LIBRARY OF CONGRESS iHP 030 019 728 Hollinger Corp. r.H 8.5 DT632 \^- LVl .B66 Copy 1 3. C^ 6 ■\J .X. ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. ANNUAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE Mayor and Common Council of the City of Monrovia, JVIjY 26, 1865, ^he !tE)at} of l^ational Independence; AND REPEATEB ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1865, AT CALDWELL, ST. PAUL'S EIVER. Rev. EDWARD ^Y: BLYDEIST, A.M., PROFESSOR IX LIBERIA COLLEGE. f^u'""^) I JOUx\ A. GRAY & GREEN, PRINTERS, 10 AND 18 JACOB STREET. 18 5. / r 31 0.^ -^ Hon. DAINTIEL B. AVAI^^STEK rRF-SIPEST OF THE REPfBL'C OF LIBERIA, THIS ADDRESS IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, Sis n IHcmorial OF LOXG-STAXDIXG AND IXTIMATE FRIEXDSUIP, AND OF SINCERE ADMIRATION EARNEST, SELF-DEXYIXG, AND UNOSTENTATIOUS PATRIOTISM, THE AUTHOR. Caldwell, St. Paul's River, August 2, 1865. Di Sir We have the honor to forward to you the following resolutions, passed at the meeting of the citizens of Lower Caldwell, on the first instant, before which you kindly repeated your Address, delivered at Monrovia on the 26th of July, the National day. On motion, it was unanimously Hesolved, That the thanks of the meeting be tendered to Hon. Edward W. Blyden, for the repetition of his very able and instructive Address. jResolved, That, the meeting being convinced that a diffusion of the patriotic sentiments of the Address is calculated to do great good, a com- mittee of three be appointed, to solicit a copy of it for publication. Hoping that you will comply with the request of the meeting. We remain, respectfully 3'ours, Colonel Isaac Lawrence, ^ Capt. Samuel S. Powers, >- Committee. Hon. H. W. Johnson, J To the Hon. Edward W. Blyden, " Secretary of State, Monrovia. ADDRESS. To-day we celebrate the eighteentli anniversary of the Independence of Liberia. We are entering upon the nineteenth year of our national career. Amid vari- ous discouragements and difficulties, joys and sorrovrs — in sunshine and shadow — we have held on our way. AVe are laying the foundations of emj^ire on this coast. We are inaugurating what others must take up and continue. With all our failings and deficiencies, we are obviously the agents in the hand of the great Ruler in doing an important work. Well, how should the day be spent ? If we had thoroughly solved the problem to ^^hicli we are committed ; if we had firmly established a na- tion; if we had fairly demonstrated our capacity to achieve and maintain sovereignty and independence ; if the mass of our people had risen to the dignity of superior and cultivated life ; if we had exalted the gen- eral tone and character of the tribes around us ; if we were united by the sympathy of one feeling and of one interest ; if all asperity and bitterness and ignorant jealousies were unknown among us, and we lived in the warmth and glow of one common cordiality ; if, supe- rior to local or individual prejudices, we were combin- ing our energies and our means for the benefit of the whole country ; if we were daily developing a stronger attacliment to the cause of race, and a more determined zeal for the upbuilding of an African nationality ; if we had effectually silenced the cavils of adversaries ; then we miglit devote the day to unbounded festivity ; then we could afford to impose no check upon our feelings of gladness and joy. But when we review the years during which we have been numbered among the na- tions, and see how far behind we are in all the elements of abiding pros]3erity and usefulness ; how^ little we have done for the cause of Africa's regeneration ; how small the quota we have contributed to the comfort and liappiness of mankind ; this should be to us a day of earnest and solemn though tfulness, as well as of joy- ous demonstrations. The question is still agitated : "Is Liberia a perma- ment fact, or will it, after all, prove a failure ?" This is a time when, in the opinion of some, both citizens and foreigners, a serious crisis has arrived in the history of Liberia. I propose, therefore, to recall your attention to THE ORIGITT OF THE KePUBLIC OF LiBERIA, AND TO SOME OF THE DANGERS AVIIICII TIIRExiTEN OUR NATIONAL EXISTENCE. IN^owthat it has ceased to be fashionable or necessary on the part of the friends of Liberia to magnify her virtues ; and on the part of her enemies it has become useless to exaggerate her failings ; and when it must be evident to every one who has, for the last ten years, watched the current of Liberian history that her suc- cess rests upon a very different foundation from that furnished by the panegyrics of her friends abroad, and that her progress can not be impeded by any obstacles thrown into her way by her enemies, it is rendered pos- sible to take a candid view of ourselves, without, as some have heretofore supposed, endangering our exist- OUR ORIGIN", DAGGERS, AXD DUTIES. 7 ence. We can afford to look at a true picture of our- selves without experiencing, it is to be hoped, any other feelino^ than one of stimulation to effort. The foundation of Liberia was laid under circum. stances peculiar in the history of the world. The emi- grants were nrged to these shores by motives far dif- ferent from those which led to the foundino* of other colonies. They were not a restless jDCople, who, finding their advancement to wealth and honors in their native country too slow for their ambitious and enterprising minds, resolved to accelerate their dilatory fortunes be- neath a foreign sky. They were not persons who had once been in a condition of ojDulence and splendor, and who, having fallen by luxury and extravagance into j)enury and disrepute, sought new scenes to repair their shattered fortunes. They were not ^politicians adhering to some new pnnci23le in politics deemed by them all- important, and seeking some new field for its untram- meled exercise and fair development. They were not the victims of religious persecution fieeing from the horrors of an enthralled conscience. No, Had they belonged to any of these classes, they might, perhaps, have contented themselves mth cultivating small farms and reaping slow gains ; they might have taken fresh courage, and, by patient industry, restored measurably their dilapidated fortunes ; they might have changed their political or theological views, rather than brave the dangers and undergo the privations of founding a home, and residing in a country proverbial for its un- healthy and dangerous climate. But they belonged to none of these classes. They were a peculiar people. They were those who themselves or wliose ancestors had been, in the providence of God, suftered to be car- ried away from heathenism into slavery among a civil- 8 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. ized and Cliristian people ; and who, from the degra- dation necessarily attached in all countries to those in any way related to slaves, could not rise. The force of circumstances over which they had no control kept them down — ^liopelessly down. They felt the depres- sion ; they saw its causes. They felt the deteriorating effects of these causes upon their minds and the minds of their children. And they found that it was useless to contend against these unfavorable influences. They saw clearly that to remain in that land and contend against what they could have no reasonable hope of overcoming, would be no more than " beating the air." They, therefore, concluded that it would be wisdom in them, if they desired to possess a home for themselves and their children, where they might enjoy those rights and immunities which their neighbors enjoyed, to direct their attention to some other scene. Earnestly did they look abroad for some " asylum from the deep de- gradation." At length the West Coast of Africa was fixed u]3on as offering the greatest inducement for the settlement of Africans. They left the land of their birth, forsook the scenes and associations of their child- hood, and came, with hearts heavy and distressed, to this far-off and barbarous shore — -forced^ by irresistible circumstances, from their native country in their pov- erty and ignorance, to seek a home where to be of Af rican descent would involve no disgrace. They came, having seen their operations, but never having studied or learned the moral and political prin- ciples which prevailed in their native land. They came then to found a home with nothing more to depend upon than the capabilities of memory to recall what they had seen and heard. They came to imitate words and actions, for they could not practice and inculcate prin- OUR OEIGIX, DA3^GEBS, AND DUTIES. 