V V , v / . Vi 
 
 ; . r . ■ l , , 
 
 «•• "• 
 
 
 Jl» 
 
 JIOLQCIt 
 
 ' \ • v rjr^'^l * . i?' 
 
 • V ..-, ^k.*- - - «-- ' 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 

EDWARD S. MORRIS 
 
CHRISTIAN 
 
 LIBERIA, 
 
 THE HOPE OF THE DAF[K CONTINENT. 
 
 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE WORK AND MISSION 
 OF EDWARD S. MORRIS OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED sAdYER. 
 
 “ The Americans are successfully planting free negroes on the coast 
 of Africa : a greater event, probably, in its consequences than any that 
 has occurred since Columbus set sail for the New World .” — Westminster 
 Review. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 DYER BROTHERS, 21, PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 1879. 
 
TO THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF LIBERIA 
 
 AND TO 
 
 CHRISTIAN FREEDMEN 
 
 WHO ARE 
 
 STUDENTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES, 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 WITH THE PRAYER THAT THEY MAY BE INCREASINGLY 
 
 BAPTISED WITH A MISSIONARY SPIRIT, 
 
 AND FEEL THEMSELVES CALLED fo BE 
 
 CO-WORKERS WITH GOD 
 
 IN 
 
 THE REGENERATION OF AFRICA. 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA, 
 
 The Hope of the Dark Continent. 
 
 O the majority of British Christians, 
 the negro Republic of Liberia has 
 hitherto been little more than a geo- 
 graphical spot on the world’s map. 
 But it can be so no longer. Viewed 
 in ‘its relation to the evangelization of the 
 Dark Continent, it assumes a new importance 
 and interest. In that light, it becomes the 
 centre of new hopes, and its future the 
 obje6t of fervent prayer. 
 
 It is now about sixty years ago that the 
 American Colonization Society planted a 
 settlement of free negroes at Cape Mesurado, on the west 
 coast of Africa. What were the motives which actuated 
 •the founders of that Society it is unnecessary particularly 
 to enquire. Doubtless many were prompted by the 
 purest feelings of Christian philanthropy, although it is 
 evident that others were anxious only to rid the slaveholding 
 States of the free negro — an unwelcome element in their 
 midst. But the gold in the combination must not be held 
 responsible for the presence of the alloy. The Society 
 continued its work. Six hundred miles of the coast were 
 purchased. Settlements were multiplied in close proximity 
 
8 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 to each other, which in 1839 united as a commonwealth. 
 Eight years later this union gav e place to a republic on the 
 basis of universal suffrage, and with institutions almost 
 identical with those of the great Saxon commonwealth of 
 the Western World. 
 
 The experiment of a nation of black men governing 
 themselves on the lines of enlightened Christian civilization 
 has been an ample and gratifying success. The history 
 of the Republic of Liberia during the more than thirty 
 years of its existence, has been one of quiet progress, 
 notwithstanding that it has had to labour under many dis- 
 advantages. The population of Liberia at the present 
 time is estimated at one million aboriginal inhabitants 
 and twenty thousand Americo- Liberians. Besides com- 
 mon and high schools, there are more than fifty places of 
 Christian worship. Monrovia, the capital and largest town, 
 pidturesquely situated on a hill by the sea-side, which 
 commands magnificent views of the 'surrounding country, 
 numbers about seven thousand inhabitants. Thus in 
 the providence and under the blessing of God, on those 
 western shores of Africa a nation which rejoices in all 
 the blessings of Christian civilization and good government, 
 has grown up, where before were only the habitations 
 of darkness and cruelty. And not only so. Strong, 
 earnest, and loving hearts are looking to Liberia as a 
 prepared vantage ground for the evangelization of the 
 vast regions beyond, as “the open door to heathen Africa ” 
 and, in a climate so fatal to white men, as the hope of 
 the Dark Continent through the agency of her own sons. 
 
 After these years of progress and preparation, the time 
 has come for Liberia to enter upon her great mission. 
 At the right moment, just when this small nationality is 
 ripe for the work which infinite wisdom seems to have 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 9 
 
 assigned to it, the attention of British Christians is being 
 forcibly drawn to Liberia by one who may well be termed 
 its apostle. 
 
 During the early part of the late civil war in North 
 America, the night and day thoughts of Edward S. Morris 
 of Philadelphia were absorbed in the future of the negroes 
 whose emancipation he believed could not be far distant. 
 While he meditated, the fire burned. So engrossed did 
 he become, that he. could think of little else. Before the 
 war he had travelled in the Southern States, and been 
 horrified at seeing his fellow-beings — some of them nearly 
 as white as himself — sold, amidst all the accompaniments 
 of brutality, at public auction. . He foresaw, what has 
 since been so sadly realized, how the freed negroes would 
 be vidtimised and oppressed by their former masters. 
 
 At length the possibilities of Liberia broke in upon his 
 absorbed mind like a flood of light. Here was a civilized 
 community of their own race, speaking the English lan- 
 guage, blessed with the Christian religion, where such of 
 the freedmen as might wish to escape from their former 
 degrading associations, and the tyranny of their former 
 masters, might earn an honest livelihood and make a home, 
 and where they would be welcomed with outstretched 
 arms. 
 
 Possessed of a pradtical mind, he studied the natural 
 produdts of the country, to ascertain its capabilities of 
 giving remunerative employment to a greatly increased 
 population. He found the soil luxuriant in fertility. His 
 experience as a man of business in Philadelphia enabled 
 him to see that the native Liberian coffee was the finest 
 in the world’s market.* Solicitous that the commerce and 
 
 * No better proof of this can be given than the fact that the coffee cul- 
 tivators of Ceylon, Java, Brazil, Jamaica, and other coffee growing 
 countries, are importing Liberian coffee-plants by the hundred thousand. 
 
