Should the slaves be gradually manumitted and colonized abroad with their consent, and the North be thereafter reproached with aiding to force slavery upon the South, we could then truly say, that we had finally freely united with the South in expending our treasure to remove the evil. The offence of our forefathers would then be gloriously redeemed by the justice and generosity of their children, and made instrumental in carrying commerce, civilization, and Christianity to the benighted regions of Africa. Nor should the colonization be confined to Africa, but extended to 'Mexico, Central and Southern America' (as proposed in my Texas letter of the 8th January, 1844), and to the West Indies, or such other homes as might be preferred by the negro race.
From my youth upward, at all times and under all circumstances, whether residing North or South, whether in public or in private life, I have ever supported gradual emancipation, accompanied by colonization, as the only remedy for the evil of slavery. In my Texas letter, just referred to, published at its date over my signature, being then a senator from Mississippi, I expressed the following opinions on this great question:
'Again the question is asked, is slavery never to disappear from the Union? This is a startling and momentous question, but the answer is easy and the proof is clear—it will certainly disappear if Texas is reannexed to the Union, not by abolition, but in spite of all its frenzy, slowly and gradually, by diffusion, as it has thus nearly receded from several of the more Northern of the slaveholding States, and as it will certainly continue more rapidly to recede by the reannexation of Texas, into Mexico and Central and Southern America. Providence * * * thus will open Texas as a safety-valve, into and through which slavery will slowly and gradually recede, and finally disappear into the boundless regions of Mexico, and Central and Southern America. Beyond the Del Norte slavery will not pass; not only because it is forbidden by law, but because the colored races there preponderate in the ratio of ten to one over the whites, and holding, as they do, the government and most of the offices in their own possession, they will never permit the enslavement of any portion of the colored race, which makes and executes the laws of the country. In Bradford's Atlas the facts are given as follows:
'Mexico, area 1,690,000 square miles; population eight millions, one sixth white, and all the rest Indians, Africans, Mulattoes, Zambos, and other colored races. Central America, area 186,000 square miles; population nearly two millions, one sixth white, and the rest Negroes, Zambos, and other colored races. South America, area 6,500,000 square miles; population fourteen millions, one million white, four millions Indians, and the remainder, being nine millions, blacks and other colored races. The outlet for our negro race through this vast region can never be opened but by the reannexation of Texas; but, in that event, there, in that extensive country, bordering on our negro population, and four times greater in area than the whole Union, with a sparse population of but three to the square mile, where nine tenths of the people are of the colored races—there, upon that fertile soil, and in that delicious climate, so admirably adapted to the negro race, as all experience has now clearly shown, the free black would find a home. There, also, as the slaves, in the lapse of time, from the density of population and other causes, are emancipated, they will disappear, from time to time, west of the Del Norte, and beyond the limits of the Union, and among a race of their own color will be diffused through this vast region, where they will not be a degraded caste, and where, as to climate and social and moral condition, and all the hopes and comforts of life, they can occupy, amid equals, a position they can never attain in any part of this Union.'
This, it is true, was a slow process, but it was peaceful, progressive, and certain, especially when Texas should have been checkered by railroads, and her system connected with that of the South and of Mexico. I desired then, however, to accelerate this action, by making it a part of the compact of Texas with the Federal Government, that the proceeds of the sales of her public lands, exceeding two hundred millions of acres, should be devoted in aid of the colonization described in this extract. The principle, however, was adopted of State action by irrevocable compact with the Federal Government, by which, provision therein was made for abolishing slavery in all such States north of a certain parallel of latitude (embracing a territory larger than New England), as might be thereafter admitted by subdivision of the State of Texas. The power of action on this subject, by compact of a State with the General Government, was then clearly established, in perfect accordance with repeated previous acts of Congress, then cited by me. The doctrine rests upon the elemental principle of the combined authority of the nation, and a State, acting by compact within its limits.
