TI * LIBRARY theological ^emiuaey, PRINCETON , N ,J No. Case, -C4S — No. Shelf, <&r~r--l No. Book, — No, .... From the Rev. W. B. SPRAGUE, D.D. Sept. 1839. & JSpr&gue Collection, Vol, Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/extractsfromarti00unse_1 FROM AX ARTICLE IX THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW FOR JANUARY, 1824. OX THE SUBJECT OF | , ** % THE AMERICAN Princeton press : PRINTED TOR THE NEW -JERSEY COLONIZATION SOCIETY, BY D. A. BORRENSTEIN. 1824' V N\ V V X \ 4 \ THE following Extracts are respectfully pre- sented to the Public by a Committee of the Board of Managers? for the fieto-Strseg Colonisation .Soctctg, pursuant to an Order of the Board. EXTRACTS FROM THE JiOFtfl SlWCriCiW lUUtCU), &c. &e. If we should be thought to come forward at a late hour, in noticing the labors of a Society, formed in this country more than seven years ago, for the purpose of adapting some effici- ent plan of colonizing the free people of color, we trust our negligence will be attributed to any other cause, than a want of deep interest in theobjctsof the Society, or indifference to the zeal with which these objects have been pursued- The broad foundation on which the schemes of this Society are built, as well as the character of its patrons, raises it to an importance, not to be claimed by any other private association in this coun- try. Its aims have a pointed bearing on our political con- cerns, and, if successful, cannot fail to operate most favour- ably on our civil institutions, and our domestic peace and hap- piness. Coming to us in this shape, and patronized as it is by some of our most enlighthened statesmen and disinterested philantrophists, the Colonization Society demands of those, who would judge with fairness, to examine dispassionately, not its history and details only but its purposes and principles, not the failures which it may have suffered from accidents or inexperience, but the motives by which it is actuated, and the objects which it would attain. Such an examination we are disposed to give it. What has this Society done ? What ad- vantages can be expected from its success ? Are its designs practicable ? By what means can they be best promoted ? To these general topics our inquiry shall be directed. The plan of colonizing the free people of color, in some place remote from the United States, originated in the legis- lature of Virginia nearly twenty years ago. A correspond- ence on the subject was entered into betwen Mr. Munroe, then governor of Virginia and Mr. Jefferson, President of the United States. The purpose of this correspondence is ex- plained in a letter from Mr. Jefferson, written ten years after- 1 COLONIZATION SOCIETY. wards, and published among other documents appended to the First Annual Report of the Colonization Society. It ap- pears, that the governor of Virginia, at the request of the le- gislature, consulted the national executive on the best means of procuring an asylum for the free blacks of that State, and of establishing a colony where they might assume a rank and enjoy privileges from which the laws and structure of society must forever prohibit them, in their present situation. Mr Jefterson proposed to gain them admittance into the establish- ment at Sierra Leone, which then belonged to a private com- pany in England, or in case this should fail, to procure a situ- ation in some of the Portuguese settlements in South America. He wrote to Mr King, then our minister in London, -to apply to the Sierra Leone Company. This application was made, but without success, on the ground that the Company was about to dissolve, and give up its possessions to the govern- ment. An attempt to negotiate with the Portuguese govern- ment proved equally abortive, and no further active measures were taken. The legislature of Virginia, however, ceased not to hold fast its original purpose. The subject was from time to time discussed, till, in the year 1816, a formal resolution was pas- sed authorizing the executive of the state to correspond with the President of the United States, soliciting his aid in procu- ring a situation for colonizing the free blacks, and such as might afterwards be emancipated. The senators and repre- sentatives in Congress from Virginia, were requested to lend their exertions in advancing this object. Mr. Mercer, in his address at the first annual meeting of the Colonization Soci- ety, observed that 4 this resolution passed the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia with but nine dissenting voices out of one hundred and forty six ; and a full quorum of the senate, with but one. It was, in fact, but a repetition of cer- tain resolutions, which had been unanimously adopted by the same legislature, though in secret sessions, at three antecedent periods in the last seventeen years. It was truly the feeling and t he voice of Virginia. The legislatures of Maryland, Tenes- see, and Georgia, followed the example of Virginia, and adopt- ed a resolution of the same import.* The doings of these four states were mentioned with approbation in the report of a com- mittee of Congress, although the great object at which they pointed, the plan of colonization under the patronage of the government, seems never to have engaged the deliberations of the national councils. * Ohio has recently clone the same. May we not hope, that the Legislature of JYew- Jersey, will soon he added to this honorable Catalogue ? Committee. ADVANTAGES OF, &.C. 5 The first person, as far as we can learn, who conceived the notion of forming a Society for colonizing the free blacks, was the Rev. Dr. Finley of New Jersey. This gentleman had long felt a warm interest in the condition of this class of our population, and had consulted his friends on the best mode of providing for them a country and a home beyond the limits of the United States. He finally settled it in his mind, that Africa was the most suitable place for such a colony. In De- cember, 1816, he went to Washington, where he began in earnest to put his plan in execution, wrote a pamphlet to recommend it to the public, applied in person to several mem- bers of Congress, and citizens of Washington, and at length succeeded in causing a few persons to listen to his representations and embrace his views. On the 21st of the same month, several gentlemen convened to consider the sub- ject, when the meeting was opened by an address from Mr. Clay, explaining its object, and setting forth the advantages, which might be expected to result from a Colonization Society. He was followed by Mr Randolph and other gentlemen, who accorded with him in sentiment. A committee was appointed to prepare a constitution, which was adopted the week follow- ing, and Judge Washington, of the Supreme Court, was cho- sen president of the Society. On Dr. Finley’s return to New Jersy, the Legislature was in session at Trenton, and by his exertions, an auxiliary soci- ety was formed, which received the cordial support of several members of the legislature. Here follows an interesting and ably written account of the several expeditions to Africa , and of the settle- ment of the present Colony at Liberia , for which the reader is referred to the Review itself THE ADVANTAGES OF COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. These are too numerous and weighty to admit a detailed examination in this place. They spread over a field of unli- mited extent, and pertain not more to that unfortunate portion of our race, on whose condition the influence of the Society immediately acts, than to our national policy and prosperity, to our security and happiness, to the value of our possessions, and the efficacy of our moral and civil establishments, to the execution of some of our most salutary laws, and to the bright- 6 ADVANTAGES OF ening of the gloomiest prospects, which pass before the eyes of the patriot and philanthropist. On these advantages we can touch only in a rapid manner, aud shall content ourselves with a few remarks concerning them, as they relate to this coun- try ; to the abolition of the Slave Trade ; and to the civiliza- tion of Africa. To estimate the benefits, which a successful \antages operation of the Colonization Society will con- this country, fer on the people of this country, we must look for a moment at the present condition of the colored population, the manner in which the blacks stand re- lated to the whites, and the slaves to those of their own color, who are free. We shall here find a series of appalling evils, growing in strength as the ratio of population increases, and bidding defiance to any remedy, which either our political or social institutions can apply. We cannot express our views on this subject in language more appropriate and forcible, than that of Mr. Harper, as contained in a letter to the Secretary of the Colonization So- ciety, appended to the First Annual Report. 