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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0008 Enlarge and print image (4M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0008 Enlarge and print image (4M) |
| MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL. thuaiastic and visionary new comers, who write without having made themselves at all acquainted with the true state of affi.irs in Africa; and on the other, from the timorous, dissipated and disheartened, who long to re- turn to their former degraded situation, and are willing to assign any reason, however, false and detrimental to their fellow citizens, rather than the true one, viz: that tlicy are actually unfit, from want of virtue,energy and capacity, to become freemen in any country. We judge that the time which has elapsed since our first arrival, (eight months,) has ena- bled us to form a pretty correct opinion of tins our new colony, of the climate, and of the fit- ness of our government. Therefore wu inny safely say that we write not ignorantly. And as to the truth of our assertions we here so- lemnly declare, once for all, that we write in the fear of God, and are fully sensible that we stand pledged to maintain them both here and hereafter. Of our Government. We declare that we have enjoyed (and the same is forever guaran- tied to us by our Constitution) all and every civil and religious right and privilege, which we have ever known enjoyed by the white citizens of the United Slates, excepting the election of our chief magistrate, who is ap- pointed by the board of managers of the Mary- land State Colonization Society. All other officers are appointed or elected from the colo- nists. Freedom of speech and the press, elec- tion by ballot, trial by jury, the right to bear arms, and the liberty of worshipping God, agreeably to the dictates of our own con- sciences are rendered forever inviolate by the Constitution. Salubrity of the elimate. Every foreigner upon arriving in this country is liable to an attack of a peculiar fever, which provoo mora or less severe in different individuals, but is uniformly over in from ten to twenty days, so that the per- son can move about: but the system is more or less debilitated from one to six months: some, however, lose but a week or two from labour. What will be the average fatality of this dis- ease ultimately, we cannot say. Of the eigh- teen emigrants from Baltimore, per brig Ann, we lost a child by dysentery, some weeks afler the fever which probably induced it. One woman also died very suddenly, two months after recovery from her first attack, which might perhaps be attributable fo the climate, although not the lever. But it ought to be re- marked that we were at that time all lodged in very open, leaky houses, and the beds of the sick were almost constantly wet. This evil however need not again occur. Independent of this fever, from which every new emigrant has long since been free, we have reason to believe this to be as healthy as any tropical climate in the world; and we can af- firm from the experience of many of our num- ber, and the observations of credible persons, that this place is decidedly more healthy than any of the windward settlements. Sierra Leone or Monrovia. Those of us who came from the low districts in Maryland believe this country far inure salubrious. The weather is exceedingly pleasant, and the temperature uni- form. A thermometer kept in the colony tins never since our arrival been below seventy degrees, nor above eighty four. The soil in our immediate vicinity is much better than that on the American sea-board; equal to any part of the laud on the Chesa- peake bay; and the farther we have penetrat- ed into the interior it has increased in rich- ness. We have not tried it as yet to any great extent, but the immense quantity of rice shipped from this section of the coast, is a sufficient guarantee of the richness of the soil. Nearly all the garden vegetables with which we were acquainted in America have been tried in our gardens, and been found to do well; as also small quantities of the Ame- rican cotton.—The natural eatable productions of this country are plantain, banuuna,- sweet potatoe, cassada, yams, rice, corn, ptNBpkma, beans, peas, okra, egg plant, tomatoes, sugar cane, pawpaws, palm cabbage and palm oil. This last is no doubt one of the most valuable productions in the world. It is by most es- teemed preferable to hog's lard for cooking, and produces as good a light as the fish oil, without that disagreeable smell. All the above productions can be raised in this coun- try to any extent desirable. The animals which we found here are a fine breed of small plump neat cattle, sheep, ducks and fowls. These are all domesticated, and very abun- dant, and propagate much faster than in Ame- rica. Wild game is also plentiful, as lines, deer, bush cats, monkeys and a great variety of birds. We have the best of timber for build- ing and cabinet work. There are inexhaustible quarries of good rock; and five or six hundred bushels of lime have been prepared from shells. We have erected and finished four- teen clapboarded niid shingled wooden build- ings; ten more are under way, two of which are of stone. We have built a wharf of stone, seventy feet by twenty six; and with pride do we add, that our little village presents an ap- pearance which would not shame any thirty men to acknowledge it as the result of eight month's labour; either in Africa or America. And under existing circumstances, we candidly declare that we are not disposed to return to the United