The first Negroes landed at Jamestown, Va. In the year 1619, a Dutch trading vessel being in need of supplies weighed anchor at Jamestown, and exchanged fourteen Negroes for food and supplies. The Jamestown people made slaves of these fourteen Negroes, but did not pass any law to that effect until the year 1662, when the number of slaves in the colony was then nearly 2,000, most of whom had been imported from Africa.

How they were Employed. The Jamestown colony early discovered the profits of the tobacco crop, and the Negro slaves were largely employed in this industry where they proved very profitable, They were also enlisted in the militia, but could not bear arms except in defense of the colonists against the Indians. The greater part of the manual labor of all kinds was performed by the slaves.

The Slaves Imported came chiefly from the west coast of Africa. They were crowded into the holds of ships in droves, and often suffered for food and drink. Many, when opportunity permitted, would jump overboard rather than be taken from their homes. Various schemes were resorted to by the slave-traders to get possession of the Africans. They bought many who had been taken prisoners by stronger tribes than their own; they stole others, and some they took at the gun and pistol's mouth.

Many of the Captives of the slave-traders sold in this country were from tribes possessing more or less knowledge of the use of tools. Some came from tribes skilled in making gold and ivory ornaments, cloth, and magnificent steel weapons of war. The men had been trained to truthfulness, honesty, and valor, while the women were virtuous even unto death. While polygamy is prevalent among most African tribes, yet their system of marrying off the young girls at an early age, and thus putting them under the guardianship of their husbands, is a protection to them; and the result is plainly seen by travellers who testify positively to the uprightness of the women.

The Ancestors of the American Negroes, though savage in some respects, yet were not so bad as many people think. The native African had then, and he has now, much respect for what we call law and justice. This fact is substantiated by the numerous large tribes existing, individuals of which grow to be very old, a thing that could not happen were there the wholesale brutalism which we are sometimes told exists. All native Africans universally despise slavery, and even in Liberia, have a contempt for the colored people there who were once slaves in America.

The Jamestown Slaves were doomed to servitude and ignorance both by law and custom; they were not allowed to vote, and could not be set free even by their masters, except for “some meritorious service.” Their religious instruction was of an inferior order, and slaves were sometimes given to the white ministers as pay for their services.

The Free Negroes of Jamestown were in a similar condition to that of the slaves. They could vote and bear arms in defence of the colony, but not for themselves. They were taxed to bear the expenses of the government, but could not be educated in the schools they helped to build. Some of them managed to acquire some education and property.

The Negro Heroes who may have exhibited their heroism in many a daring feat during the early history of Jamestown are not known. It is unfortunate that there was no record kept except that of the crimes of his ancestors in this country. Judging, however, from the records of later years, we may conclude that the Negro slave of Jamestown was not without his Banneka or Blind Tom. Certainly his labor was profitable and may be said to have built up the colony.

When John Smith became Governor of the Jamestown colony, there were none but white inhabitants; their indolent habits caused him to make a law declaring that “he who would not work should not eat.” Prior to this time the colony had proved a failure and continued so till the introduction of the slaves, under whose labor it soon grew prosperous and recovered from its hardships.

Thomas Fuller, sometimes called “the Virginia Calculator,” must not be overlooked in speaking of the record of the Virginia Negro. He was stolen from his home in Africa and sold to a planter near Alexandria, Va. His genius for mathematics won for him a great reputation. He attracted the attention of such men as Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, who, in company with others, was passing through Virginia. Tom was sent for by one of the company and asked, “how many seconds a man of seventy years, some odd months, weeks and days, had lived?” “He gave the exact number in a minute and a half.” The gentleman who questioned him took his pen, and after some figuring told him he must be mistaken, as the number was too great. “Top, massa!” cried Tom, you hab left out the leap year” — and sure enough Tom was correct. — Williams.

