YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

LETTER

TO THE

HON. HENRY CLAY,
PRESIDENT 0? THE AMERICAN COLONtZATION SOCIETY,

iSl

Sill THOMAS FOWELf, BUXTON,
CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OV '.-t1Z ' K.CAK
CIVILIZATION SOCIETY,

ON THH

COLONIZATION AND CIVILIZATION

OE

AFRICA.

WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS ON THE SAME SUBJECT.

BY B. R. QuhLWl.

LONDON :
WILEY AND PUTNAM., SXATIONEES'.a'AL^.COUR'JL'.
1841.

LONDON :
TR1NTED BT JOHH STEPIlENS, WARWICX-lAifE,
PATERN08TEB-KOW.

PREFACE.

It may be proper to say a word of the objects of my visit to
England, and of the means by which I have sought to effect
those objects. The following commission, originating in resolu
tions passed by the Directors of the American Colonization
Society, was written and placed in my hands by the distinguished
President of that Society.
" Be it known to all persons whom it may concern, that the Rev. R. R.
Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, has been appointed,
by Resolutions of the Directors thereof, an Agent to proceed to England to
promote the interests of the said Society ; to explain and enforce its objects ;
to remove prejudices against it ; to communicate with the friends of African
Colonization and African Civilization in Great Britain; to conciliate pub
lie opinion in that kingdom towards the American Colonization Society ;
lo collect all useful and valuable information in respect to the designs arid
exertions of humane and benevolent associations and individuals to elevate
the moral and physical condition of Africa ; and generally to cement the
friendship and secure harmony and co-operation between the friends of
Africa in England and the United States, in the great and good work of
introducing Civilization and Christianity into that quarter of the globe.
And the said R. R. Gurley, Agent as aforesaid, is to act in confonnity with
instructions which may have been, or hereafter shall be, given to him by the
aforesaid Directors, in the execution of his Agency aforesaid, and to make
a full report of his proceedings to them.
" In testimony of the said appointment, for the purposes aforesaid,
I, Henry Clay, President of the American Colonization Society, in virtue
of the Resolutions aforesaid, have hereunto affixed my name, and caused
the Seal of the said Society to be attached at Washington, this 20th day of
June, 1810. " H. CLAY."
On my arrival in London, I instantly sought u personal ac
quaintance with Thomas Hodgkin, M.D., long known to me and
to thousands of my countrymen, for his firm andable support of the
American Colonization Society against a host of opponents, and
who, if the will could always be swayed by reasons, had been won
over to his opinions by the force of his arguments and the meekness
of his wisdom, and for whose cordial welcome ; the deep interest
then and ever since manifested by him in the objects of my
mission ; the time and effort cheerfully devoted amid pressing
engagements to aid those objects; his good counsels, his courteous
and most friendly personal attentions, it gives me pleasure thus
publicjy to express my gratitude, and to say, that they have been

such, ns without an intimate knowledge of his merits it had been
impossible for me to anticipate, and more than, as now aware of
the many demands upon his bonovolonc.0, I could have deemed
it lawful to desiro. Tho delightful consciousness of well doing
and the approbation of Heaven arc his best rewards ; but I must
be allowed to gratify my senso of justice by denominating him
emphatically, not merely tho friend of the African, but of tho
whole human hack.
Having conferred very fully with the respected Chairman of
the Committee of the African Civilization Sociely, I visited
Scotland,- and sought every proper occasion, among lier hospita
ble and high-minded people, to correct the prevalent errors in
regard to the Colonization Society, and to commend its princi
ples and philanthropy to their benevolent and reflecting minds.
Though no general sympathy was shown in the cause which I
advocated, I received many civilities and kind attentions, for
which my thanks are clue, and am bound in my affections to
that land of romance and high recollections by ties of respect
land friendship which will never I trust be dissolved.
I subsequently submitted the views of the American Coloni
zation Society to the General Committee of the African Civili
zation Society, expressed to them the warm interest felt by the
Society I had the honour to represent in their cause and pro
ceedings, but received from them no cordial responses or proofs
of reciprocal regard. There was courteous attention, a decent
respect, and liberty to retire. I would have urged their cause
with pleasure, while detained in this country, as worthy of all
approbation and support, upon the reason and Christianity of
England; but perhaps they rightly judged it inexpedient to expose
themselves to the unpopularity of exhibiting the slightest incli
nation to unity of sentiment with the Colonization Society.
Their views will doubtless change with the coming changes on
this subject in the English mind. The conquests of truth may
be slow, but are sure.
The correspondence which occurred about this time, between
Sir T. F. Buxton, and myself, also a letter addressed to the
Editor of the London Patriot, will be found in the Appendix.
Through the kindness of the Hon. Andrew Stevenson, who
so ably represents the people of the United States in the court
of England, and to whom I am under many obligations, I ob
tained an interview with Lord John Eussell, and submitted to
liim such considerations as might tend to prevent any inter
ference between the English and American settlements on the
African coast. He expressed his warm wishes for the success
of the Colonization Society.
Subsequently I announced the purpose of delivering two lec
tures on the principles, policy, and success ' of the American

Colonization Society, in Egyptian-Hall, tho use of which had
been generously tendered to me by my friend Mr. Catlin. Tho
following brief notice of these lectures and several meetings that
followed, appeared in the London S/tn, -4' February 8th : —
" Agreeably to public notice, the Rev. R. R. Gurley, Secretary to the
American Colonization Society, addressed an audience on two successive
evenings (Thursday and Friday) la.st week, in the Egyptian-Hall, Piccadilly,
explaining the views and enlarged benevolence of this Society towards all
classes of the coloured race in America and Africa, and replying to various
objections urged against it. At the close of the second lecture, Sir. Gurley
was invited by one of his auditors, Sir. John Scoble, of the Anti-SlavCry
Society, to enter on a debate with him. The challenge was readily ac
cepted for Monday evening, when a highly interesting discussion took place,
which was adjourned to Wednesday, Daniel Lister, Esq., presiding on both
occasions. At the close of Mr. Guiley's reply to Mr. Scoble's lirst speech
on Wednesday, the latter, oficiided at the course of the Chairman, (which
was sustained by the meeting,) suddenly left the platform. Air. Gurley
was requested to proceed in his statements. At the concl union of his
remarks, on the motion of. Dr. Costello, seconded by A. B. Wright, Esq.,
the meeting expressed their thanks to Mr. Gurley for the valuable facts and
views he had so eloquently submitted to their consideration, and adjourned
till Friday evening. At tliis third meeting, Mr. Lister having been again
called to the chair, Dr. Costello reviewed, in a brief but pertinent and able
manner, the course of the several meetings. The Chairman also made a
few observations expressive of his regret that anything should have occurred
which should have been deemed by Mr. Scoble cause sufficient to render
his retreat necessary. Mr. Gurley then, at the request of the meeting, sub
mitted various facts and documents vindicating the American Colonization
Society and the Colony of Liberia from ohj ection and reproach, and showing
its tendency to suppress the African Slave-trade, and introduce civilization
and Christianity, among the native population. Elliot Cresson, Esq.,
followed Mr. Gurley with many facts and statements in corroboration of his
views, and of the beneficent policy of the Society.
" Lieutenant-Colonel H. Dundas Campbell, late Governor of Sierra
Leone, then rose and expressed, in a very earnest and emphatic manner, his
regard for the American Colonization Society, and from his personal observa
tions on the coast of Africa and reports from English naval officers, who
had visited Liberia, his conviction of the good character of the people of
that colony and of the great benefits to be anticipated from the multiplication
of similar establishments. Colonel Campbell then moved a resolution,
' That the American Colonization Society is deserving- of high approbation,
and that this Society and the colony of Liberia are contributing essentially
to the suppression of the African Slave-trade, and the civilization of Africa.'
Mr. Guest, in seconding the motion, suggested by way oi amendment,
' That in the lectures and debates to which the meeting had listened for
several evenings, Mr. Gurley had triumphantly vindicated the American
Colonization Society from all reproach, and established its character as a
pure and benevolent institution.'
" Petty Vaughan, Esq. proposed to add, ' That the American Colonization
Society is worthy of the approbation and support of English philanthropy.'
The original resolution of Colonel Campbell, and the amendments, weic
then unanimously adopted. A Committee was appointed, and asubscripiion
opened on the motion of Dr. Hodgkin, to carry forward these objects.
Thanks having .been voted to the chairman for his able services, the meeting'
was adjourned till Wednesday, 10th inst, at eight o'clock in the samu
place." .

VI
At a subsequent meeting, which was addressed by several
gentlemen, a deep interest was expressed in the plan and success
of the American Colonization Society, tho question in regard to
a petition to Parliament, which had been prepared and submitted
by Mr. Fairbura, calling for an examination into the condition
and prospects of the settlements in Africa, particularly Liberia,
was considered, and the proposal for such a petition approved.
The following resolution was then adopted : —
" Resolved,
"That a Committee, consisting of Dr. Hodgkin, Lieutenant-Colonel
H. D. Campbell, A. B. Wright, Esquire, Dr. Costello, Mr. Fahburn, Mr.
Guest, Mr. Laird, Mr. P. Vaughau, D. Lister, Esquire,, and Mr. G.
Ralston, be appointed, with power to add to their number, for the purpose
of properly framing the petition, and of waiting on Lord John Russell with
a request that he would present it, and generally, to cany out the objects of
this meeting."
At this, or the meeting immediately preceding. Lieutenant-
Colonel Campbell, whose testimony in all matters conneotod
with African affairs is entitled to great weight, said —
" That during the three years he had been Governor of Sierra Leone, ho
had had frequent opportunities of observing persons from the colony of
Liberia, and he had always found them very superior in intellect, besides
being excellent mechanics, and generally very moral and well conducted.
In fact, he would candidly say that no persons in his own colony equalled
them. From his knowledge of the interior of Africa, he took upon himself
to say that it was by the establishment of such colonies as Liberia, that
civilization would be effected there. It was useless to.seiid out Europeans
to that coast, the climate was prejudicial to them. It was the coloured
man only that was fit for those regions. The great calumny that the black
man was incapable of intellectual eminence, was practically refuted both
at Sierra Leone and Liberia. Many of the pilots at Siena Leone were like
wise preachers, and he could truly say that one of the best sermons he had
ever heard was preached by a black man, on the occasion of his (Governor
Campbell's) departure from the colony. He trusted that a Society, similar
to the American Society would be established in England."
Considering the war which has, for the last eight years been
carried on in this kingdom against the American Colonization
Society, the verdict of a very intelligent English audience, after
six evenings of discussion and debate, unanimously pronounced
in its favour, was certainly as gratifying as it was unexpected.
It has entirely convinced me that the reasonable and benevolent
throughout England, would pronounce a similar verdict could
they fairly and fully examine into the facts and merits of tho
case. I regret extremely that I have been favoured with so few
opportunities of explaining the views and policy of the American
Colonization Society to the British public, and that means have
not been afforded me for defraying the expenses necessarily con
nected with the places and preparations for large meetings. I
trust the Committee to whom the cause is entrusted,- may deem

Vll
it wise to adopt measures for correcting the existing errors, and
imparting information on the subject to the good people of
England. If, in a few instances, letters of introduction from high sources
gave me reason to expect some civilities and kindness where both
have been withheld, to many gentlemen, both English and
American, I am under great obligations, which I acknowledge
with sensibility, and which are indelibly impressed upon my
heart. To Joseph Travers, Esq., whose high sense of honour,
liberality of sentiment, and generous devotion to the great
cause of human liberty and happiness, are admirable, my thanks
ore especially due.
From Petty Vaughan, Esq., and his venerable uncle, William
Vaughan, Esq., who appear to live but for the pubhc good, and
who, by innumerable acts of kindness to Americans, are worthy
to be regarded as their benefactors, I am placed under lasting
obligations. Daniel Lister, Esq., ever ready to give thought, and time, and
money, to the advancement of a good cause, who presided at
several of the meetings in Egyptian-Hall, and who is not less
distinguished by his philanthropy than for his hospitality and
unostentatious worth, is entitled to my warmest gratitude.
To George Catlin, Esq., who has won a lasting fame by the
wonderful genius and energy displayed in his admirable collection
of Indian costumes and portraits, has evinced a true concern for
my success, and with that noble disinterestedness which belongs
to his character, rendered me every aid in his power.
For much courtesy and kindness I am also indebted to Messrs.
A. and G. Kalston, (who have repeatedly made very liberal
donations to the Colonization Society,) to Robert Bell, Esq.,
Dr. Costello, D. Guest, Esq., Junius Smith, LL.D., A. B.
Wright, Esq., Lieut.-Col. H. D, Campbell, Thomas Campbell,
Esq. ; also (in connexion with the press) to Henry Inslrip, Esq.,
and to Messrs. Stirling, Dr. Wm. Beattie, and others.
Nor must I omit to mention the very obliging Christian
attentions of the Rev. Dr. Burder, of Hackney, the Rev. John
Clayton, of the Poultry chapel, and the Bev. Algernon Wells,
Secretary of the Congregational Union, for each and all of
whom I must ever cherish deep respect and affectionate regard.
Although the Times, in representing that the object of my
visit to this country was to solicit funds, is totally mistaken, I
must express the hope that far distant may be the day when the
Christians of England or America may hesitate to aid each
other in plans of enlarged benevolence. Though I have solicited
no donations since my arrival in England, I should he happy to
receive them for the Colonization Society did they proceed frtsm

vm
a conviction of the philanthropy of that Society — tho freewill
offerings of generous hearts. Nor should I bo less gratified to know
that contributions were coming from my own country to promote
great and good objects proposed to bo accomplished by the
people of England. May there long exist between both countries
the unity of the spirit, and the bond of peace.
In conclusion, I beg leave to submit the following remarks
from the pen of Dr. Hodgkin, which I trust may receive tho
serious consideration of the friends of the coloured race.
" A plan which promises to suppress that enormous assemblage of Climes'
the slave-trade, cannot fail to cxciie the interest, and engage the attention
of England, from the throne to the cottage. The interest of such a plan is
incalculably heightened when it comes from such a man as Sir T. F. Buxton.
This would be the case were no other considerations than those of humanity
involved ; but there are many others connected with it, which causes the
subject to be viewed under various aspects, which may account for the
difference of opinion regarding the proposed remedy, which has, doubtless,
been conscientiously expressed from various quarters. Tho Niger Expc-
dition,.in particular, is the subject of the most conflicting sentiments, in the
midst of which the public cannot he too strongly impressed with the fact
that, in the fitting out of this expedition, no pains have been spared to
collect the most authentic information, and that the most minute attention
has been given to meet and provide against the various difficulties which
may be expected, and to protect the health of those engaged in the expe
dition, who, in regard to their peculiar qualification have been selected with
the greatest care. As a whole, they constitute an exploring expedition of
the most complete description. The expedition is not in itself the remedy,
but a most important prelude to its application. The expedition will occupy
a few months, but the introduction of civilization and legitimate commerce
into Africa, which, by their union, constitute the remedy, must be the
steadily increasing and advantageous labour of years, and must go forward,
whether the expedition be crowned with success or not. It will therefore be
well for the public to regard the question dispassionately, and to receive
and weigh the opinions which are held in different quarters. In England,
many of the wise and good, aud of the politically important, are giving it their
support ; many of the same class on the continent of Europe are similarly
affected towards it. The American Society for the Colonization of free
American people of colour on the coast of Africa, hailed the formation of
Sir F. Buxton's Society as the accession of a powerful ally to the cause of
the elevation of the coloured race, and despatched their Secretary, It. R.
Gurley, for the express purpose of offering cordial co-operation anil friend
ship, and to guard against any danger of collision, which might otherwise
spring up between two bodies engaged with similar objects on the same
field. May the spirit of conciliation and peace be met with cordial reci
procity ; and blessing to Africa, England, and America must be the result.
That similar feelings to those which have prompted the American Society
also exist on the coast of Africa, will be seen in the following extract of a
letter from the Governor of Liberia, which possesses an additional interest in
giving the opinion of a practical man, and furnishing the proof of the cor
rectness of Sir Fowell Buxton's principle, and of its practicability of execu
tion if properly carried out. In short, all the objections which have
hitherto been raised, seein rather to apply to the details than to the principle.
These details are not fully before the public, since they have not, and indeed
could not, as yet, have been fixed by the Society itself."

The following is tho language of Governor Buchanan : —
"Your efforts, seconded by those of our vnluablc friend, Mr. Gurley,
will, I trust, be successful in inducing Sir T. F. Buxton and his coadjutors
to listen favourably to the proposition of the American Colonization Society.
No event, in my opinion, could be move auspicious to the general relations
of England and America than a union of the good men of each in this
great system of philanthropy, but to Africa it would be productive of incal
culable blessings. From my experience of the practical results of coloniza
tion here, I am prepared to say that, with the blessing of God, nothing else
is wanted to destroy the slave-trade, and revolutionize this whole continent
in its moral and social character, than the extension of this system.
Wherever you plant a community of civilized people, you gain a centre of
influence to a large district of surrounding countrv. If the colonists are
moral, orderly, industrious, and especially if they are just and kind in their
intercourse with the natives, depend upon it these poor sons of the forest
will soon learn to appreciate their character, and after that, it will not be
long before, in some respects at least, they will begin to imitate it. The
slave-trade loses its .aliment under such circumstances and dies — the habits
of the native improve — bis wants increase with his increasing taste for civili
zation — he necessarily becomes more industrious, and then gradually rises to
the full dignity of his nature.
" I assure you nothing could excite more general satisfaction among the
citizens of these colonics than to know that the philanthropists of England
were engaged with those of America in cariying on the work of colonization.
They would hail such a union as a bright omen to their father-land, .mil the
pledge of success to the cause of their race. The general affairs of Liberia
arc in a condition of greater prosperity than at any former period since my
arrival here, and there is very little sickness in any of the settlements.
Business of all kinds is brisk, and an increasing spirit of industry prevails
among our people. Through the agency of the colony all the dissensions
among the neighbouring tribes have been healed, and at this moment the
most perfect peace and tranquillity reign over a vast region of country that
from time immemorial had been distracted and devastated by the most fierce
and bloody wars."
Mr. Elliott Cressou, of Philadelphia, who has expended a vast
amount of time and thought, for years, in the African cau.-c,
travelled thousands of miles, given munificent donations, ana
laboured with almost unprecedented activity and zeal to promote
it, has submitted the project, sanctioned by the Bishops of the
American Episcopal Church, of founding a seminary or Theo
logical College for the education of clergymen in Liberia by the
united contributions of England and America. Heaven grant a
disposition to carry this important design into effect !
Finally, a good friend has expressed the fear that this pam
phlet will be deemed by some as confirmatory of the charge
urged against the Colonization Society, that it defends, or, at
least, apologizes for slavery. My object has been, to place the
subjoct in tho clear light of Christianity. I regard the Divine
law as binding the conscience of every humiui being, and that
every violation of that law by the individual, or by associated
individuals, should be immediately abandoned. The system of
American slavery being to an extent violative of that law should,

to that extent, by tho state authorities, be immediately changed.
I do not soften down, I do not seek to relax tho force and
universal obligation of this law. Let this obligation be enforced
with all energy and all eloquence, but let no one think to be
wiser than God, and destroy the perfection of the law in its
power to guide by pure motives the human reason, and to direct
and accommodate, according to tho dictates of that reason thus
guided, human actions in most of the endlessly diversified rela
tions, circumstances and necessities of society. And to expect
even the full and universal illuminations of this law (should they
be realized) instantly to remedy all the physical evils of our dis
ordered state, is like expecting the shining of the blessed sun for a
single day to expand the flowers of spring, or ripen the fruits
of autumn to perfection. If my doctrine be at variance with
that of Christ and his apostles, let it be exposed and rejected.
London, May 1st, 1841. R. R. G.

A LETTER
TO THE HON. HENRY CLAY, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN COLO
NIZATION SOCIETY, ANU TO Sin THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON,
CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE AFRICAN
CIVILIZATION SOCIETY.
Gentlemen, — I address you as representing, in an eminent man
ner, the more sober general views of the great body of the wise and
good in England and America in regard to the measures demanded for
the relief and elevation of the African race. On a subject so vast,
complex, and difficult, neither you, nor those you respectively re
present, may in all points agree, yet, doubtless, you and they are
animated by the same pure motives, and seeking to effect the same
grand object. To this object many years of my life have been de
voted. My official connexion with the American Colonization Society
is terminated ; and from my present position I may review, perhaps,
the opinions I have formed with less danger than heretofore from bias
or partiality. The thoughts I express have been much considered,
and I hope they may be deemed worthy of attention by the good peo
ple of the United States and of Great Britain.
There is much variety as well as peculiarity of misfortune in the
condition of the African race. The. great majority of this people still
inhabit their ancient land of Africa, broken up into almost innumerable
tribes, differing, to some extent, in complexion, customs, knowledge,
and superstitions, slightly united by social ties, governed by arbitrary
chiefs with little form of law, and generally and deeply degraded by
long-prevalent barbarism, the rites of a debasing religion, by slavery
and the slave-trade. Estimates of the population of Africa have varied
from sixty millions to one hundred and fifty millions, and probably the
exact number lies between these two extremes. This vast population
is spread over a country of great extent and fertility, abundant in
resources, penetrated by many large navigable rivers, and blessed with
rich advantages for agriculture and commerce with civilized nations.
A portion of this race occupy the British West-Indian Islands,
with advantages and encouragements for improvement, having been
raised by the power of the English Government from slavery to
freedom. Another portion (not exceeding probably altogether, including the
free blacks of Mexico, five millions) exist as slaves in the Brazils,
Cuba, and the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, and Dutch
colonial possessions in various parts of the globe.
Another portion (about 3,000,000) are in the United States, the.
majority in slavery in the Southern States of the Union, and about
half-a-million free and scattered throughout all the States.

Finally, a considerable number (though less we presume than arc
in the same condition in Christian countries) arc in slavery in the
Mahomedan empire.
From this brief and very imperfect survey, it is evident that the
whole number of Africans in exile in all parts of the world is small
compared with that of those still residing on the soil of Africa. Nor
can we doubt, from the facts and statements exhibited in the recent
work on the slave-trade and its remedy, that the greatest physical evils
endured by the African race result from the slave-trade, which, though
utterly condemned by the general opinions and laws of Christian
nations, is nevertheless prosecuted by avarice and inhumanity to an
unprecedented extent, attended by the most shockingly criminal and
cruel acts, and an immense waste of human life. Nearly or quite
half-a-million of wretched Africans arc annually torn from their homes,
a moiety of whom perish in capture, during their march to the coast,
in the holds of slave-ships on their passage across the ocean, or during
the first trials of toil and exposure in a foreign climate. In view of
an evil so terrible, so enormous, it becomes all humane and Christian
men immediately, solemnly, and with their might, to exert themselves
to discover and apply the remedy, and, unmindful of minor differences
of sentiment and all merely personal considerations, to unite in mea
sures the most efficient for the relief of such inexpressible miseries,
and the redress of such atrocious wrongs as are involved in tbe slave-
trade. Yet as the source and scat of this trade is in the barbarism
and degradation of Africa, all measures will prove, we fe«.r, but
palliative of the evil, which do not include as an end the civilization
and elevation of the African race. The great inquiry should be, I
conceive, How shall the greatest good, in the shortest time be conferred
upon the greatest number of this afflicted and injured people ?
In this inquiry other questions, than those concerning the injustice
of establishing or perpetuating either the slave-trade or slavery are
involved. I know not that in England and America the slave-trade
has any advocates or defenders , and slavery as an original and per
manent system will find few among civilized nations. But to show
how the efforts of philanthropy shall be combined and directed, so as to
suppress utterly the African slave-trade, secure the abolition of slavery,
without detriment, and with advantage to all parties, and in all coun
tries where it exists, and the civilization of Africa, so darkened and
debased by ignorance, superstition, oppression, and vice, and this in
the shortest possible period, is a matter of vital importance to the
honour of our religion and the interests of humanity.
Nor are we in danger of over-estimating the magnitude and gran
deur of an enterprize embracing prospectively the many millions, with
their future descendants, of one of the largest quarters of the globe,
the millions from that country now in exile and chains in other lands,
with their descendants, and affecting, as in its progress and results it
must, the political, social, and commercial condition of several civilized
and powerful nations. Human thought and ability are often wasted
upon insignificant and even unworthy objects. Those which rightly
demand our sympathy and aid are frequently very limited in the num
ber, extent, and duration of .their benefits. We open the village-

school, give food, clothing, or shelter to the destitute, rear asylums for
those stricken down by misfortune, or touched in body or estate by
the chastening hand of God, and rejoice even if a few of his rational
creatures, our brethren, derive relief, or find solace and unwonted joy
from the ministrations of our hands ; but when a continent cries to
us for succour ; when millions perishing make to us their appeal ;
when a whole race of men, a large proportion of the entire human
family call upon us for deliverance from unutterable wrongs and
miseries, and a participation in the choicest blessings which the Divine
Father in the bounty of his grace has bestowed upon ourselves, it
were a disgrace for which we could never atone, to remain unmoved
or inactive. The evils to be remedied, the good to be conferred by
our Christian exertions in such a case surpass the boundaries of the
human imagination, the comprehension of any finite mind. As in
charity there can be no excess, neither can there be of zeal in such a
cause ; for here enthusiasm is sobriety.
Though my opinion is, that of all measures of general policy for the
benefit of the African race, the colonization in Africa of free persons
of colour, with their own consent, on the principles developed in the
colony of Liberia, is the best, which can at present be adopted by
American and English philanthropists, I am not insensible to the
value of many subordinate and auxiliary plans, or to the purity of
motive by which they are sustained. In various channels and from
various points the charities of the Christian world may flow forth and
finally commingle in one and the same broad stream of beneficence to
Africa. But if the scheme of colonization suggested, as, at present, the
main plan of benefit to the African race, surpass any and all others
in efficiency and advantage ; if at its commencement, and for several
years to come, it require great energy and resources, the opinion of
England and America should be united for its support. Opinion is
becoming the mistress of states and of the world. How mighty the
reason and benevolence of these two countries acting together and for
the same end ! How disastrous to the hopes of Africa should their
opinions on this subject tend in opposite directions, neutralize each
other, if not exhaust their strength in the fierceness of controversy or
the bitterness of reproach and recrimination.
And here it may be important to state the moral principle which
should govern the friends of the African race, in endeavours and en-
terprizes for their benefit ; and to show that it is the same, which by
the Divine law, each and every man is bound to manifest in his con
duct towards one and all of his fellow-men. It is simply that prir.-
ciple of justice and benevolence embodied in the golden rule oi" the
Saviour of the world. In its application to the inhabitants and
descendants of Africa there is no peculiarity unless it lie in the
strength of reasons which urge this application on account of the
greatness of their wrongs and the extremity of their miseries. Possibly,
also, we may be specially bound to remedy evils which our own crimes
or those of our immediate ancestors have produced. But with these
qualifications, our duty to the African race is the same owed by us to
any other people in like circumstances.
b2

