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Title: Report of the naval committee to the House of Representatives, August, 1850, in favor of the establishment of a line of mail steamships to the western coast of Africa, and thence via the Mediterranean to London; designed to promote the emigration of free persons of color from the United States to Liberia: also to increase the steam navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States. : With an appendix added by the American Colonization Society.
Author: Fred. P. Stanton, - To be updated
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Report of the naval committee to the House of Representatives, August, 1850, in favor of the establishment of a line of mail steamships to the western coast of Africa, and thence via the Mediterranean to London; designed to promote the emigration of free persons of color from the United States to Liberia: also to increase the steam navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States. : With an appendix added by the American Colonization Society." ***
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUGUST, 1850, IN FAVOR OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF A LINE OF MAIL STEAMSHIPS TO THE WESTERN COAST OF
AFRICA, AND THENCE VIA THE MEDITERRANEAN TO LONDON; DESIGNED TO PROMOTE
THE EMIGRATION OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR FROM THE UNITED STATES TO
LIBERIA: ALSO TO INCREASE THE STEAM NAVY, AND TO EXTEND THE COMMERCE OF
THE UNITED STATES. ***
Report of the Naval Committee to the House of Representatives August, 1850
REPORT
OF THE
NAVAL COMMITTEE
TO THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
August, 1850,
IN FAVOR OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LINE OF
MAIL STEAMSHIPS
TO
THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA,
AND THENCE VIA THE
MEDITERRANEAN TO LONDON;
DESIGNED
TO PROMOTE THE EMIGRATION OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR
FROM THE UNITED STATES TO LIBERIA:
ALSO
TO INCREASE THE STEAM NAVY,
AND
TO EXTEND THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.
WITH
AN APPENDIX
ADDED BY THE
AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
WASHINGTON:
PRINTED BY GIDEON AND CO.
1850.
The memorial of Judge Bryan was referred to the Committee on Naval
Affairs, composed of Representatives from the following States:
Fred. P. Stanton, Tenn.
Thos. S. Bocock, Va.
Robert C. Schenck, Ohio.
Emile La Sere, La.
Hugh White, N. Y.
Elbridge Gerry, Me.
E. Carrington Cabell, Fla.
John McQueen, S. C.
Lewis C. Levin, Pa.
The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of
Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, for himself and his associates, George Nicholas
Sanders and others, praying the establishment of a line of steamers
from the United States to the coast of Africa, designed to promote the
colonization of free persons of color, to suppress the African slave
trade, to carry the mails, and to extend the commerce of the United
States, beg leave to submit the following Report:
The proposition of the memorial involves an extension of that
system, recently commenced by Congress, which has for its
object the creation of a powerful steam navy, to be used in
time of peace in carrying the mails, and in effecting great
public objects, not to be attained by private enterprise
without the aid of Congress. How far it may be desirable to
extend this system will depend upon the double consideration of
the present condition of our naval force, and the importance
and feasibility of the ends to be accomplished by the measure.
As to the first of these, the committee will present a brief
statement of the facts material to a correct understanding of
the comparative extent of our present steam navy.
In the report of Mr. Secretary Bancroft, made to the Senate on the 2d
March, 1846, the total effective steam navy of Great Britain was stated,
at that time, to consist of one hundred and ninety-nine vessels, of all
classes; that of France numbered fifty-four; that of Russia, without the
Caspian fleet, thirty-two; while the steam navy of the United States
could boast of but six small vessels, and one in process of building; and
of these one was for harbor defence, and another a steam-tug.
Since that time, however, Congress has provided for the building of four
war steamers, and for the establishment of several lines of steamships
engaged in carrying the mails, consisting of seventeen large vessels,
suitable for war purposes, and at all times liable to be taken for the
public service. Of these latter, nine will run between New York and
European ports; five between New York and Chagres; and three between
Panama and San Francisco.
Notwithstanding this increase in our force, it has by no means kept
pace with that of other great commercial nations. The American Almanac
for the present year estimates the steam navy of France at sixty-four
steam vessels of war, besides a reserved force of ten steam frigates
now ready, and six corvettes and six small vessels nearly ready. The
French Government has also resolved to follow the example of England in
establishing lines of steamers, built so as to be easily converted into
ships of war, to be employed in commerce and for carrying mails, but
being at all times subject to the requisition of the Government.
England, also, has added largely to her steam navy, and has increased her
lines of mail steamers, giving evidence that she, at least, considers
this the best and cheapest mode of providing in time of peace for the
exigences of war. On this subject the committee refer to the following
facts, for which they are indebted to the remarks of the Hon. T. Butler
King, of Georgia, made in the House of Representatives, February 19, 1848.
By act of Parliament, 7 William IV, chap. 3, all previous contracts
entered into for the conveyance of the mails by sea were transferred to
the Admiralty. In the year 1839, the idea was conceived that the vast
expenditures required in naval armaments might be made subservient to
the purposes of commerce in time of peace. Accordingly, a contract was
entered into with Mr. Cunard and his associates, for the conveyance of
the mails from Liverpool, via Halifax, to Boston, in five steamers of the
first class, for £85,000, or about $425,000 per annum. It was stipulated
that they should be built under the supervision of the Admiralty, should
be inspected on being received into the service, and certified to be
capable in all respects of being converted into ships of war, and of
carrying ordnance of the heaviest description. Various stipulations were
entered into in this and other contracts of a similar character, which
placed these ships under the control of the Government; thus, in fact,
making them, to all intents and purposes, at the same time a part of the
mercantile and military marine of the country.
In 1846, the Government enlarged the contract with Mr. Cunard and his
associates, by adding four ships to run from Liverpool to New York, and
increased the compensation to £145,000, or about $725,000 per annum.
In the year 1840, a contract was made by the Admiralty with the Royal
Mail Steamship Company, at £240,000 sterling, or $1,200,000 per annum,
for fourteen steamers to carry the mails from Southampton to the West
Indies, the ports of Mexico on the Gulf, and to New Orleans, Mobile,
Savannah, and Charleston. These ships are of the first class, and are to
conform in all respects, concerning size and adaptation to the purposes
of war, to the conditions prescribed in the Cunard contracts. They are
to make twenty-four voyages a year, leaving and returning to Southampton
semi-monthly. Another contract has lately been entered into for two ships
to run between Bermuda and New York. These lines employ twenty-five
steamers of the largest and most efficient description.
In addition to the above, a contract was made, 1st January, 1845, with
the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for a line of
similar steamers, seven in number, from England to the East Indies and
China, at £160,000 sterling, or $800,000 per annum. This line passes
from Southampton, via Gibraltar and Malta, to Alexandria, in Egypt;
thence the route continues overland to Suez, at the head of the Red Sea,
from whence the steamers again start, touching at Aden, Bombay, and at
Point de Galle, in the island of Ceylon, from whence they proceed to
Singapore and Hong Kong. There is a branch line connecting with this,
from Point de Galle to Calcutta, touching at Madras.
A contract was made, 1st July, 1846, for a Pacific line of British
steamers, four in number, running from Valparaiso to Panama, touching at
intermediate ports. This line connects overland, from Panama to Chagres,
with the West India line.
Besides these, there were, in 1848, twelve more lines of Government
steamers running between Great Britain and the continent of Europe;
making a grand aggregate of one hundred and fifteen ocean steamships
fitted for war purposes. Very recently the British Parliament has
resolved to extend the mail steamship system to Australia.
The committee do not propose that our Government shall attempt to emulate
this vast network of steam navigation, with which England has already
encompassed the globe. But it is believed that the recent increase of our
territory, on the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico, forms an additional
reason for a considerable augmentation of our steam navy, whether by a
direct addition to the navy proper, or by the encouragement of lines of
steam packets, to be established by private enterprise under the auspices
of Government. If the latter system should be adopted, as already
commenced, the ships will be built under the inspection of a Government
officer, at the expense of private individuals; they will be commanded by
officers in the navy, and will be at all times available for the public
service. It will be the interest of the contractors to adopt, from time
to time, all the improvements which may be made in machinery and in the
means of propulsion, and the ships will be kept in good repair. Besides
being commanded by a naval officer, each ship will carry a sufficient
number of midshipmen for watch officers, and thus a very considerable
portion of the _personnel_ of the service will be kept actively employed,
with the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge and skill requisite to
the proper management of a steam navy. A corps of trained engineers and
firemen will be attached to each ship, and no doubt these would generally
remain with her when the ship should be called into the public service.
The committee are of opinion that it is highly desirable to have ready
for the public service some very large steamships of the description
proposed by the memorialist. They would have great advantages over small
ships, in their capacity to carry fuel sufficient for long voyages, and
to transport large bodies of troops, and place them rapidly, in a fresh
and vigorous condition, at any point where they might be required.
But it is chiefly for the great and beneficent objects of removing the
free persons of color from this country to the coast of Africa, and of
suppressing the slave trade, that the committee are disposed to recommend
the adoption of the proposed measure. The latter of these has been the
subject of treaties by our Government with other nations, with whom we
have engaged to maintain a large naval force on the coast of Africa to
assist in suppressing the inhuman traffic; while the emigration of the
free blacks has long been an object of great interest in all parts of the
country, and especially in the slaveholding States, where they are looked
upon by the whites with aversion and distrust. The policy of all or most
of these States has been to discourage manumission, except on condition
of the removal of the liberated slave. In no part of the Union do the
free blacks enjoy an equality of political and social privileges; and in
all the States their presence is neither agreeable to the whites, nor is
their condition advantageous to themselves. In some of the slave States
stringent prohibitions have been adopted, and unpleasant controversies
with free States have been thereby engendered. The emigration of this
entire population beyond the limits of our country is the only effectual
mode of curing these evils, and of removing one cause of dangerous
irritation between the different sections of the Union.
The committee believe it is expedient to aid private enterprize in the
colonization of the western coast of Africa, because it is the most
effectual, if not the only mode, of extirpating the slave trade. The
success of this measure will doubtless render the African squadron wholly
unnecessary, thus reimbursing a large portion of the expense attending
it, and at the same time better accomplishing the object for which that
squadron is maintained. It may be expedient for some one of the great
naval powers to keep a small force on the coast of Africa to protect
Liberia, for a limited time, against the slave traders. But the attempt
to suppress this unlawful traffic by blockading the coast has so signally
failed that it will probably soon be abandoned by the great European
powers. While the influence of the Republic of Liberia has been shown in
the complete suppression of the trade along a coast of several hundred
miles in length, the combined squadrons of Europe and America have not
been so successful on other portions of that unhappy shore. In 1847 no
less than 84,356 slaves were exported from Africa to Cuba and Brazil.
In the opinion of the committee, it is highly important to prevent the
further Africanizing of the American continents. An opposite movement,
so far as the free blacks are concerned, is far more in accordance with
the spirit of the age, and with the best interests of all American
Governments. The people of the United States have shown their strong
aversion to the slave trade by the provision in their Constitution
against it, and by their unremitting and vigorous efforts to suppress it.
The success which has already crowned the infancy of Liberia, indicates
the true mode of making those exertions effectual, while it opens up the
way for restoring the free blacks to the native land of their fathers.
The committee beg leave here to present some interesting facts which
satisfy them that the territory of Liberia is eminently adapted to
colored emigrants from the United States; that the establishment of this
line of steamships by the Government will be a powerful stimulus to the
cause of colonization, and will be the means of securing the emigration
of great numbers of free blacks; that the slave trade will be substituted
by a peaceful, legitimate, and valuable commerce, opening new sources
of enterprize and wealth to our people; and that the civilization and
christianization of the whole continent of Africa may be expected
eventually to follow. The facts presented are collected chiefly from the
publications of the Colonization Society.
That portion of the western coast of Africa, called Liberia, embraces a
tract of country included between the parallels of 4° 21´ and 7° north
latitude, extending about 400 miles along the coast. The first settlement
was made by free negroes from the United States, under the auspices of
the American Colonization Society, in the year 1820. The objects of that
society were—
“1st. To rescue the free colored people of the United States from their
political and social disadvantages.
“2d. To place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of free
government, with all the blessings which it brings in its train.
“3d. To spread civilization, sound morals, and true religion throughout
the continent of Africa.
“4th. To arrest and destroy the slave trade.
“5th. To afford slave owners, who wish, or are willing, to liberate their
slaves, an asylum for their reception.”
The funds of this society have seldom exceeded $50,000 per year, but
they have purchased territory, enabled nearly 7,000 free people of
color to emigrate to Liberia, and have made provision, for such of them
as required it, for 6 months after their arrival. In July, 1847, an
independent Government was formed, which has been recognised by France,
England, and Prussia. Upwards of 80,000 of the natives have become
civilized, and enrolled themselves as citizens of the Republic. The
Liberians have a flourishing commerce. They have not only succeeded in
suppressing the slave trade along their own coast, but have also made
treaties with several tribes, numbering over 200,000 souls, for the
discontinuance of the traffic. They have purchased their territory from
time to time of the natives, and are gradually extending themselves up to
the British settlement of Sierra Leone and down to the Gold Coast.
The interior settlements of the purchased tracts usually extend from
about 10 to 30 miles from the coast, and can easily be enlarged by
purchase in that direction at a moderate amount. In no instance have the
natives from whom the land was purchased been required to remove their
residences. The land in the immediate vicinity of the ocean in Liberia
is generally low, and in some places marshy; but there are some elevated
spots. The land generally becomes more elevated towards the interior; and
in some places, within 50 miles of the coast, it is quite mountainous.
