The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-21

Of Liberia. or other person resident within tht
jurisdiction Of the same shall be permitted te
act as agent, or enter into the employ or service
of any person or persona engaged in the slave
trade, or any person in the remotest degree con
nected with them. under the penalty of ndict
ment and being twelve months bound TO hard
labor in irons, or fined in the sum of not less
than five hundred dollars"
Surely, in the face of such constitutions
prohibitions, and such penal laws, the Liberians
must be- possessed of uncommon hardlhood tc
attempt to engage in the traffic, even if they had
an inclination TO do so, which the committee
feel the fullest confidence is not the fact; but
on the contrary, they are assured, from the mosl
reliable sources, that such is the public cent,
ment universally prevailing among the citizens
Of the republic, that the laws would be executed
with rgor. wherever the crime was known to
exist.
The committee might protract this report BY
introducing testimony to almost any amount,
both oral and written, from persons Of the high
est responsibility, and of the amplest means for
obtaining correct information, from having re.
peatedy visited, or resided in Liberia, to estab-
lish the fact, that the citizens OF that repu lie
are not only not engaged, either directly or in,
directly, in the foreign slave trade, but that do
mestc slavery" or "the buying or selling" OF
slaves among themselves, or for their own use,
does not exist in Liberia; but they do not deem
it necessary. They will content themselves
with Only two or three brief quotations; and, as
this redoubtable charge came across the water,
they will confine their selections to officers OF
the British navy, and those Of higher rank, and
of far better opportunities for obtaining correct
information than Lieut. Forbes, who, as the
committee are credibly informed, aoas nerer al
Monr0ria.
The first is from Captain Irping. In letter
to DIR. Hodgkia Of London, dated August Sd,
1910, he says You ask me If they the Libe.
rians] aid in the slave trade? assure you, no !
and / am sure the colonsts would feel them
selves much hurt, should they know such a
question could possibly arise in England. In
my opinion, it Is the best and safest plan for the
extinction Of the slave trade, and the civiliza-
ton of Africa; for it is a well known fact that
wherever their flag flies, it is an eyesore to the
slave Dealers The testimony. of Captain Her
bert, is as follows "With regard to the present
state Of slave taking in the COLONY of Liberia,
have. never known one instance of slave be-
ing owned or disposed of by colonist. Onthe
contrary, / have known them to render great IA
cility to our cruisers there in taking vessels en-
gagged in that nefarious traffic" Captain Dun
lop, who had abundant opportunities for becom-
ing acquainted with Liberia during the years
l848, '49 and 80, says: 81 am perfectly salts.
fled no such thing as domestic slavery exists, in
any shape, amongst the citizens of the repnb-
lc" The last which the committee propose to
introduce, is from Commodore Sir Charles HIT
ham, comrnander-in-chiefo of her Britannia Maj
esty's squadron on the western coast of Africa,
than whom the British public certainly should
ask no higher authority.
In letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty,
dated April 7, l847, and published in the parlia-
mentary returns, he says "One perusiDg the
correspondence of my predecessors, found a
great difference of opinion existing as to the
views and objects of the settlers; some even
accusing the governor Of lending himself to the
slave trade. After discussing the whole subject
with officers and others best qualified to Judge
OH the matter, not only satisfied my own mind
that there is no reasonable cause for such a sus-
pcion, but further that this establishment merits
all the support we can give it for it is only
through their means that we can hope to improve
the African race" Subsequently, in lS49,)
the same officer gave his testimony before the
House of Lords, in the following language
There is no necessity for the squagfon' watch
ing the coast between Sierra Leox and Cape
Palmas, az the Liberisn territory intervenes,
and there The Stare trade has been ertinguished"
ELISHA WHITTLESEY,
MATTHEW ST. G. CLARKE,
HARVEY LINDSEY.
JOSEPH A. BRADLEY,
A. o. DAYTON,
J. S. BACON,
WILLIAM GUNTON.
Erscutipe Committee Of The American Coloniza-
tion Society,".