THE
African llepositorg.
Von. XLVIX.] WASHINGTON, MAY, 1873. [No. 5.
VERY VALUABLE TESTIMONY.
The Rev. R. H. Nassau, at the late Annual Meeting of the American Colonization Society, said:
“You have an advantage in the locality of Liberia. The tribes included within the limits of that Republic are less degraded than those at the Equator.”
This testimony is true. Mr. Nassau, a missionary, whose station is near the Equator, is a competent witness, and facts confirming his statement are notorious.
But how long has this superiority existed ? And how came it to exist at all?
It did not exist in 1462, when Piedro de Cintra discovered that Coast, and found the natives wearing necklaces of human teeth, and showing other signs of extreme barbarism; nor during the period of Portuguese ascendancy to 1604, when the Mesurado River was called “Rio Duro,” because of the cruelty of the people there; nor during the next two centuries, when slave-traders and pirates were dominant. It was not so when the British Parliament were collecting evidence concerning the slave-trade, from 1791 to 1807. Then, on other parts of the Coast, slave-traders had factories on shore, where slaves were kept for sale in barracoons; but here “every tree was a factory,” and a fire on shore was the signal of a slave for sale. Here, too, was the principal scene of “panyaring;” that is, of one negro catching another at a disadvantage, and selling him; and sometimes he who had been hired to panyar others, was at last panyared himself, and sold to his late employers. There had been English factories there — one at Sangwin — but they were abandoned, “ because of the ill-temper of the blacks.”
130
VERY VALUABLE TESTIMONY.
[May
They were partially resumed, however, after the slave-trade had so depopulated the Coast as to diminish the danger; and in 1813, five years after the abolition of the British slave-trade by act of Parliament, two British subjects had one on Cape Mesurado, where Monrovia now stands, so fortified and de- fended that it cost a British ship-of-war a battle, and the loss of one man killed, to capture it. Five years later, two mis- sionaries from Sierra Leone, with an interpreter, explored carefully the whole Coast from Sherbro to the St. John’s Liver. They suffered repeatedly from theft, detected and defeated two conspiracies to rob and murder them ; and returned, having found no place where a mission could be hopefully attempted. Such was the northern and better half of that Coast, only nine months before our first emigrants sailed from New York.
And it was slow and hard work for the colonists to make the country safe for missionaries, or even for themselves. In 1821 they attempted to purchase a place for settlement at Grand Bassa, but failed, because it would interfere with the slave-trade. Their acquisition of Cape Mesurado was violently opposed for the same reason. They, however, succeeded in making a treaty of purchase, and took possession January 7, 1822; but in November, and again in December of that year, they were attacked by the combined forces of several native chiefs, with the avowed purpose of exterminating the colony and reviving the slave-trade. Their defeat made Monrovia and its immediate vicinity a safe residence; but the rest of the Coast remained as it was, much of it for many years.
In 1834, some colonists sent by the Pennsylvania Coloniza- tion Society, commenced an unarmed settlement at Bassa Cove. King Joe Harris, a slave-trader, sold them the land. In a few months, finding their mere presence an obstacle to slave-trading, he treacherously attacked them in the night, killed about twenty of them, dispersed the remainder, and plundered their houses.
Meanwhile missions were at work under colonial protec- tion, and with encouraging success. In 1841 the Methodists bad dared to establish a station at Heddington, some twenty miles inland from Monrovia, where now is a fine farming re- gion of sugar and coffee growers. Goterah, a warrior in the
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VERY VALUABLE TESTIMONY.
131
service of King Gatumba, for whom he had desolated many- native towns and taken hosts of slaves, gave out that he would capture Heddington, take the school children for slaves, and eat the missionary. The missionary and his assistants made what preparation they could for their defence. The attack was made near morning. After an obstinate fight, a well- directed musket shot laid Goterah dead upon the ground. His followers fled, and the mission was saved.
Yet again: In 1843 the Protestant Episcopal Mission at Cape Palmas had extended its labors eastward, and had one station at Half Cavalla, thirteen miles east, and two others beyond it. In December of that year, Bev. Mr. Payne, at Half Cavalla, found himself surrounded by armed natives, from whom his life and the lives of his family were in danger. He sent to Cape Palmas for rescue. An American ship-of-war, just arrived, immediately went to his relief, and brought him and his family, and the only remaining missionary further east, safely to Cape Palmas.
These instances, hastily selected from a multitude like them, show what Liberia was before the influence of Colonization was felt, and what large portions of it continued to be, for nearly a quarter of a century, in spite of that influence. Its native population then were certainly far from being such as Mr. Nassau finds them to be now. One more instance is so exactly in point that it must be mentioned.
The Presbyterian Mission among the natives “at the Equa- tor,” to which Mr. Nassau belongs, now includes not only the mission established by the Presbyterian Board at Corisco, and its branches, but also the mission previously established by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at the Gaboon. This last was first established at Cape Palmas, December 25, 1834, and was transferred to the Gaboon in 1842. Several reasons were assigned for the removal, one of which was, the more hopeful character of the people at the Gaboon. They were of a different African race, and their characteristics and connections with the interior were thought to afford more encouraging prospects of extensive missionary success. Such was the judgment of men who had labored nearly eight years among the natives of Liberia, and had made a protracted and
LIBERIA COLLEGE.
132
[May,
careful exploration of the Coast near the Equator. See the Missionary Herald for 1842 aod 1843.
Now, thirty years after that experience, examination, judg- ment, and consequent removal, Mr. Nassau finds a very differ- ent state of affairs. Speaking as a missionary, of the Christian- ization of Africa, he says: “You have an advantage in the locality of Liberia. The tribes included within the limits of that Republic are less degraded than those at the Equator.” And everybody, at all acquainted with the facts, knows that his judgment of things as they are now is correct.
More conclusive proof of the good influence of Colonization on the native population of Africa cannot reasonably be asked ; can scarcely be imagined. For observe, it is not missions, in- dependently of Colonization, that have made this change. Missions have been at work, for these same thirty years, near the Equator, as well as in Liberia. But these facts show how little, comparatively, they have been able to accomplish, where they have not had the aid of Colonization. t.
LIBERIA COLLEGE.
Our readers will recollect the announcement in the Reposi- tory for June, 1871, of a subscription of twenty thousand dollars towards an endowment of fifty thousand for Liberia College. It gives us pleasure to announce that the Hon. Albert Fearing has lately paid that subscribed amount of twenty thou- sand dollars into the Treasury of the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia. This is in addition to his contribution, in 1864, of five thousand dollars as a permanent fund for the in- crease of the library, and several other gifts, raising the whole amount of his donations in cash to about thirty thousand dollars, besides a great amount of valuable time and personal labor in behalf of the College.
This munificence is not the result of sudden impulse or un- calculating generosity, but of long and careful study, with the best means of information. Mr. Fearing has been a member of that Board of Trustees from its organization in 1850, and its president since 1855; and the duties of his presidency, as understood and performed by him, have given him a most
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intimate and thorough knowledge of all the affairs of the Col- lege, and of its value to Liberia and to Africa. The testimony of his example ought to have influence with others.
Towards the proposed endowment of fifty thousand dollars, only a few other comparatively small donations have been received. If Mr. Fearing’s example shall stimulate others to supply the deficiency, the College may be considered as estab- lished on its present moderate scale. Yet a larger endowment would much increase its usefulness.
Donations for the support and endowment of Liberia College should be remitted to “ Charles E. Stevens, Esq., Treasurer of the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, No. 40 State street, Boston, Massachusetts,” who is duly authorized to re- ceive the same and give the necessary acquittances. The most convenient form of donations or bequests is, “To the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia.”
The names of the Trustees are such as ought to command confidence and encourage donations. They are, naming them in the order of their election, Hon. Albert Fearing, President; Hon. Emory Washburn, LL.D., Abner Kingman, Esq., Charles E. Stevens, Esq., Joseph S. Hopes, Esq., James P. Melledge, Esq., Benjamin T. Reed, Esq. Rev. Joseph Tracy, D. D., 16 Pemberton Square, Boston, is Secretary.
ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.*
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society: I have little to add. The topics I had meditated have chiefly been dis- cussed, with thought better matured and in language more fitting than I can command. You and the other speakers have anticipated me. It could hardly be otherwise, in treating a subject so old, and about which so little is known. For the Continent of Africa has been the problem of the ages. Ex- tending over a fourth of the habitable globe, with an estimated population equal to that of all America, rich in the treasured wealth of nature — the gold, the ivory, the palm-oil, gems of beauty, and herbs of power — it has remained a mysterious and
* Delivered at the Fifty-Sixth Anniversary of the American Colonization Society, at Washington, D. C., January 21, 1873.
