 | Liberia ; or, Mr. Peyton's experiments |  |
APPENDIX.
We have subjoined in this Appendix documents for the most
part written by colored persons from and about Liberia, showing
the estimation in which that country is held by those who have
the best opportunity of judging concerning it. Only a few letters
are inserted, not for any want of materials, for enough could be
obtained to fill a volume, but because the main object was to
show that the statements in the preceding work have not been
exaggerated. Most of the writers are well-known inhabitants
of Liberia, whose names are sufficient guarantees for the fidelity
of their assertions.
The American Colonization Society, commenced amid distressing
discouragements, now occupies a commanding position, having
branches or co-operating societies in nearly every state and
territory in the Union. A few years will see the national government
engaged in this great work of colonizing the free colored
people in Liberia.
BEVERLY R. WILSON.
Mr. Wilson is an emigrant from Norfolk, Virginia. He was a
freeman, and exercised the office of a clergyman, while he supported
himself by his trade as a carpenter. In 1837, he went to
Liberia for the purpose of examining the colony. On his return,
he made an Address to the Free People of Color in the United
States. In it he says:
“After more than a year's residence in Liberia, I have returned
to the United States. I went to satisfy myself; I sought every
opportunity of informing my mind. Some of the things already
they exist; other persons are too favorable in their estimates;
while a third class, with hearts bleeding for the loss of friends,
or angry at the loss of property, have wielded their pens to bring
the whole scheme into disrepute. I hope to correct these statements.
The facilities held out by Liberia are rarely equaled.
Industry and economy meet with a sure reward. For proof, look
at a Williams, a Roberts, a Barbour, and others, who, a few years
ago, possessed limited means, but who now can live like the
wealthy merchants of Virginia.
“The morals of Liberia I regard as superior. A drunkard is a
rare spectacle. To the praise of Liberia be it spoken, I did not
hear, during my residence in it, a solitary oath uttered by a settler.
The Sabbath is rigidly observed and respected.
“If the colored man desires liberty, Liberia holds out great
and distinguished inducements. Here you can never be free.”
To prove by his actions as well as his words his high appreciation
of the advantages enjoyed by his race in Liberia, Mr. Wilson
soon sought a permanent home there. After his arrival, he
writes:
“I am more in favor of the colony of Liberia than when I left
it on my return home. No, there is no place like this for the
colored race to be found in their reach, where they can enjoy
the same privileges as here. To fly to the North or South is all
folly; to go to Canada or Hayti is nonsense; for in either there
are obstacles as high as mountains. Here is our home.”
In 1840, during the contest with Gatumba, which terminated
so fatally for him, Mr. Wilson's eldest son was killed while bearing
a flag of truce to the savage tribe. But this, instead of disheartening,
seems rather to have strengthened his love for his
adopted land. In a letter written shortly after this event, he
says:
“Since I have been in Africa, up to the first of December last,
I can truly say I have enjoyed almost uninterrupted pleasure;
but O, since that time, I have had sorrow. My eldest son was
sent by the governor to a hostile native prince with the terms
embassadors, but drove them from his town, and they were followed
by a merciless mob; and my son, with Mr. Peale, a very
worthy man, was slain on the second day of December last. I
would give you a detail of the whole affair, but it will be seen in
the `Luminary.' This has caused much grief, but I hope the
Lord will give us grace. Pray for us.
“Here, at White Plains, we are doing well. We have been
greatly blessed in our own labors. Our native boys and girls make
rapid improvement. They read and write. Many of them promise
great usefulness, and to be future blessings to their generation,
for many of them have already embraced the religion of
Jesus Christ. We have a considerable farm under cultivation,
and we intend to connect a sugar plantation and a saw-mill to
this institution. Our work-shops are doing well. We are making
wheels, bedsteads, tables, and other articles, such as are useful in
the colony. The native boys are remarkably ingenious. Indeed,
sir, there is a glorious reformation going on in this vicinity; and
as we believe the present wars are very near at an end, we must
look forward to a more glorious day. But I must say that a great
deal depends upon the advancement of the colony; for we plainly
see, as she grows and strengthens, in the same proportion do the
heathen superstitions yield to her influence, and thus the way is
open for the Gospel. This we have sufficiently proved. Our
first object was to extend our labors as far as possible into the
interior, even beyond the general influence of the colony; but
we soon found that our labor was lost. Then we changed our
labors to the natives under the influence of the colony, and we
find that every thing goes on well. My opinion is, that the only
thing now wanting is men and means, and the barren land will
soon become a fruitful field.”
The colony in which Mr. Wilson's heart was so bound up
became, in the course of a few years, a nation; and he, with ten
others, was chosen to draw up the Declaration of Independence
and Constitution. Both documents are such as would do honor
to any class of men in any country.
AARON P. DAVIS.
The Rev. Aaron P. Davis was born a slave in Virginia. In
1834, when he was about forty years old, he, with one hundred
and nine others, was emancipated by the will of Dr. Aylett Hawes.
On the twenty-fourth of October of the same year he sailed with
his freed fellow-servants for Liberia, under the auspices of the
Colonization Society. Soon after his arrival at Liberia, he turned
his attention to the improvement of his mind. He taught himself
to read and write. His business as a blacksmith demanded
all his time during the day, but he devoted his evening hours
to study, and his progress was rapid and remarkable. He is now
independent and comfortable in his worldly circumstances, and
the successful pastor of the largest Baptist church in Liberia.
Letters from Rev. A. P. Davis
A brief statement of things passing under my observation, at
the request of Rev. R. R. Gurley.
I came to Africa in the year 1834, in December, had a very severe
attack of fever, lost a wife and child. Before I recovered
from the fever, in 1835, the 10th of June, the massacre occurred,
but I sustained no bodily hurt. The main part of the survivors
removed to Monrovia. I remained at Edina. In 1835, November
29, the principal part of them returned to the Cove, and I with
them, and the expedition from Savannah joined us. In January,
1836, Governor Buchanan arrived with supplies, and gave employment
to all who would work, and encouraged the hearts, and
strengthened the hands of every one possessing the spirit and independence
of a man. In that year I drew the lot on which I
now reside, and built a blacksmith's shop, and followed that business,
principally, from 1836 to 1847, when I accepted an appointment
as a missionary, in the service of the Southern Baptist
Board. I was in low circumstances when I came to the colony,
but by industry and economy purchased my tools, built all necessary
houses, supplied them with furniture, and paid all debts
us both comfortable and independent, by laying out town lots,
planting fruit trees, &c., cultivating farms, &c. I then accepted
an appointment as a missionary, which was not until about the
time last written. My time as a missionary is employed in various
ways. 1. In the dry seasons, I preach through an interpreter
in as many of the adjoining native towns as possible. My
circuit embraces eight native towns. The women and children
sit on a mat of hides of animals, flat on the ground. I have preached
to large and attentive congregations. I think the preaching
of the Gospel among them has not been without effect, though not
many among the vast number make any profession of religion.
All inquire after the day (Sabbath), and many observe it. All
seem to be ashamed of their superstitious trust in gree-grees,
while others have entirely renounced them. Their views as to
a future state are like those of the heathen of other lands. They
believe that a man dies and passes into a snake, fish, a monkey,
or leopard. They also believe that a person, while living, can
transform himself into a bird or animal, &c.
2 I supply destitute churches with the Word of Life, and perform
other needful services.
3. In the rainy season I teach a day-school at Bassa Cove. I
was present at the organization of the first Baptist Church in the
county of Grand Bassa, and took part in the services. I was
pastor of the first Baptist Church in the county of Grand Bassa.
I assisted Governor Buchanan to organize the first Sabbath-school
in Bassa Cove, on the spot where he now silently sleeps under those
large trees. The first Bible-class in Bassa Cove was taught by
Governor Buchanan in my house. I still have the honor to be
pastor of that Church at Bassa Cove. I have not less than 75
members of the congregation, a prosperous Sabbath-school, at
least 25 Congoes and other natives besides.
Very dear Sir,—Your favor of July 18th came safe to hand;
also the file of the “Colonization Herald,” and the religious newspapers,
I am happy, indeed, that the coffee I sent as a token of my good
wishes for you, and the good cause, reached you, and found acceptance.
I hope soon to be able to send some for your market,
but at present it brings us a better price on the coast; however,
you did not say what price might be relied upon. I also received
the letter and books from Dr. Malcom, and can say that they will
prove a blessing to my Sabbath-school, particularly the class on
whose account I wrote for them. In it are many men and women
of families, some native youths. His books prove to be the very
thing. I introduced them last Sabbath, to take up the morning
lesson only; read Testaments in the evening. Our new settlement
(Cresson) is going ahead; I still think it destined to be the
greatest sea-port town on the coast.
More natives are to be seen in our town than ever before known.
Confidence being fully established, they now acknowledge our
power as a government. As a proof of this, the fishermen, who
considered themselves so formidable a few months ago, were indicted
for giving some of their fellows sassy wood, by which they
put each on the trial for matters of great importance, and not unfrequently
put each other to death that way. It has a stupefying
effect, and operates differently on persons differently constituted.
It possesses medical properties, rendering one insensible to pain,
on others causing violent vomiting. Some of the fishermen were
arraigned, and punished for committing offenses against the peace
and dignity of the laws of the republic. Thus I trust light after
light will shine, and influence after influence spread, till the vast
tribes of Africa be raised to the level of men and women. Education
is to do this, to take away their present views and give
them better. I rejoice to say, I have lived to see that which I
once thought could not be accomplished—the settlement of Fishtown
and Grando; the great annoyance to our settlements is now
as harmless as a lamb. Why? Because a spirit of bravery, under
God, went against him.
ZION HARRIS.
The hero of Hedington is an emigrant from Tennessee. He
is a carpenter by trade, and at the time of the attack upon Hedington
he was engaged there in building a church and school-house
for the Mission. The reader will remember that by his
presence of mind and courage the enemy were driven back, under
circumstances of such great disparity of numbers, that his success
seemed miraculous to the simple-minded natives. Some
came from great distances to see him, begging for his “gree-gree”
or charm, and exclaiming “'Merica man's God is God for
true.”
He is as famous for his skill in hunting as for his bravery in
battle. During one year Mr. Harris supplied the Liberia market
with more than two hundred dollars' worth of venison, the product
of his own rifle; and his promise of taking a boa constrictor
is no idle boast.
A few years ago he visited the United States, in fulfillment of
a promise made to his father-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Erskine, on
his death-bed, to assist his remaining children and grand-children
to emigrate to Liberia. He returned with thirteen of Mr.
Erskine's descendants.
Letter from Zion Harris.
Dear Sir,—I write to inform you that we are all well, hoping
you and family are the same. I never will forget you for the
great good in telling me and my father about the land of Liberia.
