The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-05-26
THE NEGRO REPUBLIC.
Some Plain and startling Statements About
Affairs In Iiberin.
From the Cincinnati Commercial.

Dir. George r. Stetson Of Boston. has
written some queer chapters about the
Republic cf Liberia, on the West coast OF
Africa. 1t was founded by philanthrop.
lists in the United States, some fiity
years ago. II was 20 be q speck of para.
disc for freed slaves from America.
Good people we're TO send them there, set
them up la republic ON their own hook,
and then put the whole Dark Continent
into ferment of Christian civilization.
In the period Of their enthusiasm. the
American Colonization Society spent mil.
liono of money on the freedmens para
disc. AS far back as 1859 they pent TO-.
600 American negroes there at an expense
of $3.50 per head. About half of them
went to paradies by shorter route than
even the Colonization Society dreamed
of. They died.
In beating the American bush for emf
grants to Liberia, tuneful agents harped
much on the extraordinary richness of
African soil. 1t had only to be tcklod
with n wooden hoe to smile back lnxuri-
ant harvest. Fruits, grain, and yegeta.
bles, all that made glad the human stonl.
ach, grew in unlimited profusion. This
was one side of the story. The silver
tongued agents told that side. The other
part was that every foreigner who touches
the coast of Liberia, though he remain no
longer than week, is stricken down with
q horrible miasmatic sickness called the
"acclimating fever" The blstering sun,
alternating with heavy rains, and the
rank vegetation from that very soil whose
richness tho agents exalted, are the cause
OF the terrible malaria. Ague gets the
better of civilization. 1t kills every
xr,I, 70 r
years.
The savage African aborigines do not
appear to suffer from the malaria. Like
the. Florida Indians, who are proof
against mosquito bites, they appear 10 be
soaked so full of poison that It does not
hurt them. But the American. borr me-
gro suffers nearly as much as the white
man. The mortality Of the fever may bo
judged from some facts given by Mr..
Stetson. On one occasion O coasting
vessel made trip to the delta of tho
Niger. She had crew Of fifty.five per-
sons. Of these, twenty-five died.
Another vessel was sent to the same
place with crew Of twenty men. Ten
of them died within four weeks.
It will be remembered that passion
for emigration to Liberia suddenly seized
the colcred people Of Georgia and the
Corolinas three years ago. They saiicd
thither by hundreds. One ship, the Azor,
took 256 emigrants from Charleston at
one load. It was fine fun-the starting.
All shared the devout belief that they
were going direct to the promise land.
but all their hopes turned to the bitterest
disappointment. The disgusted pilgrims
died off like sheep in Colorado blizzard.
In many cases Of negroes emigrating to
Liberia from America whole families
died, not one being left alive. One FAM
lily of ten persons from Georgia sailed in
the Azor. Three died on shipboard and
two at Monrovia. The other five begged
mony and fed back to Georgia before the
acclimating fever took them, too. Many
others of the colonists who sailed within
few years to Africa are sending for
money to bring them home. Liberia,
the country of fertile soil and beautiful
landscape, is so sickly that the very
horses and mules die that arc taken
there.
Concerning other aspects of life in the
model negro Republic-cducational, in.
dustrial, social, and poltical-the testi-
mony is 10 less emphatic. The term
"lazy African" is probably only under
stood in it's truest sense il Africa. Under
tho schorching sun the laziness strikes in.
The climate effects even the industrious
freedman from America. In time he,
too, gives up the struggle and ceases to
work.
He turns to politics as an easier way of
getting living. He seeks them zero
Offices" with enthusiasm. Thus he, at
least, shows his capacity for the highest
civilization. Liberian elections are quite
as loud and lively and as frequent az in
the great "moddle" Republic Of the Uni
was patterned after.
Liberian exports have been steadily
declining for number of years. A bare
the naked aborigincs. What is the good
of working when one is not Obliged to do
it2
1t is not agreeable to record the fact
that slavery exists throughout tho negro
Republic. It's horrors down South never
surpassed The like horrors among these
Liberians, whose slaves are of their own
and kindred.
In other respects the Africans who
rule Liberia have shown their ability to
acquire high civilization--the very
highest indeed. They have got q bonded
debt. It is 30 large one that there is
no prospect whatever they will ever pay
it. Moreover, it is all owned in London,
every penny. Putting the two facts to-.
gether, and connecting them by link of
reasoning with well-known popularity
Of the noble British nature, it Is not hard
to make prophecy concerning the future
of this, the one black Republic on the
face of the earth.
Some very singular facts have been de-
veloped in the history Of Liberia No.
body was more enthusiastic in the cause
of African colonization from this country
than the churches and the religious com.
munity. Missionaries vent there by the
hundred, laborcd among the black sav.
ages, and deid martyrs to their Christian
devotion. Who does not remember for
years "Afric's sunny fouutians' as the
objective points of missionary work in
America?
What has come of all this work, of the
sacrifice Of all these uuselfish lives 7
Christians everywhere expected the
Contamination of all Africa as confident
ly as the Second Adventists locked for
the end of the world. The happy result
never followed. One of the wild negro
tribes that joined the Liberian Govern.
ment was Mohammedan in religion.
There are forty wild negro tribes in the
whole country. Instead of these naked
heathens coming under the gentle in
fueuce of the Bible, the one Mohamme-
dan tribe among them ia converting them
to the faith of the Turk with amazing