DANISH SETTLEMENTS IN AQUAPIM.

THE following account of a Danish settlement, sixty miles in the interior of As-hanti is not, we believe, generally known it is extracted from RITTER'S Erdkunde von Afrika, 1. p. 299, and Wadstrom on Colonization, vol. ii., p. 176, and Appendix. RITTER quotes Dr. ISERT's Neue Reise anch Guinea in den Yahren, 1783-7, a work we have not been able to meet with in London. The account is of much interest, as indicating the docility of the Africans, and their readiness to practice agriculture, when kindly treated and instructed in the best manner of doing so.

The Danish Botanist, Dr. P. E. ISERT, in his visit in 1783-7 into the interior from Akra, on the west coast of Africa, to the mountainous country of Aquapim, found the inhabitants "in a primitive state of happiness and innocence, and in the possession of the most precious gifts of nature.' ISERT wished to found a Colony in the name of the Danish Government, and chose a large and beautiful island in the Rio Volta, for the seat of a new establishment. But having been opposed by the natives, "or rather by the influence of the white slavers," the philanthropic traveller went to the mountains of Aquapim and selected a district belonging to the king of the Aquamboens, who, formerly very powerful, now only possesses a country of little extent to the eastward of Akim.

ISERT established his Colony in a very healthy country, but unfavorable for trade, sixty miles above Akra, at an equal distance from the western bank of the Rio Volta, which is navigable to the latitude of the Colony, and thirty miles from the Poni, a small stream navigable only by canoes.

This settlement will be ever memorable, for it was here that ISERT assembled in 1792 the first negroes enfranchised by the Danish Government, and caused them to be instructed and civilized by Europeans, and Danish colonists were the first to introduce the use of the plough.

The air here was very salubrious, and the fertility of the soil appears from the success with which cotton, Guinea corn, and millet have been cultivated.

It may be worth while to remark, that the Kabosir, or chief at Aquapim, ceded as much territory as the Colony required for a monthly quit rent of 168. sterling.

The botanist, Lieutenant-Colonel ROER, who was well acquainted with West India cultivation, went there after the death of ISERT. FLINT, emulous of the noble and generous founder of this colony, established a similar one at the foot of the mountains nearer to Akra; he was accompanied by his sister, who, animated by the same zeal for the civilization of Africa, by which Mrs. FALCONBRIDGE, afterwards DUBOIS, has done so much honor to her sex, in twice visiting Sierra Leone, for the education of the natives, devoted herself to instructing the negro women in spinning cotton, needle-work, and other female occupations.-Friend of Africa.

MORE SEIZURES OF SLAVERS.-Captain A. WARD, of Salem, who came passenger from Manilla, in the ship Grotius, bound to this port, which vessel was off Gay Head yesterday afternoon, informed Mr. HATCH of the Express, that when the ship left St. Helena, there were seven vessels with seven hundred slaves at that place, prizes to Her Britannic Majesty's cruisThe last of the seven arrived on the 2d of March, and had thrown overboard sixty dead slaves in sight of St. Helena.—Bay State Democrat.

ers.

WE again appeal to subscribers to the Repository to forward the amount due for 1840-41. Postmasters will remit balances due, which, although small, if paid up, will fully meet our monthly expenses, which we have to pay in cash.

THE AFRICAN REPOSITORY,

AND

COLONIAL JOURNAL.

Published semi-monthly, at $1 50 in advance, when sent by mail, or $200 if not paid till after the expiration of six months, or when delivered to subscribers in cities.

VOL. XVIII.]

WASHINGTON, JUNE 1, 1841.

[No. 11.

CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION

SOCIETY.

OUR attention was called to an article in the Madisonian, a few days since, in which the writer animadverts on the present Constitution of the American Colonization Society. We admit that it is a work of some difficulty to form a Constitution for a Benevolent Association that requires a large amount of funds to be collected and disbursed, and especially when their operations embrace such varied transactions as those of the Colonization Society. The Constitution of such a Society ought to secure, as far as possible, a control over all its Agents and Officers, strict accountability, and economy in the disbursement of its funds, promptness and punctuality in attending to all its interests, and a vigilant discharge of duty. Frequent changes ought to be made in the Board which exercises the supervisory control of the business of the Society, and this Board should bə selected from different sections of the country.

