directly attributed to him.

When Mills made his tour through the West and South he not only
preached the Gospel and distributed Bibles, he studied the condition
of the Negro as well. "We must save the Negroes or the Negroes will
ruin us," he concluded. He was convinced that if some disposition
could be made of the free Negroes, many slaveholders would gladly
emancipate their slaves. With this in view, he sought to procure a
district in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois where the blacks might be
colonized. In this way he could test his principle and develop leaders
for a more extended settlement in the far West or in Africa.[253] This
plan did not mature, but he continued to recommend emigration both to
the blacks and whites and to provide for the training of Negro
teachers and preachers. The young missionary established a school
under the care of the synod of New York and New Jersey at Parsippany
in the latter state, which was to "qualify young men of color for
teachers of schools and preachers of the gospel, in hope of exerting
an influence in correcting morals and manners of their brethren in
cities and large towns; and also to raise up teachers for these
people, should an effort be made to settle them by themselves, either
in this country or abroad." Some gave to aid the school as an
auxiliary to the colonization effort, who would not have given, had
not that view been presented. "I am confident," Mills wrote (in 1817),
"that the people of color now in this country, that is, many of them,
will be settled by themselves, either in this country or abroad. The
teachers who may be raised up will promote this object. Whether they
remain in this country or not, much must be done to qualify them for
living in society by themselves."[254]

One of the earliest movements in which an effort was made to adopt
some particular plan of operation was at Georgetown, District of
Columbia, in March, 1816. The meeting was called by a resident of
Georgetown, then a little village, and several citizens of the
neighboring States were present and took part in the discussion.[255]

Other expressions favorable to the deportation of Negroes were made
about this time. At a meeting in Greene County, Tennessee, composed of
delegates of the Manumission Society, emancipation was recommended
"and if thought best, that a colony be laid off for their reception as
they become free."[256] Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jr., a physician, writing a
few days before the pas