An address to the colored people of Pennsylvania / [Edward S. Morris].: a machine-readable transcription.

TO THE COLORED PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

“THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE.”

This is the motto inscribed on the National Seal of Liberia. The person who now addresses you, (colored people of Pennsylvania,) is interested in the cause of African liberty on more than one account. From the date of his earliest recollections, his sympathies have been enlisted in behalf of the colored race; he has been reared in a religious community which is distinguished for its zeal and untiring activity in the cause of African emancipation; and more recently, his attention has been more particularly directed to the trade and commerce of Liberia, by the reception of various consignments of merchandise from that country—for which, in compliance with the request of the owners, he found an advantageous market in Philadelphia. This circumstance enables him to speak with more confidence respecting the steady demand for Liberian products in the United States, and the great inducements which are offered to colored men of industrious habits who may feel inclined to settle in that country for the purpose of cultivating the soil. The undersigned feels, therefore, that he is prepared, in a measure, 1 0003 2 by personal experience, to offer some information which may be useful to such colored residents of this State as may have it in contemplation to remove to Liberia.

If any explanation of his motives for making such an address as this is required, he hopes what has just been said will be deemed sufficient. In as brief a manner as possible, I wish to hold up to your view the advantages which Liberia offers—not only as a home for your injured race, but as a means of Christianizing nearly two hundred millions of men and recommending them to the favorable attention of the civilized world. As I make my appeal to the deliberate consideration of men who are more or less prejudiced in their minds, either naturally or by the artificial means employed by some of your friends who are ever ready to turn a deaf ear to the calls of Liberia, and even to denounce her and all her connections, I find it expedient to present to your notice a few FACTS, which will admit of no misunderstanding or dispute.

Liberia, considered with respect to its present limits and location, was at one time the very cradle of African slavery, and its capital, Monrovia, was once the principal mart for the slave-trade. What is Liberia now? A living torch of liberty, a light upon a hill to which the eyes of the whole continent are directed. To the whole Christian world, and especially to the colored people of the United States, this glorious young republic appears in the attitude of supplication. On her bended knees, as it were, she begs that Christianity and civilization may, through her mediumship, be diffused over the whole African Continent. England, and some other 0004 3 nations of Europe, have long since recognised and welcomed Liberia as a free and independent government. The territory of the Republic reaches six hundred miles along the west coast of Africa, between the parallels of 4° 30′ and 7° 30′ north latitude, and already extends into the interior about forty miles, with the undisputed privilege of proceeding in that direction as far as may be desirable. Liberia, thus situated, is doing more to prevent the enslavement of the colored race than any other power upon earth; for it is the greatest obstacle—the very breakwater, which must effectually check the progress of the slave trade. The coast of Liberia is guarded at the Republic's own expense, and the laws of Liberia are operative in the interior—by making the traffic in human flesh a capital crime, so that all who are convicted of the offence, suffer the extreme penalty of the criminal code.

What if Liberia extended along the whole west coast of Africa? Where then would be the chance for the slave-trader? The traffic would be inevitably brought to an end. While reviewing the history of the world's progress, it is not unreasonable to look to such an extension, such an enlargement of Liberia—keeping in view at the same time, the present condition of that country contrasted with what it was forty years ago. But to hasten the progress of Liberia to that glorious destiny which now appears in perspective, the Republic needs many new citizens; and every honest, intelligent, and industrious man who immigrates to her shores may be regarded as a public benefactor.

Liberia needs the wise thinker, to make and administer 0005 4 the laws; the cultivator, to produce and send forth the inexhaustible riches of her soil; the mechanic, to build cities, rail roads, and bridges; the artisan and manufacturer to provide for the various wants of domestic life.

Colored people of the United States, why will you not go to this land of promise—this habitation of genuine freedom, where every man is a sovereign and a law-making power? Why not leave this land of oppression, the United States, when almost every State is enacting laws which are calculated to make the condition of your race more deplorable? Laws which are designed to drive you away from almost every location, and to leave you scarcely any resting place on the American Continent!

That you may have before you the progress of this legislative policy among the States, I offer you a few extracts from the Philadelphia North American, of February 1, 1860.

“At the last session of the Legislature of Louisiana, an Act was passed, requiring all free negroes who were within its limits, in contravention of the law which prohibits the immigration of such persons, to leave the State before the first day of November, or else go into slavery.”

“Arkansas has put into rigorous effect Acts adopted by the Legislature of 1859, which expels or deprives of liberty its free colored population, and which prohibits the employment of any of these people in vessels which navigate the waters of the State.”

