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MARYLAND   SCHEME
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BY A  FRIEND  OP LIBERTY.
         BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY GARRISON & KNAPP.

            1834. 
 
THE
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MARYLAND   SCHEME
EXPATRIATION
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BY A FRIEND OF LIBERTY.
        BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY GARRISON & KNAPP.
1834. 
 
THE
MARYLAND   SCHEIVIB  EXAMINED.
   And he said unto his people, Behold, the people
 of the children of Israel are more and  mightier than
 we. Come on, let us deal  wisely with them, le3t
 they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there
 falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies,
 and fight against us, and so get them up out of the
 land.  Therefore they did set over them taskmas-
 ters, to afflict them' with their burdens.  But the
 more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied
 and grew.  And thej' were grieved because of the
 children  of Israel.  And Pharaoh charged  all his
 people, saying, Every son that is bom, ye shall cast
 into the river, and every daughter ye  shall save
 alive.—Exodus 1: 9, 10,11, 12, 22.

   The subject of American Slavery is  one
 of paramount  interest  and  importance to
 every American citizen.  Its bearing on the
 character and future destiny of the nation—
 on the  purity and  permanency of  our free
 institutions—is such as makes it a matter of
 common concernment;  and  attention to it,
 and its proper remedy, a matter of common
 obligation  and duty.   We boast that this is
 the 'land of the free'—we tell of our'twelve
 millions of  intelligent  freemen,' as  if we
 stood pre-eminent  over  all  the  nations for
 our freedom, when, in point of fact, there is
 not another civilized nation on the globe, in
 which  there are  so  many slaves,  or one,
 which tolerates so cruel and debasing a sys-
 tem of slavery.   Free  America stands as
 pre-eminent among the nations for the  op-
 pression endured by one class of her popu-
 lation, as  for  the  freedom  enjoyed by  the
 other.   Free America is the only civilized
 land, in which there are  two millions of
 slaves.   It is in free America only,  that two
 millions  of human  beings, made  in the im-
 age of God, are robbed  of their inalienable
 and sacred rights by law, and thus subjected
 to the iron yoke  of a  legalized oppression.*
 The government of free  America  is fjhe only
 government  in the  civilized world that shuts*
 out two millions of its subjects from the pro-
tection of its laws.  Boast therefore of our
freedom as we may, and yet every sixth man,
and  every sixth woman, and  every  sixth
child is  a  slave, and  such a slave  as  issno
where else to be found.   A nation of slaves
  * Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have pre-
scribed ; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and
to take away the  ri<rht from the poor of my people.
Is. 10 : 1, 2.  Shall the throne (government) of ini-
quity have fellowship with thee, v/\\\ch frameth mis-
chief by a law ?  Ps, D : 20.
 is in our midst, not one of whom has any le-
 gal protection  for his property, or his per-
 son, or his character, or his purity, or his so-
 cial rights, or his life, or the instruction and
 cultivation of his mind; and none either for
 the property, or person, or character, or pu-
 rity, or rights, or life, or mental cultivation
 of his wife  and children, but  all—father,
 mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, broth-
 er, sister—all  are  shut out from  the  protec-
 tion of law,  and by law, 'turned loose' on
 the community, a  prey to the avarice, lust
 and cruelty of caprice and arbitrary,   irre-
 sponsible power.  Two  millions of human
 beings are thus,  at the discretion of their
 oppressors, daily plundered of the products
 of their industry ;  husbands  of their wives;
 wives of their  husbands ; parents  of their
 children ; children of  their parents ; and all
 of them, of numberless blessings, that would
 accrue to them from the  possession of their
 rights and the protection of law.  Nor is it
 here that the wrong and the  outrage cease.
 Physical sufferings are the least of the mat-
 ter.  The iron enters the soul.  The legal-
 ized  oppression of free America is crush-
 ing the soul  of two millions.  In the lan-
 guage  of the Synod of South Carolina and
 Georgia, such  is now ' their moral and reli-
 gious  condition,'  ' that they  may justly be
 considered the Heathen of this Christian coun-
 try, and ivill bear  comparison with Heathen
 IN  ANY  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WORLD.'*   Not
 content with a single  victim, therefore, free
 America is stained  with the guilt of the crime
 against the life of the  soul of two  millions.
   It were idle  to suppose that this state of
 things can long continue.  The eye of the
 world is on  our guilt, and with an unwonted
 scrutiny, is searching  out and exposing the
 shame of our nakedness in this matter ; and
 it will not be  long, unless we  bestir our-
 selves,  before  the  public sentiment of the
 world, in  the form of  a holy  indignation at
 our wickedness, or a burning contempt at
 our  hypocrisy,  will come down  upon  us.
 American slavery cannot stand the gaze of
 the world.  And aside from this, the move-
 ment already  begun in the public mind at
 home is  so  deep  and wide-spread,   that
change, speedy, entire, radical, is" inevitable.
The public mind has  started, as by magic,
* Charleston Observer, March 22, 1834. 
4
The Maryland Scheme  Examined.
 from its sleep of years.   It has roused itself]
 to the subject in question in such a  manner, I
 and to sucb. an extent, that  the puny infant j
 might as soon think to breast the mountain
 wave of ocean, as  slavery to stand before
 that tide of sentiment that is now gathering
 and breaking over  the length  and  breadth
 of the land.  Sympathy, conscience, feeling,
 humanity, religion  are every where rousing
 themselves,  and  with the self-consecration
 and the determination of the patriots of our
 revolution, are hasting to the deliverance of
 the captive.   Nor will  they rest until the
 work be done, and jubilee be heard  through-
 out the land.
   But, how ? This is the  question.   And the
 community are divided  upon it.  One man
 answers, by means  of  ' African Coloniza-
 tion,' and another, by the scheme of 'Imme-
 diate Emancipation.'  Both  have repeatedly
 been the subject of discussion and examin-
 ation, and it might  seem therefore unneces-
 sary to renew the discussion at the present
 time.  There are, however, several reasons
 which seem to demand it. In the first place,
 the attention of the  community has already
 been called to it anew in the manner already
 stated.  In the next place, colonization is
 wondrously  'given to change ;' sometimes
 urging itself on us  in one form and  with one
 set of reasons, and then again in a new form
 and with newer and better reasons ; and, as
 we are given to understand, such is the fact
 in the present instance, the Maryland scheme
 being an improved form  of colonization, and
 therefore having new and peculiar  claims to
 the confidence and co-operation of the pub-
 lic.  Of course,  it ought to be subjected to
 a careful examination.  The public, if they
 embrace it and second its  designs by their
 influence and charities, should know dis-
 tinctly and  definitely what  it is they thus
 embrace and second, and   why they  do it.
 Or if they  stand  aloof from it, they should
 know what  they stand  aloof from, and why
 they do so.   If it be a  benevolent scheme,
 and withal the wisest and most effectual for
 the removal of slavery ; or if, on the other
 hand, it be  only a piece of splendid decep-
 tion—oppression in disguise, every member
 of the community  should know  it, and  act
 accordingly, otherwise he will be in danger
 on the one hand of neglecting his duty to his
 country and to God, and on  the  other, of
 aiding  and  abetting oppression.  It  is on
 these grounds that the writer of these pages
 invites the attention  of the citizens of Bos-
 ton, at this time, to the  following  examina-
 tion  of the Maryland  Scheme, and  of its
 claims to the patronage  of the humane and
 christian public.

    I.  By ivhom and  in  what character is the
 jefceme presented to the public confidence and
\ co-operation ?
  Answer 1.  At the annual meeting of the
American Colonization Society, January 20,
1KJ3, the following resolution was offered by
Mr. Chambers of Maryland, and adopted by
the Society:—
  Resolved, That the Society view, with the
highest  gratification, the  continued efforts
of the State of Maryland to  accomplish her
patriotic and benevolent system in regard to
her colored population, and that  the last ap-
propriation by that  State of  two  hundred
thousand dollars, in aid of African  coloniza-
tion, is  hailed by the friends of the system,
as a bilght example to other States.
   In support of this resolution, after stating
that in  making the said appropriation, 'Ma-
ryland,  in her character as a state, had ex-
pressed, so emphatically,  her just regard for
the objects of this (the American)  Society,
as to have elicited from the  Board of Man-
agers an expression  of high  obligation, for
her magnanimous  proceedings in support of
them,' Mr. Chambers added, ' it  is  indispen-
sable, however, that the  object of this Soci-
ety should continue to be what it has been
professed to  be, the colonization of the free
people of color only.'  So that the  Maryland
scheme was  originally endorsed and recom-
mended by the American Society as a  'pat-
riotic and benevolent system,' and her appro-
priation, as  ' a bright example to  other states.'
Let this be  remembered and proposed  to
OTHER  STATES.
   Answer 2.  The select meeting of Mon-
day evening, was called by  the  following
note, sent to particular individuals :—

    Sir, We  particularly request your attend-
 ance at a meeting to be  held this evening,
 the 28th inst. in the  Old South Chapel, in
 Spring Lane, at 8 o'clock, P. M. for the ob-
ject of  hearing a developement of what id
 now doing by the Maryland State Coloniza-
 tion Society, to deliver that State  from the
 evils of slavery ;  in aid of which benevolent
 purpose, the State has appropriated the  sum
 of $20,000 annually for ten years.
   These statements  will be made by the
 Rev. Messrs. J. and  It.   Breckinridge, from
 Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  and  the  Rev.
 Mr. McKenney, agent of the Society.   We
believe they will be found peculiarly import-
ant in the  present crisis of this interesting
subject, and  will  afford prospect of relief
from the difficulties which it now presents.
   We give this invitation at the request of
the gentlemen above named.  The meeting
will be  select, and as  we cordially approve
of the object, we are very desirous of having
it fullv  attended.
   Boston, July 28, 1834.

              G.  W. BLAGDEN,
              HUBBARD WIN SLOW.
              N.  ADAMS. 
The Maryland Scheme Examined.                       5
   It will be seen from the above, first, that
the scheme is  presented to  the public by
three  respectable clergymen from abroad ;
second, that it is endorsed and recommended
by three of our most devoted and  respecta-
ble clergymen in the city, as a scheme, 'to
deliver that state from the evils of slavery,'
and one  of 'benevolent  purpose ;' that  the
statements to be made ' will be  found  pecu-
liarly important in  the present crisis of this
interesting subject, and will afford « favora-
ble, prospect of relief  &c.;  and that  they
' CORDIALLY APPROVE  OF THE OBJECT,' and
'ARE  VERY  DESIROUS  OF HAVING IT, (the
meeting) fully attended.'  The scheme
comes well recommended, therefore, and, if
for no other reason,  deserves  a careful and
thorough examination.

   II.   What  then is the  scheme ?

   Answer.  A scheme of most atrocious op-
pression, as  the following facts and docu-
ments conclusively prove.
   Sometime  in  March,  1831, Mr. Brawner
submitted the following Resolutions to  the
legislature of Maryland, which  were sever-
ally read and adopted.

