COLONIZATION PRINCIPLES VINDICATED—CALUMNIES REFUTED—THE GOOD COLONIZATION HAS ALREADY DONE—IS DOING—AND THE INCALCULABLE GOOD IT WILL DO, IF DULY PATRONISED.
The Colonization Society was formed in Washington, December 21st, 1816; and not in Virginia, as Abolitionists falsely assert. Amongst its most prominent promoters and founders, were, Finlay—Caldwell—and Mills; than whom none were more excellent and pious: they were not slave-holders, as Abolitionists falsely assert.
Although the simple object of this Society is the colonization of the free people of colour, who voluntarily desire to go abroad, yet the members of it are decidedly opposed to slavery. And although as a body they do not attempt to interfere with the rights of the slave-holder, yet as individuals they have, and do exercise their utmost powers to diminish the evils of slavery—to provide, for the liberated person of colour, and to induce the slave-holder to emancipate his slaves; and all this consistent with the legal interest of the owner, and consistent with the laws of God. Nothing could more satisfactorily prove the truth of these statements than the two following facts, 1st, that the actual PRO-SLAVERY party denounce the Colonization Society; and 2dly, that vast numbers of slaves have been emancipated through the influence of this Society. Dr. Reese says in his work before quoted, p. 41,
"The society does not merely "promise" to promote Abolition, but exerts a mighty and successful moral influence in actually abolishing slavery. And here I will not refer to the truth, which he who runs may read, that in Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, [67]and even Virginia itself, it is now openly avowed that 'colonization doctrines have sealed the death warrant of slavery!' Hence the pro-slavery party have declared that 'colonization and emancipation are synonymous terms, and that the approach of the former must be resisted!' At a meeting of the same party in Charleston, the following toast was given, 'May the infernal regions soon be colonized with the officers of the Colonization Society!' And while labouring with your misguided associates in the North, to hold up the Colonization Society, as hypocritical in its professions to exert a moral influence towards the voluntary and utter abolition of slavery, you are leagued with 'all the advocates of the negro's perpetual bondage, who are the bitter uncompromising enemies of the society.' The Rev. J. M. Danforth states on his own personal knowledge, that in South Carolina, 'the society, and every thing connected with it, are held in extreme abhorrence by our leading men, our politicians and wealthy planters. It is so unpopular an institution, that very few name it publicly,—it is regarded here as a northern scheme to wrest from us our slaves.' In your anti-colonization efforts then, you are associated in action with the very men, whose character as slave-holders is so odious, that you deprecate their connexion with the colonization cause, as an unpardonable sin. Let me conjure you, sir, no longer to be 'jostled by the trafficker in human flesh,' in your crusade against the society or its benevolent objects, but abandon the 'bad eminence' to which your 'want of information' has unhappily raised you."
"The following manumissions are the legitimate result of the 'moral influence' of the Colonization Society.
"[67:A]It would be endless to enumerate the cases of this kind that have occurred. Some of them must be recorded, that the acts and the names of the parties, where known, may have the applause to which they are entitled, and, what is of more consequence, that they may serve as stimuli to others, to follow the noble example.
"A lady, near Charleston, Va. liberated all her slaves, ten in number, to be sent to Liberia; and moreover purchased two, [68]whose families were among her slaves. For the one she gave $450, and for the other $350.
"The late William Fitzhugh bequeathed their freedom to all his slaves, after a certain fixed period, and ordered that their expenses should be paid to whatsoever place they should think proper to go. And, 'as an encouragement to them to emigrate to the American colony on the coast of Africa, where,' adds the will, 'I believe their happiness will be more permanently secured, I desire not only that the expenses of their emigration be paid, but that the sum of fifty dollars be paid to each one so emigrating, on his or her arrival in Africa.'
"David Shriver, of Frederick co. Maryland, ordered by his will, that all his slaves, thirty in number, should be emancipated, and that proper provision should be made for the comfortable support of the infirm and aged, and for the instruction of the young in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in some art or trade, by which they might acquire the means of support.
"Col. Smith, an old revolutionary officer, of Sussex county, Va. ordered in his will, that all his slaves, seventy or eighty in number, should be emancipated; and bequeathed above $5000 to defray the expense of transporting them to Liberia.
"Patsey Morris, of Louisa co., Va. directed by will, that all her slaves, sixteen in number, should be emancipated, and left $500 to fit them out, and defray the expense of their passage.
"The schooner Randolph, which sailed from Georgetown, South Carolina, had on board twenty-six slaves, liberated by a benevolent individual near Cheraw.
"Of 105 emigrants, who sailed in the brig Doris, from Baltimore and Norfolk, sixty-two were emancipated on condition of being conveyed to Liberia.
