<* ♦'TV.' .0^ o. 'o,,* J\ ^ ♦'TV.' .0^ o. '••»• 'V)^ '0,1*' A ^. ^^. ♦••^* -5>^ ,. v^.'i^* %. -ft?^ •i'^' ^ v^\»Jm^> % -ftp -*• 'oK '^O' ■^. Ciagas one race of men, as cotem- porary historians supposed ,' Or were they men of a certain character, then pre- dominant through nearly all Africa south of the Great Desert.' COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 15 The Portuguese driven from the Coast. — Dutch Interlopers. — 1578 — 1664. The French, we have seen, profess to have been the first traders to the coast of Guinea, and to have always retained their post at the Senegal. Rainolds found, in 1591, that they had been there more than thirty years, and were in good repute. The Spaniards, on the con- trary, were detested; and as for the Portuguese, "most of them were banished men, or fugitives from justice ; men of the basest behavior that he and the rest of the English had ever seen of these nations." In 1578, the French were trading at Accra, on the Gold Coast. The negroes in the vicinity, at the instigation of the Portuguese, destroyed the town. There w-as then a standing offer, from the Portu- guese to the negroes, of 100 crowns for a Frenchman's head. In 1582, the Portuguese sunk a French ship, and made slaves of all the crew who escaped a watery grave. There is no account of the Dutch on this coast, till the voyage of Barent Erickson in 1595. The Portuguese offered to reward the ne- groes, if they would kill or betray him. They also offered a reward of 100 florins for the destruction of a Dutch ship. About the same time, a Dutch crew, with the exception of one or two men, was massacred at Cape Coast. Of another crew, three Dutchmen were betrayed by the negroes and made slaves by the Portuguese at Elmina. In 1599, the negroes near Elmina, at the instigation of the Portuguese, inveigled five Dutchmen into their power, beheaded them, and in a few hours made drinking cups of their skulls. But the English and Dutch continued to crowd in, and the Portu- guese, who after such atrocities, could not coe.xist with them on the same coast, were compelled to retire. In 1604, they were driven from all their factories in what is' now Liberia. Instead of leaving the country, however, they retreated inland, established themselves there, intermarried with the natives, and engaged in commerce between the more inland tribes and the traders on the coast; making it a special object to prevent the produce of the interior from reaching the coast, except through their hands; and for this purpose they obstructed all efforts of others to explore the country. Tliey traded with the people on the Niger; and one of their mulatto descendants told Villault, in 1666, that they traded along that river as far as Benin.* Their pos- terity gradually became merged and lost among the negro population ; but the obstruction of intercourse with the interior became the settled policy of those tribes, and has done much to retard the growth of com- merce in Liberia. In other parts, the Portuguese held possession some years longer. But the Dutch took their fort at Elmina in 1637, and that at Axim in 1642 ; after which they were soon expelled from the Gold and Ivory Coasts. Before 1666, they had given place to the Dutch at Cape Mount, and to the English at Sierra Leone. In 1621, the English were trading in the Gambia, and in 1664, built James Fort near its mouth. Here also the Portuguese retired inland and mingled with the natives. Not many years since, some of their descendants were still to be found. * As the Niger was then supposed by Europeans 1o flow westward and disem- bogue itself by the Senegal or Gambia, this statement was considered absurd ; but since the discovery of the mouth of the Niger in Benin, there is reason to suppose it true. It ought to have led to an earlier discovery of the true course and outlet of that long mysterious river. 16 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1600 — 17^1. — English at Siena Leone. — Prevalence of Piracy. The influence of the English, Dutch and French on the character of the natives, was in some respects different from that of the Portu- guese ; but whether it was on the whole any better, is a question of some difficulty. Portuguese writers assert that the Dutch gained the favor of the negroes by teaching them drunkenness and other vices ; that they became absolute pirates, and seized and held several places on the coast, to which they had no right but that of the strongest. The Dutch trade was, by law, exclusively in the hands of an incor- porated company, having authority to seize and confiscate to its own use, the vessels and cargoes of private traders found on the coast. These private traders, or interlopers, as they were called, were fre- quently seized by stratagem by the Dutch garrisons on the coast, and treated with great severity. But they provided themselves with fast sailing ships, went well armed and manned, and generally fought to the last man, rather than betaken by the Company's forces. Capt. Phillips, in 1()93, found more than a dozen of these interlopers on the coast, and had seen four or five of them at a time lying before Elmina castle for a week together, trading, as it were, in defiance of it. The Englisli had also their incorporated company, and their private traders. Of the character of the latter, we find no specification which dates in this century. In 172 1, there were about thirty of them settled on the " starboard side of the bay of Sierra Leone." Atkins des- cribes them as " loose, privateering blades, who if they cannot trade fairly with the natives, will rob. Of these," he says, "John Leadstine, commonly called ' Old Cracker,' is reckoned the most thriving." This man, called Leadstone in Johnson's "History of the Pirates," had been an old buccanier, and kept two or three guns before his door, "to salute his friends the pirates when they put in there." Such, substantially, appears to have been the character of the English "pri- vate traders" upon this coast from the beginning. Of the regular traders, English and Dutch, a part, and only a part, seem to have been comparatively decent. The influence of the Pirates on this coast deserves a distinct con- sideration. They appeared there occasionally, as early as the year 1600, and seem to have increased with the increase of commerce. For some years, the piratically disposed appear to have found scope for the indul- gence of their propensities among the buccaniers of the West Indies. But after the |)artial breaking up of the buccaniers in 1G88, and still more after their suppression in 1097, they spread themselves over the whole extentof the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The coast of Guinea was one of their principal haunts, and Sierra Leone a favorite resort. They not only |)luiidered at sea, but boldly entered any port where the people, whether native or European, were not strong enough to resist them, and traded there on their own terms. In 1()93, Phillips found that the governor of Porto Praya made it a rule never to go on board any ship in the harbor, lest it should prove to be a pirate, and he should be detained till he had furnished a supply of provisions, for which he would be |)ai(i by a bill of exchange on some imaginary person in Lon- don. Avery, commonly known as "Long Ben," had thus extorted supplies from the Governor of St, Thomas, and paid him by a bill on COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 17 Prevalence of Piracy. — 1721. " the pump at Aldgate." At Cape Mesurado, Phillips found a Scotch- man, of the crew of Herbert, the pirate. The crew had quarrelled, all the rest were killed or afterwards died of their wounds, he ran the brigantine ashore near tlie Cape, and had since been living among the natives. Capt Snelgrave arrived at Sierra Leone, April 1, 1719. He found three pirates in the harbor; Cocklyn, Le Bouse and Davis. They had lately taken ten English vessels. His first mate, Jones, be- trayed him into their hands. He had with him a royal proclamation, offering pardon to all English pirates who should surrender themselves on or before the first of July. An old buccanier tore it in pieces. They took Snelgrave's vessel for their own use, leaving an inferior one for him, and left the bay about the 29th of the month. Afterwards, he tells us, that more than a hundred vessels fell into the hands of these pirates on the coast of Guinea, and some of the gang did im- mense damage in the West Indies. A few days after sailing, Davis took the Princess, of London, plundered her and let her go; but her second mate, Roberts, joined him. He landed at Prince's Island, where the Portuguese governor at first favored them, for the sake of their trade, but finally assassinated Davis. The crew then chose Roberts for their captain, whose exploits were still more atrocious. The same year, England, the pirate, took an English vessel near Sierra Leone, murdered the captain. Skinner, and gave her to Howell Harris, who, after trial and acquittal, obtained command of a merchant sloop, and turned pirate. Having had " pretty good success " for a while, he attacked St. Jago, in the Cape Verde Islands, but was repuls- ed. He then took, plundered and destroyed the English fort St. James at the mouth of the Gambia. The fort appears to have been partially rebuilt immediately, in 1721, the African Company sent out the Gambra Castle, Capt. Russell, with a company of soldiers under Maj. Massey, to strengthen it. The new governor, Whitney, had just arriv- ed. Massey, with the assistance of Lovvther, second mate, seized both the fort and the ship ; and after cruising awhile as a pirate, went home, brought on his own trial, and was hanged. In 1721 , Roberts, before mentioned, had become so formidable as to attract the notice of the English government. Two ships of 50 guns each were sent out to capture him. Atkins, surgeon of the squadron, has given an account of the cruise. AtElmina, in January, they found that Roberts had " made a bold sweep" in August, had taken a vessel a few leagues from that place, and had " committed great cruelties." His three ships were well manned, " seamen every where entering with them ; and when they refused, it was oftener through fear, than any detestation of the practice." This shows what was then the general character of English seamen in that region, and what influence they must have exerted on the natives. January 15, they reached Whidah. The pirates had just plundered and ransomed eleven ships, and been gone twenty-foyr hours. They followed on to the south, and by the 12th of February, took all three of their ships; the crew of the last having abandoned it and fled. They found on board about 300 Englishmen, 60 or 70 stout negroes, great plenty of trade goods, and eight or ten thousand pounds of gold dust. The trial of these pirates occupied the Court at Cape Coast Castle twenty-six 3 Jg COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1680— 1730.