FOOTNOTES:

'Admitting that the colonization scheme contemplates the ultimate abolition of slavery, yet that result could only be producedby the gradual and slow operation ofCENTURIES.' * * 'How came we by this population? By the prevalence for a century of a guilty commerce. And will not the prevalencefor a centuryof a restoring commerce, place them on their own shores? Yes, surely!' * * 'There are those, Sir, who ask—and could not a quarter century cease and determine the two great evils? You and I, my dear Sir, on whom the frost of time has fallen rather perceptibly, would say a century. And now, let me ask, could ever a century, in the whole course of human affairs, be better employed?'—[African Repository, vol. i. pp. 217, 347; vol. v. p. 366.]

'It is not the work of a day nor a year, it is not a work of one time, nor of two, nor of three, but it is one which will now commence,and may continue for ages.'—[A new and interesting View of Slavery. By Humanitas, a colonization advocate. Baltimore, 1820.]

Wild enthusiasts in the cause may respond—'The Society never expected to accomplish much single-handed: it is about to enlist the energies of the General Government—and doubtless Congress will appropriate several millions of dollars annually for the purchase and colonization of the slaves.'

But are they sure, or is it probable, that Congress will make this appropriation? And if it should, what can they do without the consent of the people of color to remove? That consent can never be obtained. Is it, then, proposed to buy the slaves of their masters, as if the claim of property were valid? It were better that the money should rust at the bottom of the deep!—better to buy bank-notes, and convert them to ashes! To purchase slaves would only serve to make brisk the slave-market. Their value would immediately rise in all the slave States; especially in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina, where they are now comparatively worthless—and there would be an end to voluntary emancipation: for who would sacrifice his 'property,' when he might obtain an equivalent for it? Slave traders and slave owners would be zealous to prevent any lack of miserable objects for the bounty offered by government: if the natural increase were not sufficient, they would be careful to make the importation from Africa exceed the exportation to that ill-fated continent. Such a purchase would be directly patronising the slave trade, at home and abroad, and bribing masters to keep their slaves for the highest bidder. Besides, it would be a gross violation of the great fundamental principle, that 'man cannot hold property in man.'

I know it is easy to make calculations. I know it is an old maxim, that 'figures cannot lie:' and I very well know, too, that our philanthropic arithmeticians are prodigiously fond ofFIGURING, but of doing nothing else. Give them a slate and pencil, and in fifteen minutes they will clear the continent of every black skin; and, if desired, throw in the Indians to boot. While they depopulate America, they find not the least difficulty in providing for the wants of the emigrating myriads to the coast of Africa: we have ships enough, and, notwithstanding the hardness of the times, money enough. O, the surpassing utility of the arithmetic! it is more potent than the stone of the philosopher, which,when discovered, is to transmute, at a touch, base metal into pure gold!

In one breath, colonization orators tell us that the free blacks are pests in the community; that they are an intemperate, ignorant, lazy, thievish class; that their condition is worse than that of the slaves; and that no efforts to improve them in this country can be successful, owing to the prejudices of society. In the next breath we are told what mighty works these miserable outcasts are to achieve—that they are the missionaries of salvation,[Z]who are to illumine all Africa—that they will build up a second American republic—and that our conceptions cannot grasp the result of their labors. Now I, for one, have no faith in this instantaneous metamorphosis.[AA]I believe that neither a sea voyage nor an African climate has any miraculous influence upon the brain. I believe that ignorant and depraved black men, who are transported across the ocean, will be ignorant and depraved black men on reaching the coast of Africa. I believe, also, that they who are capable of doing well, surrounded by barbarians, may do better among a civilized and christian people.

It is stated in a Circular put forth by the Society last year, that 'from theactual experienceof the Society, it has been found that $20,or less, will defray the whole expense of transporting an individual to the Colony.' This is a very deceptive statement. The receipts of the Society from 1820 to 1830, amounted to $112,841 89; the expenses during the same period were $106,457 72; balance on hand, $6,384 17. Nineteen expeditions had been fitted out, and 1,857 emigrants,[AB]including re-captured Africans, landing on the shores of Africa—averaging annually, for the ten years, about 186 persons, or since the organization of the Society, about 124 persons. 'The emigrants,' the Board of Managers inform us, in a recent address to Auxiliary Societies, 'for the last three years, average about 227, while the expenses,exclusive of transportation, and temporary subsistence of the new colonists, exceedTEN THOUSAND DOLLARS'!! In the very last number of the African Repository, (for April, 1832,) the Vice-Agent at Liberia, A. D. Williams, writes to the Rev. R. R. Gurley as follows:—'I think the price, say $35, fixed by the Board for the transportation of each emigrant,is entirely too low: it should be at least $40, if not $45.' Why, then, does the Society attempt to impose upon public credulity, by stating that only $20 are requisite for every individual transportation, when the actual cost has been more than thrice, and is likely to be more than double that amount?[AC]

The Society has succeeded in making the people believe that the establishment of a colony or colonies on the coast of Africa is the only way to abolish the foreign slave trade: on this account it has secured an extensive patronage. Here is another fatal delusion. I shall show not only that it has not injured this trade in the least, but that the tradecontinues to increase in activity and cruelty. Let us look at its own admissions.

'We regret to say, that the slave trade appears to be carried on to a great extent, and with circumstances of the most revolting cruelty.' * * * 'The French slave trade, notwithstanding the efforts of the government, appears to be undiminished. The number of Spanish vessels employed in the trade is immense, and as the treaty between England and Spain only permits the seizure of vessels having slaves actually on board, many of these watch their opportunity on the coast, run in, and receive all their slaves on board in a single day.' * * 'By an official document from Rio de Janeiro, it appears that the following importations of slaves were made into that port in 1826 and 1827.'1826, landed alive, 35,966 ... died on the passage 1,905'1827, landed alive, 41,384 ... died on the passage 1,643'Thus it would seem, (says the Boston Gazette,) that to only one port in the Brazils, and in the course of two years,seventy-seven thousand three hundred and fiftyhuman beings were transported from their own country, and placed in a state of slavery.'—[African Repository, vol. i. v. pp. 179, 181.]

'1826, landed alive, 35,966 ... died on the passage 1,905

'1827, landed alive, 41,384 ... died on the passage 1,643

'Thus it would seem, (says the Boston Gazette,) that to only one port in the Brazils, and in the course of two years,seventy-seven thousand three hundred and fiftyhuman beings were transported from their own country, and placed in a state of slavery.'—[African Repository, vol. i. v. pp. 179, 181.]

'It is not by legal arguments, or penal statutes, or armed ships, that the slave trade can be prevented. Almost every power in Christendom has denounced it. It has been declared felony—it has been declared piracy; and the fleets of Britain and America have been commissioned to drive it from the ocean. Still, in defiance of all this array of legislation and of armament, slave ships ride triumphant on the ocean; and in these floating caverns, less terrible only than the caverns which demons occupy, from sixty to eighty thousand wretches, received pinioned from the coast of Africa, are borne annually away to slavery or death. Of these wretches a frightful number are, with an audacity that amazes, landed and disposed of within the jurisdiction of this republic.'—[Idem, vol. v. 274.]

