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Events since the last anniversary of this Society solemnly admonish its present members that they must soon resign their great trust to other hands, and from the scenes of Eternity alone expect to view the consummation of their enterprise. But their work shall survive them. The material they would renovate is human nature; the element they would move is the human soul, that glorious element of power embodying all the essential hopes and interests and fortunes of man.

Let this Society feel the magnitude and importance of its work. Let them regard it as a work patriotic and benevolent in all its tendencies, the execution of which is demanded alike by the love of our country, our nature, and our God; and which, contributing to the honor and safety of one Land, will shed over another-dark, savage, deep stained with crime and blood-the blessings of Freedom and Civilization and the inextinguishable light of Christianity.

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To Balance on hand this day,

To cash received from the following sources, since the last
Annual Meeting:

J. Gales, Treasurer, in Account with the American Colonization Society.

1836.

$3,259 28 By Cash paid on the following accounts, since the last Annual Meeting,

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For the discharge of a Loan, to the Patriotic Bank,

$1,000

From the several Auxiliary Societies,

6,540 68

In payment of a portion of the old Debt,

2,693 40

Donations,

8,705 83

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Emigrants and their Friends on account of their passage,

2,857 28 1,900 571 48 4,515 1,642 61

For supplies chiefly furnished in the Colony and for salaries of Officers and Physicians there,

5,335 27

For Charter of Vessels and Supplies of Trade Goods and Pro-
visions (including the Schooner Swift from Louisiana,)
For Salaries and expenses of Travelling Agents,
For Salaries of Officers at home,

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For educating, maintaining and clothing a coloured Student in Medicine,

524 75

Navy Department for the passage, &c. of two recaptured

Girls,

African From the Mississippi Auxiliary Society, and from the Ex'r. of the late James Green's Estate, advanced in fitting out the Schooner Swift from New Orleans, in April last, with 45 Emigrants and the necessary supplies,

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A Loan from the Female Auxiliary Society at Fredericksburg, to be hereafter appropriated to a School Establishment in the Colony,

Interest incurred on a donation made in the year 1832 by H.
Sheldon, Esq. towards the establishment of a College in
Liberia,

From Subscribers to the African Repository,

For Redemption, Instalments and Interest on the Society's Stock,

For do. of a coloured youth left to the care of this Society by the late Mr. Ireland of N. Orleans, now sent to the Colony, For Office Rent, Fuel, Postage, Stationery and other Contingencies, For Printing,

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160

For Interest, Discount and loss on depreciated Notes, For payment to J. C. Dunn, of the amount received for the African Repository,

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292 7 Balance (including an uncurrent Note and a Note and Drafts not at maturity,)

$38,157 16

$38,157 16

The undersigned, appointed to audit the Treasurer's Accounts, from December 12, 1835, to December 10, 1836, have performed the duty assigned them, and having compared the entries with the vouchers, find the record correctly kept and the balance correct. PHINEAS BRADLEY, M. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, December 12, 1836.

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

AT THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING.

The Twentieth Annual Meeting of the American Colonization Society, was held at 7 o'clock, P. M., on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 1836, in the Hall of the House of Representatives of the United States. HENRY CLAY, M. C., a Vice-President of the Society, took the chair.

The meeting was opened by prayer from the Rev. ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, D. D., of New York.

The Annual Report of the Managers was read by the Rev. R. R. GURLEY, Secretary of the Society; (See ante p. 3) and. on motion of the Rev. WM. HAWLEY, of Washington City, was accepted, and ordered to be printed under the direction of the Managers.

Dr. PROUDFIT offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That the Society for colonizing, with their own consent, on the coast of Africa, the free people of colour of the United States, whether it be regarded as a scheme of philanthropy or religion, is entitled to an honourable rank among the benevolent institutions of our country and our age; and the success which has recently attended the exertions of its friends may encour age them to persevere.

