4. Colonization exerts a favorable influence on the general interest of the blacks, especially by directing the thoughts of slave-holders to the subject of emancipation, as well as actually securing, in many cases, the emancipation of slaves. Of this we have abundant evidence. Almost every week we hear of some slave, or a number of slaves, who have been emancipated. We hear also of many persons who are willing to give freedom to their slaves, providing they can be removed from the soil. There are multitudes of this description in Kentucky; and in Missouri a large proportion of the slave-holders are willing and desirous of doing this. A letter from a gentleman in St. Louis, says, “A great change has taken place here within ten years on the subject of slavery. The advocates of perpetual bondage are very few. The slaves are, in many instances, an expense to their owners; and the Colonization Society is looked to as the only hope of ridding the land of the burden.” The same may be said of numbers in the other slave-holding states. On this subject, the writer above alluded to remarks, “This is not conjecture. The friends of colonization in their arguments can read off a catalogue of instances in which emancipation has already resulted from the progress of this work. We know that on the other hand it is said that the arguments and statements of colonizationists prevent emancipation. But the proper proof of this assertion would be to bring forward the particular facts. Tell us of the individuals who have in fact been effectually hindered from setting their slaves at large by what they have read in the African Repository, or by what they have heard from the agents of the Society. We say, then, that colonization is bringing the power of example to bear on public sentiment at the south in regard to slavery. Each single instance of emancipation is indeed a small matter, when compared with the continued slavery of two millions; but every such instance, occurring in the midst of a slave-holding community, is a strong appeal to the natural sentiments of benevolence and justice in all who witness it.” It must be felt, it is felt, by all who hold their fellow-men in bondage.
5. African colonization will exert a most happy influence on the general interest of the negro, particularly in reference to the abolition of slaves, by bringing free labor into competition with that of slaves. Many people in this country begin already to feel that slave labor is unprofitable; and if their circumstances were such that they could employ free labor, they would certainly do it. Self-interest alone would prompt nearly all the slave-holders in Missouri and Kentucky, and multitudes in Virginia and Maryland, to do this if they could. And not a few in the more determined slave-states are ready to acknowledge the comparative worthlessness of slave-labor, (for self-interest must be brought to bear upon the interest of emancipation) and they will be ready to release their slaves. Slavery will cease as soon as men shall be persuaded that it is unprofitable. Now this will be the tendency of colonization. It will multiply the products of tropical regions, above what can be done in slave-holding countries, and show to the latter, by actual demonstration, the unprofitableness of the system. On this subject the writer in the Spectator says, “We are confident that the most rapid and most effectual method to bring free labor into competition with slave labor, and thus to drive the products of the latter out of every market, is to establish on the soil of Africa a free and civilized commonwealth, whose institutions shall all be fashioned after American models, and whose population shall be pervaded and impelled by the spirit of American enterprize. This is the work which the American Colonization Society is prosecuting with all its resources. The friends of slavery may dream that this work is to secure and perpetuate that miserable system; but if any of them do thus imagine, they err as widely in that as they do in supposing that the repeal of the protective tariff will relieve them of their embarrassments. The free-trade principles, for which they are now contending, are the principles which will, by and by, bring all slave-holders to the alternative of universal emancipation, or universal bankruptcy.”
6. The prosecution of this work has a happy influence on the general interests of the blacks, by introducing into the slave-holding states inquiry and discussion respecting the evils of slavery, and the possibility of its abolition. Says the above writer in the Christian Spectator, “The great body of the friends of the Colonization Society, at the South no less than at the North, regard the scheme of that institution as something, which will ultimately, in some way, deliver the land of the curse of Slavery. All who oppose the Society there, oppose it on the same ground. They look upon it as being, in its tendency, and in the hopes of its supporters, an Anti-Slavery project. Thus, in those very regions, in which the system of Slavery sheds all its blasting influences, there is constituted a party, the members of which are recognized by their opposers, and more or less distinctly themselves, as hostile to Slavery, and as looking for an opportunity to move for an abolition. In this way it was, that when an occasion presented itself, a few months ago, the legislature of Virginia became a scene of earnest and public discussion on this long interdicted theme, and to the astonishment of the nation it appeared that the party opposed to slavery was only not a majority. Had Colonization never been thought of, had the scheme of the American Colonization Society never been undertaken, who believes that projects for the abolition of slavery would have been so soon if ever discussed in the legislature of Virginia? Without that preparation of the public mind, which the Colonization Society in the calm and peaceful prosecution of its labors has indirectly accomplished, insurrection and massacre, with all the fear and horrors which they occasion, would have led only to cruelties of legislation and of practice. There is no oppression so unrelenting and desperate as when the oppressor fears his subjects; and the unanimous feeling of Virginia would have been (erroneous indeed, but not on that account the less irresistible and inflexible,) a feeling like that of him who holds a wolf by the ears: it is dangerous to keep him, but more dangerous to let him loose; and therefore, the more furious the struggles of the prisoner, the fiercer and closer will be the despairing grasp that holds him.”