134
ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.
[May,
puzzling secret to the historic world. An eminent explorer disappeared several years ago in its unknown recesses, leaving all civilization perplexed to discover whether he was living or dead, till an adventurer from our own country penetrated the region of his heroic labors, and returned wTith the tidings. Even then, many of the best-informed people hesitated to ac- cept the narrative as true, until it was confirmed by sensible evidence. Singularly enough, the most intelligent were the most incredulous; their light was but darkness.
The enterprise of the Portuguese navigators near the close of the fifteenth century, and the subsequent maritime opera- tions of commerce, have pretty well ascertained the exterior geography of the Continent. Beyond this it is doubtful whether it is as much known to-day as it was three thousand years ago. Modern discoveries are verified by Herodotus and Strabo whose descriptions were for generations treated as fables or myths. Dr. Livingstone is understood to regard himself but a rediscoverer, bringing to light once more what was known to the ancient world. Darkness, thick darkness, scarcely re- lieved, has from the beginning brooded over the vast expanse, the abode of savage life, ferocious beasts, and degraded men. They who believe in the ultimate triumph of Christianity and Christian civilization, turn from the weary present to the more hopeful future, eager to know how and how long.
The Africans are not migratory. They build no ships, and never vex the seas. Not leaving their own Continent, except upon compulsion, and their inhospitable climate repelling the people of other lands, they have had little intercourse with the other races of men. By violence only have a few thou- sands, from time to time, been forced away into distant, hope- less, and unreturning bondage. Shall we wonder that they have been esteemed the least favorable type of the human family, approaching nearer than all others to the inferior or- ders of animal life, and unmixed with higher blood, or unsup- ported by the presence and example of a superior race, inca- pable of anything great, generous, or noble? Science has been invoked, and much learning exhausted, to prove that they sprang from a ditferent centre of population, or at least are still lingering in an earlier stage of progressive development.
1873.] ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD. 135
If we may accept as history the narrative of Father Las Casas, and his benevolent scheme of substituting the humble African for the oppressed and over-burdened Indian, as a menial to the high-mettled spirits who first discovered the Western Continent, the age of American slavery is something over three hundred years. Within the limits of the United States its duration did not much exceed two hundred years. Then — shall we say in the fullness of time? — it came to an end in a way that no man, the wisest, had ever foreseen. In a dreadful time of convulsion, bloodshed, and carnage, emancipation was proclaimed as a necessity, and acquiesced in as such. Thus freedom came to the bondman: on his part an unsought boon, costing him no effort, and without a struggle.
But what a contrast had been wrought by these two centu- ries! The negroes had been brought to our shores by thou- sands; they now were numbered by millions. They had come here savages, they were now civilized. The language, habits? customs, and religion which they brought from their heathen abodes had given place to the English language, to the Chris- tian religion, and to the habits and customs of English-speak- ing Christian people. They had learned to plant, to build, to mine and reduce the ores, and to fashion the metals into forms of utility, to treat the domestic animals, to make leather and cloth, and to convert them into shoes and clothing, and, not least, to cook. They could read, write, and print, and were familiar with the usages of the best society; and, above all, they had mastered the great lesson of thorough self-con- trol. This is civilization. I know not where, in the annals of the race, to find a change so rapid, a metamorphosis so com- plete. Account for it who will, reason about it how we may, call it Providence, or the progress of the species, I have no theory to propound, no explanation to offer. I prefer but to state the facts, no less obvious than remarkable.
Ten years have elapsed since emancipation was proclaimed. During that period the conduct of the freedmen has been something marvelous. Their patience in waiting for actual de- liverance; their singular good nature, and the absence of cruel and vindictive sentiments ; their self-restraint under the greatest
136
ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.
[May,
provocations; their clear perception of the situation; their eagerness for learning and the acquisition of property; their appreciation of the new order of things; and their unalterable purpose to maintain their liberty, have been so conspicuous, as to lift them up immeasurably in the universal estimation. At first the wisest doubted. Emancipation was an experiment. Some kind of novitiate was talked of. A protecting bureau was organized. With much hesitation, and reluctantly, civil rights were secured, and political privileges granted. Who shall say that the former have been abused, or the latter in- considerately exercised ? If the slave may be regarded as an apprentice, the freedman is a journeyman. In a thousand wa}'S he is becoming familiar with his new duties as a citizen. By the laws of slavery, the family relations could not exist. The husband could have no wife, the wife could have no husband, and neither could have children. All belonged to a common master. To organize families and establish homes, so that the old might provide for the young, and the young take care of the old, was one of the first and most urgent duties of emancipa- tion. As the head of a family, a householder, freeholder, elector, law-giver, and magistrate — in a word, a citizen of the Republic, I submit, the freedman has borne himself with great credit; far better, indeed, than his most partial friends had a right to expect or did expect. And I hesitate not to affirm that the four millions of emancipated American slaves are im- measurably superior to any other four millions that could be selected out of the estimated one hundred million sons of Africa. Without venturing to interpret, much less anticipate, the divine economy, I yet confess that my chief hope for the regeneration of Africa is these same four millions of her de- scendants.
The inquiry is pertinent alike to the subject and the occasion, how far Liberia will be a means to this important end. There is no disguising that with the mass of the colored people in this country that settlement has not been a favorite enterprise. If other evidence were needed, it is found in the small attendance of them here to-night and at similar meetings in years past. Arguments have been sometimes adduced from certain sup- posed incidental results of colonization, which I readily per-
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ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.
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ceive would wound their self-respect and impair their confidence. And wise men sometimes allow a cause to be prejudiced by the personal character of its advocates and the insufficiency of their reasons.
But let it be understood, once for all, that nothing which exalts the race and shows it capable of great things, whether in action, or self-denial, or patient endurance, can fail to benefit every individual of it the world over. Of course it is neither expected nor desired that the colored people of this country should emigrate en masse to Africa or elsewhere. None should go unwillingly, or without the hope of bettering their condi- tion. I speak not of those impelled by a high sense of duty. Let there be no repining, no yearning for the delights of the old civilization, like those which reproached the Hebrew exodus. Only the strong should venture — strong in soul as well as in body. Moses could forego the social and political advantages of royalty in the most refined court of his time, and cast in his fortunes with his own proscribed and hated people. Moses was a hero, and the lustre of his name is a glory in the soul of every Jew upon the face of the earth. They who aspire no higher than to a seat in the dress circle of theatres, or a ticket to the saloons of fashion, will never make heroes, nor do much for the redemption of a race. Such had better not attempt it.
There are two facts in our recent history to which I invite the attention of the thoughtful. The same Congress which de- creed the emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia recognized by a public act the national independence of Liberia. And the administration winch has since ratified the last amend- ment to the Constitution of the United States has selected a black man as our diplomatic representative to that country. Both of these measures had my hearty support, as tending to elevate the colored race, and to give a wider scope to their energies.
The Minister to Liberia, Hon. Mr. Turner, is a stranger to me personally, but I learn that he is a citizen of Missouri, and was educated at Oberlin, Ohio. His dispatches to the Secre- tary of State have been kindly submitted to my inspection, and advanced sheets of some of them furnished me, now going
138 ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD. [May,
through the press, and soon to be published. I have read them with interest, as the impressions not merely of a colored man — we have often heard colored men upon the same topics — but of one who was understood not to be favorably prepos- sessed. I hold in my hand a dispatch, received at the State Department on the 8th of July last, bearing date at Monrovia the 25th of the preceding May. It presents in some detail “the national capacities, present condition, and future prospects of Liberia.” At the risk of taxing your patience I will read a few extracts :
* * * * * * * * *
“This Republic occupies about six hundred miles of that part of this Coast so universally admitted to be better adapted to the rapid progress of civilization than any African territory north of the equator and south of the southern boundary line of the great desert of Sahara. By some, whose wide experience upon this Coast well qualifies them for a reliable opinion, the Liberian territory is pronounced the most desirable of any portion of West Africa.”
“The interior presents a country as picturesque in appear- ance as it is inviting in all its aspects; a fine undulating re- gion, abounding in streams and rivulets, and said by those who have traveled extensively interiorward to be quite salu- brious and healthful, being comparatively free from the deadly influence of the miasma arising from the thick mangrove- swamps near the Coast.”
Of the soil and its productions he says:
“ It seems almost unnecessary to pronounce this soil prolific, extremely rich, and seemingly inexhaustibly productive.