9 ciples. Their knowledge, sucli as it was, consisted of vacfue cfeneralities. And then they had no brilliant ancestry fi'om whose magnificent achievements they could gather insjjira- tion. All the past was dark to them. Xo sacred bard snng to them of the exploits of their fathers. There mav have been ^reat men in their ancesti^al land to whick, as perfect strangers, they were now returning ; illustrious deeds may have been performed ; but alas I no poet had recorded them, Vixere fortes ante Aga- memnona,^ etc.* ^' In rain the chiefs, the sage's pride ; They had no poet, and they died ; In rain ther planned, in rain they bled ; They had no poet, and are dead.'^f Such were the people who came to establish Liberia ; such the circumstances under which Liberia was founded. How different from these were the circumstances under which other colonies were founded ! The colonies that went out from Phenicia, and planted the foundations of empu*e on the shores of the Mediterranean, did not consist of the ignorant and degraded of Phenicia Xo ; they were among the noblest of their native land. They were PJienicians ; had drunk deeply of the spiiit of Phenicia ; had been moulded as to their views and prin- ciples in Phenician mould : they, therefore, transfen*ed the principles and feelings of the mother country at once to the new lands where they took up their abode ; and soon Carthage arose, rivaling Rome, the " mistress of the world." "The colonies that went out from Greece to occufiy the maritime regions of Asia Minor, cairied with them the love of the ai-ts, of literatm-e, and • Horace, lib. IV. Ode 9. f Pope. 10 OUE OEIGIN", DANGERS, AND DUTIES. of liberty, wHcli distinguisLed Corintli and Athens ; and Ionia became merely a reflected image of what At- tica and Achaia and Argolis had been." The colonists who landed at Plymouth Kock, at Sa- lem, at Boston — who settled Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South-Carolina, were not the degraded of Europe. Ko ; they were among the best of that country. The foundation of the United States was laid by Aristocrats, Puritans, Quakers,CaYaliers, and Church, men. They carried over from Europe books, and built churches and founded colleges almost simultaneously. What nation would not now be proud of so distin- guished an ancestry ? For the first twenty-five years of their residence in this country, the j)eople of Liberia had no independent national existence. The American Colonization So- ciety, which founded the colony, held political power over the people ; appointed, from time to time, white agents to reside among them as governors ; suggested, formed, or sanctioned such laws as governed them ; paid their government officers ; erected their public build- ings, and constructed their public works; leaving to the people no other care than that of educing from the soil or other sources their own private living, and of protecting themselves against the onsets of their savage neighbors. Under such, circumstances, it was not likely that a people of the character we have described above would form those habits of thoughtful ness and indus- try, cultivate that 'spirit of freedom and independence, or acquire that energy, determination, and ability to surmount difficulties, so essential to national growth and prosperity. By the unreserved supply of all their natural wants by foreigners, their attention was ab. stracted from the public interests, and confined within 11 the narroT^' spliere of their own personal and domestic concerns. They saw that the government was in oper- tion without theii* assistance, and felt satisfied to enjoy untroubled repose. Xo opportunity was afforded for the development of that largeheartedness and public spuit which is the life of nascent communities. But as the territory of Liberia increased by purchase of land from the natives, questions arose which inter- fered with the political tranquillity of the colonists — differences arose between Liberians and foreigners, which could be adjusted only by a convention of sov- ereign powers. The colony, having no connection with any indej^endent government, was obliged to submit to numerous insults and imjDositions offered by foreigners,. Avho, aware of the peculiar and defenseless condition of the countrv, took all the advantag-e which circum- stances enabled them to take. To the Liberians, theii^ there remained only the alternative of submitting to the humiliating treatment or of ]3nttmg themselves in a position to stop it. The latter the}' could do only by assuming an independent form of government. The matter was, for some time, earnestly discussed by the people. Among the leading men there was but one opinion as to the necessity of the assumption of sover- eign rights. And outrages perpetrated uj^on Liberian merchants just about that time, for which no redress could be obtained, hastened the decisive step. The people, by their representatives, met in convention to consider this important matter, and, in thirty days pre- sented to the world a Constitution and a Declaration of Independence. Liberia was declared to l)e " a free, sovereign, and independent State." Every nation and every people has ii^ peculiar work to perform, and each for itself must find out the work 12 to be done and the best metliods and inBtrumentalities of prosecuting it. Any one who has studied the his- tory of nations, whether ancient or modern, cannot fail to perceive that there has never been an unchanging uniformity, but change and variety, according to cir- cumstances, has characterized them. And even where one community has gone forth from another, all the peculiarities of the parent country have not been re- tained. New views have been formed and new princi- ples have developed themselves from the very novelty of the circumstances and relations in which the people have been placed. In the political history of Liberia, however, there has been no striking novelty, nothing remarkable or j)ecu- liar. In the absence of regular educational training, or of large experience and practice in political matters, the people have not been able to elaborate any system adapt- ed to their own peculiar condition and circumstances. Compelled to depend for their information almost whol- ly upon the example of the United States and other ad vanced countries, they have followed, with unvarying step, most of their practices, without possessing the ma- ture wisdom to detect, or the boldness to repudiate, such features in the political system of those countries as conflict with the prosperity of a rising community. The people of Liberia and their fathers were, for the most part, born and nursed under rej^ublicanism ; a re- publicanism, it is true, which, in its influence upon them as a people, was anomalous. They know, experiment- ally, no other form of government. All the associations of their childhood and youth, social, political, and reli- gious, are republican. They have seen the workings of republicanism, and they have felt its power. They know its advantages, they know its disadvantages; OUR ORIGIN-, DANGERS, AXD DUTIES. 13 tliey know its uses, tliey know its abuses. For tliem, therefore, a people that must act from imitation, with, out the ability to be, in any great degree, original, a republican is the best, the only form of government. The history and traditions of the people point to this form. Indeed, any attempt to have organized a differ- ent form would have been useless and absurd. But circumstances, as I have just shown, forced us rather suddenly into an independent position. What other nations have achieved only after years and years of trial, we effected within a very brief period ; and, consequently, we see among us all the fruits of a hasty develo23ment. All peoples need to pass through a pe- riod of discipline and pupilage before they can really enjoy and manage liberty and indejDendence. The United States, after which we have modeled our gov- ernment, had one hundred and fifty years of colonial discipline and subordination. National character is a thing of slow formation. Nations advance by minute and inapj)reciable gradations. They seldom reach so- lidity and greatness by rapid transition. Like children, they require the training of arbitrary rules and the re- straints of arbitrary regulations before they are fitted for the freedom and guidance of j)rinciples. They must first have tutors, guardians, and masters before they are fitted to enjoy the liberty of choice and action. And Ave can scarcely find a nation of any respectabil- ity and power which was not brought to social and po- litical order