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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0136 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0136 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| 140 MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL. Western Africa. letter from mr. wilson, dated February 7th, 1839. (Concluded from last number.) Jacque-a-Jacques—Grand Bassam—Dix's Cove— Cape Coast. We left Jack Lahou on the evening of the next day, with the intention of stretching directly lor Cape Coast Castle, where it was expected that the mutinous sailors would be left. In the morning we found ourselves abreast of Jacque-a-Jacques, a place which has become very generally known of late years as one of the most important palm oil marts of the coast. And there is scarcely a time when there are not as many as three or four vessels receiving oil at this place. The coast from Jacqne-a-Jacqties to Grand Bassam is ralher low and Hat. Grand Bassam is situated at the mouth of the De Costa river, and is forty miles east of Jacque-a-Jacques. It oilers a large quan- tity of gold-dust for sale, but neither oil nor ivory. The Ashantees frequently visit this place, but their jurisdiction does not reach to the sea- coast. Asince is situated at the mouth of a large river of the same name, anil lies about twenty miles east of Grand Bassam. It has of late lost its im- portance by intestine wars; and as its trade is nearlv broken up, very few vessels touch here. The French formerly had a fort at this place, but it has long since been abandoned. Friday morning, the 13th instant, we found our- selves abreast of Cape Apollonia, and as there was no wind, we remained near this place all the forenoon. The land is high and hilly. It has, until within a few years past, been occupied by the English, and a ton still stands here, though there are no European residents. Several canoes came olf and brought Ibwls, ducks, corn, plan- tains, etc. for sale. Those of the natives we saw were small, and spare made, and the blackest Africans I have ever seen. They were poorly clad, and altogether appeared to be inferior to the tribes further to the windward. They plat their hair and bind it in wreaths like the Cape Lahou people, but they had no ornaments about their persons of any kind. 16. We doubled Cape Three Points, and came abreast of Dix's Cove and Bantree, two foits about two miles apart, the first owned and occu- pied by the English, and the other by the Dutch. Dix's Cove is the most westerly point on the Gold Coast, which is occupied at present by Europeans, and Acra is the most easterly, being distant Irom each other about one hundred miles. In the in- termediate distance there are a large number of forts; many of which, however, since the aboli- tion of the slave-trade, have been abandoned, ami are now in a state of decay. The English still retain four regularly garrisoned forts, viz. at Dix's Cove, Cape Coast, Anamaboe, and Acra, besides small trading establishments where there are no forts. The Dutch retain garrisoned forts at Jlan- tree, Axiin, Elmini, and Acra. The one at Acra is nearly in a state of ruins. The Danes have one fort at Acra. The Dutch forts come under the immediate supervision and government of Holland. The English establishments come under the supervision of a committee in England called the West-African Committee, which is appointed by parliament. The government appropriates a specified annual sum to the support of these forts, and this passes through the hands of the West- African Committee. We anchored at Cape Coast, Sabbath afternoon of the 17th. Several canoes brought olf articles to sell, but when they were told that no trading was allowed on board on the Sabbath, they re- turned, and we were left alone until Monday morning. The appearance of Cape Coast Castle from the sea is rather imposing than otherwise. The fort, in which the castle stands, and by which it is protected, covers three acres, lis walls aie 1 high and strong, and well mounted with guns. The castle stretche.i across the fort and over one wing, and rises two stories above its walls. Be- sides the fort in which the castle stands, there are two other smaller ones, each of them about a half mile distant; one of thein is called fort William, and the other, which has recently been built, is called Victoria. The three together render the place almost impregnable, either by land or sea. These forts, as well as all the rest of the forts along the Gold Coast, were orig'nally built by the (Portuguese towards the close of the fifteenth cen- tury, lor the purpose of carrying on the slave- trade. They were subsequently wrested from the Portuguese by the Dutch, ami afterwards they were successively owned by the Dutch, English, and French. Cape Coast Castle and its depen- dencies I* II into the hands of the English in Mil, and have continued in their possession ever since. From the close of the fifteenth century to the year 18117, when the slave-trade was abolished, Cape Coast Castle was used as a depot lor slaves; and there is no part of the western coast of Africa where this trade was carried on more extensively than at these points. Since the abolition of the slave.trade, they have been kept up chielly on ac- count of the trade in gold-dust, which, previous to that period, had been almost wholly neglected. In the year 1324, all of the British settlements were involved in a war with the