the princied them at But the al kidnap- The occasion, he said, led him to last sixteen colored peop rectly appre tion greatly possible to d this result, th had a promine seek to injur battle to be e good we hav could have w go on undistu dertaking bew whi cross. It promised emancipation to | erted in bettering the condition, and the whole African race from the brightening the prospects of the thraldom of ignorance, despotism, slave, and preparing the mind of the and degradation. The consequences already attained were most auspi cious. master for early emancipation. He alluded particularly to the free and open discussion of the slave question In Africa, the number of slave fac- in Virginia-to the progress made in tories had been greatly diminished, Kentucky-and to the efforts and apand in our own country, within the propriations made by the Legislalast sixteen years, the rights of the ture of Maryland for the avowed purcolored people had been more cor- pose of making that a free State.rectly appreciated, and their condi- These results had been produced by tion greatly improved. It was im- the fact, that the Society had inspirpossible to deny that in producing ed hope by showing a channel thro' this result, the Colonization Society which slavery might be ultimately had a prominent agency. Why then abolished with safety, and this had seek to injure us? Is the array of diminished the fear which had shut battle to be encountered because the their eyes to conviction, and their good we have done is less than we hands from effort. The question was could have wished? Let us at least put upon the resolution, and it was go on undisturbed in our achieve-adopted. ments, at least until something more than a shadow is offered in lieu of a substance. If we are to rely on some great moral impulse to achieve the liberation of the blacks, are all other means in the mean time to be laid aside? Suppose a Society were to be formed in Russia for the relief of the sufferings of the Poles-should its operations be suspended until a great moral impulse can be excited He said it was a mistaken view of to effect their universal emancipa- the subject, that the friends and enetion? Let those who oppose this un-mies of Colonization were divided dertaking beware, lest haply they into the friends and enemies of slavefind at last that they have been fight- ry. It was true that the action of ing against God. Mr. J. made ma- the Society upon slavery was indiny eloquent and pertinent remarks which we have not time nor room to insert. The resolution he offered was passed. A. H. Twining, Esq. of New-Haven, then submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That powerful motives are presented, in the progress and success of the American Colonization Society, to every man who would aid the establishment of Christian Colonies of free men of colour, who may choose to emigrate, on the African coast, for more vigorous and extended effort. The Rev. John Breckenridge offered the following resolution: Resolved, That a true regard to the best interests of the people of colour in this country, and to the present and future good of the population of Africa, urges the members of this Society to renewed and more enlarged measures to found Christian States upon the African coast, which shall show the value and power of Education, Liberty, and our holy Religion. rect; and abolition, in any other than the slave holding States, whether immediate or progressive, could legally assume no other form. It was a known and conceded fact, whether right or wrong, good or bad, this Union was formed upon the basis that to the state sovereignties, and to them alone, the whole subject of slave regulation was reserved. Congress has no right to intermeddle-and there is no alternative between the dissolution of the Union, and the concession to the States of those powers which the Constitution left in their hands. If we wish to effect emanci He enforced the propriety of the resolution by many apposite remarks, which our limits will not enable us to record. He dwelt at considera-pation, and help the colored man, we ble length upon the beneficial moral must do so by individual influence, influences which the Society had ex- or through the instrumentality of the States. The question then arises, has it not a tendency to retard the progress of the State governments, to make an outward pressure upon them? Will it not in its consequences re-act upon the slave? Slavery was devolved upon us by Great Britain. They were left here in such numbers that a regard for personal safety has induced the respective legislatures to enact laws prohibiting emancipation, except upon the condition that the freed man be removed. To violate these laws is not only to incur a penalty, but if the black man is not removed, he is sold again into slavery. The question then is, is it better for them to emigrate abroad as freemen, or to remain in slavery at home? If by preventing their emigration abroad they are retained at home, who keeps them there?