“The voluntary productions of the soil are almost fabulous. The palm-tree, that widely celebrated benefactor to man in tropical climes, is here in great abundance, and volunteers a utility that I have frequently thought approximates to indis- pensableness to both the native and the Americo-Liberian. Growing without cultivation, it supplies the lard, soap, butter, and a wholesome beverage, known as palm-wine, for domestic uses, while palm-kernel and oil furnish the principal staple for
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ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.
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exportation. The cocoa, the bamboo, the pine-apple, the ma- hogany, the banana, the cam-wood, the orange, the bar-wood, the Calabar bean, the lime, (sweet and sour,) the sycamore, the black-gum, the custard-apple, the mangrove-plum, to- gether with a wide additional variety of fibrous and other trees of generous utility, grow voluntarily in profuse abun- dance and with great vigor.
“The cultivation of the coifee-tree has been attempted within the last twenty years, and with great comparative success.
“During the late disturbances in the United States the raising of cotton, on a not very extensive plan, was attempted by Liberians, and the fact established that very superior cotton can be produced from this soil and climate.
“Sugar-cane is abundant, and thrives as finely as in the southern United States.
“Two crops of corn may be produced in a year. In fine, we find here the most profuse luxuriant vegetation.”
* Hi :Js
“With reference to the mineral capacities of Liberia little is known ; however, it is certain that iron of good quality exists in large quantities.
“ Hon. H. R. W. Johnson, Secretary of State, informs me that the presence of gold is also a certainty.
“The principal domesticated animals are the bullock or beeve, cows, sheep, geese, turkeys, ducks, and chickens.”
Mr. Turner sums up his review of the land and its resources with the following reflections:
“This is a short synopsis of the natural capacities of that part of the West African Coast chosen by expatriated Ameri- cans for the purpose of planting upon these shores of Father- land the banner of untrammeled manhood, and of spreading among their still benighted brethren the softening influences of Christian light and love.
“I deem it unnecessary to say to the Department that there can b<^no radiating force so potent in the civilizing and Chris- tianizing Africa as a Christian commonwealth, a religious negro nationality, under the auspicious control of democratic institu- tions of government.
140 ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD. [May,
“Whatever may be the present condition of affairs in the Republic of Liberia, it must be admitted that Liberia has been signally instrumental in assisting to create upon this Coast what is destined soon to be the permanent confluence of Chris- tian civilization and heathenish superstition. It is now one- half century since, aided by Christian philanthropy, those forming the germ of what is now the Republic of Liberia rested their traveled feet upon this territory, and about two and a half decades since, forced by increased responsibilities and growing interests, Liberia emerged from the colonial cru- cible into the more healthful atmosphere of national indepen- dence. From the beginning the people of Liberia zealously gave themselves to the attainment of the objects of their mis- sion. They not only planted the asylum they sought to found, but essentially aided in the effectual suppression of the slave- trade along their Coast, and proved auxiliary to the propaga- tion of Christian truth among the aborigines within their ter- ritory. They have framed the outline of a system by which to govern themselves/’
He criticizes when he cannot approve, and the general tem- per of his dispatch would indicate the criticism to be just. Of labor he says :
“In the palmiest days the condition of the laborer in this country does not seem to me an enviable one. Male labor, for natives, rates from $2 to $4 per month, and for the expa- triated Americans, from $4 to $10 per month. Labor is sel- dom paid for in money, but in trade goods, such as tobacco, salt, fish, &c.
“I may add, dry-goods, or any article of ordinary necessity, is procurable for labor. I regret to say that at no period of Liberia’s history does agriculture seem to have been exten- sively engaged in. This is especially true, notwithstanding the great agricultural resources of the country, and the un- failing remuneration of this soil, together with the fact that Liberia has unquestionable facilities for and aspires zealously to be a commercial nation.”
The subject of schools and education attracts notice:
“Principally all the schools in the country are dependent
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ADDRESS OF HON. HORACE MAYNARD.
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on the generosity of Christian missions abroad. All the pri- mary schools that I have been privileged to meet are sadly deficient in the requisites of a successful, or would-be success- ful school.
“None would deprive Liberia of beneficent and necessary aid from without, but all would have that aid so applied as to en- lighten the undebased manhood of the aborigine, and develop the latent energies of the civilized Liberian.
“Past experience shows Liberia’s need to be men, education, and wealth; these alone can give her sound policy and success- ful government.
“To the attainment of these requisites the devoted energies and money of American philanthropists have been for fifty years employed. What they have accomplished we have seen.
* * * * * * * * 5jS
“It is evident here, as elsewhere, that the beginning of civilization must be brought from foreign countries; but the superstructure must be erected of indigenous material. The completion of the work belongs to the indigenous inhab- itant himself.
“If future prosperity would be secured to this land, its friends at home and abroad should apply their efforts to the improve- ment and incorporation into this State of the aborigines, rather than to indiscriminate accessions from abroad.
“Thus they would establish a confidence with surrounding tribes that would develop an interior commerce, stretching to the gold mines and Arabic scholarship of the Mandingo tribe of Mohammedan Africans, who should, by all means, he incor- porated into the Liberian State. They now reside upon Libe- rian territory.”
* * * * * * * * *
“Situation, climate, products, soil, and numerous peculiarities
both of the people and the country, conspire to evidence that He manifestly not only intends the evangelization of Africa to be effected contemporaneous with her civilization, but that the ‘ man of these tropics must elevate the man of these tropics.’ ”
142
AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
[May,
The observations of Mr. Turner, found in his dispatches, correspond in many respects with the information I had pre- viously obtained from Mr. Priest, a young Liberian now prose- cuting his studies at Howard University. Less than fifteen thousand persons, all told, most of them emancipated slaves, have gone from this country as emigrants to Africa. It speaks volumes that the civilization which they carried with them has not been swallowed up in the degradation by which it has been surrounded. On the contrary, we have a higher and better development, extending its influence over hundreds of thou- sands of savage people many miles around.
Go on, sir, with your benevolent enterprise. Good will grow out of it, as it does out of all well-intended efforts — some good, if not that which we especially contemplate. Much you have accomplished ; very much remains to be accomplished. It may be — who can tell — that the founders of the Society have budded better than they knew, and that they have laid the founda- tions of a political structure coextensive with a race and a continent. This is your Fifty-Sixth Anniversary — fifty-six years from the feeble beginning — a long period in the life of the individual man; in the life of nations but as the tick of the clock, the unappreciable movement of the finger upon the dial-plate of time.
(The following communication from a “well-tried and not- found wanting” friend of the colored race, shows careful pre- paration and the result of much study. While there are here and there sentiments and statements which we must be under- stood as not endorsing, still the general scope serves as a foot- print in the progress of the cause. — Ed. African Repository.)
AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
BY GEN. J. W. PHELPS.
The first lodgment of American negroes on the Western Coast of Africa was made about one half century ago. Since that period not a year has passed without an accession to the Colony from our shores, until finally there has become established there a population of American origin numbering some fifteen or twenty thousand souls. Besides these, there are reckoned half a million of natives, who have become more or less accustomed to the American language, ideas, and modes of life. What was once a howling wilderness,
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rendered diabolical by the slave-trade, and by the heathenism of the original inhabitants, now exhibits many churches and schools, one college, two print- ing presses, large plantations of sugar and coffee, a growing commerce, encour- aged by visits from regular lines of steamers from England, and a Govern- ment like our own, administered by able men. The President of Liberia is probably equal in ability to any of our own Presidents for the last thirty years. The difference between the state of things now and what it was fifty years ago is as great as that between light and darkness; and all this has been effected by the patient and constant efforts of a band of philanthropists, known as the American Colonization Society.
But, although this Society have accomplished much, they have not been able to meet the growing demands of the Colony which they have thus estab- lished, or the calls of our negro citizens for aid to be transported there. The number of applicants on the list for a passage to Liberia now amounts to several thousands; but the funds of the Society, unaided as its efforts are by the Government, are not sufficient to accommodate more than a very small' fraction of these. In order to send three thousand emigrants to Liberia, and locate them there comfortably, would require say three hundred thousand dollars, a sum which the General Government has not hesitated to bestow upon railroads and steamships, and even upon European immigrants, in the shape of public lands ; but which can hardly be expected in favor of emi- grants to Africa, under the present policy.
The policy of the Government has been adverse to negro emigration when it ought to have favored it. It is a very narrow view of our own position in the face of the world, and indeed of our own Constitution, which insures to every one a right to tbe “pursuit of happiness,” to suppose that our African population must be kept among us, merely because of their utility in raising cotton and casting party votes.
