PRESENT STATE OF THE COLONY.
The following letters from a respectable emigrant, will farther show the present condition of the settlements:
From Liberia.—We are happy to announce the arrival at Liberia of the ship Jupiter, Captain Peters, which vessel sailed from Norfolk at the close of October last, and for whose safety serious apprehensions were entertained. Capt. Peters called at the Cape de Verds, and at several places on the African coast, before he touched at Monrovia, at which port he arrived on the 7th of March. The Rev. Melvin B. Cox, the gentleman sent out by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a passenger in this ship, and was in good health on the 8th of March, the date of our last advices.
Some of our readers will probably recollect that in December last we noticed the departure from Norfolk of the brig Roanoke, Capt. Hatch, for Monrovia. In this vessel an interesting colored family, named Reynolds, from Onondaga county, were passengers. The Onondaga Standard, of the 20th May, contains two letters from Mr. Reynolds, which are subjoined. The letters corroborate the favorable accounts which have been given of Liberia.
Monrovia, Liberia, March 1, 1833.
Mr. Copp:—Sir: Mindful of your request that I should inform you of my safe arrival, and how I am pleased with the country, I improve the opportunity presented by return of Roanoke to write a short letter. We had a pleasant passage of 42 days from land to land, and by the attention of Capt. Hatch, were rendered quite comfortable. Not one of my family were sea-sick a day; and by the favor of God our health still continues, though we do not expect to escape a visit of the fever-and-ague, which scarcely ever passes by new comers without a call.
I find, as was represented at home, that religion is flourishing, and Christians active. There is at present some little excitement among sinners at Caldwell and Millsburg. We have Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians here, and all seem engaged. At present I remain at Caldwell, and shall continue to until the fever leaves me. It is very pleasantly situated on the St. Paul’s, and might, under suitable agricultural improvement, speedily equal in beauty any of the river towns in America.
The land about Caldwell is rich and readily subdued; the only source of evil hitherto, I think, arises from neglect of agricultural improvement. The fruits are various; the orange and lime are found wild, and only need the same care to make them abundant, as is bestowed on the apple in New York. Lemons and papaw, and cassia and plantain, &c. are also abundant. Pine-apples cover whole fields, growing wild. The Lima bean and Cotton, when planted, continue to bear, I am informed, for several years. I have seen coffee, and cotton, and indigo, wild and abundant—also, pepper of two kinds. Water-melons and cucumbers and grapes are found in some gardens:—thus you perceive we have abundance of fruit to reward the laborer. A farmer on the St. Paul’s river told me that, from one quart of Indian Corn, he raised three barrels in one year. There are many cattle and hogs and fowls here, and when more attention is bestowed on the land, rich pasture lands will be abundant. I am informed that one hundred miles inland, the cattle are large and numerous.
With a deep sense of gratitude to yourself and the other friends who assisted me to come to this land of privileges, I desire to tender you all my sincere thanks.
Yours, most respectfully,
WILLIAM REYNOLDS.
The following is to a colored friend.
Monrovia, March 1, 1833.
I write a few lines by Roanoke, to urge you to come out to Liberia. The country exceeds what I anticipated while in America. It is rich, and abounds in tropical fruits—it yields a large return to the laborer. The climate is delightful, and the heat not near so oppressive as in our summers and harvesting. The sea-breeze blows here every day, and at night I find a blanket adds to my comfort. A man can get a living and make money here in various ways as in the United States, by trade or farming, &c. I am intending to try farming. If you come at all come soon; the earliest settlers, we think, will have the best chance. My family is all well, and send their respects to you. Remember me to all inquiring friends.
Yours, &c.
WILLIAM REYNOLDS.
We shall fortify our discussion of the subject matter of the preceding pages, by the addition of a few authentic documents, which will throw light on some points of importance. From the Monthly Colonizationist, we take the following description of the present state of the Colony:—
The Colony.
The cause of African colonization never was more prosperous or more promising than at the present moment. In all its departments this is the case; it is so abroad, and it is so at home.
