Mr. Breckinridge had lauded the Colonization Society as a scheme of
benevolence and patriotism. He (Mr. T.) did not mean to deny that
there had been many pious and excellent men found amongst its founders
and subsequent supporters, but he was prepared to demonstrate that it
had grown out of prejudice, was based upon prejudice, made its appeal
to prejudice, and could not exist were the prejudice against the
colored man conquered. It had, moreover, made an appeal to the fears
and cupidity of the slaveholder, by setting forth, that, in its
operations, it would remove from the southern states the most
dangerous portion of the free population, and also enhance the value
of the slaves left remaining in the country. The doctrines found
pervading the publications of the society were of the most absurd and
anti-christian character. He would mention three, viz., 1st, that
_Africa_, and not _America_, was the true and appropriate home of the
colored man; 2dly, that prejudice against color was _invincible_, and
the elevation of the colored man, therefore, while in America, beyond
the reach of humanity, legislation and religion; and, 3dly, that there
should be no emancipation except for the purposes of colonization. How
truly monstrous were these doctrines! How calculated to cripple
exertion, to retard freedom, and mark the colored man out as a
foreigner and alien, to be driven out of the country as soon as the
means for his removal were provided. Such had really been the effect
of the society's views upon the public mind in America. If the colored
man was to be expatriated because his ancestors were Africans, then
let General Jackson be sent to Ireland, because his parents were
Irish; and Mr. Van Buren be sent to Holland, because his ancestors
were Dutch; and let the same rule be applied to all the other white
inhabitants of the country. Then would Great Britain, and France, and
Germany, and Switzerland recover their children; America be delivered
of her conquerors, and the red man come forth from the wilds and the
wildernesses of the back country, to enjoy, in undisturbed security,
the soil from which his ancestors had been driven. Mr. Breckinridge
had said much respecting his (Mr. T.'s) presumption in bringing
forward a resolution in Boston, so strongly condemning the measures
and principles of the Colonization Society. He (Mr. T.) might be
permitted to say, that if he had acted presumptuously, he had also
acted boldly and honestly; and that the auditory should know, that the
resolution referred to had been debated for one entire evening, and
from half past nine till half past one, the next day, with the Rev. R.
R. Gurley, the secretary and agent of the Colonization Society, who,
for eight or nine years, had been the editor of the African
Repository, and was, perhaps, better qualified than any other man in
the United States, to discuss the subject--always, of course,
excepting his Rev. opponent, then on the platform. He admitted, the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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