"Those of my complexion have long been considered rather brutish than human,--scarcely capable of mental endowments. But, in consequence of the reports that have reached me, I hope I may safely admit that you are measurably friendly and well-disposed toward us. I trust that you agree with me in thinking that one Universal Father hath given being to us all; that He has not only made us all of one flesh, but has also, without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations, and endowed us all with the same faculties; and that, however various we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or color, we are all of the same family, and all stand in the same relation to Him. Now, sir, if this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will readily embrace every opportunity to eradicate the absurd and false ideas and opinions which so generally prevail with respect to us. "Suffer me, sir, to recall to your mind, that when the tyranny of the British crown was exerted to reduce you to servitude, your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' "Your tender feelings for yourselves engaged you thus to declare. You were then impressed with proper ideas of the great value of Liberty, and the free possession of those blessings to which you were entitled by nature. But, sir, how pitiable it is to reflect that, although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which He had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies in detaining, by fraud and violence, so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression; that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act which you detested in others with respect to yourselves. "Sir, I freely and most cheerfully acknowledge that I am of the African race; and in that color which is natural to them I am of the deepest dye. But, with a sense of most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, I confess that I am not under that state of tyrannical thraldom and inhuman captivity to which so many of my brethren are doomed. I have abundantly tasted of those blessings which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favored.