The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thoughts on African Colonization, by
William Lloyd Garrison
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Title: Thoughts on African Colonization
Author: William Lloyd Garrison
Release Date: February 4, 2010 [EBook #31178]
Language: English
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THOUGHTS ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION
Transcriber's Notes:
This eBook is based on a 1968 reprint by Arno Press, New York, of the
original edition, published in 1832 by Garrison and Knapp, Boston. The
Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber.
Inconsistent use of "Mr." and "Mr"; use of variable numbers of asterisks
as ellipses; irregular and archaic spelling other than noted below;
inconsistent capitalization (especially Christian vs. christian) and
hyphenation, are as per the original.
2 blank lines between sequential block quotes indicate a new quote; 1
blank line indicates a new paragraph in the same quote; this is similar
to the typesetting of the original.
Footnotes have been re-indexed sequentially, using letters where symbols
were used and numbers where numbers were used in the original, and
moved to the end of each section to preserve the flow of the text.
Minor punctuation errors, in particular inconsistent use of quotation
marks, have been corrected without note. The following typographical
errors have been corrected:
Part I.
P. 25 "... was held, at which King George, ..." (had "Kings").
P. 36 "... Lander, travellers in Africa, represent ..." (had "Afria").
P. 48 "... operations have been confined to ..." (had "confied").
P. 88 "... superintendence of any government ..." (had "goverment").
P. 89 "... such a measure, to point ..." (had "a a").
P. 97 "... rid ourselves of a large party ..." (had "lage").
Footnote [P] "... the authority which compels ..." (had "which which").
P. 126 "... country, of an anomalous race ..." (had "amomalous").
P. 127 "... transportation of the manumitted ..." (had "transportion").
P. 148 "... that a greater benefit may be ..." (had "may may").
Part II.
P. 72 "... a state far to the West ..." (had "far to far").
P. 72 "... calculated to impress upon ..." (had "calulated").
Table of Contents
PREFACE xix
PART I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1
SECTION I. 39
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS PLEDGED NOT TO OPPOSE THE
SYSTEM OF SLAVERY.
SECTION II. 61
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY APOLOGISES FOR SLAVERY AND
SLAVEHOLDERS.
SECTION III. 68
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY RECOGNISES SLAVES AS PROPERTY.
SECTION IV. 74
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY INCREASES THE VALUE OF SLAVES.
SECTION V. 78
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE ENEMY OF IMMEDIATE
ABOLITION.
SECTION VI. 95
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS NOURISHED BY FEAR AND
SELFISHNESS.
SECTION VII. 111
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY AIMS AT THE UTTER EXPULSION OF
THE BLACKS.
SECTION VIII. 124
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE DISPARAGER OF THE FREE
BLACKS.
SECTION IX. 134
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DENIES THE POSSIBILITY OF
ELEVATING THE BLACKS IN THIS COUNTRY.
SECTION X. 151
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DECEIVES AND MISLEADS THE
NATION.
PART II.
SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR. 1
THOUGHTS
ON
AFRICAN COLONIZATION
[Illustration: SECTION OF A SLAVE SHIP. _From Walsh's Notes of Brazil._]
PREFACE.
I dedicate this work to my countrymen, in whose intelligence,
magnanimity and humanity I place the utmost reliance. Although they have
long suffered themselves to be swayed by a prejudice as unmanly as it is
wicked, and have departed widely from the golden rule of the gospel, in
their treatment of the people of color, to suppose that they will always
be the despisers and persecutors of this unfortunate class is, in my
opinion, to libel their character. A change in their feelings and
sentiments is already visible--a change which promises, ere long, to
redeem their character from the bloody stains which slavery has cast
upon it, and to release the prisoner from his chains. May they be
ashamed to persist in a mean and thievish course of conduct, and afraid
to quarrel with the workmanship of God! May a righteous indignation be
kindled in their breasts against a combination which is holding them up,
for the scorn and contempt of other nations, as incorrigible oppressors,
whom neither self-respect, nor the opinions of mankind, nor the fear of
God, can bring to repentance! Their duty is plain, and it may easily be
done. Slavery must be overthrown either by their own moral strength, or
by the physical strength of the slaves. Let them imitate the example of
the people of _Great Britain_, by seeking the immediate overthrow of the
horrid system. Let a National Anti-Slavery Society be immediately
organized, the object of which shall be, to quicken and consolidate the
moral influence of the nation, so that Congress and the State
Legislatures may be burdened with petitions for the removal of the
evil--to scatter tracts, like rain-drops, over the land, on the subject
of slavery--to employ active and eloquent agents to plead the cause
incessantly, and to form auxiliary societies--to encourage planters to
cultivate their lands by freemen, by offering large premiums; to promote
education and the mechanical arts among the free people of color, and to
recover their lost rights. Religious professors, of all denominations,
must bear unqualified testimony against slavery. They must not support,
they must not palliate it. No slaveholder ought to be embraced within
the pale of a christian church; consequently, the churches must be
purified 'as by fire.' Slavery in the District of Columbia is sustained
in our national capacity: it ought, therefore, to be prostrated at a
blow. The clause in the Constitution should be erased, which tolerates,
greatly to the detriment and injustice of the non-slaveholding States, a
slave representation in Congress. Why should property be represented at
the impoverished south, and not at the opulent north?
To impair the force of this exposition, the ardent advocates of the
Colonization Society will undoubtedly attempt to evade the ground of
controversy, and lead uncautious minds astray in a labyrinth of
sophistry. But the question is not, whether the climate of Africa is
salubrious, nor whether the mortality among the emigrants has been
excessive, nor whether the colony is in a prosperous condition, nor
whether the transportation of our whole colored population can be
effected in thirty years or three centuries, nor whether any slaves have
been emancipated on condition of banishment; but whether the doctrines
and principles of the Society accord with the doctrines and principles
of the gospel, whether slaveholders are the just proprietors of their
slaves, whether it is not the sacred duty of the nation to abolish the
system of slavery now, and to recognise the people of color as brethren
and countrymen who have been unjustly treated and covered with unmerited
shame. _This is the question--and the only question._
With such a mass of evidence before them, of the pernicious, cruel and
delusive character of the American Colonization Society, I leave the
patriot, the philanthropist and the christian to judge of the fitness of
the following inflated and presumptuous assertions of its
advocates:--'The plan is of heavenly origin, against which the gates of
hell shall never prevail'--'a circle of philanthropy, every segment of
which tells and testifies to the beneficence of the whole'--'addressing
its claims alike to the patriot, and the christian, it being
emphatically the cause of liberty, of humanity, of religion'[A]--'so
full of benevolence and the hallowed impulses of Heaven's own mercy,
that one might, with the propriety of truth, compare its radiant
influences to a rainbow, insufferably bright, spanning the sombre clouds
of human wrong, that have accumulated on the horizon of our country's
prosperity, and beating back, with calm and heavenly power, the
blackening storm that always threatens, in growling thunders, a heavy
retribution'[B]--'that citizen of the United States who lifts a finger
to retard this institution, nay, that man who does not use his
persevering efforts to promote its benevolent object, fails, in our
opinion, to discharge his duty to his God and his
country'[C][1]--'nothing but a distinct knowledge and a calm
consideration of the facts in the case, is wanting to make every man of
common intelligence, common patriotism, and common humanity, the earnest
friend of the Colonization Society'!![D]
There is one important consideration, which, owing to the contractedness
of my limits, I have omitted to enforce in this work. It is this: the
serious injury which our interests must inevitably suffer by the removal
of our colored population. Their labor is indispensably necessary and
extremely valuable. By whom shall the plantations at the south be
cultivated but by them? It is universally conceded that they can resist
the intensity of a southern sun, and endure the fatigues attendant on
the cultivation of rice, cotton, tobacco and sugar-cane, better than
white laborers: at least, their bodies are now inured to this
employment. I do not believe that any equivalent would induce the
planters to part with their services, or white laborers to occupy their
places. In the great cities, and in various parts of the southern
States, free persons of color constitute a laborious and useful class.
In a pecuniary point of view, the banishment of one-sixth of our
population,--of those whom we specially need,--would be an act of
suicide. The veriest smatterer in political economy cannot but perceive
the ruinous tendency of such a measure.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] African Repository.
[B] Rev. Mr Maffit's 'Plea for Africa.'
[C] Western Luminary.
[D] Christian Spectator.
[1] The clerical gentleman who presumes to utter this opinion is the
same who has also the hardihood to assert that 'many of the best
citizens of our land are holders of slaves, and hold them _in strict
accordance with the principles of humanity and justice_'!!
THOUGHTS ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
PART I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
In attacking the system of slavery, I clearly foresaw all that has
happened to me. I knew, at the commencement, that my motives would be
impeached, my warnings ridiculed, my person persecuted, my sanity
doubted, my life jeoparded: but the clank of the prisoner's chains broke
upon my ear--it entered deeply into my soul--I looked up to Heaven for
strength to sustain me in the perilous work of emancipation--and my
resolution was taken.
In opposing the American Colonization Society, I have also counted the
cost, and as clearly foreseen the formidable opposition which will be
arrayed against me. Many of the clergy are enlisted in its support:
their influence is powerful. Men of wealth and elevated station are
among its contributors: wealth and station are almost omnipotent. The
press has been seduced into its support: the press is a potent engine.
Moreover, the Society is artfully based upon and defended by _popular
prejudice_: it takes advantage of wicked and preposterous opinions, and
hence its success. These things grieve, they cannot deter me. 'Truth is
mighty, and will prevail.' It is able to make falsehood blush, and tear
from hypocrisy its mask, and annihilate prejudice, and overthrow
persecution, and break every fetter.
I am constrained to declare, with the utmost sincerity, that I look upon
the colonization scheme as inadequate in its design, injurious in its
operation, and contrary to sound principle; and the more scrupulously I
examine its pretensions, the stronger is my conviction of its
sinfulness. Nay, were Jehovah to speak in an audible voice from his holy
habitation, I am persuaded that his language would be, 'Who hath
required this at your hands?'
It consoles me to believe that no man, who knows me personally or by
reputation, will suspect the honesty of my skepticism. If I were
politic, and intent only on my own preferment or pecuniary interest, I
should swim with the strong tide of public sentiment instead of
breasting its powerful influence. The hazard is too great, the labor too
burdensome, the remuneration too uncertain, the contest too unequal, to
induce a selfish adventurer to assail a combination so formidable.
Disinterested opposition and sincere conviction, however, are not
conclusive proofs of individual rectitude; for a man may very honestly
do mischief, and not be aware of his error. Indeed, it is in this light
I view many of the friends of African colonization. I concede to them
benevolence of purpose and expansiveness of heart; but in my opinion,
they are laboring under the same delusion as that which swayed Saul of
Tarsus--persecuting the blacks even unto a strange country, and verily
believing that they are doing God service. I blame them, nevertheless,
for taking this mighty scheme upon trust; for not perceiving and
rejecting the monstrous doctrines avowed by the master spirits in the
crusade; and for feeling so indifferent to the moral, political and
social advancement of the free people of color in this their only
legitimate home.
In the progress of this discussion I shall have occasion to use very
plain, and sometimes very severe language. This would be an unpleasant
task, did not duty imperiously demand its application. To give offence I
am loath, but more to hide or modify the truth. I shall deal with the
Society in its collective form--as one body--and not with individuals.
While I shall be necessitated to marshal individual opinions in review,
I protest, _ab origine_, against the supposition that indiscriminate
censure is intended, or that every friend of the Society cherishes
similar views. He to whom my reprehension does not apply, will not
receive it. It is obviously impossible, in attacking a numerous and
multiform combination, to exhibit private dissimilarities, or in every
instance to discriminate between the various shades of opinion. It is
sufficient that exceptions are made. My warfare is against the AMERICAN
COLONIZATION SOCIETY. If I shall identify its general, preponderating
and clearly developed traits, it must stand or fall as they shall prove
benevolent or selfish.
I bring to this momentous investigation an unbiassed mind, a lively
sense of accountability to God, and devout aspirations for the guidance
of the Holy Spirit. Unless He 'in whom there is no darkness at all,'
pours light upon my path, I shall go astray. I have taken Him at His
word: 'If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given
him.' Confessing my own foolishness, I have sought that knowledge which
cannot err.
I would premise, that, like many others, I formerly supposed the
Colonization Society was a praiseworthy association, although I always
doubted its efficiency. This opinion was formed for me by others, upon
whom I placed implicit confidence: it certainly was not based upon any
research or knowledge of my own, as I had not at that time perused a
single Report of the Society, nor a page in its organ, the African
Repository. My approval was the offspring of credulity and ignorance. I
am explicit on this point, because my opponents have accused me of
inconsistency--though it ought not surely to disgrace a man, that,
discovering himself to be in error, he promptly turns to the embrace of
truth. As if opinions, once formed, must be as irrevocable as the laws
of the Medes and Persians! If this were so, accountability would lose
its hold on the conscience, and the light of knowledge be blown out, and
reason degenerate into brutish instinct. Much stress has been laid upon
the fact, that, in 1828, I delivered an address in Park-street
meeting-house on the Fourth of July, on which occasion a collection was
made in behalf of the American Colonization Society. It is true--but
whereas I was then blind, now I see. My address, however, was far from
being acceptable to the friends of colonization who were present, not
only on account of my denunciation of slaveholders, but because I
inserted only a single sentence in favor of the Society. In all my
writings, I have never commended this combination in as many sentences
as I have used in making this explanation. So much for my marvellous
apostacy!
It is only about two years since I was induced to examine the claims of
the Colonization Society upon the patronage and confidence of the
nation. I went to this examination with a mind biassed by preconceived
opinions favorable to the Society, and rather for the purpose of
defending it against opposition than of bringing it into disrepute.
Every thing, apart from its principles, was calculated to secure my
friendship. Nothing but its revolting features could have induced me to
turn loathingly away from its embrace. I had some little reputation to
sustain; many of my friends were colonizationists; I saw that eminent
statesmen and honorable men were enlisted in the enterprise; the great
body of the clergy gave their unqualified support to it; every fourth of
July the charities of the nation were secured in its behalf; wherever I
turned my eye in the free States, I saw nothing but unanimity; wherever
my ear caught a sound, I heard nothing but excessive panegyric. No
individual had ventured to blow the trumpet of alarm, or exert his
energies to counteract the influence of the scheme. If an assailant had
occasionally appeared, he had either fired a random shot and retreated,
or found in the inefficiency of the Society the only cause for
hostility. It was at this crisis, and with such an array of motives
before me to bias my judgment, that I resolved to make a close and
candid examination of the subject.
I went, first of all, to the fountain head--to the African Repository
and the Reports of the Society. I was not long in discovering sentiments
which seemed to me as abhorrent to humanity as contrary to reason. I
perused page after page, first with perplexity, then with astonishment,
and finally with indignation. I found little else than sinful
palliations, fatal concessions, vain expectations, exaggerated
statements, unfriendly representations, glaring contradictions, naked
terrors, deceptive assurances, unrelenting prejudices, and unchristian
denunciations. I collected together the publications of auxiliary
societies, in order to discern some redeeming traits; but I found them
marred and disfigured with the same disgusting details. I courted the
acquaintance of eminent colonizationists, that I might learn how far
their private sentiments agreed with those which were so offensive in
print; and I found no dissimilarity between them. I listened to
discourses from the pulpit in favor of the Society; and the same moral
obliquities were seen in minister and people.
These discoveries affected my mind so deeply that I could not rest. I
endeavored to explain away the meaning of plain and obvious language; I
made liberal concessions for good motives and unsuspicious confidence; I
resorted to many expedients to vindicate the disinterested benevolence
of the Society; but I could not rest. The sun in its mid-day splendor
was not more clear and palpable to my vision, than the anti-christian
and anti-republican character of this association. It was evident to me
that the great mass of its supporters at the north did not realise its
dangerous tendency. They were told that it was designed to effect the
ultimate emancipation of the slaves--to improve the condition of the
free people of color--to abolish the foreign slave trade--to reclaim and
evangelize benighted Africa--and various other marvels. Anxious to do
something for the colored population--they knew not what--and having no
other plan presented to their view, they eagerly embraced a scheme which
was so big with promise, and which required of them nothing but a small
contribution annually. Perceiving the fatality of this delusion, I was
urged by an irresistible impulse to attempt its removal. I could not
turn a deaf ear to the cries of the slaves, nor throw off the
obligations which my Creator had fastened upon me. Yet in view of the
inequalities of the contest, of the obstacles which towered like
mountains in my path, and of my own littleness, I trembled, and
exclaimed in the language of Jeremiah,--'Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot
speak: for I am a child.' But I was immediately strengthened by these
interrogations: 'Is any thing too hard for the Lord?' Is Error, though
unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than Truth? Are
Right and Wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? Oh
no! Then I will go forward in the strength of the Lord of Hosts--in the
name of Truth--and under the banner of Right. As it is not by might nor
by power, but by the Spirit of God, that great moral changes are
effected, I am encouraged to fight valiantly in this good cause,
believing that I shall 'come off conqueror, and more than
conqueror'--yet not I, but Truth and Justice. It is in such a contest
that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.
'The Lord disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands
cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.'
'Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of
God is stronger than men.'
Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of
notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their
conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of
moral courage. The great mass of mankind shun the labor and
responsibility of forming opinions for themselves. The question is
not--what is true? but--what is popular? Not--what does God say?
but--what says the public? Not--what is my opinion? but--what do others
believe? If people would pin their faith upon the bible, and not upon
the sleeves of their neighbors, half of the heresies in the world would
instantly disappear. If they would use their own eyes, their own ears,
their own understandings, instead of the eyes, and ears, and
understandings of others, imbecility, credulity and folly would be as
rare as they are now common in community. But, unhappily, to borrow the
words of Ganganelli, a large majority of mankind are 'mere abortions:'
calling themselves rational and intelligent beings, they act as if they
had neither brains nor conscience, and as if there were no God, no
accountability, no heaven, no hell, no eternity.
'My minister,' says one, 'is a most worthy man. He supports this
Society: therefore it is a good institution.' 'Christians of all
denominations are enlisted in this enterprise,' says another: 'therefore
it cannot be wrong.' 'Do you think,' says a third, 'that honest, godly
men would countenance a scheme which is not really benevolent?' But it
is unwise for beings, who are accountable only to God, to reason in this
manner. All the good men upon earth cannot make persecution benevolence,
nor injustice equity; and until they become infallible, implicit
reliance upon their judgment is criminal. Ministers and christians, a
few years since, were engaged in the use and sale of ardent spirits;
_but they were all wrong_, and they now acknowledge their error. At the
present day, a large proportion of the professed disciples of the Prince
of Peace maintain the lawfulness of defensive war, and the right of the
oppressed to fight and kill for liberty; but they hold this sentiment in
direct opposition to the precepts of their Leader--'I say unto you which
hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that
curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.' Surely 'the
time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.'
I must pause, for a moment, and count the number of those with whom I am
about to conflict. If I had to encounter only men-stealers and
slaveholders, victory would be easy; but it is not the south alone that
is to be subdued. The whole nation is against me. Church after church is
to be converted, and the powerful influence of the clergy broken. The
friendship of good men is to be turned into enmity, and their support
into opposition. It is my task to change their admiration into
abhorrence; to convince them that their well-meant exertions have been
misdirected, and productive of greater evil than good; and to induce
them to abandon an institution to which they now fondly cling.
To those who neither fear God nor regard man--who have sworn eternal
animosity to their colored countrymen, and whose cry is, 'Away with
them, we do not want them here!'--I make no appeal. Disregarding as they
do that divine command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' it
would be idle for me to direct my arguments to them. I address myself
to high-minded and honorable men, whose heads and hearts are susceptible
to the force of sound logic. I appeal to those, who have been redeemed
from the bondage of sin by the precious blood of Christ, and with whom I
hope to unite in a better world in ascribing glory, and honor, and
praise to the Great Deliverer for ever. If I can succeed in gaining
their attention, I feel sure of convincing their understandings and
securing their support.
Besides the overwhelming odds which are opposed to me, I labor under
other very serious disadvantages. My efforts in the cause of
emancipation have been received as if they were intended to bring chaos
back again, and to give the land up to pillage and its inhabitants to
slaughter. My calls for an alteration in the feelings and practices of
the people toward the blacks have been regarded as requiring a sacrifice
of all the rules of propriety, and as seeking an overthrow of the
established laws of nature! I have been thrust into prison, and amerced
in a heavy fine. Epithets, huge and unseemly, have been showered upon me
without mercy. I have been branded as a fanatic, a madman, a disturber
of the peace, an incendiary, a cutthroat, a monster, &c. &c. &c.
Assassination has been threatened me in a multitude of anonymous
letters. Private and public rewards to a very large amount, by
combinations of individuals and by legislative bodies at the south, have
been offered to any persons who shall abduct or destroy me. 'Yea, mine
own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath
lifted up his heel against me.' This malignity of opposition and
proximity of danger, however, are like oil to the fire of my zeal. I am
not deliriously enthusiastic--I do not covet to be a martyr; but I had
rather die a thousand deaths, than witness the horrible oppression under
which more than two millions of my countrymen groan, _and be silent_. No
reproaches, no dangers shall deter me. At the north or the south, at the
east or the west,--wherever Providence may call me,--my voice shall be
heard in behalf of the perishing slave, and against the claims of his
oppressor. Mine is the frank avowal of the excellent WILBERFORCE:--I can
admit of no compromise when the commands of equity and philanthropy are
so imperious. I wash my hands of the blood that may be spilled. I
protest against the system, as the most flagrant violation of every
principle of justice and humanity. I NEVER WILL DESERT THE CAUSE. In my
task it is impossible to tire: it fills my mind with complacency and
peace. At night I lie down with composure, and rise to it in the morning
with alacrity. I NEVER WILL DESIST FROM THIS BLESSED WORK.
Now that the concentrated execration of the civilized world is poured
upon those who engage in the foreign slave trade, how mild and
inefficient, comparatively speaking, seem to have been the rebukes of
Pitt, and Fox, and Wilberforce, and Clarkson! Yet these rebukes were
once deemed fanatical and outrageous by good men--yea, like flames of
fire, threatening a universal conflagration! So the denunciations which
I am now hurling against slavery and its abettors,--which seem to many
so violent and unmerited,--will be considered moderate, pertinent and
just, when this murderous, soul-destroying system shall have been
overthrown.
Fanaticism has been the crime alleged against reformers in all ages.
'These,' it was said of the apostles, 'that have turned the world upside
down, come hither also.' Luther was a madman in his day: what is he now
in the estimation of the friends of civil and religious liberty? One of
'Those starry lights of virtue, that diffuse
Through the dark depths of time their vivid flame.'
That base and desperate men should thus stigmatize those who endure the
cross as good soldiers, and walk as pilgrims and strangers here, is not
wonderful; but that the professed followers of Jesus Christ should join
in this hue-and-cry is lamentable. Singular enough, I have been almost
as cruelly aspersed by ministers of the gospel and church members, as by
any other class of men. Unacquainted with me, and ignorant of my
sentiments, they have readily believed the accusations of my enemies.
The introduction of my name into conversation has elicited from them
contemptuous sneers or strong denunciations. I have a right to complain
of this treatment, and I do strongly protest against it as unchristian,
hurtful and ungenerous. To prejudge and condemn an individual, on vague
and apocryphal rumors, without listening to his defence or examining
evidence, is tyranny. Perhaps I am in error--perhaps I deserve
unqualified condemnation; but I am at least entitled to a privilege
which is granted to the vilest criminals, namely, the privilege of a
fair trial. I ask nothing more. To accuse me of heresy, madness and
sedition, is one thing; to substantiate the accusation, another.
Should this work chance to fall into the hands of those who have thus
ignorantly reprobated my course, I appeal to their sense of rectitude
whether they are not bound to give it a candid and deliberate perusal;
and if they shall find in my writings nothing contrary to the immutable
principles of justice, whether they ought not to be as strenuous in my
defence as they have been hitherto in seeking my overthrow.
To show that I do not vacate any pledge which I have given to the
public, I shall here insert all the specifications, which, from time to
time, I have brought against the American Colonization Society. In 'The
Liberator' of April 23, 1831, is the following serious compend:
'I am prepared to show, that those who have entered into this
CONSPIRACY AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS are unanimous in abusing their
victims; unanimous in their mode of attack; unanimous in
proclaiming the absurdity, that our free blacks are natives of
Africa; unanimous in propagating the libel, that they cannot be
elevated and improved in this country; unanimous in opposing
their instruction; unanimous in exciting the prejudices of the
people against them; unanimous in apologising for the crime of
slavery; unanimous in conceding the right of the planters to
hold their slaves in a limited bondage; unanimous in their
hollow pretence for colonizing, namely, to evangelize Africa;
unanimous in their _true motive_ for the measure--a terror lest
the blacks should rise to avenge their accumulated wrongs. It is
a conspiracy to send the free people of color to Africa under a
benevolent pretence, but really that the slaves may be held more
securely in bondage. It is a conspiracy based upon fear,
oppression and falsehood, which draws its aliment from the
prejudices of the people, which is sustained by duplicity, which
really upholds the slave system, which fascinates while it
destroys, which endangers the safety and happiness of the
country, which no precept of the bible can justify, which is
implacable in its spirit, which should be annihilated at a blow.
'These are my accusations; and if I do not substantiate them, I
am willing to be covered with reproach.'
The following is copied from an editorial article of July 9, 1831:
'The superstructure of the Colonization Society rests upon the
following pillars:
'1st. _Persecution._ It declares that the whole colored
population must be removed to Africa; but as the free portion
are almost _unanimously_ opposed to a removal, it seems to be
the determination of the Society to make their situations so
uncomfortable and degraded here, as to compel them to migrate:
consequently it discourages their education and improvement in
this their native home. This is persecution.
'2d. _Falsehood._ It stigmatises our colored citizens as being
natives of Africa, and talks of sending them to their native
land; when they are no more related to Africa than we are to
Great Britain.
'3d. _Cowardice._ It avows as a prominent reason why colored
citizens ought to be removed, that their continuance among us
will be dangerous to us as a people! This is a libel upon their
character. Instead of demanding justice for this oppressed
class, the Society calls for their removal!
'4th. _Infidelity._ It boldly denies that there is power enough
in the gospel to melt down the prejudices of men, and insists,
that, so long as the people of color remain among us, _we must
be their enemies!_--Every honest man should abhor the doctrine.'
In 'The Liberator' of July 30, 1831, alluding to the present work, I
used the following language:
'I shall be willing to stake my reputation upon it for honesty,
prudence, benevolence, truth and sagacity. If I do not prove the
Colonization Society to be a creature without heart, without
brains, eyeless, unnatural, hypocritical, relentless, unjust,
then nothing is capable of demonstration--then let me be covered
with confusion of face.'
The following paragraph is extracted from 'The Liberator' of November
19, 1831:
'It is the enemy of immediate restitution to the slaves; it
courts and receives the approbation of notorious slave owners;
it deprecates any interference with slave property; it
discourages the improvement of the colored population, except
they are removed to the shores of Africa; it is lulling the
country into a fatal sleep, pretending to be something when it
is nothing; it is utterly chimerical, as well as intolerant, in
its design; it serves to increase the value of the slaves, and
to make brisk the foreign and domestic slave trade; it nourishes
and justifies the most cruel prejudices against color; it sneers
at those who advocate the bestowal of equal rights upon our
colored countrymen; it contends for an indefinite, dilatory,
far-off emancipation; it expressly declares that it is more
humane to keep the slaves in chains, than to give them freedom
in this country! In short, it is the most compendious and best
adapted scheme to uphold the slave system that human ingenuity
can invent. Moreover, it is utterly and irreconcileably opposed
to the wishes and sentiments of the great body of the free
people of color, repeatedly expressed in the most public manner,
but cruelly disregarded by it.'
The following passages are taken from my Address to the People of Color,
delivered in various places in June, 1831:
'Let me briefly examine the doctrines of colonizationists. They
generally agree in publishing the misstatement, that you are
strangers and foreigners. Surely they know better. They know,
that, as a body, you are no more natives of Africa, than they
themselves are natives of Great Britain. Yet they repeat the
absurd charge; and they do so, in order to cover their
anti-republican crusade. But suppose you were foreigners: would
such an accident justify this persecution and removal? And, if
so, then all foreigners must come under the same ban, and must
prepare to depart. There would be, in that case, a most alarming
deduction from our population. Suppose a philanthropic and
religious crusade were got up against the Dutch, the French, the
Swiss, the Irish, among us, to remove them to New Holland, to
enlighten and civilize her cannibals? Who would not laugh at the
scheme--who would not actively oppose it? Would any one blame
the above classes for steadfastly resisting it? Just so, then,
in regard to African colonization. But our colored population
are not aliens; they were born on our soil; they are bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh; their fathers fought bravely to
achieve our independence during the revolutionary war, without
immediate or subsequent compensation; they spilt their blood
freely during the last war; they are entitled, in fact, to every
inch of our southern, and much of our western territory, having
worn themselves out in its cultivation, and received nothing but
wounds and bruises in return. Are these the men to stigmatize as
foreigners?
'Colonizationists generally agree in asserting that the people
of color cannot be elevated in this country, nor be admitted to
equal privileges with the whites. Is not this a libel upon
humanity and justice--a libel upon republicanism--a libel upon
the Declaration of Independence--a libel upon christianity? "All
men are born equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights--among which are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness." What is the meaning of that declaration?
That _all_ men possess these rights--whether they are six feet
five inches high, or three feet two and a half--whether they
weigh three hundred or one hundred pounds--whether they parade
in broadcloth or flutter in rags--whether their skins are jet
black or lily white--whether their hair is straight or woolly,
auburn or red, black or gray--does it not? We, who are present,
differ from each other in our looks, in our color, in height,
and in bulk; we have all shades, and aspects, and sizes. Now,
would it not be anti-republican and anti-christian for us to
quarrel about sitting on this seat or that, because this man's
complexion is too dark, or that man's looks are too ugly? and to
put others out of the house, because they happen to be ignorant,
or poor, or helpless? To commit this violence would be evidently
wrong: then to do it in a large assemblage--in a community, in a
state, or in a nation, it is equally unjust. But is not this
the colonization principle? Who are the individuals that
applaud, that justify, that advocate this exclusion? Who are
they that venture to tell the American people, that they have
neither honesty enough, nor patriotism enough, nor morality
enough, nor religion enough, to treat their colored brethren as
countrymen and citizens? Some of them--I am sorry to say--are
professedly ministers of the gospel; others are christian
professors; others are judges and lawyers; others are our
Senators and Representatives; others are editors of newspapers.
These ministers and christians dishonor the gospel which they
profess; these judges and lawyers are the men spoken of by the
Saviour, who bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and
lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move
them with one of their fingers. These Senators and
Representatives ought not to receive the suffrages of the
people. These editors are unworthy of public patronage.
'Colonizationists too generally agree in discouraging your
instruction and elevation at home. They pretend that ignorance
is bliss; and therefore 'tis folly to be wise. They pretend that
knowledge is a dangerous thing in the head of a colored man;
they pretend that you have no ambition; they pretend that you
have no brains; in fine, they pretend a thousand other absurd
things--they are a combination of pretences. What tyranny is
this! Shutting up the human intellect--binding with chains the
inward man--and perpetuating ignorance. May we not address them
in the language of Christ? "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in! Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy and faith."
'Colonizationists generally agree in apologising for the crime
of slavery. They get behind the contemptible subterfuge, that it
was entailed upon the planters. As if the continuance of the
horrid system were not criminal! as if the robberies of another
generation justify the robberies of the present! as if the
slaves had not an inalienable right to freedom! as if slavery
were not an individual as well as a national crime! as if the
tearing asunder families, limb from limb,--branding the flesh
with red hot irons,--mangling the body with whips and
knives,--feeding it on husks and clothing it with
rags,--crushing the intellect and destroying the soul,--as if
such inconceivable cruelty were not chargeable to those who
inflict it!
'As to the effect of colonization upon slavery, it is rather
favorable than injurious to the system. Now and then, indeed,
there is a great flourish of trumpets, and glowing accounts of
the willingness of planters to emancipate their slaves on
condition of transportation to Africa. Now and then a slave is
actually manumitted and removed, and the incident is dwelt upon
for months. Why, my friends, hundreds of worn-out slaves are
annually turned off to die, like old horses. No doubt their
masters will thank the Colonization Society, or any one else, to
send them out of the country; especially as they will gain much
glorification in the newspapers, for their _disinterested_
sacrifices. Let no man be deceived by these manoeuvres.
'My time is consumed--and yet I have scarcely entered upon the
threshold of my argument. Now, what a spectacle is presented to
the world!--the American people, boasting of their free and
equal rights--of their abhorrence of aristocratical
distinctions--of their republican equality; proclaiming on every
wind, "that all men are born _equal_, and endowed with certain
inalienable _rights_," and that this land is an asylum for the
persecuted of all nations; and yet as loudly proclaiming that
they are determined to deprive millions of their own countrymen
of every political and social right, and to send them to a
barbarous continent, because the Creator has given them a sable
complexion. Where exists a more rigorous despotism? What
conspiracy was ever more cruel? What hypocrisy and
tergiversation so enormous? The story is proclaimed in our
pulpits, in our state and national assemblies, in courts of law,
in religious and secular periodicals,--among all parties, and in
all quarters of the country,--that there is a _moral incapacity_
in the people to do justly, love mercy, and to walk
uprightly--that they must always be the enemies and oppressors
of the colored people--that no love of liberty, no dictate of
duty, no precept of republicanism, no dread of retribution, no
claim of right, no injunction of the gospel, can possibly
persuade them to do unto their colored countrymen, as they would
that they should do unto them in a reversal of circumstances.
Now, to these promulgators of unrighteousness, with the
Declaration of Independence in one hand, and the Bible in the
other, I fearlessly give battle. Rich and mighty and numerous as
they are, by the help of the Lord I will put them to open shame.
They shall not libel me, they shall not libel my country, with
impunity. They shall not make our boasted republicanism a
by-word and a hissing among all nations, nor sink the christian
religion below heathen idolatry; and if they persist in
publishing their scandalous proclamations, they shall be
labelled as the enemies of their species and of the republic,
and treated accordingly.
'The Colonization Society, therefore, instead of being a
philanthropic and religious institution, is anti-republican and
anti-christian in its tendency. Its pretences are false, its
doctrines odious, its means contemptible. If we are to send away
the colored population because they are profligate and vicious,
what sort of missionaries will they make? Why not send away the
vicious among the whites, for the same reason and the same
purpose? If ignorance be a crime, where shall we begin to
select? How much must a man know to save him from
transportation? How white must he be? If we send away a mixed
breed, how many will be left? If foreigners only, then the
people of color must remain--for they are our countrymen. Would
foreigners submit? No--not for an instant. Why should the
American people make this enormous expenditure of life and
money? Why not use the funds of the Society to instruct and
elevate our colored population at home? This would be rational
and serviceable. Instead of removing men from a land of
civilization and knowledge--of schools, and seminaries, and
colleges--to give them instruction in a land of darkness and
desolation--would it not be wiser and better to reverse the
case, and bring the ignorant here for cultivation?'
The foregoing accusations are grave, weighty, positive--involving a
perilous responsibility, and requiring ample and irrefragable proof.
They are expressed in vehement terms: but to measure the propriety of
language, we must first examine the character of the system, or the
nature of the object, against which it is directed. If we see a person
wilfully abusing the goods of an individual, we may reprehend him, but
with comparative mildness. If we see him maiming, or in any way
maltreating another man's cattle, we may increase the severity of our
rebuke. But if we see him violating all the social and sacred relations
of life,--daily defrauding a number of his fellow creatures of the
fruits of their toil, calling them his property, selling them for money,
lacerating their bodies, and ruining their souls,--we may use the
strongest terms of moral indignation. Nor is plain and vehement
denunciation of crime inconsistent with the most benevolent feelings
towards the perpetrators of it. We are sustained in these positions by
the example of Christ, and the apostles, and the prophets, and the
reformers.
So, also, if there be an institution, the direct tendency of which is to
perpetuate slavery, to encourage persecution, and to invigorate
prejudice,--although many of its supporters may be actuated by pure
motives,--it ought to receive unqualified condemnation.
It is proper to call things by their right names. What does the law term
him who steals your pocket-book, or breaks into your dwelling, or strips
you on the highway? A robber! Is the charge inflammatory or unjust? or
will it please the villain? The abuse of language is seen only in its
misapplication. Those who object to the strength of my denunciation must
prove its perversion before they accuse me of injustice.
Probably I may be interrogated by individuals,--'Why do you object to a
colony in Africa? Are you not willing people should choose their own
places of residence? And if the blacks are willing to remove, why throw
obstacles in their path or deprecate their withdrawal? All go
_voluntarily_: of what, then, do you complain? Is not the colony at
Liberia in a flourishing condition, and expanding beyond the most
sanguine expectations of its founders?'
Pertinent questions deserve pertinent answers. I say, then, in reply,
that I do not object to a colony, _in the abstract_--to use the popular
phraseology of the day. In other words, I am entirely willing men
should be as free as the birds in choosing the time when, the mode how,
and the place where they shall migrate. The power of locomotion was
given to be used at will; as beings of intelligence and enterprise,
'The world is all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.'
The emigration from New-England to the far West is constant and large.
Almost every city, town or village suffers annually by the departure of
some of its adventurous inhabitants. Companies have been formed to go
and possess the Oregon territory--an enterprise hazardous and
unpromising in the extreme. The old States are distributing their
population over the whole continent, with unexampled fruitfulness and
liberality. But why this restless, roving, unsatisfied disposition? Is
it because those who cherish it are treated as the offscouring of all
flesh, in the place of their birth? or because they do not possess equal
rights and privileges with other citizens? or because they are the
victims of incorrigible hate and prejudice? or because they are told
that they must choose between exilement and perpetual degradation? or
because the density of population renders it impossible for them to
obtain preferment and competence here? or because they are estranged by
oppression and scorn? or because they cherish no attachment to their
native soil, to the scenes of their childhood and youth, or to the
institutions of government? or because they consider themselves as
dwellers in a strange land, and feel a burning desire, a feverish
longing to return home? No. They lie under no odious disabilities,
whether imposed by public opinion or by legislative power; to them the
path of preferment is wide open; they sustain a solid and honorable
reputation; they not only can rise, but have risen, and may soar still
higher, to responsible stations and affluent circumstances; no calamity
afflicts, no burden depresses, no reproach excludes, no despondency
enfeebles them; and they love the spot of their nativity almost to
idolatry. The air of heaven is not freer or more buoyant than they.
Theirs is a spirit of curiosity and adventurous enterprise, impelled by
no malignant influences, but by the spontaneous promptings of the mind.
Far different is the case of our colored population. Their _voluntary_
banishment is _compulsory_--they are _forced_ to turn _volunteers_, as
will be shown in other parts of this work.
The following proposition is self-evident: The success of an enterprise
furnishes no proof that it is in accordance with justice, or that it
meets the approbation of God, or that it ought to be prosecuted to its
consummation, or that it is the fruit of disinterested benevolence.
I do not doubt that the Colony at Liberia, by a prodigal expenditure of
life and money, will ultimately flourish; but a good result would no
more hallow that persecution which is seeking to drag the blacks away,
than it would if we should burn every distillery, and shut up in prison
every vender of ardent spirits, in order to do good and to prevent
people from becoming drunkards. Because Jehovah overrules evil for good,
shall we therefore continue to do evil?
If ten thousand white mechanics, farmers, merchants, &c. &c. were to
emigrate to Africa, does any man doubt whether permanent good would
result from the enterprise--good to that benighted continent, which
would counterbalance all the sacrifices and sufferings attending it? And
yet is there a single mechanic, farmer or merchant, who feels it to be
his duty, or would be willing to go? Suppose the people of color should
get the power into their hands to-morrow, and should argue that the
whites must not be admitted to equal privileges with themselves; but
that, having so long plundered Africa, and oppressed her children,
justice demanded that they should be sent to that desolate land to build
up colonies, and carry the light of civilization and knowledge, as a
sort of reparation--and that, having superior instruction in literature
and science, they were peculiarly qualified for such a mission--how
would this doctrine relish? 'It is a poor rule that will not work both
ways,' says the proverb. Yet this logic would be more sound than is our
own with regard to the colonization of the blacks.
On this point, deception is practised to a great extent. The advocates
of the Colonization Society are constantly aiming to divert public
attention from the only proper subject of inquiry, namely, 'Is it based
upon benevolence and justice?'--to the success of the colony. Granting
all that they assert, it proves nothing; but of this success I shall
have occasion, doubtless, to speak hereafter. Fine stories are trumpeted
all over the country, of the happiness, intelligence, industry, virtue,
enterprise and dignity of the colonists; and changes, absolutely
miraculous, are gravely recorded for the admiration and credulity of
community. 'The simple,' says Solomon, 'believeth every word: but the
prudent man looketh well to his going.'
The doctrine, that the 'end sanctifies the means,' belongs, I trust,
exclusively to the creed of the Jesuits. If I were sure that the Society
would accomplish the entire regeneration of Africa by its present
measures, my detestation of its principles would not abate one jot, nor
would I bestow upon it the smallest modicum of praise. Never shall the
fruits of the mercy and overruling providence of God,--ever bringing
good out of evil and light out of darkness,--be ascribed to the
prejudice and sin of man.
It is certain that many a poor native African has been led to embrace
the gospel, in consequence of his transportation to our shores, who else
had lived and died a heathen. Is the slave trade therefore a blessing?
Suppose one of those wretches who are engaged in this nefarious commerce
were brought before the Supreme Court, and being convicted, should be
asked by the Judge, whether he had aught to say why sentence of death
should not be pronounced upon him? And suppose the culprit should espy
some of his sable victims in court, whom he knew had made a profession
of faith, and he should boldly reply--'May it please your Honor, I
abducted these people away from their homes, it is true; but they were
poor, miserable, benighted idolators, and must have inevitably remained
as such unto the hour of their death, if I had not brought them to this
land of christianity and bibles, where they have been taught a knowledge
of the true God, and are now rejoicing in hope of a glorious
immortality. I therefore offer as a conclusive reason why sentence
should not be pronounced, _that I have rescued souls from perdition_,
and thus enlarged the company of the saints in light.' Would the villain
be acquitted, and, instead of a halter, receive the panegyric of the
Court for his conduct?
Our pilgrim fathers, not being able to worship God according to the
dictates of their own consciences in the mother country, were compelled
by ecclesiastical despotism to seek a refuge in this rude and barbarous
continent. Wonderful have been the fruits of their expulsion! A mighty
republic established--the freest, the wisest, the most religious on
earth!--influencing the world by its example, and exciting the emulation
of all nations! Now suppose we should occasionally find in the pages of
the Edinburgh or Quarterly Review, or in the columns of the English
newspapers, not only a full justification of this oppressive treatment
in view of its astonishing consequences, but a claim to approbation on
account of its exercise. Would not such effrontery amaze us? Would not
an honest indignation burn within us? Should we look with a more
complacent aspect upon the bigots who kindled those fires of persecution
around the Puritans, which, but for the interposition of Heaven, had
consumed them to ashes?
The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was essential to the salvation of the
world. Suppose Judas, at the judgment day, should build upon this fact
in extenuation of his dreadful crime. What would be the decision of the
assembled universe? Yea, what was the condemnation passed upon him by
the Illustrious Sufferer? 'Wo to that man by whom the Son of man is
betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born!'
Let not, then, any imaginary or real prosperity of the settlement at
Liberia lead any individual to applaud the Colonization Society,
reckless whether it be actuated by mistaken philanthropy, or perverted
generosity, or selfish policy, or unchristian prejudice.
I should oppose this Society, even were its doctrines harmless. It
imperatively and effectually seals up the lips of a vast number of
influential and pious men, who, for fear of giving offence to those
slaveholders with whom they associate, and thereby leading to a
dissolution of the compact, dare not expose the flagrant enormities of
the system of slavery, nor denounce the crime of holding human beings in
bondage. They dare not lead to the onset against the forces of tyranny;
and if _they_ shrink from the conflict, how shall the victory be won? I
do not mean to aver, that, in their sermons, or addresses, or private
conversations, they never allude to the subject of slavery; for they do
so frequently, or at least every Fourth of July. But my complaint is,
that they content themselves with representing slavery as an evil,--a
misfortune,--a calamity which has been entailed upon us by former
generations,--_and not as an individual_ CRIME, embracing in its folds
robbery, cruelty, oppression and piracy. _They do not identify the
criminals_; they make no direct, pungent, earnest appeal to the
consciences of men-stealers; by consenting to walk arm-in-arm with them,
they virtually agree to abstain from all offensive remarks, and to aim
entirely at the expulsion of the free people of color; their lugubrious
exclamations, and solemn animadversions, and reproachful reflections,
are altogether indefinite; they 'go about, and about, and all the way
round to nothing;' they generalize, they shoot into the air, they do not
disturb the repose nor wound the complacency of the sinner; 'they have
put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed
difference between the unclean and the clean.' Thus has free inquiry
been suppressed, and a universal fear created, and the tongue of the
boldest silenced, and the sleep of death fastened upon the nation.
'Truth has fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter.' The plague
is raging with unwonted fatality; but no _cordon sanitaire_ is
established--no adequate remedy sought. The tide of moral death is
constantly rising and widening; but no efforts are made to stay its
desolating career. The fire of God's indignation is kindling against us,
and thick darkness covers the heavens, and the hour of retribution is at
hand; but we are obstinate in our transgression, we refuse to repent, we
impiously throw the burden of our guilt upon our predecessors, we affect
resignation to our _unfortunate_ lot, we descant upon the mysterious
dispensations of Providence, we deem ourselves objects of God's
compassion rather than of his displeasure. 'Shall I not visit for these
things? saith the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as
this?'
Were the American Colonization Society bending its energies directly to
the immediate abolition of slavery; seeking to enlighten and consolidate
public opinion, on this momentous subject; faithfully exposing the
awful guilt of the owners of slaves; manfully contending for the
bestowal of equal rights upon our free colored population in this their
native land; assiduously endeavoring to uproot the prejudices of
society; and holding no fellowship with oppressors; my opposition to it
would cease. It might continue to bestow its charities upon those who
should desire to seek another country, and at the same time launch its
thunders against the system of oppression. But, alas! it looks to the
banishment of the free people of color as the only means to abolish
slavery, and conciliate the feelings of the planters.
The popularity of the Society is not attributable to its merits, but
exclusively to its congeniality with those unchristian prejudices which
have so long been cherished against a sable complexion. It is agreeable
to slaveholders, because it is striving to remove a class of persons who
they fear may stir up their slaves to rebellion; all who avow undying
hostility to the people of color are in favor of it; all who shrink from
acknowledging them as brethren and friends, or who make them a distinct
and inferior caste, or who deny the possibility of elevating them in the
scale of improvement here, most heartily embrace it. Having ample funds,
it has been able to circulate its specious appeals in every part of the
country; and to employ active and eloquent agents, who have glowingly
described to the people the immense advantages to be reaped from the
accomplishment of its designs. With this entire preoccupancy of the
ground, and these common though unworthy dispositions in its favor, the
wonder is, that it is not more popular.
Much cleverness is not requisite to tell a fine story; and a fine story
is always agreeable to a credulous listener. An agent of the Society
goes into a place, and finds no difficulty in procuring a pulpit from
which to address a congregation. The benevolent pastor, who, perhaps,
has had neither time nor opportunity to examine the principles of the
Society, readily officiates on the occasion, and, in the fulness of his
heart, believing that he is not asking amiss, supplicates the
benediction of Heaven upon the object of the meeting. This co-operation
of the pastor with the agent makes an impression decidedly favorable to
the latter upon the minds of the audience, and prepares them to receive
his statements with confidence. He first dwells upon the miserable
condition of Africa--desolated with civil wars--the prey of
kidnappers--given up to idolatry--full of intellectual darkness and
spiritual death--and bleeding at every pore. He next depicts the horrors
of the slave trade, and shows how inefficient have been the laws enacted
for its suppression. He finally expatiates upon the evils and dangers of
slavery; and is particularly minute in describing the degradation of the
free people of color, which he declares to be irreclaimable in this land
of gospel light. 'Now, my christian brethren and friends,' he continues,
'the object of the American Colonization Society is to stay the effusion
of blood, to give light to them who sit in darkness, and to make
reparation for the wrongs which have been inflicted upon the sable sons
of Africa. As the people of color must evidently be a distinct and
degraded class while they reside in this country, and as they are
threatened with universal proscription, the Society benevolently
proposes to send them back _to their native country_, by their own
_voluntary_ consent, together with those slaves who may be emancipated
for this purpose, where they may enjoy equal rights and privileges, nor
longer retain any sense of inferiority to the whites. Every emigrant
will go as a missionary to reclaim the poor natives from their
barbarism, and to spread the tidings of salvation throughout the African
continent. By forming a chain of colonies along the coast, a speedy
check will be given to the accursed slave trade,--a trade which cannot
be destroyed in any other manner. Who does not desire to see Africa
civilized and evangelized? Whose heart does not leap in view of the
suppression of the slave trade? Who does not pray for deliverance from
the evils of slavery? Who does not wish to behold the free people of
color,--cursed with ineffectual freedom here,--_recalled from their
banishment_, and placed where no obstacles will impede their march to
affluence, preferment and honor? The Colonization Society, then,
powerfully commends itself to the christian, the philanthropist and the
patriot--to every section of our country and to all denominations of
men.'
Exquisite! The picture is crowded with attractions, delightful to the
eye. The story is skilfully told, and implicitly believed; but, like
every other story, it has two sides to it. So complete is the delusion,
however, that many good people are ready to class those who denounce the
Colonization Society, among the opposers of foreign missions, bible and
tract societies, and the other benevolent operations of the age!
Far be it from me to accuse the agents of the Society of intentionally
perverting the truth or deliberately imposing upon the credulity of the
public. Some--perhaps all of them, are men of sincerity and probity;
but, deluded themselves, they help to delude others. Their vision is
imperfect; and 'if the blind lead the blind,' we may expect to find them
in the same ditch together.
Great complacency has been manifested on various occasions, by the
advocates of the Society, on the ground that it was at first suspected
of sinister designs, both at the north and the south, but is now
receiving the countenance of both. This exultation is premature. The
opposition formerly manifested to the Society by the holders of slaves,
grew out of their ignorance of its purpose; but a very large majority of
them now perceive that it is their devoted servant, crouching down at
their feet, shielding them from reproach, dragging those away whom they
dread, allowing them to sin with impunity, and generously granting them
and their children whole centuries in which to repent, and to surrender
what they have stolen! It dissuades them from emancipating their slaves
faster than they can be transported to Africa; and thus regards their
persistance in robbery and oppression as evidence of wisdom, benevolence
and sanity! It is natural, that, discovering their mistake, they should
now rally in a body around the Society; and, consequently, we find that
the legislatures of the several slaveholding States are passing
encomiums upon it, and in some instances appropriating sums of money to
be paid over to it by instalments.
The people of the north have been shamefully duped by this scheme; but,
like the slaveholders, they begin to discover their error. Unlike them,
however, they are withdrawing their support, in obedience to the
injunction of the Apostle: 'Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what
concord hath Christ with Belial? Wherefore come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you.'
To Africa this country owes a debt larger than she is able to liquidate.
Most intensely do I desire to see that ill-fated continent transformed
into the abode of civilization, of the arts and sciences, of evangelical
piety, of liberty, and of all that adds to the dignity, the renown, and
the temporal and eternal happiness of man. Shame and confusion of face
belong to the Church, that she has so long disregarded the claims of
Africa upon her sympathies, and prayers, and liberality--claims as much
superior as its wrongs to those of any other portion of the globe. It is
indeed most strange that, like the Priest and the Levite, she should
have 'passed by on the other side,' and left the victim of thieves to
bleed and sicken and die. As the Africans were the only people doomed to
perpetual servitude, and to be the prey of kidnappers, she should have
long since directed almost her undivided efforts to civilize and convert
them,--not by establishing colonies of ignorant and selfish foreigners
among them, who will seize every opportunity to overreach or oppress, as
interest or ambition shall instigate,--but by sending intelligent, pious
missionaries; men fearing God and eschewing evil--living evidences of
the excellence of christianity--having but one object, not the
possession of wealth or the obtainment of power or the gratification of
selfishness, but _the salvation of the soul_. Had she made this attempt,
as she was bound to have made it by every principle of justice and every
feeling of humanity, a century ago, Africa would have been, at the
present day, 'redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,' and the slavery
of her children brought to an end. No pirates would now haunt her coast
to desolate her villages with fire and sword, in order to supply a
christian people with hewers of wood and drawers of water. How much has
been needlessly lost to the world by this criminal neglect!
The conception of evangelizing a heathenish country by sending to it an
illiterate, degraded and irreligious population, belongs exclusively to
the advocates of African colonization. For absurdity and inaptitude, it
stands, and must forever stand, without a parallel. Of all the offspring
of prejudice and oppression, it is the most shapeless and unnatural. But
more of this hereafter.
History is full of instruction on the subject of colonization. The
establishment of colonies, in all ages, with scarcely an exception, has
resulted either in their subversion by the vices or physical strength of
the natives, or by a fatal amalgamation with them; or else in the rapid
destruction of the natives by the superior knowledge and greedy avarice
of the new settlers. It is presumption to suppose that the colony at
Liberia, composed of the worst materials imaginable, will present an
example of forbearance, stability and good faith, hitherto unwitnessed
in the world.
Soon after its establishment, the colony narrowly escaped a bloody
extirpation, and was the cause of a murderous warfare in which several
of the colonists and a large number of the natives were slain. The
steady growth of the colony excited the jealousy and alarm of some of
the neighboring tribes; and, accordingly, a consultation was held, at
which King George, Governor, and all the other head men, contended that
'The Americans were strangers _who had forgot their attachment to the
land of their fathers_; for if not, why had they not renounced their
connexion with white men altogether, and placed themselves under the
protection of the kings of the country? King George had already been
under the necessity of removing from his town, and leaving the Cape in
their hands. This was but the first step of their encroachments. If left
alone, they must, in a very few years, master the whole country. And as
all other places were full, their own tribe must be without a home, and
cease any longer to remain a nation.'[E] This appeal (which evinces an
intimate acquaintance with human nature and much foresight) induced the
attack to which allusion has been made. A single paragraph from the
Rev. Mr Ashmun's account of the battle with the natives may suffice to
give the reader an idea of its destructiveness:
'A few musketeers with E. Johnson at their head, by passing
round upon the enemy's flank, served to increase the
consternation which was beginning to pervade their unwieldy
body. In about twenty minutes after the settlers had taken their
stand, the front of the enemy began to recoil. But from the
numerous obstructions in their rear, the entire absence of
discipline, and the extreme difficulty of giving a reversed
motion to so large a body, a small part only of which was
directly exposed to danger, and the delay occasioned by the
practice of carrying off all their dead and wounded, rendered a
retreat for some minutes longer, impossible. The very violence
employed by those in the front, in their impatience to hasten
it, by increasing the confusion, produced an effect opposite to
that intended. The Americans perceiving their advantage, now
regained possession of the western post, and instantly brought
the long nine to rake the whole line of the enemy. Imagination
can scarcely figure to itself a throng of human beings in a more
capital state of exposure to the destructive power of the
machinery of modern warfare! Eight hundred men were here pressed
shoulder to shoulder, in so compact a form, that a child might
easily walk upon their heads from one end of the mass to the
other, presenting in their rear a breadth of rank equal to
twenty or thirty men, and all exposed to a gun of great power,
raised on a platform, at only thirty to sixty yards distance!
_Every shot literally spent its force in a solid mass of living
human flesh!_ Their fire suddenly terminated. A savage yell was
raised, which filled the dismal forest with a momentary horror.
