Chapter C: G. Woodson (14)

Lott Cary was born on the estate of William A. Christian,[5] in Charles City County, Virginia,[6] thirty miles from Richmond,[7] about four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There was no exact record kept of the time of his birth, although it appears to have been about the year 1780.[8]

His mother and father lived together on the great plantation of their master, centering their attention on Lott, their only child. His mother gave no public profession of religion although she died giving evidence that she accepted the Christian faith. His father, however, was a pious man, a respected member of a Baptist church.[9] As a result, Lott received some early religious training which may have influenced his later life.

But there were temptings in his life; there were battles in his soul. Why should a slave boy hope? Could he ever become free? Why not drink life to the dregs? The chief among his playmates, he became the mischief-maker of the place. Profligate, profane, polluter was his title. Lott Cary tried to reform but he was only able to control himself a few days. Before long, in 1804,[10] he was hired out by the year as a common laborer[11] in the Shochoe tobacco warehouse at Richmond.[12] There he grew more intemperate and profane and showed little signs of reformation.

It was not reformation that he needed but regeneration as was evidenced one Lord's day in 1807[13] as he sat in the gallery of the First Baptist Church[14] and heard the minister preach. He was hopefully converted and was baptized by Pastor John Courtney[15] into the fellowship of the church. There he heard a sermon on the third chapter of the gospel of John which so inspired him that he obtained a Testament in order that he might read for himself the Lord's interview with Nicodemus. In a short time he knew the alphabet, and with very little assistance from the men at the warehouse,[16] he learned to read this chapter and also to write.[17]

Cary was a changed man--industrious, thrifty, Christian. Whereas he had been idle now he devoted his leisure time to reading and it is said that one of the books that he read was Adam Smith's _Wealth of Nations_.[18] By his application to reading and writing he was able in a little time to make dray tickets and to act as shipping clerk.[19] His work in the warehouse was "such as no person, white or black, has equalled in the same situation.... He could produce any one of the hundreds of hogsheads of tobacco the instant it was called for."[20] For these services he was often given a five dollar note and the privilege to sell small quantities of waste tobacco for his own benefit.[21] He saved the money obtained in this way, and with the aid of a subscription among his employers accumulated by 1813 $850 with which he purchased freedom for himself and his two children.[22]

The following extract of a letter from William Crane to the Rev. Obadiah Brown of Washington City, which he forwarded to the corresponding secretary of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, corroborates, in the main, the foregoing statements as well as gives some interesting sidelights on the lives of Cary and Teague:

_Richmond, March 28_, 1819.

You will probably recollect, that I introduced you to two of our
colored brethren in this place, who are accustomed to speak in
public; one named Collin Teague, the other Lot Carey. Ever since
the missionary subject has been so much agitated in this country,
these two brethren, associated with many others, have been
wishing they could, in some way, aid their unhappy kindred in
Africa; and I suppose you have heard of their having formed a
missionary society for this sole purpose. Some letters published
in No. VI of the _Luminary_ (written by Kizell, the Baptist
leader in Sherbro Island and by some others) have served to
awaken them effectually. They are now determined to go themselves
to Africa; and the only questions with them are, in what way will
it be best for them to proceed? and what previous steps are
requisite to be taken? They think it necessary to spend some time
in study first. They both possess industry and abilities, such
as, with the blessing of Providence, would soon make them rich.
It is but two or three years since either of them enjoyed
freedom; and both have paid large sums for their families. They
now possess but little, except a zealous wish to go and do what
they can. Brother Lot has a wife, and several little children. He
has a place a little below Richmond, that cost him $1500, but
will probably not sell for more than $1000 at this time. Brother
Collin has a wife, a son 14 years of age, and a daughter of 11,
for whom he has paid $1300, and has scarcely any thing left. Both
their wives are Baptists; their children, amiable and docile,
have been to school considerably; and I hope, if they go, will
likewise be of service. Collin is a saddler and harness maker. He
had no early education. The little that he has gained, has been
by chance and peacemeal. He has judgment, and as much keenness of
penetration as almost any man. He can read, though he is not a
good reader, and can write so as to make out a letter. The little
knowledge he has of figures, has been gained by common
calculations in business. Lot was brought up on a farm; and for a
number of years has been chief manager among the labourers in the
largest tobacco ware house in this city. He has charge of
receiving, marking and shipping tobacco; and the circumstance
that he receives $700 a-year wages may help you to form an
estimate of the man. He reads better than Collin, and is in every
respect a better scholar. They have been trying to preach about
ten or eleven years, and are both about forty years of age.[23]

Cary had been licensed to preach by the First Baptist Church, Richmond, and he exercised his talent every Lord's day among the colored people on plantations a few miles from Richmond.[24] It was not many months before he was the highly esteemed pastor of the African Baptist Church in Richmond. As a preacher, Cary was not polished, but "his ideas would sometimes burst upon you in their native solemnity, and awaken deeper feelings than the most polished, but less original" and artificial discourses.[25]

Lott Cary early exhibited the power of an organizer. In 1815, William Crane, who was a member of the First Baptist Church, felt that his ought to use his talent among the twelve hundred Negro members of that congregation. Consequently, he and David Roper[26] gratuitously opened a tri-weekly night school in the gallery of the old church with Lott Cary, Colin Teague and fifteen or twenty leading members of the church as pupils.[27] Now Crane was able to inspire such a group to practical missionary service, for he himself had been repeatedly urged to become a missionary and had had close contact with Luther Rice as one of the managers of the General Missionary Convention. But it was left to Lott Cary to excite among the Negroes a strong interest in behalf of Africa. The result was the formation of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society in 1815. Crane was the president or corresponding secretary.[28] This was necessary, for since the various uprisings of Negroes[29] were making Virginia a hotbed of discontent, the city of Richmond was wary of having Negro meetings unless they were sponsored by white persons. Crane represented the Society in the General Missionary Convention,[30] formed in 1814, and remained its delegate for about twenty years.

