THE PLANTING OF THE NATION.

WHITTIER.

  THE truth of Machiavelli's maxim, that "to make a servile people free, is as difficult as to make a free people slaves," had often occurred to Mr. Peyton's mind, while recalling the results of his experiments, yet without disheartening him; for between difficulty and impossibility is a great difference, and he knew that few objects of any importance can be attained without labor and disappointment.

  In the month of December, 1816, he went to Washington on business. He had intended to return by Christmas-day, and his family knew that he had arranged his affairs so that they need not prevent him, yet he wrote that he was detained by business of importance, and that for the first time in his life he could not pass that season, so

  He reached home for New-year's day, and when the children at last consented to be carried off to bed, and the older members of the family were left to talk in quiet, Mr. Peyton, addressing his sister, said,

  "At last, Margaret, I have a plan to propose to you, which I think even you, with all your practical wisdom and cool judgment, must approve. You objected to my making my servants free, for you said that, whether they were nominally bond or free, or whether they lived at the North or the South, the colored people held, in reality, the position of slaves; and that as long as this was the case, they had better have the protection and assistance which the relation of master should, and often does, give to them. We will not discuss that matter now, but what do you say to placing them in an isolated and independent position, where they can develop themselves, free from the presence and overshadowing superiority of the white race."

  "If they can govern themselves, which is yet to be proved," replied Margaret, "that would be the best course to take. I would like to see it fairly tried, though I confess I am not sanguine as to its success."

  "Several of our wisest statesmen and philanthropists have been engaged in forming such a plan,"

  "How is the idea to be carried out?" asked Margaret.

  "I will read you part of the constitution adopted by a society at which I was present, where Henry Clay presided, and, with John Randolph and Elias B. Caldwell, spoke eloquently and ably in favor of this object.

  "Article I.—A society shall be formed, and called the American Colonization Society, for colonizing the free people of color of the United States.

   "Article II.—The object to which its attention shall be exclusively directed is, to promote and execute a plan for colonizing, with their consent, the free people of color residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall see fit. And the society shall act, to effect this object, in co-operation with the general government, and such of the states as may adopt regulations upon the subject. Hon. Bushrod Washington has been chosen the president of the society."

  "It is certainly a great idea; I hope it may prove a successful one," said Margaret.

  "Many of those who go out to Africa, where I think a suitable location will be found for them, will not only receive a benefit themselves from the change, but act as missionaries to the heathen around them. Even when they do not teach them directly, which perhaps in many cases is hardly to be expected, the silent influence of their regular and Christian mode of life must produce a great effect. If I were to tell the hopes and expectations that fill my heart when I think upon this subject, I should be regarded as an enthusiast."

  "Are there any of your own servants that could be induced to try the experiment?" asked Mrs. Fairfax.

  "I have been thinking that it would be the very place for Junius," replied Mr. Peyton. "I will speak to him about it to-morrow."

  "He needs some encouragement," said Virginia. "Nathan told me a few days ago that Junius was going to give up studying, for it only made him unhappy, and come and help his father on the farm. Nathan seemed a good deal troubled about it, for Junius has always been his pride."

  Junius listened with evident pleasure to Mr. Peyton's account of the formation of the Colonization Society and its purposes. Accustomed to reverence his master as a person of superior wisdom and goodness, his sympathies were readily enlisted in favor

  He went over to the farm to talk with his father about it. Nathan, naturally averse to change and unenterprising, considerably damped his son's zeal by the discouraging manner with which he made his comments on the untried enterprise. His wife, too, did not at all like the idea of emigrating to an unknown and heathen country with her six children; and Junius, who had come full of warmth and ardor, found himself in a little while quite overpowered by the opposition he met with.

  At last he proposed an adjournment to Keziah's cabin, that they might hear her opinion. It was a still, cold, starlight night, and as they approached they heard her voice, reading with great emphasis and feeling.

  "Stop a minute," said Sally; "let's yer if dat ain't 'Sinners, turn—why will ye die?'"