4 In reflecting,’ says Mr. Harper, 4 on the utility of a plan for colonizing the free people of color, with whom our country abounds, it is natural that we should be first struck by its ten- dency to confer a benefit upon ourselves, by ridding us of a population for the most part idle and useless, and too often vi- cious and mischievous. These persons are condemned to a state of hopeless inferiority and degradation, bv their color ; which is an indelible mark of their origin and former condi- tion, and establishes an impassible barrier between them and the whites. This barrier is closed forever by our habits and our feelings, which perhaps it would be more correct to call our prejudices, and whicn, whether feelings or prejudices, or a mixture of both, make us recoil with horror from the idea of an intimate union with the free blacks, and preclude the possi- bility of such a state of equality, between them and us, as alone could make us one people. Whatever, justice, humani- ty, and kindness we may feel towards them, we cannot help considering them, and treating them, as our inferiors ; nor can they help viewing themselves in the same light, however hard and unjust they may be inclined to consider such a state of things. We cannot help associating them in our feelings and conduct, nor can they help associating themselves, with the slaves : who have the same color, the same origin, and the same manners, and with whom they or their parents have been recently in the same condition. Be their industry ever so great, and their conduct ever so correct, whatever property COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. they may acquire, or whatever respect we may feel for their characters, we never could consent, and they never could hope to see the two races placed on a footing of perfect equality with each other ; to see the free blacks or their descendants visit in our houses, form part of our circle of acquaintance, marry into our families, or participate in public honors and employ- ments. This is strictly true of every part of our country, even those parts where slavery has long ceased to exist, and is held in abhorrence. There is no state in the union, where a negro or mulatto can ever hope to be a member of Congress, a Judge, a militia officer, or even a justice of the peace ; to sit down at the same table with the respectable whites, or to mix freely in their society.’ At this stage of our national progress, it is idle to investi- gate the causes, which have fixed these impressions, and built up these unnatural barriers of separation ; and worse than idle to tell us, what we know full well, that they are unreasonable, unjust, and inhuman. Let the fact be as melancholy as it will, it is nevertheless a fact, and one with which we must be contented, without at- tempting to palliate the enormities out of which it has arisen, that the course of events, over which we have had no control, and the customs of society whose power no arm of flesh can counteract, have brought the whole body of the people of co- lor. both bond and free, into a situation fruitful of infinite mis- chiefs to themselves, and to the whites. That watchful guard- ian of character and morals, public opinion, exerts its power in vain on the blacks, because this same public opinion has in- humanly branded them with a mark of degradation, which they feel it impossible to erase, and has thrust them into a rank among their fellow-men, above which, neither virtue nor knowl- edge, wisdom nor piety, can enable them to ascend. In this respect, as Mr. Harper has justly observed, there is a wide difference between slavery in America, and in all other countries. Color has become a signal of inferiority, by the mere habit of connecting the idea of a slave with that of a dark skin ; nor can it be otherwise, while the principles of as- sociation hold their place among the first elements of the hu- man mind. Anciently among the Greeks and Romans, as now among the different nations of Europe and Asia, no distinction of color existed between the slave and his master. Then sla- very was remediable evil ; emancipation w’ashed out the stain ; intellect and virtue had their influence ; to have been a slave, was no bar to any degree of dignity and respect, which future merit might deserve ; Terence and Epictetus lost none of the admiration justly due to their talents, because they were slaves ; 8 ADVANTAGES OF they were not the less caressed by the great, admired by the wise, and honored by all. No such thing can happen in this country. Give freedom to a slave, and where do you place him ? Not above the repul- siveness of popular feeling, not in the rank of the meanest white man, not in a sphere where he can gather around him the affections or participate the friendships, or be consoled by the sympathy, of the respectable members of the community. He is pressed down, till debasement becomes a habit : he has gro- velled, till the desire of rising out of the dust is lost; ambi- tion has w ithered in its starting freshness ; emulation has been blighted in the opening bud ; virtue has sunk weary with ill requited exertion ; and hope, the last kind comforter of the wretched, has forsaken his bosom, and left him reckless of his condition and his destiny. The character of slavery, as it exists in this country, ren- ders emancipation to any practicable extent impossible, unless there shall be some place out of the United States, to which free persons of color may be sent, where they may enjoy the civil privileges of which, for wise purposes, it is here necessary that the laws should deprive them ; and where they may obtain those means of happiness, which freedom and self-government will put into their hands. No dream can be more wild, than that of emancipating slaves, who are still to remain among us free ; we unhesitatingly express it as our belief, and we speak from some experience, that the free people of color, as a class in the slave holding states, are a greater nuisance to societv, more comfortless, tempted to more vices, and actually less qua- lified to enjoy existence, than the slaves themselves. In such a state of things, manumission is no blessing to the slave, while it is an evil of the most serious kind to the whites. This we deem an important consideration, because it brings the subject of emancipation to a single point. We suppose it is the cherished hope of every true patriot, as w ell as of every benevolent man, that the day will come, when the scourge of slavery shall no longer be felt in the land, when the rod of chastisement shall be withdrawn, and all voices shall join in the song of freedom. There is one possible way, and only one, in which this event can be accomplished, or even approximated. It is by colonization , andby this alone , that the mischiefs of slavery, and, what is more to be dreaded than slavery, the living pestilence of a free black population , can be lessened. We take the position to be settled that no possible remedy can be imagined, while the people of color con- tinue with us, whether as slaves, or as freemen subject to their present legal disabilities. Can any combination of farts more COLONIZATION OF AFRICA. 9 clearly demonstrate the necessity of procuring an asylum for these people, in some place remote from our own territory, or more loudly demand the union of all hearts and hands in aid ing the benevolent and well designed beginnings of the Colo- nization Society? As all hope of future relief rests on some -experiment of this sort, who does not see, that the sooner it is begun, the less formidable will be the obstacles to contend against, and the more encouraging the prospects of success ? 