Chapter III: Part I: Introductory Remarks (1)

In attacking the system of slavery, I clearly foresaw all that has happened to me. I knew, at the commencement, that my motives would be impeached, my warnings ridiculed, my person persecuted, my sanity doubted, my life jeoparded: but the clank of the prisoner's chains broke upon my ear--it entered deeply into my soul--I looked up to Heaven for strength to sustain me in the perilous work of emancipation--and my resolution was taken.

In opposing the American Colonization Society, I have also counted the cost, and as clearly foreseen the formidable opposition which will be arrayed against me. Many of the clergy are enlisted in its support: their influence is powerful. Men of wealth and elevated station are among its contributors: wealth and station are almost omnipotent. The press has been seduced into its support: the press is a potent engine. Moreover, the Society is artfully based upon and defended by _popular prejudice_: it takes advantage of wicked and preposterous opinions, and hence its success. These things grieve, they cannot deter me. 'Truth is mighty, and will prevail.' It is able to make falsehood blush, and tear from hypocrisy its mask, and annihilate prejudice, and overthrow persecution, and break every fetter.

I am constrained to declare, with the utmost sincerity, that I look upon the colonization scheme as inadequate in its design, injurious in its operation, and contrary to sound principle; and the more scrupulously I examine its pretensions, the stronger is my conviction of its sinfulness. Nay, were Jehovah to speak in an audible voice from his holy habitation, I am persuaded that his language would be, 'Who hath required this at your hands?'

It consoles me to believe that no man, who knows me personally or by reputation, will suspect the honesty of my skepticism. If I were politic, and intent only on my own preferment or pecuniary interest, I should swim with the strong tide of public sentiment instead of breasting its powerful influence. The hazard is too great, the labor too burdensome, the remuneration too uncertain, the contest too unequal, to induce a selfish adventurer to assail a combination so formidable. Disinterested opposition and sincere conviction, however, are not conclusive proofs of individual rectitude; for a man may very honestly do mischief, and not be aware of his error. Indeed, it is in this light I view many of the friends of African colonization. I concede to them benevolence of purpose and expansiveness of heart; but in my opinion, they are laboring under the same delusion as that which swayed Saul of Tarsus--persecuting the blacks even unto a strange country, and verily believing that they are doing God service. I blame them, nevertheless, for taking this mighty scheme upon trust; for not perceiving and rejecting the monstrous doctrines avowed by the master spirits in the crusade; and for feeling so indifferent to the moral, political and social advancement of the free people of color in this their only legitimate home.

In the progress of this discussion I shall have occasion to use very plain, and sometimes very severe language. This would be an unpleasant task, did not duty imperiously demand its application. To give offence I am loath, but more to hide or modify the truth. I shall deal with the Society in its collective form--as one body--and not with individuals. While I shall be necessitated to marshal individual opinions in review, I protest, _ab origine_, against the supposition that indiscriminate censure is intended, or that every friend of the Society cherishes similar views. He to whom my reprehension does not apply, will not receive it. It is obviously impossible, in attacking a numerous and multiform combination, to exhibit private dissimilarities, or in every instance to discriminate between the various shades of opinion. It is sufficient that exceptions are made. My warfare is against the AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. If I shall identify its general, preponderating and clearly developed traits, it must stand or fall as they shall prove benevolent or selfish.

I bring to this momentous investigation an unbiassed mind, a lively sense of accountability to God, and devout aspirations for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Unless He 'in whom there is no darkness at all,' pours light upon my path, I shall go astray. I have taken Him at His word: 'If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.' Confessing my own foolishness, I have sought that knowledge which cannot err.

I would premise, that, like many others, I formerly supposed the Colonization Society was a praiseworthy association, although I always doubted its efficiency. This opinion was formed for me by others, upon whom I placed implicit confidence: it certainly was not based upon any research or knowledge of my own, as I had not at that time perused a single Report of the Society, nor a page in its organ, the African Repository. My approval was the offspring of credulity and ignorance. I am explicit on this point, because my opponents have accused me of inconsistency--though it ought not surely to disgrace a man, that, discovering himself to be in error, he promptly turns to the embrace of truth. As if opinions, once formed, must be as irrevocable as the laws of the Medes and Persians! If this were so, accountability would lose its hold on the conscience, and the light of knowledge be blown out, and reason degenerate into brutish instinct. Much stress has been laid upon the fact, that, in 1828, I delivered an address in Park-street meeting-house on the Fourth of July, on which occasion a collection was made in behalf of the American Colonization Society. It is true--but whereas I was then blind, now I see. My address, however, was far from being acceptable to the friends of colonization who were present, not only on account of my denunciation of slaveholders, but because I inserted only a single sentence in favor of the Society. In all my writings, I have never commended this combination in as many sentences as I have used in making this explanation. So much for my marvellous apostacy!