  They stopped to listen, and found that Sally was right.

  "She reads dat yer hymn to Polydore every night," continued Sally; "it was de fust ting dat struck her heart, and she tinks it will 'feet him, if any ting will."

  "Ain't uncle Polydore a Christian?" asked Junius.

  "Bless you, honey, yes, dese many years; but

  When they opened the cabin door, they found Keziah sitting upright in a rocking-chair, which had been her first purchase for herself, and reading by the light of a blazing fire of pine wood. Polydore was gazing mildly and sleepily upon her, endeavoring, hopelessly, to take in the full meaning of a hymn he had heard till he knew it by heart, with a patient wonder at his own want of feeling in being so little moved by it.

  As soon as Keziah comprehended the plan which Junius explained to her, she entered into it with all her heart.

  "It is the very place for me," exclaimed she; "I would go there to-morrow if I could."

  "Oh, Keziah, don't say so; if you only knew what I know 'bout Africa, you would never want to see it again," said Polydore, wide awake for once. "Don't go, Keziah, please do, don't. I would rather die dan go."

  "Nobody said any thin' about your goin'," retorted Keziah; "stay here, if you want to, and be a nigger all your life; but I thinks defferently."

  Polydore made no answer to this unkind speech, but sat brooding in silence for some time, while the

  He spoke of the devil-man, a frightful figure that came out of a thicket near his native village, and frightened every one by his terrible howlings. The death of some one, by the ordeal of gedu or sassy-water, a poisonous opiate made from the bark of the sassy-tree, often followed the appearance of this figure, in consequence of having been accused by it of being a witch. Polydore's father fell a victim to this practice. He had been out, in company with many of the other fighting men of his tribe, to procure slaves to carry down to some slave-ships that were waiting for a cargo; they returned with a train of captives; but in the skirmishes, the head man had been slightly wounded. From some cause his wound did not heal, and he died in consequence. A cry of witchcraft was immediately raised, and Polydore's father was pointed out as the suspected person; the trial by sassy-water proving unfavorable, he was compelled to drink more till he died.

  Polydore mentioned many other of their cruel customs, and said at last that, not long after his father's death, the whole village was roused one night by a savage yell. As the startled inhabit-

  Two ships, lying just off the coast, explained the cause of the sudden fury that seemed to have seized the people in that part of Africa; and Polydore was quite relieved when he saw them, for he had been dreading sharing the fate of the many prisoners whom he had seen killed for various purposes.

  Of the horrors of the barracoon, where they were pent up together before they embarked on board the ships, or of the still greater horrors of the middle passage," where, closely packed, and allowed "less room than a man has in his coffin," they suffered from hunger, thirst, and every misery that the most ingenious tormentor could devise, nothing need be said, though Polydore dwelt long upon them. Then he told how he was landed and sold at Cuba. His first purchaser had given a pound of tobacco for him. His second purchaser

  "Hush! shut up with yer single womin. I's worth two of you any day," replied Keziah.

  "Dese arms is wort' somethin', Keziah," said Polydore, stretching out limbs that might have rivaled Samson's.

  "De arms is good enough," replied Keziah, scornfully, yet not without a certain degree of admiration in her look, which strength, either of body or mind, always extorted from her, "but what's de good of strong arms when de heart is a coward's?"

  "You are just de hardest womin I ever came

  "But you didn't say it with your whole heart, and de Lord don't 'cept no unwillin' offerin's."

  "I wasn't tinking of making an offerin' of myself," said Polydore, resentfully; "only to you, Keziah," he added, in a softer tone.

