George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/briefstatennentofOOnnken 
 
I/, 2. 
 
BRIEF STATEMENT OF FACTS, 
 
 SHEWING THE 
 
 HISS], FMO^HESS AND NECESSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 AFRICAN COLONIZATION; 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THOSE 
 
 Citizens of tlie State of Virginia, 
 
 Who may not have correct information on the subject, — with a short 
 Appeal in favour of the cause. 
 
 AGENT OF THE 
 
 Virginia Stat« Colonization Society. 
 
 What shall be done with our free colored populaiion ? How shall 
 we fairly dispose of them, and of such of our slaves as may hereafter, 
 "under the laws of this commonwealth," become freef 
 
 These are important questions, well deserving the most serious at- 
 tention of ail classes of the community; and which have, in fact, en- 
 gaged for a long series of years, the thoughts of many of our best 
 and greatest men. 
 
 The evils of a mixed population, under which we now labour, were 
 foreseen as early as 1772. In that year the House of Burgesses of 
 this state, inspired with a just abhorrence of the slave trade, and an 
 almost prophetic foresight of the scourge it would entail upon their 
 posterity, unanimously agreed upon an address to the king of Great 
 Britain, praying him " to remove those restraints on the Governors 
 of the colony which inhibited them from assenting to such laws as 
 might check so very pernicious a commerce." 
 
 " The importation of slaves into the colony, from the Coast of 
 Africa, has long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity; and 
 under its encouragement, we have too much reason to fear will endan- 
 ger the very existence of your Majesty^s American dominions. 
 
 " We are sensible that some of your Majesty's subjects in Great Bri- 
 tain, may reap emolument from this sort of traffic; but when we con- 
 sider that it greatly retards the settlement of the colonies with more 
 
2 
 
 white inhabitants, and m^y in time, have the most destructive influence, 
 we presume to hope that the interests of a few will be disregarded, 
 when placed in competition vvilh the security and happiness of such 
 numbers of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects." 
 
 This spirited address, although prophetic of the dangerous conse- 
 quences which would inevitably ensue from a blind persistance in the 
 most nefarious traffic that ever disgraced the annals of man, was dis- 
 regarded. The trade remained unrestrained until the declaration of 
 independence, when Virginia and some other states, prohibited it alto- 
 gether. 
 
 Happy would it have been for us and our children, if the sound sen- 
 timents displayed by the House of Burgesses of 1772, had not lost 
 their influence in 1787, when the federal constitution was formed. By 
 that instrument, Congress was prohibited from passing laws to prevent 
 the importation of slaves for twenty years. Tiiis shows the liability 
 of man to error; for in consequence of this most " unfortunate legi- 
 timation of the slave trade, it was carried on for tvjenty years upon a 
 large scale, and has sown a seed which has germinated with fatal fer- 
 tility, and threatens a dreadful retribution." 
 
 The spirit of the " Burgesses" of 1772, however, has never slept, 
 though for a while it certainly slumbered. 
 
 As early as 1777, we find Thomas Jefferson turning his attention 
 to the domestic economy of his country, and actually forming a plan 
 to remove, or undermine by gradual degrees the threatening evil, the 
 portentous cloud of future collision. 
 
 That plan was colonization ; and althoiigli the particulars of it can- 
 not now be given, it is believed that he contemplated the removal of 
 the free colored population of the country, to some of our western 
 vacant lands. Be that, however, as it may, the project failed, owing 
 doubtless, in part to the distractions and difficulties of the war of in- 
 dependence, and in part, to the novelty and magnitude of the under- 
 taking. 
 
 Subsequent events, and additional light, induce the belief, that 
 that failure should not be regretted — leaving out of the question, the 
 probable future danger of such an establishment within, or even con- 
 tiguous to any of our western states or territorial governments; other 
 considerations, of great weight, of immense interest, induce a ready 
 acquiescence in that failure. 
 
 To Mr. Jefferson however, justly belongs the praise of first moving 
 in the cause of colonization, as the only practicable and fair remedy of 
 rendering equal justice to all concerned. 
 
 Doctor Thomas Thornton, in 1787, adopting Mr. Jefferson's idea 
 of colonization, as the only possible mode of conferring upon the free 
 people of color, all the blessings of freedom, formed a plan for estab- 
 lishing a colony on the Western Coast of Africa, and published an 
 address to those residing in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, inviting 
 them to accompany him thither. A sufficient number of them agreed 
 to go, and were prepared for the expedition — but this project failed 
 for want of the necessary funds. 
 
