Millsburg, the Dr. observes, is as healthy a place as can be found in that climate, except on the top of some mountain. There are, in the vicinity, mountains elevated two or three hundred feet above the village, which would be a good situation for a Medical and High School. There are two families in Millsburg, each consisting of nine persons, who were amongst the first settlers, all alive and well. They all passed through the fever without a Physician or medicine. Fourteen of the emigrants brought out by the Ajax, from Orleans, settled in Millsburg, and are all living but one. The Dr. is of opinion that every part of the Colony may be rendered more healthy, and that nothing but industrious perseverance is wanting to overcome the obstacles which at present obstruct the prosperity of the Colony. We want, he observes, a virtuous and industrious people; their lands fenced with ditches and living hedges; means of cultivating the soil by the plough, and of conveying burdens by land without being carried by natives; communications opened from village to village; and a spirit of improved agriculture spread amongst the people. We want also, a breakwater on the north beach; a direct road to the Society's store; a small steamboat in the river; a good building at Millsburg for a public school, and other schools with good teachers, and Missionary establishments spread over the surrounding country. The work of civilizing and evangelizing Africa would then proceed with rapidity. The Dr. adds, ample resources for all these objects might be drawn from the benevolent and Christian public of America, if they could be impressed with a just view of the great work. Dr. Skinner's last letter, is dated October 15, in which he says, it is a fact, that vastly more men than women are carried off by the diseases of this climate, and more women than children. Hence it arises that the Colony has so large a number of orphan childrenmany of whom are almost destitute of clothing, and are too much neglected in other respects. The Dr. supposes there are two women to one man in the Colony, many of whom, being without employment, find it difficult to obtain the means of living. These evils, he justly remarks, call for a remedy. He advises that no more aged females, or young unmarried ones, without some male protector, be hereafter sent to the Colony; that cotton, and the means of manufacturing it, be forwarded by the first opportunity, that the idle may have no excuse, and the vicious no cloak for their sins. Such orphan children as are a charge on the Colony, the Dr. recommends should be placed in the long house at Caldwell, and be fed, clothed and educated, until of a proper age to go out to service, or to learn a trade, or in special cases, to be completely educated. If any class of the community, more than another, deserves the commiseration and assistance of the benevolent, says the Doctor, it is orphans, and in no country do they need it more, than in Liberia."May God grant the Board," says Dr. S. "directing wisdom and means, and furnish them with Agents to carry into effect all their benevolent purposes, and the Colony will be safe, and Africa redeemed." In reference to supplies sent by the Board to the Colony, the Dr. advises that less flour and meal (which is always injured by keeping) and more beef, fish and pork be forwarded. Hams, dried beef, sugar and tea should be sent in sufficient quantity for those in the Society's employ, and for the use of the sick. Besides the suggestions noticed in the foregoing abstract, others of importance to the Colony are contained in the last despatches from Mr. Pinney and Dr. Skinner. The action of the Managers on these subjects was prompt, and will be noticed hereafter. From the Liberia Herald of September 26, we copy the following returns of the recent Colonial elections and appointments: OFFICIAL RETURNS. WHEREAS the following named persons have been returned as duly elected to the several offices opposite to which their names are affixed; Nathaniel Brander, Vice Agent. 1 COMMITTEE OF HEALTH. Charles Butler, S. W. Wheeler, for Monrovia. COMMITTEE OF AGRICULTURE. James Cotton, R. Matthews, for Monrovia. COMMITTEE OF SCHOOLS. John B. Russwurm, John Revey. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOHN B. PINNEY, Agent of the American Colonization Society, do hereby command and enjoin all the inhabitants of this Colony, to respect them in their respective stations, and yield implicit obedience to all their legally authorised official acts. Done at Monrovia, this thirtieth day of August, Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four. JOHN B. PINNEY, APPOINTMENTS BY THE AGENT. John B. Russwurm, Colonial Secretary. E. Johnson, Agency Store Keeper. COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. Hilary Teage, for Monrovia. Nathaniel Harris, for Edina. John Revey, Colonial Surveyor. MAGISTRATES. Charles Butler, Joshua Stewart, H. B. Matthews, Daniel Johnston, for Monrovia. Jeremiah Nixon, D. L. Brown, Jesse Palin, for Caldwell. Tabb Smith, Philip Moore, for Millsburg. CONSTABLES. R. Matthews, Moses Jacobs, for Monrovia. 