_February 18, 1825._
The following resolution was submitted _to the Senate of the United
States_, by Mr. RUFUS KING, of New York:
_Resolved_, That, as soon as the portion of the existing funded debt of
the United States, for the payment of which the public land of the United
States is pledged, shall have been paid off, then, and thenceforth, the
whole of the public land of the United States, with the net proceeds
of all future sales thereof, shall constitute or form a fund, which is
hereby appropriated; and the faith of the United States is pledged that
the said fund shall be inviolably applied to aid the emancipation of such
slaves, within any of the United States, and aid the removal of such
slaves, and the removal of such free people of color, in any of the said
States, _as, by the laws of the States_, respectively, may be allowed to
be emancipated or removed, to any territory or country without the limits
of the United States of America.
_Extract of a letter from the Hon. James Madison to the secretary of the
society, the Rev. R. R. Gurley._
MONTPELIER, _December 29, 1831_.
DEAR SIR: I received in due time your letter of the 21st ultimo, and
with due sensibility to the subject of it. Such, however, has been the
effect of a painful rheumatism on my general condition, as well as in
disqualifying my fingers for the use of the pen, that I could not do
justice “to the principles and measures of the Colonization Society,
in all the great and various relations they sustain to our own country
and to Africa,” if my views of them could have the value which your
partiality supposes. I may observe, in brief, that the society had always
my good wishes, though with hopes of its success less sanguine than were
entertained by others, found to have been the better judges; and that I
feel the greatest pleasure at the progress already made by the society,
and the encouragement to encounter remaining difficulties afforded
by the earlier and greater ones already overcome. Many circumstances
at the present moment seem to concur in brightening the prospects of
the society, and cherishing the hope that the time will come when the
dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our country, and filled so
many with despair, will be gradually removed, and by means consistent
with justice, peace, and the general satisfaction; thus giving to our
country the full enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, and to the world
the full benefit of its great example. I never considered the main
difficulty of the great work as lying in the deficiency of emancipation,
but in an inadequacy of asylums for such a growing mass of population,
and in the great expense of removing it to its new home. The spirit of
private manumissions, as the laws may permit and the exiles may consent,
is increasing, and will increase; and there are sufficient indications
that the public authorities in slaveholding States are looking forward to
interpositions in different forms, that must have a powerful effect. With
respect to the new abode for the emigrants, all agree that the choice
made by the society is rendered peculiarly appropriate by considerations
which need not be repeated; and, if other situations should not be found
eligible receptacles for a portion of them, the prospects in Africa seem
to be expanding in a highly encouraging degree.
In contemplating the pecuniary resources needed for the removal of such
a number to so great a distance, my thoughts and hopes have been long
turned to the rich fund presented in the western lands of our nation,
which will soon entirely cease to be under a pledge for another object.
The great one in question is truly of a national character, and it is
known that distinguished patriots, not dwelling in slaveholding States,
have viewed the object in that light, and would be willing to let the
national domain he a resource in effecting it.
Should it be remarked that the States, though all may be interested in
relieving our country from the colored population, are not all equally
so, it is but fair to recollect that the sections most to be benefited
are those whose cessions created the fund to be disposed of.
_Extract of a letter from the Hon. John Marshall, Chief Justice of the
United Hates, to the Rev. R. R. Gurley, dated_
RICHMOND, _December 14, 1831_.
The great object of the society, I presume, is to obtain pecuniary aids.
Application will undoubtedly be made, I hope successfully, to the several
State legislatures, by the societies formed within them, respectively.
It is extremely desirable that they should pass permanent laws on the
subject; and the excitement produced by the late insurrection makes this
a favorable moment for the friends of the colony to press for such acts.
It would be also desirable, if such a direction could be given to State
legislation, as might have some tendency to incline the people of color
to migrate. This, however, is a subject of much delicacy. Whatever may be
the success of our endeavors to obtain acts for permanent aids, I have
no doubt that our applications for immediate contributions will receive
attention. It is possible, though not probable, that more people of color
may be disposed to migrate, than can be provided for with the funds the
society may be enabled to command. Under this impression I suggested,
some years past, to one or two of the board of managers, to allow a small
additional bounty in lands to those who would pay their own passage, in
whole or in part. The suggestion, however, was not approved.
It is undoubtedly of great importance to retain the countenance and
protection of the General Government. Some of our cruisers stationed
on the coast of Africa would, at the same time, interrupt the slave
trade—a horrid traffic, detested by all good men—and would protect
the vessels and commerce of the colony from pirates who infest those
seas. The power of the Government to afford this aid is not, I believe,
contested. I regret that its power to grant pecuniary aid is not equally
free from question. On this subject I have always thought, and still
think, that the proposition made by Mr. King, in the Senate, is the most
unexceptionable, and the most effective, that can be devised.
The fund would probably operate as rapidly as would be desirable, when
we take into view the other resources which might come in aid of it; and
its application would be, perhaps, less exposed to those constitutional
objections which are made in the South, than the application of money
drawn from the treasury and raised by taxes. The lands are the properly
of the United Slates, and have heretofore been disposed of by the
Government, under the idea of absolute ownership.
_Acts and Resolutions of State Legislatures in relation to Colonization._