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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0105 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0105 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL.. CONDUCTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS OF THE MARYLAND STATE COLONIZATION SOCIETY, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MANAGERS OF THE STATE FUND. Vol. I. Baltimore, April, l839. No. 27. When gratuitous please circulate. Colonization and African Commerce. We are happy to learn, by the annexed extract from the National Intelligencer, that the United States' government arc about to order a national vessel to the western coast of Africa, to protect the interests of our commerce in that quarter; and also, that they have appointed the governor of the American colonies in Africa (Mr. Buchanan) Unit :d States' agent for attending to the concerns of r captured Africans. These movements, added to some incidental aid afforded to the colonies by the government, in the supply of arms and ammu- nition, and two fine navy boats, will have an im- portant influence in checking the slave trade, which the colonies, singl "handed, have not been able entirely to suppress, even in their own vici- nity. We are sure both the friends and foes of African Colonization will rejoice, that the govern- ment, in looking after the interests of our com- merce, has been mind/ill also of the interests of humanity. The favour thus indirectly shown to the colonies by the government, in connection with the rapidly increasing support they are re- ceiving lioin individual beneficence, will very soon, it may be hoped, place them upon a fool- ing where neither public nor private aid will be requisite to secure their permanent welfare.— Many who read this paragraph may live to see the day when 'the United States of Africa' will be to that continent—at least to a large portion of it— what the United States of America are to the western continent. Considering the unceasing opposition the colonies have encountered from numbers who might leave been expected ardently to favour such a noble undertaking, they have prospered far beyond what could have been rea- sonably anticipated. They have sullered fur less from sickness, and the hostility of the natives, than did the first settlers of the American colo- nies ; and we may safely challenge friend or toe to point to an equal population of Africans, or the descendants of Abieans, on the face of the earth, where temperance, chastity, education and piety, so extensively prevail. But we are wan- dering from our purpose.—Jour, of Cam. (From the National Intelligencer.) The public generally, and particularly those interested in the prosperity of our commerce, will be gratified to learn that a sloop of war is again, alter an interval of many years, about to be sent to the western coast of Africa, to give protection to American commerce in that quarter of the globe. The difficulties to be encountered on the coast of Africa have been so great, that our com- mercial men, with all their characteristic enter- prise, have not been able to compete successfully with the British, who, lor several years past, have enjoyed almost a monopoly of the African trade, and are now fast extending it into the interior of that continent by the newly discovered route of the Niger, as well as from their establishments at Sierra Leone and the Gambia. From these posts large quantities of British goods are carried into the centre of the continent by colonists and native merchants, and the most valuable and portable articles of produce are received in return, con- sisting of ivory, gums, and gold dust. In addition to these articles, a very large coast trade is car- ried on in camwood, palm oil, teak, and other wood for ship building, besides a variety of valu- able woods lor furniture. The British colony at Sierra Leone was com- menced in 1807, by a society of benevolent private gentlemen in London, with the view of suppress- ing the slave trade, and improving the condition of the native Africans. They conducted their operations with greal vigour ami success, until their establishment was broken up by the French. It was afterwards transferred to the British go- vernment, which, with great perseverance, have prosecuted the objects of the benevolent founders, and, at the same time, extended their commerce both to the interior and coastwise, which now gives employment to a very large amount of ship- ping. The colony of Sierra Leone contains now about forty thousand inhabitants, principally recaptured Africans, who are industrious and happy, mostly engaged in agriculture. The amount expended by the British govern- ment in founding and sustaining this colony, is about thirty millions of dollars. Large as this sum is, it is not thought too much to secure the trade of Africa. In view of this policy, one can- not wonder that our benevolent British friends should send us missionaries to clamour against American