Page:A Chapter on Slavery.djvu/93

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THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
79

yet extend, as do the United States, from. one ocean to the other — from the Atlantic to the Indian. When we recall to mind the short time it has taken America to attain her greatness, what shall forbid to hope for such a future for ourselves, and that a vast emigration will yet take place to Liberia? What may not Liberia become? We expect much; we look and labor for much. Already Liberia, like a young Hercules, has strangled the hydra slave-trade for 300 or 400 miles along the coast, and is destined to complete the work. England is coöperating, and by keeping a blockade of Gallinas with two vessels, will aid in our present negotiations for that slave-mart; and when obtained, there will be none from the Senegal to the Niger, over 1,500 miles. We are proud of our country and its influences, because we enjoy there all the rights of man.[1] In confirmation of the remarks of the speaker just quoted, in reference to the condition of freedom, equality, and consequent self-respect possessed by the citizens of Liberia — many of them once degraded slaves — we proceed to present a sketch of the political and civil condition of the colony (though the term colony is no longer suitable, as it has now become an independent State). The Colonization Society acted with great wisdom in their management of this important matter. In the year 1824, a form of government was submitted to the assembled colonists, and by them unanimously adopted. By this constitution, it was provided that the agent of the Society should be the

  1. New York Journal of Commerce. It may be added that the Gallinas territory has since been purchased and the slave-trade there entirely broken up.