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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
SLAVERY AND COLONIZATION.

Thoughts on. .African Colonization : or an impartial exhibition of the doctrines,
principles, and purposes of the Amei-ican Colonization Society. Together with
the resolutions, addresses, and remonstrances of the free people of color, etc.
By William LlovdGakkison. Boston: 1832.
.4 Letterto Thomas Clatkson, by James Cropper, jlnd Prejudice Vincible; or
^ the praclicnbility of conqunring prejudice by better means than by slavery and
exile ; in relation to the Jlmerican Colonization Society. By C. Stdart, etc.
Liverpool : 1832.
The Jlmerican Quarterly Review, /I'o. XXIII, September, 1832, .Article Fill. Mo-
lition of JVegro Slavery. ^
A FEW months ago, we gave some account of Mr. William Lloyd
Garrison's Address to the people of color, and especially of the
objections urged in that document against the American" Coloniza
tion Society. The present work is a rfeiteration of the same ob
jections in a more expanded form'; with more vehemence and abu-
siveness of manner, with more numerous and striking demonstra
tions of unusual self-respect,* and with an imposing show of what
the uninformed or inconsiderate reader would regard as testimony, in
suppoj^ of his various allegations. We do not propose, therefore, to
examine all the counts of his dreadfiil indictment in detail ; show
ing what is the truth in the instances in which he has propounded
error ; it is enough to refer the intellfgent and candid reader to our
forrner article.f All that we intend in respect to Mr. Garrison's
ponderous pamphlet is, to offer a few critical remarks tending to
show the character of his performance^and the danger of resting
with implicit confidence on his representations of even plain mat
ters. We have to do, in this article, with Mr. Garrison's method
of reasoning ; and we shall defend the institution which he has as
sailed, only so far as it may be defended by the exposure of some
of his sophistries.
, The. allegations of this book against the American Colonization
Society, as distinctly and formally set down, in §o many sections,
are the following.
I. " The Ameiican Colonization Society is pledged not to op
pose the system of slavery ;" or, as we read the mnning title of
the section, it " is not hostile .to slavery ;" or, as it "is expounded
in another instance, it " is solemnly pledged not to interfere with
the system of slavery, or in any manner to disturb the repose of

* It is difficult to r<;ad any thing from Mr. G. without remembering the Span
iard, mentioned somewhere by Coleridge, who, whenever he had occasion to
speak-of himself, was wont to take off his hat in token of the profound respect
doe to 80 illustrious and excellent a personage.
t Christian Spectator, June, 1832, pp. 321—333.
1

the planters ;" or, to turn to another paragraph, it " pledges itself
not only to respect the system of slavery, but to frown indignantly
upon those who shall dare to assail it." (
II. " The American Colomzation Society apologizes for slavery
and slaveholders." That is — if we read aright— it " exonerates
the supporters of the slave system from reprehension."
III. " The American Colonization Society recognizes slaves as
property." " This recognition," says the accuser, "is not merely
technical, or strictly confined to a statutable interpretation." [Pray,
what is " a statutable interpretation" of a recognition ?"] " I pre
sume," he proceeds, " the advocates of the society will attempt to
evade this point, by saying that it never meant to concede the moral
right of the masters to possess human beings ; but the evidence
against them is full and explicit. The society, if language' mean
any thing, does unequivocally acknowledge property in slaves to
be as legitimate and sacred as any other property, of which to de
prive the owners either by force or by legislation without making
restitution, would be unjust and tyrannical." c
IV. " The American Colonization Society increases the value
of slaves." "Thus" it " is the apologist, the friend, and the
^patron of slaveholdehs and slavery."
V. It " is the enemy of immediate abolition." 4^
VI. It " is nourished by fear and selfishness." Its "governing
motive is fear — undisguised, excessive fear." "The principal ob
ject avowed for the removal of the free people of color, is, their
corruptive and dangerous influence over the slave populationr"
" Throughout all the speeches, addresses, and reports in behalf of
the society, it is confessed, in language strong and explicit, that an
irrepressible and agonizing fear of the influence of the free people
of color, over the slave population is the primary, essential, and
prevalent motive for colonizing them on the coast of Africa — and
not, as we are frequently urged to believe, a desire simply to me
liorate their condition and civilize tbat continent."
VII. " The American Colonization Society aims at the utter ex
pulsion of the blacks." Its " implacable spirit is most apparent in
its determination not to cease from its labors, until our whole color
ed population be expelled from the country." It " expressly de
nies the right of the slaves to enjoy their freedom and happmess in
this country."
VIII. It "is the disparager of the free blacks." "The leaders
in the African colonization crusade, seem to dwell with a malignant
satisfaction upon the po^erty and degradation ofthe free people of
color, and are careful never to let an opportunity pass -nithout
heaping their abuse and contempt upon them."
IX. " The American Colonization Society denies the possibility
of elevating the blacks in this country." In the running title, this

accusation is thus expressed, " The American Colonization Society
prevents the instruction of the blacks." In the course of the illus
tration it is explained thus, "The society prevents the education
of this class, in the most insidious and effectual manner, by con
stantly asserting that they raust always be a degraded people in this
country, and that the cultivation of their minds will avail them no
thing." X. " The American Colonization Society deceives and misleads
the nation." This means, as we understand it, after a careful ex-
siraination of the illustration and argument, not only that the hopes
inspired by the establishment of the colony are delusive,, and ope
rate to divert the public mind from other and more efficient under
takings; but also that the society, knowingly and intentionally
imposes on the public by false representations cf plain matters of
fact. These are the charges. The author does not regard one of them
as light or trivial. His style and language show that, in every sec
tion, he considers himself as imputing great criminality to some
body. He is not merely exposing the error of attempting to
colonize Africa with free people of color from America; he is
charging crime upon a great multitude of persons.
Agffinst whom then are these charges preferred? Whom does
the accuser mean bythe American Colomzation Society? Does he
mean merely the managers and executive officers of the institution,
at Washington ? Does he mean those individuals only, who ha-
bhually act and vote at the annual meetings in the Capitol ?
Or does he use the tide, "Colonization Society," to desig
nate the great body of the friends and supporters of the Afri
can colony of Liberia ? We are constrained to adopt the latter
-eonstfuction. We cannot but suppose that when, in this pamphlet,
he accuses " the American Colonization Society," he understands
himself, and wishes to be understood by his readers, as bringing
charges against the self-same persons, whom in his former pamph
let he accused, in nearly the same words, under the names of
" colonizationists" and "supporters ofthe African scheme."
Yet it is not without some reason, some final cause, that in the
present instance the object of attack is designated by another name.
In the address to the people of color, the simple object was to pre
judice their minds invincibly against the influence of a certain class
of philanthropic individuals, namely, those who in any manner be
friend the African colony ; and therefore tbe orator spoke of the
" doctrines, principles, and purposes" of colonizationists. In the
work now under review, the object is to prejudice the public at
large, against any participation in the enterprise of colonizing Af
rica ; and therefore the writer represents these " doctrines, princi
ples, and purposes," as part and parcel ofthe American Colonization

