Year: 1866

| man. residing IN one ol the western ',lates


the following account is given Of the condi
ton Of the negroes in Liberia. The write


is sea captain. who has visited Brazil, tht


West Indies and Africa, aud has observed


the condition Of the blacks in these various


countries.


The colony Of Liberia was founded in the
| year 1892. on the coast Of Upper Guinea, in
J Africa by the Colonization Society in the
| United States Of America. l. was designed


to assist colored people in emigrating to Atri-


ca, and to aid them in finding an asylum IN
that country. By buying land from chiefs
Of neiehboring tribes the colony has been
extended 10 the limits Of 800 square sea


miles. The occupation assigned by nature


to the inhabitants Of Liberia is agriculture.
The soil. exceedingly rich and as fertile as


any soil on the surface Of the earth, rewards
all labor, even the most negligent and su-


per6cial. Nevertheless, the free colonist,
having sprung from the negro race, over


comes his natural Incidence and laziness no
farther than to cultivate so much land as


is required for keeping him from starvation.


In the vicinity Of Monrovis, the capital and


seat of government named in honor OF


President MONROE, there may be seen some


thousand acres with plantations Of coffee and


sugar, yielding the richest possible crops, but


they belong to intelligent and ambitious


mulattoes.


Farther in the interior Of the country


there is no trace of any plantation or cul-
ture, although it is evident that the richest


produce is 10 be had for a small amount Of


labor. The common negro has no impulse


in himself 10 do anything more than to gain


in an easy manner what is absolutely neces-
sary for his subsistence, which he can easily


obtain in a country in which nature has be-


slowed SO very great fertility, producing
all the necessities Of life in abundance. The
laziness which is inseparable from the dispo-
sition Of negro, will be the rocks on which
the Republic Of Liberia viii be wrecked.
A negro does no. wish for anything but suffi-
cient food and scanty raiment for himself and
his family, and he works no more than the
great material necessity forces him to work.
The tillage Of the earth is much too labori-
Gus for him: even the breeding of cattle is
too troublesome for him. The greater part
Of the meat consumed in Liberia must be
imported. A small trade with little things
is the only business heis inclined to do. As a
mechanic, he leaves his work so roughly and
badly done, or rather undone as to satisfy





usefulness that is to be found in the four
towns Of Liberia is imported. The Repub-
lie, With It's present limits has been in exist
ence for about 40 years past, and yet there
is only one single road, which has the length
Of five sea miles and the breath of the track
Of one wagon. That read was built under
He superintendance Of the first American
agent, and with American money; it runs
from Monrovia toward the interior of the
country. Since the time that Liberia has
had its own Government, nothing at all has
been done 10 promote communication.


The large natural forests in the immedi-
ate neighborhood are the abode of innumer-
able wild beasts, which molest the colo1ists
necessarily. These forests are also the
source Of pernicious exhalations and deadly
miasmata, which kill half Of the inhabi-
tants. Ii is for the interest of the common
wealth, as well as that Of every inhabitant
to cut down those forests, in order to sell
the precious wood Of the large trees, 20 pu-
rify the air and to gain several millions Of
acres of the richest virginia. soil The in
habitants, however, are satisfied with taking
at a time no more wood than is necessary
for blilding a small farmhouse. They
suffer themselves to be attacked by the wild
beasts Of the forests, and they continue to
breathe the air filled with poisoning mias-
ma which causes fatal diseases among them,
without making any attempt to be relieved
of those plaques. Hence we must conclude
that negroes, by nature, have an aversion of
tilling the earth, and that their disposition
TO work industriously is, by nature no great
er than it was in their condition of bodily
bondage. As in this condition only force
and the fear Of punishment could move
them to wo'k, so in Liberia absolute neces-
sity and the fear Of starvation cause them
10 work, because they have here no master
who provides them with food and raiment.
The probability is very small indeed that
negroes ever viii cease 20 be slaves of abso-
lutte necessity, and become diligeut and in
telligent husbandmen. It is very improb-
able that their race can ever exist by itself,
and they cannot mix with white men in the
manner in which different races Of white
men have been mixed together.


The mulattoes in Liberia form a separate
caste, higher than common Negroes clste
similar TO the rank Of nobility in Europe,
and they would have usurped all power long
ago if they had not been watched and kept
down by the Americon Colonization Society.
As soon as this pressure is taken Off the
will fall into the hands of the
mulattoes, because property and intelligence
always rule over indigence and stupidity.
The Republican Government will then come
to an end, and the mulattoes will then make
themselves the lords of the land, and the
despots over the people; they viii be ty-
rants, much worse than the white slavehold-
ers ever were. In reality, such is at present
already the condition Of the people in Ii.
IBERIA. The negroes called crOwmen, natives
of Africa who have been subdued, mild
and meek race, willingly bend under the
yoke Of bodily bondage. On the planta-
tions Of sugar and coffee mentioned above,
in the house Of the rich mulattoes and in
those Of the Christian negroes, the whip is
used upon their servants Rhe are crOWmen,
as much as it was ever used upon slaves in
America and in the West Indies There
are no worse masters than mulattoes. AL
though offspring Of the white and black
races, they hate both races inveterately, and
they vent that hatred whenever they can.
Besides mulattoes rule by an indomitable
love Of money, and their looseness Of prin-
ciple and their laxity Of morals let them in
differently use all means to achieve their
purpose. At present they strive after riches
by cultivating their plantations, but un-
doubtedly they will prefer the greater and
easier profit Of trading in slaves as soon as
they have an opportunity Of So doing. The
Christian negroes everywhere else, are much
too indolent and too lazy to dc anything
which they are not compelled to do and as
long as they do not suffer from want mate
rally, il is all the same TO them whether Ii
IBERIA be a republic, an absolute monarchy
or slave state, provided they need not work


The negroes in Liberia walk on the streets
silent and with slow steps Those who are
wealthy stride about wearing high white
cravats, in the fashion Of Puritanic preach
ers; those who are poor are dressed less uni
formly, but they keep their faces contracted
in the same solemn and stern wrinkles. They
salute one another in a formal still manner
When two men happen to meet on the street.
who wish 10 speak 20 each other, they DO so
with affected manners, with a set speech and
in low voice, as if they were afraid Of dis
turbing the devotion Of congregation in (
church. He who knows the natural cheer
fulness and plerriness of negroes, which can
not be exhausted and never extirpated,
which requires only the least impulse to
break forth into loud and joyful nlirth, their
fondness in talking and their great pleasure
for singing-qualities which cannot be sup
pressed even by the severest treatment, quail
ities which can be turned to virtues and
blessings for them by the grace Of the Cos
pel-must be greatly astonished at the con-
trast which ne finds in the department of the