I have got a good home. I would not change it for any under
heaven I have tried it twenty-one years. I have borne the
heat and burden of the day, and it gets better and better. I was
eighteen years old when I came here. I have grown to be a
man; in America I never could have been a man—never would
get large enough. Would my colored brethren believe this? They
keep writing to me to tell them all about the country. Let me
and has taken a stand with some of the greatest nations of the
earth. She has struck off the stone that bowed us down in America.
I have grown so large that I have had the honor and the
pleasure of being a member of the Legislature five or six years.
Did you ever hear of such a thing in America? No, no—nor
never will. I was in America a few years ago; it was all the
time, boy, where are you going? old man, which way? I was
really tired; I wanted to be a man again; but never found it until
I hit the coast of Africa. I even saw the change in the captain;
he talked so familiar to you: “What is the matter, Harris?
Harris is going to be a man again.” Sweet Liberia! the love of
liberty keeps me here.
All of you that feel like it, my friends, come on home—the
bush is cleared away—you can hear no one say there is nothing
to eat here. Why, one man, Gabriel Moore, brought better than
two hundred cattle from the interior this year; another a hundred;
some sixty, some fifty, &c. There are no hogs there, they
say; no turkeys; why, I saw fifty or sixty in the street at Millsburg
the other day. No horses; I have got four in my stable
now. I have a mare and two colts, and I have a horse that I have
been offered a hundred dollars for here; if you had him, he would
bring five hundred. If you don't believe it, let some gentleman
send me a buggy or a single gig; you shall see how myself and
wife will take pleasure, going from town to town; throw the harness
in too—any gentleman that feels like it—white or colored,
and I will try to send him a boa constrictor to take his comfort.
I know how to take the gentleman without any danger.
My oxen, I was working them yesterday; and as for goats and
sheep, we have a plenty. We have a plenty to eat, every man
that will half work. I give you this; you are all writing to me
to tell you about Liberia, what we eat, and all the news—I mean
my colored friends.
REV. MR. WILLIAMS.
The subjoined letter from Rev. Mr. Williams will show how he
estimates Liberia. Mr. Williams went out in the packet in July,
and therefore had been but a short time in Liberia when he wrote.
He went from Columbia, Pennsylvania, and is also well known
and respected in this city and Baltimore.
Dear Sir,—I write you a few lines by the packet, to let you
know that I have not forgotten the kindness I received from you
and the Colonization Society in preparing me for this land of liberty.
I never shall forget the heartfelt thankfulness due to the
society for helping me and my family here. We had one of the
finest passages any one could have. Plenty to eat; a good captain,
and one that was kind to all in sickness and health. All
hands were good to us. I have not wanted to return once since
I left the United States. I was twelve days at Monrovia. It is
a fine town; the people are kind, and doing well. I think this is
a much better place for new beginners. I had the African fever;
myself and wife both took it on the same day. We had it about
fourteen days. The doctor says we are over it, though we are
weak; but it is not so had as I expected. Mr. Benson is preparing
a house at Cresson for me. It is a fine location for a town
—the best one I have seen. I shall be the first one there. I
look for more by the September vessel. I shall feel lonely for
some time until more arrive.
There is, and can be plenty of every thing raised here. The
climate is fine and the land productive. Sweet potatoes of the
finest quality, and as good as produced in New Jersey; rice, sugar,
coffee. I will send you some as soon as I can get about. I
wish you would come out in the packet; you need not fear the
fever. I want you to see the finest country you ever saw. Cows,
sheep, goats, chickens, and hogs are plenty. I helped to kill a
hog since I came here, and saw it salted and smoked nearly as
good as in Pennsylvania. It is cool here. I can and do wear
I think all the colored people that can take care of themselves
in America had better come here, for this is the place where
they will do well. All they need is a small start; and, above all,
he is a freeman from the highest to the lowest. If I were seventy
years of age, and knew as much as I now know, I would
come to Liberia and be a man, and no longer a nigger. I shall
write more when I see more; I only write what I see and feel
JASPER BOUSH.
Jasper Boush is one of the company who went from Norfolk,
Virginia, to Liberia, in July, 1850. And as he was extensively
known to be an honest, upright Christian—one of the most intelligent
of his class — industrious, economical, and prosperous;
standing high in the regards and confidence of the free colored
people, he was selected as a fit person to inquire of concerning
certain evil reports that have been industriously circulated, viz.,
that the emigrants from this country can enjoy no health in Liberia;
that the soil is sterile, refusing a support to the industrious;
that the laws are oppressive, and the government badly administered;
and that the few who yet remain are a miserable set of
wretches, always sick and sighing to get back again.
His letter is a matter-of-fact refutation of those false and injurious
rumors.
Truly I am better and better pleased with Liberia each morning
when I awake and find myself in it. I could not be prevailed
on by any earthly consideration to leave Liberia, or exchange it
for any other country. Here I am in the land of my forefathers;
here I can enjoy all those rights which a benevolent God hath so
liberally vouchsafed to man; here I can exercise and improve
my gifts and graces in enlightening, instructing, and exhorting
the benighted sons of the forest in the truths of the Christian religion;
or at home, and unmolestedly worship the God of my fathers under
my own vine and fig-tree, while none dareth to molest or
make me afraid, here my children to their latest generation can
enjoy the privileges of freemen in storing their minds with education
and useful knowledge, and participating in the duties, &c.,
of civil government; and here I have as many political, social,
and religious rights as any man any where beneath Heaven's widespread
canopy. And should not these considerations endear this
my own country to me? I say, from the bottom of my soul, with
gratitude to my good God for what I enjoy—yes.
In addition to these blessings of situation, I am thrice blessed
in the blessings of condition. I live in my own house, on my
own farm of eighty acres, and eat every day of my life provisions
and breadstuffs of my own raising. I have now growing, as my
1852 crop, a large quantity of cassadas and potatoes, several acres
of sugar-cane, several acres of rice, and several also of ginger.
I have now to be transported from my nursery several thousand
coffee scions, nearly one hundred cocoa scions (not cocoa-nut,
mind you, but the chocolate), and about the same quantity of
mango plums. My present crop, when it matures, will be worth
about $600 or $700. My sugar crop alone will be worth over
$200. I will have about one hundred and fifty croos of rice,
which is worth from 75 cents to $1 per croo.
I shall labor to benefit mutually myself and my country. I intend
to be well represented in the commerce of Liberia, which is
now increasing, and commanding the respect of the commercial
world. I am convinced fully that agriculture is to be the great
dependence of Liberia; that will furnish an extensive commerce,
produce manufactories, and in every way benefit the country. In
America the free colored man can never be “a man.” I believe
in true that the free colored women are the great hinderance to
the full tide of emigration which would have, and, indeed, ought
to have poured long since into Liberia. Let them alone, however,
if they do not come now, they will come soon; if they are so
stupidly blind that they can not have an intelligent sight at their
by which they are surrounded, the organization of the social
elements, both as to the circle in which they move and that
in which the whites belong, and the genius of legislation, will
soon, very soon convince them of their situation and condition.
Sir, the free colored people can not go any where else but to
Liberia, and they are beginning now to know that. They must
come, and would to God that they would do it, not compulsively,
but willingly and cordially, like rational beings.
I and my family are well; we enjoy as good health here as in
America. I eat my allowance every day, setting down at each
meal with a good appetite, made so by my industry, and rising satisfied.
I tell you that the enjoyment of one's self in Liberia, by
him or them who appreciate Liberia, is much like religion—it can
well be felt, but illy expressed. Please oblige me by representing
this letter, and my special exhortation to brothers Lemuel
Bell, John Williams and families, and all my acquaintances, to
come at once—come now to Liberia, without unnecessary delay.
Believe me truly to be yours in Christian love,
The following letter was written by an intelligent and respectable
colored man, who left the city of New York for Liberia in
October, 1851. It was addressed to a colored friend of his in the
city:
With respect to this country, my expectations are more than
realized. I have found that the opinion I formed of Liberia while
in America was very nearly correct. This country is certainly
a most beautiful one, and the climate delightful. I have often
thought, since my arrival here, how the better class of colored
people, or at least a portion of them, would flock to Liberia if
they knew the real condition of the country and people. I always
thought that it was their ignorance of the country that
caused their opposition to it, but now I am convinced of that fact.
would ask if England, France, Prussia, and Brazil would acknowledge
her independence if the United States had any rights
to or claim on the country? England has made this government
a present of an armed schooner, and has a consul residing here.
Brazil has also a minister residing here, but of a higher grade
than consul; he is chargé d'affaires. The facts are, I think, sufficient
to convince any reasonable person that Liberia is really
an independent republic, and that the United States has no claim
to this country. There is a kind of blind prejudice which keeps
most colored people from coming to this country, and for the life
of me it is difficult to conceive why this prejudice exists; for in
the United States we are exposed to all kinds of insults from the
whites, which, in nearly every case, we dare not resent; whereas,
in this country we are all equal, and can enjoy the shade of our
own vine and fig-tree, without even the fear of molestation. In
the United States we are considered the lowest of the low, for the
most contemptible white man is better in the eyes of the law, and
in the opinion of the majority of the whites, than the best colored
man; whereas, on the other hand, in this country there are no distinctions
of color; no man's complexion is ever mentioned as a
reproach to him; and furthermore, every one has an equal chance
and right of filling any office in the government that they may be
qualified to fill. Liberia ought to be the most interesting country
(to the colored people of the United States) in the world, from
the fact that it is the only republic entirely composed of and governed
by the colored people, and it is the only country where a
colored man can enjoy liberty, equality, and fraternity, without
having to encounter the prejudice of the whites, which exists
more or less, in some degree, in every country in which the
whites predominate. If this prejudice ever dies away, I believe
that many generations yet unborn will have passed away before
it. Although this country offers many inducements to colored
people, yet it is not a paradise; it has a few unpleasant features,
owing principally to its being a new country. The most unpleasant
feature that I know is the acclimating fever, and that is far
On account of the improvements made, such as clearing, &c., it
is much more healthy here than formerly; and also, the kind of
treatment best adapted to the acclimating fever is better known.
The acclimating fever is nothing more than a simple chill and
fever, and persons are affected with it according to the degree of
care they take of themselves, and also much depends on the constitution
of the person. Some persons have told me that they
were sick only one day, and that slightly; while others (I speak
of old settlers) had it one week, and some have had it from six
months to a year or more. A person is seldom sick more than
from one day to three weeks at one time. I have been in the country
a little more than three months; and have had several attacks
of the fever. The longest time I was confined to bed was one
day and a half. The symptoms in my case were a slight chill,
followed by a very high fever. I felt no pain whatever during
the continuance of the fever, but always after it I would have a
slight pain in the back, which soon wore off. I would sometimes
be sick in the morning and well in the afternoon. I once had the
fever in the forenoon, and was well enough by night to attend a
tea party. I am told that all children born here, even the natives
not excepted, have the fever while very young. This I have
been told by mothers, and I have seen children with the fever
who were born here. The general health of the place seems to be
very good. A person coming here will not find large cities with
splendid buildings, and large bustling populations; but we have
only small villages with corresponding populations; you will not
hear the sound of numerous carts, drays, &c., but all the carrying
is done by native laborers, for the people have not yet begun
to use horses and oxen for such purposes. Both may be had
from the interior. Bullocks are brought down from the interior,
but only to kill. There are at present only three horses in Monrovia;
they are used only for riding. I have ridden several times
myself. The buildings are generally quite plain, built of wood,
stone, or brick. There are, however, some very neat brick buildings
in Monrovia, and along the banks of the St. Paul's River. I
I enjoy a trip more than I did this one. The waters of the St.
