CHAPTER VI.LIFE IN THE NEW SETTLEMENT. Here the free spirit of mankind at length BRYANT. CAPE MESURADO is a bold promontory, rising at its highest point two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. At the time when the emigrants landed upon it, it was covered with lofty forest trees and thick undergrowth. Selecting a hill near the Mesurado River, and
about two miles from the coast, they began resolutely clearing places here and there, where they
might erect temporary cabins until they obtained
leisure and means to build dwellings that would
better deserve the name of houses. Their little
clearing was afterward named Monrovia, in honor
of James Monroe, then President of the United
States; and this collection of huts, formed in trembling haste by the little band of
defenseless colonists,
is now a flourishing town, the metropolis of the African republic, with streets regularly laid out and named, with a State House, a prison, and three churches, all substantial stone buildings, with schools, dwelling-houses, stores, and warehouses, many of which are built of stone or brick. But not without toil, privation, and danger has this state of things been achieved; and though many of those who bore the brunt of the battle are now reaping the fruit of their victory, and they who went "forth weeping bearing precious seed," have returned with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them, yet others have been called to receive their reward in another world. April, the month when the settlers commenced their work, is generally called, in that part of Africa, the tornado month, from the violent gusts of wind and rain that occur during it; and in May the rainy season often commences, continuing for six months, with an interruption of a few weeks in July and August. Though at first this season was dreaded as the most unhealthy one, it was found by long experience to be less trying to a new-comer than the debilitating heat of "the dries," as the other months are generally called. But to preserve health, shelter from the rain is
imperatively demanded, and therefore the colonists
labored with little rest until they had erected thirty
huts. For the first two or three months after their arrival at Cape Mesurado, the little band were left to their own resources, one of their number, Elijah Johnson, being appointed to take charge of their temporal interests; while Lott Cary, who was every thing by turns as necessity demanded—carpenter, wood-cutter, soldier, a successful physician, and a devoted missionary—officiated as their pastor. Providentially, while thus defenseless, the natives were withheld from harming, or even threatening them. It was not until after the arrival of the new agent, Mr. Ashmun, who well deserves the name he earned, by his untiring exertions, of "the founder of Liberia," that the savages around them began to show symptoms of hostility. Dissatisfied with the sale of that valuable tract of land to a people opposed to the trade that was their chief source of income, the natives determined to destroy them utterly—to leave no vestige on that blood-stained, tear-washed coast of the little band of Christians who had brought with them the law of love, against whose silent eloquence their selfish hearts rose in fiendish hatred. Mr. Ashmun landed, with his young wife and several emigrants, in August. He was then but twenty-eight. He had been a student
all his life, and came out to Africa to preach the Gospel of peace
and good-will. But hardly had he arrived, before
he was called upon to lay aside all his previous habits, and become a soldier, an engineer, and a commander. Of the one hundred and thirty emigrants who then composed the village of Monrovia, only thirty-five could bear arms, and many of these knew nothing about their management. He spent his days in training this undisciplined company; in directing the building of a stockade around the settlement; in placing in the best position the six cannon, almost their only reliable means of defense, humanly speaking; and in encouraging and strengthening those under his care by his example and prayers. He had the thickets around Monrovia cleared away, that they might afford the enemy no shelter; appointed a night-watch; and his discerning eye and cool judgment foresaw and provided against every emergency. Yet during this time his wife died, and often his whole nights were passed in the delirium of fever. But when the morning came, laying aside his sorrow and forgetting his weakness, he would wrap himself in his cloak, and go forth to the work that so imperatively demanded his care. The emigrants played their part manfully. Lott
Cary, with his clear mind and undaunted resolution, and Elijah Johnson, who had been a soldier in
early life, and afterward distinguished himself by