In the absence of Government aid, and in view of the great proportions which the colonization of Africa is assuming, it is evident that we must look to some other quarter for the necessary funds besides the contributions of philanthropists. But where shall we look? that is the question. Might not the commerce of the rising Colony be made the means of furnishing the proper resources? Emigration aids the commerce of Liberia, and commerce should therefore be made to help emigration, and nothing is easier than to accom- plish this end.
We would propose a line of ships, to be carefully fitted up for the comfort- able transportation of emigrants, and owned partly in Liberia and partly in the United States. From New York these ships could proceed, with freight, to Charleston or Savannah; there take in a load of cotton and emigrants; proceed to Liberia ; discharge their passengers ; continue on to Havre or Liverpool with the cotton; take in Irish or German emigrants for New York, and so on. A movement has recently been made in Liberia which would greatly aid a measure of this kind. It is proposed there to establish a sys- tem of block-houses, some ten or fifteen miles apart, along a highway lead-
144
AFRICAN COLONIZATION.
[May,
ing into the interior towards the valley of the Niger. This road would serve as a basis for new settlements from the United States, so that within a few weeks from the time that an emigrant leaves a Southern port, he could be temporarily sheltered on fertile land of his own, in the high and healthy interior regions of Africa.
The Colony of Liberia, though slowly and surely growing, has not yet had the strength and energy to strike out into the interior of the Continent ; but has been confined to the narrow limits of the Coast. It is natural that a small and weakly Colony from a far country, frowned upon by a wilderness, and darkling with imaginary dangers and hardships, should cling to the bright and laughing face of the sea, which offers a possible union with home and its sympathies. It was not pleasant to lose sight of the ships that every few months brought them news of friends and native land, and an agreeable accession of numbers to strengthen their little band. But an effort is now being made to remedy this hindrance to the growth of the Colony, and the march of Liberia will henceforth be steadily inland, where not only a healthy climate and a rich commerce invite, but also where the seat of her empire lies.
The establishment of a road for caravan trade with the interior, to lead over the route of the future railroad communication with the valley of the Niger, is fraught with the most important consequences to Liberia. This road, when finally built, should at once be made the basis of the township division of territory, and of the township form of government; not only for the convenience of the inhabitants, but for the interests of republican insti- tutions.
The colleges, which have been established for the African race during the last ten years, have already produced many educated minds; and when these minds, as the agents of religion, law, medicine, surveying ect., lead the way in opening up the interior of Africa to Christian civilization, the work of African Colonization will receive a new impetus. The work of regenerating Africa and making its one hundred and fifty millions of people a great leading nation, which is a greater work and a more glorious one than has been done in America, belongs almost exclusively to the negroes of the United States. They are a missionary race, set aside for this purpose; and their work seems only of less importance than that of the four millions of emancipated Israel- i tish slaves whose missionary labors, begun three thousand years ago, are still proceeding to civilize and enlighten the whole world. There is no other missionary scheme of the present day equal to this of opening up to civilization the Continent of Africa. It is worthy of all the funds which are now appropriated to the support of foreign missions. Whoever gives a hun- dred dollars to the American Colonization Society sends a missionary to Africa, a practical worker in the cause of Christianity, who is never at any further expense to the Missionary Board, and who does the work which no white man can do. And, besides this, the giver would contribute his share
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towards the solution of a question which still threatens the peace of the country with disquiet and danger.
The language of the Government and its agents has often been very favor- able towards Liberia, but its action has usually proved quite the contrary. As an evidence of the good intentions of the Government, let us take the law of July 17, 1862, section 12, chapter cxcv. That law reads as follows, viz: "That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to make pro- vision for the transportation, colonization, and settlement, in some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of such persons of the Afri- can race, made free by the provisions of this act, as may be willing to emi- grate, having first obtained the consent of the Government of said country to their protection and settlement within the same, with all the rights and privileges of freemen.”
This language is very plain and explicit, and it placed almost unlimited means at the disposal of the Executive to aid the cause of African Coloniza- zation ; and the language of numerous Presidents and leading statesmen for the last fifty years has been equally favorable ; but, nevertheless, little has been done for our American Colony of Liberia by the Government of the United States ; not so much, even, as has been done for it by both England and France. The United States has been the last of the Powers to recognize the independence of Liberia. And not even now does it furnish any facilities for mail communication, as the English have done.
Nor, so far as we know, are our negroes helped to the new lands of the West, as are foreign emigrants. Without resources, skill, enterprise, or self- reliance to compete with the crowd of whites for these lands, and receiving no aid from the Government to acquire possessions in Africa, which are freely offered to all who come, what is the negro to do but settle down in a state of dependence among his old masters?
There are several ways in which the Government conld give effective aid to the American Colonization Society. Instead of giving our negro soldiers land in the West, it might appropriate the value of a quarter section to each towards settling him in Africa. We might also turn over to the Society all the duties paid on entries at our ports from Liberia; a source of, revenue which has been created by the Society, and under whose administration it might serve to fur- ther promote the commerce of the United States.
The foundations of a liberal policy towards Liberia should have been laid at an early period of the war. Neglected opportunities seldom offer them- selves again ; but it is never too late to attempt the correction of a fault. The sooner the attempt is made the better.
It may be thought to show great friendliness on the part of the United States towards their negro population to give them freedom and the right to vote, but this measure was an inevitable consequence of the character of our institutions. A right which is given to every race and to almost every con- dition under the sun, shows no particular friendship when bestowed upon the African race, and is entirely void of contrition, absolution, or retribution, 2
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or of any of the higher moral elements which are involved in the wrongs which our policy has imposed upon that race for two hundred and fifty years. The greatest and truest friendship yet shown towards the negro by anything American is by the Colonization Society, which, against much political indifference and opposition, has opened a door, and kept it open, through every phase of good or adverse fortune, for his escape from oppression, and for entering on a sphere of higher aspiration and usefulness than any which offers here. It has kept open the portals to the promised land of the Afri- cans, through which the ablest minds of the race — the Robertses, the Blydens, the Freemans, the Johnsons, the Warners, etc., are calling on their fellow- Africans to follow. There is no other American institution that stands in a higher, nobler attitude, either for the character of its originators and sup- porters or for the work it has accomplished, than the American Colonization Society. Shall the efforts of that Society be sustained by the Government or not? Shall the unvarying opinions of the first minds of the country for the last fifty years have weight in shaping our policy, or shall we continue the present plan of leaving the question to the accidents of fortune or time?
What has the negro to hope for by remaining in the United States? Let the two hundred and forty years’ enslavement of his own race and the extermination of the Indian tribes answer.
Thucydides relates, in his history of the Peloponnesian war, “ that the Spar- tans selected such of their slaves, the Helotes, as were distinguished lor their courage, to the number of two thousand or more, declared them free, crowned them with garlands, and conducted them to the temples of the gods ; but soon after they all disappeared; and no one could, either then or since, give account in what manner they were destroyed.” Aristotle says that the Ephori, political officers of Greece, declared war against these Helotes, in order “that they might be massacred under the pretence of law.”
We would not wish to imply that the time is near at hand when the poli- ticians of the United States will declare war against the negroes, in order to exterminate them; but this fact in the history of Grecian democracy may well serve as a caution to such of our negroes as are resolved to oppose the strong current of prejudice against them here, instead of seeking to transfer their aspiratious to a new and more genial soil in Africa.
The nationality of the negro, different from that of other men, has been impressed upon him by inerradicable marks, traits, and qualities. He is distinguished by color from other men. He belongs to the nationality of Africa, and so long as he stays here, he will be but a part of the African nation in a foreign land. He will constitute only a class of different instincts and habits from the rest of the nation, and will often experience a crushing weight of opposition from them. He has recently received a new birth — a birth from slavery to liberty; but does that give him the advantages of a new country? The Irish and Germaus receive both a new birth of liberty and the advantages of a new country by coming to the United States. The negro, by remaining here, robs himself of half the advantages which accrue to these European emigrants.
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The modes of agriculture which have been taught to our negro are better suited to a tropical climate than they are to the soil of the United States. Northern modes of agriculture, such as exist in Europe and most of the United States, are to prevail in the South hereafter. The cottun lands there are to be husbanded, manured, cut up into small farms, and be made subject to a rotation of crops, of which cotton or sugar is but one, and. of which ro- tation and tillage the negro knows but little. He cannot compete in this climate with the strength, intelligence, enterprise, and habits of industry and self-reliance natural to its own denizens. His chances of success will grow less and less in proportion as the numbers of the white race increase. The teriitory of the United States which is thought exclusively suited to his modes of labor will grow less and less every year, until the African race among us will find itself hemmed in within small limits.
