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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0104 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0104 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| 108 MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL. cause, have put them in possession of much valuable information, and greatly enlivened their hopes of success in the prosecution of their labour*. The recent arrival at the port of New Orleans of the brig Mail from Greenville, has furnished us with further intelligence, of as late a date as the 30th of July, 183S. Particular mention was made of this vessel in the last annual report. She sailed from New Orleans the latter end of March, and arrived in safety with her cargo and thirty-seven emigrants, (two having been added to the number on The passage) at Greenville on the Pth July. having been detained a month at the Cape De Verd islands, procuring working animals for the colony. The Mail returned by the way of the Cape De Verd islands, and brought from thence a cargo of salt. Her voyage, though long, was prosperous; so much so as to warrant the belief that she may be profitably employed as a regular packet between this country and our colony. This arrangement will insure to the society a regular and more frequented intercourse between this country and Liberia, for the want of which much inconvenience has heretofore been expe- rienced. The brig Mail carried out the first company of emigrants that ever went directly from this coun- try to Mississippi in Africa; and her arrival here constitutes a memorable epoch in the history of that settlement. Upon her arrival there, our colony consisted of a solitary white man, and about twenty hired labouiers from the older set- tlements of Liberia, who were employed by our agent in making arrangements for the comfortable settlement of our emigrants—clearing and plant- ing lands—the construction of buildings, and the building of a small schooner, which had been commenced by our former agent, Mr. Johnston. The supply of means in our agent's hands had never been sufficient to enable hiin to conduct the business of the society lo advantage, and is at present very much reduced. Many months had elapsed without his having heard from the United States, and that intelligence was not of a very encouraging nature. The period at which vessels usually arrive at Liberia from New Orleans, had nearly passed away, and our agent began to enter- tain serious fears whether another year must not elapse before the arrival of a reinforcement to the colony. It must be borne in mind that our agents left this country in the spring of 1837, when the pecu- niary pressure and panic was so great, that the committee forbore either to press the collection of subscriptions then due the society, or to obtain on the credit of the society, an outfit large enough to enable them to carry into full effect the enlarged plan of operations they had marked out lor them- selves. But notwithstanding these obstacles to the pro- gress of our colonial affairs, our emigrants found upon their arrival that ample preparations had been made for their comfortable settlement in their new home; an abundant supply of rice, cassada, potatoes, and other Alrican vegetables, had been provided for their support; their farms laid otf, and a part of their lands cleared and under cultivation, and the preparation for the erection of their houses so far advanced, that our colonial agent expressed the opinion, that in less than three weeks Irom the departure of the Mail for the United States, each family would be settled upon its own land, and in its own house. Conse- quently, the emigrants were all satisfied with their reception, and highly pleased with their prospects; and our agent was so well pleased with the arrival of the emigrants, the handsome manner in which they were provided for. and the liberal supply with which the committee had furnished him for sus- taining and enlarging the society's operations in the colony, as to cause him to say, emphatically, 'I hope our most trying times are now over.' In order to insure to our emigrants a supply of provisions upon their arrival in the colony, with- out the expense of sending them from the United States, our agent had commenced the cultivation of a public farm in the colony. In accomplishing this important object he had many difficulties to contend with—his own feeble health—(he unfaith- fulness of the hired men, who were employed to work on the farm, at the distance of several miles from Greenville, the principal scene of his la- bours—and lastly, the thievish character of the Fishmen, (a native tribe on the beach, whose principal occupation is fishing,) who plundered the crops of cassada and potatoes as fast as they came to maturity. On this subject our agent writes under date of April 12th, as follows, viz: -We have done a little at farming; but the pretended fear of the natives amongst trie hired men—the many other things I have had to attend to, together with four or five weeks sickness, has prevented me from doing as much as I might, under more favourable circum- stances, have been very easily done. The thievish Fishmen have stolen two or three acres of cassada and potatoes; and the only reason why they have not stolen more is, because it has not yet come to perfection. We have planted twelve or fifteen acres in cassada, which will probably yield irom one to two hundred bushels to the acre, if an expedition comes out within two months to take care of it; otherwise, much of it will be lost. Besides this cassada, we have planted a conside- rable quantity of potatoes, plantains, bananas, limes, oka, papaya, and some yams, beans, ami other vegetables peculiar to this country.' Our agent was directed to have an eye to the development of the agricultural resources of the country, in locating the emigrants, and distributing to them their farms. In accomplishing this object, he changed the location of the town from the bar- ren sands on the sea shore, to a place four or five miles up the river, and about two miles in a direct line from the ocean, where the lands are fertile and well watered, and sufficiently near the ocean to enjoy the sea breeze. Here he intends not only to settle the emigrants, but also to establish the agency house and public store. For where these are, there w ill the emigrants be most desirous of locating. The agricultural operations of the colony have been heretofore much impeded by the want of working animals to assist them in their labours. Horses abound far in the interior of the African continent, but cannot be procured on the coast In order to supply this deficiency, the brig Mail was directed, on her outward passage last spiing, to stop at one of the Cape de Verd islands, and procure thirty horses, jacks and mules, for the use of the colony. Thirty-two jacks and one horse were obtained, but thirteen of the jacks died on the passage from the island to the coast. Tne arrival of these animals occasioned great rejoicing in our settlement, and was hailed as the harbinger of a more advanced state of agriculture than has heretofore been witnessed in any of the Americo-African colonies. The committee deem it of the highest importance to furnish our settle- ment with a full supply of working animals, and intend to persevere until the demand is satisfied, as well for the purpose of breeding, as for that of labour. It is a favourable omen of our future success, and the committee would advert to the fact with humble and lively gratitude to the Giver of all good, that He has been pleased to preserve the health of our colonists, and to encourage their hearts to hope for success in the formation of a settlement in the land of their fathers. They were all in good health at the time of the depar- ture of the Mail, (30th July) < xcept Robert Leiper, an aged and highly respected man, who had long been a resident of this city, but sailed in the last expedition for our colony. He had an attack of the lever shortly after his arrival at Greenville; but on the 28th of July our colonial agent writes, that 'Leiper's fever had left him— he is perfectly satisfied, and in high spirits.' Leiper took with him his daughter-in law, a very respectable woman, and her two children. He has left a numerous otfspring, and a very large circle of acquaintance amongst the free people of colour of Natchez, who were looking with interest for the report he might semi them concerning the country of his adoption. It is said that the letters received from him by the return of the vessel, and other concurring favourable testimony, has deter- mined several of them to make arrangements to follow as soon a? practicable. Our agent says of the emigrants sent out by Mr. Anketel, 'I have no doubt they will do well'— that they were perfectly satisfied, and had, some time before the vessel left for the United States, commenced building their houses, and making preparation for a permanent settlement upon their farms. He expresses himself as having a great confidence in William Bonner, who had been employed in this country as a foieman on Mr. Anketel's plantation. Our agent also speaks in high terms of Edward Morris, who was provided with a munificent outfit by his former master, Mr. Carson, of this county. Morris is extensively and favourably known by the planters of Adams county, from the fidelity and ability with which he managed his master's plantation lor many years. James Bailey, Esq. who employed Morris on one of his plantations the year previously to his de- parture from this country, and under whose super- intendence he was sent to the colony, has favoured us with a letter from him. which, as it contains some valuable items of intelligence, wc beg leave to annex as an appendix to this report. In conformity with the wishes expressed by the late James Green, Esq. the emigrants that were sent from his estate, and sailed for Liberia in the brig Rover, in the spring of 1S3.3, were invited by your committee to settle in the Mississippi colony, and some facilities for their doing so were offered, in order to compensate them for the sacrifices they would necessarily make in leaving their present homes. The greater part, the committee are happy to learn, have accepted their proposal. They are enterprising, industrious, intelligent, and moral, and doubtless will form an important accession to the strength and respectability of our colony, and will prove especially valuable as pio- neers'to such of their friends and acquaintances as may hereafter remove from this state t« Liberia. The Rev. Gloster Simpson, formerly of Claiborne county, an eminently pious and excellent