the
consolation for our past sufferings and of those of our color who are in
slavery, which have hitherto been, and under the present situation of
things would continue to be, afforded to us and to them, will cease for
ever. The cords, which now connect them with us, will be stretched by
the distance to which their ends will be carried, until they break; and
all the sources of happiness, which affection and connexion and blood
bestow, will be ours and theirs no more.

Nor do we view the colonization of those who may become emancipated by
its operation among our southern brethren, as capable of producing their
happiness. Unprepared by education, and a knowledge of the truths of our
blessed religion, for their new situation, those who will thus become
colonists will themselves be surrounded by every suffering which can
afflict the members of the human family.

Without arts, without habits of industry, and unaccustomed to provide by
their own exertions and foresight for their wants, the colony will soon
become the abode of every vice, and the home of every misery. Soon will
the light of Christianity, which now dawns among that portion of our
species, be shut out by the clouds of ignorance, and their day of life
be closed, without the illuminations of the gospel.

To those of our brothers, who shall be left behind, there will be
assured perpetual slavery and augmented sufferings. Diminished in
numbers, the slave population of the southern states, which by its
magnitude alarms its proprietors, will be easily secured. Those among
their bondmen, who feel that they should be free, by rights which all
mankind have from God and from nature, and who thus may become dangerous
to the quiet of their masters, will be sent to the colony; and the tame
and submissive will be retained, and subjected to increased rigor. Year
after year will witness these means to assure safety and submission
among their slaves, and the southern masters will colonize only those
whom it may be dangerous to keep among them. The bondage of a large
portion of our brothers will thus be rendered perpetual.

Should the anticipations of misery and want among the colonists, which
with great deference we have submitted to your better judgment, be
realized; to emancipate and transport to Africa will be held forth by
slaveholders as the worst and heaviest of punishments; and they will be
threatened and successfully used to enforce increased submission to
their wish