If there is anything divine in government it is law. Legislatures, in a general point of view, do not make laws, but their province is to ascertain what the laws are which govern in human affairs, interpret them, and give them expression in words. Laws are of divine appointment; the duty of the legislator is to announce what these laws are.
The general laws governing emigration, in their operation upon the destiny of the United States, are very manifest to all who examine them attentively. Never before, since the creation of the world, has a nation been more open to a regular, constant influx of emigrants than is ours. And these emigrants come to us with a pride of race and national name which they seek to pre- serve, and which threatens to change the tenor and character of our constitu- tion and laws. Instead of being Americans, the laws of emigration are changing us into a medley of nationalities, or classes, the governing principle of which lies in national or class spirit, and not in constitutional laws. Our constitutional law is a law of self-preservation, which is the first of all laws.
The question is, whether the law in favor of the emigration of the colored race, enacted July 17, 1862, to which we have referred, is in accordance with the general laws of emigration as affecting the interests of the United States, or is it a mere mistaken idea of such law? Do the general laws of emigra- tion, as now actually operating in Christendom at this present time, and as viewed in their relation to the Constitution of the United States as something to be defended and preserved, require the enactment or enunciation of any such law as that of July 17, 1S62? If not, why was such an enactment ever dreamed of?
The United States make haste to anticipate the law's of emigration, and stimulate their operation, where these laws pour in upon us the unceasing Btream from Europe. Instead of regulating these laws so as to preserve our own fundamental laws, we give them the ascendancy. We not only give for- eign immigrants a ready reception when they come, but we invite, urge, solicit them to come. But when several thousand Africans, whom we have robbed for many years of the fruits of their labor, desire to go to Liberia, we turn a deaf ear to them, and can see no emigration law in their favor which white men are bound to respect.
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How do the laws of emigration affect our moral interests? That is the question of chief importance to us. An influx of foreign people; no matter what their education, habits, and ideas may have been, will increase our mate- rial wealth, at least for a time; but does it raise us in the scale of moral worth? Is not our moral status of more importance to us than our material interests? What is our national mission? Is it to acquire wealth and territory, or to maintain moral truth?
It seems to us beyond a doubt that the moral condition and the republican character of the negro will be greatly improved by his entering upon the grand ennobling mission which is offered to birn in Africa; and when he wishes to accept that mission, it is our duty to help him, instead of throwing obstacles in his way, or seeking to detain him here for our own selfish material interests. It is my opinion that the enactment of July, 1862, was the enunciation of a real law, existing in the present actual condition of the United States, and that it is to the best interests of all concerned that that law should be carried into execution.
From the Golden Age.
THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
BY THOMAS R. HAZARD.
In the Golden Age of March 1st you indulge in some remarks concerning this young Bepublic, that I think may have been written without due consideration. Alluding to 3.000 appli- cants from the Southern States who are waiting for an op- portunity to go to Liberia, you say, “Let them go; and we hope that, on reaching that foreign shore, they will not find themselves in a fool’s paradise. But we think it is the manly dut}' of an American negro to remain in America, and fight his battle here like a man.” This sentiment I think should be modified, for reasons that I will endeavor to make plain, if permitted to go apparently a little out of the way to arrive at the results I aim at.
We read that many years ago one Joseph, the son of a simple •shepherd, an obscure Arabian grazier, who had worked some twenty y’ears for his chosen wife and some cattle, was sold by his brethren to slave-merchants, who re-sold him into Egypt. I will not stop to trace the consequences that, in the mysterious ways of Providence, resulted from the enslavement Of that poor boy, some 4,000 years ago, (which is patent to all,) farther than to remark, that to it both Europe and America owe the high character of their present civilization.
Again, some two-and-a-half centuries ago certain persecuted Puritans, Quakers, and Huguenots, sought refuge on the bar- barous shores of North America, and for fifty years these sorely beset pioneers scarcely more than held their power and num-
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bers complete. But what have been the results? They too are patent to all, and I will not repeat them farther than to say, that an Anglo-Saxon nation of freemen now exists on the continent, numbering 40,000,000 people.
Again, some three centuries ago. Central Africa (as it now mostly is} was peopled by 100,000,000 of savages, shut out from the light of civilization and progress, for the reason that none but its native colored races can long exist in its climate. About this period Las Casas, a benevolent, one-ideaed philan- thropist, moved by the sufferings of the feeble natives who were doomed to work and perish in the mines of Hispaniola, conceived the project of substituting the labor of the hardier races of Africa in their stead, and imported a few negroes from Guinea into the Island. The results of this little experiment are also patent to all; and I will not reiterate them farther than to say, that to these must be attributed a civil war that deluged America’s soil with the blood of half a million men, with the cost of billions of treasure, and the almost total de- moralization of 40,000,000 citizens.
Again, as had been previously suggested by such broad- visioned men as Jefferson, Marshall, arid Madison, a little meet- ing composed of Clay, Finley, Caldwell and a few others, as- sembled in a small room in Washington City in 1817, and or- ganized a Society for the declared object of “Colonizing with their own consent, in Africa, the free people of color residing in the United States,” which project, small as it seemed, was characterized by high British authority as being more deeply fraught with future good for humanity than any movement of the age.
Time only can determine its final results; but, judging the future by the past, I think there is good reason to hope that before the next century passes the little mustard seed that the Colonization Society planted in Liberia will have grown into a mighty tree, whose spreading branches will insure protection, shelter, and knowledge to the long-benighted millions of Ethio- pia, and cause them to “reach forth” with joy and rejoicing “their hands towards God.” Let us examine for a moment and see how this view is borne out by facts.
The first colonists to Liberia went there about fifty years ago. They were then, as they have been since, taken mainly from the poorest and most oppressed portion of their race, and of course had, and still have, to be transported and for a time sustained by the Society. The Colony has had to struggle on amidst poverty, obloquy, and misrepresentation, whilst its sup- porters have been assailed with a virulence amounting to per- secution. And yet we find Liberia, though scarcely yet passed
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the age at which most of those colonies from whence onr Gov- ernment has proceeded were abandoned or partially destroyed, grown, as you truly say, “into a respectable and orderly Repub- lic, having a more honest Congress than the United States,” and taking its stand as an honored equal with the proudest nations on earth. And these results were brought about by the unaided labors and contributions of a few individuals only. Let me ask, is it not marvelous, and suggestive of the thought that the Benign Ruler of the Universe does in reality smile on the undertaking?
Let us look at the doings of the little Republic in another point of view. Previous to its interposition, the trade in slaves from the Western Coast of Africa had grown into a gigantic evil, exceeding in atrocious cruelty anything beside on earth. Three mighty nations — England, France, and the United States — combined, with the object of intercepting the slave-ships by means of blockading the Coast of Western Africa. This only aggravated the evil. Instead of building large, roomy ships, as it had been the interest of the slave-dealers to do before, it now became necessary for them to build sharp, fast-sailing vessels, so as to enable them to escape pursuit. Into these the poor negroes were literally packed like herring, and the death and suffering that attended the middle passage beggared all description. Sometimes, in cases of hot pursuit and in a gale, when the hatches had to be kept closed, whole cargoes of human beings miserably perished from suffocation. Still the trade went on; for it was estimated that if one slaver in four arrived in Cuba or Brazil, it made a paying business. All this iniquitous traffic the little Republic of Liberia has extirpated root and branch from the Western Coast of Africa, and thereby removed the necessity for a blockade that cost- the three Governments probably more annually than has ever been contributed in any and all waj'S to the cause of African Coloni- zation.
What a commentary on^the slanders that have so often been hurled at the Liberians, in respect to their being encouragers of the slave-trade, is that remark of yours that the Repub- lic of Liberia has not only “ made a holy war against the slave-trade,” but “that, as one of the trophies of its victory over the trafficers in human flesh, it has built a chapel alto- gether of the masts, spars, and pianks of the captured slave ships.”
But all that has yet been done by the infant giant is, as I believe, but incipient steps in the great work that is asf-i;ned by Omnipotence for Liberia to accomplish ; which is no less than the regeneration and civilization of Africa — a land
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now given over to barbarity, darkness, and desolation, but which is capable of being made the most fruitful of the Conti- nents, and the sustainer of more inhabitants than now exist in the world.
