Fint Justitia Ruat Coelum. very of intemperance, and the slavery of the human species are somewhat analagous.-The mode of redemption from the former affords a striking example, a pointed illustration, of the necessity of abolishing forever, the traffic in the human species, and human slavery.-There is a propensity in the human mind, after the effervesence of excitement has passed away, to relapse into its former lukewarm and indifferent state; hence I have known, after a lapse of time, the most laudable intentions, the most virtuous resolutions to be abandoned, and many a noble undertaking begun with ardor, and prosecuted for a season with an energy that gives the strongest assurances of success, to be laid aside, in consequence altogether, of its not having been terminated immediately at a blow. There are many friendly to the cause of abolition, who are, notwithstanding, opposed to the time and the means proposed to accomplish it; even the slave holder himself, while he professes to be partial to emancipation, contends that the proper time has not yet come, that it is not yet expedient to begin the work. It is always expedient to do justice, to do what is right. The time has come, when the question of sla. very must be met-it cannot be postponed much longer-it is rife for discussion-the march of mind -the progress of knowledge has given to the human understanding better information of human rights and wrongs than formerly prevailed. It is greatly to be desired that all men might be brought to view this subject in the same light, to concur in judgment with regard to time and mode of its abolition; there is a possibility of delaying things too long. Such I fear will be the case of the south in relation to slavery. The catastrophe of St. Domingo is before them, and fresh in the recollection of many now living: let them avail themselves of the example, and profit by the instructions of history. years) of Bonaparte's attempting to recolonize the From the Washington Telegraph. "Gen. GREEN: The number of conflagrations in this state, evidently the work of incendiaries, is greater this year than at any former period of our history, since the foundation of the govern the knot of northern fanatics, who are continually ment. May not this be attributable, remotely, to voring to instill into their minds the propriety, sowing discontent among our slaves, and endeaand even necessity, of taking vengeance on those whom they are pleased to call their oppressors ? Such is the common impression in the country." We think it very probable that our correspondent attributes the conflagrations to the right cause the discontents produced by the northern fanatics holding out to them the hope of prospective, if not immediate emancipation. That these discontents should be fostered by the course pursued by the emancipationists, is but natural, and we have no doubt that the emancipationists aid this in some secret manner. They have openly avowed that they wish to retain the free negroes, in order that they may excite a "salutary fear"—we presume, by means of conflagrations and the like. Those who express the wishes and views exhibited in the publications of the abolitionists, will not hesitate to stimulate the negroes to any and every excess. And that they look forward to something of the kind is plain from a variety of signs. The It shows the diabolical spirit which animates last Emancipator contains the following threat. them. The conflagrations may be the “dawn" contemplated. fostering, if not in creating these discontents? But is Virginia herself innocent of all share in Does not her colonization scheme act as a con It has become of late a question of considerable interest whether the Colonization Society be calculated to hasten or retard the abolition of slavery. When this society was organized, my impressions were decidedly friendly towards it, but time, and further reflection upon its nature and tendency, has caused a change of opinion. It is the senti"Let our calumniators tremble; for the day of ment of many, and it appears to be rapidly gain-retributive justice has already dawned!" ing ground, that the colonization of the free blacks will only tend to perpetuate the evil among us, Those who are manumitted and remain in the country, will, by their example and intercourse tinual fanner to the embers of discontent, and if with those still retained in bondage, naturally tend now they amount to a blaze, is it what they had to foster in their minds the spirit of liberty; hence, that it would be better to get rid of her free cono right to expect? Has it never occurred to her the slave holder feels a direct interest in promo-lored population at once, and have no more of" ting colonization, that the example may be re. moved from before the eyes of his slaves, and their them, or cease holding out to them or the slaves intercourse checked with those that are set free. a hope that is idle and fantastic of future emanci-. We are reminded by those opposed to emancipation. pation, of the danger likely to result from turning loose upon the world, an ignorant and worthless population. As the north will force the question on, them, we doubt not that they will decide for the best. I wonder the man of the "Telegraph" has not I think, however, we need entertain no fears discovered that the mortality produced by the choupon this head. There is a principle in man disposed, if not to do good for evil, at all events to do lera, in the south and west, was caused by the "fagood for good, a feeling of gratitude, which the natics of the north!" We advise him to supply slave would assuredly manifest for his master, in the omission in the next letter he writes to himreturn for his liberty. We are not without ex- self, from-" Lower Virginia." It is important amples to guide us in