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Show 280 APPENDIX. But to hold up such a scheme as a means of the gradual extinction of slavery in the United States, and still more, as a method of expatriating from America the whole of the African race, has always appeared to me to be a chimera of a very mischievous tendency. It diverts the attention of the public from the two grand objects, the abolition of slavery by law, and the civil and morn\ improvement of the mass of the colored population, in that which is its present, and can scarcely fail to be its permanent location. Taking it for granted then, that in such a society as I have depicted, (of which, under varied proportions, we have so many examples in the United States) the juxtaposition of white and colored people is perfectly inevitable, we may fairly ask the question, under what circumstances this mixture is likc1y to be the most disadvantageous; and what is the course of policy which is best calculated to render it perfectly harmless? So long as one part of the population is composed of slave-holders, and the other of slaves, innumerable evils cannot fail to arise from the mixture in question. Extensive cruelty and oppression, the exhaustion of the legitimate resources of the country, and abounding immorality- amalgamation in its worst form and on a most extensive scale-will ever be found the consequence of so anomalous a state of society. The results to which we are brought by arguing from principles, arc, in this matter, most amply confirmed by fact and experience. Now, if we set the colored population free-restore them to their inalienable natural rights-leave them at liberty to provide for themselves-and suffer the questions of wages and employment to find their own level-these evils will soon meet with a remedy. Every one must allow that the mixture of white and colored persons, in orre vast population, is much less injurious, in Philadelphia or New York, for example, than in Richmond or Charleston. The evils arising from the juxtaposition of whites FREE A!\D FRIENDLY REMARKS. 281 Rnd blacks. is, in the fo rmer P1a ces, comparatively trifling. Freedom, by Its own genia' l operati· on, I1 as already wrought a vast cure. St.i ll, it mus.t be allo. wed ' that th c con<1 t.t t.o n o f t h e coI o red po-pulatiOn, even . m the free sl'' ltcs of tl 1.1 s U ru.o 11, I.S 1.a r 1.r om be.m g all that the plnlanthropist and Christiai ld I . I . . 1 wou < es1re. t appears to me thnt, m vanous respects, their moral and civil condition is a low one. I know that this part of the population contains a large proporti~n of highly respectable persons. I rejoice in their crowded meetmg houses, and in their increased attention to the improvement of mind, and the formation of character. But I long to witness their further elevation, in the scale of virtue, sobriety, industry, and knowledge. As matters now stand, I can acknowledge that some inconveniences do appear to arise from that mixture of whites and blacks in one society, which Henry Clay so strongly deprecates as one of the most desperate of political evils. And what is the tmc reason of these inconveniences? As I believe, it is simply this-that our colored brethren arc regarded, in this country, even in the free states, as an inferior and dep~=~= · u~~~~~~~~~~ increase the usefulness, of any class of persons, the worst proceeding which we can possibly adopt is to cultivate a low opinion of them, and to lead them to entertain that low opinion of themselves. Let us rather lay hold of the hopeful side of the question; let us call to mind that " God has made of one blood all the children of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth;" let us for ever bury and forget "the aristocracy of the skin ;" let us do every thing in our power, to promote the literary and religious instruction of the colored population; let them be invested with the full rights of citizenship, on the same terms as other persons; let every civil prize, every useful employment, every honorable station, be thrown open to their exertions. Let us encourage, and never depress, tlteir natuml desire to rise. If u |