History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume II Part 9

PENNSYLVANIA.

_Pittsburgh_--John B. Vashon.

_Philadelphia_--John Bowers, William Whipper, J. C. Morel, Benjamin Paschal, F. A. Hinton.

_Carlisle_--John Peck.

_Lewistown, Miffin County_--Samuel Johnson.

NEW YORK.

_New York City_--William Hamilton, Thomas L. Jennings, Henry Sipkins, Philip A. Bell.

_Brooklyn_--James Pennington.

DELAWARE.

_Wilmington_--Joseph Burton, Jacob Morgan, Abm. D. Shad, William Johnson, Peter Gardiner.

MARYLAND.

_Baltimore_--Samuel Elliott, Robert Cowley, Samuel Hiner.

NEW JERSEY.

_Gloucester_--Thomas D. c.o.xsin, Thomas Banks.

_Trenton_--Aaron Roberts.

Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.

_Boston_--Hosea Easton.

_New Bedford_--Nathan Johnson.

CONNECTICUT.

_Hartford_--Paul Drayton.

_New Haven_--Scipio C. Augustus.

RHODE ISLAND.

_Providence_--Ichabod Northrop.

On the following day the convention adjourned to the "First African Presbyterian Church." The following report was adopted:

"_Resolved_, That in the opinion of this Committee, the plan suggested by the first General Convention, of purchasing land or lands in Upper Canada, for the avowed object of forming a settlement in that province, for such colored persons as may choose to emigrate there, still merits and deserves our united support and exertions; and further, that the appearances of the times, in this our native land, demand an immediate action on that subject. Adopted.

"_Resolved_, That in the opinion of this committee, we still solemnly and sincerely protest against any interference, on the part of the American Colonization Society, with the free colored population in these United States, so long as they shall countenance or endeavor to use coercive measures (either directly or indirectly) to colonize us in any place which is not the object of our choice. And we ask of them respectfully, as men and as Christians, to cease their unhallowed persecutions of a people already sufficiently oppressed, or if, as they profess to have our welfare and prosperity at heart, to a.s.sist us in the object of our choice.

"_Resolved_, That this committee would recommend to the members of this Convention, to discountenance, by all just means in their power, any emigration to Liberia or Hayti, believing them only calculated to distract and divide the whole colored family."

In accordance with a resolution of the previous day the Rev. R. R.

Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, was invited to address the convention. He endeavored to offer an acceptable explanation of the Society, and to advocate its principles. But the Colored people, almost to a man, were opposed to colonization; and most of the anti-slavery societies regarded colonization as impracticable and hurtful to the cause of emanc.i.p.ation. William Lloyd Garrison happened to be present, and followed Gurley in a speech that destroyed the hopes of the friends of colonization, and greatly delighted the convention.

While the Colored people opposed colonization they regarded Canada as a proper place to go. They felt that as citizens they had the right to decide where to go, and, when they got ready, to go on their own account. Canada had furnished an asylum to their flying, travel-soiled, foot-sore, and needy brethren,--was not so very far away, and, therefore, it was preferred to the West Coast of Africa.

The committee having under consideration this subject, made the following comprehensive report:

"_Resolved_, That the members of this Convention take into consideration the propriety of effecting the purchase of lands in the province of Upper Canada, as an asylum for those of our bretheren who may be compelled to remove from these United States, beg leave, most respectfully to report:

"That, after due consideration, they believe the resolution embraces three distinct inquiries for the consideration of this Convention, which should be duly weighed before they can adopt the sentiments contained in the above-named resolution.

Therefore, your Committee conceive the resolution premature, and now proceed to state the enquiries separately.

"_First._--Is it proper for the Free people of color in this country, under existing circ.u.mstances, to remove to any distant territory beyond these United States?

"_Secondly._--Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages and conveniences to those held out in these United States or elsewhere?

"_Thirdly._--Is there any certainty that the people of color will be compelled by oppressive legislative enactments to abandon the land of their birth for a home in a distant region?

"Your Committee, before examining those enquiries, would most respectfully take a retrospective view of the object for which the Convention was first a.s.sociated, and the causes which have actuated their deliberations.

"The expulsory laws of Ohio, in 1829, which drove our people to seek a new home in Upper Canada, and their impoverished situation afterward, excited a general burst of sympathy for their situation, by the wise and good, over the whole country. This awakened public feeling on their behalf, and numerous meetings were called to raise funds to alleviate their present miseries.

The bright prospects that then appeared to dawn on the new settlement, awakened our people to the precariousness of their situations, and, in order more fully to be prepared for future exigencies, and to extend the system of benevolence still further to those who should remove to Upper Canada, a circular was issued by five individuals, viz.:--the Rev. Richard Allen, Cyrus Black, Junius C. Morel, Benjamin Pascal, and James C. Cornish, in behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia, calling a convention of the colored delegates from the several States, to meet on the 20th day of September, 1830, to devise plans and means for the establishment of a colony in Upper Canada, under the patronage of the general Convention, then called.