To secure these important objects, the transactions of the Executive Officers must pass under the review of practical business men as frequently as possible, at least once in each year, and if every quarter, so much the better. The examination, to be useful, must be thorough, and made by men acquainted with the matters and business to which the accounts or statements relate.

It will be found, on examining the present Constitution, that provision," is made to secure the above objects. The Board of Directors consists of Delegates chosen by the friends of Colonization in the States which contribute the funds, and of those individuals who pay $1000 to the Society. Thus the East, West, North and South are represented. The Directors are chosen annually, and a portion of them will generally go out every year. It has been found that a majority of the Boards for 1839, 1840 and 1841, were men of practical talents and business habits, who have made themselves well acquainted with the objects and management of the Society. Last year the Board of Directors held four meetings, and devoted more than nine days arduous labor to the various interests of

the Society. This Board appoints the Executive Committee and Officers of the Society annually, and fixes their compensation. All the Officers and Agents of the Society are subject to the control of, and receive their pay through, the Executive Committee, whose Chairman is the Executive Officer.

The Directors, representing the various States, and becoming intimately acquainted with the policy and progress of the Society and the Colony, interest their friends and acquaintances at home, and are the medium of diffusing general and correct information in relation to the cause.

The Foreign Missionary Board, whose transactions are more extensive than those of any other Benevolent Association in our country, combine, in their organization, much business talent; their important foreign operations are carefully examined, and all important measures submitted to committees composed in whole, or in part, of practical laymen, who have nothing to do with the disbursing department. All the accounts of disbursing officers and agents, are examined by men who are uninfluenced by associations, partiality, or sympathy. Accountability is thus secured, and a wise course of policy pursued at home and abroad, which could not be attained if the whole concerns of the Society were managed by one class of officers. So in regard to the American Colonization Society; all the transactions of the Executive Committee are examined by a Board of Directors, who adopt such measures for the government of the Committee as they deem expedient.

It is stated in the article to which we refer, that "the present Constitution of the American Colonization Society, allows it to have nothing to do with its own affairs, except to elect a President and Vice Presidents annually;" and that "the Society cannot alter or amend its own Constitution." The Society adopted a new Constitution in December, 1838, which differs essentially from the one previously in force, and will be found, on examination, to be a decided improvement on the former. Under the former Constitution the Directors were chosen by the Society at, or immediately ensuing, the Annual Meeting; if at an adjourned meeting, (which was generally the case,) but few members of the Society, except those residing in the City of Washington, were present to vote; consequently the Society proper had but little to do in the selection of its Officers. No opportunity was allowed for a particular and thorough investigation of the transactions of the previous year. With few exceptions none was ever made by the Society. No checks or guards were provided, and all the business, Legislative and Executive, was in the hands of the Managers, who all, or principally, resided in Washington, and were generally continued from year to year. These, as well as the Officers, were elected by the Society, and the Officers were accountable only to the Society from which they received their appointment. The Managers could neither control nor dismiss them ; on the contrary the Officers could control the Managers, by refusing to exe-cute their plans. The latter were in fact powerless. The money was col

lected and disbursed, and the accounts audited by the same body. No pro positions, made to amend the Constitution or change the Officers, could succeed, if opposed by the Managers and the City members, as they could generally vote down all others present;-so that in fact the Society, instead of being controlled and governed by its members in the several States of the Union, was controlled by the few members who could most conveniently attend the Annual Meeting, thus practically changing its nationality of character for one purely local. Under the present Constitution, the members of the Society in every section of the country have an equal power to influence the appointment of the Board of Directors, which body, (and not the members of the Society,) appoints the Executive Officers. As to amending the Con stitution, no mode could be devised liable to less objection than the one complained of:-the desired amendment must be proposed by a State Society, three months before the Annual Meeting, notice of which must be given to the American Colonization Society, as well as to all the State Societies; and at the Annual Meeting the amendments must be agreed to' by at least two-thirds of the Directors, before they can be accepted.