Ashantees, which had nigh resulted in their utter nun. Sir Charles McCarthy lost his life in a disastrous coiilliot with them, and a whole regiment of British soldiers were cut to pieces at the same time by the Ashan- tee army. Indeed, so large and formidable an army as the Ashantees brought out on this occa- sion has scarcely ever been known in Africa. They aspired to possess all of the English forts on this part of the coast, and their bloody and deso- lating march was not arrested until they w en- brought within the range of the guns of Cape Coast forts. The number of European residents at Cape Coast does not exceed fifteen or twenty The native population is estimated at six thousand. The former reside in handsome and spacious stone houses. The latter, with a few exceptions, live in houses built of clay and covered wilh grass, many of which are in a state of dilapidation. The contrast between the native houses and those of the Europeans must arrest the attention of every one, as the two are indiscriminately interspersed. The whole country is less or more impregnated with gold dust. And I was not a little surprised to see native women washing for gold at the very spot where we stepped out of the boat upon land- ing; and it is not uncommon to see them sweep- ing the streets and private yards fur the same pur- pose. Besides gold-dust, the settlement exports ivory, Indian corn, and of late some palm oil. Gold, however, is the chief article, and Indian corn is the next in importance. Favourable Openings for a Mission near Cape Coast. The interior of the fort presents quite a mili- tary air. The garrison consists of a corps ol two hundred wel-. drilled Fantees. They have as tine a musical band as I almost ever heard ; and tins is rendered the more remarkable, as there is not an individual in the hand who knows any thing ol music as a science. The present governor, George McLean, assumed the responsibilities of his otlice in the year 1820, and has by his sound judgment and indefatigable zeal, not only placed all the torts in excellent order, but has also succeeded in in- troducing many very salutary improvements among the neighbouring native tribes. Since his induc- tion into office, he has kept up I school in the fort under his immediate inspection for native chil- dren ; and at no period since the organization of the school has the number of pupils ever fallen short of one hundred and fifty. Through the means of this school a large number of the young men who have just grown up. are able to read, so that the native people of Cape Coast may now be regarded, to some extent at least, as a reading community. The jurisdiction of the governor extends over three thousand square miles; and tribes even beyond these limits are constantly re- ferring their disputes among themselves to bun as umpire. The habit of seizing any man and ma- king him responsible for the debts and crimes of his townsman, which is so general in Western Africa, has been entirely broken up within the bounds of bis jurisdiction. I am happy to inform you that governor McLean cordially welcomes the co-operation of the mission which you pro- pose to establish somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Coast, and pledges the protection ot the local government I will transmit at the tame time with this a copy of a letter which 1 have re- ceived from him on this subject. He expressed a willingness in the first instance, that the mission should be established directly at Cape Coast. Bui as the Wesleyan Missionary Society of England have a missionary here, and are expecting to en- large their operations, it would not be in accor- dance with the principles adopted at the last an- niversary of the board, to locate at the same place ; nor would it be strictly courteous to those mis- sionary brethren already on the ground. Anamaboe is also partially occupied by the Wesleyans. But Dix's love and Acra are un- occupied, and both ot these are recommended to you by governor McLean as eligible places for "the establishment of the proposed mission. The former of these places is situated, as has already been mentioned, fifty miles to the west of Cape Coast, and the other the same distance to the east. The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced their operations here, I think, about live years ago; and although they never had more than one missionary here at a time, their labours have been Clowned with encouraging success. I regretted inent. The king of Ashantee thinks as little of taking olf the head of one of his subjects, as that of a chicken. There are several of his subjects now in the fort, who have taken refuge I here to save their heads. It is thought that the kingdom of Ashantee, (if this word may be applied to that people,) is by no means so stiong and powerlul as it was twenty years ago. The despotic and cruel administration of the present king has been the means of disconnecting important sections of the kingdom from the main body, many of his chief captains have become disallcctcd towards him, and a feeding of very general distrust has extended itself over the whole of his realms. Elmina, (the Dutch fort,) is situated eight miles west of Cape Coast, and is in lull view of it. The native population of that place is double that of Cape Coast, but the situation, from some local cause or other, is very insalubrious. Anamaboe is twelve miles east of Cape Coast, hut is seen from it. lis European population