dealers, as well as the honest traders who visited the Guinea Coast, were accustomed to purchase here their supplies of rice, and such other provisions as the country afforded. The influence of this trade upon the inhabitants, had it not been counteracted by one more powerful, would have been highly beneficial; but, unhappily, the slave-trade was at the same time carried on here with great activity, and with the usual results. The native population was first demoralised by it, and then nearly exterminated. The destructive effects of the African slave-trade have only of late years become fully known. It is probable that, during the past century, the population of a great part of Africa, and more particularly of the regions near the coast, has been constantly diminishing from this cause alone. In the year 1823, shortly after the arrival of the first Liberian colonists on the Grain Coast, the governor of the settlement travelled about 150 miles along that coast. There were indications sufficient to shew that the country had formerly been very populous. He found it 'nearly desolated of inhabitants,' and covered with dense forests and almost impervious thickets of brambles. Of one of the

6

streams, on which he had purchased a site for a colonial village, he wrote: Along this beautiful river were formerly scattered, in Africa's better days, innumerable hamlets; and till within the last twenty years, nearly the whole river-board, for one or two miles back, was under that slight culture which obtains among the natives of this country. But the population has been wasted by the rage for trading in slaves. A few detached and solitary plantations, scattered at long intervals through the tract, just serve to interrupt the silence and relieve the gloom which reigns over the whole region.'

Such was the state of that part of the country in which Liberia was founded. The whole of the Grain Coast, from the colony of Sierra Leone on the north, to Cape Palmas on the south, is row comprised within the territory of that republic. The length of this line of coast is about 500 miles. The average breadth of the colonial territory, between the coast and the independent tribes of the interior, is about 40 miles. The extent of country over which the republic now exercises jurisdiction is not less than 20,000 square miles. This is nearly three times the area of Wales, or about equal to two-thirds of Scotland. But the population of the republic, though rapidly increasing, is as yet by no means commensurate with its extent, or with the natural capabilities of the country. It comprises only about 12,000 colonists from America, with about 340,000 natives, who have voluntarily placed themselves under the laws of the commonwealth. But along this coast the slave-trade has been entirely abolished. Cultivation of the soil is rapidly extending. The forests and brambles are already in many parts cleared away. Where once stood the innumerable hamlets of pagan savages, Christian villages are springing up. Small colonial schooners, laden with palm-oil, dye-woods, rice

coffee, and other products of the country, ply constantly along the coast, where, fifty years ago, even the pirate and the slave-trader sometimes hesitated to land, so great was their dread of the fierce and treacherous tribes that inhabited it. On what was, at one time, the site of the principal slave-mart of the Grain Coast, is now situated the capital of Liberia-a thriving seaport town, of 2000 inhabitants, with its stores and wharfs, its light-house and fort, its court-house, schools, churches, newspapers, and literary and charitable associations. In the following pages, we propose to sketch, as briefly as possible, the causes and events by which these astonishing and delightful changes have been effected.

About the close of the year 1816, an association was formed at Washington, styled the American Colonisation Society for Colonising the Free People of Colour of the United States. The founders of this society were a few benevolent Americans, who felt deeply for the unhappy condition of the coloured inhabitants of their country, both bond and free. On some accounts, indeed, the free negroes in America are even more to be pitied than the slaves. With the natural aspirations of freemen, they find themselves depressed into an inferior caste, repulsed from the society of the white race, and excluded from all but the most humble and least lucrative employments. The object for which the Colonisation Society was established, was to found on the coast of Africa, or in some other place beyond the limits of the United States, a colony of free coloured people from America. The originators of the society did not, however, confine their views merely to the deportation of persons previously free; on the contrary, they anticipated that many slaves would be emancipated by their owners for the express purpose of sending them to the colony. The event has shewn that these expectations were well founded. More than half of the colonists now in Liberia were originally slaves, and would probably have remained in that condition but for the establishment of the colony. If the Colonisation Society had done nothing more than procure the freedom of 5000 slaves, and place them in comfortable circumstances, its members would have abundant reason to be satisfied with their work. But the society has accomplished much more than this. The real purpose which some of its most intelligent and far-seeing founders had in view, was of a much vaster scope: they meant to discover and open a way by which the emancipation of all the slaves in the United States might ultimately be effected. It is true that this expectation-which might, if publicly proclaimed, have fixed upon them at the time the reputation of visionaries-was kept in a measure out of view. But abundant evidence remains to shew, that the purpose and hope were really entertained by them; and the fact ought to be remembered to their credit, now that their noble and philanthropic design seems to be in a fair way for accomplishment.