  Keziah pretended to pass over in silent disdain the last few words, but they did not fail to make an impression on ther long-besieged heart. Its defenses were fast giving way; yet, showing no outward sign of the weakness within, she replied,

  "Dat won't do at all, Polydore; we must make up our minds to be missionaries, and do de Lord's work as well as our own. We has been greatly blessed 'bove our poor heathen brethren, in havin' learned here how to fight de good fight, and gain de heavenly crown. And when we go 'mong de savages, and dey come to visit us, as dey will mos' likely"—Polydore groaned—"we can tell dem 'bout de blessed Savior, and teach 'em to lay down dem wicked habits you's jus' been tellin' us of." Another groan.—"'Fact," continued Keziah, warming up, "I wouldn't be a bit afraid to go and live right among 'em, if I tought I could do der any good dat way."

  "Don't talk so, Keziah, do, don't," said Polydore, beseechingly, "you don't know what dey is."

  "Ain't dey our broders and sisters?" asked Keziah.

  "If dey is broders, I never want to see no broders while I live," said Polydore; "but don't talk any more 'bout it, please. I's willin' to go. I's willin' to be a offerin', or any ting else to please you, for I has hung about you too long to change now; but I doesn't feel much heart about it, and dat is de truth."

  Keziah's warm approbation revived Junius's zeal, and Nathan caught a little of her ardor, and agreed that, if he could look upon the matter in the same light that she did, he would be ready to embark in the first ship.

  The idea of living in a land where they would enjoy the blessings of equality as well as freedom, once suggested to them, it soon became their guiding thought and desire. The higher the class of mind to which the proposal was made, the more eagerly was it received and the more warmly cherished. Keziah was a lover of freedom from instinct and nature rather than reflection. While a slave, as long as she was treated like one, she had rebelled almost to death; when brought under kinder influences, and while yielding, from gratitude and affection, the most entire devotion, the Peytons could not help perceiving that the more she was allowed to consider the service one of free will, the more heartily

  Nathan had a slower, calmer mind, and was more inclined to consider the difficulties and objections, "the lions in the way," than Keziah. For that reason, perhaps, his judgment was more to be relied on when he had once come to a decision. But Keziah's warmth and firmness of purpose was of great use in awakening his naturally sluggish feelings, and in preventing his interest from flagging in any subject that occupied them both.

  Emigration to Africa was their topic of conversation whenever they met, which was at least once a day. Polydore listened in a meek but troubled silence, which ought to have touched their hearts, but was totally without effect. Sometimes he groaned and shook his head; occasionally he broke forth into an "I's willin'!" but that came seldomer. However sound asleep he might be, he woke up at the word Africa, as if it were a charm, and his eyes would grow rounder and rounder, and his thoughts more and more confused, as the idea of all the great things they intended to do in that land of terror was held up before him.

  Mr. Peyton sent Junius to Richmond to transact a little business for him, and there he met Lott Cary, whose history should be related, not only for its own intrinsic merit, but to show what the African is capable of becoming even now, when weighed down by so many and so great disadvantages. If he succeeded in growing to such a perfect stature in mind and heart, what may not be expected from those who are allowed to develop themselves under more favorable auspices.

  He was born a slave near Richmond, Virginia, in 1780. His parents endeavored to train up Lott, their only child, in the fear of God; but early hired out as a common laborer in Richmond, he was thrown into companionship with profane and intemperate persons, who led him into vicious habits. While in the midst of his irreligious course, his attention was suddenly arrested by the powerful appeals of a Baptist exhorter. Overwhelmed by a sense of his sinfulness, he resolved to devote himself henceforth to the service of God, and in 1807 he joined the Baptist Church.

  Soon after his conversion, hearing a sermon which related to our Savior's interview with Nicodemus, a strong desire to be able to read the passage for himself was awakened in his mind. With no regular instruction and but little assistance, he soon accomplished this, and succeeded also in learning how to write.

  His next wish was to become a freeman. He was employed at that time in a large tobacco warehouse, where, by his usefulness and honesty, he had acquired the confidence of the merchants, who frequently rewarded him for his fidelity by giving him small sums of money. In 1813, he found himself the possessor of eight hundred and fifty dollars, with which he ransomed himself and his two children, his wife having died a little while before.

