University of Virginia Library

7. CHAPTER VII.
A LIBERIAN VISITS AMERICA.

After the first few years of trial, the accounts from
Liberia were so encouraging, that Nathan yielded
to the earnest entreaties of Junius, and emigrated
to Africa with his family. At Mr. Peyton's request,
Junius continued to write to him frequently, and
keep him informed of all that happened of interest
in the community, and more especially in the two
households that had once been members of Mr. Peyton's
family. Hardly a letter came without bringing
some confirmation of the increasing stability
and prosperity of the colonists. Every step they
took was a step upward and onward. He became
convinced that the great problem which had occupied
so much of his thoughts was at last solved,
and that in Africa the African might be allowed to
grow to his full stature—to become a man.

When, in 1847, Liberia proclaimed itself a free
and independent nation, no one welcomed it more

warmly into its new rank as a republic than did
Mr. Peyton. Not long after this important event,
he passed a few weeks in Philadelphia. He had
heard nothing of Ben or Clara for two or three years,
and had supposed them prosperously employed all
that time.

He was troubled at the condition in which he
found them, though it was so superior to the one
from which Mr. Lyndsay had rescued them. Wishing
to excite in them a desire to share the privileges
which Nathan was enjoying, he sent them
the letters he had received from Junius, most of
which were filled with accounts of the happiness
and comfort in which his father's family were living.

He succeeded so far as to awaken an interest in
them as to all the concerns of Liberia, but he could
not arouse in Ben enough energy to induce him to
leave even the poor home which was all he could
hope to call his own in America.

The influence of Americus was a great obstacle
to Mr. Peyton's wishes. He had returned from
France quite a finished gentleman in manners and
appearance, and with his ideas of his own consequence
greatly exalted, and he scouted at the
thought of leaving “the comforts of civilized life,”
to use his own words, “to live in cabins and fight
with savages. The United States was his native
land; he had as much right to all the advantages

he could derive from living in it as any other of its
citizens; and he was not going basely to give up
his rights, but rather to nail his flag to the mast
and demand them. There was a better time coming;
the hour would surely arrive, however long
delayed it might be, when the distinctions of white
and black would be unknown, and man would be
estimated by his own intrinsic worth.”

Speeches like these had a great effect on Ben.
Clara, like most women, looking to the immediate
and practical, rather than far into the dim future,
asked what good that time would do to them, if,
as Americus observed, “generations must pass away
before that state of things could be looked for.”

“While you are talking about it, and waiting
for it here,” said she, “Nathan and Polydore are
helping it forward in Africa; for in Liberia whites
and blacks do meet in terms of equality, or, rather,
the colored people are the most important persons
there, and that is the only Christian place I ever
heard of where that is the case.”

Americus had heard of several others, but he
seemed willing to make a trial of none of them.
“He was determined,” he said, “to live and die in
America, and no colonizationist should force him to
leave it.”

“I am sure you are welcome to stay here if you
like,” said Clara; “the white folks are too glad to

have somebody they can order about and make do
their hard work, to compel us to leave; but for my
part, I would like to go where I can be as good as
any body else. I know Nathan and Keziah very
well. They have too much sense not to know
whether it is better for them to be there than here,
and they wouldn't speak so well of it if they did not
like it.”

“Have you never heard of the fox that lost his
tail in the trap, and tried to persuade his companions
to cut off theirs too?” asked Americus.

“Yes,” said Clara; “but I've knowed Nathan
more than thirty years, and I never knowed him
to tell a lie in all my life, and it isn't likely that he
would begin now.”

Ben confirmed Clara's assertion, and Americus
himself was too well aware of its truth to deny it.

While this conversation was going on in Clara's
room, Mr. Peyton was sitting with his wife in a
private parlor of one of the principal hotels in Philadelphia,
reading partly to himself, and occasionally
aloud to her, such passages from different periodicals
that were lying on the table around him as particularly
struck him. From one of the foreign reviews
he read the following:

“What a wonderful continent is this rounded,
smooth-shored Africa, known from the earliest dawn
of time, yet so unknown; the granary of nations,

yet sterile and fruitless as the sea; swarming with
life, yet dazzling the eyes with its vast tract of glittering
sand! North America, first seen but the
other day, has been probed from end to end; its
Philips, Tecumsehs, and Montezumas have been
bridled and broken by the white man; but Africa
has seen no Cortez, or even a De Soto or La Salle,
“wringing favor from fate.” Some solitary Mungo
Park, or faithful Lander, or persevering Burekhardt,
alone has tried to read the secret of the mother of
civilization—the gray-haired Africa.