"Sampson David, late a member of the legislature of Tennessee, provided by will, that all his slaves, twenty-two in number, who are mostly young, should be liberated in 1840, or sooner, at his wife's decease, if she died before that period.
"Herbert B. Elder, of Petersburg, Va. bequeathed their freedom to all his slaves, twenty in number, with directions that they should be conveyed to Liberia, by the first opportunity.
"A gentleman in Georgia, has recently left forty-nine slaves free, on condition of their removal to Liberia.
[69]"Mrs. Elizabeth Morris, of Bourbon co., Va. provided by will for the emancipation of her slaves, about forty in number.
"David Patterson, of Orange co., North Carolina, freed eleven slaves, to be sent to Liberia.
"Rev. Fletcher Andrew gave freedom to twenty, who constituted most of his property, for the same purpose.
"Nathaniel Crenshaw, near Richmond, liberated sixty slaves, with a view to have them sent to Liberia.
"Rev. Robert Cox, Suffolk co., Va. provided by his will for the emancipation of all his slaves, upwards of thirty, and left several hundred dollars to pay their passage to Liberia.
"Joseph Leonard Smith, of Frederick co., Md. liberated twelve slaves, who sailed from Baltimore for Liberia.
"Of 107 coloured persons who sailed in the Carolinian, from Norfolk for Liberia, forty-five were emancipated on condition of being sent there.
"In the brig Criterion, which sailed from Norfolk for Liberia, on the 2d August, 1831, there were forty-six persons who had been liberated, on condition of proceeding to Liberia; 18 by Mrs. Greenfield, near Natchez; 8 by Mr. Williams, of Elizabeth city, N. C.; 7 by Gen. Jacocks, of Perquimans, Ohio; 4 by Thomas Davis, Montgomery co. Miss.; 2 by two other individuals; and 5 by some of the Quakers in North Carolina. Of those liberated slaves, 2 only were above 40 years of age, 22 were under 35, and 22 under 20.
"A gentleman in N. C., last year, gave freedom to all his slaves, 14 in number, and provided 20 dollars each, to pay their passage to Liberia.
"Mrs. J. of Mercer co., Kentucky, and her two sons, one a clergyman, and the other a physician, lately offered the Colonization Society, sixty slaves, to be conveyed to Liberia.
"Henry Robertson, of Hampton, Va., bequeathed their freedom to seven slaves, and fifty dollars to each, to aid in their removal to Liberia.
"William Fletcher, of Perquimans, N. C., ordered by will, that his slaves, twelve in number, should be hired out for a year after his death, to earn wherewith to pay for their conveyance to Liberia.
"A gentleman in Kentucky, lately wrote to the secretary of [70]the society, 'I will willingly give up twelve or fifteen of my coloured people at this time; and so on gradually, till the whole, about sixty, are given up, if means for their passage can be afforded.'
"On board the Harriet, from Norfolk, of one hundred and sixty emigrants, between forty and fifty had been slaves, emancipated on condition of being sent to Africa.
"In addition to these instances, several others might be added, particularly that of Richard Bibb, Esq., of Kentucky, who proposes to send sixty slaves to Liberia—two gentlemen in Missouri, who desire to send eleven slaves—a lady in Kentucky offers forty—the Rev. John C. Burress, of Alabama, intends preparing all his slaves for Colonization—the Rev. William L. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, manumitted 11 slaves, who sailed a few weeks ago from New-Orleans.
"In this work of benevolence, the Society of Friends, as in so many other cases, have nobly distinguished themselves, and assumed a prominent attitude. They have, in North Carolina, liberated no less than 652 slaves, whom they had under their care, besides, as says my authority, an unknown number of children, husbands and wives, connected with them by consanguinity, and of whom, part went to Canada, part to Liberia, part to Hayti, and a portion to Ohio. In the performance of these acts of benevolence, they expended $12,759. They had remaining under their care, in December, 1830, 402 slaves, for whom similar arrangements were to be made.
"It holds out every encouragement to the Colonization Society, that the applications for the transportation of free negroes, and slaves proposed to be emancipated on condition of removal to Liberia, far exceed its means. There are, in North Carolina and the adjacent states, from three to four thousand of both descriptions, ready to embark, were the society in a situation to send them away.
"R. S. Finlay, Esq., at a late anniversary says,—
"I know that much pains have been taken to calumniate our brethren of the south, by representing them to be the advocates of perpetual despotism. From an extensive and familiar acquaintance with their views and sentiments, formed upon actual [71]observation, I know this not to be the fact. I have publicly discussed this subject everywhere in the southern states, from the eastern shore of Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico, in the presence of hundreds of slaves at a time, and with the general approbation of the audience to which my addresses were delivered,—and have uniformly represented it as affording the best and only safe means of gradually and entirely abolishing slavery. Indeed, so well is the moral influence of the operations of this society understood in the extreme south, that all the advocates of perpetual slavery are bitterly opposed to it, and none are its advocates, but the friends of gradual, peaceful, and ultimate entire emancipation!" 16th Report.
