Thoughts on African Colonization Part 4

It proposes only to afford facilities for the voluntary emigration of free people of color from this country to the country of their fathers.'--[Review on African Colonization.--Christian Spectator for September, 1830.]

'It interferes in nowise with the right of property, and hopes and labors for the gradual abolition of slavery, by the voluntary and gradual manumission of slaves, when the free persons of color shall have first been transferred to their aboriginal climate and soil.'--[G. W. P. Custis, Esq.--African Repository, vol. i. p. 39.]

'Does this Society wish to meddle with our slaves as our rightful property? I answer _no_, I think not.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 13.]

'They have been denounced by some as fanatical and visionary innovators, pursuing without regard to means or consequences, an object destructive of the rights of property, and dangerous to the public peace.' * * * 'The sole object of the Society, as declared at its inst.i.tution, and from which it can never be allowed to depart, is 'to remove with their own consent, to the coast of Africa, the free colored population, now existing in the United States, and such as hereafter may become free.'' * * *

'In pursuing their object, therefore, (although such consequences may result from a successful prosecution of it,) the Society cannot be justly charged with aiming to disturb the rights of property or the peace of society. Your memorialists refer with confidence to the course they have pursued, in the prosecution of their object for nine years past, to shew that it is possible, without danger or alarm, to carry on such an operation, notwithstanding its supposed relation to the subject of slavery, and that they have not been regardless, in any of their measures, of what was due to the state of society in which they live. They are, themselves, chiefly slaveholders, and live, with all the ties of life binding them to a slaveholding community. They know when to speak and when to forbear upon topics connected with this painful and difficult subject. They put forth no pa.s.sionate appeals before the public, seek to excite no feeling, and avoid, with the most sedulous care, every measure that would endanger the public tranquillity.' * * * 'The managers could, with no propriety, depart from their original and avowed purpose, _and make emanc.i.p.ation their object_. And they would further say, that if they were not thus restrained by the terms of their a.s.sociation, they would still consider any attempts to promote the increase of the free colored population by manumission, _unnecessary_, _premature_, and _dangerous_.'

* * * 'It seems now to be admitted that, whatever has any bearing upon that question, must be managed with the utmost consideration; that the peace and order of society must not be endangered by indiscreet and ill-timed efforts to promote emanc.i.p.ation; and that a true regard should be manifested to the feelings and the fears, and even the _prejudices_ of those, whose co-operation is essential.'--[Memorial of the Society to the several States.--A. R. vol. ii. pp. 57, 58, 60.]

'To found in Africa an empire of _christians and republicans_; to reconduct the blacks to their native land, without disturbing the order of society, the laws of property, or the rights of individuals; rapidly, but legally, _silently_, _gradually_, to drain them off; these are the n.o.ble ends of the colonization scheme.'--[African Repository, vol. ii. p. 375.]

'Nor have I ever been able to see, for my part, why the patronage of Congress to a benevolent and patriotic Society, which, without interfering, in the smallest degree, with that _delicate interest_, only aims to remove what we all consider as a great evil--our free people of color--(and which evil _does_ interfere with that interest,) should excite the jealousy or spleen of our most watchful and determined advocates of state rights.'--[Idem, p. 383.]

'Recognising the const.i.tutional and legitimate existence of slavery, it seeks not to interfere, either directly or indirectly, with the rights which it creates. _Acknowledging the necessity by which its present continuance and the rigorous provisions for its maintenance are justified_, it aims only at furnishing the States, in which it exists, the means of immediately lessening its severities, and of ultimately relieving themselves from its acknowledged evils.'--[Opimius in reply to Caius Gracchus.--African Repository, vol. iii. p. 16.]

'_It is no abolition Society_; it addresses as yet _arguments to no master_, and disavows with horror the idea of offering temptations to any slave. IT DENIES THE DESIGN OF ATTEMPTING EMANc.i.p.aTION, EITHER PARTIAL OR GENERAL; it denies, with us, that the General Government have any power to emanc.i.p.ate; and declares that the States have exclusively the right to regulate the whole subject of slavery. The scope of the Society is large enough, but it is in nowise mingled or confounded with the broad sweeping views of _a few fanatics_ in America, who would urge us on to the sudden and total abolition of slavery.' * * * 'The first great material objection is that the Society does, in fact, in spite of its denial, meditate and conspire the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves. To the candid, let me say that there are names on the rolls of the Society too high to be rationally accused of the duplicity and insidious falsehood which this implies; farther, the Society and its branches are composed, in by far the larger part, of _citizens of slaveholding States_, who cannot gravely be charged with a design so perilous to themselves. To the uncandid disputant, I say, let him put his finger on one single sentiment, declaration or act of the Society, or of any person, with its sanction, which shows such to be their object: there is in fact no pretext for the charge.'

