Discussion on American Slavery

Sir, I fearlessly charge America, as a nation – as the United States of America – as a voluntary confederacy of free republics – as living under one common constitution, and one common government – with being a nation of slave-holders, and the vilest and most culpable on the face of the earth.

I charge America with having a slave-holding president; with holding seven thousand slaves at the seat of government; with licensing the slave trade for four hundred dollars; with permitting the domestic slave trade to the awful extent of one hundred thousand souls per annum; with allowing prisons, built with the public money, to be made the receptacles of unoffending, home-born Americans, destined for the southern market; with permitting her legislators and the highest functionaries in the state to trample upon every dictate of humanity, and every principle sacred in American independence, by trafficking "in slaves and the souls of men."

I charge America, "as a nation," with permitting within her boundaries a wide spread system, which my opponent has himself described as one of clear robbery, universal concubinage, horrid cruelty, and unilluminated ignorance.

I charge America, before the world and God, with the awful crime of reducing more than two millions of her own children, born on her own soil, and entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," to the state of beasts; withholding from them every right, and privilege, and social or political blessing, and leaving them the prey of those who have legislated away the word of life, and the ordinances of religion, lest their victims should at any time see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and should assume the bearing, and the name, and the honors of humanity.

I charge America, "as a nation," with being wickedly, cruelly, and, in the highest sense, criminally indifferent to the happiness and elevation of the free colored man; with crushing and persecuting him in every part of the country; with regarding him as belonging to a low, degraded, and irreclaimable caste, who ought not to call America his country or his home, but seek in Africa, on the soil of his ancestors, a refuge from persecution in the land which the English, and the Dutch, and the French, and the Irish, have wrested from the red men, and which they now proudly and self complacently, but most falsely style the white man's country.

I charge all this, and much more, upon the government of America, upon the church of America, and upon the people of America.

It is idle, to say the least, to talk of rolling the guilt of the system upon the individual slave-holder, and the individual state. This cannot fairly be done while the citizens throughout the land are banded, confederated, united. It is the sin of the entire church. The Presbyterians throughout the country are one body; the Baptists are one body; the Episcopalian Methodists are one body; they acknowledge one another; they cordially fellowship one another. They make the sin, if it be a sin, theirs, by owning as brethren in Christ Jesus, and ministers of Him, who was anointed to preach deliverance to the captives, men who shamelessly traffic in rational, blood-redeemed souls; nay, even barter away for accursed gold, their own church members. It is pre-eminently the sin of the church. It is the sin of the people at large. It is said the laws recognize slavery. I reply, the entire nation is answerable for those laws. We hear that the "Constitution can do nothing," that "the Congress can do nothing," to which I reply, Woe, and shame, and guilt, and execration must be, and ought to be, the portion of that people calling themselves Christians and republicans, who can tolerate, through half a century, a Constitution and a Congress that cannot prevent nor cure the buying and selling of sacred humanity; the sundering of every fibre that binds heart to heart, and the dehumanization and butchery of peaceful and patriotic citizens within the territories over which they extend. In whatever aspect I view this question, the people, and the whole people, appear to be, before God and man, responsible, politically and morally, for the sin of slave-holding. They are responsible for the Constitution, with any deficiencies and faults it may have, for they have the power, and it is therefore their duty, to amend it. They are responsible for the character and acts of Congress, for they make the senators and representatives that go there. In a word, they are properly and solemnly responsible for that "system" of which we have heard so much, and for "the workings of that system;" and I declare it little better than subterfuge to say, that the people of America, the source of power, the sovereign, the omnipotent people, are not responsible for the existence of slavery and all its kindred abominations, within the territorial limits of the United States.

The charges which he had here made were important, grave and awful. He made them under the full and solemn impression of his accountableness to mankind, and the God of nations. He believed them to be true; he was prepared to substantiate them. That not one tittle of them might be lost or misrepresented in Great Britain or America, he had penned them with his own hand, out of his own heart, and he was prepared to support them in England, or in Scotland, or in America itself: for he hoped yet again to visit that country, and there resume his advocacy of the cause of the slave.