"In a letter, dated Nov. 4, 1831, Mr. Clarkson says,
"For myself, I freely confess, that of all the things which have occurred in our favour since the year 1787, when the abolition of the slave trade was first seriously proposed, that which is now going on in the United States, under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, is most important. It surpasses anything which has yet occurred. No sooner had the colony been founded at Cape Montserado, than there appeared a disposition among the owners of slaves in the United States to give them freedom voluntarily, without one farthing of compensation, and to allow them to be sent to the land of their ancestors. This is to me truly astonishing! a total change of heart in the planters, so that many thousands of slaves may be redeemed without any cost of their redemption! Can this almost universal feeling have taken place without the intervention of the Spirit of God!"
"Within one year it is said that more than 2000 slaves have been offered the Colonization Society from five different States, with the desire expressed on the part of both master and slave, for a passage to Liberia. As Colonization gains ground, the freedom of untold thousands, it is to be hoped, will be secured, and Africa gladdened yet more and more with the light of civilization and christianity."
Abolitionists assert, with a degree of confidence that not unfrequently makes an unreflecting audience receive that for unquestionable truth, which has not a shadow [72]of truth in it, that the Colonization Society has done nothing as yet in the cause of the afflicted man of colour! However satisfactorily the preceding instances expose the fallacy of this accusation; yet that which this Society has done, and is doing, is not confined to these cases; but extends to still further, and more important operations, which may be divided into two distinct heads. First, the happiness and comfort bestowed on those who have gone to Liberia; and secondly, the considerable check already given to the African slave-trade, by its total suppression along the whole coast of Liberia.
I shall prove the first of these statements by documents drawn up and signed by the coloured inhabitants of Liberia, who themselves had once been slaves, which is, it is presumed, the very best possible evidence that could be adduced.
At a Public Meeting, held pursuant to notice, in Monrovia (Liberia) on Wednesday, Sept. 29th, 1836, J. C. Barbour, Esq., in the chair, the following resolutions were proposed and carried unanimously—
1. "On motion of the Rev. J. Revey,
"Resolved, That this meeting entertain the warmest gratitude for what the Colonization Society have done for the people of colour, and for us particularly, and that we regard the scheme as entitled to the highest confidence of every man of colour.
2. "On motion of S. Benedict, Esq.,
"Resolved, That we return our grateful acknowledgments to * * * *, * * * *, Esqrs., and other early and devoted friends of colonization; names for which we shall ever cherish the highest esteem; that we hear with regret, from misrepresentation or want of accurate information, they have abandoned the noble scheme; and that we hope the day is not far distant in which they will again reunite their energies to advance the high and benevolent object.
3. "On motion of Mr. H. Teage,
"Resolved, That this meeting regard the colonizing institution [73]as one of the highest, holiest, and most benevolent enterprises of the present day; that as a plan for the amelioration of the coloured race it takes the precedence of all that have been presented to the attention of the modern world: that in its operations it is peaceful and safe; in its tendencies, beneficial and advantageous; that it is entitled to the highest veneration and unbounded confidence of every man of colour; that what it has already accomplished demands our devout thanks and gratitude to those noble and disinterested philanthropists that compose it, as being, under God, the greatest earthly benefactors of a despised and depressed portion of the human family.
"The hour being late, on motion of Rev. B. R. Wilson,
"Resolved, That the meeting adjourn until to-morrow, 10 o'clock, A. M., to the First Baptist Meeting-house.
"Thursday, 10th.—Met according to adjournment.
4. "On motion of James Brown, Esq.—Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be presented to those ladies of the United States, particularly to those of New-York, Philadelphia, and Richmond, for their disinterested efforts to educate the children of this colony; and that they be assured that, in no department of the colony, do the effects of colonization shine more conspicuously than in the schools supported by their benevolence.
5. "On motion of Doctor J. W. Prout,—Resolved, That this meeting entertain grateful remembrance of General Robert G. Harper of Baltimore, an early and devoted friend of colonization; also of the name of the late Daniel Murray, Esq. of Baltimore, and that we regard the Colonization Society and its friends as powerfully efficient in elevating the man of colour.
"Whereas it has been widely and maliciously circulated, in the United States of America, that the inhabitants of this colony are unhappy in their situation, and anxious to return:
6. "On motion of Rev. B. R. Wilson,—Resolved, That the report is false and malicious, and originated only in a design to injure the colony, by calling off the support and sympathy of its friends: that, so far from a desire to return, we would regard such an event as the greatest calamity that could befall us.