  He was afterward employed in the same warehouse at a salary of eight hundred dollars a year. Of the real value of his services there, it has been remarked no one but a dealer in tobacco can form an idea. Notwithstanding the hundreds of hogs-heads that were committed to his charge, he could produce any one the instant it was called for; and the shipments were made with promptness and correctness, such as no person, white or black, has equaled in the same situation. While employed in the warehouse, he devoted his leisure time to reading and self-improvement.

  He early began to feel a special interest in African missions, and contributed probably more than any other person in giving origin and character to the African Missionary Society, established in Richmond in 1815, and which, for many years, appropriated annually to the cause of Christianity

  For several years he preached on almost every Sunday among the colored people on the plantations around Richmond. Some one has remarked about him that, "in preaching, notwithstanding his grammatical inaccuracies, he was often truly eloquent. He had derived almost nothing from the schools, and his manner was, of course, unpolished; but his ideas would sometimes burst upon you in their native solemnity, and awaken deeper feelings than the more polished but less original and inartificial discourse."

  During the latter part of his residence in Richmond, in addition to his weekly duties, he sustained the office of pastor of a Baptist church of colored persons in Richmond, embracing nearly eight hundred members, and received from it a liberal support, and enjoyed its confidence and affection.

  Yet so clearly did he see the glorious prospect opened to his race by the colonization movement that, from the earliest commencement, he watched it with anxious and hopeful earnestness, and declared his willingness to lay down all his present advantages to become a pioneer, and, if necessary, a martyr in the cause. When a clergyman of his

  A heart thus burning with love toward its brethren, and a desire to do them good, must affect with somewhat of the same zeal all kindred hearts that come within the sphere of its influence. Junius returned from his journey to Richmond fully decided to devote the rest of his life to carrying the Gospel of Christ to the dark regions of Africa. He found Keziah also more and more bent on leaving a country where the sense of her degraded position had always been a heavy burden to her.

  But Nathan still shrank from the untried experiment, and it was at last decided that Keziah, Polydore, and Junius should go out among the first emigrants, and if their report were favorable, Nathan, with his wife and the rest of his family, should follow.

  The departure of kindred could hardly have caused

  On their way to New York, from which city they were to embark, they spent the Sabbath in Richmond, and heard Lott Cary preach his farewell sermon in the First Baptist Meeting-house in Richmond. It was a striking one, and when he concluded by saying, "I am about to leave you, and expect to see your faces no more; I long to preach to the poor Africans the way of life and salvation; I don't know what may befall me, whether I may find a grave in the ocean, or among the savage men, or more savage wild beasts on the coast of Africa; nor am I anxious what may become of me: I feel it my duty to go; and I very much fear that many

  They left New York in January, 1820, and arrived safely, after a short delay at Sierra Leone, at Sherbro, an island on the western coast of Africa, which the agents sent out by the society—Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess—had made arrangements for purchasing from the natives.

  The first week or two after the landing of "the pilgrims," for so might the greater part of them be considered, the change from shipboard to the palm groves and genial climate of their fatherland was very pleasant indeed. Polydore, to whom Keziah had held up almost daily, during the voyage, Lot's wife as a warning, an example to be shunned, fell back so readily into the habits of his childhood, that the danger now appeared to be that he would forget all that he had learned of civilization, and become once more an indolent, self-indulgent savage.

  All kinds of food—fow1s, goats, and fish—were brought in abundance by the curious natives, and could be obtained for a trifle. The most delicious fruits—oranges, lemons, pine-apples, guavas, and many others whose names Polydore did not remember, though in taste and appearance they were perfectly familiar to him—grew in great profusion around their new home.