   Resolved,  That the  increased proportion
of the free people of color in this state, to
the white population ; the evils growing out
of their connection and  unrestrained associ-
ation with the slaves, their habits and manner
of obtaining  a subsistence, and their  with-
drawing   a large portion of employment
from the laboring class  of t'e  white popula-
tion, are  subjects  of momentous and grave
consideration to  the  good people  of this
state.
   Resolved, That as philanthropists and lov-
ers of freedom, we deplore the existence of
slavery amongst us, and would use our ut-
most  exertions to  ameliorate its condition ;
yet we  consider the unrestricted power of
manumission as fraught with idtimate evils
of a more dangerous tendency than the circum-
stance of slavery  alone,  and  that any  act,
having for its object the  mitigation of these
joint evils, not  inconsistent with other para-
mount considerations, would  be worthy the
attention and deliberation of the representa-
tives  of  a free, liberal-minded and enlight-
ened people.
   Resolved, That we consider the coloniza-
tion of free people of color in Africa as the
commencement of a system, by which, if ju-
dicious encouragement  be afforded,  these
evils may be  measurably diminished, so that
in process of time, the relative proportion of
the black to the white population will hardly
be matter for serious or  unpleasant consid-
eration.
   Ordered, therefore, That a committee of
five members be appointed by the Chair,with
instructions to report a bill, based as nearly
as may be, upon the principles contained in
the foregoing  resolutions, and  report  the
same to the consideration of this house.
  In pursuance whereof, the speaker appoint-
ed Messrs. Brawner, Hawkins, Merrick, Bell
and M'Mahon, the Committee.
  This was the commencement of the Mary-
land scheme.   Let  us examine  it.  What
causes originated it, and what was it design-
ed to accomplish ?  Let the resolutions  an-
swer.  ' The increased proportion of the free
people of color to the white population ; the
evils growing out of their connection and
unrestrained association with  the slaves;
their habits and manner of obtaining a sub-
sistence ;  their withdrawing a large portion
of employment from the laboring class of the
white population, and the unrestricted power
of manumission, fraught as it was with  ulti-
mate evils of a more  dangerous tendency
than the  circumstance of slavery alone '—
these were the 'subjects of momentous and
grave consideration '—these the causes that
should excite to the adoption of some meas-
ures by which 'these evils might be measur-
ably diminished.'  And so, to  keep down
the increase of  the  free; to  prevent  the
evils (a significant word,) of  their inter-
course with the slaves ; to  keep  them from
withdrawing a large portion of employment
from the whites;  to limit the power of man-
umission,  and  thus prevent  those evils of
more dangerous tendency than slavery alone.
were objects  ' worthy the  attention and de-
liberation of the representatives of a frcej
liberal-minded, and enlightened people'!
  At the next session of the legislature, Mr.
Brawner presented the ' Report of the Com-
mittee on  Grievances and Courts of Jus-
tice, of the House of Delegates, relative to the
Colored population of Maryland.''  The fol-
lowing are extracts.
 The committee to whom  were referred the
several memorials from numerous citizens of
this stats, upon the subject of the colored
population, Report,—
  That the views presented by the memori-
alists are  various, and the  recommendations
contained in some of the memorials are en-
tirely repugnant to those  contained in oth-
ers.  The  subjects,  however, upon  which
legislative action is  required, may b,e  em-
braced under a few general heads :
  First, That a law  be passed  prohibiting
the future emancipation of the slaves,  unless
provision be made for their removal from the
state.
  Secondly, That a sum of money adequate
for the attainment of the object, be  raised
and appropriated for  the  removal  of those
already free.
  Thirdly, That a system  of police be  es-
tablished,  regulating the future conduct and
morals of this class of our population. 
6                         The Maryland Scheme Examined.
    And, Fourthly, There are several memo-
 rials from different parts of our state signed
 by a numerous and  highly respectable por-
 portion of our citizens, recommending the
 entire  abolition of slavery in the state.

   This shows that there is abolition feeling
 abroad in Maryland, and that if that feeling
 were not drained off in  the direction of Af-
 rica, it would soon seek  another vent, viz.
 emancipation on the soil, and then Maryland
 would find her colored population, who with-
 draw a large portion of employment from
 the white laborers, no longer a ' grievance,'
 but  a blessing—an  industrious and  quiet
 and  valuable  part of the community—far
 more so than the white population that would
 take their place; and she, as a state, would
 stand  forth,  a ' bright  example to  other
 states' of the glory and  safety  of a righteous
 emancipation.
   The Committee proceed :  ' It  is not now
 (if indeed it ever was)  a  question, whether
 the colored population of this state is injuri-
 ous to her prosperity.' The question therefore
 is,/ Is  there a remedy for this  admitted and
 awful evil? a remedy within the power of the
 state to apply, and  consistent with its honor
 and a due regard to the welfare  of that un-
 fortunate class of our population, upon which
 it is to act ?'—The committee think there is,
 and then go on to show  that it  is that of re-
 moval to  ' the land of their fathers.'

    'The   colored population   of Maryland
 amounts to 155,932, of whom 52,938 are free.
 The removal of all these, or at least, so many
 as to leave only an inconsiderable  and de-
 creasing population of them within our lim-
 its, is the object to be accomplished.  This
 separation is essential.'

   In regard to the free, the committee state
 that their increase between 1820 and 1830,
 was annually,  thirteen hundred  and forty.
 Supposing one half of this to have been by
 emancipation,  and  the  other half to have
 been the  natural  increase, and  supposinc
 • no future addition to be  made  to their num-
 ber by  emancipation,  in consequence of
 THE MEASURES NOW   TO  BE ADOPTED, TO
 PREVENT THEIR REMAINING IN THE STATE
 after  emancipation, and the  annual in-
 crease to be removed would be  670.'  These
 could be removed at an expense of $20,000.
 Thus, ' the whole of  this population would
 be removed in the course of one generation
 alone.'
  But' whilst this operation is  going on  in
 reference to the free,  can nothing be done
 towards the gradual reduction of the slaves ?'
 An estirnate is accordingly made in respect
to their  removal, but then 'they  are property
and must be so regarded, and without their
owners' consent, none of them can be touch-
ed.'  They do riot, however, propose to buy
 them of their masters, or to take any legisla-
 tion  on the subject.  ' They would  rather
 leave it to their fellow-citizens to make their
 free  sacrifices to  the  public good, and the
 cause of humanity and justice, than compel
 them by legal euactments, or the offers of
 reward.'
   And as to abolition,—' Believing that the
 legislature may securely rely on the patriot-
 ism and good sense and feeling of the peo-
 ple,  thiy see no  cause, for the present,  to
 recommend  any scheme  for the future,  or
 progressive abolition of slavery ; deeming it
 all-sufficient to  provide means for the remo-
 val of those now free, and such as, with con-
 sent  of their owners, shall  hereafter become
 so, and leave it to future events to determine
 whether any and  what legislative  enact-
 ments may be found necessary to eradicate
 from our state this stain upon her  otherwise
 bright escutcheon.'
   These extracts show a settled determina-
 tion  and design,  first, and foremost, to get
 rid of the  free  people of color,  and that  in
 order to  effect this, measures were  to  be
 adopted to carry off those  now  free, with
 their own  consent, and at the same time  to
 prevent any addition  to  their  number  by
 emancipation.   This last was to be secured
 by restricting the power of manumission,  so
 that every slave should  be reduced  to the
 alternative of perpetual bondage, or emanci-
 pation on condition of removal.   How well
 this   general  design was executed—what
 measures have been, and are to be adopted
 to prevent the increase of the free colored
 population, to remedy the  evils arising from
 their  intercourse with the  slaves, to secure
 their  consent to  emigrate, and then to carry
 them  off, will be seen  by the two following
acts, passed at the same session of the legis-
lature.  The one will  show how they pre-
vent  increase and obtain consent, and the
other, by what means and in what way they
are to effect removal.

  I.   How  to  check increase and obtain con-
sent.
AN ACT RELATING  TO  FREE NE-
        GROES AND  SLAVES.
  Section 1.   Be it enacted by the  General
Assembly of Maryland,  That after the pas-
sage of this act, no free negro or mulatto shall
emigrate  to, or settle in this  State; and  no
free negro or mulatto belonging to any other
State, district or  territory, shall  come into
this State, and  therein remain for the space
of ten successive days, whether  such free
negro or mulatto intends settling in this State
or not, under  the penalty of fjty dollars for
each and  every  week such  persons com"ino
into, shall thereafter remain in this State ; the
one half to the informer and the  other half
to the sheriff for the use of the county,  *  * 
                              The Maryland

and any free negro  or mulatto refusing or
neglecting to pay said fine or fines, shall be
committed  to the  jail of  the  county:  and
shall be sold by the sheriff at  public sale, for
such time as may be  necessary lo  cover the
aforesaid penalty, first giving ten  days  pre-
vious notice of such sale :  and the said sher-
iff, after  deducting  prison charges and  a
commission  of ten  per centum,  shall pay
over one half of the nett proceeds to the in-
former, and the  balance he  shall pay over
to the  Levy Court  or Commissioners as the
case may be, for the  use of the county. f«)

  (a) So the matter is  absolutely settled that  there
shall be no future  increase of free blacks by im-
migration.  No  free negro is lo  emigrate  to or
settle in the Stale on any terms.  What  the penalty
is, in case any colored person should attempt it, does
not clearly appear, unless il be to  pay fifty dollars
for every week he  stays  over  the prescribed ten ;
days, and in failure  thereof,  to  be ' sold ior such j
time as  may be necessary to  cover said penalty;'
and then, when his time is out, if he shall persist in
remaining another week, to have  the same  process
repeated ;  and so indefinitely, until at last he may
chance to fall into the hands of some  unprincipled
wretch, who, having bought him  for a limited time,
shall take care, as is often  done, to sell him before
the time expires, to the southern market as a slave
for life.   It is more probable, however, that section
12 of this act is designed lo meet this case, and that
an attempt to emigrate and  settle in the State, es-
pecially if persisted in, would come under the head
of ' any crime committed after the passage of this
act,' not punishable, under the laws of the Slate, bj'
hanging, but by banishment from the Stale, or trans-
portation to a foreign country,  ' at the discretion of
the court.'
  Now what  can  be more oppressive  and unjust
than this !   And yet this  is  the least part of the in-
justice and  oppression  of  this  single  section.  A
thousand cases may occur, against which no provi-
sion is made, and in which the operation of this sec-
tion would be still more  cruel.  Indeed the section
is express, that the colored freeman out of the Stale,
shall not even  enter it  on business, or  on  a visit lo
his  friends,  and remain over ten days, under the
aforesaid pains and penalties ! Be his business what
it may, be the circumstances of his friends what laey
may, and, ' sickness or other  casualty ' on his part
excepted, if he slay a single week over the appoint-
ed time, he pays his fifty dollars, or is seized by the
sheriff as a felon,  and locked up in ' the jail of the
county,' there to remain, until the sheriff* shall have
given ten days notice of his sale, (and the sheriff if
he pleases may be three or six months or more in
giving the notice, no provision being made by which
it becomes his duty to do it forthwith,) and then the
poor man is to be sold at public auetion for a time
sufficient to cover the said penalty, and if no o«e is
found who will pay said fifty dollars for a less time
than one, or two,  or three, or oven  more years of
service, still off he goes  to the highest  bidder as a
kheme Examined^                          7

