colored persons have property more than sufficient to pay their own passage, and laws might be passed to cause others to save their earnings, till they amounted to enough for their passage money. Besides, what should prevent some of our public vessels being employed in this work, and at an expense very little exceeding that, which is now required to keep them in service? And last of all, why should not a portion of the national revenue be appropriated to an object, which so vitally affects the rising interests of our confederacy?

6

Let it be our pride to follow, as far as the genius of our institutions will permit, the liberal and high minded example of a younger republic. The Government of Colombia has not only decreed, that all, of whatever color, are entitled to the same privileges as white men,' but has enacted a statute for the gradual abolition of slavery within its own territory, by establishing a manumission fund, arising out of a tax on a portion of the property left by persons at their death. Why may not our Congress so far walk in the steps of the generous friends of humanity in Colombia, as to appropriate a reasonable amount to relieve the country from the nuisance and terror of the free black population? Or, should the argument from humanity and this example be thought of little weight, why should not such a measure be prompted by a regard for the deepest concerns and supreme welfare of the nation ?*

The unhealthiness of the climate is another objection, usually advanced against the practicability of a settlement in Africa. In respect to this, we beg permission again to refer to the European colonies, which have been so long in operation. That the coast of western Africa is unhealthy to northern constitutions, is not denied ; but no proof has been exhibited, that it is more so than other tropical climates, or even the alluvial districts of the United States. Let a colony from the northern and middle states be transported to the low and fertile parts of the Carolinas, or to the banks of the Missis

*The law of manumission passed by the Congress of Colombia, July 19th, 1821, is introduced by the following preamble; That, according to the eternal principles of reason, justice, and the wisest policy, no republican government, truly just and philanthropic, can exist without seeking to alleviate all those classes of mankind, that are degraded and unhappy; and that an object of such importance to the Republic ought to be realized, and slavery be gradually abolished, so that, without compromising the public tranquillity, or affecting the rights, which the proprietors really possess, the freedom of all the inhabitants of Colombia may in a few years be ensured.'

sippi, in the warm season, and the mortality would be much greater, than has been known in Africa, even in the midst of the fatal rains. By Meredith, Wadstrom, Dr Lind, and others, who have had an opportunity of being informed, it is stated with confidence, that the country about Sierra Leone is equal in salubrity to the most healthy of the West India Islands. The mortality of the colonists in Africa has not been more alarming, than it was among the original settlers of New England, and other parts of America. The unusual sickness of the first emigrants to Sierra Leone, and of those gone from this country, depended on incidental causes, many of which have no necessary connexion with the climate, and which will never occur to the same degree, when the forests shall be cleared, the miasmata of decayed vegetation removed, and the people supplied with comfortable habitations, and wholesome food. On the whole, there seems no reason to suppose western Africa more unhealthy, than other parts of the world, to which people have emigrated for centuries, and where they have built cities, established governments, and grown into empires.

The local situation selected for our present colony enjoys many positive advantages. In speaking of the tracts of country around Cape Monte and Cape Mesurado, Dr Leyden says, 'These districts have been described by Des Marchais, Villault, Philips, Atkins, Bosman, and Smith, as pleasant, salubrious, and fertile.' Again he adds, Cape Mesurado is a detached mountain, steep and elevated towards the sea, with a gentle declivity on the land side. The adjacent country is extremely fertile, producing sugar cane, indigo, and cotton, without cultivation."

* See Murray's Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, Vol. II. p. 290. On the fertility of Africa, and its advantages for colonization, Mungo Park writes in the most decided and encouraging manner, after having seen more of the interior than all other European travellers besides. 'It cannot admit of a doubt,' says he, 'that all the rich and valuable productions, both of the East and West Indies, might easily be naturalized, and brought to the utmost perfection, in the tropical parts of this immense continent. Nothing is wanting to this end but example to enlighten the minds of the natives, and instruction to enable them to direct their industry to proper objects. It was not possible for me to behold the wonderful fertility of the soil, the vast herds of cattle, proper both for labor and food, and a variety of other circumstances favorable to colonization and agriculture, and reflect withal on the means, which presented themselves of a vast inland navigation, without lamenting that a country, so abundantly gifted and favored by nature, should remain in its