Mississippi, Florida, and Missouri, have passed Acts providing for the exclusion or enslavement of the same class. Bills of the same import are now prominently before the Legislatures of four other States—namely, Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The same subject is agitated in Maryland, and doubtless, in other Southern States. Tennessee has under consideration an Act to prevent free colored persons from travelling on the rail roads of that State. It requires that the President who shall permit any free negro to travel on any rail road within the jurisdiction of that State under his supervision, shall pay a fine of five hundred dollars. Any Conductor permitting a violation of the Act, shall 0006 5 pay a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars; Provided, such free negro is not under the control of a free white citizen of Tennessee, who shall vouch for the character of such negro in a penal bond of one thousand dollars.

“Among the Acts passed by the late Legislature of Georgia, was one which provides that free negroes wandering or strolling about, or leading an idle, immoral, and profligate course of life, are hereafter to be deemed and considered as vagrants, and may be indicted as such. In case of conviction, they shall be sold into slavery for any given time, at the discretion of a Judge of the Superior Court, not exceeding two years for the first offence; but on a second conviction for the same offence, they must be sold into perpetual slavery. Hitherto any master could free his slaves on condition that he would send them out of the State. By the late Legislature of Georgia, a law was enacted to forbid all post mortem emancipations. It prohibits emancipation by will, no matter whether the liberated slaves shall remain in the State or go out of it. Our new States, adopting free constitutions, manifest a disposition to exclude the colored population from their jurisdiction. Indiana and Illinois deny them admission. Oregon has put a veto on their residence there. A bill has been introduced into the present Legislature of Minnesota, the object of which is to prevent the immigration of colored people to that Commonwealth and their settlement therein. Kansas follows the example in her application for admission into the Union.

“The Supreme Court of Ohio has just decided that colored children have no right to claim admittance to the Public Schools of that State. The condition of colored people in the Northern and Middle States, is becoming daily more and more undesirable. They are refused the common rights of citizenship, which all classes of the whites enjoy. They cannot ride in the cars of our city railroads. They are taxed, and their children are refused admittance to the Public Schools.

“These things are stated to show the oppressive legal enactments which have lately been made, or which are in contemplation. There is scarcely a man making any pretensions to common humanity who does not regret this condition of things in our beloved country. What shall be done with and for this large and increasing clement of population? Colonization, with their own consent, is the remedy which we recommend. We do not advise the removal of the colored people to Canada, the climate of which is so little adapted to their physical constitution. Nor would we recommend them to transport themselves to Central America, Jamaica, St. Domingo, or Hayti, because in all these lands there are whites of position and influence, who are hostile to the colored race, and because they cannot in any one of them build up a nationality, or demonstrate their capability of self-government. But we earnestly 1* 0007 6 exhort them to remove to Africa —for there alone they have a fair and wide theatre, where they may enact the part which Divine Providence has assigned to them, and consummate a great and glorious destiny.”

In these circumstances, my colored friends of Pennsylvania, why not look to Liberia as your most desirable home and resting place? The only place where an African nationality can be built up, or where the colored race can enjoy the common rights of humanity. It is in vain to expect such things in America, as the above statements abundantly prove.

By a late action of Congress, an appropriation of nine hundred thousand dollars, has been made mostly for the maintenance in Liberia of recaptured Africans. This enactment by Congress received the support not only of all the Republican Representatives, but also the hearty concurrence of all those Southern members who are most distinguished for genuine Christian feelings and conservative political principles.

May we not indulge the hope that the bill which has just passed will prove a stepping-stone to a formal recognition of Liberian independence? Appropriately to this subject, we have an additional article in the New York Times of Dec. 20, which is inserted below, together with a letter of mine, published in the Liberia Herald, the letter being one of a series of short essays on “The Mission of Liberia.” It is my hope that the facts presented in these articles will offer some additional inducements for emigration.

0008 7

THE MISSION OF LIBERIA.

BY A PHILADELPHIAN.

No. 7.

Office No. 916 Arch Street.

“In every point of view, Cotton may be considered as one of the most important of African products. No other article is now so universally used over the whole surface of the Globe; and no other (with the exception perhaps of iron,) fills so eminent a space in the scales of commerce and manufactures. The country which possesses a good growth of cotton, if it owns no other object of traffic, may well be called rich. In Africa this truly useful and ever valuable article is most abundantly and spontaneously produced, and it is superior in quality to that afforded by any other part of the world; while in point of cheapness, the advantage which African cotton possesses is equally great.

“We know that the uncivilized natives in the interior of Africa, carry on the cultivation of cotton to a considerable extent; and it is stated, on excellent authority, that from sixty to seventy-five looms for the weaving of cotton cloth are employed in a single native town. But how vast will be the scale of operations when the full energies of a civilized people, with all their varied facilities, 0011 10 and all their practical knowledge, are bent upon the same great work! Then, along the shores of Liberia will be seen rising many lofty warehouses, from whose stores load after load of cotton bales is being transferred to the numerous vessels waiting in the harbor to bear away their freight to every quarter of the earth.

“Further inland, the view will present the huge factory with its humming machinery and busy operatives, the neat factory village with its rows of comfortable dwellings, and the elegant mansion which, with all its attendant luxuries, has been secured to the proprietor of the manufactory by his own enterprise and industry. Such, viewed only as a source of pecuniary profit, are the capabilities of the Liberian cotton trade. But there is a greater and nobler incentive to its prosecution than this. What benevolent and patriotic citizen of Liberia, particularly if he has lived in one of our Southern States, does not often, amid his own free and unlimited privileges and opportunities, reflect upon the condition of those thousands of his race to whom the rights of citizenship and the exercise of choice in the moulding of their own fortunes are entirely unknown? Every piece of labor which the Liberian performs he knows to be so much towards securing case and comfort for himself, and building up an inheritance for his children. But the industry of the slave, though prosecuted from the dawning to the setting of the sun, makes himself not a farthing richer, and cannot secure one morsel of bread to his offspring. This oppressive burden, resting upon so considerable a number of the human race, has long been a source of grief and disquietude to many philanthropic hearts; and the wisest statesmen of America have declared that the great wrong of slavery must prove degrading and destructive to the race which inflicts it, as well as to that which endures it. Yet while all judicious and enlightened minds lamented the existence of slavery and dreaded its effects, the evil appeared to have become so deep-seated as to be beyond the possibility of human cure. But at this critical juncture, the Divine Wisdom and Mercy presents a plan of deliverance at once so efficacious and so simple, that the inhabitants of two great continents must hail it with mingled wonder, joy, and gratitude. The principal object of slave labor, and the only plausible excuse which misguided men could offer as a proof of its pretended necessity, is to be done sway with by the removal of the cotton trade from the United States to Africa. The abundant supply of African cotton, its superior quality, and the moderate rate at which it can be furnished, will soon give to Liberia a monopoly of this branch of commerce, and cut off those gains which our Southern planters reap from the involuntary labor of their bondmen.

“The factories of both America and England, Lowell and Manchester, will be supplied with Liberian cotton, not cultivated by repining slaves beneath a foreign sky, but reared by the hands of freemen from the soil of their own country. What conscientious 0012 11 and benevolent man would not far rather deal in a commodity thus produced, then one which he knew to be the result of slave labor? It is upon the Liberians that this great reformatory movement depends, and the prosperous results will be altogether owing to their resolute and persevering industry. No foreign aid will be called in to effect the deliverance of the African; for the proud and ennobling privilege of becoming the liberators of their race is reserved for the Africans themselves. If ever the designs of a just and gracious Providence may be read in the course of human affairs, it was for this that the pioneers of Liberia were guided in safety to her shores, and prospered in their efforts to build up the home of a nation. To restore to all the rights and dignity of men, a race weighed down for centuries by the manacles of bondage; to prove that the African, laboring for himself, can acquire more wealth and commercial importance than was ever gained by the toil of bondmen, and to found a powerful empire where the name and presence of a slave shall never be known, this, as the revolution of time must prove, is to be the grand and glorious mission of Liberia.”

E. S. M.

Should the Southern States, on account of their opposition to the march of freedom, their hatred of free institutions, and their growing predilection for a monarchical form of government, choose to accept the example of South Carolina, and separate themselves from the Union, I shall be the first to petition that our free Northern Congress (if I may be pardoned for the thought) will, (if it does not at once fully recognise Liberian nationality) at least annul all Custom House duties on such products and manufactures of Liberia, as will not enter into competition with articles produced within our limits. Shall not our ports then be opened freely to almost every Liberian product, as they now are to Cotton, Coffee, and Camwood? At present there is a duty of 24 per cent. levied on African Sugar, Molasses, and Honey; 15 per cent. on Chocolate, Beeswax, and Ground Nuts; and 4 per cent. on Palm Oil, Indigo, and Pepper.

The article which I have quoted from the New York Times, points out the important fact that the 0013 12 Cotton trade of the world does not depend on the Southern States of America, and that slavery is not an indispensable ally or an inseparable attendant on the cultivation of Cotton. Africa is unquestionably destined to be the great Cotton mart of the world; for there it can be easily cultivated by the natural owners of the soil, and made as just and rightful a source of profit as any other product of free and honest labor. Already it has been proved to the world that African Cotton is of the first quality, and cannot be excelled, if indeed it is equalled, by any that is ever raised on the American plantations; and, at the same time, the extreme fertility of the African soil makes it evident that if the resources of Liberia were fully developed, she could supply Cotton in greater abundance, and at a cheaper rate than any other country on the globe. A greater quantity of Cotton has been exported from Africa during the year 1859, than was sent from America to England in 1799.

The most celebrated African travellers inform us that Cotton grows wild over almost the whole continent, and several varieties bloom through all seasons. And let it be remembered that the same authorities bear witness to the character of the interior tribes on two points of the highest importance, with regard to which the African race has been subjected to many misrepresentations and calumnies. These points are: First, That the inhabitants of the interior of Africa are extremely industrious, and very desirous of obtaining employment, even for a very moderate recompense. Second, That the people of the interior, not only in their diligent and provident habits, but in the measure of their intellect 0014 13 are greatly superior to the population of the coast, where intercourse with the slave-traders has been constantly degrading their mental and moral characters. The Africans then, under the guidance and instruction of their more enlightened brethren from the United States, have both the will and the capacity to make good use of the valuable gifts which their country enjoys. These are the two grand facts presented for the consideration of the colored race. Cotton is the greatest and most valuable of all exports, and Liberia, by the blessing of Divine Providence on freedom and patriotism, is to be the greatest cotton producing country in the world.

In confirmation of these statements I submit an extract from the Annual Message of President Benson, sent to the national legislature of Liberia, in the year 1857. Mr. Benson says,

“So very certain am I, that this can be demonstrated to be one of the most advantageous cotton-growing countries in the world, as that I feel impatient that its capacity in that may be properly tested, and though we are in the midst of a severe pecuniary pressure, yet I cannot forego the idea of recommending that this government offer and pay a premium of one hundred dollars annually, for the next four years, to the person who will in Liberia produce from one acre of land, in each successive year, the largest quantity of the best quality of cotton; the sum of sixty dollars for the largest quantity of second quality of cotton, and forty dollars for the largest quantity of third quality of cotton, each quality the produce of a single acre. The extending of the time to four successive years of annual competition, will be a great inducement for competitors to plant the first year, from the fact that the cotton plant being perennial with us, multiplies and extends its branches so rapidly, as that in a well cultivated field, each plant will increase not much less than a hundred per cent. in its annual yield, at least for the first four years; which fact will evidently give the advantage in the fourth to those who will have been diligent to plant the first year.

“The very commendable interest that is being manifested by a respectable number of our citizens of both sexes, from the several counties of this Republic, who design being exhibitors and competitors 2 0015 14 at the national fair to commence in this city on the 14th inst., fully satisfies my mind that such a measure would prove a great stimulus to a number of our citizens to test the cotton-growing capacity of this country, by actual experiment of systematic cultivation; which I doubt not would demonstrate to us facts far surpassing our most sanguine expectations; thus directing the attention of our citizens to a rich and inexhaustible source of wealth as yet untouched, which by a proper manly development would greatly augment the interest between this State and Europe, and would perhaps more than anything else, affect for good the future condition of millions of our race, as well as rapidly elevate us as a nation in the estimation of the civilized world.

“It affords me pleasure to be able to say that H. B. M. Consul residing here will, from the very lively interest he feels in this matter, engage to furnish seed of the best quality to as many as may wish to try the experiment with foreign cotton seed. He has received from the Manchester Cotton Supply Association, within the past few weeks, a series of pertinent questions relative to the mode of cotton cultivation in Liberia, and the capacity of the country to produce that article on an extensive scale, which questions, for aught we know, may lead to the most happy results in the future, mutually beneficial to both countries.

“I deny that a fair trial has ever been made at cotton-growing to any extent in Liberia by the Americo-Liberians. Those who have tried it on a small scale in their yards and gardens, well know that it so far exceeded their highest expectations in yield and quality as to have astonished them. In like manner, if a fair trial was given to it on a large scale, properly cultivated in suitable soil, which abounds with us, would far transcend any idea we had formed of its profitableness.”

All who are acquainted with the history and character of Stephen A. Benson, the second President of Liberia, well know what estimation is due to the opinions set forth in the preceding extracts. To others who have no knowledge of the virtues and talents of this excellent man, the following biographical sketch may be acceptable.

Stephen Allen Benson is a native of Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland. His parents were free colored people of good moral character, but without any advantages of fortune to recommend them or their children to the favorable regards of 0016 15 the world. Stephen, the second son, was born in March, 1816. In the year 1822, his father, having determined on emigration to Liberia, took passage at Baltimore in the brig “Strong,” and arrived at his place of destination in the following August; he was accompanied by his family. At the time of his arrival, the Cape, which is now the site of the City of Monrovia, had been occupied by the colonists of America for about four months. The town then consisted of a few thatched houses or huts—which were surrounded by a dense forest. Some of the neighboring chiefs were encouraged by the defenceless condition of the infant colony, to make an attack on the settlement; some of the inhabitants were slaughtered, others were made captives, and among the latter were Stephen A. Benson and several of his brothers and sisters. Stephen, though only a boy at that time, bravely resisted his captors. However, he and six other children were carried off and detained as prisoners at the place which is now called Kroo Town, to which the invading party belonged.

In the defence of the settlement, Mr. Benson, Stephen's father, was badly wounded, and his eldest son, Joseph, was shot dead by his side. The distress of the father may be imagined, when it is considered that his five other children were carried away and lost to him, with very little hope of recovery; his house was destroyed, and all his moveable property was taken by the robbers. Stephen remained in captivity about four months, but was treated with unexpected kindness by his captors. At length he, together with his brothers and sisters, were liberated by means of the successful negotiation of Governor Ashman.

0017 16

During the next two years he assisted his father in clearing and enclosing a piece of land and building a comfortable frame house, weather-boarded and shingled, which at that time was the largest house in Monrovia. His mother died in 1825; from that time to 1830, he was a diligent pupil in the schools established by the Colonization Society. At the age of fifteen he was withdrawn from his studies by the necessity of assisting his father to provide for the wants of his family. As it was incumbent on him to engage in some active employment, he made choice of a sea-faring life, and was engaged as super-cargo by Captain Thompson, of the colonial schooner, “Mesurado;” sickness prevented him from going to sea, and when he recovered his health, an opportunity offered him for engaging in mercantile pursuits. Occasionally, however, he was obliged to take up arms in the defence of the infant colony against the savage aborigines, whose chiefs looked with fierce hostility on the civilized settlers, on account of the obstacles which the latter presented to the traffic in human flesh which had been carried on between those chiefs and the slave traders. On one of those occasions, the life of Mr. Benson, senior, was much endangered by the attack of a troop of savages, who surrounded his house and would undoubtedly have slain him, had it not been for the earnest entreaties of the chief's son, a boy of thirteen, who had been employed by Mr. Benson for two years, and had conceived a child-like affection for his kind patron. While the enemy were engaged in the work of plunder, Mr. Benson succeeded in making his escape to Edina, whither a corps of volunteers, (among 0018 17 whom was his son Stephen,) was sent, to protect the place and to make reprisals upon the savages. Stephen A. Benson was one of a party sent, (soon after the events just related,) to Fishtown, for the purpose of warning two chiefs, called Grambo and Black Will, against engaging any further in the slave-trade. This increased the resentment of the natives, and Mr. Benson, who understood a great part of their language, heard Grambo and his followers saying among themselves, that “from that day's expedition they were convinced that they could no longer live in the neighborhood of the settlers, pursue the slave-traffic, and be on peaceful terms with them, hence they determined to exterminate the colonists or be exterminated by them.” After this, a general war was carried on between the settlers and the natives, during which Mr. Benson resided a part of the time at Bassa, as Secretary to the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania and New York, and afterwards as Colonial Storekeeper. Bassa was attacked by the natives, who took the inhabitants by surprise, robbing many of the houses and burning them to the ground. Among the buildings destroyed was the dwelling of Mr. Benson: the Liberian troops were mustered, and made an attack on the enemy; Mr. Benson held the place of first lieutenant in one of the companies; his captain was wounded in the engagement, and his place was supplied by Mr. Benson, who displayed much courage and military tact. Soon after this Mr. Benson performed an important but perilous duty by going to negotiate with the savage chiefs. In 1838 Mr. Benson joined the Methodist Church, was licensed as a local preacher in 1841, 2* 0019 18 and was ordained a deacon in 1843. In 1842 he was made a member of the Colonial Council, and in 1848 was appointed Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions. From the Vice-Presidency, he was advanced to the Chief Magistracy of the Republic, in May, 1855. In the last named station, his conduct has been honorable to himself and a just source of pride to his race.