preacher, whoemigrated in the same vessel with Mr. Green's people, has also, at the urgent request of his friends in this state, consented to remove to our colony in the hope of being useful to future emigrants from Mississippi, many of whom will doubtless be of his acquaintance, and subject, more or less, to his influence, which they feel assured he will exert for useful ends. But while the committee have been thus in- duced, by peculiar circumstances, to encourage the emigrants, originally from our own slate, to remove from the mother colony to the Mississippi settlement—yet they wish it to be distinctly un- derstood, that as a general rule they do not intend lo encourage the emigration to our colony of per- sons from the sister colonies, nor even to permit it, except under strict limitations. The principal want of our colony at present seems to be emigrants. To supply this want, the committee are preparing to send an expedition, to sad from New Orleans on the 15th January, with upwards of an hundred emigrants. This will be nearly as large a number as it would be proper to introduce into our infant settlement at one time. It will aliord a sufficient number, in addition to those who are already there, lor the advantageous organization of a civil government, and for the carrying on successfully of most of those branches of useful industry, which are ne- cessary to the comfort, respectability, and well being of a civilized community. Should a kind Providence favour their plans in the transportation and settlement of these emigrants, and give suc- cess to their other efforts in promoting the pros- perity of the colony for another year, they firmly believe that the colony will then be placed, with the ordinary blessing of Almighty God upon it, beyond the reach of a retrograde movement; that in fact it will possess within itself all the elements of successful growth, and of progressive improve- ment. But while the committee have taken measures for the advancement of the above named impor- tant interests, they have by no means been un- mindful of the still greater importance of fostering in our colony the interests of education and reli- gion. Indeed they consider that the surest and cheapest way of securing permanent and extensive success to the cause of African colonization, will be to establish and cherish a well regulated system for the improvement of the intellectual, moral, and religious character of the colonists. They have, therefore, instructed their colonial agent to take immediate measures for the estab- lishment of a school to educate the children of the colonists. They have also invited the missionary societies of the different religious denominations in the United States, to establish missions upon our territory, both for the benefit of the native and colonial population. They have also oliered to their missionaries going to our colony to reside, a free passage in any vessel sent by them to the colony. Our past success encourages us not only to persevere in the work so auspiciously commenced, but to renew our zeal and diligence in a cause so holy and so full of bright hopes to two continents, ami to both races of people. Many serious diffi- culties have already been overcome, never, we hope, again to be encountered. Among these, wc may mention the irregular and unfrequent intercourse between this country and our colony. This difficulty is for the present at an end, and the brig Mail is intended to run as a regular packet between New Orleans and Greenville. And should we be furnished with the means successfully to develope the commercial resources of our colony, it would not be many years before several vessels could be profitably employed in the direct trade from New Orleans to Liberia. Indeed, at this time our colonial agent writes, that if he were furnished with a proper supply of goods for native trade, he could purchase from two to three thou- sand bushels of rice, and from one to three thou- sand gallons of palm oil, besides a considerable quantity of ivory, tortoise shell, and camwood. It is said by the' natives, that there are forests of this valuable dye wood (worth in New York $70 per ton,) within thirty miles of Greenville. If we had the means of cutting a wagon road info the region of this wood and furnishing teams to transport it to the coast, it would not only furnish a return cargo for our emigrant vessels, but also furnish to our society, and to our colonists, a valuable article of exchange for the commodities required for our colony from the I tilted States and from England. The committee expect to increase the commercial exports of the colony, by encouraging the production of several other valuable articles, which are known to flourish weli—such as arrow root, sugar and colfee. There are said to be seven varieties id' this last named article growing wild in the woods of Western Africa, one species of which, much resembling the Java in appearance and flavour, ha-' been known to produce in the neighbourhood of Cape Messurado 30 pounds to the tree—about six times as much as it produces in any other part of the world. They are beginning to cultivate this arti- cle with success in some of the older settlements of Liberia, and the committee have instructed our colonial agent to cultivate a plantation of it on account of the society, which it is supposed, in