Page:A Chapter on Slavery.djvu/97

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THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
83

abandonment is an invariable stipulation in every treaty of trade and protection, into which the Republic may consent to enter with neighboring states. The disposition to avail themselves of treaties of this description is plainly on the increase on the part of the surrounding natives; and it is estimated that not less than 2,000,000 of persons in the interior now obtain their supply of European goods from the Republic, and from the kindred colony of Cape Palmas. Last year, eighty-two foreign vessels visited Liberia, and exchanged merchandise for articles of African production to the amount of 600,000 dollars.

"The natural resources of Liberia are immense, and are steadily in process of development. The climate, although more healthy than Sierra Leone, is still deadly to Europeans; but the improvement it has undergone during the last ten years, from the effect of clearing and drainage, is stated to have been most remarkable. The colored immigrants from America, who used invariably to suffer from fever on their arrival, are now able to go to work at once. The duration of life amongst the colonists is considered to be about the same as in England."

An article in Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, published about the same time, thus speaks of the new Republic:

"Liberia is the most interesting colony in existence, and from its history we may draw some useful lessons in social economics. It is a settlement of pure negroes, speaking the English language, imbued with the Anglo — American civilization, and influenced by Christian belief and ethics. Placed on the African coast facing