Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/383

 received them with that bravery and determination which the danger of total destruction, in case of defeat, was calculated to inspire. The main body of the enemy being exposed to a galling fire from the battery, both in front and flunk, and the assault on the opposite side of the town having been repulsed, a general retreat immediately followed, and the colonists were again victorious.

"Mr, Ashman received three musket-balls through his clothes; three of the men stationed at one of the guns were dangerously wounded; and not three rounds of ammunition remained after the action. Had a third attack been made, the colony must have been conquered; or had the first attack occurred before the arrival of Mr. Ashman, it would have been extirpated. But its foundations were now secured by a firm and lasting peace."

Mr. Ashman, during his administration, made important acquisitions of territory; established schools and built churches; destroyed slave-factories, and made treaties with the natives. In 1828, his health failed, from excessive labors, and he sailed for home in the hope of recruiting it; but died at New Haven on the 25th of August. He found the colony on the brink of ruin — he left it in peace and prosperity.

Dr. Richard Randall was appointed successor to Ashmun, and accompanied by Dr. Mechlin, a colored surgeon, arrived in December, 1828. Dr. Randall died four months after his arrival. The agency devolved upon Mechlin. In 1829, Dr. Anderson was appointed physician and assistant agent, and took with him sixty emigrants. Ninety recaptured slaves were added to the colony about the same time. Dr. Mechlin was induced to return home from ill health, and the government devolved upon Dr. Anderson, who soon afterwards died. A. D. Williams, the vice-agent, filled the vacancy. Five Christian missionaries arrived from Switzerland, and took charge of the schools; and two more emigrant vessels and two missionaries from the United States, had a favorable influence upon the colony. The Liberia Herald was established; and the colonial exports reached the sum of ninety thousand dollars. In 1832, the colonists again took the field and were successful against a combination of the native tribes. In 1834, Rev. J. B. Pinney, as agent, and Dr. Todson, as physician, arrived in the colony, accompanied by nine missionaries. After a short but efficient administration, Dr. Pinney was compelled, from ill health, to retire. Dr. Skinner succeeded him. In 1835, nine vessels arrived from the United States with emigrants, which produced a great sensation among the natives, who supposed that rice had given out in America. Dr. Skinner returned home, suffering from ill health, and the vice-agent, A. D. Williams, took charge of the colony.

Meantime, state societies had been establishing settlements in Liberia. In 1837 there were: Monrovia, under the American colonization society; Bassa Cove, of the New York and Pennsylvania societies; Greenville, of the Mississippi society, and Cape Palmas, of the Maryland society — embracing twelve towns and five thousand emigrants. From this chaotic entanglement of interests and jurisdictions sprung the commonwealth of Liberia, and Thomas H. Buchanan became its governor. The friends of the American Colonization