faction existed. It was equally probable that men, having so recently commenced the study and practice of republicanism, should mistake salutary restraints for oppression, and regard as tyrants those who enforced obedience to necessary laws. Nor was it an easy task to furnish laws suited to the peculiar circumstances of the colonists; and when defects were ascertained, much time necessarily elapsed before the evil could be remedied. It was, however, creditable to the colonists that their real or supposed grievances gave rise to no violent measures for redress.

13. This year the fifth Baptist Church in the Colony was formed at Caldwell, and the first annual meeting of the Liberia Baptist Association held at Monrovia, in October, which was a joyful and profitable season. Quarterly and protracted meetings were held this fall in the Methodist churches, which were greatly blessed; and there were revivals of religion in nearly all the settlements.

CHAPTER XLIV.

NEW SETTLEMENTS-IMPORTS-FINANCE.

1. IN 1836 most of the settlers had returned to Bassa Cove. They were greatly assisted in establishing themselves by Dr. Skinner. Soon after his return from that settlement he had the pleasure of welcoming Thomas Buchanan, agent of the New York and Pennsylvania Societies, who arrived at Monrovia on the 1st of January, with abundant supplies for the relief of their infant Colony. After collecting the remaining emigrants from Monrovia and the surrounding settlements, he proceeded, on the 8th instant, to Bassa Cove.

2. A much more eligible site for a town was now selected at the mouth of the St. John's, about three miles distant

from that on which the first company had located. By the activity and perseverance of the agent, the settlement was soon put in a condition to defy attacks from the natives. The settlers were placed in comfortable houses, and busily engaged in clearing and cultivating their farms; public buildings were erected, the necessary officers appointed to administer the laws, a church built, the town plot cleared, and the native kings who had destroyed the settlement compelled to fulfill the stipulations of their treaty, by which they were bound to pay for property destroyed or carried away.

3. A profitable trade was opened with the natives in the interior, and a valuable accession of territory acquired, lying around the bight of the Cove, adjoining the former purchase, and extending along the sea-coast ten or twelve miles. The acquisition of this territory gave the Colony jurisdiction over the only place accessible to the slavers in that vicinity, and was considered very important as the site of a sea-port town.

4. The tract of land near the mouth of the Junk River, which had been bought by Mr. Pinney, and the title afterward disputed by some of the Junk people, was this year secured to the Society by farther negotiations, on terms satisfactory to the former claimants. A town of more than a mile square was laid off in 392 lots during the spring, and a number of the colonists and recaptured Africans commenced the settlement of Marshall. This place was beautifully situated, on rising ground, between the Junk and Red Junk rivers, and fanned by fresh breezes from the ocean.

5. In April, the brig Luna, from Norfolk, arrived at Monrovia, bringing eighty-two emigrants, a majority of whom were young men, and several preachers of the Gospel. One of them, the Rev. B. R. Wilson, a missionary of the Methodist Church, had spent several months in the Colony, and returned to the United States for his family. This company of emigrants was destined for the new set

tlement at Marshall, but circumstances detained them at Monrovia until they had taken the fever of the country, which, in several cases, proved fatal.

6. In July, forty-two emigrants arrived in the schooner Swift, from New Orleans. The character of this company was equally good as that of the preceding arrival. Most of them were industrious, and accustomed to work on plantations. They settled immediately at Millsburg. In August, the brig Luna, from New York, brought eightyfour emigrants to Bassa Cove. They arrived in good health and spirits, and being principally industrious and intelligent farmers, were a valuable acquisition to the settlement. Dr. Skinner purchased a small tract of land for the American Colonization Society, in the neighborhood of Edina, on the margin of the bay which forms the outlet of St. John's River.

7. At the request of the Mississippi Society, he also purchased a tract of land from the natives, on the River Sinoe, about half way between Bassa Cove and Cape Palmas, as the site of a settlement to be established by that Society, and appointed D. Johnson, an intelligent Monrovian, to prepare for the accommodation of emigrants. The conflicting claims for lots and farms, which grew out of hasty and imperfect surveys, frequent changes of agents, and carelessness in keeping records, had become a fruitful source of difficulty. Notwithstanding all that had been done by his predecessor, Dr. Skinner had much labor in resurveying lands, and making equitable settlements between contending parties. Persevering in his labors after his exposure had brought on repeated attacks of fever, he was at length so reduced as to be obliged to leave the Colony and return to the United States.

8. On his departure, the administration of government devolved on A. D. Williams, the Lieutenant-Governor. This title and that of Governor had, by order of the Board, superseded those of agent and vice-agent. The revenue arising from imports this year was $3,500, applicable to

colonial improvements and payment of the salaries of certain officers. It had been expended in a way not satisfactory to the legislative council; the money had disappeared, but the vouchers of the disbursing officers did not cover the amount which came into their hands. The editor of the Herald, after noticing the squabbles in the United States relative to the "sub-treasury," remarked that "their treasury was all sub."

9. But although speculation and fraud might have sometimes been committed by the receiving or disbursing offi cers, these practices were not without precedent in governments farther advanced in political science; and however imperfect the system of finance adopted by the colonial legislature, the general adaptedness of their laws to the condition and wants of the people would not suffer by comparison with the colonial legislation of the United States. Their laws for the collection of debts, enforcing the fulfillment of contracts, securing persons and property, prove that the colonists are not incapable of self-government.

10. The first murder that ever occurred in the Colony was committed this year. A recaptured African, of the Congo tribe, named Joe Waldburgh, was murdered by an Ebo, named John Demony, at the instigation of Waldburgh's wife. The crime was marked by the most aggravating circumstances. The parties were tried, Governor Skinner presiding, and condemned to be hung. The exe cution took place on the 22d of July.

CHAPTER XLV.

CIVILIZING THE NATIVES.

1. THE wars among the natives, which continued with little interruption, subjected the colonists to great inconvenience. Natives, under the protection of the Colony,

were sometimes seized and sold to the slave dealers, by whom every effort was made to set the natives against the colonists. Scarcity of provisions among the natives led some of them to make depredations upon the plantations of Millsburg and Caldwell. Rice was scarce and dear in the Colony, which occasioned much suffering, especially among the poorer classes. In November, some of the paupers were placed on the public farm, where they could be employed to advantage, with the prospect of soon being fed from the cassada and other vegetables, several acres of which had been planted for their use.

2. The Maryland Colony at Cape Palmas continued to prosper. From the commencement of this settlement, in 1833, the Society had sent out seven expeditions, containing in all about 300 emigrants. The village of Harper contained about twenty-five private houses, and several public buildings; a public farm of ten acres had been cleared, and about thirty acres put under cultivation by the colonists. Their influence on the natives was salutary; schools were established in the settlement, and the people were pronounced, by their late intelligent Governor, Dr. Hall, moral, industrious, religious, and happy. This gentleman had resigned his office, and J. B. Russwurm, former editor of the Liberia Herald, was appointed to that station.

3. The mission in this settlement, established by Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, was most successfully conducted. In addition to the missionaries already engaged in their work, the brig Niobe, from Baltimore, which arrived in December with thirty-two emigrants, brought out Thomas Savage, M.D., missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Rev. D. White and lady, missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Mr. James, a colored printer, sent out by the same Board as an assistant missionary, and Mr. David James, a colored missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

4. The blessings flowing from Christian ordinances and Christian communion continued to be enjoyed in all the