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Pebbles From An African Beach
"To learn facts takes pains and pa- tience, but nothing save holiness com- mands such homage as a thorough mas- tery of facts. It is the rarest and cost- liest product in the mental market." — Arthur T. Pierson.
LEWIS GARNETT JORDAN
25 Cents Per Copy
OCT 141318
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Cop:- Ll^'iiti 1918, by L. G. Jordan, Secretary.
LIBERIA
A BRIEF STUDY
Geographical, Historical, Political. Industrial. Spiritual
A glance at its past: a consideration of its present ; a peep into its future.
Designed as a Missionary Text-Book fo* use in Evangelical Churches, Sabbath Schools, Women's and Young People's Societies.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD Chapter 1 — Retrospective
Chapter 2 — Geographical
Chapter 3 — Historical
Chapter 4 — Political
Chapter 5 — Industrial
Chapter 6 — Spiritual
AFTERWORD
FOREWORD
On my return from Africa, in May, 1917, I found that Africa was to be the subject oi Mission Study this year. "The Missionary Edu- cation Movement," of New York, had published two books as text-books on Africa, for use in the churches for the study of Missions this sea- son. Both books dealt with Africa as a whole. Liberia being so small it would not be seen in the little space alotted it in discussion. Liberia deserves special attention.
Having visited Africa three times and made it a special study for twenty-five years, I have been repeatedly urged to write on the subject. but my time was so completely occupied that it seemed impossible to find the extra time needed for such a task. However, after long debating, remembering the onesided way in which most writers deal with Africa, along with some recent impressions made, I think it necessary to forget every handicap and have finally decided to present this little booklet without apology.
His Excellency D. E. Howard, President, Republic of Liberia, Monrovia. His Excellency S. G. Harmon,
Vice-President, Republic of Liberia.
Fessy Girls on their way upwards
Pebbles From An African Beach 3
Chapter 1 — Retrospective
On the trip from which I have recently re- turned, I visited a portion of Africa where ground peas or peanuts are the staple product of the people. Monkeys, baboons and other animals destroy these crops, though the natives must grow them to get their hut tax for the government, and will be jailed if they do not pay. Yet they are not allowed any kind of firearms to protect their crop. They must build bonfires, beat boomerangs and watch the grow- ing crop by day and by night to save any part of it. It was here I saw a carload of guns, taken from the natives, broken and sent by boat a mile out to sea and dropped into the ocean. But none of these cruel precautions will save Africa's traducers from the wrath of God and the judg- ment of sane thinking men in the years to come. With 600,000 Africans fighting in the trenches with the allies and an equal number in arms in various portions of Africa under the governments who have taken over the continent, it can never be hoped to again make the African a docile creature, to be dumb driven like a brute, which his oppressors have been 100 years or more in the making. In all missionary liter- ature written, good men tell us, Africans are awakening and once they are awake they must be dealt with as men and not as children.
Scenes like that described above will make you weep for the people. They must have our sympathy and our help and we must know their needs, hence, I have tried to pick these "Pebbles From an African Beach" and so arrange them that all may see the vision, and by prayer, gir- ing of our substance and life itself, these people may know themselves, the outer world and the great God.
4 Pebbles From An African Beach
Africa! The very sounding of the name car- ries with it a mystery almost as impenetrable as the Sphinx reposing through the centuries on its trackless desert. And as always with mystery goes charm, so Africa holds potent fas-- ci nation for student and scholar, traveler and adventurer, soldier and missionary alike.
Africa! Mighty continent of mystery and charm. Egyptologists have upheaved its sur- face and disentombed colossal cities and vast empires that lived, flourished and died in by- gone ages so remote as to be almost lost in the hazes of history. Archaeological expeditions sent out by Yale and Harvard, by England, France and Germany, have uncovered much of the buried and forgotten grandeur of old- time civilizations founded and developed by the ancient black man. Napoleon fought epoch- making battles under its scorching sun. The sovereign powers of the present-day world, in- spired by the lust of conquest and territorial expansion, have partitioned the continent among themselves and waxed rich with its natural treasures. Intrepid explorers, like Liv- ingstone and Stanley, have penetrated its fast- nesses and dared its jungle diseases to add to the world's store of knowledge, and incidentally, to strike the light of Christianity and civiliza- tion into its darkest interior. Commerce has exploited both its people and its resources, and its ships have carried away untold tons of products in exchange for the white man's rum and vice. Missions have expended millions of dollars and thousands of lives in obedience to the "Great Commission" of the Savior of the world.
Pebbles From An African Beach S
It is said many of those missionaries spent more time impressing the natives with the great- ness of the white man than they did in impres- sing him with the truths of the Bible and the greatness of the character of Jesus^ Christ, and many of the most oppressive officials in all parts of Africa are the sons of the missionaries of 50 or more years ago.
For a long time when I read in missionary papers and magazines of "my boys," "my car- rier boys," etc., I thought they meant -minors, but I have learned with great sorrow they meant, men. Thus the African is not allowed to think as a man, or think himself a man. This won't last.
And yet, to the millions of Africans living there, Africa holds no interest or meaning be- yond the limits of their tribal boundary; and to the millions of African descendants living m America, Africa is nothing more than an odious name.
Strange paradox ! Every seventh man in our world lives in Africa, and every tenth man in our own country is of African descent! and yet these more than ten million American Negroes know little of Africa in general and almost nothing of Liberia in particular.
Here is the only Negro Republic in Africa, and ten million citizens of this great Republic know almost nothing of the sister Republic, and care less.
Tt is to remedy this deplorable condition that this text-book is prepared and published. It is to stimulate the Negro in America, who may be dissatisfied with his lot here, who may chafe under discrimination and segregation, and long for a liberty that is not circumscribed by preju- dice, to turn his thought to Liberia. There is an open door and a welcome hand to the Negro
6 Pebbles From An African Beach
who wishes to return to the land of his fathers, not only to aid in its betterment with Bible, tool and farm* implement, but to better himself in the open field of opportunity,
Throughout the world he is scorned as an African. None of the nations that have spheres •of influence or colonies in all Africa welcome the return to the continent of the American Negro. When he goes there as a missionary he is harrassed by the governments and given all the trouble possible. Liberia alone has an open door and extends a welcome hand to the Negro who wishes to return to the land of his fathers.
Could any stronger arg-ument be found — is any other needed — to convince the colored peo- ple of America that it is their sacred duty to read, study, mentally digest and assimilate the facts herein set forth?
Who knows but that, through the Republic of Liberia, the Negro is again coming into his own? What though he is down today, if only he is struggling up! He was at the summit yesterday; he may be there again tomorrow. A thousand years in God's sight are but as a day; and history repeats itself.
If we were disposed to admit the truth of the allegations that the Negro is inferior, or marked with a curse, or not of human origin — allegations often seriously made — we have but to point to the records of history to find that an inhuman, inferior and cursed race were the pioneers of the world's industry, culture and conquest — the builders of civilization — ages be- fore the haughty Teuton or proud Anglo-Saxon came upon the scene. And down through the centuries, under tyranny and oppression and darkness and slavery, the irrepressible black .man has ever bobbed up, giving the world some
Pebbles From An African Beach 7
of its mightiest heroes and remarkable geniuses.
The Republic of Liberia has passed the ex- perimental stage ; it is a demonstrated and rec- ognized fact. At its birth, just seventy years ago, it was not believed that the Negro was capable of self-government; today the little Republic occupies her seat in the Congress of Nations and has diplomatic intercourse with the other sovereign states of the world.
And why not? As a founder, the black man is not a new thing under the sun. In common with all races, we have had our pioneers and founders.
A great-grandson of Ham, named Sheba, founded the wealthy kingdom which bore his name. The civilized world knows of the mem- orable visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon the magnificent. For splendor of cavalcade and untold value of gifts it has rarely been equaled in history. So a black woman, Queen Balkis of Sheba, was monarch of this prosper- ous kingdom which a black man founded.
Cush was the eldest son of Ham and himself the father of six sons, of whom Seba and Nim- rod were the greatest and best known. The descendants of Seba founded what is now known as Nubia ; and it was from among these Negroes, so Josephus tells us, that Moses, the law-giver, got his Ethiopian wife. So again a black woman became at least the helpmeet of the founder of the kingdom of Israel.
The youngest grandson of Ham, Nimrod, the "mighty hunter before the Lord," was the founder of Babylon ; then a colony was sent to found Nineveh. So a black man was respons- ible for the two greatest inland cities of the ancient world; a Negro was the founder of what, in some respects, was the mightiest em- pire and grandest civilization of all history.
8 Pebbles From An African Beach
Just this little lifting of the curtain and this mere peep into the past is enough to show that the Negro is no amateur or tyro as a pioneer and founder. It is enough to show the place he occupied in the history of by-gone ages. It is enough to thrill us with pride and kindle us with ambition at the achievements of our an- cestors. And it is their spirits which are speak- ing to and acting through the Liberians today, and bidding them develop and perpetuate the Republic they have founded. It is their spirits which are speaking to us here in America, bid- ding us not to forget our fatherland and our millions of brothers there; and not to be ashamed to own that our ancestors were thick- lipped and black-skinned and wooly-haired> be- cause by their culture and skill and bravery they have laid the modern world under obli- gation to them, as by our own racial develop- ment, and integrity and unity, we can in turn lay the future world under obligation to us.
So, too, the present day has had its Negro pioneers and founders — men and women who shine in our historical firmament and have left iis a magnificent heritage. When we speak of Homer, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, we lose all sense of place and race. We cannot locate them on the map. They belong to the world. When we speak of Washington, Lincoln, Edi- son, Emerson, America dare not make ex- clusive claim to them. Humanity has long since recognized them as its own. And in this category of pioneers and founders and makers of history we dare not omit Frederick Douglass, Booker Washington or Alexander Dumas. They, too, belong to the world.
The world cannot forget Toussaint L'Ouver- ture, soldier-statesman, who defied the concen- trated might of Europe, and planted the tree
Pebbles From An African Beach 9
of liberty so deep that a hundred years have not been able to root it up. The world cannot for- get Richard Allen, who stands with the found- ers of religious liberty. Then there is Moses Dickson, pioneer of Negro secret organizations, founder of the Knights of Liberty, who in the ten years preceding the Civil War, carried 70,- 000 slaves to liberty, and conducted their affairs so secretly that nobody knew the names of the original twelve or that such an organization existed.
We need not ask the Avorld to remember, for it will never forget, Alexander Dumas, who wrote more novels, historical sketches, plays and travels than any other man who ever lived.
Nor is the future going to forget Elijah Johnson and Paul Cuffe and Lott Carey, pioneers and founders in the making of Liberia.
