Liberia is a little book descriptive of an American colonyof

Blacks on the same coast, and which, from the happy idea of colonizing with Blacks (who flourish in the climate), instead of Whites, has attained, and is likely to attain, a prosperity our clumsy institutions can never hope for. But Liberia also has been established at a dreadful sa- crifice of life. A colony of Negroes was only to be established with the aid of Whites, and every meritorious individual who took a part in the noble enterprise died at his post. But here was a grand object in view : these men have died a sacrifice to a national cause, and they ought to he canonized in the great bOok of patriot martyrs. The Black population is the curse of the United States; it is the sole blot of a land of freedom—a daily reproach—a sling- ing thorn in the side of a great people. The colonization of the emancipated slaves was proposed as a natural and gradual vent for the rapidly increasing population of Negroes, and as a means of ul- timately delivering the land from the curse of slavery. It will pro- bably succeed, and there is every prospect that its future pros- perity will repay America for the loss of some of her best and most virtuous citizens in its establishment. The tale of hardships, sick ness, and death, by the open attacks of the enemy, and the insi- dious and more fatal inroads upon health by the climate, har- row up every feeling of sympathy and humanity. We know nothing in the history of early colonization more dreadful, unless it be the story of Captain PHILIP BEAVER'S attempt at forming a colony on the same coast ; which, indeed, it closely resembles, ex- cept in one melancholy point of difference. Mr. BEAVER was- not called upon to behold the spectacle of a beloved wife sinking into the grave before him, like the American agent Mr. ASHMUN; the history of whose energy-and perseverance in the midst of ener- vating sickness and distress, in danger, privation, and calamity, while it saddens the heart of the reader, raises the dignity of the whole species. But we will permit this admirable man, the real father of Libe- ria, to tell a single chapter of the history of the colony himself. The passage which follows describes not only one of the plagues to which an African colony is subject—the incursion of a multitude • of. bloody and unrelenting savages ; but it also shows, in a most gratifying manner, how vast is the power which but a few of the arts of civilization give a man over the naked efforts of even my- riads of his own race.

"It was an occasion of grateful acknowledgment to that Divine Power under whose heavy hand the Agent was now obliged to bow, that he had . been spared to settle these arrangements, and see them in a train of ac complishment, previous to his being laid entirely aside. It was also a , source of melancholy satisfaction, that he was permitted to watch the fatal progress,of disease in an affectionate wife until the last ray of intellec- - tual light was extinguished by its force two days before her death. Her life had been one of uncommon devotion and self-denial, inspired by e... vigorous and practical faith in the Divine Saviour of the world ; and her. end, according to, his promise, was ineffable peace. She expired on Sun-

day the 15th of,Sepfember. " Two of- the emigrants belonging to the last expedition followertins

the same week.; at which time there remained but a single indiVidual.pgr; the, company not on the sick-list. "From this date until the first week in November„ theAgent continued in an extremely low and dangerous state, so entirely- debilita.testimbodat., and-mind; as to be.nearly lawatiLe of motion„ and. insensi,b)&11a. view .

thing except the consciousness of suffering. Two. of the posts had been put in complete order in this time, he afterwards learnt, by the persever- ing exertions of only a part of the settlers. For, as is the misfortune of all communities, so it was discovered in this, that there were individuals on whose selfish feelings the promptings of benevolence, the demands of equity, considerations of the most pressing necessity, and the more im- perative and awful dictates of conscience, could make no effectual im- pression, and to whom the moment which delivered them from that co- ercion of authority was the signal for their desertion of every public and private duty ! It is but an act of justice to the deserving colonists to make this discrimination; and to assure the others, wherever they hap- pen to exist in vagrant wretchedness, that posterity will owe them no thanks that the first settlement on Cape Montserado was not reduced to a heap of carnage and ruins ! "The Agent, as soon as the force of his disease had so far subsided as to enable him to look abroad, discovered with great satisfaction that the people had plied their labours with so much diligence, as to produce a wide opening on the whole of the southern quarter of the settlement. The branching tops of the fallen trees formed so perfect an obstruction to the passage of human beings, as nearly to assure the safety of the set- tlement against an attack from that side. But the want of system in carrying on the diversified services devolving on the people, of whom several were nearly overpowered by an incessant routine of nightly watching and daily labour, had still left the other preparation too little advanced to authorize an opinion of the safety of the place for an hour. The carpenters, who alone were able to direct or assist in the construc- tion of the gun-carriages, had, for the encouragement and direction of the labourers, given up too much of their time to the common fatigues of the field. The western station, which in the present state of the de- fence; was obviously the most exposed, not only remained entirely unco- vered, but the long revolving nine-pounder, which was to constitute its chief strength, was still unmounted. " But the Agent could not walk at this date without support ; and with a mind shattered by the strokes of a malady believed to be mortal, could neither decide upon nor enforce any arrangement which should much accelerate their most essential preparations. But, from this period, his febrile paroxysms were daily less subduing and protracted ; and, by a re- currence to the Journal, it appears that he was able, on the 7th of No- vember, to recommence the daily entries, and thereafter take a daily in- creasing share in the operations of the people."