relation to this interesting that the people should be informed of the true ausubject; after the emancipation of the slaves in St. Domingo, by a decree of the national assembly of thors of this mortality, as well as of the "conflaFrance, down to the time (a period of nine or ten | grations," that they may know how to apply a แ Fiat Justitia Ruat Cœlum. remedy. There is no doubt that the "knot of fanatics" in the north, have just as much to do with one as the other. What a pity that all these "incendiaries," who entertain the "idle and fantastic hope of future emancipation of the slaves," could not be gagged. It would save a world of trouble to the conscience smitten General. The following strictures upon the editorial remarks made in our last number, are freely inserted. We shall, however, accompany the communication with our own defence. "The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others do. If a parent could find no motive, either in his philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such cir cumstances. And with what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and these into enemies; destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriæ of the other. For if a slave can love a country in this world, it must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor for another: in which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the evanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition on the endless generations proceeding from him." For the Genius of Universal Emancipation. In a note inserted in your last number, I observed some remarks upon the conduct of Jefferson, in which I think you do injustice to that distinguished statesman and patriot. You say that "he never manumitted his slaves, nor promoted manumission among his neighbours." Now in this I think you wrong him. It is true he never set the example of manumission, for which he doubtless had good reason. But at the very commencement of his public life, when first elected a member of the house of representatives of his own state, in the year 1769, he proposed a bill "for the permission of the emancipation of slaves." This proposition was rejected by an overwhelming majority. But the circumstances under which it was introduced, are a sufficient guaranty of the sincerity and uprightness of his motives. He was himself a slave holder, and he knew that the proposition would have to encounter the inveterate prejudices of the leading members of the house, as well as of the whole aristocracy of the state. He could have had no motive for introdu-ed cing the proposition but to benefit his fellow man and to give scope to the benevolence of his heart. Again, in his Notes on Virginia, written some years after, he uses this strong language. Upon a review therefore of the remarks in your note, and of the life and actions of that distinguishstatesman, I think you will perceive that you have done him injustice. Trusting to your candor and magnanimity, I have submitted the foregoing facts to your consideration, hoping you will give them a place in your paper. I agree with you most cordially in your abhorrence of slavery, and heartily wish your labors in the cause of the oppressed may be crowned with sucBut I cannot agree with you in your censure of the Sage of Monticello. cess. B. "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country, when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution in the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatual inter-him one of the greatest benefactors of the human ference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest." In the month of October, 1776, Jefferson introduced a proposition, in the Virginia legislature, for abolishing the importation of slaves into that state. The important concerns of the revolution drew the attention of the house from this important measure, and it was not finally acted upon until the year 1778, when the bill introduced by him was carried, and the trade abolished. The honor of this act of humanity is justly due to Jef ferson. It was literally a child of his begetting, and he cherished and sustained it by his talents and influence, until it was finally brought to maturity. Who that reads his admirable description of the practical effects of slavery, both upon the master and the slave, contained in his "Notes," can, for a moment, hesitate to pronounce Jefferson a friend to emancipation. Read it as follows. And now for our defence. We will try not to be tedious. In the first place, we must observe that we have always entertained the highest respect for the character of Jefferson. We think race. He was greatly in advance of the age, in the liberality of his opinions, when he first came on the stage. It is justly observed by his biogra pher, that by birth and education, and the ample fortune which he inherited, he belonged to the aristocracy. But in his feelings and principles, he was emphatically one of the people. And the actions of a long and eventful life, furnish demonstrative evidence that these principles were deeply engraven in his very nature. But notwithstanding we can do ample justice to the great qualities he possessed, and to the benefit which he conferred upon mankind in general, and upon this country in particular, as the able champion of liberty and the rights of man-yet we have al, ways thought that on the subject of the slavery of Fiat Justitia Ruat Cœlum. our brethren of the African race, he was incon- the Bill was taken up by the Legislature, in 1785, sistent with himself. neither Mr. Jefferson nor Mr. Wythe, his chief coadjutor in the undertaking, were members; the former being absent on the Legation to France, and the latter, an officer of the judiciary department; so the contemplated amendment was not proposed, and the