In Consequence Of These Measures, There Are A Number Of Free Negroes In Philadelphia, Whose Situation Is Very Comfortable.

A handsome episcopalian church has been built for their use, and one of the most respectable negroes ordained, who

Performs all the duties of his office with great solemnity and fervour of devotion, assisted occasionally by his white brethren; and there are also two schools, where the children of people of colour are educated gratis; one supported by the quakers, the other by the abolition society.

Negro slavery, under any modification or form, is prohibited in this state (Massachusetts,) also in New Hampshire, the province of Maine, and, _I believe_, in all the _New England states_.

As to your other queries respecting the negroes, I send you my sentiments, infinitely better expressed by Jefferson, notwithstanding all that Imlay, Wilberforce, and other authors, have written against his assertion, viz., that "Negroes are _inferiour_ to the whites, both in the endowments of _body_ and _mind_." I am clearly and decidedly of his opinion. A strict attention to this subject, during three years residence in these states, has convinced me of the truth of every tittle of the following extract from his Virginia, which I enclose for your perusal, and am, most sincerely,

Yours, &c.

"The first difference that strikes us is colour. Whether the black of the negro reside in the reticular membrane, between the skin and scarf skin, or in the scarf skin itself; whether it proceed from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if it's seat and cause were better known to us.

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