History of Liberia | Page 3

slavery is
universal among them, the great majority of slaves being obtained by
capture in war. These inter-tribal wars were once almost constant, and
their prevention requires the utmost vigilance of the Liberian
authorities.
The natives harvest rice and cassada; supply the coasting trader's
demand for palm-oil; raise tobacco; procure salt by evaporating
sea-water; engage in hunting and fishing. They carry on a number of
rude industries such as the manufacture of basket-work, hats, mats,
fish-nets; a crude sort of spinning and weaving. Iron ore exists in
abundance, and the natives have long known how to smelt it and obtain
the metal, from which they manufacture rude weapons, spurs, bits,
stirrups and kitchen utensils. The cheapness of imported iron ware has
driven out this interesting art on the coast; but in the interior it is still
practised by the Mandingoes, who are also fine goldsmiths, and
manufacture highly ornamented rings. There are also silversmiths
among the Veys, who do good work. The leather industry, too, has
been carried to some perfection.
With all their disadvantages the natives seem to extract a good deal of
enjoyment out of existence. They are very fond of singing and dancing
to the rude strains of a drum and harp, and usually prolong their
revelries far into the night.
Taken as a whole, the native character has many fine traits; and from
the civilization and development of this part of her population, Liberia
has much to hope.

II.
THE COLONIZATION IDEA.
It is always a most interesting part of historic inquiry to search out the
very earliest sources, the first feeble germ of the idea whose
development we are investigating. It is difficult to decide from what
one origin can be traced the continuous development of the idea which
resulted in the birth of Liberia; but toward the close of the last century
there arose a number of projects, widely differing in object and detail,
which bore more or less directly upon it, each of which may be said to
have contributed some special feature to the fully rounded and

developed plan.
The earliest of these sprang from the once notorious hot-bed of
slavery--Newport, R.I. As early as 1773 the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, then
widely known as a theological writer, and responsible for the system
termed Hopkinsianism, conceived the idea of a missionary effort in
Africa, undertaken by natives properly trained in the United States.[2]
This at first did not include the conception of a permanent settlement;
but on consultation with the Rev. Ezra Styles, afterward President of
Yale, it developed into a definite plan for a colony. The scheme proved
popular; it was widely advertised by sermons and circulars both in this
and the mother country; and by 1776 funds had been collected, Negro
students placed under suitable instruction at Princeton, and success
seemed almost assured. The outbreak of the Revolution, however,
swept away all the thought of carrying Hopkins' cherished enterprise
into execution, and after peace was restored his most strenuous efforts
failed to arouse the old interest. Later thinkers, however, found
suggestion and encouragement in his labors.
The colony founded at Sierra Leone by English philanthropists drew in
part its inspiration from Hopkins' idea, and in turn suggested later
American plans. After the celebrated decision of Lord Mansfield in the
Somerset case (1772), many slaves escaped to England, where they
congregated in the dens of London in helpless poverty and misery.
James Ramsay's essay on Slavery soon turned public attention to the
Negro, and Dr. Smeathman's letters suggested quite a scheme of
colonization. A movement in behalf of the oppressed race asserted
itself at the University of Cambridge, in which Clarkson, Wilberforce,
Granville Sharp and others took part. As a result of these efforts some
four hundred Negroes and sixty whites were landed at Sierra Leone in
May, 1787. Disease and disorder were rife, and by 1791 a mere handful
survived. The Sierra Leone Company was then incorporated; some
1,200 colonists from the Bahamas and Nova Scotia were taken over,
and the settlement in spite of discouraging results was kept up by
frequent reinforcements until 1807, when it was made a Government
colony and naval station. Its growth in population and commerce has
since steadily increased, and it now numbers some 60,000 persons
chiefly concentrated in the city of Freetown, and all blacks save one or
two hundred.

It may be as well to mention here two other sporadic attempts to lead
colored colonists to Africa. In 1787 the gifted and erratic Dr. Wm.
Thornton proposed himself to become the leader of a body of Rhode
Island and Massachusetts colonists to Western Africa; he appears to
have been in communication with Hopkins on the subject a year later,
but the effort fell through for want of funds. The other is much later.
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