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For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE—NO. 1.

FRIEND DOUGLASS: SIR:—I take up my pen
at this time to sketch a few thoughts in respect
to the cause of suffering humanity, and thereby
to contribute my mite for the advancement of
the cause of freedom. In looking over the
condition of the colored people of this country,
my heart is often moved with pity, in view of
their oppression, degradation and suffering.—
And why should I not feel? They are men,
my fellows, my brethren for whom Christ died,
and to whom the portals of heaven are open,
on the same conditions as to other men, and yet
in their efforts to regain their God-given rights
to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness," must contend with public opinion, popu-
lar prejudice, the influence of monetary inter-
ests, and unrighteous laws, even though they
sustain good, moral, and christian characters.—
Under such circumstances, every colored man
must feel his degradation, this heartless world
looks down upon him with disdain; and feel it
the more sensibly, too, as he is the more intelli-
gent. And every true philanthropist will com-
miserate such sufferings. The effects of the
foul system of slavery are not confined within its
own border, would that they were; but they
extend over sea and land, over free and bond,
children and men. The trembling slave and
panting fugitive are not the only sufferers, but
almost everywhere its influence hangs upon the
colored man like an incubus upon his progress,
threatening the fondest hopes that heaven has
instituted. But after all, in some things he may
rejoice. Life glows in his countenance, intelli-
gence sparkles in his eye, and immortality nestles
within as well as in his paler neighbor. Make
him free, give him facilities, and he will soar to
the heights of intellectual greatness, feast
upon the elysian fruits of earthly paradise, and
drink of the streams that make glad the city