Paul's are delicious to the taste. The river is about half a mile
wide; its banks are from about ten to about fifteen feet high, and
lined with fine large trees with a thick undergrowth. Among the
other trees may be seen the bamboo, and that most graceful of
all trees, the palm. This is the most useful tree in Liberia. I
have drank the wine made from this tree, and have swung on
hammocks manufactured from it, and I have seen very good fishing-lines
made from it; besides, numerous other uses are made
of this tree. There are four villages on this river: Virginia, Caldwell,
Kentucky, and Millsburgh. I saw in many places people
making bricks, and busily engaged on their farms of coffee, sugar-cane,
&c. I must now come to a close, as I have but little
more space to write. I will remark that I advise no man to come
here unless he has a little money to begin with. A single man
should have at least one or two hundred dollars; although many
come here without a cent, and yet do well; but it is generally
difficult to get a start in this country without a little means. For
my own part, you may infer from what I have said that I like
my new home.
ABRAHAM BLACKLEDGE.
We learn that the writer of the following letter, addressed to
the Rev. Mr. Pinney, has been appointed consul to Liberia by the
British government, in place of Hanson, removed. Mr. Blackledge
seems to be a sensible man, and will, no doubt, prove an
efficient officer and a valuable citizen to his adopted country:
Dear Sir,—I embrace this opportunity to address you a line. I
am still doing what I can to demonstrate that Liberia is a rich and
productive country. My crops of cane in 1850 produced 8000 lbs.
of good sugar, and 500 gallons of sirup. My crop last year (1851)
of sirup. This falling off was in consequence of having to neglect
my sugar-cane farm to give attention to J. R. Straw's cotton
farm. I sell my sugar at 8 and 10 cents a pounds, which is
quite a saving to the people of Liberia This year I am giving
my whole attention to cane-raising, and I have a crop now in the
ground which will produce a much larger quantity of sugar and
sirup, and beat, possibly, both my preceding crops together. A
few days ago, I, with one or two others, noticed, in many hills of
cane on my farm, from forty-nine to sixty stalks. This can not
easily be surpassed, I am persuaded, in any country. I am certainly
fully convinced that by industry a man may have all the
necessaries of life, and a surfeit of the luxuries, in this very prolific
and God-blessed country. I have the privilege, doubtless, of
saying what no other person can say in Liberia—certainly before
any other could say it, if there is any other who can say it now
—that is, I use at my table coffee, sugar, sirup, and molasses of
my own raising. I have now about twenty-five hundred coffee-trees,
which will very soon enable me to export a small quantity
to America.
In connection with my sugar-raising, I would just say, that I
have to regret that I have not a proper sugar-mill. In consequence
of our very poor facilities, in both materials and manufacturing
mills (being compelled to do with wooden fixtures entirely),
not more than two thirds of the juice can be expressed from
the cane; hence, had I an iron mill from the United States, I,
and others who make sugar, could, by even less labor than we
now perform in grinding, have at least one third more of sugar,
&c., from the same quantity of cane, than we now get. This,
you perceive, is a clear loss. You see, therefore, we need some
help, both in means and advice, to the development of our enterprise
and industry.
These remarks are not confined to sugar-growing, but are in
every way applicable to the subject of agriculture in general in
this country. I have been here now between nine and ten years,
and am able to say something respecting Liberia's resources and
(and where are we to expect it from rather than from the United
States?), arrow-root, ginger, cocoa, coffee, sugar, and other products
of superior quality can be successfully raised here in large
quantities, and exported to the United States, so as to create a
competition in the market. Who, then, is sufficiently enterprising
among your acquaintances to embark in so noble a scheme,
that of developing in Liberia her agricultural resources?
The want of means, together with the holding out no inducement
whatever for industrial enterprise, are what have kept me
so long in the background. Let us, therefore, have the means, have
the tin, and let a door be thrown open in your country to invite
Liberia's productions especially; let an interest be thus awakened
there in our behalf, and an impetus will be given to Liberia, which
will force her forward in advance of the age. Be you sure, sir,
that agriculture is the dependence, and will become the future
glory and greatness of our youthful country. I speak here for
myself; others are capable of speaking for themselves. I believe,
sir, that all the farmers in Liberia need help in the way I have
alluded to.
JOHN MUSU NEAPO.
We could not give a more touching evidence of the blessings
conferred on heathen Africa, through the instrumentality of Christian
education, than in the subjoined letter of Musu. It is but a
few years since this consistent Christian was an ignorant Pagan.
After acquiring a partial knowledge of the English language, he
was admitted into the missionary school of Cape Palmas. This
letter is a fine specimen of the happy change he has experienced
—his walk and conversation being in beautiful conformity with
his Christian profession, and rendering him a most useful auxiliary
to the devoted men whose lives are dedicated to the regeneration
of that dark Continent.
All spiritual blessings be on my dear friend—whatever the
tender heart or the almighty arm of the loving Jesus has to bestow,
may it be all yours! What glad news you wrote to me
about Mrs. —. Did you see her? Yes, giad and joy speak to
my heart, and laugh come to my mouth. I believe that you have
seen her; you told me that you saw her, and that she wants
very much to return to Africa as a missionary. I have got a letter
from her, and my believing and wishes are one, my gladness
and happiness follow after. Oh my happiness is very great; and
a good, happy Christian, who is fixed to a point, go where he will,
one object is his all. The crucified Savior is his happiness; and
this heaven he carries about with him. No time, no place, no
circumstances, make any change. He has one Lord, one faith,
the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Come pain, sickness,
death, the Savior's love and power bears him up. Come temptations
of all kinds, I will be with thee in the hour of temptation,
says Lord God. Where he is, nothing need be feared, because
nothing can hurt. Oh, my dear friend, the true knowledge of
Jesus Christ is certainly a cure for all the miseries which come
upon the world by sin. There is no evil of mind or body, temporal
or eternal, but our precious, dear Lord is by office engaged
to remove. And shall not you, and I, and our friends value and
love him? What we set our hearts upon, what can bid so high
for them as this adorable Savior?
Dear Mr. Rambo, I wish very much to see you. How glad and
happy I should be when I meet you, and Doctor May, and Mr.
Hoffman; and then—then my heart will talk to my mouth, and
my tongue will speak all what I have done or seen.
JACOB VONBRUM.
The writer of the following letter is a native of Grand Bassa
One of the Swiss missionaries (the Rev. Mr. Sessing), who were
invited to Liberia by Mr. Ashmun, took him, when a child, under
of Sierra Leone. He is employed by the Northern Baptist Board,
and has a very good reputation as a Christian and teacher.
Reverend and Dear Sir,—In the following lines, which I have
taken on myself to address you, I hope to find you in the enjoyment
of good health, the same as we are at present. Our mission
still continues, with its different operations, in which we are
severally engaged, endeavoring daily to instruct the poor, benighted
heathen. Not long ago we received a letter of instruction from
our Board, that the lead of the mission affairs is now considered
to be under the superintendence of my native brother and cousin,
Lewis K. Crocker, at Little Bassa, and myself; which serious
charge to keep we humbly depend on God to help us. Our schools
are still kept daily, this, and that of Little Bassa, where brother
Crocker resides. Our children are improving well in their acquisitions
of the different branches of knowledge, such as spelling
hard words, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, natural philosophy,
&c. I am glad to state that the grown people of this
country, though they have not the privilege of improving themselves
by daily instruction, like the children, yet many of them
are getting civilized, getting acquainted with the law, political
economy, and secular improvement; forgetting their old habits,
and adopting those of their civilized fellow-creatures.
ABRAHAM CAULDWELL.
Mr. Abraham Cauldwell was sent out to Liberia by an association
of colored persons in New York, to examine the country
and prepare the way for emigrants to go there.
Brethren and Fellow-countrymen,—You are aware that I
was appointed traveling agent to Africa on the 23d of last December,
I returned to New York on the 12th November, 1852,
and it now becomes my duty to give you some account of Africa,
and of the benefits to be obtained by emigration to that country,
and whether there are any benefits to be obtained by so doing, or
not. I will endeavor to give you as true a statement as my
humble ability will admit. In truth and soberness, it would be
needless for me to tell you that Africa flows with milk and honey,
or that corn grows without planting. Liberia truly is a garden-spot;
her lands are beautiful, her soil is most fertile, her prairies
and her forests are blooming and gay, her rivers and streams
abound with fish, and her forests with game. Her Constitution
is a republican government, and a most excellent code of laws
are strictly observed. There are several churches and schools
in Monrovia, and they are well filled with people and scholars.
The Monrovians are the most strictly moral, if not the most
strictly religious people, I ever saw.
I shall now speak of emigration, which I have some knowledge
of. In 1823 I emigrated to Hayti, and in 1839 I emigrated to the
island of Trinidad, West Indies, and lastly to Africa, where I
find a peaceful home, where storms of prejudice never come on
account of my complexion. I have been noticing for several
years the movements of the Abolition Society, and once thought
they were right, and still believe they are sincere and really desire
to elevate the colored man. Some of them have shown it
too plainly for me to be mistaken. For instance, Mr. Gerritt
Smith, who gave away part of his fortune. Many others have
also sacrificed their good names and their money. But, alas!
how many good men have been deceived. I, for one, have been
blind to my best interest. I hesitate not to say that colonization
is the only thing to elevate the colored man. It is vain for many
of us to talk of settling on Mr. Smith's land, or of emigrating to
Canada and settling on land without money, which, comparatively
speaking, few have. Africa holds forth inducements whereby
the colored man may be elevated, without money and without
price. There are many noble-hearted philanthropists, who stand
if called upon. Awake, brethren, to your best interests!
.... The government grants ten acres to each family, and if
they want more they can get it for about 50 cents per acre....
.... Liberia calls for you. Emancipated slaves are not the
men to enlighten a heathen nation, for they are not enlightened
themselves. Liberia calls for men of understanding, energy, and
capital. Come, brethren, let us leave our beloved country; there
is an asylum for you in Africa. You can there raise every thing
to make you happy. There is a wide field open for the farmer.
