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    so many young negroes , employed in ac quiring the rudiments of knowledge , would have been to any oue as interesting as it was novel ; to those who feel a just concern in the welfare of the African race , it was peculiarly so ; nor was it possible to witness it , without recollecting how different would have been their condition had they been enslaved , and rejoicing at the change which had led to such beneficial results . The master

    of this school , who was an intelligent young man , had conducted it from its commencement ; and his ability and attention appeared from the perfect order which prevailed throughout . My inquiries of him , respecting those placed under his instruction , related to the following particulars : —whether they displayed common aptness for learning : whether

    they readily remembered what they acquired ; and whether they were capable of the . application expected from boys in general of their age ? To these questions he replied , that among so many as were committed to his care , there were , of course , several whose incapacity prevented them from making any great progress ; but that the majority learnt

    without much difficulty , and many with considerable facility : that , with regard to their memory , their gradual advancement from one branch to another , and their readiness in recollecting small pieces of poetry or prose , which they were occasionally required "to learn , were satisfactory proofs of its being sufficiently retentive : and at the same time adding , that

    they required no more powerful stimulus to application and diligence than is necessary for youth in general . In answer to a question respecting the general character of his pupils , he farther stated , that they were far less obstinate and refractory than he had expected to find them . The facility , he said , with which they became familiarized to the mechanical pait of the system was surprising ;

    the necessity of inflicting severe jmnishruent , Ive stated , was not frequent ; if a few were disobedient and inattentive , others were no less diligent and submissive ; and pointing to the state of the sctiool at that moment , he hoped , he said , its order and regularity were indications of its flourishing condition , as well as of the docility and submission of the boys . * He concluded his answers by

    * " Since my return to England , 1 have visited the central school of the British and Foreign School Society , in the Borough Road , London ; and granting , as every one must ; that it is conducted With

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    assuring me that , on the whole , he found the young negroes and mulattoes as apt to learn , and as ready to remember , as he had found the youth of our own country . " At this period , all the boys of the school could read and write ; many of them were acquainted with the introductory rules of arithmetic ; and some spoke the English language with considerable ease aud propriety . At the request of

    the master , I called several of his pupils indiscriminately , aud proposed to them questions , according to the classes iu which they stood ; and the result of this examination was a convictiou that , whatever may be affirmed of the stupidity of the negro , he is no farther inferior in intellect to others , than the system of slavery renders him . Of this I received a farther confirmation by subsequent trials . I directed a certain number of

    these lads to commit to memory select pieces in English , and French , some in poetry and others in prose ; and promised to encourage them , by bestowing appropriate rewards on those who should repeat these pieces most readily and correctly . At the expiration of the time appointed them for learning , they each

    recited their respective portions with so much ease and propriety , that it was difficult to determine to whom the prizes should be adjudged ; and the only satisfactory mode of arrangement appeared to me that of increasing the number , so as to give to each boy a trifling reward . A short time afterwards I heard them

    repeat the same pieces , and they rehearsed them with nearly the same readiness and correctness as they had previously done . One of the elder boys of this school was particularly pointed out , as distinguished from his school - fellows by his great aptness for learning , and for the progress he had made in some branches not

    usually included in the Lancastenan system of education . Being desirous of ascertaining the extent of his acquirements , I requested him to call at my lodgings for the purpose of examining him . I first proposed to him a few questions in the

    single rule of three ; these he answered TVith perfect ease . I then proposed others in the different cases of practice ; these also he performed with equal facility . After this I tried him in the simple and compound rules of vulgar and decimal fractions , and found him no less

    admirable order , yet , I confess , I could not perceive its superiority , in point of general discipline , to that consisting of the Haytieii youth at Cape Francois . " <•

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    52 Critical Notices .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 52, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/52/