The Colonization herald and general register

              C0l0niiati®tt
m
AND GENERAL REGISTER.
CONDUCTED BY   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   COLONIZATION  SOCIETY.
whatsoever ye woulo that men should do to you, do ye EVEN SO TO THEM.
Vol. I.—NEW SERIES.
PHILADELPHIA,  WEDNESDAY, JULY   2.1,   I 8 :* 8
_%o. so
COLONIZATION CONVENTION.
Trenton, July 10, 1838.
The delegates to the State Colonization Convention
of New Jersey, appointed from different parts of the
state, assembled, agreeably to public notice, in the
Presbyterian Church at Trenton, on this day at three
o'clock; P. M., and
On motion of William Halsey, E-q. it was tempo¬
rarily organized by the appointment ofthe Hon. Sam¬
uel Bayard, of Princeton, Chairman, and on motion of
Professor McLean, J. P. Jackson, E^q. of Newark, was
appointed Secretary.
The meeting having been opened with prayer by
the Chairman, a committee consisting of Samuel R.
Giimmere and Rev. Mr. Huntington, were appointed
to receive the credentials of the delegates in attend¬
ance, when lhe following presented credentials and
took seats in the Convention :
DELEGATES.
-Veto Brunswick—Rev. Mr. Croes.
Newark—William Halsey, J. P. Jackson, James
Hague, jr.
Jersey Cily—D. S. Gregory, D. B. Wakeman, J. D.
Miller, Peter Bentley.
Gloucester County—R. W. Howell, John B. Harri¬
son, Augustus S. Burlier, J. Whitney, A. Browning.
Trenton—Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Rev. J. W.
Yeomans, Rev. A. Atvvood, Rev. Charles Webster,
Rev. Samuel Starr, Rev. M. J. Rheese, Rev. J. H.
Smaltz, William Halsted, Charles Burroughs, Samuel
R. Hamilton, T. J. Stryker, John Vorhees, J. G.
Brearly, Franklin S. Mills, Richard J. Bond, J. R. Dill,
Dr. J. McKelway, Wm. P. Sherman, Thos. McPher-
son, C. C. Yard.
Princeton—Samuel Biyard, Rev. Dr. Alexander,
James S. Green, Professor Dod, Professor McLean,
R. F. Stockton, James Olden.
Elizabflhtown—John J. Chetwood, F. B. Chetwood,
J. J. Bryant, E. Sanderson.
Orange, Essex County—Rev. Albert Pierson, Ed¬
win Park.
Burlington—Thos. Aikman, Samuel R. Gummere,
Rev. Charies Fitch, John T. Newton, Rev. Jonathan
Huntington.
Bordenttwn—G. S.Cannon, William Norcross.
Lawrenceville, Mercer County—Samuel H. Ham-
mill.
Professor McClean presented a letter from the Rev.
Dr. John Breckenridge, addressed to the Convention,
which was read and ordered to be laid on the table.
Mr. Buchanan, formerly Governor of Bassa Cove,
and the Rev. Mr. Beihune, of Philadelphia, vvere in¬
vited to take seats in the Convention.
On motion of Samuel R. Hamilton, Esq. Professor
McLean, Rev. Mr. Croes, J. J. Bryant, and Richard
Howell, were appointed a committee to nomintate regu¬
lar officers ofthe convention.
The committee having retired a short time, returned
and reported the following gentlemen as officers of the
convention.
On motion of Professor McLean, William Halsey,
Richard Howell, Thomas Aikman, Ab'm Browning,
Esqs , Rev. Albeit Pierson, and such ofthe gentlemen
who have called this convention, and who were present,
be a Business Committee, to prepare and present the
various matters proper to be acted ou by this conven¬
tion.
On motion of Rev. William Croes, the letter of Dr.
Breckmiridge vvas referred to the business committee.
The business committee, after a short conference,
reported the following resolutions for the consideration
ofthe convention.
Resolved, That it is exp°dient to have a State Colo¬
nization Society in New Jersey.