Then, all hail Liberia! We wish you God speed. Strong in your faith in an ever-watch- ing Providence and confident of your own ability, march on Vith the free states of earth to the goal of liberty and human equality.
As "the love of liberty (which you have found and enjoyed without stint or grudge) Drought you there," so may it fill you with en- compassing love for the millions of your broth- ers whom you found there, and impel you to take them into your heart and your life. Then shall they, too, like us. love and appreciate not only political liberty, regulated by law, but that higher spiritual liberty, governed by Di- vine law "The truth shall make you free." Then shall all, from the humblest of Darkest Africa to the greatest of promising Liberia, and en- lightened America "Fear God and keep His commandments." Again, all hail Liberia ! We, in this boasted land of the free, are also strug- gling up and looking up and shall join you in
10 Pebbles From An African Beach
your efforts to dispel the night of ignorance, resting like a pall upon the greatest continent of earth, and usher in the day of wisdom, when your millions and ours shall know each other better and love each other as we should.
Till then, shine on — though it be but a feeble light — in your firmament and we in ours till the dawn of the day when the Son of Righteous- ness shall break in His glory over all the chil- dren of Africa,
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II
1. What is the origin of the name of Liberia ?
2. Describe the exact location of Liberia.
3. To what coast section does it correspond and belong?
4. What is the extent of Liberia's coast line?
5. When and by whom were the boun- daries of Liberia fixed?
7. What is the nature* of the coast?
6. How much of the country is under development?
8. What about the harbors?
9. What is the nature of the interior?
10. What is the difference between the na- tives of the coast and interior, and why?
11. Describe the climate of Liberia.
12. Name the rivers of Liberia.
13. What about the lakes?
14. What is the character of the scenery?
15. Mention some of the flowers. 18. What is the capital of Liberia?
17. Describe its location.
18. What is its population?
19. Name some of its exports.
20. What are some of the institutions?
NATIVES AND THEIR HOME
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Pebbles From An African Beach 11
CHAPTER II
Geographical
Liberia derives its name from the Latin — liber, free; hence the little Republic is well named, for it is the one place wliere the black man finds full freedom and the enjoyment of those inalienable privileges which by right belong to free men.
The Republic is situated on the west coast of Africa, between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast; or in the western part of what some of us remember was called on the old maps Upper Guinea.
The various sections of the long coast line of West Africa have been known by the names of the natural products which formed the basis of their trade. Thus, we have the Grain Coast, Slave Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast.
Liberia corresponds with the old Grain Coast from which were, and are still, taken the grains "Malagneta Pepper," once a notable import in Europe.
The Republic has a coast line stretching along the Atlantic for about 350 miles, north- west to southeast, from the Mano River on the west to the Cavalry on the East. It includes an area of a little upwards of 40,000 square miles — a trifle more than the State of Ohio.
The boundaries were definitely fixed with England and France in 1885 and 1892, when in the latter year that part of the interior which drains into the Niger fell to France.
Only the coast strip, with an average width of seven miles, is under development and ad- ministration. This coast is for the most part a low and flat sandy beach jutted at intervals by ragged reefs of rocks, forming a shore where
12 Pebbles From An African Beach
there are inadequate hart ors or none at all. These Leagues of. open sea beach are broken here and there by the brown flood of rivers that are navigable no more than a few miles inland, where among the hills of the coast ranges they are transformed into beautiful ea cades and picturesque rapid*.
Because of this absence of suitable harbors, steamers lie off shore and put .passengers over the side into surf boats. The traveler to Liberia will never forget this experience. lie sits in the surf boat between the dark bodies of the rowers who line the gunwale-'. They sing the songs of rowing — like the Italian gondoliers. They rise and fall to the paddle with a fasci- nating ryhthm. In contract to their skin are the pearly white of their per eci teeth and the flashing white of their brilliant eyes. They shout and swing in a mea-ured exhilaration as one man. One see- the origin of the scenes on our own Southern levee-'.
But if the first impression of the coast is dis- appointing and forbidding, it is soon dispelled as one advance- inland. The interior is elevated and clothed with valuable forests of gum trees, oil palms and pepper shrubs. Those regions are healthful, well watered and fertile, and con- tain a class of native- superior to those living on the coast. The people are numerous and have had little contact with civilization. Thia is in their favor, as the coast civilization is more or less corrupt, and demoralizes the na- tives more than it uplifts them, because — sad to relate — th/e influences of trade and commerce upon the aborigine- are degrading.
Not many mile* hack from the coast begin gradual undulations of land, succeeded by con- spicuous elevations and mountain* running parallel with the coast. Rivers and their tribu-
Pebbles From An African Beach 12
taries flow gently over beds of sand and gravel, and then, meeting huge rocks, dash wildly down on their journey to the sea.
Throughout Liberia the climate is salubrious and the soil is thus capable of producing in abundance all the tropical vegetation for which the continent is noted. Adverse critics have called the climate the hottest on earth, but it is not nearly so dangerous as that of Sierra Leone, immediately to the northwest.
January is the warmest month. There are two rainy seasons, yielding over 150 inches in rain per year— one in June and July ; the other in October and November. There is a marked difference between the climate of the forest region and that of the Mandigo Plateau. In the forest region the dry season is short and is the hottest part of the year, including the months of December, January and February. At this season the temperature ranges from 55 degrees at night to 100 degrees in the shade at midday.
During the wet season the daily range is-- almost nothing, the thermometer standing at about 75 degrees. The coolest month of the year is August, when the day temperature is 09 degrees and the night 05 degrees.
Upon the Plateau the annual rain fall is be- lieved to be not more than from 00 to 70 inches.. The dry season lasts from November to May, during which time vegetation is parched. The nights, however, are cool, and at an altitude of 3.000 feet become cold. The hottest period of the entire year is at the beginning and end of the rainy season, when the thermometer sometimes registers 100 degrees or more at mid- day.
There are many rivers in Liberia. All are comparatively small and shallow, though widen-
14 Pebbles From An African Beach
ing somewhat as they near the mouth. Few of them are navigable to any distance, and even then only by small boats. The St. Paul River, supposed to be 200 miles long, can be ascended only to a distance of 25 miles; the Dukovia only about 30 miles; while the Cavally, con- sidered by some the longest river in the Re- public, is navigable for about 80 miles.
There is an absence of real lakes, though the country abounds in lagoons which are fre- quently referred to as lakes — as, for example, Fishermen's Lake and Sheppard Lake.
All the waters provide fish in abundance. The natives seldom use hook and line, but go into the waters with basket and net. 3 As may be judged from the descriptions al- ready given, the scenic beauty of Liberia is equal to that of any territory of equal size on earth. There is a rugged grandeur that yies with the Rocky Mountains or the Swiss Alps. There is a wealth of foliage as varicolored and prodigal as that of Jamaica or Java. There are fertile valleys blooming with the exuberance of an American June day ; trees bending under the weight of luscious fruit, and lands running over with rich tropical products of commerce. In the virgin forests are many varieties ol valu- able timber, while in the clearings dotting the hillsides are ripening fields of grains and roots. Horses and cattle roam the plains, and herds of elephants, furnishing ivory, feed in the up- lands These latter, with buffalo and other game, give exciting sport to the intrepid hunter.
Quite five-sixths of the area of Liberia is covered with forests, dense even for the tropics. Through these magnificent stretches of woods the sun strikes down its flickering rays. Pene- trating the deep, rich green of the foliage and reflected against the broad leaves of trees and
Pebbles From An African Beach 15
shrubbery, the woodland is bathed in a mellow refreshment.
In the giant treetops, whose wide-spreading branches form a hugh natural canopy, are heard the fascinating love notes of birds, and leaping and swinging from limb to limb, in gleeful mischievous spirit, performing a thou- sand pranks, are hordes of monkeys.
Numerous rivulets, whose transparent waters reveal the beds of sand and gravel over which they flow, and with the purity and excellence which only the health-giving mountain and forest can import, empty themselves into rivers on whose calm surface float fragrant lilies, blended with the reflected images of sky and shore. On their banks grow in gorgeous pro- fusion wild flowers and palms; and festoons of parasitic plants hang from the tops of the tall- est trees to the water's edge.
The plains are covered with tall grasses and bush of such density that one is completely hidden amidst the mass and confusion. The very paths beneath the feet are so beset with luxuriant weeds that it is not.possible to see on what one is walking.
And above all, Liberia is a land of flowers.
Most of us are accustomed to hear so much
that is unattractive and repellent about Africa
in general and Liberia in particlar. that it is
well to correct this mistaken impression.
Crowning the scenic splendor of the little Republic are the flowers. They differ from those of the temperate climes in brilliancy of color, luxuriance of growth, and in breathing their odors only after sunset. There is the frangipanni tree, exhaling its delicate fragrance and casting its welcome shade. Beautiful jessa- mines grow in the forest. The stately oleander lifts twenty feet high, its pink flowers objects
16 Pebbles From An African Beach
of beauty and richness. The lily is notable for delicacy and fragrance; the most remark- able being the chandelier lily, with its six petals four inches long, hanging from beneath six stamens an inch shorter, and growing out of the margin of a tunnel-shaped corolla. There are lofty palms and tangled bamboos, present- ing a beautiful picture "as the prismatic hues of the sun are reflected on leaf and blade and stalk.
Africa at large may still be the "Dark Con- tinent,'"' but Liberia is one of its brightest spots, for there the Creator has scattered his boun- teous gifts with a lavish hand. Flowers are always blooming and birds are ever singing, and in very truth, the desert does "rejoice and blossom as the rose."
If nature can do so much to beautify the Republic and make it a garden spot, what may not man do, assisted by nature's God, to de- velop it and place it in the front rank of the nations of the earth.
The capital of the Republic of Liberia is the city of Monrovia, named after President Mon- roe, of the United States. It is situated at the mouth of the St. Paul River, on the coast.
The city is built on a rugged ridge, and looking off from the piazza of the highest build- ing in the town, a splendid vieAv may be had •of most of the capital and the surrounding country. Nestling amid a variety of tropical fruit-bearing trees, the attractive houses pay a silent compliment to their owners.
The population of Monrovia, including the suburb of Krootown, is about 6,000 people. The town is full of activity and generally alive with people — mostly residents and natives, and often foreigners and visitors;
The approach to Monrovia from the sea pre-
Pebbles From An African Beach 17
sents a unique and attractive appearance. Com- ing from a distant land, the change and scene are more strikingly pronounced. It is like entering a new world and one gazes intently about in child-like wonder and delight.
