FOOTNOTES:

'The American Colonization Society was formed with special reference to thefreeblacks of our country. With thedelicate subjectof slavery it presumesnot 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 firstobtained 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 hasno concernwhatever, 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 theuniverse; 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 paralysishas 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 forgradualabolition—all too courteous to give offence—too sober to be madmen—too discreet to adoptrashmeasures. 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 theimmense evilto thepartial 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 ofproperty; 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 haveyoueffected?' Many persons have been deceived by thisshowof 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 abolitionistsdone? 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 theslumbers 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.

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 'theprejudicesandterrorsof 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 repenten 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 isdisquieted. 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 thecause, 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 beenentailedupon 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.

[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 beenentailedupon 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.

Mycharges against the American Colonization Society acquire breadth and solemnity as I progress in my task. I have fairly and abundantly sustained my first,—that the Society is not the enemy of the slave-system; and I now proceed to prove my second,—that it apologises for slavery and slaveholders.

'There is a golden mean, which all who would pursue the solid interest and reputation of their country may discern at the very heart of their confederation, and will both advocate and enforce—a principle, of justice, conciliation and humanity—a principle, sir, which is not inconsistent with itself, and yet can sigh over the degradation of the slave,defend the wisdom and prudence of the South against the charge of studied and pertinacious cruelty,' &c.—[Address of Robert F. Stockton, Esq. at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Parent Society.]

'It is a fact, given us on the most unquestionable authority, that there are now in the southern States of our union, hundreds, and even thousands of proprietors, who would gladly give liberty to their slaves, but are deterred by the apprehension of doing injury to their country, and perhaps to the slaves themselves.'—[Discourse by the Rev. Dr. Dana.—African Repository, vol. i. p. 145.]

'Guarding that system, the existence of which, thoughunfortunate,THEY DEEM NECESSARY.'—[African Repository, vol. i. p. 227.]

'We all know from a variety of considerations which it is unnecessary to name, and in consequence of the policy which is obliged to be pursued in the southern States, that it is extremely difficult to free a slave, and hence the enactment of those lawswhich a fatal necessity seems to demand.'—[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 12.]

'They are convinced, that there are now hundreds of masters who are so only fromnecessity.'—[Memorial of the Society to the several States.—A. R. vol. ii. p. 60.]

'I do not condemn, let me be understood,their detention in bondageunder the circumstances which are yet existing.'—['The Colonization Society Vindicated.'—Idem, vol. iii. p. 201.]

'A third point in which the first promoters of this object were united, is, that few individual slaveholders can, in the present state of things, emancipate their slaves if they would. There is a certain relation between the proprietor of slaves and the beings thus thrown upon him, which is far more complicated, and far less easily dissolved, than a mind unacquainted with the subject is ready to imagine. The relation is one which, where it exists, grows out of the very structure of society, and for the existence of which, the master is ordinarily as little accountable as the slave.''He [the planter] looks around him and sees that the condition of the great mass of emancipated Africans is onein comparison with which the condition of his slaves is enviable;—and he is convinced that if he withdraws from his slaves his authority, his support, his protection, and leaves them to shift for themselves, he turns them out to be vagabonds, and paupers, and felons, and to find in the work-house and the penitentiary, the home which they ought to have retained on his paternal acres.—Hundreds of humane and Christian slaveholders retain their fellow-men in bondage, becausethey are convinced that they can do no better.'—[Address of the Managers of the Colonization Society of Connecticut.—Af. Rep. vol. iv. pp. 119, 120.]

'He [the planter] looks around him and sees that the condition of the great mass of emancipated Africans is onein comparison with which the condition of his slaves is enviable;—and he is convinced that if he withdraws from his slaves his authority, his support, his protection, and leaves them to shift for themselves, he turns them out to be vagabonds, and paupers, and felons, and to find in the work-house and the penitentiary, the home which they ought to have retained on his paternal acres.—Hundreds of humane and Christian slaveholders retain their fellow-men in bondage, becausethey are convinced that they can do no better.'—[Address of the Managers of the Colonization Society of Connecticut.—Af. Rep. vol. iv. pp. 119, 120.]