The following was published in several newspapers when Thomas Fuller died:

“DIED. — Negro Tom, the famous African Calculator, aged 80 years. He was the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, of Alexandria. Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of fourteen, and was sold as a slave with many of his unfortunate countrymen. This man was a prodigy; though he could neither read nor write, he had perfectly acquired the use of enumeration. He could give the number of months, days, weeks, hours, minutes and seconds for any period of time that a person chose to mention, allowing in his calculations for all the leap years that happened in the time. He would give the number of poles, yards, feet, inches and barleycorns in a given distance — say the diameter of the earth's orbit — and in every calculation he would produce the true answer in less time than ninety-nine out of a hundred men would take with their pens. And what was, perhaps, more extraordinary, though interrupted in the progress of his calculations and engaged in discourse upon any other subject, his operations were not thereby in the least deranged. He would go on where he left off, and could give any and all of the stages through which his calculations had passed. Thus died Negro Tom, this untaught arithmetician, this untutored scholar. Had his opportunities of improvement been equal to those of a thousand of his fellow men, neither the Royal Society of London, the Academy of Sciences at Paris, nor even a Newton himself need have been ashamed to acknowledge him a brother in science.”

How many of his kind might there have been had the people of Jamestown seen fit to give the Negroes who came to their shores a laborer's and emigrant's chance, rather than enslaving them! Much bloodshed and dissension might thus have been avoided, and the honor of the nation never besmirched with human bondage.

The enslavement of the Negro seems to have commenced in the New York Colony about the same time as at Jamestown. The slaves were used on the farms and became so profitable that about the time the English took the colony from the Dutch, 1664, there was a great demand for slaves, and the trade grew accordingly.

The Privileges of the Slaves in New York were for a while a little better than in Virginia. They were taken into the church and baptized, and no law was passed to prevent their getting an education. But the famous Wall Street, now the financial center of the New World, was once the scene of an auction block where Indians and persons of Negro descent were bought and sold. A whipping boss was once a characteristic office in New York City.

The Riot of 1712 shows the feeling between the master and servant at that time. The Negro population being excluded from schools, not allowed to own land even when free, and forbidden to “strike a Christian or Jew” in self-defence, and their testimony excluded from the courts, arose in arms and with the torch; houses were burned and many whites killed before the militia suppressed them. Many of the Negroes of New York were free, and many came from the Spanish provinces.

Negro slavery existed in Massachusetts as early as 1633. The Puritan fathers who came to this country in search of liberty did not hesitate to carry on for more than a century a disgraceful traffic in human flesh and blood. The New England ships of the 17th century brought cargoes of Negroes from the west coast of Africa and the Barbadoes. They sold many of them in New England as well as in the Southern colonies. In 1764 there were nearly 6,000 slaves in Massachusetts, about 4,000 in Rhode Island and the same in Connecticut.

The Treatmentof the slaves in these colonies at this time was regulated by laws which classed them as property, “being rated as horses and hogs.” They could not bear arms nor be admitted to the schools. They were baptized in the churches, but this did not make them freemen, as it did white serfs.

Better Treatment was given the slaves as the colonies grew older and were threatened with wars. It was thought that the slaves might espouse the cause of the enemy, and for this reason some leniency was shown them.

Judge Samuel Sewall, a Chief Justice of Massachusetts wrote a tract in 1700 warning the people of New England against slavery and ill treatment of Negroes. He said: “Forasmuch as Liberty is in real value next unto Life, none ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon most mature consideration.”

Judge Sewall's tract greatly excited the New England people on the subject of emancipating their slaves. “The pulpit and the press were not silent, and sermons and essays in behalf of the enslaved Africans were continually making their appearance.”

The Slaves Themselves aroused by these favorable utterances from friendly people made up petitions which they presented with strong arguments for their emancipation. A great many slaves brought suits against their masters for restraining them of their liberty. In 1774 a slave “of one Caleb Dodge,” of Essex county, brought suit against his master praying for his liberty. The jury decided that there was “no law in the Province to hold a man to serve for life,” and the slave of Caleb Dodge won the suit.

