aised, and would finally be glad to buy at almost any price. It was
very difficult to purchase sugar estates now, whereas previous to the
abolition of slavery, they were, like the slaves, a drug in the market.

Mr. Joseph Thorne is a gentleman of forty-five, of a dark mulatto
complexion, with the negro features and hair. _He was born a slave_, and
remained so until about twenty years of age. This fact we learned from
the manager of the Belle estate, on which Mr. T. was born and raised a
slave. It was an interesting coincidence, that on the occasion of our
visit to the Belle estate we were indebted to Mr. Thorne, the former
_property_ of that estate, for his horse and chaise, which he politely
proffered to us. Mr. T. employs much of his time in laboring among the
colored people in town, and among the apprentices on the estates, in the
capacity of _lay-preacher_. In this way he renders himself very useful.
Being very competent, both by piety and talents, for the work, and
possessing more perhaps than any missionary, the confidence of the
planters, he is admitted to many estates, to lecture the apprentices on
religious and moral duties. Mr. T. is a member of the Episcopal church.

BREAKFAST AT MR. PRESCOD'S

We next had the pleasure of breakfasting with Mr. Prescod. Our esteemed
friend, Mr. Harris, was of the company. Mr. P. is a young man, but
lately married. His wife and himself were both liberally educated in
England. He was the late editor of the New Times, a weekly paper
established since the abolition of slavery and devoted chiefly to the
interests of the colored community. It was the first periodical and the
only one which advocated the rights of the colored people, and this it
did with the utmost fearlessness and independence. It boldly exposed
oppression, whether emanating from the government house or originating
in the colonial assembly. The measures of all parties, and the conduct
of every public man, were subject to its scrutiny, and when occasion
required, to its stern rebuke. Mr. P. exhibits a thorough acquaintance
with the politics of the country, and with the position of the various
parties. He is familiar with the spirit and operations of the white
gentry--far more so, it would seem; than many of his brethren who have
been repeatedly deceived by their professions of increasing liberality,
and their show of extending civil immunities, which after all proved to
be practical nullities, and as such were denou