It is desirable for the colony to become possessed of this back country
as it is much healthier than the coast, and when the emigration from
the United States becomes extensive, the mountain region will soon be
occupied. The natives are a fine, healthy, athletic race; and even the
emigrants to the lands on the coast have enjoyed better health than
the emigrants to some of our western States in the first few years of
settlement.
Liberia is on the “grain coast,” and is protected from the scorching
winds of the north and east by ranges of mountains. The soil is fertile,
and produces an abundance of Indian corn, yams, plantains, coffee,
arrow-root, indigo, dyewoods, &c.
Every emigrant is welcomed to the colony, and receives a grant of 5 acres
of land, besides which he can purchase as much more as he pleases at 1
dollar per acre.
The climate is not suited to the whites. The president and all the
officials are colored men. There are flourishing towns, churches,
schools, and printing presses. According to the statement of the Rev. R.
R. Gurley, who has recently visited the colony, the people are highly
moral, well conducted, and prosperous, and the value of the exports of
the Republic is at present 500,000 dollars per annum, and is increasing
at the rate of 50 per cent. annually.
Not only will the slave trade be abolished by the establishment of
colonies of free colored people on the coast of Africa, but, as already
intimated, these colonies will be the means, at no distant period, of
disseminating civilization and Christianity throughout the whole of that
continent. Already, a great many of the natives have placed themselves
under the protection of the Liberians, whose knowledge of agriculture and
the arts inspires confidence and respect.
As a missionary enterprise, therefore, the colonization of Africa by the
descendants of Africans on this continent, deserves, and no doubt will
receive, the countenance and support of the whole Christian world.
Two points are now regarded, both in Europe and in this country, as
settled truths, viz: 1st. That the planting and building up of Christian
colonies on the coast of Africa, is the only practical remedy for the
slave trade. 2d. That colored men only can with safety settle upon the
African coast.
That the free negroes of the U. S. will be induced to go in large numbers
to Liberia, if a quick and pleasant passage by steam vessels be provided,
and suitable preparation be made for them on their arrival, by the
Colonization Society, cannot admit of any doubt.
The funds of that society, augmented probably twenty fold, will then be
available, almost exclusively, for the comfortable establishment of the
emigrants in their new homes—the expense of transportation chargeable to
the society being merely nominal.
It is estimated that there are no less than 500,000 free colored people
in the several States, and that the annual increase therein of the black
race is 70,000 per annum. With respect to slaves, who may hereafter be
manumitted, no doubt such manumission will, almost in every instance,
be upon the condition that the parties shall avail themselves of the
opportunity of emigrating to Liberia.
The committee do not propose that the emigrants should be landed in
Liberia and then left to their own resources. Liberia is at present
incapable of receiving and providing shelter, subsistence, and
employment for any great number of emigrants who may land there in a
state of destitution. It has been the practice, heretofore, for the
Colonization Society to provide for the colonists, whom they have sent
out, for 6 months after their arrival, and the cost of such provision has
averaged $30 per head, in addition to the cost of transportation.
A large amount of money will be required to settle the colonists in the
first instance comfortably in their new homes. But there is no doubt,
that if the Government establish the proposed line of steam ships, the
people of the different States, and the State Legislatures, will at once
turn their attention to the subject of colonization, and that large
appropriations will be voted, and liberal collections made, in aid of
that object. The State of Maryland has already appropriated and laid
out $200,000 in this work, and the Legislature of Virginia has lately
appropriated $40,000 per year for the same purpose. But these sums are
insignificant in comparison to what may be expected, if the Government
shall give its high sanction to the colonization of Africa, and provide
the means of transportation by a line of steam ships. In that event, the
whole mass of the people, north and south, who for the most part do not
appreciate the rapid progress, and the high capabilities of Liberia, will
quickly discover the vast importance of colonization, and will urge their
representatives to adopt measures adequate to the exigency of the case
and the magnitude of the enterprise.
There is good reason to anticipate, that important assistance will be
rendered to the emigrants, not only by the missionary societies of
Europe, but also by those governments which have taken an interest in
the suppression of the slave trade, and which are desirous of opening
channels for their commerce, and marts for their manufactures, on the
western coast of Africa.
It is estimated, that by the time when the first two ships are to be
finished and ready for sea, there will be a large body of emigrants
ready to take passage in them, and that for the next two years each ship
will take from 1000 to 1500 passengers on each voyage, or from 8,000
to 12,000 in each of those years. To furnish each family, intending
to devote themselves to agricultural pursuits, with a dwelling-house
suitably furnished, and a piece of land of sufficient extent cleared and
planted, together with the necessary agricultural implements and a stock
of provisions, will, it is calculated, cost the society a sum equal to
$30 or $40 per head for each emigrant, allowing each family to consist
of five persons. The cost of establishing families intending to follow
trading and mechanical pursuits, will be somewhat less than the above
estimate for agricultural families; but the average cost for the whole
of the emigrants may be estimated at $50 per head, including all the
expenses of transportation, making a total of from $400,000 to $600,000
per annum, _for the first two years_.
As the colony increases in population, and the interior of the country
becomes settled, any number of emigrants that may be sent out will be
readily absorbed, as there will be a demand for all kinds of laborers,
mechanics, and domestic servants, and it will be unnecessary to make that
provision for them which is now indispensable.
The Colonization Society will, as heretofore, so regulate the emigration
as to send out only suitable persons, and keep up a due proportion
between the two sexes.
By the compact between the Colonization Society and the Republic, made
when the society ceded its territory to the Republic, ample power is
reserved by the society for the protection of emigrants who may be sent
out by them. Moreover, the authorities invite emigration, and each
emigrant receives a donation of a tract of land.
The establishment of prosperous colonies on the western coast of Africa
will, doubtless, tend greatly, in the course of time, to the augmentation
of the commerce of this country. It appears that British commerce with
Africa amounts to no less than 5 millions sterling, or about $25,000,000
per annum. The belief is now confidently entertained in Great Britain,
that an immense commerce may be opened up with that continent, by
putting an end to the slave trade, and stimulating the natives to the
arts of peace.
The commerce of Africa is certainly capable of great extension, and it is
worthy of observation, that the proposed steamers will open entirely new
sources of trade.
On this subject, the committee beg leave to submit the following
particulars, from which the future resources of this vast undeveloped
region may be, to some extent, anticipated.
Palm oil is produced by the nut of the Palm tree, which grows in the
greatest abundance throughout Western Africa. The demand for it, both
in Europe and America, is daily increasing. The average import into
Liverpool of palm oil for some years past has been at least 15,000 tons,
valued at £400,000 sterling.
Gold is found at various points of the coast. It is obtained by the
natives by washing the sand which is brought down by the rivers from the
mountains. An exploration of the mountains will probably result in the
discovery of large quantities of the metal. It is calculated that England
has received, altogether, $200,000,000 of gold from Africa. Liberia is
adjacent to the “Gold Coast.”
Ivory is procurable at all points, and constitutes an important staple of
commerce.
Coffee, of a quality superior to the best Java or Mocha, is raised in
Liberia, and can be cultivated with great ease to any extent. The coffee
tree bears fruit from thirty to forty years, and yields an average of ten
pounds to the shrub yearly.
Cam wood and other dye woods are found in great quantities in many parts
of the country. About thirty miles east of Bassa Cove is the commencement
of a region of unknown extent, where scarcely any tree is seen except the
cam wood.
Gums of different kinds enter largely into commercial transactions.
Dyes of all shades and hues are abundant, and they have been proved to
resist both acids and light.
Pepper, ginger, arrow-root, indigo, tamarinds, oranges, lemons, limes,
and many other articles which are brought from tropical countries to
this, may be added to the list. Indeed, there is nothing in the fertile
countries of the East or West Indies which may not be produced in equal
excellence in Western Africa.
The soil is amazingly fertile. Two crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and
several other vegetables, can be raised in a year. It yields a larger
crop than the best soil in the United States. One acre of rich land well
tilled, says Governor Ashman, will produce three hundred dollars’ worth
of indigo. Half an acre may be made to grow half a ton of arrow-root.
“An immense market may be opened for the exchange and sale of the
innumerable products of the skill and manufactures of our people. Africa
is estimated to contain one hundred and sixty millions of inhabitants.
Liberia enjoys a favorable geographical position. She is protected by the
great Powers of Europe. The Liberians have constitutions adapted to the
climate, and a similarity of color with the natives. They will penetrate
the interior with safety, and prosecute their trade in the bays and
rivers of the coast, without suffering from the diseases which are so
fatal to the white man. Liberia is the door of Africa, and is destined
to develope the agricultural and commercial resources of that continent,
besides being the means of regenerating her benighted millions.”
The foregoing remarks have related entirely to the advantages of the
proposed measure. It is possible some scruples may be entertained in
regard to its constitutionality. This, the committee think, cannot be
reasonably doubted. The Government has already adopted this mode of
providing a powerful steam navy, at the same time giving incidental but
important encouragement to great commercial interests. In this instance,
the effectual suppression of the slave trade and the withdrawal of the
African squadron by the substitution of a number of mighty steamers
regularly plying to that coast, afford a motive and a justification which
do not exist in regard to any one of the lines already established.
It was the opinion of Mr. Jefferson that the United States had power to
establish colonies for the free blacks on the coast of Africa, and he
desired its exercise. Chief Justice Marshall and Mr Madison concurred in
this opinion. And it is to be observed that the first purchase in the
colony of Liberia was made by the Government of the United States. The
opinions of the leading jurists of our day do not appear to differ from
those of the great founders of the Constitution, who believed not only
that indirect aid to the cause of colonization may be given in accordance
with that instrument, but that the Government has power to establish the
colonies themselves. The proposition of the committee does not, by any
means, go to this extent. It goes no further than recently adopted and
still existing operations of the Government, while it is believed to rest
upon far higher and better grounds of support.
Nor does it involve any merely sectional considerations. The committee
have, therefore, refrained from expressing any views which might be
considered favorable to the peculiar interests either of the North
or of the South. The question of slavery, now the cause of so deep
an excitement, is not, to any extent, either directly or indirectly
involved. The Government of the United States, it is admitted on all
hands, has no power to interfere with that subject within the several
States. Neither does the proposition at all interfere with the question
of emancipation. This is wholly beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal
Government, and belongs exclusively to the people of the several States,
and the individual slaveholders themselves. But the removal of the free
blacks to the coast of Africa is a measure in which all sections, and all
interests, are believed to be equally concerned.
From the foregoing considerations, the committee believe it to be wise
and politic to accept the proposition of the memorialists, with some
modifications which meet with their approval.
Instead of four ships, it is proposed to make the line consist of three,
which shall make monthly trips to Liberia, touching on their return at
certain points in Spain, Portugal, France, and England, thus: one ship
will leave New York every three months, touching at Savannah for freight
and mails; one will leave Baltimore every three months, touching at
Norfolk and Charleston for passengers, freight, and mails; and one will
leave New Orleans every three months, with liberty to touch at any of the
West India islands. They will proceed directly to Liberia, with liberty
to touch at any of the islands or ports of the coast of Africa; thence
to Gibraltar, carrying the Mediterranean mails; thence to Cadiz, or
some other port of Spain, to be designated by the Government; thence to
Lisbon; thence to Brest, or some other port of France, to be designated
as above; and thence to London—bringing mails from all those points to
the United States.
The measure proposed by the committee contains the following stipulations
and provisions, to wit:
Each ship to be of not less than 4,000 tons burden, and the cost of each
not to exceed $900,000. The Government to advance two-thirds of the
cost of construction, from time to time, as the building progresses—the
advance to be made in five per cent. stocks payable at the end of 30
years—such advances to be repaid by the contractors in equal annual
instalments, beginning and ending with the service. The said ships to
be built in accordance with plans to be submitted to and approved by
the Secretary of the Navy, and under the superintendence of an officer
to be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, and to be so constructed
as to be convertible, at the least possible expense, into war steamers
of the first class. The ships to be kept up by alterations, repairs, or
additions, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, so as to be at
all times fully equal to the exigencies of the service, and the faithful
performance of the contract.
Each ship to be commanded by an officer of the Navy, who, with four
passed midshipmen to serve as watch officers, shall be accommodated in
a manner suitable to their rank, without charge to the Government. The
Secretary of the Navy at all times to have the right to place on board
of each ship two guns of heavy calibre, and the men necessary to serve
them, to be accommodated and provided for by the contractors.
The Secretary of the Navy to exercise at all times such control over
said ships as may not be inconsistent with these terms, and to have the
right to take them, or either of them, in case of war, for the exclusive
use and service of the United States, on paying the value thereof; such
value, not exceeding the cost, to be ascertained by appraisers mutually
chosen by the Secretary and the contractors. The Secretary also to have
power to direct, at the expense of the Government, such changes in the
machinery and the internal arrangements of the said ships, or any of
them, as he, at any time, may deem advisable.
The contractors are further required to stipulate to carry, on each
and every voyage they may make, so many emigrants, being free persons
of color, and not exceeding 2,500 for each voyage, as the American
Colonization Society may send; the said society paying in advance $10 for
each emigrant over twelve years of age, and $5 for each one under that
age; these sums to include the transportation of baggage, and the daily
supply of sailors’ rations.