Felix Holbrook and other slaves presented a petition to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1773, asking to be set free and granted some unimproved lands where they might earn an honest living as freemen. Their petition was delayed consideration one year, and finally passed. But the English governors, Hutchinson and Gage, refused to sign it, because they perhaps thought it would “choke the channel of a commerce in human souls.”

British Hatred to Negro freedom thus made itself plain to the New England slaves, and a few years later, when England fired her guns to subdue the revolution begun at Lexington, the slave population enlisted largely in the defence of the colonists. And thus the Negro slave by valor, patriotism and industry, began to loosen the chains of his own bondage in the Northern colonies.

New Hampshire slaves were very few in number. The people of this colony saw the evils of slavery very early and passed laws against their importation. Massachusetts was having so much trouble with her slaves that the New Hampshire people early made up their minds that, as a matter of business, as well as of humanity, they had best not try to build up their colony by dealing in human flesh and blood.

Maryland was, up to 1630, a part of Virginia, and slavery there partook of the same features. Owing to the feeling existing in the colony between the Catholics who planted it, and the Protestants, the slaves were treated better than in some other provinces. Yet their lot was a hard one at best; by law a white person could kill a slave and not suffer death; only pay a fine.

White Slaves existed in this colony, many of whom came as criminals from England. They, it seems, were chiefly domestic servants, while the Negroes worked the tobacco fields.

Delaware was settled, as you will remember, by the Swedes and Danes in 1639. They were a simple, contented and religious people. It is recorded that they had a law very early in their history declaring it was “not lawful to buy and keep slaves.” It is very evident, though, that later on in the history of the colony slaves were held, and their condition was the same as in New York. While the north of the colony was perhaps fully in sympathy with slavery, the western part was influenced by the religious sentiment of the Quakers in Pennsylvania.

The Friends of Pennsylvania were opposed to slavery, and although slavery was tolerated by law, the way was left open for their education and religious training. In 1688 Francis Daniel Pastorious* *Williams. addressed a memorial to the Friends of Germantown. His was said to be the first protest against slavery made by any of the churches of America. He believed that “slave and slave-owner should be equal at the Master's feet.”

William Penn showed himself friendly to the slaves.

This colony in geographical position lies between South Carolina and Virginia, While it held slaves, it may be justly said its position on this great question was not so burdensome to the slave as the other Southern colonies, and even to the present time the Negroes and whites of this State seem to enjoy the most harmonious relations. The slave laws of this State gave absolute dominion of the master over the servant, but allowed him to join the churches from the first. Large communities of free Negroes lived in this State prior to the civil war and for a long time could vote. They had some rights of citizenship and many of them became men of note.

Prior to the Civil War there were schools for these free people. Some of them owned slaves themselves. In this colony the slaves were worked as a rule on small farms and there was a close relation established between master and slave, which bore its fruits in somewhat milder treatment than was customary in colonies where the slaves lived on large cotton plantations governed by cruel overseers, some of whom were imported from the North.

The Eastern Section of North Carolina was thickly peopled with slaves, and some landlords owned as many as two thousand.

The increase and surplusage of the slave population in this State was sold to the more Southern colonies, where they were used on the cotton plantations.

Charters for the Settlement of North and South Carolina were obtained at the same time — 1663. Slavery commenced with the colony. Owing to the peculiar fitness of the soil for the production of rice and cotton, slave labor was in great demand. White labor failed, and the colony was marvelously prosperous under the slave system. Negroes were imported from Africa by the thousands. Their labor proved very productive, and here it was that the slave code reached its maximum of harshness.

A Negro Regiment in the service of Spain was doing duty in Florida, and through it the Spanish, who were at dagger's ends with the British colonies, sent out spies who offered inducements to such of the South Carolina slaves as would runaway and join them. Many slaves ran away. Very rigid and extreme laws were passed to prevent slaves from running away, such as branding and cutting the “ham-string” of the leg.

