Thoughts on African Colonization Part 3

I shall not stop to interrogate the motives of those who planned the Society. Some of them, undoubtedly, were actuated by a benevolent desire to promote the welfare of our colored population, and could never have intended to countenance oppression. But the question is not, whether their motives were good or bad. Suppose they were all good--would this fact prove infallibly that they could not err in judgment? Do we not almost daily see men running headlong into wild and injurious enterprises with the very best intentions? There is a wide difference between meaning well and doing well. The slave trade originated in a compa.s.sionate regard for the benighted Africans; and yet we hang those who are detected in this traffic. I am willing to concede that Robert Finley and Elias B. Caldwell were philanthropic individuals; and that a large number of their followers are men of piety, benevolence and moral worth. What then? Is the American Colonization Society a beneficial inst.i.tution? We shall see hereafter.

The history of this Society is familiar to the public. It was organized about the commencement of the year 1817. The first public meeting to consider the expediency of such an organization was held on the 21st of December, 1816, at which the Hon. Henry Clay presided; but I have never seen its official proceedings. It was addressed by Mr Clay, _Mr Randolph_, Mr Caldwell, and other gentlemen, from whose speeches extracts will shortly be given.

It is my purpose in this section to show, first, the original design of the Society; secondly, that it is still strictly adhered to; and, lastly, that the Society is solemnly pledged not to interfere with the system of slavery, or in any manner to disturb the repose of the planters. Upon the rigid observance of this sinful pledge depends its existence; a single violation of it would be fatal. I want no better reason than this, to wage an uncompromising warfare against it. No man has a right to form an alliance with others, which prevents him from rebuking sin or exposing the guilt of sinners. Every individual is bound to oppose the system of slavery in the most direct, strenuous, unfaltering manner--bound by the ties of brotherhood, by the spirit of Christianity, by the genius of republicanism, by the dictates of humanity, by the requirements of justice, by the love of country, by duty to his G.o.d. He cannot suppress his voice, nor stop his ears to the groans of the prisoners, and be innocent. If he hide the truth because it may give offence--if he strike hands in amity with a thief--if he leave the needy and oppressed to perish--G.o.d will visit him with plagues. Now the language of the non-slaveholding members of the Colonization Society to the owners of slaves is virtually as follows:--'The free people of color are a nuisance to us, and plotters of sedition among your slaves. If they be not speedily removed, your _property_ will be lost, and your lives destroyed. We therefore do solemnly agree, that, if you will unite with us in expelling this dangerous cla.s.s from our sh.o.r.es, we will never accuse you of robbery or oppression, or irritate your feelings by a.s.serting the right of the slaves to immediate freedom, or identify any one of you as a criminal; but, on the contrary, we will boldly a.s.sert your innocence, and applaud you as wise and benevolent men for holding your slaves in subjection until you can cast them out of the country.' I say, this is _virtually_ their language, as I shall soon indisputably show. Thus we are presented with the strange spectacle of a procession composed of the most heterogeneous materials. There go, arm-in-arm, a New-England divine and a southern kidnapper; and there an unG.o.dly slaveholder and a pious deacon; each eyeing the other with distrust, and fearful of exciting a quarrel, both denouncing the poor, neglected, despised free black man as a miserable, good-for-nothing creature, and both gravely complimenting their foresight and generosity in sending this worthless wretch on a religious mission to Africa!

I cannot exhibit the folly and wickedness of this alliance in a clearer light than by inserting the following extract of a letter from Capt.

Charles Stuart, of the English Royal Navy, one of the most indefatigable philanthropists in England:

'The American Colonization Society looks abroad over its own country, and it finds a ma.s.s of its brethren, whom G.o.d has been pleased to clothe with a darker skin. It finds one portion of these free! another enslaved! It finds a cruel prejudice, as dark and false as sin can make it, reigning with a most tyrannous sway against both. It finds this prejudice respecting the _free_, declaring without a blush, "We are too wicked ever to love them as G.o.d commands us to do--we are so resolute in our wickedness as not even to desire to do so--and we are so proud in our iniquity that we will hate and revile whoever disturbs us in it--We want, like the devils of old, to be let alone in our sin--We are unalterably determined, and neither G.o.d nor man shall move us from this resolution, that our free colored fellow subjects never shall be happy in their native land." The American Colonization Society, I say, finds this most base and cruel prejudice, _and lets it alone_; nay more, it directly and powerfully supports it.

