Thoughts on African Colonization Part 13

'Let the wise and good among us unite in removing the blacks from the country. Would it not be expedient for the properly const.i.tuted authorities to prevent the manumission of slaves in every case, unless provision is made, at the same time, to secure their removal from the country?'--[Alexandria Gazette.]

'We should be in favor of the abolition of slavery, if its abolishment could be effected with safety, and the colored population sent back to Africa; but merely to have them obtain freedom and let loose upon society, would be the greatest curse that could befal _them_ or _community_.'--[Ess.e.x Chronicle and County Republican.]

'THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY WAS NO OBJECT OF DESIRE TO HIM, UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY COLONIZATION. So far was he from desiring it, unaccompanied by this condition, that HE WOULD NOT LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE THE ONE TOOK PLACE WITHOUT THE OTHER'!!!--[Mr Mercer's Speech in Congress.]

In order to wipe off the reproach due to this violent expulsion, it was necessary, on the part of the Society, to find some pretext that would not only seem to justify but confer credit on the measure. Accordingly, it agreed to represent the colored inhabitants of the United States as aliens and foreigners, who, cast upon our sh.o.r.es by a cruel fatality, were sighing to return to their native land. 'Poor unfortunate exiles!'--how touching the appeal, how powerful the motive to a.s.sist, how likely to excite the compa.s.sion of the nation! Ah! what an air of disinterested benevolence, of generous compa.s.sion, of national attachment, must such an enterprise wear in the eyes of the world! Who that loved his own country, and deprecated an eternal absence from it, could refuse to help in restoring the unfortunate Africans to their long-estranged home? Such was, and is, and is likely to be, the artifice resorted to, in order to cover a base conspiracy, and give popularity to one of the wildest and most disgraceful crusades the world has ever witnessed. Let the following evidence suffice:

'At no very distant period, we should see all the free colored people in our land transferred to _their own country_.' * * 'Let us send them back to _their native land_.' * * 'By returning them to _their own ancient land_ of Africa, improved in knowledge and in civilization, we repay the debt which has so long been due them.'--[African Repository, vol. i. pp. 65, 146, 176.]

'And though we may not live to see the day when the sons of Africa shall have returned to _their native soil_,' &c. * * 'To found in Africa an empire of christians and republicans; to reconduct the blacks to _their native land_,' &c.--[Idem, pp.

13, 375.]

'Who would not rejoice to see our country liberated from her black population? Who would not partic.i.p.ate in any efforts to restore those children of misfortune to _their native sh.o.r.es_?'

* * 'The colored population of this country can never rise to respectability here; in _their native soil_ they can.' * * 'The only remedy afforded is, to colonize them in _their mother country_.' * * 'They would go to that _home_ from which they have been long absent.' * * 'Shall we ... retain and foster the _alien enemies_?'--[Idem, 88, 179, 185, 237.]

'Be all these benefits enjoyed by the African race under the shade of their native palms.'--[Idem, vol. vi. p. 372.]

'We have a numerous people, who, though they are among us, _are not of us_.'--[Second Annual Report of the N. Y. State Col.

Soc.]

'Among us is a growing population of _strangers_.' * * 'It will furnish the means of granting to _every African exile_ among us a happy home in the land of his fathers.'--[Rev. Baxter d.i.c.kinson's Sermon.]

'Africa is indeed inviting her long exiled children to return to her bosom.'--[Circular of Rev. Mr Gurley.]