'Notwithstanding all the efforts that have been made to suppress the slave trade, by means of solemn treaties and laws declaring it to be piracy; and notwithstanding the attempts to exterminate it by the naval forces of the United States and Great Britain, the inhuman traffic is still pursued to as great an extent as at any former period, and with greater cruelty than ever.'—[African Repository, vol. vi. p. 345.]

'The slave trade, which many suppose has been every where abolished for years, there is reason to believe is still carried on to almost as great an extent as ever. It has been recently stated in the papers, that an association of merchants at Nantz, in France, had undertaken to supply the island of Cuba with thirty thousand fresh negro slaves annually! And in Brazil, it is well known, that for several years past, the importations have even exceeded this number.'—[Idem, vol. vii. p. 248.]

'Africa, for three long centuries, has been ravaged by the slave trade. Notwithstanding all that has been done to suppress that traffic, notwithstanding its formal abolition by all civilized nations, it is carried on at the present hour,with all its atrocities unmitigated. The flags of France, Portugal, Brazil, and Spain, with the connivance of those governments, afford to the slave trader, in spite of laws and treaties and armed cruisers, a partial protection, of which he avails himself to the utmost. And with what cruelty he carries on his war against human nature, every year affords us illustrations sufficiently horrible.'—[Christian Spectator for September, 1830.]

'This horrible traffic, notwithstanding its abolition by every civilized nation in the world, except Portugal and Brazil, and notwithstanding the decided measures of the British and American governments, is still carried on to almost as great an extent as ever. Not less than 60,000 slaves, according to the most moderate computation, are carried from Africa annually. This trade is carried on by Americans to the American states. And the cruelties of this trade, which always surpassed the powers of the human mind to conceive,are greater now than they ever were before. We might, but we will not, refer to stories, recent stories, of which the very recital would be torment.'—[Seventh Annual Report.]

'Notwithstanding the vigilance of the powers now engaged to suppress the slave trade, I have received information, that in a single year, in the single island of Cuba, slaves equal in amount to one half of the above number of fifty-two thousand have been illicitly introduced.' * * 'Mr Mercer submitted the following preamble and resolutions:—Whereas, to the affliction of the Christian world, the African slave trade, notwithstanding all the efforts, past and present, for its suppression, still exists and is conductedwith aggravated cruelty, by the resources of one continent, to the dishonor of another, and to an extent little short of the desolation of a third,' &c.—[Tenth Annual Report.]

'It is painful to state, that the Managers have reason to believe that the slave trade is still prosecuted, to a great extent, and with circumstances of undiminished atrocity. The fact, that much was done by Mr Ashmun to banish it from the territory, under the colonial jurisdiction, is unquestionable; but,it now exists, even on this territory; and a little to the north and south of Liberia, it is seen in its true characters—of fraud, rapine, and blood! In the opinion of the late Agent, the present efforts to suppress this trade must prove abortive.'—[Thirteenth Annual Report.]

'Some appalling facts in regard to the slave trade have come to the knowledge of the Board of Managers during the last year.With undiminished atrocity and activityis this odious traffic now carried onall along the African coast. Slave factories are establishedin the immediate vicinity of the Colony, and at the Gallinas (between Liberia and Sierra Leone) not less than nine hundred slaves were shipped during the last summer, in the space of three weeks.'—[Fourteenth Annual Report, 1831.]

'In defiance of all laws enacted, it is estimated that no less thanfifty thousandAfricans were, during the last year, (1831,) carried into foreign slavery. During the months of February and March of the same year, two thousand werelanded on the island of Cuba.'—[Circular published by the Massachusetts Colonization Society for 1832.]

Here, then, is the acknowledgment of the Society, that it has accomplishednothingtoward the suppression of the slave trade in fifteen years! Nor has the settlement at Sierra Leone effected aught in thirty years! Nor have the untiring labors of Wilberforce and Clarkson, for a longer period, produced any visible effect! The accursed traffic still continues to increase—and why? Simplybecause the market for slaves is not destroyed. Break up this market, and you annihilate the slave trade. Keep it open, and you may line the shores of Africa and America with naval ships and armed troops, and the trade will continue. No proposition in Euclid is plainer. So long as there is a brisk market for goods, that market will be supplied. The assertion has been made in Congress by Mr Mercer of Virginia, (one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society,) that these horrible cargoes are smuggled into our southern states to a deplorable extent. In 1819, Mr Middleton, of South Carolina, declared it to be his belief 'that 13,000 Africans were annually smuggled into our southern states.' Mr Wright of Virginia estimated the number at 15,000!!!—[VideSeventh Annual Report—app.]—This number is seven times as great as that which the Colonization Society has transported in fifteen years![AD]By letting the system of slavery alone, then, and striving to protect it, the Society is encouraging and perpetuating the foreign slave trade!

