[[return]]3. Garrison, "Thoughts on Colonization," 8.
[[return]]4. Colonization Society Letters, 1826, Letter of J. Gales, of Raleigh, North Carolina. Niles Register, XXXV, 386; XLI, 103.
[[return]]5. The leaders of this meeting were: James Forten, chairman, Russell Parrott, secretary, Rev. Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, Robert Douglass, Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gordon, James Johnson, Quamony Clarkson, John Sommerset, and Randall Shepherd. See Garrison's "Thoughts on African Colonization." Niles Register, XVII, 30.
[[return]]6. Stebbins, "Origin, Character and Influence of the American Colonization Society," 194.
[[return]]7. The address was as follows:
"Relieved from the miseries of slavery, many of us by your aid, possessing benefits which industry and integrity in this prosperous country assures to all its inhabitants, enjoying the rich blessings of religion, by opportunities of worshipping the only true God, under the light of Christianity, each of us according to his understanding; and having afforded us and our children the means of education and improvement; we have no wish to separate from our present homes, for any purpose whatever. Contented with our present situation and condition, we are desirous of increasing the prosperity, by honest efforts, and by the use of the opportunities, for their improvement, which the constitution and laws allow.
"We, therefore, a portion of those who are the objects of this plan, and among those whose benefits, with them of others of color, it is intended to promote; with humble and grateful acknowledgments to those who have devised it, renounce and disclaim every connection with it; and respectfully and firmly declare our determination not to participate in any part of it.
"Nor do we view the colonization of those who may become emancipated by its operation among our southern brethren, as capable to produce their happiness. Unprepared by education and a knowledge of the principles of our blessed religion, for their new situation, those who will thus become colonized will thus be surrounded by every suffering which can affect the members of the human family.
"Without arts, without habits of industry, and unaccustomed to provide by their own exertions and foresight for their wants, the colony will soon become the abode of every vice, and the home of every misery. Soon will the light of Christianity, which now dawns among that portion of our species, be cut out by the clouds of ignorance, and their day of life be closed, without the illumination of the gospel.
"To those of our brethren who shall be left behind, there will be assured perpetual slavery and augmented sufferings. Diminished in numbers, the slave population of the southern states, which by their magnitude alarms its proprietors, will be easily secured. Those who among their bondsmen, who feel that they should be free, by right which all mankind have from God and from nature, will be sent to the colony; and the timid and submissive will be retained, and subjected to increasing rigor. Year after year will witness those means to assure safety and submission among their slaves, and the southern masters will colonize only those who it may be dangerous to keep among them. The bondage of a large portion of our members will thus be rendered perpetual.
"Disclaiming, as we emphatically do, a wish or desire to interpose our opinions and feelings between the plan of colonization and the judgment of those whose wisdom as far as exceeds ours as their situations are exalted above ours, we humbly, respectfully, and fervently intreat and beseech your disapprobation of the plan of colonization now offered by the American Society for colonizing the free people of color of the United States. Here in the city of Philadelphia, where the voice of the suffering sons of Africa was first heard; where was first commenced the work of abolition, on which heaven has smiled, for it could have had success only from the Great Maker; will not a purpose be assisted which will state the cause of the entire abolition of slavery in the United States, and which may defeat it altogether; which proffers to those who do not ask for them what it calls benefits, but which they consider injurious and which must insure to the multitudes whose prayers can only reach you through us, misery, sufferings, and perpetual slavery.
"James Forten, Chairman,
"Russell Parrott, Secretary."
[[return]]8. Garrison, "Thoughts on Colonization," p. 10.
[[return]]9. The African Repository, II, 295 et seq.
[[return]]10. It must be borne in mind, too, that The African Repository, in which appeared most of the letters of Negroes favoring emigration to Africa, was the organ of the American Colonization Society.
[[return]]11. The African Repository, VII, 216.