his bravery and skill in the combats that followed their early settlement in Liberia, were strong arms of support to the young missionary. Meanwhile the savages were gathering in numbers around them, and they nightly lay down to sleep with the dread upon their hearts of awaking to the horror of a midnight attack. But this was spared them. The assault so long threatened came at last, but in the early morning. While hourly expecting it, Mr. Ashmun assembled his little army, and addressed a few words of advice and encouragement to them. He ended by saying, "War is now inevitable.The safety of our property, our settlement, our families, our lives, depends, under God, upon your courage and firmness. Let every post and every individual be able to confide in the firm support of every other. Let every man act as if the whole defense depended upon his single arm. May no coward disgrace our ranks. The cause is God's and our country's, and we may rely upon the blessing of Almighty God to succeed our efforts. We are weak. He is strong. Trust in Him." Neither the confidence the leader placed in his
soldiers, nor the faith he showed in God's protecting care, proved unwarranted. One Monday morning
in November, the savages, who had been hovering
like swarms of locusts for several days around the
settlement, suddenly rushed upon a post left unguarded for a few minutes. Their sudden onset, their numbers, and their horrid yells, struck a momentary panic into the hearts of the defenders, and they turned to flee. But Mr. Ashmun and Lott Cary met them, and, with unflinching courage, rallied and led them back to the attack. The cannons, instantly brought into action, did great execution. The savages were appalled at the number of wounded and dead that fell around them, and when Elijah Johnson, with a few musketeers, attacked them on their flank, they were filled with consternation. With another yell they fled into the recesses of the forest, and left the settlers to count their losses and bury their dead. But so engrossed were they in preparing against a second attack, which they hourly dreaded, that it was not until the next day they had time to perform this last sad duty. Not more than seventeen men had been engaged in this defense, while the assailants might be counted by hundreds; yet in half an hour the settlers could look far around them, and see no enemy. Was not the hand of the Lord in this? A few weeks' rest was given to them; but early
in December, that loveliest of months in Liberia,
the natives gathered again, and, armed with muskets, again attacked the settlement on each
side.
The battle raged for an hour and a half. Four times were the enemy repulsed with great slaughter, and four times they rallied to the attack. At last, seized with terror at the destruction the cannon made in their ranks, and at the courage of the little band who so resolutely defied them, they fled through the forest to their different tribes, carrying with them such accounts of the bravery and strange superiority of the settlers, that it was long before they were again molested.On the contrary, the kings of the tribes around them, of the Veys, the Deys, the Greboes, the Queahs, and many others, sought an alliance with those who had shown themselves so strong in their own defense. Mr. Ashmun, in speaking of his little army, said that "not the most veteran troops could have behaved with more coolness, nor shown greater firmness than the settlers on this occasion;" and Elijah Johnson earned for himself the title of hero, which he still retains. While still ignorant that their second contest was
to be their last important one for many years, and
not knowing how soon or when another attack might
be expected, they learned to their dismay that their
ammunition was almost exhausted. They had been,
of course, unable to till the land or raise the necessary provision, easy as it is to provide for the wants
of the body in Africa, and their bread and meat,
though sparingly consumed, would last but little longer, and, for want of surgical instruments, the wounded suffered exceedingly. Yet even in this time of distress their faith did not falter, and the confidence they retained through every thing that the course they had taken was the wisest for them, and would be proved to be so in the end, sustained them. "There never has been an hour or a minute," said Lott Cary, with great emphasis, "no, not even when the balls were flying around my head, when I could wish myself back in America again." While in this urgent need, a false alarm during the night led them to fire one of their cannon. When they discovered their mistake, they bitterly regretted that they had thus wasted a part of their small store of ammunition. But they soon found that they could hardly have used it to a better purpose. A British schooner was just rounding the cape as that cannon broke upon the stillness of the night. Thinking it a signal of distress, some of the crew were sent on shore early in the morning, and discovered this "little band of brave men, contending for life amid privations, poverty, sickness, and death, surrounded by barbarous tribes thirsting for their blood." The officers of the vessel generously gave them
all the assistance in their power, and Major Laing,
