In some localities the
superabundant free negro population has already become a burden,
while in others they are under severe restrictions, which amount
almost to an exclusion from the limits of the state.
"Should this exodus from Canada continue to any great extent, it
would throw such a burden upon those states which have adopted the
most liberal policy towards the negro, that it would occasion a
reaction in the public sentiment which would compel them to abandon
their abolition doctrine and practice, for their own
self-protection. We should then hear of fewer attempts to abduct
slaves from the slave-holding states; and abolitionists would be
content to allow slaves to remain under the care and protection of
their masters. Even though at heart sympathizing with the oppressed
and task-worn negro, and yearning towards him with all the love of
the professed philanthropist, he would still be permitted to toil
and bleed; for now that the route to Canada has been closed, there
is no alternative but to take them to their own bosoms."
Compare with this the condition of the free blacks in South Carolina.
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