FOOTNOTES:[Y]'We think the annual increase, as computed by Capt. Stuart, too low by 10 or 15,000. The estimate also of the expense of transportation is much below the actual cost. Besides, there is no provision made for the support of these helpless beings after their arrival in Africa, until they could provide for their own wants. Double the cost of transportation would be required for their subsistence till they could maintain themselves, without making any provision for implements of husbandry, mechanics' tools, &c. &c. without which they would all perish, even without the help of a pestiferous climate. But yet the table shows at one view the utter futility of the whole scheme of African Colonization. Slavery can no more be removed by these means than the waters of the Mississippi can be exhausted by steam engines. And the removal of slavery is the great consummation to which all benevolent efforts for benefitting the African race in this country, should ultimately tend. All schemes that do not promote this end will prove futile, and will end in disappointment. The axe must be laid to the root of the corrupt tree. It is a system that admits of no palliation, no compromise.'—['Herald of Truth,' Philadelphia.][Z]'Every emigrant to Africa is amissionarycarrying with him credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free institutions'!!—[Speech of H. Clay—Tenth Annual Report.]—Why does not Mr Clay increase this band ofmissionaries, by sending out some of his own slaves? Is he consistent?[AA]'As to the morals of the colonists, I consider themmuch better than those of the people of the United States. That is, you may take an equal number of inhabitants from any section of the Union, and you will find more drunkards, more profane swearers and Sabbath breakers, &c., than in Liberia. Indeed I know of no country where things are conducted more quietly and orderly than in this colony; you rarely hear an oath, and as to riots or breaches of the peace, I recollect of but one instance, and that of a trifling nature, that has come under my notice since I assumed the government of the colony. The Sabbath is more strictly observed than I ever saw it in the United States.'—[Letter from J. Mechlin, Jr. Governor of the Colony of Liberia.]'I saw no intemperance, nor did I hear a profane word uttered by any one.' [Letter of Capt. William Abels.]If these statements be a true representation of the moral condition of the colonists; if 'their morals are much better than those of the people of the United States;' let us immediately bring back these expatriatedmissionariesto civilize and reform ourselves; for, according to our own confession, we need their instruction and example as much as any heathen nation. If these 'missionaries,' who, in this country, could 'scarcely be reached in their debasement by the heavenly light;' if these 'most degraded, most abandoned beings on the earth,' have actually risen up to this exalted height of intelligence and purity, in so brief a period after a separation from ourselves, how desperately wicked and corrupt does the fact make our own conduct appear![AB]Of this number, nearly three-fourths were free persons of color. If the Society is anxious to emancipate the slaves, why does it not confine its efforts exclusively to their transportation, seeing so many are offered for that purpose? Doubtless the reply will be—'O, it is important, in the incipient state of the colony, to send free persons of color, because they are more intelligent and virtuous.' Ah! is it so? What! give the preference to those whom it elsewhere brands as 'more corrupt, depraved and abandoned than the slaves can be,' and who 'contribute greatly to thecorruption of the slaves?' 'O!' it may reply, 'a careful selection is made between the virtuous and vicious—none are sent whose character is not reputable.' But what is to become of this choice selection, when it is able (as it hopes to be) to send off even as many as seventy thousand annually?[AC]'The expense of transporting such persons from the United States to the coast of Africa, has been variously estimated. By those who compute it at the lowest rate, the mere expense of this transportation has been estimated at $20 per head. In this estimate, however, is not comprehended the expense of transporting the persons destined for Africa, to the port of their departure from the United States, or the necessary expense of sustaining them, either there or in Africa, for a reasonable time after their first arrival. All these expenses combined, the Committee think they estimate very low, when they compute the amount at $100 per head. It has been estimated by some at double this amount; and if past experience may be relied upon as proving any thing, the official documents formerly furnished to the Senate by the Department of the Navy, show that the expenses attending the transportation of the few captured slaves who have been returned to Africa by the United States, at the expense of this government,far exceeds even the largest estimate. But taking the expense to be only what the Committee have estimated it: Then the sum requisite to transport the whole number of the free colored population of the United States, would exceed twenty-eight millions of dollars; and the expense of transporting a number, equal only to the mere annual increase of this population, would exceed seven hundred thousand dollars per annum. Sums which would impose upon the people of this country, an additional burthen of taxation, greater than this Committee believe they could easily bear; and much greater than ought to be imposed upon them for any such purpose.' * * 'The annual increase of the slave population, at present, is at least 57,000. Now allow the same sum per head for the transportation of these persons, that has been estimated for the transportation in the other similar case; and the sum requisite to defray the expense of the transportation of all the slaves in the United States, would be one hundred and ninety millions of dollars; and that requisite to defray the expense of the transportation of a number only equal to their mere annual increase, would be five millions seven hundred thousand dollars per annum. But to either of these sums must be added the reasonable equivalent, or necessary aid, to be paid by the United States to humane individuals, in order to induce them voluntarily to part with their property. The Committee have no 'data' by which they can measure what this might be. But any sum, however small, will make so great an augmentation of the amount, as almost to baffle calculation, and to exhibit this project at once, as one exceeding, very far, indeed, any revenue which the United States could ever draw from their citizens, even if the object was to increase and multiply, instead of reducing the numbers of the class of productive labor.'—[Mr Tazewell's Report—U. S. Senate, 1828.][AD]The following amusing anecdote is a capital illustration of the folly of those colonizationists, who are endeavoring to suppress the rising tide of our colored population by extracting a few drops annually with their 'mop and pattens.' Dame Partington is clearly outdone by them, in regard to pertinacity of purpose and feebleness of execution. Rev. Sidney Smith, in his speech at the Taunton meeting, (England,) said:'The attempt of the House of Lords to stop the progress of Reform, reminded him of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington, during the great storm at Sidmouth, in 1824. The tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses, and every thing was threatened with destruction. In the midst of the fearful commotion of the elements, Dame Partington, who lived upon the sea beach, was seen at the door of her house, with mop and pattens, trundling her mop and sweeping out the sea water, and vigorously pushing back the Atlantic. The Atlantic was roused, and so was Mrs. Partington; but the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she could do nothing with a tempest.'

[Y]'We think the annual increase, as computed by Capt. Stuart, too low by 10 or 15,000. The estimate also of the expense of transportation is much below the actual cost. Besides, there is no provision made for the support of these helpless beings after their arrival in Africa, until they could provide for their own wants. Double the cost of transportation would be required for their subsistence till they could maintain themselves, without making any provision for implements of husbandry, mechanics' tools, &c. &c. without which they would all perish, even without the help of a pestiferous climate. But yet the table shows at one view the utter futility of the whole scheme of African Colonization. Slavery can no more be removed by these means than the waters of the Mississippi can be exhausted by steam engines. And the removal of slavery is the great consummation to which all benevolent efforts for benefitting the African race in this country, should ultimately tend. All schemes that do not promote this end will prove futile, and will end in disappointment. The axe must be laid to the root of the corrupt tree. It is a system that admits of no palliation, no compromise.'—['Herald of Truth,' Philadelphia.]

[Z]'Every emigrant to Africa is amissionarycarrying with him credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free institutions'!!—[Speech of H. Clay—Tenth Annual Report.]—Why does not Mr Clay increase this band ofmissionaries, by sending out some of his own slaves? Is he consistent?

[AA]'As to the morals of the colonists, I consider themmuch better than those of the people of the United States. That is, you may take an equal number of inhabitants from any section of the Union, and you will find more drunkards, more profane swearers and Sabbath breakers, &c., than in Liberia. Indeed I know of no country where things are conducted more quietly and orderly than in this colony; you rarely hear an oath, and as to riots or breaches of the peace, I recollect of but one instance, and that of a trifling nature, that has come under my notice since I assumed the government of the colony. The Sabbath is more strictly observed than I ever saw it in the United States.'—[Letter from J. Mechlin, Jr. Governor of the Colony of Liberia.]'I saw no intemperance, nor did I hear a profane word uttered by any one.' [Letter of Capt. William Abels.]If these statements be a true representation of the moral condition of the colonists; if 'their morals are much better than those of the people of the United States;' let us immediately bring back these expatriatedmissionariesto civilize and reform ourselves; for, according to our own confession, we need their instruction and example as much as any heathen nation. If these 'missionaries,' who, in this country, could 'scarcely be reached in their debasement by the heavenly light;' if these 'most degraded, most abandoned beings on the earth,' have actually risen up to this exalted height of intelligence and purity, in so brief a period after a separation from ourselves, how desperately wicked and corrupt does the fact make our own conduct appear!

[AA]

'As to the morals of the colonists, I consider themmuch better than those of the people of the United States. That is, you may take an equal number of inhabitants from any section of the Union, and you will find more drunkards, more profane swearers and Sabbath breakers, &c., than in Liberia. Indeed I know of no country where things are conducted more quietly and orderly than in this colony; you rarely hear an oath, and as to riots or breaches of the peace, I recollect of but one instance, and that of a trifling nature, that has come under my notice since I assumed the government of the colony. The Sabbath is more strictly observed than I ever saw it in the United States.'—[Letter from J. Mechlin, Jr. Governor of the Colony of Liberia.]