It gradually died away; and the whole host disappeared. At 8
o'clock, the well known signal of their dispersion and return to
their homes was sounded, and many small parties seen at a
distance, directly afterwards, moving off in different
directions. One large canoe, employed in reconveying a party
across the mouth of the Montserado, venturing within the range
of the long gun, was struck by a shot, and several men
killed.'[F]
The above (which cannot be perused without a thrill of horror) is one of
the legitimate fruits of foreign colonization. Subsequent to this bloody
affair, another battle took place, which resulted in the defeat of the
natives and the loss of many lives. It is true, the colony since that
period has received little molestation, and has succeeded, moreover, in
making some amicable treaties with the natives; but in proportion to its
means of defence and numerical force will be its liability to encroach
upon the rights of the Africans, and thus to provoke hostilities. If
this prophecy should not be fulfilled, history will have spoken in
vain, and human nature experienced a total regeneration.
No man of refined sensibility can contemplate the fate of the aborigines
of this country, without shuddering at the consequences of colonization;
and if _they_ melted away at the presence of the pilgrims and their
descendants, like frost before the meridian blaze of the sun,--if _they_
fell to the earth, like the leaves of the forest before the autumnal
blast, by the settlement of men reputedly humane, wise and pious, in
their vicinage,--what can be our hope for the preservation of the
Africans, associated with a population degraded by slavery, and, to a
lamentable extent, destitute of religious and secular knowledge? The
argument, that the difference of complexion between our forefathers and
the aborigines (which is not a distinctive feature between the settlers
at Liberia and the natives) was the real cause of this deadly enmity, is
more specious than solid. _Conduct_, not _color_, secures friendship or
excites antipathy, as it happens to be just or unjust. The venerated
William Penn and his pacific followers furnish a case in point.
I avow it--the natural tendency of the colony at Liberia excites the
most melancholy apprehensions in my mind. Its birth was conceived in
blood, and its footsteps will be marked with blood down to old age--the
blood of the poor natives--unless a special interposition of Divine
Providence prevent such a calamity. The emigrants will be eager in the
acquisition of wealth, ease and power; and, having superior skill and
discernment in trade, they will outwit and defraud the natives as often
as occasion permits. This knavish treatment once detected,--as it surely
will be, for even an uncivilized people may soon learn that they have
been cheated,--will provoke retaliation, and stir up the worst passions
of the human breast. Bloody conflicts will ensue, in which the colonists
will be victorious. This success will serve to increase the enmity of
the natives, and to perpetuate the murderous struggle. The extirpation
of one generation may put the colonists in undisputed possession of the
land.
This is not a fancy sketch--it is not improbable: on the contrary, it is
the obvious and hitherto certain consequence of bringing hastily
together large bodies of civilized men with unlettered barbarians.
Jealousy will be another fruitful source of contention. The population
of Africa is divided into a vast number of tribes, governed by petty
kings,--sometimes indeed united by an amicable league, but commonly
distinct and independent. Some of these tribes will form alliances with
the colonists, either to obtain protection from their more formidable
rivals or from motives of fear, curiosity or selfishness. In this
manner, tribe will be arrayed against tribe throughout that vast
continent; the tide of commotion, gathering fresh impetuosity in its
headlong career, will rush from the mountains down to the ocean,
devastating all that is beautiful, and swiftly defacing that which will
require the labors of centuries to restore to its pristine excellence;
there will be wars and rumors of wars, succeeded by deceitful and
unstable treaties ratified only to be broken at a favorable moment; and
these collisions will not cease until the colonists obtain an undisputed
mastery over the natives.
Would to Heaven these fears might prove to be but the offspring of a
distracted mind! May the colonists be so just in their intercourse with
the Africans, as never to impeach their own integrity; so pacific, as to
disarm retaliation and perpetuate good will; so benevolent, as to excite
gratitude and diffuse joy wherever their names shall be known; and so
holy, as to exalt the christian religion in the eyes of an idolatrous
nation! But he must be grossly ignorant of human nature, or strangely
infatuated, who believes that they will always, or commonly, exhibit
this unexceptionable conduct.
It is my sober conviction, that no contrivance or enterprise could
possibly be planned more fatally calculated to obstruct the progress of
christianity in a heathenish country, than the establishment of a
colony, or colonies, of selfish, ignorant, or even intelligent and
high-minded men, on its shores. In every settlement of this kind,--no
matter how choice the original materials,--vice will soon preponderate
over virtue, intemperance over sobriety, knavery over honesty,
oppression over liberty, and impiety over godliness. The natives will
see just enough of christianity to hate and shun it; finding that its
fruits are generally bad--that it has no restraining influence upon the
mass of its nominal professors,--they will not easily comprehend the
utility of abandoning their own idolatrous worship; looking only to the
pernicious examples of the intruders, they will spurn with contempt the
precepts of the gospel. Their confidence will be abused--their lands
craftily trafficked for nought--their ignorance cheated--their
inferiority treated oppressively; and then what must naturally follow?
Why--WAR--_a war of retaliation_. All the vices, and few of the virtues,
of the instructers, will be faithfully copied; and thus barriers will be
erected against the progress of the Christian religion, not absolutely
insurmountable, it is true, but sufficiently tall and strong to retard
its noble career--barriers not only of superstition and ignorance, but
of hatred and revenge. These reflections might be extended to the size
of a volume; but they are probably sufficient to convince every
unprejudiced, discerning mind, that the establishment of foreign
colonies in a barbarous land is the surest way to prevent its speedy
evangelism and civilization.
In reply to this reasoning, some of the advocates of African
colonization may argue, that schools and houses of worship, multiplying
with the growth of the settlement at Liberia, will check the evil
propensities and passions of the emigrants, and qualify them to act as
missionaries or instructers among the natives; and thus great good will
be bestowed upon Africa. This is at least a summary, if not a sure mode
of obviating these difficulties.
In the first place, it is by no means certain--nay, it is not probable,
especially if the number of emigrants annually exported to Liberia swell
from hundreds to thousands, (and this increase of transportation is
positively promised by the Parent Society, and absolutely necessary to
cause a perceptible diminution in the annual enlargement of our colored
population)--I say, it is neither certain nor probable that the
multiplication of literary and religious privileges will keep pace with
the unnatural and enormous growth of the colony. Nine years after the
first settlement of Liberia, it appears by the following extract of a
letter from a highly respectable colored emigrant, (the Rev. George M.
Erskine,) there was but the 'remnant of a school' left! This letter is
dated '_Caldwell, Liberia, April 3, 1830_.'
'Sir, the state of things, with regard to schools, is truly
lamentable. _The only school in the Colony at this time, is a
remnant of one at the Cape._ Among the present emigrants, there
are seventeen out of forty-eight that can read the Holy
Scriptures, _leaving thirty-one that cannot_. Now, Sir, suppose
each company of emigrants to this place bring a like proportion
of illiterate persons into the Colony, then what state, think
you, it must be in? But again, Sir: I am greatly mistaken if
this Colony is not, for several years yet to come, mostly to be
peopled with slaves sent out by their present owners, without
any education themselves, and without means and very little
desire to have their children instructed; and add to the above,
that this people is planted in the midst, and are daily
conversant with, a people that are not only heathen, but a
people extremely partial in favor of their grovelling
superstition. My dear Sir, this being the case, _whether is it
probable that they will come over to us, or we go down to them_?
To me the latter is the most likely, _as it is the very essence
of human nature to seek the lowest depth of degradation_. Permit
me to say, Sir, there must be a great revolution in this Colony
before it can have a salutary influence on the surrounding
natives; that is, before it can have a moral influence over
them.'[G]
Subsequent accounts, I am happy to state, present a better aspect in
relation to the education of this outcast and persecuted people: their
wants, however, are only partially supplied.
The annual increase of the free colored and slave population in the
United States is variously estimated from sixty to seventy-five
thousand. The American Colonization Society proposes the annual removal
of this vast body,--and more, if it be possible,--provided the energies
and patronage of the General Government be enlisted in this expulsive
crusade. Now, suppose the entire transportation effected, let any candid
man decide how extremely difficult, not to say impracticable, it would
be to discipline and instruct such an overwhelming mass of ignorance, or
any considerable portion of it--and how pernicious must be the
consequences to the colony and the natives, if it should not receive
immediate culture!
Secondly. It is neither certain nor probable that, allowing all that is
assumed by colonizationists, the influence of secular and religious
instruction would be sufficient to restrain the selfish desires and
knavish propensities of those whose main object is, not to evangelize
the natives, but to secure, by a summary process, competence and power
for themselves. Indeed, their juxtaposition with the natives would be
eminently calculated to induce the fever of avarice, and to generate the
lust of dominion. It is well known that so eager are the colonists to
acquire a rapid accumulation of wealth, by trafficking their paltry
beads and poisonous rum and tobacco for ivory, camwood and gold dust, it
is with the utmost difficulty any considerable portion of them are
persuaded to cultivate the soil and engage in agricultural pursuits.
Thus we are presented with the disgraceful, if not singular spectacle of
a rivalry in cunning and trickishness between a colony of _soi-disant_
missionaries (really avaricious and unscrupulous foreigners) and the
tribes who are to come under their pious pupilage. If equal dexterity in
trade is not apparent, each party is equally pleased with its successful
attempts at deception, and both renew the fraudulent commerce with fresh
alacrity--the one to gain a new triumph, and the other to retrieve an
old defeat. And this is the mode of colonizationists to evangelize
Africa! and this their mode to suppress the slave trade! and this their
mode to elevate the free people of color! and this their mode to
emancipate the slaves! It combines the folly and absurdity of a farce
with the solemnity and murderment of a tragedy.
Far be it from me to leave the impression upon the mind of the reader,
from these representations, that all the colonists are actuated by the
same selfish motives, or that they have exhibited any new and
extraordinary traits of character in their commerce with the Africans.
Many of them, I believe, are men who fear God and desire the welfare of
his creatures: all of them have behaved as honorably, perhaps, and
trafficked as equitably, as any other body of men, white or yellow,
would have done in the same situation and under the same circumstances.
Dishonesty in trade is no prodigy, even in this country. To bring
accusations of fraud, cupidity and cunning against human nature, is not
libellous. I am persuaded that robbery,--well contrived, deliberately
executed robbery,--is perpetrated in every community among ourselves,
without any due estimate of its moral turpitude, by reputable merchants
and traders upon their customers, to a larger extent than all the
avowed and heinous thefts collectively, which are committed against
society. It is lamentable to see how studiously conscience and fair
dealing are excluded from the secular business of the world. If we see,
every day, illustrations of this dishonest conduct, given by men of
refinement, intelligence and good character, what should we expect from
those whose fetters have hardly fallen from their limbs; who have been
systematically degraded by slavery; who have not consequently that
lively sense of moral obligation which accompanies intelligence; who are
beyond the influence of public sentiment, and surrounded by a barbarous
people?
The establishment of a colony of speculators, then, to evangelize
Africa, does not discover much wisdom or promise much success; but, on
the contrary, exhibits a total blindness of vision and a most
unfavorable aspect.
Let it be remembered, however, that _rum_ and _tobacco_ (two poisons
which are exactly adapted to destroy both soul and body) are the
principal articles given to the natives--because pertinaciously demanded
by them--in exchange for their own. Their appetite for spirituous
liquor, first created by the slave traders and subsequently excited by
the colonists, is insatiate. Even the justly lamented ASHMUN, if I do
not mistake, for I have not his letter now before me, was so imprudent
in one of his epistles to the Board of Managers as to concede the fatal
necessity of selling rum freely to the natives, in order to maintain a
commercial intercourse with them. Rum they would have, or nothing; and
rum they obtained then, and do now obtain. Any one who will take the
trouble to read the advertisements in the Liberia Herald will discover
that ardent spirits form a prominent item in the list of articles
offered for sale. Of the sobriety of the colonists, however, common
report speaks in the most gratifying manner; but as their number is to
be increased by a redundant importation, we have reason to fear a
declension of morals.
Thirdly. Colonizationists strenuously contend that our colored
population are destined always to remain a degraded class in this
country. If educated any where, they must be educated in Africa. We must
take them in their ignorance, and just released from bondage, and
translate them to another continent on the wings of the wind. Delay
would be injurious to ourselves, and calamitous to them. They must go in
large bodies--by thousands and tens of thousands annually--till the
whole be expelled from our shores. For it seems, according to the logic
of colonizationists, every individual tainted with black blood must be
transported, to insure the regeneration of Africa! Neither fifty
thousand, nor one hundred thousand, nor half a million of these
_missionaries_ will be able to accomplish the task; but two millions of
slaves and four hundred thousand free people of color, and all their
descendants in time to come, here--even little babes (pretty prattling
reformers!) and children--the maimed, the halt, and the blind--all must
be sent off--else alas! alas! for poor benighted Africa! This is no
caricature. An ugly face is sure to quarrel with its own likeness. But
what is the portrait worth, if it bear no resemblance to the living
original? They who place themselves in a ridiculous attitude must not
claim exemption from ridicule.
Let us turn to the picture once more. It is worth our while to
contemplate it a few moments longer.
What do we see? More than one-sixth portion of the American
people--confessedly the most vicious, degraded and dangerous
portion--crowded on the shores of Africa, by means which are hereafter
to be considered, and at an expense which we shall not stop now to
calculate, for the purpose of civilizing and evangelizing Africa, and of
improving their own condition! Here, then, are _two_ ignorant and
depraved nations to be regenerated instead of _one_!--if we may call all
the natives that occupy that vast continent a nation--two huge and
heterogeneous masses of contagion mingled together for the preservation
of each! One of these nations is so incorrigibly stupid, or unfathomably
deep in pollution, (for such is the argument,) that, although surrounded
by ten millions of people living under the full blaze of gospel light,
and having every desirable facility to elevate and save it, it never can
rise until it be removed at least three thousand miles from their
vicinage!--and yet it is first to be evangelized in a barbarous land, by
a feeble, inadequate process, before it can be qualified to evangelize
the other nation! In other words, men who are intellectually and
morally blind are violently removed from light effulgent into thick
darkness, in order that they may obtain light themselves and diffuse
light among others! Ignorance is sent to instruct ignorance, ungodliness
to exhort ungodliness, vice to stop the progress of vice, and depravity
to reform depravity! All that is abhorrent to our moral sense, or
dangerous to our quietude, or villanous in human nature, we benevolently
disgorge upon Africa for her temporal and eternal welfare! We propose to
build upon her shores, for her glory and defence, colonies framed of
materials which we discard as worthless for our own use, and which
possess no fitness or durability! Admirable consistency! surprising
wisdom! unexampled benevolence! As rationally might we think of
exhausting the ocean by multiplying the number of its tributaries, or
extinguishing a fire by piling fuel upon it.
Lastly. Any scheme to proselytize which requires for its protection the
erection of forts and the use of murderous weapons, is opposed to the
genius of christianity and radically wrong. If the gospel cannot be
propagated but by the aid of the sword,--if its success depend upon the
muscular power and military science of its apostles,--it were better to
leave the pagan world in darkness. The first specimen of _benevolence_
and _piety_, which the colonists gave to the natives, was the building
of a fort, and supplying it with arms and ammunition! This was an
earnest manifestation of that 'peace on earth, good will to man,' which
these expatriated _missionaries_ were sent to inculcate! How eminently
calculated to inspire the confidence, excite the gratitude, and
accelerate the conversion of the Africans! Their 'dread of the great
guns of the Islanders,' (to adopt the language of Mr Ashmun,) must from
the beginning have made a deep and salutary impression upon their minds;
and when, not long afterward, 'every shot' from these guns '_spent its
force in a solid mass of living human flesh_'--their own flesh--they
must have experienced a total regeneration. Bullets and cannon balls
argue with resistless effect, and as easily convert a barbarous as
civilized people. One sanguinary conflict was sufficient to spread the
glad tidings of salvation among a thousand tribes, almost with the
rapidity of light!--But even irony, though appropriate, is painful. I
forbear.
But--says an objector--these reflections come too late. The colony is
planted, whatever may be its influence. What do you recommend? Its
immediate abandonment to want and ruin? Shall we not bestow upon it our
charities, and commend it to the protection of Heaven?
I answer--Let the colony continue to receive the aid, and elicit the
prayers of the good and benevolent. Still let it remain within the pale
of christian sympathy. Blot it not out of existence. But let it
henceforth develope itself naturally. Crowd not its population. Let
transportation cease. Seek no longer to exile millions of our colored
countrymen. For, assuredly, if the Colonization Society succeed in its
efforts to remove thousands of their number annually, it could not
inflict a heavier curse upon Africa, or more speedily assist in the
entire subversion of the colony.
But--the objector asks--how shall we evangelize Africa?
In the same manner as we have evangelized the Sandwich and Society
Islands, and portions of Burmah, Hindostan, and other lands. By sending
missionaries of the Cross _indeed_, who shall neither build forts nor
trust in weapons of war; who shall be actuated by a holy zeal and
genuine love; who shall be qualified to instruct, admonish, enlighten,
and proselyte; who shall not by their examples impugn the precepts, or
subject to suspicion the inspiration of the Word of Life; who shall not
be covered with pollution and shame as with a garment, or add to the
ignorance, sin and corruption of paganism; and who shall abhor
dishonesty, violence and treachery. Such men have been found to
volunteer their services for the redemption of a lost world; and such
men may be found now to embark in the same glorious enterprise. A
hundred evangelists like these, dispersed along the shores and in the
interior of Africa, would destroy more idols, make more progress in
civilizing the natives, suppress more wars, unite in amity more hostile
tribes, and convert more souls to Christ, in ten years, than a colony of
twenty-thousand ignorant, uncultivated, selfish emigrants in a century.
Such a mission would be consonant with reason and common sense; nor
could it fail to receive the approbation of God. How simple was the
command of our blessed Saviour to his disciples!--'Go ye forth into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' Not--'Send out from
among yourselves those whom you despise or against whom you cherish a
strong antipathy; those who need to be instructed and converted
themselves; those who are the dregs of society, made vicious and
helpless by oppression and public opinion; those who are beyond the
reach of the gospel in a Christian land; those whose complexions are not
precisely like yours, or who have any personal blemishes whatever that
excite your dislike;--send out _all_ these to evangelize the nations
which sit in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death!'
Denham, Clapperton, and Lander, travellers in Africa, represent the
natives in a light most favorable for the introduction of christianity;
as eager to learn and become a civilized and great people like the
Europeans. Excepting the followers of Mohammed, they are not tenacious
of their forms of religious worship; and a considerable portion of them
are totally indifferent to devotional exercises. It seems apparent, that
the fruits of a mission in Africa would be thrice as numerous as those
of one in India, because the obstacles to be surmounted are far less
formidable.
But--says the objector--the climate of Africa is fatal to white men.
So is the climate of India. But our missionaries have not counted their
lives dear unto themselves; and, as fast as one is cut down, another
stands ready to supply his place.
I do not believe that the Creator has immoveably fixed the habitations
of any people within a boundary narrower than the circumference of the
globe. I believe that rapid transitions from intensity of heat and cold,
and cold and heat, are destructive to animal life; but I also believe
that the human body is easily acclimated, in any region of the world. I
believe the time is swiftly approaching when empires and continents
shall as freely commingle their population as do states and
neighborhoods. To limit or obstruct this intercourse, is to impoverish
and circumscribe human happiness. Civilization will remove those causes
which now engender pestilence and death, and neutralize the effects of
atmospherical contagion.
Hence it will be seen that I do not assail the Colonization Society, as
many others have done, simply because the settlement at Liberia is
unhealthy. It is true, the mortality among the emigrants has been
excessive; and so it was among the first settlers of New-England. But
the climate of New-England is no longer pestiferous; and the climate of
Africa will grow sweet and salubrious as her forests disappear, and the
purifying influences of Christianity penetrate into the interior. I
expressly contend, however, that it is murderous, indiscriminately to
colonize large bodies of men, women and children, in a foreign land,
before the natives are to some extent elevated by missionary effort: and
therefore I consider the Colonization Society as responsible for the
lives of those who have perished prematurely at Liberia.
But the objection is fallacious. If white missionaries cannot, black
ones can survive in Africa. What, then, is our duty? Obviously to
educate colored young men of genius, enterprise and piety, expressly to
carry the 'glad tidings of great joy' to her shores. Enough, I venture
to affirm, stand ready to be sent, if they can first be qualified for
their mission. If our free colored population were brought into our
schools, and raised from their present low estate, I am confident that
an army of christian volunteers would go out from their ranks, by a
divine impulse and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to redeem
their African brethren from the bondage of idolatry and the dominion of
spiritual death.
Whatever may be the result of this great controversy, I shall have the
consolation of believing that no efforts were lacking, on my part, to
uproot the prejudices of my countrymen, to persuade them to walk in the
path of duty and shun the precipice of expediency, to unloose the heavy
burdens and let the prisoners go free at once, to warn them of the
danger of expelling the people of color from their native land, and to
convince them of the necessity of abandoning a dangerous and chimerical,
as well as unchristian and anti-republican association. For these
efforts I have hitherto suffered reproach and persecution, and must
expect to suffer till I perish. This book will doubtless increase the
rage of my enemies; but no torrent of invective shall successfully whelm
it, no sophistry impair its force, no activity destroy its influence, no
misrepresentation defeat its usefulness.
I commend it, particularly, to the candid attention of the two most
powerful classes in this country--editors of newspapers and the clergy.
It is not a light matter for either of them to propagate false doctrines
and excite delusive hopes, on the subject of politics or religion.
Although the press is committed to a wide extent, I place too much
reliance upon the good sense and liberal patriotism of its conductors to
believe that the evidence which is presented in these pages of the
inefficiency and injustice of the colonization scheme, will fail to
convince their understanding. I cherish still higher expectations of its
salutary influence upon ministers of the gospel. It may grieve them to
discover that they have been misled themselves, and that they have
unwittingly misled others. To say to their flocks--'We have erred in
this matter; we have solicited your charities for an institution which
is built upon prejudice and persecution; we have hastily adopted the
mistaken opinions of others'--such a confession may indeed require much
grace in the heart, but this grace, I am persuaded, they will obtain. As
apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, sustaining high and awful
responsibilities, and exerting an influence which measurably decides the
eternal destiny of the souls of men, they will not shut their eyes, or
stop their ears, or refuse to examine, or disregard the truth, in a case
involving the temporal and eternal happiness of millions of their fellow
creatures.
FOOTNOTES:
[E] Memoir of American Colonists--vide 'The African Repository,' vol. 2,
p. 174.
[F] African Repository, vol. 2, p. 179.
[G] African Repository, vol. 6, p. 121.
SECTION I.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS PLEDGED NOT TO OPPOSE THE SYSTEM OF
SLAVERY.
Having concluded my introductory remarks, I now proceed to substantiate
my accusations against the American Colonization Society, by marshalling
in review the sentiments of those who first originated it, and who are
its efficient managers and advocates. It is obvious that, with my
limited means, and in a book designed for a cheap circulation, I shall
not be able to enter into so minute a detail as the present exigency
demands, or make those comments which might serve more fully to
illustrate the character of this association. It should be stated,
moreover, that I have not made any particular effort to procure
materials for this work, being satisfied that those which have almost
accidentally fallen into my hands, contain ample and conclusive evidence
of the unworthiness of the Society. A vast number of the Reports of
auxiliary bodies in various parts of the country, of orations and
sermons and essays in favor of African colonization, are beyond my
reach, and must remain unconsulted. If more proof be demanded, it shall
be given to the public. There is not a sound timber in this great Babel:
from the foundation to the roof, it is rotten and defective.
I shall not stop to interrogate the motives of those who planned the
Society. Some of them, undoubtedly, were actuated by a benevolent desire
to promote the welfare of our colored population, and could never have
intended to countenance oppression. But the question is not, whether
their motives were good or bad. Suppose they were all good--would this
fact prove infallibly that they could not err in judgment? Do we not
almost daily see men running headlong into wild and injurious
enterprises with the very best intentions? There is a wide difference
between meaning well and doing well. The slave trade originated in a
compassionate regard for the benighted Africans; and yet we hang those
who are detected in this traffic. I am willing to concede that Robert
Finley and Elias B. Caldwell were philanthropic individuals; and that a
large number of their followers are men of piety, benevolence and moral
worth. What then? Is the American Colonization Society a beneficial
institution? We shall see hereafter.
The history of this Society is familiar to the public. It was organized
about the commencement of the year 1817. The first public meeting to
consider the expediency of such an organization was held on the 21st of
December, 1816, at which the Hon. Henry Clay presided; but I have never
seen its official proceedings. It was addressed by Mr Clay, _Mr
Randolph_, Mr Caldwell, and other gentlemen, from whose speeches
extracts will shortly be given.
It is my purpose in this section to show, first, the original design of
the Society; secondly, that it is still strictly adhered to; and,
lastly, that the Society is solemnly pledged not to interfere with the
system of slavery, or in any manner to disturb the repose of the
planters. Upon the rigid observance of this sinful pledge depends its
existence; a single violation of it would be fatal. I want no better
reason than this, to wage an uncompromising warfare against it. No man
has a right to form an alliance with others, which prevents him from
rebuking sin or exposing the guilt of sinners. Every individual is bound
to oppose the system of slavery in the most direct, strenuous,
unfaltering manner--bound by the ties of brotherhood, by the spirit of
Christianity, by the genius of republicanism, by the dictates of
humanity, by the requirements of justice, by the love of country, by
duty to his God. He cannot suppress his voice, nor stop his ears to the
groans of the prisoners, and be innocent. If he hide the truth because
it may give offence--if he strike hands in amity with a thief--if he
leave the needy and oppressed to perish--God will visit him with
plagues. Now the language of the non-slaveholding members of the
Colonization Society to the owners of slaves is virtually as
follows:--'The free people of color are a nuisance to us, and plotters
of sedition among your slaves. If they be not speedily removed, your
_property_ will be lost, and your lives destroyed. We therefore do
solemnly agree, that, if you will unite with us in expelling this
dangerous class from our shores, we will never accuse you of robbery or
oppression, or irritate your feelings by asserting the right of the
slaves to immediate freedom, or identify any one of you as a criminal;
but, on the contrary, we will boldly assert your innocence, and applaud
you as wise and benevolent men for holding your slaves in subjection
until you can cast them out of the country.' I say, this is _virtually_
their language, as I shall soon indisputably show. Thus we are presented
with the strange spectacle of a procession composed of the most
heterogeneous materials. There go, arm-in-arm, a New-England divine and
a southern kidnapper; and there an ungodly slaveholder and a pious
deacon; each eyeing the other with distrust, and fearful of exciting a
quarrel, both denouncing the poor, neglected, despised free black man as
a miserable, good-for-nothing creature, and both gravely complimenting
their foresight and generosity in sending this worthless wretch on a
religious mission to Africa!
I cannot exhibit the folly and wickedness of this alliance in a clearer
light than by inserting the following extract of a letter from Capt.
Charles Stuart, of the English Royal Navy, one of the most indefatigable
philanthropists in England:
'The American Colonization Society looks abroad over its own
country, and it finds a mass of its brethren, whom God has been
pleased to clothe with a darker skin. It finds one portion of
these free! another enslaved! It finds a cruel prejudice, as
dark and false as sin can make it, reigning with a most
tyrannous sway against both. It finds this prejudice respecting
the _free_, declaring without a blush, "We are too wicked ever
to love them as God commands us to do--we are so resolute in our
wickedness as not even to desire to do so--and we are so proud
in our iniquity that we will hate and revile whoever disturbs us
in it--We want, like the devils of old, to be let alone in our
sin--We are unalterably determined, and neither God nor man
shall move us from this resolution, that our free colored fellow
subjects never shall be happy in their native land." The
American Colonization Society, I say, finds this most base and
cruel prejudice, _and lets it alone_; nay more, it directly and
powerfully supports it.
'The American Colonization Society finds 2,000,000 of its fellow
subjects most iniquitously enslaved--and it finds a resolution
as proud and wicked as the very spirit of the pit can make it
against _obeying_ God and _letting them_ go free in their native
land. _It lets this perfectly infernal resolution alone_, nay
more, it powerfully supports it; for it in fact says, as a fond
and feeble father might say to some overgrown baby before whose
obstinate wickedness he quailed, "Never mind, my dear, I don't
want to prevent your beating and abusing your brothers and
sisters--let that be--but here is a box of sugar plums--do pray
give them one or two now and then." The American Colonization
Society says practically to the slaveholders and the slave party
in the United States, "We don't want to prevent your plundering
2,000,000 of our fellow subjects of their liberty and of the
fruits of their toil; although we know that by every principle
of law which does not utterly disgrace us by assimilating us to
pirates, that they have as good and as true a right to the equal
protection of the law as we have; and although we ourselves
stand prepared to die, rather than submit even to a fragment of
the intolerable load of oppression to which we are subjecting
them--yet never mind--let that be--they have grown old in
suffering, and we in iniquity--and we have nothing to do now but
to speak _peace_, _peace_ to one another in our sins. But if any
of their masters, whether from benevolence, an awakened
conscience, or political or personal fear, should emancipate
any, let us send them to Liberia--that is, in fact, let us give
a sugar plum here and there to a few, while the many are living
and dying unredressed--and while we are thus countenancing the
atrocious iniquity beneath which they are perishing." In this
aspect I find the American Colonization Society declaring itself
a substitute for emancipation, and it is in this aspect that I
contend with it, and that I proclaim it, _as far as it has this
character_, no farther, a bane to the colored people, whether
enslaved or free, and a snare and a disgrace to its country.'
The second article of the Constitution of this Society is in the
following language:
'The object to which its attention is to be _exclusively_
directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with
their consent) the free people of color residing in our country,
in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most
expedient. And the Society shall act, to effect this object, in
co-operation with the General Government, and such of the States
as may adopt regulations upon the subject.'
The following citations abundantly sustain the charge, that the Society
has not swerved from its original design, and does not oppose the system
of slavery:
'Whilst he was up, he would detain the Society for a few
moments. It was proper again and again to repeat, that it was
far from the intention of the Society to affect, _in any
manner_, the tenure by which a certain species of property is
held. He was himself a slaveholder; _and he considered that kind
of property as inviolable as any other in the country_. He would
resist as soon, and with as much firmness, encroachments upon it
as he would encroachments upon any other property which he held.
Nor was he disposed even to go as far as the gentleman who had
just spoken, (Mr Mercer) in saying that he would emancipate his
slaves, if the means were provided of sending them from the
country.'--[Speech of Henry Clay.--First Annual Report.]
'It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he
understood it constituted no part of the object of this meeting,
to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate
question, connected with another portion of the colored
population of our country. It was not proposed to deliberate
upon or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or that
which was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon
that condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the
South and West, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be
expected to co-operate. It was upon that condition only, that he
himself had attended.'--[Speech of Mr Clay before the Society,
Jan. 1, 1818.--Second Annual Report.]
'It had been properly observed by the chairman, as well as by
the gentleman from this District (Messrs Clay and Caldwell) that
there was nothing in the proposition submitted to consideration
which in the smallest degree touched another very important and
delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of view as
possible, (Negro slavery.) * * * Mr R. concluded by saying, that
he had thought it necessary to make these remarks, being a
slaveholder himself, to shew, that, so far from being connected
with the abolition of slavery, _the measure proposed would prove
one of the greatest securities to enable the master to keep in
possession his own property_.'--[Speech of John Randolph at the
same meeting.]
'Your committee would not thus favorably regard the prayer of
the memorialists, if it sought to impair, _in the slightest
degree_, the rights of private property, or the yet more sacred
rights of personal liberty, secured to every description of
freemen in the United States.
'The resolution of the legislature of Virginia, the subsequent
acts and declarations, as well as the high character of the
memorialists themselves, added to the most obvious interest of
the states who have recently sanctioned the purpose, or
recognized the existence of the American Colonization Society,
exclude _the remotest apprehension of such injustice and
inhumanity_.'
--[Report of the committee of the House of Representatives of
the United States, on the memorial of the President and Board of
Managers of the Colonization Society.--Second Annual Report.]
'An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of
the country can unite, of course _must not have the abolition of
slavery for its immediate object_. NOR MAY IT AIM DIRECTLY AT
THE INSTRUCTION OF THE BLACKS. In either case, the _prejudices_
and _terrors_ of the slaveholding States would be excited in a
moment; and with reason too, for it is a well-established point,
that _the public safety forbids either the emancipation or the
general instruction of the slaves_.' * * * 'It [African
Colonization] is an enterprise in which _all parts of the
country can unite_. The grand objection to every other effort
is, that it excites the _jealousies_ and _fears_ of the south.
But here is an effort in which the southern people are the first
to engage, and which numbers many of their most distinguished
men among its advocates and efficient supporters.'--[Review of
the Reports of the Society, from the Christian
Spectator.--Seventh Annual Report.]
'It will be seen at home and abroad, that the American
Colonization Society, while it _properly enough_ stands aloof
from the question of slavery, and the abolition of slavery,'
&c.--[Report of William McKenney.--Eighth Annual Report.]
'The objects of this institution are well known to the world;
for no concealment whatever has ever been intended. The Society
aims at the removal of free persons of color; _it interferes, in
no way whatever, with the rights of property_.'--[Speech of G.
W. Custis, Esq.--Ninth Annual Report.]
'We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this
question. The Society goes into no household to disturb its
domestic tranquillity; it addresses itself to no slaves to
weaken their obligations of obedience. _It seeks to affect no
man's property._'--[Speech of Mr Clay.--Tenth Annual Report.]
'The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of the American
Colonization Society, have had the subject under consideration,
and now report:
'That upon due consideration of the said memorial, and from all
other information which your committee has obtained, touching
that subject, they are fully satisfied that no jealousies ought
to exist, on the part of this or any other slaveholding State,
respecting the objects of this Society, or the effects of its
labors.'--[Report of a committee of the Legislature of Delaware,
Feb. 8th, 1827.]
'The Society has reiterated the declaration that it has no
ulterior views diverse from the object avowed in the
constitution; and having declared that it is in nowise allied to
any Abolition Society in America or elsewhere, is ready whenever
there is need TO PASS A CENSURE UPON SUCH SOCIETIES IN
AMERICA.'--[Speech of Mr Harrison of Virginia.--Eleventh Annual
Report.]
'We have the same interests in this subject with our southern
brethren--the same opportunity of understanding it, and of
knowing with what _care_ and _prudence_ it should be approached.
What greater pledge can we give for the moderation and safety of
our measures than our own interests as slaveholders, and the
ties that bind us to the slaveholding communities to which we
belong?'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Same Report.]
'The second objection may be resolved into this; that the
Society, under the specious pretext of removing a vicious and
noxious population, is secretly undermining the rights of
private property. This is the objection expressed in its full
force, and if your memorialists could for a moment believe it to
be true in point of fact, they would never, _slaveholders as
they are_, have associated themselves together for the purpose
of co-operating with the Parent Society; and far less would they
have appeared in the character in which they now do, before the
legislative bodies of a slaveholding State. And, if any instance
could be now adduced, in which the Society has ever manifested
even an intention to depart from the avowed object, for the
promotion of which it was originally instituted, none would with
more willingness and readiness withdraw from it their
countenance and support. But, from the time of its formation,
down to the present period, all its operations have been
directed exclusively to the promotion of its one grand object,
namely, the colonization in Africa of the free people of color
of the United States. It has always protested, and through your
memorialists it again protests, that _it has no wish to
interfere_ with the delicate but important subject of slavery.
It has never, in a solitary instance, addressed itself to the
slave. It has never sought to invade the tranquillity of the
domestic circle, nor the peace and safety of
society.'--[Memorial of the Auxiliary Colonization Society of
Powhatan, to the Legislature of Virginia.--Twelfth Annual
Report.]
'Therefore she looked, and well might she look, to colonization
and to colonization alone. To abolition _she could not look_,
and need not look. Whatever that scheme may have done,
heretofore, in the States now free, it had done nothing and
could do nothing in the slave States for the cause of humanity.
This subject he rejoiced to know was now better understood, and
all began to see that it was _wiser_ and _safer_ to remove, by
colonization, a great and otherwise insuperable impediment to
emancipation, _than to act upon the subject of emancipation
itself_.'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Thirteenth Annual Report.]
'Our Society has nothing to do directly with the question of
slavery.' * * * 'Whilst the Society protests that it has no
designs on the rights of the master in the slave--or the
property in his slave, which the laws guarantee to him,'
&c.--[Speech of Gerrit Smith, Esq.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]
'Its primary object now is, and ever has been, to colonize, with
their own consent, free people of color on the coast of Africa,
or elsewhere, as Congress may deem expedient. And, Sir, I am
unwilling to admit, under any circumstances, and particularly in
this Hall, that it ever has swerved from this cardinal
object.'--[Speech of Mr Benham.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]
'Something he must yet be allowed to say, as regarded the object
the Society was set up to accomplish. This object, if he
understood it aright, _involved no intrusion on property_, NOR
EVEN UPON PREJUDICE.'--[Speech of Mr Archer of
Virginia.--Fifteenth Annual Report.]
'That the effort made by the Society should be such as to unite
all parts of the country--such as to be in any degree ultimately
successful, it was necessary to _disclaim all attempts for the
immediate abolition of slavery, or the instruction of the great
body of the blacks_. Such attempts would have excited alarm and
jealousy, would have been inconsistent with the public safety,
and defeated the great purposes of the Society.' * * * 'It is
pleasing to learn that the Friends, who at first were not
favorable to the Society, _having been inclined to the immediate
abolition of slavery_, are coming into what we deem the _more
wise policy_ of encouraging emancipation by
colonization.'--[Speech of Harmanus Bleecker, Esq. at the Second
Anniversary Meeting of the New-York Colonization Society, April
14, 1831.]
'The plan of colonization seems _the only one entitled to the
least consideration_.'--[Speech of M. C. Paterson, Esq. on the
same occasion.]
'Nor will their brethren of the North desire to interfere with
their constitutional rights, or rashly to disturb a system
interwoven with their feelings, habits, and prejudices. A golden
mean will be pursued, which, at the same time that it _consults
the wishes_, and _respects the prejudices_ of the South, will
provide for the claims of justice and Christianity, and avert
the storm of future desolation.'--[Speech of Lucius Q. C. Elmer,
Esq.--First Annual Report of the New-Jersey Colonization
Society.]
'Views are attributed to us, that were never entertained, and
our plan is tortured _into a design to emancipate the Slaves of
the South_. We are made to disregard this description of
property, and to touch without reserve the rights of our
neighbors. We are said to tread this almost forbidden ground
with firm step, and a hardihood of effort is imputed to us,
which, if true, might well excite the indignation of our
southern citizens.--But, Sir, our Society and the friends of
colonization wish to be distinctly understood upon this point.
From the beginning they have _disavowed_, and they do yet
_disavow_, that their object is _the emancipation of the
slaves_. They have no wish, _if they could_, to interfere in the
smallest degree with what they deem the most interesting and
fearful subject which can be pressed upon the American public.'
* * * 'There is no people that treat their slaves with so much
kindness and with so little cruelty. Nor can I believe that we
shall meet with any serious opposition from that quarter, when
our object is distinctly understood--when it is known that our
operations are confined exclusively to the free black
population. That this is our _sole_ object, I appeal with entire
confidence to the constitution of our Society and to the
constitution and Annual Reports of the Parent Institution.' * * *
'We again repeat--that our operations are confined to the free
black population, and that there is no ground for fear on the
part of our southern friends. We hold their slaves as we hold
their other property, SACRED. Let not then this slander be
repeated.'--[Speech of James S. Green, Esq. on the same
occasion.]
'Nothing has contributed more to retard the operations of the
Colonization Society than the mistaken notion that it interferes
directly with slavery. This objection is rapidly vanishing away,
and many of the slaveholding States are becoming efficient
supporters of the national society. In the Senate of Louisiana
during its last session, resolutions were adopted expressive of
the opinion that the object of this Society was deserving the
patronage of the general government. An enlightened community
now see, that this Society infringes upon no man's rights, that
its object is noble and benevolent--to remedy an evil which is
felt and acknowledged at the north and south--to give the free
people of color the privileges of freemen.'--[From a Tract
issued by the Massachusetts Colonization Society in 1831, for
gratuitous distribution.]
'This institution proposes to do good by a single specific
course of measures. Its direct and specific purpose _is not the
abolition of slavery_, or the relief of pauperism, or the
extension of commerce and civilization, or the enlargement of
science, or the conversion of the heathen. The single object
which its constitution prescribes, and to which all its efforts
are necessarily directed, is, African colonization from America.
It proposes only to afford facilities for the voluntary
emigration of free people of color from this country to the
country of their fathers.'--[Review on African
Colonization.--Christian Spectator for September, 1830.]
'It interferes in nowise with the right of property, and hopes
and labors for the gradual abolition of slavery, by the
voluntary and gradual manumission of slaves, when the free
persons of color shall have first been transferred to their
aboriginal climate and soil.'--[G. W. P. Custis, Esq.--African
Repository, vol. i. p. 39.]
'Does this Society wish to meddle with our slaves as our
rightful property? I answer _no_, I think not.'--[African
Repository, vol. ii. p. 13.]
'They have been denounced by some as fanatical and visionary
innovators, pursuing without regard to means or consequences, an
object destructive of the rights of property, and dangerous to
the public peace.' * * * 'The sole object of the Society, as
declared at its institution, and from which it can never be
allowed to depart, is 'to remove with their own consent, to the
coast of Africa, the free colored population, now existing in
the United States, and such as hereafter may become free.'' * * *
'In pursuing their object, therefore, (although such
consequences may result from a successful prosecution of it,)
the Society cannot be justly charged with aiming to disturb the
rights of property or the peace of society. Your memorialists
refer with confidence to the course they have pursued, in the
prosecution of their object for nine years past, to shew that it
is possible, without danger or alarm, to carry on such an
operation, notwithstanding its supposed relation to the subject
of slavery, and that they have not been regardless, in any of
their measures, of what was due to the state of society in which
they live. They are, themselves, chiefly slaveholders, and live,
with all the ties of life binding them to a slaveholding
community. They know when to speak and when to forbear upon
topics connected with this painful and difficult subject. They
put forth no passionate appeals before the public, seek to
excite no feeling, and avoid, with the most sedulous care, every
measure that would endanger the public tranquillity.' * * * 'The
managers could, with no propriety, depart from their original
and avowed purpose, _and make emancipation their object_. And
they would further say, that if they were not thus restrained by
the terms of their association, they would still consider any
attempts to promote the increase of the free colored population
by manumission, _unnecessary_, _premature_, and _dangerous_.'
* * * 'It seems now to be admitted that, whatever has any bearing
upon that question, must be managed with the utmost
consideration; that the peace and order of society must not be
endangered by indiscreet and ill-timed efforts to promote
emancipation; and that a true regard should be manifested to the
feelings and the fears, and even the _prejudices_ of those,
whose co-operation is essential.'--[Memorial of the Society to
the several States.--A. R. vol. ii. pp. 57, 58, 60.]
'To found in Africa an empire of _christians and republicans_;
to reconduct the blacks to their native land, without disturbing
the order of society, the laws of property, or the rights of
individuals; rapidly, but legally, _silently_, _gradually_, to
drain them off; these are the noble ends of the colonization
scheme.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 375.]
'Nor have I ever been able to see, for my part, why the
patronage of Congress to a benevolent and patriotic Society,
which, without interfering, in the smallest degree, with that
_delicate interest_, only aims to remove what we all consider as
a great evil--our free people of color--(and which evil _does_
interfere with that interest,) should excite the jealousy or
spleen of our most watchful and determined advocates of state
rights.'--[Idem, p. 383.]
'Recognising the constitutional and legitimate existence of
slavery, it seeks not to interfere, either directly or
indirectly, with the rights which it creates. _Acknowledging the
necessity by which its present continuance and the rigorous
provisions for its maintenance are justified_, it aims only at
furnishing the States, in which it exists, the means of
immediately lessening its severities, and of ultimately
relieving themselves from its acknowledged evils.'--[Opimius in
reply to Caius Gracchus.--African Repository, vol. iii. p. 16.]
'_It is no abolition Society_; it addresses as yet _arguments to
no master_, and disavows with horror the idea of offering
temptations to any slave. IT DENIES THE DESIGN OF ATTEMPTING
EMANCIPATION, EITHER PARTIAL OR GENERAL; it denies, with us,
that the General Government have any power to emancipate; and
declares that the States have exclusively the right to regulate
the whole subject of slavery. The scope of the Society is large
enough, but it is in nowise mingled or confounded with the broad
sweeping views of _a few fanatics_ in America, who would urge us
on to the sudden and total abolition of slavery.' * * * 'The
first great material objection is that the Society does, in
fact, in spite of its denial, meditate and conspire the
emancipation of the slaves. To the candid, let me say that there
are names on the rolls of the Society too high to be rationally
accused of the duplicity and insidious falsehood which this
implies; farther, the Society and its branches are composed, in
by far the larger part, of _citizens of slaveholding States_,
who cannot gravely be charged with a design so perilous to
themselves. To the uncandid disputant, I say, let him put his
finger on one single sentiment, declaration or act of the
Society, or of any person, with its sanction, which shows such
to be their object: there is in fact no pretext for the charge.'
* * * 'Let me repeat, the _friends_ of the Colonization Society,
three-fourths of them are SLAVEHOLDERS; the legislatures of
Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, all slaveholding
States, have approved it; _every member_ of this auxiliary
Society is, _either in himself, or his nearest relatives,
interested in holding slaves_.' * * * 'Once more; this Society
is no way connected with certain Abolition Societies in the
country. To these the Colonization Society would say, "Your
object is unattainable, your zeal dangerous, and nothing can
give it the right direction or the right temperature, but your
surrendering your plan to ours: be convinced, that if the blacks
are ever to be removed from us, it will be by the free will of
the owners, and by means of the opportunity which our _innocent_
plan of an asylum for such as may be sent will afford."'--['The
Col. Society Vindicated.'--Idem, pp. 197, 200, 202, 203.]
'They can impress upon the southern slaveholder, by the strength
of facts, and by the recorded declarations of honest men, that
the objects of the Colonization Society are altogether pure and
praiseworthy, and _that it has no intention to open the door to
universal liberty_, but only to cut out a channel, where the
merciful providence of God may cause those dark waters to flow
off.'--[Idem, vol. iv. p. 145.]
'About twelve years ago, some of the wisest men of the nation,
(_mostly slaveholders_,) formed, in the city of Washington, the
present American Colonization Society. Among them were men high
in office, who had spent many years in studying the interests of
their country, and who could not, therefore, be suspected of
short-sighted enthusiasm, or any secret design of disturbing the
rights or the safety of our southern citizens.' * * * 'You will
observe, first, that _there is to be no intermeddling with
property in slaves_. THE RIGHTS OF MASTERS ARE TO REMAIN SACRED
IN THE EYES OF THE SOCIETY. The tendency of the scheme, and one
of its objects, is to _secure slaveholders, and the whole
southern country_, against certain evil consequences, growing
out of the three-fold mixture of our population.'--[Address of
the Rockbridge Col. Society.--Idem, p. 274.]
'It is true, their operations have been confined to the single
object, colonization.--They do nothing directly to effect the
manumission of slaves.--They think nothing can be advantageously
done in favor of emancipation, but by means of colonization, of
which emancipation will be a certain consequence that may be
safely and quietly awaited.'--[Mr Key's Address.--Idem, p. 303.]
'The Colonization Society, as such, have renounced wholly the
name and the characteristics of abolitionists. On this point
they have been unjustly and injuriously slandered. They need no
such barrier to restrict them, as the sentiment of Mr Harrison,
for their operations are entirely in a different department.
INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS THE SUBJECT OF EMANCIPATION DOES NOT ENTER
AT ALL.'--['N. E.'--Idem, p. 306.]
'Being, chiefly, slaveholders ourselves, we well know how it
becomes us to approach such a subject as this in a slaveholding
state, and in every other. If there were room for a reasonable
jealousy, we among the first should feel it; being as much
interested in the welfare of the community, and having as much
at heart, as any men can have, the security of ourselves, our
property and our families.' * * * 'Our object is, not to prevail
upon the master to part with his slave, for that we leave to his
own reflection and CONVENIENCE; but to afford to those masters
who have determined, or may determine, to manumit their slaves;
provided they can be removed from this country, the means of
removing them to a place where they may be really free,
virtuous, respectable and happy.--Nothing can be more innocent
and less alarming.'--[Review of Mr Tazewell's Report.--Idem, p.
341.]
'The American Colonization Society has, at all times, solemnly
disavowed any purpose of interference with the institutions or
rights of our Southern communities.'--[Idem, vol. v. p. 307.]
'From its origin, and throughout the whole period of its
existence, it has constantly disclaimed all intention whatever
of interfering, in the smallest degree, with the rights of
property, or the object of emancipation, gradual or immediate.
_It is not only without inclination_, but it is without power,
to make any such interference. It is not even a chartered or
incorporated company; and it has no other foundation than that
of Bible Societies, or any other christian or charitable
unincorporated companies in our country. It knows that the
subject of emancipation belongs exclusively to the several
States in which slavery is tolerated, and to individual
proprietors of slaves in those States, under and according to
their laws.' * * * 'The Society presents to the American public
_no project of emancipation_.' * * * 'Its exertions have been
confined exclusively to the free colored people of the United
States, and to those of them who are willing to go. It has
neither _purpose_ nor power to extend them to the larger portion
of that race held in bondage. Throughout the whole period of its
existence, this disclaimer has been made, and incontestible
facts establish its truth and sincerity. It is now repeated, in
its behalf, that the spirit of misrepresentation may have no
pretext for abusing the public ear.'--[Mr Clay's Speech.--African
Repository, vol. vi. pp. 13, 17, 19.]
'The Society, from considerations like these, whilst it
disclaims the remotest idea of ever disturbing the right of
property in slaves, conceives it to be possible that the time
may arrive, when, with the approbation of their owners, they
shall all be at liberty; and, with those already free, be
removed, with their own consent, to the land of their
ancestors.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. p. 69.]
'_It is not the object of this Society to liberate slaves, or
touch the rights of property_. TO SET THEM LOOSE AMONG US WOULD
BE AN EVIL MORE INTOLERABLE THAN SLAVERY ITSELF. It would make
our situation insecure and dangerous.'--[Report of the Kentucky
Col. Soc.--Idem, p. 81.]
'It contemplates no purpose of abolition: it touches no slave
until his fetters have been voluntarily stricken off by the hand
of his own master.'--[Speech of John A. Dix, Esq.--Idem, p.
165.]
'What has awakened that spirit of suspicion and enmity which is
now manifested by these men in every form of open and active
hostility? Can it be attributed to any departure of the Society
from its avowed original design and principles? We maintain that
it cannot; we maintain that the character of the Society has
from the commencement been uniformly the same, and that its
proceedings have been consistent with its character. Were or are
the design and principles of the Society hostile to the rights
and interest of the Southern States? We maintain that they were
and are not; but on the contrary, are worthy to be cherished by
the citizens of these States, and to be sustained with all their
energies as means of their political and moral strength.' * * *
'The _free_ people of color alone are to be colonized by the
Society, and whether the benefits of its scheme are ever to be
extended to _others_, is a question referred to those to whom it
pertains as a matter of right and duty to decide.' * * * 'The
Colonization Society would be the last Institution in the world
to disturb the domestic tranquillity of the South.'--[Defence of
the Society.--Idem, pp. 197, 207, 209.]
'This Society, here in the outset, most explicitly disclaims all
intention to interfere in the smallest degree with the slave
population. It is with the free colored population alone, and
that too, with their own consent, that this Society proposes to
act.'--[Address of the Maryland State Colonization Society to
the People of Maryland.]
'To the slaveholder, who had charged upon them the wicked design
of interfering with the rights of property under the specious
pretexts of removing a vicious and dangerous free population,
they address themselves in a tone of conciliation and sympathy.
We know your rights, say they, and we respect them--we know your
difficulties, and we appreciate them. _Being mostly slaveholders
ourselves_, having a common interest with you in this subject,
an equal opportunity of understanding it, and the same motives
to prudent action, what better guarantee can be afforded for the
just discrimination, and the safe operation of our measures? And
what ground for apprehension that we, who are bound to you by
the strongest ties of interest and of sympathy, should intrude
upon the repose of the domestic circle, or invade the peace and
security of society? Have not the thirteen years' peaceful, yet
efficient, operations of our Society attested the _moderation of
our views_ and the safety of our plans? We have protested from
the commencement, and during our whole progress, and we do now
protest, that we have never entertained the purpose of
intermeddling with the private property of individuals. We know
that we have not the power, even if we had the inclination, to
do so. Your rights, as guarantied by the Constitution, are held
sacred in our eyes; and we should be among the foremost to
resist, as a flagrant usurpation, any encroachment upon those
rights. Our only object, as at all times avowed, is to provide
for the removal to the coast of Africa, with their own consent,
of such persons of color as are already free, and of such others
as the humanity of individuals, or the laws of the different
states, may hereafter liberate. Is there any thing, say they, in
this proposition at war with your interest, your safety, your
honor, or your happiness? Do we not all regard this mixed and
intermediate population of free blacks, made up of slaves or
their immediate descendants, as a mighty and a growing evil,
exerting a dangerous and baneful influence on all around
them?'--[Address of Cyrus Edwards, Esq. of Illinois.--African
Repository, vol. vii. p. 100.]
'It was never the intention of the Society to interfere with the
rights of the proprietors of slaves; nor has it at any time done
so.'--[Address of R. J. Breckenridge of Kentucky.--Idem p. 176.]
'The specific object to which the entire funds of the
Institution are devoted, is simple and plainly unexceptionable
in this respect, that it interferes with no rights of
individuals, and with no law of the land.' * * * 'It embraces in
its provisions only the free. It does not interfere--it desires
not to interfere, in any way, with the rights or the interests
of the proprietors of slaves. _It condemns no man because he is
a slaveholder_; it seeks to quiet all unkind feelings between
the sober and virtuous men of the North and of the South on the
subject of slavery; it sends abroad no influence to disturb the
peace, and endanger the security and prosperity of any portion
of the country.'--[Character and Influence of the Colonization
Society.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 194, 200.]
'Can it be a ruthless scheme of political speculation, which
would trample, with rude and unhallowed step, upon the rights of
property, to gratify the visionary and fanatical projects of its
authors? No: this is impossible. Yet such is the language of
intemperate opposition, with which this Society has been
assailed by its enemies.' * * * 'Equally absurd and false is the
objection, that this Society seeks indirectly to disturb the
rights of property, and to interfere with the well-established
relation subsisting between master and slave. The man who avows
such monstrous purposes as these, and seeks to shelter himself
under the sanction and authority of the American Colonization
Society, is a base traitor to the cause which it seeks to
advance--AN ENEMY OF THE WORST AND MOST DANGEROUS STAMP, because
he assumes the specious garb of a friend and coadjutor. Let him
stand, or let him fall, by the verdict of an insulted and
outraged community--but do not make liable for his acts a great
Institution, whose real friends will be the first to reject and
discountenance him, and to mark upon his forehead in indelible
characters, "This is a traitor to the cause of his country and
the cause of humanity."--It is true that the friends of the
American Colonization Society have permitted themselves to
entertain the high and exalted hope, that, by its influences,
ultimate and remote, the burdens which are incident to slavery
may be greatly mitigated, and possibly the evil itself at some
future day be entirely removed. But mark, Mr President, and mark
well, ye hearers, the grounds upon which this hope is founded.
It could not be sustained by any effort, direct or indirect, to
invade the rights of the slaveholding community, for the plain
and palpable reason, that the effort itself would furnish the
most certain means of defeating the object in view, even
supposing the friends of the Society reckless enough to
entertain it. It would denote on the part of those who made it,
an extremity of madness and folly, wholly unprecedented in the
history of the world, and if persevered in, would dissolve the
government into its original elements, even though the principle
of union which holds it together were a thousand-fold stronger
than it is.' * * * 'Surely the friends of the Colonization
Society have done nought either to alarm the honest fears of the
patriot, or excite the morbid sensibilities of the
slaveholder.'--[Address delivered before the Lynchburg Auxiliary
Colonization Society, August 18, 1831.]
'While, therefore, _they determined to avoid the question of
slavery_, they proposed the formation of a colony on the coast
of Africa, as an asylum for free people of color.' * * * 'The
emancipation of slaves or the amelioration of their condition,
with the moral, intellectual, and political improvement of
people of color within the United States, _are subjects foreign
to the powers of this Society_.'--[Address of the Board of
Managers of the American Colonization Society to its Auxiliary
Societies.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 290, 291.]