'The American Colonization Society finds 2,000,000 of its fellow subjects most iniquitously enslaved--and it finds a resolution as proud and wicked as the very spirit of the pit can make it against _obeying_ G.o.d and _letting them_ go free in their native land. _It lets this perfectly infernal resolution alone_, nay more, it powerfully supports it; for it in fact says, as a fond and feeble father might say to some overgrown baby before whose obstinate wickedness he quailed, "Never mind, my dear, I don't want to prevent your beating and abusing your brothers and sisters--let that be--but here is a box of sugar plums--do pray give them one or two now and then." The American Colonization Society says practically to the slaveholders and the slave party in the United States, "We don't want to prevent your plundering 2,000,000 of our fellow subjects of their liberty and of the fruits of their toil; although we know that by every principle of law which does not utterly disgrace us by a.s.similating us to pirates, that they have as good and as true a right to the equal protection of the law as we have; and although we ourselves stand prepared to die, rather than submit even to a fragment of the intolerable load of oppression to which we are subjecting them--yet never mind--let that be--they have grown old in suffering, and we in iniquity--and we have nothing to do now but to speak _peace_, _peace_ to one another in our sins. But if any of their masters, whether from benevolence, an awakened conscience, or political or personal fear, should emanc.i.p.ate any, let us send them to Liberia--that is, in fact, let us give a sugar plum here and there to a few, while the many are living and dying unredressed--and while we are thus countenancing the atrocious iniquity beneath which they are perishing." In this aspect I find the American Colonization Society declaring itself a subst.i.tute for emanc.i.p.ation, and it is in this aspect that I contend with it, and that I proclaim it, _as far as it has this character_, no farther, a bane to the colored people, whether enslaved or free, and a snare and a disgrace to its country.'

The second article of the Const.i.tution of this Society is in the following language:

'The object to which its attention is to be _exclusively_ directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of color residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient. And the Society shall act, to effect this object, in co-operation with the General Government, and such of the States as may adopt regulations upon the subject.'

The following citations abundantly sustain the charge, that the Society has not swerved from its original design, and does not oppose the system of slavery:

'Whilst he was up, he would detain the Society for a few moments. It was proper again and again to repeat, that it was far from the intention of the Society to affect, _in any manner_, the tenure by which a certain species of property is held. He was himself a slaveholder; _and he considered that kind of property as inviolable as any other in the country_. He would resist as soon, and with as much firmness, encroachments upon it as he would encroachments upon any other property which he held.

Nor was he disposed even to go as far as the gentleman who had just spoken, (Mr Mercer) in saying that he would emanc.i.p.ate his slaves, if the means were provided of sending them from the country.'--[Speech of Henry Clay.--First Annual Report.]

'It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he understood it const.i.tuted no part of the object of this meeting, to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate question, connected with another portion of the colored population of our country. It was not proposed to deliberate upon or consider at all, any question of emanc.i.p.ation, or that which was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon that condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the South and West, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be expected to co-operate. It was upon that condition only, that he himself had attended.'--[Speech of Mr Clay before the Society, Jan. 1, 1818.--Second Annual Report.]

'It had been properly observed by the chairman, as well as by the gentleman from this District (Messrs Clay and Caldwell) that there was nothing in the proposition submitted to consideration which in the smallest degree touched another very important and delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of view as possible, (Negro slavery.) * * * Mr R. concluded by saying, that he had thought it necessary to make these remarks, being a slaveholder himself, to shew, that, so far from being connected with the abolition of slavery, _the measure proposed would prove one of the greatest securities to enable the master to keep in possession his own property_.'--[Speech of John Randolph at the same meeting.]

'Your committee would not thus favorably regard the prayer of the memorialists, if it sought to impair, _in the slightest degree_, the rights of private property, or the yet more sacred rights of personal liberty, secured to every description of freemen in the United States.

'The resolution of the legislature of Virginia, the subsequent acts and declarations, as well as the high character of the memorialists themselves, added to the most obvious interest of the states who have recently sanctioned the purpose, or recognized the existence of the American Colonization Society, exclude _the remotest apprehension of such injustice and inhumanity_.'

--[Report of the committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, on the memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the Colonization Society.--Second Annual Report.]