"That Convention met, pursuant to public notice, and recommended the formation of a parent society, to be established, with auxiliaries in the different towns where they had been represented in _general_ convention, for the purpose of raising moneys to defray the object of purchasing a colony in the province of Upper Canada, for those who should hereafter wish to emigrate thither, and that immediately after its organization, a corresponding agent should be appointed to reside at or near the intended purchase.

"Our then limited knowledge of the manners, customs, and privileges, and rights of aliens in Upper Canada, together with the climate, soil, and productions thereof, rendered it necessary to send out agents to examine the same, who returned with a favorable report, except that citizens of these United States could not purchase lands in Upper Canada, and legally transfer the same to other individuals.

"The Convention resolved to rea.s.semble on the first Monday in June, 1831, during which time the order of the Convention had been carried into operation, relative to establis.h.i.+ng Societies for the promotion of said object; and the sum and total of their proceedings were, that the Convention recommended to the colored people generally, when persecuted as were our brethren in Ohio, to seek an Asylum in Upper Canada. During which time, information having been received that a part of the white inhabitants of said province had, through prejudice and the fear of being overburthened with an ejected population, pet.i.tioned the provincial parliament to prohibit the general influx of colored population from entering their limits, which threw some consternation on the prospect. The Convention did not wholly abandon the subject, but turned its attention more to the elevation of our people in this, our native home.

"The recent occurrences at the South have swelled the tide of prejudice until it has almost revolutionized public sentiment, which has given birth to severe legislative enactments in some of the States, and almost ruined our interests and prospects in others, in which, in the opinion of your Committee, our situation is more precarious than it has been at any other period since the Declaration of Independence.

"The events of the past year have been more fruitful in persecution, and have presented more inducements than any other period of the history of our country, for the men of color to fly from the graves of their fathers, and seek new homes in a land where the roaring billows of prejudice are less injurious to their rights and privileges.

"Your Committee would now approach the present Convention and examine the resolution under consideration, beginning with the first interrogatory, viz.: Is it proper for the Free people of color in this country, under existing circ.u.mstances, to remove to any distant territory beyond the United States?

"If we admit the first interrogatory to be true, as it is the exact spirit of the language of this resolution, now under consideration, it is altogether unnecessary for us to make further preparation for either our moral, intellectual, or political advancement in this our own, our native land.

"Your Committee also believe that if this Convention shall adopt a resolution that will, as soon as means can be obtained, remove our colored population to the province of Upper Canada, the best and brightest prospect of the philanthropists who are laboring for our elevation in this country will be thwarted, and they will be brought to the conclusion that the great object which actuated their labors would now be removed, and they might now rest from their labors and have the painful feeling of transmitting to future generations, that an oppressed people, in the land of their birth, supported by the genuine philanthropists of the age, amidsts friends, companions, and their natural attachments, a genial clime, a fruitful soil,--amidst the rays of as proud inst.i.tutions as ever graced the most favored spot that has ever received the glorious rays of a meridian sun,--have abandoned their homes on account of their persecutions, for a home almost similarly precarious, for an abiding-place among strangers!

"Your Committee further believe that any express plan to colonize our people beyond the limits of these United States, tends to weaken the situation of those who are left behind, without any peculiar advantage to those who emigrate. But it must be admitted, that the rigid oppression abroad in the land is such, that a _part_ of our suffering brethren cannot live under it, and that the compulsory laws and the inducements held out by the American Colonization Society are such as will cause them to alienate all their natural attachments to their homes, and accept of the only mode left open, which is to remove to a distant Country to receive those rights and privileges of which they have been deprived. And as this Convention is a.s.sociated for the purpose of recommending to our people the best mode of alleviating their present miseries,

"Therefore, your Committee would, most respectfully, recommend to the general Convention, now a.s.sembled, to exercise the most vigorous means to collect monies through their auxiliaries, or otherwise, to be applied in such manner, as will advance the interests, and contribute to the wants of the free colored population of this country generally.

"Your Committee would now most respectfully approach the _second inquiry_, viz.:--Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages and conveniences to those held out in the United States or elsewhere?

"Your Committee, without summing up the advantages and disadvantages of other situations, would, most respectfully answer in the affirmative. At least they are willing to a.s.sert that the advantage is much in favor of those who are obliged to leave their present homes. For your more particular information on that subject we would, most respectfully, refer you to the interesting account given by our real and indefatigable friend, Benjamin Lundy, in a late number of the "Genius of Universal Emanc.i.p.ation." _Vide_ "Genius of Universal Emanc.i.p.ation," No. 10, vol. 12.