It is only about two years since I was induced to examine the claims of the Colonization Society upon the patronage and confidence of the nation. I went to this examination with a mind biassed by preconceived opinions favorable to the Society, and rather for the purpose of defending it against opposition than of bringing it into disrepute. Every thing, apart from its principles, was calculated to secure my friendship. Nothing but its revolting features could have induced me to turn loathingly away from its embrace. I had some little reputation to sustain; many of my friends were colonizationists; I saw that eminent statesmen and honorable men were enlisted in the enterprise; the great body of the clergy gave their unqualified support to it; every fourth of July the charities of the nation were secured in its behalf; wherever I turned my eye in the free States, I saw nothing but unanimity; wherever my ear caught a sound, I heard nothing but excessive panegyric. No individual had ventured to blow the trumpet of alarm, or exert his energies to counteract the influence of the scheme. If an assailant had occasionally appeared, he had either fired a random shot and retreated, or found in the inefficiency of the Society the only cause for hostility. It was at this crisis, and with such an array of motives before me to bias my judgment, that I resolved to make a close and candid examination of the subject.

I went, first of all, to the fountain head--to the African Repository and the Reports of the Society. I was not long in discovering sentiments which seemed to me as abhorrent to humanity as contrary to reason. I perused page after page, first with perplexity, then with astonishment, and finally with indignation. I found little else than sinful palliations, fatal concessions, vain expectations, exaggerated statements, unfriendly representations, glaring contradictions, naked terrors, deceptive assurances, unrelenting prejudices, and unchristian denunciations. I collected together the publications of auxiliary societies, in order to discern some redeeming traits; but I found them marred and disfigured with the same disgusting details. I courted the acquaintance of eminent colonizationists, that I might learn how far their private sentiments agreed with those which were so offensive in print; and I found no dissimilarity between them. I listened to discourses from the pulpit in favor of the Society; and the same moral obliquities were seen in minister and people.

These discoveries affected my mind so deeply that I could not rest. I endeavored to explain away the meaning of plain and obvious language; I made liberal concessions for good motives and unsuspicious confidence; I resorted to many expedients to vindicate the disinterested benevolence of the Society; but I could not rest. The sun in its mid-day splendor was not more clear and palpable to my vision, than the anti-christian and anti-republican character of this association. It was evident to me that the great mass of its supporters at the north did not realise its dangerous tendency. They were told that it was designed to effect the ultimate emancipation of the slaves--to improve the condition of the free people of color--to abolish the foreign slave trade--to reclaim and evangelize benighted Africa--and various other marvels. Anxious to do something for the colored population--they knew not what--and having no other plan presented to their view, they eagerly embraced a scheme which was so big with promise, and which required of them nothing but a small contribution annually. Perceiving the fatality of this delusion, I was urged by an irresistible impulse to attempt its removal. I could not turn a deaf ear to the cries of the slaves, nor throw off the obligations which my Creator had fastened upon me. Yet in view of the inequalities of the contest, of the obstacles which towered like mountains in my path, and of my own littleness, I trembled, and exclaimed in the language of Jeremiah,--'Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot speak: for I am a child.' But I was immediately strengthened by these interrogations: 'Is any thing too hard for the Lord?' Is Error, though unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than Truth? Are Right and Wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? Oh no! Then I will go forward in the strength of the Lord of Hosts--in the name of Truth--and under the banner of Right. As it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God, that great moral changes are effected, I am encouraged to fight valiantly in this good cause, believing that I shall 'come off conqueror, and more than conqueror'--yet not I, but Truth and Justice. It is in such a contest that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. 'The Lord disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.' 'Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.'

Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage. The great mass of mankind shun the labor and responsibility of forming opinions for themselves. The question is not--what is true? but--what is popular? Not--what does God say? but--what says the public? Not--what is my opinion? but--what do others believe? If people would pin their faith upon the bible, and not upon the sleeves of their neighbors, half of the heresies in the world would instantly disappear. If they would use their own eyes, their own ears, their own understandings, instead of the eyes, and ears, and understandings of others, imbecility, credulity and folly would be as rare as they are now common in community. But, unhappily, to borrow the words of Ganganelli, a large majority of mankind are 'mere abortions:' calling themselves rational and intelligent beings, they act as if they had neither brains nor conscience, and as if there were no God, no accountability, no heaven, no hell, no eternity.

'My minister,' says one, 'is a most worthy man. He supports this Society: therefore it is a good institution.' 'Christians of all denominations are enlisted in this enterprise,' says another: 'therefore it cannot be wrong.' 'Do you think,' says a third, 'that honest, godly men would countenance a scheme which is not really benevolent?' But it is unwise for beings, who are accountable only to God, to reason in this manner. All the good men upon earth cannot make persecution benevolence, nor injustice equity; and until they become infallible, implicit reliance upon their judgment is criminal. Ministers and christians, a few years since, were engaged in the use and sale of ardent spirits; _but they were all wrong_, and they now acknowledge their error. At the present day, a large proportion of the professed disciples of the Prince of Peace maintain the lawfulness of defensive war, and the right of the oppressed to fight and kill for liberty; but they hold this sentiment in direct opposition to the precepts of their Leader--'I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.' Surely 'the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.'

I must pause, for a moment, and count the number of those with whom I am about to conflict. If I had to encounter only men-stealers and slaveholders, victory would be easy; but it is not the south alone that is to be subdued. The whole nation is against me. Church after church is to be converted, and the powerful influence of the clergy broken. The friendship of good men is to be turned into enmity, and their support into opposition. It is my task to change their admiration into abhorrence; to convince them that their well-meant exertions have been misdirected, and productive of greater evil than good; and to induce them to abandon an institution to which they now fondly cling.