At the first triennial session of the Convention at Philadelphia, in May, 1817, a letter was read from the corresponding secretary of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society and it was unanimously

Resolved, that the said letter be noticed on the minutes of the
Convention, and that the Board, if they find it practicable, be
advised to institute an African Mission, conformably to the
wishes of the said African Mission Society; and that the
Corresponding Secretary of the Board be requested to communicate
this resolution together with an encouraging affectionate letter
to that society.[31]

Feeling of sympathy for the African was high. Many slave-holding Baptists felt that they owed the Negro a debt which they should pay.[32] Moreover, the board of the Convention felt that the interest in Foreign missions manifested by the Negro Baptists of Richmond was a providential plan whereby the slaves brought from Africa might be converted and returned to evangelize that continent.[33] Since, therefore, mission work could be propagated in Africa in the English language and for one quarter the expense required for other lands,[34] the Convention felt no hesitancy in acknowledging the claims of Africa.

Luther Rice, while in Richmond during the winter of 1817, visited the African Missionary Society. "It afforded me much pleasure, indeed," he reported,[35] "to observe the zeal, and intelligence and capacity, and success, discovered in the African Mission Society."

As a matter of fact, the formation of the Richmond African Baptist Society was an epochal event. The example was followed by the African Baptist Church of Philadelphia[36] and by the Baptists of Petersburg, Virginia.[37] The African mission spirit even permeated North Carolina and Georgia, for during the years 1816 and 1817 the Negro Baptists of those parts contributed $32.64 to the cause.[38] This contribution far outstripped the donation of the white Baptists to the same cause. During the same time they contributed only $14.27, $12.27 of which was given by the newly formed African Mite Society of Providence, Rhode Island.[39]

Lott Cary resolved that it was his duty to go and preach the gospel in benighted Africa. It was at Crane's night school that this intention was made known. After Crane had reviewed the report of Burgess and Mills, telling of their exploring tour on the coast of Africa, Lott Cary said: "I have been determined for a long time to go to Africa and at least to see the country for myself."[40] There is no doubt that to some extent Gary was awakened to a deep sense of responsibility for his brethren in Africa by that part of this report which dealt with John Kizell, the Baptist leader in Sherbro Island, the president of the Friendly Society established by Paul Cuffee, the escort and guide of Burgess and Mills on their exploring tour, the man directly responsible for the beginning of the impractical scheme of deportation on the continent of Africa by the American Colonization Society.[41]

But how was he to accomplish his object? Crane said,[42] "I had thought of addressing the Corresponding Secretary on their (Cary and Teague) behalf, for the patronage of the American Baptist Mission Society, but again thought, that the Colonization Society might be pleased with taking them under their care, and that their mission might bear a more imposing aspect under the auspices of this society than it would with the Baptists alone." Lott Cary was received by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, May 1, 1819, and was accepted by the American Colonization Society to work for them "without pay as other engagements would permit."[43]

The treasurer of the General Missionary Convention reported $2 for Africa received September 21, 1819, from a friend in Nashville Tennessee. The next year the society appropriated $200 in cash and $100 in books. Contrasted with this was the $483.25 paid April 17, 1820, by the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society to the General Missionary Convention to be appropriated for Africa.[44] Thus the Convention served only as a clearing house for the funds contributed from Richmond. With this in mind we can more clearly understand the following order voted by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in 1820:

With African Mission Society, Richmond,
To various exp. for Collin Teague and Lot Carey ... 500 25.[45]

Furthermore, the historian of the Convention up to the year 1840[46] relates that the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society, of which Lott Cary was the recording secretary, appropriated to the cause of African redemption $700, all of its funds collected during the first five years of its existence. For many years thereafter the Society collected and contributed annually from $100 to $150 to the mission in Africa.[47]

Lott Cary was giving up much to be an apostle to his people--a pastorate of nearly eight hundred members, a farm and house costing $1,500 and a salary increase of $200 a year if he would stay.[48] But he must go. There were promptings big and great. Cary and Colin Teague are said to have wished to be where their color would be no disparagement to their usefulness.[49] "I am an African," he is reported to have answered an intelligent minister who asked him why he was leaving,[50] "and, in this country, however meritorious my conduct, and respectable my character, I cannot receive the credit due to either. I wish to go to a country where I shall be estimated by my merits, not by my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my suffering race."

