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 STATEMENT 
 
 
 eto'ftorli wi^it j|crl0n;i5attan w^tui'^ 
 
 AS TO ITS 
 
 DIFFERENCES 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY 
 
 MARCH, 1870. 
 
 New-Yokk : 
 
 S. W. GREEN, PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND BINDER, 
 
 Corner of Frankfort and Jacob Streets. 
 
 1870. 
 
 J 
 

C'or-ONizATiON Office. Room 23 Bible Hotise^ I 
 New-York, March 15, 1870. i 
 
 At the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Control of the New- York 
 State Colonization Society, held this day, the President of the Society, Hon. 
 James W. Beekman in the chair, a statement, prepared by a committee pre- 
 viously appoint^l, was reported complete, whereuixm the Board passed the fol- 
 lowing resolution : 
 
 Besolved, That the statement of this society, as to its differences with the 
 American Colonization Society, prepared and now presented to the Board of 
 Control, be adopted, and copies be given to persons interested in the cause of 
 African colonization, whose minds may have been abused l)v the false state- 
 ments put forth against this society. 
 
 A true copy from the minutes of the Board. 
 
 J. M. Goldberg, 
 
 Recording Secrttai'y. 
 
STATEMENT 
 
 New-Yokk State Colonization Society. 
 
 It is known to many of the friends of the enterprise for colo- 
 nizing people of color from the United States upon the coast 
 of Africa that a serious difficulty has recently arisen to disturb 
 the friendly relations previously existing between the ISTew- 
 York State Colonization Society and the Amei'ican Coloniza- 
 tion Society. The New-York State Society, although feeling 
 keenly the course pursued by the latter society to break up such 
 relations, has remained silent, in the fear that a public explana- 
 tion of them might prove injurious to the cause, and in the hope 
 that, wlien the directors of the x\merican Colonization Society 
 should have the matter fully laid before them, they would 
 take such action as should insure the return of kind feelings, 
 and a hearty promotion of the great work in which both socie- 
 ties have so long labored. That hope has been disappointed 
 by the action of the American Colonization Society, at its 
 annual meeting at Washington, in January, 1870; and the de- 
 velopments there made have convinced the Board of Control of 
 the ISTew-York State Colonization Society that greater mis- 
 chief would ensue from a continued and silent submission to 
 the acts it complains of, than can possibly arise from a pre- 
 sentation to its friends of the true state of the case. 
 
 It is well understood by those conversant with the prosecu- 
 tion of enterprises of benevolence requiring contributions 
 from the public for support, that it is very desirable, if not 
 absolutely necessary to tlieir success, that separate organiza- 
 tions, having similar plans, should not by rival agencies occupy 
 
tlie same field for obtaining aid. The history of the coloniza- 
 tion enterprise in this country has furnished an illustration 
 of this truth. The American Colonization Society, having its 
 headquarters at "Washington, was formed in 1817, liaving for 
 its single purpose the colonization of free people of color of the 
 United States. In the language of its constitution, "Its atten- 
 tion is to be exclusively directed to promote and execute a 
 plan for colonizing, with their own consent, the free people of 
 color of our country in Africa," etc. From tlie time of its or- 
 ganization it prosecuted its work with contributions fnrnished 
 to it by individuals, and by separate auxiliar}^ societies formed 
 in many States, counties, cities, and villages. These societies 
 collected funds, and were represented by their delegates at the 
 annual meetings held at Washington. 
 
 For several years prior to 1833, many persons friendly to the 
 negro race had objected to the plans of the American Coloni- 
 zation Society, as tending chiefly to fasten slavery in the slave- 
 holding States, by removing from them those who had been 
 emancipated, and among other things, used as evidence of the 
 fact, was a resolution of the society, passed at its annual meet- 
 ing in 1826, in the following form : 
 
 " 2. Resolved, That its only object is, what it has at all times avowed, tht> 
 removal to the coast of Africa, witli their own consent, of such people of 
 color within the United States as are already free, and of such others as the 
 humanity of individuals and the laws of dilferent States may hereafter liber- 
 ate." 
 
 It was also alleged that, wliile carrying emigrants to Africa, 
 the same ships carried rum for sale to slave-traders there ; that 
 some of the colonists were engaged in ])romotiiig the traffic in 
 slaves ; that instead of efforts to civilize the native Africans, they 
 were levying war upon them ; and that the removal of the emi- 
 grants to Africa had l)een attended with fearful mortality. 
 There was a color for some of these objections ; but although 
 the friends of the cause in the Northern States were assured that 
 the facts charged were highly exaggerated, and in the main un- 
 just, it was difficult to resist the impression which they made, 
 and, in the opinion of many benevolent men in the State of 
 New-York, it was deemed necessary to the proper prosecution 
 of the colonization ])lan that a colony should be formed on prin- 
 
dples more distinctly benevolent than were expressed in the 
 constitution of the American Society. 
 
 In the year 1833, the Maryland Colonization Society with- 
 drew from the American, and began an independent colony at 
 Cape Palmas. In the same year, this society, then known as 
 the New- York City Colonization Society — conducted by sueli 
 men as Dr. Milnor, Dr. Spring, Judge Duer, Anson G, Phelps, 
 Esq., and others not less respected — resolved to form a model 
 colony at Cape Mount, forty-five miles north of Monrovia. 
 In the spring and summer of 1834, a plan of union, pro- 
 posed by the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania to this society, was accepted, and the two societies, with 
 the consent of the American Colonization Society, founded 
 a colony at Bassa Cove, on principles of Peace, Temperance, 
 Education, and Civilization. As auxiliaries of the Ame- 
 rican Colonization Society, the New- York and Pennsylvania 
 societies contributed to it thirty per cent, afterward modified, 
 on the proposition of the American Colonization Society, to 
 ten per cent of their income. And so cordial was the con- 
 sent of the American Colonization Society to this plan of 
 separate action, that they not only recognized the right of 
 these societies to an exclusive occupancy of those States for 
 their work, but, by the following resolution, extended to them 
 the same exclusive right to the State of New-Jersey as a 
 collecting field, by a resolution passed in 1831: : 
 
 " 4. Besoloed, That the State of New-Jersey shall be hereafter given up for 
 the purpose of collections for the Colonization cause to the New- York Gity 
 Auxiliary Society and the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania on the sauifi 
 terms as the States of Pennsylvania and New-York are now exclusively occu. 
 pied as a field for colonizing exertions by said societies." 
 
 A colony was subsequently formed at Sinou Eiver by the 
 Louisiana and Mississippi Colonization societies. Thus four 
 independent colonies were in progress, conducted according to 
 the views of the different State societies, having their own 
 governors and laws. 
 
 This sej^arate and independent State action continued 
 until 1839. During this period the experience of the 
 promoters of the several enterprises indicated the neces- 
 sity of a union, to secure harmony and efficiency of action, 
 
and a plan was devised and adopted to effect the object. 
 The constitution of the American Society was changed, so 
 as to pLace it in tlie control of a board of directors com- 
 posed of delegates from State and territorial societies. 
 As a part of tlie plan of nnion. the management of colo- 
 nization in the States of Xew-Tork and Pennsylvania was 
 expressly reserved to this and the Pennsylvania Society.* 
 
 From tliat time, the American Colonization Society, np to 
 Mai'ch, 1S09, invariably recognized the compact between 
 that society and this as binding npon it and its othcers. At its 
 annual meetings its directors had recognized it, and its agents 
 were forbidden to make collections within what was deemed 
 the territory of this society. It has now violated this compact 
 under circumstances which the Xew-York State Colonization 
 Society believes to be a breach of good faith, and of deep and 
 lasting injury to the welfare of the Republic of Liberia, 
 planted and hitherto sustained by the joint elibrts of all 
 engaged in the entei-prise. 
 
 Prior to the political troubles which commenced in 1S61, the 
 New- York State Society had, in pursuance of the plan of imion, 
 prosecuted its work by the diffusion of intelligence, through its 
 secretary and agents, awakening the interest of the bene- 
 volent throughout the State to the importance of founding 
 and enlarging colonies in Africa, to be centres of Christian and 
 civilizing inlluence, and the promotion of education, the 
 industrial arts, and Christianity not only among the colonists, 
 but their aboriginal neighbors. During this period, it not only 
 made large collections, of which it appropriated many thousand 
 dollars directly to the treasury of the American Society, and 
 expended the residue in aid of the general enterprise, but 
 awakened such an interest in the public mind that large sums 
 were annually given directly to the American Society, by 
 persons thus interested through its agency. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, an indisposition to emi- 
 grate was manifested throughout the whole negro population 
 of our country. This appears from the fact that, with an over- 
 liowing treasury, the American society was able during the 
 war to send only the number of emigrants as follows : In 1861, 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
fifty-four; in 1S62, sixty-fivse ; in 1863, twenty-six; in 1864:, 
 twenty-three. In view of this fact, and the further fact that, 
 while actively engaged in the political troubles which it was 
 generally believed would result in great changes in the rela- 
 tions of the negro population, there was an indisposition to 
 contribute to the colonization enterprise, the Xew-York State 
 Society in 1863 resolved to suspend its agencies, and reduce its 
 expenses to the smallest sum consistent with the maintenance 
 of its organization and the administration of trust funds Avhich 
 had been given to it for educational purposes. "With the same 
 object of economy, its Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Dr. 
 Pinney, who had been for thirty years, as missionary, colonial 
 governor, and secretary, in connection with the enterprise, 
 voluntarily offered his resignation. It was, however, by the 
 Board of Directors unanimously refused, and he was permitted 
 leave of absence until a favorable time should arrive to renew 
 their active operations. From this time, although not in active 
 service, and for the greater part of the time without salary, 
 he remained in connection with the society as its correspond- 
 ing secretary. 
 