'The American Colonization Society was formed with special
reference to the _free_ blacks of our country. With the
_delicate subject_ of slavery it presumes not to interfere. And
yet doubtless from the first it has cherished the hope of being
in some way or other a medium of relief to the entire colored
population of the land. Such a hope is certainly both innocent
and benevolent. And so long as the Society adheres to the object
announced in its constitution, as it hitherto has done, the
master can surely find no reasonable cause of anxiety. And it is
a gratifying circumstance that the Society has from the first
_obtained its most decided and efficient support from the
slaveholding States_.'--[Sermon, delivered at Springfield,
Mass., July 4th, 1829, before the Auxiliary Colonization Society
of Hampden County, by Rev. B. Dickinson.]
'The American Colonization Society in no way directly meddles
with slavery. It disclaims all such
interference.'--[Correspondent of the Southern Religious
Telegraph.]
'This system is sanctioned by the laws of independent and
sovereign states. Congress cannot constitutionally pass laws
which shall tend directly to abolish it. If it ever be abolished
by legislative enactments, it must be done by the respective
legislatures of the States in which it exists. It never designed
to interfere with what the laws consider as the rights of
masters--it has made no appeals to them to release their slaves
for colonization, nor to their slaves to abandon their masters.
With this delicate subject, the Society has avowedly nothing to
do. Its ostensible object is necessarily the removal of our free
colored population.'--[Middletown (Connecticut) Gazette.]
'With slaves, however, the American Colonization Society has _no
concern_ whatever, except to transport to Africa such as their
owners may liberate for that purpose.'--[Oration delivered at
Newark, N. J., July 4th, 1831, by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]
'It disclaims, and always has disclaimed, all intention
whatever, of interfering in the smallest degree, direct or
indirect, with the rights of slaveholders, the right of
property, _or the object of emancipation, gradual or immediate.
It knows that the owners of slaves are the owners, and no one
else--it does not, in the most remote degree, touch that
delicate subject_. Every slaveholder may, therefore, remain at
ease concerning it or its progress or objects.'--[An advocate of
the Society in the New-Orleans Argus.]
It were needless to multiply these extracts. So precisely do they
resemble each other, that they seem rather as the offspring of a single
mind, than of many minds. A large majority of them come in the most
official and authoritative shape, and their language is explicit beyond
cavil.
Here, then, is a combination, embracing able and influential men in all
parts of the country, pledging itself not only to respect the system of
slavery, but to frown indignantly upon those who shall dare to assail
it. And what is this system which is to be held in so much reverence,
and avoided with so much care? It is a system which has in itself no
redeeming feature, but is full of blood--the blood of innocent men,
women and children; full of adultery and concupiscence; full of
darkness, blasphemy and wo; full of rebellion against God and treason
against the universe; full of wrath--impurity--ignorance--brutality--and
awful impiety; full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; full of
temporal suffering and eternal damnation. It is, says Pitt, a mass, a
system of enormities, which incontrovertibly bid defiance to every
regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power effect, but a total
extinction; a system of incurable injustice, the complication of every
species of iniquity, the greatest practical evil that ever has afflicted
the human race, and the severest and most extensive calamity recorded in
the history of the world. Fox calls it a most unjust and horrible
persecution of our fellow creatures. The Rev. Dr. Thomson declares it is
a system hostile to the original and essential rights of
humanity--contrary to the inflexible and paramount demands of moral
justice--at eternal variance with the spirit and maxims of revealed
religion--inimical to all that is merciful in the heart, and holy in the
conduct--and on these accounts, necessarily exposed and subject to the
curse of Almighty God. It is, says Rowland Hill, made up of every crime
that treachery, cruelty and murder can invent. Wilberforce says, it is
the full measure of pure, unmixed, unsophisticated wickedness; and
scorning all competition or comparison, it stands without a rival in the
secure, undisputed possession of its detestable pre-eminence. In this
country, slavery is a system which leaves the chastity of one million
females without any protection! which condemns more than two millions of
human beings to remediless bondage! which authorises their sale at
public vendue in company with horses, sheep and hogs, or in a private
manner, at the pleasure of their owners! which, under penalty of
imprisonment, and even death, forbids their being taught the lowest
rudiments of knowledge! which, by the exclusion of their testimony in
courts, subjects them to worse than brutal treatment! which recognizes
no connubial obligations, ruthlessly severs the holiest relations of
life, tears the scarcely weaned babe from the arms of its mother, wives
from their husbands, and parents from their children! But who is
adequate to the task of delineating its horrors, or recording its
atrocities, in full? Who can number the stripes which it inflicts, the
groans and tears and imprecations which it extorts, the cruel murders
which it perpetrates? or who measure the innocent blood which it
spills, or the degradation which it imposes, or the guilt which it
accumulates? or who reveal the waste of property, the perversion of
intellect, the loss of happiness, the burial of mind, to which it is
accessary? or who trace its poisonous influence and soul-destroying
tendency back for two hundred years down to the end of time? None--none
but God himself! It is corrupt as death--black as perdition--cruel and
insatiate as the grave. To adopt the nervous language of another:--The
thing I say is true. I speak the truth, though it is most lamentable. I
dare not hide it, I dare not palliate it; else the horror with which it
covereth me would make me do so. Wo unto such a system! wo unto the men
of this land who have been brought under its operation! It is not felt
to be evil, it is not acknowledged to be evil, it is not preached
against as evil; and, therefore, it is only the more inveterate and
fearful an evil.[H] _It hath become constitutional._ IT IS FED FROM THE
STREAM OF OUR LIFE, and it will grow more and more excessive, until it
can no longer be endured by God, nor borne with by man.
And this is the system, with which, as the reader has seen, the American
Colonization Society is resolved not to interfere; and with the
upholders of which, ministers of the gospel and professors of religion
of all denominations have made a treaty of peace! Tell it not
abroad--publish it not in the capitals of Europe--lest the despots of
the old world take courage, and infidelity strengthen its stakes!
If men who are reputedly wise and good--if religious teachers and
political leaders, those whose opinions are almost implicitly adopted,
and whose examples are readily followed by the mass of the people--if
such men suppress their voices on this momentous subject, and turn their
eyes from its contemplation, and give the right hand of fellowship to
the buyers and sellers of human flesh, is there not cause for
lamentation and alarm? The pulpit is false to its trust, and a moral
paralysis has seized the vitals of the church. The sanctity of religion
is thrown, like a mantle, over the horrid system. Under its auspices,
robbery and oppression have become popular and flourishing. The press,
too, by its profound silence, or selfish neutrality, or equivocal
course, or active partizanship, is enlisted in the cause of tyranny--the
mighty press, which has power, if exerted aright, to break every fetter,
and emancipate the land. If this state of things be not speedily
reversed, 'we be all dead men.' Unless the pulpit lift up the voice of
warning, supplication and wo, with a fidelity which no emolument can
bribe, and no threat intimidate; unless the church organise and plan for
the redemption of the benighted slaves, and directly assault the strong
holds of despotism; unless the press awake to its duty, or desist from
its bloody co-operation; as sure as Jehovah lives and is unchangeable,
he will pour out his indignation upon us, and consume us with the fire
of his wrath, and our own way recompense upon our heads. 'Ah, sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children
that are corrupters! When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine
eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: _your
hands are full of blood_. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well;
_seek judgment, relieve the oppressed_, judge the fatherless, plead for
the widow. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword:
_for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it_.'
I know the covert behind which colonizationists take refuge. They
profess to be--and, doubtless, in many instances are--aiming at the
ultimate emancipation of the slaves; but they are all for _gradual_
abolition--all too courteous to give offence--too sober to be
madmen--too discreet to adopt _rash_ measures. But I shall show, in the
progress of this work, that they not only shield the holders of slaves
from reproach, (and thus, by assuring them of their innocence, destroy
all motives for repentance,) but earnestly dissuade them from
emancipating their slaves without an immediate expulsion. Fine
conceptions of justice! Enemies of slavery, with a vengeance!
Suppose a similar course had been pursued by the friends of
Temperance--when would have commenced that mighty reformation which has
taken place before our eyes--unparalleled in extent, completeness and
rapidity? Suppose, instead of exposing the guilt of trafficking in
ardent spirits, and demanding instant and entire abstinence, they had
associated themselves together for the exclusive purpose of colonizing
all the drunkards in the land, as a class dangerous to our safety and
irremediably degraded, on a spot where they could not obtain the
poisonous alcohol, but could rise to respect and affluence--how would
such an enterprise have been received? Suppose they had pledged
themselves not to 'meddle' with the business of the traders in
spirituous liquors, or to injure the 'property' of distillers, and had
dwelt upon the folly and danger of 'immediate' abstinence, and had
denounced the advocates of this doctrine as madmen and fanatics, and had
endeavored, moreover, to suppress inquiry into the lawfulness of
rum-selling--how many importers, makers and venders of the liquid poison
would have abandoned their occupation, or how many of the four hundred
thousand individuals, who are now enrolled under the banner of entire
abstinence, would have been united in this great enterprise? Suppose,
further, that, in a lapse of fifteen years, this association had
transported two thousand drunkards, and the tide of intemperance had
continued to rise higher and higher, and some faithful watchmen had
given the alarm and showed the fatal delusion which rested upon the
land, and the Society should have defended itself by pointing to the two
thousand sots who had been saved by its instrumentality--would the
public attention have been successfully diverted from the _immense evil_
to the _partial good_? Suppose, once more, that this Society, composed
indiscriminately of rum-sellers and sober, pious men, on being charged
with perpetuating the evils of intemperance, with removing only some of
the fruits thereof instead of the tree itself, should have indignantly
repelled the charge, and said--'We are as much opposed to drunkenness,
and as heartily deprecate its existence, as any of our violent,
fanatical opposers; but the holders of ardent spirit have invested their
capital in it, and to destroy its sale would invade the right of
_property_; policy at least, bids us not to assail their conduct, as
otherwise we might exasperate them, and so lose their aid in colonizing
the tipplers.' What would have been accomplished? But no such logic was
used: the duty of immediate reform was constantly pressed upon the
people, and a mighty reform took place.
Colonizationists boast inordinately of having emancipated three or four
hundred slaves by their scheme, and contemptuously inquire of
abolitionists, 'What have _you_ effected?' Many persons have been
deceived by this _show_ of success, and deem it conclusive evidence of
the usefulness of the Colonization Society. But, in the first place, it
is very certain that none of these slaves were liberated in consequence
of the faithful appeals of the Society to the consciences of the
masters; for it has never troubled their consciences by any such
appeals. Secondly, it is obvious that these manumissions are the fruits
of the uncompromising doctrines of abolitionists; for they are
calculated to bring slaveholders to repentance, and they will yet
liberate other slaves to be caught up and claimed by the Society as
trophies of its success. Thirdly, it has been shown that while this
Society (allowing it the utmost that it claims) is effecting very little
and very doubtful good, it is inflicting upon the nation great and
positive evil, by refusing to arraign the oppressors at the bar of
eternal justice, and by obstructing the formation of abolition
societies. It rivets a thousand fetters where it breaks one. It annually
removes, on an average, two hundred of our colored population, whereas
the annual increase is about seventy thousand. It releases some scores
of slaves, and says to the owners of more than two millions--'Hold on!
don't emancipate too fast!'
What have the abolitionists _done_? They have done more, during the past
year, to overthrow the system of slavery, than has been accomplished by
the gradualists in half a century. They have succeeded in fastening the
attention of the nation upon its enormities, and in piercing the callous
consciences of the planters. They are reforming and consolidating public
opinion, dispelling the mists of error, inspiring the hearts of the
timid, enlightening the eyes of the blind, and disturbing the slumbers
of the guilty. Colonizationists gather a few leaves which the tree has
cast off, and vaunt of the deed: abolitionists 'lay the axe at once to
its roots, and put their united nerve into the steel'--nor shall their
strokes be in vain--for soon shall 'this great poison-tree of lust and
blood, and of all abominable and heartless iniquity, fall before them;
and law and love, and God and man, shout victory over its ruin.'
Has the reader duly considered the fatal admissions of the advocates of
the colonization scheme, presented in the preceding pages? Some of them
it may be serviceable to the cause of truth and justice to recapitulate.
1. _The Society does not aim directly at the instruction of the blacks:
their moral, intellectual and political improvement within the United
States, is foreign to its powers._
2. _The public safety forbids either the emancipation or the general
instruction of the slaves._
3. _The Society properly enough stands aloof from the question of
slavery._
4. _It is ready to pass censure upon abolition societies._
5. _It involves no intrusion on property, nor even upon prejudice._
6. _It has no wish, if it could, to interfere in the smallest degree
with the system of slavery._
7. _It acknowledges the necessity by which the present continuance of
the system and the rigorous provisions for its maintenance are
justified._
8. _It denies the design of attempting emancipation either partial or
general: into its accounts the subject of emancipation does not enter at
all: it has no intention to open the door to universal liberty._
9. _The rights of masters are to remain sacred in the eyes of the
Society._
10. _It condemns no man because he is a slaveholder._
Each of these particulars deserves a volume of comments, but I am
compelled to dismiss them in rotation with a single remark.
1. One reason assigned by the Society for refusing to promote the
education of our colored population, is, a dread of exciting 'the
_prejudices_ and _terrors_ of the slaveholding States'! Is it credible?
As far, then, as this Society extends its influence, more than two
millions of ignorant, degraded beings in this boasted land of liberty
and light have nothing to hope: their moral, intellectual and political
improvement is foreign to its powers! Cruel neglect! barbarous
coalition! A sinful fear of rousing the prejudices of oppressors
outweighs the claims of the contemned blacks, the requirements of the
gospel, the dictates of humanity, and the convictions of duty. Will this
plea avail aught at the bar of God? Millions of our countrymen purposely
kept in darkness, although we are able to pour daylight upon their
vision, merely to gratify and protect their buyers and sellers!
2. There never was a more abominable or more absurd heresy propagated,
than the assumption that the public safety would be jeoparded by an
immediate compliance with the demands of justice: yet it has obtained
among all orders of society. Even ministers of the gospel, who are bound
to cry aloud, and spare not,--to lift up their voices like a trumpet,
and show this guilty nation its sins,--to say to the holders of slaves,
'Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the
oppressed go free, _and break every yoke_,'--even they fly to this
subterfuge, and deprecate a general emancipation. On this subject, 'they
know not what they do;' they reason like madmen or atheists; they
advance sentiments which unhinge the moral government of the universe,
and directly encourage the commission of the most heinous crimes. How
long would any one of their number retain his situation, if he were to
preach in explicit terms to his congregation as follows?--'My dear
hearers, if any among you are daily oppressing the weak, or defrauding
the poor, do not cease from your robbery and cruelty at once, as you
value your own happiness and the welfare of society! Relax your
tyrannous grasp gradually from the throat of your neighbor, and steal
not quite so much from him this year as you did the last!'--But they
emphatically hold this language whenever they advise slaveholders not to
repent _en masse_, or too hastily. The public safety, they say, forbids
emancipation! or, in other words, the public safety depends upon your
persistance in cheating, whipping, starving, debasing your slaves! Nay,
more--many of them, horrible to tell, are traffickers in human flesh!
'For this thing which it cannot bear, the earth is disquieted. The
gospel of peace and mercy preached by him who steals, buys and sells the
purchase of Messiah's blood!--rulers of the church making merchandize of
their brethren's souls!--and Christians trading the persons of men!'[I]
3. The system of slavery is full of danger, outrage, desolation and
death--'a volcano in full operation'--a monster that is annually
supplied with sixty thousand new victims, devoured as soon as born--and
yet the Colonization Society 'properly enough stands aloof' from it!! It
utters no lamentations--makes no supplications--gives no
rebukes--presents no motives for repentance!
4. The Society is not only ready to pass, but it is constantly bestowing
its censure upon abolition societies. It represents their members as
guided by a visionary, wild and fanatical spirit, as invaders of rights
which are sacred, incendiaries, disturbers of the peace of society, and
enemies to the safety and happiness of the planters. Determining itself
to avoid the question of emancipation--to leave millions of human beings
to pine in bondage without exposing the guilt of the oppressors--it
endeavors to prevent any other association agitating the subject. Hence
between colonization and abolition societies there is no affinity of
feeling or action; and hence arises the cause, inexplicable to many,
why they cannot pursue their objects amicably together.
5. The attempt of the Society to conciliate the holders of slaves must
result either in disappointment, or in an abandonment of the path of
duty. If they are guilty of robbery and oppression, they must be
arraigned as criminals, or they never will reform: for why should
honest, benevolent men change their conduct? If, through a false
delicacy of feeling or cringing policy, their wickedness be covered up,
alas for the slaves, and alas for the regeneration of the south! all
hope is lost.
6. The Society has no wish, _if it could_, to interfere with the system
of slavery! Monstrous indifference, or barbarous cruelty! And yet it
presumes to occupy the whole ground of the controversy, and to direct
the actions of the friends of the blacks throughout the land! By the
phrase '_interfere_,' is meant no desire to contest the claims of the
planters to their bondmen, or to kindle the indignation of the people
against their atrocious practices.
7. It appears that all those terrible enactments which have been made
for the government of the slaves--such, for example, as forbid their
learning to read under the penalty of stripes, and even death--are
acknowledged by the Society to be necessary for the maintenance of
order! What a concession!
8. Sometimes we are told that the Society is aiming at the liberation of
all the slaves, and then that it has no design of attempting either
partial or general emancipation: so contradictory are its assurances! It
is manifest that it does not mean to touch the question of slavery; and
hence the imperious necessity of forming abolition societies.
9. The rights of masters are to remain sacred in the eyes of the
Society! What rights? Those by which the intelligent creatures of God
are bought and sold and used like cattle? those which are founded upon
piracy, cruelty and outrage?[J] Yes! This, then, is an abandonment of
the ground of right and justice, and ends the controversy between truth
and error.
10. It condemns no man because he is a slaveholder! Certainly, then, it
allows that slaveholders are upright men--not guilty of fraud--not
oppressors--not extortioners! and that the slaves are truly and justly
their property--not entitled to freedom--not better than cattle--not
conscious of evil treatment--not worthy of remuneration for their
toil--not rational and accountable beings!
FOOTNOTES:
[H] The term evil is used here in a criminal sense. I know that
colonizationists regard slavery as an evil; but an evil which has been
_entailed_ upon this land, for the existence of which we are no more to
blame than for the prevalence of plague or famine.
[I] 'If the most guilty and daring transgressor be sought, he is a
Gospel Minister, who solemnly avows his belief of the Presbyterian
Confession of Faith, or the Methodist Discipline, and notwithstanding
himself is a Negro Pedler, who steals, buys, sells, and keeps his
brethren in slavery, or supports by his taciturnity, or his smooth
prophesying, or his direct defence, the Christian professor who unites
in the kidnapping trade. Truth forces the declaration, that every church
officer, or member, who is a slaveholder, records himself, by his own
creed, a hypocrite!' * * 'To pray and kidnap! to commune and rob men's
all! to preach justice, and steal the laborer with his recompense! to
recommend mercy to others, and exhibit cruelty in our own conduct! to
explain religious duties, and ever impede the performance of them! to
propound the example of Christ and his Apostles, and declare that a
slaveholder imitates them! to enjoin an observance of the Lord's day,
and drive the slaves from the temple of God! to inculcate every social
affection, and instantly exterminate them! to expatiate upon bliss
eternal, and preclude sinners from obtaining it! to unfold the woes of
Tophet, and not drag men from its fire! are the most preposterous
delusion, and the most consummate mockery.' * * * 'The Church of God
groans. It is the utmost Satanic delusion to talk of religion and
slavery. Be not deceived: to affirm that a slaveholder is a genuine
disciple of Jesus Christ, is most intelligible contradiction. A brother
of Him who went about doing good, and steal, enslave, torment, starve
and scourge a man because his skin is of a different tinge! Such
Christianity is the Devil's manufacture to delude souls to the regions
of wo.'--REV. GEORGE BOURNE.
[J] 'We are told not to meddle with vested rights: I have a sacred
feeling about vested rights; but when vested rights become vested
wrongs, I am less scrupulous about them.'--_Speech of Rev. Mr. Burnett,
of England._
SECTION II.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY APOLOGISES FOR SLAVERY AND
SLAVEHOLDERS.
My charges against the American Colonization Society acquire breadth and
solemnity as I progress in my task. I have fairly and abundantly
sustained my first,--_that the Society is not the enemy of the
slave-system_; and I now proceed to prove my second,--_that it
apologises for slavery and slaveholders_.
'There is a golden mean, which all who would pursue the solid
interest and reputation of their country may discern at the very
heart of their confederation, and will both advocate and
enforce--a principle, of justice, conciliation and humanity--a
principle, sir, which is not inconsistent with itself, and yet
can sigh over the degradation of the slave, _defend the wisdom
and prudence of the South against the charge of studied and
pertinacious cruelty_,' &c.--[Address of Robert F. Stockton,
Esq. at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Parent Society.]
'It is a fact, given us on the most unquestionable authority,
that there are now in the southern States of our union,
hundreds, and even thousands of proprietors, who would gladly
give liberty to their slaves, but are deterred by the
apprehension of doing injury to their country, and perhaps to
the slaves themselves.'--[Discourse by the Rev. Dr.
Dana.--African Repository, vol. i. p. 145.]
'Guarding that system, the existence of which, though
_unfortunate_, THEY DEEM NECESSARY.'--[African Repository, vol.
i. p. 227.]
'We all know from a variety of considerations which it is
unnecessary to name, and in consequence of the policy which is
obliged to be pursued in the southern States, that it is
extremely difficult to free a slave, and hence the enactment of
those laws _which a fatal necessity seems to demand_.'--[African
Repository, vol. ii. p. 12.]
'They are convinced, that there are now hundreds of masters who
are so only from _necessity_.'--[Memorial of the Society to the
several States.--A. R. vol. ii. p. 60.]
'_I do not condemn_, let me be understood, _their detention in
bondage_ under the circumstances which are yet existing.'--['The
Colonization Society Vindicated.'--Idem, vol. iii. p. 201.]
'A third point in which the first promoters of this object were
united, is, that few individual slaveholders can, in the present
state of things, emancipate their slaves if they would. There is
a certain relation between the proprietor of slaves and the
beings thus thrown upon him, which is far more complicated, and
far less easily dissolved, than a mind unacquainted with the
subject is ready to imagine. The relation is one which, where it
exists, grows out of the very structure of society, and for the
existence of which, the master is ordinarily as little
accountable as the slave.'
'He [the planter] looks around him and sees that the condition
of the great mass of emancipated Africans is one _in comparison
with which the condition of his slaves is enviable_;--and he is
convinced that if he withdraws from his slaves his authority,
his support, his protection, and leaves them to shift for
themselves, he turns them out to be vagabonds, and paupers, and
felons, and to find in the work-house and the penitentiary, the
home which they ought to have retained on his paternal
acres.--Hundreds of humane and Christian slaveholders retain
their fellow-men in bondage, because _they are convinced that
they can do no better_.'--[Address of the Managers of the
Colonization Society of Connecticut.--Af. Rep. vol. iv. pp. 119,
120.]
'I AM NOT COMPLAINING OF THE OWNERS OF SLAVES; they cannot get
rid of them.--_I do not doubt that masters treat their slaves
with kindness_, nor that the slaves are happier than they could
be if set free in this country.'--[Address delivered before the
Hampden Col. Soc., July 4th, 1828, by Wm. B. O. Peabody, Esq.]
'_Policy_, and even _the voice of humanity_ forbade the progress
of manumission; and the _salutary hand of law_ came forward to
co-operate with our convictions, and to arrest the flow of our
feelings, and the ardor of our desires.'--[Review of the Report
of the Committee of Foreign Relations.--Af. Rep. vol. iv. p.
268.]
'When an owner of slaves tells me that he will freely relinquish
his slaves, or even that he will relinquish one-half of their
value, _on condition that he be compensated for the other half_,
and provision be made for their transportation, I feel that he
has made a generous proposal, and _I cannot charge him with all
the guilt of slavery_, though he may continue to be a
slaveholder.'--[Af. Rep. vol. v. p. 63.]
'Even slavery must be viewed as a great national calamity; a
public evil entailed upon us by untoward circumstances, _and
perpetuated for the want of appropriate remedies_.'--[Idem, vol.
v. p. 89.]
'Slavery is an evil which is entailed upon the present
generation of slaveholders, which they must suffer, _whether
they will or not_.'--[Idem, p. 179.]
'Our brethren of the South, have the same sympathies, the same
moral sentiments, the same love of liberty as ourselves. By them
as by us, slavery is felt to be an evil, a hindrance to our
prosperity, and a blot upon our character. But it was in being
when they were born, and has been forced upon them by a previous
generation.'--[Address of Rev. Dr. Nott.--Idem, p. 277.]
'With a writer in the Southern Review we say, "the situation of
the people of these States was not of their choosing. When they
came to the inheritance, it was subject to this mighty
incumbrance, and it would be criminal in them to rain or waste
the estate, to get rid of the burden at once." With this writer
we add also, in the language of Captain Hall, that the
"slaveholders ought not (immediately) to disentangle themselves
from the obligations which have devolved upon them, as the
masters of slaves." We believe that a master _may_ sustain his
relation to the slave, with as little criminality as the slave
sustains his relation to the master.' * * * 'Slavery, in its
mildest form, is an evil of the darkest character. Cruel and
unnatural in its origin, no plea can be urged in justification
of its continuance but the plea of _necessity_.'--[Af. Rep. vol.
v. pp. 329, 334.]
'How much more consistent and powerful would be our example, but
for that population within our limits, whose condition
(_necessary_ condition, I will not deny) is so much at war with
our institutions, and with that memorable national
Declaration--"that all men are created equal."'--[Fourteenth
Ann. Report.]
'_It_ [the Society] _condemns no man because he is a
slaveholder._' * * * 'They [abolitionists] confound the
_misfortunes_ of one generation with the crimes of another, and
would sacrifice both individual and public good to an
_unsubstantial theory of the rights of man_.'--[A. R. vol. vii.
pp. 200, 202.]
'Many thousand individuals in our native State, you well know,
Mr President, are restrained, said Mr Mercer, from manumitting
their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholy conviction,
that they cannot yield to the suggestions of humanity, without
manifest injury to their country.' * * * 'The laws of Virginia
now discourage, and very wisely, perhaps, the emancipation of
slaves.'--[Speech of Mr Mercer.--First Annual Report.]
'We are ready even to grant, for our present purpose, that, so
far as mere animal existence is concerned, the slaves have no
reason to complain, and the friends of humanity have no reason
to complain for them.' * * * 'There are men in the southern
states, who long to do something effectual for the benefit of
their slaves, and would gladly emancipate them, did not
_prudence_ and _compassion_ alike forbid such a
measure.'--[Review of the Reports of the Society, from the
Christian Spectator.--Seventh Annual Report.]
'Such unhappily is the case; but there is a _necessity_ for it,
[for oppressive laws,] and so long as they remain amongst us
will that necessity continue.'--[Ninth Annual Report.]
'I MAY BE PERMITTED TO DECLARE THAT I WOULD BE A SLAVEHOLDER
TO-DAY WITHOUT SCRUPLE.'--[Fourteenth Annual Report.]
'For the existence of slavery in the United States, those, and
those only, are accountable who bore a part in originating such
a constitution of society. The bible contains no explicit
prohibition of slavery. There is neither chapter nor verse of
holy writ, which lends any countenance to the fulminating spirit
of universal emancipation, of which some exhibitions may be seen
in some of the newspapers.' * * * 'The embarrassment which many
a philanthropic proprietor has felt in relation to his slaves,
has been but little known at the north, and has had but little
sympathy. He finds himself the lord of perhaps a hundred human
beings; and is anxious to do them all the good in his power. He
would emancipate them; but if he does, their prospect of
happiness can hardly be said to be improved by the change. Some
half a dozen, perhaps, in the hundred, become industrious and
useful members of society; and the rest are mere vagabonds,
idle, wicked, and miserable.'
--[Review on African Colonization.--Vide the Christian Spectator
for September, 1830, in which the reader will find an elaborate
apology for the system of slavery, and this, too, by a
clergyman!]
'The existence of slavery among us, though not at all to be
objected to our southern brethren as a _fault_, is yet a blot on
our national character, and a mighty drawback from our national
strength.'--[Second Annual Report of the N. Y. State Col. Soc.]
'Entertaining these views of this fearful subject, why should
our opponents endeavor to prejudice our cause with our southern
friends? And we are the more anxious on this point, for we
sincerely entertain exalted notions of their sense of right, of
their manliness and independence of feeling--of their dignity of
deportment--of their honorable and chivalric turn of thought,
which spurns a mean act as death. And if I was allowed to
indulge a personal feeling, I would say that there is something
to my mind in the candor, hospitality and intelligence of the
South, which charms and captives, which wins its way to the
heart and gives assurance of all that is upright, honorable, and
humane. There is no people that treat their slaves with so
little cruelty and with so much kindness. There is nothing in
the condition of slavery more congenial with the feelings of the
South than with the feelings of the North. Philanthropy and
benevolence flourish with as much vigor with them as with
us--their hearts are as warm as ours--they feel for the
distresses of others with as much acuteness as we do--their ears
are as open to the calls of charity as ours--they as deeply
regret as we do the existence of slavery--and oh! how their
hearts would thrill with delight, if the mighty incubus could be
removed without injury or destruction to every thing around
them.'--[Speech of James S. Green, Esq. on the same occasion.]
'Many of the best citizens of our land are holders of slaves,
and hold them IN STRICT ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF
HUMANITY AND JUSTICE.'--[Rev. Thomas T. Skillman, editor of the
Western Luminary, an ardent supporter of the Col. Soc.]
'It is a very common impression that a principal evil of the
condition of the southern blacks, is the severity of their
treatment. THIS IS AN ERROR. It is almost every where
disreputable to treat slaves with severity; and though there are
indeed exceptions, yet in most cases in the South, even tyranny
itself could not long withstand the reproaches of public
opinion. A STILL GREATER AND MORE DANGEROUS EVIL, IS THE VERY
REVERSE. It is _indulgence_; not only in such things as are
proper and innocent, but in indolent habits and vicious
propensities.'
--[From an address prepared for the use of those who advocate
the cause of the African Education Society at Washington--a
Society which educates none but those who consent to remove to
Liberia.]
'How should a benevolent Virginian, in view of the fact, that
out of thirty-seven thousand free people of color in his State,
only two hundred were proprietors of land, how should he be in
favor of general emancipation? But, show him, that if he will
emancipate his slaves, there is a way in which he can without
doubt improve their condition, while he rids himself of a
grievous burden, and he will promptly obey the demands of
justice--he will then feel that his generous wishes can with
certainty be fulfilled. While he knows that scarcely any thing
is done to meliorate the condition of those now free, and
reflects on the many obstacles in the way of doing it in this
land, he feels bound by a regard to what he owes himself--his
children--his country, and even his slaves themselves, not to
emancipate them. For he is sure, that, by emancipation, he will
only add to the wretchedness of the one, and at the same time
put at imminent hazard the dearest interests of the other. Thus
he is forced to refrain from manumission, and not only so, but
against all his benevolent inclinations, he is forced to
co-operate with his fellow-citizens in sustaining the present
system of slavery. He would most cheerfully follow the impulse
of his noblest feelings--he would remove the curse which the
short-sighted policy of his fathers entailed upon him; but he
cannot disregard the first law of nature; especially not, when,
were he to do it, he would render the _curse_ still more
calamitous in its consequences.'--[An advocate of the
Colonization Society in the Middletown (Connecticut) Gazette.]
'Slavery is indeed a curse; and bitter is the lot of him who is
born with slaves on his hands. And now, instead of denouncing as
inhuman and unmerciful monsters and tyrants, those who are thus
_unfortunate_, I say, let the commiseration and pity of every
good citizen and christian in the land be excited, and let
fervent prayers be offered in their behalf, and that God would
direct the whole American mind to the adoption of the most
effectual measures for the accomplishment of the total abolition
of slavery.'--[New-Haven Religious Intelligencer for July 16,
1831.]
'Special reference will also be had to the condition and wishes
of the slave States. In most of them it is a prevailing
sentiment, that it is not safe to furnish slaves with the means
of instruction. Much as we lament the reasons for this
sentiment, and the _apparent necessity_ of keeping a single
fellow creature in ignorance, we willingly leave to others the
consideration and the remedy of this evil, in view of the
overwhelming magnitude of the remaining objects before
us.'--[Address of the Board of Managers of the African Education
Society of the United States.]
'And when we [of New-England] did emancipate our slaves, we were
driven to the measure by the force of example; and we did not do
it until it was found quite convenient; and then what provision
was made for the poor blacks? Let our State Prison records
answer the question. Our Southern brethren have been _more
kind_: they will not emancipate them until they send them where
they can enjoy _liberty_, more than in name. As a Northern man I
feel it my duty, and I take pleasure in giving the _meed of
praise_ to my Southern brethren.'--[Speech of Rev. Mr Gallaudet,
at a colonization meeting in New-York city.]
'The slave works for his master, who feeds and clothes him,
defends him from harm, and takes care of him when he is sick.
The free colored man works for himself, and has nobody to take
care of him but himself.'
--[From a little colonization work, published in Baltimore in
1828, 'for the use of the African Schools in the United
States'!! entitled 'A Voice from Africa.']
'The slaveholder will tell you, that he did not take liberty
from the African--he was a slave when he found him, and he is no
more than a slave yet. The man who owns one hundred acres of
land more than he can cultivate himself, is as much a
slaveholder as he who owns a slave.'--[An advocate of
colonization in the Richmond (Indiana) Palladium for Oct. 1,
1831.]
'I DO NOT MEAN TO SPEAK OF SLAVERY AS A SYSTEM OF CRUELTY AND OF
SUFFERING. On this point I am free to say, from personal
observation and occasional residences for some years at the
South, there has been much misapprehension among our
fellow-citizens of the North. And I rejoice to add, that _the
condition of the slaves generally is such as the friends of
humanity have no reason to complain of_.'--[Oration delivered at
Newark, N. J. July 4th, 1831, by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]
'Slavery, it is true, is an evil--a national evil. Every
laudable effort to exterminate it should be encouraged. And we
presume that nine-tenths of the slaveholders themselves, would
rejoice at the event, could it be accomplished, of the entire
freedom from the country of every person of color, and would
willingly relinquish every slave in their possession. But the
slaves _are_ in their possession--they are entailed upon them by
their ancestors. And can they set them free, and still suffer
them to remain in the country? Would this be policy? Would it be
safe? No. When they can be transported to the soil from whence
they were derived--by the aid of the Colonization Society, by
Government, by individuals, or by any other means--then let them
be emancipated, and not before.'--[Lowell (Mass.) Telegraph.]
It is a self-evident proposition, that just so far as you alleviate the
pressure of guilt upon the consciences of evil doers, you weaken the
power of motive to repent, and encourage them to sin with impunity. To
descant upon the wrongs of the slave-system, and yet exonerate the
supporters of it from reprehension, is to deal in absurdities: we might
preach in this manner until the crack of doom, and never gain a convert.
Paradoxes may amuse, but they never convince the mind.
Now, I defy the most ingenious advocates of perpetual slavery to produce
stronger arguments in its favor than are given in the foregoing
extracts. What better plea could they make? what higher justification
could they need? Nay, these apologies of colonizationists represent
oppression not merely as innocent, but even commendable--as a system of
benevolence, upheld by philanthropists and sages!
'I do not condemn the detention of the slaves in bondage under the
circumstances which are yet existing,' says an advocate; by which
consolatory avowal we are taught that the criminality of man-stealing
depends upon _circumstances_, and not upon the fact that it is a daring
violation of the rights of man and the laws of God.
'The planter sees that the condition of the great mass of emancipated
Africans is one, in comparison with which the condition of his slaves is
_enviable_,' assert the Board of Managers!--a concession which
transforms robbery into generosity, cruelty into mercy, and leads the
slaveholder to believe that, instead of deserving censure, his conduct
is really meritorious!--a concession which is at war with common sense,
and contrary to truth.
'I am not complaining of the owners of slaves--I do not doubt that the
slaves are happier than they could be if set free in this country,'
declares an apologist, even in Massachusetts! Stripes and servitude
would doubtless soon alter his opinion. With him, to sell human beings
at public auction, and to separate husbands and wives, and children and
parents, is not a subject of complaint! and to be a slave, to be fed
upon a peck of corn per week, unable to possess property, liable to be
torn from the partner of his bosom and children at a moment's warning
mal-treated worse than a brute, &c. &c. &c. is more desirable than to be
a free man, able to acquire wealth, unrestricted in his movements, from
whom none may wrest his wife or children, and who can find redress for
any outrage upon his person or property!
'Policy, and even _humanity_,' cries another, 'forbid the progress of
manumission'! Indeed! But is it right to hold our fellow creatures as
chattels, and to perpetuate their ignorance and servitude? O no! this is
_wrong_, but it would be a greater wrong to emancipate them! Is this
folly or villany? To oppress our brother is wrong, but to cease from
oppressing him would not be right!
'I would be a slaveholder to-day without scruple,' says another
advocate.
'Many owners of slaves,' another declares, 'hold them in strict
accordance with the principles of humanity and justice'!!! Yes, to
deprive men of their inalienable rights is to do unto them as we would
have them do unto us!
Finally, another boldly declares that the slaves are treated _too
indulgently_!--The laws which regard them as beasts, but punish them for
the commission of crime as severely as if they possessed the knowledge
of angels, he must suppose are too lenient. Their allowance of corn is
too liberal; they ought not to wear any raiment; to sleep in their
wretched huts is calculated to make them effeminate--the open field is a
more suitable place for cattle; no religious instruction should be
granted even orally to them! The slaves, as a body, too kindly treated!
The Lord have compassion upon any of their number who shall come under
the control of him who holds this opinion!
Sentiments, like these, act upon the consciences of slave owners like
opiates upon the body, lulling them into a slumber as profound and fatal
as death. It were almost as hopeless a task to attempt to arouse, alarm
and animate them, so long as they repose under the stupefying effects of
this poison, as to raise the dead. This must not be. Slaveholders are
the enemies of God and man; their garments are red with the blood of
souls; their guilt is aggravated beyond the power of language to
describe; and they must be made to see and realise their awful
condition. Truth must send its arrows into their consciences, and Terror
rouse them to exertion, and Conviction bring them upon their knees, and
Repentance propitiate the anger of Heaven, or they perish by the sword.
The slaves must be free; and He who is no respecter of person is now
holding out to us this alternative--either to wait until they burst
their chains and wade through a river of blood to freedom, or to
liberate them willingly ourselves. Can we hesitate in our choice? Be
this our only reply to those who apologise for the oppressors, and fix
the standard of policy higher than that of duty: 'Wo unto them that call
evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Wo unto them
that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! which
justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the
righteous from him!'
SECTION III.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY RECOGNISES SLAVES AS PROPERTY.
The heresies of this combination are flagrant and numerous. A larger
volume than this is needed to define and illustrate them all. Much
important evidence, and many pertinent reflections, I am compelled to
suppress.
My next allegation against it is, _that it recognises slaves as
property_. This recognition is not merely technical, or strictly
confined to a statutable interpretation. I presume the advocates of the
Society will attempt to evade this point, by saying that it never meant
to concede the moral right of the masters to possess human beings; but
the evidence against them is full and explicit. The Society, if language
mean any thing, does unequivocally acknowledge property in slaves to be
as legitimate and sacred as any other property, of which to deprive the
owners either by force or by legislation, without making restitution,
would be unjust and tyrannical. Here is the proof:
'It interferes in no wise with the _rights of property_.' * *
'It is utterly opposed to any measures which might infringe upon
the _rights of property_.' * * 'We hold their slaves _as we hold
their other property_, SACRED.'--[African Repository, vol. i.
pp. 39, 225, 283.]
'Does this Society wish to meddle with our slaves as our
_rightful property_? I answer _no_, I think not.' * * 'The
Society cannot be justly charged with aiming to disturb the
_rights of property_ or the peace of society.' * * 'It seeks to
affect no man's _property_.' * * 'To found in Africa, an empire
of _christians and republicans_; to reconduct the blacks to
their native land, without disturbing the order of society, the
_laws of property_, or the rights of individuals,' &c.--[African
Repository, vol. ii. pp. 13, 58, 334, 375.]
'They are also convinced, that the Society have conducted their
operations with so much prudence, as to give no cause of alarm
to the holders of slaves, for the security of _this
property_.'--[African Repository, volume iii. p. 341.]
'The rights of masters are to remain sacred in the eyes of the
Society.'--[African Repository, vol. iv. p. 274.]
'The Society has never interfered, and has no disposition to
interfere with the rights of private property.' * * 'The alarm
for the rights of property appears to have subsided, and the
Society is no longer charged with any sinister or insidious
design. It has constantly disclaimed any intention of disturbing
the rights of others; and its conduct entitles its declaration
to credit.' * * 'The American Colonization Society has, at all
times, solemnly disavowed any purpose of interference with the
institutions or rights of our Southern communities.' * * 'Our
friends, who are cursed with this greatest of human evils
(slavery) deserve our kindest attention and consideration. Their
_property_ and safety are both involved.'--[African Repository,
vol. v. pp. 215, 241, 307, 334.]
'It has constantly disclaimed all intention whatever of
interfering, in the smallest degree, with the rights of
property.' * * 'The Society, from considerations like these,
whilst it disclaims the remotest idea of ever disturbing the
_right of property_ in slaves,' &c. * * 'It is not the object of
this Society to liberate slaves, or touch the rights of
_property_.' * * 'Honorable instances might be adduced of
_disinterested benevolence_ on the part of the owners of slaves,
and of their _sacrificing property_ to a large amount, in their
enfranchisement and restoration to the land of their ancestors.'
* * 'The American Society has disclaimed from the first moment
of its institution, all intention of interfering with _rights of
property_.' * * 'The federal government has no control over this
subject: it concerns rights of property secured by the federal
compact, upon which our civil liberties mainly depend; it is a
part of the same collection of political rights; and _any
invasion of it would impair the tenure by which every other is
held_.' * * 'It is equally plain and undeniable, that the
Society in the prosecution of this work, has never interfered or
evinced even a disposition to interfere in any way with the
_rights of proprietors of slaves_.' * * 'The slaveholder, so far
from having just cause to complain of the Colonization Society,
has reason to congratulate himself, that in this Institution a
channel is opened up, in which the public feeling and public
action can flow on, without doing violence to his
_rights_.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. pp. 13, 69, 81, 153,
165, 169, 205, 363.]
'It was proper again and again to repeat, that it was far from
the intention of the Society to affect, in any manner, the
tenure by which a _certain species of property_ is held. He was
himself a slaveholder; _and he considered that kind of property
as inviolable as any other in the country_.'--[Speech of Henry
Clay.--First Annual Report.]
'Your committee would not thus favorably regard the prayer of
the memorialists, if it sought to impair, _in the slightest
degree, the rights of private property_.'--[Report of the
committee of the House of Representatives of the United States,
on the memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the
Colonization Society.--Second Annual Report.]
'The Society has at all times recognised the constitutional and
LEGITIMATE existence of slavery.'--[Tenth Annual Report.]
'The Society protests that it has no designs on the rights of
the master in the slave--or the property in his slave, which the
laws guarantee to him.'--[Fourteenth Annual Report.]
'Something he must yet be allowed to say, as regarded the object
the Society was set up to accomplish. This object, if he
understood it aright, _involved no intrusion on property_, NOR
EVEN UPON PREJUDICE.'--[Fifteenth Annual Report.]
'To the slaveholder, who had charged upon them the wicked design
of interfering with the RIGHTS OF PROPERTY under the specious
pretext of removing a vicious and dangerous free population,
they address themselves in a tone of conciliation and sympathy.
We know your rights, say they, and _we respect them_.' * *
'Equally absurd and false is the objection, that this Society
seeks indirectly to disturb the rights of property, and to
interfere with the well established relation subsisting between
master and slave.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 100,
228.]
'I repeat, that though not a slaveholder, yet I think that every
man ought to be protected in his property, and as the laws of
our country have decreed that negroes are property, every person
that holds a slave, according to these laws, ought to be
protected.'--['A new and interesting View of Slavery.' By
Humanitas, a colonization advocate. Baltimore, 1820.]
'We are made to disregard this description of _property_, and to
touch without reserve the _rights_ of our
neighbors.'--[Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the
New-Jersey Colonization Society.]
Thus the American Colonization Society shamelessly surrenders the claims
of justice, and leaves the enemies of oppression weaponless! Hence it
rejects the proposition, that _man cannot hold property in man_; and we
are called upon to prove that which is self-evident. No accidental
differences of condition or complexion--no vicissitudes of fortune--no
reprisal or purchase or inheritance, can justly make one individual the
slave of another. When God created man, he gave him dominion over the
fowls of the air and the beasts of the field; but not over his fellow
man. 'All men are born free and equal,' and are 'made of one blood.'
Shall we look to wealth as giving one a title to the labor and freedom
of another? Wealth is the creature of circumstances, and not an
arbitrary law of nature. It takes to itself wings, and flies away; and
he who is an opulent tyrant to-day, may on this principle be an
impoverished slave to-morrow. Does physical strength make valid this
claim? This, too, is evanescent: sickness and age would ultimately
degrade the most muscular tyrants to servitude; and mankind would be
composed of but two parties--the strong and the weak. Can high birth
annul the rights of the lower classes? There is no difference at their
birth, between the children of the beggar and those of the king. 'We
brought nothing into this world,' says an inspired apostle, 'and it is
certain we can carry nothing out.'
Man is created a rational being; and therefore he is a subject of moral
government, and accountable. Being rational and accountable, he is bound
to improve his mind and intellect. With this design, his Creator has
outstretched the heavens, and set the sun in his course, and hung out
the burning jewels of the sky, and spread abroad the green earth, and
poured out the seas, that he might steadily progress in knowledge.
The slaves are men; they were born, then, as free as their masters; they
cannot be property; and he who denies them an opportunity to improve
their faculties, comes into collision with Jehovah, and incurs a fearful
responsibility. But we know that they are not treated like rational
beings, and that oppression almost entirely obliterates their sense of
moral obligation to God or man.
I fully coincide in opinion with the authoress of a work entitled,
'IMMEDIATE, NOT GRADUAL ABOLITION,' that the holder of a slave, whether
he obtained him by purchase or by inheritance, is as guilty as the
original thief.[K] The wretch who stole him could by no possible means
acquire or transmit the right to make a slave of him, or to keep him in
slavery. _He has a right to his liberty:_--through whatever number of
transfers the usurpation of it may have passed, the right is
undiminished.
No man, says Algernon Sidney, can have a right over others, unless it be
by them granted to him: That which is not just, is not law; and that
which is not law, ought not to be in force: Whosoever grounds his
pretensions of right upon usurpation and tyranny, declares himself to be
an usurper and a tyrant--that is, an enemy to God and man--and to have
no right at all: _That which was unjust in its beginning, can of itself
never change its nature:_ HE WHO PERSISTS IN DOING INJUSTICE, AGGRAVATES
IT, AND TAKES UPON HIMSELF ALL THE GUILT OF HIS PREDECESSORS: The right
to be free is a truth planted in the hearts of men, and acknowledged so
to be by all who have hearkened to the voice of nature, and disproved by
none but such as through wickedness, stupidity, or baseness of spirit,
seem to have degenerated into the worst of beasts, and to have retained
nothing of men but the outward shape, or the ability of doing those
mischiefs which they have learnt from their master the devil.
The following is the indignant, emphatic, eloquent language of HENRY
BROUGHAM, on the subject of slave property:
'_Tell me not of rights--talk not of the property of the planter
in his slaves._ I DENY THE RIGHT--I ACKNOWLEDGE NOT THE
PROPERTY. The principles, the feelings of our common nature,
rise in rebellion against it. Be the appeal made to the
understanding or to the heart, the sentence is the same that
rejects it. In vain you tell me of the laws that sanction such a
claim! There is a law above all the enactments of human
codes--the same throughout the world, the same in all
times--such as it was before the daring genius of Columbus
pierced the night of ages, and opened to one world the sources
of power, wealth and knowledge; to another, all unutterable
woes;--such it is at this day: it is the law written by the
finger of God on the heart of man; and by that law, unchangeable
and eternal, while men despise fraud, and loathe rapine, and
abhor blood, they shall reject with indignation the wild and
guilty fantasy, that man can hold property in man! In vain you
appeal to treaties, to covenants between nations. The covenants
of the Almighty, whether the old or the new, denounce such
unholy pretensions. To those laws did they of old refer, who
maintained the African trade. Such treaties did they cite, and
not untruly; for by one shameful compact, you bartered the
glories of Blenheim for the traffic in blood. Yet, in despite of
law and of treaties, that infernal traffic is now destroyed, and
its votaries put to death like other pirates. How came this
change to pass? Not assuredly by parliament leading the way; but
the country at length awoke; the indignation of the people was
kindled; it descended in thunder, and smote the traffic, and
scattered its guilty profits to the winds. Now, then, let the
planters beware--let their assemblies beware--let the government
at home beware--let the parliament beware! the same country is
once more awake,--awake to the condition of negro slavery; the
same indignation kindles in the bosom of the same people; the
same cloud is gathering that annihilated the slave trade; and,
if it shall descend again, they, on whom its crash shall fall,
will not be destroyed before I have warned them; but I pray that
their destruction may turn away from us the more terrible
judgments of God!'
Is this the language of fanaticism? Is Henry Brougham a madman?
The following extracts must close the evidence in support of my third
allegation, that the Colonization Society disregards the fundamental
principle of human liberty and equality, that man cannot hold _property_
in man:
'Let me ask, who can wish under existing circumstances that the
constitution should be altered, when it must bring with it a
_violation of property_--and when that violation of private
property must engender such hostility of feelings, and elicit
such bitter vituperation? The whole Union would feel a
concussion, and no one can count the costs of the contest.'
* * * 'By means of our colony, they may remove their slaves and
restore them to freedom--and at the same time no way jeopardize
the safety of themselves or their _property_.'--[Proceedings of
the First Annual Meeting of the New-Jersey Colonization
Society.]
'The establishment of our colony will afford facilities to
proprietors for completing in Africa the exercise of the _right
which can only be partially exercised in this country, of
disposing of our property, in our own way, without injury to the
community_.'--[Fourteenth Annual Report.]
What audacity do those advocates of the Society exhibit, who use, in
reference to beings made a little lower than the angels, language like
this--'disposing of _our property_ in _our own way_'--'we hold their
_slaves_, as we hold their other _property_, SACRED'!![L] If they really
mean and believe what they say, it is something more heinous than
impertinence to urge the planters to dispossess themselves of their
property by colonization; and if the slaves belong _of right_ to
them,--are on a par with goods and chattels,--how idle, how supremely
ridiculous it is to mourn over their _wretched condition_, to sigh for
their emancipation, to declaim against the evil and wickedness of
slavery, or even to denounce the slave trade! But the unfortunate blacks
are not now, and never can be, the property of the planters;
consequently the claims of their pretended owners are no better than
those of the pirate or highway robber.
FOOTNOTES:
[K] The owners of slaves are licensed robbers, and not the just
proprietors of what they claim: freeing them is not depriving them of
property, but restoring it to the right owner; it is suffering the
unlawful captive to escape. It is not wronging the master, but doing
justice to the slave, restoring him to himself. Emancipation would only
take away property that is its own property, and not ours; property that
has the same right to possess us, as we have to possess it; property
that has the same right to convert our children into dogs and calves and
colts, as we have to convert theirs into these beasts; property that may
transfer our children to strangers, by the same right that we transfer
theirs.--_Rice._
[L] 'Is there no difference between a vested interest in a house or a
tenement, and a vested interest in a human being? No difference between
a right to bricks and mortar, and a right to the flesh of man--a right
to torture his body and to degrade his mind at your good will and
pleasure? There is this difference,--the right to the house originates
in law, and is reconcilable to justice; the claim (for I will not call
it a right) to the man, originated in robbery, and is an outrage upon
every principle of justice, and every tenet of religion.'--_Speech of
Fowell Buxton in the British Parliament._
SECTION IV.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY INCREASES THE VALUE OF SLAVES.
I come now to my fourth charge,--which, although not more serious or
consequential than any of the foregoing, may possibly create more
surprise,--namely, that the Society _increases the value of slaves, and
adds strength and security to the system of slavery_. It is the
discovery of this fact that is so wonderfully, and to many superficial
observers so inexplicably, increasing the popularity of the Society at
the south. It would require more pages of this work than its necessarily
contracted limits permit, to sum up minutely the evidence on this point,
and to give those illustrations which might serve more clearly to
establish its validity. The most common, as it is the most potent,
argument used by colonization agents among slave owners, to secure their
patronage, is,--'The successful prosecution of our scheme will remove
the chief source of danger to yourselves, and enable you to hold your
property in greater security: the presence of free persons of color
among your slaves is eminently calculated to make them insubordinate,
and to procure their violent emancipation.' This argument, I say, is
introduced into every conversation, and every public address, and every
essay; and whoever carefully consults the numbers of the African
Repository, through seven volumes, will find it repeated in almost every
appeal to the south.
I choose to consider the testimony of southern men, in regard to the
invigorating effects of the colonization enterprise upon the system of
slavery, conclusive. Here is a very small portion of it: more may be
found under the sixth section of this work.
'The object of the Colonization Society commends itself to every
class of society. The landed proprietor may ENHANCE THE VALUE OF
HIS PROPERTY by assisting the enterprise.'--[African Repository,
vol. i. p. 67.]
'But is it not certain, that should the people of the Southern
States refuse to adopt the opinions of the Colonization Society,
[relative to the gradual abolition of slavery,] and continue to
consider it both just and politic to leave, untouched, a system,
for the termination of which, we think the whole wisdom and
energy of the States should be put in requisition, that they
will CONTRIBUTE MORE EFFECTUALLY TO THE CONTINUANCE AND STRENGTH
OF THIS SYSTEM, by removing those now free, than by any or all
other methods which can possibly be devised? Such has been the
opinion expressed by Southern gentlemen of the first talents and
distinction. Eminent individuals have, we doubt not, lent their
aid to this cause, in expectation of at once accomplishing a
generous and noble work for the objects of their patronage and
for Africa, and GUARDING THAT SYSTEM, the existence of which,
though _unfortunate_, they deem _necessary_, by separating from
it those, whose disturbing force augments its inherent vices,
and darkens all the repulsive attributes of its character. In
the decision of these individuals, as to the effects of the
Colonization Society, _we perceive no error of judgment_: OUR
BELIEF IS THE SAME AS THEIRS.'--[Idem, p. 227.]
'THE EXECUTION OF ITS SCHEME WOULD AUGMENT INSTEAD OF
DIMINISHING THE VALUE OF THE PROPERTY LEFT BEHIND.'--[Idem, vol.
ii. p. 344.]
'The removal of every single free black in America, would be
productive of nothing but safety to the slaveholder, nor would
the emancipation of as many as the benevolence of individual
masters would send off, as far as I can see, be productive of
disaffection among the remainder, more than the example of such
as are every day set free, and sent to the Ohio or elsewhere;
and if so large a part should ever be set free as to create
discontent among the remainder, (and nothing but the
emancipation of a great majority can do this,) yet that
remainder must then, from the terms of the proposition, be so
much diminished, as to be easily kept down by superior
numbers.'--[Idem, vol. iii. p. 202.]
'The tendency of the scheme, and one of its objects, is to
_secure slaveholders and the whole Southern country_, against
certain evil consequences, growing out of the present threefold
mixture of our population.'--[Idem, vol. iv. p. 274.]
'We all know the effects produced on our slaves by the
fascinating, but delusive appearance of happiness, exhibited in
persons of their own complexion, roaming in idleness and vice
among them. By removing the most fruitful source of discontent
from among our slaves, we should render them more industrious
and attentive to our commands; and by rendering them more
industrious and obedient, we should naturally secure their
better treatment--we should ameliorate their condition. Our
enemies have admitted that good would result from the removal of
this class. Caius Gracchus declares, that if the Society could
attain "this single object in good faith, (the removal of the
free people of color) he should, perhaps, be among the last
citizens in the commonwealth--who would raise his voice against
it," and the author of the Crisis (who is doubtless regarded as
authority in South Carolina) acknowledges, "that there is no
doubt but that if we in the South, were relieved of this
population, it would be better for our southern cities, where
they principally reside." Nothing can be more plain then, than
that the Colonization Society, in its efforts to remove the free
people of color, is accomplishing a work to which the citizens
of the South, whether friends or foes to the Society, have given
their decided approbation.'--[Idem, vol. vi. p. 205.]