He would now come to the colonization question, on which he felt completely at home. In adverting to this question, however, he experienced a difficulty, which he had felt on many former occasions, that of not being able to compress what he had to say within the compass of one address. He would not only have to reply to what Mr. Breckinridge had advanced, but he would have to touch on topics which Mr. Breckinridge had overlooked – principles affecting the origin, character, and very existence of that society, which Mr. Breckinridge had taken under his special protection. He (Mr. T.) would show that the improvement of the black man's condition was not the chief object of the Colonization Society; that its operations sprung from that loathing of color which might be denominated the peculiar sin of America. Slavery might be found in many countries, but it was in America alone that there existed an aristocracy founded on the color of the skin. A race of pale-skinned patricians, resting their claims to peculiar rank and privileges upon the hue of the skin, the texture of the hair, the form of the nose, and the size of the calf! But for this abhorrence of color, Mr. B. would not have been contented with the means proposed by the Colonization Society for the amelioration of slavery; he would not have spoken a word of colonization, or of that Golgotha, Liberia.

Acquainted as he (Mr. T.) was with America, he had been able to come to no other conclusion, but that the prejudice of color was that on which the colonization of the free negro was founded. There had been a great deal said of the inferior intellect of the black race, and of a marked deficiency in their moral qualities; but these were not the grounds on which it was sought to expatriate them; the injustice practised towards them rested solely on the prejudice which had been excited against their external personal peculiarities. Every word spoken by Mr. Breckinridge in defence of colonization, went directly to prove this. The whole scheme rested on the dark color of those to be expatriated. Had the sufferers been white in the skin, Mr. B. would have advocated immediate, complete, and everlasting emancipation.

He would now turn to a matter, regarding which he considered Mr. Breckinridge had treated the abolitionists of America with injustice – with unkindness – with something which he did not like even to name. Mr. B. had charged the abolitionists with having published a law as the law of the state of Maryland, which had never been adopted by the legislature of that state; and when he (Mr. T.) had required of Mr. B. evidence in support of his grave allegations, it was in this case precisely as in the case of Mr. Garrison and Mr. Wright, – the proofs were non est inventus. Now, he would ask, was this fair; was it magnanimous; was it generous; was it Christianlike?

The charge had been distinctly made, and then it had been asked of the parties accused to prove a negative. Mr. Breckinridge was not likely to be long in Glasgow, and it was therefore most easy, and most convenient, to prefer charges which could not, even on the testimony of the parties implicated, be answered until Mr. Breckinridge was far away, and the poison had had full time to work its effect. He (Mr. T.) would, however, give it as his opinion, that his fellow laborers on the other side of the Atlantic, would triumphantly clear themselves of this and every other imputation, and finally emerge from the ordeal, however fierce, pure, untarnished, and unscathed.

Such a charge, however, should not be brought against him (Mr. T.). The laws of Maryland, he cited, were to be found in the pages of the Colonization Society's accredited organ, the African Repository, an entire set of which was on the platform, open to inspection.

Mr. Breckinridge had taken great pains to make out a case for the Maryland Colonization Society. This was not to be wondered at. That society was a protege of his own. It had been patronized and fostered by him. For it, it appeared, he had almost suffered martyrdom, when, in advocating its cause in Boston, he had been mistaken for an abolitionist, – in that same city of Boston, where a gentlemanly mob of 5000 individuals, fashionably attired, in black, and brown, and blue cloth, had joyfully engaged in assaulting and dispersing a peaceful meeting of forty ladies.

He had not yet done with the Maryland Colonization Society. He was prepared to prove that it was, taken as a whole, a most oppressive and iniquitous scheme. The laws framed to support it prohibited manumission, except on condition of the removal of the freed slaves; thus submitting a choice of evils, both cruel to the last extent, – perpetual bondage, or banishment from the soil of their birth, and the scenes and associations of infancy and youth. He could show, that free persons of color, coming into the state, were liable to be seized and sold; and white persons inviting them, and harboring them, liable to the infliction of heavy fines.