10 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 the industrial pursuits of the republic should be established 
 on a legitimate and durable foundation, he at once deter- 
 mined to set himself to encourage the cultivation of 
 coffee in the place of cotton, which can be grown there 
 far less advantageously, and of the sugar-cane, the pro- 
 du6lion of. which is an incentive to the produ6tion of 
 rum* 
 
 Up to that time the great impediment to the remuner- 
 ative cultivation of Liberian coffee had been, that (differing 
 from other species of coffee) it required to be “hulled,” 
 or divested of a husk, which had hitherto been done by the 
 slow process of hand-labour. To overcome this difficulty 
 Edward Morris invented a machine to hull at the rate of 
 a bushel a minute. 
 
 To further advance his purpose he resolved to visit 
 Liberia in person. He landed there in the last week of 
 1862. On the ever memorable morning of the following 
 New Year’s Day, when five millionsof negroes in the United 
 States awoke to freedom, he stood up in the capital of 
 Liberia to speak on the objedl of his mission. 
 
 How successful his efforts were in turning the tide 
 from the growth of the sugar-cane and the manufa6ture 
 of rum to the cultivation of coffee, may be inferred from 
 the following passages from a letter written to him by 
 Abraham Hanson, United States Commercial Agent at 
 Monrovia. He says — “ Be assured that by your public 
 addresses, by your private intercourse, and by the 
 agitation on the subject of the growth of coffee, etc., 
 you have inspired a confidence, zeal and energy, in 
 the minds of Liberian citizens, which will put new vigour 
 
 *It may not be known to all that rum is obtained by distillation from 
 the fermented skimmings of sugar-boilers, the drainings of sugar-pots and 
 hogsheads, and from the refuse of sugar-making generally. 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 1 1 
 
 into their arms, and fresh courage into their hearts. 
 You have tinged their horizon with a golden hue which 
 they had not seen before, and now they address them- 
 selves to their daily toil in the joyful assurance that 
 they do not labour in vain, nor spend their strength for 
 naught. I am acquainted with several persons who 
 intend at once to enlarge their operations, and I have 
 conversed with some men of capital and indomitable 
 enterprise, who propose, for the first time, to engage 
 in the cultivation of coffee, as the result of the impetus 
 and inspiration of your intercourse and labours. When 
 you reach the United States and begin to narrate to the 
 people of colour your experience and observations in 
 Liberia, tell them, if you please, from me, that though you 
 can command strong and choice language, yet it is not in 
 words to set forth adequately all the peculiar advantages 
 and blessings of this good land. Ask them to read 
 Deuteronomy, chapt. viii., 7th, 8th, 9th, and ioth*verses,* 
 as bearing, at least, a general application to this luxuriant 
 heritage. In penning these few lines, my care has been to 
 say enough to remove all doubt from your mind of future 
 and gratifying success, and not to say all that the fa6ts 
 would justify. If I should record every pleasing omen, 
 I should fill a volume. The enthusiasm is intense. 
 Along the rivers, down the coast, in every settlement, 
 and on every farm, a thrill of new delight has been felt, 
 and the work has been already commenced, which shall 
 
 *“’For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of 
 brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and 
 hills ; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pome- 
 granates ; a land of oil, olive, and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat 
 bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it ; a land whose 
 stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When 
 thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for 
 the good land which He hath given thee.” 
 
12 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 introduce this people to a state of true dignity and inde- 
 pendence. Allow me to record my honest and deep 
 conviction that Liberia is destined to be the free and 
 happy home of millions of the descendants of Africa, who 
 shall return hither from the house of bondage, and live in 
 the full enjoyment of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness.” 
 
 The above letter is not more sanguine in its expecta- 
 tions than another from C. C. Hoffman, a Christian 
 Missionary at Cape Palmas, Liberia, who thus writes — 
 “ I desire to express to you the great pleasure I feel, in 
 common with others, in your efforts to develope the 
 agricultural resources of Liberia, especially in the culti- 
 vation of coffee From one end of Liberia to the 
 
 other, you have been regarded as her benefaCtor, and 
 everywhere sincerely welcomed with gratitude and 
 affeCtion. I rejoice in the good reasons you have to 
 hope for success. In the first place, coffee, equal to any 
 in the world, if not superior, can be raised to any extent 
 in Liberia The planting of coffee can be perfor- 
 
 med by women and children, even by the weak and 
 disabled ; and thus an honest living may be obtained by 
 those who might otherwise suffer. I am glad to find that 
 your propositions to the Government have awakened the 
 deepest interest in all the settlements. All classes of 
 the community have been aroused. The poor widow as 
 well as the prosperous merchant and the far-seeing 
 statesman, have been cheered by the prospe6t you have 
 opened for individual benefit and the country’s prosperity. 
 
 A new era now opens in the history of Liberia 
 
 Is not the hand of the Almighty in all this, who is pre- 
 paring a way for the exiled to return ?” 
 
 To set an example to home enterprise, with chara6ter- 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 13 
 
 istic energy, Edward Morris acquired eight hundred acres 
 of land on the St. Paul’s river, near Monrovia, and com- 
 menced the cultivation of coffee and the manufacture of 
 palm oil, indigo, lime juice, arrowroot, and palm soap. 
 In connexion with this estate, he introduced the first 
 steamboat that had ever plied upon the St. Paul’s river. 
 
 On his return to Philadelphia he started The Liberia 
 Advocate , a monthly journal, which he printed in advance 
 in America, and dispatched to Monrovia in time for it to 
 appear on the day of the date on its title-page. The 
 motto which he chose for this journal, “ Christian Liberia, 
 the open door to heathen Africa,” explains the spirit 
 which pervaded its pages during the five years of its 
 issue. His objeCt was to make it subservient to the 
 great purpose of extending the knowledge of the Gospel 
 to the interior of Africa, while at the same time encourag- 
 ing those industries which would tend to the true 
 prosperity of the nation. 
 
