Frederick Starr

“ Would we be able in any town of 12,000 people in the United States to find such a corps of men of competence? As a nation, with privileges and obligations, Liberia must not only maintain this national government, but it must keep order over its whole area and prevent its million bush natives from troubling its neighbors. It is on the plea that Liberia is incapable of maintaining order that France and Great Britain are constantly crowding upon her frontiers; it is a fact that to prevent aggression from outside she must maintain order within. ”

“ Is there not to be a foot of land in Africa, that the African, whether civilized or savage, can call his own? It has been asserted that the race is not capable of self-government, and the eyes of many are watching the progress of Liberia with a view to determining that question. We only ask, in all fairness, to be allowed just what any other people would require—free scope for operation. Do not wrest our territory from us and hamper us in our operations, and then stigmatize the race with incapacity, because we do not work miracles. ”

“ December is also generally a very pleasant month. Occasional slight showers of rain fall during this month, sometimes several sprinklings in one day, but seldom for more than a few minutes at a time. The mornings in this month are peculiarly delightful. The sun usually rises with brilliancy and beauty; and the hills and groves, teeming with the verdure of perpetual spring, are enriched by the mingled melody of a thousand cheerful songsters. Nothing that I have ever witnessed in the United States exceeds the loveliness of a December morning in Liberia. ”

“ If it is necessary for us as a nation to look for African adventure; if to give a strenuous President the feeling that he is ‘doing something’ we must meddle in the affairs of the Dark Continent, there is a district where we might intervene with more of reason and consistency and grace than we are doing by going to the Congo. We once established on African soil, whether wisely or not I do not intend to discuss, a free republic for the blacks. In Liberia we have an American enterprise, pure and simple. ”

“ We wish that Liberia were a land of general education; that the whole population had a clear understanding of the duties of citizenship; that knowledge of public questions were general. Such conditions are ideal in a republic. We do not find them in Liberia; we do not find them here. Liberian politics is patterned on our own; its weaknesses are our weaknesses. It is easy for us to see its faults because we are an outside party; because we are rich and they are poor; because we are white and they are black. In Liberia there is a general desire to feed at the public trough ”

“ That presidency should be a position demanding a man’s full time, and filling his whole horizon; it should be a position to which he willingly devotes a lifetime, and through which he may justly hope to gain a lasting reputation. It is true that great names in Liberia’s history have been associated with it; Roberts, Gibson, Blyden, Barclay, Dossen, and others have occupied it with credit to themselves, and no doubt with advantage to the school; but the position should be a position for men without other ambitions, men not in politics. ”

“ It is true that the United States has at no time shown the hearty interest in, and sympathy with Liberia which she should have. It is, however, true that, as a result of all the past, the civilized Liberians are to-day far more American in spirit than English. The Liberians are different in their bearing and manner from all other blacks upon the coast of West Africa. This is not merely a personal claim. Travelers, ever since the early days of colonization, are united in their statements: the Liberian is more independent—he is more a man—than the black man in any of the European colonies. ”

“ One of the most interesting men in Liberia to-day is Jeff Faulkner; he is active, enterprising, pushing, indefatigable; he is the only handy, all-around mechanician in Monrovia; he is absolutely one of the most useful men in the Republic; he is depended upon by the government in many a time of need; when “the Lark” goes to the bottom, Jeff Faulkner is the only man to raise her; he has a keen eye for business, and develops every opportunity; he has recently established an ice-factory, and his ice-cream parlor—a novelty in Liberia’s capital—is popular. ”

“ I regret to say that a college has been lately established in Liberia, the presidency of which has been conferred on President Roberts. I regret it, because it will involve an outlay that might be better used for common schools. It will send out, for years at least, men imperfectly learned, with the idea that they are scholars, and create a false standard of education. The present state of society has no demand for such a thing, the high schools already in operation being sufficient to supply teachers and professional men, and these are sufficiently patronized. ”

“ For that at Bromley, Clay-Ashland and Kru chapel I have only words of praise. My own opinion is that Liberia’s greatest asset is the native. He exists in a score of independent tribes and counts a million souls. If the little black republic is to hold its own, if it is to remain a nation among nations, if it is to lead the way to African redemption, [235] there must be a mutual realization by Liberians and Natives of their common interest, and a hearty co-operation. The burden is too heavy for the Liberian alone. ”

“ No being can develop muscle for another. Liberia, if she is to prosper, must develop energy, force, independence; she needs help but must work out her own salvation. Exercise to be valuable must not be a death struggle; we must protect her from her foes, but we must insist upon her self-development. There are, however, still many things that we can do for the Republic without reducing her to a condition of dependency and pauperization. ”

