constituent part of North Carolina, and of others who subsequently followed, not one survived to tell the story of their melancholy fate. The settlement at James Town, in 1607, narrowly escaped a similar miscarriage. One half of the original emigrants were, in a few months, swept away by famine and distemper. Those who remained thrice formed the resolution of abandoning the Colony and returning to England. Of five hundred settlers whom the chivalrous and devoted Smith left in Virginia, but sixty were in being a few months after; and they, enfeebled by famine, and dejected by various misfortunes, were projecting a speedy departure from the land of their hardships and sufferings. The Colony at New Plymouth experienced like embarrassments. In six months after the landing of the pilgrims, owing to the unaccustomed rigours of an eastern winter, and the fatigues and hardships inseparable from a new settlement, nearly half of the adventurers had died. A great pestilence, they were informed by the Indian Chief, Samoset, had raged four years before, and swept the populous region of Patuxet. To their other calamities, was added the sterility of a rocky and stubborn soil, the productions of which, after untiring and laborious cultivation, were always uncertain. The distresses of famine threatened them at every step; they subsisted upon fish, with precarious supplies of corn and beans, procured from the Indians. It is not necessary to remind Pennsylvanians of the hardships encountered by those worthy pioneers of the wilderness, who landed on the shores of the Delaware, on this day one hundred and fifty-two years ago. It is not necessary to recount the perplexities and trials which their situation imposed-of their disappointment and consternation in finding caves for their dwelling places, and impenetrable tracts of forests in the promised land. With such examples, and other lights which history sheds, let Liberia be viewed, and it will be seen that less hardship and disaster, less mortality and discontent, cannot be found in any settlement which the long narrative of colonial annals records. The concurring testimonies of Captain Stockton and Captain Nicholson, who visited Liberia in 1828; of Captain

Sherman, in 1830; of Captain Kennedy and Captain Abel, in 1831; of Hannah Kilham, in 1832; and of Captain Voorhees, towards the close of the past year, establish, beyond the possibility of question, its striking fitness for its destined object. In confirmation of these disinterested and respectable travellers, are the reports of the agents, the letters of the colonists, and the evidence of British and French naval officers who have occasionally visited the settlement. They unite in repesenting it as the abode of peaceful content and smiling plenty. The preposterous and unfounded statements of one or two unknown or discredited witnesses, are entitled to no respect from the honest inquirer. Like the fabulous stories circulated against colonial Pennsylvania, in the life-time of the Founder, better information and more enlarged experience prove their folly and untruth.*

*The unknown witness brought forward by James G. Birney, in his recent letter against Colonization, exceeds, in the monstrosity of its allegations, the hardihood of all his predecessors. Having never before heard of the Rev. Samuel Jones, thus distinguished in the letter, I know him only by the account there given, that he is a coloured man, and had been a slave in Kentucky,' and by his testimony concerning Liberia. I copy the whole description, to enable the reader to see how ruthless and fierce are the attacks upon this devoted settlement. “On the fourth day, Mr. King (Agent of the Tennessee Colonization Society,) suggested that we ought now to visit the poor. We accordingly did so, and of all misery and poverty, and all repining that my imagination had ever conceived, it had never reached what my eyes now saw, and my ears heard. Hundreds of poor creatures, squalid, ragged, hungry, without employment-some actually starving to death, and all praying most fervently that they might get home to America once more. Even the emancipated slave craved the boon of returning again to bondage, that he might once more have the pains of hunger satisfied. There are hundreds there who say they would rather come back and be slaves than stay in Liberia. They would sit down and tell us their tale of suffering and of sorrow, such a dejected and wo-begone aspect, that it would almost break our hearts. They would weep as they would talk of their sorrows here, and their joys in America—and we mingled our tears freely with theirs. This part of the population included, as near as we could judge, two-thirds of the inhabitants of Monrovia." Two-thirds of the inhabitants discontented, and hundreds rather be slaves than remain in Liberia ! Hundreds hungry, and some actually starving to death! Misery beyond what the imagination can conceive, the eyes ever saw, or the ears heard! The surprise is not that a spurious bill may get into circulation, but that it should find such an indorser as James G. Bir