Yonder is Krootown, a native village lying on the beach, with its more than 300 dwellings and its noisy bustling populace. To the north rises Cape Mount, lifting like a sentinel from out of the sea and standing in bold contrast to the low-lying coast land. In the same direction is the white ajid regular shore line, stretching as far as the eye can see. To the northeast are the high and healthful uplands of the interior, with their numerous pagan tribes and vast phy- sical resources. Stockton Creek and the Mesu- rado River, as well as the St. Paul, wind their silvery way through the country. To the south and west rolls the great Atlantic, 4,000 miles across to the eastern shore of South America.
Monrovia boasts a Government College and one conducted by Methodist missionaries. The city is also the seat of the Protestant Episcopal Bishop and of an American and Roman Cath- olic mission. Here, too, are the headquarters of the German and South African Cable Com- panies, since Liberia has declared with the Allies in the great war now going on, the former has been taken over by the government of the Re- public.
The exports from Monrovia are palm oil and kernels, coffee, ginger, liber, cocoa, dyewoods and rubber to the amount of $3,000,000 annu- ally. These exports were chiefly to Great Britain and Germanv before the war.
Miss Susie M. Taylor.
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CHAPTER HI
Historical
The Republic of Liberia owes its origin to the efforts of the National Colonization Society of America, organized in 1816, for the purpose of colonizing in Africa the free colored people in the United States. Some practical solution of what was even then recognized as the Negro problem had been sought by American philan- thropists as far back as 1773.
Strange to say, the very first practical step toward the solution of the problem of the black man was taken by a black man, Paul Cuffe. In 1815, one year before the organization of the Colonization Society, this Negro carried to Africa, at his own expense, a score of his coun- trymen whom he landed at Sierra Leone. This feat strengthened the faith of the Society in the colonization idea.
The first attempt to locate, which was made in Sherbo Island, south of Sierra Leone, in 1820, on account of the excellent harbor there, failed because of the unhealthy character of the locality. But in December, 1821, a treaty was concluded by Lieutenant Stockton with certain native princes, by which a tract of land suitable for the purpose was acquired about Cape Montserrado.
It was some weeks before the hostility of the natives, who were wedded to the slave trade, could be overcome; but in April, 1822, active operations were begun on the mainland. A 30-acre tract was alloted each man with the means of cultivating it.
20 Pebbles From An African Beach
The Society agents became discouraged at the difficulties that were met and with the. faint-hearted pioneers returned to America; but the strong-hearted rallied around a determined Negro, Elijah Johnson, and remained.
The little colony was not without its trials and ordeals. Made up of black people with- out money or education and with their man- hood crushed out through the cruel servitude of the great Republic, they were ill-fitted as pioneers and colonists. There was a hostile people to subdue and a deadly climate to con- quer, with quinine and other anti-febrin drugs as yet unknown.
But these brave people did not quail. They adopted an appropriate and inspiring motto — "The love of liberty brought us here" — and there they stayed, and there they have been ever since. They were the founders of the Republic of Liberia, as the Pilgrim fathers were the founders of the Republic of the United States, and their motto has become the official motto of a recognized commonwealth. Without the aid of a mother country, they fought back or assimilated hostile tribes, waged successful warfare against disease, and set about to raise upon that distant shore the banner of Negro liberty and independence.
As America has her historic days, recording some victory over the native savages or the more civilized tyrant across the seas, so Liberia today celebrates her historic occasions in honor of these pioneer colonists who triumphed over the hostile tribes that would block their way. Such a day is the first of December and such an immortal pioneer is Matilda Newport, whose memory is cherished and revered. It happened this wise:
Every effort, both diplomatic and military,
Pebbles Fro mAn African Beach 21
was exerted by the colonists to protect them- selves against hostile assaults. But in spite of all, the little band was attacked on the morn- ing of November 11, 1822, by eight hundred natives, armed with cutlasses and war knives. They were repulsed by thirty-five colonists, all of whom were capable of bearing arms.
Incensed by their defeat, the natives increased their forces to nearly sixteen hundred, and determined to expel the colonists from the Cape,, returned to the attack before dawn on December 1. As they made charge after charge they were resisted by the courage and valor of the few colonists; but as the latter were so greatly out- numbered it seemed as though they must be destroyed by the invaders.
Tt was at this crisis, when the strongest valor was nearly faltering and the bravest hearts- were about despairing, that Matilda Newport stepped forward and touched off a deserted camion, which made such deafening noise and. sent such fear into the ranks of the enemy that they fled in dismay and defeat. Matilda New- port, by her quick thought and dauntless ac- tion, not only saved from destruction the little colonial seed destined to blossom into the Re- public, but enrolled herself among the heroes and heroines of history.
So, as America celebrates her historic days and pays tribute to her departed heroes, Liberia observes her December first, to render her de- votion to Matilda Newport and to take new inspiration from the magit of her name. But for the courage and sacrifice of these early pa- triots there would have been no colony, and perhaps no Liberia.
After this the colony was enlarged by the honorable purchase of new lands from the natives of the country. New settlements were
22 Pebbles From An African Beach
formed at Cape Mount and in the newly ac- quired Bassa Land, in which, in 1834, a town was founded and called Edina, in acknowledg- ment of pecuniary aid sent to the colonists from Edinburgh. Many of the neighboring chiefs were received into the colony and others were subdued.
But trials of many kinds, deprivations and 'dissensions were the lot of the colony, managed ;as it was oy a society which did not fully know whether its aims were sentimental or practical. Accordingly, in 1846, the American Coloniza- tion Society, in agreement with its original com- pact to resign the powers delegated to it when- ever the people should became capable of con- ducting the government, or whenever the peo- ple should desire it, peaceably withdrew its supervision and left the people to the govern- ment of themselves. By a set of resolutions, in January, 1846, all political connection with the people of Liberia was dissolved and the delegated power was returned.
In the following year, on the twenty-sixth day of July, 1847, the people of the common- wealth in convention assembled, in the city of Monrovia, declared themselves a free, sovereign and independent state by the name of the Re- public of Liberia, and were recognized as such .by the important countries of the world.
At once Liberia began to show prosperity. ^Numerous churches and schools were founded; .a regular postal system was introduced; news- papers were established; and slavery in the neighboring states was abolished. The popu- lation has increased by migrations from Amer- ica and by accessions from native tribes. From time to time, as circumstances required it, the •territory has been extended by purchase from ithe lords of the soil. With this increase of
Pebbles From An African Beach 23
population and extension of territory has been the growth in commerce, until now the flags of all nations float off the shore and the mer- chants of all countries engage in reciprocal and profitable trade.
During the seventy years of life of the Re- public the growth has been gradual and steady, and today Liberia boasts truly and unmistak- ably a record of achievement unsurpassed by any other country of equal age struggling against equal handicaps. It is a well-governed and prosperous country, cheerfully working out its own destiny, and is fast becoming a recog- nized factor in the development of Africa. The Liberians are a patriotic, liberty-loving people who patiently but confidently hope and believe that the Negro race, and particularly the Neeiro in America, will recognize and accept their flag as the beacon light of opportunity and the emblem of real liberty.
As is the case with our Fourth of July, the Liberians zealously celebrate their "Independ- ence Day," the twenty-sixth of July. Many little hearts beat with anxiety as they watch the sun rise on that glorious day, for nothing must mar the festivities observed in all the schools. When the school hour arrives the pri- mary students with the teachers, march in double file with measured steps to the main building where they join in the exercises with the older scholars. A program is gone through, including reading, singing and recitations, dur- ing which a teacher gives some facts about the twenty-sixth of July, followed by appropriate remarks. Then a scholar waves the Liberian flag as the school repeats:
"I pledge my allegiance to the flag, And to the Republic for which it stands,
24 Pebbles From An African Beach
One country, one flag, one nation indivisible."
The first chords of Liberia's national anthem sound on the organ as the pledge ends. The boys and girls join in singing:
All hail, Liberia, hail! This glorious land of liberty Shall long be ours. Tho' new her name, Green be her fame, And mighty be her pow'rs.
In joy and gladness, with our hearts united, We'll shout the freedom of a race benighted ; Long live Liberia, happy land, A home of glorious liberty by God's command.
All hail, Liberia, hail ! In union strong success is sure ; f We cannot fail ',,....,
With God above, 4
Our right to prove, We will the world assail.
With heart and hand our country's cause
defending, We meet the foe, with valor unpretending; Long live Liberia, happy land, A home of glorious liberty by God's command.
At the close of the anthem the boys and girls hie out of the schoolroom to a lively march.
Liberia has been justly called the "garden spot of West Africa." Whether judged by her magnificent scenery, or her rich natural re- sources, or her inviting labor market, or her absolute political equality, or her virgin fields and forests, she presents to the ambitious, as- piring Negro an opportunity without an equal
Pebbles From An African Beach 25
anywhere else on earth. The old policies which retarded her material and political development and made her the object of foreign ridicule and contempt have been abandoned. The citizens now fully realize their responsibility as the only Negro Republic in Africa, and are fast measuring up to the opportunity of proving to the world that the Negro is capable of standing alone and of conducting successfully and with credit a government upon Negro soil worthy of a place among the other recognized nations of the world.
26 Pebbles From An African Beach
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III
1. What was the origin of Liberia?
2. Who was the first pioneer?
3. When was the first settlement made, and by whom?
4. Was it successful?
5. What other settlement was made?
6. What were some of the early diffi- culties ?
7. What is the motto of Liberia?
8. Who was Matilda Newport?
9. How did the colony grow?
10. When and where was Edina founded?
11. When did Liberia become a Republic?
12. What were the causes leading up to it?
13. What effect did independence have upon the country?
14. Has the Republic proved a success?
15. What is the present condition of Liberia ?
16. What are the hopes of its citizens?
17. When is their Independence Day?
18. How is it celebrated?
19. Has the Negro shown himself capable of self government?
Honorable E. Lyons, Consul General of Liberia. Honorable G. M. Parker, Senator of Liberia.
A Residence Street in Monrovia, Liberia.
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CHAPTER IV
Political
The constitution of Liberia is framed after that of the United States. Executive authority is vested in a President and Vice-President, elected for four years, and a council of six mem- bers. Legislative power rests with a Congress of two houses, known as the Senate, consisting of four members, and the House of Represen- tatives, with fourteen members.
Voters must be of Negro blood and own real estate. Natives have not yet availed themselves generally of the suffrage. No foreigner can own real estate without the consent of the government.
The coast territory is formed into the counties of Bassa, Maryland and Sino, with one super- intendent each, and Mont Serrado with four superintendents.
In 1911 a plan was agreed upon by which the army was reorganized by American officers to assure the maintenance of peace. All able- bodied men between 16 and 50 are liable for military service. The actual military forces consist of militia, volunteers and police.
