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Untitled Article
to the American Society . On the contrary , I consider Liberia as being at the present moment , with scarcely an exception , the most interesting spot on the habitable globe . It is the spot on which a problem is now in a course of experimental solution , which deeply affects the most vital interests of the human race .
But it is precisely for that reason that I should look with jealousy upon any measures which threaten to interfere with the success of this great and important experiment ; and such appears to me to be the case with the Colonization Society in the probable results of some of their proceedings on both sides of the Atlantic . There is a complication of schemes evidently contemplated by it ,
( and , I am sorry to observe , sometimes brought forward , and at others kept in the back ground , according to circumstances , ) which can scarcely fail to be pernicious ; and if they continue to be kept in view , and acted upon extensively , they will require the enlightened promoter of negro regeneration not merely to withhold his concurrence and approbation from the Society , but to
exert himself in opposition to their measures . From their published reports they appear to have two objects in view ; the first is to establish a colony of free blacks , who shall be the means of exemplifying and diffusing the blessings of civilization and the Gospel on the continent of Africa . For this purpose they have selected a competent number of American negroes , out of the large mass of emancipated slaves , who , in spite of the unfavourable circumstances in which they are placed , have acquired such a moral and intellectual character as to fit them for it . This
object , when taken by itself , is excellent ; and herein we most heartily wish them God speed . It has the further advantage of being perfectly practicable ; and their measures , as far as they have hitherto gone , seem to be not ill adapted for its accomplishment . We see a community of blacks actually established on the coast of Africa , possessing the various institution ^ of civilized society , large enough to exemplify their operations on a scale which may
attract attention , conciliate the friendship , and excite the emulation of the surrounding tribes , but not so large as to rouse their jealousy or hostility . This will be productive of great and unmixed good , both in its immediate effect upon the natives of Africa , and by its tendency to raise the negro character in the estimation of civilized nations . Such a specimen of the various gradations and professions of social life occupied exclusively by blacks , if it succeeds , as we trust it will , must furnish an
unanswerable reply to all that has been said of the inherent inferiority of the negro race . But there is another object in view , which is decidedly bad , and inconsistent with the first . Happily it has the additional disadvantage of being wholly impracticable ; but it is much to be feared that trie attempts to carry it into effect will greatly impede the beneficial results to be expected from the more rational part of
Untitled Article
154 American Colonisation Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1833, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2610/page/10/
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