s<^-
Repository.
Volumes LXIII, LXIV, and LXV -1887, 1888 and 1889,
PUBLISHED
BY T H E
American Colonization Society.
TERMS: $1.00 PER ANNUM.
WASHINGTON. CITY;
Colonization Building, 450 Pennsyvania Avenue. 1L89.
Published at the expense of The American Colonization Society and profits devoted to the promotion of the .Colonization cause.
HAMPTON. VA.
NORMAL SCHOOL STEAM PRESS PRINTERS ANO BINDERS.
IlSTIDIEIX
TO THE
SIXTY-THIRD, SIXTY-FOURTH, AND SIXTY-FIFTH VOLUMES
OF THE
AFRICAN REPOSITORY.
VOL. PAGE.
A.
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A Continent in One View |
65 |
81 |
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Advance of The Colored People |
64 |
130 |
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African Colonization ... |
63 |
122 |
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African Colonization in New |
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Jersey |
65 |
89 |
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African Emigration |
63 |
12 7 |
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Africa’s Bright Future |
65 |
109 |
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Africa’s Call (Poetry) |
63 |
31 |
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Africa’s Cry to America (l’o- |
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etry) |
63 |
95 |
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Africa’s Redemption |
63 |
127 i |
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All Saints’ Hall, Liberia |
64 |
71 1 |
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A letter from Cape Palmas ... |
64 |
122 |
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America and Africa |
76 |
|
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America and Africa’s Evangeli- |
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zation |
64 |
109 |
|
America in her relationsto Af- |
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rica |
65 |
77 |
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An African Picture (Poetry). |
65 |
93 |
|
A Negro Nationality |
64 |
13.5 |
|
Another Expedition for Liberia |
64 |
104 |
A recent tour of Bishop Fergu- son’s 64 1 13
A11 Unusual Visitor 63 27
B.
Bishop Ferguson’s Tour in Li- beria 64 113 j
Bishop Ferguson’s Visitations
in Liberia 64 50
Bishop Ferguson’s Work in
Liberia 64 64
Bishop Taylor and Liberia- ..64 92
Blyden, Prof. Edward W. —
America in her relations to
Africa 65 77
Blyden, Dr. Edward W 65 115
Blyden, Prof. Edward W. — Latrobe’s “Maryland in Li- beria.” 63 65
Blyden, Prof. Edward W. —
Letter from 63 60
VOL. PAGE.
Blyden, Prof. Edward W. — “Mohammedanism in Africa” 63 108 Blyden, Prof. Edward \\ . Let ter — Not a Mohammedan. .. . 64 134 Blyden, Prof. Edward W. —
The Man for Liberia.... 64 105
Blyden, Prof. Edward W.—
The Term “Negro.” 64107
Blyden, Prof. Edward W. —
The Zodakie Mission and
Vonswah 65 25
Blyden. Prof. Edward W.~
Visit to Arthington 65 44
Blyden, Prof. Edward W.~
What can Christians do for
Africa ? 64 59
c.
Celebration of Liberian Inde- pendence 63 26
Centenary of Sierra Leone 63 115
Civilization in Central Soudan. 64 86 Coates, Benjamin, Death of... 62 58 Colonization and Education... 64 131
D.
Death of President Freeman... 65 91
Dr. Edward W. Blvden 65 115
Dr. Blyden’s Book 64 37
Dr. James Hall 65 117
E.
Education in Liberia 63 119
Emancipation in Brazil 64 106
Expeditions for Liberia 65 91
F.
Facts about Africa 63 95
Female Colored Missionaries. 64 54 Fortieth Anniversary Celebra- tion 63 1 17
Free Rum on The Congo 64 67
H.
Higher Education for Women. 65 30
IV
INDEX.
VOL.
High Life in Liberia
Hodge, Rev. Dr. J. Aspinwail — Discourse America and Africa
I.
Intelligence from Liberia
Islam in West Africa.
J.
John Norman’s Reports on Li- beria
L.
Languages of Africa
Latrobe’s“Maryland in Liberia” Letter from Hon. Thomas F .
Bayard
Letter from Prof. Edward W.
Blyden
Letter from Prof. Edward W.
Blyden
Letter Irom Prof. Edward W.
Blyden
Letter from Mrs. Caroline R.
S. Cartwright —
Letter from Rev. G. W. Gibson Letter from Hon. C. T. O.
King
Letter from Hon. C. T. O.
King
Letter from Rev. B. K. Me
Keever
Letter from Mr. R. A. Massey Letter from Rev. Dr. Joseph
C. Price
Letter lrorn Rev. Robert B.
Richardson
Letter from Rev. Ezekiel E.
Smith
Letter from Rev. Ezekiel E.
Smith —
Letters from Liberia
Liberia
Liberia Annual Conference... Liberia Annual Conference
Appointments
Liberia Annual Conference Appointments
VOL. PAGE.
Liberia as a Civilizer on the
Congo 65 61
Liberia Baptist Missionary Con- vention 63 43
Liberia at Lincoln University 63 30 Liberia Day at New Orleans.. 63 53
Liberian Fruits 65 80
Liberian Independence Anni- versary 64 130
Liberia’s Next Friend 62 29
Liberian Scenery and Climate. 63 116 Luther, Rev. Dr. R. M. Dis- course— Reasons for Exist- ence 63 65
M.
Minutes of the American Col- onization Society 63 44
Minutes of the American Col- onization Society 64 53
Minutes of the American Col- onization Society 63 39
Minutes of the Board of Direct- ors Am. Col. Society 63 46
Minutes of the Board of Direct- ors, Am. Col. Society 64 55
Minutes of the Board of Direct- ors, Am. Col. Society 63 41
Missionaries for Cape Mount . 63 64
Mr. Benjamin Coates 63 5S
Mohammedanism in Africa 63 108
Muhlenberg Mission, Liberia. . 63 93
N.
North-West Boundary of Libe-
ria .. .. 64 132
Not a Mohammedan 64 134
o.
Our Fall Expedition 63 30
Our Fall Expedition 64 40
Outlook for the New Republic. 64 no
P.
Pennsylvania Colonization So-
ciety 6s 90
Professor Jacob C. Hazcley... 63 59
Progress in Liberia 63 113
Prohibition on the Niger 64 38
PAGE.
64 120
64 76
63 94
65 56
64 72
63 89
63 63
64 95
63 60
64 34
64 134
64 133
64 133
63 59
65 9i
64 133
63 59
64 95
64 132
63 '60
65 92
63 94
63 100
63 93
63 94
64 104
INDEX.
V
VOL. PAGE.
VOL. PAGE-
Projected Hospital at Mon- rovia ’■ 63 93
Poetry— Africa’s Call 63 31
Africa’s Cry to Amer- ica 63 95
An African Picture • • 65 93
R.
Reasons for Existence 65 65
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 63 32
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 63 64.
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 63 96
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 63 128
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 64 41
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 64 74
Receipts o! the American Col
onization Society 64 106
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 64 136
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 65 32
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 65 64
Receipts of the American Col- onization Society 65 95
Reinforcement Requested. ... 64 38
Returning to Africa from Bra- zil •••• 63 119
Roll of Emigrants for Bassa,
Liberia 65 59
Roll of Emigrants fur Brewer-
ville, Liberia 63 128
Roll of Emigrants for Cape
Mount, Liberia 64 39
Roll of Emigrants for Cape
Palmas, Liberia 63 63
Roll of Emigrants for Cape
Palmas, Liberia 63 128
Roll of Emigrants for Since,
Liberia 64 105
Roll of Emigrants for Libeiia 65 63
Report on Emigration, Ad- denda 63 51
s.
Seventieth Annual Report of the American Colonization
Society 63 33
Seventy-First Annual Report of the American Coloniza- tion Society 64 43
Seventy-Second Annual Report of the American Coloniza- tion Society 65 33
Seventy Second Anniversary . . 65 63
Society, American Coloniza- tion Seventieth Annual Re- port of 63 33
Society, American Coloniza- tion, Seventy- First Annual
Report of t 64 43
Society, American Coloniza- tion, Seventy-Second An- nual Report of . 65 32
Society, Pennsylvania Coloni- zation 65 90
Society, The Pennsylvania Col- onization 64 52
Society, The New Jersey Col-'
onization 65 48
Spread < f Mohammedanism in Africa 63 88
T.
Talk with an Ex-Attorney Gen- eral 65 120
Ten years in Liberia 65 121
Testimony of the American
Minister.... 65 60
The Abolition of Slavery in
Brazil 64 129
The African Methodist E.
Church 63 30
The American Colonization
Society 63 31
The American Colonization
Society 64 41
The American Colonization
Society 65 31
The Annual Report 63 62
The American Minister at Li- beria 64 95
The Baptists of Liberia 63 n
VI
INDEX.
VOL. PAGE.
The Condition of Liberia 65 92
The Destiny of the Negro.. . . 63 97 The Liquor Traffic in Africa... 63 90 The Mayoralty of Monrovia.. 64 93
The Men for Liberia 64 105
The Negro Problem 65 49
The Neg*x> Problem 65 97
The New Africa 63 1
The Pennsylvania Coloniza- tion Society 64 25
The Return of the Exiles 63 114
The Rum Curse in Africa. ... 65 hi 1 he Sabbath Day at Monrovia. 63 91 The Seventieth Anniversary.. 63 57 The Seventy- First Anniversary. 64 69
The Situation in Africa 65 52
The Spring Expedition 63 58
The Term “Negro.” 64 107
The Two Voices 64 96
The Zodakie Mission and Vonswah 65 52
YOL. PAGE.
To Christianize Africa 63 48
Training School for Africa — 64 129
Tropical Africa 64 124
U.
Unfolding Africa 64^-1
V.
Visitations in Liberia by Bishop
Ferguson 64 90
Visit to Arthington 65 44
W.