 In 1800, or 1801, the Legislature of Virginia, inheriting a portion 
 01 iiie spirit of the House of Burgesses of 1772, and being deeply 
 
3 
 
 impressed with a sense of the indispensable necessity of seeking some 
 mode of relief, from the growing evils, consequent upon the rapid in- 
 crease of r.er colored population, determined, in secret session, to 
 move in tiie cause. The then Governor of the state, Mr. Monroe, 
 was instrucied to apply to the President of the United States, and 
 " urge liini to ip.stilute negotiations with some of the European pow- 
 ers possessed of colonies on the Coast of Africa, to grant an asylum 
 to which our emancipated negroes might be sent." 
 
 Mr. JeHerson opened a negotiation with the Sierra Leone Company 
 of London, who had made a settlement on the Western Coast of 
 Africa, but without success. He subsequently applied to the govern- 
 ment of Portugal, but in vain. His negotiations were then abandoned 
 as hopeless. 
 
 In 1816 the Legislature took up the subject again — and although 
 the lapse of fifteen years had given additional difficulty to it — although 
 the evil sought to be remedied had taken a deeper hold in the soil, and 
 was fast sending its venomous fangs into the very life's blood of her 
 health and prosperity, so far from looking upon this as an argument 
 for passive submission, it seems to have inspired her with additional 
 ardour and renewed zeal in the cause. 
 
 The following resolution, which was passed by a large majority, 
 shows the tone of her legislative feeling upon the subject, and maybe 
 considered as a good earnest of what it will do, when the sovereign 
 people move in the cause. 
 
 " Whereas, The General Assembly of Virginia have repeatedly 
 sought to obtain an asylum, beyond the limits of the United States, 
 for such persons of color as had been, or might be emancipated under 
 the laws of this Commonwealth, but have hitherto found all their ef- 
 forts frustrated, either by the disturbed state of other nations, or do- 
 mestic causes equally unpropitious to its success : they now avail 
 themselves of a period, when peace has healed the wounds of hu- 
 manity, and the principal nations of Europe have concurred with the 
 government of the United States, in abolishing the African Slave 
 Trade, (a traffic winch this Commonwealth, both before and since the 
 revolution, zealously sought to terminate) to renew this effi)rt : — 
 
 And do therefore Resolve, That tlie Executive be requested to cor- 
 respond with the President of the United States, for the purpose of 
 obtaining a territory on the coast of Africa, or at some other place, 
 not within any of the States, or territorial governments of the United 
 States, to serve as an asylum for such persons of color as are now 
 free, and may desire the same, and for those who may hereafter be 
 emancipated within this Commonwealth — and that the Senators and 
 Representatives in the Congress of the United States, be requested 
 to exert their best effi^rts to aid the President of the United States in 
 the attainment of the above objects — provided that no contract or 
 arrangement for such territory shall be obligatory on this Common- 
 wealth, until ratified by the Legislature." 
 
 By one of those remarkable coincidences which so strongly indi- 
 cate a superior presiding intelligence, whose purposes of benevolence 
 are commensurate with the wants and the miseries of the world, it so 
 happened, that in December 1816, a considerable number of citizens 
 
4 
 
 from different States, having had their attention drawn to the subject 
 by the untiring exertions of the late Rev'd. Doctor Findly of New 
 Jersey, and other gentlemen of high distinction, met in the city of 
 Washington to take into consideration the practicabihty of the plan, 
 which had been so frequently and ardently recommended hy Vir- 
 ginia. A meeting was organized by calling the Flon. Bushrod 
 Washington to the Chair. — Long^ earnest and eloquent debates en- 
 sued. — Henry Clay, John Randolph of Roanoke, and other powerful 
 orators addressed the meeting in favor of the plan — and it is worthy 
 of remark, that the last named gentleman, under the inspiring influ- 
 ence of his own eloquence, or enraptured with the prospect of the 
 great amount of good that the cause, successfully prosecuted, would 
 confer both upon his country, and the colored population thereof, 
 said, "if a place could be provided for their reception, and a mode 
 of sending them hence, there were hundreds, nay thousands, who 
 would by manumitting their slaves, relieve themselves from the cares 
 attendant on their possession." At this meeting, a letter from Mr. 
 Jefferson, dated in 1811, was read, in which, having mentioned his 
 negotiations with Sierra Leone and Portugal, he adds, "indeed no- 
 thing is more desirable than that the United States would themselves 
 undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa." 
 
