SECTION I.

Produced by Louise Pattison, Suzanne Shell and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THOUGHTS ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION

Transcriber's Notes:

This eBook is based on a 1968 reprint by Arno Press, New York, of the

original edition, published in 1832 by Garrison and Knapp, Boston. The

Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber.

Inconsistent use of "Mr." and "Mr"; use of variable numbers of asterisks

as ellipses; irregular and archaic spelling other than noted below;

inconsistent capitalization (especially Christian vs. christian) and

hyphenation, are as per the original.

2 blank lines between sequential block quotes indicate a new quote; 1

blank line indicates a new paragraph in the same quote; this is similar

to the typesetting of the original.

Footnotes have been re-indexed sequentially, using letters where symbols

were used and numbers where numbers were used in the original, and

moved to the end of each section to preserve the flow of the text.

Minor punctuation errors, in particular inconsistent use of quotation

marks, have been corrected without note. The following typographical

errors have been corrected:

Part I.

P. 25 "... was held, at which King George, ..." (had "Kings").

P. 36 "... Lander, travellers in Africa, represent ..." (had "Afria").

P. 48 "... operations have been confined to ..." (had "confied").

P. 88 "... superintendence of any government ..." (had "goverment").

P. 89 "... such a measure, to point ..." (had "a a").

P. 97 "... rid ourselves of a large party ..." (had "lage").

Footnote [P] "... the authority which compels ..." (had "which which").

P. 126 "... country, of an anomalous race ..." (had "amomalous").

P. 127 "... transportation of the manumitted ..." (had "transportion").

P. 148 "... that a greater benefit may be ..." (had "may may").

Part II.

P. 72 "... a state far to the West ..." (had "far to far").

P. 72 "... calculated to impress upon ..." (had "calulated").

Table of Contents

PREFACE xix

PART I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1

SECTION I. 39

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS PLEDGED NOT TO OPPOSE THE

SYSTEM OF SLAVERY.

SECTION II. 61

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY APOLOGISES FOR SLAVERY AND

SLAVEHOLDERS.

SECTION III. 68

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY RECOGNISES SLAVES AS PROPERTY.

SECTION IV. 74

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY INCREASES THE VALUE OF SLAVES.

SECTION V. 78

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE ENEMY OF IMMEDIATE

ABOLITION.

SECTION VI. 95

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS NOURISHED BY FEAR AND

SELFISHNESS.

SECTION VII. 111

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY AIMS AT THE UTTER EXPULSION OF

THE BLACKS.

SECTION VIII. 124

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE DISPARAGER OF THE FREE

BLACKS.

SECTION IX. 134

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DENIES THE POSSIBILITY OF

ELEVATING THE BLACKS IN THIS COUNTRY.

SECTION X. 151

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DECEIVES AND MISLEADS THE

NATION.

PART II.

SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR. 1

THOUGHTS

ON

AFRICAN COLONIZATION

[Illustration: SECTION OF A SLAVE SHIP. _From Walsh's Notes of Brazil._]

PREFACE.

I dedicate this work to my countrymen, in whose intelligence,

magnanimity and humanity I place the utmost reliance. Although they have

long suffered themselves to be swayed by a prejudice as unmanly as it is

wicked, and have departed widely from the golden rule of the gospel, in

their treatment of the people of color, to suppose that they will always

be the despisers and persecutors of this unfortunate class is, in my

opinion, to libel their character. A change in their feelings and

sentiments is already visible--a change which promises, ere long, to

redeem their character from the bloody stains which slavery has cast

upon it, and to release the prisoner from his chains. May they be

ashamed to persist in a mean and thievish course of conduct, and afraid

to quarrel with the workmanship of God! May a righteous indignation be

kindled in their breasts against a combination which is holding them up,

for the scorn and contempt of other nations, as incorrigible oppressors,

whom neither self-respect, nor the opinions of mankind, nor the fear of

God, can bring to repentance! Their duty is plain, and it may easily be

done. Slavery must be overthrown either by their own moral strength, or

by the physical strength of the slaves. Let them imitate the example of

the people of _Great Britain_, by seeking the immediate overthrow of the

horrid system. Let a National Anti-Slavery Society be immediately

organized, the object of which shall be, to quicken and consolidate the

moral influence of the nation, so that Congress and the State

Legislatures may be burdened with petitions for the removal of the

evil--to scatter tracts, like rain-drops, over the land, on the subject

of slavery--to employ active and eloquent agents to plead the cause

incessantly, and to form auxiliary societies--to encourage planters to

cultivate their lands by freemen, by offering large premiums; to promote

education and the mechanical arts among the free people of color, and to

recover their lost rights. Religious professors, of all denominations,

must bear unqualified testimony against slavery. They must not support,

they must not palliate it. No slaveholder ought to be embraced within

the pale of a christian church; consequently, the churches must be

purified 'as by fire.' Slavery in the District of Columbia is sustained

in our national capacity: it ought, therefore, to be prostrated at a

blow. The clause in the Constitution should be erased, which tolerates,

greatly to the detriment and injustice of the non-slaveholding States, a

slave representation in Congress. Why should property be represented at

the impoverished south, and not at the opulent north?

To impair the force of this exposition, the ardent advocates of the

Colonization Society will undoubtedly attempt to evade the ground of

controversy, and lead uncautious minds astray in a labyrinth of

sophistry. But the question is not, whether the climate of Africa is

salubrious, nor whether the mortality among the emigrants has been

excessive, nor whether the colony is in a prosperous condition, nor

whether the transportation of our whole colored population can be

effected in thirty years or three centuries, nor whether any slaves have

been emancipated on condition of banishment; but whether the doctrines

and principles of the Society accord with the doctrines and principles

of the gospel, whether slaveholders are the just proprietors of their

slaves, whether it is not the sacred duty of the nation to abolish the

system of slavery now, and to recognise the people of color as brethren

and countrymen who have been unjustly treated and covered with unmerited

shame. _This is the question--and the only question._

With such a mass of evidence before them, of the pernicious, cruel and

delusive character of the American Colonization Society, I leave the

patriot, the philanthropist and the christian to judge of the fitness of

the following inflated and presumptuous assertions of its

advocates:--'The plan is of heavenly origin, against which the gates of

hell shall never prevail'--'a circle of philanthropy, every segment of

which tells and testifies to the beneficence of the whole'--'addressing

its claims alike to the patriot, and the christian, it being

emphatically the cause of liberty, of humanity, of religion'[A]--'so

full of benevolence and the hallowed impulses of Heaven's own mercy,

that one might, with the propriety of truth, compare its radiant

influences to a rainbow, insufferably bright, spanning the sombre clouds

of human wrong, that have accumulated on the horizon of our country's

prosperity, and beating back, with calm and heavenly power, the

blackening storm that always threatens, in growling thunders, a heavy

retribution'[B]--'that citizen of the United States who lifts a finger

to retard this institution, nay, that man who does not use his

persevering efforts to promote its benevolent object, fails, in our

opinion, to discharge his duty to his God and his

country'[C][1]--'nothing but a distinct knowledge and a calm

consideration of the facts in the case, is wanting to make every man of

common intelligence, common patriotism, and common humanity, the earnest

friend of the Colonization Society'!![D]

There is one important consideration, which, owing to the contractedness

of my limits, I have omitted to enforce in this work. It is this: the

serious injury which our interests must inevitably suffer by the removal

of our colored population. Their labor is indispensably necessary and

extremely valuable. By whom shall the plantations at the south be

cultivated but by them? It is universally conceded that they can resist

the intensity of a southern sun, and endure the fatigues attendant on

the cultivation of rice, cotton, tobacco and sugar-cane, better than

white laborers: at least, their bodies are now inured to this

employment. I do not believe that any equivalent would induce the

planters to part with their services, or white laborers to occupy their

places. In the great cities, and in various parts of the southern

States, free persons of color constitute a laborious and useful class.

In a pecuniary point of view, the banishment of one-sixth of our

population,--of those whom we specially need,--would be an act of

suicide. The veriest smatterer in political economy cannot but perceive

the ruinous tendency of such a measure.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] African Repository.

[B] Rev. Mr Maffit's 'Plea for Africa.'

[C] Western Luminary.

[D] Christian Spectator.

[1] The clerical gentleman who presumes to utter this opinion is the

same who has also the hardihood to assert that 'many of the best

citizens of our land are holders of slaves, and hold them _in strict

accordance with the principles of humanity and justice_'!!

THOUGHTS ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION.

PART I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

In attacking the system of slavery, I clearly foresaw all that has

happened to me. I knew, at the commencement, that my motives would be

impeached, my warnings ridiculed, my person persecuted, my sanity

doubted, my life jeoparded: but the clank of the prisoner's chains broke

upon my ear--it entered deeply into my soul--I looked up to Heaven for

strength to sustain me in the perilous work of emancipation--and my

resolution was taken.

In opposing the American Colonization Society, I have also counted the

cost, and as clearly foreseen the formidable opposition which will be

arrayed against me. Many of the clergy are enlisted in its support:

their influence is powerful. Men of wealth and elevated station are

among its contributors: wealth and station are almost omnipotent. The

press has been seduced into its support: the press is a potent engine.

Moreover, the Society is artfully based upon and defended by _popular

prejudice_: it takes advantage of wicked and preposterous opinions, and

hence its success. These things grieve, they cannot deter me. 'Truth is

mighty, and will prevail.' It is able to make falsehood blush, and tear

from hypocrisy its mask, and annihilate prejudice, and overthrow

persecution, and break every fetter.

I am constrained to declare, with the utmost sincerity, that I look upon

the colonization scheme as inadequate in its design, injurious in its

operation, and contrary to sound principle; and the more scrupulously I

examine its pretensions, the stronger is my conviction of its

sinfulness. Nay, were Jehovah to speak in an audible voice from his holy

habitation, I am persuaded that his language would be, 'Who hath

required this at your hands?'

It consoles me to believe that no man, who knows me personally or by

reputation, will suspect the honesty of my skepticism. If I were

politic, and intent only on my own preferment or pecuniary interest, I

should swim with the strong tide of public sentiment instead of

breasting its powerful influence. The hazard is too great, the labor too

burdensome, the remuneration too uncertain, the contest too unequal, to

induce a selfish adventurer to assail a combination so formidable.

Disinterested opposition and sincere conviction, however, are not

conclusive proofs of individual rectitude; for a man may very honestly

do mischief, and not be aware of his error. Indeed, it is in this light

I view many of the friends of African colonization. I concede to them

benevolence of purpose and expansiveness of heart; but in my opinion,

they are laboring under the same delusion as that which swayed Saul of

Tarsus--persecuting the blacks even unto a strange country, and verily

believing that they are doing God service. I blame them, nevertheless,

for taking this mighty scheme upon trust; for not perceiving and

rejecting the monstrous doctrines avowed by the master spirits in the

crusade; and for feeling so indifferent to the moral, political and

social advancement of the free people of color in this their only

legitimate home.

In the progress of this discussion I shall have occasion to use very

plain, and sometimes very severe language. This would be an unpleasant

task, did not duty imperiously demand its application. To give offence I

am loath, but more to hide or modify the truth. I shall deal with the

Society in its collective form--as one body--and not with individuals.

While I shall be necessitated to marshal individual opinions in review,

I protest, _ab origine_, against the supposition that indiscriminate

censure is intended, or that every friend of the Society cherishes

similar views. He to whom my reprehension does not apply, will not

receive it. It is obviously impossible, in attacking a numerous and

multiform combination, to exhibit private dissimilarities, or in every

instance to discriminate between the various shades of opinion. It is

sufficient that exceptions are made. My warfare is against the AMERICAN

COLONIZATION SOCIETY. If I shall identify its general, preponderating

and clearly developed traits, it must stand or fall as they shall prove

benevolent or selfish.

I bring to this momentous investigation an unbiassed mind, a lively

sense of accountability to God, and devout aspirations for the guidance

of the Holy Spirit. Unless He 'in whom there is no darkness at all,'

pours light upon my path, I shall go astray. I have taken Him at His

word: 'If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given

him.' Confessing my own foolishness, I have sought that knowledge which

cannot err.

I would premise, that, like many others, I formerly supposed the

Colonization Society was a praiseworthy association, although I always

doubted its efficiency. This opinion was formed for me by others, upon

whom I placed implicit confidence: it certainly was not based upon any

research or knowledge of my own, as I had not at that time perused a

single Report of the Society, nor a page in its organ, the African

Repository. My approval was the offspring of credulity and ignorance. I

am explicit on this point, because my opponents have accused me of

inconsistency--though it ought not surely to disgrace a man, that,

discovering himself to be in error, he promptly turns to the embrace of

truth. As if opinions, once formed, must be as irrevocable as the laws

of the Medes and Persians! If this were so, accountability would lose

its hold on the conscience, and the light of knowledge be blown out, and

reason degenerate into brutish instinct. Much stress has been laid upon

the fact, that, in 1828, I delivered an address in Park-street

meeting-house on the Fourth of July, on which occasion a collection was

made in behalf of the American Colonization Society. It is true--but

whereas I was then blind, now I see. My address, however, was far from

being acceptable to the friends of colonization who were present, not

only on account of my denunciation of slaveholders, but because I

inserted only a single sentence in favor of the Society. In all my

writings, I have never commended this combination in as many sentences

as I have used in making this explanation. So much for my marvellous

apostacy!

It is only about two years since I was induced to examine the claims of

the Colonization Society upon the patronage and confidence of the

nation. I went to this examination with a mind biassed by preconceived

opinions favorable to the Society, and rather for the purpose of

defending it against opposition than of bringing it into disrepute.

Every thing, apart from its principles, was calculated to secure my

friendship. Nothing but its revolting features could have induced me to

turn loathingly away from its embrace. I had some little reputation to

sustain; many of my friends were colonizationists; I saw that eminent

statesmen and honorable men were enlisted in the enterprise; the great

body of the clergy gave their unqualified support to it; every fourth of

July the charities of the nation were secured in its behalf; wherever I

turned my eye in the free States, I saw nothing but unanimity; wherever

my ear caught a sound, I heard nothing but excessive panegyric. No

individual had ventured to blow the trumpet of alarm, or exert his

energies to counteract the influence of the scheme. If an assailant had

occasionally appeared, he had either fired a random shot and retreated,

or found in the inefficiency of the Society the only cause for

hostility. It was at this crisis, and with such an array of motives

before me to bias my judgment, that I resolved to make a close and

candid examination of the subject.

I went, first of all, to the fountain head--to the African Repository

and the Reports of the Society. I was not long in discovering sentiments

which seemed to me as abhorrent to humanity as contrary to reason. I

perused page after page, first with perplexity, then with astonishment,

and finally with indignation. I found little else than sinful

palliations, fatal concessions, vain expectations, exaggerated

statements, unfriendly representations, glaring contradictions, naked

terrors, deceptive assurances, unrelenting prejudices, and unchristian

denunciations. I collected together the publications of auxiliary

societies, in order to discern some redeeming traits; but I found them

marred and disfigured with the same disgusting details. I courted the

acquaintance of eminent colonizationists, that I might learn how far

their private sentiments agreed with those which were so offensive in

print; and I found no dissimilarity between them. I listened to

discourses from the pulpit in favor of the Society; and the same moral

obliquities were seen in minister and people.

These discoveries affected my mind so deeply that I could not rest. I

endeavored to explain away the meaning of plain and obvious language; I

made liberal concessions for good motives and unsuspicious confidence; I

resorted to many expedients to vindicate the disinterested benevolence

of the Society; but I could not rest. The sun in its mid-day splendor

was not more clear and palpable to my vision, than the anti-christian

and anti-republican character of this association. It was evident to me

that the great mass of its supporters at the north did not realise its

dangerous tendency. They were told that it was designed to effect the

ultimate emancipation of the slaves--to improve the condition of the

free people of color--to abolish the foreign slave trade--to reclaim and

evangelize benighted Africa--and various other marvels. Anxious to do

something for the colored population--they knew not what--and having no

other plan presented to their view, they eagerly embraced a scheme which

was so big with promise, and which required of them nothing but a small

contribution annually. Perceiving the fatality of this delusion, I was

urged by an irresistible impulse to attempt its removal. I could not

turn a deaf ear to the cries of the slaves, nor throw off the

obligations which my Creator had fastened upon me. Yet in view of the

inequalities of the contest, of the obstacles which towered like

mountains in my path, and of my own littleness, I trembled, and

exclaimed in the language of Jeremiah,--'Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot

speak: for I am a child.' But I was immediately strengthened by these

interrogations: 'Is any thing too hard for the Lord?' Is Error, though

unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than Truth? Are

Right and Wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? Oh

no! Then I will go forward in the strength of the Lord of Hosts--in the

name of Truth--and under the banner of Right. As it is not by might nor

by power, but by the Spirit of God, that great moral changes are

effected, I am encouraged to fight valiantly in this good cause,

believing that I shall 'come off conqueror, and more than

conqueror'--yet not I, but Truth and Justice. It is in such a contest

that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.

