and
dirty. It was expected that such a number together, in such condition
would hardly, in Ohio, find a place where to lay their heads; yet so far
from meeting with obstacles, facilities to settlement were extended to
them. All of them have found places, and many of them have already
obtained security as the law requires; and probably the balance will
within twenty days. The writer of this note would censure none for acts
of kindness to this unfortunate class of persons--yet as he regards the
moral character and welfare of society, he cannot view these rapid
accessions without some degree of alarm."--_The Ohio State Journal and
Columbus Gazette_, May 3, 1827.

Some years later there was established in Mercer county another colony,
which because of its connection with friends in Cincinnati, then promoting
the settlement of Negroes on public land, became the most promising of
the colored communities in Ohio. Sketching the history of that county,
Howe says:

"In the southern part of this county is a colony of colored people,
amounting to several hundred persons. They live principally by
agriculture, and own extensive tracts of land in the townships of
Granville, Franklin, and Mercer. They bear a good reputation for
morality, and manifest a laudable desire for mental improvement. This
settlement was founded by the exertions of Mr. Augustus Wattles, a
native of Connecticut, who, instead of merely theorizing upon the evils
which prevent the moral and mental advancement of the colored race, has
acted in their behalf with a philanthropic, Christian-like zeal, that
evinces he has their real good at heart. The history of this settlement
is given in the annexed extract of a letter from him.

"'My early education, as you well know, would naturally lead me to
look upon learning and good morals as of infinite importance in a
land of liberty. In the winter of 1833-4, I providentially became
acquainted with the colored population of Cincinnati, and found about
4,000 totally ignorant of every thing calculated to make good
citizens. Most of them had been slaves, shut out from every avenue of
moral and mental improvement. I started a school for them, and kept
it up with 200 pupils for two years. I then proposed to the colored
people to move into the country and purchase land, and remove from
those contaminating inf