evil, I am told, is increasing. Sanctioned as it is, by those who take the lead in the society, and who ought to form the morals of the colony, avarice has been added to lust, and those who otherwise might have been virtuous, have sold themselves to work wickedness.-Humanity and philanthropy, which have struggled so hard and so long to help this degraded country, must weep and cover itself with sackcloth, to see its best interests so wickedly perverted!" Letter from Rev. M. B. Cox, Methodist Missionary in Liberia. Af. Rep. IX. p. 209.

There is still an important consideration, which does not seem to have engaged the attention of Colonizationists. It is proposed to transport to Africa, our whole colored population, and of course to found a mighty nation in Liberia. But how long will this nation remain dependent on the Board of Managers at Washington? Instead of millions, suppose the colony to be only ten thousand strong Who is to govern it, who defend it, and fight its battles? Were the colony now to declare independence, how would the Society reduce it to subjection; and if not subjected, what becomes of the mighty plan of making it the receptacle of our slaves and free negroes? Suppose the colonists like their brethren of Sierra Leone engage in the slavetrade, who is to punish or control them? Suppose in time they find the influx of emigrants inconvenient, and refuse to admit them, who shall coerce them.

On the whole, the system of African Colonization is full of absurdities, and contradictions, and evils, which are not seen, because they are concealed by a veil of prejudice. It is a system which strikingly exposes the folly of human wisdom, when opposed to the precepts of the Gospel of Christ. Had America possessed that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of true wisdom, slavery would long since have ceased from among us, and our colored brethren, treated with Christian kindness, instead of being ignorant and degraded, would have been valued and useful citizens, and our churches, instead of uniting to send " cargoes of vagabonds" to Africa under the guise of Christian missionaries, would have aided the descendants of her sons, furnished by us with all the stores of human learning, and selected

for their piety and zeal, in proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation, throughout that benighted continent.

CHAPTER V.

INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY ON SLAVERY.

IN 1822, a committee was appointed by a public meeting in Boston, to report on the character and tendency of the American Colonization Society. The committee in their report remark:

"It is only from the belief which the committee very cordially entertain, that the active members of the American Colonization Society are perfectly disposed to frame their measures with reference to the entire suppression of the slave trade, and to a gradual and prudent, but COMPLETE EMANCIPATION of those now held in slavery, that we can regard the Society as having any claim upon the sympathy or assistance of the people of New England."

Such were the expectations by which northern philanthropists were at first induced to countenance the Society. There is scarcely to be found a Colonization article or speech that does not warrant these expectations, that does not promise the exertion by the Society of a mighty MORAL INFLUENCE in abolishing slavery.

Now it is obvious, that such an influence must operate in one or more of the following ways, viz.:

1. On the conscience of the slave holder, convincing him that slave holding is sinful, and that his Maker requires him to liberate his slaves.

2. On the reputation of the slave holder, making him feel, that his standing in the community is lowered by keeping his fellow men in bondage, and enjoying, without com pensation, the fruits of their labor.

3. On the interests of the slave holder, persuading him, tnat emancipation would enhance his property.

4 On the fears of the slave holder, alarming him for the safety of himself and family.

5. By the power of example, showing the slaveholder, by the conduct of others whom he esteems, what his own ought to be.

We flatter ourselves, that we shall prove, that the influence of the Society is in no degree exerted in any one of these ways, except the last. Of the extent of this last

mode, we shall speak hereafter.

It will not be pretended, that the Society addresses itself to the conscience of the slaveholder. Such addresses are not authorized by the constitution, and have been repeatedly disclaimed by the Society. But when the Society disclaims appeals to the conscience, it disclaims the most powerful of all means for the removal of slavery.

