INQUIRY INTO THE MERITS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY: AND A REPLY TO THE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST IT. WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE BRITISH AFRICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HODGKIN, M.D. Cupio me esse clementem.-Cic. LONDON: J. & A. ARCH, CORNHILL; HARVEY & DARTON, GRACECHURCH STREET; R. Watts, Printer, Crown Court, Temple Bar. 1833. Price, One Shilling. 8362.7 Afr 7350.3.12 1046 tion THE following pages are designed to serve as an inquiry into, and reply In conformity with the motto in the title-page, I have purposely left unnoticed several circumstances; which, though they might furnish the friends of the Colonization Society with just grounds for complaint, do not appear essential to its defence. If, in the course of the following inquiry, I have made use of some expressions, with reference to the unhappy condition of the Coloured People in America, which may be thought offensive by any Citizens of the United States, I beg them to consider to whom these remarks are addressed; and to accept the assurance of my esteem, respect, and admiration of the many wise and good men, to whom they by no means apply. As the friends of the Colonization Society have been most unjustly charged with being the advocates and perpetuators of slavery, and hostile to the interests of the People of Colour, it was incumbent upon us to declare, in strong and unequivocal expressions, our disapprobation of the treatment of that injured race. resp tak see ab at W W a I 0 AN INQUIRY &c. &c. ALTHOUGH the American Colonization Society has met with great opposi tion in this country, and that, in some instances, from individuals whose philanthropic motives are too well known to admit of doubt, yet there has, perhaps, never been an object held up for the censure of the British public, respecting which it was more imperatively necessary to hear both sides of the question, before proceeding to pass sentence. In looking for the causes which have led some of the prominent philanthropists of this country to take the part which they have done in this attack, there are two which it seems essential to notice. The first of these, although it will perhaps be absolutely disclaimed, has, I am persuaded, exercised a powerful though latent influence :—I allude to the efforts which have been made, by popular writers, to cultivate the pernicious weed of national prejudice against our trans-atlantic brethren. And secondly, the almost universal prejudice which indisputably exists on the part of the Americans against their Coloured countrymen—a prejudice which has, probably, contributed more than any other feature in their character to create and foster that feeling which I have already, with pain, admitted on the part of my own countrymen. My object in the following pages is, to induce a fair discussion (in which I beg that British prejudice may take no part) of the merits of those measures which have been devised and adopted by many virtuous and enlightened Americans, who are anxiously solicitous to benefit their Coloured countrymen, but who have, in this design, to contend with the American prejudice alluded to. I conceive that we owe the impartial consideration of this subject to our character as Christians; which certainly calls upon us to pause, before we unite in the very harsh censures which have been bestowed on motives and actions which receive the cordial approbation of the wise and good of America. I could wish that it would suffice for my present purpose to point out the many and weighty advantages, not only promised, but secured, by the enlightened councils of the American Colonization Society : but the opponents of that society have made, and again and again reiterated, charges, which they call upon its friends to meet, and which it therefore appears to be their bounden duty to do. I wish it however to be expressly understood, that if-in my present attempt to defend a society which I conceive, not less from its benevolent design than from its important prospects, justly claims the support of all true philanthropists—I shall be under the necessity of pointing out instances of palpable injustice on the part of its adversaries, I do so with pain and regret, and not from feelings of animosity: I wish rather that I could induce some of those, who are arrayed against us, to unite their efforts with ours. Should I fail in this respect, I may yet indulge the hope, that those who may still be neutral, will pause, and form their judgment of the American Colonization Society from its own A 2 avowed principles, and from the positive good which it has already achieved, rather than from the fallacious inferences and premature judgment of its avowed enemies. It has been objected against the Colonization Society, that its origin was bad, and that it was instituted by slaveholders and the advocates of slavery. Although it is true, that amongst the founders of this society there were several citizens of the Southern States, some of whom were possessed of slaves, it does not necessarily follow that the design was bad, or that it is to be regarded as strictly the contrivance of slaveholders. The sufferings and degradation of the Coloured population of America had for more than half a century, excited the sympathy and compassion of very many benevolent and virtuous citizens: in fact, the writings and labours of such men as Lay and Sandeford, Woolman and Benezet, and Tyson and Rush, effected much, not only in America, but even in this country; both in diffusing just views as to the iniquity of the slave-trade and slavery, and in exciting an interest in behalf of its victims. Numerous institutions were formed for their benefit, which it is needless here to particularize: some of these have assumed the office, if not the name, of Anti-Slavery Societies: they do not, however, seem ever to have been able to produce any great influence on the minds of the citizens of America, but, on the contrary, have