— Influence of the Pirates. days; 52 were executed there, 74 acquitted, 20 condemned to servi- tude and 17 sent to the Marshalsea. , , , • * r The next year Cant. George Roberts was taken by three pirates of whom Edlnd Loe was the chief, at the Cape Verde Islands. Wh. e There after Loe had gone, he fell in with Charles Franklin,* who had been 'taken some time before by Bartholomew Roberts, a pirate, had escaped from him at Sierra Leone, and taken refuge among the negroes '"T^V^pTraTe's seem generally to have been content vvith trading at Sierra Leone, without l^lundenng the people, though ^-^f^^'^^^^;^^ nlice in 1 720 They afterwards took permanent possession ot he hrst bay be Tovv the Cape, and occupied it for seven years or more, till brok- en up by an e.peSition from France in 1730. Hence the place was called "Pirate's Bay." and was so named on British charts. The moral influence of such a concentration of piracy upon the coast for nearly half a century, cannot be doubtful. The character of Tate we know, has always been made up of remorseless ferocity Sustuplous rapacity, and unbridled Hcentiousness. PeH^^^^^^^^^^ versed in all the vices of civilization, restrained by no moral punciple, by no fpeln. of humanity by no sense of shame, they landed whenever and mo^f wLiX th^ey pleased upon the whole coast ^vith lorces w .ich it would have been madness to resist, and compelled the mli^t^'tai its whetC negro European or mixed, to become the partners of their Tevels th^^^^^^^^^ dupes of their duplicity, or the victims of hei ;iolence This, added to all the other malign influences at work .nlled the Rio Duro on account of the cruelty of the people. Dann r a Dutch vriter, whose description of Africa was published nhmXe veaV 1670, says of the Quojahs, who were predominant from about the year ium», sa;y Q„,t^« thnt both sexes were extremely licen- ^'"" ^"°".l.reatthieve^\n,n°ch addicted .o >v„cl,cn.f,, in say« that " the.e inlanders l.ave a ^ ;- / '^ ^^^.^S; i" than the old ; but world, wl.ore they nUend o re-^e js l.c ' ^^^''-^V, b/nrany a,es before it ca„ tl.at there wants so .nuch to be done 1. it, tim . J^^^^^^^^^ ^ ,, ^^^^ bo u.ade fit for iho.r ■"^■f P '' " ' '''"^ , "jf Carried on by the ne-rroes ihey yearly their old world tlHt-r .he abor of u i . carn^^^^ ^^^^^^^ . „,,,,, without take out ot Guinea , that 'i" l"o«^ ^ ^' ' ^^,,^^1 j, completely filled up in a any inlennission "' '•'^'l'''7;V;:"f,..'i;,,;„"e Unsettled there. Hut when that is very beautiful manner, and the «;' ^ ;;' J \^^ 7, ,,,in ,,„d them homo to inhabit r iM"^H-::; -H^n^ t;:Se:;^;e by ^..e whites, who will never come ere a.au.: This happy time they -?:";"'y i;;\'l\>;' published in London in 1726, Jtw t^^^^StrC;^-- -" - «^-"" ^'-' -"^ '^ spare them ? COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 19 Character of the Natives.— 1693— 1724. him. From the Sestos to Cape Palmas, the people were much the same, but still more adroit at theft, and more addicted to witchcraft and devil-worship. Barbot, Agent General of the French African Company, was on the coast much of the time from 1680 to 1701. He says that the English had formerly a settlement at Sangwin, but abandoned it, because of the ill temper of the blacks. At Bottowa, they are dexterous thieves, and ought to be well looked to in dealing with them. Phillips,* in 169:}, at Grand Sesters, thought it unsafe to go up the river eight miles to visit king Peter, hearing that the natives were very treacherous and bloody. The people whom he saw were surly, and looked like villains. Though his ship carried 36 guns, on learning the temper of the people, he immediately cleared for action and left the river. Snoek was at Cape Mesurado in 1701. Only one negro came on board, and he saw but a kw on shore. Two English ships had two months before ravaged their country, destroyed their canoes, plundered their houses, and carried off some of their people. Bosman was on the coast about the same time. His description of Guinea, written in Dutch and translated into several languages, is one of the best extant. " The negroes," he says, " are all, without excep- tion, crafty, villainous and fraudulent, and very seldom to be trusted; being sure to slip no opportunity of cheating a European, nor indeed one another." The mulattoes, he says, are "a parcel of profligate vil- lains, neither true to the negroes nor us ; nor indeed dare they trust one another ; so that you rarely see them agree together. Whatever is in its own nature worst in the Europeans and negroes, is united in them." At some place, probably beyond Cape Palmas, he saw eleven human sacrifices at one funeral. Marchais was at Cape Mesurado in 1724. He says that the Eng- lish, Dutch and Portuguese writers all unite in representing the natives there as faithless, cunning, revengeful and cruel to the last degree; and he assents to the description. He adds, that " formerly they offer- ed human sacrifices ; but this custom has ceased since they found the profit of selling their prisoners of war to foreigners." He gives a map of the Cape, and the plan of a proposed fort on its summit; and thinks it might yield 1,500 or 2,000 slaves annually, besides a large amount of ivory. * Phillips sailed in the employment of the English African Companj', and was evidently one of the most humane, conscientious and intelligent voyagers to that coast. He found the people of the Quaqua coast, a little beyond Cape Palmas, to be cannibals, as most who visited them also testify. At Secondee, Johnson, the English factor, had been surprised in the night, cut in pieces and his goods plun- dered by the negroes, at the instigation of the Dutch. At Whidah, Phillips bought for his two ships, 1,300 slaves. Twelve of them willfully drowned themselves, and others starved themselves to death. He was advised to cut off the legs and arms of a few, to terrify the rest, as other captains had done ; but he could not think of treating with such barbarity, poor creatures, who being equally the work of God's hands.'are doubtless as dear to him as the whites. He saw the bodies of several eaten by the sharks which followed his ship. On arriving at Barbadoes, the ship under his immediate command had lost " 14 men and 320 negroes." On each dead negro, the African Company lost £10, and the ship lost the freight, £10 10s. He delivered alive 372, who sold, on an average, at about £19. Such was the slave trade, in its least horrible aspect, in 1693. I 20 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1724— 1730.— Character of the Natives — Negro Funeral. At the river Sestos, Marchais witnessed a negro funeral. " The captain or chief of a village dying of a hard drinking bout of brandy, the cries of his wives immediately spread the news through the town. All the women ran there and howled like furies. The favorite wife distinguished herself by her grief, and not without cause." She was watched by the other women, to prevent her escape. The Marbut, or priest, examined the body, and pronounced the death natural — not the effect of witchcraft. Then followed washing the body, and carrying it in procession through the village, with tearing of the hair, howling, and other frantic expressions of grief " During this, the marbut made a grave, deep and large enough to hold two bodies. He also stripped and skinned a goat. The pluck served to make a ragout, of which he and the assistants ate. He also caused the favorite wife to eat some; who had no great inclination to taste it, knowing it was to be her last. She ate some, however; and during this repast, the body of the goat was divided in small pieces, broiled and eaten. The lamentations began again ; and when the marbut thought it was time to end the ceremony, he took the favorite wife by the arms, and delivered her to two stout negroes. These, seizing her roughly, tied her hands and feet behind her, and laying her on her back, placed a piece of wood on her breast. Then, holding each other with their hands on their shoulders, they stamped with their feet on the piece of wood, till they had broken the woman's breast. Having thus at least half des- patched her, they threw her into the grave, with the remainder of the goat, casting her husband's body over her, and filling up the grave with earth and stones. Immediately the cries ceasing, a quick silence suc- ceeded the noise, and every one returned home as quietly as if nothing had happened." Smith was sent out by the African Company to survey the coast, in 1726. At Gallinas, in December, he found Benjamin Cross, whom the natives had seized and kept three months, in reprisal for some of their people, who had been seized by the English. Such seizures, he says, were too often practiced by Bristol and Liver|)ool ships. Cross was ransomed for about €->(). At Cape Mount, he found the natives cautious of intercourse, for fear of being seized. At Cape Mesurado, in January, 1727, he saw many of the natives, but not liking to ven- ture on shore, had nodiscour.se with them. In 1730, Snelgrave, who had been captured by pirates nine years before, was again on the coast. There was then not a single European factory on the whole Windward Coast, and Europeans were " shy of trusting themselves on shore, the natives being very barbarous and un- civilized." He never met a white man who durst venture himself up the country. He mentions the suspicious and revengeful feelings of the natives, occasioned by seizing them for slaves, as a cause of the danger. He, too, witnessed human sacrifices. Such was the character of what is now Liberia, after 2GS years of intercourse with slave traders and pirates. Moanwliile, nations were treating with each other for the extension of the slave trade. The Genoese at first had the privilege of fiirnish- inrr the Spanish Colonics with negro slaves. The French next obtain- ed it, and kept it till, according to Spanish official returns, it had yield- COLONIZATION AND MISSrONS. 21 Assiento Treaty. — Panyaring.— Piracy. — 17 13 — 1813; ed them $204,000,000. In 1713, the British Government, by the famous Assiento treaty, secured it for the South Sea Company for thirty years. In 1739, Spain was desirous to take the business into her own hands, and England sold out the remaining four years for .£100,000, to be paid in London in three months.