'The Lord disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands

cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own

craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.'

'Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of

God is stronger than men.'

Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of

notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their

conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of

moral courage. The great mass of mankind shun the labor and

responsibility of forming opinions for themselves. The question is

not--what is true? but--what is popular? Not--what does God say?

but--what says the public? Not--what is my opinion? but--what do others

believe? If people would pin their faith upon the bible, and not upon

the sleeves of their neighbors, half of the heresies in the world would

instantly disappear. If they would use their own eyes, their own ears,

their own understandings, instead of the eyes, and ears, and

understandings of others, imbecility, credulity and folly would be as

rare as they are now common in community. But, unhappily, to borrow the

words of Ganganelli, a large majority of mankind are 'mere abortions:'

calling themselves rational and intelligent beings, they act as if they

had neither brains nor conscience, and as if there were no God, no

accountability, no heaven, no hell, no eternity.

'My minister,' says one, 'is a most worthy man. He supports this

Society: therefore it is a good institution.' 'Christians of all

denominations are enlisted in this enterprise,' says another: 'therefore

it cannot be wrong.' 'Do you think,' says a third, 'that honest, godly

men would countenance a scheme which is not really benevolent?' But it

is unwise for beings, who are accountable only to God, to reason in this

manner. All the good men upon earth cannot make persecution benevolence,

nor injustice equity; and until they become infallible, implicit

reliance upon their judgment is criminal. Ministers and christians, a

few years since, were engaged in the use and sale of ardent spirits;

_but they were all wrong_, and they now acknowledge their error. At the

present day, a large proportion of the professed disciples of the Prince

of Peace maintain the lawfulness of defensive war, and the right of the

oppressed to fight and kill for liberty; but they hold this sentiment in

direct opposition to the precepts of their Leader--'I say unto you which

hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that

curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.' Surely 'the

time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.'

I must pause, for a moment, and count the number of those with whom I am

about to conflict. If I had to encounter only men-stealers and

slaveholders, victory would be easy; but it is not the south alone that

is to be subdued. The whole nation is against me. Church after church is

to be converted, and the powerful influence of the clergy broken. The

friendship of good men is to be turned into enmity, and their support

into opposition. It is my task to change their admiration into

abhorrence; to convince them that their well-meant exertions have been

misdirected, and productive of greater evil than good; and to induce

them to abandon an institution to which they now fondly cling.

To those who neither fear God nor regard man--who have sworn eternal

animosity to their colored countrymen, and whose cry is, 'Away with

them, we do not want them here!'--I make no appeal. Disregarding as they

do that divine command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' it

would be idle for me to direct my arguments to them. I address myself

to high-minded and honorable men, whose heads and hearts are susceptible

to the force of sound logic. I appeal to those, who have been redeemed

from the bondage of sin by the precious blood of Christ, and with whom I

hope to unite in a better world in ascribing glory, and honor, and

praise to the Great Deliverer for ever. If I can succeed in gaining

their attention, I feel sure of convincing their understandings and

securing their support.

Besides the overwhelming odds which are opposed to me, I labor under

other very serious disadvantages. My efforts in the cause of

emancipation have been received as if they were intended to bring chaos

back again, and to give the land up to pillage and its inhabitants to

slaughter. My calls for an alteration in the feelings and practices of

the people toward the blacks have been regarded as requiring a sacrifice

of all the rules of propriety, and as seeking an overthrow of the

established laws of nature! I have been thrust into prison, and amerced

in a heavy fine. Epithets, huge and unseemly, have been showered upon me

without mercy. I have been branded as a fanatic, a madman, a disturber

of the peace, an incendiary, a cutthroat, a monster, &c. &c. &c.

Assassination has been threatened me in a multitude of anonymous

letters. Private and public rewards to a very large amount, by

combinations of individuals and by legislative bodies at the south, have

been offered to any persons who shall abduct or destroy me. 'Yea, mine

own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath

lifted up his heel against me.' This malignity of opposition and

proximity of danger, however, are like oil to the fire of my zeal. I am

not deliriously enthusiastic--I do not covet to be a martyr; but I had

rather die a thousand deaths, than witness the horrible oppression under

which more than two millions of my countrymen groan, _and be silent_. No

reproaches, no dangers shall deter me. At the north or the south, at the

east or the west,--wherever Providence may call me,--my voice shall be

heard in behalf of the perishing slave, and against the claims of his

oppressor. Mine is the frank avowal of the excellent WILBERFORCE:--I can

admit of no compromise when the commands of equity and philanthropy are

so imperious. I wash my hands of the blood that may be spilled. I

protest against the system, as the most flagrant violation of every

principle of justice and humanity. I NEVER WILL DESERT THE CAUSE. In my

task it is impossible to tire: it fills my mind with complacency and

peace. At night I lie down with composure, and rise to it in the morning

with alacrity. I NEVER WILL DESIST FROM THIS BLESSED WORK.

Now that the concentrated execration of the civilized world is poured

upon those who engage in the foreign slave trade, how mild and

inefficient, comparatively speaking, seem to have been the rebukes of

Pitt, and Fox, and Wilberforce, and Clarkson! Yet these rebukes were

once deemed fanatical and outrageous by good men--yea, like flames of

fire, threatening a universal conflagration! So the denunciations which

I am now hurling against slavery and its abettors,--which seem to many

so violent and unmerited,--will be considered moderate, pertinent and

just, when this murderous, soul-destroying system shall have been

overthrown.

Fanaticism has been the crime alleged against reformers in all ages.

'These,' it was said of the apostles, 'that have turned the world upside

down, come hither also.' Luther was a madman in his day: what is he now

in the estimation of the friends of civil and religious liberty? One of

'Those starry lights of virtue, that diffuse

Through the dark depths of time their vivid flame.'

That base and desperate men should thus stigmatize those who endure the

cross as good soldiers, and walk as pilgrims and strangers here, is not

wonderful; but that the professed followers of Jesus Christ should join

in this hue-and-cry is lamentable. Singular enough, I have been almost

as cruelly aspersed by ministers of the gospel and church members, as by

any other class of men. Unacquainted with me, and ignorant of my

sentiments, they have readily believed the accusations of my enemies.

The introduction of my name into conversation has elicited from them

contemptuous sneers or strong denunciations. I have a right to complain

of this treatment, and I do strongly protest against it as unchristian,

hurtful and ungenerous. To prejudge and condemn an individual, on vague

and apocryphal rumors, without listening to his defence or examining

evidence, is tyranny. Perhaps I am in error--perhaps I deserve

unqualified condemnation; but I am at least entitled to a privilege

which is granted to the vilest criminals, namely, the privilege of a

fair trial. I ask nothing more. To accuse me of heresy, madness and

sedition, is one thing; to substantiate the accusation, another.

Should this work chance to fall into the hands of those who have thus

ignorantly reprobated my course, I appeal to their sense of rectitude

whether they are not bound to give it a candid and deliberate perusal;

and if they shall find in my writings nothing contrary to the immutable

principles of justice, whether they ought not to be as strenuous in my

defence as they have been hitherto in seeking my overthrow.

To show that I do not vacate any pledge which I have given to the

public, I shall here insert all the specifications, which, from time to

time, I have brought against the American Colonization Society. In 'The

Liberator' of April 23, 1831, is the following serious compend:

'I am prepared to show, that those who have entered into this

CONSPIRACY AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS are unanimous in abusing their

victims; unanimous in their mode of attack; unanimous in

proclaiming the absurdity, that our free blacks are natives of

Africa; unanimous in propagating the libel, that they cannot be

elevated and improved in this country; unanimous in opposing

their instruction; unanimous in exciting the prejudices of the

people against them; unanimous in apologising for the crime of

slavery; unanimous in conceding the right of the planters to

hold their slaves in a limited bondage; unanimous in their

hollow pretence for colonizing, namely, to evangelize Africa;

unanimous in their _true motive_ for the measure--a terror lest

the blacks should rise to avenge their accumulated wrongs. It is

a conspiracy to send the free people of color to Africa under a

benevolent pretence, but really that the slaves may be held more

securely in bondage. It is a conspiracy based upon fear,

oppression and falsehood, which draws its aliment from the

prejudices of the people, which is sustained by duplicity, which

really upholds the slave system, which fascinates while it

destroys, which endangers the safety and happiness of the

country, which no precept of the bible can justify, which is

implacable in its spirit, which should be annihilated at a blow.

'These are my accusations; and if I do not substantiate them, I

am willing to be covered with reproach.'

The following is copied from an editorial article of July 9, 1831:

'The superstructure of the Colonization Society rests upon the

following pillars:

'1st. _Persecution._ It declares that the whole colored

population must be removed to Africa; but as the free portion

are almost _unanimously_ opposed to a removal, it seems to be

the determination of the Society to make their situations so

uncomfortable and degraded here, as to compel them to migrate:

consequently it discourages their education and improvement in

this their native home. This is persecution.

'2d. _Falsehood._ It stigmatises our colored citizens as being

natives of Africa, and talks of sending them to their native

land; when they are no more related to Africa than we are to

Great Britain.

'3d. _Cowardice._ It avows as a prominent reason why colored

citizens ought to be removed, that their continuance among us

will be dangerous to us as a people! This is a libel upon their

character. Instead of demanding justice for this oppressed

class, the Society calls for their removal!

'4th. _Infidelity._ It boldly denies that there is power enough

in the gospel to melt down the prejudices of men, and insists,

that, so long as the people of color remain among us, _we must

be their enemies!_--Every honest man should abhor the doctrine.'

In 'The Liberator' of July 30, 1831, alluding to the present work, I

used the following language:

'I shall be willing to stake my reputation upon it for honesty,

prudence, benevolence, truth and sagacity. If I do not prove the

Colonization Society to be a creature without heart, without

brains, eyeless, unnatural, hypocritical, relentless, unjust,

then nothing is capable of demonstration--then let me be covered

with confusion of face.'

The following paragraph is extracted from 'The Liberator' of November

19, 1831:

'It is the enemy of immediate restitution to the slaves; it

courts and receives the approbation of notorious slave owners;

it deprecates any interference with slave property; it

discourages the improvement of the colored population, except

they are removed to the shores of Africa; it is lulling the

country into a fatal sleep, pretending to be something when it

is nothing; it is utterly chimerical, as well as intolerant, in

its design; it serves to increase the value of the slaves, and

to make brisk the foreign and domestic slave trade; it nourishes

and justifies the most cruel prejudices against color; it sneers

at those who advocate the bestowal of equal rights upon our

colored countrymen; it contends for an indefinite, dilatory,

far-off emancipation; it expressly declares that it is more

humane to keep the slaves in chains, than to give them freedom

in this country! In short, it is the most compendious and best

adapted scheme to uphold the slave system that human ingenuity

can invent. Moreover, it is utterly and irreconcileably opposed

to the wishes and sentiments of the great body of the free

people of color, repeatedly expressed in the most public manner,

but cruelly disregarded by it.'

The following passages are taken from my Address to the People of Color,

delivered in various places in June, 1831:

'Let me briefly examine the doctrines of colonizationists. They

generally agree in publishing the misstatement, that you are

strangers and foreigners. Surely they know better. They know,

that, as a body, you are no more natives of Africa, than they

themselves are natives of Great Britain. Yet they repeat the

absurd charge; and they do so, in order to cover their

anti-republican crusade. But suppose you were foreigners: would

such an accident justify this persecution and removal? And, if

so, then all foreigners must come under the same ban, and must

prepare to depart. There would be, in that case, a most alarming

deduction from our population. Suppose a philanthropic and

religious crusade were got up against the Dutch, the French, the

Swiss, the Irish, among us, to remove them to New Holland, to

enlighten and civilize her cannibals? Who would not laugh at the

scheme--who would not actively oppose it? Would any one blame

the above classes for steadfastly resisting it? Just so, then,

in regard to African colonization. But our colored population

are not aliens; they were born on our soil; they are bone of our

bone, and flesh of our flesh; their fathers fought bravely to

achieve our independence during the revolutionary war, without

immediate or subsequent compensation; they spilt their blood

freely during the last war; they are entitled, in fact, to every

inch of our southern, and much of our western territory, having

worn themselves out in its cultivation, and received nothing but

wounds and bruises in return. Are these the men to stigmatize as

foreigners?

'Colonizationists generally agree in asserting that the people

of color cannot be elevated in this country, nor be admitted to

equal privileges with the whites. Is not this a libel upon

humanity and justice--a libel upon republicanism--a libel upon

the Declaration of Independence--a libel upon christianity? "All

men are born equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain

inalienable rights--among which are life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness." What is the meaning of that declaration?

That _all_ men possess these rights--whether they are six feet

five inches high, or three feet two and a half--whether they

weigh three hundred or one hundred pounds--whether they parade

in broadcloth or flutter in rags--whether their skins are jet

black or lily white--whether their hair is straight or woolly,

auburn or red, black or gray--does it not? We, who are present,

differ from each other in our looks, in our color, in height,

and in bulk; we have all shades, and aspects, and sizes. Now,

would it not be anti-republican and anti-christian for us to

quarrel about sitting on this seat or that, because this man's

complexion is too dark, or that man's looks are too ugly? and to

put others out of the house, because they happen to be ignorant,

or poor, or helpless? To commit this violence would be evidently

wrong: then to do it in a large assemblage--in a community, in a

state, or in a nation, it is equally unjust. But is not this

the colonization principle? Who are the individuals that

applaud, that justify, that advocate this exclusion? Who are

they that venture to tell the American people, that they have

neither honesty enough, nor patriotism enough, nor morality

enough, nor religion enough, to treat their colored brethren as

countrymen and citizens? Some of them--I am sorry to say--are

professedly ministers of the gospel; others are christian

professors; others are judges and lawyers; others are our

Senators and Representatives; others are editors of newspapers.

These ministers and christians dishonor the gospel which they

profess; these judges and lawyers are the men spoken of by the

Saviour, who bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and

lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move

them with one of their fingers. These Senators and

Representatives ought not to receive the suffrages of the

people. These editors are unworthy of public patronage.

'Colonizationists too generally agree in discouraging your

instruction and elevation at home. They pretend that ignorance

is bliss; and therefore 'tis folly to be wise. They pretend that

knowledge is a dangerous thing in the head of a colored man;

they pretend that you have no ambition; they pretend that you

have no brains; in fine, they pretend a thousand other absurd

things--they are a combination of pretences. What tyranny is

this! Shutting up the human intellect--binding with chains the

inward man--and perpetuating ignorance. May we not address them

in the language of Christ? "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees,

hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:

for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are

entering to go in! Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,

and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,

mercy and faith."

'Colonizationists generally agree in apologising for the crime

of slavery. They get behind the contemptible subterfuge, that it

was entailed upon the planters. As if the continuance of the

horrid system were not criminal! as if the robberies of another

generation justify the robberies of the present! as if the

slaves had not an inalienable right to freedom! as if slavery

were not an individual as well as a national crime! as if the

tearing asunder families, limb from limb,--branding the flesh

with red hot irons,--mangling the body with whips and

knives,--feeding it on husks and clothing it with

rags,--crushing the intellect and destroying the soul,--as if

such inconceivable cruelty were not chargeable to those who

inflict it!

'As to the effect of colonization upon slavery, it is rather

favorable than injurious to the system. Now and then, indeed,

there is a great flourish of trumpets, and glowing accounts of

the willingness of planters to emancipate their slaves on

condition of transportation to Africa. Now and then a slave is

actually manumitted and removed, and the incident is dwelt upon

for months. Why, my friends, hundreds of worn-out slaves are

annually turned off to die, like old horses. No doubt their

masters will thank the Colonization Society, or any one else, to

send them out of the country; especially as they will gain much

glorification in the newspapers, for their _disinterested_

sacrifices. Let no man be deceived by these manoeuvres.

'My time is consumed--and yet I have scarcely entered upon the

threshold of my argument. Now, what a spectacle is presented to

the world!--the American people, boasting of their free and

equal rights--of their abhorrence of aristocratical

distinctions--of their republican equality; proclaiming on every

wind, "that all men are born _equal_, and endowed with certain

inalienable _rights_," and that this land is an asylum for the

persecuted of all nations; and yet as loudly proclaiming that

they are determined to deprive millions of their own countrymen

of every political and social right, and to send them to a

barbarous continent, because the Creator has given them a sable

complexion. Where exists a more rigorous despotism? What

conspiracy was ever more cruel? What hypocrisy and

tergiversation so enormous? The story is proclaimed in our

pulpits, in our state and national assemblies, in courts of law,

in religious and secular periodicals,--among all parties, and in

all quarters of the country,--that there is a _moral incapacity_

in the people to do justly, love mercy, and to walk

uprightly--that they must always be the enemies and oppressors

of the colored people--that no love of liberty, no dictate of

duty, no precept of republicanism, no dread of retribution, no

claim of right, no injunction of the gospel, can possibly

persuade them to do unto their colored countrymen, as they would

that they should do unto them in a reversal of circumstances.

