Delaware gazette and American watchman. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1828-1837, 1831-08-12

pursued by the emissaries Of this unhalowed pro-
ject, many Of who under the name of ministers of
the gospel use their influence TO turn public senti-
ment to our disadvantage by stigmatizing our NOR
ais, incorporating our characters & endeavoring
TO show what they are pleased to call the sound
policy Of perpetuating our civil and political disa
bilities for the avowed purpose Of indirectly fore
ing us TO emigrate to the western coast ofAfriea.
That Africa is neither our nation nor home, due
respect to the good sense Of the community forbid
US to attempt TO prove that language, habits,
manners, morals and religion are all different from
those of Africans, is fact too notorious to admit
of controversy. Why we then called upon 10
go and settle in country where we must necessa-
riy be and remain distinct people, having no COM
mon interest with the nemerous inhabitants of
that vast and extensive country. Experience has
proved beyond doubt, that the climate is such as
not to suit the constitutions of the inhabitants of
this country, the fevers and various diseases Incl.
dent to that tropical cline are such as in most
cases to bid defiance to the force Of medicine.
The very numerous instances Of mortality
amongst the emigrants who have peen induced
to leave this their native, for that their adopted
country, clearly demonstrate the fallacy Of those
statements so frequently made by the advocates of
Colonization in regard to the healhness of Liberia
| With the deepest regret we have witnessed such
an immense sacrifice Of life in advancing a cause
which cannot promise the least advantage to the
lhSS pSOpio vi COlOuTy WHO IL was SAID were the
primary objects 10 be benefited by this "heaven
born enterprise" But we beg leave most respect,
fully to ask the friends Of African colonization,
whether their christian benevolence cannot in this
country be equally as advantageously applied if
they actuated by that dsnterested spirit love
) and friendship for us, which they profess have
not they in the United States field sufficiently
l extensive to shew it in. There is embosOmed
within this Commonwealth, rising one million free
4 DeOnIe of colour tho mar ofxy
unable to read even the sacred scriptures are not
their ignorant and degraded situation worthy of
the consideration ofthose enlightened and christian
individuals whose zeal for the cause of the African
race have induced them to attempt the establish.
ment Of republican form of government amid
the burning sands of Liberia, and the eyanpeli.
zng of the millions of mahometans and papans
that inhabit the interior Of that extensive coun
try.
We are constrained to believe that the welfare Of
the people OF color to say the least is out secondary
consideration with those engaged in the Colonization
i proect Or why should we be requested to remove
to Africa, and thus separated from all that we hold
dear in moral point of view, before their christian
|. benevoence can be exercised in our behalf; surely
there IS no country Of which have any KNOWLEDGE
that offers greater facilities for the Improvement Of
the unlearned /; or where benevolent and philanhro-
pic individuals can find people whose situation have
claims on their christian sympahes, than the
people OF color. But whilst we behold a settled de-
Termination on the part of the American Conloniza
ton Society to Liberia without using anv
means 70 better our condition at home are COM
PEELED to look with fearful difdence on every measure
of that institution At meeting held on the 9Th inst
in this borough, the people Of color were politely in
yted to ateHd the objects of which was to induce the
most respectable part of them to emgrate the meet
b Ting was addressed by several Reverend gentlemen.
h and very hatterng accounts given on the authority Of
and statements said to have been received from
v individuals Of unquestionabe veracity But we beg
leave to say, that those statements differ 40 w;delv
from letters that we have Of recent date from
the colony in regard to the condition and circumsan-
oes ina coionss that we are compelled in truth
say that we cannot reconcile such contradictory state
ments and are therefore inclined doubt the former
tney appear TO have been prepared to present
the public for the purpose of ensng the feelings Of
our white friends into the measure, and of inducing
the entcrprising part of the colored community to
emigrate at their own expense That we are in this
country degraded people truly sensible that our
forlorn situation Is not attributable to ourselves is adj
mted by the most ardent friends of colonization and
that our condition cannet be bettered by removing the
most exemplary individuals of color from amongst
", We are wen convinced, from the consderationhat
I'M the same ratio, that the industrious part would
emgrate IN the same proportion, those who would re-
I. man would become more degraded, wretched and
and consequentlyess capable of apprecat-
d. ing the many opportunities which are now offering
il tor the neral and intellectual improvement of onr
brethren We therefore, portion of those who are
the objects OF this plan, and amongst those whose
with that OF others of our cooritis nten.
- yea 10 promote, respectfully, but firmly dsclairn,
G. every connection with it, and declare our settled de.
ur termination not to participate in any part of it.
Y But if this plan is intended to facilitate the
% emancipation of those who held IN slavery in
= the south, and the Moderation of their condition
" by sending them to Liberia we question very
g much whether it is calculated to do either. The
n emancipation ofSlaves in those states south of the
~ Potomac has been measuraby impended though
- It's influence except where they have been given
us up 10 the Board OF Managers, TO be colonized in
40 Africa TO us is manifest. And when we contem.
plate their uneducatcd and vitiatod state destitute
OF the arts and unaccustomed to provide even fol
themselves we are inevitably led to the conclusion
~ that their situation in that pestilential country
~ will be miserable in the extreme.
~ The present period is one of deep and increa
sing interest to the free people of couor relieved
ta from the miseries ofSlavery, and its concomitan
evils, with the vast snd Ito us) UNEMPLOYED FIELD
Io of literature and science before u.s. surrounded b,
~ many friends whose sympathies and charities neec
~ not the Atlantic between and them, before the,
can consent to assist in elevating our brethren
the standing of