ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

Forty-sixth Annual Meeting of the American Colonization Society was held on the 20th of January, 1863, in the Rev. Dr. Sunderland's Church, in Washington city, at half-past seven o'clock, P. M., when

The Hon. J. H. B. LATROBE, President of the Society, took the chair. Prayer was offered for the divine blessing on the occasion and the cause of the Society, by the Rev. Phineas D. Gurley, D. D., of Washington city.

Extracts from the Annual Report were then read by the Rev. R. R. Gurley, Corresponding Secretary of the Society.

Admiral Foote of the Navy, who had command of our squadron on the coast of Africa, and expressed much interest in African Colonization, then addressed the audience in some practical remarks:

Admiral FooTE addressed the vast audience, to the following effect: MR. PRESIDENT: The few remarks I propose to make on this occasion will be practicable.

The present condition of our country has given to the American Colonization Society a significancy which it never had before. Whatever differences of opinion may have existed hitherto in regard to the object, scope, management, and bearings of this Society, it would now seem that it is indispensable as an instrumentality of good to the suffering black man, both slave and free.

There never can be peace in the world, until the status of the negro is defined. Where shall he live? How shall he be instructed? What shall be his social position? What are his capacities? What his rights, natural and civil? These are questions that agitate the world. Statesmen, as well as philanthropists, are now engaged in solving this great problem. Under these circumstances it would be impolitic in the extreme to ignore this institution, so well adapted to accomplish the great end in view. No; let the statesman, the Christian, philanthropist, and all true patriots give their influence in sustaining this, the only Society of its colonial character which has thus far been successful in its operations. This success may be conclusively shown by giving a brief statement of the rise and character of colonies.

The history of colonies is an interesting history. From the earliest period down to the present time, colonies have been formed from a multiplicity of motives. Military colonies, penal colonies, and colonies founded on religious considerations, as exhibited by

the Puritans of New England, show abundantly the varied character of colonies, as well as the motives upon which they were founded. It is not, therefore, surprising, in view of the fact that, with us, in the United States, containing a large free as well as slave population, that the idea of forming a colony for the benefit of the colored population, should have been entertained.

In the early days of the Republic, Jefferson and Marshall, with several prominent statesmen of the North, endeavored to remedy the evil of so large a colored population in our own country. A suitable location for them was sought in the lands of the West. Spain and Portugal were also sounded on the subject, with reference to a place in South America or the West Indies; but their schemes were valueless, as they wanted the main requisite, that Africa itself should share in the undertaking.

When Africa was selected in the year 1816, and the American Colonization Society was formed, who could have anticipated the present condition of our country. It would be irrelavent for me, on this occasion, to discuss the causes which have led to this condition. I leave that to statesmen; my province having been rather to aid in crushing the rebellion than in commenting on its character and its history. But in view of securing an outlet to the free colored population of the country, and as a political measure, Liberia becomes of incalculable importance, as it now stands, an independant republic, ready to receive all the emigrants we can send her, and it cannot be overestimated.

To be more specific: in the formation of the Colonization Society, history shows us that the multiplicity of motives incident to its establishment prevailed in no small degree. The increase of national prosperity, the promotion of national commerce, the relief of national difficulties, the preservation of national quiet, were all urged upon the different sections of the country, and upon the different orders; while the higher Christian philanthropic aims to be fulfilled by these efforts were not overlooked.

These were truly efforts of christianity throwing its solid intelligence and earnest affections into action for the conquest of a continent, by returning the Africans to thoir home and making this conquest a work of faith and labor of love. Thus we see a higher superiority in these schemes of African Colonization than were to be found in the Dutch, Portuguese, or the English colonies at Sierra Leone; and therefore, by the blessing of God, this Society stands to-day a successful experiment, while all others have either partially or wholly failed. In proof of this, permit me, as an eyewitness, to state a few facts in relation to Liberia, as facts are the strongest arguments.

In the first place: I have had an experience of two years in command of an African cruiser for the suppression of the slave trade and the protection of American commerce on the coast, and in cooperation with the British squadron, under the Ashburton treaty, when we captured three slavers, and suppressed the atrocious traffic in Southern Africa.

Liberia embraces an extent of 600 miles, in Northern Africa, and has crushed forever that trade within its domain; and just so far as Africa is colonized, so far the slave trade will be annihilated.

In the second place: What is the character and influence of Liberia upon Africa and upon its colonies? I visited Liberia several times during my cruise on the African coast, where we found in full operation a Republic whose independence had been acknowledged by England, France, Prussia, Brazil, and since then by our own Government. We visited the people in their schools, on their farms, in their workshops, in their religious assemblies, courts of justice, and in their Congress; and bearing in mind the character and condition of their race in this country, we found comparatively a degree of order, intelligence, and thrift far surpassing that of any of the colored people in the United States. The debates in Congress, in many instances, would have done no discredit to many of our debating societies, while the messages of President Roberts will compare most favorably with those of many of the Governors of our States.

As the country becomes settled and the character of its diseases better understood, the acclimating fever is less dreaded. In fact, it now rarely proves fatal. The statistics, as President Roberts informed me, show some three per cent. smaller number of deaths than in New England and Canada among the same population. The thermometor seldom rises higher than 85°, nor falls below 70° during the year.

The products of the soil are varied and abundant, capable of sustaining an immense population. The want of agricultural industry, rather than the capacity of the country to yield richly the fruits of the earth, has been the difficulty with the Liberians. With welldirected labor, of one-half the amount required among the farmers of the United States, a large surplus of the earth's productions, over the demands of home consumption, might be gathered. The country certainly possesses elements of great prosperity.