'I am not complaining of the owners of slaves; they cannot get rid of them.—I do not doubt that masters treat their slaves with kindness, nor that the slaves are happier than they could be if set free in this country.'—[Address delivered before the Hampden Col. Soc., July 4th, 1828, by Wm. B. O. Peabody, Esq.]

'Policy, and eventhe voice of humanityforbade the progress of manumission; and thesalutary hand of lawcame forward to co-operate with our convictions, and to arrest the flow of our feelings, and the ardor of our desires.'—[Review of the Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations.—Af. Rep. vol. iv. p. 268.]

'When an owner of slaves tells me that he will freely relinquish his slaves, or even that he will relinquish one-half of their value,on condition that he be compensated for the other half, and provision be made for their transportation, I feel that he has made a generous proposal, andI cannot charge him with all the guilt of slavery, though he may continue to be a slaveholder.'—[Af. Rep. vol. v. p. 63.]

'Even slavery must be viewed as a great national calamity; a public evil entailed upon us by untoward circumstances,and perpetuated for the want of appropriate remedies.'—[Idem, vol. v. p. 89.]

'Slavery is an evil which is entailed upon the present generation of slaveholders, which they must suffer,whether they will or not.'—[Idem, p. 179.]

'Our brethren of the South, have the same sympathies, the same moral sentiments, the same love of liberty as ourselves. By them as by us, slavery is felt to be an evil, a hindrance to our prosperity, and a blot upon our character. But it was in being when they were born, and has been forced upon them by a previous generation.'—[Address of Rev. Dr. Nott.—Idem, p. 277.]

'With a writer in the Southern Review we say, "the situation of the people of these States was not of their choosing. When they came to the inheritance, it was subject to this mighty incumbrance, and it would be criminal in them to rain or waste the estate, to get rid of the burden at once." With this writerwe add also, in the language of Captain Hall, that the "slaveholders ought not (immediately) to disentangle themselves from the obligations which have devolved upon them, as the masters of slaves." We believe that a mastermaysustain his relation to the slave, with as little criminality as the slave sustains his relation to the master.' * * * 'Slavery, in its mildest form, is an evil of the darkest character. Cruel and unnatural in its origin, no plea can be urged in justification of its continuance but the plea ofnecessity.'—[Af. Rep. vol. v. pp. 329, 334.]

'How much more consistent and powerful would be our example, but for that population within our limits, whose condition (necessarycondition, I will not deny) is so much at war with our institutions, and with that memorable national Declaration—"that all men are created equal."'—[Fourteenth Ann. Report.]

'It[the Society]condemns no man because he is a slaveholder.' * * * 'They [abolitionists] confound themisfortunesof one generation with the crimes of another, and would sacrifice both individual and public good to anunsubstantial theory of the rights of man.'—[A. R. vol. vii. pp. 200, 202.]

'Many thousand individuals in our native State, you well know, Mr President, are restrained, said Mr Mercer, from manumitting their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholy conviction, that they cannot yield to the suggestions of humanity, without manifest injury to their country.' * * * 'The laws of Virginia now discourage, and very wisely, perhaps, the emancipation of slaves.'—[Speech of Mr Mercer.—First Annual Report.]

'We are ready even to grant, for our present purpose, that, so far as mere animal existence is concerned, the slaves have no reason to complain, and the friends of humanity have no reason to complain for them.' * * * 'There are men in the southern states, who long to do something effectual for the benefit of their slaves, and would gladly emancipate them, did notprudenceandcompassionalike forbid such a measure.'—[Review of the Reports of the Society, from the Christian Spectator.—Seventh Annual Report.]

'Such unhappily is the case; but there is anecessityfor it, [for oppressive laws,] and so long as they remain amongst us will that necessity continue.'—[Ninth Annual Report.]