Nothing could be more invidious or absurd than the foregoing representation. The great ma.s.s of our colored population were born in this country. This is their native soil; here they first saw the light of heaven, and inhaled the breath of life; here they have grown from infancy to manhood and old age; from these sh.o.r.es they have never wandered; they are the descendants of those who were forcibly torn from Africa two centuries ago; their fathers a.s.sisted in breaking the yoke of British oppression, and achieving that liberty which we prize above all price; and they cherish the strongest attachment to the land of their birth. Now, as they could not have been born in two countries, and as they were certainly born here, it follows that Africa is not their native home, and, consequently, that the Society has dealt in romance, or something more culpable, in representing them as strangers and aliens. It might as rationally charge them with being natives of Asia or Europe, or with having descended from the regions of the moon. To see ourselves gravely represented in a British periodical as natives of Great Britain, I doubt not would create great merriment; and a scheme for our transportation would add vastly to our sport.

'But,' we are told, 'G.o.d has put a mark upon the black man.' True; and he has also put a mark upon every man, woman and child, in the world; so that every one differs in appearance from another--is easily identified--and, to make the objection valid, should occupy a _distinct_ portion of territory, be himself a nation, enact his own laws, and live in perpetual solitude! The difference between a black and a white skin is not greater than that between a white and a black one. In either case, the mark is distinctive; and the blacks may as reasonably expel the whites, as the whites the blacks. To make such a separation we have no authority; to attempt it, would end only in disappointment; and, if it were carried into effect, those who are clamorous for the measure would be among the first to be cast out. The all-wise Creator, having 'made of _one blood_ all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,' it is proper for them to a.s.sociate freely together; and he is a proud worm of the dust who is ashamed to acknowledge this common relationship.

Again we are told: 'The G.o.d of Nature intended the blacks should be a _distinct_ community.' But has he been frustrated in his intentions?

Where is the proof of such purpose? Let us have something more than the _ipse dixit_ of the Society. Yes, we are seriously a.s.sured that Nature has played falsely! Colored persons were born by mistake in this country: they should have been born in Africa! We must therefore rectify the error, with all despatch, by transporting them to their _native soil_! Truly, a most formidable enterprise! There occur at least sixty thousand of such _mistakes_, annually; while the Society has corrected only about two thousand in fourteen years! But--courage! men engaged in a laudable enterprise should never despair!

There are some difficulties, however, in the accomplishment of this mighty task, which cannot be easily overcome. Granting the position a.s.sumed by colonizationists, that the _blacks_ and the _whites_ should occupy different countries, how do they intend to dispose of that numerous and rapidly increasing cla.s.s who are neither white nor black, called mulattoes? We have not been informed to what country they belong; but the point ought to be settled before any cla.s.sification be made.

Colonizationists must define, moreover, the exact shade of color which is to retain or banish individuals; for every candid mind will admit, that it would be as unnatural to send _white_ blood to Africa, as to keep _black_ blood in America. 'If the color of the skin is to give construction to our const.i.tution and laws, let us, at once, begin the work of excision. Let us raise an army of pure whites, if such an army can be found; and let us drive out and transport to foreign climes, men, women and children, who cannot bring the most satisfactory vouchers, that their veins are flowing with the purest English blood. Indeed, let us shut up our ports against our own mariners, who are returning from an India voyage, and whose cheeks and muscles could not wholly withstand the influence of the breezes and tropics to which they were exposed. Let us make every shade of complexion, every difference of stature, and every contraction of a muscle, a Shibboleth, to detect and cut off a brother Ephraimite, at the fords of Jordan. Though such a crusade would turn every man's sword against his fellow; yet, it might establish the right of precedence to different features, statures and colors, and oblige some friends of colonization to test the feasibility and equity of their own scheme.'