1 SLAVERY AND COLONIZATION. [From the National Intelligencer, Nov. 5, 1834.] At the present time, when the discussion of these subjects has produced great excitement in the public mind, especially in the Northern States, where much imprudent zeal has been discovered in favor of the Abolition of Slavery, and in opposition to the Society established at the Seat of the National Government in the Winter of 1816-1817 by some of the most distinguished, patriotic, and benevolent men of our country, for colonizing in Africa, such free persons of color as were then free, or such as might thereafter become free, it may be well to take a cool and retrospective view of the matter, and inquire what views and opinions were entertained upon it soon after the formation of the present Government. It is well known to most reading men who have looked into this subject, that Judge TUCKER, of Virginia, in his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, published in the year 1803, with Notes and References to the Constitution and Laws of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, gives a comprehensive view of the state of Slavery in Virginia, in which he notices the commencement and progress of the system up to the time when his work appeared, and submits for public consideration a plan, which, after much consideration he had formed, for a safe, gradual, and effectual abolishment of the system, whenever the public mind should be drawn to the subject. From an impression that this work of Judge TUCKER is but little known to readers of the present day, and, from a belief that it contains much practical wisdom on this important subject, devoid of all party considerations, I have thought it might be useful to give some extracts from it, and have therefore made the following, and send them for insertion in your valuable paper. November, 1834. AN OLD MAN. The Judge states, that "Slaves were first introduced into Virginia, by the arrival of a Dutch ship from the coast of Africa, with 20 negroes on board, which were sold, in the year 1620. In the year 1638, he says, we find them in Massachusetts. They were introduced in Connecticut, soon after the settlement of that Colony, about the same period. Thus early had our forefathers sown the seeds of an evil, which, like a leprosy, has descended upon their posterity with accumulated rancor, visiting the sins of the fathers upon succeeding generations. The climate of the Northern States, less favorable to the constitution of the natives of Africa than that of the Southern, proved alike unfavorable to their propagation, and to the increase of their numbers by importations. As the Southern Colonies advanced in population, not only importations increased there, but Nature herself, under a climate more congenial to the African constitution, assisted in multiplying the blacks in those parts, no less than in diminishing their numbers, in the more rigorous climates of the North. This influence of climate, moreover, contributed extremely to increase or diminish the value of Slaves to the purchasers in different Colonies. White laborers, whose constitutions were better adapted to the severe winters of the New England Colonies, were there found to be preferable to negroes; who, accustomed to the influence of an ardent sun, became almost torpid in those countries, not less adapted to give vigor to their laborious exercises, than unfavorable to the multiplication of their species. In the Colonies, where the Winters were not only milder, and of shorter duration, but succeeded by an intense Summer heat, as invigorating to the African as debilitating to the European constitution, the negroes were not only more capable of performing labor than the Europeans, or their descendants, but the multiplication of the species was at least equal, and, where they met with humane treatment, perhaps greater than among the whites.The great increase of Slavery at the Southward, in proportion to the Northern States, is therefore not attributable solely to the effect of sentiment, but to natural causes, as well as to those considerations of profit which have, perhaps an equal influence over the conduct of mankind in general, in whatever country, or under whatever climate, their destiny has placed them. "The first act which appears in the Virginia code of laws for prohibiting the importation of slaves, passed in October, 1778, declares that no slaves should thereafter be brought into that Commonwealth, and that every slave thus imported should be free. In 1785, the Judge states, this act underwent some alteration, by declaring that slaves, thereafter brought into the Commonwealth, and kept therein one whole year together, or so long at different times as shall amount to a year, shall be free. The difficulty of proving the right to freedom by this act was considerably augmented. The same act declares that no person shall thenceforth be slaves in the Commonwealth, except such as were so on the first day of that session, and the descendants of the females of them. In 1793, an additional act passed authorizing and requiring any justice of the peace, having notice of the importation of any slaves, directly or indirectly, from any port of Africa or the West Indies, to cause such slaves to be immediately apprehended and transported out of the Commonwealth. Such, says the Judge, is the rise, progress, and present foundation of slavery in Virginia, as far as I have been able to trace it. "Whatever inclination the first inhabitants of Virginia might have had to encourage slavery, a disposition to check its progress and increase, manifested itself in the Legislature, even before the close of the last century. In the year 1699, we find an act laying a tax on servants and slaves imported into this country, which was either continued, revived, or increased, by a variety of temporary acts passed between that period and the Revolution of 1776. "A system uniformly persisted in for nearly a whole century, and finally carried into effect as soon as the Legislature was unrestrained by the "inhuman exercise of the Royal prerogative," evinces the sincerity of that disposition which the Legislature had shown, during so long a period, to put a check to the growing evil." The Judge then goes into a consideration of the condition of slaves in Virginia, and the legal consequences attendant on a state of slavery. We shall pass over what he says on this subject, in order to take notice of some other of his remarks more intimately connected with the general matter in hand. After closing his view of the jurisprudence of Virginia respecting slaves, he remarks, "how frequently the laws of nature have