A careful examination of the report of the American Colonization
Society, submitted at its meeting 1833, fails to show any such
statement—or any phrases or sentiments from which such an accusation
could be inferred. The report in its whole tenor and contents is just
to the contrary. Thus at page 16, referring to the condition of public
sentiment in Virginia, it says:
"That mighty evil (slavery) beneath which the minds of men had bowed
in despair, has been looked at as no longer incurable. A remedy has
been proposed; the sentiments of humanity, the secret wishes of the
heart on this momentous topic have found a voice and the wide air
has rung with it."
Again, at page 17 it says: "Nearly half the colonists in Liberia have
emigrated from Virginia; and many citizens of that state have sought
aid from the Society for removing thither their liberated slaves
during the last year."[214]
A like inspection of the reports of the Society for the years from
1827 to 1837 inclusive shows no such statement as that cited by Mr.
Smith in his footnote. The leading officers of the Society were
Virginians and its work had their cordial sympathy and co-operation.
Mr. Smith has evidently accepted the statement of some other writer
without examining for himself the original sources of
information.[215]
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Footnote 212:
_A Political History of Slavery_, William Henry Smith, 1903, Vol. I,
p. 3.
Footnote 213:
_Slavery Debate_, Virginia Legislature, 1833, Speech of T. J.
Randolph, p. 13.
Footnote 214:
_Report of American Colonization Society_ presented January 20,
1833, pp. 16 and 17.
Footnote 215:
Professor Hart, of Harvard University, in his recent work, _Slavery
and Abolition_, says:
"The fact that some thousands of negroes every year left the Border
States for the South seemed to show that there was profit in keeping
them alive; but recent investigation seems to establish that the
greater number of these negroes were taken in a body by the men who
owned them to settle in other states." (_Slavery and Abolition_,
Hart, p. 124).