Although some of the most eminent public men of America, including the late distinguished statesmen, Mr Henry Clay and

Mr Daniel Webster, were members of the society, it was from the beginning a private association, dependent for its resources entirely on voluntary contributions. The slight assistance which it occasionally received from the government, was given through an indirect channel. A few Africans, liberated from slave-ships, were placed by President Monroe in charge of the society, with the funds necessary for their support. The American men-of-war cruising on the coast of Africa gave, on some occasions, valuable aid and protection to the settlement; though, as it happened, the most important succour which the colony ever received, was given shortly after its establishment by a British ship and a British military officer.

The members of the society seem to have relied much from the first on the sympathy and interest which their undertaking would awaken in this country. The two agents who were sent out in 1817 to purchase a site for the settlement, came first to London, and sought the counsel of Mr Wilberforce, Mr Clarkson, and other distinguished and influential friends of the African race. As may be supposed, they were cordially welcomed, and the advice and aid they required were readily given. From England, they sailed for Sierra Leone, where they met with an equally friendly reception. Every desired facility was afforded to them; and two intelligent men from that colony accompanied them as guides and interpreters in their voyage down the coast. They selected for the site of their first settlement the island of Sherboro, situated near the coast, about 120 miles south of Sierra Leone. In returning to America, one of the agents, Mr Samuel Mills, who had also been one of the most active in founding the Colonisation Society, sickened and died, probably of disease contracted on the coast. His name is the first in a long list of martyrs who have fallen victims to their zeal for the accomplishment of this benevolent enterprise. Nearly 100 white men, Americans and English, have thus perished while aiding in founding the republic of Liberia.

In February 1820, the first emigrant ship sailed from New York for the African coast. There were on board thirty families of colonists, comprising in all eighty-nine individuals. They were under the charge of three white men, one of whom was a clergyman, and another a medical man. They touched at Sierra Leone, where they were kindly received. An American man-of-war arrived shortly after them, and a lieutenant, with a boat's crew, went with them to aid in forming their settlement on Sherboro Island. The result of this first attempt was most disastrous. The island was low, and covered in most parts with a dense jungle: it proved to be one of the most unhealthy spots along that pestilential coast. Within a few months the three agents, the lieutenant with all his boat's crew-every white man, in short, who took part in the expedition. died of the African fever; twenty of the emigrants shared their fate. The remainder were conveyed back to Sierra

Leone, where the governor generously provided for them until the Colonisation Society was able to resume its charge of them.

