THE 
 
 RELATIONS AND DUTIES 
 
 OF 
 
 FttEE COLORED MEN IN AMERICA 
 
 TO AFRICA.
 
 THE 
 
 ' } 
 
 
 RELATIONS AND 
 
 
 TIES 
 
 FREE COLORED MEN. IN AMERICA 
 
 TO AFRICA. 
 
 A, LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 CHARLES B. DUNBAR, M. D., ESQ., 
 
 OF NEW YORK CITY. 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. ALEX. CRUMMELL, B. A. 
 
 " Quo res cunque cadent, unum et commune periculum 
 Una salus ambobus erit." VIRGIL. 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 
 PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD AND COMPANY. 
 1861.
 
 ,
 
 NOTE. 
 
 REV. MR. CRUMMELL, the author of the following pages, is a pure 
 African educated by private charity at Queens' College, England 
 where he became acquainted with President Roberts and others, from 
 whom he obtained such information of Liberia as determined him to 
 make that country m\ permanent residence. Before he received his 
 University education, he was for a time the pastor of a Protestant 
 Episcopal congregation of colored people in New York, and is well 
 known to the colored people of that city, and to many in other parts 
 of the country.
 
 ft It is in Africa that this evil must be rooted out by African hands 
 and African exertions chiefly that it can be destroyed." 
 
 McQuEEN. " View of Northern Central Africa." 
 
 " We may live to behold the nations of Africa engaged in the calm 
 occupations of industry, and in the pursuit of a just and legitimate 
 commerce; we may behold the bea*ms of science and philosophy 
 breaking in upon their land, which at some happier period, in still 
 later times, may blaze with full lustre, and joining their influence to 
 that of PURE RELIGION, may illuminate and invigorate the most dis- 
 tant extremities of that immense continent." WM. PITT,
 
 LETTER 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL, MT. VAUGHAN, CAPE PALMAS, > 
 LIBERIA, 1st Sept., 1860. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, It is now many months since I received a 
 letter from you, just as you was about sailing from our shores 
 for your home. In that note you requested me to address 
 you a letter setting forth my views concerning Liberia, sug- 
 gesting at the same time that such a letter might prove inter- 
 esting to many of our old friends and school-mates in New 
 York. I have not forgotten your request, although I have 
 not "heretofore complied with it. Though convinced of the 
 need and possible usefulness of such a letter as you asked 
 from me, I have shrunk from a compliance with your request. 
 Not to mention other grounds of reluctance, let me say here 
 that I have felt it a venturesome thing to address four hun- 
 dred thousand men ; albeit, it be indirectly through you. 
 Neither my name, position, nor any personal qualities, give 
 me authority thus to do. The only excuse 1 have is the depth 
 and solemnity of all questions connected with Africa. I see 
 that no one else of our race has done it ; perhaps I may be 
 pardoned for assuming so great a task. 
 
 I may add here that I address the " Free Colored Men of 
 America," because I am identified with them ; and not be- 
 cause I feel that they, especially, and above all the other sons 
 of Africa, in distant lands, are called upon for zeal and inter- 
 est in her behalf. It is the exaggeration of the relation of 
 American black men to Africa, which has turned the hearts 
 of many of her own children from her. Your duties, in this
 
 6 
 
 respect are no greater than those of our West Indian, Hay- 
 tian, and eventually our Brazilian brethren. Whatever in 
 this letter applies to our brethren in the United States, 
 applies in an equal degree to them. But I am not the man 
 to address them. I fear I presume, even in writing this letter 
 to American black men, and have only just now concluded to 
 do so by the encouragement I have received in two pleasant 
 interviews with Mr. Campbell and Dr. Delany. 
 
 And even now it is with doubt and diffidence that I conclude 
 to send you this communication. My reluctancy has arisen 
 chiefly from a consideration of the claim put forth by leading 
 colored men in the United States, to the effect "that it is 
 unjust to disturb their residence in the land of their birth, by 
 a continual call to go to Africa." This claim is, in my opin- 
 ion, a most just one. Three centuries residence in a country 
 seems clearly to give any people a right to their nationality 
 therein, without disturbance. Our brethren in America have 
 other claims besides this ; they have made large contributions 
 to the clearing of their country ; they have contributed by 
 sweat and toil to the wealth thereof ; and by their prowess 
 and their blood, they have participated in the achievement of 
 its liberties. But their master right lies in the fact that they 
 are Christians ; and one will have to find some new page and 
 appendage to the Bible, to get the warrant for Christians to 
 repel and expatriate Christians, on account of blood, or race, 
 or color. In fact, it seems to me a most serious thing to wan- 
 tonly trench upon rights, thus solemnly and providentially 
 guaranteed a people, that is, by a constant, ceaseless, fretting 
 iteration of a repelling sentiment. 
 
 Of course I do not intend anything akin to this in my let- 
 ter. I need not insult the intellect and conscience of any col- 
 ored man who thinks it his duty to labor for his race on 
 American soil, by telling him that it is his duty to come to 
 Africa. If he is educated up to the ideas of responsibility 
 and obligation, he knows his duty better than I do. And, 
 indeed, generally, it is best to leave individuals to themselves 
 as to the details of obligation and responsibility. 
 
 " The primal duties shine aloft like stars ; " and it is only
 
 when men will not see them, we are bound to repeat and re- 
 utter them, until the souls of men are aroused, and they are 
 moved to moral resolution and to noble actions. But as to 
 the mode, form and manner of meeting their duties, let the 
 common sense of every man decide it for himself. 
 
 My object in writing this letter is not to vex any of our 
 brethren by the iteration of the falsehood that America is not 
 their home ; nor by the misty theory, " that they will all yet 
 have to come to Liberia." I do not even intend to invite any 
 one to Liberia ; glad as I would be to see around me many of 
 the wise and sterling men I know in the U. States, who would 
 be real acquisitions to this nation, and as much as I covet their 
 society. I am not putting in a plea for Colonization. My 
 object is quite different ; in fact it is not a strict compliance 
 with the terms of your letter, for I shall have but little to say 
 about Liberia. But believing that all men hold some relation 
 to the land of theii* Fathers, I wish to call the attention of the 
 sons of Africa in America to their " RELATIONS AND DUTY TO 
 THE LAND OP THEIR FATHERS." 
 
 And even on such a theme I know I must prepare myself 
 for the rebuff from many " Why talk to us of Fatherland ? 
 What have we to do with Africa ? We are not Africans ; we 
 are Americans. You ask no peculiar interest on the part of 
 Germans, Englishmen, the Scotch, the Irish, the Dutch, in the 
 land of their fathers ; why then do you ask it of us ? " 
 
 Alas for us, as a race ! so deeply harmed have we been by 
 oppression, that we have lost the force of strong, native prin- 
 ciples, and prime natural affections. Because exaggerated 
 contempt has been poured upon us, we too become apt pupils 
 in the school of scorn and contumely. Because repudiation 
 of the black man has been for centuries the wont of civilized 
 nations, black men themselves get shame at their origin and 
 shrink from the terms which indicate it. 
 
 Sad as this is, it is not to be wondered at. " Oppression " 
 not only " makes a wise man mad," it robs him also of his 
 self-respect. And this is our loss ; but having emerged from 
 slavery, it is our duty to cast off its grave-clothes and resist 
 its deadly influences.
 
 8 
 
 Our ancestors were unfortunate, miserable and benighted ; 
 but nothing more. Their history was a history, not of igno- 
 miny and disgrace, but of heathenism and benightedness. 
 And even in that state they exhibited a nobleness of native 
 character, they cherished such virtues, and manifested so 
 much manliness and bravery, that the civilized world is now 
 magnanimous enough to recognize such traits ; and its great- 
 est men are free to render their warm eulogies.* 
 
 When these colored men question the duty of interest' in 
 Africa because they are not Africans, I beg to remind them of 
 the kindred duty of self-respect. And my reply to such que- 
 ries as I have mentioned above is this : 1. That there is no 
 need of asking the interest of Englishmen, Germans, Dutch- 
 men and others in the land of their Fathers, because they 
 have this interest, and are always proud to cherish it. And 
 2nd, I remark that the abject state of Africa is a most real 
 and touching appeal to any heart for sympathy and aid. It is 
 an appeal, however, which comes with a double force to every 
 civilized man who has negro blood flowing in his veins. 
 
 Africa lies low and is wretched. She is the maimed and crip- 
 pled arm of humanity. Her great powers are wasted. Dis- 
 location and anguish have reached every joint. Her condition 
 in every point calls for succor ; moral, social, domestic, politi- 
 cal, commercial, intellectual. Whence shall flow aid, mercy, 
 advantage to her ? Here arises the call of duty and obligation 
 to colored men. Other people may, if they choose, forget the 
 homes of their sires ; for almost every European nation is now 
 reaping the fruits of a thousand years civilization. Every one 
 of them can spare thousands and even millions of their sons 
 to build up civilization in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, 
 South Africa, or Victoria. But Africa is the victim of her 
 hetorogenous idolatries. Africa is wasting away beneath the 
 accretions of civil and moral miseries. Darkness covers the 
 land and gross darkness the people. Great social evils uni- 
 
 *For a most able and discriminating article upon this topic, see " WESTMIN- 
 STER REVIEW," January 7, 1842, Art., Dr. Arnold. Also, those humane and 
 truthful Essays of Mr. HEAPS. " FRIENDS IN COUNCIL, vol. 2.
 
 9 
 
 versally prevail. Confidence and security are destroyed. Li- 
 centiousness abounds everywhere. Molock rules and reigns 
 throughout the whole Continent ; and by the ordeal of Sassy- 
 wood, Fetiches, human sacrifices and devil-worship .is 
 devouring men, women and little children. They have not 
 the Gospel. They are living without God. The cross has 
 never met their gaze ; and its consolations have never entered 
 their hearts, nor its everlasting truths cheered their deaths. 
 
 And all this only epitomizes the miseries of Africa, for it 
 would take a volume to detail and enumerate them. But this 
 is sufficient to convince any son of Africa that the land of our 
 fathers is in great spiritual need, and that those of her sons 
 who haply have ability to aid in her restoration, will show 
 mercy to her, and perform an act of filial love and tenderness 
 which is but their " reasonable service." 
 
 I have two objects in view in addressing you this letter : 
 one relates to the temporal, material interests of adventurous, 
 enterprising, colored men ; and the other pertains to the best 
 and most abiding interests of the million masses of heathen 
 on this continent I mean their evangelization. 
 
 First, I am to speak with reference to the temporal, and 
 material interests of adventurous, enterprising and aspiring 
 men in the United States of America. I wish to bring before 
 such persons reasons why they should feel interest in Africa. 
 These reasons are not, I am free to confess, directly and dis- 
 tinctively philanthropic ; although I do, indeed, aim at human 
 well-being through their force and influence. But I appeal 
 now more especially to the hopes, desires, ambition, and aspi- 
 rations of such men. I am referring to that sentiment of self; 
 regard which prompts to noble exertions for support and supe- 
 riority. I am aiming at that principle of SELF LOVE which 
 spurs men on to self advantage and self aggrandizement ; a 
 principle which, in its normal state and in its due degree, to 
 use the words of BUTLER, " is as just and morally good as any 
 affection whatever." In fine, I address myself to all that class 
 of sentiments in the human heart which creates a thirst for 
 wealth, position, honor, and power. I desire the auxiliary aid 
 of this class of persons, and this class of motives, for it is 
 2
 
 10 
 
 such influences and agencies which are calculated to advance 
 the material growth of Africa. She needs skill, enterprise, 
 energy, worldly talent, to raise her ; and these applied here to 
 her needs and circumstances, will prove the handmaid of Re- 
 ligion, and will serve the great purposes of civilization and 
 enlightenment through all her borders. 
 
 There seems to me to be a natural call upon the children 
 of Africa in foreign lands, to come and participate in the open- 
 ing treasures of the land of their fathers. Though these 
 treasures are the manifest gift of God to the negro race, yet 
 that race reaps but the most partial measure of their good and 
 advantage. It has always been thus in the past, and now as 
 the resources of Africa are being more and more developed, 
 the extent of our interest therein is becoming more and more 
 diminutive. The slave-trade is interdicted throughout Chris- 
 tendom ; the chief powers of earth have put a lien upon the 
 system of slavery ; interest and research in Africa have reached 
 a state of intensity ; mystery has been banished from some of 
 her most secret quarters ; sunlight, after ages of darkness, has 
 burst in upon the charmed regions of her wealth and value ; 
 and yet the negro, on his native soil, is but " a hewer of wood 
 and drawer of water;" and the sons of Africa in foreign 
 lands, inane and blinded, suffer the adventurous foreigner, 
 with greed and glut, to jostle him aside, and to seize, with 
 skill and effect, upon their own rightful inheritance. 
 