'I may be permitted to declare that I would be a slaveholder to-day without scruple.'—[Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'For the existence of slavery in the United States, those, and those only, are accountable who bore a part in originating such a constitution of society. The bible contains no explicit prohibition of slavery. There is neither chapter nor verse of holy writ, which lends any countenance to the fulminating spirit of universal emancipation, of which some exhibitions may be seen in some of the newspapers.' * * * 'The embarrassment which many a philanthropic proprietor has felt in relation to his slaves, has been but little known at the north, and has had but little sympathy. He finds himself the lord of perhaps a hundred human beings; and is anxious to do them all the good in his power. He would emancipate them; but if he does, their prospect of happiness can hardly be said to be improved by the change. Some half a dozen, perhaps, in the hundred, become industrious and useful members of society; and the rest are mere vagabonds, idle, wicked, and miserable.'—[Review on African Colonization.—Vide the Christian Spectator for September, 1830, in which the reader will find an elaborate apology for the system of slavery, and this, too, by a clergyman!]

—[Review on African Colonization.—Vide the Christian Spectator for September, 1830, in which the reader will find an elaborate apology for the system of slavery, and this, too, by a clergyman!]

'The existence of slavery among us, though not at all to be objected to our southern brethren as afault, is yet a blot on our national character, and amighty drawback from our national strength.'—[Second Annual Report of the N. Y. State Col. Soc.]

'Entertaining these views of this fearful subject, why should our opponents endeavor to prejudice our cause with our southern friends? And we are the more anxious on this point, for we sincerely entertain exalted notions of their sense of right, of their manliness and independence of feeling—of their dignity of deportment—of their honorable and chivalric turn of thought, which spurns a mean act as death. And if I was allowed to indulge a personal feeling, I would say that there is something to my mind in the candor, hospitality and intelligence of the South, which charms and captives, which wins its way to the heart and gives assurance of all that is upright, honorable, and humane. There is no people that treat their slaves with so little cruelty and with so much kindness. There is nothing in the condition of slavery more congenial with the feelings of the South than with the feelings of the North. Philanthropy and benevolence flourish with as much vigor with them as with us—their hearts are as warm as ours—they feel for the distresses of others with as much acuteness as we do—their ears are as open to the calls of charity as ours—they as deeply regret as we do the existence of slavery—and oh! how their hearts would thrill with delight, if the mighty incubus could be removed without injury or destruction to every thing around them.'—[Speech of James S. Green, Esq. on the same occasion.]

'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.'—[Rev. Thomas T. Skillman, editor of the Western Luminary, an ardent supporter of the Col. Soc.]

'It is a very common impression that a principal evil of the condition of the southern blacks, is the severity of their treatment.This is an error.It is almost every where disreputable to treat slaves with severity; and though there are indeed exceptions, yet in most cases in the South, even tyranny itself could not long withstand the reproaches of public opinion. A STILL GREATER AND MORE DANGEROUS EVIL, IS THE VERY REVERSE. It isindulgence; not only in such things as are proper and innocent, but in indolent habits and vicious propensities.'—[From an address prepared for the use of those who advocate the cause of the African Education Society at Washington—a Society which educates none but those who consent to remove to Liberia.]

—[From an address prepared for the use of those who advocate the cause of the African Education Society at Washington—a Society which educates none but those who consent to remove to Liberia.]

'How should a benevolent Virginian, in view of the fact, that out of thirty-seven thousand free people of color in his State, only two hundred were proprietors of land, how should he be in favor of general emancipation? But, show him, that if he will emancipate his slaves, there is a way in which he can without doubt improve their condition, while he rids himself of a grievous burden, and he will promptly obey the demands of justice—he will then feel that his generous wishes can with certainty be fulfilled. While he knows that scarcely any thing is done to meliorate the condition of those now free, and reflects on the many obstacles in the way of doing it in this land, he feels bound by a regard to what he owes himself—his children—his country, and even his slaves themselves, not to emancipate them. For he is sure, that, by emancipation, he will only add to the wretchedness of the one, and at the same time put at imminent hazard the dearest interests of the other. Thus he is forced to refrain from manumission, and not only so, but against all his benevolent inclinations, he is forced to co-operate with his fellow-citizens in sustaining the present system of slavery. He would most cheerfully follow the impulse of his noblest feelings—he would remove the curse which the short-sighted policy of his fathers entailed upon him; but he cannot disregard the first law of nature; especially not, when, were he to do it, he would render thecursestill more calamitous in its consequences.'—[An advocate of the Colonization Society in the Middletown (Connecticut) Gazette.]