   Sec. 2.   And be it enacted, That no per-
son in this State, shall hereafter hire, employ,
or harbor  any free  negro  or mulatto who
shall emigrate or settle  in this  State, after
the first day of June next, or  any free negro
or mulatto who shall come  into this State,
from any other State, district  or  territory,
and  continue in this  State for the space of
ten successive days as above, under the pen-
alty  of twenty dollars for every day after the
expiration of four days, any such free negro
or mulatto       *       *       *       *
shall be so employed, hired or harbored, (b )
and  all fines accruing under this act,    *  *
one  half thereof to  be  applied  to the  in-
former, and the other half to the use  of the
county ; and if any negro or  mulatto  shall
slave, to be held and treated as a slave, and during1
all the  period of his servitude to remain separate
from his family, if 5ie  have one, whatever their cir-
cumstances and wants, even though naked and starv-
ing for want of the clothing end  the  means of sus-
tenance, for  the supply of which they are  depend-
ent on  the daily labor of the husband and the father,
and tormented at the same time, with the apprehen-
sion, lest  perchance by some evasion of the  law,
that husband or father should be sold, before his term
of service expires, to the southern market, and thus
be separated from them forever.
  So also the colored man, of one town in the State,
cannot marry a wife, even from the next town, should
it  happen  to be over the line, and bring her into the
State, but  the fifty dollars  must be  forthcoming, or
the wife be sold as before, and he be liable, by Sec-
tion 2, to a fine of twenty dollars for every day he
'harbors'  her over four.   Or should  he chance to
have an aged  father, or a  feeble brother, or sister
dependent on him for  support, but  residing only in
the next town, so it be out of the Stale, they cannot
come to reside in his family under  the  aforesaid
pains and  penalties, nor can he ' hire, employ or
harbor ' them under ' the penalty of twenty  dollars
for every day' he does it over four.
  And so of  a multitude of cases that might be sup-
posed, and for which no provision is made.  And
does any man need argument to show that such en*
actmenls are oppression in its most glaring form 1
Why, they would disgrace the autocrat of Russia.
  (b)  ' Urrder penally of tweaty dollars'!   No mat-
ter what the circumstances of the case, or however
much the white man may be disposed to ' hire, em-
ploy, or harbor'  the colored man, he does it under
penalty of twenty dollars, for every day's  offence
over four !  And so the door to immigration is not
only shut,  but bolted, and  barred  on both sides.
The hands of  white and colored  are alike fet-
tered in regard to the  matter. The sufferings of the
one cannot be relieved,  or  his wants supplied, by
the employment which the compassion and kindness
of the other might be disposed to furnish him 5  but,
so far as relief in this way is concerned, that com-
passion and kindness are compelled, ty law, to pass
by the poer and the needy. 
The  Maryland Scheme Examined.
remove from this State and remain without
the  limits  thereof for a space longer  than
thirty consecutive days, unless  before leaving
the State he deposites- with the clerk of the coun-
ty in which he resides, a written state-
ment of his object in so doing, and his inten-
tion  of returning again, or  unless he  shall
have  been detained by sickness or coercion, of
WHICH HE SHALL  BRING  A   CERTIFICATE,
he shall be regarded as a resident of anoth-
er State, and be subject, if  he return, to the
penalties imposed  by the  foregoing provi-
sions upon free  negroes and  mulattoes of
another State, migrating to this State:  Pro-
vided that nothing contained in this act shall
prevent any free negro or mulatto  from vis-
iting Liberia, and returning  to   the  State
whenever he may choose to do so. (c)
   Sec. 3,  Provides that nothing  in the pre-
ceding sections shall  apply to free negroes
engaged in navigation, ' unfler a ivhite com-

  (c)  What a provision this ! Christian, think of it.
Put yourself in the  poor  colored  man's  place, and
pray over it.  If he leaves the State  ' for a space
longer than thirty consecutive days'—what 7 Why,
this,  HE BECOMES AN EXILE FROM IT, and is to
be regarded and treated as a  resident  of another
State, liable to all the  foregoing  fines, imprison-
ments, &c,  unless, on leaving, he deposites, &c.
Unless !  What a mockery is this !  Why, suppose
the poor cole-red man cannot write, where shall he
get his ' written statement "I  Shall he  go  to  the
clerk or some justice, and pay him a fee to write il
for him 7  Or, suppose he writes il  himself, shall he
be compelled,  in this public way, to advertise the
public where he is going, and what he is going for 7
Or, suppose he lives at the extreme part of the coun-
ty, some ten, twenty, or more miles  from the clerk,
must he be at the expense of such a journey, together
with the loss of one or two  days  of time, just to
lodge said statement with the clerk 7 And, then sup-
pose, in leaving the State, his object is to go to some
place, say the first town over the line, in the hope of
finding better employment and thus  securing a bet-
ter livelihood; and therefore cannot tell until he has
tried it, whether he shall wish to return or not; is it
rigrrt, is it kind, or is it high-handed wickedness to
compel the poor man to make that experiment at the
hazard of becoming an  everlasting exile from his
native State 7  And if he meets with  disappoint-
ment and failure to leave him this, as his only con-
solation, ' I am now an exile from my former home,
and as to my dear wife and little ones, I have no al-
ternative  but to be separated from them  and leave
them where  they are, with none to provide for them
or bring them where I am, to become exiles with me
from their native State and their former friends, and
eat with me the bitter fruits of disappointment and
want V Or,  suppose he leaves with the avowed in-
tention of returning, but has been  detained by  ' co-
ercion,' (and it would seem that this is  not impossi-
ble or improbable, else it had not been provided for
in the act.) where and from whom shall he obtain the
requisite certificata ? Will those who have coerced
 mandcr'—((/)or to any wagoner or hired ser-
 vant travelling with his master, or to such
 as come into the State lawfully, and are  de-
 tained by sickness or other casualty.
   Sec. 4.   And be it enacted, That it shall
 not  be lawful from and after the first of June
 next, to import or  bring into this  state  by
 land or water, any negro,  mulatto or other
 slave for sale, or to reside  within this state  :
 *       *        *        and any person or
 persons so offending, shall  forfeit for  every
 such offence,  any  negro, mulatto  or other
 slave brought into this state contrary to this
 act, and such negro, mulatto or  other slave,
 shall  be entitled to freedom upon  condition
 that he consent-to be  sent  to Liberia, or to
 leave the State forthwith, otherwise such negro
 or mulatto or other  slave, shall be seized and
 taken and confined in 'jail by the sheriff of the
 county where the offence is  committed, which
 sheriff shall receive ten dollars for every ne-
 gro, mulatto or other slave so brought into
 this State and forfeited as aforesaid, and
 seized  and taken by him.  *       *
 Moreover, safd sheriff shall receive five dol-
 lars for such negro,  mulatto or  other  slave
 actually confined  by him  in jail,  and  the
 usual  prison fee as now allowed by law; and
 any person  or  persons  so  offending under
 this act, shall be punished by indictment in
 the  county court of the county where  the
 offence shall be committed, and upon con-
 viction thereof, the said court shall, by  its
 order,  direct said sheriff to  sell any  negro,
 mulatto, or other slaves so seized and taken
 by him under this act, to the  Colonization So-
 ciety for  said five dollars,  and  the  prison
fees       *       *       *     to be  taken
 to Liberia : and if  said Colonization Society
 shall not receive such negroes, mulattoes or
 other slaves for said  five  dollars each,  and
 the  prison fees of  each, upon refusing, said
 sheriff shall after three weeks' public notice
 given by public advertisements sell  any such
 negro,  mulatto or other  slave to some  person
him give it ?  Will other white men do it, when
perhaps to do it, is to impeach character, and by
consequence,subject themselves to the taunts, and
reproaches, and persecution of the individuals con-
cerned 7  And  besides, who cares  enough for the
' niggers ' to trouble himself about the matter 7

  {d)  ' Under a white  commander!' How  kind !
How magnanimous to make such a provision for the
protection of the poor colored man! But alas ! what if
the commander should chance to be colored 7  That
indeed would alter  the  case, and commander and
all, would be alike obnoxious to the penalties of the
law.   Nay more, by Section  9, their colored faces
would  be prima  facie evidence that they were
thieves—perhaps pirates—and no man could trade
with them until by a written  certificate they had
proved themselves honest  men.  Verily, the tendei
mercies of such legislation are cruelty extreme 
The Maryland Scheme Examined.
9
or persons, ivith  a condition  that  any such
negro, mulatto or other slave shall be removed
and taken forthwith beyond the limits of this
state to settle and reside, and said sheriff shall
report any sale or sales made by him to the
county court of the county in  which he re-
sides, and  after  deducting five dollars,  and
prison fees for  each  and  every negro,  mu-
latto or other slave sold as aforesaid,      *
                *       said sheriff shall pay
over the balance of said sales to the  treas-
urer of the shore where he may reside, (e)
   Sec.  5, Points out the  duty of justices of
the peace, touching the matter.
   Sect. 6.   And be it enacted, That no free
negro or mulatto shall be  suffered to keep or
carry a firelock   of any kind,  any  military
weapon, or any powder or lead, without first
obtaining a  license  from  the  court  of the
  (e) This is to prevent the increase of slaves. The
state is anxious to get rid of slavery.  Let us see
how she would do it.  If the master breaks the law,
by bringing the slave into the state, he forfeits him.
So far very well.  So far the master suffers for his
own sin, but farther than this his sin is all visiled on
the  head of the  poor slave.  For, though  forfojled,
he is still a slave lo the stale, and is free only on con-
dition, he 'consent to be sent to Liberia, or to leave
the  State forthwith.' Otherwise he is seized, as if
he were the criminal, and shut up in prison, there  to
remain until, at some future time, (there is no  pro-
vision to say when) the sheriff shall sell him lo the
Colonization Society for five dollars  and the prison
fees, to be taken lo Liberia then, with or without his
consent; and if  that Society will not buy him, then.
after another imprisonment of at least three weeks,
(and  for  any provision to the contrary, it may
be  as  much  longer as  the  sheriff chooses,) dur-
ing which, notice of his sale is to be given  by
public  advertisement, he is to be sold to any person
who will buy him, on condition of taking him forth-
with beyond the limits of the state—that is, in plain
terras, he is to be sold as a slave for life to any plant-
er,  negro-trader, or Woolfolk,  who will buy him ou
the specified condition.   These are the tender mer-
cies of iMaryland Colonization-legislation—it goes
for  the total abolition of slavery !
  But<why all this 7  What has the poor slave done
that he should suffer thus 7  Why is it,  that he is
compelled to take his freedom at the expense of ex-
ile from his country and separation from his family,
should  he  chance to have one 7  Or, if he refuse this
alternative, why  is he seized,  and imprisoned, and
sold without his consent, either to expatriation, or to
hopeless bondage 7  For no crime, no imprudence,
no  misconduct of his, but solely for the fault of iRe
master in bringing him, perhaps against his will, into
that state from another.  Is this right 7  Is il kind 7
Is this  the legislation of benevolence 7—this a pari
of the  ' patriotic and benevolent' scheme of Mary-
land 7  these the  laws of equity and humanity 7  Or
is this the benevolence of Nicholas—tyranny in dis-
guise; and ihese the  laws of a Draco—written in
blood 7 I   speak as to wise men—judge  ye.
                   )
county or corporation in which he resides ;
which  license  shall be  annually renewed,
and be at any time  withdrawn by an order
of said court, or any judge thereof;  and any
free negro or mulatto  who  shall disregard
this provision,  shall  on  conviction  thereof
before a justice  of the peace, for the  first
offence pay the cost of prosecution, and for-
feit all such arms to the use of the informer ;
and for the second or any  subsequent  of-
fence  shall, in  addition lo such costs and for-
feiture, be  punished ivith stripes,  at  the dis-
cretion of  the  justice,  not  exceeding thirty-
nine,  or  be subject lo  the penalties  of felo-
ny- (/)
   Sec. 7.  And  be it enacted, That it shall
not be lawful for any free negro or negroes,
slave  or slaves, to assemble  or  attend any
meetings for religious purposes,  unless  con-
ducted by a white licensed or ordained preach-
er, or  some respectable white person or per-
sons of the neighborhood,  as may be  duly
authorised by such licensed or ordained
preacher,  during the  continuance  of such
meeting  ;  and if any such  meeting  shall be
held  without being conducted as aforesaid,
they shall  be considered as unlawful and tu-
multuous meetings,  and  it shall  be the  duty
of the nearest  constable, or  any other civil
officer knowing of such  meetings, either
 from  his  own  knowledge   or   the infor-
mation of others,  to  repair  to  such meet-
 ing and disperse the said negroes or slaves ;
 and if any such  constable shall fail  to com-
 ply with the provisions of this act,  he shall
 be subject to a fine of  not less than five nor
 more  than twenty  dollars,  at the discretion
 of a justice  of the peace cf the county in
 which he resides, whose duty it shall be to
impose the fine, on information being given
for such  neglect;  and return the  proceed-
  (/)  And yet, on Wednesday evening, July 30,
the Rev. R. J. Breckinridge of Baltimore, assured
the citizens of Boston, that the free people of color
in Maryland  were treated with great kindness, as
their rapid increase proved ; that they were as really
and fully protected in  their right  of property and
locomotion in the state, as himself or any other cit-
izen.  Their property protected !  Let the laws de-
cide.  Ar.d besides, compare with this, the testimo-
ny of this same Mr. B. in his  speech at the annual
meeting of the American  Colonization  Society at
Washington,  the last winter:—'1  agree,  said he,
with the° slaveholder, that  the free  people of color
must go away or perish.  And if any one doubts the
truth of this, let  him come to  Baltimore, and I will
show it to him.  There he will find that our lawyers
will not admit a colored  man to the bar, nor our
druggists lo their profession.  Our hack stands show
few^men of color.  Even our dray-men  are nearly
all white.  We exclude the colored  men from every
'employment  in which  men can rise.  And they are
there perishing for teo.ut of daily food.'  \\ hat pro-
lection ! 
10                        The Mainland  Scheme Examined.
 ings and judgment on the same to the clerk
 of the county, who  shall enter it upon  the
 pcoper docket to be  collected and applied as
 other fines and forfeitures now are :  Provid-
 ed, that this act shall not interfere with any
 right of any owner or employer of any slave
 or slaves, to allow his own servants or those
 employed by  him or her, to have prayers or
 other religious service upon his own land ;
 and provided also, that nothing contained in
 this act shall be construed to prevent the as-
 semblage within  the limits of Baltimore city
 and  Annapolis city, of such slaves,  or free
 negroes and mulattoes for the purpose of re-
 ligious worship, if said meetings are  hejd in
 compliance with  the written permission of a
 white licensed ordainei)  preacher, and
 dismissed before 10 o'clock at night, {g)
   Sec. 8»  And be it enacted, That all free
 negroes or mulattoes who shall be found as-
 sociating, or in any  company with slaves, at
 any unlawful or tumultuous meeting, either
 by day or by night, or who shall in  connec-
 tion with any slave or slaves, as  principal or
 accessary, be  guilty of,  and  convicted of,
 any offence for which  slaves  are now pun-
 ishable, before a  justice of the peace, such
 free negro or mulatto shall be subject to the
 same punishment, and be liable in every re-
 spect to the same treatment and  penalty  as
 slaves thus offending.
   Sec. 9.  And be it enacted, That  it shall
 not be lawful for  any person to purchase  of
 any free negro or mulatto, or from any slave
 or  slaves, any bacon,  pork,  beef,  mutton,
 corn,  wheat,  tobacco,  rye, or oats,  unless
 such free negro or mulatto shall at the time
 of  such sale,  produce a certificate from a
justice of the peace, or three respectable per-
 sons  residing  in  the  neighborhood  of said
 negro,  of the  county in  which such negro
 resides, that he or they have reason to be-
 lieve and do believe, that such free negro or
 mulatto came  honestly and bona fide into
 possession of any such articles so offered for
 sale,  or unless such  slave  shall  produce a
 written authority from his or her owner, em-
 ployer or overseer, to sell  any such article ;
 and any person thus offending  against the
 provisions of this act shall  be  subject to a
 penalty offive dollars for every such offence,
 or a penalty equal ill amount to the value of
 the  article purchased, should  the value
 thereof exceed the sum of five dollar?,   *
 *          •          *        one  half to the
 use of the informer,  and the  balance to be
 paid  to the levy court,  or commissioners, as
 the case may be, for the  use  of  the coun-
 ty, (h)
  (g) This is a specimen of their right of locomo-
tion.
  (h) Another specimen of protection and of the
mildness of the laws in that  state, in which, as Mr.
B. assures us, the laws aic milder than in any other
   Sec. 10.  And be it enacted, That it shall
 not be lawful for any retailer, ordinary keep-
 er, or other person, to sell any ardent spirits,
 gunpowder, shot, or lead, to any free negro,
 mulatto, or slave, without, in the case of a
 free negro, such free negro shall produce a
 certificate in the nature otaliccnse or permit
from a justice  of the peace in the county in
 which such free negroes may reside, directed
 to the person so selling the game ; or in case
 of a slave, unless such slave shall produce a
 written authority from his owner,  employer
 or overseer, and any  person so offending
 shall be subject to the  like penalty, to  be
 recovered and applied in every respect as is
 provided in the foregoing section of this bill.
   Sec. 11, Relates to  the  power of certain
 courts in the matter of licenses.
   See. 12.  And be it enacted, That if any
 free negro or mulatto shall  be convicted  of
 any crime  committed after the passage  of
 this act, which may not, under the  laws of
t this State, be punished by hanging by the
 neck, such free negro or mulatto may, in the
 discretion of the  court, be  sentenced to the
 penalties and punishments now provided by
 law, or be banished from  this State, or  be
 transported into some foreign country, (i)
   Such is  the act which was passed by the
 same legislature that made an appropriation
. of s^GO.OOO for the removal of free  persons
 of color; and no  man, I am persuaded, can
 read it  without  feeling that,  whatever its
 design, its  necessary tendency is to make
 their situation here so uncomfortable, as vir-
 tually to coerce them into  a consent to re-

