Slike strani
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

A copy of the proceedings of the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, in the month of June last, was transmitted to the Parent Board at Washington, and published in our July No., page 150.

Messrs. CRESSON and NAYLOR having arrived in Washington, as a Committee from the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, to confer with the Parent Board, it assembled on the 2nd of July, in order to receive those gentlemen. The following is an

Extract from the minutes of the proceedings of the Board of Managers of the American Colonization Society, July 2, 3, 1834.

Messrs. CRESSON and NAYLOR respectively exhibited their views of the relations held by the Young Men's Colonization Society to the Parent Society, and of their wishes in regard to colonizing certain liberated slaves of the late Dr. AYLETT HAWES of Virginia. After full discussion, and a general interchange of views between the several members of the Board, and of the Committee of the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, it was

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to confer with Messrs. CRESSON and NAYLOR on all matters relating to their present agency at Washington; that said Committee receive the views of those gentlemen in writing in relation to the extent and field of operation proposed for the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, and particularly whether the said Society in establishing a colony at Bassa Cove, design to act as Auxiliary to this Society, or as an independent Society; and make a report to-morrow at 5 o'clock, P. M. of all the facts above referred to, with their opinion on the same.

Messrs. LowRIE, SEATON and GURLEY were appointed the Committee. On the following day, the 3rd of July, the Board met, and the Committee made their Report, which was read, considered and unanimously adopted. The following is the statement of the delegates from Philadelphia, referred to by the Committee:

We were appointed by the Board of Managers of the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, for certain special purposes enumerated in the resolutions ur.der which we were appointed; a copy whereof is in your possession, and which we will consider as annexed to this statement.

The first of our instructions is to obtain the authority and sanction of your Board for the transportation of the slaves recently liberated by the late Dr. Hawes of Virginia

Your Board, however, prior to its giving us such authority and sanction, is desirous of knowing how far it can legally do so if our proposed colony be entirely independent of any control or accountability to your Board? And also request to be informed by us whether we contemplate a total independency, or for what purposes and to what extent we

consider our Society connected with, or subject to your Board? Before we pretend to answer this question, we must distinctly state that we have no authority to enter into stipulations upon this subject or to define the respective authorities of the two Societies. It is a matter which has never been determined, and we may add, discussed by our Board; and that so far as concerns this question, our commission is limited to the simple direction to obtain from your Board its sanction and authority to colonize the said slaves. Ail, therefore, that we shall say upon this head, is either our own individual opinions or what we deem to be the sentiment of the Society.

ces."

The first article of the Constitution of our Society provides that the said Society "shall be Auxiliary to the American Colonization Society;" and the address recently published by the Board we represent, declares that it is to sustain "the direct relation of an Auxiliary, in such a way as not only not to diminish, but on the contrary, to increase its resourThe object of the Society, then, as we understand it, is to establish and to maintain, at its own cost and expense, a separate colony on the coast of Africa upon the principles mentioned in its Constitution, and to take as its first emigrants to said colony, all the liberated slaves of the late Dr. Hawes of Virginia; our Board to have the local regulation of said colony, to prescribe the manner in which colonization shall be conducted, to appoint its own Agents, and be an independent colony for the purposes which we think wil secure to us the powerful operation of the whole people (and perhaps the Legislature) of our great State, and promise so much benefit to the cause of Colonization generally-whilst at the same time we would seek such arrangements with your Board as would secure to your colony a rapidly increasing prosperity, imparting to it aid and strength and sustenance, in order that it might be able at any time to step in to our relief or rescue. How this is to be done, what these regulations shall be, and how far the independence of our colony shall be restricted by your Board, we do not pretend to say.This is a matter for future regulation. One thing, however, must be taken care of, that whilst we are endeavoring to extend the cause of Colonization by planting a new colony, the old one must not be permitted to languish. That must go on increasing in strength and power. As we propose to be Auxiliary we must help it. And as that is already so successfully established, it must be sustained.

In reference to our action at home, which your Board is also desirous of being informed of, it is intended, so far as we can speak for ourselves, to appoint, support and control an Agent for our own State, and to have the management of the funds collected;-to act in conjunction with the New York Society in case a union should be formed; both, however, acting Auxiliary to your Society, in "such a way as not only not to diminish, but, on the contrary, to increase its resources."

We think that the cause of Colonization should not be limited to the successful establishment of but one colony. The friends of the cause and its ultimate and triumphant success, require more of us. We should attempt more; and we feel fully convinced that our measures may be so prosecuted, that, even if our attempt should fall short of a permanent establishment, yet that it may and must add to the welfare, permanency and extension of the colony already established by your Board.