by protracted subjection to other nations. Was not this the discipline to which God subjected his own chosen nation, the Jews. But we were suddenly ushered into liberty and inde- pendence. Our government was hurriedly formed ; and now, after some years' exjierience, we see the deficien 14 OUli OEIGIN, DANGEES, AND DUTIES. cies of our organization. We liave all the responsibili- ties of men without having passed through the pre- paration of childhood ; and hence we see among the peo- ple generally all that impatience under whatever would curb their own arbitrary will, which we see in spoiled children. They are willing to submit to nothing which opposes their transient passion or caprice. Their own way they must have, which is often fatal alike to dig- nity, to justice, and to sound and steady policy. And we could wish that this disposition to follow their own arbitrary volition were confined to the people in irre- sponsible gatherings. We could wish that these vacil- lating fancies and selfish impulses did not often infest assemblies among us of high and grave responsibility ! And we are almost powerless to remedy these things. It is exceedingly clifiicult to get the masses to surrender any portion of what they conceive to be their rights and privileges. It is almost impossible to get them in- terested in abstract subjects. They care for nothing that does not obviously or very immediately aifect their own ]3ersonal and particular interests. . To declamations concerning personal rights and the privilege of every man to fill the highest position, they are abundantly sensitive, because these subjects ofi^er a most visible and quickly-felt connection with their interests. And hence it is, that democracy, in its rampant form, will ever, or for a very long time, in Liberia, draw a certain portion of respect and reverence around it ; and most vocifer- ous testimony of abhorrence will always be heard against every thing that may be classed under the general de- signation of anti-republicanism. It is in vain that we point to the evils which our way of holding to republicanism brings upon the coun- try ; how the frequency of elections and the violence of OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. 15 party spirit break up tlie peace and enjoyment and even virtue of the country ; that if these thiugs w^ere discontinued, there would "be a wonderful augmentation of the political, social, and industrial good of the com- munity. The benefits and advantages which we point out are remote, and the people remain unaffected or are roused to antagonism. On the other hand, they are told of the reasonableness and justice of placing the same rights and privileges within the reach of all ; of the danger of intrusting power too long to any one man. The idea of equality is impressed upon them ; and, yielding to the pleasurable illusions under which they are placed, they are prepared to listen, with the most complacent toleration, to those who go to them with such teachings ; while the voice of execration is raised against every thing that seems to be in opposi- tion to the lessons of liberty which they have learned. I would not say a word liere to-day against a correct republicanism. I believe that this craving in men for some deep and eternal principle of free, equal, and fra- ternal government is an inspiration from above ; but whether this principle is fully attainable under the present conditions of humanity — and especially among a youthful, untrained people like ourselves — is another question. We have every thing too common among us. On account of the widespread and leveling equality which we are taught is our birthright, much, if not all, the reverence due to our rulers is taken away. There is not that feeling of subordination in the people which is necessary for wholesome growth and salutary prog- ress. And if there be no modification of our laws so as to remedy this evil, the time is not far distant when iicrimonious conflicts will not be confined to times of 16 OUR OEIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. election ; but law will be made a secondary tiling, and popular violence and prejudice will be paramount. Let those then who know better endeavor to instill into the masses the apostolic principle : " Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God." We find in the history of all nations that reverence and awe for superior power in the state have been the most efficient instrument in leadino; them from barbar- ism to civilization — in teaching them civil and social order. It w^as thus that God himself taught his an- cient people, the Jews. He gave them Moses, with his mystei'ious rod. When imparting the law which was to govern Israel, he spoke to Moses in a thick cloudy whilst the cloud sent forth thunder and lightning. And we find a similar method adopted by the ancient heathen legislators. " Minos, the legislator of the Ore. tans, j^retended ta have, every nine years, communions with Jupiter in a cavern. Lycurgus, the legislator of the Lacedaemonians, raised his influence by an oracle of Apollo. Numa, Rome's second king, supported his authority by a feigned intercourse with the nymph Egeria, who he said instructed him in a grotto near her fountain. Zamolxis, the lawgiver of the Getae, as- cribed his wisdom to Vesta. Odin carried constantly with him the embalmed head of Mimez, to whom he im- l^uted oracular inspirations. Manko-Kopak spread the belief that he descended from the sun, in order to en- lighten Peru's people. Mohammed listened to the wis- dom, which his dove whispered into his ear. Sertorius, in Lusitania, followed the secret suggestions of his hind."'"* All these extraordinary men understood well * Stollberg's History of Religion, (ii. p. 58,) quoted by Kalisch. OUK OEIGIX, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. 17 that a certain mysterious autliority was needed to train men up to order and regularity. Do we not see tlie same principle in operation among tlie natives around us ? Is it not the influence of the " devil-bush" — their sacred grove — or Oro, or some other superstition, around which more or less of mystery gathers, that keeps in such complete subordination the countless numbers of unenlightened men on this con- tinent ? The traveler in Europe sees, even to this day, relics of the ancient paraj)hernalia, the " pomp and cir- cumstance" by which the masses were trained into rever- ence for their rulers. And is it not thus that God rules the world ? Does He not " move in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform" ? With all the boasted triumphs of science, there is still helpless ignorance in man. He has to be guided by the day and by the hour. In many things there seems to be an astounding; arbitrariness ; but man is oblig-ed to be mute. He is not allowed to vote on matters even that immediately concern himself, his country, or his race. He sees in the physical world things that seem unwise and injurious, but he is obliged to submit — whole tracts of country rendered insalubrious and fetid by extensive marshes and swamj)s. He sees in certain portions of the earth thousands of miles given up to barren sands. In the moral world he finds that some portions are blessed ^vith all the elevating and enlightening influences — witli the reviving j^jres- ence of literature and the arts ; while others, entirely un visited by the quickening power of knowledge, re- main from age to age in the condition of moral wastes, barren as the Sahara, or rife only with weeds and 2 18 ODE ORIGIN, DANGEES, AND DUTIES, thorns. He cannot tell by what law these things are arranged, much less can he procure its repeal. He is obliged to content himself with the melancholy reverie of the poet : " Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its fragrance on the desert air." Thus mysteriously has the divine Monarch chosen to govern this world. Should we not in Liberia endea- vor, in some little measure, to follow the method he has indicated ? If we do not, we shall linger in the road to national independence and respectability. But not only do we not follow this method, but we even reverse and vulgarize the idea of republicanism, which we profess to have adopted. Republicanism es- tablishes a political equality — that is to say, abolishes all classes, ranks, castes — conferring upon all citizens the enjoyment of unlimited liberty and full scope for the development of all their powers. In this kind of government, no barrier excludes the poorest from ris- ing, by the power of intellect and industry, to the high- est position ; the idea being, that