None of these scruples, to my knowledge, are entertained by colonizationists: their only aim and anxiety seem to be, 'to prune and nourish the system,'--not to overthrow it; to increase the avarice of the planters by rendering the labor of their bondmen more productive,--not to abridge and starve it; to remove the cause of those apprehensions which might lead them to break the fetters of their victims,--not to perpetuate it; 'to provide (I quote the confession of the last distinguished proselyte to the Society, Mr Archer of Virginia) and to keep open a drain for the _excess of increase beyond the occasions of_ PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT,'--not to make slave labor ruinous to the planters. By removing whatever number of slaves it be, from this country, the number which remains must be diminished--and the more the number which remains is diminished, the more helpless will they become, the less will be the hope of their ever recovering their own liberty, and the more and the longer they will be trampled upon. The greater the number of slaves transported, _the greater will be the value of the labor of those who remain_; the more valuable their labor is, _the greater will be the temptation to over-labor them, and the more, of course, they will be oppressed_.[M] The increase of the free colored population disturbs the security of the planters, and forces many to manumit their slaves through sheer terror. The expatriation of this class, therefore, manifestly tends to quiet the apprehensions of the oppressors, to rivet more firmly the chains of the slaves, to make their services in higher demand, and to render even their gradual emancipation impracticable. Thus the American Colonization Society is the _apologist_, the _friend_, and the _patron_ of SLAVEHOLDERS and SLAVERY! FOOTNOTES: [M] Stuart's Circular. SECTION V. THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY IS THE ENEMY OF IMMEDIATE ABOLITION. It follows, as a necessary consequence, that a Society which is not hostile to slavery, which apologises for the system and for slaveholders, which recognises slaves as rightful property,[N] and which confessedly increases their value, is _the enemy of immediate abolition_. This, I am aware, in the present corrupt state of public sentiment, will not generally be deemed an objectionable feature; but I regard it with inexpressible abhorrence and dismay.