West African Trade 63 31
Western African Emigration
Society 63 118
What can Christians Do for Africa? 64 59
Z.
Zulu Light Literature 64 127
The second edition of Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, by Dr. E. W. Blyden, is now for sale at the office of the American Col- onization Society, Washington, D. C. Price $3.00.
AFRICAN REPOSITORY.
Vol. LXIII. WASHINGTON, D. C„ JANUARY, 1887. No. i-
THE NEW AFRICA. *
Interest in the opening of Africa continues unabated, and signs are numerous that the time of her uplifting has come. Marvellous discoveries are being constantly made, and the darkness that has be- gloomed the vast interior for centuries is being gradually dispersed. Its majestic rivers are being traced to their sources, and its beautiful lakes surveyed. Christian enlightenment is penetrating the “Dark Con- tinent” from almost every prominent point, and the brightest features of modern civilization are pen etrating everywhere. Africa will soon be a welcome addition to the sisterhood of nations.
GOVERNMENTAL.
The extensive territories on the river Niger which, under the Conference held at Beilin for the distribution of colonial possessions in Africa, were assigned to Great Britain, are to be governed by a company. A Royal charter bestows on the National African Com- pany powers of governing and defending the territories it has acquired from native Princes, covering the entire “basin of the Niger,” equal to those possessed by the old East India Company in India. They can, for example, raise troops, issue a coinage, and pass laws. The consent of the English Secretary of State is necessary to all their acts, and the Company cannot divide the pro- duce of customs duties as profits, or other taxes, but must expend them upon the administration of its territories. The following are some of the more salient clauses of the new charter : —
I. The said Company is authorized and empowered to hold and retain the full benefit of the cessions mentioned in the preliminary statement, and all rights and powers for the purposes of government and preservation of public or ier over the territories, lands, and prop- erty comprised in these cessions, or affecting any territories, lands, or
* 1 hanks are cordially expressed to the Missionary Herald of Boston ; Foreign Mis- sionary of New York ; African Times of London, and L'A/ricque of Geneva, for facts and -figures freely incorporated in this paper.
t Jan.
2 The N cio A frica.
property in the neighborhood of the same, and to hold, use, enjoy, and exercise the same powers for the purposes of the Company and on the terms of this charter.
2. The Company shall be bound by and shall fulfil all the stipu- lations contained in the Acts of Cessions, subject to any subsequent agreement affecting those stipulations approved by one of the Prin- cipal Secretaries of State.
3. The Company shall always be British in character and domi- cile, and shall have its principal office in England ; and its principal representatives and all the directors shall be natural born British subjects or persons naturalized by an Act of Parliament.
4. The Company shall not have power to transfer the benefit of the cessions aforesaid, except with the consent of the Secretary of State.
6. The Company shall discourage and, as far as practicable, abolish by degrees any system of domestic servitude existing among the native inhabitants, and no foreigner, whether European or other, shall be allowed to own slaves of any kind in the Company’s terri- tories.
7. The Company shall not, in any way, interfere with the reli- gion of any class or tribe of the people of its territories, or of any of the inhabitants thereof, except so far as may be necessary in the in- terests of humanity; and all forms of religious worship may be exer- cised within the said territories, and no hindrance shall be offered thereto except as aforesaid.
8. In the administration of justice, regard shall be had to the customs and laws of the nation to which the parties belong.
10. The Company shall afford all facilities requisite for British ships in the Company’s harbors.
ir. The Company may hoist and use on its buddings and else- where in its territories, and on its vessels, such distinctive flag indi- cating the British character of the Company as the Secretary of State and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty shall approve.
12. The Company is further authorized and empowered to ac- quire other rights, interests, authorities, or powers of any kind or nature whatever, in, over, or affecting the territories, lane’s, or prop- erty comprised in the several treaties aforesaid, or any rights, inter- ests, authorities, or prwers of any kind or nature whatever, in, over, or affecting other territories, lands, or property in the regions afore- said, to hold the same for the purposes of the Company on the terms of the charter,
14. Nothing in this charter shall authorize the Company to grant any monopoly of trade, and subject only to customs duties and
charges as authorized, and to restrictions on importation similar in character to those applicable in the United Kingdom, trade with the Company’s territories shall be free, and foreigners will be subject to administrative dispositions in the interests of commerce and order. The customs duties and charges shall be applied for the purpose of defraying the expenses of government and the performance of treaty obligations, including provision for repayment of expenses already incurred in relation to the acquisition, maintenance, and execution of treaty rights. The Company shall furnish accounts and particulars of the rates, incidence, collection, proceeds, and application of such duties, and shall give effect to any direction by the Secretary of State as to any modification of the description, rate, collection, or applica- tion of any duties.
15. The Company shall perform all the obligations and stipula- tions relating to the Niger and its affluents, or the territories neigh- boring thereto, or situate in Africa, undertaken by Great Britain un- der the General Act of the Berlin Conference or in any other treaty or arrangement made or to be made.
At meetings of the shareholders of the National African Com- pany, called for the purpose, and held August 3, 8 and 12, it was re- solved, in view of the altered position of the Company, to change its name to “ The Royal Niger Company, chartered and limited,” by which name this enterprise will be known hereafter.
In the competition of the Great Powers for increased colonial possessions France has not been behind. From the Berlin Confer- ence she emerged the possessor of a territory as large as France and England combined. This territory has a coast line of over 600 miles, and access to a great stretch of the Congo river, which separates it from the Congo Free State. Since 1842 the French have had a hold on the West Coast of Africa, at Gaboon, but in consequence of the hostility of the natives it was found difficult to penetrate into the interior. The credit of performing this hazardous task and of an- nexing the new countries to France, belongs to M. de Brazza, who has spent the last ten years in Western and Central Africa.
M. de Brazza has been appointed Commissary-General of the French Congo — that is to say, the Government of the Gaboon and the Congo. It will have no longer any connection with the French settlements on the Gold Coast, Grand Bassam and Assinie. nor with those on the Slave Coast, Grand Popo, Kotonu, and Porto Novo, which will be attached to the Lieutenancy of the Riviere du Sud, connected with the Government of Senegal. The French Govern- ment have established a Protectorate over the Great Comoro Island. The Comoro Islands, discovered in 1598 by Von Houtmun, consist of
4
[ Jan.
The New Africa.
several large and small islands, the group being about 150 miles long from end to end. They are situated at the northern entrance of the Mozambique channel, between the northwest coast of Madagascar and Cape Delagoa, the northern limit of the Portuguese possessions and the southern limit of the territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The islands are high and mountainous, partly volcanic and with coasts of coral formation. The vegetation has a tropical character, but includes excellent timber for ship-building. An important feature is the abundance of tortoises. Numbers of cattle and sheep are also produced in the islands. The natives are a mixed race of East African Swahili Negroes, Arabs, and Malays. They are a peaceable and hospitable people.
An agreement between France and Germany with respect to their conterminous territories on the West coast of Africa contains the following important clauses. First, with regard to the Gulf of Biafra :
The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Germany renounces in favor of France all rights of sovereignty and prof tectorate over the territories acquired south of the river Campo by German subjects and which have been placed under his Majesty’s protection. It undertakes to abstain from all political action south of the line following the said river from its moutn to the point where it meets the meridian situate 10 degrees of longitude east of Green- wich, and from that point the parallel continued to its junction with the meridian situate 15 degrees of longitude east of Greenwich- Neither of the two Governments will take measures which may affect the liberty of navigation and commerce of subjects of the other on the waters of the river Campo in the portion which will remain intermediate and which will be used in common by the sub- jects of both.
The next field of agreement is the Slave Coast, where —
The Government of the French Republic, recognizing the Ger- man protectorate over the Togo territory, renounces the rights which it might assert over the territory of Porto Seguro, by virtue of its relations with King Mtesa.1 The Government of the Republic also renounces its rights over Little Popo, and recognizes the Ger- man protectorate over this territory. French merchants at Porto Leguro and Little Popo will preserve for their persons and their goods, as well as in their business transactions, until the conclusion ©f the customs arrangement hereinbefore provided for, the benefit of the usages which they at present enjoy; and all the advantages or immunities which would be accorded to German subjects will be equally acquired by .them. Tney will in particular preserve the right
i887.]
The New Africa.
5
of transporting and freely exchanging their goods between their warehouses or shops in Porto Seguro and Little Popo and the neighboring French territory, without being liable to the payment of duty. The same privilege will, in return, be conceded to the Ger- man merchants.
The German and French Governments reserve the right of con- sulting, after an inquiry on the spot, in order to arrive at the estab- lishment of common customs regulations in the territories comprised between the English possessions of the Gold Goast in the west and Dahomey to the east.
The boundary between the German territories and the French territories of the Slave Coast will be fixed on the spot by a mixed Commission. The line of demarcation will start from a point to be determined on the coast between the territories of Little Popo and Angona. In tracing this line northwards account shall be taken of the boundaries of native possessions.
The German Government undertakes to abstain from all pohtical action to the east of the line so drawn. The French Gov- ernment undertakes to abstain from all political action to the west of it.
With respect then to the Senegambia :
The Government of the German Emperor renounces all rights or pretensions which it might assert over the territories situate between the river Nunez and the Mallecorie, especially over Coba and Kabitai ; and recognizes the French sovereignty in these territories.
The commercial and navigation treaty concluded between Ger- many and the Sultan of Zanzibar has been presented to the Bundes- rath. This treaty takes the place of the treaty concluded on June 13th, 1859, between the Hanseatic Towns and Zanzibar. It contains concessions not made in treaties with other Powers. Certain goods for transport to the territories protected by Germany — as agricultural implements, means of transport and railway and tramway materials — are to be entirely free from duties. The usual import duty will be 5 per cent, ad valorem, but spirits will pay 25 per cent.