'If, as is most confidently believed, the colonization of the
free people of color will render the slave who remains in
America more obedient, more faithful, more honest, and,
consequently, _more useful to his master_,' &c.--[Second Annual
Report.]
'There was but one way, [to avert danger,] but that might be
made effectual, fortunately! It was to PROVIDE AND KEEP OPEN A
DRAIN FOR THE EXCESS BEYOND THE OCCASIONS OF PROFITABLE
EMPLOYMENT. Mr Archer had been stating the case in the
supposition, that after the present class of free blacks had
been exhausted, by the operation of the plan he was
recommending, others would be supplied for its action, in the
proportion of the excess of colored population it would be
necessary to throw off, by the process of voluntary manumission
or sale. This effect must result inevitably from the
depreciating value of the slaves ensuing their disproportionate
multiplication. _The depreciation would be relieved and retarded
at the same time, by the process._ The two operations would aid
reciprocally, and sustain each other, and both be in the highest
degree beneficial. It was on the ground of interest, therefore,
the most indisputable _pecuniary interest_, that he addressed
himself to the people and Legislatures of the slaveholding
States.'--[Speech of Mr Archer.--Fifteenth Annual Report.]
'Every motive which operates on the minds of slaveholders,
tending to make the colonization of the free blacks an object of
_interest_ to them, should operate in an equal degree to secure
the hearty co-operation of the government of every slaveholding
State.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. p. 176.]
'None are obliged to follow our example; AND THOSE WHO DO NOT,
WILL FIND THE VALUE OF THEIR NEGROES INCREASED BY THE DEPARTURE
OF OURS.'--[An advocate of colonization in the Western (Ky.)
Luminary.]
'So far from its having a dangerous tendency, when properly
considered, it will be viewed as AN ADDITIONAL GUARD TO OUR
PECULIAR SPECIES OF PROPERTY.'--[An advocate of the Society in
the New-Orleans Argus.]
'The slaveholder, who is in danger of having his slaves
contaminated by their free friends of color, will not only be
relieved from this danger, but THE VALUE OF HIS SLAVE WILL BE
ENHANCED.'--[A new and interesting View of Slavery. By
Humanitas, a colonization advocate. Baltimore, 1820.]
It is perfectly obvious, that whatever tends to weaken and depress the
present system, must render the holding of slaves less desirable, and
the prospect of emancipation more auspicious. Cherishing this
conviction, thousands of individuals in this country, and tens of
thousands in Great Britain, are led by conscientious motives to abstain
from the use of productions raised by slave labor, and to prefer those
only which are the fruits of the toil of freemen. They believe in the
soundness of the axiom, that 'the receiver is as bad as the thief;' and
knowing that the slaves are held in bondage not on the ground of
benevolence, or because their liberation would endanger the public
safety, but _because they are profitable to their owners_, they also
believe that the consumers of slave goods contribute to a fund for
supporting slavery with all its abominations; that they are the Alpha
and the Omega of the business; that the slave-trader, the slave-owner,
and the slave-driver, are virtually the agents of the consumer, for by
holding out the temptation, he is the original cause, the first mover in
the horrid process; that we are imperiously called upon to refuse those
articles of luxury, which are obtained at an absolute and lavish waste
of the blood of our fellow men; that a merchant, who loads his vessel
with the proceeds of slavery, does nearly as much in helping forward the
slave trade, as he who loads his vessel in Africa with slaves--they are
both twisting the same rope at different ends; that our patronage is
putting an immense bribe into the hands of the slaveholders to kidnap,
rob and oppress; that, were it not for this, they would be compelled by
sheer necessity to liberate their slaves--for as soon as slave labor
becomes unprofitable, the horrid system cannot be upheld.
None of these scruples, to my knowledge, are entertained by
colonizationists: their only aim and anxiety seem to be, 'to prune and
nourish the system,'--not to overthrow it; to increase the avarice of the
planters by rendering the labor of their bondmen more productive,--not
to abridge and starve it; to remove the cause of those apprehensions
which might lead them to break the fetters of their victims,--not to
perpetuate it; 'to provide (I quote the confession of the last
distinguished proselyte to the Society, Mr Archer of Virginia) and to
keep open a drain for the _excess of increase beyond the occasions of_
PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT,'--not to make slave labor ruinous to the
planters.
By removing whatever number of slaves it be, from this 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
the longer they will be trampled upon.
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_.[M]
The increase of the free colored population disturbs the security of the
planters, and forces many to manumit their slaves through sheer terror.
The expatriation of this class, therefore, manifestly tends to quiet the
apprehensions of the oppressors, to rivet more firmly the chains of the
slaves, to make their services in higher demand, and to render even
their gradual emancipation impracticable.
Thus the American Colonization Society is the _apologist_, the _friend_,
and the _patron_ of SLAVEHOLDERS and SLAVERY!
FOOTNOTES:
[M] Stuart's Circular.
SECTION V.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE ENEMY OF IMMEDIATE ABOLITION.
It follows, as a necessary consequence, that a Society which is not
hostile to slavery, which apologises for the system and for
slaveholders, which recognises slaves as rightful property,[N] and which
confessedly increases their value, is _the enemy of immediate
abolition_. This, I am aware, in the present corrupt state of public
sentiment, will not generally be deemed an objectionable feature; but I
regard it with inexpressible abhorrence and dismay.
Since the deception practised upon our first parents by the old serpent,
there has not been a more fatal delusion in the minds of men than that
of the gradual abolition of slavery. _Gradual_ abolition! do its
supporters really know what they talk about? Gradually abstaining from
what? From sins the most flagrant, from conduct the most cruel, from
acts the most oppressive! Do colonizationists mean, that slave-dealers
shall purchase or sell a few victims less this year than they did the
last? that slave-owners shall liberate one, two or three out of every
hundred slaves during the same period? that slave-drivers shall apply
the lash to the scarred and bleeding backs of their victims somewhat
less frequently? Surely not--I respect their intelligence too much to
believe that they mean any such thing. But if any of the slaves should
be exempted from sale or purchase, why not all? if justice require the
liberation of the few, why not of the many? if it be right for a driver
to inflict a number of lashes, how many shall be given? Do
colonizationists mean that the practice of separating the husband from
the wife, the wife from the husband, or children from their parents,
shall come to an end by an almost imperceptible process? or that the
slaves shall be defrauded of their just remuneration, less and less
every month or every year? or that they shall be under the absolute,
irresponsible control of their masters? Oh no! I place a higher value
upon their good sense, humanity and morality than this! Well, then, they
would immediately break up the slave traffic--they would put aside the
whip--they would have the marriage relations preserved inviolate--they
would not separate families--they would not steal the wages of the
slaves, nor deprive them of personal liberty! This is
abolition--_immediate abolition_. It is simply declaring that slave
owners are bound to fulfil--now, without any reluctance or delays--the
golden rule, namely, to do as they would be done by; and that, as the
right to be free is inherent and inalienable in the slaves, there ought
now to be a disposition on the part of the people to break their
fetters. All the horrid spectres which are conjured up, on this subject,
arise from a confusion of the brain, as much as from a corruption of the
heart.
I utterly reject, as delusive and dangerous in the extreme, every plea
which justifies a procrastinated and an indefinite emancipation, or
which concedes to a slave owner the right to hold his slaves as
_property_ for any limited period, or which contends for the gradual
preparation of the slaves for freedom; believing all such pretexts to be
a fatal departure from the high road of justice into the bogs of
expediency, a surrender of the great principles of equity, an
indefensible prolongation of the curse of slavery, a concession which
places the guilt upon any but those who incur it, and directly
calculated to perpetuate the thraldom of our species.
Immediate abolition does not mean that the slaves shall immediately
exercise the right of suffrage, or be eligible to any office, or be
emancipated from law, or be free from the benevolent restraints of
guardianship. We contend for the immediate personal freedom of the
slaves, for their exemption from punishment except where law has been
violated, for their employment and reward as free laborers, for their
exclusive right to their own bodies and those of their own children, for
their instruction and subsequent admission to all the trusts, offices,
honors and emoluments of intelligent freemen. Emancipation will increase
and not destroy the value of their labor; it will also increase the
demand for it. Holding out the stimulus of good treatment and an
adequate reward, it will induce the slaves to toil with a hundred fold
more assiduity and faithfulness. Who is so blind as not to perceive the
peaceful and beneficial results of such a change? The slaves, if freed,
will come under the watchful cognizance of law; they will not be idle,
but _avariciously_ industrious; they will not rush through the country,
firing dwellings and murdering the inhabitants; for freedom is all they
ask--all they desire--the obtainment of which will transform them from
enemies into friends, from nuisances into blessings, from a corrupt,
suffering and degraded, into a comparatively virtuous, happy and
elevated population.
Nor does immediate abolition mean that any compulsory power, other than
moral, should be used in breaking the fetters of slavery. It calls for
no bloodshed, or physical interference; it jealously regards the welfare
of the planters; it simply demands an entire revolution in public
sentiment, which will lead to better conduct, to contrition for past
crimes, to a love instead of a fear of justice, to a reparation of
wrongs, to a healing of breaches, to a suppression of revengeful
feelings, to a quiet, improving, prosperous state of society!
Now see with what earnestness and inveteracy the friends of the
Colonization Society oppose immediate abolition!
'It appears, indeed, to be the only feasible mode by which we
can remove that stigma as well as _danger_ from among us. Their
sudden and entire freedom would be a fearful, and perhaps
dreadful experiment, destructive of all the ends of liberty, for
which their condition would unfit them, and which they would
doubtless greatly abuse. Even their release, at apparently
proper intervals, but uncontrolled as to their future habits and
location, would be a very hazardous charity. Their gradual
emancipation, therefore, under the advantages of a free
government, formed, in their native land, by their own hands,
offering all the rewards usual to industry and economy, and
affording the means of enjoying, in comfort, a reputable and
free existence, is the only rational scheme of relieving them
from the bondage of their present condition.' * * * 'To
eradicate or remove the evil _immediately_, is impossible; nor
can any law of conscience govern necessity.'--[Af. Rep. vol. i.
pp. 89, 258.]
'Vaunt not over us, dear brethren of the north, we inherited the
evil from our forefathers, and we really do not think you do
your brethren any good, or that you serve the interests of the
people of color, when you recommend and enforce premature
schemes of emancipation.' * * * 'The operation, we were aware,
must be--and, for the interests of our country, ought to be
gradual.' * * * 'According to one, (that rash class which,
without a due estimate of the fatal consequence, would forthwith
issue a decree of general, immediate, and indiscriminate
emancipation,) it was a scheme of the slaveholder to perpetuate
slavery.'--[Idem, vol. ii. pp. 12, 254, 336.]
'Slavery, in its mildest form, is an evil of the darkest
character. Cruel and unnatural in its origin, no plea can be
urged in justification of its continuance, but the plea of
necessity--not that necessity which arises from our habits, our
prejudices, or our wants; but the necessity which requires us to
submit to existing evils, rather than substitute, by their
removal, others of a more serious and destructive character. It
was this which produced the recognition of slavery in the
constitution of our country; it is this which has justified its
continuance to the present day; and it is in this only that we
can find a palliation for the rigors of our laws, which might
otherwise be considered as the cruel enactments of a dark and
dismal despotism. There have not, I am aware, been found wanting
individuals to deny both the existence and the obligations of
such a necessity. There are men, actuated in some instances, by
a blind and mistaken enthusiasm, and in others, by a spirit of
mischievous intent, loudly calling on us, in the names of
justice and humanity, for the immediate and unqualified
emancipation of our slaves. To men of this description, it is in
vain to point out the inevitable effects of such a course, as
well on the objects of their real or pretended solicitude, as on
the community in which they exist. It is in vain to assure them,
that while the preservation of the latter would require a policy
even more rigorous than pertains to slavery itself, the
short-lived and nominal freedom of the former must end in their
ultimate and utter extinction. All this is of no consequence.
Provided slavery be abolished in name, it matters not what
horrors may be substituted in its room.' * * * 'The scope of the
Society is large enough, but it is in no wise mingled or
confounded with the broad sweeping views of _a few fanatics_ in
America, who would urge us on to the sudden and total abolition
of slavery.'--[Af. Rep. vol. iii. pp. 15, 197.]
'What is to be done? Immediate and universal emancipation will
find few, if any advocates, among judicious and reflecting men.'
* * * 'There is a portion of our brethren, who have been
laboring for many years, with the most benevolent intentions,
but, as I conceive, with erroneous views, in the cause of
abolition.' * * * 'The Colonization Society, as such, have
renounced wholly the name and the characteristics of
abolitionists.' * * * 'INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS THE SUBJECT OF
EMANCIPATION DOES NOT ENTER AT ALL.' * * * 'Here, that race is
in every form a curse, and if the system, so long contended for
by the uncompromising abolitionist, could prevail, its effect
would be to spread discord and devastation from one end of the
Union to the other.'--[Idem, vol. iv. pp. 202, 303, 306, 363.]
'With a writer in the Southern Review we say, "the situation of
the people of these States was not of their own choosing. When
they came to the inheritance, it was subject to this mighty
incumbrance, and it would be criminal in them to ruin or waste
the estate, to get rid of the burden at once." With this writer
we add also, in the language of Capt. Hall, that the
"slaveholders ought not (immediately) to disentangle themselves
from the obligations which have devolved upon them, as the
masters of slaves." We believe that a master _may_ sustain his
relation to the slave, with as little criminality as the slave
sustains his relation to the master. But we feel little sympathy
for those who, in the language of Mr Harrison of Virginia,
"still look upon their slaves in the light in which most men
regarded them when the slave trade was legitimate. Of those,
wherever they are, who hold their slaves with that same
sentiment which impelled the kidnapper when he forcibly bore
them off, I know not how morality can distinguish them from the
original wrong-doers, pirates by nature, and pirates by
civilized law." That the system of slavery must exist
temporarily in this country, we as firmly believe, as that for
its existence a single moment, there can be offered justly no
plea but necessity. Were the very spirit of angelic charity to
pervade and fill the hearts of all the slaveholders in our land,
it would by no means require that all the slaves should be
instantaneously liberated.'--[Af. Rep. vol. v. p. 329.]
'The long established habits of the South, the attachments which
are frequently found subsisting between the proprietor and his
servants, together with the difficulty of substituting at once
white for slave labor, and the derangement which would ensue in
the domestic concerns of life, would not merely make general
emancipation at once inexpedient, but the attempt would denote
the extremity of madness and folly, and convulse this government
to its centre.'--[Idem, vol. vi. p. 291.]
'The Society, meeting the objections of the _abolition
enthusiast_, in a like spirit of mildness and forbearance,
assures him of their equal devotion to the pure principles of
liberty and the powerful claims of humanity. We know, say they,
and we deplore the evil of slavery as the deadliest curse to our
common country. We see, and we lament its demoralizing effects
upon the children of our affections, from the budding innocence
of infancy, to the full maturity of manhood. But, we have not,
we do not, and _we will not_ interfere with this delicate, this
important subject. There are rights to be respected, prejudices
to be conciliated, fears to be quelled, and safety to be
observed in all our operations. And we protest, _most solemnly
protest_, against the adoption of your views, as alike
destructive of the ends of justice, of policy, and of humanity.
No wild dream of the wildest enthusiast was ever more
extravagant than that of turning loose upon society two millions
of blacks, idle and therefore worthless, vicious and therefore
dangerous, ignorant and therefore incapable of appreciating and
enjoying the blessings of freedom. Could _your_ wishes be
realized, your gratulation would be quickly changed into
mourning, your joy into grief, and your labor of love into
visits of mercy to our jails and our penitentiaries, to the
abodes of vice and the haunts of poverty. Come, ye
abolitionists, away with your _wild enthusiasm_, your _misguided
philanthropy_.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. p. 101.]
'The Colonization Society is removing the greatest obstacles in
the way of emancipation; but none, we think, who is acquainted
with the circumstances and condition of our southern States,
_and who has any conscience or humanity_, would deem it
expedient or christian to dissolve instantaneously all the ties
which unite masters and slaves.'--[Idem, vol. vii. p. 186.]
'It is not right that men should be free, when their freedom
will prove injurious to themselves and others.' * * 'He has
encountered determined opposition from several individuals, who
are so reckless and fanatical as to require the instantaneous
remedying of an acknowledged evil, which may be remedied
gradually, with safety, but which cannot be remedied immediately
without jeopardizing all the interests of all parties
concerned.'--[Idem, p. 202, 280.]
'He was quite sure that in the Northern States, there was no
opinion generally prevailing, that immediate, absolute, and
universal emancipation was desirable. There might be, said Mr
Storrs, some who are actuated by pure motives and benevolent
views, who considered it practicable; but he might say with
confidence, that very few, if any, believed that it would be
truly humane or expedient to turn loose upon the community more
than a million of persons, totally destitute of the means of
subsistence, and altogether unprepared in every moral point of
view, to enjoy or estimate their new privileges. Such a
cotemporaneous emancipation of the colored population of the
Southern States could only bring a common calamity on all the
States, and the most severe misery on those who were to be thus
thrown upon society, under the most abject, helpless and
deplorable circumstances.'--[Speech of Hon. Mr Storrs.--Twelfth
Annual Report.]
'The condition of a slave suddenly emancipated, and thrown upon
his own resources, is very far from being improved; and, however
laudable the feeling which leads to such emancipation, its
policy and propriety are at least questionable.'--[Report of the
Pennsylvania Colonization Society.]
'We may, therefore, fairly conclude the object of immediate
universal emancipation wholly unattainable, or, if attainable,
at too high a price.'--[Mathew Carey's Essays.]
'Observation has fully convinced them that emancipation has
often proved injurious to both: consequently laws have been
enacted in several of the States to discourage, if not to
prevent it. The public safety and interest, as well as
individual happiness, seemed to require of legislatures the
adoption of such a measure. For, it appeared highly probable
that the manumitted would not only be poor and wretched, but
likewise a public nuisance; and perhaps at some future day, form
the nucleus of rebellion among those unhappy persons still in
slavery.'--[A colonization advocate in the Middletown
(Connecticut) Gazette.]
'To our mind, it is clearly the doctrine of the Bible, that
there may be circumstances, in which the immediate and universal
emancipation of slaves is not a duty. Demanding instantaneous
and universal emancipation, and denouncing every instance of
_holding_ slaves as a crime, is not the way to bring it to pass.
If such a course proceeds from a right spirit, it is from a
right spirit misinformed.'--[Vermont Chronicle.]
'When the writer visited England from the colonies, he was
constantly astonished to find the Wilberforceans, or saints, as
they were called, influenced by the _wildest enthusiasm_ upon
the sublime theory of liberty; urging _immediate emancipation_
of the slave, and yet totally uninformed as to its destructive
consequences to their future welfare, in their present
uneducated condition, without some provision being made to so
enlighten them that they may be enabled to estimate religions
obligations and distinguish between right and wrong; otherwise
it would be indispensable to have strong military posts and
constant martial law to preserve order, and prevent a murderous
anarchy and lawless confusion. It is not anticipated that this
state of things could ever be consummated in the United States;
but it may afford a very salutary lesson in guiding our
consideration of similar occurrences that may take place.'
--[From a colonization pamphlet, entitled 'Remarks upon a plan
for the total abolition of slavery in the United States. By a
Citizen of New-York.']
'We do not wish to be understood, as sanctioning the measures
now pursued with respect to the subject of slavery, by some
misguided enthusiasts in the northern and eastern sections of
the United States. Were the measures they advocate with so much
heat, to be adopted, a heavier curse could hardly fall upon our
country. Their operation, we feel fully satisfied, would work
the ruin of those, whom these imprudent advocates of instant and
total emancipation, wish primarily to benefit. We have always
regarded these advocates for the instantaneous abolition of
slavery, in all cases, as doing more injury to our colored
population than any other class of men in the community. The
slaves of this country cannot be at once emancipated. It is
folly, it is madness to talk of it. From the very nature of the
case, in justice to that deeply injured class, in justice to
ourselves, the work must be gradual.' * * * 'We cannot doubt the
ultimate success of the American Colonization Society. And
however much some of the clamorous advocates of instant,
immediate abolition may vent their rage against this noble
institution, it will prosper, it will flourish. Our intelligent
community are beginning to see that the American Colonization
Society presents _the only door of hope_ to the
republic.'--[Western Luminary.]
'But _what_ shall be done? Some--and their motives and
philanthropic zeal are worthy of all honor--plead for immediate
emancipation. But Mr Ladd had seen enough to know that _that_
would be a curse to all parties. He acknowledged a difficulty
here; _but it is a difficulty that often occurs in morals_. When
we have gone far in a wrong road, it often happens that we
cannot in a moment put ourselves in the right one. One penalty
of such a sin is, that it clings to us, and cannot be shaken off
at once with all its bitter consequences by a mere
volition.'--[Speech of William Ladd, Esq.]
'The warmest friend to the abolition of slavery, while he
deplores the existence of the evil, must admit the necessity of
cautious and gradual measures to remove it. The inhabitants of
the South cannot, and ought not, suddenly to emancipate their
slaves, to remain among them free. Such a measure would be no
blessing to the slaves, but the very madness of self-destruction
to the whites. In the South, the horrid scenes that would too
certainly follow the liberation of their slaves, are present to
every imagination, to stifle the calls of justice and humanity.
A fell spirit of avarice is thus invigorated and almost
justified, by the plea of necessity.'--[First Annual Report of
the New Jersey Col. Soc.]
'The impropriety and impolicy of manumitting slaves, _in any
case_, in our country, one would suppose, must be apparent to
all. It is not a little astonishing that individuals acquainted
with the facts, and the evils brought upon society by the free
black population, should persist in declaring that duty and
humanity call upon us to give the slaves their freedom. It
really appears to me that there is entirely too much "namby
pamby sentimentality" and affected feeling exhibited respecting
the condition of slaves. Do these individuals believe that
benevolence and humanity command us to turn loose upon society a
set of persons who confessedly only serve to swell the amount of
crime, while they add nothing to the industry, to the wealth, or
the strength of the country? Because abstractedly considered,
man has no right to hold his fellow man in bondage, shall we
give up our liberty, and the peace of society, in order that
this principle may not be violated? The fact is, _the negroes
are happier when kept in bondage_. In their master they find a
willing and efficient protector, to guard them from injury and
insult, to attend to them when sick and in distress, and to
provide for their comfort and support, when old age overtakes
them. When in health, they are well fed and clothed, and by no
means, in common cases, are they hardly worked.'--[A warm
advocate of African Colonization in the Alexandria Gazette.]
'But there are other difficulties in the way of immediate
emancipation. We believe that no one, who has taken charge of an
infant, and made a cripple of him, either in his feet, his
hands, or his mind, so that when he is of mature age, he is
unable to take care of himself, has a right to turn him out of
doors, to perish or destroy himself, and call it, giving him his
liberty. After having reduced him to this condition, he is bound
to afford him the support and protection, which he has rendered
necessary.
'This appears to us to be the true relation of the southern
planters to their slaves. Not that the southern planters have
generally been guilty of personal cruelty; but such has been the
general result of the system acted upon, and such the relation
growing out of it. The slaves have grown up, under the eye of
their masters, unable to take care of themselves; and their
masters, for whose comfort and convenience this has been done,
are bound to provide for them.
'Nor do we think that the exhortation, to "do right and trust
Providence," applies at all to this case; for the very question
is, "what is right?" Would it be right for the slave merchant,
in the midst of the Atlantic, to knock the manacles from his
prisoners and throw them overboard, and call this, giving them
their liberty and trusting Providence with the result? But how
else could he reduce the doctrine of immediate and complete
emancipation to practice?'--[Vermont Chronicle.]
The miserable sophistry contained in the foregoing extracts scarcely
needs a serious refutation. 'To say that immediate emancipation will
only increase the wretchedness of the slaves, and that we must pursue a
system of _gradual_ abolition, is to present to us the double paradox,
that we must continue to do evil, in order to cure the evil which we are
doing; and that we must continue to be unjust, and to do evil, that good
may come.' The fatal error of _gradualists_ lies here: They talk as if
the friends of abolition contended only for the emancipation of the
slaves, without specifying or caring what should be done with or for
them! as if the planters were invoked to cease from one kind of villany,
only to practise another! as if the manumitted slaves must necessarily
be driven out from society into the wilderness, like wild beasts! This
is talking nonsense: it is a gross perversion of reason and common
sense. Abolitionists have never said, that mere manumission would be
doing justice to the slaves: they insist upon a remuneration for years
of unrequited toil, upon their employment as free laborers, upon their
immediate and coefficient instruction, and upon the exercise of a
benevolent supervision over them on the part of their employers. They
declare, in the first place, that to break the fetters of the slaves,
and turn them loose upon the country, without the preservative
restraints of law, and destitute of occupation, would leave the work of
justice only half done; and, secondly, that it is absurd to suppose that
the planters would be wholly independent of the labor of the blacks--for
they could no more dispense with it next week, were emancipation to take
place, than they can to-day. The very ground which they assume for their
opposition to slavery,--that it necessarily prevents the improvement of
its victims,--shows that they contemplate the establishment of schools
for the education of the slaves, and the furnishing of productive
employment, immediately upon their liberation. If this were done, none
of the horrors which are now so feelingly depicted, as the attendants of
a sudden abolition, would ensue.
But we are gravely told that education must _precede_ emancipation. The
logic of this plea is, that intellectual superiority justly gives one
man an oppressive control over another! Where would such a detestable
principle lead but to practices the most atrocious, and results the most
disastrous, if carried out among ourselves? Tell us, ye hair-splitting
sophists, the exact quantum of knowledge which is necessary to
constitute a freeman. If every dunce should be a slave, your servitude
is inevitable; and richly do you deserve the lash for your obtuseness.
Our white population, too, would furnish blockheads enough to satisfy
all the classical kidnappers in the land.
The reason why the slaves are so ignorant, is because they are held in
bondage; and the reason why they are held in bondage, is because they
are so ignorant! They ought not to be freed until they are educated; and
they ought not be educated, because on the acquisition of knowledge they
would burst their fetters! Fine logic, indeed! How men, who make any
pretensions to honesty or common sense, can advance a paradox like this,
is truly inexplicable. 'I never met with a man yet,' says an able writer
in Kentucky, 'who impliedly admits the enslaving of human beings as
consistent with the exercise of christian duties, who could talk or
write ten minutes on the subject, without expressing nonsense, or
contradicting himself, or advancing heresy which would expose him to
censure on any other subject.' In this connexion, I make the following
extract from the Report of the _Dublin Negro's Friend Society_, of which
WILBERFORCE is President, and CLARKSON Vice President:
'They do not recognize the false principle, that education, as a
preparation for freedom, must precede emancipation; or that an
amelioration of the slaves' condition should be a substitute for
it: on the contrary, THEY INSIST UPON UNPROCRASTINATED
EMANCIPATION, as a right which is unrighteously withheld, and
the restoration of which is, in their opinion, the first and
most indispensable step to all improvement, and absolutely
essential to the application of the only remedy for that moral
debasement, in which slavery has sunk its victims.'
I cannot portray the absurdity of the doctrine of gradual abolition, and
the danger and folly of attempting to mitigate the system of slavery,
more strikingly, than by presenting the following eloquent extracts from
a speech of the Rev. Dr. Thomson of Edinburgh, one of the most learned
and able divines in Great Britain, whose sudden death was recorded in
the newspapers a few months since:
'The word _immediate_ may no doubt be considered as a strong
word; but you will observe that it is used as contrasted with
the word _gradual_. And were I to criticise the term _gradual_
as certain opponents have treated the term _immediate_, I could
easily, by the help of a little quibbling, bring you to the
conclusion, that as hitherto employed it means that the
abolition is never to take place, and that, by putting it into
their petition, they are to be understood as deprecating rather
than asking the emancipation of the slaves. "_Immediate_," they
argue, "evanishes as soon as you utter it; it is gone before
your petition reaches parliament." How absurd! If I should say
to my servant while engaged in work, "You must go to the south
side of the town with a message for me _immediately_," is it
indeed implied in the order I have given him, that he could not
fulfil it, unless he set off without his hat, without his coat,
without his shoes, without those habiliments which are requisite
for his appearing decently in the streets of Edinburgh, and
executing the task that I had assigned him? The meaning of the
word as used by us is perfectly clear, and cannot be
misapprehended by any one: it is not to be made a subject of
metaphysical animadversion: it is to be considered and
understood under the direction of common sense, and especially
as modified and expounded by those statements with which it is
associated both in our resolutions and in the petition; and
viewed in that light, _immediate abolition_ is not merely an
intelligible phrase, but one that does not warrant a particle of
the alarm which some have affected to take at it, and is not
liable to any one of those objections which some have been
pleased to make to it.
'To say that we will come out of the sin by degrees--that we
will only forsake it slowly, and step by step--that we will
pause and hesitate and look well about us before we consent to
abandon its gains and its pleasures--that we will allow another
age to pass by ere we throw off the load of iniquity that is
lying so heavy upon us, lest certain secularities should be
injuriously affected--and that we will postpone the duty of
"doing justly and loving mercy," till we have removed every
petty difficulty out of the way, and got all the conflicting
interests that are involved in the measure reconciled and
satisfied;--to say this, is to trample on the demands of moral
obligation, and to disregard the voice which speaks to as from
heaven. The path of duty is plain before us; and we have nothing
to do but to enter it at once, and to walk in it without turning
to the right hand or to the left. Our concern is not with the
result that may follow our obedience to the divine will. Our
great and primary concern is to obey that will. God reigns over
his universe in the exercise of infinite perfection: he commands
us to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke; and
submitting, without procrastination, and without any attempts at
compromise, to that command, we may be assured that he will take
care of all the effects that can be produced by compliance with
his authority, and give demonstration to the truth that
obedience to his behests is our grand and only security for a
prosperous lot.
'We are by no means indifferent to the expediency of the case.
On the contrary, we think ourselves prepared to prove, by fair
reasoning and by ascertained fact, that the expediency of the
thing is all on our side; that immediate abolition is the only
secure and proper way of attaining the object which we all
profess to have in view; that to defer the measure to a distant
period, and to admit the propriety of getting at it by a course
of mitigation, is the surest mode of frustrating every hope we
might otherwise entertain, and giving over the slaves to
interminable bondage.' * * *
'I do not deny, Sir, that the evils of practical slavery may be
lessened. By parliamentary enactments, by colonial arrangements,
by appeals to the judgment and feelings of planters, and by
various other means, a certain degree of melioration _may_ be
secured. But I say, in the first place, that, with all that you
can accomplish, or reasonably expect, of mitigation, you cannot
alter the nature of slavery itself. With every improvement you
have superinduced upon it, you have not made it less debasing,
less cruel, less destructive, in its essential character. The
black man is still the _property_ of the white man. And that one
circumstance not only implies in it the transgression of
inalienable right and everlasting justice, but is the fruitful
and necessary source of numberless mischiefs, the very thought
of which harrows up the soul, and the infliction of which no
superintendence of any government can either prevent or control.
Mitigate and keep down the evil as much as you can, still it is
there in all its native virulence, and still it will do its
malignant work in spite of you. The improvements you have made
are merely superficial. You have not reached the seat and vital
spring of the mischief. You have only concealed in some measure,
and for a time, its inherent enormity. Its essence remains
unchanged and untouched, and is ready to unfold itself whenever
a convenient season arrives, notwithstanding all your
precaution, and all you vigilance, in those manifold acts of
injustice and inhumanity, which are its genuine and its
invariable fruits. You may white-wash the sepulchre,--you may
put upon it every adornment that fancy can suggest,--you may
cover it over with all the flowers and evergreens that the
garden or the fields can furnish, so that it will appear
beautiful outwardly unto men. But it is a sepulchre still,--full
of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Disguise slavery as
you will,--put into the cup all the pleasing and palatable
ingredients which you can discover in the wide range of nature
and of art,--still it is a bitter, bitter draught, from which
the understanding and the heart of every man, in whom nature
works unsophisticated and unbiassed, recoils with unutterable
aversion and abhorrence. Why, Sir, slavery is the very Upas tree
of the moral world, beneath whose pestiferous shade all
intellect languishes, and all virtue dies. And if you would get
quit of the evil, you must go more thoroughly and effectually to
work than you can ever do by any or by all of those palliatives,
which are included under the term "mitigation." The foul
sepulchre must be taken away. The cup of oppression must be
dashed to pieces on the ground. The pestiferous tree must be cut
down and eradicated; it must be, root and branch of it, cast
into the consuming fire, and its ashes scattered to the four
winds of heaven. It is thus you must deal with slavery. You must
annihilate it,--annihilate it now,--and annihilate it for ever.
'Get your mitigation. I say in the second place, that you are
thereby, in all probability farther away than ever from your
object. It is not to the Government or the Parliament at home
that you are to look--neither is it to the legislatures and
planters abroad that you are to look--for accomplishing the
abolition of negro slavery. Sad experience shows that, if left
to themselves, they will do nothing efficient in this great
cause. It is to the sentiments of the people at large that you
are to look, to the spread of intellectual light, to the
prevalence of moral feeling, to the progress, in short, of
public opinion, which, when resting on right principles and
moving in a right direction, must in this free and Christian
country prove irresistible. But observe, Sir, the public mind
will not be sufficiently affected by the statement of abstract
truths, however just, or by reasonings on the tendencies of a
system, however accurate. It must be more or less influenced by
what is visible, or by what is easily known and understood of
the actual atrocities which accompany slavery, wherever it is
left to its own proper operation. Let it be seen in its native
vileness and cruelty, as exhibited when not interfered with by
the hand of authority, and it excites universal and unqualified
detestation. But let its harsher asperities be rubbed off; take
away the more prominent parts of its iniquity; see that it look
somewhat smoother and milder than it did before; make such
regulations as ought, if faithfully executed, to check its
grosser acts of injustice and oppression; give it the appearance
of its being put under the humanizing sway of religious
education and instruction; do all this, and you produce one
effect at least,--you modify the indignation of a great number
of the community; you render slavery much less obnoxious; you
enable its advocates and supporters to say in reply to your
denunciations of its wickedness, "O, the slaves are now
comfortable and happy; they do not suffer what they did; they
are protected and well treated," and in proof of all this, they
point to what are called "mitigations." But mark me, Sir; under
these mitigations, slavery still exists, ready at every
convenient season to break forth in all its countless forms of
inhumanity; meanwhile the public feeling in a great measure
subsides; and when the public feeling--such an important and
indispensable element in our attempts to procure abolition--is
allowed to subside, tell me, Sir, when, and where, and by what
means it is again to be roused into activity. I must say, for
one, that though I sympathize with my sable brethren, when I
hear of them being spared even one lash of the cart-whip; yet
when I take a more enlarged view of their condition--when I
consider the nature of that system under which they are placed,
and when I look forward to their deliverance, and the means by
which alone it is to be effected, I am tempted, and almost if
not altogether persuaded, to deprecate that insidious thing
termed "mitigation," because it directly tends to perpetuate the
mighty evil, which will by and by throw off the improvements by
which it is glossed over as quite unnatural to it, will
ultimately grow up again into all its former dreadfulness, and
continue to wither and crush beneath it, all that is excellent
and glorious in man.
'But if our rulers and legislators will undertake to emancipate
the slaves, and do it as it ought to be done, immediately, I beg
those who set themselves against such a measure, to point out
the danger, and to prove it. The _onus_ lies upon _them_. And
what evidence do they give us? Where is it to be found? In what
circumstance shall we discover it? From what principles and
probabilities shall we infer it? We must not have mere
hypothesis--mere allegations--mere fancied horrors, dressed up
in frightful language. We must have proof to substantiate, in
some good measure, their theory of rebellion, warfare, and
blood. If any such thing exists, let them produce it' * * * 'But
if you push me, and still urge the argument of insurrection and
bloodshed, for which you are far more indebted to fancy than to
fact, as I have shown you, then I say, be it so. I repeat that
maxim, taken from a heathen book, but pervading the whole Book
of God, _Fiat justitia_--_ruat cælum_. Righteousness, Sir, is
the pillar of the universe. Break down that pillar, and the
universe falls into ruin and desolation. But preserve it, and
though the fair fabric may sustain partial dilapidations, it may
be rebuilt and repaired--it _will_ be rebuilt, and repaired, and
restored to all its pristine strength, and magnificence, and
beauty. If there must be violence, let it even come, for it will
soon pass away--let it come and rage its little hour, since it
is to be succeeded by lasting freedom, and prosperity and
happiness. Give me the hurricane rather than the pestilence.
Give me the hurricane, with its thunder, and its lightning, and
its tempest;--give me the hurricane, with its partial and
temporary devastations, awful though they be;--give me the
hurricane, with its purifying, healthful, salutary
effects;--give me that hurricane, infinitely rather than the
noisome pestilence, whose path is never crossed, whose silence
is never disturbed, whose progress is never arrested, by one
sweeping blast from the heavens; which walks peacefully and
sullenly through the length and breadth of the land, breathing
poison into every heart, and carrying havoc into every home,
enervating all that is strong, defacing all that is beautiful,
and casting its blight over the fairest and happiest scenes of
human life--and which, from day to day, and from year to year,
with intolerant and interminable malignity, sends its thousands
and its tens of thousands of hapless victims into the
ever-yawning and never-satisfied grave!'
It is said, by way of extenuation, that the present owners of slaves are
not responsible for the origin of this system. I do not arraign them for
the crimes _of their ancestors_, but for the constant perpetration and
extension of similar crimes. The plea that the evil of slavery was
entailed upon them, shall avail them nothing: in its length and breadth
it means that the robberies of one generation justify the robberies of
another! that the inheritance of stolen property converts it into an
honest acquisition! that the atrocious conduct of their fathers
exonerates them from all accountability, thus presenting the strange
anomaly of a race of men incapable of incurring guilt, though daily
practising the vilest deeds! Scarcely any one denies that blame attaches
somewhere: the present generation throws it upon the past--the past,
upon its predecessor--and thus it is cast, like a ball, from one to
another, down to the first importers of the Africans! 'Can that be
_innocence_ in the temperate zone, which is the _acme of all guilt_ near
the equator? Can that be _honesty_ in one meridian of longitude, which,
at one hundred degrees east, is the _climax of injustice_?' Sixty
thousand infants, the offspring of slave-parents, are annually born in
this country, and doomed to remediless bondage. Is it not as atrocious a
crime to kidnap these, as to kidnap a similar number on the coast of
Africa?
It is said, moreover, that we ought to legislate prospectively, on this
subject; that the fetters of the present generation of slaves cannot be
broken; and that our single aim should be, to obtain the freedom of
their offspring, by fixing a definite period after which none shall be
born slaves. But this is inconsistent, inhuman and unjust. The following
extracts from the speech of the Rev. Dr. Thomson are conclusive on this
point:
'In the first place, it amounts to an indirect sanction of the
continued slavery of all who are now alive, and of all who may
be born before the period fixed upon. This is a renunciation of
the great moral principles upon which the demand for abolition
proceeds. It consigns more than 800,000 human beings to bondage
and oppression, while their title to freedom is both
indisputable and acknowledged. And it is not merely an
inconsistency on the part of the petitioners, and a violation of
the duty which they owe to such a multitude of their fellow-men,
but it weakens or surrenders the great argument by which they
enforce their application for the extinction of colonial
slavery.
'Besides, it is vain to expect that the planters will acquiesce
in such a prospective measure, any more than in the liberation
of the existing slaves, for the progeny of the existing slaves
must be considered by them as much a part of their property as
these slaves themselves. And they would regard it equally unjust
to deprive them of what is hereafter to be produced from their
own slave stock, as it would be to deprive a farmer, by an
anticipating law of all the foals and of all the calves that
might be produced in his stable and in his cow-house, after a
given specified date.
'We must be true to our own maxims, which are taken from the
word of God; and ask for all that we are entitled to have on the
ground of justice and humanity, and be contented with nothing
less.
'In the second place, the plan objected to is not merely an
acquiescence in the continuance of crime, it is a violation of
the best feelings of our nature. For, let any man but reflect on
the circumstance of children being born to slavery, merely
because they came into the world the last hour of December 1830,
instead of the first hour of January 1, 1831--and of children in
the same family, brothers and sisters--some of them destined to
bondage for life, and others gifted with freedom, for no other
reason than that the former were born before, and the latter
after, a particular day of a particular year--and of parents
being unjustly and inhumanly flogged in the very sight of their
offspring arbitrarily made free, while they are as arbitrarily
kept slaves--let any man but reflect on those things, and unless
the sensibilities of his heart be paralysed even to deadness, he
must surely revolt at such a cruel and cold blooded allotment in
the fortune of those little ones, and be satisfied with nothing
short of the emancipation of the whole community, without a
single exception.
'In the third place, supposing all children born after January
1, 1831, were declared free, how are they to be educated? That
they may be prepared for the enjoyment of that liberty with
which you have invested them, they must undergo a particular and
appropriate training. So say the _gradualists_. Very well; under
whom are they to get this training? Are they to be separated
from their parents? Is that dearest of natural ties to be broken
asunder? Is this necessary for your plan? And are not you thus
endeavoring to cure one species of wickedness by the
instrumentality of another? But if they are to be left with
their parents and brought up under their care, then either they
will be imbued with the faults and degeneracies that are
characteristic of slavery, and consequently be as unfit for
freedom as those who have not been disenthralled: or they will
be well nurtured and well instructed by their parents, and this
implies a confession that their parents themselves are
sufficiently prepared for liberty, and that there is no good
reason for withholding from them, the boon that is bestowed upon
their children.
'Whatever view, in short, we take of the question, the
prospective plan is full of difficulty or contradictions, and we
are made more sensible than ever that there is nothing left for
us, but to take the consistent, honest, uncompromising course of
demanding the abolition of slavery with respect to the present,
as well as to every future generation of the negroes in our
colonies.'
We are told that 'it is not right that men should be free, when their
freedom will prove injurious to themselves and others.' This has been
the plea of tyrants in all ages. If the immediate emancipation of the
slaves would prove a curse, it follows that slavery is a blessing; and
that it cannot be unjust, but benevolent, to defraud the laborer of his
hire, to rank him as a beast, and to deprive him of his liberty. But
this, every one must see, is at war with common sense, and avowedly
doing evil that good may come. This plea must mean, either that a state
of slavery is more favorable to the growth of virtue and the
dispensation of knowledge than a state of freedom--(a glaring
absurdity)--or that an immediate compliance with the demands of justice
would be most unjust--(a gross contradiction.)
It is boldly asserted by some colonizationists, that '_the negroes are
happier when kept in bondage_,' and that 'the condition of the great
mass of emancipated Africans is one in comparison with which the
condition of the slaves is _enviable_.' What is the inference? Why,
either that slavery is not oppression--(another paradox)--or that real
benevolence demands the return of the free people of color to their
former state of servitude. Every kidnapper, therefore, is a true
philanthropist! Our legislature should immediately offer a bounty for
the body of every free colored person! The colored population of
Massachusetts, at $200 for each man, woman and child, would bring at
least _one million three hundred thousand dollars_. This sum would
seasonably replenish our exhausted treasury. The whole free colored
population of the United States, at the same price, (which is a low
estimate,) would be worth _sixty-five millions of dollars_!! Think how
many churches this would build, schools and colleges establish,
beneficiaries educate, missionaries support, bibles and tracts
circulate, railroads and canals complete, &c. &c. &c.!!!
The Secretary of the Colonization Society assures us, (vide the African
Repository, vol. v. p. 330,) that '_were the very spirit of angelic
charity to pervade and fill the hearts of all the slaveholders in our
land, it would by no means require that all the slaves should be
instantaneously liberated_'!!--i. e. should the slaveholders become
instantaneously metamorphosed into angels, they would still hold the
rational creatures of God as their _property_, and yet commit no sin!
Think, for one moment, of an angel in the capacity of a
man-stealer--feeding his victims upon a peck of corn per week, or three
bushels of corn and a few herrings every 'quarter-day,' as a
compensation for their severe labor--flourishing a cowskin over their
heads, and applying it frequently to their naked bodies! Think of him
selling parents from children, and children from parents, at private
sale or public auction!
Many slaveholders are giving up their slaves from conscientious motives;
they cannot, they dare not longer keep them in servitude; they believe
that the law of God has a higher claim upon their obedience than the
laws of their native State. Now suppose all the owners of slaves in our
land should be suddenly and simultaneously convicted of sin, and moved
to repentance in a similar manner, and should say to their slaves, 'God
forbid that we should longer call you our property, or place you on a
level with our cattle, or defraud you of your just dues, or sell you or
your wives or children to others, or deny you the means of instruction,
or lacerate your bodies! henceforth you are free--but you want
employment, and we need laborers--go and work as freemen, and be paid as
freemen!'--suppose, I say, a case like this should happen, and a troop
of _gradualists_ should surround these penitent oppressors, and cry,
'Were the very spirit of angelic charity to pervade and fill your
hearts, it would by no means require that all your slaves should be
instantaneously liberated--your throats will be cut, your houses
pillaged, and desolation will stalk through the land, if you carry your
mad purpose into effect--emancipate by a slow, imperceptible
process!'--how would this advice sound? What should be their reply?
Clearly this: 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto
men more than unto God, judge ye.' Here would be presented a strange
spectacle indeed--one party confessing and resolving to forsake their
sins, and another urging them to disregard the admonitions of
conscience, and to leave off sinning by degrees! To be sure, a few, a
very few, would be _generously_ allowed to reform _instanter_!
Those who prophesy evil, and only evil, concerning immediate abolition,
absolutely disregard the nature and constitution of man, as also his
inalienable rights, and annihilate or reverse the causes and effects of
human action. They are continually fearful lest the slaves, in
consequence of their grievous wrongs and intolerable sufferings, should
attempt to gain their freedom by revolution; and yet they affect to be
equally fearful lest a general emancipation should produce the same
disastrous consequences. How absurd! They _know_ that oppression must
cause rebellion; and yet they pretend that a removal of the cause will
produce a bloody effect! This is to suppose an effect without a cause,
and, of course, is a contradiction in terms. Bestow upon the slaves
personal freedom, and all motives for insurrection are destroyed. Treat
them like rational beings, and you may surely expect rational treatment
in return: treat them like beasts, and they will behave in a beastly
manner.
Besides, precedent and experience make the ground of abolitionists
invulnerable. In no single instance where their principles have been
adopted, has the result been disastrous or violent, but beneficial and
peaceful even beyond their most sanguine expectations. The immediate
abolition of slavery in Mexico, in Colombia, and in St. Domingo,[O] was
eminently preservative and useful in its effects. The manumitted slaves
(numbering more than two thousand,) who were settled in Nova Scotia, at
the close of our revolutionary war, by the British government, 'led a
harmless life,' says Clarkson, 'and gained the character of an
industrious and honest people from their white neighbors.' A large
number who were located at Trinidad, as free laborers, at the close of
our last war, 'are now,' according to the same authority, 'earning their
own livelihood, and with so much industry and good conduct, that the
calumnies originally spread against them have entirely died away.'
According to the Anti-Slavery Reporter for January, 1832, three thousand
prize negroes at the Cape of Good Hope had received their freedom--four
hundred in one day; 'but not the least difficulty or disorder occurred:
servants found masters, masters hired servants--all gained homes, and at
night scarcely an idler was to be seen.'
These and many other similar facts show conclusively the safety of
immediate abolition. Gradualists can present, in abatement of them,
nothing but groundless apprehensions and criminal distrust. The argument
is irresistible.
FOOTNOTES:
[N] The slaves, they say, are their _property_. Once admit this, and all
your arguments for interference are vain, and all your plans for
amelioration are fruitless. The whole question may be said to hang upon
this point. If the slaves are not property, then slavery is at an end.
The slaveholders see this most clearly; they see that while you allow
these slaves to be their _property_, you act inconsistently and
oppressively in intermeddling, as you propose to do, with what is theirs
as much as any other of their goods and chattels: you must proceed,
therefore, in your measures for amelioration, as you call it, with
'hesitating steps and slow;' and there is nothing you can do for
restraining punishment, for regulating labor, for enforcing manumission,
for introducing education and Christianity, which will not be met with
the remonstrance, undeniably just by your own concessions, that you are
encroaching on the sacred rights of property,--the slaveholders see all
this, and they can employ it to paralyse and defeat all your efforts to
get at emancipation, and to prepare for it. It is on this account, that
I wish it settled in your minds, as a fixed and immutable principle,
that there is and can be no property of man in man. Adopt this
principle, and give it that ascendency over your minds to which it is
entitled;--and slavery is swept away.--_Speech of Rev. Dr Thomson of
Edinburgh._
[O] The history of the Revolution in St Domingo is not generally
understood in this country. The result of the instantaneous emancipation
of the slaves, in that island, by an act of the Conventional Assembly of
France in the month of February, 1794, settles the controversy between
the _immediatists_ and _gradualists_. 'After this public act of
emancipation,' says Colonel Malenfant, who was resident in the island at
the time, 'the negroes _remained quiet_ both in the South and in the
West, and _they continued to work upon all the plantations_.' 'Upon
those estates which were abandoned, _they continued their labors_, where
there were any, even inferior agents, to guide them; and on those
estates, where no white men were left to direct them, they betook
themselves to the planting of provisions; but upon _all the plantations_
where the whites resided, the blacks _continued to labor as quietly as
before_.' 'On the Plantation Gourad, consisting of more than four
hundred and fifty laborers, _not a single negro refused to work_; and
yet this plantation was thought to be under the worst discipline and the
slaves the most idle of any in the plain.' General Lacroix, who
published his 'Memoirs for a History of St Domingo,' at Paris, in 1819,
uses these remarkable words: 'The colony marched, _as by enchantment_,
towards its ancient splendor; _cultivation prospered_; every day
produced perceptible proofs of its progress. The city of the Cape and
the plantations of the North rose up again visibly to the eye.' General
Vincent, who was a general of a brigade of artillery in St Domingo, and
a proprietor of estates in that island, at the same period, declared to
the Directory of France, that 'every thing was _going on well in St
Domingo_. The proprietors were in peaceable possession of their estates;
cultivation was making rapid progress; _the blacks were industrious, and
beyond example happy_.' So much for the horrible concomitants of a
general emancipation! So much for the predicted indolence of the
liberated slaves! Let confusion of face cover all abolition alarmists in
view of these historical facts! This peaceful and prosperous state of
affairs continued from 1794, to the invasion of the island by Leclerc in
1802. The attempt of Bonaparte to reduce the island to its original
servitude was the sole cause of that sanguinary conflict which ended in
the total extirpation of the French from its soil.--[Vide Clarkson's
'Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in
the British Colonies,' &c.]
SECTION VI.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS NOURISHED BY FEAR AND SELFISHNESS.
The reader will find on the fifth page of my introductory remarks, the
phrase 'naked terrors;' by which I mean, that, throughout all the
speeches, addresses and reports in behalf of the Society, it is
confessed, in language strong and explicit, that an irrepressible and
agonizing fear of the influence of the free people of color over the
slave population is the primary, essential and prevalent motive for
colonizing them on the coast of Africa--and not, as we are frequently
urged to believe, a desire simply to meliorate their condition and
civilize that continent. On this point, the evidence is abundant.
'In reflecting on the utility of a plan for colonizing the free
people of color, with whom our country abounds, it is natural
that we should be first struck by its tendency to confer a
benefit on ourselves, by ridding us of a population for the most
part idle and useless, and too often vicious and mischievous.'
* * * 'Such a class must evidently be a burden and a nuisance to
the community; and every scheme which affords a prospect of
removing so great an evil must deserve to be most favorably
considered.
'But it is not in themselves merely that the free people of
color are a nuisance and burthen. They contribute greatly to the
corruption of the slaves, and to aggravate the evils of their
condition, by rendering them idle, discontented and disobedient.
This also arises from the necessity under which the free blacks
are, of remaining incorporated with the slaves, of associating
habitually with them, and forming part of the same class in
society. The slave seeing his free companion live in idleness,
or subsist however scantily or precariously by occasional and
desultory employment, is apt to grow discontented with his own
condition, and to regard as tyranny and injustice the authority
which compels him to labor.[P]
'Great, however, as the benefits are, which we may thus promise
ourselves, from the colonization of the free people of color, by
its tendency to prevent the discontent and corruption of our
slaves,' &c. * * 'The considerations stated in the first part of
this letter, have long since produced a thorough conviction in
my mind, that the existence of a class of free people of color
in this country is highly injurious to the whites, the slaves
and the free people of color themselves: consequently that all
emancipation, to however small an extent, which permits the
persons emancipated to remain in this country, is an evil, which
must increase with the increase of the operation, and would
become altogether intolerable, if extended to the whole, or even
to a very large part of the black population. I am therefore
strongly opposed to emancipation, in every shape and degree,
unless accompanied by colonization.'--[General Harper's
Letter--First Annual Report, pp. 29, 31, 32, 33, 36.]
'The slaves would be greatly benefitted by the removal of the
free blacks, who now corrupt them and render them
discontented.'--[Second An. Rep.]
'What are these objects? They are in the first place to aid
ourselves, by relieving us from a species of population pregnant
with future danger and present inconvenience.'--[Seventh
Report.]
'They are dangerous to the community, and this danger ought to
be removed. Their wretchedness arises not only from their
bondage, but from their political and moral degradation. The
danger is not so much that we have a million and a half of
slaves, as that we have in our borders nearly two millions of
men who are necessarily any thing rather than loyal
citizens--nearly two millions of ignorant and miserable beings
who are banded together by the very same circumstances, by which
they are so widely separated in character and in interest from
all the citizens of our great republic.'--[Seventh Annual
Report.]
'It may be safely assumed, that there is not an individual in
the community, who has given to the subject a moment's
consideration, who does not regard the existence of the free
people of color in the bosom of the country, as an evil of
immense magnitude, and of a dangerous and alarming tendency.
Their abject and miserable condition is too obvious to be
pointed out. All must perceive it, and perceiving it, cannot but
lament it. But their deplorable condition is not more obvious to
the most superficial observer, than is (what is far worse, and
still more to be dreaded,) the powerful and resistless influence
which they exert over the slave population. While their
character remains what it now is, (and the laws and structure of
the country in which they reside, prevent its permanent
improvement,) this influence must of necessity be baneful and
contaminating. Corrupt themselves, like the deadly Upas, they
impart corruption to all around them. Their numbers too, are
constantly and rapidly augmenting. Their annual increase is
truly astonishing, certainly unexampled. The dangerous
ascendency which they have already acquired over the slaves, is
consequently increasing with every addition to their numbers;
and every addition to their numbers is a subtraction from the
wealth and strength, and character, and happiness, and safety of
the country. And if this be true, as it unquestionably is, the
converse is also true; the danger of their undue influence will
lessen with every diminution of their numbers; and every
diminution of their numbers must add, and add greatly, to the
prosperity of the country.'--[Twelfth Annual Report.]
'Another reason is, the pressing and vital importance of
relieving ourselves, as soon as practicable, from this most
dangerous element in our population.' * * 'We all know the
effects produced on our slaves by the fascinating, but delusive
appearance of happiness, exhibited in some persons of their own
complexion, roaming in idleness and vice among them. By removing
the most fruitful source of discontent from among our slaves, we
should render them more industrious and attentive to our
commands.'--[Fourteenth Annual Report.]
'What is the free black to the slave? A standing perpetual
incitement to discontent. Though the condition of the slave be a
thousand times the best--supplied, protected, instead of
destitute and desolate--yet, the folly of the condition, held to
involuntary labor, finds, always, allurement, in the spectacle
of exemption from it, without consideration of the adjuncts of
destitution and misery. The slave would have then, little
excitement to discontent but for the free black.'--[Fifteenth
Annual Report.]
