ful in the case of Liberia. The subject, unfortunately, did not
excite the attention which might have been anticipated, partly, I fear,
because it was ill-timed, and was considered by the general body of
Abolitionists, as a diversion tending to distract the public mind from
the great question of emancipation, which was then undergoing anxious
discussion; and partly, because it was considered by some, as a
palliative likely to prolong the existence of slavery, in the same ratio
as it diminished its evils. The selection of so unseasonable a moment
for introducing the subject to the public, was influenced by the
necessity Mr. Cresson was under of returning to the United States, but
previously to his departure, the objections to the efforts of the
Society were fully answered, and the important fact of the independence
of each State, in reference to slavery, was stated in ample detail. From
those statements it appeared, that the law of slavery, in some cases,
prohibits--not only the emancipation; but the education of slaves, in
order to render their bondage still more hopeless and oppressive: but
that the efforts of the Society were gradually abating the rigour of
those cruel restrictions. The Society has hitherto endeavoured, as far
as its powers would permit, to extend the principle of colonization, by
removing, invariably, with their own consent, such slaves as have the
good fortune to obtain their freedom, to a spot where they were not only
free from competition with the white population, but where their
education, imperfect as it might have been, rendered them the superior
instead of the inferior class: thus silently promoting the blessings of
Christianity and civilization amongst the native tribes. Mr. Cresson,
during his residence in England, distributed several illustrative
documents, sanctioned by names of distinguished persons in the United
States, and to which I am indebted for some of these particulars. From
these documents, were there even no other evidence, it may be fairly
inferred, that Liberia affords uncontrovertible proof of the
practicability of establishing colonies on the African coast, composed
of persons of the African race, nearly, if not wholly, freed from the
control of the whites; that the expense of establishing such a colony is
moderate, not having exceeded, in the case in point, 4000l. per annum;
that it is greatly favoured by the natives, with whom the colonists are
rapidly extending their comme