all its undisputed ills, was better than manumission without removal. Such of them may as can, safely and justly, abolish slavery and follow the example of Pennsylvania, New York and other States. Any of them can contribute some pecuniary aid to the object. And if an enlargement of the Constitutional powers of the General Government be necessary and expedient, they are competent to grant it.

I have thus, gentlemen, presented a faint and imperfect sketch of what was contemplated by the American Colonization Society, to which you form an auxiliary, of what it has done, and of what the principle of African Colonization, which it has successfully illustrated, is susceptible, with due encouragement, and adequate means, in the hands of competent authority. We ought not to be disheartened by the little which has been accomplished, in the brief space of thirteen years during which it has existed, or the magnitude and difficulties of the splendid undertaking which lies before us. In the execution of those vast schemes which affect the condition and happiness of large portions of the habitable globe, time is necessary, which may appear to us mortals of long duration, but which in the eyes of Providence, or in comparison with the periods of National existence, is short and fleeting. How long was it after Romulus and Remus laid the scanty foundations of their little state in the contracted limits of the Peninsula of Italy, before Imperial Rome burst forth, in all her astonishing splendour, the acknowledged mistress of the world? Ages past away before Carthage and other Colonies, in ancient times, shone out in all their commercial and military glory. Several centuries have now elapsed since our forefathers first began, in the morasses of James river and on the rock of Plymouth, the work of founding this Republic, yet in its infancy. Eighteen Hundred years have rolled over since the Son of God, our blessed Redeemer, offered himself, on Mount Calvary, a voluntary sacrifice for the salvation of our species; and more than half of mankind continue to deny his divine mission and the truth of his sacred word.

We may boldly challenge the annals of human nature for the record of any human plan, for the melioration of the condition or advancement of the happiness of our race, which promised more unmixed good, or more comprehensive beneficence than that of African Colonization if carried into full execution. Its benevolent purpose is not limited by the confines of one Continent, nor to the prosperity of a solitary race, but embraces two of the largest quarters of the earth, and the peace and happiness of both of the descriptions of their present inhabitants, with the countless millions of their posterity who are to succeed. It appeals for aid and support to the friends of liberty here and every where. The Colonists, reared in the bosom of this Republic, with a perfect knowledge of all the blessings which freedom imparts, altho' they have not always been able themselves to share them, will carry a recollection of it to Africa, plant it there, and spread it over her boundless territory. And may we not indulge the hope that, in a

period of time not surpassing in duration, that of our own Colonial and National existence we shall behold a confederation of Republican States, on the Western shores of Africa, like our own, with their Congress and annual Legislatures thundering forth in behalf of the rights of man, and making tyrants tremble on their thrones? It appeals for aid and support to the friends of civilization throughout the world. Africa, altho' a portion of it was among the first to emerge from barbarism, is now greatly in the rear of all the Continents, in knowledge, and in the arts and sciences. America owes to the old world a debt of gratitude for the possession of them. Can she discharge it in any more suitable manner than that of transplanting them on a part of its own soil, by means of its own sons, whose ancestors were torn by fraud and violence from their native home and thrown here into bondage? It powerfully appeals for support to patriotism and humanity. If we were to invoke the greatest blessing on earth, which Heaven, in its mercy, could now bestow on this nation, it would be the separation of the two most numerous races of its population and their comfortable es tablishment in distinct and distant countries. To say nothing of the great est difficulty in the formation of our present happy Constitution, which arose out of this mixed condition of our people, nothing of the distracting Missouri question which was so threatening; nothing of others, springing from the same fruitful source, which yet agitate us, who can contemplate the future without the most awful apprehensions? Who, if this promiscuous residence of whites and blacks, of freemen and slaves, is forever to continue, can imagine the servile wars, the carnage and the crimes which will be its probable consequences, without shuddering with horror? It finally appeals emphatically for aid and support to the reverend clergy and sincere professors of our Holy Religion. If the project did not look beyond the happiness of the two races now in America, it would be entitled to their warmest encouragement. If it were confined to the removal only of the free coloured population, it would deserve all their patronage. Within those restrictions how greatly would it not contribute to promote the cause of virtue and morality, and consequently religion! But it presents a much more extensive field—a field only limited by the confines of one of the largest quarters of the habitable globe-for religious and benevolent exertion. Throughout the entire existence of Christianity it has been a favorite object of its ardent disciples and pious professors to diffuse its blessings by converting the Heathen. This duty is enjoined by its own sacred precepts and prompted by considerations of humanity. All christendom is more or less employed on this object, at this moment, in some part or other of the earth. But it must, in candor be owned, that hitherto missionary efforts have not had a success corresponding, in extent, with the piety and benevolence of their aim, or with the amount of the means which have been applied. Some new and more efficacious mode of accomplishing the beneficient purpose must be devised, which by concentrating energies and en