The contractors also to convey, free from cost, such necessary agents as
the Government or the Colonization Society may require, upon each one of
said ships.
Two of said ships to be finished and ready for sea within two and a
half years, and the other within three years, after the execution of the
contract.
The Government to pay forty thousand dollars for each and every trip; and
to exact ample security for the faithful performance of the contract,
besides taking a lien on the ships for the repayment of the sums
advanced. The contract to continue 15 years from the completion of all
the ships.
To assist in forming a correct judgment as to the fairness of this
compensation, the committee present an estimate of the probable cost of
running the said ships.
The cost of the ships at $900,000 will be $2,700,000. Upon this amount,
interest should be calculated at 6 per cent.; for, although the
contractors will pay the Government but five per cent. on the portion
advanced, the balance supplied by the contractors, must be estimated at
the rates in New York and New Orleans, which are above six per cent. Six
per cent. will be a fair average for the whole.
The depreciation of this kind of property is estimated variously,
sometimes as high as ten per cent. per annum on the total cost; but as
these ships will be substantially built for war purposes, it may be
estimated at a lower rate.
Besides this, an allowance must be made for repairs. New boilers will be
required every six years, and the substitution of these for the old ones
not only causes loss of time, but also injury to the ships involving
much expense.
The rate of insurance for this species of property is high. The committee
are informed, that the steamships Ohio and Georgia pay 8½ per cent.
Add the expense of running the ships, viz., fuel, wages of the crew,
provisions, stores, dock charges, harbor dues, agents, pilotage,
light-house dues, &c., which cannot be estimated at less than $50,000 per
voyage, considering that the distance to Liberia, and thence home, via
Madeira, Gibraltar, Cadiz, Lisbon, Brest, and London, is about 12,000
miles; and that each voyage, with the necessary delays in the various
ports, will occupy about three months.
_Statement of expenses._
Interest on $2,700,000, at 6 per cent. $162,000
Depreciation and repairs, 10 per cent. 270,000
Insurance 7 per cent. 189,000
Cost of running the ships, $50,000 per voyage,
12 voyages per annum, 600,000
----------
Total annual expense—$1,221,000
_Profits._
Estimating 1500 passengers for each voyage, and 12
voyages per annum, we have 18,000 passengers. These,
$10 for adults and $5 for children, may average a
profit of $3 each, making $54,000
Government pay 480,000
-------- 534,000
--------
Balance of expense over Government pay and profit
of emigrants $687,000
Thus it will be seen that the contractors will have, of their probable
expenses, more than two-thirds of a million, or $57,250 each voyage, to
be made by commerce and passengers, independent of the Government pay and
the profit from the Colonization Society. It is quite evident that any
further profit, beyond the ordinary rate of interest at 6 per cent., will
be contingent upon the success of the enterprise in stimulating commerce
with the United States at the points regularly touched by these steamers.
The contractors have confidence in this, and the committee do not doubt
that their confidence will be rewarded to a reasonable extent.
It will be observed, that as the Colonization Society now pay for the
transportation of emigrants to Liberia, in sailing vessels, no less
than $30 per head, the proposed arrangement will make the actual cost
eventually less than this, even adding the amount to be paid by the
United States for this service, to the amount to be paid by the said
society, without estimating the receipt from mails, which will probably
be large.
At the commencement of operations, when it is estimated that the first
two ships will carry out 1000 or 1500 emigrants for each voyage, the
cost will be little more than it is at present, while the passage will
be quicker, pleasanter, and healthier, offering great inducements to
emigrants, and placing them upon the shores of Liberia in a sound and
efficient condition.
As the capacity of the colony to receive a large number of emigrants
increases, the ratio of expense will be diminished; and it cannot be
doubted, that eventually, as the number of emigrants will increase, the
cost of transportation will relatively diminish.
The committee do not recommend the acceptance of the proposition of the
memorialists, that they shall be permitted to import the produce of
Liberia into this country free of duty; on the contrary, it is believed
to be better, for obvious reasons, to enter into no such stipulations,
but to confine the remuneration, whatever it may be, to a direct payment
of money.
In the above estimates, the committee have endeavored, as far as
possible, to arrive at just conclusions; while at the same time, in
view of the great public objects to be attained by the establishment of
the proposed line of steamships, they have not deemed it inconsistent
with the just liberality of the Government, that those who have had the
sagacity to conceive, and who have the ability faithfully to carry out
this noble project, should have at least a contingent opportunity of
deriving a handsome profit from their enterprise. Considering the hazards
involved in it, the committee believe their estimates to be fair and just
to both parties.
The committee report a bill accordingly, to which they ask the favorable
consideration of the House.
Reported from the Committee by
FRED. P. STANTON,
_Chairman_.
WASHINGTON, _Aug. 1, 1850_.
APPENDIX, ADDED BY THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
_From the Executive Committee of the American Colonization Society, to
the friends of Colonization throughout the U. States._
The foregoing Report, emanating from the Committee on Naval Affairs of
the House of Representatives, U. S., we commend to your earnest attention.
The subjects embraced therein are worthy the most zealous co-operation
of all who value the institutions of our country, and who are willing to
establish on the coast of Africa the only means which, under the blessing
of God, may bring light out of gloom, order out of disorder, mind out of
instinct, civilization out of barbarism, and heaven-born truth out of
Pagan superstition and cruelty.
This able and comprehensive Report has been read by us with much
pleasure, and we cannot doubt will be highly instrumental in calling out
the assistance of legislators, both National and State.
The cautious and wise manner in which our Society is to derive the most
unexpected and ample assistance, fills us with admiration, and inspires
us with hopes in its entire success.
Without arrogating to ourselves the pretension of adding to said Report,
we only avail ourselves of the occasion of its circulation, to give a few
extracts from the opinions and sentiments of some of our wisest statesmen
and purest patriots.
M. ST. CLAIR CLARKE,
_from Ex. Com. Col. Society_.
WASHINGTON CITY, _August, 1850_.
_Letter from Hon. ELISHA WHITTLESEY, one of the Vice Presidents of the
American Colonization Society._
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
_Comptroller’s Office, July 20th, 1850_.
MATTHEW ST. CLAIR CLARKE, Esq., _Member of the Ex. Com. Col. Society,
Washington_.
MY DEAR SIR: Judge Joseph Bryan and his associates have petitioned
Congress for some aid and assistance to establish and maintain a line of
steamers to the western coast of Africa, and you express “a desire to
have a few remarks from me on the probable benefit resulting therefrom to
our great and good Society, for which we have so long labored.”
You very properly restricted me to a few remarks, and those to the
subject of Colonization.
The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom the memorial was referred in
the House of Representatives, will, without doubt, establish in their
report the importance of the measure, as connected with the increase
of our steam navy, so essential to our defence in time of war, and to
our commerce with Africa. This commerce will be great, beyond the most
extravagant calculation that has been made.
My attention was first drawn to the subject of African colonization at
the annual meeting of the Society in 1823, when listening to the remarks
of the Hon. Robert Goodloe Harper, and others. From that time to the
present, my belief has been, and now is, that an “all-wise Providence”
will accomplish, through the institution of slavery in this country,
the civilization and Christianization of Africa, by the agency of this
Society and its kindred associations. The Republic of Liberia invites
those who wish to give freedom to the human beings they hold in bondage
to do so, without any excitement, commotion, or opposition. An acceptance
of the invitation violates no right, alarms no fear, wounds no feeling,
awakens no jealousy. One party is relieved from a heavy responsibility,
and the other enjoys, in the land of their fathers, civil and religious
freedom. Every intelligent emigrant from this country is a missionary to,
and an instructor of, his brethren. Africa will be Christianized when
parts of Asia will be in heathen darkness.
The plan ranks with the most important of those of the interesting age
in which we live; and, if patronized by Congress, will richly bless two
continents. There has been no colony so prosperous, or that has achieved
so much within the same space of time, as the colony of Liberia; and it
is a remarkable fact, that during a period of thirty years, since the
first expedition was fitted out to Africa, not a life has been lost by
shipwreck.
If this Congress shall co-operate in this great national interest, it
will stand immortalized on the page of history.
Most sincerely yours,
ELISHA WHITTLESEY.
_Letter from the Hon. R. J. WALKER, one of the Vice Presidents of the
American Colonization Society._
WASHINGTON CITY, _July 23, 1850_.
DEAR SIR: I have received your letter of last week, on behalf of the
Executive Committee of the American Colonization Society, addressed to
me as a Vice President of that Society, requesting my views as to Mr.
Bryan’s memorial for the transportation, by steam vessels, of our free
blacks to Liberia.
I have had no time to examine the details of the plan, but as regards
the main question, I most fully concur in the policy of a removal of our
free blacks to Liberia, through the instrumentality of steamships, and
with the aid of the Government of the United States. The plan presented
seems to me free from all constitutional objections. It seems, also,
to be perfectly practicable, and its successful execution would confer
incalculable blessings upon our country. Indeed, I have ever regarded
colonization and abolition as antagonist measures, and that the success
of the first would overthrow the latter, and thus rescue our beloved
country from the danger of disunion.
Very truly your friend,
R. J. WALKER.
M. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, _Ch. Ex. Com. of Am. Col. Soc._
_Extract of a letter from Gov. WRIGHT, of Indiana._
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, _July 3d, 1850_.
_To the Executive Committee of the Col. Society_—
GENTLEMEN: Your circular, containing a copy of Mr. Bryan’s memorial, came
to hand a few days ago, and I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. B’s
plan, or any other good plan, of forming a line, or lines, of transport
to draw off our free people of color, will meet with general favor in our
State.
And some movement of the kind is much needed; for the youth of the free
States are growing up _ignorant_ of the merits of colonization, and
very _sceptical_ as to its final success. This has been produced by the
labors of men in the North who have never investigated the subject, and
who have poured contempt on all your attempts to colonize—they have
been too successful in indoctrinating the youth of the North. A want
of faith in the enterprise, or confidence in its final success, will
soon paralyze all your efforts in the North; for in a few years the
unbelief of our young men will become confirmed, and when they grasp the
reins of government, which they will do in the course of time, African
colonization will be discarded by the North.
The best remedy that can be devised for the above _ignorance_ and
_scepticism_, among Northern men, will be a bold and decided _movement_
on the part of the General Government, which will look directly toward
the separation of the _colored_ race from the _white race_, and the
erection of the colored people into an independent commonwealth.
This movement will confound the opponents of colonization in the North;
it will send a thrill of confidence through the hearts of all our
friends; it will compel the people to think and talk on the subject of
a national colonization enterprise, and it will compel each newspaper
in the land to speak out on the subject. Discussion is all we want, for
then we can make thousands of friends; in short, we can indoctrinate the
nation with our opinions, “and opinion rules the world.”
As to Mr. B’s plan, we are willing that he and his friends shall have the
monopoly of the African trade for a time; but that monopoly should be so
guarded as to make it a source of wealth to Liberia, and not a drain on
the wealth of that Republic, or be calculated to retard her progress. The
East India Company has been a stupendous leech on British India, from
which it has drawn untold millions, and under whose management India must
become impoverished, and made dependent on England.
The interest of colonization requires that we foster Liberia, and not
impoverish her. If Mr. B. is to be remunerated for his trouble, and
doubtless he should be paid, and well paid, let the American people pay
him, and not Africa. So plan the scheme that it will be the interest of
the free man of color to go to Africa, and this can be best accomplished
by making Liberia a wealthy commercial nation.
It would be well to blend the Colonization Society and Mr. B’s company
into one association, if possible, and procure liberal provisions from
the General Government, granting large powers for forming settlements
and trading stations on the coast of Africa; but having no power to hold
real estate in Africa, except a few acres at proper points on the coast
for factories, around which colonies might be established, which, growing
into states, would in due time take their place among the states of the
Liberian confederacy....
I know of no enterprise of this age that we, as Americans, should be so
willing to take hold of as one man, with nerve and energy, as that of the
settlement of Liberia.
As one citizen of this nation, I would be willing to make all my
contributions, and devote the last dollar of my means, to the
colonization of the black man of this country to Liberia.
I have the honor to be,
Yours, most respectfully,
JOS. A. WRIGHT.
Rev. WILLIAM MCLAIN, _Sec. Am. Col. Soc., Washington City_.
_Opinions of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Chief Justice Marshall, and
others, on the colonization of Africa._
The following extracts from an Address to the Legislators and People of
Virginia, published in the thirty-third Annual Report of the American
Colonization Society, Jan. 15, 1850, shows the progress of the question
in Virginia:
The Governor of the Commonwealth having in his late message recommended
the American Colonization Society to the particular attention of the
Legislature, and the subject having been referred to a select committee,
whose report is daily anticipated, it seems a fitting time to remind
the Legislators and citizens of Virginia of some fuels touching the
origin and history of an institution which is attracting the regards
and challenging the admiration of the civilized world. It must endear
this institution to Virginians, and strengthen their confidence in its
wisdom, to be reminded that it comes commended to the present generation
by the authority of our most patriotic and sagacious statesmen, and the
deliberate successive acts of our Legislature.
