he Colonization Society:--'With us
they [the free people of color] have been degraded by slavery, and
_still further degraded by the mockery of nominal freedom_.' Were this
true, it would imply that we of the free States are more barbarous and
neglectful than even the traffickers in souls and men-stealers at the
south. We have not, it is certain, treated our colored brethren as the
law of kindness and the ties of brotherhood demand; but have we outdone
slaveholders in cruelty? Were it true, to forge new fetters for the
limbs of these degraded beings would be an act of benevolence. But their
condition is as much superior to that of the slaves, as happiness is to
misery. The second portion of this work, containing their proceedings in
a collective capacity, shows whether they have made any progress in
intelligence, in virtue, in piety, and in happiness, since their
liberation. Again he says: '_We have endeavored_, but endeavored in
vain, _to restore them either to self-respect, or to the respect of
others_.' It is painful to contradict so worthy an individual; but
nothing is more certain than that this statement is altogether
erroneous. We have derided, we have shunned, we have neglected them, in
every possible manner. They have had to rise not only under the
mountainous weight of their own ignorance and vice, but with the
additional and constant pressure of our contempt and injustice. In
despite of us, they have done well. Again: '_It is not our fault that we
have failed_; it is not theirs.' We _are_ wholly and exclusively in
fault. What have we done to raise them up from the earth? What have we
_not_ done to keep them down? Once more: 'It has resulted from a cause
over which neither they, nor we, can ever have control.' In other words,
they have been made with skins not colored like our own,' and
_therefore_ we cannot recognise them as fellow-countrymen, or treat them
like rational beings! One sixth of our whole population _must_, FOR
EVER, in this land, remain a wretched, ignorant and degraded race,--and
yet nobody be culpable--_none but the Creator_ who has made us
_incapable_ of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us!
Horrible--horrible! If this be not an impeachment of Infinite
Goodness,--I do not say intentionally but _really_,--I cannot define it.
The same sentiment is reiterated by a writer in the Southern Religious
Telegraph, who says--'The exclusion of the free black from the civil and
literary privi