* From this time to 1791, when the British Parliament began to col- lect testimony concerning the slave trade, there seems to have been no important change in the influences operating on the coast, or in the character of its inhabitants. The collection and publication of testi- mony was continued till the passage, in 1807, of the act abolishing the trade. From this testimony, it appeared that nearly all the masters of English ships engaged in that trade, were of the most abandoned character, none too good to be pirates. Their cruelty to their own men was so excessive and so notorious, that crews could never be ob- tained without great difficulty, and seldom without fraud. Exciting the native tribes to make war on each other for the purpose of obtain- ing slaves, was a common practice. The Windward Coast, especially, was fast becoming depopulated. The Bassa country, and that on the Mesurado and Junk rivers, were particularly mentioned, as regions which had suffered in these wars ; where the witnesses had seen the ruins of villages, lately surprised and burned in the night, and rice fields unharvested, because their owners had been seized and sold. On other parts of the coast, the slaves were collected and kept for em- barkation in factories ; but on the Windward Coast, " every tree was a factory," and when the negroes had anything to sell, they signified it by kindling a fire. Here, also, was the principal scene of "panyar- ing; " that is, of enticing a negro into a canoe, or other defenceless situation, and then seizing him. The extent of this practice may be inferred from the fact, that it had a name, by which it was universally known. A negro was hired to panyar a fine girl, whom an English captain desired to possess. A few days after, he was panyared himself and sold to the same captain. " What I " he exclaimed, — " buy me, a great trader?" " Yes," was the reply,-—" we will buy any of you, if any body will sell you." It was given in evidence, that business could not be transacted, if the buyer were to inquire into the title of those from whom he bought. Piracy, too, added its horrors whenever the state of the world permitted, and, as we shall have occasion to show, was rampant when Liberia was founded. Factories, however, were gradually re-established and fortified ; but not till the slave trade had nearly depopulated the coast, and thus di- minished the danger. Two British subjects, Bostock and McQuinn, had one at Cape Mesurado. In June 1813, His Majesty's ship Thais sent forty men on shore, who after a battle, in which one of their num- ber was killed, entered the factory and captured its owners. French, and especially Spanish factories, had become numerous. A large proportion, both of the slave ships and factories, were pirat- * Rees' Cyclopedia, Art. Assiento. The statement may be sliglitly inaccurate. The treaty, or "convention" with Spain in 1739, stipulated for the payment of £95,000, and the settlement of certain other claims, the amount of which was still to be ascertained. 22 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. {.1818— 18Q5.— Liberia Founded— Slate of llie Country. ical. By the laws of several nations, the trade was prohibited, and ships engaged in it liable to capture. They therefore prepared to de- fend themselves. The general peace which followed the downfall of Napoleon, left many privateers and their crews out of employment, and they engaged at once in piracy and the slave trade. In 1818, Lord Castlereagh communicated to the ambassadors of the leading powers of Europe, a list of eighteen armed slavers lately on the coast, of live ves- sels taken and destroyed by them, and of several battles with others ; and these were mentioned only as specimens. The natives, notwithstanding the evils which the slave trade inflict- ed upon them, were infatuated with it. In 18"2I, the agents of the Colonization Society attempted to purchase a tract for their first settle- ment at Grand Bassa. The only obstacle was, the refusal of the peo- ple to make any concession towards an abandonment of that traffic. In December of that year, a contract with that indispensable condition was made for Cape Mesurado. The first colonists took possession January 7, 1S2-2. In November of the same year, and again in De- cember, the natives attacked the Colony in great numbers, and with an obstinate determination to e.xterminate the settlers and renew the trade at that accustomed spot. In April and May, 182:3, Mr. Ashmun, gov- ernor of the Colony, went on business along the Coast about 150 miles to Settra Kroo. " One century ago," he remarks, " a great part of this line of coast was populous, cleared of trees, and under cultivation. It is now covered with a dense and almost continuous forest. This is almost wholly a second growth; commonly distinguished from the original by the profusion of brambles and brushwood, which abounds amongst the larger trees, and renders the woods entirely impervious, even to the natives, until paths are opened by the bill-hook." In May, 1825, Mr. Ashmun purchased for the colony, a fine tract on the St. Paul's. Of this he says : "Along this beautiful river were formerly scattered, in Africa's better days, innumerable native 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 wast- ed by the rage for trading in slaves, with which the constant presence of slaving vessels and the introduction of foreign luxuries have inspir- ed them. The south bank of this river, and all the intervening coun- try between it and the Mesurado, have been, from this cause, nearly desolated of inhabitants. 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." The moral desolation, he found to be still more complete. He writes: " The two slaving stations of Cape Mount and Cape Mesurado have, for .several ages, desolated of every thing valuable, the interven- ing very fertile and beautiful tract of country. The forests have re- mained untouched, all moral virtue has been extinguished in the people, and their industry annihilated, by this one ruinous cause." " Polygamy and domestic slavery, it is well known, are as universal as the scanty means of the people will permit. And a licentiousness of practice which none — not the worst part of any civilized community on earth — can parallel, gives a hellish consummation to the frightful de- COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 23 Morals of the Natives. — King Boatswain. — 1823 — 18-i7. formity imparted by sin to the moral aspect of these tribes." '-The emigrants, from the hour of their arrival in Africa, are acted upon by the vitiating example of the natives of this country. 'I'he amount and effects of this influence, I fear, are generally and egregiously under- rated. It is not known to every one, how little difference can be per- ceived in the measure of intellect possessed by an ignorant rustic from the United States, and a sprightly native of the coast. It may not be easily credited, but the fact certainly is, that the advantage is, oftenest, on the side of the latter. The sameness of color, and the correspond- ing characteristics to be expected in different portions of the same race, give to the example of the natives a power and influence over the colonists, as extensive as ii is corrupting. For it must not be suppress- ed, however the fact may be at variance with the first impressions from which most African journalists have allowed themselves to sketch the character of the natives, that it is vicious and contaminating in the last degree. I have often expressed my doubt, whether the simple idea of moral justice, as we conceive it from the early dawn of reason, has a place in the thoughts of a pagan African. As a principle of practi- cal morality, I am sure that no such sentiment obtains in the breast of five Africans within my acquaintance. A selfishness which prostrates every consideration of another's good; a habit of dishonest dealing, of which nothing short of unceasing, untiring vigilance can avert the consequences; an unlimited indulgence of the appetites; and the labored excitement* and unbounded gratification of lust the most un- bridled and beastly — these are the ingredients of the African charac- ter. And however revolting, however, on occasion, concealed by an assumed decency of demeanor, such is the common character of all." This last extract was dated May 20, 1827, when Mr. Ashmun had been nearly five years in Africa, and in the most favorable circumstan- ces for learning the truth. And this horrid work was still going on. In August, 1823, Mr. Ashmun wrote: — " I wish to afford the Board a full view of our situ- ation, and of the African character. The following incident I relate, not for its singularity, for similar events take place, perhaps, every month in the year; but because it has fallen under my own observa- tion, and I can vouch for its authenticity. King Boatswain received a quantity of goods in trade from a French slaver, for which he stipulat- ed to pay young slaves. He makes it a point of honor to be punctual to his engagements. The time was at hand when he expected the re- turn of the slaver. He had not the slaves. 4UL.ooking round on the peaceable tribes about him, for her victims, he singled out the Queahs, a small agricultural and trading people, of most inoffensive character. His warriors were skillfully distributed to the different hamlets, and making a simultaneous assault on the sleeping occupants, in the dead of night, accomplished, without difficulty or resistance, the annihila- tion, with the exception of a few towns, of the whole tribe. Every adult man and woman was murdered ; very young children generally * Of this, in respect to both sexes, we might have produced disgusting testimony more than a century old, relating especially to this part of tlie coast. In this, as in other things, their character had evidently undergone no essential change. 24 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1824 — 1834. — Spanish Piiates- — Massacre at Bassa Cove. shared the fate of their parents ; the boys and girls alone were reserved to pay the Frenchman." King Boatswain was not such an untaught barbarian as some may suppose. He began life without hereditary rank, served in the Briiisli Navy till he attained the rank of boatswain, and afterwards gradually rose among his own people by his superior intelligence and force of character. In September, 1824, he seized 80 more of the Q,ueahs. In August, I82.5, the Clarida, a Spanish slaver connected with the factory at Digby, a little north of the St. Paul's, plundered an English brig at anchor in Monrovia harbor. Mr. Ashman, with 22 volunteers, and the captain of the brig with about an equal force, broke up the factory and released the slaves confined in it. A French and a Span- ish factory, both within five miles of Monrovia, uniting their interests with the Clarida, were soon after broken up, and their slaves released. The French factory had kidnapped, or purchased of kidnappers, some of the colonists, and attempted to hold them as slaves. In 1826, the Minerva, a Spanish slaver, connected with some or all of the three factories at Tradetown, had committed piracy on several American and other vessels, and obtained possession of several of the colonists. At the suggestion of Mr. Ashmun, she was captured by the Dragon, a French brig of war, and condemned at Goree. The factories at Tradetown bought eight of the colonists, who had been " panyared," and refused to deliver them up on demand. In April, Mr. Ashmun, assisted by two Columbian armed vessels, landed, broke up the factories, and released the slaves. The natives, under King West, then rose in defence of the slavers, and made it necessary to burn Tradetown. The Colonial government then publicly prohibited the trade on the whole line of coast, over which it assumed a qualified jurisdiction, from Cape Mount to Tradetown. In July, a combination to restore Tradetown was formed by