 An illustration or two of the methods he adopted to 
 promote the usefulness of The Liberia Advocate in those 
 directions will be interesting. 
 
 In • the opening number for 1874, appeared an 
 Arabic editorial addressed to the native Mohammedan 
 Chiefs of the Interior, expressing a desire to send them 
 Christian teachers as well as to trade- with them. This 
 was extensively circulated, and subsequently a very en- 
 couraging and fraternal answer was received from a Chief 
 in the valley of the Niger, who said — “ I love the Toura 
 and the Ingil (the Old and New Testaments) and would 
 like them to be taught to our boys. Our religion is wide- 
 spread ; our laws are just, but we have not the Bible. 
 Some of us have only heard of it in the Koran. I have 
 seen it and read it and understood it, and I should like 
 
H 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 it to be sent to our country.* It is worthy of notice, 
 as an evidence of the high culture of some of the citizens 
 of Liberia, that this editorial article was translated into 
 Arabic, and the Arabic answer into English, by Edward 
 W. Blyden, LL.D., an accomplished negro scholar, who 
 is now the representative of Liberia at the British Court. 
 
 A brief extra&from a letter from an ex-President of 
 the Liberian Republic may be quoted as a further indica- 
 tion of the practical religious spirit which pervaded The 
 Liberia Advocate. Writing from Monrovia in the autumn 
 of 1876, Ex-rPresident D. B. Warner said — “I was 
 very much interested by the article headed ‘The ancient 
 glory of the negro race,’ and readily fell in with the 
 opinion of others that it was doubtless the impression of 
 its author when penning it, that it would be read with 
 pride — with grave and impressive interest by every true- 
 hearted negro who loves his ancestral home above any 
 other country. It contains historical facts with which 
 every negro should be made acquainted, and thus be 
 encouraged to unite his best endeavours with those of 
 others of his race to Christianize Africa , and regain her 
 ancient and long-lost glory.” 
 
 Viewed in its other aspeCt — in the encouragement 
 which it gave to useful industries — The Liberia Advocate 
 appears to have been conducted with a large amount of 
 good sense, seasoned with not a little sanctified good 
 humour. f Among six editorials in one number on 
 
 Liberian products (in which of course coffee had the 
 
 * On receiving the above letter, Edward Morris immediately communi- 
 cated with the American Bible Society. Fifty Arabic Bibles were readily 
 granted, which were sent to this Chief for the use of his people. 
 
 + The price to subscribers was one bushel of unhulled coffee per 
 annum. • 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 15 
 
 first place) was one on “ Soap,” which began — “ Soap is 
 the difference between civilization and barbarism. It is 
 the distinguishing feature of enlightenment. The savage 
 never uses .soap !” Then followed some useful advice 
 in regard to making it. An advertisement in the same 
 issue displayed a happy idea in a practical form. It 
 would be difficult to conceive a plan better adapted to 
 encourage the production of coffee in a new country than 
 an offer such as the following : — 
 
 ALL WHO WANT 
 
 Provisions, Dry Goods, Hardware, Agricultural Imple- 1 
 ments, Garden Seeds, Sewing Machines, Parlour Organs, 
 Hand Sugar Mills, Books, Notions, Steam Engines, Saw j 
 ' Mills, Caustic Soda or Lye in drums, 
 
 EVERYTHING BUT RUM, 
 
 Can now be supplied — not for cash or drafts, but for 
 well-dried 
 
 UNHULLED COFFEE. 
 
 Upon the receipt in Philadelphia of One Hun- 
 dred Bushels or more of UNHULLED COFFEE, 
 picked when RED RIPE, the undersigned will forward 
 by first opportunity ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS 
 WORTH or more of any of the above named articles — 
 except the poison ! H. W. Dennis, Monrovia, 
 
 will box and forward the unhulled Coffee to 
 EDWARD S. MORRIS, 
 
 ■ No. 129, South Front Street, Philadelphia, Pa.* 
 
 m ^ ^ ***** • - »- • - -- v % ' 
 
 When it was decided to hold the American Centennial 
 Exhibition at Philadelphia, the Government of Liberia at 
 once appointed Edward Morris as its Commissioner, but 
 eventually found itself unable to carry out its purpose 
 of exhibiting. Determined, however, that such an oppor- 
 tunity of bringing the products of that country before 
 public notice should not be lost, Edward S. Morris & Co. 
 resolved to represent Liberia at their own expense. 
 That resolution was carried out handsomely, and secured 
 
l6 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 the award to Liberia of two medals. In a space of 1536 
 square feet, they made a display which elicited the aston- 
 ished encomiums of the American press, and did much to 
 call attention to the religious importance as well as to 
 the material progress of Liberia. Side by side with 
 exhibits of coffee, palm oil, palm soap, arrowroot, &c., 
 was a picture frame containing the photographs of ten 
 native African boys then in course of training near Phila- 
 delphia, as teachers of their heathen countrymen. These 
 portraits were in two series, one series representing the 
 boys before they were sent to school, and the other after 
 they had undergone a two years’ course of education. 
 The contrast was remarkable, and was visible equally in 
 the morp gracefully rounded outlines of their features and 
 in the beaming intelligence which shone from their faces 
 since their introduction to the beneficent influences of 
 Christian society. 
 
 Suspended above the exhibition of Liberian produce 
 was a large canvas, on which was a representation of a 
 stalwart African, over whose head were the words — 
 “ The Cry of Africa to the Freedmen of America !” and 
 below his feet the line — “ Come over and help us !” Thus, 
 as the New York Illustrated Christian Weekly remarked, 
 a moral and religious element was added to the material 
 inducements to Americans of African descent to press on 
 to Liberia — to emigrate for the good of others as well as 
 for their own benefit. 
 
