raded and miserable; who,
so far from adding to our national strength, are an element of
weakness, and detract from the amount of human effort. A people,
whose condition, while it excites our commiseration, must awaken
our fears.' * * 'Those persons of color who have been
emancipated, are only nominally free; and the whole race, so
long as they remain among us, and whether they be slaves or
free, must _necessarily_ be kept in a condition full of
wretchedness to them and full of danger to the whites. This view
of the subject is rendered the more alarming by the rapid
increase of this portion of our population.'--[Second Annual
Report of the New-York State Colonization Society, pp. 4, 34.]
'We would ask, whence have the troubles, which have taken place
among the slaves of Louisiana, originated? Trace the causes, and
we will invariably find them to have proceeded from the
suggestions and officious interferences of the free blacks.
Their very existence in our limits, enjoying supposed
independence, excites the envy and dissatisfaction of the
slaves. The latter naturally inquire, why is it, that persons of
the same color, are permitted to possess more privileges than
they do?... We know the danger to which we are exposed from such
a class of beings living in the very heart of our population,
and increasing greatly every year.'--[An advocate of the Society
in the New-Orleans Argus.]
'Among us the free negroes are multiplying rapidly; both
conscience and religion, as well as propagation, increase them,
and, unless instant and decisive steps are taken to prevent
their increase, you will soon have 50,000 _determined and
vengeful enemies_ in the heart of your country, protected there
by the constitution, forsooth, by which it seems we are
forbidden to expel the free negroes, or to prevent farther
importations of this deadly pest in the persons of
slaves.'--[Louisville Focus.]
'Will not the people of the United States be induced to do
something to remove their colored population? I refer to their
condition, whether bond or free. They are wretched and
dangerous, and should be removed. And the danger arises, not
because we have thousands of slaves within our borders, but
because there are nearly two millions of colored men, who are by
necessity any thing rather than
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