When the news of this deplorable issue of the first experiment reached America, some members of the society were for giving up the whole undertaking as a hopeless affair, but the majority determined to persevere. Four gentlemen undertook the perilous office of agents-a duty on which they must have entered with feelings somewhat similar to those which animate the volunteers who lead a forlorn-hope in an assault upon a strongly garrisoned fortress. Two of the four were clergymen, and one of them was a brother of one who had just before perished on Sherboro Island. In less than six months after their arrival on the African coast, two of the agents died, another returned in broken health to America, and the fourth was left alone. He was presently joined, however, by a fellowworker, a physician from Philadelphia, who volunteered for this service. It is worthy of notice, that although the almost inevitable fate which awaited those who were engaged in this duty was well known, the society seem never to have had any difficulty in finding zealous and well-qualified persons to undertake it. The lastmentioned volunteer, Dr Ayres, aided by Captain Stockton of the American navy, succeeded in purchasing a small tract of land, in a locality which happily proved to be the most eligible site for the colony that could have been chosen. This was at Cape Montserrado-a name sometimes corrupted to Mesurado-on the Grain Coast, about 300 miles south-east of Sierra Leone. The cape is a long promontory, rising about 200 feet above the general low level of the coast, and jutting boldly forward into the sea. On the north side is a small bay, with a roadstead, offering a safe anchorage for shipping. To this place the emigrants were transported from Sierra Leone, and on the 25th of April 1822, the American flag was hoisted on the cape, and the foundation was commenced of what is now the capital town of the Liberian Republic. The colonists who had survived the fever on Sherboro Island, were found to be thoroughly acclimated, and as healthy as they had been in America. There was reason to hope that the colony, being at length fairly established in a favourable situation, would continue to grow and prosper.

The little settlement had yet, however, some severe trials to go. through. A few months after the colonists had taken up their residence on Cape Montserrado, the neighbouring tribes formed a confederacy to expel or exterminate them. The land they occupied had been fairly purchased; but the native chiefs, who derived most of their revenue from the slave-trade, soon discovered that this source of wealth would be entirely cut off by the new settlement. They feared, also, and naturally enough, that the colonists, gradually increasing in numbers and strength, would seize upon the whole country, and destroy or drive away the native occupants. This was the manner in which powerful chiefs among themselves were accustomed to treat their weaker neighbours, and

they could not suppose that the colonists would act upon a different system. Fortunately, at this time, the settlement was governed by a man of singular ability and energy, Mr Ashmun, then just appointed agent of the Colonisation Society, and known in the annals of Liberia as the first governor, and the real founder of the infant state. Mr Ashmun was a young man, who had been engaged in literary labour in the United States. His remarkable capacity for the management of affairs was probably not known even to himself until it was called forth by the circumstances of his new position. These were of such a nature as would have appalled an ordinary mind. He arrived in the midst of the rainy season. On landing, accompanied by his wife, he found that neither for himself nor for the fifty emigrants whom he brought with him was there any shelter provided. Only about thirty huts had been erected, and these were barely sufficient to accommodate the colonists already in the settlement. An accidental fire had recently consumed the greater part of the colony's stores. The natives were threatening hostilities, and no works of defence had been constructed. During three months, Mr Ashmun laboured incessantly to supply these deficiencies, and insure the safety of the colony. He had cabins hastily constructed for the shelter of his company. The colony had six small pieces of artillery, some of which were half buried in the mud on the opposite side of the river. These were disinterred, brought over, and dragged, with great labour, up the steep bank to the height on which the town was built. They were then mounted on rude carriages, planted about the town in commanding positions, and covered by stockades. All the men in the settlement, only forty in number, were enrolled, drilled, told off into watches, and carefully instructed in their several duties. The forest, which encroached closely upon the little settlement, was cleared away, so that it might not afford a cover for the enemy. Mr Ashmun, while directing these labours, had to endure great sufferings. His wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, became ill with the fever, and died about six weeks after they landed. Mr Ashmun himself, attacked by the same illness, and oppressed with grief and toil, was for a time disabled. He lay for several days insensible; but as soon as he had partially recovered, he resumed his duties with indomitable resolution. After a night of delirium, he sometimes spent the following morning in directing the important works which were going on. He made repeated efforts to conciliate the hostile chiefs by negotiations and by presents, but without success. Finding that war was inevitable, he took care to be prepared in time. He states in the journal, and the fact should be mentioned as an evidence of his forethought and good judgment, that he had arranged a plan for obtaining intelligence, which left him ignorant of none of their movements; and by the singular fidelity and diligence of an individual, whose name it was still necessary to conceal, was perfectly informed of the temper and stand of every influential headman in