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FURTHER NEWS FROM AFRICA.

Extracts from a letter addressed by the Rev. JOHN HERSEY, of Baltimore, to the Editors of the Christian Advocate, of New York.

After a tedious passage of sixty-one days from Baltimore, we arrived at Monrovia in Liberia. Most of our company suffered much from sea-sickness, otherwise we have been mercifully favoured with excellent health. After remaining a few days at Monrovia and Grand Bassa, we proceeded on our voyage, and reached this place (Cape Palmas) on the 11th of February. We found the natives of the country anxious to receive and comfort their brethren from America. Our intention and object in visiting this country, was immediately communicated to the king of Cape Town.He expressed promptly his approbation of our views, and his entire willingness to receive and accommodate us in his country. The day following, two other Kings having received the information of our arrival, came together, and after Dr. Hall, the Agent for the Maryland Colonization Society, explained the views and wishes of our Society, they all received the proposition with joy; and after the necessary negotiations, which did not continue more than one hour, the Kings promptly agreed to dispose of the entire country (consisting of about four hundred square miles) for a moderate compensation, reserving to themselves only the peaceable possession of their own towns and farms.

One circumstance connected with this prompt and mutually agreeable negotiation, is worthy of particular notice. It was the unwavering opinion of those best acquainted with the native character, that no negotiation could possibly be effected with them, without a supply of rum, to be used on the occasion, and also to form part of the price of their land. When Dr. Hall informed them that we did not use it ourselves, and could not think of furnishing them with an article calculated to injure them, they immediately consented to dispense with it, on condition that they should receive fifty dollars in specie, to supply the deficiency. This was much less than could have been expected; consequently their offer was promptly and joyfully met by the Agent.

Other Kings have manifested not only a willingness, but an anxiety to receive Americans to settle among them. There also exists among many of the tribes, an anxiety to have their children educated. In a word, there is a great and effectual door opening in this interesting and extensive country, to preach the everlasting gospel.

When we first landed, the great and the small pressed around us, to welcome us, who were really strangers, as friends to their shores and their humble residence. I was particularly interested and pleased to see two or three hundred children, from four to sixteen years old, crowding around, and eagerly reaching their little hands to press mine, in token of their friendship and joy. Although they were naked, body and soul, yet their appearance was not offensive, but deeply and solemnly interesting. Their countenances were sprightly and expressive, though deeply shrouded in ignorance. Could this scene have been presented before the public, in our land of Religion and Liberty, it would have produced an overwhelming stream of mercy, composed of men and money, sufficient to fertilize the whole of this dreary region.

An unlimited field is fast opening in this immense continent, where the servants of the Lord may enter in and labor; where they may literally preach the gospel to the poor.

It is my fixed determination to spend my days in Africa, unless I can serve this important cause more effectually by a visit to the United States. The African climate is much more agreeable than I had anticipated. The

heat is at all times oppressive in the middle of the day, but the mornings and evenings and nights are generally very pleasant. The thermometer varies but a few degrees at any season of the year. It is very true that all foreigners, whether white or colored, must expect to be attacked by a fever peculiar to this climate soon after their arrival in this Country; but with care and medical assistance, those of sound constitutions will generally pass safely through this ordeal; and after they have become acclimated, they will, no doubt, enjoy as good or better health here than in any of our Southern States.

I have seen sugar cane of very respectable size cultivated by the natives. Corn, cotton, coffee, and rice may be reared in great abundance, and all the fruits of tropical climates. There is nothing wanting to make this Country a comfortable home for our colored population, but money, and a well regulated system of economy adhered to by the Society and her Agents in America and in Africa, and industry and virtue on the part of the Colonists.— Nothing, we know, however, can be effected in any place or at any time, of a valuable and permanent character, without the aid and merciful approbation of Almighty God-that his smiles will attend every honest effort to civilize and christianize Africa, and to exalt the character and condition of our colored population, we cannot, for one moment, doubt.

ADDRESS OF THE REV. R. R. GURLEY,

Who is, at present, on a visit to New York.

To the Editors of the New York Commercial Advertiser.