The law of Christianity enjoining reciprocal and equal benevolence,
universally, and at all times, between man and man, is the sole founda
tion of human rights, and this general law can, in the innumerable
cases, not defined or settled by particular Divine precepts, be obeyed
only by such acts and methods as an honest reason shall prescribe.
The principle of this law, perfect and immutable, holds authority over
all human society, but in its application to particular circumstances,
conditions, and individuals of this society, varies endlessly, involves
every question of expediency, and requires the exercise of our highest
faculties, of the soundest and most sagacious judgment. No one can
doubt the truth of this doctrine who will reflect upon his own conduct
for a single day. Why bestows he alms upon this destitute person
and not upon that, sustains this proposed measure for the public advan
tage and not that other, but in recognition of the fact that in most of
the actions and duties of life, Christianity governs by general laws,
leaving human reason to study the lessons of experience, and to select
and apply the means and methods of beneficence. In all domestic,
social, and political life, and in ten thousand forms, this fact is manifested
every hour, and while I see in it, for many reasons, a peculiar wisdom
and a high moral discipline, I know that had it been otherwise,
and special laws dictated and prescribed each and every act of our
lives, the world itself would not contain the books that had been
written. The rights of man imply corresponding obligations, and the existence
of one or both between men, presupposes human society. I am
dealing now with the morale of the subject, and not with its artificial
or merely legal aspects. No reasoning then, on the rights of man, is
of force or value, which treats him as solitary and alone, or which
rests merely upon the dignity and immortality of his nature. Nor is
it possible to discover, independent of a serious attention to cir
cumstances and consequences, from the preceptive code of Christi
anity, many of the rights of others, and of our particular obligations
of duty ; and not less rational is he, who, because God has left to him
the free use of his limbs, confronts the steam-engine in its velocity, or
dares the wrath of all the elements, than he who in his plans of
benevolence, overlooks the fact, that not more perfect or unbending in
principle, than comprehensive and accommodating in the modes of its
application to human society and human affairs, is the Divine law,
regulating things on earth as in heaven, partially by exact definitions
and rules, but mostly by purity of motive and the all-hallowing and
benign influences of reciprocal and universal love. So far as any
system of political or personal slavery violates the specific precepts or
the general laws of Christianity, it must be condemned, and should be
immediately abolished, yet whether such a system be for a time, on the
whole, right or wrong, it is clear that the duties and rights of indi
viduals invested, thereby, with authority, or bound to submission and
servitude, are affected and modified by a state of things, which exists,
perhaps, (if they are in a minority,) without their choice, and which
neither one nor both of them find it possible to control. As they
neither established the system, may not desire to perpetuate and cannot
abolish it, they must fulfil the royal law according to the Scriptures

by such acts of mutual justice and kindness as arc compatible with
the necessities of their condition and the public welfare.
Men, as individuals, and society, as a body of individuals, are
equally bound to do what they can to reform abuses, promote justice,
and seek the perfectability of all social and political institutions; yet in
regard to the means they adopt for these great ends they must be
mainly governed by their own judgments, deliberately and conscien
tiously formed under responsibilities to the Author of all wisdom, the
Supreme Ruler of the world.
Much controversy in regard to slavery, arises from the different
meanings given by different writers to that term, some using it as
synonymous with the act of reducing a iVcc person to involuntary and
perpetual servitude ; others as that system or institution of society
which legalizes and makes hereditary this servitude ; some as a wrong
involving every crime committed towards slaves where such an insti
tution prevails ; some as the mere condition of the slaves ; and others as
Bimply the relation existing between the individual master and his
slaves, the effects of which must clearly depend very much upon the
character of the persons and tho peculiar circumstances of the case.
Some deem slavery, however modified, and wherever existing, so j
entirely and intolerably criminal, that for its overthrow they would
willingly hazard all consequences, and in their enthusiasm for what they j
term the inalienable rights of humanity, violate the rights of independent '
communities, the long acknowledged and sanctioned laws of nations.
States and individuals are alike bound by the general and special
laws of the Christian religion, and to hold or treat human beings as
mere property, I regard as a violation of the principles of that religion ;
yet it by no means follows that all masters, from the very nature of the
relation they sustain to their slaves are to be condemned, or that the
state in which slavery exists is bound to proclaim immediate, uncon
ditional, universal, and entire emancipation. The relation of master
does not oblige the master to treat the slave as mere property. The
state may repeal all laws which thus regard the slave, short of an act
of unconditional and entire emancipation. Even the liabilities to evil
towhich particular slaves are ex-posed in the service of Christian
mastcrsjn America, may be less thanjhose to which they would be
exposed, at present, by an act of emancipation! BuT"irmay~be~ said
theTiabilities to evil of particular slaves "by emancipation could not
exist were there general emancipation. This may be true ; but I am
speaking of things as they are, and not as they might be, and of the
modification of the duties of individuals by the condition of society.
To illustrate then my meaning, the slave of a humane master may
have a family connected, as slaves, with a neighbouring plantation, and f
emancipation might expose him, as in some cases it would, to separa
tion from his wife and children, by removal from the state, and thus ,
prove to him a curse rather than a blessing. It may be true that his
liabilities to evil in slavery are less than they would be in freedom.
If we look to a republican confederacy, like that of the United
States, of many states, in one half of which slavery exists, and in tbe
other not, where the evil was planted, in opposition to earnest and
repeated remonstrances from the people, then colonially dependent,. by

()•
a ruling but foreign power ; where the numbers in slavery are large, in
some states a majority of the population ; distinct from all other classes
in origin and complexion, uneducated, and incapable of self-govern
ment, it is clear that those providentially entrusted with political
control, must look to the general welfare, consider the interests of
others as well as of the slaves, and that they would disregard the highest
obligations should they by sudden and rash changes expose the country
to revolution, or all the horrors of civil war. The temper of the people
is to bejehsetycdr-as-well as the^iliyaical condition of society, the helm/'
of power is not to be surrendered to unsafe or incompetent hands, and/
it must be "remembered, for~thc sake of the slaves thclmsclvcsi that
res traunrs"\fiioiOljg;"frecdonToTmcn arc sometTmesniTi^
rights. My purpose, however, is not to discuss thewhole "question of
slavery, but to show, that in regard to that, as well as to most other
evils in the world, Christian discretion should be exercised under the
general law of Christian benevolence, and that those writers (and
many such recent ones there are) who confound all distinctions between
slavery nud the African slave-trade ; between the guilt, of him who I
reduces free men to slavery and of him who receives by inheritance an '
estate upon which arc slaves, made such by laws enacted by generations
that died before he was born ; between the conduct of a parent nation, ,
forcing, for gain, this evil of slavery upon her colonics, disposed, but j
unable, to resist, and that of those colonies become independent states '
and in view of the differences of their free and slave population and
the near equality of their numbers, hesitating to attempt emancipation,
mainly from apprehensions that such an attempt would produce evils
greater than slavery itself ; disregards or leaves unnoticed the deeper
and more important elements in the subject, from which alone we can
frame arguments for the enfranchisement of their slaves, convincing to
the slaveholders, because just to facts and to motives, and trusting
rather to their sense of obligation to do good unto all men, than to
the imagined wisdom of our own suggestions, how this obligation, in
the particular case, shall be discharged.
I have no thought or wish to apologize for any of the sins and
wrongs of slavery. The doctrine I maintain appears to me the doc
trine of Christianity, and better adapted (as surely it must be if such)
to secure the freedom and happiness of the slaves than any one more
austere, and less capable of being discriminately applied to the ever-
varying existence and circumstances of human beings. It is of the
perfection as well as equity of the Divine Law, not to hold the state
responsible for crimes which no state legislation could prevent or
punish, nor the individual bound to redress wrongs and evils created
and sanctioned by state authority, and which he is unable either to
arrest or control. True every man should, by his influence and
example, plead for righteousness ; and from the retirements of indi
vidual souls must emanate the power to conquer evil ; gradually,
increasingly, and without disturbance, pervade the bodies politic of
states and kingdoms, establish justice in the seats of renown, and
crown charity queen of the world, — the power of Divine truth, wisdom,
and love.
Slavery (I speak now of the system) in the United States and other

countries, is one of the many forms of oppression which all good men
must desire to see speedily, and with advantage to all parties, abolished.
Originating in the errors and crimes of a former age, closely interwoven
with all the institutions and habits of society, strengthened by interest
and time, and in America, depending upon no power or authority
except of the states, individually, where it exists, the reason, conscience,
and will of the masters, are the principal, if not only channels, through
which the influences of truth and kindness can operate successfully for
its removal. Let such influences alone operate. Censure, reproach,
interference by citizens of other states, tend but to add rigour to the
bondage, and gloom to the prospects of the slave population. And it
should be known in England, as it is known in America, chat the
sentiments, the judgments, the institutions of the people of the United
States are on the side of general liberty. The people of these states
generally, regard slavery as an anomaly to the entire spirit and plan of
their political being, and therefore its toleration and support must be
traced to some powerful reasons in their minds, unconnected with
their general views of politics and of society. These reasons arise
from the wide differences in complexion, history, character, and con
dition, between those of Anglo-Saxon and African descent, which arc
thought to render intimate social and political union between them im
practicable if desirable, and undesirable if practicable, injurious to both,
and of benefit to neither, and from the dangers of collision were both
free on the same soil should such union not be effected. If these ideas
be erroneous, they are general and powerful, you cannotmeet and over
come them by argument, for they spring from association and sympa
thies ; they may die, hut cannot be conquered.
I have expressed the opinion that the colonization of free persons of
colour, with their own consent, in Africa, on the principles developed
in the establishment and progress of Liberia, is of all plans, practicable
at present, most deserving support in England and America, because
of highest utility and promise to the African race.
The history of the colony of Liberia, though brief, is full of
interest and instruction to the student of human nature, and par
ticularly to those philanthropists who seek to civilize Africa, and
elevate the minds of her children. Granville Sharp, Dr. Fother-
gill, and their associates, had founded Sierra Leone. The rude ma
terials with , which they commenced their work, and extraordinary
disasters, soon compelled them to commit the destinies of this colony
to the English Government ; and though it looks out brightly and
encouragingly from the African shore it has hardly fulfilled the best
hopes of its earliest friends. The colony of Liberia owes its existence
to a benevolent American Society, has no connexion with the Govern
ment, and from it has derived but occasional, and compared with that
of individuals, but small aid. The wise and good men who, twenty-
four years ago, organized the American Colonization Society, proposed
a plan of benevolence to the African race so simple and unobjection
able that the citizens of the whole United States might contribute to
its support, so powerful in its tendencies of good in all directions and
comprehensive in its promised beneficence as to want, in theory, at
least, little if anything of perfection. This plan was, to purchase, from

the African chiefs a suitable and sufficiently extended territory, and
to assist such bold and energetic free men of colour residing in the
United States, as might desire to emigrate, to found thereon a free
and Christian state, which, from the nature of its institutions, the
development of its principles and resources, and the discipline of its
circumstances must strengthen and elevate the intellect and moral
character of its citizens ; by example and endeavours plant and pro
pagate civilization and Christian doctrine in Africa; suppress the
slave-trade ; react powerfully upon America to promote emancipation
by means disconnected from danger, demanded by general justice,
and fraught with blessings never yet attained by it, to the liberated
Africans and to their race ; thus showing by experiment and demon
strating in fact, how this race may cast off the incumbrances and
entanglements of their thraldom, and self-respected, because deserving
praise, stand in dignity and honour before the world. It is the
peculiar excellency of this plan, that for its success, reliance is mainly
placed upon the ability of the descendants and people of Africa them
selves, when favoured in position and stimulated by high motives, to
rise from their degradation, assume a national character, and secure
prosperity and a name among the nations. The purpose of the
Society has been to place the objects of its bounty in such a position,
and supply to them such motives. Poor are the richest endowments
of fortune, compared with the acquisitions of the mind. Worthless
are the distinctions which others may confer on us compared with
those we may by great acts and great endurance achieve for ourselves.
It has been by toil and trial, by suffering and conflict, by self-denial
and self-discipline, by hazardous adventure and often by the 'ron hand
of necessity that individuals and nations have ascended from weakness.,
obscurity, and disgrace, to power and grandeur.
Since a band of persecuted pilgrims, impelled by concern for the
rights of conscience and the truths of God, first trod the icy and rock-
bound coast of New England, few events of higher moral interest
or sublimity have occurred than the establishment of the colony of
Liberia. Much praise is due to the Colonization Society, but far more
to the heroic men of colour who went forth, at the peril of their lives,
with no safeguard but Providence, to plant the seeds of liberty and
Christianity in the most barbarous quarter of the world, and theie, far
away from the arm of any civilized Government, in the face of a fiercf
and mighty opposition to rear the fabric of a free, well-ordered, and
religious commonwealth. It is true that this small company of brave
adventurers in the cause of their race, have been assisted by teachers
and guides from among the whites, and heaven has smiled upon them ;
yet it is to their own awakened energy, their industry, resolution,
courage, and faith in God that we must mainly attribute their success.
The world has little observed, perhaps less applauded them. Pro
bably not one in a thousand in this metropolis has any knowledge of
their existence. Yet they have founded a republican and Christian
state in Africa which promises to grow and extend itself for ages, and
constituted and adapted in the whole character of its institutions anc
laws to kindle the individual mind, and give full play to all those in
tellectual and moral faculties which, nobly exercised, exalt men t-

greatness, may prove a central light and power to revive and renovate'
their country and their race.
But to be more specific in regard to the principles embodied and
developed in the colony of Liberia.
It is designed for a national and independent political existence.
Its institutions are republican, or in the hands of the people.
Control over them is reserved to the people of colour.
Slavery can have no existence within the limits of the colony.
All transactions with the native tribes are to be conducted on prin
ciples of exact justice.
Both law and practice are in hostility to the slave-trade.
Provision is to be made for universal education.
No preference is to be given to any religious sect, but perfect and
therefore equal toleration is secured to all.
Missionaries of all Christian denominations among the native
Africans are to be countenanced and encouraged in their work.
Coloured emigrants are aided, by the Society during six months
after their arrival, receive donations of land, and having taken posses
sion of the same, and cultivated a few acres, become entitled to all the
privileges of citizenship.
Various, recent, and unexceptionable testimony from sources, Eng
lish as well as American, might be adduced to show how, these prin
ciples, incorporated in its constitution, laws, and the manners and
sentiments of its citizens are so well adapted to make it a contented,
enterprizing, improving, religious community, aiding to suppress the
slave-trade and to diffuse a knowledge of civilization and Christianity
among the native African tribes.*
This colony of Liberia, (including the settlements founded by the
people of Maryland at Cape Palmas) extends from that point lat. 4° 10'
south to Cape Mount lat. 6° 45' north, a distance by the coast of about
300 miles, and varying in extent interior, from ten to forty miles. The
Governor of the principal colony is a white man, that of Maryland, a
man of colour educated in New England. The governments of both are
founded upon the consent of the people, and administered by officers
of their own choice. The beautiful and thriving towns or villages of
Monrovia, Caldwell, New Georgia, Millsburg, Marshall, Greenville,
Bassa Cove, Edna, Bexley, Rozenberg, Harper and others adorn
this coast, so recently covered with barbarism, and exposed to all the
atrocities and horrors of the slave-trade. Eighteen churches and many
schools are established. Of several thousand emigrants from the
United States, about two thousand were manumitted by benevolent
1 masters, and assisted to take possession of this their long lost, but now
recovered, and we trust secure and permanent inheritance. The
exports from this colony, consisting of ivory, camwood, palm oil,
tortoiseshell, gold, beeswax, and hides, has amounted to from one to
two hundred thousand dollars annually for several years, while an
equal amount of American and European manufactures has been
received in return. Several small coasting vessels (not fewer than twelve
or fifteen) manned and navigated by the colonists, are constantly
* See note at the close of this letter.

10
engaged from Monrovia, the principal seaport, in n profitable) trade
along Bevcn hundred miles of the const. Seldom is the harbour of
this town without foreign vessels, nearly one bundled of which, from
the United States, England, France, Sweden, Portugal, nnd Denmark,
touch there every year. The country possesses great advantages for
agriculture, as well as commerce, cotton, coffee, sugar, rice, indigo,
palm-oil, with ivory, nnd many rich gums, drugs, and spices, from tho
forest, may, by industry and energy, be produced or obtained in large
quantities for exportation.
The respect for good morals and religion is general and great.
Three years ago, there were about eight hundred members of the
Christian church ; profanencssand intoxication arc almost unknown, nnd
as early as 1834, a Temperance Society, in a few weeks after its
organization, reckoned on its list, 500 members, nt that time, one-fifth
of the entire population. Nowhere is the Sabbath more regarded, or
Divine worship attended with more apparent drvolion. In some settle
ments, tho sale of ardent spirits is entirely prohibited by law; Every
where the use of them is discouraged by public opinion. Some thirty
African chiefs have consented by treaty to discontinue the slave-trade,
and many thousands of the native population have placed themselves
under the protection nnd authority of llic Colonial Government.
The ministers of the Gospel, about forty in number, hold rcligiouR
meetings during the week, as well ns on Sundays, and give religious
instruction in the native villages. The legislative council, the courts
of justice, the lyceums, societies for mental improvement, and for pur
poses of benevolence, the ably conducted presses, the public library,
the ardent desire for knowledge pervading the whole community, a
well organized militia, and numerous civil officers discharging their
duties with skill and fidelity, arc impressive evidences of improvement,
and of the cfficicnc}' of the principles, inculcated and embodied in the
colonization of Liberi.i. To the mental discipline, the force of motives,
elevated and constant, the kindling up of hope, in view of an almost
boundless prospect of honour, and usefulness, must wc ascribe the
conduct and success of the people of this colony.
Nor should I omit to mention how the gates of Africa have been
opened through this colony, for the admission of missionaries, and
other Christian teachers, to her native population, and that sixty such
persons, sustained in their most benevolent efforts, by four of the
principal denominations of American Chrisl'r.ns, have entered upon
this field, never before visited, by the messengers of peace and salva
tion, and been welcomed by its rude occupau.'s, read) to r:eeivc the
words of Divine wisdom, and to escape from the bondage and shadow
of death.
In sundry important particulars there is, between the American
Colonization Society, and the African Chilizat-'on Society of England,
an exact, agreement.
In their utter detestation of the African slave-trade, tiny cujree. :
In the opinion, that for its overthrow, we should not rest contented,
to abide the slow progression of the principles of justice, throughout
the world, but lay by far the greatest stress, on all those efforts, which
may tend to enlighten, and civilize the African mind, thy vctna

11
III the choice of Africa, as the great theatre for their operations,
they agree :
In tho principle agents to be employed in their cntcrprizc, free
persons of colour of African descent, they agree:
In the design and importance of endeavours, by peaceful nnd fair
negotiation, to obtain the consent of the chiefs, and natives of Africa,
to abolish the slave-trade, they agree.:
In many of the means for the civilization of the people of Africa ;
the establishment of schools, for literary nnd religious inslruclion, of
manufactories and workshops, in which shall be taught, the useful arts ;
of model farms, to show practically the best modes of agriculture ; nnd
the encouragement of Christian missions, and, finally, in the purpose
of demonstrating to the view of the inhabitants of Africa, how they
may avail themselves of the vast resources of their country, and find
it their interest, as it is their duty, to abolish the traffic in slaves, they
agree :
In their ideas of the vast extent of good to be attained by their
exertions, they agree.
On two points only, in their contemplated operations in Africa, they
may differ, yet independent of any reasons which I may be able to
offer in favour of a perfect union, I am not sure that even on these
they will long disagree.
I refer first, to the establishment of colonies or commanifies of froi.
persons of colour in Africa destined to self-government and to a per
manent and independent political existence ; and second to the quest ion
of temporary authority to be exercised over such colonies, for their
benefit by the governments of England or the United States. The
able chairman of the General Committee of the Civilization Society
has indeed declared, that their object is to civilize, not to colonize;
yet in the same letter he adds, " It is true, I may be desirous that
we should form settlements, and even that we should obtain the right
of jurisdiction in certain districts, because wc could not otherwise
secure a fair trial or full scope for our normal schools, our model
farms, and cur various projects to ;..\vaken the minds of the natives, to
prove to them the importance oi agriculture, nnd to e\eita (ho spirit
of commerce;" and Sir George Stephen regards colonization (if we
mistake not) as a thing incidental if not necessary to the- execution of
the plan of the committee ; and while the chairman desires the
authority of the government to be extended over such territory as
may be acquired, one of his associates, perhaps not Ic.fs distinguished
than himself, thinks this authority, if granted, will be but temporary;
and that, free men of colour from all parts of the world will soon he
invited and assisted to occupy this territory as independent communi
ties. On these points it is clear the plans of the Civilization Society
are not matured. That the Governments of England anci America
should extend, for a time, a protecting and fostering care over colonies
planted in Africa by benevolent individuals or societies may be
admitted ; the writer has on proper occasions urged the friends of the
African race in America to make their appeal to the several govern
ments of the Union for aid to the cause of African Colonization ; yet
neither he nor they have once thought of turning from that object the

12
very lode star in their policy — the establishment of colonics with the
spirit, ability, and right to frame and build up their own social and
political institutions as a free and independent people.
For one, I hold, that in our endeavours to civilize Africa, it is unwise to
rely solely or mainly upon individual missionaries, or upon any com
panies of men not bound together voluntarily by social and political ties,
and that the colonial system of England, though not on the whole an
evil,* is very imperfectly adapted to develope the power and exalt the
character of the native population of the countries over which it
extends. The author of the work on tbe Slave-trade and its Pemedy,
will concur in this opinion. But to multiply colonies of free men of
colour in Africa on the principles of Liberi.i is to introduce impretsivs
examples of order, law, rind government, to furnish to th". colonists
themselves the strongest and most animating motives for improvement,
and to command the respect while wc enlighten the minis of tlu
native population. The opinion of the learned and aide si nermtendent
of the Missions of the London Society, at the Cape of Good Hope,
(Dr. Philip) is entitled to high respect. " I say nothing," he observes,
" of the advantages America may gain from the colony of Liberia, or
of the advantages the people of colour may gain from becoming citizens
of this new country. I leave such questions to be settled by the
citizens of the United States, who are by their local knowledge better
qualified than I am to decide them. But so far as our plans for the
future improvement of Africa are concerned, I regard this settlement
as full of promise to this unhappy continent. Half-a-dozen such
colonies, conducted on Christian principles, might bo the means, under
the Divine blessing, of regenerating this degraded quarter of the
globe. Every prospective measure for the improvement, of Africa must
have in it the seminal principles of good government, ,md no better
plan can he devised for laying the foundation of Christian governments
than this new settlement presents. Properly conducted, your new
colony may become an extensive empire, which may be the means of
shedding the blessings of civilization and peace over a vast portion of
this divided and distracted continent."
Concurring, then, in many and very essential particulars, as well as
* " Our colonies, which, owing to their youth and distance from the parent
state, ought to have excited and called into operation a larger share of material
interest, have been sadly misused. The incalculable riches, which Iron, Cii lap
of abundance they have even offered to pour forth on the shores of Alt ion, !>av?
been faluitously in many instances rejected, and the golden opporLimly of
binding with a silken chain of commerce the east and the west, and the south
and the north of the empire, too often sacrificed for the sake of private gain and
the promotion of selfish interests. B ut it is to be hoped that the progress of know
ledge — the extension of colonial commerce, and the light of the Gospel with
¦which the ministers of religion are illumining every land, will awaken attention
to the transmarine dominions of England, where the statesman, guided by the
precepts of Christianity, may fortify our empire for ages, where the merchant
may in activity follow his peaceful and civilizing pursuits, where the naturalist
. may delight in scenes of exquisite and endless beauty, adorned with every
variety of the animal and vegetable creation, where tho philanthropist may
exult in tho progressive improvement of his fellow-creatures, and, above all,
where the Christian may rejoice in the anticipation of that prophesied kingdom
whose branches and roots are to extend throughout the universe."— -M. Martin.

13
in benevolence of motive, it remains to be seen whether the African
Civilization Society of England, and the American Colonization Society
will, on those just specified, ultimately agree. My confidence, at least,
hope that they will do so, rests upon a firm conviction that the principles
developed and applied in the colonization of Liberia, are so just in
theory, and beneficent in practice, as finally to command the approbation
of all philanthropists. I have great confidence in the candour, reason
ableness, and benevolence of tbe African Civilization Society, and of
the good people of England. They have recently shown an ardent
and generous zeal in the cause of the suffering Africans. I believe
them capable of disinterested and glorious deeds, nor do I deem my
own countrymen less -capable of such achievements in this or any
other enterprize of humanity. The two nations do not know, respect,
trust, or love each other as they ought. Of one descent and religion,
and living for common objects, the Christians of both countries should
feel bound together by sacred and indissoluble ties, as the heirs of an
eternal inheritance and communion, once exalted to which, (if for them
regret and shame there exist) for few sins will they experience more
than for their violations towards each other of justice, brotherly kind
ness, and charity.
The plan of colonizing Africa developed in Liberia, I regard as the
best general plan, at present, for the benefit of the African race.
1 st. Because it gives the noblest exercise to the minds of those who
engage in it, and thus most effectually improves and elevates their
character. What work more honourable than to lay the first founda
tions of good government and the church of God ? What can so
arouse the minds of a people, or so fan into a flame their enthusiasm
for virtue, as to summon them to great and worthy actions — to give
existence and form to a state, — to enact and administer laws, — to send
out among uncivilized and untamed men the voice of instruction and
authority, — support the high prerogatues of justice — and as responsible
to posterity, the world, and to God, to mark and seal the institutions of
a newly-organized society with indelible characters of wisdom. Nor let
us think the people we would colonize unsusceptible to the influence
of lofty motives, or that by self-discipline, in circumstances adapted to
call into life their energies, and to invigorate them, they may not win
the reputation of wisdom. In minds improved only as theirs, she is the
daughter of experience and high resolve. The free blacks of the
United States, and many of the slaves also, are in that state from which
nothing great is to be expected, while they continue unexcited and in
the shade of a greater people, but from which they must rise when
untrammelled, and sent forth with due encouragements, to buildup, unop
posed by superior civilization, on the vast and rich lands of their mother-
country, their own fortunes, and to redeem their race. Their advantages
for this work, inferior in some respects to those of the first settlers of
America, are superior in others. With less knowledge of letters, they
have more of the useful arts, of the free spirit of Christianity, and of
the practical operations and benefit of free government. They have
the records of their experience, and the light of their example, and
before their eyes the mighty results of their deeds. Commerce brings
them into connexion with every enlightened and powerful people. The

14
benevolence, tho missionary spirit of a great nation, a spirit unequalled
in any preceding age is ready to second their exertions. Responsi
bilities arc thrown upon them of surpassing interest and magnitude.
Millions, their brethren, bound by superstition nnd slavery, appeal lo
them for light and deliverance. And, finally, defeat must be ruin,
while success will be the attainment of every earthly blessing alid
eternal honour.
The plan of Libcrian colonization is, then, peculiarly to be com
mended, because bringing into play and vigorous action the noblest
mental faculties, and thus elevating the character of the colonists. I
know of no other plan which docs, I can hardly imagine another
which would do this, so effectually. Depressed by ages of servitude
and habits of dependence, such exercise and discipline the African
race especially need ; nor without it can we anticipate their rapid or
great improvement. To exalt human character we must touch tho
springs of the understanding, and move the deep and generous pas
sions of the henrt.
In the second place, I regard this plan ns chief and best, because,
relying mainly for success not upon preenrious, individual, or transi
tory effort, but upon the permanency, growth, and moral influence of
well-organized communities.
A few individuals might die, a few schools be broken up, a com
pany of missionaries, animated by the purest motives, and prepared
to sacrifice every interest for the Christian cause, might bo cut off
by disease, or dispersed or slain by savage foes, but a v/cll-founded
commonwealth is destined, ordinarily, to a continued and increasing
existence. Though feeble in its origin, it has within it durable ele
ments of life and power. The settlement rises into a state, the state
to empire. The colony of Liberia has already within itself the means
of self-defence and self-improvement. And if, in two centuries the
Republic of North America, embracing a population of more than
seventeen millions, has arisen from the humble beginnings of civili
zation on the shores of New England and Virginia, we may hope
that our African settlements, so attractive (if politically free :md
morally deserving), ns they must be to the exiled children of Africa,
will rapidly expand into communities commanding respect by their
wealth and numbers, their intelligence and strcr.gtl.. Their tin.is,
natives of the soil, educated in all the arts of civilizatiou and in tin-.
doctrines and wisdom of Christianity, will go forth, not by hundreds
but thousands, to instruct barbarous and degraded tribes, and lead
them to knowledge and liberty, aud the worship of the true God.
Let them convert the wildernesses of Africa into fruitful fields, her
savage and enslaved people into civilized men, her victims of a cruel
superstition into the meek disciples of Christ ; let them •' build one
great city,''* for beauty and strength to be admired, and demonstrate
their ability honourably to fulfil all the duties of an independent state,
and the reproach of their race, and African slavery throughout the
world must for ever cease. The plan, then, is admirable because de
signed to trust for the elevation of the African race, not to uncertain,
* Dr. Breckcnridge.