 A Society, patronized by distinguished citizens from many States 
 was then formed, and was called 
 
 " The American Colonization Society, for colonizing with their 
 own consent, the free people of color of the United States, upon the 
 Western Coast of Africa." 
 
 The Hon. Bushrod Washington was appointed President ;— and 
 Messrs. Crawford, Clay, Rutgers, Howard and others, Vice-Presi- 
 dents. 
 
 So much for the rise of this truly important Institution. 
 
 ITS PROGRESS. 
 
 Owing to the want of funds, and the necessity of precautionary 
 movements in a cause so great, upon which was deemed to hang the 
 uliimate prosperity of the country, the experiment of its practicability 
 'was not fairly made until 1821 and '22. 
 
 Great doubts were entertained by multitudes of the possibility of 
 acquiring a suitable territory in Africa, — others doubted whether the 
 free blacks wou\d ever consent to go ; and others again, and they formed 
 a large class, turned the whole scheme into ridicule, and called its 
 warmest advocates Utopians — amiable entiiusiasts, and quixotic ad- 
 venturers. 
 
 But how stands the case now? 
 
 From 1821 to 1831, a period of ten years, the Society has pur- 
 chased a territory on the Western Coast of Africa, extending coast- 
 wise 280 miles, and running high up into the interior. 
 
 The territory at present under the actual jurisdiction of the Society, 
 extends from Grand Cape Mount to Trade Town, a distance of 150 
 miles. — It abounds with the richest varieties of flesh, fish, and fowl — 
 and greater varieties of fruits and vegetables than are found in the 
 most favored West-India Islands. 
 
6 
 
 The Colonists, in their address to their brethren in the United 
 States, say, more fertile soil, and a more productive country, so 
 far as it is cultivated, there is not we believe on the face of the earth" 
 — " sugar—cotton— coffee and indigo grow wild." 
 
 The climate is so peculiarly adapted to the healtli of emigrrints 
 from our Middle and Southern States, that not more than one in forty^ 
 have died in FIVE YEARS, from change of climate. 
 
 The territoiy is called Liberia— and the principal town, or capital, 
 udiich is located in about the 6th degree of North latitude, upon 
 Cape Montserado, is called, after the late President Monroe, Mon- 
 rovia. 
 
 The entire population of the colony is rising two thousand. — Mon- 
 rovia contains the largest number — all in the enjoyment of liberty, — 
 and advancing with unexampled rapidity in knowledge, industry, 
 agriculture, commerce, the mechanic arts, sobriety, and religion. 
 
 Foreigners — and our own citizens, and commanders of our national 
 ships, who have visited Monrovia, speak and w rite of it as presenting 
 one of the most interesting spectacles they have ever beheld — the 
 order — sobriety — -industry and application to business, shewn by its 
 citizens, is probabh^ unexampled, in the history of colonies. 
 
 Thus has the Society demonstrated, first, the practicability of se- 
 curing a suitable territory in Africa — and second, the practicability of 
 making a settlement of voluntary emigrants. 
 
 And tliose emigrants, whose faculties while the}^ were in this coun- 
 try were actually benumbed by reason ,of the necessary political, and 
 other disabilities with which they were oppressed, have manifested a 
 capability of expansion of intellect, and of moral culture, which most 
 forcibly demonstrates their relationship to the great mass of mankind. 
 
 The Legislatures of fifteen States have passed resolutions approv- 
 ing the objects of the Institution, and the Legislature of Maryland, 
 in 1831, appropriated two hundred thousand dollars, to aid such of her 
 free colored population as might choose to emigrate to Liberia, or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 There are seventeen State Societies, Auxiliary to the Parent Insti- 
 tution at Washington, and more than two hundred Auxiliary to these. 
 
 So much for the rise and progress of this cause to the present time. 
 
 The necessity of increasinfr and untiring exertions, upon a more en- 
 larged scale is, or ought to be obvious to all reflecting persons. 
 