Now, to these promulgators of unrighteousness, with the

Declaration of Independence in one hand, and the Bible in the

other, I fearlessly give battle. Rich and mighty and numerous as

they are, by the help of the Lord I will put them to open shame.

They shall not libel me, they shall not libel my country, with

impunity. They shall not make our boasted republicanism a

by-word and a hissing among all nations, nor sink the christian

religion below heathen idolatry; and if they persist in

publishing their scandalous proclamations, they shall be

labelled as the enemies of their species and of the republic,

and treated accordingly.

'The Colonization Society, therefore, instead of being a

philanthropic and religious institution, is anti-republican and

anti-christian in its tendency. Its pretences are false, its

doctrines odious, its means contemptible. If we are to send away

the colored population because they are profligate and vicious,

what sort of missionaries will they make? Why not send away the

vicious among the whites, for the same reason and the same

purpose? If ignorance be a crime, where shall we begin to

select? How much must a man know to save him from

transportation? How white must he be? If we send away a mixed

breed, how many will be left? If foreigners only, then the

people of color must remain--for they are our countrymen. Would

foreigners submit? No--not for an instant. Why should the

American people make this enormous expenditure of life and

money? Why not use the funds of the Society to instruct and

elevate our colored population at home? This would be rational

and serviceable. Instead of removing men from a land of

civilization and knowledge--of schools, and seminaries, and

colleges--to give them instruction in a land of darkness and

desolation--would it not be wiser and better to reverse the

case, and bring the ignorant here for cultivation?'

The foregoing accusations are grave, weighty, positive--involving a

perilous responsibility, and requiring ample and irrefragable proof.

They are expressed in vehement terms: but to measure the propriety of

language, we must first examine the character of the system, or the

nature of the object, against which it is directed. If we see a person

wilfully abusing the goods of an individual, we may reprehend him, but

with comparative mildness. If we see him maiming, or in any way

maltreating another man's cattle, we may increase the severity of our

rebuke. But if we see him violating all the social and sacred relations

of life,--daily defrauding a number of his fellow creatures of the

fruits of their toil, calling them his property, selling them for money,

lacerating their bodies, and ruining their souls,--we may use the

strongest terms of moral indignation. Nor is plain and vehement

denunciation of crime inconsistent with the most benevolent feelings

towards the perpetrators of it. We are sustained in these positions by

the example of Christ, and the apostles, and the prophets, and the

reformers.

So, also, if there be an institution, the direct tendency of which is to

perpetuate slavery, to encourage persecution, and to invigorate

prejudice,--although many of its supporters may be actuated by pure

motives,--it ought to receive unqualified condemnation.

It is proper to call things by their right names. What does the law term

him who steals your pocket-book, or breaks into your dwelling, or strips

you on the highway? A robber! Is the charge inflammatory or unjust? or

will it please the villain? The abuse of language is seen only in its

misapplication. Those who object to the strength of my denunciation must

prove its perversion before they accuse me of injustice.

Probably I may be interrogated by individuals,--'Why do you object to a

colony in Africa? Are you not willing people should choose their own

places of residence? And if the blacks are willing to remove, why throw

obstacles in their path or deprecate their withdrawal? All go

_voluntarily_: of what, then, do you complain? Is not the colony at

Liberia in a flourishing condition, and expanding beyond the most

sanguine expectations of its founders?'

Pertinent questions deserve pertinent answers. I say, then, in reply,

that I do not object to a colony, _in the abstract_--to use the popular

phraseology of the day. In other words, I am entirely willing men

should be as free as the birds in choosing the time when, the mode how,

and the place where they shall migrate. The power of locomotion was

given to be used at will; as beings of intelligence and enterprise,

'The world is all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.'

The emigration from New-England to the far West is constant and large.

Almost every city, town or village suffers annually by the departure of

some of its adventurous inhabitants. Companies have been formed to go

and possess the Oregon territory--an enterprise hazardous and

unpromising in the extreme. The old States are distributing their

population over the whole continent, with unexampled fruitfulness and

liberality. But why this restless, roving, unsatisfied disposition? Is

it because those who cherish it are treated as the offscouring of all

flesh, in the place of their birth? or because they do not possess equal

rights and privileges with other citizens? or because they are the

victims of incorrigible hate and prejudice? or because they are told

that they must choose between exilement and perpetual degradation? or

because the density of population renders it impossible for them to

obtain preferment and competence here? or because they are estranged by

oppression and scorn? or because they cherish no attachment to their

native soil, to the scenes of their childhood and youth, or to the

institutions of government? or because they consider themselves as

dwellers in a strange land, and feel a burning desire, a feverish

longing to return home? No. They lie under no odious disabilities,

whether imposed by public opinion or by legislative power; to them the

path of preferment is wide open; they sustain a solid and honorable

reputation; they not only can rise, but have risen, and may soar still

higher, to responsible stations and affluent circumstances; no calamity

afflicts, no burden depresses, no reproach excludes, no despondency

enfeebles them; and they love the spot of their nativity almost to

idolatry. The air of heaven is not freer or more buoyant than they.

Theirs is a spirit of curiosity and adventurous enterprise, impelled by

no malignant influences, but by the spontaneous promptings of the mind.

Far different is the case of our colored population. Their _voluntary_

banishment is _compulsory_--they are _forced_ to turn _volunteers_, as

will be shown in other parts of this work.

The following proposition is self-evident: The success of an enterprise

furnishes no proof that it is in accordance with justice, or that it

meets the approbation of God, or that it ought to be prosecuted to its

consummation, or that it is the fruit of disinterested benevolence.

I do not doubt that the Colony at Liberia, by a prodigal expenditure of

life and money, will ultimately flourish; but a good result would no

more hallow that persecution which is seeking to drag the blacks away,

than it would if we should burn every distillery, and shut up in prison

every vender of ardent spirits, in order to do good and to prevent

people from becoming drunkards. Because Jehovah overrules evil for good,

shall we therefore continue to do evil?

If ten thousand white mechanics, farmers, merchants, &c. &c. were to

emigrate to Africa, does any man doubt whether permanent good would

result from the enterprise--good to that benighted continent, which

would counterbalance all the sacrifices and sufferings attending it? And

yet is there a single mechanic, farmer or merchant, who feels it to be

his duty, or would be willing to go? Suppose the people of color should

get the power into their hands to-morrow, and should argue that the

whites must not be admitted to equal privileges with themselves; but

that, having so long plundered Africa, and oppressed her children,

justice demanded that they should be sent to that desolate land to build

up colonies, and carry the light of civilization and knowledge, as a

sort of reparation--and that, having superior instruction in literature

and science, they were peculiarly qualified for such a mission--how

would this doctrine relish? 'It is a poor rule that will not work both

ways,' says the proverb. Yet this logic would be more sound than is our

own with regard to the colonization of the blacks.

On this point, deception is practised to a great extent. The advocates

of the Colonization Society are constantly aiming to divert public

attention from the only proper subject of inquiry, namely, 'Is it based

upon benevolence and justice?'--to the success of the colony. Granting

all that they assert, it proves nothing; but of this success I shall

have occasion, doubtless, to speak hereafter. Fine stories are trumpeted

all over the country, of the happiness, intelligence, industry, virtue,

enterprise and dignity of the colonists; and changes, absolutely

miraculous, are gravely recorded for the admiration and credulity of

community. 'The simple,' says Solomon, 'believeth every word: but the

prudent man looketh well to his going.'

The doctrine, that the 'end sanctifies the means,' belongs, I trust,

exclusively to the creed of the Jesuits. If I were sure that the Society

would accomplish the entire regeneration of Africa by its present

measures, my detestation of its principles would not abate one jot, nor

would I bestow upon it the smallest modicum of praise. Never shall the

fruits of the mercy and overruling providence of God,--ever bringing

good out of evil and light out of darkness,--be ascribed to the

prejudice and sin of man.

It is certain that many a poor native African has been led to embrace

the gospel, in consequence of his transportation to our shores, who else

had lived and died a heathen. Is the slave trade therefore a blessing?

Suppose one of those wretches who are engaged in this nefarious commerce

were brought before the Supreme Court, and being convicted, should be

asked by the Judge, whether he had aught to say why sentence of death

should not be pronounced upon him? And suppose the culprit should espy

some of his sable victims in court, whom he knew had made a profession

of faith, and he should boldly reply--'May it please your Honor, I

abducted these people away from their homes, it is true; but they were

poor, miserable, benighted idolators, and must have inevitably remained

as such unto the hour of their death, if I had not brought them to this

land of christianity and bibles, where they have been taught a knowledge

of the true God, and are now rejoicing in hope of a glorious

immortality. I therefore offer as a conclusive reason why sentence

should not be pronounced, _that I have rescued souls from perdition_,

and thus enlarged the company of the saints in light.' Would the villain

be acquitted, and, instead of a halter, receive the panegyric of the

Court for his conduct?

Our pilgrim fathers, not being able to worship God according to the

dictates of their own consciences in the mother country, were compelled

by ecclesiastical despotism to seek a refuge in this rude and barbarous

continent. Wonderful have been the fruits of their expulsion! A mighty

republic established--the freest, the wisest, the most religious on

earth!--influencing the world by its example, and exciting the emulation

of all nations! Now suppose we should occasionally find in the pages of

the Edinburgh or Quarterly Review, or in the columns of the English

newspapers, not only a full justification of this oppressive treatment

in view of its astonishing consequences, but a claim to approbation on

account of its exercise. Would not such effrontery amaze us? Would not

an honest indignation burn within us? Should we look with a more

complacent aspect upon the bigots who kindled those fires of persecution

around the Puritans, which, but for the interposition of Heaven, had

consumed them to ashes?

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was essential to the salvation of the

world. Suppose Judas, at the judgment day, should build upon this fact

in extenuation of his dreadful crime. What would be the decision of the

assembled universe? Yea, what was the condemnation passed upon him by

the Illustrious Sufferer? 'Wo to that man by whom the Son of man is

betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born!'

Let not, then, any imaginary or real prosperity of the settlement at

Liberia lead any individual to applaud the Colonization Society,

reckless whether it be actuated by mistaken philanthropy, or perverted

generosity, or selfish policy, or unchristian prejudice.

I should oppose this Society, even were its doctrines harmless. It

imperatively and effectually seals up the lips of a vast number of

influential and pious men, who, for fear of giving offence to those

slaveholders with whom they associate, and thereby leading to a

dissolution of the compact, dare not expose the flagrant enormities of

the system of slavery, nor denounce the crime of holding human beings in

bondage. They dare not lead to the onset against the forces of tyranny;

and if _they_ shrink from the conflict, how shall the victory be won? I

do not mean to aver, that, in their sermons, or addresses, or private

conversations, they never allude to the subject of slavery; for they do

so frequently, or at least every Fourth of July. But my complaint is,

that they content themselves with representing slavery as an evil,--a

misfortune,--a calamity which has been entailed upon us by former

generations,--_and not as an individual_ CRIME, embracing in its folds

robbery, cruelty, oppression and piracy. _They do not identify the

criminals_; they make no direct, pungent, earnest appeal to the

consciences of men-stealers; by consenting to walk arm-in-arm with them,

they virtually agree to abstain from all offensive remarks, and to aim

entirely at the expulsion of the free people of color; their lugubrious

exclamations, and solemn animadversions, and reproachful reflections,

are altogether indefinite; they 'go about, and about, and all the way

round to nothing;' they generalize, they shoot into the air, they do not

disturb the repose nor wound the complacency of the sinner; 'they have

put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed

difference between the unclean and the clean.' Thus has free inquiry

been suppressed, and a universal fear created, and the tongue of the

boldest silenced, and the sleep of death fastened upon the nation.

'Truth has fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter.' The plague

is raging with unwonted fatality; but no _cordon sanitaire_ is

established--no adequate remedy sought. The tide of moral death is

constantly rising and widening; but no efforts are made to stay its

desolating career. The fire of God's indignation is kindling against us,

and thick darkness covers the heavens, and the hour of retribution is at

hand; but we are obstinate in our transgression, we refuse to repent, we

impiously throw the burden of our guilt upon our predecessors, we affect

resignation to our _unfortunate_ lot, we descant upon the mysterious

dispensations of Providence, we deem ourselves objects of God's

compassion rather than of his displeasure. 'Shall I not visit for these

things? saith the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as

this?'

Were the American Colonization Society bending its energies directly to

the immediate abolition of slavery; seeking to enlighten and consolidate

public opinion, on this momentous subject; faithfully exposing the

awful guilt of the owners of slaves; manfully contending for the

bestowal of equal rights upon our free colored population in this their

native land; assiduously endeavoring to uproot the prejudices of

society; and holding no fellowship with oppressors; my opposition to it

would cease. It might continue to bestow its charities upon those who

should desire to seek another country, and at the same time launch its

thunders against the system of oppression. But, alas! it looks to the

banishment of the free people of color as the only means to abolish

slavery, and conciliate the feelings of the planters.

The popularity of the Society is not attributable to its merits, but

exclusively to its congeniality with those unchristian prejudices which

have so long been cherished against a sable complexion. It is agreeable

to slaveholders, because it is striving to remove a class of persons who

they fear may stir up their slaves to rebellion; all who avow undying

hostility to the people of color are in favor of it; all who shrink from

acknowledging them as brethren and friends, or who make them a distinct

and inferior caste, or who deny the possibility of elevating them in the

scale of improvement here, most heartily embrace it. Having ample funds,

it has been able to circulate its specious appeals in every part of the

country; and to employ active and eloquent agents, who have glowingly

described to the people the immense advantages to be reaped from the

accomplishment of its designs. With this entire preoccupancy of the

ground, and these common though unworthy dispositions in its favor, the

wonder is, that it is not more popular.

Much cleverness is not requisite to tell a fine story; and a fine story

is always agreeable to a credulous listener. An agent of the Society

goes into a place, and finds no difficulty in procuring a pulpit from

which to address a congregation. The benevolent pastor, who, perhaps,

has had neither time nor opportunity to examine the principles of the

Society, readily officiates on the occasion, and, in the fulness of his

heart, believing that he is not asking amiss, supplicates the

benediction of Heaven upon the object of the meeting. This co-operation

of the pastor with the agent makes an impression decidedly favorable to

the latter upon the minds of the audience, and prepares them to receive

his statements with confidence. He first dwells upon the miserable

condition of Africa--desolated with civil wars--the prey of

kidnappers--given up to idolatry--full of intellectual darkness and

spiritual death--and bleeding at every pore. He next depicts the horrors

of the slave trade, and shows how inefficient have been the laws enacted

for its suppression. He finally expatiates upon the evils and dangers of

slavery; and is particularly minute in describing the degradation of the

free people of color, which he declares to be irreclaimable in this land

of gospel light. 'Now, my christian brethren and friends,' he continues,

'the object of the American Colonization Society is to stay the effusion

of blood, to give light to them who sit in darkness, and to make

reparation for the wrongs which have been inflicted upon the sable sons

of Africa. As the people of color must evidently be a distinct and

degraded class while they reside in this country, and as they are

threatened with universal proscription, the Society benevolently

proposes to send them back _to their native country_, by their own

_voluntary_ consent, together with those slaves who may be emancipated

for this purpose, where they may enjoy equal rights and privileges, nor

longer retain any sense of inferiority to the whites. Every emigrant

will go as a missionary to reclaim the poor natives from their

barbarism, and to spread the tidings of salvation throughout the African

continent. By forming a chain of colonies along the coast, a speedy

check will be given to the accursed slave trade,--a trade which cannot

be destroyed in any other manner. Who does not desire to see Africa

civilized and evangelized? Whose heart does not leap in view of the

suppression of the slave trade? Who does not pray for deliverance from

the evils of slavery? Who does not wish to behold the free people of

color,--cursed with ineffectual freedom here,--_recalled from their

banishment_, and placed where no obstacles will impede their march to

affluence, preferment and honor? The Colonization Society, then,

powerfully commends itself to the christian, the philanthropist and the

patriot--to every section of our country and to all denominations of

men.'

Exquisite! The picture is crowded with attractions, delightful to the

eye. The story is skilfully told, and implicitly believed; but, like

every other story, it has two sides to it. So complete is the delusion,

however, that many good people are ready to class those who denounce the

Colonization Society, among the opposers of foreign missions, bible and

tract societies, and the other benevolent operations of the age!

