seem to be designated by a combination of favorable circumstances, as the fortunate crisis for reducing to the test of practical experiment these views and objects of the Society, which have already met so encouraging a notice. from Congress; and upon the comprehensive utility and beneficence of which (abstracted from any doubts of their being susceptible of practical execution) no question seems to be entertained in any quarter. The present facilities for acquiring the requisite territory from the native tribes, in situations combining every advantage of salubrious and temperate climate, with fertile soil; the pacific and humanized temper of mind prevailing among these tribes; their existing prepossessions in favor of the expected colonists from America; the actual settlement, in that part of Africa, of some prosperous, intelligent, and well disposed emigrants from among the free people of color in this country; and the state of general peace, so favorable to enterprises of benevolence and utility, wholly unconnected with any political schemes of territorial or commercial aggrandizement; altogether form a conjuncture, which must prove decisive of the success of an immediate experiment. But upon any permanent continuance of so favorable a state of things, no human wisdom or foresight can calculate with any reasonable certainty, if the present opportunity be not adequately improved. It is now reduced to the single question, whether the undertaking shall be adopted and patronized by the Government, so as to become essentially national in its means and its objects; or whether its ultimate success is to depend upon the responsibility and exertions of individuals, whose zeal and perseverance, unsubdued and unabated by difficulty, by delay, or disappointment, may be surely counted on; but whose unprotected exertions and unaided resources, whether of power or of capital, must necessarily be contingent and precarious, if not in their ultimate effect, at least in the acceleration of the results. It is now conceived to be apparent that, with the adequate aids and sanction from the Government, the present generation cannot pass away without permanent, practical, and important benefits from the experiment-benefits which will be felt equally in our social and domectic relations, as in the advancement of the great object of political and internal morality, connected with the suppression of the slave trade: and this nation has ever stood foremost in the most decided and vigorous efforts to abolish that opprobrious traffic. From the journals kept by the agents, of their proceedings and personal observations, with an abstract of collateral information of unquestionable authenticity and great interest, collected by them from sources not frequently accessible to the general reader or inquirer, the Society has become possessed of many rare and valuable materials, not only for forming a more accurate judgment of the utility of the scheme of colonization, but also for demonstrating how flagrantly and notoriously, and with what impunity, the prohibitory laws of the United States, and of other nations, in regard to the slave trade, are violated by their respective citizens and subjects. Some important hints also may be derived from these documents, for making the penal sanctions of those laws more effectual; and there is good reason to conclude, that the establishment of such a colony as has been projected by our Society, may prove an important and efficient adjunct to the other preventive checks provided by law. The body of accurate and valuable information thus collected, will be found among the documents, which we now beg, Sir, through your kind. mediation, to present to Congress. We have the honor to be, With great respect, Your obedient servants, E. B. CALDWELL, WASHINGTON, January 23d, 1819. Committee. In the House of Representatives of the United States, January 23d, 1819. The Speaker presented to the House a letter addressed to him, signed by Elias B. Caldwell, Walter Jones, and Francis S. Key, a Committee of the American Colonization Society, accompanied with an account of the mea sures pursued by the society for accomplishing the great object of its institution, and of the result of their inquiries and researches; as, also, of documents, showing the unlawful participation of the citizens of the United States in the African slave trade; which letter, and its accompanying documents, were referred to a select committee; and Mr. Mercer, Mr. Mills, and Mr. Campbell, were appointed the said committee. Attest: THOS. DOUGHERTY, C. H. R. In the House of Representatives of the United States, March 3d, 1819. Resolved, That the account of Messrs. Davis and Force, for printing the documents accompanying the letter from the Committee of the American Colonization Society to the Speaker of this House, amounting to two hundred and fifty-nine dollars, be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. Attest: THOS. DOUGHERTY, C. H. R. Extract from the First Annual Report of the Board of Managers. "The Managers have ascertained that there are numbers of the highest standing for intelligence and respectability among that class of people, who are warmly in favor of the plan, from a conviction that it will, if accomplished, powerfully co-operate in placing the situation of their brethren, here and in Africa, in that scale of happiness and respectability among the nations of the earth, from which they have long been degraded. Offers of service have been received from many worthy and influential individuals of their own color, and from a number of families from different parts of the United States, to become the first settlers in the colony, whenever a suitable situation shall be procured. The Managers can with confidence state their belief, that they would have no difficulty in procuring individuals among them, worthy of trust and confidence, to explore the country, if necessary, and to plant a colony of sufficient strength to secure its safety and prosperity. This being accomplished, there can be no difficulty in presenting its importance to their brethren, in such a manner, and with such unquestionable testimony, as must command their fullest confidence.' Extract of a letter from a respectable gentleman in Vincennes, Indiana, to the President of the Society. "I feel a deep interest in your society, and highly approve the patriotic and benevolent motives which have induced its formation, and with every American citizen feel a pride in seeing the name of Washington at its head. "To aid its views, I am prompted to send you the following information. There are in this vicinity between fifty and a hundred free people of color, who