GENTLEMEN:-By very ample despatches just received from Liberia, it appears that the emigrants by the Jupiter are comfortably established: an aged female and two infants only have died. Many improvements have been made by the acting Colonial Agent, the Rev. Mr. Pinney, and the Colony is rising from its temporary depression. The general health in the Colony is very good, the deaths very few.

A valuable tract of country has been obtained at Junk River, and some of the colonists are disposed to establish a settlement thereon. This territory is twenty miles square, and one of the most eligible situations on the coast. There is every prospect of obtaining the intermediate territory to Little Bassa, as also that between the Mesurado and Junk river. The Agent is erecting a saw-mill, which is expected to be completed this spring. In relation to the moral and religious state of the Colony, "I cannot," says the Agent, "compare it with former years, not having had experience. There is, as in all other communities, so here, a larger portion of vice than the good would wish to see: yet I am persuaded that a large portion of the community is virtuous, and inclined to favour a severe construction of the laws. The Baptist Church is not yet completed, but the materials are now ready, I believe, to proceed, and it is intended at once to have it in readiness for use. A Presbyterian church is under contract, and the walls are now rapidly rising. The prospect is, that it will be dedicated before the commencement of the rains. The Methodist Society are also making preparations to erect a very large and beautiful building at Monrovia, their old place of worship being almost useless. They have already begun building a place of worship at Edina-now nearly completed.

"The Teachers at present employed in our schools seem very attentive; and, as a general thing, very successful. Mr. Eden's school at New Georgia, supported by the Ladies in Philadelphia, is greatly cramped in its operations for want of a suitable room; and all the schools are suffering more or less from scarcity of books, stationery, &c. &c. At present, more than forty children at Edina are growing up to the privileges of freemen, without one school in which they may be taught the rudiments of learning.

"Do call upon the Christian community in America to turn a portion of their charities into this channel. Let them know that to extend knowledge and promote sound piety, a quire of paper is, at the present moment, of more value than a Bible.

"Let them raise Societies for supporting Schools, such as those formed by the Ladies of Philadelphia and Richmond, and not only to support schools, but to supply teachers.— Let the pious spend some of their alms in supplying us with paper and books fit for primary schools, and then we shall be able beneficially to receive their donations of devotional works. When, I ask, will the High School be established in the Colony? Surely

the benevolent would not be tardy in giving support, nor young men of talents and learning so dilatory in offering themselves, if they could see one-half the necessity which exists for it. If one had been begun in the Colony, ere this. its affairs would have been conducted in a better manner than they now are, and at half the expense. So long as this is neglected, let no one complain that we do not prosper."

Those who have perused the exposition recently published by the Managers of the Colonization Society at Washington, are aware that measures have been adopted for establishing a High School in Liberia. The Massachusetts Colonization Society have also resolved to endow a Free School in the Colony; and the benevolent Ladies of this and other cities, are now actively engaged in efforts to introduce and sustain, throughout Liberia, and the neighbouring tribes, a system of education. The object is one of deep interestof vast importance.

From the statement of the Colonial Agent, the Colonial Store needs to be replenished; and donations of provisions, cotton goods, clothing, books, (particularly school-books, stationery, cards for infant schools,) agricultural tools, and household utensils, will be thankfully received for the Colony. Such articles may be sent to Anson G. Phelps, Pearl Street; H. V. Garretson, Broad Street; Thomas Bell, 221 Front Street; or to the office of the New York Society, in the Session Building of Dr. Spring's Church. April 18.

R. R. GURLEY, Sec. A. C. S.

AFRICAN COLONIZATION.

We have lately read a most excellent Discourse, delivered in October last before the Vermont Colonization Society; from which we extract two or three of the concluding paragraphs.*

"Men are beginning to feel extensively, that the doctrine of our text is true; viz: that God hath made of one blood all nations of men—that they should seek the Lord;' that he has given them one common nature, and one common gospel, to which all ought to have access. They are beginning, more and more, to act on this principle; and it will have the same effect which it had when Paul preached it and men embraced it at Athens and at Rome; it will abolish slavery. If slave laws remain as they are, it will render them inoperative, for it will remove all occasion for the use of them. If laws need to be altered, it will alter them. It will prove the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation, not only to the individuals who receive it, but to the community which it pervades.