the distinguished African traveler, who was on board, offered to use his influence to propitiate the neighboring chiefs. In this he was successful, the bravery of the colonists having already awed them, and the settlers were afterward left almost undisturbed, with the exception of a short interval, when Mr. Ashmun's health obliged him to leave them. The best means of restoration for him appeared to be a sea voyage, and reluctantly availing himself of an opportunity for that purpose, he left the colony in the charge of Elijah Johnson, to whom it had been once before intrusted. The natives took advantage of Ashmun's absence to menace them with another attack, and Mr. Johnson applied to a British man-of-war, then in the harbor, for ammunition. This was freely given, and the captain also offered his men to aid in the defense, if Mr. Johnson would grant to England a piece of land large enough to plant her flag-staff upon, as British troops could only be called upon to defend the flag and soil of their country. This Johnson refused. "We do not want," said he, "any flag raised here that will cost us more trouble to pull down than to flog the natives." He did not regret this refusal, for the natives were soon subdued; and when Mr. Ashmun returned, he found all tranquil. And, now that peace smiled upon them, they had
time to think of portioning out and cultivating the land. Keziah, with her usual discrimination, selected for herself and Polydore, for their interests were at last united, a fine tract of land, lying a little out of the village. A thatched cottage was soon built upon it, and both she and Polydore worked industriously to clear the land and prepare it for planting. Like many of the other settlers, their first attempts were unsuccessful. Whatever they planted grew as if by magic, and with hardly any trouble on their part; but just as they were promising themselves an abundant harvest, legions of ants, or troops of monkeys, porcupines, or other wild animals, would in one night lay waste whole acres. Most of the other colonists were disheartened. The unsettled life they had lately been leading rendered them less fitted for steady exertion; and finding that, by trading with the natives, they could obtain what was necessary for their subsistence with much less labor, in the natural desire that all people share for present ease and self-indulgence, they forgot their real and permanent good. The more far-sighted of the emigrants urged in vain upon their companions the advantages of agriculture. It was not for some years that they realized its importance, and only lately has their attention been turned resolutely to it. Keziah was one of the few who persevered in en-
deavoring to cultivate the land, and every year it became easier. The little animals that had at first proved so destructive, disappeared as the forests were cleared away. Each failure, instead of discouraging her, was only a new lesson; she learned from them what seasons were most adapted to certain grains and vegetables, and what seeds were best suited to the soil. All the time she could spare from her own cares she devoted to teaching the native women and children, who frequently visited her. The indefatigable Lott Cary had, with the assistance of another colonist, already established a missionary school for native children, thus carrying out one of the principal objects of the society. Keziah longed to do the same, but the charge of the farm engrossed her too much; for, although Polydore took the labor upon himself, the direction fell to his wife, who would have been by no means willing to relinquish it. Becoming dissatisfied, after a short trial, with this desultory mode of teaching the natives only when they chose to attend to her, she determined to adopt two little native girls, that she might train them more effectually in her own way. When Keziah proposed this plan to the savages around her, it was eagerly embraced, and such a number of children were offered, that she found her difficulty lay in selecting and refusing, not in obtaining. Not long after this addition to her cares, Polydore returned from the village, already become a place of some importance, with the news that a slave-ship had been taken, and that its cargo was about to be landed at Liberia. The settlers, he said, were asked to do all that was in their power for the wretched beings thus thrown upon their charity. Keziah's heart instantly responded to this appeal, and she offered to provide food and shelter for four if they were sent to her. Fortunately, the cargo was a small one, the ship having been captured before it was fully loaded, and only two were intrusted to Keziah's kindness. More miserable objects had seldom been seen than were these when they first reached her hospitable door. Emaciated and trembling, they appeared hardly able to stand, much less to walk. Indeed, Polydore had been obliged to carry one of them up the hill leading to the cottage, for he had fallen from weakness while attempting to ascend it. But before the end of a month, Keziah was surprised to observe the great change that had taken place in them. In their tall, muscular forms they almost rivaled Polydore. For several days this latter personage had seemed
very much perplexed. His pipe, which was his
great resource in trouble, was in almost constant
use. He would sit for hours smoking and gazing
