To the end of his career, however, he maintained his attitude of benevolence toward the oppressed. Differing widely from most white men, who although willing to take radical measures to make democracy safe for themselves, are reluctant to extend its benefits to those of color, Abbe Gregoire earnestly labored in the Constituent Assembly to bring about the emancipation of the Negroes in the French colonies. His interest in persons of African blood, moreover, was not restricted to the mere abolition of slavery because it was a stain on the character of the whites but he endeavored also to elevate the slaves to the full status of citizenship. It was largely through his efforts that men of color in the French colonies were soon after their emancipation admitted to the same civil and political rights as the whites in those dependencies. He made an effort, moreover, to influence public opinion in behalf of the Negroes in other lands. Having read in Jefferson's _Notes on Virginia_ his references to the so-called inferiority of the Negroes, Gregoire sent him a copy of his _De la Litterature des Negres_. Replying to the communication transmitting this publication Jefferson expressed himself in diplomatic and flattering terms, apparently indicating that he had expressed the opinion of inferiority with much hesitation and that the argument to establish the doctrine was after all rather weak. Writing a few days later to Joel Barlow, Jefferson no doubt expressed his real opinion as to what he thought of the inferiority of the Negro and Gregoire's evidences to the contrary. The pamphlet no doubt had some effect for, "As to Bishop Gregoire," says he, "I wrote him a very soft answer. It was impossible for doubt to have been more tenderly or hesitatingly expressed than there was in the _Notes on Virginia_ and nothing was or is further from my intentions than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion where I have only expressed a doubt."