It is highly probable that Cary possessed no such race consciousness as is portrayed in the foregoing reports of Crane and Gurley. True enough, the occasion for such sentiment was there in the institution of slavery but had Cary imbibed the spirit? On the one hand, the free Negro was not wanted in Virginia as is evidenced by an act which made unlawful the permanent residence in the State of any slave set free after May 1, 1806. But, on the other hand, this act was not generally enforced because of the economic value of many of the freedmen.[51] Thus it is doubtful whether Cary, whose salary would be increased if he remained in Virginia, and Teague, both effectual workmen whose industry was needed, would have to go away to gain a higher status.

Let us examine the facts further. Crane was certainly enthusiastic for African colonization and Gurley was the secretary of the American Colonization Society. Thus these statements, as well as similar ones which follow, seem like attempts on the part of the friends of colonization to make Cary say to the other free Negroes that colonization was a desirable thing. Certainly such an attitude would be a timely rebuttal of the anti-colonization sentiment of the Negro ministry in general.

Furthermore, this reason for going to Africa was not in accord with the one given at Crane's night school. Then he wanted to see Africa for himself; now he finds America no place for the Negro. He could have changed his point of view, but did he? If he did change his view, he had changed again in less than two years (March 13, 1821) when he wrote as follows to the corresponding secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions:

If you intend doing anything for Africa you must not wait for the
Colonization Society, nor for government, for neither of these
are in search of missionary grounds, but of colonizing grounds;
if it should not suit missionary needs, you cannot expect to
gather in a missionary crop. And, moreover, all of us who are
connected with the agents, who are under public instructions,
must be conformed to their laws, whether they militate against
missionary operation or not.[52]

Thus if Cary made statements which favor colonization he was very inconsistent, for it was he who was chiefly responsible for the colonists openly defying the Colonization Society in 1824. Nor could Cary write so well. It is most likely, therefore, that Lott Cary wanted to go to Africa simply to see the country and to do missionary work.

Prior to his public farewell, Lott Cary and Colin Teague were ordained and they, with their wives, Joseph Langford and wife and Hilary Teague, were organized in January, 1821, into a church. Lott Cary was elected pastor. The constitution of this body which they were to plant in Africa was modelled after the Samson Street Church of Philadelphia.[53]

Cary's farewell sermon, preached in the meeting house of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, was well ordered, without the rant common to some preachers of that day, dignified and pathetic, and left a lasting impression on the audience.[54] Teague had often remarked to William Crane, "Sir, I don't hear any of your white ministers that can preach like Lott Cary." Crane was anxious to hear him and after listening to his farewell message from Romans 8:32--"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"--he did not hesitate to declare: "I have a most vivid recollection of the manner in which, towards the close, he dwelt upon the word 'freely.' With thrilling emphasis he exclaimed over and over, 'He gave them freely!' He rang a succession of perhaps a dozen changes upon the word, in a manner that would not have dishonored Whitfield."[55]

Lott Gary closed his sermon with this thought:

I am about to leave you and expect to see your faces no more. I
long to preach to the poor Africans the way of life and
salvation. I don't know what may befall me, whether I may find a
grave in the ocean, or among the savage men, or more savage wild
beasts on the Coast of Africa; nor am I anxious what may become
of me. I feel it my duty to go; and I very much fear that many of
those who preach the Gospel in this country, will blush when the
Saviour calls them to give an account of their labors in His
cause and tell them, "I commanded you to go into all the world,
and preach the Gospel to every creature;" (very emphatically he
exclaimed) the Saviour may ask where have you been? What have you
been doing? Have you endeavored to the utmost of your ability to
fulfill the commands I gave you, or have you sought your own
gratification, and your own ease, regardless of My commands?[56]

A distinguished Presbyterian minister said to Gurley, "A sermon which I heard from Lott Gary, shortly before he sailed for Africa, was the best extemporaneous sermon I ever heard. It contained more original and impressive thoughts, some of which are distinct in my memory, and never can be forgotten."[57] Elder John Bryce, assistant pastor of the First Baptist Church, afterwards confessed that he had never been so deeply interested in a sermon.[58]

READJUSTMENT ON AFRICAN SOIL

By the twenty-third of January, 1821, Gary and his church were ready to sail.[59] At half past six in the morning[60] the _Nautilus_, carrying 28 colonists and a number of children, left Norfolk, Virginia, en route to Sierra Leone.[61]

As the agents of the American Colonization Society, who made the journey, had not completed their negotiations for the purchase of a site for the settlers, the party remained at Freetown, Sierra Leone, for some months.[62] From there Cary wrote the Corresponding Secretary of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, March 13th:

_Rev. and Dear Sir_

I am happy that an opportunity is now afforded me, to inform the
Board through you, the only proper medium of communication with
them, that we all arrived safe in Africa. We had a long passage
of forty four days, yet we were wonderfully preserved by the
great Ruler of the winds and the seas....