several piratical vessels and na- tive chiefs. July 27, the brig John of Portland and schooner Bona of Baltimore, at anchor in Monrovia harbor, were plundered by a pirati- cal brig of twelve guns, which then proceeded to Gallinas and took in COO slaves. " The slave trade," Mr. Ashmun wrote about this time, " is the pretext under which expensive armaments are fitted out every week irom Ilavanna, and desparadoes enlisted for enterprises to this country ; in which, on their arrival, the trade is either forgotten entirely, or at- tended to as a mere secondary object, well suited to conceal from cruisers they may fall in with, their real object. Scarcely an Ameri- can trading vessel has for the last twelve months been on this coast, as low as six degrees north, without suffering either insult or plunder from these Spaniards." The batteries for the protection of Monrovia harbor were immedi- ately strengthened, the Tradetown combination was of short continu- ance, and the growth of the Colony soon changed the character, both of the coast and its visiters. Would the non-resistance policy of William Pcnn have succeeded better 1 It has been tried. The Peinisylvania Colonization Society commenced an unarmed settlement at Bassa Cove, about the end of the year 18:31. King Joe Harris sold them land to settle upon, and COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 25 Attack on Heddington. — Mission at Cape Palmas in Danger. — 1834 — 1844. professed to be their cordial friend. In a kw months, a slaver arrived. Harris had slaves for sale ; but the slaver would not trade so near a settlement of Americans. This finished the temptation which Harris had already begun to feel. He fell upon the settlement in the dead of night, killed about twenty of the colonists, and while the remainder fled to save their lives, plundered their houses. A singular fact shows that he was not only fully and minutely acquainted with their peaceful character, but that he was encouraged by it to make the attack. One of the colonists owned a musket, and another sometimes borrowed it; so that Harris could not know in which of their houses it might then happen to be. He therefore refrained from attacking either of those houses. Would purely missionary establishments be more secure? This also has been tried. The Methodist station at Heddington, on the south bank of the St. Paul's, about 20 miles from Monrovia, was of that character. Gatumba, king of those lately known here as Men- dians, and whose stronghold was about two days' march north east from Monrovia, had in his employ, Goterah, a cannibal warrior from the interior, who, with his band of mercenary desperadoes, had deso- lated many native towns, and taken hosts of slaves for his employer to sell. He was evidently a remnant of the Giagas. One night in 1841, he made an attack on Heddington. His threats, to plunder the mis- sion property, take the children in school for slaves, and eat the mis- sionary, had been reported at Heddington, and arms had been procur- ed for defence. After an obstinate contest, Goterah was shot, while rushing, sword in hand, into the mission-house. His followers were soon seized with a panic and fled. Among the camp equipage which they left, was a kettle, which Goterah had brought with him, to boil the missionary in for his breakfast. The experiment was tried again. The Episcopal missionaries at Cape Palmas imagined that the peace and safety in which they had been able to live and labor for several years, were in no degree owing to colonial protection, and they resolved to act accordingly. They commenced a station at Half Cavally, about 13 miles east of the Cape, among the natives, but within the territory of the Colony ; another at Rockbokah, about eight miles farther east, and beyond the limits of the colonial territory; and another at Taboo, some 17 miles beyond Rockbokah. In 1842, some of the natives near these last named sta- tions seized the schooner Mary Carver, of Salem, murdered the cap- tain and crew, and plundered the vessel. The perpetrators of this out- rage soon became known to Mr. Minor at Taboo, and Mr. Appleby at Rockbokah. To guard against exposure and enrich themselves, the chiefs entered into a conspiracy to kill the missionaries and plunder their premises. The missionaries, being aware of the design, were on their guard, and its execution was deferred to a more convenient op- portunity, and as Mr. Appleby supposed, was at length abandoned. Meanwhile, Mr. Minor died. The natives within the colonial territory agreed to force the colonists to pay higher prices for provisions, and prepared for war. Early in December, 1843, Mr. Payne, at Half Cavally, finding himself surrounded by armed natives, from whom his life and the lives of his family were in danger, sent to Cape Palmas 4 26 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1482— 1723 —Roman Catholic Missions. for rescue. When his messenger arrived, the U. S. squadron had just come in sight. A vessel was immediately sent for his relief A force was landed, he and his family were escorted to the shore, taken on board and conveyed to Cape Palmas. On proceeding eastward, to punish the murderers of the crew of the Mary Carver, the squadron took off Mr. Appleby from his dangerous position at Rockbokah. The presence of the squadron soon induced the natives to make peace with the Colony ; but for several weeks it was supposed that the Cavally station could never be safely resumed. Both stations, however, have since been resumed, and two new stations have been commenced within the jurisdiction of the Colony. We may then consider it as proved, by facts of the plainest signifi- cancy, that up to the commencement of the year 1844, unarmed men, whether colonists or missionaries, white or black, native or immigrant, could not live safely in that part of the world without colonial protection. PART III. Missionary Labors in Western Africa, and their Results. Perhaps a clearer light may be thrown upon the subject, by a con- nected view of the various attempts that have been made, to introduce civilization and Christianity into Guinea. It need occupy but little space, as the history of far the greater part of them records only the attempts and their failure. The Portuguese, we have seen, commenced and prosecuted their discoveries under authority from the Pope, to con(|uer and convert all unbelievers from Cape Bojador to India. We have seen, too, what a pompous commencement they made at Elmina. Their establishments were at one time numerous along the whole coast of Upper Guinea, and as far north as Arguin. It is said that they everywhere had chapels, and made efforts at proselytism. The language of historians seems to imply that even the Portuguese mulattoes, when driven in- land from the Grain Coast in IGOl, built chapels in the interior, and strove to make proselytes. In Congo, they put their candidate on the throne by force of arms, and thus converted the nation. In Upper Guinea, they converted a few, and but a few ; as the negroes generally would neither give up polygamy, nor submit to auricular confession. In 1007, Dapper states that the Jesuits found some on the Rio Grande who were willing to receive baptism, but not being prepared for it, it was deferred. The same year, he tells us, the Jesuit Bareira baptized the king of Sierra Leone, his family, and several others. He adds, about l()70, " the king still receives baptism, but practices idolatry to please his sul)jects." According to Bareira's own account, king Philij), whom he baptized, was a hundred years old, and was one of the Curnl)as. He professes to have made a more fivorable impression on the natives, because he did not engage in the slave trade and other branches of commerce, as all former j)riests there had done. Labat COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 27 Roman Catholic Missions.— 1482— 1723. informs us, that in 1(306, Don Philip, a Christian, reigned at Burre, on the south side of the Sierra Leone river, and kept a Jesuit and a Por- tuguese Capuchin, who preached Christianity, but without effect. Villault, however, says, the same year, that " the Portuguese settled here have made many converts." Barbot asserts that the Portuguese had converted many in Buhii ; that is, many of the BuUoms, on the north of the river. The truth seems to be, that they persuaded a con- siderable number of individuals to receive baptism, but made no gene- ral impression upon the people ; .so that Labat, himself a missionary, considered their attempt a failure. As to the character of their con- verts, his Don Philip, keeping a Jesuit and a Capuchin to preach Christianity, and yet practicing idolatry to please his subjects, is doubt- less a fair sample. In 1721, one native of some consequence, nine miles up the river, is mentioned as a Romanist. He had been bap- tized in Portugal. The expedition for the conversion of the Jaloffs, we have seen, was defeated by the assassination of Bemoi. Still, they made some converts in that quarter. But everywhere north of Congo, their converts seem to have been confined almost wholly to the depend- ents on their trading houses ; and when these were given up, their re- ligion soon disappeared. The French missions, so far as we have been able to discover, com- menced in 1035, when five Capuchins were sent to the mouth of the Assinee. In a short time, and before they accomplished any thing, three of them died, and the other two retired to Axim. In 16^6, sev- eral Capuchins of Normandy were sent as missionaries to Cape Verde, one of whom had the title of prefect ; " but they left the country, be- cause they could not live in it." In 1674, another company of Ca- puchins attempted a mission, probably somewhere on the Ivory or Gold Coast ; but nothing is known of its results. In 1687, father Gonsalvez, a Dominican, on his way to India, stopped at Assinee, and left father Henry Cerizier, with a house and six slaves, to commence a mission. Cerizier died in a few months. In 1700, father Loyer, who had been sometime in the West Indies, was nominated by the Propaganda and appointed by the Pope, as Apostolic Prefect of Mis- sions in Guinea. He embarked at Rochelle, April 18, 1701, having with him father Jaques Villard as a missionary, and Aniaba, who, he says, had been given to Gonsalvez by Zenan, king of Assinee, and ed- ucated and baptized in France. The European Mercury announced his baptism in the following paragraph : — " Here is another pagan prince brought over to the Christian faith ; — namely, Lewis Hannibal, king of Syria, on the Gold Coast of Afri- ca; who, after being a long time instructed in the Christian principles, and baptized by the bishop of Meaux, the king being his godfather, received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper on the 27th of February, from the Cardinal de Noailles, and offered at the same time a picture of the Blessed Virgin, to whose protection he submitted his territory ; having made a vow, at his return thither, to use his utmost endeavors towards the conversion of his subjects." On arriving at Grand Sesters, Aniaba went on shore, and, Loyer says, "lived eight days among the negresses, in a way which edified nobody." They touched on the duaqua coast, and found the people 28 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS, 1482— 1723.