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Published semi-monthly, at $1 50 in advance, when sent by mail, or $2 00 if not paid till after the expiration of six months, or when delivered to subscribers in cities.

NOTICES.

All debts due in Pennsylvania for the Colonization Herald, and the African Repository, will be remitted to Rev. J. B. PINNEY, Philadelphia; also all notices for discontinuances in that State.

All debts due in New York to the African Repository, will be remitted to Rev. A. PROUDFIT, D. D., New York city; also all notices for discontinuances in that State. All debts due in Ohio and Indiana for the African Repository, will be paid to our travelling Agent, CHARLES W. JAMES, assisted by HENRY M. LEWIS and M. MEEKER, acting under his direction.

OLIVER PARSONS, Esq. Salem, Massachusetts, is authorized to receive subscriptions and make collections for the African Repository in Massachusetts.

B. G. JONES, Esq., Greensboro', North Carolina, is authorized to receive subscriptions and make collections for the African Repository.

Subscribers in other parts of the country, will please remit their dues to S. WILKESON, Colonization Rooms, Washington city; also all communications in relation to the Repository.

No letters to the Repository will be taken out of the office unless post paid.
This work is now subject to newspaper postage only.

THE AFRICAN REPOSITORY.

WE had thought of issuing the Repository for 1841 in monthly numbers with covers. Several of our friends had expressed a desire to receive it in that form, but we find that a still greater number prefer its coming more frequently, and subject to newspaper postage only, which to the most distant subscriber, amounts to but 37 cents per year. In pamphlet form it would be about 90 cents. We have concluded, therefore, to continue it semi-monthly, and trust that it will be regularly mailed before the 1st and 15th of each month.

We shall continue to give the news from Liberia relating to the improvements, health, and general condition of the Colony, and such African news as may be interesting to our readers; together with the progress of Colonization effort in this country.

We solicit the friends of the cause to aid us by communications that will increase the value of the Repository. Colonization Societies will please send us copies of their reports, proceedings of their meetings, names of their officers, &c. We would especially request our agents and friends to give us a particular account of the foundation of new

societies, and hope many such may be formed by the ladies, who have ever been among our most efficient benefactors.

We shall feel grateful to those friends who may discover articles or sentiments in the Repository to which they take exceptions, if they will point them out, and their communications shall be attended to.

We have heretofore excluded all articles denouncing the Abolitionists, or discussing their principles, as well as those relating to slavery in the South. We shall continue to adhere to this rule.

It is not the business of the American Colonization Society, either to advocate slavery or denounce it, but to receive all those free colored men who may offer themselves as emigrants, and such slaves as may be emancipated, and willing to emigrate to Liberia. And although we believe that the abolition organization and effort in this country is an evil, social, moral, and political, yet we are convinced that the American Colonization Society will best fulfil her duty, by pursuing the even tenor of her way, and peacefully accomplishing the objects for which she was instituted.

By an extensive circulation of the Repository, the friends of the Society are kept advised of its operations. May we not appeal to all of them to aid in forwarding new subscribers who will pay in advance. Those who have taken the Repository for more than one year, without paying, will please forward their dues, or return the paper, unless they receive it gratuitously. It is difficult to call on all subscribers by an agent, and when postmasters will forward the amount due, without cost to the subscriber, there is no apology for not paying.

COLONIZATION.

FEW benevolent Associations in any country have had to encounter greater difficulties in commencing and carrying forward their operations, than the American Colonization Society. Opposition and discouragement have met them at every step. Many at the South were apprehensive that Colonization was commencing war in disguise upon their institutions, and believed that any attempt to ameliorate the condition of any portion of the colored people, would tend to agitate questions which could not be discussed without endangering our social ⚫ compact. Others ridiculed the idea of establishing a Colony of colored men, denying to them the necessary ability to govern themselves. The scheme had also opposers from among those who wish to see all classes of men in our republic stand on the same platform. These claimed that the colored man could be elevated in this country, and that he ought not to emigrate to any other. Such were the prejudices, opposition and difficulties to be encountered, that it required the philanthropy of a FINLEY, the devotion of a MILLS, the patriotism of a MADISON, and the boldness and energy of a CLAY, to induce confidence in the scheme, and commend it to the favor of the public. The very undertaking to plant a Colony in a foreign country involved serious difficulties. The coast of Africa was but little known in this country. Those who had visited that coast were generally slave traders, who revealed but few secrets from that hitherto dark region. The character of the people, the country, its diseases and its climate, had to be learned. It was most fortunate that the enterprise met with favor

