he means of education and
improvement; we have no wish to separate from our present homes, for
any purpose whatever. Contented with our present situation and
condition, we are desirous of increasing the prosperity, by honest
efforts, and by the use of the opportunities, for their improvement,
which the constitution and laws allow.

"We, therefore, a portion of those who are the objects of this plan,
and among those whose benefits, with them of others of color, it is
intended to promote; with humble and grateful acknowledgments to
those who have devised it, renounce and disclaim every connection
with it; and respectfully and firmly declare our determination not to
participate in any part of it.

"Nor do we view the colonization of those who may become emancipated
by its operation among our southern brethren, as capable to produce
their happiness. Unprepared by education and a knowledge of the
principles of our blessed religion, for their new situation, those
who will thus become colonized will thus be surrounded by every
suffering which can affect the members of the human family.

"Without arts, without habits of industry, and unaccustomed to
provide by their own exertions and foresight for their wants, the
colony will soon become the abode of every vice, and the home of
every misery. Soon will the light of Christianity, which now dawns
among that portion of our species, be cut out by the clouds of
ignorance, and their day of life be closed, without the illumination
of the gospel.

"To those of our brethren who shall be left behind, there will be
assured perpetual slavery and augmented sufferings. Diminished in
numbers, the slave population of the southern states, which by their
magnitude alarms its proprietors, will be easily secured. Those who
among their bondsmen, who feel that they should be free, by right
which all mankind have from God and from nature, will be sent to the
colony; and the timid and submissive will be retained, and subjected
to increasing rigor. Year after year will witness those means to
assure safety and submission among their slaves, and the southern
masters will colonize only those who it may be dangerous to keep
among them. The bondage of a large portion of our members will thus
be rendered perpetual.

"Discl