Resolved, That the New Jersey State Colonization
Society will act in concert with the American Coloni¬
zation Society.
These resolutions vvere ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. Halsey, by request, made some very interesting
statements of his gratuitous labors in behalf of the
colonization cause, in the city of Newark and the vi¬
cinity, and assured the convention that a very favor¬
able opinion is entertained hy the people in that quar¬
ter towards the colonization enterprise, and that they
had made, and were disposed to continue to make, libe¬
ral contributions to its benevolent objects.
The resolutions reported by the business committee
were taken up and discussed ate nsidernble length, by-
Professor McLean, Rev. Mr. Croes, Rev. Mr. Yeo¬
mans, Rev. Mr. Pierson, Mr. Green, Mr. Jackson, Mr.
Browning, Mr. Hammil. After which the convention
adjourned to 8 o'clock in the evening.
8 o'clock, P. M.
Convention met and entered into a discussion ofthe
rest Iuti"n8 recommended hy the business committee.
Dr.  Alexander, of Princeton,. Professor   McLean,
* Rev. Mr. Bethune, Capt. Stockton, Samuel L. Soulh-
,  ard, Professor Dod, and Rev. Mr. Pierson, took part in
the discussion.
The first resolution, ,l That it is expedient to have a
► Colonization  Society in New Jersey," was adopted
unanimously.
The second resolution was then discussed with dif¬
ferent views, by Rev. Mr. Bethune, Mr. Pierson, Pro¬
fessor McLean, Cipt. R. F. Stockton, and Hon. S. L.
Southard, without coming to any decision, when the
convention adjourned until 8 o'clock on Wednesday
morning.
8 o'clock, A. M., July 11.
The convention again met, and the unfinished busi¬
ness of last evening being the second  resolution re-
:«orted hy the business committee, was further discussed
-*.ny Messrs. Halsey, Pierson, Dod, Dr. Alexander, Yeo-
.BBans, and Capt. Stockton.    The discussion  involved
i.«he relation which the state society should hold to the
^fcmerican Colonization Society; in reference to which
Kthere was some contrariety of opinion.    After some
^-remarks by J- P. Jickson, Esq. the following resolution
eras moved by him us a substitute, and unanimously
adopted:
t Resold (I, That the object of this society shall be to
circulate inform-ition among the inhabitants of this
atate. on the subject of colonization, and to secure for
the people of color, in Novv Jersey, if they prefer it, a
distinct settlement in Liberia, under the control ofthe
.American Colonization Society, and to act in concert
Witb the parent institution at the city of Washington,
_n the prosecution of their important and benevolent
OTterprise.
■ Whereupon a constitution for the regulation of the
^fociety vvas adopted.
* Resolved, That it be recommended to the clergy¬
men of the different churches in New Jersey to take
|p collections this year, and annually hereafter, in aid
ofthe funds ofthe American Colonization Society.
Resolved, That Capt. R. F. Stockton, Hon. S. L.
■.Southard, and Professors McLean and Dod, be a com-
jnittee to address a letter to the American Coloniza¬
tion Society, on lhe subject of a national Colonization
(Convention.
•On motion of Samuel R. Hamilton, Esq. it was
^besolved, That the thanks of this convention are
Ht to the Hon. William Halsey, for his faithful, zeal¬
ous and gratuitous labors in the colonization enter¬
prise ; and that he be requested to collect the moneys
pledged to him.
Resolved, That it it be recommended by this con¬
vention, that Colonization Societies, auxiliary to the
State Society, be formed in every town and village in
the state.
Resolved, That this convention recommend to the
executive committee ofthe State Society the appoint¬
ment of a general agent or agents to advance the colo¬
nization cause.
Resolved, That this convention recommend to the
friends of colonization in New Jersey, the Christian
Statesman, a newspaper published under the auspices
ofthe American Colonization Society, and the Coloni¬
zation Herald, conducted by the Pennsylvania Society,
as containing authentic intelligence of the operations
of this enterprise, and of the current events transpiring
in the colonies.