 For three centuries and upwards, the civilized nations of 
 the earth have been engaged in African commerce. Traffic on 
 the coast of Africa anticipated the discoveries of Columbus. 
 From Africa the purest gold got its characteristic three hun- 
 dred years ago. From Africa dyes of the greatest value have 
 been carried to the great manufacturing marts of the world. 
 From Africa palm oil is exported by thousands of tons ; and 
 now as the observant eye of commerce is becoming more and 
 more fastened upon this continent, grain, gums, oils of divers 
 kinds, valuable woods, copper and other ore, are being borne 
 from the soil to meet the clamorous demands of distant marts. 
 
 The chief item of commerce in this continent has been the 
 " slave trade.' 7 The coast of Africa has been more noted for
 
 11 
 
 this than for anything else. Ever since 1600, the civilized 
 nations of the earth have been transporting in deadly holds, 
 in poisonous and pestilential cabins, in " perfidious barks," 
 millions of our race to foreign lands. This trade is now al- 
 most universally regarded as criminal ; but in the light of com- 
 mercial prudence and pecuniary advantage, the slave trade 
 was as great a piece of folly as it was a crime ; for almost be- 
 neath their eyes, yea, doubtless, often immediately in their 
 sight, were lying treasures, rivaling far the market value of 
 the flesh and blood they had been so eager to crowd beneath 
 their hatches. 
 
 Africa is as rich in resources as India is ; not as yet as val- 
 uable in products, because she is more unenlightened, and has 
 a less skilful population. But so far as it respects mineral 
 and vegetable capacity, there seems to me but little, if any 
 doubt that Africa more than rivals the most productive lands 
 on the globe. v 
 
 Let me set before you, though briefly, some of the valuable 
 articles of West African trade. I must remind you, however, 
 of three things ; first, that the soil, the rocks, and the flora 
 of Africa have not had the advantage of scientific scrutiny, 
 and as a consequence but little is known as yet of her real 
 worth and wealth in these respects. Second, that West Afri- 
 can trade is only in a nascent state that it comes from but a 
 slight fringe of the coast, while the rich interior yields, as yet, 
 but a reluctant hold upon the vast and various treasures it 
 possesses. And third, that such is the mysterious secrecy 
 American and English houses retain and enjoin upon this sub- 
 ject, that even approximation to the facts of the case is remote 
 and distant. 
 
 The following Table is an attempt to classify valuable pro- 
 ducts and articles of present trade. Nearly every article men- 
 tioned has come under my own personal inspection ; the excep- 
 tions are not over a dozen and a half.
 
 12 
 
 Nuts. 
 
 Dyes and Dyewood. 
 
 Gums and Wax. 
 
 Animals. 
 
 Palm Nut. 
 
 Camwood. 
 
 Beeswax. 
 
 Oxen. 
 
 Ground Nut. 
 
 Barwood. 
 
 Grove Tree. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 Cocoa Nut. 
 
 Indigo. 
 
 India Rubber. 
 
 Hogs. 
 
 Cold Nut. . 
 
 Christmas nut. 
 
 Gutta Percha. 
 
 Goats. 
 
 Castor Nut. 
 
 And divers oth- 
 
 Copal. 
 
 Fowls. 
 
 
 er colors, blue, 
 
 Mastic. 
 
 Ducks. 
 
 
 red, yellow, & 
 
 Senegal. 
 
 Pigeons. 
 
 
 brown. 
 
 
 
 Skins. 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Fruits. 
 
 Vegetables. 
 
 Bullock. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Oranges. 
 
 Yams. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 Maize. 
 
 Lemons. 
 
 Cassada. 
 
 Deer. 
 
 Millet. 
 
 Plantains. 
 
 Potatoes. 
 
 Monkey. 
 
 
 Bananas. 
 
 Tan yah. 
 
 Leopard. 
 
 
 Citrons. 
 
 
 Gazelle. 
 
 
 Limes. 
 
 
 Squirrel. 
 
 
 Guavas. 
 
 
 Raccoon. 
 
 
 Pine Apples. 
 
 
 Lion. 
 
 
 Papaw. 
 
 
 
 
 Mango Plums. 
 
 
 
 
 Alligator Pear. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bread Nut. 
 
 
 
 
 Tamarind. 
 
 
 Special articles con- 
 
 Timber. 
 
 Minerals. nected with trade & 
 
 Fish. 
 
 domestic use. 
 
 Teak. 
 
 Iron. 
 
 Sugar Cane. 
 
 Mackerel. 
 
 Ebony. 
 
 Copper. 
 
 Coffee. 
 
 Mango Perch 
 
 Lignum Vitae 
 
 . Gold. 
 
 Cocoa. 
 
 Caualla. 
 
 Mahogany. 
 
 
 Pepper. 
 
 Gripper. 
 
 Brimstone. 
 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 Herring. 
 
 Rosewood. 
 
 
 Tobacco. 
 
 Mullet. 
 
 Walnut. 
 
 
 
 Chub. 
 
 Hickory. 
 
 
 
 Perch. 
 
 Oak. 
 
 
 
 Pike. 
 
 Cedar. 
 
 
 
 Trout. 
 
 Unevah. 
 
 
 
 Cod. 
 
 Mangrove. 
 
 
 
 Skate. 
 
 
 
 
 Eels. 
 
 
 
 
 Oysters.
 
 13 
 
 I can not dismiss these Tables without a few remarks rela- 
 tive to some few prominent items they enumerate ; I mean 
 the PALM NUT and OIL, COTTON, INDIAN CORN, and SUGAR 
 CANE. 
 
 PALM OIL. This article, more than any other West Afri- 
 can product, shows the rapidity with which legitimate com- 
 merce has sprung up on the coast of Africa. A few years ago 
 palm oil was an insignificant item in the coast trade.* Now 
 it is an article which commands whole fleets of sailing vessels, 
 seeks the auxiliary aid of steamers, and effects most power- 
 fully the commerce of England, France, and the United States. 
 
 I copy several items pertaining to this export from a report 
 of a former acquaintance and correspondent, the late Mr. 
 Consul Campbell, of Lagos. The report, as will be seen, in- 
 cludes several other items besides palm oil, and it refers ex- 
 clusively to LAGOS. 
 
 SHIPPED FROM LAGOS DURING 1857. 
 
 Value. 
 
 13,097 casks of Palm Oil, 4,942 tons, 222,390 
 
 1,053 Elephant Tusks, 24,118 Ibs., 4,220 
 
 868 bales of Cotton, 114,848 Ibs., 3,490 
 
 230,200 
 50,000 native Cotton Cloths, 25,000 
 
 Total value of exports from Lagos, 255,200 
 
 Palm Oil 
 
 From the Benin River, 2,650 tons, 
 
 " Palma, 3,250 " 
 
 " Badagry, 1,250 " 
 
 " Porto Novo, Appi, Yista, &c., 4,500 " 
 
 " Whydah, 2,500 
 
 " Ahguay and neighbor'g ports, 2,500 " 
 
 16,650 tons, 732,600 
 150,000 country Cloths of native manu- 
 facture from above ports, 75,000 
 
 1,062,800 
 
 *In 1808, the quantity imported into England was only 200 (two hundred) tons.
 
 14 
 
 Of the above productions there was shipped from Lagos in 
 the year 
 
 1856. 1857. 
 
 Palm Oil, 3,884 tons. 4,942 tons. 
 
 Ivory, 16,057 Ibs. 24,118 Ibs. 
 Cotton, 34,491 Ibs. 114,844 Ibs. 
 Palm Oil from other ports 
 
 1856. 1857. 
 
 2,500 tons. 2,650 tons. 
 
 2,250 " 3,250 " 
 
 1,250 " 1,250 
 
 4,000 " 4,500 
 
 2,500 2,500 
 
 1,800 2,500 
 
 Benin River, 
 
 Palma, 
 
 Badagry, 
 
 Porto Novo, <fec., 
 
 Whydah, 
 
 Ahguay, &c., 
 
 Increase. 
 
 1,058 tons. 
 8,061 Ibs. 
 81,353 Ibs. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 150 tons. 
 1,000 " 
 
 500 " 
 
 700 " 
 
 14,300 tons. 
 3,884 
 
 From Lagos, 
 
 Total shipment in 1857, 
 
 16,650 tons. 
 4,942 " 
 
 2,350 tons. 
 1,058 
 
 21,592 tons. 3,408 tons. 
 
 The export of Oil and Nuts from SIERRA LEONE, is as follows : 
 
 PALM OIL EXPORTED FROM SIERRA LEONE DURING THE YEARS 
 
 1850, 285,032 gallons, 
 
 1851, 212,577 
 
 1852, 307,988 
 1853, 
 
 1854, 
 1855, 
 1856, 
 
 181,438 
 304,406 
 364,414 
 463,140 
 
 Total, 2,118,985 gallons, equal to 6,835 tons. 
 Custom House, Sierra Leone, 18th February, 1857. 
 
 PORT OP FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 QUANTITY OP PALM-NUT KERNELS EXPORTED FROM THE COLONY, 
 
 AS FOLLOWS, VIZ. : 
 
 1850, 
 1851, 
 1852, 
 
 4,096 bushels, 
 2,925 " 
 46,727
 
 15 
 
 1853, 29,699 bushels. 
 
 1854, 25,399| " 
 
 1855, 65,388 " 
 
 1856, 90,282 
 
 Total, 264,516 bushels, equal to 6,612 tons. 
 Customs, Sierra Leone, 30th January, 1857. 
 
 I have no reliable information of the amount of oil export- 
 ed at the present ; but I do not think I shall be far from the 
 point of accuracy, if I put it down at 60,000 tons, which, at 
 the probable value of 45 per ton, equals 2,700,000. 
 
 COTTON. Next to palm oil, cotton is now commanding 
 more attention than any other article. The interesting fact 
 with regard to this staple is that it excites as much interest in 
 Africa as it does in England and America. There are few 
 things in the history v of trade more important, more interest- 
 ing, morally as well as commercially, than the impetus which 
 has recently been given to the growth of cotton. 
 
 In 185-, Mr. Consul Campbell made a statement of the 
 probable amount of cotton exported from West Africa. I 
 have to rely upon my memory for the items of that statement ; 
 and, if I mistake not, he stated that the people of Abbeokuta 
 exported nigh 200,000 country cloths annually. These cloths 
 are purchased for transportation to Brazil, where there are 
 thousands of African slaves who still dress in the same style 
 as when at their homes. He supposed that full 200,000 coun- 
 try cloths were manufactured for home use, which would 
 make the probable number manufactured in Africa, 400,000. 
 And he calculated 2 Ibs. as the average weight of each coun- 
 try cloth ; and 400,000 x 2* 1,000,000 Ibs. of cotton manu- 
 factured by the natives of interior Africa, in one locality, that 
 is Yoruba. Doubtless as much more is allowed to grow and 
 run to waste, unused. 
 
 Now these facts, to a partial extent, were well known in 
 Liberia, for our merchants are accustomed to purchasing 
 " country cloths," as they are called, and selling them to for- 
 eign traders ; but Consul Campbell's statements far exceed 
 any realities we have ever thought of, and show that interior
 
 16 
 
 Africa is as great a field for the production of cotton, as 
 America or India. 
 
 SUGAR CANE. To what extent West Africa is to become a 
 sugar-producing country it is difficult to conjecture. Many, 
 doubtless, have grave doubts whether this will ever be the 
 case ; for my own part I have no misgivings upon the point, 
 that is, its capability of becoming a great sugar-producing 
 country. The natives grow it in all the country about Cape 
 Palmas, and frequently bring cane to the American settle- 
 ments for sale. With some small encouragement, and a little 
 stimulus, it could easily be made a staple here. My opinions 
 have been strengthened by some observations made in a recent 
 missionary tour. I found cane but little inferior to that 
 grown on the St. Paul's river, growing in nearly all the towns 
 and villages through which I passed, forty > fifty, and sixty 
 miles in the interior. On inquiry, I learned that it is grown 
 by the natives in the interior, two hundred miles back. Dr. 
 Livingstone, in his journal, states a like fact concerning the 
 natives in South Africa.* 
 
 What a germ have we here for systematic labor, plodding 
 industry, the proper direction of the acquisition principle, and 
 thereby, of civilization and Christianity, if only a company of 
 right-minded men were settled on the Cavalla, prepared for 
 the production of sugar, willing to stimulate national energy, 
 and at the same time to uplift and enlighten the heathen ! 
 
 MAIZE. What is the case respecting sugar cane equally 
 pertains to corn. It is grown plenteously and extensively in 
 West Africa. On the Cavalla river it is planted with rice, and 
 I am told that in the gathering season hundreds of bushels of 
 corn are left by the natives untouched in their fields. In 
 some cases American colonists have gone and gathered quan- 
 tities of it without any payment. Here, then, with an enter- 
 prising settlement, corn could be obtained, as an export. 
 The natives, if encouraged, might easily be made vast and ex- 
 tensive corn-growers. This has already taken place on the 
 
 * Dr. Livingstone saw the cane growing in his tour through South Africa. It 
 is more than probable that that cane is indigenous to both West and South Africa.
 