To those who neither fear God nor regard man--who have sworn eternal animosity to their colored countrymen, and whose cry is, 'Away with them, we do not want them here!'--I make no appeal. Disregarding as they do that divine command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' it would be idle for me to direct my arguments to them. I address myself to high-minded and honorable men, whose heads and hearts are susceptible to the force of sound logic. I appeal to those, who have been redeemed from the bondage of sin by the precious blood of Christ, and with whom I hope to unite in a better world in ascribing glory, and honor, and praise to the Great Deliverer for ever. If I can succeed in gaining their attention, I feel sure of convincing their understandings and securing their support.

Besides the overwhelming odds which are opposed to me, I labor under other very serious disadvantages. My efforts in the cause of emancipation have been received as if they were intended to bring chaos back again, and to give the land up to pillage and its inhabitants to slaughter. My calls for an alteration in the feelings and practices of the people toward the blacks have been regarded as requiring a sacrifice of all the rules of propriety, and as seeking an overthrow of the established laws of nature! I have been thrust into prison, and amerced in a heavy fine. Epithets, huge and unseemly, have been showered upon me without mercy. I have been branded as a fanatic, a madman, a disturber of the peace, an incendiary, a cutthroat, a monster, &c. &c. &c. Assassination has been threatened me in a multitude of anonymous letters. Private and public rewards to a very large amount, by combinations of individuals and by legislative bodies at the south, have been offered to any persons who shall abduct or destroy me. 'Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.' This malignity of opposition and proximity of danger, however, are like oil to the fire of my zeal. I am not deliriously enthusiastic--I do not covet to be a martyr; but I had rather die a thousand deaths, than witness the horrible oppression under which more than two millions of my countrymen groan, _and be silent_. No reproaches, no dangers shall deter me. At the north or the south, at the east or the west,--wherever Providence may call me,--my voice shall be heard in behalf of the perishing slave, and against the claims of his oppressor. Mine is the frank avowal of the excellent WILBERFORCE:--I can admit of no compromise when the commands of equity and philanthropy are so imperious. I wash my hands of the blood that may be spilled. I protest against the system, as the most flagrant violation of every principle of justice and humanity. I NEVER WILL DESERT THE CAUSE. In my task it is impossible to tire: it fills my mind with complacency and peace. At night I lie down with composure, and rise to it in the morning with alacrity. I NEVER WILL DESIST FROM THIS BLESSED WORK.

Now that the concentrated execration of the civilized world is poured upon those who engage in the foreign slave trade, how mild and inefficient, comparatively speaking, seem to have been the rebukes of Pitt, and Fox, and Wilberforce, and Clarkson! Yet these rebukes were once deemed fanatical and outrageous by good men--yea, like flames of fire, threatening a universal conflagration! So the denunciations which I am now hurling against slavery and its abettors,--which seem to many so violent and unmerited,--will be considered moderate, pertinent and just, when this murderous, soul-destroying system shall have been overthrown.

Fanaticism has been the crime alleged against reformers in all ages. 'These,' it was said of the apostles, 'that have turned the world upside down, come hither also.' Luther was a madman in his day: what is he now in the estimation of the friends of civil and religious liberty? One of

'Those starry lights of virtue, that diffuse
Through the dark depths of time their vivid flame.'

That base and desperate men should thus stigmatize those who endure the cross as good soldiers, and walk as pilgrims and strangers here, is not wonderful; but that the professed followers of Jesus Christ should join in this hue-and-cry is lamentable. Singular enough, I have been almost as cruelly aspersed by ministers of the gospel and church members, as by any other class of men. Unacquainted with me, and ignorant of my sentiments, they have readily believed the accusations of my enemies. The introduction of my name into conversation has elicited from them contemptuous sneers or strong denunciations. I have a right to complain of this treatment, and I do strongly protest against it as unchristian, hurtful and ungenerous. To prejudge and condemn an individual, on vague and apocryphal rumors, without listening to his defence or examining evidence, is tyranny. Perhaps I am in error--perhaps I deserve unqualified condemnation; but I am at least entitled to a privilege which is granted to the vilest criminals, namely, the privilege of a fair trial. I ask nothing more. To accuse me of heresy, madness and sedition, is one thing; to substantiate the accusation, another.

Should this work chance to fall into the hands of those who have thus ignorantly reprobated my course, I appeal to their sense of rectitude whether they are not bound to give it a candid and deliberate perusal; and if they shall find in my writings nothing contrary to the immutable principles of justice, whether they ought not to be as strenuous in my defence as they have been hitherto in seeking my overthrow.

