We form a portion of the people of this continent, on whom an immeasurable amount of obloquy, and scorn, and contempt have been poured, on account of the depravity of our morals, the ignorance of our minds, and the degradation of our character. We have been represented as being too worthless to be elevated, and too indolent to be instructed. It has been said that we are a race of men standing as a connecting link between men and brutes, and that we are so debased as to be incapable of receiving and profiting by instruction.

We have selected four valuable subjects for rallying points, viz.: Education, Temperance, Economy, and Universal Liberty. And we have adopted as our motto, 'Reform, not Revolution—Moral not Political.'

We rejoice that it is our lot to be the inhabitants of a country blest by nature, with a genial climate and fruitful soil, and where the liberty of speech and the press is protected by law. We rejoice that we are members of a community in which the friends of freedom and equal rights are daily increasing, and in which the moral and intellectual improvement of our people is promoted by the establishment of schools and the dissemination of useful knowledge.