shall be willing to do any thing I can, to give it effect and safety. But I am but a private individual, and could only use endeavors with individuals; whereas the national Government can address itself at once to those of Europe, to obtain the desired security, and will unquestionably be ready to exert its influence with those nations, to effect an object so benevolent in itself, and so important to a great portion of its constituents. Indeed nothing is more to be wished, than that the United States would themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa.'

This, too, was a private communication, made known to the public only within a few years. But, to go back a step farther in our series of authorities, an able article may be found in the American Museum, dated Richmond, March 6th, 1790, and said to have been written by Ferdinando Fairfax.* The view there taken of the whole subject-matter connected with emancipation and colonization, is in the highest degree luminous and cogent. The reasoning accords as nearly as possible with that of Jefferson, Finley, and the most enlightened modern advocates of the scheme in question. The conclusion is in the following terms.

'It is therefore proposed, that a colony should be settled, under the auspices and protection of Congress, by the negroes now within the United States, and be composed of those who are already, as well as those who at any time hereafter may become, liberated by the voluntary consent of their owners; since there are many who would willingly emancipate,' &c.

He afterwards proposes, that this colony should be in Africa, their native climate, as being most suitable for the purposes intended;' and many other suggestions are offered, as being pertinent, though subordinate, to the main project.

But the credit of originality does not belong to Mr. Fairfax himself, although his plan was more thoroughly matured than any other we have met with previously to Mr. Finley's. In the Memoirs of Granville Sharp (published several years since in England, and written by Mr. Prince Hoare, one of the honorary governors of the African Institution), is preserved a letter addressed to that gentleman in January, 1789, by the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, an eminent minister of Newport, Rhode Island. The object was to ascertain the situation of the colony

*See African Repository, Vol. II. p. 198.

at Sierra Leone, and especially whether the blacks of New England, who have been educated and habituated to industry and labor, either on lands or as mechanics, and are thereby prepared to bring forward such a settlement better than any others that can be found,' might have any part of the colonial lands to settle on, and upon what terms. He had come to this point, he writes, in consequence of long observation of the state of the free blacks in this country. Many of them were already desirous, he adds, of removing to Africa, to settle on lands which they think may be obtained of some of the nations there, from whom they were taken, and whose language they retain; and there maintain Christianity, and spread the knowledge of it among the Africans; at the same time cultivating their land, and introducing into that hitherto uncivilized country the arts of husbandry, building mills and houses, and other mechanic arts, and raising tobacco, coffee, cotton, indigo, &c. for exportation as well as their own use.' We cite thus much of this document, as singularly correspondent in its reasoning and anticipation to what has been subsequently said and done. One more inventor only remains to be brought forward, on the information of Brissot and other writers of the same period.

In the year 1787,' says Brissot, Dr. Thornton proposed the subject of the colonization of the people of color on the coast of Africa to the people of Boston, and of Providence (Rhode Island).'

He adds, that many of that class consented to accompany the Doctor in an expedition pursuant to this plan; but that nothing was done, because the community generally preferred colonization in this country, and refused to furnish funds for that of any other description. Elsewhere we are informed by the same writer, and he seems to have obtained his information from good authority, that the project was first imagined by that great apostle of philanthropy, Dr. Fothergill, well known as one of the intimate joint-laborers with Mr. Sharp;' 'a project executed,' he concludes, by the Society at London, or rather by the beneficent Granville Sharp,-a project for

*

Subsequently a citizen of Washington, D. C., and an ardently devoted and active friend of the Colonization Society. He was educated on the island of Antigua, one of the West Indian possessions of the French, where his parents owned a plantation.

restoring the negroes to their country, to establish them there, and encourage them in the cultivation of coffee, sugar, cotton, &c., and to open a commerce with Europe."