We entertain no doubt that the discussions, thus commenced, will gradually become more free and thorough: will appeal more directly to the great law that acknowledges the inalienable and universal rights of man; and will, at the same time, find its way still farther South, till it pervades and awakens every state from the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico. This is inevitable: the discussion of such a subject, involving such hopes, and fears, and interests, when once it has been opened, can never be suppressed. Nor is this all: such a system as slavery cannot long withstand the power of free and full discussion. The hour in which the debate on slavery commenced in the capital at Richmond, may be considered as having sealed the death-warrant of the system, not only for Virginia, but for the nation. And now it may be said, that whatever is to be hereafter the success of the Colonization Society, in the prosecution of its own appropriate enterprize, this great result is ultimately sure. Not that it has nothing more to do by its indirect influence in accelerating this result: certainly the greater the success of the Colonization of Africa, the greater will be the progress of public opinion towards this consummation. But let the Society be dissolved, let the pirates of the African seas wreak their cherished wrath on Liberia—let Montserrado be made again the mart for the slave-trade—let the spot now adorned with Christian churches become again the seat of devil-worship; let the smiling villages on the St. Paul’s be made desolate, and the now cultivated soil be overspread with the vegetation of the wilderness; still it will be true that the indirect influence of the American Colonization Society has secured the abolition of Slavery.”
7. African Colonization will have a powerful tendency to destroy the slave trade. Hitherto all efforts to stop the progress of this abominable traffic have been unavailing. Notwithstanding the laws made against it by various nations, and especially against the importation of slaves into their territories, the work still goes on. It is estimated that 50,000 were carried into foreign slavery the last year. And this will continue to be the fact for years to come, unless more effectual measures are taken than any that government can adopt. The slave-stealers lie along the coast of Africa, and glide up and down her rivers, ready to seize upon every man, woman and child, who come within their reach. And this they will continue to do in spite of all penal enactments. By resorting to false flags, and false decks, and false passports, they effectually elude detection; or, if they are hard pressed and cannot escape their pursuers, they throw their cargoes overboard, and thus evade the law which requires that slaves shall be actually found in the ship in order to justify a capture. When hard pressed they will even head the negroes up in casks, and cast them into the sea, that they may take them up again when the chase is over. Now there is no conceivable way, while the world remains as it is, by which this inhuman traffic can be suppressed, but by establishing colonies on the coast of Africa. And this will do it. ‘This will draw a cordon around the continent which the slave-trader cannot penetrate.’ All communication with the natives will be cut off, and if it is not wholly so, the influence which the colonists will have upon them will remove their disposition to sell their brethren and sisters into bondage. The colony at Liberia has already done this to a great extent. Says a recent British publication, when speaking of the influence of the American Colony at Liberia, ‘Nothing has tended more to suppress the slave-trade in this quarter, than the constant intercourse and communication of the natives with these industrious colonists. Wherever the influence of this colony extends, the slave-trade has been abandoned.’ And we have other evidence to show that, for hundreds of miles around Liberia, the slave-trade has ceased. Is it not plain then that African colonization exerts, and if suffered to proceed will continue to exert, a favorable influence for the suppression of the slave-trade? Does not Divine Providence seem to point to this as the only way to bring it to an end? Is not this the way by which those sighs and groans, and agonies unutterable, which Heaven annually witnesses on the coast of Africa, and in the middle passage, will be brought to an end?
8. Colonization will have a favorable influence on the interests of the negro by affording facilities for the introduction of civilization and christianity into the continent of Africa. The introduction of religion and the arts into Africa, as into every other heathen country, is an object which should be near the heart of every christian and friend of man. The whole continent is now filled with the habitations of cruelty—the people are sitting in the region and shadow of death. No gospel light has ever shone upon them; but ignorance and superstition, and moral death, everywhere prevail. Now the establishment of colonies on the coast, which are under the influence of christian principle, will have a tendency to remove this darkness from the natives around. It has begun to do this already. Many of the natives around Liberia have desired to place themselves under the protection of its government, and esteem it no small privilege if they may be permitted to call themselves Americans. They are anxious to place their children in the schools of the colonists, and many of them through the instructions which they have there received have become pious and devoted christians. Throughout the whole region, bordering on Liberia, the natives appear to be disarmed of prejudice, and ready to receive the instructions and adopt the principles of the colonists. Now let this colony be enlarged—let the means of education and christian knowledge be increased and extended to the neighboring tribes—and multitudes of them would doubtless be converted to God. If the colony at Liberia is successful, and receives the confidence and support of the christian community, a college may shortly be established there which, by the blessing of Heaven, will qualify men to act as missionaries over the whole continent. Multitudes might there be trained up, who, with all their advantages of color and adaptation to the climate, will be vastly better qualified to preach the gospel to their countrymen than any who could go from this country. What encouragement then is there to urge forward the work of colonization! For the sake of the poor natives alone, let the work go forward—let colonies be established all along the coast—let churches and schools be built up—circulate Bibles and tracts, and let the light of the gospel shine—and the natives will feel its holy influence. One tribe will receive the truth and communicate it to another, and they again to another—knowledge will increase and multiply daily. Every gale which sweeps from the western coast, will waft Messiah’s name farther and farther into the interior, until that whole continent shall become vocal with the high praises of our God.
Such are some of the favorable influences of the Colonization Society on the general interests of the colored population. We might enumerate many more, and say many things to obviate the objections which some have urged against the Society, but time will not permit. We conclude the argument, therefore, by urging all the friends of colonization diligently to consider the testimony concerning this enterprise, and to prepare themselves to vindicate it against the attacks of its enemies, and to commend it to the confidence and support of the community. The state of feeling at the present time towards the Colonization Society requires that something should be done. Its enemies, though feeble, are clamorous, and if nothing is done to check their influence, may deceive some portion of the people. Let, then, the friends of colonization awake and prepare themselves for a discussion, from which they have everything to hope. The enterprise will go forward—the colony at Liberia will be sustained, and the society will receive, as it deserves, the universal and cordial gratitude and support of every portion of the community.
PRESENT STATE OF THE COLONY.
The following letters from a respectable emigrant, will farther show the present condition of the settlements: