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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0057 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0057 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL. 63 house. They had not been together Ions;before a messenger was sent to inquire if we had come to visit Grabbo, or were intending to go to Pah? This to us was strange treatment, ami how they knew the destination of our journey we could not conjecture, unless Podih, without our advice or knowledge, had despatched a messenger to carry the news. We sent back for reply, that we thought the king acted very strangely, and inquired why he and his people did not come and shake our hands and hear for themselves what we had to say. This brought them together, and I explained to them our intention and wishes, and told them as soon as Podih should arrive I would see them again. Podih had not overtaken us during the journey, and his delay now was the occasion of unple v«ant suspense. I thought it possible that he himself was at heart opposed to our journey, and had sent us to this place purposely to entangle us. After a while Podih arrived. If is presence re- lieved my mind from some unpleasant suspicions, but it did not change the aspect of affairs so much as I had hoped. There was still a reserve and distance about the people, which savored more of opposition than timidity. I thought the present which I had designed to give them would turn the scale. Accordingly after consultation with Podih and Davis, they were assembled. I explained to them that it was the custom of white men when they travelled not to visit one place alone, but to take in a good many in the circuit. I told them that my stay at their town ought to be regarded as a visit to them, and to satisfy them of this I would show them I had not come empty handed. I like- wise told them that I had nothing to do with trade, but was a man of God, and was seeking out my brethren and fellow creatures wherever I could find them. The present I made them consisted of a piece of cotton handkerchiefs, a plain umbrella, a razor, pair of scissors, and a few beads. These were accepted with apparent pleasure, and ought justly to be considered a liberal present [or the section of country. The concourse broke up and the people generally appeared more friendly. Being much fatigued and exhausted, I deter- mined to retire earlier than usual. A light was ordered, and as usual it attracted the people in pr'at crowds. After allowing them to satisfy their curiosity, the house was cleared, and the doors closed. Rut what appeared shyness in the first place, now gave way to unrestrained curiosity to sec every thing in our house anil particularly how a 'white man sleeps.' Several times the house was cleared, but the right of gazing in the doors the rabble stoutly maintained, and when the shutters were interposed, they were forced away and carried off. I sent several times to complain to the king, but he either had no power or inclina- tion to restrain them. Anil we got no relief until the lamp was placed in a situation where it could reflect but little or no light upon the surrounding objects. During the night, Mr. Wilson, who bad pre- viously become much exhausted by fatigue, was taken dangerously ill, as was also one of his atten- dants. The jealous and threatening movements of the people continued through the night and next morning; and as it seemed to Mr. Wilson hazar- dous to himself and his party to go forward or to remain at Grabbo, in his present state of health, he decided to return to the coast, and accordingly started early in the day. We did not return by the same way which we had come. We continued about ten miles further to the north to intersect the Cavally, where we hoped to get a canoe and reach the falls of the Tiver that night. But this proved a day of trial, suffering, and disappointment beyond any thing I had everexperienced. My sickness increased and I found it necessary to throw myself upon the grass for rest three or four times during the morning's walk. The road was indescribably bad, and our puide was so ignorant as to mislead us several times. About mid-day we arrived at Satiton, a settlement belonging to the same tribe as Grabbo, about forty miles above the falls of the river. Here the inhabitants were started by the arrival of a white man, and for a time the surrounding coun- try was filled with their screams and savage yells. We went to a shade-tree in the middle of the village, and I could scarcely stand upon my feet until a pallet could be spread, so faint and exhaust- ed was I by the walk. Mere the people walled me around so completely, as to exclude almost every breath of air. It was in vain that I told them I was sick, and begged them to stand away. The request they thought unreasonable, and 1 fell into a sound sleep in the midst of the thunder of surrounding voices. During my repose, Davis made every efTort to procure a canoe, but failed. The people were intent upon detaining us, and fa- bricated numberless stories to prevent our depar- ture. It was very undesirable for us to remain here. The people were quite as inhospitable as those we had left, and we felt that we were not yet beyond the reach of the Grahho people, who might still feel ill-disposed towards us. The only safe alter- native was to proceed by land to the next town below. When we first spoke of setting