“If we seek a land of romance and mystery,
what quarter of the globe compares with that which
holds the Pyramids; the giant Theban temples, under
one roof of which clusters a modern village; the
solemn, hewn mountain cliff of a Sphinx; the ruins
of Carthage; the Nile, with its hidden sources; the
Niger, with its unknown outlet; the heaven-bearing
Atlas; the dimly-seen Mountains of the Moon!

“There the slave rose, romantically, to be the
ruler of millions; there Moses, floating in his cradle,
is saved by the king's daughter, and like the hero
of some earlier chivalry, breaks the bonds of his
people and founds a new and mighty nation. There
was the home of Dido, of Hannibal, the scene of
Scipio's triumphs, and Jugurtha's crimes; there
lived Tertullian, Athanasius, and Augustine: the
last breath of Louis of France was drawn there.

“Africa is the home of the leviathan, the behemoth,
the unicorn, the giraffe, the antelope, the elephant,
the lion, the buffalo. It is the home, too, of
the mysterious negro races yet lying dormant in
the germ, destined, perhaps, to rule this earth when
our proud Anglo-Saxon blood is as corrupt as that
of the descendants of Homer or Pericles.

“The past, present, and future of Africa are
alike wrapt in mystery. Who can tell us of the
childhood of dark-browed Egypt, square-shouldered
and energetic? Carthage, the England of the old
world's rulers, has not even a romancing Livy, still
less an unwearied Niebuhr, to explain her rise and
untangle the mysteries of her constitution. Of all
the vast interior, what do we know more than the
Punic merchants, who, like us, dealt there, taking
slaves, ivory, and gold?

“And what can we hope hereafter to see in those
immense, unknown lands? God has enabled the
European to drive out the North American, and
given a great continent the full development and
trial of whatever permanent power the Caucasian
race possesses; but Africa he has preserved—for
what? For future contest? For an imported foreign
civilization, to be entered through Liberia and
the Cape Colonies? France and Britain are watching
each other now along those burning sands, as
they once watched by the icy rocks of Canada and

Acadia: is it to end in the same subjection of the
aboriginal owners to one or both of these? Or does
the dark race, in all its varieties, possess a capacity
for understanding and living out the deep laws of
the world's ruler, Christianity, as the offspring of
the followers of Odin never did, and never can, understand
and act it?

“If the old Egyptian Sesostris had paused to
contemplate the illiterate wanderers of Greece, to
whom Cadmus was just striving to make known
the letters of Phœnicia, would not Plato and Aristotle
have seemed as impossible to him as the existence
in Africa of a higher Christianity than has yet
been seen seems to us? Would not the present
position of the Teutonic race have appeared equally
incredible to the founder of the Parthenon, the
loungers in the gardens of the Academy?”

Here he was interrupted by the entrance of a lady
who came to call upon his wife. She was a Mrs.
Vaughan, who belonged to the Society of Friends,
as was easy to see by the grave simplicity of her
dress, which accorded so well with the calm, unworldly
expression of her face, that the impression
of its oddity was lost in its suitability.

“I have called to see thee,” said she, after the
usual words of greeting had passed, “to tell thee of
a very interesting visit I have been making this
morning. Thee knows that Joseph Roberts, the

President of Liberia, is here on business connected
with his adopted country. I heard a little while
ago that his wife was with him, and I have been
to see her. She is a pretty, intelligent young woman.
I was very much pleased with her indeed. I
knew that thee was interested in all that concerns
that country, and as I had an opportunity to ask a
great deal about it, I thought that thee might like
to hear what she said.”

“Is Mr. Johnson a white man?” asked Virginia.