Such, so far as we have the means of tracing it, is the history of the idea of African colonization. Of the immediate origin of the American Colonization Society, the character and history of which now claim our attention, the following is the most complete account which has come to our notice. Early in 1816, Mr. Finley, who resided at Basking Ridge, in New Jersey, began to disclose sentiments relating to the interests of the free blacks, similar to those which have already been remarked upon as forming a part of his letter. About the same time, an accidental disclosure was first made of the general fact, that measures, such as we have mentioned above, had been taken by the Legislature of Virginia at various periods, and that certain distinguished men had been earnestly engaged in the same cause. This circumstance gave a new impulse to the energies of all who had interested themselves in the subject. A concurrent movement towards the adoption of some particular plan of operations was distinctly concerted in March, at Georgetown, D. C. between a resident of that place, and several citizens of the two neighboring States. This was without the knowledge or participation of any individual whatever, living north of Maryland. But in the course of the ensuing suminer and autumn, the discussion became more general, and excited considerable interest in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Princeton, and other principal places in that section of the country. Still Mr. Finley seems rather to have led public opinion, for while others were only talking and thinking, he was devoting himself wholly to the cause. After having reflected deliberately on the proper place, time, and manner of commencing the long contemplated movement,-and the propriety of doing something had scarcely been disputed at all,— he resolved to test the popularity, and in some degree the practicability of his own plan, by introducing the subject to public notice at Washington. He arrived at that city about the first of December, 1816, and began to make arrangements for a meeting of the citizens. Many ridiculed, and some opposed him; but meekly contenting himself with the observation, I know this scheme is from God,' he persevered and prevailed The Society was organized on the first of January, 1817, at a meeting of which Mr. Clay was chairman Judge

Washington was elected President, and continued to occupy that station until his death, when he was succeeded by Charles Carroll of Carrolton, the present incumbent. At this time there are twenty-four Vice Presidents, of whom, (excluding General Lafayette,) we have taken the pains to ascertain that three belong to New England, as many to Maryland, one to New York and Georgia each, two to Kentucky and New Jersey each, four to Virginia, and the residue to various other sections.

The second article of the original constitution is expressed

thus.

The object to which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of color residing in this country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient. And the Society shall act, to effect this object, in co-operation with the General Government, and such of the States as may adopt regulations on the subject.'

As the Society has uniformly acted in pursuance of these clearly declared principles, to the exclusion of all others, it is unnecessary to give additional evidence of the perfectly simple object which they have in view, or of the equally plain means by which they propose to accomplish it, so far as such means may enable them.

As regards the place chosen for the settlement of a Colony, different opinions have been advanced among the advocates of colonization, as well as elsewhere, and both before and since the formation of the Society. Those who have thought most upon the subject, however, seem to have decided almost universally in favor of the African Coast. The English philanthropists and the English Government have never discussed any other proposal, having the same object in view. Such were Dr. Fothergill's and Dr. Thornton's plans, the scheme of Mr. Fairfax, the earliest proposition of Mr. Jefferson, and the declared wish of the Legislature and Executive of Virginia. It must be obvious indeed to the most careless reflection, that there are positive and strong objections to most other proposed locations, which do not apply to this; and, at the same time, as urgent considerations in favor of this, which do not apply to them.

Nothing needs be said to enforce the reasonableness of the

provisions made in the Virginia Resolutions, that the territory which might be procured should, at all events, be without the limits of the United States and the territorial Governments. A domestic Colony,-unless a very remote one, and then it would be substantially foreign,-would be impracticable, on account of the number and disposition of those who must be parties to such an arrangement. If it were not so, it would still be of no benefit either to the whites or the blacks. So far as the welfare of the latter class is to be promoted, which the Society holds up as its grand aim, it would be but a change of place without a change of circumstances; as to the former, it would be but shifting the burden from one shoulder to the other.

The only project of a settlement within our own territory, which has appeared sufficiently feasible to be discussed, was laid before the public under the auspices of Mr. Tucker, a Senator from Virginia, in 1825. In March of that year, he offered a Resolution to the National Senate, the object of which was to ascertain, through the War Department, the probable expense of extinguishing the Indian title to a portion of the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains, that may be suitable for colonizing the free people of color, the best known routes across the said mountains, and the probable cost of a road and military posts, necessary to a safe communication with such colony.' The little reflection which has been given to this scheme having caused it to be altogether abandoned, it is unnecessary to make comment upon it. Objections equally conclusive, though of a different character, apply to every proposal which has been or can be made, of founding a settlement on territory belonging to foreign powers, but adjacent to our own. Absolute dependence upon such powers, in war and in peace, and the necessity of being involved in their relations to other powers, would be among the first and worst results, affecting the interest of the colony itself.

The plan of colonization in Canada is the only one of this class, which has assumed character enough to make it a subject of argument. The attention of some of the free blacks was first turned towards this quarter, in consequence of measures adopted a few years since by the State of Ohio, for the exclusion of that class from its territory. The laws which were passed for this purpose took effect in June, 1829; and the colony established in consequence, commenced its operations early in the ensuing