4. That in the adoption of any or all of these resolutions, we do not intend to be understood as committing ourselves either as Emigrationists or Colonizationists, but as honest inquirers after truth, and as men not afraid to investigate every question at issue in the great controversy in which we are involved. ----- Footnote 1: 1806. Footnote 2: Mr. Mills enlisted in this cause himself, but on the organization of the American Colonization Society, he embarked in it as the more practicable scheme. Footnote 3: 1812. Footnote 4: 1817. Footnote 5: The receipts, for the first six years, averaged only $3,276 per annum. Footnote 6: Cape Palmas, in its political organization, is a distinct colony from Liberia. It was established by Maryland, and has recently declared its independence. We shall speak of it, however, as a part of Liberia. Their territories lie contiguous, and the Missions of most of the Societies are common to both colonies. Footnote 7: Missionary Advocate, April, 1853. Footnote 8: Letter to the Colonization Herald—October, 1853. Footnote 9: Gammel’s History of the American Baptist Missions. Footnote 10: Gammel’s History of the American Baptist Missions. Footnote 11: Ibid. Footnote 12: Baptist Missionary Magazine, March, 1854. Footnote 13: Mr. Bowen was in Abbeokuta, when the king of Dahomey attempted its destruction, as detailed hereafter. Footnote 14: Report of Bishop Payne, June 6, 1853. Footnote 15: Report of Bishop Payne, June 6, 1853. Footnote 16: The funds for this purpose were supplied as follows: Charles McMicken, Esq., of Cincinnati, $5000; Solomon Sturges, Esq., of Putnam, Ohio, $1000; and Samuel Gurney, Esq., of London, England, $5000. Footnote 17: This system, in its moral bearings upon the Islands, is little better than the old African Slave trade. The disparity in the sexes is fully as great under the _apprenticeship system_, as it was during the prevalence of the slave trade, and it must be equally as demoralizing. Take, as an example, a few imports of apprentices from India and China, for the supply of English planters. The cargoes of five vessels, were composed of 1,433 males, 257 females, and 84 children. The practical effect of this system upon Africa, in exciting wars, and carrying off the male population, is identical with that of the slave trade. See President Roberts’ letter on that subject in Appendix. Footnote 18: This sum is about equal to the price usually paid by the slave traders for slaves. Footnote 19: African Repository, August, 1853. [See Appendix.] Footnote 20: Officer of U. S. Navy, in Gurley’s Report. Vice President Benson also bears the following testimony to an improvement in the character of the natives.