7. "On motion of Rev. G. R. McGill,—Resolved, That the name of Rev. R. R. Gurley never be forgotten.
[74]8. "On motion of S. Benedict, Esq.,—Resolved, That we entertain lively feelings of gratitude towards H. R. Sheldon, Esq. for his munificent donation towards the erection of a high school in this colony.
9. "On motion of Mr. Uriah Tyner,—Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due to the members of the Colonization Society, for their unwearied zeal to promote the interest of this community.
10. "On motion of Mr. Lewis Ciples,—Resolved, That this meeting entertain the highest respect for the memory of the late Thomas S. Grimkey, of South Carolina, for his persevering efforts in behalf of the Colonization Society.
11. "On motion of Rev. Amos Herring,—Resolved, That this meeting entertain the deepest gratitude for the members of the Colonization Society, for the organization and continuation of an enterprise, so noble and praiseworthy as that of restoring to the blessings of liberty, hundreds and thousands of the sore oppressed and long neglected sons of Africa; that we believe it the only institution that can, under existing circumstances, succeed in elevating the coloured population; and that advancement in agriculture, mechanism, and science, will enable us speedily to aspire to a rank with other nations of the earth.
12. "On motion of Mr. H. B. Matthews,—Success to the wheels of colonization; may they roll over every opposer, and roll on, until all the oppressed sons of Africa shall be rolled home!
13. "On motion of Mr. David Moore,—Resolved, That we recollect, with peculiar satisfaction, the active part which the benevolent, in the state of Mississippi, have taken in the welfare of this colony.
14. "On motion of Major L. R. Johnson,—Resolved, That this meeting cherish the most grateful remembrance of the name of the late Rev. R. Finley, of New Jersey, the founder and indefatigable patron of this colony.
15. "On motion of J. J. Roberts, Esq.,—Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the friends of this colony in England.
"On motion of Mr. Dixon B. Brown,—Resolved, That the resolutions of this meeting be published in the Liberia Herald."
[75]The second statement which I have made respecting what the Colonization Society has done towards checking the slave-trade, cannot better be substantiated than by the following paragraph taken from the Colonization Herald of Sept. 5th, 1835.
"The success of the Colonization Society, may indeed be said to be little short of miraculous—for in the brief space of thirteen years, with funds whose aggregate amount scarcely equals the individual outlay of Sir Walter Raleigh in Virginia, they have banished the slaver from nearly 200 miles of coast, and rescued hundreds of his hapless victims—they have settled nearly 4000 emigrants (one half of them emancipated for the purpose,)—they have established schools, churches, temperance societies, and a newspaper:—agriculture, the mechanic arts, and a legitimate commerce, employing nearly twenty sail of coasting vessels, have sprung up, while the activity of their foreign commerce is attested by our own marine lists.
"That the despised Colonizationists have effected all this, is beyond the reach of cavil—it is now a part of the history of our enterprising country. And while our opponents have been gravely debating the possibility of establishing one colony, a little constellation has risen—star by star—and shed its light along the dreary coast, giving promise of new 'United States' in due season. May not these benevolent founders of Liberia be well satisfied with their experiment? Need I blush to acknowledge that these results have dispelled all my doubts? And may not the statesman safely assume that if a feeble society, assailed from its very formation with ridicule and reproach, has been able to found and sustain a young state, the patriotism, the philanthropy, and the piety of this great nation can accomplish the noble work of justice to them, and mercy to both? Nor is it among the least cheering of the results achieved by this noiseless and unpretending system of practical benevolence to the black man, that it has won its way to the love, and confidence, and gratitude of benevolent proprietors—so that the society has, from its very commencement, been distressed by offers of emancipation—distressed, because its funds have not enabled it to [76]relieve a tithe of the cases presented. There are at this moment, between one and two thousand applicants for the privilege of Colonization, and thousands more are in a state of training for the same purpose. Each year's developement of the ample resources of the colonies for securing the welfare of the colonists, and of their importance to the commerce and manufactures of this country, will increase the tide of emigration, until, with due aid from the national treasury, the stream shall exceed the annual increase, and then a rapid decrease in the existing total of coloured population will ensue. This I know will be denied—but I appeal to facts as the best data for my conclusions. Let us then remember that by official returns, the emigration from the United Kingdom was 76,000 last year. And have not our poor blacks quite as many reasons for seeking an asylum in that growing realm—so emphatically their own—from the increasing severity of Southern laws, and the horrors of Northern mobs? Will not this be the more extensively felt, as these African States open up new channels to profitable industry, until the emigration shall reach 56,000 per annum—which was the average yearly increase of the whole coloured population during the ten years from 1820 to 1830? And when we recollect that they would, under our system, be wafted thither free of expense to themselves, there is every reason to believe their numbers would soon equal the British emigration, which is in most cases at the proper cost of the parties themselves. If only that point was reached, an access of 20,000 per annum would accrue beyond the present natural increase, and thus create an actual diminution in our coloured population—augmented too, by the circumstance that the emigrants would generally be of the young, the active, and the procreating class—while the relative disproportion of the races would be rapidly felt through the great increase of the whites.