British money is used in the Republic, but American money figures usually in the keep- ing of accounts. There is, however, a Liberian coinage and a rather large paper currency.
The weights and measures are as a rule British.
The official language of Liberia is English.
The Declaration of Independence was pub- lished July 26, 18-47. It is a calm, dignified statement of the causes which led the Liberiana
28 Pebbles From An African Beach
to expatriate themselves from the land of their nativity and settle on the barbarous West Afri- can coast, and then to organize themselves into an independent state.
The founders of the Republic were originally inhabitants of the United States where every avenue to improvement was effectually closed against them, merely because of the color of their skin. Foreigners of all other colors were welcomed to the country, which was the black man's only home, and were preferred before him.
To all their complaints there was turned only a deaf ear. All hope of better conditions died in their hearts and they looked across the seas for some asylum and escape from the degra- dation and injustice heaped upon them in their native land.
As stated in a previous chapter, the western coast of Africa was the place selected for their future home by benevolent and philanthropic Americans interested in the betterment of the oppressed American Negro. Under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, they set- tled in Liberia where they have grown and prospered. As the years passed the Society withdrew from all direct and active part in the administration of the government, except in the appointment of the Governor, cho-en from among the colonists, for the purpose of feting the ability of the people to manage their own affairs. Be it said to the everlasting credit of those pioneers and early settlers that no com- plaint was ever made of bad management or maladministration. Accordingly, in January, 1843. the American Colonization Society re- linquished wholly all connection with the gov- ernment and affairs of Liberia, and left the people of the government of themselves
Pebbles From An African Beach 29
The following year the Declaration of Inde- pendence was published, setting forth the fore- going facts, and the Liberian constitution was adopted. The people threw themselves with confidence upon the just consideration of the civilized world.
The Constitution of Liberia, which in its entirety is appended to this booklet, breathes the hopes and purposes of the people of Liberia "to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity, to nourish in our hearts the flame of honorable ambition, to cherish and indulge these aspirations which a Beneficent Creator hath implanted in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise,. ridicule and oppress our race that we possess; with them a common nature, are with them sus- eepti! le of e<jual refinement, and capable of eoual advancement. in all that adorn? and dig- nifies man."
Under such a constitution the hopes of Liberia could not help being realized. The Republic is now the happy home of thousancte who were once the victims of oppression. Her door stands wide open to other thousands who are looking with anxious eye for some haven of rest.
Her courts of justice are open equally to the strangers or the citizen for the' redress of griev- ances, for the remedy of injuries and for the punishment of crime.
Her numerous and well-attended school^ are kindling tine children with the principles of humanity, virtue and religion.
Her churches providing a retreat where, free fro:i) fear or molestation, they can in peace and eecuritv worship the common Father of all man- bind, bear te-timony to their piety and their fid nowledgment of God's provident dea!in°"
'30 Pebbles From An African Beach
with Liberia.
And the native African, their own brethren, have been touched with the light of a prac- tical Christianity; the slave trade has been abolished so far as their influence extends, and barbarous tribes are accepting the extended hand of industry, moral restraint and civiliza- tion.
With such principles as these embodied in their Declaration of Independence, and such provisions made and long carried out under their constitution, Liberia appealed to the na- tions of Christendom, seventy years ago, "that the}" will regard us with the sympathy and friendly consideration to which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to extend to us that comity which marks the friendly inter- course of civilized and independent commu- nities."
Pebbles From An African Beach 31
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV
1. After what is the Constitution of Liberia modeled?
2. In whom is the executive authority vested ?
3. Describe the legislative power.
4. What are the requirements for voting?
5. Name the counties of Liberia.
6. What are the military provisions?
7. What money is used in Liberia?
8. What weights, measures and language?
9. When was the Declaration of Independ- ence published?
10. What were the causes leading up to it?
11. From what country were the original settlers and founders?
12. Under what auspices did they settle in Liberia?
13. When did the Society sever connection with the affairs of Liberia?
14. When was the Constitution adopted?
15. To what extent lias it proven a success?
J32 Pebbles From An African Beach
CHAPTER V
Industrial ^ \
Liberia is rich in its natural resources. Per- haps in all the world there cannot be found a more fertile soil and a more productive country, according to size and so far as it has been cul- tivated and developed. The material possibil- ities are wonderful — little short of marvelous. Already the country has contributed not a little to the fortune of European and her oAvn citizens. A. Woerman, of the Woerman Steamship Com- pany, Hamburg, laid the foundation of his now large possessions in Liberia years ago. The great commercial and political interest taken in Liberia — as indeed in all Africa — by the Powers of Europe is chiefly because of the ma- terial possibilities.
The productions of nature continue their growth through all seasons of the year. The hills and lowlands are clothed with a verdure that never fades. Even the natives, with little labor, and less tools, and no skill, raise more grain and vegetables than they can consume or find a ready market for. Indeed, they do not yet know the full value of agriculture. Their farm life is rather fitful and quite meager. Amid great riches of soil and luxuriant vege- table growth, they are poor because ignorant of the possibilities within their reach. Certain seasons of the year, known as "hungry times," are more or less frequent, because of the fickle- ness with which the soil is cultivated. And yet there is no end to the vast amount of natural productions and wealth that may be had from the earth, when the natives are -fullv tausht
Pebbles From An African Beach 33
better agricultural methods and systematic tilling.
The drawbacks to native farm life are many. While the soil is loose and fertile, vegetable life is rank and stubborn because neglected. Farm implements are inadequate; there are no plows to turn up the fallow ground. A short, crooked hoe is used, with which the ground is simply scratched. This hoe is not more than four inches wide, with a handle about twelve inches Ions;. Farm clearings average about one acre in extent. This acre is attended only a^ short while when other clearings are made. Super- stitions are carried into farm life. A death in a town is sufficient cause for abandoning the place and opening up a farm elsewhere. There are farm fetiches to make the farm yield abund- antly and to counteract curses upon it by en- vious or unfriendly neighbors. Here is a great and splendid opportunity for the Negro in America to help his benighted brothers across the sea. Money should be given without stint to our Foreign Mission Board to enable it to en- large the scope of its industrial work in Liberia.
There are horses and oxen aplenty, but not a single plow in use in the country. One horse or ox-drawn plow would do more to keep the coffee farms, for instance, clear of weeds than a dozen native hoes; yet not one is used.
But this is only the dark side of the picture; it speaks only of the vast latent resource? await- ing the arrival of new citizens from the oppres- sion of America to the freedom of Li"! eria. > qt only are all the Negroes who have emigrated to Liberia, or are descendants of the early et- tlers, engaged in lucrative pursuits, but m&iv of the natives are thrifty and prosperrvi . Among the various tribes considerable nU - tion is given not only to agriculture, but alro to
34 Pebbles From An African Beach
manufacture. Extensive tracts of land are un- der cultivation. Native looms are busy spin- ning thousands of yards of cotton material ; work in metal, leather, wood, bark, grass and clay bears abundant evidence of artistic taste and skill in handicraft.
Tn the race for the African trade, France, Germany, Great Britain and other European nations rivalled one another in the size of their fleets. Prior to the war a half dozen ships of as many flags might be seen most any time in Liberian harbors. Hence the people, Americo-Liberians and natives alike, came to look across the sea for many of the neces- sities of life. But now if a vessel drops anchor once a month, even in the harbor of Monrovia, the Capital, it is an unusual sight; This cessation of trade has resulted in pro- hibitive prices for foreign products: flour, $35 a barrel: bacon, $1 per pound; butter, $1.25; rice, 40 cents, and so on. And also as a consequence, the Liberians are learning to look within, to develop their own resources, and, like other nations will emerge from the war a wi er. better and more independent people.
All the native" ai*'3 not nude but are dressed in a manner adapted to their climate and their simple taste-. Cotton material from their own loom-"-, furnish the garments for both men and women. Manv of the women delight in per- sonal ornament, and their vanity, like that of their sisters in more civilized lands, reveals itself in rich and costly ornaments of gold and silver.
But chief among the industries of Liberia is agriculture. Cotton grows plentifully in some sections of the interior; the sugar cane flour- ishes too ; and plantains and bananas grow
A Warehouse.
A Native Town,
Pebbles From An African Beach 35
in endless profusion. In the clearings may be found rice, coffee, edible roots and oil palms. Abundant trees are laden with luscious tropica'] fruits, and the land everywhere yields rubber, paisava, gum copal and kola.
Salt is common, and in some sections it is interesting to see the natives transport it in what are known as "salt sticks." They are strips of bamboo about three feet long and three inches in diameter into which the salt is closely packed and the ends covered with leaves. This prevents the salt from getting wet. One person usually carries from fifteen to twenty of these sticks for a load, and fifty sticks of salt will buy a bullock. It is an article much in demand and almost everything can be bought with it.
The vast virgin forests are a veritable gold mine, yielding to the intelligent and organ- ized efforts of the thrifty a constant and profit- able return. The valuable timbers, among which are mahogany, ebony, rosewood and canewood, together with fibers, gums and vines, offer large scope for lucrative trade and com- merce. The natives do no little carving in these woods. Mortars for cleaning coffee and rice are made from logs, also canoes for navigating the streams and rivers. Spoons, too, bowls, combs and wooden images may be seen in every town. The forests are cleared for land cultiva- tion by cutting down the trees with a small ax or hatchet. In preparing for farms, the rank brush vines and trees are. cleared away, and after they are dry they are burned. This process is known as "cutting farm." Cattle, swine, fowl, goats and sheep thrive without feeding and require no further care than watching that they do not go astray. Cattle, particularly, are everywhere in large numbers, and horses, which do not thrive on the coast, are found in droves
36 Pebbles From An African Beach
in the interior — strong and healthy animals, used mostly in warfare and military demon- strations.
Very little as yet is known of the geology of Liberia or of actual mineral values. Many metals have been found and the country is sup- posed to be rich in them. Gold appears to be there and copper, too, while rubies of good quality have been discovered. Companies have been organized for the mining of diamonds of which it is said actual gems have been discov-« ered. But mineral development has scarcely begun, though it is admitted that in the bowels of the earth is mineral wealth to an extent un- guessed. It requires but the "open sesame" of pluck and pick to disclose riches beyond the store of Ali Baba.
The natives make many ornaments of gold and silver, and fashion in their forges many useful implements of iron which is abundant in most sections of the country. Some of these articles are the hoe, hatchet, knives, swords, needles, arrowheads, daggers and rings for ankle and arm ornamentation.