out, the people, those of them that we found in the town, made a show of resistance, hut when they saw us determined, all opposition was hushed up, and we departed peaceably. I felt refreshed by the sleep I had got, and supposed that I would be able to walk an hour or two longer. About three o'clock we came in sight of the next village, and the last one in this direction which belongs to the Tabo people. Here we held a consultation if it were not best for us to try and reach Yapro, the capital or head-town of the tribe called Kaphi ho. These were known to be a kind and hospitable people. We accordingly started for that place and reached there after a fatiguing walk. Yapro and the scenery around—Patriarch of the 'Town. Yapro crowns the summit of a high mountain, and affords the most magnificent and imposing prospect that I have ever seen. The surrounding view is not unlike that enjoyed from the top of the Cattskill mountains, except in this, that the view- is unbounded and sublime in every direction. The Cavally river may be traced in all its meander- ings a great distance, both to the south and west; and unnumbered spiral mountains are seen rearing their bold and lolly peaks in every direction. None of these, however, could rival the one on which I stood for height and beauty. The settle- ment which Dr. Hall visited at the falls of the river, and of which he has written an account, could be seen indistinctly to the south, and we were able to see eight different towns all of which were perched upon the summit of these lofty peaks, whilst ascending volumes of smoke indi- cated the situation of numberless other settle- ments. We arrived just in time to see a bright sun, sink down in the western wilderness, and the twilight scene was transporting beyond descrip- tion, and almost too powerful to be contemplated, calmly by a sensitive mind. When Dr. Hall first read to me his account of the scene around the falls of the river, I was induced to think that he wrote under the influence of an excited imagina- tion, and that his description was overwrought; but t must now do him the justice to say that I consider the country richly deserving all the enco- mium conferred upon it; arid [ am disposed to think that no one would feel disappointed in visit- ing the country, however high bis anticipations might be. When we first entered the town there were but two persons to be found, and the stillness and silence of all around brought to initiJ recollections of the Sabbath in a christian land. And what ren- dered the ocension still more alfecting, was the fact that the two persons just mentioned were the aged progenitors of that large tribe wdiose domin- ions we had just entered. The history of the old father is too interesting to be passed over without particular notice. When we entered the town, we went directly to his house, and found him reclining upon his mat. He raised his withered body, bowed his grey bead, and gazed upon the white man with unutterable emotion. He had attained, if I may judge from his looks, to live score years, and he never before had seen this 'wonder of wonders.' The old man placed his hand over his brow, and gazed with a look that betokened suspicions in his own mind that he was dreaming and was incredulous of that which he beheld with his eyes. I relieved his mind by tell- ing him the occasion of our visit. His wonder subsided, and his gratitude at having such an honor conferred upon him in his old age gave vent to itself by a flood of tears. During our visit this old man manifested a simplicity of character, kindness of heart, and a degree of hospitality, that I have never known exceeded in any part of the world. I thought of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and could not but lift up a heart-felt prayer to almighty God, that the same hope and faith that had cheered the hearts of these patriarchs of olden days, might be enkindled in the bosom of this aged sire, and cause his sun to set as happily and as brightly as theirs. It is confidently assert- ed that he is the father of thirty-seven living children, and has committed to the grave twenty more. Yapro embraces about one hundred houses, and five or six hundred inhabitants. The town is walled around by a substantial palisade, and a narrow lane passes through the town, atlbrding inlets to the different apartments. We enjoyed a comfortable night's rest, and the morning returned to impart new beauties to the enchanted spot. This world of grandeur and beauty below us, was enveloped in a dense fog, presenting the appearance of a vast and boundless sheet of snow, dotted here and there by the pro- truding peaks of the highest mountains. I con- templated the scene with more than ordinary emotion, and left the place with a reluctant heart and a tardy step. I made the old patriarch a present of an umbrella, six or eight cotton hand- kerchiefs, a razor, and a few beads ; all of which he received with evident satisfaction, and present- ed me in turn with a sheep and bullock. He likewise intrusted to me a son and grandson, to go to school—a degree of confidence that I had hardly expected in this part of the country. LIBERALITY. A benevolent lady of Montgomery county, Md. has recently made a donation of two hundred dollars to the American Colonization Society. (From Zion's Watchman ) Correspondence between Gerrit Smith, Esq. of Peterboro, N. Y. and the Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi. Letter from G. Smith, Esq,, to Rev. W. Winans. Peterboro', N. Y. Jug. 7, 1837. Dear Sir,—Among the letters received months ago, and unanswered, by reason of unexpected and pressing claims on my time, is a kind-hearted and interesting one from your pen. You inform me that 'the Methodist Church have undertaken to erect a large substantial place of worship' in Mew Orleans—and you invite me to share in the expense of erecting it. I have a question to put to you. Suppose I were invited to contribute to the cost of erecting a heathen temple, could I innocently comply with the re- quest? You will promptly answer, that I am not at liberty to promote any form of idolatrous worship. The religion of the south, as you well know, sanctions that code of laws which forbids marriage and reading—which invests hundreds of thousands of petty tyrants with the power of separating hus- bands from their wives—and which, by means of the whippings and various brutal treatment of parents, that it authorizes, makes such parents vile and contemptible in the eyes of their chil- dren. The religion of the Bible, on the contrary, the religion of the true God, enjoins marriage and the searching of the Scriptures; commands husbands to dwell with their wives, and children to honor their parents. Now, I take it for granted, that the reli- gion which is to be preached in the 'place of wor- ship,' which you invite me to assist in preparing, is the religion of the south ; and I put it to your candour, whether it is not, therefore, fairly to be considered as an idolatrous 'place of worship.' You will, of course, admit that the religion preached at the south is not the whole of the true religion. You may not, however, be so ready to admit that it therefore deserves to be classed with false religions, and its temples with heathen tem- ples. How, I do not say, that the religion of the south is as false as many religions are. I admit that it presents far more of truth than most of theiu do. All I insist on is, that it does not set forth the whole testimony of the God of the Bible ; and that it is therefore to be numbered with false religions, and its chapels with places of idol worship. Let me add, that the true God mutilated is as certainly an idol as is any god to which the nations of the east bow down. It grieves me to know that there are some good men at the north who continue their contributions which are expended to array amoral power against slavery, are doing nothing where, as it seems to me, it can alone be made to exert an influence against it—in the south. Unless it is intended to dismember the south from the Union, by violating the pledges of the constitution on the suliject, the vituperations against the slavery and slaveholders of the south, in which abolitionists are indulging themselves in the north, have, and can have no tendency to dispose those who alone have any control over the business toward the emancipation aimed at. But, to return. I regretted that f was so long in receiving your letter ; and was exceed- ingly surprised that if should come in a public form. This was at war with all 1 had conceived of your disposition and character. In you I expected to find the courtesy of a christian gentle- man and the uustooping dignity of well-taught maganimity. But your letter has come; and though I, who should, in reason, have been the first, am, perhaps, the fifty thousandth reader of it, I rejoice in being enabled by it at last to learn the result of my well intended application to you for aid in planting the Gospel standard in the city of New Orleans. I readily grant that you would not be obliged, even at liberty to assist in erecting a heathen temple in New Orleans ; but I am not at all pre- pared to grant that the religion of the south sanc- tions any thing whateoer, in the code of existing laws or in the institutions of Louisiana, which is incompatible with the doctrines or precepts of the Bible ; or that 'the religion preached at the south is not the whole of the true religion.' I am myself identified with the religion of the south; and I appeal to Heaven that I have, for almost twenty-seven years, been preaching the whole of the true religion, to the best of my understanding. It is true, that professors of religion in the south may as professors of religion in the north do, sometimes sanction those things which are incon- gruous to the pure cospel of Christ; but this no more convicts the religion of the south than itdoej the religion of the north of either heathenism or imperfection. If men shall hold themselves excu- sed from assisting in building churches, till all who profess religion are orthodox in opinion and upright in practice, they may appropriate their money otherwise till the day of doom. But I will not alfect to misunderstand you. You mean to say, I suppose, that the religion of the south sanc- tions slavery; or at least, that it does not denounce it as criminal. It does, however, just what the Saviour and his apostles did, when they preached the whole of the true religion, in countries where slavery prevailed. It lays down and enforces the same principles, urges the same precepts, denoun- ces the same threatenings and presents the same inducements which those masters of the true rnligioii did in similar circumstances. It con- demns slavery as clearly and as strongly as any one or all of these ever did ; and it goes no farther