I am truly sorry, that the hopes and expectations of the Board
cannot be realized, as to our missionary labours; for, as it
pleased you to have us connected with the Colonization Society,
and the agents of the Society upon their arrival here, finding
their prospects of getting lands very gloomy, so much so that
they disowned us as colonists; and the government's agent had
captured Africans for whom he was bound, by the laws of the
United States, to procure a place, in order to settle them, or
until there can be a more permanent settlement obtained, the
agent received us as labourers and mechanics, to be settled with
them in order to make preparations for the reception of others;
we are therefore bound to the government's agent. He has rented a
farm, and put us on it, and we must cultivate it for our support,
and for the support of these Africans; and pay as much of the
rent as we can. And as this obligation will last until lands are
purchased by the agents of the Colonization Society, I am greatly
afraid it will not end soon; and until it does end, our mission
labours will be very few. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, when he came
on his mission into this world, was found often with a broad axe
in his hand: and I believe that a good many corn field
missionaries would be a great blessing to this country, that is
if they were not confined to the field by law and by necessity.
We are bound by both. I converse very freely with you on this
subject, because with me it is a very important one, and because
of the interest which the Board has taken in this mission.[63]

Mrs. Cary, "a sensible woman and an exemplary Christian,"[64] was sick at this time and soon died, leaving her husband the care of their two children.[65] Despite this and the appalling circumstances of the first settlers, they wrote to the Board rejoicing that they were in the country of their forefathers and hoping that His gracious approbation would crown their labors.[66] Lott Cary kept constantly in mind the great object of his mission. He not only preached as often as opportunity would permit but he established a mission among the Mandingoes.[67]

Nevertheless, there was danger for some time that the whole enterprise would be abandoned. Whereupon, Captain Robert F. Stockton was sent to Africa in the armed schooner _Alligator_ with full powers from President Monroe and the American Colonization Society to make arrangements for a new and permanent settlement.[68] On December 11, he and Doctor Eli Ayres, the Society's agent, who had left America in July, anchored off Cape Mesurado or Montserado and, with John Mills, an English mulatto and slave dealer, as interpreter, made negotiations with King Peter, the principal chief around the Cape, for the purchase of a settlement. After much parleying and delay on the part of the king and treachery on the part of Mills,[69] they finally exchanged gunpowder, tobacco, rum, iron pots, beads, looking glasses, "four Hats, three Coats, three pair Shoes"[70] and other minor articles not worth more than $300 for that valuable tract of land[71] which was the nucleus of what is now the Republic of Liberia.[72]

Arrangements were made for the colonists to take possession of their new home the 7th of February, 1822.[73] The territory, finally including ninety miles of coast lying between the Junk and Sesters Rivers and extending nearly seventy miles into the interior, presented, on the one hand, an excellent opportunity to work among the Bassa, Vey, Dey and Kroo tribes,[74] who numbered about 125,000, and exhibited, on the other hand, many obstacles, for the natives were hostile, and the rainy season was approaching, at the time when provisions were scarce.

The condition of the colonists was so appalling that many proposed to return to Sierra Leone. Just a few more hours and the Cape would have been abandoned, but when the Agent went ashore to prepare for departure he was informed by Lott Gary that he was determined not to go. Nearly all the colonists were induced to follow his example.

In the event they suffered severely; nearly 1,000 natives attacked them in November, 1822, but were repulsed. During this and similar encounters with the natives, which lasted through the months of November and December, Lott Cary cooperated wisely with the Agent, Jehudi Ashmun,[75] and, although several of the colonists were killed and wounded, with only 37 men and boys he, on one occasion, drove back with considerable loss 1,500 wild and exasperated natives who were bent on extirpating the settlement. Lott Cary compared the little company of disturbed settlers to the Jews, who "grasped a weapon in one hand, while they labored with the other" to rebuild the city. But he is said to have asserted: "There never has been an hour or a minute, no, not even when the balls were flying around my head, when I could wish myself again in America."[76]

These colonists planted their church at Monrovia and soon had under way the nucleus of a flourishing Sunday-school.[77] Cary extended his labors to communities far and near, and by 1823 had 6 converts.[78] The following resolution adopted by the General Missionary Convention speaks for itself the sentiment of that body respecting the work of Cary and Teague up to May 7, 1823:[79]

The committee states that the present condition and prospects of
the mission are encouraging. Brethren Cary and Teague are at
present much occupied in aiding in the establishment of the
colony at Cape Mesurado. Their conduct has been good and that of
the former, in particular, has been specially commended by the
Agent of the Colonization Society. The committee recommends that
an able white missionary be stationed, as soon as practicable, at
Cape Mesurado. The mission has a double effect. While it tends to
introduce the gospel into Africa, a mission establishment on the
coast will essentially aid in the suppression of the slave trade.

In spite of the fact that his associate, Colin Teague, had returned to Freetown, Sierra Leone,[80] Lott Cary was adding some few of the natives to the church. In 1824, he baptized 9. One by the name of John from Grand Cape Mount, a town about eighty miles distant, proved a valuable helper by the good influence which he exerted. Some word from Hector Peters[81] had touched him and he came to the American settlement for instruction and baptism. Without being asked, he related his experience to the church.

"When me bin Sa' lone," he began, "me see all man go to church house--me go too--me be very bad man too--suppose a man can cus (curse) me--me can cus im too--suppose a man can fight me--me can fight im too.--Well, me go to church house--the man speak, and one word catch my heart (and at the same time laying his hand on his breast)--I go to my home--my heart be very heavy--and trouble me too--night time come--me fear me can't go to my bed for sleep--my heart trouble me so--something tell me go pray to God--me fall down to pray--no--my heart be too bad--I can't pray--I think so--I go die now--suppose I die--I go to hell--me be very bad man--pass all turrer (other) man--God be angry with me--soon I die--suppose man cus me this time--me can't cus him no more--suppose man fight me--me can't fight him no more--all the time my heart trouble me--all day--all night me can't sleep--by and by my heart grow too big--me fall down this time--now me can pray--me say Lord--have massey. Then light come in my heart--make me glad--make me light--make me love the Son of God--make me love everybody."