Society. The obvious scope and design of the whole book, is to
make the readers feel, that they cannot support the enterprise of
the Araerican Colonization Society, without supporting, and virtu
ally subscribing, all these opinions and principles. Here, then, is the
first and leading fallacy of Mr. Garrison's indictraent, a fallacy which
we presume has imposed upon his raind, as we know it has im
posed upon the rainds of some others, more intelligent and cool-
headed than he. Admitting, for the present, the perfect fairness
of all the quotations in this book, admitting that the author has
succeeded in fastening upon colonizationists, as he calls them, a
mass of opinions and principles which deserve unqualified reproba
tion ; what has this to do with Liberia, and the voluntary migration
of colored people to the country of their ancestors ? The opinions,
speeches, essays, and professions of colonizationists, are one thing ;
and colonization itself, is another thing. The American Coloniza- ;
tion Society has nothing to do with any man's opinions. It is no
raore a society for the propagation of particular doctrines respecting
slavery, or respecting the capabilities, rights, and injuries of the
people of color, than the Bank of the United States is a society
for the propagation of particular doctrines respecting currency.
Like the Bible Society, it asks no man what he believes ; it sets
forth no confession of faith to be subscribed by its friends. Like
the Bible Society, it holds up the single definite work which it
proposes to perform, and asks for nothing but co-operation. The
only point of union which connects so many persons m that " com
bination," as Mr. Garrison calls it, is this, they all agree to co
operate in promoting the colonization of Africa, by the emigration
of free people of color from America. Araong thera all, not one
can be held responsible for tbe opinions, political or religious, of any
other. We count it a privilege to number ourselves among-t]^.^
friends and supporters of African colonization. We are ready to
give to the enterprise, whatever influence we can eraploy for its
advancement. We believe that this enterprise is infallibly tending
to great and good results ; and we have often taken occasion to
propound our opinions on this subject; but we never dreamed that
in so doing, we were propounding opinions, for which all the indi
viduals who might be found co-operating with us, were to be re
sponsible. So others have published their speculations, in public
debate or through the press ; and however tbey may differ fi-om
us, in respect to this or tbat important bearing of the enterprise,
whatever heresies they raay hold about the rights of the people of
color on this soil, or the practicability or even the desirableness of
the speedy abolition of slavery, by what authority can they be hin
dered from speaking or writing in favor of colonization? — or who
shall stand over against the society's treasury, and forbid their raoney
to come in, if they choose to give it ? We have read speeches and

essays in support of this cause, which contained, as we thought,
serious errors ; but little did we dream that any raan had a right to
irapute those errors to us, or that we were bound to withdi-aw our
friendship from the society, till such raen's mouths should be sealed
up. Yet the very scope of Mr. Garrison's argument is, You must
not favor the cause of African colonization, for, in so doing, you will
give the right hand of fellowship to all the erroneous principles on
which that enterprise has at any time been supported ; and you will
become a partaker in the guilt of all the selfish and unhallowed
motives, which have ever had influence wth any of its fi-iends or
advocates. If the reader would see how completely the style of argument
in this book, confounds tbe society with every raember of the so
ciety, and with every friend and fellow-worker in the enterprise,
let him read the argument and citations under the first section.
"The American Colonization Society," says Mr. G. "is pledged
not to oppose the system of slavery." Very true : the Society is
pledged not to oppose slavery ; and it is equally pledged not to
oppose intemperance or sabbath-breaking ; for by its constitution,
its resources are to be exclusively directed to a particular object,
and that object is not the publication of anti-slavery tracts, or the
difiiision of temperance principles, or the instruction of the public
mind respecting the authority of the christian sabbath, but the colo
nization of Afi-ica. Yet this simple pledge, to wAt, tbe fact that
the constitution of the society, raakes it exclusively a colonization
society, and. not an anti-slavery tract society, is a grievous offense
to Mr. Garrison. Straightway he rises into a towering passion
against the society, as if its merabers and friends, were one and all
pledged, "soleranly pledged" as individuals, never to say a word
_Jri--owio_sition to slavery. " I want no better reason than this," he
exclaims, " to wage an uncompromising warfare against it. No
man has a right to form an alliance with others, which prevents
hira frora rebuking sin, or exposing the guilt of sinners." We are
not aware that any such alliance has been formed. Certainly we
have never becorae a party to such a contract. Perhaps it will re
heve the mind of this uncorapromising raan, to be inforraed that by
the payment of one dollar annually, he himself may become a
member of the' American Colonization Society, and take a part
with his voice and his vote, at all its meetings for business, and still
be as zealous as ever in propagating his own pecuhar opionions
respecting slavery and the rights of Afi-icans.
But, the author will tell us, the pledge of the constitution is not
all : have I not sumraoned a cloud of witnesses, to prove sontie-
thing raore ? We ask in reply, how much more do these nine
pages of extracts frora speeches, reviews and essays, prove ? So
far as they merely repeat and expound the constitution of the so-

ciety, they prove nothing at all. So far as they advance beyond
that line, they express siraply the sentiments of individuals, and
can be fairly imputed to none but their individual authors. Should
it be said, that even with these limitations tbey prove that " coloni
zationists generally agree" in not opposing slavery ; we may an
swer they prove no such thing, for it would be perfectly easy to
quote from what the friends of tbe society have said and written,
at least as many pages, expressing sentiraents of settied opposition
to slavery, of ardent desire for its abolition, and of inflexible re
solve to aira by peaceable raeans at the overthrow of the system.
Here then, we repeat, is the first and leading fallacy of the
pamphlet before us, a fallacy which runs through every section.
It regards any body who happens to speak or write in favor of
colonization, as an authorized expositor of the views of the society.
It regards every exceptionable or seemingly exceptionable senti
ment, which can be culled out of such speeches and essays, as if
it were incorporated into the society's constitution ; and its constant
aim is, to raake the reader feel that if he befriends the cause, he
gives his support to every such obnoxious sentiment.
We have other objections to the methods of proof adopted in
this pamphlet. Tbe author is chargeable with great unfairness in
his quotations. Any reader who derives his first knowedge, or
his chief knowledge of the society from tbis pamphlet, is naturally
impressed by the frequency with which citations are given frora the
reports of the society. It seems as if the author were determined
to have tbe very best authority for all his declarationsi It seems
as if the institution were to be condemned by the official statements
of its managers, formally accepted by the members at their annu
al meetings. The effect of passages cited from " Second Annual
Report," "Tenth Annual Report" etc., is highly iraportactii: re--
spect to tbe impression which the author is airaing to produce on
his readers. Now it so happened that we recognized as old ac
quaintances sorae of the sentences thus quoted, and knew that
such sentences were never incorporated in any report of the man
agers to the society. This led us to exaraine a few other senten
ces quoted in the sarae raanner, as frora the official coramunications
ofthe board of managers. One after another was searched for in
vain through the body of the report referred to, and was found at
last either in sorae speech delivered at tbe annual raeeting, and
published with the report as a part of the preliminary raatter, or in
sorae of the documents included as articles of intelligence in the
appendix. And if we may judge frora tbe raultiplied instances
which we have been at the trouble of examining, and which have
been taken altogether at random, neai-ly all tbe quotations which
seem to be frora the Annual Reports, are only quotations from the
matters which accompany the Annual Reports as published. Mr.