colonization, and induce our citizens to pronounce it cruel and immoral, while the British government have made colonization a pretext, if not the means, of prosecuting, even to a mono- poly, the great trade of Middle Africa. But the British anti-colonization movements in this coun- try are pretty well understood by the people; and the importance of the American colonies in Afri- ca, in a commercial point of view, appears to be appreciated by our government, which has lately appointed Mr. Buchanan, an enlightened citizen of Philadelphia, agent for recaptured Africans in Liberia, (several hundred of whom were colo- nized near Monrovia, under the act of Congress of 1819;) also, granted a very liberal and much needed supply of aims and ammunition. Mr. Buchanan is also commissioned by the American Colonization Society, governor general of all their colonies in Liberia. The countenance of the, government and the increased efforts now making by the friends of colonization, it is hoped, will place the cause on a film basis. Our colonies on the coast of Africa will soon become to America what Sierra Leone is to the British; the marts where American manufactures will be exchanged for the protlucts of Africa; and, fostered by the enlightened policy of our government, the African trade will soon become one of the most important branches of American commerce. Colonization.—This great cause is prosper- ing. From all parts of tlie country, and espe- cially from the west, do we learn of its onward march; and the great sympathy felt, and the noble exertions made on the part of its friends, must insure its final success, and the overthrow of its only opponent, abolitionism. [Christian Statesman. (From the Christian Statesman.) Notice to Emigrants for Liberia. Colonization Rooms, Washington City, March 15, 1839. The ship Saluda is expected to complete her present voyage to Liberia, and arrive at Philadel- phia about the middle of June. She will be immediately prepared lor another voyage to Mon- rovia, but will receive emigrants or goods lor any of the settlementt in Liberia. Those emigrants in Ohio, New Jersey and New York, who have applied lor passage, will prepare to embark from Philadelphia, about the 1Mb of July. Emigrants from Virginia and North Carolina will repair to Norfolk, as early as the first of August, where the ship will touch to receive them on board. Those who may wish to go to Liberia in this vessel,or their friends, will please to forward their names and place of residence to this office as early as possible, and state what provision has been or will be made for the expenses of each emigrant, so that notice may be given them, if any change should be made in the time of the vessel's sailing. The Saluda being fitted for a packet, can fur nish the best of accommodations for one hundred and fifty emigrants: and is a remarkably fast sailer. Enterprising coloured men who propose to emi- grate to Liberia, will find the present a favourable time to settle there. A tract of rich land lying along the St. Paul's river, will be prepared for allotment to settlers this year. The mill seats on this river, near Millsburg, a large and nourishing farming settlement, will he ottered to any indivi- dual, or company, who has the means and skill to improve theiu. This property must soon become of great value, as the river is navigable for boats over two hundred miles above the falls—passing through a country thickly wooded, with the teak, a very valuable timber for ship building, and a variety of other beautiful woods for furniture. The present prosperous state of the colonies will insure a large demand and high prices for common building lumber. And as the lands in the vicinity- are well adapted to the cultivation of sugar cane, the grinding can be done by water, which gives greater value to the mill privileges. The bed of the river is rock, and the banks tavourable for the erection and security of a dam. Tanners and brick-makers will find great encouragement at present in the colonies. In addition to the brig Mail, owned by the Mississippi Colonization Society, and the ship Saluda, the Maryland Colonization Society is about 'procuring a ship. All these will be em- ployed as packets between this country and Liberia; and it is expected that a commercial company, now forming to trade to Liberia, will employ two vessels the ensuing summer; by all which, communications with the colonies may be had monthly, and great facilities will thus be fur- nished to those who may be engaged in the erec- tion of machinery, which is obtained from this countiy. Per order of the Executive Committee: S. WILKESON, Chairman. Editors of newspapers, friendly to the cause of colonization, will please give this a place in their columns. 