with

Such is the country in which the Colonization Society has invited the black man of America to fix his permanent habitation. It offers him, without money and without price,' a

ney. This account is opposed by the letter of the colonists themselves, and the concurring testimonies of the most respectable travellers, from the year 1828 to the present time. The letter from the colonists represents the face of the country as covered with perpetual verdure, and that the soil in fertility is not surpassed on the face of the earth-that the colonists are blessed with plenty, and enjoy content-that wages are high, and mechanics of nearly every trade are sure of constant and profitable employment. They say, "Truly we have a goodly heritage; and if there is any thing lacking in the character or condition of the people of this Colony, it never can be charged to the account of the country: it must be the fruit of our own mismanagement, or slothfulness or vices." (See the Circular of the Colonists, in extenso, in Thirteenth Annual Report of the American Society for colonizing the free people of colour of the United States, p. 30, et seq.) Capt. Nicholson thus writes in 1828: "I cannot give you better evidence of the prosperity of the Colony, than by mentioning that eight of my crew (coloured mechanics,) after going on shore two several days, applied for, and received their discharge, in order to remain as permanent settlers. These men had been absent from their country upwards of three years, and had, among them, nearly two thousand dollars in clothes and money. Had they not been thoroughly convinced that their happiness and prosperity would be better promoted by remaining among their free brethren in Liberia, they would not have determined on so momentous a step as quitting the United States, perhaps forever, where they all had left friends and relatives.

"The appearance of all the colonists, those of Monrovia, as well as those of Caldwell, indicated more than contentment. Their manners were those of freemen, who experienced the blessings of liberty, and appreciated the boon. Many of them had, by trade, accumulated a competency, if the possession of from three to five thousand dollars may be called so."

Capt. Sherman, whose visit was in the year 1830, thus writes of the comfort and contentment of the settlers:

"Monrovia, at present, consists of about ninety dwelling houses and stores, two houses for public worship, and a court house. Many of the dwellings are handsome and convenient, and all of them comfortable. The plot of the town is cleared more than a mile square, elevated about seventy feet above the level of the sea, and contains seven hundred inhabitants.

"The township of Caldwell is about seven miles from Monrovia, on St. Paul's river, and contains a population of five hundred and sixty agricultu. ralists. The soil is exceedingly fertile, the situation pleasant, and the people satisfied and happy. The emigrants carried out by me, and from whom I received a pleasing and satisfactory account of that part of the country, are located here."

Capt. Kennedy's visit was in 1831. He thus states the result of his inquiries and observations: "I sought out the most shrewd and intelligent of the colo

home of freedom and plenty in the land of his fathers. It offers him a sanctuary from wrong and persecution. It offers him the unwonted prospect of an unclouded and bril

nists, many of whom were personally known to me, and by long and many conversations, endeavoured to elicit from them any dissatisfaction with their condition, (if such existed,) or any latent design to return to their native country. Neither of these did I observe. On the contrary, I thought I could perceive that they considered that they had started into a new existence; that, disencumbered of the mortifying relations in which they formerly stood in society, they felt themselves proud in their attitude," &c. &c. Fifteenth Report, 1832. Capt. Abel gives this emphatic testimony. He was in the Colony in the latter part of December, 1831. "All my expectations in regard to the aspect of things, the health, harmony, order, contentment, industry, and general prosperity of the settlers, was more than realized. There are about two hundred buildings in the town of Monrovia, extending along the Cape Montserado, not far from a mile and a quarter. Most of these are good substantial houses and stores, the first story of many of them being of stone; and some of them handsome, spacious, and with Venitian blinds. Nothing struck me as more remarkable than the great superiority in intelligence, manners, conversation, dress, and general appearance in every respect over their coloured brethren in America. So much was I pleased with what I saw, that I observed to the people, Should I make a true report, it would hardly be credited in the United States. Among all that I conversed with, I did not find a discontented person, or hear one express a desire to return to America. I saw no intemperance, nor did I hear a profane word uttered by any one. Being a minister of the Gospel, on Christmas day I preached," &c. The pious Hannah Kilham, who visited Liberia in 1832, said nothing of the want, misery, and discontent described by Jones. Can there be a doubt, that if either existed, she would not have seen and mentioned it? Dr. Hodgkin states, that she left England by no means prepossessed in favour of Liberia. She speaks of the moral con

