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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11353-0.txt b/11353-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5447e1d --- /dev/null +++ b/11353-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1856 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11353 *** + +JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE + +HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor + +History is past Politics and Politics present History--_Freeman_ + +NINTH SERIES + +X + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA + +BY J.H.T. McPHERSON, Ph.D. + + + +_Fellow in History, Johns Hopkins University, 1889; Instructor in +History, University of Michigan, 1890; Professor of History and +Politics, University of Georgia, 1891._ + + * * * * * + +1891 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. THE COLONIZATION IDEA +III. THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT + IV. MARYLAND IN LIBERIA + V. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + VI. THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION + 1. As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation + 2. As a Check to the Slave Trade + 3. As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa + 4. As a Missionary Effort + 5. As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing + Competition in America +AUTHORITIES + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + + +This paper claims to be scarcely more than a brief sketch. It is an +abridgment of a History of Liberia in much greater detail, presented as +a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns +Hopkins University. I have devoted the leisure hours of several years to +the accumulation of materials, which I hope will prove the basis of a +larger work in the future. + +J.H.T. McP. + +UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, June, 1891. + + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA. + + + + +I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There are but few more interesting spots in Africa than the little +corner of the west coast occupied by the Republic of Liberia. It has +been the scene of a series of experiments absolutely unique in +history--experiments from which we are to derive the knowledge upon +which we must rely in the solution of the weighty problems connected +with the development of a dark continent, and with the civilization of +hundreds of millions of the human race. Many questions have arisen which +have not been settled to our complete satisfaction. Is the Negro capable +of receiving and maintaining a superimposed civilization? Froude +declares that "the worst enemies of the blacks are those who persist in +pressing upon them an equality which nature has denied them. They may +attain it in time if they are fairly treated, but they can attain it +only on condition of going through the discipline and experience of +hundreds of years, through which the white race had to pass before it +was fit for political rights. If they are raised to a position for which +they are unqualified, they can only fall back into a state of +savagery."[1] Upon the truth or error of this view how much depends! It +is shared by many; some even believe that the condition of Liberia tends +to confirm it, thinking they discern signs of incipient decay. But the +great preponderance of opinion is on the other side. The weight of +evidence shows the colonists have at the lowest estimate retained the +civilization they took with them. Many maintain that there has been a +sensible advance. A recent traveller describes them as "in mancher +Hinsicht schon hypercultivirt." + +What might be called a third position is taken by one of the most +prominent writers of the race, E.W. Blyden, the widely-known President +of Liberia College. The radical difference in race and circumstance +must, he thinks, make African civilization essentially different from +European: not inferior, but different. The culture which the blacks have +acquired, or may attain in further contact with foreign influence, will +be used as a point of departure in future intelligent development along +lines following the characteristics of the race. This tendency to +differentiate he regards as natural and inevitable; it ought to be +recognized and encouraged in every way, that the time may be hastened +when a great negro civilization, unlike anything we have yet seen, shall +prevail in Africa and play its part in the world's history. + +If we make allowance for the errors and mistakes of an untrained and +inexperienced people, the history of Liberia may be regarded as a +demonstration of the capacity of the race for self-government. Upon the +capability of individuals is reflected the highest credit. The +opportunities for a rounded-out and fully developed culture afforded by +the peculiar conditions of life in the Republic produced a number of men +who deserve unqualified admiration. From the earliest days of the +colony, when Elijah Johnson upheld the courage of the little band in the +midst of hostile swarms of savages, to the steadfast statesmanship of +Russwurm and the stately diplomacy of Roberts, there have stood forth +individuals of a quality and calibre that fill with surprise those who +hold the ordinary opinion of the possibilities of the Negro. The trials +of the Republic have afforded a crucial test in which many a character +has shown true metal. It is not too much to assert that the very highest +type of the race has been the product of Liberia. + +There are other aspects in which our tropical offspring has for us a +vital interest. Perhaps the most important is the connection it will +have in the future with what is called the Negro Problem in our own +country. There have been and are thoughtful men who see in colonization +the only solution of its difficulties. Others ridicule the very +suggestion. It is a question into which we do not propose to go. But +there is scarcely any doubt that when the development of Liberia is a +little more advanced, and when communication with her ports becomes less +difficult, and when the population of the United States grows more dense +and presses more upon the limits of production, there will be a large +voluntary migration of negroes to Africa. And no one will deny that the +existence of a flourishing Republic of the black race just across the +Atlantic will react powerfully upon all questions relating to our own +colored population. + +But let us not venture too deeply into this theme. Another claim of +Liberia upon the sympathetic interest of the entire people, is that it +represents our sole attempt at colonial enterprise. It is true the +movement was largely individual, but the effort came from a widespread +area of the country; moreover, the part played by the National +Government was not only important, but essential. Without its friendly +intervention, the plan could never have been carried out. The action +carries with it some responsibility. The United States might well +exercise some protective care, might now and then extend a helping hand, +and let the aggressive Powers of Europe see that Liberia is not +friendless, and that encroachment upon her territory will not be +tolerated. + +A few words upon the topography of the country and upon the aborigines +may not be out of place. Liberia is by no means the dreary waste of sand +and swamp that some imagine it. The view from the sea has been +described as one of unspeakable beauty and grandeur. From the low-lying +coast the land rises in a terraced slope--a succession of hills and +plateaux as far as the eye can reach, all covered with the dense +perennial verdure of the primeval forest. Perhaps the best authority on +the natural features of the country is the zoölogist of the Royal Museum +of Leyden, J. Büttikofer, who has made Liberia several visits and spent +several years in its scientific exploration. The account of his +investigations is most interesting. Small as is the area of the country +all kinds of soil are represented, and corresponding to this variety is +a remarkably rich and varied flora. Amidst this luxuriance is found an +unusually large number of products of commercial value. Cotton, indigo, +coffee, pepper, the pineapple, gum tree, oil palm, and many others grow +wild in abundance, while a little cultivation produces ample crops of +rice, corn, potatoes, yams, arrowroot, ginger, and especially sugar, +tobacco, and a very superior grade of coffee. The fertility of the soil +renders possible the production of almost any crop. + +The fauna of the land is scarcely less remarkable in variety and +abundance. The larger animals, including domestic cattle and horses, do +not thrive on the coast, but are plentiful farther inland. On the +Mandingo Plateau, elephants are not uncommon. Buffaloes, leopards, +tigers, antelopes, porcupines, the great ant-eater, divers species of +monkeys, and numerous other animals are found, besides many varieties of +birds. + +The native Africans inhabiting this territory are probably more than a +million in number, and belong to several different stocks of somewhat +varying characteristics. The most common type is of medium size, well +formed, coal-black in color and rather good-looking. They are +intelligent and easily taught, but are extremely indolent. Their +paganism takes the form of gross superstition, as seen in their constant +use of gree-gree charms and in their sassa-wood ordeal. Like all the +races of Africa, they are polygamists; and as the women manage the farms +and do nearly all the work, a man's wealth and importance are often +estimated by the number of his wives. Domestic slavery is universal +among them, the great majority of slaves being obtained by capture in +war. These inter-tribal wars were once almost constant, and their +prevention requires the utmost vigilance of the Liberian authorities. + +The natives harvest rice and cassada; supply the coasting trader's +demand for palm-oil; raise tobacco; procure salt by evaporating +sea-water; engage in hunting and fishing. They carry on a number of rude +industries such as the manufacture of basket-work, hats, mats, +fish-nets; a crude sort of spinning and weaving. Iron ore exists in +abundance, and the natives have long known how to smelt it and obtain +the metal, from which they manufacture rude weapons, spurs, bits, +stirrups and kitchen utensils. The cheapness of imported iron ware has +driven out this interesting art on the coast; but in the interior it is +still practised by the Mandingoes, who are also fine goldsmiths, and +manufacture highly ornamented rings. There are also silversmiths among +the Veys, who do good work. The leather industry, too, has been carried +to some perfection. + +With all their disadvantages the natives seem to extract a good deal of +enjoyment out of existence. They are very fond of singing and dancing to +the rude strains of a drum and harp, and usually prolong their revelries +far into the night. + +Taken as a whole, the native character has many fine traits; and from +the civilization and development of this part of her population, Liberia +has much to hope. + + + + +II. + +THE COLONIZATION IDEA. + + +It is always a most interesting part of historic inquiry to search out +the very earliest sources, the first feeble germ of the idea whose +development we are investigating. It is difficult to decide from what +one origin can be traced the continuous development of the idea which +resulted in the birth of Liberia; but toward the close of the last +century there arose a number of projects, widely differing in object and +detail, which bore more or less directly upon it, each of which may be +said to have contributed some special feature to the fully rounded and +developed plan. + +The earliest of these sprang from the once notorious hot-bed of +slavery--Newport, R.I. As early as 1773 the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, then +widely known as a theological writer, and responsible for the system +termed Hopkinsianism, conceived the idea of a missionary effort in +Africa, undertaken by natives properly trained in the United States.[2] +This at first did not include the conception of a permanent settlement; +but on consultation with the Rev. Ezra Styles, afterward President of +Yale, it developed into a definite plan for a colony. The scheme proved +popular; it was widely advertised by sermons and circulars both in this +and the mother country; and by 1776 funds had been collected, Negro +students placed under suitable instruction at Princeton, and success +seemed almost assured. The outbreak of the Revolution, however, swept +away all the thought of carrying Hopkins' cherished enterprise into +execution, and after peace was restored his most strenuous efforts +failed to arouse the old interest. Later thinkers, however, found +suggestion and encouragement in his labors. + +The colony founded at Sierra Leone by English philanthropists drew in +part its inspiration from Hopkins' idea, and in turn suggested later +American plans. After the celebrated decision of Lord Mansfield in the +Somerset case (1772), many slaves escaped to England, where they +congregated in the dens of London in helpless poverty and misery. James +Ramsay's essay on Slavery soon turned public attention to the Negro, and +Dr. Smeathman's letters suggested quite a scheme of colonization. A +movement in behalf of the oppressed race asserted itself at the +University of Cambridge, in which Clarkson, Wilberforce, Granville Sharp +and others took part. As a result of these efforts some four hundred +Negroes and sixty whites were landed at Sierra Leone in May, 1787. +Disease and disorder were rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived. The +Sierra Leone Company was then incorporated; some 1,200 colonists from +the Bahamas and Nova Scotia were taken over, and the settlement in spite +of discouraging results was kept up by frequent reinforcements until +1807, when it was made a Government colony and naval station. Its growth +in population and commerce has since steadily increased, and it now +numbers some 60,000 persons chiefly concentrated in the city of +Freetown, and all blacks save one or two hundred. + +It may be as well to mention here two other sporadic attempts to lead +colored colonists to Africa. In 1787 the gifted and erratic Dr. Wm. +Thornton proposed himself to become the leader of a body of Rhode Island +and Massachusetts colonists to Western Africa; he appears to have been +in communication with Hopkins on the subject a year later, but the +effort fell through for want of funds. The other is much later. Paul +Cuffee, the son of a well-to-do Massachusetts freedman, had become by +his talents and industry a prosperous merchant and ship-owner. +Stimulated by the colony at Sierra Leone, and longing to secure liberty +to his oppressed race, he determined to transport in his own vessels, +and at his own expense, as many as he could of his colored brethren. +Accordingly, in 1815, he sailed from Boston with about forty, whom he +landed safely at Sierra Leone. He was about to take over on a second +voyage a much larger number, when his benevolent designs were +interrupted by death. + +It will be observed that the colonization plans hitherto unfolded had +all been proposed for some missionary or similar benevolent object, and +were to be carried out on a small scale and by private means. It is now +time to consider one proposed from a widely different standpoint. As a +political measure, as a possible remedy for the serious evils arising +from slavery and the contact of races, it is not surprising to find +Thomas Jefferson suggesting a plan of colonization. The evils of slavery +none ever saw more clearly. "The whole commerce between master and +slave," he quaintly says, "is a perpetual exercise of the most +boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and +degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this and learn to +imitate it." And again, "With what execration should the statesman be +loaded, who, permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample on the +rights of the other, transforms these into despots and those into +enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriae of +the other.... I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is +just."[3] Yet his equally clear perception of the evils sure to result +from emancipation immediate and unqualified, makes him look to +colonization as the only remedy. "Why not retain and incorporate the +blacks into the state?" he asks, "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by +the whites, ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries +they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which +nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into +parties and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the +extermination of the one or the other race." After the lapse of a +century how prophetic these words sound! Jefferson believed then that by +colonization slavery was to be abolished. All slaves born after a +certain date were to be free; these should remain with their parents +till a given age, after which they should be taught at public expense +agriculture and the useful arts. When full-grown they were to be +"colonized to such a place as the circumstances of the time should +render most proper, sending them out with arms, implements of the +household and handicraft arts, pairs of the useful domestic animals, +etc.; to declare them a free and independent people, and extend to them +our alliance and protection till they have acquired strength." + +Such in outline was Jefferson's contribution to the colonization idea. +Its influence was unquestionably great: the "Notes on Virginia," +privately circulated after 1781, and at length published in 1787, went +through eight editions before 1800, and must have been familiar to +nearly all of those concerned in the formation of the Colonization +Society. + +Clearer still must the details of Jefferson's project have been in the +minds of the members of the Virginia Legislature in 1800, when, after +the outbreak of a dangerous slave conspiracy in Richmond, they met in +secret session to consult the common security. The resolution which they +reached shows unmistakably Jefferson's influence. With the delicate if +somewhat obscure periphrasis in which legislation concerning the Negro +was traditionally couched, they enacted: "That the Governor be requested +to correspond with the President of the United States on the subject of +purchasing lands without the limits of this State whither persons +obnoxious to the laws or dangerous to the peace of society may be +removed."[4] An interesting correspondence ensued between Monroe, who +was then Governor, and Jefferson. Both regarded the idea as something +far more important than a mere penal colony. Monroe, too, saw in it a +possible remedy for the evils of slavery, and refers to the matter as +"one of great delicacy and importance, involving in a peculiar degree +the future peace, tranquillity, and happiness" of the country. After +much discussion Africa was selected as the only appropriate site, and +approved by another Act of the Legislature. Jefferson lost no time in +attempting to secure land for the colony, but his efforts met with no +success. After a discouraging repulse from Sierra Leone, and the failure +of several half-hearted attempts to obtain a footing elsewhere, the +whole matter was allowed to sink into abeyance. For years a pall of +secrecy concealed the scheme from public knowledge. + +In the meantime a new private movement toward colonization was started +at the North. Samuel J. Mills organized at Williams College, in 1808, +for missionary work, an undergraduate society, which was soon +transferred to Andover, and resulted in the establishment of the +American Bible Society and Board of Foreign Missions. But the topic +which engrossed Mills' most enthusiastic attention was the Negro. The +desire was to better his condition by founding a colony between the Ohio +and the Lakes; or later, when this was seen to be unwise, in Africa. On +going to New Jersey to continue his theological studies, Mills succeeded +in interesting the Presbyterian clergy of that State in his project. Of +this body one of the most prominent members was Dr. Robert Finley. Dr. +Finley succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever +called to consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa. +Although supported by few save members of the seminary, Dr. Finley felt +encouraged to set out for Washington in December, 1816, to attempt the +formation of a colonization society. + +Earlier in this same year there had been a sudden awakening of Southern +interest in colonization. Toward the end of February, Gen. Charles +Fenton Mercer accidentally had his attention called to the Secret +Journals of the Legislature for the years 1801-5.[5] He had been for six +years a member of the House of Delegates, in total ignorance of their +existence. He at once investigated and was rewarded with a full +knowledge of the Resolutions and ensuing correspondence between Monroe +and Jefferson. Mercer's enthusiasm was at once aroused, and he +determined to revive the Resolutions at the next meeting of the +Legislature. In the meantime, imputing their previous failure to the +secrecy which had screened them from public view, he brought the whole +project conspicuously into notice. At the next session of the +Legislature, in December, resolutions embodying the substance of the +secret enactments were passed almost unanimously in both houses. Public +attention had been in this way already brought to bear upon the +advantages of Colonization when Finley set on foot the formation of a +society in Washington. The interest already awakened and the +indefatigable efforts of Finley and his friend Col. Charles Marsh, at +length succeeded in convening the assembly to which the Colonization +Society owes its existence. It was a notable gathering. Henry Clay, in +the absence of Bushrod Washington, presided, setting forth in glowing +terms the object and aspirations of the meeting. Finley's +brother-in-law, Elias B. Caldwell was Secretary, and supplied the +leading argument, an elaborate plea, setting forth the expediency of the +project and its practicability in regard to territory, expense, and the +abundance of willing colonists. The wide benevolent objects to be +attained were emphasized. John Randolph of Roanoke, and Robert Wright of +Maryland, dwelt upon the desirability of removing the turbulent +free-negro element and enhancing the value of property in slaves.[6] +Resolutions organizing the Society passed, and committees appointed to +draft a Constitution and present a memorial to Congress. At an adjourned +meeting a week later the constitution was adopted, and on January 1, +1817, officers were elected. + + + + +III. + +THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT. + + +With commendable energy the newly organized Society set about the +accomplishment of the task before it. Plans were discussed during the +summer, and in November two agents, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer +Burgess, sailed for Africa to explore the western coast and select a +suitable spot. They were cordially received in England by the officers +of the African Institution, and by Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, who provided them with letters to Sierra Leone. Here they +arrived in March, 1818, and were hospitably received, every facility +being afforded them to prosecute their inquiries, though marked +unwillingness to have a foreign colony established in the vicinity was +not concealed. Their inspection was carried as far south as Sherbro +Island, where they obtained promises from the natives to sell land to +the colonists on their arrival with goods to pay for it. In May they +embarked on the return voyage. Mills died before reaching home. His +colleague made a most favorable report of the locality selected, though, +as the event proved, it was a most unfortunate one. + +After defraying the expenses of this exploration the Society's treasury +was practically empty. It would have been most difficult to raise the +large sum necessary to equip and send out a body of emigrants; and the +whole enterprise would have languished and perhaps died but for a new +impelling force. Monroe, who ever since his correspondence with +Jefferson in 1800, had pondered over "the vast and interesting objects" +which colonization might accomplish, was now by an interesting chain of +circumstances enabled to render essential aid. + +Though the importation of slaves had been strictly prohibited by the Act +of Congress of March 2, 1807, no provision had been made for the care of +the unfortunates smuggled in in defiance of the Statute. They became +subject to the laws of the State in which they were landed; and these +laws were in some cases so devised that it was profitable for the dealer +to land his cargo and incur the penalty. The advertisements of the sale +of such a cargo of "recaptured Africans" by the State of Georgia drew +the attention of the Society and of Gen. Mercer in particular to this +inconsistent and abnormal state of affairs. His profound indignation +shows forth in the Second Annual Report of the Society, in which the +attention of the public is earnestly drawn to the question; nor did he +rest until a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives +designed to do away with the evil. This bill became a law on March 3, +1819. + +Provision was made for a more stringent suppression of the slave trade: +new cruisers were ordered and bounties awarded for captures; but the +clause which proved so important to the embryo colony was that dealing +with the captured cargoes: + +"The President of the United States is hereby authorized to make such +regulations and arrangements as he may deem expedient for the +safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits of the United +States, of all such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color as may be so +delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and to appoint a proper +person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa as agent or agents +for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, delivered +from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by +commanders of the United States armed vessels." The sum of $100,000 was +appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Act. President +Monroe determined to construe it as broadly as possible in aid of the +project of colonization. After giving Congress, in his message, +December 20, 1818, fair notice of his intention, no objection being +made, he proceeded to appoint two agents, the Rev. Samuel Bacon, already +in the service of the Colonization Society, and John P. Bankson as +assistant, and to charter the ship Elizabeth. The agents were instructed +to settle on the coast of Africa, with a tacit understanding that the +place should be that selected by the Colonization Society; they were to +provide accommodations sufficient for three hundred, supplying +provisions, clothing, tools, and implements. It is important to note the +essential part taken by the Government in the establishment of the +colony, for this is often said to be purely the result of private +enterprise; the inference tending to free the United States from any +responsibility for the protection of its feeble offspring. It is true +according to the letter, that the Government agency was separate from +the colony: the agents were instructed "to exercise no power founded on +the principle of colonization, or other principle than that of +performing benevolent offices;" and again, "you are not to connect your +agency with the views or plans of the Colonization Society, with which, +under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern," Yet +as a matter of fact the agency and colony were practically identical; +and for years the resources of the Government were employed "to colonize +recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them with +farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase ships +for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to supply +them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them, and +to employ the army and navy in their defence,"[7] These words of one +unfriendly to the colony forcibly show the extent to which our national +government was responsible for the experiment. + +When the Elizabeth was chartered the Society was notified that the +Government agency was prepared to transport their first colonists; or +more literally "agreed to receive on board such free blacks recommended +by the Society as might be required for the purpose of the agency." For +the expenses of the expedition $33,000 was placed in the hands of Mr. +Bacon. Dr. Samuel A. Crozier was appointed by the Society as its agent +and representative; and eighty-six negroes from various +states--thirty-three men, eighteen women, and the rest children, were +embarked. On the 6th of February, 1820, the Mayflower of Liberia weighed +anchor in New York harbor, and, convoyed by the U.S. sloop-of-war Cyane, +steered her course toward the shores of Africa. The pilgrims were kindly +treated by the authorities at Sierra Leone, where they arrived on the +ninth of March; but on proceeding to Sherbro Island they found the +natives had reconsidered their promise, and refused to sell them land. +While delayed by negotiations the injudicious nature of the site +selected was disastrously shown. The low marshy ground and the bad water +quickly bred the African fever, which soon carried off all the agents +and nearly a fourth of the emigrants. The rest, weakened and +disheartened were soon obliged to seek refuge at Sierra Leone. + +In March, 1821, a body of twenty-eight new emigrants under charge of +J.B. Winn and Ephraim Bacon, reached Freetown in the brig Nautilus. Winn +collected as many as he could of the first company, also the stores sent +out with them, and settled the people in temporary quarters at Fourah +Bay, while Bacon set out to explore the coast anew and secure suitable +territory. An elevated fertile and desirable tract was at length +discovered between 250 and 300 miles S.E. of Sierra Leone. This was the +region of Cape Montserado. It seemed exactly suited to the purposes of +the colonists, but the natives refused to sell their land for fear of +breaking up the traffic in slaves; and the agent returned discouraged. +Winn soon died, and Bacon returned to the United States. In November, +Dr. Eli Ayres was sent over as agent, and the U.S. schooner Alligator, +commanded by Lieutenant Stockton, was ordered to the coast to assist in +obtaining a foothold for the colony. Cape Montserado was again visited; +and the address and firmness of Lieutenant Stockton accomplished the +purchase of a valuable tract of land. + +The cape upon which the settlers proposed to build their first +habitations consists of a narrow peninsula or tongue of land formed by +the Montserado River, which separates it from the mainland. Just within +the mouth of the river lie two small islands, containing together less +than three acres. To these, the Plymouth of Liberia, the colonists and +their goods were soon transported. But again the fickle natives repented +the bargain, and the settlers were long confined to "Perseverance +Island," as the spot was aptly named. Space forbids entering on the +interesting details of the difficulties they successfully encountered. +After a number of thrilling experiences the emigrants, on April 25, +1822, formally took possession of the cape, where they had erected rude +houses for themselves; and from this moment we may date the existence of +the colony. Their supplies were by this time sadly reduced; the natives +were hostile and treacherous; fever had played havoc with the colonists +in acclimating; and the incessant downpour of the rainy season had set +in. Dr. Ayres became thoroughly discouraged, and proposed to lead them +back to Sierra Leone. Then it was that Elijah Johnson, an emigrant from +New York, made himself forever famous in Liberian history by declaring +that he would never desert the home he had found after two years' weary +quest! His firmness decided the wavering colonists; the agents with a +few faint-hearted ones sailed off to America; but the majority remained +with their heroic Negro leader. The little band, deserted by their +appointed protectors, were soon reduced to the most dire distress, and +must have perished miserably but for the arrival of unexpected relief. +The United States Government had at last gotten hold of some ten +liberated Africans, and had a chance to make use of the agency +established for them at so great an expense. They were accordingly sent +out in the brig Strong under the care of the Rev. Jehudi Ashmun. A +quantity of stores and some thirty-seven emigrants sent by the +Colonization Society completed the cargo. Ashmun had received no +commission as agent for the colony, and expected to return on the +Strong; under this impression his wife had accompanied him. But when he +found the colonists in so desperate a situation he nobly determined to +remain with them at any sacrifice. He visited the native chiefs and +found them, under cover of friendly promises, preparing for a deadly +assault on the little colony. There was no recourse but to prepare for a +vigorous defense. Twenty-seven men were capable of bearing arms; and one +brass and five iron fieldpieces, all dismantled and rusty, formed his +main hope. Ashmun at once set to work, and with daily drills and +unremitting labor in clearing away the forest and throwing up +earthworks, succeeded at last in putting the settlement in a reasonable +state of defense. It was no easy task. The fatiguing labor, incessant +rains, and scanty food predisposed them to the dreaded fever. Ashmun +himself was prostrated; his wife sank and died before his eyes; and soon +there was but one man in the colony who was not on the sick-list. At +length the long-expected assault was made. Just before daybreak on the +11th of November the settlement was approached by a body of over eight +hundred African warriors. Stealthily following the pickets as they +returned a little too early from their watch, the savages burst upon the +colony and with a rush captured the outworks. A desperate conflict +ensued, the issue of which hung doubtful until the colonists succeeded +in manning their brass field-piece, which was mounted upon a raised +platform, and turning it upon the dense ranks of the assailants. The +effect at such short range was terrible. "Every shot literally spent its +force in a solid mass of living human flesh. Their fire suddenly +terminated. A savage yell was raised, ... and the whole host +disappeared."