into the face of the larger of the savages, without uttering a word. Keziah, meanwhile, was endeavoring to teach them English, in which she succeeded but indifferently; but every word they addressed to each other in their own tongue affected Polydore strangely. At length, one day when he was left alone with them, he approached the one who seemed to interest him so deeply, and addressed a single word to him. The savage looked up astonished. Again Polydore repeated the word, as though he were asking some question. The savage nodded, and quietly replenishing his pipe, Polydore seated himself in the door of the cabin, looking steadfastly in the direction from which he might expect his wife. He knew that she was gone out on some business that would detain her several hours longer; but even watching for her was such a relief to his mind, that he would have preferred to sit there, all day to any active occupation. She came at last, just as the sun was shedding its last faint ray of light. Noticing the wistful glance he cast upon her, she stopped and asked him what he wanted. "Keziah, dat's my brother." "What?" "Dat man yonder is my brother." "How do you know?" "I've 'spected it dis long time, since he fust
began to talk. I know'd every word he said, but I couldn't remember the meanin'; and a little while ago I called him by his name, not the name de other nigger calls him, but de name he used to go by when we was chillun, and he said yes." "Does he know who you are?" "I don't know; I hain't said nothin' to him since." Keziah found, on entering her cottage, that the savage had relapsed into his usual state of apathy. It was some time before she could induce him even to try to understand the news she labored to impart to him. When he did fairly comprehend it, it seemed to produce but little effect upon him. But both Polydore and Keziah being unwearying in their endeavors to instruct him, they soon had the pleasure of being able to understand his broken English. From that time his improvement was more rapid. He consented to take the land usually allotted to every settler, and they helped him to build a cottage for himself near them. Whether Keziah's earnest exhortations, or the silent influence of Polydore's example had the most effect, can not be known now, but before three years had passed by they had the unspeakable delight of welcoming him as a member of the same fold, and under the same shepherd with themselves. "Is not this worth all we have endured since we came to Africa?" asked Keziah. And Polydore answered yes with his whole heart. Meantime, Mr. Ashmun's health had become so seriously affected, that he was obliged to return to his native country. The day on which he took his departure was one of the saddest that has ever darkened over Liberia. Yet while all crowded around him, to take a mournful leave of one who had been their great support through so many trials, they hardly thought they were bidding him adieu forever in this world. He only lived to greet once more his country, and died at New Haven a few days after he landed. His last prayers were for Africa, for "the poor people among whom he had labored." Mr. Ashmun had left the colony under the care of Lott Cary, who continued to manage it with the same liberal spirit as his predecessor. His main object was to elevate the moral and intellectual standard of the African. For this purpose he exerted himself to establish schools, and labored both as a pastor over his own church and a missionary to the heathen around him. He was also energetic and prudent in his management of the business affairs of the colony, and it had never been more prosperous than when it was under his charge. His horror of the slave-trade, and his resolute determination to oppose it whenever an opportunity
offered, was the worthy cause of the death of this
truly heroic man. A king of a neighboring tribe had obtained possession of a factory belonging to Liberia, and situated a few miles north of Monrovia, which he had given to a slave-trader. After attempting uselessly to obtain restitution by pacific means, Mr. Cary determined to compel the king to grant his just demand. While engaged in preparing cartridges to be used for this purpose, one of the men overturned a candle, which, falling into some gunpowder, caused it to explode, and several persons were instantly killed. Lott Cary was one of the number. It would seem as though the loss of two persons of such importance to Liberia as Mr. Ashmun and Mr. Cary would have been almost irreparable. Yet, though they were mourned with exceeding sorrow, and each colonist felt as though some member of their family had been taken, able men came forward to supply their place, and the temporal interests of Liberia seemed unaffected by the change in the human instruments that controlled them. It went on increasing steadily, though slowly, in numbers and in size. Every year added something to its importance, and saw it elevated a degree higher in the scale of nations. Though the ardor of some spirits, that were over-zealous at first, has been dampened by the slowness
of its growth, yet, to its more discerning friends,