John was baptized the 20th of March, 1825. The church neatly dressed him, gave him an extra suit, about $10.50, 3 Bibles and 2 hymn books and sent him on his way rejoicing.[82]

The impetus received by the church was amazing. The membership by 1825 had increased to 60 or 70 and two or three pious emigrants were assisting in the work. This same year, Lott Cary directed the building of a substantial meeting house which would have been completed immediately if nails and boards could have been procured.[83] In a letter from Monrovia,[84] dated April 24, 1826, he wrote a brother in Norfolk: "We dedicated our meeting house last October; it was four weeks from the time we raised it to the time it was dedicated. It is quite a comfortable house, 30 x 20 feet, and ceiled inside nearly up to the plates, with a decent pulpit and seats. I feel very grateful to you for your services, and to the brethren and friends for their liberal contribution."[85]

This progress of the church might, at first blush, seem to say that everything was in a state of tranquility and peace. This is far from being the case. In the face of the record of Lott Cary as a Christian, a pastor, a representative of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society and a church builder in Africa, it is interesting to note the invective hurled against him by Governor Ashmun in 1823. The Governor's phraseology is unique. "Wretched," "morose," "obstinate," "soured," "narrow," "disobliging," "moral desert," "a corroding temper," and "destitute of natural affection," were some of the epithets used as over against "more obliging," "affectionate husband," "display of tenderness," "sweet and profound humility," "promoter of every commendable and pious design," "every laudable habit," "moral renovation," "habit of holiness," and "redeemed" when an understanding was perfected in 1824.[86]

The cause of the misunderstanding was of long standing. Agents of the American Colonization Society prior to Ashmun's time were accused of transmitting false reports to the board and of appropriating to their own use the provisions and supplies of the colonists.[87] It is also known that a commercial company of Baltimore, whose business it was to prosecute the African slave trade, was jealous of the Society and tried to undermine it. In addition, the trials and hardships incidental to founding the colony had reduced many of the settlers to want.[88] The most ignorant could thus fathom their condition: "We suffer: if the Society have means and does not apply them to our relief, it is without benevolence; if it have not means, it wants power and in either case is unworthy of our confidence."[89]

This lack of power showed itself in the helplessness of the government to restrain the first vestiges of insubordination and to enforce the law. Thereupon, the discontentment of Cary and one or two others became widespread.[90] Probably the manhood consciousness of Cary would not have asserted itself so soon had not the occasion arisen between August 31 and September 25, 1823, when the principal Agent attempted to redistribute the town lots of the earliest colonists who alleged that they held them under a former sanction of the Agent and so refused to have them redistributed. They resolved to appeal to the board of the American Colonization Society.[91] Moreover, they openly avowed that they would neither survey nor cultivate any of the lots (thickly covered with undergrowth) assigned to them nor aid in any public improvements[92] until they should hear from the board. On the 13th of December, Ashmun published the announcement that there were in the Colony more than a dozen healthy persons who would not receive any more provisions out of the public store till they earned them. Six days later the Agent ordered the rations of the offending persons to be stopped. Next morning a few[93] of the colonists assembled at the Agency House and vociferously demanded the Agent to rescind his order. Ashmun was immovable. The colonists straightway hastened to the storehouse where rations for the week were then being issued and each seized a store of provisions and went home.[94] Lott Cary had no small influence and share in this seditious proceeding.[95] Toward evening, the Agent addressed a circular "to all the colonists" declaring that the impropriety of the morning's act would be communicated to the board. He further exhorted all to go to work and not to commit such an offence again for their sakes in this world or in the one to come. Lott Cary was not to perform any of his ministerial functions "till time and circumstances shall have evidenced the deepness and sincerity of his repentance."[96] Gurley states that the leaders of the sedition, led by Lott Cary, almost "immediately confessed and deplored" their error.[97]

It seemed in 1824 that the affair of the previous year would be repeated when, on March 17, the rations were reduced one half. The act was viewed by the colonists as oppression and they openly reproached Ashmun. Through all of this period, the spirit of disorganization was working so that the colonists furnished little support towards developing the government.[98]

In communicating the account of the disturbances to the board, Ashmun wrote, March 15, that "the services rendered by Lott Cary in the Colony, who has with very few (and those recent exceptions), done honor to the selection of the Baptist Missionary Society, under whose auspices he was sent out to Africa, entitle his agency in this affair, to the most indulgent construction which it will bear. The hand which records the lawless transaction, would long since have been cold in the grave, had it not been for the unwearied and painful attentions of this individual rendered at all hours--of every description--and continued several months."[99]

The General Missionary Convention was influenced very little, if any, by the report, if, indeed, they had received it officially. At the annual meeting of the Board of Managers, April, 1824, the committee on the African mission had "no hesitation in recommending a careful regard to this mission, which though it may seem to slumber for a moment, in their opinion promises great and extensive usefulness." The board recommended