If I must become a colonizationist, I insist upon being consistent: there must be no disagreement between my creed and practice. I must be able to give a reason why all our tall citizens should not conspire to remove their more diminutive brethren, and all the corpulent to remove the lean and lank, and all the strong to remove the weak, and all the educated to remove the ignorant, and all the rich to remove the poor, as readily as for the removal of those whose skin is 'not colored like my own;' for Nature has sinned as culpably in diversifying the size as the complexion of her progeny, and Fortune in the distribution of her gifts has been equally fickle. I cannot perceive that I am more excusable in desiring the banishment of my neighbor because his skin is darker than mine, than I should be in desiring his banishment because he is a smaller or feebler man than myself. Surely it would be sinful for a black man to repine and murmur, and impeach the wisdom and goodness of G.o.d, because he was made with a sable complexion; and dare I be guilty of such an impeachment, by persecuting him on account of his color? I dare not: I would as soon deny the existence of my Creator, as quarrel with the workmanship of his hands. I rejoice that he has made one star to differ from another star in glory; that he has not given to the sun the softness and gentleness of the moon, nor to the moon the intensity and magnificence of the sun; that he presents to the eye every conceivable shape, and aspect, and color, in the gorgeous and multifarious productions of Nature; and I do not rejoice less, but admire and exalt him more, that, notwithstanding he has made of one blood the whole family of man, he has made the whole family of man to differ in personal appearance, habits and pursuits.

I protest against sending any to Africa, in whose blood there is any mixture of our own; for, I repeat it, white blood in Africa would be as repugnant to Nature, as black blood is in this country. Now; most unfortunately for colonizationists, the spirit of amalgamation has been so active for a long series of years,--especially in the slave States,--that there are comparatively few, besides those who are annually smuggled into the south from Africa, whose blood is not tainted with a foreign ingredient. Here, then, is a difficulty! What shall be done? All black blood _must_ be sent to Africa; but how to collect it is the question. What shall be done! Why, we must resort to _phlebotomy_!

'Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.

---------------- nor cut thou less nor more, But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more, Or less, than just a pound,--be it but so much As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance, Or the division of the twentieth part Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn But in the estimation of a hair, Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate!'

The colonization crusade cannot now fail of being popular. Phlebotomy being agreed to as a _dernier resort_, I shall briefly enumerate some of the various professions and cla.s.ses which may expect to derive no inconsiderable gain from its execution; for as our government, in conjunction with benevolent a.s.sociations, is to appropriate millions of dollars to accomplish this object, the pay will be sure and liberal.

In the first place, there will be more than a million patients, for whose accommodation hospitals must be erected. These hospitals will employ brick-makers, masons, carpenters, painters, glaziers, &c. &c.

&c.; of course, the approval of a large body of mechanics is readily secured.

Physicians will next obtain an extensive practice. Their patients, in consequence of a free application of the lancet, must necessarily be debilitated, and can be kept 'quite low' until a long score of charges be run up against the government.

Among so many patients and so much unavoidable sickness, druggists and apothecaries will obtain a profitable sale for their medicines. Nurses will be next in demand, who may expect high wages. Even the lowly washers of soiled clothes will find the life-blood of the victims 'coined into drachms' for their reward. It is highly probable that many of the patients may die under the expurgatory process, and hence s.e.xtons and coffin-makers may calculate upon good times. With death come mourning and lamentation, and 'weeds of wo.' Dealers in c.r.a.pe will doubtless secure a handsome patronage. Lawyers may hope to profit by the demise of those who possess property. Indeed, almost every cla.s.s in community must, to a greater or less extent, feel the beneficial effects of this philanthropic but novel experiment. The blood, taken from the veins of the blacks, may be transfused into our own, and the general pulse acquire new vigor.

Supposing a majority of the patients should recover, three other cla.s.ses will thrive by their expulsion--namely, ship-builders, merchants and seamen. As our vessels are all occupied in profitable pursuits, new ones must be built--freights will rise--and the wages of seamen be proportionably enhanced.--But a truce to irony.

