INTRODUCTION. 51 



the African element. To this I answer first, that, instead of 

 objecting to the influx of civilised Africans from the States, I 

 would welcome it, I would hail it with those feelings which be- 

 come a Christian and a philanthropist ; I would accept it as the 

 best guarantee of order and progress, inasmuch as the coloured 

 population of the United States, and particularly of those parts 

 whence they would first emigrate, are religious, industrious, pro- 

 gressive, and orderly; secondly, the accession of an industrial 

 class would greatly tend to raise the value of property to some 

 regular standard ; and its holders, if willing to sell, might then 

 dispose of their possessions at a remunerative price : as to those 

 who are engaged in trade, they would clearly be the earliest 

 sharers in the benefits of such a movement. 



Lastly, can the negro population itself object to that immi- 

 gration? The question may appear idle, but I know that, in 

 some, an antipathy does exist on this subject : an objection, how- 

 ever, from such a quarter is evidently most unreasonable, because 

 not disinterested. I say that emigration from the States would 

 bring to our shores a race congenial in origin, language, and 

 religion ; individuals, generally laborious and energetic, who 

 would probably supplant the present occupiers of the land. Is 

 this the objection ? The sooner it is disposed of the better. But, 

 besides the question of pounds, shillings, and pence of so para- 

 mount importance in our golden age, or rather, age of gold 

 another item of greater magnitude, and of more absorbing interest, is 

 involved in, and intimately connected with, this matter. I allude 

 to its moral phasis. Whatever opinions may be entertained on 

 the subject of slavery, there is, I believe, a perfect unanimity in 

 denouncing it as a degrading institution, which stifles all induce- 

 ment to improvement, and shackles the slave within mere instinc- 

 tive bonds ; whilst the slaveholder, accustomed to the exercise of 

 unlimited and uncontrolled authority, will not exert that authority 

 in curbing his passions or exerting his intellectual powers to the 

 same extent as the man who has to deal with free agents. Here, 

 therefore, is an opportunity offered of snatching from degradation 

 many of our fellow- creatures ; here is an opportunity for afford- 

 ing to the poor abused race of colour a home where they can 

 improve their moral, intellectual, and physical condition. Be it 

 from local and accidental causes, or from some inherent defects in 

 the African temperament, it cannot be said that the great experi- 

 ment of emancipation has succeeded. And yet, it must succeed, 

 or be condemned as a political blunder ; for human nature is 

 much more logical than individuals, and the consequence of such 

 a failure would be a disposition to resist any future attempts at 

 negro emancipation in countries where slavery still exists. And, 

 as a comment on this deduction, let it be borne in mind that 

 there are, at the present moment, in America alone, about 



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