These, and similar provisions, all disgraceful and cruel, were the prominent features of the laws which had been framed to carry into effect the benevolent and patriotic designs of the Maryland Colonization Society!

That expulsion from the state was the thing intended, he would show from newspapers published in the state. What said the Baltimore Chronicle, a pro-slavery and colonization paper, at the time when the laws referred to were passed? Let his auditory hear with attention.

"The intention of those laws was, and their effect must be, to EXPEL the free people of color from this state. They will find themselves so hemmed in by restrictions, that their situation cannot be otherwise than uncomfortable should they elect to remain in Maryland. These laws will no doubt be met by prohibitory laws in other states, which will greatly increase the embarrassments of the people of color, and leave them no other alternative than to emigrate or remain in a very unenviable condition."

What said the Maryland Temperance Herald of May 3, 1835?

"We are indebted to the committee of publication for the first No. of the Maryland Colonization Journal, a new quarterly periodical, devoted to the cause of colonization in our state. Such a paper has long been necessary; we hope this will be useful.

"Every reflecting man must be convinced, that the time is not far distant when the safety of the country will require the EXPULSION of the blacks from its limits. It is perfect folly to suppose, that a foreign population, whose physical peculiarities must forever render them distinct from the owners of the soil, can be permitted to grow and strengthen among us with impunity. Let hair-brained enthusiasts speculate as they may, no abstract considerations of the natural rights of man, will ever elevate the negro population to an equality with the whites. As long as they remain in the land of their bondage, they will be morally, if not physically enslaved, and, indeed, so long as their distinct nationality is preserved, their enlightenment will be a measure of doubtful policy. Under such circumstances every philanthropist will wish to see them removed, but gradually, and with as little violence as possible. For effecting this purpose, no scheme is liable to so few objections, as that of African Colonization. It has been said, that this plan has effected but little – true, but no other has done any thing. We do not expect that the exertions of benevolent individuals will be able to rid us of the millions of blacks who oppress and are oppressed by us. All they can accomplish, is to satisfy the public of the practicability of the scheme – they can make the experiment – they are making it and with success. The state of Maryland has already adopted this plan, and before long every Southern state will have its colony. The whole African coast will be strewn with cities, and then, should some fearful convulsion render it necessary to the public safety TO BANISH THE MULTITUDE AT ONCE, a house of refuge will have been provided for them in the land of their fathers."

Yet this was the plan of which the American Colonization Society, at its annual meeting in 1833, had spoken in the following terms: —

Resolved, That the Society view, with the highest gratification, the continued efforts of the State of Maryland to accomplish her patriotic and benevolent system in regard to her colored population; and that the last appropriation by that state of two hundred thousand dollars, in aid of African colonization, is hailed by the friends of the system, as a BRIGHT EXAMPLE to other states.