'The evils which arise from the communication of the free people
of color with our slaves, must be obvious to every reflecting
mind; and the consequences which may result from this
communication at some future day, when circumstances are more
favorable to their views, are of a more alarming character. Sir,
circumstances must have brought us to the conclusion, if our
observation had not enabled us to make the remark, that it is
natural for our slaves, so closely allied to the free black
population by national peculiarities, and by relationship, to
make a comparison between their respective conditions, and to
repine at the difference which exists between them. This is a
serious evil, and can only be removed _by preventing the
possibility of a comparison_.
'By removing these people, we rid ourselves of a large party who
will always be ready to assist our slaves in any mischievous
design which they may conceive; and who are better able, by
their intelligence, and the facilities of their communication,
to bring those designs to a successful termination.'--[African
Repository, vol. i. p. 176.]
'The labors of the Colonization Society appear to us highly
deserving of praise. The blacks, whom they carry from the
country, belong to a class far more noxious than the slaves
themselves. They are free without any sense of character to
restrain them, or regular means of obtaining an honest
livelihood. Most of the criminal offences committed in the
southern States are chargeable to them, and their influence over
the slaves is pernicious and alarming.' * * * 'What is the true
nature of the evil of the existence of a portion of the African
race in our population? It is not that there are some, but that
there are so many among us of a different caste, of a different
physical, if not moral, constitution, who never can amalgamate
with the great body of our population. In every country, persons
are to be found varying in their color, origin and character,
from the native mass. But this anomaly creates no inquietude or
apprehension, because the exotics, from the smallness of their
number, are known to be utterly incapable of disturbing the
general tranquillity. Here, on the contrary, the African part of
our population bears so large a proportion to the residue of
European origin, as to create the most lively apprehension,
especially in some quarters of the Union. Any project,
therefore, by which, in a material degree, the dangerous element
in the general mass, can be diminished or rendered stationary,
deserves deliberate consideration.'--[African Repository, vol.
ii. pp. 27, 338.]
'Made up, for the most part, either of slaves or of their
immediate descendants; elevated above the class from which it
has sprung, only by its exemption from domestic restraint; and
effectually debarred by the law, from every prospect of equality
with the actual freemen of the country; it is a source of
perpetual uneasiness to the master, and of envy and corruption
to the slave.' * * 'To remove these persons from among us, will
increase the _usefulness_, and improve the moral character of
those who remain in servitude, and _with whose labors the
country is unable to dispense_. That instances are to be found
of colored free persons, upright and industrious, is not to be
denied. But the greater portion, as is well known, are a source
of malignant depravity to the slaves on the one hand, and of
corrupt habits to many of our white population on the other. The
arts of subsistence with many of them, are incompatible with the
security of property.' * * * 'I am a Virginian--I dread for her
the corroding evil of this numerous caste, and I tremble for the
danger of a disaffection spreading through their seductions,
among our servants.' * * * 'Are they vipers, who are sucking our
blood? we will hurl them from us. It is not sympathy alone,--not
sickly sympathy, no, nor manly sympathy either,--which is to act
on us; but vital policy, self-interest, are also enlisting
themselves on the humane side in our breasts.'--[African
Repository, vol. iii. pp. 10, 67, 197, 201.]
'All must concur in regarding the present condition of the free
colored race in America as inconsistent with its future social
and political advancement, and, where slavery exists at all, as
calculated to aggravate its evils without any atoning good.
Among those evils, the most obvious is the restraint imposed
upon emancipation by the laws of so many of the slaveholding
States: laws, deriving their recent origin from the obvious
manifestation which the increase of the free colored population
has furnished, of the inconvenience and danger of multiplying
their number where slavery exists at all.' * * * 'By the success
of this scheme, our country will be enriched. The free blacks
constitute a material spoke in that wheel which is crushing down
the wealth of our land. The moment we carry this plan into
vigorous prosecution, we shall call many of our countrymen to a
state of comparative wealth. The removal of the annual increase
of our colored population, would give to our mariners a
considerable scope of employment, whilst the trade of the Colony
would be a source of profit.' * * 'It places the attainment of
the grand object in view, that is, to withdraw from the United
States annually, so many of the colored population, and provide
them a comfortable home and all the advantages of civilization
in Africa, _as will make the number here remain stationary_.'
* * * 'Let us recur to the principle abovementioned--that every
black family occupies the room of a white family. On this
principle we are lost, if we suffer the colored population to
multiply, unchecked, upon our hands; because they will increase
faster than the whites, and will crowd them out of all the
Southern country. But on the same principle we are saved, if by
any means of colonization, we can retard the increase of the
blacks, and gain ground on them in the South. That we can do
with ease, if our people will unite in prosecuting the scheme.
Every family taken from the blacks, will add also a family to
the whites, and make an actual difference of two families in our
favor. This exchange will leave fewer blacks to remove, while
it will increase our ability to remove them. Self-interest and
self-preservation furnish motives enough to excite our
exertions.' * * 'By thus repressing the rapid increase of
blacks, the white population would be enabled to reach and soon
overtop them. The consequence would be security.'--[African
Repository, vol. iv. pp. 53, 141, 271, 276, 344.]
'The existence of a class of men in the bosom of the community,
who occupy a middle rank between the citizen and the slave--who
encountering every positive evil incident to each condition,
share none of the benefits peculiar to either, has been long
clearly seen and deeply deplored by every man of observation.
The master feels it in the unhappy influence which the free
blacks have upon the slave population. The slave feels it in the
restless, discontented spirit which his association with the
free black engenders.' * * * * 'But, there is yet a more
important and alarming view, in which this subject necessarily
presents itself to the mind of every Virginian. A community of
the character that has been described, with this additional
peculiarity, that it differs from the class from which it has
sprung, only in its exemption from _the wholesome restraints of
domestic authority_, is found in the midst of a numerous and
rapidly increasing slave population; and while its partial
freedom, trammelled, as it is, by the necessary rigors of the
law, is nevertheless sufficiently attractive, to be a source of
uneasiness and dissatisfaction to those who have not attained to
its questionable privileges, its exemption from the prompt and
efficient inquisition appertaining to slavery, makes it an
important instrument in the corruption and seduction of those,
who yet remain the property of their masters.' * * * 'Who would
not rejoice to see our country liberated from her black
population? Who would not participate in any efforts to restore
those children of misfortune to their native shores, and kindle
the lights of science and civilization through Africa? Who that
has reflection, does not tremble for the political and moral
well-being of a country, that has within its bosom, a growing
population, bound to its institutions by no common sympathies,
and ready to fall in with any faction that may threaten its
liberties?' * * * 'The existence of this race among us; a race
that can neither share our blessings nor incorporate in our
society, is already felt to be a curse; and though the only
curse entailed on us, if left to take its course, it will become
the greatest that could befal the nation.
'Shall we then cling to it, and by refusing the timely expedient
now offered for deliverance, retain and foster the _alien
enemies_, till they have multiplied into such greater numbers,
and risen into such mightier consequence as will for ever bar
the possibility of their departure, and by barring it, bar also
the possibility of fulfilling our own high destiny?' * * 'The
object of this Society is two-fold; for while it immediately and
ostensibly directs its energies to the amelioration of the
condition of the free people of color, it relieves our country
from an unprofitable burden, and which, if much longer submitted
to, may record upon our history the dreadful cries of vengeance
that but a few years since were registered in characters of
blood at St. Domingo.' * * 'It is the removal of the _free_
blacks from among us, that is to save us, sooner or later, from
those dreadful events foreboded by Mr Jefferson, or from the
horrors of St. Domingo. The present number of this unfortunate,
degraded, and anomalous class of inhabitants cannot be much
short of half a million; and the number is fast increasing. They
are emphatically a mildew upon our fields, a scourge to our
backs, and a stain upon our escutcheon. To remove them is mercy
to ourselves, and justice to them.'--[African Repository, vol.
v. pp. 28, 51, 88, 278, 304, 348.]
'All admit the utility of the separation of the free people of
color from the residue of the population of the United States,
if it be practicable. It is desirable for them, _for the slaves
of the United States_, and for the white race. The vices of this
class do not spring from any inherent depravity in their natural
constitution, but from their unfortunate situation. Social
intercourse is a want which we are prompted to gratify by all
the properties of our nature. And as they cannot obtain it in
the better circles of society, nor always among themselves,
they resort to slaves and to the most debased and worthless of
the whites. Corruption, and all the train of petty offences, are
the consequences. Proprietors of slaves in whose neighborhood
any free colored family is situated, know how infectious and
pernicious this intercourse is.' * * * 'Who, if this promiscuous
residence of whites and blacks, of freemen and slaves, is for
ever to continue, can imagine the servile wars, the carnage and
the crimes which will be its probable consequences, without
shuddering with horror?' * * 'It were madness to shut our eyes
to these facts and conclusions. This rapid increase of the
blacks is as certain as the progress of time. The fatal
consequences of that increase, if it be not checked, are equally
so. Something must be done. The American Colonization Society
proposes a remedy--the removal to Africa of the blacks who are
free, or shall hereafter become so, with their consent.' * *
'The colored population is considered by the people of Tennessee
and Alabama in general, as an immense evil to the country--but
the free part of it, by all, as the greatest of all evils....
They feel severely the effects of the deleterious influence
which the free negroes exert upon the slaves--and they look,
moreover, into futurity, and there they behold an appalling
scene--in less than one hundred years, (a short time, we should
hope, in the life of this republic,) 16,000,000 of blacks.'
* * * * 'Since the recent revolution in the island of St. Domingo,
which has placed it in the hands of the African race, it was
thought by some that there an asylum might be found for this
part of our population. But to that place there were also
serious objections, which would prevent its adoption to any
considerable extent. The nearness of that Island to our southern
borders, and the evil consequences that might result from
embodying the free persons of color in the vicinity of those
parts of the United States, where slaves are so numerous,
forbade the friends of humanity to provide a home for them in
that Island.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. pp. 17, 23, 68, 77,
226.]
'The existence, within the very bosom of our country, of an
anomalous race of beings, the most debased upon earth, who
neither enjoy the blessings of freedom, nor are yet in the bonds
of slavery, is a great national evil, which every friend of his
country most deeply deplores. They constitute a large mass of
human beings, who hang as a vile excrescence upon society--the
objects of a low debasing envy to our slaves, and to ourselves
of universal suspicion and distrust.' * * 'If this process were
continued a second term of duplication, it would produce the
extraordinary result of forty white men to one black in the
country--a state of things in which we should not only cease to
feel the burdens which now hang so heavily upon us, but actually
regard the poor African as an object of curiosity, and not
uneasiness.' * * 'Enough, under favorable circumstances, might
be removed for a few successive years--if young _females_ were
encouraged to go--to keep the whole colored population in
check.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 230, 232, 246.]
'The existence of such a population among us is a most manifest
evil. And every year adds to its threatening aspect. They are
more than a sixth of our population! Their ratio of increase
exceeds that of the whites. They have all the lofty and immortal
powers of man. And the time must arrive, when they will
fearlessly claim the prerogatives of man. They may do it in the
spirit of revenge. They may do it in the spirit of desperation.
And the result of such a mustering of their energies--who can
look at it even in distant prospect without horror? Almost as
numerous are they now, as our whole population when this nation
stood forth for freedom in a contest with the mightiest power of
the civilized world. And if nothing is done to _arrest their
increase_, we shall have in twenty years four millions of
slaves; in forty years eight millions; in sixty years sixteen
millions, and a million of free blacks;--seventeen millions of
people; seven millions more than our present white
population;--enough for a powerful empire! And how can they be
governed? Who can foretel those scenes of carnage and terror
which our own children may witness, unless a seasonable remedy
be applied? The remedy is now within our reach. _We can stop
their increase_; we can diminish their number.'--[Rev. Baxter
Dickinson's Sermon delivered at Springfield, Mass. in 1829.]
'We have a numerous people, who, though they are among us, are
not of us; who are aliens and outcasts in the land of their
birth. A people whose condition is degraded and miserable; who,
so far from adding to our national strength, are an element of
weakness, and detract from the amount of human effort. A people,
whose condition, while it excites our commiseration, must awaken
our fears.' * * '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, must _necessarily_ be kept in a condition full of
wretchedness to them and full of danger to the whites. This view
of the subject is rendered the more alarming by the rapid
increase of this portion of our population.'--[Second Annual
Report of the New-York State Colonization Society, pp. 4, 34.]
'We would ask, whence have the troubles, which have taken place
among the slaves of Louisiana, originated? Trace the causes, and
we will invariably find them to have proceeded from the
suggestions and officious interferences of the free blacks.
Their very existence in our limits, enjoying supposed
independence, excites the envy and dissatisfaction of the
slaves. The latter naturally inquire, why is it, that persons of
the same color, are permitted to possess more privileges than
they do?... We know the danger to which we are exposed from such
a class of beings living in the very heart of our population,
and increasing greatly every year.'--[An advocate of the Society
in the New-Orleans Argus.]
'Among us the free negroes are multiplying rapidly; both
conscience and religion, as well as propagation, increase them,
and, unless instant and decisive steps are taken to prevent
their increase, you will soon have 50,000 _determined and
vengeful enemies_ in the heart of your country, protected there
by the constitution, forsooth, by which it seems we are
forbidden to expel the free negroes, or to prevent farther
importations of this deadly pest in the persons of
slaves.'--[Louisville Focus.]
'Will not the people of the United States be induced to do
something to remove their colored population? I refer to their
condition, whether bond or free. They are wretched and
dangerous, and should be removed. And the danger arises, not
because we have thousands of slaves within our borders, but
because there are nearly two millions of colored men, who are by
necessity any thing rather than loyal citizens.'--[Address by
Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]
'It is not now a novel or a debateable proposition, that slavery
is a great moral and political curse. It is equally clear that
its multitudinous evils are greatly increased by the existence
among us of a mongrel population, who, freed from the shackles
of bondage, yet bear about them the badge of inferiority,
stamped upon them indelibly by the hand of nature, and are
therefore deprived of those rights of citizenship, without which
they must necessarily be a degraded caste--depraved in morals
and vicious in conduct, and _exercising a mischievous and
dangerous influence over those to whom they are nominally
superior_. Their mere existence among the slaves is sufficient,
of itself, to excite in the bosoms of the latter a feeling of
dissatisfaction with their own condition, apparently worse,
because of the coercion to labor which it imposes; but
essentially better, because of the comforts which that labor
procures, and of which the idle and dissolute habits of the free
negro almost invariably deprive him. The slave, however, is not
capable of reasoning correctly, if he reasons at all, on these
truths. He envies the free negro his idleness, and his freedom
from restraint, with all its attendant disadvantages of poverty
and disease, crime and punishment--and hence, he will sometimes
indulge the delusive dream of effecting his own emancipation by
the murder of those who hold him in bondage. Take away from him
this cause of dissatisfaction, and this incentive to
insurrection, and then these "impracticable hopes," which now
sometimes flit before his imagination, will no longer embitter
his hours of labor, and urge him to the commission of those
horrid deeds of massacre, which, though they may glut a
momentary revenge, must result disastrously, not only to the
slaves engaged immediately in their perpetration, but to all
that unfortunate race. Our true interests require that they
shall remove from among us--and no longer be a source of
disquietude to the whites, _of envy to the slaves_, and of
degradation to themselves.'--[Lynchburg (Va.) Virginian.]
'For the most conclusive reasons this removal should be to
Africa. If it be to the West Indies, to Texas, to Canada, then,
how strong and various the objections to building up, in the
vicinity of our own nation, a mighty empire, from a race of men,
_so unlike ourselves_? But, if the removal be to Africa, then it
is to a _happy distance_ from us and to their father land....
Then let it aid in removing that population, which, under its
peculiar relation to the whites, and under its degrading social
and civil disabilities, is a most fruitful source of national
dishonor, demoralization, weakness and _horrid
danger_.'--[Memorial of the New-York State Colonization
Society.]
'The males removed should be persons between 16 and 17 years of
age; the females between 13 and 14. Now as a number would be
annually removed equal to the whole increase, and as that number
would be composed of individuals, of such ages that their
removal would affect the future increase of the race in the
greatest possible degree, I believe that their numbers would not
only not increase, but would diminish. And the number removed
might be increased as the proportion of white persons in the
State became greater, until the removal reached a point at which
all the males who attained the age of sixteen, and all the
females who attained the age of fourteen, in any given year,
would during that year be removed.'--[Petersburg (Va.) Times.]
'They are well calculated to render the slaves sullen,
discontented, unhappy and refractory--and the masters
suspicious, fearful of consequences, and disposed to enhance the
rigor of the condition of their slaves, in order to avert the
dangers that appear to impend over them from the promulgation of
the anti-slavery doctrines; thus, in this case, as in so many
others, the imprudent zeal of friends is likely to produce as
much substantial injury as the animosity of decided enemies
could accomplish.'--[Mathew Carey's Essays.]
'Hatred to the whites is, with the exception in some cases of an
attachment to the person and family of the master, nearly
universal among the black population. We have then a foe,
cherished in our very bosoms--a foe willing to draw our
life-blood whenever the opportunity is offered, and, in the mean
time, intent upon doing us all the mischief in his
power.'--[Southern Religious Telegraph.]
Does the reader wish for any additional proof that the governing motive
of the American Colonization Society is fear--undisguised, _excessive_
FEAR? Language is altogether inadequate to express my indignation and
contempt, in view of such a heartless and cowardly exhibition of
sentiment. There is a deep sense of guilt, an awful dread of
retribution, manifested in the foregoing extracts; but we perceive no
evidence of contrition for past or present injustice, on the part of
those terror-stricken plotters. Instead of returning to those, whom
they have so deeply injured, 'with repenting and undissembling love;'
instead of seeking to conciliate and remunerate the victims of their
prejudice and oppression; instead of resolving to break the yoke of
servitude and let the oppressed go free; it seems to be their only
anxiety and aim to outwit the vengeance of Heaven, and strengthen the
bulwarks of tyranny, by expelling the free people of color from our
shores, and effecting such a diminution of the number of slaves as shall
give the white population a triumphant and irresistible superiority!
'_Check the increase!_' is their cry--'let us retain in everlasting
bondage as many as we can, _safely_; but the proportion must be at least
ten millions of ourselves to two millions of our vassals, else we shall
live in jeopardy! To do justly is not our intention; we only mean to
remove the surplus of our present stock; we think we shall be able, by
this prudent device, to oppress and rob with impunity. Our present
wailing is not for our heinous crimes, but only because our avarice and
cruelty have carried us beyond our ability to protect ourselves: we
lament, not because we hold so large a number in fetters of iron, but
because we cannot safely hold more!'
Ye crafty calculators! ye hard-hearted, incorrigible sinners! ye greedy
and relentless robbers! ye contemners of justice and mercy! ye
trembling, pitiful, pale-faced usurpers! my soul spurns you with
unspeakable disgust. Know ye not that the reward of your hands shall be
given you? 'Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from
judgment, and to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be
their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in
the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your
glory?'--'What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the
face of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.'--'Behold, the hire of
the laborers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept
back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.' Repent! repent! _now_,
in sackcloth and ashes. Think not to succeed in your expulsive crusade;
you cannot hide your motives from the Great Searcher of hearts; and if a
sinful worm of the dust, like myself, is fired with indignation at your
dastardly behaviour and mean conspiracy to evade repentance and
punishment, how must the anger of Him, whose holiness and justice are
infinite, burn against you? Is it not a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God? You may plot by day and by night; you may heap
together the treasures of the land, and multiply and enlarge your
combinations, to extricate yourselves from peril; but _you cannot
succeed_. Your only alternative is, either to redress the wrongs of the
oppressed _now_, and humble yourselves before God, or prepare for the
chastisements of Heaven. I repeat it--REPENTANCE or PUNISHMENT must be
yours.
There are several points upon which I wish to fasten the attention of
the reader:
1. The inhumanity and craftiness of these propositions for the removal
of the free people of color.
It will be seen that the conspirators have taxed their ingenuity to the
utmost, to ascertain the exact number of emigrants which must be
transported annually, the amount of money that must be raised, the
persons that must be selected, the number of vessels that must be
employed, &c. &c. It is their determination, if the necessary means can
be obtained, to transport the annual increase of our colored population;
but in this calculation we find no allowance made for unwillingness or
resistance on the part of those who are the objects of their
supervision. It is taken for granted that all will be induced to go into
exile, or must be made willing compulsorily. Nothing else is
contemplated but their entire expulsion. In order to insure a reduction
of this 'alarming increase,' and effectually to check the fruitfulness
of generation, even the unmanly and scandalous proposition is made to
remove principally those of both sexes who are just come to the age of
puberty! The system of _espionage_, established by Napoleon to prevent
the possibility of a successful conspiracy, was not more detestable and
observant than is this violent and unnatural project. 'If young
_females_ were encouraged to go'!--why, then they could not propagate
here! Infamous calculation!
2. The principal object avowed for the removal of the free people of
color, is, their corruptive and dangerous influence over the slave
population.
It is demonstrated, then, beyond disputation, that this removal will
infuse new strength into the tottering system of slavery, tighten the
grasp of the masters upon the throats of the slaves, lull them into a
profound and quiet sleep, postpone the hour of emancipation, and enhance
the security and value of slave property. The terror of mind which calls
for this separation cannot be benevolence, and the combination which
seeks to effect it cannot merit support. It were folly to hope that the
owners of slaves will ultimately emancipate them, from conscientious
motives. In the first place, they affect to be innocent in holding their
victims in servitude; secondly, they are assured by their colonization
brethren that they are not guilty of oppression, but, on the contrary,
are watchful guardians; and lastly, they are obstinate in shutting their
eyes upon the light, and kindle into a rage on being arraigned for their
tyrannous conduct. Our only ground of hope, then, is in increasing the
difficulty of holding their slaves, in multiplying the causes of their
apprehensions, in destroying the value of slave labor, and in making
their situation full of disquietude and distress. Such a course is not
inconsistent with benevolence--such a course we are obligated to pursue,
as we value the present and everlasting welfare of the oppressor and the
oppressed, and desire to have a conscience void of offence toward God
and toward man. It may--it _must_ be effected by a scrupulous abstinence
from the productions of slavery; by encouraging planters to cultivate
their lands by the hands of free laborers; by educating our free colored
population, and placing them on an equality with ourselves; and by
constantly exhibiting the criminality of holding rational and immortal
beings in servile bondage. Thus, and thus only, shall we be able to
liberate our enslaved countrymen.
3. Consider the inevitable consequence of these reiterated and malignant
statements, with regard to the habits and designs of the free people of
color.
First, it deters a large number of masters from liberating their slaves,
and hence directly perpetuates the evils of slavery: it deters them for
two reasons--an unwillingness to augment the wretchedness of those who
are in servitude by turning them loose upon the country, and a dread of
increasing the number of their enemies. It creates and nourishes the
bitterest animosity against the free blacks. It has spread an alarm
among all classes of society, in all parts of the country; and, acting
under this fearful impulse, they begin to persecute, believing
self-preservation imperiously calls for this severe treatment. The
legislative enactment of Ohio, which not long since drove many of the
colored inhabitants of that State into Upper Canada, was the legitimate
fruit of the anathemas of the Colonization Society. A bill has been
reported in the same legislature for preventing free people of color
from participating in the benefit of the common school fund, in order to
hasten their expulsion from the State! Other States are multiplying
similar disabilities, and hanging heavier weights upon their free
colored population. The Legislature of Louisiana has enacted that
whosoever shall make use of language, in any public discourse, from the
bar, the bench, the pulpit, the stage, or in any other place whatsoever
shall make use of language, in any private discourses, or shall make use
of signs or actions having a tendency to produce discontent among the
colored population, shall suffer imprisonment at hard labor, not less
than three years, nor more than twenty-one years, or DEATH, at the
discretion of the court!! It has also prohibited the instruction of the
blacks in Sabbath Schools--$500 penalty for the first offence--DEATH for
the second!! The Legislature of Virginia has passed a bill which
subjects all free negroes who shall be convicted of remaining in the
commonwealth contrary to law, to the liability of _being sold by the
sheriff_. All meetings of free negroes, at any school-house or
meeting-house, for teaching them reading or writing, are declared an
unlawful assembly; and it is made the duty of any justice of the peace
to issue his warrant to enter the house where such unlawful assemblage
is held, for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such free
negroes. A fine is to be imposed on every white person who instructs at
such meetings. All emancipated slaves, who shall remain more than twelve
months, contrary to law, shall revert to the executors as assets. Laws
have been passed in Georgia and North Carolina, imposing a heavy tax or
imprisonment on every free person of color who shall come into their
ports in the capacity of stewards, cooks, or seamen of any vessels
belonging to the non-slaveholding States. The Legislature of Tennessee
has passed an act forbidding free blacks from coming into the State to
remain more than twenty days. The penalty is a fine of from ten to fifty
dollars, and confinement in the penitentiary from one to two years.
Double the highest penalty is to be inflicted after the first offence.
The act also prohibits manumission, without an immediate removal from
the State. The last Legislature of Maryland passed a bill, by which no
free negro or mulatto is allowed to emigrate to, or settle in the State,
under the penalty of fifty dollars for every week's residence therein;
and if he refuse or neglect to pay such fine, he shall be committed to
jail and sold by the sheriff at public sale; and no person shall employ
or harbor him, under the penalty of twenty dollars for every day he
shall be so employed, hired or harbored! It is not lawful for any free
blacks to attend any meetings for religious purposes, unless conducted
by a _white_ licensed or ordained preacher, or some respectable white
person duly authorised! All free colored persons residing in the State,
are compelled to register their names, ages, &c. &c.; and if any negro
or mulatto shall remove from the State, and remain without the limits
thereof for a space longer than thirty consecutive days, unless before
leaving the State he deposits with the clerk of the county in which he
resides, _a written statement of his object in doing so_, and his
intention of returning again, or unless he shall have been detained by
sickness or coercion, _of which he shall bring a certificate_, he shall
be regarded as a resident of another State, and be subject, if he
return, to the penalties imposed by the foregoing provisions upon free
negroes and mulattoes of another State, migrating to Maryland! It is not
lawful for any person or persons to purchase of any free negro or
mulatto any articles, unless he produce a certificate from a justice of
the peace, or three respectable persons residing in his neighborhood,
that he or they have reason to believe, and do believe, that such free
negro or mulatto came honestly and bona fide into possession of any
such articles so offered for sale! A bill has been reported to the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, which enacts, that from and after a
specified time, no negro or mulatto shall be permitted to emigrate into
and settle in that State, without entering into bond in the penal sum of
_five hundred dollars_, conditioned for his good behavior. If he neglect
or refuse to comply with this requisition, such punishment shall be
inflicted upon him as is now directed in the case of vagrants. Free
colored residents are not to be allowed to migrate from one township or
county to another, without producing a certificate from the Clerk of the
Court of Quarter Sessions, or a Justice of the Peace, or an Alderman!
The passage of a similar law has been urged even upon the Legislature of
Massachusetts by a writer in the Salem Gazette!
All these proscriptive measures, and others less conspicuous but equally
oppressive,--which are not only flagrant violations of the Constitution
of the United States, but in the highest degree disgraceful and
inhuman,--are resorted to, (to borrow the language of the Secretary in
his Fifteenth Annual Report,) 'for the more complete accomplishment of
the great objects of the American Colonization Society'!!
I appeal to the candor and common sense of the reader, if this grievous
persecution be not justly chargeable to the Society? It is constantly
thundering in the ears of the slave States--'Your free blacks
contaminate your slaves, excite their deadliest hate, and are a source
of _horrid danger_ to yourselves! They must be removed, or your
destruction is inevitable!' What is their response? Precisely such as
might be expected--'We know it; we dread the presence of this class;
their influence over our slaves weakens our power, and endangers our
safety; they must, _they shall_ be expatriated, or be crushed to the
earth if they remain!' It says to the free States--'Your colored
population can never be rendered serviceable, intelligent or loyal; they
will only, and always, serve to increase your taxes, crowd your
poor-houses and penitentiaries, and corrupt and impoverish society!'
Again, what is the natural response?--'It is even so; they are offensive
to the eye, and a pest in community; theirs is now, and must inevitably
be, without a reversal of the laws of nature, the lot of vagabonds; it
were useless to attempt their intellectual and moral improvement among
ourselves; and therefore be this their alternative--either to emigrate
to Liberia, or remain for ever a despicable caste in this country!'
Hence the enactment of those sanguinary laws, to which reference has
been made: hence, too, the increasing disposition which is every where
seen to render the situation of the free blacks intolerable. Never was
it so pitiable and distressing--so full of peril and anxiety--so
burdened with misery, despondency and scorn; never were the prejudices
of society so virulent and implacable against them; never were their
prospects so dark, and dreary, and hopeless; never was the hand of power
so heavily laid upon their limbs; never were they so restricted in
regard to locomotion and the advantages of education, as at the present
time. Athwart their sky scarcely darts a single ray of light--above and
around them darkness reigns, and an angry tempest is mustering its
fearful strength, and 'thunders are uttering their voices.' Treachery is
seeking to decoy, and violence to expel them. For all this, and more
than this, and more that is to come, the American Colonization Society
is responsible. And no better evidence is needed than this: THEIR
PERSECUTION, TRADUCEMENT AND WRETCHEDNESS INCREASE IN EXACT RATIO WITH
THE INFLUENCE, POPULARITY AND EXTENSION OF THIS SOCIETY! The fact is
undeniable, and it is conclusive. For it is absurd to suppose, that as
the disposition and ability of an association to alleviate misery
increase, so will the degradation and suffering of the objects of its
charities.
The assertion that the free blacks corrupt the morals of the slaves, is
too ludicrous to need a serious refutation. Corrupt the morals of those
who are recognized and treated as brutes, and who know as little of the
laws of God as of the laws of the land! Immaculate creatures! The system
of slavery is constantly developing new excellencies: it is, we now
perceive, the protector of virtue, the enemy of vice, and a purifier of
the soul!
But something more indiscreet and preposterous than this, is advanced
for our admiration. We are gravely assured, first, by a New-England
clergyman, that, generally, the condition of the free man of color 'is
one in comparison with which the condition of the slave is _enviable_;'
and, secondly, by the last distinguished convert to the Colonization
Society--the Hon. Mr. Archer of Virginia--'the condition of the slave is
_a thousand times_ the best, [the disparity is wonderful!]--_supplied_,
_protected_, instead of _destitute_ and _desolate_'![Q] Let us draw a
brief comparison. The limbs of the free black are fetterless; he is
controlled by no brutal driver; he bleeds not under the lash; he is his
own master; his wife and children cannot be torn from his arms; he
enjoys the fruits of his own labor; he can improve his own mind, make
his own bargains, manage his own business, go from place to place, and
assert his own rights. The situation and privileges of the slave are
exactly the reverse. Reader, are they 'enviable'--'a thousand times the
best'--in comparison with those of the former? I do not mean to say that
there are no instances in which the slave fares as well as the free man
of color; but the argument of these apologists implies that a state of
slavery is superior to a state of freedom, or it is worthless.
4. It appears, from the quotations that have been given, that the only
reason why the free blacks are not colonized in the 'far West,' or in
Canada, or Hayti, or Mexico, is, because their proximity to the slave
States might prove detrimental. If they could be sent to any or to all
these places, without any danger to ourselves, why then all objections
would cease. This confession places the hypocrisy of this Society in
bold relief. It pretends to be anxious to evangelize benighted Africa,
and stop the slave trade; but only assure it that the blacks may be
safely colonized nearer home, and Africa might still continue to grope
in darkness, and the slave trade to increase in enormity, and its bowels
of compassion would speedily cease to yearn!--Hence it is that the rapid
enlargement of the Wilberforce Settlement in Upper Canada so disturbs
the repose of the advocates of African colonization; and many of them
would rejoice at its overthrow.
FOOTNOTES:
[P] How very strange that the slave should 'regard as tyranny and
injustice the authority which compels him to labor' without
recompense!!!
[Q] Paupers and criminals are supplied and _protected_. How invidious to
treat them so generously, and leave honest, hard-working men exposed to
destitution and abandonment! They ought to be sent to the poor-house or
penitentiary forthwith.
SECTION VII.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY AIMS AT THE UTTER EXPULSION OF THE
BLACKS.
The implacable spirit of this Society is most apparent in its
determination not to cease from its labors, until our whole colored
population be expelled from the country. The following is the evidence
in confirmation of this charge:
'How came we by this population? By the prevalence for a century
of a guilty commerce. And will not the prevalence for a century
of a restoring commerce, place them on their own shores? Yes,
surely!'--[African Repository, vol. i. p. 347.]
'For several years the subject of abolition of slavery has been
brought before you. I am decidedly opposed to the project
recommended. NO SCHEME OF ABOLITION WILL MEET MY SUPPORT, THAT
LEAVES THE EMANCIPATED BLACKS AMONG US. Experience has proved,
that they become a corrupt and degraded class, as burthensome to
themselves as they are hurtful to the rest of society. To permit
the blacks to remain amongst us, after their emancipation, would
be to aggravate and not to cure the evil.'--[Idem, vol. ii. pp.
188, 189.]
'We would say, LIBERATE THEM ONLY ON CONDITION OF THEIR GOING TO
AFRICA OR TO HAYTI.'--[Idem, vol. iii. p. 26.]
'_I am not complaining of the owners of slaves_; IT WOULD BE AS
HUMANE TO THROW THEM FROM THE DECKS IN THE MIDDLE PASSAGE, AS TO
SET THEM FREE IN OUR COUNTRY.' * * * 'The Colonization Society,
I undertake to show, presents such a scheme. Slaveholders have
given it their approbation; they will approve it, and they can
approve of no other. _Any scheme of emancipation without
colonization_, they know and see and feel to be productive of
nothing but evil; evil to all whom it affects: to the white
population, to the slaves, to the _manumitted themselves_.' * *
'Throughout the slaveholding States there is a strong objection,
even among the warmest friends of the African race, to slaves
being liberated and allowed to remain among us; and some States
have enacted laws against it. _The objection is, in our
individual opinion, well founded._'--[Idem, vol. iv. pp. 226,
300, 340.]
'In connexion with this subject, your memorialists beg leave to
mention, that by an act of the Virginia Legislature, passed in
1805, emancipated slaves forfeit their freedom by remaining for
a longer period than twelve months, within the limits of the
Commonwealth. This law, odious and unjust as it may at first
view appear, and hard as it may seem to bear upon the liberated
negro, was doubtless dictated by sound policy, and _its repeal
would be regarded by none with more unfeigned regret, than by
the friends of African Colonization_. It has restrained many
masters from giving freedom to their slaves, and has thereby
contributed to check the growth of an evil _already too great
and formidable_.' * * 'Under the influence of a policy, already
referred to, _and justified by the necessity from which it
sprung_, the laws of Virginia have prohibited emancipation
within the limits of the State, but on condition of the early
removal of the individual emancipated.' * * 'While hundreds,
perhaps we might say thousands, of the free colored people, are
seeking a passage to Liberia; hundreds who hold slaves, would
willingly set them at liberty, were the means of their removal
provided. And till those means are provided, the liberation of
the slave would neither be a blessing to himself, nor the
public. His liberty under any circumstances may be a debt due,
in the abstract, to the claims of human nature; but when applied
to him individually, it would be a calamity. We cannot conceive
of a more deplorable state of society, than what our
slaveholding states would present, with their black population
afloat, without a home, without the means of subsistence, and
without those self-relying habits, which might lead them to
obtain an independent livelihood. _It is not therefore incumbent
upon those who hold slaves, to set them at liberty, till some
means are provided for their removal, or at least for their
subsistence._ They owe it neither to themselves, to their
country, nor the unfortunate beings around them.' * * * 'Those
slaves still in my possession, I cannot conscientiously
emancipate, unless they shall be removed by the Society to
Liberia.'--[Idem, vol. v. pp. 20, 53, 89, 177.]
'If the question were submitted, whether there should be either
immediate or gradual emancipation of all the slaves in the
United States, _without their removal or colonization_, painful
as it is to express the opinion, I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT IT WOULD
BE UNWISE TO EMANCIPATE THEM.' * * 'Is our posterity doomed to
endure forever not only all the ills flowing from the state of
slavery, but all which arise from incongruous elements of
population, separated from each other by invincible prejudices,
and by natural causes? Whatever may be the character of the
remedy proposed, we may confidently pronounce it inadequate,
unless it provides efficaciously for the _total_ and _absolute_
separation, by an extensive space of water or of land, at least,
of the white portion of our population from that, which is free,
of the colored.' * * 'Who, if this promiscuous residence of
whites and blacks, of freemen and slaves, is forever to
continue, can imagine the servile wars, the carnage and the
crimes which will be its probable consequences, without
shuddering with horror?' * * 'Gentlemen of the highest
respectability from the South, assure us, that there is among
the owners of slaves a very extensive and increasing desire to
emancipate them. Their patriotism, their humanity, nay their
self-interest, prompt to this; but it is not expedient, it is
not safe to do it, _without being able to remove them_.' * *
'How important it is, as it respects our character abroad, that
we hasten to _clear our land of our black population_!'
'Some benevolent minds in the overflowings of their
philanthropy, advocate amalgamation of the two classes, saying,
let the colored class be freed, and remain among us as denizens
of the Empire; surely all classes of mankind are alike descended
from the primitive parentage of Eden, then why not intermingle
in one common society as friends and brothers. _No, Sir, no._ I
hope to prove at no very distant day, that a Southron can make
sacrifices for the cause of Colonization beyond seas; but for a
Home Department in those matters, I repeat, _no, Sir, no_. What
right, I demand, have the children of Africa to an homestead in
the white man's country?'[R]
'Let the regenerated African rise to Empire; nay, let Genius
flourish, and Philosophy shed its mild beams to enlighten and
instruct the posterity of Ham, returning "redeemed and
disenthralled," from their long captivity in the New World. But,
Sir, be all these benefits enjoyed by the African race under the
shade of their native palms. _Let the Atlantic billow heave its
high and everlasting barrier between their country and ours._
Let this fair land, which the white man won by his chivalry,
which he has adorned by the arts and elegancies of polished
life, be kept sacred for his descendants, untarnished by the
footprint of him who hath ever been a slave.'--[Idem, vol. vi.
pp. 5, 12, 23, 110, 364, 371, 372.]
'The idea of emancipating our slaves, and _permitting them to
remain within the limits of the U. S._ whether as a measure of
humanity or of policy, is most decisively reprobated by
universal public sentiment.... Does any man in his senses desire
this population to remain among us? If the whole community could
reply, IT WOULD RESPOND IN ONE UNIVERSAL NEGATIVE.'--[Idem, vol.
vii. pp. 230, 231.]
'In reflecting on the utility of a plan for colonizing the free
people of color, with whom our country abounds, it is natural
that we should be first struck by its tendency to confer a
benefit on ourselves, _by ridding us of a population_ for the
most part idle and useless, and too often vicious and
mischievous.... All emancipation, to however small an extent,
_which permits the persons emancipated to remain in this
country_, is an evil, which must increase with the increase of
the operation, and would become altogether intolerable, if
extended to the whole, or even to a very large part, of the
black population. I am therefore strongly opposed to
emancipation, in every shape and degree, _unless accompanied by
colonization_.'--[First Annual Report.]
'They will annex the condition that the emancipated SHALL LEAVE
THE COUNTRY.'--[Second Annual Report.]
'They require that the _whole mass_ of free persons of color,
and those who may become such with the consent of their owners,
_should be progressively removed_ from among us, as fast as
their own consent can be obtained, and as the means can be found
for their removal and for their proper establishment in Africa.
Nothing short of this progressive but complete removal can
accomplish the great objects of this measure, in relation to the
security, prosperity, and happiness of the United
States.'--[Seventh Annual Report.]
'Is it either safe or prudent to retain amongst us a large
population, on whom we can place no reliance, but from the
control which the laws exercise over it? Can this class be
animated by any feelings of patriotism towards a country by
which they feel themselves oppressed?'--[Ninth Annual Report.]
'Colonization, to be correct, must be beyond seas.--Emancipation,
_with the liberty to remain on this side of the Atlantic_, IS
BUT AN ACT OF DREAMY MADNESS!'--[Thirteenth Annual Report.]
'Has our country the resources demanded for the accomplishment
of an object of such magnitude? The transportation of more than
two millions of souls to a remote country is indeed an object of
formidable aspect. It obviously cannot be accomplished at once.
But that the number can be gradually diminished, _till utterly
extinguished_, may be made to appear, it is believed, from a
little arithmetical calculation....' 'It has been said that the
entire shipping of the country, both public and private, would
hardly be competent for an object of this magnitude. But careful
calculation has proved, that one eighteenth of the mercantile
shipping alone, entirely devoted to the enterprise, is competent
to carry it into complete consummation. And why might not our
brilliant and growing _navy_ aid to some extent the humane and
patriotic cause? If necessary, why might not _the marine of
other lands_ be chartered? Strange indeed it is if shipping
enough could be found half a century ago to reduce hundreds of
thousands of this race in a single year to a wretched vassalage,
and in this age of augmented light, and wealth, and improvement
in every art, enough cannot be found for the single benevolent
object before us!'--[Rev. Baxter Dickinson's Sermon delivered in
Springfield in 1829.]
'How much soever we may regret that so little is done for the
intellectual and moral improvement of the free colored
population, as the surest preventive against crime, still we
must acknowledge it is in vain to attempt raising their
character to a level with that of the other inhabitants. They
must find an asylum beyond the influence of the white
population, or the majority of them will _ever be found unworthy
of the boon of freedom_. There must be that asylum for them, or
we despair of ever being able to improve materially their
condition, or to eradicate slavery from our soil, and thus
prevent the awful catastrophe which threatens our republic. They
must be furnished with facilities to leave this country and
establish themselves in a community of their own.'--'I have
alluded to the difficulties which are presented to the minds of
benevolent and conscientious slaveholders, wishing to manumit
their slaves. From what has been said, it is evident that unless
some drain is opened to convey out of the country the
emancipated, the laws which relate to emancipation, must
continue in force with all their rigor. Without this drain, we
can hope for no repeal, or relaxation of those laws where the
slaves are very numerous. The mass of slaveholders can never let
go their hold on their slaves, and suffer them, ignorant,
vicious and treacherous, to roam at large. If no drain is
opened, necessity will compel them, as their slaves increase,
and consequently the danger, to add statute to statute in regard
to their slaves, until it be found necessary to arm one part of
the population to control the other. I may add, that as bitter
an enemy as I am to slavery, I cannot greatly desire that these
laws should be relaxed--that slavery should be abolished,
_unless its unfortunate and degraded subjects can be removed
from the country_. If this is not effected, whatever may be our
views and wishes on this subject, I am confident that
slaveholders will justify themselves in resorting to almost any
measures to keep their slaves in entire subjection.'--[An
advocate of the Society in the Middletown (Ct.) Gazette.]
'To talk of emancipating the slave population of these States
without providing them with an asylum, is truly idle. The free
blacks already scattered through the country, are a dangerously
burthensome order of people. They cannot amalgamate with the
population--the ordinances of nature are against it. They must,
in the main, be a degraded order, hanging loosely upon
society.'--[Idem.]
'The slaves _are_ in their possession--they are entailed upon
them by their ancestors. And can they set them free, _and still
suffer them to remain in the country_? Would this be
policy?--Would it be safe? NO. When they can be transported to
the soil from whence they were derived--by the aid of the
Colonization Society, by government, by individuals, or by any
other means--then let them be emancipated, and not
before.'--[Lowell (Mass.) Telegraph.]
'Avarice and iniquity have torn from that injured continent,
within thirty years, no less than 1,500,000 slaves; and cannot
humanity, religion, and justice, restore an equal number in the
same time? If we desire to accomplish this work, it is plain
that we can do it, and that too with a sum contemptible when
compared with the magnitude of the evil.'--[Address of Gabriel
P. Disosway.]
'We thank God that the ultimate accomplishment of the great
scheme of colonization is now placed beyond a doubt, in
Maryland; and that the day is not even distant when _the whole
of our colored population_ will have transferred themselves, by
our assistance, from slavery or degradation here, to peace, and
plenty, and power, and prosperity, and liberty, and
independence, in a land which Providence originally gave
them.'--[Baltimore Gazette.]
'It tends, and may powerfully tend, to rid us gradually and
entirely, in the United States, of slaves and slavery: a great
moral and political evil, of increasing virulence and extent,
from which much mischief is now felt, and very great calamity in
future is justly apprehended.'--[First Annual Report.]
'What can be done to mitigate or prevent the existing and
apprehended evils, resulting from our black population?
EMANCIPATION, WITHOUT REMOVAL FROM THE COUNTRY, IS OUT OF THE
QUESTION.' * * 'As long as our present feelings and prejudices
exist, the abolition of slavery cannot be accomplished without
the removal of the blacks--THEY CANNOT BE EMANCIPATED AS A
PEOPLE, AND REMAIN AMONG US.'--[Second Annual Report of the
New-York State Col. Soc.]
'It would gladly, however, grasp at a still grander object--that
of restoring to the land of their fathers the whole colored race
within our borders. Nor probably will it be satisfied to rest
from its labors, till this object, in all its magnitude, is
accomplished.'--[Rev. Baxter Dickinson's Sermon.]
'It must appear evident to all, that every endeavor to divert
the attention of the community, or even a portion of the means,
which the present crisis to imperatively calls for, from the
Colonization Society, to measures calculated to bind the colored
population to this country and seeking to raise them (_an
impossibility_) to a level with the whites, whether by founding
colleges or in any other way, tends directly in the proportion
that it succeeds, to counteract and thwart the whole plan of
colonization. Although none would rejoice more than myself to
see this unhappy race elevated to the highest scale of human
being, it has always seemed to me that this country was not the
theatre for such a change. Far happier they, far happier we, had
they never touched our soil, or breathed our air. As it is, to
attain solid happiness and permanent respectability, they should
now remove to a more congenial clime.'--[New Haven Religious
Intelligencer for July, 1831.]
'The recent murderous movements of the people of color in some
of the southern States, evinces the dreadful consequences of
slavery, and the absolute necessity of colonizing all free
blacks immediately, and of manumitting and colonizing slaves as
fast as circumstances will justify the measure. We believe, and
have for many years, that this is the only course, which will
ensure prosperity and safety to our southern
brethren.'--[New-Hampshire Observer.]
'The removal annually of one hundred thousand, it may be safely
calculated, would sink the parent stock forty thousand in each
year, and this in thirty years would reduce the blacks of the
Union to a very small number--perhaps not one would
remain.'--[National (Ohio) Historian.]
'We will demonstrate, that the conveyance of the present annual
increase would, in less than thirty years, remove the whole to
Africa. Let all, for instance, born in any single year, say of
the age of twenty, be removed to Africa; and in each succeeding
year, let all of that age be removed in the same manner.--Then,
admitting, what is far too much to admit, that a generation
lasts fifty years, on an average, the generation on the stage
when the process commenced, would have become extinct at the end
of thirty years, and all their increase or offspring would have
been removed to Africa. Thirty years would, even in this way,
clear them entirely from this country.--But there are two
circumstances which would, in fact, make the time much shorter.
'1. It is known that a generation lasts but a little more than
thirty years. The generation, then, on the stage at the
commencement of the process, would virtually be extinct in a
little more than ten years. 2. By the removal of the most
prolific part, the annual increase would itself be diminished
more than a thirtieth part, in each successive year; that is, it
would be diminished in an arithmetical ratio, so that it would
be reduced to nothing before the arrival of the thirtieth
year.'--[American Spectator.]
'It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished," that we should
get clear of the free people of color now, and as they are
successively liberated, as well on their own account as ours;
and I trust and hope, we shall both have the pleasure to see a
moral certainty of the removal of all these poor people back to
the same country from which their ancestors were
taken.'--[African Repository, vol. iii. p. 311.]
'Neither do we consider liberty worth their acceptance, _unless
they can be sent out of the country_. There is no doubt that a
large proportion of the slaves enjoy life quite as well as those
who are free.'--[Oxford (Me.) Observer.]
'It is estimated that there are 2,350,680 blacks in the United
States, 339,360 of whom are free denizens of this republic. The
object of this Society is THE REMOVAL OF THESE TO
AFRICA.'--[New-York Standard.]
'We hope to make it for the interest of the owners, in some way,
to part with their slaves;--not to be let loose among our white
population, but to be carried back to the land of their
fathers.'--[N. Y. Journal of Commerce.]
'If they are to be placed above their present degraded
condition, they must be removed to a country where they can rise
as high as any man--be eligible to any office--then you will see
them rise with the rapidity of the tide.'--[Southern Religious
Telegraph.]
'God has put a mark upon the black man.' ... 'The God of Nature
intended they should be a _distinct_, free and independent
community.'--[New-Haven Palladium.]
'We do not ask that the provisions of our Constitution and
statute book should be so modified as to relieve and exalt the
condition of the colored people, _whilst they remain with us_.
LET THESE PROVISIONS STAND IN ALL THEIR RIGOR, to work out the
ultimate and unbounded good of this people. Persuaded that their
condition here is not susceptible of a radical and permanent
improvement, WE WOULD DEPRECATE ANY LEGISLATION THAT SHOULD
ENCOURAGE THE VAIN AND INJURIOUS HOPE OF IT.'--[Memorial of the
New-York State Colonization Society.]
'Let the wise and good among us unite in removing the blacks
from the country. Would it not be expedient for the properly
constituted authorities to prevent the manumission of slaves in
every case, unless provision is made, at the same time, to
secure their removal from the country?'--[Alexandria Gazette.]
'We should be in favor of the abolition of slavery, if its
abolishment could be effected with safety, and the colored
population sent back to Africa; but merely to have them obtain
freedom and let loose upon society, would be the greatest curse
that could befal _them_ or _community_.'--[Essex Chronicle and
County Republican.]
'THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY WAS NO OBJECT OF DESIRE TO HIM, UNLESS
ACCOMPANIED BY COLONIZATION. So far was he from desiring it,
unaccompanied by this condition, that HE WOULD NOT LIVE IN A
COUNTRY WHERE THE ONE TOOK PLACE WITHOUT THE OTHER'!!!--[Mr
Mercer's Speech in Congress.]
In order to wipe off the reproach due to this violent expulsion, it was
necessary, on the part of the Society, to find some pretext that would
not only seem to justify but confer credit on the measure. Accordingly,
it agreed to represent the colored inhabitants of the United States as
aliens and foreigners, who, cast upon our shores by a cruel fatality,
were sighing to return to their native land. 'Poor unfortunate
exiles!'--how touching the appeal, how powerful the motive to assist,
how likely to excite the compassion of the nation! Ah! what an air of
disinterested benevolence, of generous compassion, of national
attachment, must such an enterprise wear in the eyes of the world! Who
that loved his own country, and deprecated an eternal absence from it,
could refuse to help in restoring the unfortunate Africans to their
long-estranged home? Such was, and is, and is likely to be, the artifice
resorted to, in order to cover a base conspiracy, and give popularity to
one of the wildest and most disgraceful crusades the world has ever
witnessed. Let the following evidence suffice:
'At no very distant period, we should see all the free colored
people in our land transferred to _their own country_.' * * 'Let
us send them back to _their native land_.' * * 'By returning
them to _their own ancient land_ of Africa, improved in
knowledge and in civilization, we repay the debt which has so
long been due them.'--[African Repository, vol. i. pp. 65, 146,
176.]
'And though we may not live to see the day when the sons of
Africa shall have returned to _their native soil_,' &c. * * 'To
found in Africa an empire of christians and republicans; to
reconduct the blacks to _their native land_,' &c.--[Idem, pp.
13, 375.]
'Who would not rejoice to see our country liberated from her
black population? Who would not participate in any efforts to
restore those children of misfortune to _their native shores_?'
* * 'The colored population of this country can never rise to
respectability here; in _their native soil_ they can.' * * 'The
only remedy afforded is, to colonize them in _their mother
country_.' * * 'They would go to that _home_ from which they
have been long absent.' * * 'Shall we ... retain and foster the
_alien enemies_?'--[Idem, 88, 179, 185, 237.]
'Be all these benefits enjoyed by the African race under the
shade of their native palms.'--[Idem, vol. vi. p. 372.]
'We have a numerous people, who, though they are among us, _are
not of us_.'--[Second Annual Report of the N. Y. State Col.
Soc.]
'Among us is a growing population of _strangers_.' * * 'It will
furnish the means of granting to _every African exile_ among us
a happy home in the land of his fathers.'--[Rev. Baxter
Dickinson's Sermon.]
'Africa is indeed inviting her long exiled children to return to
her bosom.'--[Circular of Rev. Mr Gurley.]
Nothing could be more invidious or absurd than the foregoing
representation. The great mass of our colored population were born in
this country. This is their native soil; here they first saw the light
of heaven, and inhaled the breath of life; here they have grown from
infancy to manhood and old age; from these shores they have never
wandered; they are the descendants of those who were forcibly torn from
Africa two centuries ago; their fathers assisted in breaking the yoke of
British oppression, and achieving that liberty which we prize above all
price; and they cherish the strongest attachment to the land of their
birth. Now, as they could not have been born in two countries, and as
they were certainly born here, it follows that Africa is not their
native home, and, consequently, that the Society has dealt in romance,
or something more culpable, in representing them as strangers and
aliens. It might as rationally charge them with being natives of Asia or
Europe, or with having descended from the regions of the moon. To see
ourselves gravely represented in a British periodical as natives of
Great Britain, I doubt not would create great merriment; and a scheme
for our transportation would add vastly to our sport.
'But,' we are told, 'God has put a mark upon the black man.' True; and
he has also put a mark upon every man, woman and child, in the world; so
that every one differs in appearance from another--is easily
identified--and, to make the objection valid, should occupy a _distinct_
portion of territory, be himself a nation, enact his own laws, and live
in perpetual solitude! The difference between a black and a white skin
is not greater than that between a white and a black one. In either
case, the mark is distinctive; and the blacks may as reasonably expel
the whites, as the whites the blacks. To make such a separation we have
no authority; to attempt it, would end only in disappointment; and, if
it were carried into effect, those who are clamorous for the measure
would be among the first to be cast out. The all-wise Creator, having
'made of _one blood_ all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth,' it is proper for them to associate freely together; and he is a
proud worm of the dust who is ashamed to acknowledge this common
relationship.
Again we are told: 'The God of Nature intended the blacks should be a
_distinct_ community.' But has he been frustrated in his intentions?
Where is the proof of such purpose? Let us have something more than the
_ipse dixit_ of the Society. Yes, we are seriously assured that Nature
has played falsely! Colored persons were born by mistake in this
country: they should have been born in Africa! We must therefore rectify
the error, with all despatch, by transporting them to their _native
soil_! Truly, a most formidable enterprise! There occur at least sixty
thousand of such _mistakes_, annually; while the Society has corrected
only about two thousand in fourteen years! But--courage! men engaged in
a laudable enterprise should never despair!
There are some difficulties, however, in the accomplishment of this
mighty task, which cannot be easily overcome. Granting the position
assumed by colonizationists, that the _blacks_ and the _whites_ should
occupy different countries, how do they intend to dispose of that
numerous and rapidly increasing class who are neither white nor black,
called mulattoes? We have not been informed to what country they belong;
but the point ought to be settled before any classification be made.
Colonizationists must define, moreover, the exact shade of color which
is to retain or banish individuals; for every candid mind will admit,
that it would be as unnatural to send _white_ blood to Africa, as to
keep _black_ blood in America. 'If the color of the skin is to give
construction to our constitution and laws, let us, at once, begin the
work of excision. Let us raise an army of pure whites, if such an army
can be found; and let us drive out and transport to foreign climes, men,
women and children, who cannot bring the most satisfactory vouchers,
that their veins are flowing with the purest English blood. Indeed, let
us shut up our ports against our own mariners, who are returning from an
India voyage, and whose cheeks and muscles could not wholly withstand
the influence of the breezes and tropics to which they were exposed. Let
us make every shade of complexion, every difference of stature, and
every contraction of a muscle, a Shibboleth, to detect and cut off a
brother Ephraimite, at the fords of Jordan. Though such a crusade would
turn every man's sword against his fellow; yet, it might establish the
right of precedence to different features, statures and colors, and
oblige some friends of colonization to test the feasibility and equity
of their own scheme.'