No man is better acquainted with the coast of Africa, probably, than Sir George R. Collier, who has been the chief commander of the British squadron stationed there for three or four years. In his Second Report to the British government, respecting the settlements in Africa, he thus alludes to the attempt to form a colony at Sherbro. Had America,' he observes, who, excepting Great Britain, appears more in earnest than any other nation, established her lately attempted settlement at Cape Mesurado, or even at Cape Monte, she would at least have secured a more healthful, and by far a more convenient spot, than her late ill chosen one in the Sherbro. And an establishment by America, either at Cape Monte, or Cape Mesurado, would have afforded to the friends. of humanity the most rational hopes, that in the immediate neighborhood of the American colony the demand for slaves would have been checked, and thus a settlement would have been formed, useful to the purposes of civilization; and from its actual, though distant intercourse with the frontiers of Gaman and Ashantee, have opened the line of lucrative speculation to the American merchant, and with the additional advantage of doing so without interfering in any way with the prosperity of the British Colony of Sierra Leone.' These remarks are of more practical value, than volumes of speculations penned in this country, founded on conjecture, or deduced from abstract principles. They are from a person, who enjoyed the best opportunities for observation, repeatedly traversed the coast, and whose business it was to supply his government with accurate knowledge. On this testimony, connected with that of our own agents, we are willing to rest, and are satisfied with the conviction, that Mesurado affords all the requisite facilities for building up an establishment, which ought to receive the cordial support of every friend of his species, every lover of right and freedom, and every sincere patriot in this country.

The formidable encroachment, which the present article has already made on our accustomed limits, compels us to

present savage and neglected state. Much more did I lament, that a people of manners so gentle and benevolent should either be left as they now are, immersed in the gross and uncomfortable blindness of pagan superstition, or permitted to become converts to a system of bigotry and fanaticism, which, without enlightening the mind, often debases the heart.' Park's Travels, American edition, p. 227.

desist from several remarks intended for this part of the subject. We trust, that from what has been said, our readers will be enabled to arrive at a just understanding of the history and objects of the Colonization Society, the practicability of these objects, and the methods by which they may be attained. Much more might be added to illustrate this last topic, both in regard to the local circumstances of the colony at Mesurado, and to the means employed at home to supply it with emigrants; but the view we have taken is enough, we think, to justify us in the belief, that the plan in its outlines is well conceived, and wants only the vigorous cooperation of the public to make it entirely successful.

We should be glad, also, if we had room, to press a few of the reasons, why the particular attention of our national legislature is demanded to this colony, and to urge the importance of its being taken wholly under the charge and jurisdiction of the government. In regard to what is called the constitutional question, whether the United States have power to establish such a colony, we know not in what it differs from the question, whether they have power to put their own laws in execution, or take the only efficient measures to suppress an evil, whose contagion is daily spreading, and which threatens a more serious calamity than any other to our national prosperity, if not to our political being. It would be strange, indeed, if it should be made plain to our legislators, that the constitution stops their ears to the cries of humanity, ties their hands from the work of benevolence, and compels them to nurture the seeds and foster the growth of our own destruction. And it comes to this, if they have not power to establish a colony abroad to receive the free blacks; for we hold it to be a position, as firmly grounded as any law in nature or society, that our black population can never be drawn off, except through the medium of such an establishment. Let us denominate our colony a Territory, if we will, and then it will not differ from our other Territories, except in being separated from the confederated States by an ocean, instead of a river, or lake. A voyage from Washington to Mesurado can be performed as quick as to the Falls of St Anthony, or the Saut of St Mary, and much quicker than to the Mandan Villages.

The expediency of such a territory is to be settled, per haps, on other principles, but it would hardly seem possible for a division to exist on this point. The advantages to this country of a colony in Africa, under the patronage of the government, are not to be calculated; and it needs not be reckoned among its least recommendations, that it would hold out the prospect of removing, in a good degree, the causes of the present differences between the governments of the United States and Great Britain, concerning mixed commission courts, and the mutual privilege of search on the coast of Africa. It may be added, moreover, that should the colony be taken into the hands of the government, it will enable Virginia to pursue her long meditated plan of providing for the colonization of her free blacks. It is but reasonable to suppose, also, that other states would follow the example, especially those, which have already, by a vote of their legislatures, approved the scheme of the Colonization Society. They might act with a confidence and security, which they cannot feel in a private body, however strong in its numbers, or fortunate in its operations.

But we do not mean to encourage the Society in any relaxation of duty, by thus proposing to take away its most oppressive burden. We would excuse it from the troublesome, if not impracticable task of controlling and governing the colony, but we would have all its energy, its zeal, and its resources employed in carrying forward the grand object. This can be done in a more efficient manner, by acting in concert with the government; every weight thrown into the scale will then be felt in its full force.

The Society may watch over the execution of the laws, keep an eye on abuses, and communicate to the government valuable intelligence, which it would not derive from any other source. In the year 1807, shortly after the abolition act was passed in England, the African Institution was formed, with the avowed object of affording all possible aids to the full operation of that act. To this end it has been of essential service, by taking cognizance of events, disseminating a knowledge of African affairs, and occasionally presenting memorials to Parliament, or addresses to the King, calling their attention to particular subjects, which the inquiries and experience of the Institution proved to them demanded