philanthropic abolitionists experienced was the want of a suitable refuge for such slaves as they might be enabled to liberate.  The legislature of Virginia, which contains nearly one-third of the black population of the Union, pledged itself to release all its slaves, if Congress would undertake to provide an adequate asylum for them.  President Jefferson negotiated in vain for a territory in Africa, and the Brazils.  The legislature of Virginia again renewed its pledge, and as much of the bigotry of former times had now been obliterated by the diffusion of enlightened principles, the renewal of the proposition was followed by the best results.  General Mercer, familiarly designated as the Wilberforce of America, opened a correspondence with the principal advocates of emancipation, which ultimately produced the formation of the American Colonization Society, on the first of January, 1817.  The labours of the Society were greatly facilitated by the laws of the Union, which left to each State the uncontrolled power of legislating for itself on the subject of slavery.  The members of the Society had therefore merely to address themselves to the humanity and understanding of the slaveowners, in order finally to attain their purpose.  The progress of moral truth, however slow, is always certain, and the issue of those proceedings has been such as the excellence of their object might have led us to anticipate.  Several of the States have already signified their willingness to forego all the pernicious advantages of slavery.  And the number of slaves offered gratuitously by owners in different parts of America, vastly exceed the present means of the Society to provide for them in Africa.  The legislature of Maryland appreciate so highly the utility and importance of the settlement of Liberia, that they have voted in the first instance a considerable sum, to be appropriated annually to its support, and have subsequently, within the last six months, voted two hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of assisting in the formation of another settlement on the same principles.

It is, therefore, sufficiently evident, that what is now required to complete the united objects of manumission and colonization, is, not so much the consent of the slave-owners, as the power of carrying the design into operation.  Mr. Elliot Cresson, of Philadelphia, an active and enthusiastic supporter of the cause, visited England in 1832, for the purpose of drawing attention to the subject, and of appealing to the well-known generosity of a country that has uniformly taken the lead in advancing the interests of civilization.  A Society was formed, under the patronage of H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, with the view of extending colonization in Africa, on the same system which has proved so successful in the case of Liberia.  The subject, unfortunately, did not excite the attention which might have been anticipated, partly, I fear, because it was ill-timed, and was considered by the