“Oh no, my dear,” replied Mr. Peyton; “he is
the President of the Republic of Liberia, and no
white person is allowed to hold any political office
whatever there. He was once a slave in Virginia,
but was emancipated and sent to Liberia when he
was quite a lad. He has raised himself by his own
exertions to the station he now occupies, after having
filled with credit and honor the important position
of general of the forces of Liberia, at a time
when they were engaged in a serious contest with
one of the most powerful of the neighboring tribes.
The quarrel was occasioned by a demand for slaves,
and this tribe, which had long carried on their commerce
with the Europeans almost exclusively by
means of the slaves they obtained in their forays,
attacked Millsberg and Hedington within a short
time, in order to get possession of several of the natives
who had taken refuge under the protection of

Liberia. Do you not remember, my dear, the account
I read to you from one of the letters I received
from Junius, of the attack on the latter place
by three or four hundred savages, and of the brave
defense the inhabitants made, though so taken by
surprise. At last, Zion Harris, a citizen of Liberia,
who emigrated from Tennessee, put the whole band
to rout by a fortunate shot, which struck down their
head man. They rallied, and by another shot he
killed the second chief. This made them hesitate
for a moment, and, taking advantage or the pause,
Harris blew a large bugle. Supposing this to be
the signal of a re-enforcement approaching, the savages
fled in all directions.”

“Yes,” replied Virginia, “I do remember it. It
was on that occasion, I believe, that the barbarians
brought a kettle to cook the missionary in.”

“They were sure of victory,” said Mr. Peyton,
“and were amazed at being defeated by such a
handful. They thought the settlers had greegrees
or charms to protect them. Fortunately, Buchanan
was then Governor of Liberia, a man of great ability
and energy; and he determined `to settle the
matter at once and forever,' as he said. Therefore
he, with General Roberts, the same man who is
now President of Liberia, went with three hundred
men twenty-five miles into the interior, to attack
the tribe in their own fortress. He gained so complete

a victory, that the settlers have not since been
distrubed by the natives. On the contrary, most
of the kings around them, and some who live far
in the interior, have sent to beg an alliance with
the Liberians. I have been glad to see that one
stipulation which has always been made before
receiving them as allies is, that they should never
be in any way engaged in the slave-trade.”

“Does it not seem a pity to thee,” asked Mrs.
Vaughan, “that this bloodshed could not have been
avoided—that the Liberians did not make a treaty
with the natives, as Penn did with the Indians?”

“Under the circumstances, that was impossible,”
replied Mr. Peyton. “There were no slave-traders
in Pennsylvania to excite the natives to war by
telling them that their commerce was about to be
destroyed by the unwelcome intruders. If the
selfish passions of the Indians had been awakened
by interested and designing men, there might have
been a very different account to give of Penn's
colony.”

“I would like to have seen it fairly tried,” said
Mrs. Vaughan.

“It was tried more than ten years ago,” replied Mr.
Peyton. “Quite a large number of emigrants went
out under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Young
Men's Colonization Society, and established themselves
at Bassa Cove, a beautiful and fertile spot on

the St. John's River. They named the settlement
Port Cresson, in honor of Mr. Elliott Cresson, who,
you know, has been such an efficient and liberal
patron of this enterprise. In fact, he was the
founder of the society which sent out these emigrants.
They bound themselves before they left to
refrain from ardent spirits and the arts of war, and
to act as missionaries as far as they could. A letter I
received from Liberia, a few months after they landed,
was filled with accounts of the satisfaction of the
settlers with their new home. One of the pleasantest
and finest portions of Liberia had been selected
for them, and they were improving it very fast.
There were but two guns in the whole colony, but
yet, trusting in the influence of their Christian principles,
they did not feel the least alarm, although
they were surrounded by savages. They were told
several times of what might be the consequence of
their defenseless situation; but they paid no heed
to the warnings, and therefore were taken completely
by surprise when one evening the savages
rushed upon them from the thickets around, killed
several, and compelled the rest to take refuge in
the swamps and woods. Only two houses were
left unmolested, and they belonged to the two settlers
who had provided themselves with fire-arms.”

“Perhaps the colonists had not treated the natives
kindly,” suggested Mrs. Vaughan.

“No; the savages had no cause of complaint
against the settlers, except that they had established
themselves on land which had been bought for that
purpose. It seems that there was a barracoon much
used by the slave-traders quite near Port Cresson,
and when they discovered that there was to be a
Liberian settlement at the Cove, they told the king
of that part of the country that they could not think
of buying slaves so near to the Americans, and should
remove their factory immediately. This aroused
the king's cupidity, and he promised to drive the
emigrants away.”

“Did he succeed?” asked Mrs. Vaughan.