A Riot followed the continued cruel treatment of slaves under the runaway code; 1748 is said to have been the year in which a crowd of slaves assembled in the village of Stono, slew the guards at the arsenal and secured the ammunition there. They then marched to the homes of several leading men whom they murdered, together with their wives and children. The slaves captured considerable rum in their plundering expedition, and having indulged very freely stopped for a frolic, and in the midst of their hilarity were captured by the whites, and thus ended the riot.

The Discontent of the Slaves grew, however, in spite of the speedy ending of this attempt at insurrection. Cruel and inhuman treatment was bearing its fruits in a universal dissatisfaction of the slaves, and in South Carolina, as in Massachusetts, it began to be a serious question as to what side the slaves would take in the war of the coming Revolution. England offered freedom and money to slaves who would join her army. The people of South Carolina did not wait long before they allowed the Negroes to enlist in defence of the colonies, and highly complimented their valor. If a slave killed a Briton he was emancipated; if he were taken prisoner and escaped back into the Province he was also set free.

From the time of its settlement in 1732 till 1750 this colony held no slaves. Manyof the inhabitants were anxious for the introduction of slaves, and when the condition of the colony finally became hopeless they sent many long petitions to the Trustees, stating that “the one thing needful” for their prosperity was Negroes. It was a long time before the Trustees would give their consent; they said that the colony of Georgia was designed to be a protection to South Carolina and the other more Northern colonies against the Spanish, who were then occupying Florida, and if the colonists had to control slaves it would weaken their power to defend their colonies. Finally, owing to the hopeless condition of the Georgia colony, the Trustees yielded. Slaves were introduced in large numbers.

Prosperity came with the slaves, and, as in the case of Virginia, the colony of Georgia took a fresh start and began to prosper. White labor proved a failure. It was the honest and faithful toil of the Negro that turned the richness of Georgia's soil into English gold, built cities and created large estates, gilded mansions furnished with gold and silver plate.*

* The famous minister, George Whitfield, referring to his plantation in this colony, said: “Upward of five thousand pounds have been expended in the undertaking, and yet very little proficiency made in the cultivation of my tract of land, and that entirely owing to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had a Negro been allowed I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum which has been laid out.” He purchased a plantation in South Carolina, where slavery existed, and speaks of it thus: “Blessed be God! This plantation has succeeded; and though at present I have only eight working hands, yet, in all probability, there will be more raised in one year, and without a quarter of the expense, than has been produced at Bethesda for several years past. This confirms me in the opinion I have entertained for a long time, that Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without Negroes are allowed.”

Oglethorpe Planned the Georgia colony as a home for Englishmen who had failed in business and were imprisoned for their debts. These English people were out of place in the wild woods of America, and continued a failure in America, as well as in England, until the toiling but “heathen” African came to their aid.

Cotton Plantations were numerous in Georgia under the slave system. The slave-owners had large estates, numbering thousands of acres in many cases. The slaves were experts in the culture of cotton. The climate was adapted to sugarcane and rice, both of which were raised in abundance.

Barnes Gives the following account of the habits and customs of the Southern colonies during the days of slavery:

“The Southern Colonists differed widely from the Northern in habits and style of living. In place of thickly settled towns and villages, they had large plantations, and were surrounded by a numerous household of servants. The Negro quarters formed a hamlet apart, with its gardens and poultry yards. An estate in those days was a little empire. The planter had among his slaves men of every trade, and they made most of the articles needed for common use upon the plantation. There were large sheds for curing tobacco, and mills for grinding corn and wheat. The tobacco was put up and consigned directly to England. The flour of the Mount Vernon estate was packed under the eye of Washington himself, and we are told that barrels of flour bearing his brand passed in the West India market without inspection.

Objections to Enlisting Negroes caused much discussion at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. The Northern colonies partially favored their enlistment because they knew of their bravery, and rightly reasoned that if the Negroes were not allowed to enlist in the Colonial army, where their sympathies were, they would accept the propositions of the British, who promised freedom to every slave who would desert his master and join the English army.

Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, and the other British leaders, saw a good chance to weaken the strength of the colonies by offering freedom to the slaves if they would fight for England. They knew that the slaves would be used to throw up fortifications, do fatigue duties, and raise the provisions necessary to support the Colonial army. So Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who would join his army. As the result of this, Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying 30,000 Negroes from Virginia alone joined the British ranks.

The Americans became fearful of the results that were sure to follow the plans of Lord Dunmore. Sentiment began to change in the Negro's favor; the newspapers were filled with kind words for the slaves, trying to convince them that the British Government had forced slavery upon the colonies against their will, and that their best interests were centred in the triumph of the Colonial army. A part of an article in one paper, headed “Caution to the Negro,” read thus: “Can it, then, be supposed that the Negroes will be better used by the English, who have always encouraged and upheld this slavery, than by their present masters, who pity their condition; who wish in general to make it as easy and comfortable as possible, and who would, were it in their power, or were they permitted, not only prevent any more Negroes from losing their freedom, but restore it to such as have already unhappily lost it. * * * They will send the Negroes to the West Indies where every year they sell many thousands of their miserable brethren. Be not tempted, ye Negroes, to ruin yourselves by this proclamation.” The colonies finally allowed the enlistment of Negroes, their masters being paid for them out of the public treasury. Those slaves who had already joined the British were offered pardon if they would escape and return, and a severe punishment was to be inflicted on those who left the colony if they were caught.

To Offset the Plans of Lord Dunmore, the Americans proposed to organize a Negro army to be commanded by the brave Col. Laurens; and on this subject the following letter was addressed to John Jay, President of Congress, by the renowned Alexander Hamilton. This letter also shows in what esteem the Negro slave of America was held by men of note:

George Washington, James Madison, and the Continental Congress gave their consent to the plan of Col. Laurens, and recommended it to the Southern colonies. It was resolved by Congress to compensate the master for the slaves used by Col. Laurens at the rate of $1,000 apiece for each “able-bodied negro man of standard size, not exceeding thirty-five years of age, who shall be so enlisted and pass muster. That no pay be allowed to the said Negroes, but that they be clothed and subsisted at the expense of the United States; that every Negro who shall well and faithfully serve as a soldier to the end of the present war, and shall then return his arms, shall be emancipated and receive the sum of fifty dollars.”

Congress commissioned Col. Laurens to carry out this plan. “He repaired to South Carolina and threw all his energies into his noble mission.” The people of the States of Georgia and South Carolina refused to co-operate with him. It was difficult to get white troops to enlist. The Tories, who opposed the war against England, were very strong in several of the Southern colonies.

A Letter from General Washington will help us to understand the condition of affairs in South Carolina and Georgia. He wrote to Col. Laurens, as follows: “I must confess that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit of freedom which, at the commencement of this contest, would have gladly sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind, nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these circumstances it would rather have been surprising if you had succeeded, nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia.”

Col. Laurens was killed in battle, but he had not entirely abandoned his plan of enlisting the slaves. But in spite of the recommendations of Congress he could not succeed, for the States of South Carolina and Georgia coveted their slaves too much to allow this entering wedge to their ultimate freedom. Had his plan been carried out slavery would probably have been abolished as soon at the South as at the North. The Negroes who would have come out of the war of the Revolution, would have set themselves to work to relieve the condition of their brethren in shackles.

Connecticut Failed to endorse the enlistment of Negroes by its Legislature, but Mr. Williams in his history gives the roster of a company of Negroes in that State, numbering fifty-seven, with David Humphreys Captain. White officers refused to serve in the company. David Humphreys continued at the head of this force until the war closed.