To show that I do not vacate any pledge which I have given to the public, I shall here insert all the specifications, which, from time to time, I have brought against the American Colonization Society. In 'The Liberator' of April 23, 1831, is the following serious compend:

'I am prepared to show, that those who have entered into this
CONSPIRACY AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS are unanimous in abusing their
victims; unanimous in their mode of attack; unanimous in
proclaiming the absurdity, that our free blacks are natives of
Africa; unanimous in propagating the libel, that they cannot be
elevated and improved in this country; unanimous in opposing
their instruction; unanimous in exciting the prejudices of the
people against them; unanimous in apologising for the crime of
slavery; unanimous in conceding the right of the planters to
hold their slaves in a limited bondage; unanimous in their
hollow pretence for colonizing, namely, to evangelize Africa;
unanimous in their _true motive_ for the measure--a terror lest
the blacks should rise to avenge their accumulated wrongs. It is
a conspiracy to send the free people of color to Africa under a
benevolent pretence, but really that the slaves may be held more
securely in bondage. It is a conspiracy based upon fear,
oppression and falsehood, which draws its aliment from the
prejudices of the people, which is sustained by duplicity, which
really upholds the slave system, which fascinates while it
destroys, which endangers the safety and happiness of the
country, which no precept of the bible can justify, which is
implacable in its spirit, which should be annihilated at a blow.

'These are my accusations; and if I do not substantiate them, I
am willing to be covered with reproach.'

The following is copied from an editorial article of July 9, 1831:

'The superstructure of the Colonization Society rests upon the
following pillars:

'1st. _Persecution._ It declares that the whole colored
population must be removed to Africa; but as the free portion
are almost _unanimously_ opposed to a removal, it seems to be
the determination of the Society to make their situations so
uncomfortable and degraded here, as to compel them to migrate:
consequently it discourages their education and improvement in
this their native home. This is persecution.

'2d. _Falsehood._ It stigmatises our colored citizens as being
natives of Africa, and talks of sending them to their native
land; when they are no more related to Africa than we are to
Great Britain.

'3d. _Cowardice._ It avows as a prominent reason why colored
citizens ought to be removed, that their continuance among us
will be dangerous to us as a people! This is a libel upon their
character. Instead of demanding justice for this oppressed
class, the Society calls for their removal!

'4th. _Infidelity._ It boldly denies that there is power enough
in the gospel to melt down the prejudices of men, and insists,
that, so long as the people of color remain among us, _we must
be their enemies!_--Every honest man should abhor the doctrine.'

In 'The Liberator' of July 30, 1831, alluding to the present work, I used the following language:

'I shall be willing to stake my reputation upon it for honesty,
prudence, benevolence, truth and sagacity. If I do not prove the
Colonization Society to be a creature without heart, without
brains, eyeless, unnatural, hypocritical, relentless, unjust,
then nothing is capable of demonstration--then let me be covered
with confusion of face.'

The following paragraph is extracted from 'The Liberator' of November 19, 1831:

'It is the enemy of immediate restitution to the slaves; it
courts and receives the approbation of notorious slave owners;
it deprecates any interference with slave property; it
discourages the improvement of the colored population, except
they are removed to the shores of Africa; it is lulling the
country into a fatal sleep, pretending to be something when it
is nothing; it is utterly chimerical, as well as intolerant, in
its design; it serves to increase the value of the slaves, and
to make brisk the foreign and domestic slave trade; it nourishes
and justifies the most cruel prejudices against color; it sneers
at those who advocate the bestowal of equal rights upon our
colored countrymen; it contends for an indefinite, dilatory,
far-off emancipation; it expressly declares that it is more
humane to keep the slaves in chains, than to give them freedom
in this country! In short, it is the most compendious and best
adapted scheme to uphold the slave system that human ingenuity
can invent. Moreover, it is utterly and irreconcileably opposed
to the wishes and sentiments of the great body of the free
people of color, repeatedly expressed in the most public manner,
but cruelly disregarded by it.'

The following passages are taken from my Address to the People of Color, delivered in various places in June, 1831:

'Let me briefly examine the doctrines of colonizationists. They
generally agree in publishing the misstatement, that you are
strangers and foreigners. Surely they know better. They know,
that, as a body, you are no more natives of Africa, than they
themselves are natives of Great Britain. Yet they repeat the
absurd charge; and they do so, in order to cover their
anti-republican crusade. But suppose you were foreigners: would
such an accident justify this persecution and removal? And, if
so, then all foreigners must come under the same ban, and must
prepare to depart. There would be, in that case, a most alarming
deduction from our population. Suppose a philanthropic and
religious crusade were got up against the Dutch, the French, the
Swiss, the Irish, among us, to remove them to New Holland, to
enlighten and civilize her cannibals? Who would not laugh at the
scheme--who would not actively oppose it? Would any one blame
the above classes for steadfastly resisting it? Just so, then,
in regard to African colonization. But our colored population
are not aliens; they were born on our soil; they are bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh; their fathers fought bravely to
achieve our independence during the revolutionary war, without
immediate or subsequent compensation; they spilt their blood
freely during the last war; they are entitled, in fact, to every
inch of our southern, and much of our western territory, having
worn themselves out in its cultivation, and received nothing but
wounds and bruises in return. Are these the men to stigmatize as
foreigners?

