It is of vast importance to these people, as a class, that their hopes and expectations of temporal prosperity should be turned to Africa, and that they should not regard our country as their permanent residence, or as that country in which they will ever, as a people, enjoy equal privileges and blessings with the whites.[Rev. Mr Gurley's Letter to the Rev. S. S. Jocelyn.]

To attain solid happiness and permanent respectability, they should now remove to a more congenial clime. To raise them to a level with the

whites is AN IMPOSSIBILITY.'-[New-Haven Religious Intelligencer.]

'In Liberia—the land of their forefathers, they will be restored to real freedom, which they have never yet enjoyed, and which it is folly for them to expect they can ever enjoy among the whites.'-[Norfolk Herald.]

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me.' Are we pagans, are we savages, are we devils? Can pagans, or savages, or devils, exhibit a more implacable spirit, than is seen in the foregoing extracts? It is enough to cause the very stones to cry out, and the beasts of the field to rebuke us.

Of this I am sure no man, who is truly willing to admit the people of color to an equality with himself, can see any insuperable difficulty in effecting their elevation. When, therefore, I hear an individual-especially a professor of christianitystrenuously contending that there can be no fellowship with them, I cannot help suspecting the sincerity of his own republicanism or piety, or thinking that the beam is in his own eye. My bible assures me that the day is coming when even the 'wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the wolf and the young lion and the fatling together; and, if this be possible, I see no cause why those of the same species-God's rational creatures-fellow countrymen, in truth, cannot dwell in harmony together.

How abominably hypocritical, how consummately despicable, how incorrigibly tyrannical must this whole nation appear in the eyes of the people of Europe !-professing to be the friends of the free blacks, actuated by the purest motives of benevolence toward them, desirous to make atonement for past wrongs, challenging the admiration of the world for their patriotism, philanthropy and piety—and yet (hear, O heaven! and be astonished, O earth!) shamelessly proclaiming, with a voice louder than thunder, and an aspect malignant as sin, that while their colored countrymen remain among them, they must be

trampled beneath their feet, treated as inferior beings, deprived of all the invaluable privileges of freemen, separated by the brand of indelible ignominy, and debased to a level with the beasts that perish! Yea, that they may as soon change their complexion as rise from their degradation! that no device of philanthropy can benefit them here! that they constitute a class out of which no individual can be elevated, and below which, none can be depressed! that no talents however great, no piety however pure and devoted, no patriotism however ardent, no industry however great, no wealth however abundant, can raise them to a footing of equality with the whites! that let them toil from youth to old age in the honorable pursuit of wisdom-let them store their minds with the most valuable researches of science and literature—and let them add to a highly gifted and cultivated intellect, a piety pure, undefiled, and unspotted from the world, it is all nothing-they would not be received into the very lowest walks of society-admiration of such uncommon beings would mingle with disgust!' Yea, that there is a broad and impassible line of demarcation between every man who has one drop of African blood in his veins and every other class in the community'! Yea, that the habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society—prejudices which neither refinement, nor argument, nor education, nor RELIGION itself can subduemark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation inevitable and incurable'! Yea, that Christianity cannot do for them here, what it will do for them in Africa'! Yea, that this is not the fault of the colored man, NOR OF THE WHITE MAN, nor of Christianity; but AN ORDINATION OF PROVIDENCE, and no more to be changed than the LAWS OF NATURE'!!!

Again I ask, are we pagans, are we savages, are we devils? Search the records of heathenism, and sentiments more hostile to the spirit of the gospel, or of a more black and blasphemous complexion than these, cannot be found. I believe that they are libels upon the character of my countrymen, which time will wipe off. I call upon the spirits of the just made perfect in heaven, upon all who have experienced the love of God in their souls here below, upon the christian converts in India and

the islands of the sea, to sustain me in the assertion that there is power enough in the religion of Jesus Christ to melt down the most stubborn prejudices, to overthrow the highest walls of partition, to break the strongest caste, to improve and elevate the most degraded, to unite in fellowship the most hostile, and to equalize and bless all its recipients. Make me sure that there is not, and I will give it up, now and for ever. 'In Christ Jesus, all are one : there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female.'

