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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

1

1 ' • '". -:.,'

^?:^^^m^^

\ A Mission School

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.

IK

1

'- ' ' ~~~~~

z:---^ '■-:■-,■■"

Bible and Industrial Mission Build-
ing, Grand Bassa.

Pebbles From An African Beach 19

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 27

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

Pebbles From An African Beach 47

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

48 Pebbles From An African Beach

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

Pebbles From An African Beach 49

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

50 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 51

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 :

52 Pebbles From An African Beach

"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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 53

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?

54 Pebbles From An African Beach

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

Pebbles From An African Beach 55

■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.

56 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 57

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

58 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 59

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

60 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 61

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-

62 Pebbles From An African Beach

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-

Pebbles From An African Beach 63

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

64 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 65

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-

66 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 67

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 : —

«S8 Pebbles From An African Beach

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.

Pebbles From An African Beach 69

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

70 Pebbles From An African Beach

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

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