The American Colonization Society, in making the banishment of the slaves the condition of their emanc.i.p.ation, inflicts upon them an aggravated wrong, perpetuates their thraldom, and disregards the claims of everlasting and immutable justice. The language of its most distinguished supporters is, 'Emanc.i.p.ation, with the liberty to remain on this side of the Atlantic, is but an act of dreamy madness'--'Emanc.i.p.ation, without removal from the country, is out of the question'--'All emanc.i.p.ation, to however small an extent, which permits the person emanc.i.p.ated to remain in this country, is an evil'--'They cannot be emanc.i.p.ated as a people, and remain among us.' Thus the restoration of an inalienable right, and an abandonment of robbery and oppression, are made to depend upon the practicability of transporting more than one sixth portion of our whole population to a far distant and barbarous land! It is impossible to imagine a more cruel, heaven-daring and G.o.d-dishonoring scheme. It exhibits a deliberate and perverse disregard of every moral obligation, and bids defiance to the requisitions of the gospel.

Listen to the avowal of Mr Mercer of Virginia, one of the main pillars and most highly extolled supporters of the Society: 'The abolition of slavery was no object of desire to him, unless accompanied by colonization. So far was he from desiring it, unaccompanied by this condition, that _he would not live in a country where the one took place without the other_'! This language may be correctly rendered thus: 'I desire to see two millions of human beings plundered of their rights, and subjected to every species of wrong and outrage, _ad infinitum_, if they cannot be driven out of the country. I am perfectly willing to live with them while they are treated worse than cattle,--ignorant, vicious, and wretched,--and while they are held under laws which forbid their instruction; and not only am I willing thus to live, but I am determined to practise the same oppression. But, if they should be emanc.i.p.ated with liberty to remain here, and placed in a situation favorable to their moral and intellectual improvement--a situation in which they could be no longer bought and sold, lacerated and manacled, defrauded and oppressed--I would abandon my native land, and never return to her sh.o.r.es.' And this is the language of a _philanthropist_! and this the moral principle of the boasted champion of the American Colonization Society! Whose indignation does not kindle, whose astonishment is not profound, whose disgust is not excited, in view of these sentiments?

But this is not the acme of colonization insanity. The a.s.sertion is made by a highly respectable partisan, and endorsed by the organ of the Society, that '_it would be as humane to throw the slaves from the decks in the middle pa.s.sage_, [i. e. into the ocean,] _as to set them free in our country_'!!! And even Henry Clay, who is an oracle in the cause, has had the boldness to declare, that the slaves should be held in everlasting servitude if they cannot be colonized in Africa!! And this sentiment is echoed by another, who says, 'Liberate them only on condition of their going to Africa or Hayti'!

I will not even seem to undervalue the good sense and quick perception of the candid and intelligent reader, by any farther endeavors to ill.u.s.trate the sacrifice of principle and inhumanity of purpose which are contained in the extracts under the present section. With so strong an array of evidence before him, no one, who is not mentally blind or governed by prejudice, can fail to rise from its perusal with amazement and abhorrence, and a determination to a.s.sist in overthrowing a combination which is based upon the rotten foundation of expediency and violence.

The Colonization Society expressly denies the right of the slaves to enjoy freedom and happiness in this country; and this denial incontestibly tends to rivet their fetters more firmly, or make them the victims of a relentless persecution.

FOOTNOTES:

[R] What right have we to an homestead in the red man's country? Let us return to the land of our fathers, and leave this soil untarnished by the footprint of him who hath a white skin! What right have the hosts of foreign emigrants, who are flocking to our sh.o.r.es, to an homestead among ourselves?

SECTION VIII.

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE DISPARAGER OF THE FREE BLACKS.

The leaders in the African colonization crusade seem to dwell with a malignant satisfaction upon the poverty and degradation of the free people of color, and are careful never to let an opportunity pa.s.s without heaping their abuse and contempt upon them. It is a common device of theirs to contrast the condition of the slaves with that of this cla.s.s, and invariably to strike the balance heavily in favor of the former! In this manner, thousands are led to look upon slavery as a benevolent system, and to deprecate the manumission of its victims.

