A problem: America in Africa; its solution in part. Remarkable series of events leading to the formation of the Colonization Society. Extraordinary concurrence of politicians of all parties and christians of all creeds. Apparent instances of Providential intervention. Injudicious defences of Slavery: the true ground upon which to rest our peculiar institution. The Colonization Society a true exponent of public sentiment, and a response to repeated demands of the General Assembly. Colonization and Abolition antagonistic: Colonization a safety-valve to the ship of State; Abolition the bursting of the boiler. Colonization stamped with the broad seal of the Commonwealth by ten General Assemblies in the course of fifty years; and sustained by the authori ty of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Marshall, and nearly all the governors of the State, and by a greater number of eminent Virginians than ever concurred in favor of any other measure of State policy.

In the year 1607 three English ships were driven by stress of weather into the capes of Virginia; and, having ascended the James River, effected the first permanent settlement of the white race upon the North American continent. In the year 1620, a Dutch man-of-war ascended the same river, and landed at the same

place twenty African slaves. And now for the first time, the white man, the black man, and the red man stood face to face, and gazed upon each other in the New World.

From that moment these three races started upon a new career, which is now in the process of development before our eyes, and which is destined, in our humble judgment, to fulfil upon a large scale that remarkable prophecy uttered thousands of years before by the Patriarch Noah, when, standing upon the mount of inspiration, and looking down the course of future time, he proclaimed: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant."

The contemplation of the career upon which these three races started at that eventful moment will teach us some interthe white man, the type of Christian civesting and instructive lessons. There was ilization. He began immediately to increase in the most rapid and wonderful

manner. In a very few years, he pene

trated every river that opened its mouth into the Atlantic Ocean; he ascended every hill, passed every mountain, poured along the valleys, and spread over the continent. But not only has he subdued the wilderness, and made those vast solitudes, hitherto unbroken save by the warwhoop of the Indian and the scream of the eagle, vocal with the hum of industry

and the songs of christian praise; but he has accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of the world; and laid the foundation of governments which have no model upon the face of the globe. The kings of the old world are looking with awe and disquietude upon this "new Rome rising in the West; the foreshadows of whose greatness yet to be are extending darkly and heavily over their dominions, and obscuring the lustre of their thrones."

Where are the other parties to this interesting meeting? The red man has retired before the rising tide of white population; receding from the Blue Ridge to the Alleghany, from the Alleghany to the Mississippi; and disappearing from each in quick succession, like snow before the sun. He may linger for a few years on our western horizon, but is destined ere long to make his "ocean grave with the setting sun." His history is an instructive instance of the effect of leaving an inferior in contact with a superior race, and in the enjoyment of its own wild liberty. Had the African been left like the Indian, in his native freedom, his would have been the fate of the Indian.* But in the mysterious Providence of God, the African was "bound to the car of the Anglo-American," who has borne him along with him in his upward career, protecting his weakness and providing for his wants. Accordingly, he has grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength, until he is numbered by millions instead of scores; and if the accession by immigration had not been arrested, the black might have surpassed the white population. In the meantime, the black man has been trained in the habits, manners and arts of civilized life, been taught the christian religion, and been gradually rising in the intellectual and moral order, until he is far above his race in their native seats. In these facts we see traces of the designs of an allwise Providence, in permitting the black man to be brought here and subjected to

the discipline of slavery tempered by christianity, and regulated by law. Verily, if there had been no other end of such a procedure, this "seeming sharp Providence of God would have been highly justified." But as we proceed, we shall see new and more beautiful instances of design as the history of the race is evolved under the Providence of God.

No sooner had we taken our place as an independent power among the nations, and begun to legislate for ourselves, than a new phenomenon attracted the attention of our legislators; viz: the class of free colored people. The thirteen colonies which adopted the Declaration of Independence were slaveholders: When these colonies became States, they reserved their sovereign power over the question of slavery. In the exercise of that sovereignty, seven of the original thirteen in process of time emancipated their slaves. Many individuals in the Southern States emancipated a still larger number. This anomalous class soon attracted the public attention. Mr. Jefferson prepared a comprehensive plan of colonization in 1776; but nothing definite was done, probably because when the report of the committee of revision was acted upon, Jefferson, its chairman, was in France, and Pendleton and Wythe, two of its members, were on the bench. In after years, the subject was repeatedly discussed in the legislature, and became a matter of grave consultation and correspondence between the President of the United States (Jefferson) and Page and Monroe, governors of Virginia. The General Assembly, in 1800, 1802 and 1805, passed resolutions upon the subject; and opinions were interchanged between the President of the United States, the governors of Virginia, and the General Assembly, as to the comparative advantages of our South-western frontier, of the West Indies, and of Africa, as a site for the proposed Asylum for free negroes. Our difficulties with foreign powers now supervened, and arrested these interest