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(10) at length be crowned with success; & with as little inconvenience to the parties concerned as is compatible with the great object to be attained. It is not proposed that these people be removed en masse, or at once. That perhaps were neither practicable nor desirable. The principle of the measure we would suggest is this. That with each year, a certain number of young men & women, with their children — the sources of future increase — be carried off; leaving their parents & those without children to live out their time in the land of their birth & early association. Such processes of removal should begin with the 'border states' so called & proceed from the North to South, as it were by Parallels. A navigable stream would best serve as the Southern boundary of this moveable parallel. Thus, taking the Atlantic Coast, the district between the Potomac & the James might first be cleared. Advance then successively to the Roanoke, the Cape Fear, the Santee, the Savannah, the Altamaha. Beyond the Alleghany, the Cumberland, & the Tennessee might serve as such boundaries. In the Trans-Mississippi, nature seems to have pointed out the Missouri, the Big Black, the Arkansas, & the Red River for the same end. As an auxiliary hereto, a selection might annually be made from the subjects near the coast & along the entire Southern Border. The vacancy these occasioned would be filled by others of their race from the districts farther north whose labour in turn would now be substituted by that of the native or immigrant whites. The change of residence would certainly be the better for the negro in that while his labour, if engaged in raising cotton, rice & sugar, is more profitable than when devoted to Tobacco, wheat, or Indian Corn, his personal comfort is promoted by transfer to a country where he is more cheaply housed, clad, & shod; & especially where less fuel is required & where cotton clothing would suffice for winter. And herein, while his comfort & profit would be rendered more compatible with the public convenience, we should but follow the indications of Providence in another respect. The tendency of the dark races of men has ever been towards the Tropics & by proceeding from a northern to a more Southern latitude a temporary sojourn in the latter would serve to acclimate & farther prepare them for the country of their ultimate destination. Concerning what & where this is to be, opinions will differ to some extent. The West India Isles are near our coast & most of them especially the larger ones will bear a much greater population than they now have. If a part of our surplus should find refuge there, & the authorities be willing to receive them, none others should object; and the rather, that our jurisdiction over them & responsibility for their after fortunes, would then cease. So also if the Empire
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Reopened for Editing 2024-01-22 10:33:40
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Reopened for Editing 2024-01-23 18:20:31