In additions to the organized industries of the cities and towns, many of the natives are skilful at weaving mats, making baskets, caps, fish traps of bamboo, grass and palm leaf. Some of the country cloths made of cotton are woven with thread dyed with herb juices and are very pretty and well made. Useful vessels are made of clay, such as pots, water jars, basins and pipes, some being decorated with geometrical figures.
Among the natives the women perform much of the heavy work, such as bringing wood and water and cultivating the farms. It is not an unusual thing to see the men lol- ling in hammocks while the women labor
Pebbles From An African Beach 37
for food. They are kept busy with farm life, basket, mat and fishnet making, drying
seeds, fish and meat for food, and picking and preparing cotton for the men to weave into cloth.
The chief exports of Liberia are palm oil and kernels, piasava, rubber and ivory. Before the great war broke out 70 per cent, of the trade was with Germany. The revenue of the Re- public is about $600,000 annually, derived mainly from customs duties. A system of barter prevails in the interior. Coin and paper money as used in the coast settlements are not in circulation. Tobacco, salt, gin and rum con- stitute money.
Rum ! That is the one great besetting sin of the native — the one blight upon Liberia, as it is upon America — for the native African learns the vices of American and European civiliza- tion before he learns the virtues, and rum finds its way farther into the interior than the mis- sionary.
Rum ! It is an evil against which, unfortu- natety, the native does not protest. It has re- mained for enlightened Europe and Christian America to cry aloud against the ruin of Africa by the rum they themselves so plentifully and persistently send there. No race is so quickly and so utterly demoralized by liquor as the African. It is as true with him in America as it is with him in Africa.
One cask of rum shipped by some enlight- ened firm of some Christian country has devilled all Africa, Liberia included, and now the liquor traffic hovers over fair Liberia like some foul bird of ill omen. It is no exaggeration to say that there exists no greater enemy to Liberia and her people than this debasing evil inflicted by Christians nations. There is no greater obstacle to the progress of civilization and Chis-
38 Pebbles From An African Beach
tianity in the Republic than this insidious foe which is destroying vigorous manhood and promising womanhood.
"What white man make it for?" is the un- answerable question the poor native invariably asks when he comes to himself, recovers his senses for his drunken stupor and revelries, and sees the awful havoc wrought by rum. Why, indeed — we may echo the great question — do civilized nations send missionaries to the heathen, and in the same ship send tons of the damnation to sink him to still lower depths of shame and misery? Can we wonder, then, that the blind heathen should ask a reason for that which is ruining him body and soul?
Hear a native Liberian in his own words:
"Dem first stranger dat come we country for trade he bring too much rum. Dem rum he waste for ground (threw upon the ground). Bassa men no like him den. He no saby um. Now he like um plenty. He be fine.
"Dem daddy (missionary) say rum be bad — he kill we people, he do all dem bad ting. He mouth no lie bit, but he no tell me who make dem rum. We no make um. He come from big, big 'Merica and Europe. Steamer bring am we country. White man make um. White man sab y book (Bible) ; black man no saby book. S'pose rum be bad; what for white man make um? To kill we? S'pose white man stop for make um ; stop for send um we country ; we no drink him den. We no die."
The sinning nations are principally Holland, Great Britain, the United States and Germany up to the opening of the war. There is no push- ing the evil upon the shoulders of Europe: America is too deeply involved for that.
Bird's Eye View of Monrovia, d
of Liberia, West Coast Africa.
Pebbles From An African Beach 39
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V
1. What is the extent of the natural re- sources of Liberia?
2. Have the natives developed these re- sources?
3. What is the nature of their farm life?
4. Name some of the drawbacks to their farm life?
5. To what extent are the coast inhabitants engaged in industries and agriculture?
6. Are the natives nude or dressed?
7. What is the chief industry of Liberia?
8. What are some of the agricultural prod- ucts?
9. What are "salt sticks?"
10. Name the chief timbers.
11. What live stock are raised?
12. Describe the mineral features.
13. What native use is made of the min- erals?
14. What are some other native industries?
15. What are the chief exports of Liberia?
16. What is the annual revenue?
17. What is the extent of the liquor traffic?
18. Who is responsible for it?
40 Pebbles From An African Beach CHAPTER VI
Spiritual
Liberia contains vastly more than the beau- tiful scenery, the records of achievement, the social and political equality, the industrial op- portunity and the vast natural resources de- scribed in the preceding chapters. She is to answer to the world and to God for more than the gold and diamonds and timbers and com- mercial products: for all these are perishable. Though they offer powerful inducements to ambitious men and proud nations to increase their stores of wealth, they are mean and paltry in comparison with those larger and grander possibilities for the mental and moral uplift of the people. No conceivable riches of the Re- public, latent or developed, are equal to the value of those millions of immortal souls.
"What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" And what is a nation profited if it gain in fields and mines and revenues, and its citizens be not lifted into mental and moral development and brought into contact with the strengthening influence of the Gospel of Christ? One native of Liberia lifted out of the darkness of heathenism into the light of civilization, may not of itself trans- form the commercial or political life of the Republic; but who can tell the far-reaching influence of one such moral transformation upon the life of the race or the country? That untutored savage, though a pagan, is for all that superior to the lifeless metal or the senseless vegetation in the womb of the earth, because
Pebbles From An African Beach 41
unlike the things of earth, he was made in the image of God.
Religiously, the natives of Liberia have yielded largely to Mohammedanism, though for the most part this religion is a crude mixture of paganism and Islam. True, some of the tribes, like the Mandingoes, are devout followers of Mohammed. They read the Koran, build schools for instruction, and mosques for prayer, and are in direct communication with Mecca, to which they make regular pilgrimages. They are aggressive propagandists of Mohammedan- ism which is rapidly spreading over Western Africa and is pressing down into Liberia. In- deed, more pagans are being Mohammedanized in Liberia than Christianized.
But to a large extent devil worship, with all its weird and uncanny vagaries and mysteries, is the all-pervasive law of the native of Liberia. Evil spirits fill tha air and earth and sky, and frequent every nook and corner of the jungles. They inhabit dark and deep caves over great rocks and trees and forbidding streams. They are in majestic supremacy and are accounted worthy to receive honor and homage of their simple and deluded worshippers, even to sac- rificial offerings of food and drink. And if life would be bearable and successful, charms and fetiches must be purchased from the "devil doctor"- — high priests of the evil spirits — and these worn upon the body to ward off disease and guard against misfortune by propitiating these demon spectres, otherwise disastrous con- sequences will follow. Such is the religion of the natives of Liberia. They neglect their homes, their farms, everything, and devote themselves to the observance of their barbarous rites.
But, strange to say, the native in his heathen
42 Pebbles From An African Beach
life does not consider it as such. The descrip- tions given by Christians of his heathensim do not exist to him. It is Only when lifted out of the miry clay of pagan conditions and stood upon the rock of higher ideas and broader out- look that he is able to see the contrast and appreciate the change. He always rejoices in the transition from darkness' to light. Until then he is the child of some charmed influence. He is ever alert to protect himself against the forces of evil about him. His faith rests in his fetich.
As a result, in their blindness and ignorance, the natives resort to practices which are most cruel, horrible and revolting. For centuries these things have been going on, and they will continue until their condition is bettered by enlightenment and Christian influence. Mean- time, moral and spiritual night rests Like a pall upon the people. Rescue must come from without. In their superstition and degradation they cannot help themselves. With out- stretched hands they unconsciously plead for help.
Polygamy, too, is practiced in almost every heathen town in Liberia. It is not diminishing. Among some #f- the tribes, like the Bassas, there is no limit to the number of wives a man may have if he can purchase them. The ques- tion of polygamy is stubborn and colossal. The Christian Church in Liberia has a giant antag- onist in this deeply rooted and universal sys- tem.
But why should heathenism be so prevalent in all parts of Africa when all parts have been partitioned among the great Powers and brought under the dominion of civilized, Chris- tian peoples?
Because, for one thing, we have the amazing
Liberian Coat of An
The Rice Mills of Liberia.
Febbles From An African Beach 43
spectacle of Christian England and France re- fusing sanction to Christian people for the ex- tension of their faith. We have the strange paradox of these Christian countries practicing a restrictive policy towards Christian missions and giving free rein to Mohammedanism and practically becoming patrons of the Mohamme- dan faith — on the ground of political expedi- ency.
There is no question involved as to whether Europe had a right to carve up Africa; but whether, having done so, Europe has made right use of her privilege.-'. It is for the good of the world that large sections of the world should not be left in barbarism; that no race has a right to territory which it is unable to use or which it uses in such a way as to prove detri- mental to mankind. But alongside of that principle stands this: That civilized nations •in taking over the territory of barbarians, are bound to give proper compensation ; to make adequate provision for the moral and spiritual, as well as material, preservation of the race; and that the natives shall share in the benefits of the new order of things. In short, Europe lias no business in Africa unless it is for the good of the Africans as well as for the good of Europeans.
Then, for another thing, heathenism is still so prevalent because the Christian people of Europe and America have failed to measure up to their opportunity — almost failed to do their duty. There is not a foot of Liberia, not a section of Africa, that could not be civilized and Christianized by aggressive action on the part of church and state working in harmony. Selfish commercialism can be held in check — and should be — justice administered, education promoted, and the Christian religion established
44 Pebbles From An African Beach
a; tbe La-is of society. Only the beginnings have been made; the real work yet remains to be done. Liberia and Africa must be guided by Christ, not by greed.
Heathenism is the cancer eating at the vitals of the continent. The Christian Church, acting as the re~ re entative of Christ on earth, is the physician.
nd what is the cure? Simple enough — just what our own Foreign Mission Board, together with oLher denominational boards is trying to do — what it cannot do any faster or any better, 1 eeau~e Christian pastors take little or no in- terest in missionary work, and Christian people give so grudgingly of their money for heathen uplift. The cure is the establishing of enter- prises— call them missions, or industrial schools, or anything you please — that have for their object the civilizing and Christianizing of the native tribes, and have for their basis the primi- tive industries of the people as a starting point.
This industrial or agricultural mission (there is no better word) should begin with "a small group of native buildings — workshops, school houses, chapel, dormitories and farm. These would constitute the nucleus of a native civil- ization which would aim to touch and improve every phase of native life, material and spirit- ual. The native huts would be made more per- manent and sanitary ; the farms more pro- ductive and varied in crops; the methods of administering to the sick more humane and scientific; the knowledge of agriculture and mechanical implements improved; simple in- struction in letters imparted; moral precepts and sentiments inculcated, and the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Divine Book instilled in mind and hearts.''
Such enterprises among some of the tribes
Pebbles From An African Beach 45
of Liberia, and in other parts of Africa, are materially benefiting the natives, who are read- ily adapting themselves to the new conditions. Instead of wars and poverty and darkness there is peace, progress and prosperity. It is only through such means — the planting of religious and industrial missions — that Liberia will be reclaimed from the barbarity ami superstition that have enveloped it for ages.
