Page:An address to the free people of color of the state of Maryland.djvu/10



amount exported from Liberia alone, will, in a few years exceed in value the entire tobacco crop of Maryland. Camwood is another article of commerce, exported from Liberia, obtained in the interior, and sells from $60 to S100 per ton. To these staple exports might be added several others of minor importance, either now or prospectively, as hides, pepper, ginger, arrow root, gums &c.

—The valuable domestic animals in Liberia are comparatively few. Horses are little used, none as yet being acclimated or domesticated, but are plentiful in the interior. They have cows, sheep, goats, hogs, the Muscova duck, turkeys and fowls. The wild animals are the elephant, leopard, sea horse, wild hogs, crocodiles, snakes, guanas, monkeys and several varieties of the deer, to which may be added innumerable smaller kinds, as chamelions, sloths, lizards, squirrels, rats, mice, many varieties of the ant, and other insects.

Thus, I have endeavored to give you a faithful, but brief sketch of the country called Liberia—its climate, soil and productions. I say faithful and brief, without one word of unwarranted qualification or praise. I will say, however, that it is such a country, that one born in it, never leaves, except upon compulsion. In my whole life, I never knew a person born in the tropics, voluntarily leave his native climate for a temperate one, such as you now live in—it seems to be a general law of nature, exceptions so few as only to confirm the law. While in any part of the tropics which I have visited, I never failed to find many people from the temperate regions, and however brief their intended stay, never did I know one that did not acknowledge the superior claims of the tropical world, and thousands who came but for a month or year have broken all ties of home, country and kindred, to live and die under its milder and soothing influences. Therefore, independent of government, association, your descent, position here, or any other special cause, Liberia offers you a more desirable, more charming home, than this land of your birth. But were this all, or the greater part, I should not now presume to address you.

and its administration, are things most worthy of consideration. The colony was founded some thirty-five years since. A ship load of colored people, like yourselves, were the pioneers of this work. After various trials and hardships, attempting a settlement on other parts of the coast, they landed, purchased and took possession of Cape Mesurado, on which now stands the Town of Monrovia. White agents or governors were, from time to time, appointed to conduct the affairs of the colony. Ere long it was discovered, that the colony and the governor also depended mainly upon the ability and sagacity of the more intelligent of the colonists, and as a natural consequence, the Government fell into their hands. The colony became a State, a Republican State and one of its citizens was chosen its Governor or President. Years passed on, the second choice of the people is now their Chief Magistrate, and, thus far, the Government has been most ably and judiciously administered. Foreign nations have