These sentiments were not uttered by infidels, nor by worthless wretches, but in many instances by professors of religion and ministers of the gospel! and in almost every instance by reputedly the most enlightened, patriotic and benevolent men in the land! Tell it not abroad! publish it not in the streets of Calcutta! Even the eminent President of Union College, (Rev. Dr. Nott,) could so far depart, unguardedly I hope, from christian love and integrity, as to utter this language in an address in behalf of the Colonization Society: With us they [the free people of color] have been degraded by slavery, and still further degraded by the mockery of nominal freedom.' Were this true, it would imply that we of the free States are more barbarous and neglectful than even the traffickers in souls and men-stealers at the south. We have not, it is certain, treated our colored brethren as the law of kindness and the ties of brotherhood demand ; but have we outdone slaveholders in cruelty? Were it true, to forge new fetters for the limbs of these degraded beings would be an act of benevolence. But their condition is as much superior to that of the slaves, as happiness is to misery. The second portion of this work, containing their proceedings in a collective capacity, shows whether they have made any progress in intelligence, in virtue, in piety, and in happiness, since their liberation. Again he says: We have endeavored, but endeavored in vain, to restore them either to self-respect, or to the respect of others.' It is painful to contradict so worthy an individual; but nothing is more certain than that this statement is altogether erroneous. We have derided, we have shunned, we have neglected them, in every possible manner. They have had to rise not only under the mountainous weight of their own ignorance

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degradation is the same-dark, and deep, and hopeless. Benevolence seems to overlook them, or struggles for their benefit in vain. Patriotism forgets them, or remembers them only with shame for what has been, and with dire forebodings, of what is yet to come.' 'It is taken for granted that in present circumstances, any effort to produce a general and thorough amelioration in the character and condition of the free people of color must be to a great extent fruitless. In every part of the United States there is a broad and impassible line of demarcation between every man who has one drop of African blood in his veins and every other class in the community. The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society-prejudices which neither refinement, nor argument, nor education, nor religion itself can subdue-mark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation inevitable and incurable. The African in this country belongs by birth to the very lowest station in society; and from that station he can never rise, BE HIS TALENTS, HIS ENTERPRISE, HIS VIRTUES WHAT THEY MAY. They constitute a class by themselves a class out of which no individual can be elevated, and below which, none can be depressed. And this is the difficulty, the invariable and insuperable difficulty in the way of every scheme for their benefit. Much can be done for them-much has been done; but still they are, and, in this country, ALWAYS MUST BE a depressed and abject race.'-[African Repository, vol. iv. pp. 117, 118, 119.]

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The distinctive complexion by which it is marked, necessarily debars it from all familiar intercourse with the more favored society that surrounds it, and of course denies to it all hope of either social or political elevation, by means of individual merit, however great, or individual exertions, however unreinitted.' ** 'It is deemed unnecessary to repeat what has already been said, of the character of the population in question, of its hopeless degradation, and its baneful influence, in the situation in which it is now placed.' * The colored population of this country can never rise to respectability and happiness here.' It was at an early period seen and acknowledged, that neither the objects of benevolence nor the interests of the nation could be materially benefitted by any plan or measures that permitted them to remain within the United States.' * They leave a country in which though born and reared, they are strangers and aliens; where severe necessity places them in a class of degraded beings.' ** With us they have been degraded by slavery, and STILL FURTHER DEGRADED by the mockery of nominal freedom. We have endeavored, but endeavored in vain, to restore them either to selfrespect, or to the respect of others. It is not our fault that we have failed; it is not theirs. It has resulted from a cause over which neither they, nor we, can ever have control. Here, therefore, they must be for ever debased: more than this, they must be for ever useless; more even than this, they must be FOR EVER A NUISANCE, from which it were a blessing for society to be rid. And yet they, and they only, are qualified for colonizing Africa.' Whether bond or free, their presence will be for ever a calamity. Why then, in the name of God, should we hesitate to encourage their departure? The existence of this race among us; a race that can neither share our blessings nor incorporate in our Society, is already felt to be a curse.'-[African Repository, vol. v. pp. 51, 53, 179, 234, 238, 276, 278.]