'The Slavery Question.' To the Editor of the Colonization Journal: Dear Sir,—The above caption forms the sub- ject of a chapter in the late work of President Wayland, of Brown University, Rhode Island, on the Limitations of Human Responsibility. The work throughout shows the profound mind of its distinguished author, but the chapter to which I have alluded, contains remarks that I desire to see widely circulated. They show that there are men at the north, who think and write on this subject with candour and generosity. Their cir- culation will, therefore, tend to allay those sec- tional animosities from which our country has so much to fear, over which both patriotism and piety weep. They show most clearly the impropriety of in- terference with this subject by the people of the free states, and in my full belief, indicate the posi- tion which public sentiment has already assumed, or is tending to assume, at the north, especially in New England. The remarks to which I refer, bear so directly upon one of the great obstacles to African colo- nization, that I venture to ask the insertion of some extracts in your Journal, so successfully devoted to that most interesting branch of chris- tian and patriotic benevolence. As I cannot request the insertion of the whole chapter, justice requires me to say, that Dr. Way- land is by no means, what the abolitionists call every one who dissents from their peculiar views, 'a pro slavery man.' Let me now present the views that I wish to disseminate, 'the right or wrong,' &c , he says :— 'The right or wrong, the innocence or guilt of slavery, is not the question here to be discussed. Waiving this, and granting it to be a violation of the law which Ood has ordained between man anil man, and granting, also, that it is our duty to labour for its removal, I design merely to inquire what are the limits, within which our efforts, for the accomplishment of this purpose, are to be re- stricted. Our duty on this subject, must, I think, be either as citizens of the United States; or as human beings, under law to God. I think it evident, that, as citizens of the United Stairs, we have no power whatever cithci to abolish slavery in the southern states; or to do any thing, of which the direct intention is to abolish it. Whatever power we possess, as citi- zens of the United States, is conferred upon us by the constitution. This power is nof conferred upon us by that instrument, and therefore it does not exist. But this instrument has not merely a positive, it has also a negative power. It not only grants certain powers, but it expressly declares thai those not enumerated are nof granted. Thus, it enacts, that all 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it, to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.' Now, the abolition of slavery being a power not conferrred, it is, by this article, expressly withheld. Whatever power we may therefore have over slavery, as citizens of the seve- ral stales, within our own limits respectively, we have none, as citizens of the United States. The majority of the people in the United States, have, in this respect, no power over the minority; for, the minority has never conceded to them this power. The same thing is evident, from the most cur- sory view of the circumstances under which the constitution was formed. Previously to the revo- lution, each of these states was air independent colony; constituted into a distinct government, by charter from the British crown. Each colony was a government as distinct from every other, as though it had been a thousand miles distant from all the rest; as distinct, in fact, as are the different West India islands from each other, or as any one of the West India islands from the colony of Canada, of New Zealand, or of Bombay. They all held of the British crown, but were all inde- pendent of each other, and the only bond of union by which they were connected together, was, that they were all subject to the same king, and all ac- knowledged the ultimate authority of the consti- tutional laws of the empire. When the independence of these colonies was established, this link, which bound each of them to the mother country, and thus indirectly to each other, was severed. They became independent states, having, each one for itself, power to make peace or war, or to form alliances, offensive anil defensive, with what foreign states soever they severally chose. While in this condition, it is manifest that no state had any power whatever over any other state. Any one might have estab- lished slavery, or have abolished it, and no other one would have imagined that, in so doing, it was liable to any control, from any other, or from all the rest; any more than from Canada, Austria, Russia, or the Sandwich Islands. Under these circumstances they chose, of their own sovereign will, to form a confederate govern- ment. In the formation of this government, each state, or the people of each state, mutually agreed to commit certain powers to the whole, and to submit the ultimate decision of certain questions to the majority of the whole people represented by their senators and representatives in congress. What they have thus submitted to the decision of the majority, and nothing else, can be decided