objection to colonization can be founded only in prejudice, or is
designed to mislead the ignorant. The advocates of this doctrine do not
practice it, or they would not promote the escape of fugitives to
Canada.

But abolitionists object not only to the colonization of liberated
slaves, as tending to perpetuate slavery; they are equally hostile to
the colonization of the free colored people, for the same reason. The
"American Reform Tract and Book Society," the organ of the
abolitionists, for the publication of anti-slavery works, has issued a
Tract on "Colonization," in which this objection is stated as follows:

"The Society perpetuates slavery, by removing the free laborer, and
thereby increasing the demand for, and the value of, slave labor."

The projectors and advocates of such views may be good philanthropists,
but they are bad philosophers. We have seen that the power of American
slavery lies in the demand for its products; and that the whole country,
North of the sugar and cotton States, is actively employed in the
production of provisions for the support of the planter and his slaves,
and in consuming the products of slave labor. This is the constant
vocation of the whites. And how is it with the blacks? Are they
competing with the slaves, in the cultivation of sugar and cotton, or
are they also supporting the system, by consuming its products? The
latitudes in which they reside, and the pursuits in which they are
engaged, will answer this question.

The census of 1850, shows but 40,900 free colored persons in the nine
sugar and cotton States, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina,
while 393,500 are living in the other States. North Carolina is omitted,
because it is more of a tobacco and wool-growing, than cotton-producing
State.

Of the free colored persons in the first-named States, 19,260 are in the
cities and larger towns; while, of the remainder, a considerable number
may be in the villages, or in the families of the whites. From these
facts it is apparent, that less than 20,000 of the entire free colored
population (omitting those of North Carolina,) are in a position to
compete with slave labor, while all the remainder, numbering over
412,800, are engaged, either directly or indirectly, in supporting the
institution. Even the fugitives escaping to Canada, from having been
producers necessarily become consumers of slave-grown pr