Owing to the devastation caused by the slave-trade, a vast tract of country lying adjacent to the sea-coast in Western Africa is thinly peopled, affording ample room for millions of immigrants. The advantages of such a location, both as re- * gards instructing and protecting the natives of the interior, is apparent. The nucleus of civilization is already formed and firmly established. Its growth will depend in a great measure on the degree of favor the cause meets with in America.
The advocates of the rights of the colored man seem too often to limit his sphere of action to this country. But is this the true position to take? The labors of an enlarged under- standing are not to be compressed into local limits. Where ever the most good can be accomplished, there should such a man ‘‘tight his battle” for right and freedom. Let, then, I say, the colored man of America imitate William Penn and other American pioneers in freedom’s cause, and help to build up Liberia. He will find that, although the white man cannot remain there, it is healthy for his own race, and astonishingly productive.
The moral effect, too, of a great nation of free enlightened colored men will be felt throughout the whole world. Towards it will the eyes of the race be turned from every point of op- . pression, and it will greatly assist in breaking their chains. Besides, what more glorious cause can any lover of humanity be engaged in than that of assisting to redeem his race? The redemption of 100 000,000 souls in Africa awaits the movements of their brethren in America.
In Thomas Fowell Buxton’s great exploring expedition up the Niger, it was clearly demonstrated that all missionary effort in Africa must be in vain if not conducted by colored men. It was officially reported to the British Government, that “of the 145 white persons who composed the expedition,
40 perished from the African fever. It may be worth while to observe,” continues the writer, “that of the 158 Africans on board, not one died from the effects of the disease.”
Again I say, if Africa is redeemed, it must be done through the ministry of those of African descent who have been pre- pared for their great work in the uniform order of Providence by suffering.
Yaucluse, R. I., March 12, 1873.
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From the National Republican.
THE CHRISTAIN CIVILIZATION OF AFRICA.
AN OBJECT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
There is a widespread misapprehension in the community- in regard to a leading object of the American Colonization Society, which a scrap of history touching the origin of said Society can hut remove.
A public meeting was held in the City of Washington, Decem- ber 21, 1816, to consider the question of forming such a Society, for the purpose of colonizing the free blacks of the country. The Hon. Henry Clay was called to the chair, who, in a brief address, spoke earnestly in favor of the organization, and of Africa as the place for the proposed colony. Said he: “There, ample provision might be made for the colony itself, and it might be rendered instrumental to the introduction into that extreme quarter of the globe of the arts, civilization, and Christianity. There was a peculiar, a moral fitness in restor- ing them to the land of their fathers. And if, instead of the evils and sufferings which we have been the innocent cause of. inflicting upon the inhabitants of Africa, we can transmit to her the blessings of our arts, our civilization, and our religion, may we not hope that America will extinguish a great portion of that moral debt which she has contracted to that unfortunate country?”
Mr. Clay was followed by Elias B. Caldwell, who urged at length the same views. After mentioning several reasons for preferring Africa to any other place, he said: “But I have a greater and nobler object in view in desiring them to be placed in Africa. It is the belief that through them civilization and the Christian religion would be introduced into that benighted quarter of the world. It is the hope of redeeming many mil- lions of people from the lowest state of superstition and ignor- ance, and restoring them to the knowledge and worship of the true God. Great and powerful as are the other motives to this measure, in my opinion — and you will find it the opinion of a large class of the community — all other motives are small and trifling compared with the hope of spreading among them the knowledge of the gospel.”
The views thus presented were heartily indorsed by Hon. John Bandolph of Boanoke, and Mr. Bobert Wright of Mary- land.
After appointing a committee to draft a constitution, the meeting was adjourned to the following Saturday, when, in the Hall of the House of Bepresentatives, the American Col- onization Society was formed, by adopting the constitution which had been prepared.
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The Society held its first meeting January 1, 1817, for the election of officers, when Hon. Bnshrod Washington was chosen President, Elias B. Caldwell Secretar}7, and David English Treasurer; also thirteen Vice Presidents and a Board of Man- agers.
The first action of the Society thus organized was to instruct the Board of Managers to memorialize Congress “on the sub- ject of colonizing, with their consent, the free people of color of the United States in Africa or elsewhere.” Accordingly a memorial was prepared and laid before both branches of the National Legislature.
In alluding to Africa as the best country for the contem- plated settlement, they say : “If the experiment, in its more remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnum- bered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness, reclaim the rude wanderer from a life of wretchedness to civilization and humanity, and convert the blind idolater from gross, abject superstitions to the holy charities, the sublime morality, and humanizing discipline of the gospel, the nation or the indi- vidual that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the enterprise will secure imperishable glory, founded in the moral approbation and gratitude of the human race, unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of Divine beneficence — a glory with which the most splendid achieve- ments of human force or power must sink in the competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison.”
In the House of .Representatives this memorial was referred to a committee of seven, who in their report said of Africa: “It is the country which, in the order of Providence, seems to have been appropriated to that distinct family of mankind. And while it presents the fittest asylum for the free people of color, it opens a wide field for their improvement in civiliza- tion, morals, and religion, which the humane and enlightened memorialists have conceived it possible, in process of time, to spread on that great continent.”
From the above statements it is manifest that the Christian civilization of Africa was a prominent idea with the founders of the institution. j. o.
THE COLLEGE IN LIBERIA.
We spoke last week of the need of schools and a College in Liberia, and of what is being done in this respect for that Republic. We shall say a few words of her College, as upon that depends, in no small measure, the tone and standard of the education which is to be supplied to her citizens. She owes the existence of that College chiefly to the foresight and broad
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philanthropy of our own citizens. Others have at times, with a like spirit of Christian benevolence, taken part in aiding the enterprise. It is not to be wondered at that, in a State in which the school and the Commonwealth grew up together, it should have occurred to intelligent minds that, if this infant Republic of Liberia was to live and thrive, to become the home of a free people and the seat of industry and wealth, her sons must be educated. It is not surprising that, remembering what Harvard had done for New England, they should have conceived the notion of planting there a college which should be for that land a fountain of light and learning, as Harvard has been for this.
It would be pleasant to give the names of those who took an early interest in this movement, with the amounts gener- ously contributed to aid it, but our space forbids^ In 1847, Liberia became an independent republic. In 1850, Simon Greenleaf, George N. Briggs, and others were incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts as “The Trustees of Dona- tions for Education in Liberia.” That corporation has been in active operation since that time, according to its limited means, and has accomplished a work which only needs to be sustained .hereafter to tell upon the future of Liberia, and through her upon all Africa. In 1851, the Government of Liberia established Liberia College, under the aid and patron- age of the Massachusetts corporation, who were to appoint the teachers for the institution till some new arrangement should be made. Difficulties interposed to the immediate con- summation of the work, and it was not until January, 1862, that the College was formally inaugurated with a president and two professors. The Hon. Mr. Roberts, President of the Republic, has from the first been the presidentof the College. In securing his eminent talents and broad experience, the College and its friends have been singularly fortunate. The State has done and is doing what it can to foster and sustain the insti- tution, but its means are too limited and uncertain to be much relied on at present for pecuniary appropriations. The College still looks for its means of support and usefulness to its friends in the United States, through the Trustees of Donations in Boston. Thus far the experiment has answered all that could have been reasonably expected from its limited means and its isolated field of action. The need of such an institution is so deeply felt there, that the demand for the fruits of its teaching has proved one of the serious obstacles in the way of its full success.
Such is the call for educated men in the Republic, to fill the places in the Government, in the professions, as teachers, and other situations where such men are needed, that students are
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in many cases withdrawn from completing their collegiate course by the pressing offers which are made to them to engage in some of those departments of intellectual activity. Every year furnishes stronger evidence of the need of such an insti- tution. The wisdom with which it has been managed is evinced in the broad, catholic views with which its affairs have been conducted. Men of various religious denominations are engaged in it as trustees or as teachers. It recognizes the dominaney of no sect. It is designed to educate young men of ability as Christians, as good citizens, and as safe and wise counsellors, and through them to reach every class and every region which are accessible to the social and Christian mis- sionary. This is probably one reason why the various denomi- nations who have missionaries within that fold have hitherto done so little to sustain and encourage it. But if they would give the matter a single thought, they would see that Liberia is the place where their teachers are to be the best educated. It would be consulting economy as well as efficiency to take young men born to that climate, familiar with the habits and traditions of its people, and physically trained to the hardships of a pioneer life, and educate them there, and set them to work in a field where they will be at home. But we have no dis- position to enlarge upon this point. Our attention has been latety called to the problem of civilizing Africa, and, having found these agencies at work, we could not forbear giving these few results of the inquiries to which we have been led. — Boston Daily Advertiser.