merit should be duly rewarded in whomsoever exhibited. But, as I have said, we have reversed the principle. We have put Because in the place of A ItJiougJi. "We seem to hold that men should occupy high and responsible places hecause they are poor and in humble circumstances. With us the argument seems to be, that the Abraham Lincolns and Andrew Johnsons should be raised to the highest authority hecause they are rail-splitters and tail- ors. But that is not the idea. The idea in which we should glory is not that men are made rulers and ex- alted to the highest dignity hecause they belong to the 19 humbler classes, but rather that, altliougli belonging to the humbler classes, they may^de elevated if they man- ifest talent and prove meritorious. A correct republicanism does not claim that all men are intellectually and morally equal ; on the contrary, it teaches that only men of merit should be elevated, and in proportion to their merit. But all men have not merit, nor do those who have, possess it in the same degree — hence inequality ; and a true republicanism is discriminating. The journeymen who worked in the shop with Andrew Johnson have not been heard of — and why not, if Johnson was raised hecause he was a tailor ; they were tailors as well as he ; but it happens that they were tailors, and nothing more. ' To talk of all men being in every resjDect equal, is simply to indulge in an idle dream. But, despite all theory and speculation, nature will have its way. "We must be content for those to rise whom nature has gifted. Envy and jealousy are foolish things A man will go to the place for which his natural force; fits him. Because I or my relative cannot achieve what another can, must I, therefore, envy that other and try to pull him down ? If Lord Derby's language be correct, such a course is " w^orse than a crime — a blunder."'''* Would it not be wiser in me to endeavor to dischargee faith- fully my own duty in the sphere to which it has pleased God to call me? God calls men to their ability and station in life. No man can determine liis own force of mind. He may by industry and |)erse- verance greatly improve its scope and capacity ; but he can no more determine its original, native bent, than he can determine his own stature. It is a " gross * Speech in the House of Lords, ou the assassination of Prcsidcni Lincoln May 1, 1865. 20 blunder," then, to fret and worry about another's gifts and talents, and fail to improve our own. This is very important for us to bear in mind in Liberia ; for we are all sons of Zebedee, all anxious to sit some on the right, and others on the left of majesty. The present condition of affairs in Liberia seems to force upon ns the duty of revising a defective Constitu- tion. An experience of eighteen years has developed to us the errors which are detrimental to our national character, and endangering to the perpetuity of our institutions. We are convinced that, socially, politi- cally, and religiously, we cannot long endure at the vcurrent rate. But while this is the case, still, as long as the laws continue what they are, they are binding upon us. We must not consent to take lessons in morals from those who teach that laws may be set aside, whenever it suits our convenience to do so. There may be laws which our judgment may condemn, against which our feelings may revolt ; but until they are repealed or annulled in the legal way, we are bound to respect and obey them. Our Constitution needs various amendments. It is of very great importance that the utmost care should be exercised in interfering with the fundamental law" of the land ; but w^e must not attach to it such myste- rious and unapproachable sacredness as to imagine that it must not be interfered with at all, even when cir- cumstances plainly reveal to us the necessity of such interference. The Constitution is only a written docu- ment, and, like all written documents — especially those written under the circumstances to which I have ad- verted — it has many errors and omissions. It becomes us, then, who long for the prosperity of our country -calmly and deliberately to examine and consider such OUR ORIGIX, DAGGERS, AXD DUTIES. 21 defects as may exist in that most important paper, and set ourselves to the work of remedying tliem to the best of our ability. It is the people's Constitution, and it is the work of the peoj^le to coiTect its deficiencies. The first point to which I would call your attention as needino: amendment, is that relating; to the Presiden- tial term of office. I believe that most of the thinking men in Liberia agree that the President should be elected for a longer term than two years. My own opinion is, that the chief magistrate should be elected for a term of six or eight years, and not be immediately reeligible. If we could bring to pass such an amend- ment — electino^ the President for a lono:er term, and forbiddino^ his immediate reelection — then we should doubtless get Presidents who, during their terms, would devote their attention to statesmanship — to such measures as pertain to the public weal, and not to electioneering expedients ; and the country would be delivered from the frequent recurrence of convulsing political conflicts. In all cases where reelection is possible, the magistrate in office is placed in the po- sition of a candidate. He is tempted, especially as his term of office draws near its end, to direct his adminis- tration mainly ^vith a view to secure popular favor. Thus instead of statesmen we have electioneerers as presidents. In many of the ancient commonwealths reelection was forbidden ; in Achaia, the general could not serve for two successive years ; at Rome, it was at no time lawful for the same man to be consul for two years together, and at one time it was forbidden for a man who had once been consul ever to be consul as^am. ■ * Xatlonal Review, (London,) Xovcmbcr, 1S64. 22 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES A second amendment needed in our Constitution, is one wliicli shall involve the rescinding of the clause conferring upon the President the power of dismissing government emjployes indiscriminately, at his joleasure. There are some offices that ought to be subject to his control, but they are only a few. The practice of dis- missing all officials at every change of government is a most prolific source of mischief. This practice did not prevail in the United States government when it was as youthful as we are. " U23 to the time of General Jackson, in 1829, all the government employes^ civil and military, with a very few specified exceptions, held office, as in Eugland, during life and good behavior; were never removed for their political opinions, and never changed with any change of administration. By the Constitution, the control over all these offices, as well as the appointment to them, was vested in the chief executive, the sanction of the Senate being re quired in only a few cases; but it is worthy of remark that this absolute power over the government em- ployes was only conferred upon the President after long discussion, and by a very narrow majority. The clause affirming it only passed the Senate by the casting vote of the vice-president ; and in the long debates that it gave rise to, the idea that any chief of the State could so far disgrace himself and damage the community as to abuse the power conferred for personal or election- eering purposes, was scouted as an insult and a chi- mera. Nor was it abused until the advent of General Jackson, who broached the doctrine that " to the vic- tors belong the spoils." During Washington's eight years of administration, he only removed nine persons from office ; one, a foreign minister, at the instance of the French Directory; the other eight for cause as- 23 signed. Politics had nothing to do with any of the cases. Adams also removed nine subordinate officers, but none for political reasons. Jefferson removed tliirty-nine^ but, as he solemnly declared, and was ready to prove, not one of them because their political ojDin- ions differed from his own. Madison made five remov- als ; Monroe, none / John Quincy Adams, only two. But General Jackson was no sooner inaugurated than he dismissed from office nearly every man wlio Tiad opposed Mm, or whose friends had voted for his oppo- nent., and replaced them hy partisans of his own. The number thus removed was variously stated ; his ene- mies mentioned two thousand ; his friends admitted six hundred and ninety. Chief Justice Story specifies eight in the diplomatic corps ; thirty-six in the executive de- partment; one hundred