 In August, 1866, tlie financial secretary applied to the jS^ew- 
 York State Society for funds to aid to transport a party of emi- 
 grants, or for permission to make an appeal for aid in this State, 
 distinctlv recognizino- that tlie Board of Directors of the Ame- 
 rican Colonization Society had directed that no such appeal be 
 made here without our consent. He wrote : 
 
 " You are aware that tJie Board of Directors have forbidden us to make, such 
 appeals in States where tliere are societies. If it were not for this, and if the 
 State societies were icUling that ice should plow in their fields, we should at 
 once issue to our friends everywhere a call for aid, and I believe we should 
 get it, get it liberally, and somewhat in the manner we did on a former occa- 
 sion for the Herndon slaves ! The great States of Pennsylvania, Xew-Yorls, 
 and Massachusetts used to be our main dependence in such emergencies !" 
 
 The resolutions of the Board thus alluded to were as follows : 
 
 1851. — "Resolved, That all appeals for funds, which the Executive Com- 
 mittee of the Parent Society may desire to make in any State wliere there 
 is an Auxiliary Society in active operation, should first be communicated to 
 the proper agency of the State Society, and should in all cases be made 
 through them, and that all collections so made should be passed to the credit 
 of said Society on the books of the Executive Committee." 
 
 1855. — " Besolved, That hereafter all appeals from the Corresponding Se- 
 
6 
 
 cretary, the General Agent, or the Executive Committee, for funds for any 
 purpose connected ■with the objects of the American Colonization Society 
 in States -wherein auxiliary societies exist, shall be made only through said 
 societies and under their direction." 
 
 The !New-York State Society, at its first meeting, Septem- 
 ber, 1866, after receipt of the letter from the financial secre- 
 tary above mentioned, passed a resolution that, 
 
 " In the event of the American Society not having ample funds for the object, 
 this Society will not object to the American Society sending a collecting agent 
 to our field, provided the funds collected be paid over to our treasurer, with 
 tlie understanding that said sum shall be directed to defraying the expense 
 of the emigrants named." 
 
 This was transmitted, with letters explanatory, which ex- 
 pressly informed the financial secretary that the measure 
 was only a temporaiy one, to be terminated when the New- 
 York State Society should resume active operations. 
 
 Subsequently, in 1866, some collections were made in this 
 State by the traveling secretary of the American Society, and 
 in the early part of 1867 he came to New-York, and 
 commenced a collecting agency here. He was received by 
 the officers of the New- York State Society with cordiality, as 
 coming under the permission given, and all the means within 
 their power were extended to him to aid him in his work. 
 
 Early in 1868, a meeting of friends of the cause was convened 
 in the city of New- York, which recommended a renewal of 
 the operations of the New- York State Colonization Society. 
 Shortly after, a meeting of the board of directors was called, 
 at which a resolution was passed appointing a recording se- 
 cretary in place of Joseph B. Collins, Esq., who had died, to take 
 charge of the oftice until tlie annual election, which should 
 take place in the montli of May. It tlien became known that 
 Dr. Pinney, who had been for some time in the Pacific States, 
 was expected home, and an attempt was thereupon made by 
 the traveling secretary to prevent his reelection to liis office. 
 A letter of the traveling secretary upon the files of the Ame- 
 rican Colonization Society at Washington, written nearly a year 
 after, shows that this attempt was a part of a plan advised by 
 a paid official of that society, to cause a difficulty in the New- 
 York State Society, in such a manner as to get control of the 
 trust funds it held. Tlie followinir is the extract: 
 
" Soon after I came liere, Rev. Dr. Tracy, in a letter to lue, said, ' Do try to 
 reorganize the New-York Society. Have a qiiarrel and split if necessary, un- 
 desirable as that would be. Bring Dodge and others to assert their rights 
 and exert their power. Preserve the identity of the society under the charter, 
 for the sake of the invested funds. You can not do a better thing.' There 
 was occasion for such advice, and I think an influence in the right direction 
 has been exerted." 
 
 It is to be remarked that Dr. Tracy's letter must have l)een 
 written when the New-York State Society was harmoniously 
 actiuf^ to aid the agency of the American Society in making 
 collections, and that the letter of the traveling secretary con- 
 taining the extract was written after he had attempted to get 
 up the "quarrel and split" recommended by Dr. Tracy. 
 
 The annual election took place May 30th, 1868, resulting in 
 the reelection of all the officers chosen at the last preceding 
 election, who had not deceased, with the single exception of a 
 vice-president, who had not for many years attended a meet- 
 ing of the board. Subsequently a resolution was passed by 
 the board of managers, permitting the continuance of the 
 agency of the traveling secretary in the State, and this per- 
 mission continued until in February. IStJO, when a resolution 
 was passed of which the following is a copy : 
 
 " Besohed, That the American Colonization Society at Washington be and 
 is hereby respectfully requested, by the New-York State Colonization Society, 
 to transfer Rev. Dr. Orcutt, now laboring in New-York, to another field of 
 labor." 
 
 This was sent to the corresponding secretary at Washing- 
 ton, and in reply was received a communication of which the 
 following is a copy : 
 
 " Resolved, That this committee has received, and considered with deep sen- 
 sibility, the resolution passed by the New-York State Colonization Society on 
 the 23d day of February last, requesting the withdrawal of Rev. Dr. Orcutt 
 from his field of labor in New-York. 
 
 " The basis of the organization of the parent society, its object and aim, is 
 colonization of the free people of color in Africa. That requires concentrated 
 action and one exclusive body. To that end the whole energies of the society 
 must be directed. No portion of its labor is more important than the collec- 
 tion of funds, and no part of the country is so available in that respect as the 
 State of New-York. 
 
 " Entertaining these views, we deeply regret that the State Society of New. 
 York has taken the views expressed in that resolution, for we earnestly desire 
 to continue in full harmony with them. 
 
8 
 
 " But our duty is plain. We can not accede to their request, and ve direct 
 Uiat a copy of this resolution he communicated by the corresponding secretary 
 to the secretary of that society, as an answer to that resolution." 
 
 This response from the executive committee was received 
 with the utmost surprise. The members of onr board of 
 managers were disposed to assume tliat the action of the com- 
 mittee must have arisen from a misunderstanding of the reha- 
 tions of the two societies, and with a disposition to prevent 
 the existence of any but the most kindly feeling, determined 
 to preserve silence concerning it until the annual meeting 
 of the American Society, when they hoped the matter 
 could be properly and satisfactorily adjusted. In pursuance of 
 this determination a memorial was prepared, passed by the 
 Board of Control of the New-York State Society unanimously, 
 and signed by the president and secretary of this board, and 
 presented to the Board of Directors of the American Society at 
 its annual meeting in January, 1870.* 
 
 This memorial that board refused to consider, and uncere- 
 moniously laid it upon its table. The American Society has 
 thus approved the act of its executive committee in violating 
 a compact existing for more than thirty years, and giving no 
 reason for it except that it desires to cultivate the Held which 
 by that compact it conceded to us. In the annual report of 
 its executive committee to the board of directors, a reference 
 is made to the rerpiest of this society to the American Society 
 to withdraw its agcnc}^ here, and the following statement is 
 made in reference to the subject : 
 
 " We also understand that the Board of Manag^ers of the New- York State 
 Society was composed sulistantially of new men ; that tliere had been wliat 
 might bo called a revolution ; that the old, lontr-tried, {jreat men, who had 
 been members, had been turned out, and a new set of men i)ut in. 
 
 * « * -» * * -"- * 
 
 " For years i)ast, that society has not only failed to perform the duties of an 
 auxiliary, but has systematically opposed the policy, and attem])ted to defeat 
 the plans of the parent society. In doing so, acting with entire indepen- 
 dence, adoi)ting and seeking to execute their own plans of operation in dis- 
 regard of and against the will of the parent society, they have, as it were, 
 separated themselves from it." 
 