The remarks of the Reverend gentleman in support of his resolution were as follows:

Mr. PRESIDENT:-It is a principle in the constitution of man to derive pleasure from the contemplation of any object approaching the perfection of its nature. With what delight do we look at the blade, as it rises above the earth, followed "by the ear," and that in due season "by the full corn above the ear;" or the bud, as it appears in the orchard, succeeded by the opening blossom, and that afterwards by the colouring, ripening fruit. To all, therefore, who feel interested in the melioration of human misery, and the promotion of human happiness, it must be gratifying in the extreme to notice the onward march of all our benevolent societies; societies which are intended to advance the temporal and immortal welfare of man; and while the liberal support afforded to these institutions reflects imperishable honour on the philanthropy of our country, the results, we confidently hope, will be interesting beyond what the arithmetic of mortals can compute. The time has been within your recollection, Mr. President, and my own, when there was not a society on the globe for the gratuitous distribution of the scriptures, and now there are of lesser and larger grade more than two thousand, and through their instrumentality copies of the sacred oracles to the amount of nearly fifteen millions have been published, and circulated in almost every language spoken by man. The greater part of this audience can also recollect the time when there was no tract society upon the earth, and now you can scarcely visit a city, or village, or country settlement, without an association of some form to circulate these "little messengers of mercy," and through their exertions nearly three hundred millions of tracts, containing the truths of eternal life, have been printed and thrown into circulation; shall I say, sir, in the words of an eloquent writer, "nearly three hundred millions of leaves, shaken from the tree of life, are now borne by the four winds of heaven for the healing of the nations?" A spectator would imagine that these various institutions must ne-cessarily interfere with each other, and that in proportion to the patronage afforded to each, the patronage given to the others would be diminished But the fact is directly the reverse. These various societies are like so many wheels in one vast, complicated machine; each moving in its own place tends to facilitate and expedite the motion of the other; or they may be compared to different planets in the solar system: each revolving in its own orbit, diffuses

light, and heat, and glory upon another, and contributes to the perfection of the whole system.

But, sir, in this bright constellation which has already shed, and is still shedding their radiance upon our world, can you select one the onward march of which is more gratifying than that of the Society which is designed to elevate the character of the long insulted and oppressed offspring of Africa? Among our other institutions, one may be the favorite of the patriot, another of the philanthropist, and another of the christian; but that institution, which has for its object the emancipation of the enslaved, the elevation of the depressed, the intellectual culture of the illiterate and ignorant, the civilization of the savage, and the extension of the means of salvation to hundreds of millions who are perishing without vision or hope, makes its appeal irresistibly to all that is generous in the bosom of the patriot, and philanthropist, and christian, and such, either immediately or remotely, is the object of the Colonization Society: And, sir, the march of this institution is not merely onward, but rapid and accelerating. More emigrants have been colonized on the coast of Africa within the last eighteen months than in many preceding years, and the amount of monies collected and subscribed has been probably fourfold greater than in any similar period since the commencement of the enterprise. Indeed, this cause in all its relations appears to enjoy the smiles of a benignant Providence. The colonists in all the settlements along the coast are represented as industrious, and prosperous, and contented. But facts are always the most impressive and unanswerable arguments. In addition therefore to the accounts contained in your able Report, which has been read, permit me to give the following communication from Mr. Buchanan, our Agent, dated Bassa Cove, June 28, 1836. "Our affairs here are generally in a flourishing condition; the people are industrious, healthy, and prosperous; the village has a beautiful and thrifty appearance, exceeding any thing of the kind, considering its infancy, that I ever saw; the streets are clean, and finely shaded with palm trees; their lots are well cleared, and teeming with luxurious vegetation; the inhabitants have, for weeks, been living on the fruits of their industry, drawn from a soil which five months since was covered with a thick wilderness. So far our little Jerusalem has been signally blessed by a merciful Providence, and not a death has occurred since December iast. We have lately succeeded in the establishment of a weekly Mail between this village, and Monrovia, which I think will tend much to the improvement of the colonies." It is also stated by Doctor Skinner, another Agent, in his letter of January 1836, "I have laid out the lands at Bassa Cove in square lots running East and West, North and South by the compass. On several of the lots they have already commenced improvements, and have nearly completed a large, convenient house; this place for the salubrity of air and fertility of soil, is not exceeded by any spot on the Western shores of Africa. I do hope that the Society will not abandon its object, which, if persevered in, will soon be followed by the most glorious results, and I expect that the time will shortly come when the town which I have been laying out will be the capital of a great empire."