 The feeling which Liberia’s display actually engendered 
 in the minds of the freedmen who saw it, may be inferred 
 from the remark of one of them to the Commissioner — 
 “ Can you send me to Liberia? If not, I’ll strip and 
 swim across ! n 
 
 In another place in the space allotted to Liberia was a 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 7 
 
 huge placard which sfet forth that — 
 
 “LIBERIA OFFERS 
 
 Coffee, Palm Oil, Palm Kernels, Indigo, Cocoa, Ivory, 
 Iron Ore, Sugar, Palm Soap, Palm Kernel Oil, Arrowroot, 
 Ginger, Cam Wood, Hard Woods, Liberian Rubber. In 
 exchange for these 
 
 LIBERIA WILL TAKE 
 
 School Books, Agricultural Implements, Hollow Ware, 
 Provisions, Shoes, Notions, Dry Goods, Hardware, Canned 
 Fruits, Brass Kettles, Everything but Rum /”* 
 
 The reader will not now need to be informed that rum 
 and Edward Morris are the worst of friends. Nor can 
 this be a matter of surprise. Intoxicating liquor has 
 wrought such fearful havoc on the coast of Africa that it 
 is easy to understand his passionate desire to discourage 
 its importation, manufacture, and use as much as possible 
 in the land on which he has centred so many of his 
 hopes. Notwithstanding his strong feeling and vigilance 
 on this matter, however, it happened on one occasion 
 that twelve hundred bottles of intoxicants found their way 
 into the hands of his agent at Monrovia. But happily he 
 discovered the faCt before they had time to get into circu- 
 lation. He immediately sent orders for their “execution.” 
 No doubt much to the astonishment of the inhabitants 
 of Monrovia, and much to the gratification of not a few, 
 a handbill surmounted by a picture of a bottle of rum 
 suspended from a gallows, was freely circulated in the 
 town and neighbourhood, announcing the “ Hanging of 
 those well-known murderers, old rye, old tom, crooked 
 
 * The Legislature of Liberia subsequently acknowledged the important 
 services which Edward Morris rendered to Liberia at the Centennial 
 Exhibition, by voting him the thanks of the Government and people of 
 the Republic for the “energy, devotedness, and zeal” he dispJayed on 
 their behalf. 
 
1 8 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 “ The children of Israel were thirty-nine years performing a journey 
 which could have been accomplished in a few days : but in the fortieth 
 
 year they marched into the Promised Land. So God, now, unseen 
 
 to human eyes, may be leading on His hosts to a mighty victory over 
 Satan ; and in the briefest of all the periods of the Church’s warfare, may * 
 intend to accomplish the most brilliant and consummate of all His triumphs. 
 And this is my conviction with regard to Africa. In my soul I believe that 
 the time has come. I have the strongest impression of the nigh approach 
 of her bright day of deliverance. The night I am convinced — the night 
 of forlornness, of agony and desolation — is far spent, the day is at hand ! 
 The black charter of crime and infamy and blood, which for nigh three 
 centuries has given up my fatherland to the spoiler, is about to be erased ! 
 The malignant lie, which would deliver up an entire race, the many 
 millions of a vast continent, to rapine and barbarism and benightedness, 
 is now to be blotted out ! And if I read the signs of the times aright — 
 if I am not deceived in supposing that now I see God’s hand graciously 
 opened for Africa — if to my sight now appear with undoubted clearness 
 “ The baby forms 
 Of giant figures yet to be,” 
 
 what a grand reversal of a dark destiny will it not be for poor feeding 
 Africa !” — Alexander Crummell , B.A., a negro graduate of Cambridge 
 University , England. 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 19 
 
 whisky, and home’s worst enemy — rum.” As the result, 
 a large concourse of people crowded the wharf to witness 
 the event. The twelve hundred bottles were broken and 
 their contents poured into the water. The impression 
 this novel proceeding produced is best described in the * 
 words of Dr. Edward W. Blyden. He says — “I avail 
 myself of the earliest opportunity to congratulate you on 
 ah occurrence which took place in this community not 
 long since, which I was told was brought about through 
 your orders — I refer to the destruction by your agent of 
 twelve hundred bottles of gin. That article of trade, 
 which is unfortunately so common in the business prose- 
 cuted by Europeans on this coast; was introduced into 
 your business here, I learn, without your knowledge and 
 against your positive orders. Such an aCt as the whole- 
 sale destrudtion of the poison, done in West Africa by a 
 Christian white man, deserves to be for ever remembered, 
 and the intelligence of it ought to be spread far and wide. 
 
 It is a standing and serious reproach against Christians 
 among Mohammedans in the interior of West Africa, 
 among whom I have travelled, that they introduce with 
 their religion that which destroys both soul and body — 
 that they bring the Bible with their left hand and rum 
 with their right. I have had in my travels in the interior 
 to meet this charge again and again Your testi- 
 
 mony in favour of temperance by the public destruction 
 of that large quantity of gin — at great pecuniary loss no 
 doubt to yourself — will not be lost upon the natives. The 
 Mohammedans, many of whom frequent a village very 
 near the spot where the gin was destroyed, will hear of 
 it, and^carry the news to the interior, and who can tell 
 the effeCt of that single deed ?” 
 
 A glance at the map will show the important position 
 
20 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 which Liberia occupies in relation to the vast regions of 
 Central Africa. As the Liberian territory was once the 
 centre of the Slave-trade, the place whence captured 
 negroes were exported to all the horrors of foreign slavery, 
 so it now seems fitted and destined to become the centre 
 of negro immigration to the distridts formerly depopulated 
 by that terrible traffic. But how different the immigrant 
 to the exile ! 
 