 ,'""'. 
 
 Gold Coast. Several cargoes of corn were exported thence 
 in 1859, to England. 
 
 As with the palm oil, so with maize, sugar-cane, and cot- 
 ton ; civilized men could, with but little difficulty, increase 
 the cultivation of these articles among the natives, and ship 
 them to traders to their own advantage. And this process is 
 the great secret of West African trade ; the foreign merchant, 
 by his goods, excites the cupidity of the simple native who at 
 Fernandapo brings him barwood ; at St. Paul Loando, bees- 
 wax; at Congo, copal and gutta percha; at Accra, maize; 
 at Cababar, black ebony wood ; at Bonny and Lagos, palm 
 oil; at Bassa, (Liberia,) camwood; at Lagos, cotton; at 
 Tantamquerry and Gambra, ground nuts an<j. pepper; at 
 Sierra Leone, nearly all kinds of African produce ; at Elmina, 
 Cape Coast, Accra, and Bassam, gold. By this multiform 
 ' traffic, yet, be it remembered, in its infancy, and capable of be- 
 ing increased a thousand-fold, millions of dollars are being 
 made, every year, on the coast of Africa. 
 
 Now all this flows into the coffers of white men. I mean 
 nothing invidious by this. I state a fact, and am utterly un- 
 conscious of any unworthy or ungenerous feeling, in stating 
 it. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; " and 
 this " fullness " he has given to MAN, irrespective of race or 
 color. The main condition of the obtainment of it is intelli- 
 gence, forecast, skill, and enterprise. If the black man the 
 black man, I mean, civilized and enlightened, has lying before 
 him a golden heritage, and fails to seize upon and to appro- 
 priate it ; Providence, none the less, intends it to be seized 
 upon, and wills it to be used. And if the white man, with a 
 keen eye, a cunning hand, and a wise practicalness, is enabled 
 to appropriate it with skill and effect, it is his ; God gives it 
 to him ; and he has a right to seek and to search for a multi- 
 plication of it ; and when he secures it, a right to the use 01 
 it, responsible, however, both to God and man for the use 01 
 right means to the ends he has before him, and for the moral 
 features of his traffic. 
 
 But while conceding that the white man has, in the main, 
 fairly won the present trade of Africa ; I can not but lament 
 
 Q
 
 ' ",.vv 18 
 
 aver non-participation therein ; for the larger advantages of it, 
 go to Europe and America, and help to swell the broad stream 
 of their wealth, luxury, and refinement. And how deep and 
 broad and mighty is that stream, as shown by two facts : 1st, 
 That England, France, and the United States, expend annually 
 more than a million and a half of dollars for the protection of 
 trade on this coast.* And 2d, That the coast swarms with 
 white men, using all possible means and contrivances to open 
 trade into the interior. To this one single end, an immense 
 amount of capital is spent by great mercantile houses, in 
 England, France, and America. One single house in Liver- 
 pool, employs such a fleet of trading vessels, that it is necessi- 
 tated to keep. a resident physician at the mouth of one of our 
 great rivers for the benefit of their captains and sailors. " A 
 single merchant now living, in the course of three or four years 
 has spent more than $100,000 in exploring the rivers and 
 creeks of Western Africa, merely to ascertain the extent of her 
 commercial relations."! While I am writing these pages, I 
 receive the information that one of the great Liverpool houses, 
 has just sent out a small steamer to the Brights, to collect the 
 oil for their trading vessels. Simultaneously with this intelli- 
 gence, I am advised that a number of agents are employed by 
 English capitalists to visit the towns from Lagos to Abbeokuta, 
 and to leave with their chiefs, small bags of cotton seed for the 
 growth of cotton. And but a few months ago we hailed in 
 our roads a little fairy craft the " Sunbeam," steamer sent 
 out by " Laird and Company " for the Niger trade ; and 
 since then, I have heard of two of her trips, four hundred 
 miles up that mighty river, bringing thence valuable cargoes 
 from the factories which are now established three hundred 
 miles up upon its banks. 
 
 And now perhaps you ask, " How shall the children of 
 Africa, sojourning in foreign lands, avail themselves of the 
 treasures of this continent ? " I answer briefly, " In the 
 same way white men do." Tliey have pointed out the way ; 
 
 * I do not pretend to accuracy in this statement ; the expenditure of Great 
 Britain was, in 184-, 231,000. 
 t Wilson's "Western Africa," pp. 521.
 
 19 
 
 III / / / i 
 
 let us follow in the same track and in the tiso of tlio like 
 [legitimate] agencies by which trade is facilitated and money 
 is made by them. 
 
 Perhaps this is too general ; let me therefore attempt some- 
 thing more specific and "distinctive. 
 
 FIKST, then, I remark that if individuals are unable to enter 
 upon a trading system, they can form associations. If one has 
 not sufficient capital, four or six united can make a good 
 beginning. If a few persons can not make the venture, then 
 a company can be formed. It was in this way the first 
 attempts at trading were made by the Dutch and the English, 
 both in India and Africa. A few men associated themselves 
 together, and sent out their agent or agents, and started a fac- 
 tory. And from such humble beginnings, in the 17th century, 
 has arisen that magnificent Indian Empire, which has helped 
 to swell the vast wealth, and the cumbrous capital of England, 
 from whose arena haVe come forth such splendid and colossal 
 characters, as Cleve, and Wellington, and Metcalf, and the 
 Laurences, and Havelock ; and which has furnished the church 
 of Christ a field on which to display the Apostolic virtues and 
 the primitive self-sacrifice of Middleton, and Heber, and Wil- 
 son, of Henry Martyn, of Fox and Ragland. 
 
 Without doubt God designs as great things as these for 
 Africa, and among the neans and agencies He will employ, 
 commercial enterprise is most certainly one. To this end 
 however, high souls and lofty resolves are necessary, as in any 
 other vocation of life. Of course the timid, the over-cautious, 
 the fearful; men in whose constitution FAITH is a needed 
 quality, are not fitted for this service. If ever the epoch of 
 negro civilization is brought about in Africa ; whatever exter- 
 nal influences may be brought to bear upon this end ; what- 
 ever foreign agencies and aids, black men themselves are 
 without doubt to be the chief instruments. But they are to 
 be men of force and energy ; men who will not suffer them- 
 selves to be outrivaled in enterprise and vigor ; men who are 
 prepared for pains, and want and suffering ; men of such 
 invincible courage that the spirit can not be tamed by tran- 
 sient failures, incidental misadventure, or even glaring miscaL
 
 20 
 
 .. 
 
 dilations ; men who can exaggerate the feeblest resources into 
 potent agencies and fruitful capital. Moreover these men are 
 to have strong moral proclivities, "equal to the deep penetra- 
 tion and the unyielding tenacity of their minds. No greater 
 curse could be entailed upon Africa than the sudden appear- 
 ance upon her shores, of a mighty host of heartless black buc- 
 caneers [for such indeed they would prove themselves ;] 
 men sharpened up by letters and training ; filled with feverish 
 greed ; with hearts utterly alien from moral good and human 
 well-being ; and only regarding Africa as a convenient gold- 
 field from which to extract emolument and treasure to carry 
 off to foreign quarters. 
 
 Such men would only reproduce the worst evils of the last 
 three sad centuries of Africa's history ; and quickly and inevi- 
 tably so soil their character, that the just imputation would be 
 fastened upon them of tHat malignant lie which has recently 
 been spread abroad through Europe 'and America against us ; 
 
 that is, of complicity with the slave trade.* 
 
 I 
 
 * Nothing can be more judicious than the following words of Commander 
 Foote " Let then the black man be judged fairly, and not presumed to have 
 become all at once and by miracle, of a higher order than old historic nations, 
 through many generations of whom the political organization of the world has 
 been slowly developing itself. There will be among them men who are covetous, 
 or men who are tyrannical, or men who would^sacrifice public interests, or any 
 others to their own ; men who would now go into the slave trade if they could, or 
 rob hen roosts, or intrigue for office, or pick pockets, rather than trouble their heads 
 or their hands with more honorable occupations. It should be remembered by 
 visitors that such things will be found in Liberia ; not because men are black, but 
 because men are men." AFRICA AND THE AMERICAN FLAG, p. 206. 
 
 It is most encouraging to find ever and anon a writer who in speaking of colored 
 men avoids the exaggeration of them either into demi-gods or monkeys. Even 
 Commander Foote well nigh loses his balance, on the same page whence the 
 above just sentence is taken. In the paragraph which immediately follows this 
 extract, he gives expression to opinions sweepingly disparaging to the negro race> 
 and not of certain historical accuracy. Commander Foote says " No negro has 
 done anything to lighten or brighten the links of human policy." Such a broad asser- 
 tion implies that the Avriter has cleared up all the mysteries of past history ; but 
 upon the point, that is, " the relation of Egypt to the negro race," though still a 
 disputed question ; yet, with such authorities on our side as Dr. Pitchard, Cardinal 
 Wiseman and that ripe scholar, the late Alexander H. Everett, one would have 
 supposed Commander Foote would have been a little less venturesome. Moreover j 
 I beg to say that TOUISSANT L'OUVERTURE is an historical character. GOOD- 
 WIN, in his lectures on colonial slavery says : " Can the West India Islands, since
 
 21 VKiff 
 
 Happily for Africa, most the yearnings of her sons ow 
 her are gentle, humane and generous. When the commercial 
 one shall show itself, it will not differ, I feel assured, from all 
 the others her children have showed. God grant that it may 
 soon burst from many warm and ardent and energetic hearts, 
 for the rescue of a continent ! 
 
 SECOND. I proceed to show that the whole coast offers 
 facilities for adventurous traders. There are few, if any local- 
 ities but where they can set up their factories and commence 
 business. If there are exceptions they are rare; and even 
 then, not really such, but cases where at some previous time 
 the natives have been so basely and knavishly treated, that 
 they themselves have learned to practice the same upon some 
 hapless, unsuspecting captain and his crew. As a general 
 thing, however, native African chiefs court and invite the 
 residence of a trader in their neighborhood ; will give him 
 protection; and will strive 'to secure his permanent stay. On 
 our Liberian coast we see the proof of this in the many facto- 
 ries in existence at divers points. I nave myself seen mere 
 boys, young Englishmen not of age, who have come out 
 to this country seeking their fortunes, living on the coast in 
 native towns, without any civilized companionship, and carry- 
 ing on a thriving trade. The chiefs have an interest in these 
 men, and therefore make their residence safe and comfortable. 
 The traders' presence and barter give the King or head-man 
 importance, increase his wealth, augment his influence in 
 the neighborhood, swell the population of his town, and thus 
 make it the center or capital of the surrounding region. But 
 even if it were not thus, the security of traders is insured by 
 -the felt power of the three great nations of the civilized 
 world. Such, and so great is the naval force of England, 
 France, and America, on this coast, that the coast may be 
 regarded as protected. The native chiefs, for many hundred 
 
 
 
 their first discovery by Columbus, boast a single name which deserves comparison 
 with that of Touissant L'Ouverture ? " Read Harriet Martineau's " Hour and 
 the man : " Wordsworth's fine Sonnet addressed to " Touissant in prison ; " and 
 the noble Poem of John G. Whittier, on the same theme ; and then compare the 
 opinions of these high names with Commander Foote's broad assertions.
 
 
 v 
 
 miles, have been taught to fear the destructive instruments of 
 war they carry with them, and now a days but seldom give 
 occasion for their use. 
 
 But aside from all this, I may remark here, 1st, that of all 
 rude and uncivilized men, the native African is the mildest 
 and most gentle ; and 2nd, that no people in the world are so 
 given to trade and barter as the negroes of the western coast 
 of Africa. 
 
 THIRDLY. Let me refer to the means and facilities colored 
 men have for an entrance upon African commerce. And 1st, 
 I would point out the large amount of capital which is lying 
 in their hands dead and unproductive. There is, as you are 
 doubtless aware, no small amount of wealth possessed by the 
 free colored population of the United States, both North and 
 South. Notwithstanding the multitudinous difficulties which 
 beset them in the pathway of improvement, our brethren have 
 shown capacity, perseverance, oftentimes thrift and acquisi- 
 tiveness. As a consequence they are, all over the Union, own- 
 ers of houses, farms, Homesteads, and divers other kinds of 
 property ; and stored away in safe quarters, they have large 
 amounts of gold and silver ; deep down in large stockings, in 
 the corners of old chests, in dark and undiscoverable nooks 
 and crannies ; besides larger sums invested in banks, and 
 locked up in the safes of city savings banks. 
 
 I have no statistics by me of the population and property of 
 the ' colored people of Cincinnati, but I am told that their 
 wealth exceeds that of the same class, in any other city in the 
 American Union that is, according to their numbers. Nash- 
 ville, Tenn., Charleston, S. C.,St. Louis, Mo., Mobile and New 
 Orleans, stand in nearly the same category. Baltimore holds 
 a respectable position. In the " Weekly Anglo- African," 
 (September, 1859,) I find that the CHURCH PROPERTY of the 
 colored population in Philadelphia is put down at $231,484. 
 Doubtless their personal real estate must be worth millions, 
 And the same must be true of New York city. 
 