* * * 'Let me repeat, the _friends_ of the Colonization Society, three-fourths of them are SLAVEHOLDERS; the legislatures of Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, all slaveholding States, have approved it; _every member_ of this auxiliary Society is, _either in himself, or his nearest relatives, interested in holding slaves_.' * * * 'Once more; this Society is no way connected with certain Abolition Societies in the country. To these the Colonization Society would say, "Your object is unattainable, your zeal dangerous, and nothing can give it the right direction or the right temperature, but your surrendering your plan to ours: be convinced, that if the blacks are ever to be removed from us, it will be by the free will of the owners, and by means of the opportunity which our _innocent_ plan of an asylum for such as may be sent will afford."'--['The Col. Society Vindicated.'--Idem, pp. 197, 200, 202, 203.]

'They can impress upon the southern slaveholder, by the strength of facts, and by the recorded declarations of honest men, that the objects of the Colonization Society are altogether pure and praiseworthy, and _that it has no intention to open the door to universal liberty_, but only to cut out a channel, where the merciful providence of G.o.d may cause those dark waters to flow off.'--[Idem, vol. iv. p. 145.]

'About twelve years ago, some of the wisest men of the nation, (_mostly slaveholders_,) formed, in the city of Washington, the present American Colonization Society. Among them were men high in office, who had spent many years in studying the interests of their country, and who could not, therefore, be suspected of short-sighted enthusiasm, or any secret design of disturbing the rights or the safety of our southern citizens.' * * * 'You will observe, first, that _there is to be no intermeddling with property in slaves_. THE RIGHTS OF MASTERS ARE TO REMAIN SACRED IN THE EYES OF THE SOCIETY. The tendency of the scheme, and one of its objects, is to _secure slaveholders, and the whole southern country_, against certain evil consequences, growing out of the three-fold mixture of our population.'--[Address of the Rockbridge Col. Society.--Idem, p. 274.]

'It is true, their operations have been confined to the single object, colonization.--They do nothing directly to effect the manumission of slaves.--They think nothing can be advantageously done in favor of emanc.i.p.ation, but by means of colonization, of which emanc.i.p.ation will be a certain consequence that may be safely and quietly awaited.'--[Mr Key's Address.--Idem, p. 303.]

'The Colonization Society, as such, have renounced wholly the name and the characteristics of abolitionists. On this point they have been unjustly and injuriously slandered. They need no such barrier to restrict them, as the sentiment of Mr Harrison, for their operations are entirely in a different department.

INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS THE SUBJECT OF EMANc.i.p.aTION DOES NOT ENTER AT ALL.'--['N. E.'--Idem, p. 306.]

'Being, chiefly, slaveholders ourselves, we well know how it becomes us to approach such a subject as this in a slaveholding state, and in every other. If there were room for a reasonable jealousy, we among the first should feel it; being as much interested in the welfare of the community, and having as much at heart, as any men can have, the security of ourselves, our property and our families.' * * * 'Our object is, not to prevail upon the master to part with his slave, for that we leave to his own reflection and CONVENIENCE; but to afford to those masters who have determined, or may determine, to manumit their slaves; provided they can be removed from this country, the means of removing them to a place where they may be really free, virtuous, respectable and happy.--Nothing can be more innocent and less alarming.'--[Review of Mr Tazewell's Report.--Idem, p.

341.]

'The American Colonization Society has, at all times, solemnly disavowed any purpose of interference with the inst.i.tutions or rights of our Southern communities.'--[Idem, vol. v. p. 307.]

'From its origin, and throughout the whole period of its existence, it has constantly disclaimed all intention whatever of interfering, in the smallest degree, with the rights of property, or the object of emanc.i.p.ation, gradual or immediate.

_It is not only without inclination_, but it is without power, to make any such interference. It is not even a chartered or incorporated company; and it has no other foundation than that of Bible Societies, or any other christian or charitable unincorporated companies in our country. It knows that the subject of emanc.i.p.ation belongs exclusively to the several States in which slavery is tolerated, and to individual proprietors of slaves in those States, under and according to their laws.' * * * 'The Society presents to the American public _no project of emanc.i.p.ation_.' * * * 'Its exertions have been confined exclusively to the free colored people of the United States, and to those of them who are willing to go. It has neither _purpose_ nor power to extend them to the larger portion of that race held in bondage. Throughout the whole period of its existence, this disclaimer has been made, and incontestible facts establish its truth and sincerity. It is now repeated, in its behalf, that the spirit of misrepresentation may have no pretext for abusing the public ear.'--[Mr Clay's Speech.--African Repository, vol. vi. pp. 13, 17, 19.]