4 Great as the benefits are,’ says Mr. Harper, * which we may promise ourselves, from the colonization of the free peo- ple of color, by its tendency to prevent the discontent and corruption of our slaves, and to secure to them a better treat- ment by rendering them more worthy of it, there is another advantage infinitely greater, in every point of view, to which it may lead the way. It tends, and may powerfully tend, to rid us gradually and entirely, in the United States, of slaves and slavery ; a great moral and political evil, of increasing viru- lence and extent, from which much mischief is now felt, and very great calamity in future is justly apprehended. It is in this point of view, I confess, that the scheme of colonization most strongly recommends itself, in my opinion, to attention and support. The alarming danger of cherishing in our bosom a distinct nation, which can never become incorporated with us, while it rapidly increases in numbers, and improves in in- telligence ; learning from us the arts of peace and war, the secret of its ow n strength, and the talent of combining and directing its force 5 a nation which must ever be hostile to us, from feeling and interest, because it can never incorporate with us, nor participate in the advantages which we enjoy ; the danger of such a nation in our bosom, needs not to be point- ed out to any reflecting mind. It speaks not only to our un- derstandings, but to our very senses ; and however it may be derided by some, or overlooked by others, who have not the ability or the time, or do not give themselves the trouble, to re- flect on, and estimate properly, the force and extent of those great moral and physical causes, which prepare gradually, and at length bring forth, the most terrible convulsions in civil so- ciety ; it will not be viewed without deep and awful appre- hension, by any who shall bring sound minds, and some share of political knowledge and sagacity, to the serious considera- tion of the subject.* Such persons will give their most seri- * “ The hour of emancipation (says the venerable Jefferson, in a letter to Governor Coles,) is advancing in the march of time. It will come ; and whe- ther brought on by the generous energy of our own minds, or by the bloody process of St. JJomingo , excited and conducted by the power of our present B 10 ADVANTAGES OE ous attention to any proposition, which has for its object the eradication of this terrible mischief, lurking in oor vitals.’ In the course of his further remarks, Mr. Harper draws a vivid picture of the mischievous effects growing out of the co- lored population, and sets forth the advantages, which the country would gain by gradually releasing itself from this bur- den. The author speaks not more from deep reflection, than from observation and experience ; the accuracy of his know- ledge and the soundness of his judgment are alike to be trust ed. His views are philosophical ; they are just in principle and fact. Revealing the causes of the evils, which now af- flict us, he proves them to be radical, and suggests the only method by which they can be torn up and destroyed. Draw off the free blacks ; then give freedom to the slaves, and let them follow. White labourers will come in and take their place, as fast as the odium of slavery wears away ; labour will be more productive, lands more valuable, and the means of wealth more abundant ; a vicious, worthless, dangerous pop- ulation will be succeeded by an intelligent and thriving class, who will stand as pillars of strength in the social fabric. This is no impossible task, if rightly undertaken 5 so great a change must necessarily be brought about by imperceptible degrees ; the Colonization Society has taken the first step ; let its en- terprise be seconded with energy, and the work will in due time be clone. Nor are the benefits at which we have Slaves 16 hinted wholly prospective. They began to themselves. to be realized when the first Colonist left the country, and they will increase as others go after them. They will be seen in the improved character and condition of the slaves, who remain ; and in the removal of the temptations to vice and idleness, which are thrown in their way by the free blacks. The slaves will become more peace- ful and moral ; they will be happier, and better qualifi- ed for enjoying the blessings of liberty, when the day shall come for them to hold a place in a Colony of their free breth- ren. Hence the benefits to the white population in the slave holding states are two fold ; the slaves are made better, and the poisonous influence of the free coloured people on society grows weaker as their numbers diminish. These benefits at- enemy, if once stationed permanently within our country, offering asylum and arms to the oppressed, is a leaf of our history not yet turned over.” “ The love of justice and the love of country, (says the same distinguished statesman) plead equally the cause of these people ; and it is a mortal reproach to us, that they should have pleaded it so long in vain, and should have pro- duced not a single effort, nay, I fear not much serious w illingness to relieve them, and ourselves, from our present condition of moral and political repro- bation.” Committee. COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. 11 tend the progres of the scheme, which, when it is perfected, will not only form the blacks into a new and improved race, living under their own laws, and relying on their own resour- ces, but will add to the wealth, the physical strength, politi- cal weight, and moral and intellectual ascendency of those districts of country, where the coloured population is now the most numerous. And it wiil not be less a national benefit, for this is one of those cases above all others, in which the whole has as deep an interest as a part. Besides these advantages, which pertain advaiiS^e? t° our domestic prosperity, many others may be expected of a commercial nature, from the establishment of a Colony in Africa. On this sub- ject it is impossible to speak with the accuracy of calculation, and conjectures would be fruitless ; yet we may affirm, that no part of the world is more fertile, than western Africa, or bet- ter calculated to produce the articles of commerce usually found in tropical climates. A trade of considerable profit has for many years been carried on with, the natives along the coast, by individuals both in this country and Europe. The Slave Trade has been a severe check to the success of lawful enterprise, as it has bartered with the natives and taken in exchange, not the fruits of their industry, the products of their soil, the rewards of honest labour, but the spoils of unnatural wars, commenced on the barbarous principle that strength gives right, and prosecuted with the cruel intention of con- quering to enslave. The physical strength of the country has been employed, not in the thriving pursuits of agriculture, and the improvement of the arts, but in sanguinary contests for the plunder of human beings, in murders, kidnappings, and all the atrocious outrages, which savage man, under the dominion of his savage passions, can inflict on his fellow man. The inhuman traffic in slaves has resisted the tide of lawful commerce, by rendering it unnecessary to the natives ; but this bar will gradually be removed ; justice will not always be deaf to the cries of the sufferer ; the energetic measures adopted by the United States and Great Britain will contin- ue, as they have done, to scatter terror in the minds of the miscreant trafficers in blood and crime $ and even the Holy Alliance may one day think its plighted faith worth remem- bering, although in an unguarded hour it was for once pledged in the cause of freedom and humanity. Let the slave trade be driven from the earth, and few countries will afford more inducements to commercial enterprise, than western Africa. The instance of Sierra Leone presents us with no unfa* vourable view of what may be done in the way of commerce. 12 ADVANTAGES OF That colony contended for a long time with many embarrass- ments it was owned by a Company, whose means were ex- hausted before its commercial operations could go into com- plete effect ; it suffered from wars and privations. Y et all these difficulties have vanished, and the commerce of Sierra Le- one has of late been flourishing. Thirty-five vessels were en- tered at the port in the year 1821, registered chiefly in Lon- don, and containing goods, whose invoice amount was some- what more than 8450,000. The duties collected iti the colo- ny during the the same year amounted to 828,000. 