“He did, at first; and was so pleased with his
good fortune, that he refused to listen to the messengers
the Liberians sent to him, and was preparing
for an attack on some of the other towns, when
they marched a force against him, which completely
destroyed his towns and defenses, and returned
without the loss of a single man. After
that, finding that the Liberians were not the weak,
defenseless people he thought them, he became
their firm friend and ally, and entreated the settlers
to return to Port Cresson, offering to repay them as
far as he could for all the injury he had done them,
and promising them any part of his country to settle
in, if they would only give him `God's book and
'Merica trade' again.”

“I hope the settlers accepted his offer,” said
Mrs. Vaughan.

“Yes, they did. But their new settlement was
made about two miles above its former location,
and is now called Bassa Cove. There are, however,
a few houses still at Port Cresson, and I have no
doubt but that it will be a flourishing town before
many years. You see I am well informed concerning
Liberian affairs,” continued Mr. Peyton, smiling.
“There are few subjects in which I take so
great an interest.”

A note was just then handed to him. After
reading it, he turned to Mrs. Vaughan, saying,
“This is from your brother-in-law, Mr. Elias
Vaughan. He says that several gentlemen are to
spend the evening with him to meet Governor
Roberts, and to learn from him more particularly
the condition of Liberia. He is kind enough to ask
me to join them, and I shall be very glad to have
an opportunity to talk with a responsible person
from that country. We can learn a great deal more
about the real state of affairs in that way than in
any other.”

Mr. Peyton was detained by some visitors, and
it was quite late in the evening before he reached
Mr. Vaughan's. When he entered the room, the
guests were conversing in little groups around it,
while Mr. Roberts was standing by himself. As

each person entered, the host had introduced them
to the President of Liberia; but after speaking a
few words to him, so intolerable a feeling of awkwardness
and constraint stole over them at the
unusual position in which they found themselves
thus placed toward a colored man, that each, unwilling
to make himself conspicuous by any long
conversation with him, turned to those with whom
they felt themselves on common ground. Mr.
Vaughan did all that he could to prevent Mr.
Roberts from perceiving any want of courtesy,
but he was too much occupied by receiving his
guests to allow him to devote much of his time to
him.

Mr. Peyton perceived the state of things at a
glance, and could hardly repress a smile at the
inconsistency between the principles and conduct
of the assembly. There was not a gentleman
present who did not profess to be an ardent friend
to the colored race. Many of them supported
vehemently the most liberal and ultra views with
regard to their rights and capabilities. Yet here
was one whose appearance and manners showed
him to be a gentleman—a man of tried bravery,
fidelity, and uprightness—intelligent, unassuming,
and self-possessed—whom they had assembled for
the purpose of meeting; and each one of them was
trying to appear unconscious of his presence. Yet

uneasy glances were cast toward him from time to
time, that showed that it was not the desire to be
courteous that was wanting, but a “decent respect
for the opinions” of others. There is something in
the human race that has a striking similarity to
the docility of the sheep. Any lead taken with
confidence will be sure to find followers. And the
innate dignity, the lofty presence, and perfect good-breeding
of Mr. Peyton well fitted him for a leader.
People felt instinctively that, following him, they
could not go wrong.

He had come for the express purpose of meeting
and talking with Mr. Roberts, and was soon engaged
in an animated conversation with him. This could
not fail to be an interesting one, both from the nature
of the subject discussed, and from the clear, straightforward,
and satisfactory manner in which Mr.
Roberts gave this account. Soon, one by one the
guests drew near to listen, until at last Mr. Peyton
and his companion found themselves the centre of
an audience composed of all the persons in the
room; while Mr. Roberts, apparently as unconscious
of the marked attention now paid him as of the
neglect he had experienced a short time before,
went on quietly but earnestly explaining the condition,
the wishes, and the claims of Liberia.

His inaugural address, when he entered upon his
duties as the first president of the little republic,

had impressed Mr. Peyton very favorably, and this
interview elevated him still higher in his opinion.
The clear good sense, the calm judgment, and the
piety that appeared in all that he said, could not
fail to inspire confidence in his listeners.

Mr. Peyton returned to his wife with renewed
zeal in favor of colonization.