It claims for its authors Thos. Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence, Edmund Pendleton and George Wythe, high in the first rank
of their country’s orators and jurists—the Mansfield and the Hale of
Virginia—George Mason, perhaps the wisest statesman to whom Virginia has
given birth, and Thomas Ludwell Lee, who was deemed by the Legislature of
1776 their fit associate. These gentlemen were appointed, by the first
Legislature after the Declaration of Independence, to revise the laws of
this State. This committee proposed a comprehensive plan of colonization.
The emancipation feature in this plan was probably the reason of its
failure. The seed of the Colonization Society had nevertheless been sown,
which springing up after the lapse of a few years, and pruned of its
excrescences, began to grow and bear fruit. Its first fruit was the plan
of Dr. Thornton, (a Virginian,) in 1787, to colonize the _free_ colored
people upon _the coast of Africa_. This being the suggestion of a private
individual had no visible results. A few years afterward the Colony of
Sierra Leone, consisting of slaves who had taken refuge in the British
army during the Revolutionary war, was established.
On the 31st December, 1800, the House of Delegates of Virginia passed
almost unanimously the following resolution:
“_Resolved_, That the Governor be requested to correspond with the
President of the United States on the subject of purchasing lands without
the limits of this State, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, or
dangerous to the peace of Society, may be removed.”
* * * * *
In compliance with this resolution, Mr. MONROE addressed a letter to
Mr. Jefferson, dated Richmond, 15th June, 1801, in which he says: “We
perceive an existing evil which commenced under our colonial system,
with which we are not properly chargeable, and we acknowledge the
extreme difficulty of remedying it. At this point the mind rests with
suspense, and surveys with anxiety obstacles which become more serous
as we approach them. To lead to a sound decision, and make the result
a happy one, it is necessary that the field of practicable expedients
be opened on the widest possible scale; under this view of the subject,
I shall beg leave to be advised whether a tract of land in the western
territory of the United States can be procured for this purpose, in what
quarter, and on what terms? You perceive that I invite your attention to
a subject of great importance, one which in a peculiar degree involves
the future peace and tranquility and happiness of the good people of this
commonwealth.”
* * * * *
On the 8th of November, 1801, Mr. JEFFERSON replied in a long letter,
in the course of which he goes on to discuss the practicability and
expediency of procuring territory on our western or southern frontier,
and concludes with asking, would we be willing to have such a colony
in contact with us? It is impossible, he adds, not to look forward to
distant times, when our rapid multiplication will expand beyond those
limits, and cover the whole northern if not the whole southern continent
with a people speaking the same language and governed with the same laws.
Nor can we contemplate with satisfaction either blot or mixture on that
surface.
He then gives the preference to the West Indies, and among these islands
to St. Domingo, in consideration of their being already inhabited by a
people of their own race and color, and having a climate congenial with
their constitution, and being insulated from other descriptions of men.
Africa, he concludes, would offer a last and undoubted resort, if all
others more desirable should fail us.
* * * * *
On the 16th June, 1802, the House of Delegates of Virginia passed the
following resolutions, which were agreed to by the Senate on the 23d:
“_Resolved_, That the Governor be requested to correspond with the
President of the United States for the purpose of obtaining a place
without the limits of the same, to which free negroes or mulattoes, and
such negroes or mulattoes may be emancipated, may be sent or choose
to remove as a place of asylum, and that it is not the wish of the
Legislature to obtain the sovereignty of such place.”
* * * * *
In December, 1804, Mr. JEFFERSON addressed a letter to Governor Page
of Virginia, in which he says, the island of St. Domingo, our nearest
and most convenient resource, is too unsettled to be looked to for any
permanent arrangements. He then suggests whether the inhabitants of our
late purchase beyond the Mississippi, and the National Legislature,
would consent that a portion of that country should be set apart for
the persons contemplated. And not yet seeming to despair of Africa, he
adds, my last information as to _Sierra Leone_ is that the company was
proposing to deliver up their colony to the Government. Should this take
place it might furnish an opportunity for an incorporation of ours into
it. This led to the following resolution of the House of Delegates on the
3d of December, 1804:
“_Resolved_, That the Senators of this State in the Congress of the
United States be instructed, and the Representatives be requested, to
exert their best efforts for the purpose of obtaining from the General
Government a competent portion of territory in the country of Louisiana,
to be appropriated to the residence of such people of color as have been
or may be emancipated in Virginia, or may hereafter become dangerous to
the public safety. _Provided_, That no contract or arrangement respecting
such territory shall be obligatory on this Commonwealth, until ratified
by the Legislature.”
This resolution was sent by Governor Page to the Representatives of
Virginia.
Our difficulties with France and England now supervened, and arrested
at this point these interesting proceedings. But there was at least one
eminent politician whose mind was not diverted from the contemplation of
this subject by the approaching war with England. In January, 1811, Mr.
Jefferson said, “I have long ago made up my mind upon this subject, and
have no hesitation in saying I have ever thought it the most desirable
measure for gradually drawing off this part of our population. Going
from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might be the means
of transporting them among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus
carry back to the country of their origin the seed of civilization, which
might render their sojourning here a blessing in the end to that country.
NOTHING IS MORE TO BE WISHED THAN THAT THE UNITED STATES WOULD THEMSELVES
UNDERTAKE TO MAKE SUCH AN ESTABLISHMENT ON THE COAST OF AFRICA. Exclusive
of motives of humanity, the commercial advantages to be derived from it
might defray all its expenses.”
* * * * *
A treaty of peace having been concluded with Great Britain in 1815,
the public mind reverted with increased interest to the scheme of
colonization.
In the mean time Dr. Finley, Bishop Meade, Frank Key, &c., had been
anxiously pondering the subject of African colonization. These, with
other persons of like minds, assembled in the city of Washington on the
21st of December of the same year, and recommended the formation of the
American Colonization Society.
Mr. CLAY was chairman of the meeting, and stirring addresses were made by
him, and by Messrs. CALDWELL and RANDOLPH, of Roanoke. A committee was
appointed to present a memorial to Congress, asking their co-operation;
John Randolph was on that committee. The society held its first meeting
on the 17th of January, 1817, and elected its officers. Hon. BUSHROD
WASHINGTON was made president, and among the thirteen vice-presidents
were CLAY, CRAWFORD, JACKSON, and JOHN TAYLOR, of Virginia. The committee
of the society prepared a memorial to Congress, which was referred to
a committee of the House of Representatives, who made an able report,
concluding with resolutions recommending negotiations with the great
states of Europe for the abolition of the slave trade, and an application
to Great Britain to receive into the colony of Sierra Leone such of the
free people of color of the United States as should be carried thither.
And should this proposition not be accepted, then to obtain from Great
Britain a stipulation, guaranteeing a permanent neutrality to any colony
established under the auspices of the United States upon the coast of
Africa.
On the 3d of March, 1819, Congress passed an act, authorizing the
President of the United States to make such arrangements as he might deem
expedient, for the safe keeping and removal out of the United States of
such persons of color as might be brought into any of the States under
the act abolishing the slave trade, and to appoint agents upon the coast
of Africa for receiving such persons. Agents were accordingly appointed
by the Government, who, acting in co-operation with the agents of the
society, purchased territory, and established the colony. This purchase
was made in 1822, by an agent of the society, and Captain Stockton,
of the navy, on the part of the Government of the United States. From
that moment the course of the colony has been steadily onward, “through
evil and through good report,” until it has taken its place among the
independent nations of the earth, under the denomination of the “Republic
of Liberia.”
To return from this digression to Virginia. An auxiliary society was
formed in Richmond in November, 1823, at the head of which was placed
the Hon. JOHN MARSHALL, (clarum et venerabile nomen,) who continued to
preside over its deliberations, and to guide it by his wise counsels,
to the day of his lamented death. He was succeeded by the Hon. JOHN
TYLER, late President of the United States. The Richmond society, by
its able reports, its energetic agencies, and its stirring appeals, was
instrumental in diffusing information and procuring contributions, which
rendered very valuable aid in a time of need to the Parent Society at
Washington. It also obtained from the Legislature, in 1825 and 1828,
donations in clothing and implements of agriculture, which supplied
very opportunely pressing wants of the infant colony in Africa. The
Colonization Society, at this period, had a task of great delicacy to
perform. The questions growing out of the admission of Missouri into
the Union had fearfully agitated the whole country, and threatened to
overwhelm this benevolent enterprise in ruin; but by following the chart
of her original principles with the strictest fidelity, and steering
between the rock of indifferentism on the one hand, and the whirlpool
of abolitionism on the other, she was enabled, with the blessing of
Heaven, to weather the storm. At this critical juncture were heard above
the roaring of the tempest of fanaticism the voices of her gallant
commanders, Madison and Marshall, cheering her onward in her noble
mission.
* * * * *
Mr. MADISON, in a letter dated Jan. 16, 1832, said, “the Society had
always my best wishes, although with hopes of success less sanguine than
those entertained by others found to be better judges, and I feel the
greatest pleasure at the progress already made by the Society, and the
encouragement to encounter remaining difficulties afforded by the greater
and earlier difficulties already overcome. I cherish the hope that the
time will come when the dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our
country, and filled so many with despair, will be gradually removed, and
by means consistent with justice, peace, and the general satisfaction;
thus giving to our country the full enjoyment of the blessings of
liberty, and to the world the full benefit of its great example.”
* * * * *
Judge MARSHALL, in the same year, said, the removal of our colored
population is a common object, by no means confined to the slave States,
although they are more immediately interested in it. The whole Union,
he adds, would be strengthened by it, and relieved from a danger whose
extent can be scarcely estimated. Here we have the authority of the
“father of the Constitution,” and its greatest expounder, both of whom
thought the object contemplated by the Colonization Society so important
that it demanded _the interposition of the General Government, and both
regarded the public lands as a proper resource of effecting it_.
* * * * *
General Brodnax, in the session of 1832 and 1833, reported a bill
devising ways and means for deporting free negroes, and such as may
become free in Virginia, to Liberia. The bill proposed an appropriation
of $35,000 for the present year, and $90,000 for the next, to be applied
to this purpose. It passed the House of Delegates, but was lost in the
Senate. Notwithstanding this discouragement, the subject was again
moved, and on the 4th of March, 1833, an act passed the Legislature,
appropriating $18,000, and constituting the Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, and 1st and 2d Auditors, a board of commissioners for carrying
its provisions into effect. This act, as was predicted at the time,
was rendered utterly inefficient by the restrictions with which it was
encumbered.
In 1837, the Board of Managers of the Virginia Society, seconded by
petitions from several auxiliary societies, presented a memorial to the
Legislature, asking for an act of incorporation, and an amendment of the
act of 1833, so as to make its provisions available; and on the 13th of
February, of the same year, the report of the select committee, declaring
these petitions reasonable, was agreed to by the House of Delegates, and
a bill ordered. For want of time, or some other cause not known, this
bill did not become a law. And now, in 1850, Mr. Dorman has reported a
bill to the same end, founded upon the recommendation in the message of
Governor Floyd.
Such is believed to be a just account of the _history of the idea of
colonizing our people of color_, from its first conception until its
full development in the American Colonization Society. It is not within
the scope of this address to write the history of that Society—its
unparalleled success is not now questioned by any unprejudiced man. Mr.
Gurley, who was commissioned by the General Government to visit Liberia
and investigate its condition, is just returned, and is now preparing
an elaborate report, illustrating the commercial and other interests of
that young Republic; his testimony to its present prosperity and the
greatness of its future prospects is most decisive and encouraging.
Neither is it a part of my plan to cite the authority or acts of the
several State Legislatures, fourteen of which have given the Society
their approbation; and one, Maryland, has made it a part of her permanent
policy, by establishing and cherishing with annual appropriations the
colony of Maryland in Liberia. Nor will I now insist upon the benefits,
social, political, and moral, that are conferred by this Society upon
the white race in America, and upon the black race upon both continents.
Let it suffice to say that we have in our midst, in the persons of our
free colored people, _an evil of enormous magnitude_. That this evil has
increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished, every body admits.
When Mr. Jefferson proposed his plan of colonization, there were only
about 10,000 free negroes in Virginia—now the number is estimated at
60,000, and is increasing.
JOINT RESOLUTION for abolishing the traffic in slaves, and for the
colonization of the free people of color of the United States—Proposed
February 11, 1817, by a committee of the House of Representatives.
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled._ That the President be, and he
is hereby, authorized to consult and negotiate with all the Governments
where ministers of the United States are or shall be accredited, on the
means of effecting an entire and immediate abolition of the traffic in
slaves. And, also, to enter into a convention with the Government of
Great Britain for receiving into the colony of Sierra Leone such of the
free people of color of the United States as, with their own consent,
shall be carried thither; stipulating such terms as shall be most
beneficial to the colonists, while it promotes the peaceful interests of
Great Britain and the United States. And should this proposition not be
accepted, then to obtain from Great Britain and the other maritime powers
a stipulation, or a formal declaration to the same effect, guarantying a
permanent neutrality for any colony of free people of color which, at the
expense and under the auspices of the United States, shall be established
on the African coast.
_Resolved_, That adequate provision shall hereafter be made to defray
any necessary expenses which may be incurred in carrying the preceding
resolution into effect.
NOTE.—No proceeding took place in the House on these resolutions at this
session.
The committee consisted of Mr. Pickering, Mr. Comstock, Mr. Condict, Mr.