 slave slatc«— Kentucky excepted.  The laws are so
 mild, that they make a colored skin prima facie ev-
 idence that  the man is a  thief, and throw upon  him
 the burthen  of proof that  he is  an honest man.
 This is mildness with a vengeance.
  (£)  This  is the climax.  Here are mildness  and
 protection without a parallel. ' For any crime com-
 mitted after the passage of this act'—such, for ex-
 ample, as emigialing into the Slate, or slaying there
 over ten days, (sec. 1.) or  hiring, or employing or
 haiboring any one from another state more than four
 days; or relnrning after an absence of thirty days,
 (sec. 2.); or carrying a firelock or any kind of mili-
 tary weapon without a license from the county court,
 ' annually renewed,' (sec. G.); or holding a religious
 meeting without a white man to conduct il, (sect.
 7) ; or selling any thing without a written certificate
 that  it  was not stolen, (sec. 9)—in a word, for 'any
 crime,'  those specified  in the act or any others,
 < committed after the passage of this act,' and not
 punishable by hanging, free negroes  are so well pro-
 tected, that at  'the discretion of the court,'  and
 with no right of appeal to another court, they maybe
 subjected lo the ' penalties and punishments now pro-
 vided,' or ' be banished from the state, or be trans-
 ported lo a foreign country.' All this, probably ' with
 (heir own consent.' 
The  Maryland Scheme  Examined.
11
 move from the  State.   But perhaps this  is
 not so.   Suppose,  therefore, we  suspend
 judgment untiLwe have examined the other
 act, passed by the same legislature, making
 the aforesaid appropriation.

   II.   How they get rid of them.

 1A LAW  OF  THE  STATE  OF MA-
                RYLAND.'

 ' An Act Relating to the People of Color  of
                 this State.''
   Sect. 1, Provides  for the appointment  of
 a ' Board of Managers, consisting of three
 persons,' to superintend the whole business
 of the  removal of ' the people of color now
 free, and such as shall hereafter become so.'
   Sec. 2,  Makes it the  duty  of the Treas-
 urer of the Western  Shore  to  pay to  the
 Board of Managers such sums as they shall
 from time to time require, not exceeding in
 all, $20,000 for that present year, to be ap-
 plied by them, at discretion, in the work of
 removal, and in taking measures  ' to obtain
 and place before the people of color of the
 state, full  and  correct information of the
 condition  and circumstances  of the colony
 of Liberia, or such other place or places to
 which they may  reeommend their removal'!
   Sec.  3.   And  be it enacted, That it shall
 hereafter be  the duty of every  clerk of a
 county  in  this  Sate,  whenever  a deed  of
 manumission shall be left in  his  office  for
 record, and of every Register of Wills,  in
 every county of this State, whenever a will,
 manumitting a  slave or slaves, shall be ad-
 mitted to probate, to  send within  five days
 thereafter, (under a penalty of  ten dollars for
 each and every omission so to do, to be  re-
 covered before any justice of the  peace, one
 half whereof shall go  to the  informer  and
 the other half to  the State ;) an extract from
 such deed or will, stating the names, num-
 ber and ages of the slave or slaves so manu-
 mitted, (a list whereof, in the  case of a will
 so proved, shall  be  filed therewith, by the
 executor or  administrator) to  the  board  of
 managers  for  Maryland, for  removing the
 people of color of said  State ; and it shall
 be  the duty of the said board  on  receiving
 the same to notify  the American  Coloniza-
 tion Society, or the Maryland  State Coloni-
 zation Society thereof,  and to propose  to
 such society that they shall engage, at the
 expense of such society, to remove the said
 slave or slaves  so manumitted to  Liberia;
 and if the said society  shall so engage, then
 it shall  be the duty of the said  board of man-
 ao-ers to have said slave or slaves delivered
 to the agent of such society, at such place as
 the said=societv shall appoint,  for  receiving
 such slave or slaves,  for the purpose of such
removal, at such time  as  the said society
shall appoint; and in case  the said society
 shall refuse so to receive and remove the
 person or persons so manumitted and offer-
 ed, or  in  case the said  person or  persons
 shall refuse so to be removed, then it shall
 be the duty of the said board of managers to
 remove the said person or persons  to such
 other place or  places  beyond  the limits of
 this state, as the said board shall approve of,
 and the said person or persons shall  be will-
 ing to go to, and to provide/or their reception
 and support at such place or places  as  the
 said board may think necessary,  until they
 shall be able to provide for themselves, out
 of any money that may be earned by their hire,
 or may be otherwise provided for that pur-
 pose ; and in case the said person or  persons
 shall refuse to be removed to any place  be-
 yond the limits of this state, and shall per-
 sist in remaining therein, then it shall be  the
 duty of said board to  inform the  sheriff of
 the county wherein such person or  persons
 may be, of such  refusal,  and it shall there-
 upon be the duty of the said sheriff  forth-
 with to arrest, or cause to be arrested, the
 said person or persons so refusing to emigrate
from  this  State,  and transport the said
 person or persons beyond  the  limits
 of this state ; and all slaves shall be  ca-
 pable of receiving manumission, for the pur-
 pose of removal as aforesaid, with their con-
 sent,  of whatever age, any law to the con-
 trary notwithstanding, (a)
   Sec. 4.  And be it enacted, That  in case
 any slave or slaves so manumitted, cannot be
 removed without separating families, and the
 said slave or  slaves, unwilling on that  ac-
  (a) Now what is this but force 7 I appeal to every
honest mind, whether the plain, unvarnished, unam-
biguous language of this  act is not  simply this,*—
' If you will go to Liberia, or any other place out of
the State, very well; but if you will not, you shall be
made to go.  No matter  if an eternal separation,
(see sec. 4.) from your wife and children be the con-
sequence, still, you shall go, or else  renounce your
freedom in open court,  and continue  a slave.  The
sheriff, with the strong arm of law, shail forthwith ar-
rest yon, and transport you, willing or not willing',
beyond the limits of the State, and there leave you,
unprovided and uncared for, to your fate '7 And
what is this but coercion 7  And yet, Rev. R. J.
Breckinridge, at the meeting in the Masonic Tem-
ple, July 30, said, ' wo have never passed  a law by
which to force them away, as we be slanderously re-
ported.'  Let the act  speak for itself.   The truth is,
gloss it over as you will, every slave that is manu-
mitted and sent to Liberia or elsewhere,  under the
operation of this law, to use the language of Mr. li.
in reference to the emigrants from Virginia, is ' co-
erced away as truly as if it had  been done with a
caktwhip,'  'They were  not  driven  by force.
But after the Southampton affair, the legislature en-
acted severe  laws, which  required the free negroes
to go through certain operations and forms  of law in
order to remain'—the very coercion, of Maryland, 
12
The  Maryland Scheme Examined.
count to be  removed, shall  desire  to re-
nounce the freedom so intended by the said
deed or will to  be given, then  it shall and
may be competent to such slave or slaves so
to renounce in open  court  the  benefit  of said
deed or zvill, and to  continue a  slave, [b)
   Sec. 5.   And be it enacted, That  it shall
and may be  competent  for  the Orphan's
Court of this  State,  and  for the  Baltimore
City  Court, to  grant annually,  a permit to
any slave or slaves so manumitted as afore-
said, to remain as free in the said county, in
cases where the said courts  may be satisfied
by respectable testimony  that  such slave or
slaves so  manumitted deserve such permis-
sion on account  of their  extraordinary  good
conduct and character ;  Provided, such per-
mit shall not exempt any  manumittor or his
representatives, or his estate, from any lia-
bility to maintain any hereafter emancipated
slave, who, at the time his  or her right to
freedom accrues, may be unable  to  gain  a
livelihood, or  be over forty-five years  of age
at said time,  and afterwards become  unable
to maintain himself or herself, (c)
   Sec. 6.  And be it enacted, That the said
   (b) What a privilege !  How kind!