Resolved, That the thanks of this convention be ten¬
dered to Mi. Buchanan and Rev. Mr. Bethune, of Phi¬
ladelphia, for their attendance and participation in the
exercises of this convention.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention
be signed by the officers and published.
The convention then adjourned sine die, after prayer
by Dr. Alexander.
Hon. Samuel Bayard, President.
Dudley S. Gregory, ~)
Rev. John Croes,       I  Tr.     n     ■,    ,
t  m -T '       > Vice-Presidents.
J. I. JNewton, f
J. B. Harrison, J
J. P. Jackson,     )
S. R. Gvmsiere, )
Secretaries-
From De Tocqueville's Democracy in America.
SITUATION OF THE BLACK POPULATION
IN THE UNITED STATES, AND DANGERS
WITH WHICH ITS PRESENCE THREAT¬
ENS THE WHITES.
(Concluded.)
The first of these causes is the climate : it is well
knovvn that in proportion as Europeans approach the
Tropics, they suffer more from labour. Many of the
Americans even assert, that within a certain latitude
the exertions which a negro can make without danger
are fatal to them ;* but I do not think that this opinion,
which is so favourable to the indolence of the inhabi¬
tants of southern regions, is confirmed by experience.
The southern parts of the Union are not hotter than
the South of Italy and of Spain ;f and it may be asked
why the European cannot work as well there as in the
two latter countries. If slavery has been abolished in
Italy and in Spain without causing the destruction of
the masters, why should not tire same thing take place
in the Union"! I cannot believe that nature has pro¬
hibited the Europeans in Georgia and the Floridas,
under pain of death, from raising the means of sub¬
sistence from the soil; but their labour vvouid unques¬
tionably be more irksome and less productive;! *° them
than to the inhabitants of New England. As the free
workman thus loses a portion of his superiority over
the slave in the southern states, there are fewer in¬
ducements lo abolish slavery.
All the plants of Europe grow in the northern parts
of the Union ; the south has special productions of its
own. It has been observed that slave-labour is a very
expensive me: hod of cultivating corn. The farmer of
corn-land in a country where slavery is unknown,
habitually retains a small number of labourers in his
service, and at seed-time and harvest he hires several
additional hands, who only live at his cost for a short
period. But the agriculturist in a slave state is oblig¬
ed to keep a large number of slaves the whole year
round, in order to sow his fields and gather in his
crops, although their services are only required for a
few weeks; but slaves are unable to wait till they are
hired, and to subsist by their own labour in the mean
time like free labourers; in older to have their ser¬
vices, they must be bought. Slavery, independently
of its general advantages, is therefore still more inap¬
plicable to countries in which corn is cultivated than
to those which produce crops of a different kind.
The cultivation of tobacco, of cotton, and especially
of the suf_ar-cane, demands on the other hand, unre¬
mitting attention: and women and children are em¬
ployed in it, whose services are of but little use in the
cultivation of wheat. Thus slavery is naturally more
fitted to the countries from which these productions
are derived.
Tobacco, cotton, and the sugar-cane are exclusively
grown in the south, nnd they form one ofthe principal
sources of the wealth of those states. If slavery were
abolished, the inhabitants of the south would be con¬
strained to adopt one of two alternatives: they must
either change their system of cultivation, and then
they would come into competition with the more ac¬
tive and more experienced inhabitants of the north;
or, if ihey continued to cultivate the same produce
without slave-bibour, they would have to support the
competition of the other states of the south, which
might still retain their slaves. Thus, peculiar reasons
for maintaining slavery exist is the south which do not
operate in the north.
But there is yet another motive which is more co¬
gent than all the others; the south might indeed, ri¬
gorously speaking, abolish slavery, but how should it
rid its territory of the black population! Slaves and
slavery are driven from the north by the same law, but
this twofold result cannot be hoped for in the south.
The arguments which I have adduced to show that
slavery is more natural and more advantageous in the
south than in the north, sufficiently prove that the
number of slaves must be far greater in the former
districts. It was to the southern settlements that the
first Africans were brought, and it is there that the
greatest number of them have always been imported.