[8] The victory had been gained at a cost of four killed +and as many seriously wounded. Ammunition was exhausted; food had given +out. Another attack, for which the natives were known to be preparing, +could scarcely fail to succeed. Before it was made, however, an English +captain touched at the cape and generously replenished their stores. On +the very next evening, November 30, the savages were seen gathering in +large numbers on the cape, and toward morning a desperate attack was +made on two sides at once. The lines had been contracted, however, and +all the guns manned, and the well-directed fire of the artillery again +proved too much for native valor. The savages were repulsed with great +loss. The unusual sound of a midnight cannonade attracted the Prince +Regent, an English colonial schooner laden with military stores and +having on board the celebrated traveller Captain Laing, through whose +mediation the natives were brought to agree to a peace most advantageous +to the colonists. When the Prince Regent sailed, Midshipman Gordon, with +eleven British sailors volunteered to remain, to assist the exhausted +colonists and guarantee the truce. His generosity met an ill requital; +within a month he had fallen victim to the climate with eight of the +brave seamen. Supplies were again running low, when March brought the +welcome arrival of the U.S. ship Cyane. Captain R.T. Spence at once +turned his whole force to improving the condition of the colonists. +Buildings were erected, the dismantled colonial schooner was raised and +made sea-worthy, and many invaluable services were rendered, until at +length a severe outbreak of the fever among the crew compelled the +vessel's withdrawal. It was too late, however, to prevent the loss of +forty lives, including the lieutenant, Richard Dashiell, and the +surgeon, Dr. Dix. + +On the 24th of May, 1823, the brig Oswego arrived with sixty-one new +emigrants and a liberal supply of stores and tools, in charge of Dr. +Ayres, who, already the representative of the Society, had now been +appointed Government Agent and Surgeon. One of the first measures of the +new agent was to have the town surveyed and lots distributed among the +whole body of colonists. Many of the older settlers found themselves +dispossessed of the holdings improved by their labor, and the colony was +soon in a ferment of excitement and insurrection. Dr. Ayres, finding his +health failing, judiciously betook himself to the United States. + +The arrival of the agent had placed Mr. Ashmun in a false position of +the most mortifying character. It will be remembered that in sympathy +for the distress of the colony he had assumed the position of agent +without authority. In the dire necessity of subsequent events he had +been compelled to purchase supplies and ammunition in the Society's +name. He now found, himself superseded in authority, his services and +self-sacrifice unappreciated, his drafts[9] dishonored, his motives +distrusted. Nothing could show more strongly his devotion and +self-abnegation than his action in the present crisis. Seeing the colony +again deserted by the agent and in a state of discontent and confusion, +he forgot his wrongs and remained at the helm. Order was soon restored +but the seeds of insubordination remained. The arrival of 103 emigrants +from Virginia on the Cyrus, in February 1824, added to the difficulty, +as the stock of food was so low that the whole colony had to be put on +half rations. This necessary measure was regarded by the disaffected as +an act of tyranny on Ashmun's part; and when shortly after the complete +prostration of his health compelled him to withdraw to the Cape De Verde +Islands, the malcontents sent home letters charging him with all sorts +of abuse of power, and finally with desertion of his post! The Society +in consternation applied to Government for an expedition of +investigation, and the Rev. R.R. Gurley, Secretary of the Society, and +an enthusiastic advocate of colonization was despatched in June on the +U.S. schooner Porpoise. The result of course revealed the probity, +integrity and good judgment of Mr. Ashman; and Gurley became +thenceforth his warmest admirer. As a preventive of future discontent a +Constitution was adopted at Mr. Gurley's suggestion, giving for the +first time a definite share in the control of affairs to the colonists +themselves. Gurley brought with him the name of the colony--Liberia, and +of its settlement on the Cape--Monrovia, which had been adopted by the +Society on the suggestion of Mr. Robert Goodloe Harper of Maryland. He +returned from his successful mission in August leaving the most cordial +relations established throughout the colony. + +Gurley's visit seemed to mark the turning of the tide, and a period of +great prosperity now began. Relay after relay of industrious emigrants +arrived; new land was taken up; successful agriculture removed all +danger of future failure of food supply; and a flourishing trade was +built up at Monrovia. Friendly relations were formed with the natives, +and their children taken for instruction into colonial families and +schools. New settlements were formed; churches and schools appeared; an +efficient militia was organized; printing presses set up and hospitals +erected. On every side rapid progress was made. After years of +illustrious service Ashmun retired to his home in New Haven, where he +died a few days later, on August 25, 1828. Under Dr. Richard Randall and +Dr. Mechlin, who successively filled his post, the prosperity of the +colony continued undiminished. + +The decade after 1832 is marked by the independent action of different +State colonization societies. At first generally organized as tributary +to the main body, the State societies now began to form distinct +settlements at other points on the coast. The Maryland Society first +started an important settlement at Cape Palmas, of which we shall make a +special study. Bassa Cove was settled by the joint action of the New +York and Pennsylvania Societies; Greenville, on the Sinou river, by +emigrants from Mississippi; and the Louisiana Society engaged in a +similar enterprise. The separate interests of the different settlements +at length began in many cases to engender animosity and bad feeling; the +need of general laws and supervision was everywhere apparent; and a +movement toward a federal union of the colonies was set on foot. A plan +was at length agreed upon by all except Maryland, by which the colonies +were united into the "Commonwealth of Liberia," whose government was +controlled by a Board of Directors composed of Delegates from the State +societies. This board at its first meeting drew up a plan of government, +and Thomas Buchanan was appointed first Governor of the Commonwealth, +1837. The advantages of the union were soon apparent. The more +aggressive native tribes with whom not a little trouble had been +experienced, were made to feel the strength of the union; and many of +the smaller head-men voluntarily put themselves under the protection of +the Government, agreeing to become citizens, with all their subjects, +and submit to its laws. The traffic in slaves all along the coast was +checked, inter-tribal warfare prevented, and trial by the sassa-wood +ordeal abolished wherever colonial influence extended. Mr. Buchanan was +the last white man who exercised authority in Liberia. On his death the +Lieutenant-Governor, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, succeeded him. Roberts, who +afterward became Liberia's most distinguished citizen, was a Virginia +Negro, having been born at Norfolk in 1809, and brought up near +Petersburg. He obtained a rudimentary education while running a +flat-boat on the James and Appomattox Rivers. In 1829 he went with his +widowed mother and younger brothers to Liberia, where he rapidly rose to +wealth and distinction. As Governor he evinced an efficient +statesmanship that promised well for his future career. + +Roberts had not long been governor when trouble arose with the British +coast-wise traders that gave rise to a most interesting crisis. The +Liberian Government in regulating commerce within its jurisdiction had +enacted laws imposing duties on all imported goods. The English traders, +accustomed for hundreds of years to unrestricted traffic on this very +coast, were indignant at the presumption of the upstart colony, and +ignored its regulations. The Government protested, but in vain. And at +length the little colonial revenue schooner John Seyes, while +attempting to enforce the laws at Edina, was actually seized by the +stalwart Britisher and dragged before the Admiralty Court at Sierra +Leone. A long discussion which would be profitless to follow in detail, +ensued. The result was, that the John Seyes was confiscated. The British +Government opened a correspondence with the United States, in which it +was ascertained that Liberia was not in political dependence upon them. +Whereupon the sovereignty of Liberia was promptly denied, her right to +acquire or hold territory questioned, and she was given to understand +that the operations of British traders would in future be backed by the +British navy. + +Evidently if Liberia was to maintain and govern her territory something +must be done. The Colonization Society while claiming for Liberia the +right to exercise sovereign powers, seems to have had the unacknowledged +conviction, that England's position, however ungenerous, was logically +unassailable. The supreme authority wielded by the Society, its veto +power over legislative action, was undoubtedly inconsistent with the +idea of a sovereign state. This is clearly apparent from the fact that +though there was pressing necessity for a treaty with England, neither +the colony nor the Society had power to negotiate it. It was accordingly +determined to surrender all control over the colony; and the "people of +the Commonwealth of Liberia" were "advised" by the Society "to undertake +the whole work of self-government;" to make the necessary amendments to +their Constitution, and to declare their full sovereignty to the world. + +The suggestion was adopted in Liberia by popular vote, and a convention +met on July 26, 1847, adopted a Declaration of Independence and a new +Constitution, closely modelled on the corresponding documents of the +United States. In September the Constitution was ratified by vote of the +people. Governor Roberts was elected to the office of President, upon +which he entered January 3, 1848. His inaugural address is one of +remarkable interest, fitly proclaiming to the world a new Republic. + + + + +IV. + +MARYLAND IN LIBERIA. + + +The widespread interest awakened by the actual establishment of a +permanent colony at Monrovia led to the formation of a number of State +Colonization Societies, at first purely auxiliary to the central body, +but later in some cases independent. The foundation of independent +settlements at Bassa Cove and Sinou by the New York, Pennsylvania and +Mississippi Societies, and their union in 1837 into the Commonwealth, +has been considered. A much more important colony was founded by +Maryland at Cape Palmas, which for years maintained its independence. + +In 1831, the Maryland State Colonization Society was formed. Active +interest in the movement had long been felt in the State, and it +scarcely needed the eloquence of Robert Finley, son of the old champion +of colonization, who visited Baltimore in that year, to awaken +enthusiasm. The Society had hardly been formed when ample funds were +provided in an unexpected way. In August, 1831, a tragic Negro uprising +took place in Virginia, in which some sixty-five white men, women and +children were murdered. The Southampton Massacres were attributed +largely to the instigation of the troublesome free-Negro element, and +the growing sentiment in favor of emancipation was abruptly checked. The +Maryland Legislature, sharing the general excitement, passed in December +a resolution which became law in March, and proved to the State Society +what the Act of March 3, 1819, was to the main organization. The +connection was more explicit. Three members of the Society were to be +appointed Commissioners to remove _all_ free Negroes to Liberia. The sum +of $20,000 in the current year, and of $10,000 in each succeeding year, +for a period of twenty years, was devoted to the purpose. Any free Negro +refusing to emigrate was to be summarily ejected from the State by the +sheriff. The wave of feeling which dictated this monstrous piece of +legislation passed away before any of its harsh provisions were carried +out. But the beneficent portion remained in force. The Society was left +in the enjoyment of the liberal annuity of $10,000. + +In October, 1831, and December, 1832, expeditions were sent out which +landed emigrants at Monrovia. The difficulty of arriving at an agreement +with the parent Society regarding the rights and status of these people, +together with other considerations, led to the adoption of the idea of +founding a separate colony. The plan was adopted largely through the +support of Mr. John H.B. Latrobe, throughout his life one of the most +active and efficient friends of colonization. The motives of the +undertaking were distinctly announced to be the gradual extirpation of +slavery in Maryland, and the spread of civilization and Christianity in +Africa. Cape Palmas, a bold promontory marking the point where the coast +makes a sharp bend toward the east, was selected as the new site. Its +conspicuous position makes it one of the best known points on the coast, +and some identify it with the "West Horn" reached by Hanno, the +Carthaginian explorer, twenty-nine days out from Gades. Dr. James Hall, +who had gained experience as physician in Monrovia, was placed in charge +of the expedition, and the brig Ann, with a small number of emigrants, +sailed from Baltimore November 28, 1833. A firm legal basis was +projected for the new establishment in a Constitution to which all +emigrants were to subscribe. The experience gained by the older colony +was put to good use. Regular courts, militia, and public schools were +provided for from the first. + +The vessel touched at Monrovia, gathered as many recruits as possible +from those sent out on the two previous expeditions, and finally +anchored at Cape Palmas on February 11, 1834. After the usual tedious +"palaver" and bargaining, the natives formally sold the required land. +The cape is a promontory some seventy-five feet in height, separated +from the mainland, except for a narrow, sandy isthmus. A river, +navigable for some miles to small boats, opens opposite it, and forms a +safe harbor. A long, salt-water lake extends to the east, parallel to +the coast. The land is very fertile and well adapted to farming. Several +native villages lie near the cape. From a well-founded fear of native +treachery the colonists laid out their town on the promontory, upon the +summit of which a brass six-pounder was mounted. Farm lands were laid +out on the mainland, and in a short time the little community was in a +thriving condition. None of the distressing misfortunes encountered by +the colony at Monrovia marred the early history of "Maryland in +Liberia." + +In 1836 the health of Dr. Hall, whose services to the infant colony had +been invaluable, became so much impaired that he was obliged to resign. +He returned to the United States, and long rendered the Society +efficient service in another capacity. John B. Russwurm, a citizen of +Monrovia, and once editor of the Liberia _Herald_, was appointed +Governor, and served ably and faithfully until his death in 1851. Early +in his administration a convenient form of paper currency, receivable at +the Society's store, was introduced, and proved most useful in trade +with the natives. In 1841 some slight difficulties with employes of +missions led the Society, while still retaining control of affairs, to +assert by resolution that the colony was a sovereign State. A revenue +law introduced in 1846 soon produced an income of about $1,200. In this +year began the trips of the "Liberia Packet," a vessel maintained by a +company formed to trade between Baltimore and _Harper_, as the town of +the colony was named, in honor of Robert Goodloe Harper. A certain +amount of trade was guaranteed and other aid given by the Society. In +1847 the justiciary was separated from the executive; a chief justice +and a system of courts were provided for. + +The year 1852 ended the period during which the Society drew its annual +stipend from the State treasury; but the General Assembly was induced to +extend the provisions of the Act of 1831 for a further period of six +years. It may be as well to note here that in 1858 a further extension +was made for five years, the amount at the same time being reduced to +$5,000 per annum.[10] For twenty years the colony had flourished under +the care and good management of the Society. Prosperity now seemed +secure, and a spirit of discontent, a desire to throw off the yoke and +assume autonomy began to prevail. The great success following the +assumption of Independence by Liberia in 1847, and the recognition at +once obtained from the leading nations of Europe, naturally strengthened +the feeling. A committee of leading citizens petitioned the Society to +relinquish its authority, at the same time demanding or begging almost +everything else in its power to bestow. The Society was further asked by +its spoiled fosterling to continue to support schools, provide +physicians and medicine, remit debts, and finally, to grant a "loan" of +money to meet the expenses of government.[11] + +The Board of Managers, though deeming the colony still unripe for +independence, generously determined to grant the request, as made +advisable by force of circumstances. Among other things it was feared +that the better class of colonists might be attracted toward the +independent State of Liberia. A sort of federal union with that State +was suggested, but found impracticable. A convention met and drafted a +Constitution, which was submitted to the Board. An agreement was reached +as to the conditions of the transfer of the Society's lands, etc. Both +were ratified by the people, and in May, 1854, Wm. A. Prout was elected +Governor. Other officials, senators and representatives, were chosen at +the same time. + +The prosperity of the colony continued under the careful management of +Gov. Prout. On his death the Lieutenant-Governor, Wm. S. Drayton, +succeeded to his office. It was not long before the "rash and imprudent" +conduct of this official precipitated a serious conflict with the +natives. An expedition against them resulted in a demoralizing defeat, +with loss of artillery and twenty-six valuable lives. In consternation +an urgent appeal was sent to Monrovia. The treasury of the Republic was +exhausted from the effects of the uprising of the Sinou river tribes; +but Dr. Hall was fortunately present, and supplied the Government with a +loan from the funds of the Maryland Society. One hundred and fifteen +Liberian troops, under command of ex-President Roberts, were soon +embarked for Cape Palmas, and easily overawed the native chiefs, who +agreed to a fair adjustment of their grievances by treaty, February 26, +1857. + +The war was not without important results. The Maryland colonists were +thoroughly aroused to the weakness of their isolated position, and +determined to have union with Liberia at any price. It was known that +the Republic was willing to admit Maryland only as a county, on +precisely the same terms as the other three--Montserado, Sinou, and +Bassa. State pride and the views of the Society had hitherto kept them +from such a union; but now, in the reaction from their recent terror, a +vote of the people called for by Act of the Legislature was unanimous in +favor of "County Annexation;" and a committee was appointed to arrange +matters at once with Roberts. When he declined to assume any such +responsibility, they actually proceeded to dissolve the Government, and +cede all public property forthwith to the Republic of Liberia. The +interesting document entitled the "Act or Petition of Annexation," shows +the number of colonists to have been at this time 900 and the +aboriginal population about 60,000. The tax on imports produced $1,800 a +year. The State's liabilities were $3,000, with assets estimated at +$10,000. + +The Liberian Legislature by an Act of April, 1857, formally received the +colony into the Republic as "Maryland County." The advantages gained by +this change undoubtedly more than counterbalanced any loss of +independence. Though the total dissolution of the government and +surrender of all rights and property before any negotiation with +Liberian authorities had taken place, seems inconceivably rash +statescraft, the wisdom of the colonists in desiring the union is +unquestionable. + +At the time of annexation the Maryland Colonization Society had on hand +some $6,000, which was invested, and the interest devoted to a school at +Cape Palmas; in connection with this trust its existence is prolonged. +Up to the end of its period of activity it had received and expended +nearly half a million dollars; the balance sheet of December 31, 1857, +may be of interest: + +State Appropriations, ........... $ 930.00 +State Colonization Tax, ......... 12,851.00 +Colonial Agency, ................ 1,091.85 +Columbia Expedition, ............ 248.88 +Stock of C. & L. Trading Co., ... 1,250.00 +Mdse., .......................... 104.62 +State Fund, ..................... 241,922.16 +Contributions, .................. 45,385.74 +Profit and Loss, ................ 139,972.31-1/2 +J.T.G., Colonial Agent, ......... 126.70 + -------------- + 443,883.26-1/2 + + + + +V. + +THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. + + +The History of Liberia from this point on assumes a peculiar interest. +The capacity and capabilities of the Negro are subjected to a crucial +test. He is left fully freed from the control or influence of an alien +race, in possession of a borrowed civilization, and of a borrowed +political system of an advanced type, dependent on popular intelligence +for its very existence. Can he maintain his position? Will he make +further progress, developing along lines peculiar to his race and +environment, and spreading a new civilization among the adjacent tribes? +Or is he to lapse helplessly back into his original condition--to be +absorbed into the dense masses of surrounding barbarism? The question is +a vital one. The solution of weighty problems in large part depends upon +the answer. + +The form of government was, as has been seen, closely copied from that +of the United States. There is the same tripartite division--executive, +legislative and judicial. The President is elected every two years, on +the first Tuesday in May. He is commander-in-chief of the army and navy; +makes treaties with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, with +whose advice he also appoints all public officers not otherwise provided +for by law. + +The legislative authority consists of a Senate of two members from each +county, elected for four years, and a House of Representatives holding +office for two years; four members being apportioned to Montserado +county, three to Bassa, one to each other county, with one additional +representative for each 10,000 inhabitants. The judicial power was +vested in a Supreme Court with original jurisdiction in all cases +affecting ambassadors and consuls and where the Republic is a party, and +appellate jurisdiction in all other cases; and in subordinate courts to +be established by the Legislature. + +The majority of the colonists had been long accustomed to similar +institutions in the land of their captivity, and the new machinery of +government was soon running smoothly. Within the little State peace and +prosperity prevailed; its foreign relations, on the contrary, were +involved in the greatest uncertainty. It had indeed severed the leading +strings which bound it to its natural protector, and stood forth in the +assertion of its independence. But it was wholly unsupported and +unrecognized. The dispute with England, whose protegé on the north +looked with jealousy and distrust on Liberian policy, remained +unsettled. The danger was real and pressing. Clearly recognition must be +sought and an international footing obtained without delay. President +Roberts accordingly determined to go abroad, and as at once chief +magistrate and ambassador appeal to the leading courts of Europe. His +first effort, however, was directed toward obtaining alliance with the +United States. In America his reception was enthusiastic. But the +delicacy with which the dissension on the slavery question made it +necessary to handle every subject remotely bearing on that bone of +contention, prevented him from obtaining even the formal recognition of +Liberia. Roberts then determined by pleading his country's cause in +England to arouse compassion in the heart of the power from which there +was most to fear. Here substantial rewards met his efforts. His +prepossessing personality, tact, and statesmanlike qualities won many +friends.[12] With their support the recognition of Liberia as a +sovereign State was soon obtained, together with a commercial treaty +which left nothing to be desired. In further evidence of kindly +sentiment the English Government presented the young Republic with a +trim little cutter of four guns for coast protection. In France and +Belgium similar generous treatment was experienced, and Roberts was +conveyed home in triumph on the British man-of-war Amazon. + +A second visit of Roberts to England, in 1852, four years later, to +adjust disputes with traders who claimed certain tracts of land, was +equally successful, and France, under Louis Napoleon, presented him with +arms and uniforms for the equipment of the Liberian troops. In 1852 +Prussia also extended her friendship, soon followed by Brazil and the +free Hanse towns. In 1862, the necessity for cautious dealing with the +race question having passed away, the United States government at last +formally recognized the Republic, and Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Hayti +formed treaties in 1864. The consent of Portugal and Denmark in 1865, +and of Austria in 1867, brought Liberia into treaty relations with +nearly all the leading commercial nations. + +The internal condition of the Republic during the first decade was one +of unprecedented growth and prosperity. The Colonization Society in +America was in a flourishing condition, and gained friends on every +side. Its receipts for the ten years were not far short of a million +dollars; and this generous means permitted the transportation, in the +same period, of over five thousand chosen emigrants. The accession of so +large a force of laborers added a new stimulus to the activity awakened +by self-government. Many new settlements were formed and all the older +ones received an infusion of new strength. Agriculture, especially the +cultivation of the great staples, rice, coffee, sugar and cotton, made +rapid progress; while commerce was stimulated by the establishment of +regular monthly lines of steamers between England and various points on +the coast, the first of which was started in 1853. The enterprise of +Holland soon added still other lines. Communication with America was at +the same time facilitated by the regular trips of a large vessel built +for the purpose, the gift to the Society of Mr. John C. Stevens of +Maryland. + +At the close of his fourth administration President Roberts decided to +decline reëlection. For eight years he had been at the helm, and had +brought the ship of state safely through her first perilous voyages. And +now while the waters seemed smooth and skies serene he thought it best +to intrust her guidance to other hands. The election took place in May, +1855, amidst scenes of political strife and party violence at once +intense and short-lived. It resulted in the choice of Stephen A. Benson +for President and Beverly P. Yates for Vice-President. Both were +distinctly the product of Liberian training. Benson was brought over, at +the age of six years, by his parents in 1822, and received his entire +education in the country. He became a successful merchant and entered +political life in the wake of Roberts. As chief magistrate he showed +himself a practical and efficient man, with the interests of the country +at heart. + +One of the leading objects of Benson's policy was the improvement and +elevation of the aborigines; but his designs were in part frustrated by +the outbreak of a stubborn and exhausting war with the native tribes +dwelling about the Sinou River. Details must be omitted for want of +space; but this war devastated four settlements and sadly depleted the +national treasury. It was soon afterwards that the Maryland colony at +Cape Palmas was almost overwhelmed in a similar native uprising, and +united with the Republic, as elsewhere narrated. + +A widespread scarcity of provisions followed these wars, which gave rise +to much apprehension. But this eventually did good in giving new +emphasis to the fact that main reliance must be placed upon agriculture +rather than trade. The great resources of Liberia were shown at a +National Fair, held in December, 1858; premiums were awarded for the +best specimens of coffee, arrow-root, cotton, rice, ginger, potatoes, +oxen, sheep, swine, turkeys, butter, preserves; cloth and socks of +African cotton; boots; soap and candles from palm oil; ploughs, hoes and +other implements from native iron and home manufacture; farina; +chocolate; planks, shingles, cabinet work, and many other products of +Liberian agriculture and industry. + +President Benson was reelected without opposition, and entered upon his +second term in January, 1858. A fresh outbreak of the slave trade in +this year was followed by a number of captures by U.S. cruisers, giving +rise to the old difficulty in regard to the disposition of the cargoes. +The Act of March 3, 1819, which had long fallen into disuse, was +revived, and a contract made with the Colonization Society to transport +and maintain for a twelvemonth the recaptured Africans already on the +Government's hands. The substitution of small, swift steamers for the +craft of older days so increased the efficiency of the navy that +captures were made in rapid succession. Within two months 1,432 Africans +were landed at Key West. This state of affairs made further legislation +immediately necessary. Congress, acting upon the suggestion of a +Presidential message, passed an Act amending the Act of March 3, 1819, +which empowered the President to form a five-years' contract with "any +person or persons, society or societies," to receive in Africa and care +for the unfortunates rescued from slavers, for the period of one year, +and at a price of $100 per capita. Commanders of cruisers were to be +instructed to land their captures directly upon the coast of Liberia +whenever practicable; immediate measures were to be taken for removing +to Africa those already at Key West; and the sum of $250,000 was +appropriated to defray expenses. + +Three large vessels were at once chartered and stored with $60,000 worth +of supplies; with the least possible delay the suffering crowd at Key +West was transported to Liberia; but only 893 survived the passage. The +effect of the new orders issued to the U.S. slave squadron was soon felt +in Liberia. On August 8, 1860, the _Storm King_ unexpectedly arrived +with a cargo of 619; within twenty-four hours the Erie, prize to the +steamer Mohican, followed with 867. Tidings came that still larger +numbers were en route. The effect of this inundation of liberated +barbarians upon the small civilized community, already surrounded by +savage swarms, may be imagined. The greatest consternation prevailed, +and excitement rose to fever heat. President Benson wrote to the Society +that great evils would result unless means were liberally supplied, and +entire control of the new arrivals given to the Liberian Government. The +Society accordingly transferred the execution of its contracts to that +government, and placed at its disposal all money received by their +terms. This action seems to have allayed the worst apprehensions; and +although over 4,000 recaptured Africans were landed within the space of +two months, no harm seems to have resulted. They made rapid progress in +civilization, becoming assimilated to and in many cases intermarrying +with the colonists; from among them arose some of the best citizens of +the Republic. + +President Benson's policy in regard to the natives was successful in +bringing many tribes much more closely under the influence of the +government. A number of steps were taken toward actively spreading among +them the arts of civilized life, improving their methods of agriculture, +and checking the evils of intertribal warfare and of superstition. A +poll tax of one dollar a year was levied on each male adult, to be +collected from the chiefs of the several districts; with a part of the +funds thus raised schools for popular instruction were to be established +throughout the country. + +The control and oversight by the central authority of so many small +settlements scattered over a large range of coast had been greatly +facilitated by the small armed cutter presented in 1848 by the English +government. This was now found to be hopelessly out of repair, and was +generously replaced by the donor with another and somewhat larger +vessel--the Quail, an armed schooner of 123 tons. About the same time +the New York Society sent over a small steamer to provide rapid and +regular communication between points along the coast. In honor of a +liberal benefactor it was called the "Seth Grosvenor." + +The third and fourth administrations of Benson passed uneventfully, and +in January, 1864, Daniel B. Warner, who, the May previous, had been +elected, succeeded him. Warner was born near Baltimore, in 1812, and +emigrated in 1823. The Civil War in America, with the sanguine hopes it +aroused in the breast of the Negro, caused a rapid falling off in the +number of applicants for transportation to Liberia. The income of the +Society for once exceeded the demand upon it, and several good +investments were made. Liberia, however, was demanding more cultivators. +A supply came from an unexpected quarter. Two societies were organized +by thrifty negroes of Barbadoes, to return to Africa and make their home +in the new Republic. Agents were sent out, and sympathy with their +enterprise enlisted. The Liberian Government issued a proclamation of +cordial invitation, and the Legislature appropriated $4,000 to assist +the colonists, increasing in their case the allotment of land from ten +to twenty-five acres for each family. The Colonization Society devoted +$10,000 to their aid, and despatched an experienced agent to take charge +of the expedition. A large vessel was chartered, and after a pleasant +voyage of thirty-three days, without the loss of a single life, 346 +emigrants were landed at Monrovia. They proved a welcome and valuable +acquisition, many being mechanics and skilled laborers. + +After the close of the war, the alluring prospect of "ten acres and a +mule" having failed our freedmen, the Society again received numerous +applications for passage. The M. C. Stevens had been sold during the +period of depression; another and larger vessel, the Golconda, was +therefore purchased and fitted for an emigrant ship. During her first +four voyages she safely carried over 1,684 persons. + +In January, 1867, the semi-centennial of the founding of the +Colonization Society was celebrated in Washington. From the review of +the fifty years' work it appeared that the sum of $2,558,907 had been +expended, exclusive of outlay by the Maryland Society, and of the large +sums expended by the United States Government. 11,909 emigrants had been +sent over, in 147 vessels; of these 4,541 were born free, 344 purchased +freedom, and 5,957 were emancipated for the purpose of going to +Liberia.[13] Besides these, 1,227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society, and 5,722 recaptured Africans had been sent back by the United +States Government. + +In January, 1868, James S. Payne entered upon the office of President. +He is another example of Liberian training. Born in Richmond, Va., in +1819, he was taken before his tenth year to Monrovia by his father. One +of the leading purposes of his administration was the establishment of +closer intercourse with the great tribes of the interior. These people, +the Mandingoes especially, were much further advanced in civilization +than the coast tribes, who formed a barricade between them and Liberia, +and offered determined opposition to any attempt to penetrate inland. +They feared to lose their advantageous position as middlemen, and +succeeded in keeping anything but the vaguest rumors about the interior +from reaching the colonists. In 1869 Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian +appointed by the Government, and provided with liberal financial aid by +a wealthy citizen of New York, accomplished an extremely interesting +journey to a point over 200 miles from the coast.[14] + +With great difficulty and the expense of a small fortune in presents to +captious and rapacious chiefs, he succeeded in making his way from point +to point along a course roughly corresponding to that of the St. Paul's +River. The route lay through dense forests, along paths worn by many +generations of native feet. The ascent was steady; at 100 miles from the +coast the elevation was 1,311 feet, and toward the end of the journey +it rose to 2,257 feet. All along the way the population was dense, and +showed a steady improvement in character, civilization and hospitality +as the coast was left behind. The object of his journey, Musardu, the +chief city of the Western Mandingoes, was at length reached, just on the +edge of the primeval forest. Beyond lies a vast plateau covered with +tall grass, showing here and there a solitary palm, and stretching away +to the head waters of the Niger. The climate is wholesome, the air +bracing, and the soil fertile. + +The city proved large and populous; the houses were small and of a +monotonous uniformity, bewilderingly placed without apparent +arrangement. The whole was surrounded with a huge mud wall, which served +not only as a defense against foes, but to keep out wild beasts, +especially elephants, herds of which were frequently seen near the town. +The inhabitants were strict Mussulmans, and were much further advanced +in civilization than even the most intelligent tribes through which he +had passed. They had an extensive commerce with the interior, caravans +coming from places as distant as Timbuctoo. Good horses were plentiful, +and there were evidences of the existence of valuable gold mines. +Anderson was received with profuse hospitality; they appeared to be +delighted with the idea of opening trade with Liberia, and promised +gold, ivory and various commodities in exchange for European goods. + +Another journey with the same general results was subsequently made by +another citizen, to Pulaka, about one hundred miles to the southeast of +Monrovia. These explorations are of great interest. They show the belt +of coast occupied by Liberia to be merely the entrance to a high and +healthful interior of great fertility and unlimited resources, over +which the Republic has power to expand indefinitely. + +President Payne's successor was Edward James Roye, who was duly +inaugurated January 3, 1870. Born in Newark, Ohio, in 1815, he had +passed through the public schools of his native town, afterwards +attending the college at Athens, Ohio, and Oberlin. He went to Liberia +in 1846, becoming a prosperous merchant and politician. From 1865 to +1868 he held the post of Chief Justice. Roye came into office at a time +when a rage for internal improvements possessed the country; and with +this spirit he was in full sympathy. His inaugural outlines a bold and +ambitious policy. The resources of the Treasury were entirely inadequate +to his extensive projects, and in an evil moment the Legislature passed +an Act authorizing the negotiation of a loan of $500,000. The loan was +placed in London on terms which netted only £85 per bond of £100, +redeemable at par in 15 years and bearing interest at 7 per cent. The +amount thus offered was further reduced by the requirement that the +first two years' interest should be paid in advance. From the remainder +were deducted various agents' commissions and fees, until at length the +principal reached Monrovia sadly reduced in amount,--not over $200,000. +And this soon disappeared without any visible result. It is an old +story; but in Liberia's case it was particularly disastrous. For with +her little revenue, rarely exceeding $100,000, it soon became impossible +to pay the $35,000 yearly interest on a debt for which she had +practically received not a single advantage. And this accumulating at +compound interest has reached a magnitude absolutely crushing. So +desperate is her financial condition that many believe inevitable the +fate which croaking prophets have long foretold, and against which she +has struggled bravely--absorption by England. + +Serious as were the more remote effects of the financial blunder just +considered, its immediate consequences brought upon the country a crisis +which might have resulted in civil war. Great dissatisfaction with the +negotiation of the loan prevailed. The Administration was severely +criticised; serious accusations were brought against it. While the +excitement was at fever heat matters were complicated by an attempt of +the Administration to prolong its hold of office, which precipitated the +threatened outbreak. For some years a Constitutional Amendment had been +under consideration, lengthening the term of President and members of the +Legislature. The measure had been submitted to the people, and twice +voted upon; but the result was a subject of dispute. Roye and his party +maintained that it had been duly carried and was a part of the organic +law of the land; and that as a consequence his term did not expire until +January, 1874. A proclamation was issued forbidding the coming biennial +elections to be held. + +This action at once aroused violent opposition. A strong party declared +that the amendment had not been carried; and in any event could not be +construed to apply to the present incumbent. The proclamation was +disregarded; the polls opened on the accustomed day; and the veteran +Joseph J. Roberts, aptly called the epitome of Liberian history, was +elected by large majorities. + +Far from being subdued by the decided expression of popular will Roye +and his supporters, with the spirit of the decemvirs of old, determined +to maintain power at any hazard. Roberts's election was declared +illegal, and of no effect. Throughout the summer the two parties stood +at daggers drawn. At length the increasing strength of the opposition +encouraged the thought of removing the President from office. The legal +method of impeachment seemed far too slow and uncertain for the temper +of the times. An excited convention was held in Monrovia, October 26, +1871, at which a "Manifesto" was adopted decreeing his deposition. A few +extracts disclose its character: + +"President Roye has, contrary to the Constitution, proclaimed himself +President for four years, although elected for only two years. + +"He has distributed arms and munitions of war, and has not ceased his +efforts to procure armed men to crush the liberties of the people. + +"He has contracted a foreign loan contrary to the law made and provided; +and without an act of appropriation by the Legislature he has with his +officers been receiving the proceeds of that loan. + +"Every effort to induce him to desist from his unconstitutional course +has been unavailing. Threats and entreaties have been alike lost upon +him. He has turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances from all the counties +of the Republic: + +"Therefore, on the 26th day of October in the year of our Lord 1871, and +in the twenty-fifth year of the Independence of the Republic, the +sovereign people of Liberia did by their resolutions in the city of +Monrovia, joined to the resolutions from the other counties of the +Republic, depose President E.J. Roye from his high office of President +of Liberia; and did decree that the Government shall be provisionally +conducted by a Chief Executive Committee of three members, and by the +chiefs of Departments until the arrival of the constitutional officer at +the seat of Government." + +Before the party of the Administration could recover from the shock of +this action, President Roye and his Secretaries of State and of the +Treasury were arrested and thrown into prison,--a _coup d'état_ which +made his opponents undisputed masters of the situation. The appointed +Committee took charge of affairs; the excitement died away with a +rapidity characteristic of Liberian politics, and in January, 1872, +Roberts was triumphantly inaugurated. Roye died in prison soon +afterward. + +A reign of peace and prosperity followed under Roberts, interrupted +toward the end of another term, to which he was elected, by a severe war +with the Grebo tribe near Cape Palmas. Limited space will prevent +detailed consideration of the later history of the Republic. Payne was +elected to a second term in 1876. A.W. Gardiner was Chief Executive for +three successive terms, from 1878-1884; and H.R.W. Johnson, a native +born Liberian, son of the famous pioneer Elijah Johnson, was made +President in 1884. The recent years of the Republic have not brought an +increased tide of immigration, nor any marked progress. The diminished +interest in colonization felt in the United States so crippled the +finances of the Society that few immigrants have been sent in the last +decade. That large numbers of Negroes are willing, even anxious to go, +is shown by the lists of the Society, which has adopted the policy of +aiding only those who can pay a part of their passage. Several instances +of the formation of societies among the Negroes themselves to provide +for their own transportation have occurred. In South Carolina the +"Liberia Joint Stock Steamship Company" was formed, which succeeded in +purchasing a vessel and sending over one expedition of 274 emigrants. +The company was unfortunate and failed financially before another +attempt could be made. In Arkansas a large secret Society for the same +object was formed, several hundred members of which made their way to +New York and prevailed upon the Colonization Society to give them +passage.