Mr. Breckinridge had lauded the Colonization Society as a scheme of benevolence and patriotism. He (Mr. T.) did not mean to deny that there had been many pious and excellent men found amongst its founders and subsequent supporters, but he was prepared to demonstrate that it had grown out of prejudice, was based upon prejudice, made its appeal to prejudice, and could not exist were the prejudice against the colored man conquered. It had, moreover, made an appeal to the fears and cupidity of the slaveholder, by setting forth, that, in its operations, it would remove from the southern states the most dangerous portion of the free population, and also enhance the value of the slaves left remaining in the country. The doctrines found pervading the publications of the society were of the most absurd and anti-christian character. He would mention three, viz., 1st, that Africa, and not America, was the true and appropriate home of the colored man; 2dly, that prejudice against color was invincible, and the elevation of the colored man, therefore, while in America, beyond the reach of humanity, legislation and religion; and, 3dly, that there should be no emancipation except for the purposes of colonization. How truly monstrous were these doctrines! How calculated to cripple exertion, to retard freedom, and mark the colored man out as a foreigner and alien, to be driven out of the country as soon as the means for his removal were provided. Such had really been the effect of the society's views upon the public mind in America. If the colored man was to be expatriated because his ancestors were Africans, then let General Jackson be sent to Ireland, because his parents were Irish; and Mr. Van Buren be sent to Holland, because his ancestors were Dutch; and let the same rule be applied to all the other white inhabitants of the country. Then would Great Britain, and France, and Germany, and Switzerland recover their children; America be delivered of her conquerors, and the red man come forth from the wilds and the wildernesses of the back country, to enjoy, in undisturbed security, the soil from which his ancestors had been driven. Mr. Breckinridge had said much respecting his (Mr. T.'s) presumption in bringing forward a resolution in Boston, so strongly condemning the measures and principles of the Colonization Society. He (Mr. T.) might be permitted to say, that if he had acted presumptuously, he had also acted boldly and honestly; and that the auditory should know, that the resolution referred to had been debated for one entire evening, and from half past nine till half past one, the next day, with the Rev. R. R. Gurley, the secretary and agent of the Colonization Society, who, for eight or nine years, had been the editor of the African Repository, and was, perhaps, better qualified than any other man in the United States, to discuss the subject – always, of course, excepting his Rev. opponent, then on the platform. He admitted, the resolution was strongly worded; that it repudiated the society as unrighteous, unnatural, and proscriptive; and declared the efforts then making to give strength and permanency to the institution, were a fraud upon the ignorance, and an outrage upon the intelligence and humanity of the community. But this country should know that he had defended his propositions, face to face, with one of the ablest champions of the cause, before two American audiences, in the city of Boston. That the assembly then before him might judge of the character of the debate, and know its result, he would read a few short extracts, taken from a respectable daily paper, published in Boston, and entirely unconnected with the Abolitionists. The editor himself, B. F. Hallett, Esq., reported the proceedings, and thus remarked: —

"One of the most interesting, masterly, and honorable discussions ever listened to in this community, took place on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The hall was as full as it could hold. * * * * * * The whole discussion was a model for courtesy and christian temper in like cases, and did great credit to all parties concerned. We question if a public debate was ever conducted in this city, in a better spirit, and with more ability. There was not a discourteous word passed, through the whole, and no occurrence which for an instant marred the entire cordiality with which the dispute was conducted. It was not men but principles that were contending, and we venture to say that no public discussion was ever managed on higher grounds, or was more deeply interesting to an audience. The resolution was put, all present being invited to vote. It was carried in the affirmative with FOUR voices in the negative."

So said the Boston Daily Advocate.

The following extracts from the published addresses of some of the most eminent and gifted supporters of the Colonization Society, would show, that the compulsory removal of the colored population, had from the first been contemplated. If it was replied, "You cannot find compulsion in the Constitution," he (Mr. T.) would rejoin, No; but herein consists the wickedness and hypocrisy of the scheme; that while it puts forth a fair face in its constitution, it does, really and in truth, contain the elements of all oppression. The written constitution of the Society was but the robe of an angel, covering an implacable and devouring demon. He would make another remark, also, before submitting the extracts in his hand. Mr. Breckinridge had strenuously endeavored to lay the guilt of the oppressive laws in the south upon the Abolitionists, declaring that those laws had resulted from the spread of Anti-slavery principles. From the passages about to be cited, and, more especially, from the words of Mr. Clay, it would be found, that long prior to the "quackery" of the Abolitionists, there had existed harsh and cruel laws, calling forth the regrets and censures of Slaveholders themselves. Even admitting the truth of what Mr. B. had said, did it follow that the truth should not therefore be published. By no means. The Israelites, in their bondage, murmured against the measures of him whom God had raised up to deliver them, and complained that their burdens had increased since Pharaoh had been remonstrated with. He would quote, for the benefit of Mr. B. a very laconic remark, by an old commentator, "When the bricks are doubled, Moses is near."

1. Charles Carrol Harper, Son of General Harper, to the voters of Baltimore, 1826. Af. Repy., vol. 2. page 188. For several years the subject of Abolition of Slavery has been brought before you. I am decidedly opposed to the project recommended. No scheme of abolition will meet my support, that leaves the emancipated blacks among us. Experience has proved that they become a corrupt and degraded class, as burthensome to themselves, as they are hurtful to the rest of society.

