Part 7 (1/2)
4th. ”A distinguished British naval officer, who pa.s.sed 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 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 a.s.sumed 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 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 circ.u.mstance, 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 sh.o.r.e.
”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 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 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_--
”Ba.s.sA COVE, established by the United Colonization Societies of New York and Pennsylvania. This colony includes _Ba.s.sa 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 princ.i.p.al 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.
”Ba.s.sA 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 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 quant.i.ty 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.