It being clearly our interest and duty to adopt this system of gradual emancipation in the loyal States, with colonization abroad, aided by Congress, the constitutional power being unquestionable, and the expense comparatively small (less than a few months' cost of the war,) it is a signal mark of that special Providence, which has so often shielded our beloved country from imminent peril, that the President of the United States should have recommended, and Congress should have adopted, by so large a majority, this very system, by which slavery might soon disappear, at least from the border States. In making an appropriation for gradual emancipation and colonization, so much of the overture as embraced colonization might and should be extended to the North, as well as the South, so as, with their consent, to colonize beyond our limits the free blacks of every State.
In a former letter, published over my signature, of the 30th September, 1856, called 'An Appeal for the Union,' I said: 'I have never believed in a peaceable dissolution of the Union. * * No; it will be war, civil war, of all others the most sanguinary and ferocious. * * It will be marked * * by frowning fortresses, by opposing batteries, by gleaming sabres, by bristling bayonets, by the tramp of contending armies, by towns and cities sacked and pillaged, by dwellings given to the flames, and fields laid waste and desolate. It will be a second fall of mankind; and while we shall be performing here the bloody drama of a nations suicide, from the thrones of Europe will arise the exulting shouts of despots, and upon their gloomy banners shall be inscribed, as, they believe, never to be effaced, their motto, Man is incapable of self-government.' Alluding to the subject of the present discussion, I then also said: 'I see, too, what, in this probable crisis of my country's destiny, it is my duty again to repeat from my Texas letter: * * The African race, gradually disappearing from our borders, passing, in part, out of our limits to Mexico, and Central and Southern America, and in part returning to the shores of their ancestors, there, it is hoped, to carry Christianity, civilization, and freedom throughout the benighted regions of the sons of Ham.' My views, then, of 1844, were thus distinctly reiterated in 1856, in favor of the gradual extinction of slavery, accompanied by colonization.
The President of the United States, in view of the limited appropriation by Congress, and the economy of short voyages, has recommended one of the great interoceanic routes through the American isthmus for a new negro colony. It is a great object to secure the control of this isthmus by a friendly race, born on our soil, and the selection corresponds with the views expressed in my Texas letter of 1844. As, however, the negroes can only be colonized by their own consent, we should therefore, and as an act of humanity and justice, open all suitable homes abroad for their free choice. After much reflection, I think it is their interest and ours (when the nation shall make large and adequate appropriations), mainly to seek Liberia as a permanent home, establishing there, among their own race, and in the land of their ancestors, a great republic. Liberia has already largely contributed to the decline of the African slave trade. She has reclaimed from barbarism, for civilization, Christianity, liberty, and the English language, 700 miles of the coast, running far into the interior, reaching a high, healthy, well watered, rich, and beautiful country. She has already civilized and Christianized 300,000 native Africans, and brought them into willing obedience to her government. As her power extends along the coast and into the interior, she may soon extinguish the slave trade. This would relieve our squadron, stationed by treaty on the African coast to suppress that traffic, and leave the large sums, annually expended by Congress for that purpose, to be applied in further aid of the cause of colonization.
Providence, for several centuries, has mysteriously connected our destiny with that of the African race. This rebellion developes that purpose; the civilization of that race here, and their transfer to the land of their fathers, carrying with them our language, laws, religion, and free institutions, redeemed from the curse of slavery. Now, indeed, we see the approaching fulfilment of prophecy, when 'Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.' We have just established commercial and diplomatic relations with Liberia, and, in separating from the race here, let us do them ample justice. Let us purchase for Liberia (which can be done for a small sum), the great adjacent coast and interior of Africa, and thus eventually evangelize and civilize that whole region. Liberia would thus expand and become the great Afric-American republic, and the dominant nation of that immense continent. Commerce, the first great missionary—like St. John in the wilderness, preceding the advent of the Redeemer—would penetrate that dark region, and the execrable trade in human beings, give way to the interchange of products and manufactures.
The Westminster Review has said, 'The Americans are planting free negroes on the coast of Africa; a greater event, probably, in its consequences, than any that has occurred since Columbus set sail for the New World.' Let us now adopt gradual emancipation, and the colonization of Africa, and the voyage of the great discoverer will have given civilization and Christianity to two continents, and eventually, we trust, the blessings of liberty to all mankind.