A treaty has been formed between Portugal and Gungunhana, son and successor of Umzila, by which the African King agrees for himself and his successors to obey all the [laws and orders which are transmitted him from the Portuguese of the Province of Mozam- bique, and to allow no other nation to obtain any sovereignty within his nation. A Portuguese Resident is to be appointed in the pnnci- pal localities, especially in the district of Lorenzo Marquez, Inham- bane, and Sopala, in order to exercise influence upon the local
6
The New Africa.
[Jan.
authorities. It is especially agreed that King Gungunhana shall pro- tect the schools and missions which the Portuguese Government shall establish, and that he shall furnish men and material for the construction of needed edifices. It is reported that Major Carvalho led a Portuguese expedition to the capital of Muata-Yanvo, and arranged a treaty with the ruling monarch, by which he is placed under the protectorate of the King of Portugal, and a Portuguese Resident will live at the King’s capital.
THE CONGO FREE STATE.
The “Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society’’ for October contains a valuable paper by Colonel Sir Francis de Winton, who succeeded Mr. H. M. Stanley as agent of the King of the Belgians in the Congo Free State, This officer affirms that the central region embraced in the Congo Free State is a vast rectangular table land, being 475,000 square miles in area, having a gradual slope from the southeast to the northwest, and that within this region there is hardly one hundred miles of area which is not approachable by a waterway. This fact has an important bearing upon the probable opening of the country. The King of the Belgians has given orders for the building of steamers on the Upper Congo out of native woods, and the prepa- rations are so far advanced that by next summer it is hoped to have a steamer of one hundred tons, drawing eighteen inches of water, with a speed of ten knots an hour, in a fair way toward completion. The most valuable article of commerce in the interior at present is ivory. It is said that 386 tusxs, averaging fifty pounds weight each, were offered for sale in a single day at Stanley Pool. Colonel de Winton affirms that any plan by which this ivory can be brought to the coast without the intervention of slaves will be a sure overthrow of the slave trade, for the ivory alone would not pay the expenses of the traffic, the present plan being to sell the slaves as well as the ivory they carry. If steamers and a railway can bear these products to the coast, the cruel system of the slave trade will receive a deadly blow. In connection with Colonel de Winton’s address, Mr. Stanley re- marked that the entire Congo State, though vast in its area and in- exhaustible in its resources, was not worth a two-shilling piece un- less a railway could be built connecting the Upper Congo with the sea.
The New Congo State became a part of the Universal Postal Union, January 1, 1886.
The substitution of Belgian for English officials on the Lower Congo, the preparations made for the construction of the con- templated railroad along its southern bank, and the contract just
J88 7-]
The New Africa.
7
signed at Brussels for a loan of $25,000:000 to an international syndi- cate to colonize the Congo basin, mark a new departure in the his- tory of the great enterprise begun by Mr. Stanley nine years ago. The traffic of the Upper Congo is sufficiently vouched for by the thriving condition of its sole existing outlet— the narrow strip of sea- board ruled by the Sultan of Zanzibar— as well as bv Germany’s ea- gerness to gain a permanent tooting in that quarter. The traffic of the Lower Congo may be judged by the extreme reluctance which the Portuguese master of Angola and Mossamedes coast line gave up in December, 1881, his claim to monopolize the control of the local trade. The annual value of the latter, even upon the small por- tion of the river lying between the sea and the Yellala rapids, was rated as high as $14,000,000 by an estimate made in January, 1883, barely five and a half years after Stanley’s exploration. That of the Upper Congo is, for obvious reasons, less easily reduced to figures, but its enormous extent is beyond all question. Mr. Stanley himself has more than once asserted that when the two sections of the river are united by the projected railway around the cataracts, and when the commerce of both is fully developed its normal value, taking one year with another, will not fall short of $350,000,000.
THE BERLIN CONFERENCE.
The representatives of the Powers who attended the Congo Con- ference last year met at the Berlin Foreign Office on April 19, under the presidency of Count Herbert Bismarck, in conformity with arti- cle 38 of the General Act, for the purpose of drawing up a protocol as to the delivery of the ratifications, when Count Bismarck an- nounced that the General Act had been ratified by all the Conference Powers, with the exception of the United States. Instead of ex- changing ratifications, as is customary in the case of most treaties, the Powers in the present instance deposited their respective ratifi- cations in the archives of the Imperial Government.
Why the Government of the United States has not imitated the example of its co-signatories of the Congo General Act is not stated in the official announcement of the results of the meeting, but its omiss- ion to do so is the more singular, as this Government was the first that recognized the flag of the Internatial Association, sometim^before this enterprize had developed into the Congo Free State. But the United States Government was not satisfied with the tenor of certain clauses in the General Act, which had been signed by its representa- tive at the Conference, and the subsequent message of the President to Congress contained the following allusion to the subject : “A conference of delegates of the principal commercial nations was held
8
The New Africa.
[Jan.
at Berlin last winter to discuss methods whereby the Congo basin might be kept open to the world’s trade. Delegates attended on behalf of the United States on the understanding that their part should be merely deliberative, without imparting to the results any binding character, as far as the United States were concerned. This reserve was due to the indisposition of this Government to share in any disposal, by an international congress, of jurisdictional questions in remote foreign territories. The results of the Conference were embodied in a foimal Act, of the nature of an international conven- tion, which laid down certain obligations purporting to be binding on the signatories, subject to ratification within one year.”
The Government of the United States has later declined to ratify the General Act which embodies the results of the Berlin Confer- ence, on the ground that the document would impose obligations on the American Government at variance with its traditional foreign policy. The attitude of the Government of Washington was defined by the President in his message of December last, as follows: “Not-
withstanding the reservation under which the delegates of the United States attended, their signatures were attached to the General Act in the same manner as those of the other Governments, thus making the United States appear without reserve or qualification as signato- ries to a joint international engagement, imposing on the signers the conservation of the territorial integrity of distant regions where we have no established interests or control. This Government does not, however, regard its reservation of liberty of action in the premises at all impaired ; and, holding that an engagement to share in the obliga- tion of enforcing neutrality in the remote valley of the Congo would be an alliance the responsibilities of which we are not in a position to assume, I abstain from asking the sanction of the Senate to that General Act.”
The question is, whether the President was right in his interpre- tation of the meaning of the General Act as regards the assumption of an obligation on the part of the American Government to enforce the neutrality of the Congo State instead of merely respecting it- Meanwhile the fact is, America has ceased to be a party to the in- strument known as the Acte Generale.
EXPLORATIONS.
“Through Masai Land: a journey of exploration among the snow-clad volcanic mountains and strange tribes of Eastern Equato- rial Africa,” by Joseph Thomson, is a decided addition to the num - ber of valuable works relating to the exploration of the “ Dark Continent.” The author has already made himself a name, since
1887.]
9
The New Africa.
the expedition which is here reported is the third which he has made to the interior of Africa, while as yet but twenty-six years of age. The Masai are described as magnificent specimens of their race, con- siderably over six feet, with an aristocratic, savage dignity that filled the explorer with admiration. They are divided into twelve principal clans, or sub-tribes, and occupy the region from Mount Kilamanjaro, on the south, to lake Baringo, on the north. The southern section has an altitude of from three to four thousand feet above the sea. It is sterile and unproductive, not because of the barrenness of the. soil, bat the scantiness of the rainfall. In the vicinity of Kilamanjaro, however, there are small aieas which are well cultivated. Eastward, between lake Earingo and Victoria- Nyanza, Mr. Thomson passed through the Wa-Kwafi tribe, allied to the Masai, but cultivators of the soil and not so warlike. They are spoken of as singularly honest and reliable; so much so that valuable articles might be left in their charge without fear. Proceeding further to Victoria-Nyanza, he came upon the region of the Kavi- rondo, where there was a dense population, the people seeming unsophisticated and living in the enjoyment of abundance of native products.
M. Aubry, who recently visited the Gallas, describes King Menelik of Shoa as a pleasant man of much intelligence, who appears anxious to encourage the arts of civilization, while his principal men are hostile to all Europeans. This traveler surveyed the source of two rivers, the Hawash and the Mugueur, the latter a tributary of the Blue Nile.
An interesting pamphlet dealing with the Congo has been issued by Lieut. Wissmann, who was the companion of Dr. Pogge, and who lately returned from his explorations of the Kassai. He divides the Congo territory into three parts — the Lower, Middle, and Upper Congo. The Lower Congo, which is best known, is the least favor- able specimen of the country. It is badly watered, thinly inhab- ited, and low lying. The Upper Congo is dry, swampy, and also thinly peopled. The Middle Congo is well watered, high above the level of the sea, densely peopled, and without marshes of any extent. “The Lower Congo I consider an obstacle to be surmounted before the fertile region is reached. . . . The commercial future
of the Congo depends on this region.” Lieut. Wissmann has returned to the Congo to continue his explorations in the still unknown sections.
The report published by Lieut, von Nimptsch, of the German Army, son-in-law of Gen. von Loe, Aide-de-Camp to the Emperor, gives interesting details of the journey he made with Herr Wolff, a
IO
[Jan
The Nezv Africa.
traveler in the service of the Congo Free State, and which has resulted in the discovery of a river likely to be of material value to traders with the Congo. The Congo, in its course from the south- east, makes a wide bend to the north, and then descends again to the Atlantic, a large section of country being embraced in this curve. Within this curve is the river Kassai, which Lieut, von Nimptsch regards as being “of greater importance to commerce than the Congo itself.” Describing their journey, he says that as far as Luebu, the Kassai flows through wide plains well adapted for cultivation, pas- turage, and forests of palm-trees and gutta-percha trees. There are many villages on the banks, and the travelers met with great civility in all of them save one, the inhabitantsof which fled at their approach. One tribe, adds Lieut, von Nimptsch, “was remarkable for its joviality. The natives accompanied the steamer in their canoes, and when we landed, organized dances and songs in our honor.-’ They discovered several affluents of the Kassai, and they calculated that they were navigable for a distance of 250 miles. “But the most important affluent,” the report goes on to say, “is that which Herr Wolff explored in the steamer Vorwarts during the months of February and March. He ascended this stream to a distance of 430 leagues from its mouth, and one of its northern affluents brought him to- within a week’s march of Nyangoue. He might have gone still fur- ther had his steamer not met with an accident, for there are no cataracts in this river. This network of navigable water, extending over more than 3,000 miles, is most admirable, and in future it will be possible to travel eastward from the Atlantic, reaching Nyangoue and then lake Tanganyika by leaving the Congo at the mouth of the Kassai, without being obliged to ascend the whole of the former stream, thus avoiding the Stanley Falls.”