 The allegations against this society contained in this extract 
 are entirely without foundation, and are calumnious. We have 
 learned from a member of the executive committee, that its ac- 
 
 * See Appendix B — Memorial. 
 
9 
 
 tion was influenced by letters, three of which emanated from 
 the traveling secretary of the society referred to ahove. 
 These letters only recently came to the knowledge of the 
 officers of the New- York State Society. The extract from 
 one of these from the traveling secretary, before qnoted, M'ill 
 explain the plan Avhicli he, in pursuance of the advice ot 
 another stipendiary of the society, had persistently pursued 
 since he first came to New- York, under the permission kindly 
 and cordially extended to the American society to send an 
 agent here until we should renew our work, then temporarily 
 suspended. 
 
 There was also an allegation in one of these letters of the 
 traveling secretary, that — 
 
 " The amount the parent society received in cash from the New- York State 
 Colonization Society since 1849, nearly twenty years, is less than $12,000, and 
 the entire amount obtained has not averaged $1000 a year for the last fifteen 
 years ;" 
 
 which is simply untrue. In the American Colonization So- 
 ciety's official publication, The African Bepository^ there arc 
 acknowledgments of moneys received from the Treasurer of the 
 New- York State Colonization Society, for the fifteen years 
 from January, 184:9, to December, 1SG3, when the latter society 
 suspended its agencies, amounting to $26,213.74, as follows : 
 
 1849, Feb. and July $6000 00 
 
 1850, Feb., June, July 7300 00 
 
 1853, Jan., August 3898 02 
 
 1854, May 33 00 
 
 1855, Jan., April 1060 00 
 
 1856, Feb., Sept 2907 67 $26,213 74 
 
 During the same period, nearly as large a sum was received 
 from legacies and donations, making the total paid into the 
 treasury at Washington, from the State of New-York, over 
 $53,000, as the following table, prepared from The African 
 Repository^ shows : 
 
 1857, Jan., Feb., Mar., April. $3105 7(5 
 
 1858, Jan 922 90 
 
 1862, Jan 786 39 
 
 1863, Feb 200 00 
 
 1849 $7011 59 
 
 1850 8205 00 
 
 1851.... 425 63 
 
 1852 314 78 
 
 1853 3956 23 
 
 1854 148 30 
 
 1855 2613 87 
 
 1856 14322 26 
 
 1857 7757 27 
 
 This was an average of $3586 per annum, 
 
 1858 $937 73 
 
 1859 1905 56 
 
 1860 3620 99 
 
 1861 1449 29 
 
 1862 ■ 909 66 
 
 1863 220 00 
 
 An aggregate of. .$53,798 16 
 
10 
 
 In addition to this, during that period the New- York State 
 Society obtained educational funds, whicli it now holds, for 
 theological and collegiate education, and annually expended 
 thousands of dollars in promoting the colonization enter- 
 prise, in full accord with the American Colonization So- 
 ciety, and with its cordial approbation. It expended large 
 sums in assisting the Republic of Liberia to acquire additional 
 territory, in order to break up slave factories ; large sums in 
 promoting the advancement of its citizens in agriculture, and 
 the promotion of the production of sugar and coffee ; and over 
 thirteen thousand dollars in the cause of education. It pub- 
 lished a valuable paper, circulating 9000 copies monthly, to 
 diffuse information concerning the enterprise, awaken the 
 interest of the benevolent, and induce them to contribute 
 to it. It also employed agents to lecture for the same pur- 
 pose, and sent several hundred intelligent and useful men of 
 color from the Northern States to help build up a Libcrian na- 
 tionality. It is hardly possible tliat the traveling secretary 
 was ignorant of these facts. Such an ignorance, if it did exist, 
 should have restrained him from the statement made and 
 placed before the Executive Committee. 
 
 But however the Executive Committee may have been mis- 
 led, the Board of Directors at the annual meeting had the 
 facts before them, and permitted the statement of the Execu- 
 tive Committee to remain upon its records uncontradicted. 
 
 The further allegation of the Executive Committee that the 
 resolution of this society emanated from new men, m'Iio have by 
 a revolution displaced " the old, long-tried, great men" who 
 had formerly guided its counsels, was utterly at variance with 
 the fact. The election in May, 18GS, at which the officers were 
 elected who constituted its Board of Managers when the reso- 
 lution requesting the withdrawal of the American Society's agent 
 w^as passed, and when the refusal of the Executive Committee 
 of the American Society was sent to the New-York State So- 
 ciety, resulted in the election of the same officers who had been 
 elected at tlie previous election in ISGG, and who for several 
 successive years before had been, with the exception of those 
 removed l)y deatli, or whose places had been vacated by resig- 
 nation or removal from their residence, and one vice-president, 
 
11 
 
 M'lio had not for years attended a meeting oi the board, wliose 
 place was filled by another person. It is proper here to 
 state that, as it would seem in pursuance of the plan in- 
 dicated in the letter of the traveling secretary, he made an 
 attempt to prevent the reelection of the corresponding secre- 
 tary, and for this purpose intruded himself into a committee 
 of the managers appointed according to tlie usual custom of the 
 society to make nominations for the election, and there endea- 
 vored most earnestly to prevent the nomination ; and afterward, 
 on the election day, obtruded himself into the meeting held for 
 the purpose, he not being an elector. At this meeting there 
 were four members of the society who withdrew ; twelve others 
 of long standing earnestly desirous of Dr. Pinney's election, and 
 twenty-eight persons who had recently become members, some 
 uf them by the contribution of one who had for thirty years 
 been a manager of the society, one of the most active of its 
 friends, and one of the largest contributors to the enterprise. 
 His avowed object was not to create any ^revolution, but to 
 prevent a threatened effort to revolutionize the society, and 
 to get up " a quarrel and a split," so as to control the trust 
 funds of the society. Whether the act was or was not wise, 
 it was his act, and not the act of the society or its Board of 
 Managers. The result showed his caution was not necessary, 
 as the surviving officers, one excepted, were elected with entire 
 unanimity, with the exception that a single vote was cast for 
 a person not elected. A list of the officers elected in the years 
 1865, 1866, and 1868, is here given, which shows that the alle- 
 gation in the Executive Conmiittee's report, that there had 
 been a revolution and a change of men in the government of 
 the New- York State Society is without a semblance of fact. 
 
 Officers of the New-York State Colonization Society for 1865, as published 
 in the report of the thirty-third annual meetintr, reelected in 1866 without a 
 single change, and holding over in 1867, there being no election in that year 
 are as follows : 
 
 President. 
 
 *Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D. 
 
 Vice- Presidents. 
 
 *William E. Dodge, New-York. *Hon. William C. Alexander, N. Y. 
 
 *Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., N. Y. *Hon. Samuel A. Foote, Geneva. 
 
 *Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., N. Y. *Rev. J. P. Durbin, D.D., New- York. 
 
12 
 
 James Boorraan, N. Y., deceased. 
 Hon. K. H. Walworth, " 
 
 *Hon. D. S. Gre^i^ory, New- Jersey. 
 W. P. Van Rensselaer, Westchester. 
 *IIirani KetcUuni, Xew-York. 
 Hon. Washincrton Hunt, deceased. 
 *Hon. Hamilton Fish, New- York. 
 *Hon. Edwin D. Morgan, New- York. 
 *Jame8 Lenox, New-York. 
 
 *Hemion Camp, Trumansburg. 
 *Hon. J. B. Skinner, Wyoming. 
 *Rev. Benjamin I. Haight, D.D., N.Y. 
 *Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, D.D., N. Y. 
 *Rev. E. S. Janes, D.D., New-York. 
 *Moses Allen, New-York. 
 *Hon. Horatio Seymoiir, Utica. 
 *Hon. Edward Huntinoton, Rome. 
 Hon. Henry A. Foster, Oswego. 
 
 Corrcspondinrj Secretary. 
 *Rev. John B. Pinney, LL.D., New-York. 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
 Joseph B. Collins, New- York, deceased. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 *Caleb Swan, New-York. 
 
 Board of Managers. 
 
 Francis Hall, deceased, 
 *H. M. Schieffelin, 
 *Nathaniel Haydon, 
 *W. B. Wedgwood, 
 *Rev. S. D. Denison, 
 *S. A. Schieffelin, 
 *Isaac T. Smith. 
 *Hon. James W. Beekman, 
 *Tliomas Davenport, 
 *Rev. D. B. Coe, D.D., 
 C. W. Field, resigned, 
 *G. P. Disosway, 
 *Rev. John N. McLeod, 
 *H. I. Baker, 
 
 ^Benjamin H. Field, 
 
 D. D. Williamson, deceased, 
 
 *Lebbeus B. Ward, 
 
 *Anson G. Stokes, 
 
 *Wi]liani Tracy, 
 
 *A. Merwin, 
 
 *Rev. S. D. Alexander, D.D., 
 
 *Sidney E. Morse, 
 
 *Robert M. Hartley, 
 
 *Rev. John C. Lowric, D.D., 
 
 *H. K. Bull, 
 
 *Robert Porterfield, 
 
 *Josoph W. Yates, 
 
 *N. T. Spear. 
 