'ihe principal articles exported in return were ivory, palm oil, camwood, gum, beeswax, gold dust, hides, rice, lumber of va- rious sorts, mahogany in logs, coffee, African wild spices, Guinea grains, leopard skins, and mats. These are brought down by the natives ro Sierra Leone, and exchanged for cheap cloths, and various articles of European manufacture. The trade is a profitable one to the importer, and, as it extends, will run into new and promising channels. Mesurado is bet- ter situated for trade than Sierra Leone ; it stands at the mouth of a much larger river, is in the neighbourhood of a more fertile country, and accessible to a larger population in the interior. Why, then, should it not grow up to be a place of commercial importance, employ many of our seamen , add to the tonnage of our shippings contribute to our revenue , and thus confer a positive good on the nation, at the same time that it relieves us of a positive and alarming evil ? Nor ought our views to be confined to Mesurado. Civilization and com- merce will go hand in hand, and new sources of profitable in- tercourse will be opened, in proportion as the natives learn the best modes of supplying their wants. Let the scheme of colonization next be The 0IV considered as affecting the Slave Trade, and Slave Trade. it will be seen, that its benefits, in regard to the suppression of this traffic, are scarcely less important, than those already enumerated. In 1808, the earliest time provided by the Constitution, the slave trade was prohibited in the United States, and laws were enacted inflict- ing severe penalties of fines, imprisonments, and forfeitures on those, who should participate in this guilty traffic. Ten years afterwards this law was improved, by throwing on the defendant the burden of proof, that the colored person intro- duced by him into the. country was lawfully brought in. The law s were still found to be imperfect, as they neither afforded a sufficient check ta the trade by American citizens on the coast of Africa, nor provided any means of redeeming and restoring to their country the unfortunate victims* who might. COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. IS in violation of the laws, be introduced into the states. To correct these imperfections, the act of March 3d, 1819, al- ready mentioned, was passed, authorizing the President to station public vessels on the coast of Africa, make such ar- rangements as he should deem expedient to rescue and sup- port recaptured negroes, and appoint agents to reside there, and receive such persons of color, as should be sent from this country, or be taken by our cruisers from slave vessels on the coast. One act more was wanting to mark this wicked traffic with its true character, and this act was passed by Congress, May loth, 1820, wherein it is declared, that every person proved to be engaged in the slave trade is guilty of piracy , and shall be punished with death. The glory of taking this noble stand against the long cherished, guilty customs of the whole world, and of asserting the claims of humanity on the broad principles of nature and right, was reserved for the American Congress. It is a bright page in the records of time, and the event will be hailed in all coming ages as a memorable epoch in the history of the human race. It has already gained the spontaneous applause of every benevolent heart, not more in this country than in Europe. Let it not be forgotten, that this step was first recommended by a committee of congress acting on a memorial of the Colonization Society. This memorable law, in connexion with that of 1819, would seem to be little else than a dead letter, without the existence of an American colony on the coast of Africa. Where are the agents to be stationed ? What security will they have for their persons ? How are they to preserve the dignity of public agents of the American government, or in what manner can they discharge the duties of their office, in opposition to the interests of the people, whose protection they claim ? In the President’s next message to Congress, after the above act was passed, he observes, in referring to the agents whom he had appointed, ‘ they will have power to select the most suitable place on the coast of Africa, at which all persons who may be taken under this act shall be delivered to them, with an express injunction to exercise no power founded on the principle of colonization, or other power than that of per- forming the benevolent offices above recited, [providing for the recaptured negroes} by the permission and sanction of the existing government under which they may establish them- selves.’ But what existing government is there on the coast of Africa, which is not engaged in the slave trade ? And is it to be credited, that any such governmeut would give per- mission for an agency to be established, whose professed ob- ject should be to oppose its customs and discourage its trade ? 14 ADVANTAGES OF We bold the thing to be impossible. While the agents were supplied with presents enough to bribe the kings into acqui- escence, tne case might not be entirely hopeless, but tempt their cupidity by letting loose in their dominions a cargo of recaptured negroes, and we will answer for their integrity no longer. It is not a characteristic of the untutored mind to resist the stronger motive, especially when the force of habit accords with the impulse of interest. And then it is not like- ly, that the enslavers on the coast would regard with a friend- ly eye these enemies of their commerce, acting under the sane* tion of a foreign power. Let the subject be viewed as it may, and there will not be a shadow of hope, that two unprotected agents, fixing themselves among the natives, could do any thing towards an effectual execution of the laws of the United States. They would effect little else, than to supply the slave market in Africa to the full amount of recaptured persons, whom they should receive. That such a scheme should have been contemplated by the Executive, was evidently the result of necessity ; Congress had directed agents to be appointed, but had not looked for- ward to the thing of chief importance, the mode in which they should be so employed as to render their agency of any prac- tical value. Thus situated, the President had no alternative, but to appoint agents, and instruct them as he did. Happily, however, the experiment was not tried. The government made common cause with the Colonization Society ; the agents of both were directed to act in concert, and as far as we can learn, they have thus acted till the present time. We believe, indeed, that both agencies are now vested in Dr. Ayres alone. For all the good effects, which have grown out of the lawT of 1819, the government is indebted to the Colonization Society. The latter has no doubt received eminent services from the former, and probably has been able to sustain its operations in Africa only through the aids thus received, but still the pro- ject of a colony belonged to the Society, and its efforts have been turned exclusively to that object. The President was extremely guarded in his instructions to the agents, and imposed on them 4 an express injunction to exercise no power founded on the principle of colonization.’ We do not intend here to enter on the topic of colonization in its political bearings ; these are unquestionably important, and there may be reasons why it is inexpedient for the United States to found colonies abroad for any purpose, although w e have never seen them stated. The present is obviously a case in which the laws of the Union, and some of its laws of first moment, cannot be executed* except through the medium of a COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. 15 colony. Notwithstanding the President’s cautious injunction, the agents have exercised no power to any purpose, which was not ‘founded on the principle of colonization.’ Is it said, that this was only a private colony, to which the agents resort- ed as affording them protection, and facilities for discharging their duty ? Let this be granted, and our position will then hold the same, that they have done nothing except through the aids of a colony. And, moreover, a slight inspection will show, that the co- lony at Mesurado wants nothing to make it a public colony already, but the mere form of recognition on the part of the government. To all practical purposes it has been such from the beginning. Lieutenant Stockton of the United States Na- vy w as one of the signers to the treaty, by which the land w as ceded to the Society, and he afforded such assistance as was requisite in establishing the colonists on the ground. Similar aids have been rendered by all the public vessels on the coast. Captain Spence built a fort on the Cape at the public charge, supplied with guns, and the American flag was hoisted on its battlements. He also left an armed schooner for the better protection of the colonists. The present agent, Dr. Ayres, is appointed under the law of Congress, and supported by the government. These facts we state as e\idence, that the lawrs against the Slave Trade cannot be put into execution, except ‘ on the principle of colonization.’ All the efforts which have as yet been made, have forced themselves of their own accord into this channel, and any attempt to compass the object on other principles would end in a total failure. We repeat then, that to the Colonization Society belongs the praise of having projected the only practicable scheme of carryingthe abolition laws into effect, and affirm, that these laws will be executed in proportion as the government, either directly or indirectly, acts on the principles of this Society. Let the starting point be where it will, here is the centre to which every successful movement will come at last. In regard to the advantages, which maybe vantages expected to Africa itself from a colony in "that Africa. country, they are too numerous to be mention- ed in detail, and the most of them too obvious to require much remark. From the time the eloquence t>f Wilberforce, and the high minded, untiring zeal of Clarkson, first awaked a slumbering world to a recognition of the dear- est, although long forgotten rights of humanity, down to the present period, every day has proved the grand secret of Af- rican degradation to consist in the slave trade. Abolish this effectually and forever, and you have done all ; you have rais- 16 ADVANTAGES OF ed a prostrate continent to a proud eminence in the rank of physical and moral being. The laws of civilized countries will avail something, but tenfold greater will be the influence of a well ordered colony residing in the midst of the people, teaching them the arts of life, showing them the value of men- tal and moral improvement, and convincing them by example, that civilization in all its branches is the spring and the safe- guard of human happiness. The spirit, which cherishes the unholy practice of slavery, holds dominion in the minds of the people, planted there, and nurtured there, it is true, by the avarice, cupidity, and crimes of civilized barbarians, yet it must be rooted out and destroyed in its source, before the evil will cease. Let the navies of the world be combined, and line the coast of Africa from Tangier to Babelmandel, and even make it certain that not a slave shall escape, this would not be abolishing the slave trade. The spirit would still lurk in the vitals of one hundred and fifty millions of people, and even in this sphere, narrow compared with its present extent, it would show itself in all the miseries of in- testine wars and plunderings, misrule in government, and heart-rending separations in the domestic and social circles. As a first step, the slave trade must cease ; the work of humanity will then be commenced ; the door of legalized crime will be closed, and the dawn of innocence will rise to witness the expiring struggles of guilt. Next enlighten the natives, and the cause of humanity will be completely vindi- cated ; nature will teach the rest; governments will grow up, founded on the eternal basis of truth and right ; peace and happiness will reign in the land ; the horn of plenty will pour its abundant stores at the feet of the labourer ; wisdom will assert her empire in the mind ; the affections will bloom with new freshness and fragrance in the heart ; and the injured, insulted, degraded African will rise to a level with his species, and prove to his deriding oppressors, that the same God, who has stamped his image on other men, has in equal kindness bestowed on him in full measure the sources of feeling, the power of intellect, and all the ennobling principles of human nature. These two objects, the suppression of the slave trade, and the practical civilization of Africa, may be pursued together. Each will advance the other. A colony on the coast, at the same time it affords facilities for carrying into effect the laws against the slave trade, will be a post of observation to de- tect illegal trafficers, and, by heightening the risk to discour- age the boldness of adventurers. The hiding places of mis- chief will be revealed, and proper remedies applied ; the ar- COLONIZATION IN AFRI0A. 17 tifices of iniquity will be laid open, and the machinations of deliberate crime frustrated. The interests of a colony will harmonize with its favourable circumstances, and prompt it to watchfulness, and a speedy exposure of abuses. It can give timely information to public cruisers, and guide their efforts to a more efficient service. But the good effects of a colony have yet a much higher character, as seen in the local and moral improvement of the natives within its influence. Wars in Africa are terrific ; like armies of devouring locusts, they pass over the land and leave a depopulated desert behind. 1 To give no quarter to an enemy,’ says Governor Ludlam, 4 or to put to death prisoners taken in the field, would doubtless reduce their number ; but men, and men in arms, would be the only sufferers ; and the slaughter of an army would tend to put an end to the war. In Africa, however, war is made equally on men, women and children ; those who are unable to lift a weapon are as much its victims, as those who carry a musket, and a chief can ne- ver want funds for carrying on a war, so long as his enemy has abundance of people.’ It is to be remembered, how ever, that the R c'ause6 o^theif16 motives which drive Africans to war, are dif- intestine wars. ferent from those of all other nations. They are not stimulated by revenge, like the savage Indians ; nor hurried on by the impulse of wanton cruelty, like the Moors of the desert ; nor restless with the ambition of rising above their neighbours, and extending their dominion, like more civilized warriors. The mere love of indolence, and desire of ministering to their wants and pleasures with the least trouble ; these, unsubdued by any power of moral principle, which refinement would quicken, are the original springs of African wars. These springs are kept in action, if they were not created by the slave trade. The natives steal and sell one another, because purchasers are always at hand ; they go out to battle for the same reason, and exult in victory only as its trophies of human victims will glut the avarice of the slavers on the coast. The same causes have introduced among them a kind of judiciary system, not less unprincipled and shocking to hu- manity. An accused person is summoned before a chief, or headman, on the merest pretence of misdemeanor, subjected to a mock trial, and condemned to slavery ; and it may be the unfortunate sufferer is one of the domestics or family connex- ions of his accuser and judge. Chiefs will combine, and hold palavers on another chief, and sentence him to a fine of a cer- tain number of slaves. These he must procure by violently 18 ADVANTAGES OF seizing his own people, or sending marauders to kidnap them among his neighbours. Courts of this sort, which were intro- duced by the slave trade, are sanctioned by custom, and up- held by the laws of the land. Another terrible mode of trial is by the Red Water , which is generally on the charge of w itch- craft. Few survive this operation. All who die are account- ed guilty, and the common result is, that several persons be- longing to the family of the deceased are doomed to slavery. We are here speaking of customs, which time has matured, and which the natives do not suppose to be criminal. What more probable remedy can be held out for these local and for- midable evils than colonization ? Let the slave trade be aban- doned, and the thrifty business of man-stealing and man-kil- ling will no doubt droop, and perhaps be neglected, because it will be unprofitable. But to what honest and useful occu- pation shall the natives then resort ? The arts of industry they have never learnt, and its happy effects they have never expe- rienced. If, however, they can in the meantime witness the rising prosperity of a separate body of colonists, who enjov- no local advantages over themselves, and who gain strength and gather comforts around them, by a course of life directly op- posed to the one, which they have pursued, will not such an example touch the rudest mind, and compel it to think and de- liberate ? Will it not slowdy unrivet the chains of habit, which do such violence to nature, unlock the prison house of the moral sense, and give freedom and energy to the long enthralled intellect ? Such will be the natural progress of events. We have the uniform testimony of wrriters, and what is more than all, the authority of Park, that the negro charac- ter is mild, gentle, and generous, not prone to resentments, and equally ready to forget, and reluctant to inflict an injury. This is far from being a warlike, or vicious character ; such odious traits, as it now possesses, have been engrafted into it by hands better practiced than their own in the derices of wickedness ; and these must be removed by a process as gradual as that, by which they have taken so deep a root, and acquired so firm a trunk. Better habits will grow' out of bet- ter principles ; the ferocity of ignorance, and the bane of in-* dolence, will disappear before the rising light of know ledge. Subsidiary to these great ends will be ?ie mental culture, and religious instruct- mong them. ' ion, derived to the natives from the direct labours and indirect influence of a colony. Could a more propitious beginning be imagined, or a field be better prepared for culture P You have no obstinacy to con- COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. 