at you _loved the land of your nativity_, and that, like
ourselves, you had to defend all that is dear to man. But you surpass
my hopes. I have found in you, united to those qualities, that noble
enthusiasm which impels to great deeds."]

In the Virginia debate of 1832, it was agreed that very few of the free
colored people would be _willing_ to go to Africa; and this is proved
by several petitions from them, praying for leave to remain. One of the
Virginian legislators said, "either _moral_ or _physical_ force must be
used to compel them to go;" some of them advised immediate coercion;
others recommended persuasion first, until their numbers were thinned,
and coercion afterward. I believe the resolution finally passed the
House without any proviso of this sort; and I mention it merely to show
that it was generally supposed the colored people would be unwilling
to go.

The planters are resolved to drive the free blacks away; and it is
another evil of the Colonization Society that their funds and their
influence co-operate with them in this project. They do not indeed
thrust the free negroes off, at the point of the bayonet; but they make
their _laws_ and _customs_ so very unequal and oppressive, that the poor
fellows are surrounded by raging fires on every side, and must leap
into the Atlantic for safety. In slave ethics I suppose this is called
"_moral_ force." If the slave population is left to its own natural
increase, the crisis will soon come; for labor will be so very cheap
that slavery will not be for the interest of the whites. Why should we
retard this crisis?

In the next place, many of the Colonizationists (I do not suppose it
applies to all) are averse to giving the blacks a good education; and
they are not friendly to the establishment of schools and colleges for
that purpose. Now I would ask any candid person why colored children
should _not_ be educated? Some say, it will raise them above their
situation; I answer, it will raise them _in_ their situation--not
_above_ it. When a High School for white girls was first talked of in
this city, several of the wealthy class objected to it; because, said
they, "if everybody is educated, we shall have no servants." This
argument is based on selfishness, and therefore cannot stand. If carried
into operation, the welfare of many would be sacrificed to the
convenience of a few. We might as well protest against the sunlight,
for the benefit of lamp-oil merchants. O