'I saw no intemperance, nor did I hear a profane word uttered by any one.' [Letter of Capt. William Abels.]

If these statements be a true representation of the moral condition of the colonists; if 'their morals are much better than those of the people of the United States;' let us immediately bring back these expatriatedmissionariesto civilize and reform ourselves; for, according to our own confession, we need their instruction and example as much as any heathen nation. If these 'missionaries,' who, in this country, could 'scarcely be reached in their debasement by the heavenly light;' if these 'most degraded, most abandoned beings on the earth,' have actually risen up to this exalted height of intelligence and purity, in so brief a period after a separation from ourselves, how desperately wicked and corrupt does the fact make our own conduct appear!

[AB]Of this number, nearly three-fourths were free persons of color. If the Society is anxious to emancipate the slaves, why does it not confine its efforts exclusively to their transportation, seeing so many are offered for that purpose? Doubtless the reply will be—'O, it is important, in the incipient state of the colony, to send free persons of color, because they are more intelligent and virtuous.' Ah! is it so? What! give the preference to those whom it elsewhere brands as 'more corrupt, depraved and abandoned than the slaves can be,' and who 'contribute greatly to thecorruption of the slaves?' 'O!' it may reply, 'a careful selection is made between the virtuous and vicious—none are sent whose character is not reputable.' But what is to become of this choice selection, when it is able (as it hopes to be) to send off even as many as seventy thousand annually?

[AC]'The expense of transporting such persons from the United States to the coast of Africa, has been variously estimated. By those who compute it at the lowest rate, the mere expense of this transportation has been estimated at $20 per head. In this estimate, however, is not comprehended the expense of transporting the persons destined for Africa, to the port of their departure from the United States, or the necessary expense of sustaining them, either there or in Africa, for a reasonable time after their first arrival. All these expenses combined, the Committee think they estimate very low, when they compute the amount at $100 per head. It has been estimated by some at double this amount; and if past experience may be relied upon as proving any thing, the official documents formerly furnished to the Senate by the Department of the Navy, show that the expenses attending the transportation of the few captured slaves who have been returned to Africa by the United States, at the expense of this government,far exceeds even the largest estimate. But taking the expense to be only what the Committee have estimated it: Then the sum requisite to transport the whole number of the free colored population of the United States, would exceed twenty-eight millions of dollars; and the expense of transporting a number, equal only to the mere annual increase of this population, would exceed seven hundred thousand dollars per annum. Sums which would impose upon the people of this country, an additional burthen of taxation, greater than this Committee believe they could easily bear; and much greater than ought to be imposed upon them for any such purpose.' * * 'The annual increase of the slave population, at present, is at least 57,000. Now allow the same sum per head for the transportation of these persons, that has been estimated for the transportation in the other similar case; and the sum requisite to defray the expense of the transportation of all the slaves in the United States, would be one hundred and ninety millions of dollars; and that requisite to defray the expense of the transportation of a number only equal to their mere annual increase, would be five millions seven hundred thousand dollars per annum. But to either of these sums must be added the reasonable equivalent, or necessary aid, to be paid by the United States to humane individuals, in order to induce them voluntarily to part with their property. The Committee have no 'data' by which they can measure what this might be. But any sum, however small, will make so great an augmentation of the amount, as almost to baffle calculation, and to exhibit this project at once, as one exceeding, very far, indeed, any revenue which the United States could ever draw from their citizens, even if the object was to increase and multiply, instead of reducing the numbers of the class of productive labor.'—[Mr Tazewell's Report—U. S. Senate, 1828.]

[AD]The following amusing anecdote is a capital illustration of the folly of those colonizationists, who are endeavoring to suppress the rising tide of our colored population by extracting a few drops annually with their 'mop and pattens.' Dame Partington is clearly outdone by them, in regard to pertinacity of purpose and feebleness of execution. Rev. Sidney Smith, in his speech at the Taunton meeting, (England,) said:'The attempt of the House of Lords to stop the progress of Reform, reminded him of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington, during the great storm at Sidmouth, in 1824. The tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses, and every thing was threatened with destruction. In the midst of the fearful commotion of the elements, Dame Partington, who lived upon the sea beach, was seen at the door of her house, with mop and pattens, trundling her mop and sweeping out the sea water, and vigorously pushing back the Atlantic. The Atlantic was roused, and so was Mrs. Partington; but the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she could do nothing with a tempest.'

'The attempt of the House of Lords to stop the progress of Reform, reminded him of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington, during the great storm at Sidmouth, in 1824. The tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses, and every thing was threatened with destruction. In the midst of the fearful commotion of the elements, Dame Partington, who lived upon the sea beach, was seen at the door of her house, with mop and pattens, trundling her mop and sweeping out the sea water, and vigorously pushing back the Atlantic. The Atlantic was roused, and so was Mrs. Partington; but the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she could do nothing with a tempest.'

Ifthe American Colonization Society were indeed actuated by the purest motives and the best feelings toward the objects of its supervision; if it were not based upon injustice, fraud, persecution and incorrigible prejudice; still if its purposes be contrary to the wishes and injurious to the interests of the free people of color, it ought not to receive the countenance of the public. Even the trees of the forest are keenly susceptible to every touch of violence, and seem to deprecate transplantation to a foreign soil. Even birds and animals pine in exile from their native haunts; their local attachments are wonderful; they migrate only to return again at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps there is not a living thing, from the hugest animal down to the minutest animalcule, whose pleasant associations are not circumscribed, or that has not some favorite retreats. This universal preference, this love ofhome, seems to be the element of being,—a constitutional attribute given by the all-wise Creator to bind each separate tribe or community within intelligent and well-defined limits: for, in its absence, order would be banishedfrom the world, collision between the countless orders of creation would be perpetual, and violence would depopulate the world with more than pestilential rapidity.

Shall it be said that beings endowed with high intellectual powers, sustaining the most important relations, created for social enjoyments, and made but a little lower than the angels—shall it be said that their local attachments are less tenacious than those of trees, and birds, and beasts, and insects? I know that the blacks are classed, by some, who scarcely give any evidence of their own humanity but their shape, among the brute creation: but are theybelowthe brutes? or are they more insensible to rude assaults than forest-trees?

'Men,' says an erratic but powerful writer[AE]—'men are like trees: they delight in a rude [and native] soil—they strike their roots downward with a perpetual effort, and heave their proud branches upward in perpetual strife. Are they to be removed?—you must tear up the very earth with their roots, rock and ore and impurity, or they perish. They cannot be translated with safety. Something of their home—a little of their native soil, must cling to them forever, or they die.'

