profit, and the vast extent of sea-coast, east as well as west, affords them great facilities for escaping. The African people must be changed before this trade can be annihilated. Had the same money which has been required to sustain these costly squadrons, been expended in purchasing territory along the coast, and in settling it with Christianized negroes, far more would have been accomplished already, and the foundation been laid for its final extermination, so far as the influence of such colonies could be made to extend.
We speak confidently upon this subject, because the history and present condition of Liberia have demonstrated the superiority of Christian colonization over all other modes of suppressing this trade. The territory purchased by the Liberians, was the theatre of probably the most active scenes such as have been described. They own over four hundred miles of coast, with average depth of thirty miles, and from this region and much of the adjacent territory, the slave-trade has been wholly banished; and the very tribes which were once foremost in the business, have been transformed into peaceful subjects of law, and industrious followers of legitimate pursuits. The natives were not compelled to fly before the colonists like our Indians, but were allowed to remain, and become partial citizens of the Republic. It is supposed that there are now about one hundred thousand natives within its limits, and that two hundred thousand more have entered into covenant
