he whole, my view of the operations of the
Colonization Society, in relieving the slave States of the evil
which weighs them down more than a hundred tariffs, is
illustrated by an old fable, in which it is stated, that a man
was seen at the foot of a mountain, scraping away the dust with
his foot. One passing by, asked him what he was doing? I wish to
remove this mountain, said he. You fool, replied the other, you
can never do it in that way. Well, said he, I can raise a dust,
can't I?

'Sir, I do not wish to censure the motives of this Society, but
surely they are visionary. Its supporters are bewildered in
their own dust, which is well calculated to injure the vision of
good men. The Commercial Advertiser says they do indeed wish to
wipe away from the national records the stain of slavery, "but
hope it may be accomplished (as the Virginia Enquirer has it)
surely but quietly." Yes, Sir, and quietly enough!

'Our ambition leads not to superiority, but to our _freedom_ and
_political rights_. _Grant this!_ we ask no more! If the places
in which we dwell are too straight for us and the white
population, place us in a state far to the West--take us
into the Union--give us our _rights_ as _freemen_. Let the
southern states make all born after a date not two years
distant, free! and let the Colonization Society turn its
attention and energies to the removing of liberated slaves
there: the free people will go without their aid. But if the
Government is fearful of retaliation, it may allay its fears by
a consideration of the fact of there not being one freeman
engaged in the late insurrections--of freemen informing against
slaves--the peaceable manner in which we live in the
neighborhoods of the south, and throughout the whole Union. The
meetings that have lately been held, and resolutions passed
expressive of our disapprobation of such measures, may all show
that such fears are groundless. I repeat again--_Give us our
rights--we ask no more!_

'Yes, Sir, if I possessed the Indies, I would pledge the whole
that if such measures were taken, and such grants made, no
retaliation would be made by us as a body for former evils.'[AV]

'In no age of our existence have there been more pains taken by
priests and people, in public and private, in church and state,
to give the