and when we refer to the large proportion which the liberated Africans bear to the rest of the population in Sierra Leone, equal to about three-fourths of the whole, and consider the heavy expense at which this country endeavours to fulfil the serious responsibility it has taken upon itself in the liberation of these unfortunate captives, I am persuaded that all the particulars which can be collected respecting Liberia, will be deemed worthy of the most serious attention.  My readers, therefore, will not, I trust, think that I devote too much space to the subject, if I close my rapid sketch of the progress and fortunes of this settlement, with the latest information respecting it, which has been received in Europe.  It is of a very recent date, and is from the pen of Dr. Mechlin, the Governor of Liberia:—­

“The colony is daily adding strength and respectability to its character, and if even now all patronage were withdrawn, the colonists are fully capable of sustaining and defending themselves from any assaults of the natives, and regulating their own concerns in such a manner as to secure the prosperity of the colony.  A court, courthouse, and trial by jury, are established.  At this moment, since the departure of Governor Mechlin, and until the new Governor arrives out, there are none other than blacks among the inhabitants of Liberia.

“The slaves who were captured and brought into St. Augustine, and Key West, after remaining in the United States from six to twelve months, were sent to Liberia, a quantity of land being granted to them there.  They have gone on to cultivate it in a manner equal, if not superior, to that of the colonists.  They have been able to accomplish thus much from what experience they gained while in this country.  These people arrived at Liberia naked; they have clothed themselves from the avails of their labour, and, what is rather singular, they have gone into the town to seek out for themselves wives, esteeming themselves too far advanced in civilization and refinement to form connexions among the natives, although they might obtain from among them much more comely persons than they are enabled to find among the very meanest of the colonists, from whom they are obliged to select.  This fact alone shows, that but a small degree of civilization infused into this people, tends to the elevation of their character.

“The colonists of Monrovia are said to be much more inclined to trade than to cultivate the earth.  The English and the French vessels which come there, have engrossed almost the whole trade of the colony, the Americans not being able to compete with them.  Many of the natives come into the town, and are employed as labourers by the colonists.  The colonists also receive some of the children of the natives into their families, and send them to school.  At different times the natives have made three or four attacks on the settlements, but have always been repelled with spirit; for the