-on whom rests the responsibility? The Colonization Society has taken the alternative that it is better they should be free abroad -the Abolitionists, that it is better to keep them in slavery at home. Let each one decide for himself on which side the guilt or preference lies. I personally know, said Mr. B., the masters of thousands of slaves who would gladly emancipate them if they could-but their poverty precludes them from sending them away, and the laws do not allow them to remain free at home. Fifty thousand per annum might be emancipated, if the means could be found to convey them abroad. These are facts which, right or wrong in themselves, must be taken into the account, when testing the question of Colonization. In regard to the influence of Colonization on the slave's interests, his freedom had been advanced by the action of the Society. He regretted to find, yesterday, a youth from Kentucky, drawing his virgin blade to plunge it in the honor of his native State. He seemed like a fugitive from the ruins of Troy, recounting the perils he had escaped quæque ipse misserrime vidi Et quorum pars magna fui. The South and West he described as a Sodom, which it was his duty publicly to denounce. He was satisfied that the young gentleman's observations must have been extremely limited, or he would never have ventured upon such representations.— He also asserted that no paper had dared to advocate the doctrine of emancipation in the valley of the Mississippi. This he could refute in his own person. So long ago as 1824, he had edited a religious paper in the city of Lexington, in which he strenuously advocated emancipation, by the practice upon which doctrine he had made himself poor by emancipating all the slaves that had fallen to his inheritance. He had also lectured constantly on that subject, both in Lexington and Baltimore, for a long period and without molestation. The gentleman does not know the state of Kentucky-(here the speaker was interrupted by hisses from some Abolitionists in the upper gallery, which caused deafening plaudits from the respectable parts of the audience.) I am a Kentuckian, continued Mr. B. My father fought against the Indians, and I am not to be frightened by hisses-for among the earliest lessons taught me by my mother was, next to the fear of God-not to fear the face of man. Mr. B. continued the discussion for some time in the most happy vein, and among other remarks, alluded to the fact, that the first founder of African Colonization was Granville Sharp, at Sierra Leone. He was supported by William Wilberforce, who at the close of life the Abolitionists had attempted to press into their service. But he too was a strenuous advocate of Colonization. The resolution was adopted. The Rev. Mr. Bethune, of Utica, next rose and submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That this meeting regards the moral influence of the scheme of African Colonization, in promoting the voluntary and peaceful abolition of slavery, as among its chief advantages, and such as should commend it to the vigorous and persevering support of all the friends of the colored race. After his arrival in town, he said, where he expected to meet a friend |tion has ever been regarded as the whom he had known for several seed of the church-and why do years, and whom he was anxious to they not go South of the Potomacmeet again, he was informed, to his sow the same seed-and watch for great grief and consternation, that he its fruits? It is not by extraneous was dead and buried-for that the fu- effort that emancipation can ever be neral obsequies of the American Colo- effected. We well know how the nization Society were attended yes- subject of slavery stands under the terday. But when I behold this nu- Constitution, and that it requires the merous audience, it seems as if there concurrence of two-thirds of the had been a resurrection-for it is a States to alter or amend it. collection of the most beautiful corpses I ever saw. They remind me of two lines of the poet: Forth went the good lady to buy him a coffin, And when she came back, she found him a-laughing. After some further observations, facetious and otherwise, Mr. B. proceeded to remark upon the attitude assumed by the Abolitionists hostile to the Colonization Society. We would not depart, he said, from the present system until they could show a better. They offer no plan by which to break the fetters of the slave. They talk much, and do nothing. They declaim loudly against the enormity of slavery-but too far off for their voice to be heard. Their declamation is all in the non-slaveholding States. But is this the way to produce a salutary effect in the South? If the whole North, therefore, were to unite to a man, in an attempt to alter the provisions of the Constitution on this subject, they could not effect it. Mr. B. dwelt at some length on the recklessness of those who were ready to jeopardize the Union, and that, too, for the accomplishment of an object that was utterly impracticable. It took Granville Sharp and Wilberforce, and their philanthropic associates, forty years to accomplish, in the West Indies, what an Abolition print in this city has denominated the Triumph of Gradualism.'