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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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of an inexhaustible variety and abundance , there are good building stone , shells for lime , and clay for bricks . The exports of the colony , consisting of rice , palm-oil , ivory , tortoise-shell , dye-woods , gold , hides , wax , and coffee , bring in return the products and manufactures of the four quarters of the world . The climate , though unhealthy to all Whites , seems to suit the Negro settlers very well . Those who arrive from Georgia , the Carolinas , and the southern parts of Virginia , require rio seasoning . Those from the
northern states usually have the fever within a month of their landing , but not dangerously ; and the bills of mortality shew a less proportion of deaths than those of Baltimore , Philadelphia , or New York . The heat is intense , but the land is free from swamp , and consists of a rich alluvial soil . Here are external resources in abundance ; but what would bo all these means of living , —the climate , the rich and varied productions , the materials for food ,, for shelter , for comfort and luxury at home , for the extension of power abroad , —if the inhabitants were what it was so lately the fashion to represent their race , stupid , barbarous , brutish , uirimpressible ? What are
these men , this degraded race whom it is said to be useless to emancipate , because God has decreed them to be for ever unfit for the enjoyment of freedom ? Do they lie all day under their plantains , satisfied with indolence and sensuality ? Do they naturally hate civilization , and reject or prove themselves incapable of enlightenment ? What are the facts ?
There are eight settlements or townships in Liberia , all more or less engaged in commerce , of which Monrovia is the chief . This town consists of about ninety dwelling-houses and stores , two places of worship , and a court-house . Many of the dwellings are handsome and convenient , and all of them comfortable . Its harbour is seldom clear of European and American shipping , and the bustle of its streets shews something of the activity
of the smaller sea-ports of the United States . Mechanics , of nearly every trade , are carrying on their occupations , encouraged by the receipt of constant and good wages . There are numerous public buildings , fortifications , and school-houses , and not a child or youth in the colony is unprovided with appropriate means of instruction . There is a public library of 1200 volumes , and a printing-press , which issues , periodically , a newspaper ,
called the Liberia Herald . All the offices , except those of chief magistrate and physician , are filled by Negroes , and as the settlement is designed for the benefit of their race , no Whites are allowed to pursue any trade or mechanical business . The colonial secretary , collector of customs , surveyor , a ' nd constables are appointed by the American agent ; the offices of vice-agent , sheriff , treasurer , and those of all other civil departments , are elective .
The commerce of the colony is rapidly increasing , as well with the interior as with the United States and foreign countries . The exports are not less than 50 , 000 dollars per annum ; and those engaged in commercial pursuits are enterprising , judicious , and successful in their adventures . AH can do well who devote their labour and skill steadily to any regular occu-
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Liberia . 759
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 759, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/35/
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