is less than that of Cape Coast, and its native population nearly equal to that of Kliuina. From Cape Coast we stretched out to sea, and alter eight days sail we reached Cape Palinas on the 31st of March, having been absent about one month. On our arrival at Fair Hope we loiind that all things had gone on smoothly, and we have abundant reason for gratitude to our heavenly Fa- ther for his manifold mercies to us. very much the absence of tiieir present missionary at the time of our visit, as I was not able to col- lect such facts in connection with their proceed- ings as I could wish. They have a commodious chapel constructed with mud walls and grass roof. 1 preached for them one evening, by icquest, through an interpreter, and was pleased to find my audience attentive, and to see that a large number of them could use their hymn-books. My stay here was too brief, and my opportunities of observation too limited to allow me to make any very confident remarks about the religious state of this people. My general impression is that there are a number 0f them who are decidedly pious, and that there is a very general desire to receive religious instruction, without there being any thing like a decided reformation among them as a community. Their language has not yet been reduced to writing, and they receive all their in- struction through the medium of the English lan- guage, which is but imperfectly understood, even by those who can read it mechanically. They would acquire information much more rapidly through the medium of their mother tongue, than through a language which the generality of them are actually incapable of acquiiiug with any de- gree of perfection. The English language and most of the dialecls of Western Africa are so completely antipodal in their character and gene- ral principles, that I have seriously questioned whether an individual who has been taught to speak one of these from childhood could ever learn to speak the other perfectly. And this view of the subject has been fully attested by our ex- perience. The children in our school learned to read books in the English language as easily as the generality of children in America, but they seemed to derive but little advantage from it in the acquisition of knowledge. But as soon as books were placed in their hands in their own language, their progress in acquiring knowledge was very rapid indeed; and we have never been able to furnish books to them as fast as they would have them. But to return from this di- gression. The Fantees, as a tribe, are a little below the ordinary size of Alricans; and are decidedly infe- rior, I should think, to the Kroomen, not only in stature, but in that manliness and independence of character which distinguishes the latter. There is a desire to coniform to the habits of civilized life, however, among the Fantees, which does not exist with the Kroomen. All the young men of Cape Coast, who can affoid it, wear European clothes. The old men adhere to the broad toga The females wear a quantity of cloth proportioned to their abilities, but their taste in adjusting it to their bodies is very singular; and in one mDMI is revolting to the feelings of delicacy. What- ever changes may have taken place in the charac- ter and condition of the people in the vicinity of Cape Coast, the country generally remains in a state of the deepest degradation and ignorance. We were informed that only a few davs previous to our arrival, a neighbouring cubocter had, in con- sequence of an eclipse of the sun, which was re- garded as ominous of approaching calamity, buried several of his subjects alive; and it was not known how many more would be doomed to the same Ml, Human sacrifices are still olfered in great numbers, not only in Ashantee, but in all the petty principalities of the surrounding country. Only a few years since, the king of Ashantee sent the governor of Cape Coast sixty jaw-bones of human victims which he had killed, as an evi- dence of his despotic power, thinking at the same time that it would prove to be a present of great value. The story that the king of Dahomv has his yard paved with human skulls is no Itldc. There are Europeans on the coast who have seen it, and can bear witness to the liuth ot the state- (From Mr. Carlisle's Lectures) Character of Luther. Martin Luther presides yet over modem his- tory. Great he was, not only in Ihe aclions he dnl, but in his own intrinsic qualities. And in all manner of contradictions did he seem to have been born. The son of the very poorest people—his lather a miserable miner, bis grandfather and all his ancestors peasants of the like sort—he was teared in the depths of poverty,and struggled for- ward to the light out of an extremity of vilest hardship. He 'bore the bag' at school, and he sang there and in the streets lor assistance and support. But what of that! Truth did not de- sert him for it. 