Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1848-06-01
From the Proridence Journal Of Friddy
LIBERIA.

History, III according to Rhode Island her
just meed Of praise for having been foremost III
establishing form of government, securing TO
her people every civil and political right, whilst
II left them free to worship God according to
the dictates Of their own cOnsciences, without
mOlestatlOn or restraint, and as ever having
been among the first to foster objects calculated
TO llberallze the mind and promote truth and
freedom, will eventually accord to her the cred-
it of having originated, through DIR. Hopkins a
clergyman of Newport, the project Of African
colonization.
1t is now but about the quarter of a century
since the first cOlOnists were sent TO Liberia :;
since which time, amidst poverty and much
contumely, the Colonization Society have pros
ecuted their labors, aud contendcd with every
evil incident 20 the establishment ofa distant
colony in an uncxplored country; notwlih-
standing which, SO blessed BY Providence have
been their labOrs, that we now behold new
Republic arisen in Africa, on a spot, which {"
few years since, was the very focus oithc slave
trade. In that period, more than four hun
dred miles of sea coast have been redeemed by
the colonsts from the curse Of slavery and the
slave trade Eighty thousand freeman have
united in establishing a form of government
for themselves, similar in lis construction to
that adopted by our foreiathers in Rhode Is
land their constitution being copied almost
verbatim from that of the United States Of ~
mcrica. Their system Of common school cdu-
cation rivals that of any country, and they have
more communicates in their churches than cX-
isl perhaps in any other community of colorcd
people, in proportion to their whole number,
on earth.
Unlike the early colonists Of our own coun-
try, those Of Liberia do not cxterminate the
original people of the colony; they return TO
the land of their fathers, TO iratcrnize with their
more ignorant brethren, and to teach them the
arts of civilization and peace. Their influence
is fast extending into the interior, aud close on
the confines of the new Republic lies the great
and fertile valley of the Niger, inhabited by
some IL 900 600 of people, whose princes are
even now sending their sons to the schools of
the colony, and who will soon return 10 carry
the arts aud christianity into the heart Of An
ca, before which the man-stealcr and the slave
ship will disappear; whilst supported by the
Iproducts of the most luxurious soil on earth, g,
land aided by the ants, a trade will spring up
which will Yield even to the cupidly of com
mercc, thousand fold the profit She world has
heretofore derived from the lab0rs eXtortcd
amidst tears and groans and blood from \ frlca' s
Iwrctchcd children, but who, now like the chill
dren of Israel formerly, but under more mer-
cliu dispcnsatlOn, are return ing to their native
Canaan from the land of their ask-maslers,
not to cXterminatc their brethren, but to hui
MAMIE aud civillze them, and 10 go under the
protection Of Divine Providence, until every
ycstigc of slavery and the slave trade is abol-
shcd from the earth, and civilization and chris
tauty extend oycrthe whole length and breadth
Iof Africa III.