 It is not generally understood in Great Britain what a 
 burning desire has recently sprung up among American 
 freedmen to settle in the land of their forefathers. The 
 best authorities on the subjedl in the United States believe 
 that half a million of coloured people are actually intend- 
 ing removal to Africa as their home at the earliest 
 possible opportunity. The American Colonization Society, 
 which is now doing a really admirable work, states that 
 “ Largely increased numbers of the intelligent and enter- 
 prising portion of the coloured population are contempla- 
 ting emigration to Liberia. The demand upon the 
 Colonization Society, growing more and more pressing, 
 and coming from every quarter, for information about 
 the Republic and the means of settlement there, far 
 exceeds anything of the kind in its history.” There is 
 no suspicion of outside pressure now to accelerate their 
 removal. This great movement is a spontaneous one. 
 Nor is it surprising that, being free, many feel drawn to 
 a country which is ruled entirely by their own race ; 
 where they can enjoy all the blessings of free institutions 
 without the possibility of the colour of their skin being 
 in any way a bar to their interests ; where they will be 
 eagerly welcomed ; and where the Government offers a 
 free grant of twenty-five acres of land to every male adult 
 immigrant.' ^ 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 2 
 
 Exodus Associations, altogether independent of the 
 American Colonization Society and its kindred organi- 
 zations, are being formed by the freedmen of the United 
 States to enable them to emigrate to Liberia. An early 
 number of The African Repository for 1879, contains an 
 account of the first vessel which sailed as the result of such 
 spontaneous a6lion. Two hundred and seventy-five per- 
 sons of both sexes and all ages embarked at Charleston in a 
 craft of 400 tons burden, which had been purchased at 
 Boston by the Liberia Joint Stock Steamship Company, 
 incorporated under the laws of the State.of South Carolina, 
 and composed entirely of men of African descent. The 
 ship was dedicated to its special mission by a religious 
 service, and two Christian Churches (Methodist and 
 Baptist) were instituted among the emigrants before the 
 vessel left Charleston. On its arrival at Monrovia, the 
 leading citizens convened a meeting in the City Hall, to 
 give the new comers a public welcome. Thus the United 
 States is providing “ farmers, mechanics, and merchants 
 allied in blood and race to the indigenous inhabitants, 
 who can furnish not only the song, the prayer, and the 
 sermon, but the singers, teachers, and preachers who can 
 live in that country. Agriculture and commercial oper- 
 ations, and the example of well-regulated domestic life, 
 may exemplify and enforce the teachings of the heralds 
 of the Gospel.” 
 
 The religious element in this Exodus enterprise is one 
 of the most hopeful auguries of the future. The Christian 
 Churches of America have worked so nobly on behalf of 
 the negro race since their emancipation on that continent, 
 that emigrants to Africa must always be, for the most 
 part, an intelligent, religious, and (allowing for their past 
 disadvantages) an educated people. 
 
22 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 Happily also, a glowing missionary spirit has mani- 
 fested itself in Fisk University and in other similar 
 institutions for the higher education of young Christian 
 freedmen in the United States ; and already the first 
 fruits of this militant zeal are in the mission field. When 
 one contemplates the stupendous results which may flow 
 from such a missionary movement among the negroes 
 themselves, the words which come naturally to the lips 
 are “ Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord !” 
 Hitherto, the fatality of the climate to white men has 
 made the history of African missions to a large extent a 
 history of catastrophes, relieved by heroism worthy of 
 the first ages of the Church. Especially has that been 
 the case in the western portion of Africa, where eleven 
 out of seventeen European missionaries recently died in 
 one year. But negroes, whether born on that continent 
 or not, can live and labour with comparative impunity in 
 districts which become the grave of their white fellow-men. 
 “ Africans,” says Dr. Moffat, “ must go to teach and to 
 save Africans.” The capabilities of black men being now 
 a matter of certainty instead of speculation, Christian 
 philanthropists are recognising that “ the final factor in the 
 solution of the African problem must be the negro 
 himself.”* With this conclusion ; with the willingness, 
 nay, with the anxiety of the negro to consecrate himself 
 to the work ; and with a vantage ground for effort such 
 as the negro republic of Liberia affords, a new and brighter 
 epoch opens in the evangelization of the Dark Continent. 
 Hope revives. Faith is strengthened. Enthusiasm returns 
 in the fulness and power of its first glow. . 
 
 The horizon widens. Liberia, populated by an intelli- 
 
 * These are the words of the Secretaries of the Freedmen’s Aid Society 
 of London, in a letter to Edward Morris, warmly approving of his plans. 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 23 
 
 gent, educated, and, above all, Christian people, of the 
 same race as those of the great continent which stretches 
 out beyond it, is reaching forth its arms to open up the 
 vast and teeming regions of the country to legitimate 
 commerce. American freedmen — themselves permeated 
 with Christian teaching — are swelling the numbers and 
 strengthening the resources of the West African republic. 
 Other American freedmen are giving themselves as am- 
 bassadors of the Gospel to the land from which their 
 heathen forefathers Vere torn. And no less a source of 
 lope are the measures that are being taken to secure a 
 combined religious and industrial education to native 
 children of Africa, and especially to the sons of African 
 Chiefs. To the carrying out of this work, Edward 
 Morris, after having given an important impetus, as we 
 have seen, to the commercial prosperity of Liberia, is now 
 devoting himself with truly apostolic fervour. 
 