19 quer, no wild and restless wanderings of a thoroughly savage dispositon to tame, no contempt of knowledge and the refine- ment of civilized life to soften, no torpid indifference to rouse, no spectres of a paralyzing superstition to dispel. You have minds to deal with naturally simple and artless, tractable in temper, docile, ready to learn, and requiring only the use of judicious means properly applied. These positions are verified, not more by the above facts, than by the instance of Sierra Leone. In the twelve schools of that colony, there are now two thousand persons of differ- ent ages, under the care of about thirty teachers. Their gen- eral good deportment, and progress in learning, are represent- ed, by the committees appointed to examine the schools, in terms the most flattering. They were all recaptured from slave ships. Some have already become teachers themselves, and gone out to instruct the tribes bordering on the colony. The mechanic arts, agriculture, the plainer branches of manu- factures, and whatever gives a spur to invention, value to la- bour, a right direction to power, strength to morals, and re- finement to thought, may well be reckoned among the ele- ments of an African education, which the natives are glad to learn and capable of receiving. In regard to religious instruction, no heathens can be so easily initiated into the principles of Christianity, as the in- habitants of central and western Africa. They believe for the most part in a Supreme Being, but their notions are obscure, without system or consistency. They have no conceptions of the attributes of God, nor do they ascribe the operations of na- ture to his agency. When Artus told them, that their gold, fruits, and flocks were given them by the Deity, they replied, ‘ the earth gives us gold, the earth yields us maize and rice, the sea affords us fish, but if we do not labour ourselves, we may starve before our God will help us.’ They believe in an evil and good principle, existing in distinct forms, each of which has power over them ; and they are also strongly affected by charms, termed fetiches on the coast, and Obi in the West Indies. It matters not of what material the charm is made ; when once consecrated in the imagination of the person whose reverence it commands, it is supposed to have a power little inferior to that of the Deity, and to hold in its mysterious vir- tues the destiny of mortals. Such a religion has too few points of consistency to acquire any strength by age ; its principles are too vague to gain a permanent entrance into the mind ; it has nothing to engage the fancy or captivate the understanding. It is not like the so PRACTICABILITY OF magnificent fabric of Chinese theology, made sacred by the ve- nerated names of ancient statesmen and sages, standing as the firmest pillar of the empire, and secured from innovation by the impermeable panoply of a language, which to change would be to destroy. Nor is it like the more philosophical, and per- haps more ancient system of the Hindoos, rendered imposing by its thousand volumes of commentaries, and perpetuated by an unceasing, overgrown priesthood. Nor is it like the mon- strous folly of the Tartars, where the wretched idea of a Grand Lama has driven common sense from the minds of millions, and united them in an unconquerable system of visionary ab- surdity. In short, the world does not contain an uncivilized people, more free from the bias of heathenism than the ne- groes. The task of plucking out errors, and eradicating deep rooted superstitions, which is so formidable in most cases, is one of little difficulty with them. The soil is already prepa- red for the seed ; and this only requires to be scattered with a careful hand, and nurtured with gentleness and skill. The Mahometans have had good success, and many persons in the central parts of Africa have been brought over to their faith. What then may we not expect from the simple and engaging- truths of Christianity ? Shall we say, that the sublime doc- trines of Jesus, and the holy precepts of his religion, have less- power to convert the heathen, than the profane vagaries of the Arabian impostor ; or that the rude followers of the latter have more zeal, than the humble disciples of the former $ What Christian will listen to so ungracious an imputation ? The inference must be allowed, then, both from a view of the religion of the negroes, and the success of Mahometanism among them, that they are better prepared, than any other barbarous people, to receive religious instruction and adopt new principles of faith. Thus may a colony be accessary to the advancement of religious truth, which could come from no other quarter, as well as to the civil improvement, tempo- ral interests, and social happiness of the people among whom it is stationed. THE PRACTICABILITY OF THE SCHEME. Having now closed what we proposed to say on the advan- tages of cnlonization to this country and Africa, we proceed to a few hints on its practicability. COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. 21 The objection, which has been urged with otUerattenmts. considerable emphasis against the Coloniza- tion Society, that the scheme of forming a Colony in Africa is impracticable, we think sufficiently an- swered by the fact, that numerous colonies have been setiled there , some of which are now of long standing. The Portuguese, the French, the Danes, and the English, have establishments scattered along the coast from Cape Verde to the Cape of Good Hope, which must no doubt be profitable to those go- vernmets, or they would not have been maintained till the present time. More than a century ago the French establish- ed a post on the Senegal, upwards of four hundred miles from its mouth 5 at Congo the Portuguese have grown into a numer- ous colony ; and at the southern extremity of Africa, the Dutch and English together have spread over a country larger than the southern peninsula of Europe. As it is not, there- fore, a question to be soberly discussed, whether it is possible for America to do what half a dozen other nations have done, the notion that colonization is impracticable hardly deserves to be considreed. , We may here revert again to Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone. ^ J ® as attorning an instance more directly in point for our present purpose, because it was founded on prin- ciples nearly allied to those of the Colonization Society. It was started by a private company, and the original settlers were taken from abroad. At the close of the American Re- volution many negroes who had left their masters during the war, and gone over to the British standard, were dispersed in the Bahama Islands and Nova Scotia, where the white loyalists took refuge. Some found their way to London. Four hund- red of these were shipped by their own consent to Sierra Le- one in 1787. The black settlers in Nova Scotia became dis- satisfied with the rigorous treatment they received, and com plained to the British ministry. Emigration was thought the only remedy, and twelve hundred accepted the invitation to be transported at the expense of the government to Sierra Le- one, where they arrived five years after those from London. It thus appears, that the colony at Sierra Leone was first set- tled by negroes, who had been slaves in this country, habitua- ted to the same climate, and possessing the same character, a& the persons with whom it is contemplated to supply the new American colony. The Maroons from Jamaica did not arrive till 1805. The land was obtained by purchase of the natives. For some time the Colony proceeded but slowly ; it was at- tacked by the French ; the natives were hostile ; sickness made its ravages ; want and fatigue caused despondency. But these 22 PRACTICABILITY OF- difficulties were conquered in due time ; the lands were clear- ed ; villages are now rising up, churches and schools are mul- tiplying, agriculture has become a settled occupation, and so- ciety has assumed a shape denoting the regularity and happi- ness of civilized life. The Sierra Leone Colony now consists of twelve thousand inhabitants, nearly ten thousand of whom are recaptured Africans, thus rescued from an inhuman bond- age, which would otherwise have been entailed on them and their posterity for ever. Why shall not the Colony at Mesu- rado accomplish as much in the same time ? And should it promise no more, who would refuse to give his heart and his hands to a work, which may save ten thousand of his fellow- beings