We look to the separate action of our colony, preserving, however, a conformity with the Constitution and general laws of Liberia, as but temporary; and shall rejoice when we may be enabled to surrender our trust, and permit the two colonies to blend into one harmonious whole. ELLIOTT CRESSON, CHARLES NAYLOR. Washington, July 3rd, 1934.

To Messrs. LoWRIE, SEATON

and GURLEY,

}

Committee of A. C. Sociely.

Resolutions referred to above:

Resolved, That two persons be a commission to visit without delay, the city of Washington, and also the region of Virginia where the executors, heirs and slaves of the late Dr. Hawes reside, with instructions as follows-viz:

1. To obtain the authority and sanction of the Parent Board for the transportation of said slaves.

2. To secure the permission of said Board for the landing of these colonists at some suitable and safe point in the territory, for shelter and protection (in the event of our preparations to receive them at Bassa Cove being found incomplete) until suitable accommodations can be prepared for them; it being understood that we assume the control and expense of the expedition, and that the twenty dollar allowance, per head, for transportation, be transferred to us.

3. That said commission be instructed to repair to Virginia, and there ascertain, the terins of the will-the limits of the law, as to relapsing into slavery; the state of the slaves, the ability and purpose of the executors as to the sum allowed in the will for their removal; and whatever may be necessary to secure the great object we have in view.

4. And that said commission be requested to ascertain whether the laws of Virgini will allow any delay beyond the specified time arising from peculiar necessity; and if not,

then whether, if it should hereafter be required by our circumstances, or those of the slaves, we may not, for a season, accommodate them in the District of Columbia, or the State of Maryland, until the season and their preparations enable them to set sail.

5. That this Board will pay all expenses of the commission incurred in our service.

The report of the Committee is as follows:

The Committee appointed to consider the views submitted to the Board by Messrs. Cresson and Naylor in regard to the plan and purposes of the Young Men's Colonization. Society of Pennsylvania, submit the following Report:

The delegates from Philadelphia have placed in the hands of the Committee a statement, containing opinions varying little from those expressed verbally by them at the special meeting of the Board on yesterday.

The members of the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania are, the Committee have no doubt, animated by a generous and enterprising spirit of activity in the cause of African Colonization, and have already done much to excite new interest and sympathy in its favour, among the citizens of Philadelphia.

The Committee cannot question the right of the Young Men's Society, or of any other Society, to adopt such principles and measures as they may deem proper for the furtherance of their object. Should any Auxiliary Society consider it expedient to dissolve its connexion with the Parent Society, and act altogether independently, this Board, however it might differ in opinion from such Society in regard to modes of operation, for the common cause, would rejoice in any success which might attend its benevolent efforts.

Much, it is obvious, may be done by Auxiliary Societies without instruction or authority from the Parent Board to increase the resources, accelerate the operations and extend the influence of the cause. Nor can the Parent Board, presume to prescribe for what particular object the funds collected by such Societies for the general cause, shall be expended. The Massachusetts Colonization Society has resolved to devote its funds mainly to the promotion of education in the colony. The Albany Society has directed that a certain amount of its contributions shall be applied to founding a new settlement to bear the name of Albany, and from which ardent spirits shail be excluded; and the State Society of Pennsylvania, that the aid it may furnish, shall go to relieve and sustain the colony, rather than to other general purposes for which pecuniary means may be required. The Parent Board r gard the donations of their fellow citizens and Auxiliary Societies as entrusted to them, to be expended for the cause in any way the donors may direct, not inconsistent with the general principles and objects of the Society.

By the will of the late Dr. Hawes, more than one hundred slaves are left to be settled in Liberia under the direction and guardianship of this Society. Viewing the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania as Auxiliary to this, the Managers consented, some weeks ago, at the request of that Society, to place these slaves, on certain conditions, under its care, that they might be sent out by it, and established as a new settlement at Bassa Cove, which settlement should be maintained and regulated by the Young Men's Society in consistency with the general authority of this Board and the Laws of Liberia. In consenting to transfer the slaves of Dr. Hawes to the Young Men's Society, the Managers did not understand that they were placing them in the power of an entirely independent Society, or agreeing that they should be sent to a colony over which this Board would have no control.