three or four years, will yield to the society a considerable revenue. We may also mention among the difficulties overcome, and the corresponding opposite advan- tages gained during the past year, the unfrequent and irregular communication between our colony and other colonies on the coast. This difficulty has been removed by the completion of the schr. Natchez, built at tile port of Greenville. She made her first trip to Monrovia in July last, where her appearance was hailed with great satisfaction, and from that place she returned to Greenville with a large number of passengers. The over- coming of these two great difficulties alone, to- gelher with the corresponding advantages that may grow out of them, will greatly promote the interest of our colony, and the comfort of its population. The committee are happy to believe that their enterprise is viewed with increasing interest by the people of our own beloved state, and that their liberality in sustaining it will increase in the same proportion. Past experience confirms the committee in the propriety of the course which they have adopted, of expending their resources priwipally ill deve- loping the resources of the county, in promoting the comfort and prosperity of the few colonists they may send out, rather than exhaust their re- sources upon the transportation of a large number of emigrants inadequately provided for. The committee believe that if they can make their colony a comfortable asylum for our people of colour, and can secure a brisk commercial intercourse between this country and our colony, our free people of colour will find their way thither in the ordinary channels of commercial intercourse without any expense to us, and with but little inconvenience to themselves. In view of all these facts, the committee would conclude their report as they commenced it, with a devout acknowledgment to Almighty God for the signal favour which he has vouched to their labours, and with fervent prayers for the continu- ance of his blessing. All of which is respectfully submitted. Natchez, Dec. 12, 1838. (From Itie Itosmn Daily Advertiser.) C'ololilznllon til Africa. The following is the letter referred to in (he I report of Mr. Cresson's examination before the legislative committee in yesterday's paper. Boston, Jan. 13, 1839. Elliott Cresson, Esq. Dear Sir:—In compliance with your request, I herewith forward a condensed and imperfect abstract of some of my views on the African slave trade, as it existed on that coast I lew years since, together with the apparent influence and beaiing of the American colonies on that subject, Ike. The several colonial settlements loimed on various parts of the coast of West Africa, by emigrants from the United States, have, ami in my opinion, will continue to exert a most salutary influence in the suppression of the African slave trade—first, by convincing the natives with whom they have intercourse, ol the unhappy tendency of a continuance in that abominable traffic as regards themselves anil families, and the great importance of relinquishing their former practice of engaging in wars the most sanguinary, with no order inducement or view than conquering and capturing their actual friends, although, alleged enemies, for the sole purpose of supplying the usual marts with victims for this inhuman traffic. Secondly, by preventing the slave vessels from visiting that portion of the coast occupied by and under the jurisdiction of the colonial governments. And the tact that this nefarious trade is nearly annihilated from 'Cape Messurado' to 'Cape I'al- mat,' a distance of several hundred miles on that coast, and that, through the instrumentality and influence of the colonists and government estab- lished there—I consider as one of many impor- tant results of colonizing that portion of Africa. On a visit to the colony at 'Monrovia' a few years since, I was informed by a respectable English trader of'Sierra Leone,' that in conversa- tion held by him a few weeks before, with the famous old 'Spaniard,' and notorious and active agent for slavers at the 'Gallinas,' he was told that unless a stop could be put to the introduction of emigrants, and growth of the American colony, their business must and would eventually be ruined, as he had experienced a very considerable diminution in the supplies of negroes from his old customers, in consequence of the intercourse, example and advice received from the colonists. The foregoing, sir, is no idle tale, invented to please the fancy or gratify the views of any man, or set of men, but simple matters of fact deduced from actual observation, and information collected on the spot, and to the truth of wbich the com- paratively quiet and peaceable condition as far as relates to the slave trade, of the thousand of na- tives w itliin the limits and vicinity of the colonies, furnish, in my opinion, abundant arid ample testi- mony. And should this communication be the means of throwing any light on the subject of this dark and disgraceful traffic, It will be considered a most gratifying addition, to the results already realized, from one of the most interesting voyages ever undertaken by the Late Commander of Ship James Perkins, of Boston. Missions In Africa Extract of a letter from the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, published in the Charleston