In Stephen A. Benson, we see a man who, by his own honorable exertions, has raised himself from a condition of poverty, obscurity, and toil, to a position of the highest eminence among his countrymen. No human being, possessing so few advantages, and surrounded by so many hostile circumstances, ever obtained similar eminence by means so creditable to himself and so beneficial to others. For all the education which Mr. Benson possesses, he is indebted solely to the institutions of Liberia. It is to be remembered likewise, that his advancement, unlike that of many statesmen of another Republic, was not effected in the least degree, by any arts of the demagogue, or by humoring the weaknesses or appealing to the corrupt passions of the multitude. His merits and virtues were too genuine and exalted, to be overlooked, and his services were too long continued, and too disinterestedly patriotic to pass unrewarded by a grateful and appreciative public. That these virtues did not shine in the midst of a people whose own hearts were incapable of reflecting them, and those services were not bestowed where they were undeserved, was testified by the action of Mr. Benson's countrymen in bestowing on him the highest office in the Republic, the most unqestionable mark of distinction which 0020 19 a free and independent people can give to the man whom they delight to honor. He has discharged the duties of his position, not only with prudence and judgment, but with the most untiring zeal and conscientious probity. Though as we have seen by various passages in his early history, a courage not to be shaken by any greatness or imminence of danger, forms one of the principal traits of Mr. Benson's character, his policy has always been strictly pacific. He has aspired to the part of a peace-maker as one of the most truly glorious that any man can perform. It has been his constant effort to quiet the rage of faction and to soothe the animosity of warring interests among the people of Liberia. He has likewise used all his ability to compose the disagreements among the northern tribes, and in this way he has done much to prevent the effusion of human blood. In short, the policy of his administration is founded on the purest principles of Christianity—and this policy has become incorporated with the very genius of the Republic, so that Liberia has always enjoyed that greatest of earthly blessings— a truly Christian Government.

But it is not only to those among whom Mr. Benson labors that his influence is confined, and it is not to his own race alone that he may be presented as an example. He is to both the white and colored races a living proof of how far the moral and intellectual capacities of the African transcend the limits often assigned to them by prejudiced and incompetent judges. It has been disputed by some whether the aboriginal inhabitants of Africa are capable of profiting by the instructions 0021 20 and examples of Liberian emigrants, so far as to become a perfectly enlightened and civilized nation. But we have already referred to some traits of the highest promise in the character of these natives; and the fact that, ignorant as they are, and isolated from all the educated world, whole tribes of them are engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, is enough of itself to redeem them from the charge of barbarism. The charge has been made against the African race, that it has never produced any great work of imagination, but it is more desirable that the citizens of a Republic, and especially the rulers thereof, should be men of plain and practical common sense, rather than fanciful and abstracted sons of genius. The peculiar mental gift of Mr. Benson is not a facility for weaving brilliant but delusive day-dreams, and building gorgeous castles in the air; but for beholding things as they really exist, and applying the most useful ends. I know of no more beautiful passage in Mr. Everett's oration upon Washington, than that in which he admits that the great heroic sage was neither a classical scholar nor a possessor of that peculiar order of talent which distinguishes eminent men of science, yet his knowledge on almost all subjects was remarkable, even to those subjects beyond the reach of ordinary human capacity. It was this perfection of common sense in Washington which caused him to be chosen as our first President, and which makes him shine at this day, as the great central sun of history, “the beacon light of the world.”

Mr. Benson is married to a daughter of Dr. James Moore, of Washington, D. C. The doors of 0022 21 the presidential mansion are always open to fill the claims of hospitality, and the practical nature of his piety and patriotism is shown in the following extract from his inaugural address, delivered at Monrovia:

“Fellow citizens, so far as Liberia is concerned, I have not for the last quarter of a century entertained a moment's despair of her success. The word despair has long since not only become obsolete in, but actually erased out of my political vocabulary. The enterprise in which we are engaged is manifestly of God. The good, great, and wise men in the United States who projected the great colonization scheme, were influenced thereto by the Holy Spirit, and His special Providence has been as unmistakably manifest in Liberia, during her entire history, as well as in supervising the counsels and operations of the Society in the United States, as ever were the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, to direct Israel's course to the land of promise.

“It may appear to some, fanatical in me, when I assert that I do not believe it to be in the power of any man or set of men, whether in Liberia or in foreign lands, to defeat the purpose of Jehovah with regard to our country and our race.”

Again, he observes:

“If the moral and industrial delinquencies of Liberia from her incipiency to the present, equalled one-tenth of those delinquencies delineated in the histories of some of the American Colonies for the same length of time, and number of inhabitants, perhaps my misgivings for the ultimate success of the enterprise would have overcome me, and I might have yielded to despair; but until this is the case, I think reason and common sense dictate to Liberians to persevere and be of good cheer, and to regard all such malignant, shameless, and imbecile predictions with deserved contempt. Before the dismissal of this subject will you indulge me with the privilege of a repetition of the sentiment to which i had the honor of giving expression on the 15th ult., on the memorable occasion of inaugurating our First National Fair. It was simply this: ‘That when Liberia fails, when her national existence terminates, I shall not only wish, but shall expect the world to terminate simultaneously; for Liberia is all the world to me, so far as temporal things are concerned, and when she does fail, to me all the world will have failed, for I have and desire no other earthly home; all my interest in the affairs of this world will have then come to an end.”