 The greater portion of their wealth, however, is unproduc- 
 tive. As a people we have been victimized in a pecuniary 
 point of view, as well as morally and politically ; and as a
 
 23 
 
 consequence there is an almost universal dread of entrusting 
 our monies in the hands of capitalists, and trading companies, 
 and stock ; though in the great cities large sums are put in 
 savings banks. There are few, however, who have the cour- 
 age to take shares in railroad and similar companies, and in 
 many places it could not be done. 
 
 There is one most pregnant fact that will serve to show, 
 somewhat, their monetary ability. " THE AFRICAN METHODIST 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH " is one of the denominations of the United 
 States. It has its own organization ; its own bishops ; its 
 conferences, its organ, or magazine ; and these entirely inter 
 se absolutely disconnected with all the white denominations 
 of America. This religious body is spread out in hamlet, 
 village, town and city, all through the eastern, northern, west- 
 ern, and (partly) the southern States. But the point to which 
 I desire to direct your attention is the fact that they have built 
 and now own some 30*0 church edifices, mostly brick ; and in 
 the large cities, such as New York, Philadelphia and Balti- 
 more, they are large, imposing, capacious, and will seat some 
 two or three thousand people. The free black people of the 
 United States built these churches ; the funds were gathered 
 from their small and large congregations ; and in some cases 
 they have been known to collect, that is, in Philadelphia and 
 Baltimore, at one collection, over $1,000. The aggregate 
 value of their property can not be less than $5,000,000. 
 
 Now this, you will notice, is an exhibit of the corporate 
 monied power of but one class of our brethren. I have said 
 nothing about the Episcopal churches, of the Presbyterians, of 
 the Baptists, nor of the divers sections of the Methodists. 
 But this will suffice. You can easily see from the above, that 
 there must be a large amount of pecuniary means in the hands 
 of the free colored population of the American States. 
 
 2nd. I turn now to another of their facilities for engaging 
 in African commerce. I refer to NAVIGATION. And here I 
 might rest the case upon the fact that money will purchase 
 vessels, and command seamen and navigators. But you 
 already have both. Turn for a moment to New Bedford, 
 Mass. ' It is now some twenty years since I visited that im-
 
 24 
 
 portant seaport. Though but a boy, I kept my eyes open, 
 especially upon the condition of our race there ; and I re- 
 tain still a vivid remembrance of the signs of industry and 
 thrift among them, of the evidences of their unusual wealth, 
 and of their large interest in shipping. I had the names of sev- 
 eral parties mentioned to me who were owners of whale craft, 
 and I made the acquaintance of some of them. Among these 
 I remember well some youthful descendants of Paul Cuifee. 
 The same state of things, I apprehend exists, though perhaps 
 in a much less degree, in some places in Connecticut ; on the 
 Hudson, that is, at Albany and Newburgh, in the State of 
 New York ; on the Potomac ; at St. Louis, on the Mississippi, 
 and on the Red River. There are scores, if not hundreds of 
 colored men who own schooners, and other small craft in those 
 localities ; pilots and engineers, captains and seamen, who, if 
 once moved with a generous impulse to redeem the land of 
 their fathers, could, in a brief time, form a vast commercial 
 marine, equal to all the necessities of such a glorious project. 
 Let me dwell for a moment upon one suggestion, that is, 
 the facilities for securing seamen, and the comparative ease of 
 forming crews. Colored seamen, in large numbers, I appre- 
 hend, can easily be obtained. Even in the United States 
 their numbers are legion ; and we may proudly say that, in 
 activity, dutifulness and skill, they are equal to any sailors on 
 the globe. Nor would there be any great lack of the needed 
 class just above the grade of sailors, that is, a class who would 
 join intelligence and knowledge to practicalness. What a num- 
 ber of men, trained to a late boyhood in the colored schools, 
 do we not know who have sailed for years out of New York as 
 "stewards" in the great " liners" ! How many of these are 
 there not, who both at school and by experience, have attained 
 a real scientific acquaintance with navigation. And how 
 many of them, had they been white men, would long ere this, 
 have risen to the posts of mates and captains ! How many of 
 such could you and I point out, who were our school-mates, 
 in the old " free school," in Mulberry street ! * 
 
 * In a most elaborate paper, entitled " THE NIGER TRADE," by Sir George 
 Stephen, (Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London, 1849,) the author shows, most
 
 "25 
 
 Here, then, you have the material and the designated agen- 
 cy for an almost boundless commercial staff, for the purposes 
 of trade in West Africa. The facts I have adduced can not, 
 I think, be disputed. And on the condition that this ma- 
 chinery is brought into operation, the influences and results 
 are easily anticipated. It must follow, as a necessity, that the 
 trade and commerce of Africa shall fall into the hands of 
 black men. At* an early day whole fleets of vessels, manned 
 and officered by black men from the United States and Libe- 
 ria, would outrival all the other agencies which are now being 
 used for grasping West African commerce. Large and im- 
 portant houses would spring into existence among you, all 
 through the states. Wealth would flow into your coffers, and 
 affluence would soon exhibit itself anftd all your associations. 
 The reproach of penury and the consciousness of impotency 
 in all your relations would rapidly depart. And as a people 
 you would soon be able to make yourselves a felt element of 
 society in all the relations of life, on the soil where you were 
 born. 
 
 These are some of the material influences which would 
 result from this movement. The moral and philanthropic 
 results would be equally if not more notable. The kings and 
 tradesmen of Africa, having the demonstration of negro ca- 
 pacity before them, would hail the presence of their black 
 kinsmen from America,* and would be stimulated to a gener- 
 ous emulation. To the farthest interior, leagues and combi- 
 nations would be formed with the men of commerce, and thus 
 civilization, enlightenment and Christianity would be carried 
 to every state, and town, and village of interior Africa. The 
 
 clearly, the need and the practicability of employing the agency of black men, for 
 the purposes of African civilization. Sir George suggested the employment of them, 
 in the [British] naval as well as merchant service ; in all grades of office, from 
 seamen and marines up to naval officers ; and he points to the West India Colo- 
 nies, and Hayti, remarking, " Hayti has a navy exceeding twenty in number, of 
 which four are steamers ; all are, of course, manned and officered by black or col- 
 ored men." In this paper, Sir George quotes and emphasises the words of Mc- 
 Queen " It is by African hands and African exertions chiefly that the evil must be 
 rooted out." 
 
 * Just this has been the experience of Dr. Delany, as I hear from valued friends 
 there, at Lagos, and other places. 
 
 4
 
 26 
 
 galling remembrances of the slave trade on the coast, and of 
 slavery in America, would quicken the blood and the brain of 
 both parties ; and every wretch of a slave trader who might 
 visit the coast, would have to atone for his temerity by sub- 
 mitting to the rigid code framed for piracy. And when this 
 disturbing and destructive hindrance to African progress was 
 once put down, noble cities, vast agricultural establishments, 
 the seeds of universities, and ground-work of church organi- 
 zations, would spring up all along the banks, and up the valley 
 of the Niger.* 
 
 There is one certain commercial result to return to my 
 subject that would surely grow out of this movement ; I 
 mean the flow of large amounts of capital from the monied 
 men of America, that is, if black men showed skill, energy 
 and practicability. Philanthropy would come forward with 
 largess for colored men, thus developing the resources of Af- 
 rica. Religion would open a large and generous hand in order 
 to hasten the redemption of a continent, alien from Christ and 
 His church. And capital would hasten forward, not only for 
 its wonted reduplication, but also to exemplify the vitality and 
 fruitfulness which it always scatters from golden hands in its 
 open pathway. And when you consider the fact of kinship, 
 on our part, with Africa, the less liability to fever, the incen- 
 tive to gain, the magnificent objects before us, and the mag- 
 nificent field on which to develop them, and the probable early 
 power of intelligent black men to penetrate, scathless, any 
 neighborhood where they might reside, you can see the likeli- 
 hood of an early repossession of Africa, in trade, commerce, 
 and moral power, by her now scattered children, in distant 
 lands. 
 
 For the carrying out such a plan you have, I repeat myself, 
 you have almost, if not quite, all the needed means and agen- 
 cies, even now, at hand. You have, all through the states, 
 men who can at once furnish the capital for the commence- 
 ment of such a venture. You know I am not wont to exag- 
 gerate the wealth of colored men. In such matters I prefer 
 
 * The great hindrance to African evangelization at the present time is the slave 
 trade. Missionaries feel this all along the coast, from Cape Palmas to Congo.
 
 27 
 
 fact to conjecture ; for* certainly among us on this subject, 
 imagination has too often proved " a forward and delusive fac- 
 ulty." Yet I do know of some of our brethren in the States 
 who have become monied men, not millionaires indeed, but 
 men worth their thousands. Some of these men are more 
 prominent individuals than others, and as their names are not 
 unfrequently mentioned in such a connection as this, it may 
 not seem invidious in a like mention on these pages. Some 
 of these persons are acquaintances a few, old friends of for- 
 mer years, but the most are personally unknown to me. 
 There are Eev. Stephen Smith, William Whipper, Esq., of 
 Philadelphia ; Messrs. Knight & Smith, of Chicago, 111. ; 
 Messrs. Cook & Moxly, of Buffalo, N. Y. ; Youngs & Wilcox, 
 of Cincinnati, &c., &c. 
 
 It is possible that in a few instances earnest prejudice against 
 everything African may cause displeasure at this designation. 
 Any one can see thatvl have intended nothing discourteous ; 
 and it should be remembered that commercial enterprise in 
 Africa has no necessary connection with emigration, or colo- 
 nization. How great soever the diversities of opinion upon 
 these points, on this platform Douglass and Delany can stand 
 beside the foremost citizens and merchants of Liberia. Hence 
 those men whose feelings are the most averse to anything like 
 colonization, can not object to the promotion of trade and the 
 acquisition of wealth. Indeed, I have no doubt that there 
 are thousands who would be glad of a safe investment in any- 
 thing wherein there is probability of advantage. Moreover 
 the fretted mind of our brethren needs distraction from griefs 
 and the causes of grief. Just now, when darkness shrouds 
 their Southron heavens, what could be more opportune, what 
 more desirable than such a movement. The danger is that 
 thousands of them, in their sorrows, may sit down, hopeless, 
 careless, and 
 
 " Nurse despair 
 
 And feed the dreadful appetite of death." 
 
 Your leading men should strive to occupy the vacant minds 
 of their despairing brethren by the healthful stimulant of duty 
 and enterprise.
 
 28 
 
 Doubtless there are many persons in the States who will 
 view the above suggestions in connection with the Liberian 
 Republic, and in my opinion it will be wise and judicious for 
 them so to do. I have nothing extravagant to say about Libe- 
 ria. It is a theme upon which I never fall into ecstacies. I 
 can not find in it as yet place or occasion for violent raptures. 
 I get started a little, at times, from cool equanimity, when I 
 read the wonderful tales of travelers about, the country, or 
 the first letters of enthusiastic settlers. Liberia is a young 
 country, hardly yet " in the gristle," laying, as I dare to 
 affirm, good foundations, but with much pain, great trials, 
 consuming anxieties, and with the price of great tribulation, 
 and much mortality. But is not this the history of all young 
 countries ? Has not God married pain and suffering and death , 
 to the fresh beginnings of all new nationalities ? Would it 
 not be marvelous, noti to say miraculous, if it were true, that 
 the history of this colony for it is nothing more than a col- 
 ony as yet that it had been exempted from these trials ? 
 And what right have we to expect that God, in these days, 
 will work miracles, especially for black men ?* 
 
 I have never been disappointed in anything moral, social or 
 political that I have met with in this land. I came to the 
 country expecting all the peculiarities of struggling colonial 
 life, with the added phase of imported habits, tinctured with 
 the deterioration, the indifference, the unthriftiness, which 
 are gendered by any servile system. "All work is badly done 
 by people in despair," says Pliny the naturalist. f A forty 
 days' passage through the deep sea can not effect such a regen- 
 erating influence as to alter character, and to implant hope, 
 
 * " No new country can be founded unless under the greatest difficulties. It is 
 the universal law of experience, that however in the late stages of their existence 
 colonies may be prosperous, and to what state soever they may have advanced in 
 the accumulation of wealth, their infant life must always be a life of difficulty and 
 peril." Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Speech before Propagation Soc., Liverpool, 
 1858. 
 
 t LORD BACON discourses most pertinently and powerfully to the same effect. 
 See Art. 33 of "Plantations," " Bacon's Essays and Wisdom of the Ancients." 
 I regret I can not copy the whole of it here.
 
 29 
 
 ambition, thrift, order, and perseverance, where they have 
 never been cultivated. 
 
