Our readers will doubtless be glad to learn the subsequent history of Mr. Grice.  He did not attend the second convention, but in the interval between the second and third he formed, in the city of Baltimore, a “Legal Rights Association,” for the purpose of ascertaining the legal status of the colored man in the United States.  It was entirely composed of colored men, among whom were Mr. Watkins (the colored Baltimorean), Mr. Deaver, and others.  Mr. Grice called on William Wirt, and asked him “what he charged for his opinion on a given subject.”  “Fifty dollars.”  “Then, sir, I will give you fifty dollars if you will give me your opinion on the legal condition of a free colored man in these United States.”

Mr. Wirt required the questions to be written out in proper form before he could answer them.  Mr. Grice employed Tyson, who drew up a series of questions, based upon the Constitution of the United States, and relating to the rights and citizenship of the free black.  He carried the questions to Mr. Wirt, who, glancing over them, said, “Really, sir, my position as an officer under the government renders it a delicate matter for me to answer these questions as they should be answered, but I’ll tell you what to do:  they should be answered, and by the best legal talent in the land; do you go to Philadelphia, and present my name to Horace Binney, and he will give you an answer satisfactory to you, and which will command the greatest respect throughout the land.”  Mr. Grice went to Philadelphia, and presented the questions and request to Horace Binney.  This gentleman pleaded age and poor eyesight, but told Mr. Grice that if he would call on John Sargent he would get answers of requisite character and weight.  He called on John Sargent, who promptly agreed to answer the questions if Mr. Binney would allow his name to be associated as an authority in the replies.  Mr. Binney again declined, and so the matter fell through.  This is what Mr. Grice terms his “Dred Scott case” and so it was.

He attended the convention of 1832, but by some informality, or a want of credentials, was not permitted to sit as full member!—­Saul ejected from among the prophets!—­Yet he was heard on the subject of rights, and the doctrine of “our rights,” as well as the first colored convention, are due to the same man.

In 1832, chagrined at the colored people of the United States, he migrated to Hayti, where, until 1843, he pursued the business of carver and gilder.  In the latter year he was appointed Director of Public Works in Port-au-Prince, which office he held until two years ago.  He is also engaged in, and has wide knowledge of machinery and engineering.  Every two or three years he visits New York, and is welcomed to the arcana of such men as James J. Mapes, the Bensons, Dunhams, and at the various works where steam and iron obey human ingenuity in our city.  He is at present in this city, lodging at the house of the widow of his old friend and coadjutor, Thomas L. Jinnings, 133 Reade street.  We have availed ourselves of his presence among us to glean from him the statements which we have imperfectly put together in this article.