This love of home, of neighborhood, of country, is inherent in the human breast. It accompanies the child from its earliest reminiscence up to old age: it is written upon every tangible and permanent object within the habitual cognizance of the eye—upon stone, and tree, and rivulet—upon the green hill, and the verdant plain, and the opulent valley—upon house, and garden, and steeple-spire—upon the soil, whether it be rough or smooth, sandy or hard, barren or luxuriant.

'Like ivy, where it grows, 'tis seenTo wear an everlasting green.'

The man who does not cherish it is regarded as destitute of sensibility; and to him is applied by common consent the burning rebuke of Sir Walter Scott:

'Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,Who never to himself hath said,This is my own, my native land!Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,As home his footsteps he hath turned,From wandering on a foreign strand!If such there breathe, go, mark him well;For him no Minstrel raptures swell;High though his titles, proud his name,Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;Despite those titles, power, and pelf,The wretch, concentred all in self,Living, shall forfeit fair renown,And, doubly dying, shall go downTo the vile dust, from whence he sprung,Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.'

Whose bosom does not thrill with pleasurable emotion whenever he listens to that truest, sweetest, tenderest effusion,—'Home, sweet home?'

''Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,Which, seek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.Home—home!Sweet, sweet home!There's no place like home!'An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain—O give me my lowly thatched cottage again;The birds singing gaily that came at my call—Give me them, with the peace of mind dearer than all!Home—home!Sweet, sweet home!There's no place like home!'

'An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain—O give me my lowly thatched cottage again;The birds singing gaily that came at my call—Give me them, with the peace of mind dearer than all!Home—home!Sweet, sweet home!There's no place like home!'

No one will understand me to maintain that population should never be thinned by foreign emigration; but only that such an emigration is unnatural. The great mass of a neighborhood or country must necessarily be stable: only fractions are cast off and float away on the tide of adventure. Individual enterprise or estrangement is one thing: the translation of an entire people to an unknown clime, another. The former may be moved by a single impulse—by a love of novelty, or a desire of gain,or a hope of preferment: he leaves no perceptible void in society. The latter can never be expatriated but by some extraordinary calamity, or by the application of intolerable restraints. They must first be rendered broken-hearted or loaded with chains—hope must not merely sicken but die—cord after cord must be sundered—ere they will seek another home. Our pilgrim-fathers were driven out from the mother country by ecclesiastical domination: to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, was the only cause of their exile. Had they been permitted to enjoy this sacred right,—no matter how great were their temporal privations, or their hopes of physical enjoyments,—they would not have perilled their lives on the stormy deep, to obtain an asylum in this western hemisphere.

It may be said, in reply to the foregoing remarks upon the love of home and of country, that the people of color cannot cherish this abhorrence of migration, because here they have no 'continuing city,' and are not recognised as fellow-countrymen. InPart I., I have shown, by copious extracts, that colonizationists artfully represent them as aliens and foreigners, wanderers from Africa—destitute of thatamor patriæ, which is the bond of union—seditious—without alliances—irresponsible—unambitious—cherishing no attachment to the soil—feeling no interest in our national prosperity—ready for any adventure—eager to absent themselves from the land—malignant in their feelings towards society—incapable of local preference—content to remain in ignorance and degradation—&c. &c. &c.

Every such representation is a libel, as I shall show in subsequent pages. The language of the people of color is,—'This is our country: here were we born—here will we live and die—we know of no other place that we can call our true and appropriate home—here are our earliest and most pleasant associations—we are freemen, we are brethren, we are countrymen and fellow-citizens—we are not for insurrection, but for peace and equality.' This is not the language of sedition or alienated affection. Theiramor patriæis robust and deathless: like the oak, tempests do but strengthen its roots and confer victoryupon it. Even the soil on which the unhappy slave toils and bleeds, is to him consecrated earth.

African colonization is directly and irreconcileably opposed to the wishes of our colored population as a body. Their desires ought to be tenderly regarded. In all my intercourse with them in various towns and cities, I have never seen one of their number who was friendly to this scheme—and I have not been backward in canvassing their opinions on this subject. They are as unanimously opposed to a removal to Africa, as the Cherokees from the council-fires and graves of their fathers. It is remarkable, too, that they are as united in their respect and esteem for the republic of Hayti. Butthis is their country—they are resolute against every migratory plot, and willing to rely on the justice of the nation for an ultimate restoration to all their lost rights and privileges. What is the fact? Through the instrumentality ofBenjamin Lundy,[AF]the distinguished and veteran champion of emancipation, a great highway has been opened to the Haytien republic, over which our colored population may traveltoll free, and at the end of their brief journey be the free occupants of the soil, and meet such a reception as was never yet given to any sojourners in any country, since the departure of Israel into Egypt. One would think, that, with such inducements and under such circumstances, this broad thoroughfare would present a most animating spectacle; that the bustle and roar of a journeying multitude would fall upon the ear like the strife of the ocean, or the distant thunder of the retiring storm; and that the song of the oppressor and the oppressed, a song of deliverance to each, would go up to heaven, till its echoes were seemingly the responses of angels and justified spirits. But it is not so. Only here and there a traveller is seen to enter upon the road—there is no noise of preparation or departure; but a silence, deeper than the breathlessness of midnight, rests upon our land—not a shout of joy is heard throughout our borders!

How shall we account for this amazing apathy but on the ground that our colored population are unwilling to leave their native homes, no matter how strong soever are the inducements held out to them abroad?

If it be said that they are not compelled to emigrate against their wishes—I answer, it is true that directphysical forceis not applied; but why are they induced to remove? Is it because they instinctively prefer Africa to their native country? Do they actuallycourtthe perils of the sea,—the hostilities of a savage tribe,—the sickening influences of an African climate? Or are they not peremptorily assured that they never can,and never shall, enjoy their rights and privileges at home—and thus absolutely compelled to leave all that is dear behind, and to seek a shelter in a strange land—a land of darkness and cruelty, of barbarism and wo?

The free people of color, and even the slaves, have on numerous occasions given ocular demonstration of their attachment to this country. Large numbers of them were distinguished for their patient endurance, their ardent devotion, and their valorous conduct during our revolutionary struggle. In the last war, they signalized themselves in a manner which extorted the applause even of their calumniators—of many who are doubtless at the present day representing them as seditious and inimical to the prosperity of the country. I have before me a Proclamation in the French language, issued by General Andrew Jackson, of which the following is a translation:

'Proclamation to the Free People of Color.'Soldiers!—When on the banks of the Mobile, I called you to take up arms, inviting you to partake the perils and glory of your white fellow citizens,I expected much from you; for I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable to an invading enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could endure hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign.I knew well how you loved yourNATIVEcountry, and that you had, as well as ourselves, to defend what man holds most dear—his parents, relations, wife, children and property.You have done more than I expected.In addition to the previous qualities I before knew you to possess, I found, moreover, among youa noble enthusiasmwhich leads to the performance of great things.'Soldiers!—The President of the United States shall hear how praiseworthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the Representatives of the American people will, I doubt not, give you the praise your exploits entitle you to.Your General anticipates them in applauding your noble ardor.'The enemy approaches; his vessels cover our lakes; our brave citizens are united, and all contention has ceased among them. Their only dispute is, who shall win the prize of valor, or who the most glory, its noblest reward.'By order.'THOMAS BUTLER,Aid de Camp.'