 These anticipations proved correct, save that I found a 
 stronger and a more general disposition to labor than the sad 
 history of our brethren warranted my looking for.* Many 
 things gratified me from the first. Since then Liberia has 
 grown much. Development shows itself on every side. The 
 acquisition principle manifests itself, and in less than ten 
 years large fortunes will be made ; extensive farms spring up ; 
 ships be built on our rivers and sail to Europe and America. 
 There is every sign, too, that the springs of trade will shortly, 
 through our own direct influence, be started through all our 
 native population, for 200 miles in the interior ; and that this 
 trade will be our own ; and that it will originate a commerce 
 excelling that of Sierra Leone. I believe verily that the 
 great principles of industry, of thrift, and expansion are daily 
 taking deeper root in the soil ; and that ultimately they will 
 outgrow and exclude all the weeds of lazy self-content, inflated 
 and exaggerated vanity, unthrift, and extravagance. Of course 
 we have here stupid obstructions, men who cling tenaciously 
 to the " dead past;" a few millinered and epauleted gentry, 
 
 * The people of Liberia are not lazy, although I am sorry to say, appearances 
 are sometimes against them. The case is this : Many new men do not know how to 
 labor for THEMSELVES ! They come, at a mature age, when their habits are fixed, 
 into a new school, the operations of which they are unacquainted with. They go 
 into the "bush," and its formidableness overcomes, and crushes them; they sit 
 down in despair and do nothing, and many perish. "Are not such men lazy ? " 
 asks some objector. I say no ! and my reason for saying so is this : In the year 
 1856 there were scores of the class above described on the St. Paul's river, doing 
 nothing. Some four or five farmers commenced the cultivation of sugar cane and 
 the manufacture of sugar. This new effort required large numbers of laborers, 
 and as soon as the need was known, the river was alive with men seeking labor. 
 Who were these men 1 The hopeless, the despairing men, who could not see their 
 way through the " bush," and could not improve their own farmsteads. I have 
 seen scores of these men trudging through the rain and mud, in the rainy season, 
 or paddling in fragile canoes, seeking the larger plantations, clamorous for labor ; 
 and I have seen the supply so great that a dozen men had to be refused at a time. 
 Why was this 1 These men had been unaccustomed to self support. Placed un- 
 der a proprietor, heart and limb were alive with an industrious impulse. Liberia 
 needs CAPITALISTS who can employ this large class of men. Mr. RUFFIN, of 
 Virginia, will perhaps claim this as a proof that black men must have masters. 
 Students of " Political Economy " will put it among the facts which show that 
 where capital languishes, men die, both in body and soul,
 
 30 
 
 " Neat and trimly dressed, 
 
 And fresh as bridegrooms/' 
 
 who would civilize our heathen neighbors with powder and 
 shot ; and a few unthinking, unreasoning men, who verily be- 
 lieve that the foundations of all great states have been laid in 
 barter and pelf. But these are by no means the representative 
 men of the land. If they were, I should despair of any fu- 
 ture for Liberia, and depart. 
 
 We have another, a larger class than these ; a class which 
 comprises awakened old men, and generous and ardent youth ; 
 the minds, whose great object in life is not mere gain, or com- 
 fort ; but who feel that they have a great work to accomplish 
 for their children, for their race, and for God ; who feel that 
 they have been called to this mission, and who wish to spend 
 themselves in the expansion and compacting of this youthful 
 republic, to save bleeding, benighted Africa, and to help re- 
 deem the continent. I assure you that there is a school of 
 this character in Liberia ; men who feel obligated to philan- 
 thropy, who are burdened with a sense of duty; who have the 
 keenest, most sensitive feeling of race, who love Africa, who 
 are anxious for the welfare of the whole negro family, who 
 labor with all their might for the advancement of industry 
 and civilization, who would fain glorify God. When I look 
 upon this class of men, and mark their ways, I feel that the 
 country will yet attain standing and reach some distinction.* 
 
 It is these thoughts and observations, and some experiences, 
 
 * I can not better illustrate the importance of such a class, as above mentioned, 
 in Liberia, than by referring to a paragraph from a speech recently sent me by a 
 friend : "If the founders of the American Republic had been formed by the same 
 materials as the settlers of California, the genius and liberties of America would 
 have been lost in anarchy or absorbed in an inevitable despotism. It was because, 
 on however small a scale, they were senators and soldiers, impressed with a due 
 sense of the heavy responsibility that rested upon them, and not mere money-get- 
 ters, that they succeeded in laying the foundations of the greatest republic in the 
 world. They never lost sight of the responsibility of the task they had under- 
 taken, they felt that they were going for a high position in the eyes of the world, 
 and to set an example for all ages. Feeling this, the early settlers of New Eng. 
 land accomplished their mission." 
 
 JOHN EGBERT GODLY, ESQ., 
 before the " Canterbury Association/' London.
 
 31 
 
 which lead me to think that those who look upon Liberia in 
 connection with their commercial desires, are wise. I have no 
 wish to discourage those who are looking to the banks of the 
 Niger. God bless them, every way, if that is indeed their 
 mission ! But, as an individual, I have earnestly desired a 
 non-sanguinary evangelization of West Africa. All empire, 
 the world over, in rude countries, has been cemented by blood. 
 In Western Africa the tribes, universally, save in Liberia, are 
 strong, independent, warlike. Even British prowess, both at 
 Sierra Leone, and on the Gold coast, succumbs, at times, to 
 their indomitable spirit. And thus you see that for the estab- 
 lishment of a strong black civilization in central Africa, a 
 strong and a bloody hand must be used. Color is nothing, 
 anywhere. Civilized condition differences men, all over the 
 globe. Besides this, I have had a prejudice that that field 
 God had given to the freed and cultivated men of Sierra Le- 
 one, that they were better fitted to the evangelization of the 
 Niger than we ; that we, with our peculiarities, bred amid 
 American institutions, might prove a disturbing element to 
 the great work, for which, by blood, training, lingual capacity, 
 and the sympathy of character and habits, they were pecu- 
 liarly fitted ; and that our governmental proclivities might jar 
 with what seems a manifest providence, that is, that Christianity 
 is to be engrafted upon such strong states as Dahomey and 
 Ashantee ; whose fundamental governmental basis, it seems to 
 me, it is not for the interests of civilization and of Africa to 
 revolutionize or to disturb. 
 
 I would not pretend to argue these points, much less to 
 dogmatise upon them ; for the need of a civilizing element at 
 LAGOS, especially, at Abbeokuta, and on the Niger, is so great 
 that I fear even to state the above impressions. And I stand 
 ready to hail, at any time, any nucleus of freedom and en- 
 lightenment that may spring up anywhere on the coast of 
 Africa. 
 
 In Liberia, we have the noblest opportunities and the great- 
 est advantages. We have a rich and varied soil, inferior, I 
 verily believe, to but few, if any, on the globe. We have 
 some of the proofs, and many of the indications of varied and
 
 32 
 
 vast mineral wealth of the richest qualities. We have a coun- 
 try finely watered in every section by multitudinous brooks 
 and streams, and far-reaching rivers. "We have a climate 
 which needs but be educated and civilized and tempered by 
 the plastic and curative processes of emigration, clearances 
 and scientific farming, to be made as fine and as temperate as 
 any land in the tropics can be. 
 
 On this soil have been laid the foundations of Republican 
 Institutions. Our religion is Protestant, with its characteris- 
 tic tendencies to freedom, progress and human well-being. 
 We are reaching forward as far as a young and poor nation 
 can, to a system of common schools. Civilization, that is, in 
 its more simple forms, has displaced ancestral paganism in 
 many sections of the land, has taken permanent foothold in 
 our territory, and already extended its roots among our hea- 
 then kin. Our heathen population, moreover, in the immedi- 
 ate neighborhood of our settlements, is but small and sparse ; 
 thus saving our civilization from too strong an antagonism, 
 and allowing it room, scope and opportunity for a hardy 
 growth in its more early days. Active industry is now ex- 
 hibiting unwonted vigor, and begins to tell upon commerce 
 and the foreign market. 
 
 Now when you consider that all these elements, humble, as 
 indeed they are, are our own ; that we are the creature and 
 dependent of no foreign government ; you will agree with me, 
 I think, that men who have families will act wisely in looking 
 narrowly at our advantages, ere they place themselves in cir- 
 cumstances where the moral elements of life and society are 
 more rude, and where the formation agency and influence will 
 belong to some foreign power. That these elements are slow 
 in growth and expansion is true ; but this, it will be remem- 
 bered, furnishes probability of their being sure and perma- 
 nent. 
 
 I have heard the poverty of our particular locality con- 
 trasted with the richness of other parts of West Africa. Well, 
 this may be the case ; but I think there can be no doubt that 
 there is no nobler, more commanding position in West Africa, 
 than that of Liberia. We hold, I think, the key to the vast
 
 33 
 
 interior. You have heard it said, and seen it published, that 
 we have no great rivers. But the St. Paul's, the Booma,* the 
 St. John's, and the Cavalla rivers, stretch away into the far 
 interior 300 and 400 miles, with great breadth, and with a 
 vast volume of water. That they come from the same great 
 water-shed from whence, on an opposite side the Niger drains 
 its mighty waters, seems almost a certainty. And if so, the 
 valley of the Niger, with its wondrous resources, and its teem- 
 ing wealth, will, ultimately, be as available to us as any other 
 people. At present, these rivers are not navigable any great 
 distance, owing to falls and rapids. But black men in Africa 
 must do what enterprising men do in all other new lands ; they 
 
 must BEND NATURE TO THEIR WANTS AND WISHES. Ship Canals 
 
 are needed twenty miles from the coast, around the rapids of 
 the St. Pauls, and eighty miles from the coast around the falls 
 of the Cavalla ; and ship canals must therefore be made. If 
 we have not the means, we must go to work and acquire them. 
 If we have not the science and the skill, we must form our 
 schools and colleges, and put our sons in the way of learning 
 them. And if we have not the men, that is, the population, 
 for such a vast and laborious undertaking, we must lift up a 
 loud voice, and call upon hopeful, vigorous, intelligent and 
 energetic black men, all over the globe, " Ho to the rescue !" 
 " Come over and help us !" 
 
 And these are just the great needs of Liberia : men, learn- 
 ing, and wealth. And wealth, here, as an acquisition, re- 
 quires the use of the same means, and is regulated by the 
 same laws, as in any other land. It requires forecast, wake- 
 fulness, industry, thrift, probity, and tireless, sweatful toil ; 
 as well in tropical Africa, as in cold Holland. There is no 
 royal road to the soil. 
 
 " Nil nisi magno 
 
 Vita labore dedit mortalibus." 
 
 As to learning-, we have no greater need than this game* 
 
 * The BOOMA is a river at Cape Mt. Settlement. I heard that it is the greatest 
 river in Liberia. I am just informed, as this paper leaves me, that an acquaint- 
 ance has ascended it, some 90 miles, without any obstruction. 
 
 5
 
 34 
 
 religion ; and there can be no excess of means, no superabund- 
 ance of agencies, no delicacy or profundity of culture, una- 
 dapted to actual present needs of all this wide region of 
 Liberia. We have our native population, and we have our 
 emigrant youth and children thousands upon thousands, all 
 around us. And when I look at the quickness, the capacity, 
 and the thirst of the nations for enlightenment, I can see no 
 difference in the needs of one from the other ; I regard them 
 in the general, as our intellectual equals. If I anticipated for 
 them a merely secular training, I should prefer a difference ; 
 but feeling, knowing that the Chistian religion is to mould, 
 and fashion, and leaven everything here in future times, I 
 go for the highest culture that can be given the rising genera- 
 tion, arid hail every facility for the furtherance of this end, 
 which providence grants us. In the first passage of the heathen 
 from barbarism it will doubtless be advisable to make much 
 of their training, physical, and to be content with the Bible 
 and moral instruction ; but the ultimate aim should be, and 
 most surely will be here, to open to them all the broad 
 avenues of instruction and culture. The great cause of ap- 
 prehension, just now is, that the means for supplying general 
 education are but partial ; and that the actual need created 
 by our circumstances, for the attainment of good literary and 
 scientific training can not be obtained. 
 
 1 I come to population. We need immigration. We are 
 poor in men and women. We do not number over 14,000 
 emigrant citizens. Numbers of these are crippled, I mean 
 in soul more than body, ere they come here. The poverty of 
 emigrants dwarfs the otherwise actual force of the country ; 
 and old age, in both sexes, and especially the fact that a large 
 per centage of emigrants are helpless females with children, 
 without husbands, brings out the sad truth that our real 
 available man-force is but small. And yet the moral calls 
 upon us in this new sphere, the intellectual demands, and the 
 physical requirements, with the vastness of territory, and the 
 largeness of providential circumstances around us, while they 
 quicken imagination, fix also the conviction of helpless weak- 
 ness ; and in some men produce indifference or despair ; in
 
 35 
 
 others, vexation and painful anxiousness. The population 
 question is dwarfing the powers of our strong and earnest 
 leaders. They can not lift themselves up to grand ideas, and 
 large conceptions. In all their efforts they are " cribbed, 
 cabined and confined." 
 