Nothing but a love of falsehood, or an utter disregard of facts, could embolden these calumniators to deal so extensively in fiction. What! the slaves more happy, more moral, more industrious, more orderly, more comfortable, more exalted, than the free blacks! A more enormous exaggeration, a more heinous libel, a wider departure from truth, was never fabricated, or uttered, or known. The slaves, as a body, are in the lowest state of degradation; they possess no property; they cannot read; they are as ignorant, as their masters are reckless, of moral obligation; they have no motive for exertion; they are thieves from necessity and usage; their bodies are cruelly lacerated by the cart-whip; and they are disposable property. And yet these poor miserable, perishing, mutilated creatures are placed above our free colored population in dignity, in enjoyment, in privilege, in usefulness, in respectability!!

'There is a cla.s.s, however, more numerous than all these, introduced amongst us by violence, notoriously ignorant, degraded and miserable, mentally diseased, broken-spirited, _acted upon by no motives to honorable exertions_, SCARCELY REACHED IN THEIR DEBAs.e.m.e.nT BY THE HEAVENLY LIGHT; yet where is the sympathy and effort which a view of their condition ought to excite? They wander unsettled and unbefriended through our land, or sit indolent, abject and sorrowful, by the "streams which witness their captivity." Their freedom is _licentiousness_, and to many RESTRAINT WOULD PROVE A BLESSING. To this remark there are exceptions; exceptions proving that to change their state would be to elevate their character; that virtue and enterprise are absent, only, because absent are the causes which create the one, and the motives which produce the other.'--[African Repository, vol. i. p. 68.]

'Free blacks are a greater nuisance than even slaves themselves.' * * * 'They knew that where slavery had been abolished it had operated to the advantage of the masters, not of the slaves: they saw this fact most strikingly ill.u.s.trated in the case of the free negroes of Boston. If, on the anniversary celebrated by the free people of color, of the day on which slavery was abolished, they looked abroad, what did they see?

Not freemen, in the enjoyment of every attribute of freedom, with the stamp of liberty upon their brows! No, Sir; they saw a ragged set, crying out liberty! for whom liberty had nothing to bestow, and whose enjoyment of it was but in name. He spoke of the great body of the blacks; there were some few honorable exceptions, he knew, which only proved what might be done for all.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 328.]

'Although there are individual exceptions distinguished by high moral and intellectual worth, yet the free blacks in our country are, as a body, more vicious and degraded than any other which our population embraces.' * * * 'If, then, they are a useless and dangerous species of population, we would ask, is it generous in our southern friends to burthen us with them?

Knowing themselves the evils of slavery, can they wish to impose upon us an evil scarcely less tolerable? We think it a mistaken philanthropy, which would liberate the slave, unfitted by education and habit for freedom, and cast him upon a merciless and despising world, where his only fortune must be poverty, his only distinction degradation, and his only comfort insensibility.' * * * 'I will look no farther when I seek for the _most degraded, the most abandoned race on the earth_, but rest my eyes on this people. What but sorrow can we feel at the _misguided piety_ which has set free so many of them by death-bed devise or sudden conviction of injustice? Better, far better, for us, had they been kept in bondage, where the opportunity, the inducements, the necessity of vice would not have been so great. Deplorable necessity, indeed, to one borne down with the consciousness of the violence we have done. Yet I am clear that, whether we consider it with reference to the welfare of the State, or the happiness of the blacks, it were better to have left them in chains, than to have liberated them to receive such freedom as they enjoy, and greater freedom _we cannot, must not_ allow them.' * * 'There is not a State in the Union not at this moment groaning under the evil of this cla.s.s of persons, a curse and a contagion whereever they reside.' * *

'The increase of a free black population among us has been regarded as a greater evil than the increase of slaves.'--[African Repository, vol. iii. pp. 24, 25, 197, 203, 374.]

'Mr. Mercer adverted to the situation of his native State, and the condition of the free black population existing there, whom he described as a horde of miserable people--the objects of universal suspicion; _subsisting by plunder_.'--[Idem, vol. iv.