dition and comforts enjoyed by many of the colonists, and of the respectful and cheerful attention paid by the pupils in the girls' school at Caldwell, to the teacher, whose union of gentleness and firmness, she extols. Not a word in confirmation of Jones.

Simpson and Moore, two respectable coloured men, one of whom is a clergyman, visited the Colony, at the request of their free coloured brethren of Natches, likewise in the year 1832. The following is the evidence they furnished: "As a body, the people of Liberia, we think, owing to their circumstances, have risen in their style of living, and their happiness, as a community, is far above those of their coloured brethren, even the most prosperous of them, that we have seen in the United States. They feel that they have a home. They have no fear of the white or the coloured man. They have no superiors. They do not look up to others, but they are looked up to by them. Their laws grow out of themselves, and are their own. They truly sit under their own

liant future. But in presenting the invitation, its duty is performed, and it goes no further.. It disavows all constraint or compulsion, for these would imply an authority which no where exists, and is no where pretended. It professes itself the friend of the coloured man, because he is degraded by our laws, and sometimes, as in Pennsylvania, in despite of legal regulations. It desires to take him from a country where he must languish in inferiority, and where he never vine and fig-tree, having none to molest and make them afraid. Since our return, we have been in the houses of some of the most respectable men of colour in New York and Philadelphia, but have seen none, on the whole, so well furnished as many of the houses of Monrovia. The floors are, in many cases, well carpeted, and all things about these dwellings appear neat, convenient, and comfortable. There are five schools, two of which we visited, and were much pleased with the teachers and the improvement of the children. * We found only two persons who expressed any dissatisfaction; and we have had much reason to doubt whether they had any good cause for it."

*

Capt. Voorhees, of the United States Navy, arrived at anchorage in the bay of Montserado on the 9th of December, 1833. He dates his report to the Secretary of the Navy at that Cape, on the 14th. He says, "Piracy has not afflicted this quarter for some time; and the inhabitants at the settlements living in undisturbed peace and tranquillity, seem to entertain very encouraging confidence in their future security." After speaking of the kind of people who should be sent to Liberia, he says, "Such persons of colour here, in the land of their ancestors, find a home and a country, and here only, do they find themselves redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled." An intelligent old man, about sixty years of age, with whom I conversed, stated that he had been here about eighteen months, and was getting on cleverly for himself and his family, "but that on no account would he return to the United States." The last witness to whom it is necessary to refer, in contradiction of the Rev. Samuel Jones, is a coloured man, who bears the name simply of Joseph Jones. He was sent out by the Kentucky Colonization Society, for the purpose of examining "fully the situation of the Colony of Liberia." The Board of Managers of the Kentucky Society speak of him "as a man of excellent character, of a clear and vigorous understanding, and possessed of those qualities which make a man useful to society." He reached Liberia on the 11th of July, 1833, and remained in the Colony nine months and twenty-nine days. His testimony, therefore, relates to Liberia, as it was about the middle of the year 1834. To the question put to him during his examination, "Do the colonists appear satisfied?" his reply is, "I was particular in my inquiries, and I found the large majority well satisfied, and would not return to this country if they could." The Editor of the Western Luminary, who had a conversation with Jones, says, under date of 30th July, 1834. "He represented the people as being generally contented, and apparently happy."