States. Another interesting circumstance connected with our situation may be noticed, viz: We are surrounded by numerous tribes of the most intelligent and civilized natives on this coast. They received us with gladness and seem ardently to wish to adopt our habits and manners, and to acquire a knowledge of the arts of civilized life. From (hem we have re- ceived great assistance in procuring timber for the erection of our houses, and from them also has been procured most of the vegetable food of the colony since its establishment; and both labour and provisions have been obtained for less than one half of the cost of the same in America. We have an excellent school in operation, which is not only attended by our own children, but by those of some of the principal natives in our vicinity, and as far as we can judge, they have made rapid progress. That we may not weary your patience, or be suspected off a desire to set forth matters in too favourable a light, we have been thus brief in our statements. It will naturally be supposed, brethren, that the object of this ad- dress is to induce you to emigrate and join us. To deny this would be a gross want of candor, and not in unison with our professions nt the outset. We do wish it, and we tender you both the heart and hand of good fellowship. But here again, let us be equally candid with you. It is nut every man that we could hon- estly advise or desire to conic to this Colony. To those who are contented to live and edu- cate their children as bouse servants and lackeys, we would say; stay where you are; here we have no masters to employ you. To the indolent, heedless and slothful, we would say, tarry among the flesh pots of Egypt; here we get our bread by the sweat of the brow. To drunkards and rioters, we would sny; come not to us; you can never become naturalized in a land where there are no grog shops, und where temperance and order is the motto. To the timorous and suspicious, we would say, stay where you have protectors; lure we protect ourselves. But the industrious, enterprising and patriotic of what occupation or profession soever; the merchant, the mechanic and farmer, (but more particularly the latter,) we would counsel, advise and entreat to come and be one with us, and assist us in tlii- glurious enterprise, and enjoy with us that liberty to which we ever were, and the man of colour ever must be, a stranger in America. To the minis- ters of the gospel, both white and coloured, we would say, come to this great harvest, and diffuse umongst us and our benighted neigh- bours, that light of the gospel, without which liberty itself is but slavery, and freedom but perpetual bondage. Accept brethren, our best wishes; and pray- ing, that the Great Disposer of events will direct you to that course, which will tend to your happiness and the benefit of our race throughout the world we subscribe ourselves, Yours, most affectionately, .1 v 01. Gross, WM. Pol K, Chas. Scotland, Anthoby Wood, Thomas Jackson. The report being read, it was then moved by James M. Thomson and seconded, that the report be approved and accepted. The yeas and nays were presented as follows: YEAS.—Jeremiah Stewart, Jas. Martin, Sam'l Wheeler, H. Duncan, Danl. Banks, Joshua Stewart. Jno. Bowen, Jas. Stewart, Henry Dennis, Eden Harding, Root Whit- field, Nathan Lee, Nath'l. Edmonson, Ch's. Scotland, Nath'l llarmond. Bur. Minor, An- thony Howard, Jas. M. Thom-on, Anthony Wood, Jacob Gross, Win. Polk, Thomas Jackson. NAYS.—Nicholas Thompson, Win. Rey- nolds, Win. Cussul. N. B. Those who voted in the negative, declared that the statements contained in the report were true, both in spirit and letter, but they preferred returning to America—where- upon the meeting adjourned, sine die. A true copy of the record of the proceed- ings. Wm. Poi.k, Sec'ry. The Board ol Managers of the Maryland State Colonization Society, have proposed to tho ladies of Baltimore, to contribate to enable the Board to pur chase or build a mihiII vessel to be sent to Afrua, for the use of the Colony at Cape Palmas, to beat such name in memory of the fair donors, as may bt sug- gested or approved by them. In anticipation if the success of the proposition, the following lines have been handed to us by a friend. There's many a bark has proudly borne The thunder freight of war, Whose canvass, in the sun-light worn, Hi shewed, nor rent, nor scar} WhoBe banner, upon summer seas Has hung in idle fold, Or, answering to the whispering breeze, Its country's glory told. To India's far, and spicy isles, To Kurope's crowded Btrand, To where the sun, unseltmg, Bmilcs Upon an ice-bound land, The peaceful sail of commerce wends Its long and weary way, Whether the frowning storm attends, Or laughs the south wind gay. Proud heralds of a nation's might! Rich bearers of its gems! They walk the seas, in robes of white, The waves' true diadems. Now trembling near the whirling cloud, Karth's centre seeking now, Secure in mast and spar, and shroud, Safely, the deep they plough, While warrior arms their flag outspread, While rolls the rattling drum, And stars and stripes are set o'er head, And bails arc sheeted home. But not the moving battlement Thai sweeps the watery plain, Nor ship to earth's far regions sent For trade's uncertain gain, As bravely e'er the billows prest As shall "the craft," which bears To Africa, on woman's hest, Her bounty and her prayers \. Colonization Aid Societies and Auxiliary Colonization Societies. I. COLONIZATION AID SOCIETIES. Ill the conlliet of opinion throughout the United States in regard to the subject of slave- ry, or the