ower than that of making what is
rightfully acquired a source of justice and of blessings to a
people of another colour?

As the revolution to be produced in the condition of the negroes
must be gradual, it will suffice if the sale of territory keep
pace with its progress. For a time, at least, the proceeds would
be in advance. In this case, it might be best, after deducting
the expense incident to the surveys and sales, to place the
surplus in a situation where its increase might correspond with
the natural increase of the unpurchased slaves. Should the
proceeds at any time fall short of the calls for their
application, anticipations might be made by temporary loans, to
be discharged as the land should find a market.

But it is probable that for a considerable period the sales would
exceed the calls. Masters would not be willing to strip their
plantations and farms of their labourers so rapidly. The slaves
themselves connected, as they generally are, by tender ties with
others under other masters, would be kept from the list of
emigrants by the want of the multiplied consents to be obtained.
It is probable, indeed, that for a long time a certain portion of
the proceeds might safely continue applicable to the discharge of
the debts or to other purposes of the nation, or it might be most
convenient, in the outset, to appropriate a certain proportion
only of the income from sales to the object in view, leaving the
residue otherwise applicable.

Should any plan similar to that I have sketched be deemed
eligible in itself, no particular difficulty is foreseen from
that portion of the nation, which, with a common interest in the
vacant territory, has no interest in slave property. They are too
just to wish that a partial sacrifice should be made for the
general good, and too well aware that whatever may be the
intrinsic character of that description of property, it is one
known to the Constitution, and, as such could not be
constitutionally taken away without just compensation. That part
of the nation has, indeed, shewn a meritorious alacrity in
promoting, by pecuniary contributions, the limited scheme for
colonizing the blacks, and freeing the nation from the
unfortunate stain on it, which justifies the belief that any
enlargement of