Among Those whose blood was first shed for the cause of American liberty was the runaway slave, Crispus Attucks. Having escaped from his master, William Brown, of Framingham, Massachusetts, at the age of twenty-seven, being then six feet two inches high, with “short, curled hair,” he made his way to Boston. His master in 1750 offered a reward of ten pounds for him, but Crispus was not found. When next heard from he turns up in the streets of Boston.

The War of the Revolution ended in 1781 at Yorktown. Many of the brave Negroes who shed their blood and helped to win America's liberty from England were, as soon as the war closed, put back into bondage. They were in the “Land of the free,” but themselves slaves. Other troubles arose very soon between England and America. England still kept standing armies in America, and claimed the right to search American vessels for British sailors who had deserted. They often took off American seamen.

One Negro and Two White sailors were taken from the American man-of-war “Chesapeake” after she had been fired upon. Canada gave arms to and incited the Indians in the Northwest against the Americans. Finally, in 1812, war was declared during Madison's Administration.

Negro Troops were very much needed, as the Americans had a very poor navy, and England having whipped the French was now ready to turn all her forces against America.

A Call for Volunteers from the Union was issued, and many thousands of free Negroes answered the call. The slaves were not allowed to enlist in the militia. Gen. Jackson thus spoke to his colored troops:

“To the Men of Color — Soldiers: From the shores of Mobile I collected you to arms. I invited you to share in the perils and to divide the glory with your white countrymen. I expected much from you, for I was not uninformed of those qualities which must render you so formidable to an invading foe. I knew that you could endure hunger and thirst and all the hardships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you have surpassed all my hopes. I have found in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.

“Soldiers, the President of the United States shall be informed of your conduct on the present occasion and the voice of the Representatives of the American Nation shall applaud your valor as your General now praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover the lakes; but the brave are united, and if he finds us contending among ourselves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame, it's noblest reward.”

The Battle of New Orleans, we will remember ended in defeat for the British. Over two thousand were lost to the British, while the American loss was seven killed and six wounded. There were over four hundred Negroes in this battle, and they occupied “no mean place and did no mean service.” The British had a battalion of Negroes from the Island of San Domingo in this battle. The idea of fortifying the city with cotton is said to have been the suggestion of a slave who was a native African, and learned this mode of defence from the Arabs.

Mr. D. Lee Child, in a letter to a friend, states that the famous cotton breast-works, recognized the world over as a stroke of genius on the part of Gen. Jackson, was the suggestion of a colored man, a native African. He gives some data from a Portugese manuscript to prove that this mode of defence is in practice among the native Africans, who thus defend their wives and children against the Arabs. Gen. Jackson, of course, would be loath to admit that the suggestion came from a Negro, especially when the deed won extra laurels for himself.

The War of 1812 was now over. America remained at peace with other nations about thirty-two years when the Mexican war broke out in 1846. During this interval, a war of words between Americans themselves was waged; and there were heroes in this contest, many of them Negroes and former slaves, and some of them women, who merit equal rank with the brave heroes of former battles.

The Abolitionists who were opposed to slavery, furnished many brave hearts and strong minds from their ranks. Their work began very early in the history of the colonies; it continued with slow growth for awhile, but nevertheless certain and effectual. The Quakers of Pennsylvania were foremost in the work of abolition. They set nearly all their slaves free. Anti-slavery societies were formed in nearly all the Northern States.

Benjamin Lundy is mentioned as the earliest leader of the Abolitionists. He published a paper called The Genius of Universal Emancipation. He visited nineteen States of the Union, travelled upwards of five thousand miles on foot, and more than twenty thousand in other ways, and held more than two hundred public meetings. Lundy's paper was not regarded as very dangerous to the institution of slavery; but the Journal of the Times, published first at Bennington, Vermont, in support of J. Q. Adams for the presidency, became the inveterate foe to slavery under the editorship of William Lloyd Garrison, who was mobbed in the streets of Boston, and imprisoned for libel in the city of Baltimore for denouncing the crew of the ship “Francis Todd,” on board of which were many ill-treated slaves bound for the slave marts of New Orleans. Garrison and Lundy united in getting out The Genius of Universal Emancipation at Baltimore.

