American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1858-10-15
Morgantown, (ya.> Friday, oct,ober rs, 1855

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productions, which are. now, or may bc,
common to Africa or India, ,ihe palS. oil
b'adc, alone,, like the. cotton and tobacco
trade, of the Southern States, is Ca pable
Jof becoming "a, source of .inexhaustiblo
wealth. The vast fields or prairies of the
interior may furnish commerce with i'm.
mense quantities of hides. The golden
fields OF western Sudan extend for a dis
ltance of five hundred miles from north to
south. IF we draw the line to the north.
west from the mining district in the south
east of Ashantee, the distance is not less
than aSthousand English miles Captain
lJobson, the only white man who has ever
dug in these mines, returned after few
days labor with twelve pounds of gold
But all these great and varied resources
can never be developed and given to tho
commerce Of the world except by means of
eiSilization, which now at last is taking
,ifm root in our African colonies. Eas9 -
/ To prepare the way for civilization. aud
commerce, Colonization as bdaiMtNg-Hhe
slageitradejyom AJrica. Liberia, more
powerful than fleets even in her infancy,
has cradicated this cruel and impolitic
traffic from more than 1fye AanQrsd miles
of the coast. The same result has follow
led whereyera little colony has been plants
led. And 1T is astonishing to SEQ how
quickly the disappearance of the slave
trade Is followed by an active traffic in the
prod uctions of the soil. This is the true
reason why the exports of the western
Africa have recently run up to at least
thirty millions Of dollars per annum.
/ Ehavo just remarked that the slave
trade is cruel. The middle PASSAGE, of
(which We have heard so much, is but a
small portion of the horrors attendant on
that traffic. In one journey of sixty miles,
counted no less than eighteen towns,
which had been reduced to utter dcsola..
tion by the cruel wars which furnish car-
goes forislave ships. Forty years ago, the
Egba kingdom contained more than a
/ hundred towns, some of which were six
or eight miles in circuit. In 1850 but
! one of these towns was remaining. gAll
the rest had been swept away as crop for
the slave trade. Such facts would be in,
credible were they not attested by the eyi-
/ jdepce of all the missionaries, merchants
.Iandztravelers who have visited that iuns
happy country. j suppose that for every
slave landed in American markets about
three persons are cut off in tho wars aud
famines which follow, and during the
middle passage from the coast to coast
| The present system of apprenticeship af-
fords safer passage to America, but the
4 apprentices are collected by the same
system of destructive wars, which have
already depopulate9 some of the finest
districts OF Africa. No sooner was il
known that apprentices would be bought,
/ than the chiefs in different places began
to make war on their weaker neighbors.
My lastadvices from Africa told of famish.
ling sieges and bloody battles to supply
the French ships with emigrants. Give
us only the power to place q few thousand
American colonists on any part of the
coast, and then you will see that the slave
catching wars will cease. The civiliza
1 ton will presently begin to take hold on
the natives, and a lucrative commerce will
spring up to reward tho enterprise o. our
honest traders. YeH 7essage5i 5
! Colonization is preparing the way for
ne concersion Of tile aehoie continent TO
Christ There is a congregation of several
hundred native Christian converts at Ba-
thurst on the Gambia. The same fruits
OF Christian colonization are seen at Cape
Coast Castle, on Fernando Po Island, and
at various other points on the coast. Tits
we'll known that Liberia is full so to speal,
of Christian churches. al the Hatiges of
\ that region have heard of Christ, and hun
4 dreds have been reclaimed from heatlen.
ISM. Even the wild Kroo nation has sUb.
piled a preachef, who Was drawing large
congregations when / was last in Sierra
| Leone The thirty thousand civilized
African in Frcetown worship God every
Sabbath day in twenty-tbreo churches,
built of stone, handsome odinces, which
cost from two to twenty thousand dollars
Z. each, as / have been told, ond some OF
them even more. In all these colonies
there are Africans, releaptufed slaves,
qualified to preach the GOSPEL ii their ma.
tive lands, which are scattered in widely
separated parts of the continent Mum.
/ bers of them arc anxiocst to return home,
beariHg tic message Of salvation. Some
4 have already gone a aatite priacc (no,
4 re~coptufed slave) is preaching the gospel
! In iKumasi, the capital Of Asbantee where
1 bis uncle is King. Native Christians Of
the Egba or Yoruba tribcs, have returned
to their eountrymen with English and
African missionaries, and now there arS
Z twcye orsiiftoen hundred converts on The
slave coast. AT present they are aflictej
by tho wars consequent on tho apprentice
system, but a colony of American black:
would give peace TO that distracted coun.
4 try. o, lord God, confound the devices
/ Of tho wicked, who are mighty to do evil
4 Give they servants secure dwelling place
aud let thy word run and be gloriGcd
4 Colonization tsfounding q gren Eng
f'sh sPeaking BmPirc-~not by fire ond