 Every one of them having a * before his name was reelected in 1868. 
 Those without a * Avere those for whom substitutes were elected, as above 
 mentioned. 
 
 Copies of tilis list were before tlie Board of Directors of the 
 American Colonization Society. Yet tlie statement of the 
 E.KCCutive Committee was permitted to become a part of its 
 records. 
 
 We submit to our friends whether a benevolent societ}' in- 
 corporating in its records such calumnious statements, demon- 
 strated to their directors to be unfounded, is not justly repre- 
 hensible for the act. 
 
 The Board of Control are persuaded that these allegations 
 referred to in the report of the E.xecutive Connnittec had been 
 prepared and successfully used prior to the annual meeting to 
 
IS 
 
 excite a hostility in relation to the New-York State Coloniza- 
 tion Society. 
 
 Article five of the constitution of the American society is as 
 follows : 
 
 " There sliall be a Board of Directors composed of tlie Directors for life, and 
 of Delegates from the several State Societies and Societies for the District of 
 Columbia and Territories of the United States. Each of such Societies shall 
 be entitled to one delegate for every five hundred dollars paid into the trea- 
 sury of this Society within the year ending on the day of the annual 
 meeting." 
 
 At the annual meeting, in 1S63, a committee consisting of 
 three directors to give an interpretation to this fifth article, 
 reported a resolution, which was unanimously passed, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, the true construc- 
 tion of the fifth article of the constitution, which declares ' that each State 
 society shall be entitled to one delegate for every five hundred dollars paid 
 into the Treasury of the society within the year previous to the annual meet- 
 ing,' includes not only all moneys actually remitted by such State Society, but 
 all moneys expended by it under the direction or by the authority of this so- 
 ciety in writing ; all moneys received during the year from legacies, or other- 
 wise, from residents of the particular State ; and that, in making up the ba- 
 sis of representation hereafter, the Executive Committee be guided by this 
 construction of the fifth article of the constitution. 
 
 '■ Resolved, That all legislation inconsistent herewith be, and the same is 
 hereby, repealed." 
 
 In December, 1869, the Secretary of the New- York State 
 
 Society received from the Corresponding Secretary of the 
 
 American Colonization Society a communication, of which the 
 
 following is a copy : 
 
 " Colonization Rooms, Washington, D. C, Dec. 3, 18G9. 
 Rev. John B. Pinney, Colonization Rooms, New-Youk : 
 
 " Deak Sir : I beg to invite your attention to the action of the Board of Di- 
 rectors of the American Colonization Society of January 22d, 1851, and of- 
 January 20th 1853, copies of which have been communijated to your of- 
 fice, requesting the respective State Colonization Societies ' to report to the 
 Executive Committee of the American Colonization Society, in the month of 
 December annually, a statement of their proceedings during the year,' and re- 
 commending the appointment of ' such persons as delegates as may give their 
 diligent attendance upon their duties as such during the session ' of the Board. 
 
 " The amount received from New-York thus far the present year is : From 
 donations and collections for colonization, $8249.57 ; for education in Liberia, 
 $1123.16 ; subscriptions to African Repository, $8; and contribution of your 
 
u 
 
 claim for pro'snsions Bold the late Dr. Snowden, $32.75 ; total, $9418.47, of 
 wliicli $7000 were consecrated by the donors to constitute seven gentlemen 
 life-directors of the American Colonization Society. Faithfully yours, 
 
 " William Coppingeu, Correspondinrj Secretary A. C. S." 
 
 In pursuance of this couiinunication, the New-York State 
 Society, which would be entitled to a much larger delegation, 
 appointed six delegates to attend the annual meeting with 
 the usual credentials. These credentials, with those of 
 other delegates, ^Yerc presented to a standing committee 
 on credentials, who reported that the New-York State 
 Society's delegates w^ere not entitled to seats, but that a 
 new society, not a State Society, not two months old, 
 formed on the 27th November, 18G9, in the city of New- York, 
 was entitled to the representation. The report was accom- 
 panied by an oral address by one of the committee, in which 
 he stated as reasons why the committee came to the conclusion 
 to reject the delegates from the New- York State Colonization 
 Society, the same unfounded allegations which appeared in the 
 report of the Executive Conmiittee. The delegates were, how- 
 ever, permitted to controvert the allegations, and the matter 
 was again referred to a new committee, upon whose report they 
 were admitted. It is but just to add that the chairman of the 
 first committee, who reported against the admission of the de- 
 legates, was one of the committee who, in 1863, reported the 
 interpretation of article five, before quoted, and the same per- 
 son who wrote to the traveling secretary to " get up a quarrel 
 and a split" in the New- York State Society. 
 
 The task of the Board of Control would now be complete, 
 hut for considerations gravely affecting the future of the whole 
 enterprise, which duty requires should belaid before the friends 
 of the cause. 
 
 After the termination of the war of the Rebellion, and when 
 the American Society was sending emigrants to Liberia in 
 larger munbers than before, the officers of the New- York 
 State Colonization Societ}^ received information from Liberia 
 indicating that a majority of the recent emigrants were persons 
 not fitted by previous habits to become useful citizens, and 
 that many of them were in a suffering condition, and were a 
 burden rather than a benefit to the republic* The New- York 
 * See Appendix C. * 
 
15 
 
 State Society, therefore, in the summer of 1868, sent its cor- 
 responding secretary to Liberia to make a personal examina- 
 tion into its condition, its population, schools, churches, indus- 
 tries, and productions, so as to enable its friends here to adapt 
 their exertions to its needs. He returned in January, 1869, 
 and gave a very full statement of his observations, which was 
 afterward repeated to the Board of Directors of the American 
 Society at Washington, at the annual meeting in that month. 
 In his statements he was corroborated by President Roberts, 
 who wa^ present. 
 
 lie found that many of the emigrants recently sent were ill 
 provided with means to become useful, and some of them were 
 already a burden to the citizens ; that the great mass of the 
 people were very poor, and from their poverty unable to main- 
 tain schools, and that from this cause a very large proportion of 
 the children were growing up in ignorance. He also ascer 
 tained that there was a willingness on the part of both Liberian 
 and aboriginal people to receive teachers and send their chil- 
 dren to the schools. Some of the emigrants had become pros- 
 perous citizens ; but the agricultural and industrial interests 
 were depressed and in need of a more intelligent class of peo- 
 ple to develop the resources of the country, promote the jdi'os- 
 perity of the republic, and make it, Avhat its friends have ever 
 desired it to become, the centre of civilization for Africa. 
 The New- York State Society, in view of his observations, re- 
 solved that for the present its duty to the enterprise would be 
 best fulfilled by devoting its energies particularly to the 
 great cause of education,' including within the term the promo- 
 tion of the industrial arts and all that tends to forward civiliza- 
 tion and the Christian religion ; and that with this view, while 
 it would aid such as were fitted for usefulness by skill in the arts 
 or in agriculture to emigrate, it w^ould especially seek to 
 establish and improve schools for both Liberian and abori- 
 ginal children. 
 
 Its Board of Control believes that this course is now impera- 
 tively demanded of the friends of the cause, and that the con- 
 tributions which may be committed to them for distribution will 
 at present do far more good when so expended than by sending 
 off very ignorant men and women, some of whom may, under 
 
16 
 
 their new circumstances, become useful, but a large portion of 
 whom will not aid in building up the state, and whose children, 
 if uneducated, may relapse into barbarism. The republic has 
 received over thirteen thousand emigrants from America. 
 They have been encouraged to go to Africa under circum- 
 stances which imply an obligation, upon the part of tliose who 
 induced them to go thither, to sustain and aid them in efforts at 
 self-elevation and usefulness. We believe that this obligation 
 demands that we shall not smother out their endeavors to ele- 
 vate themselves by throwing upon them, in their feebleness, 
 an avalanche of ignorant persons whose faculties have all been 
 dwarfed l)y slavery, and who can better, in our own country 
 than there, be instructed in the duties of citizens. We do not 
 oppose emigration. AYe desire that properl}' prepared emi- 
 grants may go there in any numbers, and the board is ready 
 to aid in sending out such emigrants from any part of the coun- 
 try. But now, when Liberia has a life-struggle with poverty 
 and ignorance, we desire to extend a helping hand and aid in 
 building her up into a state which shall not only become the 
 civilizer of Africa, but an inviting home for the descendants of 
 all her sons ever ravished by the slave-trader from her shores. 
 In this we simply follow the original purpose of the founders 
 of this society, stated in the second article of its constitution, 
 
 as follows: 
 
 " The object of this society shall be to colonize, with tlit-ir own consent, 
 ])cople of color of the United States on the coast of Africa, and throiifjh them 
 to cicUize and Christianize the African tribes, and also generally to inqrrove 
 the condition of the colored jyopidatiun of our country." 
 
