ion to the
legislature of this State, asking for an appropriation to assist them in
sending us all to Africa, that we might no longer remain a burthen upon the
State--and they came very near getting it, too; had it not been for the
timely assistance of young Denbigh, the son of Judge Denbigh, they would
have succeeded, such was the gross ignorance that prevailed respecting our
real condition, amongst the members of the legislature. He moved a
postponement of the vote until he could have time to bring forward facts to
support the ground that he had assumed in opposition to the appropriation
being made. It was granted; and, in a speech that does him honour, he
brought forward facts that proved us to be in a much superior condition to
that in which our imaginative enemies had described us. Ay! he did more--he
proved us to be in advance of the whites in wealth and general
intelligence: for whilst it was one in fifteen amongst the whites unable to
read and write, it was but one in eighteen amongst the coloured (I won't
pretend to be correct about the figures, but that was about the relative
proportions); and also, that we paid, in the shape of taxes upon our real
estate, more than our proportion for the support of paupers, insane,
convicts, &c."

"Well," said the astonished Winston, "that is turning the tables
completely. You must take me to visit amongst the coloured people; I want
to see as much of them as possible during my stay."

"I'll do what I can for you, George. I am unable to spare you much time
just at present, but I'll put you in the hands of one who has abundance of
it at his disposal--I will call with you and introduce you to Walters."

"Who is Walters?" asked Mr. Winston.

"A friend of mine--a dealer in real estate."

"Oh, then he is a white man?"

"Not by any means," laughingly replied Mr. Ellis. "He is as black as a man
can conveniently be. He is very wealthy; some say that he is worth half a
million of dollars. He owns, to my certain knowledge, one hundred brick
houses. I met him the other day in a towering rage: it appears, that he
owns ten thousand dollars' worth of stock, in a railroad extending from
this to a neighbouring city. Having occasion to travel in it for some
little distance, he got into the first-class cars; the conductor, seeing
him there, ordered him out--he refused to go, and stated that he was a
shareholder. The conductor replied, that he did not care how much stock he
owned, he was