“ Stones in the form of men! Self-sacrificing, vigorous, fearless, strong-hearted, self-supporting, brainy, brawny, God-fearing men? Men fitted for the sub-stratum of the great town in the great country where lynching is not known, and freedom reigns supreme! Where your son may be a beggar or a ruler—at his own election. ”

“ A successful Liberia would be a star of hope to the Dark Continent. In Liberian success there lies African Redemption; redemption, not only in the religious sense, but redemption economic, social, governmental. If the black men can stand alone in Liberia, he can stand alone elsewhere; if the negro is able to organize and maintain a government on the west coast, he can do the same on the east coast, and in the southern part of Africa. Africa is restless under the white man ”

“ We have hesitated long about undertaking this discussion of Liberian politics. We are almost certain to be misunderstood, no matter what we say or how we say it. In Liberia they will feel that we lack sympathy, that we drag forth their weaknesses and expose them to public scorn; in this country they will fail to see that the weak points of Liberian politics are common to all republics, that they are as flagrant among ourselves as in Liberia; in foreign lands—should our book be read in such—what we say will be taken as justification for continued aggression and interference. ”

“ Here and there straight gashes are cut into this mass of crowded trees to serve as landing-channels for native canoes. The first part of our journey was up a branch stream, the St. Paul’s River branching near its mouth and entering the sea by more than the single outlet. As we approached the main river, the mangrove thicket thinned, and the most striking feature in the vegetation was the dragon-palm. It, too, rises from a pyramidal mass of exposed roots, but in form and foliage it is totally unlike the mangrove; its long narrow leaves lead to its being often called the sword-palm. ”

“ In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing hope that we should be permitted to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity—to nourish in our hearts the flame of honorable ambition, to cherish and indulge those aspirations, which a Beneficent Creator hath implanted in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise, ridicule and oppress our race that we possess with them a common nature, are with them susceptible of equal refinement, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns and dignifies man. ”

“ CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA PREAMBLE
The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it, with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility, their [262] natural rights, and the blessings of life; and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness. ”

“ If Liberia is to play within the game, it must follow the rules of play.
In dealing with its natives, the government should be frank, honest, and candid; it should make no promises unless it knows that it can keep them—unless it means to keep them—unless it will keep them. Too many times in the past, when misunderstandings have led to armed resistance on the part of native peoples, the Government has appealed to one or another man of great personal influence among the aroused natives. ”

“ When Bishop Lee preached the sermon at the consecration of Bishop Ferguson, he used the following strong terms: “To the millions of this race among ourselves, as well as to those beyond the sea, we should count ourselves debtors. If any branch of the evangelistic work of our Church has peculiar and sacred claims to general support, it seems to me to be our African Mission as well as our home Mission among our colored people. With glad and ready hearts should we enter this open door. With free and unclosed hands should we pour our gifts into the Lord’s treasury. ”

“ Germany has watched with some concern the constant encroachments of Great Britain and France upon Liberian territory and sovereign rights; having no territorial boundary herself, she is unable to pursue their methods; she is watching, however, and unless, as some suspect, there is an actual understanding between Great Britain and France, as to the eventual complete division of the Republic between them, it is certain that, when the German Government thinks Liberia’s neighbors are going too far in their land piracy, she herself will take a hand and grasp the whole Republic. ”

“ By the practice and consent of men in all ages, some system or form of government is proven to be necessary to exercise, enjoy, and secure these rights: and every people has a right to institute a government and to choose and adopt that system or form of it, which, in their opinion, will most effectually accomplish these objects, and secure their happiness, which does not interfere with the just rights of others. ”

“ Therefore, we the People of the Commonwealth of Liberia, in Africa, acknowledging with devout gratitude, the goodness of God, in granting to us the blessings of the Christian Religion, and political, religious and civil liberty, do, in order to secure these blessings for ourselves and our posterity, and to establish justice, insure domestic peace, and promote the general welfare, hereby solemnly associate, and constitute ourselves a Free, Sovereign and Independent State by the name of the REPUBLIC of LIBERIA, and do ordain and establish this Constitution for the government of the same. ”

“ We were animated with the hope, that here we should be at liberty to train up our children in the way they should go—to inspire them, with the love of an honorable fame, to kindle within them, the flame of a lofty philanthropy, and to form strong within them, the principles of humanity, virtue and religion. ”