Garrison may say, that in all this he had no intention to deceive )
but whatever may have been his intention, the quotations are in
fact unfair and deceptive. He raay say, that he referred to the
reports only as pamphlets known by that name, he may say that
the distinction between the report and the various matters printed
with it, did not occur to him as important ; but no apology can
rectify the actiial unfairness of his quotations. And what raakes
the unfairness raore striking and more effectual, is, he recognizes
at first, again and again, the very distinction which he afterwards
so generally disregards. Through tbe first section and a part of
the second, he carefully observes this distinction, in all his quo
tations ; but then, as if he felt the necessity of soraething more
imposing and authoritative than extracts frora speeches and appen
dixes, and as if he had ascertained tbat he was likely to find very
little which would be to bis purpose, in the actual comraunications
of the managers to their constituents, he begins suddenly to accu
mulate quotation upon quotation frora " Annual Reports" in a
style as deceptive as it is irapressive. The deception raay be
accidental ; but its effect is to mislead tbe uninformed and un
suspecting reader, as really as if it was designed.
In addition to tbis, tbe author palpably misconstrues the language,
and misrepresents tbe sentiments, of those whose words he adduces
in proof of his accusations. It is enough for us to bring forward such
instances of this, as have happened, for particular reasons, to arrest
our attention. A few examples of tbis kind, will suffice to show how
far this pamphlet raay be trusted as " an impartial exhibition" of
the opinions entertained by the friends of colonization.
Araong his nine pages of proofs, that the American Colonization
Society is not hostile to slavery, we find the following passage cited
firora the Christian Spectator, for September, 1830.
This institution proposes to do good by a single specific course of
measures. Its direct and specific purpose is not the abolition of slave
ry, [the italics are Sir. Garrison's not ours,] or the relief of pauperism,
or the extension of commerce and civilization, or the enlargement of
science, or the conversion of the heathen. The single object which its
constitution prescribes, and to which all its effbrts are necessarily direct
ed, is, African colonization from America. It proposes only to afford
facilities for the voluntary emigration of free people of color from this
country to the country of their fathers, pp. 45, 46.
Now who would suppose, frora the manner in which this quo
tation is raade, and the proposition of Mr. G. which it is designed to
establish — who would suppose that one leading object of the arti
cle frora which the sentence is extracted, is to prove that the pro
gress of colonization will infallibly act upon public opmion
throughout the slaveholding states, in such a raanner as greatly to

accelerate the abolition of slavery, and its abolition not by successive
instances of private manumission, but by legislation ? Who would
suppose that the very document from which Mr. G. derives the
proof that the society raakes no opposition to slavery, urges, as
the grand argument in behalf of the society, the infallible tendency
of its enterprise, to abolish that unchristian and accursed system?
Yet such is the fact.
In another place, the following sentences are credited to the Af
rican Repository. They belong in fact to an " Address to the
public by the managers of th© Colonization Society of Connecti
cut," published in f828.
It is taken for granted, that in present circumstances, any effort to
produce a general and thorough amelioration in the character and
condition of the free people of color, must be to a great extent fruit
less- In every part of the United States there is a broad and impassa
ble line of demarcation between every man who has one drop of Afri
can blood in his veins, and every other class in the community. The
habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society — prejudices which
neither refinement, nor argument, nor education, nor religion itself can
subdue — mark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects
of a degradation inevitable and incurable. The African in this country
belongs by. birth to the very lowest station in society ; and from that
station he can never rise, be his talents, his enterprise, his virtues what
they may. • . • • They constitute a class by themselves — a class out of
which no individual can be elevated, and below which none can be de
pressed. And this is the difficulty, the invariable and insuperable diffi
culty in the way of every scheme for their benefit. Much can be done
for them — much has been done ; but still they are, and, in this country,
always must be a depressed and abject race. p. 136.
We have taken away Mr. Garrison's italics and capitals, and
have restored the emphasis with which the words were originally
printed. Will tbe reader believe, that tbis, as it stands in the
pamphlet before us, is one of the author's strongest testimonies to
prove tbat the American Colonization Society prevents the instruc
tion of the blacks, and denies the possibility of elevating them in
this country. The position which the writer of the Address under
takes to illustrate, in the paragraph fi-om which these sentences are
culled, is that " in present ciecumstances any effort to produce
a general and thorough amelioration in the character and condition
of the people of color raust be, to a great extent, fmitless." The
whole paragraph describes their condition as affected by " present
circurastances." And one point, one distinct head of argument,
which the address urges on the public, is the comraon, and with
many friends of the society, favorite topic, that the success and
progress of the work of colonization will change those " present
circumstances," that it " will not only bless the colonists, but will

react to elevate the standing of those who remain behind,"
and that from beyond the Atlantic there will come a light to beam
upon the degradation of the negro in America. We leave it to
every man's sense of truth and fairness whether here is not, on the
part of Mr. Garrison, something of the nature of misconstruction.
We go farther. This author not only misconstrues, but he gar
bles, mutilates, and interpolates false explanations, to make his
misconstructions more effectual. Take the following exaraple of
a quotation from the sarae document from which the preceding
was selected.
He [the planter] looks around him and sees that the condition of the
great mass of emancipated Africans is one in comparison with which the
condition of his slaves is enviable ; — and he is convinced that if he
withdraws from his sjaves his authority, his support, his protection, and
leaves them to shift for themselves, he turns them out to be vagabonds,
and paupers, and felons, and to find in the work-house and the peniten
tiary, the home which tliey ought to have retained on liis paternal acres.
p. 62.
Here the interpolated explanation entirely changes the meaning
of the sentence. The writer whose words are thus applied, is not
speaking of " the planter," that is, of planters generally ; but is
supposing a particular case, the case of a slaveholder by inherit
ance, who wishes to act conscientiously towards the beings whom
be finds " dependent on him for protection and support and gov
ernment," and who ' may be made to feel the evils of slavery as
strongly as any man ;' — and to prevent the possibility of such a
misconstruction as Mr. Garrison has forced upon his language, he
subjoins to the sentence above quoted, " This is no unreal case.
There may be slaves — there are slaves by thousands and tens of
thousands — whose condition is that of the most abject distress ; byit
these are the slaves of masters whose whole conduct is a constant
violation of duty, and with whom the suggestion of giving freedom
to their slaves would not be harbored for a moment. The case
which we have supposed, is tbe case of a master really desirous to
benefit his slaves." The author of Thoughts on Afiican Coloni
zation has certainly some pecuhar ideas of the way to make " an
impartial exhibition" of other raen's opinions.
At the hazard of exhausting the reader's patience we must add
one raore exaraple of our author's way of raaking quotations. The
following passage is ascribed to the Review on African Coloni
zation in the Christian Spectator for September, 1830.
For the existence of slavery in the United States, those, and those
only, are accountable who bore a part in originating such a constitution
2