'Colonizationists generally agree in asserting that the people
of color cannot be elevated in this country, nor be admitted to
equal privileges with the whites. Is not this a libel upon
humanity and justice--a libel upon republicanism--a libel upon
the Declaration of Independence--a libel upon christianity? "All
men are born equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights--among which are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness." What is the meaning of that declaration?
That _all_ men possess these rights--whether they are six feet
five inches high, or three feet two and a half--whether they
weigh three hundred or one hundred pounds--whether they parade
in broadcloth or flutter in rags--whether their skins are jet
black or lily white--whether their hair is straight or woolly,
auburn or red, black or gray--does it not? We, who are present,
differ from each other in our looks, in our color, in height,
and in bulk; we have all shades, and aspects, and sizes. Now,
would it not be anti-republican and anti-christian for us to
quarrel about sitting on this seat or that, because this man's
complexion is too dark, or that man's looks are too ugly? and to
put others out of the house, because they happen to be ignorant,
or poor, or helpless? To commit this violence would be evidently
wrong: then to do it in a large assemblage--in a community, in a
state, or in a nation, it is equally unjust. But is not this
the colonization principle? Who are the individuals that
applaud, that justify, that advocate this exclusion? Who are
they that venture to tell the American people, that they have
neither honesty enough, nor patriotism enough, nor morality
enough, nor religion enough, to treat their colored brethren as
countrymen and citizens? Some of them--I am sorry to say--are
professedly ministers of the gospel; others are christian
professors; others are judges and lawyers; others are our
Senators and Representatives; others are editors of newspapers.
These ministers and christians dishonor the gospel which they
profess; these judges and lawyers are the men spoken of by the
Saviour, who bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and
lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move
them with one of their fingers. These Senators and
Representatives ought not to receive the suffrages of the
people. These editors are unworthy of public patronage.

'Colonizationists too generally agree in discouraging your
instruction and elevation at home. They pretend that ignorance
is bliss; and therefore 'tis folly to be wise. They pretend that
knowledge is a dangerous thing in the head of a colored man;
they pretend that you have no ambition; they pretend that you
have no brains; in fine, they pretend a thousand other absurd
things--they are a combination of pretences. What tyranny is
this! Shutting up the human intellect--binding with chains the
inward man--and perpetuating ignorance. May we not address them
in the language of Christ? "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in! Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy and faith."

'Colonizationists generally agree in apologising for the crime
of slavery. They get behind the contemptible subterfuge, that it
was entailed upon the planters. As if the continuance of the
horrid system were not criminal! as if the robberies of another
generation justify the robberies of the present! as if the
slaves had not an inalienable right to freedom! as if slavery
were not an individual as well as a national crime! as if the
tearing asunder families, limb from limb,--branding the flesh
with red hot irons,--mangling the body with whips and
knives,--feeding it on husks and clothing it with
rags,--crushing the intellect and destroying the soul,--as if
such inconceivable cruelty were not chargeable to those who
inflict it!

'As to the effect of colonization upon slavery, it is rather
favorable than injurious to the system. Now and then, indeed,
there is a great flourish of trumpets, and glowing accounts of
the willingness of planters to emancipate their slaves on
condition of transportation to Africa. Now and then a slave is
actually manumitted and removed, and the incident is dwelt upon
for months. Why, my friends, hundreds of worn-out slaves are
annually turned off to die, like old horses. No doubt their
masters will thank the Colonization Society, or any one else, to
send them out of the country; especially as they will gain much
glorification in the newspapers, for their _disinterested_
sacrifices. Let no man be deceived by these manoeuvres.

'My time is consumed--and yet I have scarcely entered upon the
threshold of my argument. Now, what a spectacle is presented to
the world!--the American people, boasting of their free and
equal rights--of their abhorrence of aristocratical
distinctions--of their republican equality; proclaiming on every
wind, "that all men are born _equal_, and endowed with certain
inalienable _rights_," and that this land is an asylum for the
persecuted of all nations; and yet as loudly proclaiming that
they are determined to deprive millions of their own countrymen
of every political and social right, and to send them to a
barbarous continent, because the Creator has given them a sable
complexion. Where exists a more rigorous despotism? What
conspiracy was ever more cruel? What hypocrisy and
tergiversation so enormous? The story is proclaimed in our
pulpits, in our state and national assemblies, in courts of law,
in religious and secular periodicals,--among all parties, and in
all quarters of the country,--that there is a _moral incapacity_
in the people to do justly, love mercy, and to walk
uprightly--that they must always be the enemies and oppressors
of the colored people--that no love of liberty, no dictate of
duty, no precept of republicanism, no dread of retribution, no
claim of right, no injunction of the gospel, can possibly
persuade them to do unto their colored countrymen, as they would
that they should do unto them in a reversal of circumstances.
Now, to these promulgators of unrighteousness, with the
Declaration of Independence in one hand, and the Bible in the
other, I fearlessly give battle. Rich and mighty and numerous as
they are, by the help of the Lord I will put them to open shame.
They shall not libel me, they shall not libel my country, with
impunity. They shall not make our boasted republicanism a
by-word and a hissing among all nations, nor sink the christian
religion below heathen idolatry; and if they persist in
publishing their scandalous proclamations, they shall be
labelled as the enemies of their species and of the republic,
and treated accordingly.