excited the jealousy and displeasure of the inhabitants of the Southern or slave-holding States. Even in the Northern States, in which slavery has ceased, it does not appear that its abolition is to be referred to the influence of these societies, but to the operation of natural causes. It is well known, that a difference of opinion between the Northern and Southern States, on the subject of slavery, introduced itself into various political and commercial as well as moral questions, and was regarded by many as menacing the peace, if not the existence, of the Union. It is very necessary that this state of things should be fully taken into account by the Abolitionists of this country, when they are sitting in judgment on their trans-atlantic coadjutors. Whilst a direct attack on the system of slavery in the South appeared to hold out little or no prospect of advantage, the cause of the Blacks was not to be abandoned. Long before the formation of the Colonization Society at Washington, in 1817, the plan of colonization had been recommended in various quarters, and by individuals of different classes and opinions. On the authority of the American Quarterly Review, England may claim the merit of originating the plan of colonizing the Blacks in Africa. In 1787, that distinguished philanthropist, Granville Sharp, was the means of colonizing, at the suggestion, it is believed, of Dr. Fothergill, about 400 Negroes at Sierra Leone. That colony has since been repeatedly recruited by Free Blacks, sent thither, from various quarters, by this country. Dr. Thornton, in 1787, proposed the subject of the colonization of the People of Colour on the coast of Africa, to the people of Boston, and of Providence (Rhode Island). In 1789, Samuel Hopkins, an eminent Minister of Newport in Rhode Island, proposed to Granville Sharp the colonization of educated and industrious Blacks from New England, in his new settlement. Happy had it been for England, America, and Africa, had this scheme been carried into effect! In 1790, Ferdinando Fairfax, of Richmond, U.S., proposed the colonization of the Free People of Colour. The President Jefferson, in conjunction with some other Virginians, turned his attention to this object about the year 1801. The Free Blacks themselves were not inactive in promoting their own colonization of Africa. Captain Paul Cuffee was a zealous and indefatigable labourer in this cause, to which he devoted his time and his property. Some years before the formation of the American Colonization Society, the Free Blacks of Providence, in Rhode Island, subscribed a sum of money; and deputed one of their body to visit the coast of Africa in search of a territory suited to their purpose of emigration. Their wishes were defeated by the dishonesty of their agent. The Free People of Colour, on the banks of the Wabash, have repeatedly expressed a similar desire. To Robert Finley, of New Jersey, is to be ascribed the merit of reducing this scheme to a practical form, by the successful institution of the Colonization Society. This he effected, after much labour, on the first day of the year 1817. The preceding facts clearly prove that the colonization of the People of Colour is not to be regarded, as some have urged, as a slaveholder's scheme: it cannot even be admitted, without injustice, that the patronage which the Colonization Society receives from the inhabitants of slave States, and even from the owners of slaves, is any blot upon its character, or any proof of the erroneousness of its principle. Many of the citizens of these States are to be pitied, rather than blamed, for belonging to the class of slaveholders. They very sensibly feel the evils of slavery; but are either prevented by law from manumitting their slaves, or are opposed by difficulties which amount to a prohibition. If they liberate their Blacks, and send them to a State in which slavery has been abolished, they may be congratulated by their British friends that they have washed their hands of the guilt of slavery; but, comparatively, in few instances can they console themselves with the idea that they have improved the condition of their former slaves; for, on reaching the free State, to which, at a heavy expense, they may have been conveyed, they will find themselves belonging to a class of society generally occupied in the most menial and unproductive offices, and already sufficiently numerous to render even employment of this kind not always attainable. They are, therefore, not merely in a miserable condition themselves, but they contribute to increase the misery of the class to which they belong. This is an evil which we must not wholly attribute to the distinction of colour, and the prejudice which attends it. Something of the same kind may be seen and felt even in this country, when a large emigration from the sister island has glutted the labour market. The philanthropic citizens of the South, who either feel or witness the difficulties in the way of manumission, may be very reasonably expected to become conspicuous as supporters of a plan calculated not only to cooperate with their own benevolence, but to relieve themselves: they are not, however, the sole supporters, any more than they were the sole inventors of the colonization system. This is shewn by the number of auxiliary societies existing in the Free States, and by the sums of money which these societies, and individuals in the same States, have contributed to the support of African colonization. Some of those individuals, whose personal exertions have been among the most important elements of the society's success, have been citizens of these States. It has been objected by the enemies of the Colonization Society, that it has been exhibited to the friends of humanity in this country under a false character, very different from that which it possesses in America ;—that whilst it is advocated, on this side the Atlantic, as the means of benefiting the Blacks, and promoting the ultimate extinction of slavery, no such idea is |