period, said: "We were stolen from our mother country and brought here.
We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still
they are not weary of our services. _But they who stay to till the
ground must be slaves_. Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn
enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far country to die? See
the thousands of foreigners emigrating to America every year: and if
there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to
eat, why would they wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away?
Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to
part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who
remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who
do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; but they have not
duly considered the subject--they are not men of color. This land
which we have watered with our tears and our blood is now our _mother
country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the
gospel is free."[1] This point of view received popular expression in
a song which bore the cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of
Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home." The
first stanza was as follows:

[Footnote 1: _Freedom's Journal_, November 2, 1827, quoted by Walker.]

Great God, if the humble and weak are as dear
To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear!
Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam;
Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home.
Home, sweet home!
We have no other; this, this is our home.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Anti-Slavery Picknick_, 105-107.]

To this sentiment formal expression was given in the measures adopted at
various Negro meetings in the North. In 1817 the greatest excitement
was occasioned by a report that through the efforts of the newly-formed
Colonization Society all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from
the country. Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely
circulated.[1] Of special importance was the meeting in Philadelphia in
January, presided over by James Forten. Of this the full report is as
follows:

[Footnote 1: They are fully recorded in _Garrison's Thoughts on African
Colonization_.]

At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel Church,
to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the
contemplated measure that