— What hopes then are here, on their own principles, where no power can be exerted? Mr. Bethune then proceeded to speak of his own satisfaction in preaching formerly among the slaves of the South, and of the great and glorious efforts now making among men of the highest character in the remote South, to instruct the slaves in all the doctrines and duties of Christianity. He named the Rev. C. C. Jones of Georgia, as having under his pastoral care more than six thousand slaves. In all its relations, he deemed the Colonization Society worthy of the vigorous support of all the friends of the colored race. The Rev. Mr. Plummer touched upon the causes which operated to create jealousies and dissentions between the South and the North.If you wish to convert England, They did not know each other, or would you preach to them in Scot- these jealousies and dissensions could land? When Paul sought to con- not exist. These causes were diververt the Romans, he did not remain sity of interests, geographical disin Judea, but he went to Rome-tinctions, the fact that bad specimens and why should not our Abolition of northern character were exhibited ists follow the example? Persecu- at the South, and bad specimens of southern character at the North. He (TO BE CONTINUED.) INTERESTING MISSIONARY MEETING. On the evening of the 28th of April, the Youth's Missionary Society of the Eleventh Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, held | their first anniversary meeting. Seldom have we witnessed a public meeting of the kind which more deeply interested all pres ent. The children and youth present cannot have been fewer than three hundred; who occupied chiefly the central part of the church edifice. The singing was principally confined to them; and this part of worship they performed with spirit, harmony, and solemnity. After the reading of the report, the audience was addressed by the Editor; Rev. John L. Grant, the pastor of the church, and the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, lately returned from an exploring mission to Africa. Mr. Wilson stated the remarkable fact that he found in the Northern part of Liberia some natives who had invented very lately, written syllabic characters, in which he proved they could write and read their own language, with very little instruction from the inventors of the signs employed. In this invention, as among the Cherokees, Providence has, in a wonderful manner, pre pared the way for the gospel to have free course among the people. to land near Cape Palmas, as many as three He stated also, that when he was about hundred children ran along the bank, and through the groves, as the vessel passed; their parents exceedingly anxious to have and gave them a hearty welcome. He found them taught; and in different villages he could with difficulty get away without giving the people, what they called "a book," some writing, "to show that he had promised ed the circumstances of the children before him with those of the children whom he had lately seen in Africa; and endeavored thereby to excite in them gratitude to God, and a love for foreign missions. to send them a teacher." Mr. W. contrast The interesting report of this youthful Society, we expect to publish at another time.-Philadelphian. THE NIGER EXPEDITION. Accounts of this expedition, up to the 5th of January, have been received. At that date, Lander was on board the Curlew ship of war, on his way to Cape Coast Castle for the purpose of procuring a particular species of goods for the markets in the interior, of which he had not previously taken a sufficient supply. If successful in this object, it was his intention to return to the mouth of the Nun: thence to re-ascend the Niger for the third time, and endeavor to penetrate as far up the river as Boussa. Previous to his last return to the coast, Lander and Lt. Allen had fortunately reached Rabbah, or Rabba, (a large Ralatah town,) in the iron steam boat; and, for the space of thirteen or fourteen days, had maintained a friendly intercourse, and carried on an advantageous trade, with its inhabitants. The depth of the water at that place was between two and three fathoms, and as far as could be seen beyond it, the Niger was free from rocks and other obstructions, and assumed a majestic and very encouraging appearance.This important town is inhabited by Felatahs and negroes, and realizes the expectations that have been formed of it, as regards its extent, its wealth, and its population.. CONTRIBUTIONS To the Am. Col. Society, in the month of April, 1834. A few gentlemen near Oakhill, Fauquier county, Va., A friend in Virginia, William Crane, Richmond, Collections from Churches. Chambersburg, Pa. Methodist Congregation, by Rev. Tobias Riley, Newville do by do Thomas Collard's subscription to African Repository, by do, Auxiliary Societies. Amherst, Massachusetts, by Hon. George Grennell, Do for African Repository, from do, Donation. Newton (Sussex. county, N. J.) Library Company, by Thos. G. Rogerson, |