Arthur Tappan, before this, paid Garrison's fine, and the enemy to slavery commenced his war with more vigor and zeal than before. In 1831 The Liberator was first published by Garrison, and, as was his desire, it continued till “every slave in America was free.”

A “Colored Man,” James Forten, sent $50 among the first twenty-five subscriptions that came to The Liberator. Garrison thought it his duty to obey God rather than man, and he denounced the Constitution of the United States as being a “Covenant with death and an agreement with hell,” because he held that it supported slavery.

The Republic of Liberia was founded in 1816 by the American Colonization Society as a place of refuge and safety to the colored people of America who, before the abolition of slavery in the various States, had been set free by their masters; or, through industry, had purchased their liberty themselves. It is located on the West Coast of Africa, in South Sierra Leone, and is very productive of rice, coffee, indigo, peanuts, arrowroot, sugar, pepper, logwood, palm oil and cotton. Gold and other minerals are found in considerable quantities. The climate seems ill adapted to the American Negro.

Mr. Jehudi Ashmun was the pioneer in planting the colony, assisted by Lott Carey. The natives resisted the settlers, and for the first six years there were continual attempts to drive them out. Mr. Ashmun's health finally failed and he was compelled to leave the colony, now numbering 1,200 free Americans, to themselves in this new and wild land. They shed bitter tears on his departure, some clinging even to his garments. But left to themselves, the Negroes did not lose all hope. They set about to found a government similar to that of the United States. They elected their first president, Roberts, organized a cabinet, established schools, made labor obligatory, and their flag is now recognized by the nations of Europe and the United States.

Its Population is now over 20,000 Negroes who went from America, or their descendants, The influence of Liberia is exercised over a million people along the West Coast of Africa. They speak English, and from them many tribes have learned our language and the arts of civilization. The United States has sent four Ministers to represent her at Monrovia, the Liberian capital, viz., from North Carolina, Messrs. J. H. Smythe, Moses A. Hopkins and E. E. Smith; from New York, Henry H. Garnet. The exports of Liberia aggregate about three-quarters of a million dollars annually.

Success has thus far attended the country, though the climate, atmosphere, and the surroundings are most unfavorable and unstimulating. The fact that these colored people have succeeded, shows what the race can do under favorable circumstances.

This great man is well known to the world. He is a conspicuous representative of the talents and capabilities possessed by the colored race. Born a slave on a plantation in Maryland, he has gradually, by industry and patient labor, worked himself to the highest rank of honor, both America and Europe. When Frederick Douglass speaks the world listens. He is as much quoted as any living American statesman.

The first ten years of Mr. Douglass' youth were spent on one of the many plantations of a rich planter named Lloyd, in the State of Maryland. He was separated from his mother, who only saw him at long intervals. He, with the other little slave boys, grew up from almost infancy in their tow shirts, with their ash-cake rations and frequent beatings, given them by a certain “old Aunt Kate,” who had charge of the children on the plantation. In this wild way, young Fred was left to grow up as best he could among the rough farm hands and without a mother's care. He describes his mother to have been a noble-looking woman,

Nathaniel Turner is well remembered by many of the older people of Southampton, Virginia, as being the leader of the famous “Nat Turner Insurrection” of that county. He was an unusually bright child, having learned to read and write with such skill and rapidity that his own people and the neighbors regarded him as a prodigy. It is said that his mother predicted that he would be a prophet in his presence one day, and he remembered her prediction till he grew older. Turner devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures and the condition of his people. He believed his lot was to set them free. He had visions of white and black spirits fighting in battle. He imagined a voice spoke thus to him in the vision: “Such is your luck; such you are called to see, and let it come rough or smooth you must bear it.” He thought while laboring in the fields “he discovered drops of blood on the corn, as though it were dew from heaven,” and saw on the leaves of the trees pictures of men written in blood.