'What has awakened that spirit of suspicion and enmity which is now manifested by these men in every form of open and active hostility? Can it be attributed to any departure of the Society from its avowed original design and principles? We maintain that it cannot; we maintain that the character of the Society has from the commencement been uniformly the same, and that its proceedings have been consistent with its character. Were or are the design and principles of the Society hostile to the rights and interest of the Southern States? We maintain that they were and are not; but on the contrary, are worthy to be cherished by the citizens of these States, and to be sustained with all their energies as means of their political and moral strength.' * * * 'The _free_ people of color alone are to be colonized by the Society, and whether the benefits of its scheme are ever to be extended to _others_, is a question referred to those to whom it pertains as a matter of right and duty to decide.' * * * 'The Colonization Society would be the last Institution in the world to disturb the domestic tranquillity of the South.'--[Defence of the Society.--Idem, pp. 197, 207, 209.] 'This Society, here in the outset, most explicitly disclaims all intention to interfere in the smallest degree with the slave population. It is with the free colored population alone, and that too, with their own consent, that this Society proposes to act.'--[Address of the Maryland State Colonization Society to the People of Maryland.]