Lieut. Edward Gleerup, the ninth white man to |cross Central Africa from sea to sea, has arrived at Brussels from Zanzibar. As he followed the route traced by Stanley in his journey across the continent, his trip is geographically without important results, but he has collected much interesting information with regard to the im- proved facilities for traveling in Africa, the remarkable growth of the power and influence of Arab traders, and the value and prospects of Germany's new possessions in East Africa.
The eight men, from Livingstone to Capello and Ivens, who preceded Gleerup in the trip across the Continent, all occupied from two to two and a half years. Gleerup has now demon- strated that the journey can be made in about eight months, or only two-thirds the time that Burton and Speke, the first Englishmen to visit the great lakes, required to travel from Zanzibar
1887.3
The New Africa.
IT
to Tanganyika. With the aid of the Congo State steamers the journey from the Atlantic to Stanley Falls, 1,200 miles up the river, can now be made in two months. Lieut. Gleerup was six months on the road between Stanley Falls and Zanzibar. The Congo State in the west and the east coast Arab traders, whose many caravans have made a beaten highway to the Indian Ocean, have brought about this great improvement in the conditions of African travel.
Important changes have occurred in some regions that have not been visited by whites since Stanley’s ttip, nine years ago. Along the 300 miles of the Congo, between Stanley Falls and Nvangwe* Gleerup found two large and several small Arab stations — collecting points for slaves and ivory. Nyangwe, the famous trading town, has largely grown, and neighboring Kasongo, which Livingstone described as a little village, has 8,000 inhabitants. Near these two towns the Arabs rear large herds of cattle. Along the road to Tanganyika they have several stations for the training of female slaves for labor on the plantations. Ten caravans now travel the road to and from Central Africa where one was formerly seen. Gleerup often met them, and he says that east of Tanganyika it was not uncommon for two or three caravans to camp together, and that their combined force was sometimes over 1,000 men.
Dr. Fischer had arrived at Zanzibar, after a fruitless search for Dr. Junker, the last news from whom was unfavoiable. Herr Schwartz states in an account of his journey in the inland districts of the Cameroons, that he followed the leading caravan route to the Calabar river, and, after reaching Bakundu, on the confines of the territory already explored, continued his journey eastward into a re- gion of which all hitherto existing maps are untrustworthy, and which is rigorously guarded by jealous tribes. Pursuing his way through far-reaching primeval forests, rich in gum trees and wild coffee, and teeming with elephants, Mr. Schwartz crossing the Kumba river, reached the territory of Bason, which he found to be studded with densely-populated towns. This district, from which the people dwel- ling on the coast obtain ivory, oil, and slaves, is a picture-que and comparatively well cultivated plateau. The inhabitants, called Bafarami, who are engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing, have up to the present not even been known by name. His further advance was arrested in the vicinity of the Upper Calabar by a party of 500 natives, in consequence of which he returned to the coast by the Mungo river.
The destruction of Porro’s expedition is announced. This enter- prise was undertaken by the Geographical Society of Milan, and was equipped in the most thorough manner. Its object was to establish
12
The New A frica.
[Jan-
commercial relations between Abyssinia and the Nile, and to explore the unknown regions between these points. Porro set out with a suite of distinguished savants and experts, and safely reached Gal- dezza, where, after a desperate resistance, all of the members of the expedition were murdered. The Portuguese travelers, Ivens and Capello, who have heretofore published volumes concerning African explorations, have again returned to Lisbon from an examination of the region through which flow the affluents of the Upper Congo and the Zambesi. Intelligence has been received of the death of Herr Robert Flegel, the celebrated explorer of the Niger. Senores Cer- vera and Quiroga, who, starting from the Canary Islands, after landing at Rio Ceoro, traversed a considerable portion of northwest Africa hitherto unexplored, have returned to Madrid. From a geographi- cal point their researches appear to 'nave given results of considera- ble importance.
RAILROADS.
The Government of the Congo Free State, early in the year concluded an agreement with Mr. H. M. Stanley, Mr. James F. Hut- ton, President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and others, acting on behalf of the Congo Railway syndicate, for the formation of a Company for the construction of a railroad, 235 miles long, unit- ing the Lower wfth the Upper Congo. It was proposed that the Company should raise a capital of from ,£1,000,000 to ,£2,000,000 sterling, and be provided, under the auspices of the Congo Govern- ment, as a State railway, with a Royal charter, and that subscriptions be opened in the capital of each of the fourteen Powers which took part in the Berlin Conference.
This syndicate, after months of fruitless negotiations, has dis- solved, and Belgian capitalists have taken up the enterprise. The English accuse the Congo authorities of defeating their scheme, be- cause they desired that Belgians should build and control the rail- road. The Congo authorities, cn the other hand, say the negotia- tions failed because the English proposed, in effect, to set up a gov- ernment of their own in Congo, and because they practically de- manded a monopoly of trade, which, under the Act of the Berlin Congress, could not be conceded to them.
The Belgian capitalists, to whom the Congo State has granted a concession for building the railroad, have subscribed the funds needed to send a party of engineers and specialists to the Congo to survey the route, determine the cost, and prepare the plans. It is expected that this work will occupy more than a year. The new syndicate asserts that it has already received assurances of the financial co-
l88 7.] The New Africa. /j>
operation of foreign capitalists when the work of track-laying is ready to begin.
The construction of a railroad between St. Paul de Loando and Ambaca, a trading centre on the Coanza river, has been authorized and guaranteed by the Lisbon Government. The line of country through which it is to pass has been surveyed. The Geographical Society of Lisbon has received from an engineer plans for a railroad between Lorenzo Marquez and Pretoria. This engineer, M. Joaquim, gives an interesting description of the region traversed, and of cer- tain important towns on the way and where many elements of civili- zation are to be found. The German East African Company is in negotiation with the English contractor, Mackinnan, for the con- struction of a railway from Dar-es-Salaam (Zanzibar) into the interior of East Africa, The project is a very extensive one, viz., from the coast of Muint, in Usagara, whence a branch would go to the north corner of the Nyassa, and another to the south corner of Victoria lake, both lines being then connected by secondary lines with lake Tanganyika.
CABLES.
The telegraph cable between Soudan and the west coast of Africa was opened July 13, and the latter is now in direct com- munication with the rest of the civilized world. Having so long remained outside the region of telegraphic communication the west African coast seems now. likely to be in a plethoric condi- tion in that respeet, as this section, as well as the Gold coast, is to have a duplicate cable, each worked by a rival company. As one of the telegraph companies is laying the cable as far south as St. Paul de Loando, it is believed that the British Government will order the construction of a duplicate line to the Cape of Good Hope, as also for the extension of the cable to St. Helena and Ascension. A sub- sidy of ^19,000, of which the English colonies on the west coast are to contribute ^5000, has been voted by the British Parliament to the west coast of Africa direct cable. The line of cable on the east coast of Africa has a subsidy from the same Government of ^25,000. The submarine telegraph lines connecting Aden and Port Natal touch at Zanzibar, Mozambique, and Lorenzo Marquez. From Zanzibar a line runs to Tamatave in Madagascar. In Cape Colony there are 4000 miles of telegraph lines, and last year not less than 650,000 dispatches were sent.
GOLD AND DIAMONDS.
There is plenty of gold in all the highlands that run parallel to the west coast of Africa, from the interior of Senegal alcng the rear of Sierra Leone and Liberia to the Niger. From these regions there
*4
[Jan.
The New Africa.
has been a steady export of gold from the most ancient times, across the Sahara to the Mediterranean. The supply is inexhaustible, but foreign efforts during the last five years to develop the mines have been unprofitable.
In the year 1867 a Dutch farmer on the Orange river found a diamond with which his children played for a time, not knowing its value, but which he subsequently sold for $2,500. It was the first gem of the kind from South Africa, but in the year 1884 the value of diamonds exported from Cape Colony was over fourteen million dollars, while the total value from 1867 to 1884 was $148,862,880. The great diamond fields lie between the Vaal and the Orange rivers, in what was called Griqwa Land West, in the Orange River Free State, and thither have flocked men fiom all parts of the world. The natives from different sections in South Central Africa come to labor at the mines, and they are continually passing back and forth between Kimberly and their several countries. Kimberly is in the centre of the diamond fields. It is situated about four hundred miles from Durban, a little north of west. It is a town whose name does not appear on the gazetteers of five years ago, but it is now to South Africa what London is to England. It is connected by rail with the surrounding regions and has become the emporium of trade. It is reported that the number of registered Kaffirs engaged in the mines last year was about 72,000, of whom 30,000 were fresh arrivals.
TRADE.
The past year has been remarkable as one of unusually severe depression in all branches of commerce upon the west coast of Africa. African produce, especially, has been affected, the market rates in Europe being for many articles scarcely more than half what they were a year ago, while the English shipping companies have suffered so severely as in many cases to be unable to pay any divi- dends, and even to be compelled to resort to the expedient of reduc- ing the number of steamers employed in the African service.