As we advance towards the south, the prejudice which
sanctions idleness increases in power. In the states
nearest to the Tropics ihere is not a single white la¬
bourer; the negroes are consequently much more nu¬
merous in the south than in the north. And, as I have
already observed, this disproportion increases daily,
since the negroes are transferred to one part of the
Union as soon as slavery is abolished in the other.
Thus the black population augments in the south, not
only by its natural fecundity, but by the compulsory
• This is true of the spots in which rice is cultivated ;
rice-grounds, which are unwholesome in all countries, are
particularly dangerous in those regions which are exposed
to the beams of a tropical sun. Europeans would not
find £ easy to produce rice ; but may they not subsist with¬
out rice-grounds 1
* These states are nearer to the equator than Italy and
Spain, but the temperature of the continent of America
is very much lower than that of Europe.
f The Spanish Government formerly caused a certain
number of peasants from the Azores to be transported into
a district of Louisiana called Attakapas, by way of experi¬
ment. These settlers still cultivate trie soil without the
assistance of slaves, but their industry is so languid as
scarcely to supply their most necessary wants.
emigration of the negroes from the north ; and the
African race has causes of increase in the south very
analogous to those which so powerfully accelerate the
growth of the European race in the north.
In the State of Maine there is one negro in three
hundred inhabitants; in Massachusetts, one in one
hundred; in New York, two in one hundred ; in Penn¬
sylvania, ihree in the same number; in Maryland,
thirty-four; in Virginia, forty-two ; and lastly, in South
Carolina* fifty five per cent. Such was the proportion
ofthe black population to the whites, in the year 1630.
But this proportion is perpetually changing, as it con¬
stantly decreases in the north and augments in the
south.
It is evident that the most southern states of the
Union cannot abolish slavery without incurring verv
great dangers, which the north had no reason to appre¬
hend when it emancipated its black population. We
have already shown the system by which the northern
states secure the transition from slavery to freedom,
by keeping the present generation in chains, and set¬
ting their descendants free; by this means lhe negroes
are gradually introduced into society; and whilst the
men who might abuse their freedom are kept inasta'e
of servitude, those who are emancipated may learn
the art of being free before they become their own
masters. But it would be difficult to apply this method
in the south. To declare that all the negmes born
after a certain period shall be free, is to introduce the
principle and the notion of liberty into the heart of
slavery; the blacks, whom the lavv thus maintains in
a state of slavery from which their children are de¬
livered, are astonished at so unequal a fate, and their
astonishment is only the prelude to their impatience
and irritation. Thenceforward slavery loses, in their
eyes, that kind of moral power which it derived from
time and habit; it is reduced to a mere palpable abuse
of force. The northern states had nothing to fear from
the contrast, because in them the blacks were fevv in
number, and the white population was very consider¬
able. But if this faint dawn of freedom vvere to show
two millions of men their true position, the oppressors
would have reason to tremble. After having affran¬
chised the children of their slavrs, the Europeans
of the southern states would very shortly be obliged to
extend lhe same benefit to the whole black population.
In the north, as 1 have already remarked, a twofold
migration ensues upon the abolition of slavery, or even
precedes that event when circumstances have render¬
ed it probable ; the slaves quit the country to be trans
ported southwards; and the whites of the northern
states as well as the emigrants from Europe hasten to
fill up their place. But these two causes cannot ope¬
rate in the same manner in the southern states. On
the one hand, the mass of slaves is too great for any
expectation of iheir ever being removed from the coun¬
try to be entertained; and on the other hand, the Eu¬
ropeans and Anglo-Americans of the north are afraid
to come to inhabit a country, in which labour has not
yet been reinstated in its rightful honors. Besides,
they very justly look upon the states in which the pro¬
portion of the negroes equals or exceeds that of the
whites, as exposed to very great dangers; and they re¬
frain from turning their activity in that direction.