"I am well aware that it has been most gratuitously and absurdly asserted, 'that our whole marine is insufficient to convey to Africa this annual increase!' And yet 42,000 tons of shipping, only making two trips each year, and allowing each emigrant six times the space allowed on board the slavers—or one ton and a half each—would accommodate the whole! What then shall we say to those who assert that the annual wealth of [77]this great nation, with a surplus of ten millions annually, is unable to carry to Africa, one-third as many of the offspring of oppression, as a band of pirates and outlaws each year drag away in chains from her shores! A late writer in Blackwood's Magazine, asserts that no less than 200,000 slaves were shipped in 1831—Walsh that 50,000 were landed at Rio Janeiro alone, in 1828. We may, then, without difficulty, colonize 100,000 annually—a number that would in thirty years transfer our whole coloured population to Africa, by an outlay of three millions of dollars yearly,—a sum which the weekly contribution of three cents by one-seventh of our people, would supply; or, if voted as a measure of justice for the many wrongs received at our hands by poor Africa and her children, would afford a safe mode of depleting our overburdened treasury."
To the above may be added the testimony of Mr. J. F. C. Finlay, who, writing from Millsburg, in the colony of Liberia, to the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Cincinnati, under date of 6th December, 1834, says,—
"The colony of Liberia has done at least five times as much towards abolishing the slave-trade on this coast, as the whole of the United States."
As to the objections which have been raised against the climate of Liberia, and the ill-health which the settlers first suffered, I am only astonished how any one in America could allow such futile arguments to influence them! It is an undeniable fact that the first inhabitants of all new countries suffer much from ill-health, and that just in proportion to the fertility of the soil; which is evidently attributable to the impregnation of the air and water with the gases arising from the quantity of decomposing vegetable matter with which the ground is covered, and which renders the land, after due cultivation, most productive. Do Americans forget the fact in respect to the now flourishing [78]State of Louisiana? The colony of Iberville was begun to be settled in 1699, and in the ensuing thirteen years, 2500 colonists were landed there, out of whom only 400 whites and 20 negroes remained at the end of that time. On the Island of Orleans, where a settlement was begun in 1717, the early settlers died by hundreds; and both settlements were given up once or twice, by those who began them, and commenced anew by other hands.
It was so with Jamestown: it was so with Plymouth, although in a northern climate. They were both desolated by sickness, and the mortality was far greater than it has ever been in Liberia. Five hundred emigrants at one time landed in Jamestown, in Virginia, and in less than five months their numbers were reduced to sixty. Disaster and defeat seemed to embitter all the struggles of the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth. More than half their number died the first winter.
The following testimonies of several highly respectable gentlemen, Physicians and others, as published in the "Plea for Africa," (p. 233,) are so satisfactory that to say one word more in refutation of the Abolition misstatements, would be an insult to an enlightened community.
1st. "Dr. Shane, of Cincinnati, went with a company of emigrants to Liberia in 1832, sailing from New-Orleans; and, among other things, writes, 'I see not in Liberia as fine and splendid mansions as in the United States; nor as extensive and richly stocked farms as the well-tilled lands of Ohio; but I see a fine and very fertile country, inviting its poor and oppressed sons to thrust in their sickles and gather up its fullness. I here see many who left the United States in straitened circumstances, living with all the comforts of life around them; enjoying a respectable and useful station in society, and wondering that their brethren in the United States, who have it in their [79]power, do not flee to this asylum of happiness and liberty, where they can enjoy all the unalienable rights of man. * * I do not think an unprejudiced person can visit here without becoming an ardent and sincere friend of colonization. I can attribute the apathy and indifference on which it is looked by many, as arising from ignorance on the subject alone, and would that every free coloured man in the United States could get a glimpse of his brethren, their situation and prospects. * * * Let but the coloured man come and see for himself, and the tear of gratitude will beam in his eye, as he looks forward to the not far distant day, when Liberia shall take her stand among the nations of the world, and proclaim abroad an empire founded by benevolence, offering a home to the poor, oppressed, and weary. Nothing but a want of knowledge of Liberia, prevents thousands of honest, industrious free blacks from rushing to this heaven-blessed land, where liberty and religion, with all their blessings, are enjoyed.'