10
of society. The bible contains no explicit prohibition of slavery. There
is neither chapter nor verse of holy writ, which lends any countenance to
the fulminating spirit of universal emancipation, of which some exhibi
tions may be seen in some of the newspapers, p. 63.
Now we utterly deny and abjure the authorship of such a para
graph. The fact is, that these three sentences, thus strung together,
and with tbe meaning which they necessarily convey to the reader,
whose first sight of them is in this connection, never before
appeared in the Christian Spectator. It is true indeed, that each
one of the three sentences which Mr. G. has thus arranged as in
a connected train of thought, does actually occur in the article re
ferred to ; but they occur in such connections, and are applied in
the course of the argument to such uses, as must very materially
modify their raeaning in the mind of every candid reader. We
were speaking of slavery as a certain constitution of society, by
which one man is constituted the hereditary lord of other men, and
is invested with an absolute property in their labor and in that of
their children ; and we said that " for the existence of slavery in the
United States, those, and those only, are accountable, who bore a
part in originating such a constitution of society." Tbe word ex
istence was marked as emphatic ; and our object was, as appears
fi:ora the very next page, while conceding to tbe advocates of sla
very the raatter of a favorite plea in its defense, to throw upon tbe
consciences of the present generation of citizens in the slavehold
ing states, tbe responsibility of reforraiag tbis constitution of socie
ty, or of continuing it, and transraittkig it with all its curses to
posterity. How siraple and harmless a truth did we propound ;
how unlike the heresy which Mr. Garrison would raake us utter.
The constitution of Massachusetts, perhaps, contains some princi
ples which are inconsistent ndth justice and the public good ; for
the existence of such a constitution, those citizens who were born
under it, are not accountable ; for the transmisson of it to another
generation, they are accountable. In just this way we argued
with General Hayne, on a siibsequent page.* He had said in
defense of slavery, " If slavery, as it exists in this country be an
evil, we of the present day found it ready raade to our hands."
We replied by asking him directly and personally, " Have you
done all in your power to remedy the evil, and to transmit to oth
er generations a better inheritance ?" He had said, " We found we
had to do with a people whose physical, moral, and intellectual
habits and character, totally disqualified them for tbe enjoyment of
the blessings of fireedom." Our reply was, "What have you done —

* Christian Spectator. 1830. p. 522.

II
what single thing do you propose to do for the iraprovement of the
character andliabits, physical, raoral, and intellectual, which atthe
present time totally disqualify for freedom, raore than half the
population of a high-minded republic?"
But to return to Mr. Garrison's quotation. We did indeed say
in another paragraph, " The bible contains no explicit prohibition
of slavery;" but we need not say that the stress of the sentence
obviously rested on the w^ord expUcit. We added a still greater
" concession" to the advocate of slavery, and one which we mar
vel that Mr. G. has not wrested to some of his purposes. " It
[the bible] recognizes both in the old testament, and in the new,
the existence of such a constitution of society, and it lends its au
thority to enforce the mutual obligations resulting from that consti
tution." But what else said we of the relations of Christianity to
slavery? How far did we permit our concessions to be carried?
Did we " go tiie whole" in defense of slavery, as in our author's man
ner of quotation, we seem to have done. " The advocates of sla
very," we said "take it for granted, that because Christianity recog
nizes such a state of society, and enforces the mutual duties arising
therefi-om, it sanctions slavery itself. This is a great and palpable er
ror. The new testament contains no express prohibition of polygamy.
Is polygamy therefore consistent with Christianity ? " Christianity is
always tbe antagonist principle of slavery." Is Mr. Garrison's
quotation an " impartial exhibition" of our doctrine ?
So of the third sentence in the above cited patchwork paragraph.
We did indeed say, " There is neither chapter nor verse of holy
writ, which lends any countenance to the fulminating spirit of uni
versal emancipation, of which some exhibitions may be seen in
some of the newspapers." But we said also in illustrating the
opposition of Christianity to slavery, "Its genius is tbe genius of
universal emancipation. It proclaims liberty to the captive, and
the opening ofthe prison doors to thera that are bound." Is Mr.
G. guilty of no misrepresentation here ? Or is it a crime to deny
that there is chapter or verse to countenance a. fulminating spirit
of universal emancipation ?
But it is not enough with this author to raake unfair references,
to raisconstrue, to garble and pack his quotations, or to interpolate
clauses, which under pretense of explanation totally pervert the
meaning, he resorts to direct assertions of a very questionable —
perhaps we ought rather to say — of a very unquestionable char
acter. In raaking a reference to the article from which the above
passages have been quoted he says, " Vide the Christian Spectator
for Septeraber, 1830, in which the reader will find an elaborate
apology for the systera of slavery." Mark it reader, and admire
the hardihood ofthe man. "An elaborate apology for the system

12
of slavery !" Had he said an apology for slaveholding, we might
have classed the assertion under the head of siraple raisrepresenta-
tion, and should have ascribed it to the peculiar intellectual confor-
raation of a raan, araong whose good qualities precise accuracy of
statement is not the most reraarkable. But he spealis of an apol
ogy, not for slaveholding, not for slavery in the sense of being the
raaster of slaves, but for the system of slavery. And the apology
spoken of, cannot be an incidental apology ; it cannot be an apolo
gy contained in one or two unguarded and unfortunate adraissions ;
it is an elaborate apology, and can therefore be none other than
a direct defense of the system, a defense raade of set purpose.
We leave it to others to explain how or why this author ventured
on an assertion so reckless.
We have taken tbis book in hand and raade this exposure of
some of its most prorainant faults, not because we consider it our
business particularly to look after the author, and to put him right
when he goes wrong, nor because we suppose that the book, stand
ing on its own raerits, aud making its own way to influence, would
have needed any refutation, but because we know that the author is
sustained, and his book patronized by men more deserving than he is.
How far the statements and exhibitions of the book can be safely
trusted as " impartial," our readers can judge from the facts which
have been laid before them. It is not to be supposed, that Mr.
(Sarrison will follo%v any hint of ours at parting ; but if he would, we
should advise him to let alone controversy, and stick to his poetry.
This we say not out of any disrespect to his talents ; for he writes
adrairable verses, and might do rauch in that way for tbe cause to
which he has devoted himself — far raore than he is likely to do in
bis present course of effort. We think that in undertaking to
frarae arguraents, to make " impartial exhibitions," to discuss prin
ciples, he has mistaken his calling ; but if he will go on, we have
only to wish for him that he may leam rauch by practice and expe
rience. When we next cross his track, raay we find hira exhibiting
more raodesty, more meekness, more candor, raore wisdora, and
more logic, than we can now discover in his productions. We
hope, especially, that as he grows older, he may acquire more suavity
of temper, and more gentleness of manner. The style which he
employs — we beg his friends and advisers candidly to ponder this
reraark — is not the style to do good with. Satan cannot cast out
satan. Such wrath and railing, such recklessness and coarseness of
vituperation, as fill his writings, may inflame, but cannot enlighten,
may irritate and enrage, but cannot convince. We believe that
cool and patient argument may do much, even with slaveholders ;
we are sure that " sound and fury" can do nothing but raischief
We cannot doubt that the efforts of this writer, and his coadjutors,
are disastrously delaying the arrival of that hour, when public senti-

