'That no adequate means of attaining this great end existed, short of the segregation of the black population from the white—that anIMPASSIBLE BARRIERexisted in the state of society in this country, between these classes—that whatever might be the liberal sentiments of some good men among us, the blacks were marked with anindelible note of inferiority—they saw placed high before them a station which here theycould never reach, and by a natural reaction they fell back into a position where self-respect lent them no stimulus, and virtuous principles and actions lost more than half their motive—that in fact they were a branded and degraded caste—the Pariahs of the United States, and destinedas long as they remained with usto be hewers of wood and drawers of water—that the increase of this population in a greater ratio than the whites, was calculated to excite just apprehension—that no one could say that when a few more millions should be added to their numbers, the example of Hayti might not rouse them to an effort to break their chains; and he would ask what man could contemplate, without shuddering, all the complicated atrocity and bloody revenge of such a revolt?' * * 'Those persons of color who have been emancipated, are only nominally free, and the whole race, so long as they remain among us, and whether they be slaves or free, mustnecessarilybe kept in a condition full of wretchedness to them and full of danger to the whites.'—[Second Annual Report of New-York State Colonization Society.]
'That no adequate means of attaining this great end existed, short of the segregation of the black population from the white—that anIMPASSIBLE BARRIERexisted in the state of society in this country, between these classes—that whatever might be the liberal sentiments of some good men among us, the blacks were marked with anindelible note of inferiority—they saw placed high before them a station which here theycould never reach, and by a natural reaction they fell back into a position where self-respect lent them no stimulus, and virtuous principles and actions lost more than half their motive—that in fact they were a branded and degraded caste—the Pariahs of the United States, and destinedas long as they remained with usto be hewers of wood and drawers of water—that the increase of this population in a greater ratio than the whites, was calculated to excite just apprehension—that no one could say that when a few more millions should be added to their numbers, the example of Hayti might not rouse them to an effort to break their chains; and he would ask what man could contemplate, without shuddering, all the complicated atrocity and bloody revenge of such a revolt?' * * 'Those persons of color who have been emancipated, are only nominally free, and the whole race, so long as they remain among us, and whether they be slaves or free, mustnecessarilybe kept in a condition full of wretchedness to them and full of danger to the whites.'—[Second Annual Report of New-York State Colonization Society.]
'Many of those citizens who ardently wish for the removal of such of the free colored population, as are willing to go, to any place where they could enjoy,what they can never enjoy here, that is, all the advantages of society,' &c. * * 'That the free colored population in this country labor under the most oppressive disadvantages, which their freedom can by no means counterbalance, is too obvious to admit of doubt. I waive all inquiry whether this is right or wrong. I speak of things as they are—not as they might, or as they ought to be. They are cut off from the most remote chance of amalgamation with the white population, by feelings or prejudices, call them what you will, that are ineradicable. Their situation is more unfavorable than that of many slaves. "With all the burdens, cares and responsibilities of freedom, they have few or none of its substantial benefits. Their associations are, and must be, chiefly with slaves. Their right of suffrage gives them little, if any, political influence, and they are practically, if not theoretically excluded from representation and weight in our public councils."No merit, no services, no talents can elevate them to a level with the whites.Occasionally, an exception may arise. A colored individual, of great talents, merits, and wealth, may emerge from the crowd. Cases of this kind are to the last degree rare. The colored people are subject to legal disabilities, more or less galling and severe, in almost every state of the Union. Who has not deeply regretted their late harsh expulsion from the State of Ohio, and their being forced to abandon the country of their birth, which had profited by their labors, and to take refuge in a foreign land? Severe regulations have been recently passed in Louisiana, to prevent the introduction of free people of color into the State. Whenever they appear, they are to be banished in sixty days. The strong opposition to a negro college in New-Haven, speaks in a language not to be mistaken, the jealousy with which they are regarded. And there is no reason to expect, that the lapse of centuries will make any change in this respect.They will always unhappily be regarded as an inferior race.'—[Mathew Carey's 'Reflections.']
'Many of those citizens who ardently wish for the removal of such of the free colored population, as are willing to go, to any place where they could enjoy,what they can never enjoy here, that is, all the advantages of society,' &c. * * 'That the free colored population in this country labor under the most oppressive disadvantages, which their freedom can by no means counterbalance, is too obvious to admit of doubt. I waive all inquiry whether this is right or wrong. I speak of things as they are—not as they might, or as they ought to be. They are cut off from the most remote chance of amalgamation with the white population, by feelings or prejudices, call them what you will, that are ineradicable. Their situation is more unfavorable than that of many slaves. "With all the burdens, cares and responsibilities of freedom, they have few or none of its substantial benefits. Their associations are, and must be, chiefly with slaves. Their right of suffrage gives them little, if any, political influence, and they are practically, if not theoretically excluded from representation and weight in our public councils."No merit, no services, no talents can elevate them to a level with the whites.Occasionally, an exception may arise. A colored individual, of great talents, merits, and wealth, may emerge from the crowd. Cases of this kind are to the last degree rare. The colored people are subject to legal disabilities, more or less galling and severe, in almost every state of the Union. Who has not deeply regretted their late harsh expulsion from the State of Ohio, and their being forced to abandon the country of their birth, which had profited by their labors, and to take refuge in a foreign land? Severe regulations have been recently passed in Louisiana, to prevent the introduction of free people of color into the State. Whenever they appear, they are to be banished in sixty days. The strong opposition to a negro college in New-Haven, speaks in a language not to be mistaken, the jealousy with which they are regarded. And there is no reason to expect, that the lapse of centuries will make any change in this respect.They will always unhappily be regarded as an inferior race.'—[Mathew Carey's 'Reflections.']
'Instances of emancipation have not essentially benefitted the African, andprobably never will, while he remains among us. In this country, public opinion does,and will, consign him to an inferiority,above which he can never rise. Emancipation canNEVERmake the African, while he remains in this country, a real free man. DegradationMUSTandWILLpress him to the earth; no cheering, stimulating influence will he here feel,in any of the walks of life.'—[Circular of the Massachusetts Colonization Society for 1832.]
'Instances of emancipation have not essentially benefitted the African, andprobably never will, while he remains among us. In this country, public opinion does,and will, consign him to an inferiority,above which he can never rise. Emancipation canNEVERmake the African, while he remains in this country, a real free man. DegradationMUSTandWILLpress him to the earth; no cheering, stimulating influence will he here feel,in any of the walks of life.'—[Circular of the Massachusetts Colonization Society for 1832.]
'With us color is the bar. Nature has raised up barriers between the races,which no man with a proper sense of the dignity of his species desires to see surmounted.' * * 'What effects does emancipation produce without removal? A discontented and useless population; having no sympathies with the rest of the community,doomed by immoveable barriers to eternal degradation. I know that there are among us, those of warm and generous hearts, who believe that we may retain the black man here, and raise him up to the fulland perfect stature of human nature. That degree of improvement can never take place except the races be amalgamated; and amalgamation is a day-dream. It may seem strong, but it is true that "a skin not colored like our own" will separate them from us,as long as our feelings continue a part of our nature.'—[Speeches delivered at the formation of the Young Men's Auxiliary Colonization Society in New-York city.]