'Proclamation to the Free People of Color.

'Soldiers!—When on the banks of the Mobile, I called you to take up arms, inviting you to partake the perils and glory of your white fellow citizens,I expected much from you; for I was not ignorant that you possessed qualities most formidable to an invading enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could endure hunger and thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign.I knew well how you loved yourNATIVEcountry, and that you had, as well as ourselves, to defend what man holds most dear—his parents, relations, wife, children and property.You have done more than I expected.In addition to the previous qualities I before knew you to possess, I found, moreover, among youa noble enthusiasmwhich leads to the performance of great things.

'Soldiers!—The President of the United States shall hear how praiseworthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the Representatives of the American people will, I doubt not, give you the praise your exploits entitle you to.Your General anticipates them in applauding your noble ardor.

'The enemy approaches; his vessels cover our lakes; our brave citizens are united, and all contention has ceased among them. Their only dispute is, who shall win the prize of valor, or who the most glory, its noblest reward.

'By order.

'THOMAS BUTLER,Aid de Camp.'

In commenting upon the above Proclamation, an intelligent writer in the New-Orleans 'Liberalist' of March 15, 1830, very expressively remarks:—'Those who served in the memorable campaign of 1814 will know if the hero of the west was guilty of exaggeration. Just as fatal as was every glance of his keen eye to the English lines, so is every word of this Proclamation a killing thunderbolt to the detractors of this portion of our fellow beings, now so inhumanly persecuted.' Yes—when peril rears its crest, and invasion threatens our shores, then prejudice is forgotten and the tongue of detraction is still—then the people of color are no longer brutes or a race between men and monkeys, no longer turbulent or useless, no longer aliens and wanderers from Africa—but they are complimented as intelligent, patriotic citizens from whom much is expected, and who have property, home and country at stake! Ay, and richly do they merit this compliment.

A respectable colored gentleman in the city of New-York, referring to this famous Proclamation, makes the following brief comment: 'When we could be of any use to the army, we possessed all the cardinal virtues; but now that time has passed, we forsooth are the most miserable, worthless beings the Lord in his wise judgment ever sent to curse the rulers of this troublesome world! I feel an anathema rising from my heart, but I have suppressed it.'

How black is the ingratitude, how pitiful the hypocrisy, manifested in our conduct as a people, toward our colored population! Every cheek should wear the blush of shame—every head be bowed in self-abasement!

From the organization of the American Colonization Society, down to the present time, the free people of color have publicly and repeatedly expressed their opposition to it. They indignantly reject every overture for their expatriation. It has been industriously circulated by the advocates of colonization, that I have caused this hostility to the African scheme in the bosoms of the blacks; and that, until the Liberator was established, they were friendly to it. This story is founded upon sheer ignorance. It is my solemn conviction that I have not proselyted a dozen individuals; for the very conclusive reason that no conversions were necessary. Their sentiments were familiar to me long before they knew my own. My opponents abundantly overrate my influence, in acknowledging that I have overthrown, in a single year, the concentrated energies of the mightiest men in the land, and the perpetual labors of fifteen years. They shall not make me vain. Such a concession affords substantial evidence of perverted strength and misapplied exertion.

If the people of color were instantly to signify their willingness to emigrate, my hostility to the American Colonization Society would scarcely abate one jot: for their assent could never justify the principles and doctrines propagated by the Society. Those principles and doctrines have been shown, I trust, to be corrupt, selfish, proscriptive, opposed to the genius of republicanism and to the spirit of christianity.

The first public demonstration of hostility to the colonization scheme was made in 1817, by the free colored inhabitants of Richmond, Virginia. The proceedings of their meeting, copies of which were printed for distribution, I have accidentally mislaid. To the sentiments of the people of color, as expressed in the following pages, I cannot too earnestly solicit the serious attention of every good man and true philanthropist. After such an exhibition, persistance in expelling this portion of our population from our shores must be productive of aggravated guilt and the most dreadful collisions.

Philadelphia, January, 1817.

At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel church, to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the contemplated measure, that is to exile us from the land of our nativity; James Forten was called to the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed secretary. The intent of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, the following resolutions were adopted, without one dissenting voice.

Whereas our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measure or system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles, which have been the boast of this republic.

Resolved, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of color, by the promoters of this measure, 'that they are a dangerous and useless part of the community,' when in the state of disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they ceased to remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of their country.

Resolved, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population in this country; they are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied advantages for a season.

Resolved, That without arts, without science, without a proper knowledge of government, to cast into the savage wilds of Africa the free people of color, seems to us the circuitous route through which they must return to perpetual bondage.

Resolved, That having the strongest confidence in the justice of God, and philanthropy of the free states, we cheerfully submit our destinies to the guidance of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall, without his special providence.

Resolved, That a committee of eleven persons be appointed to open a correspondence with the honorable Joseph Hopkinson, member of Congress from this city, and likewise to inform him of the sentiments of this meeting, and that the following named persons constitute the committee, and that they have power to call a general meeting, when they in their judgment may deem it proper.

Rev. Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, Robert Douglass, Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gorden, James Johnson, Quamoney Clarkson, John Summersett, Randall Shepherd.

JAMES FORTEN, Chairman.

Russell Parrott, Secretary.

At a numerous meeting of the free people of color of the city and county of Philadelphia, held in pursuance of public notice, at the school house in Green's court, on the evening of August 10th, for the purpose of taking into consideration the plan of colonizing the free people of color of the United States, on the coast of Africa, James Forten was appointed chairman, and Russell Parrott, secretary.

Resolved unanimously, That the following address, signed on behalf of the meeting, by the Chairman and Secretary, be published and circulated.

The free people of color, assembled together, under circumstances of deep interest to their happiness and welfare, humbly and respectfully lay before you this expression of their feelings and apprehensions.

Relieved from the miseries of slavery, many of us by your aid, possessing the benefits which industry and integrity in this prosperous country assure to all its inhabitants, enjoying the rich blessings of religion, by opportunities of worshipping the only true God, under the light of Christianity, each of us according to his understanding; and having afforded to us and to our children the means of education and improvement; we have no wish to separate from our present homes, for any purpose whatever. Contented with our present situation and condition, we are not desirous of increasing their prosperity but by honest efforts, and by the use of those opportunities for their improvement, which the constitution and laws allow to all. It is therefore with painful solicitude, and sorrowing regret, we have seen a plan for colonizing the free people of color of the United States on the coast of Africa, brought forward under the auspices and sanction of gentlemen whose names give value to all they recommend, and who certainly are among the wisest, the best, and the most benevolent of men, in this great nation.

If the plan of colonizing is intended for our benefit; and those who now promote it, will never seek our injury; we humbly and respectfully urge, that it is not asked for by us;nor will it be required by any circumstances, in our present or future condition; as long as we shall be permitted to share the protection of the excellent laws and just government which we now enjoy, in common with every individual of the community.