Far be it from me to accuse the agents of the Society of intentionally

perverting the truth or deliberately imposing upon the credulity of the

public. Some--perhaps all of them, are men of sincerity and probity;

but, deluded themselves, they help to delude others. Their vision is

imperfect; and 'if the blind lead the blind,' we may expect to find them

in the same ditch together.

Great complacency has been manifested on various occasions, by the

advocates of the Society, on the ground that it was at first suspected

of sinister designs, both at the north and the south, but is now

receiving the countenance of both. This exultation is premature. The

opposition formerly manifested to the Society by the holders of slaves,

grew out of their ignorance of its purpose; but a very large majority of

them now perceive that it is their devoted servant, crouching down at

their feet, shielding them from reproach, dragging those away whom they

dread, allowing them to sin with impunity, and generously granting them

and their children whole centuries in which to repent, and to surrender

what they have stolen! It dissuades them from emancipating their slaves

faster than they can be transported to Africa; and thus regards their

persistance in robbery and oppression as evidence of wisdom, benevolence

and sanity! It is natural, that, discovering their mistake, they should

now rally in a body around the Society; and, consequently, we find that

the legislatures of the several slaveholding States are passing

encomiums upon it, and in some instances appropriating sums of money to

be paid over to it by instalments.

The people of the north have been shamefully duped by this scheme; but,

like the slaveholders, they begin to discover their error. Unlike them,

however, they are withdrawing their support, in obedience to the

injunction of the Apostle: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with

unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with

unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what

concord hath Christ with Belial? Wherefore come out from among them, and

be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I

will receive you.'

To Africa this country owes a debt larger than she is able to liquidate.

Most intensely do I desire to see that ill-fated continent transformed

into the abode of civilization, of the arts and sciences, of evangelical

piety, of liberty, and of all that adds to the dignity, the renown, and

the temporal and eternal happiness of man. Shame and confusion of face

belong to the Church, that she has so long disregarded the claims of

Africa upon her sympathies, and prayers, and liberality--claims as much

superior as its wrongs to those of any other portion of the globe. It is

indeed most strange that, like the Priest and the Levite, she should

have 'passed by on the other side,' and left the victim of thieves to

bleed and sicken and die. As the Africans were the only people doomed to

perpetual servitude, and to be the prey of kidnappers, she should have

long since directed almost her undivided efforts to civilize and convert

them,--not by establishing colonies of ignorant and selfish foreigners

among them, who will seize every opportunity to overreach or oppress, as

interest or ambition shall instigate,--but by sending intelligent, pious

missionaries; men fearing God and eschewing evil--living evidences of

the excellence of christianity--having but one object, not the

possession of wealth or the obtainment of power or the gratification of

selfishness, but _the salvation of the soul_. Had she made this attempt,

as she was bound to have made it by every principle of justice and every

feeling of humanity, a century ago, Africa would have been, at the

present day, 'redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,' and the slavery

of her children brought to an end. No pirates would now haunt her coast

to desolate her villages with fire and sword, in order to supply a

christian people with hewers of wood and drawers of water. How much has

been needlessly lost to the world by this criminal neglect!

The conception of evangelizing a heathenish country by sending to it an

illiterate, degraded and irreligious population, belongs exclusively to

the advocates of African colonization. For absurdity and inaptitude, it

stands, and must forever stand, without a parallel. Of all the offspring

of prejudice and oppression, it is the most shapeless and unnatural. But

more of this hereafter.

History is full of instruction on the subject of colonization. The

establishment of colonies, in all ages, with scarcely an exception, has

resulted either in their subversion by the vices or physical strength of

the natives, or by a fatal amalgamation with them; or else in the rapid

destruction of the natives by the superior knowledge and greedy avarice

of the new settlers. It is presumption to suppose that the colony at

Liberia, composed of the worst materials imaginable, will present an

example of forbearance, stability and good faith, hitherto unwitnessed

in the world.

Soon after its establishment, the colony narrowly escaped a bloody

extirpation, and was the cause of a murderous warfare in which several

of the colonists and a large number of the natives were slain. The

steady growth of the colony excited the jealousy and alarm of some of

the neighboring tribes; and, accordingly, a consultation was held, at

which King George, Governor, and all the other head men, contended that

'The Americans were strangers _who had forgot their attachment to the

land of their fathers_; for if not, why had they not renounced their

connexion with white men altogether, and placed themselves under the

protection of the kings of the country? King George had already been

under the necessity of removing from his town, and leaving the Cape in

their hands. This was but the first step of their encroachments. If left

alone, they must, in a very few years, master the whole country. And as

all other places were full, their own tribe must be without a home, and

cease any longer to remain a nation.'[E] This appeal (which evinces an

intimate acquaintance with human nature and much foresight) induced the

attack to which allusion has been made. A single paragraph from the

Rev. Mr Ashmun's account of the battle with the natives may suffice to

give the reader an idea of its destructiveness:

'A few musketeers with E. Johnson at their head, by passing

round upon the enemy's flank, served to increase the

consternation which was beginning to pervade their unwieldy

body. In about twenty minutes after the settlers had taken their

stand, the front of the enemy began to recoil. But from the

numerous obstructions in their rear, the entire absence of

discipline, and the extreme difficulty of giving a reversed

motion to so large a body, a small part only of which was

directly exposed to danger, and the delay occasioned by the

practice of carrying off all their dead and wounded, rendered a

retreat for some minutes longer, impossible. The very violence

employed by those in the front, in their impatience to hasten

it, by increasing the confusion, produced an effect opposite to

that intended. The Americans perceiving their advantage, now

regained possession of the western post, and instantly brought

the long nine to rake the whole line of the enemy. Imagination

can scarcely figure to itself a throng of human beings in a more

capital state of exposure to the destructive power of the

machinery of modern warfare! Eight hundred men were here pressed

shoulder to shoulder, in so compact a form, that a child might

easily walk upon their heads from one end of the mass to the

other, presenting in their rear a breadth of rank equal to

twenty or thirty men, and all exposed to a gun of great power,

raised on a platform, at only thirty to sixty yards distance!

_Every shot literally spent its force in a solid mass of living

human flesh!_ Their fire suddenly terminated. A savage yell was

raised, which filled the dismal forest with a momentary horror.

It gradually died away; and the whole host disappeared. At 8

o'clock, the well known signal of their dispersion and return to

their homes was sounded, and many small parties seen at a

distance, directly afterwards, moving off in different

directions. One large canoe, employed in reconveying a party

across the mouth of the Montserado, venturing within the range

of the long gun, was struck by a shot, and several men

killed.'[F]

The above (which cannot be perused without a thrill of horror) is one of

the legitimate fruits of foreign colonization. Subsequent to this bloody

affair, another battle took place, which resulted in the defeat of the

natives and the loss of many lives. It is true, the colony since that

period has received little molestation, and has succeeded, moreover, in

making some amicable treaties with the natives; but in proportion to its

means of defence and numerical force will be its liability to encroach

upon the rights of the Africans, and thus to provoke hostilities. If

this prophecy should not be fulfilled, history will have spoken in

vain, and human nature experienced a total regeneration.

No man of refined sensibility can contemplate the fate of the aborigines

of this country, without shuddering at the consequences of colonization;

and if _they_ melted away at the presence of the pilgrims and their

descendants, like frost before the meridian blaze of the sun,--if _they_

fell to the earth, like the leaves of the forest before the autumnal

blast, by the settlement of men reputedly humane, wise and pious, in

their vicinage,--what can be our hope for the preservation of the

Africans, associated with a population degraded by slavery, and, to a

lamentable extent, destitute of religious and secular knowledge? The

argument, that the difference of complexion between our forefathers and

the aborigines (which is not a distinctive feature between the settlers

at Liberia and the natives) was the real cause of this deadly enmity, is

more specious than solid. _Conduct_, not _color_, secures friendship or

excites antipathy, as it happens to be just or unjust. The venerated

William Penn and his pacific followers furnish a case in point.

I avow it--the natural tendency of the colony at Liberia excites the

most melancholy apprehensions in my mind. Its birth was conceived in

blood, and its footsteps will be marked with blood down to old age--the

blood of the poor natives--unless a special interposition of Divine

Providence prevent such a calamity. The emigrants will be eager in the

acquisition of wealth, ease and power; and, having superior skill and

discernment in trade, they will outwit and defraud the natives as often

as occasion permits. This knavish treatment once detected,--as it surely

will be, for even an uncivilized people may soon learn that they have

been cheated,--will provoke retaliation, and stir up the worst passions

of the human breast. Bloody conflicts will ensue, in which the colonists

will be victorious. This success will serve to increase the enmity of

the natives, and to perpetuate the murderous struggle. The extirpation

of one generation may put the colonists in undisputed possession of the

land.

This is not a fancy sketch--it is not improbable: on the contrary, it is

the obvious and hitherto certain consequence of bringing hastily

together large bodies of civilized men with unlettered barbarians.

Jealousy will be another fruitful source of contention. The population

of Africa is divided into a vast number of tribes, governed by petty

kings,--sometimes indeed united by an amicable league, but commonly

distinct and independent. Some of these tribes will form alliances with

the colonists, either to obtain protection from their more formidable

rivals or from motives of fear, curiosity or selfishness. In this

manner, tribe will be arrayed against tribe throughout that vast

continent; the tide of commotion, gathering fresh impetuosity in its

headlong career, will rush from the mountains down to the ocean,

devastating all that is beautiful, and swiftly defacing that which will

require the labors of centuries to restore to its pristine excellence;

there will be wars and rumors of wars, succeeded by deceitful and

unstable treaties ratified only to be broken at a favorable moment; and

these collisions will not cease until the colonists obtain an undisputed

mastery over the natives.

Would to Heaven these fears might prove to be but the offspring of a

distracted mind! May the colonists be so just in their intercourse with

the Africans, as never to impeach their own integrity; so pacific, as to

disarm retaliation and perpetuate good will; so benevolent, as to excite

gratitude and diffuse joy wherever their names shall be known; and so

holy, as to exalt the christian religion in the eyes of an idolatrous

nation! But he must be grossly ignorant of human nature, or strangely

infatuated, who believes that they will always, or commonly, exhibit

this unexceptionable conduct.

It is my sober conviction, that no contrivance or enterprise could

possibly be planned more fatally calculated to obstruct the progress of

christianity in a heathenish country, than the establishment of a

colony, or colonies, of selfish, ignorant, or even intelligent and

high-minded men, on its shores. In every settlement of this kind,--no

matter how choice the original materials,--vice will soon preponderate

over virtue, intemperance over sobriety, knavery over honesty,

oppression over liberty, and impiety over godliness. The natives will

see just enough of christianity to hate and shun it; finding that its

fruits are generally bad--that it has no restraining influence upon the

mass of its nominal professors,--they will not easily comprehend the

utility of abandoning their own idolatrous worship; looking only to the

pernicious examples of the intruders, they will spurn with contempt the

precepts of the gospel. Their confidence will be abused--their lands

craftily trafficked for nought--their ignorance cheated--their

inferiority treated oppressively; and then what must naturally follow?

Why--WAR--_a war of retaliation_. All the vices, and few of the virtues,

of the instructers, will be faithfully copied; and thus barriers will be

erected against the progress of the Christian religion, not absolutely

insurmountable, it is true, but sufficiently tall and strong to retard

its noble career--barriers not only of superstition and ignorance, but

of hatred and revenge. These reflections might be extended to the size

of a volume; but they are probably sufficient to convince every

unprejudiced, discerning mind, that the establishment of foreign

colonies in a barbarous land is the surest way to prevent its speedy

evangelism and civilization.

In reply to this reasoning, some of the advocates of African

colonization may argue, that schools and houses of worship, multiplying

with the growth of the settlement at Liberia, will check the evil

propensities and passions of the emigrants, and qualify them to act as

missionaries or instructers among the natives; and thus great good will

be bestowed upon Africa. This is at least a summary, if not a sure mode

of obviating these difficulties.

In the first place, it is by no means certain--nay, it is not probable,

especially if the number of emigrants annually exported to Liberia swell

from hundreds to thousands, (and this increase of transportation is

positively promised by the Parent Society, and absolutely necessary to

cause a perceptible diminution in the annual enlargement of our colored

population)--I say, it is neither certain nor probable that the

multiplication of literary and religious privileges will keep pace with

the unnatural and enormous growth of the colony. Nine years after the

first settlement of Liberia, it appears by the following extract of a

letter from a highly respectable colored emigrant, (the Rev. George M.

Erskine,) there was but the 'remnant of a school' left! This letter is

dated '_Caldwell, Liberia, April 3, 1830_.'

'Sir, the state of things, with regard to schools, is truly

lamentable. _The only school in the Colony at this time, is a

remnant of one at the Cape._ Among the present emigrants, there

are seventeen out of forty-eight that can read the Holy

Scriptures, _leaving thirty-one that cannot_. Now, Sir, suppose

each company of emigrants to this place bring a like proportion

of illiterate persons into the Colony, then what state, think

you, it must be in? But again, Sir: I am greatly mistaken if

this Colony is not, for several years yet to come, mostly to be

peopled with slaves sent out by their present owners, without

any education themselves, and without means and very little

desire to have their children instructed; and add to the above,

that this people is planted in the midst, and are daily

conversant with, a people that are not only heathen, but a

people extremely partial in favor of their grovelling

superstition. My dear Sir, this being the case, _whether is it

probable that they will come over to us, or we go down to them_?

To me the latter is the most likely, _as it is the very essence

of human nature to seek the lowest depth of degradation_. Permit

me to say, Sir, there must be a great revolution in this Colony

before it can have a salutary influence on the surrounding

natives; that is, before it can have a moral influence over

them.'[G]

Subsequent accounts, I am happy to state, present a better aspect in

relation to the education of this outcast and persecuted people: their

wants, however, are only partially supplied.

The annual increase of the free colored and slave population in the

United States is variously estimated from sixty to seventy-five

thousand. The American Colonization Society proposes the annual removal

of this vast body,--and more, if it be possible,--provided the energies

and patronage of the General Government be enlisted in this expulsive

crusade. Now, suppose the entire transportation effected, let any candid

man decide how extremely difficult, not to say impracticable, it would

be to discipline and instruct such an overwhelming mass of ignorance, or

any considerable portion of it--and how pernicious must be the

consequences to the colony and the natives, if it should not receive

immediate culture!

Secondly. It is neither certain nor probable that, allowing all that is

assumed by colonizationists, the influence of secular and religious

instruction would be sufficient to restrain the selfish desires and

knavish propensities of those whose main object is, not to evangelize

the natives, but to secure, by a summary process, competence and power

for themselves. Indeed, their juxtaposition with the natives would be

eminently calculated to induce the fever of avarice, and to generate the

lust of dominion. It is well known that so eager are the colonists to

acquire a rapid accumulation of wealth, by trafficking their paltry

beads and poisonous rum and tobacco for ivory, camwood and gold dust, it

is with the utmost difficulty any considerable portion of them are

persuaded to cultivate the soil and engage in agricultural pursuits.

Thus we are presented with the disgraceful, if not singular spectacle of

a rivalry in cunning and trickishness between a colony of _soi-disant_

missionaries (really avaricious and unscrupulous foreigners) and the

tribes who are to come under their pious pupilage. If equal dexterity in

trade is not apparent, each party is equally pleased with its successful

attempts at deception, and both renew the fraudulent commerce with fresh

alacrity--the one to gain a new triumph, and the other to retrieve an

old defeat. And this is the mode of colonizationists to evangelize

Africa! and this their mode to suppress the slave trade! and this their

mode to elevate the free people of color! and this their mode to

emancipate the slaves! It combines the folly and absurdity of a farce

with the solemnity and murderment of a tragedy.

Far be it from me to leave the impression upon the mind of the reader,

from these representations, that all the colonists are actuated by the

same selfish motives, or that they have exhibited any new and

extraordinary traits of character in their commerce with the Africans.

Many of them, I believe, are men who fear God and desire the welfare of

his creatures: all of them have behaved as honorably, perhaps, and

trafficked as equitably, as any other body of men, white or yellow,

would have done in the same situation and under the same circumstances.

Dishonesty in trade is no prodigy, even in this country. To bring

accusations of fraud, cupidity and cunning against human nature, is not

libellous. I am persuaded that robbery,--well contrived, deliberately

executed robbery,--is perpetrated in every community among ourselves,

without any due estimate of its moral turpitude, by reputable merchants

and traders upon their customers, to a larger extent than all the

avowed and heinous thefts collectively, which are committed against

society. It is lamentable to see how studiously conscience and fair

dealing are excluded from the secular business of the world. If we see,

every day, illustrations of this dishonest conduct, given by men of

refinement, intelligence and good character, what should we expect from

those whose fetters have hardly fallen from their limbs; who have been

systematically degraded by slavery; who have not consequently that

lively sense of moral obligation which accompanies intelligence; who are

beyond the influence of public sentiment, and surrounded by a barbarous

people?