'With us color is the bar. Nature has raised up barriers between the races,which no man with a proper sense of the dignity of his species desires to see surmounted.' * * 'What effects does emancipation produce without removal? A discontented and useless population; having no sympathies with the rest of the community,doomed by immoveable barriers to eternal degradation. I know that there are among us, those of warm and generous hearts, who believe that we may retain the black man here, and raise him up to the fulland perfect stature of human nature. That degree of improvement can never take place except the races be amalgamated; and amalgamation is a day-dream. It may seem strong, but it is true that "a skin not colored like our own" will separate them from us,as long as our feelings continue a part of our nature.'—[Speeches delivered at the formation of the Young Men's Auxiliary Colonization Society in New-York city.]
'These [subsistence, political and social considerations] they canneverenjoy here.' * * 'You may manumit the slave, but you cannot make him a white man. He still remains a negro or a mulatto. The mark and the recollection of his origin and former state still adhere to him; the feelings produced by that condition, in his own mind and in the minds of the whites, still exist; he is associated by his color, and by these recollections and feelings, with the class of slaves; and a barrier is thus raised between him and the whites, that is between him and the free class, which he can never hope to transcend.' * * 'A vast majority of the free blacks, as we have seen, are andmust be, an idle, worthless and thievish race.'—[First Annual Report.]
'These [subsistence, political and social considerations] they canneverenjoy here.' * * 'You may manumit the slave, but you cannot make him a white man. He still remains a negro or a mulatto. The mark and the recollection of his origin and former state still adhere to him; the feelings produced by that condition, in his own mind and in the minds of the whites, still exist; he is associated by his color, and by these recollections and feelings, with the class of slaves; and a barrier is thus raised between him and the whites, that is between him and the free class, which he can never hope to transcend.' * * 'A vast majority of the free blacks, as we have seen, are andmust be, an idle, worthless and thievish race.'—[First Annual Report.]
'Here they are condemned to a state ofhopelessinferiority, and consequent degradation. As theycannotemerge from this state, they lose, by degrees, the hope, at last the desire of emerging.'—[Second Annual Report.]
'Here they are condemned to a state ofhopelessinferiority, and consequent degradation. As theycannotemerge from this state, they lose, by degrees, the hope, at last the desire of emerging.'—[Second Annual Report.]
'The existence in any community of a people forming a distinct and degraded caste,who are forever excluded by the fiat of society and the laws of the land, from all hopes of equality in social intercourse and political privileges, must, from the nature of things, be fraught with unmixed evil. Did this committee believe it possible, by any acts of legislation, to remove this blotch upon the body politic, by so elevating the social and moral condition of the blacks in Ohio, that they would be received into society on terms of equality, and would by common consent be admitted to a participation of political privileges—WERE SUCH A THING POSSIBLE, even after a lapse of time and by pecuniary sacrifice, most gladly would they recommend such measures as would subserve the cause of humanity, by producing such a result. For the purposes of legislation, it is sufficient to know, that the blacks in Ohiomust always exist as a separate and degraded race, that when the leopard shall change his spots and the Ethiopian his skin, then,BUT NOT TILL THEN, may we expect that the descendants of Africans will be admitted into society, on terms of social and political equality.'—[Report of a Select Committee of the Legislature of Ohio.]
'The existence in any community of a people forming a distinct and degraded caste,who are forever excluded by the fiat of society and the laws of the land, from all hopes of equality in social intercourse and political privileges, must, from the nature of things, be fraught with unmixed evil. Did this committee believe it possible, by any acts of legislation, to remove this blotch upon the body politic, by so elevating the social and moral condition of the blacks in Ohio, that they would be received into society on terms of equality, and would by common consent be admitted to a participation of political privileges—WERE SUCH A THING POSSIBLE, even after a lapse of time and by pecuniary sacrifice, most gladly would they recommend such measures as would subserve the cause of humanity, by producing such a result. For the purposes of legislation, it is sufficient to know, that the blacks in Ohiomust always exist as a separate and degraded race, that when the leopard shall change his spots and the Ethiopian his skin, then,BUT NOT TILL THEN, may we expect that the descendants of Africans will be admitted into society, on terms of social and political equality.'—[Report of a Select Committee of the Legislature of Ohio.]
'No possible contingency can ever break down or weaken the impassable barrier which at present separates the whites from social communion with the blacks. Neither education, nor wealth, nor any other means of distinction known to our communities, can elevate blacks to a level with whites, in the United States.'—[American Spectator.]
'No possible contingency can ever break down or weaken the impassable barrier which at present separates the whites from social communion with the blacks. Neither education, nor wealth, nor any other means of distinction known to our communities, can elevate blacks to a level with whites, in the United States.'—[American Spectator.]
'However unjust may be the prejudices which exist in the whites against the blacks, and which operate so injuriously to the latter—they are probably too deep to be obliterated; and true philanthropy would dictate the separation of two races of men, so different,WHOM NATURE HERSELF HAS FORBIDDEN TO MINGLE INTO ONE; but of whom, while they remain associated,one or the other must of necessity have the superiority. For the future welfare of both, we trust that the project of colonizing the Africans, as they shall gradually be emancipated, although a work of time, may not be altogether hopeless.'—[Brandon (Vt.) Telegraph.]
'However unjust may be the prejudices which exist in the whites against the blacks, and which operate so injuriously to the latter—they are probably too deep to be obliterated; and true philanthropy would dictate the separation of two races of men, so different,WHOM NATURE HERSELF HAS FORBIDDEN TO MINGLE INTO ONE; but of whom, while they remain associated,one or the other must of necessity have the superiority. For the future welfare of both, we trust that the project of colonizing the Africans, as they shall gradually be emancipated, although a work of time, may not be altogether hopeless.'—[Brandon (Vt.) Telegraph.]
'The character and circumstances of this portion of the community fall under every man's notice, and the least observation shows that theycannotbe useful or happy among us.'—[Oration by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]
'The character and circumstances of this portion of the community fall under every man's notice, and the least observation shows that theycannotbe useful or happy among us.'—[Oration by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]
'It is of vast importance to these people, as a class, that their hopes and expectations of temporal prosperityshould be turned to Africa, and that they should not regard our country as their permanent residence, or as that country in which they willever, as a people, enjoy equal privileges and blessings with the whites.'—[Rev. Mr Gurley's Letter to the Rev. S. S. Jocelyn.]
'It is of vast importance to these people, as a class, that their hopes and expectations of temporal prosperityshould be turned to Africa, and that they should not regard our country as their permanent residence, or as that country in which they willever, as a people, enjoy equal privileges and blessings with the whites.'—[Rev. Mr Gurley's Letter to the Rev. S. S. Jocelyn.]
'To attain solid happiness and permanent respectability, they should now remove to a more congenial clime.... To raise them to a level with the whites isAN IMPOSSIBILITY.'—[New-Haven Religious Intelligencer.]
'To attain solid happiness and permanent respectability, they should now remove to a more congenial clime.... To raise them to a level with the whites isAN IMPOSSIBILITY.'—[New-Haven Religious Intelligencer.]
'In Liberia—the land of their forefathers, they will be restored to real freedom, which they have never yet enjoyed, and which it is folly for them to expect they can ever enjoy among the whites.'—[Norfolk Herald.]
'In Liberia—the land of their forefathers, they will be restored to real freedom, which they have never yet enjoyed, and which it is folly for them to expect they can ever enjoy among the whites.'—[Norfolk Herald.]