'There was no formality in my friend Martin Luther.' He could stand alone in the middle of the world. Law student he was at the first, but an event very sudden and full of awe withdrew him from worldly studies. While yet only twenty years old, he was walking with a Iriend in the University of Urlint, when a thunder- bolt darted out of heaven and struck down his companion dead at his feet. This seemed as it were to Luther to have borne a mission from above; and from that instant in which he thus saw eternity lying at his leet, law and all its mat- ters, and indeed all other proceedings of the world, looked poor and mean, anil insiillicieut lor the cravings of the soul. He entered the order of An- gustines,and became a pious and hthoiious monk. At the hist, as he expresses it, he was in a sort of state of reprobation. But he began to study the Bible, and it happened to him to see the pope! This was on a mission to Home, when, just as the natural loveliness of religion had broken in upon him, he beheld, in this way, the woist vices and corruptions of her ministers in the world. Yet he was silent. In truth, he now felt he had ano- ther concern to look alter, ibr was there not his own soul to save? Now, nothing was so admira- ble as the outiro modesty and simplicity of him I The idea of relorming the church never entered his head. The living the life of a true man—that was his notion—and all else tlowed naturally out of that. He saw that penances, and vigils, and the like, would not, and could not, work out sal- vation. It must be more hope in the Bible—it must be more faith in the Bible, At this very time—in the memorable year 1515—Tetzel came to Wittenberg, with a very famous set of indulgences lor sale. Luther saw him enter Ins own church, and oiler in exchange lor sundry pieces of money what wore called 'in- dulgences,' from 'Christ's holy lord the pope,' lor the total lemissioii of tins—pieces of paper, with a red cross upon them, by which, lor a considera- tion, the gates of hell were closed, and those of beaten and glory eternally opened ! Luther saw these things publicly soltl in his own chinch to his own people, and then spoke out and said, 'That shall not be.' This was the beginning of the re- lonnation. Again observe the modesty ol Luther. He set forward no plea or pretence of reloriiilhg the church. He shouted out nothing in big wolds about what he would do. There was no vanity in him. All he did was to deny and refuse to tolerate a falsehood—and so the lelorination began. Four years went on in this way, and then he was summoned to the diet of Worms, to appear belore all the princes anil chiefs of the Koman Catholic faith. It was the 17th of April, 1521—a day to be remembered lor ever—that he arrived at the old city of Worms, to testily eternally to the truth, or to give it up utterly. A learlul enter- prise! More than two thousand good people had gone otit, on horse or foot, to meet him, and dis- suade him from advancing further. He said he had the safe conduct ol the emperor. 'Well,' they answered, 'Huss had it too, but it turned out to be sale conduct into a prison six feet long, seven feet wide, and two feet eight inches high, from which he was carried out to be burned.' 'I cannot help it,' Luther leinarked, 'I must go on. To Worms will 1 go, though the gates of hell and the powers ol air art against me. Yea, to Worms will I go, though there were as many devils in the city as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses.' He went accordingly, and was asked to recant what he had written, and he answered that he could not. Whatever there was of intemperate expression ill his writings, he would indeed re- cant; but the doctrine of them was God's truth, and he durst not do it. 'Here 1 stand,' he said. '1 can do no other. It is impossible to admit any thing that is against the conscience. God be my help. Amen.' And there, and then, upon that veiy spot was the reformation consummated. A poor man stood up belore the princes of the world and said that; and all the world rose up and said, 'Yes, it is right, that thing which you have said.' And never, Mr. Carlisle continued, in affection- ate eulogiuiii on the personal character of Luther, never stood up a truer-hearted, a better, or a greater man, than he who stood before the diet of the German empire. In his face might be read the various elements of his character. A coarse, rugged, plebeian lace it was, wilh great crags of cheek-bones—a wild amount of passionate energy and appetite ! But in his dark eyes were floods id' sorrow ; and deepest melancholy, sweetness, and mystery were all there. Often did there seem to meet in Luther the very opposite poles in man's character. He, Ibr example, of whom Kirhlei had said that his words were half battle*, he, when he fust began lo preach, suffered unheard-of agony. 'O, Dr. Stauplitz, Dr. Stauplitz,' said he, to the vicar-general of his order, '1 cannot do it. I shall die in three months. Indeed, I cannot do it.' Dr. Stauplitz, a wise and considerate man, said upon this, 'Well, sir Martin, if you must die you must—but remember that they need good heads up yonder too. So preach, man, preach— and then live or die, as it happens.' So Luther pieachcd and lived; and he became, indeed, one great whirlwind of energy, to work without rest- ing in this woild ; and also before he died he wrote lour hundred books! books in which the true man was ! for in the midst ol all they denounced or cursed what touches of tenderness lay ! Look at the Table Talk, lor example. We see in it that a little bird, having alighted at sunset on the bough of the pear tree that grew in Luther's garden, Luther looked up at it and said, 'That little bird, how it cowers tlown its little w ings, and will sleep there, so still and fearless, though over it are the infinite starry spaces, and the great blue depths of immensity! Yet it lean not—it is at home. The God that made it too is there.' The same gentle spirit of lyiical admiration is in other passages of his books. Come home from Leipsic in Ihe au- tumn season, he breaks forth into loving wonder at the fields of corn. 