'An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of the country can unite, of course _must not have the abolition of slavery for its immediate object_. NOR MAY IT AIM DIRECTLY AT THE INSTRUCTION OF THE BLACKS. In either case, the _prejudices_ and _terrors_ of the slaveholding States would be excited in a moment; and with reason too, for it is a well-established point, that _the public safety forbids either the emanc.i.p.ation or the general instruction of the slaves_.' * * * 'It [African Colonization] is an enterprise in which _all parts of the country can unite_. The grand objection to every other effort is, that it excites the _jealousies_ and _fears_ of the south.

But here is an effort in which the southern people are the first to engage, and which numbers many of their most distinguished men among its advocates and efficient supporters.'--[Review of the Reports of the Society, from the Christian Spectator.--Seventh Annual Report.]

'It will be seen at home and abroad, that the American Colonization Society, while it _properly enough_ stands aloof from the question of slavery, and the abolition of slavery,'

&c.--[Report of William McKenney.--Eighth Annual Report.]

'The objects of this inst.i.tution are well known to the world; for no concealment whatever has ever been intended. The Society aims at the removal of free persons of color; _it interferes, in no way whatever, with the rights of property_.'--[Speech of G.

W. Custis, Esq.--Ninth Annual Report.]

'We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this question. The Society goes into no household to disturb its domestic tranquillity; it addresses itself to no slaves to weaken their obligations of obedience. _It seeks to affect no man's property._'--[Speech of Mr Clay.--Tenth Annual Report.]

'The Committee to whom was referred the memorial of the American Colonization Society, have had the subject under consideration, and now report:

'That upon due consideration of the said memorial, and from all other information which your committee has obtained, touching that subject, they are fully satisfied that no jealousies ought to exist, on the part of this or any other slaveholding State, respecting the objects of this Society, or the effects of its labors.'--[Report of a committee of the Legislature of Delaware, Feb. 8th, 1827.]

'The Society has reiterated the declaration that it has no ulterior views diverse from the object avowed in the const.i.tution; and having declared that it is in nowise allied to any Abolition Society in America or elsewhere, is ready whenever there is need TO Pa.s.s A CENSURE UPON SUCH SOCIETIES IN AMERICA.'--[Speech of Mr Harrison of Virginia.--Eleventh Annual Report.]

'We have the same interests in this subject with our southern brethren--the same opportunity of understanding it, and of knowing with what _care_ and _prudence_ it should be approached.

What greater pledge can we give for the moderation and safety of our measures than our own interests as slaveholders, and the ties that bind us to the slaveholding communities to which we belong?'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Same Report.]

'The second objection may be resolved into this; that the Society, under the specious pretext of removing a vicious and noxious population, is secretly undermining the rights of private property. This is the objection expressed in its full force, and if your memorialists could for a moment believe it to be true in point of fact, they would never, _slaveholders as they are_, have a.s.sociated themselves together for the purpose of co-operating with the Parent Society; and far less would they have appeared in the character in which they now do, before the legislative bodies of a slaveholding State. And, if any instance could be now adduced, in which the Society has ever manifested even an intention to depart from the avowed object, for the promotion of which it was originally inst.i.tuted, none would with more willingness and readiness withdraw from it their countenance and support. But, from the time of its formation, down to the present period, all its operations have been directed exclusively to the promotion of its one grand object, namely, the colonization in Africa of the free people of color of the United States. It has always protested, and through your memorialists it again protests, that _it has no wish to interfere_ with the delicate but important subject of slavery.

It has never, in a solitary instance, addressed itself to the slave. It has never sought to invade the tranquillity of the domestic circle, nor the peace and safety of society.'--[Memorial of the Auxiliary Colonization Society of Powhatan, to the Legislature of Virginia.--Twelfth Annual Report.]

'Therefore she looked, and well might she look, to colonization and to colonization alone. To abolition _she could not look_, and need not look. Whatever that scheme may have done, heretofore, in the States now free, it had done nothing and could do nothing in the slave States for the cause of humanity.

This subject he rejoiced to know was now better understood, and all began to see that it was _wiser_ and _safer_ to remove, by colonization, a great and otherwise insuperable impediment to emanc.i.p.ation, _than to act upon the subject of emanc.i.p.ation itself_.'--[Speech of Mr Key.--Thirteenth Annual Report.]