Tucker, Mr. Taggart, Mr. Cilley, and Mr. Hooks, on colonizing the free
people of color of the United States.
NINETEENTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.
_February 18, 1825._
The following resolution was submitted _to the Senate of the United
States_, by Mr. RUFUS KING, of New York:
_Resolved_, That, as soon as the portion of the existing funded debt of
the United States, for the payment of which the public land of the United
States is pledged, shall have been paid off, then, and thenceforth, the
whole of the public land of the United States, with the net proceeds
of all future sales thereof, shall constitute or form a fund, which is
hereby appropriated; and the faith of the United States is pledged that
the said fund shall be inviolably applied to aid the emancipation of such
slaves, within any of the United States, and aid the removal of such
slaves, and the removal of such free people of color, in any of the said
States, _as, by the laws of the States_, respectively, may be allowed to
be emancipated or removed, to any territory or country without the limits
of the United States of America.
_Extract of a letter from the Hon. James Madison to the secretary of the
society, the Rev. R. R. Gurley._
MONTPELIER, _December 29, 1831_.
DEAR SIR: I received in due time your letter of the 21st ultimo, and
with due sensibility to the subject of it. Such, however, has been the
effect of a painful rheumatism on my general condition, as well as in
disqualifying my fingers for the use of the pen, that I could not do
justice “to the principles and measures of the Colonization Society,
in all the great and various relations they sustain to our own country
and to Africa,” if my views of them could have the value which your
partiality supposes. I may observe, in brief, that the society had always
my good wishes, though with hopes of its success less sanguine than were
entertained by others, found to have been the better judges; and that I
feel the greatest pleasure at the progress already made by the society,
and the encouragement to encounter remaining difficulties afforded
by the earlier and greater ones already overcome. Many circumstances
at the present moment seem to concur in brightening the prospects of
the society, and cherishing the hope that the time will come when the
dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our country, and filled so
many with despair, will be gradually removed, and by means consistent
with justice, peace, and the general satisfaction; thus giving to our
country the full enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, and to the world
the full benefit of its great example. I never considered the main
difficulty of the great work as lying in the deficiency of emancipation,
but in an inadequacy of asylums for such a growing mass of population,
and in the great expense of removing it to its new home. The spirit of
private manumissions, as the laws may permit and the exiles may consent,
is increasing, and will increase; and there are sufficient indications
that the public authorities in slaveholding States are looking forward to
interpositions in different forms, that must have a powerful effect. With
respect to the new abode for the emigrants, all agree that the choice
made by the society is rendered peculiarly appropriate by considerations
which need not be repeated; and, if other situations should not be found
eligible receptacles for a portion of them, the prospects in Africa seem
to be expanding in a highly encouraging degree.
In contemplating the pecuniary resources needed for the removal of such
a number to so great a distance, my thoughts and hopes have been long
turned to the rich fund presented in the western lands of our nation,
which will soon entirely cease to be under a pledge for another object.
The great one in question is truly of a national character, and it is
known that distinguished patriots, not dwelling in slaveholding States,
have viewed the object in that light, and would be willing to let the
national domain he a resource in effecting it.
Should it be remarked that the States, though all may be interested in
relieving our country from the colored population, are not all equally
so, it is but fair to recollect that the sections most to be benefited
are those whose cessions created the fund to be disposed of.
_Extract of a letter from the Hon. John Marshall, Chief Justice of the
United Hates, to the Rev. R. R. Gurley, dated_
RICHMOND, _December 14, 1831_.
The great object of the society, I presume, is to obtain pecuniary aids.
Application will undoubtedly be made, I hope successfully, to the several
State legislatures, by the societies formed within them, respectively.
It is extremely desirable that they should pass permanent laws on the
subject; and the excitement produced by the late insurrection makes this
a favorable moment for the friends of the colony to press for such acts.
It would be also desirable, if such a direction could be given to State
legislation, as might have some tendency to incline the people of color
to migrate. This, however, is a subject of much delicacy. Whatever may be
the success of our endeavors to obtain acts for permanent aids, I have
no doubt that our applications for immediate contributions will receive
attention. It is possible, though not probable, that more people of color
may be disposed to migrate, than can be provided for with the funds the
society may be enabled to command. Under this impression I suggested,
some years past, to one or two of the board of managers, to allow a small
additional bounty in lands to those who would pay their own passage, in
whole or in part. The suggestion, however, was not approved.
It is undoubtedly of great importance to retain the countenance and
protection of the General Government. Some of our cruisers stationed
on the coast of Africa would, at the same time, interrupt the slave
trade—a horrid traffic, detested by all good men—and would protect
the vessels and commerce of the colony from pirates who infest those
seas. The power of the Government to afford this aid is not, I believe,
contested. I regret that its power to grant pecuniary aid is not equally
free from question. On this subject I have always thought, and still
think, that the proposition made by Mr. King, in the Senate, is the most
unexceptionable, and the most effective, that can be devised.
The fund would probably operate as rapidly as would be desirable, when
we take into view the other resources which might come in aid of it; and
its application would be, perhaps, less exposed to those constitutional
objections which are made in the South, than the application of money
drawn from the treasury and raised by taxes. The lands are the properly
of the United Slates, and have heretofore been disposed of by the
Government, under the idea of absolute ownership.
_Acts and Resolutions of State Legislatures in relation to Colonization._
STATE OF VERMONT.
_Vermont Legislature, Nov. 12, 1827._
On the petition of the Vermont Colonization Society, the committee
reported a resolution, instructing their Senators and Members in Congress
to use their exertions in procuring the passage of a law in aid of the
objects of the society; which was read and adopted.
STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
_Resolutions, 1831._
1. _Resolved_, That the Legislature of Massachusetts view with great
interest the efforts made by the American Colonization Society, in
establishing an asylum on the coast of Africa for the free people of
color of the United States; and that, in the opinion of this Legislature,
it is a subject eminently deserving the attention and aid of Congress, so
far as shall be consistent with the powers of Congress, the rights of
the several States of the Union, and the rights of the individuals who
are the objects of those efforts.
2. _Resolved_, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress be, and
they are hereby, requested, in the name of the State of Massachusetts,
to solicit the assistance of the General Government to aid the laudable
designs of that society, in such manner as Congress, in its wisdom, may
deem expedient, and is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution
of the United States.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
_Resolutions of the Senate, April 13, 1832._
Mr. TALLMADGE, from the select committee to which was referred the
memorials of the State Colonization Society, and of William A. Duer and
others, of the city of New York, reported the following resolutions,
which were unanimously adopted:
_Resolved_, That the Senate applaud the motives, and approve the objects,
of the American Colonization Society, and have full confidence in the
fidelity, discretion, and ability, of its executive officers.
_Resolved_, That, as the said society proposes to remove or mitigate
existing evils, and prevent or diminish apprehended dangers, it deserves
the confidence and encouragement of the American people.
_Resolved_, That the Senate commend the said society to the consideration
and patronage of the citizens of this State.
_Resolved_, That these resolutions be transmitted to the honorable the
Assembly, for their consideration.
The resolutions passed the House of Assembly with hardly a dissenting
voice.
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
_Resolution, 1829._
_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met_, That, in the
opinion of this General Assembly, the American Colonization Society
eminently deserves the support of the National Government; and that
our Senators be directed, and that the Representatives in Congress be
requested, to aid the same by all proper and constitutional means.
STATE OF DELAWARE.
_Resolutions._
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State
of Delaware in General Assembly met_, That it is requisite for our
prosperity, and, what is of more important concern, essential to our
safety, that measures should be taken for the removal from this country
of the free negroes and free mulattoes.
_Resolved_, That this General Assembly approve the objects of the
American Colonization Society, and consider that these objects deserve
public support, and that they ought to be fostered and encouraged by the
National Government, and with the national funds.
_Resolved_, That the Senators of this State in Congress, with the
Representative from this State, be requested to approve and promote, in
the councils of the nation, measures for removing from this country to
Africa the free colored population who may be willing to emigrate.
_Resolved_, That the Speakers of the two Houses be requested officially
to sign these resolutions, and forward a copy to each of our Senators,
and a copy to our Representative in Congress.
STATE OF MARYLAND.
_Resolution of the House of Delegates, 1818._
BY THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, _Jan. 26, 1818_.
_Resolved, unanimously_, That the Governor be requested to communicate to
the President of the United State and to our Senators and Representatives
in Congress, the opinion of this General Assembly, that a wise and
provident policy suggests the expediency, on the part of our National
Government, of procuring, through negotiation, by cession or purchase, a
tract of country, on the western coast of Africa, for the colonization of
the free people of color of the United States.
STATE OF VIRGINIA.
_Preamble and resolution, 1816._
Whereas the General Assembly of Virginia have repeatedly sought to
obtain an asylum, beyond the limits of the United States, for such
persons of color as had been, or might be, emancipated under the laws
of this Commonwealth, but have hitherto found all their efforts for
the accomplishment of this desirable purpose frustrated, either by the
disturbed state of other nations, or domestic causes equally unpropitious
in its success, they do now avail themselves of a period when peace has
healed the wounds of humanity, and the principal nations of Europe have
concurred with the Government of the United States in abolishing the
African slave trade, (a traffic which this Commonwealth, both before
and since the Revolution, zealously sought to terminate,) to renew this
effort; and do, therefore,
_Resolve_, That the Executive be requested to correspond with the
President of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a territory
on the coast of Africa, or at some other place not within any of the
States or Territorial Governments of the United States, to serve as
an asylum for such persons of color as are now free, and may desire
the same, and for those who may hereafter be emancipated within this
Commonwealth; and that the Senators and Representatives of this State
in the Congress of the United States, be requested to exert their best
efforts to aid the President of the United States in the attainment of
the above object: _Provided_, That no contract or arrangement respecting
such territory shall be obligatory on this Commonwealth until ratified by
the legislature.
Passed by the House of Delegates, December 15th; by the Senate, with
an amendment, December 20th; concurred in by the House of Delegates,
December 21, 1816.
STATE OF LOUISIANA.
_1834._
A resolution, recently presented to this body, proposing the appointment
of a joint committee to take into consideration the expediency of
promoting the emigration of free people of color from that State to
Liberia, was adopted by a vote of twenty-two against eleven.
STATE OF TENNESSEE.
_Report and resolution, 1818._
Your committee are of opinion that such parts of said memorials and
petitions as ask this General Assembly to aid the Federal Government in
devising and executing a plan for colonizing, in some distant country,
the free people of color in the United States, are reasonable; and,
for the purpose of effecting the object which they have in view, the
committee have draughted a resolution, which accompanies this report, the
adoption of which they would recommend.
Mr. Willis, from the same committee, submitted the following resolution,
which was read and adopted:
_Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee_, That the
Senators in Congress from this State be, and they are hereby, instructed,
and that the Representatives be, and they are hereby, requested, to
give to the Government of the United States any aid in their power in
devising and carrying into effect a plan which may have for its object
the colonizing, in some distant country, the free people of color who are
within the limits of the United States, or within the limits of any of
their Territories.
STATE OF KENTUCKY.
_Report and resolutions, 1827._
The committee to whom was referred the memorial of the American
Colonization Society, have had that subject under consideration, and now
report;
That, upon due consideration of the said memorial, and from all other
information which your committee has obtained touching that subject,
they are fully satisfied that no jealousies ought to exist, on the part
of this or any other slaveholding State, respecting the objects of this
society, or the effects of its labor.
Your committee are further well assured that the benevolent and humane
purposes of the society, and the political effects of those purposes, are
worthy the highest consideration of all philanthropists and statesmen in
the Union, whether they be citizens of slaveholding or non-slaveholding
States. It is believed by your committee that the memorial itself is
well calculated to present the subject in a proper point of view, and to
interest the public mind in the laudable objects of that society. They,
therefore, refer to the same as a part of this report. Your committee
recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:
_Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky_, That
they view, with deep and friendly interest, the exertions of the American
Colonization Society in establishing an asylum on the coast of Africa
for the free people of color of the United States; and that the Senators
and Representatives in Congress from this State be, and they are hereby,
requested to use their efforts to facilitate the removal of such free
persons of color as may desire to emigrate from the United States to the
colony in Africa, and to ensure to them the protection and patronage of
the General Government, so far as shall be deemed consistent with the
safety and interest of the United States.
_Resolved_, That the Governor he requested to transmit a copy of the
foregoing resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in
Congress.
_Joint resolutions._
During the year 1828 the following joint resolutions passed the Senate of
Kentucky, with only three dissenting voices:
_Resolved, &c_, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress be
requested to use their best endeavors to procure an appropriation of
money of Congress to aid, so far as is consistent with the [Constitution
of the] United States, in colonizing the free people of color of the
United States in Africa, under the direction of the President of the
United States.
2. That the Governor of this State be requested to transmit a copy of
the foregoing resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in
Congress, and to the Governors of the several States.
STATE OF INDIANA.
_Preamble and joint resolutions, 1829._
Whereas the members of the present General Assembly of the State of
Indiana view with unqualified approbation the continued exertions of the
American Colonization Society to ameliorate the condition of the colored
population of our country, and believing that the cause of humanity
and the true interest of the United States require the removal of this
people from amongst us more speedily than the ability of the Colonization
Society will permit:
_Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana_, That
our Senators and Representatives in Congress be, and they are hereby,
requested, in the name of the State of Indiana, to solicit the assistance
of the General Government to aid the laudable designs of the Colonization
Society, in such manner as Congress in its wisdom may deem expedient.