  However, but a short time was given them for rest and enjoyment. The Island of Sherbro was low and unhealthy, and while Mr. Bacon, the government agent, was endeavoring to induce the kings of the neighboring country to make a formal surrender of the land according to their promise to Mr. Mills, he was seized with a burning fever. Almost at the same time, twenty-five of the emigrants were prostrated by the same disease; and soon after, Mr. Bankson, the other agent, the physician, the lieutenant of the ship, and all the crew, were attacked by African fever in its most violent form. Mr. Bacon struggled as long as he was able against his own illness, that he might aid the rest. He was particularly anxious to obtain for those under his care a healthier home. But all his exertions were vain. The chiefs had become cold and suspicious, and the natives, who had at first crowded round them in amicable curiosity, had evidently become jealous and unfriendly.

  The colonists could not understand the reason of this change for some time. It arose in a great measure from the representations of the slave-traders, who have been the chief, though often the secret enemy of that settlement, which, with a foresight quickened by their interest, they saw from the first, was to prove a greater obstacle to their nefarious trade than any number of ships or armed men. The kings along that part of the coast derived a great part of their income from the traffic in slaves. Of course, they could be easily influenced by the traders, not only to withhold all encouragement from those who were to cut off their chief source of revenue, but to proceed to open opposition. But while the emigrants were in this state of utter weakness, He, who is pitiful and of tender mercy, withheld the hand of their enemy, that the blow might not fall till they had gathered strength to resist it.

  Mr. Bacon's exertions for obtaining a more salubrious location were in vain. Death came upon him while he was "working in the field," and with him Mr. Bankson, Dr. Crozer, Lieutenant Townsend, twenty emigrants, and all the boat's crew, sank beneath the malignancy of the climate, or rather, as experience has since proved, from the want of a knowledge of its peculiarities, and from no proper shelter or comforts having been prepared.

  All the leaders thus speedily taken away, the agency and the care of the colony was intrusted to the Rev. Daniel Coker, a colored clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Thrown thus into a situation of such responsibility, with the sick, the dying, and the dead around him, with the charge of the property and interests of the colonists, he found time not only to fulfill faithfully those duties, but also to attend to "his Father's business," and he commenced a course of instruction to the natives. In a letter written in this time of trouble and discouragement, he said, "We have met with trials; we are but a handful; our provisions are running low; we are in a

  The hope and trust expressed in this simple yet resolute letter were not disappointed. No sooner was it known in America that there were vacant posts waiting to be filled in that country, then regarded as lying under the shadow of death, than devoted men offered themselves as ready for the duty. Four of these were selected, and sent out as agents, one of whom was the brother of the Mr. Bacon who had already fallen a sacrifice.

  They were welcomed with great joy by the colonists. Finding that Sherbro was so unsuitable a place for a settlement, they accepted the offer, which the governor of Sierra Leone had kindly made them, of a home at Fourra Bay until they could provide a better one for themselves. The colonists were soon removed there; and although this delay was a great disappointment to Keziah, and troubled her more

  Junius went on missionary excursions into the country around, and sometimes, penetrating far into the interior, returned with wonderful accounts of the beauty and fertility of the country, and the barbaric pomp and power of the chiefs.

  Meanwhile the agents were exploring the coast, seeking a better location. Lying about three hundred miles southeast of Sierra Leone was a high point of land called Cape Mesurado. Its position made it healthy, and the good harbor near it rendered it desirable. Another consideration made it still more of an object to obtain possession of it for their own purposes. It belonged to King Peter, a warlike and powerful prince, who was deeply en-

  But King Peter refused to receive the agents, and returned their presents. Seeing that there were no hopes of an interview, they prosecuted their search still farther, and had selected a place that they thought favorable, when two of them sank under the effects of exposure to the climate, still too unfamiliar a one for them to judge what course they ought to pursue when first thrown into it.

  Mr. Bacon was obliged to return home, and again the colony was left without a leader. But they did not remain long in this condition. The vacant post was soon filled by Dr. Eli Ayres, of Philadelphia. We extract, with little alteration, from "The New Republic" (an excellent little history of Liberia), the following account of the purchase of Cape Mesurado:

  "Soon after the arrival of Dr. Ayres at Sierra Leone, Captain Stolkton, of the war-ship Alligator, came on the coast, bearing instructions from the American government to co-operate with the agents of the Colonization Society in securing a suitable territory for the settlement of the emigrants. Dr.