and ninety in other civil departments, besides four hundred and ninety-one post- masters." " It is impossible to exaggerate the ruinous results which must flow from such a course of proceeding — a course which, once inaugurated, must almost necessa- rily be continued, since its adoption by one party or one President compels its imitation by the antagonistic faction, as a measure at once of justice and of self-de- fense. Accordingly, ever since the time of Jackson, the plan of wholesale removals has been pursued in the United States, and is now the common practice. At each presidential election all the places in the gift of the government, from the highest to the lowest, change hands. The consequences are manifold and all-mischievous. First., few men can obtain any skill or experience in their offices, and the official capacity of the civil service must be deplorably impaired. Se. condly^ every man, knowing that he has only a four 24 OUR OEIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. years', or, at most, and by every exertion, an eight years' tenure of office, will be inclined to ^ featlier his nest ' as fast and as daringly as he can. Thirdly^ it ren- ders it impossible for men of intelligence, ability, and virtue, v^ho wish for a reasonable permanence and a decent independence, to become servants of the state. Office necessarily falls into the hands of a very third- rate class of men. One American writer sums the mat- ter up by the assertion that, in the year of our Lord 1859, the fact of a man's holding (removable) office under the United States government, is presumptive evidence that he is one of three characters, namely, an adventurer, an incompetent person, or a scoundrel."* Another mistake in our Constitution and laws is the arrangement which causes several months to elapse be- tween the election of the President and his inaugura- tion — from May to January — which gives his prede- decessor, if he be of an opposing party, a long time during which to carry out his party views. We have had in the United States, recently, a serious illustration of the evil growing out of such an arrangement ; though there the interval between the election and the inauguration is much shorter than with us. As soon as the result of the election of 1860 was ascertained, putting the Republican party in power, the Southern- ers in office at "Washington, of secession tendencies, de- liberately and treacherously employed all the resources of their official position to prepare the way for seces- sion. Mr. Buchanan and his ministers had always been attached to the party of the South, and put forth no decisive effort against it. It is known that the Southern officials purjoosely distributed the fleet of the * National Review^ April, 1861. 25 Union in distant countries, placed stores of artillery where Soutliern rebels could easily take tliem, pur- posely disorganized the Federal army. They took care that Mr. Lincoln, when he reached the White House, should find the treasury empty, the arsenal disarmed, or under the control of enemies, and all important posts and strongholds in hostile hands. By the discreet ar- rano-ement of the Constitution, the whole executive influence and the whole military force were placed in the hands of the dissatisfied minority."^'" Our arrangement is still more alarmingly defective, for, instead of four months, as in the United State, we allow fully eight months to the dissentient minority to carry out their purposes. This is a defect that calls loudly for immediate remedy. I bring these things before you to-day, fellow-citi- zens, for your solemn and serious consideration. But I am afraid, as I have already intimated, that we are helplessly and almost hopelessly bound to our first mistakes. It is seldom that a democracy voluntarily retraces its steps, or rectifies its own errors ; and the reason is, that to bring about change, appeal must be made to the people, and the people, as we have already stated, cannot readily be made to see what their real interests are. They are jealous of every proposed change, looking upon it as an eifort to restrict their power and to curtail the excesses of their liberty. But the changes to which I have referred are obvi- ously needed. If we make them, we shall advance in comfort and prosperity at home, and be respected abroad ; if we do not make them, we shall be blighted * See Bancroft's Oration on Lincoln, New-York, April, 1865, and Xational lia- vicio, 1861. 26 by frequent social and political disturbances, and con- tinued deterioration. These changes, as I have said, depend upon the will of the people ; but we must remember that the people cannot be brow-beaten into them. They have to be reasoned with and convinced by patient and persever- ing argument. The enterprise of persuading and con- vincing them deserves the utmost exertion of true patriots. The reward with which such efforts will be crowned is no less than the emancipation of the body politic from fatally injurious influences, and the intro- duction among us of salutary conditions of national existence, under which we may go on prospering and to j)rosper. As our population increases, Liberia will become a good deal more difficult to manage, unless those who are informed bestir themselves to diffuse information among the people. When we were a much younger and smaller people, our success depended greatly upon the individual character of the rulers, and not so much upon the Constitution and influences of society; but now that we have come forward before the world, and assumed so important a position as an independent nation, having numerous treaties with for- eign nations, receiving and accrediting diplomatic offi- cers, it becomes the people to be generally informed, to reflect upon their position. The resources, intellect- ual and moral, of the individual citizen are called into requisition. Our success now depends upon the virtue and vigor of the people, and upon no one man or set of men. And we must bear in mind that a large num- ber of our people have not yet fully comprehended their position in this country. The fact cannot be dis- guised that many were brought to these shores by the *'love of liberty," in its most ordinary acceptation. 27 Their desire to emigrate to this country did not arise from a love of independence — it did not spring from an earnest lono^ing; for the frmctions of sellVovernment , but merely from a vague and' uneasy desire to be freed from certain physical restraints and proscriptions in the land of their birth. These people have to be taught. Correct lessons of freedom must be imparted to them. They should be impressed v^ith a sense of personal obligation to the country, and of individual responsibility ; otherwise they will be an insurmounta- ble stumbling-block in the way of all national advance- ment and all enlio-htened civilization. I know that in the case of many who are really interested in the prosperity of the country, and in properly instinicting the masses, there is a reluctance to go among them, on account of the unworthy motives which are so readily assigned ; but this reluctance must be overcome by a sense of duty ; and, though at every step there is a feeling of oppression, we are bound to persevere in doing that whicli we believe to be for the good of the country. Now there are evidently two classes of citizens in Liberia. One, in intelligence and sentiment, is, per- haps, above the other. But while the one ^vith its high-wrought delicacy and sensitiveness is lamenting over the downward tendency of things, the other is putting forth every possible exertion to promote those ends which, in its estimation, are for the welfare of the country. The one sits brooding in indolence, in vision- ary gloom over the hopeless departure of the days of yore ; the other steps abroad and uses its influence in country and in town, to tarn the current "of affairs into the channel whicli it conceives to be desirable. The one is capricious and spasmodic ; the other is vigilant 28 OUE ORIGIN, DANGEES, AND DUTIES. and unceasingly active. The one deliglits in conceiv- ing plans ; the other labors to carry its purposes into execution. The one is always doleful in its prophecies as to the country's future, whenever things do not go exactly to suit it ; the other is cheerful and buoyant in its feelings, and always hopeful in its expressions. Now it is not difficult to see which of these classes will be more influential in the country. A man may possess the wisdom of Solon, he may have as many eyes as Argus, or as many arms as Briareus, what will it all avail if he never put forth any exertion ? What avails his correctness of sentiment, his soundness of views, if it never go out into action — if it never urge him to the accomplishment of any act fbr the good of his country — if, notwithstanding all his fine impres- sions, he shrink from activity, from fatigue, from exer- tion to disseminate his views ? No : we shall never be able to conduct the aflPairs of this country as they should be conducted until more general interest is felt in keeping the body of the peo- ple properly informed. They must be visited by the more enlightened. The true condition of the country must be represented to them. Their love of country must be awakened. They must be made to feel that their assistance and cooperation is required in the work' of erecting this nationality. This is the duty of us alL If we accept democracy, we must accept it with these inconveniences. If men, holding what they regard as correct views, do not trouble themselves to set them before the people, they must not be surprised to find the field occupied and cultivated by others, who, if less orthodox, are" more vigilant, active, and persevering. We must not be content to stand oflp and oppose, or chill with indifference proposed reforms, and after they OUE OEIGLS". DANGERS, AXD DUTIES. 