[Footnote 1: _Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed._, 1871, p. 375.]

With respect to conceding the Negroes' claim to a better education,
Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the Polish general, was not unlike Benezet. None
of the revolutionary leaders were more moved with compassion for the
colored people than this warrior. He saw in education the powerful
leverage which would place them in position to enjoy the newly won
rights of man. While assisting us in gaining our independence,
Kosciuszko acquired here valuable property which he endeavored to
devote to the enlightenment of the slaves. He authorized Thomas
Jefferson, his executor, to employ the whole thereof in purchasing
Negroes and liberating them in the name of Kosciuszko, "in giving them
an education in trades or otherwise, and in having them instructed for
their new condition in the duties of morality." The instructors were
to provide for them such training as would make them "good neighbors,
good mothers or fathers, good husbands or wives, teaching them the
duties of citizenship, teaching them to be defenders of their liberty
and country, and of the good order of society, and whatsoever might
make them useful and happy."[1] Clearly as this was set forth the
executor failed to discharge this duty enjoined upon him. The heirs of
the donor instituted proceedings to obtain possession of the estate,
which, so far as the author knows, was never used for the purpose for
which it was intended.

[Footnote 1: _African Repository_, vol. xi., pp. 294-295.]

In view of these numerous strivings we are compelled to inquire
exactly what these educators accomplished. Although it is impossible
to measure the results of their early efforts, various records of the
eighteenth century prove that there was lessening objection to the