could be persuaded to consecrate his time and talents to the promotion
of the anti-slavery enterprise, a powerful impetus would be given to
it, and a stunning blow at the same time inflicted on northern prejudice
against a colored complexion. I therefore endeavored to instil hope
and courage into his mind, in order that he might dare to engage in a
vocation so anomalous and responsible for a person in his situation; and
I was seconded in this effort by warm-hearted friends, especially by the
late General Agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Mr. JOHN
A. COLLINS, whose judgment in this instance entirely coincided with
my own. At first, he could give no encouragement; with unfeigned
diffidence, he expressed his conviction that he was not adequate to
the performance of so great a task; the path marked out was wholly an
untrodden one; he was sincerely apprehensive that he should do more
harm than good. After much deliberation, however, he consented to make
a trial; and ever since that period, he has acted as a lecturing
agent, under the auspices either of the American or the Massachusetts
Anti-Slavery Society. In labors he has been most abundant; and his
success in combating prejudice, in gaining proselytes, in agitating the
public mind, has far surpassed the most sanguine expectations that were
raised at the commencement of his brilliant career. He has borne himself
with gentleness and meekness, yet with true manliness of character. As
a public speaker, he excels in pathos, wit, comparison, imitation,
strength of reasoning, and fluency of language. There is in him that
union of head and heart, which is indispensable to an enlightenment
of the heads and a winning of the hearts of others. May his strength
continue to be equal to his day! May he continue to "grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of God," that he may be increasingly serviceable in the
cause of bleeding humanity, whether at home or abroad!

It is certainly a very remarkable fact, that one of the most efficient