15
uncombined, and transitory efforts, but to the bringing into existence
nnd action the mighty moral machinery of a well-formed and com
pacted state.
In the third place, I cannot but regard this plan as worthy of uni
versal and all possible support, because (if I may continue the figure)
this moral machinery is rightly placed, — in Africa. The colony, or
colonies, are to be established in Africa : the country of the African
race, where most of them reside, the scat of their ancient greatness,
and of their more recent, long-continued, and present sufferings and
disgrace, where nlone, if, as a people, they are to be civilized and taught
the truths of our religion, the work can be accomplished. Here
the intellectual and moral power should be planted, to act as from a
centre, most rv.pidly, extensively, and effectively to redress the wrongs
and renovate the character of tbe in:e. Its bei.euts will not be limited
to Africa. A civilised state of coloured emigmn's upon her shore
will he .in object of universal interest, react 10 raise their brethren in
all those countries from which the colonists have come forth, disturb
no passions of jealousy or fenr, but speak persuasively to nil hcnrls iu
favour of emancipation, nnd thus not only shed light, upon Africa,
but upon the destiny of nil her children. It has been well snid that,
raise the character of a " single ninit of colour, nnd you do a hem-lit
to his rncc ;''* and wc mny ndd, let one commonwealth or nation of
Africans attain honourablo distinction, nnd their brethren in nil lands,
and Africa herself is free. The work should be done in Africa ¦ for
if it could be done elsewhere, nowhere else could it l-e tloir.r so .aivan-
tngeously or fo well. Here arc by far the greatest number of Africans,
and (his the scat oi' the slave-trade and their moss v.'Mje-sr.r"-ui curd ap
palling miseries. All the peculiar evils which afflict African- centre
here, and here only can we attack their foes in the fortn --ses of their
strength. Fourthly, every candid and reflecting man, in addition to these
reasons for giving support to this plan, may find inducement in the
facts, that it most effectually promotes emancipation — aims to secure
for the people of colour now free, and those who may be manumitted
and to their race, a good far above and beyond mere emancipation —
and, finally, that avoiding angry collisions nnd con!r>\.;rs!es, com
bining more demon's in which the friends of the Africans agree, and
fewer in which they differ, than any other; if in itself no better, it
may be more productive of good, because strengthened by 'i.e. mion
of move minds, it may be executed with greater power.
For evidence that it promotes emancipation I appeal to the opimov.
and testimony of all sober and Christian men in the southern states of
the American Union. No one acquainted with these will deny that
they confirm my statement. And certainly the judgment of those
men, of the effects of moral causes operating in the midst of them, is
not to be disregarded.
By providing a home for the liberated, preferable to that in chief,
they must unequally contend with tho abilities and influence of the
whites, it encourages the humanity that disposes to emancipation.
* Dr. Bacon.

16
By the same means, it removes one, probably the greatest obstacle
to emancipation, founded in the apprehensions of collision between
the coloured and white races should both be free upon the same soil ;
an evil which it is thought would be worse than slavery itself.
By demonstrating how emancipation in the United States may (as
on no other plan it would) secure the highest boon of freedom, to the
manumitted an independent political existence, and through their
agency contribute to work out the redemption of their whole race, it
supplies to the honour and Christianity of the master the most power
ful motives for the act.
And, finally, it has secured the voluntary manumission of slaves
(nbout two thousand) in value (viewed as property) nearly, if not
quite, equal to the whole amount of funds given for the establishment
of Liberia; while its influence to prepare for future emancipations it
were difficult to estimate.
This plan of African colonization seeks for the free people of colour,
for those that may become free, and through them for their race, a
good far higher than mere emancipation.
He must be ignorant of the social and political condition of the
United States, who imagines that emancipation to the slaves there, if it
could be effected, and they remain on the soil, would prove for some
centuries at least, if a benefit, more than a very limited and imperfect
one. But the scheme which wc advocate opens to them the treasures of
the best ordered and most favoured existence, the means of thoroughly
developing and combining their energies — of ascending, not indivi
dually, but as a people, to wealth, and fame, and power — of cultivating
every field and advancing in every path of national improvement, and
beneficence, and glory. What other plan spreads out before them so
fruitful and inviting an inheritance, or reveals in the distant horizon
such bright and shining lights ?
That this plan embraces more points in which the friends of the
African race agree, and fewer in which they differ than any other,
must be regarded in its favour ; for though general opinion that a
scheme is right does not necessarily make it so, such opinion cannot
be disregarded, but must always enter into the calculations of a wise
man. And as the effects of most schemes depend very much upon
the manner of their execution, one which for its success demands the
united exertions of communities or nations, may offer valid reasons
for its support in the fact, that the general verdict of opinion may pro
bably be pronounced in its favour. Indeed, a plan theoretically the
best, if certain to be condemned, retarded, opposed, may be less de
serving support than an inferior one generally approved, and which
can be wisely and energetically executed.
Two plans of general policy on this subject divide the friends of
the coloured race in England and America. The one is sustained by
those who, turning from all the wrongs and miseries of Africa, direct
their efforts mainly, if not solely, to the emancipation of all slaves in
Christian countries, by sounding out the doctrine of immediate abo
lition as a duty to be instantly performed by masters in recognition of
the inherent right of the slave, — the other of the African Civilization
Society, and of those who, by founding free states of voluntary coloured

17
emigrants in Africa, look for emancipation and the elevation of her
children to the success and moral influence of this experiment. That
the colonization scheme avoids those collisions and angry controversies
inevitably connected with the scheme of abolition is certain ; and that
the elements of most efficient and extensive union are with the eolo-
nizationists and not with the abolitionists, I hold to be equally clear.
That the two schemes do not necessarily conflict, that the same person
may, without inconsistency, advocate both, I admit ; yet a union at pre
sent of the citizens of the southern states of the American Confederacy
with the philanthropists of other states or countries, for the benefit of
,thc people of colour, on any other than the colonization plan, is not to
be expected. This fact will prevent most, of the citizens of the non-
slavcholding states from entering into associations of their own,
or combining their efforts with foreign associations on the abolition
plan. They know thnt nothing can be wisely, humanely, or effec
tually done for the abolition of slavery, but with the will and con
sent of the masters, and that they are bound in good faith, and by
the constitution of the country, to forbear all attempts to control or
disturb the peculiar institutions of the south. They desire the liberty
of the slave, but love honour, fidelity, and that union, in the stability
of which is involved the cause of republican freedom, as well as the
best hopes of the slave, more. Seven-tenths at least of the white
population of the United States, I believe to be colonizationists : not
because (in so far as the people of the non-slaveholding states are
concerned) of opposition to emancipation, with permission to the
liberated to remain upon the soil, should this be approved by the south,
hut that not being at present thus approved, they will not usurp the
right of intervention in the case ; and because, convinced that the colo
nization plan has great and comprehensive merit, that in no other will
the south concur, and that if this plan be not a remedy for slavery it
is preparing the way for such remedy.
I will not question the honesty and benevolence of the great body
of English and American abolitionists, yet I regard many of their
writings and proceedings as unjust to the people of the United States,
particularly to the slaveholders, and pernicious in all their tendencies.
No one can more desire than the writer to see modification and amend
ment of the legal codes of the slaveholding states in favour of the
slaves. Atrocious crimes and cruelties are doubtless occasionally
committed, in those states, on the persons of slaves. In what country
are not oppression, cruelty, and crime found to exist? Have they no
existence in England ? Generally (and I speak from personal observ
ation and inquiry in nearly all the southern states of the America,!
republic) the citizens of those states are kind, humane, generous, and,
in a proportion to the whole population, equal to that found in most
parts of Christendom — devout and exemplary Christians. No better
friends have the slaves in any part of the world than are to be found
in those states. Cases of harsh treatment, of severe punishment, of
wanton disregard of their feelings, of the voluntary and cruel rupture
of their domestic ties, of withholding from them the necessaries of
life, or denying to them opportunities to hear Christian instruction and
worship God, are not common—they are exceptions, not the rule.
c

18
Liabilities to evil in the system of slavery are great, trying separations
and wrongs among slaves are frequent ; yet many laws which darken
the statute books of the slavcholding states are in practice nearly, if
not quite, obsolete ; and humanity and religion are exerting a mighty
and increasing influence for the protection.aiid good of this dependent
people. Many, very many, masters and slaves are bound together by ties of
mutual confidence and affection. A large proportion of the slaves
exhibit an aspect of comfort, contentment, and cheerfulness. There
is much to regret, much to condemn, fearful evils which arc per
haps never brought to light, in the system of slavery, yet nil things
(the very heavens themselves as some would represent) are not wrapt
in gloom. It is not to diminish the general sense of the injustice as
well ns impolicy of slavery, viewed as a permanent system, that I
thus write, nor that I would lessen the moral powers that are working
for its abolition, but in reverence to truth, nnd because he is blind
who sees not that injustice to the master is injury nnd a crime against
the slave. He who bears false witness against me, and seeks to
destroy my reputation, must not expect to be my counsellor. If the
abolitionists of New England and of Old England have no influence
among American slaveholders, and little with the citizens generally of
the United States, to their errors in principle, and more to their faults
and offences in practice, must they trace the cause. If their errors
and faults originate in ignorance they might be pardoned, and may be
corrected ; but while persisted in, they sunder all bonds of respect
and moral union between their authors and the citizens of the southern
states of America, and indeed of a great majority of the Americans.
They tend to produce between England and America hostile sen
timents, perhaps actual war. Indeed, having excluded themselves
utterly from the confidence of those upon whom, under Providence,
depend the hopes and destiny of the slave population, some of their
number, in the ardour of their ill-regulated enthusiasm and the dark
ness of their perverted understandings, are ready to stake upon war,
the success of their cause. But the idea that England should make
war upon America to abolish slavery, is so unmerciful towards the
slaves, as well as preposterous and atrocious in every respect, that I
doubt not it will be reprobated by the general reason and humanity of
the English nation. As I wish to show that the principles of ex
tensive and efficient union for the benefit of the African race are with
the colonizationists and not with the abolitionists, I deem it pertinent '
to quote two or three passages from recent abolition publications iu
England, containing sentiments which, if their folly did not equal
their wickedness, would be alarming to the true friends of the slaves
and of peace.
On the 14th of September last, Mr. Remond, a man of colour,
from the United States, addressed a public meeting of the Glasgow
Anti-Slavery Society, in the Rev. Dr. Heugh's church, and among
other things said, —
" Such was the state of things on the opposite side of the Atlantic ;
and now he would put the question, what were the friends of Antir

19
Slavery in Britain to do for the abolition cause. A reference was, in
the letter he had read, made to the north-east boundary question.
After referring to the ardent desire for war with England, manifested
by the state of Maine, about a few acres of land, and their inconsis
tency in refusing to give liberty to the slave, Mr. Remond proceeded
to show that a war with England would inevitably lead to the emanci
pation of the slaves. He believed that England held the means in
her own hands in relation to the system of slavery, and he trusted she
would not shrink from the contest ; for, dearly as he loved his country,
and to dwell upon the associations which he had experienced there, he
felt that emancipation from any other quarter was not to be hoped
for — and God grant that it might arrive early. The American nation,
he observed, had everything to lose by a contest with England. This
sentiment, he knew, might cost him his head ; he knew iic would be
in danger, the moment he stepped on his native shore, {or having given
expression to such views as these, but he cared not ; it would at least
be known that one coloured American had dared to speak freely and
boldly on this subject. (Cheers.) He would not give up the privilege
and the prerogative of speaking out, as a free man, while the breath
was in his body. (Cheers.) That right belonged to every human
being ; and if he were a slave to-morrow, he would not shrink from
asserting it. (Cheers.) If a slave, if he could not obtain his freedom
by any other means, he would walk over the prostrate body of his
master. (Cheers.) He would make every appeal to him ; but, after
that, if unsuccessful, he would assert his freedom by all the means he
possessed. (Cheers.) Let there be war between England and Ame
rica, and the shackles which now held 60 many in bondage in his
country would be broken to-morrow."
The Rev. Mr. Keep, from the Oberlin Institution, United States,
attempted to apologise to the audience for the warmth of his friend
Mr. Remond, who is subsequently reported to have said, —
" He would not have any one suppose that he would return to his
country with the view of inciting the slave to insurrection against his
master. He did not think it would be necessary ; for he believed the
slave would be freed only by the progress of peaceful truth. He only
spoke what were his own sentiments in relation to himself; and he
did not wish to soften down the sentiment in the least. (Cheers.)
Were he a slave, and could not get his freedom by any other means,
he would grapple with his master, and rather — (The remainder of
the sentence was lost in loud cheering.)"
I leave it to those who can better reconcile differences than myself
to show Mr. Remond's consistency in urging a w ar as affording the
only hope for emancipation, and then avowing a belief that the slave
would be freed only by the progress of Christian truth.
The editor of a newspaper (published, if we mistake not. at Ipswich)
gives the following paragraph evincing ignorance, and marked by
sentiments, better suited to the inmate of a lunatic hospitrl, than

20
to one standing forth as adviser- of a humane, wise, and puissant
nation. " We are afraid there is a wish on the part of the thousands in
America, who are implicated in the slave Iraflie, to provoke hoslililics
with England, in order to divert attention Irom the abolition question,
and get rid of the present agitation created by the laudable persever
ance of philanthropists in both countries. If war be inevitable our
heart's desire is, that it may lead to the annihilation of American
slavery. The horrors of the slave system, as pursued in the southern
states, are unutterable ; nothing that the wildest imagination can
conceive surpasses the cruelties inflicted on the wretched negro victims ;
and if it were in our power to stir up the spirit of the slaves to rebel
against the heartless planters, and by one effort, shake off their fetters,
we would use that power, though nil America were thrown into dis
order, and presented one wide field of bankruptcy and ruin. If the
sword of Great Britain should be unsheathed, let her not draw back
her hand until she has secured the freedom of the slave — let, at least,
this philanthropic act result from the dreadful and bloody contest, and
3,000,000 of human beings, bound down by cruelty, and reduced by
the most savage atrocities below the beasts of the field, shall be invested
with the full dignity of their nature, and acknowledge with gratitude the
power that set them free. We would that America had listened to the
voice of reason and mild remonstrance from the British shores, and
suppressed the lingering abomination amidst the acclaiming cheers of
humanity ; but she persists in the unholy traffic — she welcomes to her
shores the infernal slave-ship, filled with bales of human merchandize,
she still promotes the detestable system of slave-breeding in her states
— she heeds not the groans and tears which fill her land, the boasted
land of freedom, equality, and civilization. We believe the day of retri
butive justice is at hand, when the most disastrous results shall ensue
upon all the owners of slaves, and the unrighteous traffickers in human
life. '¦' The horizon is dark and troubled — we know not where war with
America will end — her curse is of slavery ; of all the dangers that
' threaten her, that of slavery is the greatest — she is wedded to the evil,
and to utter the word abolition in the southern states would be to defy
death. What is the duty of England is a serious inquiry. We wish
for nothing but moral influence ; but if there must be physical conflict,
let not the abolitionists, even in war, be diverted from their course, but
strive more energetically to merge all dissensions and distinctions in the
overwhelming unity of demand — Annihilate slavery in America."
In the number of Frazcr's Magazine for the present month (April),
appears an article entitled, " Wak with America a Blessing to
Mankind." While calculated (we fear designed) to stir the passions
of the unthinking, to well-informed and virtuous minds the falsehood of
its statements and its detestable sentiments, carry with them their
antidote. While this sage writer sees no hope of success in any war
With America which should fail to arouse the slaves to general insur-

21
rection, in the excitement of these people lo a murderous contest foi
liberty, he discerns the means of a short and easy conclusion of the
struggle : " A conclusion in every way honourable and advantageous to
England, and in the highest degree desirable to the whole human race."
" America (he says) in one respect is the most sinful nation in the
world ; and in her sin, as Divine and retributive justice ordinarily
provides, she finds her weakness and her punishment. She holds
nearly three millions of unoffending human creatures in the most cruel
bondage ; in a thraldom infinitely worse than Egyptian, Turkish, or
Sclavonian. In fact, we doubt if the annals of the human race afford
an example of any system of oppression at all approaching to that
which is proved, on the clearest, fullest, and most irrefragable evi
dence, to exist in a country which vaunts itself to be the freest nation
on the face of the earth."
After quoting evidence concerning the atrocities of American
slavery, from a work entitled " Slavery and the internal Slave-trade
in the United States," by the Executive Committee of the American
Anti-Slavery Society, a work as fairly and justly representing
American slavery and the American character, as the records of the
London police-offices, the trials at the Old Bailey, or the Newgate
Calendar, would the character of the English people, and introducing
the shocking details of two cases in which coloured men, murderers,
had been burnt by mobs, with the remark, " We will adduce only
a sample or two of what seems a common practice in the slave states
of America," he adds ; —
" Such, then, is the sin and weakness of America. It may be a
doubtful point, how far another nation would be justified, in a time of
peace, in embarking in a crusade of philanthropy, and endeavouring
to force an independent people into the relinquishment of a national
sin. But what possible doubt can exist as to the propriety, the expe
diency — nay, the absolute duty, of making a war subservient to the
great and pre-eminent object of freeing these three millions of cruelly
oppressed human beings ?
"Policy, too, not less than philanthropy, prescribes such a course of
warfare. By this mode, and this only, a war with America might be
brought to a speedy and inevitably triumphant close. As we have
already observed, a struggle between the people of England and their
descendants in America, must be a fearful, a protracted, and a lament
able one. But if assailed in this quarter, a vital point is instantly and
surely reached — the Union is dissolved, and the war is at an end.
, " Among the three millions of slaves, we may fairly calculate the
adult males at nearly one million. Every man of all this multitude
would eagerly rush to embrace an emancipating invader, and within a
few days' sail of the coast, repose the free and happy blacks of
Jamaica. In one morning a force of ten thousand men might be
raised in this quarter, for the enfranchisement of their brethren in
America. Such a force, supported by two battalions of Englishmen^
and supplied with twenty- thousand muskets, would establish them-

22
selves in Carolina, never to be removed. In three weeks from their
appearance, the entire south would be in one conflagration. The
chains of a million of men would be broken, and by what power could
they ever be again riveted ?
" "Vyc say, that this course is dictated alike by policy, by self-pre
servation, and by philanthropy. By policy — for nothing would render
our own possessions so secure as a dissolution of the Union — an
inevitable result of this line of action. By self-preservation — for
England must not venture to involve herself in a protracted contest
in a distant quarter of the globe. By philanthropy — which tells us
that if, contrary to our own inclinations, we are dragged into this
unnatural war, it is our duty at least to endeavour to bring good out
of evil. In whatever way, then, wc contemplate the subject, we come
to this conclusion.
" If we must have a war with America, let us make it a war for the
emancipation of the slaves ; so shall our success be certain, and our
triumph the triumph of humanity."
Some indignation we might feel at these remarks were they not
absolutely ludicrous, and the parting counsels to the English govern
ment to take possession of Cuba such as might produce smiles rather
than anger in the United States.
" Now," he observes, " England could, if she chose, very speedily
put an end to slavery.
" The three great markets for slaves — to supply which the trade is
kept up — are the United States, Brazil, and Cuba. The first of these,
we feel persuaded, will be broken up whenever a war breaks out ; and
even without a war, the system would' lead to some dreadful internal
convulsion before long. But the last of these, Cuba, is open to our
approaches even at this moment.
" Cuba belongs to the crown of Spain. But what is the crown of
Spain ? — a shadow.
" It is abundantly obvious that England could add Cuba to her
colonies to-morrow, if she chose to do so. But could she do so with
justice and honour? Most unquestionably she might. Has not
England expended upon Spain, within the last twenty years, many
millions of sterling money," &c.
From works more grave, such as the British Critic, the Eclectic
Revieiv, and the Congregational Magazine, the pagss of which are
enriched by the thoughts of sober and charitable Divines, recent pas
sages might be cited showing that even enlightened minds in England
are misinformed or misled on the subject of American slavery and the
Colonisation Society. They consider " American Slavery as it is,"
and the work on " Slavery and the internal Slave-trade in the United
States," as giving a just general view of that slavery, whereas a detail of
crime connected with the manufacturing, or poor-law systems of Eng
land, would give as just a view of those systems. I have no wish to "
recriminate. But a remedy for our censoriousness towards the faults
Of others may often be,, found in reflection upon our own; and Divine

23
wisdom instructs us that to condemn (he sins of others is no virtue
while guilty ourselves of doing the same things. Besides, he who is
ignorant of the sentiments of others towards him, or disregards them,
will find that purity of motive docs not always give him influence,
and that his good intentions will find the door closed, unless humility,
discretion, and charily, have first opened it. Let, then, the pious and
philanthropic of England, her learned and venerable clergy, imagine
with what sentiments they would peruse in an American Magnzinc, or
Review, the following article, and they will understand the impressions
which tho passages we have quoted will make upon the American
people.
"A War with England a Blessing to Mankind.
" The arrogance, pride, and selfishness of the Lnglish nation are in
sufferable. We are no friends to war, but are not sure that a declaration
of hostilities against this haughty and oppressive power is not a duty to
ourselves and to mankind. With high professions of respect to
justice and the rights of man, England has for centuries continued to
violate both to an incredible extent, and without remorse. Think of
her conduct towards this country. Compare it with our own towards
her (the best English statesmen themselves being judges) in the great
contest of the revolution.
" The Earl of Chatham said — ' Your ministers have gone to Germany,
they have sought the alliance and assistance of every pitiful, beggarly,
insignificant, petty prince, to cut the throats of their legal, brave, and in
jured brethren in America. They have entered into mercenary treaties.
They have let the savages of America loose upon their unoffending
brethren ; loose upon the weak, the aged, and defenceless; on old men,
women, and children ; on th6 very babes upon the breast ; to be cut,
mangled, sacrificed, boiled, roasted, nay, to be literally eaten. These,
my Lords, are the allies Great Britain now has. Carnage, desolation,
and destruction wherever her arms are carried is her newly-adopted
mode of making war. Our ministers have made alliances at the
German shambles ; and with the barbarians of America, with the
merciless torturers of their species. Where they will next apply I
cannot tell. Was it by letting loose the savages of America, to
imbrue their hands in the blood of our enemies, that the duties of the
soldier, the citizen, and the man came to be united. Is this honour
able warfare, my Lords ? Does it correspond with the language of
the poet? 'The pride, pomp, circumstance, of glorious war, that
make ambition virtue.'
" The Duke of Richmond said—' But, my Lords, I wish to turn
your eyes to another part of this business. I mean the dreadful
inhumanities with which this war is carried on; shocking beyond
description to every feeling of a Christian, or of a man. If ever a
nation shall deserve to draw down on her the Divine vengeance of her
Bins, it will be this, if she suffers such horrid war to continue. To
me, who think we have been originally in the wrong, it appears doubly
unpardonable ; but even supposing we were right, it is certainly we
who produce the war ; and I do not think any consideration of dominion
or empire sufficient to warrant the sacrifices we make to it. To arm

24

negro slaves against their masters, to arm savages who wc know will
put their prisoners to death in the most cruel tortures, nnd literally cat
them, is not, in my opinion, a fair war against fellow-subjects.'
" Col. Banc said — ' The Americans have been branded in this
House with every opprobrious epithet that meanness could invent —
termed cowardly and inhuman. Let us mark the proof. They have
obliged as brave a General as ever commanded a body of British troops
to surrender — such is their cowardice. And instead of throwing
chains upon these troops they have nobly given them their freedom —
such is their inhumanity.'
" Mr. Burke observed — ' The Americans had been always repre
sented as cowards ; this was far from being true ; and he appealed to
the conduct of Arnold and Gates, towards General Burgoync, as a
striking proof of their bravery. Our army was totally at their mercy.
We had employed the savages to butcher them, their wives, their aged
parents, and their children ; and yet, generous to the last degree,
they gave our men leave to depart on their parole never more to bear
arms against North America. Bravery and cowardice could never
inhabit the same bosom ; generosity, valour, and humanity, are ever
inseparable. Poor, indeed, the Americans were, but in this consists
their greatest strength. Sixty thousand men had fallen at the feet of
their voluntary poverty.'
" And what has since been her conduct ? Having driven us into a
war in defence of our maratime rights, which we nobly vindicated on
that ocean that she vainly imagined was her own, she has recently
again violated those rights in the African seas, as though she only
sought to overthrow the slave-trade, and to monopolize all credit in
abolishing it, might violate the law of nations. Has she not, in time
of peace, and on our own soil, burnt our- property and murdered our
citizens? witness the affair of the Caroline. Not content with
denouncing us as infamous before the world for an evil which, from
mere mercenary motives, she forced upon us, in the days of our weak
ness and her tyrannous control, her ecclesiastical bodies would exclude,
on account of this evil, from Christian fellowship, ne irly one half the
churches of this Union, and as if growing more hardened in iniquity sue
dares to speak not of a magnanimous and open war, but (unparalleled
atrocity!) of exciting our slaves to insurrection— of lighting the flames
of servile war throughout all the southern states of this confederacy.
And who are those that with more than savage ferocity, would intro
duce amongst us all the horrors which, a few years ago, darkened the
heavens, and made red with the blood of indiscrimate massacre, the
fields of St. Domingo ? Our enlightened, Christian, English brethren ! .
A people who boast of the treasures of their wisdom and the purity
of their faith, who are justly proud of the immortal names otSha.ispsre
and Milton, of Bacon ar.d Burke, of Hanway and Howard andWil-
berforce. But has England no sins to answer lor, that she snoutd
take the work of retribution into her hands, and inflict the Divine
vengeance upon our guilty heads ? What nation was it that through
several of its successive monarchs, two centuries ago called for subscrip
tions to joint-stock companies for the prosecution of the slave-trade in
order to supply labourers to her American plantations? What nation,