Among those who have done so much to make the geography of Africa familiar to the world, Mr. Joseph Thomson may fairly claim a prominent position, He lately returned from the Niger and the West- ern Empires of Sokoto and Gaudo, where he passed several months in behalf of the African Trading Company. At a meeting of the British Association, Mr. Thomson stated that on reaching Lokoja_ at the confluence of the Bienue with the Niger, he saw “a people astir with religious activity and enthusiasm, and especially far ad- vanced in the arts and industries.” From Rabba the journey to So- koto had to be continued by means of the ordinary African caravan.
1387-1
The New Africa
r5
the route Deing through Kupe and Yauri to the Gulbi-n-Gindi, which is then followed to the neighborhood of Sokoto. Mr. Thomson ex- pressed the opinion “that in all the wide range of tropical Africa there is r.o more promising field for commerce than this semi-civil- tzed region which forms the central area of the Niger basin.” He came to this conclusion “not on the ground that it is more fertile or more rich in natural productions — though in other respects compar- ing favorably with other parts — but for other reasons. These may be briefly summarized as follows: (i.) It is more densely populated
than ar.y other part of Africa, and divided into powerful and, for Africa, exceedingly well governed empires, in which life and property are almost as sacred as in Great Britain. (2.) The peoples are far advanced, in civilization, and throughout Northern Africa are famed for the excellence of their various manufactures. (3.) The necessary machinery and organization to work the inland trade is ready to hand, as the Housa trader is famed for his commercial genius and enterprising spirit. (4.) An efficient transport service already exists, as the horse, camel, bullock, and donkey, flourish in their thousands (5.) Owing to the much sterner conditions under which the people live, laborers are to be found without stint. (6.) The river Niger presents an uninterrupted waterway into the very heart of this region. ’* Mr. Thomson further says that he was successful beyond his anticipations. “The Sultan of Sokoto, in consideration of a subsidy, agreed to hand over to the National African Company all his rights to both banks of the river Binue and its tributaries for thirty miles inland, to give them an absolute monopoly of all trading and mineral rights throughout his dominions, and to make the African Trading Company the sole medium in his intercourse with foreigners. A few days later, the Sultan of Gando, whose rule extends over the main river from Lokoja to near Timbuctoo, granted the same rights and privileges for his empire, and thus the same Company were put in ■absolute command of the whole middle area of the Niger, and the whole of the basin of the Binue. In considering these concessions, it should be remembered that they were granted by educated men, who thoroughly knew the import of the whole matter. We wrere not dealing with barbarians, but educated Mahommedans, who thor- oughly knew what they were about. Yet you would do well to remember that tapping African trade is not like striking oil in America, which some writers would have you believe. There will be no sudden gush. It will develop by slow accretions as the fruit of industry, foresight, and the spread of habits of labor among the natives. “
i6
The New Africa.
[Jan-
France, ever alive to her own interests, is pushing steadily ahead in the Upper Niger and Soudan. In i88o-8r, Gallieni, accompanied by a staff of resolute and enduring men, forced his way from the Senegal to the Niger. In 1883-1884 another party under Colonel Boileve opened the line of communication between the Senegal and the Niger by the establishment of a new post at Koundou and a- tele- graph line from Bammakou to Bakel. The relations between St. Louis and Beledougou are being daily developed. In 1882 Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes planted the Tiicolour upon the banks of the Niger at Bammakou, and in the following year proclaimed the sov- ereignty of France over that part of the country. In Foutah-Jallo- she has been far from inactive. Already her influence is felt there* and the possibility of its becoming a French colony is within meas- urable distance. In 1881 Dr. Bayol, Lieutenant-Governor of Dakar^ explored Foutah and Bambouc. On his return to Paris he was. accompanied by an ambassador from Timbo, who was desired by his King to inform the Government of the Republic that the treaties in. existence would be respected. Again, from the ‘‘Mission d' explora- tion du Haut-Niger” by Gallieni himself, we learn something of the task France has set herself to accomplish an j will assuredly perform. “If Tonquin and Madagascar have for the moment turned her atten- tion from the Senegal, it does not signify that she has abandoned her project of reaching, by that way, the heart of the Soudan, with the intention of drawing towards St. Louis the commerce that follows the Sahara route leading to Morocco and Tripoli ” The check met by Flatters’s expedition having shown that Timbuctoo could not be reached by the north for a long time, it must be accomplished by the Niger, and up co the present there does not seem to be much resist- ance on the part of the natives.
The possible influence of Germany upon the future development of the “Dark Continent” cannot well be over estimated. On the east, the south, and the west, we see her ever watchful and ready to- found a colony, or even a trading station only, and to enter into- treaties with the native kings and chiefs; the outcome of all which is sure to be, sooner or later, the subordination of the native to the European influence. In the course of one week recently, there were laid before the Reichstag no less than three treaties by which chiefs of various tribes on the West Coast place themselves and their people under the protection of the German Empire. The meaning of these treaties is, says Kuhlow's Trade Review, sooner or later “annexation,” as by them the influence of all other foreign Powers is expressly excluded, while the chiefs place themselves — so far, at least, as all exterior matters are concerned — entirely in the hands of Germany.
i887.]
The New Africa. 17
Under these treaties the natives concerned are assured of protection from foreign foes ; but, on the other hand, they undertake not to entertain any warlike intention independently of the great Power. It is not reasonable to suppose that the natives fully understand the importance of the agreements into which they appear so readily to have entered ; but this much at least is clear, that Germany, as she agrees to be responsible for the security of these people in time of trouble, must be prepared to restrain them from anything that would tend to the provocation of surrounding tribes, or from any overt act that would lead to hostilities. Germany will take good care that the power she has thus obtained will be exercised when it suits her policy and the principles of German extension, which have been before her eyes ever since the first conception of a German colonial policy.
It is announced that the German East African Company, with a capital of ^100,000, intends to establish at once and equip five stations in newly-acquired possessions. They will be essentially military sta- tions on an agricultural foundation, in contrast to the stations of the Congo State, and will at the same time have commercial, adminis- trative, and judicial functions. German, officers are to train Negro soldiers for defensive purposes. For the working of plantations the labor of free natives, and, to a smaller extent, foreign work people, will be used, among the latter being Japanese, Coolies, or Chinese These stations will be connected by caravan roads with the coast, which roads will be made to the Rusidji, the Pangani, and the centre of Usagara. At the present time the East African Company has under its protection 4,500 square miles of country in a central and favorable part of the heart of Africa. The establishment of the sta- tions named above is only part of a large plan, which will be devel- oped as circumstances allow.
It is understood that an agreement has been come to between Dr. -Peters, President of the German East African Company, and Prince v. Hohenlohe-Langenburg, President of the Colonial Asso- ciation, the effect of which is that these two large bodies will now- work hand in har.d. The associations differ essentially in objects. While the East African Company is aiming after plantations, the Colonial Association seeks to further emigration.
The Germans in East Africa have left the flat lands of the coast, and gone into the interior, on higher lands, where they find a fertile and beautiful terrace from 3,000 to 4,500 feet in elevation. Beyond this lies a barren steppe, which is followed by another very fertile plain* that extends to the lakes of Central Africa. The entire terri- tory is intersected by a well-formed and clearly defined river system . Several of these rivers are navigable for a long distance, thus afford-
i8
The New Africa. Qan.
ing a prospect of a future water-way for commerce ; but their greatest promise is their possibility in the line of irrigation. The animal world is rich and varied, while the soil is already covered with rice and tobacco in large quantities. The various gums are obtainable in large quantities, and successful experiments have been made with tropical vegetables, as well with the coffee-berry and vanilla. The smaller coffee-trees find a valuable protection under the mighty bananas. The German agents report that all they want is railroad transport to extract great wealth from the region ; and it will again be remembered that this is in East Africa, which has hitherto been a doubtful territory, and one very little known in comparison to the western coast. This report accounts for the zeal developed there by the German nation in extending a protectorate over lands claimed by the Sultan of Zanzibar.
A line of steamships has been established from Oporto. Portugal, to Mossamedes. The steamers are to touch at Lisbon, Madeira, St. Thomas, the Congo, Loanda, Novo Rodondo, and Benguela.
So much for what England, France, Germany and Portugal are doing: what are the people and Government of the United States about ? Several public meetings have been held at New Orleans by leading colored men of that city, with the view of establishing direct trade with West Africa, at which letters from a number of men of influence were read.
Senator Morgan of Alabama wrote : — “ Taking Liberia for the distributing point, it seems that a vast trade could be done on the Niger and Congo and along the coast. 1 earnestly hope that direct and regular steam communication may be had between the city of New Orleans and Liberia. This would open up a traffic that would ultimately grow into vast proportions. We could scarcely find a country with which we could carry on commerce with so little capi- tal, on the old plan of bartering cargoes of our manufactures, etc.( for the products of those people. I am not trying to induce our Ne- gro population to emigrate, though I know that they are now prepar- ing to return to Africa and will go there sooner than the white peo- ple desire. But I am earnestly the advocate of any proper measures that will prepare that country as a field for their commercial and missionary work. It is time this way had been made open for them. Sooner than we now think they will be anxious to enter the field. When they do this their wealth and moral power will increase with great rapidity. It was for this reason that I felt so concerned to have the Congo country made a free State, as has been done by the Berlin Conference. Without defining how it could best be done, I am ready to support liberal measures for the establishment of a steam line to the West Coast of Africa, say to Liberia.”
i8 87.]
The New Africa.
1 9
CLIMATE.