2d. "Captain Kennedy, who visited Liberia in 1831, says, 'with impressions unfavourable to the scheme of the Colonization Society, I commenced my inquiries.' The colonists 'considered that they had started into a new existence. * * They felt themselves proud in their attitude.' He further says, 'many of the settlers appear to be rapidly acquiring property; and I have no doubt they are doing better for themselves and for their children, in Liberia, than they could do in any other part of the world.'
3d. "Captain Nicholson of the United States' Navy, gave as favourable a report. Captain Abels says, 'My expectations were more than realized. I saw no intemperance, nor did I hear a profane word uttered by any one. I know of no place where the Sabbath seems to be more respected than in Monrovia.'
4th. "A distinguished British naval officer, who passed three years on the African coast, published a favourable notice of the colony, in the Amulet for 1832, in which he bears this testimony:—'The complete success of this colony is a proof that the Negroes are, by proper care and attention, as susceptible of the habits of industry, and the improvements of social life, as any other race of human beings; and that the amelioration of [80]the condition of the black people on the coast of Africa, by means of such colonies, is not chimerical. Wherever the influence of the colony extends, the slave-trade has been abandoned by the natives, and the peaceable pursuits of legitimate commerce established in its place. They not only live on terms of harmony and good will together, but the colonists are looked upon with a certain degree of respect by those of their own colour; and the force of their example is likely to have a strong effect in inducing the people about them to adopt it. A few colonies of this kind, scattered along the coast, would be of infinite value in improving the natives.' Governor Mechlin has said, 'As to the morals of the colonists, I consider them much better than those of the people of the United States; i. e. you may take an equal number of the inhabitants from any section of the union, and you will find more drunkenness, more profane swearers and Sabbath-breakers, than in Liberia. You rarely hear an oath, and as to riots and breaches of the peace, I recollect but one instance, and that of a trifling nature, that has come under my notice since I assumed the government of the colony.' Captain Sherman has said, 'There is a greater proportion of moral and religious characters in Monrovia than in the city of Philadelphia.'"
Lastly, Dr. George T. Todsen, Colonial Physician, writes thus,—
"Being requested to express my opinion of the climate of Liberia, and particularly as to its influence and action upon such persons of colour as are born, and have lived for years in the United States, previous to their arrival in the colony; I have no hesitation in saving that, after a residence in the colony of nearly five years, as Colonial Physician, I am convinced there is nothing there that, with ordinary prudence, the necessaries and comforts of life, and care and medical attendance, can endanger the lives of emigrants of colour, in a greater degree, than would be done by their removal to almost any other foreign country, even the most healthy. I shall here state a few facts which the records of the colony will amply confirm. In 1830, in November, I embarked on board of the 'Volador,' with eighty-five emigrants, children included. We arrived at Cape Mesurado in [81]January, 1831, and on the 1st of February, 1833, two years after our arrival, I went round, inspected the company, and found, to my great satisfaction, that but three children and two adults had died. During that interval, eleven children were born among that expedition; so that the whole company had increased to the number of ninety-one, six more than left the United States. The same success attended the succeeding expeditions, until June, when I was seized with a violent attack of fever, from which although I partially recovered, it returned at short intervals, and reduced me to such a state of debility, that I became unable to pursue and discharge my arduous and exhausting duties. I dwell upon this circumstance, because it was one of those important events which produced less favourable results in the subsequent bills of mortality in Liberia, and created an apprehension in the minds of the friends to Colonization, that there is something in the climate of that country inevitably destructive to emigrants of colour from the United States. This impression has had a most injurious effect on the advancement and prosperity of the colony. But I feel most happy in my conviction that it is without the least foundation.
"I have read in 'a Narrative of an Expedition into the interior of Africa, by Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield, surviving officers of the English expedition, to the Niger'—a pretended description of the motives for the establishment, &c. &c., of the colony of Liberia, of its condition as ascertained by them during a three days' visit to its shore.
