But while we present these cheering evidences of the success of the missions in this field, we would call attention to an important difference in the results here and in Liberia. Sierra Leone and Liberia were founded with similar objects in view: the removal of a class of persons unhappily situated, the improvement of their condition, the civilization of Africa, and the suppression of the slave-trade. In both cases the colonies were founded in the midst of barbarous tribes; and with men but recently escaped or liberated from the bonds of slavery. Sierra Leone received her emigrants nearly all at once; while Liberia was more than ten years in obtaining an equal number. With the exception of the few survivors of the London expedition, the settlers in both colonies had the same early training, under the slavery of Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas. Up to 1800, the emigrants to Sierra Leone had been enlightened men, mostly from the same region which, subsequently, supplied to Liberia her citizens. From that period, the population of Sierra Leone has been increased, not by additions of civilized men,[[38]] but first by the Maroons, and afterward by natives introduced by the English cruizers; until, at present, sixty-six years from the founding of the colony, it includes 45,000 people, reckoned subjects of Great Britain. With the exception of a few recaptured slaves landed in Liberia, by American cruizers, its population, each succeeding year from the first, has received accessions of civilized men, who have won the confidence of the surrounding tribes, added them to their communities, instructed them in the arts of civilization, allowed them the benefits of their schools, and a participation in civil affairs; until, at present, thirty-three years after the commencement of the colony, it includes 80,000 people, recognized citizens of the Republic.
Now, mark the difference: in 66 years, Sierra Leone, aided by a large naval squadron, has grown into a British Colony of 45,000 subjects; while, in 33 years, or half the time, Liberia, with an influx of only 1,044 recaptured Africans, has become a Republic of 80,000 citizens.[[39]]
As to the success of the Missions in the two colonies, accurate statistics are not at hand; but from what has been stated, it appears that for the first 30 years of their existence, the increase in Liberia has been more than double that in Sierra Leone.
With these facts before us, it becomes a matter of great moment to determine what has been the cause of the difference in the prosperity of the two Colonies. It can not be attributed to any great inequality between their emigrants, as, mostly, they had an identity of origin; nor to any great difference among the natives, as the diversity of languages in the one, would be balanced by the greater degradation of the other.[[40]] Then, as there was, originally, no material difference in their populations, the greater success of the citizens of Liberia, in maintaining their civil and religious institutions, can not be a result of their attainments under the slavery of the United States, but must be a consequence of their intellectual advancement after reaching the Colony. Neither can the cause of the difference be found in the educational and religious institutions of the two Colonies, as these are identical in both. The difference, therefore, can exist, only, in the greater extent of the social and civil privileges which the Liberians have enjoyed in their form of government. Look at the facts. From the time Sierra Leone passed out of the hands of Granville Sharp, the colored people have been excluded from participating in the government. The offices have been filled with white men, who reside among the negroes, in the position and attitude of a superior race, born to command; while the colonists are made to feel that their destiny is to obey: hence, in prosecuting their education, the youth of that Colony have had their mental powers dwarfed, by the absence of the stimulants which the hope of social and political advancement afford. In Liberia the policy has been the reverse. From the beginning, the minor offices were held by the colored men; and for the past twelve years, no white man has held any office, civil or military, in the Colony. Thus, the posts of honor have been open to the competition of every Liberian; and, catching the progressive spirit of the age, the colonists have aspired to the dignity of Nationality; have established an Independent Republic; and have progressed, in their civil and religious relations, with a rapidity doubly as great as Sierra Leone.[[41]]
But time will not allow us to extend our comparisons. The superiority of the free institutions of Liberia, as an agency for overcoming the obstacles to civilization and Christianity in Africa, will be farther noticed in the progress of our investigations. At present we need only say, in relation to both Colonies, that, as the result of English and American philanthropy, there is now a line of coast of more than 1,800 miles, from the Gambia on the West, to Lagos on the East, where the slave-trade is suppressed, and Christianity is introduced; and, that within this region, once the undisputed empire of the slave-trader, there are now 30,000 attendants on public worship, 10,300 church members, 152 schools, 13,600 pupils, and a band of teachers, nearly all of whom are natives or Liberians.
Such are the results within these Colonies, where the missionaries have enjoyed the protection of Government, and the aid of civilized colored men; such are the fruits of the English and American Colonization of the African race on the soil of their Father-land; and such the prospects of the moral redemption of the people of that continent, by the return of its captive sons, bearing in their hands the lamp of the Gospel.
III. The Missions among the Native Tribes, beyond the Influence and Protection of the Colonies.
A full history of these missions, including the facts illustrative of the obstacles to the progress of Christianity, where the restraints of civil government are not felt by the population, would be of thrilling interest. But this would require a volume. We must limit ourselves to two or three; and shall first direct attention to those of the American Board on the Gaboon, in West Africa, and among the Zulus, in South Africa.
The first of these missions was begun in 1834, at Cape Palmas; but owing to mistaken impressions in relation to the influence of the Colonies on the work, it was removed, in 1842, to the Gaboon, 1200 miles eastward. On entering this region, the missionary, the Rev. J. L. Wilson, encouraged by the attention of the chiefs, entertained such hopes of success, as to lead the Board to send additional missionaries to his aid. Some of the native converts at Cape Palmas, accompanying him to the Gaboon, served as a nucleus for a church at the new station. But on trial, the difficulties inherent in African heathenism were found to be much more perplexing and insurmountable, in his new field, than those he left behind in his old one.
The Report of the Board for 1850, says: “There is yet but one Church in the mission, and this contains 22 members, 11 of whom were received on profession of their faith, in 1849—a greater number than have been received in all the years since the removal of the mission to the Gaboon. Here, as in South Africa, the habit of taking many wives, or rather concubines, operates as a great hindrance to the Gospel; and the evil is much aggravated by the late free introduction of American Rum, which has exerted a most pernicious influence all along the coast.”