have by my means heard of your society, and are desirous of going to Africa, to help in forming a settlement or colony, should one be attempted. They live on the Wabash, on both sides; some in the Illinois Territory, and Some of some in Indiana. They are in general industrious and moral. them have landed property, and are good farmers; and some can read and write. They are sensible of the existing degraded condition in which they are placed by our laws, respecting the right of suffrage, and other disabilities." Extract of a letter written by Capt. Paul Cuffe to Mr. Mills, dated Westport, 1st mo. 6th, 1817. "In 1815 I carried out to Sierra Leone nine families, 38 in number; and in 1816 I have had so many applications that I believe I might have had the greater part to have carried out of Boston and the vicinity." Extract from the Second Annual Report of the Board of Managers. "Continued assurances have been received by the Board of Managers, in the last year, of the readiness of the free people of color in the United States to avail themselves of their contemplated asylum, whenever a suitable territory for its erection shall have been procured. These have proceeded from the most enlightened of this class of persons, comprehending individuals engaged in all the occupations of civil life, dispersed throughout the United States, and in sufficient number to form the basis of a respectable colony. To these assurances have been added the repeated declarations of several proprietors of their readiness to emancipate the whole, or a part of their slaves, whenever a suitable abode in Africa shall have been provided for them, upon condition that they shall repair to it. "When the Managers add, that they have purposely avoided all appeals to those motives which ought to, and doubtless will, hereafter induce the free people of color to exchange political slavery and moral degradation for inde pendence and honor, these assurances are calculated to remove all doubt of the facility with which they will make this exchange, when they can effect it, not only with the permission, but the assistance also of their former mas ters. "The humane forbearance of the Managers and friends of the American Society to excite in the breast of the free people of color hopes which might hereafter be disappointed, has deprived them, in some instances, of the means of correcting misconceptions of the origin and views of the Society. It has been suggested to be an invention of the Southern proprietor to rivet the chains of servitude upon his slaves, as if the circumstances which accompanied the origin of the society, the character of its members, and their solemn and reiterated declarations, did not forbid so unfounded an imputation It would not be more uncandid to ascribe to them a design to invade the rights of private property, secured by the Constitution and the laws of the several slave-holding States, and to proclaim universal emancipation! "If, as is most confidently believed, the colonization of the free people of color will render the slave who remains in America more obedient, more faithful, more honest, and, consequently, more useful to his master, is it proper to regard this happy consequence to both as the sole object which the society hope to attain? Is it a substantial objection to this that, like every other effort to enlarge the stock of human happiness, it enlists in its favor the selfish as well as the disinterested affections of the heart? The inference deducible from all such suspicions serves only to demonstrate that the success of the wise and charitable purpose of the society is assured by the irresistible appeal which it makes to all the powerful sentiments of the heart, the most sordid and degrading, as well as the most benevolent and exalted.” Letter from the Petersburg African Missionary Society. PETERSBURGH, VA. April 30th, 1819. DEAR SIR: Having been authorized by the Petersburg African Missionary Society of persons of color to address you in their behalf on the subject of the intended colony in Sherbro, permit me, honored Sir, to tell you, that this society has been in existence only seven months, and their object is to send forth missionaries to the benighted land of Africa; numbers would be willing to go if they could get correct information from you respecting the country, and the means of conveyance from this place. It is the general opinion among us, that, if we could only obtain information from the Board of your Society, that would give us proper ideas of the site and mode of government, and how we should be protected, that we would embrace the opportunity, and prepare to leave our adopted for our beloved asylum. Please answer this as soon as you conveniently can, as the people are anxious to hear from you. With considerations of the highest esteem and re spect, I remain, dear Sir, Your truly humble servant, TO ELIAS B. CALDWELL, Esq. PHILADELPHIA, June 3d, 1819. - DEAR SIR: The enclosed has just been left with me to obtain information on the subject to which it refers. At your leisure a communication may be made, which I can hand to the parties. ELIAS B. CALDWELL, Esq. Very sincerely, I am, dear Sir, Your friend and obedient servant, ROBERT RALSTON. PHILADELPHIA, May 29, 1819. We, the undersigned, do hereby request the Colonization Society to give us an exact information of their progress in obtaining a ship and men to go on the coast of Africa, on wages for one year, and to return if they choose, and bring the report back to America. Daniel George, John Walters, Ephraim Sanders, The above persons are willing to offer their services, (most of them having families) if satisfactory information is given to the inquiries now made. FIFTEENTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1817. On motion of Mr. Mercer, Resolved, That the committee to whom was referred the memorial of the American Colonization Society be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making such further alterations in the faws prohibiting the citizens of the United States from engaging in the African slave trade, as may more effectually cause [secure] their intended operation; and that the said committee have leave to report by bill or otherwise. NOTE. The subject of this resolution was not further acted on during this session. Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives, consisting of Mr. Mercer, Mr. Comstock, Mr. Darlington, Mr. Terrell, Mr. Edwards-April 18, 1818. The committee to whom was referred the memorial of the "President and Board of Managers of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States" have, according to order, had the same under their attentive consideration. |