Page:An address to the free people of color of the state of Maryland.djvu/6



race—and will it not dwarf the mind, break down the spirit, and brutalise all the instincts of their natures? What course then is left you but to flee from the unequal contest? Go where you can become men—free-men—, in the largest sense of the word.

In all this world, but one spot offers, what you would desire. No where else, but in, does the man of color live under a free Government of his own organization and administration. Go where else you will, and um but partially relieve yourself from the disabilities under which you now labor. In the free States of the North, you meet a stronger prejudice against your color then here, and in many places with a legislation depriving you of many kinds of labor, at present open to you. In Canada, you find it nearly the same, and actually the same, you must, sooner or later, expect from the same people—the Anglo-Saxon race. You cannot compete with the white man in the cold climate of the North. Remove every restraint, legal and social, and the superior energy of the European will ever surpass your best efforts, and confine you to the most menial employments. South, on this Continent, you cannot enjoy even the lower life granted you in your native State. You are prohibited by laws the most stringent, from even entering a more Southern State. The West Indies offer you a more desirable home than can be found this side the Atlantic; but in all, save Haiti, the Government is colonial, and the white man the land holder and superior in power. The Haitian Government is an absolute Monarchy, a Military Despotism; the French language only is spoken; the people debased and licentious, with whom you could and ought not to assimilate.

Africa is your fatherland, in which, through aid of a munificent philanthropy, your brethren from this and other states have founded the free and independent Government of Liberia—the merit of which, as a home for yourselves and your children, for all coming time, I propose now to examine. And let me assure you in the outset, that I will endeavor to divest myself of all bias or prejudice, in regard to this country or its people, feeling deeply the responsibility resting upon me, even should I be instrumental in inducing but one person to emigrate. In what I have said in regard to your condition here, you all know I have adhered strictly to the truth: what I propose to say of Liberia, I solemnly pledge myself, shall be no less true and impartial. I shall speak carefully and advisedly and only from personal knowledge. I shall neither fortify my statement by the testimony of others, although abundant, of the most respectable character, is at hand, nor shall I go out of the way to answer objections and false reports, whether trivial or of an aggravated character.

—The earth is divided into three parts, each having a peculiar climate, which, for our present purpose, I will designate as the cold, the temperate and the tropical. In the cold regions, winter prevails almost the entire year; there is little grass, no grains, few vegetables and no wood or forests. The people live principally on meat and fish, of which they have but little variety. They are generally very ignorant and barbarous, and few in number. In