'Slavery is indeed a curse; and bitter is the lot of him who is born with slaves on his hands. And now, instead of denouncing as inhuman and unmerciful monsters and tyrants, those who are thusunfortunate, I say, let the commiseration and pity of every good citizen and christian in the land be excited, and let fervent prayers be offered in their behalf, and that God would direct the whole American mind to the adoption of the most effectual measures for the accomplishment of the total abolition of slavery.'—[New-Haven Religious Intelligencer for July 16, 1831.]

'Special reference will also be had to the condition and wishes of the slave States. In most of them it is a prevailing sentiment, that it is not safe to furnish slaves with the means of instruction. Much as we lament the reasons for this sentiment, and theapparent necessityof keeping a single fellow creature in ignorance, we willingly leave to others the consideration and the remedy of this evil, in view of the overwhelming magnitude of the remaining objects before us.'—[Address of the Board of Managers of the African Education Society of the United States.]

'And when we [of New-England] did emancipate our slaves, we were driven to the measure by the force of example; and we did not do it until it was found quite convenient; and then what provision was made for the poor blacks? Let our State Prison records answer the question. Our Southern brethren have beenmore kind: they will not emancipate them until they send them where they can enjoyliberty, more than in name. As a Northern man I feel it my duty, and I take pleasure in giving themeed of praiseto my Southern brethren.'—[Speech of Rev. Mr Gallaudet, at a colonization meeting in New-York city.]

'The slave works for his master, who feeds and clothes him, defends him from harm, and takes care of him when he is sick. The free colored man works for himself, and has nobody to take care of him but himself.'—[From a little colonization work, published in Baltimore in 1828, 'for the use of the African Schools in the United States'!! entitled 'A Voice from Africa.']

—[From a little colonization work, published in Baltimore in 1828, 'for the use of the African Schools in the United States'!! entitled 'A Voice from Africa.']

'The slaveholder will tell you, that he did not take liberty from the African—he was a slave when he found him, and he is no more than a slave yet. The man who owns one hundred acres of land more than he can cultivate himself, is as much a slaveholder as he who owns a slave.'—[An advocate of colonization in the Richmond (Indiana) Palladium for Oct. 1, 1831.]

'I do not mean to speak of slavery as a system of cruelty and of suffering.On this point I am free to say, from personal observation and occasional residences for some years at the South, there has been much misapprehension among our fellow-citizens of the North. And I rejoice to add, thatthe condition of the slaves generally is such as the friends of humanity have no reason to complain of.'—[Oration delivered at Newark, N. J. July 4th, 1831, by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]

'Slavery, it is true, is an evil—a national evil. Every laudable effort to exterminate it should be encouraged. And we presume that nine-tenths of the slaveholders themselves, would rejoice at the event, could it be accomplished, of the entire freedom from the country of every person of color, and would willingly relinquish every slave in their possession. But the slavesarein their possession—they are entailed upon them by their ancestors. And can they set them free, and still suffer them to remain in the country? Would this be policy? Would it be safe? No. When they can be transported to the soil from whence they were derived—by the aid of the Colonization Society, by Government, by individuals, or by any other means—then let them be emancipated, and not before.'—[Lowell (Mass.) Telegraph.]

It is a self-evident proposition, that just so far as you alleviate the pressure of guilt upon the consciences of evil doers, you weaken the power of motive to repent, and encourage them to sin with impunity. To descant upon the wrongs of the slave-system, and yet exonerate the supporters of it from reprehension, is to deal in absurdities: we might preach in this manner until the crack of doom, and never gain a convert. Paradoxes may amuse, but they never convince the mind.

Now, I defy the most ingenious advocates of perpetual slavery to produce stronger arguments in its favor than are given in the foregoing extracts. What better plea could they make? what higher justification could they need? Nay, these apologies of colonizationists represent oppression not merely as innocent, but even commendable—as a system of benevolence, upheld by philanthropists and sages!