If I must become a colonizationist, I insist upon being consistent:
there must be no disagreement between my creed and practice. I must be
able to give a reason why all our tall citizens should not conspire to
remove their more diminutive brethren, and all the corpulent to remove
the lean and lank, and all the strong to remove the weak, and all the
educated to remove the ignorant, and all the rich to remove the poor, as
readily as for the removal of those whose skin is 'not colored like my
own;' for Nature has sinned as culpably in diversifying the size as the
complexion of her progeny, and Fortune in the distribution of her gifts
has been equally fickle. I cannot perceive that I am more excusable in
desiring the banishment of my neighbor because his skin is darker than
mine, than I should be in desiring his banishment because he is a
smaller or feebler man than myself. Surely it would be sinful for a
black man to repine and murmur, and impeach the wisdom and goodness of
God, because he was made with a sable complexion; and dare I be guilty
of such an impeachment, by persecuting him on account of his color? I
dare not: I would as soon deny the existence of my Creator, as quarrel
with the workmanship of his hands. I rejoice that he has made one star
to differ from another star in glory; that he has not given to the sun
the softness and gentleness of the moon, nor to the moon the intensity
and magnificence of the sun; that he presents to the eye every
conceivable shape, and aspect, and color, in the gorgeous and
multifarious productions of Nature; and I do not rejoice less, but
admire and exalt him more, that, notwithstanding he has made of one
blood the whole family of man, he has made the whole family of man to
differ in personal appearance, habits and pursuits.
I protest against sending any to Africa, in whose blood there is any
mixture of our own; for, I repeat it, white blood in Africa would be as
repugnant to Nature, as black blood is in this country. Now; most
unfortunately for colonizationists, the spirit of amalgamation has been
so active for a long series of years,--especially in the slave
States,--that there are comparatively few, besides those who are
annually smuggled into the south from Africa, whose blood is not tainted
with a foreign ingredient. Here, then, is a difficulty! What shall be
done? All black blood _must_ be sent to Africa; but how to collect it is
the question. What shall be done! Why, we must resort to _phlebotomy_!
'Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
---------------- nor cut thou less nor more,
But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more,
Or less, than just a pound,--be it but so much
As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance,
Or the division of the twentieth part
Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair,
Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate!'
The colonization crusade cannot now fail of being popular. Phlebotomy
being agreed to as a _dernier resort_, I shall briefly enumerate some of
the various professions and classes which may expect to derive no
inconsiderable gain from its execution; for as our government, in
conjunction with benevolent associations, is to appropriate millions of
dollars to accomplish this object, the pay will be sure and liberal.
In the first place, there will be more than a million patients, for
whose accommodation hospitals must be erected. These hospitals will
employ brick-makers, masons, carpenters, painters, glaziers, &c. &c.
&c.; of course, the approval of a large body of mechanics is readily
secured.
Physicians will next obtain an extensive practice. Their patients, in
consequence of a free application of the lancet, must necessarily be
debilitated, and can be kept 'quite low' until a long score of charges
be run up against the government.
Among so many patients and so much unavoidable sickness, druggists and
apothecaries will obtain a profitable sale for their medicines. Nurses
will be next in demand, who may expect high wages. Even the lowly
washers of soiled clothes will find the life-blood of the victims
'coined into drachms' for their reward. It is highly probable that many
of the patients may die under the expurgatory process, and hence sextons
and coffin-makers may calculate upon good times. With death come
mourning and lamentation, and 'weeds of wo.' Dealers in crape will
doubtless secure a handsome patronage. Lawyers may hope to profit by the
demise of those who possess property. Indeed, almost every class in
community must, to a greater or less extent, feel the beneficial effects
of this philanthropic but novel experiment. The blood, taken from the
veins of the blacks, may be transfused into our own, and the general
pulse acquire new vigor.
Supposing a majority of the patients should recover, three other classes
will thrive by their expulsion--namely, ship-builders, merchants and
seamen. As our vessels are all occupied in profitable pursuits, new ones
must be built--freights will rise--and the wages of seamen be
proportionably enhanced.--But a truce to irony.
The American Colonization Society, in making the banishment of the
slaves the condition of their emancipation, inflicts upon them an
aggravated wrong, perpetuates their thraldom, and disregards the claims
of everlasting and immutable justice. The language of its most
distinguished supporters is, 'Emancipation, with the liberty to remain
on this side of the Atlantic, is but an act of dreamy
madness'--'Emancipation, without removal from the country, is out of the
question'--'All emancipation, to however small an extent, which permits
the person emancipated to remain in this country, is an evil'--'They
cannot be emancipated as a people, and remain among us.' Thus the
restoration of an inalienable right, and an abandonment of robbery and
oppression, are made to depend upon the practicability of transporting
more than one sixth portion of our whole population to a far distant and
barbarous land! It is impossible to imagine a more cruel, heaven-daring
and God-dishonoring scheme. It exhibits a deliberate and perverse
disregard of every moral obligation, and bids defiance to the
requisitions of the gospel.
Listen to the avowal of Mr Mercer of Virginia, one of the main pillars
and most highly extolled supporters of the Society: 'The abolition of
slavery was no object of desire to him, unless accompanied by
colonization. So far was he from desiring it, unaccompanied by this
condition, that _he would not live in a country where the one took place
without the other_'! This language may be correctly rendered thus: 'I
desire to see two millions of human beings plundered of their rights,
and subjected to every species of wrong and outrage, _ad infinitum_, if
they cannot be driven out of the country. I am perfectly willing to live
with them while they are treated worse than cattle,--ignorant, vicious,
and wretched,--and while they are held under laws which forbid their
instruction; and not only am I willing thus to live, but I am determined
to practise the same oppression. But, if they should be emancipated with
liberty to remain here, and placed in a situation favorable to their
moral and intellectual improvement--a situation in which they could be
no longer bought and sold, lacerated and manacled, defrauded and
oppressed--I would abandon my native land, and never return to her
shores.' And this is the language of a _philanthropist_! and this the
moral principle of the boasted champion of the American Colonization
Society! Whose indignation does not kindle, whose astonishment is not
profound, whose disgust is not excited, in view of these sentiments?
But this is not the acme of colonization insanity. The assertion is made
by a highly respectable partisan, and endorsed by the organ of the
Society, that '_it would be as humane to throw the slaves from the decks
in the middle passage_, [i. e. into the ocean,] _as to set them free in
our country_'!!! And even Henry Clay, who is an oracle in the cause, has
had the boldness to declare, that the slaves should be held in
everlasting servitude if they cannot be colonized in Africa!! And this
sentiment is echoed by another, who says, 'Liberate them only on
condition of their going to Africa or Hayti'!
I will not even seem to undervalue the good sense and quick perception
of the candid and intelligent reader, by any farther endeavors to
illustrate the sacrifice of principle and inhumanity of purpose which
are contained in the extracts under the present section. With so strong
an array of evidence before him, no one, who is not mentally blind or
governed by prejudice, can fail to rise from its perusal with amazement
and abhorrence, and a determination to assist in overthrowing a
combination which is based upon the rotten foundation of expediency and
violence.
The Colonization Society expressly denies the right of the slaves to
enjoy freedom and happiness in this country; and this denial
incontestibly tends to rivet their fetters more firmly, or make them the
victims of a relentless persecution.
FOOTNOTES:
[R] What right have we to an homestead in the red man's country? Let us
return to the land of our fathers, and leave this soil untarnished by
the footprint of him who hath a white skin! What right have the hosts of
foreign emigrants, who are flocking to our shores, to an homestead among
ourselves?
SECTION VIII.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE DISPARAGER OF THE FREE BLACKS.
The leaders in the African colonization crusade seem to dwell with a
malignant satisfaction upon the poverty and degradation of the free
people of color, and are careful never to let an opportunity pass
without heaping their abuse and contempt upon them. It is a common
device of theirs to contrast the condition of the slaves with that of
this class, and invariably to strike the balance heavily in favor of the
former! In this manner, thousands are led to look upon slavery as a
benevolent system, and to deprecate the manumission of its victims.
Nothing but a love of falsehood, or an utter disregard of facts, could
embolden these calumniators to deal so extensively in fiction. What! the
slaves more happy, more moral, more industrious, more orderly, more
comfortable, more exalted, than the free blacks! A more enormous
exaggeration, a more heinous libel, a wider departure from truth, was
never fabricated, or uttered, or known. The slaves, as a body, are in
the lowest state of degradation; they possess no property; they cannot
read; they are as ignorant, as their masters are reckless, of moral
obligation; they have no motive for exertion; they are thieves from
necessity and usage; their bodies are cruelly lacerated by the
cart-whip; and they are disposable property. And yet these poor
miserable, perishing, mutilated creatures are placed above our free
colored population in dignity, in enjoyment, in privilege, in
usefulness, in respectability!!
'There is a class, however, more numerous than all these,
introduced amongst us by violence, notoriously ignorant,
degraded and miserable, mentally diseased, broken-spirited,
_acted upon by no motives to honorable exertions_, SCARCELY
REACHED IN THEIR DEBASEMENT BY THE HEAVENLY LIGHT; yet where is
the sympathy and effort which a view of their condition ought to
excite? They wander unsettled and unbefriended through our land,
or sit indolent, abject and sorrowful, by the "streams which
witness their captivity." Their freedom is _licentiousness_, and
to many RESTRAINT WOULD PROVE A BLESSING. To this remark there
are exceptions; exceptions proving that to change their state
would be to elevate their character; that virtue and enterprise
are absent, only, because absent are the causes which create the
one, and the motives which produce the other.'--[African
Repository, vol. i. p. 68.]
'Free blacks are a greater nuisance than even slaves
themselves.' * * * 'They knew that where slavery had been
abolished it had operated to the advantage of the masters, not
of the slaves: they saw this fact most strikingly illustrated in
the case of the free negroes of Boston. If, on the anniversary
celebrated by the free people of color, of the day on which
slavery was abolished, they looked abroad, what did they see?
Not freemen, in the enjoyment of every attribute of freedom,
with the stamp of liberty upon their brows! No, Sir; they saw a
ragged set, crying out liberty! for whom liberty had nothing to
bestow, and whose enjoyment of it was but in name. He spoke of
the great body of the blacks; there were some few honorable
exceptions, he knew, which only proved what might be done for
all.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 328.]
'Although there are individual exceptions distinguished by high
moral and intellectual worth, yet the free blacks in our country
are, as a body, more vicious and degraded than any other which
our population embraces.' * * * 'If, then, they are a useless
and dangerous species of population, we would ask, is it
generous in our southern friends to burthen us with them?
Knowing themselves the evils of slavery, can they wish to impose
upon us an evil scarcely less tolerable? We think it a mistaken
philanthropy, which would liberate the slave, unfitted by
education and habit for freedom, and cast him upon a merciless
and despising world, where his only fortune must be poverty, his
only distinction degradation, and his only comfort
insensibility.' * * * 'I will look no farther when I seek for
the _most degraded, the most abandoned race on the earth_, but
rest my eyes on this people. What but sorrow can we feel at the
_misguided piety_ which has set free so many of them by
death-bed devise or sudden conviction of injustice? Better, far
better, for us, had they been kept in bondage, where the
opportunity, the inducements, the necessity of vice would not
have been so great. Deplorable necessity, indeed, to one borne
down with the consciousness of the violence we have done. Yet I
am clear that, whether we consider it with reference to the
welfare of the State, or the happiness of the blacks, it were
better to have left them in chains, than to have liberated them
to receive such freedom as they enjoy, and greater freedom _we
cannot, must not_ allow them.' * * 'There is not a State in the
Union not at this moment groaning under the evil of this class
of persons, a curse and a contagion whereever they reside.' * *
'The increase of a free black population among us has been
regarded as a greater evil than the increase of
slaves.'--[African Repository, vol. iii. pp. 24, 25, 197, 203,
374.]
'Mr. Mercer adverted to the situation of his native State, and
the condition of the free black population existing there, whom
he described as a horde of miserable people--the objects of
universal suspicion; _subsisting by plunder_.'--[Idem, vol. iv.
p. 363.]
'They leave a country in which though born and reared, they are
strangers and aliens; where _severe necessity_ places them in a
class of degraded beings; where they are free without the
blessings and privileges of liberty; where in ceasing to be
slaves of one, they have become subservient to many; where,
neither freemen nor slaves, but placed in an anomalous grade
which they do not understand and others disregard; where no kind
instructer, no hope of preferment, no honorable emulation
prompts them to virtue or deters from vice; their industry
waste, not accumulation; their regular vocation, any thing or
nothing as it may happen; their greater security, sufferance;
their highest reward, forgiveness; vicious themselves and the
cause of vice in others; discontented and exciting discontent;
scorned by one class and _foolishly envied by another_; thus,
and WORSE CIRCUMSTANCED, they, cannot but choose to
move.'--[Idem, vol. v. p. 238.]
'Of all the descriptions of our population, _and of either
portion of the African race_, the free people of color are, by
far, as a class, the MOST CORRUPT, DEPRAVED, AND ABANDONED. The
laws, it is true, proclaim them free; but prejudices, more
powerful than any laws, deny them the privileges of freemen.
They occupy a middle station between the free white population
and the slaves of the United States, and the tendency of their
habits is to corrupt both.' * * * 'That the free colored
population of our country is a great and constantly increasing
evil must be readily acknowledged. Averse to labor, with no
incentives to industry or motives to self-respect, they maintain
a precarious existence by petty thefts and plunder, themselves,
or by inciting our domestics, not free, to rob their owners to
supply their wants.' * * * 'If there is in the whole world, a
more wretched class of human beings than the free people of
color in this country, I do not know where they are to be found.
They have no home, no country, no kindred, no friends. They are
lazy and indolent, because they have no motives to prompt them
to be industrious. They are in general destitute of principle,
because they have nothing to stimulate them to honorable and
praise-worthy conduct. Let them be maltreated ever so much, the
law gives them no redress unless some white person happens to be
present, to be a witness in the case. If they acquire property,
they hold it by the courtesy of every vagabond in the country;
and sooner or later, are sure to have it filched from
them.'--[Idem, vol. vi. pp. 12, 135, 228.]
'The existence, within the very bosom of our country, of an
anomalous race of beings, THE MOST DEBASED UPON EARTH, who
neither enjoy the blessings of freedom, nor are yet in the bonds
of slavery, is a great national evil, which every friend of his
country most deeply deplores.... Tax your utmost powers of
imagination, and you cannot conceive one motive to honorable
effort, which can animate the bosom, or give impulse to the
conduct of a free black in this country. Let him toil from youth
to age in the honorable pursuit of wisdom--let him store his
mind with the most valuable researches of science and
literature--and let him add to a highly gifted and cultivated
intellect, a piety pure, undefiled, and "unspotted from the
world"--it is all nothing: he would not be received into the
very lowest walks of society. If we were constrained to admire
so uncommon a being, our very admiration would mingle with
disgust, because, in the physical organization of his frame, we
meet an insurmountable barrier, even to an approach to social
intercourse, and in the Egyptian color, which nature has stamped
upon his features, a principle of repulsion so strong as to
forbid the idea of a communion either of interest or of feeling,
as utterly abhorrent. Whether these feelings are founded in
reason or not, we will not now inquire--perhaps they are not.
But education and habit, and prejudice have so firmly riveted
them upon us, that they have become as strong as nature
itself--and to expect their removal, or even their slightest
modification, would be as idle and preposterous as to expect
that we could reach forth our hands, and remove the mountains
from their foundations into the vallies, which are beneath
them.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 230, 331.]
'We have been charged with wishing only to remove our free
blacks, that we may the more effectually rivet the chains of the
slave. But the class we first seek to remove, are neither
freemen nor slaves; _but between both_, AND MORE MISERABLE THAN
EITHER.' * * * 'Who is there, that does not know something of
the condition of the blacks in the northern and middle States?
They may be seen in our cities and larger towns, wandering like
foreigners and outcasts, in the land which gave them birth. They
may be seen in our penitentiaries, and jails, and poor-houses.
They may be found inhabiting the abodes of poverty, and the
haunts of vice. But if we look for them in the society of the
honest and respectable--if we visit the schools in which it is
our boast that the meanest citizen can enjoy the benefits of
instruction--we might also add, if we visit the sanctuaries
which are open for all to worship,[S] and to hear the word of
God; we shall not find them there.' * * 'Leaving slavery and its
subjects for the moment entirely out of view, there are in the
United States 238,000 blacks denominated free, but whose freedom
confers on them, we might say, no privilege but the _privilege
of being more vicious and miserable than slaves can
be_.'--[Seventh Annual Report, pp. 12, 87, 99.]
'Placed midway between freedom and slavery, they know neither
the incentives of the one, nor the restraints of the other; but
are alike injurious by their conduct and example, to all other
classes of society.'--[Eight Annual Report.]
'Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is that of
the free colored. It is the inevitable result of their moral,
political, and civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they
extend their vices to all around them, to the slaves and to the
whites.'--[Tenth Annual Report.]
'The question arises, where shall these outcasts go? Ohio, and
the free States of the West, which formerly invited them into
their bosom, no longer offer them a welcome home. Disgusted with
their laziness and vice, the inevitable concomitants of the
anomalous relation in which they stand to society, the
authorities of those States are seeking to get rid of what they
find, too late, to be a curse to any settlement of whites--a
thriftless race of vagabonds, whose footsteps are the sure
precursors of indigence and crime. One of the most intelligent
gentlemen of Ohio, (Mr Charles Hammond,) in a recent notice of
this subject, says, "This dangerous class of population has
increased considerably within a few years past, and the slaves
States cannot too soon adopt efficient measures to get rid of
it. Emigrations to Liberia ought to be provided for, and
insisted upon, and the legislatures should pass laws to prevent
emancipation, without adequate provision for the transportation
of the manumitted."'--[Lynchburg Virginian.]
'As it is now, they are for the most part in a debased and
wretched condition. They have the vices of our community without
its virtues. And what is worse, I speak of the majority, they
have no desire to rise from their state of abject depression--no
wish to gain a respectable elevation of character. Consequently
it is difficult, if not impossible, to present them motives
Which shall incite them to enter on a course of industry and
virtue.' * * * 'Bound by no political ties to the community in
which they dwell, and excluded for the most part from exercising
the rights and privileges of freemen, on the ground of their
alleged inferiority and worthlessness, they have no inducements
to abandon lives of indolence, sensuality and recklessness, or
to support the laws and institutions of the government placed
over them. Nothing but the fear of suffering the penalty of
violated law, can prevent them from preying on those among whom
they live.'--[Middletown (Ct.) Gazette.]
'They have taken the free black that, as a class, dwells among
us a living nuisance, nominally free, but bowed to the ground by
public opinion--IN ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY DULL AS A BRUTISH
BEAST, IN ANOTHER THE WILD STIRRER UP OF SEDITION AND
INSURRECTION--they have shewn him to be capable of quiet and
judicious self-government.-- ... We cannot shut our eyes any
longer upon the disadvantages of our black population, whether
in slavery or freedom. It is a sword perpetually suspended over
our heads by a single hair; it is the fountain of bitter waters
that poisons all our enjoyments.'--[Speeches of J. R. Townsend,
Esq. and W. W. Campbell, Esq. New-York city.]
'The fact was most glaring, without an inquiry, that the same
shackles which bound them, fastened them also to the resources
of the soil, and the interests of the community; and when these
were broken, and the incentives of authority removed, the weight
of ignorance, the want of better incentives, and the fatal and
untried power of grateful but ruinous idleness, sunk them to a
state, which, however elevated in theory, was in fact more
degraded and more miserable than that of bondage. In addition to
all this, pauperism, with the numerous evils of corrupt and
corrupting indolence, threatened to impose its sluggish weight
upon a groaning community. Hence, the progress of emancipation
was, for the time, most righteously arrested.'--[Address of the
Board of Managers of the African Education Society.]
'Who are the free people of color in the United States? In what
circumstances does philanthropy find them! There are indeed
individuals and families, who are sober, industrious, pious. But
what are the remainder, the mass? Every one knows that their
condition is deep and wretched degradation; but, only a few have
ever formed any accurate conception of the reality. The fact is,
that as a class they are branded. They have no home, no country,
no such personal interest in the welfare of the community, as
gives a certain degree of manliness to almost every white
man.... Three hundred thousand freemen in this country, are
freemen only in name, forming only little else than a mass of
pauperism and crime.... Here the black man is paralysed and
crushed by the constant sense of inferiority. He has no
effectual incentives to manly enterprise. He stands in a
degraded class of society; and out of that class he never dreams
of rising.'--[Christian Spectator.]
'This is the true condition of the free colored population of
our land. They are placed mid way between freedom and slavery;
they feel neither the moral stimulants of the one, nor the
restraints of the other, and are alike injurious to every other
class of the community.'--[Southern Religious Telegraph.]
I repel these charges against the free people of color, as unmerited,
wanton and untrue. It would be absurd to pretend, that, as a class,
they maintain a high character: it would be equally foolish to deny,
that intemperance, indolence and crime prevail among them to a mournful
extent. But I do not hesitate to assert, from an intimate acquaintance
with their condition, that they are more temperate and more industrious
than that class of whites who are in as indigent circumstances, but who
have certainly far greater incentives to labor and excel; that they are
superior in their habits to the hosts of foreign emigrants who are
crowding to our shores, and poisoning our moral atmosphere; and that
their advancement in intelligence, in wealth, and in morality,
considering the numberless and almost insurmountable difficulties under
which they have labored, has been remarkable. I am informed that
twenty-five or thirty years ago, the colored inhabitants of Philadelphia
scarcely owned a dollar's worth of real estate, whereas they now own
enough to amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This fact speaks
volumes in praise of their industry and economy; for, be it remembered,
they have had to accumulate this property in small sums, by shaving the
beards, cleaning the boots and clothes, and being the servants of their
white contemners, and in other menial employments. In Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New-York, and other places, there are several colored
persons whose individual property is worth from ten thousand to one
hundred thousand dollars;[T] and in all those cities, there are primary
and high schools for the education of the colored
population--flourishing churches of various denominations--and numerous
societies for mutual assistance and improvement, &c. In Philadelphia
alone, I believe, there are nearly fifty colored associations for
benevolent, literary, scientific and moral purposes.[U] Yet these are
the people of whom it is said, 'they are acted upon by no motives to
honorable exertions;' that they are 'scarcely reached in their
debasement by the heavenly light' (almost a denial of the power of the
Holy Ghost); that 'their freedom is licentiousness;' that 'they are a
greater nuisance than even the slaves themselves;' that they are 'the
most degraded, the most abandoned race on the earth;' that they are
'worse circumstanced than the slave population;' that they have 'no
privilege but the privilege of being more vicious and miserable than
slaves can be;' and that they are 'a thriftless race of vagabonds, whose
footsteps are the sure precursors of indigence and crime.' And these
false and infamous charges are brought against them by a Society which
professes to cherish for them the highest regard, and to be anxious to
give them respectability in the eyes of the world!
The truth is, the traducers of the free blacks have no adequate
conception of the amount of good sense, sterling piety, moral honesty,
virtuous pride of character, and domestic enjoyment, which exists among
this class. The spirited remarks of the colored citizens of New-York, in
their address to the public, (_vide_ PART II. p. 16,) in reference to
their calumniators, are exceedingly apposite: '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.' A personal examination enables me to say that this challenge
is neither presumptuous nor boastful. I confess, I have been most
agreeably, nay, wonderfully disappointed, in my intercourse with them,
which is daily elevating them in my estimation. Many of their number I
proudly rank among my most familiar friends and correspondents.
With regard to the 'ragged set in Boston, crying out liberty!' every
candid resident will testify that this is a libellous representation;
that our free blacks are a quiet, orderly, well-dressed, and (as far as
they can obtain employment) industrious class of citizens; and that
their improvement is rapid and constant. Every curious observer who
visits their houses of worship, will be surprised at the general
neatness of attire and propriety of manners of the worshippers. 'A
ragged set,' forsooth! The slander may be uttered in the city of
Washington, at an anniversary of the American Colonization Society; but
no man, who regards his character for veracity and intelligence, _dare_
publish it in Boston.
The effects of this reiterated abuse are eminently mischievous. It
serves to kindle the fires of persecution, to strengthen prejudice, to
drive its victims to despair, and to increase the desire for their
banishment. 'Tax your utmost powers of imagination,' says one of the
colonization advocates, 'and you cannot conceive _one motive_ to
honorable effort, which can animate the bosom, or give impulse to the
conduct of the free black in this country'! Is this language calculated
to allay animosity, or beget confidence, or suppress contempt, or heal
division, or excite sympathy? Far otherwise. Are there not thousands of
living witnesses to prove the falsity of this assertion; thousands who
adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and whose 'motives to honorable
effort' are higher than heaven and vast as eternity; thousands, who,
though their enemies spare no efforts to crush them in the dust, and in
despite of mountains of difficulties, rise up with a giant's strength to
respectability and usefulness? 'No motive to honorable effort'! Perish
the calumny!
Again, they are stigmatized as the 'wild stirrers up of sedition and
insurrection.' This charge is even more malignant than the other, and
utterly groundless. Its propagation, however, tends directly to excite a
persecution which may drive the accused to sedition, in self-defence.
There is no evidence that any free man of color was enlisted in the late
bloody struggle in Virginia, or in any manner accessary thereto. On the
contrary, it was deprecated by our colored citizens generally, not only
on account of its sanguinary acts, but because they knew it would
operate to their own disadvantage by being placed to their account. The
following honorable expression of feeling was made at a public meeting
of the people of color in Wilmington, Delaware, about that period:
'The subscribers, having a knowledge of the alarm which prevails
in the minds of some of the citizens of this place, on account
of various reports which some mischievous person or persons have
circulated, in regard to the colored population, beg leave to
represent, on behalf of themselves and brethren, that having
made inquiry into the subject, they have found said reports to
be without the least foundation; and they owe it to themselves
further to declare, that, so far from any disposition on the
part of the colored people to disturb the peace and good order
of the community, they are, on the contrary, fully aware that it
consists not less with their interests than their duty to
refrain from every art that would excite commotion or disorder,
in which the colored people would have every thing to lose and
nothing to gain. We have been treated by the citizens of
Wilmington and its vicinity with kindness, for which we ought to
be grateful, and it is our solemn purpose to pursue such a
course of conduct as may merit a continuance of their favor and
confidence. Should any among us be found so wicked and blinded
as to enter into plots and contrivances, inimical to the present
harmony, we thus solemnly pledge ourselves to our white friends
and neighbors, that we will be among the first to sound the
alarm, and unite in effecting their apprehension and
suppression.'
The free colored citizens of Baltimore, Maryland, also came out unitedly
in the following pacific and truly exemplary spirit:
'Whereas, there has prevailed in this city, during the past
week, a very unpleasant excitement, originating from suspicions
and reports totally without foundation, and highly derogatory to
our good sense; and whereas this excitement, though
unnecessarily created, may, in its ultimate tendency, prove
prejudicial to the interests of the free colored population of
this State. Therefore,
'Resolved, That we challenge the most rigid investigation as to
the truth of those evil reports, which have recently been so
industriously propagated in this city by the credulous, and
those who are totally unacquainted with the character of colored
Baltimoreans.
'Resolved, That we are not so reckless of our true interest, so
blind to utter helplessness--not to say so devoid of humanity,
as to entertain the hostile designs, or to cherish the fiendish
passions, which it seems have been, by the unthinking, so
unjustly attributed to us.
'Resolved, That we have been too long in the land of bibles, and
temples, and ministers, to look upon blood and carnage with
complacency--that we have been too long in this enlightened
metropolis, to think of the amelioration of our condition, in
any other way than that sanctioned by the Gospel of Peace.
'Resolved, That we rely upon a peaceable and upright conduct, for
a continuance of that favor and protection which we have
hitherto enjoyed, and which, the liberal, the wise, and the
good, are ever ready to accord.'
How impolitic, then, as well as unjust, to brand this meek and
magnanimous class as 'the wild stirrers up of sedition and
insurrection'!
This treatment, I repeat, is impolitic--nay, suicidal. To abuse,
proscribe and exasperate them, to trample them under our feet, to goad
them on the right hand and on the left, is not the way to secure their
loyalty, but rather to make them revengeful, desperate and seditious.
Our true policy is, to meliorate their condition, invigorate their
hopes, instruct their ignorant minds, admit them to an equality of
privileges with ourselves, nourish and patronise their genius, and, by
giving them mechanical trades and mercantile advantages, open to them
the avenue to competence and wealth. We shall thus make them contented
and happy, and place them in a situation which will lead them still more
heartily to deprecate any insurrectionary movements among our slave
population. The following is the conciliatory and generous language of
a man, who has been denounced as a blood-hound and a monster. It will be
well for us if we profit by it.
'Americans! notwithstanding you have and do continue to treat us
more cruel than any heathen nation ever did a people it had
subjected to the same condition that you have us, let us reason.
Had you not better take our body, while you have it in your
power, and while we are yet ignorant and wretched, not knowing
but little, give us education, and teach us the pure religion of
our Lord and Master, which is calculated to make the lion lie
down in peace with the lamb, and which millions of you have
beaten us nearly to death for trying to obtain since we have
been among you, and thus at once gain our affection while we are
ignorant? Throw away your fears and prejudices then, and
enlighten us and treat us like men, and we will like you more
than we do now hate you. And tell us now no more about
colonization; for America is as much our country as it is yours.
Treat us like men, and there is no danger but we will all live
in peace and happiness together; for we are not, like you,
hard-hearted, unmerciful, and unforgiving. What a happy country
this will be, if the whites will listen! What nation under
heaven, will be able to do any thing with us, unless God gives
us up into its hand? But, Americans, I declare to you, while you
keep us and our children in bondage, and treat us like brutes,
to make us support you and your families, we cannot be your
friends. You do not look for it, do you? Treat us then like men,
and we will be your friends. And there is not a doubt in my
mind, but that the whole of the past will be sunk into oblivion,
and we yet, under God, will become a united and happy
people.'[V]
FOOTNOTES:
[S] A cruel taunt. The wonder is not that colored persons do not more
generally visit our sanctuaries, but that they _ever_ should attend. If
they go, they are thrust into obscure, remote and unseemly pens or
boxes, as if they were not embraced in the offers of redeeming love, and
were indeed a part of the brute creation. It is an awful commentary upon
the pride of human nature. I never can look up to these scandalous
retreats for my colored brethren, without having my soul overwhelmed
with emotions of shame, indignation and sorrow. No black man, however
virtuous, respectable or pious he may be, can own or occupy a pew in a
central part of any of our houses of worship. And yet it is
reproachfully alleged--by a clergyman, too!--that 'if we visit the
sanctuaries which are _open to all_ (!) to worship, and to hear the word
of God, we shall not find them there'! No--I hope they will respect
themselves and the religion of Jesus more, than to occupy the places
alluded to.
[T] Francis Devany, the colored sheriff of Liberia, is reputed by
colonizationists to be worth property to the value of twenty-five
thousand dollars; and they have trumpeted the fact all over the country,
and so repeatedly as almost to lead one to imagine that he is the
greatest and wealthiest man in all the world! James Forten, the
reputable colored sail-maker of Philadelphia,--a gentleman of highly
polished manners and superior intelligence,--with whom Devany worked as
a journeyman, can _buy him out_ three or four times over. Joseph Cassey,
another estimable and intelligent man of color, or the widow of Bishop
Allen, both of Philadelphia, can purchase him. I mention their names,
not to extol them, but simply to show, that what begets fame in Liberia
is unproductive here.
[U] The following statement, recently published in the Philadelphia
'Friend and Advocate of Truth,' is very creditable to the colored
inhabitants of that city:
'Many erroneous opinions have prevailed, with regard to the true
character and condition of the free colored people of
Pennsylvania. They have been represented as an idle and
worthless class, furnishing inmates for our poor-houses and
penitentiaries. A few plain facts are sufficient to refute these
gratuitous allegations. In the city and suburbs of Philadelphia,
by the census of 1830, they constituted about eleven per cent.,
or one ninth of the whole population. From the account of the
guardians of the poor, printed by order of the board, it appears
that of the out-door poor receiving regular weekly supplies, in
the first month, 1830, the time of the greatest need, the people
of color were about one to twenty-three whites; or not quite
four per cent., a disproportion of whites to colored, of more
than two to one in favor of the latter. When it is considered
that they perform the lowest offices in the community--that the
avenues to what are esteemed the most honorable and profitable
professions in society, are in a great measure, if not wholly
closed against them, these facts are the more creditable to
them. One cause of this disproportion, which we presume is but
little known, but which is worthy of special notice, will be
found in the numerous societies among themselves for mutual aid.
These societies expended, in one year, about six thousand
dollars for the relief of the sick and the indigent of their own
color, from funds raised among themselves. Besides, the taxes
paid by the colored people of Philadelphia, exceed in amount the
sums expended out of the funds of the city for the relief of
their poor.'
It is also a fact that the proportion of whites in the alms-house in
New-York is greater than that of the blacks. I am aware that other
evidence, of a different kind, may be adduced in other places; but it is
in the highest degree unfair to measure the whole body of blacks by the
whole body of whites--for the privileges and advantages of the whites
are as ten thousand to one: they monopolise almost every branch of
business and every pursuit of life--they have all the means necessary to
make men virtuous, intelligent, active, and opulent. Far different is
the situation of the free blacks. How slender are their means! how mean
and limited their occupations! how inferior their advantages! Almost
every avenue to wealth, preferment and usefulness, is closed against
them. How are they persecuted! how avoided in the streets! how excluded
from the benefits of society! To point at them the finger of scorn, to
taunt them for their inferiority or helplessness, is like putting out
the eyes and clipping the wings of the eagle, and then reproaching him
because he can neither see nor fly. To boast of our superior refinement,
intelligence and virtue, is the extreme of vainglory, and adding insult
to injury. Shame! shame!
SECTION IX.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DENIES THE POSSIBILITY OF ELEVATING
THE BLACKS IN THIS COUNTRY.
The detestation of feeling, the fire of moral indignation, and the agony
of soul which I have felt kindling and swelling within me, in the
progress of this review, under this section reach the acme of intensity.
It is impossible for the mind to conceive, or the tongue to utter, or
the pen to record, sentiments more derogatory to the character of a
republican and Christian people than the following:
'Introduced as this class has been, in a way which cannot be
justified, injurious in its influence to the community, degraded
in character and miserable in condition, _forever excluded_, by
public sentiment, by law and by a physical distinction, from the
most powerful motives to exertion,' &c. * * 'In addition to all
the causes which tend to pollute, to degrade and render them
miserable, there are principles of _repulsion_ between them and
us, which can _never_ be overcome.' * * 'Their bodies are free,
their minds enslaved. They can neither bless their brethren in
servitude, nor rise from their own obscurity, nor add to the
purity of our morals, nor to our wealth, nor to our political
strength.' * * 'Let us recollect that our fathers have placed
them here; and that our prejudices, prejudices _too deep to be
eradicated_ while they remain among us, have produced the
standard of their morals.' * * 'Nor will it be questioned that
their establishment on the African coast ... will confer on them
invaluable blessings which _in this country_ they can _never_
enjoy.' * * 'They _must be_ hewers of wood and drawers of water.
Do what they will, there is but this one prospect before
them.'--[African Repository, vol. 1, pp. 34, 144, 162, 176, 226,
317.]
'Shut out from the privileges of citizens, separated from us by
the _insurmountable_ barrier of color, they can _never_
amalgamate with us, but must remain _for ever_ a distinct and
inferior race, repugnant to our republican feelings, and
dangerous to our republican institutions.' * * * 'It is not that
there are some, but that there are so many among us of a
different physical, if not moral, constitution, who _never_ can
amalgamate with the great body of our population.'--[African
Repository, vol. ii. pp. 188, 189, 338.]
'In consequence of his own inveterate habits, and the no less
inveterate prejudices of the whites, it is a sadly demonstrated
truth, that the negro _cannot, in this country_, become an
enlightened and useful citizen. Driven to the lowest stratum of
society, and enthralled there for melancholy ages, his mind
becomes proportionably grovelling, and to gratify his animal
desires is his most exalted aspiration.' * * 'The negro, _while
in this country_, will be treated as an inferior being.' * *
'Our slavery is such, as that no device of our philanthropy for
elevating the wretched subjects of its debasement to the
ordinary privileges of men, can descry one cheering glimpse of
hope that our object can _ever_ be accomplished. The very
commencing act of freedom to the slave, is to place him in a
condition still worse, if possible, both for his moral habits,
his outward provision, and for the community that embosoms him,
than even that, deplorable as it was, from which he has been
removed. He is now a freeman; but his complexion, his features,
every peculiarity of his person, pronounce to him another
doom,--that every wish he may conceive, every effort he can
make, shall be _little better than vain_. Even to every talent
and virtuous impulse which he may feel working in his bosom,
obstacles stand in impracticable array; not from a defect of
essential title to success, but from _a positive external law,
unreasoning and irreversible_.' * * 'The elevation of a degraded
class of beings to the privileges of freemen, which, though
free, they can _never_ enjoy, and to the prospects of a happy
immortality.' * * 'They again most solemnly repeat to the free
colored people of Virginia their belief, that _in Africa alone_
can they enjoy that complete emancipation from a degrading
inequality, which in a greater or less degree pervades the
United States, if not in the laws, in the whole frame and
structure of society, and which in its effects on their moral
and social state is scarcely less degrading than slavery
itself.'--[African Repository, vol. iii. pp. 25, 26, 66, 68,
345.]
'But there is one large class among the inhabitants of this
country--degraded and miserable--whom none of the efforts in
which you are accustomed to engage, can materially benefit.
Among the twelve millions who make up our census, two millions
are Africans--separated from the possessors of the soil by
birth, _by the brand of indelible ignominy_, by prejudices,
mutual, deep, _incurable_, by an _irreconcileable diversity of
interests_. They are aliens and outcasts;--they are, as a body,
degraded beneath the influence of nearly all the motives which
prompt other men to enterprise, and almost below the sphere of
virtuous affections. Whatever may be attempted for the general
improvement of society, their wants are untouched.--Whatever may
be effected for elevating the mass of the nation in the scale of
happiness or of intellectual and moral character, their
degradation is the same--dark, and deep, and _hopeless_.
Benevolence seems to overlook them, or struggles for their
benefit in vain. Patriotism forgets them, or remembers them only
with shame for what has been, and with dire forebodings, of what
is yet to come.' * * 'It is taken _for granted_ that in present
circumstances, any effort to produce a general and thorough
amelioration in the character and condition of the free people
of color must be to a great extent fruitless. In every part of
the United States there is a broad and _impassible_ line of
demarcation between every man who has _one drop_ of African
blood in his veins and every other class in the community. The
habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society--prejudices
which neither _refinement_, nor _argument_, nor _education_, nor
_religion_ itself can subdue--mark the people of color, whether
bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation _inevitable_ and
_incurable_. The African in this country belongs by birth to the
very lowest station in society; and from that station _he can
never rise_, BE HIS TALENTS, HIS ENTERPRISE, HIS VIRTUES WHAT
THEY MAY.... They constitute a class by themselves--a class out
of which _no individual can be elevated_, and below which, none
can be depressed. And this is the difficulty, the invariable and
insuperable difficulty in the way of every scheme for their
benefit. Much can be done for them--much has been done; but
still they are, and, _in this country_, ALWAYS MUST BE a
depressed and abject race.'--[African Repository, vol. iv. pp.
117, 118, 119.]
'The distinctive complexion by which it is marked, _necessarily_
debars it from all familiar intercourse with the more favored
society that surrounds it, and of course denies to it _all hope_
of either social or political elevation, by means of individual
merit, however great, or individual exertions, however
unremitted.' * * 'It is deemed unnecessary to repeat what has
already been said, of the character of the population in
question, of its _hopeless degradation_, and its baneful
influence, in the situation in which it is now placed.' * * *
'The colored population of this country can _never_ rise to
respectability and happiness here.' * * 'It was at an early
period seen and acknowledged, that neither the objects of
benevolence nor the interests of the nation could be materially
benefitted by any plan or measures that permitted them to remain
within the United States.' * * 'They leave a country in which
though born and reared, they are strangers and aliens; where
severe necessity places them in a class of degraded beings.' * *
'With us they have been degraded by slavery, and STILL FURTHER
DEGRADED _by the mockery of nominal freedom_. We have
endeavored, but endeavored in vain, to restore them either to
self-respect, or to the respect of others. _It is not our fault
that we have failed_; it is not theirs. It has resulted from a
cause over which neither they, nor we, can ever have control.
_Here_, therefore, they must be _for ever debased_: more than
this, they must be _for ever useless_; more even than this, they
must be FOR EVER A NUISANCE, from which it were a blessing for
society to be rid. And yet they, and they only, are qualified
for colonizing Africa.' * * * 'Whether bond or free, their
presence will be _for ever a calamity_. Why then, in the name of
God, should we hesitate to encourage their departure? The
existence of this race among us; a race that can neither share
our blessings nor incorporate in our Society, is already felt to
be a curse.'--[African Repository, vol. v. pp. 51, 53, 179, 234,
238, 276, 278.]
'Is our posterity doomed to endure for ever not only all the
ills flowing from the state of slavery, but all which arise from
incongruous elements of population, separated from each other by
_invincible prejudices_, and by natural causes?' * * 'Here
_invincible prejudices_ exclude them from the enjoyment of the
society of the whites, and deny them all the advantages of
freemen. The bar, the pulpit, and our legislative halls are shut
to them by the irresistible force of public sentiment. No
talents however great, no piety however pure and devoted, no
patriotism however ardent, can secure their admission. They
constantly hear the accents, and behold the triumphs, of a
liberty _which here they can never enjoy_.' * * 'It is against
this increase of colored persons, who take but a nominal freedom
here, and _cannot rise_ from their degraded condition, that this
Society attempts to provide.' * * 'They may be emancipated; but
emancipation _cannot elevate their condition_ or augment their
capacity for self-preservation.--Want and suffering will
gradually diminish their numbers, and they will disappear, as
the inferior has always disappeared, before the superior race.'
* * 'Our great and good men purposed it primarily as a system of
relief for two millions of fellow men in our own county--a
population dangerous to ourselves and _necessarily degraded
here_.' * * 'The free blacks, by the moral necessity of their
civil disabilities, are and _must for ever be a
nuisance_--equally, and more to the owner of slaves, than to
other members of the community.'--[African Repository, vol. vi.
pp. 12, 17, 82, 168, 295, 368.]
'Incorporated into our country as freemen, yet separated from it
by odious and degrading distinctions, they feel themselves
condemned to a hopeless and debasing inferiority. They know that
their very complexion will _for ever_ exclude them from the
rank, the privileges, the honors, of freemen. No matter how
great their industry, or how abundant their wealth--no matter
what their attainments in literature, science or the arts--no
matter how correct their deportment or what respect their
characters may inspire, they can never, NO, NEVER be raised to a
footing of equality, not even to a familiar intercourse with the
surrounding society.' * * 'To us it seems evident that the man
of color may as soon _change his complexion_, as rise above all
sense of past inferiority and debasement in a community, from
the social intercourse of which, he must expect to be in a great
measure excluded, not only until prejudice shall have no
existence therein, but until the freedom of man in regulating
his social relations is proved to be abridged by some law of
morality or the gospel.... Is it not _wise_, then, for the free
people of color and their friends to _admit_, what cannot
reasonably be doubted, that the people of color must, in this
country, remain for ages, _probably for ever_, a separate and
inferior caste, weighed down by causes, powerful, universal,
inevitable; _which neither legislation nor christianity can
remove?_'
'Let the free black in this country toil from youth to age in
the honorable pursuit of wisdom--let him store his mind with the
most valuable researches of science and literature--and let him
add to a highly gifted and cultivated intellect, a piety pure,
undefiled, and "unspotted from the world"--it is all nothing: he
would not be received into the very lowest walks of society. If
we were constrained to admire so uncommon a being, our very
admiration would mingle with disgust, because, in the physical
organization of his frame, we meet an insurmountable barrier,
even to an approach to social intercourse, and in the Egyptian
color, which nature has stamped upon his features, a principle
of repulsion so strong as to forbid the idea of a communion
either of interest or of feeling, as utterly abhorrent. Whether
these feelings are founded in reason or not, we will not now
inquire--perhaps they are not. But education and habit and
prejudice have so firmly riveted them upon us, that they have
become as strong as nature itself--and to expect their removal,
or even their slightest modification, would be as idle and
preposterous as to expect that we could reach forth our hands,
and remove the mountains from their foundations into the
vallies, which are beneath them.'--[African Repository, vol.
vii. pp. 100, 195, 196, 231.]
'And can we not find some spot on this large globe which will
receive them kindly, and where they may escape those prejudices
which, in this country, must _ever_ keep them _inferior_ and
_degraded_ members of society?'--[Third Annual Report.]
'A population which, even if it were not literally enslaved,
_must for ever remain_ in a state of degradation no better than
bondage.' * * 'Here the thing is impossible; a slave cannot be
really emancipated. You may call him free, you may enact a
statute book of laws to make him free, but you cannot bleach him
into the enjoyment of freedom.' * * 'The Soodra is not farther
separated from the Brahmin in regard to all his privileges,
civil, intellectual, and moral, than the negro is from the white
man by the prejudices which result from the difference made
between them by the God of nature. A barrier more difficult to
be surmounted than the institution of the caste, cuts off, and
while the present state of society continues _must always_ cut
off, the negro from all that is valuable in
citizenship.'--[Seventh Annual Report.]
'Let the arm of our government be stretched out for the defence
of our African colony, and this objection will no longer exist.
There, _and there alone_, the colored man can enjoy the motives
for honorable exertion.'--[Ninth Annual Report.]
'In the distinctive and indelible marks of their color, and the
prejudices of the people, an _insuperable_ obstacle has been
placed to the execution of any plan for elevating their
character, and placing them on a footing with their brethren of
the same common family.'--[Tenth Annual Report.]
'Far from shuddering at the thought of leaving the comfortable
fireside among us, for a distant and unknown shore yet covered
by the wilderness, they have preferred real liberty there, to a
mockery of freedom here, and have turned their eyes to Africa,
as the only resting place and refuge of the colored man, in the
deluge of oppression that surrounds him.'--[Eleventh Annual
Report.]
'The race in question were known, as a class, to be destitute,
depraved--the victims of all forms of social misery. The
peculiarity of their fate was, that this was not their condition
by accident or transiently, but _inevitably_ and _immutably_,
whilst they remained in their present place, by a law as
infallible in its operation, as any of physical nature.' * *
'Their residence amongst us is attended by evil consequences to
society--causes _beyond the control of the human will_ must
prevent their _ever_ rising to equality with the whites.' * *
'The Managers consider it clear that causes exist, and are
operating to prevent their improvement and elevation to any
considerable extent as a class, in this country, which are
fixed, not only beyond the control of the friends of humanity,
BUT OF ANY HUMAN POWER. _Christianity cannot do for them here,
what it will do for them in Africa._ This is not the fault of
the colored man, _nor of the white man, nor of Christianity; but
an ordination of Providence, and no more to be changed than the
laws of nature_. Yet, were it otherwise, did no cause exist but
prejudice, to prevent the elevation, in this country, of our
free colored population, still, were this prejudice so strong
(which is indeed the fact) as to forbid the hope of any great
favorable change in their condition, what folly for them to
reject blessings in another land, because it is prejudice which
debars them from such blessings in this! But in truth no
legislation, no humanity, no benevolence can make them
insensible to their past condition, can unfetter their minds,
can relieve them from the disadvantages resulting from inferior
means and attainments, can abridge the right of freemen to
regulate their social intercourse and relations, which will
leave them _for ever a separate and depressed class_ in the
community; in fine, nothing can in any way do much here to raise
them from their miseries to respectability, honor and
usefulness.'--[Fifteenth Annual Report.]
'That no adequate means of attaining this great end existed,
short of the segregation of the black population from the
white--that an IMPASSIBLE BARRIER existed 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 an _indelible note of inferiority_--they
saw placed high before them a station which here they _could
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 destined _as long as they remained with us_
to 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, must _necessarily_ be 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.']
'Instances of emancipation have not essentially benefitted the
African, and _probably 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
can NEVER make the African, while he remains in this country, a
real free man. Degradation MUST and WILL press 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 full and 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
can _never_ enjoy 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 and _must be_,
an idle, worthless and thievish race.'--[First Annual Report.]
'Here they are condemned to a state of _hopeless_ inferiority,
and consequent degradation. As they _cannot_ emerge 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 Ohio _must 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.]
'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 they _cannot_ be 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 prosperity _should be
turned to Africa_, and that they should not regard our country
as their permanent residence, or as that country in which they
will _ever_, 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 is AN 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.]
'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 the _friends_ of 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 be trampled 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 which _no 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 the _very lowest walks of society_--admiration of such
uncommon beings would mingle with _disgust_!' Yea, that 'there is a
broad and impassible line of demarcation between every man who has _one
drop_ of 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 neither _refinement_, nor _argument_, nor
_education_, nor RELIGION itself can subdue--mark the people of color,
whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation _inevitable_ and
_incurable_'! Yea, that '_Christianity_ cannot 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; but AN
ORDINATION OF PROVIDENCE, _and no more to be changed than the_ LAWS 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 and
the islands of the sea, to sustain me in the assertion that there _is_
power 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 me _sure_ that 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 and _ministers
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, and
_still 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 ignorance and 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.' We _are_ wholly and exclusively in
fault. What have we done to raise them up from the earth? What have we
_not_ done 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,' and
_therefore_ we cannot recognise them as fellow-countrymen, or treat them
like rational beings! One sixth of our whole population _must_, FOR
EVER, in this land, remain a wretched, ignorant and degraded race,--and
yet nobody be culpable--_none but the Creator_ who has made us
_incapable_ of 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 but _really_,--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 be
_for ever debased, for ever useless, for ever a nuisance, for ever a
calamity_,' and then gravely declares (mark the climax!) 'and yet THEY,
[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 as any 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, that _religion_
itself 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 mortal conflict,
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 or _general instruction_ of 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, is _a 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 of _very_ few 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 negro _must_ be formed in this
country.... It appears to us that a greater benefit may be
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 only _approve the course_, which they
have pursued, but we _admire 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 of _condemning the policy_ of the
slaveholding States, but to lament its _necessity_.'
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 more _miserable_ you make them in
their present state. You give them a higher relish for those
privileges _which 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 of _brutes_, 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 the people 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 the _prejudices of society_--how could she
overcome _them_? 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 his _character_ had been as black as perdition,
the difficulty might have been overcome, however reluctantly; but his
_skin_ being 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 the PRINCE REGENT this 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.]
SECTION X.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY DECEIVES AND MISLEADS THE NATION.
It is 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 of _half a million_! and every week more than _one
thousand_ new-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 a _half-way_ duty, difficult,
expensive, and partial as it must be, and criminal as it
unquestionably is--for the _whole_ duty 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 make _that 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 they have not
succeeded in establishing this fearful fact against themselves;
and as long as they continue capable of repentance, it _never_
can 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 be _no decrease_! Two millions of human
beings every 30 years would still be _born_ and _die_ in
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
millions_ more!!
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 rights _always
the same_, and everlastingly _inalienable_, however
plundered--would have perished _unredressed_, 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 is _your
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
of the 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--
'Admitting that the colonization scheme contemplates the
ultimate abolition of slavery, yet that result could only be
produced _by the gradual and slow operation of_ CENTURIES.' * *
'How came we by this population? By the prevalence for a century
of a guilty commerce. And will not the prevalence _for a
century_ of 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 of FIGURING, 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 the _actual experience_ of 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_, exceed TEN 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 trade
_continues 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 fifty_ human 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 conducted _with 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 activity_ is this odious traffic
now carried on _all along the African coast_. Slave factories
are established _in 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
than _fifty thousand_ Africans were, during the last year,
(1831,) carried into foreign slavery. During the months of
February and March of the same year, two thousand were landed
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
accomplished _nothing_ toward 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? Simply _because 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!!!--[_Vide_ Seventh 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 a _missionary_ carrying 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 of _missionaries_, by sending out some of his
own slaves? Is he consistent?
[AA] 'As to the morals of the colonists, I consider them _much 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 expatriated
_missionaries_ to 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 the _corruption 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.'
END OF PART I.
THOUGHTS ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
PART II.
SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR.
If the 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 of
_home_, 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 banished from 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 they _below_ the 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 seen
To 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 down
To 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!_'
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. In PART I., I have shown, by copious
extracts, that colonizationists artfully represent them as aliens and
foreigners, wanderers from Africa--destitute of that _amor 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. Their _amor patriæ_ is robust and deathless: like the oak,
tempests do but strengthen its roots and confer victory upon 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. But _this 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 of BENJAMIN
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 travel _toll 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 direct _physical force_ is not
applied; but why are they induced to remove? Is it because they
instinctively prefer Africa to their native country? Do they actually
_court_ the 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 your_ NATIVE _country_, 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 you _a
noble enthusiasm_ which 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.
A VOICE PROM PHILADELPHIA.
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.
_To the humane and benevolent Inhabitants of the city and county
of Philadelphia._
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.
A VOICE FROM NEW-YORK.
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 the
resolution 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 claim _this 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.
_An Address to the Citizens of New-York._
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 different _colors_ among 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 and the 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.
A VOICE FROM BOSTON.
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 they possessed, 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:
'The object to which this Society shall be exclusively devoted,
shall be to aid the parent institution at Washington, in the
colonization of the free people of color of the United States on
the coast of Africa; and to do this not only by the contribution
of money, but by the exertion of its influence to promote the
formation of other societies.'
We deem any explanation here unnecessary.
In regard to the third and most essential inquiry, your committee
report, that they know of no better way of expressing their
disapprobation of such measures, than to use every exertion to persuade
their brethren not to leave the United States upon any consideration
whatever; but if there are or should be any exasperated in consequence
of abuse from their white countrymen, and who are determined to leave
the country, we think it desirable to recommend them to Hayti or Upper
Canada, where they will find the laws equal. Your committee deem it
expedient also to urge this duty upon the several ministers of color
throughout the United States, and all other persons of color whose
influence may have any bearing in preventing their brethren from
yielding to a request so unjust and cruel.
And if your respectable body should not think your committee were going
beyond the bounds of their duty, they would recommend the clerical order
throughout the United States, who have had or who are having any thing
to do with the deceptive scheme above alluded to, to read the 13th
chapter of Ezekiel. Read it--read it--and understand it. Your committee
would recommend those clergymen, who have not defiled their garment with
the blood of the innocent, to read the 1st, 2nd, 11th and 12th verses of
the 24th chapter of Proverbs.
In support of the sentiments thus expressed, it becomes necessary that
our reasons should accompany them, why we object to the plan of dragging
us to Africa--a country to us unknown, except by geography. In the first
place, we are told that Africa is our native country; consequently the
climate will be more congenial to our health. We readily deny the
assertion. How can a man be born in two countries at the same time? Is
not the position superficial to suppose that American born citizens are
Africans? In regard to the climate, what better proof do we want of its
salubrity, than to know that of the numerous bodies who have embarked, a
large portion of them have immediately fallen victims, on their arrival,
to the pestilence usual to that place?
It is again said, that the establishment of a colony on the coast of
Africa will prevent the slave trade. We might as well argue, that a
watchman in the city of Boston would prevent thievery in New-York, or
any other place; or that the custom-house officers there would prevent
goods being smuggled into any other port of the United States.
We are aware, that such an unnecessary expense devoted to the
application of a remedy so far from the disease, is absolutely contrary
to common sense. We are sensible that the moral disease, _slavery_, is
in America, and not in Africa. If there was no market for the vending of
slaves, there would be no inducement for the thief to steal them. The
remedy for this evil, we humbly conceive, consists of three general
prescriptions, viz. 1st. Let him who stealeth obey the word of God, and
steal no more. 2d. Let him who hath encouraged the thief by purchase,
(and consequently is a partaker with him,) do so no more. 3rd. Let the
clerical physicians, who have encouraged, and are encouraging, both the
thief and the receiver, by urging their influence to the removal of the
means of their detection, desist therefrom, and with their mighty weight
of influence step into the scale of justice: then will be done away this
horrible traffic in blood.