Bill passed unaltered, being a mere digest of the existing laws on the subject, without any intimation of a plan for future and general emancipation." We were not ignorant of the parts to which our correspondent calls our attention, when we penned the note which he thinks objectionable. And we now repeat the same averment with emphasis, and shall then give the evidence, "He never manumitted his own slaves, nor encouraged manumission among his neighbors." No man From the same authority, it appears that he doubts that he saw clearly many of the evils con- continued to press the subject upon the Legisla sequent upon the existence of slavery, and la-ture of his own State, until it was formally taken mented them sincerely. But it does not appear || up and deliberated upon in succession from year that he ever adopted, either in theory or practice, to year, until finally the plan of a national society the simple and obvious remedy for all these evils was formed and carried into effect in 1816. Emancipation, untrammelled by any condition. "The plan of colonizing the free people of coAll his plans for emancipation were connected lor, in some place remote from the United States, in his mind with expatriation. He was really originated with Mr. Jefferson, at an early period; and on coming into the office of President, he prothe father of the colonization scheme. Many are secuted the enterprise with renewed energy. A the reputed parents of that visionary project, and correspondence was opened between him and Mr. numerous are the persons who have claimed the Monroe, then Governor of Virginia; and the first honor of giving birth to the Colonization Society. the Virginia Legislature, soon after, to wit, about formal proceeding on the subject was made in But the honor—if any honor attaches to it, be- the year 1803. The purpose of his correspondlongs exclusively to Jefferson. The idea of coloence with Mr. Monroe, is explained in a letter nizing the colored people was first conceived by from him about ten years afterwards, and pubhim, As early as 1785, when the revised code tion Society. He proposed to gain admittance to lished in the first annual report of the Colonizawhich had been prepared some years before by the free people of color, into the establishment at Jefferson, but not acted upon till that year, pass- || Sierra Leone, which then belonged to a private ed the legislature of Virginia, he designed to have company in England; or, in failure of that, to prointroduced a provision in that code for the emancure a situation in some of the Portuguese settlements in South America. He wrote to Mr. King, cipation and deportation of the slaves born after then our Minister in London, to apply to the Sierthe passage of the law. His biographer gives the ra Leone Company. The application was made, following account of the subject, which incon- but without success, on the ground that the Comtestably proves that unconditional emancipation sessions to the government. An attempt to negopany was about to dissolve, and relinquish its posformed no part of his plan: tiate with the Portuguese Governor, was equally abortive, which suspended all active measures for a time. But the enterprise was kept alive by Mr. Jefferson, who, by his impressive admonitions of its importance, held the Legislature of Virginia firm to its purpose. The subject was from time to time discussed, till in the year 1816 a formal reso lution was passed almost unanimously, being but a repetition of certain resolutions which had been dent periods. It was truly the feeling and voice adopted in secret session at three distinct anteceof Virginia, which was followed by the States of Maryland, Tennessee and Georgia. Colonization societies were then for the first time formed." "The next distinguishing and fundamental change recommended by the Revisal, regarded the freedom of the unhappy sons of Africa; and proposed, directly, the Emancipation of all Slaves born after the passage of the act. The bill reported by the Revisors, did not itself contain this proposition; but an amendment containing it, was prepared, to be offered to the Legislature, when ever the bill should be taken up. "It was thought better," says the Author, "that this should be kept back, and attempted only by way of amend: ment." It was further agreed, to embrace in the residuary proposition a clause, directing, that the after born Slaves should continue with their parents to a certain age, then be brought up at the public expense, to tillage, arts or sciences, according to their geniuses, till the females should be eighteen and the males twenty-one years of age, when they should be colonized to such place sure and divests it of all its merit. To emanci as the circumstances of the time should render pate, is to set free. But the plans proposed by most proper, sending them out with arms, imple-him were nothing more than a commutation of ments of household and the handicraft arts, seeds, pairs of the useful domestic animals, &c.; to declare them a free and independent people, and to extend to them our alliance and protection, till they should have acquired strength; and to send vessels, at the same time, to other parts of the world for an equal number of white inhabitants, to induce whom to migrate hither, proper encouragements were to be proposed. But when From these facts it appears that he never contemplated the emancipation of the slaves, in the The condition always annexed, nullifies the mealiteral and legitimate acceptation of the term. slavery for banishment. This condition deprived the measure proposed of all its merit, because deportation of the slaves is utterly impracticable— and because if it were practical, it would be both cruel and unjust. Cruel, because the blacks have the same attachment to the land of their birth