'Our Society has nothing to do directly with the question of slavery.' * * * 'Whilst the Society protests that it has no designs on the rights of the master in the slave--or the property in his slave, which the laws guarantee to him,'

&c.--[Speech of Gerrit Smith, Esq.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'Its primary object now is, and ever has been, to colonize, with their own consent, free people of color on the coast of Africa, or elsewhere, as Congress may deem expedient. And, Sir, I am unwilling to admit, under any circ.u.mstances, and particularly in this Hall, that it ever has swerved from this cardinal object.'--[Speech of Mr Benham.--Fourteenth Annual Report.]

'Something he must yet be allowed to say, as regarded the object the Society was set up to accomplish. This object, if he understood it aright, _involved no intrusion on property_, NOR EVEN UPON PREJUDICE.'--[Speech of Mr Archer of Virginia.--Fifteenth Annual Report.]

'That the effort made by the Society should be such as to unite all parts of the country--such as to be in any degree ultimately successful, it was necessary to _disclaim all attempts for the immediate abolition of slavery, or the instruction of the great body of the blacks_. Such attempts would have excited alarm and jealousy, would have been inconsistent with the public safety, and defeated the great purposes of the Society.' * * * 'It is pleasing to learn that the Friends, who at first were not favorable to the Society, _having been inclined to the immediate abolition of slavery_, are coming into what we deem the _more wise policy_ of encouraging emanc.i.p.ation by colonization.'--[Speech of Harma.n.u.s Bleecker, Esq. at the Second Anniversary Meeting of the New-York Colonization Society, April 14, 1831.]

'The plan of colonization seems _the only one ent.i.tled to the least consideration_.'--[Speech of M. C. Paterson, Esq. on the same occasion.]

'Nor will their brethren of the North desire to interfere with their const.i.tutional rights, or rashly to disturb a system interwoven with their feelings, habits, and prejudices. A golden mean will be pursued, which, at the same time that it _consults the wishes_, and _respects the prejudices_ of the South, will provide for the claims of justice and Christianity, and avert the storm of future desolation.'--[Speech of Lucius Q. C. Elmer, Esq.--First Annual Report of the New-Jersey Colonization Society.]

'Views are attributed to us, that were never entertained, and our plan is tortured _into a design to emanc.i.p.ate the Slaves of the South_. We are made to disregard this description of property, and to touch without reserve the rights of our neighbors. We are said to tread this almost forbidden ground with firm step, and a hardihood of effort is imputed to us, which, if true, might well excite the indignation of our southern citizens.--But, Sir, our Society and the friends of colonization wish to be distinctly understood upon this point.

From the beginning they have _disavowed_, and they do yet _disavow_, that their object is _the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves_. They have no wish, _if they could_, to interfere in the smallest degree with what they deem the most interesting and fearful subject which can be pressed upon the American public.'

* * * 'There is no people that treat their slaves with so much kindness and with so little cruelty. Nor can I believe that we shall meet with any serious opposition from that quarter, when our object is distinctly understood--when it is known that our operations are confined exclusively to the free black population. That this is our _sole_ object, I appeal with entire confidence to the const.i.tution of our Society and to the const.i.tution and Annual Reports of the Parent Inst.i.tution.' * * *

'We again repeat--that our operations are confined to the free black population, and that there is no ground for fear on the part of our southern friends. We hold their slaves as we hold their other property, SACRED. Let not then this slander be repeated.'--[Speech of James S. Green, Esq. on the same occasion.]

'Nothing has contributed more to r.e.t.a.r.d the operations of the Colonization Society than the mistaken notion that it interferes directly with slavery. This objection is rapidly vanishing away, and many of the slaveholding States are becoming efficient supporters of the national society. In the Senate of Louisiana during its last session, resolutions were adopted expressive of the opinion that the object of this Society was deserving the patronage of the general government. An enlightened community now see, that this Society infringes upon no man's rights, that its object is n.o.ble and benevolent--to remedy an evil which is felt and acknowledged at the north and south--to give the free people of color the privileges of freemen.'--[From a Tract issued by the Ma.s.sachusetts Colonization Society in 1831, for gratuitous distribution.]

'This inst.i.tution proposes to do good by a single specific course of measures. Its direct and specific purpose _is not the abolition of slavery_, 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 const.i.tution prescribes, and to which all its efforts are necessarily directed, is, African colonization from America.