American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-03-19


self can never reach that point of advance
ment which God has put so palpably within its
reach. Two solemn lessons arise out of these
| facts The one should teach our race how alb
surd it is to contemn and despise yours: the
other should teach your race how fatal it is to
resist and obstruct those beneficent designs by
which alone their ultimate freedom and ma
tonalty can be accomplished | do not ad-
| wise any man in particular to emigrate-each
one must decide for himself Still less do |
recommend a general emigration, or approve
one accomplished by violence. But, even at
the risk of forfeitng your confidence, have
always testified, and do still, against that ge-
neral and concerted hostility to African colo
nization, which, in various parts of the coun-
| try, whether amongst yourselves or amongst
US, has had no better effect, than to deude and
embitter the minds Of the free blacks, exaspe-
rate those of the whites, and embarrass the
noblest and most fruitful movement Of the pre-
sent century
! For long course of years have not ceased
to cherish the deepest interest in all questions
affecting the condition and prospects of the
| black race on this continent; and have enjoy
ed such opportunities of making up my opin-
! ions, as a very large experience ard observa-
| ton could afford. The result of the whole is a
deliberate belief that the condition of the free
blacks is generally better i'll the slave States
than in the free. Whatever may be said of
laws, the actual condition of mankind is far
more certainly determined by what society re-
ally Does than by what it declares in the sta
tute book, it designs to do; and this great truth
was never more clearly exhibited than IN the
general condition Of the free black race, on the
opposite sides of the slave line. And reiter-
ate my firm conviction, that, in general, the
condition of respectable free persons of color,
is decidedly better in the slave States of this
Union, than in the free. Nor should we for
! get that almost the entire free black race in
! America, owe such lberality as they enjoy,
| either Immediately or remotely, to the mere
benevolence Of those who once owned them Or
their ancestors: and that the absolute and en-
| tire hope Of freedom for all the blacks now in
slavery in this country, reposes simply on the
same foundation. Great lessons lie involvedin
these truths Amongst the chief are these:-
that the free black race are bound by every
sentiment Of gratitude, and every dictate Of
| prudence and wisdom, to be quiet, loyal, pea
ceable and docile, as regards the laws, the in
stitutions, and the public sentiment OF the
slave-holding States; and that, in the long run,
| their own best hopes are connected with the
prosperity Of those States Indeed it is a ques-
ton, the furthest possible from being clear,
whether more certain method of running the
existing race of free blacks could be devised,
! than to expel those who reside in the slave
States unless indeed their destruction might
be more thoroughly accomplished, by the i'm
mediate and universal Liberation of the slaves,
! if such thing were, i'll the nature of the case,
| possible at all,
have seen much of society in many foreign
lands; and have studied its condition in ages
and countries which never saw: and in both
cases have looked narrowly into the condition
of the poorer and lower classes. As the result
of all, give it as my fixed belief, that there is
nothing in the condition Of American Society,
any where, that prevents free persons OF color
from living as safely and as comfortably, as the
lower and laborng classes of society ever could,
or now can live, in any other country. Pollti-
cal privileges are denied to you; but in what
country are they not withheld from the great
mass of men? Many civil rights are curtailed
as to you; but how few enjoy them, in their
fulness, any where? Various personal restrc-
tons are laid upon you; but they are fewer aud
less oppressive thar the white poor of all other
countries endure. Your persons are under the
protection Of the laws; labor is every where free
to you: the acquisition Of property Is open be-
fore you by nnumerabIe channels and what
ever you possess is as much your own and as
sacredy respected, as the estates of the most
eminent of our citizens. The ancient people
of God endured for fifteen centuries in all
lands, what every American heart would re-
volt from inhcting on you for single hour.
Your condition, therefore, is one not only per-
fectly supportable and entirely consistent with
the practice of all the domestic and most of the
social virtues but it is really far better than
the condition of the great mass of mankind
ever was, or now is, or is soon likely to be in
any other country.
That you have never suffered wrong; that
you are not liable to great dangers; that an un-
certain, and in some respects dark tuturity
does not impend over you; that your condition
cannot be greatly ameliorated; and that it
ought not to be examined with more care, and
treated with more wisdom and humanity by
the public authorities of the country, all these
are matters which do by no means, either as
sert or believe. Often, and for many years. it
has been my lot to assert and maintain the
contrary, and that, not unfrequently, under
circumstances of great and dangerous RESPONSE
! bilty. But what | do believe and assert is,
! that considering your condition, such as 1t Is,
| and that of the human race at large, such asst
has always been; you have more reasons tor
: gratitude to God, and fewer for repning at his
allotments, than the mass of human kind, in
| the most favored ages and countries; and that
your hopes of better things and better days, are
l precisely in such directions, as to make it your
highest wisdom 10 endure with patience and
tranquility your present lot, and to seek for its
! improvement only by such methods as are con-
, sistent with the great truths have above sug-
gested to you
Many years ago took the responsibility of
publicly maintaining, contrary to the belief
| then nd in nc inf
9 ty taken up, that The flee black race in Anne
9 rca are eminently docile and religious peo-
3 ME All suhsnnuent In ha con firm