Again, page 189, "To permit the blacks to remain amongst us after their emancipation, would be to aggravate, and not to cure the evil."

2. Extracted with approbation from the Public Ledger, Richmond, Indiana, Af. Repy., vol. 3. page 26. "We would say, liberate them only on condition of their going to Africa or Hayti."

3. Extracts from an address delivered at Springfield, before the Hamden Col. Society, July 4th, 1828. By Wm. B. O. Peabody, Esq. published by request of the Society. Af. Repy., vol. 4. page 226. "I am not complaining of the owners of Slaves; they cannot get rid of them; it would be as humane to throw them from the decks in the middle passage, as to set them free in our country." Upon which the following eulogy is pronounced, page 230. "We need hardly say that Mr. Peabody's address is an excellent one. May its spirit universally pervade and animate the minds of our countrymen.

4. Extracts from an Address to the Col. Socy. of Kentucky, at Frankfort, Dec. 17th., 1829, by the Hon. Henry Clay. Af. Repy., vol. 6, page 5. "If the question were submitted, whether there should be immediate or gradual emancipation of all the slaves in the United States, without their removal or colonization, painful as it is to express the opinion, I have no doubt it would be unwise to emancipate them. For I believe that the aggregate of the evils which would be engendered in Society, upon the supposition of such general emancipation, and of the liberated slaves remaining promiscuously among us, would be greater than all the evils of Slavery, great as they unquestionably are."

Again, page 12. "Is there no remedy, I again ask, for the evils of which I have sketched a faint and imperfect picture? Is our posterity doomed to endure forever, not only all the ills flowing from the state of Slavery, but all which arise from incongruous elements of population, separated from each other by invincible prejudices, and by natural causes? Whatever may be the character of the remedy proposed, we may confidently pronounce it inadequate, unless it provides efficaciously for the total and absolute separation, by an extensive space of water or of land, at least of the white portion of our population, from that which is free of the colored."

5. Extracts from the speech of Geo. Washington Park Curtis at the 14th Annual meeting of the Amer. Col. Soc., Af. Repy., vol. 6. page 371-2. "Some benevolent minds in the overflowings of their philanthropy, advocate amalgamation of the two classes, saying, let the colored classes be freed and remain among us as denizens of the empire; surely all classes of mankind are alike descended from the primitive parentage of Eden, then why not intermingle in one common society as friends and brothers. No, Sir; no. I hope to prove, at no very distant day, that a Southron can make sacrifices for the cause of Colonization beyond seas, but for a Home Department in those matters, I repeat no, Sir; no. What right, I demand, have the children of Africa to a homestead in the white man's country?

"If, as is most true, the crimes of the white man robbed Africa of her sons, let atonement be made by returning the descendants of the stolen to the clime of their ancestors, and then all the claims of redeeming justice will have been discharged. There let centuries of future rights, atone for centuries of past wrongs. Let the regenerated African rise to Empire; nay, let Genius flourish, and Philosophy shed its mild beams to enlighten and instruct the posterity of Ham, returning 'redeemed and disenthralled' from their long captivity in the new world. But, Sir, be all these benefits enjoyed by the African race under the shade of their native palms. Let the Atlantic billow heave its high and everlasting barrier between their country and ours. Let this fair land which the white man won by his chivalry, which he has adorned by the arts and elegancies of polished life, be kept sacred for his descendants, untarnished by the footprint of him who hath ever been a slave."

6. Mr. Henry Clay's speech, before the Society, January 1st, 1818 – 2d Annual Report, page 110. "Further, several of the slaveholding states had, and perhaps all of them would, prohibit entirely, emancipation, without some such outlet was created. A sense of their own safety required the painful prohibition. Experience proved that persons turned loose who were neither freemen nor slaves, constituted a great moral evil, threatening to contaminate all parts of society. Let the colony once be successfully planted, and legislative bodies who have been grieved at the necessity of passing those 'prohibitory laws,' which at a distance might appear to 'stain our codes,' will hasten to remove the impediments to the exercise of benevolence and humanity. They will annex the condition that the emancipated shall leave the country, and he has placed a false estimate upon liberty, who believes there are many who would refuse the boon, when coupled even with such a condition."