[15] + +The culmination of a dispute with Great Britain over the north-western +boundary of Liberia is perhaps the most interesting topic of her recent +history. The boundaries of the Republic were never very definitely +marked out, as her territory grew by gradual settlement and purchase +from native chiefs. Even to-day there is no hard and fast interior +border line; the country extends back indefinitely from the coast, new +land being taken up as settlement proceeds. In 1849 the coast line +acquired in this way extended from the San Pedro River on the south-east +to Cape Mount, the extreme settlement on the north-west. Between 1849 +and 1852 various purchases were made from the natives covering some +fifty miles more of the north-western seaboard. These purchases extended +to She-Bar, very near Sherbro Island, and were confirmed by formal deeds +from chiefs of the local tribes. The conditions of the deeds bound +Liberia to establish schools in the districts ceded, and to guarantee +the protection, peace and safety of the natives. If now a few +settlements had been made in this territory all future trouble would +have been avoided; but all available energy was needed for intensive +development, and the newly acquired territory was left uncolonized. In +the course of time English traders established themselves within this +district, who refused to recognize Liberia's jurisdiction, and who +smuggled in large quantities of goods in bold defiance of the revenue +laws. As early as 1866 correspondence with the British Government was +opened; and Liberia's jurisdiction was more than once virtually +recognized. Matters were complicated by the outbreak of disturbances +among the natives, in quelling which the Republic was obliged to use +military force--a course which resulted in the destruction of property +belonging to the English traders. Claims were at once brought against +Liberia through the English Government to a large aggregate amount. +Holding Liberia liable for damages received in the territory was a +practical admission of her jurisdiction. Nothing was accomplished until +1871, when Lord Granville proposed to President Roye, who was then in +England, to compromise on the River Solyma as the limit of the Republic. +This is about the middle of the disputed territory. Roye weakly agreed, +and this agreement is known as the Protocol of 1871. It was not ratified +by the Senate. The tact of President Roberts staved off the crisis for +some time; but at length the English Foreign Office demanded a +settlement, and a commission of two from each State and an arbitrator +appointed by the President of the United States met on the ground. Every +possible delay and impediment was resorted to by the British +commissioners, who further refused to submit the points disputed to the +umpire. Of course, no agreement was reached. + +The situation remained unchanged until 1882. On March 20 four British +men-of-war silently entered the harbor, and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor +of Sierra Leone, came ashore. President Gardiner was intimidated into +acceding to the demand that the boundary should be fixed at the Manna +River, only fifteen miles from Cape Mount. But when this "Draft +Convention," as it was called, came before the Senate for ratification, +it was indignantly repudiated. At the next regular meeting of the +Legislature in December, a resolution refusing to ratify the Draft +Convention was passed, and a copy sent to Havelock. It elicited the +reply:-- + +"Her Majesty's Government cannot in any case recognize any rights on the +part of Liberia to any portions of the territories in dispute," followed +by the peremptory announcement that "Her Majesty's Government consider +that they are relieved from the necessity of delaying any longer to +ratify an agreement made by me with the Gallinas, Solyma, and Manna +River chiefs on the 30th of March, 1882, whereby they ceded to Her +Majesty the coast line of their territories up to the right bank of the +Manna River." + +Liberia made a last feeble effort. A "Protest" was drawn up and sent to +the various powers with whom she stood in treaty relations--of course, +without result. The President of the United States replied at once, +counselling acquiescence. Nothing else was possible. The Senate +authorized the President to accept the terms dictated, and the "Draft +Convention" was signed November 11, 1885. On April 26, 1888, Sir Samuel +Rowe visited Monrovia and formally exchanged ratifications. Thus once +more strength proved triumphant; Liberia's boundary was set at the Manna +River, and Sierra Leone, which had possessed but a few hills and swamps, +was given a valuable coast line. + + + + +VI. + +HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION. + + +Colonization has come to be looked upon with unmerited +indifference--with an apathy which its history and achievements surely +do not deserve. To some, perhaps the present condition of the Republic +seems a discouraging and inadequate return for the life and treasure +lavished upon it; for others, hoping for a bloodless and gradual +extinction of slavery, the Civil War carried away the chief element of +interest. Others still, who looked for a ready solution of the Negro +Problem in this country, have gradually lost heart in the face of the +increasing millions of the race. And so, some from one cause, some from +another, have lost interest in colonization and in Liberia, until a time +has come when few have more than the vaguest knowledge of these terms. +Sometimes the voice of contempt is heard; but this is always a proof of +ignorance. Liberia stands forth historically as the embodiment of a +number of ideas, efforts, principles, any one of which ought to secure +at the least our respect, if not our sympathy and enthusiasm. + + + + +1. _As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation_. + + +This thesis will doubtless meet with the most strenuous opposition; but +a careful and impartial study of the writings and addresses of those +most prominent in the movement will convince anyone of their profound +hope that colonization would eventually lead to the extinction of +slavery in the United States. It must be remembered that at the time of +the formation of the Society the pro-slavery feeling in the South was by +no means so strong as it became in later years, when the violence of +Abolition had fanned it to a white heat. Indeed, during the whole period +before 1832 there seems to have been a prevailing sentiment in favor of +emancipation--at least throughout Maryland, Virginia, and North +Carolina. But the condition of the free blacks was notoriously such that +the humane master hesitated to doom his slaves to it by emancipating +them. The colonizationist hoped, by offering to the free Negro an +attractive home in Africa, to induce conscientious masters everywhere to +liberate their slaves, and to give rise to a growing popular sentiment +condemning slavery, which would in time result in its extinction. Of +course there were those in the Society who would not have subscribed to +this doctrine; on the other hand, many held views much more radical. But +it is the men who formed and guided the Society, who wielded its +influence and secured its success, whose opinions must be regarded as +stamping its policy. + +The Constitution of the Society did not touch upon this subject. It was +needless to give unnecessary alarm or offense. But when in 1833 the +Maryland Society adopted its Constitution--a much larger and more +explicit one--the attitude taken is boldly announced: + +"Whereas the Maryland State Colonization Society desires to hasten as +far as they can the period when slavery shall cease to exist in +Maryland, and believing that this can best be done by advocating and +assisting the cause of colonization as the safest, truest and best +auxiliary of freedom under existing circumstances," etc. + +It may well be questioned whether such a plan would ever have succeeded: +but it must not too hastily be called chimerical. As a practical result +it secured the emancipation of several thousand slaves, many of whom +were supplied by former owners with money for transportation and +establishment in Africa. What further success it might have had was +prevented by the rise of the Abolition Movement. The intense +pro-slavery feeling which this stirred up in the South caused the +Colonization Society to be regarded with distrust and even active +hostility. It was accused of secretly undermining slavery and exciting +false hopes among the slaves. It was even said to foment discontent and +raise dangerous questions for sinister purposes, and was subjected to +bitter attack as "disguised Abolitionism." + +From the opposite extreme of opinion the Society suffered assault still +more violent. William Lloyd Garrison, in his intemperate zeal for +"immediate emancipation without expatriation," could see nothing but +duplicity and treachery in the motives of its adherents. His "Thoughts +on Colonization" hold up the movement to public odium as the sum of all +villainies, and in the columns of the _Liberator_ no insult or reproach +is spared. His wonderful energy and eloquence brought over to his camp a +number of the Society's friends, and enabled him in his English campaign +to exhibit it in a light so odious that he actually brought back a +protest signed by the most eminent anti-slavery men of that country. + +Assailed on one side and on the other the Society, as we have seen, +serenely pursued its course. Apparently it did not suffer. But it can +scarcely be doubted that its growth and expansion were seriously checked +by the cross-fire to which it was subjected. Among the negroes +themselves prejudices were industriously disseminated, and everything +was done to make them believe themselves duped and cheated. + +From these reasons colonization never reached the proportions hoped for +by those who looked to it for the gradual extinction of slavery. But we +should not fail to recognize in the movement an earnest and noble, if +too ambitious, effort to solve, without violence or bloodshed, a problem +only half disposed of by Lincoln's edict and the Fifteenth Amendment. + + + + +2. _As a Check to the Slave-Trade._ + + +The coast upon which the colony was established had for several hundred +years been one of the chief resorts of the slave dealers of the western +shores of Africa. Their "factories" were situated at numerous points on +both sides of the early settlements. The coast tribes, broken up and +demoralized by the traffic, waged ceaseless wars for the sole purpose of +obtaining for the trader a supply of his commodity. It was their only +means of getting supplies of the products and manufactures of +civilization; and, as we have seen, when they found the presence of the +newcomers an obstacle to their chief industry, they took up arms to +expel them. + +Until the year 1807 there was no restriction whatever on the traffic, +and the proportions which it reached, the horrors it entailed, are +almost incredible. Sir T.F. Buxton estimated on careful calculations +that the trade on the western coast resulted in a loss to Africa of +500,000 persons annually. At length the progress of humanity drove +England to declare war on the infamous traffic, and her cruisers plied +the length of the continent to prevent infractions of her decree. At +enormous expense the entire coast was put in a state of blockade. + +The result was mortifying. Instead of disappearing, the exportation of +slaves was found actually to increase, while the attending horrors were +multiplied. Small, swift cutters took the place of the roomy slave-ships +of older days, and the victims, hurriedly crowded into slave-decks but a +few feet high, suffered ten-fold torments on the middle passage from +inadequate supplies of food and water. + +The colonists, even in their early feebleness, set their face resolutely +against the slave trade: its repression was a cardinal principle. Their +first serious wars were waged on its account. Ashmun risked his life in +the destruction of the factories at New Cesters and elsewhere. The +slavers, warned by many encounters, forsook at first the immediate +neighborhood of the settlements, and, as the coast line was gradually +taken up, abandoned at length, after many a struggle, the entire region. +Six hundred miles of the coast was permanently freed from an inhuman and +demoralizing traffic that defied every effort of the British naval +force. Nor was this all. The natives were reconciled by the introduction +of a legitimate commerce which supplied all they had sought from the +sale of human beings. + +In still another way did the colony exercise a humane influence. Among +the natives exists a domestic slavery so cruel and barbarous that the +lot of the American plantation Negro seemed paradise in comparison. Life +and limb are held of such small value that severe mutilation is the +penalty of absurdly slight transgressions, or is imposed at the +arbitrary displeasure of the master, while more serious offenses are +punished by death in atrocious form: as when the victim is buried alive +with stakes driven through his quivering body.[16] The institution is of +course a difficult one to uproot. But among the natives in the more +thickly settled portions of the country it has ceased, and is mitigated +wherever the influence of the Government penetrates, while the number of +victims is greatly diminished by the cessation of inter-tribal warfare. + +In this way Liberia has proved, from the standpoint of humanity, +pre-eminently successful. + + + + +3. _As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa._ + + +George Whitefield is said to have declared to Oglethorpe when lamenting +his failure to exclude slavery from Georgia, that he was making a +mistake: the Africans were much better off as slaves than in their +native barbarism, and would receive a training that would enable them +ultimately to return and civilize the land of their nativity. In this +bold idea he anticipated one of the leading thoughts of the fathers of +colonization, and, perhaps prophesied, a great migration which the +world is yet to see. But to confine ourselves to the present and the +strictly practical--there is to the interior of Liberia, sweeping away +beyond the valley of the Niger, a country of teeming population and vast +resources. That this territory be opened to the commerce of the world, +and the blessings of civilization be conferred upon the people, it is +necessary that some impulse of enlightenment come from without. The +casual visit of the trader has been proved by experience to do vastly +more harm than good. Vice and demoralization have too often followed in +his track. The direction and instruction of European agents accomplish +little. The best efforts of all men of this class have resulted in an +unequal hand-to-hand fight with the deadly climate, in which no white +man can work and live. Besides, the natives need more than guidance; +they must have before them the example of a civilized settlement. + +It would be impossible to imagine a more ideal agent for accomplishing +this work than Liberia. True, its slow development has prevented it as +yet from penetrating to the most fruitful portion of the interior +district; but so far as it has gone the work has been wonderful. One +after another of the native chiefs has sought, with his people, +admission to the privileges of citizenship, agreeing to conform to the +laws of the country and abolish inconsistent aboriginal customs. The +schools are full of native children, while large numbers are distributed +in a sort of apprenticeship among Liberian families for training in the +arts of civilized life. The English language has become widely known. +More remote tribes, while retaining native customs, have entered into +agreements or treaties to abstain from war, to keep open roads and +routes of commerce, to protect travellers and missionaries and such +Liberians as may settle among them. This is in itself an advance; and in +addition various forms of knowledge, improved implements and methods of +agriculture must enter in and insensibly raise these tribes to a higher +plane. + +In reclaiming the natives lies a source of great future power for +Liberia. When immigration from the United States shall assume such +proportions that numbers of interior settlements can be made which shall +be radiating centres of civilization, the enormous potential energy of +native intelligence and labor will be brought to bear on the development +of the country with marvellous results. + + + + +4. _As a Missionary Effort_. + + +The attempts of the Christian Church to evangelize the western districts +of Africa constitute one of the saddest and most discouraging records of +history. From the first attempt of the Roman church in 1481, it has been +one continuous narrative of a futile struggle against disease and death. +A whole army of martyrs has gone bravely to its doom leaving no trace of +its sacrifice save unmarked and forgotten graves. It has indeed been a +bitter experience that has proved this work can be successfully +undertaken only by men of African blood, for whom the climate has no +terrors. And the superiority of an established Christian community to a +few isolated missionary stations requires no demonstration. From the +first the colonists were active in spreading a knowledge of the Gospel +among the natives. Lot Cary, one of the earliest emigrants, was an +earnest missionary, and besides efficient work at home he established +mission stations at Cape Mount and elsewhere. + +In 1826 four emissaries of the Basle Missionary College made Monrovia +their headquarters, and did some good work; but they soon succumbed to +the climate. The American churches of those denominations most largely +represented in Liberia--the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist and +Methodist--made strenuous efforts, and sent out a succession of +missionaries, most of whom fell victims to the fever. Later, after +learning the salutary lesson, they accomplished much through the +organization and direction of the work of Liberian missionaries. In +this way the gospel is safely and successfully propagated among the +natives. + +A foe more stubborn than paganism is to be met in the ranks of Islam. +There seems to be something in its teachings which renders the native a +ready convert. Its simplicity is readily understood; and it sanctions +the practices of polygamy and slave-holding to which he is accustomed. +Under the zealous proselytism of the Mandingoes the Mohammedan faith has +taken a strong hold on the interior, and is spreading rapidly to the +very doors of Liberia. Candor compels the admission that it brings with +it a marked improvement in the condition and intelligence of the +converts. Intemperance--which in many cases follows in the tracks of the +Christian merchant--disappears. A knowledge of Arabic is soon acquired +and the Koran is eagerly read and its principles put in practice. The +whole life of the convert is transformed, and he becomes in turn zealous +in the dissemination of the faith. The efforts of missionaries alone can +never stem this torrent; if any impression is to be made upon the +Mohammedan tribes it must be by the extension of Christian settlements +and civilization. + + + + +5. _As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing Competition +in America._ + + +It would be unnecessary to bring into review the causes that are +operating daily to make the conditions of earning a living in America +more difficult. However much or little credence we place in the +Malthusian theory of the increase of population, in the doctrine of +diminishing returns, or the iron law of wages, all thinking men are +agreed that the country is already entering upon a new era. The period +of expansion, of the taking up of new territory by the overflowing +population of the older districts, is practically ended; future +development will be intensive, the country will be more thickly settled, +and the sharpness of competition will be immeasurably increased. The +possibility of rising in life will be reduced to a minimum; and there +will exist a class, as in the older civilizations of Europe, who live, +and expect to see their children live, in a subordinate or inferior +relation, without the prospect of anything better. + +There may be under this new régime a number of occupations in which the +Negro, by contentedly accepting a subordinate position, may hold his +ground. Or the conditions of life may become so severe that a sharp +struggle for existence will leave in possession the race which shall +prove fittest to survive. To follow the train of thought would lead into +all the unsolved difficulties of the Negro Problem. But surely there +will be some among all the millions of the race who will become +dissatisfied with their life here. Some will aspire to higher things, +some will seek merely a field where their labor will meet an adequate +return; many will be moved by self-interest, a few by nobler motives. To +all these Liberia eagerly opens her arms. The pressure in America finds +an efficient safety-valve in the colonization of Africa. + +With such additions to her strength, the resources of Liberia will be +brought out and developed. Communication with America will be made +easier and cheaper. The toiling masses left behind will have before them +the constant example of numbers of their race living in comfort and +increasing prosperity under their own government. Many will become eager +to secure the same advantages, and gradually a migration will begin that +will carry hundreds of thousands from the house of bondage to the +promised land. + +It is absurd to declaim about "expatriation" and to declare such a +movement forced and unnatural. The whole course of history reveals men +leaving their homes under pressure of one cause or another, and striking +out into new fields. The western course of migration has reached its +uttermost limit, and the tide must turn in other directions. One vast +and rich continent remains; upon it the eyes of the world are fixed. +Already the aggressive Aryan has established himself wherever he can +gain a foothold; but the greater part of the country is forever barred +to him by a climate which he cannot subdue. + +To whom then can this rich territory offer greater inducements than to +the colored people of the United States? And what is more natural and +rational than that they, when the population of the country approaches +the migration point, should follow the line of least resistance and turn +their steps to the home of their forefathers. + + + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +The sources of information which proved most useful to the writer are: + +The Annual Reports of the A.C.S., together with the files of its +quarterly journal, the _African Repository_. + +Messages of Presidents of Liberia, and the Reports of Secretaries of +Treasury, War, and Navy. + +The Archives of the Maryland State Colonization Society, preserved by +the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. + + * * * * * + +KENNEDY: Colonization Report. + +ALEXANDER: History of Colonization. 1845. + +GURLEY: Report on Condition of Liberia. 1850. + +CARL RITTER: Begründung u. gegenwärtige Zustände der Negerrepublik +Liberia. 1852. + +ANDERSON: Narrative of a Journey to Musardu. 1870. + +LATROBE: Maryland in Liberia. 1885. + +WAUWERMANS: Libéria; Histoire de la Fondation d'un État nègre libre. +1885. + +SCHWARTZ: Einiges über das interne Leben der Eingebornen Liberias. +Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. 1887. + +--Die Neger-Republik Liberia. Das Ausland. 1888. + +BLYDEN: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. + +BÃœTTIKOFER: Reisebilder aus Liberia. 1890. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: Letter to Philip A. Bruce, dated London, April 8, 1889.] + +[Footnote 2: James Ferguson, _Life of Hopkins_. Hopkins' Circular, +1793.] + +[Footnote 3: Jefferson, _Notes on Virginia_.] + +[Footnote 4: Kennedy's _Report_, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 5: A.C.S. Report for 1853, pp. 37-55.] + +[Footnote 6: The remarks of these gentlemen and others of similar views +have subjected the Society to many unjust attacks. Of course many would +join such a movement from mixed motives; but the guiding principles of +the Society itself have always been distinctly philanthropic.] + +[Footnote 7: Report of Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor, to the Secretary of +the Navy, August, 1830.] + +[Footnote 8: Ashmun.] + +[Footnote 9: These were eventually paid by the United States Government. +Kendall's Report to Secretary of Navy, December, 1830.] + +[Footnote 10: The outbreak of the Civil War ended the arrangement after +the third payment.] + +[Footnote 11: This singular petition is preserved in Minute Book No. 4 +of the M.S. C.S., p. 36.] + +[Footnote 12: Carl Ritter, who saw him in 1852, speaks of him as "den +edlen, hochgebildeten, erfahrenen, weisen, und der Rede sehr kundigen +Staatsman Wir (i.e., Ritter,) haben wiederholt seinen würdenvollen Reden +in den ersten Kreisen in London beigewohnt."] + +[Footnote 13: _Semi-Centennial Memorial_, p. 190.] + +[Footnote 14: B. Anderson, _Narrative of a Journey to Musardu_.] + +[Footnote 15: A.C. Reports of 1881 and 1882.] + +[Footnote 16: Anderson's _Journey to Musardu_.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Liberia, by J.H.T. McPherson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11353 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d13811 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11353 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11353) diff --git a/old/11353-8.txt b/old/11353-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95a01c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11353-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2279 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Liberia, by J.H.T. McPherson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Liberia + Johns Hopkins University Studies In Historical And Political Science + +Author: J.H.T. McPherson + +Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11353] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF LIBERIA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joris Van Dael and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE + +HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor + +History is past Politics and Politics present History--_Freeman_ + +NINTH SERIES + +X + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA + +BY J.H.T. McPHERSON, Ph.D. + + + +_Fellow in History, Johns Hopkins University, 1889; Instructor in +History, University of Michigan, 1890; Professor of History and +Politics, University of Georgia, 1891._ + + * * * * * + +1891 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. THE COLONIZATION IDEA +III. THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT + IV. MARYLAND IN LIBERIA + V. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + VI. THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION + 1. As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation + 2. As a Check to the Slave Trade + 3. As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa + 4. As a Missionary Effort + 5. As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing + Competition in America +AUTHORITIES + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + + +This paper claims to be scarcely more than a brief sketch. It is an +abridgment of a History of Liberia in much greater detail, presented as +a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns +Hopkins University. I have devoted the leisure hours of several years to +the accumulation of materials, which I hope will prove the basis of a +larger work in the future. + +J.H.T. McP. + +UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, June, 1891. + + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA. + + + + +I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There are but few more interesting spots in Africa than the little +corner of the west coast occupied by the Republic of Liberia. It has +been the scene of a series of experiments absolutely unique in +history--experiments from which we are to derive the knowledge upon +which we must rely in the solution of the weighty problems connected +with the development of a dark continent, and with the civilization of +hundreds of millions of the human race. Many questions have arisen which +have not been settled to our complete satisfaction. Is the Negro capable +of receiving and maintaining a superimposed civilization? Froude +declares that "the worst enemies of the blacks are those who persist in +pressing upon them an equality which nature has denied them. They may +attain it in time if they are fairly treated, but they can attain it +only on condition of going through the discipline and experience of +hundreds of years, through which the white race had to pass before it +was fit for political rights. If they are raised to a position for which +they are unqualified, they can only fall back into a state of +savagery."[1] Upon the truth or error of this view how much depends! It +is shared by many; some even believe that the condition of Liberia tends +to confirm it, thinking they discern signs of incipient decay. But the +great preponderance of opinion is on the other side. The weight of +evidence shows the colonists have at the lowest estimate retained the +civilization they took with them. Many maintain that there has been a +sensible advance. A recent traveller describes them as "in mancher +Hinsicht schon hypercultivirt." + +What might be called a third position is taken by one of the most +prominent writers of the race, E.W. Blyden, the widely-known President +of Liberia College. The radical difference in race and circumstance +must, he thinks, make African civilization essentially different from +European: not inferior, but different. The culture which the blacks have +acquired, or may attain in further contact with foreign influence, will +be used as a point of departure in future intelligent development along +lines following the characteristics of the race. This tendency to +differentiate he regards as natural and inevitable; it ought to be +recognized and encouraged in every way, that the time may be hastened +when a great negro civilization, unlike anything we have yet seen, shall +prevail in Africa and play its part in the world's history. + +If we make allowance for the errors and mistakes of an untrained and +inexperienced people, the history of Liberia may be regarded as a +demonstration of the capacity of the race for self-government. Upon the +capability of individuals is reflected the highest credit. The +opportunities for a rounded-out and fully developed culture afforded by +the peculiar conditions of life in the Republic produced a number of men +who deserve unqualified admiration. From the earliest days of the +colony, when Elijah Johnson upheld the courage of the little band in the +midst of hostile swarms of savages, to the steadfast statesmanship of +Russwurm and the stately diplomacy of Roberts, there have stood forth +individuals of a quality and calibre that fill with surprise those who +hold the ordinary opinion of the possibilities of the Negro. The trials +of the Republic have afforded a crucial test in which many a character +has shown true metal. It is not too much to assert that the very highest +type of the race has been the product of Liberia. + +There are other aspects in which our tropical offspring has for us a +vital interest. Perhaps the most important is the connection it will +have in the future with what is called the Negro Problem in our own +country. There have been and are thoughtful men who see in colonization +the only solution of its difficulties. Others ridicule the very +suggestion. It is a question into which we do not propose to go. But +there is scarcely any doubt that when the development of Liberia is a +little more advanced, and when communication with her ports becomes less +difficult, and when the population of the United States grows more dense +and presses more upon the limits of production, there will be a large +voluntary migration of negroes to Africa. And no one will deny that the +existence of a flourishing Republic of the black race just across the +Atlantic will react powerfully upon all questions relating to our own +colored population. + +But let us not venture too deeply into this theme. Another claim of +Liberia upon the sympathetic interest of the entire people, is that it +represents our sole attempt at colonial enterprise. It is true the +movement was largely individual, but the effort came from a widespread +area of the country; moreover, the part played by the National +Government was not only important, but essential. Without its friendly +intervention, the plan could never have been carried out. The action +carries with it some responsibility. The United States might well +exercise some protective care, might now and then extend a helping hand, +and let the aggressive Powers of Europe see that Liberia is not +friendless, and that encroachment upon her territory will not be +tolerated. + +A few words upon the topography of the country and upon the aborigines +may not be out of place. Liberia is by no means the dreary waste of sand +and swamp that some imagine it. The view from the sea has been +described as one of unspeakable beauty and grandeur. From the low-lying +coast the land rises in a terraced slope--a succession of hills and +plateaux as far as the eye can reach, all covered with the dense +perennial verdure of the primeval forest. Perhaps the best authority on +the natural features of the country is the zoölogist of the Royal Museum +of Leyden, J. Büttikofer, who has made Liberia several visits and spent +several years in its scientific exploration. The account of his +investigations is most interesting. Small as is the area of the country +all kinds of soil are represented, and corresponding to this variety is +a remarkably rich and varied flora. Amidst this luxuriance is found an +unusually large number of products of commercial value. Cotton, indigo, +coffee, pepper, the pineapple, gum tree, oil palm, and many others grow +wild in abundance, while a little cultivation produces ample crops of +rice, corn, potatoes, yams, arrowroot, ginger, and especially sugar, +tobacco, and a very superior grade of coffee. The fertility of the soil +renders possible the production of almost any crop. + +The fauna of the land is scarcely less remarkable in variety and +abundance. The larger animals, including domestic cattle and horses, do +not thrive on the coast, but are plentiful farther inland. On the +Mandingo Plateau, elephants are not uncommon. Buffaloes, leopards, +tigers, antelopes, porcupines, the great ant-eater, divers species of +monkeys, and numerous other animals are found, besides many varieties of +birds. + +The native Africans inhabiting this territory are probably more than a +million in number, and belong to several different stocks of somewhat +varying characteristics. The most common type is of medium size, well +formed, coal-black in color and rather good-looking. They are +intelligent and easily taught, but are extremely indolent. Their +paganism takes the form of gross superstition, as seen in their constant +use of gree-gree charms and in their sassa-wood ordeal. Like all the +races of Africa, they are polygamists; and as the women manage the farms +and do nearly all the work, a man's wealth and importance are often +estimated by the number of his wives. Domestic slavery is universal +among them, the great majority of slaves being obtained by capture in +war. These inter-tribal wars were once almost constant, and their +prevention requires the utmost vigilance of the Liberian authorities. + +The natives harvest rice and cassada; supply the coasting trader's +demand for palm-oil; raise tobacco; procure salt by evaporating +sea-water; engage in hunting and fishing. They carry on a number of rude +industries such as the manufacture of basket-work, hats, mats, +fish-nets; a crude sort of spinning and weaving. Iron ore exists in +abundance, and the natives have long known how to smelt it and obtain +the metal, from which they manufacture rude weapons, spurs, bits, +stirrups and kitchen utensils. The cheapness of imported iron ware has +driven out this interesting art on the coast; but in the interior it is +still practised by the Mandingoes, who are also fine goldsmiths, and +manufacture highly ornamented rings. There are also silversmiths among +the Veys, who do good work. The leather industry, too, has been carried +to some perfection. + +With all their disadvantages the natives seem to extract a good deal of +enjoyment out of existence. They are very fond of singing and dancing to +the rude strains of a drum and harp, and usually prolong their revelries +far into the night. + +Taken as a whole, the native character has many fine traits; and from +the civilization and development of this part of her population, Liberia +has much to hope. + + + + +II. + +THE COLONIZATION IDEA. + + +It is always a most interesting part of historic inquiry to search out +the very earliest sources, the first feeble germ of the idea whose +development we are investigating. It is difficult to decide from what +one origin can be traced the continuous development of the idea which +resulted in the birth of Liberia; but toward the close of the last +century there arose a number of projects, widely differing in object and +detail, which bore more or less directly upon it, each of which may be +said to have contributed some special feature to the fully rounded and +developed plan. + +The earliest of these sprang from the once notorious hot-bed of +slavery--Newport, R.I. As early as 1773 the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, then +widely known as a theological writer, and responsible for the system +termed Hopkinsianism, conceived the idea of a missionary effort in +Africa, undertaken by natives properly trained in the United States.