anti-slavery which tried men's souls, and when, to be an abolitionist,
was, to a large extent, to be a martyr.

We cannot help adding the thought that had these conventions of the
colored people of the United States continued their annual sittings
from 1830 until the present time, the result would doubtless have been
greater general progress among our people themselves, a more united
front to meet past and coming exigencies, and a profounder hold upon
the public attention, and a deeper respect on the part of our enemies,
than we now can boast of. Looking at public opinion as it is, the
living law of the land, and yet a malleable, ductile entity, which can
be moulded, or at least affected, by the thoughts of any masses
vigorously expressed, we should have become a power on earth, of
greater strength and influence than in our present scattered and
dwindled state we dare even dream of. The very announcement,
"Thirtieth Annual Convention of the Colored People of the United
States," would bear a majestic front. Our great gathering at Rochester
in 1853, commanded not only public attention, but respect and
admiration. Should we have such a gathering even now, once a year, not
encumbered with elaborate plans of action, with too many wheels within
wheels, we can yet regain much of the ground lost. The partial
gathering at Boston, the other day, has already assumed its place in
the public mind, and won its way into the calculations of the
politicians.

Our readers will doubtless be glad to learn the subsequent history of
Mr. Grice. He did not attend the second convention, but in the
interval between the second and third he formed, in the city of
Baltimore, a "Legal Rights Association," for the purpose of
ascertaining the legal status of the colored man in the United States.