Here there was compulsion, both in principle and precept. In the laws of Maryland, and elsewhere, were found abundant evidences of compulsion in practice, and where there were no direct acts forcing them to depart, a public sentiment had been created, which, in its manifold operations, brought the colored man, crushed and hopeless, to the conclusion, that it would be better for him to say farewell to home and country, than remain a proverb and a nuisance amongst a prejudiced and persecuting people. No colored man could justly be said to go to Liberia, or elsewhere, with his free and unconstrained consent, until the laws were equal, the treatment kind, prejudice founded on complexion destroyed, and he presented himself a voluntary agent, and asked the means to transport him to a foreign shore. As one proof that compulsion had been openly and unblushingly advocated, he would quote the words of Mr. Broadnax in the Virginia House of Delegates: —

"It is idle to talk about not resorting to force; every body must look to the introduction of force of some kind or other – and it is in truth a question of expediency, of moral justice, of political good faith – whether we shall fairly delineate our whole system on the face of the bill, or leave the acquisition of extorted consent to other processes. The real question, the only question of magnitude to be settled, is the great preliminary question – Do you intend to send the free persons of color out of Virginia, or not?

"If the free negroes are willing to go, they will go – if not willing they must be compelled to go. Some gentlemen think it politic not now to insert this feature in the bill, though they proclaim their readiness to resort to it when it becomes necessary; they think that for a year or two a sufficient number will consent to go, and then the rest can be compelled. For my part, I deem it better to approach the question and settle it at once, and avow it openly.

"I have already expressed it as my opinion that few, very few, will voluntarily consent to emigrate if no COMPULSORY measure be adopted.

"I will not express, in its full extent, the idea I entertain of what has been done, or what enormities will be perpetrated to induce this class of persons to leave the Slate. Who does not know that when a free negro, by crime or otherwise, has rendered himself obnoxious to a neighborhood, how easy it is for a party to visit him one night, take him from his bed and family, and apply to him the gentle admonition of a SEVERE FLAGELLATION, to induce Kim to consent to go away I In a few nights the dose can be repeated, perhaps increased, until, in the language of the physician, quantum sufficit has been administered to produce the desired operation; and the fellow then becomes PERFECTLY WILLING to move away.

Finally, on this part of the subject, he would cite the Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, who, at the annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, in 1834, had used the following language: —

"Two years ago I warned the Managers of this Virginia business, and yet they sent out TWO SHIP-LOADS OF VAGABONDS, not fit to go to such a place, and they were COERCED away as truly as if it had been done with a CART-WHIP.

His grand complaint against the Colonization Society was this – that instead of grappling with the reigning prejudices of the community, it falsely assumed the insensibility of those prejudices, and proceeded to legislate accordingly. They thus sanctioned and perpetuated the greatest sources of suffering and wrong to the colored population. The prejudice against the people of color had greatly increased since the formation of the Society. The present supporters of the Society were those who thoroughly loathed the free people of color, and the most cruel and sanguinary opponents of the Abolitionists were the boisterous defenders of the American Colonization Society. For example, when a mob assailed the inhabitants in New York, broke up their meetings, assaulted their persons, and sacked the house of Mr. Lewis Tappan, that mob could, in the midst of their ruffian-like and felonious exploits, most unanimously and heartily shout, "Three cheers for the Colonization Society," and "away with the niggers." In travelling in steamboats and stage coaches, he (Mr. T.) had invariably found that his most furious and malignant opponents, and the most determined haters of the black man, were loud in their profession of attachment to the principles and plans of the society. Why had not the wise and benevolent members of the society denounced that prejudice? Because the best among them were themselves partakers of that prejudice. It was evident, from all that Mr. Breckinridge had said, that he was deeply imbued with that prejudice. It gave tone, and color, and direction to all his remarks. Such men might profess to love the black man; but they were likely to be suspected of insincerity, when they uniformly manifested their love by driving the object of it as far away as possible. Such a mode of expressing love was contrary to all our ideas of the natural manifestations of that feeling. If the Colonization Society was indeed so full of benevolence and mercy, how was it that its character was so misunderstood by the colored people, for whose special benefit it had been originated? Surely they were likely to be the best judges of its effect upon their welfare and happiness. What was the fact? The entire free colored population of the United States were opposed to the expatriating project. But his opponent would say it was owing to the abuse poured upon the society by the foul-mouthed Abolitionists. He (Mr. T.) should, however, deprive the gentleman of this refuge, by laying before the meeting a very interesting fact, which would at once show the feeling of the colored people when the plan was first submitted to them. It would show, that in a meeting of three thousand, convened in the city of Philadelphia, to decide whether the society should, or should not, receive their countenance, they decided against it without a dissentient voice. He would lay before them a letter written by a highly respectable, enlightened, and wealthy gentleman of color in Philadelphia, Mr. James Forten. The letter was written to the editor of the New England Spectator, in consequence of a remark made by Mr. Gurley, during the debate in Boston.