 Considered as a mere matter of State policy, it is an undertaking 
 of unexampled importance. What congeniality of feeling, of design 
 and of interest is there between the free colored population and the 
 whites ? None — no, not the smallest. Is not this made as clear as 
 day, by the character of our police regulations? But some may say 
 these very regulations have produced the unfriendly tone of feeling 
 and conduct which exist in that part of our population. But this is 
 not true. The cause of that feeling is of more ancient date and of 
 deeper dye than any legislative enactments. It is found in the North 
 as well as in the South, in the East as well as in the West. It is in 
 their color. They know it — they feel it. It is that which presents 
 an eternal barrier to any thing like cordiality of feeling and unity of 
 interest, while they remain among us. 
 
6 
 
 The mournful issue of the recent occurrences in this Common- 
 wealth, speaks volumes in favor of the cause. And when it is con- 
 sidered that this State contains more than one-fiftJi of the entire 
 colored population of the United States, between whom and ourselves 
 nothing like perfect cordiality can ever exist, surely every man will 
 feel himself bound zealously to aid in gradually removing those who 
 are now free, and such as may hereafter becoQie free. 
 
 But the benevolent purpose of the schem.e is not limited to the con- 
 fines of one continent, nor to the prosperity of a solitary race. For 
 while it will, under suitable patronage, gradually remove from our 
 own borders a growing evil, it promises to Africa the ultimate pay- 
 ment of a debt so long due to her. A debt in men, money and 
 morals. 
 
 It has already effected a.greater amount of good in arresting and 
 putting down the slave trade from Grand Cape Mount to Trade Town, 
 embracing a coast distance of one hundred and fifty miles, than ten 
 limes the value of the money which has been expended in the pur- 
 chase of the territory, and in the transportation thither of more than 
 two thousand emigrants. 
 
 A beacon fire is now kindled at Monrovia, — and from the lofty cape 
 of Montserado, a broad blaze of light is shining forth into the darkest 
 recesses of Africa. Already have her children sprung into new life, 
 and disdaining their former mode of living, are earnestly pressing for 
 liberty to become fellow citizens with our liberated slaves. Turning 
 away with disgust and horror from the traffic in each others blood, to 
 which they were reduced by a necessity entailed upon them by the 
 agency of our own color, they are now cultivating their own rich soil, 
 dressing and pruning their own luxuriant palm trees, and bearing to 
 Monrovia, to Millsburg and to Caldwell the fruits of their honest in- 
 dustry, for barter and trade. Gradually losing their relish for savage 
 life, their children are learning in the schools of the colony, the lan- 
 guage, the customs, the mechanic arts and tiie religion of our eman- 
 cipated slaves, w ho in their turn, are laying the foundation for an em- 
 pire of repuhlicsj breathing the spirit of our own happy institutions. 
 
 The plan opens to the patriotic a large field of glorious action. It 
 cheers the heart of the philanthropist, and furnishes to the christian 
 philosopher another developement of those mysterious plans of Divine 
 Providence, by which he wiil effect all the purposes of his unlimited 
 benevolence, and bring order out of disorder, and everlasting good 
 out of temporary evil. 
 
 Now is the time for action — -the work can be done. Away then 
 with all cold hearted calculations of cost and of difficulty. Had the 
 fathers of our revolution reasoned thus, where would we, their chil- 
 dren, now be? Either contending single handed with the despotism 
 of Europe for liberty, or with our high faculties benumbed, delighting 
 ourselves with the favours of royalty, and dancing to the rattling of 
 our chains. But they reasoned not thus—they saw the prize, and 
 said we wiil secure it for ourselves and for our children, cost what it 
 may. 
 
 it is readily granted, that voluntary coiitributions alone will not be 
 sufficient to carry on the cause as rapidly as it ought now to advance. 
 
7 
 
 Much, even more than was expected by its warmest friends, has been 
 done by private aid. Id demonstrating the practicability of securing 
 a'sufiicient territory in Africa — -in planting a colony oi voluntary emi- 
 grants — in making it plain to the free blacks diemselves, that it is their 
 highest interest to emigrate, that by so doing they will advance and 
 establish upon an imrnovenhh basis the independence and happiness of 
 their color; the Society has vanquished all the original difficulties 
 which were thrown in the way, and have earned tor the cause the right 
 to claim all that aid which it now needs and seeks from those states 
 who are more immediately interested in its complete success. 
 