If a man plants ten acres of coffee, in four or five years he will
realize a handsome income. Coffee requires very little labor,
and it would be of more value than what you could make in America
in twenty years by labor. Every thing grows abundantly,
with very little labor. It is a fine country for cotton, corn, and
rice, though cotton is not much planted as yet..... You can
salt down beef, pork, and fish. I would, in particular, recommend
farmers to emigrate to that country. Monrovia is decidedly the
best market, in my opinion. If you go there to labor by the day,
month, or year, you will not make much, for laborers' wages are
very low.
I would advise emigrants to take as much house furniture as
they need—for every thing they want here they want there—besides
a little money, if they can. Mechanics may find work,
though wages are low. Men of capital, as mechanics, can do
well, and are much wanted. Young men of energy, now is your
time. Freemen of the North, Africa calls for you. There you
can enjoy the luxuries of life and the freedom God intended for
man. To all those who may feel friendly to the cause of emigration
to Liberia, and wish to aid the same by giving, I say that
donations will be thankfully received and forwarded to Liberia
by the Association.
The following letters were for the most part sent to the Secretary
of the Colonization Society, Rev. J. Morris Pease:
From William H. Taylor.
Dear Sir,—I am well, and hope you are the same. I arrived
safe after a passage of thirty-seven days from the Capes. I am
happy to inform you that instead of being received in Baltimore
in chains, as I was told I would be, I was received very hospitably.
I am certainly grateful to the society for sending me to
Africa. I am perfectly satisfied with the change, only that I had
not started in 1842 instead of 1852. Here I stand erect and free,
upon the soil of my ancestors, and can truly say to all of my race,
you that would be free, Africa is your home, and the only home
where he that is tinctured with African blood can enjoy liberty.
This alone of him that loves liberty, for it is liberty alone that
makes life dear. He does not live at all who lives to fear. Please
say to any that may come to your office, that I say, come to Africa
and assist us in raising a light that may never go out. Enterprise
is what we want to make this country and people equal
with any on the face of the globe. Should any of the people of
Camden county, New Jersey, come to you for information, show
them this letter—tell them that I say there is land enough and
provision enough, by industry, for every enterprising colored man
in the United States. I find in Edina a fine soil, that will raise
any thing that a tropical country will produce. A fine, healthy-looking
people, that are kind and benevolent—who receive the
emigrants with the greatest kindness, and welcome them to the
land of liberty.
Should Charles S. Miller or Benjamin Griffin come to your office,
please encourage them all you can, and show them this letter,
and tell them to come over and help to fight the battles of
the Lord against the mighty. I stop writing to eat my palm-nuts,
which are very delicious when roasted; the stone of the nut
tastes just like the cocoa-nut. I add no more at present, but
when I see more I will add more. I remain,
From D. A. Madison.
Most respected Sir,—Liberia is destined to be the glory, the
home, and the resting-place for all the dark race. Then let them
come home, and rove abroad no longer, and that the chains of all
who will or could come and will not may be made tenfold faster,
because here they can come and be free. I mean my brethren
of color. There has been no disturbance with the republic by
the natives.
I believe the American Colonization Society is doing more now
to alleviate the condition of the colored race than ever; for I do
not know when I have seen as good-looking a set of people as
came out in the Ralph Cross and by the Morgan Dix.
I sent you a small box of coffee of my own raising, which I
hope you may have got before this time. Our Sunday-school is
doing tolerably well, and wishes to be remembered to you and
their friends in America.
Excuse my blunders. I think I said to you before that I have
not had a day's schooling in my life.
From Charles Deputie.
Mr. Deputie was born free—a native of Pennsylvania.
Dear Friend,—Through a kind Providence we landed here on
the 6th instant, in forty days from Baltimore. All well. I went
ashore and met for the first time in my life on the same platform
with all men, and the finest people in the world. I never met
with more kindness in my life, and every attention is paid to visitors.
On Sabbath day there were seven flags flying in the harbor.
I attended the Methodist Sabbath-school, and found it interesting;
was invited to address it, and made some remarks.
There were seventy-five scholars in the school. I have been up
the St. Paul's River. It is the finest country in the world. Mr.
Blackledge's sugar farm is splendid. Dined with Mr. Russel,
than some of the rest. The river is sixty feet deep. Every
thing is getting along well, and all that is wanted are industrious
men and good mechanics. I would say to my friends, that every
thing that I have seen surpasses my expectations. Should I be
spared to return, you shall see some articles that I intend bringing
with me. I wish you would try to make some arrangement
with the society to let me off with a free passage home, as I
want to labor for the cause, and my means will be far run by the
time I get to Philadelphia. Brother Williams intends doing all
he can for the cause. We intend to go into the coffee business.
Our object is to get five hundred acres of land in one plot, and
have it settled by none but respectable people from Pennsylvania;
and I think that if you could send some from Philadelphia it
would have a good effect.
and almost all have settled at Millsburgh.
From Henry M. West.
A native of Philadelphia—born free.
Dear Sir,—I avail myself of the present opportunity to address
you a line or two, hoping they may find you as well as they leave
me. I had laid off to write to you before this, but I have not
done so; however, I hope you will take the will for the deed. I
have now been a resident of Liberia for upward of two years, and
I think I can now safely express my opinion as regards the advantages
to be gained by locating here. Unquestionably this is
the place, and these are the shores which are to contain the multitudes
which have for ages been laboring under the greatest disadvantages,
and who have been allured into the belief that they
will not be placed under the inconvenience of removing; but the
time has come which proves to a demonstration, more and more,
that this is a forlorn hope. Doubtless there are many who a few
eyes in solicitude to various parts for relief, but there is no quarter
which presents equal attractions with that presented by Liberia,
and they know it; and although they may be men of penetration,
who foresee that something must be done, and these may
be men of influence, who will exert this influence in a contrary
direction, yet I believe the masses will speak for themselves, and
such a mighty flood will be poured upon these shores as has not
been witnessed since the world began. I have not written any
on this subject, but I watched with increasing interest the “signs
of the times,” as exhibited in the United States, and I am convinced
that my impressions are not erroneous. There are many
false representations made to deter persons who are anywise inclined
to emigrate to this country, but I feel confident that those
who use this means to oppose us had better begin to think of
some other method, for they will ultimately be exposed in the
midst of their base attempts. Truth will eventually triumph over
falsehood.
All that Liberia was ever represented to me to be I have found
it, with the exception of a few base misrepresentations, to avoid
which I spoke to but few of my intentions. I am here, and I am
right glad of it. “The flesh-pots of Egypt” present no attractions
to me. But to be deprived of my present privileges and advantages
would be to me a sore calamity. But I have said more
than I intended, and I fear lest I should tire your patience. But
when I consider that so many of my brethren suffer themselves
to be deprived of rights and privileges which they are constantly
attempting in vain to gain; and when I know from experimental
knowledge that it needs no such crouching, that the very things
they want are within their reach, if they would only make the
effort; and when I see that they will obstinately refuse a blessing,
in hopes of obtaining what I consider a curse, I can not refrain
from speaking. But I am thankful that I discern a ray of
light through the heavy darkness—that men, laying aside old
prejudices, are beginning to examine the subject in a different
light—and hope the day is not far distant when my brethren will
will have as many friends as now she has opponents.
Pardon me for my lengthy remarks. For the last twelve
months we have been blessed with tranquillity, a few rumors of
war, but no outbreak. I hope to hear from you shortly. No more
at present, but I remain
company that sailed from New York by the bark Edgar, October
2, 1850. I was originally from Philadelphia, Pa. H. M. W.
From John D. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson for some years kept a shaving and hair-dressing
saloon, and also a refreshment saloon, in the Equestrian Institute
of Williamsburgh, N. Y. He was well known and esteemed by
the community.
Gentlemen,—I promised to let you hear from me when in Liberia,
Africa, but although I have been here two months, I can
not at this time give you much account of the place. This little
republic is so far ahead of what I expected to find it, that your
good people of the United States would scarcely think I were
narrating truth were I to describe all that I have seen. Liberia
is a fine, fertile country. Things of every kind grow here. The
people are more comfortable in every respect, and enjoy themselves
much better than I have ever known them to do elsewhere.
The houses are very large, and are built mostly of brick and
stone; they are two stories and two stories and a half high;
from 30 to 50 feet front, and from 25 to 40 feet deep. The steps
to these houses are composed of iron ore—a substance on which
the city is built. Iron ore is as plentiful in Monrovia as common
stone is in Williamsburgh.
Most of those who farm it are located on the banks of the St.
Paul's River, about five miles from the city, and some are doing
well. Allen Hooper, of New York, has been here a little over
has one of the best coffee plantations on the river. He has seven
thousand trees growing, two thousand of which are loaded with
coffee; and he is of opinion that next year all will bear. Next I
will mention A. Blackledge, who is making about twelve thousand
pounds of sugar a year, and some hundreds of gallons of molasses
and sirup—all of which will favorably compared with the best
imported articles of the kind.
Sweet potatoes, Lima beans, Indian corn, cassada, plantains,
and other table vegetables are raised up this river, which is 25
or 30 miles long. A fine town is situated at the source of this
stream; it is called Millsburgh, and contains a population of 800
or 1000 persons—the most of whom employ themselves in making
brick and in hewing timber of all kinds for market.
I have not ability to describe the advantages to be reaped in
this country, nor have I the time. My business is so much better
than it ever was before, that I am constantly occupied in attending
to it.
One word as to the fever. My children have all had it; so
have all the emigrants who came out with us, except my wife,
myself, and two others. None of them kept their beds more than
two or three days. The fever is not as bad as it is represented
to be. I have seen persons who have lived here for from two to
twenty years, and who never had it at all.
This is a great country for men and women who love liberty,
and who love themselves, for money can be made here.
Please to give my thanks to the gentlemen in your city whose
philanthropy was the cause of my success. I trust you will publish
this letter for the information of those who may wish to know
something of this country. My next letter shall be longer, and
will contain much more information respecting this colony of
Liberia—a day-star of hope for the colored race.
From Stephen A. Benson.
Mr. Benson was taken to Liberia when a child.
Very dear Sir,—Fishtown was reoccupied on the 11th of October,
and the settlement is progressing rapidly—far in advance of
what it was before the massacre. The immigrants by the Zeno,
Morgan Dix, Liberia Packet, and Ralph Cross, enjoy much better
health down there than they did up at this place, and even the old
settlers moving there have derived much benefit. It has already
commenced attracting settlers from other settlements in this
county, and I am sanguine that in one or two years it will be in
advance of the other settlements of this county. Physicians
pronounce it a good place for emigrants to pass through their
acclimation, and I know it to be an excellent place for them to
to do well after acclimation. Sharp, Till, and Taylor, by the
Ralph Cross, from New Jersey, are doing pretty well for beginners.
They seem to be fine, industrious people, especially the
two former. They occupy three of the houses I built on the
banks of the St. John's River, opposite Factory Island, by direction
of your Board, and their produce is growing around them
finely. They would have settled at Fishtown had it been occupied
sooner.