"I will briefly state that I was at Caldwell, in the colony, when this expedition touched there. No sooner had the iron steamboat Quorra, dropt her anchor in the river St. Paul, than Lieut. Allen, R. N., Mr. Lander, and Dr. Briggs, paid me a visit, and invited me on board. Although very ill and unable to walk, I accepted their invitation. They were exceedingly kind and attentive to me; were with me during the greater part of the time they remained in the colony, (three days,) and we conversed freely as fellow-labourers in the African cause. They did not conceal the unhappy dissensions that existed among the members of their expedition. There were two parties; Lieut. Allen, R. N., Mr. Lander, and Dr. Briggs, belonging to the one; and Mr. Laird and Capt. Harris to the other. I had little or no [82]intercourse with the latter individuals, who were represented to me, particularly Laird, as having embarked in the expedition solely from mercenary motives. As regards his charges and statements about the real motives of the Colonization Society, they are too absurd to notice. His stuff about the sterility of the soil of Liberia, thousands can answer; besides, I am pretty certain he never put his foot on terra firma while there. Every friend to science and humanity must lament the premature death of by far the most able and respectable members of that expedition; and no one can be surprised that a man, actuated solely by the love of gain, should seize on calumny and detraction, on any subject originating or connected with America or Americans, and to be presented to English readers, as a never-failing means of success.
GEO. T. TODSEN."
I shall conclude these testimonies with the following extract from the Colonization Herald of March 1838, which was written by a gentleman of most unquestionable veracity, and who resided for some time in Liberia.
"It is now SIXTEEN YEARS since the first settlement in Liberia was established, on Cape Mesurado. In 1821 the American Colonization Society purchased a part of the Island of Sherboro, distant about 120 miles from Cape Mesurado, and during that year and the following a vigorous, but ineffectual effort was made to plant a colony there. The treachery of the natives, the insalubrity of the climate, and a series of melancholy disasters finally compelled its abandonment, and the society directed its attention to the more eligible scite mentioned above; where, in 1822, after a protracted negotiation, a purchase was made, and a feeble band of emigrants took possession.
"As my object at present is not to trace the progress of the colony through its various fortunes, I shall reserve for another article an account of the early trials and difficulties, as well as the manly daring and heroic achievements with which its history is fraught, and come at once to the bright picture of its present condition and prospects. Liberia (stretching along 300 [83]miles of the coast, and extending from 10 to 40 miles inland) now numbers four separate colonies, viz:
"Monrovia, established by the American Colonization Society, including the towns of Monrovia, New Georgia, Caldwell, Millsburgh, and Marshall—
"Bassa Cove, established by the United Colonization Societies of New York and Pennsylvania. This colony includes Bassa Cove and Edina. The latter village was founded by the American Colonization Society, and lately ceded to the United Societies—
"Greenville, established by the Mississippi and Louisiana Colonization Societies, at Sinou—
"Maryland, established by the Maryland Colonization Society at Cape Palmos.
"In the NINE VILLAGES enumerated above, there is a population of about 5000—all of course coloured persons—of which THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED are emigrants from this country, and the remainder natives of Africa, mostly youth, who have come into the colonies to learn 'Merica fash,' and make themselves 'white men,' by conforming to the habits of civilization, and becoming subject to our laws.
"The commerce of the colonies, though in its infancy, is already extensive. From $80,000 to 125,000 is exported annually, in camwood, ivory, palm oil, and hides; and an equal or greater amount of the manufactures and productions of Europe and America are brought into the colonies in return. Monrovia, which is the largest town and principal seaport, carries on a considerable coasting trade, by means of small vessels built and owned by her own citizens. Not less than 12 or 15 of these, averaging from 10 to 30 tons burden, manned and navigated by the colonists, are constantly engaged in a profitable trade along seven hundred miles of the coast.
"The harbour of Monrovia is seldom clear of foreign vessels; more than SEVENTY of which, from the United States, England, France, Sweden, Portugal and Denmark, touch there annually.
"Bassa Cove and Cape Palmas have both good harbours, and possess great advantages for commerce. Already their waters are gladdened by the frequent presence of traders from other countries, and in a few years, when the hand of enterprise shall [84]have developed the rich mines of wealth which nature has so abundantly provided there, these growing towns will become the centres of an extensive and important business.
"Sinou, too, possesses an excellent harbour, and is the natural outlet of a vast tract of rich and productive country. Under the fostering hand of its enterprising founders, it must soon become an important link in the great maritime chain of Americo-African establishments. The productions of the country, which may be raised in any quantity for exportation, are coffee, cotton, sugar, rice, indigo, palm oil, together with the gums, dye-woods, ivory, &c., which are collected from the forests.
"The state of morals in the colonies is emphatically of a high order. Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, profanity, and quarrelling are vices almost unknown in Liberia. A temperance society formed in 1834 numbered in a few weeks after its organization 500 members; at that time more than one-fifth of the whole population.
"At Bassa Cove and Cape Palmas, the sale and use of ardent spirits are forbidden by law. In the other colonies the ban of public opinion so effectually prohibits dram drinking that no respectable person would dare indulge an appetite so disreputable.