'My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me.' Are we pagans, are we savages, are we devils? Can pagans, or savages, or devils, exhibit a more implacable spirit, than is seen in the foregoing extracts? It is enough to cause the very stones to cry out, and the beasts of the field to rebuke us.
Of this I am sure: no man, who is truly willing to admit the people of color to an equality with himself, can see any insuperable difficulty in effecting their elevation. When, therefore, I hear an individual—especially a professor of Christianity—strenuously contending that there can be no fellowship with them, I cannot help suspecting the sincerity of his own republicanism or piety, or thinking that the beam is in his own eye. My bible assures me that the day is coming when even the 'wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the wolf and the young lion and the fatling together;' and, if this be possible, I see no cause why those of the same species—God's rational creatures—fellow countrymen, in truth, cannot dwell in harmony together.
How abominably hypocritical, how consummately despicable, how incorrigibly tyrannical must this whole nation appear in the eyes of the people of Europe!—professing to be thefriendsof the free blacks, actuated by the purest motives of benevolence toward them, desirous to make atonement for past wrongs, challenging the admiration of the world for their patriotism, philanthropy and piety—and yet (hear, O heaven! and be astonished, O earth!) shamelessly proclaiming, with a voice louder than thunder, and an aspect malignant as sin, that while their colored countrymen remain among them, they must betrampled beneath their feet, treated as inferior beings, deprived of all the invaluable privileges of freemen, separated by the brand of indelible ignominy, and debased to a level with the beasts that perish! Yea, that they may as soon change their complexion as rise from their degradation! that no device of philanthropy can benefit them here! that they constitute a class out of whichno individual can be elevated, and below which,none can be depressed! that no talents however great, no piety however pure and devoted, no patriotism however ardent, no industry however great, no wealth however abundant, can raise them to a footing of equality with the whites! that 'let them toil from youth to old age in the honorable pursuit of wisdom—let them store their minds with the most valuable researches of science and literature—and let them add to a highly gifted and cultivated intellect, a piety pure, undefiled, and unspotted from the world,it is all nothing—they would not be received into thevery lowest walks of society—admiration of such uncommon beings would mingle withdisgust!' Yea, that 'there is a broad and impassible line of demarcation between every man who hasone dropof African blood in his veins and every other class in the community'! Yea, that 'the habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society—prejudices which neitherrefinement, norargument, noreducation, norRELIGIONitself can subdue—mark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradationinevitableandincurable'! Yea, that 'Christianitycannot do for them here, what it will do for them in Africa'! Yea, that 'this is not the fault of the colored man,NOR OF THE WHITE MAN, nor of Christianity; butan ordination of Providence,and no more to be changed than theLAWS OF NATURE'!!!
Again I ask, are we pagans, are we savages, are we devils? Search the records of heathenism, and sentiments more hostile to the spirit of the gospel, or of a more black and blasphemous complexion than these, cannot be found. I believe that they are libels upon the character of my countrymen, which time will wipe off. I call upon the spirits of the just made perfect in heaven, upon all who have experienced the love of God in their souls here below, upon the christian converts in India andthe islands of the sea, to sustain me in the assertion that thereispower enough in the religion of Jesus Christ to melt down the most stubborn prejudices, to overthrow the highest walls of partition, to break the strongest caste, to improve and elevate the most degraded, to unite in fellowship the most hostile, and to equalize and bless all its recipients. Make mesurethat there is not, and I will give it up, now and for ever. 'In Christ Jesus, all are one: there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female.'
These sentiments were not uttered by infidels, nor by worthless wretches, but in many instances by professors of religion andministers of the gospel! and in almost every instance by reputedly the most enlightened, patriotic and benevolent men in the land! Tell it not abroad! publish it not in the streets of Calcutta! Even the eminent President of Union College, (Rev. Dr. Nott,) could so far depart, unguardedly I hope, from christian love and integrity, as to utter this language in an address in behalf of the Colonization Society:—'With us they [the free people of color] have been degraded by slavery, andstill further degraded by the mockery of nominal freedom.' Were this true, it would imply that we of the free States are more barbarous and neglectful than even the traffickers in souls and men-stealers at the south. We have not, it is certain, treated our colored brethren as the law of kindness and the ties of brotherhood demand; but have we outdone slaveholders in cruelty? Were it true, to forge new fetters for the limbs of these degraded beings would be an act of benevolence. But their condition is as much superior to that of the slaves, as happiness is to misery. The second portion of this work, containing their proceedings in a collective capacity, shows whether they have made any progress in intelligence, in virtue, in piety, and in happiness, since their liberation. Again he says: 'We have endeavored, but endeavored in vain,to restore them either to self-respect, or to the respect of others.' It is painful to contradict so worthy an individual; but nothing is more certain than that this statement is altogether erroneous. We have derided, we have shunned, we have neglected them, in every possible manner. They have had to rise not only under the mountainous weight of their own ignoranceand vice, but with the additional and constant pressure of our contempt and injustice. In despite of us, they have done well. Again: 'It is not our fault that we have failed; it is not theirs.' Wearewholly and exclusively in fault. What have we done to raise them up from the earth? What have wenotdone to keep them down? Once more: 'It has resulted from a cause over which neither they, nor we, can ever have control.' In other words, they have been made with skins not colored like our own,' andthereforewe cannot recognise them as fellow-countrymen, or treat them like rational beings! One sixth of our whole populationmust,FOR EVER, in this land, remain a wretched, ignorant and degraded race,—and yet nobody be culpable—none but the Creatorwho has made usincapableof doing unto others as we would have them do unto us! Horrible—horrible! If this be not an impeachment of Infinite Goodness,—I do not say intentionally butreally,—I cannot define it. The same sentiment is reiterated by a writer in the Southern Religious Telegraph, who says—'The exclusion of the free black from the civil and literary privileges of our country, depends on another circumstance than that of character—a circumstance, which, as it was entirely beyond his control, so it is unchangeable, and will for ever operate. This circumstance is—he is a black man'!! And the Board of Managers of the Parent Society, in their Fifteenth Annual Report, declare that 'an ordination of Providence' prevents the general improvement of the people of color in this land! How are God and our country dishonored, and the requirements of the gospel contemned, by this ungodly plea! Having satisfied himself that the Creator is alone blameable for the past and present degradation of the free blacks, Dr. Nott draws the natural and unavoidable inference that 'here, therefore, they must befor ever debased, for ever useless, for ever a nuisance, for ever a calamity,' and then gravely declares (mark the climax!) 'and yetTHEY, [these ignorant, helpless, miserable creatures!]AND THEY ONLY, are qualified for colonizing Africa'!! 'Why then,' he asks, 'in the name of God,'—(the abrupt appeal, in this connexion, seems almost profane,)—'should we hesitate to encourage their departure?'
Nature, we are positively assured, has raised up impassable barriers between the races. I understand by this expression, that the blacks are of a different species from ourselves, so that all attempts to generate offspring between us and them must prove as abortive, as between a man and a beast. It is a law of Nature that the lion shall not beget the lamb, or the leopard the bear. Now the planters at the south have clearly demonstrated, that an amalgamation with their slaves is not only possible, but a matter of course, and eminently productive. It neither ends in abortion nor produces monsters. In truth, it is often so difficult in the slave States to distinguish between the fruits of this intercourse and the children of white parents, that witnesses are summoned at court to solve the problem! Talk of the barriers of Nature, when the land swarms with living refutations of the statement! Happy indeed would it be for many a female slave, if such a barrier could exist during the period of her servitude to protect her from the lust of her master!
