prejudices, more powerful than any h uvs, den}' them the privileges of freemen. T h e y o ccupy a m iddle s tation b etween the free white population, and the slaves of the U . S tates, a nd the tendency of t heir h abits is to corrupt both. T h e y c rowd our large cities, where those who w i l l w ork can best p rocure suitable employment, and where those who addict themselves to vice can best p ractice and conceal their crimes. If the vicious h abits a nd propensities of this class were not known to every man o f attentive observation, they would be demonstrated by the unerr i n g test of the census. A c c o r d i n g to the last enumeration of the i nhabitants o f the U . States, it appeared that the rate of its annual i ncrease was only about two and a half per cent, whilst that of the o ther classes was about three. No other adequate cause for this d isproportion can be assigned, but that of the improvidence and vices