From the Republican for February, 1873.
LIBERIAN AFFAIRS.
Nominating Conventions. — On Tuesday, the 4th instant, there was held in Clay-Ashiand a grand National Convention, at which there was a large delegation from all parts of the country. The following nominations were made: J. J. Rob- erts for President, and A. W. Gardner, of Grand Bassa, for Yice-President.
After several speeches, congratulating and approving the action of the Convention, it was resolved into a County Con- vention, for the nomination of one Senator, in place of the Sen- ator whose term expires this term, and for Representatives for Montserrado County. A nominating committee retired, and, after some deliberation, returned with the announcement that ‘‘no change in the present County members” had been agreed upon ; onl}' that Captain John E. Jones, of Cape Mount, had been nominated instead of Rev. Jefferson Campbell, of Millsburg. The names of the old members were then proposed
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in order: For Senator, Montserrado County, J. W. Blackledge; for Representatives, W. H. Lynch, W. D. Coleman, N. E. Dixon, and John E. Jones. These nominations were received, and Imanimously adopted. The whole was closed amid deaf- ening shouts of joy and approval. The Convention delegates and guests, generally, then partook of dinner. About 5 p. m. there was a general push off of the Monrovia delegates, (thirty- five in number,) members of the Legislature, and attendants in general for Monrovia. The river people, whose homes are more or less near Clay-Ashland, remained, and spent, as we learn, a jovial time. We have never attended a meeting . of the kind where there has prevailed a more universal show of good feeling and unanimity.
No Criminal Cases. — Our people are either getting very good, or the vigilance of the administrators of the law growing lax. There were no criminal cases at the last term of the Monthly Court, and we have only two prisoners.
Judicial. — The Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia met at Monrovia on the second Monday in January, 1873: Chief Justice, C. L. Parsons; Associate Justices, J. T. Richard- son, W. IJ. Moulton, and D. F. Smith. Four cases were argued.
The Late Immigrants. — The late immigrants per “Jasper,” are doing well and are quite contented. Those at Cape Pal- mas had moved into the new receptacle built for their accom- modation.
Burning Mountain. — President Roberts left on the 22d in- stant for the reputed extinct volcano, or land-slide, or “earthy excavation,” or whatever it may turn out to be, in the rear of Finley settlement, Grand Bassa County. The President thinks, from what is reported, that the whole thing is curious enough to be looked after. He goes to Bassa on board the schooner “Adelaide,” J. L. Crusoe, of Bassa, accompanying him. From Bassa a sufficient exploring party will be organized and taken out.
Trade and Agriculture. — Along the Coast the season for oil is fully expended; palm-nut kernels are in tolerable supply. The natives are extensively engaged in “cutting and burning farms;” i. e., clearing up lands mainly for rice planting, wThich is a sign of full supplies of the article next season. Among our settlements the gathering in of coffee is going on actively, and there will be a proportional fair increase of the production over that of last year. Sugar making is also going encouragingly on. The steam-mills on the St. Paul’s, of Sharp, Dunbar & De- Coursey, Anderson, Washington, Roe, and Cooper, besides the
1873.]
WEST AFRICAN EXPLORATION.
157
full number of hand and cattle-power ones, are doing a good
business.
Dinner at the Mansion. — On the 31st ultimo, President Rob- erts with his Cabinet entertained at a sumptuous dinner the members of the Legislature, the ChiefUustice and members of the Supreme Court, Mayor Nelson and the City Councilmen, together with a well-selected number of distinguished citizens.
Personal. — Col. B. P. Yates has been raised to the rank of General, and confirmed by the Senate, in the place of General Lewis. Mr. H. C. Criswick, agent for W. Brooke & Co., Lon- don, has arrived out and is putting down an iron screw- pier, or wharf, extending from his store on the water side to low-water mark. The pier, which is the first of the kind in this country, will have a double track or truck-car way, for removing burdens from the water edge to the store.
Religious. — The Methodist Conference held this jmar’s ses- sion at “Robertsport,” Cape Mount. The only changes we hear of in the stationing is that of the Rev. D. Ware, removed from the little Cape Mount country to Cape Palmas, and the Rev. J. C. Lowrie to the interior of Sinoe country. The Bap- tists have been enjoying, during a part of the month, a union meeting at Carysburg. The Presbyterian church in Monrovia is yet without a pastor, and the services are more or less sus- pended. The Methodist church in Monrovia has permitted its pastor, Rev. Henry E. Fuller, to visit the United States during the year. The reverend gentleman was born in Norfolk, Vir- ginia, and came to this country about twenty years ago.
WEST AFRICAN EXPLORATION.
Letters from the West Coast of Africa mention the arrival, in the last mail steamer from Liverpool, of two exploring ex- peditions. One is a well-organized English party, headed by Capt. Cook, having for its purpose the ascent and exploration of the magnificent Congo River to its source, “and thence across the water shed or table land to join the heroic Living- stone.” The other is composed of two French gentlemen, one of them a marquis, who expect to spend two years in exploring the interior, from the Gaboon to the adjacent rivers. Their attention is particularly fixed upon the Ogobai, which is already navigated by small steamers over two hundred miles. This river is considered the outlet of a great interior lake believed
158
ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE.
[May,
to exist between' the Sierra del Crystal Mountains and the mountains west of the Albert Nyanza seen by Grant. These are grand undertakings, likely to immortalize their conductors, and prove of signal value to Africa and the world. Will the United States continue to be out-done by England, France, and Germany in the great scheme of geographical research in Western and Equatorial Africa?
ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE.
Pebnsylvania Colonization Society. — The monthly meeting of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, was held at the Society’s Rooms, ( 09 Walnut street, Tuesday afternoon, April 8; Hon. Eli K. Price, President, in the chair. Vice-Presidents S. H. Perkins, Esq., Rev. A. Reed, D. D., W. V. Pettit, Esq., and others were present, 'ihe Cor- responding Secretary, Rev. Thomas S. Malcom, presented documents from Liberia, showing the encouraging progress of the people. Letters were read from several young Liberians, now pursuing their studies in this country, two of whom are studying medicine, one is preparing for the ministry, and another intends to be a lawyer. A letter from a student of Lincoln Univer- sity says: “We have among us students who are preparing to preach Christ at Liberia.” Applications for passage to Liberia increase. Resolutions were adopted in reference to the death of Dr. Hugh L. Hodge, Vico President of the Society, who joined Eli K. Price, Gerard Ralston, J. Iv. Mitchell, James Bayard, John Bell, John Wurts, Wm. Davidson, and Isaac C. Jones! in Jan- uary, 1830, in petitioning for the incorporation of the Pennsylvania Coloni- zation Society.
Liberia Presbyterian Mission. — One new church was lately orginized at Brewerville, Liberia, and taken under the care of Presbytery. Mr. R. A. M. Deputie was ordained by the same Presbytery as an Evangelist. This body, at its last meeting, decided to extend its missionary operations among the aborigines in the Republic, by establishing schools and religious services, and in other ways seeking their evangelization. Rev. T. E. Dillon reports the addition of nine persons during the year, on profession of their faith, to the church at Marshall.
The Niger Mission of the Episcopal (English) Missionary Society, which is an offshoot of the West African Mission, is entirely conducted by native preachers, teachers, etc., with a native bishop. The principal stations are Onit- sha, on the Niger River, first occupied in 1857, and Lokoja, also on the river. Akassa, Brass, and Bonny, on the sea-coast, are also stations, the latter having been occupied but a few years. Bishop Crowther, the native bishop, ordained last year, in the new Bonny church, which the king and chiefs have helped to build, three ministers, and admitted'the same day five young men to the church, whom he calls the first fruits of the Bonny Mission. There were more than four hundred natives present at the services. In 1866, according
1873.]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
159
to Grundemann, the Niger Mission numbered two hundred native Christians and seventy-eight communicants. Now, in Lokoja alone there are one hun- , dred and twenty native Christians, twenty-three scholars, and sixty communi- cants.