THE following communication, kindly furnished by a lady, presents," with no less truth than beauty, the grand feature and design of the Colonization enterprse-which is, to restore such of the children of Africa, from among us, as desire to return, to the land of their fathers, accompanied with the blessings of civilization and Religion.

The history of others of their race now in this country is as obviously providential as that of these Mendians, though the recent date, and the peculiar circumstances of their exile, makes the case of the latter more attractive and popular. The distinctness too with which the mind contemplates a single group, has made it easy to awaken an active sympathy on their behalf, which might be sought in vain for the scattered multitudes of their race, who have really an equal claim upon our benevolence. If it be an object worthy of the christian and philanthropist to restore these" Africans so lately cast upon our shores, to their native country, and to' send with them the blessings of the Gospel of peace, can it be less our duty to restore others of their brethren who have been freed from a more lingering bondage, and who, in the land of their captivity, have, many of them, acquired a knowledge of divine truth, and a freedom of soul which might make them blessings to their race.

To these Mendians, who have so justly engaged our sympathies, the period of separation from their loved scenes of domestic enjoyment has been so brief, that their attachment to home, and their desire to return, remain undiminished. May their love never wane, nor hopes grow dim, until they enjoy in reality what memory and imagination now so often reveal to them! But there are thousands of their race in our land, and

though they may have become alienated from their country and kindred by long exile, and though their domestic attachments may have been weakened by the rude sundering of these ties, and their crushed feelings resulted in insensibility, yet, since they are only aliens here, should they not be encouraged to seek a country which may become. their own, where, in the enjoyment of national freedom, the domestic virtues may be exercised and cultivated, and where science and Christianity may add to the simple virtues of savage life the grander achievements of the human intellect, and the higher aspirations of the human soul?

[COMMUNICATED.]

AFRICANS OF THE AMISTAD-LOVE OF HOME.

In all time, we have had examples of the power of a sentiment which, extending from the mental to the physical man, has ruled not only his affections and pursuits, but sometimes extinguished life itself, and yet has had no other name than "love of country."

The hardy Swiss, removed beyond the ice barriers that defend his distant home, soothes the anguish of parting with fond anticipations of return, and when the favorite airs, once heard in his native valleys, again salute

his ear, the agony of impatience seizes on his soul, and he returns, or dies in despair for his home. Nor is this attachment peculiar to the Swiss. The soldier and the emigrant of the northern countries (the one compelled by duty, the other led by voluntary enterprise) have been known to fall and expire on their journey of a disease which, when analyzed, was denominated"home ache."

We have been reminded of these local ties, which grow with the growth of man, and perish only with his existence, by the following article, extracted from the Journal of Commerce:

"THE LIBERATED AFRICANS.-A meeting was held in the Tabernacle yesterday afternoon, at which a number of the Africans of the Amistad were present. Notwithstanding the sudden and heavy shower that had occurred, quite a full audience was collected.

In consequence of the necessary absence of the ex-President, Mr. J. Q. ADAMS, who was expected to be present on the occasion, Mr. Lewis TAPPAN proceeded to state the business of the meeting. It was to show to the public the improvement which the Africans had made; to excite an interest in a religious mission to Mendi, their country; to raise money to defray the expense of supporting and educating them here, and of returning them to their country.

"Their return is expected to take place, when such sufficient information shall have been obtained as to render it safe and certain.

"Some facts and incidents respecting them were then stated by Mr. Bоoтн, who is at present acting as their teacher. It would seem that a higher degree of civilization prevails in the inland part of Africa than was generally supposed. These negroes almost spurn the question put to them by many curious persons-if in their country they have well formed houses? Their people live in cities and villages and not scattered as on the highways in this country. In the cities forms of justice are established. But what is a chief hindrance to their progress in learning, and what broke