The opportunity is now ripe for just such work. Young men from the interior, who have visited the coast, return with new conceptions of life. They are becoming restless and dis- satisfied with the old order of things. They want something better, though they may not know just what. Fetichism is not meeting their needs as it has their fathers', and confidence in it is gradually waning. The time is ripe for the introduction of the principles of the Christian religion with their corresponding practical results.
Moreover, the native is a splendid subject for evangelism. His simple, child-like faith . his docility, his sympathetic heart, like the fertile soil of his native heath, make virgin ground for Gospel seed. He is intensely religious, and his religion is as much a part of himself as his arm or lee.
Right here a word may be said of the areat contribution made by this pioneer of Baptist Missions. Lott Carey, to the development of the little colony that grew into the Liberia of today. Though born a slave, he purchased his own freedom at a cost of $850, and endowed with a fear of God. a love of liberty and an r.n- conquerable faith in his race, be possessed a fixed purpose for God and the land of his fathers.
As was said above, missionary operations fob
46 Pebbles From An African Beach
lowed closely upon the settlement of the colon- ists. Deacon William Crane, who was teaching a tri-weekly night school for the benefit of the many colored Baptists who were members of the First Church in Richmond, assisted in the organization of the Richmond Missionary So- ciety in 1815. This Society was organized with the view solely to missions in Africa, but was auxiliary to the Triennial Convention which represented the united effort for Foreign Mis- sions of all the Baptists in America, both North and South.
Carey and Teague, both colored, were sent out by this society as missionaries to Liberia in
1821, sailing January 23. As modest as this beginning ma}^ have seemed at that time, it was the beginning of the American Baptist Mis- sions in the great Continent. After looking about for a suitable place to begin work, Carev. Teague and colonists arrived in Monrovia in
1822, and early in the year 1823 a church known as the Providence Baptist was organized. Carey, who was a man of unusual intelligence and energy, became its pastor.
Having shown much interest in the develop- ment of the colony which was governed by ap- pointees by the Colonization Society in Amer- ica. Carey in 1825 was appointed vice-agent, and soon afterwards vice-governor, and in 1828, when Governor Ashmun came to America to die, the whole burden of administration fell upon the shoulders of the great man. On his death bed Mr. Ashmun urged that Carey be permanently appointed to conduct the affairs of this colony, expressing perfect ocnfidence in his integrity and in his ability to dis- charge duties of this office.
Very naturally the faithful discharge of all these various duties left little time to detail
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missionary work. He did not neglect any of the civil interest in this little colony. Here we are reminded of Mr. Ashman's own words: "He gave ample proof that he cherished the most ardent devotion to the colony and would sooner sacrifice life itself than to jeopardize its inter- ests. Truly. And if Mr. Ashmun could have lived a few years longer he would have seen his prophesy realized. For indeed it was while preparing to assert his right and defend its property that Governor Carey's mortal career was accidentally ended. A factory at Digby, a few miles north of Monrovia, had been robbed by the natives and satisfaction demanded and refused. A slave trader had been allowed to store his goods in the very building made va- cant by this robbeiy. A letter of remonstrance which had been sent to the slave dealer was intercepted and destroyed by the natives. In this state of affairs Governor Carey considered himself bound to call out the militia.
One evening while engaged with others mak- ing cartridges, the accidental overturning of a candle communicated fire to some loose pow- der and then almost instantly to the entire magazine. The explosion resulted in the death of eight of the company. Six of these sur- vived until the next day. Governor Carey lingered until the following day, the 10th of November, 1828. Thus ended the life of this Baptist hero and martyr. "Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friend."
Another effort was made in 1832, when the Methodist Church sent out her first missionary, Melville B. Cox. Some years before Daniel Coker, a Methodist preacher, one of the eighty- eight emigrants on the ship Elizabeth — the Mayflower of Liberia — organized the company
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on shipboard into the Methodist Episcopal Church. On Cox's arrival he found the church Coker had planted and fostered. This proved the tiny seed from which has grown the staL wart tree of Liberian Methodism.
.Another initial undertaking was by the Epis- copalians in 1835 in behalf of the colonists from America. Bishop Ferguson, a colored. man, who was consecrated in 1885, and who has; recently died, broadened the work so that it. exerted a vital influence upon the interior.. The- bishop left behind a remarkable record for fidelity and industry. His specialty was raising up an African clergy, but he also conducted, forty-five excellent schools scattered along the coast.
The Muhlenberg Mission of the Lutheran General Synod began work in Liberia in 1860, though it was originally in behalf of natives from the Congo region who were taken from a slave ship. The Rev. Morris Officer gathered forty of the children into a school which con- tinues to this day and is doing excellent work. There is a girls' boarding school at the coast and eight schools are conducted in. the interior. The Rev. David A. Day was connected with this work for twenty-five years, until his death, and. . at one time he was chief of one of the tril e-\
Thirty-three years ago, on December 3, 1883., six young Bapti-t--. well equipped, with faith in God and confidence in Nesro Baptists, set sail for Liberia on the barque Monrovia. After more than forty days, storm-tossed and sick, tbev readied their field. They were the pioneers of Negro Baptist Foreign Mission work. To- ^ay Baptists have a splendid Mission Station, located on a two hundred and twenty-five acre tract, with two country kitchens, a laundry of corn l. Gated iron, a fine play shed, a building for-
V
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boys, a dining hall, with a central building mo tly of corrugated iron, consisting of seven rooms, and over part of it a second story form- ing a girls' dormitory. This mission, though only three years old, is regarded as one of the busiest places in the country, is worth at least $6,000 and is on the outer rim of any civilized community.
They have another mission near Grand Bassa, a Bible and Industrial Academy, with a building worth a little more than $3,000 on a 300-acre tract of land. Altogether the Liberian Baptists have now more than fifty churches, a number of which are in good houses, and with quite three thousand communicants. For many years, verv unfortunately, white Baptists, both North and South and English, have withdrawn all help from Liberia. All outride Baptist Mission work now being done in the Republic is by the National Baptist Convention and its district body, the Lott-Carev Convention. The work of the District body is centered about. Brewerville. one of the best settlements in all Liberia. The African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) and the African Methodist Episco- pal Zion (A. M. E. Z. ) also have work in Li- beria. The Methodist Episcopal (M. E.) Church Veens a resident Bishop in Liberia and the A. M. E. have a Bishop make annual visits to the Republic. The Caroline Donivan Industrial In- stitute— a sort of Tuskegee in Bassa County — organized as a Government school, is going forward on a large scale and promises to revo- lutionize farming in the whole country. But what a field is still left unharvested. Say ye not, there are yet four months, then eometh the harvest. Lift up your eyes, the fields are white unto the harvest ; Liberia has a population of 2,040,000 people; 40,000 are the descendants
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of American Negroes, while the 2,000,000 are aborigines. But the Lord of the harvest wants reapers. 0, Negroes of America, why stand ye here all the day" idle? Thrust in the sickle for the harvest is ripe.
The Americo-Liberians need our Christian co-operation to help win the pagan millions about them to our Christ. They need our su- nerior knowledge of the arts and sciences, of books and industries, to help them do for their native land what has made once primitive America the richest country on earth — to fell the forests, and upturn the soil, and harness the cataracts, and blast out the minerals, and turn the very earth into bread. They need our skill and experience to help beat back and beat down the fever and make the climate as healthy as nature intended it to be ; to help build roads, and open highways, and throw bridges across the creeks and rivers. The field of opportunity is ripe unto the harvest and awaits but our Christian and brotherly interest and co-opera- tion.
But missionary work in Liberia has its diffi- culties. The English language is generally em- ployed in evangelistic and educational work among the people, but owing to the poverty of the native dialects, the interpreters find it hard to convey to the primitive mind the underlying truths of onr religion. Thus a missionary preaching from the text: "I will come on thee as a thief in the night," was very much embar- rassed when the interpreter told his hearers that Jesus was a thief and would come as such. This, of course, was not welcome news to the audience, and the disorder and uproar that fol- lowed would have broken up the meeting but for a timely correction that put the text in its true light.
The Sisters waiting for the teacher.
'I'm on ray way to the nv.ss:on.
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Then again, the peculiar problem and diffi- culty is to rebuild the native from the ground up. In lands like Persia, India, China and Japan, the missionaries deal with a culture and literature older than our own. But in Liberia there is neither literature nor culture. There they must reduce the language to written forms ; they must teach the arts and trades ; they must establish social customs and institutions; they must formulate a moral code, and they must do all this in ways adapted to the African na- ture. The problem is the creation of a Chris- tian African civilization — in Liberia the Bible and the plow must go together. There is par- excellence the field for industrial education, and in every important mission the teaching of agriculture and the trades occupies a basic posi- tion in the educational scheme.
All this is in marked contrast to the earlier methods, which accounts for much of the early failure. The missionary of yesterday ignored the point. He failed to build on the life of the natives. Without taking the time to learn what native institutions and purposes were, he pro- ceeded to destroy and not to heed that which was deepest and most vital in native life and thought. But now the missionary begins with those things that concern the native most — his huts, farms, children, wives, cattle, his work and material things, and from these he advances step by step to a higher conception of thought and life.
And with the discovery and tested merits of the new methods of evangelism, we find our efforts paralyzed by the pitiful lack of money. So few dollars needed and so many millions of Negroes who won't give them ! A sister nation crying for the Gospel and a vast army of pro- fessed disciples deaf to their master's command :
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"Preach the Gospel to every creature!" Ten million Negroes in America bemoaning the lack of liberty and opportunity here, yet doing nothing to maintain the unbounded liberty and golden opportunity secured by their broth- ers across the sea.
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QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI
1. What is the religious belief of the na- tives of Liberia?
2. What is the nature of the devil wor- ships ?
3. Does the native welcome the Christian religion ?
4. To what extent is polygamy practiced?
5. What is the reason for the prevalence of heathenism ?
6. What is the European attitude towards missions?
7. How has the Church measured up to its opportunity?
8. What is the remedy for heathenism?
9. Along what line should Missions work? ^ 10. To what extent have Industrial Mis- sions proven a success?
11. Is the native open to evangelism?
12. In what years, and. by whom, were the first missionary efforts made?.
13. When did our Baptist missionary work begin ?
14. What are its present results?
15. What are some of the difficulties of missionary work in Liberia?
16. How are Negro Baptists in America responding to the needs of Liberia?
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AFTERWORD
And what of the future? A new era is about to dawn for Liberia. It means better things for the Republic ; the dense darkness dispelled ; the interior opened up to the Gospel of Christ. The land is to be free from every curse and shame and its two million native inhabitants lifted out of degradation into life and purity. In the path of Christian missions will follow exploration, commerce, trade and political in- fluence, and branching out from their present strategic centers on the coast, will push their way through the dark forests into the regions oeyond. They will transform the country, unin oarbarism give way to peaceful industries, pa- ganism bows to civilization, and rude huts are replaced with bustling towns and thriving cities. Soon there will be a great host of Africa's own sons and daughters enlisted under the banner of Immanuel and winning signal victories in His name.