The establishment of a colony of speculators, then, to evangelize

Africa, does not discover much wisdom or promise much success; but, on

the contrary, exhibits a total blindness of vision and a most

unfavorable aspect.

Let it be remembered, however, that _rum_ and _tobacco_ (two poisons

which are exactly adapted to destroy both soul and body) are the

principal articles given to the natives--because pertinaciously demanded

by them--in exchange for their own. Their appetite for spirituous

liquor, first created by the slave traders and subsequently excited by

the colonists, is insatiate. Even the justly lamented ASHMUN, if I do

not mistake, for I have not his letter now before me, was so imprudent

in one of his epistles to the Board of Managers as to concede the fatal

necessity of selling rum freely to the natives, in order to maintain a

commercial intercourse with them. Rum they would have, or nothing; and

rum they obtained then, and do now obtain. Any one who will take the

trouble to read the advertisements in the Liberia Herald will discover

that ardent spirits form a prominent item in the list of articles

offered for sale. Of the sobriety of the colonists, however, common

report speaks in the most gratifying manner; but as their number is to

be increased by a redundant importation, we have reason to fear a

declension of morals.

Thirdly. Colonizationists strenuously contend that our colored

population are destined always to remain a degraded class in this

country. If educated any where, they must be educated in Africa. We must

take them in their ignorance, and just released from bondage, and

translate them to another continent on the wings of the wind. Delay

would be injurious to ourselves, and calamitous to them. They must go in

large bodies--by thousands and tens of thousands annually--till the

whole be expelled from our shores. For it seems, according to the logic

of colonizationists, every individual tainted with black blood must be

transported, to insure the regeneration of Africa! Neither fifty

thousand, nor one hundred thousand, nor half a million of these

_missionaries_ will be able to accomplish the task; but two millions of

slaves and four hundred thousand free people of color, and all their

descendants in time to come, here--even little babes (pretty prattling

reformers!) and children--the maimed, the halt, and the blind--all must

be sent off--else alas! alas! for poor benighted Africa! This is no

caricature. An ugly face is sure to quarrel with its own likeness. But

what is the portrait worth, if it bear no resemblance to the living

original? They who place themselves in a ridiculous attitude must not

claim exemption from ridicule.

Let us turn to the picture once more. It is worth our while to

contemplate it a few moments longer.

What do we see? More than one-sixth portion of the American

people--confessedly the most vicious, degraded and dangerous

portion--crowded on the shores of Africa, by means which are hereafter

to be considered, and at an expense which we shall not stop now to

calculate, for the purpose of civilizing and evangelizing Africa, and of

improving their own condition! Here, then, are _two_ ignorant and

depraved nations to be regenerated instead of _one_!--if we may call all

the natives that occupy that vast continent a nation--two huge and

heterogeneous masses of contagion mingled together for the preservation

of each! One of these nations is so incorrigibly stupid, or unfathomably

deep in pollution, (for such is the argument,) that, although surrounded

by ten millions of people living under the full blaze of gospel light,

and having every desirable facility to elevate and save it, it never can

rise until it be removed at least three thousand miles from their

vicinage!--and yet it is first to be evangelized in a barbarous land, by

a feeble, inadequate process, before it can be qualified to evangelize

the other nation! In other words, men who are intellectually and

morally blind are violently removed from light effulgent into thick

darkness, in order that they may obtain light themselves and diffuse

light among others! Ignorance is sent to instruct ignorance, ungodliness

to exhort ungodliness, vice to stop the progress of vice, and depravity

to reform depravity! All that is abhorrent to our moral sense, or

dangerous to our quietude, or villanous in human nature, we benevolently

disgorge upon Africa for her temporal and eternal welfare! We propose to

build upon her shores, for her glory and defence, colonies framed of

materials which we discard as worthless for our own use, and which

possess no fitness or durability! Admirable consistency! surprising

wisdom! unexampled benevolence! As rationally might we think of

exhausting the ocean by multiplying the number of its tributaries, or

extinguishing a fire by piling fuel upon it.

Lastly. Any scheme to proselytize which requires for its protection the

erection of forts and the use of murderous weapons, is opposed to the

genius of christianity and radically wrong. If the gospel cannot be

propagated but by the aid of the sword,--if its success depend upon the

muscular power and military science of its apostles,--it were better to

leave the pagan world in darkness. The first specimen of _benevolence_

and _piety_, which the colonists gave to the natives, was the building

of a fort, and supplying it with arms and ammunition! This was an

earnest manifestation of that 'peace on earth, good will to man,' which

these expatriated _missionaries_ were sent to inculcate! How eminently

calculated to inspire the confidence, excite the gratitude, and

accelerate the conversion of the Africans! Their 'dread of the great

guns of the Islanders,' (to adopt the language of Mr Ashmun,) must from

the beginning have made a deep and salutary impression upon their minds;

and when, not long afterward, 'every shot' from these guns '_spent its

force in a solid mass of living human flesh_'--their own flesh--they

must have experienced a total regeneration. Bullets and cannon balls

argue with resistless effect, and as easily convert a barbarous as

civilized people. One sanguinary conflict was sufficient to spread the

glad tidings of salvation among a thousand tribes, almost with the

rapidity of light!--But even irony, though appropriate, is painful. I

forbear.

But--says an objector--these reflections come too late. The colony is

planted, whatever may be its influence. What do you recommend? Its

immediate abandonment to want and ruin? Shall we not bestow upon it our

charities, and commend it to the protection of Heaven?

I answer--Let the colony continue to receive the aid, and elicit the

prayers of the good and benevolent. Still let it remain within the pale

of christian sympathy. Blot it not out of existence. But let it

henceforth develope itself naturally. Crowd not its population. Let

transportation cease. Seek no longer to exile millions of our colored

countrymen. For, assuredly, if the Colonization Society succeed in its

efforts to remove thousands of their number annually, it could not

inflict a heavier curse upon Africa, or more speedily assist in the

entire subversion of the colony.

But--the objector asks--how shall we evangelize Africa?

In the same manner as we have evangelized the Sandwich and Society

Islands, and portions of Burmah, Hindostan, and other lands. By sending

missionaries of the Cross _indeed_, who shall neither build forts nor

trust in weapons of war; who shall be actuated by a holy zeal and

genuine love; who shall be qualified to instruct, admonish, enlighten,

and proselyte; who shall not by their examples impugn the precepts, or

subject to suspicion the inspiration of the Word of Life; who shall not

be covered with pollution and shame as with a garment, or add to the

ignorance, sin and corruption of paganism; and who shall abhor

dishonesty, violence and treachery. Such men have been found to

volunteer their services for the redemption of a lost world; and such

men may be found now to embark in the same glorious enterprise. A

hundred evangelists like these, dispersed along the shores and in the

interior of Africa, would destroy more idols, make more progress in

civilizing the natives, suppress more wars, unite in amity more hostile

tribes, and convert more souls to Christ, in ten years, than a colony of

twenty-thousand ignorant, uncultivated, selfish emigrants in a century.

Such a mission would be consonant with reason and common sense; nor

could it fail to receive the approbation of God. How simple was the

command of our blessed Saviour to his disciples!--'Go ye forth into all

the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' Not--'Send out from

among yourselves those whom you despise or against whom you cherish a

strong antipathy; those who need to be instructed and converted

themselves; those who are the dregs of society, made vicious and

helpless by oppression and public opinion; those who are beyond the

reach of the gospel in a Christian land; those whose complexions are not

precisely like yours, or who have any personal blemishes whatever that

excite your dislike;--send out _all_ these to evangelize the nations

which sit in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death!'

Denham, Clapperton, and Lander, travellers in Africa, represent the

natives in a light most favorable for the introduction of christianity;

as eager to learn and become a civilized and great people like the

Europeans. Excepting the followers of Mohammed, they are not tenacious

of their forms of religious worship; and a considerable portion of them

are totally indifferent to devotional exercises. It seems apparent, that

the fruits of a mission in Africa would be thrice as numerous as those

of one in India, because the obstacles to be surmounted are far less

formidable.

But--says the objector--the climate of Africa is fatal to white men.

So is the climate of India. But our missionaries have not counted their

lives dear unto themselves; and, as fast as one is cut down, another

stands ready to supply his place.

I do not believe that the Creator has immoveably fixed the habitations

of any people within a boundary narrower than the circumference of the

globe. I believe that rapid transitions from intensity of heat and cold,

and cold and heat, are destructive to animal life; but I also believe

that the human body is easily acclimated, in any region of the world. I

believe the time is swiftly approaching when empires and continents

shall as freely commingle their population as do states and

neighborhoods. To limit or obstruct this intercourse, is to impoverish

and circumscribe human happiness. Civilization will remove those causes

which now engender pestilence and death, and neutralize the effects of

atmospherical contagion.

Hence it will be seen that I do not assail the Colonization Society, as

many others have done, simply because the settlement at Liberia is

unhealthy. It is true, the mortality among the emigrants has been

excessive; and so it was among the first settlers of New-England. But

the climate of New-England is no longer pestiferous; and the climate of

Africa will grow sweet and salubrious as her forests disappear, and the

purifying influences of Christianity penetrate into the interior. I

expressly contend, however, that it is murderous, indiscriminately to

colonize large bodies of men, women and children, in a foreign land,

before the natives are to some extent elevated by missionary effort: and

therefore I consider the Colonization Society as responsible for the

lives of those who have perished prematurely at Liberia.

But the objection is fallacious. If white missionaries cannot, black

ones can survive in Africa. What, then, is our duty? Obviously to

educate colored young men of genius, enterprise and piety, expressly to

carry the 'glad tidings of great joy' to her shores. Enough, I venture

to affirm, stand ready to be sent, if they can first be qualified for

their mission. If our free colored population were brought into our

schools, and raised from their present low estate, I am confident that

an army of christian volunteers would go out from their ranks, by a

divine impulse and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to redeem

their African brethren from the bondage of idolatry and the dominion of

spiritual death.

Whatever may be the result of this great controversy, I shall have the

consolation of believing that no efforts were lacking, on my part, to

uproot the prejudices of my countrymen, to persuade them to walk in the

path of duty and shun the precipice of expediency, to unloose the heavy

burdens and let the prisoners go free at once, to warn them of the

danger of expelling the people of color from their native land, and to

convince them of the necessity of abandoning a dangerous and chimerical,

as well as unchristian and anti-republican association. For these

efforts I have hitherto suffered reproach and persecution, and must

expect to suffer till I perish. This book will doubtless increase the

rage of my enemies; but no torrent of invective shall successfully whelm

it, no sophistry impair its force, no activity destroy its influence, no

misrepresentation defeat its usefulness.

I commend it, particularly, to the candid attention of the two most

powerful classes in this country--editors of newspapers and the clergy.

It is not a light matter for either of them to propagate false doctrines

and excite delusive hopes, on the subject of politics or religion.

Although the press is committed to a wide extent, I place too much

reliance upon the good sense and liberal patriotism of its conductors to

believe that the evidence which is presented in these pages of the

inefficiency and injustice of the colonization scheme, will fail to

convince their understanding. I cherish still higher expectations of its

salutary influence upon ministers of the gospel. It may grieve them to

discover that they have been misled themselves, and that they have

unwittingly misled others. To say to their flocks--'We have erred in

this matter; we have solicited your charities for an institution which

is built upon prejudice and persecution; we have hastily adopted the

mistaken opinions of others'--such a confession may indeed require much

grace in the heart, but this grace, I am persuaded, they will obtain. As

apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, sustaining high and awful

responsibilities, and exerting an influence which measurably decides the

eternal destiny of the souls of men, they will not shut their eyes, or

stop their ears, or refuse to examine, or disregard the truth, in a case

involving the temporal and eternal happiness of millions of their fellow

creatures.

FOOTNOTES:

[E] Memoir of American Colonists--vide 'The African Repository,' vol. 2,

p. 174.

[F] African Repository, vol. 2, p. 179.

[G] African Repository, vol. 6, p. 121.

SECTION I.

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS PLEDGED NOT TO OPPOSE THE SYSTEM OF

SLAVERY.

Having concluded my introductory remarks, I now proceed to substantiate

my accusations against the American Colonization Society, by marshalling

in review the sentiments of those who first originated it, and who are

its efficient managers and advocates. It is obvious that, with my

limited means, and in a book designed for a cheap circulation, I shall

not be able to enter into so minute a detail as the present exigency

demands, or make those comments which might serve more fully to

illustrate the character of this association. It should be stated,

moreover, that I have not made any particular effort to procure

materials for this work, being satisfied that those which have almost

accidentally fallen into my hands, contain ample and conclusive evidence

of the unworthiness of the Society. A vast number of the Reports of

auxiliary bodies in various parts of the country, of orations and

sermons and essays in favor of African colonization, are beyond my

reach, and must remain unconsulted. If more proof be demanded, it shall

be given to the public. There is not a sound timber in this great Babel:

from the foundation to the roof, it is rotten and defective.

I shall not stop to interrogate the motives of those who planned the

Society. Some of them, undoubtedly, were actuated by a benevolent desire

to promote the welfare of our colored population, and could never have

intended to countenance oppression. But the question is not, whether

their motives were good or bad. Suppose they were all good--would this

fact prove infallibly that they could not err in judgment? Do we not

almost daily see men running headlong into wild and injurious

enterprises with the very best intentions? There is a wide difference

between meaning well and doing well. The slave trade originated in a

compassionate regard for the benighted Africans; and yet we hang those

who are detected in this traffic. I am willing to concede that Robert

Finley and Elias B. Caldwell were philanthropic individuals; and that a

large number of their followers are men of piety, benevolence and moral

worth. What then? Is the American Colonization Society a beneficial

institution? We shall see hereafter.

The history of this Society is familiar to the public. It was organized

about the commencement of the year 1817. The first public meeting to

consider the expediency of such an organization was held on the 21st of

December, 1816, at which the Hon. Henry Clay presided; but I have never

seen its official proceedings. It was addressed by Mr Clay, _Mr

Randolph_, Mr Caldwell, and other gentlemen, from whose speeches

extracts will shortly be given.

It is my purpose in this section to show, first, the original design of

the Society; secondly, that it is still strictly adhered to; and,

lastly, that the Society is solemnly pledged not to interfere with the

system of slavery, or in any manner to disturb the repose of the

planters. Upon the rigid observance of this sinful pledge depends its

existence; a single violation of it would be fatal. I want no better

reason than this, to wage an uncompromising warfare against it. No man

has a right to form an alliance with others, which prevents him from

rebuking sin or exposing the guilt of sinners. Every individual is bound

to oppose the system of slavery in the most direct, strenuous,

unfaltering manner--bound by the ties of brotherhood, by the spirit of

Christianity, by the genius of republicanism, by the dictates of

humanity, by the requirements of justice, by the love of country, by

duty to his God. He cannot suppress his voice, nor stop his ears to the

groans of the prisoners, and be innocent. If he hide the truth because

it may give offence--if he strike hands in amity with a thief--if he

leave the needy and oppressed to perish--God will visit him with

plagues. Now the language of the non-slaveholding members of the

Colonization Society to the owners of slaves is virtually as

follows:--'The free people of color are a nuisance to us, and plotters

of sedition among your slaves. If they be not speedily removed, your

_property_ will be lost, and your lives destroyed. We therefore do

solemnly agree, that, if you will unite with us in expelling this

dangerous class from our shores, we will never accuse you of robbery or

oppression, or irritate your feelings by asserting the right of the

slaves to immediate freedom, or identify any one of you as a criminal;

but, on the contrary, we will boldly assert your innocence, and applaud

you as wise and benevolent men for holding your slaves in subjection

until you can cast them out of the country.' I say, this is _virtually_

their language, as I shall soon indisputably show. Thus we are presented

with the strange spectacle of a procession composed of the most

heterogeneous materials. There go, arm-in-arm, a New-England divine and

a southern kidnapper; and there an ungodly slaveholder and a pious

deacon; each eyeing the other with distrust, and fearful of exciting a

quarrel, both denouncing the poor, neglected, despised free black man as

a miserable, good-for-nothing creature, and both gravely complimenting

their foresight and generosity in sending this worthless wretch on a

religious mission to Africa!

I cannot exhibit the folly and wickedness of this alliance in a clearer

light than by inserting the following extract of a letter from Capt.