 And in the second section of its charter, granted by the 
 
 State of New- York : 
 
 " The particular business and objects of the said society are to provide the 
 ways and means, and to manage, appropriate, and apply the same, to colonize 
 with their own consent, people of color of the United States on the coast of 
 Africa, and through them to civilize the African tribes, and also generally to 
 improve the condition of the colored population of our country, by appointing 
 and sustaining agencies, diffusing information, co^^ectt^y, receiving, appropriat. 
 ing, or investing funds foi' pu7-poses of education, in its various branches, 
 among people of color of our country, heretofore colonized, or hereafter to be 
 colonized, in Africa, and by other measures conducive to the objects of 
 African colonization." 
 
 The purpose which we have always followed, and one which 
 has somewhat differed from that of the American Colonization 
 
17 
 
 Society, which was as we have above stated. In carrying out 
 this purpose, we endeavored to supplement what necessarily 
 that society could not do, and thus hitherto our efibrts were 
 prosecuted in harmony. That society has now repudiated the 
 compact made and existing with us for thirty years, and insists 
 upon occupying our field to obtain money simply to promote 
 what it deems its appropriate work — the colonization of negroes 
 from this country. 
 
 -i^^We therefore, reluctantly yielding to their determination 
 propose to afford the friends of the negro race everywhere an 
 opportunity to aid in building up the Republic of Liberia, 
 and making it attractive as the home of colored people, so that 
 emigration to that country may soon be governed by the 
 same laws and conditions which influence the emigration 
 of other peoples. In promoting this object, we desire the 
 cooperation of those friends of Liberia who may feel with 
 us that the cause, as we view it, is worthy of their confi- 
 dence. We shall prosecute it with our best endeavors. To 
 secure funds for these ends, the Board of Control will feel 
 grateful if the corresponding secretary of the society, the Rev. 
 Dr. Pinney, shall be welcomed and aided by the benevolent 
 and religious public, as in former years. He has given a large 
 part of his life to this cause, and he enjoys the undiminished 
 confidence and ^esteem of the board. [If, however, it shall 
 appear that we mistake the proper measures to do good to the- 
 persecuted sons of Africa, we shall, after a fair trial, leave the- 
 responsibility with the benevolent public, dismiss all our paid 
 officers, and devote ourselves simply to the care of the funds 
 for the support of collegiate and theological education which 
 by the hand of Providence have been committed to us. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN AND STATE COLONI- 
 ZATION SOCIETIES— THEIR RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER AND 
 THEIR SEPARATE FIELDS. 
 
 The American Colonization Society was org^anized on the first of January, 
 1817, in Washington City, and conducted with the help of auxiliary State, 
 county, city, and local societies organized throughout the Union. Tlieir 
 colony having been established at Cape Mesurado and vicinity, was called 
 Liberia. At the annual meeting of the society, January, 1834, it appeared 
 that it was heavily in debt, and that extensive dissatisfaction existed as to its 
 management. Tlie State Society of Maryland had, early in 1833, commenced 
 an independent colony at Cape Palmas, now Maryland County ; this was fol- 
 lowed by an independent colony at Bassa, established by the New-Yorls City 
 Colonization Society, and the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania, now Bassa County ; and subsequently a colony was established at 
 Sinou River, founded and governed by the State societies of Mississippi and 
 Louisiana, now Sinou County ; these four colonies now constitute the present 
 Republic of Liberia. 
 
 On page two of the January number of The African Repository, published 
 in 1839 by the American Colonization Society, is the following : 
 
 " New Organization. — The friends of African colonization will learn from 
 the proceedings of the parent society at its last annual meeting that a radical 
 change has been effected in the oldest and the principal organ of the cause. 
 The separate efforts of auxiliary and independent societies had for several 
 years past produced a state of things which called loudly for measures for 
 combining tliem into some general plan of operation, ickicli should give full scope 
 to the peculiar advantages of State action, and at the same time secure concert 
 and harmony between themselves and other agents of the colonizing princi- 
 ple. To devise such a plan was as difficult as it was necessary. That select- 
 el was, like the Constitution of the United States, the result of compromise 
 and concession." 
 
 And on page twenty-four of the same number, in the fifth article of the 
 constitution, it says, in section four, 
 
 " There sliall bo a board of directors composed of delegates froni the seve- 
 ral State societies, and societies for the District of Columbia and Territories of 
 the United States." 
 
 And in the fifth section. 
 
19 
 
 " The board shall have power to organize and administer a general govern- 
 ment, to provide a uniform code of laws for such colonies, and manage the 
 general affiiirs of colonization throughout the United States, except loithiii the 
 States iohich planted colonies." 
 
 And for thirty yeafs from this date, namely, from 1839 to 1869, the Ameri- 
 can Colonization Society carefully abstained from making any collections in 
 the State of New- York. 
 
 B. 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 To THE Board of Directors of the American Colonization Society : 
 The New- York State Colonization Society, which has for many years acted 
 in concert with the American Colonization Society in the great work of pro- 
 moting African colonization, and as one of its auxiliaries, begs leave to lay 
 before your respected body certain facts and considerations which are regard- 
 ed by the New- York State Society as tending to disturb the harmony of the 
 two societies, and, unless disposed of, to diminish the usefulness and efficiency 
 of both. 
 
 The relations of the two societies for many years have been such as to unite 
 the friends of colonization in the States formerly slaveholding, as well as in 
 the non-slaveholding States, in the general enterprise, although they regard- 
 ed its effects from different points of view ; the slaveholding community 
 generally looking at it as an obvious means for removing the free negroes, 
 and those who might be emancipated by their owners, from the United 
 States to a country where they might obtain a livelihood ; and the people of 
 the Northern States who were friendly to the enterprise regarding it as one 
 of benevolence to the negro, as preparing a way for general emancipation, and 
 that the persons removed should 'themselves be elevated by Christianizing ef- 
 forts, and, in their turn, should extend Christianizing and civilizing influences 
 to the native tribes of Africa. The constitutions of the two societies, for many 
 years, have indicated the different spheres their friends occupied. That of the 
 American Society, and its charter, were limited in their purposes to the coloniz- 
 ing of free blacks. This fact, at an early day, was held up by the opponents of 
 the enterprise in the Northern States as evidence that the scheme was simply 
 one to expatriate the negroes in the United States, and leave them helpless 
 upon a barbarian shore ; and they arrayed many friends of the negro in hos- 
 tility to it. It becoming necessary to meet this fact, or to abandon all efforts 
 in tlie cause among the benevolent of the Northern States, the constitution of 
 the New-York State Society was modified witli a view to remove in that State 
 all grounds of the objection, and to make the society a strictly benevolent one, 
 whose purposes should be to benefit the negro, elevate his condition, and, by 
 his aid, extend civilization and Christianity to Africa, i In this manner, the 
 friends of colonization in the North could operate harmoniously in connection 
 with those whose purpose was less distinctly benevolent, and supplement 
 what was wanting in the declared object of the American Colonization So- 
 ciety. 
 
20 
 
 A reference to the constitution and charters of the two societies in respect 
 to tliis feature will illustrate the position. 
 
 Article 2 of the constitution of the American Colonization Society declares, 
 
 " The object to wliich its attention is to he exclusively directed is to promote 
 and execute a plan for colonizing', with their own consent, the free people of 
 color residing in our country in Africa," etc. 
 
 Its charter, granted by the Legislature of Maryland, in its first section, limits 
 its power " to dispose of, according to the by-laws and ordinances regulating 
 the same, now or hereafter to be prescribed, all such lands, tenements, or 
 hereditaments, money, goods, or chattels, as they shall determine to be most 
 conducive ^(> the colonizing, with their own consent, in Africa, of the free peo- 
 ple of color residing in the United States, and for no other uses or purposes 
 whatsoever." 
 
 The constitution of the New- York State Society declares its purposes as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " The object of this society shall be to colonize, with their own consent, peo- 
 ple of color of the United States on the coast of Africa, and through them to 
 civilize and Christianize the African tribes, and also generally to improve the 
 condition of the colored population of our country." 
 
 The second section of its charter, granted by the Legislature of the State 
 provides that, 
 
 "The particular business and objects of the said society are to provide the 
 ways and means, and to manage, appropriate, and apply the same, to colonize, 
 with their own consent, people of color of the United States on the coast of 
 Africa, and through them to civilize the African tribes, and also generally to 
 improve t7ie condition of the colored population of our country by appointing 
 and sustaining agencies, diffusing information, collecting, receiving, appropriat- 
 ing, or investing funds for purposes of education, in its various branches, 
 among people of color of our country, heretofore colonized, or hereafter to be 
 colonized, in Africa, and by other measures conducive to the objects of African 
 colonization." 
 