29 are accomplished then gladly accept tliem. We must take pai-t in tlie strife and straggle. It may he tliat the habits of some of ns may disquali^' us for this work. We may have no time for it. We may not know how to demean om*selves in snch business ; our want of practice and experience may disable us for the work of managing visitations among the people. But if this foi-m of government is to be perpetuated by us, we must try to acquire the requisite habits. We should, each in his own sphere, qualify ourselves for a judicious, and discriminating, and enlightening inter- comse with the people. And so long as this is not done by us, we should be veiy careful how we utter oui' vehement condemnation against those who perform this work to the best of their ability. For my own part, I cannot condemn this practice in the abstract. We cannot afford to lose this spiiit in Liberia. There is ab-eady too little of it ; and what we see forms too gratifying and refreshing an exception to that general selfishness and isolation which pervades our communi- ties for me to say one word against it ; on the contraiy, I conceive that it would be cold-blooded inappreciation for me to withhold from such a spirit and temjDer the tiibute of my respect and hearty concuiTenee. What I condemn and deprecate — and what we must all condemn and deprecate — is that mean and con- temptible practice of going among the masses for the pui'pose of intentionally misrepresenting the doings or views of an opposing party. I think that this practice is the usual resource of the idle and vicious. ^Mien- ever I hear of any one's doing this, if he is a fanner, I conclude that he is unthi'ifty and indolent ; if he is a mechanic, that he is not skillful in his trade ; if a mer- chant, thai he is not respectable in his business ; if he 80 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTEIS. can afford to live without work, that he is not pos- sessed of much dignity of mind or of character. Yes, we must condemn that frivolous and thought- less habit of indulging in inflammatory remarks, whether in public or private^ against the authorities. I say frivolous and thoughtless habit, because the men who make such remarks have no idea whatever of car- rying them out ; but yet they have their effect for evil. Some poor excitable individual may be listening, who may carry out in action what these careless babblers intend to end only in words, but to which, from a want of cautious and reflecting prudence, they give a ficti- tious weight. " The tongue," we are told, " is an un- ruly evil, full of deadly poison^ The mischief which the tongue has done and may do, is beyond calculation. A single word dropped into the ear may leave a venom behind to work and rankle and inflame the heart, to fever human existence, and to poison human society at the fountain-springs of life."'^* If we could trace to their origin some of the blackest deeds that have ever disgraced history, we should find them taking their rise in thoughtless and unguarded words. It is not always the men who deal in furious and turbulent invectives — who are always ready to obtrude their offensive temper and opinions upon others — it is not they who enact the daring deeds of history. No: such deeds are generally done by ob scure individuals, who brood in dismal silence over the violent and intemperate language they hear. It was no doubt the inflammatory speeches of the South- ern fire-eaters, and their Northern sympathizers, which produced that monster of modern times, John Wilkes * Robertson's Sermons. OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. 31 Booth. Tl'iey gave the acts of Mr. Lincoln so dark and malignant a coloring, and held np his character to such infamy and reprobation, that Booth, having every sen- timent of justice perverted, and every feeling of patri- otism crushed, felt justified in perpetrating a deed which has sent a thrill of horror and indignation into the remotest corner of the civilized world. " I thought I was doing for the best," were among the last utter- ances of the deluded wretch. Let us take warning, fellow-citizens; for, in conse- quence of the increasing violence of party spirit, we are drifting to a state of things in which just such a character might arise. We are fast hastening to that point when our government will be no longer a gov- ernment of the people — but a government of party. The people are beginning to think no longer in a free, honest, natural manner. We seem to be losing our individuality. Every thing is party. Principle is losing that free play w^hich it once had. Every thing is opposed or favored from a party stand-point. It is not to party that I object ; for I believe that the existence of two honest, earnest, zealous, active political parties in the community is wholesome. But what is lamentable, is the party spirit manifesting it- self among us — discoloring or coloring erery action to suit itself. There is not an act, however virtuous and honorable, which may not be distorted to suit party purposes. Party spirit is always ready to give cur- rency to every thing that will injure its opponent. It is always ready to draw hasty inferences. Instead of checking a mischievous and injurious report,, it is always ready to put forth all its efforts to give it ac- tivity and circulation. The good intentions of a man cannot shield him from the most violent attacks. Be- 32 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. fore any action is judged, it is turned wrong side out, and the most malignant construction of wliicli it is susceptible is attached to it. Thus one party is ever doing the grossest injustice to the other; and nothing seems more to delight a bitter partisan than to be en- gaged in sending through the country a tale of detrac- tion against his opponent. Now, I would earnestly appeal to you, fellow-citi- zens, and ask whether we, as rational men, just found- ing a nation, should be content to go on at this rate ? These things are sapj)ing the foundations of society. Every man is becoming distrustful of his neighbor. That mutual confidence, which is the surest guarantee of strength and prosperity, is becoming most fearfully impaired. Oh ! let us resolve, from this day, to with- draw our counteuance from all violent party feeling, and cultivate a spirit of charity and brotherly kind- ness. But there is a disposition, the opposite of j)arty spirit, whick is, if possible, still more reprehensible. It is that careless, listless living for one's self — caring for nothing that does not come immediately in contact with one's personal interests — j)^!'''^^^^^ who do no posi- tive harm — a kind of easy, good-for-nothing people. There are those among us who profess to be utterly in- different as to what happens. For their own individ- ual part, they know that they will come off about as well as any one else. These are men who live for themselves ; and they are the most contemptible of characters. They are "neither cold nor hot." They have no pride of country, and no love of race. Dante, the great Italian master of song, tells us, that for such persons, when they die, there is no place in heaven or hell. They have their lot among those angels who, in OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. 