conspiracy was ever more cruel? What hypocrisy and
tergiversation so enormous? The story is proclaimed in our
pulpits, in our state and national assemblies, in courts of law,
in religious and secular periodicals,--among all parties, and in
all quarters of the country,--that there is a _moral incapacity_
in the people to do justly, love mercy, and to walk
uprightly--that they must always be the enemies and oppressors
of the colored people--that no love of liberty, no dictate of
duty, no precept of republicanism, no dread of retribution, no
claim of right, no injunction of the gospel, can possibly
persuade them to do unto their colored countrymen, as they would
that they should do unto them in a reversal of circumstances.
Now, to these promulgators of unrighteousness, with the
Declaration of Independence in one hand, and the Bible in the
other, I fearlessly give battle. Rich and mighty and numerous as
they are, by the help of the Lord I will put them to open shame.
They shall not libel me, they shall not libel my country, with
impunity. They shall not make our boasted republicanism a
by-word and a hissing among all nations, nor sink the christian
religion below heathen idolatry; and if they persist in
publishing their scandalous proclamations, they shall be
labelled as the enemies of their species and of the republic,
and treated accordingly.

'The Colonization Society, therefore, instead of being a
philanthropic and religious institution, is anti-republican and
anti-christian in its tendency. Its pretences are false, its
doctrines odious, its means contemptible. If we are to send away
the colored population because they are profligate and vicious,
what sort of missionaries will they make? Why not send away the
vicious among the whites, for the same reason and the same
purpose? If ignorance be a crime, where shall we begin to
select? How much must a man know to save him from
transportation? How white must he be? If we send away a mixed
breed, how many will be left? If foreigners only, then the
people of color must remain--for they are our countrymen. Would
foreigners submit? No--not for an instant. Why should the
American people make this enormous expenditure of life and
money? Why not use the funds of the Society to instruct and
elevate our colored population at hom