from slavery and wretchedness ? It has been a good deal insisted on, as a proof Objection. ^practicability °f colonization, that emi- grants could not be induced to embark. Experi- ence has shewn the futility of this objection. Volunteers have ever been ready in greater numbers than the Society could re- ceive, and at this time the names of more persons are on the list of application, than it would be prudent to send at once. They should not be suffered to go out faster than they can be well provided for, and we presume that two or three hundred a year would be quite as many as could find comfortable quar- ters in a new Colony. The ratio of capacity for receiving others will of course increase very rapidly ; it will be in pro- portion to the surplus of labour among the resident Colonists over what is necessary to supply their immediate w ants. The avails of the rest can be appropriated to the use of new adven- turers, in supplying them with food, houses, and other requi- sites of life. On this principle the time will come, in the natu- ral progress of things, when there will be ability to provide for emigrants in Africa as fast as the condition of the blacks, and the established order of society, will permit them to depart from this country. The early disasters at Sierra Leone were owing in a great measure to the numbers landed at once, without comfortable dwellings, clothes, provisions, and good attendance in sickness. Our own Colony has experienced similar cala- mities from the same causes. Again, it has been said, that, the expense of Objection, transportation is so great, as to prevent its being carried to any available extent. This objection is founded on a false estimate of facts, as any one may be convin- ced, who will thoroughly examine the subject. The Society has sent out emigrants at fifty dollars a piece, and it might be done much lower, if the business were prosecuted on a large scale. Many coloured persons have property more than sufficient to pay COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. their own passage, and laws might be passed to cause others to save their earnings, till they amounted to enough for their pas- sage money. Besides, what should prevent some of our pub- lie vessels being employed in this work, and at an expense ve- ry little exceeding that, which is now required to keep them in service ? And last of all, why should not a portion of the national revenue be appropriated to an object, which so vitally affects the rising interests of our confederacy ? Let it be our pride to follow, as far as the genius of our in- stitutions will permit, the liberal and high-minded example of a younger republic. The Government of Colombia has not only decreed, that 4 ail, of whatever colour, are entitled to the same privileges as white men,’ but has enacted a statute for thegrad- ual abolition of slavery within its own territory, by establishing a manumission fund, arising out of a tax on a portion of the property left by persons at their death. Why may not our Congress so far w alk in the steps of the generous friends of hu- manity in Colombia, as to appropriate a reasonable amount to relieve the country from the nuisance and terror of the free black population ? Or, should the argument from humanity and this example be thought of little weight, w hy should not such a measure be prompted by a regard for the deepest concerns and supreme welfare of the nation P The unhealthiness of the climate is another Objection objection, usually advanced against the practica- bility of a settlement in Africa. In respect to this, we beg permission again to referto the European Colonies, which have been so long in operation. That the coast of west- ern Africa is unhealihy to northern constitutions, is not deni- ed ; but no proof has been exhibited, that it is more so than other tropical climates, or even the alluvial districts of the U.. States. Let a colony from the northern and middle states be transported to the low and fertile parts of the Carol mas, or to the banks of the Mississippi, in the warm season, and the mortality would be much greater, than has been known in Africa, even in the midst of the fatal rains. By Meredith, Wadstrom, Dr. Lind, and others, w ho have had an opportunity of being in- formed, it is stated with confidence, that the country about Sierra Leone is equal in salubrity to the most healthy of the West India Islands. The mortality of the Colonists in Afri- ca has not been more alarming, than it was among the original settlers of New England, and other parts of America. The un- usual sickness of the first emigrants to Sierra Leone, and of those gone from this country, depended on incidental causes, many of which have no necessary connection w ith the climate, and which will never occur to the same degree, when the forests shall be 24 PRACTICABILITY OF cleared, the miasmata of decayed vegetation removed, and the people supplied with comfortAble habitations and wholesome food. On the whole, there seems no reason to suppose western Africa more unhealthy, than other parts of the world, to which people have emigrated for centuries, and where they have built cities, established governments, and grown into empires. The local situation selected for our present Colony enjoys many positive advantages. In speaking of the tracts of coun- try around Cape Monte and Cape Mesurado, Dr. Leyden says, * These districts have been described by Des Marchais, Vil- lault, Philips, Atkins, Bosman, and Smith, as pleasant, salu- brious and fertile.’ Again he adds, ‘Cape Mesurado is a de- tached mountain, steep and elevated towards the sea, with a gentle declivity on the land side. The adjacent country is ex- tremely fertile, producing sugar cane, indigo, and cotton, with- out cultivation.’ No man is better acquainted with the coast of Africa, pro- bably, than Sir George R. Collier, who has been the chief com- mander of the British squadron stationed there for three or four years. In his Second Report to the British government, respecting the settlements in Africa, he thus alludes to the at- tempt to form a Colony at Sherbro. ‘Had America,’ he ob- serves, k who, excepting Great Britain, appears more in earnest than any other nation, established her lately attempted settle- ment at Cape Mesurado, or even at Cape Monte, she would at least have secured a more healthful, and by far a more conven- ient spot, than her late ill-chosen one in the Sherbro. And an establishment by America, either at Cape Monte, or Cape Me- surado, would have afforded to the friends of humanity the most rational hopes, that in the immediate neighborhood of the American Colony, the demand for slaves would have been checked, and thus a settlement would have been formed, useful to the purposes of civilization ; and from its actual, though dis- tant intercourse with the frontiers of Gaman and Ashantee, have opened the line of lucrative speculation to the American merchant, and with the additional advantage -of doing so with- out interfering in any way with the prosperity of the British Colony of Sierra Leone.’ These remarks are of more practi- cal value, than volumes of speculations penned in this country, founded on conjecture, or deduced from abstract principles. They are from a person who enjoyed the best opportunities for observation, repeatedly traversed the coast, and whose busi- ness it was to supply his government with accurate knowledge. On this testimony, connected with that of our own agents, we are willing to rest, and are satisfied with the conviction, that Mesurado affords all the requisite facilities for building up an COLONIZATION IN AFRICA. 