"We never made any headway," says a British writer, "in the abolition of the slave trade, and of slavery, till it was taken up by the religious men, prosecuted as a concern of the soul, with reference to eternity, and by motives drawn from the cross of Christ." Mr. G. Smith, a most estimable officer of the Society, remarked, in a temperance address:

"I never heard that temperance had any success any where, unless the appeals in its favor were made directly to the consciences of the rum dealers. Strike out these, and it is in vain that you seek for other means to propel the triumphant car of temperance. Hitch to that car, health, economy, expediency, the public good, what you please, if you leave out the appeal to men's consciences, you have, as we say at the North, a weak team." And surely a more weak, broken-winded, good for nothing team, than colonization, was never hitched to the car of abolition. How, and in what direction, does this team draw? It is amusing to observe how wary Colonizationists are of approaching this question. They dwell on the political evils of slavery, and call on religion and patriotism for aid in removing them; and when, in breathless attention, we are waiting to learn by what process the moral influence of the society is to deliver us from the curse of slavery, in a moment the scene shifts to Africa, and we are entertained with visions of its future bliss and glory. It may be safely asserted, that not one Colonization writer or orator in a hundred, ever attempts to explain how the Society is to induce mas

ters to liberate their slaves. Occasionally, however, the effort is made. Mr. Knapp, in a speech before the Society, thus explains the matter:

"In my opinion, it (slavery) may be cured in less time than it has been growing up. Open once the facilities of emigration-show an object for it, and, like any other business, it will increase to any extent we may wish. The natural world has yielded her impossibilities, as they were thought, to the efforts of enlightened men; why should we not be as successful in the moral? A fair and permanent road is now built over the Alps, the passage of which was once considered as sufficient to give immortality to the successful adventurer." 10th Rep. p. 6.

So, it seems, that if we open once the facilities of emigration, that is, provide ships, &c., the planters will at once call in their slaves from their cotton and sugar fields, and ship them to Africa; but why they will do so, is a problem, which, after all, Mr. Knapp omits to solve.

"This work, (Colonization,) as it advances, tends to im prove the character, and elevate the condition of the free people of color, and thus to take away one standing and very influential argument against both individual and general abolition. This, to an unprejudiced mind, is one of the most obvious tendencies of African Colonization. Elevate the character of the free people of color, let it be seen that they are men indeed; let the degrading associations which follow them be broken up by the actual improvement of their character as a people, and negro slavery must wither and die." New-Haven Christian Spectator for March, 1833.

As the Society utterly disclaims all attempts to elevate the free blacks here, the meaning of the above is, that when the slave holder in America learns that black men in Liberia are intelligent and respectable, he will release his slaves from their fetters. We wonder if similar intelligence from the West Indies will produce the same effect: if so, it may be obtained at far less expense of time and money, than from Africa.

Let us now attend to the process by which an excellent Vice President of the Society, supposes slavery is to be abolished.

"Let Africa begin to enter upon the redemption of her character, which guilty Christian nations have for centuries combined to keep down to the lowest point of degradation, and she will begin to be respected, and the condi tion of her outcast children on our shores, will awaken a livelier sympathy. And when Africa shall have put on the garment of civilization, and the influence of her regeneration shall be felt throughout this land, our most tenacious, and obstinate slave holder, will shrink from the relation he bears to her children. The poor creature whom he formerly regarded as a few removes above the brute, will now present himself before the new associations of his master's mind, as his fellow man, and his equal, and the slave will be permitted to go free." Speech of G. Smith, Esq. 14th Rep. p. 11.

It would seem, that at the close of the fourteenth year of the Society's labors, Africa had not yet, in the opinion of Mr. Smith, begun to enter upon the redemption of her character. How soon a beginning is to be made, and in how many years, or centuries, the Society expects to complete the work of dressing Africa in the garment of civilization, we are not informed. But when this work shall have been finished, and when it shall have produced a general sensation (how strong and of what kind we know not) throughout America, THEN the motions of the sugarmill and cotton-gin are to be arrested, and the fetters are to fall from the slave. Why? Because the commands of God, and the interests and safety of the master, require it? No; but because the master will then make the discovery, that his poor slave, but little removed as he is from the brute, is still his fellow man, and his equal! This is certainly a most marvellous process for teaching the Southern planters a plain, simple truth; a truth, too, which was proclaimed by their own representatives, so long ago as 1776, in the declaration of independence, but which unfortunately seems not to have had the influence which Mr. Smith supposes it will exért, when taught by the regeneration of Africa.

We may now judge a little of the elements of that moral influence, which a Christian Society exerts against