History of Lib eria By . K THOMAS H B . WAL ER I llu stra ted The Cornhill Pu blishing Company Boston 6011 2 2 0 C o i h t 1 2 1 p y r g , 9 BY THE COR NH ILL PUBL ISH ING COMPANY All righ ts re s erv ed PREFACE We have divided this little work into very short ha ters p , the chief aim of which is to make it convenient for the studen t to read an d commit short portions easily and n n find it less laborious to discuss tha a lo g chapter . n n There are occasio ally illustratio s given . n n an The work is divided into two parts , a cie t d modern . n . n Dr Joh A Simpso , who wrote the foreword for this n i n n . work , has spe t twe ty years Liberia He has prayed in n of E is o the Se ate , was pastor the First Methodist p c of pal Church , which the president was a member , has D . n Ph . bee honored with the by the College of Liberia , and is one of the few to receive the coveted degree of K . C . n n We are also greatly i debted to Dr . Natha iel H . B . n of Cassel , preside t the College of Liberia ; the late n Bishop A . B . Camphor ; Bishop I . B . Scott , who spe t . n n twelve years there ; U . S . Minister Dr Er est Lyo s ; now an . Rev . d Mrs F A Price , who are in Liberia at work ; ’ Bl d en s and the followin g works $ Dr . E . W . y books and ’ n . orations; Africa stories by Bishop Camphor , Dr Reed s ’ and Racial Readj ustments , Bishop Scott s Reports ’ ’ n . Papers , Bishop Ferguso s work , Starr s Liberia , Mr H ’ n The s n H . Johnso s work , Stewart Mis io ary, splendid Vl l PREFACE ’ volume , The Life of Crowther , Dr . M . N . Work s Negro an d in Year Book , Daybreak the Dark Continent , for valuable data . T H E AUTH OR . 2 A il 1 9 0 . pr , sonv le Fla U k l . A J ac i , , S . FOREWORD The struggles and achievements of the Negro race have never been accurately and fully recorded ; here and there writers of note both white and black have written commendably of the native African s in Africa an d their n n in desce da ts America . The present great centers for educational acqu ire n n me t , religious devotio , social and political achieve n me ts , are geographically located in the United States of n n America , West I dies Islands a d the Republic of Li beria . A great deal of that which has been accomplished by this strugglin g race in America has been recorded by the scholarly writers of the race and read with enthu iasm an n s , pride d inspiratio by the progressive members f o the race scattered throughout the world . ff and f i The e orts progress o the race n Hayti , Santo Domingo and the British West In dies are less known n and n n a d less appreciated , Liberia as a atio , though of n n n an d the pride the Negro world , has ever been k ow esteemed by the other portion of the race as it should . ’ of n Now , after the close the great World s War , whe in the titanic struggle Christian civilization has tri 2 th n and umphed over the 1 ce tury feudalism , barbarism o- of k n has autocracy , the s called superior race man i d begun to recognize the invaluable worth of a belated n of n . race , and the pri ciples u iversal brotherhood ix FOREWORD The members of the African race and the world of mankin d are presented with a history recording the strug gles of a portion of this race in Africa for civilization o with political freedom . This Hist ry of Liberia comes as a beacon light along the rocky shores of the ’ n n in race s surging sea . It is both racial and atio al n n an d n in its n its scope , a cie t moder compositio , com n n of n a in prehensive i its treatme t facts , interesti g nd in and n n structive , tasteful style , desig ed to awake within the heart of its reader a greater race loyalty and n stronger patriotism of every true Liberia . Having scanned the whole of the book while in manu an d in script form , read detail several of the chapters , it is a pleasure to me to write these words as an introd u c tion to a book filled with so much interestin g historical data and many in spiring facts which may be used by n in an the stude ts school , d read by the parents in the and home , and the patriot statesman in public . n hi Dr . Walker has do e s work well , especially s o in n View of the conditions u der which he had to write . He is f n an the author of several di fere t works , d without hesita “ ” n of tio we place this volume , The History Liberia , of in the forefront his other books . This is a c ontribu n as and tio to Liberia a nation , the African race at large . n n an Dr . Walker has writte ma y books , d some of his - n n on . O best k ow works have been Liberia f his work , f ” Presidents o the Negro Republic , over have “ n of been sold , and The Preside ts Liberia has also n had a wide circulatio . F OREW ORD xi He was given the Di vi ni ta ti s Doctori s by the College of 3oth 1 0 an n n West Africa , April , 9 7 , d whe a stude t at Gammon Theological Seminary won the Stewart Foun dation prize by an oration entitled $ Crowther of ” n n an . Sierra Leo e , the Heathen, Missio ary d Bishop We believe that as a text - book this history will meet the long- felt want of Liberian schools and will be a v alu a ble en cyclopedia at the fireside of every reading family in and . America , Europe Africa Yours truly , J . A . SIMPSON . h 8 92 0 M ar 1 1 . c , — M ission a to L i be i a A ica 1 899 1 9 1 9 . ry r , fr , b A d ess $ M on ovi a I/iberi a est A i a . I/i eri an d r r , , W fr c INTRODUCTION ttle t of ea t Li bro her my h r , Come and speak with me . I hear you shrilling an d singing a part In the waste by the hawthorn tre e f a t a ou Little brother o my he r , I pr y y Come an d speak with me . Or if ou w ll not , y i come h u s t a v Where t e bo gh mee bo e , a d the a le a d Come to the orch r , pp orch r , - at s hu m Where the wild honey g herer , An d sing to me of lov e . — R ETHE L TALB OT S CHE FFAUE . In n n n o n prese ti g this work o Liberia , we d ot presume an n n to give the public e tirely origi al work , but it is rather ou r aim to place before the public and the world an n f n u abridged history made up o ma y extracts , say in gs an d travels of others who have studied the country n a d its people . n n n We believe , however , that we are prese ti g ma y n n facts that have ot bee before published . The Republic of Liberia is an attempt and an atone n an me t . It is attempt to establish a civilized Negro estate in the West African Forest ; and a somewhat n n n n and paltry ato eme t , which has bee made by Britai - A n n of . s America , for the wro g doi g the slave trade Fran ce shared to some extent this traffic in Negro bonds en and n m , we may claim her sympathy participatio in n n . also , the Liberia experime t She holds back her xiii xiv INTRODUCTION mighty forces an d the tidal wave of her African Empire n n from the skirts of this small Africa Republic , wherei the descendants of slaves impressed with European culture may try to devise a new an d appropriate civiliza tion for Negro West Africa $ preservin g all that is good ’ f n n and practical o America s teachi g , sheddi g what is n an d n n n n i appropriate , i ve ti g additio al precepts suited ’ m n n . J to the Negro s min d a d body . Sir He ry H Oh s of ton says , We believe that the future those Negroes in the United States who cann ot be absorbed into the American community without risk of civil war lies in ” n n n f Liberia a d n ot i portio s o the Tropical South .