[2] +This at first did not include the conception of a permanent settlement; +but on consultation with the Rev. Ezra Styles, afterward President of +Yale, it developed into a definite plan for a colony. The scheme proved +popular; it was widely advertised by sermons and circulars both in this +and the mother country; and by 1776 funds had been collected, Negro +students placed under suitable instruction at Princeton, and success +seemed almost assured. The outbreak of the Revolution, however, swept +away all the thought of carrying Hopkins' cherished enterprise into +execution, and after peace was restored his most strenuous efforts +failed to arouse the old interest. Later thinkers, however, found +suggestion and encouragement in his labors. + +The colony founded at Sierra Leone by English philanthropists drew in +part its inspiration from Hopkins' idea, and in turn suggested later +American plans. After the celebrated decision of Lord Mansfield in the +Somerset case (1772), many slaves escaped to England, where they +congregated in the dens of London in helpless poverty and misery. James +Ramsay's essay on Slavery soon turned public attention to the Negro, and +Dr. Smeathman's letters suggested quite a scheme of colonization. A +movement in behalf of the oppressed race asserted itself at the +University of Cambridge, in which Clarkson, Wilberforce, Granville Sharp +and others took part. As a result of these efforts some four hundred +Negroes and sixty whites were landed at Sierra Leone in May, 1787. +Disease and disorder were rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived. The +Sierra Leone Company was then incorporated; some 1,200 colonists from +the Bahamas and Nova Scotia were taken over, and the settlement in spite +of discouraging results was kept up by frequent reinforcements until +1807, when it was made a Government colony and naval station. Its growth +in population and commerce has since steadily increased, and it now +numbers some 60,000 persons chiefly concentrated in the city of +Freetown, and all blacks save one or two hundred. + +It may be as well to mention here two other sporadic attempts to lead +colored colonists to Africa. In 1787 the gifted and erratic Dr. Wm. +Thornton proposed himself to become the leader of a body of Rhode Island +and Massachusetts colonists to Western Africa; he appears to have been +in communication with Hopkins on the subject a year later, but the +effort fell through for want of funds. The other is much later. Paul +Cuffee, the son of a well-to-do Massachusetts freedman, had become by +his talents and industry a prosperous merchant and ship-owner. +Stimulated by the colony at Sierra Leone, and longing to secure liberty +to his oppressed race, he determined to transport in his own vessels, +and at his own expense, as many as he could of his colored brethren. +Accordingly, in 1815, he sailed from Boston with about forty, whom he +landed safely at Sierra Leone. He was about to take over on a second +voyage a much larger number, when his benevolent designs were +interrupted by death. + +It will be observed that the colonization plans hitherto unfolded had +all been proposed for some missionary or similar benevolent object, and +were to be carried out on a small scale and by private means. It is now +time to consider one proposed from a widely different standpoint. As a +political measure, as a possible remedy for the serious evils arising +from slavery and the contact of races, it is not surprising to find +Thomas Jefferson suggesting a plan of colonization. The evils of slavery +none ever saw more clearly. "The whole commerce between master and +slave," he quaintly says, "is a perpetual exercise of the most +boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and +degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this and learn to +imitate it." And again, "With what execration should the statesman be +loaded, who, permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample on the +rights of the other, transforms these into despots and those into +enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriae of +the other.... I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is +just."[3] Yet his equally clear perception of the evils sure to result +from emancipation immediate and unqualified, makes him look to +colonization as the only remedy. "Why not retain and incorporate the +blacks into the state?" he asks, "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by +the whites, ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries +they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which +nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into +parties and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the +extermination of the one or the other race." After the lapse of a +century how prophetic these words sound! Jefferson believed then that by +colonization slavery was to be abolished. All slaves born after a +certain date were to be free; these should remain with their parents +till a given age, after which they should be taught at public expense +agriculture and the useful arts. When full-grown they were to be +"colonized to such a place as the circumstances of the time should +render most proper, sending them out with arms, implements of the +household and handicraft arts, pairs of the useful domestic animals, +etc.; to declare them a free and independent people, and extend to them +our alliance and protection till they have acquired strength." + +Such in outline was Jefferson's contribution to the colonization idea. +Its influence was unquestionably great: the "Notes on Virginia," +privately circulated after 1781, and at length published in 1787, went +through eight editions before 1800, and must have been familiar to +nearly all of those concerned in the formation of the Colonization +Society. + +Clearer still must the details of Jefferson's project have been in the +minds of the members of the Virginia Legislature in 1800, when, after +the outbreak of a dangerous slave conspiracy in Richmond, they met in +secret session to consult the common security. The resolution which they +reached shows unmistakably Jefferson's influence. With the delicate if +somewhat obscure periphrasis in which legislation concerning the Negro +was traditionally couched, they enacted: "That the Governor be requested +to correspond with the President of the United States on the subject of +purchasing lands without the limits of this State whither persons +obnoxious to the laws or dangerous to the peace of society may be +removed."[4] An interesting correspondence ensued between Monroe, who +was then Governor, and Jefferson. Both regarded the idea as something +far more important than a mere penal colony. Monroe, too, saw in it a +possible remedy for the evils of slavery, and refers to the matter as +"one of great delicacy and importance, involving in a peculiar degree +the future peace, tranquillity, and happiness" of the country. After +much discussion Africa was selected as the only appropriate site, and +approved by another Act of the Legislature. Jefferson lost no time in +attempting to secure land for the colony, but his efforts met with no +success. After a discouraging repulse from Sierra Leone, and the failure +of several half-hearted attempts to obtain a footing elsewhere, the +whole matter was allowed to sink into abeyance. For years a pall of +secrecy concealed the scheme from public knowledge. + +In the meantime a new private movement toward colonization was started +at the North. Samuel J. Mills organized at Williams College, in 1808, +for missionary work, an undergraduate society, which was soon +transferred to Andover, and resulted in the establishment of the +American Bible Society and Board of Foreign Missions. But the topic +which engrossed Mills' most enthusiastic attention was the Negro. The +desire was to better his condition by founding a colony between the Ohio +and the Lakes; or later, when this was seen to be unwise, in Africa. On +going to New Jersey to continue his theological studies, Mills succeeded +in interesting the Presbyterian clergy of that State in his project. Of +this body one of the most prominent members was Dr. Robert Finley. Dr. +Finley succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever +called to consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa. +Although supported by few save members of the seminary, Dr. Finley felt +encouraged to set out for Washington in December, 1816, to attempt the +formation of a colonization society. + +Earlier in this same year there had been a sudden awakening of Southern +interest in colonization. Toward the end of February, Gen. Charles +Fenton Mercer accidentally had his attention called to the Secret +Journals of the Legislature for the years 1801-5.[5] He had been for six +years a member of the House of Delegates, in total ignorance of their +existence. He at once investigated and was rewarded with a full +knowledge of the Resolutions and ensuing correspondence between Monroe +and Jefferson. Mercer's enthusiasm was at once aroused, and he +determined to revive the Resolutions at the next meeting of the +Legislature. In the meantime, imputing their previous failure to the +secrecy which had screened them from public view, he brought the whole +project conspicuously into notice. At the next session of the +Legislature, in December, resolutions embodying the substance of the +secret enactments were passed almost unanimously in both houses. Public +attention had been in this way already brought to bear upon the +advantages of Colonization when Finley set on foot the formation of a +society in Washington. The interest already awakened and the +indefatigable efforts of Finley and his friend Col. Charles Marsh, at +length succeeded in convening the assembly to which the Colonization +Society owes its existence. It was a notable gathering. Henry Clay, in +the absence of Bushrod Washington, presided, setting forth in glowing +terms the object and aspirations of the meeting. Finley's +brother-in-law, Elias B. Caldwell was Secretary, and supplied the +leading argument, an elaborate plea, setting forth the expediency of the +project and its practicability in regard to territory, expense, and the +abundance of willing colonists. The wide benevolent objects to be +attained were emphasized. John Randolph of Roanoke, and Robert Wright of +Maryland, dwelt upon the desirability of removing the turbulent +free-negro element and enhancing the value of property in slaves.[6] +Resolutions organizing the Society passed, and committees appointed to +draft a Constitution and present a memorial to Congress. At an adjourned +meeting a week later the constitution was adopted, and on January 1, +1817, officers were elected. + + + + +III. + +THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT. + + +With commendable energy the newly organized Society set about the +accomplishment of the task before it. Plans were discussed during the +summer, and in November two agents, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer +Burgess, sailed for Africa to explore the western coast and select a +suitable spot. They were cordially received in England by the officers +of the African Institution, and by Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, who provided them with letters to Sierra Leone. Here they +arrived in March, 1818, and were hospitably received, every facility +being afforded them to prosecute their inquiries, though marked +unwillingness to have a foreign colony established in the vicinity was +not concealed. Their inspection was carried as far south as Sherbro +Island, where they obtained promises from the natives to sell land to +the colonists on their arrival with goods to pay for it. In May they +embarked on the return voyage. Mills died before reaching home. His +colleague made a most favorable report of the locality selected, though, +as the event proved, it was a most unfortunate one. + +After defraying the expenses of this exploration the Society's treasury +was practically empty. It would have been most difficult to raise the +large sum necessary to equip and send out a body of emigrants; and the +whole enterprise would have languished and perhaps died but for a new +impelling force. Monroe, who ever since his correspondence with +Jefferson in 1800, had pondered over "the vast and interesting objects" +which colonization might accomplish, was now by an interesting chain of +circumstances enabled to render essential aid. + +Though the importation of slaves had been strictly prohibited by the Act +of Congress of March 2, 1807, no provision had been made for the care of +the unfortunates smuggled in in defiance of the Statute. They became +subject to the laws of the State in which they were landed; and these +laws were in some cases so devised that it was profitable for the dealer +to land his cargo and incur the penalty. The advertisements of the sale +of such a cargo of "recaptured Africans" by the State of Georgia drew +the attention of the Society and of Gen. Mercer in particular to this +inconsistent and abnormal state of affairs. His profound indignation +shows forth in the Second Annual Report of the Society, in which the +attention of the public is earnestly drawn to the question; nor did he +rest until a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives +designed to do away with the evil. This bill became a law on March 3, +1819. + +Provision was made for a more stringent suppression of the slave trade: +new cruisers were ordered and bounties awarded for captures; but the +clause which proved so important to the embryo colony was that dealing +with the captured cargoes: + +"The President of the United States is hereby authorized to make such +regulations and arrangements as he may deem expedient for the +safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits of the United +States, of all such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color as may be so +delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and to appoint a proper +person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa as agent or agents +for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, delivered +from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by +commanders of the United States armed vessels." The sum of $100,000 was +appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Act. President +Monroe determined to construe it as broadly as possible in aid of the +project of colonization. After giving Congress, in his message, +December 20, 1818, fair notice of his intention, no objection being +made, he proceeded to appoint two agents, the Rev. Samuel Bacon, already +in the service of the Colonization Society, and John P. Bankson as +assistant, and to charter the ship Elizabeth. The agents were instructed +to settle on the coast of Africa, with a tacit understanding that the +place should be that selected by the Colonization Society; they were to +provide accommodations sufficient for three hundred, supplying +provisions, clothing, tools, and implements. It is important to note the +essential part taken by the Government in the establishment of the +colony, for this is often said to be purely the result of private +enterprise; the inference tending to free the United States from any +responsibility for the protection of its feeble offspring. It is true +according to the letter, that the Government agency was separate from +the colony: the agents were instructed "to exercise no power founded on +the principle of colonization, or other principle than that of +performing benevolent offices;" and again, "you are not to connect your +agency with the views or plans of the Colonization Society, with which, +under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern," Yet +as a matter of fact the agency and colony were practically identical; +and for years the resources of the Government were employed "to colonize +recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them with +farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase ships +for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to supply +them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them, and +to employ the army and navy in their defence,"[7] These words of one +unfriendly to the colony forcibly show the extent to which our national +government was responsible for the experiment. + +When the Elizabeth was chartered the Society was notified that the +Government agency was prepared to transport their first colonists; or +more literally "agreed to receive on board such free blacks recommended +by the Society as might be required for the purpose of the agency." For +the expenses of the expedition $33,000 was placed in the hands of Mr. +Bacon. Dr. Samuel A. Crozier was appointed by the Society as its agent +and representative; and eighty-six negroes from various +states--thirty-three men, eighteen women, and the rest children, were +embarked. On the 6th of February, 1820, the Mayflower of Liberia weighed +anchor in New York harbor, and, convoyed by the U.S. sloop-of-war Cyane, +steered her course toward the shores of Africa. The pilgrims were kindly +treated by the authorities at Sierra Leone, where they arrived on the +ninth of March; but on proceeding to Sherbro Island they found the +natives had reconsidered their promise, and refused to sell them land. +While delayed by negotiations the injudicious nature of the site +selected was disastrously shown. The low marshy ground and the bad water +quickly bred the African fever, which soon carried off all the agents +and nearly a fourth of the emigrants. The rest, weakened and +disheartened were soon obliged to seek refuge at Sierra Leone. + +In March, 1821, a body of twenty-eight new emigrants under charge of +J.B. Winn and Ephraim Bacon, reached Freetown in the brig Nautilus. Winn +collected as many as he could of the first company, also the stores sent +out with them, and settled the people in temporary quarters at Fourah +Bay, while Bacon set out to explore the coast anew and secure suitable +territory. An elevated fertile and desirable tract was at length +discovered between 250 and 300 miles S.E. of Sierra Leone. This was the +region of Cape Montserado. It seemed exactly suited to the purposes of +the colonists, but the natives refused to sell their land for fear of +breaking up the traffic in slaves; and the agent returned discouraged. +Winn soon died, and Bacon returned to the United States. In November, +Dr. Eli Ayres was sent over as agent, and the U.S. schooner Alligator, +commanded by Lieutenant Stockton, was ordered to the coast to assist in +obtaining a foothold for the colony. Cape Montserado was again visited; +and the address and firmness of Lieutenant Stockton accomplished the +purchase of a valuable tract of land. + +The cape upon which the settlers proposed to build their first +habitations consists of a narrow peninsula or tongue of land formed by +the Montserado River, which separates it from the mainland. Just within +the mouth of the river lie two small islands, containing together less +than three acres. To these, the Plymouth of Liberia, the colonists and +their goods were soon transported. But again the fickle natives repented +the bargain, and the settlers were long confined to "Perseverance +Island," as the spot was aptly named. Space forbids entering on the +interesting details of the difficulties they successfully encountered. +After a number of thrilling experiences the emigrants, on April 25, +1822, formally took possession of the cape, where they had erected rude +houses for themselves; and from this moment we may date the existence of +the colony. Their supplies were by this time sadly reduced; the natives +were hostile and treacherous; fever had played havoc with the colonists +in acclimating; and the incessant downpour of the rainy season had set +in. Dr. Ayres became thoroughly discouraged, and proposed to lead them +back to Sierra Leone. Then it was that Elijah Johnson, an emigrant from +New York, made himself forever famous in Liberian history by declaring +that he would never desert the home he had found after two years' weary +quest! His firmness decided the wavering colonists; the agents with a +few faint-hearted ones sailed off to America; but the majority remained +with their heroic Negro leader. The little band, deserted by their +appointed protectors, were soon reduced to the most dire distress, and +must have perished miserably but for the arrival of unexpected relief. +The United States Government had at last gotten hold of some ten +liberated Africans, and had a chance to make use of the agency +established for them at so great an expense. They were accordingly sent +out in the brig Strong under the care of the Rev. Jehudi Ashmun. A +quantity of stores and some thirty-seven emigrants sent by the +Colonization Society completed the cargo. Ashmun had received no +commission as agent for the colony, and expected to return on the +Strong; under this impression his wife had accompanied him. But when he +found the colonists in so desperate a situation he nobly determined to +remain with them at any sacrifice. He visited the native chiefs and +found them, under cover of friendly promises, preparing for a deadly +assault on the little colony. There was no recourse but to prepare for a +vigorous defense. Twenty-seven men were capable of bearing arms; and one +brass and five iron fieldpieces, all dismantled and rusty, formed his +main hope. Ashmun at once set to work, and with daily drills and +unremitting labor in clearing away the forest and throwing up +earthworks, succeeded at last in putting the settlement in a reasonable +state of defense. It was no easy task. The fatiguing labor, incessant +rains, and scanty food predisposed them to the dreaded fever. Ashmun +himself was prostrated; his wife sank and died before his eyes; and soon +there was but one man in the colony who was not on the sick-list. At +length the long-expected assault was made. Just before daybreak on the +11th of November the settlement was approached by a body of over eight +hundred African warriors. Stealthily following the pickets as they +returned a little too early from their watch, the savages burst upon the +colony and with a rush captured the outworks. A desperate conflict +ensued, the issue of which hung doubtful until the colonists succeeded +in manning their brass field-piece, which was mounted upon a raised +platform, and turning it upon the dense ranks of the assailants. The +effect at such short range was terrible. "Every shot literally spent its +force in a solid mass of living human flesh. Their fire suddenly +terminated. A savage yell was raised, ... and the whole host +disappeared."[8] The victory had been gained at a cost of four killed +and as many seriously wounded. Ammunition was exhausted; food had given +out. Another attack, for which the natives were known to be preparing, +could scarcely fail to succeed. Before it was made, however, an English +captain touched at the cape and generously replenished their stores. On +the very next evening, November 30, the savages were seen gathering in +large numbers on the cape, and toward morning a desperate attack was +made on two sides at once. The lines had been contracted, however, and +all the guns manned, and the well-directed fire of the artillery again +proved too much for native valor. The savages were repulsed with great +loss. The unusual sound of a midnight cannonade attracted the Prince +Regent, an English colonial schooner laden with military stores and +having on board the celebrated traveller Captain Laing, through whose +mediation the natives were brought to agree to a peace most advantageous +to the colonists. When the Prince Regent sailed, Midshipman Gordon, with +eleven British sailors volunteered to remain, to assist the exhausted +colonists and guarantee the truce. His generosity met an ill requital; +within a month he had fallen victim to the climate with eight of the +brave seamen. Supplies were again running low, when March brought the +welcome arrival of the U.S. ship Cyane. Captain R.T. Spence at once +turned his whole force to improving the condition of the colonists. +Buildings were erected, the dismantled colonial schooner was raised and +made sea-worthy, and many invaluable services were rendered, until at +length a severe outbreak of the fever among the crew compelled the +vessel's withdrawal. It was too late, however, to prevent the loss of +forty lives, including the lieutenant, Richard Dashiell, and the +surgeon, Dr. Dix. + +On the 24th of May, 1823, the brig Oswego arrived with sixty-one new +emigrants and a liberal supply of stores and tools, in charge of Dr. +Ayres, who, already the representative of the Society, had now been +appointed Government Agent and Surgeon. One of the first measures of the +new agent was to have the town surveyed and lots distributed among the +whole body of colonists. Many of the older settlers found themselves +dispossessed of the holdings improved by their labor, and the colony was +soon in a ferment of excitement and insurrection. Dr. Ayres, finding his +health failing, judiciously betook himself to the United States. + +The arrival of the agent had placed Mr. Ashmun in a false position of +the most mortifying character. It will be remembered that in sympathy +for the distress of the colony he had assumed the position of agent +without authority. In the dire necessity of subsequent events he had +been compelled to purchase supplies and ammunition in the Society's +name. He now found, himself superseded in authority, his services and +self-sacrifice unappreciated, his drafts[9] dishonored, his motives +distrusted. Nothing could show more strongly his devotion and +self-abnegation than his action in the present crisis. Seeing the colony +again deserted by the agent and in a state of discontent and confusion, +he forgot his wrongs and remained at the helm. Order was soon restored +but the seeds of insubordination remained. The arrival of 103 emigrants +from Virginia on the Cyrus, in February 1824, added to the difficulty, +as the stock of food was so low that the whole colony had to be put on +half rations. This necessary measure was regarded by the disaffected as +an act of tyranny on Ashmun's part; and when shortly after the complete +prostration of his health compelled him to withdraw to the Cape De Verde +Islands, the malcontents sent home letters charging him with all sorts +of abuse of power, and finally with desertion of his post! The Society +in consternation applied to Government for an expedition of +investigation, and the Rev. R.R. Gurley, Secretary of the Society, and +an enthusiastic advocate of colonization was despatched in June on the +U.S. schooner Porpoise. The result of course revealed the probity, +integrity and good judgment of Mr. Ashman; and Gurley became +thenceforth his warmest admirer. As a preventive of future discontent a +Constitution was adopted at Mr. Gurley's suggestion, giving for the +first time a definite share in the control of affairs to the colonists +themselves. Gurley brought with him the name of the colony--Liberia, and +of its settlement on the Cape--Monrovia, which had been adopted by the +Society on the suggestion of Mr. Robert Goodloe Harper of Maryland. He +returned from his successful mission in August leaving the most cordial +relations established throughout the colony. + +Gurley's visit seemed to mark the turning of the tide, and a period of +great prosperity now began. Relay after relay of industrious emigrants +arrived; new land was taken up; successful agriculture removed all +danger of future failure of food supply; and a flourishing trade was +built up at Monrovia. Friendly relations were formed with the natives, +and their children taken for instruction into colonial families and +schools. New settlements were formed; churches and schools appeared; an +efficient militia was organized; printing presses set up and hospitals +erected. On every side rapid progress was made. After years of +illustrious service Ashmun retired to his home in New Haven, where he +died a few days later, on August 25, 1828. Under Dr. Richard Randall and +Dr. Mechlin, who successively filled his post, the prosperity of the +colony continued undiminished. + +The decade after 1832 is marked by the independent action of different +State colonization societies. At first generally organized as tributary +to the main body, the State societies now began to form distinct +settlements at other points on the coast. The Maryland Society first +started an important settlement at Cape Palmas, of which we shall make a +special study. Bassa Cove was settled by the joint action of the New +York and Pennsylvania Societies; Greenville, on the Sinou river, by +emigrants from Mississippi; and the Louisiana Society engaged in a +similar enterprise. The separate interests of the different settlements +at length began in many cases to engender animosity and bad feeling; the +need of general laws and supervision was everywhere apparent; and a +movement toward a federal union of the colonies was set on foot. A plan +was at length agreed upon by all except Maryland, by which the colonies +were united into the "Commonwealth of Liberia," whose government was +controlled by a Board of Directors composed of Delegates from the State +societies. This board at its first meeting drew up a plan of government, +and Thomas Buchanan was appointed first Governor of the Commonwealth, +1837. The advantages of the union were soon apparent. The more +aggressive native tribes with whom not a little trouble had been +experienced, were made to feel the strength of the union; and many of +the smaller head-men voluntarily put themselves under the protection of +the Government, agreeing to become citizens, with all their subjects, +and submit to its laws. The traffic in slaves all along the coast was +checked, inter-tribal warfare prevented, and trial by the sassa-wood +ordeal abolished wherever colonial influence extended. Mr. Buchanan was +the last white man who exercised authority in Liberia. On his death the +Lieutenant-Governor, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, succeeded him. Roberts, who +afterward became Liberia's most distinguished citizen, was a Virginia +Negro, having been born at Norfolk in 1809, and brought up near +Petersburg. He obtained a rudimentary education while running a +flat-boat on the James and Appomattox Rivers. In 1829 he went with his +widowed mother and younger brothers to Liberia, where he rapidly rose to +wealth and distinction. As Governor he evinced an efficient +statesmanship that promised well for his future career. + +Roberts had not long been governor when trouble arose with the British +coast-wise traders that gave rise to a most interesting crisis. The +Liberian Government in regulating commerce within its jurisdiction had +enacted laws imposing duties on all imported goods. The English traders, +accustomed for hundreds of years to unrestricted traffic on this very +coast, were indignant at the presumption of the upstart colony, and +ignored its regulations. The Government protested, but in vain. And at +length the little colonial revenue schooner John Seyes, while +attempting to enforce the laws at Edina, was actually seized by the +stalwart Britisher and dragged before the Admiralty Court at Sierra +Leone. A long discussion which would be profitless to follow in detail, +ensued. The result was, that the John Seyes was confiscated. The British +Government opened a correspondence with the United States, in which it +was ascertained that Liberia was not in political dependence upon them. +Whereupon the sovereignty of Liberia was promptly denied, her right to +acquire or hold territory questioned, and she was given to understand +that the operations of British traders would in future be backed by the +British navy. + +Evidently if Liberia was to maintain and govern her territory something +must be done. The Colonization Society while claiming for Liberia the +right to exercise sovereign powers, seems to have had the unacknowledged +conviction, that England's position, however ungenerous, was logically +unassailable. The supreme authority wielded by the Society, its veto +power over legislative action, was undoubtedly inconsistent with the +idea of a sovereign state. This is clearly apparent from the fact that +though there was pressing necessity for a treaty with England, neither +the colony nor the Society had power to negotiate it. It was accordingly +determined to surrender all control over the colony; and the "people of +the Commonwealth of Liberia" were "advised" by the Society "to undertake +the whole work of self-government;" to make the necessary amendments to +their Constitution, and to declare their full sovereignty to the world. + +The suggestion was adopted in Liberia by popular vote, and a convention +met on July 26, 1847, adopted a Declaration of Independence and a new +Constitution, closely modelled on the corresponding documents of the +United States. In September the Constitution was ratified by vote of the +people. Governor Roberts was elected to the office of President, upon +which he entered January 3, 1848. His inaugural address is one of +remarkable interest, fitly proclaiming to the world a new Republic. + + + + +IV. + +MARYLAND IN LIBERIA. + + +The widespread interest awakened by the actual establishment of a +permanent colony at Monrovia led to the formation of a number of State +Colonization Societies, at first purely auxiliary to the central body, +but later in some cases independent. The foundation of independent +settlements at Bassa Cove and Sinou by the New York, Pennsylvania and +Mississippi Societies, and their union in 1837 into the Commonwealth, +has been considered. A much more important colony was founded by +Maryland at Cape Palmas, which for years maintained its independence. + +In 1831, the Maryland State Colonization Society was formed. Active +interest in the movement had long been felt in the State, and it +scarcely needed the eloquence of Robert Finley, son of the old champion +of colonization, who visited Baltimore in that year, to awaken +enthusiasm. The Society had hardly been formed when ample funds were +provided in an unexpected way. In August, 1831, a tragic Negro uprising +took place in Virginia, in which some sixty-five white men, women and +children were murdered. The Southampton Massacres were attributed +largely to the instigation of the troublesome free-Negro element, and +the growing sentiment in favor of emancipation was abruptly checked. The +Maryland Legislature, sharing the general excitement, passed in December +a resolution which became law in March, and proved to the State Society +what the Act of March 3, 1819, was to the main organization. The +connection was more explicit. Three members of the Society were to be +appointed Commissioners to remove _all_ free Negroes to Liberia. The sum +of $20,000 in the current year, and of $10,000 in each succeeding year, +for a period of twenty years, was devoted to the purpose. Any free Negro +refusing to emigrate was to be summarily ejected from the State by the +sheriff. The wave of feeling which dictated this monstrous piece of +legislation passed away before any of its harsh provisions were carried +out. But the beneficent portion remained in force. The Society was left +in the enjoyment of the liberal annuity of $10,000. + +In October, 1831, and December, 1832, expeditions were sent out which +landed emigrants at Monrovia. The difficulty of arriving at an agreement +with the parent Society regarding the rights and status of these people, +together with other considerations, led to the adoption of the idea of +founding a separate colony. The plan was adopted largely through the +support of Mr. John H.B. Latrobe, throughout his life one of the most +active and efficient friends of colonization. The motives of the +undertaking were distinctly announced to be the gradual extirpation of +slavery in Maryland, and the spread of civilization and Christianity in +Africa. Cape Palmas, a bold promontory marking the point where the coast +makes a sharp bend toward the east, was selected as the new site. Its +conspicuous position makes it one of the best known points on the coast, +and some identify it with the "West Horn" reached by Hanno, the +Carthaginian explorer, twenty-nine days out from Gades. Dr. James Hall, +who had gained experience as physician in Monrovia, was placed in charge +of the expedition, and the brig Ann, with a small number of emigrants, +sailed from Baltimore November 28, 1833. A firm legal basis was +projected for the new establishment in a Constitution to which all +emigrants were to subscribe. The experience gained by the older colony +was put to good use. Regular courts, militia, and public schools were +provided for from the first. + +The vessel touched at Monrovia, gathered as many recruits as possible +from those sent out on the two previous expeditions, and finally +anchored at Cape Palmas on February 11, 1834. After the usual tedious +"palaver" and bargaining, the natives formally sold the required land. +The cape is a promontory some seventy-five feet in height, separated +from the mainland, except for a narrow, sandy isthmus. A river, +navigable for some miles to small boats, opens opposite it, and forms a +safe harbor. A long, salt-water lake extends to the east, parallel to +the coast. The land is very fertile and well adapted to farming. Several +native villages lie near the cape. From a well-founded fear of native +treachery the colonists laid out their town on the promontory, upon the +summit of which a brass six-pounder was mounted. Farm lands were laid +out on the mainland, and in a short time the little community was in a +thriving condition. None of the distressing misfortunes encountered by +the colony at Monrovia marred the early history of "Maryland in +Liberia." + +In 1836 the health of Dr. Hall, whose services to the infant colony had +been invaluable, became so much impaired that he was obliged to resign. +He returned to the United States, and long rendered the Society +efficient service in another capacity. John B. Russwurm, a citizen of +Monrovia, and once editor of the Liberia _Herald_, was appointed +Governor, and served ably and faithfully until his death in 1851. Early +in his administration a convenient form of paper currency, receivable at +the Society's store, was introduced, and proved most useful in trade +with the natives. In 1841 some slight difficulties with employes of +missions led the Society, while still retaining control of affairs, to +assert by resolution that the colony was a sovereign State. A revenue +law introduced in 1846 soon produced an income of about $1,200. In this +year began the trips of the "Liberia Packet," a vessel maintained by a +company formed to trade between Baltimore and _Harper_, as the town of +the colony was named, in honor of Robert Goodloe Harper. A certain +amount of trade was guaranteed and other aid given by the Society. In +1847 the justiciary was separated from the executive; a chief justice +and a system of courts were provided for. + +The year 1852 ended the period during which the Society drew its annual +stipend from the State treasury; but the General Assembly was induced to +extend the provisions of the Act of 1831 for a further period of six +years. It may be as well to note here that in 1858 a further extension +was made for five years, the amount at the same time being reduced to +$5,000 per annum.[10] For twenty years the colony had flourished under +the care and good management of the Society. Prosperity now seemed +secure, and a spirit of discontent, a desire to throw off the yoke and +assume autonomy began to prevail. The great success following the +assumption of Independence by Liberia in 1847, and the recognition at +once obtained from the leading nations of Europe, naturally strengthened +the feeling. A committee of leading citizens petitioned the Society to +relinquish its authority, at the same time demanding or begging almost +everything else in its power to bestow. The Society was further asked by +its spoiled fosterling to continue to support schools, provide +physicians and medicine, remit debts, and finally, to grant a "loan" of +money to meet the expenses of government.