It affords me much pleasure to communicate, as it no doubt does
you to hear, that our saw-mill has been in successful operation
nearly three months. It is certainly a great acquisition to Liberia
in general, and to this county in particular. The aborigines
in our vicinity find abundant employment in cutting logs (timber),
and floating them in rafts down to the mill. I assure you they
are not idle in this respect; they seem to take an interest in the
matter in common with Liberians (proper).
Though gradually, yet how certainly is civilization spreading
over this Continent. Please say to the worthy gentlemen constituting
your Board, that the pecuniary aid tendered the company
(loan) in 1851 may be classed among the most prudent and beneficial
acts in the annals of colonization.
I had the pleasure of being handed your letter of introduction,
to and by Captain Lynch, United States Navy. I accompanied him
up to Bexley on the 8th instant, and found it quite a treat to spend
some specimens of coffee from my farm, which he has kindly
promised and offered to exhibit at the World's Fair, next June,
in New York. I must close by subscribing myself, respectfully,
From Thomas Mason.
Mr. Mason was born free, in Pennsylvania—went to Liberia a
year or two ago.
My dear Sir,—In your letter you expressed a desire to know
my first impressions of Liberia and Liberian society. On my arrival
at Monrovia, Mr. James very kindly invited us to spend the
day at his house, which invitation we accepted. While on shore,
I became acquainted with quite a number of intelligent ladies
and gentlemen. The society at Monrovia I think similar to that
of Philadelphia, while that at Bassa Cove and Edina I think less
favorably of. I am now living at Mount Vaughan, about two
and a half miles from Cape Palmas, at which place I am employed
as an assistant teacher in the high school belonging to the
Protestant Episcopal Mission, for which I receive three hundred
dollars. The society at Palmas, when we compare the number,
is equal to that of Monrovia in point of intelligence. This colony
is in quite a flourishing condition. There are in Palmas seven
yoke of oxen, well broken, and work quite steadily. We get the
bullocks from the natives, at eight dollars a piece. I have drawn
my farm land, and planted five hundred coffee-trees, twelve
pounds of ginger, and a thousand cassada sticks, besides arrow-root,
pea-nuts, and fruit trees. We have an abundance of fresh
vegetables, egg-plants, tomatoes, and fine large cabbage. Plenty
of venison, fresh fish, and oysters. We are on the eve of declaring
our independence. The spirit with which the people take
hold of the subject would do credit to 1776. There will be a
Convention held next week, to prepare a Constitution for our
new state.
From Samuel H. G. Sharp.
Born free, in Camden, N. J.
Dear Sir,—I received your letter in answer to mine, and was
very glad to hear from you; also to receive those papers you
sent me. My health and that of my family is tolerable. At
present we are perfectly satisfied, and glad we came here. The
society did a good part by us. I have a house and ten acres of
good land; all but three acres in cultivation. I do not find it so
warm here as I had been told or as I expected. I have tried
both seasons. Tell the colored people they need not be afraid to
come, but they must be industrious, or they had better stay where
they are. I would not change homes now if they would give
me five hundred dollars and free toleration. Every man can
vote. I visited the courts, where I saw colored men judges,
grand and petit jurymen, squires, constables, &c. Business is
carried on as correctly as in the United States.
From Henry B. Steuart.
Mr. Steuart is from the South—born a slave—was freed, and
went to Liberia about four years ago.
Dear Sir,—You wish that I would give some statement of
things in general, and in particular of the growth of cotton, rice,
&c. Our answer is this: this is emphatically a tropical region,
as all geographers will tell you. You have only to put your seed
into the ground, and with half the labor you have to perform in
the states you here may make a comfortable living. Cotton
and rice grow here as well as in your Southern States. It is
true, a fair trial was never made for the culture of that valuable
staple (cotton), enough to prove that it can be raised in great
quantity. Rice is indigenous to this country: it will grow almost
any where you may plant it, on high or low land. We have
coffee, potatoes, ginger, arrow-root, and pepper. There has not
been done, however, to satisfy one that it can be made, for I have
eaten as much as I wanted in proof of it.
As respects coffee and other products, for a recent comer and
a young man, I need only refer to Mr. Joseph Bacon, one among
many others who bid fair to become independent farmers, to say
nothing of those who are living at ease on their farms. Come
and see for yourselves. Born and raised for the first part of my
life among the very best farmers of Liberty county, Georgia, I
know that these things can be raised in great quantities.
You wish to know what is my occupation. I answer, a little
of any and every thing, from a house carpenter to a boat-maker.
I have not yet seen the day that I have regretted my coming to
this country. All my objects have been realized, while I have
contributed my humble aid in laying the foundation of a civil and
religious government.
From J. M. Richardson.
To the N. Y. Emigration and Agricultural Association:
Gentlemen,—Since I have been here I have done very well,
better than I expected. I have bought five hundred dollars worth
of goods and paid for them. I have bought ten bullocks. I have
on hand one hundred bushels of rice. I paid in trade about forty
cents. If I keep which I shall do three months longer, I can get
$1 50 per bushel for it. I also have on hand six tons of cam-wood.
I want to increase it to ten tons by next month, and shall
ship it to England by the steamer on the 7th, and remit the money
to New York by a bill of exchange, so as to have more funds here
in the vessel which I understood will sail from New York with
our emigrants in the spring. I had only eight hundred dollars
worth of goods when I started from New York. I have on my
shelves one thousand dollars worth now. Notwithstanding, I
shall send one thousand dollars to New York after more goods.
I also have fifty pounds of ivory, worth here one dollar per pound.
I write this to show you what can be done here with a very little
he conducted himself aright; if a man has nothing, and came out
under our Association, having a house and lands cleared, he would
soon rise, if he has any spirit; therefore, come one, come all to
the sunny climes of Africa.
Our expedition are all getting along finely; most of them have
the fever now, but they are now all able to be about, with a prospect
of soon recovering. I was attacked with the fever on Christmas-day,
and am now considered entirely well. I, at all events,
feel as well as ever I did in America.
I am now in Monrovia, where I have been one week trying to
buy coffee scions, but there is such a great demands for them that
I fear I shall not be able to get more than a thousand. I want
seven thousand to plant in April.
I have had several interviews with the president—I had not
this pleasure in the States. He is very affable and gentlemanly;
he received me with great cordiality. I should have told you beforehand
that he and his lady called at my store, up the river,
and invited me to call and see them; they also bought quite largely
of my wares. He offered to assist me in any way he could, if
I wished any assistance.
As the steamer is about to sail, I must close. Give my respects
to all the boys; tell them that I am in good health and spirits;
tell them, if they want to feel like men, to come to Liberia.
Please write to me via England; the steamer stops here once
a month.
From William W. Findlay.
To Governor Wright, of Indiana:
Sir,—As I look upon you as being an old friend of mine, I take
pleasure in addressing you a few lines to let you know something
about how we are getting along in Liberia, believing you to be a
true friend to Liberia, and to the colored race.
I am much pleased with this country, and I do believe that
to come here, for truly I do think that it is a good country; but,
like all other new countries, a man has privations to undergo, and
a reasonable man can not expect that he can get every thing here
as handy as he can in old, settled countries. But if he has money,
he need not lack for luxuries here, and some that he can not get
in America.
To be sure, there is some sickness here in going through the
acclimation process; but when we come to look at the people
who come here, we must expect it. But in the last three or
four expeditions that have come out, there have been but few
deaths.
Now I shall say something about agriculture and the prospects.
This country is, I suppose, as good a coffee and sugar country as
there is in any place in the world; at least, it is pronounced so
by those that pretend to judge of these things. We may plant
coffee, and on the same land raise arrow-root, bird-pepper, or
ginger at the same time, and, by so doing, keep the coffee clean
after it is planted—raise a crop of arrow-root, ginger, or bird-pepper,
which I believe will pay all the other expenses, and will
pay the interest until the coffee commences to bear, which will
be about the third year.
And now in the States there are several gentlemen that have
offered to find men to go into the coffee speculation, which they
can not help making money at. If there should be a friend of
mine, or a friend to Liberia, who will go into that business, I
should be happy in hearing from him. The pepper, ginger, and
such things as I should raise, I should expect those who went in
with me to attend to in America, to sell these things, and send
me in return such things as I should need to carry on business
with. If there should be any that would be willing to risk money
in that way, I should be glad to hear from them.
I have been appointed a justice of the peace in Caldwell county.
Nothing more than I remain your humble servant,
From Samuel Williams.
Mr. Williams, a free colored man of Pennsylvania, intelligent,
respectable, and rich for one of his class, was sent about a year
since to Liberia, by an association of his people in this state, who
desired to learn the prospects that country held out for the emigrants.
The following is an extract from his report:
“Here I must end my advice and my report of what I have
seen. Much that is to me deeply interesting I must omit. It
only remains for me to return my sincere thanks to those whose
friendship has cheered me, in undertaking a voyage fraught with
anxiety and peril, but which has richly repaid me. I see in Liberia
the elements of a great state. From her borders I behold
an influence issuing which shall yet elevate my race in the future
to that proud position which it once held in the past. Although
they are my birth-place, and the birth-land of my fathers,
and endeared to me as holding the bones of a now sainted parent,
it is my wish only to remain in the United States until a company
can be organized which shall go out together, taking with them
a saw-mill and an apparatus for making iron—ore yielding, in Liberia,
90 per cent. In a few months longer, I trust, I shall go to
the home of my fathers, there to aid in upbuilding a new republic,
and in founding a mighty empire. Would to God I could persuade
my brethren every where to go with me, so that after being
aliens and exiles, like Israel in Egypt, for so many long years,
we might at least die in the land of our fathers.
The following documents, addresses, &c., all written by colored
men, will show the character of the government established
in Liberia, and also the character and talents of the people who
have formed, adopted, and now uphold just, wise, and righteous
institutions.
Declaration of Independence.
We, the representatives of the people of the Commonwealth
of Liberia, in Convention assembled, invested with authority to
form a new government, relying upon the aid and protection of
the Great Arbiter of human events, do hereby, in the name and
on behalf of the people of this Commonwealth, publish and declare
the said Commonwealth a Free, Sovereign, and Independent State,
by the name and title of the Republic of Liberia.
We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally the
inhabitants of the United States of North America.
In some parts of that country, we were debarred by law from
all the rights and privileges of men—in other parts, public sentiment,
more powerful than law, frowned us down.
We were every where shut out from all civil office.
We were excluded from all participation in the government.
We were taxed without our consent.
We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country
which gave us no protection.
We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us
every avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers
from all lands, of a color different from ours, were preferred before
us.
We uttered our complaints; but they were unattended to, or
only met by alleging the peculiar institutions of the country.
All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly
extinguished in our bosoms, and we looked with anxiety abroad
for some asylum from the deep degradation.
The western coast of Africa was the place selected by American
benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed
beyond those influences which depressed us in our native
land, it was hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights
and privileges, and exercise and improve those faculties which
the God of nature has given us in common with the rest of mankind.