In regard to the Colony,—which, after all, is at once the best evidence of the progress of the Parent Institution, and the surest test of its principles,—the authentic and indisputable accounts which reach us from every quarter, must be admitted as sufficient to satisfy all reasonable and candid minds, not only of the actual prosperity of the present settlements, but of the practicableness of the colonial scheme on the larger and nobler scale always anticipated, more or less, by the advocates of the cause. Instances of mismanagement, as well as misfortune, doubtless have occurred; it would be indeed a new thing in the history of colonization, as well as in the conduct of all other systems whose progress depends on the labor of men, if there had not been such instances. But, not to mention that these misfortunes were mostly in their nature such as cannot be repeated, and such as, in all events, only past experience has been necessary to prevent for the future,—and not to insist on the credit fairly due to the Society, for frankly acknowledging the mistakes we allude to, and for always manifesting a readiness to submit to instruction, and to act vigorously and promptly in the correction of errors,—who, among the foes of the Institution, will at the worst, undertake to deny that a degree of success has, on the whole, attended its efforts on the African coast, to which, in the language of Mr. Cresson, “the annals of Colonization may be triumphantly challenged for a parallel?” Since the date of this declaration of our able friend in England, the population of the Colony has been increased by more than one half, nearly eight hundred emigrants having been carried out during the year immediately preceding the first of January last. Other accessions to its establishments, during the same period, are among the most important which have taken place. Very satisfactory arrangements have been effected by the Colonial Agent for the settlement of Grand Bassa, a tract of country which, in regard to its climate, soil, situation, and productions of all kinds, is proved to be inferior to no other district on the whole coast: a valuable territory on the western banks of the St. John’s river, with four large islands within the river, additional to the immense tract purchased by Mr. Ashmun, have not only been peaceably obtained of the natives, but the latter have pledged themselves,—such seems to be their anxiety to trade and associate with the Liberians,—to erect suitable buildings, at their own expense, for the accommodation of the first emigrants. At the time we are writing, this promising settlement is doubtless already commenced.
It farther appears that possession has also been obtained of a large tract of land at Grand Cape Mount, a point on the coast about as far north from the main settlement, at Monrovia, as Grand Bassa is south. The exports of the natives have heretofore been from $60,000 to $70,000 per annum. The fine territory now ceded, is situated at a short distance from the sea, on the shore of a lake, about twenty miles in length, navigable for small vessels, and into which flow several rivers, affording important facilities for commerce with the interior. The chiefs of the country, who are thought to be more advanced in civilization than any others south of Sierra Leone, have granted an unquestionable title to this land, on the sole condition that settlers shall be placed upon it and that schools shall be established for the benefit of native children.
Some of these chiefs, having obtained the rudiments of an English education in Liberia, expressed earnest desires that the benefits of instruction should be afforded to their countrymen; and the young men declared their purpose of submitting to the laws of the Colony, and their willingness to make further grants of land, to any extent desired, whenever the terms of the present negotiations shall have been fulfilled. The spot selected for a settlement is said to be healthy, and the soil capable of producing almost every thing of value that grows within the tropics.[1]
[1] See the Sixteenth Annual Report, 1833.
The agriculture of the Colony was never so thrifty as at the present time. Heretofore it has been to some extent neglected, as is always the case with new colonies; but the most vigorous measures have been recently adopted by the managers for its encouragement and permanent prosperity, and these efforts are attended with great success. To the cultivation of coffee, especially—of which the finest quality abounds spontaneously in this latitude—the attention of several of the most respectable colonists has been turned; and 20,000 coffee-trees have been planted by a single individual (a colored gentleman.) and farms of the recaptured Africans, at their two beautiful little villages near Caldwell, are in so prosperous a state that “they not only raise sufficient for their own consumption,” says the Colonial Agent, “but a considerable surplus for the market.” At one of these villages the same gentleman speaks of observing a tract of one hundred acres planted with cassada, interspersed with patches of Indian corn and sweet potatoes.”
