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Untitled Article
sound policy , justice , humanitj ^ and religion alike require that their most earnest attention should be directed . But what seems to be the immediate bearing upon this object of the colonization scheme ? Is the elevation of the negro character in America likely to be promoted by selecting all the more
respectable , industrious , and wealthy of the free blacks , sending them off to Liberia , and leaving the refuse behind ? May it not , on the contrary , be objected , that these poor degraded Americans are entitled to all the advantage they might derive from the presence among themselves of whatever is respectable , of whatever is fitted to raise their rank in the social scale : of whatever
specimens in their own race , of any kind of moral or intellectual improvement , might serve to elevate in the public estimation the general average of the negro character , of whatever is likely to dissever in the minds of the community at large , the unhappy association which now exists between the idea of a negro and hopeless inferiority and debasement ? There are already among them a few who have struggled into what the world calls
respectability , there are already various institutions for the purpose of education , and other public-spirited and benevolent objects . These , as far as they go , must tend to diminish the absurd feeling which at present exists ; these let it be the labour of the truly patriotic American to improve , to multiply , and extend to the utmost of his power / Let him associate himself with negroes in
the conduct of such institutions , and embrace every suitable opportunity of admitting them to his own society upon equal terms ; and of bringing forward into public notice whatever is calculated to render the American negro an object of respect in the eyes of his countrymen . But it cannot be denied that the measures pursued by the Colonization Society have , in the first instance at least , a directly contrary tendency ; more especially , when taken in connexion with the principle on which they
avowedly proceed ; namely , that a union of the two races upon equal terms is an idea that cannot be endured ., much less reduced to practice . The question , then , is presented for our consideration , shall we , in England , promote the objects of this Society ? To this
question I should be disposed to answer in the negative , unless those objects were strictly and exclusively confined to the benefit of Africa ; and even then , it would remain to be inquired , whether every thing that peculiarly calls for exertions of this nature is not already done . We have the nucleus of a prosperous colony ,
which , from the latest reports , appears to be in a condition to maintain itself ; and any fresh settlers , who were competent to promote the professed objects of the establishment , would be in a condition to defray their own expenses . For reasons which have already been stated , it is not even desirable that the number of these should be very greatly increased , from the risk of provoking
Untitled Article
158 American Colonization Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1833, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2610/page/14/
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