   (c) A  most singular provision  this.  The slave
 may remain i/"his character and conduct are ' extra-
 ordinary good,' and if he can  get' respectable testi-
 mony ' to the fact, and (/"the Orphan's or Baltimore
 City Court  'shall be satisfied,' &c, and if, being
 satisfied, they shall be willing lo give the required
 permit, and ifxhey shall renew it ' annually '—such
 permit not releasing the master or his representatives
 from liability to support said slave in ease of inabili-
 ty to support himself.  Now with all these ifs in the
 way, to what does this provision amount 7  Really
 it would seem as if it were made in mockery of the
 slave's wo.  For who must the ' respectable testi-
 mony' in question be, save  the very master or his
 representatives, who, in case of the slave's manumis-
 tion and residence in the State, are liable, as^tbove,
 for his support 7  And what master, &c. in such a
 case,  would be likely to testify to ' extraordinary
 good character and conduct' 7  And besides, if, as
 Mr. Breckinridge asserted at the meeting in the
 Temple, the two questions are settled, first, that the
 colored race shall never  be admitted to equal civil
 and religious privileges, and thus suffered to remain
 among them as equals, and second, that they shall
not remain as slaves—in other words, if a war of ex-
 tirmination is thus declared against the blacks, where
 is the proof that the courts  in  question  will ever be
 so well' satisfied' with the ' respectable testimony  '
 as to give the aforesaid annual permit 7  Or if they
 do, and the manumitted slaves of 'extraordinary
 good character and conduct' should  remain, where
 will Mr. B. and his coadjutors obtain their emigrants
 of such good  character  and so strictly temperate 7
 Not from ' these  free vagabonds.'  For  [Mr. IVs
 speech at Washington] ' they have grown wise by
experience, and do not intend to scud out yoar ship-
 Board of Managers shall in all cases where
 the removal of a slave or slaves manumitted
 as aforesaid, shall  devolve upon them,  have
full power and authority, whenever the  same
 shall be necessary and can be done with ad-
 vantage, to hire out such slave or slaves so
 manumitted  and  so  to  be  removed,  until
 their ivages shall produce a sufficient sum to
 defray all  expenses attending their removal,
 and necessary support at the place or places
 of such removal, (d)
  Sec. 7, Authorizes the Treasurer to bor-
 row the requisite  funds,  never  exceeding
 £200,000 in all.  Section 8th,' authorizes the
 levying of a  tax to raise  the said specified
 funds.   The 9th directs the sheriffs of the
 several counties to cause the number of the
 free  people of color,  their names,  sex and
 age,  to  be carefully taken, noted,  and sent
 to the said board  of managers.  The  10th
 fixes the  compensation of the  sheriffs; the
 11th defines the  duties  of the  managers,
 when informed  by the  sheriffs  of persons
 wishing to remove; and the 12th  provides
 that the act have no ex post  facto operation.

  ' By the  House  of Delegates,  March 14,
 1832.—This  engrossed bill,  the  original of
 which  passed this House,  the  9th day of
 March, 1832, was this day read and assent-
 ed to.
  By order.
             GEO. B. BREWER, Clerk.
  By the Senate, March  14, 1832.—This en-
 grossed bill,  the original  of which passed
 the Senate the  12th day of March,  1832,
 was this day read and assented to.
  By order.
          JOS.  H.  NICHOLSON, Clerk.
          GEO.  HOWARD.'