13
ment, in the slaveholding states, shall turn with a rapid and irresisti
ble tide against slavery.
We come now to the second of the documents, on which we pro
pose to comment in this article. This is a pamphlet of twenty-four
pages, by two zealous and leading fi-iends of abohtion in England.
James Cropper's letter to Thomas Clarkson, is a letter of expostu
lation on account of Mr. Clarkson's testimony in favor of the en
terprise of the Araerican Colonization Society, and it refers the
venerable philanthropist, for araple and irresistible conviction of his
errors, to " firiend Charles Stuart's" arguments, which are append
ed under the tide of " Prejudice Vmcible, etc." Captain Stuart
is a man almost as passionate as Mr. Garrison, but he has a
much better idea of the nature of an argument. His information,
however, respecting the nature of the Colonization Society, and
the tendency of its efforts, is altogether inadequate, being derived
mosUy from the " impartial exhibitions" which we have just been
conteraplating. Indeed Capt. Stuart's essay is little else than an
abstract of Mr. Garrison's " Thoughts on Colonization," with sorae
additions and modifications.
The limits within which we are at present confined, forbid us to
go over the whole ground of debate with Capt. Stuart. He touches
upon every topic connected with the subject ; and he shows that in
respect to every one of the bearings and tendencies of African
colonization, he has been led into error. Some of these to
pics we shall omit ; and the others we shall touch only cur-
rente calamo. For example, he speaks with much stress about
what he calls ' the cmel and criminal prejudice against the
free colored people, and the dreadful persecutions to which it sub
jects them;" and he aUedges that colonization grows out of this
prejudice, and tends only to strengthen it. Respecting that point,
we have offered sorae considerations on a former occasion ;* and
we raust now siraply refer the reader to the hints then thrown out.
He also speaks ofthe " raoral wretchedness of Africa," and scouts
the idea of reraoviag that by colonization. We shall say nothing
of that subject ; for to argue that point would divert us firom our
more iraraediate object.
After a few introductory observations, Capt. Stuart opens his at
tack by displaying in three parallel columns, his views of the evils
which need a remedy, of the remedy needed, and of the remedy
proposed by the American Colonization Society. Of this tri-
columnar statement, we copy those particulars on which we think it
worth while for us to comment.

Christian Spectator, 1632, pp. 323—327.

14

Tha E< 111 which nied a remwly
1 . The brutal and de
grading personal slav
ery of upwards of two
million unoffending sub
jects of the United
States.

3. The African slave
trade continued.

The immediate abo
lition, by a well digest
ed legislative enactment
in each slave state and
in congress, of the bru
tal, criminal, and ruin
ous system of negro sla
very, and the immediate
substitution in its place,
of a law worthy of a
great, free, and enlight
ened country.

Remedy p/opiBwl by the Am. Col Society.
The sending to Africa
under circumstances as
favorable as in their
power, of as many ofthe
enslaved and unoffend
ing negroes as their own
masters may please to
emancipate for that pur
pose.

The immediate and The settlement of a
universal abolition of its free colored colony, un-
only source and support, der circumstances as fa-
negio slavery. vorable as in their pow
er, upon the coast of
Africa.

5. The ruinous condi
tion of the slave States.

6. The terrors of the
slave-masters.

The conversion of
their slave laborers in
to free laborers, — of
their unwilling into wil
ling hands.
Undissembling re
pentance, and fruits
meet for. repentance ;
and for this purpose the
continual setting before
them of their sin ; and,
morally speaking, giv
ing them no peace in
their iniquity.

The removal from
the United States as
quicldy as possible of a
vast proportion of all its
laboring strength.
Removing, as conde
scendingly as possible,
as many of the objects
of their terrors as they
wish to get rid of, that
they may keep the re
mainder as long as they
please, without fear.
pp. 8, 9.

The evils to be remedied are well enough defined, excepting the
last. The " terrors," or as we would rather say, the dangers which
need to be reraoved, are not peculiar to " tbe slave-raasters." It
is not the proprietors of slaves alone that live in continual danger
and alarm, under the present system at the soutii. The entire
population of those regions in which slavery abounds, live, as it
were, on the sides of a volcano, tbat ever and anon heaves under
thera. When tbe raidnight bell rings tbe alarm in Charleston or
Savannah, and the drums beat to arms in the streets, does the man
who owns no slaves feel safer in his bed, than the man who owns a
thousand ? Not at all. The terror of the planter is not so much
the dread that his own slaves will murder him, or fire his dwelling.

15
as it is the dread of a general convulsion ; and that diead, the
dread of seeing sudden conflagration lighted up around them far
and near, is the common terror of die entire population.
But let us notice the remedies vvhich Capt. Stuai't proposes to
employ for the removal of these great evils. The remedy for the
slavery which exists in the United States, is ' the iraraediate aboli
tion of slavery by a legislative enactraent, in each slave state and
in congress, and the iraraediate substitution of a law, worthy of a
great, free, and enlightened people.' Reader, notice the admirable
simplicity of the proposal. The remedy for slavery is, that slavery
should cease. How simple and yet how effectual. Certainly this
looks like philosophy. A fire is raging in a crowded street. Men
are hurrying to and fro, and forming lines to bring water frora dis
tant reservoirs. "' Stop !" cries a looker on, of speculative habits,
" the reraedy for this spreading evil is perfectly obvious ; you have
only to arrest, immediately, the combination of oxygen with yon
der combustible substances, and all will be well. This is no half
way plan, no far-fetched contrivance ; it is simple, and strikes at the
very root of the mischief. How beautiful is the siraplicity of truth.
How charming is divine philosophy." Ah! Mr. Philosopher,
you talk learnedly; no doubt the way to stop a fire is to make it
cease burning; but there is a practical difficulty about your pro
posal. You propose a result, but say nothing about the process.
The question with a working raan who desires to do soraething
towards the extinction of the fiire, is how ? Your reraedy is ex
tinction; but our question of how, you leave unanswered. How
is this combination of oxygen with combustible substances to he
arrested? Answer us that, Mr. Philospher, and you tell us some
thing to the purpose. So we answer Capt. Stuart. No doubt
the iraraediate abolition of slavery by a well digested legislative
enactment in each slave state and in congress, would put an end
to slavery ; but pray tell us how this iraraediate abolition is to be
brought about; tell us how these well digested enactments, by
a dozen legislative bodies, are to be iraraediately obtained.
The reraedy proposed for the African slave-trade is liable to
a sirailar objection. No raan can doubt that " the iraraediate and
universal abolition of negro slavery" would be an immediate and
effectual abolition of the slave-trade. But the unfortunate cir
curastance of the case is that the immediate and universal abolition
of slavery is out of the question. A neighbor of ours has a piece
of land which is overflowed by every tide. He is inquiring how
the evU may be remedied. One raan proposes to build a dike
of sufficient height to shut out the waters. Another steps in
and tells him that to build a dike will be a very expensive and
hazardous undertaking, and with infinite gravity assures him that
the remedy actually needed, and the only truly philosophical and