[11] + +The Board of Managers, though deeming the colony still unripe for +independence, generously determined to grant the request, as made +advisable by force of circumstances. Among other things it was feared +that the better class of colonists might be attracted toward the +independent State of Liberia. A sort of federal union with that State +was suggested, but found impracticable. A convention met and drafted a +Constitution, which was submitted to the Board. An agreement was reached +as to the conditions of the transfer of the Society's lands, etc. Both +were ratified by the people, and in May, 1854, Wm. A. Prout was elected +Governor. Other officials, senators and representatives, were chosen at +the same time. + +The prosperity of the colony continued under the careful management of +Gov. Prout. On his death the Lieutenant-Governor, Wm. S. Drayton, +succeeded to his office. It was not long before the "rash and imprudent" +conduct of this official precipitated a serious conflict with the +natives. An expedition against them resulted in a demoralizing defeat, +with loss of artillery and twenty-six valuable lives. In consternation +an urgent appeal was sent to Monrovia. The treasury of the Republic was +exhausted from the effects of the uprising of the Sinou river tribes; +but Dr. Hall was fortunately present, and supplied the Government with a +loan from the funds of the Maryland Society. One hundred and fifteen +Liberian troops, under command of ex-President Roberts, were soon +embarked for Cape Palmas, and easily overawed the native chiefs, who +agreed to a fair adjustment of their grievances by treaty, February 26, +1857. + +The war was not without important results. The Maryland colonists were +thoroughly aroused to the weakness of their isolated position, and +determined to have union with Liberia at any price. It was known that +the Republic was willing to admit Maryland only as a county, on +precisely the same terms as the other three--Montserado, Sinou, and +Bassa. State pride and the views of the Society had hitherto kept them +from such a union; but now, in the reaction from their recent terror, a +vote of the people called for by Act of the Legislature was unanimous in +favor of "County Annexation;" and a committee was appointed to arrange +matters at once with Roberts. When he declined to assume any such +responsibility, they actually proceeded to dissolve the Government, and +cede all public property forthwith to the Republic of Liberia. The +interesting document entitled the "Act or Petition of Annexation," shows +the number of colonists to have been at this time 900 and the +aboriginal population about 60,000. The tax on imports produced $1,800 a +year. The State's liabilities were $3,000, with assets estimated at +$10,000. + +The Liberian Legislature by an Act of April, 1857, formally received the +colony into the Republic as "Maryland County." The advantages gained by +this change undoubtedly more than counterbalanced any loss of +independence. Though the total dissolution of the government and +surrender of all rights and property before any negotiation with +Liberian authorities had taken place, seems inconceivably rash +statescraft, the wisdom of the colonists in desiring the union is +unquestionable. + +At the time of annexation the Maryland Colonization Society had on hand +some $6,000, which was invested, and the interest devoted to a school at +Cape Palmas; in connection with this trust its existence is prolonged. +Up to the end of its period of activity it had received and expended +nearly half a million dollars; the balance sheet of December 31, 1857, +may be of interest: + +State Appropriations, ........... $ 930.00 +State Colonization Tax, ......... 12,851.00 +Colonial Agency, ................ 1,091.85 +Columbia Expedition, ............ 248.88 +Stock of C. & L. Trading Co., ... 1,250.00 +Mdse., .......................... 104.62 +State Fund, ..................... 241,922.16 +Contributions, .................. 45,385.74 +Profit and Loss, ................ 139,972.31-1/2 +J.T.G., Colonial Agent, ......... 126.70 + -------------- + 443,883.26-1/2 + + + + +V. + +THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. + + +The History of Liberia from this point on assumes a peculiar interest. +The capacity and capabilities of the Negro are subjected to a crucial +test. He is left fully freed from the control or influence of an alien +race, in possession of a borrowed civilization, and of a borrowed +political system of an advanced type, dependent on popular intelligence +for its very existence. Can he maintain his position? Will he make +further progress, developing along lines peculiar to his race and +environment, and spreading a new civilization among the adjacent tribes? +Or is he to lapse helplessly back into his original condition--to be +absorbed into the dense masses of surrounding barbarism? The question is +a vital one. The solution of weighty problems in large part depends upon +the answer. + +The form of government was, as has been seen, closely copied from that +of the United States. There is the same tripartite division--executive, +legislative and judicial. The President is elected every two years, on +the first Tuesday in May. He is commander-in-chief of the army and navy; +makes treaties with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, with +whose advice he also appoints all public officers not otherwise provided +for by law. + +The legislative authority consists of a Senate of two members from each +county, elected for four years, and a House of Representatives holding +office for two years; four members being apportioned to Montserado +county, three to Bassa, one to each other county, with one additional +representative for each 10,000 inhabitants. The judicial power was +vested in a Supreme Court with original jurisdiction in all cases +affecting ambassadors and consuls and where the Republic is a party, and +appellate jurisdiction in all other cases; and in subordinate courts to +be established by the Legislature. + +The majority of the colonists had been long accustomed to similar +institutions in the land of their captivity, and the new machinery of +government was soon running smoothly. Within the little State peace and +prosperity prevailed; its foreign relations, on the contrary, were +involved in the greatest uncertainty. It had indeed severed the leading +strings which bound it to its natural protector, and stood forth in the +assertion of its independence. But it was wholly unsupported and +unrecognized. The dispute with England, whose protegé on the north +looked with jealousy and distrust on Liberian policy, remained +unsettled. The danger was real and pressing. Clearly recognition must be +sought and an international footing obtained without delay. President +Roberts accordingly determined to go abroad, and as at once chief +magistrate and ambassador appeal to the leading courts of Europe. His +first effort, however, was directed toward obtaining alliance with the +United States. In America his reception was enthusiastic. But the +delicacy with which the dissension on the slavery question made it +necessary to handle every subject remotely bearing on that bone of +contention, prevented him from obtaining even the formal recognition of +Liberia. Roberts then determined by pleading his country's cause in +England to arouse compassion in the heart of the power from which there +was most to fear. Here substantial rewards met his efforts. His +prepossessing personality, tact, and statesmanlike qualities won many +friends.[12] With their support the recognition of Liberia as a +sovereign State was soon obtained, together with a commercial treaty +which left nothing to be desired. In further evidence of kindly +sentiment the English Government presented the young Republic with a +trim little cutter of four guns for coast protection. In France and +Belgium similar generous treatment was experienced, and Roberts was +conveyed home in triumph on the British man-of-war Amazon. + +A second visit of Roberts to England, in 1852, four years later, to +adjust disputes with traders who claimed certain tracts of land, was +equally successful, and France, under Louis Napoleon, presented him with +arms and uniforms for the equipment of the Liberian troops. In 1852 +Prussia also extended her friendship, soon followed by Brazil and the +free Hanse towns. In 1862, the necessity for cautious dealing with the +race question having passed away, the United States government at last +formally recognized the Republic, and Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Hayti +formed treaties in 1864. The consent of Portugal and Denmark in 1865, +and of Austria in 1867, brought Liberia into treaty relations with +nearly all the leading commercial nations. + +The internal condition of the Republic during the first decade was one +of unprecedented growth and prosperity. The Colonization Society in +America was in a flourishing condition, and gained friends on every +side. Its receipts for the ten years were not far short of a million +dollars; and this generous means permitted the transportation, in the +same period, of over five thousand chosen emigrants. The accession of so +large a force of laborers added a new stimulus to the activity awakened +by self-government. Many new settlements were formed and all the older +ones received an infusion of new strength. Agriculture, especially the +cultivation of the great staples, rice, coffee, sugar and cotton, made +rapid progress; while commerce was stimulated by the establishment of +regular monthly lines of steamers between England and various points on +the coast, the first of which was started in 1853. The enterprise of +Holland soon added still other lines. Communication with America was at +the same time facilitated by the regular trips of a large vessel built +for the purpose, the gift to the Society of Mr. John C. Stevens of +Maryland. + +At the close of his fourth administration President Roberts decided to +decline reëlection. For eight years he had been at the helm, and had +brought the ship of state safely through her first perilous voyages. And +now while the waters seemed smooth and skies serene he thought it best +to intrust her guidance to other hands. The election took place in May, +1855, amidst scenes of political strife and party violence at once +intense and short-lived. It resulted in the choice of Stephen A. Benson +for President and Beverly P. Yates for Vice-President. Both were +distinctly the product of Liberian training. Benson was brought over, at +the age of six years, by his parents in 1822, and received his entire +education in the country. He became a successful merchant and entered +political life in the wake of Roberts. As chief magistrate he showed +himself a practical and efficient man, with the interests of the country +at heart. + +One of the leading objects of Benson's policy was the improvement and +elevation of the aborigines; but his designs were in part frustrated by +the outbreak of a stubborn and exhausting war with the native tribes +dwelling about the Sinou River. Details must be omitted for want of +space; but this war devastated four settlements and sadly depleted the +national treasury. It was soon afterwards that the Maryland colony at +Cape Palmas was almost overwhelmed in a similar native uprising, and +united with the Republic, as elsewhere narrated. + +A widespread scarcity of provisions followed these wars, which gave rise +to much apprehension. But this eventually did good in giving new +emphasis to the fact that main reliance must be placed upon agriculture +rather than trade. The great resources of Liberia were shown at a +National Fair, held in December, 1858; premiums were awarded for the +best specimens of coffee, arrow-root, cotton, rice, ginger, potatoes, +oxen, sheep, swine, turkeys, butter, preserves; cloth and socks of +African cotton; boots; soap and candles from palm oil; ploughs, hoes and +other implements from native iron and home manufacture; farina; +chocolate; planks, shingles, cabinet work, and many other products of +Liberian agriculture and industry. + +President Benson was reelected without opposition, and entered upon his +second term in January, 1858. A fresh outbreak of the slave trade in +this year was followed by a number of captures by U.S. cruisers, giving +rise to the old difficulty in regard to the disposition of the cargoes. +The Act of March 3, 1819, which had long fallen into disuse, was +revived, and a contract made with the Colonization Society to transport +and maintain for a twelvemonth the recaptured Africans already on the +Government's hands. The substitution of small, swift steamers for the +craft of older days so increased the efficiency of the navy that +captures were made in rapid succession. Within two months 1,432 Africans +were landed at Key West. This state of affairs made further legislation +immediately necessary. Congress, acting upon the suggestion of a +Presidential message, passed an Act amending the Act of March 3, 1819, +which empowered the President to form a five-years' contract with "any +person or persons, society or societies," to receive in Africa and care +for the unfortunates rescued from slavers, for the period of one year, +and at a price of $100 per capita. Commanders of cruisers were to be +instructed to land their captures directly upon the coast of Liberia +whenever practicable; immediate measures were to be taken for removing +to Africa those already at Key West; and the sum of $250,000 was +appropriated to defray expenses. + +Three large vessels were at once chartered and stored with $60,000 worth +of supplies; with the least possible delay the suffering crowd at Key +West was transported to Liberia; but only 893 survived the passage. The +effect of the new orders issued to the U.S. slave squadron was soon felt +in Liberia. On August 8, 1860, the _Storm King_ unexpectedly arrived +with a cargo of 619; within twenty-four hours the Erie, prize to the +steamer Mohican, followed with 867. Tidings came that still larger +numbers were en route. The effect of this inundation of liberated +barbarians upon the small civilized community, already surrounded by +savage swarms, may be imagined. The greatest consternation prevailed, +and excitement rose to fever heat. President Benson wrote to the Society +that great evils would result unless means were liberally supplied, and +entire control of the new arrivals given to the Liberian Government. The +Society accordingly transferred the execution of its contracts to that +government, and placed at its disposal all money received by their +terms. This action seems to have allayed the worst apprehensions; and +although over 4,000 recaptured Africans were landed within the space of +two months, no harm seems to have resulted. They made rapid progress in +civilization, becoming assimilated to and in many cases intermarrying +with the colonists; from among them arose some of the best citizens of +the Republic. + +President Benson's policy in regard to the natives was successful in +bringing many tribes much more closely under the influence of the +government. A number of steps were taken toward actively spreading among +them the arts of civilized life, improving their methods of agriculture, +and checking the evils of intertribal warfare and of superstition. A +poll tax of one dollar a year was levied on each male adult, to be +collected from the chiefs of the several districts; with a part of the +funds thus raised schools for popular instruction were to be established +throughout the country. + +The control and oversight by the central authority of so many small +settlements scattered over a large range of coast had been greatly +facilitated by the small armed cutter presented in 1848 by the English +government. This was now found to be hopelessly out of repair, and was +generously replaced by the donor with another and somewhat larger +vessel--the Quail, an armed schooner of 123 tons. About the same time +the New York Society sent over a small steamer to provide rapid and +regular communication between points along the coast. In honor of a +liberal benefactor it was called the "Seth Grosvenor." + +The third and fourth administrations of Benson passed uneventfully, and +in January, 1864, Daniel B. Warner, who, the May previous, had been +elected, succeeded him. Warner was born near Baltimore, in 1812, and +emigrated in 1823. The Civil War in America, with the sanguine hopes it +aroused in the breast of the Negro, caused a rapid falling off in the +number of applicants for transportation to Liberia. The income of the +Society for once exceeded the demand upon it, and several good +investments were made. Liberia, however, was demanding more cultivators. +A supply came from an unexpected quarter. Two societies were organized +by thrifty negroes of Barbadoes, to return to Africa and make their home +in the new Republic. Agents were sent out, and sympathy with their +enterprise enlisted. The Liberian Government issued a proclamation of +cordial invitation, and the Legislature appropriated $4,000 to assist +the colonists, increasing in their case the allotment of land from ten +to twenty-five acres for each family. The Colonization Society devoted +$10,000 to their aid, and despatched an experienced agent to take charge +of the expedition. A large vessel was chartered, and after a pleasant +voyage of thirty-three days, without the loss of a single life, 346 +emigrants were landed at Monrovia. They proved a welcome and valuable +acquisition, many being mechanics and skilled laborers. + +After the close of the war, the alluring prospect of "ten acres and a +mule" having failed our freedmen, the Society again received numerous +applications for passage. The M. C. Stevens had been sold during the +period of depression; another and larger vessel, the Golconda, was +therefore purchased and fitted for an emigrant ship. During her first +four voyages she safely carried over 1,684 persons. + +In January, 1867, the semi-centennial of the founding of the +Colonization Society was celebrated in Washington. From the review of +the fifty years' work it appeared that the sum of $2,558,907 had been +expended, exclusive of outlay by the Maryland Society, and of the large +sums expended by the United States Government. 11,909 emigrants had been +sent over, in 147 vessels; of these 4,541 were born free, 344 purchased +freedom, and 5,957 were emancipated for the purpose of going to +Liberia.[13] Besides these, 1,227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society, and 5,722 recaptured Africans had been sent back by the United +States Government. + +In January, 1868, James S. Payne entered upon the office of President. +He is another example of Liberian training. Born in Richmond, Va., in +1819, he was taken before his tenth year to Monrovia by his father. One +of the leading purposes of his administration was the establishment of +closer intercourse with the great tribes of the interior. These people, +the Mandingoes especially, were much further advanced in civilization +than the coast tribes, who formed a barricade between them and Liberia, +and offered determined opposition to any attempt to penetrate inland. +They feared to lose their advantageous position as middlemen, and +succeeded in keeping anything but the vaguest rumors about the interior +from reaching the colonists. In 1869 Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian +appointed by the Government, and provided with liberal financial aid by +a wealthy citizen of New York, accomplished an extremely interesting +journey to a point over 200 miles from the coast.[14] + +With great difficulty and the expense of a small fortune in presents to +captious and rapacious chiefs, he succeeded in making his way from point +to point along a course roughly corresponding to that of the St. Paul's +River. The route lay through dense forests, along paths worn by many +generations of native feet. The ascent was steady; at 100 miles from the +coast the elevation was 1,311 feet, and toward the end of the journey +it rose to 2,257 feet. All along the way the population was dense, and +showed a steady improvement in character, civilization and hospitality +as the coast was left behind. The object of his journey, Musardu, the +chief city of the Western Mandingoes, was at length reached, just on the +edge of the primeval forest. Beyond lies a vast plateau covered with +tall grass, showing here and there a solitary palm, and stretching away +to the head waters of the Niger. The climate is wholesome, the air +bracing, and the soil fertile. + +The city proved large and populous; the houses were small and of a +monotonous uniformity, bewilderingly placed without apparent +arrangement. The whole was surrounded with a huge mud wall, which served +not only as a defense against foes, but to keep out wild beasts, +especially elephants, herds of which were frequently seen near the town. +The inhabitants were strict Mussulmans, and were much further advanced +in civilization than even the most intelligent tribes through which he +had passed. They had an extensive commerce with the interior, caravans +coming from places as distant as Timbuctoo. Good horses were plentiful, +and there were evidences of the existence of valuable gold mines. +Anderson was received with profuse hospitality; they appeared to be +delighted with the idea of opening trade with Liberia, and promised +gold, ivory and various commodities in exchange for European goods. + +Another journey with the same general results was subsequently made by +another citizen, to Pulaka, about one hundred miles to the southeast of +Monrovia. These explorations are of great interest. They show the belt +of coast occupied by Liberia to be merely the entrance to a high and +healthful interior of great fertility and unlimited resources, over +which the Republic has power to expand indefinitely. + +President Payne's successor was Edward James Roye, who was duly +inaugurated January 3, 1870. Born in Newark, Ohio, in 1815, he had +passed through the public schools of his native town, afterwards +attending the college at Athens, Ohio, and Oberlin. He went to Liberia +in 1846, becoming a prosperous merchant and politician. From 1865 to +1868 he held the post of Chief Justice. Roye came into office at a time +when a rage for internal improvements possessed the country; and with +this spirit he was in full sympathy. His inaugural outlines a bold and +ambitious policy. The resources of the Treasury were entirely inadequate +to his extensive projects, and in an evil moment the Legislature passed +an Act authorizing the negotiation of a loan of $500,000. The loan was +placed in London on terms which netted only £85 per bond of £100, +redeemable at par in 15 years and bearing interest at 7 per cent. The +amount thus offered was further reduced by the requirement that the +first two years' interest should be paid in advance. From the remainder +were deducted various agents' commissions and fees, until at length the +principal reached Monrovia sadly reduced in amount,--not over $200,000. +And this soon disappeared without any visible result. It is an old +story; but in Liberia's case it was particularly disastrous. For with +her little revenue, rarely exceeding $100,000, it soon became impossible +to pay the $35,000 yearly interest on a debt for which she had +practically received not a single advantage. And this accumulating at +compound interest has reached a magnitude absolutely crushing. So +desperate is her financial condition that many believe inevitable the +fate which croaking prophets have long foretold, and against which she +has struggled bravely--absorption by England. + +Serious as were the more remote effects of the financial blunder just +considered, its immediate consequences brought upon the country a crisis +which might have resulted in civil war. Great dissatisfaction with the +negotiation of the loan prevailed. The Administration was severely +criticised; serious accusations were brought against it. While the +excitement was at fever heat matters were complicated by an attempt of +the Administration to prolong its hold of office, which precipitated the +threatened outbreak. For some years a Constitutional Amendment had been +under consideration, lengthening the term of President and members of the +Legislature. The measure had been submitted to the people, and twice +voted upon; but the result was a subject of dispute. Roye and his party +maintained that it had been duly carried and was a part of the organic +law of the land; and that as a consequence his term did not expire until +January, 1874. A proclamation was issued forbidding the coming biennial +elections to be held. + +This action at once aroused violent opposition. A strong party declared +that the amendment had not been carried; and in any event could not be +construed to apply to the present incumbent. The proclamation was +disregarded; the polls opened on the accustomed day; and the veteran +Joseph J. Roberts, aptly called the epitome of Liberian history, was +elected by large majorities. + +Far from being subdued by the decided expression of popular will Roye +and his supporters, with the spirit of the decemvirs of old, determined +to maintain power at any hazard. Roberts's election was declared +illegal, and of no effect. Throughout the summer the two parties stood +at daggers drawn. At length the increasing strength of the opposition +encouraged the thought of removing the President from office. The legal +method of impeachment seemed far too slow and uncertain for the temper +of the times. An excited convention was held in Monrovia, October 26, +1871, at which a "Manifesto" was adopted decreeing his deposition. A few +extracts disclose its character: + +"President Roye has, contrary to the Constitution, proclaimed himself +President for four years, although elected for only two years. + +"He has distributed arms and munitions of war, and has not ceased his +efforts to procure armed men to crush the liberties of the people. + +"He has contracted a foreign loan contrary to the law made and provided; +and without an act of appropriation by the Legislature he has with his +officers been receiving the proceeds of that loan. + +"Every effort to induce him to desist from his unconstitutional course +has been unavailing. Threats and entreaties have been alike lost upon +him. He has turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances from all the counties +of the Republic: + +"Therefore, on the 26th day of October in the year of our Lord 1871, and +in the twenty-fifth year of the Independence of the Republic, the +sovereign people of Liberia did by their resolutions in the city of +Monrovia, joined to the resolutions from the other counties of the +Republic, depose President E.J. Roye from his high office of President +of Liberia; and did decree that the Government shall be provisionally +conducted by a Chief Executive Committee of three members, and by the +chiefs of Departments until the arrival of the constitutional officer at +the seat of Government." + +Before the party of the Administration could recover from the shock of +this action, President Roye and his Secretaries of State and of the +Treasury were arrested and thrown into prison,--a _coup d'état_ which +made his opponents undisputed masters of the situation. The appointed +Committee took charge of affairs; the excitement died away with a +rapidity characteristic of Liberian politics, and in January, 1872, +Roberts was triumphantly inaugurated. Roye died in prison soon +afterward. + +A reign of peace and prosperity followed under Roberts, interrupted +toward the end of another term, to which he was elected, by a severe war +with the Grebo tribe near Cape Palmas. Limited space will prevent +detailed consideration of the later history of the Republic. Payne was +elected to a second term in 1876. A.W. Gardiner was Chief Executive for +three successive terms, from 1878-1884; and H.R.W. Johnson, a native +born Liberian, son of the famous pioneer Elijah Johnson, was made +President in 1884. The recent years of the Republic have not brought an +increased tide of immigration, nor any marked progress. The diminished +interest in colonization felt in the United States so crippled the +finances of the Society that few immigrants have been sent in the last +decade. That large numbers of Negroes are willing, even anxious to go, +is shown by the lists of the Society, which has adopted the policy of +aiding only those who can pay a part of their passage. Several instances +of the formation of societies among the Negroes themselves to provide +for their own transportation have occurred. In South Carolina the +"Liberia Joint Stock Steamship Company" was formed, which succeeded in +purchasing a vessel and sending over one expedition of 274 emigrants. +The company was unfortunate and failed financially before another +attempt could be made. In Arkansas a large secret Society for the same +object was formed, several hundred members of which made their way to +New York and prevailed upon the Colonization Society to give them +passage.[15] + +The culmination of a dispute with Great Britain over the north-western +boundary of Liberia is perhaps the most interesting topic of her recent +history. The boundaries of the Republic were never very definitely +marked out, as her territory grew by gradual settlement and purchase +from native chiefs. Even to-day there is no hard and fast interior +border line; the country extends back indefinitely from the coast, new +land being taken up as settlement proceeds. In 1849 the coast line +acquired in this way extended from the San Pedro River on the south-east +to Cape Mount, the extreme settlement on the north-west. Between 1849 +and 1852 various purchases were made from the natives covering some +fifty miles more of the north-western seaboard. These purchases extended +to She-Bar, very near Sherbro Island, and were confirmed by formal deeds +from chiefs of the local tribes. The conditions of the deeds bound +Liberia to establish schools in the districts ceded, and to guarantee +the protection, peace and safety of the natives. If now a few +settlements had been made in this territory all future trouble would +have been avoided; but all available energy was needed for intensive +development, and the newly acquired territory was left uncolonized. In +the course of time English traders established themselves within this +district, who refused to recognize Liberia's jurisdiction, and who +smuggled in large quantities of goods in bold defiance of the revenue +laws. As early as 1866 correspondence with the British Government was +opened; and Liberia's jurisdiction was more than once virtually +recognized. Matters were complicated by the outbreak of disturbances +among the natives, in quelling which the Republic was obliged to use +military force--a course which resulted in the destruction of property +belonging to the English traders. Claims were at once brought against +Liberia through the English Government to a large aggregate amount. +Holding Liberia liable for damages received in the territory was a +practical admission of her jurisdiction. Nothing was accomplished until +1871, when Lord Granville proposed to President Roye, who was then in +England, to compromise on the River Solyma as the limit of the Republic. +This is about the middle of the disputed territory. Roye weakly agreed, +and this agreement is known as the Protocol of 1871. It was not ratified +by the Senate. The tact of President Roberts staved off the crisis for +some time; but at length the English Foreign Office demanded a +settlement, and a commission of two from each State and an arbitrator +appointed by the President of the United States met on the ground. Every +possible delay and impediment was resorted to by the British +commissioners, who further refused to submit the points disputed to the +umpire. Of course, no agreement was reached. + +The situation remained unchanged until 1882. On March 20 four British +men-of-war silently entered the harbor, and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor +of Sierra Leone, came ashore. President Gardiner was intimidated into +acceding to the demand that the boundary should be fixed at the Manna +River, only fifteen miles from Cape Mount. But when this "Draft +Convention," as it was called, came before the Senate for ratification, +it was indignantly repudiated. At the next regular meeting of the +Legislature in December, a resolution refusing to ratify the Draft +Convention was passed, and a copy sent to Havelock. It elicited the +reply:-- + +"Her Majesty's Government cannot in any case recognize any rights on the +part of Liberia to any portions of the territories in dispute," followed +by the peremptory announcement that "Her Majesty's Government consider +that they are relieved from the necessity of delaying any longer to +ratify an agreement made by me with the Gallinas, Solyma, and Manna +River chiefs on the 30th of March, 1882, whereby they ceded to Her +Majesty the coast line of their territories up to the right bank of the +Manna River." + +Liberia made a last feeble effort. A "Protest" was drawn up and sent to +the various powers with whom she stood in treaty relations--of course, +without result. The President of the United States replied at once, +counselling acquiescence. Nothing else was possible. The Senate +authorized the President to accept the terms dictated, and the "Draft +Convention" was signed November 11, 1885. On April 26, 1888, Sir Samuel +Rowe visited Monrovia and formally exchanged ratifications. Thus once +more strength proved triumphant; Liberia's boundary was set at the Manna +River, and Sierra Leone, which had possessed but a few hills and swamps, +was given a valuable coast line. + + + + +VI. + +HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION. + + +Colonization has come to be looked upon with unmerited +indifference--with an apathy which its history and achievements surely +do not deserve. To some, perhaps the present condition of the Republic +seems a discouraging and inadequate return for the life and treasure +lavished upon it; for others, hoping for a bloodless and gradual +extinction of slavery, the Civil War carried away the chief element of +interest. Others still, who looked for a ready solution of the Negro +Problem in this country, have gradually lost heart in the face of the +increasing millions of the race. And so, some from one cause, some from +another, have lost interest in colonization and in Liberia, until a time +has come when few have more than the vaguest knowledge of these terms. +Sometimes the voice of contempt is heard; but this is always a proof of +ignorance. Liberia stands forth historically as the embodiment of a +number of ideas, efforts, principles, any one of which ought to secure +at the least our respect, if not our sympathy and enthusiasm. + + + + +1. _As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation_. + + +This thesis will doubtless meet with the most strenuous opposition; but +a careful and impartial study of the writings and addresses of those +most prominent in the movement will convince anyone of their profound +hope that colonization would eventually lead to the extinction of +slavery in the United States. It must be remembered that at the time of +the formation of the Society the pro-slavery feeling in the South was by +no means so strong as it became in later years, when the violence of +Abolition had fanned it to a white heat. Indeed, during the whole period +before 1832 there seems to have been a prevailing sentiment in favor of +emancipation--at least throughout Maryland, Virginia, and North +Carolina. But the condition of the free blacks was notoriously such that +the humane master hesitated to doom his slaves to it by emancipating +them. The colonizationist hoped, by offering to the free Negro an +attractive home in Africa, to induce conscientious masters everywhere to +liberate their slaves, and to give rise to a growing popular sentiment +condemning slavery, which would in time result in its extinction. Of +course there were those in the Society who would not have subscribed to +this doctrine; on the other hand, many held views much more radical. But +it is the men who formed and guided the Society, who wielded its +influence and secured its success, whose opinions must be regarded as +stamping its policy. + +The Constitution of the Society did not touch upon this subject. It was +needless to give unnecessary alarm or offense. But when in 1833 the +Maryland Society adopted its Constitution--a much larger and more +explicit one--the attitude taken is boldly announced: + +"Whereas the Maryland State Colonization Society desires to hasten as +far as they can the period when slavery shall cease to exist in +Maryland, and believing that this can best be done by advocating and +assisting the cause of colonization as the safest, truest and best +auxiliary of freedom under existing circumstances," etc. + +It may well be questioned whether such a plan would ever have succeeded: +but it must not too hastily be called chimerical. As a practical result +it secured the emancipation of several thousand slaves, many of whom +were supplied by former owners with money for transportation and +establishment in Africa. What further success it might have had was +prevented by the rise of the Abolition Movement. The intense +pro-slavery feeling which this stirred up in the South caused the +Colonization Society to be regarded with distrust and even active +hostility. It was accused of secretly undermining slavery and exciting +false hopes among the slaves. It was even said to foment discontent and +raise dangerous questions for sinister purposes, and was subjected to +bitter attack as "disguised Abolitionism." + +From the opposite extreme of opinion the Society suffered assault still +more violent. William Lloyd Garrison, in his intemperate zeal for +"immediate emancipation without expatriation," could see nothing but +duplicity and treachery in the motives of its adherents. His "Thoughts +on Colonization" hold up the movement to public odium as the sum of all +villainies, and in the columns of the _Liberator_ no insult or reproach +is spared. His wonderful energy and eloquence brought over to his camp a +number of the Society's friends, and enabled him in his English campaign +to exhibit it in a light so odious that he actually brought back a +protest signed by the most eminent anti-slavery men of that country. + +Assailed on one side and on the other the Society, as we have seen, +serenely pursued its course. Apparently it did not suffer. But it can +scarcely be doubted that its growth and expansion were seriously checked +by the cross-fire to which it was subjected. Among the negroes +themselves prejudices were industriously disseminated, and everything +was done to make them believe themselves duped and cheated. + +From these reasons colonization never reached the proportions hoped for +by those who looked to it for the gradual extinction of slavery. But we +should not fail to recognize in the movement an earnest and noble, if +too ambitious, effort to solve, without violence or bloodshed, a problem +only half disposed of by Lincoln's edict and the Fifteenth Amendment. + + + + +2. _As a Check to the Slave-Trade._ + + +The coast upon which the colony was established had for several hundred +years been one of the chief resorts of the slave dealers of the western +shores of Africa. Their "factories" were situated at numerous points on +both sides of the early settlements. The coast tribes, broken up and +demoralized by the traffic, waged ceaseless wars for the sole purpose of +obtaining for the trader a supply of his commodity. It was their only +means of getting supplies of the products and manufactures of +civilization; and, as we have seen, when they found the presence of the +newcomers an obstacle to their chief industry, they took up arms to +expel them. + +Until the year 1807 there was no restriction whatever on the traffic, +and the proportions which it reached, the horrors it entailed, are +almost incredible. Sir T.F. Buxton estimated on careful calculations +that the trade on the western coast resulted in a loss to Africa of +500,000 persons annually. At length the progress of humanity drove +England to declare war on the infamous traffic, and her cruisers plied +the length of the continent to prevent infractions of her decree. At +enormous expense the entire coast was put in a state of blockade. + +The result was mortifying. Instead of disappearing, the exportation of +slaves was found actually to increase, while the attending horrors were +multiplied. Small, swift cutters took the place of the roomy slave-ships +of older days, and the victims, hurriedly crowded into slave-decks but a +few feet high, suffered ten-fold torments on the middle passage from +inadequate supplies of food and water. + +The colonists, even in their early feebleness, set their face resolutely +against the slave trade: its repression was a cardinal principle. Their +first serious wars were waged on its account. Ashmun risked his life in +the destruction of the factories at New Cesters and elsewhere. The +slavers, warned by many encounters, forsook at first the immediate +neighborhood of the settlements, and, as the coast line was gradually +taken up, abandoned at length, after many a struggle, the entire region. +Six hundred miles of the coast was permanently freed from an inhuman and +demoralizing traffic that defied every effort of the British naval +force. Nor was this all. The natives were reconciled by the introduction +of a legitimate commerce which supplied all they had sought from the +sale of human beings. + +In still another way did the colony exercise a humane influence. Among +the natives exists a domestic slavery so cruel and barbarous that the +lot of the American plantation Negro seemed paradise in comparison. Life +and limb are held of such small value that severe mutilation is the +penalty of absurdly slight transgressions, or is imposed at the +arbitrary displeasure of the master, while more serious offenses are +punished by death in atrocious form: as when the victim is buried alive +with stakes driven through his quivering body.