e prejudice
against skins darker colored than our own, was a fixed and unalterable
law of our nature, which cannot possibly be changed. The very
_existence_ of the Society is owing to this prejudice: for if we
could make all the colored people white, or if they could be viewed
as impartially as if they were white, what would be left for the
Colonization Society to do? Under such circumstances, they would have
a fair chance to rise in their moral and intellectual character, and we
should be glad to have them remain among us, to give their energies for
our money, as the Irish, the Dutch, and people from all parts of the
world are now doing.

I am aware that some of the Colonizationists make large professions on
this subject; but nevertheless we are constantly told by this Society,
that people of color must be removed, not only because they are in
our way, but because they _must_ always be in a state of degradation
here--that they never _can_ have all the rights and privileges of
citizens--and all this is because the _prejudice_ is so great.

"The managers consider it clear that causes exist and are operating to
prevent their (the blacks) improvement and elevation to any considerable
extent as a class, in this country, which are fixed, not only beyond
the control of the friends of humanity, but of any human power.
_Christianity will not_ do for them _here_, what it will do for them
in _Africa_. This is not the fault of the colored man, nor Christianity
but _an ordination of Providence_, and no more to be changed than the
laws of Nature!"--_Last Annual Report of American Colonization Society._

"The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society--prejudices
which neither _refinement_, nor _argument_, nor _education_, NOR
RELIGION ITSELF, can subdue--mark the people of color, whether bond or
free, as the subjects of degradation _inevitable_ and _incurable_. The
African _in this country_ belongs _by birth_ to the very lowest station
in society; and from that station HE CAN NEVER RISE, be his _talents,
his enterprise, his virtues, what they may_. They constitute a class by
themselves--a class out of which _no individual can be elevated_, and
below which none can be depressed."--_African Repository_, vol. iv,
pp. 118, 119.

This is shaking hands with iniquity, and covering sin with a silver
veil. Our prejudice against the blacks is founded in sheer pride; and
it originates in the circumstance that people of their color