From the above considerations, we sincerely recommend to our white
countrymen honor and humanity, which will render useless the
transportation of the colored population to the coast of Africa, it
being altogether gratuitous and uncalled for.
We proceed to offer several objections to the operation alluded to--one
is, the circumstance of the project originating with those who were
deeply interested in slavery, and who hold slaves as their property. We
consider the fact no evidence of the innocence of its design. We further
object, because its members admit slavery to be an evil, and use no
means to destroy it; but are exerting all their influence to urge every
free person of color to Africa, (whose right to this soil holds good
with any other citizen,) thereby rivetting the chains of slavery
stronger than ever upon their oppressed brethren.
Again we object, because the whole spring of action seems to originate
in the fear lest the free colored people may whisper liberty in the ears
of the oppressed. We would suggest, however, that they who are fond of
liberty should not be annoyed at its sound, from whatever source it may
come.
Again we object, on the ground of there being sufficient land in the
United States, on which a colony might be established that would better
meet the wishes of the colored people, and at a much cheaper rate than
could possibly be done by sending them to a howling wilderness far away,
and to them unknown.
One of the leaders of the newly formed Society argued that in case a
colony was formed for the blacks in the United States, they would in a
short time be removed, as has been the case with the poor Indians. To
obviate this objection, we here inform him that Hayti will hold all the
slaves he will send her; and as for the free people, we expect they can
go where they please, either to Africa, Hayti or Upper Canada, or remain
at home, without asking the consent of a slaveholding party. Nor can we
conceive why free citizens, acting this liberty, should interfere with
them, if they are--as they have represented themselves to be--honest and
benevolent men. We conceive that the question in view stands in two
distinct points--the removal of the free colored population from this
country, or the acknowledgment of them as citizens. The former position
must be acknowledged, on all sides, a means of perpetuating slavery in
our land; the latter, of abolishing it; consequently it may be seen who
are for the well-being of their country.
We regret that our interest has thus drawn us before the public, on
account of the regard we entertain towards many of our warmest friends
who have been deceived by a cloak of philanthropy, smooth words, and a
sanctified appearance. We remind them, however, that the blood of Abel
is beginning to be heard by many who are willing to acknowledge that
they hear it.
We cannot close our duty without gratefully acknowledging the respect we
entertain for those who have defended our cause with more than Spartan
courage. It is the opinion of your committee, that they are to be
respected as our countrymen, our brethren, and our fellow citizens--not
to say they are to be applauded as men, whose great acts are based upon
the acclamation of their fellow men; but rather let us hold up their
hands, and let their works praise them. We shall only add an expression
of our hopes, that the Spirit of Liberty, recently awakened in the old
world, may redouble its thundering voice, until every tyrant is seized
with a Belshazzar tremble at the hand-writing upon the wall of his
corrupt palace.
In addition to the above, your committee submit the following
resolutions for your acceptance.
Resolved, That this meeting contemplate, with lively interest, the rapid
progress of the sentiments of liberty among our degraded brethren, and
that we will legally oppose every operation that may have a tendency to
perpetuate our present political condition.
Resolved, That this meeting look upon the American Colonization Society
as a clamorous, abusive and peace-disturbing combination.
Resolved, That this meeting look upon the conduct of those clergymen,
who have filled the ears of their respective congregations with the
absurd idea of the necessity of removing the free colored people from
the United States, as highly deserving the just reprehension directed to
the false prophets and priests, by Jeremiah the true prophet, as
recorded in the 23d chapter of his prophecy.
Resolved, That this meeting appeal to a generous and enlightened public
for an impartial hearing relative to the subject of our present
political condition.
Resolved, That the gratitude of this meeting, which is so sensibly felt,
be fully expressed to those editors whose independence of mind and
correct views of the rights of man have led them so fearlessly to speak
in favor of our cause; that we rejoice to behold in them such a strong
desire to extend towards us the inestimable blessing in the gift of a
wise Providence which is demanded by all nature, and for which their
veteran fathers struggled in the revolution.
ROBERT ROBERTS, Chairman.
JAMES G. BARBADOES, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM BALTIMORE.
BALTIMORE, March 21, 1831.
At a respectable meeting of persons of color, convened, pursuant to
public notice, for the purpose of expressing their sentiments in regard
to the pretensions of the American Colonization Society, William
Douglass was called to the chair, and William Watkins appointed
secretary. The object of the call having been explicitly stated, the
meeting immediately proceeded to the consideration of the following
resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:--On motion,
Resolved, That it is the belief of this meeting, that the American
Colonization Society is founded more in a selfish policy, than in the
true principles of benevolence;--and, therefore, so far as it regards
the life-giving spring of its operations, is not entitled to our
confidence, but should be viewed by us with all that caution and
distrust which our happiness demands.
Resolved, That we are not insensible to the means usually employed by
that Society, and its auxiliaries, to effectuate our removal--that we
sincerely deprecate their gratuitous and illiberal attacks upon, and
their too frequently exaggerated statements of our moral standing in the
community--that such means are unworthy of a magnanimous people, and of
a virtuous and noble cause.
Resolved, That we consider the land in which we were born, and in which
we have been bred, our only '_true and appropriate home_,'--and that
when _we_ desire to remove, we will apprise the public of the same, in
due season.
Resolved, That we are deeply sensible that many of our warm and sincere
friends have espoused the colonization system, from the purest
motives,--and that we sincerely regret their efforts to ameliorate our
condition are not more in accordance with our wishes.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the daily
papers of this city, signed by the Chairman and Secretary.
WILLIAM DOUGLASS, Chairman.
WILLIAM WATKINS, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, May 4, 1831.
Pursuant to previous notice, a large and very respectable meeting of the
colored citizens of Washington, D. C., convened at the African Methodist
Episcopal church on Wednesday evening last, for the purpose of
expressing their views upon the subject of African colonization. Mr John
W. Prout was called to the chair, and Arthur Waring was appointed
secretary.
The chairman briefly explained the object of the meeting, in a short
speech well adapted to the occasion, which was followed by several neat
and very appropriate addresses delivered by sundry gentlemen present.
The following preamble and resolutions were offered and adopted, nearly
unanimously.
Whereas we consider that the period has arrived for the colored citizens
of this place to express their opinion upon the subject of colonization
in Liberia; a subject of great importance to themselves, as well as to
the colored citizens of the United States generally; and whereas our
brethren at a distance are desirous of obtaining information relative to
the object and policy pursued by the American Colonization Society:
Therefore, be it
Resolved, That this meeting view with distrust the efforts made by the
Colonization Society to cause the free people of color of these United
States to emigrate to Liberia on the coast of Africa, or elsewhere.
Resolved, That it is the declared opinion of the members of this
meeting, that the soil which gave them birth is their only _true and
veritable home_, and that it would be impolitic, unwise and improper for
them to leave their home without the benefits of education.
Resolved, That this meeting conceive that among the advocates of the
colonization system, they have many true and sincere friends; and do
regret that their actions, although prompted no doubt by the purest
motives, do not meet our approbation.
Resolved, That we believe the PRESS to be the most efficient means of
disseminating light and knowledge among our brethren; and that this
meeting do acknowledge with gratitude the efforts made in our behalf, by
the editors of the Genius of Universal Emancipation, and the
Liberator;--and do most earnestly recommend their respective papers to
our brethren generally, for their approval and support.
Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be signed by the Chairman and
Secretary, and published.
JOHN W. PROUT, Chairman.
ARTHUR WARING, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM BROOKLYN.
BROOKLYN, (N. Y.) June 3, 1831.
At a numerous and respectable meeting of the colored inhabitants of the
village and township of Brooklyn, convened in the African Hall,
Nassau-street, for the purpose of taking into consideration our views in
relation to the Colonization Society--
The throne of grace was addressed by the Rev. Mr Hogarth, after which
Henry C. Thompson was called to the chair, and George Hogarth appointed
secretary.
Appropriate addresses were delivered by Messrs George Hogarth, James
Pennington, and George Woods. The following resolutions were then
adopted:--
Resolved, unanimously, That the call of this meeting be approved of; and
that the colored citizens of this village have, with friendly feelings,
taken into consideration the objects of the American Colonization
Society, together with all its auxiliary movements, preparatory for our
removal to the coast of Africa; and we view them as wholly gratuitous,
not called for by us, and not essential to the real welfare of our race:
That we know of no other country in which we can justly claim or demand
our rights as citizens, whether civil or political, but in these United
States of America, our native soil: And, that we shall be active in our
endeavors to convince the members of the Colonization Society, and the
public generally, that we are _men_, that we are _brethren_, that we are
_countrymen_ and _fellow-citizens_, and demand an equal share of
protection from our federal government with any other class of citizens
in the community.
It was also Resolved, That the following persons, viz.: James
Pennington, Henry C. Thompson, and George Woods, be appointed a
committee to draft an address to the public, expressing our views more
fully in relation to the Colonization Society; and that a delegate be
appointed to proceed to the city of Philadelphia, to represent us in the
ensuing convention, (which will commence its sitting the 6th inst.) to
co-operate with the measures that may then be adopted for the general
welfare of our race.
HENRY C. THOMPSON, Chairman.
GEORGE HOGARTH, Secretary.
_Address to the Colored Citizens of Brooklyn, (N. Y.) and its Vicinity._
Respected brethren, and fellow-citizens:--As men and as christians,
whose secular and eternal interests are the same, we are seriously
called upon by truth and reason, and every thing of which human action
is composed, to take into consideration the objects of the American
Colonization Society; which aims to remove us, the free people of color,
from this, our beloved and native land, to the coast of Africa; a
country unknown to us in every respect.
As they propose to remove us with our own free will and consent, we do
not contradict the assertion, that their objects, in the abstract, are
salutary and benevolent; but when we hear those influential gentlemen,
who are advocating this cause, generalize by language directly
calculated to increase that prejudice, which is already one grand reason
of our wretchedness, we are moved by a spirit of reliance upon justice
and humanity, to lift our positive and decided voice against their
proceedings; and consider them as a stigma upon our morals as a people,
as natives and citizens of this country, to whom equal rights are
guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence.
When we consider that by abridging men in their moral liberty, we touch
their responsibility to the highest authority in the universe, we should
shudder at the thought of retaining such feelings as would lead to any
irreligious or impolitic acts; nor should we be willing to yield one
particle of ours to others, unless it be on the ground of expediency,
and in some way conducive to the glory of God.
We are sorry to say that those gentlemen have injured their cause, and
perhaps caused much good to be evil spoken of, by making use of improper
language, in their discussions upon our character and condition in this
country; without using one effort to improve or prepare us for the posts
of honor and distinction which they hold forth to us, whenever we set
foot on this much talked of, and long expected promised land. We would
ask the Colonization Society, what are they doing at home to improve our
condition? It is a true proverb, that 'charity begins at home.' How can
they extend their charities with christian sympathies and feeling some
thousand miles across the Atlantic ocean, when they are not willing,
with a few exceptions, to give us even a christian instruction while
among them? To prove the assertion, we would inquire, how many of our
sable brethren have been elevated to any post of distinction in this
country? Even in states, where our numbers have almost doubled, have we
seen one statesman, one officer, or one juror? No! in our village and
its vicinity, how many of us have been educated in colleges, and
advanced into different branches of business; or taken into mercantile
houses, manufacturing establishments, &c.? Are we not even prohibited
from some of the common labor and drudgery of the streets, such as
cartmen, porters, &c.? It is a strange theory to us, how these gentlemen
can promise to honor and respect us in Africa, when they are using every
effort to exclude us from all rights and privileges at home.
They say, 'that those of our friends, who look for the day when we shall
have equal rights in this country, are mistaken.' May we not accept it
as an assurance, that they will do all they can to prevent us from
arriving to any degree of respectability at home, in our own land? Away
then with such false sympathies and friendships! they are as foreign to
us as the coast of Africa!
We truly believe, that many gentlemen who are engaged in the
Colonization Society are our sincere friends and well-wishers; they
wish to do something for us, consequently they have subscribed largely
to it, because there was no other plan on foot. Some of them have been
deluded into its schemes, with a view of thoroughly civilizing and
christianizing Africa, by our free people of color and emancipated
slaves, who may, from time to time, be colonized on its coasts, with
their consent. We conceive that such measures are fraught with
inconsistency, and in no way calculated to have such an effect. To send
a parcel of uninstructed, uncivilized, and unchristianized people, to
the western coast of Africa, with bibles in their hands to teach the
natives the truths of the gospel, social happiness, and moral virtue, is
mockery and ridicule in the extreme.
Missionary families should be well instructed in the rudiments of our
holy religion, that their example may shine forth as lights in that much
neglected and benighted land. We are much in favor of christianizing
Africa; but not according to the plans of the Colonization Society, to
purchase their lands of them, with a few paltry guns, beads, &c., and
then establish forts and garrisons, to protect traders and traffickers,
without, perhaps, once naming the religion of Jesus to them. We well
know that the examples of traders and traffickers are in no way
calculated to induce heathens to embrace our religion. For example, we
will refer to the early settlements of our American colonies, and
inquire what religious impressions did the settlers make (who were wise
and learned from Europe) upon the aborigines of our country? We believe
that a few men, well instructed and possessing a true missionary spirit,
are calculated to do more good in that country, than a thousand on the
colonization plan.
Many wish us to go to Africa, because they say that our constitutions
are better adapted to that climate than this. If so, we would ask why so
many of our hearty, hale and healthy brethren, on arriving in that
country, fall victims to the malignant fevers and disorders, prevalent
in those regions? We would observe, that none are exempt from being
touched with the contagion. It operates more severely upon those from
the higher latitudes.
Some of our brethren have come to the conclusion to leave this country,
with all its prejudices, and seek an asylum in foreign climes. We would
recommend to your serious consideration, the location in Upper Canada; a
place far better adapted to our constitutions, our habits, and our
morals; where prejudice has not such an unlimited sway; where you will
be surrounded by Christians, and have an opportunity to become civilized
and christianized.
Brethren, it is time for us to awake to our interests; for the
Colonization Society is straining every nerve for the accomplishment of
its objects. By their last publications we see, that they have invoked
all Christian assemblies and churches throughout the Union, to exert
their influence, by raising subscriptions to send us (the strangers
within their gates, as they call us) to the coast of Africa. They have
got the consent of eleven states, who have instructed their senators to
do something in the next Congress for our removal. Maryland calls
imperatively on the general government to send us away, or else they
will colonize their own free blacks. They have, by their influence,
stopped the emancipation of slaves in a measure, except for colonization
purposes.
We owe a tribute of respect to the state of New-York, for her not having
entered into the confederacy. Though she is the last in proclaiming
general emancipation to the slave, yet we find her slow in adopting any
such unchristian measures. We may well say, she is deliberate in her
councils, and determinate in her resolutions.
Finally, brethren, we are not strangers; neither do we come under the
alien law. Our constitution does not call upon us to become naturalized;
we are already American citizens; our fathers were among the first that
peopled this country; their sweat and their tears have been the means,
in a measure, of raising our country to its present standing. Many of
them fought, and bled, and died for the gaining of her liberties; and
shall we forsake their tombs, and flee to an unknown land? No! let us
remain over them and weep, until the day arrive when Ethiopia shall
stretch forth her hands to God. We were born and nurtured in this
Christian land; and are surrounded by christians, whose sacred creed is,
to do unto all men as ye would they should do unto you--to love our
neighbors as ourselves; and which expressly declares, if we have respect
to persons, we commit sin. Let us, brethren, invoke the christian's God,
in our behalf, to do away the prejudices of our brethren, that they may
adopt the solemn truths of the gospel, and acknowledge that God is no
respecter of persons--that he has made of one blood all the nations that
dwell on the face of the earth--that they may no longer bring their
reasonings in contact with the omniscience of Deity; and insinuate to
the public, that our intellect and faculties are measurably inferior to
those of our fairer brethren. Because adversity has thrown a veil over
us, and we, whom God has created to worship, admire and adore his divine
attributes, shall we be held in a state of wretchedness and degradation,
with monkeys, baboons, slaves, and cattle, because we possess a darker
hue?
We feel it our duty ever to remain true to the constitution of our
country, and to protect it, as we have always done, from foreign
aggressions. Although more than three hundred thousand of us are
virtually deprived of the rights and immunities of citizens, and more
than two millions held in abject slavery, yet we know that God is just,
and ever true to his purpose. Before him the whole world stands in awe,
and at his command nations must obey. HE who has lately pleaded the
Indian's cause in our land, and who has brought about many signal
events, to the astonishment of our generation, we believe is in the
whirlwind, and will soon bring about the time when the sable sons of
America will join with their fairer brethren, and re-echo liberty and
equal rights in all parts of Columbia's soil.
We pray the Lord to hasten the day, when prejudice, inferiority,
degradation and oppression shall be done away, and the kingdoms of this
world become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.
Signed in behalf of a public meeting in Brooklyn.
H. C. THOMPSON, Chairman.
GEORGE HOGARTH, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM HARTFORD.
HARTFORD, Ct., July 14, 1831.
At a large and respectable meeting of the colored inhabitants of the
city of Hartford and its vicinity, convened at the vestry room of the
African church, on the 13th inst. for the purpose of expressing their
views in relation to the American Colonization Society, Mr Henry Foster
was called to the chair, and Mr Paul Drayton appointed secretary. The
object of the meeting was then stated in a brief and pertinent manner,
after which extracts from several speeches delivered by the founders of
the colonization scheme, together with the general sentiments of
colonizationists extracted from the African Repository, were laid before
the meeting, and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the American
Colonization Society is actuated by the same motives which influenced
the mind of Pharaoh, when he ordered the male children of the Israelites
to be destroyed.
Resolved, That it is the belief of this meeting, that the Society is the
greatest foe to the free colored and slave population with whom liberty
and equality have to contend.
Resolved, That we look upon the man of color that would be influenced by
the Society to emigrate to Liberia, as an enemy to the cause and a
traitor to his brethren.
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that many of those who
are engaged in this unjust scheme would be willing, if it were, in their
power, to place us before the point of the bayonet, and drive us out of
existence--so that they may get rid of that dark cloud, as we are
termed, which hangs over these United States.
Resolved, That, in our belief, we have committed no crime worthy of
banishment, and that we will resist all the attempts of the Colonization
Society to banish us from this our native land.
Resolved, That we consider ourselves the legitimate sons of these United
States, from whence we will never consent to be transported.
Resolved, That we will resist, even unto death, all the attempts of this
Society to transport us to the pestilential shores of Liberia.
Resolved, That we will not countenance the doctrine of any pretended
minister of the gospel, who is in league with those conspirators against
our rights. We would, therefore, warn them to beware of following the
footsteps of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block in the
way of the children of Israel; for we verily believe, that if God
almighty have to deliver his people by his mighty arm of power, they
will share the fate of that false prophet.
Resolved, That, though we be last in calling a meeting, we feel no less
the pernicious influence of this Society than the rest of our brethren;
and that we consider all their pretexts, whether under the cloak of
religion or philanthropy, gratuitous and uncalled for. We would,
therefore, advise the Society, that as we have learned that there are
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in its funds, it had better
appropriate this sum in meliorating the condition of our brethren the
slaves, in this their native land, and raising them from that
degradation into which they are plunged.
Resolved, That the thanks of the meeting be returned to Messrs William
Lloyd Garrison, Isaac Knapp, and every friend of emancipation, for their
benevolent exertions in our behalf.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and sent to the Liberator for publication.
HENRY FOSTER, Chairman.
PAUL DRAYTON, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM MIDDLETOWN.
MIDDLETOWN, Ct., July 15, 1831.
At a meeting of the colored citizens of Middletown, pursuant to public
notice, held in the Lecture Room in the African church--Mr Joseph
Gilbert was called to the chair, and Amos L. Beman appointed secretary.
The meeting being thus opened, it was warmly and freely addressed by
Messrs Jeffrey, Condoll and Gilbert, when, on motion, it was
Resolved, That the proceedings of our brethren in Brooklyn, N. Y., meet
our entire approbation: they breathe our sentiments in full, and may our
voices cheerfully accord with them in protesting against leaving this
our native soil. Why should we leave this land, so dearly bought by the
blood, groans and tears of our fathers? Truly this is our home: here let
us live, and here let us die. What! emigrate to Liberia, a land so
detrimental to our health! We have now before us a letter written by a
friend who emigrated from this place to the burning shores of Africa, in
hopes of splendor, wealth and ease; and he says that 'sickness and
distress prevail to a great extent--and it is a clear case that those
who come from the United States must undergo a long and protracted
sickness with this country's fever, and I would not advise my friends to
emigrate.'
JOSEPH GILBERT, Chairman.
AMOS G. BEMAN, Secretary
A VOICE FROM NEW-HAVEN.
NEW-HAVEN, August 8, 1831.
At a meeting of the Peace and Benevolent Society of Afric-Americans,
held on the 7th inst., Mr Henry Berrian was called to the chair, and Mr
Henry N. Merriman was appointed secretary. The following resolutions
were then unanimously adopted.
Resolved, That we consider those christians and philanthropists, who are
boasting of their liberty and equality, saying, that all men are born
free and equal, and yet are endeavoring to remove us from our native
land, to be inhuman in their proceedings, defective in their principles,
and unworthy of our confidence.
Resolved, That we consider those colonizationists and ministers of the
gospel, who are advocating our transportation to an unknown clime,
because our skin is a little darker than theirs, (notwithstanding God
has made of one blood all nations of men, and has no respect of
persons,) as violaters of the commandments of God and the laws of the
bible, and as trying to blind our eyes by their vain movements--their
mouths being smooth as oil, and their words sharper than any two-edged
sword.
Resolved, That, while we have no doubt of the sinister motives of the
great body of colonizationists, we believe some of them are our friends
and well-wishers, who have not looked deeply into the subject; but when
they make a careful examination, we think they will find themselves in
error.
Resolved, That it is our earnest desire that Africa may speedily become
civilized, and receive religious instruction; but not by the absurd and
invidious plan of the Colonization Society--namely, to send a nation of
ignorant men to teach a nation of ignorant men. We think it most wise
for them to send missionaries.
Resolved, That we will resist all attempts made for our removal to the
torrid shores of Africa, and will sooner suffer every drop of blood to
be taken from our veins than submit to such unrighteous treatment.
Resolved, That we know of no other place that we can call our true and
appropriate home, excepting these United States, into which our fathers
were brought, who enriched the country by their toils, and fought, bled
and died in its defence, and left us in its possession--and here we will
live and die.
Resolved, That we consider the American Colonization Society founded on
principles that no Afric-American, unless very weak in mind, will
follow; and any man who will be persuaded to leave his own country and
go to Africa, as an enemy to his country and a traitor to his brethren.
Resolved, That we have heard with pleasure of the proceedings of our
brethren in neighboring cities; and that a number of this Society will
willingly become auxiliary to the parent Society of Philadelphia, for
the mutual benefit of the Afric-Americans throughout the United States.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and sent to the Liberator for publication.
HENRY BERRIAN, Chairman.
HENRY N. MERRIMAN, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM COLUMBIA.
COLUMBIA, Pa., August 5, 1831.
At a respectable meeting of Afric-Americans convened pursuant to public
notice, at their school-house, with a view of taking into consideration
the novel scheme of the American Colonization Society, Mr Stephen Smith
was called to the chair, and Mr James Richards appointed secretary. A
prayer was then offered to the throne of grace, by Mr Smith. The
chairman called the house to order, and explained the object of the
meeting in a few preliminary remarks; after which, the meeting proceeded
to business, and adopted the subsequent resolutions.
Resolved, That we view the country in which we live as our only true and
appropriate home; and let colonizationists pour contempt upon our race,
and slaveholders look on our brethren as a nuisance to the country, yet
here will we live, here were we born, this is the country for which some
of our ancestors fought and bled and conquered, nor shall a conspiring
world be able to drive us hence.
Resolved, That it is our firm belief, that the Colonization Society is
replete with infinite mischief, and that we view all the arguments of
its advocates as mere sophistry, not worthy our notice as freemen. Being
citizens of these United States, we could call upon our brethren to
awake from their slumber of ignorance, break the chain of prejudice that
has so long bound them, and in the strength of the omnipotent Spirit
give their hearts to God.
Resolved, That we will resist all attempts to send us to the burning
shores of Africa. Beware of Alexander, the coppersmith, for he hath
done us much harm. May the Lord reward him! We verily believe that if by
an extraordinary perversion of nature, every man and woman, in one
night, should become white, the Colonization Society would fall like
lightning to the earth.
Resolved, That we will not be duped out of our rights as freemen, by
colonizationists, nor by any other combination of men. All the encomiums
pronounced upon Liberia can never form the least temptation to induce us
to leave our native soil, to emigrate to a strange land.
Resolved, That we readily coalesce with our brethren in the different
towns and cities, and take the liberty to say, that we as a little flock
feel a fixed resolution to maintain our ground, till the great Author of
our being shall say to those who deprive us of our rights,--Thus saith
the Lord, because ye have not hearkened to me in proclaiming liberty,
every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor, behold I will
proclaim liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the
pestilence, and to the famine.
Resolved, That it is the decided opinion of this meeting, that African
colonization is a scheme of southern policy, a wicked device of
slaveholders who are desirous of riveting more firmly, and perpetuating
more certainly, the fetters of slavery; who are only anxious to rid
themselves of a population whose presence, influence and example have a
tendency (as they suppose) to produce discontent among the slaves, and
to furnish them with incitements to rebellion.
Resolved, That this meeting will not encourage a scheme, which has for
its basis prejudice and hatred. Though there may be some good wheat, yet
it is to be feared the enemy has sown tares among it.
Resolved, That we will support the colony at Canada, the climate being
healthier, better adapted to our constitutions, and far more consonant
with our views than that of Africa.
Resolved, That we unanimously agree to patronize the Liberator, and use
our best endeavors to get subscribers for the same; and that we are
under renewed obligations to God, that he ever raised up such honest
hearted men as Messrs Garrison and Knapp.
Resolved, That this meeting cause its proceedings to be sent to the
Liberator for publication; praying that the Lord will succeed all the
lawful efforts of its conductor to meliorate the condition of our
brethren in these United States, trusting his weapons are not carnal,
but mighty through God to pull down the strong holds of the devil.
Signed by the Chairman and Secretary.
STEPHEN SMITH, Chairman.
JAMES RICHARDS, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM NANTUCKET.
NANTUCKET, August 5, 1831.
At a respectable meeting of the colored inhabitants of the town of
Nantucket, convened for the purpose of taking into consideration our
views in relation to the American Colonization Society, Mr Arthur Cooper
was called to the chair, and Edward J. Pompey appointed secretary.
Addresses were delivered by Messrs William Harris and Edward J. Pompey,
in which they took a general view of the Colonization Society, of its
leading members, and some of the speeches and remarks made by gentlemen
at the meetings of said Society. The following resolves were then
adopted:
Resolved, That the call of this meeting be approved of, and that the
colored citizens of this town have with friendly feelings taken into
consideration the objects of the Colonization Society, together with its
movements preparatory for our removal to the coast of Africa; and we
view them as wholly gratuitous, not called for by us, and in no way
essential to the welfare of our race; and we believe that our condition
can be best improved in this our own country and native soil, the United
States of America.
Resolved, That we hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are
born free and equal; and we are men, and therefore ought to share as
much protection and enjoy as many privileges under our federal
government as any other class of the community.
Resolved, That we will be zealous in doing all that lies in our power to
improve the condition of ourselves and brethren in this our native land.
Resolved, That there is no philanthropy towards the people of color in
the colonization plan, but that it is got up to delude us away from our
country and home into a country of sickness and death.
Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be returned to every friend
who vindicates our rights and interests.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and sent to Boston, to be published in the Liberator.
ARTHUR COOPER, Chairman.
EDWARD J. POMPEY, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM PITTSBURGH.
PITTSBURGH, (Pa.,) Sept. 1, 1831.
At a large and respectable meeting of the colored citizens of
Pittsburgh, convened at the African Methodist Episcopal church, for the
purpose of expressing their views in relation to the American
Colonization Society, Mr J. B. Vashon was called to the chair, and Mr R.
Bryan appointed secretary. The object of the meeting was then stated at
considerable length, and in an appropriate manner, by the chairman. The
following resolutions were then unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That 'we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men
are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness'--Liberty and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever!
Resolved, That it is the decided opinion of this meeting, that African
colonization is a scheme to drain the better informed part of the
colored people out of these United States, so that the chain of slavery
may be rivetted more tightly; but we are determined not to be cheated
out of our rights by the colonization men, or any other set of
intriguers. We believe there is no philanthropy in the colonization plan
towards the people of color, but that it is got up to delude us away
from our country and home to the burning shores of Africa.
Resolved, That we, the colored people of Pittsburgh and citizens of
these United States, view the country in which we live as our only true
and proper home. We are just as much natives here as the members of the
Colonization Society. Here we were born--here bred--here are our
earliest and most pleasant associations--here is all that binds man to
earth, and makes life valuable. And we do consider every colored man who
allows himself to be colonized in Africa, or elsewhere, a traitor to our
cause.
Resolved, That we are freemen, that we are brethren, that we are
countrymen and fellow-citizens, and as fully entitled to the free
exercise of the elective franchise as any men who breathe; and that we
demand an equal share of protection from our federal government with any
class of citizens in the community. We now inform the Colonization
Society, that should our reason forsake us, then we may desire to
remove. We will apprise them of this change in due season.
Resolved, That we, as citizens of these United States, and for the
support of these resolutions, with a firm reliance on the protection of
divine providence, do mutually pledge to each other our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honor, not to support a colony in Africa nor in
Upper Canada, not yet emigrate to Hayti. Here we were born--here will we
live by the help of the Almighty--and here we will die, and let our
bones lie with our fathers.
Resolved, That we return our grateful thanks to Messrs Garrison and
Knapp, publishers of the Liberator, and Mr Lundy, editor of the Genius
of Universal Emancipation, for their untiring exertions in the cause of
philanthropy.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and published in the Liberator.
J. B. VASHON, Chairman.
R. BRYAN, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM WILMINGTON.
WILMINGTON, July 12, 1831.
At a large and respectable meeting of the people of color of the borough
of Wilmington, convened in the African Union Church, July 12th, 1831,
for the purpose of considering the subject of colonization on the coast
of Africa:
On motion, the Rev. Peter Spencer was called to the chair, and Thomas
Dorsey appointed secretary.
The meeting was addressed by Abraham D. Shad, Junius C. Morell, Benjamin
Pascal and John P. Thompson, after which the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted.
Resolved, That this meeting view with deep regret the attempt now making
to colonize the free people of color on the western coast of Africa;
believing as we do that it is inimical to the best interests of the
people of color, and at variance with the principles of civil and
religious liberty, and wholly incompatible with the spirit of the
Constitution and Declaration of Independence of these United States.
Resolved, That we disclaim all connexion with Africa; and although the
descendants of that much afflicted country, we cannot consent to remove
to any tropical climate, and thus aid in a design having for its object
the total extirpation of our race from this country, professions to the
contrary notwithstanding.
Resolved, That a committee of three persons be appointed to prepare as
soon as practicable an address to the public, setting forth more fully
our views on the subject of colonization. The following persons were
appointed: Abraham D. Shad, Rev. Peter Spencer and W. S. Thomas.
Signed on behalf of the meeting.
PETER SPENCER, Chairman.
THOMAS DORSEY, Secretary.
_Address of the Free People of Color of the Borough of Wilmington,
Delaware._
We the undersigned, in conformity to the wishes of our brethren, beg
leave to present to the public in a calm and unprejudiced manner, our
decided and unequivocal disapprobation of the American Colonization
Society, and its auxiliaries, in relation to the free people of color in
the United States. Convinced as we are, that the operations of this
Society have been unchristian and anti-republican in principle, and at
variance with our best interests as a people, we had reason to believe
that the precepts of religion, the dictates of justice and humanity,
would have prevented any considerable portion of the community from
lending their aid to a plan which we fear was designed to deprive us of
rights that the Declaration of Independence declares are the
'unalienable rights' of all men. We were content to remain silent,
believing that the justice and patriotism of a magnanimous people would
prevent the annals of our native and beloved country from receiving so
deep a stain. But observing the growing strength and influence of that
institution, and being well aware that the generality of the public are
unacquainted with our views on this important subject, we feel it a duty
we owe to ourselves, our children and posterity, to enter our protest
against a device so fraught with evil to us. That many sincere friends
to our race are engaged in what they conceive to be a philanthropic and
benevolent enterprise, we do not hesitate to admit; but that they are
deceived, and are acting in a manner calculated most seriously to injure
the free people of color, we are equally sensible.
We are natives of the United States; our ancestors were brought to this
country by means over which they had no control; we have our attachments
to the soil, and we feel that we have rights in common with other
Americans; and although deprived through prejudice from entering into
the full enjoyment of those rights, we anticipate a period, when in
despite of the more than ordinary prejudice which has been the result of
this unchristian scheme, 'Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands to
God.' But that this formidable Society has become a barrier to our
improvement, must be apparent to every individual who will but reflect
on the course to be pursued by the emissaries of this unhallowed
project, many of whom, under the name of ministers of the gospel, use
their influence to turn public sentiment to our disadvantage by
stigmatizing our morals, misrepresenting our characters, and endeavoring
to show what they are pleased to call the sound policy of perpetuating
our civil and political disabilities for the avowed purpose of
indirectly forcing us to emigrate to the western coast of Africa. That
Africa is neither our nation nor home, a due respect to the good sense
of the community forbids us to attempt to prove; that our language,
habits, manners, morals and religion are all different from those of
Africans, is a fact too notorious to admit of controversy. Why then are
we called upon to go and settle in a country where we must necessarily
be and remain a distinct people, having no common interest with the
numerous inhabitants of that vast and extensive country? Experience has
proved beyond a doubt, that the climate is such as not to suit the
constitutions of the inhabitants of this country; the fevers and
various diseases incident to that tropical clime, are such as in most
cases to bid defiance to the force of medicine.
The very numerous instances of mortality amongst the emigrants who have
been induced to leave this their native, for their adopted country,
clearly demonstrate the fallacy of those statements so frequently made
by the advocates of colonization in regard to the healthiness of
Liberia.
With the deepest regret we have witnessed such an immense sacrifice of
life, in advancing a cause which cannot promise the least advantage to
the free people of color, who, it was said, were the primary objects to
be benefitted by this 'heaven-born enterprise.' But we beg leave most
respectfully to ask the friends of African colonization, whether their
christian benevolence cannot in this country be equally as
advantageously applied, if they are actuated by that disinterested
spirit of love and friendship for us, which they profess? Have not they
in the United States a field sufficiently extensive to show it in? There
is embosomed within this republic, rising one million free people of
color, the greater part of whom are unable to read even the sacred
scriptures. Is not their ignorant and degraded situation worthy of the
consideration of those enlightened and christian individuals, whose zeal
for the cause of the African race has induced them to attempt the
establishment of a republican form of government amid the burning sands
of Liberia, and the evangelizing of the millions of the Mahometans and
pagans that inhabit the interior of that extensive country?
We are constrained to believe that the welfare of the people of color,
to say the least, is but a secondary consideration with those engaged in
the colonization project. Or why should we be requested to move to
Africa, and thus separated from all we hold dear in a moral point of
view, before their christian benevolence can be exercised in our behalf?
Surely there is no country of which we have any knowledge, that offers
greater facilities for the improvement of the unlearned; or where
benevolent and philanthropic individuals can find a people, whose
situation has greater claims on their christian sympathies, than the
people of color. But whilst we behold a settled determination on the
part of the American Colonization Society to remove us to Liberia,
without using any means to better our condition at home, we are
compelled to look with fearful diffidence on every measure of that
institution. At a meeting held on the 7th inst. in this borough, the
people of color were politely invited to attend, the object of which was
to induce the most respectable part of them to emigrate. The meeting was
addressed by several reverend gentlemen, and very flattering accounts
given on the authority of letters and statements said to have been
received from individuals of unquestionable veracity. But we beg leave
to say, that those statements differ so widely from letters that we have
seen of recent date from the colony, in regard to the condition and
circumstances of the colonists, that we are compelled in truth to say
that we cannot reconcile such contradictory statements, and are
therefore inclined to doubt the former, as they appear to have been
prepared to present to the public, for the purpose of enlisting the
feelings of our white friends into the measure, and of inducing the
enterprising part of the colored community to emigrate at their own
expense. That we are in this country a degraded people, we are truly
sensible; that our forlorn situation is not attributable to ourselves is
admitted by the most ardent friends of colonization; and that our
condition cannot be bettered by removing the most exemplary individuals
of color from amongst us, we are well convinced, from the consideration
that in the same ratio that the industrious part would emigrate, in the
same proportion those who would remain would become more degraded,
wretched and miserable, and consequently less capable of appreciating
the many opportunities which are now offering for the moral and
intellectual improvement of our brethren. We, therefore, a portion of
those who are the objects of this plan, and amongst those whose
happiness, with that of others of our color, it is intended to promote,
respectfully but firmly disclaim every connexion with it, and declare
our settled determination not to participate in any part of it.
But if this plan is intended to facilitate the emancipation of those who
are held in slavery in the South, and the melioration of their
condition, by sending them to Liberia; we question very much whether it
is calculated to do either. That the emancipation of slaves has been
measurably impeded through its influence, except where they have been
given up to the Board of Managers, to be colonized in Africa, to us is
manifest. And when we contemplate their uneducated and vitiated state,
destitute of the arts and unaccustomed to provide even for themselves,
we are inevitably led to the conclusion that their situation in that
pestilential country will be miserable in the extreme.
The present period is one of deep and increasing interest to the free
people of color, relieved from the miseries of slavery and its
concomitant evils, with the vast and (to us) unexplored field of
literature and science before us, surrounded by many friends whose
sympathies and charities need not the Atlantic between us and them,
before they can consent to assist in elevating our brethren to the
standing of men. We therefore particularly invite their attention to
the subject of education and improvement; sensible that it is much
better calculated to remove prejudice, and exalt our moral character,
than any system of colonization that has been or can be introduced; and
in which we believe we shall have the co-operation of the wisest and
most philanthropic individuals of which the nation can boast. The
utility of learning and its salutary effects on the minds and morals of
a people, cannot have escaped the notice of any rational individual
situated in a country like this, where in order successfully to
prosecute any mechanical or other business, education is indispensable.
Our highest moral ambition, at present, should be to acquire for our
children a liberal education, give them mechanical trades, and thus fit
and prepare them for useful and respectable citizens; and leave the
evangelizing of Africa, and the establishing of a republic at Liberia,
to those who conceive themselves able to demonstrate the practicability
of its accomplishment by means of a people, numbers of whom are more
ignorant than even the natives of that country themselves.
In conclusion, we feel it a pleasing duty ever to cherish a grateful
respect for those benevolent and truly philanthropic individuals, who
have advocated, and still are advocating our rights in our native
country. Their indefatigable zeal in the cause of the oppressed will
never be forgotten by us, and unborn millions will bless their names in
the day when the all-wise Creator, in whom we trust, shall have bidden
oppression to cease.
ABRAHAM D. SHAD, }
PETER SPENCER, } Committee to prepare
WM. S. THOMAS, } an Address.
A VOICE FROM HARRISBURG.
HARRISBURG, Pa., October, 1831.
At a large, well informed and respectable meeting of the citizens of
Harrisburg, convened at the African Wesleyan Methodist church, for the
purpose of expressing their sentiments in a remonstrance against the
proceedings of the American Colonization Society, Rev. Jacob D.
Richardson was called to the chair, and Jacob G. Williams appointed
secretary. After singing and prayer, Rev. Mr Richardson in some concise
remarks,--equalled by few, and exceeded by none,--expressed the object
of the meeting. The chairman called the house to order, and the
following resolutions were unanimously acceded to:
Resolved, That we hold these truths to be self-evident, (and it is the
boasted declaration of our independence) that all men (black and white,
poor and rich) are born free and equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is the language of America,
of reason, and of eternal truth.
Resolved, That we feel it to be our duty to be true to the constitution
of our country, and are satisfied with the form of government under
which we now live; and, moreover, that we are bound in duty and reason
to protect it against foreign invasion. We always have done so, and will
do so still.
Resolved, That we view the efforts of the Colonization Society as
officious and uncalled for by us. We have never done any thing worthy of
banishment from our friends and home: but this we would say--if the
Colonization Society will use their best endeavors to get our slave
brethren transported to Liberia, when we as a free body of people wish
to go, we will give the colonizationists timely notice.
Resolved, That it is the firm and decided opinion of this meeting, that
were there no free people of color among us, or if those who are free
had remained in the degraded character of slaves, (or, as they sometimes
call us, monkeys, apes and baboons,) they would never have got up the
chimerical scheme for our transportation to the burning shores of
Africa, with the fancied vision of elevating us, as they say, to dignity
and affluence.
Resolved, That we cannot remain inactive while colonizationists are
straining every nerve and racking their inventions to find out arguments
to persuade our free colored brethren to migrate to an unknown land,
which we can no more lay claim to than our white brethren can to England
or any other foreign country.
Resolved, That we reject the inhuman and unchristian measures taken by
the Colonization Society, for the illumination of the colored citizens
of the United States, their appropriate home, in a land of sickness,
affliction and death, when they are not willing, with few exceptions, to
give us a christian education while among them. We would wish to know of
the colonizationists, how, in the name of common sense and reason, do
they expect to do any thing for us thousands of miles across the
Atlantic, when they oppose almost every measure taken by our white
friends and brethren to improve our condition here?
Resolved, That it is the united opinion of this meeting, that the
enemies of our race, who are members of the Colonization Society, see
that the great Author of universal existence, who 'is no respecter of
persons,' who taught Balaam's ass to speak, and taught Solomon wisdom,
is now enlightening the sable sons of America: hence their object to
drain the country of the most enlightened part of our colored brethren,
so that they may be more able to hold their slaves in bondage and
ignorance.
Resolved, That we object to leaving the land of our birth, as there is
sufficient land in these United States, on which a colony can be
established that would be far more consonant to the wishes of the
colored population generally, and would be more adapted to their
constitution: neither would it involve the country in such expense as
would be incurred by sending them to a howling wilderness, far away from
the graves of their forefathers, unknown to us in every respect, unless
by geography, which few of us understand.
Resolved, That this meeting look upon the Colonization Society as a
vicious, nefarious and peace-disturbing combination, and that its
leaders might as well essay to cure a wound with an argument, or set a
dislocated bone by a lecture on logic, as to tell us their object is to
better our condition; because its members acknowledge slavery to be a
national evil, and use no means to annihilate it, but are exerting all
their energies and influence to persuade the free people of color to
remove to Africa, whose rights to Columbia's happy soil holds good with
any other citizen in America.
Resolved, That we look upon the conduct of those clergymen who have
misled their respective congregations with the preposterous idea of the
necessity of transporting the free people of color to Africa, as highly
deserving the just reprehension directed to the false priests and
prophets by the true prophets of the Most High; yet we gratefully
acknowledge the respect we entertain for those who have defended our
cause--we mean our white friends.
Resolved, That this meeting appoint Mr George Chester of Harrisburg, as
agent for the Liberator, and will use our utmost endeavors to get
subscribers for the same.
Resolved, That we will support the Colony in Canada, the climate being
healthy and the rights of our brethren secured.
Resolved, That the gratitude of this meeting, which is so sensibly felt,
be fully expressed to the Editors of the Liberator and Genius of
Universal Emancipation, Messrs Garrison and Lundy, whose independence of
mind and correct views of the rights of man have led them so intrepidly
to speak in favor of our cause.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and sent to the Liberator for publication.
JACOB D. RICHARDSON, Chairman.
JACOB G. WILLIAMS, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM ROCHESTER.
ROCHESTER, N. Y., October, 1831.
A large number of the colored citizens of Rochester having convened
themselves together, for the important object of taking into
consideration the anti-republican principles of the American
Colonization Society, the Rev. Mr Johnson was called to the chair, and
Mr A. Lawrence was appointed secretary.
The meeting was then briefly addressed by the secretary as follows:
Countrymen and Brothers--When viewing the inhumanity and anti-christian
principles of the American Colonization Society, in plotting our removal
to Africa, (which is unknown to us as our native country,) it seems as
though we were called upon publicly to express our feelings on the
subject. We do not consider Africa to be our home, any more than the
present whites do England, Scotland, or Ireland. This is the land our
fathers have tilled before us; this is the land that gave us our
birthright.--The meeting then
Resolved, That we never will remove to Africa; but should any of our
brethren wish to emigrate, we would recommend Canada as a country far
more congenial to our constitutions;--that we give our most sincere
thanks to our friendly advocates Messrs Garrison and Knapp, and Mr
Benjamin Lundy, who are crying unto their fellow men, night and day, to
let their countrymen go free: they will be called blessed by many
generations yet to come. The Colonization Society say that they cannot
treat us as men while we are with them; but if we will go out of their
reach, they will begin their charity. What should we think of such
religion as this? Because our skin is a little darker than theirs, they
say they cannot think of treating us as men. The scripture says, 'Beware
of wolves in sheep's clothing'--and such they seem to be. We earnestly
believe, with our generous friend Garrison, that it would not be a hard
matter to exceed them in doing right. Our blessed Lord said, that we
should do to all men as we would have them do to us. Now what would they
think, if we should tell them that they would be better off in New
Holland or in Tartary?
Resolved, That we will do all in our power to support the Liberator,
printed by Mr Garrison, and all other works in our behalf.
Resolved, That the foregoing proceedings be published in the Liberator.
HENRY JOHNSON, Chairman.
A. LAWRENCE, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM PROVIDENCE.
PROVIDENCE, November 1, 1831.
At a respectable meeting of the colored people of Providence, R. I.,
duly appointed and publicly holden at the African church, on the 31st of
October, 1831, to take into consideration the objects and motives of the
American Colonization Society, Mr George C. Willis was called to the
chair, and Mr Alfred Niger appointed secretary. The meeting was then
addressed at some length by the chairman, stating their object in
assembling together, and exposing the injustice and prejudice by which
he believed the friends of African colonization were actuated. The
following preamble and resolutions were read by the secretary, and
unanimously adopted:
Whereas our brethren, in different parts of the United States, have
thought proper to call meetings to express their disapprobation of the
American Colonization Society; we, concurring fully with them in
opinion, have assembled ourselves together for the purpose of uniting
with them, in declaring that we believe the operations of the Society
have been unchristian and anti-republican, and at variance with our best
interests as a people. Therefore,
Resolved, That we will use every fair and honorable means in our power,
to oppose the operations of the above mentioned Society.
Resolved, That we are truly sensible that we are in this country a
degraded and ignorant people; but that our ignorance and degradation are
not to be attributed to the inferiority of our natural abilities, but to
the oppressive treatment we have experienced from the whites in general,
and to the prejudice excited against us by the members of the
Colonization Society, their aiders and abettors.
Resolved, That we view, with unfeigned astonishment, the anti-christian
and inconsistent conduct of those who so strenuously advocate our
removal from this our native country to the burning shores of Liberia,
and who with the same breath contend against the cruelty and injustice
of Georgia in her attempt to remove the Cherokee Indians west of the
Mississippi.
Resolved, That we firmly believe, from the recent measures adopted by
the freemen of the city of New Haven, in regard to the establishment of
a College for our education in that place, that the principal object of
the friends of African colonization is to oppose our education and
consequent elevation here, as it will deprive them of one of their
principal arguments for our removal.
Resolved, That as our fathers participated with the whites in their
struggle for liberty and independence, and believing with the
Declaration of that Independence, 'that all men are created free and
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;'
and as we have committed no crime worthy of banishment--Therefore
Resolved, That we will not leave our homes, nor the graves of our
fathers, and this boasted land of liberty and christian philanthropy.
Resolved, That, our unfeigned and sincere thanks be tendered to Messrs
Garrison and Knapp, and to every true friend to our cause, for their
unwearied and truly benevolent exertions in our behalf.
Resolved, That we will earnestly recommend the Liberator, published in
Boston by the above mentioned gentlemen, to the patronage of our friends
throughout the country.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and sent to Boston, with the request that they may be
published in the Liberator.
GEORGE C. WILLIS, Chairman.
ALFRED NIGER, Secretary.
A VOICE FROM TRENTON.
TRENTON, November 30, 1831.
At a respectable meeting of the free people of color in Trenton,
convened in the Mount Zion church, November 30, 1831, for the purpose of
considering the subject of colonization on the coast of Africa--On
motion, the Rev. Lewis Cork was called to the chair, and Abner H.
Francis appointed secretary. The meeting was addressed by Messrs
Gardener and Thompson; after which, the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted.
Resolved, Inasmuch as we, free people of color, have done all that is in
our power to convince the white inhabitants of these United States, that
it is our wish to live peaceably with all men; and inasmuch as our
general demeanor has been that of industry and sobriety, notwithstanding
there are some among us to the contrary, as well as among the whites;
therefore we do most solemnly declare, that the statements made to the
contrary by the Rev. Mr Crosby, in his late addresses in this city, and
all statements by petitioners to legislative bodies, and by the
Colonization Society, or any thing of the same nature, are a positive
libel on our general character.
Resolved, Whereas we have lived peaceably and quietly in these United
States, of which we are natives, and have never been the cause of any
insurrectionary or tumultuous movements as a body, that we do view every
measure taken by any associated bodies to remove us to other climes,
anti-christian and hostile to our peace, and a violation of the laws of
humanity.
Resolved, That if, in the opinion of government, our stay or liberty can
no longer be granted in the States in which we live, we see nothing
contrary to the constitution of these United States, or to christianity,
justice, reason or humanity, in granting us a portion of the Western
territory, as a state, with the same franchise as that of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, or any other free State; for we challenge the Union to prove
that, as free men, we have ever given the least ground for the
uncharitable censures that have been cast upon us.
Resolved, That we view the American Colonization Society as the most
inveterate foe both to the free and slave man of color; forasmuch as the
agents thereof, and its members who have petitioned the several
legislatures, have unequivocally declared its object, to wit, the
extermination of the free people of color from the Union; and to effect
this they have not failed to slander our character, by representing us
as a vagrant race; and we do therefore disclaim all union with the said
Society, and, once for all, declare that we never will remove under
their patronage; neither do we consider it expedient to emigrate any
where, but to remain in the land and see the salvation of God.
Nevertheless, if any of our brethren should be compelled or see proper
to emigrate, we would recommend to them Upper Canada or Mexico.
Resolved, That we view with the highest emotion of gratitude, the
benevolence of Great Britain and that of the Canada Company, in
affording an asylum in the Wilberforce settlement, in Upper Canada, for
our oppressed brethren of the South, who have been or may be forced, by
unconstitutional laws, to leave their rightful home and place of
nativity, without any cause except that of having a dark skin.
Resolved, That this meeting approve the establishment of a college, as
recommended by the Annual Convention held in Philadelphia last June, and
that we give all possible aid to that institution.
Resolved, That we view the Liberator, edited by William Lloyd Garrison,
as a great herald in the cause of liberty, and that we recommend to the
colored citizens of Trenton the utility of subscribing to the above
named paper.
Resolved, That there be a committee of three appointed to draft an
address more expressive of our views on the above subject.
Resolved, That the following persons compose that committee--Sampson
Peters, Robert Thomas, George Cole.
LEWIS CORK, Chairman.
ABNER H. FRANCIS, Secretary.
ADDRESS.
We, the undersigned, in conformity to the above appointment, beg leave
to present to the public, in a calm, unprejudiced manner, our decided
disapprobation of the American Colonization Society and its auxiliaries,
in relation to the people of color in the United States. We are well
convinced, from the mass that has been written on the above subject by
those who have preceded us, that it will be difficult to avoid
repetition; nevertheless; we hope to touch some points which have not
been fairly understood by that Society. They have supposed that our
objections are to civilizing and evangelizing Africa; but we beg leave
to say, that it is an error. We are well aware, that there is no surer
way to effect this great object than to plant among the heathen,
colonies of Christian missionaries. We wish, therefore, to be
understood, that we highly approve of the evangelizing of Africa, but
disapprove of the present measures of the American Colonization Society,
if their motives have not been misrepresented by their agents and
others, in some previous addresses in this city and elsewhere. But
viewing them as we now do, we must say that, in our opinion, their false
representations of our general character--their recommending our removal
from our native land--their opposition to our having a part of the West
appointed to us--their objections to our proposed college, and of our
march to science--their false statements in relation to the health of
the colony at Liberia, with a variety of other subjects of the same
nature--all lead to a conclusion, that it is our greatest foe.
We would here ask the public a few questions. First--Is the gospel of
Jesus Christ calculated to lead to insurrectionary measures? If so, why
then send it to the heathen? Second--What gentleman, who has set his
slaves free, has been murdered by them for so doing? Third--What have
those States, who have washed their hands clean of the cursed stain of
slavery, lost by it? Fourth--What neighborhood, where education and
general information have been disseminated among the people of color, is
the worse for it?
In closing our remarks, we would say, that we do think that the subjects
looked to by the Colonization Society, to civilize Africa, are
incompetent; for we do suppose that men selected for such an important
enterprise, should be men of deed and sound piety--men of regular and
industrious habits, of scientific knowledge and general experience: that
such men can be obtained, we have no doubt; and if there cannot, let us
first prepare some in this country.
SAMPSON PETERS, }
ROBERT THOMAS, } Committee.
GEORGE COLE, }
A VOICE FROM LYME.
LYME, Ct., January 9, 1832.
At a respectable meeting of the colored citizens of this place, held
pursuant to public notice--Mr Luther Wright was called to the chair, and
Mr Daniel R. Condol appointed secretary.
After some animated remarks by Messrs Wright and Condol, it was
Resolved, That it is the sincere opinion of this meeting, that the
American Colonization Society is one of the wildest projects ever
patronised by a body of enlightened men; and further, that many of those
who support it would be willing, if it were in their power, to drive us
out of existence.
Resolved, That though we be last in calling a meeting, we feel no less
the pernicious influence of this Society than the rest of our brethren;
and that we will resist every attempt to banish us from this our native
land.
Resolved, That we place unshaken reliance upon the promises of Jehovah,
and believe that he will take our reproach away, and give freedom to
those who are held in captivity.
Resolved, That we are not for insurrection, but for peace, freedom and
equality.
Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be rendered to Messrs Garrison
and Knapp, for their benevolent exertions in behalf of the oppressed
descendants of Africa; and that they be requested to insert these
proceedings in the Liberator.
LUTHER WRIGHT, Chairman.
DANIEL R. CONDOL, Secretary.
A VOICE PROM LEWISTOWN.
LEWISTOWN, Pa., January 9, 1832.
At a numerous meeting held by the free people of color of the borough of
Lewistown, in the African Methodist Episcopal church, Samuel Johnston
was called to the chair, and Martin Johnston appointed secretary. The
following resolutions were then read, and unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That we will not leave these United States, the land of our
birth, for a home in Africa.
Resolved, That we will strenuously oppose the colonizing of the free
people of color in Liberia.
Resolved, That we are willing to emigrate to any part of the United
States which may be granted to us.
Resolved, That we will support the Liberator, a paper published in
Boston, edited by William Lloyd Garrison; and also the colony in Upper
Canada as an asylum for our oppressed brethren.
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare an address to be
published in the Liberator.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary, and forwarded to the editor of the Liberator for
publication.
SAMUEL JOHNSTON, Chairman.
MARTIN JOHNSTON, Secretary.
ADDRESS.
We, the undersigned, in conformity to the above appointment, beg leave
to present to the public, in a calm and unprejudiced manner, our reasons
for opposing the scheme of African colonization. This is the land of our
birth. The Declaration of Independence declares, that 'all men are born
free and equal:' it does not say that the _white_ man or the _black_ man
is free,--but all, without respect to color, tongues, or nation. We
therefore consider all laws to enslave or degrade the people of color as
contrary to the letter and spirit of this Declaration; and that
according to it we are freemen, and have as indisputable a right to
enjoy our liberty as any white man. To deny it to us, because we differ
in color, is oppression. To say that Africa is our native country is
untrue. Here we were born, and here we mean to die; for all men are born
free.
We wish to return our grateful thanks to our friends, and to the friends
of the abolition of slavery. We consider slavery a national sin, which,
if not speedily overthrown, will cause this nation to mourn and weep;
for God has declared that Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto
him, and he will hear her cry.