 At the time of the compact, which still exists in force, formed between the 
 New-York State Society and the American Colonization Society, in December, 
 1838, it was believed by the friends of the cause that their harmonious action^ 
 each limiting its operations to its declared objects, would promote the general 
 enterprise, conciliate the feelings entertained toward it, and render the cflforts 
 of both more efficient for good. And there was no reason why they could not 
 so operate together. It was a part of this compact that the New-York State 
 Society should occupy its own territory exclusively, and leave the American 
 Society to occupy the fields not occupied by other State societies. This com- 
 pact continued to be recognized and observed by both societies down to 1868. 
 
 In 18GG, a communication was received by the New- York State Colonization 
 Society from the American Colonization Society, of which the'followiug is a 
 copy : 
 
21 
 
 " Colonization Rooms, Washington, D. C, Aug. 29, 1860. 
 
 " My Dear Sir : Yours of the 37th ult. came duly, and was submitted to 
 the Executive Committee at their next meeting. Without taking any formal 
 action on it, they desired me to say to you that we, at present, are in very 
 great need of money. We have applications for passage, etc., from upward 
 of six hundred persons, to sail the 1st November. We have no ship of our 
 own. We shall be obliged to charter two to take all who want to go. To 
 pay expenses, we shall require some thirty thousand dollars. We are looking 
 for it from every source ; but it comes slowly. That five hundred dollars left 
 by David Magie will help. If, therefore, your society will relinquish in our 
 favor, we will give your society credit for it, will use it to help pay expenses 
 of these people, and it will give you a basis of one delegate to the Board of Di- 
 rectors ; or we will relinquish in favor of your society if you will send us the 
 money to pay the expenses of these people, and will still form a basis for one 
 delegate to the board. 
 
 " The great question now before our committee is, What shall we do with all 
 the people who want us to send them the 1st November? Some weeks ago, 
 we said, ' Yes, we will send all worthy persons who will go ;' when we 
 were sending them documents, and writing to our friends, and doing all we 
 could to wake them up. Now more than six hundred of them have come and 
 are asking us to send them. Where is the money ? To send six hundredj 
 at the low average of $50 each, will take $30,000. 
 
 " In view of this, and of the urgent necessity that we should send all who 
 want to go, the Executive Committee have determined to make a special ap. 
 peal to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society and the New-York State Colo- 
 nization Society, each to assume the expenses of colonizing one hundred of 
 these people. This will encourage us to go forward ; and we believe it will 
 help you to raise the money. How long our friends have been saying, ' Yes ; 
 certainly I will give if the people will go ! But they will not go.' Now is 
 the time to prove them. Our friends ought to know how many people are 
 now wanting us to send them ; not to know it through the public papers, but 
 by direct face-to-face talk, or by private letter and appeal through the post- 
 ofBce. 
 
 " You are aware that the Board of Directors have forbidden us to make such 
 appeals in States where there are societies. If it were not for this, and if the 
 State societies were willing that we should plow in their fields, we should at 
 once issue to our friends everywhere a call for aid ; and I believe we should 
 get it, get it liberally, and somewhat in the manner we did on a former occa- 
 sion for the Herndon slaves ! The great States of Pennsylvania, New-York, 
 and Massachusetts used to be our main dependence in such emergencies ! 
 
 " May I ask the favor of you, therefore, to call a special meeting of your 
 board without delay, and get them to assume the expenses of one hundred of 
 these people ? We believe that, if you go to your friends in the city alone 
 with all the circumstances of the case, and that you have made this pledge, 
 you can get the money by the middle of October. 
 
 " If your board decline to assume the amount, will you allow us to send a 
 special private call to any body in^your State whom we may select ? Some- 
 
22 
 
 tliinof ouglit to be done, and done speedi]y too. Tlie occasion is one tliat ouglit 
 not to be let slip. Yours most respectfully, 
 
 * " William McLain, Financial Secretary A. C. S. 
 "J. M. Goldberg, Esq., New- York Col. Soc, New- York." 
 
 A resolution was thereupon passed by the New- York State Colonization So- 
 ciety, on the tenth of September, 1866, in the following form : 
 
 " The secretary stated the object of the meeting to be to consider a circular 
 from the parent society asking us to assist in obtaining funds to defray the 
 expenses of sending six hundred emigrants to Liberia. After consideration, 
 the board, having an impression that the parent society held a large amount 
 of funds, on motion, the chairman was requested to write to Mr. McLain that 
 such is our belief, and that, as we have none but trust funds, we are not pre" 
 pared to contribute the $5000 asked for any organization prepared for the pur- 
 pose ; but that, in the event of the American Society not having ample funds 
 for the object, this society will not object to the American Society sending a 
 collecting agent to our field, provided the funds collected be paid over to our 
 treasurer, with the understanding that said sum shall be directed to defraying 
 the expenses of the emigrants named." 
 
 A copy of this resolution was inclosed to the American Colonization Society 
 in a letter, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 "Colonization Office, New- York, Sept. 12, 1866. 
 Eev. William McLain, D.D., Financial Secretary A. C. S., Washing- 
 ton, D. C. : 
 
 " Dear Sir : I inform you now more fully in regard to the meeting of the 
 Board of Directors of tlie New-York State Colonization Society, held on the 
 lOtli instant, to consider the matters contained in your letter of the 20th ult. 
 
 " You are aware that our system of collections has, for the last four years, 
 been to a great degree suspended, and we now have no agents in the field. 
 Our funds consist entirely of trust moneys devoted by their donors to educa- 
 tional purposes, and we are, therefore, without means to meet your proposition 
 to assume the expenses of one hundred of the emigrants to Africa now asking 
 assistance. We are, however, desirous to do what, under the circumstances' 
 wo ouglit ; and if the parent society has not sufficient means to send the whole 
 number applying, we shall cheerfully adopt measures to meet the emiirgency* 
 Will you, therefore, please to inform us of the amount of means the National 
 Society has, not held in trust for specific purposes other than to assist in colo- 
 nization? This information, with a statement of the numbers and localities 
 of the persons proposing to emigrate, will assist us in such measures as may 
 be proper for us to take. 
 
 " If it shall be found necessary to raise moneys in this State to aid the parent 
 society before we recommence our agencies, the board will consent that the 
 parent society may send its agents to make collections here, with the under- 
 standing that such collections be regarded as made through the State society, 
 aud be appropriated solely to the colonization of emigrants. 
 
 " We are expecting the desire to emigrate will soon reappear among our 
 own colored population, and that all our efforts will then bere(iuired to obtain 
 means sufficient to aid them. Tlie arrangement wo may make with you will, 
 
23 
 
 therefore, of necessity, be but temporary, as we must, -witli the renewal of the 
 desire to emigrate, recommence our own system of agencies. 
 
 " We shall be happy to hear from you as soon as practicable, by letter, 
 addressed to Joseph B. Collins, Esq., Treasurer, at No. 40 Wall street. 
 
 " By order of the board, 
 
 "J. M. GoLDBEKG, Secretary." 
 
 On the day after sending the letter, Mr. Goldberg, fearing that the officers 
 of the American Colonization Society might have misapprehended his letter, 
 wrote a second, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 " Colonization Eoojis, New-York, Sept. 13, I860. 
 " Rev. William McLain, D.D., Washington : 
 
 " My Dear Sir : In my letter of yesterday, in reference to the raising of 
 funds in this State in aid of the Southern emigrants to be sent by the parent 
 society tliis fall, I forgot distinctly to say that, in the event permission should 
 be given you by our board to send collecting agents into our field, the ruoney 
 to be collected by your agents in this State has to pass through the hands of 
 our treasurer. 
 
 " Such is the resolution of our board. 
 
 " Yours, J. M. Goldberg." 
 
 These papers constituted the only consent or leave given to the American 
 society to send an agent to canvass for contributions in the State of New- York, 
 prior to a resolution hereafter mentioned passed. 
 
 In the year 1867, the Rev. Dr. Orcutt, the traveling secretary of the Ame- 
 rican Society, came to New-York to raise funds. As the New-York State So- 
 ciety had then no agent, and its corresponding secretary, Rev. Dr. Pinney, 
 was upon leave of absence and receiving no salary, no objection was made to 
 the collection of moneys here, the New-York Society presuming that the Ame- 
 rican Society sent the secretary here subject to the conditions of that letter 
 j ust quoted. He was welcomed by the officer of the New- York State Society, 
 and the names of persons accustomed to contribute to its treasury were freely 
 furnished him, with every aid that could be afforded to make collections. 
 