 We need this day for the great work before us, in a region 
 of not less than 500,000 square miles ; we need, I say, not 
 less than 50,000 civilized men. We ought to be traveling 
 onward through the land ; and to appropriate and modify a 
 remark of De Toquevill6s to be " peopling our vast wilder- 
 ness at the average rate of at least five miles per annum." 
 And for the work of civilization and enlightenment among our 
 aboriginal population, we should have even now, a mental 
 power and a moral force working through all our territory, 
 fitted for just such a transformation as has been produced in 
 New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands, in a period of twen- 
 ty-five years. The |ide of immigration, as it now sets in, 
 promises us no such results. Our ratio of increase, with our 
 present diverse disturbing influences, is but small. Unfortu- 
 nately there is no general consciousness of our lack and need 
 in this respect. I have had thefear that some of my fellow- 
 citizens accustomed themselves to look upon Liberia as a 
 "close corporation." The attempt to pass a " naturalization 
 law," in the face of the fact that it takes YEAKS to add a 
 thousand living men to our population, chiefly caused that 
 fear. But we, in common with you, are becoming awake to 
 the conviction that, as a race, we have a great work to do. 
 The zeal of England and of America, for Africa, is opening 
 our eyes. Our own thoughtful men begin to feel the binding 
 tie which joins them in every interest and feeling, with the 
 negro race, all over the globe. Your " Anglo- African Maga- 
 zines," " Douglas' Journal," and patriotic addresses begin to 
 tell upon us. Arid soon there will be a kindled eye, a quick- 
 ened pulse, a beating heart, and large and generous emotions, 
 for our bruised and wounded brethren everywhere. And 
 when that day comes the people of Liberia will cry out : 
 " We have the largest advantages of all our race. We have 
 the noblest field. Ours is the most signal providence ; and
 
 36 
 
 our State offers the grandest possibilities of good, the finest op- 
 portunities of manly achievement. Why then suifer ourselves 
 to be hindered in working out of ' manifest destinies ' of benefi- 
 cence to suffering Africa by the narrowness of our aims, or the 
 fewness of our numbers and means ? It is true we have a 
 wide field to enter, and need more and mightier men to enter 
 it. Let us therefore call our skillful and enegetic brethren to 
 come to us and share the suffering and the glory of saving 
 Africa. Let us stand on the beach and on the hill-side, and 
 beckon to them in ALL LANDS to come and participate in 
 lofty duty in painful but saving labor, and to aid in the res- 
 toration and enlightenment of a vast continent ! " 
 
 I turn now to the religious aspect of this subject. In speak- 
 ing of the religious needs of Africa, it is not necessary I 
 should attempt a picture of her miserable condition, nor enter 
 into the details of her wretchedness. Her very name is sug- 
 gestive of uttermost spiritual need ; of abounding moral des- 
 olation ; of the deepest, darkest ignorance ; of wild and san- 
 guinary superstitions. This whole continent, with its million- 
 masses of heathen, presents one broad, almost unbroken, 
 unmitigated view of moral desolation and spiritual ruin. And 
 this fact creates the demand upon the Christian world for 
 ministers and teachers, for the purpose of her evangelization. 
 " The field is the world," and the church is to occupy it; and 
 she will occupy it. 
 
 As members of the church of Christ, the sons of Africa in 
 foreign lands are called upon to bear their part in the vast and 
 sacred work of her evangelization. I might press this point 
 on the grounds of piety, of compassion, or sympathy, but I 
 choose a higher principle. For next to the grand ideas which 
 pertain to the Infinite, His attributes and perfections, there is ' 
 none loftier and grander than that of DUTY 
 
 " Stern daughter of the voice of God." 
 
 It is the duty of black men to feel and labor for the salvation 
 of the mighty millions of their kin all through this conti- 
 nent. I know that there is a class of her children who repu- 
 diate any close and peculiar connection with Africa. They
 
 37 
 
 and their fathers have been absent from this soil for centuries. 
 In the course of time their blood has been mingled somewhat 
 with that of other peoples and races. They have been brought 
 up and habituated to customs entirely diverse from those of 
 their ancestors in this land. And while the race here are in 
 barbarism, they, on the other hand, are civilized and enlight- 
 ened. 
 
 But notwithstanding these pleas there are other great facts 
 which grapple hold of these men, and bind them to this dark- 
 ened, wretched negro race, by indissoluble bonds. There is 
 the fact of kinship, which a lofty manhood and a proud gen- 
 erosity keeps them now, and ever will keep them from dis- 
 claiming. There are the strong currents of kindred blood 
 which neither time nor circumstance can ever entirely wash 
 out. There are the bitter memories of ancestral wrongs, of 
 hereditary servitude, which can not be forgotten till " the last 
 syllable of recorded v time." There is the bitter pressure of 
 legal proscription, and of inveterate caste, which will crowd 
 closer and closer their ranks, deepening brotherhood and sym- 
 pathy, and preserving, vital, the deep consciousness of dis- 
 tinctive race. There still remains the low imputation of 
 negro inferiority, necessitating a protracted and an earnest 
 battle, creative of a generous pride to vindicate the race, and 
 inciting to noble endeavor to illustrate its virtues and its 
 genius. 
 
 How then can these men ever forget Africa ? How cut 
 the links which bind them to the land of their fathers ? I 
 affirm therefore that it is the duty of black men, in foreign 
 lands, to live and to labor for the evangelization of the land of 
 their fathers : 1st, on the ground of humanity ; 2d, because 
 they themselves are negroes, or the descendants of negroes, 
 and are measurably responsible to God for the salvation of 
 their heathen kin ; and 3dly, I press the consideration of 
 duty on the ground that they are Christians. In the good 
 providence of God they have been enabled to pass out of the 
 spiritual benightedness of their fathers, into the high table 
 lands and the divine atmosphere of Christian truth and 
 Christian conviction.
 
 38 
 
 Now I shall not attempt any, formal argument in proof that 
 black men [or, to use the new term,] Anglo- Africans are duty 
 bound to extend the gospel in Africa ; for I know enough of 
 human nature to see that such an argument would look like 
 the assumption that our brethren in the States were so igno- 
 rant that they did not know their duty as Christians. The 
 very men who, perchance, would contest every other point in 
 this letter, would charge me with insult, if I had just here put 
 forth an argument to prove that Christianity requires black 
 Christians to be missionaries as well as white ones. They 
 would start up and exclaim : " Do you think that we read 
 our Bibles and yet remain ignorant of the evangelizing spirit 
 of the Bible ? Do you think that we are such fools as to sup- 
 pose that the precepts and commands of scripture have a 
 color on them ? And do you suppose that we are such igno- 
 rant creatures, that you must needs present an argument to 
 prove to us that we should manifest a missionary heart as 
 well as other Christians ? We do not need your teachings, 
 sir. We know something about Christianity as well as you." 
 
 I attempt no such argument. It is not to be supposed for a 
 moment, that black Christians in New York, Philadelphia and 
 Baltimore, do not know that there are no distinctions in 
 Christian requirement, that her obligations are as weighty 
 upon them as upon any portion of the church. I am only 
 endeavoring to show that while that portion of the race that 
 lives in America, owes duty in America, it has obligations 
 which likewise pertain to Africa ; that devotedness to the cause 
 of the black man in the United States, does not necessarily 
 exclude sympathy for Africa. Let me illustrate this. There 
 is a phase of modern theological writing, which brings out 
 most prominently the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, though 
 born of a Jewish mother, shows no where Jewish idiosyncra- 
 cies. You look at the Lord Jesus, you read his life, you study 
 his words, and no where can you discover nationality. Men 
 of every clime and blood and nation turn to Him, and they 
 find each and all in Him, the reflex of one common broad 
 humanity. 
 
 The Apostle, St. Paul, more than any other mere man,
 
 39 
 
 reached the nearest to this grand and divine Catholicity of the 
 Master. " I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barba- 
 rians : both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as in 
 me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome 
 also." Romans, Chapter i, 14, 15. 
 
 Nay, he went even beyond this. In his Epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians he speaks of his kinsmen the Jews, in a way which 
 would lead one to suppose that he had become thoroughly 
 denationalized. " For ye also have suffered like things of your 
 own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews : Who both 
 killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have per- 
 secuted us ; and they please not God, and are contrary to all 
 men." 1 Thessalonians, ii, 14, 15. So thoroughly had the 
 grace of God eliminated from the soul of St. Paul, that wither- 
 ing and malignant principle of caste, which burned more 
 fiercely and intensely^ in the Jewish mind and blood, than in 
 any other people that ever lived. 
 
 And yet, look at this same large-hearted, Catholic-minded 
 Paul ; what a patriot he is ! what longings he has for his race ! 
 How he falls back upon their high and noble prerogatives ! 
 Yea, what zeal, what deep desire, what earnest self-sacrifice 
 he cherishes for them ! " What advantage hath the Jew ? " he 
 asks, " Or what profit is there of circumcision ? Much every 
 way : chiefly because that unto them were committed the 
 oracles of God." Romans, iii, 1, 2^ The Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans was written after that to the Thessalonians. And again, 
 in the 9th chapter. He says, " I say the truth in Christ, I 
 lie not, my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy 
 Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my 
 heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from 
 Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh : 
 who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the 
 glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the 
 service of God and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and 
 of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, 
 God blessed for ever. Amen." 
 
 To be Catholic minded then does not imply a lack of patri- 
 otism. Large, yea cosmopolitan views, do not necessarily
 
 40 
 
 demand a sacrifice of kinship, a disregard of race, nor a spirit 
 of denationality. 
 
 Even so our brethren in the United States ; however man- 
 fully they claim citizenship in the land of their birth ; however 
 valiantly, against all odds they stand beside their brethren in 
 bonds ; however nobly they may continue to battle for their 
 rights ; need not, nevertheless feel less for the hundreds of 
 millions of their kin " without God and without hope in the 
 world," " in bondage to sin and Satan ;" nor yet to put forth 
 less generous effort for their well-being and eternal salvation. 
 I turn from the point of duty to the question of your ability 
 and power to take part in this great work. I do not know 
 whether or not, colored men in the United States would gen- 
 erally acknowledge that they could as a people do something 
 for Africa ; I assume, however, as most probable, the affirma- 
 tive. At the same time I must say that I do not think there 
 is any deep conviction of either the awful needs of the case, 
 or the solemn obligations connected with it. 
 
 I see however, that this very question of your ability is both 
 questioned and denied in some quarters. I see in the " Spirit 
 of Missions " [October, 1858,] a report of a speech of Rev. 
 Dr. I. Leighton Wilson, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of 
 Missions, which is of this tenor. He says " To withdraw 
 our Missionaries, is virtually to consign those people to per- 
 petual and unmitigated heathenism. The speaker knew of no 
 substitute for the present plan of Missionary operation. In 
 the colonization scheme, he entertained the liveliest interest. 
 The Liberian Republic oifers a comfortable home for those in 
 the United States who choose to go there, but it can never 
 exert an influence which will reach the remote part of the 
 continent. To study out the barbarous languages prepare 
 dictionaries to give shape to a community emerging into the 
 light of civilization we never look to colored men as best 
 adapted to this work. We were shut up to the conclusion 
 that we must pursue this work in the manner already com- 
 menced." 
 
 I regret exceedingly that one who has done and suffered so 
 much for Africa, as Dr. Wilson has, should have ventured
 
 41 
 
 
 
 such disparaging remarks concerning any of her children as 
 the above.* For if he had put himself to the pains of inquir- 
 ing into the capacity of the " colored men around him," he 
 would never, I feel convinced, have thus spoken. I am no 
 more disposed to exaggerate the learning or mental ability of 
 our race than their wealth. Indeed, as a race, there is no 
 place for exaggeration. As yet, we are but " parvenus " in 
 the intellectual world. Our greatness lies in the future, as yet 
 we have not secured. Nevertheless American black men have 
 done, and are now doing enough to challenge respect. And 
 even that seems to be withheld by Dr. Wilson ; possibly I may 
 mistake him. But when American black men are ably editing 
 literary journals, publishing respectable newspapers, issuing 
 from the press volumes of sermons, writing scientific disquisi- 
 tions, venturing abstruse " Theories of Comets," and sending 
 forth profound " vital statistics," vexatious alike to opposing 
 Statesmen and Divines ; they so far vindicate their mental 
 power and ability, as to make it manifest, that, under better 
 circumstances, in a clear field, they could 
 
 " Move and act 
 
 In all the correspondences of nature," 
 
 with force, and skill, and effect. 
 
