" And the arrangement pleased
the young radical, for it enabled him to free his soul of the necessity
which was then sitting heavily upon it. The precise state of his mind in
respect of the question at this juncture in its history and in his own
is made plain enough in his salutatory address in _The Genius of
Universal Emancipation_. The vow made in Bennington ten months before to
devote his life to philanthrophy, and the dedication of himself made six
months afterward to the extirpation of American slavery, he solemnly
renews and reseals in Baltimore. He does not hate intemperance and war
less, but slavery more, and those, therefore, he formally relegates
thenceforth to a place of secondary importance in the endeavors of the
future. It is obvious that the colonization scheme has no strong hold
upon his intelligence. He does not conceal his respect for it as an
instrument of freedom, but he puts no high value on its utility. "It may
pluck a few leaves," he remarks, "from the Bohon Upas, but can neither
extract its roots nor destroy its withering properties. Viewed as an
auxiliary, it deserves encouragement; but as a remedy it is altogether
inadequate." But this was not all. As a remedy, colonization was not
only altogether inadequate, its influence was indirectly pernicious, in
that it lulled the popular mind into "a belief that the monster has
received his mortal wound.
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