'The Society, from considerations like these, whilst it disclaims the remotest idea of ever disturbing the right of property in slaves, conceives it to be possible that the time may arrive, when, with the approbation of their owners, they shall all be at liberty; and, with those already free, be removed, with their own consent, to the land of their ancestors.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. p. 69.]

'_It is not the object of this Society to liberate slaves, or touch the rights of property_. TO SET THEM LOOSE AMONG US WOULD BE AN EVIL MORE INTOLERABLE THAN SLAVERY ITSELF. It would make our situation insecure and dangerous.'--[Report of the Kentucky Col. Soc.--Idem, p. 81.]

'It contemplates no purpose of abolition: it touches no slave until his fetters have been voluntarily stricken off by the hand of his own master.'--[Speech of John A. Dix, Esq.--Idem, p.

165.]

'What has awakened that spirit of suspicion and enmity which is now manifested by these men in every form of open and active hostility? Can it be attributed to any departure of the Society from its avowed original design and principles? We maintain that it cannot; we maintain that the character of the Society has from the commencement been uniformly the same, and that its proceedings have been consistent with its character. Were or are the design and principles of the Society hostile to the rights and interest of the Southern States? We maintain that they were and are not; but on the contrary, are worthy to be cherished by the citizens of these States, and to be sustained with all their energies as means of their political and moral strength.' * * *

'The _free_ people of color alone are to be colonized by the Society, and whether the benefits of its scheme are ever to be extended to _others_, is a question referred to those to whom it pertains as a matter of right and duty to decide.' * * * 'The Colonization Society would be the last Inst.i.tution in the world to disturb the domestic tranquillity of the South.'--[Defence of the Society.--Idem, pp. 197, 207, 209.]

'This Society, here in the outset, most explicitly disclaims all intention to interfere in the smallest degree with the slave population. It is with the free colored population alone, and that too, with their own consent, that this Society proposes to act.'--[Address of the Maryland State Colonization Society to the People of Maryland.]

'To the slaveholder, who had charged upon them the wicked design of interfering with the rights of property under the specious pretexts of removing a vicious and dangerous free population, they address themselves in a tone of conciliation and sympathy.

We know your rights, say they, and we respect them--we know your difficulties, and we appreciate them. _Being mostly slaveholders ourselves_, having a common interest with you in this subject, an equal opportunity of understanding it, and the same motives to prudent action, what better guarantee can be afforded for the just discrimination, and the safe operation of our measures? And what ground for apprehension that we, who are bound to you by the strongest ties of interest and of sympathy, should intrude upon the repose of the domestic circle, or invade the peace and security of society? Have not the thirteen years' peaceful, yet efficient, operations of our Society attested the _moderation of our views_ and the safety of our plans? We have protested from the commencement, and during our whole progress, and we do now protest, that we have never entertained the purpose of intermeddling with the private property of individuals. We know that we have not the power, even if we had the inclination, to do so. Your rights, as guarantied by the Const.i.tution, are held sacred in our eyes; and we should be among the foremost to resist, as a flagrant usurpation, any encroachment upon those rights. Our only object, as at all times avowed, is to provide for the removal to the coast of Africa, with their own consent, of such persons of color as are already free, and of such others as the humanity of individuals, or the laws of the different states, may hereafter liberate. Is there any thing, say they, in this proposition at war with your interest, your safety, your honor, or your happiness? Do we not all regard this mixed and intermediate population of free blacks, made up of slaves or their immediate descendants, as a mighty and a growing evil, exerting a dangerous and baneful influence on all around them?'--[Address of Cyrus Edwards, Esq. of Illinois.--African Repository, vol. vii. p. 100.]

'It was never the intention of the Society to interfere with the rights of the proprietors of slaves; nor has it at any time done so.'--[Address of R. J. Breckenridge of Kentucky.--Idem p. 176.]

'The specific object to which the entire funds of the Inst.i.tution are devoted, is simple and plainly unexceptionable in this respect, that it interferes with no rights of individuals, and with no law of the land.' * * * 'It embraces in its provisions only the free. It does not interfere--it desires not to interfere, in any way, with the rights or the interests of the proprietors of slaves. _It condemns no man because he is a slaveholder_; it seeks to quiet all unkind feelings between the sober and virtuous men of the North and of the South on the subject of slavery; it sends abroad no influence to disturb the peace, and endanger the security and prosperity of any portion of the country.'--[Character and Influence of the Colonization Society.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 194, 200.]