 The wa}- for state legislative action and aid is now fairly opened. 
 -Maryland has availed herself of the opportunity-, and with a liberality 
 worthy of universal imitation, has appropriated t«o hundred thousand 
 dollars to be expended in aid of such of her free colored population 
 as may choose to emigrate. " 
 
 , And will not Virginia, whose House of Burgesses of 17 72, foresaw 
 and endeavored by a spirited address to the king of Great Britain to 
 prevent the evil, noiv Xa.ke up the cause? Will not T^irginia, whose 
 Jefferson in 1777, originated the plan of colonization, and whose le- 
 gislature in ISOl, and again in 1816, pressed it upon the general go- 
 vernment with an ardour and a zeal shewins: the maErnitude of the 
 cause, now arise and give to it the aid it seeks ? She stands commit- 
 ted upon the question, and nothing^ now wanted but the united ac- 
 tion of the people — their voice is with her legislature, an authority of 
 resistless force. 
 
 Let the people then in all the counties of the state form themselves 
 into societies, auxiliary to the Virginia State Society at Richmond, 
 and let those societies instruct their delegates and senators, and me- 
 morialize the legislature, and the cause will prevail. 
 
 The state contains something less than forty-eight thousand free 
 colored persons. Many of them are panting for an opportunity to 
 become citizens of Liberia. Let the State but favor the cause with 
 a liberal appropriation for ten successive years, and such changes will 
 take place in all the various departments of our domestic economy as 
 will surprizp. and delight every man, and will doubtless lead succeeding 
 generations to continue the plan until every object uf the warmest 
 philanthropist will be fully realized. 
 
 Although the object of the Society is the removal only of such as 
 are now free, and of such as may hereafter become fi-ee, it may not be 
 out of place to remark here, that, should it ever be the pleasure of the 
 people to agree to give up their slaves, or their increase, they could 
 not do so if this Society should become extinct. They could not do 
 so, if the cause of colonization be even now suffered to languish. 
 
 Should it ever be made plain to the citizens by their own experience 
 or observation, that they could do much better icithout them than they 
 are now doing luith them, they would nevertheless be obliged to keep 
 them, or send them to Liberia. 
 
 It is in this way, and in this way only, that colonization societies, 
 both in the north and in the south, touch the delicate question of 
 slavery. 
 
 The Parent Society at Washington, with the aid of its auxiliaries, 
 
8 
 
 has prepared an asylum for all that are now free^ and for such as may 
 hereafter be made free. It has, in a word, fully accomplished the ob- 
 jects of the resolution of the legislature of 1816. 
 
 In the hope that many who may rend this " brief statement," may 
 be disposed to become active friends of the cause, the writer has ad- 
 ded the form of a Consiilution for an Auxiliary Society. 
 
 Norfolk, Va., Sept. 20, 1832. 
 
 FORM OF A CONSTITUTION FOR AN AUXILIARY 
 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 Article 1. — This Society shall be called the 
 Colonization Society, and shall be auxiliary to the objects of the Vir- 
 ginia State Colonization Society at Richmond. 
 
 Article 2. — The object to which it shall be exclusively directed, shall 
 be lo aid the parent institution at Richmond in the colonization of the 
 free colored people of the State of Virginia, with their own consent, 
 on the coast of Africa. 
 
 Article 3. — An annual subscription of one dollar or upwards, shall 
 constitute an individual a member of the society, and the payment at 
 any one time of dollars, a member for life. 
 
 Article 4. — The officers of tl^**Society shall be President, 
 Vice President, Managers, -a Secretary and 
 
 Tr-'-asur'^r. to be elected at th'^^ annual meeting cf the society, -by ttfie 
 members thereof. 
 
 Article 5. — The President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasu- 
 rer shall be ex-officio members of the Board of Managers. 
 
 Article 6. — The Board of Managers shall transact the business of 
 the Society, and fill all vacancies in their number, shall 
 constitute a quorum. 
 
 Article 7. — The Treasurer shall keep the accounts and take charge, 
 subject to the order and regulations of the Board of Managers, of 
 the funds of the Society. 
 
 Article 8. — The Secretary shall keep records of the proceedings, 
 the names of members and amount of subscriptions, and conduct the 
 correspondence of the Society. 
 
 Article 9. — The President, or in his absence the Vice President, or 
 in his absence any tliree of the Managers may call a meeting of the 
 Society. 
 
 Article 10.-- The Society may elect a delegate to attend the annual 
 meeting in January of the Parent Society iit Richmond. 
 
 Article 11. — The annual meeting of the Society shall he held on 
 the day of in or at 
 
1 
 
 1 
 
 Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Form 335. 25M— 7-38— S 
 
L 
 
 325.373 A326 V.2 nos.1-7 
 
 342888