  Such are the Acts, as finally passed by the
 Legislature of 1832.  The bills as originally
 reported contained some  things that were
 still more exceptionable.  At the same ses-
 sion  also,  the following  bill,  to limit the
 power of manumission in the state, and thus
 prevent those evils of a worse ultimate  tend-
 ency than  ' slavery alone,'' was reported by
 a committee.  Whether it passed into a spe-
 cific  law, I am unable to say.   Be that as it
 may, the substance of it is virtually embodi-
 ed in the foregoing  acts, and it  may there-
 fore  be quoted in form, as an illustration of
 the  spirit  and manner in which  Maryland
 Colonization goes  for the  total  abolition of
 slavery  in that state.
loads offree vagabonds to christianize Africa.  If
they cannot have men of good character, they want
none.'  Where then will they find the emigrants ?
  (d) The slave then may not only be coerced out
of the State, but where it can be done to advantage,
he may be hired out and compelled to work out the
cxpenso of his  own  removal, cSjc. 
The Maryland
Scheme  Examined.
13
A bill, entitled, An act relating to the Manu-
       mission of Slaves in Maryland.
   Sec. 1.  Be it enacted by the General As-
sembly of Maryland, that from and after the
passage  of this act, it shall not be lawful for
any person owning or holding  any slave  or
slaves in this State to  liberate, manumit, or
set free such slave or slaves by deed of man-
umission,  will,  or  otherwise, unless such
slave or slaves be sent by  the owner or hold-
er of his or their representative, beyond the
limits of this state.
   Sec. 2.  And be  it enacted, That if any
negro or mulatto slave or slaves shall be-
come entitled to his, her or their freedom at
any future day after the passage of this act,
according  to the  present existing laws  of
this State, such  negro  or mulatto slave  or
slaves shall forfeit all  right, title and claim
to her, his, and their freedom, unless  within
------ days after becoming so entitled, he,
she, or they quit and finally leave  this state.
   Sec. 3.  And be it enacted, That it shall
not be lawful  for  any person or persons  to
give, sell or transfer, or convey, any slave  or
slaves to  any free negro  or mulatto of this
State.
  It will be seen at once that section first
limits emancipation in  all cases, to the con-
dition of removal, thus leaving the poor slave
no alternative but bondage or exile; and that
section second, is expost facto in its  opera-
tion, so that if the slave,  under laws previ1
ously in force, had been  made free  at the
age of twenty-one,  but should not become
twenty-one until the day  after this act came
in force,  then, instead of being  free with
liberty to remain in the  state, according to
the laws under which  he was manumitted,
he now forfeits his freedom and continues a
slave, unless he quits  the  state  within the
specified time, be the  separation from  his
family or  other inconveniences  what they
may.
   These are the more  important'documents,
in illustration of the real spirit and character
of the Maryland scheme.  To my mind they
indicate  little  else than  a spirit of settled
hate to the blacks, rather than to slavery,
and a determination  to get rid of them at all
events.  The whole matter seems to be one
of a cold,  calculating, selfish,  bloody state
policy, rather than one of sincere repentance
for the sin of slavery. Indeed slavery as a sin,
and therefore a thing to be repented of, does
not once  come to view.  The idea of righting
the wrongs of 100,000 human beings held in
bondage, doe3 not seem to have been  a mat-
ter of thought or consideration.  The grand
question  was, How. shall we get rid  of the
blacks—especially the free ?  And the cold-
hearted answer  was, by making  the  condi-
tion of the free so uncomfortable, that they
will be glad to escape, and by  rivetting the
chain on the slave forever,  except he con-
sent, when emancipated, to be exiled.
   True, the scheme  professes to go for the
abolition of slavery,  but  it is only  on condi-
tion of  the extermination of the obnoxious
blacks.   It is, therefore,  rather a scheme  for
the abolition of the  whole  colored  popula-
tion, and that, per fas et nefas.  The whole
movement is characterized by the cold-heart-
ed and bloody design of extermination.
   But perhaps, I misjudge; suppose then we
listen to tha testimony of more unprejudiced
witnesses, and see what construction  they
put upon  these  measures.   The Journal of
Commerce for 1832,  a colonization print, has
the following:—
   ' What will be the effect of the  proceed-
ings of  Virginia and Maryland,  concerning
free negroes, upon the  city of New-York?
It is true, those  states donot propose to re-
sort,  in the first instance,  to  compulsory
measures ;  but does  any one doubt that they
will resort to such measures, if the number of
volunteer emigrants  should not be sufficient
to exhaust the appropriations made for their
removal ?'
   But hear a  witness on the ground.  The
Baltimore Chronicle, at  the  time these acts
were passed, remarked as follows:—
   ' The  intention of those  laws was, and
their effect must be, to expel the free people
of color from this state.  They  will find
themselves so hemmed in by restrictions, that
their situation cannot be  otherwise than un-
comfortable should they elect to remain in
Maryland.  These laws will  no  doubt  be
met by  prohibitory  laws in  other states,
which will greatly increase  the embarrass-
ments of the people of color, and leave them
no other alternative  than to  emigrate or re-
main in a very unenviable condition."1
   Another evidence still more decisive is
this: A correspondent of the Baltimore Pat-
riot, in giving an account of the proceedings
of the House of Delegates of that  state, this;
present year, says :—
   ' An order was submitted by Mr. Mann, of
Washington county, instructing the Com-
mittee on the  colored population, to inquire
into the expediency  of abolishing  Slavery,
after a certain period.—It excited a warm de-
bate and some unpleasant feeling.—He with-
drew his order.  It has been expunged from
the Journal, and consequently no trace of it
will be found there.—It ivas  no doubt offered
without  reflection.''
   A motion to instruct a committee simply
to inquire into the expediency of abolishing
slavery,—not  immediately,  but  after  some
fixed time—'excited  a warm debate, and so
much unpleasant feeling,' that a  vote was
passed to expunge it from the Journal of the
House!  This la decisive of the spirit and
intention  of th-3  colonization  legislation of 
14                        Tfn Maryland Scheme  Examined.
 that colonization  stnt<\   It  demonstrates,
 either that the powers that behave no inten-
 tion of ever abolishing slavery, but rather of
 perpetuating it forever by removing the dis-
 turbing force of the free, or that they go for
 abolition only on condition of the extirpation
 of the whole colored population.
   Indeed,  this last is  virtually avowed in a
 communication, of the  Board of Managers
 of the Maryland Colonization Society, to the
 public, in Nov. 1833, and signed by ' George
 Hoffman, Pres't.'  'The avowed object,'of
 establishing  a colony under the exclusive
 control of the Society was,  ' not merely  to
 remove thither, with their own consent, the
 free people  of color,  but also  effectually,
 though gradually, and  consistently with the
 rights of all, extirpating slavery in the state,
 and restoring to the land of their fathers, the
 whole of its colored  population.'  Slavery is
 to be abolished, but only by an extirpation
 of the blacks!
   The same thing was also expressly assert-
 ed,  by R. J. Breckinridge, at the meeting
 before referred to, and abundantly confirmed
 by the whole tenor of his and his brother's
 remarks.
   And besides, if the object be, not the ex-
 tirpation of the  colored people,  but  really
 and in good faith, of slavery ; and if,  as the
 Messrs.  Breckinridge  and others are con-
 stantly assuring us, a feeling hostile to sla-
 very  is pervading  society throughout that
 State, so that there are  hundreds of slaves,
 whose masters are  ready and waiting  to
 emancipate them, so soon as a door is open-
 ed, by which they can  do it, with safety to
 themselves and advantage to the slaves,—if
 all this be true, why all this ado  about the
 free ?  Why this anxiety to induce them to
 emigrate, especially when they, in the main,
 are nothing but ' free  vagabonds,' and the
 great desire and solemn  pledge  is to  send
 out none but temperate emigrants and those
 of good moral character in other respects ?
 Why too those ' severe laws' whose ' inten-
 tion ' was, and whose ' effect must be to expel
 the free people of color  from the state,'  by
 leaving them'no other  alternative than  to
 emigrate, or remain in a very unenviable
 condition ' ?  And above all, in the selection
 of emigrants, if the object be to put an end
 to slavery, or there be one spark of pity for
 the poor slaves, why are not those hundreds
 of slaves selected first,  and thus saved from
 the  liability, to  which  they are constantly
 exposed, of being sold into hopeless bondage,
 at the caprice of the master, or in payment
of his debts ?   And  why too, no provision,
 by which a moiety at least, of the $200,000,
 may be appropriated to purchase  the  slaves
of those persons, who  are  very anxious to
 emancipate them, but from one cause  or an-
other, are unable to bear the loss ?  And
worse than all, why no provision to meet the
| case of the poor man, who, in accepting  his
 freedom on condition of removal,  must be
 separated from his family, except the  cold-
 hearted one of permitting him to remain in
 bondage ?   One would have thought that the
 high-souled benevolence that appropriated
 $200,000 to the removal of the  free, might
 have appropriated a few dollars at least to
 the purchase and liberation of that poor man's
 wife and children, instead of compelling him
 to abandon  them, or commit  suicide on  his
 own liberty, and by his  own act rivet the
 chain upon  himself forever!
   The truth is, there is something wrong in
 this whole matter.  Its pervading spirit is the
 spirit of negro hatred, and not that of repen-
 tance for wrongs inflicted on  the innocent.
 Its object  plainly is the  extirpation of the
 negro race from the state. It thus adds  in-
 sult to injury, and outrage to oppression. The
 legislation and the measures for effecting the
 object (unwittingly  and  unintentionally, if
 you please,  on the part of some who are en-
 gaged in the enterprise) are, in spirit and in
 principle, the legislation and measures of a
 Nicholas, intent  on the extirpation of the
 Poles, as the only means  of the  safety,  se-
 curity, and prosperity of his empire.
   But this  scheme  professes to have  some
 other peculiar claims on the confidence and
 patronage of the community, beside the one
 now examined, that it goes avowedly for the
 total abolition of slavery. Suppose we briefly
 examine them.*
   1. It claims to occupy middle ground, and
 thus affords a resting place for the mind be-
 tween Colonization, as it has been urged, and
 the  mad scheme of Immediate Abolition.
 This point was pressed with special earnest-
 ness.  Multitudes, it was  supposed, had be-
 come abolitionists, and many others were in
 the way of becoming so,  not  because they
 were prepared or disposed to venture on the
 mad scheme of instant abolition, but mainly
 because  they had supposed  there was  no
 middle ground on the subject.  This scheme,
 however, presented middle ground, and could
 it be fairly spread before the  public, and its
 principles be understood, it would furnish a
 resting place for the public mind, and thus
 check the progress  of those  fanatical doc-
 trines and wild  schemes which were abroad,
 and  were fraught with such mischief to the
 nation.
   Such was in substance the argument. But
 so far from being an argument in favor, it is
 an unanswerable objection to the scheme.  It
 is the very reason of all others, why it should
 meet with the rejection of the whole  com-
 munity.   It is middle  ground—a resting
 place !  What is this but saying it is effect-
  * These points were brought  out by the Messrs.
Breckenridge  at the meeting,  at the  Temple, on
the evening of July 30. 
The Maryland  Scheme  Examined.                          15
tlal to  check  the  progress of public senti-
ment, and thus stand between it and the  abo-
lition of slavery ?  What is it  but saying,
here is a shield  to  protect  slavery from the
blows  of  an abolition public  sentiment ?
What is it, but admitting that if  this scheme
and every other scheme of Colonization were
out of the  way, the public  mind  would at
once be made up to abolition, and the senti-
ment of the  nation  be thus concentrated
against the system of slavery for its  over-
throw ?                            .
  Such at least were the admission and asser-
tion of the Rev. R. J.  Breckinridge, at the
last annual meeting of the Colonization So-
ciety in Washington.   Said he—
  1 Let the slaveholder beware how he drives
us away.   We stand in the breach for him to
keep off the abolitionists.  We are his
friends, but only to give him time.   If we are
driven away, where  can he find  an  ally ?
Where in the literature of the whole world,
in the public opinion of the whole world, in
the religion of the whole world, will he find
an advocate ?  The abolitionist  is upon him.
And if he  attempts to  maintain slavery as
perpetual, every one of us will be upon him
too. You, Mr. President, and I, and all of
us will join the abolitionists in such a cause,
against perpetuating slavery.  Rather than
slavery, with  its horrors, shall  exist forever
in this country,  let us  meet the evils inciden-
tal  to its instant abolition.   If abolition must
be immediate  or not at all, let it be immediate,
come what will.   We are the only friends
of the slaveholder, for we give him time, and
that is all that he  can ask—time to  act and
abolish slavery.'
  This is all true : the Colonizationist, and
especially the Maryland Colonizationist, does
'stand in the  breach, to keep off the aboli-
tionists,' and  if he would  only give up his
colonizing schemes and get out of the way,
the  question of abolition  or  non-abolition
would be brought to issue at once, and then
the slaveholder would not  find  an advocate
in the literature, or the public opinion-, or re-
ligion of the whole world ; and  if he did not
go for abolition, the  abolitionist  would be
upon him.—Mr.B. would be upon him.—The
mass of Colonizationists—the wealth, the in-
fluence, the moral power  of New-England,
and all the free states  would be upon  him.
The public sentiment of the land and of the
world would be upon  him, and  slavery, with
its horrors, come to a  perpetual end.   The
scheme in question, therefore, by occupying
middle ground, and furnishing a resting place
for the mind, goes to keep off the  abolition-
ists, and prop up the system of slavery, and
should therefore meet only with reprobation
and rejection.
   But 2.   This scheme is an  efficient one.
That of the American Society, though  ex-
cellent in many respects,  was  of necessity
inefficient.  The states, however, having the
right to legislate on the subject, can act ef-
ficiently.   They can call the law to their aid.
  True.  They can avail themselves of the
strong arm of the law, and by the passage of
severe  laws,  'coerce'  the   colored  people
away, as truly as if it were ' done with a cart
whip.'  And Maryland has made a good be-
ginning in this work of compulsion, as the
preceding acts abundantly show.  And when
Maryland has  effected  her object,  and thus
set the  example  of 'successful  colonization
by state action,' Virginia may follow it—and
if her legislators will all of them be as frank
and  honest as Mr. Broadnax, carry her points,
by resorting to actual physical force.(a) And
  fa)' IT IS IDLE TO TALK ABOUT NOT RE-
SORTING  TO FORCE.  Every body must look
to the introduction of force of some kind or other. . .
If the free negroes are willing  to go, they will go-
lf not willing, THEY MUST BE COMPELLED
TO GO.  Some gentlemen think it politic not now
to insert this feature in the bill, though  they pro-
claim their readiness to resort to it when it becomes
necessary ; they think that for a year or two a suffi-
cient number will consent to go, and THEN THE
REST CAN BE  COMPELLED.  For my part, I
deem it belter to approach the  question and settle it
at once, and avow it openly. The intelligent portion
of the free negroes know very  well what is.goingon.
—Will they not see yonr debates ?  Will they not
see  that coercion  is ultimately to be  resorted to ?
They will  perceive  that the  edict  has gone forth,
and that it must  fall, if not now, in a short time
upon them.
  ' I have already expressed it as my  opinion,  that
few, very few will voluntarily consent to emigrate, if
no compulsory measure be adopted.—With it—
manv, in anticipation of its sure and certain arrival,
will,"in the mean time, go away—they  will be sensi-
ble that the time would  come  when they would be
forced  to leave the State.   Without il—you will
still, no doubt, have applicants for removal equal to
your means.  Yes, Sir,  people who  will not only
consent, but beg you to deport them. But what sort
of consent—a consent extorted by a species of op-
pression calculated lo  render their situation among
us insupportable!  Many of those who  have already
been sent  off, went with their avowed consent, but
under the influence of a more decided compulsion
than any which ihis bill holds out.  I will not ex-
press, in its fullest extent, the idea I entertain of
what has been  done, or what  enormities ivill be per-
petrated to induce this class  of persons to leave the
State.  *  *  *  No matter  how you change this
bi|]_sooner or later the free  negroes  will be forced
lo leave the State.  Indeed, Sir, all  of us lock
to force of some kind or other, direct or indirect,
moral or  physical, legal or illegal.  Many who are
opposed, they  say, to any compulsory  feature in the
bill, desire to introduce such severe regulations into
our police laws—such  restrictions  of  their existing
privileges—such inability to hold properly—obtain
employment—rent residences, &c, as lo make it
impossible for them to remain amongst us. Is not
this force ? ' -
   Mr. Fisher said :
  ' If we wait until the  free negroes consent to leave
ihp Slate  we shall  wait until 'time is  no more.
THEY NEVER WILL  GIVE  THEIR CON-
SENT   He believed if the  compulsory principle
were stricken out. this class WOULD BE FORCED
TO LEAVE  BY THE HARSH TREATMENT 
16
The Maryland Scheme Examined.
so the work may go  on from state to state,
the kind and degree  of compulsion varying
according to the circumstances of the case,
until the work of extirpation is complete, and
the whole colored race have been thus kind-
ly and benevolently restored to  the  land of
their fathers, 'every emigrant' being ' a mis-
sionary, carrying with him credentials [which
he cannot read] in the holy cause of civiliza-
tion, religion, and free institutions.' (b)  The
scheme efficient!—the  very reason for its
unqualified rejection.  It has the  elements
cf unlimited oppression in it.
   But the colony at Cape Palmas—there are
a great many very  excellent  things about
that.   In the first place, the climate at the
Cape is very healthy.
   But who does not know that the same thing
has been asserted and re-asserted respecting
Liberia; and that, in face of the most  con-
clusive evidence to the  contrary—evidence
now admitted on all hands to be  valid ?  So
late even as Jan. 6,   1831, the  Rev. R. J.
Breckinridge himself, in an address at Frank-
fort, Ky. said,
   ' The colony established at Liberia, occu-
pies a fertile, and to  the black  constitution,
a salubrious region.11 * * ' It was farther ob-
jected, that the unhealthincss of the  climate
was an insurmountable  obstacle in the way
of colonizing any part of Africa.  The  facts
stated in a former  part of this  address, the
accounts of all  travellers who have visited
that continent, and the uniform experience
of the  Amei-ican Colony, leave no room  to
doubt that the region of country owned by
it, is  pleasant, and to the black  constitution,
EXTREMELY SALUBRIOUS.'
   Where now is our security that the health-
iness of Cape Palmas will not turn out to be
like  that of Liberia—a non-entity ?—espe-
cially when that of Liberia was demonstra-
ted by the ' uniform  experience ' of the  col-
ony from the time  of  its foundation up  to
1831 ?
   But Cape Palmas is healthy, and the proof
is as follows.  For the sake of  convenience,
I place it by the side of similar proof respect-
ing Cape Montserado.
     Cape  Palmas.      Cape Montserado
the Western Coast of Af
rica.  It is high, and re-
ceives the sea breeze.  *
  *   *  The  place  ap-
pears to be healthy, and
the  natives  report  it so
They tell me that several
Englishmen  have remain-
ed there  from three  to
iwelvc months, and never
complained  of sickness.
One  of our  passengers
from Baltimore look the
fever at Monrovia,  and
was laid up with it three
days, before we arrived
at Cape Palmas ; and four
days after our arrival he
appeared to be quite well
and  over  his  sickness.
[This looks well]   The
country around  is not in-
fested with swamps and
mangroves as  it is else-
where '—[as if these were
the cause of the unhealth-
iness elsewhere.]
  Rev. G. R. McGill, a
respectable colored man.
  ' The appearance of the
country, the bay and  riv-
er,  is  exceedingly  fine,
and  no  place  could  be
more desirable  for a  set-
tlement.'
  Dr. Hall, Agent of the
Maryland Col. Society.
  ' The situation of the
Cape makes it one of the
  The teirilory purchas-
ed in Africa appears lo
have been judiciously se-
lected, and il is believed,
combines  a  greater num-
ber of advantages for a co-
lonial establishment than
any other  situation on the
coast. Elevated, and open
to the sea,  *  *  fertile
most desirable  spots onhnd well  watered, &c
OF THE WHITES.  The people  in those parts
of the State where they most abound  were deter-
mined,—as far  as  they could learn through  the
newspapers  and other "sources,—to get rid of
THE BLACKS.'
  (b) Henry Clay. 10th An. Rep. of the A. C. So.
                      Address of the Board of
                      Managers of the Ameri-
                      can Colonization Society,
                      in 1823.
                       ' Every day 1 bless a-
                      new  that.favoring Provi-
                      dence which  eventnally
                      led your agents to estab-
                      lish  the  .settlement  on
                      Tape Montserado.   Not
                      art hour have I spent here
                      without feeling the refresh-
                      ing and salutary influence
                      of a fresh breeze Jrom  the
                      ocean. The settlement can
                     never be without it.  *  *
                     I will only  say of  the
                     healthiness of Montserado
                     that no situation in West-
                     ern Africa  can be more
                      alubrious.  The sea  air
                     does all that  can be done
                     for it in this climate. One
                     peculiarity is,  lhat   the
                     night air is nearly as pure
                      as any other.  *  *  *  "
                      On Montserado the cause
                      nf sickness is  not marsh
                      miasma, nor  exhalations
                      from the earth,  *  * *
                      but an atmosphere loaded
                      with  oceans  of  vapoi,
                      from the rains.'
                       J.  Ashmun's Letter,
                      Sept. 1822.
  Thus far  the  testimony  of  mere  opinion
and conjecture in the two cases.   What now
is that of actual experience ?  To say noth-
ing of Montserado,  the testimony concern-
ing Cape Palmas, in tho very  next commu-
nication from the same G. R. McGill is as
follows:
  'There had been  no deaths (at the Cape)
though some of the  emigrants  had a slight
touch of the fever, though none serious.  *  *
* *  Dr. Hall  suffers much from his  state of
debility ; he can scarcely get about; he frets
himself much on account of not being able to
attend to business,'' &c.
  This was dated April 9, 1834.
  Fourteen days only, after this,  the Rev.
John Horsey, assistant agent for the Society,
having returned to  Monrovia, writes a letter
for  publication  in  the  Liberia  Herald, in
which he says,
   'Nearly  all the emigrants who came with
us from the United States had been attack-
ed with the fever, but they were all [at the
time he left] recovering,  and some of them
 were entirely restored to health.'  'I regret
 to say,  that  we  lost a valuable individual
 (Dinah Newby) formerly  a resident of this
 place.  Her sufferings, * * * * were excru-
 ciating.'
   Thus much for  the healthiness of Cape
 Palmas.  Scarce two months are passed  after
 the commencement of the settlement, before
 all  the emigrants are ' attacked  with the fe-
 ver,' one individual who had outlived the un-
 healthiness of Monrovia is dead, and the co- 
The Maryland
Scheme  Examined.
17
 lonial agent is 'notable  to  attend  to busi-
 ness,' and can ' scarcely get about'  for very
 weakness!
   But this is to be a strictly temperate colony.
 The site for it was bought without rum, aiid
 every emigrant who goes to the colony is to
 be a temperance emigrant.
   This looks well on  paper, but  to the law
 and  the  testimony—let  us  have  the docu-
 ments and the facts.
   Dr. Hall, in giving an account of  the pur-
 chase of the land, says, 'So much had been
 said to the head men * * * on the subject of
 ardent spirit, that they barely  made the de-
 mand ; and upon a full and fair declaration,
 that my master sent me to buy land without
 rum, they gave it up in a manner that would
 have honored a more christian assembly.  I
 must say, however,  that this was principally
 effected by the lobby members,*before the house
 was opened'!
   Mr. Hersey, in his letter of April 23d, tells
 us how  the  iobby  members  effected this.
 'After a few  moments' deliberation, they
 willingly consented to  receive fifty dollars
 in specie  as an equivalent  for  the  article.'
 And Mr. Brown, in  his examination  at New-
 York, said he was informed by a gentleman,
 who ivas present at the  sale, that  the land
 was bought without rum, but 'that  the fifty
 dollars given to them instead of it, was used
 by the natives in the purchase of rum.'
   To be  sure, Mr. Hersey  adds that a  few
 days afterwards, a British ship came in the
 harbor,  and they were  informed  that  the
 kings had sent their specie on board and ex-
 changed  it for rum; and that,  on inquiry if
 it  were true, one of the  kings  promptly re-
 plied, ' No : We no buy rum—Rum make bad
 palaver.'   Just as if he would confess it, if
 it  were  true !  Such  testimony,  in such a
 case, from natives characterized by  duplicity
 in other cases, amounts to nothing.  Mr. Her-
 sey is very careful not to endorse the king's
 disclaimer.  The truth is, it is perfectly idle
 to pretend that the  money was used for any
 other purpose ; and the other articles, given
 in exchange for the land, prove  it. These
 were, some of them, 4 cases of muskets, 20
 kegs of powder, 2 kegs of flints, 100 cutlass-
 es,^ pair of brass barrelled pistols, 100 trade
 knives, 3 hhds. of tobacco,  50 tumblers, 50
 mugs, 50 bowls, 50  pitchers, 24 stone jugs,
 10 demijohns, 24 decanters, 50 wine glasses.
 What is  all  this but the apparatus complete,
 for drinking and fighting?   And now, with
 the money in  their  hands, given them ex-
 pressly as an equivalent for the rum, is it to
 be supposed, that they did not use it to pro-
 vide  themselves with  something to  put  into
 this horrid array of mugs, and pitchers, and
jugs, and demijohns, and decanters, and wine
 glasses ?  Plainly not.
   But the emigrants—they are all to  be
 temperance  men.   * The constitution, which
                3
every Maryland emigrant has now signed,
unites them all in a Temperance association ;
and the ordinance for their government con-
tains all the enactments that could be devi-
sed,  to  prevent  the  introduction or use of
ardent spirit hereafter.'*
  But there were some, beside the 'Mary-
land emigrants,'  who went to Cape  Palmas.
A number of' volunteers ' went  from  Mon-
rovia:  did they sign the temperance pledge,
and will the ordinance for  government pre-
vent the introduction  or use of spirit  by
them ?  And besides, it being the  express
and avowed object of the Maryland Society
to remove from the state, not only the free,
but ' the whole  of its  colored population,'
how is the society  going to  make them  all
sign the temperance pledge ? Suppose some
of them should refuse,  what is to be done ?
Would ' coercion ' be used ?
  But the natives in the vicinity of the col-
ony are very friendly, and are anxious to re-
ceive instruction—so much so, that the kings
have sent two of their sons 'to the U. States,
to be  educated by  the State Colonization
Society,' and have stipulated for  'the estab-
lishment of a free school, by the  society, in
each, of their chief towns, within  a year from
the date of the treaty.;f  Such a colony, it
is supposed therefore, will do much for Af-
rica, in the way of introducing the light of
civilization and religion into that benighted
land.   It will be a great help to the mission-
ary cause.
   This  certainly deserves  consideration.
What then are the facts ?   Are  the natives
thus friendly ?  Sending their sons to  be ed-
ucated, &c. certainly looks  like it, but is it
so r  They may  desire education for  them-
selves and  children, not because  they are, at
heart, friendly to, or  have confidence  in the
colonists, but merely that they may be able
to cope with them in trade.   Be this as it
may,their friendship is such that 'a fort will
be built'J  by the colonists to  protect  them-
selves.  Mr. McGill also informs  us, in his
letter of April 9th, that 'there is a  number
of them [colonists at Monrovia] intend  going
to Cape Palmas, as soon as they  hear  all is
settled'!  And Mr. Hersey,  fourteen  days
after, says, 'It has been reported here, [Mon-
rovia] that  the natives are hostile, and the
colony is in danger of being cut off.  I think
there is no ground for such a report.   There
have been [in the short spaceof two months]
several collisions  and difficulties between indi-
viduals, but in every instance, the  natives
discovered  a friendly, peaceable  disposition
* * *  Should the parties, however, become
involved in war, I believe it will be owing  to
the imprudence of the colonists.'