_Resolved_, That the Governor be, and he is hereby, requested to forward
a copy of the foregoing resolution to our Senators and Representatives in
Congress.
STATE OF ILLINOIS.
_Joint resolutions of the Illinois Legislature to transport the free
persons of color from the United States to Africa; passed session of
1847-’8._
Whereas efforts have been made to create the impression that the citizens
of the free States desire to interfere with the institution of slavery in
the States where it exists by law; and whereas such efforts are likely
to create discord and jealousy among the several States, and weaken
the bonds of our glorious Union; and whereas we desire most earnestly
to undeceive our brethren of the Southern States on the subject, and
manifest our fraternal regard for them, and to contribute all in our
power to assist in relieving them of the burden of slavery, in the manner
best suited to their feelings and interests; therefore,
_Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring
herein_, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our
Representatives requested, to employ all constitutional means in their
power to procure ample resources by the Federal Government to remove all
such free persons of color as can be induced to emigrate to Liberia, or
elsewhere in Africa, and to provide for their necessary wants.
_Resolved_, That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of
the above preamble and resolution to each of our Senators and
Representatives, with a request that the subject be brought before
Congress.
_Note._—New Jersey, Connecticut, and several other States have adopted
resolutions similar to the above; and in most of them the resolutions
have been repeated from time to time, down to a recent date.
_Extracts from the report of the Committee of the House of
Representatives on Commerce on the subject of African Colonization. Feb.
28, 1843._
The necessity of making some provision for the colonization and
settlement of the free colored population of this country began,
at an early period, to attract the attention of the public. During
the administration of Mr. Jefferson, the State of Virginia made an
application to the General Government for aid in this purpose. That State
desired to originate some measure which should provide an asylum for this
population, either on the coast of Africa, or in some other appropriate
region beyond the limits of the Union. Resolutions were more than once
adopted by its Legislature, expressive of the interest which the State
felt in the subject, and of the importance attached to it; and at length
the Governor was directed, in 1816, when Dr. Finley was employed at
Washington in his memorable enterprise of establishing the American
Colonization Society, to correspond with the President for the promotion
of that design. The assistance of the Senators and Representatives of the
State was invoked to the same end.
The Society was founded in December, 1816. It comprised many eminent
individuals from the several States; was characterized by its freedom
from sectional distinctions; enlisted the aid of men from every quarter
of the Union; and was generally received and applauded as a beneficent
and highly national undertaking.
Its design, as set forth in an article of its constitution, was to act
“in co-operation with the General Government and such of the States as
might adopt regulations on the subject.” Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee,
and Georgia were the first to respond to the invitation invoking their
assistance. They passed resolutions recommending the subject to the
country, and generally announced their accordance in the opinion,
expressed by Mr. Jefferson, that it was desirable the United States
should undertake the colonization of the free people of color on the
coast of Africa....
About half the States of the Union have expressed their decided
approbation of the scheme of African colonization, and the citizens and
Legislature of Maryland have proceeded to plant a flourishing colony at
Cape Palmas. Through the efforts and under the influence of the American
Colonization Society, nearly twenty eligible tracts of country have
been purchased between Cape Mount and Cape Palmas, and on many of them
promising settlements established. The enterprise is demonstrated to be
practicable, and capable of indefinite extension. Though the colonies
embrace but a few thousand emigrants, their salutary influence is widely
felt, and many thousands of the native population have sought their
protection, submitted to their laws, and enjoy the advantages of their
instruction. Able and disinterested citizens of the United States have,
from time to time, devoted themselves to their interests, and, under the
authority of the colonization societies, have assisted them to frame
their social institutions, their government and laws. They exhibit to the
eyes of a barbarous people the model of a free, temperate, industrious,
civilized, and Christian society. They have legislative assemblies,
courts of justice, schools, and churches. Though having enjoyed in this
country but very imperfect means of improvement, and left it with small
means, they have done much for themselves, and much for civilization and
Christianity—have enacted laws for the extirpation of the slave trade,
and, wherever their rightful authority exists, executed them with vigor;
they have successfully engaged in agriculture and in lawful commerce;
they have opened the way for many Christian missionaries, of different
communions, to the heathen tribes, and afforded them protection and
facilities in their work. In fine, Liberia and the Maryland settlement
at Cape Palmas present themselves to this country and the world, not
only as eligible asylums for our free colored population, and for such
as may become free, but as republican and Christian States, informed
by the elements of indefinite growth and improvement, capable, duly
countenanced, and guarded against the interference of unfriendly powers,
of rising to honor and greatness, and of diffusing the influence of its
laws and example over wide districts of Africa.
The annual imports from western Africa into this country probably exceed
a million of dollars, and into Great Britain are about four millions.
The palm oil trade, now becoming of great value, had hardly an existence
twelve years ago, is rapidly increasing, and may be increased to an
almost indefinite extent. Hitherto, the slave trade has been at war with
all improvement and every kind of innocent commerce. Its cessation will
be succeeded by the cultivation of the soil, and the growth of trade in
all the varied and valuable productions of the African climate. It is of
infinite importance that the natives of Africa should be convinced that
agricultural labor, and the substitution of lawful trade for the infamous
commerce in human beings, will be for their advantage; and that, in their
intercourse with them, our own merchants should possess every privilege
granted to those of England, or any other nation.
The establishment of a commercial agency, (as recommended by Dr. Hall,)
to reside in Liberia, and occasionally to visit, in a Government vessel,
various points on the coast, to ascertain the best sites for mercantile
establishments, to form conventions and treaties of commerce, and for the
suppression of the slave trade with the principal chiefs, to take charge
of the stores and other property sent out for our ships of war, to guard
the rights and interests of our seamen, and secure for American vessels
a free and unrestrained right of trade at all important stations, the
committee would recommend as an object urgently demanded by interest and
humanity.
The time has arrived, in the opinion of the committee, when this subject
of African colonization has become sufficiently important to attract
the attention of the people, in its connexion with the question of the
political relations which these colonies are to hold with our Government.
_Speech of the Hon. Henry Clay._
_At the 31st Anniversary_ of the American Colonization Society, held at
Washington, January 18, 1848, the Hon. HENRY CLAY, in the course of his
speech, made the following remarks:
“It is now nearly thirty years since Mr. Finley, Mr. Caldwell, and some
other gentlemen, met by agreement with a view to form a Colonization
Society. I was one of that number. We did not intend to do more or less
than establish on the shores of Africa a colony, to which free colored
persons with their own voluntary consent might go. There was to be no
constraint, no coercion, no compulsory process to which those who went
must submit: all was to be perfectly voluntary and unconstrained in any
manner or degree. Far, very far, was it from our purpose to interfere
with the slaves, or to shake or affect the title by which they are held
in the least degree whatever. We saw and were fully aware of the fact
that the free white race and the colored race never could live together
on terms of equality. We did not stop to ask whether this was right or
wrong: we looked at the fact, and on that fact we founded our operations.
I know, indeed, that there are men, many of them of high respectability,
who hold that all this is prejudice; that it should be expelled from our
minds, and that we ought to recognise in men, though of different color
from ourselves, members of our common race, entitled in all respects
to equal privileges with ourselves. This may be so according to their
view of the matter; but we went on the broad and incontestible fact,
that the two races could not, on equal terms, live in the same community
harmoniously together. And we thought that the people of color should
be voluntarily removed, if practicable, to their native country, or to
the country at least of their ancestors: there they might enjoy all
those blessings of freedom and equality of condition which to them were
impossible here. Our object, let me repeat it, was limited to the free;
we never thought of touching in any manner the title to slave property.
We hoped to be able to demonstrate the practicability of colonizing them;
and when that should have been demonstrated, those who owned slaves might
avail themselves of it or not—might send liberated slaves to Africa or
not, precisely as they pleased. All our purpose was to establish, if we
could, a colony of free colored men, and thus to demonstrate to the
world that colonization was practicable.
“It has been truly stated, that from the day of its formation to the
present hour, the Society has been surrounded with difficulties. It has
had to stand the fire of batteries both in front and rear, and upon both
flanks. Extremes of opinion and of action, which could unite in nothing
else, united in assaulting us. Those who cared for the safety of the
institution of slavery assailed us on one hand, while the Abolitionists
assaulted us on the other. But on what ground should either oppose such
an enterprise? Our ground in regard to both was total non-interference.
We meant to deal only with colored persons already free. This did not
interfere with the projects of the Abolitionists. For myself, I believe
those projects to be impracticable; and I am persuaded that if the same
energy and effort which have been expended in getting up abolition
movements, had been directed to the work of colonization, a vast amount
of benefit would have resulted to the cause of humanity and to the
colored race. Why should they attack us? We do not interfere with them.
Their project is to emancipate at one blow the whole colored race. Well,
if they can do that, then our object begins. The office of colonization
commences only where theirs would end. The colored race being here in the
midst of us, and not being capable of enjoying a state of equality with
the whites around them, our object is to carry them to a place where they
may enjoy, without molestation, all the benefits of freemen. Here is no
incompatibility; and in point of fact we have thus far gone on our way
without disturbing any body, either on the right or on the left.
“But it is said that our Society is incapable of effecting any great
object. That our aims can never be accomplished without aid from the
State governments, or unless the General Government shall send out of
the country all the free blacks. It is our purpose to show the power
of colonization, in competent hands, fully to carry out the benevolent
ends we have in view, to work all the great results for which this
Society was formed. Our purpose is to demonstrate to the American people,
that _if they choose to take hold of this great project in their State
Legislatures, or otherwise, the end sought is practicable, and the
principle of colonization is competent to carry abroad all the colored
population who shall be emancipated_. That demonstration has been made.
“The separation of free colored people from the white race is a measure
recommended not only by the mutual and the separate good of both, but
by the prospect that Africa, which has so long lain in barbarism,
worshipping unknown and forbidden gods, may thus be brought to the light
and blessings of Christianity. Those who met to form this Society saw not
only that great good would accrue from their design to the colored race,
by elevating their character, and restoring them to the possession of
rights they never can enjoy here, but that it would be a probable means,
in the end, of carrying to Africa all the blessing of our holy religion,
and all the benefits of our civilization and freedom. What Christian is
there who does not feel a deep interest in sending forth missionaries to
convert the dark heathen, and bring them within the pale of Christianity?
But what missionaries can be so potent as those it is our purpose to
transport to the shores of Africa? Africans themselves by birth, or
sharing at least African blood, will not all their feelings, all their
best affections, induce them to seek the good of their countrymen? At
this moment there are between four and five thousand colonists who have
been sent to Africa under the care of this Society; and I will venture to
say that they will accomplish as missionaries of the Christian religion
more to disseminate its blessings than _all the rest of the missionaries
throughout the globe_. Why, gentlemen, what have we heard? In the colony
of Liberia there are now twenty-five places of public worship dedicated
to the service of Almighty God, and to the glory of the Saviour of men;
while thousands of the neighboring heathens are flocking into the colony
to obtain a knowledge of the arts, and who may ultimately receive the
better knowledge which Christianity alone can bestow.
“These are the great purposes we had in view when a few of us met to form
this Society. As soon as a purchase of territory had been effected by
the agent we dispatched to Africa for that purpose, the first colonists,
about twenty-five years since, left the American shores, and were safely
transplanted to the land of their ancestors.
“I know it was then urged, as it has been since, that other places
might have been selected with equal advantage. I do not concur in that
opinion. Look at the expense alone. It has been stated in your report
that the sum of fifty dollars is sufficient to cover the expense of
transporting one emigrant to Liberia, and of maintaining him there for
six months after his arrival. To what other position in the known world
could he be sent at so cheap a rate? Not to the Pacific; not to Oregon;
not to Mexico. Then consider the advantages of this position in point of
navigation: remember the shortness of the voyage. When these things are
duly considered, it must be evident that to no _other spot on the face of
the globe could the free colored people be sent with so much propriety
as to the coast of Africa_. Besides, in any other place that might be
selected, you would deprive yourselves of accomplishing those high moral
and religious objects which, in Africa, may be so confidently hoped for.
