Leper colony

“ Having found much fault with the Colonization Society, it is pleasant to believe that one portion of their enterprise affords a distant prospect of doing more good than evil. They now principally seek to direct the public attention to the founding of a Colony in Africa; and this may prove beneficial in process of time. If the colored emigrants were educated before they went there, such a Colony would tend slowly, but certainly, to enlighten Africa, to raise the character of the negroes, to strengthen the increasing liberality of public opinion, and to check the diabolical slave trade. ”

“ History is full of instruction on the subject of colonization. The establishment of colonies, in all ages, with scarcely an exception, has resulted either in their subversion by the vices or physical strength of the natives, or by a fatal amalgamation with them; or else in the rapid destruction of the natives by the superior knowledge and greedy avarice of the new settlers. It is presumption to suppose that the colony at Liberia, composed of the worst materials imaginable, will present an example of forbearance, stability and good faith, hitherto unwitnessed in the world. ”

“ If we speak of Liberia alone we must say it was founded on cowardice and indolence. At the same time many upright, sincere, self-sacrificing people were connected with both colonies. The tales of what some people sulfered to promote the interests of the unfortunate blacks are heart-rending.
It is true that the idea of forming a free-negro colony was considered in the American colonies before our Revolutionary war, but it was not until Sierra Leone was established that anything practical was done here. ”

“ I avow it—the natural tendency of the colony at Liberia excites the most melancholy apprehensions in my mind. Its birth was conceived in blood, and its footsteps will be marked with blood down to old age—the blood of the poor natives—unless a special interposition of Divine Providence prevent such a calamity. The emigrants will be eager in the acquisition of wealth, ease and power; and, having superior skill and discernment in trade, they will outwit and defraud the natives as often as occasion permits. ”

“ The preamble set forth in forcible terms the lamentable failure of all the previous trading associations to redeem their pledges in the matter of colonization; and the new associates were, by the terms of their charter, bound in the most formal and positive manner, to convey annually to the colony, beginning in the following year, 1628, from two to three hundred bona fide settlers, and in the fifteen following years to transport thither a total of not less than four thousand persons male and female. ”

“ She remarked, that at times she had hopes for the Colony, and then again felt discouraged, as many of the manumitted slaves, instead of showing an example to the heathen, fell into their vices. The trade of Liberia is very limited; and, were it not for the Colonization Society, their case now might be hopeless. They have a small war schooner, presented by the British Government; one schooner, called the Monrovia, was in port, which trades with the United States. I must here mention a circumstance which occurred in sending over a parcel of manumitted negroes from New Orleans. ”

“ The Germans did not find tribes of natives on whose industry they could batten, and the inhabitants of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland were really unpromising material for such a purpose, not [Pg 71] being pure-bred distinctive tribes, but bastard races with a strong admixture of half-castes.
For decades the territory had been the refuge of criminals and cattle thieves, who had fled from the Cape Colony, after raiding the Bechuana cattle kraals.
A great deal of the coast and part of the southern portion of the Colony is little else than an arid, waterless waste ”

“ The frequent massacre of the hunters by the Sioux Indians, and the constant alarm excited at the Settlement, by reports that they would come down with the savage intention of scalping us call for some military protection. A small party stationed at the Colony, would not only be the means of enforcing any civil process in the punishment of delinquents among the Colonists, but afford that security in their habitations, which would stimulate them to make improvements, and to a more active industry upon the soil, while it would have the best effect upon the minds of the Indians at large. ”

“ Those colonies in which the English or European element is very small can best be governed, it is found, by the Crown Colony system. The native, dark-skinned population are not fit to govern themselves—they are too ignorant and too uncivilised, and if the government is left entirely in the hands of the small number of whites who may happen to live in the colony, they are apt not to take enough care of the interests of the coloured inhabitants. The simplest form of the Crown Colony is that found in some of the smaller groups of islands in the West Indies. ”

“ A large part of this people, those particularly who had joined the sect in America, founded the colony of New Lebanon. Ann Lee died in Niskayuna, in 1784. As this sect conducted itself very quietly, and gave no public offence, the government allowed them to live in peace. The colony numbers about six hundred members, who are divided into families, some of which contain above one hundred individuals of both sexes. Each lives in a group of houses with an elder at their head. The elders of all the families form a counsel, which watches for the public good. ”

“ In the northerly portion, suitable for agriculture, this was carried on by natives; but their land was confiscated by the Germans, and, as Dr Bönn stated in a reading upon the Colony, "the framework of society is European; very little land is in the hands of natives." ”

“ Hardly more than a year after his arrival Lescarbot left his beloved gardens, and in October all the colonists were once more in France. Membertou and his Indians bewailed their departure, and held them in long remembrance. Wilderness houses soon go back to their beginnings, and it was not long before all that was left of the brave and gay [268] French colony was a little clearing where the herb of immortality, the tansy of Saint Athanase, lifted its golden buttons and thick dark green foliage above the remnant of the garden of Helêne. ”

“ You do not like Crown Colonies. You won’t grovel to Chartered Companies, however good. You prove, on your own showing, that there is not in West Africa a sufficiently large, or a sufficiently long resident, local English population—what with their constantly leaving for home or for the cemetery—to form an independent colony. ”