"There are EIGHTEEN CHURCHES in Liberia, viz. at Monrovia 4, New Georgia 2, Caldwell 2, Millsburgh 2, Edina 2, Bassa Cove 3, Marshall 1, Cape Palmas 2. Of these, 8 are Baptist, 3 Presbyterian, and 1 Episcopalian.
"As there are FORTY CLERGYMEN in the colonies, all the churches are not only regularly supplied with preaching, but religious meetings are weekly held in many of the native villages.
"Seven hundred of the colonists, or one-fifth of the whole population, are professed Christians, in good standing with the several churches with which they are connected. As might be expected, where so large a proportion of the people is pious, the general tone of society is religious. No where is the Sabbath more strictly observed, or the places of worship better attended. Sunday schools and Bible classes are established generally in the churches, into which, in many cases, the native children are gathered with those of the colonists.
"There are ten week-day schools in all the settlements, supported generally by education and missionary societies in this [85]country. The teachers in most cases are coloured persons. A laudable thirst for knowledge pervades the community, and a great desire is expressed for an academic institution, toward the support of which they would contribute liberally; though as yet they are scarcely able to establish one single handed.
"In some places, as at Bassa Cove, literary societies are formed for mutual improvement, much on the plan of village lyceums in this country.
"At Bassa Cove and Monrovia there are public libraries for the use of the people. The one at the former place numbers 1200 or 1500 volumes.
"A monthly newspaper is published at Monrovia. The articles in this paper afford good testimony of the general intelligence of the people, and reflect great credit upon the talented editor, a coloured man.
"There are at present 25 or 30 white persons connected with the various missionary and education societies, or attached to the colonies as physicians, &c. The government of Liberia is essentially republican. All the officers, except the Governor, (who is appointed by the Colonization Society) being chosen by the people. Elections are held annually in every village, and are conducted with great propriety and decorum. A vice-governor, legislative councillors, a high sheriff, constables, &c., are some of the officers elected annually. The militia is well organized and efficient. The officers and men exhibit a degree of enthusiasm in the performance of their duty seldom witnessed elsewhere; and on field days their neat and orderly appearance, their thorough discipline, and the promptness and precision of their evolutions, command the admiration of every observer.
"There are a number of volunteer corps, regularly uniformed and equipped. These of course are the elite of the Liberia militia; and indeed many of them would lose nothing by a comparison with our own city guards.
T. B."
CONCLUSION OF THIS CHAPTER.
We have before shown that although the only object of the Colonization Society is to restore the free man of colour to the land of his fathers, yet that [86]the accomplishment of this very object necessarily involves the removal of the actual cause of slavery itself, and of all its horrors, viz. the African slave-trade. In this respect alone, if it did no more, it as far exceeds in utility, the Abolition Scheme, as the light of the sun exceeds that of a taper. Moreover this one fact, and this alone, ought to secure for it the patronage of every friend of humanity; and would no doubt long since have done so, and have procured for it ample funds from the good people of this country and of England, had its objects not been misrepresented, particularly in the latter place, where there is no one sufficiently acquainted with the merits of the case to refute and put to silence those who were, and are employed, by the Anti-Slavery Society, for the express purpose of vilifying and calumniating, before a British public, some of the greatest benefactors this country ever had. It is well known how that indefatigable and disinterested friend of the coloured man, Elliott Cresson, Esq., after he went to England, at his own expense, for the express purpose of promoting this cause in that country, was vilified, calumniated, and misrepresented by American Abolition Agents!
Let any man take a map of Africa in his hand, and ask himself the question, what Powers on earth could effectually stop a trade carried on along a coast of at least seven thousand miles, including the various bays and inlets, &c.? Could the combined naval forces of Europe and America accomplish it, not even taking into consideration the enormous annual expense of such an enterprise? The very idea is preposterously absurd! We all recollect the difficulty encountered last winter in attempting to guard the Canadian frontier of only a few hundred miles!
[87]Are fifty millions of Africans to be left exposed to the demoralising influence, and the unspeakable horrors of the slave-trade? And are we to talk of humanity and allow ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND miserable human beings to be annually dragged from their native land—from their homes—from their parents—from their friends—and be subjected to the horrors described in pages 41, 42? What means, what power, what system, except the Colonization Society, can check this climax of human barbarity? And by what means are the glorious truths of divine revelation to be disseminated amongst upwards of fifty millions of our fellow creatures except by the pure word of God, the Bible, which black man hands to black man, African hands to African—and so on, till this man of sin be consumed by the brightness of the Gospel, and the Ethiopian be enabled to lift up his hand to the living God?
The Colonization Society has, as already shown, done much in this work—and all that it has not done is justly attributable to the effects of the misrepresentations of the Abolition Champions, who are, in this sense, not only the slave-holders of thousands of slaves, but the Protectors of the African Slave-trade!