“Every reflecting man must be convinced, that the time is not far distant when the safety of the country will require the EXPULSION of the blacks from its limits.――It is perfect folly to suppose that a foreign population, whose physical peculiarities must forever render them distinct from the owners of the soil, can be permitted to grow and strengthen among us with impunity. Let hair-brained enthusiasts speculate as they may, no abstract considerations of the natural rights of man will ever elevate the negro population to an equality with the whites. As long as they remain in the land of their bondage, they will be morally, if not physically, enslaved, and indeed, as long as their distinct nationality is preserved, their _enlightenment_ will be a measure of _doubtful policy_. Under such circumstances, every philanthropist will wish to see them removed, but gradually, and with as little violence as possible. For effecting this purpose, no scheme is liable to so few objections as that of African Colonization. It has been said that this plan has effected but little――true, but no other has done any thing. We do not expect that the exertions of benevolent individuals will be able to rid us of the millions of blacks who oppress and are oppressed by us. All they can accomplish, is, to satify the public of the practicability of the scheme――they can make the experiment――they are making it, and with success. The state of Maryland has already adopted this plan, and before long, every southern state will have its colony. The whole African coast will be strewn with cities, and then should some fearful convulsion render it necessary to the public safety TO BANISH THE MULTITUDE AT ONCE, a house of refuge will have been provided for them in the land of their fathers.” At a convention of gradualists and colonizationists, held on the 23d of May, 1835, at Shelbyville, Kentucky, the following resolutions were passed. “_Resolved_, That the system of domestic slavery, as it exists in this commonwealth, is both a moral and political evil, and a violation of the natural rights of man. “_Resolved_, That no system of emancipation will meet with our approbation, unless colonization be inseparably connected with it; and that any scheme of emancipation which shall leave the blacks within our borders, is more to be deprecated than slavery itself.” So the only condition on which the slaves are to be emancipated is _exile_. This is no emancipation at all. For if a man is free, he must be free to stay in the land of his birth. The plain meaning of these resolutions is, that the resolvers are so bent upon expatriating their poor colored laborers, that they rush on to a “violation of the natural rights of man” to effect their purpose. Would it be any worse in principle to free the slaves by cutting their throats? And again, is it not wrong to advocate a scheme which gives the least countenance to such iniquity?