Thus the inhabitants of the south would not be able,
like their northern countrymen, to initiate the slaves
gradually into a state of freedom, by abolishing slavery;
they have no means of perceptibly diminishing the
black population, and they would remain unsupported
to repress its excesses. So that in the course of a fevv
years, a great people of free negroes would exist in
the heart of a white nation of equal size.
The same abuses of power which still maintain
slavery, vvouid then become the source of the most
alarming perils, which the white population of the
south might have lo apprehend. At the present time
the descendants of tbe Europeans are the sole owners
of the land ; the absolute masters of all labour; and
the only persons who are possessed of wealth, know¬
ledge, and arms. The black is destitute of all these
advantages, but he subsists without them because he
is a slave. If he were free, and obliged to provide for
his own subsistence, would Jt be possible for him to
remain without these things nnd to support life ? Or
would nol the very instruments of the present su-
peiiority of the white, whilst slavery exists, expose
him to a thousand dangers if it vvere abolished ?
As long as the negro remains a slave, he may be
kept in a condition not very far removed from lhat of
the brutes ; but, with his liberty, he cannot but acquire
a degree of instruction which will enable him to ap¬
preciate his misfortunes, and to discern a remedy for
them. Moreover, there exist* a singular principle of
relative justice which is very firmly implanted in lhe
human heart. Men are much more forcibly struck by
those inequalities which exist within the circle of the
same class, than with those which may be marked be¬
tween different classes, ft is more easy for them to
admit slavery, than to allow several millions of citi¬
zens to exists under a load of eteftal infamy and he¬
reditary wretch' dness. In the north the population
of freed negroes feels these hardships and resents
these indignities; but its members and its powers are
small, whilst in the south it would Le numerous and
strong.
As soon as it is admitted that the whites and the
emancipated blacks are placed upon the same territory
in the situation of two alien communities, it will read¬
ily be understoi d that there are but two alternatives
for the future ; the negroes and the whites must either
wholly part or wholly mingle. I have already ex¬
pressed the conviction which _ entertain as to the lat¬
ter event.f I do not imagine that the white and the
black races will ever live in any country upon an equal
footing. But I believe the difficulty to be still greater
in the United States than elsewhere. An isolated in¬
dividual may surmount the prejudices of religion, of
his country, or of his race, and if this individual is a
king he may effect surpris ng changes in soci-ty; but
a whole people cannot rise, as it were, above itself.
A despot who should subject the Americans and their ; This all-pervading disquietude has given birth to an
former slaves to the samevoke, might perhaps succeed ! undertaking which is but little known, but whebmny
in commingling their races; but as long as theAmeri-; have the effect of chnn^ino- the fate of a portion of
can democracy remains at the head of affairs, no one ; the human race. Fronrapprehension of the dangers
will undertake so difficult a task ; and it may be fore- j which I have just been describing, a certain number
seen that the freer the white population of the United of American citizens have formed a society for the
States becomes, the more isolated will it remain.* i purpose of exporting to the coast cf Guinea, at their
I have previously observed that the mixed race is own expense, such"Vree negroes as may be willing to
the true bond of union between the Europeans and the , escape from the oppression to which they are subject.*
Indians; just so the rttulattoes are the true means of! In 1820, the society to which I allude formed a set-
transition between the white and the negro; so that I tlement in Africa upon the 7th degieeof north latitude,
wherever mulattoes abound, the intermixture of the; which bears the name of Liberia. The most recent
two races is not impossible. In some parts of America, I intelligence informs us that two thousand five hundred
the Earopeun and the negro races are so crossed by , negroes are collected there ; they have introduced the
one another, lhat it is rare to meet with a man who is democratic institutions of America into the country of
entirely black, or entirely white: when they are arriv-; their forefathers; and Liberia has a representative
ed at thia point, the two races may really be said to be system of government, ne^ro jurvmen, negro magis-