Observer dated Fair Hope, Cape Palmas, March 10, 1838. Our seminary (as the Prudential Committee have been pleased to denominate it,) is quite as flourishing It it has ever been, excepting sudi reductions from its numbers as we have been compelled to make from the want of funds. It now embraces about twenty-five males and ten females—from the ages of 'eight lo eighteen years. About one-half of this number can read the English Testament with ease, and can write good and legible notes—can repeat hymns, the multi- plication table, and some have made considerable progress in mental arithmetic. U e find no diffi- culty, either from the want ol capacity or inclina- tion among the children to learn. Their progress in learning would place them on a respectable footing with any set of chihlreii in the world__ and their eagerness for learning may be inferred from the fact thai the school is never suspended for a day, as it sometimes is from the want of health on the part of the teacher and other causes, Without occasioning a feeling of very general dis- appointment. Mrs. Wilson, has Hie general direc- tion of the school, and one of her most effectual punishments is, not to hear a culprit recite a regular lesson. Most of our communications with them are through the medium of notes Writ- ten upon a slate. They are very fond of music, and tile charm of 'Fair Hope,' is the sweet notes which at the opening and closing of the schools, fill our ears ami our Marts with harmony. About five of our pupils give evidence of a change of hearl—others are serious and thought- ful, ami all of them are more or less under the inlluence of religion. We have at present but two other day schools in operation—one five miles distant, and the other twelve—both in a tolerable state of prosperity. Upon the adult and out-door native population, it is haul for us to tell how much impression has been made. Like unrege- nerate man in all other parts of the woiid, they have a strong aversion to the claims of the gospel, and are constantly urging objections and excuses for not embracing it. During the Sabbath the attendance upon preaching is very variable, aud for the most part, of late, very small. I have aciicle, however, that I meet every Sab- bath night, averaging from ten to twenty-live per- sons—over the minds of these I begin to hope that religion is gaining some ground. At (he close of the exercises of one of these meetings, a man made substantially the following remarks ; Said he, 'we see now what you mean by a new heart__ you come to ns as you would to a filthy ragged man—you tell him lo put aside his rags and foih, and go aud wash himself, to begin life afresh, and on a new scale.' 'Now,'said he, 'how can we do this; You say we must not lie ; but by this very means we escape many difficulties, and avoid many sore trials. You say we must not steal; but this is the chief means by which we obtain many of our good things, and 1 do not see how I can get along without stealing. You say we must have but one wife—now if we give them up, then we shall be contemptible among our follow men, and we shall have no body to work our farms, bring our wood, water, &c.' So much for the state of society among them. Indeed they have been so much inured lioin infan- cy to pilfering, lying, licentiousness, (kc. and these things are so completely interwoven into the texture of society and so much and so univer- sally practised in their daily intercourse with each other, that it is one of the most difficult things in the world for an African to conceive of the possi- bility of living upon principles strictly virtuous and moral. It is just us natural lor them to lie and steal, as to eat and drink—and so much are they addicted to these that 1 have sometimes ques- tioned whether there would have been any Words in their language to correspond with ours lor truth and honesty, if it had not been for the constant and almost momentary recurrence of their antipodes in meaning. But low la the scale of moral degradation as lhe-e people are, they are by no means hopelessly so—nor are they beiond (he reach of the ordinary means of recovery. 1 have generally found them docile, and in those cases where they have em- braced religion, they appear to be decidedly and zealously pious. And perhaps there is no place in the world where religion would lake a more ready and thorough hold upon the hearts of men than it would here. The land is buithened with inhabitants. The Greybo people, those among whom we live, would number from twenty to twenty-five thousand souls, and the whole of these live immediately on the sea-beach, and extend along a line of coast be- tween twenty-five and thirty miles. The interior population is not less dense. Indeed if we had twenty missionaries, we could locate them all advantageously, and give them more woik than they could do, without going more than twenty miles in any direction. Colonization.—The venerable Judge Payne, of Vermont, ex-senator of the United States, has published an appeal to his fellow-citizens, in behalf of colonization, in which he proposes their raising $6,000—only two cents a head as he makes It—and he promises in that case to add a thousand dollars himself to the sum. PRINTED BY JOHN D. TOY, corner of market and st. paul streets, Who executes Book and Job Printing with neatness and accuracy. |