proper and constitutional means for tiie removal of it and its chain of consequences, the M Ma i ami State Colonization Socie- ty is particularly anxious that its opinions and principles should be fully and fairly understood. Proclaiming its opinion that the existence of slavery is n calamity to tin; white as well as the colored population, uml avowing as its ub- ject the extinction of this evil within its own limits, it holds also as a fundamental prim soft. that the only constitutional, and sate, and of course the only efficient, means tor the gene- ral removal of the evil throughout our country is that of srparole state aetion. Jealous us the slaveholding part of our union may naturally be of any interference from without their own limits, by legislative enactment or otherwise, with their peculiar and private interests and affairs, and checked and repressed as t-he phi- lanthropic interest ami exertions of the non- slaveholders of the north may now be by this jealousy of the south, both may be enabled, it is believed, to unite in one object upon the prin- ciples laid down by this society. The convic- tion of the evils of slavery is daily gaining ground. In the mean time, distrust and jea- lousy are no longer possible, when earh state is declared and held to be alone entitled to act in this import ant nnd embarrassing subject within its own limits; while, at the same time, full and efficient scope is given to the enlightened and philanthropic liberality of the opponents of slavery elsewhere, in giving the aid of their countenance and contributions to all those who avowedlv are struggling for the ixlinction of this evil,—by helping those who, the most ir. accordance with their own principles, seem striving to help themselves. \\ itli tliese views anil opinions, the society oiler the following constitution of "Coloniza- tion Aid Societies," for the adoption of those friends (beyond the limits of the state) who may approve these opinions and principles. Constitution (if the Colonization Aid ISociiti/. H'herias, while we deeply lament the exis- tence of slavery in any part of the American republic, we are unwilling to encroach upon the rights, or du violence to the feelings, of any of our fellow-citizens of the slave-holding states, by an interference with that species of property, which has been secured to them by law, and guaranteed by the constitution of the United States: but whereas, at the same time, we are solicitous for the extirpation of the evil, so far us we can reasonably and pro- perly promote it; therefore, Resolved, That we form ourselves into u society, under the name of the Colonization Aid Society, for the purposes hereinafter stated, and hereby adopt the following Constitution:— Article 1. The object of this Society shall be the collection of funds, to be appropriated at its discretion, in aid of such Colonization societies, in the slave-holding stales of the union, as may apply therefor, and as may avow and prosecute the colonization plan,as a means of extirpating the institution of slavery in their respective states. Arc. '2. The payment of dollar annually shall constitute an individual a mem- ber of this Society, and the payment at one tune of thirty dollars, or upwards, sbull con- stitute a member for life. Akt. J. The officers of this Society shall consist of a President, Vice Presidents, twelve Managers, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary,and a Treusurer, to be elected forthwith, and annually, hereafter, on the day of ; but if an elec- tion shall not be held at such time, the officers last chosen shall continue to hold their offices, until an election shall be made, at a meeting of the Society to be called for the purpose. Art. 4. All ihc officers above mentioned, shall be, ex officio, members ol the board ot managers. Akt. :">. The hoard of managers shall meet to transact the business of the Society, whei five shall Constitute a quorum, and shall buv< all the powers necessary to carry into effect the objects set. forth in the first article, to make by-laws for their government,and to fill vacancies in their number, or in the officers of the Society. Akt. ti. The Corresponding Secretary sha conduct the correspondence of the Society and of the board of managers. Art. 7. The Recording Secretary shall keep the records of the Society, and it shall be his particular duty to keep a list of the names, residences, and amount of subscription of members. He shall also act as Secretary of the board of managers. Art. 8. The treasurer shall keep the ac- counts, and take charge, subject to the regu- lations of the board, of the fundsof the Society, Art. 9. No article of this Constitution shall be expunged or altered, unless by consent of two-thirds of the members of the Society pre- sent, as a meeting culled for the purpose. R. II f Editors out if this stale will confer a favor by inserting thefuregoing article in their jitijiers. Editors within the limits of this state will eonfi r a favor, by inserting the subjoined article on Auxiliary Colonization Socielu.t. II. AUXILIARY COLONIZATION SOCIETIES. We hope that few or none of our readers are unacquainted with the great objects for which the Maryland State Colonization Society was instituted, and for the promotion of which it has perseveringly laboured; but a brief ex- planation of those principles of its organization upon which it mainly relies for the ultimate succets of its tffoii., may not be unacceptable. The Society can effect but comparatively little, unless it receive,—not the approbation merely, but the active and zealous