In France,[W]England,[X]Spain, and other countries, persons of color maintain as high a rank and are treated as honorably asany other class of the inhabitants, in despite of the 'impassable barriers of Nature.' Yet it is proclaimed to the world by the Colonization Society, that the American people can never be as republican in their feelings and practices as Frenchmen, Spaniards or Englishmen! Nay, thatreligionitself cannot subdue their malignant prejudices, or induce them to treat their dark-skinned brethren in accordance with their professions of republicanism! My countrymen! is it so? Are you willing thus to be held up as tyrants and hypocrites for ever? as less magnanimous and just than the populace of Europe? No—no! I cannot give you up as incorrigibly wicked, nor my country as sealed over to destruction. My confidence remains, like the oak—like the Alps—unshaken, storm-proof. I am not discouraged—I am not distrustful. I still place an unwavering reliance upon the omnipotence of truth. I still believe that the demands of justice will be satisfied; that the voice of bleeding humanity will melt the most obdurate hearts; and that the land will be redeemed and regenerated by an enlightened and energetic public opinion. As long as there remains among us a single copy of the Declaration of Independence, or of the New Testament, I will not despair of the social and political elevation of my sable countrymen. Already a rallying-cry is heard from the East and the West, from the North and the South; towns and cities and states are in commotion; volunteers are trooping to the field; the spirit of freedom and the fiend of oppression are in mortalconflict, and all neutrality is at an end. Already the line of division is drawn: on one side are the friends of truth and liberty, with their banner floating high in the air, on which are inscribed in letters of light, 'Immediate Abolition'—'No compromise with Oppressors'—'Equal Rights'—'No Expatriation'—'Duty, and not Consequences'—'Let Justice be done, though the heavens should fall!'—On the opposite side stand the supporters and apologists of slavery in mighty array, with a black flag on which are seen in bloody characters, 'African Colonization'—'Gradual Abolition'—'Rights of Property'—'Political Expediency'—'No Equality'—'No Repentance'—'Expulsion of the Blacks'—'Protection to Tyrants!'—Who can doubt the issue of this controversy, or which side has the approbation of the Lord of Hosts?
In the African Repository for September, 1831, there is an elaborate defence of the Colonization Society, in which occurs the following passage:—'It has been said that the Society is unfriendly to the improvement of the free people of color while they remain in the United States.The charge is not true.' I reiterate the charge; and the evidence of its correctness is before the reader. The Society prevents the education of this class in the most insidious and effectual manner, by constantly asserting that they must always be a degraded people in this country, and that the cultivation of their minds will avail them nothing. Who does not readily perceive that the prevalence of this opinion must at once paralyze every effort for their improvement? For it would be a waste of time and means, and unpardonable folly, for us to attempt the accomplishment of an impossible work—of that which we know will result in disappointment. Every discriminating and candid mind must see and acknowledge, that, to perpetuate their ignorance, it is only necessary to make the belief prevalent that they 'must be for ever debased, for ever useless, for ever an inferior race,' and their thraldom is sure.
I am aware that a school has been established for the education of colored youth, under the auspices of the Society; but it is sufficient to state that none but those who consent to emigrate to Liberia are embraced in its provisions.
In the Appendix to the Seventh Annual Report, p. 94, the position is assumed that 'it is a well established point, that the public safety forbids either the emancipation orgeneral instructionof the slaves.' The recent enactment of laws in some of the slave States, prohibiting the instruction of free colored persons as well as slaves, has received something more than a tacit approval from the organ of the Society. A prominent advocate of the Society, (G. P. Disosway, Esq.,) in an oration on the fourth of July, 1831, alluding to these laws, says,—'The public safety of our brethren at the South requires them [the slaves] to be kept ignorant and uninstructed.' The Editor of the Southern Religious Telegraph, who is a clergyman and a warm friend of the colonization scheme, remarking upon the instruction of the colored population of Virginia, says:
'Teaching a servant to read, is not teaching him the religion of Christ. The great majority of the white people of our country are taught to read; but probably not one in five, of those who have the Bible, isa christian, in the legitimate sense of the term. If black people are as depraved and as averse to true religion as the white people are—and we know of no difference between them in this respect—teaching them to read the Bible will make christians ofveryfew of them. [What a plea!] ... If christian masters were to teach their servants to read, we apprehend that they would not feel the obligation as they ought to feel it, of giving them oral instruction, and often impressing divine truth on their minds. [!!] ... If the free colored people were generally taught to read,it might be an inducement to them to remain in this country. WE WOULD OFFER THEM NO SUCH INDUCEMENT. [!!] ... A knowledge of letters and of all the arts and sciences, cannot counteract the influences under which the character of the negromustbe formed in this country.... It appears to us that a greater benefitmaybe conferred on the free colored people, by planting good schools for them in Africa, and encouraging them to remove there, than by giving them the knowledge of letters to make them contented in their present condition.'—[Telegraph of Feb. 19, 1831.]
'Teaching a servant to read, is not teaching him the religion of Christ. The great majority of the white people of our country are taught to read; but probably not one in five, of those who have the Bible, isa christian, in the legitimate sense of the term. If black people are as depraved and as averse to true religion as the white people are—and we know of no difference between them in this respect—teaching them to read the Bible will make christians ofveryfew of them. [What a plea!] ... If christian masters were to teach their servants to read, we apprehend that they would not feel the obligation as they ought to feel it, of giving them oral instruction, and often impressing divine truth on their minds. [!!] ... If the free colored people were generally taught to read,it might be an inducement to them to remain in this country. WE WOULD OFFER THEM NO SUCH INDUCEMENT. [!!] ... A knowledge of letters and of all the arts and sciences, cannot counteract the influences under which the character of the negromustbe formed in this country.... It appears to us that a greater benefitmaybe conferred on the free colored people, by planting good schools for them in Africa, and encouraging them to remove there, than by giving them the knowledge of letters to make them contented in their present condition.'—[Telegraph of Feb. 19, 1831.]
Jesuitism was never more subtle—Papal domination never more exclusive. The gospel of peace and mercy preached by him who holds that ignorance is the mother of devotion! who would sequestrate the bible from the eyes of his fellow men! who contends that knowledge is the enemy of religion! who denies the efficacy of education in elevating a degraded population! who would make men brutes in order to make them better christians! who desires to make the clergy infallible guides to heaven! Now what folly and impiety is all this! Besides, is it not mockery to preach repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to the benighted blacks, and at the same time deny them the right and ability to 'search the scriptures' for themselves?
The proposition which was made last year to erect a College for the education of colored youth in New-Haven, it is well known, created an extraordinary and most disgraceful tumult in that place, (the hot-bed of African colonization,) and was generally scouted by the friends of the Society in other places. The American Spectator at Washington, (next to the African Repository, the mouth-piece of the Society,) used the following language, in relation to the violent proceedings of the citizens of New-Haven: 'We not onlyapprove the course, which they have pursued, but weadmire the moral courage, which induced them,for the love of right, (!) to incur the censure of both sections of the country.'
