LETTER I.

The Southampton Massacre.-Difference between the State of Slavery in Greece and Rome, and in the United States. -Various Plans of Colonization.-Objects of the Colonization Society.

DEAR SIR

TO THE HON. CHARLES FENTON MERCER.

The tragical issue of the insurrection in Southampton, in which above sixty whites fell a sacrifice to the vengeance of their slaves, and subsequently to which a great number of slaves suffered the penalties of the violated laws of the state, has awakened the slave states out of their slumbers, and excited considerable attention towards our coloured population, and the awful consequences likely to ensue, sooner or later, from the admixture of two heterogeneous castes in the country, without the least probability, at any future period, however remote, of an amalgamation between them, in consequence of the diversity of colour.

In this respect our situation is widely different from that of Greece or Rome. The great mass of their slaves were of the same colour as their masters, and a complete amalgamation might take place in a generation or two. Against such a result there is in this country an insuperable barrier.

This subject had occupied the attention of some of the wisest and best men of the country for above half a century. Several attempts were made in different provinces to prevent the importation of slaves, and acts were passed for the purpose, but they were uniformly rejected by the governors, under instructions from the British privy council-or by that council when the acts were transmitted for royal approbation. So early as 1772, the house of burgesses of Virginia unanimously agreed upon an address to the king of Great Britain, praying him "to remove those restraints on the governors of the colony, which inhibited them from assenting to such laws as might check so very pernicious a commerce."

"The importation of slaves into the colonies, from the coasts of Africa, has long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity, and under its encouragement, we have too much reason to fear, WILL ENDANGER THE VERY EXISTENCE OF YOUR MAJESTY'S AMERICAN DOMINIONS.

"We are sensible that some of your majesty's subjects in Great Britain may reap emolument from this sort of traffic; but when we consider that it greatly retards the settlement of the colonies with more white inhabitants, and may in time have the most destructive influence, we presume to hope that the interests of

a few will be disregarded, when placed in competition with the security and happiness of such numbers of your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects.”

This and various other efforts were entirely fruitless-the trade remained unrestrained until the declaration of independence, when Virginia and some other states prohibited it altogether.

Unfortunately the sound sentiments displayed by the burgesses of Virginia in 1772, were forgotten, or had lost their influence in 1787, when the federal constitution was formed-for by that instrument Congress was prohibited from passing laws to prevent the importation of slaves for twenty years. A courtly style was employed. It was not thought proper to introduce the word “slaves”—“ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

"The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing, shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.'

In consequence of this unfortunate constitutional legitimation of the slave trade, it was carried on for twenty years on a large scale, and sowed a seed which has germinated with fatal fertility, and threatens a heavy retribution.

In the discussion of the best means of averting of at least of mitigating the evil to be dreaded from the existence among us of a class of people, who, although free, and therefore righteously entitled to all the advantages and privileges of freemen, were nevertheless, in a great degree, debarred from them by the inexorable force of public prejudice, and, in most of the states, were subject to rules and regulations and proscriptions, of the most oppressive and galling kind-in this discussion, I say, public opinion settled down in favour of an extensive system of colonization.

On the subject of the location, there was not the same degree of unanimity. Some of our citizens were in favour of selecting a portion of the vacant territory of the United States, and setting it apart for the purpose. Others were, and some still are, for making an arrangement with the government of Mexico, and sending the class in question to Texas. Others, again, advocated a settlement on the western coast of Africa, as the natale solum of their ancestors, and as the climate is better suited to the great majority of the coloured people of this country. The last plan was finally adopted.

The objects of the friends of colonization are

I. To rescue the free coloured people from the disqualifications, the degradation, and the proscription to which they are exposed in the United States.

II. To place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of free government, with all the blessings which it brings

in its train.

HI. To avert the dangers of a dreadful collision at a future. day of the two castes, which must inevitably be objects of muthal jealousy to each other.

IV. To spread civilization, sound morals and religion throughout the vast continent of Africa, at present sunk in the lowest and most hideous state of barbarism.

V. And though last, not least, to afford slave owners who are conscientiously scrupulous about holding human beings in bondage, an asylum to which they may send their manumitted slaves.

The last item has recently assumed a greatly increased importance. Manumissions are prohibited in some of the slave states, unless the parties remove beyond their boundaries; and the entrance of free negroes into others, is prohibited; so that manumissions, without deportation, appear to be almost wholly at an end. It remains to be seen, in the sequel, from the results that have already taken place, how far the benign purposes of the society are likely to be accomplished.

With such noble objects in view, it is truly wonderful, that although the society has been in existence for twelve years, the whole of the contributions public and private, (except the support by the government of the United States, of negroes captured from slave traders) received by the society for carrying them into effect, has been but about $165,000, little more than a cent per head for the population of the most prosperous nation in the world; a nation, moreover, in which other objects, some of them of inferior usefulness, are most liberally supported! this must have arisen from an impression entertained by many, that the scheme is absolutely impracticable. Hence many liberal individuals have wholly withheld their contributions. Of this opinion was the writer of these letters, at an early stage of the existence of the society. He regarded it as one of the wildest projects ever conceived by enlightened men; and therefore, in the language of Sterne respecting the Monk, he was "predetermined not to give them a single sous." Mature reflection has, however, convinced him of his error: he is now satisfied that the project is not more benignant and beneficent, than practicable, provided the general and state governments, and public spirited individuals yield it a support in any degree commensurate with its importance.