— Roman Catholic Missions. to be cannibals, eating negroes frequently, and all the white men they could get into their possession. June 25, they reached the Assinee. After a short negotiation for the ground, a fort was built near the east- ern shore of the river, at its mouth, and a garrison left for its defence. Aniaba proved worthless. The mission accomplished nothing. Loyer left in 1703. The garrison found it difficult to maintain itself against repeated attacks, and in 1705 the whole establishment was given up. Who this Aniaba really was, is a matter of some uncertainty. In France, he was certainly represented as the son of Zenan, king of the Assinees, sent thither for education; and in this character, he served for a while as a captain in the French cavalry. Loyer, writing after his disappointment, and with evident mortification, merely represents him as one whom Zenan had given to Gonsalvez. Bosman, to whom we are indebted for the extract from the Mercury, says that he was originally a slave among the Assinees; that a Frenchman obtained possession of him and carried him home, intending to keep him for a valet ; that he had shrewdness enough to gull French bishops and car- dinals into the belief of his royal des^cent ; and that on his return, he was forced back into the service of his old Assinee master. Loyer, while there, made some missionary efforts. On one occasion, in the presence of the natives, he broke a fetish into a thousand pieces, trod it under his feet, and then cast it into the fire. They all fled, say- ing that the lightning would blast him, or the earth swallow him up. Seeing that he remained unharmed, they said it was because he did not believe ; on which he exhorted them to be unbelievers too. But his exhortations were in vain. His English editor asks, — " How would he have liked to have had one of his own fetishes so treated ? A negro, or a Protestant, would be put to death for such an offence in most popish countries." Villault, in 1667, had used the same argu- ment on the Gold Coast, and as he thought, with more success. He broke the negroes' fetishes, and told them to sign themselves with the cross, and the fetish could not hurt them. Many came to him and ex- changed their fetishes for crucifixes, which they evidently regarded as only stronger fetishes. Loyer represents the negroes as trickish and subtle, great liars and thieves, " the most deceitful and ungrateful people in the universe." The first Spanish mission to this part of the world, so far as we can learn, was commenced in 1052, when fifteen Capuchins were sent to Sierra Leone. Twelve of them were taken prisoners by the Portu- guese, who were then at war with Spain. The other three are said to have converted some of the people, baptized some of their princes, and built churches in some of their chief towns. They were reinforc- ed in 1657, and again in 1CG4. In 1723, the Pope's nuncio in Spain announced that the mission was extinct. In 1659, certain Capuchins of Castile attem[)ted a mission at Ardra, on the Slave Coast; but they soon gave it up, on finding that the king only pretended to turn Chris- tian, for the sake of encouraging trade with Spain. We iiiid no mention of any other Roman Catholic mission in Upper Guinea, till the late attempt at Cape Palmas. From the formal com- mencement of the mission at Elmina, in 1482, eleven years after the complete discovery of the coast, to the abandonment of Sierra Leone, COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 29 Protestant Missions.— Moravian. English —1736—1816. in 1723, was 241 years of Roman Catholic missionary effort. After so long a trial, and for the greater part of the time in the most favorable circumstances for the missionaries, the religion of Guinea proved too strong an antagonist for the religion of Rome. What little impression they made on a few of their dependents, was soon effaced, and Roman- ism in Guinea has long since ceased to exist. A boastful view of Ro- manism and its missions, in the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith for June, 183'J, claims no mission in all Western Africa, nor any Cath- olics, except in the French settlement on the Senegal, any where be- tween Congo and Morocco. Probably, however, they might claim the inmates of a small Portuguese trading house or two, somewhere about the mouth of the Rio Grande. Of the Dutch, we only find reason to believe that they made some slight attempts to proselyta the negroes immediately around their castles and trading houses. \The Portuguese say that the negroes, " being barbarians, readily enough swallowed Cal\'in's poison ; " the meaning of which doubtless is, that the Dutch taught them to despise popery. Artus mentions attempts of Dutch residents to instruct them, and speaks of one who had been so instructed by a monk at Ehnina, that he was able to quote Scripture in reply. Bosman, a sturdy Dutch Protestant, says that if it were possible to convert them, the Romanists would stand the best chance for success ; because they already agree with them in several particulars, especially in their ridiculous ceremo- nies, their abstinence from certain kinds of food at certain times, their reliance on antiquity, and the like. The negroes seem to have rea- soned differently, and to have thought so small a change not worth the making. Bosman's remark, however, shows that the Dutch accom- plished but little among them. 'j'he Moravians were the first Protestants who seriously undertook the work of missions in Guinea. In 1736, they sent out two mission- aries, one of whom was a mulatto, born in that country. His colleague soon died, and he returned. Their efforts were resumed from time to time, till 1770. In all, five distinct efforts were made, and eleven missionaries sent out. The mulatto accompanied several of the expe- ditions, and died in 17G9. Tlie other ten all died in Guinea, before they had been there long enough to be useful. Probably, all these attempts were on the Gold Coast. The first English mission to Western Africa seems to have been that of the Rev. Thomas Thompson, in 1751. He had labored five years in Ne.w Jersey, as a missionary of the English Society for Propa- gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Of course, he must have felt the influence of David Brainerd's labors among the Indians in New Jersey; the most successful portions of which were from June, 1745, to November, 1746. With the consent of the society that employed him, Mr. Thompson went to Cape Coast Castle, on the Gold Coast, to labor for the conversion of the natives. He acted as chaplain of the Fort, till his health failed and he returned to England in 1756. Mean- while he had sent three natives to England to be educated for the min- istry ; one of whom, Philip Quaque, received orders in 1765, returned to Africa, and acted as chaplain of the Fort till his death, October 17, I8I6, aged 75 years. While he was chaplain, a school was set up 30 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1787 — 1804 — Sierra Leone. — Capt. Beaver. — English Missions. in the Fort, at which some of the natives received the rudiments of an English education. We shall have occasion to refer again to Quaque and his influence. In 1787, an English company, of which Granville Sharpe was the most conspicuous member, commenced a colony of free blacks from America at Sierra Leone. The land on which they settled was pur- chased of the natives, who soon after attempted to drive them off", or exterminate them. When visited in 1789, half their number had per- ished by violence or disease, and the remainder had taken refuge on Bance Island. In 17!) I and 1792, the colony was reinforced by I ,'200 blacks from Jamaica, who had at first settled in Nova Scotia, but found the climate too cold for them. The history of this colony is marked by an almost uninterrupted series of gross blunders and misman- agement ; but being a well meant enterprise, mainly on right principles, and sustained with true English pertinacity, it has continued to grow, and has been of im'mense value to Africa. For twenty years it watched the operations of the British slave trade, and furnished much of the information which induced the British Parliament to abolish it in 1807. And when that act had been passed, it could have been little else than a dead letter, had there not been a rendezvous for the squadron, a seat for Courts of Admiralty, and a receptacle for recaptured Africans, at Sierra Leone. But for this colonization of Africa with the civilized descendants of Africans, that act might never have been passed, and if passed, must have been nearly inoperative. In 1792, an attempt was made to promote civilization in Africa by a colony of whites, of which Capt. Beaver, an officer in the expedition, afterwards published an account, which we have not been able to ob- tain. We only learn that the attempt was made by a " philanthropic association" in England ; that they sent out three ships with 275 colonists; that they commenced a settlement on Bulama Island, near the mouth of the Rio Grande ; that they employed only the free labor of colonists and hired negroes; that they suff'ered much from the African fever, many died, others returned, and in two years the colony was extinct. In 1795, several English families went to Sierra Leone, for the pur- pose of establishing a mission among the Foulahs ; but after arriving in Africa and considering the obstacles, they returned without com- mencing their labors. In 1797, the Edinburgh Missionary Society sent out two mission- aries, who commenced a mission among the Soosoos on the Rio Pon- gas ; the Glasgow Society sent out two, who commenced on the Island of Bananas ; and the London Society two, who began among the Bul- loms. In 1800, one of them, Mr. Brunton, returned, enfeebled by dis- ease; but afterwards engaged in a mission at Karass near the Caspian Sea. Mr. Greig, his colleague, had been murdered by a party of Foulahs. The other four had fallen victims to the climate. The Church Missionary Society, then called the "Society for Mis- sions in Africa and the East," sent out its first missionaries in 1804. They were (n^rmans ; for, after several years of effort, no English mis- sionaries could be procured. Two years before, the Sierra Leone Company had been seeking five years in vain for a chaplain. The COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 31 English Missions.