As a farther illustration of the complacency with which colonizationists regard the laws prohibiting the instruction of the blacks, I extract the following paragraph from the 'Proceedings of the New-York State Colonization Society, on its second anniversary:'
'It is the business of the free—their safety requires it—to keep the slaves in ignorance. Their education is utterly prohibited. Educate them, and they break their fetters. Suppose the slaves of the south to have the knowledge of freemen, they would be free, or be exterminated by the whites. This renders it necessary to prevent their instruction—to keep them from Sunday Schools, and other means of gaining knowledge. But a few days ago, a proposition was made in the legislature of Georgia, to allow them so much instruction as to enable them to read the bible; which was promptly rejected by a large majority. I do not mention this for the purpose ofcondemning the policyof the slaveholding States, but to lament itsnecessity.'
'It is the business of the free—their safety requires it—to keep the slaves in ignorance. Their education is utterly prohibited. Educate them, and they break their fetters. Suppose the slaves of the south to have the knowledge of freemen, they would be free, or be exterminated by the whites. This renders it necessary to prevent their instruction—to keep them from Sunday Schools, and other means of gaining knowledge. But a few days ago, a proposition was made in the legislature of Georgia, to allow them so much instruction as to enable them to read the bible; which was promptly rejected by a large majority. I do not mention this for the purpose ofcondemning the policyof the slaveholding States, but to lament itsnecessity.'
Elias B. Caldwell, one of the founders, and the first Secretary of the Parent Society, in a speech delivered at its formation, advanced the following monstrous sentiments:
'The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you cultivate their minds, the moremiserableyou make them in their present state. You give them a higher relish for those privilegeswhich they can never attain, and turn what you intend for a blessing into a curse. No, if they must remain in their present situation,keep them in the lowest state of ignorance and degradation. The nearer you bring them to the condition ofbrutes, the better chance do you give them of possessing their apathy.'
'The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you cultivate their minds, the moremiserableyou make them in their present state. You give them a higher relish for those privilegeswhich they can never attain, and turn what you intend for a blessing into a curse. No, if they must remain in their present situation,keep them in the lowest state of ignorance and degradation. The nearer you bring them to the condition ofbrutes, the better chance do you give them of possessing their apathy.'
So, then, the American Colonization Society advocates, and to a great extent perpetuates the ignorance and degradation of the colored population of the United States!
In a critical examination of the pages of the African Repository, and of the reports and addresses of the Parent Society and its auxiliaries, I cannot find in a single instance any impeachment of the conduct and feelings of society toward thepeople of color, or any hint that the prejudice which is so prevalent against them is unmanly and sinful, or any evidence of contrition for past injustice, or any remonstrance or entreaty with a view to a change of public sentiment, or any symptoms of moral indignation at such unchristian and anti-republican treatment. On the contrary, I find the doctrine every where inculcated that this hatred and contempt, this abuse and proscription, are not only excusable, but the natural, inevitable and incurable effects of constitutional dissimilitude, growing out of an ordination of Providence, for which there is no remedy but a separation between the two races. If the free blacks, then, have been 'still further degraded by the mockery of nominal freedom,' if they 'must always be a separate and degraded race,' if 'degradation must and will press them to the earth,' if from their present station 'they can never rise, be their talents, their enterprise, their virtues what they may,' if 'in Africa alone, they can enjoy the motives for honorable ambition,' the American Colonization Society is responsible for their debasement and misery; for as it numbers among its supporters the most influential men in our country, and boasts of having the approbation of an overwhelming majority of the wise and good whose examples are laws, it is able, were it willing, to effect a radical change in public sentiment—nay, it is at the present time public sentiment itself. But though it has done much, and may do more, (all that it can it will do,) to depress, impoverish and dispirit the free people of color, and to strengthen and influence mutual antipathies, it is the purpose of God, I am fully persuaded, to humble the pride of the American people by rendering the expulsion of our colored countrymen utterly impracticable, and the necessity for their admission to equal rights imperative. As neither mountains of prejudice, nor the massy shackles of law and of public opinion, have been able to keep them down to a level with slaves, I confidently anticipate their exaltation among ourselves. Through the vista of time,—a short distance only,—I see them here, not in Africa, not bowed to the earth, or derided and persecuted as at present, not with a downcast air or an irresolute step, but standing erect as men destined heavenward, unembarrassed, untrammelled, with none to molest or make them afraid.
FOOTNOTES:[V]Walker's Appeal.[W]Why is it that the free people of color are now, in almost every part of our country, threatened with banishment from State to State, and with hunting from city to city, until there shall be no place for the soles of their feet in this their native land? Is it because they are in reality, as slaveholders tell us, an inferior race of beings? No, my friends: their consistent conduct, their polished manners, and their great respectability, wherever they have enjoyed the advantages of equality of education and equality of motives, proclaim the contrary. The true cause of this almost universal prescription is to be found in the melancholy fact that we have been guilty of the most atrocious injustice to their forefathers and to themselves. We would therefore now banish the evidence of our guilt from before our eyes: for whom a man has injured, he is almost sure to hate. Some of the finest men I met with, during a residence of three years in London and Paris, were the offspring of African mothers. There no distinction is made in any grade of society, on account of color. I have repeatedly seen black gentlemen sitting on the sofas, conversing with the ladies, at the hospitable mansion of that universal philanthropist,Lafayette; and there were no persons present who appeared more respectable, or who were more respected.—[Address of Arnold Buffum, President of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society, delivered in Boston, Feb. 16, 1832.][X]In England, it is common to see respectable and genteel people open their pews when a black stranger enters the church; and at hotels, nobody thinks it a degradation to have a colored traveller sit at the same table. We have heard a well authenticated anecdote, which illustrates the different state of feeling in the two countries on this subject. A wealthy American citizen was residing at London for a season, which time the famous Mr Prince Saunders was there. The London breakfast hour is very late; and Prince Saunders happened to call upon the American while his family were taking their morning repast. Politeness and native good feelings prompted the lady to ask her guest to take a cup of coffee—but then theprejudices of society—how could she overcomethem? True, he was a gentleman in character, manners and dress; but he had a black skin; and how could white skins sit at the same table with him? If hischaracterhad been as black as perdition, the difficulty might have been overcome, however reluctantly; but hisskinbeing black, it was altogether out of the question. So the lady sipped her coffee, and Prince Saunders sat at the window, occasionally speaking in reply to conversation addressed to him. At last all retired from the breakfast table—and then the lady, with an air of sudden recollection, said, 'I forgot to ask if you had breakfasted, Mr Saunders! Won't you let me give you a cup of coffee?' 'I thank you, madam,' he replied, with a dignified bow, 'I am engaged to breakfast with thePrince Regentthis morning!'We laugh at the narrow bigotry of the Mahometan, who feels contaminated if a Christian shares his dinner, and who will not give his vile carcass burial, for fear of pollution. Is our prejudice against persons of color more rational or more just? The plain fact is, our prejudice has the same foundation as that of the Mahometan—both are grounded in pride and selfishness. A law has lately passed in Turkey, imposing a fine upon whoever shall call a Christian a dog.Let us try to keep pace with the Turks in candor and benevolence.—[Massachusetts Journal and Tribune.]