We would say to colonizationists that we consider them our foes instead
of our friends. It is vain for them to say that we would do better in
Liberia; for we do not believe it. There is room enough in this country
for us; and if they be our friends, let them meliorate our condition
here. Let them join in the work of immediate abolition of slavery. Let
them wash out the stains which disfigure the national character. And
then let them tell us about Liberia.
One reason why we are opposed to leaving these United States is this:
you have so long denied us the enjoyment and protection of the laws of
God and man in this country, that you wish now to oppress us still more.
But thanks be to Him who holds all things in his hand, we believe He
will plead our cause. Your skirts are already dyed with the blood of
millions of souls. 'Vengeance is mine--I will repay,' saith the Lord.
Awake, ye wolves in sheep's clothing. Your cup is now full. You are
daily causing innocent blood to be shed. How long, ye slavites, ye
kidnappers, ye that traffic in human flesh, will you sleep? When will
you awake to your best interests? For remember that you will not always
be able to hold your victims in servile chains.
J. G. SMITH, }
M. WALKER, } Committee.
M. JOHNSTON, }
A VOICE FROM NEW-BEDFORD.
NEW-BEDFORD, January 23, 1832.
At a meeting of the people of color in New-Bedford, January 23d, for the
purpose of considering and giving their opinion of the American
Colonization Society, and the actual evil or benefit of that Society to
the objects of its supervision, the free people of color, Mr Richard
Johnson was called to the chair, and Richard G. Overing appointed
secretary. After an address from the chair, it was moved that
resolutions expressive of the views of the meeting, respecting the
Colonization Society, be drawn up, and published in some newspaper not
adverse to the rights and well being of all men, be their color what it
may. The following are the resolves of the meeting:
Resolved, That in whatever light we view the Colonization Society, we
discover nothing in it but terror, prejudice and oppression; that the
warm and beneficent hand of philanthropy is not apparent in the system,
but the influence of the Society on public opinion is more prejudicial
to the interest and welfare of the people of color in the United States,
than slavery itself.
Resolved, That the Society, to effect its purpose, the removal of the
free people of color, (not the slaves) through its agents, teaches the
public to believe that it is patriotic and benevolent to withhold from
us knowledge and the means of acquiring subsistence, and to look upon us
as unnatural and illegal residents in this country; and thus by force of
prejudice, if not by law, endeavor to compel us to embark for Africa,
and that too, apparently, by our own free will and consent.
Resolved, That as great a nuisance as we may be in the estimation of
that Society, we yet have a hope in Him who has seen fit to continue our
existence through days worse than which we do not fear, and which
emboldens us as peaceable citizens, to resolve to abide the issue of
coming days in our native land, in which we ask no more than the age in
which we live demands, and which this nation, as republicans and
christians, should not refuse to grant.
Signed in behalf of the meeting.
RICHARD JOHNSON, Chairman.
R. G. OVERING, Secretary.
The foregoing resolutions and addresses are given in plain, it may be
occasionally in severe language; and display an intensity of feeling, a
depth of abhorrence, and a firmness of purpose, honorable to men who
appreciate their rights and love their country. Before I proceed,
however, to comment upon these important proceedings, I shall make some
quotations from the essays and addresses of colored writers, in order to
sustain my assertion that the American Colonization Society is directly
opposed to the wishes of our free colored population.
'A COLORED BALTIMOREAN'[AH] records his sentiments in the following
style:
'We believe, sirs, that the people of color in the United States
will never be prevailed over to abandon the land of their birth,
and every thing vernacular with them--to forego many advantages
which they now possess, and many more which they have in
prospect, for the imaginary, or if real, the fleeting and
short-lived honors held out to them by our "Americo-African
empire." Why should we exchange a temperate and salubrious
climate, adapted to our constitutions as Americans, for one, to
us, fraught with disease and death? Why should we leave a land
in which the arts and sciences are flourishing, and which is
beginning to yield to our research, for one, where the
irradiating beams of the sun of science have yet to be announced
by the bright star of hope? Why should we leave a land
illuminated with the blaze of gospel light, for one enshrouded
in pagan gloom? Why should we, who are in tolerable
circumstances in America, who enjoy many of the comforts of
life, and are evidently on the advanced march of mind, cast away
these certain, real, and growing advantages, for those which are
precarious and chimerical? Why should we abandon our firesides,
and every thing associated with the dear name of _home_--undergo
the fatigues of a perilous voyage, and expose ourselves, our
wives, and our little ones, to the deleterious influences of an
uncongenial sun, for the enjoyment of a liberty divested of its
usual accompaniments, surrounded with circumstances which
diminish its intrinsic value, and render it indeed "a dear
earned morsel"? * * * * * *
'But "it is the hope of accomplishing the entire subversion of
the slave trade and Mahometan superstition, and all their
subsidiary concomitants, that has actuated the Christian and
stimulated the philanthropist." Noble objects indeed! And who
are those christians and philanthropists? Our friend tells us,
without distinction, that they are "those noble and heroic men
who have enlisted under the banner of colonization." But how
happens it that some of the most distinguished of these
_christians_ and _philanthropists_ are themselves slaveholders,
and so far abettors of the _slave trade_ as to be actually
guilty of selling into a cruel and interminable vassalage the
hapless victims of their tender mercies? Again, how is it that
none but the free people of color have been chosen to evangelize
Africa? Is it because they are under an exclusive moral
obligation to dispel the "gloom of Mahometan superstition?" Is
it because they are pre-eminently qualified in point of morals
and information for the missionary enterprise? None will say
this. Perhaps we shall be told, that the identity of their color
gives them a decided advantage over every other people. But how
is it that those wicked white men, who are in the habit of
resorting thither for the most nefarious purposes, have access
to these people? And we have not forgotten that during the visit
of the Rev. G. R. McGill, in Baltimore, he informed us that
colored men from the United States, being thought by the natives
to be men of information, are received and treated as white men,
and denominated by the same epithet. Since then it does not
appear that we are pre-eminently qualified for this work, why
should it be pressed upon us? * * * *
'Tell us not that the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, who is
not a respecter of persons, whose "tender mercies are over all
his works," will _never_ elevate us to the dignity of men and
christians, unless we emigrate to Africa. Tell us not that in
this _christian_ country, this "land of the free and home of the
brave," we must _for ever_ remain a degraded and proscribed
race--that we must _for ever_ be treated as the outcasts of
creation. We are aware that this doctrine has been asserted with
all the confidence of inspiration by _some_ of our gospel
ministers. We have heard them proclaim it in a tone calculated
to strengthen the prejudices existing against us. They seem to
forget that there is a superintending providence--that He, who
"sits upon the whirlwind and directs the storm," has ever
manifested himself a friend to the oppressed of every clime.
They seem to forget that the religion of Jesus, wherever it
reigns with unrestrained sway, demolishes every partition wall,
and exterminates out of the heart all those bitter prejudices
which impede the march of the Messiah's kingdom. We should like
to have these prophets give us their ideas in relation to the
millennial reign of Christ. We should like to have them inform
us whether or not the general prejudices and their inseparable
accompaniments, which now lie upon, and operate against us, on
account of our color, will be consistent with this glorious
reign of _peace_, and _love_, and _joy_. Let these ministers
consider that much of our degradation is chargeable to the
indifference (to say the least) that they manifest in regard to
our situation--that if they as patterns of piety hold us at a
distance, it is but natural for the inconsiderate to follow
their example. Let them recollect that while they are making
powerful and irresistible appeals to the humanity of the
American people in behalf of the oppressed of other climes, they
have a people among them whose claims upon their liberality are
paramount to those of any other. Let these ministers tell us how
often they make it their business to visit those portions of
their flocks whose crime is, their color. Nay, one of them said
not long since, to be familiar with the people of color would
destroy his _usefulness_ among the whites. But whether they do
their duty in relation to us or not, we indulge in no fears in
regard to our future condition. We are not distrustful of the
goodness and power of Him who has overruled the evil designs of
those men that first tore our ancestors from their native
shores, who is still overruling, and who will continue to
overrule the designs of all who would treat us as the
offscouring of the earth, because our Creator has not given us a
color as white as their own. If ever there was a people who
could look up to Heaven with unshaken confidence for protection,
it is that people whose sufferings are not the consequences of
their crimes; it is that people whose misfortunes work in them
the graces of faith, patience and hope. And why should we not
cherish these invaluable graces? We are told by high authority,
that "_all things_ shall work together _for good_ to them that
love God"--that "He will give grace and glory, and _no good
thing_ will He _withhold_ from them that walk uprightly." You
see, sirs, we have one straight forward course to pursue--one
marked out by the hand of unerring wisdom. This course we intend
to pursue, without giving ourselves any uneasiness as to the
issue; this we leave to Him who has the administration of the
universe in his hands, and who has declared for our
encouragement, "even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered." Tell us not of the wisdom, and power, and number of
our enemies; He who has given us a hope, which at least makes
our condition tolerable, will say to them, as He did to the
tempestuous billows, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed."'
* * * * * * * * *
'What effect have the evils of slavery in this _happy_ land upon
the mind of the liberal, the unprejudiced, and philanthropic
Lafayette?
'Hear him, he will speak for himself: "When I am indulging in my
views of American prospects and American liberty, it is
mortifying to be told that in that very country a large portion
of the people are slaves. It is a dark spot on the face of the
nation. _Such a state of things cannot always exist._" It was a
sight of the evils alluded to, and their inseparable
concomitants, that extorted from the pen of Mr Jefferson that
comprehensive and soul-thrilling sentence--"I tremble for my
country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice
cannot sleep for ever." But may we not indulge the hope that
the evils spoken of will yet awaken the sympathies of the
American people--soften their cruel prejudices--arouse their
slumbering energies--and produce in them an unconquerable
determination to wash from their "stars and stripes" one of the
blackest spots that ever cursed the globe, or stained the
historic page? Shall we be told that _invincible_ prejudices
render this great desideratum impracticable? And what is this
but a libel upon the American people? What is it but to say,
there is in them a moral incapacity to do justice, love mercy,
and walk uprightly? Colonization orators, designing politicians,
ministers of Jesus, tell me, how can you thus libel your
countrymen? Surely, there is a regenerating, a redeeming spirit
in the land--a spirit transforming misanthropes into
philanthropists--bondmen into freemen--abettors of slavery into
champions of liberty--a spirit that will yet drive from America
the demon of slavery, and render it indeed "the land of the free
and the home of the brave."'[AI]
* * * * * * * *
'I have just found time to notice a few very exceptionable
features of a communication over the signature of "A
Marylander," published, a few days ago, in the American of our
city. The writer is unquestionably entitled to the credit of
being a thorough-going colonizationist. He writes in the _true
spirit_ of the cause. He seems to be under an excitement
produced by the publication of our anti-colonization
resolutions. This being the case, it is not to be expected that
he would, throughout his communication, avail himself of the
guarded, accommodating, and conciliating language usual with
colonization writers and declaimers. After being convinced that
the people of color are not to be persuaded to leave the land of
their birth, and every thing vernacular with them, for "regions"
which he tells us are "now dark as the valley of the shadow of
death," he says, "I would propose then that Maryland should
colonize her own free blacks." He does not add the usual
qualification, "_with their own consent_:" he knows this will
never be obtained. He therefore says: "I earnestly _hope_ that
the time _is now_ come when our state will wake up to all the
importance of this subject, and will instantly commence _a
system of measures_ imperatively demanded by the _sternest_
principles [colonization principles?] of _sound_ policy." We
would tell this precocious statesman that we are not to be
intimidated into colonization "_measures_" by the angry
effusions of his illiberal soul; that we had rather die in
Maryland under the pressure of unrighteous and cruel laws than
be driven, like cattle, to the pestilential clime of Liberia,
where grievous privation, inevitable disease, and premature
death, await us in all their horrors. We are emboldened thus to
speak, not from a reliance on the mere arm of flesh; no--it is
the righteousness of our cause, a knowledge of the attributes of
Deity, combined with a consciousness of innocence under
suffering, that have inspired us with a moral courage which no
oppression shall shake, no fulminations overawe. Our limits will
not permit us to expatiate, at this time, on the import of the
terms, "_a system of measures--the sternest principles_," &c. We
would barely remark that the climax of injustice and cruelty,
here suggested, nay, recommended, is the legitimate fruit of the
operations of the American colonization societies relative to
the free people of color. We have always believed that the
"_system of measures_" here recommended, would be the dernier
resort of these _christian_ associations. The unmerited abuse,
that has been so unsparingly heaped upon us by colonizationists
for expressing our opinions of their project as connected with
our happiness, their manifest determination to effectuate their
object regardless of our consent, abundantly corroborate the
opinion we have long since entertained. We turn, however, from
the contemplation of the persecution and oppression, which, it
seems, are in reserve for us, to notice, briefly, the moving
cause of this virulent and relentless attack upon our rights and
happiness. "The _census just taken_," says A Marylander,
"_admonishes_ us in the strongest manner, of the necessity of
prompt and efficient measures to drain off this description of
our population." Here then is the _patriotic_, the _benevolent_,
the _christian_ principle, by which the colonization societies,
throughout our land, are actuated. This is the selfish policy of
which we complain, and which should be execrated by all _true_
patriots, philanthropists, and christians. Our increase is
represented as an "_alarming evil--an evil_," said one of our
colonization orators in the pulpit, not long since, "which
_threatens_ our very _existence_." Now, if all this be true, how
can they, on their own principles, say we can _never_ be a
people in this country? Surely, they are taking effectual steps
to convince us, that the enjoyment of our rights in this, our
native land, is not only possible, but highly probable. This we
have always believed. And we hope and pray, that it may be
accomplished in a way sanctioned by the gospel of peace:
"without confused noise, or garments rolled in blood." But this
glorious victory over pride and prejudice, by gospel weapons,
will never be accomplished by colonization principles. Nor will
those ministers of the gospel have any part or lot in this
matter, who solemnly declare, in the face of heaven and earth,
that we can _never enjoy, in this country_, those inalienable
rights of man, whose inviolable preservation promotes the
welfare of the whole human family. Such ministers virtually
declare that they do not believe the doctrines they are bound to
preach; that He, from whom they profess to have received their
commission, is, indeed, "a hard man, reaping where he has not
sown, and gathering where he has not strawed;" that He requires
of them and their flocks, that which they are morally incapable
of performing; that they _cannot_ love their neighbor as
themselves, or do unto others what they wish done unto
themselves, because their Lord, in his wisdom, has given some of
their fellow creatures a different color from their own. These
temporising, retrograde reformers are doing a serious injury to
the people of color. They heed not the warning of Heaven: "Do my
people no harm." They are doing more to strengthen the cruel and
unchristian prejudices, already too powerful against us, than
all the slaveholders in the Union. They hesitate not to declare,
that, in America, we are out of the reach of humanity. They seem
to think that the religion of the benevolent Saviour which
enjoins, "_honor all men_," and which explicitly says, "if ye
have _respect to persons_, ye _commit sin_," is nothing more
than a dead letter, or must _for ever_ remain powerless, in the
United States of America. And have these men the face to contend
with the infidels of our land? Why, one infidel, with the bible
in his hands, would "chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand
to flight." But notwithstanding these discouraging
circumstances, our cause will yet triumph. He who is for us, is
stronger than all that are against us. "The rulers" of the land
may "take counsel together," and some of the professed ministers
of Jesus may "come into their secret," but "He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
Fear not then, my colored countrymen, but press forward, with a
laudable ambition, for all that heaven has intended for you and
your children, remembering that the path of duty is the path of
safety, and that "righteousness" alone "exalteth a nation."'
If excellence of style, a dignified carriage, sound logic, a high and
abiding faith, and fervent piety, confer credit upon a writer, few have
ever better illustrated these traits than 'A COLORED BALTIMOREAN,' or
deserved a nobler tribute of praise. He who would be ashamed to
acknowledge such a man as his countryman and brother, has yet to learn
his own insignificance and what constitutes the majesty of human nature.
The following is an extract of a letter from a colored gentleman of
wealth and respectability in Philadelphia, whose friendship is courted
by honorable men, and whose usefulness is scarcely exceeded by any other
citizen:
'Is it not preposterous to one, like myself, whose family has
resided in the state of Pennsylvania ever since the great
lawgiver, William Penn, came last to this state from England;
and who fought for the independence of my country, whose
Declaration asserts, that all men are born with free and equal
rights--is it not preposterous to be told that this is not my
country? I was seven months on board of the old Jersey Prison
ship in the year 1780, "the times that tried men's souls;" and
am I now to be told that Africa is my country, by some of those
whose birth-place is unknown? Is it not a contradiction to say
that a man is an alien to the country in which he was born? To
separate the blacks from the whites is as impossible, as to bale
out the Delaware with a bucket. I have always been decidedly of
opinion, that if the Colonization Society would take but half
the pains to improve the children of color in their own country,
and expend but half the money that they are devoting to
accomplish their visionary scheme of christianizing Africa, by
offering premiums to master mechanics to take them as
apprentices, they would do more to destroy prejudice than any
thing else. When I look at this globe, containing eight or nine
hundred millions of inhabitants, and see that they differ in
color from the frozen to the temperate and torrid zones, and
that every thing is variegated, I am astonished that any man
should be so prejudiced against his fellow-man; but we pray for
the aid of the Almighty to take the scales from their eyes; and
that the Liberator may be one of the instruments in commencing
the work.'[AJ]
'I would ask some of our pretended white friends, and the
members of the American Colonization Society, why they are so
interested in our behalf as to want us to go to Africa? They
tell us that it is our home; that they desire to make a people
of us, which we can never be here; that they want Africa
civilized; and that we are the very persons to do it, as it is
almost impossible for any white person to exist there. I deny
it. Will some of those guardian angels of the people of color
tell me how it is that we, who were born in the same city or
state with themselves, can live any longer in Africa than they?
I consider it the most absurd assertion that any man of common
sense could make, unless it is supposed, as some have already
said, that we are void of understanding. If we had been born on
that continent, the transportation would be another matter; but
as the fact is the reverse, we consider the United States our
home, and not Africa as they wish to make us believe;--and if we
do emigrate, it will be to a place of our own choice.
'I would also mention to the supporters of the Colonization
Society, that if they would spend half the time and money that
they do, in educating the colored population and giving them
lands to cultivate here, and secure to them all the rights and
immunities of freemen, instead of sending them to Africa, it
would be found, in a short time, that they made as good citizens
as the whites. Their traducers would hear of fewer murders,
highway robberies, forgeries, &c. &c. being committed, than they
do at present among some of the white inhabitants of this
country.'[AK]
'Colonization principles, abstractly considered, are
unobjectionable; but the means employed for their propagation,
we think, are altogether objectionable. We are deprived of our
birthright, and pointed by the colonization partisans to another
country as a home. They speak of the prejudices which exist
against us, as an insuperable hindrance to the improvement of
our situation here. We are sickened by the constant reiteration
of "_extraneous mass_," "_African inferiority_," &c. which tends
immediately to justify the slaveholder in his crime, and
increase already existing prejudice. The Colonization Society
never will effect the removal of slavery. The God of justice
will never, in my opinion, let this nation off so easily. It is
in vain to hold back. The eyes of all will ultimately be opened
to see that nothing but universal emancipation can possibly
avert impending wrath.'[AL]
'How long, oh! ye boasters of freedom, will ye endeavor to
persuade us, your derided, degraded fellow countrymen, to the
belief that our interest and happiness are prized in high
estimation among you? Be it known, that we are not all such
misguided, deluded mortals as to be duped by your plans; that we
will not suffer ourselves to become so infatuated as to "hurl
reason from her throne," and succumb to your glittering, showy,
_dissimulating_ path to eminence. We spurn with contempt your
unrighteous schemes, and point the finger of derision at your
fruitless attempts. You have commenced them in a day, when
liberty, justice and equality are claimed by almost all, as
nature's rights; for behold! a beam of science, lucid as the
sun, has divinely fallen upon the lightless intellects of a
portion of that ignoble part of your fellow creatures, who have
been so long the victims of your fell injustice and inhumanity.
Would to God that conscience might subdue your malignant
prejudices. Tell us not that our condition can never be bettered
in the land of our birth: you know it not. Make but the attempt
in consecrating a portion of your time, talents and money upon
us here, and you would soon find the cause of Afric's injured
race vindicated by her descendants; and the day which now dawns
would be speedily ushered into blazing light, declaring in its
effulgence the joyful sound of Liberty--Justice--Equality, to
all mankind.'[AM]
'There is much to be surprised at, little to admire, and nothing
worthy of imitation, in the "bubbles" of our friends, the
colonizationists. They have enlisted the prejudices and the
support of the wealthy and influential in their favor; they have
succeeded in sending some two or three thousand to Liberia; and
they are flattered with their partial success, and no doubt look
forward to the time when they will behold the whole of the
colored inhabitants of America, in the far distant land of
Africa. But let them not anticipate too much; they have yet one
obstacle to overcome which threatens to overthrow their
"baseless fabric;" or at any rate impede their progress. Their
proceedings have not obtained the approbation of those, whose
approbation is most needed, _the colored people themselves_.
They are most strangely mistaken if they suppose that it is an
easy matter to win them, either by _sophistry_ or _force_. The
press has begun its revolutionizing work, overturning in its
progress every thing calculated to suppress inquiry or to blind
the understanding. Already have the intrigues of the designing
been exposed, and already have the colored people set their
faces against oppression.
'The Colonization Society has erred in matters of _policy_; for
instead of exerting themselves to gain the confidence of the
colored people, and thus by persuasion to have rid the country
of them, they have acted in a manner calculated to disgust every
humane mind, and have rendered it an utter _impossibility_ to
remove them; and it is most fortunate for the unfortunate, that
they have detected those intriguing spirits in their _humane_
and _charitable_ undertaking.
'How many hours of anguish, how much incalculable misery has been
prevented; in short, how many human beings have been saved from
an untimely grave, by the timely interposition of the PRESS! It
has said, let it be so, and it _was_ so; its thunders have been
heard, and the oppressor trembles like the earthquake: it has
overthrown, yea, totally demolished the sharp-edged sword of
the Colonization Society.
'Support the PRESS then, ye people of color, and the result will
be a total overthrow of all the darling schemes of the aforesaid
darling Society; it has accomplished wonders, yea, wonders
already; much more can, nay, will be done; again I say, support
the PRESS.'[AN]
'The African Colonization Society declares that we the people of
color shall have no part nor lot in the free institutions of
this country. Why? Because the Creator of all--the sovereign
Ruler of the universe, who holds in his hands the destiny of
nations, thought fit and proper, in his infinite wisdom, to
tincture us with a darker hue than the paler part of community!
or, if I may say, because the lot of our predecessors happened
to be cast in the torrid zone, beneath the scorching beams of a
vertical sun! These are the objections the African Colonization
Society offer to this community to our remaining in this
country--in the land of freemen! These are the considerations
that prompt them to tell us that we the descendants of Africa
can never be men unless we abandon the land of our birth, our
homes and people, and submit to that uncongenial clime, the
barbarous regions of Africa, amidst unyielding contagion and
mortality! O, that man would remember, that knowledge and
virtue, not complexion, are the emblems that constitute the
value of human dignity! With these, we are worthy--without them,
we are unworthy. By the acts and operations of wicked men,
shielded under a cloak of religion, we the people of color are
doomed to all the miseries that the human body is able to
sustain--deprived of light, knowledge and social intercourse, by
the colonization gentlemen. With all their pretended zeal and
love of liberty, manifested towards the African race, I count
them as enemies, not friends. I do not solicit their love, nor
regard their friendship. I speak for one: I never did, and never
will court an enemy as a friend, knowingly, let him be whom he
may--let him belong to church or state, I feel the weight of
their predominant power, and the finishing blow they are about
to strike. Thus we move by them, poor and pennyless, despised
and forsaken by all; creeping through your streets, submissively
bowed down to every foot whose skin is tinctured with a lighter
hue than ours--thus we sojourn in solitude, not for our crimes
but color.
'I came here for the purpose of showing to this community, that
the people of color of the United States disapprove of the
African Colonization plan. They do not wish to emigrate to
Africa. These six hundred or more, that the gentleman tells you
are now waiting for a passage to Liberia, are not the free
people of color of the United States; they are, if any, the
poor, old, worn-out southern slaves, freed on the condition to
go to Africa, or die in the tracks of slavery, no more fit for
their cotton and rice fields--for the laws of those states
forbid the master, let him be possessed of all the fine feelings
that the human mind is able to contain; unless he banishes them
to some distant region, across that "mighty ocean" they speak
of, they cannot be free. According to the laws of those states,
and the basis on which the Society is built, the emancipated
slaves are not free until they stand upon the shores of Liberia.
Thus the Northern and Middle States are called upon for
donations to enable the monarch of the south to bury his slaves
in the sands of Africa; thus far, northern capital is
instrumental in parting asunder parents and children--no more to
meet, until Jehovah will stand upon the four corners of the
earth, and proclaim deliverance to the captive!--when the arm of
tyrants shall cease to sway the rod of tyranny over the heads of
their helpless children--until all creation shall vanish and
crumble into nothing.
'About the time of the formation of this Society, the people of
color, in different sections of the Union, took the alarm--they
thought there was something wrong in the views of that combined
body. So, the free people of color of Richmond, convened
themselves together in the state of Virginia, where the
gentleman says the African Colonization Society first
originated. They assembled themselves together for the purpose
of ascertaining each other's feelings with regard to that
combined body, and after mature reflection, they petitioned
Congress--I will give you the words of their memorial, which are
sufficient evidence to substantiate in the mind of every
rational person, that the people of color wish to remain in this
country.
'"At a meeting of a respectable portion of the free people of
color of the city of Richmond, on Friday, January 24, 1817,
William Bowler was appointed chairman, and Lentey Craw,
secretary. The following preamble and resolution were read,
unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed.
'"Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of government,
for the purpose of colonizing, with their own consent, the free
people of color of the United States; therefore we, the free
people of color of the city of Richmond, have thought it
advisable to assemble together under the sanction of authority,
for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments
on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly
agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would
ultimately tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion
of our suffering fellow creatures, to be colonized; but while we
thus express our approbation of a measure laudable in its
purposes, and beneficial in its designs, it may not be improper
in us to say, that we prefer being colonized in the most remote
corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign
country--and whereas the president and board of managers of the
said Society have been pleased to leave it to the entire
discretion of Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying
these laudable intentions into effect--Be it therefore
'"Resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of
Congress whether it would not be an act of charity to grant us a
small portion of their territory, either on the Missouri river,
or any place that may seem to them most conducive to the public
good and our future welfare, subject, however, to such rules and
regulations as the government of the United States may think
proper to adopt."
'WM. BOWLER, Chairman.
'LENTEY CRAW, Secretary.'[AO]
'The _colonization craft_ is a diabolical pursuit, which a great
part of our christian community are engaged in. Now, brethren, I
need not enlarge on this point. You that have been observing,
have already seen the trap under the bait; and although some of
our population have been foolish enough to sell their birthright
for a mess of pottage, yet I doubt whether the Colonization
Society will entrap many more. It is too bare-faced, and
contrary to all reason, to suppose, that there is any good
design in this project. If they are willing to restore
four-fold for what they have taken by false accusation, they
can do it to better advantage in the bosom of our country, than
at several thousand miles off. How would you do, brethren, if
your object was really to benefit the poor? Would you send them
into a neighboring forest, and there deal out that food which
they were famishing for? Now we stand different from beggars.
Our ancestors were stolen property, and property which belonged
to God. This is well known by our religious community; and they
find that the owner is about to detect them. Now if they can
slip away the stolen goods, by smuggling all those out of the
country, which God would be likely to make an instrument of, in
bringing them to justice, and keep the rest in ignorance; by
such means, things would go on well with them, and they would
appease their consciences by telling what great things they are
doing for the colored population and God's cause. But we
understand better how it is. The deception is not so well
practised, but that we can discover the mark of the beast. They
will steal the sons of Africa, bring them to America, keep them
and their posterity in bondage for centuries, letting them have
what education they can pick up of themselves; then transport
them back to Africa; by which means America gets all her
drudgery done at little expense, and endeavors to flatter the
Deity, by making him a sacrifice of good works of this kind. But
to the awful disappointment of all such blasphemers, they will
meet the justice of God, which will be to them a devouring
sword.'[AP]
'Though delivered from the fetters of slavery, we are oppressed
by an unreasonable, unrighteous, and cruel prejudice, which aims
at nothing less, than the forcing away of all the free colored
population of the United States to the distant shores of Africa.
Far be it from me to impeach the motives of every member of the
American Colonization Society. The civilizing and christianizing
of that vast continent, and the extirpation of the abominable
traffic in slaves, (which, notwithstanding all the laws passed
for its suppression, is still carried on in all its horrors,)
are no doubt the principal motives, which induce many to give it
their support.
'But there are those, and those who are most active and
influential in this cause, who hesitate not to say, that they
wish to rid the country of the free colored population; and
there is sufficient reason to believe that with many, this is
the principal motive for supporting that Society; and that
whether Africa is civilized or not, and whether the slave-trade
be suppressed or not, they would wish to see the free colored
people removed from this country to Africa.
'Africa could certainly be brought into a state of civil and
religious improvement, without sending all the free people of
color in the United States there.
'A few well-qualified missionaries, properly fitted out and
supported, would do more for the instruction and improvement of
the natives of that country, than a host of colonists, the
greater part of whom would need to be instructed themselves, and
all of whom for a long period would find enough to do to provide
for themselves, instead of instructing the natives.
'How inconsistent are those who say, that Africa will be
benefitted by the removal of the free people of color of the
United States there, while they say, they are the _most vile and
degraded_ people in the world!--If we are as vile and degraded
as they represent us, and they wish the Africans to be rendered
a virtuous, enlightened and happy people, they should not
_think_ of sending _us_ among them, lest we should make them
worse instead of better.
'The colonies planted by white men on the shores of America, so
far from benefitting the aborigines, corrupted their morals, and
caused their ruin; and yet those who say _we_ are the most vile
people in the world, would send us to Africa, to improve the
character and condition of the natives! Such arguments would not
be listened to for a moment, were not the minds of the community
strangely warped by prejudice.
'Those who wish that that vast continent should be _compensated_
for the injuries done it, by sending thither the light of the
gospel and the arts of civilized life, should aid in sending and
supporting well qualified missionaries, who should be wholly
devoted to the work of instruction, instead of sending
colonists, who would be apt to turn the ignorance of the natives
to their own advantage, and do them more harm than good.
'Much has also been said by colonizationists, about improving
the character and condition of the people of color of this
country, by sending them to Africa. This is more inconsistent
still. We are to be improved by being sent far from civilized
society. This is a novel mode of improvement. What is there in
the burning sun, the arid plains, and barbarous customs of
Africa, that is so peculiarly favorable to our improvement? What
hinders our improving here, where schools and colleges abound,
where the gospel is preached at every corner, and where all the
arts and sciences are verging fast to perfection? Nothing,
nothing but prejudice. It requires no large expenditures, no
hazardous enterprises, to raise the people of color in the
United States to as highly improved a state, as any class of the
community. All that is necessary is, that those who profess to
be anxious for it, should lay aside their prejudices, and act
towards them as they do by others.
'We are NATIVES of this country; we ask only to be treated as
well as FOREIGNERS. Not a few of our fathers suffered and bled
to purchase its independence; we ask only to be treated as well
as those who fought against it. We have toiled to cultivate it,
and to raise it to its present prosperous condition; we ask only
to share equal privileges with those who come from distant lands
to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Let these moderate requests be
granted, and we need not go to Africa nor any where else, to be
improved and happy. We cannot but doubt the purity of the
motives of those persons who deny us these requests, and would
send us to Africa, to gain what they might give us at home.
'But they say, the prejudices of the country against us are
invincible; and as they cannot be conquered, it is better that
we should be removed beyond their influence. This plea should
never proceed from the lips of any man, who professes to believe
that a just God rules in the heavens.
'The American Colonization Society is a numerous and influential
body. Would they lay aside their _own_ prejudices, much of the
burden would be at once removed; and their example (especially
if they were as anxious to have _justice done us here_, as to
send us to Africa,) would have such an influence upon the
community at large, as would soon cause prejudice to hide its
deformed head.
'But alas! the course which they have pursued, has an opposite
tendency. By the _scandalous misrepresentations_, which they are
continually giving of our character and conduct, we have
sustained much injury, and have reason to apprehend much more.
'Without any charge of crime, we have been denied all access to
places, to which we formerly had the most free intercourse; the
colored citizens of other places, on leaving their homes, have
been denied the privilege of returning; and others have been
absolutely driven out.
'Has the Colonization Society had no effect in producing these
barbarous measures?
'They profess to have no other object in view, than the
colonizing of the free people of color on the coast of Africa,
with their _own consent_; but if our homes are made so
uncomfortable that we cannot continue in them; or if, like our
brethren of Ohio and New Orleans, we are driven from them, and
no other door is open to receive us but Africa, our removal
there will be any thing but voluntary.
'It is very certain, that very few free people of color _wish_
to go to that _land_. The Colonization Society _know_ this, and
yet they do certainly calculate, that in time they will have us
all removed there.
'How can this be effected, but by making our situation worse
here, and closing every other door against us?'[AQ]
'My attention was forcibly attracted by a communication in Mr
Poulson's Daily Advertiser of the 16th inst. which states, that
Mrs Stansbury of Trenton, N. J. has presented _one thousand
dollars_ to the Colonization Society. Now I think it is greatly
to be regretted, that this highly generous and benevolent lady
has been induced to make this donation for the purpose of
conveying some of the superannuated slaves to Africa, when
objects of much greater importance could be attained by offering
a premium to master mechanics to take colored children as
apprentices, so that they would become useful to themselves and
others. It is an inquiry becoming of the utmost importance, what
is to become of those children who are arriving at the age of
manhood?
'I am greatly astonished that the ministers of the gospel should
take so active a part, in endeavoring to convey the freemen of
color to Africa. Even in Boston and New-York, they have taken
the lead in support of this object. They cannot be aware of the
great injury they will be the means of inflicting on us: instead
of doing this, they should endeavor to remove prejudice, to
ameliorate and improve the condition of the colored people by
education, and by having their children placed in a situation to
learn a trade. I hope, through the assistance of Divine
Providence, that the Liberator may be the means (especially in
Boston, the Cradle of Liberty and Independence) of guiding the
people of this country in the path, which equal justice and the
public good so evidently indicate.
'I have never conversed with an intelligent man of color, (not
swayed by interested and sinister motives,) who was not
decidedly opposed to leaving his home for the fatal clime of
Africa. I am well acquainted with all the masters of vessels,
belonging to this port, who have been to the coast of Africa;
and they all agree in representing it as one of the most
unhealthy countries in the latitude of 40. In the months of June
and July, the thermometer is at from 88 to 90 degrees. What must
it be, then, in the latitude of 6 or 7, under a vertical sun,
and where, after the rainy season, the effluvium which arises
from the putrefaction of vegetables is productive of the most
fatal effects? Sir James L. Yeo agrees with their account, in
his statement laid before the Admiralty of Great Britain.
'Has any one, in either of our southern States, given any thing
like a thousand dollars to promote emigration to Africa? Not one
has shown so much compassion for the oppressed slave. General
Mercer,--who is, I believe, the President of the Colonization
Society,--promised to emancipate his slaves, and to sell his
large possessions in Virginia, and to remove with them to
Africa--(my friends inform me, and I believe him to be one of
the most humane and best of masters.) Mr Key, the great
advocate, and the late Judge Washington, promised to liberate
their slaves: I believe that neither of them has performed his
promise.
'According to a statement made by Mr Key, they have removed in
fourteen years about as many hundred emigrants. I will venture
to say, that at least a half million have been born during the
same period. We ask not their compassion and aid, in assisting
us to emigrate to Africa: we are contented in the land that gave
us birth, and for which many of our fathers fought and died,
during the war which established our independence. I well
remember that when the New England regiment marched through this
city on their way to attack the English army under the command
of Lord Cornwallis, there were several companies of colored
people, as brave men as ever fought; and I saw those brave
soldiers who fought at the battle of Red Bank, under Col. Green,
where Count Donop the commander was killed, and the Hessians
defeated. All this appears to be forgotten now; and the
descendants of these men, to whom we are indebted for the part
they took in the struggle for independence, are intended to be
removed to a distant and inhospitable country, while the
emigrants from every other country are permitted to seek an
asylum here from oppression, and to enjoy the blessings of both
civil and religious liberty, equally with those who are entitled
to it by birthright.
'I think the ministers of the gospel might do much towards
destroying the domestic slave trade, which breaks asunder the
sacred ties of husband, wife and children. Not a voice is
raised by them against this most cruel injustice. In the British
colonies, this is not permitted; yet it exists in the only true
republic on earth.'[AR]
'_My Friends and Countrymen_:--I trust, by this time, you have
known well my sentiments in relation to the American
Colonization Society; and the great objects, which have been set
forth, of a general union of interest, in funds and education,
for the permanent establishment and furtherance of our
prosperity, in this our native country.
'In addition to what has been already said on the subject, I
shall briefly set forth some of the leading causes of our
wretchedness and misery; and the prominent motives of the
Colonization Society in sending us away. Much theory has been
used, in the discussions upon our civil and political situation,
in this country. We have been branded, in many instances,--may I
not say, in the highest courts of the nation, courts of justice
and equity, in public and family circles?--as being an inferior
race of beings, not possessing like intellect and faculty with
the whites. We are represented as being incapable of acting for
ourselves; consequently not educated and qualified to be
admitted into public places, to vindicate the integrity of our
race, and the qualifications we are capable of acquiring. Many
of our noble statesmen, orators and lawyers, have made our
capital ring with the empty sound of
inferiority,--degradation,--the impossibility of tolerating
equality with the blacks. Sacred writ has been carefully
examined by these gentlemen of science, and construed to suit
their narrow consciences. Prophets have arisen among them, who
hold forth to the people the continuation of our political
thraldom, unless there be a general removal of all the free
among us to the coast of Africa. Others argue, that, although
they have good feelings towards us, and would do any thing for
us, if we were out of their sight and out of the hearing of
their slaves, yet to admit us into their circles would be to
pervert the present order of society, and the happiness of the
good white citizens of the country. These are generally bible
men, such as hold forth the true oracles of God; yet deny him,
in their actions and words, the supreme control over all his
creatures. There is hardly ever an action performed, whether
good or bad, but there is generally a reason given for so doing;
and he is a wicked, daring character, who cannot find a cloak,
at any time, to cover his hideous crimes. The men who have been
foremost, in withholding from us our dearest and most sacred
rights, have always held out false colors to the community at
large, (such as, inferiority, degradation, nuisance, pest,
slaves, species of monkey, apes, &c.) to justify their inhuman
and unchristian acts towards us, and to deaden the severe pangs
of conscience that harass them. They would wish to appear
innocent before the world; as doing unto all men as they would
they should do unto them. Do they base their objects, in full,
upon such frivolous excuses as these? No. The truth is, actions
speak louder than words. It is my candid opinion, there would
have been no Colonization Society formed for our transportation
to the western coast of Africa, had there been no free colored
people, and did not our numbers increase daily. If we, as a free
body of people, had remained in the same character with slaves,
monkeys and baboons, there would not have been so much
excitement in the community about us; but as they see by our
improvement, (a great improvement, indeed, within forty years,)
that the period is hastening on, 'when there will be no other
alternative but we must rank among them in civilization, science
and politics, they have got up this colonization scheme to
persuade us to leave our slave brethren, and flee to the
pestilential shores of Africa, where we shall be in danger of
being forced to hang our harps upon the willows, and our song of
liberty and civilization will be hushed by the impelling force
of barbarian despots.'[AS]
'And in pursuit of this great object [the elevation of the
people of color] various ways and means have been resorted to;
among others, the American Colonization Society is the most
prominent. Not doubting the sincerity of many friends who are
engaged in that cause; yet we beg leave to say, that it does not
meet with our approbation. However great the debt which these
United States may owe to injured Africa, and however unjustly
her sons have been made to bleed, and her daughters to drink of
the cup of affliction, still we who have been born and nurtured
on this soil, we, whose habits, manners and customs are the same
in common with other Americans, can never consent to take our
lives in our hands, and be the bearers of the redress offered by
that Society to that much afflicted country.
'Tell it not to barbarians, lest they refuse to be civilized,
and eject our Christian missionaries from among them, that in
the nineteenth century of the christian era, laws have been
enacted in some of the States of this great republic, to compel
an unprotected and harmless portion of our brethren to leave
their homes and seek an asylum in foreign climes: and in taking
a view of the unhappy situation of many of these, whom the
oppressive laws alluded to, continually crowd into the Atlantic
cities, dependent for their support upon their daily labor, and
who often suffer for want of employment, we have had to lament
that no means have yet been devised for their relief.'[AT]
'The Convention has not been unmindful of the operations of the
American Colonization Society; and it would respectfully suggest
to that august body of learning, talent and worth, that, in our
humble opinion, strengthened, too, by the opinions of eminent
men in this country, as well as in Europe, that they are
pursuing the direct road to perpetuate slavery, with all its
unchristianlike concomitants, in this boasted land of freedom;
and, as citizens and men whose best blood is sapped to gain
popularity for that Institution, we would, in the most feeling
manner, beg of them to desist: or, if we must be sacrificed to
their philanthropy, we would rather die at home. Many of our
fathers, and some of us, have fought and bled for the liberty,
independence and peace which you now enjoy; and, surely, it
would be ungenerous and unfeeling in you to deny us a humble and
quiet grave in that country which gave us birth!'[AU]
'Sir, upon the whole, my view of the operations of the
Colonization Society, in relieving the slave States of the evil
which weighs them down more than a hundred tariffs, is
illustrated by an old fable, in which it is stated, that a man
was seen at the foot of a mountain, scraping away the dust with
his foot. One passing by, asked him what he was doing? I wish to
remove this mountain, said he. You fool, replied the other, you
can never do it in that way. Well, said he, I can raise a dust,
can't I?
'Sir, I do not wish to censure the motives of this Society, but
surely they are visionary. Its supporters are bewildered in
their own dust, which is well calculated to injure the vision of
good men. The Commercial Advertiser says they do indeed wish to
wipe away from the national records the stain of slavery, "but
hope it may be accomplished (as the Virginia Enquirer has it)
surely but quietly." Yes, Sir, and quietly enough!
'Our ambition leads not to superiority, but to our _freedom_ and
_political rights_. _Grant this!_ we ask no more! If the places
in which we dwell are too straight for us and the white
population, place us in a state far to the West--take us
into the Union--give us our _rights_ as _freemen_. Let the
southern states make all born after a date not two years
distant, free! and let the Colonization Society turn its
attention and energies to the removing of liberated slaves
there: the free people will go without their aid. But if the
Government is fearful of retaliation, it may allay its fears by
a consideration of the fact of there not being one freeman
engaged in the late insurrections--of freemen informing against
slaves--the peaceable manner in which we live in the
neighborhoods of the south, and throughout the whole Union. The
meetings that have lately been held, and resolutions passed
expressive of our disapprobation of such measures, may all show
that such fears are groundless. I repeat again--_Give us our
rights--we ask no more!_
'Yes, Sir, if I possessed the Indies, I would pledge the whole
that if such measures were taken, and such grants made, no
retaliation would be made by us as a body for former evils.'[AV]
'In no age of our existence have there been more pains taken by
priests and people, in public and private, in church and state,
to give them currency, than at present. The whole theme of that
wicked, persecuting combination--the Colonization Society--is
calculated to impress upon the mind of the public these
atrocious maxims which every day strengthen a prejudice not only
cherished by the whites against the blacks, but by the blacks
against the whites. That foul fiend of hell, that destroying
angel who hath power to take peace from the earth, and to kill
with the sword, is gaining a commanding influence very fast over
both parties. And who, but the advocates of the Colonization
Society, receive him as a welcome guest? Who but they have built
him a temple, and cried, "Long live Prejudice against free born
Americans of sable hue!" Who but they are continually crying,
"The free blacks are dangerous! the free blacks are dangerous!
Away with them--away with them to Africa!" Who but they are the
apologists for murder, theft, and all the horrid concomitants of
slavery? Who but they have defiled our temples of worship
dedicated to God for his service, making merchandise of the
souls of men by transferring them over to the keeping of
prejudice?'[AW]
Other extracts might be recorded, but these must suffice. I have given
the sentiments of the people of color as expressed individually, in
public orations, in conventions of delegates, and in popular assemblies.
Their proceedings evince a keen discrimination between true and false
philanthropy, and an intellectual ability successfully to defend their
cause. Their instincts are more than a match for the specious sophistry
and learned sense of colonizationists: they meet them on every point,
and on every point achieve a victory. Conscious of the fact that in
their complexion is found the only motive for their banishment, they
clearly illustrate the hypocrisy and injustice of the African crusade.
Their union of purpose is such as cannot be broken. How intense is their
love of country! how remarkable their patient endurance of wrongs! how
strong their abhorrence of expatriation! how auspicious the talents
which they display!
Every humane and honorable man will assent to the proposition, that no
scheme for the removal of a numerous people from one continent to
another, ought to be prosecuted contrary to their desires. A scheme
cannot be benevolent which thrives upon persecution. Benevolent
oppression is a solecism.
Another self-evident truth is, that no such removal can be effected
merely by the presentation of selfish inducements, or without resorting
to coercive measures. To show that coercion is openly advocated by some
of the prominent supporters of the Colonization Society, I make the
following extracts from the speeches of Messrs Broadnax and Fisher,
delivered during the 'Great Debate' in the Virginia House of Delegates a
short time since. Mr Broadnax said:
'IT IS IDLE TO TALK ABOUT NOT RESORTING TO FORCE. Every body
must look to the introduction of force of some kind or
other--and it is in truth a question of expediency; of moral
justice; of political good faith--whether we shall fairly
delineate our whole system on the face of the bill, or leave the
acquisition of extorted consent to other processes. The real
question--the only question of magnitude to be settled, is the
great preliminary question--Do you intend to send the free
persons of color out of Virginia, or not?'
'If the free negroes are willing to go, they will go--if not
willing, they must be compelled to go. Some gentlemen think it
politic not now to insert this feature in the bill, though they
proclaim their readiness to resort to it when it becomes
necessary; they think that for a year or two a sufficient number
will consent to go, and then the rest can be compelled. For my
part, I deem it better to approach the question and settle it at
once, and avow it openly. The intelligent portion of the free
negroes know very well what is going on.--Will they not see your
debates? _Will they not see that coercion is ultimately to be
resorted to?_ They will perceive that the edict has gone forth,
and that it must fall, if not now, in a short time upon them.'
'I have already expressed it as my opinion that few, very few,
will _voluntarily_ consent to emigrate, if no COMPULSORY MEASURE
be adopted.--With it--many, in anticipation of its sure and
certain arrival, will, in the mean time, go away--they will be
sensible that the time would come when they would be forced to
leave the State. Without it--you will still, no doubt, have
applicants for removal equal to your means. Yes, Sir, people who
will not only consent, but beg you to deport them. But what sort
of _consent_--a consent extorted by a series of oppression
calculated to render their situation among us insupportable.
Many of those who have already been sent off, went with _their
avowed consent_, but under the influence of a more decided
compulsion than any which this bill holds out. I will not
express, in its full extent, the idea I entertain of what has
been done, or what enormities will be perpetrated to induce this
class of persons to leave the State. Who does not know that when
a free negro, by crime or otherwise, has rendered himself
obnoxious to a neighborhood, how easy it is for a party to visit
him one night, take him from his bed and family, and apply to
him the gentle admonition of a severe flagellation, to induce
him to _consent_ to go away? In a few nights the dose can be
repeated, perhaps increased, until, in the language of the
physicians, _quantum suff._ has been administered to produce the
desired operation; and the fellow then becomes _perfectly
willing_ to move away. I have certainly heard, if incorrectly,
the gentleman from Southampton will put me right, that of the
large cargo of emigrants lately transported from that country to
Liberia, all of whom _professed_ to be _willing_ to go, were
rendered so by some such severe ministrations as those I have
described. A lynch club--a committee of vigilance--could easily
exercise a kind of inquisitorial _surveillance_ over any
neighborhood, and convert any desired number, I have no doubt,
at any time, into a willingness to be removed. But who really
prefers such means as these to the course proposed in this bill?
And one or the other is inevitable. For no matter how you change
this bill--sooner or later the free negroes will be _forced_ to
leave the State. Indeed, Sir, ALL OF US LOOK TO FORCE of some
kind or other, direct or indirect, moral or physical, legal or
illegal. Many who are opposed, they say, to any compulsory
feature in the bill, desire to introduce such severe regulations
into our police laws--such restrictions of their existing
privileges--such inability to hold property--obtain
employment--rent residences, &c., as to make it impossible for
them to remain amongst us. _Is not this force?_'
Mr Fisher said:
'If we wait until the free negroes consent to leave the State,
we shall wait until "time is no more." _They never will give
their consent_; and if the House amend the bill as proposed,
their consent is in a manner pointed out by the gentleman from
Dinwiddie--and it is a great question whether we shall force the
people to extort their consent from them in this way.--He
believed if the compulsory principle were stricken out, this
class of people would be forced to leave by the harsh treatment
of the whites. The people in those parts of the State where they
most abound, were determined,--as far as they could learn
through the newspapers and other sources,--to get rid of the
blacks.'
What a revelation, what a confession, is here! The free blacks taken
from their beds, and severely flagellated, to make them willing to
emigrate! And legislative compulsion openly advocated to accomplish this
nefarious project! Yes, the gentlemen say truly, 'few, very few will
_voluntarily_ consent to emigrate'--'they never will give their
consent'--and therefore they must be expelled by force! It is true, the
bill proposed by Mr Broadnax was rejected by a small majority; but it
serves to illustrate the spirit of the colonization leaders.
The editor of the Lynchburg Virginian, an advocate of the Society, uses
the following language:
'But, if they will not consider for themselves, WE _must
consider for them_. The safety of the people is the supreme law;
and to that law all minor considerations must bend. If the free
negroes will not emigrate, _they must be contented to endure
those privations which the public interest and safety call
for_.--In the last Richmond Enquirer we notice an advertisement,
setting forth, that "a petition will be presented to the next
legislature of Virginia, from the county of Westmoreland,
praying the passage of some law to _compel_ the free negroes in
this commonwealth to emigrate therefrom, under a penalty which
will effectually promote this object." So, too, at a meeting of
the citizens of Prince George county, in Maryland, it was
resolved to "petition the next legislature to remove all the
free negroes out of that State, and to prohibit all persons from
manumitting slaves without making provision for their removal."'
I close this work with a specimen of the sophistry which is used to give
_eclat_ to the American Colonization Society.
In the month of June, 1830, I happened to peruse a number of the
Southern Religious Telegraph, in which I found an essay, enforcing the
duty of clergymen to take up collections in aid of the funds of the
Colonization Society on the then approaching fourth of July. After an
appropriate introductory paragraph, the writer proceeds in the following
remarkable strain:
'But--we have a plea like a peace offering to man and to God. We
answer poor blinded Africa in her complaint--that we have her
children, and that they have served on our plantations. And we
tell her, look at their returning! We took them barbarous,
though measurably free,--untaught--rude--without
science--without the true religion--without philosophy--and
strangers to the best civil governments. And now we return them
to her bosom, _with the mechanical arts_ ... _with science_ ...
_with philosophy_ ... with civilization ... with republican
feelings ... and above all, with the true knowledge of the true
God, and the way of salvation through the Redeemer.'
'The mechanical arts!'--with whom did they serve an apprenticeship?
'With philosophy!'--in what colleges were they taught? It is strange
that we should be so anxious to get rid of these scientific men of
color--these philosophers--these republicans--these christians, and that
we should shun their company as if they were afflicted with the
hydrophobia, or carried a deadly pestilence in their train! Certainly,
they _must_ have singular notions of the christian religion which
tolerates--or, rather, which is so perverted as to tolerate--the
oppression of God's rational creatures by its professors! They must feel
a peculiar kind of brotherly love for those _good men_ who banded
together to remove them to Africa, because they were too proud to
associate familiarly with men of a sable complexion! But the writer
proceeds:
'We tell her, look at the little colony on her shores. We tell
her, look to the consequences that must flow to all her borders
from religion, and science, and knowledge, and civilization, and
republican government! And then we ask her--_is not one ship
load of emigrants returning with these multiplied blessings,
worth more to her than a million of her barbarous sons?_'
So! every ship load of ignorant and helpless emigrants is to more than
compensate Africa for every million of her children who have been
kidnapped, buried in the ocean and on the land, tortured with savage
cruelty, and held in perpetual servitude! Truly, this is a compendious
method of balancing accounts. In the sight of God, of Africa, and of the
world, we are consequently blameless--and rather praiseworthy--for our
past transgressions. It is such sophistry as is contained in the
foregoing extract, that kindles my indignation into a blaze. I abhor
cant--I abhor hypocrisy--and if some of the advocates of the
Colonization Society do not deal largely in both, I am unable to
comprehend the meaning of these terms.
Of the whole number of individuals constituting the officers of the
Society, nearly three-fourths, I believe, _are the owners of slaves_, or
interested in slave property; not one of whom, to my knowledge, has
emancipated any of his slaves to be sent to Liberia!! The President of
the Society, (CHARLES CARROLL,) owns, I have understood, nearly _one
thousand slaves_! And yet he is lauded, beyond measure, as a patriot, a
philanthropist, and a christian! The former President, (Judge BUSHROD
WASHINGTON,) so far from breaking the fetters of his slaves, actually
while holding his office offered a large reward for a runaway female
slave, to any person who would secure her by putting her into any jail
within the United States! What a mockery it is for such persons to
profess to deplore the existence of slavery, or to denounce the foreign
slave trade! for they neither cease from their own oppressive acts, nor
act much more honestly than the slave dealers--the latter stealing those
who are born on the coast of Africa, and the former those who are born
in this country!
FOOTNOTES:
[AE] John Neal.
[AF] _Vide_ the Fourth Volume of the Genius of Universal Emancipation
for 1829.
[AG] Alexander H. Everett, Esq. vide his work entitled 'America, or a
General Survey,' &c. &c. pp. 212, 225.
[AH] Genius of Universal Emancipation for November 27, 1829.
[AI] Genius of Universal Emancipation, January 29, 1830.
[AJ] 'The Liberator' for January 22, 1832.
[AK] 'A Colored Philadelphian'--vide 'The Liberator' for Feb. 12, 1831.
[AL] Correspondent of 'The Liberator,' Feb. 26, 1831.
[AM] Correspondent of 'The Liberator,' March 12, 1831.
[AN] 'African Sentinel,' Oct. 8, 1831, printed at Albany.
[AO] Extracts from 'An Address to the Gentlemen and Ladies of the County
of Otsego, N. Y., delivered on the 30th September, 1830, by Hayden
Waters, a man of color.' The proceedings of the colored inhabitants of
Virginia, incorporated into this Address, are those referred to on page
8 as having been accidentally mislaid.
[AP] 'Address delivered before the colored population of Providence, R.
I., November 27, 1828, by Rev. Hosea Easton.'
[AQ] 'A Discourse delivered in St. Philip's Church, for the benefit of
the colored community of Wilberforce, in Upper Canada, on the Fourth of
July, 1830. By Rev. Peter Williams, Rector of St. Philip's Church,
New-York.' Mr Williams is a clergyman of superior talents and great
moral worth, and beloved by an extensive circle of acquaintance.
[AR] From the pen of the Colored Gentleman in Philadelphia, referred to
on page 58--vide 'The Liberator,' March 12, 1831.
[AS] 'Address delivered before a Colored Association in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
August 5, 1831,' by George Hogarth. Vide 'The Liberator' for August 27,
1831.
[AT] Conventional Address of the People of Color in Philadelphia, in
1830.
[AU] 'Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the
People of Color, held by adjournment in the city of Philadelphia, in
June, 1831.'
[AV] 'Philadelphia Evangelist'--vide 'The Liberator' for November 26,
1831.
[AW] Correspondent of 'The Liberator,' December 17, 1831.
END OF PART II.
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