toward sanctioning the abuses of slavery than they did. It is this sort of religion for which a sanc- tuary in New Orleans is contemplated, and for aid in the providing of which I took the liberty of soliciting you, and it is, moreover, «ncA a religion as this which you have assumed the responsibility of pronouncing heathenish in its character. Would you, sir, have met with a requisition of St. Paul, to aid in propagating the religion which he taught in Rome, at Ephesus, or at Colosse, by such an excuse as that by which you would vindicate your refusal to contribute to the erection ofa Methodist church in the city of New Orleans? And, yet, I assure you, the gospel it is intended to preach in that church, is in extenso and in detail, the same gospel which that apostle published in those cities. I leave the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C. to determine whether they will not refund to you, with interest, the donation which you made to that institution, and which you now regret. Were 1 one of its trustees, it should not be my fault if that source of your sorrow were not soon dried up. I shall not even MM a judgment on the propriety I of the course pursued by the Southern Christian Herald, in publishing the opinions of the five northern born students of that institution, concern- ing slavery, with a view to quiet the angry pas- sions of the community within which the semina- ry is situated, and prevent those young men from being martyrs to the abolition doctrines which they manifestly eschewed. The religion of the south is stainless of the guilt of moobing and lynching. It would deprecate these things, tliough directed against the most malignant abolitionists, as sincere^ as the religion of the north could. It does nut appear to me, though you seem to have so supposed, that the theological seminary appro- ved of the practice of lynching abolitionists, though they did take measures to secure those who were nut abolitionists, from all liability to being lynched us such. If you mean to say that you 'trust that I will see displayed in your letter, reasons which justify you lor not contributing towards the erection of a New Orleans chapel,'you must strangely miscon- ceive of my sincerity, or greatly underrate my un- derstanding, poor as it may be. You assume premises which you very well know would not be conceded by any religious man in the south ; and from them you conclude against the propriety of the contribution solicited ; and then—(1 will not characterize the proceeding)—and then you sup- pose 1 must see reason in what you have written for withholding the contribution! I most cer- tainly have no other claims on you than those created by a bona fide purpose of glorifying God, and advancing the interests of true religion. I presented these claims to you, as to one who had both these objects in high regard. Whether you have sacrificed these objects to the interests of an excited and fanatical association—whether you have been held back from this good work by mis- taken apprehensions of the religion of the south —or whether the religion of the south is itself involved in error on this subject, would, perhaps, as little become me to determine, as it becomes you to determine, as you have done, of the hea- thenish character, or, at least, mutilated state of the religion of the south. It is certain, however, that if the religion of the south is such as you represent it, there is a stein and tremendous obli- gation on you, ami such as you, to send or bring the whole of the true religion among us. Many of us, on this supposition, are perishing for lack of knowledge; and the worst of >t is, the Bible itself will not supply this lack to us. We cannot find the character of our religion thus drawn in that sacred book. We must be taught, then ; and on such as you it is incumbent to teach us. Coma over, then, to our Macedonia, and help us. Think not you have done enough, or, indeed, have done any thing, while your lectures against southern idolatry and heathenism are confined to northern audiences, who, though they framed our idols and toward sustaining the religion at the south. In a spirit of misguided fraternal and christian feeling tuey yield to solicitations for aid to build southern houses of worship, and endow professorships in southern theological seminaries. They know not what they do. To such solicitations I have myself yielded. Knowing not what I did, I on one occa- sion put my hand in my pocket in behalf of the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C.; and now I have the pain of seeing iny girt employed in propagating a slave-holditijj Christianity. In proof that this is the type of the Christianity of that seminary, and that its students cannot be respected, if indeed their persons can be safe. Un- less they manifest their friendship for slavery, I copy the following article, which was published a few months ago in the Southern Christian Herald to allay an excitement against the northern born members of the school, which unchecked, would not improbably have resulted in the lynching the obnoxious students : 'At present the number of students is twenty, of whom thirteen are natives of South Carolina and Georgia, five natives of the northern states, one of the western states, and one of Canada. (If the seven last mentioned, only one came to thi3 institution from the north. But he was not sent here by abolitionists j for