Mr. McKay informs our Agent, that the adaptation of the soil and climate of Liberia, to the production of the best qualities of cotton, sugar, and coffee, has been fully tested; and that the willingness of the natives to engage in the cultivation of these products, under the direction of the Liberians, is no longer doubtful. To develop the unbounded agricultural resources of Africa, it only remains, therefore, that the capital to pay for the native labor, and the men to superintend it, should be supplied. The first of these elements of success is offered by British capitalists, and the last can be furnished by the American Colonization Society.
Mr. J. B. Jordan, a highly intelligent merchant of Liberia, is expected in Cincinnati, soon, to tarry a few weeks. He has been in correspondence with some of the intelligent colored men of this city, for more than a year past, and has expressed himself in the strongest terms, as to the superiority of that Republic, over the United States, as a home for the colored man. When on his way, at first, to Liberia, he visited our Agent at Oxford, Ohio, and agreed to coöperate in the erection of the proposed Ohio Colony.
Our Agent has several applications for information, as to the time when emigrants can remove to the proposed “Ohio in Africa;” and some have resolved to proceed to Liberia, to undergo the acclimating process, preparatory to entering into their inheritance.
In connection with this subject, we are gratified in being able to state, that companies of slaves, qualified to enter at once upon the cultivation of the lands in Africa, are occasionally offered, and may be of much value, as freemen, in our proposed settlement. In 1852, Mrs. Ludlow, of Cincinnati, presented twenty-one slaves, then in Texas, to our Agent, as emigrants to Liberia; and they were forwarded in March, 1853, to their future homes. At the present moment, another family of seventeen slaves, valued at about $15,000, is offered to him, and will be accepted as soon as the preliminary arrangements for their removal can be made. Their master is a resident of a State in which there is no Colonization Agent; and, being acquainted with our Agent, he has appealed to him to accept his slaves, and provide for them in a land of freedom. As these people have been trained to Cotton-growing, it is important they should be sent to our Colony, to promote the cultivation of that valuable staple. Should they succeed well in Liberia, it is expected that other emancipations in the same region will follow, and a large number of cotton-growers thus be secured to aid in developing the resources of the African Republic.
The Resolutions of the Oxford Council, appended to this address, emanate from colored men of more than ordinary intelligence. None of them are advocates of Colonization, but they are capable of taking a comprehensive view of the questions involved in the enslavement of their race. They are now convinced, that unless the free colored people assume a position enabling them to engage largely in tropical cultivation, slavery, by retaining the monopoly of the supply of tropical products, must continue to possess the power of extending itself at will. The only question, with them, is, Where can the free colored people become the most efficient agents in the deliverance and elevation of their race? They have resolved, therefore, to collect information from Africa, while others are investigating South America. The slavery question, in their opinion, is now assuming a position in which attention must be more fully directed to its economical aspects. Moral considerations, they perceive, are powerless in arresting its progress. The cumulative demands of commerce, for tropical productions, are stimulating slavery in an unprecedented degree; and unless free labor can be enlisted in tropical cultivation, it must continue to extend until the whole of tropical America submits to its sway.
As only a part of the towns and congregations in Ohio could be visited during a single year; as the opposition to Colonization had been more extended, and its agencies more perfectly systematized here than, perhaps, in any other State; as it was impossible to obtain audiences, generally, to hear lectures, except on the Sabbath, when the secular aspects of the subject could not be discussed; and, as the people of African descent, almost to a man, were bitterly opposed to Liberia, and willing to believe every ill report its enemies put into circulation; the Agent found it necessary, at an early period of his labors, to resort to his pen, as a means of correcting public sentiment, and disseminating truth among the colored people. The fifth and last document of this kind is forwarded herewith, and commended to your attention. Its object, mainly, is to demonstrate the necessity of Colonization as an auxiliary to missions in Africa; to show what colored men, themselves, have accomplished for the elevation of their race; and to afford the pastors of congregations a brief outline of facts to lay before their people.
Before the peace of the tribes around Cape Mount can be secured, and the interference of foreigners to procure laborers for the West Indies, as apprentices or slaves, can be prevented, we must settle a colony there; and before this can be accomplished, suitable houses and fortifications, for the comfort and security of emigrants, must be erected. The government of Liberia, were it able, can not be expected to make these improvements; and the Colonization Society, were it willing, is equally unsupplied with funds for such an object. Aid is not expected, at present, from either our State Legislature or from Congress. Consequently, we are thrown back upon the liberality of the churches, and of individuals, in our own State, for the means of rendering the lands, purchased by Mr. McMicken, available to those for whom they were designed. And shall we seize the opportunity now presented, by a favoring Providence, for barring, forever, the traffickers in human flesh, by whatever name they may be called, from all access to Grand Cape Mount? Or, after the site has been secured, shall we suffer it to be transferred to others, and the citizens of our State robbed, by their own negligence, of the honor of perfecting what has been so successfully commenced?
To remove any remaining prejudices against Colonization, and to secure more prompt and general action by the different Churches, appeals have been made to the several Ecclesiastical Courts, where opportunity offered, to recommend the cause of Colonization to their people. Three Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Ohio, at their last sessions, passed resolutions approving the Colonization Society; and two of them—the Cincinnati and the Ohio, visited by our Agent—recommended collections to be taken up in the Churches under their care. The General Assemblies of both divisions of the Presbyterian Church, have also recommended the Society to the patronage of their people. The Baptists and the Protestant Episcopal Church, both, have missions in Liberia, and their people need no other inducements, it is conceived, than the fact that their contributions are needed, to enlist them in aiding emigration to that Republic. The Associate Reformed Church, and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, have also expressed their confidence in African Colonization, and recommended their people to sustain the enterprise. The newer division of the Baptists—the Christian Church—have recently enlisted in the cause of African evangelization, and sent out a missionary. The people of that denomination, doubtless, will unite with us in promoting the great work of emigration to Africa.
And now, Christian Brethren, with these facts before you, and with these expressions of confidence in Colonization, by the Churches to which you belong, may we not urge upon you to lay this subject promptly before your people; so that, through your instrumentality and their pecuniary aid, we may have the means placed in our hands of delivering Grand Cape Mount from the long reign of rapine, cruelty, and war, to which it has been doomed; and of placing it under the protection of the Banner of the Cross, and subjecting it to the dominion of the Prince of Peace.
You will readily understand, Dear Brethren, that the Committee has progressed to a point, in its efforts to establish an Ohio Colony in Africa, where it is powerless without money. And, having accomplished so much—having territory enough, almost, for a kingdom—must all be lost for want of the ability to proceed? We can not but believe that the Christian people, under your care, will heartily respond to this appeal; and, that they will give us, at once, ample means of carrying out all the measures necessary to secure success.