Charles Stuart, of the English Royal Navy, one of the most indefatigable

philanthropists in England:

'The American Colonization Society looks abroad over its own

country, and it finds a mass of its brethren, whom God has been

pleased to clothe with a darker skin. It finds one portion of

these free! another enslaved! It finds a cruel prejudice, as

dark and false as sin can make it, reigning with a most

tyrannous sway against both. It finds this prejudice respecting

the _free_, declaring without a blush, "We are too wicked ever

to love them as God commands us to do--we are so resolute in our

wickedness as not even to desire to do so--and we are so proud

in our iniquity that we will hate and revile whoever disturbs us

in it--We want, like the devils of old, to be let alone in our

sin--We are unalterably determined, and neither God nor man

shall move us from this resolution, that our free colored fellow

subjects never shall be happy in their native land." The

American Colonization Society, I say, finds this most base and

cruel prejudice, _and lets it alone_; nay more, it directly and

powerfully supports it.

'The American Colonization Society finds 2,000,000 of its fellow

subjects most iniquitously enslaved--and it finds a resolution

as proud and wicked as the very spirit of the pit can make it

against _obeying_ God and _letting them_ go free in their native

land. _It lets this perfectly infernal resolution alone_, nay

more, it powerfully supports it; for it in fact says, as a fond

and feeble father might say to some overgrown baby before whose

obstinate wickedness he quailed, "Never mind, my dear, I don't

want to prevent your beating and abusing your brothers and

sisters--let that be--but here is a box of sugar plums--do pray

give them one or two now and then." The American Colonization

Society says practically to the slaveholders and the slave party

in the United States, "We don't want to prevent your plundering

2,000,000 of our fellow subjects of their liberty and of the

fruits of their toil; although we know that by every principle

of law which does not utterly disgrace us by assimilating us to

pirates, that they have as good and as true a right to the equal

protection of the law as we have; and although we ourselves

stand prepared to die, rather than submit even to a fragment of

the intolerable load of oppression to which we are subjecting

them--yet never mind--let that be--they have grown old in

suffering, and we in iniquity--and we have nothing to do now but

to speak _peace_, _peace_ to one another in our sins. But if any

of their masters, whether from benevolence, an awakened

conscience, or political or personal fear, should emancipate

any, let us send them to Liberia--that is, in fact, let us give

a sugar plum here and there to a few, while the many are living

and dying unredressed--and while we are thus countenancing the

atrocious iniquity beneath which they are perishing." In this

aspect I find the American Colonization Society declaring itself

a substitute for emancipation, and it is in this aspect that I

contend with it, and that I proclaim it, _as far as it has this

character_, no farther, a bane to the colored people, whether

enslaved or free, and a snare and a disgrace to its country.'

The second article of the Constitution of this Society is in the

following language:

'The object to which its attention is to be _exclusively_

directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with

their consent) the free people of color residing in our country,

in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most

expedient. And the Society shall act, to effect this object, in

co-operation with the General Government, and such of the States

as may adopt regulations upon the subject.'

The following citations abundantly sustain the charge, that the Society

has not swerved from its original design, and does not oppose the system

of slavery:

'Whilst he was up, he would detain the Society for a few

moments. It was proper again and again to repeat, that it was

far from the intention of the Society to affect, _in any

manner_, the tenure by which a certain species of property is

held. He was himself a slaveholder; _and he considered that kind

of property as inviolable as any other in the country_. He would

resist as soon, and with as much firmness, encroachments upon it

as he would encroachments upon any other property which he held.

Nor was he disposed even to go as far as the gentleman who had

just spoken, (Mr Mercer) in saying that he would emancipate his

slaves, if the means were provided of sending them from the

country.'--[Speech of Henry Clay.--First Annual Report.]

'It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he

understood it constituted no part of the object of this meeting,

to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate

question, connected with another portion of the colored

population of our country. It was not proposed to deliberate

upon or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or that

which was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon

that condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the

South and West, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be

expected to co-operate. It was upon that condition only, that he

himself had attended.'--[Speech of Mr Clay before the Society,

Jan. 1, 1818.--Second Annual Report.]

'It had been properly observed by the chairman, as well as by

the gentleman from this District (Messrs Clay and Caldwell) that

there was nothing in the proposition submitted to consideration

which in the smallest degree touched another very important and

delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of view as

possible, (Negro slavery.) * * * Mr R. concluded by saying, that

he had thought it necessary to make these remarks, being a

slaveholder himself, to shew, that, so far from being connected

with the abolition of slavery, _the measure proposed would prove

one of the greatest securities to enable the master to keep in

possession his own property_.'--[Speech of John Randolph at the

same meeting.]

'Your committee would not thus favorably regard the prayer of

the memorialists, if it sought to impair, _in the slightest

degree_, the rights of private property, or the yet more sacred

rights of personal liberty, secured to every description of

freemen in the United States.

'The resolution of the legislature of Virginia, the subsequent

acts and declarations, as well as the high character of the

memorialists themselves, added to the most obvious interest of

the states who have recently sanctioned the purpose, or

recognized the existence of the American Colonization Society,

exclude _the remotest apprehension of such injustice and

inhumanity_.'

--[Report of the committee of the House of Representatives of

the United States, on the memorial of the President and Board of

Managers of the Colonization Society.--Second Annual Report.]

'An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of

the country can unite, of course _must not have the abolition of

slavery for its immediate object_. NOR MAY IT AIM DIRECTLY AT

THE INSTRUCTION OF THE BLACKS. In either case, the _prejudices_

and _terrors_ of the slaveholding States would be excited in a

moment; and with reason too, for it is a well-established point,

that _the public safety forbids either the emancipation or the

general instruction of the slaves_.' * * * 'It [African

Colonization] is an enterprise in which _all parts of the

country can unite_. The grand objection to every other effort

is, that it excites the _jealousies_ and _fears_ of the south.

But here is an effort in which the southern people are the first

to engage, and which numbers many of their most distinguished

men among its advocates and efficient supporters.'--[Review of

the Reports of the Society, from the Christian

Spectator.--Seventh Annual Report.]

'It will be seen at home and abroad, that the American

Colonization Society, while it _properly enough_ stands aloof

from the question of slavery, and the abolition of slavery,'

&c.--[Report of William McKenney.--Eighth Annual Report.]

'The objects of this institution are well known to the world;

for no concealment whatever has ever been intended. The Society

aims at the removal of free persons of color; _it interferes, in

no way whatever, with the rights of property_.'--[Speech of G.

W. Custis, Esq.--Ninth Annual Report.]

'We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this

question. The Society goes into no household to disturb its

domestic tranquillity; it addresses itself to no slaves to

weaken their obligations of obedience. _It seeks to affect no

man's property._'--[Speech of Mr Clay.--Tenth Annual Report.]

'The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of the American

Colonization Society, have had the subject under consideration,

and now report:

'That upon due consideration of the said memorial, and from all

other information which your committee has obtained, touching

that subject, they are fully satisfied that no jealousies ought

to exist, on the part of this or any other slaveholding State,

respecting the objects of this Society, or the effects of its

labors.'--[Report of a committee of the Legislature of Delaware,

Feb. 8th, 1827.]

'The Society has reiterated the declaration that it has no

ulterior views diverse from the object avowed in the

constitution; and having declared that it is in nowise allied to

any Abolition Society in America or elsewhere, is ready whenever

there is need TO PASS A CENSURE UPON SUCH SOCIETIES IN

AMERICA.'--[Speech of Mr Harrison of Virginia.--Eleventh Annual

Report.]

'We have the same interests in this subject with our southern

brethren--the same opportunity of understanding it, and of

knowing with what _care_ and _prudence_ it should be approached.

What greater pledge can we give for the moderation and safety of

our measures than our own interests as slaveholders, and the

ties that bind us to the slaveholding communities to which we

belong?'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Same Report.]

'The second objection may be resolved into this; that the

Society, under the specious pretext of removing a vicious and

noxious population, is secretly undermining the rights of

private property. This is the objection expressed in its full

force, and if your memorialists could for a moment believe it to

be true in point of fact, they would never, _slaveholders as

they are_, have associated themselves together for the purpose

of co-operating with the Parent Society; and far less would they

have appeared in the character in which they now do, before the

legislative bodies of a slaveholding State. And, if any instance

could be now adduced, in which the Society has ever manifested

even an intention to depart from the avowed object, for the

promotion of which it was originally instituted, none would with

more willingness and readiness withdraw from it their

countenance and support. But, from the time of its formation,

down to the present period, all its operations have been

directed exclusively to the promotion of its one grand object,

namely, the colonization in Africa of the free people of color

of the United States. It has always protested, and through your

memorialists it again protests, that _it has no wish to

interfere_ with the delicate but important subject of slavery.

It has never, in a solitary instance, addressed itself to the

slave. It has never sought to invade the tranquillity of the

domestic circle, nor the peace and safety of

society.'--[Memorial of the Auxiliary Colonization Society of

Powhatan, to the Legislature of Virginia.--Twelfth Annual

Report.]

'Therefore she looked, and well might she look, to colonization

and to colonization alone. To abolition _she could not look_,

and need not look. Whatever that scheme may have done,

heretofore, in the States now free, it had done nothing and

could do nothing in the slave States for the cause of humanity.

This subject he rejoiced to know was now better understood, and

all began to see that it was _wiser_ and _safer_ to remove, by

colonization, a great and otherwise insuperable impediment to

emancipation, _than to act upon the subject of emancipation

itself_.'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Thirteenth Annual Report.]

'Our Society has nothing to do directly with the question of

slavery.' * * * 'Whilst the Society protests that it has no

designs on the rights of the master in the slave--or the

property in his slave, which the laws guarantee to him,'

&c.--[Speech of Gerrit Smith, Esq.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'Its primary object now is, and ever has been, to colonize, with

their own consent, free people of color on the coast of Africa,

or elsewhere, as Congress may deem expedient. And, Sir, I am

unwilling to admit, under any circumstances, and particularly in

this Hall, that it ever has swerved from this cardinal

object.'--[Speech of Mr Benham.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'Something he must yet be allowed to say, as regarded the object

the Society was set up to accomplish. This object, if he

understood it aright, _involved no intrusion on property_, NOR

EVEN UPON PREJUDICE.'--[Speech of Mr Archer of

Virginia.--Fifteenth Annual Report.]

'That the effort made by the Society should be such as to unite

all parts of the country--such as to be in any degree ultimately

successful, it was necessary to _disclaim all attempts for the

immediate abolition of slavery, or the instruction of the great

body of the blacks_. Such attempts would have excited alarm and

jealousy, would have been inconsistent with the public safety,

and defeated the great purposes of the Society.' * * * 'It is

pleasing to learn that the Friends, who at first were not

favorable to the Society, _having been inclined to the immediate

abolition of slavery_, are coming into what we deem the _more

wise policy_ of encouraging emancipation by

colonization.'--[Speech of Harmanus Bleecker, Esq. at the Second

Anniversary Meeting of the New-York Colonization Society, April

14, 1831.]

'The plan of colonization seems _the only one entitled to the

least consideration_.'--[Speech of M. C. Paterson, Esq. on the

same occasion.]

'Nor will their brethren of the North desire to interfere with

their constitutional rights, or rashly to disturb a system

interwoven with their feelings, habits, and prejudices. A golden

mean will be pursued, which, at the same time that it _consults

the wishes_, and _respects the prejudices_ of the South, will

provide for the claims of justice and Christianity, and avert

the storm of future desolation.'--[Speech of Lucius Q. C. Elmer,

Esq.--First Annual Report of the New-Jersey Colonization

Society.]

'Views are attributed to us, that were never entertained, and

our plan is tortured _into a design to emancipate the Slaves of

the South_. We are made to disregard this description of

property, and to touch without reserve the rights of our

neighbors. We are said to tread this almost forbidden ground

with firm step, and a hardihood of effort is imputed to us,

which, if true, might well excite the indignation of our

southern citizens.--But, Sir, our Society and the friends of

colonization wish to be distinctly understood upon this point.

From the beginning they have _disavowed_, and they do yet

_disavow_, that their object is _the emancipation of the

slaves_. They have no wish, _if they could_, to interfere in the

smallest degree with what they deem the most interesting and

fearful subject which can be pressed upon the American public.'

* * * 'There is no people that treat their slaves with so much

kindness and with so little cruelty. Nor can I believe that we

shall meet with any serious opposition from that quarter, when

our object is distinctly understood--when it is known that our

operations are confined exclusively to the free black

population. That this is our _sole_ object, I appeal with entire

confidence to the constitution of our Society and to the

constitution and Annual Reports of the Parent Institution.' * * *

'We again repeat--that our operations are confined to the free

black population, and that there is no ground for fear on the

part of our southern friends. We hold their slaves as we hold

their other property, SACRED. Let not then this slander be

repeated.'--[Speech of James S. Green, Esq. on the same

occasion.]

'Nothing has contributed more to retard the operations of the

Colonization Society than the mistaken notion that it interferes

directly with slavery. This objection is rapidly vanishing away,

and many of the slaveholding States are becoming efficient

supporters of the national society. In the Senate of Louisiana

during its last session, resolutions were adopted expressive of

the opinion that the object of this Society was deserving the

patronage of the general government. An enlightened community

now see, that this Society infringes upon no man's rights, that

its object is noble and benevolent--to remedy an evil which is

felt and acknowledged at the north and south--to give the free

people of color the privileges of freemen.'--[From a Tract

issued by the Massachusetts Colonization Society in 1831, for

gratuitous distribution.]

'This institution proposes to do good by a single specific

course of measures. Its direct and specific purpose _is not the

abolition of slavery_, or the relief of pauperism, or the

extension of commerce and civilization, or the enlargement of

science, or the conversion of the heathen. The single object

which its constitution prescribes, and to which all its efforts

are necessarily directed, is, African colonization from America.

It proposes only to afford facilities for the voluntary

emigration of free people of color from this country to the

country of their fathers.'--[Review on African

Colonization.--Christian Spectator for September, 1830.]

'It interferes in nowise with the right of property, and hopes

and labors for the gradual abolition of slavery, by the

voluntary and gradual manumission of slaves, when the free

persons of color shall have first been transferred to their

aboriginal climate and soil.'--[G. W. P. Custis, Esq.--African

Repository, vol. i. p. 39.]

'Does this Society wish to meddle with our slaves as our

rightful property? I answer _no_, I think not.'--[African

Repository, vol. ii. p. 13.]

'They have been denounced by some as fanatical and visionary

innovators, pursuing without regard to means or consequences, an

object destructive of the rights of property, and dangerous to

the public peace.' * * * 'The sole object of the Society, as

declared at its institution, and from which it can never be

allowed to depart, is 'to remove with their own consent, to the

coast of Africa, the free colored population, now existing in

the United States, and such as hereafter may become free.'' * * *

'In pursuing their object, therefore, (although such

consequences may result from a successful prosecution of it,)

the Society cannot be justly charged with aiming to disturb the

rights of property or the peace of society. Your memorialists

refer with confidence to the course they have pursued, in the

prosecution of their object for nine years past, to shew that it

is possible, without danger or alarm, to carry on such an

operation, notwithstanding its supposed relation to the subject

of slavery, and that they have not been regardless, in any of

their measures, of what was due to the state of society in which

they live. They are, themselves, chiefly slaveholders, and live,

with all the ties of life binding them to a slaveholding

community. They know when to speak and when to forbear upon

topics connected with this painful and difficult subject. They

put forth no passionate appeals before the public, seek to

excite no feeling, and avoid, with the most sedulous care, every

measure that would endanger the public tranquillity.' * * * 'The

managers could, with no propriety, depart from their original

and avowed purpose, _and make emancipation their object_. And

they would further say, that if they were not thus restrained by

the terms of their association, they would still consider any

attempts to promote the increase of the free colored population

by manumission, _unnecessary_, _premature_, and _dangerous_.'

* * * 'It seems now to be admitted that, whatever has any bearing

upon that question, must be managed with the utmost

consideration; that the peace and order of society must not be

endangered by indiscreet and ill-timed efforts to promote

emancipation; and that a true regard should be manifested to the

feelings and the fears, and even the _prejudices_ of those,

whose co-operation is essential.'--[Memorial of the Society to

the several States.--A. R. vol. ii. pp. 57, 58, 60.]

'To found in Africa an empire of _christians and republicans_;

to reconduct the blacks to their native land, without disturbing

the order of society, the laws of property, or the rights of

individuals; rapidly, but legally, _silently_, _gradually_, to

drain them off; these are the noble ends of the colonization

scheme.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 375.]

'Nor have I ever been able to see, for my part, why the

patronage of Congress to a benevolent and patriotic Society,

which, without interfering, in the smallest degree, with that

_delicate interest_, only aims to remove what we all consider as

a great evil--our free people of color--(and which evil _does_

interfere with that interest,) should excite the jealousy or

spleen of our most watchful and determined advocates of state

rights.'--[Idem, p. 383.]