 At the meeting succeeding the election held June 16th, 1868, a resolution was 
 passed in its board of directors, by the casting vote of the^presiding officer, 
 in the following form : 
 
 " Besolmd, That the traveling secretary of the'American Colonization So- 
 ciety be recognized as authorized to counsel with the friends of the coloniza- 
 tion cause in this State, and to aid the agents of this society in giving 
 information and obtaining collections to meet the 'urgent demands of the 
 parent society in sending off emigrants during the current year, and that the 
 election of G. P. Disosway as an agent for that purpose, at a meeting held in 
 March last, is hereby sanctioned ; it being understood that the f uuds forwarded 
 pass to the credit of this society, and the receipt therefor be filed with the 
 treasurer." 
 
 In pursuance of such resolution. Dr. Orcutt continued to canvass for collec- 
 tions in the State and city of New-York, in no instance paying them through 
 the treasurer of our society, as required by the original permission to the 
 
24 
 
 American Colonization Society to send an agent to this State. Mr. Disosway 
 died in July, 1868. 
 
 The Board of Managers of the New-York State Society in July, 1868, deem- 
 ing it necessary for the purpose of obtaining information of the condition of 
 the Republic of Liberia, and its wants, passed a resolution directing its cor- 
 responding secretary, Dr. Pinney, to visit Liberia and ascertain the condition 
 of the population, industries, schools, and churches. He accordingly left, and 
 remained absent until the month of January, 1869. During this time, as the 
 New-York State Society had no collecting agents in the field, the arrange- 
 ments provided for in its resolution of June 16th, 1868, continued. 
 
 After Dr. Finney's return, the board of managers of that society, impressed 
 with the conviction that it was now their duty to proceed with its operations 
 in the field conceded to it by the compact with your society, on the 23d of 
 February, 1869, passed the following resolution : 
 
 " Hesoloed, That the American Colonization Society at Washington be and 
 is hereby respectfully requested, by the New-York State'Colonization Society, 
 to transfer Rev. Dr. Orcutt, now laboring in New-York, to another field of 
 labor." 
 
 A copy was communicated to the Corresponding Secretary of the American 
 Colonization Society, and in answer to it a reply in the words following was 
 received : 
 
 " Resolved, That this committee has received, and considered with deep sen- 
 sibility, the resolution passed by the New- York State Colonization Society on 
 the 23d day of February last, requesting the withdrawal of Rev. Dr. Orcutt 
 from his field of labor in New-York. 
 
 " The basis of the organization of the parent society, its object and aim, is 
 colonization of the free people of color in Africa. Tliat requires concentrated 
 action and one exclusive body. To that end the whole energies of the society 
 must be directed. No portion of its labor is more important than the collec- 
 tion of funds, and no part of the country is so available in that respect as the 
 State of New-York. 
 
 " Entertaining these views, we deeply regret that the State Society of New- 
 York has taken the views expressed in that resolution, for we earnestly desire 
 to continue in full harmony with them. 
 
 " But our duty is plain. We can not accede to their request ; and wo direct 
 that a copy of this resolution be communicated by tlie corresponding secretary 
 to the secretary of that society, as an answer to that resolution." 
 
 The Now- York Society regarded the reply as a violation of tlie compact be- 
 tween the two societies, the obligation of which was recognized by the letter 
 from your financial secretary of August, 1866, herein before copied ; but being 
 unwilling to lay before the world the spectacle of a difference between two 
 societies professing to be engaged in a work of benevolence, its board of 
 directors concluded quietly to submit to the action of the executive committee 
 of your society until the matter could l)e laid before the annual meeting, con- 
 fident that when the representatives of the whole society should be present 
 tlie error would bo corrected, and whatever might be just in relation to the 
 matter would be done. 
 
 The New-York State Society would further call your attention to a resolu- 
 
25 
 
 tion of tlie American Society, passed at its meeting in January, 18G9, on mo- 
 tion of Rev. Dr. Orcutt, in tlie following words : 
 
 " Resolved, That it is of the utmost importance to the successful prosecution 
 of the work that all the auxiliaries of this society should come up to the exi- 
 gencies of the occasion, by enlarging their contributions and awakening an 
 increased interest in their respective regions ; and we recommend the forma- 
 tion of auxiliary societies in the States and parts of the country where none 
 now exist, and wh.ere it is thought the cause would be thereby promoted." 
 
 And it would also call to your attention the duties of the traveling secre- 
 tary, as set forth in the resolution constituting that office passed January 17th, 
 1856: 
 
 " Resolved, That there shall be a traveling secretary, whose duty it shall be 
 to visit, as often as practicable, and as the interests of the society shall require, 
 the States and Territories of the United States, to promote by his personal 
 agency the establishment and activity of State and Territorial societies, auxi- 
 liary to the American Colonization Society, and to superintend the collection 
 of emigrants, and their transportation to their respective places of embarka- 
 tion." 
 
 The New- York State Society submits that^it [was the obvious intent of the 
 resolution of January, 1869, that the traveling secretary should, under the 
 direction of the executive committee, visit the States where no auxiliary so- 
 cieties exist, and endeavor there to awaken an interest in the common enter- 
 prise rather than that he sbould remain in the State of New- York, against the 
 wishes of this society, where the public interest had been aroused and sus- 
 tained for years by its officers, that society numbering among its members 
 and managers those who for many years have contributed their money, 
 influence, and talents to the cause of colonization, and whose feelings are 
 warmly interested in its success. 
 
 They further state, that from copies of the'official correspondence between 
 the traveling secretary and the office at Washington, it is very manifest that 
 the conduct of the traveling secretary has been influenced to a very consider- 
 able degree by a hostility to the New- York society, and a wish to destroy its 
 influence, and they believe that the executive committee have been misled by 
 erroneous representations to pursue a course which with a full knowledge of 
 the facts they would never have done. 
 
 They therefore respectfully request the Board of Directors of the American 
 Colonization Society to take such action as may be just in the premises, and 
 especially, in pursuance of the compact between the two societies, to withdraw 
 all agencies from the State of New-York, and leave its territory to be can- 
 vassed by the New-York State Society's agents. They do this in the confi - 
 dent hope that such a measure will add to the strength of the cause of 
 colonization, promote the redemption of Africa, and the welfare and elevation 
 of the negro race. 
 
 James W. Beekman, President. 
 
 J. B. PiNNET, Corresponding Secretary. 
 Dated December 21, 1869. 
 
26 
 
 LETTERS FROM MISSIONARIES, CLERGYMEN, AND LEGISLA- 
 TORS OF LIBERIA CONCERNING EMIGRANTS. 
 
 " LoTSViLLE, Pa., June 13, 1867. 
 
 " Dear Sir : Yours of June 4th came to hand a few days ago. What I 
 said to George P. Ockershausen, Esq., relative to the propriety of sending 
 colored men to Liberia, and their sufferings there, was not said in regard to 
 any particular emigration, but in regard to all who have been sent out during 
 the last four years. I will state some facts to you, as I stated them to Mr 
 George P. Ockershausen. 
 
 " An emigration is started from America with sufficient food for the voyage 
 and to last them six months in Liberia. This food is not of the best quality. 
 When the emigrants arrive on the coast of Liberia, they are at once put into 
 receptacles, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty in one house. The 
 flour, haras, butter, cheese, and other articles become stale, rancid, and worray 
 in about two months after their arrival. Many are taken down with chills 
 and fever during the first month, and all will suffer, if not in the first, during 
 the second month. They will have no or very few nurses. Only one physi- 
 cian to attend them, who has a field of fifteen miles square besides. Fre- 
 quently the doctor has but a small supply of medicine. The house becomes 
 very filthy, and, under these circumstance, I think I cau safely say about one 
 fourth die during the first six months. 
 
 " When the six months have expired, those who are still surviving are re- 
 quired to leave the receptacle. But now they have no houses, and are in a 
 feeble state ; are, for the most part, without money ; hence they generally put 
 up or have put up a native thatch house, with no floor. Now, too, they have 
 no food, and in their feeble state must begin to clear off some land and put 
 down potatoes and cassada, and other vegetables. Here they again suffer 
 very much, and many die during the remaining part of the first year. 
 
 " Those who live must now depend for a livelihood on the productions of 
 the earth. But inasmuch as all labor must be performed by liand, it is ex- 
 ceedingly difficult for a man to make a decent living from the productions of 
 the earth. Coffee is the only thing that will pay ; but it will not begin to 
 pay until six years after being planted. 
 
 " The schools of Liberia are very poor. This does not come under the head 
 of sufferings ; but I make this statement simply because men have given dif- 
 ferent representations in this country. In short, I do not believe it is right 
 to send a set of ignorant men away from a country where they enjoy the advan- 
 tages of schools and churches, and enjoy health, and can make a decent living, 
 to a deadly climate, where there are but few schools and churches, and where 
 they must live in poverty and distress all their lives. 
 
 " I have no right to dictate to the Colonization Society ; but it would be infi. 
 nitely better if, instead of sending a poor, ignorant class of persons to a heathen 
 land, where, by surrounding influences, they become still more degraded, and 
 where they Bufl'er, and many in a short time die, It would send teachers and 
 preachers out to educate and Christianize those who are there. As a general 
 thing, the colonists are about as ignorant and superstitious as the heathen 
 
27 
 
 themselves. By the emigration sent out last fall, of between six hundred and 
 seven hundred, not one teacher and only one preacher was sent ; the latter 
 died on the passage out. 
 
 " It is argued that the'colonists will have a civilizing influence upon the 
 heathen. I have seen no such influence exerted by the ignorant masses sent 
 to Liberia. 
 
 " I am a friend of the colored race, and will do all I can for its elevation. I 
 make the statements, not that I have any pique against the society, but as 
 facts. If you have any questions to ask, I will answer. I would be glad to 
 meet you and discuss the matter personally ; but it is not likely that I will be 
 in New- York soon. The Colonization Society has been a popular society, and 
 men have been afraid to reveal facts. Hon. Mr. Hanson, now in eternity, was not 
 favorable to colonization ; but in his address, a few years'ago, at Washington, 
 he evaded the dark side of the picture. I was personally acquainted with 
 him, and we frequently spoke of these things at Monrovia. The best way to 
 raise Liberia is to send educated, energetic men there, to elevate thejgreat 
 mass of colonists there now, and aid in raising up a native nationality. The 
 natives, if properly trained, will make just as good citizens" as the ignorant 
 men sent from here ; and why thrust these poor, ignorant classes into a coun- 
 try in which they are always dissatisfied and are anxious to come ' home,' (to 
 America.) Yours most truly, ." 
 
 " Monrovia, October 30, 1867. 
 " My Dear Sir : Your two letters, via the English mail, came to hand in 
 due time. I was very glad to hear from you. I have just returned here from 
 Cape Mount, where I have been for several weeks, arranging to have our 
 emigrants removed from Robertsport to our new settlement on the river. We 
 lost some thirty-eight of our company, the half of which number being in- 
 fants and youths, however. Those emigrants who are alive appear to be in 
 good spirits, and manifest a determination to go to work and make for them- 
 selves a comfortable home. We have had an unusually rainy season, so that 
 all our rivers about Cape Mount were full to overflowing. The rice crops are 
 nevertheless good ; and harvesting, which commenced in September, is now 
 nearly over. 
 
 Liberia, Nov. 11, 1867. 
 Dear Sir : . . Careysburg is, without doubt, the most healthy district 
 in Liberia ; but the emigrants that come to the country now are poorer than 
 any that ever came to the country before. The provisions and medical care 
 given by the society are not sufiicient. I would rather see no more ever come 
 here than have them come and suffer and die as they have lately. I intended 
 a year ago to have written on that subject at length. 
 
 " Liberia, May 23, 1868. 
 " My Dear Sir : . . . I hear that a large company of emigrants is ex- 
 pected out in the ship Golconda. It would be well to begin to select them. 
 
28 
 
 as nine tenths that come over nowadays are almost objects of charity. We 
 see the lame, the halt, and the naked comino^ ; while we welcome all to their 
 fatherland, yet we wish them to come to it provided with common necessaries 
 of life to begin with. Very respectfully yours." 
 
 The following letters, some received wliile Dr. Pinney was 
 absent, and others recently, corroborate the above : 
 
 " Monrovia, August 24, 1868. 
 
 " My Deak Sir : Finding Captain Webber here, on the eve of sailing for 
 Boston, I concluded to write you a few lines, in addition to what I wrote by 
 the Golconda. 
 
 " Speaking of the mortality among the emigrants to Cape Mount and the 
 probable reasons, I would say that it is traceable to two things, mainly : 
 
 " 1. In the insufficiency in the salary of the physician. On ray arrival, I 
 found Dr. Cooper there employed for six months only, at a salary of $500 for 
 that time, [to care for and attend to one hundred and sixty newly-arrived 
 emigrants ; and at the expiration of the stipulated time he withdrew and 
 went to Monrovia, leaving the people sick and dying. Emigrants need the 
 care and attention of the physicians for months after their first six months 
 have expired. They should have medical aid for at least twelve months 
 gratis, if required. 
 
 " The second reason is, that the emigrants of these days are poorly equipped. 
 They come out here poor, with no prospects of bettering their condition either 
 for years ; and these are years of toil and poverty ; they naturally become des- 
 pondent, being sick with a family to support and no visible means to do it 
 with, the men sink under their trouble and die. Dr. Cooper had to clothe 
 one third of them to make them any ways comfortable during their illness. 
 The prospect of building up our country with emigrants from America under 
 such disadvantages, is very poor indeed. In fact, it ought not to be encourag- 
 ed ; for one half of them become dissatisfied and pray to return, or else become 
 burthensome to the communities where they are located. The whole system 
 must be changed, or emigration stopped for the present ; for, if continued as at 
 present, the results will be disastrous beyond conception in a few years. Then 
 there is nothing for them to do. All can not go to farming, and even farmers 
 must have means to commence with. To build up our country, wo need 
 means to encourage industry of all kinds. We must not only produce more 
 than we can consume, but we must also manufacture the greater part of the ne- 
 cessaries we use. In short, Liberia must be built up of the present materials, 
 so as not only to afford an asylum for our brethren abroad, but a home for 
 them where they can make a living and find ready employment. 
 
 " We need also educational fadHtu'S. This has been too much neglected. 
 The government is not, nor will not be able to educate the masses for years to 
 come. The Missionary Society are gradually withdrawing their schools from 
 us and looking forward to the day when the people themselves will take this 
 matter in hand. Now, sir, if these things are to continue as they are, and 
 large numbers of ignorant and pauper emigrants are poured in upon us, you 
 can j udge what our end will be. 
 
29 
 
 " Monrovia, October_6, 1869. 
 
 " My Dear Sir : . . . We have also seen Mr. Orcutt's letter in ' answer 
 to Dr. Durbin.' All tlie thinking men here regard with regret the publica- 
 tion of such a letter. And the promise of Mr. Orcutt to continue to send us in 
 the future such emigrants as have been sent within the last four or five years, 
 fills us with horror. General Howard certainly wrote hastily Avhen he charac- 
 terized such emigrants as ' the cream of the colored population.' You your- 
 self know from personal observation the miserable condition of the recent 
 emigrants to Liberia ; and I am quite sure that, if Mr. Orcutt knew the facts 
 in the case, if he could see the suffering which the recent emigrants have un- 
 dergone and are now undergoing in consequence of the unprepared mental 
 and bodily state in which they came here, he would not, as a Christian philan- 
 thropist, persist in propagating the views held forth in his letter of July 9th, 
 1869, unless indeed his policy be to get emigrants and money, at all hazards 
 on the principle, ' Rem, recte si possis, sed quocunque modo, rem^ 
 
 " I do think that no man has a right to throw forth to the world his crude, 
 hasty, and undigested notions on matters of such moment, especially if those 
 notions are likely to afiect a large circle of important interests, involving large 
 outlays of money and the lives of hundreds of people. If men will not qualify 
 themselves by careful, patient inquiry, and earnest reflection, before they pre- 
 sume to propound independent opinions, let them take care lest they be found 
 to fight against the suggestions of the Most High." 
 
 " Monrovia, January, 1870. 
 " Dear Sm : . . . I can not understand those colonizationists who put them- 
 selves in opposition to your educational movement. They seem to me 
 utterly blind. Let them come here and look at the miserable, thriftless, help- 
 less slavery-victims they have sent to Liberia, and they will see in a moment 
 that much of their effort of late, that is, in collecting money and hurrying 
 emigrants here, has been but pouring out water upon the ground. Some of 
 these poor creatures are so utterly weak that they can not stand up even in 
 the presence of paganism. Down they go at once and sink into heathen 
 habits. Not a few of these creatures strip off their clothes and go into the 
 country. Six weeks ago, a girl came to my house, with chalk-marks upon 
 her face, rings on her wrists, and her clothing about one half-yard of cloth 
 around her loins ! A few minutes' conversation served to show that she was 
 an American ! Only a fortnight before she had thrown aside her clothes and 
 adopted country habits ! There are scores of such men and women in the 
 country, and unless something extraordinary is done, many more will do the 
 same. The grand preventive is education and religion. Dr. Finney's effort, 
 if successful, will prove the salvation of Liberia.* May God give the New- 
 York society every measure of success." 
 
 • To secure means to extend common schools among the whole population of Liberia, 
 coipnists and natives. 
 
54 
 

 
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