4g On the 7th of November, intelligence was received at the Cape that the last measures had been taken preparatory to an assault on the settle- ment, which was ordered within four days. The plan of attack being left to the head warriors, whose trade it is to concert and conduct it, was not to be-learnt.

" The Agent was able, with assistance, to inspect the works, and review the little force the same evening. He stated to the people the purport of the intelligence just received ; that ' war was now inevitable ; and the preservation of their property, their settlement, their families, and their lives, depended, under God, wholly. upon their own firmness and good conduct ; that a most important point in the defence of the place, was to secure a perfect uniformity of action, which should assure to every post and individual the firm support of every other. To this end, they must as punctiliously obey their officers as if their whole duty were centered, as at probably was, in that one point ; and every man as faithfully exert himself, as if the whole defence depended on his single efforts. A coward, it was hoped, did not disgrace their ranks ; and as the cause was empha- tically that of God and their country, they might confidently expect his blessing and success to attend the faithful discharge of their duty.' Every thing was then disposed in order of action, and the men marched to their posts. They lay on their arms, with matches lighted, through the night.

"On the 8th, the Agent, by an effort which entirely exhausted his strength, proceeded to examine the obstruction thrown in the way of the avenues to the settlement; and perceived, to his extreme mortification, that the west quarter was still capable of being approached by a narrow pathway without difficulty; and that the utmost exertions of the work- men had accomplished only the mounting of the revolving nine-pounder at the post, by which the path was enfiladed, but that the platform was stillieft entirely exposed. The eastern quarter was about equally open to the approach of the enemy, but the station was protected by a stockade, and a steep ledge of rocks made the access difficult. " Picket guards of four men each were detailed, to be posted a hundred yards in advance of each of the stations, through the night. No man was ;Bowed to sleep before the following day, at sunrise; and patrols of na- tive Africans were dispersed through the woods in every direction. An order was given to families occupying the most exposed houses, to sleep in such as were more centrally situated. " Throughout the 9th, the order established on the preceding day con- tinued ;- and some progress made in the labour of felling trees, and other- wise obstnicting every practicable access to the settlement.

". Sunday, November 10th. The morning was devoted, as usual, to the refreshment of the settlers, none of whom had slept for the twenty-four hours preceding. At one P.M. all were remanded to their fatigue and other duties, till sunset ; when the order appointed for the preceding night was resumed. The women and children attended divine service.

Intelligence had reached the Agent early in the day, that the hostile fortes had made a movement, and were crossing the Montserado river a few miles, above the settlement; but the • patrols made no discovery through the day. At sunset, however, the enemy again put themselves in motion, and at an early hour of the night, had assembled, as was after- wards learnt, to the number of six to nine hundred men on the peninsula, where, at the.distance of less than half a mile to the westward of the set- tlement, they encamped till near morning. Their camp, afterwards exa- mined, extended half a mile in length, and induces a strong probability that the number of warriors assembled on this occasion has been altoge- ther underrated. •

" The most wakeful vigilance on the part of the settlers was kept up through the night. But, with a fatality which was quite of a piece with all the hinderances that had impeded the progress of the defences on the western quarter, the picket-guard in advance of that post ventured on a violation of their orders, by leaving their station at the first dawn of day ; at which it was their duty to remain till sunrise. The native force was already in motion, and followed directly in the rear of the picket- guard. The latter had just rejoined their gon, about which ten men were now assembled, when the enemy, suddenly presenting a front of ten yards in width, at sixty distant, delivered their fire, and rushed forward with theirspears to, seize the post. Several men were killed and disabled by the first fire, it'd the remainder driven from their gun without dis- charging it. Then, retiring upon the centre (see the arrangement of the guns, p. 43), threw the reserve there stationed into momentary confu- sion; and had the enemy at this instant pressed their advantage, it is hardly conceivable that they should have failed of entire success. Their avidity fin plunder was-their defeat. - Four houses in that outskirt of the

settlement had fallen into their hands. Every man on whose savage ra- pacity so resistless a temptation happened to operate, rushed impetuously upon the pillage thus thrown in his way. The movement of the main body was disordered and impeded ; and an opportunity afforded the Agent, assisted principally by the Reverend Lot Cary, to rally the broken force of the settlers. The two central guns, with a part of their own men, and several who had been driven from the western station, were, with a little exertion, brought back into action, and formed in the line of two slight buildings, thirty yards in advance of the enemy. " The second discharge of a brass field-piece, double-slotted with ball and grape, brought the whole body of the enemy to a stand. That gun was well served, and appeared to do great execution. The havoc would have been greater, had not the fire, from motives of humanity, been so directed as to clear the dwellings about which the enemy's force was gathered in heavy masses. These houses were known at that moment to contain more than twelve helpless women and children. " The eastern and southern posts were, from their situation, precluded` from rendering any active assistance on the occasion ; but the officers and men attached to them deserve the highest praise, of doing their duty by maintaining their stations, and thus protecting the flank and rear of the few whose lot it was to be brought to action.