Under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, we
the lords of the soil.
In an original compact with this society, we, for important reasons,
delegated to it certain political powers; while this institution
stipulated that whenever the people should become capable of
conducting the government, or whenever the people should desire
it, this institution would resign the delegated power, peaceably
withdraw its supervision, and leave the people to the government
of themselves.
Under the auspices and guidance of this institution, which has
nobly and in perfect faith redeemed its pledges to the people, we
have grown and prospered.
Among the strongest motives to leave our native land—to
abandon forever the scenes of our childhood, and to sever the
most endeared connections—was the desire for a retreat where,
free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could in
composure and security approach in worship the God of our
fathers.
Thus far our highest hopes have been realized.
Liberia is already the happy home of thousands who were once
the doomed victims of oppression, and if left unmolested to go on
with her natural and spontaneous growth; if her movements be
left free from the paralyzing intrigues of jealous, ambitious, and
unscrupulous avarice, she will throw open a wider and yet a
wider door for thousands who are now looking with an anxious
eye for some land of rest.
Our courts of justice are open equally to the stranger and the
citizen for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of injuries,
and for the punishment of crime.
Our numerous and well attended schools attest our efforts, and
our desire for the improvement of our children.
Our churches for the worship of our Creator, every where to
be seen, bear testimony to our piety, and to our acknowledgment
of His Providence.
The native African, bowing down with us before the altar of
of Christianity has gone forth, while upon that curse of curses,
the slave-trade, a deadly blight has fallen, as far as our influence
extends.
Therefore, in the name of humanity, and virtue, and religion—
in the name of the Great God, our common Creator and our common
Judge, we appeal to the nations of Christendom, and earnestly
and respectfully ask of them that they will regard us with
the sympathy and friendly consideration to which the peculiarities
of our condition entitle us, and extend to us that comity
which marks the friendly intercourse of civilized and independent
communities.
Constitution.
We give Article I. entire, as it is the exponent and guaranty of
true republican principles—harmonizing with the Gospel precepts
of “loving our neighbor as ourselves,” and doing to others as we
would be done by—which, we trust, are, by the blessing of God,
to be extended throughout Africa.
Article I. Declaration of Rights.
The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of
government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect
it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the
power of enjoying, in safety and tranquillity, their natural rights,
and the blessings of life; and whenever these great objects are
not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and
to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness.
Therefore, we the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia, in
Africa, acknowledging with devout gratitude the goodness of God
in granting to us the blessings of the Christian religion, and political,
religious, and civil liberty, do, in order to secure these
blessings for ourselves and our posterity, and to establish justice,
insure domestic peace, and promote the general welfare, hereby
solemnly associate and constitute ourselves a free, sovereign, and
ordain and establish this Constitution, for the government of the
same.
Sec. 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have
certain natural, inherent, and inalienable rights; among which
are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring,
possessing, and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining
safety and happiness.
Sec. 2. All power is inherent in the people; all free governments
are instituted by their authority and for their benefit, and
they have a right to alter and reform the same when their safety
and happiness require it.
Sec. 3. All men have a natural and inalienable right to worship
God according to the dictates of their own consciences, without
obstruction or molestation from others; all persons demeaning
themselves peaceably, and not obstructing others in their religious
worship, are entitled to the protection of law in the free exercise
of their own religion, and no sect of Christians shall have
exclusive privileges or preference over any other sect, but all
shall be alike tolerated; and no religious test whatever shall be
required as a qualification for civil office, or the exercise of any
civil right.
Sec. 4. There shall be no slavery within this republic; nor
shall any citizen of this republic, or any person resident therein,
deal in slaves, either within or without this republic, directly or
indirectly.
Sec. 5. The people have a right at all times, in an orderly and
peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common
good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the government
or any public functionaries for the redress of grievances.
Sec. 6. Every person injured shall have remedy therefor by due
course of law; justice shall be done without denial or delay; and
in all cases not arising under martial law or upon impeachment,
the parties shall have a right to a trial by jury, and to be heard in
person, or by counsel, or both.
Sec. 7. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous
the army and navy, and petty offenses, unless upon presentment
by a grand jury; and every person criminally charged shall have
a right to be seasonably furnished with a copy of the charge, to
be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have a
speedy, public, and impartial trial by a jury of the vicinity. He
shall not be compelled to furnish or give evidence against himself,
and no person shall for the same offense be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb.
Sec. 8. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property,
or privilege, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the
land.
Sec. 9. No place shall be searched nor person seized, on a criminal
charge or suspicion, unless upon warrant lawfully issued,
upon probable cause supported by oath or solemn affirmation,
specially designating the place or person, and the object of the
search.
Sec. 10. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor excessive punishments inflicted; nor shall the
Legislature make any law impairing the obligation of contracts;
nor any law rendering any act punishable, in any manner in which
it was not punishable when it was committed.
Sec. 11. All elections shall be by ballot, and every male citizen,
of twenty-one years of age, possessing real estate, shall have the
right of suffrage.
Sec. 12. The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for
the common defense. As in time of peace armies are dangerous
to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent
of the Legislature, and the military power shall always be held in
exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.
Sec. 13. Private property shall not be taken for public use without
just compensation.
Sec. 14. The powers of this government shall be divided into
three distinct departments, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial,
and no person belonging to one of these departments shall
This section is not to be construed to include justices of the peace.
Sec. 15. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of
freedom in a state; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in
this republic.
The press shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine
the proceedings of the Legislature or any branch of government;
and no law shall ever be made to restrain the rights
thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is
one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely
speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the
abuse of that liberty. * * * And in all indictments for libels,
the jury shall have a right to determine the law and the facts, under
the direction of the court, as in other cases.
Sec. 16. No subsidy, charge, impost, or duties ought to be established,
fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever,
without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the
Legislature.
Sec. 17. Suits may be brought against the republic in such manner
and in such cases as the Legislature may by law direct.
Sec. 18. No person can, in any case, be subjected to the law
martial, or to any penalties or pains by virtue of that law (except
those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in
actual service), but by the authority of the Legislature.
Sec. 19. In order to prevent those who are vested with authority
from becoming oppressors, the people have a right, at such
periods, and in such manner as they shall establish by their frame
of government, to cause their public officers to return to private
life, and to fill up vacant places by certain and regular elections
and appointments.
Sec. 20. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient securities,
unless for capital offenses, when the proof is evident, or
presumption great; and the privilege and benefit of the writ of
Habeas Corpus shall be enjoyed in this republic, in the most free,
easy, cheap, expeditious, and ample manner, and shall not be suspended
by the Legislature, except upon the most urgent and
months.
The legislative powers are vested in a Legislature, consisting
of two separate branches—a Senate and House of Representatives.
The Representatives are apportioned according to the
number of inhabitants. Two years' residence in the county
which elects him, real estate to the value of one hundred and
fifty dollars, and the age of twenty-three, constitute eligibility to
the office of representative.
The Senate consists of two members from each county. No
person can be elected to this office who has not resided three
years in the republic previous to his election, who does not own
real estate to the value of two hundred dollars, and who shall not
have attained the age of twenty-five.
The supreme executive power resides in a president, elected
by the people, and holding his office for two years. No person
can be eligible who has not been a resident of the republic five
years, who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five, and
who shall not be possessed of real estate to the value of six hundred
dollars. The duties of these several officers and bodies are
similar to those in our own country.
The judicial power is vested in one supreme judicial court, and
such subordinate courts as the Legislature, from time to time,
may establish.
From the Inaugural Address of President Roberts.
The time has been, I admit, when men, without being chargeable
with timidity, or with a disposition to undervalue the capacities
of the African race, might have doubted the success of the
colonization enterprise, and the feasibility of establishing an independent
Christian State on this coast, composed of, and conducted
wholly by, colored men; but, fellow-citizens, that time
has passed. The American Colonization Society has redeemed
its pledge; and I believe in my soul that the permanency of the
government of the Republic of Liberia is now fixed upon as firm a
reason to apprehend that the Divine Disposer of human events,
after having separated us from the house of bondage, and led us
safely through so many dangers toward the land of liberty and
promise, will leave the work of our political redemption and consequent
happiness unfinished, and either permit us to perish in a
wilderness of difficulties, or suffer us to be carried back in chains
to that country of prejudices from whose oppression he has mercifully
delivered us with his outstretched arm.
And, fellow-citizens, it must afford the most heartfelt pleasure
and satisfaction to every friend of Liberia, and real lover of liberty
in general, to observe by what a fortunate train of circumstances
and incidents the people of these colonies have arrived
at absolute freedom and independence. When we look abroad
and see by what slow and painful steps, marked with blood and
ills of every kind, other states of the world have advanced to liberty
and independence, we can not but admire and praise that all-gracious
Providence, who, by his unerring ways, has, with so few
sufferings on our part, compared with other states, led us to this
happy stage in our progress toward those great and important objects.
And that it is the will of Heaven that mankind should be
free, is clearly evidenced by the wealth, vigor, virtue, and consequent
happiness of all free states. But the idea that Providence
will establish such governments as he shall deem most fit for his
creatures, and will give them wealth, influence, and happiness,
without their efforts, is palpably absurd. In short, God's moral
government of the earth is always performed by the intervention
of second causes. Therefore, fellow-citizens, while with pious
gratitude we survey the frequent interpositions of Heaven in our
behalf, we ought to remember that, as the disbelief of an overruling
Providence is atheism, so an absolute confidence of having
our government relieved from every embarrassment, and its citizens
made respectable and happy by the immediate hand of God,
without our own exertions, is the most culpable presumption.
Nor have we any reason to expect that He will miraculously
make Liberia a paradise, and deliver us, in a moment of time,
circumstances under which we are placed, merely to convince us
that He favors our cause and government.
I ask you to join with me in supplications that He will so enlighten
the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper
their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your
good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation
of all nations.
From another Address by the President.
The following passages are selected from the first message
(after the adoption of the present Constitution of the republic) to
the national Legislature:
“Our situation, however, for forming a political society, and
erecting a free government, is more favorable, in many respects,
than that of any people who have preceded us. We have the
history and experience of all states before us: mankind have
been toiling through all ages for our information, and the philosophers
and learned men of antiquity have trimmed their midnight
lamps to transmit to us instructions. We live, also, in an age
when the principles of political liberty and the foundation of government
have been fully canvassed and fairly settled.
“With these lights before them, our delegates have given us a
Constitution founded, not upon party or prejudice, not for to-day
or to-morrow, but for posterity. It is founded in good policy, because,
in my humble opinion, it is founded in justice and honesty.
All ambitious and interested views seem to have been entirely
discarded, and regard had only to the good of the whole, in which
the situation and rights of posterity are considered, and equal
justice has been done to every citizen of the republic. And the
highest respect has been paid to those great and equal rights of
human nature which should forever remain inviolate in every society.
