the small vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the natives), feeling outraged, made another attack, in the course of which some of them and one of the colonists were killed.  In the course of the operations moreover, through the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves, fire was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of property destroyed, though the powder and some of the provisions were saved.  Thus at the very beginning, by accident though it happened, the shadow of England fell across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with the natives.  When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of settlers on January 7, 1822—­which arrival was the first real landing of settlers on what is now Liberian soil—­he found that the Deys wished to annul the agreement previously made and to give back the articles paid.  He himself was seized in the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no better understanding than that the colonists might remain only until they could make a new purchase elsewhere.  Now appeared on the scene Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient following to enforce his decrees.  Through this man shone something of the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed.  Hearing the story he decided in favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, “Having sold your country and accepted payment, you must take the consequences.  Let the Americans have their land immediately.”  To the agent he said, “I promise you protection.  If these people give you further disturbance, send for me; and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old king George’s on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes.”  Thus on the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured.

[Footnote 1:  Ashmun:  History of the American Colony in Liberia, from 1821 to 1823, 8.]

[Footnote 2:  Ashmun, 9.]

By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home.  It was now decided to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised.  The advantages of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement.  By July the island was completely abandoned.  Meanwhile, however, things had not been going well.  The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them there was constant danger of attack.  The rainy season moreover had set in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually claimed its victims.  Ayres at length became discouraged.  He proposed that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them.  It was at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the colonists, stepped forth to fame.