'I do not condemn the detention of the slaves in bondage under the circumstances which are yet existing,' says an advocate; by which consolatory avowal we are taught that the criminality of man-stealing depends uponcircumstances, and not upon the fact that it is a daring violation of the rights of man and the laws of God.

'The planter sees that the condition of the great mass of emancipated Africans is one, in comparison with which the condition of his slaves isenviable,' assert the Board of Managers!—a concession which transforms robbery into generosity, cruelty into mercy, and leads the slaveholder to believe that, instead of deserving censure, his conduct is really meritorious!—a concession which is at war with common sense, and contrary to truth.

'I am not complaining of the owners of slaves—I do not doubt that the slaves are happier than they could be if set free in this country,' declares an apologist, even in Massachusetts! Stripes and servitude would doubtless soon alter his opinion. With him, to sell human beings at public auction, and to separate husbands and wives, and children and parents, is not a subject of complaint! and to be a slave, to be fed upon a peck of corn per week, unable to possess property, liable to be torn from the partner of his bosom and children at a moment's warning mal-treated worse than a brute, &c. &c. &c. is more desirable than to be a free man, able to acquire wealth, unrestricted in his movements, from whom none may wrest his wife or children, and who can find redress for any outrage upon his person or property!

'Policy, and evenhumanity,' cries another, 'forbid the progress of manumission'! Indeed! But is it right to hold our fellow creatures as chattels, and to perpetuate their ignorance and servitude? O no! this iswrong, but it would be a greater wrong to emancipate them! Is this folly or villany? To oppress our brother is wrong, but to cease from oppressing him would not be right!

'I would be a slaveholder to-day without scruple,' says another advocate.

'Many owners of slaves,' another declares, 'hold them in strict accordance with the principles of humanity and justice'!!! Yes, to deprive men of their inalienable rights is to do unto them as we would have them do unto us!

Finally, another boldly declares that the slaves are treatedtoo indulgently!—The laws which regard them as beasts, but punish them for the commission of crime as severely as if they possessed the knowledge of angels, he must suppose are too lenient. Their allowance of corn is too liberal; they ought not to wear any raiment; to sleep in their wretched huts is calculated to make them effeminate—the open field is a more suitable place for cattle; no religious instruction should be granted even orally to them! The slaves, as a body, too kindly treated! The Lord have compassion upon any of their number who shall come under the control of him who holds this opinion!

Sentiments, like these, act upon the consciences of slave owners like opiates upon the body, lulling them into a slumber as profound and fatal as death. It were almost as hopeless a task to attempt to arouse, alarm and animate them, so long as they repose under the stupefying effects of this poison, as to raise the dead. This must not be. Slaveholders are the enemies of God and man; their garments are red with the blood of souls; their guilt is aggravated beyond the power of language to describe; and they must be made to see and realise theirawful condition. Truth must send its arrows into their consciences, and Terror rouse them to exertion, and Conviction bring them upon their knees, and Repentance propitiate the anger of Heaven, or they perish by the sword. The slaves must be free; and He who is no respecter of person is now holding out to us this alternative—either to wait until they burst their chains and wade through a river of blood to freedom, or to liberate them willingly ourselves. Can we hesitate in our choice? Be this our only reply to those who apologise for the oppressors, and fix the standard of policy higher than that of duty: 'Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!'

Theheresies of this combination are flagrant and numerous. A larger volume than this is needed to define and illustrate them all. Much important evidence, and many pertinent reflections, I am compelled to suppress.

My next allegation against it is,that it recognises slaves as property. This recognition is not merely technical, or strictly confined to a statutable interpretation. I presume the advocates of the Society will attempt to evade this point, by saying that it never meant to concede the moral right of the masters to possess human beings; but the evidence against them is full and explicit. The Society, if language mean any thing, does unequivocally acknowledge property in slaves to be as legitimate and sacred as any other property, of which to deprive the owners either by force or by legislation, without making restitution, would be unjust and tyrannical. Here is the proof:

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