  * Address of Board of Managers, April 26, 1834.
  t Address of Board of Managers.
  j: Wilson and Winkoop's  Report. 
18
The Maryland Scheme Examined.
  It would seem, therefore, though the colo-
nists are in fault, as is generally the fact in
such cases, that  there is not, after all,a very
warm friendship  existing between them  and
the natives.
  But admitting  that the fact were otherwise,
it is still a question, whether the existence
of the colony will aid or hinder in  the great
work  of introducing civilization and religion
into that benighted land ?   And  all experi-
ence, I  think, is  decisive on the point, that it
will but hinder.  Dr. Philip found it so in
South Africa.  Our missionaries find it so in
India.  British  christians found it so, when
they undertook  to  operate on  the Society
Islands by planting a colony.  The same was
the result in the case of the Plymouth Colo-
ny, and that  too, although in  the charter,
originally given  by Charles I. it is expressly
said,  that the powers of government, therein
enumerated, are granted, that the colonists
may, by them, '  be so religiously, peaceably
and civilly governed, as their good life and
orderly conversation  may win and incite the
natives of that country to the knowledge and
 obedience of the only true God  and Saviour
 of mankind and the christian faith ; which,
in our royal intention, and the adventurers'
 FREE PROFESSION,  IS  THE PRINCIPAL
 END OF THIS  PLANTATION;' * and
 although this ' free profession' of the adven-
 turers was in some good measure  acted on.
 Similar also has been the result at Monrovia.
 Notwithstanding the flattering  accounts  of
 the friendly feelings of the  natives,  their
 desire for instruction, the happy influence of
 the colony, &c. yet Gov. Pinney assures us,
 that 'Nothing  has been done for the natives,
 by the colonists, except  to educate  a few,
 who  were in their families, in the capacity of
 servants,1 and that the 'same distinction' ex-
 ists there between colonists and natives, 'as
 exists in America between colors.'   Why then
 should Cape Palmas be an exception ?  In-
 deed, facts show that it is not.     /
   It appears that Messrs. Wilson  and Wyn-
 koop, missionaries of the A.B. C. F. M. have
 selected Cape Palmas as the place for the
 establishment of their mission.  In doing so,
 however, they say,
    'We had very serious doubts  as lo the ex-
 pediency  of taking any  measures for the
 immediate erection of the (mission) house in
 the  neighborhood  of the  colony;  first, from
 apprehension that the  colony might  embar-
 rass our future  efforts  for the improvement
 of the natives; and in the second place, we
 had  fears, lest,  in case of any contest between
 the colonists and natives, the latter might be
 tempted to  destroy it, ****** we took all
 the pains we could to impress the mind of the
 king and his people  with  the fact, that the
 mission is to be entirely distinct from the col-
* Aacient Charters, p. 14.
ony, and ivill he identified icith the interest of
the natives'
  These facts  establish the point that noth-
ing is to be expected from colonies in aid of
the missionary work.  It is  all a dream to
expect it.
  But what  shall be done ?  We must get
rid of the colored people in some way.  The
two races never have lived together, enjoy-
ing equal civil and religious privileges.  The
question is settled in Maryland, according to
Mr. B. that they cannot do so there. There
are important physical difficulties in  the way
of it;  and they do not believe that  God, in
making  great  physical  differences among
men, ever intended that they should all mix
up together.
  In respect to  this I will  only say, that
' God  hath  made of one blood all the  fami-
lies of man for fb dwell on all the face of the
earth'—that'he that hateth his brother abid-
eth in death'—and then turn the matter over
into the hands  of an  English reviewer, for
the  double  purpose  of an  answer, and  of
showing  how  our  silly,  wicked  prejudice
against  people of color is  regarded abroad,
and into what  contempt it is bringing our
religion and our free  institutions, in the eye
of the world.
   'The Creator of all has "made of one blood
 all nations  of men to dwell  on  all the face
 of the earth" ;  and he who practically denies
 this, "maketh  God a liar."   How admirably
 does the proud spirit which leads the white
 American to revolt at worshipping  his Ma-
 ker in the same church with his sable fellow
 Christian, harmonize with  the  apostolic ex-
 hortation,  " Let the  same  mind  be in you
 that  was in  Christ  Jesus," who  " is not
 ashamed to call us "—men of every hue, par-
 takers of the  same  flesh and  blood—" his
 brethren " ! Had our Lord himself appeared
 to  the American nation " in the form of a
 servant," with a skin of darker hue than their
 own,  they would have exclaimed with one
 voice,  " Crucify him."
   '  No one who is aware of the intense, the
 almost savage antipathy  which inspires an
 American  towards the colored races, will
 accuse us of exaggeration.
   ' The very sight of a  gentleman  of color,
 whatever his wealth  and intelligence, at the
 same dinner-table, in the same  box  of a the-
 atre,  still more  at the same  altar, would,
 even in this country, throw an American into
 the agitation of suppressed rage.   The well
 authenticated anecdotes  we have heard,  il-
 lustrative of this fact, would be simply amus-
  ing, were it not for the serious consequen-
  ces of this absurd prejudice. When we find
  such a spirit  as this in Christians, we may
  well cease to  wonder at the haughty preju-
  dice of the ancient  Jews  towards the Gen-
  tiles, which led them to resent our Saviour's
I eating with "publicans and sinners," and to 
The Maryland  Scheme Examined.
19
exclaim respecting the apostle of the Gen-
tiles, " Away with this fellow : he is not fit
to live."  The conduct of the Brahmins to-
wards the inferior castes, finds its counter-
part, in  the  nineteenth century, among the
philosophic republicans of America.'
  ' Talk of freedom, of toleration, of justice,
in a  country where a free citizen may be
expelled from his native soil, because of his
complexion !  Why, Russia and its autocrat
appear to advantage in comparison with this
ruthless, irresponsible despotism. And  then,
think of the blasphemy of making the Deity
an accomplice in this cruelty and injustice,
by resolving it into "an ordination of Prov-
idence," a  " law of the God  of nature,"
which defies the utmost power of Christian-
ity—which religion cannot, that is, shall not
subdue !'
  'We  cannot  forbear  to*address a few
words  to those  Christian ministers  in this
country, who cherish, as becomes them, a
brotherly regard for the transatlantic church-
es, and   are apt  to look  with a degree  of
fondness and  partiality to the land of reli-
gious freedom, where Christianity has seem-
ed to put forth of late  so holy an energy.
Far  be it  from us to wish  to check those
feelings, and to sow discord between the two
countries.   But this we  must  say;  that it
becomes the Christians of England to make
their voice heard across the Atlantic on be-
half of their colored brethren ; and that our
ministers are more especially bound to enter
a solemn protest against the anti-Christian
prejudice which the American pastors seem
either  timidly to yield to, or criminally  to
participate.   Nor, speaking  for  ourselves,
and willing to bear all the blame attaching
to the avowal, shall we be disposed to place
much faith in American revivals, or to augur
well for the interests of religion in the Unit-
ed States, so long as American Christianity
shall be found so partial  or so feeble in  its
operation, as to exert no modifying influence
upon this unjust, cruel, and insolent preju-
dice.'*
  But the two races  never  have lived to-
gether on terms of equality.   There is not
an instance of it in all the  history of the
world.   Indeed! The thing never has been,
and therefore it never can  be.  Jews and
Samaritans never have dona so ; therefore,
they never can.  The Brahmin and the  Soo-
dra never have, a3 a body, broken caste, and
therefore they never can.  The gospel has
not power to break down these middle walls
of partition, and made Jew and Gentile, Bar-
barian, Scythian,  bond and free, all  one in
Christ!   I am surprised  and pained at the
unbelief that thus virtually denies the power
of the gospel.
  Such, reader, is the Maryland Scheme.  I