'Can it be a ruthless scheme of political speculation, which would trample, with rude and unhallowed step, upon the rights of property, to gratify the visionary and fanatical projects of its authors? No: this is impossible. Yet such is the language of intemperate opposition, with which this Society has been a.s.sailed by its enemies.' * * * 'Equally absurd and false is the objection, that this Society seeks indirectly to disturb the rights of property, and to interfere with the well-established relation subsisting between master and slave. The man who avows such monstrous purposes as these, and seeks to shelter himself under the sanction and authority of the American Colonization Society, is a base traitor to the cause which it seeks to advance--AN ENEMY OF THE WORST AND MOST DANGEROUS STAMP, because he a.s.sumes the specious garb of a friend and coadjutor. Let him stand, or let him fall, by the verdict of an insulted and outraged community--but do not make liable for his acts a great Inst.i.tution, whose real friends will be the first to reject and discountenance him, and to mark upon his forehead in indelible characters, "This is a traitor to the cause of his country and the cause of humanity."--It is true that the friends of the American Colonization Society have permitted themselves to entertain the high and exalted hope, that, by its influences, ultimate and remote, the burdens which are incident to slavery may be greatly mitigated, and possibly the evil itself at some future day be entirely removed. But mark, Mr President, and mark well, ye hearers, the grounds upon which this hope is founded.

It could not be sustained by any effort, direct or indirect, to invade the rights of the slaveholding community, for the plain and palpable reason, that the effort itself would furnish the most certain means of defeating the object in view, even supposing the friends of the Society reckless enough to entertain it. It would denote on the part of those who made it, an extremity of madness and folly, wholly unprecedented in the history of the world, and if persevered in, would dissolve the government into its original elements, even though the principle of union which holds it together were a thousand-fold stronger than it is.' * * * 'Surely the friends of the Colonization Society have done nought either to alarm the honest fears of the patriot, or excite the morbid sensibilities of the slaveholder.'--[Address delivered before the Lynchburg Auxiliary Colonization Society, August 18, 1831.]

'While, therefore, _they determined to avoid the question of slavery_, they proposed the formation of a colony on the coast of Africa, as an asylum for free people of color.' * * * 'The emanc.i.p.ation of slaves or the amelioration of their condition, with the moral, intellectual, and political improvement of people of color within the United States, _are subjects foreign to the powers of this Society_.'--[Address of the Board of Managers of the American Colonization Society to its Auxiliary Societies.--African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 290, 291.]

'The American Colonization Society was formed with special reference to the _free_ blacks of our country. With the _delicate subject_ of slavery it presumes not to interfere. And yet doubtless from the first it has cherished the hope of being in some way or other a medium of relief to the entire colored population of the land. Such a hope is certainly both innocent and benevolent. And so long as the Society adheres to the object announced in its const.i.tution, as it hitherto has done, the master can surely find no reasonable cause of anxiety. And it is a gratifying circ.u.mstance that the Society has from the first _obtained its most decided and efficient support from the slaveholding States_.'--[Sermon, delivered at Springfield, Ma.s.s., July 4th, 1829, before the Auxiliary Colonization Society of Hampden County, by Rev. B. d.i.c.kinson.]

'The American Colonization Society in no way directly meddles with slavery. It disclaims all such interference.'--[Correspondent of the Southern Religious Telegraph.]

'This system is sanctioned by the laws of independent and sovereign states. Congress cannot const.i.tutionally pa.s.s laws which shall tend directly to abolish it. If it ever be abolished by legislative enactments, it must be done by the respective legislatures of the States in which it exists. It never designed to interfere with what the laws consider as the rights of masters--it has made no appeals to them to release their slaves for colonization, nor to their slaves to abandon their masters.

With this delicate subject, the Society has avowedly nothing to do. Its ostensible object is necessarily the removal of our free colored population.'--[Middletown (Connecticut) Gazette.]

'With slaves, however, the American Colonization Society has _no concern_ whatever, except to transport to Africa such as their owners may liberate for that purpose.'--[Oration delivered at Newark, N. J., July 4th, 1831, by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]

'It disclaims, and always has disclaimed, all intention whatever, of interfering in the smallest degree, direct or indirect, with the rights of slaveholders, the right of property, _or the object of emanc.i.p.ation, gradual or immediate.

It knows that the owners of slaves are the owners, and no one else--it does not, in the most remote degree, touch that delicate subject_. Every slaveholder may, therefore, remain at ease concerning it or its progress or objects.'--[An advocate of the Society in the New-Orleans Argus.]