— 1804— 1816. missionaries arrived at Sierra Leone, April 14. A subsequent Report states, that they would have been instructed to commence their labors in the colony, had there not been obstacles to their usefulness there, of the nature of which we are not informed. As it was, they resided in the colony, and sought for stations beyond its borders. In 1806, two others were sent out, one of whom, Mr. Nylander, was induced to serve as chaplain of the colony, which he continued to do till 1^12. These two last were accompanied by William F'antimani, the son of a chief at Rio Pongas, educated at Clapham. The Report for 180S informs us, that the missionaries had continued their search for stations out of the colony, but had everywhere been met by insurmountable obstacles. That year, however, in March, they were able to commence two sta- tions on the Rio Pongas, Fantimania and Bashia. Fantimania in a short time was found impracticable. It was abandoned, and a new station commenced at Canoffee. In 1809, two others were sent out, one of whom soon died. One of the older brethren also died. In 1811, two more were sent out. In ISI'2, three mechanics were sent out. Mr. Nylander resigned his chaplaincy, and commenced a new station among the Bulloms. In the autumn, the chiefs on the Rio Pongas held a palaver, in relation to sending the missionaries out of the country, on the pretence that their presence injured the trade, that is, the slave trade. In 1813, two of the mechanics and the wife of one of them died. Troubles with the natives continued. In 1814, they suffered much from sickness. The other mechanic and the widow of another died. The opposition of the natives increased. A new sta- tion was commenced on the Rio Dembia, and called Gambler. Mr. Klein, the missionary, finding no prospect of usefulness, removed to the Isles de Los, staid there half a year, and meeting insurmountable opposition, removed to Kapuru, on the continent, among the Bagoes. These events may have extended into the next year. Their attention was now turning to the colony. In 1815, seven male and female mis- sionaries and two educated natives were sent out. Four of the seven, two of their children, and two of the older members of the mission died. In January, the three principal buildings at Bashia, with the libraries, were burned by the natives. Mr. Hughes and his wife, one of the seven above mentioned, set out for home to save her life; but stopped at Goree, as she was unable to proceed. Here her health im- proved, and they opened a school. In 1816, four teachers with their wives were sent out. The Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Assistant Secre- tary, visited the mission. He thought the colony, which now contain- ed 9,000 or 10,000 inhabitants, most of whom were recaptured Afri- cans, the most promising field of usefulness. The " Christian Institu- tion," had already a goodly number of pupils, and they were erecting extensive buildings for its permanent accommodation. Governor Mac Carthy wrote : — " I conceive that the first effectual step towards the establishment of Christianity, will be found in the division of this peninsula into parishes, appointing to each a clergyman to instruct his flock in Christianity, and enlightening their minds to the various duties and advantages inherent to civilization ; thus making Sierra Leone the base, from whence future exertions may be extended, step by step, to the very interior of Africa." The division into parishes was in pro- 32 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1816— 1815 — English Missions. gress. Bashia was given up. Preaching was commenced at Lissa and Jesnlu, near Canoffee. A chapel was built at Lissa. In 1817, the troubles from the natives continued to increase. The Society an- nounced its expectation of" being compelled to abandon all its stations beyond the limits of the colony. In 1SI8, February 10, the mission- aries, in a general meeting at Freetown, decided to withdraw from the Rio Pongas. Those stations were accordingly abandoned. It was also found necessary to retire from Yongroo, among the Bulloms, though only seven miles from Freetown, the capital of the colony. Goree was restored to the French, and the station abandoned. July 14, a proclamation in the Sierra Leone Gazette announced the occu- pation of the Isles de Los, as British Territory. Mr. Klein was ap- pointed pastor there, closed his station among the Bagoes, and entered upon the duties of his office. The Society had now no station beyond the limits of the colony. It was intimated, that their relinquishment might be only temporary; but it has never yet been found advisable to renew them. According to the latest accounts, this mission now has 16 stations, (35 laborers, 1,560 communicants, 6,270 attendants on public worship, and 4,932 pupils in its 46 schools. One of these stations is at Port Lokkoh, ill the Timmanee country ; but whether in that part of the country which has been fully ceded to the colony, or that which is merely in a state of dependent alliance, we have not been able to as- certain. The English Wesleyan mission in Sierra Leone, which was com- menced about the year 1817, reports 30 congregations, 35 paid teach- ers, 300 teachers of all kinds, 3,086 communicants, 2,384 pupils in its schools, and an average of 6,700 attendants on public worship. Besides the Colony at Sierra Leone, the British Government had, in 1842, about 1,500 recaptured Africans settled on the river Gambia; a part of them at Bathurst, on a small island at its mouth, and the re- mainder at Macarthy's Island, 300 miles up the river. The English Wesleyans commenced a station at Bathurst in 1821, and one at Ma- carthy's Island in 1832. The Gambia mission, including these two stations and several out-stations, reports 8 paid teachers, 440 commu- nicants, and 371 ])upils in its schools. The English VVesleyans have also a mission on the Gold Coast, the result of the labors of Philip Qua([uc and of the mission at Sierra Leone. After the death of Quaque, several European chaplains were sent out, some of whom died, and others soon returned. The school was generally kept up, and at length put on a permanent foundation. In 1831, some of the natives educated in that school, associated to- gether for the accjuisition of Christian knowledge. One of them, being at Sierra Leone, saw missionaries there, and brought back to his associates some idea of missionary operations. Through the agency of the Governor, they repeatedly requested the Church Mis- sionary Society to send them a missionary ; but in vain. At lengtii, a pious Wesleyan ship-master from Bristol became acquainted with them, and on his return to England, persuaded his brethren to enter this field, so white for the harvest. They sent out the Rev. Mr. Diinwell, who preached his first sermon in Africa, January 4, 1835, COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 33 English Missions— 1840-1846. was attacked with the fever the next June, and soon died. Two others were then sent out, and died. Others took their places, till, in 1840, ten, male and female, had been sent out, of whom only four sur- vived. In Iri45, they reported four stations, 59 paid teachers, 106 la- borers of all kinds, 754 pupils in their schools, and 792 communi- cants, in a population of some 20 English merchants and perhaps 10,000 natives who had been for several generations subject to English laws. One of the stations at this mission is at Comassie, or Kumasi, the capital of the Ashantees, where a single missionary is attempting a school. Attached to this mission, is a station at Badagry, on the Slave Coast, which reports two stations, Abbekuta and Yoruba, in the interior, both unoccupied. The Church Missionary Society also reports two Euro- pean and one native clergymen and three native assistants at Badagry. The attempt at this place has grown out of the colony and missions at Sierra Leone. A considerable number of recaptured Africans who had been converted and civilized there, have returned to this, their native region. Some h.ive settled at Badagry, and others have gone into the interior. In consequence of their labors and representations, the Church Missionary Society established its mission there in 1S45, and the Wesleyan about the same time, — perhaps even earlier. These missions, sustained by civilized natives and defended by the guns of a British fort, have as yet been fruitful only in promises of success. In 1841, the English Baptists commenced amission on the Island of Fernando Po, near the mouths of the Niger. It was intended to coop- erate with the celebrated Niger expedition, and with the civilizing and evangelical influences which should follow in its train. It was expect- ed that the Island would be ceded to England, to serve as a basis for its operations on the Niger. The mission was located at Clarence, on its northern extremity. The Niger expedition returned, having suffer- ed an appalling loss of life, and accomplished nothing. The mission, however, was continued. A supply of assistants who could endure the climate was expected from among the converted and lately emanci- pated slaves of the West Indies, some of whom arrived and joined the mission in September, 1843. Several out-stations were occupied on the Island, and several excursions were made to the adjacent conti- nent ; and at length, one of them settled at Bimbia, near the Came- roons river. Meanwhile, the British government relinquished the plan of holding the Island ; and about the close of the year 1845, an agent of the Spanish government arrived, of whose orders and proceedings no full account has yet been published. It is known, however, that the Protestant missionaries were ordered to leave the Island, excepting one, who was allowed to remain for the present, to take care of the property. In March, 1846, they had not removed ; but death had been making fearful ravages among them; and the Romish priests who ar- rived nearly at the same time with the order, had begun to droop and be discouraged under the influence of the climate, and to think of aban- doning their enterprise. As to the continuance of the station at Bimbia after the breaking up of the mission to which it is an appendage, the Society has as yet expressed no opinion. A mission is, or is to be, commenced at or near the Old Calabar 6 34 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 1773 — 184G. — American Missions. river, by the Presbyterians of Jamaica. The Presbytery assert that Brit- ish Christians " see plainly that the fittest men for the evangelization of Africa are the Native Christians of the West Indies, headed, in the first instance at least, by European missionaries inured to the tropics." A missionary was on his way at the commencement of the present year, and several native Africans from Jamaica had been appointed to accompany him. " It is proposed to found a settlement either at Old Calabar, or some other suitable place in the surrounding country ; not so much as a settlement of Colonists, as to be a centre of operation where the moral and religious improvement of the natives may be promoted." The German Missionary Society has, within a very few years, com- menced a mission at Aquapim, near Accra, on the Gold Coast; but it reports little, as yet, except loss of life, " many difficulties, and much opposition." The first American who is known to have attempted any thing for the conversion of Africa, was