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admit the sinfulness of insulated cases of cruelty. It has, therefore, been my object to show, that admitting the slaves to be treated as a prudent farmer treats his cattle —that they have enough to eat—are sheltered from the inclemency of the weather, and are not subjected to a greater degree of severity than is necessary, to extort from them a due amount of labor-American slavery is, nevertheless, a heinous sin, and, like every other sin, ought to be immediately abandoned.

February, 1835,

PART I.

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

INTRODUCTION.

On the 1st of January, 1835, there were in the United States, 2,245,144 slaves.* This number about equals the population of Holland, and exceeds that of Scotland, of the Danish Dominions, of the Swiss Confederation, and of "various Republics in South America. These millions of human beings, are held as chattels by a people professing to acknowledge, that "all men are created equal, and endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness:"-they are, moreover, kept in ignorance, and compelled to live without God, and to die without hope, by a people professing to reverence the obligations of Christianity.

But slavery has ceased in other countries, where it formerly prevailed; and may we not hope that it is gradually expiring in this? Such a hope is, alas, forbidden by the following statement of our slave population, at different periods: United States, 1790, 697,697, 1835, 2,245,144 do. 12,430 1830, 165,350

Kentucky,
Mississippi and

'Alabama,

Louisiana,

Missouri,

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Perhaps, however, the political evils of slavery may be gradually mitigated, and finally removed, by an increas

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According to the ratio of increase between 1820 and 1880.

ing preponderance in the white population. Unfortunately, we are compelled by facts to anticipate a very different result. A comparison of the census of 1830, with that of 1820, affords us the following ratio of increase in the free and slave population, for the intermediate ten years: N. Carolina, Free 13.4 Slave 20.2 per ct.

per ct.

S. Carolina,

8.7

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22.1

180.4

100.1

58.7

144.7

77.7

30.4

180.

Arkansas Territory, 104.8

It is obvious, from these details, that, if the present system be continued, the time cannot be, far distant, when the slaves will possess a frightful numerical superiority over their masters. Already do they bear to the whites, in the slave States and Territories, the proportion of 1, to 2.79. In South-Carolina, and Louisiana, they are now a majority.

But in our contemplation of slavery, the sufferings of the slaves claim our consideration, no less than the dangers to which the whites are exposed. The ordinary evils of slavery ane in this country greatly aggravated, by a cruel and extensive slave trade. Various circumstances have of late years combined, to lessen the demand for slave labour in the more northern, and to increase it in the more southern and western portions of the slave region; while the enlarged consumption of sugar and cotton is enhancing the : market value of slaves. The most profitable employment of this species of labour, is unfortunately found in those States, which, from their recent settlement, possess immense tracts which are still to be brought into cultivation, and in which, consequently, there now is, and will long continue to be, an urgent demand for slaves. Hence has arisen a prodigious and annually increasing transportation -of slaves to the south and west.

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There are no official data, from which the amount of this transportation can be ascertained; but from facts that have transpired, and from estimates made at the South

there is reason to believe that it exceeds 30,000 a year! One of the peculiar abominations of this trade is, that its victims are almost exclusively children and youths. Instead of removing whole families and gangs of negroes, the dealers for the most part, according to their own advertisements, select individuals "of both sexes, from twelve to twenty-five years."

He surely can have little claim to the character of a patriot, or a Christian, who does not desire, that his country may be delivered from the sin and curse of slavery; or who refuses even to consider the means proposed for effecting this great object.

A powerful institution is now in operation, which professes to be, not merely a remedy for slavery, but the ONLY remedy that can be devised. It appeals to religion and patriotism, for those pecuniary aids, which, it contends, are alore wanting, to enable it to transport our whole colored population to Africa, there to enjoy the freedom denied to them here; and there to become the dispensers of religion, and the arts and sciences, to that benighted continent.

If the claims of the American Colonization Society are founded in truth, they cannot be resisted without guilt. Very many, however, who are alike distinguished for piety and talents, instead of allowing these claims, strenuously maintain, that the practical tendency of the Society, is to perpetuate the evils it professes to remove; and to extend to Africa, the vices, but not the blessings of civilization. These conflicting opinions, on a subject so momentous, demand a calm and patient investigation; since he who either supports or opposes the Colonization Society, without first ascertaining its true character, the results it has produced, and the influence it exerts, incurs the hazard, as far as his example and efforts extend, of increasing the wretchedness he would relieve; and of fastening upon his country, the burden under which she is struggling.

If, in a question, involving the temporal and eternal happiness of unborn millions, we could satisfy our consciences, by bowing to the authority of great names, we should still be painfully embarrassed in selecting those, to whose decision we should surrender our own judgments.

The excellent of the earth, are to be found among the friends and enemies of this association; and if various ecclesiastical bodies in our own country, have recommended it to the patronage of their churches, it is regarded with abhorrence by almost the whole religious community of Great Britain; and the last effort made by WILBERFORCE in the great cause of negro liberty, was, to address to the people of Great Britain his solemn protest against the doctrines and conduct of the American Colonization Society.

This Institution may have been formed by good men, and from the purest motives, yet it is possible, that its operation may not have been such as they anticipated. "So many unforeseen, concealed, and inappreciable causes," says a very eminent writer, "have an influence on human institutions, that it is impossible to judge a priori of their effects. Nothing but a long series of experiments, can unfold these effects, and point out the means of counteracting those that are hurtful."

The following inquiry has been commenced, and pursued, under a deep sense of the importance of the subject, and with a solemn recollection, that no deviation from truth, can escape the notice and displeasure of HIM, unto whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid.

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