25
Hint in 1713, formed a treaty with Spain, which, in the words of Lord
Brougham, ' the execrations of ages have left inadequately censured,'
by which it wns stipulated that she should introduce 4,800 negroes
into his Catholic Majesty's dominions, for the space of thirty years
successively ? What nation that, for a long period, employed from one
hundred nnd fifty to two hundred ships in the slave-trade, and carried
off on the average forty thousand negroes annually; at times one half
more, nnd which is stated by Anderson, in his History of Trade and Com'
mcrcc, about 1753, to have supplied her American colonies with negro
slaves, amounting in number to above one hundred thousand every
year ? It is the nation of which Mr. Pitt said, ' The truth is, there is
no nation in Europe which has plunged so deeply into this guilt as
Britain. We stopped the natural progress of civilization iu Africa.
We cut her off from the opportunity of improvement. We kept her
down in a state of darkness, bondage, ignorance, and bloodshed. We
have thus subverted the whole order of nature, wc have aggravated
every natural barbarity, and furnished to every man motives for com
mitting, under the slave-trade, acts of perpetual hostility against his
neighbour. Thus had the perversion of British commerce carried
misery instead of happiness to one whole quarter of the globe.'
"And has England, by extraordinary acts of merit, so atoned for
these enormous wrongs, so cleansed her garments from the blood of
Africa, as to be entitled to carry revolution into foreign states ?
Even in her boasted act of West-Indian emancipation, she violated
(as Granville Sharp the venerated Father of Abolition in England
would have said) the rights of her own subjects in denying them a
representation in her national legislature. Her liberality of compen
sation we admit. But by what authority of justice, while conferring
personal freedom on one people, does she hold in political servitude
another. She treated with contempt the remonstrances and petitions
of her American colonies against the slave-trade, and now she pre
sumes to dictate to these colonies, risen to independent states, where
and how they shall abolish slavery on pain of her high displeasure.
" And has she no evils at home to remedy that she must cross the
ocean to excite civil and servile war in America ? Let her look to
India, to South Africa, to every remote province of her empire, and see
the foot-prints of desolation, or the signals of dismay or sorrow where-
ever she has conquered. Whole tribes and nations have wasted
away before her — while more than a hundred millions bow their
necks to her arbitrary and iron will. What is the condition of
Ireland ? More than 2,000,000 of her people in rags and wretched
ness, and compelled to solicit charity for at least half the year. And
what is done to give religious instruction to three millions, speaking
only the Irish language? And what political rights has Ireland?
Out of three counties containing more than 1,000,000 of inhabitants,
there are a little more than 4,000 voters. Little better is the con
dition of things in England. Ground to the dust by taxation, to sup
port a Government the most lavish for expenditure in the world, no
provision is made for general education, and thousands are transported
annually for crimes of which ignorance may be regarded as the parent.
An overgrown aristocracy, vast wealth, and boundless Juxury, are-

26
here seen in contrast wilh ignorance, misery, and starvation. Talk
of American slavery, while in one city of Great Britain, and that not
the largest, 16,000 persons are found seeking food and shelter in a
single year; and while typhus fever, produced by destitution, is never
absent, and when an nble physician writing of Limerick, says (in re
ference to the houses in the worst part of the old town) — ' I myself
have known several of those houses occupied by 8, 0, 11, 13, and
I have heard that some of them are occupied by 16 families. I bnve
seen three families living together in a room scarcely seven feet
square ! It would indeed be a most interesting subject for investiga
tion, and one which I am sure would tend to great practical good, an
iuquiry into the condition of these poor strugglers, — The number lo
each house — the rcn's they pay — their mode of obtaining a livelihood,
and other particulars regarding ihem; but I fear I should not le able
to devote sufficient time to it. Here, nmid broken bannisters, falling
staircases, sinking floors, and shattered roofs that admit every blast,
may be witnessed every variety of privation, misery, and suffering in
all its horror which it is possible for the human mind to contcmplalc.
I have read all that has been written on the condition of the poor in
Scotland and other places, nnd in nothing they describe do they ex
ceed what is exhibited in Limerick. I have seen a wretched mother
lying sick on a mat in the corner of a garret, her only covering a few
rags — without a drop to wet her lips for three days but cold water ;
her husband dead, and three little children on the floor, who were
frequently eight-and-forty hours without tasting a morsel of food.
But this last, is by no means an uncommon occurrence among them,
and sometimes the interval passed without food is much longer. I
have seen children not otherwise unhealthy, fall into a dropsical state,
and die from the absolute debility produced by repeated abstinence.
I have known a wretched young creature, a widow, without clothing,
food, or fire, when every rag was pledged, place her dying infant be
tween her lower limbs in its last moments, in a position which is not
easy to describe, in order to keep some warmth in it while it was
expiring.' Thrice happy are slaves, so far as physical comfort is
concerned, in America, compared with the thousands perishing tot
want in this kingdom. And then her manufactories. But more than
enough — her people are beginning to open their eyes — the ' Hereditary
bondmen of Ireland,' as Mr. O'Connell has it, will not always be
slaves. Her old, rotten institutions must give way — the sooner they
are in the dust the better. Let us, for the sake of Ireland, and India,
for freedom and humanity, declare war, and millions will clap their
hands. At all events England should know, that an attempt on her
part to rouse the slaves to insurrection, will unite every American
against her, nor will they rest until the Canadas shall be released from
then- chains, and not an Englishman left on the shores of the New
World. The pride of England must be humbled. Our voice then is
for war, and we conclude, as we began, 'A war with England a Bless
ing to mankind.' "
. If an Englishman turns from this article with abhorrence or dis
dain, let him consider^ that the language J. have quoted from recent

27
publications in this country, more malignant, and certainly not more
just, must excite similar sentiments in the American mind. And is it
by such publications that England and America arc to be united in
works of piety and philanthropy ? Will mutual attacks upon cha
racter, the application to each other of undeserved censures and cruel
reproaches, bind us more in amity together ? By concealing each
other's virtues and exaggerating and gladly holding up in the face of
Heaven each other's faults, shall we become wiser and better and show
more impressively to the world the meekness and power of Christian
love ?
Suppose a society established in the United States, for the avowed
purpose of effecting a revolution in England, by inflaming the passions
of her labouring classes, insisting upon their right to share equally
with the nobility in the government of the empire ; that the lands
ought to be then own, which they have so long cultivated for very
inadequate rewards ; putting arms into the hands of her Chartist
population, and maintaining that it was utterly repugnant to the demo
cratic spirit of Christianity, that thousands should pine in workhouses
or starve out of them, while others, no better than they, dwell in
palaces and drink wine out of bowls ; and that a Throne, based upon
the miseries of the people, should be overturned by their hands;
suppose they should collect all reports of crime and suffering, throw
the responsibility for their existence upon those in power, and pro
nounce all authority in England null and void before God : would
the good and wise in this country have patience with such a society,
welcome to their shore its agents, or distribute its publications ? I
suspect such interference in the national concerns of England by the
people of a Foreign State, would be likely to add new tenants to the
prisons, or send out additional companies of disconsolate, if not
chained captives, to till the soil of her Majesty's Australian dominions.
I shall not argue the point whether such a society in America,
would furnish an exact parallel to the Abolition Society of England,
for my object is but to say, that the movements of the latter, so far as
directed to excite the slave population to insurrection, or in any way
to coerce emancipation, are regarded, universally, in America, with
detestation and horror. And here, I may be permitted to correct
some of the errors in the quotations I have cited from recent English
publications, and which I fear may have been adopted too extensively in
England concerning American Slavery and the American Union.
1 st. The idea propagated by the Times, as well as various other
papers, that the consequence of war would be a speedy dissolution of
the American Union is wholly false — on the contrary, nothing could
strengthen the American Union like war with a foreign power. The
bonds uniting the several states of that union can be relaxed and
broken only (if at all) by internal dissensions in days of peace.
2nd. To represent the citizens of the southern states of America
as generally guilty of rigorous, inhuman conduct towards their slaves,
is'an outrage upon truth as well as charity. If my testimony, derived
from extensive personal observation, be called in question, I appeal to
the Venerable Bishops of the Episcopal Church, in those states, to
confirm it, and desire those who would try the question to seek their

28
testimony on the subject. Much oppression doubtless exists, but a
concern for the physical comfort, religious instruction, and ultimate
freedom of the slave population is increasing, and will continue I
trust, more and more, to increase.
3d. Neither fanaticism nor mistaken philanthropy may gratify
itself with the idea, that the slave population of America are one and
all ready to fly to arms against their masters, at the bidding of a
foreign foe. Not a few have too much sense to do this, not a few too
much piety, and a large proportion, probably, would prefer the protec
tion of humane masters whom they know, to a foreign soldiery (if
such could be landed (which it could not be) of which theyknow nothing.
4. The idea of securing freedom to the slaves, by urging them to
insurrection, and aiding them in the work, is a dream of his folly or
insanity, who might smile at the conflagration of cities, or the destruc
tion of nations. Cruel to all classes in America, especially lo the
slaves, should it once rouse them to action, unimaginable evils must
be brought upon society, probably utter ruin upon themselves.
All this is clear to those who can think, and for others I do not write.
Fidelity and good conduct on the part of slaves, will prove their best
passport to liberty ; and far wiser is it for them to rely upon the justice
and kindness of their own masters, under the growing influences of
Christianity, than upon the interference of foreign philanthropists.
And here, I conclude what I have to say on the errors connected
with this subject, by the remark, that the various compound poisons,
as Coleridge terras them, circulated to excite discontent in the humbler
classes, who receive but a small share of the fruits of society, appear
to me, to have been in great demand among the Anti-Slavery Societies-
both of Englaud and America.
" 1st. Bold, warm, and earnest assertions, it matters not whether'
supported by facts or not ; nay, though they should involve absurdities
and demonstrable impossibilities.
" 2d. Startling particular facts, which, dissevered from their context,
enable a man to convey falsehood while he says truth.
" 3d. Arguments built on passing events, and deriving an undue
importance from the feelings of the moment.
"4th. The display of the defects, without the accompanying advatir
tages, or vice versa.
" 5th. Concealment of the general ultimate result behind the scenery
of local and particular consequences.
" 6th. Statement of positions that are true, under particular condi
tions, to men whose ignorance or fury make them forget that these con
ditions are not present, or lead them to take for granted that they are.
" 7th. Chains of questions, especially such questions as the persons
best authorized to propose, are ever the slowest in proposing ; and
objections intelligible of themselves, the answers to which require the
comprehension of a sytem.
" 8th. Vague and common place satire," &c.
I am aware that the exhibition of particular errors, and the correc
tion of them, is not absolutely necessary to my argument, though I

29
trust not impertinent to the general object of this letter. I have sought
to show, that the elements of a general union are with the friends of
African civilization, and colonization, and not with the abolitionists.
These elements mny respect the instrumentalities, nnd the particular
end. Agreeing mainly in both, the former (the friends of civilization
and colonization,) maj' expect to unite to them the mind and energy
of the people of the southern stntcs of America, a matter vitally im
portant to the interests and hopes of the slaves, to any extensive union
of their friends in that country ; and of highest consequence to the
civilization of Africa. Agreeing already in the field for their opera
tions, in the agents to be employed, in many of the subordinate means
to be used, in the great principles of Christian discretion to be adopted,
nnd the grandeur of their design, — the moral and intellectual eleva
tion of an entire race of men, — time and experience, will, I trust, per
fect their union — correct any irregularities, supply any defects in their
policy, and show the embodied wisdom and power of two great
nations, harmoniously working for the civilization and salvation of
Africa. I have but alluded to the effects to be produced by the civilization of
Africa upon the commerce of the world. To England, by opening a
vast market for the innumerable products of her manufacturing skill ;
and to America, by creating large demands for the fruits of her agri
culture, the benefit would be inestimable.
Gentlemen, — To you, as justly possessed of the public confidence
in your respective countries, and presiding, the one over the American
Colonization Society, the other over the African Civilization Society, I
venture to address this letter, in the hope, that the institutions you
represent will gather around them the affections and strength of
England and America, — that minor differences of opinon, will be
merged in a common sensibility to the wrongs and miseries of the
Africans, — that these institutions, already agreeing in most things, may
soon concur in all, — that mutually imparting to each other the results
of their inquiries and experience, the pathway of both may become
brighter with wisdom and beneficence — that liberty to the whole
African race may follow in their footsteps — that among their blessings
may arise a holy and inextinguishable spirit of amity between the
Christian people of England and the United States; that future ages
may behold and admire, in the civilization of the most barbarous
quarter of the world, — the morally renovated character, the political
elevation and independence of her now rude and enslaved sons, — the
efficacy of generous motives, supplied by philanthropy, to produce
self-discipline, to train and exalt depressed and darkened minds, — and,
finally, that they may discern light cast upon the mysteries of that
Almighty Ruler who subverts or builds up empires, and extending his
decrees through all space and eternity, often educes the fairest forms
of a new creation, from the chaos of turbulent events, disordered
passions, perverse counsels, and untold calamity ; and while lifting
their voices of praise to that God, who left his chosen family for cen
turies under the oppressor's rod, that he might bring them forth,
attended by art and civilization, from the magnificent cities of Egypt
to their promised home, the anthems of a devout thanksgiving may

30
break out from the habitations and temples of Africa, to augment, and
surpass all other songs of earth before his throne ; and that the benig
nant Father of all men, may rejoicingly cast his eye upon that land
made beautiful as the gardens of Solomon nnd the gates of Zion.
Well do I know that not a few ardent and judicious philanthropists,
condemn the recent policy of the African Civilization Society, and of
the English Government, believing that the Niger Expedition will
secure no advantages to compensate for the large expenditure, and
the probable, nay, almost certain loss of life. Possibly the funds
applied to fit out and defray the expenses of this expedition, might
have been more usefully employed in improving and extending settle
ments or colonies-already founded in Africa. Bnt I am not sure of
this, and I have no disposition to find fault. Much valuable informa
tion will he acquired, I trust, also great and good results secured by
this expedition. Whether it proceeds on the most economical plan, or
with the best instructions, I am incompetent, being without informa
tion, to judge. I wish it all possible success ; and I fervently pray, that
the generous conduct of the English Government, in this case, may be
soon imitated by the Government of my own country.
In retiring from all public connexion with a cause to which the
best powers of my mind, and the best years of my life have been
devoted, I have felt impelled, I trust by a deep sense of duty, to
submit these thoughts to you, Gentlemen, and to the friends of Africa,
and her afflicted children in England and the United States. If they
contribute in the least to allay animosity, to promote truth, justice,
and charity ; if in a single mind they awaken a more powerful sym
pathy for a people bound in chains, and trodden in the dust ; if to a
single unfortunate man of colour they reveal, even faintly, and in the
distance, the star of hope for himself, and the ancient and once
renowned mother-land of his progenitors, and rouse him to the high
ambition of rebuilding her ruins, and restoring to her embrace her
long-lost children ; if they impress upon the masters of slaves the
great and universal law of Christ, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as •
thyself" if, finally (and would that I could hope so much) they should
incline American and English philanthropists to unity of opinion, to
mutual and friendly co-operation on the same plan, because the best
plan for the civilization of Africa and the elevation of all her people, I
shall not have lived in vain. I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Very respectfully vour friend, &c, &c,
April 30, 1841. R. R, GURLEY.
P. S. In enumerating the different portions of the African race, the
following was inadvertently omitted on the 1st page — ''Nearly one
million of this people are in Hayti, self-governed, and, I trust, slowly
improving, having by a fierce and bloody conflict cast off the chains of
their former bondage."
The reader will also be pleased to substitute by for of in the last
two lines on page 16.

NOTES.

LETTER FROM THE REV. B. R. WILSON TO MR. GURLEY.
The writer of the following letter is a coloured missionary, of the
Methodist church, a native of Virginia, who visited Liberia seven or
eight years ago, and remained ten months, in order to decide, whether
or not to remove thither with his wife and six children for a settle
ment. He returned satisfied that it was his duty to do so. With a
very imperfect education he has a fine understanding, much eloquence,
and a noble, Christian heart. For three or four years past he has had
charge of an institution founded by the Methodist Missionary Society
for the instruction of native children. " West Africa, White Plains,
"April 12th, 1840.
"Rev. and Dear Sir, — I received your very kind letter, and was truly
glad to hear from you, and I now embrace this opportunity of answering it. In
reference to my own affairs since I have been in Africa, up to the 1st of
December last, I can truly say I havo enjoyed almost uninterrupted pleasure;
but since that time, I have had sorrow upon sorrow. My eldest son was sent
by the Governor to a hostile native prince with the terms of peace, and this
fellow would have nothing to do with the ambassadors, but drove them from his
town, and they were followed by a merciless mob, and my son, with our Peal,
a very worthy man, was slain on the 2d of December last. 1 would give you a
detail of the whole affair, but it will bo seen in the Luminary. This has caused
much grief, but I hope the good Lord will give us grace. Pray for us White
Plains here. We are doing well ; we have been greatly blessed in our labours
here ; our native boys and girls make rapid improvement, they read and write ;
many of them promise great usefulness and future blessing to their own gene
ration, for many of them already embrace the religion of Jesus Christ. We
have a considerable farm under cultivation, and we intend to connect a sugar
plantation and a saw-mill to this institution. Our workshops are doing well;
we are making wheels, bedsteads, tables, and other useful articles, such as are
useful in the colony. The native boys are remarkably ingenious ; indeed, Sir,
there is a glorious reformation going on in this vicinity ; and as we believe the
pressing war is very near at an end, we look forward to a more glorious day.
But I must say that a great deal depends on the advancement of the colony, for
we plainly see as she grows and strengthens, in the same proportion doth the
Heathen's superstition yield to her influence, and thus the way is opened for the
Gospel. This we have sufficiently proved. Our fust object was to ej tend our
labours as far as possible in the interior, even beyond the t,e.icrnl infjiicr.oc of
the colony, bu.t we soon found that our labours wt-'C lost ; thus we changc-d --cr
labours to the natives under the influence of tho colony, and we find that > very-
thing goes on well, and my opinion is, that the only thing r-.ov, wanting is men
and means, and the barren land will soon become a fruitful field. Time will
not permit me to give you all my views on thi3 subjecc. My opinion of the
country has not been changed by my misfortunes. I still believe that there is
no place under the sun that promises so many advantages to a coloured man as
Africa; and it must be acknowledged that Afiica is the only home tor a
coloured man. I will not say much about the fertility of the country ; this has
been declared to you by a hundred pens as a fertile soil ; I will only say, :hat
an industrious man may make a good living in this country. The colony at the
present time is improving, and the people in general appear to be cor. tented and
happy : there are but very few of our citizens that are not members oi some
Christian church. Yea, we may say, that our community is a religious com
munity, and the Lord has been with us throughout tho colony, and greatly
blessed our labour, and the work is going on both in the colony and among the
natives, and we have great encouragement and continue our labours, and thus
we see that the Heathen will be soon given to Christ for an inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for his inheritance. O ! pray for this. When I
have been at some of our interior stations, and heard the natives speak of the

32
goodnesaof God and unite in singing his praise, I have often wished you, with
many other warm-hearted friends of Africa, could have been with me an hour
or two to behold the glory of God displayed among the Gentiles. I have often
been carried away at the reflection that God had made nie tho honoured instru
ment in his hands to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ. 0 ! dear Sir, 1 greatly desiro to sco you again in the flesh, and I was
determined to come over to the States this year ; but finding our work greatly
enlarging, and the claim3 upon us increasing, I was not there to mention it, for
tho word was, Let every man bo at his post, for wc have not a man to spare
from the field ; for, ' tho harvest truly is great, and the labourers arc few.'
But I expect to come at some future period, if the Lord will. But let this be ns
it may, believe mo when I say you occupy a warm seat in my heart, and a letter
from youuit any time is of more importance lo me than gold. I should like to
hear from your little son. I should Lo glad to write often to my friends about
the colony, but I have so much business to attend to I can scarcely get time to
write at all. However, I have answered all your letters, and will be glad to
have the privilege to answer the next.
"Believe mo to be your most sincere friend and fellow-labourer in the com
mon cause of our dear Redeemer. And now may the blessing of our good Lord,
and his Son Jesus Christ, be with you and your dear family for evermore.
Amen. Amen. " Written by
"B R. WILSON,
" To his devoted friend, tho Rev. It. It. Gurley."
A very few small errors in the spelling of this letter are corrected,
but no change has been made in the arrangement or style. Mr.
Wilson states that it was copied by his son not ten years old.

[Extracts of a Letter from Captain Hubert to Dr. Ilodgk'm, 1836.]
" With regard to the present state of slave-taking in the colony of Liberia, I
have never known one instance of a slave being owned or disposed of by a
colonist; on tho contrary, I have known them to render great facility to our
cruisers there in taking those vessels employed in that nefarious traffic, by
obtaining from the natives of the slave-factories information of the time those
vessels would sail with their cargoes. In November last, while I was trading at
Edina, there came into the cove two Spanish vessels, evidently slavers, seeking
for British arms, ammunition, and clothes, for which they would have given
specie ; yet there was not one colonist to bo found who would trade with them,
notwithstanding the extensive profit which could have been made * * *
I have had frequent opportunities of conversing with the settlers on the subject
of their emigration, and, with few exceptions, have found them not only con
tented with their change, but happy ; for there they have become members of a
community in which they are not only free, but equal."
\ Extract of a Letter from Samuel Benedict to Dr. Ilodghin, dated Monrovia,
J 1838.]
" Sir, — In leaving America, my principal object was not to get rich, although
such exaggerated tales were circulated about the trade of the colony : I thought
to retire to a part of the world where we would live, with the blessing of Hea
ven, as others do— by their labour; and where we could enjoy religious, civil,
and political liberty ; and where we could have a voice in the making of laws
suitin?our circumstances, &c; also to assist in civilizing and Christianizing
this dark, uncultivated continent.
" I have been here now near three years, aDd, in truth, 1 have not lost three
days in all, by sickness. The company I came out with consisted of sixty -four
—a few very old, and several young and feeble infants, and up to this tune
seven have died."
[Extracts of a Letter from Governor Buchanan to Dr. Hodgkin, dated Monrovia,
1 1840.]
" It has been said, that the colonists were not unfavourable to the slave-trade,
and, in proof of it, some isolated fact, such as 1 have mentioned, is adduced as

33
conclusive. Tho mode of proof is as unfair ns the charge Ik false. The general
voice of ihc colony has over been loud against the slave-trade, nor has any indi
vidual directly participated in it. Indeed, I am confident that the penalty of
tho law against it, which is death, would havo been inflicted on any one who
would havo dared lo violate it, even during (he period I have alluded to, when
tho colony was actually left to itself. Tho vessels which visited our waters
wrro generally under tho American flag, and, in all cases, claimed lo be regular
traders; whilo tho intercourse carried on with tho colonists was in itself per
fectly proper. But tho very fact, that (hoy were obliged to conceal their real
character, in order to procure that inlorcoursc, shows, conclusively, (ho disposi
tion of our people against, them. » • » Tho colony is an asylum
to the oppressed and enslaved of all tho tribes nround it! Hero they flee from
the storms of war, and the horrors of bondage, in tho fuli confidence of protec
tion and safety. The whole history of the colony, almost from the first day of
its existence, is crowded wilh instances. At one time, during the ironth of
July last, a king, with several hundreds of his people, — (he wretched remnant
of a once powerful tribe — fled to us for protection against a merciless foe, who
had ravaged his country for the purpose of making a whole nation slaves! Num
bers were killed, and many more were captured, and the fugitives were closely
pursued to the very boundary of the colony ; but, the moment they passed it,
they were safe and/ree .' — the enemy, though flushed with victory, and thirst
ing for victory, dared not pursue them into our territory.
" About ten days since, I had an unsolicited visit from eight kings, some of
them living far in the country, for the express purpose of 'making book,' as they
term it, by which they declared their devotion to the colony — their subjection
to its laws — their co-operation in putting down the slave-trade — and, in return,
requested the friendship and protection of the colony. It is our constant aim to
extend, by every proper means, political alliances not only, but also commercial
relations and intercourse."

[Extracts of a Letter ftom Samuel Benedict lo Dr. Hodykin, dated Monrooia,
1840.]
" It has been five years since I arrived in this land of privileges, and, from
then until this, I have not lost more than about eight days, in all, by sickness ;
and I think I can say, with propriety, that I have not lost as many days by indo
lence or inactivity. * * The missionaries here have done much good
among the natives. A small tribe, not far from this, has nearly entirely changed
their former habits, and embraced that of the Christian, but there remains much
for all of us to do. Agriculture, with us, is becoming more general. Many of
us are trying the cultivation of the sugar-cane, of which some fair sugar has
been made, but not enough, as yet, to even talk of."
[Copy of a Letter from Captain Sloll to Dr. Hodykin, dated Piecr;d,'!fi/, 18*0.]
" My dear. Silt, — I had not returned from the country at the t.iiie your
meeting was held, to which you were so kind as to invite rne : this will account
for my silence; and I am sorry that the press of affairs on me at tins moment
should interfere with my contributing my mite for the African ra<v. In ease 1
should not meet you before leaving London, I shall commit tho foilwwing facta
to paper, all of which are from my own observation, relative to the American.
colony of Liberia, in which you are so much interested, and justly so. My
opinion, though not of much value, is, that it promises to be the only successful
institution of the sort in the coast of Africa, keeping in mind its objects —
namely, that of raising the African slave into a free man ; preparing him for /he
exercise of civil liberty in its various branches, from the Governor to the
labourer; the extinction of the slave-trade ; and last, though not least, the reli
gious and moral improvement of Africa at laige First, then, from the carriage
and conversation of the emancipated slave, you perceive at once that he fee's
himself a free man. They one and all told me they were men now, which they
never were before, and had a prospect for their children not in the least regret
ting their departure from America; on the contrary, desirous of getting their
relations over to join them. Secondly, the affairs of ihe colony are- conducted,
•with the exception of the Governor, entirely by coloured men, chiefly liberated
slaves 5 and Mr. Buchanan, the present Governor, a mott able and zealo-a«
x>

31
friend of the African, assured me, that their judicial administration would do'
credit to any state in America, and, that they were most reasonable in all their
propositions and debates in their House of Assembly. They are all quite awaro
that nothing but industry can conduce to their wealth and comfort, and practice
it. Even the Africans, captured and located by the American Government,
have followed the example set by the colonists ; for, when I visited them about
'3p.m., the hottest part Of the day, I found them all at work in their farms.
Thirdly, no one, in- the remotest degreo connected wilh tho slave-trade, is
allowed even to communicate with Liberia, much less trado ; and, from a little
affair with myself, and other occular proofs, they arc always ready to join in any
expedition for the destruction of slave-factories. Fourthly, they arc preparing
missionaries from amongst themselves, and have already attempted it on a small
scale, bnt with what success I am not ready to say, not having had an oppor
tunity of personal inspection ; but their schools do them credit, more especially
when their small means are considered. The colonists, with few exceptions,
are all members of churches; and I can most safely testify, that a more orderly,
sober set of people 1 never met with. I did not hear an improper or profane
expression during my visit. Spirits arc excluded in most, if not all, tho settle
ments. They have formed themselves into various societies — such as agricultural,
botanical, mechanical, for promoting Christian knowledge, also a ladies' society
for clothing the poor, &c. The surrounding Africans arc aware of the nature
of the colony, taking refuge when persecuted by the few neighbouring slave-
traders ; — -the remnants of a tribe have lately fled to, and settled in, the colony
on land granted them. Between my two visits, a lapse of only a few days, four
or five slaves sought refuge from their masters who were about to sell, or had
sold them, to the only factory on that part of the coast. The native chiefs in
the neighbourhood have that respect for the colonists, that they have made trea
ties for the abolition of the slave-trade, as also constituted the Governor judge in
the disputes amongst themselves, and a remarkablo instance had occurred only
a few days previous to my visit : — One chief submitted to the arbitration of Mr.
Buchanan, though contrary to his own ideas of right and justice, and paid the
fine imposed upon him. I could say much more, but my time does not admit ;
and I must conclude this rambling and hurried account of my visit to Liberia
with this observation, thai I went there unbiassed, and left it with a conviction,
that colonies on the principle of Liberia ought to be established as soon as pos
sible, if we wish to serve Africa ; and the materials for such colonies, I think,
can only be procured from the slaves of the United States. I am not disposed,
from what I have seen and known of the West-India blacks, to select them for
this great work, if for no other reason, the American black speaks pure English.
Excuse this hasty production with all its faults ; but, rather than break my
word, I send you this ; and, with every wish for your success in your philan
thropic exertions, " I remain, my dear Sir, yours, most truly,
" JOHN STOLL."