 The African Chief before mentioned who said he should 
 like his boys to' be taught the Old and New Testaments, 
 affords but one illustration of the prevalent willingness 
 to receive instruction. Edward Morris has frequently 
 conversed with Chiefs and Headmen from the rear of 
 Liberia, who have asked him to teach their boys. The 
 willingness to receive instruction on the part of the lads 
 themselves, often amounts to an absolute thirst for know- 
 ledge. Edward Morris says that on one occasion he was 
 standing on the beach at Monrovia, the day before his 
 return to America, when an African boy, half bent in 
 adoration, approached him, and said — “You God-man, 
 take me big America ; big ship !” When asked “ What 
 for ?” he replied — “ Me learn big English you !”• In con- 
 sequence of Edward Morris’ enervated state, the result 
 of over-work, he was obliged to say “ No,” whereupon 
 
24 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 
 
 the little fellow immediately drew from the folds of a 
 cloth around him, two baby leopards, with unopened eyes, 
 which he must have captured at the risk of his life, and 
 presenting them said— “ Me give him ; you take me big 
 America ; big ship ; learn big English !” The child had 
 endangered his life to earn a passage to America, solely 
 to gain the much-coveted education. 
 
 The school which Edward Morris proposes to estab- 
 lish for the sons of African Chiefs, may be termed an 
 industrial boarding school. A primary feature in th^ 
 scheme is to teach the boys agriculture, and to accustonj 
 them especially to the cultivation of coffee. Coffey 
 planting will form a part of their daily duties as much aj 
 reading or writing, or any other branch of ordinary in 
 struction. By this means not only will education (ai 
 ordinarily understood) be imparted, but the boys will 
 acquire industrial habits and a taste for settled and 
 civilized occupations, so that when they return to their 
 homes and succeed to the positioned their fathers, it may 
 reasonably be expected that they will discourage heathen- 
 ish customs, raise their respective tribes in the scale of 
 civilization, and, best of all, create the conditions which 
 will make the messengers of the Gospel welcome in their 
 midst. Such a plan, if carried out in dependence upon 
 the Divine blessing, must produce changes and results 
 of the greatest magnitude and the most momentous 
 importance.* 
 
 A school for girls is also in contemplation, as well as 
 other industrial schools for the children of natives gen- 
 erally. 
 
 * Although he has not mentioned them by name (as being beyond the 
 sphere of this pamphlet), the writer is not unmindful of the great efforts 
 which are being put forth for the evangelization of Africa by the various 
 religious bodies of Great Britain and America. Yet how small is the total 
 of all the missionary work of the universal Church of Christ when com- 
 pared to the needs of that benighted continent ! 
 
CHRISTIAN LIBERIA. 1 2 5 
 
 These are the aims in which Edward Morris desires to 
 enlist the sympathy of British Christians. They are 
 such as may well stir the old anti-slavery spirit of the 
 country. Among the first who interested themselves in 
 his project on his arrival in England was one whose name 
 is historic in connection with efforts for the welfare of the 
 negro — Samuel Gurney. Edward Morris held his inaug- 
 ural meeting on this side of the Atlantic in the hall of the 
 Young Men’s Christian Association, Aldersgate Street, 
 London, under the presidency of the Earl of Shaftesbury. 
 This meeting prepared the way for his introduction to 
 many other leading philanthropists, and among those who 
 are now taking an active interest in his mission are repre- 
 sentative Christian men like R. C. Morgan (editor of 
 The Christian), George Sturge, T. A. Denny, George 
 Williams, Edwin O. Tregelles, T. B. Smithies (editor of 
 The British Workman ) , Samuel Gurney Sheppard, 
 Joseph Cooper, J. Bevan Braithwaite, and the venerable 
 Dr. Moffat. 
 
 Edward Morris asks for a thousand pounds to carry 
 out his plans, but it is to be hoped that this sum will not 
 be the measure of the interest of British Christians in so 
 great and noble a work. May their response to his 
 appeal on behalf of Africa be worthy of themselves and 
 of the magnificent ends which are sought to be attained . 
 And so, by this and other agencies, in co-operation with 
 the Churches of America, aided by the militant virtue in 
 the Churches of Liberia itself, may the negro republic 
 become such a centre of good as shall surpass all our 
 dreams and hopes, and magnify the grace of God in 
 planting on the western shores of Africa, a people destined 
 to be the instrument in His hands of lighting up the 
 deepest recesses of the Dark Continent. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 AN APPEAL FOR AFRICA. 
 
 For many years the condition of Africa has claimed 
 the attention of earnest men in the British Isles. 
 
 Among those who in 1787 were banded together to 
 abolish the Slave Trade, we find the names of Granville 
 Sharpe, Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, Robert 
 Barclay, John Gurney, Dykes Alexander, Robert Fowler, 
 Richard Reynolds, William Storrs Fry, and many others. 
 
 The attention of very many is now turned to the 
 amelioration of the wrongs inflicted on Africa by the 
 pillage and carnage consequent on slavery: and to remedy 
 the wrongs by spreading education among a people who 
 are desirous of elevation. 
 
 Liberia is regarded as an eligible field for attempting 
 the . improvement of the people. It is an independent 
 Republic, on the west coast of Africa, occupied by 
 about 20,000 coloured men and • women, immigrants 
 from America, bounded on the N.W. by our Colony of 
 Sierra- Leone, on the S.E. by the Ivory Coast, and has a 
 Sea Coast line of 600 miles, and extends about 200 miles 
 into the interior, being an . area of 120,000 square 
 miles, or about equal in extent to the British Isles ; all 
 acquired by peaceful purchases from the natives. The 
 aboriginal inhabitants number nearly one million, all law 
 abiding, and are anxious for education. 
 
 The President is elected every two years by a dire6tvote 
 of the tax payers. Civilized Farms, Christian Homes, 
 Churches and Schools are to be found in every settlement 
 and up every river. Dwellings and warehouses are of 
 brick or stone. 
 
 The soil of Liberia is its own fertilizer, and rich almost 
 beyond computation,, all tropical fruits grow luxuriantly ; 
 rice is the. main food; coffee, the finest in the world, 
 commanding the highest market price, is indigenous to 
 the soil, and pronounced in the gardens at Kew to be a 
 distin6t species. Liberia coffee received the first premium 
 and highest diploma at the great Exhibition in Philadel- 
 phia in 1876. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 2 7 
 
 To the foreign merchant, Liberia offers coffee, ginger, 
 arrowroot, sugar, spices, indigo, lime juice, india-rubber, 
 palm oil, palm kernels, camwood and ivory. In exchange 
 for these she will take agricultural implements, school 
 books, linendrapery, provisions, flour, brass kettles, straw 
 goods, hardware, shoes, and haberdashery. 
 