'How it stands there,' he says, 'erect on its beautiful taper stem, and bend- ing ils beautiful golden head with bread in it—the bread of man sent to him yet another year!' Such thoughts as these are as little windows, through which we gaze into the interior of the sereiie depths of Martin Luther's soul, and see visible, across its tempest and clouds, a whole heaven of light and love. He might have painted—he might have sung—could have been beautiful like Ka- pt.ael, great like Michael Angelo. As it was, the extremes of energy and modesty met in his active spirit. Perhaps,'indeed, in all men of genius, one great quality strongly develop- ed might force out other qualities. Here was Luther, a savage kind of man, as people thought bun—a Wild Orson of a man—a man whose speech was ordinarily a wild torrent, that went tearing down rocks and trees—and behold him speaking like a woman or a child. But no senti- mentalist was he! A tolerant man, but with noth- ing of sentimental tolerance. He went to the leal heart of that matter. When bis relorming asso- ciates made vast fuss about some surplice that somebody or other wanted to wear, he ended the matter wilh a 'What ill can a surplice do to us? Let him have three surplices if he w ill. That is not our religion, nor interferes with it at all. Do- mine, miserere mei. That is what we have to think of. That is what we must think the essential of Christianity.' Nothing of what is commonly called cant, or pride, or ambition, w as in Luther. It was this that made him not higher than the lowest man with a soul, nor yet lower than the highest. Thus, when be was threatened wilh the anger of •Duke George' if he went to Leipsic, he made answer that he had no business at Leipsic, but if he had, nothing on earth should prevent him. It it rained duke Georges lor nine days running, there he would go. Well, and this man who thought and acted in this way passed a whole life of suffering! He was a deeply melancholy man. More labour had fallen upon him than he could rightly bear, and it was in vain that he prayed to be released ; he toiled and sorrowed on. Even with Satan himself, the evil principle of the world, was he destined lo hold high argument. Men would laugh at that, and a cheap game, indeed, was ridicule; but be it recollected that in Luther's days God and the devil were equally real; and that he thought he was from the first, as when he had that vision of the crowded house-tiles of the old city of Worms, a man specially selected to fight with devils. Well then, he sat alone one night; he was translating the twenty.third psalm, and poiideiing on its deep significance: he had sat fasting for two days, when the devil rose and stood before him, and opened the famous dialogue, accusing Luther of crimes, and threatening him with hell, and terrifying him to recant; all which the christian put an end to at last by taking up Ins ink-bottle and flinging it at the devil. The mark- made by the ink on the wall is shown to this day ; and a memorable spot truly is that! a spot tliat may mark at once the greatness and poverty of man! the record of a delusion which any doctor's or apothecaiy's 'prentice could explain now-a- days ; hut also of a courage that could rise against what seemed to be the bodily impersonal ion ol daikness and despair, anil of enmity to good. No braver man than Luther ever appealed in Europe. Bathing in the Dead Sea.—The corres- pondent of the New York American gives the following notice of a visit to this standing pro- blem, in the national history of the Holy Land. The gentlemen of the parly determined to test the reported buoyancy of the water by personal experience: They state, that where the water was five feet deep, they were so buoyed up that they could only touch the bottom with the points of their toes. Advancing to where the water was six inches deeper, their feet were suddenly taken from under them, and they were thrown in a hori- zontal position upon the surface of the water. They could not maintain a perpendicular position without using some effort. They them swam to where the water was extremely deep, and endea- voured to sink, which they found impossible even with some effort to do so. They could walk in the water equally as well as on the land, with their heads entirely above the surface. They found that they could sit and converse as easy as on a divan. A strong breeze came on from the south, and with it a heavy swell. They described the sensation produced by this riding on the sea, without a vessel or a plank under them, as very singular. One of them had never before ventured beyond his depth in water: while here he was en- abled, without the least sense of danger, to go to any distance from the land. They became con- vinced, that what had been said respecting the great specific gravity and buoyancy of the water of the Dead Sea is entirely correct. De Tocqueville, in his work on America, speak- ing of the western pioneer, who goes in the ad- vance of emigration, says, 'he penetrates the woods with his axe, his Bible, and a file of NEWSPAPERS.' 'It is a great blessing to possess what one wishes.'—'It is a greater blessing still, not to de- sire what one does not possess.' PRINTED BY JOHN D TOY, corner of market and st paul streets Who executes Book and Job Printing with neatness and accuracy. |