33 the great war in heaven, did not join the rebel angels, neither were faithful to God, Lnt preferred their own ease — they icere for tliemselves alone. The im]3etuous contempt which the poet felt for such characters, is perceived better in the original than in any English translation : Cacciarli i eiel per non esser men belli Xe lo profondo inferno gli riceve, Clie alcuno gloria i rei avrebber d'elli.* Inferno, Canto III. No ; we can not, "\ve must not, in matters pertaining to the national welfare, maintain a base neutrality. We must, as a holy and solemn duty, labor to benefit our country. We must not content om^selves with joining the general depreciation and lamentation con- cerning national decline and ruin. We must, we are in duty bound, to do all we can, by earnest effort and self denial, to arrest the downward tendency of things. The love of country is a virtue. We are bound to seek its honor and its welfare. We are under the strongest obligations to live, labor, and suffer in its behalf And we must cultivate pride of race. Longfellow has sung of the " dead past ;" but we must allow him such an assertion as a poetic privilege. In reality^ the past is not dead. It still lives in activity, and is won- deiful in its influence upon the present. The child is father to the man. Our antecedents often exert a most depressing influence upon us. We have been so cruelly oppressed, that we have, in a great meas- ure, lost our self respect. Almost any little untoward event will scare us into the belief that we cannot suc- » " Heaven chased them forth to keep its beauty from impair ; and the deep hell receives them not, for the wicked would have some glory over them." — Car- hilt's tramhlion. 3 34 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. ceecl in our undertaking on tliis coast. But we must endeavor to shake off the influence of the past. We must have faith in the negro race. There is something within us, a God-like principle- ever whispering to us the lessons of self-government, and telling us of our sublime origin and high destiny ; and, during all that dark and dismal night of ojDpres- sion and unnumbered woes, that principle remained uncrushed, retained its vital activity ; and this day every negro, on every plantation, and in every, humble cabin, is hearing its secret whispers. Surely we Libe- rians should hear and hearken to it. If any man, who has lived in Liberia two years, cannot come to believe in the ability of the negro race, under favorable circum- stances, to maintain an organized, regular, and ade quate government, that man has mistaken his country ; he should at once pack up bag and baggage, and trans- fer his residence to a more congenial clime. And I go further, and say, if any man, at all acquainted with the history of this country, does not see the hand of God plainly guiding and directing our affairs in all tlie past, that man would not have seen the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night before the Israel- ites. It is provoking to hear men sometimes going around despising themselves and disparaging the oppoi'tunities they have for usefulness in this country ; indulging in the most doleful prophecies of the future. Such a dis- position is the very kind to kill all enterprise, and to extinguish every noble asj)iration. These persons have no confidence in Liberia's stability. For them, the fu- ture is nothing. They are ever looking backward to the past. They pray daily and nightly for the restora- tion of things as they were. For them, the sun must (9 OUR OEIGINT, DAXGEES. AND DUTIES. oO always stand still, and Jordan always flow Ijackward. These men ^vould o-loiw in a resuscitation of tlie dark asres. But those days can never return. The school- master is abroad. Light and knowledge are multiply- ing. The future is upon us, however we may deprecate it. AYe cannot prevent its advent. " The only way/' says Victor Hugo, " to refuse to-morr(ni\ is to die." Oh ! let us bestir ourselves. Let us come to the conclu- sion that we will do all we can to secure for Liberia a future — glorious future. To live without such a prospect is to be dead. '\Yhere there is no future Ije- fore a people^ there is no hope ; and where there is no hope, there is lifelessness, inactivity, and the eternal death. 3n^y- . ^~ ~^ -^ a^^ ^ ^ We ai^e eno^ao^ed here on this coast in a ereat and /noble work. AYe cannot easily exaggerate the mag- nitude of the interests involved in the enterprise to which we are committed. Xot only the highest wel- fare of the few thousands who now compose the Ke- public, but the character of a whole race is implicated in what we are doing. Let us, then, endeavor to rise up to the " height of tliis great argument." There are times when the most thoughtless cannot but reflect on the condition of the state. AYithin the last two years, the most unconcerned, by his immediate wants, has been obliged to think ; and we all, now and then, have misgivings as to the perjDetuity of our liberties on this coast. But " Difliculty is the rude and rocking cradle of every kind of excellence;"^ and it is better that these seasons of miso-i vines shoidd come, than that tliere shoidd be an easy tranquillity, and undisturbed self complacency when there is so much still to l>e ac- * Gladstone. 36 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. complislied. Something has been done ; but what is the little we have achieved compared to what has still to be done ? The little of the past dwindles into insig- nificance before the mighty work of the future. Das Wenige verscliwindet leicht dem Blicke, Der Vorwarts sieht wie viel noch iibrig bleibt.* We are more eagerly watched than we have any idea of The nations are looking to see whether " or- der and law, religion and morality, the rights of con- science, the rights of persons, and the rights of pro- perty, may all be secured " by a government controlled entirely and purely by negroes. Oh ! let us not, by any unwise actions, compel them to decide in the nega- tive. Descendants of Africa, in other parts of the world, have been contributing, and are now contributing, by noble deeds, to the vindication of the race. And we cannot, in this connection, refrain from referring, with "/ admiration, to the heroic deeds of our brethren in the United States. Indeed, we should be unpardonably { indifferent if we could remain silent and unmoved I spectators of such heroism, unlooked for by their oj)- 1 pressors, as they have displayed. We feel proud of their martial deeds and tkeir valorous demeanor. We rejoice with them in their brilliant achievements and magnificent success. They have produced a most won- derful impression upon the minds of those who for- merly stigmatized them as idle, vicious, and lazy. Such has been the revolution, in public sentiment,, which their prowess has achieved that, whereas in former times, a powerful tide of odium ran against the men who attempted to advocate their right to liberty. * Goethe. 37 and tliere was a smile of general connivance, if not ap- l^robation, given to those who contended for their per l^etual servitude ; now, the contest is not whether the neoTo shall be free, but whether he shall be raised to equal political rights and privileges with his former master. We must here also record our heartfelt sympathy with oui* brethren in the melancholy loss of one who was foremost among those who recognized and appre- ciated the valor of the negro. The name of Abeaha^i LrN^coLX is engraven upon the heart of every descend- ant of Afr'ica. He died for tiaith — for liberty — and therefore lie died not only for his countiy, but for inanMnd. He was signalized by a worth of character, reverenced by all men. He died after having reached the maturity of an established reputation. His un- bending rectitude, his generosity, the kind acts which he did with no arriere pensee^ but on the sj^ontaneous instigation of his own noble feelings, have produced universal admiration. In him, the voice of conscience sjDoke louder than any other consideration. TTe can- not imao-ine a more sublime attitude than he assumed, when, in Independence Hall, in 1861, his soul kindling ^vith a sense of justice, the holy flame found vent in the memorable words : " If this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle — I was about to say that I would rather be assassinated uj^on the spot than to surrender it." And the same unsullied integrity, which he brought from Illinois, continued with him, sustained him in his eventful career, and dignified its melancholy and tragic close. He wiU be known evermore as the Great Eman- cipator, And as another token of the advance of the race, I 38 OUE ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. cannot refrain from expressing delight at the disgrace- ful but fitting end which has befallen the Southern Confederacy. They oj^enly and boastfully professed that African slavery was to be the corner-stone of their new national fabric. But, as they might have known, they could never have succeeded in firmly establishing themselves. They had the united pray- ers of a whole race against them. Africans every- where felt it a solemn duty to pray for their down- fall. Of all communities that have ever struggled for separate national existence — that have ever claimed admittance into the family of nations — the so-called Confederate States w^ere certainly the most hideous and unsightly; claiming, as they did, to build them- selves u|) upon the blood and bones of a feeble people. They w^ere the Thersites of civilization, whom Homer describes as the ugliest and most deformed of the war- riors that appeared before the walls of Troy : Atax^aro^ de avrjp vno 1?ilov r]X6ev (I'oXiiog erjv, X^Xoz^ (5' Ite^ov noda — K. T. A.