 England was the first to recognize and welcome 
 Liberia into the family of nations in 1848, and the 
 Republic is now represented at the Court of St. 
 James’ by Edward W. Blyden, LL.D., the negro scholar 
 and far-famed linguist. The late Samuel Gurney assisted 
 Liberia in procuring for her, her first metallic currency. 
 This work was accomplished in London. He also contri- 
 buted £1,000 to the Liberian Government to aid in the 
 purchase of the notorious Gallenas, as the most effe6fual 
 means of extinguishing the nefarious slave trade of that 
 place ; for all of which the Legislature passed a series of 
 resolutions, thanking him “ for his philanthropic devotion 
 to the interests of Liberia.” 
 
 For the purposes of education, it is proposed to assist 
 Edward S. Morris to raise £1,000 for establishing a good 
 school, where the sons and daughters of Chiefs in the 
 adjoining provinces may be educated-, and Christianity 
 promoted, when the youths thus taught return to the far 
 interior carrying the gospel to their homes. 
 
 This appeal is made in co-operation with a similar 
 effort to be made in America by Edward S. Morris. The 
 Earl of Shaftesbury has spoken in public with much en- 
 thusiasm of this proje6t, and promised his support. He 
 said, “It was extraordinary that England had been so long 
 blind *to the prolific commercial Resources of Africa ; 
 England had sent her money and manufa6fures to China, 
 Japan, or India, and other distant markets, whilst Africa, 
 a much nearer market teeming with a population needing 
 most of our manufa6tures, and capable and willing to give 
 us in return the most valuable produ6fs needed here, had 
 been comparatively ignored ; now however it was satisfac- 
 tory to find, that not only England, but Belgium and other 
 countries had awoke to the importance of Africa, as 
 
28 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 likely to be the largest consumer of our commercial 
 commodities.” 
 
 Dr. Livingstone says “ no higher honour exists on 
 earth, than that of being fellow-workers with God ! 
 No greater privilege than that of being messengers of 
 mercy to the heathen ; it is a mercy of mercies !” 
 
 The natives of Africa and the freedmen of America 
 have both been injured by the greed of the white man. 
 Surely there are a great many Christians whose hearts 
 beat in unison with those who are seeking by varied means 
 to retrieve the errors of the past and elevate a fallen race. 
 
 Joseph Gurney Barclay, Lombard Street, and 
 George Williams, St. Paul’s Church Yard, London, 
 have kindly consented to a6t as Treasurers of any funds 
 that may be raised for the proposed “ Liberia School.” 
 The sum already received and promised amounts to 
 £300 and this appeal is recommended by the undersigned. 
 
 SAMUEL GURNEY, 
 
 JOSEPH COOPER, 
 
 GEO. STURGE, 
 
 EDWIN O. TREGELLES, 
 
 J. B. BRAITH WAITE. 
 
 No. 20, Cazenove Road , 
 
 Stamford Hill , 
 
 London , 7 thmo., 1879. 
 
 Samuel Gurney, Joseph Cooper, George Sturge, 
 E. O. Tregelles and J. B. Braithwaite. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Your circular or appeal for funds on behalf of 
 my proposed schools in Africa is before me. Ever since 
 I became possessed of my 800 acres of land in Liberia, 
 I have desired that it may be a nursery for Industrial as 
 well as Literary Education for the sons of native African 
 Chiefs and others, who in due course may inherit their 
 parents’ official position. If rightly educated before they 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 2 9 
 
 acquire authority over their tribes, they may with one 
 sweep of the pen abolish their heathen customs, cast 
 aside their idols, and worship only at the footstool of our 
 common Father. The right training of the daughters 
 must be regarded as a highly important means of spread- 
 ing sound Gospel truths, especially if the female teachers 
 are educated in medicine. Such a plan has been matured 
 by me, based on prayer, work, and system, as must, I 
 fully believe, secure a successful result. 
 
 The general superintendent of the . schools will not 
 only be a man of letters, a negro bent on the elevation 
 of his race, but a Christian gentleman-*— one who can 
 assist in bringingthe children of the Chiefs to the school- 
 house, and delight in training them for the future of 
 Africa ; one whose heart is earnest for the advancement 
 of all Africa in the paths of Christianity and civilization ; 
 one who practically believes in our great Standard Bearer 
 and can tell of His holy example and precepts as con- 
 tained in the four Gospels of the New Testament. 
 
 Thousands of pupils in Africa are now ready and 
 waiting to hear the school-bell, and willing to work and 
 walk any distance to receive education. The future 
 teachers are Christian freedmen now in America, anxious 
 and ready to obey orders “go ye” and to answer the cry 
 “come over and help us” light up a dark continent. 
 Educated freedmen from Fisk, Howard, Hampton, Atlanta, 
 and other Universities, graduates under the heads of prac- 
 tical Agriculture, Mechanical Arts, and Medicine ; Christian 
 medical teachers, who, while listened to by the afflicted, 
 will have a large opportunity of impressing Gospel 
 truths. Such medical teachers, negroes of both sexes, are 
 to-day ready to operate on, and if possible to heal “ the 
 open sore of the world.” These are they, who, accord- 
 ing to the venerable Dr. Moffat and the late Sir Thomas 
 Fowell Buxton, Bart., are “ to go to teach and save 
 Africans, it is the Divine plan.” 
 
