'Whilst he was up, he would detain the Society for a few moments. It was proper again and again to repeat, that it was far from the intention of the Society to affect, in any manner, the tenure by which a certain species of property is held. He was himself a slaveholder; and he considered that kind of property as inviolable as any other in the country. He would resist as soon, and with as much firmness, encroachments upon it as he would encroachments upon any other property which he held. Nor was he disposed even to go as far as the gentleman who had just spoken, (Mr Mercer) in saying that he would emancipate his slaves, if the means were provided of sending them from the country.'—[Speech of Henry Clay.—First Annual Report.]
'It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he understood it constituted no part of the object of this meeting, to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate question, connected with another portion of the colored population of our country. It was not proposed to deliberate upon or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or that which was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon that condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the South and West, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be expected to co-operate. It was upon that condition only, that he himself had attended.'—[Speech of Mr Clay before the Society, Jan. 1, 1818.—Second Annual Report.]
'It had been properly observed by the chairman, as well as by the gentleman from this District (Messrs Clay and Caldwell) that there was nothing in the proposition submitted to consideration which in the smallest degree touched another very important and delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of view as possible, (Negro slavery.) * * * Mr R. concluded by saying, that he had thought it necessary to make these remarks, being a slaveholder himself, to shew, that, so far from being connected with the abolition of slavery, the measure proposed would prove one of the greatest securities to enable the master to keep in possession his own property.'—[Speech of John Randolph at the same meeting.]
'Your committee would not thus favorably regard the prayer of the memorialists, if it sought to impair, in the slightest degree, the rights of private property, or the yet more sacred rights of personal liberty, secured to every description of freemen in the United States.
'The resolution of the legislature of Virginia, the subsequent acts and declarations, as well as the high character of the memorialists themselves, added to the most obvious interest of the states who have recently sanctioned the purpose, or recognized the existence of the American Colonization Society, exclude the remotest apprehension of such injustice and inhumanity.'
—[Report of the committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, on the memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the Colonization Society.—Second Annual Report.]
'An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of the country can unite, of course must not have the abolition of slavery for its immediate object. Nor may it aim directly at the instruction of the blacks. In either case, the prejudices and terrors of the slaveholding States would be excited in a moment; and with reason too, for it is a well-established point, that the public safety forbids either the emancipation or the general instruction of the slaves.' * * * 'It [African Colonization] is an enterprise in which all parts of the country can unite. The grand objection to every other effort is, that it excites the jealousies and fears of the south. But here is an effort in which the southern people are the first to engage, and which numbers many of their most distinguished men among its advocates and efficient supporters.'—[Review of the Reports of the Society, from the Christian Spectator.—Seventh Annual Report.]
'It will be seen at home and abroad, that the American Colonization Society, while it properly enough stands aloof from the question of slavery, and the abolition of slavery,' &c.—[Report of William McKenney.—Eighth Annual Report.]
'The objects of this institution are well known to the world; for no concealment whatever has ever been intended. The Society aims at the removal of free persons of color; it interferes, in no way whatever, with the rights of property.'—[Speech of G. W. Custis, Esq.—Ninth Annual Report.]
'We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this question. The Society goes into no household to disturb its domestic tranquillity; it addresses itself to no slaves to weaken their obligations of obedience. It seeks to affect no man's property.'—[Speech of Mr Clay.—Tenth Annual Report.]