"Some may object, that the removal of slavery by colonization, though certain in the end, is too distant to content us; that these operations reach but a small part of our slave-holding territory; that we need something which shall appeal to every citizen, and especially to every slaveholder, in the United States; something which shall present the negro race before us, not only as moral agents, capable of salvation, but as capable of being fitted for citizenship; as having a claim upon us to fit them for it and bestow it upon them; something too, the execution of which does not wholly depend on the slaveholders themselves; something in which all the citizens of the Union can engage, and thus bear their testimony to the truth which makes men free.

"There is some force in these objections. They show the need of just such an enterprise as we are now assembled to promote. What is the American Colonization Society doing? It is labouring to build up a civilized, well governed nation of free colored people. The very endeavor is proof, that we consider the existence of such a nation possible; that we regard negroes as beings out of whom such a nation can be built. Every step taken in this enterprise proceeds on the ground that negroes can be made, and ought to be made, and we desire to make them, free citizens of a free country. On this ground I rest the defence of the Society, and its claims to your support. I omit numerous topics of argument which might be used, and with which you are already familiar. I stay not to dally with objections which do not touch this point. I ask not whether, in forming and executing its plans, the men, mere men, who compose it, have shown wisdom absolutely infinite, and infinite watchfulness against mistakes. I shall not try to do the work of the day of judgment beforehand, by inquiring whether some of its members entertain, at the same time, the two opposite designs of removing all the slaves from the country, and of making their slavery perpetual in it. I shall not argue the question whether all vice, or any vice, is more thoroughly excluded from Monrovia, than from any village in the United States; or whether the administration of government in that colony is more perfect than it ever has been, or, till the millennium at least, ever will be, in any other community on earth. If any maintain that both the Managers of the Society and the Colonists are, after all, mere men,

* Any one desirous of reading the whole Discourse, may obtain a copy by calling at, or writing (post paid) to the Colonization Office, at the corner of Ninth and E Streets, Washington.

and that by diligent search such errors as men are liable to may be found among them, I shall not dispute it; and if any one shall say that some of its enemies are capable of exaggeration, and others of falsehood, I shall not dispute that. I leave all such questions to those who have leisure for them. I point you to Liberia. There it stands, upon the coast of Africa, a monument of the truth that negroes, and even negro slaves, can be made, and ought to be made, and we desire to make them, free citizens of a free community. By its very existence, it testifies this truth to all that pass by in ships, to all who consider where ships shall be sent; to all who consider, in what seas ships must be defended. It stands, or soon will stand, an intelligible monument of this truth, on the map of Africa, in the hands of every child who studies geography in any school on earth. Can this universal testimony, thus forced perpetually upon the notice of all men, fail to produce an effect?

"The Society appeals directly and personally to every citizen of the United States, and of course to every slaveholder in the United States. It asks him to bestow his aid, and by bestowing his aid in removing slaves who are manumitted for this purpose, to bear his testimony to the truth, that negroes, negro slaves even, can be inade, and ought to be made, and he desires to make them, free citizens of a free community. It asks him to bear this testimony by acting on this principle;-by doing what would be the veriest and most manifest folly imaginable, on any other principle. Can this appeal be thus universally and perpetually made, and especially, can slaveholders generally comply with it, without strengthening the principles by which slavery will be removed?

"The Society appeals to you this night. As you have been officially informed, hundreds of slaves are waiting for freedom, only till the Society shall be enabled to colonize them. Only furnish the means, and they will be made free citizens of a free community. Show, then, by your deeds, how much confidence you have in the capacity of slaves to receive and enjoy the blessings of freedom, and how ardently you desire that it may be conferred upon them. The influence of what you shall do will not expire with the doing of the deed, or be limited to the direct recipients of your bounty. What you do will be matter of record: it will go abroad. It will be published to the ends of the land and of the earth. It will tell on public sentiment. In proportion as it shall show that you are in earnest, it will swell and strengthen the tide of right feeling which is to sweep slavery from our land and from the world."

MANUMISSIONS.