and the scenes of their childhood, as the whites. Un Fiat Justitia Ruat Coelum. just, because they have the same right by nature to live in the country where they were born, as we have—and society have no right to banish them, except for the commission of crimes, after legal conviction. In all his reasoning upon this subject, this association, in his mind, of emancipation, so called, and expatriation, was preserved. The connexion was inseparable. The position then, in our note is sustained. That he never manumitted his own slaves is a fact which nobody doubts. That he From the National Intelligencer. the Colony, and cut down on the right hand and on the left," that he had never stated that of the 150 emigrants transported in the vessel that he went in, "those who had not died were very ill," |—and he never stated that he thought "they could never recover," that he never stated he was informed that, "more than one half who are transthe Colony,"—that he never stated that “old peoported, die within 6 or 8 months after arriving in ple and little children very seldom live to get seasoned, which takes them 6 or 10 months, and that whether they are seasoned or not, at the expiraofficers of the government, to become paupers, or tion of six months they are turned out by the starve; or bask in the rays of the burning sun, until death, with all its terrors, kindly relieves them," that he never stated that "widows, and all females without husbands are deprived of the right of holding property,"-" but did say that lands were not allotted to single women, by the Society,"‚”—that he never stated that the Colony had English language well enough to decoy their taught some of the natives "to understand the brethren away and sell them for slaves," that he had never stated "that he did not believe that there had been one bushel of rice or coffee raised in the Colony, and that he never could see or hear of its growing there,"—that he never had said that they have tried to raise corn, but it was in vain,” that it always "blasted before it comes to any thing," that he never had said that "rice sells at 20 cents per pound, coffee at 60 cents per pound, and pork 25 dollars per barrel,"--that he never had said that "the Colony cannot flourish under such embarrassments," that he had not said that "people are not always allowed to give correct information respecting the Colony," that he had not said that "persons who reside in Liberia cannot write to their friends in this country and give them facts respecting the Colony, unless they send their letters privately," that he had not said that "all letters known to be destined from the Colony are examined,"-and that he had never said that "it was very difficult for emigrants to return." Test, 66 On the 7th ult. we published a contradiction, by James Price, one. of the three colored men of Maryland, who went to Liberia, to ascertain and report on the state of that colony, of certain statements falsely alledged to have been made by him to the Philadelphia Convention of the free people of color. We have now received, in the Maryland Messenger, the contradiction of Joseph Whitting ton, another of the three, to whom the most unfavourable statements respecting the Colony were ascribed by the Conventionists. As the fabricated statements imputed to these men have been exten. sively published, and were well calculated to effect LEVIN WHITE, Rec. Secretary. the design of rendering the colonization scheme unAugust 21, 1833. popular, we deem it proper to insert Whittington's I, Joseph Whittington, having heard read the contradiction, as we did that of his colleague. foregoing Record of the proceedings of the Board This latter was made in the presence of the Aux-of Managers of the Worcester County Colonizailiary Colonization Society of Worcester County, tion Society, do certify, to all whom it may conMaryland. cern, that the proceedings therein stated are true, as therein stated. Snowhill, Md. August 21st. At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the "Worcester County Colonization Society," the following proceedings were had : Mr. Joseph Whittington, a free colored man, who had been engaged by his free colored brethren in Worcester county, with the approbation of this Board, to visit Liberia, and report upon the condition of the Colony, and the prospects it holds out to emigrants, appeared before the Board, and offered a Report, which he stated had been prepared in Liberia, and which, on motion, was read. After the report and answers to numerous questions, (which would occupy more space than we can spare to the subject,) this statement follows: An article in the United States Telegraph of the 26th of July last, entitled "Latest Missionary Intelligence from Liberia," then being read to Mr. W-he declared that he had never stated to the meeting mentioned in the said article, " that the women and children who emigrated from Mary. land, in the ship Lafayette, were met very soon after their arrival, by the pestilential disease of His JOSEPH WHITTINGTON. Mark Poor Joseph Whittington! we pity him. He dare not refuse to permit his name to be signed to any statement which his loving friends of the Colonization Society may choose to prepare for him. That the statements "falsely alledged to have been made by him" in Philadelphia, are true, does not admit of a doubt—and that they were not 'falsely alledged," but truly made by him, in answer to questions put to him, is also true. The truth of the facts stated by him and his two companions, does not rest on their testimony alone, but is supported by evidence entitled to as much credit as that of any of the gentlemen composing the Worcester County Society, who have made Whittington eat his own words, But supposing Joseph Whittington had not Fiat Justitia Ruat Cœlum. thing-the