“Besides the advantages it offers to the colored
race,” said he, “and if Mr. Roberts is a fair specimen
of a Liberian, they are well worth all that has
been done for it, its efficiency in suppressing the
slave-trade ought alone to induce us to support it.
We have spent millions of dollars in maintaining
fleets there, yet they have done but little for us
in comparison with Liberia. Nearly five hundred
miles on the western coast are now entirely free
from that curse; and I hope and confidently expect
that the time will come when from that little spot
the laws and principles will go forth that will control
all Africa.”

“I wish we could induce Ben to go,” said Mrs.
Peyton. “Americus is so well adapted to his position,
that it would be a pity to persuade him to
leave it; but I think if Ben could only get his ambition
aroused once more, he would make a valuable
citizen of that new country.”

“I have spoken to Mr. Lyndsay about it,” replied
Mr. Peyton, “and he has promised me that he will

not lose sight of them, and will do all that he can to
excite in Ben a desire to emigrate. I think he will
succeed. I am sure if Ben had seen Mr. Roberts
last night, he would have been convinced that he
could become something more than `a nigger,' as
he calls himself.”

Mr. Peyton was disappointed that President Roberts
was obliged to leave the United States without
having obtained a formal recognition of the independence
of his adopted country. Great Britain
and France were more ready to welcome the nation
that had thus sprung into existence than its own
foster-mother; and in both these countries the president
was received with the honor befitting his rank.

The following extracts from a letter from him will
show, more forcibly than any account can do, how
little effect the color has, when the position and
character is such as to inspire respect. Mr. Lyndsay
sent it to Americus, asking him how many generations
he supposed must pass away before a colored
man from the United States would be so received
by the governments of Europe.

Some months before the date of this letter, Ben
had decided, to Clara's great joy, on seeking the
land where so many advantages awaited him. A
letter he received from Junius, written at Mr. Peyton's
request, and giving a plain statement of his
father's situation, his own feelings and opinions
about Liberia, and ending with a cordial invitation
from both Nathan and Polydore, for Ben and Clara
to make them a visit, and decide, after seeing the
country, whether to return or remain, was the circumstance
that had the greatest effect in bringing
about this decision. Americus exerted all his influence
against it; but when he found that it was
unavailing, he generously offered to supply them
with the means of returning whenever they wished
to come.

“I care more just now,” said Ben, “about getting
the money to take me there. I have not ten
dollars in the world.”

“The Colonization Society will send us at its
own expense,” said Clara.

“But what shall we do after we arrive? I suppose
we must expect to go through the acclimating
fever, and of course we can be earning nothing
then.”

“The society will provide a house for us, and
food, and medical attendance for the first six months,
if we need help so long,” replied Clara.

“I would rather have something of my own to
depend upon,” said Ben; “how long do you suppose
it will take us to save two hundred dollars. I
would not like to start with less.”

“If you had as good a place,” said Clara, “as
you had when we first came here, we could do it
without much trouble, but as it is, I don't see how
we can lay by any thing.”

“Let us try,” said Ben, “we may find it easier
than it seems.”

Mr. Lyndsay knew the motive that had awakened
Ben's long dormant energy, and encouraged
him in his new course. After nearly a year had
passed in constant efforts toward the attainment of
his purpose, Ben confessed to Mr. Lyndsay that he
was almost discouraged. Several things had been
very much against him. One of his children had
been ill, and his wife had been out of work part of
the time. “He was afraid,” he said, “he must be
contented to live here all his life, making only
enough to keep his family from suffering.”

“When Mr. Peyton returned to Virginia,” said
Mr. Lyndsay, “he told me that whenever you
wished to go to Liberia, I might obtain the needful
funds from him. But, in accordance with his wishes,
I did not tell you of this until I had seen that
you were so far in earnest in your intention that
you were willing to practice exertion and self-denial
in order to obtain it.”

This was cheering news to Ben, and he with his
wife and children were soon prepared to take advantage
of Mr. Peyton's liberality.

“Mr. Peyton has sent through me three hundred
dollars;” said Mr. Lyndsay to them the day before
they sailed, “sixty dollars is considered a fair average
by the society for the expenses of the voyage,
and of the first six months in Liberia; so, as there
are but four of you, there is more than you really
need; but take good care of it, you will find it
useful.”

Ben promised to act with the greatest prudence,
and, with hearts full of hope, the family embarked
for their new home.