REV. AND DEAR SIR-Highly approving of the humane and benevolent object which the American Colonization Society has in view, rejoicing also in the wonderful success which has already attended its operations; I see, or think I see, a way opening up, for the liberation of that part of our population which has long been held in bondage; a way, in which their condition may be made much better. Permit me, Sir, through you, as the Secretary of this Society, to offer to it, for colonization, the servants under my care, whom I wish to liberate; they are four in number, and have all ex pressed a willingness to go and take up their abode in Liberia. The oldest is a female about twenty-one or two years of age, with a child two years old; the other two are her brother and sister-the brother about twelve and the sister about eight years of age. These are all that I own. My wish is to let them go this fall or winter, if the Society can take them. I wish to know of you, Sir, as soon as possible, whether the Society will accept of them; and if so, when it would be convenient for them to get a passage to the Colony, and where they would have to be sent, to be taken under the care of the Society. They are all young, and their habits of life not yet confirmed. As far as I can judge, they show a disposition of honesty, and are tolerably industrious. The grown girl can read, but not well, the others cannot. I promise to send them, free of expense to the Society, to any town or port within two or three hundred miles of this place, to which the Society shall direct them to be sent; and also to furnish them, or the Society for them, with as much money as will bear their expenses the first year, provided it does not exceed 15 or $20 a piece. I cannot bear the expense. of their voyage. Please to answer my letter as soon as practicable; and let me know whether they will be received on these terms. May the Lord prosper your efforts in this great and glorious work.

North Carolina, March 17, 1634.

CONTRIBUTIONS

To the American Colonization Society, during the month of March, 1834.
Gerrit Smith's First plan of Subscription.

Solomon Allen, Philadelphia,

Theodore Frelinghuysen, New Jersey,
R. Gilmor, Baltimore, two payments,

Gerrit Smith's Second Plan of Subscription.

Gerrit Smith, his first payinent,

Collections from Churches.

Chillicothe, by Col. J. L. Taylor, Senior,

Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. J. M. Matthews,

Associated Reformed Church, Rev. Jos. Claybaugh,

Clarkson Presbyterian church, Rev. Mr. Furinan,

Hamilton, Ohio, Associated Reformed congregation, Rev. David Macdill,

Jonesboro', Ten. Methodist Camp-Meeting,

Lebanon, Maine, by Rev. James Weston,

Leesburg, Ten. Presbyterian meeting,

Ogden, N. Y. by Z. Case,

Parma, N. Y. Temperance Society, by Elder Gould,

Price Creek and Lycoming congregations, by Rev. J. H. Grier,

West Alexander, Pa. by Rev. J. McClusky,

Seven Mile, Butler co. Ohio, by Rev. David Macdill,

Auxiliary Societies.

Donations.

Chillicothe Auxiliary, by J. Woodbridge, Treasurer,
Ross co. Ohio, Female Auxiliary,

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Northumberland, Pa. Josiah Forrest,

Troy, N. Y. at a meeting attended by Rev. Rev. R. R. Gurley, forwarded by
Judge Buel, viz:-Jacob Merrit,

Joseph Russell, Jedediah Tracy, Robert D. Silliman, John T.
McCoun, Stephen Warren, Thaddeus B. Bigelow, Isaac
McConiho, $30 each,

George Vail, David Buel, Senior, John D. Willand, Daniel
Sackett, David Buel, Jr. $10 each,

G. Corning, D. O. Kellog, James Langworthy. Rev. Mark
Tucker, Zephaniah Clarke, Hiram P. Hunt, Thomas W.
Blatchford, J. J. Merritt, Rev. Fayette Shipherd, J. W.
Bulkley, Jos. Brockway, $5 each; Mrs. John A. Hall, $3;
Eben'r. Platt, Henry F. Bayeux, $2 each; Henry Landon, $1,

$35

210

50

Contributions received by the Rev. J. N. Danforth, heretofore omitted.

Boston, Collection at St. Paul's church, by Rev. Mr. Stow,

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Brighton, Rev. Mr. Adams' congregation, to make him a life member,

Cambridgeport, collection in Rev. Mr. Stearn's church,

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Marblehead, collection at Rev. Mr. Dana's church,

collection at Rev. Mr. Briggs' church,

New Lebanon, New York, collection at Rev. Mr. Churchhill's church,
Baptist church,

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