Proper attention has also been given to the separation of
the three great powers of the state. Indeed, it is essential to
liberty that the legislative, judicial, and executive powers of the
from, each other; for, were they united in the same persons,
there would be wanting that mutual check which is the principal
security against the making of arbitrary laws and a wanton exercise
of power in the execution of them. If these three powers
are united, the government will be absolute, whether they are in
the hands of a few or a great number. The same party will be
the legislator, accuser, judge, and executioner. What probability,
then, as I have heard it remarked, will an accused person
have of an acquittal, however innocent he may be, when his judge
is also a party?”
Having shown the wisdom of the Convention who adopted the
Constitution of the republic in their careful provisions to keep
distinct and independent of each other the three great departments
of the government, President Roberts adds:
“But, gentlemen, it is to be remembered, that whatever marks
of wisdom, experience, and patriotism there may be in our new
Constitution, like the just proportions and elegant forms of our
first parents, before their Maker breathed into them the breath
of life, it is yet to be animated, and, until then, may indeed excite
admiration, but it will be of no use; from the people it must receive
its spirit, and by them be quickened. Let virtue, honor, the
love of liberty, and science be and remain the soul of our present
Constitution, and it must, it will become the source of great and
extensive happiness to this and future generations.”
One other paper from President Roberts merits insertion here,
as it indicates a firm determination on the part of the Liberian
government to uphold the principles of freedom for all Africans
under its protection. The fact that from subjects of Great Britain
such violation is now feared, is curious, and should be carefully
investigated.[1]
A Proclamation by the President of Liberia.
Whereas Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, and Co., of London, contractors
with her Britannic majesty's government to furnish laborers
from the African coast for the West Indies, have sent some of
their ships to the coast of the republic, offering an advance of ten
dollars for every person who may be induced to emigrate; and
whereas the extinction of the slave-trade has left large numbers
of predial and other laborers in the possession of the chiefs and
principal men of the country, while the offer of ten dollars each
is nearly equivalent to the amount formerly paid for slaves during
the prevalence of the slave-trade, and which operated mainly in
producing and sustaining the wars by which the country was
distracted;
And whereas certain refractory chiefs are reported to have
engaged with the agents of said company to furnish a number of
laborers, and are further known to have in concealment, near
Grand Cape Mount, a number of unhappy victims of their predatory
excursions; and whereas complaint has been made to the
government that persons are held to be sent off without their
voluntary consent, or the consent of their natural guardians;
therefore, to prevent the abuses and evils which might otherwise
result from the enterprise,
Be it known by this proclamation, to all whom it may concern,
that the law regulating passports must be strictly observed—that
vessels carrying, or intending to carry away emigrants, must
come to this port with their emigrants on board to obtain passports—in
order that an opportunity may be presented to the government
to ascertain whether the emigration be free or constrained.
Every violation of the law regulating passports will
be visited with the utmost penalty of the law, in that case made
and provided.
Done at Monrovia, this twenty-sixth day of February, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, and
of the republic the fifth. J. J. Roberts.
Flag and Seal of the Republic of Liberia.
The following Flag and Seal were adopted by the Convention,
as the insignia of the Republic of Liberia, and ordered to be employed
to mark its nationality:
Flag—six red stripes, with five white stripes alternately displayed
longitudinally. In the upper angle of the flag, next to the
spear, a square blue ground, covering in depth five stripes. In
the centre of the blue, one white star.
Seal—a dove on the wing, with an open scroll in its claws. A
view of the ocean, with a ship under sail. The sun just emerging
from the waters. A palm-tree, and at its base a plow and
spade. Beneath the emblems, the words Republic of Liberia;
and above the emblems, the national motto, THE LOVE OF LIBERTY
BROUGHT US HERE.
The Twenty-fourth of August.
The twenty-fourth day of August, 1847, was the day appointed
for raising the flag of the new republic, and its happy dawn was
announced by the thunder of cannon. At an early hour were
smile lighting up every countenance. Old men seemed to have
renewed their youth, and youth itself moved with a more buoyant
and elastic step. At nine o'clock, the governor and his staff,
with the military, assembled at the court-house. At the same
time, people from all quarters were pouring toward the Government
Square. At eleven, his excellency was escorted opposite
to the Government House, where he was met by a band of ladies,
bearing the flag of their country. On receiving it from Mrs.
Lewis, accompanied with a short speech, he unfurled it amid the
cheers and hurras of the assembled multitude. The troops then
marched up to the Central Fort. At twelve, the first gun of the
national salute pealed over the waters, when the flag was seen
majestically arising, and from its lofty height soon floated on the
breeze, the herald of a brighter day for poor, benighted Africa.
At the same moment, a responsive gun was heard from Signal
Hill, as if the mountains echoed the jubilant shout of freedom.
A salute of twenty-one guns followed, when the procession
marched to the Methodist church, where were holden exercises appropriate to the occasion.
It was a day which will be long remembered. During the ceremony
of presenting the flag, many eyes were suffused with tears.
And, indeed, who that remembered the past could forbear to
weep? Who that looked back to America, and remembered
what he saw and felt there, could be otherwise than agitated?
It is, indeed, a great undertaking; but that Almighty Being who
hath conducted us thus far, can and will conduct us to the goal
at which we aim.—Liberia Herald.
Lines by H. Teague, of Monrovia.
Wake, every tuneful string,
To God loud praises bring,
Wake, heart and tongue;
In strains of melody,
Sing—for the oppressed are free;
Wake, cheerful song.
See Mesurado's height,
Illumed with new-born light;
Lo! the lone star;
Now it ascends the skies;
Lo! the deep darkness flies,
While new-born glories rise
And shine afar.
Shine, life-creating ray—
Proclaim approaching day;
Throw wide thy blaze:
Lo! savage Hottentot—
Bosjasman from his cot—
And nations long forgot,
Astonished gaze.
Shout the loud jubilee,
Afric once more is free—
Break forth with joy;
Let Nilus' fettered tongue,
Let Niger join the song,
And Congo's loud and long,
Glad strains employ.
Star in the East, shine forth,
Proclaim a nation's birth;
Ye nations hear—
This is our natal day,
And we our homage pay;
To Thee, O Lord, we pray;
Lord, hear our prayer!
Favored of God, all hail!
Hail, happy band!
From virtue ne'er remove:
By peace, and truth, and love,
And wisdom from above,
So shalt thou stand.
The Colonization Movement.
Thus far our appendix has shown the opinions of the colored
people respecting Liberia, and what they have done there. Now
we add a few pages illustrative of the feelings regarding colonization,
which are influencing the minds, and calling forth the exertions
of the best and noblest among the white race in America.
But, first, we will show, from the highest British authority, an
acknowledgment of the failure of
West India Emancipation.
After a full trial by Great Britain of negro emancipation, the following
article in the “London Times” should receive the discreet
notice of those philanthropists who, in our country, are dealing
so recklessly with the future happiness of the American blacks:
“Our legislation has been dictated by the presumed necessities
of the African slave. After the Emancipation Act, a large charge
was assessed upon the colony in aid of civil and religious institutions
for the benefit of the enfranchised negro, and it was hoped
that these colored subjects of the British crown would soon be
assimilated to their fellow-citizens. From all the information
which reaches us, no less than from the visible probabilities of
the case, we are constrained to believe that these hopes have
been falsified. The negro has not acquired with his freedom any
habits of industry or morality. His independence is but little
better than that of an uncaptured brute. Having accepted few
of the restraints of civilization, he is amenable to few of its necessities;
at the current rate of wages he is called upon for nothing but
fitful or desultory exertion. The blacks, therefore, instead of becoming
intelligent husbandmen, have become vagrants and squatters;
and it is now apprehended, that with the failure of cultivation
in the island will come the failure of its resources for instructing
or controlling its population. So imminent does this
consummation appear, that memorials have been signed by classes
of colonial society hitherto standing aloof from politics, and not
only the bench and the bar, but the bishop, clergy, and ministers
of all denominations in the island, without exception, have recorded
their conviction that, in the absence of timely relief, the
religious and educational institutions of the island must be abandoned,
and the masses of the population retrograde to barbarism.”
The Virginia Law on Instruction of Colored Population.
A committee of the Synod of Virginia, consisting of Samuel C.
Anderson, Esq., Rev. Peyton Harrison, and Mr. Winfree, were
appointed to examine the acts of the General Assembly of that
state, and report to the meeting what the law is touching the
religious instruction of the colored population.
This committee subsequently reported, that it may be seen by
reference to the Code of Virginia, chap. cxcviii., § 31, 2, pages
747-8, that there is nothing in the law prohibiting the owner of
slaves, or any member of his family, with his knowledge and consent,
to teach his own slaves, on his own plantation, in any subject
and to any extent that may please such owner.
Southern Views of Liberia.
By Rev. J. Morris Pease.
From personal observation we know that the colored people of
the South, both bond and free, are very far in advance of our colored
people of the Free States in a correct knowledge and appreciation
of the real character and condition of the government and
citizens of Liberia.
From the first, the largest number of colonists, and some of the
Southern States. From them thousands of letters have reached
their friends left behind. All over the Southern States the colored
people receive letters from their own dear friends in Liberia.
We have known whole plantations called together to hear read
letters from their friends or relatives residing in that country.
No people in the United States possess to-day a deeper, stronger,
more thrilling and abiding interest in Liberia, or pray more
earnestly for her prosperity, than do the colored people of the Southern
States. Thousands of Christian servants, with the knowledge
and consent of their masters, are in regular correspondence with
citizens of that republic. Mothers have their sons, and sisters
their brothers, who are missionaries of the cross of Christ in
Western Africa. Many contribute liberally of their earthly substance
to send the Gospel there, and to sustain the missions already
established. Christian Liberia is their comfort and their
hope. With her they sympathize! for her they pray, believing
that at some day they may find their home in her bosom, if not
for themselves, yet for their children. That republic, that prayer,
that faith makes them better men—better Christians.
Besides, many Christian masters are educating and preparing
their servants for freedom, in view of their enlarged usefulness
in that interesting country.
We are not aware that these facts have been generally given
in either the Southern or Northern press, though we are confident
that the Christian people of the South, with but few exceptions,
have a true religious interest in Liberia, and are ready to
minister their aid in support of her claims.
Colonization Suppresses the Slave-trade.
From an Address by the Hon. Edward Everett.
I must pass to another very important object of the Colonization
Society in establishing the colony of Liberia, and that is
the effectual suppression of the slave-trade throughout its extent
and within the sphere of its influence. It is grievous to reflect
that contemporaneously with the discovery of our own continent,
coast of Africa was thrown open to that desolating traffic, which
from time immemorial had been carried on from the ports of the
Mediterranean, by the Nile, and along the eastern coasts of the
continent. It is still more painful to consider that the very period
at which the modern culture of the west of Europe was
making the most rapid progress, is that at which Africa began to
suffer the most from its connection with Europe.