The question submitted, as the Committee apprehend, by the communication of Messrs. Cresson and Naylor, is, whether this Board shall consent to yield up the whole work of African Colonization in Pennsylvania, or in Pennsylvania and New York, to a separate and independent Society, and that such Society shall found an independent colony on the present territory and in the neighborhood of settlements already established in Liberia.— True, the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania is styled Auxiliary, in its Constitution, to the Parent Board, but its purpose as explained is, to establish an independent colony to be governed exclusively by its own laws; laws adopted without the sanction either of the Parent Board, or the colonial government: and for the planting and support of this colony, the States of Pennsylvania and New York are to be an exclusive field of agency for the new independent society, within which the Parent Board is to have no Agents no Auxiliaries and no benefit from the Fourth of July collections. It is indeed proposed that all surplus funds not required for the management and enlargement of the new colony, shall be paid over to the Parent Society. But every one acquainted with the expense of founding a new colony, or with the powerful motives which will invite increased expenditures for its extension and improvement, must regard such a proposal as significant of little more than kindness and good will to the Parent Society.

The Committee feel it their duty to express their opinions the more fully and frankly on this subject, because the views of the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania are made known in connection with a request that the slaves of the late Dr. Hawes should be placed under their control, and because they deem it a subject of immense importance to the.

cause.

While the Committee are sensible of the propriety of enlisting as far as practicable,

consistently with united and harmonious action, the local feelings and sectional interests of the friends of the Society, they believe, that a separate and independent course on the part of Auxiliary Societies, if generally adopted, would annihilate the Parent Institution. To consent to such separate and independent action then, would, on the part of this Society, be to yield up its very existence.

The proposition for this separate and independent action comes from the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania only. The views of one Society, cannot be regarded as expressing the general sentiment of the country, or even that of Pennsylvania and New York.In both of these States the Parent Society has many able friends and Auxiliaries, and although the New York City Colonization Society has announced its purpose of founding a new settlement at Cape Mount, yet the noble zeal and liberality recently evinced by its members and Managers in aiding the funds and operations of the Parent Board, at a trying crisis, afford reason to believe that it contemplates nothing calculated to diminish the strength, or disturb the harmonious operations of this Society. At the suggestion then of a single Society, the Committee could not recommend to this Board to yield up a trust confided to them by the general will and voice of the friends of African Colonization in every quarter of the country.

The Committee are of opinion, that a separate and independent Society embracing the friends of African Colonization in the States of Pennsylvania and New York, engaged in the establishment of a new and independent colony, if sanctioned by this Board, could hardly fail of uniting to it the feelings and commanding the resources of New England. Indeed the circular of the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania, indicates it as a cherished purpose to bring into the measures of that Society the opinions and contributions of all the "Atlantic free States." In case of such a Union, it could hardly be expected,, that the South and the West would continue long to sustain a Board established on the Northern and Eastern borders of their territory, but that they would seek a more central organization. A total revolution would thus be effected in the present general Society; the effect of which on the present colony could not be other than disastrous.

A marked division and difference of sentiment between the organized friends of the cause at the North and the South, would, in the judgment of the Committee, be almost inevitably the consequence of such a change. This consideration alone, is entitled to very great weight in forming an opinion on the subject. As the population to be especially benefited by this Society mostly reside at the South, and to a great extent depend upon the citizens of the South, it is of extreme importance, that the people of the North should remain united with those of the South, in the plans and measures that may be devised and executed for their good.

The principal reason suggested in favour of the views of our friends from Philadelphia, is derived from the idea of a general want of confidence in some portions of the North, in the management of the Parent Society. To vague and indefinite charges, it is impossible to give a distinct and definite reply. The Board assume no claim to infallibility; but it is due to themselves to say, that since the Annual Meeting, they have bestowed the most unremitting attention to the high trust confided to them. They have published an exposition of the affairs of the Parent Institution, of their principles, the causes of their embarrassment, and of the measures proposed for future action. They do not perceive that in their principles and measures, they differ essentially from the Young Men's Pennsylvania Society. If their proceedings should fail to meet the approbation of the friends of the cause, a remedy is at hand. The whole Board can be changed at any Annual Meeting, and (what would be impossible were the unity of the Society destroyed) all great measures be considered and discussed in a convention of the best and ablest friends of the cause from every section of the United States.

It is clear to the Committee, that whether we consider unity of sentiment, or vigour and economy of action here and in Africa, the cause of African Colonization can, at present, be most advantageously conducted, under the general superintendence of a Central Board, and that while great good may result from such an adjustment of measures with the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania, and other Auxiliaries, as may give them a wide sphere of operation for their zeal and enterprise in the great common cause, yet the measures of such Societies, both here and in Africa, should be under the general control and authority of the Parent Society. The Committee recommend the adoption of the following resolutions:

Resolved, That entrusted as this Board are with the interests of the American Colonization Society, they cannot give their consent to the institution of a Society professedly Auxiliary, but in reality separate and independent of the Parent Society, believing as they do, that such a principle, if adopted generally by Auxiliary Societies, would annihilate the Parent Society, and endanger the whole scheme of African Colonization.