[Extract of a Letter from Captain Henry Irving to Dr. Hodgkin, dated London,
"With regard to Cape Palmas, I must positively say, it is fast improving. I
spent two days there in the latter end of 1837, and, one of them being Sunday,
I attended Divine worship, and was surprised lo see so respectable a congrega
tion. I asked several of them how they liked their now country ? and they
answered, much better than America ; for, although their means were at pro-
sent limited, and the land of course to be cleared, yet they expected, in a short
time, to be in easy circumstances. I was there about two years afterwards, and
fbund a great improvement— the roads much better— houses more numerous
and better built— several of tho country oxen broke-in to harness, and a school
for the education of native children. They were also living on the very best
terms with the natives ; and such confidence have they of their neighbours,
that all their palaver of consequence are settled by them. You ask me if they
aid in the slave-trade ? I answer you, No I and, I am sure, Ihe colonists would
feel much hurt should they know such a question could possibly arise in
England."

APPENDIX.

No. I.

Address at the Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society,
Nov. 11, 1839. ByB,. R. Gurley. Published by request of the Society.
Thouoii deeply sensible of the honour conferred on me, by your invitation to
occupy, for a brief time, this place on this occasion, I must be permitted to
express regret at my inability to fulfil expectations which may reasonably have
been cherished in view of the annual assemblage of the members and friends
of this association ; and, especially, that tho gentleman* to whom this invi
tation was first extended, so estei mod for his virtues, and admired for his
eloquence, found it necessary to decline tho duty, which the speaker, relying
upon your generous indulgence, will attempt, however inadequately to perform.
But if the remark be just, that " in all exertions of duty something must be
hazarded ;" that, on occasions and questions involving great public interests
and common dangers, the purity of the motive is held to atone for the indis
cretion of the deed, and the weakest hand may well be stretched out to defend
or sustain truth and right, apologies are unnecessary, perhaps impertinent, in
presence of a subject which appals by its magnitude, and demands by its im
portance, the combined reason and benevolence of the Christian world.
No scheme of selfishness, of ordinary charity, of mere patriotism are we
convened to promote. Your hearts respond to the appeals; daily almost aro
your hands extended for the relief of the suffering. The noblest ornaments of
this city arc her institutions and asylums, thrown wide open to the varied forms
of human distress; in which want finds provision, infirmity support, sickness
medicine and aid, the widow a home, the destitute aged repose and consolation,
and the orphan a shelter ; in which those shut up from communion with nature
by one of the senses, are taught to converse with her through another, and the
intellect shattered by misfortune, or deranged mysteriously by His hand who
formed it, is guarded from the rude irritations of the world, and gently soothed
by the ministrations and smiles of Christian love.
Greater far than any, than all these, is our object, encompassing within the
wide range of its promised beneficence, tho character and destinies of two races
of men, and two quarters of tiic globe.
Nor here can I hesitate to congratulate the friends of African colonization
in this city and throughout the country, on the occurrence of recent events and
of recent changes of opinion, in both America and England, favourable to tho
progress of their enterprise, and its final consummation, on a scale commen
surate with the extent and inveteracy of tho evils it was desired to remedy,
and the vastness of good it was intended and expected to confer up in this
nation and the African race.
The manifest impotency cf direct and fierce attacks by .societies exc.uiivoly
northern in their origin and action, to produce tho immedi-.te, unconditional,
and voluntary emancipation of slaves on the soii of the south : the c-Giif.rmed
faith of the humane and religious of that portion of the union Jr. the patriotism ,
practicableness, and philanthropy of tho .scheme of this society; the rr.p.'d;«
rising prosperity and influence of the communities of Liberia; the a-etiH/v-1.:;--
of steam to ship navigation, soon to unite in commercial relations ar.e. -1-f - r jr..
intercourse, the civilized with remote and barbarous nations ; the ac. o; V. er-..
Indian emancipation; and, above all, the increase, uir.ee that act, of the -frier n
slave-trade, working conviction in the minds of the great leaders of that ric \
sure in England, that this traffic can bo suppressed only by iritrcclutxg r.uo
Africa herself civilization and Christianity, encouraging lier industry, develop
ing her exhaustless resources, and gathering, by humane «», and a^w -uccra-
' Rev. Dr. Bethtine.
Ti2

36
lives to exertion, the rich and varied productions of her mines, her forests,
and her fields, into the channels of legitimate commerce : all these must be re
garded as elements about to meet and coalesce in a mighty movement, under
file all-directing hand for the advancement of our cause, and the redemption
of Africa.
It is a fact worthy of record, and one of pregnant import to those who dis
cern only cruel injustice in the principles and policy of tho American Coloni
zation Society, that long before its origin the3e principles and policy wcro
adopted and made practical by distinguished friends by immediate emanci
pation both in Old England and New. If the opponents of this society claim
Dr. Folhcigill, Granville Sliarpc, Dr. Hopkins, and Paul Coffee as advocates of
their doctrine, wo point to the example of these individuals in defence of our
practice ; and especially to this example do wc refer in cvidenco that there
exist, to the judgment of wise and good men, valid reasons for the sehemo of
African colonization, independent of any or all opinions on the subject of
Slavery. The illustrious names of Dr. Fotlu-rgill and Granville Sliarpc liro
recorded among the chief founders of the colony of Sierra Leone; while to
their enterprise the Rev. Dr. Hopkins and Captain Taul Cuffee (one of the
most sensible, philanthropic, and best-educated coloured men ever born in New
England) gave both their sanction and their aid. These early and true-hearted
friends of the coloured race never deemed the spirit of colonization unworthy
to dwell in their hearts in communion with the spirit of universal liberty —
never dreamed that benevolence towards Africa should be limited in its efforts to
the partial elevation of her exiled children in disregard of the millions of her
home population sunk in more deep dishonour, and more hopeless ruin. They
forgot not the many in their concern for the few.
Were the Genius of Great Britain now to stand before us and survey that
empire upon which the sun is said never to set, to what region would he more
exultingly point — to what spot look with an eye more brightly kindling with
delight than to this reproached colony of Sierra Leone ? A territory, reclaimed
from the waste of barbarism and the horrors of the slave-trade, brought under the
shield of civilized power and the Divine light of Christianity to be an asylum
for Africans unloosed from intolerable chains, and led forth to liberty from
the despairful dungeons of the slave-ship. The smiles, the songs, the gratefully
uplifted hands of from twenty thousand to thirty thousand victims of this
atrocity fed, clothed, instructed, tamed from the fierceness of a savage nature,
and, casting aside the badges of superstition and shame, testify to the philan
thropy which founded, and, with invincible resolution and at great expense, has
sustained the colony of Sierra Leone.
A more enviable renown England never won — no, not when from the re
luctant hand of the throne she wrung the charter of her liberties — not when
beneath the raging waves she sunk the Spanish armada — not even when her
power struck down Napoleon — than when the perishing African cried to her
and she listened and saved.
The American Colonization Society rests upon enlarged benevolence towards
the whole coloured race.
What were the facts evident to the founders of this society, convened to
devise some practicable scheme of good for this unfortunate people ?
They saw two millions or more of the coloured population of this country in
slavery, and that the system, in regard to its continuance or abolition, -sas left
by the Federal constitution under the exclusive control of the bir.tes in which
it exists :
That the free people of colour (then in number 250,000, now much more),
dispersed abroad in all the States, were denied everywhere, by iaw, custom,
circumstances, or all combined, many of the richest blessings of freedom :
That, in the undivided judgment of the south and the general mind of the
north, the elevation of this race on this soil to social and political equality with
the whites, was impracticable from the nature of the case itself, from the force
and fixedness of opinion against it (dictated, in the view of those who hold it,
as well by benevolence as political necessity), and that no plan, based on this
idea, could unite in its execution the hearts and means of our citizens in all
sections of the union. Whether the causes referred to render such elevation
absolutely impossible in all future contingencies, is, in regard to immediate

37
duty, of littlo consequence. They are or sufficient magnitude and power to
control the present policy of bcnovolenco and wisdom :
That any great plan of good lo this race must depend mainly for success upon
such union : '
And, finally, that there was an unsurpassed moral fitness and grandeur in the
colonization of Africa, by our free people of colour, with their own consent, in
asmuch as, whilo securing to them an unembarrassed position and a national
character, all means and motives for self-culture aud self-exaltation, it afforded
opportunity and inducement for the highest beneficence in unbarring the iron
gates of Africa, and connecting their own moral, intellectual, and social im
provement with the gift of law, letters, art, liberty, and Christianity to the un
tutored and uncounted tribes of their ancient mother-country.
The organization of the American Colonization Society, avowing in its con
stitution that, " The object to which its attention is to bo exclusively directed,
is lo promote and execute a plan of colonizing, with their own consent, tho freo
people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as
Congress shall deem expedient; and that tho Society shall act to effect this
object in co-operation with tho general government, and such of the States as
may adopt regulations on the subject," was, in view of these facts, the result
of the united wisdom and counsels, of distinguished patriots and Christians,
assembled in convention from widely separated and most differing portions of
the union.
It is asserted by the enemies of this Society, that in its constitution there is
not a clear development of moral principles, and, consequently, that the scheme
proposed has no moral sanction.
And where in the constitutions of your humane and Christian associations,
too numerous to mention, for the instruction of the dumb and the blind, the
protection of orphans, the relief of the destitute and the sick, is «. develop
ment of moral principles, or the emblazoning forth of a moral sanction ? They
need no signals of character. Their objects uidicate their principles — the actions
show the motive.
And does any reflecting person doubt that the existence of tho Colonization
Society for the object it avows, implies a conviction in the minds of its founders
and friends, that our free people of colour are unfortunato and depressed, aud
should be assisted to rise ; that it is a duty (should they concur in the plan) to
aid their establishment in a position where they will enjoy not partial liberty,
bat its full power, and rear for themselves, and transmit to their descendants,
institutions social, political, and religious, equal to any yet known in human
society ?
Is it to be imagined that those who would, by the only means which they
believe effectual for the end, confer upon these people these richest blessings,
wish to deny to them any inferior good, diminish their present advantages, or
retard under any circumstances their improvement ?
And who can fail to infer, that if duty (or benevolence, another name for the
same thing) demands our efforts to raise men, who have gamed something,
perhaps, by liberty, to a condition in which they may possess more, it equally
demands of those who have the right and power to prepare men, not free, for
freedom, and then, if practicable, so to bestow this freedom upon them, that all
its appropriate and choicest blessings may be theirs ?
• And is it not clear to demonstration, from the nature of our moral senti
ments, that those who aim to elevate the free people of colour to tho loftiest
privileges of humanity, and open a way to these privileges, with the consent of
the master, to the slave, must embrace Africa and her unnumbered barbarians,
indeed the whole coloured race within the circuit, and, as they may, within the
active influences of their beneficence. True regard to one human being can
never be divorced from goodwill to the many. True benevolence to the indi
vidual must always be identified with benevolence to the race.
But men may err, you say, in their judgments touching their own interests;
and may not the wise and the good err in their plans and endeavours to pro
mote the interests of others ? We admit your society's motives to be pure,
but we deny its practical philanthropy.
' Hence arises a question of the enlarged practical benencence of the policy
and proceedings of the American Colonization Society We maintain that in

38
reason, so far ns the aid of this Society is accepted, they confer inestimable ami
enduring good upon our free people, of colour— add strength and security to our
national wnon-work extensively and powerfully in favour of the. voluntary
emancipation of staves,— and bestow the best blessings Heaven permits man to enjoy
upon Africa. j r j j
The comparison, by one of our ablest divines, of the condition of the frco
people of colour m tho United States to that of the germ springing from tho
acorn at tho foot of the parent tree, was truo as fact and of more force than ar
gument. You may say it is of the same nature with the old oak, and has as
good a right to be there, yet it must wither unless you lake it from the shade.
This people arc in the shade of our towering and overspreading greatness, and
to improve their condition and cxaltthcir character effectually, you must change
their circumstances and their place. The wealth, honours, and government of
tho country are in other hands than theirs. Many of them, doubtless, are
respectable for intelligence and moral worth, and their merit is the greater iu
proportion to the temptations resisted, and the obstacles overcome. Their con
dition is much the same in all the states, and loo generally they may be j rid to
feel the evils of servitude without its alleviations, to bo free without the dignity
or inspiration of freedom. Posts of distinction, offices of trust, the higher
.pursuits and rewards of enterprise, art, and genius, they despair to obtain, and
therefore do not seek. With heavy incumbrances to keep them down, they
want many of the means and motives to rise.
Of different descent from the whites, distinct from them in complexion, history,
habits, and employments, they suffer neglect as aliens in Ihe land of their birth ;
mental bondage in tho atmosphere and beneath the expanded wings of liberty.
,1 speak not to disparage, to discourage them, but rather to direct their eyes to
that orient star already standing over the spot of their national redemption and
coming renown. To what are they invited by this society ? To what sum
moned in the providence of Almighty God? To tread, in rightful possession,
the wide, magnificent, but depopulated territory of their mother-country, awe
struck by no superior power, subdued by no mighty competition, restrained by
no force of prejudice, custom, or law, depressed by no sense of weakness or of
wrong, and in the consciousness of freedom, of all human power, to build up
among barbarians the Church of God and a republican empire. Escaped from
the despotism of the mind, they feel that liberty of soul, which is the parent of
, greatness, which turns adverse events, the rigour of discipline, and the shocks
of calamity, to the account of wisdom, and makes nature in all her forms tribu
tary to its power ; that mental liberty which admits in all their force the influ
ence of all the motives which strengthen and ennoble our immortal faculties,
give clearness and comprehensiveness to reason, vigour to imagination, and in
vincible energy to the will — which arm fortitude, elevate hope, make courage
iresistless, and, guarding and cherishing the domestic and social affections as the
seeds of public virtue, by ties of patriotism, indissoluble because sacred, bind
man to his country, and by the golden chain of an all-circumscribing philan
thropy, link him for ever to the destinies of mankind. Is it no good we confer,
when assisting them to make Liberia to their country what Plymouth and
Jamestown have been to this ? to do for themselves what all the world can
never do for them ? to do for their race what can only be expected from their
prayers and their labours ? They go to Africa for great purposes — to build up
their own fortunes, redeem the character of their people, and thus command
the respect of the world: to establish upon lier shore civilization and free
government; to lift the covering of night from her face, and call forth her igno-
. rant, savage, enslaved children from the desert where the lien roars, or the
wilderness where he slumbers from clay-built huts, from dens and mountain
caves, to a purer, nobler life ; to rekindle the gone-out glories ; to rear anew the
prostrate, decayed, but giant-monuments of her ancient might; to wave the
torch of wisdom in the face of superstition and amid the haunts of ruin ; to
carve their names as benefactors in her eternal rocks, and bring back that
quarter of the earth, long lost to science, liberty, humanity, and religion, to the
. empire of reason and God. Whatheart can be weak, what hand want strength
in so Divine a work ? To attempt and fail in so many tilings, must be great, to
succeed in all, glorious. ' It is in the very nature of the enterprise of African
colonization that we discern the elements of life and power to our free coloured

3.9
population— that which must rouse, dignify, exalt them. No man, no peonlo
wcro ever mado great by others. It has been by circumstances acting on them.
selves, by themselves acting with inbred energy on circumstances, that they
have coniinaiidcd distinction and everlasting fame. By toilsome effort only do
tho bold and daring gain the Alpino heights and the eye that Iheiu-e sees tho
6iin hidden to all eyes below, beams bright wilh health as honour. On this
BUbji-r.l our own national history is full of meaning and inslrurlion. It wan
because- the wintry wind howled around the dwellings of our fathers, and
necessity trained them in her school of trial, and their early pathway was rug
ged and lliorny through the wilderness, nnd tracked by their blond, U,ul (hoy
became what they were — unequalled for activity, sagacity, nnd enterprise, and
capable of binding, wc had almost said, capricious fortune, and nature opposed
to their designs, in subserviency to their will. Mr. Burke, long befoie Ihe revo
lution, saw the effect of (rial r.iul circuit, stances upon their character, and in (he
British Parliament exclaimed with admiration, "nnd pray, Sir, what in (he
world is equal lo it? Pass by the other parts and look at tho manner in which
the people of New England have of Lite carried on the whale fishery. Whilst
we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them pene
trating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits;
whilst we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, wo hear (hat they have
pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they arc at the antipodes, and
engaged under Ihe frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seemed
too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a
stage and a resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. No sea
but what is vexed by their fisheries ; no climate that is not witness to their toils.
Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dex
terous and firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous
mode of hardy industry to tho extent to which it has been pushed by this recent
people— a people yet, as it were in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the
bone of manhood." Can we point our free people of colour to an example
more instructive than that of our fathers ? Can they seek a good or glory
greater than theirs ?
Wc have said the operations of this society add strength and security to our
national union. Strong and secure as wo trust this union is, tho discussions,
during the last six years, on the subject of slavery, have been such as to
alienate, in no small degree, tho affections of one-half the country from the
other, and excite, in the minds of sober patriots and able statcmen, a sense and
.apprehension of danger. If the bond of tho federal union is to be sundered,
few doubt that differences concerning our coloured population will be the cause-
On this subject a fierce conflict of opinion may foretoken, and be hardly less
•terrible than the shock of arms. Since the union involves interests greater than
those of any one people, it should be guarded as wc guard our firesides, or the
temples and altars of our faith. The hopes of the slave, as well as of his master,
depend upon its existence. By common consent the agitations threatening it
should he allayed, the spirit of internal discord banished for ever. The citizens
of this union arc trustees of truth and liberty, not only for themselves and their
posterity, but for the world. On a subject the greatest, most ditiicult, most dan
gerous, that can ever occupy the mind of the country, this society furnishes a
bond of union between the south and the north; a channel in which their
mutual sympathies, opinions, and charities may commingle ; a broad and lofty
ground on which the citizens of both may co-operate in good faith lo each other
and the constitution, for the benefit of tho coloured race. Who can well esti
mate its effect already to repress the rash over-action of the north, and arouse
tho too lethargic spirit of the south ? to prevent the general adoption of one
false opinion on this side of the Potomac, and of one equally false but directly
opposite on the other ? to save the north from a direct and relentless Avar upon
slavery, and the south from defending it as of Divine right and perpetual obliga
tion ? Who can tell how much the public tranquillity is owing to the existence
and movements of this society, or the evils that might arise should its influence
cease to be felt ? The thoughts, the sentiments, the government of the union
are favourable to universal freedom, and no power or agency is to be lightly
regarded, which tends to reconcilo all particular interests, and individual and
state rights, with the natural influences of our institutions, the spirit of tho age,

do
and the progress of liberty Nature, in her great and benign changes, shows in
gentleness and silence tho signs of power. Tho fury of the tempest, the con
cussions of the earthquake but desolate, rend, nnd destroy. If our federal con
stitution must perish by a suicidal spirit, by fraternal hands, which have been
pledged mutually for its support, the whole earth will feel the cruel wrong, and
human hope, wo might almost say, struck down like an caglo soaring " in his
pndo of place," must expire upon tho ruins of the republic. All nations will
gather in grief around the agonies of our dissolution, as old Ocean and his
daughters gathered with sympathising hearts around the tortured Prometheus
chom-bound moxorably by Forco and Fate to tho Caucasian rock. At the
horrors of the scene they might bo tempted to cry out, with upbiaidings of
destiny, in tbe words or the ancient tragic chorus :— •
'*I sec, I sec — and o'er my eyes,
Surcharged witli sorrow's tearful rain,
DarK'y the misty clouds arise—
I see thine adamantine chain :
In Its strong grasp thy limbs confined,
And withering lu tile patching wind.
•' la there a god whose sullen soul
Peels n stem Joy tn thy despair?
Owns he not pity's soft control,
And drops with sympathy the toart"*
Ohf in case of so dreadful a catastrophe, where will be found a heaven-born
Prometheus, to reanimate, with a Divine spark, the lifeless form of liberty ?
Time will hardly allow mo even a brief expression, on this occasion, of the
thoughts which have occurred to mo on the subject ol slavery in the United
States, nor would they be very relevant, perhaps, to my main purpose hero, that
of showing the influence of tho American Colonization Society topromotc volun.
tary emancipation. Permit me, however, on this great subject to ask a moment's
indulgence. Human rights are founded upon the moral law or obligation of reciprocal
benevolence, ordained by reason and God, to exist between man and man in all
circumstances, places, and times. This law exists independently of the will of
man and pre-supposes human society. Hence no reasoning is of force, con
cerning the rights of man, that is founded merely upon his nature, or upon any
original compact between him and others, because certain relations of men uni
versally to each other are implied in the very terms of the law, and whether
they approve it or not, they are equally bound to obedience. Were there but
one man in the world, it is clear he could bo the subject of no law which, in
the duty it enjoined, took for granted the existence of other men. The golden
precept of the Saviour of the world, " thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,"
so justly termed by Lord Bacon " the perfection of the law of naturo and nations,"
specifies the universal and unalterable principle of duty men owe to each other,
and the method by which they should decide the varying and innumerable cases
to which it must be applied. In each and in all these cases we are to try our
benevolence by our self-regard — to imagine our neighbour (and such is every
man) in our circumstances, and we in his; and in that view, and in view also
of the relations of each of us to others, to do for him as our moral judgment
tells us, we might reasonably expect him to do for us. Not that we are to treat
all men alike, or deem their desires or jndgmentoai- rule of duty, or the interests
of the individual of equal importance with the public good. The law binds
every man to be the friend of every other man, and every other man to be the
friend of him ; but in each and in all cases, in which the principle is to be made
practical, the mode and manner, (those only excepted where these are fixed by
its Author,) are left to the reason of the individual under responsibilities to
his conscience and God.
In applying this Divine law to the question of American Slavery, while we
believe that it should be enthroned supreme in tho hearts of states as in that of
individuals, and with Dr. Channing " that statesmen work in the dark until the
idea of right towers above expediency and wealth," we also believe that society
may be so deranged and disordered by the errors, crimes, and misfortunes of a
former age, that no human power can instantly correct the evil, and that neither
' .. * jEtciiylua.

41
Individuals nor society are bound to do impossibilities. Great moral evils may
justifiably be tolerated by the state for a time, when acts to prevent them will
clearly produce moral evils more terrible nnd extensive. Such toleration, how-
ever, can novcr rightly be pleaded in justification of individual crime, nor
should such evils continue, if individuals, as such, can remove them. Stale ne
cessity can never be rightly urged in justification of any policy which tends to
limit for ever the influences of the word of God. Providence and revelation aro
allies, and the order of the one can never contravene the declarations of the
other. Dr. Channing has well said : " Slavery in the age of the apostles had so
penetrated society, was so intimately interwoven with it, and the materials of
servile war were so abundant, that a religion preaching freedom lo its victims
would have shaken the social fabric to its foundation, and would have armed
against itself all the power of the state. Of consequence, Paul did not assail it.
He satisfied himself with spreading principles which, however slowly, could not
but -work its destruction." If there be reason in these sentences and if the ob
servation of South be just— "and in the government of the visible world the
supreme wisdom itself submits to be the author of the better, not the best, but
of the best system possible, in the existing relations, much more must human
legislators give way to many evils, rather than encourage the discontent that
would lead to worse remedies ;" if Coleridge says truly that " an evil which
has come iu gradually, and in the growth of which all men have more or less
conspired, cannot be removed otherwise than gradually and by the joint efforts
of all ;" and Burke, that to remedy evils in the state, " a permanent body, mado
up of transitory parts, it is good to follow the method of nature," and be in what
we improve never wholly new, and in what we retain never wholly obsolete, then
must we be permitted to think that the state, in which slavery was deep-seated,
interwoven with all the habits and rooted in the very constitution of society
long before the existence of the present depositories of its political power, is
bound to act on the same principle of benevolence, prescribed, it is true, to
individual man, but with a broad and full view of the elements and relations
involved in an extended organized society, and taking things as they ar2, by the
light of its reason and the wisdom of experience, make them as they should be
in tho time and manner that it deems best conducive to the interests of all
concerned. Two causes only should in our judgment retard emancipation for a
moment — the incapacity of the slave for self-government, and the danger of
collision between the coloured and white races were both free on the soil of
the south. By suitable instruction the first may bo removed, and colonization
for the second affords an adequate remedy. With the consent of tho south, most
justly, in our opinion, might the national resources be applied to aid the work.*
* My view of the system of slavery, as it exists among us, is briefly this: — individual
masteis are morally bound to treat their slaves as their consciences, honestly consulted, decide
that they themselves would reasonably cr rightfully expect to be treated in the same condi
tion and circumstances. And this perfect law of Christianity, should govern political bodies,
no less than individuals. Adopting this, the royal law of Christ as a universal, perfect rulo
of duty between man and man, in ail conditions, circumstances, and times, it follows,
therefrom : —
1st. That any doctrine or practice which would jitBtify or maintain slavery as a perpetual
system, Is abominable; because reason and conscience in the breast of every man, ansert his
natural capability for freedom, and of course, that this capability belongs to other men.
And as his judgment must decide that it could never be right for others .o consign him ard
his posterity to perpetual and involuntary servitude, so does lt equally, thnt he can never
Justly contribute to perpetuate a system which consigns others to that condition.
2d. That human liberty should never be weighed in the balances wrtri money, or estimated by
dollars and cents. There is no man who docs not regard his own libtr'ty k>, n.10 e specious
than property, and in the same light, is he to regard the liberty of otiici-u.
3d. All rigorous laws imposed on those subjected to this system (not necestrary *01 lne
good of the enslaved,' or indispensable to the preservation of the public peace and safety) can
not too soon be abolished. Such, I believe there are ; and every humane nnd Christian man
should exert his influence to have them erased from the State codes.
4th. "Where the system exists, those who have the po.iticat power, are as much bound to
proceed benevolently in thtir measures to remedy and remove it, as they are to proceeds a/l.
They roust not forget that "civil society is an institution nf beneficence ; and law itself is (or
should be) beneficence, acting by rule.'' Nor that " restraints on men, a3 well as their liber
ties, are to be reckoned (in a sense) among their rights." They ought not to attempt to d<j
that suddenly and by a blow, which they know may be done more sajtely and benen-lslly with
caution and preparation.
5th. It may be the duty of Individual masters to liberate their slaves, befora ihe State ie
morally bound to enact laws for the entire and universal abolition of slavery. For particular
ilaves may be qualified for freedom, and their musters may have ability to place them where

42
By abstaining from measures unconstitutional and dangerous in (he judgment
of the south to urge onward abolition;* by acknowledging (hat this can only bo
effected wilh their frco will and consent, by co-operating with them iu a plan
which, as benevolent to the whole coloured population has received their
sanction, and exhibiting an asylum to which (ho liberated can be sent, without
injury to the state and infinite advantage to themselves, and which in the rising
character and hopes of tho free who occupy it, appeals to their deepest sympa
thies and most generous sentiment.-, iu behalf of the slave ; by interchanging the
sober opinions of the north, in regard to our coloured population, with the phi
lanthropic sentiments of the-south, this society cfl'cctually promotes tho cause of-
freedom, and presents motives of persuasiveness and power in favour of eman
cipation. The demonstration in Liberia of the capabilities of the coloured raeo
for self-government, every despatch from that colony, every ship that sails
thither, every example of emancipation, that those covered with the dust and
dishonours of servitude may share the dignity and hopes of its citizens, plead
eloquently the cause of human freedom. Fifteen hundred slaves, standing as
freemen at the will of their masters, on that shore, and property, including the
value of those liberated, exceeding probably 2,000,000 dollars given as a freewill
offering to the cause of this society, sustain the truth of our position.
This society comes forward to bestow the best blessing Heaven permits men
to enjoy, upon Africa.
This intelligent audience know what Africa was and what she is — her former
glory, her present shame. Alas ! it is for none of us to know or imagine tho
extent of her miseries, the depth of her degradation. Anciently the seat of art,
genius, empire ; the land of Thebes, Egypt, Carthage, and even now bearing
marks of grandeur amid the fragments of her ruins. Some faint glory lingers
around her time-worn but undecayed monuments, temples, and pyramids — a
light dimly burning upon tho sepulchre, a smile to make us sad upon the
countenance of death. With an immense and fertile territory spread out
beneath a climate adapted to mature the richest products of the earth — a popu
lation of at least 60,000,000, fine navigable rivers, and every advantago for a
wide, profitable commerce — for centuries has she been left a prey to ignorance,
imposture, superstition, barbarism, and tho slave-trade, that giant-sin and out
rage of the civilized world, showing sights of horror at which the rocks might
weep and Ihe fierce and savage winds, unused to pity, speak out in tones indig
nant and appalling, to startle the faithless conscience of the nations. But even
inanimate nature would, we fear, utter her terrifying rebukes in vain. If the
writings and labonrs of Clarkson, tho eloquence of Pitt, Fox, and Wilberforce,
if no sense of justice, no compunctions of conscience, no sentiments of compas
sion, no Divine precepts of Christianity — if neither courts of mixed commis- '
sion, nor West-Indian emancipation, nor the condemning opinion and law of all
the powers of Christendom have even diminished this cruel commerce, what,
without a change of policy is to be expected, is to bo done ? It is a fact of
deepest interest that Thomas Fowcll Buxton, member of tho British Parlia
ment, upon whom rests the mantle of Wilberforce, who stands first and fore
most among living statesmen in endeavours to suppress the slave-trade and
civilize Africa, has, in a work just published, developed facts and principles,
and expressed opinions going to sustain the views and policy of the Colonization
Society, as those, by which alone the great and benevolent objects of the friends
of Africa can be fully attained. Mr. Buxton has shown, from a deep and
such freedom would be to them a benefit, while the great mass of the slave population arc-
unqualified for perfect freedom, and the State feels prohibited by motives or enlarged be
nevolence, from conferring it, instantly, upon them. Tliere is no danger that either States or
individuals at the South, will act too soon or too earnestly on the subject. The great object
should be I humbly conceive, to awaken in all minds a sense of justice and benevolence
towards our whole coloured population. All should immediately and earnestly unite in pre
parole them for freedom. When qualified therefor, there should be no hesitation in con
ferring it upon them. " It is advanced in the eternal constitution of things, that men of in
temperate minds, cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. —Life nfAthimm.
* My impression is, that, with the consent of the south, the whole sysicrr. of slavery might
with safety be immediately so modified, as to place the slave population inaaituation to enjoy
all the privileges in which men so rude and degraded could findadvantnge j and, in connexion
with the policy of colonization, to prepare them, at no remote penod, -or entire freedom.
Peculiar legislative enactments might, for a season, be indispensable, and ol the nature and
extent of these, benevolent »nd enlightened citizens in the south can best Judge.

43
thorough examination into all tho sources of evidenco in tho case, that the slave-
trade has increased both in the number of ils victims and the horrors of their
sufferings in defiance of all efforts for its extinction ; that " twice as many hu
man beings are now its victims as when Wilberforce and Clarkson entered upon
their noble task ;" that the number annually lost to Africa, cither perishing in
seizure, on the ocean, or consigned to inexorable bondage by the Christian or
Mahomcdan slave-trades, is 170,000 ; " that every day which we live in security
and peace at home, witnesses many a herd of wretches toiling over the wastes
of Africa to slavery or death; every night villages aro roused from their sloop
to the alternative of the sword, or the flame*, or the manacle ;" that at this very
moment " there arc at least twenty thousand human beings on the Atlantic, ex
posed lo every variety of wretchedness which belongs to the middle passage ;"
that (he Christian powers are generally unfaithful in the execution of their own
enactments for tho overthrow of this traffic; that little ground exists for hope
that il will be made piracy by tho law of nations. ; lliat if it were, ihe extraor
dinary profit, tho enormous gains of the slave-trade would defeat all laws nnd
movements against it, and finally avows his conviction that the slave-trade will
never be suppressed by the system hitherto pursued.
Turning from this system in despair, he boldly declares : " A Icgitimalc com
merce with Africa would put down the slave-trade, by demonstrating tho
superior value of man as a labourer on the soil, to man as an object of mer
chandise, and if conducted on wise and equitable principles might be the pre
cursor, or rather the attendant, of civilization, peace, and Christianity to the
unenlightened, warlike, and heathen tribes who now so fearfully prey on each
other to supply the markets of the new world." " I firmly believe," ho says,
" that Africa has within herself the means and the endowments whijh might
enable her to shake off, and to emerge from her load of misery, to the benefit
of the whole civilized world, and to the unspeakable improvement of her own
now barbarous population." He urges all Christain nations to unite in one
great confederacy " for the purpose of calling into action the dormant energies
of Africa," and, avowing the opinion that, the slave-trade once suppressed. ».lc
would present " the finest field for Christian Missionaries which the world has
seen opened to them," regards as a circumstance unique in the case of her popu
lation, "that a race of teachers of their own blood is already in a course of rapid
preparation for them ; that the providence of God has overruled even slavery
and the slave-trade for this end ; and that from among the settlers of Sierra
Leone, the peasantry of the West Indies, and the thousands of their children
now receiving Christian education, may be expected to arise a body of men
who will return to the land of their fathers, carrying Divine truth and all its con
comitant blessings into the heart of Africa."
Wc almost forget for a moment these shocking statements touching the slave-
trade, in delightful astonishment at tho views, convictions, and hopes of Mr.
Buxton, representative, wc doubt not, of those of the wisest nr.d best philan
thropists of England, blazing suddenly out from thick mists of doubt an' error,
like a new constellation in the heavens, to cheer our heart, give new coi.rn^o to
humanity, and shed sweet influences upon ti.o land if sl.-ve; . Tli-.- A.oijri if.
coming forward to sustain our enterprise. Mr. Buxtoi- has only ;,th j-:c,i t'm
original principles and policy of the American Colonization '-.ociely ; ins plans
arc but a republication of theirs. Liberia was planted, has been si'Mnlnod to be
a civilized state, a Christian commonwealth of free coloured men on ilio ••bore
of Africa, to suppress the slave-trade, to impart instruction in letters, the useful
arts, in agriculture, law, and religion, to her barbarous tribes, to guard their
rights, encourage their industry, reform their manners, rouse their enterprise,
and exhibiting before their eyes, and offering in their markets the articles of our
skill tempting to their wants or their fancy, to turn them from a detestable to a
lawful commerce ; and, finally, by developing her resources, and stimulating the
energies, slumbering, but not extinct, in her bosom, to bring her up from the
shadows of the wilderness and the eclipse of ages, to stand with devotion m her
heart power in her aspect, and honour on her brow before tnc world. What
blessings richer can be conferred on her ? What greater can she enjoy ?
Such is our theory ; you must look across the ocean for the exemplification
of its truth. Cast your eye then upon Liberia. See what has been effected by
this society.

44
What well-built town stands on that hold heigh I, recently trod by the slave-
trader, now bearing the flag of freedom, reflecting the light of civilization on
the waves, and pointing il3 church spires, emblematic of human hope, towards
the throne of the Almighty, with schools, courts of justice, and a periodical
press ; Ihe seat of order, industry, and law ; accumulating property, opening
new resources of enterprise, and extending its commerce and its influence?
It is Monrovia; beautifully looking out upon the rough mariner, like the eye
of mercy from beneath the shaggy brow of despair.
And that sweet village near by ? It is New Georgia, the home of some four
hundred recaptured Africans, rescued from slavery, and by the humanity of
our government restored to their country. Order, comfort, neatness mark their
dwellings; their streets planted with shady trees; their well-cultivated fields
and gardens; their children thronging to the school, and the churches in which
Ihey worship the common Father of us all, show that they have thrown off tho
customs of savage nature, and clothed themselves in the beautiful garments of
Christian life. Ask them what this society has done, and let the neaily two
hundred of them who have been baptized in the name of Christ make reply.
And here, a few miles distant, look down upon the agricultural settlement
of Caldwell, the residence of emigrants, who arc converting tho wilderness into
a fruitful field, and demonstrating how tho soil of Africa will reward tho hand
of labour, and her children, once trained to its cultivation, its rich and varied
products, its coffee, cotton, rice, indigo, and sugar, supply themselves with
whatever necessity can demand or luxury desire.
Higher up, on the margin of the river St. Paul's, observe the village of
Millsburg, its white houses adorning the hill side, and smiling through tho
trees. More retired than the others from the visits of strangers, and more
eligible, perhaps, both for health and agriculture, it has been selected by our
Methodist brethren for the seat of an institution in which native Africans may
be educated to become teachers and guides to the inferior tribes.
Return, if you please, to the sea-coast, and thirty miles below Monrovia pause
a moment at the settlement of Marshall. Pause, at least, in honour of that
name, engraven on the hearts of Africa and America ; a name of pow er to plead
this cause, while the admiration of virtue or of liberty inhabits human hearts.
And farther down, on the mouth of the river St. John's, rest and contemplate
that little sisterhood of towns planted by the zeal, cherished by the affections of
your society. The fountain in the desert, the flowers that bloom by its side are
not more charming. See in these prosperous and rising settlements, that owe
their existence to your benevolence, the seeds of life, the buddings forth of
virtue and immortal hope to perishing Africa.*
Five thousand coloured emigrants from the United States, extending their
laws over an extent of coast for three hundred miles, with eighteen churches,
the means of education, sharing in all the blessings and responsibilities of free
government, embodying eight hundred members of the Christian church, are
there stirred with the sublime enthusiasm of liberty to expel from Africa the
invaders of her rights, and the murderers of her children, and carry thi. triumphs
of Christianity to her central mountains, and the waves of the Niger. Is this
nothing to be accomplished by a benevolent society in "less than twenty years,
and at an expense of a little more than half-a-million of dollar^ ?
Nor let us fail to examine the settlement of Greenville, at the mouth of .Sirioc
river testifying the interest of our far-distant but most generous friends in Mis-
sissipi and Louisiana in this cause ; destined to stand a noble and enduring
monument to their praise.
And the colony of Cape Palmas, founded by Maryland, and guarded and
sustained by her government, with its well-disciplined population, great commer
cial advantages, and ample means of social advancement, proclaims what a singlo
state can, and what the United States might and should do for this cause.
The Christian missionaries, some thirtyf in number, representing not fewer
» The ouvo snirit of that meek female Friend, Mrs. Beulah Sanson), who awoke so many
minds in this city to a holy enthusiasm of benevolence towards Africa, must look from her
eternal home uoon the schools planted through her efforts in these villages with dchght, ar.ri
grateftllly bless Him whom she worships, for permission to thus optm the path ot wisrjom it,
the simple, and of salvation to the lost.
t Now sixty.

45
than four religious denominations in our country, have, through the influence ol
these settlements, found admission to the heathen in their vicinity, and under their
protecting wings arc successfully engaged in their Divine work. Nor will minds
capable of deep reflection, (even should opinion, from sonic sources entitled to
respect, be expressed to the contrary,) doubt the soundness of tho judgment of
Dr. Philip, the learned and eloquent superintendent of the London society's
missions in South Africa, when he says:—
" Half-a-dozen such colonics, conducted on Christian principles, might be tho
means, under the Divine blessing, of regenerating this degraded quarter of the
globe. Every prospective measure for the improvement of Africa must have in
it the seminal principles of good government ; and no better plan can be devised
for laying the foundations of Christian government, than that which this new
settlement (Liberia) presents. Properly conducted your new colony may be
come an extensive empire, which may be the means of shedding the blessing of
civilization and peace over a vast portion of this divided and distracted
continent." To what docs duty now urge the friends of this society ? That almost soli
tary white man, who, in the spirit and power of Ashmun, is heading the forces
of these infant colonics, aud nobly adventuring his life in conflict with the
slave-trade ; who weeps over the dishonoured flag of his country, and bleeding
and outraged Africa, and appeals to America and the world to sustain freedom
and Christianity in their struggle against the powers of darkness; he appeals
to you. Would that his fine manly form were in the midst of us ; that in this
hall wc could look upon his countenance, and hear his voice. He speaks 10 you
from the scene of his trials. He entreats aid. Your generous hearts will
respond to his appeal.
Let us act with entire confidence in the practicableness, to the utmost extent
of the scheme of colonization. No power can restrain its complete execution,
on the largest scale desired, when its beneficence, in all its aspects and influ
ences, is demonstrated to the universal reason of men. The only imaginable
obstacles to its entire practicability — the opposition of the free people of colour ;
a deficiency in means to aid them, and indisposition to emancipate slaves — must
vanish when all are compelled to acknowledge its philanthropy. The sense of
interest and of duty will co-operate for its success. Africa herself will offer
resistless attractions to her long-lost children, and bring forth her treasures to
hasten their return.
And shall wo not, by an organization the most efficient, by our zeal and
activity, by the invincible energy of our purpose, and all the power of the press,
make prevalent our opinions in the mind of the country ? Let us submit our
plan to the National Congress, assured that discussion on its merits there will
prove of infinite advantage ; never despairing of aid from the power and treasuro
of the Uuion.
Let the grandeur of the enterprise impress our hearts. Great arc our allies,
Truth, Time, and all-conquering Providence. Our work is for a nation and an
age; its results will be fe! t by nations in two hemispheres for ever. The wisdom
of antiquity was wont to decree the highest honours to the founders of states ;
and when, through the energy of our free-coloured population, and the agency
of this society, a constellation of Christian states shall adorn tho whole extended
coast of Africa, the historian will recur to the evidence of a prophetic sagacity
in the lofty sentiments expressed by the late General Harper at the very dawn
of this enterprise :— " How vast and sublime a career does this undertaking
open to a generous ambition, aspiring to deathless fame by great and useful
actions ! Who can count the millions that, in future times, shall bless the
names of those by whom this magnificent scheme of beneficence and philan
thropy has been conceived, and shall be carried into execution ? Throughout
the widely.ex tended regions of middle and southern Africa, then filled with
populous and polished nations, their memories shall be cherished, and their
praises sung, when other states, and even the flourishing and vigorous nation
to which they belong, now, in its flower of youth, shall have run their round of
rise, grandeur, and decay, and like the founders of Polmyra, Tyre, Babylon,
Memphis, and Thebes, shall no longer be known, except by vague reports of
their former gieatness, or by some fragments of their works of art, the monu-

46
ments of their taste, their power, or their pride, which they may have left
behind." '
Then will bo discerned the propriety, the inimitable beauty with which that
greatest man of all men, (Lord Bacon,) he whose spirit still rules in the king
dom of philosophy, recommends to the English monarch the colonization of
Ireland. Of several considerations, he says :— " The first of the four is honour,
whereof I have spoken enough already, were it not that tho harp of Ireland
puts mo in mind of that glorious emblem or allegory, wherein tho wisdom of
antiquity did figure and shadow out works of this nature. For the poets feigned
that Orpheus, by tho virtue and sweetness of his harp, did call and assemble tho
beasts and birds, of their nature wild and savage, to stand around him, as in a
theatre; forgetting their affections of fierceness, of lust, and of prey, and lis
tening to the tunes and harmonics of the harp, and soon after called likewise
the stones and woods to remove and stand in order about him : which fable was
anciently interpreted of the reducing and plantation of kingdoms; when people
of barbarous manners are brought lo give over and discontinue their customs of
revenge, and blood, and of dissolute life, and of theft and rapine, and to givo
car to the wisdom of laws and governments ; whereupon immediately followcth
the calling of stones for building and habitation; and of trees for the seats of
houses, orchards and enclosures, and tho like. This work, therefore, of all
other most memorable and honourable, your Majesty hath now in hand ; especi
ally if your Majesty join tho harp of David, in casting out tho evil spirit of
superstition, with the harp of Orpheus, in casting out desolation and bar
barism." Gentlemen of tho Pennsylvania Colonization Society : —
Very impcrfcctlv, I am sensible, havo I performed the task assigned mo.
For a patient kindness of attention you and this audienco have my heartfelt
thanks. I have sought to show that the American Colonization Society arose from the
united wisdom and benevolence of the country, and that it rests on enlarged
humanity to the coloured race. Slavery is left by the federal constitution under
the exclusive control of the states in which it exists. The citizens of these states
will unite with those of the north in a plan of good for this race, limited in its
direct action, by the terms of its constitution lo the free ; and in thus uniting,
they do it from avowed benevolence to tho free people of colour, to tho slaves,
ana to the millions of Africa cast down in shame and darkness, vice and ruin,
far worse than they. They deem that duty, solemn as the fate of two nations,
and two continents, for all coming time, urges tho execution of a plan which
will place our free coloured people, with their own consent, where they may
not only bear the name, but feel the power of freedom, and national and inde
pendent, command respect, and redeem their race. With their aid and blessing
a few magnanimous and heroic spirits of this oppressed and dishonoured people
have gone back from exile, and by tho might of His outstretched arm, who de
molishes or builds up empires, founded the free Christian commonwealth of
Liberia. Higher motives, a kindling spirit and the senso of grandeur, have
made them men. They are struck down by no superior power. Not that
celestial fire in which the goddess-mother of Achilles bathed her son tc render
him immortal, has touched their souls, but that diviner flame, shed upon tho
first Christian church, enduing it with the richest gifts, and consecrating it to
the noblest service of humanity. It is a truth for history. Those who directed
its first movements, most of its guides and governors havft been men of God.
Scarce more signally was the great Jewish lawgiver chosen to found that com
monwealth, in which shone the visible glory of the Most High, than was Ashmun
to guide this colony in its first hours of peril, and stamp it with honour.
Beneath that soil, in hope of resurrection to » nobler life, sleep the precku3
remains of Bacon, Andrews, Carey, Cox, and others, who, in their sublime en
deavours to save souls, lived but to see the day dawning on Africa, and the day-
star rising in her heart. Twelve hundred slaves or more, casting away their
chains at the bidding of their masters stand there erect, to share, in equal
measure with the freest, all that gives worth to society, or value and dignity to
life. Towns, villages, schoolhouses, churches, for three hundred miles, throw a
smile of beauty on the barbarous features of that continent. Broken open are

47
the huge doors of that vast prison-house— one quarter of the world— where
iron-hearted despotism and the accursed slave-trade have poured trembling into
millions of hearts, shorn humanity of all its honours, "stirred the worst passions
of the human soul, darkening the spirit of revenge, sharpening the greediness of
avarice, brutalizing the selfish, envenoming the cruel, famishing the weak, and
crushing lo death the broken-hearted." * And must all our pity fall upon two
millions of slaves in a humane and Christian country ? Have wo not a drop to
spare for their more numerous, more afflicted brethren in their mother-land ; a
country struggling, like the fabled giants, beneath mountains of calamity, and
consumed by volcanic fires. I am silent. 1 see on that distant shore an august
form ; his step is stately ; his eye flashes indignation ; strength is in his arm ;
power on his brow. His shadow once made Burns exclaim : —
"Had I astatue been of stane, his darin'look had daunted me,
And on his bonnet graved was plain, the sacred posy, Liberty,
And from his harp sic strains did flow,
Might rouse the slumbering dead to hear."
His harp is thrown aside for the trumpet ; its tones ring out over land and sea ;
ho has struck the Devourer of millions ; shall ho not give Ihe death-blow to tho
monster, that his dragon-wing of darkness may droop in death for ever ? And
by his side is sweet Pity, beautiful as an angel, her eyes glowing oven through
tears with a Divine compassion, and in tones more touching than thoso of tho
modest charming bird who greets with hymn enchanting the evening star, sho
speaks to those who best reniesent her iu this audience.
"The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It dropneth like the gentle ram from heaven
Upon the place beneath : It is twice blessed ;
It blesseth him that gives, and him who takes."
And awful Justice is there, frowning upon our apathy, and pointing to the om
nipotent and unerring tribunal before which wo must all shortly stand ; and
Ecligion ! meekness and majesty in his countenance, stretching out his hand,
with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, to that scarred, wo-clad, chain-
bound, heart-stricken mother of enslaved millions. Speak to us, thou most
wretched ! She is dumb with agony. Not like Bachel or Niobe,
"Childless, but crovinless in her voueless wo/'
Her tears fall more for the living than the dead. See through her filtered garment
her fresh bleeding Btripes. The iron enters her soul. Can you look upon hej*
and not weep 1 Oh, Africa 1 if X forget thee, (here, in the presence of Almighty
God, will not each of you unite -with me in saying,) oh, Africa, " if i forget
thee, let this right hand forget her cunning ; if 1 do not remember thee, let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." • Judge Story,

CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN SIR THOMAS F. BUXTON, BART., AND MR. GURLEY,
THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION
SOCIETY.
[First published in the Morning Post, Dec. 2G, 1840.]

(No. 1.) London, Sept. 3, 1840.
Sir, — Since I had the honour of a personal interview, and submitted to your
consideration the objects of my mission, ns a representative of llio American
Colonization Society, to the friends of African civilization, and of tho African
race, in Great Britain (among whom you, Sir, are eminently distinguished), I
have become more deeply, if possible, than ever impressed with the importanco
of a union (in sentiment at least) of the English and American mind, for the
accomplishment of the vast and truly philanthropic scheme so ably developed in
your recent work on the slave-trade, and its remedy.
My great respect for your understanding, and perfect confidence in your can
dour and benevolence, are all the apology I need offer for asking you, very
respectfully, to consider how numerous and powerful must bo the advantages
which will be secured to tho African Civilization Society, in this country, should
ils course be such as to command the regard and confidence of the great majo
rity of the Americans, and especially of the wiso and good men in tho southern
States, upon whom mainly depends the improvement of the people of colour in
those States, and who possess such ample means of co-operation, through tho
agency of these people, for the moral and intellectual renovation of Africa.
You may, Sir, I think, rest assured that in the opinions of the best men in all
the southern (or slave-holding) Slates of the American Union, in the undivided
judgment of the south, so far as that judgment inclines to the elevation and free
dom of the coloured race, and in the general opinion of the north, tho plan and
policy of the American Colonization Society are deemed, for the present, as the
chief plan and policy, most benevolent towards the coloured race, tending to
more good in all directions than any other for the same end which have arisen
in the United States;
That all those in the south who desire the ultimate freedom of the slaves are
the friends of the American Colonization Society, and those who desire to per
petuate slavery are its opponents;
That the principal hope cherished in America of the abolition of African
slavery in the United States arises from tho opening prospects of civilization in
Africa, and the establishment on her shore of communities or states of coloured
emigrants, free, self-governed (or training to become such), and Christian ;
That as the prospect of an inviting home in Africa for the coloured popula
tion of the United States appears more or less encouraging, the spirit of eman
cipation rises or declines ;
That whatever may be the effect of time, of reason, of reflection, of the noble
' experiment of West-India emancipation on the governing mind of the southern
States, any interference at present of societies exclusively northern or foreign in
their organization, in the spirit of reproach or denunciation, to abolish slavery,
but exasperates, and tends to array in hostility the northern and southern sec
tions of our Union against each other, and to destroy all bonds of confidence and
sympathy between the master ani the slave ;
That the vast scheme for Africa which you propose is approved by the Ame-
I rican Colonization Society, is deemed very similar to their own, and, if wisely
1 and vigorously prosecuted, must secure the freedom and happiness of the negro
race in Africa, and, by means the most unexceptionable, I trust also throughout
ihe world ;
That there exist in the United States some means for the advancement of this

49
scheme to bo found nowhere else; and should bonds of sympathy he created
between the citizens of that country and the society of which you, Sir, may be
regarded as the founder, a great gain would (at least so it appears to me) be
secured to the cause of humonily. At alt events, may wc not hope that in
Africa, as wc have a common object, there may be mutual kindness and co-ope
ration ?
This can require no abandonment of principle on either side. You have well
said, "The field there i« wide enough for the exertions of all, without jealousy
or collision."
All the experience of the Colonization Society will bo cheerfully placed at
your disposal.
Before I have the honour of an introduction to your general committee I
wish to be favoured, if agreeable, with another personal interview with yourself.
There are ninny points relating to the state of public sentiment in America, on
the subject of slavery ur-.d the inflticn- • of the Colonization Society, which I
should bo hippy in conversation lo h.r.o the honour to explain, and tho mora
so ai I an; informed that much excitement h;u beer, produced in my own coun
try by the procr .-dings of th-.; rcc ut anti-sl-ivory convention in this city. It will
afford me gr.- at plr.^nrn if I can in any way, while in England, promote the
intercuts of the African Civilization Society. I think the objections urged from
rations quarters ngninst it have little force, tt is a great and noble scheme you
haTe proposed for the deliverance nnd happiness of millions. May your inva
luable life be long spared (o promote it.
I have the honour to be, Sir, most respectfully your obediont servant,
Sir T. F. Buxton, Bart. It. R. GURLEY.
(No. 2.)
FIIOM SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, BAnT., TO THE IlEV. n. n. GUttLEY,
SECRETARY TO THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
Sir, — It is with real reluctance that I address you upon tho subject of those
plans for the African race which you so ably and (I doubt not from a con
viction of their excellence) so zealously advocate, but on which I find myself
compelled to differ from you. Some observations which have appeared in cer
tain lale American publications, as well as your letter of the 5th of September,
seem to leave me no plea for silence, since it would be unfaithful to my views
of truth, and unfair to you, were I to withhold a renewed expression of my
sentiments with regard to the American Colonization Society.
Before I enter upon it, however, let me thank you for the very friendly men
tion (far too flattering indeed) which you have made of me personally; and
let me again assure you that the difference of our opinions cannot alter my
estimate of the sincerity of your desires for the good of Africa.
My opinion of the tendency of the American Colonization Society was, as
you ure aware, publicly given some years ago. My attention at that time was
wholly directed to the question of existing negro-slavery. The principles of
emancipation were then progressing in our land, they were dawning in yours,
and, believing the Colonization Society to be practically, if not theoretically,
an impediment to them, I joined with some of the most tried and experienced
English abolitionists in expressing my dissent. Since then the question of
negro-slavery having been, in our case, happily disposed of, my attention has
been specially directed to the slave-trade. A more close and accurate study
has altered, or perhaps I should say enlarged, my opinions upon it, and upon
the methods to be employed for its eradication. 1 can no longer believe in the
efficacy of external force — I can no longer rest contented to abide tho slow pro
gression of the principles of justice throughout the world. Persuaded as I am
that tho slave-trade is as great a loss of wealth to the African, as it is a present
gain to the European, I now think that the opening of the eyes of the former to
the true economies of the case, offers a powerful means of abolishing the
traffic ; and, while I would most joyfully aid in any method of checking the
demand, and would also for a time continue our measures of compulsion, I
would lay by far the greatest stress on all those efforts which may tend to
enlighten and civilize the African mind.
These views have been represented as coming round to, and uniting with,
those of the American Colonization Society, and a misapprehension, I per
il

