5806. NEGROES, Colonization.—[further continued].
You ask my opinion on
the proposition of Mrs. Mifflin, to take measures
for procuring, on the coast of Africa, an establishment
to which the people of color of these
States might, from time to time, be colonized,
under the auspices of different governments.
Having long ago made up my mind on this subject,
I have no hesitation in saying that I have
ever thought it the most desirable measure
which could be adopted, for gradually drawing
off this part of our population, most advantageously
for themselves as well as for us. Going
from a country possessing all the useful arts,
they might be the means of transplanting them
among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus
carry back to the country of their origin, the
seeds of civilization which might render their
sojournment and sufferings here a blessing in
the end to that country.—
To John Lynch. Washington ed. v, 563.
Ford ed., ix, 303.
(M.
1811)
