"_R. S. Finlay_, Esq., at a late anniversary says,--
"I know that much pains have been taken to _calumniate_ our brethren of the south, by representing them to be the advocates of perpetual despotism. From an _extensive and familiar acquaintance_ with their views and sentiments, formed upon actual observation, I know this not to be the fact. I have publicly discussed this subject _everywhere in the southern states_, from the eastern shore of _Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico_, in the presence of hundreds of slaves at a time, and with the general approbation of the audience to which my addresses were delivered,--and have uniformly represented it as affording the best and only safe means of _gradually_ and _entirely abolishing slavery_. Indeed, so well is the moral influence of the operations of this society understood in the extreme south, that all _the advocates of perpetual slavery are bitterly opposed to it_, and _none are its advocates, but the friends of gradual, peaceful, and ultimate entire emancipation_!" 16th _Report_.
"In a letter, dated Nov. 4, 1831, Mr. Clarkson says,
"For myself, I freely confess, that of all the things which have occurred in our favour since the year 1787, when the abolition of the slave trade was first seriously proposed, that which is now going on in the United States, under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, is most important. It surpasses anything which has yet occurred. _No sooner had the colony been founded at Cape Montserado, than there appeared a disposition among the owners of slaves in the United States to give them freedom voluntarily, without one farthing of compensation, and to allow them to be sent to the land of their ancestors._ This is to me truly astonishing! a total change of heart in the planters, _so that many thousands of slaves may be redeemed without any cost of their redemption_! Can this almost universal feeling have taken place without the intervention of the Spirit of God!"
"_Within one year it is said that more than 2000 slaves have been offered the Colonization Society from five different States, with the desire expressed on the part of both master and slave, for a passage to Liberia. As Colonization gains ground, the freedom of untold thousands, it is to be hoped, will be secured, and Africa gladdened yet more and more with the light of civilization and christianity._"