'Recognising the constitutional and legitimate existence of

slavery, it seeks not to interfere, either directly or

indirectly, with the rights which it creates. _Acknowledging the

necessity by which its present continuance and the rigorous

provisions for its maintenance are justified_, it aims only at

furnishing the States, in which it exists, the means of

immediately lessening its severities, and of ultimately

relieving themselves from its acknowledged evils.'--[Opimius in

reply to Caius Gracchus.--African Repository, vol. iii. p. 16.]

'_It is no abolition Society_; it addresses as yet _arguments to

no master_, and disavows with horror the idea of offering

temptations to any slave. IT DENIES THE DESIGN OF ATTEMPTING

EMANCIPATION, EITHER PARTIAL OR GENERAL; it denies, with us,

that the General Government have any power to emancipate; and

declares that the States have exclusively the right to regulate

the whole subject of slavery. The scope of the Society is large

enough, but it is in nowise mingled or confounded with the broad

sweeping views of _a few fanatics_ in America, who would urge us

on to the sudden and total abolition of slavery.' * * * 'The

first great material objection is that the Society does, in

fact, in spite of its denial, meditate and conspire the

emancipation of the slaves. To the candid, let me say that there

are names on the rolls of the Society too high to be rationally

accused of the duplicity and insidious falsehood which this

implies; farther, the Society and its branches are composed, in

by far the larger part, of _citizens of slaveholding States_,

who cannot gravely be charged with a design so perilous to

themselves. To the uncandid disputant, I say, let him put his

finger on one single sentiment, declaration or act of the

Society, or of any person, with its sanction, which shows such

to be their object: there is in fact no pretext for the charge.'

* * * 'Let me repeat, the _friends_ of the Colonization Society,

three-fourths of them are SLAVEHOLDERS; the legislatures of

Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, all slaveholding

States, have approved it; _every member_ of this auxiliary

Society is, _either in himself, or his nearest relatives,

interested in holding slaves_.' * * * 'Once more; this Society

is no way connected with certain Abolition Societies in the

country. To these the Colonization Society would say, "Your

object is unattainable, your zeal dangerous, and nothing can

give it the right direction or the right temperature, but your

surrendering your plan to ours: be convinced, that if the blacks

are ever to be removed from us, it will be by the free will of

the owners, and by means of the opportunity which our _innocent_

plan of an asylum for such as may be sent will afford."'--['The

Col. Society Vindicated.'--Idem, pp. 197, 200, 202, 203.]

'They can impress upon the southern slaveholder, by the strength

of facts, and by the recorded declarations of honest men, that

the objects of the Colonization Society are altogether pure and

praiseworthy, and _that it has no intention to open the door to

universal liberty_, but only to cut out a channel, where the

merciful providence of God may cause those dark waters to flow

off.'--[Idem, vol. iv. p. 145.]

'About twelve years ago, some of the wisest men of the nation,

(_mostly slaveholders_,) formed, in the city of Washington, the

present American Colonization Society. Among them were men high

in office, who had spent many years in studying the interests of

their country, and who could not, therefore, be suspected of

short-sighted enthusiasm, or any secret design of disturbing the

rights or the safety of our southern citizens.' * * * 'You will

observe, first, that _there is to be no intermeddling with

property in slaves_. THE RIGHTS OF MASTERS ARE TO REMAIN SACRED

IN THE EYES OF THE SOCIETY. The tendency of the scheme, and one

of its objects, is to _secure slaveholders, and the whole

southern country_, against certain evil consequences, growing

out of the three-fold mixture of our population.'--[Address of

the Rockbridge Col. Society.--Idem, p. 274.]

'It is true, their operations have been confined to the single

object, colonization.--They do nothing directly to effect the

manumission of slaves.--They think nothing can be advantageously

done in favor of emancipation, but by means of colonization, of

which emancipation will be a certain consequence that may be

safely and quietly awaited.'--[Mr Key's Address.--Idem, p. 303.]

'The Colonization Society, as such, have renounced wholly the

name and the characteristics of abolitionists. On this point

they have been unjustly and injuriously slandered. They need no

such barrier to restrict them, as the sentiment of Mr Harrison,

for their operations are entirely in a different department.

INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS THE SUBJECT OF EMANCIPATION DOES NOT ENTER

AT ALL.'--['N. E.'--Idem, p. 306.]

'Being, chiefly, slaveholders ourselves, we well know how it

becomes us to approach such a subject as this in a slaveholding

state, and in every other. If there were room for a reasonable

jealousy, we among the first should feel it; being as much

interested in the welfare of the community, and having as much

at heart, as any men can have, the security of ourselves, our

property and our families.' * * * 'Our object is, not to prevail

upon the master to part with his slave, for that we leave to his

own reflection and CONVENIENCE; but to afford to those masters

who have determined, or may determine, to manumit their slaves;

provided they can be removed from this country, the means of

removing them to a place where they may be really free,

virtuous, respectable and happy.--Nothing can be more innocent

and less alarming.'--[Review of Mr Tazewell's Report.--Idem, p.

341.]

'The American Colonization Society has, at all times, solemnly

disavowed any purpose of interference with the institutions or

rights of our Southern communities.'--[Idem, vol. v. p. 307.]

'From its origin, and throughout the whole period of its

existence, it has constantly disclaimed all intention whatever

of interfering, in the smallest degree, with the rights of

property, or the object of emancipation, gradual or immediate.

_It is not only without inclination_, but it is without power,

to make any such interference. It is not even a chartered or

incorporated company; and it has no other foundation than that

of Bible Societies, or any other christian or charitable

unincorporated companies in our country. It knows that the

subject of emancipation belongs exclusively to the several

States in which slavery is tolerated, and to individual

proprietors of slaves in those States, under and according to

their laws.' * * * 'The Society presents to the American public

_no project of emancipation_.' * * * 'Its exertions have been

confined exclusively to the free colored people of the United

States, and to those of them who are willing to go. It has

neither _purpose_ nor power to extend them to the larger portion

of that race held in bondage. Throughout the whole period of its

existence, this disclaimer has been made, and incontestible

facts establish its truth and sincerity. It is now repeated, in

its behalf, that the spirit of misrepresentation may have no

pretext for abusing the public ear.'--[Mr Clay's Speech.--African

Repository, vol. vi. pp. 13, 17, 19.]

'The Society, from considerations like these, whilst it

disclaims the remotest idea of ever disturbing the right of

property in slaves, conceives it to be possible that the time

may arrive, when, with the approbation of their owners, they

shall all be at liberty; and, with those already free, be

removed, with their own consent, to the land of their

ancestors.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. p. 69.]

'_It is not the object of this Society to liberate slaves, or

touch the rights of property_. TO SET THEM LOOSE AMONG US WOULD

BE AN EVIL MORE INTOLERABLE THAN SLAVERY ITSELF. It would make

our situation insecure and dangerous.'--[Report of the Kentucky

Col. Soc.--Idem, p. 81.]

'It contemplates no purpose of abolition: it touches no slave

until his fetters have been voluntarily stricken off by the hand

of his own master.'--[Speech of John A. Dix, Esq.--Idem, p.

165.]

'What has awakened that spirit of suspicion and enmity which is

now manifested by these men in every form of open and active

hostility? Can it be attributed to any departure of the Society

from its avowed original design and principles? We maintain that

it cannot; we maintain that the character of the Society has

from the commencement been uniformly the same, and that its

proceedings have been consistent with its character. Were or are

the design and principles of the Society hostile to the rights

and interest of the Southern States? We maintain that they were

and are not; but on the contrary, are worthy to be cherished by

the citizens of these States, and to be sustained with all their

energies as means of their political and moral strength.' * * *

'The _free_ people of color alone are to be colonized by the

Society, and whether the benefits of its scheme are ever to be

extended to _others_, is a question referred to those to whom it

pertains as a matter of right and duty to decide.' * * * 'The

Colonization Society would be the last Institution in the world

to disturb the domestic tranquillity of the South.'--[Defence of

the Society.--Idem, pp. 197, 207, 209.]

'This Society, here in the outset, most explicitly disclaims all

intention to interfere in the smallest degree with the slave

population. It is with the free colored population alone, and

that too, with their own consent, that this Society proposes to

act.'--[Address of the Maryland State Colonization Society to

the People of Maryland.]

'To the slaveholder, who had charged upon them the wicked design

of interfering with the rights of property under the specious

pretexts of removing a vicious and dangerous free population,

they address themselves in a tone of conciliation and sympathy.

We know your rights, say they, and we respect them--we know your

difficulties, and we appreciate them. _Being mostly slaveholders

ourselves_, having a common interest with you in this subject,

an equal opportunity of understanding it, and the same motives

to prudent action, what better guarantee can be afforded for the

just discrimination, and the safe operation of our measures? And

what ground for apprehension that we, who are bound to you by

the strongest ties of interest and of sympathy, should intrude

upon the repose of the domestic circle, or invade the peace and

security of society? Have not the thirteen years' peaceful, yet

efficient, operations of our Society attested the _moderation of

our views_ and the safety of our plans? We have protested from

the commencement, and during our whole progress, and we do now

protest, that we have never entertained the purpose of

intermeddling with the private property of individuals. We know

that we have not the power, even if we had the inclination, to

do so. Your rights, as guarantied by the Constitution, are held

sacred in our eyes; and we should be among the foremost to

resist, as a flagrant usurpation, any encroachment upon those

rights. Our only object, as at all times avowed, is to provide

for the removal to the coast of Africa, with their own consent,

of such persons of color as are already free, and of such others

as the humanity of individuals, or the laws of the different

states, may hereafter liberate. Is there any thing, say they, in

this proposition at war with your interest, your safety, your

honor, or your happiness? Do we not all regard this mixed and

intermediate population of free blacks, made up of slaves or

their immediate descendants, as a mighty and a growing evil,

exerting a dangerous and baneful influence on all around

them?'--[Address of Cyrus Edwards, Esq. of Illinois.--African

Repository, vol. vii. p. 100.]

'It was never the intention of the Society to interfere with the

rights of the proprietors of slaves; nor has it at any time done

so.'--[Address of R. J. Breckenridge of Kentucky.--Idem p. 176.]

'The specific object to which the entire funds of the

Institution are devoted, is simple and plainly unexceptionable

in this respect, that it interferes with no rights of

individuals, and with no law of the land.' * * * 'It embraces in

its provisions only the free. It does not interfere--it desires

not to interfere, in any way, with the rights or the interests

of the proprietors of slaves. _It condemns no man because he is

a slaveholder_; it seeks to quiet all unkind feelings between

the sober and virtuous men of the North and of the South on the

subject of slavery; it sends abroad no influence to disturb the

peace, and endanger the security and prosperity of any portion

of the country.'--[Character and Influence of the Colonization

Society.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 194, 200.]

'Can it be a ruthless scheme of political speculation, which

would trample, with rude and unhallowed step, upon the rights of

property, to gratify the visionary and fanatical projects of its

authors? No: this is impossible. Yet such is the language of

intemperate opposition, with which this Society has been

assailed by its enemies.' * * * 'Equally absurd and false is the

objection, that this Society seeks indirectly to disturb the

rights of property, and to interfere with the well-established

relation subsisting between master and slave. The man who avows

such monstrous purposes as these, and seeks to shelter himself

under the sanction and authority of the American Colonization

Society, is a base traitor to the cause which it seeks to

advance--AN ENEMY OF THE WORST AND MOST DANGEROUS STAMP, because

he assumes the specious garb of a friend and coadjutor. Let him

stand, or let him fall, by the verdict of an insulted and

outraged community--but do not make liable for his acts a great

Institution, whose real friends will be the first to reject and

discountenance him, and to mark upon his forehead in indelible

characters, "This is a traitor to the cause of his country and

the cause of humanity."--It is true that the friends of the

American Colonization Society have permitted themselves to

entertain the high and exalted hope, that, by its influences,

ultimate and remote, the burdens which are incident to slavery

may be greatly mitigated, and possibly the evil itself at some

future day be entirely removed. But mark, Mr President, and mark

well, ye hearers, the grounds upon which this hope is founded.

It could not be sustained by any effort, direct or indirect, to

invade the rights of the slaveholding community, for the plain

and palpable reason, that the effort itself would furnish the

most certain means of defeating the object in view, even

supposing the friends of the Society reckless enough to

entertain it. It would denote on the part of those who made it,

an extremity of madness and folly, wholly unprecedented in the

history of the world, and if persevered in, would dissolve the

government into its original elements, even though the principle

of union which holds it together were a thousand-fold stronger

than it is.' * * * 'Surely the friends of the Colonization

Society have done nought either to alarm the honest fears of the

patriot, or excite the morbid sensibilities of the

slaveholder.'--[Address delivered before the Lynchburg Auxiliary

Colonization Society, August 18, 1831.]

'While, therefore, _they determined to avoid the question of

slavery_, they proposed the formation of a colony on the coast

of Africa, as an asylum for free people of color.' * * * 'The

emancipation of slaves or the amelioration of their condition,

with the moral, intellectual, and political improvement of

people of color within the United States, _are subjects foreign

to the powers of this Society_.'--[Address of the Board of

Managers of the American Colonization Society to its Auxiliary

Societies.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 290, 291.]

'The American Colonization Society was formed with special

reference to the _free_ blacks of our country. With the

_delicate subject_ of slavery it presumes not to interfere. And

yet doubtless from the first it has cherished the hope of being

in some way or other a medium of relief to the entire colored

population of the land. Such a hope is certainly both innocent

and benevolent. And so long as the Society adheres to the object

announced in its constitution, as it hitherto has done, the

master can surely find no reasonable cause of anxiety. And it is

a gratifying circumstance that the Society has from the first

_obtained its most decided and efficient support from the

slaveholding States_.'--[Sermon, delivered at Springfield,

Mass., July 4th, 1829, before the Auxiliary Colonization Society

of Hampden County, by Rev. B. Dickinson.]

'The American Colonization Society in no way directly meddles

with slavery. It disclaims all such

interference.'--[Correspondent of the Southern Religious

Telegraph.]

'This system is sanctioned by the laws of independent and

sovereign states. Congress cannot constitutionally pass laws

which shall tend directly to abolish it. If it ever be abolished

by legislative enactments, it must be done by the respective

legislatures of the States in which it exists. It never designed

to interfere with what the laws consider as the rights of

masters--it has made no appeals to them to release their slaves

for colonization, nor to their slaves to abandon their masters.

With this delicate subject, the Society has avowedly nothing to

do. Its ostensible object is necessarily the removal of our free

colored population.'--[Middletown (Connecticut) Gazette.]

'With slaves, however, the American Colonization Society has _no

concern_ whatever, except to transport to Africa such as their

owners may liberate for that purpose.'--[Oration delivered at

Newark, N. J., July 4th, 1831, by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]

'It disclaims, and always has disclaimed, all intention

whatever, of interfering in the smallest degree, direct or

indirect, with the rights of slaveholders, the right of

property, _or the object of emancipation, gradual or immediate.

It knows that the owners of slaves are the owners, and no one

else--it does not, in the most remote degree, touch that

delicate subject_. Every slaveholder may, therefore, remain at

ease concerning it or its progress or objects.'--[An advocate of

the Society in the New-Orleans Argus.]

It were needless to multiply these extracts. So precisely do they

resemble each other, that they seem rather as the offspring of a single

mind, than of many minds. A large majority of them come in the most

official and authoritative shape, and their language is explicit beyond

cavil.