from the Government, and especially from the Executive. The public vessels were put in requisition, and our naval officers nobly lent their aid. The names of STOCKTON, SPENCE, SKINNER, and others, who rendered essential service in the early days of the Colony, are enrolled among its most efficient patrons. The Colony was at length established, but in carrying on its operations, new obstacles continually presented themselves. It was difficult to obtain for it an agent or governor possessing the requisite qualifications. The country proved, at first, so unfavorable to the health of the white man, that those who were sent out were either forced soon to return, or fell victims to the climate. ASHMUN was able to remain until the Colony was fairly under way, the country to some extent explored, the Slave Trade on the coast checked, and a form of government established. He was admirably fitted for the task assigned him, enthusiastic, though patient, bold and fearless, though kind, judicious, and affectionate. But his health failed, and he left the country to die in his native land. Other governors were sent, ignorant of course of their duties on their arrival, and generally remaining but a short time; the interests of the Society in the Colony could not but suffer. The first settlements were made in the vicinity of mangrove swamps, which added to the unhealthiness of the climate, and many of the emigrants fell victims to the fevers with which they were attacked, the proper treatment of which was not understood. When the patient recovered, he was long in regaining his strength; had to be fed and clothed, together with his family, by the Society; habits of indolenee were formed or confirmed, and the expenses of the colony were greatly increased beyond the original calculation. When these expenses exceeded the means furnished by the Society, drafts were drawn on the Board at home, which, after being accepted, were often protested for non-payment. The necessary consequence of this practice was the accumulation of a large debt, and the failure of the Society's credit. Its receipts gradually fell off, many of its warm friends became discouraged, and others became violent opposers to the cause they had labored to sustain. To add to these embarrassments, already great, several States withdrew from the parent Society, and established new colonies or settlements on the coast. Bassa Cove was settled by the New York and Pennsylvania Society. Cape Palmas by Maryland, and Sinou by Mississippi. Although these were not rival establishments, entire harmony did not always prevail between them. The donation of funds was made sometimes to one society and sometimes to another.

In 1838, Mr. BUCHANAN, who had spent a year in Liberia as Gov. ernor of Bassa Cove, and who was a decided friend to the cause, exerted himself in awaking the friends of Colonization to renewed efforts in its behalf. A plan was proposed, and finally carried into operation, to unite the New York and Pennsylvania, with the American Colonization Society. The Society, thus re-organized, sent Mr. BUCHANAN to Liberia as Governor. He arrived early in 1839, and found the Colonists in a depressed condition. Some having despaired of receiving further aid from the Society, had left for Sierra Leone, and a few others had sought labor in the slave factories. A large amount of debts was due to the Colonists from the Society; improvements of every kind had been suspended, and industry and enterprise had yielded to general

despondency. The various settlements in Liberia north of Sinon, were now united under one Government, and the old debts in the Colony, amounting to near $18,000, have been paid. The Colonists, reassured of support, applied themselves to the cultivation of their farms; and more improvements have been made in two years than had been made during the five previous ones. The Slave Traders have been driven out from the harbors of the Colony, a brick building for a high school, on a plan sufficiently extensive for the wants of the Colony, is being erected, and the territory has been greatly enlarged by purchase from the natives. A combination of hostile chiefs, who had meditated the destruction of the Colony, made a night attack on the mission station at Heddington, with a large force; they were defeated with the loss of several chiefs; the strong hold of these hostile natives was broken up, their league dissolved, and the Governor of the Colony acknowledged as the arbiter of their quarrels. There is now peace between the native kings from Cape Mount to Cape Palmas, which has not before prevailed since our Colony was established.

ists.