the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D D., of New- port, R. I. Becoming convinced that both the slave trade and slavery were unjustifiable, he began not only to preach, but to act accordingly. His plan was, to educate natives of Africa, and send them back as mis- sionaries. To this work, he appropriated the price of a slave that he had formerly owned and sold; besides making repeatedly, liberal appropri- ations from the proceeds of his theological works, and other resources. He corresponded with individuals and public bodies in America and in Europe; and among others, with Granville Sharpe, who afterwards became the founder of Sierra Leone. In August, 1773, he and the Rev, Dr. Stiles, afterwards President Stiles, issued a circular, inviting contributions ; in reply to which, funds were received to the amount of more than a hundred pounds, and several ecclesiastical bodies expressed their approbation. Several young men, natives of Africa, were put to school. With respect to one of them, he corresponded with Philip Quaque, the Negro chaplain at Cape Coast Castle, who expressed great joy at the prospect of their return to preach the gospel to their countrymen. These efforts were soon interrupted by the war of Inde- pendence, and though afterwards resumed, were never brought to a successful issue. Yet two of his "promising young men" were per- mitted to visit Africa in their old age. They were Deacons Newport Gardner, aged 75, and Salmur Nubia,* aged 70, who arrived at Mon- rovia in February, I82G, and died of the fever the same year. The next American attempt, of any importance, was the planting of Liberia, in I8'22; the history of which is before the world, and need not be repeated here. It has led to the establishment of two civilized republics, the planting of nearly thirty Christian Churches, and the conversion and civilization of hundreds of the natives; besides all that it has done for the suppression of piracy and the slave trade, and the general improvement of that part of the world. *lii the Census of Liberia lor 1843, he is called John Nubia. COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 35 Recapitulation. PART lY. Recapitulation. — Conclusion. Such have been the leading facts in respect to Western Africa from the time of Ibn Haukal to the present day — about nine centuries. From the first purchase of negro slaves by Portuguese voyagers, has been 404 years ; from the first discovery of the negro country by the Portuguese, 399 years; from the discovery of Cape Mesurado, 384 years, and from the complete exploration of the coast of Upper Guinea, 375 years; and this, even if we reject the accounts of the French, who profess to have had trading posts where Liberia now is 500 years ago. At our earliest dates, the natives were idolaters of the grossest kind, polygamists, slave holders, slave traders, kidnappers, oflTerers of human sacrifices, and some of them cannibals. For four centuries, or five, if we receive the French account, they have been in habits of constant intercourse with tiie most profligate, the most licen- tious, the most rapacious, and in every respect the vilest and most cor- rupting classes of men to be found in the civilized world,— with slave traders, most of whom were pirates in every thing but courage, and many of whom committed piracy whenever they dared, — and with pirates in the fullest sense of the word. Before the year 1600, the in- fluence of these men had been sufficient to displace the native lan- guages in the transaction of business, and substitute the Portuguese, which was generally understood and used in their intercourse with foreigners ; and since that time, the Portuguese has been in like man- ner displaced by the English. By this intercourse, the natives were constantly stimulated to crimes of the deepest dye, and thoroughly trained to all the vices of civilization which savages are capable of learning. During the most fearful predominance of undisguised piracy, from 1688 to 1730, their demoralization went on, especially upon the Windward Coast, more rapidly than ever before, and became so in- tense, that it was impossible to maintain trading houses on shore; so that, on this account, as we are expressly informed, in 1730 there was not a single European factory on that whole coast. Trade was then carried on by ships passing along the coast, and stopping wherever the natives kindled a fire as a signal for traffic. And this continued to be the usual mode of intercourse on that coast, when the British Parlia- ment, in 1791, began to collect evidence concerning the slave trade. Nor were factories re-established there, till the slave trade and its attendant vices had diminished the danger by depopulating the country. It appears, too, that nothing has ever impeded or disturbed the con- stant flow of this bad influence, but Colonization and its consequences. The colony of Sierra Leone was planted as a means of resisting and ultimately suppressing the slave trade. The testimony which it col- lected and furnished during twenty years of labor and suffering, was the principal means of inducing the British Parliament to pass the act 36 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. Rccapilulalion. of 1807, abolishing that traffic. From that time lo the present, it has rendered indispensable assistance in all that has been done to enforce that act. Through its influence, the slave trade is suppressed, slavery itself is abolished, and a Christian and civilized negro community* of 40,000 or 50,000 persons is established, on the territory which ii con- trols. Liberia, only about one third as old, has expelled slave traders and pirates from UOO miles of coast, with the exception of a single point, brought a native population of 10,000 or 15,000, by their own consent, under the protection and control of a civilized republican government which does not tolerate slavery, and brought from 60,000 to 100,000 more to renounce the slave trade and other barbarous usa- ages. Still later, another British settlement of recaptured Africans on the Gambia has begun to do the same good work in that region. Be- yond Cape Palmas, a kw British, Dutch and Danish forts overawe the natives in their immediate vicinity, and some of them protect missions. Elsewhere, the work is not even begun. The summary of Christian missions without Colonization may be given in a few words. The Roman Catholics come first. Omitting the French statement, of a chapel built at Elmina in 1387, let us begin with the Portuguese mission at that place, in 148'2. Romish missions continued till that of the Spanish Capuchins at Sierra Leone was given up in 1723, which was 241 years. They made no impression, except upon their immediate dependents; and what they made, was soon to- tally obliterated. Their stations were numerous, along the whole coast ; but every vestige of their influence has been gone, for many generations. Protestant missionary attempts were commenced by the Moravians in 1736, 110 years ago, and continued till 1770. Five attempts cost eleven lives, and eflfected nothing. The account of them scarce fills a page in Crantz^s "History of the Brethren." English attempts have been more numerous. That of Mr. Thomp- son, in 1756, amounted only to a chaplaincy, and sometimes, but not always, a school, till it received an impulse from Sierra Leone. That of Capt. Beaver at Bulama Island, in 1792, does not appear to have been distinctively of a missionary character, though it must have con- templated the introduction and diffusion of Christianity, as one of its results and means of success. It failed in two years, and with the loss of more than 100 lives. The mission to the Foulahs, in 1795, found, when at Sierra Leone, insuperable obstacles to success, and returned without commencing its labors. The three stations commenced by the London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Societies in 1797, were extinct, and five of the six missionaries dead, in 1800. The Church Missionary Society sent out its first missionaries in 1804 ; but it was four years before they could find a place out of the Colony, where they could commence their labors. They established and attempted to maintain ten stations, viz. Fantimania, Bashia, Canoflee, Lissa and Jesulu, on or near the Rio Pongas, Gambicr on the Rio Deinbia, Gambler on the • That is. Christian and civilized in respect lo the character of its government and institutions, arid the predominant character of the people ; though multitudes of the iiiliabitanls, but lately rescued from the holds of slave ships, are just begin- ning to learn what Christianity and civilization are. COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 37 Recapitulation. Isles de Los, Gambler among the Bagoes, Goree, and Yongroo among the Bulloms. Goree was given up to the French and abandoned. The hostility of the natives, who preferred the slave traders to them, drove the missionaries from the other nine, and forced them to take refuge in the Colony of Sierra Leone, the only place where they could labor with safety and with hope. Here, without counting Sierra Leone and Goree, are eighteen Protestant missionary attempts before the settle- ment of Liberia, all of which failed from the influence of the climate and the hostility of the natives. Since the settlement of Liberia, at- tempts to sustain missions without colonial protection have been made at Half Cavally, within the territorial limits of Cape Palmas, and at Rockbokah and Taboo, in its immediate vicinity, and within the reach of its constant influence. The result has been already stated. The mission of the Presbyterian Board has been removed to Settra Kroo, about seventeen miles from the Mississippi settlement at Siiiou. As the Kroos have bound themselves by their late treaty with the Liberi- an government, " to foster and protect the American missionaries;" and as the mission is placed where no hostile act can long be conceal- ed from that government, it may be regarded as safe under colonial protection. The mission of the American Board has been removed from Cape Palmas, about 1 250 miles, to the River Gaboon, in Lower Guinea, and placed among a people, whom the missionaries represent as much superior to any within the region embraced in these re- searches. Its labors here commenced in July, 1642. It is yet uncer- tain, therefore, whether it will be able to maintain its ground, even as long as did the English mission at the Rio Pongas. An attempt has been made to establish an American mission at Kaw Mendi, between Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the vicinity of both colonies dimin- ishes the danger. The missionary has been once ordered out of the country by the native authorities, as an obstacle to the slave trade; but his neighbors at Sierra Leone have prevailed upon them to let him re- main. 