^ " Basest man to Troy that came, Squint-eyed, bandy-legged, his shoulders slung ; Bunched on his chest, while from between them sprung ._^ His peaked head, with scant hair sprinkled thin." From this monster of iniquity, the Lord has delivered his j)eople. The horse and his rider hath He over- thrown in the deep. The parallel has often been instituted between the case of the Jews in Egypt, and that of the descendants of Africa in the United States ; and we think that the comparison is correct. Indeed, God himself, by the mouth of his holy prophet, made the comparison. * Iliad, Book II. OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. 39 " Are ye not as tlie cliil Jreii of tlie Ethiopians unto me, O cliiklren of Israel, saitli the Lord r Amos 9 : 7. This is a fair and distinct comparison. And, certainly, in the wonderful preservation and multiplication of our i^eople in the land of their bondage ; in the cruel and oppressive laws made against them a little before their deliverance ; in the series of astoundino- events attending their emancipation ; in the death of the leader, with eyes undhnmed, and natural force un- abated, who was instrumental in brino-incr them out of the house of bondage ; in all these particulars, they resemble the Jews. But is the parallel to stop there ? Are they to sojourn in the land of their bondas^e ? Are they to find a resting-place in the home of theii^ oppressors ^ We, at least, may be permitted to doubt it. We greatly fear that should the blacks continue to dwell there, the intercourse between them and their white l)rethren, instead of being an intercourse of peace, and fiiendship, and righteousness, will be one of avarice and political injustice on the one hand, and of heart-burnings, jealousies, and discontent on the other. It is not that we wish the ])lacks to be forced, by any legal enactments, out of the country of their birth against their will ; for we honestly be- lieve that . centuries of toil, and suifei'ing, and blood- shed, entitle them to resj^ectable and honorable resi- dence in that land; and we believe that, amidst all the political and social rapacity, of which they may be the objects, they Avill bear themselves with the most exemplary forbearance and moderation. But we think that half the time and energy which will be spent by them in struggles against caste — in kindlino- a fire to consume the shirt of the assassin"* — if devoted * See Sumner's Oration on the death of Lhicoln. Boston, Juno I, IS6o. 40 , OUK OKIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIES. to the building up of a home and nationality of tlieir own, would produce results immeasurably more useful and satisfactory. We know that the gale of public applause, which now fans them into a lustre of such splendid estimation, is evanescent and temporary ; and we say to them — waiving all higher and nobler con- siderations — ^better is a lowly home, among your own people, than th-e most brilliant residence among stran- gers. We tell them, in the jDrudent words of old No- komis : " Like the fire upon the hearthstone la a neighbor's homely daughter ; Like the starhght or the moonKght, Is the handsomest of strangers."* Or, in the unerring words of inspiration : Better is a dinner of herbs, when surrounded by the sincere love and affection of kindred, than the stalled ox of honors and preferments, and strife therewith. The tendency among the nations now seems to be to group themselves according to natural affinities of sen- timent and race. Witness the struggles in Italy — the dreams of Mazzini and Garibaldi, with reference to the unification of that country. Germany is striving after consolidation. The same principle is at work in Hun- gary, and the visions of Kossuth may yet be realized. Even Poland is feeling for the same thing ; and the mysterious Fenian movement is significant. In the Western world, Mexico and Santo Domingo are deter- mined to assert and protect their unity and freedom. The tendency in that direction is seen everywhere. Aliens will be eliminated. The nations seem resolved that no diversities of interests shall exist among them. * Longfellow's Hiawatha. 41 And no doubt, ere long, the conviction will force itself upon tlie minds of our brethren in the land of their exile, that their condition in the United States is an unnatural one. The reaction to the present state of things will doubtless come, and disappointment and irritation will ensue. Would it not be wisdom, then, in the leaders of the blacks in America, to catch at once the spirit of the age, and encourage among their people a feeling of nationality and of union ? Here is a land adapted to us — given to us by Provi- dence — peculiarly ours^ to the exclusion of alien races. On every hand we can look, and say it is ours. Ours are the serene skies that bend above us; ours the twinkling stars and brilliant planets — Pleiades and Venus and Jupiter ; ours the singing of the birds, the thunder of the clouds, the roaring of the sea, the rustling of the forest, the murmurs of the brooks, and the whispers of the breeze. The miry swamp, sending out disease and death, is also ours; and ours the malig- nant fever — all are ours, " No pent-up Utica contracts our powers — The whole boundless continent is ours." And here, if we would have our race honored and respected, we should try to build up a nation. " The greatest engine of moral power known to human affairs," says Edward Everett, " is an organized, pros- perous state. All that man, in his individual capacity, can do — all that he can effect by his private fraterni- ties, by his ingenious discoveries and wonders of art, or by his influence over others — is as nothing com- pared with the collective, perpetuated influence on human affairs and human happiness of a well-consti- tuted, powerful commonwealth." \ 42 OUR ORIGIN, DANGERS, AND DUTIE. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS « 030 019 728 We have made a fair beginning of such a common- wealth. Here we are, with all our unfavorable ante- cedents, still, after eighteen years of struggle, an inde- pendent nation. We have the germ of an African empire. Let us, fellow-citizens, guard the trust com- mitted to our hands. The tribes in the distant in- terior are waiting for us. We have made some im- pression on the coast ; and, God helping us, we shall make wider and deeper impressions; and as those regions have bloomed and blossomed as the rose, whither our influence has already extended, so the regions beyond, as our influence expands, shall re- ceive the same blessing ; the wilderness and the soli- tary place shall be glad for us ; until the whole land becomes the garden of the Lord. The light intrusted to us will be passed on from' tribe to tribe, until we encircle the land in a glorious blaze, realizing the beautiful prophetic vision : " I saw the expecting legions stand, To catch the coming flame in turn ; I saw from ready hand to hand The bright but struggling glory bum. " And each, as she received the flame, Lighted her altar with its ray ; Then smiling to the next which came, Speeded it on its sparkling way." And let us, in giving an impulse to civilization on this continent, take warning from the examples ox other nations, and so demean ourselves, that Liberia may eventually take her stand among the foremost nations of the earth, " free from the blood of all men," with laurels unspotted and pure, and with a pros, perity untarnished by the tears and anguish and blood of weaker races. MAT 8, '^v^G.