[V]Walker's Appeal.
[V]Walker's Appeal.
[W]Why is it that the free people of color are now, in almost every part of our country, threatened with banishment from State to State, and with hunting from city to city, until there shall be no place for the soles of their feet in this their native land? Is it because they are in reality, as slaveholders tell us, an inferior race of beings? No, my friends: their consistent conduct, their polished manners, and their great respectability, wherever they have enjoyed the advantages of equality of education and equality of motives, proclaim the contrary. The true cause of this almost universal prescription is to be found in the melancholy fact that we have been guilty of the most atrocious injustice to their forefathers and to themselves. We would therefore now banish the evidence of our guilt from before our eyes: for whom a man has injured, he is almost sure to hate. Some of the finest men I met with, during a residence of three years in London and Paris, were the offspring of African mothers. There no distinction is made in any grade of society, on account of color. I have repeatedly seen black gentlemen sitting on the sofas, conversing with the ladies, at the hospitable mansion of that universal philanthropist,Lafayette; and there were no persons present who appeared more respectable, or who were more respected.—[Address of Arnold Buffum, President of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society, delivered in Boston, Feb. 16, 1832.]
[W]Why is it that the free people of color are now, in almost every part of our country, threatened with banishment from State to State, and with hunting from city to city, until there shall be no place for the soles of their feet in this their native land? Is it because they are in reality, as slaveholders tell us, an inferior race of beings? No, my friends: their consistent conduct, their polished manners, and their great respectability, wherever they have enjoyed the advantages of equality of education and equality of motives, proclaim the contrary. The true cause of this almost universal prescription is to be found in the melancholy fact that we have been guilty of the most atrocious injustice to their forefathers and to themselves. We would therefore now banish the evidence of our guilt from before our eyes: for whom a man has injured, he is almost sure to hate. Some of the finest men I met with, during a residence of three years in London and Paris, were the offspring of African mothers. There no distinction is made in any grade of society, on account of color. I have repeatedly seen black gentlemen sitting on the sofas, conversing with the ladies, at the hospitable mansion of that universal philanthropist,Lafayette; and there were no persons present who appeared more respectable, or who were more respected.—[Address of Arnold Buffum, President of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society, delivered in Boston, Feb. 16, 1832.]
[X]In England, it is common to see respectable and genteel people open their pews when a black stranger enters the church; and at hotels, nobody thinks it a degradation to have a colored traveller sit at the same table. We have heard a well authenticated anecdote, which illustrates the different state of feeling in the two countries on this subject. A wealthy American citizen was residing at London for a season, which time the famous Mr Prince Saunders was there. The London breakfast hour is very late; and Prince Saunders happened to call upon the American while his family were taking their morning repast. Politeness and native good feelings prompted the lady to ask her guest to take a cup of coffee—but then theprejudices of society—how could she overcomethem? True, he was a gentleman in character, manners and dress; but he had a black skin; and how could white skins sit at the same table with him? If hischaracterhad been as black as perdition, the difficulty might have been overcome, however reluctantly; but hisskinbeing black, it was altogether out of the question. So the lady sipped her coffee, and Prince Saunders sat at the window, occasionally speaking in reply to conversation addressed to him. At last all retired from the breakfast table—and then the lady, with an air of sudden recollection, said, 'I forgot to ask if you had breakfasted, Mr Saunders! Won't you let me give you a cup of coffee?' 'I thank you, madam,' he replied, with a dignified bow, 'I am engaged to breakfast with thePrince Regentthis morning!'We laugh at the narrow bigotry of the Mahometan, who feels contaminated if a Christian shares his dinner, and who will not give his vile carcass burial, for fear of pollution. Is our prejudice against persons of color more rational or more just? The plain fact is, our prejudice has the same foundation as that of the Mahometan—both are grounded in pride and selfishness. A law has lately passed in Turkey, imposing a fine upon whoever shall call a Christian a dog.Let us try to keep pace with the Turks in candor and benevolence.—[Massachusetts Journal and Tribune.]
[X]In England, it is common to see respectable and genteel people open their pews when a black stranger enters the church; and at hotels, nobody thinks it a degradation to have a colored traveller sit at the same table. We have heard a well authenticated anecdote, which illustrates the different state of feeling in the two countries on this subject. A wealthy American citizen was residing at London for a season, which time the famous Mr Prince Saunders was there. The London breakfast hour is very late; and Prince Saunders happened to call upon the American while his family were taking their morning repast. Politeness and native good feelings prompted the lady to ask her guest to take a cup of coffee—but then theprejudices of society—how could she overcomethem? True, he was a gentleman in character, manners and dress; but he had a black skin; and how could white skins sit at the same table with him? If hischaracterhad been as black as perdition, the difficulty might have been overcome, however reluctantly; but hisskinbeing black, it was altogether out of the question. So the lady sipped her coffee, and Prince Saunders sat at the window, occasionally speaking in reply to conversation addressed to him. At last all retired from the breakfast table—and then the lady, with an air of sudden recollection, said, 'I forgot to ask if you had breakfasted, Mr Saunders! Won't you let me give you a cup of coffee?' 'I thank you, madam,' he replied, with a dignified bow, 'I am engaged to breakfast with thePrince Regentthis morning!'
We laugh at the narrow bigotry of the Mahometan, who feels contaminated if a Christian shares his dinner, and who will not give his vile carcass burial, for fear of pollution. Is our prejudice against persons of color more rational or more just? The plain fact is, our prejudice has the same foundation as that of the Mahometan—both are grounded in pride and selfishness. A law has lately passed in Turkey, imposing a fine upon whoever shall call a Christian a dog.Let us try to keep pace with the Turks in candor and benevolence.—[Massachusetts Journal and Tribune.]
Itis now about fifteen years since the American Colonization Society sprang into existence—a space of time amply sufficient to test its ability. In its behalf the pulpit and the press (two formidable engines) have been exerted to an extraordinary degree; statesmen, and orators, and judges, and lawyers, and philanthropists, have eloquently advocated its claims to public patronage. During this protracted period, and with such powerful auxiliaries, a careless observer might naturally suppose that much must have been accomplished towards abolishing slavery. But what is the fact? Less than one hundred and fifty souls have been removed annually to Africa—in all, about two thousand souls in fifteen years!!—a drop from the Atlantic ocean—a grain of earth from the American continent! In the mean time, the increase of the slaves has amounted to upwards ofhalf a million! and every week more thanone thousandnew-born victims are added to their number. Before a vessel, with one hundred and fifty passengers, can go to and return from Africa, more than ten thousand slave infants will have been added to our population: while she is preparing to depart, or waiting for a fair wind, the increase will freight her many times.