combined ; or rather to have been absorbed in a third , trates, and°negro priests; churches have been built,
race, which is connected with m th without being iden- j newsp.pers established and, by a singular change in
tical with either. the vicissitudes of the world.'white men are prohibited
Of all the Europeans the English are ihoee who • from sojourning within the settlement.f
have mixed least with lhe negroes. More mulattoes1 This is indeed a strange caprice of fortune. Two
are to be seen in the south of the Union than in the hundred years have now elapsed since the inhabitants
north, but still they are infinitely more scarce than in , 0f Europe undertook to tear the negro from his family
any other European colony : mulatto-s are by no means I nnd his home, in order to transport him to the chores
numerous in the United States; they have no force 0f North America; at the* present day, the European
peculiar to themselves, and when quarrels originating i settlers are engaged in sending back the descendants
in differences of colour take place, they generally side'of those very negroes, to the^ continent from which
with the whites ; just as the lacqueys of the great, in | they were originally taken ; and the barbarous Afri-
Europe, assume the contemptuous airs of nobility to jeans have been brought into contact with civilization
the lower orders. j in the midst of bondage, and have become acquainted
The pride of origin, which is natural to the English, j with free political institutions in slavery. Up to the
is singularly augmented by the personal pride which j present time Africa has been closed against the arts
democratic libeny fosters amongst the Americans: the } and sciences of the whites; but the inventions of Eu-
white citizen of the United States is proud of his race, j mpe will perhaps penetrate into these regions, now
and proud of himself. But if the whites and the ne- that they are introduced by Africans themselves. The
groes do not intermingle in the north of the Union, j settlement of Liberia is founded upon a lofty and a
how should they mix in the south ! Can it be suppos- j mogt fruitful idea ; but whatever may be the results
ed for an instant, that an American of the southern j wjth rCgard to the continent of Africa, it can afford no
states, placed, as he must for ever be, between the I remedy to the new world.
white man with all his physical and moral superiority, | ]n twelve years the Colonization Society has trans-
and the negro, will ever think of preferring the latter?, ported two thousand five hundred negroes to Africa ;
The Americans of the southern states have two power- _n t__P some space of time about seven hundred thou-
ful passions which will always keep them aloof; the J Sand blacks were born in the United States.    If the
colony of Liberia were so situated as to be able to re¬
ceive thousands of new inhabitants every year, and if
the negroes were in a state to be sent thither with ad¬
vantage ; if the Union were to supply the society w ith
annual subsidies,! and to transport the negroes to Af¬
rica in vessels of the state, it would still be unable to
counterpoise the natural increase of population amongst
the blacks; and as it could not remove ns many men
in a year as are born upon its territory within the same
space of time, it would fail in suspending the growth
! of the evil  which is daily increasing in the stntee.|
first is the fear of being assimilated to the negroes,
their former slaves; and the second, the dread of sink¬
ing below the whites, their neighbours.
If I were called upon to predict what will probably
occur at some future time, I should say, that the abo¬
lition of slavery in the south will, in the common
course of things, increase the repugnance of the white
population for the men of colour. I found this opinion
upon the analogous observation which I already had
occasion to make in the n rth. 1 there remarked that
the white inhabitants of the north avoid the negroes
with increasing care, in proportion as the legal bar-1 The negro race will never leave those shores of the
riers of separation are removed by the legislature; and | American continent, to which it was brought by the
why should not the same result take place in the south? !passions and lhe vices of Europeans; and it will not
In the north, the whites are deterred from interming
ling with the blacks by the fear of an imaginary dan¬
ger; in the south, where the danger would be real, I
cannot imagine that the fear would be less general.
If, on the one hand, it may be admitted (and the fact
disappear from the new world as long as it continues
to exist. The inhabitants of the United States may
retard the calamities which they apprehend, but they
cannot now destroy their efficient cause.