he is not only oppo- sed to them in principle, and favourable to (sla- very) southern institutions, but he is preparing to leave all that he holds dear in this land that he may spend his clays on heathen shores. With regard to the rest, they came to us from the bosom of southern families, from southern academies and colleges, from communities violently opposed to the schemes of abolitionists, and they came recom- mended either by southern presbyteries or south- ern men. They have never been charged with entertaining sentiments favourable to abolition, and inimical to the south. They now authorize us to contradict all the statements which have been made against them ; and farther say, that they consider their present residence here togeth- er with their former residence, in most instances for several years, in this and other parts of the south a sufficient evidence of their friendly regard to (slavery) southern institutions.' I trust, my dear sir, that you will, after having read this letter, excuse me for not sending a contri- bution towards the erection of the New Orleans chapel. Much as I should be pleased to gratify the writer of so pleasant and kind a letter, as is that you have written to me; and much as I should be gratified in having my white brethren of the south suppose that I cherish toward them a generous and brotherly spirit, as strong as that which gaineil me their good will and praises in the days of my colo. ni/.ation delusion, my conscience nevertheless will not permit me to comply with your request. So far, indeed, am I from feeling at liberty to comply with it, that I am doubting whether the true God— the God of the whole Uible—the God of the poor and oppressed, is willing that I should contribute to those benevolent societies which send their agents to the south after a share of the spoils of slavery. These agents are very liable to learn and adopt the religion of the south—the religion which jus- tifies the oppression and murder of the Saviour's poor; and some of them not content with preach- ing it there, return to preach it at the north. That they preach it there is a matter of course— for to preach the whole religion of the Bible there would be not only to defeat the end of their mission to those who persevere in shutting their ears against the 58th chapter of Isaiah, ths 22d chapter of Jeremiah, and numberless other por- tions of the Bible, and who will not give their money, save on the condition that smooth things only are prophesied to them ; but to declare the whole of God's testimony south of Mason's and Dixon's line, would be to expose their persons to certain destruction. James G. Birney, who, excepting the beloved sisters, Sarah and Angelina Grimke, is doing more than any other child of the south to promote its safety and best interests, accompanied me, a few w^eks since to a village, where we addressed several anti slavery meetings. Unhappily an agent of one of our national bene- volent societies had been there a few days before with the southern religion upon his lips. Repeat- edly did 1 hear of his apologies for slavery, and of their unhappy influence on those, or, at least some of those, to whom he made them. The apostle requires us to 'remember them that are in bonds as bound with them ;' and if we are to remember them M bound with them ourselves, it follows as the degree of sympathy for our children is no greater than for ourselves, that we are also to remember them as though our children were bound with them. Now, could northern men, if their own children were among the plundered ones, be as ready as they now are to send agents after southern plunder? Would they rejoice as they now do, at the sight of the money with which those agents return laden, if the tears and blood which stain were the tears and blood of their own children I But I forgot myself. I am wri- ting as if my letter were to an abolitionist. That you rnav soon become one, and obey the com- mand, 'Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction,'is the earnest desire of your friend, Gerrit Smith. Rev. Wm. Winans, Miss. Letter from the Rev. Wm. Winans, to Gerrit Smith, Esq. Dear Sir,—I do not consider myself a suffi- ciently competent judge, in matters of courtesy, to decide upon the propriety, in that respect, of answering a private letter in the columns ol a pub- lic journal, my sense of what is due to a correspon- dent would have rendered it impossible for me to have done so unless, indeed, there occurred to me no other method of introducing to the public some truth of very great importance. Ami as I cannot suppose that you were at any loss for a salient point in your crusade against slaveholders, I can- not reconcile your course in this matter to my views of the consideration which is due from man to man. I regret that I was so long in seeing the answer to what you are pleased to designate my kind- hearted und interfiling letttr. It is not two weeks since it found its way to my hand; and then it appeared in the form of a icconil printed edition. I am not surprised that it was long in reaching me, though I regret it. The wonder is that it came at all. Papers, such as the 'Friend o{ Man,'—par- don me lor considering this title a gross misnomer— such papers, I sav, have no general circulation in thin country. Whatever moral influence such publications may exert in your country, htrt they axe inoperative. And toe thousand* of dollars |