deavors, and avoiding loss in their diffuse and uncombined application, shall ensure the attainment of more cheering results. The American Colonization Society presents itself to the religious world as uniting those great advantages. Almost all Africa is in a state of the deepest ignorance and barbarism, and addicted to idolatry and superstition. It is destitute of the blessings both of christianity and civilization. The Society, is an instrument which, under the guidance of providence, with public assistance, is competent to spread the lights of both, throughout its vast dominions. And the means are as simple as the end is grand and magnificent. They are to deviate from the practice of previous Missionary institutions, and employ as agents some of the very brethren of the Heathen sought to be converted and brought within the pale of civilization. The Society proposes to send, not one or two pious members of christianity into a foreign land, among a different and perhaps a suspicious race, of another complexion, but to transport annually, for an indefinite number of years, in one view of its scheme, six thousand, in another, fifty-six thousand Missionaries, of the descendants of Africa itself, with the same interests, sympathies, and constitutions of the natives, to communicate the benefits of our religion and of the arts. And this Colony of Missionaries, is to operate not alone by preaching the doctrines of truth and of revelation, which however delightful to the ears of the faithful and intelligent, are not always comprehended by untutored savages, but also by works of ocular demonstration. It will open forests, build towns, erect temples of public worship, and practically exhibit to the native sons of Africa the beautiful moral spectacle and the superior advantages of our religious and social systems. In this unexaggerated view of the subject, the Colony, compared with other Missionary plans, presents the force and grandeur of a noble Steamer majestically ascending, and with ease subduing, the current of the Mississippi, in comparison with the feeble and tottering canoe, moving slowly among the reeds that fringe its shores. It holds up the image of the resistless power of the Mississippi itself, rushing from the summits of the Rocky Mountains and marking its deep and broad and rapid course through the heart of this Continent, thousands of miles, to the Gulph of Mexico, in comparison with that of an obscure rivulet winding its undiscernable way through dark and dense forests or luxurient Prairies, in which it is quickly and forever lost.

Gentlemen of the Colonization Society of Kentucky! not one word need be added, in conclusion, to animate your perseverance or to stimulate your labors, in the humane cause which you have deliberately espoused. We have reason to believe that we have been hitherto favored, and shall continue to be blessed, with the smiles of Providence. Confiding in his approving judgment and conscious of the benevolence and purity of our intentions, we may fearlessly advance in our great work. And, when we shall, as soon we must, be translated from this into another form of existence, is the hope presumptuous that we shall there behold the common Father of

whites and of blacks, the great Ruler of the Universe, cast his All seeing eye upon civilized and regenerated Africa, its cultivated fields, its coast studded with numerous cities, adorned with towering temples, dedicated to the pure religion of his redeeming Son, its far-famed Niger, and other great rivers, lined with flourishing villages, and navigated with that wonderful power which American genius first successfully applied; and that, after dwelling with satisfaction upon the glorious spectacle, he will deign to look with approbation upon us, His humble instruments, who have contributed to produce it?

We deem the intrinsic merit of Mr. Clay's Address, an ample justification for our publishing it entire. It is in itself calculated to give an extensive and powerful impulse to the cause which it advocates. It even adds to the reputation of its author, and confers new credit on the Society whose interests it is designed to promote.

The unbelief, and more especially the indifference, with regard to African Colonization, exhibited by many people of this country, will appear a prodigy on the future pages of its history: and it will probably enough be a question for future debate, whether the causes were moral or intellectual; whether they existed in a want of feeling or a want of foresight. When posterity shall behold, as they will behold, the African Continent peaceful and happy; its now savage and bloody plains, adorned with fruitful fields, and populous villages; its gods of trinkets and of parchment supplanted by the records of wisdom, and the implements of art; its commerce of blood, a commerce of benevolence; the offspring of slaves and savages, a free, enlightened and virtuous yeomanry; a mild and upright magistracy the successors of tyrants; and the whole continent a constellation of republics: and when they trace, as they doubtless will trace, this mighty change to the American Colony, and learn how slow were the people of the United States to believe, they will not be unlikely to group the present generation, and all its boasted endowments, with those of the dark ages. And still more, if they should see this country plunged into ruin for the want of a single pennyweight to turn the scales in its favour, or rescued by a mere preponderance so small, they will be struck with the same astonishment that is felt towards the degenerate Athenians, who

listened to the eloquence of Demosthenes, were persuaded, and then plunged headlong to their own destruction.

It is certainly no longer a question whether the people of the United States can remove this perilous evil. They can. It is absolutely demonstrable, that merely the sacrifices made in a very few years to that Moloch, the still, would fully accomplish it. The only main question which can possibly arise, is whether they are willing. This consideration places objectors to the practicability of the scheme, in their true light. And we would entreat them all to set the example of their own willingness, before they insist so much on the willingness of others. Such an example would serve to defeat their own unpropitious forebodings.

It is no longer doubtful that the people of this country, will cherish a disposition to separate the coloured people from among them. That disposition is already most glaringly obvious in its existence and rapid in its growth. But where will they go? The South casts them out, the North has no place for them, the West pushes them onward, Canada repels them, and should they commence their progress toward the setting sun, the tide of population would ere long push them into the Pacific. In Africa alone can they escape the ruinous rivalry of the white man, for there the white men dare not follow them. But the humanity of this country will not suffer them to be driven out in large bodies, to perish on a savage coast. The Colonies should increase gradually, though immensely beyond their present rate of increase, and should receive emigrants from this country as fast as they can sustain them. Voluntary manumission should never be retarded by the want of a free and ready outlet for the manumitted. The United States of Africa, sustained and cherished by the mother country, till they assume her likeness, bask in the beams of her splendour, reflect back the glory of her greatness, attain and exercise all her moral and intellectual and physical energies, must become the asylum of fugitive Africans. As their commerce increases, ships in multitudes laden with their gross and unwrought products, will diminish the demand for slave labour in this country, and will return with the lighter fabrics of art, and full cargoes of coloured emigrants. Thither, if white men will not convey them, they can convey themselves. Thither let them be driven, if they must be expelled, and there they will be prosperous and happy.