Falls of the Zambesi. — "Have you smoke that sounds in your coun- try?” was a question often asked by the natives when Dr. Livingstone was exploring the Zambesi. They assured him that some way off "smoke did sound.” He went in the direction pointed out by the natives, and while sailing down the River Zambesi, saw at a distance of five miles vast columns of- what looked like the smoke caused by burning large tracts of grass. There were five columns, which bent with the wind, and their tops appeared to blend with the clouds; they were white below, and higher up nothing but a dense white cloud could be seen. * From this cloud rushed up a great jet of vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted two hundred or three hun- dred feet high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant shower. When the falling water reaches the bottom of the fissure it is compressed, for there is not so much space there as above, and the rent is not more than sixty feet wide down below. The five columns ascending from the abyss are formed in consequence of this com- pression. One side of the fissure is said to be very much deeper, and there is one part where the walls are so sloping, that the people accustomed to it can go down. The river looks like a white cord at the bottom of a precipice three hundred feet in depth. Livingstone named this wonderful cataract the Victoria Falls.
Art in South Africa. — Art is beginning to flourish in Africa. It is an- nounced that a Society, under the name of the “South Africa Fine Arts Association,” has been established at Cape Town, and held its first exhibi- tion in January last. The collection of pictures numbered two hundred and thirty, representing examples of ancient and modern art. Mr. S. B. Bayley, a citizen of Cape Town, has given the sum of £500 toward the erection of an art gallery, provided a further sum of £1,500 be collected for the same pur- pose, subscriptions for which are in rapid progress.
Receipts of the American Colonization Society,
From, the 20th of March , to the 20th of April , 1873.
Maine.
By Rev. J. K. (’on verse. ($226 13.) Thomaston— Individuals in Bapt. Ch. to con 1. 1 heir pastor, Rev. Chaklks M. Emkry, a L. M... South Hrrtric/c — Col. Meth. Ch. $7.21; Individuals in Free Bapt.
Ch. $2.53
Rockland, — Maynard Sumner, $10; Mr and Mrs. Cephas Star-
retl, $0; Dr. Frye, $5
Damariscotfa—B. D. Metcalf, $10;
Hon. J H. Converse, $-5
Augusta— Hem. James G. Blaine, $10; Hou. J. W. Bradbury, Hon. Lot M. Morrill, Joseph
i Baker. A. Dewitt, ea. $5; H. H.
! H., D. Cargill, ea. $2
i Hallowell— Col. Union Meeting
30 oo i Meth. Ch
\ Richmond — Jas. M. Hagar, Dr.
I J. C. Boyington, Mrs. Sarah q 74 i Hagar. ea. $5; E. D Lampson, S3; J. W. Spaulding, $2; Jas.
| Carley, $1
21 00 j Lewiston and Auburn— S. R.
Bearse, Hon. Seth May, Mrs. 15 00 Packard, Mrs J. M. Frye, ea. $5; Cash, J R. Learned ea. $2; Col. Free Bapt. Ch., Rev. Mr. Bowen, pastor, $19.05; Col. in
34 00 37 00
21 00
160
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
[May, 1873.]
Mr. Burgess’ Ch. $6 ; Col. Union Meeting at Auburn, $9.34 58 39
226 13
New Hampshire.
Plainfield— Rev. J ocob Scales,
$3.50; J. K. Johnson, $2; Mrs.
C. G. Goldsmith, $1, H. Bryant,
50c, by Rev Jacob Scales 7 00
By Rev. J. K. Converse, ($90.00.)
Oxtordville — Col. Cong. Ch.. 12 00
Francistown — Amasa Downs 10 00
Franklin- Mrs. Geo W. Nesmith,
Wallis Aiken, ea. $10; D. S.
Gilchrist, $2 22 00
Portxuiouth-M rs. Dr. Burroughs,
Cash, Hon. Ichabod Goodwin, ea. $10; Charles A. Myers, Mrs.
W. Williams, Misses Prescott,
ea. $5; Mrs. Eliza Haven, $1.... 46 00
Crown Point— C. F. Hammond,
Dea. Gunnison, ea. $10 20 00
Port Henry— A. B. Waldo, $10; B.
W. Whalon, $5; W. F. Gookin,
Dr. R. E. Warner, ea. $2; J. D.
Atwell, $1 20 00
Essex— Noble Clemons, Mrs. H.
Noble, ea. $10; R. E. Havens,
$5; A. A. Morse, $1 26 00
Keeseville—Uainiel Dodge, Mrs. A. Thompson, ea. $5; Kev. Mr. Henneway,$2; Individuals, $3. 15 00
117 00
Pennsylvania. • Philadelphia— Pen n sy 1 van i a Col- onization Society, Rev. Thus.
S. Malcom, Cor. Sec. and Ass.
Treas., to complete basis ol rep- resentation 175 75
91 00
Vermont.
Northfield—A Friend 2 00
Whiting— Barlow L. Rowe 25
District of Columbia. Washington— Miscellaneous 1,056 92
Virginia.
2 25
Massachusetts.
Lowell— Dr. L. Keese, to const.
Hon. Robert S. Hudson, Rev.
J. W. Bozeman, and James Snkdecor, Esq., Life Members. 100 00 Boston— " A member of the Cen- tral Ch.,” by Rev. Dr. Tracy 30 00
North Brookfield— Thomas Snell.... 10 00 Sharon— Rev. A. P. Chute, by
Rev. Dr. Tracy 5 00
By Rev. D. C. Haynes, (133.00) Harvard— Mrs. Margaret Brom- field Blanchard, $100.; Cong.
Ch., $19; Still River Bapt,
Ch., $14 133 00
278 00
Connecticut.
By Rev. D. C. Haynes, ($269.50.)
Hartford — Rev. Dr. W. W. Tur- ner, $30; Jas. B. Hosmer, Geo.
Beach, ea. $25; D. Phillips, Jas. Goodwin, Charles Seymour,
L. A. Barbour, Rev. Dr. Jack- son, W.P. Burrill, ea. $10; Rev.
Dr. Thompson, $8; C. H.
North am, R. Mather, G. F.
Davis, G. E. Martin, H. H. Barbour, J. S. Howard, Mrs. Wadsworth, J. S. Woodruff,
Rev. Dr. Riddle, Rev. Dr. Bod- well, ea. $5; Rev. Dr. Vermilye,
$3 201 00
Deep River— H. C. Smith, $5; F.
A. Denison, $2; Others, $9.50;
Cong. Ch., $10 26 50
Middletown— Mrs. Walcot Hunt- ington, $20; E. A. Russell, $10;
Mrs. Whiltelsey, $5; D. W.
Camp, $3; Mrs. S. Russell, Miss
A. E. Selden, ea. $2 42 00
269 50
New York.
By Rev. J. K. Converse, $117.00.) Plattsburgh— Mohs. K. Platt, Mrs.
J. H. Myers, Mrs. S. P. Bowen, ea. $10, Jas. Bailey, $3; Dr. T.
B. Nichols, $2; Cash, $1
Alexandria— Mrs. Mary B. Black-
ford 2 00
Kentucky.
Burlington— Jas. M. Preston 30 00
Ohio.
Glendale— Hey . L. D. Potter 2 00
Indiana.
Princeton — Mrs. M. W. P. Lagow. 20 00 FOR REPOSITORY.
Maine— Bucksport— Rufus Buck, to April 1,1873, $1 ; Subscribers
by Rev. J. K. Converse, $10 11 00
N ew Ham p.sh irk— Bristol- M rs.
Wm. Green, to Jan. 1, 1875, $5; Subscribers by Rev. J. K. Con- verse, $3 8 00
Vermont— Wells River— A. B.
W. Tenny, to Jan. 1, 1873, $3 ; Subscribers by Rev. J. K. Con- verse, $3 6 00
M ASS ac H usetts — Sharo n— Re v.
A. P. ( :hute, to Jan. 1, 1874, by Rev. Dr. Tracy 1 00
New York — New York City — SeptimiusT. Williams, to Sep- tember 1, 1873, $1; Sing-Sing— Caleb Roscoe, to Jan. 1, 18. 4. by Rev. Dr.Orcutt,$l; Crown Point — R. W. Taylor, to April 1, 1874,
by Rev. J. K. Converse, $1 3 00
Pennsylvania— Philadelphia — Benjamin Coates, 30 copies for one year, $25 , Belief onte— Dr. E.
W. Hale, to Aug. 1, 1873, $1 26 00
Tennessee — Shelbyville— -Hon.
Lewis Tillman, to April 1, 1873,
$3; Bartlett— Thomas S. Stew- art, to Jan. 1, 1874, $1.20 4 20
Ohio— Canal Dovei — Rev. Chas.
B. Shultz, to Jan. 1, 1874 1 00
Repository 60 20
Donations.. 1,219 63
Miscellaneous 1,056 92
36 00
Total.
.$2,336 75
1-7 v.49/50 African Repository
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library
1 1012 00307 1893