We, therefore, a portion of those who are the objects of this plan, and among those whose happiness, with that of others of our color, it is intended to promote; with humble and grateful acknowledgments to those who have devised it, renounce and disclaim every connexion with it; and respectfully but firmly declare our determination not to participate in any part of it.

If this plan of colonization now proposed, is intended to provide a refuge and a dwelling for a portion of our brethren, who are now held in slavery in the south, we have other and stronger objections to it, and we entreat your consideration of them.

The ultimate and final abolition of slavery in the United States, by the operation of various causes, is, under the guidance and protection of a just God, progressing. Every year witnesses the release of numbers of the victims of oppression, and affords new and safe assurances that the freedom of all will be in the end accomplished. As they are thus by degrees relieved from bondage, our brothers have opportunities for instruction and improvement; and thus they become in some measure fitted for their liberty. Every year, many of us have restored to us by the gradual, but certain march of the cause of abolition—parents, from whom we have been long separated—wives and children whom we had left in servitude—and brothers, in blood as well as in early sufferings, from whom we had been long parted.

But if the emancipation of our kindred shall, when the plan of colonization shall go into effect, be attended with transportation to a distant land, and shall be granted on no other condition; the consolation for our past sufferings and of those of our color who are in slavery, which have hitherto been, and under the present situation of things would continue to be, afforded to us and to them, will cease for ever. The cords, which now connect them with us, will be stretched by the distance to which their ends will be carried, until they break; and all the sources of happiness, which affection and connexion and blood bestow, will be ours and theirs no more.

Nor do we view the colonization of those who may become emancipated by its operation among our southern brethren, as capable of producing their happiness. Unprepared by education, and a knowledge of the truths of our blessed religion, for their new situation, those who will thus become colonists will themselves be surrounded by every suffering which can afflict the members of the human family.

Without arts, without habits of industry, and unaccustomed to provide by their own exertions and foresight for their wants, the colony will soon become the abode of every vice, and the home of every misery. Soon will the light of Christianity, which now dawns among that portion of our species, be shut out by the clouds of ignorance, and their day of life be closed, without the illuminations of the gospel.

To those of our brothers, who shall be left behind, there will be assured perpetual slavery and augmented sufferings. Diminished in numbers, the slave population of the southern states, which by its magnitude alarms its proprietors, will be easily secured. Those among their bondmen, who feel that they should be free, by rights which all mankind have from God and from nature, and who thus may become dangerous to the quiet of their masters, will be sent to the colony; and the tame and submissive will be retained, and subjected to increased rigor. Year after year will witness these means to assure safety and submission among their slaves, and the southern masters will colonize only those whom it may be dangerous to keep among them. The bondage of a large portion of our brothers will thus be rendered perpetual.

Should the anticipations of misery and want among the colonists, which with great deference we have submitted to your better judgment, be realized; to emancipate and transport to Africa will be held forth by slaveholders as the worst and heaviest of punishments; and they will be threatened and successfully used to enforce increased submission to their wishes, and subjection to their commands.

Nor ought the sufferings and sorrows, which must be produced by an exercise of the right to transport and colonize such only of their slaves as may be selected by the slaveholders, escape the attention and consideration of those whom with all humility we now address. Parents will be torn from their children—husbands from their wives—brothers from brothers—and all the heart-rending agonies which were endured by our forefathers when they were dragged into bondage from Africa, will be again renewed, and with increased anguish. The shores of America will, like the sands of Africa, be watered by the tears of those who will be left behind. Those who shall be carried away will roam childless, widowed, and alone, over the burning plains of Guinea.

Disclaiming, as we emphatically do, a wish or desire to interpose our opinions and feelings between all plans of colonization, and the judgment of those whose wisdom as far exceeds ours as their situations are exalted above ours;we humbly, respectfully, and fervently intreat and beseech your disapprobation of the plan of colonization now offered by 'the American Society for colonizing the free people of color of the United States.'—Here, in the city of Philadelphia, where the voice of the suffering sons of Africa was first heard; where was first commenced the work of abolition, on which heaven has smiled, for it could have had success only from the Great Maker; let not a purpose be assisted which will stay the cause of the entire abolition of slavery in the United States, and which may defeat it altogether; which proffers to those who do not ask for them what it calls benefits, but which they consider injuries; and which must insure to the multitudes whose prayers can only reach you through us,MISERY,sufferings, and perpetual slavery.

JAMES FORTEN, Chairman.

Russell Parrott, Secretary.

New-York, January, 1831.

At a public meeting of the colored citizens of New-York, held at Boyer Lodge Room, on Tuesday evening, the 25th ult. Mr Samuel Ennals was called to the chair, and Mr Philip Bell appointed secretary. The chairman stated that the object of the meeting was to take into consideration the proceedings of an association, under the title of the 'New-York Colonization Society.' An address to the 'Citizens of New-York' relative to that Society, was read from the Commercial Advertiser of the 8th ult.; whereupon the following resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Whereas a number of gentlemen in this city, of mistaken views with respect to the wishes and welfare of the people of this state, on the subject of African colonization, and in pursuance of such mistaken views are using every exertion to form 'African Colonization Societies;' and whereas a public document, purporting to be an address to the people of the 'city of New-York' on this subject, contains opinions and assertions regarding the people of color as unfounded as they are unjust and derogatory to them—Therefore

Resolved, That this meeting do most solemnly protest against the said address, as containing sentiments with respect to the people of color, unjust, illiberal and unfounded; tending to excite the prejudice of the community.

Resolved, That in our opinion the sentiments put forth in theresolution at the formation of the 'Colonization Society of the city of New-York,' are such as to impress this community with the belief that the colored population are a growing evil, immoral, and destitute of religious principles.

Resolved, That we view the resolution calling on the worshippers of Christ to assist in the unholy crusade against the colored population of this country, as totally at variance with true Christian principles.

Resolved, That we claimthis country, the place of our birth, and not Africa, as our mother country, and all attempts to send us to Africa we consider as gratuitous and uncalled for.

Resolved, That a committee of three persons be appointed to draft an address to the people of New-York, and to be published, together with these resolutions, and the same be signed by the Chairman and Secretary.

SAMUEL ENNALS, Chairman.

Philip Bell, Secretary.

In protesting against the sentiments and declarations to our prejudice with which the above noticed 'address' and 'resolutions' abound, we are well aware of the power and influence we have attempted to resist. The gentlemen named as officers of the 'Colonization Society' are men of high standing, their dictum is law in morals with our community; but we who feel the effect of their proscription, indulge the hope of an impartial hearing.

