The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1839-03-23
WHAT CAN COLONIZATION Do'
From the Boston Daily .adpertisr.l

the Colonlzationsts, permit one VINO was iong
incredulous himself TO state the process when
brought him to the full and unwaverlng commence
that this system was entitled to the cooperation
of every American Christian, and challenged the
services of every true patriot. That the whole
fabric of slavery was incompatible with the spirit
of Christianity, he never doubted; but as this
evil had unhappiy become interviewer into the
very elements of our social and political system,
it required but cursory glance at our relation
with the South, to perceive that violent measures
for its cure would necessarily involve us in all the
miseries Of civil and servile war. And, equally
aware of the morbid sensibility pervading the
slaveholding States in relationto any foreign inter-
vention, it was no less evident that only such
measures must be offered as would at once consult
the safety of the master, and secure the future
welfare of the slave for it is position most
gladly conceded, after an extensive personal ac-
qualntance with the South, that a widespread
sympathy for the happiness of the slave does
prevail.
What, then, were the most beneficial and prac-
tcable measures that could be suggested ian
emancipation on the soil Here the friend of the
negro met, in E1nne, with the difficulty, that
the laws of nearly all the slaveholdlng States
denied that privilege under the severe penalty Of
being sold into bondage far worse than when
held by hereditary possession, which the exer-
else of benevolent feelings had voluntarily sever
ed. lfhe askedfor leave to permit the enfranchiz-
ed to remain, all agreed in the melancholy fact,
that, so long as surrounded by slave population,
the freedmen would, with few exceptions, be
found to have deteriorated in morals, and not to
have increased in physical comfort by emancpa-
ton. Did he propose their settlement in the free
States? This at once brought him to actual colo
Al,
lated to promote the black mans best interests.
His very color marked him as one of the race of
bondsmen. The pride of the freeman forbid
association with even the offspring of the ensav-
ed Such distinctions ever have, and, too proba-
bly,, ever will obtain. They are calling to the
black man-they destroy, too frequently, his self
respect; and the awful disparity of crime between
the two races as established by our criminal cal
endar, attests the inadequacy of this mode of
relief. The idea of transplantng this tropical
to the frozen regions of Canada, is too cruel
to require comment: and the STAKEHOLDER will
never permit us to spring mine at his very door,
planting negro State in Texas.
Thus foiled in his merciful purposes at home,
the Christian phianthropist looked upon the
volume of sacred history, and there found his
warrant for colonization abroad. From the time
OF Moses to the present period, mankind has
never ceased to pursue the same system; when
ever two distinct races have been thrown together
under the same government, the subsection of one
OF these races, or scenes of mutual slaughter
have been SO universal, that we cannot but honor
those wise and benevolent men who sought an
escape from these terrific evils, by recourse to
that system which had SO early received the divine
sanction, and indeed had been commanded by
Deity himself. But the founders of the American
Colonization Society. although they wished that
the whole Of this long suffering race might even
tually seek and find home and an independent
government of their own, among g their own
kindred after the fesh, in the land of their fore
fathers, never anticipated that it could be effected
by the Society, per Sc. They we'll knew that its
restricted resources could neUer be adequate to the
removal of two millions and half. They equal
ly well knew that, ours being representative
government, they must endure the incredibly oil
the unthlnklng-the scorn and rdicule of the
crowd-untl, by a long course of benevolent
labors they establish the feasibility of their system
to the satisfaction Of majority of the nation
They looked for no miracles-they tickled not the
ears of the nation with the Utopan dream of g inn
mediate and unconditional emancipation they
created no fierce and feversh excitement among
the slaves by unreal promises; but trusting to the
goodness OF their cause, and the good sense and
Soou leellug Oh the American people, tey d2tl-
gently applied themselves to the mighty task of
building up an Independent nation, with mate
rails the most crude, and on shore long cursed
by all the atrocities of the slave trade. And what
has been the success Of their experiment? Itmay
indeed be said to be little short of miraculous
for in the brief space of sixteen years, mith funds
vhose aggregate amount scarcely equals the
Individual outlay Of Sir Walter Raleigh, in
Virginia, they have banished the SLAYER from
nearly 200 miles of coast, and rescued hundreds
of his hapless victms--they have settled nearly
5000 emigrants (one-half of them emancipated
for the purpose they have established schools,
churches, temperance societies, and newspaper
agriculture, the mechanic arts, and legitimate
commerce, employing nearly twenty sail of
coastlng vessels, have sprung up, while the ac-
tlvlty ofthelr foreign commerce is atested by our
own marine lists. I
That the despised Coonizationists have eff.
fected all this, is beyond the reach of cayl-it
is now part of the history of our enterprisng
country. And while our opponents have been
gravey debating the possibility of establishing
one colony, little constellation has arisen-star|
by star-and shed its light along the dreary coast