In this country, confidence has been so far restored in the American Colomzation Society, that means for carrying on its operations have been contributed, the Colony abundantly supplied, and the old debt greatly reduced; and this too at a time of universal pressure and embarrassment in the moneyed affairs of the country. There is much to encourage the friends of the cause to persevere. Although the free colored people have been generally prejudiced against emigrating from this country, let the friends of Colonization pursue their labors, continue to improve the condition of the Colonists in Liberia, make it a desirable home for those who choose to emigrate, and receive and transport such freed slaves as are willing to go where their children can be educated and grow up without feeling the degrading influences of slavery. It is to the young that the patrons of Colonization have to look for the fruits of their labor; and with good schools, proper inducements to industry, and a Governor such as we now have, we may reasonably expect a steady improvement in the moral and physical condition of the ColonWe must not anticipate too much. The recently liberated slave, and the generality of colored freemen, furnish but indifferent materials to build up a new government. There is nothing magical in a passage of thirty days to Liberia. The emigrant lands there as he embarked here, ignorant and degraded. He endures neither the fatigues nor privations incident to a new country, like a free, educated white man; discouragement leads to dispondency; he wants that spirit of manly independence to which the colored man is a stranger; dependence with him is a part of his nature, which cannot be changed in 'a day. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this general character. Many of the emigrants are intelligent men, capable of appreciating the importance of their new position, of acting well their part in carrying out this grand and benevolent design, and of discharging their novel duties of official trusts, in a manner creditable to themselves and beneficial to the Colony. If the fostering care of the Society is continued, we may hope in a few years that there will be intelligence and virtue enongh in the Colony to conduct the Government, and prove to the world that the plan of Colonization is founded in wisdom.

For the African Repository.

HIGH SCHOOL IN LIBERIA.

5

THE readers of the African Repository may perhaps remember an article which was published in the number of July 1st, from which it appeared that the Board of Managers of the Ladies' Liberia School Ascociation of Philadelphia, had been obliged to postpone the erection of the building for the High school, though the materials were ready for the purpose, for want of funds. From this difficulty they were relieved by the kindness of HENRY SHELDON, Esq. of New York, who generously paid over to Judge WILKESON $1,500, to be applied to this object. The Board have recently received a letter from Governor BUCHANAN, Written soon after the above intelligence had reached him, from which the following extract is given :

"I am greatly rejoiced that your treasury has received such an accession to its funds as to authorize the prosecution of your noble desigus on Factory island. The moment I received the intelligence, I despatched orders to Bassa Cove to recommence operations there, and have no doubt we shall be able, in the course of the summer, to have the school commenced in the new building, (our summer you know, is your winter)."

The Board take this opportunity of expressing their grateful acknowledgments to Mr. SHELDON, for the timely aid given to their enterprise. At the same time they would beg the friends of Africa to sustain them in their future operations, to enable them to raise the Institution to the rank which the state of the Colony requires, and to give it the support which may be requisite to ensure its permanency. Philadelphia, December 8th, 1840.

DESPATCHES FROM LIBERIA.

THE despatches from Governor BUCHANAN, from which we give the following extracts, did not arrive in time for our last number. We refer to this fact, as our readers have a right to expect the earliest intelligence from the Colony. Although the daily and weekly newspapers may often anticipate us in noticing late arrivals from Liberia, yet we shall, in our first succeding number, give the official communications.

Extract of a letter from Governor BUCHANAN, to the Chairman of the Executive Committee, dated

"GOVERNMENT HOUSE, LIBERIA, SEPT. 23, 1840.

"I have just removed the interdict, and opened the trade with the country north of the St. Paul's river, after having kept up a rigid embargo for nearly nine months. You will recollect the object of this embargo was to compel the surrender of GATOOMBA; but that object, I ascertained pretty satisfactorily, some months ago, would not be accomplished; for, though all the chiefs had promised to put him into my hands, and were suffering severely from the loss of their trade, the universal law against betraying a head-man into the power of an enemy prevents their doing it. To save appearances, however, GATOOMBA was driven from his town, and forced to skulk in the woods, without a house to shelter himself from the rains, or

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