It is saddening to record the mortality among the whites who have gone to establish the lights which are to irradiate Africa. The deaths are reported of Messrs Comber. Cruikshank, Crowe, Cobbing- ham, Maynard and McMillan, missionaries of] the English Baptist Missionary Society to the Congo, also of Mr. Craven, “missionary of the Livingstone Inland Mission to the same river. The London Mis- sionary Society has lost in the same way ten men, among them Messrs Mullins, Thompson, Dodgshun and Pensy, connected with its African Missions. Mr. McEwen, an engineerjengaged in|the con- struction of the missionary road from lake Nyassa to lake Tangan- yika; Mr. James Roxburgh, an engineer sent to launch the mis- sionary steamer “ Good News” at lake Tanganyika, and Mr. Mims, also an engineer commissioned to put together and work the mis- sionary steamer “ Peace ” on the Congo, have fallen victims to the climate of Equatorial Africa.
Mr. Joseph Thomson, the celebrated African traveler, lately stated that he “ did not believe that any part of Central Africa could be colonized, if by colonization was meant the ability to live and rear a family there. People might go there and stay for a few years, and then leave in a fairly healthy condition, but that more than that could be done he did not, from experience, believe. Ex- perience in India had shown that there were no Europeanjdescend- ants beyond the third generation. Unless they became intermixed with native blood, Europeans died out in the second or third genera- tion. If that were so in India, he was sure it would be still more so the case in Africa.”
The action of the African climate upon foreigners is an element to be taken into the account in all calculations of the probabilities of individual usefulness in that country. A strong and level-headed white man in Europe and America is not necessarily a strong and level-headed man in Africa after the fever has laid its hand upon him. Protracted residence in Africa alone can determine whether a man’s physical conditions will enable him to maintain the intellectual and moral balance he had in northern climes. Mr. Stanley's white men may have been all right when they left England, but brought under the disturbing influence of an inhospitable climate they become changed beings. They who go to Africa from Europe or America change, in the majority of cases, both the Goeliim and the Animurn. It is needless to look for much from the colonization efforts of Ger- mans and the King of Belgium in Africa. The striking remark of Hon. John H. B. Latrobe, in his address before [the Massachusetts
20 The New Africa. [jan.
Colonization Society, in 1853, is true. “ There is but one people that can colonize Africa and live.”
LIQUORS.
It would be a great advance if Christian nations should put a stop to the exportation of spirituous liquors to the heathen races of the world. The delegates of German Missionary Societies, at a con- ference at Bremen, addressed a manifesto to the German people and also a memorial to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking that re- strictions be imposed upon the sale of intoxicating liquors to native Africans. English Missionary Societiesare acting in council in present- ing an appeal to the British Government, showing the immense evils of the traffic, and what a menace it is to the native population of Africa. The American Board has united with other American mis- sionary societies, including the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the Baptist Boards, in appealing to the United State Government to aid in preventing the exportation of distilled liquors to Africa. It is hoped that bv this united effort some practicable way may devised for the suppression of a traffic which is fearfully corrupting both to the foreigners who engage in it and to the natives who are supplied by it.
Consul William W. Long of Hamburg, furnishes the Department of State with the following statistics, prepared in that city, of the ex- port of intoxicants from Hamburg alone to Africa, in quantities of 100 kilograms.
|
Liquors. |
1884. |
1885. |
|
402 m,549 10,498 222,529 6,312 |
194 108,356 7,218 207,99s 7>io5 |
|
The utterly demoralizing character of the traffic was well illus- trated the other day when a member of the German Parliament de- fended himself from the charge of sending poisonous brandy to Afri- ca, on the ground that he had never sent bad brandy to any of the German colonies, but only to the French colonies. He admitted that to these latter districts he had shipped rum of the very worst quality.
The trade of Europeans with Africa is most unscrupulous. Every steamer that touches her coasts is laden with gin, whiskey, firearms and powder, and missionaries are helpless to contend
i887.]
The New A frica.
21
against their power for mischief coming from their country. The only two agencies able to protect the aborigines against this destruc- tion that “walketh at noon-day,” which is even worse than the “pestilence that walketh in darkness,” are the Republic of Liberia or colonies like that and the Mohammedan system. The encroachment of Mohammedanism upon Sierra Leone is rolling back to the sea the liquor traffic. May we not suppose that Providence has permitted the development of this religion in Africa, to save millions alive and to check European influence until by the spread of the temperance reformation in Europe and America, the poison shall be eliminated from the trade of Europe and America with Africa ?
MISSIONS.
Each of the prominent missionary societies this year has been marked by some striking feature — mostly the enthusiasm of success — while the applicants for appointment have been more numerous and of higher grade than ever.
The point has at length been settled that mission work, in order to be effective, should be conducted from stations far inland. The missions which have thus been located within the last twelve years, are as follows :
i. The Scotch churches, ascending the Zambesi and Shire, have founded Livingstonia, combining a mission, an industrial institution and a Christian trading company. 2. The Church of England has position on the Victoria-Nvanza. It remains yet doubtful whether the best route thither is to be via Zanzibar or Mombasa, or ulti- mately up the Nile, over the way made famous by the career of General Gordon. 3. The London Society, by dint of great outlay and sacrifice, is on lake Tanganyika. It seems probable that they wiil in the future make use of the Scotch route, through lake Nyassa. 4. The Universities' Mission, which Dr. Livingstone tried so assiduously to aid at its outset, has at last secured good footing, and proceeding from Zanzibar, by the Rovuma river, has reached lake Nyassa and launched its steamer, the Charles Jansen. 5. The American Roard, acting from Zululand, seeks new ground in Um- zila’s kingdom. 6. From their well-tilled field, in Basutoland the French missionaries have extended operations to a point on the Upper Zambesi. 7. The American Board has entered from Benguela, on the west coast, and though once repulsed, has conquered a position at Bihe. 8. The English Baptists have followed Mr. Stan- ley’s track up the Congo, and now ply their steamer above Stanley Pool. They are fixing stations at remote points. 9. The American
22
[Jan.
The Nezu Africa.
Baptists, having assumed the work of the Livingstone Inland Mis- sion, are operating on the same line as their English brethren, io. The Church of England keeps the steamer Henry Venn on the Niger, and through native missionaries under the lead of the ven- erable Bishop Crowther, gains sites on the Upper Niger.
To these may be added, the steady progress from Cape Colony northward, and the pressure from Liberia and Sierra Leone toward the higher positions. The advantages of inland stations are numer- ous. The climate is more healthful : the people are there : there are the seats and sources of the heathenism of the Continent : there are the roots of the slave trade : the feeble streams of native commerce are eastward, and influences proceeding from the centre will be the natural migrations and movements of the people.
On the 31st of October, 1885, Bishop James Hannington, of the English Church Missionary Society, was killed at Unyalla, on the north-east shore of lake Nyanza. This was done by the orders of Mwanga the young King of Uganda, son and successor of Mtesa. Bish- op Hannington was trying a shorter route from the coast to Uganda, starting inland from Mombasa. The journey had hitherto been made from Zanzibar by way of Mpwapwa, and had occupied three months. To the Bishop's adventurous spirit it was no objection that the new way was comparatively unknown and dangerous. Rev. Henry P. Parker has been consecrated to the Bishopric, made vacant by Bishop Hannington’s death. Mr. Parker was graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, with honor, in 1875, and has been for several years at work in Calcutta, as the Secretary there of the Church Missionary Society. Mr. Parker is thirty-four years of age and unmarried.
The Pope has ruled that the Congo Stale forms, from an eccles- iastical point of view, part of Belgium, and that the clerical jurisdic- tion in it belongs to the Archbishop of Mechlin, Primate of Belgium, who accordingly becomes head of the Catholic clergy in the State. The African seminary of the University of Louvain is to educate the clergy for the parishes to be established there. The Portuguese Government, which had at first claimed the jurisdiction in question for the Portuguese Primate, has agreed to this arrangement.
The African Lakes Company, which is a philanthropic and com- mercial organization working in connection with the Free Church Mission in Eastern Central Africa, has sent out a new steamer to ply on the Lower Zambesi river. She will be of great service to all the missions in the interior that are to be reached from the east coast, and will be able not only to carry all necessary supplies but will pass over the unhealthy sections of the Zambesi with speed, so saving
j 887.] The New Africa. 23
much time and also much peril to health. She is built on a new pat- tern, to run in shoal water, and is called the James Stevenson, after the well-known gentleman who has done so much for missions and com- merce in Eastern Africa. The same African Lakes Company are proposing to place a new steamer on lake Nyassa, as the Italia is now too small to do the work needed on the interior lake.
Bishop William Taylor is gradually making his way into the re- gion watered by Africa’s great central river. On June u he wrote from “ Bavana, mouth of the Congo," that he is distributing his workers among various Doints, viz.: four at Mamba, three at Kabinda, and others at two or three other points, including five at Malange, three hundred and ninety miles inland from Loando, reserving ten whom he proposes to take with him to the Upper Congo, a distance of three hundred and fifteen miles, going as far as Stanley Pool. He says his fifty-five workers for the opening and civilization of the Congo country are all in good health and are working from five to eight hours a day in the sunshine, besides doing work in other hours of the day in the shade. They clear, dig, and plant the ground, planting corn, sweet potatoes, yams and cassava, fruit trees and cof- fee. Then they build houses, handling the saw, the plane, and the hammer. October 2d, eight missionaries embarked at New York to reinforce the missions of the heroic Bishop.
The Methodist E. Church, in their diminished and diminishing appropriations for the Liberian mission, show their apprehension that their methods are ineffectual against the odds to be confronted At the anunal meeting of their General Missionary Committee they appropriated only $2,500 for the work in Africa, and $3,000 for Bishop Taylor’s salary, For mission work in India, $71,200. for China, $60,- 000; for Germany and Switzerland, $24,000; for Sweden, 97,000 crowns ; for Denmark, $10,000 ; for Norway, $14,805 ; for South Amer- ica, $35,000. With reference to the large appropriations made for work in Europe, Rev. Dr. Curry made the striking remark that “it is carrying coals to Newcastle.” “ My theory," he said, “ is to go to the most needy and where we can do the most good. I think Africa is that field.”
LIBERIA.
