England, whose protege on the north looked with jealousy and distrust on Liberian policy, remained unsettled.  The danger was real and pressing.  Clearly recognition must be sought and an international footing obtained without delay.  President Roberts accordingly determined to go abroad, and as at once chief magistrate and ambassador appeal to the leading courts of Europe.  His first effort, however, was directed toward obtaining alliance with the United States.  In America his reception was enthusiastic.  But the delicacy with which the dissension on the slavery question made it necessary to handle every subject remotely bearing on that bone of contention, prevented him from obtaining even the formal recognition of Liberia.  Roberts then determined by pleading his country’s cause in England to arouse compassion in the heart of the power from which there was most to fear.  Here substantial rewards met his efforts.  His prepossessing personality, tact, and statesmanlike qualities won many friends.[12] With their support the recognition of Liberia as a sovereign State was soon obtained, together with a commercial treaty which left nothing to be desired.  In further evidence of kindly sentiment the English Government presented the young Republic with a trim little cutter of four guns for coast protection.  In France and Belgium similar generous treatment was experienced, and Roberts was conveyed home in triumph on the British man-of-war Amazon.

A second visit of Roberts to England, in 1852, four years later, to adjust disputes with traders who claimed certain tracts of land, was equally successful, and France, under Louis Napoleon, presented him with arms and uniforms for the equipment of the Liberian troops.  In 1852 Prussia also extended her friendship, soon followed by Brazil and the free Hanse towns.  In 1862, the necessity for cautious dealing with the race question having passed away, the United States government at last formally recognized the Republic, and Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Hayti formed treaties in 1864.  The consent of Portugal and Denmark in 1865, and of Austria in 1867, brought Liberia into treaty relations with nearly all the leading commercial nations.

The internal condition of the Republic during the first decade was one of unprecedented growth and prosperity.  The Colonization Society in America was in a flourishing condition, and gained friends on every side.  Its receipts for the ten years were not far short of a million dollars; and this generous means permitted the transportation, in the same period, of over five thousand chosen emigrants.  The accession of so large a force of laborers added a new stimulus to the activity awakened by self-government.  Many new settlements were formed and all the older ones received an infusion of new strength.  Agriculture, especially the cultivation of the great staples, rice, coffee, sugar and cotton, made rapid progress; while commerce was stimulated by the establishment of regular monthly lines of steamers between England and various points on the coast, the first of which was started in 1853.  The enterprise of Holland soon added still other lines.  Communication with America was at the same time facilitated by the regular trips of a large vessel built for the purpose, the gift to the Society of Mr. John C. Stevens of Maryland.