In the hope of converting others, as he himself has been converted, he believes he may render an acceptable service to his country, by placing before the public, in plain, unadorned language, the leading features of the case, under the following prominent heads.

1. The origin of the society.

2. The progress of the colony compared with that of Massachusetts, Virginia, and North Carolina.

3. The increase of the coloured population, free and slaves. 4. The declarations of legislatures and other public bodies in favour of the society.

5. The manumission of slaves in this country.

6. The situation and future prospects of the colonists at Monrovia, Caldwell, &c.

7. Their moral and religious character.

8. The soil, climate, productions, and commerce of Liberia. 9. The disadvantages under which the free coloured population labour in this country, and those resulting to the white population from the existence of slavery.

10. The character of the natives of Africa before the irruption of the barbarians.

11. The salutary effects of the colony in repressing the slave trade, with a slight sketch of that nefarious traffic.

This, you will say, is a wide field. I agree with you. How far I shall have succeeded in my attempt, must be decided when I reach the close of my labours, the "Finis."

Philadelphia, April 8, 1832.

Yours, &c. M. C.

LETTER II.

Early plans of Colonization.-Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Thornton's.-Resolve of the Legislature of Virginia.-Ineffectual Negotiations.-Formation of the Colonization Society.

DEAR SIR

As early as the year 1777, Mr. Jefferson formed a plan for colonizing the free coloured population of the United States. The particulars I have not been able to obtain. There is reason to believe, that he proposed the settlement in some of the western vacant lands. Be that as it may, the project proved an abortion, owing partly to the distractions and difficulties of the war, and partly to the novelty and magnitude of the undertaking. How much to be deplored the result! Had he succeeded, what a source of danger and disaster would have been dried up forever!

In the year 1787, Dr. Thornton, of Washington, formed a plan for establishing a colony of that population on the western coast of Africa, and published an address to those residing in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, inviting them to accompany him. A sufficient number of them agreed to go, and were prepared for the expedition. But this project likewise failed for want of funds. The public mind was not then prepared for affording pecuniary support. About the year 1800 or 1801, the legislature of Virginia, in secret session, instructed Mr. Monroe, then governor of the state, to apply to the president of the United States, and urge him to institute negotiations with some of the powers of Europe possessed of colonies on the coast of Africa, to grant an asylum to which our emancipated negroes might be sent. Mr. Jefferson opened a negotiation with the Sierra Leone Company, for the purpose, but without success. He subsequently applied to the government of Portugal, and equally failed. The project was then abandoned as hopeless.

In the session of the legislature of Virginia, in 1816, the subject

was again brought forward, and the following resolution was adopted by a large majority.

"Whereas the General Assembly of Virginia have repeatedly sought to obtain an asylum, beyond the limits of the United States, for such persons of colour as had been or might be emancipated under the laws of this Commonwealth, but have hitherto found all their efforts frustrated, either by the disturbed state of other nations, or domestic causes equally unpropitious to its success:

"They now avail themselves of a period when peace has healed the wounds of humanity, and the principal nations of Europe have concurred with the government of the United States, in abolishing the African Slave Trade (a traffic which this Commonwealth, both before and since the revolution, zealously sought to exterminate,) to renew this effort, and do therefore,

Resolve, That the executive be requested to correspond with the President of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a territory on the coast of Africa, or at some other place, not within any of the states or territorial governments of the United States, to serve as an asylum for such persons of. colour as are now free, and may desire the same, and for those who may hereafter be emancipated within this Commonwealth; and that the Senators and Representatives of this state in the Congress of the United States, be requested to exert their best efforts to aid the President of the United States in the attainment of the above objects.

"Provided, That no contract or arrangement respecting such territory shall be obligatory on this Commonwealth, until ratified by the legislature."

It thus appears that the scheme of colonization which is now violently denounced in some of the southern papers, as a conspiracy against the rights and property of the slave holders, and forms one of the means whereby the dangerous effervescence in South Carolina has been excited, originated with the great leading slave state, which possesses more than a third of all the slaves in the five original slave states.

At length the time arrived when the country was ripe for the establishment of the society. In December, 1816, a considerable number of citizens, very nearly all slave holders, met at Washington, to take the subject into consideration. Bushrod Washington presided. Long debates ensued. Henry Clay, John Randolph, of Roanoke, and various other powerful orators, addressed the meeting in support of the plan. Mr. Randolph observed, that

"If a place could be provided for their reception, and a mode of sending them hence, there were hundreds, nay, thousands, who would, by manumitting their slaves, relieve themselves from the cares attendant on their possession!"

At this meeting, a letter from Mr. Jefferson, dated in 1811, was read, in which, having mentioned his negotiations with the Sierra Leone Company and Portugal, he adds

"Indeed nothing is more to be wished, than that the United States would themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa."*

A constitution was formed; Bushrod Washington was appointed president, and Messrs. Crawford, Clay, Rutgers, Howard, &c. vice presidents. An eloquent memorial to Congress was drawn up, which Mr. Randolph undertook to present to that body.

Philadelphia, April 10, 1832.

Yours, &c. M. C.

* African Repository, vol. VI. page 199.