by the majority. What has not been submitted, re- mains precisely as it was before, in the power of the citizens of the several states ; and the citizens of the United States have no more to do with it, ihan they have with the affairs of Iceland.' Let the following be solemnly pondered by those who have any regard to moral obligation, and are still inclined to justify the movements of modern abolitionism:— 'But this is not quite all. As citizens of the United States, we have solemnly promised to let it alone. We have declared that we lean to the states respectively, and to the people of the states, whatever powers they have not conceded to us. This is. by universal consent, acknowledged to be one of the powers thus left. We have, therefore, promised as citizens of the United States, to let this alone. The concession has been made by both parties, ami we hold the other party to it. Should the majority in congress undertake to establish slaverv, in one of the free states, we should plead litis very article as a bar to their usurpation. But, the slave-holding states have precisely the same right to plead it against us, should we attempt any legislation in the case. Both parties have pledged themselves to abstain, and neither can interfere in the matter, without the violation of a solemn compact. In this re- spect, therefore, the providence of God, and our own solemn obligations to each other, have pre- cluded any action whatever. But I go still further. I hold that a compart is binding, in its spirit as well as in its letter. The spirit of the compact, I suppose, imposes upon me the obligation not to do any thing for the pur- pose of changing the relation of master and slave, except with the consent of the masicr. I have no right to declare the abolition of slavery in another state; I have conceded that this is to be left to the free choice of the citizens of that state. I have no right to do any thing to interfere with that free choice. I have, therefore, no right to excite such a state of feeling among the slaves, that the master shall be obliged, from physical necessity, to liberate his slaves, whether he believes it to be right and wise, or whether he believes the con- trary. Tnis is as much a violation of the spirit of the compact, as an arbitrary act of legislation. The compact concedes, that it is to be left to the free will of the states, ami I oblige them to act in accordance with mu will, and not in accordance with their own. This is a violation of clear and solemn obligation.' A subsequent part of the chapter has reference to the subject of slavery in the District of Colum- bia. For his remarks on that subject, 1 will ask a place in the next number of your Journal. In the interval, and evermore, may you be sustained and blessed in your arduous, but most christian efforts in behalf of unhappy Africa! Very truly, yours, &c. --------- (From the Missionary Herald.) Western Africa. Native Tribes.—The country represented on the map, is about fifteen hundred miles from east to west, and about four hundred miles from south to north. The coast westward of Cape Palmas is called the windward coast, and that on the east the leeward coast. The reason for this distinction is found in the usual course of the wind, which is from the north-west. First on the windward coast is the flourishing colony of Liburia, extending nearly two hundred miles along the shore, and twenty or thirty into the interior, including the Veys, Deys, and Bassas, native tribes. The Kroo- inen, another native tribe, reside on the limits of the colony, but are not under its jurisdiction. A part of this coast, nearest Cape Palmas, is called the grain coast, on account of the Malagette pep- per, for which it is rioted. East of Cape Palmas the ivory coast extends some distance ; then the gold coast for one hundred and eighty miles ; and beyond the river Volta is the slave coast. Cape- coast castle, belonging to the British government, is on the gold coast; and it was not far distant from this castle that Sir Charles M't'arthy and nearly one thousand British soldieis were cut to pieces in 1824, by a numerous army of Ashantees. The distance from the castle to Sierra Lconc is about one thousand miles. With a few exceptions the whole coast is low. A dense forest extends along the inner border of the colony of Liberia. The Niger, rising in the Kong mountains, not very far distant Irom Monrovia, and alter an im- mense sweep through luxuriant countries, pours its Hoods into the ocean, east (and perhaps west also) of Cape Formosa. The river Volta, be- tween the kingdoms of Dahomey and Ashantee, probably rises in the same mountains. The wind- ward coast has several navigable rivers within three hundred miles of Cape Palmas. A ridge of mountains stretches through the interior, at vari- ous distances from the coast. In Variba, where the mountains were crossed by Captain Clapper- ton, they were not more than two thousand five hundred feet high. East of the Niger, the ridge rises to a