i6
sufficient reraedy, is an enlargeraent of the moon's orbit. " For,"
says this learned Theban, " it is a well known fact that the only
cause of tides is the attraction of gravitation between the waters
of the ocean and the moon ; and it is one of the great and un
changeable laws of nature that the attraction of gravitation between
any two masses of matter is inversely as the square of their distance.
Thus tbe farther off tbe moon is from the earth, the less will be its
power to attract tbe waters of the ocean, and the less will be the
height of the highest tide. What then can be plainer than that the
only rational and infallible remedy for the difficulty in respect to
this piece of meadow, is an iraraediate enlargeraent of the orbit of
the raoon's revolution round the earth." We are very far frora in-
tiraating, by this coraparison, that the universal abolition of slavery
is as absolutely and as far beyond the reach of huraan effort, as a
change in the raoon's orbit ; but when we consider the vast extent
of the earth's surface, over which negro slavery is spread, and the
diversified and unconnected govemraents under vvhich it exists, —
when we think what changes raust be wrought, not only in the
United States and Great Britain, but in the countries subject to the
Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish, Brazilian, and we know not how
many other scepters, before slavery can be aboUshed, — we have no
hesitation in saying, that any man who gravely proposes the imme
diate and universal abolition of negro slavery, as the first and only
thing to be done for the termination of the African slave-trade, de
serves a place in the academy of philosophers on the flying island.
So of the remedy proposed for the ruinous condition of the
slave-holding States, we entertain no doubt that " the conversion of
their slave laborers into free laborers," would be worth more to
those states than all " the wealth of Orraus or of Ind." The
problera is, to effect tbis conversion. How shall we raake the peo
ple of South Carolina willing to give freedora to their bondraen ?
Under tbe last head, it will be noticed that the author recom
mends as a remedy for the dangers ofthe south, not only, " undis-
serabhng repentance, and fruits meet for repentance," but also, and
in order to this, "the continual setting before them of their sm,
and, morally speaking, giving them no peace in their iniquity."
This looks like proposing to use raeans that may bring about, by
and by, a result vvhich cannot be immediately accoraplished. The
only question, then, between us and the men of Capt. Stuart's school
is, What are the raeans by which our fellow citizens of the south
may be raost certainly and raost speedily led to the voluntary abo-
ohtion of slavery among thera ? We believe in the efficacy of
discussion, to enlighten and reform public opinion, even on the
subject of slavery in a slaveholding state ; but how shall the dis
cussion be started ? and how shall it be carried on ? and how shall
it be raade to reach and pervade the community that is to be ef-

17
Tected by it, a coraraunity irritable and inflammable on every sub
ject, and in respect to this subject, fixed and ferocious in the de
termination that there shall be no discussion within their territotles ?
Doubtiess our author thinks that all this is the easiest and plainest
thing in the world. If so, we propose to the gallant Captain anf,
experiment, the undertaking of which will at least demonstrate
his courage and sincerity, and the performance of which will test
the soundness of his opinion. Let hira corae over and show us
in person, how the thing is to be done. Let him pass through the
southern states, an apostle of iraraediate and universal emancipa-'
tion. Let him travel from plantation to plantation, and fi-om city
to city, to carry on this discussion with the slave-holders ; distrib
uting along his course tracts, prints, broad sheets, that shall illus
trate to the raind and to the eye, the cmelties of slavery ; and
preaching, as he goes, the sacred inalienable and universal rights
of man. Let him in his proper person, undertake to call to repen->
tance the slave-holders ofthe south, those " felons in heart and in
deed," as he denominates thera, whose crirae — a crirae repeated
every day and every hour — is only inferior "to intentional and
raalignant murder." Let him deal with these offenders face to
face, "continually setting before thera their sin," in his own/Style
and fashion, and " giving them no peace in their iniquity." If the
Captain will undertake this raission, we pledge ourselves to give
him every facility in our power. We will subscribe to his sup-^
port. We, as colonizationists, and with all the popularity which
our famous apologies for slavery have secured for us, will give
hira a letter of introduction to our southern fi-iends. And if he
does not find the undertaking more forlorn than it would be to
lead a forlorn hope at the storming of Gibrahar ; if he does not
find that he might as safely have undertaken to preach the ac-
countability of monarchs, and the sovereignty of the people, in the
public squares of Vienna, or have gone as wisely to Constantmople
with Mary Fisher, to persuade the Grand Seignior to turn quaker*
if he does not find, ere the first week of his mission is accomplish*
ed, that he is castmg his pearls before swine ; if he does not find
them turning again to rend hira, fiercer, stronger, less to be rea-^
soned with than the very bulls of Bashan, — we will acknowledge
that he has the best of the argument.
What then is the bearing of African colonization on the aboll-
tion of slavery ? Capt. Stuart's account of this is honest doubtiess;
but, m our view, it is obviously very much the result of misap*
prehension, and, to use a favorite word of his own, of prejudice.
He says that the remedy proposed by the Araerican Colonizatioii
Society for " the brutal and degrading personal slavery of up^
; jvards of two millions," is " the sending to Africa under circum^
3

18
stances as favorable as in their power, as raany of the enslaved and
unoffending negroes, as their own masters raay please to emanci
pate for that purpose ;" and he asks, "What kind of remedy will it
be to the bmtal enslavement of two railUons, increasing at the
rate of fifty thousand annually, that annually a few hundreds, (or
thousands if it should ever be) have their slavery comrauted into
transportation ? We answer, No man in his senses, ever thought
that the simple transportation of a few hundreds or thousands an
nually, could be, considered alone and disconnected fi-ora the re
lations and tendencies of the work, a remedy for slavery. The
Captain talks about "sending to Africa," and "removal," and
" transportation," as if sending these men to Africa, removing them
out of the United States, transporting thera beyond the seas,
were a fair and full description of tbe society's undertaking. But
colonizing thera in Africa, is a rauch raore comprehensive expres
sion, than raerely sending thera to Africa. Afi-ican colonization,
and not simple transportation, is tbe thing which the society pro
poses as its work, and that is the thing, tbe bearing of which on
the abolition of slavery, is called in question.
We have often expressed our views of this subject, raore or less
in detail;* and in Capt. Stuart's argumentation, we discover
nothing to change or modify our opinions. Arguraents derived
from the alledged motives of colonizationists, whether they come
frora Stuart or firom Garrison, weigh nothing at all with us. The
question is, what will be tbe results of tbe work? Not, What are
the motives imputed to its supporters ? If tbe building up of a civi
lized and christian state in Africa, by tbe emigration of people of
color from America, tends in fact to the abolition of slavery, all
the ex^sctations to tbe contrary which may be entertained by the
friends of slavery, cannot reverse that which is as sure as the re
lation of cause and effect. We have to do with tendencies, not
with intentions. Capt. Stuart's only argument on this subject,
not derived from the supposed raotives of those who favor tbe so
ciety, is this : Every slave emancipated and reraoved, increases the
market value of those that reraain ; and thus, by raaking it raore
the interest of tbe slaveholder to hold fast his property, increases
the mighty difficulty in the way of abolition. But what is
this argument worth ? It supposes that slave labor will actually
be removed from the market faster than free labor can come in to
meet the demand thus created — a supposition which, both Stuart and
Garrison would most earnestly protest, can never be realized. The