As additional evidences of the future prosperity of Liberia, I offer you the opinions of several eminent 0023 22 statesmen, beginning with one who was unhappily a slave-holder himself, but who nevertheless was sufficiently enlightened and unprejudiced to see and acknowlege the prospective advantages of African Colonization. In a speech delivered in the United States Senate, January 15, 1851, Henry Clay says, “Although I may be thought extravagant in my views, I declare that of all the projects of the age, there is none to compare with that great project of transporting the free people of color in the United States, with their own consent, to the Coast of Africa.” From an address delivered by the Hon. Edward Everett, Secretary of State, I make the following extract:

“But before we deride even these small beginnings—before we make up our minds that the most important futurities are not wrapped up in them, even as the spreading oak is wrapped up in the small acorn which we can hold in our fingers, we should do well to recollect the first twenty-five or thirty years of the settlement at Jamestown, in your State, Mr. President, the parent of Virginia. We should do well to remember the history of that dreadful winter at Plymouth, when more than half of the Mayflower's little company were laid beneath the sod, and that sod smoothed over for fear the native savages would come and count the number of the graves. I think if you look to what has been done in Liberia in the last quarter of a century, you will find that it compares favorably with the most and the best that was done in Virginia or in Plymouth, during the same period. These seem to me to be reasons why we should not look with so much distrust at the small beginnings that have been made. I believe that Africa will be civilized, and civilized by the descendants of those who were torn from the land. I believe it because I will not think that this great fertile continent is to be for ever left waste. I believe it because I see no other agency fully competent to the work. I believe it because I see in this agency a most wonderful adaptation.”

The Philadelphia Ledger, of August 27, contains the following letter from Peachy Herring. The writer of the subjoined communication was born a slave, and purchased his freedom when thirty years of age, by means earned through his own hard labor 0024 23 at night. About twenty years ago he removed to Hopewell township, about two miles from West Middletown, Washington Co., Pa. Here his industry enabled him to become the owner of one of the best cultivated farms of 145 acres in that excellent farming region. Last spring he sold all his property, and, with his family, consisting of his wife and five children embarked for Liberia on the Colonization Packet “Mary Caroline Stevens.” Such men are an honor to any people or country. The addition to the Liberian nation of persons of intelligence, assiduity, enterprise and capital, as well as good conduct, as has been the case particularly of late, must have an important beneficial effect, not only upon the prosperous Republic, but upon themselves and their brethren, here and in Africa.

Monrovia, June 21st, 1860.

Dr. R. R. Reed —Dear Sir:—I take my pen in hand to inform you that we are all well, and hope that these few lines will find you the same. We set sail from Baltimore on Friday, the 21st of April. We went to Savannah, where we remained five days, and then we started for Liberia. At Savannah we got forty-five emigrants. We all suffered from sea sickness very much. We had 240 emigrants on board, which made the voyage disagreeable.

We were in sight of Cape Mount three days before we got to it. We were set back by the storm. Then we saw the Kroomen coming to us in every direction, with nothing but a piece of cloth around their waists. Cape Mount is forty miles from Monrovia, and we got to Monrovia on the 16th of June. Saturday evening, my brother came on board and took us ashore on Sabbath morning. We were all glad to see land. I found my brother in a flourishing independent condition, and his daughter, Mrs. Anderson, doing remarkably well. We attended church twice on the first Sabbath, with a congregation of very respectable people. There is as respectable a class of people here as there is of white people in America.

On the next Monday, Quarterly Court commenced, and lasted all week, and a crowded house with respectable lawyers and judges. I was at an examination of the Alexander High School, and the scholars were examined in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, and the instructor is a colored man. I started my children to school last 0025 24 Monday morning, and you can send your children ot school until they are twenty-one, without books or money, and the schools are the best governed of any I ever saw.

I bought over $1000 worth of goods in Baltimore, and they are making very good sale here. I have been around and been introduced to the President, and the Doctors and Lawyers of the town, and found them very respectable people, and was greeted with a hearty welcome. I met Mr. Seys here, and we were overjoyed to meet each other. Rev. M. M. Clark got here a few days before me. He had a Camp-Meeting at my place in Washington County. We hardly knew how to express ourselves when we met. I expect to commence my house next week, as I intend to build a brick one, with a store-room on one end of it. I think it as pleasant in this part of the town, as any place in America. I find it cool enough, and sleep under cover at night. It is now the rainy season here, and the sun shines beautiful every day—it showers some every night. I believe it is warmer in America now than it is here. We have beef market here twice a week, and I see very good looking pork in market, and plenty of fresh fish. I see corn here as high as my head and in silk, and there is abundance sweet potatoes of the very best kind. I saw a very fine deer killed here yesterday. Mr. Seys, Mr. Clark, and myself, are going up the river in a few days to look at the country, but still I expect to build my dwelling in town and carry on the farm in the country, so as I can give my children a thorough education. The cattle are very small here, but I have seen some very nice looking cattle, and sheep and goats in abundance. I am told there are plenty of horses out in the interior, but I have not seen any yet.