I am obliged to confess that I do not regard lhe abo-
is unquestionable) that the coloured population perpet- Iition 0f £)avery as a means of warding off the strng-
ually accumulates in the extreme south, and that it g!e of thc two races jn the United Statep_ The ne_
increases more rapidly than that of the whites; and if, | j-roes may _on? remain slaves without complaining;
on the other hand, it te allowed that it is.impossible to ! bul if the are once rajsrd t0 (he ]evp, of frpe
foresee a time at which the whites and the blacks will | tney w,„ ,_„„„ revok at bejng fleprivc_, ^^ ,hcjr cjvjl
be so intermingled as to derive the same benefits from j rj„i_ts; and as they cannot become the equats or tne
society ; must it not be inferred, that the blacks and , whitest, they will speedily declare themselves as ere-
the whites will, sooner or jater, come to open strife in | m_es |n tf,e north everything contributed to facili¬
tate the emancipation of the slaves; and slavery was
the southern states of the Union? But if it be asked
what the issue of the struggle is likely to be, it will
readily be understood that we are here left to form a
very vague surmise of the truth.    The human  mind
abolished, without placing the free negroes in a posi¬
tion which could become formidable, since their num¬
ber was too small for them ever to claim tbe  exercise
may succeed in tracing a wide circle, as it were, which I 0f their rights. But such is not the case in the south
includes the course of future events; but within that i f he question of slavery was a question of commerce
circka thousand  various^chances and circumstances | an(j manufacture for the slaveowners in the north ;
, ' for those of the south, it is a question of life nnd death.
God forbid that I should seek to justify the principle
of negro slavery, as has been done by some American
writers! But I only observe that all the countries
which formerly adopted that execrable principle are
not equally able to abandon it at the present time.
When I contemplate the condition of the south, I
can only discover two alternatives which mav be adopt¬
ed by the white inhabitants of those slates ; viz. either
to emancipate the negroes, and to intermingle with
them ; or, remaining isolated from them, to keep ihem
i in a state of slavery as long as possible. All interme-
idiate measures seer
may direct it in as many different ways; and in every
picture ofthe future there is a dim spot, which the eye
of the understanding cannot penetrate. It appears,
however, to be extremely probable, that in the West
India Islands the white race is destined to be subdued,
and the black population to share ihe same fate upon
the continent.
In the West India Islands the white planters are
surrounded by an immense black population; on the
continent, the blacks are placed between the ocean and
an innumerable people, which already extends over
them in a dense mass, from the icy confines of Canada
to the frontiers of Virginia, and fiom the banks of the
Missouri to the shores of the Atlantic.    If the  white
to me likely to terminate, and
that shortly, in the most horrible of civil warp, and per-
citizens of North America remain united, it cannot be : |,nps in lhe extirpation of one or other of the two races
supposed that the negroes will escape tbe destruction Such js thft view which tne Americans of the south'
with which they are menaced ; they must be subdued ! ta]<e of the qUPStion, and they act consistently with it
by want or by the sword. But the black population As t)}ey are determined not to mingle wilh the ne-
vvhich is accumulated along the coast of the Gulf of 1 <rr0es, thev refuse to emancipate them.
