settlement more available and compact; and in securing the trade of the St. Paul’s river, which was an object of great importance.  Subsequently to that period, other additions have been made to the possessions of the colonists; and, at present, the colony extends nearly 150 miles along the coast, and a considerable distance into the interior.  The government of the colony commands eight trading stations, established on the purchased land for the convenience of, and intercourse with, the natives, from Cape Mount to Trade Town; and the prospects and advantages of the colonists, are every day improving.

The laws by which a colony so prosperous and happy is governed, must suggest a subject of deep concern to every man who is interested in any project, that has for its end the promotion of the well being of any section of his fellow-creatures.  In this little colony, which has succeeded so effectually in securing the confidence and attachment of the natives, the utmost vigilance appears to have been exercised from the commencement, to prevent any dangerous precedents from being established, that might afterwards be cited for the defence of customs injurious to the interests of the settlers.  One of the first principles adopted, even before the regulations by which the colonists were governed assumed the tangible shape of law, was that all persons born in the colony, or residing in it, should be free, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of citizenship known to the United States of America, which was taken as the model of the Liberian Constitution in all respects, except that anomaly, the institution of slavery.  It must always continue to be a matter of surprise and regret, that a country which expended so much blood on the purchase of its independence, should sanction within its boundary the existence of slavery as a legal right.  The ermine is said to die if a single stain fall on its spotless skin, and one would suppose that the giant republic of the new world would be equally susceptible throughout her mighty frame of the taint of slavery; but, perhaps, there is a fine moral in the fact, to shew us that the works of man, even in his most elevated inspirations, must of necessity be imperfect.  The wisdom and power of the Godhead alone can produce perfection.

The colonists of Liberia resolved to avoid the error of the parent country.  They began by banishing the very name of slave, and they have persisted in their resolution to keep themselves free.  Under the provisions of their constitution, the Colonization Society is empowered to make such regulations as may appear requisite for the government of the colony, until it shall withdraw its superintendence, and leave the colonists to govern themselves; the common law, as it is in force in the United States, is applied to the jurisdiction of Liberia.  In 1824 a regular plan for the civil government of the colony was drawn up, and a digest of laws framed, which have been approved