    Philadelphia, June 10th, 1835.

Rev. W. S. Porter, – Dear Sir, – I cheerfully comply with the request contained in your note of the 3d inst., to give you a brief statement of a meeting held in 1817, by the people of color in this city, to express their opinion on the Liberia project. It was the largest meeting of colored persons ever convened in Philadelphia, – I will say 3000, though I might safely add 500 more. To show you the deep interest evinced, this large assemblage remained in almost breathless and fixed attention during the reading of the resolutions and the other business of the meeting; and when the question was put in the affirmative you might have heard a pin drop, so profound was the silence. But when in the negative, one long, loud, ay, tremendous NO, from this vast audience, seemed as if it would bring down the walls of the building. Never did there appear a more unanimous opinion. Every heart seemed to feel that it was a life and death question. Yes, even then, at the very onset, when the monster came in a guise to deceive some of our firmest friends, who hailed it as the dawning of a brighter day for our oppressed race, – even then we penetrated through its thickly-laid covering, and beheld it prospectively as the scourge which in after years was to grind us to the earth, and, by a series of unrelenting persecution, force us into involuntary exile.

I was not a little surprised to learn that Mr. Gurley professed to be ignorant of this fact; for in the African Repository he reviewed Mr. Garrison's Thoughts on African Colonization; and a whole chapter of the work, if I mistake not, is taken up with the sentiments of the people of color on colonization, commencing with the Philadelphia meeting. Perhaps Mr. Gurley did not read that chapter. But if his memory is not very treacherous, he ought to have known the circumstance, for I related it to him myself in a conversation which I had with him at my house one evening, in company with the Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, and our beloved friend, William Lloyd Garrison. The subject of colonization was warmly discussed; and I well recollect bringing our meeting of 1817 forward as a proof of our early and decided opposition to the measure. No doubt Mr. Garrison also remembers it.

Three meetings were held by us in 1817. The two first you will find in the "Thoughts on Colonization," part 2d, page 9. Of the protest and remonstrance adopted at the third meeting, I send you an exact copy. It is in answer to an address to the citizens of New York and Philadelphia, calling upon them to aid a number of persons of color, whom they said were anxious to join the projected colony in Africa. Those persons were mostly from the south, and it was to disabuse the public mind on this subject, that our meeting was held.

    I remain, with great respect,
    Yours, JAMES FORTEN.

He (Mr. T.) could pledge himself that such were still the feelings of the free colored people of America. Wherever they possessed a glimmering of light upon the subject, they utterly abhorred the society, and would as soon consent to be cut to pieces, as sent to any of the colonies prepared for their reception. Was it not then too bad that Christians should be called upon to support a society so utterly at variance with the wishes and feelings of the parties most nearly concerned? As a few moments yet remained, he would occupy it in quoting the opinions of two gentlemen, ministers of religion, and standing high in their own country, who had furnished lamentable evidence of the extent to which prejudice might possess otherwise strong and enlarged minds. The first quotation was from a report of a committee at the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, presented to the Colonization Society of that institution in 1823. It was from the pen of the Rev. Leonard Bacon, now pastor of a Congregational church at New Haven, Connecticut.