[16] The institution is of +course a difficult one to uproot. But among the natives in the more +thickly settled portions of the country it has ceased, and is mitigated +wherever the influence of the Government penetrates, while the number of +victims is greatly diminished by the cessation of inter-tribal warfare. + +In this way Liberia has proved, from the standpoint of humanity, +pre-eminently successful. + + + + +3. _As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa._ + + +George Whitefield is said to have declared to Oglethorpe when lamenting +his failure to exclude slavery from Georgia, that he was making a +mistake: the Africans were much better off as slaves than in their +native barbarism, and would receive a training that would enable them +ultimately to return and civilize the land of their nativity. In this +bold idea he anticipated one of the leading thoughts of the fathers of +colonization, and, perhaps prophesied, a great migration which the +world is yet to see. But to confine ourselves to the present and the +strictly practical--there is to the interior of Liberia, sweeping away +beyond the valley of the Niger, a country of teeming population and vast +resources. That this territory be opened to the commerce of the world, +and the blessings of civilization be conferred upon the people, it is +necessary that some impulse of enlightenment come from without. The +casual visit of the trader has been proved by experience to do vastly +more harm than good. Vice and demoralization have too often followed in +his track. The direction and instruction of European agents accomplish +little. The best efforts of all men of this class have resulted in an +unequal hand-to-hand fight with the deadly climate, in which no white +man can work and live. Besides, the natives need more than guidance; +they must have before them the example of a civilized settlement. + +It would be impossible to imagine a more ideal agent for accomplishing +this work than Liberia. True, its slow development has prevented it as +yet from penetrating to the most fruitful portion of the interior +district; but so far as it has gone the work has been wonderful. One +after another of the native chiefs has sought, with his people, +admission to the privileges of citizenship, agreeing to conform to the +laws of the country and abolish inconsistent aboriginal customs. The +schools are full of native children, while large numbers are distributed +in a sort of apprenticeship among Liberian families for training in the +arts of civilized life. The English language has become widely known. +More remote tribes, while retaining native customs, have entered into +agreements or treaties to abstain from war, to keep open roads and +routes of commerce, to protect travellers and missionaries and such +Liberians as may settle among them. This is in itself an advance; and in +addition various forms of knowledge, improved implements and methods of +agriculture must enter in and insensibly raise these tribes to a higher +plane. + +In reclaiming the natives lies a source of great future power for +Liberia. When immigration from the United States shall assume such +proportions that numbers of interior settlements can be made which shall +be radiating centres of civilization, the enormous potential energy of +native intelligence and labor will be brought to bear on the development +of the country with marvellous results. + + + + +4. _As a Missionary Effort_. + + +The attempts of the Christian Church to evangelize the western districts +of Africa constitute one of the saddest and most discouraging records of +history. From the first attempt of the Roman church in 1481, it has been +one continuous narrative of a futile struggle against disease and death. +A whole army of martyrs has gone bravely to its doom leaving no trace of +its sacrifice save unmarked and forgotten graves. It has indeed been a +bitter experience that has proved this work can be successfully +undertaken only by men of African blood, for whom the climate has no +terrors. And the superiority of an established Christian community to a +few isolated missionary stations requires no demonstration. From the +first the colonists were active in spreading a knowledge of the Gospel +among the natives. Lot Cary, one of the earliest emigrants, was an +earnest missionary, and besides efficient work at home he established +mission stations at Cape Mount and elsewhere. + +In 1826 four emissaries of the Basle Missionary College made Monrovia +their headquarters, and did some good work; but they soon succumbed to +the climate. The American churches of those denominations most largely +represented in Liberia--the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist and +Methodist--made strenuous efforts, and sent out a succession of +missionaries, most of whom fell victims to the fever. Later, after +learning the salutary lesson, they accomplished much through the +organization and direction of the work of Liberian missionaries. In +this way the gospel is safely and successfully propagated among the +natives. + +A foe more stubborn than paganism is to be met in the ranks of Islam. +There seems to be something in its teachings which renders the native a +ready convert. Its simplicity is readily understood; and it sanctions +the practices of polygamy and slave-holding to which he is accustomed. +Under the zealous proselytism of the Mandingoes the Mohammedan faith has +taken a strong hold on the interior, and is spreading rapidly to the +very doors of Liberia. Candor compels the admission that it brings with +it a marked improvement in the condition and intelligence of the +converts. Intemperance--which in many cases follows in the tracks of the +Christian merchant--disappears. A knowledge of Arabic is soon acquired +and the Koran is eagerly read and its principles put in practice. The +whole life of the convert is transformed, and he becomes in turn zealous +in the dissemination of the faith. The efforts of missionaries alone can +never stem this torrent; if any impression is to be made upon the +Mohammedan tribes it must be by the extension of Christian settlements +and civilization. + + + + +5. _As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing Competition +in America._ + + +It would be unnecessary to bring into review the causes that are +operating daily to make the conditions of earning a living in America +more difficult. However much or little credence we place in the +Malthusian theory of the increase of population, in the doctrine of +diminishing returns, or the iron law of wages, all thinking men are +agreed that the country is already entering upon a new era. The period +of expansion, of the taking up of new territory by the overflowing +population of the older districts, is practically ended; future +development will be intensive, the country will be more thickly settled, +and the sharpness of competition will be immeasurably increased. The +possibility of rising in life will be reduced to a minimum; and there +will exist a class, as in the older civilizations of Europe, who live, +and expect to see their children live, in a subordinate or inferior +relation, without the prospect of anything better. + +There may be under this new régime a number of occupations in which the +Negro, by contentedly accepting a subordinate position, may hold his +ground. Or the conditions of life may become so severe that a sharp +struggle for existence will leave in possession the race which shall +prove fittest to survive. To follow the train of thought would lead into +all the unsolved difficulties of the Negro Problem. But surely there +will be some among all the millions of the race who will become +dissatisfied with their life here. Some will aspire to higher things, +some will seek merely a field where their labor will meet an adequate +return; many will be moved by self-interest, a few by nobler motives. To +all these Liberia eagerly opens her arms. The pressure in America finds +an efficient safety-valve in the colonization of Africa. + +With such additions to her strength, the resources of Liberia will be +brought out and developed. Communication with America will be made +easier and cheaper. The toiling masses left behind will have before them +the constant example of numbers of their race living in comfort and +increasing prosperity under their own government. Many will become eager +to secure the same advantages, and gradually a migration will begin that +will carry hundreds of thousands from the house of bondage to the +promised land. + +It is absurd to declaim about "expatriation" and to declare such a +movement forced and unnatural. The whole course of history reveals men +leaving their homes under pressure of one cause or another, and striking +out into new fields. The western course of migration has reached its +uttermost limit, and the tide must turn in other directions. One vast +and rich continent remains; upon it the eyes of the world are fixed. +Already the aggressive Aryan has established himself wherever he can +gain a foothold; but the greater part of the country is forever barred +to him by a climate which he cannot subdue. + +To whom then can this rich territory offer greater inducements than to +the colored people of the United States? And what is more natural and +rational than that they, when the population of the country approaches +the migration point, should follow the line of least resistance and turn +their steps to the home of their forefathers. + + + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +The sources of information which proved most useful to the writer are: + +The Annual Reports of the A.C.S., together with the files of its +quarterly journal, the _African Repository_. + +Messages of Presidents of Liberia, and the Reports of Secretaries of +Treasury, War, and Navy. + +The Archives of the Maryland State Colonization Society, preserved by +the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. + + * * * * * + +KENNEDY: Colonization Report. + +ALEXANDER: History of Colonization. 1845. + +GURLEY: Report on Condition of Liberia. 1850. + +CARL RITTER: Begründung u. gegenwärtige Zustände der Negerrepublik +Liberia. 1852. + +ANDERSON: Narrative of a Journey to Musardu. 1870. + +LATROBE: Maryland in Liberia. 1885. + +WAUWERMANS: Libéria; Histoire de la Fondation d'un État nègre libre. +1885. + +SCHWARTZ: Einiges über das interne Leben der Eingebornen Liberias. +Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. 1887. + +--Die Neger-Republik Liberia. Das Ausland. 1888. + +BLYDEN: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. + +BÜTTIKOFER: Reisebilder aus Liberia. 1890. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: Letter to Philip A. Bruce, dated London, April 8, 1889.] + +[Footnote 2: James Ferguson, _Life of Hopkins_. Hopkins' Circular, +1793.] + +[Footnote 3: Jefferson, _Notes on Virginia_.] + +[Footnote 4: Kennedy's _Report_, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 5: A.C.S. Report for 1853, pp. 37-55.] + +[Footnote 6: The remarks of these gentlemen and others of similar views +have subjected the Society to many unjust attacks. Of course many would +join such a movement from mixed motives; but the guiding principles of +the Society itself have always been distinctly philanthropic.] + +[Footnote 7: Report of Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor, to the Secretary of +the Navy, August, 1830.] + +[Footnote 8: Ashmun.] + +[Footnote 9: These were eventually paid by the United States Government. +Kendall's Report to Secretary of Navy, December, 1830.] + +[Footnote 10: The outbreak of the Civil War ended the arrangement after +the third payment.] + +[Footnote 11: This singular petition is preserved in Minute Book No. 4 +of the M.S. C.S., p. 36.] + +[Footnote 12: Carl Ritter, who saw him in 1852, speaks of him as "den +edlen, hochgebildeten, erfahrenen, weisen, und der Rede sehr kundigen +Staatsman Wir (i.e., Ritter,) haben wiederholt seinen würdenvollen Reden +in den ersten Kreisen in London beigewohnt."] + +[Footnote 13: _Semi-Centennial Memorial_, p. 190.] + +[Footnote 14: B. Anderson, _Narrative of a Journey to Musardu_.] + +[Footnote 15: A.C. Reports of 1881 and 1882.] + +[Footnote 16: Anderson's _Journey to Musardu_.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Liberia, by J.H.T. McPherson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF LIBERIA *** + +***** This file should be named 11353-8.txt or 11353-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/5/11353/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joris Van Dael and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Liberia + Johns Hopkins University Studies In Historical And Political Science + +Author: J.H.T. McPherson + +Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11353] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF LIBERIA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joris Van Dael and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE + +HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor + +History is past Politics and Politics present History--_Freeman_ + +NINTH SERIES + +X + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA + +BY J.H.T. McPHERSON, Ph.D. + + + +_Fellow in History, Johns Hopkins University, 1889; Instructor in +History, University of Michigan, 1890; Professor of History and +Politics, University of Georgia, 1891._ + + * * * * * + +1891 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. INTRODUCTION + II. THE COLONIZATION IDEA +III. THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT + IV. MARYLAND IN LIBERIA + V. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + VI. THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION + 1. As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation + 2. As a Check to the Slave Trade + 3. As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa + 4. As a Missionary Effort + 5. As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing + Competition in America +AUTHORITIES + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + + +This paper claims to be scarcely more than a brief sketch. It is an +abridgment of a History of Liberia in much greater detail, presented as +a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Johns +Hopkins University. I have devoted the leisure hours of several years to +the accumulation of materials, which I hope will prove the basis of a +larger work in the future. + +J.H.T. McP. + +UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, June, 1891. + + + + +HISTORY OF LIBERIA. + + + + +I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There are but few more interesting spots in Africa than the little +corner of the west coast occupied by the Republic of Liberia. It has +been the scene of a series of experiments absolutely unique in +history--experiments from which we are to derive the knowledge upon +which we must rely in the solution of the weighty problems connected +with the development of a dark continent, and with the civilization of +hundreds of millions of the human race. Many questions have arisen which +have not been settled to our complete satisfaction. Is the Negro capable +of receiving and maintaining a superimposed civilization? Froude +declares that "the worst enemies of the blacks are those who persist in +pressing upon them an equality which nature has denied them. They may +attain it in time if they are fairly treated, but they can attain it +only on condition of going through the discipline and experience of +hundreds of years, through which the white race had to pass before it +was fit for political rights. If they are raised to a position for which +they are unqualified, they can only fall back into a state of +savagery."[1] Upon the truth or error of this view how much depends! It +is shared by many; some even believe that the condition of Liberia tends +to confirm it, thinking they discern signs of incipient decay. But the +great preponderance of opinion is on the other side. The weight of +evidence shows the colonists have at the lowest estimate retained the +civilization they took with them. Many maintain that there has been a +sensible advance. A recent traveller describes them as "in mancher +Hinsicht schon hypercultivirt." + +What might be called a third position is taken by one of the most +prominent writers of the race, E.W. Blyden, the widely-known President +of Liberia College. The radical difference in race and circumstance +must, he thinks, make African civilization essentially different from +European: not inferior, but different. The culture which the blacks have +acquired, or may attain in further contact with foreign influence, will +be used as a point of departure in future intelligent development along +lines following the characteristics of the race. This tendency to +differentiate he regards as natural and inevitable; it ought to be +recognized and encouraged in every way, that the time may be hastened +when a great negro civilization, unlike anything we have yet seen, shall +prevail in Africa and play its part in the world's history. + +If we make allowance for the errors and mistakes of an untrained and +inexperienced people, the history of Liberia may be regarded as a +demonstration of the capacity of the race for self-government. Upon the +capability of individuals is reflected the highest credit. The +opportunities for a rounded-out and fully developed culture afforded by +the peculiar conditions of life in the Republic produced a number of men +who deserve unqualified admiration. From the earliest days of the +colony, when Elijah Johnson upheld the courage of the little band in the +midst of hostile swarms of savages, to the steadfast statesmanship of +Russwurm and the stately diplomacy of Roberts, there have stood forth +individuals of a quality and calibre that fill with surprise those who +hold the ordinary opinion of the possibilities of the Negro. The trials +of the Republic have afforded a crucial test in which many a character +has shown true metal. It is not too much to assert that the very highest +type of the race has been the product of Liberia. + +There are other aspects in which our tropical offspring has for us a +vital interest. Perhaps the most important is the connection it will +have in the future with what is called the Negro Problem in our own +country. There have been and are thoughtful men who see in colonization +the only solution of its difficulties. Others ridicule the very +suggestion. It is a question into which we do not propose to go. But +there is scarcely any doubt that when the development of Liberia is a +little more advanced, and when communication with her ports becomes less +difficult, and when the population of the United States grows more dense +and presses more upon the limits of production, there will be a large +voluntary migration of negroes to Africa. And no one will deny that the +existence of a flourishing Republic of the black race just across the +Atlantic will react powerfully upon all questions relating to our own +colored population. + +But let us not venture too deeply into this theme. Another claim of +Liberia upon the sympathetic interest of the entire people, is that it +represents our sole attempt at colonial enterprise. It is true the +movement was largely individual, but the effort came from a widespread +area of the country; moreover, the part played by the National +Government was not only important, but essential. Without its friendly +intervention, the plan could never have been carried out. The action +carries with it some responsibility. The United States might well +exercise some protective care, might now and then extend a helping hand, +and let the aggressive Powers of Europe see that Liberia is not +friendless, and that encroachment upon her territory will not be +tolerated. + +A few words upon the topography of the country and upon the aborigines +may not be out of place. Liberia is by no means the dreary waste of sand +and swamp that some imagine it. The view from the sea has been +described as one of unspeakable beauty and grandeur. From the low-lying +coast the land rises in a terraced slope--a succession of hills and +plateaux as far as the eye can reach, all covered with the dense +perennial verdure of the primeval forest. Perhaps the best authority on +the natural features of the country is the zooelogist of the Royal Museum +of Leyden, J. Buettikofer, who has made Liberia several visits and spent +several years in its scientific exploration. The account of his +investigations is most interesting. Small as is the area of the country +all kinds of soil are represented, and corresponding to this variety is +a remarkably rich and varied flora. Amidst this luxuriance is found an +unusually large number of products of commercial value. Cotton, indigo, +coffee, pepper, the pineapple, gum tree, oil palm, and many others grow +wild in abundance, while a little cultivation produces ample crops of +rice, corn, potatoes, yams, arrowroot, ginger, and especially sugar, +tobacco, and a very superior grade of coffee. The fertility of the soil +renders possible the production of almost any crop. + +The fauna of the land is scarcely less remarkable in variety and +abundance. The larger animals, including domestic cattle and horses, do +not thrive on the coast, but are plentiful farther inland. On the +Mandingo Plateau, elephants are not uncommon. Buffaloes, leopards, +tigers, antelopes, porcupines, the great ant-eater, divers species of +monkeys, and numerous other animals are found, besides many varieties of +birds. + +The native Africans inhabiting this territory are probably more than a +million in number, and belong to several different stocks of somewhat +varying characteristics. The most common type is of medium size, well +formed, coal-black in color and rather good-looking. They are +intelligent and easily taught, but are extremely indolent. Their +paganism takes the form of gross superstition, as seen in their constant +use of gree-gree charms and in their sassa-wood ordeal. Like all the +races of Africa, they are polygamists; and as the women manage the farms +and do nearly all the work, a man's wealth and importance are often +estimated by the number of his wives. Domestic slavery is universal +among them, the great majority of slaves being obtained by capture in +war. These inter-tribal wars were once almost constant, and their +prevention requires the utmost vigilance of the Liberian authorities. + +The natives harvest rice and cassada; supply the coasting trader's +demand for palm-oil; raise tobacco; procure salt by evaporating +sea-water; engage in hunting and fishing. They carry on a number of rude +industries such as the manufacture of basket-work, hats, mats, +fish-nets; a crude sort of spinning and weaving. Iron ore exists in +abundance, and the natives have long known how to smelt it and obtain +the metal, from which they manufacture rude weapons, spurs, bits, +stirrups and kitchen utensils. The cheapness of imported iron ware has +driven out this interesting art on the coast; but in the interior it is +still practised by the Mandingoes, who are also fine goldsmiths, and +manufacture highly ornamented rings. There are also silversmiths among +the Veys, who do good work. The leather industry, too, has been carried +to some perfection. + +With all their disadvantages the natives seem to extract a good deal of +enjoyment out of existence. They are very fond of singing and dancing to +the rude strains of a drum and harp, and usually prolong their revelries +far into the night. + +Taken as a whole, the native character has many fine traits; and from +the civilization and development of this part of her population, Liberia +has much to hope. + + + + +II. + +THE COLONIZATION IDEA. + + +It is always a most interesting part of historic inquiry to search out +the very earliest sources, the first feeble germ of the idea whose +development we are investigating. It is difficult to decide from what +one origin can be traced the continuous development of the idea which +resulted in the birth of Liberia; but toward the close of the last +century there arose a number of projects, widely differing in object and +detail, which bore more or less directly upon it, each of which may be +said to have contributed some special feature to the fully rounded and +developed plan. + +The earliest of these sprang from the once notorious hot-bed of +slavery--Newport, R.I. As early as 1773 the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, then +widely known as a theological writer, and responsible for the system +termed Hopkinsianism, conceived the idea of a missionary effort in +Africa, undertaken by natives properly trained in the United States.[2] +This at first did not include the conception of a permanent settlement; +but on consultation with the Rev. Ezra Styles, afterward President of +Yale, it developed into a definite plan for a colony. The scheme proved +popular; it was widely advertised by sermons and circulars both in this +and the mother country; and by 1776 funds had been collected, Negro +students placed under suitable instruction at Princeton, and success +seemed almost assured. The outbreak of the Revolution, however, swept +away all the thought of carrying Hopkins' cherished enterprise into +execution, and after peace was restored his most strenuous efforts +failed to arouse the old interest. Later thinkers, however, found +suggestion and encouragement in his labors. + +The colony founded at Sierra Leone by English philanthropists drew in +part its inspiration from Hopkins' idea, and in turn suggested later +American plans. After the celebrated decision of Lord Mansfield in the +Somerset case (1772), many slaves escaped to England, where they +congregated in the dens of London in helpless poverty and misery. James +Ramsay's essay on Slavery soon turned public attention to the Negro, and +Dr. Smeathman's letters suggested quite a scheme of colonization. A +movement in behalf of the oppressed race asserted itself at the +University of Cambridge, in which Clarkson, Wilberforce, Granville Sharp +and others took part. As a result of these efforts some four hundred +Negroes and sixty whites were landed at Sierra Leone in May, 1787. +Disease and disorder were rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived. The +Sierra Leone Company was then incorporated; some 1,200 colonists from +the Bahamas and Nova Scotia were taken over, and the settlement in spite +of discouraging results was kept up by frequent reinforcements until +1807, when it was made a Government colony and naval station. Its growth +in population and commerce has since steadily increased, and it now +numbers some 60,000 persons chiefly concentrated in the city of +Freetown, and all blacks save one or two hundred. + +It may be as well to mention here two other sporadic attempts to lead +colored colonists to Africa. In 1787 the gifted and erratic Dr. Wm. +Thornton proposed himself to become the leader of a body of Rhode Island +and Massachusetts colonists to Western Africa; he appears to have been +in communication with Hopkins on the subject a year later, but the +effort fell through for want of funds. The other is much later. Paul +Cuffee, the son of a well-to-do Massachusetts freedman, had become by +his talents and industry a prosperous merchant and ship-owner. +Stimulated by the colony at Sierra Leone, and longing to secure liberty +to his oppressed race, he determined to transport in his own vessels, +and at his own expense, as many as he could of his colored brethren. +Accordingly, in 1815, he sailed from Boston with about forty, whom he +landed safely at Sierra Leone. He was about to take over on a second +voyage a much larger number, when his benevolent designs were +interrupted by death. + +It will be observed that the colonization plans hitherto unfolded had +all been proposed for some missionary or similar benevolent object, and +were to be carried out on a small scale and by private means. It is now +time to consider one proposed from a widely different standpoint. As a +political measure, as a possible remedy for the serious evils arising +from slavery and the contact of races, it is not surprising to find +Thomas Jefferson suggesting a plan of colonization. The evils of slavery +none ever saw more clearly. "The whole commerce between master and +slave," he quaintly says, "is a perpetual exercise of the most +boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and +degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this and learn to +imitate it." And again, "With what execration should the statesman be +loaded, who, permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample on the +rights of the other, transforms these into despots and those into +enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriae of +the other.... I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is +just."[3] Yet his equally clear perception of the evils sure to result +from emancipation immediate and unqualified, makes him look to +colonization as the only remedy. "Why not retain and incorporate the +blacks into the state?" he asks, "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by +the whites, ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries +they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which +nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into +parties and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the +extermination of the one or the other race." After the lapse of a +century how prophetic these words sound! Jefferson believed then that by +colonization slavery was to be abolished. All slaves born after a +certain date were to be free; these should remain with their parents +till a given age, after which they should be taught at public expense +agriculture and the useful arts. When full-grown they were to be +"colonized to such a place as the circumstances of the time should +render most proper, sending them out with arms, implements of the +household and handicraft arts, pairs of the useful domestic animals, +etc.; to declare them a free and independent people, and extend to them +our alliance and protection till they have acquired strength." + +Such in outline was Jefferson's contribution to the colonization idea. +Its influence was unquestionably great: the "Notes on Virginia," +privately circulated after 1781, and at length published in 1787, went +through eight editions before 1800, and must have been familiar to +nearly all of those concerned in the formation of the Colonization +Society. + +Clearer still must the details of Jefferson's project have been in the +minds of the members of the Virginia Legislature in 1800, when, after +the outbreak of a dangerous slave conspiracy in Richmond, they met in +secret session to consult the common security. The resolution which they +reached shows unmistakably Jefferson's influence. With the delicate if +somewhat obscure periphrasis in which legislation concerning the Negro +was traditionally couched, they enacted: "That the Governor be requested +to correspond with the President of the United States on the subject of +purchasing lands without the limits of this State whither persons +obnoxious to the laws or dangerous to the peace of society may be +removed."[4] An interesting correspondence ensued between Monroe, who +was then Governor, and Jefferson. Both regarded the idea as something +far more important than a mere penal colony. Monroe, too, saw in it a +possible remedy for the evils of slavery, and refers to the matter as +"one of great delicacy and importance, involving in a peculiar degree +the future peace, tranquillity, and happiness" of the country. After +much discussion Africa was selected as the only appropriate site, and +approved by another Act of the Legislature. Jefferson lost no time in +attempting to secure land for the colony, but his efforts met with no +success. After a discouraging repulse from Sierra Leone, and the failure +of several half-hearted attempts to obtain a footing elsewhere, the +whole matter was allowed to sink into abeyance. For years a pall of +secrecy concealed the scheme from public knowledge. + +In the meantime a new private movement toward colonization was started +at the North. Samuel J. Mills organized at Williams College, in 1808, +for missionary work, an undergraduate society, which was soon +transferred to Andover, and resulted in the establishment of the +American Bible Society and Board of Foreign Missions. But the topic +which engrossed Mills' most enthusiastic attention was the Negro. The +desire was to better his condition by founding a colony between the Ohio +and the Lakes; or later, when this was seen to be unwise, in Africa. On +going to New Jersey to continue his theological studies, Mills succeeded +in interesting the Presbyterian clergy of that State in his project. Of +this body one of the most prominent members was Dr. Robert Finley. Dr. +Finley succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever +called to consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa. +Although supported by few save members of the seminary, Dr. Finley felt +encouraged to set out for Washington in December, 1816, to attempt the +formation of a colonization society. + +Earlier in this same year there had been a sudden awakening of Southern +interest in colonization. Toward the end of February, Gen. Charles +Fenton Mercer accidentally had his attention called to the Secret +Journals of the Legislature for the years 1801-5.[5] He had been for six +years a member of the House of Delegates, in total ignorance of their +existence. He at once investigated and was rewarded with a full +knowledge of the Resolutions and ensuing correspondence between Monroe +and Jefferson. Mercer's enthusiasm was at once aroused, and he +determined to revive the Resolutions at the next meeting of the +Legislature. In the meantime, imputing their previous failure to the +secrecy which had screened them from public view, he brought the whole +project conspicuously into notice. At the next session of the +Legislature, in December, resolutions embodying the substance of the +secret enactments were passed almost unanimously in both houses. Public +attention had been in this way already brought to bear upon the +advantages of Colonization when Finley set on foot the formation of a +society in Washington. The interest already awakened and the +indefatigable efforts of Finley and his friend Col. Charles Marsh, at +length succeeded in convening the assembly to which the Colonization +Society owes its existence. It was a notable gathering. Henry Clay, in +the absence of Bushrod Washington, presided, setting forth in glowing +terms the object and aspirations of the meeting. Finley's +brother-in-law, Elias B. Caldwell was Secretary, and supplied the +leading argument, an elaborate plea, setting forth the expediency of the +project and its practicability in regard to territory, expense, and the +abundance of willing colonists. The wide benevolent objects to be +attained were emphasized. John Randolph of Roanoke, and Robert Wright of +Maryland, dwelt upon the desirability of removing the turbulent +free-negro element and enhancing the value of property in slaves.