The following eloquent and comprehensive Circular (published last year in London by Capt. Charles Stuart, in consequence of the visit of Elliott Cresson, an agent who was sent out to dupe the philanthropists of England) exhibits the inefficiency and criminality of the Society in a striking light:
'American Colonization Society. Liberia.—This Society was formed in the United States, in 1817.Its Thirteenth Annual Report has just reached this country.Its object, as expressed by itself, (see the Thirteenth Report, page 41, app. 9, art. 2,) "Is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing the free people of color, residing in 'the United States' in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient."The facts of the case are these:1. That the United States have about 2,000,000 enslaved blacks.2. That they have about 500,000 free blacks.3. That both these classes are rapidly increasing.4. That both are exceedingly depressed and degraded.The duty of the United States to them, is the same exactly as we owe to our colored fellow-subjects in our slave colonies, viz. to obey God, by letting them go free, by placing them beneath wise and equitable laws, and by loving them all, and treating them like brethren; that is to say, the unquestionable duty of the people of the United States is to emancipate their 2,000,000 slaves, and to raise the 500,000 free colored people to that estimation in their native country which is due to them.But the American Colonization Society deliberately rejects both of these first great duties, and confines itself to the colonization in Africa of the free colored people. They say, in page 5, of their Thirteenth Report, "To abolition she could not look—and need not look." It "could do nothing in the slave States for the cause of humanity;" and in page 8, "Emancipation, with the liberty to remain on this side of the Atlantic, is but an act of dreamy madness."Now in thus deliberately letting the great crime of negro slavery alone; and in thus substituting a little restricted act of very dubious benevolence to a few, for the great and sacred duty of right which they owe to all,—they hurt the great cause of everlasting truth and love, in the following particulars:1. By offering to the nation a hope, at which many of their best men seem eagerly grasping, of getting rid of the colored people abroad—they conduce more and more, as this hope prevails, to keep out of mind the superior, unalterable, and immediate duty of righting them at home.2. By removing whatever number it be, from their native country, the number which remains must be diminished,—and the more the number which remains is diminished, the more helpless will they become—the less will be the hope of their ever recovering their own liberty—and the more and longer will they be trampled upon.3. The more the people of the United States (and this is equally true of Great Britain) substitute ahalf-wayduty, difficult, expensive, and partial as it must be, and criminal as it unquestionably is—for thewholeduty which they owe their negro fellow-subjects, of putting them, before the law, upon a par with themselves—the less will they be likely to feel their sin in continuing to wrong them; and the less they feel their sin, the less likely will they be to repent of it, and to do their duty.4. The greater the number of slaves transported, the greater will be the value of the labor of those who remain; the more valuable their labor is, the greater will be the temptation to over-labor them, and the more, of course, they will be oppressed.5. The American Colonization Society directly supports the false and cruel idea that the native country of the colored people of the United States, is not their native country, and that they never can be happy until they either exile themselves, or are exiled; and thus powerfully conduces to extinguish in them all those delightful hopes, and to prevent all that glorious exertion, which would make them a blessing to their country. In this particular, the American Colonization Society takes up a falsehood, as cruel to the colored people, as it is disgraceful to themselves; dwells upon it, as if it were an irrefragable truth; urges it, as such, upon others; and thus endeavors with all its force, to makethat practically true, which is one of the greatest stains in the American character; which is one of the greatest scourges that could possibly afflict the free colored people; and which, in itself, is essentially and unalterably false. For be the pertinacity of prejudice what it may, in asserting that the blacks of America never can be amalgamated in all respects, in equal brotherhood with the whites, it will not the less remain an everlasting truth, that the wickedness which produced and perpetuates the assertion, is the only ground of the difficulty, and that all that is requisite to remove the whole evil, is the relenting in love of the proud and cruel spirit which produced it. Could the American Colonization Society succeed in establishing their views on this subject, as being really true of the people of the United States, it would only prove that the people of the United States were past repentance; that they were given over, through their obstinacy in sin, finally to believe a lie; to harden themselves, and to perish in their iniquity. But theyhave not succeeded in establishing this fearful fact against themselves; and as long as they continue capable of repentance, itnevercan be true, that the proud and baneful prejudices which now so cruelly alienate them from their colored brethren, may not, will not, must not, yield to the sword of the Spirit, to the Word of God, to the blessed weapons of truth and love.The American Colonization Society is beautiful and beneficial as far as it supports the cause commenced at Sierra Leone, by introducing into Africa, civilization, commerce, and genuine Christianity—by checking the African slave trade—and by serving in love the emigrants who choose to pass to Liberia.But it powerfully tends to veil the existing and outrageous atrocity of negro slavery; and it corroborates against the people of color, whether enslaved or free, one of the most base, groundless, and cruel prejudices, that has ever disgraced the powerful, or afflicted the weak.The following calculations may throw further light upon the subject.The United States have about 2,000,000 slaves, and about 500,000 free colored people.The American Colonization Society has existed for thirteen years, and has exported yearly, upon an average, about 150 persons.Meanwhile the natural yearly increase has been 56,000 souls; and nearly a million have died in slavery!!But it may be said, this is only the beginning—more may be expected hereafter.—Let us see.The average price of transporting each individual is calculated at 30 dollars: suppose it to be reduced to 20, and then, as 56,000 must be exported yearly, in order merely to prevent increase, 1,120,000 dollars would be yearly requisite simply for transportation. Where is this vast sum to come from? Or suppose it supplied, still, in the mass of crime and wretchedness, as it now exists, there would beno decrease! Two millions of human beings every 30 years would still bebornanddiein slavery!!But perhaps you wish to extinguish the crime in thirty years.Then you must begin by transporting at least 100,000 yearly. In order to do this, you must have an annual income of upwards of 2,000,000 dollars; and if you have not only to transport, but also to purchase, you would probably want yearly,twenty millionsmore!!Where are you to get this?—Or suppose it got, and still one generation would perish in their wretchedness; 2,000,000 of immortal souls—plundered by you of the most sacred rights of human nature; of rightsalways the same, and everlastinglyinalienable, however plundered—would have perishedunredressed, and gone to confront you at the bar of God.And will He not make inquisition for blood? And what will it avail you to say, "Oh, we satisfied ourselves, and traversed land and sea, and spent thousands to satisfy others, that if we transported a few hundreds or thousands of our oppressed fellow-subjects to a distant country, yearly, with care, we might guiltlessly leave the remaining hundreds of thousands, or the millions, in slavery, and harmlessly indulge the invincible repugnance which we felt to a colored skin. We really thought it better, to exile our colored brethren from their native country, or to render their lives in it, intolerable by scorn, should they obstinately persist in remaining in it;—we really thought this better, than humbling ourselves before our brother and our God, and returning to both with repenting and undissembling love."Is not such language similar to the swearer's prayer!!Great Britain and the United States, the two most favored, and the two most guilty nations upon earth, both need rebuke. They ought to be brethren, mutually dear and honorable to each other, in all that is true and kind. But never, never, let them support one another in guilt.People of Great Britain, it is your business—it isyour duty,—to give to negro slavery no rest, but to put it down—not by letting the trunk alone, while you idly busy yourselves in lopping off, or in aiding others to lop off, a few ofthe straggling branches—but by laying the axe at once to its roots, and by putting your united nerve into the steel, till this great poison-tree of lust and blood, and of all abominable and heartless iniquity, fall before you; and law, and love, and God and man, shout victory over its ruin.Hearken—thus saith the Lord, "Rob not the poor, because he is poor; neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them." Prov. xxii. 22, 23.London, July 15, 1831.C. STUART.'[Y]
'American Colonization Society. Liberia.—This Society was formed in the United States, in 1817.
Its Thirteenth Annual Report has just reached this country.
Its object, as expressed by itself, (see the Thirteenth Report, page 41, app. 9, art. 2,) "Is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing the free people of color, residing in 'the United States' in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient."
