my conduct, and called me their friend. The Slave-trade, they said, was the
parent of all the miseries in St. Domingo, not only on account of the cruel
treatment it occasioned to the slaves, but on account of the discord which
it constantly kept up between the Whites and People of Colour, in
consequence of the hateful distinctions it introduced. These distinctions
could never be obliterated while it lasted. Indeed both the trade and the
slavery must fall before the infamy, now fixed upon a skin of colour, could
be so done away, that Whites and Blacks could meet cordially, and look with
respect upon one another. They had it in their instructions, in case they
should obtain a seat in the Assembly, to propose an immediate abolition of
the Slave-trade, and an immediate amelioration of the state of slavery
also, with a view to its final abolition in fifteen years.

But time was flying apace, I had now been nearly seven weeks in Paris; and
had done nothing. The thought of this made me uneasy, and I saw no
consoling prospect before me. I found it even difficult to obtain a meeting
of the Friends of the Negros. The Marquis de la Fayette had no time to
attend. Those of the committee, who were members of the National Assembly,
were almost constantly engaged at Versailles. Such of them as belonged to
the Municipality, had enough to do at the Hotel de Ville. Others were
employed either in learning the use of arms, or in keeping their daily and
nightly guards. These circumstances made me almost despair of doing any
thing for the cause at Paris, at least in any reasonable time. But a new
circumstance occurred, which distressed me greatly; for I discovered, in
the most satisfactory manner, that two out of the six at the last committee
were spies. They had come into the society for no other reason, than to
watch and report its motions, and they were in direct correspondence with
the slave-merchants at Havre de Grace. This matter I brought home to them
afterwards, and I had the pleasure of seeing them excluded from all our
future meetings.