Resolved, That the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania be informed, that as Auxiliary to this, the slaves of the late Dr. Hawes will be transferred to them, to be sent to Liberia, and supported there by them in a separate settlement or community, under the superintendence of such Agent and of such local laws or regulations 3 may be acepted by the said Society, an approved of by this Board; but said community to be con

the part of the culbay of Liberta and subject to the gost 200 10ws of the colony is

all respects as the citizens now there; and that so soon as said Society shall signify their acceptance of these conditions, the said slaves shall be formally transferred to them, together with the sum left for their transportation by the will of Dr. Hawes.

At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the American Colonization Society, held on the 1st day of August, 1834, a letter, dated July 25th, 1834, from Mr. ELLIOTT CRESSON, Corresponding Secretary of the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, to Mr. LowRIE, a member of said Board, enclosing the following Report and Resolution adopted by the said Young Men's Colonization Society, was, together with said Report and Resolution, read:

At a meeting of the Board of Managers of "the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania," held July 22nd, 1834, the following Report and Resolution submitted by the Executive Committee, were adopted, and the Secretary directed to forward a certified copy thereof to the Board of Managers of the "American Colonization Society" at Washington.

The Executive Committee to whom was referred, by the Board of Managers, the subject of the kind of Auxiliary connexions and relations which the "Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania" should maintain with the American Colonization Society at Washington, and the conditions upon which the former agrees to receive from the latter the manumitted slaves of the late Dr. Hawes of Virginia, with a view to their being located in a new settlement on the coast of Africa, Report

That the known and admitted advantages of position of the Parent Board at Washington, and of the composition of the American Colonization Society, of which it is the executive branch, forbid the idea of independent action by Societies forined on the model of this one. The Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, distinctly admits in its Constitution, its Auxiliary character; nor is it content with affirming a merely nominal connexion of this kind with the Parent Board. It has carefully abstained from extending its sphere of action beyond the State of Pennsylvania, and within these limits it proposes to make the proceeds of its labours not merely subservient to the general objects of Colonization in Africa, but to dispose of them in such a manner as shall meet with the appro

bation of the Parent Board.

This latter, by its location at the seat of Government, is enabled to unite the North and the South in the great cause of Colonization, and to procure joint action between portions of the country and their inhabitants which could not be done by a Society in any other section of the country. It is, moreover, requisite that there should be a central Society or Board, to exercise a general superintendence over the settlements on the coast of Africa, the better to preserve among these, the necessary harmonious intercourse and other relations. This Board is also best fitted to keep the whole United States apprised of the progress and wants of the whole of the African colonies, and thus to enable the former to transmit, with knowledge of all the circumstances, the pecuniary and other assistance which they may ose from time to time to furnish to the latter.

It must, on the ofera conceded, that an Auxiliary, such as that of the Young Men's Colonization Pennsylvania, enjoys means and facilities for furthering the common cause, s in some respects, to those possessed by the Parent Board. Among these, may be mentioned the readiness of a direct appeal to a large and wealthy population for countenance and aid,-an appeal which, moreover, would be perhaps coldly responded to if made by any Society whatever at a distance. Next in the list of peculiar advantages, is the location of the Young Men's Society in a commercial city, by which greater economy and despatch in the transportation of emigrants and in the outfit of them and the colony in general, are insured. It is also an encouraging circumstance, that some of the members are themselves merchants and men of business, practically conversant with the marketable value and price of goods, utensils, &c. for the colony. In view of these advantages, it can hardly be expected that the Auxiliary op rations of the Young Men's Society of Pennsylvania, should be restricted to a mere collection and distribution of funds to order for the Parent Society, without at the same time a direct participation in council and executive action with the latter. But as the exercise of this right could only be salutary and efficient, after a full knowledge of all the circumstances connected with. the condition of the colonies and the resources of the Parent Board, and as the information requisite for a due enlightenment on the subject, can hardly be in the possession of an Auxiliary Society, the latter inust either refrain from all joint counsel and legislation with the Parent Board, or take a particular line of action tending to a specific end. This has been already done by some of the State Societies, with the consent of the Society at Washington, and it is now proposed to be carried out by this Society and its Board of Managers in Pennsylvania. The scheme to which the energies of this Society are now to be directed is, the founding of a new settlement on the coast of Africa, under the au

« PrejšnjaNaprej »