 But Dr. Wilson knows nothing of this particular class of 
 black men. He and hundreds like him know nothing of them. 
 And this is one of the original signs of the deadly power of 
 caste. It victimizes the white as well as the black man. 
 Here is mind, active struggling mind developing itself 
 under most interesting circumstances ; rising above the de- 
 pression of centuries ; breaking away from ancestral benight- 
 edness and hereditary night ; gradually gathering strength, 
 and emerging into light ; and at length securing respectability 
 and attracting attention, and yet if this phenomenon, which 
 excited the admiration of Dr. Channing, and arrested the 
 attention of Lord Carlyle and Dr. Playfair, passing travelers, 
 
 * It is hardly necessary for me to tell you that Dr. Wilson has spent the flower 
 of his years on this coast in self sacrifice for Africa ; nor to add that it was chiefly 
 through a rigorous and timely pamphlet of his that the British Squadron was not 
 withdrawn from this coast in 1851. 
 
 6
 
 42 
 
 Dr. Wilson apparently knows nothing of, but actually speaks 
 slightingly of. 
 
 Dr. Wilson rejects the idea of your being capable of exerting 
 a remote and extensive influence. I beg to point out his error 
 by a reference again to the " African Methodist Church," in 
 the United States. I make this reference on the ground that 
 in the church of God " there are diversities of gifts, but the 
 same spirit;" and "there are differences of administrations, 
 but the same Lord;" and "that the manifestation of the 
 spirit is given to every man to profit withal ;" and yet again 
 that in the great work of Christ for the salvation of the hea- 
 then, even those very " members of the body [of Christ] which 
 seem to be more feeble, are necessary "* 
 
 And, while fully agreeing to the affirmation more distinctly 
 stated by Dr. Wilson than I have ever seen it expressed before, 
 that, " the idea of gathering up colored men indiscriminately, 
 and setting them down upon the shores of Africa, with the 
 design or expectation that they will take the lead in diffusing 
 a pure Christianity among the nations, deserves to be utterly 
 rejected by every friend of Africa."! Still it seems to me that 
 he commits an error similar to that of rejecting the light 
 artillery of an army, because the " cavalry " is a stronger 
 arm of it. 
 
 Doubtless all the religious societies of colored people in 
 America are humble, that is as it respects literary and theolo- 
 gical qualifications ; and the African Methodist Church as 
 much as any other. I do not think they themselves would 
 make any pretensions. But have they fitness for practical 
 usefulness ? We can only determine this by facts. Now this 
 denomination has been in existence since 1790. It has gath- 
 ered into its fold tens of thousands of the sons of Africa on 
 American soil. 
 
 " The poor forsaken ones : " 
 
 Men however of earnest mind, who would not sit in the 
 " negro pew ; men, who but for this society must have been 
 
 * 1 Corinthians xii: 5, 6, 7, 22. 
 
 t Wilson's " Western Africa," p. 507.
 
 43 
 
 left to indifferentism or infidelity, have had their wounded 
 hearts soothed by the visitations of this society, and their 
 anxious passionate gaze turned from the trials of caste 
 and slavery, to " the Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
 sin of the world." They have built churches, established 
 schools, founded a college, raised up a ministry of over four 
 hundred men, meet in several conferences, and are governed 
 by their own bishops. Here then is a spiritual machinery 
 which has saved the United States the shame of hundred of 
 thousands black heathen. Where is a purely missionary 
 enterprise in the full tide of success, which has been admin- 
 istered by black men over a half century stretching from 
 Maine to Louisiana, from Maryland to California ; it shows 
 that black men " can exert an influence which will reach the 
 remote part of the continent " of America ; and why not do the 
 same on jthe continent of Africa ? Operating among negroes, 
 most of whom a century ago were recently from Africa ; it 
 shows that American Christians, even now, " can look to 
 colored men as " [at least, humbly'] " adapted to the work" 
 that is li to give shape to a community emerging' into the light 
 of civilization" The disproof of Dr. Wilson's assertion is 
 right before his eyes. 
 
 Dr. Wilson's objection, that we are " not best adapted to 
 study out the barbarous languages and prepare dictionaries," 
 I regard as exceedingly unfair. There is not a missionary 
 society in Christendom whose choice of missionaries is condi- 
 tioned on this single qualification their " ability to study 
 barbarous languages and prepare dictionaries ! " It strikes 
 too as much against white missionaries abroad as against black 
 men ; for are they " BEST ADAPTED," in these respects, com- 
 pared with such distinguished divines and scholars as Dr. 
 Robinson, Dr. Goodrich, Dr. Turner ? Besides how many dic- 
 tionaries have the fishermen of Galilee transmitted to modern 
 times ? What evidence have we of an eminent scholarship 
 among them like to this demanded of us ? Or where is the 
 proof that even the Holy Spirit regarded " the preparation of 
 dictionaries," or a critical lingual capacity as the qualifica- 
 tions of missionaries ?
 
 44 
 
 
 We read the history of the church, and see the conquests of 
 
 the faith in ancient times in Europe, Asia, and Africa. But 
 how rare a thing is it, to find such pre-eminent scholarships * 
 as, for instance, that of Henry Martyn, Bishop Middleton, and 
 David Tappan Stoddard, the accessories of the devoted mis- 
 sionary spirit, which has converted millions, and brought 
 whole nations into the kingdom of Christ. St. Paul founded 
 the churches of Asia and Greece. But where is the proof 
 that even he was an eminent critical scholar ? Christianity 
 was revived and energized in England by Augustine in the 6th 
 century, and then traveled onward with conquering power, 
 until the time of the reformation ; and since then the evange- 
 lization of England has been progressing with a resistless 
 march to the present. But the first English dictionary we 
 know of is "that of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 If I do not mistake the spirit of the New Testament, it re- 
 quires, I apprehend, in addition to devoted piety, good sterling 
 qualities, and an " aptness to teach," as the ordinary gifts of 
 ministers : [and what are missionaries but ministers ?] It can 
 not go below this standard ; but it may rise above it to the 
 fiery zeal and wasting labors of St. Paul; the effective elo- 
 quence of Xavier, and Swartz, and Brainerd ; the fine abilities 
 and practical learning of Carey and Medhurst. 
 
 If to ordinary gifts, missionaries are able to add these other 
 eminent ones, so much the better fitted will they be to make 
 skillful and effective workers in the Lord's vineyard ! 
 
 But if not, then missionaries, that is, colored missionaries, 
 to Africa, must be content to labor as effectively as they can, 
 without them ; relying for translations and the superior liter- 
 ary work of missions, upon the occasional white laborers who 
 come from abroad. And with respect to the languages, they 
 must do as two-thirds, not to say three-fourths, of the white 
 missionaries do, that is, work for the heathen through the 
 agency of interpreters. In Liberia, however, more than a 
 third, not to say half, of the colored ministers, speak the re- 
 spective native tongues in their vicinity, with ease ; and of can- 
 didates for the ministry, in the different denominations, I feel
 
 45 
 
 well nigh confident that four-fifths of them speak one or two 
 native tongues. 
 
 You have then humble QUALIFICATIONS fitted to make you, 
 although not learned, yet useful and effective instruments in 
 the salvation of our heathen kin. You can become preachers 
 and teachers; and the more learned labor can be done by 
 white brethren. As you have fitness, so likewise you have 
 the OPPORTUNITY to enter upon this glorious and saving work. 
 I wish to show here that if you love Africa, and really possess 
 a missionary spirit, the way is open before you to enter at 
 once among the crowded populations of this continent, and to 
 set up the standard of the Cross. From the port of Lagos in 
 almost direct line through a crowded population, and passing 
 by cities containing tens of thousands of people, a highway 
 is now open reaching to RABBA on the banks of the Niger. 
 All through this country the colored churches of America, can 
 send their missionaries, build up Christian schools, and lay the 
 foundation of Christian colleges and universities. North of 
 us lies the wide and open field of the Mendians, which is the 
 door to the mighty millions of interior Africa, back to Tim- 
 buctoo. Between these two fields of labor is the republic of 
 Liberia. Our name, our reputation, and our flag, will insure 
 you safety two hundred miles from the coast, among large, 
 important, industrious, and active-minded natives. It was 
 only the other day that I made a second visit to an interior 
 station, in company with Dr. Delany, who had been my guest 
 for a few weeks, and became, for the time, my fellow traveler. 
 We were paddled up the CAVALLA, a fine, broad-flowing river, 
 running through a rich and populous country, with banks 
 rising twenty, thirty, fifty feet, almost perpendicularly from 
 the water's level, its turning points opening ever and anon to 
 our view grand mountain scenery in the distance, with visions 
 of ravishing beauty now and then bursting upon our sight, 
 navigable for sloops and schooners near eighty miles from the 
 coast, and stretching out beyond the falls which here obstruct 
 its passage, some three or four hundred miles in the interior. 
 Everywhere, in every town, we were most cordially received, 
 hospitably entertained, and my teachings eagerly listened to,
 
 46 
 
 by whole towns and villages, who invariably turned out, in a 
 body to hear the preacher. In most of these towns I had 
 gone preaching before ; other missionaries had been there long 
 and often before me ; and hence you can see that it was inter- 
 est that excited them, and not mere novelty. 
 
 Now here is a vast, open field, ready for the Gospel ; but it 
 is but one among scores, in the limited territory of Liberia. 
 Saving that the Cavalla can be navigated a further distance 
 inland, there are many other as good opportunities and facili- 
 ties for the conveyance of the Gospel interior ward, as this. 
 
 Now, let me ask, what hinders the colored Christians of 
 America from entering these large, inviting missionary fields, 
 and founding the institutions of Christianity here ? Putting 
 aside, altogether, the question of colonization, why can they 
 not as a people, come forward to save their race from heathen- 
 ism, and to give them both the present and the future conso- 
 lations of religion ? 
 
 Let me refer in particular, to the three classes of religion- 
 ists among our brethren, with whom I am more especially ac- 
 quainted: the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians. 
 
 The colored Episcopalians are a " small folk," I know, but 
 both of us being churchmen, will make my mention of them 
 excusatory. With three or four of these congregations I am 
 intimately acquainted, and I see no difficulty whatever in the 
 way of their adopting some such plan as this: 1. Preparing, 
 as a commencement, some two or three young men for the 
 ministry, for the special purpose of becoming missionaries to 
 Africa. This, of course, presupposes a regular, systematic 
 effort on the part of the ministers of these churches to inter- 
 est their people in Africa, and to train them in the habit of 
 giving to missions. In this way one young heart and another 
 would ever and anon come forward, anxious to devote itself 
 to the evangelization of Africa. The young men might take 
 theological lessons of the minister, and when prepared, might 
 be placed under the Episcopal authority on this coast, and re- 
 ceive orders. 2. When about sending off the young men, if 
 any pious mechanics, or farmers, or school-masters, desired to 
 devote themselves to the work, the congregation might extend
 
 47 
 
 their interest to them as well as to the candidates for orders, 
 and assure them of continued regard and future zeal and self- 
 sacrifice in their behalf.* 3. A company thus formed, might 
 be placed at the disposal of the mission, with the request, per- 
 haps, that they might be located together, as one party; and 
 the church from whence they came, or some two or three col- 
 ored churches, might regard that station as their own, sup- 
 ply it with school books, farming utensils, clothes for mission- 
 aries and converts, and provisions to a greater or less extent; 
 might recruit ever and anon with new schoolmasters, or re- 
 place decayed or deceased missionaries, or take charge of 
 their children, [in America,] and prepare them for the work 
 of their parents, in the future. 
 
 This is only an outline of what the few colored Episcopal 
 churches in the United States could do.f Perhaps you say, 
 "this is a large scheme!" I reply without hesitation, that 
 from my knowledge of the wealth that has been concentered 
 in it, ST. THOMAS' CHURCH, Philadelphia, could have done all 
 this thirty years ago. The expense of a small mission, thus 
 constituted, would not near equal the lavish expenditure of 
 some city congregation of colored people, in balls, parties, 
 fashionable rivalry, jewelry, pic-nics, and the department which 
 is politely termed cuisine. 
 
 Without entering into details, I merely remark that from 
 their numbers, and the increasing intelligence and learning of 
 their ministers, the Presbyterians could do a larger work than 
 the Episcopalians. They have so many white colleges and 
 seminaries opened to them, so many obstacles have been re- 
 moved out of the way of their aspiring young men, and so 
 wide and warm and hearty is the desire of all classes of white 
 
 
 * I regret that the theme before me forbids that I should speak of the almost 
 absolute necessity, in any such scheme, of connecting manual labor with mission- 
 ary effort. Indeed no man should become a colonist to Africa whose example is 
 likely to encourage the heathen in their irregular, unsystematic, unplodding modes 
 of labor. 
 
 t There are no less than three different fields into which effective laborers would 
 likely be welcomed : the church in Sierra Leone, in Liberia, and in the projected 
 field in South Africa, where the "Cambridge and Oxford" mission intend to 
 establish a colony.
 