 In view of the present and future Coffee Tavern 
 movements both in England and America, new and en- 
 larged coffee fields must be opened, and I feel free to 
 
30 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 declare my conviction that Liberia, Sierra Leone, and 
 tropical Africa, will in due time be the world's coffee 
 field. With this objeCt among others I first visited in 
 1 863 all the settlements in Liberia, ascended all her rivers 
 crying “ plant coffee ! plant coffee !” Thus far the work 
 has been well done, and coffee is to-day the “backbone” 
 of Liberia in a pecuniary sense. The rich valley of the 
 Niger, and the prolific lands of the Soudan, with their 50 
 millions of inhabitants are now to be reached and in- 
 structed . 
 
 The proposed school-house in Liberia will do this, 
 and more, and if pecuniary aid be given me, a successful 
 operation may be reached at an early date. Coffee 
 planting is to be a rule tending to promote industrial 
 habits wherever the pupils’ influence extends. Consider 
 the two results of such a system, practically carried out 
 with unwavering absolute determination ! First, each 
 and every school-house should by this mode, in 5 years 
 be not only self-supporting, but in due time build addi- 
 tional school-houses. Second, the clearing of land and 
 planting of coffee will become a fixed habit with the boys, 
 and when they graduate from the schools, if sons of Chiefs 
 they can impress the custom in and throughout their 
 respective tribes. Thus will the cultivation of coffee 
 require the tribes to become more settled and remain at 
 home ; tribal wars and riots will certainly be less frequent, 
 and the spear in a manner will be beaten into a pruning 
 hook. Christian people in England and America have it 
 in their power to inaugurate and hasten the day when 
 Ethiopia shall suddenly stretch out her hands unto God. 
 The Christian school is the first step to such an end. 
 As soon as a sum of £1,000 is deposited in Barclay, 
 Bevan & Co.’s Bank in Lombard Street, London, con- 
 tracts for building, and arrangements with teachers, will 
 be commenced by 
 
 Yours gratefully, 
 
 EDWARD S. MORRIS. 
 
PENNY POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES. 
 
 These Biographies are handsomely printed 
 on toned paper , are copyright , and are 
 uniform in size as well as in price. They 
 are always in print , new editions being issued 
 as occasion requires. 
 
 By ALFRED S. DYER. 
 
 A HERO FROM THE FORGE, a Biographical Sketch of 
 Elihu Burritt. With Portrait. 
 
 FROM BEFORE THE MAST TO THE PLATFORM : 
 A popular Biography of William Ladd, the eminent American 
 Philanthropist. With Portrait. 
 
 C. H. SPURGEON, the Great Metropolitan Preacher. A 
 Biographical Tribute. With Portrait. 
 
 By H. EUSTACE REYD. 
 
 ROBERT MOFFAT, D. D., an Example of Missionary 
 Heroism. With Portrait. 
 
 GEORGE MULLER, and the Orphan Homes at Ashley 
 Down. With Portrait. 
 
 By J. P. HUTCHINSON. 
 
 JOHN BRIGHT, the Tribune of the People. With Portrait. 
 
 By WILLIAM CATCHPOOL. 
 
 JOSEPH STURGE, the Champion of Peace, Freedom, and 
 Reform. With Portrait. 
 
 By GEO. H. DYER. 
 
 RICHARD COBDEN, the Friend of the People. The Story 
 of his Life told for Popular Reading. With Portrait. 
 
 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, the Great American Anti- 
 Slavery Leader. With Portrait. 
 
 SIR WILFRID LAWSON; his Life, his Humour, and his 
 Mission. With Portrait. 
 
 LEVI COFFIN, the Friend of the Fugitive Slave. (The 
 “ Simeon Halliday ” of Uncle Tom's Cabin.) With Portrait. 
 
 London : Dyer Brothers, 21, Paternoster Square. 
 May be ordered through any Bookseller ., 
 
^>4 _ The Simeon Halliday of “Uncle 
 ^jpg. Tom’s Cabin.” 
 
 Price , cloth elegant 2 s. 6 d. Superior edition 35. 6 d. 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 OF AN 
 
 ABOLITIONIST. 
 
 Thrilling incidents, heroic actions, and wonderful escapes of fugitive 
 slaves, in connexion with the Anti-Slavery Underground Railroad of the 
 United States, related by its President, Levi Coffin. 
 
 With Portrait of Levi Coffin, and facsimile of Autograph. 
 
 The Spectator says — “ It ought to prove a formidable rival to the most 
 popular sensational novel, for it is full of stories of more hair-breadth 
 escapes, more exciting adventures than ever came into the brain of a 
 novelist.” 
 
 The Christian says — “ The most thrilling interest is sustained through- 
 out these numerous narratives of apparently miraculous escapes ; and 
 the book loses none of its zest from the fact that the horrible system of 
 negro slavery, in the States is now happily a thing of the past.” 
 
 The Methodist Recorder says — “ It will do much good in these vaunted 
 days of freedom, to read of the struggles and sacrifices made by good men 
 in the accursed days of slavery.” 
 
 The Christian Age says — “ Fifty years of thrilling records, fruitful and 
 important in their results, are thus preserved, and though free from the 
 usual embellishments of stories it is as intensely interesting as anything 
 yet published in relation to the sufferings of slaves and their marvellous 
 * underground railway.’ ” 
 
 The Temperance Record says — “ We venture to think that the tales it 
 tells have never been exceeded in interest by the pen of the novelist. As 
 temperance reformers, we have all something to learn from the life of a 
 man in earnest about a great and noble purpose.” 
 
 The Kentish Express says — “ In reading the ‘ Reminiscences of an 
 Abolitionist,’ we find ourselves supplied with more than one link wanted 
 to complete the chain of history, as well as with information which can- 
 not fail to quicken the interest of British philanthropists in the present 
 work of the Anti-Slavery Society.” 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 DYER BROTHERS, 21, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E. C. 
 Order of your Bookseller.