That a constant correspondence be kept up with the brethren there
by which their minds will be encouraged, and their hands
strengthened and through which information may be received of the
state of the Colony, the progress of the cause, and of the
earliest opportunities which may offer for introducing the Gospel
more extensively into the heart of Africa.[100]

There is no further account of this misunderstanding other than that from the pen of Ashmun. Mr. Taylor,[101] the biographer of Lott Cary, remarks: "He (Cary) was compelled, to some extent, to act the part of a mediator between the rebellious colonists, who considered themselves injured, and Mr. Ashmun, the Governor. While for a moment he might seem to act injudiciously, he possessed too much noble and generous feeling to be guilty of a dishonorable act." The Rev. G. Winfred Hervey[102] thinks that "in any controversy between mules and muledrivers, the latter have several advantages among which one of the most important is that they have the exclusive use of vocal attack and defence. Cary was too prudent a man to publish an apology for constructive sedition; and as he has not left us his own explanation of any of the facts in the case, we have not all the materials on which to base an impartial judgment."

The agitation at length had its effect. It was directly responsible for the establishment, in 1824, of a new form of government which was approved by Cary and his fellow-citizens and in which the colonists had a full expression.[103] Gurley[104] and Ashmun both testified that Cary readily entered into the spirit of the new government.[105] Only eight days, from August 14 to 22, were needed to organize a government that should be energetic and feasible.[106] "Beneath the thatched roof of the first rude house for divine worship ever erected in the Colony stood the little company of one hundred colored emigrants, who had ventured all things to gain for themselves and children a home and inheritance of liberty and before God pledged themselves to maintain the Constitution of their choice, and prove faithful to the great trust committed to their hands."[107] Despite the seeming repetition of the chagrin of past irregularities in September, 1824, however, the board of the American Colonization Society passed a motion, April 2, 1825, to organize, on the 18th of the next month, a permanent government for the colony.[108]

USEFULNESS OF THE MAN

During these times Lott Cary continued to increase his popularity by performing the pastoral duties of the Providence Baptist Church as vigorously as he could.[109] He preached several times each week, and, in addition, gave religious instruction to many of the native children. A day school of twenty-one pupils was begun April 18, 1825.[110] By June, the number had increased to thirty-two, nineteen of whom came from Grand Cape Mount, some miles distant.[111] Cary was handicapped in this work by the lack of funds, by the demoralizing gin traffic of the Europeans, by Mohammedanism, by the deadly climate and by degraded fetichism,[112] yet, in the course of seven weeks, he taught several children to read the Bible intelligently, although he could not devote more than three hours a day to this work.[113]

In the meantime, in keeping with the report of the Board of Managers of the General Missionary Convention in 1823, Governor Ashmun wrote to the American Colonization Society, March 20, 1825, that "the natives have universally a most affecting persuasion of the superiority of white men.... I cannot hesitate to say that the missionary, or principal of the proposed establishment (_i.e._, a religious mission for Africa), ought by preference to be a white man."[114] The little colony of near 400 souls was suffering for an adequate educational program. Excepting Governor Ashmun, there was not an individual there who had ever received a plain English education.[115] Allowing that and granting that there were few intelligent Negroes in the United States,[116] Ashmun would have appeared more hopeful of Negro leadership had he made his request to the board more general.

Whether because of this appeal or not, it is singular to note that the Rev. Calvin Holton, a graduate of Waterville College (now Colby College), offered his service to the board the same year and, with 34 emigrants,[117] sailed from Boston in the brig _Vine_, January 4, 1826. He was employed to establish and direct a Lancastrian system of education for (1) the children of the colonists, (2) for the native children living in the settlement, (3) for the recaptured Africans who numbered about 120, and (4) for the young men and women who were teaching or preparing themselves for this profession.[118] His work was not of long duration for on the 2d of July, 1826, he died[119] and was succeeded early in 1827 by the Rev. G. M'Gill, "an intelligent and experienced coloured Teacher from Baltimore."[120]

About this time the number of native boys who received instruction was only 50. These were trained either to be interpreters to American and European missionaries or religious teachers. Lott Cary had 45 scholars enrolled in his school at Monrovia.[121] He was assisted by a lad of fourteen years and by the Rev. John N. Lewis, another missionary sent out by the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society, but who, from lack of adequate support, turned to other business.[122]

Lott Cary had a large task to perform with this school. As a matter of fact, "the hopes of the African tribes," said Ashmun,[123] "from Gallinas to Trade Town, are at present suspended upon it. Most of the boys who attend it are sons of the principal individuals of the country, and more than half can read the New Testament intelligently, and understand the English language nearly as well as the settlers of the same age." The expense of a native boy was estimated at $25 and of a girl at $20.[124]

Gurley believed that the schools were numerous enough and amply able to afford instruction to every child in the colony. Although this instruction was compulsory, it is not altogether evident, however, that at any place save Monrovia a real educational program was begun. Ashmun related that about six out of every ten emigrants were illiterate and that just one pious individual assisted by two or three utterly illiterate exhorters was the only instructor around the settlement. "Not one in five of these people habitually attend, even on Sundays, such religious instruction as they possess." Consequently, he adds that the moral power exerted was not sufficient to offset "the demoralizing influence of corrupt examples."[125]

The Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society and Lott Cary, however, were expending their funds liberally on the schools. The surplus funds in the colonial treasury plus the subscription of $1,400 from the colonists (including $300 subscribed by Ashmun) were spent for education.[126] Yet from all sources enough money could not be raised to continue all the schools begun. Cary, in 1827, removed the day school from Monrovia to Grand Cape Mount. He made appeal after appeal to send the light to Africa. To prove that the natives would sooner steal the light than miss it he gives the following incident that occurred in removing the school establishment to Grand Cape Mount:

"I had upwards of forty natives," he said,[127] "to carry our baggage, and they carried something like 250 bars ($187.50); a part of them went on four days beforehand, and had every opportunity to commit depredations, but of all the goods that were sent and carried there, nothing was lost except fifteen spelling books; five of them were recovered again."

Mr. Cary's letter to Mr. Crane will explain somewhat the circumstances of the school at Grand Cape Mount.

_June 11, 1827._

On yesterday week, being our monthly meeting, I baptized one
young man, and after preaching in the afternoon, we had the
happiness to break bread together in the house of the Lord. I
don't like to be too sanguine, but I think he will be a blessing
to the church; his name is John Reavy (Revey)--came out in the
first expedition, and has been engaged in teaching a native
school on the Sherbro, with Nathaniel Brander, until the last two
years, which he has spent at Sierra Leone.

For I fear I may not have another opportunity to write you again
soon, I must again call your attention to the immediate
establishment of a school at Cape Mount. Since writing the fore
part of this letter, I have received an order for books from Cape
Mount, which I have sent. I requested, at the same time, the
native Brother, John,[128] to come down immediately, and I would
try and arrange business so as to send up a teacher with him; and
on proposing the subject to Brother John Reavy, he is quite
willing to go up to commence the school as soon as the Brother
comes down. I expect to allow him $10.00 per month and find him.
My means at present will not justify these engagements, but I
know you will do what you can when there is an opportunity; if
you cannot send out tobacco or other articles, send out the
money. United States bank notes pass as well here as they do with
you. I shall try to keep the wheels going until you can send out
supplies. I want some writing paper and ink powder or ink, and
wish the Society (Richmond) would send me a bbl. of single nails.
You will please make my respects to all the brethren and friends,
and accept the same for yourself and the Board.

LOTT CARY.[129]

After many months of delay[130] the school was established November 10, 1827, at Big Town, Grand Cape Mount. John Revey was in charge. "The school room," says Cary,[131] "is nearly fifteen feet by thirty. We made arrangements to have worship in it on the ensuing Lord's day, and I had the honour to address a very attentive audience twice, through brother John. After service I informed the congregation that I should need their assistance the following day in preparing seats, &c., and they turned out like men, and performed more labour by eight o'clock, than I expected to have accomplished in the whole day. We got seats prepared for about 60 children by 4 o'clock, and gave notice that as the school would be organized on the day following, at 9 o'clock, A.M., all persons wishing to have their children instructed were requested to come at that time and have them entered, and the number received was 37. I read and explained a short set of regulations which I had drawn up; and as I had the king and his head men present, I got them to sign the articles of agreement in the presence of the whole congregation. For twelve months I think the school will, of course, be expensive. The present arrangement is--I agree to allow brother Revey $20 per month, and find him provisions, washing, &c."

Mr. Cary thought that by this arrangement the station at Grand Cape Mount would net better results than the one at Monrovia. Neither he nor the Richmond African Baptist Missionary Society were able to maintain both. Some funds were received[132] but it developed in about a year that the school had to be given up for lack of funds and assistants.[133]

Other duties, moreover, required some time. Lott Cary realized from the beginning of the colony that a missionary in Africa ought to be more than a corrector of moral ills and a "doctor" of divinity; he would be fortunate indeed if he could mend human bodies. As a result, Cary was constrained to forego much of the joy which he had anticipated from efforts to show men the living Christ by accepting the position of Health Officer of the colony, August 31, 1822.[134] He had no medical schooling but with the use of home remedies, patent medicines,[135] and common sense, he was able to cure some. Until the 31st of August, 1823, he was practically the only physician in the settlement (excepting Dr. Ayres who was present a part of the year 1822). After that Dr. Ayres returned on the _Oswego_ in the late spring of 1825.[136] He and sixty emigrants who came with him were soon suffering from the disease of the country and had to rely on the medical experience of Cary. Eight emigrants died[137] and by December, Dr. Ayres was compelled to leave the colony. The climate was so unhealthy that hardly any one escaped its pestilence.[138] When, in addition, the poor housing conditions, the inadequate sanitation and the scanty hospital supplies[139] are considered, it is remarkable that so many escaped death.

Every ship[140] that brought emigrants meant more work for Cary. On February 13, 1824,[141] one hundred and five emigrants arrived in the ship _Cyrus_ and in less than a month every one was prostrate with the fever.[142] "Astonishing," said Ashmun,[143] "that in this atmosphere should exist causes so universal in their operation, as amongst all the varieties of age, sex and habit, not to leave one in the whole number without disease, and that in less than four weeks; and stranger still, that the blast should be so tempered to the strength of the constitution of every individual, as only to have swept off three small children. Men may call these phenomena in human life, the effects of the laws of nature; I choose to call them singular proofs of the Providence of God over all his creatures."