The facts of the case are these:
1. That the United States have about 2,000,000 enslaved blacks.2. That they have about 500,000 free blacks.3. That both these classes are rapidly increasing.4. That both are exceedingly depressed and degraded.
The duty of the United States to them, is the same exactly as we owe to our colored fellow-subjects in our slave colonies, viz. to obey God, by letting them go free, by placing them beneath wise and equitable laws, and by loving them all, and treating them like brethren; that is to say, the unquestionable duty of the people of the United States is to emancipate their 2,000,000 slaves, and to raise the 500,000 free colored people to that estimation in their native country which is due to them.
But the American Colonization Society deliberately rejects both of these first great duties, and confines itself to the colonization in Africa of the free colored people. They say, in page 5, of their Thirteenth Report, "To abolition she could not look—and need not look." It "could do nothing in the slave States for the cause of humanity;" and in page 8, "Emancipation, with the liberty to remain on this side of the Atlantic, is but an act of dreamy madness."
Now in thus deliberately letting the great crime of negro slavery alone; and in thus substituting a little restricted act of very dubious benevolence to a few, for the great and sacred duty of right which they owe to all,—they hurt the great cause of everlasting truth and love, in the following particulars:
1. By offering to the nation a hope, at which many of their best men seem eagerly grasping, of getting rid of the colored people abroad—they conduce more and more, as this hope prevails, to keep out of mind the superior, unalterable, and immediate duty of righting them at home.
2. By removing whatever number it be, from their native country, the number which remains must be diminished,—and the more the number which remains is diminished, the more helpless will they become—the less will be the hope of their ever recovering their own liberty—and the more and longer will they be trampled upon.
3. The more the people of the United States (and this is equally true of Great Britain) substitute ahalf-wayduty, difficult, expensive, and partial as it must be, and criminal as it unquestionably is—for thewholeduty which they owe their negro fellow-subjects, of putting them, before the law, upon a par with themselves—the less will they be likely to feel their sin in continuing to wrong them; and the less they feel their sin, the less likely will they be to repent of it, and to do their duty.
4. The greater the number of slaves transported, the greater will be the value of the labor of those who remain; the more valuable their labor is, the greater will be the temptation to over-labor them, and the more, of course, they will be oppressed.
5. The American Colonization Society directly supports the false and cruel idea that the native country of the colored people of the United States, is not their native country, and that they never can be happy until they either exile themselves, or are exiled; and thus powerfully conduces to extinguish in them all those delightful hopes, and to prevent all that glorious exertion, which would make them a blessing to their country. In this particular, the American Colonization Society takes up a falsehood, as cruel to the colored people, as it is disgraceful to themselves; dwells upon it, as if it were an irrefragable truth; urges it, as such, upon others; and thus endeavors with all its force, to makethat practically true, which is one of the greatest stains in the American character; which is one of the greatest scourges that could possibly afflict the free colored people; and which, in itself, is essentially and unalterably false. For be the pertinacity of prejudice what it may, in asserting that the blacks of America never can be amalgamated in all respects, in equal brotherhood with the whites, it will not the less remain an everlasting truth, that the wickedness which produced and perpetuates the assertion, is the only ground of the difficulty, and that all that is requisite to remove the whole evil, is the relenting in love of the proud and cruel spirit which produced it. Could the American Colonization Society succeed in establishing their views on this subject, as being really true of the people of the United States, it would only prove that the people of the United States were past repentance; that they were given over, through their obstinacy in sin, finally to believe a lie; to harden themselves, and to perish in their iniquity. But theyhave not succeeded in establishing this fearful fact against themselves; and as long as they continue capable of repentance, itnevercan be true, that the proud and baneful prejudices which now so cruelly alienate them from their colored brethren, may not, will not, must not, yield to the sword of the Spirit, to the Word of God, to the blessed weapons of truth and love.
The American Colonization Society is beautiful and beneficial as far as it supports the cause commenced at Sierra Leone, by introducing into Africa, civilization, commerce, and genuine Christianity—by checking the African slave trade—and by serving in love the emigrants who choose to pass to Liberia.
But it powerfully tends to veil the existing and outrageous atrocity of negro slavery; and it corroborates against the people of color, whether enslaved or free, one of the most base, groundless, and cruel prejudices, that has ever disgraced the powerful, or afflicted the weak.
The following calculations may throw further light upon the subject.
The United States have about 2,000,000 slaves, and about 500,000 free colored people.
The American Colonization Society has existed for thirteen years, and has exported yearly, upon an average, about 150 persons.
Meanwhile the natural yearly increase has been 56,000 souls; and nearly a million have died in slavery!!
But it may be said, this is only the beginning—more may be expected hereafter.—Let us see.
The average price of transporting each individual is calculated at 30 dollars: suppose it to be reduced to 20, and then, as 56,000 must be exported yearly, in order merely to prevent increase, 1,120,000 dollars would be yearly requisite simply for transportation. Where is this vast sum to come from? Or suppose it supplied, still, in the mass of crime and wretchedness, as it now exists, there would beno decrease! Two millions of human beings every 30 years would still bebornanddiein slavery!!
But perhaps you wish to extinguish the crime in thirty years.
Then you must begin by transporting at least 100,000 yearly. In order to do this, you must have an annual income of upwards of 2,000,000 dollars; and if you have not only to transport, but also to purchase, you would probably want yearly,twenty millionsmore!!
Where are you to get this?—
Or suppose it got, and still one generation would perish in their wretchedness; 2,000,000 of immortal souls—plundered by you of the most sacred rights of human nature; of rightsalways the same, and everlastinglyinalienable, however plundered—would have perishedunredressed, and gone to confront you at the bar of God.
And will He not make inquisition for blood? And what will it avail you to say, "Oh, we satisfied ourselves, and traversed land and sea, and spent thousands to satisfy others, that if we transported a few hundreds or thousands of our oppressed fellow-subjects to a distant country, yearly, with care, we might guiltlessly leave the remaining hundreds of thousands, or the millions, in slavery, and harmlessly indulge the invincible repugnance which we felt to a colored skin. We really thought it better, to exile our colored brethren from their native country, or to render their lives in it, intolerable by scorn, should they obstinately persist in remaining in it;—we really thought this better, than humbling ourselves before our brother and our God, and returning to both with repenting and undissembling love."
Is not such language similar to the swearer's prayer!!
Great Britain and the United States, the two most favored, and the two most guilty nations upon earth, both need rebuke. They ought to be brethren, mutually dear and honorable to each other, in all that is true and kind. But never, never, let them support one another in guilt.
People of Great Britain, it is your business—it isyour duty,—to give to negro slavery no rest, but to put it down—not by letting the trunk alone, while you idly busy yourselves in lopping off, or in aiding others to lop off, a few ofthe straggling branches—but by laying the axe at once to its roots, and by putting your united nerve into the steel, till this great poison-tree of lust and blood, and of all abominable and heartless iniquity, fall before you; and law, and love, and God and man, shout victory over its ruin.
Hearken—thus saith the Lord, "Rob not the poor, because he is poor; neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them." Prov. xxii. 22, 23.
London, July 15, 1831.C. STUART.'[Y]
Sometimes the Society professes to be able to remove the whole colored population in less than thirty years! and the belief is prevalent that the project is feasible. Again it tells us—