To the Executive Committee of the Col. Society—
Gentlemen: Your circular, containing a copy of Mr. Bryan’s memorial, came to hand a few days ago, and I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. B’s plan, or any other good plan, of forming a line, or lines, of transport to draw off our free people of color, will meet with general favor in our State.
And some movement of the kind is much needed; for the youth of the free States are growing up ignorant of the merits of colonization, and very sceptical as to its final success. This has been produced by the labors of men in the North who have never investigated the subject, and who have poured contempt on all your attempts to colonize—they have been too successful in indoctrinating the youth of the North. A want of faith in the enterprise, or confidence in its final success, will soon paralyze all your efforts in the North; for in a few years the unbelief of our young men will become confirmed, and when they grasp the reins of government, which they will do in the course of time, African colonization will be discarded by the North.
The best remedy that can be devised for the above ignorance and scepticism, among Northern men, will be a bold and decided movement on the part of the General Government, which will look directly toward the separation of the colored race from the white race, and the erection of the colored people into an independent commonwealth.
This movement will confound the opponents of colonization in the North; it will send a thrill of confidence through the hearts of all our friends; it will compel the people to think and talk on the subject of a national colonization enterprise, and it will compel each newspaper in the land to speak out on the subject. Discussion is all we want, for then we can make thousands of friends; in short, we can indoctrinate the nation with our opinions, “and opinion rules the world.”
As to Mr. B’s plan, we are willing that he and his friends shall have the monopoly of the African trade for a time; but that monopoly should be so guarded as to make it a source of wealth to Liberia, and not a drain on the wealth of that Republic, or be calculated to retard her progress. The East India Company has been a stupendous leech on British India, from which it has drawn untold millions, and under whose management India must become impoverished, and made dependent on England.
The interest of colonization requires that we foster Liberia, and not impoverish her. If Mr. B. is to be remunerated for his trouble, and doubtless he should be paid, and well paid, let the American people pay him, and not Africa. So plan the scheme that it will be the interest of the free man of color to go to Africa, and this can be best accomplished by making Liberia a wealthy commercial nation.
It would be well to blend the Colonization Society and Mr. B’s company into one association, if possible, and procure liberal provisions from the General Government, granting large powers for forming settlements and trading stations on the coast of Africa; but having no power to hold real estate in Africa, except a few acres at proper points on the coast for factories, around which colonies might be established, which, growing into states, would in due time take their place among the states of the Liberian confederacy....
I know of no enterprise of this age that we, as Americans, should be so willing to take hold of as one man, with nerve and energy, as that of the settlement of Liberia.