50
ceive, exists in the minds of some of your countrymen with regard lo our
Civilization Society, even in denominating it a Colonization Society. This is a
serious mistake. It is in spirit, as in name, a society, not for the colonization,
but for the civilization of Africa. Our object is to civilize, not to colonize ; not
to make ourselves masters of the resources of that continent, but to teach ils
natives their use and value; not to procure an outlet for any portion of our sur
plus population, but to show to Africa the folly ns well as tho crime of exporting
her own children. It is true, I may be desirous that wc should form settle
ments, and even that we should obtain the right of jurisdiction in certain dis
tricts, because we could not otherwise secure a fair trial or full scopo for our
normal schools, our model farms, and our various projects to awaken the minds
of the natives, to prove to thein tho importance of agriculture, and to excite
the spirit of commerce. But beyond the attainment of this object, I have no
ulterior views ; it is no part of my plan to extend tho British empire, or to
encourage emigration to Africa, excepting so far as may be requisite for llio
benefit of that country.
This is the distinct character and object of our society. Your objects, as I
understand them, profess to be, primarily, to abolish slavery in tho United
States, by gradually moving your whole black population to Africa;* and,
secondly, to benefit Africa, and check tho slave-trade, by establishing colonics
of emancipated negroes along her coasts.
Our professed objects, therefore, though akin, are not the same ; tho field of
your operation is primarily America, that of ours Africa. But you will say
. that, since your society collaterally aims at the same end as ours, we ought to
give yours that support of name and influence to which you are pleased lo
attach some importance. Wo cannot do this ; and I will in a candid and
friendly spirit slate to you tho reasons. But I must premise that I am not pre
pared to say that Liberia, constituted as it is, may not have been the means of
spreading civilization, and thereby diminishing the slave-trade, in Africa ; and
so far as the colony has this effect, it has my good wishes that it may continue,
to prosper. But even as regards Africa there is a wide difference in our
views. We wish to send to Africa but few persons, and these in the character
of teachers. Wc wish them to be diffused as a leaven amongst her people, not
to form colonies for their own advantage. It is my anxious wish to send to
Africa none but those who are actuated by an ardent desire for her improvement,
and on whose moral and religious principles wc can rely.
The purpose of your association is to collect coloured people for emigration
to Africa, without, if I mistake not, insisting on any very special regard
to character or ability. When, however, wo come to the American pnrt of tho
question, I fear we shall be found to differ much more widely. There is no
thing m your institution, abstractedly considered, to which I can object. If tha
free coloured people desi.-e to emigrate from their native soil, and to settle else
where, I can see no reason why you should not form a society to aid them
in so doing; and further, if they be ignorant of the benefit of such emigration,
1 can see no objection to your enlightening them as to its advantages. If con
fined to such aid and persuasion, your society would at least bo harmless, and
probably beneficial. My objection, then, lies not so much against the princi
ples of the Colonization Society, as set forth by the letter of its constitution, as
against those which I find promulgated in the speeches and writings of its advo
cates, and against what I believe to be the practical tendency of tho institution
itself. I hardly need tell you that I am, in tho fullest sense of the term, an
"immediate abolitionist," that I conscientiously believe that man can have no
right to property in man, and that the restoration to freedom can in every coun
try be effected without permanent injury to cither party, and greatly to the
eventual benefit of both master and slave. With this confession of my faith on
this subject, how can I bo expected to unite with a society which, by the mouth
of its best advocates, and in almost all its public declarations, if it docs not
justify, yet pallialcs the iniquity of slavery ? which, allowing the system to bo
an evil, soothes the conscience of tho slaveowner by maintaining it to be a nc-
• The seoond article of the society's constitution declares, that "The object to which atten
tion is to be exclusively directed is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their
own consent) the free people of colour residing In our country, in Africa, or such other place
as Congress sball deem most expedient.'*

51
ccssary evil, obsttncts the efforts of tho abolitionists by declaring immediato
abolition to be impossible, which diverts attention from the great principles of
truth on tho subject, mid, by holding out a hopo of emancipation, which' loo
obviously will take centuries to realise, tends practically to rivet tho fetters of
the Blavo ? Further, I am of opinion that the strong lino of demarcation at
tempted to be drawn between white and black isuhjust, and not accordant with
the Apostle's declaration that God "hath made of one blood all nations of
men." How can I then support a society which acknowledges, excuses, and
fosters this spirit of caste ?
Again, I apprehend that your society, though doubtless unintentionally on the
part of many of its members, has practically proved an instrument of oppres
sion to the free blacks in your land. In order to induce them to emigrate,
various methods, more or less coercive, are resorted lo. You have had every
opportunity of displaying to them the advantages of the plan, yet throughout tho
Union they refuse to embrace it, or do so with extreme reluctance ; they per
sist in regarding Liberia rather as a place of cxilo than a desired home, and
prefer their claim to live as free citizens in America. But I have still another
objection. Were the free people of colour even indifferent, and as willing to go
as to stay, I question whether, regarding the interest of tho slave, it is a justifi
able measure to remove them. Those who have escaped from bondage ought
to be the natural protectors of those of their colour who still remain in slavery,
and, I think, it is hard to press a plan to withdraw from those who have so few
friends their natural allies and ablest champions. Tho arguments employed lor
your scheme arc, in themsel. -os, 1 must own, repulsive to mo. Your language
is, "Be abolition a duty or not, the slave States will not abolish slavery— cease,
then, your struggle for tho slave; employ your benevolence for tho free.
Whether the feeling against the coloured man bo a projudico or not, it is insur
mountable. Assist, therefore, to remove him to another country."
I grant that slavery and prejudice are now triumphant ; but I deny that they
will always remain so. It is my conviction that "Truth, by ils own sinews,
will prevail," and that its being borne down for the present is no argument why
the efforts of its champions should be relaxed ; but, on the contrary, the strong
est argument why they should be redoubled. I cannot take lower ground than
this, and therefore it is that I cannot join in the Colonization Society. Still, in
making this declaration, I desire to abstain from any harsh, or even uncour-
leous expressions towards an institution which, though, as I think, adopting a
mistaken line, avows its aim to be the alleviation of human suffering.
I can also feel for the slaveowner, and make allowance for the toils cast
around him by habit, education, and circumstances ; but I must reiterate my
firm opinion that, for nations as for individuals, the path of justice is the path of
policy. I am persuaded, therefore, that the line of expediency adopted by tho
Colonization Society, though it may now appear to he the easiest, will not in
the end be found either so safe or so short a way out of the difficulties of the
case as the direct road of strict equity.
And here, Sir, allow me lo express my hope that, since you possess unusual
opportunities of conveying information to your fellow-countrymen, having the
ear of the south as well as of the north, you maybe disposed lo acquaint your
self very accurately with the results of our experiment of emancipation for their
benefit. You are, I am persuaded, no advocate for the vested right of man in
the blood and sinews of his fellow man. You have repeatedly acknowledged
that you are adverse to immediate abolition, only because you fear it would be a
source of anarchy, and would entail misery on the negro himself, not because it
might, for a time, involve a pecuniary loss to the master. Let me, then, entreat
you to look at the actual condition of our West-India Islands. There you will
find the utmost social order and political tranquillity, and a peasantry as peace
able, and probably as moral, as any in the world. When you shall have con
vinced yourself of these facts, I do you the justice to believe no arguments of
mine will be needed to induce you to employ your talents and influence in
bringing them home to the minds of your countrymen.
Before I conclude, lot me express my cordial concurrence in the hope " that
in Africa," a3 we have similar, though not identical, objects, " there will be
mutual kindness and co-operation ;" and let me assure you that I do not, by.
any means, underrate the aid of the American public. I still look for the as.
e2

52
Bislanco of all foes lo the slave-trade, however we may differ in our views on
jmy other points. Accept my thanks for the liberal manner in which you have
imparted the results of your experience in Africa, and believe me, with sincere
aspect, Yours faithfully,
Northrepps Hall, near Aylsham, (Signed) T. FOWELL BUXTON.
Oct. 9, 1840. (No. 3.) London, Nov. 7, 1840.
Sir, — Having been absent for several weeks from London, I havo had the
honour but recently of receiving your letter of (he 9lh of last month. The spirit of
candour and liberality which pervades this communication is worthy of your
high character, and will be justly appreciated by the members and friends of the
American Colonization Society.
It is hardly necessary for me to repeat that I approve of the scheme of tho
African Civilization Society, as developed in your recent able work, and deem
it in its main features, so far as it relates to Africa, the same, or nearly so, with
that of the American Colonization Society. It is truo you draw some distinc
tions between these institutions in reference to their designs and operations in
Africa. These dictinctions may, if I correctly apprehend your language, be re
duced to two — first, that the Civilization Society proposes no settlements as a
home or asylum for a surplus population, but such only as may be required for
the benefit of Africa ; and, second, that it is her anxious desire lo send out such
only as aie actuated by an ardent purpose for her improvement, while the Colo
nization Society would found settlements that may prove inviting asylums to the
coloured population of the United States; and in the next place, that this so
ciety insists on no very special regard to the character and ability of its emi
grants. In respect to Africa, you admit their objects are nearly, if not entirely,
the same — the suppression of the slave-trade and her civilization. Iu the chosen
agents for effecting these objects, free men of colour, they agree. In the
establishment of schools, and model farms, and legitimate commerce with the
native tribes, and negotiations and treaties fox the abolition of the traffic in
slaves, they agree; and I ain happy to know that "you may be desirous tint
we (the Civilization Society), should form settlements, and even obtain the
right and jurisdiction in certain districts, becuase we couid not otherwise secure
a fair trial or full scope for our normal schools, our model farms, and our various
projects to awaken the minds of the natives, to prove to them the importance of
agriculture and to excite the spirit of commerce."
Several distinguished friends of the African Civilization Society have recently
given their thoughts upon it to the public. Of course neither you, Sir, nor the
society over which you with such ability preside, are to beheld responsible for
their sentiments. Yet it is worthy of observation that both Mr. Jeremio and
Sir G. Stephen regard the plan of your society as one of colonization. It is
true Mr. Jeremie condemns the American Colonization Society ; yet the
Eclectic Review, after quoting the severe but unjust remarks of this gentleman
on that society, adds, " Now, agreeing as we do in all that is here said, we think
Mr. Jeremie leaves the case just where Mr. Gurley has put it, namely, that, in
so far as they regard Africa, the two systems (the civilization and colonization)
are one, so much so that they would be wholly one if America would let her two
millions go free." Sir George Stephen expresses himself boldly and strongly on
this point — "If we found settlements in Africa, colonization must follow;
wherever the British flag is raised, thousands and tens cf thousands will seek
protection under it; it is sheer hypocrisy to pretend that this is not the conse
quence of our civilization plan, if fairly carried out ; and therefore I do most
deeply regret the postponement of a legislative or, at least, an official declaration
of the principles on which the civil government of all British possessions in
Africa will hereafter be conducted," &c.
Whether the settlements proposed be more or less extended, I must be per
mitted to express my entire conviction that their benefit to Africa will greatly
depend upon their organization into communities, with laws and government
founded upon their choice or consent, and mostly administered ty themselves,
and so far as the cstablisjuaent of such communities or colonies is not contem-

plated by the Civilization Society, I must regard ils scheme as defective. Your
own idea of forming settlements, and acquiring jurisdiction over certain districts
of country, settlements composed principally ol' free persons of colour, perma
nent it is to be presumed, includes, it would seem to me, the main elements and
principles developed in tho colonization of Liberia, unless all political power is
to be withheld from these settlements, which would be very detrimental to their
influence and prosperity. Models of good political and social institutions arc of
infinite importance to Africa; nor could you if you would, nor would you if you
could, limit the emigration of enterprising coloured men to those settlements,
allured thither by prospects of profitable agriculture, of gainful and lawful
trade, of honourable distinctions or of extended usefulness. And surely, whilo
the civilization of Africa affords the strongest motive lo your society, I see not
why a due measure of regard should not be extended to those who devote them
selves as permanent settlers on her soil, and from whom, as from small and
weak beginnings, may arise the power and grandeur of slates and empires.
But your society would send out such persons only as are actuatod by an
ardent desire for the improvement of Africa, and the Colonization Society
shows no special regard to the character and ability of its emigrants. To say
nothing here of the extreme difficulty of planting settlements with sufficient
numbers by persons animated exclusively by the high motives of religion, or of
the question whether feeble communities of this character will prove of the same
benefit to Africa as larger ones of a less pure and unmixed description, you
may rest assured that the Colonization Society has not been regardless of tho
moral character of its emigrants ; that the decidedly incapable and vicious are,
when known to be such, excluded from its aid; and that from the first the di
rectors have sought to impress the minds of those about to embark for Liberia
with the greatness of their responsibilities to their posterity, their race, and their
God, and to provide the best means for their intellectual and moral improvement,
and for the education of their children ; to animate them with the spirit of in
dustry, enterprise, sobriety, and liberty ; and, in fine, to make them realise that to
no people has Heaven ever entrusted interests more precious than to them, in
asmuch as an almost boundless territory and millions of barbarians may by their
influence be reclaimed, and a free state and commonwealth of Christians tower
above the frowning wildernesses and more horrible superstitions of Africa. And
what is the actual condition, what the moral influence, of that colony ? And
here it may be pertinent to allude to the sentiments cherished by the citizens of
Liberia towards the American Colonization Society. On the 29th of Septem
ber, 1836, in pursuance of public notice, the citizens of Moorovia (the principal
town of the colony) assembled to express their opinions of the scheme of colo
nization. The following among other resolutions were adopted : —
On motion of Mr. H. Teage : —
" Resolved — That this meeting regard the Colonizing Institution as one of the
highest, holiest, and mostbencvolcntentcrpriscs of the present day ; that as a plan
for the amelioration of the coloured race il takes the precedence of all that have
been presented to the attention of tho modem world ; that in its operations it is
peaceful and safe— in its tendencies beneficial and advantageous; that it is en
titled to the highest veneration and unbounded confidence of every man of
colour ; and that what it has already accomplished demands our devout thanks
to those noble and disinterested philanthropists that compose it, as being, under
God, the greatest earthly benefactors of a despised and depressed portion of the
human family.
"Whereas it has been widely and maliciously circulated in the United Stales
of America that the inhabitants of this colony are unhappy in their situation,
and anxious to return."
On motion of the Rev. B. R. Wilson :—
" Resolved  That this report is false and malicious, and originated only in a
desire to injure the colony, by calling off the support and sympathy of its friends ;
that, so far from a desire to return, we would regard such an event as the
greatest calamity that could befall us."
• On motion of the Rev. Amos Herring : —
: "Resolved  That this meeting entertains the deepest gratitude to the mem
bers of the Colonization Society for the organization and continuance of an en
terprise so noble and praiseworthy as that of restoring to the blessings of liberty

54
hundreds and thousands of the sorc-opprcsscd and long-ncglectcd sons of Africa ;
that wc bclicvo it the only institution that can, under existing circumstances,
succeed in elevating the coloured population ; and that advancement in agri
culture, mcchnnism, and science will enable us speedily to aspire to a rank
with Hie other nations of the earth."
That the emigrants have been judiciously selected, or, if not, have been placed
in circumstances to acquire tho dispositions and abilities for the successful dis
charge of their duties, must be clear, if they prosper and exert, an extensive in
fluence for the suppression of the slave-trade and the civilization of Africa. As a
body, they have indeed been chosen with some care, and their now circum
stances have powerfully contributed to improve and elevate their character.
The testimony I adduce concerning both is of recent date, and from entirely
authentic sources. The present Governor, Mr. Buchanan, »a gentleman per
sonally known to mo, and of ihe highest integrity, in a letter, dated the present
year, to that eminent philanthropist, Dr. Thomas Hodgkm, observes, " It has
teen said, both in America and England, that the colonists were not unfavour
able to the slave-trade, and, in proof of it, some isolated far t, such a?, I havo
mentioned, is adduced us conclusive. The mode of proof is as unfair as tho
charge is false. The general voice of the colony has ever been loud against tho
slave-trade, nor has any individual directly participated in il. Indeed, I am
confident that the penally of the law against it, which is death, would have
been inflicted on any one who would have dared to violate, even during tho
period I have alluded to." Again, " No fact is more notorious along the coast
than tho uncompromising hostility of the colony to the slave-trade. Tliere is
ono aspect of the case of peculiar interest to the poor native, in reference to
which, if his testimony cannot be heard, his conduct may at least bo quoted.
The colony is an asylum to tho oppressed and enslaved of all the tribes around
it. Here they flee from the storms of war and the horrors of bondage in tho
full confidence of protection and safety. Tho whole history of the colony, almost
from the first day of its existence, is crowded with instances. Some of the
most interesting and memorable character have occurred during my residence
here. At one time, during the month of July last, a king, with several hundreds
of his people, the wretched remnant of a once powerful tribe, fled to us for pro
tection against a merciless foe, who had ravaged his country for the purpose of
making a whole nation slaves. Numbers were killed and many more captured,
and the fugitives were closely pursued to the very boundary of the colony, but
the moment they passed it they were safe and free. Tho enemy, though flushed
with victory, and thirsting for victims, dared not pursue them into our territory.
These and many hundreds more who have in like manner escaped from the
knife and the chain are now living on the lands of the colony in peace, secure
from all their foes." Equally decided is the testimony of Governor Buchanan
to the beneficial influence of il.c colony, in exciting desires aaionj (lie native
population for the comfort:, aud conveniences of civilized life, in arousing tl.-.ir
industry, awakening emulation, and by exhibiting the order and harmony of
well-organized society, the mildness and justice of good government, and the
blessed influences of Christianity on tho social and political relations of life,
impressing their minds with the value and dignity of knowledge, civilization, and
our holy religion. " I do not mean to say," he adds, " that there are no excep
tions to this general good influence, nor that the natives are ail at once raised to
the desired standard; far from it. There are counteracting causes found among
the colonists, and the superstition and indolence, the ignorance and degradation,
of the natives are immense barriers to their improvement. But this I can say,
the adverse influences at workin the colony are weak and limited, while the good
are many and powerful ; and as to the natives, while a respectable number have
put on the garb of civilization, and are making rapid advances in the knowledge
and practice of true godliness, the mass are in the way of improvement. They
generally are anxious for schools and religious teachers, and are making com
mendable efforts in acquiring the arts of civilized life. The work is ono of
time, but it is begun, and will go on with ever-inci easing rapidity to its com
plete and glorious consummation."
Captain Stoll, of the Royal Navy, who, if I mistake not, visited the colony m
the presont year, in his letter of the 17th of July to Dr. Hodgkin, after avowing
the belief that it promises to be the only successful institution of the sort,

55
«' keeping iu view ils objects— that of raising the emancipated slavo into a freo
man, preparing him for the excrciso of civil liberty in all ils various branches,
from tho Governor to tho labourer, the extinction of llio slave-trade, and the
religious and moral improvement of Africa nt largo " — testifies to (he content
ment, industry, and generally moral and religious character of tho colonists,
their good management of public affairs, and that " no one in the remotest de
gree connected with the slave-trade is allowed ever to communicate with
Liberia." Ho speaks of missionaries as being in a course of preparation for
their work, and of the schools as creditable when tho small means of the people
are considered. "The colonists, with few exceptions," wo quote his words,
" are all members of churches, and I can safely testify that a moro orderly,
sober set of people I never met with. I did not hear an impropor or a profane
expression during my visit. Spirits are excluded in most, if not all, the settle
ments. They have formed themselves into various societies, such as agricul»
tural, botanical, mechanical, for promoting Christian knowledge ; also a ladies'
society for clothing the poor," Ac. Finally, ho' concludes with this remark —
" I went there unbiassed, and left it with a conviction that colonics on tho prin
ciple of Liberia ought to be established as soon as possible, if wc wish to servo
Allien." But allow me to add a few facts, gathered from tho recent report of
llio New York Colonization Society and from late numbers of Tho . If riant
Ilcpository. Hundreds of native Alricans, some recaptured by tho authorities
of tho United States, when about to be consigned to perpetual slavery, and
placed in Liberia by the humanity of tho American Government, otlu rti rescued
from slave factories by the colonists themselves, are now industrious citizens on
its soil, capable of managing their own affairs, and enjoying the benefits of edu
cation and the light of Christianity. More than thirty kings and headmen have,
by treaty with the colonial Government, renounced the slave-trade. Several
tribes have placed themselves under the protection of the colony, and look for
redress of their grievances to its laws and tribunals. Some of tho chiefs, who
have abandoned the slave-trade, are turning increased attention to the cultiva
tion of the soil : new seeds, plants, fruits, and agricultural implements have been.
introduced, their young men are taught the mechanic arts, and the whole people
are stimulated by powerful motives of example and interest to improvement.
And must not reflection on these statements — in connexion with the fact that,
under the shield and through the gates of this colony, introduction has been
given to about sixty missionaries (including ordained ministers and teachers)
into this region of Africa, where, before its origin, not one was to tc found ; that
several seminaries for education in letters and the mechanical arts have been
founded, native languages reduced to writing, hooks and tracts in those lan
guages issued from the press, and that at a single station are fifty-nine hopeful
African converts to the faith of Christ — prompt every disciple of the Saviour to
acknowledge that a good Providence has guarded there tho dawning light from
extinction, and made Liberia, even in its early growth, fruitful in blessings r
Sir, many of the founders of this colony, iu faith, hope, charity, and patience, havo
laboured and died ; but they have left a monument to their praise on that shore
indestructible. We see in Liberia a well-modelled, well-proportioned republic
of coloured men; a miniature republic, it is true, but destined, we may trust, to
a rapid growth, adorned not only by the abodes of civilized men, but by tho
villages, schools, churches, legislative halls, judicial tribunals, all the social and
political institutions of a free and Christian people, kindling to enthusiasm by
the spirit of liberty, and aspiring to extend far over Africa the wisdom and
beneficence of their manners and laws. Under their protection the missionaries
of many communions are assembling to devise and execute plans for the rege
neration of Africa. Superstition retreats before them ; and her victims, de
jected, in iron bound, and shorn of honour, come forth from clay-built huts,
from forests, dens, and mountain caves, to hear those Divine words of mercy
which shall turn them from darkness lo light, and from the power of Satan unto
God. But I may havo occupied too much space on this part of the subject. You
seem disposed to admit that Liberia has been the means of spreading civiliza
tion, and thereby diminishing tho slave trade, and to cherish wishes for its pros
perity • yet, in regard to what you term the " American part of tho question,"
you imVine, Sir, a wide, if not an irreconcilable, difference between us\ I am

56
happy lo observe, however, that to the Colonization Society in ilsclf, or as ils
purpose nnd policy are developed in its constitution, you have no objection,
"There is nothing," you remark, "in your institution, abstractedly considered,
to which I can object. If the free coloured people desire lo emigrate from their
native soil, and to settle elsewhcro, I can sec no reason why you should not form
a society lo aid them in so doing ; and, further, if Ihcy be ignorant of the benefit
of such emigration, I can see no objection to your enlightening them as to its
advantages." " If confined to such aid and pursuasion your society would at least be harm
less, and probably beneficial."
Some surprise, I confess, I have felt at these admissions, since in referring to
the scheme of the society, as set forth in the second article of its constitution,
which declares that " the object to which its attention is to be exclusively direct
ed is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing, with thciv own conr-cnl, the
free people of colour residing in our country in Africa, or mich other place as)
Congress shall deem expedient," you interpret this jbject t-'- be, primarily, lo
abolish slavery in the United Stales, by gradually moving your whoio black
population to Africa ; and secondarily, lo benefit Africa and check the slave-
trade, by establishing colonies of emancipated negroes along her coast ; and
declare your objection to its practical tendency, among other reasons, " becauso
it directs attention from tho great principles of truth and justice on the subject,
and, by holding out a hope of emancipation, which loo obviously will take cen
turies to realize, tends practically to rivet the fetters of the slave ;" and, further,
because, "were the free people of colour even indifferent, and as willing to go
as to stay, you question whether, regarding the interests of the slaves, it is a
justifiable measure to induce them to remove." " Those," you add, " who havo
escaped from bondage ought to be tho natural allies and protectors of those of
their colour who remain in slavery, and I think it hard to press a plan to with
draw from thoso who have so few friends their natural allies and ablest
protectors." If the very scheme of the society be a delusion, tending to rivet the fellers of
bondage — if to present as reasons for emigration to the free people of colour tho
advantages of this scheme, to themselves, and through them to their wholo race,
by the civilization of Africa (for in no other way has the plan been pressed upon
them), be unjustifiable, considering their relations and duties to the slaves, I
see not how the society might, upon any hypothesis, " be harmless, and proba
bly beneficial." Yet, with my own convictions that to encourage manumission
by colonization is among the most effectual means at present of promoting
general emancipation, and that the establishment, by our free people of colour,
of civilized and Christian institutions in Africa, and the exaltation of their own
character by so great a work, will most effectually contribute to the interests
and ultimate freedom of the slaves, I should, even had I adopted the principles
of immediate abolition, sustain the Colonization Society.
I am persuaded that the American Colonization Society (whether the doctrine
of immediate abolition as a universal doctrine be true or faise. and r.s sucii a
doclrine, unless confined simply to the mental renunciation of a richl to regard
man as mere property, and the recognition of his right to < .jual tencyohnce
with other human beings, it appears demonstrably false), with all the errors
which may exist among it3 individual members, has adopted, and is executing
a policy more conducive than any other which can at present be adopted by any
organized society in the United States/or the benefit of the coloured race.
On the whole subject of American slavery and the American Colonization
Society the darkest errors and misrepresentations, you will permit me to say,
prevail extensively in England.
"I am persuaded, therefore," you remark, "that the line of expediency
adopted by the Colonization Society, though it may now appear to be the easiest
will not in the end be found cither so safe or so short a way out of tho difficul
ties of the case as the direct road of strict equity." But if Christianity enjoins
the doctrine of expediency as, in many cases, the only rule of strict equity — if
the Civilization Society think it right, because expedient, rather to attack ihe
slave-trade in Africa than devote all their resources and energies to secure the
triumph of the principles of justice throughout the world— the Colonization

