eferences to the so-called inferiority of the Negroes,
Gregoire sent him a copy of his _De la Litterature des Negres_.
Replying to the communication transmitting this publication Jefferson
expressed himself in diplomatic and flattering terms, apparently
indicating that he had expressed the opinion of inferiority with much
hesitation and that the argument to establish the doctrine was after
all rather weak. Writing a few days later to Joel Barlow, Jefferson no
doubt expressed his real opinion as to what he thought of the
inferiority of the Negro and Gregoire's evidences to the contrary. The
pamphlet no doubt had some effect for, "As to Bishop Gregoire," says
he, "I wrote him a very soft answer. It was impossible for doubt to
have been more tenderly or hesitatingly expressed than there was in
the _Notes on Virginia_ and nothing was or is further from my
intentions than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion
where I have only expressed a doubt."

In later years, however, Abbe Gregoire's _De la Litterature des
Negres_ fell into the hands of a more sympathetic man. This was D. B.
Walden of Brooklyn, New York, then secretary to the legation at Paris.
Interested in the abolition of the slave trade and the welfare of the
blacks, Walden translated Gregoire's _De la Litterature des Negres_,
that friends of the race unacquainted with the French language might
have additional information as to what the Negro had done to
demonstrate that the race is not intellectually inferior to others.
This translation, however, is unfortunate because of the numerous
faults throughout the work and largely on account of its omissions.
Exactly why the translator did not desire to bring before the American
public all of the facts set forth in this book has never been exactly
cleared up. It has been said, however, that the facts omitted were too
favorable to the Negro race to be received by the American public at
that time. The whole work should be translated as soon as some scholar
can direct his attention to it, but, in the absence of such an effort,
I am submitting herewith a translation of the most striking omission,
chapter five, which gives an interesting sketch of the career of
Angelo Solimann.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE NEGRO ANGELO SOLIMANN

Although Angelo Solimann has published nothing[1] he deserves,
because of his extensive learning and still more by the morality
and excellence of his character, one of th