“But, again, it has been said that the object of carrying all the free
colored race from this country to Africa is one which the Government
itself, with all its means, could not effect. Now, on that point, let me
state a fact by way of reply. If I am not mistaken, the immigration from
abroad into the port of New York alone, in the course of the last year,
was fully equal to the annual increase of the free colored population
of the Union, and yet all that was done voluntarily, and in most cases
without any, or with very little aid. The fact rests on the great motive
which, to a greater or less extent, governs all human action. Why is
it that the Germans and the Irish have thus flocked to our shores in
numbers to meet the annual increase of our free colored people not only,
but, as I believe, that of the slave population also? They come in
obedience to one of the great laws of our nature; they have come under
that efficient motive which propels men to all enterprises—the desire
to better their condition. A like motive will sway the free blacks when
enlightened as to the real facts of the case. If they reach the shores of
Africa, whether by their own means, or by the aid and agency of others,
their position will be physically, morally, and politically better than
by any possibility it ever can be here. It is not our office to attempt
impracticabilities; to amalgamate two races which God himself, by a
difference of color, besides other inherent distinctions, has declared
must be separate, and remain separate, from each other. And if such
be of necessity their condition here, to send them to Africa, not by
coercion, but with their own free consent, is surely the best practicable
mode of doing them good. And here I would say to those in both extremes
of opinion and of feeling on the subject of slavery—I would say to all
men—why should the free people of color of these United States not have
the option of removing to Africa, or remaining where they are, just as
they themselves shall choose? That is all we attempt. We wish to describe
to him the country, to facilitate his emigration to it, and then leave
him to his free choice. And if after this he chooses to go, why interpose
any obstacle in his way? In reply, it is said to be an act of cruelty to
send him there. The climate is represented as inhospitable; he will be
exposed to inevitable sickness, and will probably soon find a grave on
that distant shore. To send a colored man out of the United States to a
country like that is held up as an act of the greatest inhumanity. But,
happily, our records bear the most grateful testimony to the reverse of
all this. Let us for a moment compare the mortality of Liberia with that
of the colonies planted on our own shores. Within the first seventeen
years from the settlement of Jamestown, in Virginia, nine thousand
colonists arrived, £150,000 sterling were expended in transporting them
from England, yet at the end of that period but about two thousand of
them remained alive. All the rest had fallen victims either to the
climate, or to the tomahawk of the savage, or had perished from other
causes. Then look at Plymouth. History records that in less than six
months after the arrival of the Mayflower, full half of all who landed
had been destroyed by disease, want, and suffering. Now, compare with
these efforts at British colonization the results of our settlement at
Liberia. In twenty-five years, since the first emigrants landed from
the United States, the _deaths amounted to but twenty per cent. of the
entire number_, being far less than died at Plymouth in six months; far
less than at Jamestown in seventeen years. The deaths at Jamestown were
in seventeen years more than four times as numerous, in proportion, as
at Liberia in twenty-five years. There is then nothing in the climate to
discourage us, nothing in the alleged dreadful mortality of the colony to
frighten us.
“But it is said we have done very little. All the great enterprises
of man have had small beginnings. The founders of Rome, if we may
believe the tale of tradition, were suckled by a wolf. Jamestown and
Plymouth both languished for years after the period to which I have
already referred. Yet now, what land is there on the broad surface of
the habitable globe, what sea spreads out its waste of waters, that has
not been penetrated and traversed by the enterprise, the skill, and the
courage of our New England brethren? And on what battle-field, in what
council chamber, can a single spot in our vast country be found where
the Virginian character has not displayed itself in its gallantry or its
deliberative wisdom? I repeat it; all the greatest enterprises of man
have had small beginnings. Our colony is but twenty-five years old; it
has received already between four and five thousand colored emigrants,
besides hundreds more of recaptured Africans; all of which have been
sent there by order of this Government. Immense numbers of the natives
are crowding into the colony to obtain the benefits of education, of
civilization, and of Christianity. In addition to all these, there are
many thousands more in the United States now seeking the advantages of
colonization through the means held out by this Society. As far then as
we have gone, GOOD IS DONE.
“Is it not better that those four or five thousand emigrants should be
there, than that they should have remained here? Is it not better for
themselves, is it not better for us? Every year the progress of our
colony becomes more and more cheering; and, with every free African sent
over to it, those prospects brighten, and so much more of good is done.
True, we have done all we desire to do. Glad should we be should every
free colored man throughout all the States go there, and become free
indeed. But it requires time to accomplish great national affairs. The
creation of a nation is not the work of a day or of a century. For two
or three centuries the embryo nation of the Israelites remained captives
in Egypt. _But when this Government, or the State governments, shall
lend the enterprise their powerful_ aid, its progress will not be so
slow. And when the colony shall have made further advances, it will be
self-sustained and increased by its own commerce and marine. I speak not,
of course, of any unconstitutional aid. _Incidental aid, at least, may
be given it in strict accordance with the Constitution._ On this subject
the legislature of Maryland has set us a noble example. She cherishes her
infant colony with the utmost solicitude and care. When other States of
the Union shall do the same, the cause of colonization will experience a
vast acceleration.
“During, now, a period of twenty-five years, without power, without
revenue, without aid, save the voluntary contributions of the charitable
and humane, has this Society continued its labors. During that period it
has carried on a defensive war. It has made treaties. It has purchased
territory, and that to a large extent; owning, now, some three hundred
and twenty miles along the western coast of Africa, throughout the whole
of which extent (with one dark exception) the slave trade has been
suppressed. And in this connexion I may be permitted to remark, that if
the Governments of Europe and of the United States, who have united their
efforts for the suppression of the slave trade, would consent to lend
_but a small portion of the navies they now, at so great a cost, maintain
off the African coast in furtherance of that design, to the great object
of colonization_, they would prove much more successful than they have
hitherto found themselves in putting an end to that detested traffic. I
believe that no other means will ever prove so operative and effectual to
that end as the covering the entire coast of that quarter of the globe
with colonies of free colored men. Then would all be united, by sympathy
for their outraged countrymen, in heartily advancing a design which
commends itself to every feeling of the black man’s heart.
“And now, in conclusion, I should fail of expressing the feelings which
are rising in my bosom, did I not congratulate you, gentlemen of the
Society, on the eminent success which has already crowned your benevolent
labors. A new republic has sprung into existence under your auspices.
Yes; a free, representative, constitutional republic, formed on the model
of our own beloved institutions. A republic, founded by black men, reared
by black men, put into operation by the blacks, and which holds out to
our hope the brightest prospects. Whether we look at what has already
been done, or lift our eyes to the future and cast them down the long
vista of coming time—when we may anticipate, as we are warranted to do,
the dissemination over a large part, if not the whole, of Africa, of our
own free government, our love of liberty, our knowledge of Christianity,
our arts, and civilization, and domestic happiness—when we behold those
blessings realized on that continent, which I trust in God we are long,
long destined to enjoy on this, and think how the hearts of posterity
will be gladdened by such a spectacle—how ought our own to exult in hope
and to swell with gratitude?
“Go on, then, gentlemen; go on in your noble cause. For myself, I shall
soon leave you and this stage of human action forever. I may never occupy
this chair again; but I trust that the spirit which originated and which
has sustained this Society will long survive me, and that you may long
continue, now that our African republic is at length born, to discharge
the offices of guardianship, and aid, and co-operation, and ever give to
the interests of African freedom, civilization and social happiness, your
best energies and most fervent prayers. From this auspicious hour, even
to the end of time, or until the great object of the amicable separation
of the two races shall have been fully effected, may others spring up to
take your places, and to tread in your steps. And, finally, invoking on
this great and good cause the blessing of that God without whom nothing
is strong, nothing is holy, and whose smiles, I believe, have hitherto
been extended to it, I bid you a cordial farewell.”
_Resolutions delivered and proposed by Hon. R. W. Thompson, Hon. R. J.
Walker, Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, Hon. R. M. McLane, Hugh Maxwell, esq.,
and others._
At the 32d annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, held
at Washington, January 16, 1849, the Hon. R. W. Thompson, of Indiana,
offered the following resolution, which was adopted:
“_Resolved_, That the history of the past year, as developed
in the report which has just been read, has strengthened our
confidence in the great principles of the Colonization Society,
and that in their purity and strength we see satisfactory
evidence of their ultimate triumph.”
The Hon. ROBERT J. WALKER, Secretary of the Treasury, with some
appropriate remarks, introduced the following resolution:
“_Resolved_, That in founding a new republican empire on
the shores of Africa, introducing there civilization and
Christianity; in banishing the slave trade from a large portion
of its western coast, and accelerating its expulsion from that
whole continent; in opening commerce and intercourse with
the savage tribes of the interior, soon to be followed by a
rapid advancement in their condition; in laying the foundation
of a system destined to facilitate the ultimate separation
of the two races of Ham and Japhet in this Confederacy, by
universal consent, for the advantage of both, and the gradual
and peaceful restoration of the former to the land of their
forefathers, regenerated by the light of Christianity, and
trained in the principles of our free institutions: and
especially in fixing a basis upon which the friends of religion
and humanity, of freedom, of the Constitution, and of the
Union, can every where, in every State, north and south, east
and west, unite their efforts for the advancement of the
happiness of both races, and at the same time accomplish the
glorious purpose of preserving the harmony and perpetuating
the union of the States; the American Colonization Society,
embracing the whole country and all its parts, has established
a claim upon the efficient aid and zealous co-operation of
every lover of his country and of mankind.”
The Hon. J. R. INGERSOLL, of Pennsylvania, seconded the resolution, and
addressed the meeting thereupon, after which it was adopted.
The Hon. ROBERT M. MCLANE, of Maryland, offered the following preamble
and resolutions, which were adopted:
“Whereas the institution of domestic slavery in the United
States exists as the creature of local municipal law, so
recognised and respected in the Federal Constitution: Therefore—
“_Resolved_, That in all action affecting this institution
in its social or political aspect, the American citizen and
statesman who reveres the Federal Union, has imposed upon him
the most solemn obligations to respect in spirit and letter
the authority of such local and municipal sovereignties, and
to resist all aggressive influences which tend to disturb the
peace and tranquility of the States, that may have created or
sanctioned this institution.
“_Resolved, further_, That the efforts of the American
Colonization Society to facilitate the ultimate emancipation
and restoration of the black race to social and national
independence are highly honorable and judicious, and consistent
with a strict respect for the rights and privileges of the
citizens of the several States wherein the institution of
slavery is sanctioned by municipal law.”
HUGH MAXWELL, esq., of New York, was called upon, and having made an
address, offered the following resolution, which was adopted:
“_Resolved_, That the influence which the scheme of African
colonization exerts to suppress the slave trade, to spread
the English language and the principles of republican
government, and to open new markets for American products, and
extend American commerce, should commend it to the favorable
consideration of the respective State Legislatures and of the
General Government.”
_Opinion of the Hon. Daniel Webster on colonization at the expense of the
General Government._
The Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, in his great speech in the United States Senate,
7th of March, 1850, spoke as follows:
“I have one other remark to make. In my observations upon slavery as it
has existed in the country, and as it now exists, I have expressed no
opinion of the mode of its extinguishment or melioration. I will say,
however, though I have nothing to propose on that subject, because I do
not deem myself so competent as other gentlemen to consider it, that if
any gentleman from the South shall propose a _scheme of colonization
to be carried on by this Government_ upon a large scale, for the
transportation of free colored people to any colony or any place in the
world, I should be quite disposed to incur _almost any degree of expense_
to accomplish that object. Nay, sir, following an example set here more
than twenty years ago by a great man, then a Senator from New York, I
would return to Virginia, and through her for the benefit of the whole
South, the money received from lands and territories ceded by her to this
Government, for any such purpose as to relieve, in whole or in part,
or in any way to diminish or deal beneficially with, the free colored
population of the Southern States. I have said that I honor Virginia for
her cession of this territory. There have been received into the Treasury
of the United States eighty millions of dollars, the proceeds of the
sales of the public lands ceded by her. If the residue should be sold at
the same rate, the whole aggregate will exceed two hundred millions of
dollars. If Virginia and the South see fit to adopt any proposition to
relieve themselves from the free people of color among them, they have my
free consent that the Government shall pay them any sum of money out of
its proceeds, which may be adequate to the purpose.”
_Extracts from a letter from Commodore STOCKTON to Hon. Daniel Webster,
dated March 25th, 1850._
“Yonder is Africa, with her one hundred and fifty millions of miserable,
degraded, ignorant, lawless, superstitious idolaters. Whoever has stood
upon her sands, has stood upon a continent that has geographical and
physical peculiarities which belong to no other of the great divisions
of the globe. The latter appear, upon the face of them, to have been
adapted to draw out the energies of the natives in their inequalities of
temperature, soil, and surface, inviting the ingenuity and enterprise of
man to overcome them, and in the varieties of their products tempting
the interchanges of commerce; thus affording ample encouragement to
the progress of civil and social improvement. But Africa is still,
as of old, a land of silence and of mystery. Like the interminable
dreariness of her own deserts, her moral wastes of mind lie waiting
for the approach of influences from abroad. No savage people have ever
advanced to a civilized state without intercommunication with others.
All the continents of the world have, in their turn, been occupied and
civilized by means of colonies; but in no one of them did it appear so
inevitably necessary, from a previous examination of circumstances, as
in that of Africa. It is plain to the very eye, that Africa is a land to
which civilization _must be brought_. The attempt has been made over and
over again by devoted missionaries and others to penetrate that land,
and seek to impart the blessings of civilization and Christianity to her
savage hordes. But the labor has been spent in vain. The white man cannot
live in Africa. The annals of the Moravians, of Cape Colony, of Sierra
Leone, of Liberia, contain the records of the sacrifice of some of the
best men that have lived to grace the pages of any people’s history, in
the vain attempt to accomplish something for her redemption through the
instrumentality of white men. _Who, then, is to do this work?_
“Let now any calm, reflecting spectator of the present state of the world
be asked to look at Africa, and then, from among the nations, point out
the people best calculated to do this work—and when his eye falls upon
the descendants of the sons of that continent now in America, will he not
say, _These are the people appointed for that work_?