All this will be brought about by the era >f peace following the great war— being fough„ in Africa and throughout the world. Whether there is to be a new map of Africa or not, the little Republic will emerge undaunted, and there is bound to be a speeding up of colonial enterprises throughout the continent that will react upon Liberia. Railroad companies, com- mercial corporations and governments will be engrossed in new activities. Every resource of the continent will be exploited. There will be a corresponding acceleration of Christian en- terprises. Plans continental in their scope will be set on foot. Leaders of heroic mold, will take the front ranks. Prayer, volunteers, money, co-operation will be poured out by the home
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■churches. The liquor traffic will be brought -.to an end by international governmental action. The Powers will learn, and act accordingly, that Christianity is essential to civilization; and instead of the paltry one hundred Amer- ican missionaries, black and white, scattered over the country today, there will be — and should be — one thousand men and women — Christian men and women with a vision — who know the science of mineralogy and the art -of agriculture; who know the good of a Bible, a plow and a hoe. The Golden Era for Liberia is about to dawn.
Who knows — to repeat the question asked in the Retrospective — who knows but that, through Liberia, the Negro is to come into his own? To become civilized and pro- gressive requires incentive and opportuni- ty. The American Negro had the incentive and has made the opportunity which was denied him, and who can say that he has not the innate power, under favorable con- ditions, to rise to the highest level of civi- lization. The Liberian Negro has the op- portunity; he needs but more incentive, when he, too, will rise to freights of culture and prosperity as yet undreamed of.
The point should be clear : Let the Negro of America give of his intelligence, his money, his influence — best of all, give himself to the development of the Negroes of Liberia.
And so, if the black man's achievements in the remote past count for anything, and his recent progress indicates anything, it may be safely said that his future is boundless in its possibilities. We see tomorrow in today, be- cause we have read the record of yesterday.
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CONSTITUTION
of the REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
PREAMBLE
The aim of the institution, maintenance and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights and the blessings of life; and whenever these great objects are not ob- tained the people have a right to alter the gov- ernment and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness, wealth of Liberia, in Africa, acknowledge with
Therefore, we the People of the Common- devout gratitude, the goodness of God, in grant- ing to us the blessings of the Christian Religion, and political, religious and civil liberty, do, in order to secure these blessings for ourselves and our posterity, and to establish justice, insure do- mestic peace, and promote the general welfare, hereby solemnly associate and constitute our- selves a Free, Sovereign and Independent State by the name of the REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA, and do ordain and establish this Constitution for the government of the same.
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ARTICLE I
Bill of Rights
Section 1. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights: among which are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting, property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.
Section 2. All power is inherent in the peo- ple; all free governments are instituted by their authority, and for their benefit, and they have- the right to alter and reform the same when their safety and happiness require it.
Section 3. All men have a natural and in- alienable right to worship God according to the- dictates of their own consciences, without ob- struction or molestation from others: all per- sons demeaning themselves peaceably, and not obstructing others in their religious worship, are entitled to the protection of law. in the free exercise of their own religion, and no sect of Christians shall have exclusive privileges or preference over any other sect ; but all shall be alike tolerated ; and no religious test whatever shall be required as a qualification for civil office, or the exercise of any civil right.
Section 4. There shall be no slavery within this Republic. Nor shall any citizen of this Republic, or any person resident therein, deal in slaves, either within or without this Republic, directly or indirtcely.
Section 5. The people have a right at all times, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition
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ithe government, or any public functionaries for the redress of grievances.
Section 6. Every person injured shall have remedy therefor by due course of law; justice shall be done without sole denial or delay; and in all cases, not arising under martial law or upon inpeachment, the parties shall have a right to a trial by jury, and to be heard in per- son or by counsel, or both.
Section 7. No persons shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, except in cases of impeachment, cases arising in the army or mavy, and petty offences, unless upon present- ment by a grand jury ; and every person crimin- ally charged shall have a right to be seasonably furnished with a copy of the charge, to be con- fronted with the witnesses against him — to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have a speedy, public and impartial trial by a jury of the vicinity. He shall not be compelled to furnish or give evi- dence against himself; and no person shall for the same offense be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.
Section 8. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or privilege, but by judg- ment of his peers or the law of the land.
Section 9. No place shall be searched nor person seized on a criminal charge or suspicion, unless upon warrant lawfully issued, upon prob- able cause supported by oath, or solemn affirma- tion, specially designating the place or person, and the object of the search.
Section 10. Excessive bail shall not be re- quired, nor excessive fines imposed, nor exces- sive punishments inflicted. Nor shall the Legis- lature make any law impairing the obligation of contracts nor any law rendering any acts punishable when it was committed.
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Section 11. All elections shall be by ballot; and every male citizen of twenty-one years of age, possessing real estate, shall have the right of suffrage.
Section 12. The people have a right to keep and bear arms for the common defence ; and, as in time of peace armies are dangerous to lib- erty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the Legislature ; and the military power shall always be held in exact subordina- tion to the civil authority and be governed by it.
Section 13. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.
Section 14. The powers of this government shall be divided into three distinct departments : Legislative, Executive and Judicial, and no per- son belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers belonging to either of the other. This section is not to be con- strued to include Justices of the Peace.
Section 15. The liberty of the press is essen- tial to the security of freedom in a state ; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Republic.
The printing press shall be free to every per- son who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the Legislature, or any branch of govern- ment ; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the rights thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man. and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.
In prosecutions, for the publication of papers. investigating the official conduct of officers, or men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels the jury shall have
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the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the courts, as in other •cases.
Section 16. No subsidy, charge, impost or duties ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any prextet whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representa- tives in the Legislature.
Seetion 17. Suits may be brought against the Republic in such manner and in such cases :as the Legislature may by law direct.
Section 18. No person can, in any case, be subject to the law martial, or to any penalties *or pains by virtue of that law (except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia in actual service) but by the authority •of the Legislature.
Section 19. In order to prevent those who are vested with authority from becoming op- pressors, the people have a right at such periods, and in such manner, as they shall establish by their frame of government, to cause their public officers to return to private life and to fill up vacant places by certain and regular ■elections and appointments.
Section 20. That all prisoners shall be bail- able by sufficient sureties; unless for capital offences, when the proof is evident, or presump- tion great: and the privilege and benefit of the writ of habeas corpus shall be enjoyed in this Republic, in the most free, easy, cheap, expe- ditious and ample manner, and shall not be sus- pended by the Legislature, except upon the most urgent and pressing occasions, and for a limited time, not exceeding twelve months.
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ARTICLE II Legislative P oncers
Section 1. That the legislative power shall be vested in a Legislature of Liberia, and shall consist of two separate branches — a House of Representatives and a Senate, to be styled the Legislature of Liberia: each of which shall have a negative on the other, and the enacting style of the acts and laws shall be, "It is enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia in Legislature assembled."
Section 2. The Representative shall be elect- ed by and for the inhabitants of the several counties of Liberia, and shall be apportioned among the several counties of Liberia as fol- lows: The county of Montserrado shall have four representatives, the county of Grand Bassa shall have three, and the county of Sinoe shall have three; and all counties hereafter which shall be admitted into the Republic shall have one representative, and for every ten thousand inhabitants one representative shall be added. No person shall be a representative who has not resided in the county two whole years imme- diately previous to his election and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the county, and does not own real estate of not less value than one hundred and fifty dollars in the county in which he resides, and who shall not have attained the age of twenty-three years. The representatives shall be elected quadren- nially, and shall serve four years from the time of their election.
Section 3. When a vacancy occurs in the representation of any county by death, resig-
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nation, or otherwise, it shall be filled by a new election.
Section 4. The House of Representatives shall elect their own Speaker and other officers ; they also shall have the sole power of impeach- ment.
Section 5. The Senate shall consist of two members from Montserrado county, two from Grand Bassa county, two from Sinoe county, and two from each county which may be here- after incorported into this Republic. No per- son shall be a Senator who shall not have re- sided three whole years immediately previous to his election in the Republic of Liberia, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the county which he represents, and who does not own real estate of not less value than two hundred dollars in the county which he repre- sents, and who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years. The Senator for each count}'' who shall have the highest number of votes shall retain his seat six years, and shall be elected quadrennially, and those elected May, A. D. 1905, shall retain their seat for six years from the time of their election, and all who afterwards are elected six years.
When a vacancy occurs in the office of Vice- President by death, resignation or otherwise, after the regular election of the President and Vice-President, the President shall immediately order a special election to fill said vacancy.
Section 6. The Senate shall try all inpeach- ments ; the Senators being first sworn or solemn- ly affirmed to try the same impartially and ac- cording to law ; and no person shall be convicted but by the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators present. Judgment, in such cases, shall not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification to hold an office in the Re-
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public; but the party may be tried at law for the same offence. When either the President or A'ice-President is to be tried, the Chief Justice shall preside.
Section 7. It shall be the duty of the Legis- lature as soon as conventiently may be, after the adoption of this Constitution, and once at least in every ten years afterwards, to cause a true census to be taken of each town and county of the Republic of Liberia; and a representative shall be allowed every town having a popula- tion of ten thousand inhabitants ; and for every additional ten thousand in the counties after the first census one representative shall be added to that county, until the number of representa- tives shall amount to thirty ; and afterwards one representative shall be added for every thirty thousand.
Section 8. Each branch of the Legislature shall be judge of the election returns and quali- fication of its own members. A majority of each shall be necessary to transact business, but a less number may adjourn from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members. Each House may adopt its own rules of proceedings, enforce order, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, may expel a member.
Section 9. Neither House shall adjourn for more than two days without the consent of the other; and both Houses shall always sit in the same town.
Section 10. Every bill or resolution which shall have passed both branches of the Legis- lature shall, before it becomes a law, be laid before the President for his approval ; if he ap- proves, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it to the Legislature with his objections. If the Legislature shall afterwards pass the bill or resolution by a vote of two-thirds in each branch
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it shall become a law. If the President shall neglect to return such bill or resolution to the Legislature with his objections for five days after the same shall, have been so laid before him, the Legislature remaining in session dur- ing that time, such neglect shall be equivalent to his signature.