co-operation of its friends in every section of the State. Engaged as it is in an enterprise involving the most important results to the future destinies of Maryland, the Society has always been desirous that its views should be fully under- stood, nnd its principles maturely and dispas- sionately considered: confident that both will receive the countenance of nil who have at heart the permanent prosperity of the state. But to enable the public to judge correctly, they must have information; and in no way can this be so readily imparted, as through the active exertions of efficient auxiliary societies. If these are properly instituted and supported by our friends throughout the state, we must succeed; without them, doubts and difficulties hang over our prospects. It is true that the Society also looks for aid from other states of the union, but its relations with either indivi- duals or societies, beyond the limits of this state, are of a character essentially different from those which connect it with its Auxiliaries. The by-laws of the Society especially en- join upon, and require of the board of Mana- gers, "to form, or cause to be formed, auxi- liary societies, wherever practicable, through- out the state, upon such terms and conditions us the board muy prescribe.'' In discharge of the duty thus assigned, the board determined, without undertaking to prescribe the terms of membership in the auxiliary societies, n matter properly belonging to the discretion of each of sucii societies, yet that it was proper that every member of a regular auxiliary society, contributing to its funds the sum of one dollar, (the qualification of membership in the Mary- land State Society,) should be entitled to all the privileges of a member of the latter, and have a right to vote at all its meetings, held during the current year, in which such contri- bution was made. The only reason, in tact, tor establishing auxiliary societies at all, is that by such an organization, far more aid in disseminating information, and exciting inte- rest in its behalf, can be rendered to the cause of Colonization by the collective efforts of the members of such societies, than could bo ex- pected from the separate efforts of the scat- tered and isolated members of a single society in the state. These auxiliaries, however, as we before remarked, can only be established within the state, as the cardinal principle of the State Society is "Independent State Action," that is, that the people of each state, and especially of each sluve-holding state, must retain the direction and control of the subject of colonization, within their own limits. The plan which we would respectfully sub- mit to our friends, as the one best calculated to insure the usefulness and efficiency of auxi- liaries, is this: Let such a Society be formed in every dis- trict of the state, where a sufficient number to keep up its organization can be found; and especially let a county society be established in each county, holding its meetings on some appointed day during the sessions of the courts. Let each county society divide its county into certuin convenient districts; and for every one of such districts, in which there may not be established a separate local auxiliary society, let the county society appoint a committee of two or three of its members. Let it be understood to be the duty of these committees, and of the local auxiliaries, where such exist, to see that every citizen in each district be waited upon once in every year; that the objects and views of the State Colo- nization Society he explained to lino, and his influence be solicited in support of the proper auxiliary. IJy these means, it is believed that the auxi- liary societies will soon come to embody in their ranks, by fur the greater proportion of the intelligence, the wealth, and the benevo- lence of the stale. The Secretary of each society should care- fully keep a register of the names and resi- dence of its members, anil an account of all coiilnbutions anil donations made to it. Re turns of these names and contributions should be regularly made to the Maryland State Society, which would thus know its friends in all parts of the state. At the meetings of the auxiliary societies, twice a year, public addresses might be deli- vered, and the plan of Colonization, on the Maryland system, be explained and advocated. Finally, ut the annual meetings of the Ma- ryland State Society, every auxiliary should appear by its delegates. The foregoing is a brief outline of a plnn. the advantages of which our space will not now allow us to enlarge upon. Many of them will, however, be obvious; und the only one which we will particularly mention, is that the Stnto Society will become such, in fact, as well as in name, and can go on confidently and joyfully in its career of usefulness, when it shall know that it is acting in harmony with the views of its friends and supporters through- out the state. C. Omn Mn. State Col. Society. There is a letter at the otlice of the Maryland Stale Colonization Society, from one of the colo- nists at C;ipe Palmas, addressed to Pnscilla Whee- ler, Baltimore. As the residence of this person la not known, it is hoped she will hear of the letter through this notice, and send or call for it. ttf- Colored persons disposed lo cmigrate to Caat Palmas, may olilatii alt the uiforiii.ition itiey wish, by application, in person, al the otlice of the Ma- ryland State Culoiuzatiou Society, or, by lelier, postage paid. By order, EDWARD V. CARTER, Clerk to the Hoard. j. d. rev, raiNi. iorner or ,t natfe markei-sh 4 |