The country now belongs to the colonists; they are lords of the soil, and in intercourse with them it is soon observed that they are free from that oppressive sense of inferiority which marks the colored people of this country.

In religion Liberia compares favorably with any country. The number of Christian churches is large, and on Sunday a quietness prevails rarely seen in any country. It is true that some of the lower forms, in the vivid conception of spiritual things, may characterize the people; but far preferable is that than the tendency of our higher civilization towards attempting to bring the mysteries of our holy faith within the scope of human reason. It is true that Liberia, like all other places, furnishes its full quota of people showing the depravity of human nature. You will find there men who will rob hen-roosts, and intrigue for office, but this does not arise from the people being black, but because men are men.

The experiment therefore as to its effect is designed to impart in

It has had its success,

struction to such a race from a higher one. and promises more. The heroism of the Christian missionary is still needed, for like all sinful men, the African needs faith, christian faith, and that faith we trust will overshadow the continent, through the instrumentality, at least in degree, of Christian colonists in Liberia. We must remember that the African have never had a Socrates to talk wisdom to them, nor a Cyrus, who was not a slave merchant, nor a Pythagoras, to teach that kindness was a virtue. Hence, the difficulty which the Christian Missionary has had with them, has been to satisfy their minds as to the miraculous phenomenon of there being a good man.

The Republic of Liberia contains a population of 200,000 inhabitants; not more than one twentieth of this number are American colonists. Its growth has been gradual and healthy. The government, from its successful administration by blacks alone, for the last fifteen years, appears to be fully established, and with all its short comings, I would say to the colored man in this country, who regards the highest interest of his children to young men of activity and enterprise, that Liberia affords the strongest attractions. I presume that this Society considers that the colored man has his rights, one of which is to stay in this country, the land of his birth, if he prefers it, the other is, to go to Liberia, if he prefers that, and better his social, moral and political condition.

I would not join in any attempt to crush out the aspirations of any class of men in this country. But it is an actual fact, whatever may be thought of it, that here the colored man has never risen to that position which every one should occupy among his fellows. For, supposing the wishes of the philanthropist towards him to be fully accomplished, secure him his political rights, unfetter him in body and intellect, cultivate him in taste even, and while nominally free, he is still in bondage, for freedom must be the prerogative of the white, as well as to the black man, and the white man must also be left free to form his most intimate social relations, and he is not, and never has been disposed, in this country, to unite himself with a caste marked by so broad a distinction as exist between the two The testimony, on these points, of those who have had abundant advantages for observation has been uniform and conclusive. For the colored man himself, then for his children, Liberia is an open city of refuge. He there may walk the earth in his full manhood, and he may there become a freeman, not only in name, but a freeman in deed and in truth.

races.

The Hon. Mr. KAYSON then addressed the Society:

MR. PRESIDENT; For forty-six years the American Colonization Society has pursued the unobtrusive tenor of its way. The auspices of its birth beamed with the light of Heaven. The spirit of true Christianity infused its purposes. Its foundations were adjusted in the midst of prayers by the faithful; its rising walls were rec、

tified by the hands of patriots; with some periods of sunshine, other periods of storm, and still other periods, perhaps more dangerous than either, of indifference, it still survives, and slowly marches toward the fuller accomplishment of its original designs,in the midst of great national changes, physical as well as political.

Sir, when your beneficent Society was launched upon its honorable career, no iron thread, spun from the bowels of the earth, hung either way from the summit of the Alleghanies, eastward to the shores of the Atlantic, westward to the Mediterranean waters of the Mississippi; and along which a vehicle of fire now drags a reluctant train laden with the wealth of a continent. At that time no magical wire, charged with a mysterious element of nature, floated over the snow-clad summits of mountain ranges, spanning half the earth, and whispering the secrets of the Pacific to the cities of the Atlantic within the ticking of a watch. Neither forest-clad, nor iron-clad monsters of the sea were then hurled across the great ocean, or against an enemy by a giant chained within their own timbers, defying adverse winds and angry waves. Your Society has lived to see all this. It has seen much more, and in God's eye a greater thing than these. Upon a distant continent, almost abandoned of civilization, almost destitute of Christianity, it has itself kindled a beacon light, radiating the beams alike of Christianity and of civilization. It has opened a door to the unknown interior of a great continent. It has taken a stone which the builders of our Government rejected, and has made it the chief corner stone of Africa. A commonwealth rests upon it, with all its executive, judicial, and legislative departments; and with its military, educational, and religious organizations. It is growing from within and from without. Recognized as a lawful Government some years ago by the first cabinets of Europe, it has now been recognized by our own, which no longer deems it beneath its dignity to exchange profitably its commerce, under international regulations of mutual advantage, with the people of another race. Your Society has already witnessed this degree of progress. It has under the blessing of a good Providence, educed all this in a less period, and with less intermediate disaster than that which accompanied the earliest white settlements on this continent. In addition to this, you have presented a mighty moral influence, and a very considerable physical resistance, against the most execrable traffic which ever stained the history of human transactions. You have, indeed, often converted the traffic itself into a blessing to its victims, and added power by it to your colony.

Thus, as I read your history, you have navigated your lone ship from America to Africa, anxiously avoiding on one hand the maelstrom of political strife, and on the other the threatening rocks of self interest and of prejudice.

In the views which I briefly offer to-night, it is my purpose to follow this traditional policy of your Society.

The noble dead, whose voices seem still to urge the interests of