[6] +Resolutions organizing the Society passed, and committees appointed to +draft a Constitution and present a memorial to Congress. At an adjourned +meeting a week later the constitution was adopted, and on January 1, +1817, officers were elected. + + + + +III. + +THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT. + + +With commendable energy the newly organized Society set about the +accomplishment of the task before it. Plans were discussed during the +summer, and in November two agents, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer +Burgess, sailed for Africa to explore the western coast and select a +suitable spot. They were cordially received in England by the officers +of the African Institution, and by Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, who provided them with letters to Sierra Leone. Here they +arrived in March, 1818, and were hospitably received, every facility +being afforded them to prosecute their inquiries, though marked +unwillingness to have a foreign colony established in the vicinity was +not concealed. Their inspection was carried as far south as Sherbro +Island, where they obtained promises from the natives to sell land to +the colonists on their arrival with goods to pay for it. In May they +embarked on the return voyage. Mills died before reaching home. His +colleague made a most favorable report of the locality selected, though, +as the event proved, it was a most unfortunate one. + +After defraying the expenses of this exploration the Society's treasury +was practically empty. It would have been most difficult to raise the +large sum necessary to equip and send out a body of emigrants; and the +whole enterprise would have languished and perhaps died but for a new +impelling force. Monroe, who ever since his correspondence with +Jefferson in 1800, had pondered over "the vast and interesting objects" +which colonization might accomplish, was now by an interesting chain of +circumstances enabled to render essential aid. + +Though the importation of slaves had been strictly prohibited by the Act +of Congress of March 2, 1807, no provision had been made for the care of +the unfortunates smuggled in in defiance of the Statute. They became +subject to the laws of the State in which they were landed; and these +laws were in some cases so devised that it was profitable for the dealer +to land his cargo and incur the penalty. The advertisements of the sale +of such a cargo of "recaptured Africans" by the State of Georgia drew +the attention of the Society and of Gen. Mercer in particular to this +inconsistent and abnormal state of affairs. His profound indignation +shows forth in the Second Annual Report of the Society, in which the +attention of the public is earnestly drawn to the question; nor did he +rest until a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives +designed to do away with the evil. This bill became a law on March 3, +1819. + +Provision was made for a more stringent suppression of the slave trade: +new cruisers were ordered and bounties awarded for captures; but the +clause which proved so important to the embryo colony was that dealing +with the captured cargoes: + +"The President of the United States is hereby authorized to make such +regulations and arrangements as he may deem expedient for the +safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits of the United +States, of all such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color as may be so +delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and to appoint a proper +person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa as agent or agents +for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, delivered +from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave trade by +commanders of the United States armed vessels." The sum of $100,000 was +appropriated for carrying out the provisions of the Act. President +Monroe determined to construe it as broadly as possible in aid of the +project of colonization. After giving Congress, in his message, +December 20, 1818, fair notice of his intention, no objection being +made, he proceeded to appoint two agents, the Rev. Samuel Bacon, already +in the service of the Colonization Society, and John P. Bankson as +assistant, and to charter the ship Elizabeth. The agents were instructed +to settle on the coast of Africa, with a tacit understanding that the +place should be that selected by the Colonization Society; they were to +provide accommodations sufficient for three hundred, supplying +provisions, clothing, tools, and implements. It is important to note the +essential part taken by the Government in the establishment of the +colony, for this is often said to be purely the result of private +enterprise; the inference tending to free the United States from any +responsibility for the protection of its feeble offspring. It is true +according to the letter, that the Government agency was separate from +the colony: the agents were instructed "to exercise no power founded on +the principle of colonization, or other principle than that of +performing benevolent offices;" and again, "you are not to connect your +agency with the views or plans of the Colonization Society, with which, +under the law, the Government of the United States has no concern," Yet +as a matter of fact the agency and colony were practically identical; +and for years the resources of the Government were employed "to colonize +recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them with +farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase ships +for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to supply +them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard them, and +to employ the army and navy in their defence,"[7] These words of one +unfriendly to the colony forcibly show the extent to which our national +government was responsible for the experiment. + +When the Elizabeth was chartered the Society was notified that the +Government agency was prepared to transport their first colonists; or +more literally "agreed to receive on board such free blacks recommended +by the Society as might be required for the purpose of the agency." For +the expenses of the expedition $33,000 was placed in the hands of Mr. +Bacon. Dr. Samuel A. Crozier was appointed by the Society as its agent +and representative; and eighty-six negroes from various +states--thirty-three men, eighteen women, and the rest children, were +embarked. On the 6th of February, 1820, the Mayflower of Liberia weighed +anchor in New York harbor, and, convoyed by the U.S. sloop-of-war Cyane, +steered her course toward the shores of Africa. The pilgrims were kindly +treated by the authorities at Sierra Leone, where they arrived on the +ninth of March; but on proceeding to Sherbro Island they found the +natives had reconsidered their promise, and refused to sell them land. +While delayed by negotiations the injudicious nature of the site +selected was disastrously shown. The low marshy ground and the bad water +quickly bred the African fever, which soon carried off all the agents +and nearly a fourth of the emigrants. The rest, weakened and +disheartened were soon obliged to seek refuge at Sierra Leone. + +In March, 1821, a body of twenty-eight new emigrants under charge of +J.B. Winn and Ephraim Bacon, reached Freetown in the brig Nautilus. Winn +collected as many as he could of the first company, also the stores sent +out with them, and settled the people in temporary quarters at Fourah +Bay, while Bacon set out to explore the coast anew and secure suitable +territory. An elevated fertile and desirable tract was at length +discovered between 250 and 300 miles S.E. of Sierra Leone. This was the +region of Cape Montserado. It seemed exactly suited to the purposes of +the colonists, but the natives refused to sell their land for fear of +breaking up the traffic in slaves; and the agent returned discouraged. +Winn soon died, and Bacon returned to the United States. In November, +Dr. Eli Ayres was sent over as agent, and the U.S. schooner Alligator, +commanded by Lieutenant Stockton, was ordered to the coast to assist in +obtaining a foothold for the colony. Cape Montserado was again visited; +and the address and firmness of Lieutenant Stockton accomplished the +purchase of a valuable tract of land. + +The cape upon which the settlers proposed to build their first +habitations consists of a narrow peninsula or tongue of land formed by +the Montserado River, which separates it from the mainland. Just within +the mouth of the river lie two small islands, containing together less +than three acres. To these, the Plymouth of Liberia, the colonists and +their goods were soon transported. But again the fickle natives repented +the bargain, and the settlers were long confined to "Perseverance +Island," as the spot was aptly named. Space forbids entering on the +interesting details of the difficulties they successfully encountered. +After a number of thrilling experiences the emigrants, on April 25, +1822, formally took possession of the cape, where they had erected rude +houses for themselves; and from this moment we may date the existence of +the colony. Their supplies were by this time sadly reduced; the natives +were hostile and treacherous; fever had played havoc with the colonists +in acclimating; and the incessant downpour of the rainy season had set +in. Dr. Ayres became thoroughly discouraged, and proposed to lead them +back to Sierra Leone. Then it was that Elijah Johnson, an emigrant from +New York, made himself forever famous in Liberian history by declaring +that he would never desert the home he had found after two years' weary +quest! His firmness decided the wavering colonists; the agents with a +few faint-hearted ones sailed off to America; but the majority remained +with their heroic Negro leader. The little band, deserted by their +appointed protectors, were soon reduced to the most dire distress, and +must have perished miserably but for the arrival of unexpected relief. +The United States Government had at last gotten hold of some ten +liberated Africans, and had a chance to make use of the agency +established for them at so great an expense. They were accordingly sent +out in the brig Strong under the care of the Rev. Jehudi Ashmun. A +quantity of stores and some thirty-seven emigrants sent by the +Colonization Society completed the cargo. Ashmun had received no +commission as agent for the colony, and expected to return on the +Strong; under this impression his wife had accompanied him. But when he +found the colonists in so desperate a situation he nobly determined to +remain with them at any sacrifice. He visited the native chiefs and +found them, under cover of friendly promises, preparing for a deadly +assault on the little colony. There was no recourse but to prepare for a +vigorous defense. Twenty-seven men were capable of bearing arms; and one +brass and five iron fieldpieces, all dismantled and rusty, formed his +main hope. Ashmun at once set to work, and with daily drills and +unremitting labor in clearing away the forest and throwing up +earthworks, succeeded at last in putting the settlement in a reasonable +state of defense. It was no easy task. The fatiguing labor, incessant +rains, and scanty food predisposed them to the dreaded fever. Ashmun +himself was prostrated; his wife sank and died before his eyes; and soon +there was but one man in the colony who was not on the sick-list. At +length the long-expected assault was made. Just before daybreak on the +11th of November the settlement was approached by a body of over eight +hundred African warriors. Stealthily following the pickets as they +returned a little too early from their watch, the savages burst upon the +colony and with a rush captured the outworks. A desperate conflict +ensued, the issue of which hung doubtful until the colonists succeeded +in manning their brass field-piece, which was mounted upon a raised +platform, and turning it upon the dense ranks of the assailants. The +effect at such short range was terrible. "Every shot literally spent its +force in a solid mass of living human flesh. Their fire suddenly +terminated. A savage yell was raised, ... and the whole host +disappeared."[8] The victory had been gained at a cost of four killed +and as many seriously wounded. Ammunition was exhausted; food had given +out. Another attack, for which the natives were known to be preparing, +could scarcely fail to succeed. Before it was made, however, an English +captain touched at the cape and generously replenished their stores. On +the very next evening, November 30, the savages were seen gathering in +large numbers on the cape, and toward morning a desperate attack was +made on two sides at once. The lines had been contracted, however, and +all the guns manned, and the well-directed fire of the artillery again +proved too much for native valor. The savages were repulsed with great +loss. The unusual sound of a midnight cannonade attracted the Prince +Regent, an English colonial schooner laden with military stores and +having on board the celebrated traveller Captain Laing, through whose +mediation the natives were brought to agree to a peace most advantageous +to the colonists. When the Prince Regent sailed, Midshipman Gordon, with +eleven British sailors volunteered to remain, to assist the exhausted +colonists and guarantee the truce. His generosity met an ill requital; +within a month he had fallen victim to the climate with eight of the +brave seamen. Supplies were again running low, when March brought the +welcome arrival of the U.S. ship Cyane. Captain R.T. Spence at once +turned his whole force to improving the condition of the colonists. +Buildings were erected, the dismantled colonial schooner was raised and +made sea-worthy, and many invaluable services were rendered, until at +length a severe outbreak of the fever among the crew compelled the +vessel's withdrawal. It was too late, however, to prevent the loss of +forty lives, including the lieutenant, Richard Dashiell, and the +surgeon, Dr. Dix. + +On the 24th of May, 1823, the brig Oswego arrived with sixty-one new +emigrants and a liberal supply of stores and tools, in charge of Dr. +Ayres, who, already the representative of the Society, had now been +appointed Government Agent and Surgeon. One of the first measures of the +new agent was to have the town surveyed and lots distributed among the +whole body of colonists. Many of the older settlers found themselves +dispossessed of the holdings improved by their labor, and the colony was +soon in a ferment of excitement and insurrection. Dr. Ayres, finding his +health failing, judiciously betook himself to the United States. + +The arrival of the agent had placed Mr. Ashmun in a false position of +the most mortifying character. It will be remembered that in sympathy +for the distress of the colony he had assumed the position of agent +without authority. In the dire necessity of subsequent events he had +been compelled to purchase supplies and ammunition in the Society's +name. He now found, himself superseded in authority, his services and +self-sacrifice unappreciated, his drafts[9] dishonored, his motives +distrusted. Nothing could show more strongly his devotion and +self-abnegation than his action in the present crisis. Seeing the colony +again deserted by the agent and in a state of discontent and confusion, +he forgot his wrongs and remained at the helm. Order was soon restored +but the seeds of insubordination remained. The arrival of 103 emigrants +from Virginia on the Cyrus, in February 1824, added to the difficulty, +as the stock of food was so low that the whole colony had to be put on +half rations. This necessary measure was regarded by the disaffected as +an act of tyranny on Ashmun's part; and when shortly after the complete +prostration of his health compelled him to withdraw to the Cape De Verde +Islands, the malcontents sent home letters charging him with all sorts +of abuse of power, and finally with desertion of his post! The Society +in consternation applied to Government for an expedition of +investigation, and the Rev. R.R. Gurley, Secretary of the Society, and +an enthusiastic advocate of colonization was despatched in June on the +U.S. schooner Porpoise. The result of course revealed the probity, +integrity and good judgment of Mr. Ashman; and Gurley became +thenceforth his warmest admirer. As a preventive of future discontent a +Constitution was adopted at Mr. Gurley's suggestion, giving for the +first time a definite share in the control of affairs to the colonists +themselves. Gurley brought with him the name of the colony--Liberia, and +of its settlement on the Cape--Monrovia, which had been adopted by the +Society on the suggestion of Mr. Robert Goodloe Harper of Maryland. He +returned from his successful mission in August leaving the most cordial +relations established throughout the colony. + +Gurley's visit seemed to mark the turning of the tide, and a period of +great prosperity now began. Relay after relay of industrious emigrants +arrived; new land was taken up; successful agriculture removed all +danger of future failure of food supply; and a flourishing trade was +built up at Monrovia. Friendly relations were formed with the natives, +and their children taken for instruction into colonial families and +schools. New settlements were formed; churches and schools appeared; an +efficient militia was organized; printing presses set up and hospitals +erected. On every side rapid progress was made. After years of +illustrious service Ashmun retired to his home in New Haven, where he +died a few days later, on August 25, 1828. Under Dr. Richard Randall and +Dr. Mechlin, who successively filled his post, the prosperity of the +colony continued undiminished. + +The decade after 1832 is marked by the independent action of different +State colonization societies. At first generally organized as tributary +to the main body, the State societies now began to form distinct +settlements at other points on the coast. The Maryland Society first +started an important settlement at Cape Palmas, of which we shall make a +special study. Bassa Cove was settled by the joint action of the New +York and Pennsylvania Societies; Greenville, on the Sinou river, by +emigrants from Mississippi; and the Louisiana Society engaged in a +similar enterprise. The separate interests of the different settlements +at length began in many cases to engender animosity and bad feeling; the +need of general laws and supervision was everywhere apparent; and a +movement toward a federal union of the colonies was set on foot. A plan +was at length agreed upon by all except Maryland, by which the colonies +were united into the "Commonwealth of Liberia," whose government was +controlled by a Board of Directors composed of Delegates from the State +societies. This board at its first meeting drew up a plan of government, +and Thomas Buchanan was appointed first Governor of the Commonwealth, +1837. The advantages of the union were soon apparent. The more +aggressive native tribes with whom not a little trouble had been +experienced, were made to feel the strength of the union; and many of +the smaller head-men voluntarily put themselves under the protection of +the Government, agreeing to become citizens, with all their subjects, +and submit to its laws. The traffic in slaves all along the coast was +checked, inter-tribal warfare prevented, and trial by the sassa-wood +ordeal abolished wherever colonial influence extended. Mr. Buchanan was +the last white man who exercised authority in Liberia. On his death the +Lieutenant-Governor, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, succeeded him. Roberts, who +afterward became Liberia's most distinguished citizen, was a Virginia +Negro, having been born at Norfolk in 1809, and brought up near +Petersburg. He obtained a rudimentary education while running a +flat-boat on the James and Appomattox Rivers. In 1829 he went with his +widowed mother and younger brothers to Liberia, where he rapidly rose to +wealth and distinction. As Governor he evinced an efficient +statesmanship that promised well for his future career. + +Roberts had not long been governor when trouble arose with the British +coast-wise traders that gave rise to a most interesting crisis. The +Liberian Government in regulating commerce within its jurisdiction had +enacted laws imposing duties on all imported goods. The English traders, +accustomed for hundreds of years to unrestricted traffic on this very +coast, were indignant at the presumption of the upstart colony, and +ignored its regulations. The Government protested, but in vain. And at +length the little colonial revenue schooner John Seyes, while +attempting to enforce the laws at Edina, was actually seized by the +stalwart Britisher and dragged before the Admiralty Court at Sierra +Leone. A long discussion which would be profitless to follow in detail, +ensued. The result was, that the John Seyes was confiscated. The British +Government opened a correspondence with the United States, in which it +was ascertained that Liberia was not in political dependence upon them. +Whereupon the sovereignty of Liberia was promptly denied, her right to +acquire or hold territory questioned, and she was given to understand +that the operations of British traders would in future be backed by the +British navy. + +Evidently if Liberia was to maintain and govern her territory something +must be done. The Colonization Society while claiming for Liberia the +right to exercise sovereign powers, seems to have had the unacknowledged +conviction, that England's position, however ungenerous, was logically +unassailable. The supreme authority wielded by the Society, its veto +power over legislative action, was undoubtedly inconsistent with the +idea of a sovereign state. This is clearly apparent from the fact that +though there was pressing necessity for a treaty with England, neither +the colony nor the Society had power to negotiate it. It was accordingly +determined to surrender all control over the colony; and the "people of +the Commonwealth of Liberia" were "advised" by the Society "to undertake +the whole work of self-government;" to make the necessary amendments to +their Constitution, and to declare their full sovereignty to the world. + +The suggestion was adopted in Liberia by popular vote, and a convention +met on July 26, 1847, adopted a Declaration of Independence and a new +Constitution, closely modelled on the corresponding documents of the +United States. In September the Constitution was ratified by vote of the +people. Governor Roberts was elected to the office of President, upon +which he entered January 3, 1848. His inaugural address is one of +remarkable interest, fitly proclaiming to the world a new Republic. + + + + +IV. + +MARYLAND IN LIBERIA. + + +The widespread interest awakened by the actual establishment of a +permanent colony at Monrovia led to the formation of a number of State +Colonization Societies, at first purely auxiliary to the central body, +but later in some cases independent. The foundation of independent +settlements at Bassa Cove and Sinou by the New York, Pennsylvania and +Mississippi Societies, and their union in 1837 into the Commonwealth, +has been considered. A much more important colony was founded by +Maryland at Cape Palmas, which for years maintained its independence. + +In 1831, the Maryland State Colonization Society was formed. Active +interest in the movement had long been felt in the State, and it +scarcely needed the eloquence of Robert Finley, son of the old champion +of colonization, who visited Baltimore in that year, to awaken +enthusiasm. The Society had hardly been formed when ample funds were +provided in an unexpected way. In August, 1831, a tragic Negro uprising +took place in Virginia, in which some sixty-five white men, women and +children were murdered. The Southampton Massacres were attributed +largely to the instigation of the troublesome free-Negro element, and +the growing sentiment in favor of emancipation was abruptly checked. The +Maryland Legislature, sharing the general excitement, passed in December +a resolution which became law in March, and proved to the State Society +what the Act of March 3, 1819, was to the main organization. The +connection was more explicit. Three members of the Society were to be +appointed Commissioners to remove _all_ free Negroes to Liberia. The sum +of $20,000 in the current year, and of $10,000 in each succeeding year, +for a period of twenty years, was devoted to the purpose. Any free Negro +refusing to emigrate was to be summarily ejected from the State by the +sheriff. The wave of feeling which dictated this monstrous piece of +legislation passed away before any of its harsh provisions were carried +out. But the beneficent portion remained in force. The Society was left +in the enjoyment of the liberal annuity of $10,000. + +In October, 1831, and December, 1832, expeditions were sent out which +landed emigrants at Monrovia. The difficulty of arriving at an agreement +with the parent Society regarding the rights and status of these people, +together with other considerations, led to the adoption of the idea of +founding a separate colony. The plan was adopted largely through the +support of Mr. John H.B. Latrobe, throughout his life one of the most +active and efficient friends of colonization. The motives of the +undertaking were distinctly announced to be the gradual extirpation of +slavery in Maryland, and the spread of civilization and Christianity in +Africa. Cape Palmas, a bold promontory marking the point where the coast +makes a sharp bend toward the east, was selected as the new site. Its +conspicuous position makes it one of the best known points on the coast, +and some identify it with the "West Horn" reached by Hanno, the +Carthaginian explorer, twenty-nine days out from Gades. Dr. James Hall, +who had gained experience as physician in Monrovia, was placed in charge +of the expedition, and the brig Ann, with a small number of emigrants, +sailed from Baltimore November 28, 1833. A firm legal basis was +projected for the new establishment in a Constitution to which all +emigrants were to subscribe. The experience gained by the older colony +was put to good use. Regular courts, militia, and public schools were +provided for from the first. + +The vessel touched at Monrovia, gathered as many recruits as possible +from those sent out on the two previous expeditions, and finally +anchored at Cape Palmas on February 11, 1834. After the usual tedious +"palaver" and bargaining, the natives formally sold the required land. +The cape is a promontory some seventy-five feet in height, separated +from the mainland, except for a narrow, sandy isthmus. A river, +navigable for some miles to small boats, opens opposite it, and forms a +safe harbor. A long, salt-water lake extends to the east, parallel to +the coast. The land is very fertile and well adapted to farming. Several +native villages lie near the cape. From a well-founded fear of native +treachery the colonists laid out their town on the promontory, upon the +summit of which a brass six-pounder was mounted. Farm lands were laid +out on the mainland, and in a short time the little community was in a +thriving condition. None of the distressing misfortunes encountered by +the colony at Monrovia marred the early history of "Maryland in +Liberia." + +In 1836 the health of Dr. Hall, whose services to the infant colony had +been invaluable, became so much impaired that he was obliged to resign. +He returned to the United States, and long rendered the Society +efficient service in another capacity. John B. Russwurm, a citizen of +Monrovia, and once editor of the Liberia _Herald_, was appointed +Governor, and served ably and faithfully until his death in 1851. Early +in his administration a convenient form of paper currency, receivable at +the Society's store, was introduced, and proved most useful in trade +with the natives. In 1841 some slight difficulties with employes of +missions led the Society, while still retaining control of affairs, to +assert by resolution that the colony was a sovereign State. A revenue +law introduced in 1846 soon produced an income of about $1,200. In this +year began the trips of the "Liberia Packet," a vessel maintained by a +company formed to trade between Baltimore and _Harper_, as the town of +the colony was named, in honor of Robert Goodloe Harper. A certain +amount of trade was guaranteed and other aid given by the Society. In +1847 the justiciary was separated from the executive; a chief justice +and a system of courts were provided for. + +The year 1852 ended the period during which the Society drew its annual +stipend from the State treasury; but the General Assembly was induced to +extend the provisions of the Act of 1831 for a further period of six +years. It may be as well to note here that in 1858 a further extension +was made for five years, the amount at the same time being reduced to +$5,000 per annum.[10] For twenty years the colony had flourished under +the care and good management of the Society. Prosperity now seemed +secure, and a spirit of discontent, a desire to throw off the yoke and +assume autonomy began to prevail. The great success following the +assumption of Independence by Liberia in 1847, and the recognition at +once obtained from the leading nations of Europe, naturally strengthened +the feeling. A committee of leading citizens petitioned the Society to +relinquish its authority, at the same time demanding or begging almost +everything else in its power to bestow. The Society was further asked by +its spoiled fosterling to continue to support schools, provide +physicians and medicine, remit debts, and finally, to grant a "loan" of +money to meet the expenses of government.[11] + +The Board of Managers, though deeming the colony still unripe for +independence, generously determined to grant the request, as made +advisable by force of circumstances. Among other things it was feared +that the better class of colonists might be attracted toward the +independent State of Liberia. A sort of federal union with that State +was suggested, but found impracticable. A convention met and drafted a +Constitution, which was submitted to the Board. An agreement was reached +as to the conditions of the transfer of the Society's lands, etc. Both +were ratified by the people, and in May, 1854, Wm. A. Prout was elected +Governor. Other officials, senators and representatives, were chosen at +the same time. + +The prosperity of the colony continued under the careful management of +Gov. Prout. On his death the Lieutenant-Governor, Wm. S. Drayton, +succeeded to his office. It was not long before the "rash and imprudent" +conduct of this official precipitated a serious conflict with the +natives. An expedition against them resulted in a demoralizing defeat, +with loss of artillery and twenty-six valuable lives. In consternation +an urgent appeal was sent to Monrovia. The treasury of the Republic was +exhausted from the effects of the uprising of the Sinou river tribes; +but Dr. Hall was fortunately present, and supplied the Government with a +loan from the funds of the Maryland Society. One hundred and fifteen +Liberian troops, under command of ex-President Roberts, were soon +embarked for Cape Palmas, and easily overawed the native chiefs, who +agreed to a fair adjustment of their grievances by treaty, February 26, +1857. + +The war was not without important results. The Maryland colonists were +thoroughly aroused to the weakness of their isolated position, and +determined to have union with Liberia at any price. It was known that +the Republic was willing to admit Maryland only as a county, on +precisely the same terms as the other three--Montserado, Sinou, and +Bassa. State pride and the views of the Society had hitherto kept them +from such a union; but now, in the reaction from their recent terror, a +vote of the people called for by Act of the Legislature was unanimous in +favor of "County Annexation;" and a committee was appointed to arrange +matters at once with Roberts. When he declined to assume any such +responsibility, they actually proceeded to dissolve the Government, and +cede all public property forthwith to the Republic of Liberia. The +interesting document entitled the "Act or Petition of Annexation," shows +the number of colonists to have been at this time 900 and the +aboriginal population about 60,000. The tax on imports produced $1,800 a +year. The State's liabilities were $3,000, with assets estimated at +$10,000. + +The Liberian Legislature by an Act of April, 1857, formally received the +colony into the Republic as "Maryland County." The advantages gained by +this change undoubtedly more than counterbalanced any loss of +independence. Though the total dissolution of the government and +surrender of all rights and property before any negotiation with +Liberian authorities had taken place, seems inconceivably rash +statescraft, the wisdom of the colonists in desiring the union is +unquestionable. + +At the time of annexation the Maryland Colonization Society had on hand +some $6,000, which was invested, and the interest devoted to a school at +Cape Palmas; in connection with this trust its existence is prolonged. +Up to the end of its period of activity it had received and expended +nearly half a million dollars; the balance sheet of December 31, 1857, +may be of interest: + +State Appropriations, ........... $ 930.00 +State Colonization Tax, ......... 12,851.00 +Colonial Agency, ................ 1,091.85 +Columbia Expedition, ............ 248.88 +Stock of C. & L. Trading Co., ... 1,250.00 +Mdse., .......................... 104.62 +State Fund, ..................... 241,922.16 +Contributions, .................. 45,385.74 +Profit and Loss, ................ 139,972.31-1/2 +J.T.G., Colonial Agent, ......... 126.70 + -------------- + 443,883.26-1/2 + + + + +V. + +THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. + + +The History of Liberia from this point on assumes a peculiar interest. +The capacity and capabilities of the Negro are subjected to a crucial +test. He is left fully freed from the control or influence of an alien +race, in possession of a borrowed civilization, and of a borrowed +political system of an advanced type, dependent on popular intelligence +for its very existence. Can he maintain his position? Will he make +further progress, developing along lines peculiar to his race and +environment, and spreading a new civilization among the adjacent tribes? +Or is he to lapse helplessly back into his original condition--to be +absorbed into the dense masses of surrounding barbarism? The question is +a vital one. The solution of weighty problems in large part depends upon +the answer. + +The form of government was, as has been seen, closely copied from that +of the United States. There is the same tripartite division--executive, +legislative and judicial. The President is elected every two years, on +the first Tuesday in May. He is commander-in-chief of the army and navy; +makes treaties with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, with +whose advice he also appoints all public officers not otherwise provided +for by law. + +The legislative authority consists of a Senate of two members from each +county, elected for four years, and a House of Representatives holding +office for two years; four members being apportioned to Montserado +county, three to Bassa, one to each other county, with one additional +representative for each 10,000 inhabitants. The judicial power was +vested in a Supreme Court with original jurisdiction in all cases +affecting ambassadors and consuls and where the Republic is a party, and +appellate jurisdiction in all other cases; and in subordinate courts to +be established by the Legislature. + +The majority of the colonists had been long accustomed to similar +institutions in the land of their captivity, and the new machinery of +government was soon running smoothly. Within the little State peace and +prosperity prevailed; its foreign relations, on the contrary, were +involved in the greatest uncertainty. It had indeed severed the leading +strings which bound it to its natural protector, and stood forth in the +assertion of its independence. But it was wholly unsupported and +unrecognized. The dispute with England, whose protege on the north +looked with jealousy and distrust on Liberian policy, remained +unsettled. The danger was real and pressing. Clearly recognition must be +sought and an international footing obtained without delay. President +Roberts accordingly determined to go abroad, and as at once chief +magistrate and ambassador appeal to the leading courts of Europe. His +first effort, however, was directed toward obtaining alliance with the +United States. In America his reception was enthusiastic. But the +delicacy with which the dissension on the slavery question made it +necessary to handle every subject remotely bearing on that bone of +contention, prevented him from obtaining even the formal recognition of +Liberia. Roberts then determined by pleading his country's cause in +England to arouse compassion in the heart of the power from which there +was most to fear. Here substantial rewards met his efforts. His +prepossessing personality, tact, and statesmanlike qualities won many +friends.[12] With their support the recognition of Liberia as a +sovereign State was soon obtained, together with a commercial treaty +which left nothing to be desired. In further evidence of kindly +sentiment the English Government presented the young Republic with a +trim little cutter of four guns for coast protection. In France and +Belgium similar generous treatment was experienced, and Roberts was +conveyed home in triumph on the British man-of-war Amazon. + +A second visit of Roberts to England, in 1852, four years later, to +adjust disputes with traders who claimed certain tracts of land, was +equally successful, and France, under Louis Napoleon, presented him with +arms and uniforms for the equipment of the Liberian troops. In 1852 +Prussia also extended her friendship, soon followed by Brazil and the +free Hanse towns. In 1862, the necessity for cautious dealing with the +race question having passed away, the United States government at last +formally recognized the Republic, and Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Hayti +formed treaties in 1864. The consent of Portugal and Denmark in 1865, +and of Austria in 1867, brought Liberia into treaty relations with +nearly all the leading commercial nations. + +The internal condition of the Republic during the first decade was one +of unprecedented growth and prosperity. The Colonization Society in +America was in a flourishing condition, and gained friends on every +side. Its receipts for the ten years were not far short of a million +dollars; and this generous means permitted the transportation, in the +same period, of over five thousand chosen emigrants. The accession of so +large a force of laborers added a new stimulus to the activity awakened +by self-government. Many new settlements were formed and all the older +ones received an infusion of new strength. Agriculture, especially the +cultivation of the great staples, rice, coffee, sugar and cotton, made +rapid progress; while commerce was stimulated by the establishment of +regular monthly lines of steamers between England and various points on +the coast, the first of which was started in 1853. The enterprise of +Holland soon added still other lines. Communication with America was at +the same time facilitated by the regular trips of a large vessel built +for the purpose, the gift to the Society of Mr. John C. Stevens of +Maryland. + +At the close of his fourth administration President Roberts decided to +decline reelection. For eight years he had been at the helm, and had +brought the ship of state safely through her first perilous voyages. And +now while the waters seemed smooth and skies serene he thought it best +to intrust her guidance to other hands. The election took place in May, +1855, amidst scenes of political strife and party violence at once +intense and short-lived. It resulted in the choice of Stephen A. Benson +for President and Beverly P. Yates for Vice-President. Both were +distinctly the product of Liberian training. Benson was brought over, at +the age of six years, by his parents in 1822, and received his entire +education in the country. He became a successful merchant and entered +political life in the wake of Roberts. As chief magistrate he showed +himself a practical and efficient man, with the interests of the country +at heart. + +One of the leading objects of Benson's policy was the improvement and +elevation of the aborigines; but his designs were in part frustrated by +the outbreak of a stubborn and exhausting war with the native tribes +dwelling about the Sinou River. Details must be omitted for want of +space; but this war devastated four settlements and sadly depleted the +national treasury. It was soon afterwards that the Maryland colony at +Cape Palmas was almost overwhelmed in a similar native uprising, and +united with the Republic, as elsewhere narrated. + +A widespread scarcity of provisions followed these wars, which gave rise +to much apprehension. But this eventually did good in giving new +emphasis to the fact that main reliance must be placed upon agriculture +rather than trade. The great resources of Liberia were shown at a +National Fair, held in December, 1858; premiums were awarded for the +best specimens of coffee, arrow-root, cotton, rice, ginger, potatoes, +oxen, sheep, swine, turkeys, butter, preserves; cloth and socks of +African cotton; boots; soap and candles from palm oil; ploughs, hoes and +other implements from native iron and home manufacture; farina; +chocolate; planks, shingles, cabinet work, and many other products of +Liberian agriculture and industry. + +President Benson was reelected without opposition, and entered upon his +second term in January, 1858. A fresh outbreak of the slave trade in +this year was followed by a number of captures by U.S. cruisers, giving +rise to the old difficulty in regard to the disposition of the cargoes. +The Act of March 3, 1819, which had long fallen into disuse, was +revived, and a contract made with the Colonization Society to transport +and maintain for a twelvemonth the recaptured Africans already on the +Government's hands. The substitution of small, swift steamers for the +craft of older days so increased the efficiency of the navy that +captures were made in rapid succession. Within two months 1,432 Africans +were landed at Key West. This state of affairs made further legislation +immediately necessary. Congress, acting upon the suggestion of a +Presidential message, passed an Act amending the Act of March 3, 1819, +which empowered the President to form a five-years' contract with "any +person or persons, society or societies," to receive in Africa and care +for the unfortunates rescued from slavers, for the period of one year, +and at a price of $100 per capita. Commanders of cruisers were to be +instructed to land their captures directly upon the coast of Liberia +whenever practicable; immediate measures were to be taken for removing +to Africa those already at Key West; and the sum of $250,000 was +appropriated to defray expenses. + +Three large vessels were at once chartered and stored with $60,000 worth +of supplies; with the least possible delay the suffering crowd at Key +West was transported to Liberia; but only 893 survived the passage. The +effect of the new orders issued to the U.S. slave squadron was soon felt +in Liberia. On August 8, 1860, the _Storm King_ unexpectedly arrived +with a cargo of 619; within twenty-four hours the Erie, prize to the +steamer Mohican, followed with 867. Tidings came that still larger +numbers were en route. The effect of this inundation of liberated +barbarians upon the small civilized community, already surrounded by +savage swarms, may be imagined. The greatest consternation prevailed, +and excitement rose to fever heat. President Benson wrote to the Society +that great evils would result unless means were liberally supplied, and +entire control of the new arrivals given to the Liberian Government. The +Society accordingly transferred the execution of its contracts to that +government, and placed at its disposal all money received by their +terms. This action seems to have allayed the worst apprehensions; and +although over 4,000 recaptured Africans were landed within the space of +two months, no harm seems to have resulted. They made rapid progress in +civilization, becoming assimilated to and in many cases intermarrying +with the colonists; from among them arose some of the best citizens of +the Republic. + +President Benson's policy in regard to the natives was successful in +bringing many tribes much more closely under the influence of the +government. A number of steps were taken toward actively spreading among +them the arts of civilized life, improving their methods of agriculture, +and checking the evils of intertribal warfare and of superstition. A +poll tax of one dollar a year was levied on each male adult, to be +collected from the chiefs of the several districts; with a part of the +funds thus raised schools for popular instruction were to be established +throughout the country. + +The control and oversight by the central authority of so many small +settlements scattered over a large range of coast had been greatly +facilitated by the small armed cutter presented in 1848 by the English +government. This was now found to be hopelessly out of repair, and was +generously replaced by the donor with another and somewhat larger +vessel--the Quail, an armed schooner of 123 tons. About the same time +the New York Society sent over a small steamer to provide rapid and +regular communication between points along the coast. In honor of a +liberal benefactor it was called the "Seth Grosvenor." + +The third and fourth administrations of Benson passed uneventfully, and +in January, 1864, Daniel B. Warner, who, the May previous, had been +elected, succeeded him. Warner was born near Baltimore, in 1812, and +emigrated in 1823. The Civil War in America, with the sanguine hopes it +aroused in the breast of the Negro, caused a rapid falling off in the +number of applicants for transportation to Liberia. The income of the +Society for once exceeded the demand upon it, and several good +investments were made. Liberia, however, was demanding more cultivators. +A supply came from an unexpected quarter. Two societies were organized +by thrifty negroes of Barbadoes, to return to Africa and make their home +in the new Republic. Agents were sent out, and sympathy with their +enterprise enlisted. The Liberian Government issued a proclamation of +cordial invitation, and the Legislature appropriated $4,000 to assist +the colonists, increasing in their case the allotment of land from ten +to twenty-five acres for each family. The Colonization Society devoted +$10,000 to their aid, and despatched an experienced agent to take charge +of the expedition. A large vessel was chartered, and after a pleasant +voyage of thirty-three days, without the loss of a single life, 346 +emigrants were landed at Monrovia. They proved a welcome and valuable +acquisition, many being mechanics and skilled laborers. + +After the close of the war, the alluring prospect of "ten acres and a +mule" having failed our freedmen, the Society again received numerous +applications for passage. The M. C. Stevens had been sold during the +period of depression; another and larger vessel, the Golconda, was +therefore purchased and fitted for an emigrant ship. During her first +four voyages she safely carried over 1,684 persons. + +In January, 1867, the semi-centennial of the founding of the +Colonization Society was celebrated in Washington. From the review of +the fifty years' work it appeared that the sum of $2,558,907 had been +expended, exclusive of outlay by the Maryland Society, and of the large +sums expended by the United States Government. 