The commerce of the Colony, in 1831, greatly exceeded that of any former year; within that period, forty-six vessels visited the port of Monrovia, and the exports were nearly $90,000. But from the last Report we learn that, while fifty-nine vessels had visited the port during the year preceding last May, the exports during the same period, (consisting chiefly of camwood, ivory, palm-oil, tortoise-shell and gold,) amounted to $125,549 16—of imports, to $80,000—and the merchandise and produce on hand on the 1st of January, 1832, to $47,000. New avenues have been recently opened with the interior tribes. Caravans from a considerable distance have visited the country. The Dey people, who number from six to eight thousand, occupying the coast immediately north of Monrovia, have in treaty agreed to allow a free passage to the Colony through their territories. There is now a commercial connexion extending from our settlement even to the borders of Foota Jallo.
It perhaps sufficiently indicates the moral condition of the Colony, that three churches have been erected during the past year; and that there are now six day schools for children, and one evening school for adults, comprising in all two hundred and twenty-six pupils. Two female schools, taught by well-qualified teachers, whose salaries are paid by ladies of Philadelphia, are attended by ninety-nine pupils. Among the re-captured Africans, also, a school is about to commence, under the patronage of the same ladies; and a Sunday school already exists. Towards the foundation of a high school, $2,000 have been recently given by Mr. Sheldon, of New York, and $400 by the Hon. C. F. Mercer, of Virginia. The Massachusetts State Society, at its last annual meeting, voted to appropriate $400 per annum, for the salary of a competent male instructer at Liberia, and half that sum for a female. This is well. It is more important to establish thoroughly the moral and intellectual character of the Colony, and especially of the rising generation, than even to extend the settlements themselves. The managers have taken a view of this subject, which merits the warmest sanction of all the friends of education, the friends of republicanism, the friends of freedom and truth. Whatever be the number of the emigrants, let their character be such, or let it be made such, as may serve fitly for the foundation-stone whereon, in after times, shall rest the firmest liberties of that continent, and the noblest glory of this. Slow though the building of the edifice may be,—and so has been the growth of every empire under heaven,—let it be sure, and let it be strong. No man will inquire, a century hence, how many colonists were carried out in any given twelve-mouth. Let it be built for the use of posterity, and for the praise of history. Let it be raised as the pyramids were raised, and it shall stand as the pyramids have stood. The light of orient civilization shall shine again, like the sunrise, upon its sides; and the last rays of freedom’s western orb, many an age hence, when our own republic may live but in name, shall still “linger and play on its summits.”
Abolition of Slavery.—The following letter, from an accomplished and intelligent gentleman in North Carolina to a distinguished gentleman in the city of Boston, is contained in the Columbian Centinel. It exhibits a specimen of the sentiments which generally, if not universally, prevail on this subject throughout the southern states, and may enable some of our infatuated agitators to perceive the folly and madness of their course:—
Salisbury, Rowan County, N. C., May 29th, 1833.
Dear Sir,—I shall offer no other apology for troubling you with a letter at this time, than the importance of its subject matter. I have chosen to address you as being a distinguished philanthropist; and on more than one occasion, a great sufferer in the cause of real humanity; and, from the past history of your life, I feel confident that I was not so deceived in the high estimate I formed of your character during our too short acquaintance, that I need fear you have turned a visionary.
It is frequently asserted in many of our southern newspapers, that there exists in the northern and eastern sections of our country, a disposition to interfere with slavery. This I have confidently denied on the strength of conversations I had with distinguished gentlemen when in your section; and on the authority of Mr. Webster’s gratifying assertion, that there prevails at the north such a feeling on this subject as the south would wish. More than two years since, in New England, I heard Garrison, whom I looked upon as a misguided enthusiast, and literally, a monomaniac, on the condition of the negroes in America; and I was happy to find that he was discountenanced by the sober and really benevolent portion of the community. I begin, however, to doubt, if I have not been somewhat in error. Something, I know not well by what class, nor as yet to what extent, surely is agitated among you. I am not a miscellaneous reader of newspapers, and I receive none from New England, so that my information is limited to extracts occasionally made into more southern journals. Among these, I was greatly struck by the following paragraph taken from the Boston Commercial Gazette: “At the last quarterly meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, the following resolution was adopted unanimously. Among the gentlemen who advocated the adoption was Mr. Amasa Walker, the candidate of the Anti-Masons for Congress.