We believe many of those gentlemen are our friends, and we hope they all mean well; we care not how many Colonization Societies they form to send slaves from the south to a place where they may enjoy freedom; and if they can 'drain the ocean with a bucket,' may send 'with their own consent,' the increasing free colored population: but we solemnly protest against that Christian philanthropy which in acknowledging our wrongs commits a greater by vilifying us. The conscientious man would not kill the animal, but cried 'mad dog,' and the rabble despatched him. These gentlemen acknowledge the anomaly of those political ethics which make a distinction between man and man, when their foundation is, 'that all men are born equal,' and possess in common 'unalienable rights;' and to justify the withholding of these 'rights' would proclaim to foreigners that we are 'a distinct and inferior race,' without religion or morals, and implying that our condition cannot be improved here because there exists an unconquerable prejudice in the whites towards us. We absolutely deny these positions,and we call upon the learned author of the 'address' for the indications of distinction between us and other men. There are differentcolorsamong all species of animated creation. A difference of color is not a difference of species. Our structure and organization are the same, and not distinct from other men; and in what respects are we inferior? Our political condition we admit renders us less respectable, but does it prove us an inferior part of the human family? Inferior indeed we are as to the means which we possess of becoming wealthy and learned men; and it would argue well for the cause of justice, humanity and true religion, if the reverend gentlemen whose names are found at the bottom of President Duer's address, instead of showing their benevolence by laboring to move us some four thousand miles off, were to engage actively in the furtherance of plans for the improvement of our moral and political condition in the country of our birth. It is too late now to brand with inferiority any one of the races of mankind. We ask for proof. Time was when it was thought impossible to civilize the red man. Yet our own country presents a practical refutation of the vain assertion in the flourishing condition of the Cherokees, among whom intelligence and refinement are seen in somewhat fairer proportions than are exhibited by some of their white neighbors. In the language of a writer of expanded views and truly noble sentiments, 'the blacks must be regarded as the real authors of most of the arts and sciences which give the whites at present the advantage over them. While Greece and Rome were yet barbarous, we find the light of learning and improvement emanating from this, by supposition, degraded and accursed continent of Africa, out of the midst of this very woolly-haired, flat-nosed, thick lipped, and coal black race, which some persons are tempted to station at a pretty low intermediate point between men and monkeys.'[AG]It is needless to dwell on this topic; and we say with the same writer, the blacks had a long and glorious day: and after what they have been and done, it argues not so much a mistaken theory, as sheer ignorance of the most notorious historical facts, to pretend that they are naturally inferior to the whites.

We earnestly desire that this address may not be misunderstood. We have no objection in the abstract to the Colonization Society; but we do protest against the means which that Society uses to effect its purposes. It is evident, to any impartial observer, that the natural tendency of all their speeches, reports, sermons, &c. is to widen the breach between us andthe whites, and give to prejudice a tenfold vigor. It has produced a mistaken sentiment toward us. Africa is considered the home of those who have never seen its shores. The poor ignorant slave, who, in all probability, has never heard the name of Christ, by the colonization process is suddenly transformed into a 'missionary,' to instruct in the principles of Christianity and the arts of civilized life. The Friends have been the last to aid the system pursued by the Society's advocates. And we say (for we feel it) that in proportion as they become colonizationists, they become less active and less friendly to our welfare as citizens of the United States.

There does exist in the United States a prejudice against us; but is it unconquerable? Is it not in the power of these gentlemen to subdue it? If their object is to benefit us, why not better our condition here? What keeps us down but the want of wealth? Why do we not accumulate wealth? Simply because we are not encouraged. If we wish to give our boys a classical education, they are refused admission into your colleges. If we consume our means in giving them a mercantile education, you will not employ them as clerks; if they are taught navigation, you will not employ them as captains. If we make them mechanics, you will not encourage them, nor will white mechanics work in the same shop with them. And with all these disabilities, like a mill-stone about us, because we cannot point to our statesmen, bankers and lawyers, we are called an inferior race. Look at the glaring injustice towards us. (A foreigner, before he knows one of our streets from another, mounts a cart under the license of another man, or is a public porter, a lamp-lighter, a watchman, &c.)

These gentlemen know but little of a large portion of the colored population of this city. Their opinions are formed from the unfortunate portion of our people whose characters are scrutinized by them as judges of courts. Their patrician principles prevent an intercourse with men in the middle walks of life, among whom a large portion of our people may be classed. We ask them to visit the dwellings of the respectable part of our people, and we are satisfied that they will discover more civilization and refinement than will be found among the same number of white families of an equal standing.

Finally, we hope that those who have so eloquently pleaded the cause of the Indian, will at least endeavor to preserve consistency in their conduct. They put no faith in Georgia, although she declares that the Indians shall not be removed but 'with their own consent.' Can they blame us if we attach the same credit to the declaration that they mean to colonize us'only with our consent?' They cannot indeed use force; that is out of the question. But they harp so much on 'inferiority,' 'prejudice,' 'distinction,' and what not, that there will no alternative be left us but to fall in with their plans. We are content to abide where we are. We do not believe that things will always continue the same. The time must come when the declaration of independence will be felt in the heart as well as uttered from the mouth, and when the rights of all shall be properly acknowledged and appreciated. God hasten that time. This is our home, and this our country. Beneath its sod lie the bones of our fathers: for it some of them fought, bled, and died. Here we were born, and here we will die.

Boston, March 12, 1831.

Pursuant to public notice, a meeting was held by the colored citizens of Boston, February 15th, at their school-house, for the purpose of expressing their sentiments in a remonstrance against the doings of the State Colonization Society, Feb. 10th. It was called to order by Mr J. G. Barbadoes. Mr Robert Roberts was elected chairman, and Mr James G. Barbadoes secretary. A prayer was then offered up to the throne of grace, by the Rev. Mr Snowden. The chairman having explained the object of the meeting, sundry resolutions were offered by Mr Barbadoes, and fairly discussed. On motion, a committee of five was chosen to amend the resolutions, and to draft an address to certain white citizens who had formed a State Society auxiliary to the American Colonization Society, and to the enlightened public. John T. Hilton, James G. Barbadoes, Rev. Hosea Easton, Thomas Dalton and Thomas Cole were placed on the committee.

The committee, to whom was referred the subject of an attempt, by certain white citizens, to establish in this State a Society auxiliary to the American Colonization Society, whose supposed object was the removal of the free colored population to western Africa, have with diligence sought for and obtained every fact within their reach, relative to what was enjoined upon them by the respectable body by whom they were delegated; and now respectfully

Report:

That they have attended to the duty with which they were charged, with all the wisdom, prudence and fidelity which theypossessed, and which the merits of the case required. They therefore submit to the consideration of the meeting their several conclusions on the subject.

The duty of your committee seemed to be divided into three general inquiries:—1st. To ascertain whether the Society above named was truly established in this metropolis. 2d. By whom it was established, and for what purpose. 3d. If established for the purpose entertained by the free colored population, what method should be adopted in regard to expressing their disapprobation thereto.

As to the first inquiry, your committee can state, that every doubt is now removed respecting the formation of such a Society, the proceedings of the meeting being published, together with the names of the officers.

On the second inquiry, your committee refer you to the 2d Article of the Constitution of said Society, (published in the Boston Courier of Feb. 16, 1831,) which reads thus:

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