57
Society may plead in its defence tho aulhority of the Civilization Society and
of the Divine word."
The golden rule of our Saviour, justly pronounced by Lord Bacon the perfec
tion of the law of nature and nations, holds authority over man in all conditions,
relations, and times, yet ;n most cases the reason and conscience of the indivi
dual or society must, under responsibilities to the lawgiver, decide upon the
particular mode of obedience. Ihe existence of the obligation of reciprocal
benevolence, imposed by this law, between man and man, in all possible circum
stances — a benevolence constant and enlarged as self-love — is to be recognized,
yet the modes of expression or conduct thereby required vary endlessly ns the
relations and circumstances of human beings. This obligation is the sole foun
dation of human rights, and, except where human actions arc defined and re
strained by less general and more specific precepts, involves the whole doctrine
of Christian discretion, as inculcated by the Saviour, and exemplified in the
practice of his apostles.
"Nothing," says the great Edwards, "can be more evident from the New
Testament (alluding to the introduction of thingsnew and strange into ihe Church)
than that such things ought to be done with groat caution and moderation, to
avoid the offence that may thereby be given, and the prejudice that might be
raised to clog and hinder the progress of religion ; and the apostles avoided
teaching the Christians in those early days, at least for a great while, some high
and excellent truths, because they could not bear them yet." " And how did
Christ himself, while on earth, forbear so plainly to teach his disciples the doc
trines of Christianity concerning his satisfaction, and the particular benefit of
his death, resurrection, and ascension, because in the infant state in which (ho
disciples then were, their minds were not prepared for such instructions. ' I have
many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.' Tiiese things might
be enough to convince any one who does not think himself wiser than Christ and
his apostles, that great prudence and caution should be used in introducing
things into the church of God that are very uncommon, though in themselves
they may be very excellent, lest by our rashness and imprudent haste we hinder
religion much more than help it."
Unless in the application of the Saviour's golden rule, Christian discretion, as
here enforced by Edwards, both from Divine and apostolic example, is iu most
cases to be exercised, the language and conduct of Christ enjoining wisdom and
harmlcssness of action and accommodation, as far as consists with integrity (o
the circumstances, habits, and prejudices of mankind, seems unintelligible.
Indeed, no doctrine in moral or physical science is more entirely settled in my
own mind than that expediency, controlled and directed by the more general
law of reciprocal benevolence, as already expleined, mast be our only guide on
all questions involving the interests of the coloured and white races in America.
To deny (his doctrine, and, independent of all circumstances and consequences,
to demand immediate emancipation and social and political equality for the
black race, in compliance with the claims of what is called abstract justice, is
Jacobinism, and, the principle carried legitimately out, would subvert the
government of England and every government in Europe. " If it be contrary,"
said Mr. Calhoun recently in the Senate of the United States, "to the laws of
nature and nations for man to hold man in subjection individually, is il not
equally contrary for a body of men to hold another in subjection "! If man
individually has an absolute right to self-government, have not men aggregated
into states or nations an equal right ? If there be a difference, is not the right
the more perfect in a people or nation than in the individuals who compose it? "
Again he adds, "We behold z. small island, in the German Ocean, u-ider tho
absolute control of a few hundred thousand individuals, holding in unlimited
subjection not fewer than one hundred and fifty millions of human beings, dis
persed over every part of the globe, making not less than two hundred to ea.ch
of the dominant class; and yet that class propagating a maxim with more than
missionary zeal, that strikes at the foundation of this mighty power. I would
say to her, and to other Powers impelled by like madness, you are attempting
what will prove impossible. You cannot make a monopoly of a principle so as
to vend it for your own benefit. It will be carried out to its ultimate results,
when its re-action will be terrific on your social and political condition. Already

58
it begins to show its fruits. Tho subject mass of your population, under tho
name of Chartists, arc now clamouring for llio benefit of tho maxim as applied
to themselves. It is but tho beginning."
The great object you, Sir, will agrco to bo attained is tho freedom and happi
ness of (he coloured race.
1 regard the policy of iho Colonization Society most conducive of any, at
present, to this end —
1. Because it (ends to unite the northern and southern Stales. In the stability
and influenco of the federal union arc involved Ihe best hopes of the slaves.
That union favours the cause of liberty, and whatever would weaken it is hostile
to the cause of emancipation for the slave, and to the cause of freedom through
out tho world. To strengthen and perpetuate this union is vitally important to
the interests of all races in America, and to humanity.
2. If the doctrine of immediate and unconditional emancipation be tho truo
doctrine, the southern States are not prepared to receive it, and to press if now
upon them from abroad tends to throw them upon the alternative of no emanci
pation. The policy of tho Colonization Society has extended and deepened
convictions in tho southern mind in favour of gradual and final emancipation,
nnd is thus approaching, if it do not at once reach, the desired end. Men of
all opinions on slavery, and from all the States, exchange thoughts in a spirit of
conciliation on the subject, and, if it urges not the true doctrine, it prevents tho
adoption of one most opposite to it ; if it proposes only a palliative and not a
remedy for slavery, it is preparing the way for such a remedy.
3. Because it aims to secure for the negro race of America tho highest good
as a people to which they can aspire— a good beyond and above mere emanci
pation — an unembarrassed and advantageous position — an independent and
national existence. Were emancipation to occur in the United Slates to
morrow, the chief reasons for African colonization would continue in unimpaired
and even augmented vigour. The condition of tho black race must be for cen
turies, as has been said, like that of the germ springing from the acorn at the
foot of the parent tree, overshadowed and withered by tho power and influence
of the whites. To blend tho races were undesirable if possible, and impossible
if desirable. No law of morals binds men to such a result, nor, in the judgment
of the wisest and best people in the United States, any law of expediency. To
limit influence and exertions to such an end would be to annihilate the greatest
reason for sustaining ihe Colonization Society, namely,
In the 4th place, because it connects the moral and intellectual elevation of
the coloured population of America w'th the improvement of their race in Africa,
making them the agents of incalculable good, not to themselves and posterity
alone, but to the perishing millions of the most afflicted and barbarous quarter
of the globe.
The speeches and writings of the founders of the American Colonization So
ciety prove that it was limited in its direct benefits by the terms of its constitution
to the free, not from disregard to the welfare of the slaves, or other portions of
their race, but from a conviction that such limitation would, in ils ultimate con
sequences, be the means of amplest and richest blessings to Iho coloured popu
lation of the world. Tho late General Harper, in his letter to ihe society,
published in its first two reports, and Mr. Clay, in his early and able speeches
in its support, view the principle it developes, and the plan it has adopted,
capable of indefinite application and extension, and worthy to be prosecuted on
a large scale by the States, and with the consent of tho States interested, by the
general Government, in regard to emancipation and the restoration of those
•liberated, with their own consent, to their ancient mother-country, there to
found civilization and free government, and, by their arts, enterprise, and Chris
tianity, redeem Africa from her cruel superstitions and iron bondage, and raiso
her to life, importance, respectability, and a name among tho nations of the
" Cast your eyes," said General Harper, alluding to Africa, " on this vast con
tinent. What a field is here presented for the blessings of civilization and
Christianity, which colonies of civilized blacks afford the best and probably the
only moans of introducing I " These, composed of blacks already instructed in
the arts of. civilized life and the truths of the Gospel, judiciously placed, well
conducted, and constantly enlarged, will extcud gradually into the ulterior, will

59
form commercial and political connexions with the native tribes in their vicinity,'
will extend thoso connexions with tribes moro nnd more rcmolo, will incorporate
many of the natives with the colonics, and, in their turn, make establishments
and settlements among the natives, and thus diffuse all around the arts of civili
zation, and the benefits of literary, moral, and religious instruction." "Wo
may," said Mr. Clay, "boldly challenge the annals of human nature for tho
record of any human plan for the amelioration of the condition and advancement
of the happiness of our race, which promised more unmixed good or more com
prehensive beneficence than that of African colonization, if carried into full
execution. Its benevolent purposo is not limited to the confines of one conti
nent, nor to the prosperity of a solitary race, but embraces two of the largest
quarters of the earth, nnd tho peace and happiness of both of the descriptions
of their present inhabitants, with the countless millions of Ihoir posterity, who
are to succeed."
To the free people of colour of the United States- (now some four or five
hundred thousand), and to those who, from among tho slaves there shall bo
added to their number, must philanthropy, in my judgment, especially look, as
to the elected agents of Providence for the redemption of Africa. Onco
aroused to a sense of the grandeur of their destiny, impelled alike by interest
and duty to repossess the magnificent land from which their progenitors wcro
cruelly forced into exile, they will at no distant day return thither, bearing with
them our arts, language, and the records of a pure religion, and animated wilh
a generous enthusiasm to found upon that shore of crime and ruin free states
and the church of God. Thus they will redeem themselves and their race from
degradation and dishonour. It is by self-oxcrtion that a people, like individuals,
rise to greatness and renown.
Sir, when I consider my own country, I cannot despair of Africa. From a
system of colonization, commenced under circumstances most discouraging,
two centuries ago, at Plymouth and Jamestown, has arisen tho republic of
North America, already embracing twenty-six States and a population of nearly
twenty millions, commanding respect on every sea and in every land, rearing
the trophies of victorious enterprise, the monuments of her beneficence and
power, at the very base of the Rocky Mountains, and destined before this
generation shall have passed away, to cover their western declivities with tho
habitations of civilized men.
Let the friends of Africa in England and America, and throughout Christen
dom, unite, do justice to tJie motives of each other, and, as far as practicable,
co-operate in aiding her long-exiled children to return to her bosom, to heal her
wounds, raise her from disgrace, become the teachers of their brethren, and
avail themselves of the resources of her soil, tho commerce of her rivers, and
the treasures of her mines, and the mariner, two centuries hence, as he guides
his ship along her shore, will be cheered by the light of her cities, and every
where see the evidences and hear the sounds of a free, an enlightened, and a
happy people,
Pardon me for having extended to such a length these remarks ; I might say
much more ; I could not well forbear to say less.
I have the honour to be, Sir, with profound respect, your friend and servant,
Sir T. F. Buxton. R- R- GURLEY.

[From the Morning Post, Jan. 7, 1841-1
TO THE EDITOR OF THE LONDCN PATRIOT.
g;r  j (,hauk you for the publication of my brief letter on the Colonization
and Civilization Societies in your paper of the 10th instant. More liberal to.an
the Times which published comments on a communication it suppressed, you
have riven the text and commentary together, yet, like that, you resolve to
withhold from your readers any refutation, should such appear, of your errors
m fact and in argument. But, Sir, the Patriot and the Times together cannot
Wde t h^iKht of tVuth more than that of the sun from tho world. It wilt break
out on the subject of the Colonization Society and Liberia over this kingdom
w day upon mght, described incomparably by Shakspere, and which u strik-

60
ingly emblematic of Hie changes to be produced by colonization in the intel
lectual and moral condition of Africa :—
" When the scantling cyp of IIi>nvcn In hid
Behind the globe, nt.il light* the lower world,
Then thieves rind robbers range abroad unseen.
In murders and in onh-.iirc bloody hern ;
lint when from under this terrestrial hall
Ho tires the proud tops of the eastern pines.
And darts his light throusrh every guilty hole,
Then murders, treasons, nnd detested sins,
The cloak of night being pluek'd from nil" lliclr biuiks,
Stand bare and naked, trembling at theinsrlves."
I apprehend it may then be evident that Christian men in England hare che
rished prejudices against their American brethren quilo as inexcusable ns any
prejudice against colour — that they havo misrepresented fads and arguments
for what they deemed righteousness' sake, and bound down character and repu
tation upon the iron bed of (heir own imagined infallible opinion, to try and
torture, lo acquit or condemn, as they find the subject of their inquisition to
agree with or differ from their dogmns touching the best means of advancing
the freedom and happiness of tho coloured race. On this subject, so complex,
so vast, so difficult, it will be seen, I think, that llicir conduct is sanctioned
neither by sound philosophy nor the genius of Christianity; that they set aside
the art of persuasion, and discard alike apostolic example and express Divine
precepts. Truth forbid that I should palliate the least injustice, or shield from
deserved infamy a single moral wrong ! — that I should check the influences of
knowledge or the progress of liberty 1 that I should impede or limit the elevation
and happiness and usefulness of the coloured race I It is because I would aid,
and most rapidly and effectually promote, the emancipation and improvement
of this race throughout America and the world, that I give all possible support
to the American Colonization Society.
In the Patriot of the 3d instant, you observe, " The American Colonization
Society not only does not aim at even checking the slave-trade in Africa, but it
protects the internal slave-trade of the states, which is independent of the
import trade, and might continue to exist in all its enormity if the African
coast were studded with free-black colonies. The two societies [the Civiliza
tion and Colonization] have, as Sir Fowell Buxton shows, so little in common,
even in their ostensible object, that no greater injustice can be done to the
supporters of the one than to hold them responsible for favouring the very op..
posite designs of the other."
Sir, it would be difficult for human ingenuity to frame two sentences com
prising in the same space, more error and injustice than these. The charges
contained in them, it occurred to me, might have been inconsiderately made.
I pointed to my letters in the Morning Post of the 2d instant, as demonstrating
the falsehood of these charges, and requested you to publish them. You decline,
and give us the following paragraph : —
" Our readers will judge for themselves whether Sir Fowell Buxton is right in
thinking and saying that the proposed objects of tho two societies aro ' not the
same,' or Mr. Gurley, who maintains that they are. We wish to give no further
offence to the reverend representative of the American Society ; but wo cannot
suppress our. astonishment at his persisting in the assertion, that ' the great
object' of tho American Colonization Society is the civilization of jVfrica ! How
benevolent soever the motives of its originators, it is notorious that ils great
object was to promote ' a voluntary separation of the coloured from the white
race,' as being, 'in reason and the public judgment, desirable on general prin
ciples of benevolence.' The motive for its formation was the fact, ' that the
two hundred thousand coloured persons scattered throughout the Union, and
legally free, enjoyed few of the advantages of freedom;' coupled with the con
sideration, ' that there were powerful causes operating to frustrate all efforts to
elevate very considerably men of colour' in the United States. — (Gurley's Life
cf Ashmun, p. 111.) A society that should have been formed by the Jamaica
planters to promote the expatriation of all free persons of colour born in that
island to Sierra Leone would have presented a precise counterpart to the colo
nization scheme of the Virginian slave-holders. Mr. Gurley calls upon us to
prove that the American Colonization Society protects the internal slave-trade.
Why does he ask for proof? He knows that some leading members of the

61
American Colonization Society arc both slave-holders and slave-sellers, and
that they resist the abolition even of the Washington slnve-markct. What in
consistency is thcro in a society's affecting lo promote tho abolition of the
African slave-trade, while it puts not forth the feeblest effort— nay, does not so
much as protest against the aggravated enormity of tho homo slave-trade ?
With Liberia, again we say, wo havo nothing to do in this question, which
relates to the objects and motives of tho American colonizationists. With all
possible respect for the high character of Mr. Gurley, whom wo can readily
believe to bo sincere in his wishes to promote the intcrosls of the African race,
though too much after 'the Americau fashion, wo must assure him that, as regards
ihe society he represents, he will take nothing by his mission.— Ed."
Astonishment is often mutual. Yours at my " persisting in the assertion that
the great object of the Colonization Society is the civilization of Africa," can
not exceed mine that these scnlences aro given in justification of tho charges
made by you against the Colonization Society. How stand tho questions bo-
tween us ? ,
Your first charge was, that tho American Colonisation bocicty does not even
aim to suppress the slave-trade in Africa ; mid when I show, as I havo done
in the letters to which I have referred you, and as I might do, moro extensively
by a volume of evidence from tho early recorded publications and proceedings
of that society, that the overthrow of this traffic was a prominent object of its
founders, and has been a cherished purpose of all its friends, from its very
origin; that Liberia, planted by the society, and embodying in its laws the
views of its directors on this subject, condemns any one of its citizens, who
may engage in this trade, to the penalty of death ; that by force of arms it has
broken up many slave-factories, releasing numerous victims of this cruel com
merce from their chains, and admitting them as freemen to an asylum within
its limits; that by concurrent recent testimony from the most authentic sources,
English as well as American, tho influence of this colony is powerful and
extensive for the suppression of this traffic ; that more than thirty native chiefs
have, by treaties, consented to abolish it ; what is your reply ? " With Liberia
we have nothing to do in this question, which relates to the objects and motives
of the American colonizationists." And pray, Sir, will you be so good as to
inform me how you will ascertain tho objects and motives of American
colonizationists except by their declarations and actions ? By their consistency ?
This is indeed a jewel ; out if honesty and sincerity in any one case is to be ad
mitted only where there is consistency in every case, will you show me the
evidence that these virtues have any existence in the world ? Will you enble
me to discover them among the abolitionists of England ? The ColonUation
Society declares that one of its chief objects is to suppress the African slave-
trade : through ils colony it is actually suppressing it, and yet, with these facts
proved before your eyes, you deny that it even aims at checking this traffic,
because, as you imagine, it makes no effort against the internal slave-trade in
the United States. This is much like denying that a train of cars in full
motion moves at all, because, in your judgment, it might as well move in
another direction.
It must be presumed that you, Sir, and many other learned gentlemen in
England, are uninformed of the unremitting and consistent energy with -which
the Colonization Society from its commencement has prosecuted measures, in
America as well as in Africa, for the destruction -of the African slave-trade.
The directors of this society, in their memorial addressed to the Congress of the
United States, in 1820, use the following language :—
"When, therefore, the object of the Colonization Society is viewed, iu con
nexion with that .entire suppression of the slave-trad e, which your memorial
ists trust is resolved shall be effected, its importance becomes obvious and
extreme. The beneficial consequences resulting from success iu such a mea
sure, it is impossible to calculate. To the general cause cf humanity it will
afford the most rich and noble contribution ; and for the nation that regards
that cause, that employs its power in its behalf, it cannot fail to procu-e a pro
portionate reward. It is by such a courao that a nation ensures to itself the
protection and favour of tho Governor of the world."
': , The memorial from which these sentences are extracted -was referred to a
committee of Congress, who, in their able report thereon, say—

62
" Your memorialists arc solemnly enjoined by the peculiar object of their
trust, and invited by the suggestions of the memorialists, to inquire into the
defects of the existing laws against the African slave-trade. So long as it is in
the power of the United States to provide additional restraints upon this odious
traffic they cannot be withhold consistenlly with the justice and honour of the
nation." This committee, after depicting the horrors of the trade, and declaring that
"this crime, considered in its remote, as well as proximate consequences, is the
very darkest in the whole catalogue of human iniquities," and that its authors
should be considered as Jwstes humani generis, brought in a Bill, which, by tho
noble exertions of General C. F. Mercer, one of the earliest and ablest friends
and vice-presidents of the society, passed forthwith into a law, stigmatizing
the African slave-trade as piracy, and subjecting any citizen or person of the
United States who should engage in it, upon conviction thereof, lo the punish
ment of death.
" May it not bo believed (say the committee who reported this Bill) that
when the whole civilized world shall have denounced the slave-trade as piracy,
it will become as unfrequent as any other species of (hat offence against the law
of nations?" Thus the Government of the United States, Ihe first to prohibit
the slave-trade, through the Colonization Society, became the first to make it
piracy; an example already imitated by some other powers, and the universal
imitation of which would be, of all measures of force, tho most effectual for the
extinction of (his atrocious commerce; and yet, Sir, you assert that "tho
American Colonization Society does not even aim to suppress the slave-trade in
Africa!" Your next charge was, that the Colonization Society " protects tho internal
slave-trade, which is independent of the import trade, and might continue to
exist in all its enormity if the African coast were studded with free black
colonies." I avowed my utter ignorance of any grounds for this charge, and
requested proof. What is your reply ? "Why does he (Mr. Gurley) ask for
proof? He knows that some leading members of the American Colonization
Society are both slave-holders and slave-sellers, and that they resist tho abolition
of the Washington slave-market. What inconsistency is there in a society's
affecting to promote the abolition of the African slave-trade, while it puts not
forth the feeblest effort, nay, does not so much as protest against the aggravated
enormity of the home slave-trade t"
You, Sir, will not presume to assert that there is anything in the constitution
of the society, which declares the " exclusive object" of the institution " to be
to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free
peoplo of colour residing in the United States in Africa or elsewhere," pro
tective of the internal slave-trade in those States. But the American Coloniza
tion Society is a national association, and its members and directors may be
citizens of slave-holding or of non-slave-holding States. Therefore it protects
the internal slave-trade. By the same logic you must maintain that tho
American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, the American ilorr.t,
Missionary Society, the American Temperance Society, tho American Sunday-
School Union, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ; in
fine, that each and all of the national benevolent institutions of tho United
Slates (for members of all these may be either from slave-holding or non-slave-
holding States), protect the internal slave-trade of those States. Do you hold
that these institutions protect the slave-trade in the United States ? But among
leading members of the Colonization Society are slave-holders and slave-sellers
(ifanyoi the latter, surely very few), and those who resist the abolition of
what you term the Washington slave-market. Of the institutions just named
the same fact may be asserted. The Colonization Society "does not so much
as protest against the aggravated enormity of the home slave-trade." I havo
, heard of no protest against this trade from the associations to which I have
alluded. Do you, Sir, therefore maintain that every national benevolent insti
tution in the United States protects the internal slave-trade ?
I have heard of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and of a British
Society to promote the abolition of slavery throughout the world. And I have
heard of evils, both moral and political, under the far-extended sceptre of
" British authority, of oppression in her colonies j of intolerable grievances va. her

63
Eastern dominions, where 100,000,000 bow their necks to tho yoke of arbitrary
power, of the cries of her poor for bread at Iho very ga(cs of her palaces • of
wrelchod females, not in hundreds but in thousands, wandering nightly through
the streets of this metropolis to gain a scanty subsistence at tho expenso of
health and virtue ; and I havo not felt at liberty to denounca the British nnd
Foreign Bible Society or the British Anti-Slavery Society, becauso they arc not
protesting against all these and olhcr enormities. I have presumed that tho
Bible Society was sufficiently occupied in distributing the pure word of God
without note or comment, and that the Anti-Slavery Society would readily
exhaust all its spare leisure and strength in vilifying the Colonization Society
and those inconsistent, tyrannical, infamous slave-holding Christians and Re
publicans of America. The disposition to detect tho mote in a brother's eye
while a beam is in our own, was not limited to the times of our Saviour.
The American Colonization Society, instead of protecting the internal slave-
trade, is operating extensively in favour of emancipation, and thus to tho ex
tinction of that traffic. This trade is protected by tho laws of (hose States,
where slavery exists, as a necessary incident of that system — a system ui"cch
shall I not say forced, upon the people of those States by the commercial
avarice of England, in the days of their colonial dependence, against earnest
remonstrances addressed to the Parliament and tho Throne. It has grown
with their growth, strengthened with their strength, and become intertwined
and commingled with (he habits, interests, and, indeed, with the whole consti
tution of society. It gave rise to the most dangerous and difficult questions
connected with the formation of the federal constitution. That constitution
never could have been adopted except with general consent that slavery should
be left where it was found, under tho control of Ihe States, in their individual
capacity, where it had been established. Emancipation, therefore, can never
be effected, the internal slavc-liade never bo suppressed, but by the will and
consent of the slave-holding Stales. For Ihe great evil of slavery, the benevo
lence of tho good, and the wisdom of the wise, in the south as in the north,
have long anxiously sought a remedy.
The American Colonization Society arose from tho combined wisdom of
benevolent men from the north and south, intent to promote tho best interests
of the coloured race. As, Sir, in your astonishment that I should persist in tho
assertion that the great objectollhe American Colonization Societyis the civiliza
tion of Africa, you have glanced into my Life of A shmun, to pro vc by half-a-scntence
that the great object was other than this, and by one whole sentence and part of
another, what motive impelled to the formation of the society, I must beg your
and tho public attention to the entire paragraph in that work from which you
have made extracts, marking those extracts, that you may have all tho benefit
to which, from these citations, you may be entitled : —
"The American Colonization Society was founded in Washington city in
December, I81G. The patriotic and pious from various parts of the country
united in its organization. They could not close their eyes upon the followinrj
facts :— B
"1. That the slavery of two millions of coloured persons in the southern
portion of this Union was under the exclusive control and legislation of the
slave-holding States, each having the solo right of regulating it within its own
limits. "2. That ihe two hundred thousand coloured persons scattered throughout the
Union, and legally free, enjoyed few of the advantages of freedom.
"3. That there were powerful causes operating to frustrate all efforts to
elevate very considerably men of colour in this country, which could not exist, to
prevent their elevation, in a separate community from the whites.
"4. That the voluntary separation of the coloured from the while race uaai».
reason, and the public judgment, so desirable on general principles of benevolence,
that a union of the wise and pious from every State and section of the country
in support of measures proposed for the good of the coloured race, yet tending
to no such a result, could not be expected.
" 5. That the success of any measures for tho good of that race must depend
in a great degree on such union.
" 6. That Africa was inhabited by 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 of uncivilized
and heathefi mon, and that to render as far as practicable the elevation of her

64
exiled children conducive lo the deliverance and salvation of her home poptt*
lation was required alike by philanthropy and piety.
In view of those facts, what humanity and benevolence to the coloured rnco
suggested, was embodied in the constitution of Iho American Colonization
Society. It was expected, (hat the operations of this society, would unfetter
and invigorate tho faculties, improvo the circumstances, nniiniilo tho hopes, and
enlarge the usefulness of the free people of colour; that by awakening thought,
nullifying objections, presenting motives convincing to the judgment, and per
suasive to the humanity of masters, they would encourage emancipation; that
in Africa their results would be seen in civilized and Christian communities;
in the substitution of lawful and beneficial commerce for the abominable slavc-
Iradc, of peaceful agriculture for a predatory warfare, knowledge for ignorance;
the arts that refine for vices that degrade ; and for superstitions, vile, cruel, and
blood-stained, the ennobling service and pure worship of the true God. It was
believed that the fellowship of the north wilh the south in African colonization,
would tend powcifnlly to produce just opinions on the subject of slavery, and
prepare for the removal of the evil wilhout endangering the integrity and peace
of the Union. , It was clear that the principles and measures of the society in-
teifered not with those who desired to ameliorate the condition of tho people of
Colour, bond or free, who might remain in our countiy; but, in fact, contri
buted to produce those kind and considerate sentiments towards both which
alone can admit them to all the privileges, possible lor them while here, and de
nied a distinct national existence. But the founders of the society saw not by
what authority we could limit the Almighty, and tie down the destiny of the
coloured people to a condition so low (or why they should bo satisfied with it),
compared with tho blessings of nationality. *
If you have referred to the Life of Aslimun as authority in ascertaining the
great object and tho motive of the Colonization Society, the public will be able
to judgo how far the quotations used by you accord with their meaning in their
connexion in that work, and whether you have better reason to conclude the
great object of the Colonization Society to be the promotion " of the voluntary
separation of the coloured from the white race" than of the civilization of Africa.
In ordinary language, of several important objects, the most important wc de
signate as the great one. The position which the civilization of Africa holds
in the passage copied from the Life of Ashmun shows that it was so regarded
by the writer. But he is not alone. At the first meeting of the society, before
its constitution was adopted, Mr. Caldwell (afterwards its secretary) said : —
" But, Mr. Chairman, I have a greater and nobler object in view in desiring
them [the free people of colour] lo be placed in Africa. It is the belief that
through them civilization and the Christian religion would he introduced into
that benighted quarter of the world. It is the hope of redeeming many millions
of people from the lowest state of ignorance and superstition, and restoring
them to the knowledge and worship of the true God. Great and powerful as
are the other motives to this measure, in my opinion, and you will find it tho
opinion of a large class of the community, all other motives are small and
trifling compared with the hope of spreading among them the knowledge of the
Gospel." Said General Harper, one of the most distinguished founders of the society,
in his letter published in the first report of the institution : —
"The greatest benefit, however, to be hoped from the enterprise, that which
in contemplation most delights the philanthropic mind, still remains to be
unfolded. It is the benefit to Africa herself, from this return of her sons to her
bosom, bearing with them arts, knowledge, and civilization, to which she has
hitherto been a stranger."
And what is the language of Mr. Clay, the present President of the Society,
than whom the cause of human freedom, as well as of this society, has seldom,
if ever, found a more able or eloquent advocate :—
" If the project did not look beyond the happiness of the two racos now in
America it would be entitled to the warmest encouragement. But it presents
a much more extensive field— a field only limited by tho confines of one of the
largest, quarters of the habitable globe— for religious and benevolent exertion.
* Br. Beecher.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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