Chiiutian Spect,itor-, 1830. pp, 477 — 47

J9
argument Is, to us, as if some man should object to the scheme
of the Temperance Society, the scheme of total abstinence, that
it tends to reduce the price of ardent spirits, and thus to promote
intemperance ; because the more subscribei-s there are to this
scheme, the less will be the demand for spu-its ; and the less the
demand the less will be the market value of the article, and the
easier will it be for the idle and the dissipated, to obtain the means
of intoxication. To such an argument, if it should be thought
worth answering, the answer would be ; fii"st, that there is no dan
ger that the cause will advance with so rapid and sudden a move
raent as to produce, even for the shortest tirae, any considerable
disproportion between the demand and the supply ; and secondly,
that even should such an effect be incidentally and temporarily
produced, the moral influence of the Temperance Society, the
natural and inevitable tendency of its scheme, is to the suppres
sion of intemperance. And this is the answer we should give to
the argument in question, respectmg the tendency of colonization.
The acmal tendencies of the enterprise of planting colored colo
nies in Afirica fi-om America, ai-e, so far as the abolition of slavery
is concerned, the^ following. Our limits will permit us to exhibit
but little more than a naked sumraary.
1 . It secures in raany instances the emancipation of slaves by in
dividuals, and thus brings the power of exaraple to bear on public
sentiment. This is not conjecture ; it is proved by the induction
of particulars. The fiiends of the Colonization Society, in their
arguments on this subject, can read off a catalogue of instances,
in which emancipation has already resulted from the progress of
this work. We know that on the other hand it is said, that the
arguments and statements of colonizationists prevent emancipation.
But the proper proof of this assertion would be, to bring forward the
particular facts. Tell us of the individuals who have, as a raatter of
fact, been effectually hindered fi-om setting their slaves at large, by
what they have read in theAfirican Repository,orby what they have
heard firom the agents of the society. We say then that, unless the
testiraony of facts can deceive us, colonization is bringing the power
of example to bear on public sentiment at the south, in regard to
slavery. Each single instance of emancipation is indeed a small
matter when compared with the continued slavery of two millions;
but every such instance, occurring in the midst of a slaveholding
community, is a strong appeal to the natural sentiraents of benevo
lence and justice, in all who witness it.
2. This work, as it advances, tends to improve the character
and elevate the condition of the free people of color, and thus to
take away one standing and very influential argument against both
individual emancipation and general abolition. This, to an unpre-

20
judiced mind, is one of the most obvious tendencies of the African
colonization. As we said on a former occasion,* so we say again,
with the assurance tbat whoever may deny it, none will disbelieve
it, ' Not Hayti has done more to make the negro character respect
ed by mankind, and to afford the raeans of raaking the negro con
scious of his raanbood, than Liberia has aheady accoraplished.
Tbe name of Lot Cary is worth more than the name of Boyer or
Petion. It has done, it is doing, more to rescue the African charac
ter from degradation, than could be done by a thousand voluraes of
reproaches against prejudice.' And thus it has done, and is doijig,
more to accelerate the abolition of slavery, than could be done by a
ship load of such pamphlets and speeches as sorae tbat we might men
tion. Elevate the character ofthe free people of color — let it be seen
tbat they are men indeed — let the degrading associations which follow
them, be broken up by the actual iraproveraent of their character
as a people ; and negro slavery raust rapidly wither and die.
3. African colonization, so far as it is successful, will bring free
labor into tbe fairest and most extended competition with slave la
bor, and will thus raake tbe universal abolition of slavery inevitable.
Doubtless the cultivation of tropical countries by tbe labor of free
and civilized men, raust at some time or other bring about this re
sult, whether our colony is to prosper or to fail. We know what
changes have taken place in Mexico and tbe South Araerican re
publics. We know what changes are threatened and promised in
tbe West Indies. But at the same time we are confident, tbat the
most rapid and most effectual way to bring free labor into fair com
petition with slave labor, and thus to drive tbe products of the latter
out of every market, is to establish, on tbe soil of Africa, a free and
civilized coraraonwealth, whose institutions shall all be fashioned
after American models, and whose population sball be pervaded
and impelled by tbe spirit of American enterprise. This is the work
which tbe American Colonization Society is prosecuting with all its
resources. The friends of slavery may dreara that this work is to
secure and perpetuate that miserable systera ; but if any of them
do thus imagine, they err as widely in that, as they do in supposing
that the repeal of the protective tarif will relieve thera of their em-
brrassments. The free-trade principles, for which tbey are now
contending, are the principles which will, by and by, bring all slave
holders to the alternative of universal emancipation or universal
bankruptcy. 4. The prosecution of this work is already introducing into the
the slaveholding states, inquiry and discussion respecting the evils
pf the existing structure of society there, and tbe possibility of its
"Christian Spectator, 1832, pp. 325, 326-

21
abolition. The great body of the friends of the Colonization So
ciety at the south, no less than at the north, regard the scheme of
that institution as something which will ultimately, in some way,
 deliver the country from the curse of slavery. All who oppose
-the society there, oppose it on the same ground ; they look upon
it as being, in its tendency and in the hopes of its supporters,
an anti-slavery project. Thus in those very regions over w hicli
the system of slavery sheds all its blasting influences, there is con
stituted a party, the raerabers of which are recognized by their
opposers, and more or less distinctly by theraselves, as hostile to
slavery, and as looking for an opportunity to raove for its abolition.
In this way it was that when the occasion presented itself, a few months
ago, the legislature of Virginia became the scene of earnest and public
discussion on this long interdicted therae ; and to the astonishraent
of the nation it appeared, that the party opposed to slavery was only
not a majority. Had colonization never been thought of, — had the
scheme of the Araerican Colonization Society never been under
taken, — ^who believes that projects for the abolition of slavery would
have been so soon, if ever, discussed in the legislature of Virginia ?
Without that preparation of the public raind which the Coloniza
tion Society, in the calm and peacefiil prosecution of its labors, has
indirectly accompUshed, insurrection and massacer, with all the fear
and horror which they occasion, would have led only to new cruel
ties of legislation and of practice. There is no oppression so un- j
relenting or desperate as when the oppressor fears his subjects ; and /
the unanimous feeUng of Virginia would have been — erroneous in-,'
deed, but not on that account the less irresistible or inflexible — a
feeling like that of him who holds a wolf by the ears ; — it is dan
gerous to keep him, but more dangerous to let hira loose, and there
fore the raore fiirious the straggles of the prisoner, the fiercer and
closer will be the despairing grasp that holds hira.
We entertain no doubt that -the discussion thus coramenced
wiU gradually become more fi-ee and thorough, and will appeal
more directiy to the great law that ackowledges the inalienable
and universal rights of man, and will at the sarae time find
its way still farther south, till it pervades and awakens every
State fi:om the Potoraac to the gulph of Mexico. This is inevitable ;
the discussion of such a subject, involving such hopes and fears and
interests, when once it has been opened, can never be suppressed.
Nor is tbis all. Such a system as slavery cannot long withstand
the power of free and full discussion. The hour in which the de
bate on slavery comraenced in the capitol at Richraond, raay be
considered as having sealed the death-warrant of the systera, not
only for Virginia, but for the nation. And now it may be said that
whatever is to be hereafter the success of the Colonization Society in