“ The state of feeling at the present time towards the Colonization Society requires that something should be done. Its enemies, though feeble, are clamorous, and if nothing is done to check their influence, may deceive some portion of the people. Let, then, the friends of colonization awake and prepare themselves for a discussion, from which they have everything to hope. The enterprise will go forward—the colony at Liberia will be sustained, and the society will receive, as it deserves, the universal and cordial gratitude and support of every portion of the community. ”

“ It will thus be seen that nearly four times as many emigrated to Canada as to Liberia, and in developing the soil, building churches, schoolhouses, manufacturing establishments, and the surroundings of comfortable homes, and the facilities for the enjoyment of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the Wilberforce Colony will compare favorably with Liberia and Sierra Leone, though it is not doubted that African colonization has exerted a beneficial influence on the dark shores of the African continent. ”

“ If, then, a Colony of colored men, beginning with less than 100, and gradually increasing to 9,000, has, in 30 years, established an Independent Republic amidst a savage people; destroyed the slave trade on 600 miles of the African coast; put down the heathen temples in one of its largest counties; afforded security to all the missions within its limits; and now casts its shield over 300,000 native inhabitants; what may not be done in the next 30 years, by Colonization and Missions combined, were sufficient means supplied to call forth all their energies? ”

“ Like all Europeans dwelling among inferior races, the mass of the colonists, English as well as Dutch, looked upon the native population as existing for their benefit, and resented the efforts which the home government made to secure for the blacks equal civil rights and adequate protection. Their wrath was specially kindled by the vehemence with which a few among the missionaries denounced any wrongs deemed to have been suffered by the natives within the Colony, and argued the case of the Kafir tribes who were from time to time in revolt. ”

“ They purchased a large tract of land near the falls of the Schuylkill, built a house for the accommodation of their meetings, elected a governor, council, secretary of state, treasurer, and judge, established a seal, and constituted themselves the ‘Colony of the Schuylkill.’ More than half a century passed away without the slightest circumstance transpiring to give occasion of trouble to the colony: every day was marked by its benefactions, and delight and mutual confidence presided at all the periodical festivals, at which the members were assembled at a common table. ”

“ It can best be done, we think, by augmenting the means at the command of the American Colonization Society, that the colony of Liberia may be strengthened and improved for their gradual reception. The greater the number of persons sent thither, from any part of this nation whatsoever, so much the more capable it becomes of receiving a still greater. Every encouragement to it, therefore, though it may not seem to have any particular portion of emigrants directly in view, will produce a favorable effect upon all. ”

“ Those who know anything of the history of our Australian Colonies are aware that there is nothing to which the British Colonist has so strong an objection as the presence of a convict from the mother country. Whatever the mother country may send let it not send her declared rascaldom. The use of a Colony as a prison is no doubt in accordance with the Dutch theory that the paramount object of the outlying settlement is the welfare of the parent state,—but it is not at all compatible with the existing British idea that the paramount object is the well-being of the Colonists themselves. ”

“ On these grounds, therefore, and while we acknowledge the colony of Liberia, or any other colony on the coast of Africa, to be in itself a good thing, we must be understood utterly to repudiate the principles of the American Colonization Society. That Society is, in our estimation, not deserving of the countenance of the British public. ”

“ De Rochefort, in his Histoire Morale des Isles Antilles (p. 284.) mentions the English and French killing the Caribb Chiefs, in the following terms: 'Ils se defirent en une nuit de tous les plus factieux de cette nation!' Thus in usurpation and barbarity was founded the first colony established under the authority of the British and French governments in the West Indies; which colony was the parent of our African slave trade. ”

“ Granville Sharp sent off a vessel laden with provisions, different materials, and about thirty-nine artificers, to establish a colony at Sierra Leone. This colony, whose principal settlement was afterwards at Free-town, had for its basis principles entirely philanthropic. The colonists were to employ themselves in the cultivation of the lands and the civilization of the Africans, while the slave trade was to be totally renounced amongst them. ”

“ They find it especially difficult to control the native tribes, or to conduct their own government in accordance with modern requirements. The British colony of Sierra Leone to the north and the French possessions closing in their hinterland to the east are almost continuously complaining of the failure of Liberia to maintain order upon the border. ”

“ It would also be advantageous, following the example of the Voluntary Colonies which have been established in this and other countries, to begin each settlement on a tract of land, a considerable part of which, at least, is undeveloped, with a view to the provision of an abundance of rough outdoor labour by means of works of reclamation, and to securing to the Colony the increased value which such works would create. It is also desirable that the Colonies, while lying away from towns, should have good means of communication. ”

“ But the Farm Colony, any more than the City Colony, although an abiding institution, will not provide permanently for those with whom we have to deal. It is a Training School for Emigrants, a place where those indispensably practical lessons are given which will enable the Colonists to know their way about and to feel themselves at home wherever there is land to till, stock to rear, and harvests to reap. We shall rely greatly for the peace and prosperity of the Colony upon the sense of brotherhood which will be universal in it from the highest to the lowest. ”

“ For a colony is a sapling, bound by the law of nature to follow the development of the parent tree. A parcel of Englishmen on the Australian coast have no significance without England at their back, to give them a tradition of manners and government, to be their recruiting-ground, to hold out at once a memory of home and an ideal of polity. Wars of separation may come, but a colony is still a colony: it may have a different colour on the map, but its moral complexion is the same ”