It was the age of Shakspeare, of Spencer, of Hooker, and of
Lord Bacon, of those other brightest suns in the firmament of
England's glory, that her navigators first engaged in this detestable
traffic, and vessels bearing, as if in derision, the venerable
names of Jesus and Solomon were sent from Great Britain to
the coast of Africa—at a time when some of the last remnants
of the feudal system were broken down in England and France
—when private war had wholly ceased—when men began to venture
from the covert of the walled towns and traverse the high
roads, and live in the open country in safety, these very states,
the most civilized in Europe, began to struggle for the monopoly
of that cruel trade, which was carried on by exciting the barbarous
races of Africa to new fury against each other, and by introducing
a state of universal war, not merely between nation and
nation, but between tribe and tribe, village and village, and almost
between house and house. In fact, it is not without example
that these benighted beings have delivered their wives and
children to the slave-dealers.
Thus, the western coast of Africa became, like the northeastern
and eastern coasts, one great slave market, and so remained
for nearly three centuries. It is now about twenty years since
the powers of Christendom, excited to activity by philanthropic
operations and benevolent individuals, began the warfare upon
this cruel traffic. The American colonies, before their independence,
passed laws for its abolition, which were uniformly negatived
by the crown. The Revolutionary Congress, in the first
year of its existence, denounced the traffic, and the Constitution
of the United States appointed a date for its prospective abolition.
This example has been successfully followed by other states.
The trade is now forbidden by the laws of every Christian and
most of the Mohammedan powers of Europe and Asia. It still
exists, however, to a frightful extent, and the more active the
means used to suppress it by blockade and cruisers, the greater
the cruelty incident to its practice, by crowding the slave-ships
with a greater number of victims. Such being the case, many
of those in England who have taken the greatest interest in the
suppression of the traffic have seriously proposed to abandon the
system of blockade and cruisers, and resort to other expedients;
and of these, unquestionably, none can be compared for efficiency
with settlement of the coast.
It is necessary only to look at the map to see what an important
extent of country has been rescued in this way from the direst
scourge which ever afflicted humanity. The last of the ancient
slave-marts, Gallinas, has been lately purchased and brought
within the limits of Liberia. Along a line of coast not less extensive
than that from Maine to Georgia, from every bay, and
within the shelter of every headland of which this traffic was
carried on within the memory of man, the slave traffic has been
wholly rooted out. What could not be effected by congresses of
sovereigns at Vienna or Aix-la-Chapelle, by quintuple treaties, or
by squadrons of war steamers, has been brought about by these
feeble colonial settlements, of which that of Liberia has been
obliged to struggle its way into permanence—drawing its supplies
almost exclusively from the perennial fountains of Christian
benevolence.
American Slavery has improved the Colored Man.
From an Address by Hon Daniel Webster.
Gentlemen, there is a Power above us which sees the end of
all things from the beginning, though we see it not. Almighty
God is his own interpreter of the ways of his own providence;
and I sometimes contemplate with amazement, and I may say
with adoration, events which have taken place through the instrumentality
of the cupidity and criminality of men, designed
by our Creator.
African slaves were brought hither to the shores of this continent
almost simultaneously with the first tread of a white
man's foot upon this our North America. We see in that, our
short-sightedness only sees, the effect of a desire of the white
man to appropriate to himself the results of the labor of the black
man as an inferior and a slave. Now let us look at it.
These negroes, and all who have succeeded them, brought
hither as captives taken in the wars of their own petty provinces,
ignorant and barbarous, without the knowledge of God, and with
no reasonable knowledge of their own character and condition,
have come here, and here, although in a subordinate, in an inferior,
in an enslaved condition, have learned more, and become to
know more of themselves and of their Creator, than all whom
they have left behind them in their own barbarous kingdoms. It
would seem that this is the mode, as far as we can judge, this is
the destiny, the rule of things established by Providence, by which
knowledge, letters, and Christianity shall be returned by the descendants
of those poor, ignorant barbarians who were brought
here as slaves, to the country from which they came.
Who but must wonder, who can fail to see what appears to
be so plainly the indication in the providence of God. He who
now goes back to Africa under the auspices of this society is an
intelligent man. He knows that he is an immortal man, what
his ancestors hardly knew, except from that instinctive principle
which pervades all human nature, that there is an hereafter. He
has the lights of knowledge; he has the lights of Christianity,
and he goes back infinitely more advanced in all that makes him
a respectable human being than his ancestors were when they
were brought from the barbarism of Africa to slavery in the United
States.
Colonization an Act of Justice.
By Rev. John P. Durbin, D.D.
It was a stupendous public wrong to commence it (slavery);
to remedy the wrongs and evils which have flowed from it. These
wrongs and evils, operating through a long series of years, have
entwined themselves with the vast and complicated interests and
institutions of a large portion of our country; and it will require
a long series of years to accomplish the remedy effectually. But
Providence allows time to work out the ends of public justice,
and always seconds the efforts of man, if made sincerely, wisely,
and patiently. Let us, then, do our part in setting on foot a system
of public policy that shall safely, peacefully, and equitably
render this great act of public justice to the millions of the exiled
children of Africa.
But this act of public justice connects with the natural right
of these people, and with the divine will not doubtfully expressed.
In pursuance of the divine distribution of the earth among the
different races of men, God gave Africa to the race from which
our colored people come. The deed of distribution and the reason
for it are found in holy Scripture, in these words: “God hath
made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face
of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply
they might feel after him and find him.” Who can doubt but the
“bounds of the habitation” of these people are in Africa? Who
can doubt but in that part of the world is their lot, in working out
the wise designs of a Providence known to man only as God
manifests them by the signs of the times? Perhaps this wise
and mysterious Providence has permitted their bondage in order
to prepare them to be the instruments of Christian civilization
and religion to their vast and populous country. Had they remained
in their own country, they would have remained pagans;
in their slavery and exile they have become Christians in their
ideas and feelings, and many of them truly experimental and intelligent
Christians. Return them to Africa, and they will form
a Christian republic whose light and civilization will illuminate
and reform the western part of that great and gloomy continent.
This single consideration is sufficient to move this whole country
of Providence, who shall estimate the guilt and punishment of
our people if we refuse to send home these prepared missionaries,
now that God, by the signs of the times, is intimating His
will that we now enter upon the work?
Blessings of African Colonization.
From a Discourse delivered before the Louisiana State Colonization Society,
by Rev. Dr. Scott, of New Orleans.
Another great blessing of the emigration of our free people of
color to Africa, is that they carry with them the Gospel. This
is the only practicable means that presents itself to the pious for
the Christianization and civilization of that vast continent. How
else can we hope to emancipate one hundred and fifty millions of
people on that continent from ignorance, superstition, and paganism?
What enterprise is more grand and noble, and worthy of
our thoughts, prayers, and contributions, than the attempt to bring
Africa under the influence of the Gospel? A wise and good man
once said, if he were sure that he would die to-morrow, he would
plant a tree to-day, whose shade or fruit might bless the coming
generation. This man had a soul truly great, and in the likeness
of the Creator. He looked forward to the future.
And if we look to the future of this grand movement; and seeing
how the feeble beginning has grown into an independent republic,
with seven hundred miles of sea-coast, and territory sufficient
to accommodate all the black population of these United
States, and country capable of raising all the leading and great
products of the tropical climates, cotton, corn, rice, sugar, and coffee—who
among us can look to the future of this grand movement?
Who can read the microscope, or prophesy from the configuration
of the planets, which presided over the birth of the free,
independent, and Christianized Republic of Liberia, what shall
be its history as it sweeps onward through the track of time, enlightening
and redeeming that vast continent? The returning of
the negroes of this continent to their fatherland, has made Africa
to the European Continent.
And when England asks in time to come, as she has often done
heretofore, and not without a sneer, What has America done for
the negro? we may gladly say, Look to Liberia, and see what
America has done for the negro, for Africa, and for Christ. See
there the only country on the globe in which the negro is a man,
in full possession of all the rights of a man. See there a colony
of intelligent, moral, and industrious people, grown already into a
nation, carrying the English language, and science, and commerce,
and arts, and the glad tidings of the Gospel, and of republican
liberties, into the darkest regions of heathenism and slavery.
And if fifty years hence England dares to ask again, “What has
America done for the negro?” then all Africa will respond, saying,
“The continent which England once robbed and ravaged,
and from which she tore our bleeding sires, now smiles and rejoices
in the light shed upon it by the sons of those exiles, returned
to us ladened with Heaven's best blessings, through the
Christian intelligence and philanthropy of America.”
I do not doubt but that the whole continent of Africa will be
regenerated, and I believe the Republic of Liberia will be the great
instrument, in the hands of God, in working out this regeneration.
The colony of Liberia has succeeded better than the colony of
Plymouth did for the same period of time. And yet, in that little
company which was wafted across the mighty ocean in the May
Flower, we see the germs of this already colossal nation, whose
feet are in the tropics, while her head reposes upon the snows of
Canada. Her right hand she stretches over the Atlantic, feeding
the millions of the Old World, and beckoning them to her shores,
as a refuge from famine and oppression; and, at the same time,
she stretches forth her left hand to the islands of the Pacific, and
to the old empires of the East, full of the blessings of the arts and
sciences, of trade, civilization, and pure religion. And does not
faith tell us that the lone star, that our example and benevolence
has made to appear in the very central regions of African barbarism,
shall beam along the dark valleys of the Niger and Senegal, and
make the Mountains of the Moon reflect the glory of the sun of
righteousness, and that Africa redeemed, and having placed the
topmost jewel in the crown of her great deliverer, shall sit with
Europe, Asia, and America, clothed and in their right minds, at
the feet of Jesus of Nazareth?
From an article on “Slavery in Disguise,” written by Rev. J. Morris Pease,
and published in the June number of the “Colonization Herald,” we gather that
a London company is actually engaged in bargaining with native chiefs of the
Kroo tribe in Africa for men, women, and children, which this company have
contracted to deliver to agents in British Guiana and Jamaica, to be employed
as laborers. Mr. Pease quotes from the report of Mr. Hamilton, an agent of the
British government, sent to negotiate with the negro chiefs for “laborers,” as
these forced emigrants were styled, showing that the people are under the absolute
control of their chiefs, and must go when sent or sold. Mr. Pease thus
concludes his article:
“It will be seen, throughout the whole of the agent's reports, that the parties
with whom they invariably put themselves in communication were the
chiefs, and not the people; and they always assumed the right of these chiefs
to control their movements. To dignify such a mode of obtaining emigrants as
free, is a delusion and a mockery. We close with the remark, that for any individual,
parties, or government to negotiate with the Kroo, or any other African
chiefs, for the labor or services of their people for periods of years, is really
to sanction the principle of slave-trading, and to open the way to the revival,
in new forms, of a traffic against which humanity revolts, and which the religion
of the Gospel condemns.”
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