When the brig _Hunter_ arrived, March 13, 1825, with 66 settlers, nearly all of whom were farmers,[144] all were stricken during the first month. Although Cary himself was confined to his house nursing a severe injury, only a few children were fatally affected.[145]

Cary gratuitously spent about half of his time in caring for the sick of the colony. This fact was a matter of course as no funds were specially designated for this purpose. Cary was financially able to do such a thing. He had defrayed no small share of his own expense[146] in equipment for Africa, and when the colonists were in need of medical aid, he spent much of his means in this direction.[147] In 1825 he still owned a house and lot near Richmond which he was desirous of selling.[148]

Lott Cary was so occupied with caring for the sick that his prospective trip to America in the spring of 1826 had to be postponed.[149] He was also physician to Governor Ashmun. The governor was very ill in May after an exposure of four hours in attempting to save the schooner _Catherine_ from destruction. "The prescriptions of our excellent and experienced assistant physician, the Rev. L. Cary," the Governor said,[150] "under the blessing of Divine Providence, so far succeeded as to afford complete relief, only leaving me in a very emaciated and enfeebled state, about the end of the first week in July."

All of this was just part of the work that Lott Cary had set himself to accomplish. By his unselfish labors and untiring efforts he had won the hearts of the natives. He had been indefatigable in his efforts to uplift the colony. The morale of the settlement was greatly lifted. Drunkenness, profanity and quarreling were unknown; the Sabbath was observed with strictness.[151] Nearly the whole adult population had come under the influence of Christianity. On the site of a once desolate forest consecrated to demon worship was erected the commodious chapel which stood as a monument of the overthrow of heathenism and as a tribute to the Son of God.[152]

But in the sight of this landmark of Christianity, the slave trade was carried on extensively.[153] In 1825 from eight to ten, even fifteen traders were engaged at the same time off the coast. In July "contracts were existing for eight hundred slaves to be furnished in the short space of four months within eight miles of the Cape. Four hundred of these were to be purchased for two American traders. During the same season, a boat belonging to a Frenchman, having on board twenty-six slaves, all in irons, was upset in the mouth of the St. Paul River and twenty of their number perished."[154] Between October, 1825, and April, 1826, no less than one hundred and eighty Negroes were reclaimed from slave traders and taught the Scripture.[155]

When Gurley visited the colony in August, 1824, he found the state of religion and morality hopeful, defenses adequate, quiet Sabbaths and physical improvements which indicated that a considerable amount of labor had been done. For twenty-two months following, the jails were in disuse.[156] By 1826 the people had developed from inexperienced immigrants to efficient citizens. No family was without ample food and wearing apparel. Wages were high and employment could be found everywhere. The common laborers were receiving from $.75 to $1.75 a day, while the mechanics got $2 a day. Houses were built and a telegraph system was soon to be installed. There were also two corps of militia, an artillery battery of fifty men and forty infantrymen. These had charge of the fifteen large carriages and three small pivot guns.[157]

A printing press costing more than $1,000, in addition to the salary of a printer, had been sent out. The citizens of Liberia expressed their thanks by subscribing nearly $200 "toward the immediate issue and support of a publick newspaper."[158] One thousand volumes of books, a complete set of the North American Review, a gift of Editor Sparks, and many other useful things were on hand.[159]

Economic effort, however, did not at first play as conspicuous a part in the missionary adventure of Lott Cary as it did in the lives of the pioneers, George Liele and David George, who left this country primarily to be able to make a living.[160] Nevertheless, the economic feature developed after a time. The agricultural progress of the country was rapidly promoted. The sultry and moist climate greatly accelerated[161] the growth of coffee,[162] rice and cassada. The Rev. Colston M. Waring was the first to attempt farming on anything like a large scale. His crop of rice and cassada on a ten acre farm failed and checked so bold an example from all except Lott Cary. He, too, lost a promising crop in 1825 on the same kind of land because of the birds and the monkeys.[163] This failure, however, showed him that either farming as the natives adopted (scratching the surface of the ground with a sharp stick) or more improved methods of thoroughly preparing the soil had to be tried.[164] In the following year, Cary enlarged his farm, had it cleared, dug it up with picks and hoes, and, in June, sowed about three bushels of rice to the acre. At the first cutting, on the 20th of October, it averaged 50 kroos (a measure varying from 3 to 5 winchester gallons) per acre.[165]

In one letter, he says:[166] "I have a promising little crop of rice and cassada, and have planted about 180 coffee trees this week, a part of which I expect, will produce next season, as they are now in bloom. I think, sir, that in a very few years we shall send you coffee of a better quality than you have ever seen brought into your market. We find that trees of two species abound in great quantities on the Cape."

On the 7th of July, 1825, Cary reported a discovery of gold in the sand near little Cape Mount.[167] The appearance of gold was certain to develop the country commercially; some trade was already being carried on. Endeavoring to participate therein, nine of the natives built a ten ton schooner which carried from four to eight thousand dollars' worth of goods each trip.[168] Doctor Alexander[169] relates that between the first of January and the fifteenth of July, 1826, fifteen vessels stopped at Monrovia.