“Let us not be impatient or presumptuous. These African people are
passing to their destiny along the same path which has been trod by other
nations, through a mixture of hardship, of endurance; but in a land of
light, and amid a civilized society. They are preparing to accomplish a
work for their native continent, which no other people in the world can
accomplish. Their plain mission is, ultimately to carry the gifts of
society, of religion, of government, to the last remaining continent of
the earth, where these blessings are totally unknown. Their work is a
great one, as it would seem to be connected essentially with the final
and universal triumph of civilization and Christianity in the world.”
_Extract from a letter from the Hon. EDWARD EVERETT to the Hon. Simon
Greenleaf, President of the Society, dated Cambridge, 28th May, 1849._
“I have for many years felt an interest in the subject of African
colonization. In the winter of 1831, the Legislature of Massachusetts
passed a resolution, requesting the Senators and Representatives of the
Commonwealth in Congress to lend their efforts in support of the American
Colonization Society. I was led at that time to investigate the subject
with some care, and I came to the conclusion that the work which the
Society had undertaken was of the highest interest and importance, second
to no one of the enterprises undertaken by the philanthropy of the age.
The views entertained by me at that time are set forth in a speech before
the Society, in the Hill of the House of Representatives at Washington,
made on the 16th of January, 1832.
“These impressions were renewed and strengthened a few years since,
when it became my duty, in another capacity, to maintain the rights and
interests of the colony of Liberia, in my official correspondence with
the British Government at London.
“Since that time, the recognition of the political independence of
Liberia, by the leading European powers, is an event well calculated to
lead thoughtful persons to contemplate, with new interest, what seems to
me one of the most important occurrences of the age—the appearance of a
new Republic on the shores of Africa, composed of citizens who by birth
are (the greater part of them) our own countrymen; but who will carry
to the home of their ancestors means and facilities for promoting the
civilization and Christianization of that continent, which Providence has
confided to them, and to them alone.
“It is unfortunate, for the cause of colonization, that it has been
considered mainly in direct connexion with the condition of the
descendants of Africa in this country. But great as this object is, it
seems to me subordinate to a direct operation upon Africa itself; the
regeneration of which, I cannot but think, is the path appointed by
Providence for the elevation of the descendants of Africa throughout the
world. I am led to the opinion, from all the inquiry I have been able
to make, that the difficulty of effecting the regeneration of Africa is
exaggerated; that a large part of her population is susceptible of the
highest forms of civilization; that the arts of life, as we understand
them, already exist in many parts of the continent to a much greater
extent than is commonly supposed; that the interior slave trade is
the great obstacle which prevents its speedily taking a high place in
the family of nations; and that nothing would so effectually remove
this cause of demoralization and barbarity as the introduction of
Christianity, and with it the languages, improved arts, and commerce of
Europe and America.
“These effects have immediately begun to show themselves, wherever the
African coast has been colonized from countries disposed in good faith to
abolish the slave trade; and I confess I see no other mode for effecting
the object.”
MONROVIA, (LIBERIA,) _May 17, 1850_.
DEAR SIR: I have just returned from the windward coast, and find here the
U. S. brig Bainbridge, on the eve of sailing for the United States, via
Porto Praya. Capt. Slaughter has been kind enough to allow me an hour to
send a letter or two by him. I therefore avail myself of the opportunity
to send you a hasty note, to say that we have at length succeeded in
securing the famed territory of Gallinas to this Government, including
all the territories between Cape Mount and Shebar, excepting a small slip
of about five miles of coast in the Kellou country, which will also soon
fall into our hands.
For these tracts we have incurred a large debt, and we confidently
look to you to aid us in meeting these liabilities at maturity. Had I
not deemed it absolutely important to secure the Gallinas, to prevent
the revival of the slave trade there, I would not have paid the price
demanded. The purchase of Gallinas and the neighboring tracts will cost
us about $9,500.
The chiefs were aware of the object of the purchase, and urged
strenuously the sacrifice, as they consider it, they must make in
abandoning forever the slave trade, and demanded a large sum as an
equivalent. In addition to the amount stated above, we have obligated
ourselves to appoint commissioners immediately to settle the wars in
the country, and open the trade in camwood, ivory, and palm oil with
the interior tribes; and also settle among them, as soon as convenient,
persons capable of instructing them in the arts of husbandry. This will
also cost us a considerable sum, which will no doubt be returned in the
end by the advantages the trade will give. Still the present outlay will
be, I fear, more than equal to our ability.
The schooner “David C. Foster” has arrived safely, and the emigrants, as
far as I have learned, were landed in good health.
We have no further news worth communicating.
Yours, in haste,
J. J. ROBERTS.
Rev. W. MCLAIN, _Washington_.
NOTE.—This purchase makes the coast of Liberia 700 miles in length, along
the whole course of which the Slave trade was formerly carried on to a
great extent.
_Extracts from the leading article in the African Repository and Colonial
Journal for May, 1850, (the official organ of the Colonization Society,)
on the establishment of the proposed line of Steamers._
The Colonization Society undertook to found a colony, to which the
colored people might find it advantageous to emigrate. This has already
been done. The work has been slow in its progress, as it were piling one
stone upon other, till now the foundation is laid deep and wide. The
Republic is sufficiently well established to receive a large number of
emigrants yearly: there is room enough for them, and every thing invites
them there, and these four _steamers_ afford the facilities for their
reaching there. It now only remains for the United States Government to
adopt, foster, and encourage this work, and it will be done.
The great ends to be established present considerations of sufficient
importance to induce the Government to comply with the prayer of the
memorial. When these steamers are started the United States squadron
on that coast may be withdrawn. It now costs upwards of $384,500 to
maintain that squadron a year. These four steamers, and the emigrants
carried out by them, will annually accomplish a thousand fold more for
the suppression of the slave trade, than the squadron ever has or ever
can accomplish! There cannot be a doubt of this. Does the United States
Government desire the suppression of the slave trade? Undoubtedly. Here
then is the way in which it may be done.
We may ask another question. Is it desirable that American commerce
should be extended? Undoubtedly. Here then is a way in which it may be
done. The 150,000,000 inhabitants of Africa, now all naked, must be
_clothed_, and will be as civilization advances among them. They must
have the means and appliances of agriculture and the mechanic arts. And
in return for all these, they have all the rich and varied productions of
tropical climates! How shall this work be accomplished? How shall Africa
be civilized? How shall a market be opened there for all the articles
manufactured in the United States, and for the surplus productions of our
soil? How shall the inexhaustible treasures of that immense continent be
brought to supply our wants, and increase our wealth and our glory?
By Colonization—by carrying out the plans and measures which the Society
has adopted and been struggling to achieve. Already more than 80,000
of the natives have put themselves under the laws of Liberia, and are
rising in the scale of humanity. Already there is a large demand for the
productions of this country.
When the transported population of Liberia shall be 50,000 or 200,000,
they will present a market for our surplus manufactures, and bread
stuffs, of immense value. A line of settlements on the coast will command
the commerce of the interior. If that power is held by men sent from
this country by a large and liberal policy, nurtured and grown up under
our institutions, and by our fostering care and aid, in establishing
themselves in Liberia, they will ever be inclined to trade with this
country, and thus open to our merchant, those wide fields of wealth! The
amount asked by the Company from the Government for carrying the mails,
would not affect injuriously one single interest of the country, and it
would be more than repaid with interest by the advantages of the commerce
to be secured thereby.
The advantages which would be enjoyed by the people of the United
States as the result of the removal of the free colored people, and the
separation of the races, would be immense. The blessings to them would
be incalculable. They dwell among us, but they are not of us. They do not
enjoy, and the prospect is, they never can enjoy here, true liberty! We
provide for them a means of escape from these depressing circumstances,
and place them in a situation were nothing can prevent them from rising
to the highest elevation of which they are capable.
Under these circumstances, what is the duty of the Government to do? To
sit still and lose the golden opportunity? No, this is not, this cannot
be, the wisest policy! Motives of honor, of benevolence, of justice, of
patriotism, demand a different policy.
Let it be remembered that the legislation of our country touching the
extinction of the slave trade, conferred upon her a glory as imperishable
as the Constitution herself. A just regard to our national character
calls for a perseverance in that policy, until its wisdom and benignity
shall be vindicated in the full accomplishment of its ends; the giving to
Africa civilization and the arts, and a lawful commerce!
_Extracts from the July No. of the African Repository._
In all parts of the country we perceive that the friends of Liberia look
upon this four-steamships scheme as fraught with immense promise. The
public sentiment of the country is decidedly in favor of colonization,
and of national and State appropriations for carrying it on.
We think there are indications that the State Legislatures will render
assistance to an almost unlimited extent. When it is made manifest that
colonization can and will be prosecuted on a scale of grandeur and
magnificence equal to its merits, the whole country will unite in favor
and liberality.
_We have the control of the number of emigrants who may be sent in these
steamships._ We are _not bound_ to send any specific number. _They_ are
bound to take as many as we want to send. But we shall take good care
not to send more _than the Republic can safely receive_; nor more than
we have the means of paying the passage of, and comfortably settling in
Liberia? This is our safe-guard.
Let it be remembered, that it will be some two or three years before
the steamships will be ready for operation. This will give time for
consideration, for preparation, and for gathering up the resources for a
grand demonstration of what can be done. The work is worthy of a nation’s
energy! Why may we not hope that it will receive it?
Does any one say, “the time has not yet come?” Are you sure of it? Is not
this the day of great things? How rapid has been the march of improvement
during the last few years! Who can predict what is next to come? Is it
not a fact that the Government of Liberia is now firmly established? Do
they not want more citizens of education and influence? Are there not
thousands of acres of the richest land there, waiting for cultivation?
Have we not all been for years looking to the time when the work of
colonization should be carried on with means and resources adequate to
the greatness of the work? How much longer, then, shall we wait before
we make the attempt to summon these means, and enter on these enlarged
operations? Has not the time fully come? We are persuaded it has.
At the annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, on January
16th, 1850, the Hon. HENRY CLAY was elected President of the Society, and
the following gentlemen were elected Vice Presidents:
1. General John H. Cocke, of Virginia.
2. Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts.
3. Charles F. Mercer, of Florida.
4. Rev. Jeremiah Day, D.D., of Connecticut.
5. Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New York.
6. Louis McLane, of Baltimore.
7. Moses Allen, of New York.
8. General W. Jones, of Washington.
9. Joseph Gales, of Washington.
10. Right Rev. Wm. Meade, D. D., Bishop of Virginia.
11. John McDonogh, of Louisiana.
12. Rev. James O. Andrews, Bishop of the M. E. Church
13. William Maxwell, of Virginia.
14. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio.
15. Walter Lowrie, of New York.
16. Jacob Burnet, of Ohio.
17. Dr. Stephen Duncan, of Mississippi.
18. William C. Rives, of Virginia.
19. Rev. J. Laurie, D. D., of Washington.
20. Rev. Wm. Winans, of Mississippi.
21. James Boorman, of New York.
22. Henry A. Foster, of New York.
23. Dr. John Ker, of Mississippi.
24. Robert Campbell, of Georgia.
25. Peter D. Vroom, of New Jersey.
26. James Garland, of Virginia.
27. Right Hon. Lord Bexley, of London.
28. Willard Hall, of Delaware.
29. Right Rev. Bishop Otey, of Tennessee.
30. Gerard Ralston, of London.
31. Rev. Courtland Van Rensselaer, of New Jersey.
32. Dr. Hodgkin, of London.
33. Rev. E. Burgess, D. D., of Massachusetts.
34. Thos. R. Hazard, of Rhode Island.
35. Dr. Thomas Massie, of Virginia.
36. Major General Winfield Scott, of Washington.
37. Rev. A. Alexander, D. D., of New Jersey.
38. L. Q. C. Elmer, of New Jersey.
39. James Railey, of Mississippi.
40. Rev. Geo. W. Bethune, D. D., of Philadelphia.
41. Rev. C. C. Cuyler, D. D., of Philadelphia.
42. Elliot Cresson, of Philadelphia.
43. Anson G. Phelps, of New York.
44. Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D., of Massachusetts.
45. Jonathan Hide, of Maine.
46. Rev. Beverly Waugh, Bishop M. E. Church, Baltimore.
47. Rev. Dr. W. B. Johnson, of South Carolina.
48. Moses Sheppard, Baltimore.
49. Bishop McIlvain, of Ohio.
50. Rev. Dr. Edgar, Nashville, Tennessee.
51. Rev. P. Lindsley, D. D., of Tennessee.
52. Hon. J. R. Underwood, of Kentucky.
53. Rev. J. J. Janeway, D. D., of New Jersey.
54. H. L. Lumpkin, Esq., Athens, Georgia.
55. James Lenox, of New York.
56. Bishop Soule, D. D., of Tennessee.
57. Professor T. C. Upham, of Maine.
58. Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Ohio.
59. Hon. Thos. W. Williams, of Connecticut.
60. Hon. Simon Greenleaf, of Massachusetts.
61. Rev. John Early, D. D., of Virginia.
62. Rev. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia.
63. Hon. R. J. Walker, of Mississippi.
64. Samuel Gurney, England.
65. Charles McMicken, Esq., Cincinnati, Ohio.
66. John Bell, M. D. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Report of the naval committee to the House of Representatives, August, 1850, in favor of the establishment of a line of mail steamships to the western coast of Africa, and thence via the Mediterranean to London; designed to promote the emigration of free persons of color from the United States to Liberia: also to increase the steam navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States. : With an appendix added by the American Colonization Society." ***
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