  "'That is the spot we ought to have,' said Captain Stockton, pointing to the high bluff off Cape Mesurado, as they stood together on the quarter-deck; 'that should be the site of our colony—no finer spot on all the coast.'

  "'Then we must have it,' answered Dr. Ayres. The resolution was a bold one. England and France had been trying for it for one hundred years without success; the interview with Andrus and Bacon, six months before, was positively refused, and even their gifts scornfully sent back by King Peter. Though well aware of the ill success of every previous attempt at a negotiation, and the uncompromising hostility of the natives to any thing bearing the semblance of a white settlement, these resolute men did not mean to sail tamely or timidly by without making an effort, or at least inquiry; and every new aspect of the coast only strengthened their desires to obtain possession of it. They determined to land. Some headmen met them on the shore, to whom they gave suitable presents; and upon entering into a friendly conversation, it was soon clear that a favorable impression had been made upon their minds. They expressed a desire to see King Peter. Messenger after messenger was sent to beg

  "Could they dare visit King Peter at such hazards? Could they brave the lion in his den? Yes, they could dare any thing in the prosecution of a great and worthy enterprise.

  "'We will go!' was the resolute answer. In order to convince the natives that their object was a peaceful one, they determined to go unarmed, with the exception of a small pair of pocket pistols, which Captain Stockton usually wore in his coat. Wild beasts, and savages armed with muskets, roamed through the forests; but they reached the capital in safety, where groups of naked barbarians came out to meet them, gaping with wonder. Having been conducted to the Palaver Hall, which was spread with mats for their reception, a headman came for-

  "On being introduced by one of the chiefs, he asked, in a surly tone, what they wanted, and what business they had in his dominions. The plan of the colonists was carefully and minutely explained, all about which he well knew, having been informed of the object of Mr. Andrus's visit several months before, and more recently, through his headmen, of its contemplated renewal by Captain Stockton and Dr. Ayres. Meanwhile large bodies of the natives began to darken around them; but every thing wore a peaceable aspect, until, on the entrance of a fresh band, an unusal excitement began to agitate the crowd. Affairs looked dark and threatening. Captain Stockton arose and took his seat near the king. Presently a mulatto rushed forward, and, doubling up his fist, charged Captain Stockton with capturing slave vessels. 'This is a man trying to ruin the slave-trade!' he cried, in a loud and angry tone.

  "'These are the people who are quarreling at Sherbro!' shouted another.

  "A horrid war-yell broke from the multitude;

  "Success crowned their efforts. After two or three palavers, the king consented to sell a tract of land to the colonists. A copy of the contract entered into upon this occasion may not be uninteresting.

  "Know all men, that this contract, made on the 15th day of December, 1821, between King Peter, King George, King Zoda, King Long Peter, their princes and headmen on the one part, and Captain Robert Stockton and Dr. Eli Ayres on the other, witnesseth: that whereas certain persons, citizens of the United States of America, are desirous of establishing themselves on the western coast of Africa, and have invested Captain Robert Stockton and

"Capt. ROBERT STOCKTON.

"ELI AYRES, M D."

  Having now, by the courage and energy of these two commissioners, obtained one of the finest and healthiest parts of the coast for their own, possessing a good harbor and a fertile soil, the emigrants removed from Fourra Bay to it as soon as possible. Keziah's heart was filled with delight when she first landed at her new home; and to all the colonists, the prospect of a safe and pleasant abiding-place, after a season of so much uncertainty and long delay, was delightful. It was with feelings of hope and exultation, which time has already proved to have been true presentiments, that on the twenty-fifth of April, 1822, the American flag was hoisted on Cape Mesurado.

  Some time afterward the place received the name of Liberia, as indicating its true character, "the home of the free."Like England, Liberia can boast that "no slave can breathe its air."