England and France are doing all they can (France is even more active than England) to divert the trade of Nigritia to their colonies of Senegal, Goree, Gambia, and Sierra Leone, by annexations, protec- torates, and military occupations.* But no artificial divisions or arrangements of the country can interfere with or neutralize the nat- ural or geographical conveniences. Trade will take the direction
*The Mandingo army of Samuda is said to have recently driven the French from the gold regions of Boure, and to have besieged their garrison at Bammakoo.
24
[Jan.
The New Africa.
which traders consider easier and more profitable to them in spite of nominal political relationships. Liberia is in more easy and direct communication with the wealthy and virgin districts of Nigritia. She is easily accessible to the enterprising, intelligent, and industrious Mandingoes, whose military energy and political genius now sway most of the country east and north of Liberia, extending to the bor- ders of Sierra Leone and the French settlements, astonishing the agents of M. de Freycinet, and baffling their efforts at the head wa- ters of the Senegal, interfering with their railway projects and inter- rupting their telegraphic communication along the river.
These people will coalesce wfith Liberia. When larger capital is introduced into that Republic there will be very little difficulty in attracting to it most of the trade, which consists of cattle, hides, gold, ivory, rubber, gum copal, cotton, leather, palm oil, palm kernels, &c. Politicians and merchants at Sierra Leone are anticipating this and are calling the attention of their Government to the possibilities of Liberia. From the Mandingo country to the Liberian coast the journey is through fertile and well-watered districts where rice and other provisions are plentiful, differing in that respect from the un- cultivated and hungry regions through which the caravans find their way to Gambia and Sierra Leone.
The men who have guided Liberia since the death of the last white Governor, in 1841, were all educated on the spot. All the Presidents but one landed in Liberia minors. Joseph J. Roberts was born in Virginia in 1809, emigrated to Liberia in 1829, a mechanic — learned books in Liberia. Stephen A. Benson, born in Maryland in 1816, emigrated in 1821. Daniel B. Warner, born in Maryland in 8115, emigrated in 1823. James S. Payne, born in Virginia in 1820, emigrated in 1829. Anthony W. Gardner, born in Virginia in 1820, emigrated in 1831. These facts mean that the men for the work in Africa must be brought up in Africa.
The English language will prevail in Africa before very long. England and America will dominate the world. Liberia will long con- tinue to be an intellectual colony of the United States and England. Be- sides direct importations of literature from England, she receives American reprints of English books and periodicals. Shakspeare, Milton, and Macauley stand on the shelves of her foremost citizens side by side with Longfellow, Bryant and Lowell, so that in spite of race differences, and the unfortunate “ previous condition ” of their relations with America, they must enjoy through the languages they speak and the books they read, the religion they profess and the songs, sacred and secular, which they sing, a community of intellect- ual domain with the great Anglo-Saxon nations.
*887-]
The New Africa.
25
COLONIZATION.
Africa is the most singular in form of all the continents. It pro- jects into the ocean no important peninsular, nor does it anywhere let in the waters of the ocean. It seems to close itself against every influence from without. Thus the extension of the line of its coasts, is only 14,000 geographical miles for a surface of 8,720,000 square miles, so that Africa has only one mile of coast for six hundred and twenty-three square miles of surface. Europe is only one-third the size of Africa. But its principal mass is deeply cut in all parts by the ocean and inland seas having outlets to the ocean. The line of its shore is thus carried to the extent of 1^,200 miles, an enormous propor- tion compared to its size. While Africa has only one mile of coast for six hundred and twenty-three square miles of suiface, Europe enjoys one mile of coast for every one hundred and fifty square miles of surface. Although one-third the size of Africa it has 3,200 miles of coast more than Africa. Besides her littoral disadvantages Africa is guarded by a belt of malarious lands which fringes her eastern and western borders, and the north by a desert of sand, which the modern ingenuity of Europe has in vain attempted to flood.
These facts not only show why Africa has been through the ages destitute of commerce and trade — and therefore backward in the march of nations: but they prove also that it is impossible for Afri- cans to become a commercial and enterprising people until the country first becomes civilized so as to remedy by the arts of civilization, especially by railroads, the natural hindrances and obstruction to inter- communication. But how is this civilization to be brought about ? Well, if this question had been put four hundred years ago it would have been impossible to answer it. Four hundred years ago, America had not been discovered and the slave-trade had not commenced But the prosecution of that nefarious traffic took millions of Africa’s sons to America, where they were brought into contact with civilization and Christianity. They are being prepared for work at home. Their preparation is not yet complete.
Meanwhile, Europeans are making experiments in Africa. They are trying by their treasure, by their arts and science to overcome the obstacles of nature. They are expending millions in the Congo country to supply the facilities for entrance into and locomotion in the interior which nature has not furnished. But after they have brought into the country all that money and skill can bring — then the insuperable difficulty remains, their lack of constitutional adaptation to the climate. But the indomitable will and energy of the European will not allow him to see when he is conquered. But a few more years of experiment and suffering and loss will convince
26 Celebration of Liberian Independence. [jaru
him that he, with the noblest aims and loftiest purposes, cannot do the work.
The man adapted to the climate is away from home being trained for the work. He is being educated in the art of agriculture — the very thing that is destined to bring Africa into contact with other countries. Millions and millions of acres of fertile lands are awaiting his energy and skill. He is learning the mechanic arts — getting a practical knowledge of the sciences — learning science in its application — by actual practice. He did not attend any Univerities for the study of the sciences — but his master, for his own interest, was obliged to have him instructed in the field, in the shop, on the roads. And now with his practical knowledge he knows how to carry on many of the necessary enterprises of civilization. He can build bridges, construct arches, rear columns, erect buildings. From the force of the circumstances in which he has been placed he has not only been Christianized but civilized, qualified to organize civilized communities — to cultivate the soil, build cities, engage in trade, regulate commerce, make laws and enforce authority.
The time has come, or is rapidly coming, for the return of the exiles, and God is raising up agents to promote it. He who per- mitted them to be taken away for the purposes of training will find the means to take them back. Those who cannot see this must be blind to design in Providence, and must loosely consider matters as going on at haphazard.
From the ( Sierra Leone) Methodist Herald. CELEBRATION OF LIBERIAN INDEPENDENCE.
The celebration of the National holidav at Monrovia on Monday, July 26, came off with the usual interest. The following was the order of exercises :
1. Singing by the Choir, Anthem, “Oh! Give Thanks.”
2. Reading Scriptures and Prayer by Rev. P. Moort.
3. Singing by the Choir, Anthem, “ Jehovah’s Praise.”
4. Reading Declaration of Independence by Mr. W. E. Dennis.
5. Singing by the Choir, “ Stand by the Flag.”
6. Oration by A. B. King, Esq,
7. Singing by the Choir, Chorus, “ Night’s Shade no Longer.”
8. Collection for the benefit of the Church, and Singing by the Choir, Cho-
rus, “Away, away, the morning freshly breaking.”
9. The National Anthem, and benediction by the Rev. H. P. Capehart.
The oration delivered by Alfred B. King, Esq., was one of the ablest we have had for some time.
1887-]
An Unusual Visitor.
27
After the exercises there was a large representative gathering, including the President and his cabinet, at the official luncheon of the Mayer of Monrovia, Hon. C. T. O, King. Among the numerous toasts proposed by the Mayor on the occasion were the following :
“ Gentlemen : — I beg to invite you to join me in the sentiment I am about proposing. A feeling that is universal in this country has recently received an emphatic endorsement across the Atlantic. A neat pamphlet, recently published in America, containing the last annual discourse by Rev. Dr. Sunderland, delivered before the Amer- ican Colonization Society, and entitled “Liberia’s Next Friend,” supports, in a masterly and convincing style, our right to claim the Government of the United States as our “Next Friend.” It deserves a wide circulation in this land, because it touches a chord htre that never gives forth an uncertain sound. I regret the absence, on this occasion, of Moses A. Hopkins, Minister Resident of the United States near tbe Government of Liberia. I desired to couple his narhe with the sentiment which I have now the honor to propose, viz. : the health of Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America.”
“ Gentlemen: — We are told in that best of all books, “ Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.” I would commend to you this wise counsel, in view of the eloquent and instructive address to which we have to-day listened. Our orator is a gentleman too well known to you for his scholarly attainments and natural abilities of no mean order, as well as for devoted patriotism, to make any word of commendation from me necessary. Such views as we have heard expressed to-day are worthy of the speaker, and I hope will assume a tangible shape and become of practical importance, I propose the health of Alfred B. King, Esq., the orator of the day.”
AN UNUSUAL VISITOR.
There arrived in town a few days ago, a wealthy Moorish fader, from Fex in Morocco, where he has a commercial establishment. He brought for sale a large variety of articles manufactured in Morocco; splendid native costumes, woolen and cotton, slippers for males and females, and Arabic books in print and manuscript. He is an interesting specimen of those enterprising men who conduct the traffic between western and central Soudan and the Mediter- ranean. His wares are worth the inspection of those who would like to know something of the kind of goods which are exchanged between Sego, Timbuctu, Boure, etc., and North Africa; and for wffiich the gold, gums, and valuable dyes of the interior are exchanged. Sierra Leone Weekly News, Nov. 21.
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
io
ii
12
13
14
T5
16
17
18
iQ
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
4 3
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
5*
52
53
54
5 5
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
Roll of Emigrants for Liberia.
ROLL OF EMIGRANTS FOR LIBERIA.
By Bark Monrovia, from New York, October 30, 1886.
Name.
AGE. OCCUPATION. RELIGION.
From Cureton' sy Lancaster Co. S . C.
R. A. Massey
Mary Massey*
Dorothea C. Massey
Robert J. Massey
Albert Massey
Susanna Massey . . ....
W. J. Massey
Columbus Massey
Samuel Massey
Amelia Massey .. ..