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'Is our posterity doomed to endure for ever not only all the ills flowing from the state of slavery, but all which arise from incongruous elements of population, separated from each other by invincible prejudices, and by natural causes? Here invincible prejudices exclude them from the enjoyment of the society of the whites, and deny them all the advantages of freemen. The bar, the pulpit, and our legislative halls are shut to them by the irresistible force of public sentiment. No talents however great, no piety however pure and devoted, no patriotism however ardent, can secure their admission. They constantly hear the accents, and behold the triumphs, of a liberty which here they

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can never enjoy.' It is against this increase of colored persons, who take but a nominal freedom here, and cannot rise from their degraded condition, that this Society attempts to provide.' They may be emancipated; but emancipation cannot elevate their condition or augment their capacity for self-preservation.-Want and suffering will gradually diminish their numbers, and they will disappear, as the inferior has always disappeared, before the superior race.' * Our great and good men purposed it primarily as a system of relief for two millions of fellow men in our own county-a population dangerous to ourselves and necessarily degraded here.' * * The

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free blacks, by the moral necessity of their civil disabilities, are and must for ever be a nuisance-equally, and more to the owner of slaves, than to other members of the community.'--[African Repository, vol. vi. pp. 12, 17, 82, 168, 295, 368.]

'Incorporated into our country as freemen, yet separated from it by odious and degrading distinctions, they feel themselves condemned to a hopeless and debasing inferiority. They know that their very complexion will for ever exclude them from the rank, the privileges, the honors, of freemen. No matter how great their industry, or how abundant their wealth-no matter what their attainments in literature, science or the arts-no matter how correct their deportment or what respect their characters may inspire, they can never, NO, NEVER be raised to a footing of equality, not even to a familiar intercourse with the surrounding society.' To us it seems evident that the man of color may as soon change his complexion, as rise above all sense of past inferiority and debasement in a community, from the social intercourse of which, he must expect to be in a great measure excluded, not only until prejudice shall have no existence therein, but until the freedom of man in regulating his social relations is proved to be abridged by some law of morality or the gospel.

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Is it not wise, then, for the free people of color and their friends to admit, what cannot reasonably be doubted, that the people of color must, in this country, remain for ages, probably for ever, a separate and inferior caste, weighed down by causes, powerful, universal, inevitable; which neither legislation nor christianity can remove?'

Let the free black in this country toil from youth to age in the honorable pursuit of wisdom-let him store his mind with the most valuable researches of science and literature--and let him add to a highly gifted and cultivated intellect, a piety pure, undefiled, and "unspotted from the world"—it is all nothing he would not be received into the very lowest walks of society. If we were constrained to admire so uncommon a being, our very admiration would mingle with disgust, because, in the physical organization of his frame, we meet an insurmountable barrier, even to an approach to social intercourse, and in the Egyptian color, which nature has stamped upon his features, a principle of repulsion so strong as to forbid the idea of a communion either of interest or of feeling, as utterly abhorrent. Whether these feelings are founded in reason or not, we will not now inquire-perhaps they are not. But education and habit and prejudice have so firmly riveted them upon us, that they have become as strong as nature itself— and to expect their removal, or even their slightest modification, would be as idle and preposterous as to expect that we could reach forth our hands, and remove the mountains from their foundations into the vallies, which are beneath them.'—[African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 100, 195, 196, 231.]

And can we not find some spot on this large globe which will receive them kindly, and where they may escape those prejudices which, in this country, ever keep them inferior and degraded members of society?'—[Third Annual Report.]

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• A population which, even if it were not literally enslaved, must for ever remain in a state of degradation no better than bondage.' • Here the thing is impossible; a slave cannot be really emancipated. You may call him [PART I.]

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