LIBERIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 131, 9 July 1853, Page 5

LIBERIA.

(Prom the Daily News.)

At the conclusion of " Uncle Tom's Cabin" the authoress alludes to Liberia, and expresses a hope that the Free Black Republic on the coast of Africa may yet prove a source of redemption to the Negro race. All Mrs. Stowe's readers will now feel a new interest in the African community thus referred to —Liberia, the free state, specially founded in the original country and native climate of the negroes, and designed as the means of civilizing the dusky race in Africa, and affording a home to black colonists from the States of America. Upon the success or failure of Liberia a variety of opinions prevail amongst persons who have studied its history and condition. As on most other social subjects, suggesting large prospects, the enthusiasts take very sanguine, and the sceptics very desponding views. And, as generally prevails at the commencement of social experiments of novel kinds, the facts upon which judgment is to be founded are either doubtful or denied. In the present state of Liberia we have no desire, to act as moderators between those who take very opposite courses concerning this Free Black Republic. We rather desire to fix the attention of our readers upon the interesting fact that the experiment, upon a large scale, is being tried under circumstances which will make it a very decisive one upon the vexed question of the capabilities of the negroes for the higher functions of civilization.

Liberia is a tract of country extending about 400 miles on the coast of Western Africa, lying to the north of the equator, between 4 degrees 20 minutes and 7 degrees north latitude. It extends along the coast from the Gallinas, (that notorious spot in the history of the slave trade) down to what is now called " Maryland in Liberia," —situate near Cape Palmas. The first company of emigrants sent from America to Liberia, under tlie auspices of the American Colonization Society, embarked at New York, in February, 1820, so that a growth of upwards of a quarter of a century can be claimed for this Black Republic. The Colony progressed amidst various trials until 1839, when the "Commonwealth" .was founded. The Colonization- Society of America watched over and tended its progress, and at last, in the month of July, 1847, a convention of delegates met at Moravie, the capital of this new State, issued a declaration of independence, and founded the Republic and Government of Liberia, which has been duly recognized and acknowledged by Great Britain and France. The civil constitution of Liberia is a model in miniature of the United States, with one remarkable and sufficiently significant exception, viz—no white person is allowed to become a citizen of Liberia ; consequently white residents cannot hold any office in the Republic. The main object of those who have founded Liberia has been to endeavour to civilize the

negroes by means of colonizing in Africa with free and educated negroes from America. For ** this purpose they purchased at various times from the aborigines the various tracts of country now incorporated as Liberia, and with £a view to the wants and habits of the race they

chose the locality and climate most adapted for >the experiment. The population of the Republic is not very exactly ascertained. We find a report of a lecture delivered by the Rev. Mr. Gurley, an American clergyman, who visited the settlement in 1850, and he states the population at " about six thousand settlers, and between two hundred and two hundred and fifty thousand of the aborigines." On the other hand, the author of " Sketches of Liberia," (Washington, 1850), says that no census had been taken for some years, hut adds " I think, however, that the whole number of the inhabitants of the Republic, exclusive of the aborigines, may be set down at about four thousand."

It will naturally be asked by our readers upon what source of profit and reproduction do the (founders of Liberia look for its mainten-

ance1 and progress ? It appears by their state- •' inehts that they rely on the production of coffee, and cotton, and palm oil, as sources of wealth to Liberia. The coffee plant is indigenous there', and bears well, and most observers of the country appear to concur in the fact it is well suited for raising coffee. They are rather less confident about cotton, but it would seem that the soil and situation are well adapted for the growth of the cotton plant, excellent specimens

of which having been raised there. In general, it is anticipated that the productions of high tropical latitudes may be looked for from Liberia, and that a large trade in palm oil, ginger, sugar cane, ground nuts, and indigo, may be calculated upon, in case the settlement should thrive.

Instead of pronouncing any premature" opinion on the likelihood of Liberia being successful or not as an experiment, we prefer to notice the fact, that as yet there is only a comparatively small supply of educated or semi-civilised negro colonists to maintain what we may call its stamina of civilisation. While the aborigines amount to a quarter of a million, the imported colonists are not ten thousand in number. Thus the American negro is to the African at Liberia in the ratio of one to fifty,—a, very small proportion to infuse the element of civilisation. Recollecting that the imported colonists are not themselves of a superior race,—-that they have limited powers and, education, —we may be excused from entering into the very bright anticipations formed about Liberia, though we watch the experiment with deep interest, and should be heartily glad for it to succeed. There is one point connected with the history of Liberia, that has struck some persons with surprise. They ask why none of the free American negroes have settled there in preference to remaining in the United States, where they are obnoxious to all the prejudices against people of colour? It will be recollected that the free negro population of the States are not very far from half a million; and in a hasty view it certainly might appear strange that Liberia does not tempt more of them to settle there. But the simple facts speak for themselves, and explain the paucity of the free negro colonists at Liberia. The free negro has been born, bred, and reared in America. It is his home and his country, and contains his kindred. Most of his associations are connected with it, and despite of the prejudice of colour, it presents him a vastly better field for his energy, and more sources of interest and pleasure than an infant colony on the western coast of Africa. Between the native and the free America negro and the aborigines in Liberia there is probably as much real difference as between the best part of the AnglocSaxon race and the free negroes themselves. If the free negro cannot stand on a level in the social scale with the white man in the States, he does not, on the other hand, feel any community of feeling, with the aborigines of Liberia; he is of their race by descent, but not of their country, either by birth or adoption. Hence is derived the cause that the negro colonists in Liberia are so few in number.

On the other hand, however, we must remember that it is only very lately that public attention, in America, as well as England, is becoming fixed upon Liberia. The ultra party of the Abolitionists in the States' for some time looked very coldly upon the Liberia plantation. They treated it as a diversion from the real question that they sought to agitate and raise, and they considered that the whole scheme was too much in accordance with the moderate and guarded views of the Clay party, who desired to act with caution in the whole question of emancipation. The fact that Mrs. Beecher Stowe has turned attention so strongly towards Liberia is regarded by the followers of the late Henry Clay as a decided improvement in the mode of arguing the abolition question. We are aware that some of those who have taken the strongest interest in Liberia (now hopefully recommended by Mrs. Beecher Stowe) have hot*joined in the admiration felt in so many quarters for " Uncle Tom's Cabin." They say that its exaggeration has even already roused very bitter feelings, and that its production will probably do disservice to the cause of speedy abolition. But that is a matter of speculation, outside the practical question as to whether Liberia will grow and prosper as a free state ; and whatever may become of the abolition question in the United States, the experiment of Liberia, or' the attempt to civilise the native African population by means of an African race, need not, therefore, be considered hopeless. If Liberia fail, the fact will only prove that some thousands of partially civilized negroes cannot maintain a free and progressive political state with the dead weight of a vast aboriginal population of savages hanging upon them. On the other hand, if Liberia should largely succeed and prosper, it will be one of the most cheering facts that the historian can record iv the history of the blacks. At present, we think

that many friends to abolition stake too much upon the experiment of Liberia. Enough has not yet been proved by it to warrant decided opinions. In the meanwhile, we should remember, that it is only an experiment just commenced, and content ourselves with watching its progress, with the moral interest due to the great social question on which it bears.