been set aside in institutions the pure result of prejudice, usurpation, and tyranny. We have found actions, innocent or indifferent, punishable with a rigor, scarcely due to any but the most atrocious offences against civil society; justice distributed by an unequal measure to the master and the slave; and even the hand of mercy arrested where mercy might have been extended to the wretched culprit, had his complexion been the same with that of his judges, for the short period of ten days, between his condemnation and execution, was often insufficient to obtain a pardon for a slave convicted in a remote part of the country, whilst a free man, condemned at the seat of Government, and tried before the Governor himself, in whom the power of pardon was vested, had a respite of thirty days to implore the clemency of the Executive authority. It may be urged, and I believe with truth, that these rigors did not proceed from a sanguinary temper in the people of Virginia, but from those political considerations indispensably necessary where slavery prevails to any great extent. I am, moreover, happy to observe that our police respecting this unhappy class of people is not only less rigorous than formerly, but perhaps milder than in other countries where there are so many slaves, or so large a proportion of them, in respect to the free inhabitants. It is also, I trust, unjust to censure the present generation for the existence of slavery in Virginia; for I think it unquestionably true, that a very large proportion of our fellow citizens lament that as a misfortune which is imputed to them as a reproach, it being evident, from what has been already shewn upon the subject, that, antecedent to the Revolution, no exertion to abolish or even to check the progress of slavery in Virginia could have received the smallest countenance from the Crown, without whose assent the united wishes and exertions of every individual here would have been wholly fruitless and ineffectual. It is, perhaps, also demonstrable, that at no period since the Revolution could the abolition of slavery in this State have been safely undertaken, until the foundations of our newly established Governments had been found capable of supporting the fabric itself, under any shock, which so arduous an attempt might have produced. But these obstacles being now happily removed, considerations of policy, as well as justice and humanity, must evince the necessity of eradicating the evil, before it becomes impossible to do it without tearing up the roots of civil society with it." Judge TUCKER then considered the modes by which slaves have been or may be emancipated, and the legal consequences thereof, from the time of the Israelites to the present day. But this part of his remarks we shall pass over in order to come to his proposed plan. "The extirpation of slavery from the United States," the Judge allows, "is a task equally arduous and momentous. To restore the blessings of liberty to near a million of oppressed individuals,* who have groaned under the yoke of Bondage, and to their descendants, is an object, which those who trust in Providence, will be convinced would not be unaided by the Divine Author of our being, should we invoke his blessing upon our endeavors. Yet human prudence forbids that we should precipitately engage in a work of such hazard as a general and simultaneous emancipation. The mind of a man must in some measure be formed for his future condition. The early impressions of obedience and submission which slaves have received among us, and the no less habitual arrogance and assumption of superiority among the whites, contribute, equally, to unfit the former for freedom, and the latter for equality. To expel them all at once from the United States, would, in fact, be to devote them only to a lingering death by famine, by disease, and other accumulated miseries. To retain them among us, would be to throw so many of the human race upon the earth without the means of subsistence; they would become idle, profligate, and miserable; unfit for their new condition, and unwilling to return to their former laborious course, they would become the caterpillars of the earth, and the tigers of the human race. "In Massachusetts, the abolition of slavery was effected by a single stroke—a clause in their constitution. But the whites at that time were as 65 to 1, in proportion to the blacks. The number of free persons in the United States south of the Delaware, are less than 2 to 1 in proportion to the blacks. Of the cultivators of the earth in the same district, it is probable that there are four slaves to one free white man. To discharge the former from their present condition would be attended with an immediate general famine in those parts of the Union, from which not all the productions of the other States could deliver them. Similar evils might reasonably be apprehended from the adoption of the measure by any one of the Southern States; for in all of them the proportion of slaves is too great not to be attended with calamitous effects, if they were immediately set free. "These are serious, I had almost said insurmountable, obstacles to a general, simultaneous emancipation. There are other considerations not to be disregarded. A great part of the property of individuals consists in slaves. The laws have sanctioned this species of property. Can the laws take away the property of an individual without his own consent, or without a just compensation? Will those who do not hold slaves, agree to be taxed to make this compensation? Creditors also, who have trusted their debtors upon the faith of this visible property, will be defrauded. If justice demands the emancipation of the slave, she, also, under these circumstances, seems to plead for the owner, and for his creditor. The claims of *The number, since the period at which Judge Tucker wrote, is more than doubled. |