this very circumstance has been a cause of gratulation. For, if the colored people had been poured into Africa as emigrants have swarmed to our coasts, received, as they would have been, among savages and heathen, themselves, many of them, not yet fixed in their opinions and habits, there would have been great danger that they would have reverted to the customs of their fathers, and thus lost all the benefit of their early training. Now this danger is past. A Christian nation calls for its wandering children to come under its protecting care, and the entreaty can hardly be too readily obeyed. The light in which the settlers themselves regarded their enterprise can not be better shown than by a few extracts from an address they drew up at a meeting of the citizens of Monrovia, in 1827, five years after they first landed on the cape. This was sent to America, to correct some false impressions that were prevalent there with respect to them. They say, "The first thing which caused our voluntary removal to this country, and which we still regard
with the deepest concern, is liberty—liberty in the
sober, simple, but complete sense of the word; that
liberty of speech, action, and conscience, which distinguishes the free, enfranchised citizens of a free
state, and that liberty which was denied to us in
America; and now we truly declare to you that
our hopes and expectations in this respect have been realized. "Forming a community of our own, in the land of our forefathers, having the commerce, soil, and resources of the country at our disposal, we know nothing of that debasing inferiority with which our very color stamped us in America. There is nothing here to create the feeling on our part—nothing to cherish the feelings of superiority in the minds of foreigners who visit us. It is this moral emancipation, this liberation of the mind from worse than iron fetters, that repays us ten thousand times over for all that it has cost us, and makes us grateful to God and our American patrons for the happy change which has taken place in our situation. "The true character of the African climate is
not well understood in other countries. Its inhabitants are as robust, as healthy, as long-lived, to say
the least, as those in any other country. Nothing
like an epidemic has ever appeared in this colony;
nor can we learn from the natives that a sweeping
sickness has ever yet visited this part of the Continent. But the change from a temperate to a tropical climate is a great
one—too great not to affect the health more or less, and, in cases of old people
and very young children, often causes death. In
the early years of the colony, want of good houses,
the great fatigues and dangers of the settlers, their
irregular mode of living, and the hardships and discouragements they met with, greatly helped the other causes of sickness, and were attended with great mortality. But we look back to those times as to a season of trial, long past and nearly forgotten. "People now arriving have comfortable houses to receive them; will enjoy the regular attendance of a physician; will be surrounded and attended by a healthy, happy people, who have borne the effects of the climate, who will encourage and fortify them against that despondency, which alone has carried off several in the first years of the colony. A more fertile soil and productive country, so far as it is cultivated, there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Its hills and plains are covered with a verdure which never fades. "Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats, and sheep thrive without feeding, and require no other care than to keep them from straying. Cotton, coffee, indigo, and sugar may be cultivated at pleasure, to any extent. The same may be said of rice, Indian corn, millet, and fruits, and vegetables too numerous to be mentioned. "Our trade is already valuable, and fast increasing. It is carried on in the
productions of the country—consisting of rice, palm oil, ivory, tortoise-shell,
dye-woods, gold, hides, wax—and brings us, in return, the products and manufactures
of the four
quarters of the world. Seldom, indeed, is our harbor free from European and American shipping. "Not a child or youth but is provided with an appropriate school. We have a large public library, court-house, meeting-houses, school-houses, and fortifications. Our houses are built of the same materials, and furnished in the same style, as in the towns of America. We have an abundance of good building-stone, shells for lime, and clay for brick. "The cheerful abodes of civilization and happiness which are scattered over this verdant mountain; the flourishing settlements which are spreading around it; the sounds of Christian instruction and scenes of Christian worship which are heard and seen in this scene of pagan darkness; a thousand contented freemen united in founding a new Christian empire, happy themselves, and the instruments of happiness to others—conclusively testifies to the wisdom and goodness of the plan of colonization." This was the grateful and confident language of the colonists, while yet in the infancy of their existence, While savages were lurking around their outskirts, ready to take advantage of any weak or unguarded point, and while they were still obliged to look up to and lean upon the Colonization Society as their protector and guide. When, twenty years after, they stood up in the self-reliance of vigorous youth, and with the consent of their early guardian, declared themselves an independent nation, how many more mercies had they to acknowledge? |