  * Eclectic Review, Feb. 1833.
have endeavored to examine its  character
and claims faithfully and impartially. I have
only to ask,  in conclusion,—Is it worthy of
your approbation or countenance ?
                 NOTE.
  In  further elucidation of this  important
subject, the writer  begs leave to make the
following statement, of what was done by
the Maryland Legislature, touching the ne-
groes, during the session in which the laws
I have quoted were passed.
  January 28, 1832, the following resolution
was passed, and afterwards presented by Mr.
Jenifer to the House of Representatives of
the United States.  [See  No. 124 of Reso-
lutions.]
  'Whereas recent occurrences in this state,
as well as in the other  states of our Union,
have impressed more deeply upon our minds,
the necessity of devising some means by
which we may facilitate the  removal of the
free people  of color,   [not  a word about
slaves,] from our state, and from the United
States ;  and whereas  an appropriation by
Congress for the above object would greatly
relieve the states from  the otherwise heavy
burdens   of taxation  for  that purpose—
Therefore,
  Resolved,  by the General Assembly of Ma-
ryland, That our Senators in  Congress be
instructed, and our Representatives request-
ed to use  their exertions to  obtain such aid
from our national treasury, towards the fur-
therance of the above object, as may be in
accordance   with the  Constitution of the
United States.
  Resolved  further, That should the aid of
the National Government be withheld, un-
der the belief that the power to legislate on
the subject  is not  granted to Congress by
the Constitution, that  then our Senators and
Representatives in Congress, be  requested
to propose such amendment to the Constitu-
tion !   [alas, for the Union !] of the United
States, as will enable  Congress to make
such appropriation.
  Resolved,  That the Governor be requested
to forward a copy of the foregoing pream-
ble  and resolution to  each of our Senators
and Representatives in Congress.
    By order.
         JOS. H. NICHOLSON, Clerk.
  By  the  House of Delegates.
                      January 28,  1832.
  Read the  second  time and assented to.
    By order.
              G. G.  BREWER,  Clerk.'

  So  that the ' free  people of color' must
go at any rate, and if Congress  will help,
very well; if not, we will have the Constitu-
tion changed, &c.  &c.  What  if abolition-
ists attempt, in such serious earnest, 'such 
30
The  Maryland Scheme  Lxununtd.
 amendment to the Constitution,' that Con-
 gress could act for abolition ?
   The  next  thing done  in relation to the
 ' free people  of color,' was  the passage of
 the  law making the £200,000 appropriation,
 the  provisions  of  which  are,  [see  Laws,
 chap. 323]  precisely as stated by me.  This
 passed, March 12,  1832.  The very day that
 this  was  passed,  the same  'benevolent,'
 'magnanimous,' &c. legislature  passed the
 following:—
   ' An act to authorize the executors of the
 last will and testament of William N. Rit-
 chee, deceased, to bring certain slaves,' four
 in number,  from Talahassee, in Florida, into
 the state, to be held and disposed of,  ^ under
 said will, according to  its provisions, in the
 same right and  manner, as if said slaves had
 been born in this state, &c.    *     *    *
 Provided, if the said negroes shall refuse  to
go to Liberia,  they shall be  sold out  of this
stale AS SLAVES  FOR  LIFE'!
   And  to crown the whole, only two days
 after this, viz.: March  14, 1832, this same
Legislature passed  ' An act relating  to free
negroes  and slaves,' the provisions of which,
 [see Laws,  chap. 323]  are precisely as stat-
ed by me.   This legislation speaks  for itself
—it needs  no comment.
      to the citizens of  boston.
  Your attention has been recently  called
to the subject of African colonization anew,
by  the agents of the Maryland State Colon-
ization Society.  It is believed that the real
spirit and character of that enterprise are not
understood.   To  put the public in  posses-
sion  of the  more  important  documents on
the subject, and also to examine some of the
arguments by which  it has recently been
urged on your confidence and co-operation,
has been the object of this pamphlet.   The
task is not a  pleasant one,  to call in ques-
tion and  oppose  a measure  recommended
and urged by men and ministers of the first
respectability and  standing  in  the  church.
Still,  if the measure in question be wrong in
principle, and pernicious in  its  tendencies
and results, then,  the  fact that it is sanction-
ed and urged by such men, is the very rea-
son why it should be  exposed.
  The men sanctify the  measure, and make
it thus the  more  pernicious.  The  present
is believed to be  such a  case.   And there-
fore, though  the writer  can  have ' patience
with the men'—though he can and does re-
spect and esteem them as men  and  as  min-
isters of Christ, he yet can have no patience
' with the principles,' but feels bound to call
them in question.
             [From the Liberator.]
         THE HUNTERS OF MEN.
           BV JOHN G.  WHITT1ER.
Have ye heard of our hunting,  o'er mountain and
      glen,
Through cane-brake and forest,—the hunting of men?
The lords of our land to this hunting have gone,
As the fox-hunter follows the sound of the horn ;
Hark—the cheer and the hallo !—the crack of the
      whip,
And the yell of the hound as he fastens his grip !
All blithe are our hunters, and noble their  match—
Though hundreds are caught, there  are millions lo
      catch :
So speed to their hunting, o'er mountain and glen,
Through cane-brake and forest—the hunting of men!

Gay luck lo our hunters !—how nobly they ride
In the glow of Iheir zeal, and the strength of their
      pride !—
The Priest with his cassock flung back on  the wind,
Just screening the politic Statesman behind—
The saint and the sinner, w-ilh cursing and prayer—
The drunk and ihe sober, ride merrily there.
And woman—kind woman—wife,widow,and maid—
For the good of the hunted—is lending her aid :
Her foot's in the stirrup—her hand on the  rein-
How blithely she rides to the hunting of men !
Oil! goodly and grand is our hunting to see,.
In this ' land of the brave and this home of the free.'
Priest, warrior,  and statesman, from Georgia to
      Maine,
All mounling the saddle—all grasping the  rein—
Right merrily hunting the black  man, whose sin
Is ihe curl of his hair and the hue of his skin!—
Wo, now to the hunted who turns him at bay!—
Will our hunters be turned from their purpose and
      prey ?—
Will their  hearts fail within them 1—their nerves
      tremble, when
All  roughly they ride to the hunting of men 1

Ho—alms for our hunters !—all weary and faint
Wax the curse of the sinner and prayer of the saint!
The horn is wound faintly—the echoes are still
Over cane-brake and river, and  forest and hill.
Haste-ralms for our hunters !—the hunted  once more
Have turned from their flight with their backs to the
      shore :
What right have they here in the home of the white,
Shadowed o'er  by  our banner of Freedom  and
      Right ?.
Ho—alms for our hunters !—or never again
Will they ride in their pomp to the hunting of men !

Alms—alms for our hunters !—why will  ye delay,
When iheir pride and their glory are melting away t
The parson has turned ; for, on  charge of his own,
Who goelh a warfare, or hunting, alone 1
The politic statesman looks back with a sigh—
There is doubt in his heart—there is fear  in his eye.
Oh ! haste—lest that doubting and fear shall prevail,
And the head of his steed lake the place of his tail.
Oh! haste, ere he leave us !—for who will ride then,
For pleasure or gain, to the hunting of men !