Mexico, has a chance of success, if ihe American Uni- j N(i_ that the inhabitants of the south regard slavrrv
on is dissolved when the struggle between the two I as ,.eCessary to the wealth of the planter; for on this
races begins. If the federal tie vvere broken, the cm- ! po;nt ^^y of t),em a„ree with t|.ejr norlher„ c
zens of the south would  be wrong to rely upon any | trvmrn jn freely admitting that slavery is nreiudici.l
lasting succour from their northern countrymen.   The
latter are well aware that the danger can never renc
/pry is prejudicial
'   to their interests; but they are convinced that, how-
______   , ______   ever prejudicial it mav be, they hold their lives urxm
them ; and unless they are constrained to march to the no'0.her tenure. The instruction which is now diffused
assistance of the south by a positive obligation, it may ; jn ,he ^^ has convincet) the inhabitants that slavery
be foreseen that the sympathy of colour will be insuffi- • ^ injurious to lhe siaVe-owner, but it has also si own
cient to stimulate their exertions. I them. more clearly than before, that no means exist ,,f
Yet, at whatever period the strife may break out,! gettjng rid of itg tad consequences. Hence arises a
the whites of the south, even if they are abandon*d to BjIlguiar contrast; the more the utiliiy Qf slavery i<
their own resources, Will enter the lists with an mi- , contested, the more firmly is it established in the laws-
mense superiority of knowledge and of the means of. and whi]._t ti)e principle of servitude is gradually abol'
warfare: but the blacks will have numerical strength ighed jn the north( tbat gelf-eame principle gives rise
and the energy of despair upon their side; and   these ! to more and more rigorous consequences in the Bouth
ries, it will perhaps be forced to retire to the country
whence its ancestors came, and lo abandon to the ne¬
groes the possession of a territory, which Providence
* This society assumed the name of "the Society for
the Colonization of the Blacks." See its Annual Reports ■
and more particularly the fifteenth. See also the pamDhle/
• We find it asserted  in an American work, entitled
M Letters on   the Colonization Society," by Mr.  Carey,
1833, " That for the last forty years the black race has in- j
creased more rapidly than tbe white race in J*outh Caroli-'
na ;  and that if we take the average population of the five ;
states of tbe south into which slaves were first introduced, |
viz. Maryland, Virginia, South  Carolina, Noith Carolina,
and Georgia, we shall find that from 1790 to  1830 the
whites have augmented in the proportion of 80 to 100, and
the blacks in that of 112 to 100.
In the United States, in 1830, the population of the two
races stood as follows :
States where slavery is abolished, 6.565,434 whites ; I
120,520 blacks. Slave stales, 3,960,814 whites; 2,208,- j
102 blacks.
* This opinion is sanctioned by authorities infinitely
weightier than anything that I can say : thus, for instance, j
it is stated im the Memoirs of Jefferson (as collected by i
M. Conseil,) " Nothing is more clearly written in the'book [
of destiny than the emancipation of the blacks ; and it is ;
equally certain that the two races will never live in a state
at equal freedom under the same government, so insur- j
mountable are the barriers which nature, habit, and opin-,
iona have established between them."
seems to have more peculiarly destined for them, since   t0 which allusion has already been made, entitled, "Let'
they can subsist and labour in it more easily than the   ters on the Colonization Society, and on its probable
whites. suits," by Mr. Carey, Philadelphia, April, 1833.
The danger of a conflict between the white and the i | This last regulation was laid down by the founders f
black inhabitants of the southern states of the Union, the settlement; they apprehended that a state of thine
a danger which, however remote it may be, is inevit- might arise in Africa, similar to that which exists on th
able—perpetually haunts the imagination ofthe Amer- frontiers of the United States, and that if the negroes like
icans. Thh inhabitants of the north make it a com- the Indians, were brought into collision with a people more
mon topic of conversation, although they have no di- enlightened than themselves, they would be destroyed b«-
rect injury to fear from the struggle; but they vainly   fore they could be civilized.
endeavour to devise some means of obviating the mis-; . Nor would these be the only difficulties attendant upon
fortunes which they foresee. In the southern states the undertaking; if the Union undertook to buy up the
the subject is not discussed : the planter does not allude negroes now in America, in order to transport them to Af-
to the future in conversing with strangers; the citizen rica, the price of slaves, increasing with their scarcity
does not communicate his apprehensions to his friends ; would soon become enormous ; and the states of the north
he seeks to conceal them from himself: but there is would never consent to expend such great sums, for a pur-
something more alarming in the tacit forebodings of pose which would procure such small advanUges to them-
the south, than in the clamorous fears of the northern <*^e*- If, \he ^ni,on ,ook possesion of the slaves in the
states southern states by force, or at a rate determined by law an
insurmountable resistance would arise in that part of 'th
country.    Both alternatives are equally imoossihL
• If the British West India planters had governed them-       § in   1830 there were in the United B_____*_tj____
selves, they would assuredly not have passed the Slave   slaves and 319,439 free blacks, in all 2 329 76fi
Emancipation Bill which the mother-country has recently   which formed about one-fifth of the total no'   l      egrJ*8 ;
imposed upon them. United States at that time. population of the