As regards those drivers, I have not seen any yet, but I am told they are not larger than our ants in America. I have not seen a man since I came here, who would go to America and live again. As regards myself, you know I had as good a farm as any man in Washington County, but I would not go back under the present laws, and live there, for ten farms. Our health, yet, is all very good, but still we expect to have the fever. My family all answer they do not want to go back to America.

Please have this letter published, so as my friends can see it.

Yours, P. HERRING.

I conclude with one more extract. It is taken from a letter addressed to the author by Ex-President Fillmore which presents still another inducement for emigration to Liberia, to which no allusion has been made in any of the preceding pages. Mr. 0026 25 Fillmore says: “That I sympathize with your noble and humane efforts in this cause, will be manifest when I inform you that, during my administration, I sent a naval officer to Africa to explore the mountain regions of the interior, in the hope of discovering rich mines of gold, which we can hardly doubt must exist there, when we consider the large quantity of gold dust formerly gathered from the streams on the Coast of Guinea. But the agent, whom I sent, had not returned when I left office, and I have only learned indirectly since that he was taken sick and did not accomplish the objects of his expedition.”

That there are large deposits of gold in Africa (according to Fillmore's supposition,) admits of no doubt, and it is probable that this precious metal is as abundant there as in any part of the American Continent. It appears that Mr. Fillmore's agent was unsuccessful in the search. This circumstance, and many other facts of similar import, are suggestive of an important truth, viz.: that the wealth of Africa is reserved exclusively for the colored race. To the white man the climate is almost certainly fatal, and hence all the treasures of those regions are secured to the rightful possessors of the soil.

There are innumerable circumstances which should recommend Liberia to the colored man as a suitable place of abode. The climate of Western Africa is agreeable in the highest degree; the temperature of the atmosphere varies but little at different seasons, and it is never too warm or too cold to be comfortable. The colored man soon becomes acclimated in these regions, and on his constitution the prevalent diseases of the country have 3 0027 26 but a diminished effect. The whole of this part of the country is well supplied with wood and water. Africa possesses most of those trees which are found in the United States, and many others of great value, adapted to the uses of the ship-builder, the cabinet maker, &c. The water of Liberia is of an excellent quality. The soil is extremely productive. The fruits and vegetables are of great variety, and many of them are extremely valuable as articles of diet. Africa is pre-eminently a grain-producing country. Its rice is far superior in flavor to any produced in the Southern States of America. Sweet potatoes and some other garden vegetables may be raised at any time of the year in Africa. Indian corn grows there with little care or cultivation, but the inhabitants use but little of it, as they have many articles of food which they like better. The staple productions of Liberia are Sugar, Coffee, Cotton, Ginger, Arrow-root, Indigo, Palm Oil, Camwood, Ground Nuts, Pepper, and many others of more or less importance. The coffee known in commerce as the “Liberia Mocha,” is superior to any other coffee in the world, and it will always have the preference in any market. Other productions of Africa are in great demand all over the world, and the cultivation of them is attended with immense profit. The Liberians have many useful domestic animals, such as cows, sheep, goats, hogs, Muscovy ducks, turkeys, chickens, &c., &c. The Government of Liberia is similar in form to that of the United States, all the officers, including the President himself, being men of color—by whom the affairs of the Republic are administered in the most able and judicious manner. The leading men 0028 27 of the country appear to be animated by a feeling of religious enthusiasm, which prompts them to a zealous and conscientious discharge of their duty.

In view of all these advantages, why not embark at once for the land of African freedom? If necessary, means will be provided to send you over. If you want land you can have it for nothing. If you love Liberty go to Liberia! the only place in the world where the colored man can hope to be and remain free. In the language of the able editor of the Liberia Herald, I would say, “If you would know Liberia, come and examine it for yourselves. We invite you over. Our doors are open for you! our tables stand ready! the land is already yours, created for you by the Creator of the Universe. Our fathers first possessing it, have willed it to us, to you, to all Africans in every part of the world.”

Colored people of Pennsylvania, you have a particular invitation to Liberia—for we are assured that no immigrants are more welcome there than those who have been residents of this State.—Hesitate no longer; the opportunity is most propitious, and not to embrace it seems to be a kind of “impious stubborness,” inasmuch as it is a wilful rejection of the blessings which Divine Providence has placed at your disposal.

Any further information will be given by

Your sincere friend, EDWARD S. MORRIS, 916 Arch Street.

Philadelphia, 1 st Mo., 1 st, 1861.

0029 0030

Liberia.