reality quite a different thing. We have never seen a community in this country, or any portion of the community, either white or made the statements which he is alledged to have made in Philadelphia-would the facts be any the less true on that account? It will be observed that he is not made to deny their truth, in the Re-colored, in so helpless and deplorable a condition, port of the Worcester Society, but only that he did not make such statements. The members of the Worcester Colonization Society ought to know whether they are true or false. Will they deny that coffee sells in the Colony at from 50 to 60 cents a pound? Will they deny that rice sells at from 20 to 25 cents a pound? Or will they assert positively, that either of those || articles is raised by the Colonists? If they have any regard for their own reputation, as men of truth and candor, they dare not. as that of the Colony of Liberia, notwithstanding all the vivid descriptions which have been given of its happy and flourishing condition. If these facts are doubted or denied, we will not withhold the sources from which we derive our information on the subject. At present we shall only add further, that their truth is unquestionable, and cannot be denied by any candid man, who is fully acquainted with the real state of the Colony. “Facts designed to exhibit the real character and tendency of the American Colonization Society. By Clericus. Liverpool, 1833." Within the last few years the attention of all parties has been increasingly directed to the subject of Negro Slavery, and the certainty of its speedy abolition in our colonies has either been cheerfully welcomed, or reluctantly admitted. Those humane persons who commenced their career of benevolence by seeking the amelioration and gradual extinction of slavery, have been so thoroughly convinced of its incorrigible nature, and of the claims of the negro, as now to demand nothing short of the total annihilation of the system at the earliest period compatible with the safety of all parties concerned; while those who a Again, Will they deny, that from one third to one half of the emigrants, on an average, die in the seasoning? Will they deny, that out of two families of the name of Mars-consisting of about This pamphlet of nineteen octavo pages, conthirty each, who emigrated from the western coun-tains an array of facts and arguments, in a contry, in, or about the year 1831, all died but two, cise form, which are overwhelming and concluwithin the first year-and, that since that, the other sive against the scheme which it condemns. We two have died, leaving not one of the sixty alive. shall make some extracts from it without further Again,-We would ask them; how do the emi- comment; regretting only that our limits will grants cultivate the soil? Do they use ploughs? not admit of the publication of the whole. Have they horses, oxen, or teams of any kind? Have they any mills to grind their grain-if they had any grain to grind? Have they saw-mills to prepare the timber for building? If they havehow many? The fact is, there are neither mills, nor carriages, nor ploughs of any description, in the Colony. The timber is prepared for the use of the Colonists, with the axe, or the whipsaw; and when so prepared, it is carried on the shoulders of the poor emaciated victims of the climate, sometimes several miles, to the place where it is used for years since, deprecated the slightest interbuilding. The soil is tilled by the hoe-without ference with their property and vested rights, and the aid of either horses, oxen, or plough. The loudly contended that the slaves were contented little spots of ground which are cultivated in this and happy, now acknowledge that slavery is an manner, lie open without fence or enclosure of any gradual termination. evil, and plead not for its perpetuity, but for its Hence, many schemes kind. Many of the necessaries of life are pro- have been devised, and many ameliorating meacured from the natives, in exchange for rum, tosures have been discussed, the adoption of which are recommended with a view to the ultimate bacco, and gunpowder-which are the staple artiabolition of Colonial slavery. A somewhat simicles of trade; without which, in the present conlar movement has been made in the United States; dition of the emigrants, they could not subsist--a slave population, rapidly increasing, and at because it is with them they obtain from the natives, the means of subsistence. It is time the veil was removed from the eyes of the people of this country, with regard to the condition of the Colony of Liberia; honest and good people have been deceived too long. few present amounting to more than two millions, has justice, of the slave holders, and the conviction has awakened the fears, if it has not appealed to the gradually attained possession of their minds, that the victims of their cupidity cannot long be retained in their present unnatural position with safety to the commonwealth. The evil under which America groans is broadly admitted, and a remedy has been loudly called for; anti-slavery efforts have been made to some extent, and within the last few years the American Colonization So||ciety has stood forward to offer a remedy, or, at least, to perform some act of justice or humanity portrayed in glowing colors, as an earthly para-ject of this society "is exclusively directed to proto the degraded sons of Africa. The avowed obdise, in which they may become regenerated, enlightened, and happy. But the picture is one Much has been said about the degraded and suffering condition of the free people of color in this country: and the “asylum in Africa, provided for them by the wise and the good," has been mote and execute a plan for colonizing, with their own consent, the free people of color," and its ul |