extirpate those vices which are inherent in the descendants of the African race." Of the success of the Haytien experiment it may become necessary to treat more fully hereafter. St. Domingo, however, is not the only example of the settled and invincible aversion of the negro in warm latitudes to labour. In the English West Indies the most rigid police system is, even in their present state of apprenticeship, insufficient to constrain them to the same amount of labour as formerly; and at our own colony of Liberia, the population of which has been selected with care, it has always been found impossible to induce the settlers to engage in agricultural, or any permanent and regular labour.

Of the general productiveness of slave-labour there are innumerable examples. The ancient nations of the East owed their unbounded wealth to slave-labour. Egypt, Greece, and Rome, all densely populated, boundless in affluence and power, were slaveholding nations, and owed their prosperity to slave labour. In our own times, the wealth of the West India colonies, of Brazil, of our own southern country, particularly the south-western states, illustrates the productiveness of slave-labour. It is true that a portion of the South has not advanced recently as rapidly as many sections of the North and West. On examination, however, it will be found that those states were, up to the period of the protective policy, more prosperous than their sisters; and though that policy, joined with southern extravagance, the amount of labour lost in the sickly season, the loss by emigration to the West, and the emoluments of her factor, the shrewder and more shifting North, has retarded her onward progress, we believe that the South is destined to rival, perhaps outstrip, her most fortunate sisters in wealth and prosperity. If the abolitionists do not dissolve the bonds of our union, the

North will continue to thrive on the fatness of the South; and all the members of our national family, not only united by the recollections of the past and the hopes of the future, by our common interest in the heritage of freedom and glory left by our ancestors, but knit together in an intercourse of mutual benefits-will advance hand in hand to affluence and power. Should, however, the blows which have already been given, and are daily redoubled, succeed in severing the links that bind us together, the evil will be upon the North. Those who are tugging at the pillars of the temple of Union will, Sampson-like, be buried in its ruins-the South will remain unharmed. United and tranquil, with her slave-labour, and its golden produce the rich staples cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, &c., with a commerce of her own untaxed and richly sustained by her immense exports, she would (were her sons true-and when have they proved recreant?) hold undisturbed her onward course to power and affluence. She may wax poor, but slavery will never impoverish her; her fertile valleys may be bathed in blood, but, unless northern philanthropy excites it, it will not be shed by the hands of her slaves; she may become shrunken in spirit and power, craven and degenerate, and fall from her present high estate, but the philosophic historian will never ascribe her downfall to the institution of slavery. Her institutions are such as have grown out of her wants, such as suit her situation; they have promoted her prosperity and will insure its continuance. If unmolested, she will remain tranquil, prosperous, and happy; if disturbed, she may lose her tranquillity, but is fully capable of maintaining her own safety, and promoting her own welfare. Her course is onward; and the raving of the fanatics will not check nor turn her aside.

CHAPTER XI.

Schemes for the removal of Slavery-Colonization and Abolition-History of Colonization -Statement of its friends, of its opponents, &c.

As the introduction of slavery into this country was originally opposed, its continuance has also been deplored, by many of our citizens. At the North, where there was no inducement to continue to hold their slaves in bondage, they were gradually emancipated. In the South, where the number of the slaves was so great as to render abolition impracticable, other schemes have been suggested. Many different plans have, at different times, been proposed; and those who, not having properly considered the subject, regard negro slavery as an evil, have encouraged and sustained them. Some have even urged the expediency of confining the slaves, and compelling them to labour, the sexes being separated, in Ergastula, until the race may thus be extinguished; others have recommended that they be conveyed to some distant point in our own territory, and established as a separate community. It would, however, be useless and tiresome to revive the bubbles that have been, at different times, raised to burst beneath the first touch of investigation. Of the countless plans suggested by the quacks who, having conjectured that slavery was an evil, have also conjectured a cure, the only ones which have survived, are colonization on the western coast of Africa, and the

immediate or gradual abolition of slavery without expatriation.

The scheme of colonization was conceived at an early period, and appears to have been regarded with favour by some of the greatest minds our country has produced. Mr. Jefferson, as early as 1777, is said to have suggested colonization. In 1801 the legislature of Virginia, a state that appears to have been always restive on the subject of slavery, recommended colonization. In 1816 the same body passed the following resolutions:

"Whereas, the general assembly of Virginia have repeatedly sought to obtain an asylum beyond the limits of the United States for such persons of colour as had been or might be emancipated under the laws of this commonwealth, but have hitherto found all their efforts frustrated, either by the disturbed state of other nations, or domestic causes equally unpropitious to success.

"They now avail themselves of a period when peace has healed the wounds of humanity, and the principal nations of Europe have concurred with the government of the United States in abolishing the African slave trade (a traffic which this commonwealth, both before and since the revolution, zealously sought to exterminate,) to renew this effort, and do therefore

"Resolve, That the executive be requested to correspond with the president of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a territory on the western coast of Africa, or at some other place not within any of the states or territorial governments of the United States, to serve as an asylum for such persons of colour as are now free and may desire the same, and for those who may hereafter be emanci pated within this commonwealth; and that the senators and representatives of this state in the congress

of the United States be requested to use their best efforts to aid the president of the United States in the attainment of the above objects.

"Provided, That no contract or arrangement respecting such territory shall be obligatory on this commonwealth, until ratified by the legislature."

In December, 1816, the American Colonization Society was organized at Washington under the auspices of Dr. Finley of New Jersey, Hon. C. F. Mercer, F. S. Key, and some others. Measures were taken as early as possible to select a site for the proposed colony. In 1818, Messrs. Mill and Burgess visited Africa by the way of England, and gained much important information. In 1820, the first expedition sailed, and attempted to make a settlement on the Island of Sherbo. The climate proved fatal to the settlers, and the effort failed. In 1821 another expedition sailed, and the colonists remained at Sierra Leone until a settlement could be made. In 1821, Dr. Eli Ayres, with Captain Stockton of the U. S. navy, purchased from the natives the territory called Montserado in the name of the Society. In 1822, a settlement was effected, and the colony placed under the government of Mr. Ashmun, as agent of the Society. The first year of the settlement was marked by many disasters. The natives assailed the colony in great force, but were repelled with intrepidity and success. In 1824 a form of government was adopted by the colonists. The board of managers of the Society appoint the colonial agent, who is a white man: all the other officers are men of colour, the most important of which are elected annually. Mr. Ashmun continued to preside over the colony until 1828, when he was constrained by illness, which soon proved fatal, to return to America. He was succeeded by Dr.