" A few musqueteers, with E. Johnson at their head, by passing round upon the enemy's flank, served to increase the consternation which was beginning to pervade their unwieldy body. In about twenty minutes after the settlers had taken their stand, the front of the enemy began to recoil. But from the numerous obstructions in their rear, the entire absence of discipline, and the extreme difficulty of giving a reversed motion to so large a body, a small part only of which was directly exposed to danger, and the delay occasioned by the practice of carrying off all their dead and wounded, rendered a retreat, for some minutes longer, impossible. The very violence employed by those in the front, in their impatience to hasten it, by increasing the confusion, produced an effect opposite to that intended. The Americans perceivins, their advantage, now re- gained possession of the western post, and instantly brought the long nine to rake the whole line of the enemy. Imagination can scarcely figure to itself a throng of human beings in a more capital state of ex- posure to the destructive power of the machinery of modern warfare r Eight hundred men were here pressed, shoulder to shoulder, in so compact aform that a child might easily walk upon their heads from one end of the mass to the other, presenting in their rear a breadth of rank equal to twenty or thirty men, and all exposed to a gun of great power, raised on a platform, at only from thirty to sixty yards distance ! Every shot literally spent its force in a solid mass of living human flesh I Their fire suddenly terminated. A savage yell was raised, which filled the dismal forest with a momentary horror. It gradually died away ; and the whole host dish appeared. At eight o'clock, the well-known signal of their dispersion and return to their homes was sounded, and many small parties seen at a distance directly afterwards moving off in different directions. One large canoe employed in reconveying a party across the mouth of the Mont- serado, venturing within the range of the long gun, was struck by a shot, and several men killed.

" On the part of the settlers, it was soon discovered that considerable injury had been sustained.

" One woman who had imprudently passed the night in the house first beset by the enemy, had received thirteen wounds, and been thrown aside as dead. Another, flying from her house with her two infant chil- dren, received a wound in the head from a cutlass, and was robbed of both her babes, but providentially escaped. A young married woman, with the mother of five small children, finding the house in which they slept surrounded by savage enemies, barricadoed the door in the vain hope of safety. It was forced. Each of the women then seizing an axe, held- the irresolute barbarians in check for several minutes longer. Having discharged their guns, they seemed desirous of gaining the shelter of the house previous to reloading. At length, with the aid of their spears, and by means of a general rush, they overcame their heroine adversaries, and instantly stabbed the youngest to the heart. The mother instinctively springing for her suckling babe, which recoiled through fright, and was left behind, rushed through a small window on the opposite side of the house, and providentially escaped to the lines unhurt, between two heavy fires.

" The Agent had caused a return to be made at nine o'clock, which certainly exhibited a melancholy statement of the loss sustained by the little company. But it was animating to perceive that none—not evert the wounded, in their severest sufferings, were dispirited or insensible of the signal providence to which they owed the successful issue of their struggle.

" It never has been possible to ascertain the number of the enemy killed or disabled on this occasion. The only entry made on the subject in the Colonial Journal, is dated November 15th ; and states, ' The followina- circumstances prove the carnage to have been, for the number engaged,. great. great. A large canoe, from which the dead and wounded could be seen. to be taken, on its arriving at the opposite side of the Montserado, and which might easily carry twelve men, was employed upwards of two hours in ferrying them over. In this time, not less than ten to twelve trips-must have been made. It is also known that many of the wounded were conveyed away along the south beach on mats ; and that the dead,. left of necessity in the woods, where many fell, are carried off by their- friends every night. But two days ago, twenty-seven bodies were dis covered by a party of friendly Condoes employed by the Agent for the purpose. On entering the wood, the offensive effluvium from putrid bodies is at this time intolerable.' "The numerical force of the settlers amounted to thirty-five persons, including six native-youths, not sixteen years of age. Of this number about one-half were engaged." A second attack, of even a more formidable kind, was repulsed : and at length Liberia has freed itself from its foreign enemies ; it has purchased a great part of the neighbouring country, and 'pos- sesses an extent of coast equal to about one hundred and fifty miles. Its commerce is in a fair way of advancement, and there is, in short, every reason to suppose that the Blacks, under an American birth and education, may be able ultimately not only.to- advance themselves to a colony of wealth and influence, but be- come the germ of civilization, which may spread and increase' among the countless tribes of Africa.