25 establishment, whieh ought to receive the cordial support of every friend of his species, every lover of right and freedom, and every sincere patriot in this country. The formidable encroachment, which the present article has already made on our accustomed limits, compels us to de- sist from several remarks intended for this part of the subject. We trust, that from what has been said, our readers will be enabled to arrive at a just understanding of the history and objects of the Colonization Society, the practicability of these objects, and the methods by Vhich they may be attained. Much more might be added to illustrate this last topic, both in regard to the local circumstances of the Colony at Mesura- do, and to the means employed at home to supply it with emi- grants ; but the view we have taken is enough, we think, to justify us in the belief, that the plan in its outlines is well con- ceived, and wants only the vigorous cooperation of the public to make it entirely successful. We should be glad, also, if we had room, to press a few of the reasons, why the particular attention of our National Le- gislature is demanded to this Colony, and to urge the impor- tance of its being taken wholly under the eharge and jurisdic- tion of the government. In regard to what is called the con- stitutional question, whether the United States have power to establish such a Colony, we know not in what it differs from the question, whether they have power to put their own laws in execution, or take the only efficient measures to suppress an evil, whose contagion is daily spreading, and which threatens a more serious calamity than any other to our national prosper- ity, if not to our political being. It would be strange, indeed, if it should be made plain to our Legislators, that the constitu- tion stops their ears to the cries of humanity, ties their hands from the work of benevolence, and compels them to nurture the seeds and foster the growth of our own destruction. And it comes to this, if they have not power to establish a Colony abroad to receive the free blacks ; for we hold it to be a posi- tion, as firmly grounded as any law in nature or society, that our black population can never be drawn off. except through the medium of such an establishment. Let us denominate our Colony a Territory , if we will , and then it will not differ from our other Territories, except in being separated from the con- federated States by an ocean, instead of a river, or a lake. A voyage from Washington to Mesurado can be performed as quick as to the Falls of St. Anthony, or the Saut of St. Mary, and much quicker than to the Manclan Villages. While writing the above, we have been gratified to see ac- counts of new Auxiliary Societies springing up in different D 26 APPENDIX. parts of the country, and especially one at Richmond, Vir- ginia, with the venerable Chief Justice Marshall at its head. The sanction of such a name may well confirm the confidence of the steady advocates for Colonization, and communicate a quickening power to the tardy zeal of the wavering. When, in addition to this, we reflect on the unqualified approbation with which the present Chief Magistrate of the nation has uni- formly regarded the designs of the Colonization Society, the number of distinguished persons found among its active pat- rons, aud the progress it has made under an accumulation of discouraging circumstances, we can hardly desire a stronger testimony to the importance of its objects, or a more auspicious presage of its ultimate success. APPENDIX. Banger from the Natives has often been urged to prove the impracticability of this enterprize ; and the late disaster of the British Colony at Cape Coast Castle is sometimes spoken of as confirming these apprehensions^ But, let it be remembered, that Cape Coast Castle is as far to the south of Liberia, as Sierra Leone is to the north ; and that the character and situ- ation of the Aborigines in its vicinity, are very different from those around our settlement at Montserado. In the neighbor- hood of the latter, the country is said to be cut up into petty principalities, each under the authority of its own king; who can seldom bring more than 150 or 200 men into the field. No one of these can declare war without the consent of the whole confederacy, If one or two of them, then, are triendly, the rest may easily be kept quiet. The Ashantees, on the con- trary, by whom Governor McCarthy was defeated, could bring 50 or 60,000 effective men into the field. But the matter has already been tested by actual, experi- ment. Shortly after the first establishment of the present Co- lony, when it numbered only thirty men , and these destilute of fortifications, artillery, and all the means of military de- fence ; when the trees and shrubbery were so thick that an enemy might make a covert approach to their very doors: at a time, too, when they were so little apprehensive of immediate danger, that the foe came actually upon them before they v\ere aware of his approach — under circumstances of disadvantage APPENDIX. 27 like these, they were invaded by as large a force as the natives are ever likely to bring against them ; and what was the re- sult ? An immediate and complete repulse ; with a loss, on our part, of only three men ! There are now eight or ten times as many persons attach- ed to the Colony, as when Monrovia was first attacked. They have strong, well-constructed fortifications ; they have artillery; they have abundant ammunition; the ground has been cleared for some distance around the fort; and the ap- propriations which Congress have made, (and our benevolent Chief Magistrate so judiciously applied) for the suppression of the Slave Trade, will probably place a considerable naval force always within their reach. Under circumstances like these (altering as they are every day, for the better) who that recollects the result of the former attempt, can fear any future invasion P The fact is, that having made their effort, and be- ing so easily defeated, they are not likely to repeat it. Let a lucrative trade be once fairly introduced ; make Montserado a market for the productions of the surrounding country ; and a pacific policy will be felt to be their interest. That they are at this time disposed to cultivate such a policy, is evident, from the fact, that a flourishing school has been formed by the Colonists, in which the native children are re- gularly instructed. What number composed the first English expedition that landed upon these shores ? Did they bear any proportion to the myriads of warlike savages who then swarmed over the land that we now call our own ? And yet where are these myri- ads ? They have perished from the earth. And where is the feeble Colony, which they vainly endeavoured to exterminate P Verily, the little mustard seed has flourished ; it has become a tree that reaches to the clouds ; and the fowls of heaven build their nests securely in its branches. FACTS RELATIVE TO THE CLIMATE OF AFRICA. 1st. Every individual of a late expedition to Liberia, was taken with the disease of the country immediately on their ar- rival, and not one died . Does not this prove that the disease is a very mild one ? 2d. “ Let it be remembered, (sav the Managers of the So- ciety at Washington) that the fever has been generally mild, and that it has appeared in no instance among those who have resided one year at the Colony.” (See their last Report.) 28 APPENDIX. 3d. “ There was no instance (writes Dr. Ayres to Capt. Stockton) in the three years during which I resided at the Co- lony, of a case of fever among those who recovered from their first sicknes.” (See Ayres’ letter.) 4th. From the first settlement of our Colony at Liberia, until the last Report of the Parent Society, only eight growti black persons* had died by fever. (See last Report.) VOLUNTARY EMANCIPATION. Several applications of owners to give up their slaves to the Society, are now before the Board, waiting for the Colony to be so established, as to receive this unhappy class of our popu- lation. In 1815, the Convention of Manumission and Abolition So- cieties at Philadelphia, was appfed to, to receive sever|l hun- dreds of slaves, attended with large donations of money ; but the Convention was compelled to give to these generous own- ers of slaves, the unwelcome answer, that it could not receive them, 1,4 It would go far,” say the Managers in their third Report, audit ought to go far, “towards extinguishing the prejudices existing in the northern sections of the Union, if the fact were generally known, that in the two slave-holding states of Mary- land and Virginia, where so many motives of policy conspire to retard, or to prevent emancipation, there were sixty-three thousand free people of colour, at the census of 1810 : that within a few years past, more than five hundred slaves have been emancipated in Virginia, by three individuals only. “ When it is recollected that all the free people of colour south of Pennsylvania owe their liberation to the voluntary acts of their former masters, it will not be deemed an extrava- gant deduction, to infer from these facts, that, when, by colo- nizing the free people of colour, every political restraint upon emancipation shall have been removed, there will be found no sordid impediment to the Colonization of Africa, in the pro- pensities of the southern proprietor. 44 If emancipation is still going on, notwithstanding all the restrictions, and by evasions of the laws, and while the condi- tion of the free men of colour ^fiords so little inducement to the master to discard from his care those who depend upon him for protection, what may not be expected if Africa should prove to be to them what America is to us — a land of plenty and of freedom? [Rep. of N. York Col. Soc.]