'The Colonization Society, therefore, instead of being a
philanthropic and religious institution, is anti-republican and
anti-christian in its tendency. Its pretences are false, its
doctrines odious, its means contemptible. If we are to send away
the colored population because they are profligate and vicious,
what sort of missionaries will they make? Why not send away the
vicious among the whites, for the same reason and the same
purpose? If ignorance be a crime, where shall we begin to
select? How much must a man know to save him from
transportation? How white must he be? If we send away a mixed
breed, how many will be left? If foreigners only, then the
people of color must remain--for they are our countrymen. Would
foreigners submit? No--not for an instant. Why should the
American people make this enormous expenditure of life and
money? Why not use the funds of the Society to instruct and
elevate our colored population at home? This would be rational
and serviceable. Instead of removing men from a land of
civilization and knowledge--of schools, and seminaries, and
colleges--to give them instruction in a land of darkness and
desolation--would it not be wiser and better to reverse the
case, and bring the ignorant here for cultivation?'

The foregoing accusations are grave, weighty, positive--involving a perilous responsibility, and requiring ample and irrefragable proof. They are expressed in vehement terms: but to measure the propriety of language, we must first examine the character of the system, or the nature of the object, against which it is directed. If we see a person wilfully abusing the goods of an individual, we may reprehend him, but with comparative mildness. If we see him maiming, or in any way maltreating another man's cattle, we may increase the severity of our rebuke. But if we see him violating all the social and sacred relations of life,--daily defrauding a number of his fellow creatures of the fruits of their toil, calling them his property, selling them for money, lacerating their bodies, and ruining their souls,--we may use the strongest terms of moral indignation. Nor is plain and vehement denunciation of crime inconsistent with the most benevolent feelings towards the perpetrators of it. We are sustained in these positions by the example of Christ, and the apostles, and the prophets, and the reformers.

So, also, if there be an institution, the direct tendency of which is to perpetuate slavery, to encourage persecution, and to invigorate prejudice,--although many of its supporters may be actuated by pure motives,--it ought to receive unqualified condemnation.

It is proper to call things by their right names. What does the law term him who steals your pocket-book, or breaks into your dwelling, or strips you on the highway? A robber! Is the charge inflammatory or unjust? or will it please the villain? The abuse of language is seen only in its misapplication. Those who object to the strength of my denunciation must prove its perversion before they accuse me of injustice.

Probably I may be interrogated by individuals,--'Why do you object to a colony in Africa? Are you not willing people should choose their own places of residence? And if the blacks are willing to remove, why throw obstacles in their path or deprecate their withdrawal? All go _voluntarily_: of what, then, do you complain? Is not the colony at Liberia in a flourishing condition, and expanding beyond the most sanguine expectations of its founders?'

Pertinent questions deserve pertinent answers. I say, then, in reply, that I do not object to a colony, _in the abstract_--to use the popular phraseology of the day. In other words, I am entirely willing men should be as free as the birds in choosing the time when, the mode how, and the place where they shall migrate. The power of locomotion was given to be used at will; as beings of intelligence and enterprise,

'The world is all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.'

The emigration from New-England to the far West is constant and large. Almost every city, town or village suffers annually by the departure of some of its adventurous inhabitants. Companies have been formed to go and possess the Oregon territory--an enterprise hazardous and unpromising in the extreme. The old States are distributing their population over the whole continent, with unexampled fruitfulness and liberality. But why this restless, roving, unsatisfied disposition? Is it because those who cherish it are treated as the offscouring of all flesh, in the place of their birth? or because they do not possess equal rights and privileges with other citizens? or because they are the victims of incorrigible hate and prejudice? or because they are told that they must choose between exilement and perpetual degradation? or because the density of population renders it impossible for them to obtain preferment and competence here? or because they are estranged by oppression and scorn? or because they cherish no attachment to their native soil, to the scenes of their childhood and youth, or to the institutions of government? or because they consider themselves as dwellers in a strange land, and feel a burning desire, a feverish longing to return home? No. They lie under no odious disabilities, whether imposed by public opinion or by legislative power; to them the path of preferment is wide open; they sustain a solid and honorable reputation; they not only can rise, but have risen, and may soar still higher, to responsible stations and affluent circumstances; no calamity afflicts, no burden depresses, no reproach excludes, no despondency enfeebles them; and they love the spot of their nativity almost to idolatry. The air of heaven is not freer or more buoyant than they. Theirs is a spirit of curiosity and adventurous enterprise, impelled by no malignant influences, but by the spontaneous promptings of the mind. Far different is the case of our colored population. Their _voluntary_ banishment is _compulsory_--they are _forced_ to turn _volunteers_, as will be shown in other parts of this work.

The following proposition is self-evident: The success of an enterprise furnishes no proof that it is in accordance with justice, or that it meets the approbation of God, or that it ought to be prosecuted to its consummation, or that it is the fruit of disinterested benevolence.

I do not doubt that the Colony at Liberia, by a prodigal expenditure of life and money, will ultimately flourish; but a good result would no more hallow that persecution which is seeking to drag the blacks away, than it would if we should burn every distillery, and shut up in prison every vender of ardent spirits, in order to do good and to prevent people from becoming drunkards. Because Jehovah overrules evil for good, shall we therefore continue to do evil?

