But here again, let us be equally candid with you. It is not
every man we could honestly advise or desire to come to this
colony. To those who are contented to live and educate their
children as house servants and lackeys, we would say, stay
where you are; here we have no masters to employ you. To the
indolent, heedless and slothful, we would say, tarry among
the flesh pots of Egypt; here we get our bread by the sweat
of the brow. To drunkards and rioters, we would say, come not
to us; you can never become naturalized in a land where there
are no grog shops, and where temperance and order is the
motto. To the timorous and suspicious, we would say, stay
where you have protectors; here we protect ourselves. But the
industrious, enterprising and patriotic of what occupation or
profession soever; the merchant, the mechanic, and farmer,
(but more particularly the latter,) we would counsel, advise
and entreat to come and be one with us, and assist in this
glorious enterprise, and enjoy with us that liberty to which
we ever were, and the man of color ever must be, a stranger
in America. To the ministers of the gospel, both white and
colored, we would say, come to this great harvest, and
diffuse amongst us and our benighted neighbors, that light of
the gospel, without which liberty itself is but slavery, and
freedom but perpetual bondage.
Accept, brethren, our best wishes; and, praying that the
Great Disposer of events will direct you to that course,
which will tend to your happiness and the benefit of our race
throughout the world,
We subscribe ourselves
Yours, most affectionately,
JACOB GROSS,
WILLIAM POLK,
CHARLES SCOTLAND,
ANTHONY WOOD,
THOMAS JACKSON.
The report having been read, it was then moved by James M.
Thompson and seconded, that the report be approved and
accepted. The yeas and nays were presented as follows:--
Yeas--Jeremiah Stewart, James Martin, Samuel Wheeler, H.
Duncan, Daniel Banks, Joshua Stewart, John Bowen, James
Stewart, Henry Dennis, Eden Harding, Robert Whitefield,
Nathan Lee, Nathaniel Edmondson, Charles Scotland, Nathaniel
Harmon, Bur. Minor, Anthony Howard, James M. Thompson,
Anthony Wood, Jacob Gross, Wm. Polk, Thomas Jackson.
Nays--Nicholas Thomson, William Reynolds, William Cassel.
N. B. Those who voted in the negative, declared that the
statements contained in the report were true, both in spirit
and letter, but they preferred returning to
America--whereupon the meeting adjourned, sine die.
A true copy of the record of the proceedings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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