Such is the testimony of different Agents, relative to the flourishing condition of our colonies; and permit me, Mr. President, yet to trespass on your patience by adding the statement of Mr. Samuel Benedict, a coloured man, who emigrated to Africa in July 1835, from Georgia, under the auspices of the New York Colonization Society:-And it may not be improper to remark that this Benedict is a coloured man of superior order: without the advantages of an early education, he has risen by the force of native intellect to very considerable distinction as a scholar; by his untiring diligence he had accumulated a competent fortune, and by his integrity of conduct secured the confidence of all who knew him. It may afford you some knowledge of his taste and attainments, when I mention that upon his embarkation for Africa he had in his possession a splendid copy of Henry's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, Clark's Commentary on the Bible, Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Rollin's Ancient History, Blackstone's Commentaries on Law, with a collection of miscellaneous works on divinity, and medicine, and law. This Benedict some time after his settlement in the Colony, wrote to the Corresponding Secretary the following account of his situation, "I am so far pleased with Africa; indeed, instead of repeating that I am here, although I was well treated in Georgia, I would not return to live in the United States for five thousand dol

lars; there is scarcely a thinking person here but would feel insulted if you talked to him about returning. The people are now turning their attention to the cultivation of the soil, and are beginning to live within their own means. I believe that a more moral community is no where to be found than in Liberia, and I never saw more religious enjoyment in my life. I hope that God will send us good inhabitants; men of intelligence, and piety, and pecuniary means; this is all that we want to render us a happy republic."

Such, Mr. President, is the testimony of Emigrants and Agents with respect to the situation of our settlements in Africa; and although colonization is interwoven with the progress of society since "men began to multiply upon the earth," I verily believe the success attending this enterprise stands without a parallel in the annals of our world. In tracing the history of nations, during the lapse of 5,000 years, can you mention another instance in which a similar enterprise has incurred less expense, or experienced less disaster, or been connected with more to encourage? The Jews colonized under the immediate direction, of Heaven; they were guided "through the day by the pillar of cloud, and all the night by the pillar of fire," a pledge of the presence of the Redeeming Angel; the Phoenicians early colonized from Asia to Africa under the auspices of Dido, their Princess; the tribes of the Greeks and the Romans occasionally colonized to other countries; our pilgrim fathers colonized from the old to this new world, but I will venture to assert, without the fear of contradiction, that in all the historyof the migrations of the human family no other has been attended in all respects with circumstances equally auspicious and animating to its friends. The Israelites, in their march from Egypt to Caanan, suffered alternately from hunger, from thirst, from malignant disease, from "fiery serpents," and from invading foes; from these and other causes they suffered to such degree that of the hundreds of thousands who departed from Egypt, two only survived to reach the land of promise; and what is the history of our venerable forefathers, who first penetrated the forests of this new world? I ask, sir, what is their history but the narrative of persecution and suffering and massacre? One hundred and one of the pilgrims of immortal memory reached the rock of Plymouth in December 1620, and before the following April forty-six of their number had fallen victims to hunger or other causes, and I need not inform this enlightened assembly that out of 9000 who were sent successively to James Town, of Virginia, at the immense expense of 150,000 pounds sterling, and fostered by the patronage of the British Crown, scarcely 500 were living at the expiration of 7 years. Now, sir, i some of the instances to which I have referred the mortality amounted nearly to one-half, in another to the nine-tenths, and in the other almost to the entire extinction of the Colony; but among all who have emigrated to Liberia under our Colonization Societies, the mortality has not probably exceeded one-tenth. Now, Mr. Président, the practicability and excellence of our enterprise is no longer a matter of experiment. "We have passed the Rubicon," the problem has received a satisfactory solution. It has been fully tested, and if we may venture to infer the approbation of God from the aspect of his providence, we are justified in concluding that our efforts for meliorating the miseries of this injured portion of his offspring, are an "offering acceptable;" that it has secured the high sanction of Heaven, and the command from the throne to our Society is, ONWARD, ONWARD.

Only, sir, glance for a moment across the Atlantic, and see the once abject, degraded man of colour, after he has touched the soil of his fathers and inhaled the genial atmosphere of liberty, how he rises in self-respect: "Redeemed, regenerated, and disenthraled," he appears erect, moving about in all the majesty of a freeman, and exulting in many instances in the anticipation of those noble immunities which free grace has furnished in the regions of light.

Where is the patriot, or the pious man who can refuse to aid us in our exertions for thus neutralising the cup of human woe? Who that believes the record of eternal truth, that " God has made of one blood all nations of men, who dwell on all the face of the earth" will not co-operate with us in every rational and constitutional measure for restoring to the injured African the actual possession of his birthright? Who that expects to walk the streets of the heavenly city would not desire to be occasionally met by some once benighted African, now irradiated with the light of immortality, dressed in robes of white, with a palm in

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