loftier height, and is supposed to extend far into the interior, and to constitute the 'Moun- tains of the Moon.' The Cameron mountains, opposite Fernando Po, are said to be thirteen thousand feet high. Not far from the gold coast, there are mountains composed of granite, gneiss, and quartz. Scientific men are of opinion, that a great table-land extends from the ridge of moun- tains in the interior just mentioned, to the Cape of Good Hope. Why should not these moun- tainous regions be suited to the constitutions of northern missionaries '. In champaign countries, the most temperate parts of the torrid zone are under the equator, and five or six degrees each side, because there the sun is obscured by clouds through the year. Meredith thinks the gold coast has the advantage of the West Indies in soil, cli- mate, and seasons. The climate at the mouth or mouths of the Niger, is supposed to be very insa- lubrious. The rainy season in western Africa be- gins about the first of June, and continues till October or November. Europeans and Ameri- cans are subject to malignant fevers, if much ex- posed to the weather in the rainy season. The whole country is doubtless one of the most fertile in the world. All the tropical fruits grow in wildness and profusion. Coffee of an excellent quality grows spontaneously. Rice of superior excellence is the common food of the natives; and the soil is adapted to indigo, and cotton, to wheat, barley, and Indian corn. The population of the countries bordering on the Niger, has been estimated at twenty-five mil- lions ; and the Niger and Tshadda bear the same relation to the countries they water, that tha Mississippi and Missouri do to the vast and fertile regions of our western states and territories. They may be, thev w ill be, ascended by steamboats, and probably with little risk of life. What a surpris- ing influence would be exerted by a few cargoes of European or American goods, transported, ves- sel and all, as if by magic, into the heart of Afri- ca ! Doubtless the commercial habits of Central A frica are destined to experience a speedy change; and christian enterprise, though at present less wakeful, less energetic, less daring than that of commerce, will not be backward to pour the bles- sings of the gospel into the new channels of trade. The sea-coast is occupied by small tribes, or states, with various forms of government, but generally aristocralical. The Vey tribe, within the bounds of Liberia, consists of twelve thousand or fifteen thousand people; the Dey tribe of six thousand or eight thousand; and the Bassa tribes of about one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The Kroomen come next in order. Though own- ing but a small country, they are the labourers, sailots, pilots, factors, and interpreters, for almost the whole coast. But little is yet known of the country immediately behind Liberia. The fol- lowing statements were made by Mr. Ashmun concerning it, in the year 1827. 'An excursion of one of our people into the in- terior, to the distance of about one hundred and forty miles, has led to a discovery of the populous- nessand comparative civilization of this district of Africa, never, till within a few months, even con- jectured by myself. We are situated within fifty leagues of a country, in which a highly improved agriculture prevails—where the horse is a com- mon domestic animal—where extensive tracts of land are cleared and enclosed—where every article absolutely necessary to comfortable life, is pro- duced by the soil or manufactured by the skill and industry of the inhabitants—w here the Arabic is used as a written language, in the ordinary commerce of life—where regular and abundant markets and fairs are kept—and where a degree of intelligence, and practical refinement distin- guishes the inhabitants, little compatible with the personal qualities attached, in the current notions of the age, to the people of Guinea.' The Ashantees are a powerful nation, able on a short notice to bring an army of fifteen thousand warriors into the field. Mr. Bowditch, who visit- ed Ashantee in 1817, supposes, from the similarity of customs, that the higher classes in that country are descended from the eastern Ahyssininns. Coo- massie, their capital, is four miles in circumfer- ence, built in a stvle superior to any of the mari- time towns, anil the houses, though low and con- structed wholly of wood, are profusely covered with sculpture and ornament. The Ashantees are described as a noble race of Africans. Some of the states on the gold coast are subject to them. Dahomey was the first of the greater states pene- trated by Europeans. Mr. Norris went there as long ago as 1772. It was then powerful. Abo- mey, the capital, is about one hundred and fifty miles inland, and the approach to it from the coast is by a gentle ascent through a fine coiintrv. Mr. Norris describes the king as an object of blind and idolatrous veneration. Whidah, on the slave coast, has long been subject to his authority. |