Section 11. The Senators and Representa- tives shall receive from the Republic a compen- sation for their services to be ascertained by law ; and shall be privileged from arrest, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, while attending at, going to, or returning from, the session of the Legislature.
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ARTICLE III
Executive Power
Section 1. The Supreme Executive Power shall be vested in a President, who shall bt elected by the people, and shall hold his office for the term of four years. He shall be Com- mander-in-Chief of the army and navy. He shall in the recess of the Legislature have power to call out the militia, or any portion thereof, into actual service in defence of the Republic. He shall have power to make treaties, pro- vided the Senate concur therein by a vote of two-thirds of the Senators present. He shall nominate and, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint and commission all Ambas- sadors and other public Ministers and Consuls, Secretaries of State, War, of the Navy, and the Treasury, Attorney General, all Judges of Courts, Sheriffs, Coroners, Registers, Marshal, Justices of the Peace, Clerk of Courts, Notaries Public, and all other officers of State, Civil and Military, whose appointment may not be other- wise provided for by the Constitution, or by standing laws. And in the recess of the Sen- ate he may fill any vacancies in those offices, until the next session of the Senate. He shall receive all Ambassadors and other Public Min- isters. He shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed: he shall inform the Legis- lature, from time to time, of the condition of the Republic, and recommend any public meas- ures for their adoption which he may think expedient. He may, after conviction, remit any public forfeitures and penalties, and grant reprieves and pardons for public offences, except in cases of impeachment. He may require in-
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formation and advice from any public officer touching matters pertaining to his office. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislature, and may adjourn the two houses whenever they cannot agree as to the time of adjournment.
Section 2. There shall be a Vice-President, who shall be elected in the same manner and for the same term as that of the President, and whose qualifications shall be the same; he shall be President of the Senate, and give the casting- vote when the House is equally divided on any subject. And in the case of the removal of the President from office, or his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on trie Vice-President; and the Legislature may by law provide for the cases of removal, death, esignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall hen act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
Section 3. The Secretary of State shall keep the records of the State, and all the records and papers of the legislative body, and all other public records and document not belonging to any other department, and shall lay the same, when required, before the President or Legisla- ture. He shall attend upon them when re- quired, and perform such other duties as may be enjoined by law.
Section 4. The Secretary of the Treasury, or other persons who may by law be charged with custody of public moneys, shall, before he receive such moneys, give bonds to the State, with sufficient sureties, to the acceptance of the Legislature, for the faithful discharge of his trust. He shall exhibit a true account of such
Liberian Coat, of Arms.
The Rice Mills of Liberia.
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moneys when required by the President, or Legislature, and no moneys shall be drawn from the Treasury but by warrant from the President in consequence of appropriation made by law.
Section 5. All Ambassadors and other Pub- lic Ministers and Consuls, the Secretary of State, of War, of the Treasury, and of the Navy,. the Attorney General and Post Master General, shall hold their office during the pleasure of the President. All Justices of the Peace, Sher- iffs, Coroners, Marshals, Clerks of Courts, Regis- ters, and Notaries Public, shall hold their offices for the term of two years from the date of their respective commissions; but they may be re- moved from office within that time by the President at his pleasure and all other officers whose term of office shall not be otherwise lim- ited by law shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the President.
Section 6. Every civil officer may be re- moved from office by impeachment for official misconduct. Every such officer may also be removed by the President upon the address of both branches of the Legislature, stating their particular reason for his removal. No person shall be eligible to the office of President who has not been a citizen of this Republic for at least five years, and who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and who is not possessed of unencumbered real estate to the value of six hundred dollars.
Section 7. The President shall at stated times receive for his services compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished dur- ing the period for which he shall have been elected : and before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath or affirmation : —
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I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the .Republic of Liberia, and will, to the best of my •ability, preserve, protect and defend the Con- stitution, a,nd enforce the laivs of the Republic of Liberia.
ARTICLE IV
Judicial Department
Section 1. The judicial power of this Re- public shall be vested in one Supieme Court, ..and such subordinate Courts as the Legislature may from time to time establish. The Judges -of the Supreme Court and all other Judges of -Courts, shall hold their office during good be- haviour ; but may be removed by the President, <on the address of two-thirds of both Houses for •that purpose, or by impeachment, and convic- tion thereon. The Judges shall have salaries ■established by law, which may be increased, but not diminished, during their continuance in office. They shall not receive other perquisites •or emoluments whatever from parties, or others, on account of any duty required of them.
Section 2. The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases affecting Am- bassadors, or other Public Ministers and Con- suls, and those to which a country shall be a party. In all. other cases the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and facts, with such exceptions and under •such regulations as the Legislature shall from -time to time make.
Section 3. The Judges of the Supreme Court -shall be the Chief and two associate Justices.
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ARTICLE V
Miscellaneous Provisions
All laws now in force in the Commonwealth of Liberia and not repugnant to the Constitu- tion shall be in force as the laws of the Republic of Liberia until they shall be repealed by the Legislature. ; . j.
Section 2. All Judges, Magistrates, and other officers now concerned in the administration of justice in the Commonwealth of Liberia, and all other existing civil and military officers there- in, shall continue to hold and discharge the duties of their respective offices in the name and by the authority of the Republic until others 'shall be appointed and commissioned in their stead, pursuant to the Constitution. ' Section 3. All towns and municipal corpor- ations within the Republic, constituted under the laws of the Commonwealth of Liberia, shall retain their existing organizations and priv- ileges, and the respective officers thereof shall remain in office and act under the authority of this Republic in the same manner and with like power as they now possess under the laws of said Commonwealth.
Section 4. The first election of President, Vice-President, Senators and Representatives shall be held on the first Tuesday in October, in the Year of Our Lord Eighteen Hundred and Forty-seven, in the same manner as the election of members of the Council are held in the Commonwealth of Liberia; and the votes shall be certified and returned to the Colonial Secretary, and the result of the election shall be ascertained, posted and notified by him, as is
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now by law provided in case of such members of Council.
Section 5. All other elections of President, Vice-President, Senators and Representatives shall be held in the representative towns on the first Tuesday in May in every two years; to* be held and regulated in such a manner as the Legislature may by law prescribe. The re- turns of votes shall be made to the Secretary of State, who shall open the same and forth- with issue notices of the election to the persons apparently so elected Senators and Representa- tives ; and all such returns shall be by him laid before the Legislature at its next ensuing ses- sion, together with a list of the names of the persons who appear by such returns to have been duly elected Senators and Representatives ; and the persons appearing by said returns to be duly elected shall proceed to organize them- selves accordingly as the Senate and House of Representatives. The vote for President shall be sorted, counted and declared by the House of Representatives; and if no person shall ap- pear to have a majority of such votes the Sen- ators and Representatives present shall, in con- vention, by joint ballot, elect from among the persons have the three highest number of votes a person to act as President for the ensuing term. i
Section 6. The Legislature shall assemble once at least in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.
Section 7. Every Legislator and other of- ficer appointed under this Constitution . shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe a solemn oath, or affirmation, to the President in convention of both Houses, anr1 the President shall administer the same
PebbUs From An African Beach 71
to the Vice-President, to the Senators, and to the Representatives in like manner. When the President is unable to attend, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may administer the oath •or affirmation, to him at any place, and also to the Vice-President, Senators and Represen- tatives, in convention. Other officers may take such oath, or affirmation, before the President, Chief Justice, or other person who may be designated by law.
Section 8. All elections of public officers shall be made by a majority of the votes, ex- cept in case otherwise regulated by the Con- stitution, or by law.
Section 9. Offices created by this Constitu- tion, which the present circumstances of the Republic do not require that they shall be filled, shall not be filled until the Legislature shall deem it necessary.
Section 10. The property of which a woman may be possessed at the time of her marriage, and also that of which she may afterwards become possessed, otherwise than by her hus- band, shall not be held responsible for his debts, whether contracted before or after marriage.
Nor shall the property thus intended to be secured to the woman be alienated otherwise than by her free and voluntary consent, and such alienation may be made by her eitner by sale, devise or otherwise.
Section 11. In all cases in which estates are insolvent the widow shall be entitled to one- third of the real estate during her natural life, and to one-third of the personal estate, which she shall hold in her own right, subject to alienation by her, by sale, devise or otherwise.
Section 12. No person shall be entitled to hold real estate in this Republic unless he be a citizen of the same. Nevertheless this article
72 Pebbles From An African Beach
shall not be construed to apply to Colonization, Missionary, Educational, or other benevolent institutions, so long as the property or estate is applied to its legitimate purpose.
Section 13. None but Negroes or persons of Negro descent shall be eligible to citizenship in this Republic. .
Section 14. The purchase of any land- by any citizen or citizens from the aborigines of this country for his or their own use, or for the benefit of others, as estate or estates, in fee simple, shall be considered null and void to all intents and purposes.
Section 15. The improvement of the native tribes and their advancement in the art of agriculture and husbandry being a cherished object of this Government, it shall be the duty of the President to appoint in each county some discreet person whose duty it shall be to make regular and periodical tours through the country for the purpose of calling the attention of the natives to those wholesome branches of industry, and of instructing them in the same, and the Legislature shall, as soon as it can con- veniently be done, make provisions for these purposes by the appropriation of money.
Section 16. The existing regulations of the American Colonization Society, in the Com- monwealth, relative to immigrants, shall re- main the same in the Republic until regulated by compact between the Society and the Re- public ; nevertheless, the Legislature shall make no law prohibiting emigration. And it shall be among the first duties of the Legislature to take measures to arrange the future relations between the American Colonization Society and this Republic.
Section 17. This Constitution may be altered whenever two-thirds of both branches of the
Pebbles From An African Beach 7&
Legislature shall deem it necessary ; in which case the alterations or amendments shall first be considered and approved by the Legislature by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of each branch and afterwards by them sub- mitted to the people, and adopted by two-thirds of aR the electors at the next biennial meeting for the election of Senators and Represen- tatives.
DONE in CONVENTION, at Monrovia, in the County of Montserrado, by the unanimous consent of the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia, this Twenty- sixth day of July, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty- seven, and of the REPUBLIC the first. In witness whereof we have hereto set our names.
MONTSERRADO COUNTY,
S. Benedict, President J. N. Lewis,
H. Teage, Beverly R. Wilson,
Elijah Johnson J. B. Gripon.
GRAND BASSA COUNTY.
John Day A. W. Gardner,
Amos Herring, Ephraim Titler.
COUNTY OF SINOE,
R, E. Murray. Jacob W. Prout, Secretary to the Convention
Listening to the "God plaver".
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