The third and fourth administrations of Benson passed uneventfully, and in January, 1864, Daniel B. Warner, who, the May previous, had been elected, succeeded him.  Warner was born near Baltimore, in 1812, and emigrated in 1823.  The Civil War in America, with the sanguine hopes it aroused in the breast of the Negro, caused a rapid falling off in the number of applicants for transportation to Liberia.  The income of the Society for once exceeded the demand upon it, and several good investments were made.  Liberia, however, was demanding more cultivators.  A supply came from an unexpected quarter.  Two societies were organized by thrifty negroes of Barbadoes, to return to Africa and make their home in the new Republic.  Agents were sent out, and sympathy with their enterprise enlisted.  The Liberian Government issued a proclamation of cordial invitation, and the Legislature appropriated $4,000 to assist the colonists, increasing in their case the allotment of land from ten to twenty-five acres for each family.  The Colonization Society devoted $10,000 to their aid, and despatched an experienced agent to take charge of the expedition.  A large vessel was chartered, and after a pleasant voyage of thirty-three days, without the loss of a single life, 346 emigrants were landed at Monrovia.  They proved a welcome and valuable acquisition, many being mechanics and skilled laborers.

After the close of the war, the alluring prospect of “ten acres and a mule” having failed our freedmen, the Society again received numerous applications for passage.  The M. C. Stevens had been sold during the period of depression; another and larger vessel, the Golconda, was therefore purchased and fitted for an emigrant ship.  During her first four voyages she safely carried over 1,684 persons.

In January, 1867, the semi-centennial of the founding of the Colonization Society was celebrated in Washington.  From the review of the fifty years’ work it appeared that the sum of $2,558,907 had been expended, exclusive of outlay by the Maryland Society, and of the large sums expended by the United States Government. 11,909 emigrants had been sent over, in 147 vessels; of these 4,541 were born free, 344 purchased freedom, and 5,957 were emancipated for the purpose of going to Liberia.[13] Besides these, 1,227 had been settled by the Maryland Society, and 5,722 recaptured Africans had been sent back by the United States Government.

In January, 1868, James S. Payne entered upon the office of President.  He is another example of Liberian training.  Born in Richmond, Va., in 1819, he was taken before his tenth year to Monrovia by his father.  One of the leading purposes of his administration was the establishment of closer intercourse with the great tribes of the interior.  These people, the Mandingoes especially, were much further advanced in civilization than the coast tribes, who formed a barricade between them and Liberia, and offered determined opposition to any attempt to penetrate inland.  They feared to lose their advantageous position as middlemen, and succeeded in keeping anything but the vaguest rumors about the interior from reaching the colonists.  In 1869 Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian appointed by the Government, and provided with liberal financial aid by a wealthy citizen of New York, accomplished an extremely interesting journey to a point over 200 miles from the coast.[14]