 48 
 
 Presbyterians to build up their denomination among the free 
 colored people, that the colored Presbyterian churches could 
 contemplate grand saving schemes for Africa, and undertake 
 at once a large and noble work. 
 
 But the "African Methodist Episcopal Church" of the 
 United States has the machinery for a most comprehensive 
 missionary service in Africa. They have a well-tried system ; 
 they have experience ; they have a large body of ministers ; 
 and they have a corresponding body, already in existence, 
 under complete organization, in Liberia, I mean the " Libe- 
 rian Episcopal Church." If my old friend, Bishop Daniel A. 
 Payne, would only enter into this work with all that warmth 
 of heart, that energy of purpose, and that burning Christian 
 eloquence, which characterize him, what blessedness would he 
 not impart to this land ; what spiritual life would he not dif- 
 fuse among all the churches of his charge, in America ! His 
 people could start a saving, systematized plan, by which health, 
 power, life and energy would be constantly poured, like a 
 living stream, into the corresponding body in this country, 
 and so be diffused throughout the land, to the villages, the 
 hamlets, and the huts of tens of thousands of our needy hea- 
 then kin! 
 
 I am not blind to difficulties. I know some of the trials of 
 emigration. I have been called to some of the difficulties, not 
 to say severities of missionary life. And therefore I shall be 
 free, I trust, from the charge of flippancy. So likewise I am 
 aware of the peculiar obstacles in the way of our brethren in 
 the States. I, too, am an American black man. I have an 
 acquaintance with obstructive idiosyncracies in them. If you 
 think of hindrances and difficulties specially theirs, I know all 
 about them. 
 
 But I say it deliberatively, that the difficulties in the way 
 of our brethren doing a goodly work for Africa, are more sub- 
 jective than objective. One of these hindrances is a want of 
 missionary zeal. This is a marked characteristic of American 
 black Christians. I say American, for from all I hear it does 
 not characterize our West Indian brethren, and the infant 
 church of Sierra Leone is already, in sixty years from its birth
 
 49 
 
 a mother of missions. This is our radical defect. Our re- 
 ligion is not diffusive, but rather introversive. It does not 
 flow out, but rather inward. As a people we like religion, we 
 like religious services. Our people like to go to church, to 
 prayer meetings, to revivals. But we go to get enjoyment. 
 We like to be made happy by sermons, singing, and pious talk. 
 All this is indeed correct so far as it goes ; but it is only one 
 side of religion. It shows only that phase of piety which may 
 be termed the " piety of self-satisfaction." But if we are true 
 disciples, we should not only seek a comforting piety, but we 
 should also exhibit an effective and expansive one. We should 
 let our godliness exhale like the odor of flowers. We should 
 live for the good of our kind and strive for the salvation of the 
 world. 
 
 Another of these hindrances is what the phrenologists term 
 "inhabitativeness" the stolid inhabitativeness of our race. 
 As a people, we cling with an almost deadly fixity to locality. 
 I see this on both sides of the Atlantic. Messrs. Douglass and 
 Watkins assail Messrs. Horace Greeley and Gerrit Smith for 
 pointing out this peculiarity of character in our people. But 
 without doubt they tell the truth of us. We are not " given 
 to change." The death of a master, the break up of a family, 
 may cast a few black men from the farm to the city, but they 
 go no further. We lack speculation. Man has been called a 
 creature, 
 
 " Looking before and after " 
 
 But not so we. We look where we stand, and but few beyond. 
 
 So here, on this side of the water. The colonization-ship 
 brings a few hundred freed men to this west coast of Africa. 
 They gather together in the city of Monrovia, or the town of 
 Greenville, and there they sit, yea, and would sit forever, if it 
 were not for some strong external influence which now and 
 then scatters a few, and a precious few, here and there along 
 the coast. 
 
 Here then you see, in this same people, on both sides of the 
 waters, an exaggeration of the " home feeling," which is so 
 exceedingly opposite to Anglo-Saxon influences that I wonder 
 7
 
 50 
 
 , 
 that we, who t haye been trained for centuries under them, have 
 
 not ere this outgrown it. Sixteen years from the settlement 
 of Plymouth, sixty families started from Boston and cut their 
 way to Windsor, on the Connecticut.* We, in Liberia, have 
 never yet had a spontaneous movement of old settlers in a 
 body and with a purpose to a new location. The colored peo- 
 ple of Rochester, N. Y., in 1853, 1 hear, were mostly fugitive 
 slaves. The " Fugitive Slave Law " prompted them to emi- 
 grate to Canada ; but proximity determined their choice of a 
 home rather than any large principle. We read in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, that when those who at Stephen's death were 
 persecuted, were scattered abroad, " they went everywhere 
 preaching the word." So when our brethren felt constrained 
 to leave the United States, it was meet, it seems to me, that 
 some of them should have thought of Africa and her needs. 
 On the other hand, if Liberians had been duly awake to the 
 welfare of our race, we should have shown our brotherly feel- 
 ing by inviting the wanderers to our shores. 
 
 These two hindrances, that is, a lack of missionary zeal and 
 a tenacious hold on locality, will doubtless prevent active 
 efforts for the regeneration of Africa. So, too, they will serve 
 to check commercial enterprise. But as a people, we shall 
 have to pise above these things. The colored churches of 
 America will find, bye and bye, they can retain no spiritual 
 vitality unless they rise above the range of selfish observation 
 to broad, general, humane ideas and endeavors. Self-preser- 
 vation, self-sustenation, are only single items in the large and 
 comprehensive category of human duties and obligations. 
 
 " Unless above himself, he can erect himself, 
 How poor a thing is man." 
 
 And this is equally true with regard to Liberian black Chris- 
 tians. Do not think that I pretend to say that we in Africa 
 stand on such a high vantage ground that we can point invid- 
 iously at our brethren in America. I have no hesitation in 
 
 * Bancroft's History of America, ch. ix.
 
 51 
 
 saying, as my own opinion, that in both the respects referred to 
 above, we are more blameworthy than you. / 
 
 A third hindrance may be mentioned here. There will be 
 a reluctance on the part of even some good and zealous Chris- 
 tians to engage in the propagation of the gospel in Africa on 
 the ground " that its ultimate tendency must be to subserve 
 the objectionable scheme of African colonization." But 
 surely any one can see that such an objection is wicked. The 
 gospel must be preached in all the world. The master com- 
 mands it. The history of the church shows that it does not 
 necessarily, if generally, carry colonization with it. But even 
 if in'this particular case, it does so, no Christian has a right to 
 shrink from his duty. And that man must be demented who 
 can not see God's beneficent providence in colonization, that 
 man blind who does not recognize good and mercy in its work 
 civil and religious, on the coast of Africa ! The duties of 
 our present state are not to be determined by imaginary results 
 or prospective issues. They always grow out of the positive 
 commands of the Bible, or manifest human relations, and 
 both fasten the duty upon us to care for the heathen in gener- 
 al, and for our heathen kin in particular. 
 
 I have no doubt, however, that every effort that is henceforth 
 made to spread the gospel in Africa, will bring many from 
 the impulse of emigration, to Africa. Up to a certain future, 
 but I hope not distant point in American sentiment, there will 
 be, I feel quite certain, a large exodus of the better, more cul- 
 tivated, and hence more sensitive minds, partly to Africa, 
 Hayti, Brazil, and the British colonies. Those who " having 
 done all," still STAND, must bear with those who leave. Hayti 
 needs a PROTESTANT, Anglo- African element of the stamp Mr. 
 Holly will give her. Jamaica is blessed by the advent in her 
 midst of such a strong-minded, open-eyed, energetic spirit, as 
 my old school-mate and friend, SAMUEL R. WARD. And Li- 
 beria's wants in this respect are stronger than either of the above. 
 You should learn willingly to give, even of your best, to save 
 and regenerate and build up the RACE in distant quarters.* 
 
 * The 2d article of the Constitution of African Civilization Society sets forth 
 my views in better language than my own : The Evangelization and Civilization 
 of Africa and the descendants of African ancestors, wherever dispersed."
 
 I \ ! 52 
 
 ^ \ .l.v ^ v v y\ 
 
 You should study to rise above the niggard spirit which grudg- 
 ingly and pettishly yields its grasp upon a fellow laborer. You 
 should claim with regard to this continent that " THIS is OUR AF- 
 RICA," in all her gifts, and in her budding grace and glory. 
 And you should remember top, with regard to emigrants, the 
 words of that great man, " EDMUND BURKE." " The poorest 
 being that crawls on earth, contending to save itself from in- 
 justice and oppression, is an object respectable in the eyes of 
 God and man." 
 
 But it is time that I should draw to a close, for I have fallen 
 into a too common fault, I have made too long a " palaver." 
 My letter has run out to a greater length than I intended. 
 And now I shall weary you no longer. 
 
 For near three centuries the negro race in exile and servi- 
 tude has been groveling in lowly places, in deep degradation. 
 Circumstance and position alike have divorced us from the 
 pursuits which give nobleness and grandeur to life. In our 
 time of trial we have shown, it is true, a matchless patience, 
 and a quenchless hope ; the one prophetic of victory, and the 
 other the germ of a high Christian character, now developing. 
 These better qualities, however, have been disproportioned, 
 and the life of the race in general has been alien from 
 ennobling and aspiring effort. 
 
 But the days of passivity should now come to an end. The 
 active, creative, and saving powers of the race should begin 
 to show themselves. The power of the negro, if he has such 
 power, to tell upon human interests, and to help shape human 
 destinies, should at an early day make full demonstration of 
 itself. We owe it to ourselves, to our race, and to our gener- 
 ous defenders and benefactors, both in Europe and America, 
 to show that we are capable " of receiving the seed of present 
 history into a kindly yet a vigorous soil, and [that we can] 
 reproduce it, the same, and yet new, for a future period"* 
 in all the homes of this traduced, yet vital and progressive 
 race. 
 
 Surely the work herein suggested is fitted to just such ends, 
 
 * Dr. Arnold. Inaugural Lecture.
 
 53 
 
 and is fully worthy the noblest faculties and the liighest ambi- 
 tion. If I were aiming but to startle the fanc^, to kindle' the 
 imagination, and thereby to incite to brave and gallant deeds, 
 I know no theme equal to this in interest and commanding 
 influence. And just this is tbe influence it is now exerting 
 upon passionate and romantic minds, in England and the 
 United States, in France and Germany, in Austria and Sar- 
 dinia. These civilized States are sending out their adventur- 
 ous travelers to question, on the spot, the mysterious spell 
 which seems to shut out Africa from the world and its civili- 
 zation. These enterprising spirits are entering every possible 
 avenue to the heart of Africa, anxious to assure the inner 
 tribes of the continent that the enlightened populations of 
 Europe would fain salute them as brethren, and share with 
 them the culture and enlightenment which, during the ages, 
 have raised them from rudeness and degradation, if they can 
 only induce them to throw aside the exclusiveness of pagan- 
 ism and the repulsiveness of barbarism. 
 
 But the enlightened sons of Africa in distant lands, are 
 called to a far higher work than even this ; a work which as 
 much transcends mere civilization as the abiding interests of 
 eternity outvie the transient concerns of time. To wrest a 
 continent from ruin ; to bless and animate millions of torpid 
 and benighted souls ; to destroy the power of the devil in his 
 strongholds, and to usher therein light, knowledge, blessed- 
 ness, inspiring hope, holy faith, and abiding glory, is, without 
 doubt, a work which not only commands the powers of thfc 
 noblest men, but is worthy the presence and the zeal of angels. 
 It is just this work which now claims and calls for the inter- 
 est and the activity of the sons of Africa. Its plainest state- 
 ment and its simplest aspect, are sufficient, it seems to me, to 
 move these men in every quarter of the world to profound 
 sensibility, to deep resolve, to burning ardor. Such a grand 
 and awful necessity, covering a vast continent, touching the 
 best hopes, and the endless destiny of millions of men, ought, 
 I think, to stir the souls of many a self-sacrificing spirit, and 
 quicken him to lofty purposes and noble deeds. And when 
 one considers that never before in human history has such a
 
 , , \) 
 
 >v\\\) 
 grand aud name' work been laid out in the Divine Providence, 
 
 before the negro race, and that it rises up before them in its 
 full magnitude now, at the very time when they are best fitted 
 for its needs and requirements, it seems difficult to doubt that 
 many a generous and godly soul will hasten to find his proper 
 place in this great work of God and man, whether it be by the 
 personal and painful endeavors of a laborer in the field of 
 duty, or by the generous benefactions and the cheering incite- 
 ments which serve to sustain and stimulate distant and tried 
 workers in their toils and trials. "A benefaction of this kind 
 seems to enlarge the very being of a man, extending it to dis- 
 tant places and to future times, inasmuch as unseen countries 
 and after ages may feel the effects of his bounty, while he 
 himself reaps the reward in the blessed society of all those who 
 " having turned many to righteousness, shine as the stars 
 forever and ever.' M 
 
 * Bp. Berkley : " Proposal for supplying churches."