Mary Thrower
Edmund Johnson
James Crawford
Gennie Crawford
James Crawford, Jr .. John Crawford ... .. .
Carrie Crawford
Nannie Crawford
Willie Crawford
Giles Caldwell
Aggie C ldwcll
Martha Caldwell
Hannah Caldwell
Mary Caldwell
Giles Caldwell, Jr
Samuel Caldwell
Alice Caldwell
Maggie Caldwell
Lizzie Caldwell
Caldweli
Clark Ivy
Matilda Ivy
Hattie Ivy
Bandoff Ivy
Premium P. Ivy
Shoofly G. Ivy
Mary G. Ivy
Gaston Ivy
Ivy
Charles D vis . .
Rosanna Davis
Henry Davis
William Davis
James O. Davis .
John W. Davis
Nathaniel Davis
Halcut Davis
Mary Davis
Lulu Davis
Martha Barker
James Ivy
Margaret Ivy
Emma Ivy
Marty n Ivy
Sallie Ivy
Hersche! Ivy
Standbourne Ivy
Caddie Ivy
James Ivy .
Clark Ivy
Robert Ivy ..
Sandy Curlee
YTira Curlee
Thomas Curlee
Harvey Curetor.
Janie Gyiam
26
22
3
1 59 58
24 *4 13 11 11
25
3°
26 8 6
4
4
Inf’t
45
40
20
15 '3
11 9
7
5
3
Inf’t
37
25
16
12 10
8
6
Inf t
48
45
17
12
10 8 6
4 4
2
20 47 43 22
18 16
13
11 8 6 4 4
47
35
11
21
24
|
Teacher |
Methodist |
|
Farmer |
Methodist Methodist |
|
Methodist |
|
|
\ |
|
|
Farmer |
Methodist |
|
L.. |
|
|
Farmer |
Methodist Methodist |
|
Farmer |
Methodist |
i887.]
Liberia's Next Friend.
29
ROLL OF EMIGRANTS FOR LIBERIA (CONTINUED.)
|
No. |
NAME. |
AGE. |
j OCCUPATION. |
RELIGION. |
|
6 |
||||
|
68 |
Florence Gyiam |
4 |
||
|
58 |
||||
|
45 |
||||
|
78 |
23 •18 |
|||
|
Inf’t |
||||
|
8l |
-6 |
|||
|
82 |
28 |
|||
|
8i |
6 |
|||
|
84 |
||||
|
85 |
||||
|
86 |
Jerry Massey..’. |
27 |
Farmer |
Methodist |
|
87 |
24 |
|||
|
88 |
||||
|
89 |
||||
|
9i |
George Porter |
55 |
Farmer |
Methodist |
|
48 |
||||
|
50 |
||||
|
95 |
Jacc b Blackman |
27 |
Farmer |
Methodist ........ |
|
96 |
Ada Blackman |
18 |
Methodi-t. |
From Darlington , »S\ C.
|
97 |
Frank Wearing |
) 27 |
Carpenter.. . |
Mtthoa isl . |
|
|
98 |
|||||
|
I OO |
Thomas Wearing |
I 3 |
From Gainesville , Florida .
|
101 102 103 |
George Stevenson |
55 50 22 18 |
Farmer |
Methodist |
|
107 |
Stevenson |
Inf’t |
Note. The foregoing named persons make a total of 15,894 emigrants settled in Li- beria by The American Colonization Society
LIBERIA'S NEXT FRIEND.
The moral right and duty of the United States to assist Liberia in conserving its integrity, is thus forcibly presented in the Annual Message of President Cleveland :
“ The weakness of Liberia and the difficulty of maintaining effec- tive sovereignty over its outlying districts, have exposed that Republic to encroachment. It cannot be forgotten that this distant community is an offshoot of our own system, owing its origin to the
[Jan.
jo Our Fall Expedition.
associated benevolence of American citizens, whose praiseworthy efforts to create a nucleus of civilization in the dark Continent have commanded respect and sympathy everywhere, especially in this country. Although a formal protectorate over Liberia is contrary to our traditional policy, the moral right and duty of the United States to assist in all proper ways in the maintenance of its integrity is obvious, and has been consistently announced during nearly half a century. I recommend that, in the reorganization of our navy, a small vessel, no longer found adequate to our needs, be presented to Liberia, to be employed by it in the protection of its coastwise revenues.”
THE AFRICAN METHODIST E. CHURCH.
The Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church has not hitherto been represented in Africa. Its first mis- sionaries, Rev. J. R. Frederick and wife, left the United States Novem- ber 20, to commerce work in Liberia. We trust that this small be- ginning will be followed by a large number of missionaries.
LIBERIA AT LINCOLN UNIVERSITY.
Liberia is again represented at Lincoln University by a number of her sons. Six young men, one a Vey, two Americo-Liberians, and three of the Bassa tribe, arrived at New York lately on the bark “Liberia,” and are now at the University. Their names are Thomas A. Johns, George B. Peabody. Luke P. Anthony, J. W. Hilton, Thomas Sherman, and James P. Herndon.
OUR FALL EXPEDITION.
The customary Fall expedition of the American Colonization Society left New York October 30th, by the bark “ Monrovia,” for Cape Palmas, Liberia. It comprised one hundred and seven per- sons, of whom 96 were from Lancaster county, S. C., 4 from Darling- ton, S. C., and 7 from Gainesville. Florida. Forty-three were re- ported to be communicants of the Methodist church. Of the adult males, 20 are farmers, 1 blacksmith, 1 carpenter, and 1 school teach- er. The baggage of the people, and the necessary supplies for their support during the first six months after arrival, with mechanical and agricultural tools for their settlement, accompany them on the ‘‘ Monrovia.”
The cabin was fully occupied by a number of white missionaries, and the following named Liberians gladly returning to their homes, viz.: Mrs. Alice Fuller, Mrs. Clement Irons, Mr. B. Y. Yates, and Hon. J. R. Jackson.
i887.]
3*
Africa's Call.
THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
The Seventieth Anniversary of The American Colonization Society will take place in the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D. C., on Sunday evening, January 16th, 1887, at 7.30 o’clock, when the Annual Discourse will he delivered by the Rev. Charles H. Hall, D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y.
The Annual Meeting of the Society for the election of officers and the transaction of business will be held at the Colonization Building, Washington, D. C., on the next succeeding Tuesday, January i8th> at 3 o’clock. P. M.
The Board of Directors will begin their annual session at the same place and on the same day, at 12 o’clock, M.
WEST AFRICAN TRADE.
The Commercial Convention at Pensacola, Florida, November 12, passed the following:
“ Whereas, the western coast of Africa, and especially the Repub- lic of Liberia, with its many resources, and on account of its proxim- ity to these southern ports, invite the extension and prosecution of commerce between these ports and Africa ;
“ Resolved , That we, in Convention assembled, call the attention of the country at large, and of American capitalists in particular, to the great commercial advantages for the extension of trade to this country.”
AFRICA’S CALL.
Tune , “Hallelujah, 'Tis Done !”
i. Written for the Baptist Foreign Missionary Convention of the United States, convened at Memphis, Tenn., Sept. 22, 1886.)
BY REV. ALEXANDER BLACKBURN, LAFAYETTE, IND. Ethiopia’s hands are stretched out unto God,
As they plead for the land where our forefathers trod.
Chorus.
Of our Jesus we’ll sing, and our offerings we’ll bring,
Till old Africa crowns him Redeemer and King.
In the blackness of sin they are waiting for light,
But the stains of their guilt Jesus’ blood will wash white. Chorus.
Though our fathers were slaves, now in Christ we are free,
And our brothers must know this same sweet liberty. Chorus.
We will gird for our work, with our hearts full of love,
While we ask for that love which comes down from above. Chorus.
32
A c know lodgment.
[Jan., 1887,
O, our God who led slaves out of Egypt, of old,
Bring forth now to freedom these millions untold ! Chorus.
O, our Saviour, we pray that the cross Simon bore
May be known in this land, from its centre to shore ! Chorus.
O, thou blest Holy Ghost, whom the eunuch received,
Plead for Afric’s dark children, till all have believed ! Chorus. Then at last, when we stand happy heirs with the Son,
All redeemed by his blood, and all nations made on*, —
Chorus , last verse.
In full chorus we’ll sing, and our loud praises bring.
Unto him who hath saved us, our Jesus, our King.
Receipts of the American Colonization Society.
During the month of September, 1886.
Alabama. ($i.oo.)
Greenville. Elder A. Walls .. .. i oo Ohio. ($2.00.)
Glendale. Rev. L. D. Potter, D. D. 2 oo For Repository, (gi.oo.)
Alabama $ 1 t 00
Recapitulation .
Donations §3 00
For African Repository 100
Rent of Colonization Building ... 7600
Interest for Schools in Liberia 30 00
Total Receipts in September, $17000
During the month of October, 1886.
Massachusetts. (85.00. )
North Brookfield. Thomas Snell, Virginia. ($1.00.)
Alexandria. Mrs. M. B. Black- ford
Ohio. ($198.07)
Harrison County . Legacy of John McCreaJate of Beech Springs P. Ch Rev. J. C. Kerr, pastor and Adm. of Estate 198 07
For Repository. ($18 50.) Vermont $15. Maryland $1. Tex-
as $1. Missouri $1.50 18 50
Recapitulation.
Donations $6 00.
Legacy 198 07
For African Repository — . 18 50
Rent of Colonization Building 154 00
Total Receipts in October, ... $37657
5 00
1 00
During the month of November, 1886.
New York. ($100. .0.) New York City. Yates & Porter-
field 100 00
For Repository. ($1.00.)
South Carolina 1 00
Recapitulation.
Donation ioo
For African Repository i
Rent of Colonization Building 299
Interest for Schools in Liberia 90
Total Receipts in November, $490 co
8 8 8 8
Fox use in Library only