'I'he missions on the Gold and Slave coasts, which have grown out of those at Sierra Leone; the Baptist and Presbyterian missions near the Bight of Benin, which rely on settlements of emancipated slaves from the West Indies as the indispensable means of their suc- cess ; the missions of various nations in South Africa, nearly all of which are within the Cape Colony, and the remainder among tribes under its influence and deriving satety from its power ; a search, which the Church Missionary Society is now making, for a station in the vicinity of Zanzibar; an attempt to open intercourse with the nomi- nal Christians of Abyssinia; a small English mission to the Copts at Cairo, and still smaller French mission at Algiers, — if this last yet exists, — complete the list, so far as we can learn, of Protestant mis- sionary attempts on the continent of Africa. To these, add the attempt of Capt. Beaver and others to promote civilization by a colony of Englishmen at Bulama Island in 1792, and the disastrous Niger Expedition of the British government, and we have the sum total of Protestant expeditions for the improvement of African character. The failure of the Niger expedition prostrates for the present, and probably forever, the hope which it was intended to realize; the hope of opening an intercourse with the less demoralized nations of the 38 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. Recapitulation. interior, by ascending that river. It has shown that we must reach the countries on the Niger from the west, by the route pointed out by Gen. Harper in 1817, and followed by the Portuguese mulaltoes in IGOO. Of all Atlantic ports, Monrovia is probably the nearest to the boatable waters of the Niger. The Atlantic termination of the route must be somewhere from Liberia to Sierra Leone, inclusive. Nor is there any reason to hope that this route can ever be made available for any purpose of practical utility, till Colonization has, in a good degree, civilized the country through which it must pass. We ?nust begin by civilizing and Christianizing the population on the coast.* And tliis work is going on successfully, by the colonization of the coast with civilized men of African descent. Sierra Leone has done much, notwithstanding its great and peculiar disadvantages. Its thousands, among whom all the safety of civilization is enjoyed, have already been mentioned. Liberia Proper has under its jurisdiction, a population of 15,000 or more, among whom any missionary who can endure the climate, may labor without danger and without interruption. Of these, more than 10,000 are natives of the country, in the process of civilization. Of these natives, about 1,500 are so far civilized that the heads of families among them are thought worthy to vote, and do vote, at elections ; 8531 are communicants in the several churches ; and the remainder, generally, are merely unconverted human beings, who have some respect for Christianity, and none for any other relig- ion. Among these, neither the slave trade nor slavery is tolerated. Besides these, nuinerous tribes, comprising a population of from 50,000 to 100,000, and according to some statements, a still greater number, have placed themselves by treaty under the civilizing influ- ence of the colony ; have made the slave trade and various other bar- barous and heathenish usages unlawful, and many of them have stip- ulated to foster and protect American missionaries. The territory of these allied tribes is supposed to extend half way to the waters of the Niger. Several missionary stations have already been established among them, with perfect confidence in their safety. * If any are alarmed at the supposed expeiisivencss of our enterprise, we would Ruirgest to them, in tlie first place, that tlie ihonirht of leaving Africa forever in her present horrible condition, for the sake of avoidmg any e.xpense whatever, is unchristian, and not to be entiTtainud for a moment. Alrica must be converted ; and whatever expeiijie is really nece.ssary for that purpose, must be incurred. In the second place, we would call attention to the expense of the squadron of 80 guns, which the United Slates is bound by tiie Ashbutlon treaty, to keep on the African coast for the suppression of the slave trade. According; lo an estimate of the Secretary of the Navy, Dec. 2!), 1842, tlie cost of two sloops of war and four brigs or schooners, is ,l!42'l,242 ; annual cnst or ie[)aiis and wear and tear, !|!4t1,000; otlier annual expenses ,'j!24I.I82 The whole slave tradinir coast of Western Africa is not more than ;i,(HJIt miles. At the prices hitherto paid lor territory lor coloniz- \i\g, (he annual exuenses of our squadron for two years would more than pay lor the whole of it. The expense ol watcliinir the slave fu<',tory at New Seslers witli the smallest vessel in ihe squadron, for two months, would be enoujrh to purchase the place, settle it with emancipated slaves from Tennessee, and thus stop the slave trade there fi)rever. The Briti>;h (rovernmeni, accoidmg to ])arliamentary returns in 1S.)4, were ex|ieudinir !|;.'>.i71t.(>8H annually lor the same purpnso. A small part of this, judiciously i^xpended, would be euoujrh for all the purposes of coloni/ation in Africa. t According to tiic census of September. 1843. COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. 39 The Maryland colony at Cape Palmas, though but twelve years old, and numbering only 700 or 800 emigrants, has also proved a safe field for missionary labor. The British government has settled about 1 ,500 liberated Africans from Sierra Leone, on the Gambia ; some of them at Bathtirst, near the mouth of the river; and some of them at Macarthy's Island, 300 miles from its mouth. At both of these settlements, the Engli>h Wes- leyan missions are flourishing, and report, in all, 440 communicants. It has usually been supposed, that sensible and candid men may learn from experience. If so, it would seem that such a variety of experiments, extending through four centuries, and all pointing to the same conclusion, might suffice to teach them. Consider the numerous attempts by Romanists of different nations and orders, Portuguese, Spaniards and French, Capuchins, Dominicans and Jesuits, and by Protestants of divers nations and communions, to sustain missions there without colonies, and always with the same result. Consider, too, that every attempt to introduce Christianity and civilization by colonizing Africa with people of African descent, has been, in a greater or less degree successful. Every such colony planted, still subsists, and wherever its jurisdiction extends, has banished piracy and the slave trade; extinguished domestic slavery; put an end to human sacrifices and cannibalism ; established a constitutional civil government, trial by jury and the reign of law; introduced the arts, usages and comforts of civilized life, and imparted them to more or less of the natives; established schools, built houses of worship, gathered churches, sus- tained the preaching of the gospel, protected missionaries, and seen native converts received to Christian communion. Not a cvluny has been attempted, without leaeling to all these results. In view of these facts, — while we readily grant that some Liberians sing, pray and exhort too loud at their religious meetings; that some profess much piety, who have little or none ; that some of the people are indolent and some dishonest, and that some of their children play pranks in school, all greatly to the annoyance of white missionaries worn down by the fever, — still, we claim that the influence of Coloni- zation is favorable to the success of Missions, to the progress of civili- zation, and of Christian piety. As witnesses, we show, in the Colo- nies of Cape Palmas, Liberia Proper, Sierra Leone and on the Gam- bia, more than two hundred* missionaries and assistant missionaries, many of them of African descent, and some of them native Africans, now engaged in successful labors for the regeneration of Africa. We show the fruits of their labors, — more than five thousand regular com- municants in Christian churches, more than twelve thousand regular attendants on the preaching of the gospel, and many tens of thousands of natives, perfectly accessible to missionary labors. All this has been done since the settlement of Sierra Leone in 1787, and nearly all since the settlement of Liberia in 1822. We show, as the result of the opposite system, after nearly four centuries of experiment, and more than a century of Protestant experiment, a single station, with one * There were, in 1845, 65 EncrJish Episcopal and 35 Wesleyan missionaries, with salaries, at Sierra Leone, besides 300 or more who statedly rendered gratuitous assistance ; and unpaid assistants are numerous at several other missions. 40 COLONIZATION AND MISSIONS. Conclusion.- missionary and perhaps one or two assistants, at Kaw Mendi, under tlie shadow of two colonies, and one mission which has retired from the field of our inquiries to Lower Guinea ; neither of which has occupied its ground long enough to exert any appreciable influence in its vicini- ty, or even to ascertain the possibility of effecting a permanent estab- lishment. We claim, therefore, that the que.stion is decided ; that the facts of the case, when once known, preclude all possibility of reasonable doubt. We claim that the combined action of Colonization and Mis- sions is proved to be an effectual means, and is the only known means, of converting and civilizing Africa. And who, that believes this, will not give heart and hand to the work ? Need we, after all that has been said, appeal to .sympathy ? Need we here to repeat the catalogue of horrors from which Africa groans to be delivered ? Need we mention the slave trade, devouring five hundred thousand of her children annually ; her domestic slavery" crushing in its iron bondage more slaves than exist in the whole wide world be.^^ides ; her ruthless despotisms, under which not even the in- fant sleeps securely; her dark and cruel superstitions, soaking the graves of her despots with human blood ; her rude palaces, adorned with human skulls; her feasts, made horrid with human flesh? Shall not a work, and the only work, which has proved itself able to grapple with and conquer these giant evils, be dear to every heart thai loves either God or man ? It must be^o. The piety and philanthropy of Christendom cannot refrain from entering this open door, and trans- forming those dread abodes of wretchedness and sin, into habitations of Christian purity and peace and joy. P. S. Information has just been received, that the whole country, from the Cavally river about 100 miles eastward to the Pedro, has been annexed to the Maryland Colony at Cape Palmas. This includes all the Episcopal missionary stations not previously within tire territory of the Colony. We learn, also, that Liberia Proper has lately purchased So or 40 miles of coast, which either includes or nearly surrounds the site of the Presbyterian mission at Settra Kroo. 54 W i <. ♦^TVT* jy" ^iJ, 'o . » • A <^ ♦'TV. • cG^ o '«>•»' V ,• ,v'«. "-^0^ .^^ .M» .^^ ^-.^•^ .'M/A-. 'Xk-^^ '. '-•i'ffl Mi WW s '^H^^^ ,"ii^^ sIf-'t im jfflffijt '^ifcii ;jjjj^ >mmi q jfe '■iii n IjliJuwiiiiin »8w iJiSifilffl