Here, then, is a combination, embracing able and influential men in all

parts of the country, pledging itself not only to respect the system of

slavery, but to frown indignantly upon those who shall dare to assail

it. And what is this system which is to be held in so much reverence,

and avoided with so much care? It is a system which has in itself no

redeeming feature, but is full of blood--the blood of innocent men,

women and children; full of adultery and concupiscence; full of

darkness, blasphemy and wo; full of rebellion against God and treason

against the universe; full of wrath--impurity--ignorance--brutality--and

awful impiety; full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; full of

temporal suffering and eternal damnation. It is, says Pitt, a mass, a

system of enormities, which incontrovertibly bid defiance to every

regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power effect, but a total

extinction; a system of incurable injustice, the complication of every

species of iniquity, the greatest practical evil that ever has afflicted

the human race, and the severest and most extensive calamity recorded in

the history of the world. Fox calls it a most unjust and horrible

persecution of our fellow creatures. The Rev. Dr. Thomson declares it is

a system hostile to the original and essential rights of

humanity--contrary to the inflexible and paramount demands of moral

justice--at eternal variance with the spirit and maxims of revealed

religion--inimical to all that is merciful in the heart, and holy in the

conduct--and on these accounts, necessarily exposed and subject to the

curse of Almighty God. It is, says Rowland Hill, made up of every crime

that treachery, cruelty and murder can invent. Wilberforce says, it is

the full measure of pure, unmixed, unsophisticated wickedness; and

scorning all competition or comparison, it stands without a rival in the

secure, undisputed possession of its detestable pre-eminence. In this

country, slavery is a system which leaves the chastity of one million

females without any protection! which condemns more than two millions of

human beings to remediless bondage! which authorises their sale at

public vendue in company with horses, sheep and hogs, or in a private

manner, at the pleasure of their owners! which, under penalty of

imprisonment, and even death, forbids their being taught the lowest

rudiments of knowledge! which, by the exclusion of their testimony in

courts, subjects them to worse than brutal treatment! which recognizes

no connubial obligations, ruthlessly severs the holiest relations of

life, tears the scarcely weaned babe from the arms of its mother, wives

from their husbands, and parents from their children! But who is

adequate to the task of delineating its horrors, or recording its

atrocities, in full? Who can number the stripes which it inflicts, the

groans and tears and imprecations which it extorts, the cruel murders

which it perpetrates? or who measure the innocent blood which it

spills, or the degradation which it imposes, or the guilt which it

accumulates? or who reveal the waste of property, the perversion of

intellect, the loss of happiness, the burial of mind, to which it is

accessary? or who trace its poisonous influence and soul-destroying

tendency back for two hundred years down to the end of time? None--none

but God himself! It is corrupt as death--black as perdition--cruel and

insatiate as the grave. To adopt the nervous language of another:--The

thing I say is true. I speak the truth, though it is most lamentable. I

dare not hide it, I dare not palliate it; else the horror with which it

covereth me would make me do so. Wo unto such a system! wo unto the men

of this land who have been brought under its operation! It is not felt

to be evil, it is not acknowledged to be evil, it is not preached

against as evil; and, therefore, it is only the more inveterate and

fearful an evil.[H] _It hath become constitutional._ IT IS FED FROM THE

STREAM OF OUR LIFE, and it will grow more and more excessive, until it

can no longer be endured by God, nor borne with by man.

And this is the system, with which, as the reader has seen, the American

Colonization Society is resolved not to interfere; and with the

upholders of which, ministers of the gospel and professors of religion

of all denominations have made a treaty of peace! Tell it not

abroad--publish it not in the capitals of Europe--lest the despots of

the old world take courage, and infidelity strengthen its stakes!

If men who are reputedly wise and good--if religious teachers and

political leaders, those whose opinions are almost implicitly adopted,

and whose examples are readily followed by the mass of the people--if

such men suppress their voices on this momentous subject, and turn their

eyes from its contemplation, and give the right hand of fellowship to

the buyers and sellers of human flesh, is there not cause for

lamentation and alarm? The pulpit is false to its trust, and a moral

paralysis has seized the vitals of the church. The sanctity of religion

is thrown, like a mantle, over the horrid system. Under its auspices,

robbery and oppression have become popular and flourishing. The press,

too, by its profound silence, or selfish neutrality, or equivocal

course, or active partizanship, is enlisted in the cause of tyranny--the

mighty press, which has power, if exerted aright, to break every fetter,

and emancipate the land. If this state of things be not speedily

reversed, 'we be all dead men.' Unless the pulpit lift up the voice of

warning, supplication and wo, with a fidelity which no emolument can

bribe, and no threat intimidate; unless the church organise and plan for

the redemption of the benighted slaves, and directly assault the strong

holds of despotism; unless the press awake to its duty, or desist from

its bloody co-operation; as sure as Jehovah lives and is unchangeable,

he will pour out his indignation upon us, and consume us with the fire

of his wrath, and our own way recompense upon our heads. 'Ah, sinful

nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children

that are corrupters! When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine

eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: _your

hands are full of blood_. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of

your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well;

_seek judgment, relieve the oppressed_, judge the fatherless, plead for

the widow. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the

land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword:

_for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it_.'

I know the covert behind which colonizationists take refuge. They

profess to be--and, doubtless, in many instances are--aiming at the

ultimate emancipation of the slaves; but they are all for _gradual_

abolition--all too courteous to give offence--too sober to be

madmen--too discreet to adopt _rash_ measures. But I shall show, in the

progress of this work, that they not only shield the holders of slaves

from reproach, (and thus, by assuring them of their innocence, destroy

all motives for repentance,) but earnestly dissuade them from

emancipating their slaves without an immediate expulsion. Fine

conceptions of justice! Enemies of slavery, with a vengeance!

Suppose a similar course had been pursued by the friends of

Temperance--when would have commenced that mighty reformation which has

taken place before our eyes--unparalleled in extent, completeness and

rapidity? Suppose, instead of exposing the guilt of trafficking in

ardent spirits, and demanding instant and entire abstinence, they had

associated themselves together for the exclusive purpose of colonizing

all the drunkards in the land, as a class dangerous to our safety and

irremediably degraded, on a spot where they could not obtain the

poisonous alcohol, but could rise to respect and affluence--how would

such an enterprise have been received? Suppose they had pledged

themselves not to 'meddle' with the business of the traders in

spirituous liquors, or to injure the 'property' of distillers, and had

dwelt upon the folly and danger of 'immediate' abstinence, and had

denounced the advocates of this doctrine as madmen and fanatics, and had

endeavored, moreover, to suppress inquiry into the lawfulness of

rum-selling--how many importers, makers and venders of the liquid poison

would have abandoned their occupation, or how many of the four hundred

thousand individuals, who are now enrolled under the banner of entire

abstinence, would have been united in this great enterprise? Suppose,

further, that, in a lapse of fifteen years, this association had

transported two thousand drunkards, and the tide of intemperance had

continued to rise higher and higher, and some faithful watchmen had

given the alarm and showed the fatal delusion which rested upon the

land, and the Society should have defended itself by pointing to the two

thousand sots who had been saved by its instrumentality--would the

public attention have been successfully diverted from the _immense evil_

to the _partial good_? Suppose, once more, that this Society, composed

indiscriminately of rum-sellers and sober, pious men, on being charged

with perpetuating the evils of intemperance, with removing only some of

the fruits thereof instead of the tree itself, should have indignantly

repelled the charge, and said--'We are as much opposed to drunkenness,

and as heartily deprecate its existence, as any of our violent,

fanatical opposers; but the holders of ardent spirit have invested their

capital in it, and to destroy its sale would invade the right of

_property_; policy at least, bids us not to assail their conduct, as

otherwise we might exasperate them, and so lose their aid in colonizing

the tipplers.' What would have been accomplished? But no such logic was

used: the duty of immediate reform was constantly pressed upon the

people, and a mighty reform took place.

Colonizationists boast inordinately of having emancipated three or four

hundred slaves by their scheme, and contemptuously inquire of

abolitionists, 'What have _you_ effected?' Many persons have been

deceived by this _show_ of success, and deem it conclusive evidence of

the usefulness of the Colonization Society. But, in the first place, it

is very certain that none of these slaves were liberated in consequence

of the faithful appeals of the Society to the consciences of the

masters; for it has never troubled their consciences by any such

appeals. Secondly, it is obvious that these manumissions are the fruits

of the uncompromising doctrines of abolitionists; for they are

calculated to bring slaveholders to repentance, and they will yet

liberate other slaves to be caught up and claimed by the Society as

trophies of its success. Thirdly, it has been shown that while this

Society (allowing it the utmost that it claims) is effecting very little

and very doubtful good, it is inflicting upon the nation great and

positive evil, by refusing to arraign the oppressors at the bar of

eternal justice, and by obstructing the formation of abolition

societies. It rivets a thousand fetters where it breaks one. It annually

removes, on an average, two hundred of our colored population, whereas

the annual increase is about seventy thousand. It releases some scores

of slaves, and says to the owners of more than two millions--'Hold on!

don't emancipate too fast!'

What have the abolitionists _done_? They have done more, during the past

year, to overthrow the system of slavery, than has been accomplished by

the gradualists in half a century. They have succeeded in fastening the

attention of the nation upon its enormities, and in piercing the callous

consciences of the planters. They are reforming and consolidating public

opinion, dispelling the mists of error, inspiring the hearts of the

timid, enlightening the eyes of the blind, and disturbing the slumbers

of the guilty. Colonizationists gather a few leaves which the tree has

cast off, and vaunt of the deed: abolitionists 'lay the axe at once to

its roots, and put their united nerve into the steel'--nor shall their

strokes be in vain--for soon shall 'this great poison-tree of lust and

blood, and of all abominable and heartless iniquity, fall before them;

and law and love, and God and man, shout victory over its ruin.'

Has the reader duly considered the fatal admissions of the advocates of

the colonization scheme, presented in the preceding pages? Some of them

it may be serviceable to the cause of truth and justice to recapitulate.

1. _The Society does not aim directly at the instruction of the blacks:

their moral, intellectual and political improvement within the United

States, is foreign to its powers._

2. _The public safety forbids either the emancipation or the general

instruction of the slaves._

3. _The Society properly enough stands aloof from the question of

slavery._

4. _It is ready to pass censure upon abolition societies._

5. _It involves no intrusion on property, nor even upon prejudice._

6. _It has no wish, if it could, to interfere in the smallest degree

with the system of slavery._

7. _It acknowledges the necessity by which the present continuance of

the system and the rigorous provisions for its maintenance are

justified._

8. _It denies the design of attempting emancipation either partial or

general: into its accounts the subject of emancipation does not enter at

all: it has no intention to open the door to universal liberty._

9. _The rights of masters are to remain sacred in the eyes of the

Society._

10. _It condemns no man because he is a slaveholder._

Each of these particulars deserves a volume of comments, but I am

compelled to dismiss them in rotation with a single remark.

1. One reason assigned by the Society for refusing to promote the

education of our colored population, is, a dread of exciting 'the

_prejudices_ and _terrors_ of the slaveholding States'! Is it credible?

As far, then, as this Society extends its influence, more than two

millions of ignorant, degraded beings in this boasted land of liberty

and light have nothing to hope: their moral, intellectual and political

improvement is foreign to its powers! Cruel neglect! barbarous

coalition! A sinful fear of rousing the prejudices of oppressors

outweighs the claims of the contemned blacks, the requirements of the

gospel, the dictates of humanity, and the convictions of duty. Will this

plea avail aught at the bar of God? Millions of our countrymen purposely

kept in darkness, although we are able to pour daylight upon their

vision, merely to gratify and protect their buyers and sellers!

2. There never was a more abominable or more absurd heresy propagated,

than the assumption that the public safety would be jeoparded by an

immediate compliance with the demands of justice: yet it has obtained

among all orders of society. Even ministers of the gospel, who are bound

to cry aloud, and spare not,--to lift up their voices like a trumpet,

and show this guilty nation its sins,--to say to the holders of slaves,

'Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the

oppressed go free, _and break every yoke_,'--even they fly to this

subterfuge, and deprecate a general emancipation. On this subject, 'they

know not what they do;' they reason like madmen or atheists; they

advance sentiments which unhinge the moral government of the universe,

and directly encourage the commission of the most heinous crimes. How

long would any one of their number retain his situation, if he were to

preach in explicit terms to his congregation as follows?--'My dear

hearers, if any among you are daily oppressing the weak, or defrauding

the poor, do not cease from your robbery and cruelty at once, as you

value your own happiness and the welfare of society! Relax your

tyrannous grasp gradually from the throat of your neighbor, and steal

not quite so much from him this year as you did the last!'--But they

emphatically hold this language whenever they advise slaveholders not to

repent _en masse_, or too hastily. The public safety, they say, forbids

emancipation! or, in other words, the public safety depends upon your

persistance in cheating, whipping, starving, debasing your slaves! Nay,

more--many of them, horrible to tell, are traffickers in human flesh!

'For this thing which it cannot bear, the earth is disquieted. The

gospel of peace and mercy preached by him who steals, buys and sells the

purchase of Messiah's blood!--rulers of the church making merchandize of

their brethren's souls!--and Christians trading the persons of men!'[I]

3. The system of slavery is full of danger, outrage, desolation and

death--'a volcano in full operation'--a monster that is annually

supplied with sixty thousand new victims, devoured as soon as born--and

yet the Colonization Society 'properly enough stands aloof' from it!! It

utters no lamentations--makes no supplications--gives no

rebukes--presents no motives for repentance!

4. The Society is not only ready to pass, but it is constantly bestowing

its censure upon abolition societies. It represents their members as

guided by a visionary, wild and fanatical spirit, as invaders of rights

which are sacred, incendiaries, disturbers of the peace of society, and

enemies to the safety and happiness of the planters. Determining itself

to avoid the question of emancipation--to leave millions of human beings

to pine in bondage without exposing the guilt of the oppressors--it

endeavors to prevent any other association agitating the subject. Hence

between colonization and abolition societies there is no affinity of

feeling or action; and hence arises the cause, inexplicable to many,

why they cannot pursue their objects amicably together.

5. The attempt of the Society to conciliate the holders of slaves must

result either in disappointment, or in an abandonment of the path of

duty. If they are guilty of robbery and oppression, they must be

arraigned as criminals, or they never will reform: for why should

honest, benevolent men change their conduct? If, through a false

delicacy of feeling or cringing policy, their wickedness be covered up,

alas for the slaves, and alas for the regeneration of the south! all

hope is lost.

6. The Society has no wish, _if it could_, to interfere with the system

of slavery! Monstrous indifference, or barbarous cruelty! And yet it

presumes to occupy the whole ground of the controversy, and to direct

the actions of the friends of the blacks throughout the land! By the

phrase '_interfere_,' is meant no desire to contest the claims of the

planters to their bondmen, or to kindle the indignation of the people

against their atrocious practices.

7. It appears that all those terrible enactments which have been made

for the government of the slaves--such, for example, as forbid their

learning to read under the penalty of stripes, and even death--are

acknowledged by the Society to be necessary for the maintenance of

order! What a concession!

8. Sometimes we are told that the Society is aiming at the liberation of

all the slaves, and then that it has no design of attempting either

partial or general emancipation: so contradictory are its assurances! It

is manifest that it does not mean to touch the question of slavery; and

hence the imperious necessity of forming abolition societies.

9. The rights of masters are to remain sacred in the eyes of the

Society! What rights? Those by which the intelligent creatures of God

are bought and sold and used like cattle? those which are founded upon

piracy, cruelty and outrage?[J] Yes! This, then, is an abandonment of

the ground of right and justice, and ends the controversy between truth

and error.

10. It condemns no man because he is a slaveholder! Certainly, then, it

allows that slaveholders are upright men--not guilty of fraud--not

oppressors--not extortioners! and that the slaves are truly and justly

their property--not entitled to freedom--not better than cattle--not

conscious of evil treatment--not worthy of remuneration for their

toil--not rational and accountable beings!

FOOTNOTES:

[H] The term evil is used here in a criminal sense. I know that

colonizationists regard slavery as an evil; but an evil which has been

_entailed_ upon this land, for the existence of which we are no more to

blame than for the prevalence of plague or famine.

[I] 'If the most guilty and daring transgressor be sought, he is a

Gospel Minister, who solemnly avows his belief of the Presbyterian

Confession of Faith, or the Methodist Discipline, and notwithstanding

himself is a Negro Pedler, who steals, buys, sells, and keeps his

brethren in slavery, or supports by his taciturnity, or his smooth

prophesying, or his direct defence, the Christian professor who unites

in the kidnapping trade. Truth forces the declaration, that every church

officer, or member, who is a slaveholder, records himself, by his own

creed, a hypocrite!' * * 'To pray and kidnap! to commune and rob men's

all! to preach justice, and steal the laborer with his recompense! to

recommend mercy to others, and exhibit cruelty in our own conduct! to

explain religious duties, and ever impede the performance of them! to

propound the example of Christ and his Apostles, and declare that a

slaveholder imitates them! to enjoin an observance of the Lord's day,

and drive the slaves from the temple of God! to inculcate every social

affection, and instantly exterminate them! to expatiate upon bliss

eternal, and preclude sinners from obtaining it! to unfold the woes of

Tophet, and not drag men from its fire! are the most preposterous

delusion, and the most consummate mockery.' * * * 'The Church of God

groans. It is the utmost Satanic delusion to talk of religion and

slavery. Be not deceived: to affirm that a slaveholder is a genuine

disciple of Jesus Christ, is most intelligible contradiction. A brother

of Him who went about doing good, and steal, enslave, torment, starve

and scourge a man because his skin is of a different tinge! Such

Christianity is the Devil's manufacture to delude souls to the regions

of wo.'--REV. GEORGE BOURNE.

[J] 'We are told not to meddle with vested rights: I have a sacred

feeling about vested rights; but when vested rights become vested

wrongs, I am less scrupulous about them.'--_Speech of Rev. Mr. Burnett,

of England._