To these questions from Finley and Mills Cuffe gave prompt attention. He gave them what facts he had gathered from his two visits to Africa. He wrote with feeling about the slave trade, and raised the question of the desirability of a government vessel making explorations on the west coast of Africa. Small beginnings, he said, had been made in Sierra Leone, but in case there was a general manumission the Cape of Good Hope offered the most desirable place for a colony. Attention was also called to the Congo region. Withal to draw off the colored citizens it seemed best not only to have a colony in Africa but one in America as well. In any event, the slaves should be freed and until they are capable of managing for themselves they might be allowed to work the plantations on a lay.
The work of the African Institution is called to the attention of Finley and Mills and both Peter Williams, Jr., and James Forten are recommended. On returning from his second voyage he states that he received so many applications that he could have taken over the greater part of Boston. He himself is ready to serve in any capacity "although," he continued, "I stand (as it were) in a low place and am not able to see far; but blessed by God who hath created all things and for his own glory they are and were created he is able to make use of instruments in such a way as he pleases and may I be resigned to his holy will."[56]
Both Mills and Finley signed the constitution of the American Colonization Society. Finley was one of the Vice Presidents, and Mills was sent to Africa by the society to make investigations for it. He went via England where he met the colaborers of Cuffe. While in Africa he consulted with the members of the Friendly Society established by Cuffe in 1811. Two of the settlers that Cuffe transported in 1815, Kizell and Martin, acted as interpreters and guides for Mills. In one of Mills' observations he says, "Should a colony be established in this part of Africa, it remains a question whether it should be governed by white men, or whether the people will consider themselves competent to self government in the first instance."
The arguments for and against colonization were considered by Mills and Cuffe. "Whenever the subject of colonization shall be discussed by Congress," says Mills, "some will object that the free people of color will not go to Africa. Again, that it will cost too much to transport them and to afford them the necessary protection. Again it will be said that too many of these people are very useful and are wanted in this country. We should be prepared to meet these objectors as far as possible and trust in God for the success of our efforts."[57]
Mills was right in his anticipation of the argument that the free blacks would not go to Africa. Hardly had the American Colonization Society been formed when, under the auspices of the African Institution at Philadelphia, a meeting estimated at three thousand met at Reverend Richard Allen's church to discuss the question. Many were frightened, for they believed force would be used, particularly in the South, to compel immigration to Africa. James Forten reported none of them favored going to Africa and that they thought the slaveholders wanted to get rid of the free blacks so as to make the slaves themselves more secure. Although Forten was convinced that his brethren would never "become a people until they came out from amongst the white people"[58] he concluded to be silent on the question of deportation for the time being.
When this opposition to the colonization project was known to the Society, Finley came to Philadelphia to take charge of the situation. He met the committee to whom the matter was referred and explained to them "the purity of the motives" which actuated many of the leading spirits in the Society. He was so convincing that the committee unanimously decided that "benevolence to them and the land of their fathers guided the movements that were made at Washington."[59] But James Forten showed his confidence in the Captain by writing for his opinion on colonization.
Captain Cuffe had given advice to the men who organized the American Colonization Society, his co-workers in London had been drawn upon, his friends in Sierra Leone had served the agents of the Society in Africa, but his influence did not end with his death. When Bishop Meade was in the South on behalf of the Society he read Cuffe's letters to the free blacks of Savannah. He made use, too, of information obtained from some other Negroes who had been in Sierra Leone and conversed with the emigrants taken over in 1815.
In fact, the Society printed letters from the American Settlers in Africa and disseminated them as propaganda. Perry Locke exhorts his brethren in America to come to the "land of Canaan, abounding in honey and fruits, fish and oysters, wild fowls and wild hogs. The only thing that Africa wants is the knowledge of God—fear not to come, if the Lord will. When you come I hope to be with you and more besides me,—let this be printed if you please."[60]
The testimony of Samuel Wilson was no less convincing. He concludes: "Sir, when I set my foot on the African shore, I had only seven and six pence sterling; now, notwithstanding, all my sickness, I am master of a hundred pounds sterling. I think if I had had something to have begun with, I should have had about four or five thousand."[61]