11,909 emigrants had been +sent over, in 147 vessels; of these 4,541 were born free, 344 purchased +freedom, and 5,957 were emancipated for the purpose of going to +Liberia.[13] Besides these, 1,227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society, and 5,722 recaptured Africans had been sent back by the United +States Government. + +In January, 1868, James S. Payne entered upon the office of President. +He is another example of Liberian training. Born in Richmond, Va., in +1819, he was taken before his tenth year to Monrovia by his father. One +of the leading purposes of his administration was the establishment of +closer intercourse with the great tribes of the interior. These people, +the Mandingoes especially, were much further advanced in civilization +than the coast tribes, who formed a barricade between them and Liberia, +and offered determined opposition to any attempt to penetrate inland. +They feared to lose their advantageous position as middlemen, and +succeeded in keeping anything but the vaguest rumors about the interior +from reaching the colonists. In 1869 Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian +appointed by the Government, and provided with liberal financial aid by +a wealthy citizen of New York, accomplished an extremely interesting +journey to a point over 200 miles from the coast.[14] + +With great difficulty and the expense of a small fortune in presents to +captious and rapacious chiefs, he succeeded in making his way from point +to point along a course roughly corresponding to that of the St. Paul's +River. The route lay through dense forests, along paths worn by many +generations of native feet. The ascent was steady; at 100 miles from the +coast the elevation was 1,311 feet, and toward the end of the journey +it rose to 2,257 feet. All along the way the population was dense, and +showed a steady improvement in character, civilization and hospitality +as the coast was left behind. The object of his journey, Musardu, the +chief city of the Western Mandingoes, was at length reached, just on the +edge of the primeval forest. Beyond lies a vast plateau covered with +tall grass, showing here and there a solitary palm, and stretching away +to the head waters of the Niger. The climate is wholesome, the air +bracing, and the soil fertile. + +The city proved large and populous; the houses were small and of a +monotonous uniformity, bewilderingly placed without apparent +arrangement. The whole was surrounded with a huge mud wall, which served +not only as a defense against foes, but to keep out wild beasts, +especially elephants, herds of which were frequently seen near the town. +The inhabitants were strict Mussulmans, and were much further advanced +in civilization than even the most intelligent tribes through which he +had passed. They had an extensive commerce with the interior, caravans +coming from places as distant as Timbuctoo. Good horses were plentiful, +and there were evidences of the existence of valuable gold mines. +Anderson was received with profuse hospitality; they appeared to be +delighted with the idea of opening trade with Liberia, and promised +gold, ivory and various commodities in exchange for European goods. + +Another journey with the same general results was subsequently made by +another citizen, to Pulaka, about one hundred miles to the southeast of +Monrovia. These explorations are of great interest. They show the belt +of coast occupied by Liberia to be merely the entrance to a high and +healthful interior of great fertility and unlimited resources, over +which the Republic has power to expand indefinitely. + +President Payne's successor was Edward James Roye, who was duly +inaugurated January 3, 1870. Born in Newark, Ohio, in 1815, he had +passed through the public schools of his native town, afterwards +attending the college at Athens, Ohio, and Oberlin. He went to Liberia +in 1846, becoming a prosperous merchant and politician. From 1865 to +1868 he held the post of Chief Justice. Roye came into office at a time +when a rage for internal improvements possessed the country; and with +this spirit he was in full sympathy. His inaugural outlines a bold and +ambitious policy. The resources of the Treasury were entirely inadequate +to his extensive projects, and in an evil moment the Legislature passed +an Act authorizing the negotiation of a loan of $500,000. The loan was +placed in London on terms which netted only L85 per bond of L100, +redeemable at par in 15 years and bearing interest at 7 per cent. The +amount thus offered was further reduced by the requirement that the +first two years' interest should be paid in advance. From the remainder +were deducted various agents' commissions and fees, until at length the +principal reached Monrovia sadly reduced in amount,--not over $200,000. +And this soon disappeared without any visible result. It is an old +story; but in Liberia's case it was particularly disastrous. For with +her little revenue, rarely exceeding $100,000, it soon became impossible +to pay the $35,000 yearly interest on a debt for which she had +practically received not a single advantage. And this accumulating at +compound interest has reached a magnitude absolutely crushing. So +desperate is her financial condition that many believe inevitable the +fate which croaking prophets have long foretold, and against which she +has struggled bravely--absorption by England. + +Serious as were the more remote effects of the financial blunder just +considered, its immediate consequences brought upon the country a crisis +which might have resulted in civil war. Great dissatisfaction with the +negotiation of the loan prevailed. The Administration was severely +criticised; serious accusations were brought against it. While the +excitement was at fever heat matters were complicated by an attempt of +the Administration to prolong its hold of office, which precipitated the +threatened outbreak. For some years a Constitutional Amendment had been +under consideration, lengthening the term of President and members of the +Legislature. The measure had been submitted to the people, and twice +voted upon; but the result was a subject of dispute. Roye and his party +maintained that it had been duly carried and was a part of the organic +law of the land; and that as a consequence his term did not expire until +January, 1874. A proclamation was issued forbidding the coming biennial +elections to be held. + +This action at once aroused violent opposition. A strong party declared +that the amendment had not been carried; and in any event could not be +construed to apply to the present incumbent. The proclamation was +disregarded; the polls opened on the accustomed day; and the veteran +Joseph J. Roberts, aptly called the epitome of Liberian history, was +elected by large majorities. + +Far from being subdued by the decided expression of popular will Roye +and his supporters, with the spirit of the decemvirs of old, determined +to maintain power at any hazard. Roberts's election was declared +illegal, and of no effect. Throughout the summer the two parties stood +at daggers drawn. At length the increasing strength of the opposition +encouraged the thought of removing the President from office. The legal +method of impeachment seemed far too slow and uncertain for the temper +of the times. An excited convention was held in Monrovia, October 26, +1871, at which a "Manifesto" was adopted decreeing his deposition. A few +extracts disclose its character: + +"President Roye has, contrary to the Constitution, proclaimed himself +President for four years, although elected for only two years. + +"He has distributed arms and munitions of war, and has not ceased his +efforts to procure armed men to crush the liberties of the people. + +"He has contracted a foreign loan contrary to the law made and provided; +and without an act of appropriation by the Legislature he has with his +officers been receiving the proceeds of that loan. + +"Every effort to induce him to desist from his unconstitutional course +has been unavailing. Threats and entreaties have been alike lost upon +him. He has turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances from all the counties +of the Republic: + +"Therefore, on the 26th day of October in the year of our Lord 1871, and +in the twenty-fifth year of the Independence of the Republic, the +sovereign people of Liberia did by their resolutions in the city of +Monrovia, joined to the resolutions from the other counties of the +Republic, depose President E.J. Roye from his high office of President +of Liberia; and did decree that the Government shall be provisionally +conducted by a Chief Executive Committee of three members, and by the +chiefs of Departments until the arrival of the constitutional officer at +the seat of Government." + +Before the party of the Administration could recover from the shock of +this action, President Roye and his Secretaries of State and of the +Treasury were arrested and thrown into prison,--a _coup d'etat_ which +made his opponents undisputed masters of the situation. The appointed +Committee took charge of affairs; the excitement died away with a +rapidity characteristic of Liberian politics, and in January, 1872, +Roberts was triumphantly inaugurated. Roye died in prison soon +afterward. + +A reign of peace and prosperity followed under Roberts, interrupted +toward the end of another term, to which he was elected, by a severe war +with the Grebo tribe near Cape Palmas. Limited space will prevent +detailed consideration of the later history of the Republic. Payne was +elected to a second term in 1876. A.W. Gardiner was Chief Executive for +three successive terms, from 1878-1884; and H.R.W. Johnson, a native +born Liberian, son of the famous pioneer Elijah Johnson, was made +President in 1884. The recent years of the Republic have not brought an +increased tide of immigration, nor any marked progress. The diminished +interest in colonization felt in the United States so crippled the +finances of the Society that few immigrants have been sent in the last +decade. That large numbers of Negroes are willing, even anxious to go, +is shown by the lists of the Society, which has adopted the policy of +aiding only those who can pay a part of their passage. Several instances +of the formation of societies among the Negroes themselves to provide +for their own transportation have occurred. In South Carolina the +"Liberia Joint Stock Steamship Company" was formed, which succeeded in +purchasing a vessel and sending over one expedition of 274 emigrants. +The company was unfortunate and failed financially before another +attempt could be made. In Arkansas a large secret Society for the same +object was formed, several hundred members of which made their way to +New York and prevailed upon the Colonization Society to give them +passage.[15] + +The culmination of a dispute with Great Britain over the north-western +boundary of Liberia is perhaps the most interesting topic of her recent +history. The boundaries of the Republic were never very definitely +marked out, as her territory grew by gradual settlement and purchase +from native chiefs. Even to-day there is no hard and fast interior +border line; the country extends back indefinitely from the coast, new +land being taken up as settlement proceeds. In 1849 the coast line +acquired in this way extended from the San Pedro River on the south-east +to Cape Mount, the extreme settlement on the north-west. Between 1849 +and 1852 various purchases were made from the natives covering some +fifty miles more of the north-western seaboard. These purchases extended +to She-Bar, very near Sherbro Island, and were confirmed by formal deeds +from chiefs of the local tribes. The conditions of the deeds bound +Liberia to establish schools in the districts ceded, and to guarantee +the protection, peace and safety of the natives. If now a few +settlements had been made in this territory all future trouble would +have been avoided; but all available energy was needed for intensive +development, and the newly acquired territory was left uncolonized. In +the course of time English traders established themselves within this +district, who refused to recognize Liberia's jurisdiction, and who +smuggled in large quantities of goods in bold defiance of the revenue +laws. As early as 1866 correspondence with the British Government was +opened; and Liberia's jurisdiction was more than once virtually +recognized. Matters were complicated by the outbreak of disturbances +among the natives, in quelling which the Republic was obliged to use +military force--a course which resulted in the destruction of property +belonging to the English traders. Claims were at once brought against +Liberia through the English Government to a large aggregate amount. +Holding Liberia liable for damages received in the territory was a +practical admission of her jurisdiction. Nothing was accomplished until +1871, when Lord Granville proposed to President Roye, who was then in +England, to compromise on the River Solyma as the limit of the Republic. +This is about the middle of the disputed territory. Roye weakly agreed, +and this agreement is known as the Protocol of 1871. It was not ratified +by the Senate. The tact of President Roberts staved off the crisis for +some time; but at length the English Foreign Office demanded a +settlement, and a commission of two from each State and an arbitrator +appointed by the President of the United States met on the ground. Every +possible delay and impediment was resorted to by the British +commissioners, who further refused to submit the points disputed to the +umpire. Of course, no agreement was reached. + +The situation remained unchanged until 1882. On March 20 four British +men-of-war silently entered the harbor, and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor +of Sierra Leone, came ashore. President Gardiner was intimidated into +acceding to the demand that the boundary should be fixed at the Manna +River, only fifteen miles from Cape Mount. But when this "Draft +Convention," as it was called, came before the Senate for ratification, +it was indignantly repudiated. At the next regular meeting of the +Legislature in December, a resolution refusing to ratify the Draft +Convention was passed, and a copy sent to Havelock. It elicited the +reply:-- + +"Her Majesty's Government cannot in any case recognize any rights on the +part of Liberia to any portions of the territories in dispute," followed +by the peremptory announcement that "Her Majesty's Government consider +that they are relieved from the necessity of delaying any longer to +ratify an agreement made by me with the Gallinas, Solyma, and Manna +River chiefs on the 30th of March, 1882, whereby they ceded to Her +Majesty the coast line of their territories up to the right bank of the +Manna River." + +Liberia made a last feeble effort. A "Protest" was drawn up and sent to +the various powers with whom she stood in treaty relations--of course, +without result. The President of the United States replied at once, +counselling acquiescence. Nothing else was possible. The Senate +authorized the President to accept the terms dictated, and the "Draft +Convention" was signed November 11, 1885. On April 26, 1888, Sir Samuel +Rowe visited Monrovia and formally exchanged ratifications. Thus once +more strength proved triumphant; Liberia's boundary was set at the Manna +River, and Sierra Leone, which had possessed but a few hills and swamps, +was given a valuable coast line. + + + + +VI. + +HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION. + + +Colonization has come to be looked upon with unmerited +indifference--with an apathy which its history and achievements surely +do not deserve. To some, perhaps the present condition of the Republic +seems a discouraging and inadequate return for the life and treasure +lavished upon it; for others, hoping for a bloodless and gradual +extinction of slavery, the Civil War carried away the chief element of +interest. Others still, who looked for a ready solution of the Negro +Problem in this country, have gradually lost heart in the face of the +increasing millions of the race. And so, some from one cause, some from +another, have lost interest in colonization and in Liberia, until a time +has come when few have more than the vaguest knowledge of these terms. +Sometimes the voice of contempt is heard; but this is always a proof of +ignorance. Liberia stands forth historically as the embodiment of a +number of ideas, efforts, principles, any one of which ought to secure +at the least our respect, if not our sympathy and enthusiasm. + + + + +1. _As a Southern Movement toward Emancipation_. + + +This thesis will doubtless meet with the most strenuous opposition; but +a careful and impartial study of the writings and addresses of those +most prominent in the movement will convince anyone of their profound +hope that colonization would eventually lead to the extinction of +slavery in the United States. It must be remembered that at the time of +the formation of the Society the pro-slavery feeling in the South was by +no means so strong as it became in later years, when the violence of +Abolition had fanned it to a white heat. Indeed, during the whole period +before 1832 there seems to have been a prevailing sentiment in favor of +emancipation--at least throughout Maryland, Virginia, and North +Carolina. But the condition of the free blacks was notoriously such that +the humane master hesitated to doom his slaves to it by emancipating +them. The colonizationist hoped, by offering to the free Negro an +attractive home in Africa, to induce conscientious masters everywhere to +liberate their slaves, and to give rise to a growing popular sentiment +condemning slavery, which would in time result in its extinction. Of +course there were those in the Society who would not have subscribed to +this doctrine; on the other hand, many held views much more radical. But +it is the men who formed and guided the Society, who wielded its +influence and secured its success, whose opinions must be regarded as +stamping its policy. + +The Constitution of the Society did not touch upon this subject. It was +needless to give unnecessary alarm or offense. But when in 1833 the +Maryland Society adopted its Constitution--a much larger and more +explicit one--the attitude taken is boldly announced: + +"Whereas the Maryland State Colonization Society desires to hasten as +far as they can the period when slavery shall cease to exist in +Maryland, and believing that this can best be done by advocating and +assisting the cause of colonization as the safest, truest and best +auxiliary of freedom under existing circumstances," etc. + +It may well be questioned whether such a plan would ever have succeeded: +but it must not too hastily be called chimerical. As a practical result +it secured the emancipation of several thousand slaves, many of whom +were supplied by former owners with money for transportation and +establishment in Africa. What further success it might have had was +prevented by the rise of the Abolition Movement. The intense +pro-slavery feeling which this stirred up in the South caused the +Colonization Society to be regarded with distrust and even active +hostility. It was accused of secretly undermining slavery and exciting +false hopes among the slaves. It was even said to foment discontent and +raise dangerous questions for sinister purposes, and was subjected to +bitter attack as "disguised Abolitionism." + +From the opposite extreme of opinion the Society suffered assault still +more violent. William Lloyd Garrison, in his intemperate zeal for +"immediate emancipation without expatriation," could see nothing but +duplicity and treachery in the motives of its adherents. His "Thoughts +on Colonization" hold up the movement to public odium as the sum of all +villainies, and in the columns of the _Liberator_ no insult or reproach +is spared. His wonderful energy and eloquence brought over to his camp a +number of the Society's friends, and enabled him in his English campaign +to exhibit it in a light so odious that he actually brought back a +protest signed by the most eminent anti-slavery men of that country. + +Assailed on one side and on the other the Society, as we have seen, +serenely pursued its course. Apparently it did not suffer. But it can +scarcely be doubted that its growth and expansion were seriously checked +by the cross-fire to which it was subjected. Among the negroes +themselves prejudices were industriously disseminated, and everything +was done to make them believe themselves duped and cheated. + +From these reasons colonization never reached the proportions hoped for +by those who looked to it for the gradual extinction of slavery. But we +should not fail to recognize in the movement an earnest and noble, if +too ambitious, effort to solve, without violence or bloodshed, a problem +only half disposed of by Lincoln's edict and the Fifteenth Amendment. + + + + +2. _As a Check to the Slave-Trade._ + + +The coast upon which the colony was established had for several hundred +years been one of the chief resorts of the slave dealers of the western +shores of Africa. Their "factories" were situated at numerous points on +both sides of the early settlements. The coast tribes, broken up and +demoralized by the traffic, waged ceaseless wars for the sole purpose of +obtaining for the trader a supply of his commodity. It was their only +means of getting supplies of the products and manufactures of +civilization; and, as we have seen, when they found the presence of the +newcomers an obstacle to their chief industry, they took up arms to +expel them. + +Until the year 1807 there was no restriction whatever on the traffic, +and the proportions which it reached, the horrors it entailed, are +almost incredible. Sir T.F. Buxton estimated on careful calculations +that the trade on the western coast resulted in a loss to Africa of +500,000 persons annually. At length the progress of humanity drove +England to declare war on the infamous traffic, and her cruisers plied +the length of the continent to prevent infractions of her decree. At +enormous expense the entire coast was put in a state of blockade. + +The result was mortifying. Instead of disappearing, the exportation of +slaves was found actually to increase, while the attending horrors were +multiplied. Small, swift cutters took the place of the roomy slave-ships +of older days, and the victims, hurriedly crowded into slave-decks but a +few feet high, suffered ten-fold torments on the middle passage from +inadequate supplies of food and water. + +The colonists, even in their early feebleness, set their face resolutely +against the slave trade: its repression was a cardinal principle. Their +first serious wars were waged on its account. Ashmun risked his life in +the destruction of the factories at New Cesters and elsewhere. The +slavers, warned by many encounters, forsook at first the immediate +neighborhood of the settlements, and, as the coast line was gradually +taken up, abandoned at length, after many a struggle, the entire region. +Six hundred miles of the coast was permanently freed from an inhuman and +demoralizing traffic that defied every effort of the British naval +force. Nor was this all. The natives were reconciled by the introduction +of a legitimate commerce which supplied all they had sought from the +sale of human beings. + +In still another way did the colony exercise a humane influence. Among +the natives exists a domestic slavery so cruel and barbarous that the +lot of the American plantation Negro seemed paradise in comparison. Life +and limb are held of such small value that severe mutilation is the +penalty of absurdly slight transgressions, or is imposed at the +arbitrary displeasure of the master, while more serious offenses are +punished by death in atrocious form: as when the victim is buried alive +with stakes driven through his quivering body.[16] The institution is of +course a difficult one to uproot. But among the natives in the more +thickly settled portions of the country it has ceased, and is mitigated +wherever the influence of the Government penetrates, while the number of +victims is greatly diminished by the cessation of inter-tribal warfare. + +In this way Liberia has proved, from the standpoint of humanity, +pre-eminently successful. + + + + +3. _As a Step toward the Civilization of Africa._ + + +George Whitefield is said to have declared to Oglethorpe when lamenting +his failure to exclude slavery from Georgia, that he was making a +mistake: the Africans were much better off as slaves than in their +native barbarism, and would receive a training that would enable them +ultimately to return and civilize the land of their nativity. In this +bold idea he anticipated one of the leading thoughts of the fathers of +colonization, and, perhaps prophesied, a great migration which the +world is yet to see. But to confine ourselves to the present and the +strictly practical--there is to the interior of Liberia, sweeping away +beyond the valley of the Niger, a country of teeming population and vast +resources. That this territory be opened to the commerce of the world, +and the blessings of civilization be conferred upon the people, it is +necessary that some impulse of enlightenment come from without. The +casual visit of the trader has been proved by experience to do vastly +more harm than good. Vice and demoralization have too often followed in +his track. The direction and instruction of European agents accomplish +little. The best efforts of all men of this class have resulted in an +unequal hand-to-hand fight with the deadly climate, in which no white +man can work and live. Besides, the natives need more than guidance; +they must have before them the example of a civilized settlement. + +It would be impossible to imagine a more ideal agent for accomplishing +this work than Liberia. True, its slow development has prevented it as +yet from penetrating to the most fruitful portion of the interior +district; but so far as it has gone the work has been wonderful. One +after another of the native chiefs has sought, with his people, +admission to the privileges of citizenship, agreeing to conform to the +laws of the country and abolish inconsistent aboriginal customs. The +schools are full of native children, while large numbers are distributed +in a sort of apprenticeship among Liberian families for training in the +arts of civilized life. The English language has become widely known. +More remote tribes, while retaining native customs, have entered into +agreements or treaties to abstain from war, to keep open roads and +routes of commerce, to protect travellers and missionaries and such +Liberians as may settle among them. This is in itself an advance; and in +addition various forms of knowledge, improved implements and methods of +agriculture must enter in and insensibly raise these tribes to a higher +plane. + +In reclaiming the natives lies a source of great future power for +Liberia. When immigration from the United States shall assume such +proportions that numbers of interior settlements can be made which shall +be radiating centres of civilization, the enormous potential energy of +native intelligence and labor will be brought to bear on the development +of the country with marvellous results. + + + + +4. _As a Missionary Effort_. + + +The attempts of the Christian Church to evangelize the western districts +of Africa constitute one of the saddest and most discouraging records of +history. From the first attempt of the Roman church in 1481, it has been +one continuous narrative of a futile struggle against disease and death. +A whole army of martyrs has gone bravely to its doom leaving no trace of +its sacrifice save unmarked and forgotten graves. It has indeed been a +bitter experience that has proved this work can be successfully +undertaken only by men of African blood, for whom the climate has no +terrors. And the superiority of an established Christian community to a +few isolated missionary stations requires no demonstration. From the +first the colonists were active in spreading a knowledge of the Gospel +among the natives. Lot Cary, one of the earliest emigrants, was an +earnest missionary, and besides efficient work at home he established +mission stations at Cape Mount and elsewhere. + +In 1826 four emissaries of the Basle Missionary College made Monrovia +their headquarters, and did some good work; but they soon succumbed to +the climate. The American churches of those denominations most largely +represented in Liberia--the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist and +Methodist--made strenuous efforts, and sent out a succession of +missionaries, most of whom fell victims to the fever. Later, after +learning the salutary lesson, they accomplished much through the +organization and direction of the work of Liberian missionaries. In +this way the gospel is safely and successfully propagated among the +natives. + +A foe more stubborn than paganism is to be met in the ranks of Islam. +There seems to be something in its teachings which renders the native a +ready convert. Its simplicity is readily understood; and it sanctions +the practices of polygamy and slave-holding to which he is accustomed. +Under the zealous proselytism of the Mandingoes the Mohammedan faith has +taken a strong hold on the interior, and is spreading rapidly to the +very doors of Liberia. Candor compels the admission that it brings with +it a marked improvement in the condition and intelligence of the +converts. Intemperance--which in many cases follows in the tracks of the +Christian merchant--disappears. A knowledge of Arabic is soon acquired +and the Koran is eagerly read and its principles put in practice. The +whole life of the convert is transformed, and he becomes in turn zealous +in the dissemination of the faith. The efforts of missionaries alone can +never stem this torrent; if any impression is to be made upon the +Mohammedan tribes it must be by the extension of Christian settlements +and civilization. + + + + +5. _As a Refuge to the Negro from the Pressure of Increasing Competition +in America._ + + +It would be unnecessary to bring into review the causes that are +operating daily to make the conditions of earning a living in America +more difficult. However much or little credence we place in the +Malthusian theory of the increase of population, in the doctrine of +diminishing returns, or the iron law of wages, all thinking men are +agreed that the country is already entering upon a new era. The period +of expansion, of the taking up of new territory by the overflowing +population of the older districts, is practically ended; future +development will be intensive, the country will be more thickly settled, +and the sharpness of competition will be immeasurably increased. The +possibility of rising in life will be reduced to a minimum; and there +will exist a class, as in the older civilizations of Europe, who live, +and expect to see their children live, in a subordinate or inferior +relation, without the prospect of anything better. + +There may be under this new regime a number of occupations in which the +Negro, by contentedly accepting a subordinate position, may hold his +ground. Or the conditions of life may become so severe that a sharp +struggle for existence will leave in possession the race which shall +prove fittest to survive. To follow the train of thought would lead into +all the unsolved difficulties of the Negro Problem. But surely there +will be some among all the millions of the race who will become +dissatisfied with their life here. Some will aspire to higher things, +some will seek merely a field where their labor will meet an adequate +return; many will be moved by self-interest, a few by nobler motives. To +all these Liberia eagerly opens her arms. The pressure in America finds +an efficient safety-valve in the colonization of Africa. + +With such additions to her strength, the resources of Liberia will be +brought out and developed. Communication with America will be made +easier and cheaper. The toiling masses left behind will have before them +the constant example of numbers of their race living in comfort and +increasing prosperity under their own government. Many will become eager +to secure the same advantages, and gradually a migration will begin that +will carry hundreds of thousands from the house of bondage to the +promised land. + +It is absurd to declaim about "expatriation" and to declare such a +movement forced and unnatural. The whole course of history reveals men +leaving their homes under pressure of one cause or another, and striking +out into new fields. The western course of migration has reached its +uttermost limit, and the tide must turn in other directions. One vast +and rich continent remains; upon it the eyes of the world are fixed. +Already the aggressive Aryan has established himself wherever he can +gain a foothold; but the greater part of the country is forever barred +to him by a climate which he cannot subdue. + +To whom then can this rich territory offer greater inducements than to +the colored people of the United States? And what is more natural and +rational than that they, when the population of the country approaches +the migration point, should follow the line of least resistance and turn +their steps to the home of their forefathers. + + + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +The sources of information which proved most useful to the writer are: + +The Annual Reports of the A.C.S., together with the files of its +quarterly journal, the _African Repository_. + +Messages of Presidents of Liberia, and the Reports of Secretaries of +Treasury, War, and Navy. + +The Archives of the Maryland State Colonization Society, preserved by +the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. + + * * * * * + +KENNEDY: Colonization Report. + +ALEXANDER: History of Colonization. 1845. + +GURLEY: Report on Condition of Liberia. 1850. + +CARL RITTER: Begruendung u. gegenwaertige Zustaende der Negerrepublik +Liberia. 1852. + +ANDERSON: Narrative of a Journey to Musardu. 1870. + +LATROBE: Maryland in Liberia. 1885. + +WAUWERMANS: Liberia; Histoire de la Fondation d'un Etat negre libre. +1885. + +SCHWARTZ: Einiges ueber das interne Leben der Eingebornen Liberias. +Deutsche Kolonialzeitung. 1887. + +--Die Neger-Republik Liberia. Das Ausland. 1888. + +BLYDEN: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. + +BUeTTIKOFER: Reisebilder aus Liberia. 1890. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: Letter to Philip A. Bruce, dated London, April 8, 1889.] + +[Footnote 2: James Ferguson, _Life of Hopkins_. Hopkins' Circular, +1793.] + +[Footnote 3: Jefferson, _Notes on Virginia_.] + +[Footnote 4: Kennedy's _Report_, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 5: A.C.S. Report for 1853, pp. 37-55.] + +[Footnote 6: The remarks of these gentlemen and others of similar views +have subjected the Society to many unjust attacks. Of course many would +join such a movement from mixed motives; but the guiding principles of +the Society itself have always been distinctly philanthropic.] + +[Footnote 7: Report of Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor, to the Secretary of +the Navy, August, 1830.] + +[Footnote 8: Ashmun.] + +[Footnote 9: These were eventually paid by the United States Government. +Kendall's Report to Secretary of Navy, December, 1830.] + +[Footnote 10: The outbreak of the Civil War ended the arrangement after +the third payment.] + +[Footnote 11: This singular petition is preserved in Minute Book No. 4 +of the M.S. C.S., p. 36.] + +[Footnote 12: Carl Ritter, who saw him in 1852, speaks of him as "den +edlen, hochgebildeten, erfahrenen, weisen, und der Rede sehr kundigen +Staatsman Wir (i.e., Ritter,) haben wiederholt seinen wuerdenvollen Reden +in den ersten Kreisen in London beigewohnt."] + +[Footnote 13: _Semi-Centennial Memorial_, p. 190.] + +[Footnote 14: B. Anderson, _Narrative of a Journey to Musardu_.] + +[Footnote 15: A.C. Reports of 1881 and 1882.] + +[Footnote 16: Anderson's _Journey to Musardu_.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Liberia, by J.H.T. McPherson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF LIBERIA *** + +***** This file should be named 11353.txt or 11353.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/5/11353/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joris Van Dael and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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