ve question before that
honorable body, who declared, that man could not hold property in
man, and that the master held no right to the slave, either by a
law of nature or a patentee from God, but by the will of society;
which we declare to be an unjust usurpation of the rights and
privileges of men.

"But how beautiful must the prospect be to the philanthropist, to
view us, the children of persecution, grown to manhood,
associating in our delegated character to devise plans and means
for our moral elevation, and attracting the attention of the wise
and good over the whole country, who are anxiously watching our
deliberations.

"We have here to inform you, that we have patiently listened to
the able and eloquent arguments produced by the Rev. R. R.
Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, in behalf
of the doings of said Society, and Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Esq., in
opposition to its action.

"A more favorable opportunity to arrive at truth seldom has been
witnessed, but while we admire the distinguished piety and
Christian feelings with which he so solemnly portrayed the
doctrines of that institution, we do now _assert_, that the
result of the same has tended more deeply to rivet our solid
conviction, that the doctrines of said Society are at enmity with
the principles and precepts of religion, humanity, and justice,
and should be regarded by every man of color in these United
States as an evil, for magnitude, unexcelled, and whose doctrines
aim at the entire extinction of the free colored population and
the riveting of slavery.

"We might here repeat our protest against that institution, but
it is unnecessary; your views and sentiments have long since gone
to the world; the wings of the wind have borne your
disapprobation to that institution. Time itself cannot erase it.
You have dated your opposition from its beginning, and your views
are strengthened by time and circumstances, and they hold the
uppermost seat in your affections. We have not been unmindful of
the compulsory laws which caused our brethren in Ohio to seek new
homes in a distant land, there to share and suffer all the
inconveniences of exiles in an uncultivated region; which has led
us to admire the benevolent feelings of a rival government in its