22
the prosecution of its own appropriate enterprise, this great result
is ultimately sure. Not tbat it has nothing raore to do by its uidi-
rect influence in accelerating this result ; certainly the greater the
success which shall attend the colonization of Africa, the greater
will be the progress of public opinion towards this consuramation.
But let tbe socfety be dissolved, let tbe pirates of the Afi-ican seas
wreak on Liberia their cherished wrath ; let Montserado be raade
again a mart for the slave-trade ; let the spot now adorned with
christian churches become again the scene of devil-worship ; let
the smiling villages on the St. Paul's be raade desolate, and the
now cultivated soil be overspread again with the vegetation of the
wilderness ; still it wiU be true that the indirect influence of the
American Colonization Society, has secured the ultimate abolition
of slavery.
The treatise in the American Quarterly Review, referred to at
the head of this article, is an illustration of what we have been say
ing. It shows that tbe discussion is to proceed ; that those interested
in the perpetuation of slavery are constrained to corae down from
that high attitude of pride and defiance which tbey have been wont
to maintain, and begin to feel the necessity of defending their cause
by argument. " We have heretofore doubted," says tbis writer,
" the propriety of too frequently agitating, especially in a public
manner, tbe questions of abolition, in consequence of [we suppose
he means, on account of] tbe injurious effects which raight be pro
duced on the slave population. But the Virginia legislature, in
its zeal for discussion, boldly set aside all prudential considerations
of tbis kind, and openly and publicly debated the subject before
tbe whole world. The seal has now been broken, tbe exaraple
has been setfrom a high quarter ; we shall therefore w^aive all con
siderations of a prudential character which have heretofore restrain
ed us, and boldly grapple whh the abolitionists on this great ques
tion." Tbe seal is broken indeed. A new order of things has
already begun, when a slaveholding politician finds himself con
strained to write seventy-five pages, of closely printed argument,
against the abolition of slavery.
We shall-not attempt the task of replying to tbis writer. That
has been already done, as we perceive, and ably done, by another
writer in tbe same work,* a writer whose powerful and accomplished
mind we are happy to see again employed on tbis so deeply inter
esting subject. We shall take an early opportunity, however, to
examine somewhat at length the various processes by vvhich slav^ery
might be abolished; and to inquire what would be the probable
" American Quarterly Review, No, XXIV. p. 379.

23
fate of the colored population and of tbe southern country, if sla
very should be abolished, and the emancipated blacks be left to shift
for themselves in competition with an intelligent, enterprising, la
borious, and growing population of another race.
Meanwhile we suggest, for the consideration of our readers at the
south, a few inquiries addressed to tiieir consciences as christians.
1. Is it not your duty to be continually promoting in your sphere
of influence, inquiry aud discussion respecting the practicability and
duty of abolishing slavery ? Tbis may demand rauch prudence
and meekness, and rauch courage ; but now that the subject is fairly
out for universal examination and debate, now that it is no longer
at the option of tiie southern community whether such discussion
shall be permitted,* ought you not to inforra yourself respecting
the facts and principles that have a bearing on the controversy ?
and as you have opportunity and influence, ought you not to lead
vour neighbors to sirailar inquiries ? so that, as you and they are
called to act on this great interest, you and they raay act, not un
der the influence of prejudice and passion, but caknly and with all
the Ught which philosophy and history have thrown upon the sub
ject. 2. Is it not your duty to befiriend the free blacks by all the kind
offices in your power ? You look upon thera as a dangerous class ;
will they be more dangerous, think you, if christian philanthropy^
remembering that God hath raade of one blood all nations of men,
searches them out in their degradation, and diligently seeks to do
them good? You say they are indolent, thriftless, aid vicious ;
can you do nothing to give them employment, to encourage the
beginnings of their industry, and to train their children to better
habits ? Can you do nothing to waken their minds and to inspire
them with new ideas and motives, by telling them of what benevo
lence has proposed for their benefit, and of that father-land of theirs
beyond the sea, vvhich offers them a refuge for themselves, and a
broad and fair inheritance fbr their children ?
3. Is it not your duty to insist on the instruction of the colored
population, bond and free ? Startle not — nor reject the inquiry till
you have pondeied it well. " Our danger," said a slaveholder* to
the writer of this article, not many months ago, " is not from the
intelligence of these people, but from their ignorance." What can be
more undeniable, what can be plainer than that it is ignorance which
creates such fanatics as Nat Turner, and ignorance, dark and brutal
ignorance, which fits their fellow slaves to be their dupes and victims ?
*A slaveholder — or, at least, one who?o nynn path ies are all with the slaveholders
ef the Soutii.

Who does not believe that if the negroes understood, as a littie intel
ligence would make them understand, their own irabecility and the
colossal vastness of the power which is pledged to hold thera in sub
jection, the frequency and the danger of conspiracies and insurrec
tions, would be greatiy diminished ? Who does not believe that if
the negroes, instead of being abandoned to tbe influence of such
preachers as rise up among theraselves, with a pretended inspi-.
ration, were thoroughly instructed in the principles of tbe gospel
by corapetent christian teachers, they would be far less dangerous
than they now are ? Besides, tbe question whether the negroes
sball have knowledge, is no longer subraitted to your choice or to
the choice of your fellow citizens. -.;Many of thera are learning
self-taught, or by rautual instruction, learning every day, learning."
to read, and to write, learning every thing which your legislators
think they ought not to learn. No laws, no police, no standing
army can Utterly hinder them from learning. You raay still decide
however, whether tbey sball all be- taught, or whether here and
there an individual acquiring knowledge by his own efforts shall, in
that way, acquire a dangerous power over his degraded brethren.
And it is still for you to say, whether they shall learn in spite qf
you, and as they leam, curse you for having taken away firom them
the key of knowledge ; or whether the tie of gratitude and vene
ration that binds the learner to his teacher, shall bind them to you.
We leave tbe question then with your sense of duty to yourselves
and to the wretched beings among whom, and over whora, God
has placed you. Ought you not to insist on the instraction of the
colored population, bond and free ?
On the answer which is- given to such questions as these, great
interests are depending. Dangei: there may be in agitating the
subject of reform and abolition ; but thfere is raore danger, infinitely
raore, in sitting stUl, and saying. Peace, peace, while the bondage
and ignorance and innumerable wrongs of two raillions of human
beings are becommg tbe bondage, the ignorance, the innumer
able wrongs of three millions, and of four, and of railUons accumu
lating upon raillions, in successive generations. Danger there raay
be in every atterapt to reraedy such evils ; but in the evils them
selves there is a deadUer danger, and is it not the height of cow
ardice to incur the greater for the sake of avoiding theiess ?

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