The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-30 00:00:00

STAMPED ....sd.

AMERICA.

SPEECH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON THE

NEGRO QUESTION.

The Canadian screw steamer Bohemian, Captain
Borland, from Quebec, on the 16th, and Cape Race
on the 19th inst., tea Londonderry, arrived yester-
day at Liverpool. The telegraph wires between
Newfoundland and the States were not in working
order, consequently the Bohemian brings nothing
later than the 16th. The steamships Glasgow for
New York, and the Europa for Halifax, passed
Cape Race on the 15th and 18th respectively.
Special despatches from Washington state that as
fast as regiments arrive they will be sent to a camp
of instruction across the Potomac, under command
of General Casey.
The News Sheet office at Baltimore has been taken
possession of by the police, and editors and proprie-
tors were sent to Fort M'Henry by order of Gen.
Wool.
A deputation of coloured men waited upon the
President on the 14th, to hear his views upon their
position. The following is a telegraphic report of
the President's remarks. After a few preliminary
observations, the President informed the deputa-
tion that a sum of money had been appropriated by.
Congress and placed at his disposition for the pur-
pose of aiding the colonisation in some country of
Lula people, or a portion of them, of African descent,
1 thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long
time been his inclination, to favour that course.
And why, he asked, should not the people of your
race be colonised ? Why should they leave this
country ? This is perhaps the first question for
proper consideration. You and we are a different
race. We have between us a broader difference
than exists between almost any other two races.
Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss,
but this physical difference is a great disadvantage
to us both, as I think your race suffers greatly,
many of them by living with us—while ours suffer
from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each
side. If this is admitted it affords a reason why
wo should be separated. You here are freemen, I
suppose. (A voice: " Yes, sir.") Perhaps you
have long been free, or all your lives. Your race
are suffering, in my opinion, the greatest wrong
inflicted on any people. But even when you cease
to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being
placed on an equality with the white race. You
are cut off from many of the advantages which, the
other race enjoy. The aspiration of man is to enjoy
equality with the best when free, but on this broad
continent not a single man of your race is made the
equal of ours.
Go where you are treated the best and •the ban
is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss
this, but to present it as a fact with which we
have to deal, I cannot alter it if I would.
It is a fact about which we all think and feel alike ;
I and you. We look to our conditions owipg to the
existence of the two races on this continent. I need
not recount to you the effects upon white men grow-
ing out of the institution of slavery. I believe in its
general evil effects on the white race. See our pre-
sent condition. The country engaged in war. Our
white men cutting one another's throats, none know-
ing how far it will extend, and then consider what
we know to be the truth. But for your race among
us there could not be a war, though many men en-
gaged on either side do not care for you one way or
the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, without the in-
stitution of slavery, and the coloured race as a basis
the war could not have an existence. fit is better
for us• both, therefore, to be separate-a. I know
there are free men among you who °vett if. they
could better their condition are not as mac t• inclined
to go outof the country as those who, being slaves,_
could obtain freedom on this condition. I suppose
one of the principal difficulties in the way of coloni-
sation is, that the free coloured man cannot see that
his comfort would be advanced by it. You may be-
lieve you can live in Washington or elsewhere in the
United States the remainder of your life, perhaps
more comfortably than you can in any foreign coun-
try. Hence you may come to the conclusion that
you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a
foreign country. This (I speak in no unkind sense)
is an extremely selfish view of the case. But you
ought to do something to help those who are not so
fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness
on the part of our people, harsh as it may be, for
you free coloured people to remain with us, Now,
if you could give a start to the white people you
would open a wide door for many to be made free.
We deal with those who are not free at the begin-
ning, and those whose intellect are clouded by
slavery. We have very poor material to start with.
If intelligent coloured people, such as are before
me, would move in this matter, much might
be accomplished. It is exceedingly import-
ant that we have men at the beginning
capable of thinking as white men, and not those
who have been systematically addressed. There
is much to encourage you. For the sake of your
race you should sacrifice something of your present
comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that
respect as the white people. It is a cheering
thought throughout life that something can be
done to ameliorate the condition of those who have
been subject to the hard usages of the world. It is
difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he
is worthy of himself, and claims kindred to the
great God who made him.

In the American revolutionary war, sacrifices
were made by men engaged in it, but they were
cheered by the future. Gen. Washington himself
endured greater physical hardships than if he had
remained a British subject, yet he was a happy man,
because he was engaged in benefitting his race,
something for the children of his neighbours, hav-
ing none of his own. The colony of Liberia has
been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it
is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts,
has just been with me, the first time I ever saw him.
He says they have within the bounds of that
colony between 300,000 and 400,000 people, or more
than in some of our old States, such as Rhode
Island, Delaware. They are not all American co-
lonists, or their descendants. Something less than
12,000 have been sent thither from this country.
Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like
people elsewhere, their offsprings outnumber those
deceased. The question is, if the coloured people
are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there ?
One reason for an unwillingness to do so is, that
some of you would rather remain within reach of
the country of your nativity. I do not know how
much attachment you may have towards our rave.
It does not strike me that you have the greatest
reason to love them, but still you are attached to
them, at all events.

The place I am thinking about fors colony is
Central America. It is nearer us then Liberia, not
more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within
seven days' run by steamers. Unlike Liberia, it
is on a great line of travel, it is a highway. The
country is a very excellent one for any people, and
with great natural resources and advantages,
and
especially because of the similarity of the &S-
-mate with your native land, thus being suited to
your physical condition.
The particular place I have in view is to be a
great highway from the Atlantic, or Caribbean Sea,
to the Pacific Ocean. On both sides there are har-
bours among the first in the world. Again, there
are evidences of very rich coal mines. A certain
amount of coal is valuable in any country, and there
may be more than enough for the wants of the coun-
try. Why I attach so much importance to coal is,
it will afford an opportunity to the inhabitants for
immediate employment, until they get ready to
permanently settle in their homes.
If you take colonists where there is no good land-
ing, there is a bad show, and so also where there is
nothing to cultivate, and with which to make a
farm ; but if something is started, so that you can
as soon as you reach there it is I
get your daily bread