f the levee. I noticed
that the walls were hung with good oil paintings gorgeously framed,
principally family portraits, but the most prominent in position was
that of the unfortunate Haytian chief, Toussaint L'Ouverture, whose
cruel end, at the instigation of the vindictive Bonaparte, will for ever
reflect shame on the French name as long as a sense of justice and love
of virtue and probity exists in the bosom of mankind. Far be it from me
to trample on the name of one whom retributive justice has consigned to
the dust, but the cruelty of Napoleon towards this magnanimous prince,
and his final barbarity in consigning him to a damp dungeon in a
fastness amongst the Alps, where he perished in exile from his subjects
and family after ten months' miserable endurance of the hardships
wrongfully imposed on him, almost causes a feeling of exultation at the
downfall of a despot, who, aiming at the sovereignty of the world,
scrupled not to sacrifice virtue and good faith at the shrine of
ambition. The fate of both chiefs was similar, for both perished in
captivity--the one the victim, perhaps, of inordinate ambition, the
other of unscrupulous avarice and envious malignity. The misfortunes of
Toussaint L'Ouverture have indeed with justice been pronounced the
"history of the negro race," for, in almost every instance where
coloured men have pushed themselves above the common level, they have
incurred the envy of white men, and, in too many instances, have been
crushed by their overbearing tyranny.

The meeting was conducted with religious decorum, most, if not all, of
the coloured gentlemen present being members of the Wesleyan connection.
I was pleased with the temperate spirit in which their wrongs were
discussed; and, after drawing up the rules, forming a committee, and
arranging other necessary preliminaries, the meeting broke up.

On reaching my hotel on my return, I was at once waited upon by the
landlord, who, in certainly a respectful manner, informed me that the
interest I had the day before incautiously expressed regarding the
school, had led to my being watched to the house where the meeting was
held; and that, to avoid the unpleasantness which would result from my
continuing to take any steps in the matter, and which might ensue, he
said, from the suspicions excited, he strongly advised that I should the
next day address a letter to the editor of the principal newspaper in
the city, repudiating all connection with a