If ten thousand white mechanics, farmers, merchants, &c. &c. were to emigrate to Africa, does any man doubt whether permanent good would result from the enterprise--good to that benighted continent, which would counterbalance all the sacrifices and sufferings attending it? And yet is there a single mechanic, farmer or merchant, who feels it to be his duty, or would be willing to go? Suppose the people of color should get the power into their hands to-morrow, and should argue that the whites must not be admitted to equal privileges with themselves; but that, having so long plundered Africa, and oppressed her children, justice demanded that they should be sent to that desolate land to build up colonies, and carry the light of civilization and knowledge, as a sort of reparation--and that, having superior instruction in literature and science, they were peculiarly qualified for such a mission--how would this doctrine relish? 'It is a poor rule that will not work both ways,' says the proverb. Yet this logic would be more sound than is our own with regard to the colonization of the blacks.

On this point, deception is practised to a great extent. The advocates of the Colonization Society are constantly aiming to divert public attention from the only proper subject of inquiry, namely, 'Is it based upon benevolence and justice?'--to the success of the colony. Granting all that they assert, it proves nothing; but of this success I shall have occasion, doubtless, to speak hereafter. Fine stories are trumpeted all over the country, of the happiness, intelligence, industry, virtue, enterprise and dignity of the colonists; and changes, absolutely miraculous, are gravely recorded for the admiration and credulity of community. 'The simple,' says Solomon, 'believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.'

The doctrine, that the 'end sanctifies the means,' belongs, I trust, exclusively to the creed of the Jesuits. If I were sure that the Society would accomplish the entire regeneration of Africa by its present measures, my detestation of its principles would not abate one jot, nor would I bestow upon it the smallest modicum of praise. Never shall the fruits of the mercy and overruling providence of God,--ever bringing good out of evil and light out of darkness,--be ascribed to the prejudice and sin of man.

It is certain that many a poor native African has been led to embrace the gospel, in consequence of his transportation to our shores, who else had lived and died a heathen. Is the slave trade therefore a blessing? Suppose one of those wretches who are engaged in this nefarious commerce were brought before the Supreme Court, and being convicted, should be asked by the Judge, whether he had aught to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him? And suppose the culprit should espy some of his sable victims in court, whom he knew had made a profession of faith, and he should boldly reply--'May it please your Honor, I abducted these people away from their homes, it is true; but they were poor, miserable, benighted idolators, and must have inevitably remained as such unto the hour of their death, if I had not brought them to this land of christianity and bibles, where they have been taught a knowledge of the true God, and are now rejoicing in hope of a glorious immortality. I therefore offer as a conclusive reason why sentence should not be pronounced, _that I have rescued souls from perdition_, and thus enlarged the company of the saints in light.' Would the villain be acquitted, and, instead of a halter, receive the panegyric of the Court for his conduct?

Our pilgrim fathers, not being able to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences in the mother country, were compelled by ecclesiastical despotism to seek a refuge in this rude and barbarous continent. Wonderful have been the fruits of their expulsion! A mighty republic established--the freest, the wisest, the most religious on earth!--influencing the world by its example, and exciting the emulation of all nations! Now suppose we should occasionally find in the pages of the Edinburgh or Quarterly Review, or in the columns of the English newspapers, not only a full justification of this oppressive treatment in view of its astonishing consequences, but a claim to approbation on account of its exercise. Would not such effrontery amaze us? Would not an honest indignation burn within us? Should we look with a more complacent aspect upon the bigots who kindled those fires of persecution around the Puritans, which, but for the interposition of Heaven, had consumed them to ashes?

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was essential to the salvation of the world. Suppose Judas, at the judgment day, should build upon this fact in extenuation of his dreadful crime. What would be the decision of the assembled universe? Yea, what was the condemnation passed upon him by the Illustrious Sufferer? 'Wo to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born!'

Let not, then, any imaginary or real prosperity of the settlement at Liberia lead any individual to applaud the Colonization Society, reckless whether it be actuated by mistaken philanthropy, or perverted generosity, or selfish policy, or unchristian prejudice.

I should oppose this Society, even were its doctrines harmless. It imperatively and effectually seals up the lips of a vast number of influential and pious men, who, for fear of giving offence to those slaveholders with whom they associate, and thereby leading to a dissolution of the compact, dare not expose the flagrant enormities of the system of slavery, nor denounce the crime of holding human beings in bondage. They dare not lead to the onset against the forces of tyranny; and if _they_ shrink from the conflict, how shall the victory be won? I do not mean to aver, that, in their sermons, or addresses, or private conversations, they never allude to the subject of slavery; for they do so frequently, or at least every Fourth of July. But my complaint is, that they content themselves with representing slavery as an evil,--a misfortune,--a calamity which has been entailed upon us by former generations,--_and not as an individual_ CRIME, embracing in its folds robbery, cruelty, oppression and piracy. _They do not identify the criminals_; they make no direct, pungent, earnest appeal to the consciences of men-stealers; by consenting to walk arm-in-arm with them, they virtually agree to abstain from all offensive remarks, and to aim entirely at the expulsion of the free people of color; their lugubrious exclamations, and solemn animadversions, and reproachful reflections, are altogether indefinite; they 'go about, and about, and all the way round to nothing;' they generalize, they shoot into the air, they do not disturb the repose nor wound the complacency of the sinner; 'they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean.' Thus has free inquiry been suppressed, and a universal fear created, and the tongue of the boldest silenced, and the sleep of death fastened upon the nation. 'Truth has fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter.' The plague is raging with unwonted fatality; but no _cordon sanitaire_ is established--no adequate remedy sought. The tide of moral death is constantly rising and widening; but no efforts are made to stay its desolating career. The fire of God's indignation is kindling against us, and thick darkness covers the heavens, and the hour of retribution is at hand; but we are obstinate in our transgression, we refuse to repent, we impiously throw the burden of our guilt upon our predecessors, we affect resignation to our _unfortunate_ lot, we descant upon the mysterious dispensations of Providence, we deem ourselves objects of God's compassion rather than of his displeasure. 'Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?'