‘Resolved, That the principles and measures of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, are consistent with every duty which we owe to our country, and that benevolence to the masters not less than to the slaves, requires us to advocate the doctrine of IMMEDIATE ABOLITION.’”
Here is the germ, I fear, (and I tremble while I think on it,) of what will work the dissolution of our glorious Union. For the moment that interference with the condition of our slaves is seriously attempted by any considerable party in the non-slave-holding states, that moment this Union is at an end. A determination not to suffer the free states to intermeddle in any manner, with the condition of the slaves, unites in the most perfect unanimity every political party, every religious sect, every class of society in the slave-holding states. And I pledge myself for the accuracy of the opinion, that not even an attempt to settle the question growing out of the agitation of slavery, would be made on the floor of Congress.
I love the Union with an unsurpassable affection; language cannot express the strength of it. I derive my being from the early pilgrims of New England, and I shrink from the idea of that ever becoming to me a foreign country. You know that I have regarded my rank of an American Citizen as a prouder birthright than that of the haughtiest noble of Europe, whose lineage is lost in the darkness of antiquity. But sooner than suffer the Abolitionists to carry into execution their plans, I too would go for a dissolution of this Union. I believe before God! that justice and humanity to slave, as well as to master, would require of me to do so. This is not a fitting occasion—neither is it necessary in addressing you, my friend, to dwell on the dangers to be apprehended from meddlesome ignorance in so delicate a relation as that of master and slave; nor to expatiate on the unwarrantable interference with the rights of others, nor on the violation of faith solemnly pledged even in the constitution of our liberties, as is purposed by the Abolitionists. In portraying the dreadful consequences to master, and still more to the slave, with the vices, crimes, bloodshed and horrors, that would follow immediate abolition, who would fail to be eloquent? But immediate abolition, is an event quite out of the question; and one of the certain consequences of any movement, either on the part of the slaves or of the Abolitionists, is the riveting with tenfold severity of the chains of the former. This any one may easily perceive, by examining the enactments on this subject, made since the distribution of Walker’s pamphlet, and the Virginia insurrection.
Do not conclude from my earnestness, that I believe the Abolitionists as yet, form either a numerous or powerful party—but the contrary.—Still, I wish, as much as lies in my humble self, to warn the good and intelligent to repress in its birth, by their strong reprobation, a visionary spirit, which, unchecked, will menace the Union of these United States, while it consigns to a severer bondage the unfortunate objects of their crusading folly. Especially do not conclude that I am hostile to emancipation in every form, and ready to give over the African race to perpetual, hopeless bondage. No. But in this matter the South must take the lead; there exists among us on this point, a jealousy—shall I not add, well grounded? The Colonization Society is operating a great change in public opinion here—it is gaining the confidence of the whole South.
I rejoice that the Abolitionists are running tilt against it; and if not discredited by the mad zeal of misguided philanthropists, it will lead, I am sure, to the adoption of judicious measures on a much larger scale to rescue from servitude and degradation the unfortunate Africans amongst us.
I greatly desire to learn from you the extent of any disposition that may exist in your section to attempt directly the abolition of slavery in the south, and whatever else of interest, you may have to communicate on this subject. Could you furnish me any information calculated to remove the suspicions and quiet the apprehensions of the South, (for I hope and still believe that right feelings concerning slavery prevail at the North,) its publication in our newspapers here, I feel confident would be productive of great good.
Hoping to hear from you at your earliest leisure, I am, very truly, your friend and humble servant.
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