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 Negroes. 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 deVille.
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 anything for the cause at Paris, at least in any
reasonable time.
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