"Yes, indeed," observed the admiral, "Fitzhugh is a very enthusiast in the cause, and I love him the better for it: it is honourable to his feelings, and to those generous sentiments which ought to pervade the heart, and direct the conduct of a British officer. Have you not heard that he has obtained a very responsible and active appointment in the new settlement of Sierra Leone, and that, in a short time, he will sail for Africa? I doubt not his conscientious attention to the duties devolving upon him, nor do I think the directors could have made a more judicious choice; for, young as he is, his firmness of principle, his rectitude in action, his genuine feeling, and his cultivated mind, render him peculiarly eligible to attend to the duties, and to surmount the difficulties of an infant colony. He will form one of the council, which will be sent from England, for the government of the colony. This council is particularly instructed to secure to all negroes and people of colour, equal rights, and equal treatment, in every respect, as the whites. They are to be tried by jury, as the whites, and every facility given to them to exercise their peculiar talents; employments being allotted them according to their progressive capacity of discharging them. They are especially, to be instructed in the principles of religion and morals. Public worship and the reverent observation of the sabbath, the general instruction of the adults and the judicious education of the children, are the means to be used to draw this now wretched race of men from the night of ignorance to the glorious light of divine and temporal knowledge. In fact, the grand object of the Sierra Leone Company is to substitute, for that disgraceful traffic which has too long subsisted, a fair and legitimate commerce with Africa, and all the blessings which may be expected from it." "I thank you, admiral, for this account," replied Colonel Roslyn, "and pray, with all my heart, that the benevolent exertions of the Company may be crowned with final success; and I believe I may assure you, that such is also the prayer of every individual of the present company." "Fitzhugh," said the admiral, "I have been telling Colonel Roslyn that you are an enthusiast for the abolition of the slave-trade--that it is your dream by night, and your stimulus by day."