Were the American Colonization Society bending its energies directly to the immediate abolition of slavery; seeking to enlighten and consolidate public opinion, on this momentous subject; faithfully exposing the awful guilt of the owners of slaves; manfully contending for the bestowal of equal rights upon our free colored population in this their native land; assiduously endeavoring to uproot the prejudices of society; and holding no fellowship with oppressors; my opposition to it would cease. It might continue to bestow its charities upon those who should desire to seek another country, and at the same time launch its thunders against the system of oppression. But, alas! it looks to the banishment of the free people of color as the only means to abolish slavery, and conciliate the feelings of the planters.

The popularity of the Society is not attributable to its merits, but exclusively to its congeniality with those unchristian prejudices which have so long been cherished against a sable complexion. It is agreeable to slaveholders, because it is striving to remove a class of persons who they fear may stir up their slaves to rebellion; all who avow undying hostility to the people of color are in favor of it; all who shrink from acknowledging them as brethren and friends, or who make them a distinct and inferior caste, or who deny the possibility of elevating them in the scale of improvement here, most heartily embrace it. Having ample funds, it has been able to circulate its specious appeals in every part of the country; and to employ active and eloquent agents, who have glowingly described to the people the immense advantages to be reaped from the accomplishment of its designs. With this entire preoccupancy of the ground, and these common though unworthy dispositions in its favor, the wonder is, that it is not more popular.

Much cleverness is not requisite to tell a fine story; and a fine story is always agreeable to a credulous listener. An agent of the Society goes into a place, and finds no difficulty in procuring a pulpit from which to address a congregation. The benevolent pastor, who, perhaps, has had neither time nor opportunity to examine the principles of the Society, readily officiates on the occasion, and, in the fulness of his heart, believing that he is not asking amiss, supplicates the benediction of Heaven upon the object of the meeting. This co-operation of the pastor with the agent makes an impression decidedly favorable to the latter upon the minds of the audience, and prepares them to receive his statements with confidence. He first dwells upon the miserable condition of Africa--desolated with civil wars--the prey of kidnappers--given up to idolatry--full of intellectual darkness and spiritual death--and bleeding at every pore. He next depicts the horrors of the slave trade, and shows how inefficient have been the laws enacted for its suppression. He finally expatiates upon the evils and dangers of slavery; and is particularly minute in describing the degradation of the free people of color, which he declares to be irreclaimable in this land of gospel light. 'Now, my christian brethren and friends,' he continues, 'the object of the American Colonization Society is to stay the effusion of blood, to give light to them who sit in darkness, and to make reparation for the wrongs which have been inflicted upon the sable sons of Africa. As the people of color must evidently be a distinct and degraded class while they reside in this country, and as they are threatened with universal proscription, the Society benevolently proposes to send them back _to their native country_, by their own _voluntary_ consent, together with those slaves who may be emancipated for this purpose, where they may enjoy equal rights and privileges, nor longer retain any sense of inferiority to the whites. Every emigrant will go as a missionary to reclaim the poor natives from their barbarism, and to spread the tidings of salvation throughout the African continent. By forming a chain of colonies along the coast, a speedy check will be given to the accursed slave trade,--a trade which cannot be destroyed in any other manner. Who does not desire to see Africa civilized and evangelized? Whose heart does not leap in view of the suppression of the slave trade? Who does not pray for deliverance from the evils of slavery? Who does not wish to behold the free people of color,--cursed with ineffectual freedom here,--_recalled from their banishment_, and placed where no obstacles will impede their march to affluence, preferment and honor? The Colonization Society, then, powerfully commends itself to the christian, the philanthropist and the patriot--to every section of our country and to all denominations of men.'

Exquisite! The picture is crowded with attractions, delightful to the eye. The story is skilfully told, and implicitly believed; but, like every other story, it has two sides to it. So complete is the delusion, however, that many good people are ready to class those who denounce the Colonization Society, among the opposers of foreign missions, bible and tract societies, and the other benevolent operations of the age!

Far be it from me to accuse the agents of the Society of intentionally perverting the truth or deliberately imposing upon the credulity of the public. Some--perhaps all of them, are men of sincerity and probity; but, deluded themselves, they help to delude others. Their vision is imperfect; and 'if the blind lead the blind,' we may expect to find them in the same ditch together.