Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/388

 house of representatives; the number of members in the former being six, and in the latter twenty-eight, A company has recently been organized in the United States for establishing steam communication between Liberia and this country. Population in 1850, 250,000.

The yearly income of the American Colonization Society, it appears, has only ranged from $3,000 to $50,000. The annual average of the first six years was $3,276. A liberal bequest of $25,000 per annum for forty years was made to the society by Mr. M'Donough, of New Orleans. From a table published in the Colonization Herald for April, 185V, it appears that since the first settlement of the colony, 9,502 emigrants have been sent out. Of these, 3,676 were born free; 326 purchased their own liberty; and the remaining 5,500 were emancipated for emigration. Of the whole number, 3,315 have gone from Virginia.

The Maryland Colonization Society established its colony at Cape Palmas in 1834. A tract extending about twenty miles along the sea coast, and as many inland, was purchased of the natives by Dr. James Hall, the agent of the society. Fifty-three emigrants commenced the settlement, but vessels continued to arrive with more settlers An additional tract was procured in 1836, and in succeeding years new settlers arrived. The state had voted $20,000 per annum for twenty years. In 1837, Mr. Russworm, a colored man, was appointed governor of the colony, and fulfilled the high expectations formed of him. Six chiefs ceded to him their territories, which became incorporated in the colony. Every treaty contained an absolute prohibition of the slave-trade. A line of packets was established in 1846, to carry out emigrants and bring home produce. It is now contemplated to erect the colony into an independent state.

From an address put forth by the colonists of Liberia to the free people of color of the United States, we make a few extracts:

"The first consideration which caused our voluntary removal to this country, and the object which we still regard with the deepest concern, is liberty — liberty in the sober, simple, but complete sense of the word; not a licentious liberty, nor a liberty without government, or which should place us without the restraint of salutary laws; but that liberty of speech and conscience which distinguishes the free enfranchised citizens of a free state. We did not enjoy that freedom in our native country; and from causes which, as respects ourselves, we shall soon forget forever, we were certain it was not there attainable for ourselves or our children. This, then, being the first object of our pursuit in coming to Africa, is probably the first subject on which you will ask for information; and we must truly declare to you that our expectations and hopes, in this respect, have been realized. Our constitution secures to us, so far as our condition allows, 'all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the citizens of the United States,' and these rights and privileges are ours. We are proprietors of the soil we live on, and possess the rights of freeholders. Our