By the twenty-third of January, 1821, Gary and his church were ready
to sail.[59] At half past six in the morning[60] the _Nautilus_,
carrying 28 colonists and a number of children, left Norfolk,
Virginia, en route to Sierra Leone.[61]
As the agents of the American Colonization Society, who made the
journey, had not completed their negotiations for the purchase of a
site for the settlers, the party remained at Freetown, Sierra Leone,
for some months.[62] From there Cary wrote the Corresponding Secretary
of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, March 13th:
_Rev. and Dear Sir_
I am happy that an opportunity is now afforded me, to inform the
Board through you, the only proper medium of communication with
them, that we all arrived safe in Africa. We had a long passage
of forty four days, yet we were wonderfully preserved by the
great Ruler of the winds and the seas....
I am truly sorry, that the hopes and expectations of the Board
cannot be realized, as to our missionary labours; for, as it
pleased you to have us connected with the Colonization Society,
and the agents of the Society upon their arrival here, finding
their prospects of getting lands very gloomy, so much so that
they disowned us as colonists; and the government's agent had
captured Africans for whom he was bound, by the laws of the
United States, to procure a place, in order to settle them, or
until there can be a more permanent settlement obtained, the
agent received us as labourers and mechanics, to be settled with
them in order to make preparations for the reception of others;
we are therefore bound to the government's agent. He has rented a
farm, and put us on it, and we must cultivate it for our support,
and for the support of these Africans; and pay as much of the
rent as we can. And as this obligation will last until lands are
purchased by the agents of the Colonization Society, I am greatly
afraid it will not end soon; and until it does end, our mission
labours will be very few. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, when he came
on his mission into this world, was found often with a broad axe
in his hand: and I believe that a good many corn field
missionaries would be a great blessing to this country, that is
if they were not confined to the field by law and by necessity.
We are bound by both. I converse very freely with you on this
subject, because with me it is a very important one, and because
of the interest which the Board has taken in this mission.[63]
Mrs. Cary, "a sensible woman and an exemplary Christian,"[64] was sick
at this time and soon died, leaving her husband the care of their two
children.[65] Despite this and the appalling circumstances of the
first settlers, they wrote to the Board rejoicing that they were in
the country of their forefathers and hoping that His gracious
approbation would crown their labors.[66] Lott Cary kept constantly in
mind the great object of his mission. He not only preached as often as
opportunity would permit but he established a mission among the
Mandingoes.[67]
Nevertheless, there was danger for some time that the whole enterprise
would be abandoned. Whereupon, Captain Robert F. Stockton was sent to
Africa in the armed schooner _Alligator_ with full powers from
President Monroe and the American Colonization Society to make
arrangements for a new and permanent settlement.[68] On December 11,
he and Doctor Eli Ayres, the Society's agent, who had left America in
July, anchored off Cape Mesurado or Montserado and, with John Mills,
an English mulatto and slave dealer, as interpreter, made negotiations
with King Peter, the principal chief around the Cape, for the purchase
of a settlement. After much parleying and delay on the part of the
king and treachery on the part of Mills,[69] they finally exchanged
gunpowder, tobacco, rum, iron pots, beads, looking glasses, "four
Hats, three Coats, three pair Shoes"[70] and other minor articles not
worth more than $300 for that valuable tract of land[71] which was the
nucleus of what is now the Republic of Liberia.[72]
Arrangements were made for the colonists to take possession of their
new home the 7th of February, 1822.[73] The territory, finally
including ninety miles of coast lying between the Junk and Sesters
Rivers and extending nearly seventy miles into the interior,
presented, on the one hand, an excellent opportunity to work among the
Bassa, Vey, Dey and Kroo tribes,[74] who numbered about 125,000, and
exhibited, on the other hand, many obstacles, for the natives were
hostile, and the rainy season was approaching, at the time when
provisions were scarce.
The condition of the colonists was so appalling that many proposed to
return to Sierra Leone. Just a few more hours and the Cape would have
been abandoned, but when the Agent went ashore to prepare for
departure he was informed by Lott Gary that he was determined not to
go. Nearly all the colonists were induced to follow his example.
In the event they suffered severely; nearly 1,000 natives attacked
them in November, 1822, but were repulsed. During this and similar
encounters with the natives, which lasted through the months of
November and December, Lott Cary cooperated wisely with the Agent,
Jehudi Ashmun,[75] and, although several of the colonists were killed
and wounded, with only 37 men and boys he, on one occasion, drove back
with considerable loss 1,500 wild and exasperated natives who were
bent on extirpating the settlement. Lott Cary compared the little
company of disturbed settlers to the Jews, who "grasped a weapon in
one hand, while they labored with the other" to rebuild the city. But
he is said to have asserted: "There never has been an hour or a
minute, no, not even when the balls were flying around my head, when I
could wish myself again in America."[76]
These colonists planted their church at Monrovia and soon had under
way the nucleus of a flourishing Sunday-school.[77] Cary extended his
labors to communities far and near, and by 1823 had 6 converts.[78]
The following resolution adopted by the General Missionary Convention
speaks for itself the sentiment of that body respecting the work of
Cary and Teague up to May 7, 1823:[79]
The committee states that the present condition and prospects of
the mission are encouraging. Brethren Cary and Teague are at
present much occupied in aiding in the establishment of the
colony at Cape Mesurado. Their conduct has been good and that of
the former, in particular, has been specially commended by the
Agent of the Colonization Society. The committee recommends that
an able white missionary be stationed, as soon as practicable, at
Cape Mesurado. The mission has a double effect. While it tends to
introduce the gospel into Africa, a mission establishment on the
coast will essentially aid in the suppression of the slave trade.
In spite of the fact that his associate, Colin Teague, had returned to
Freetown, Sierra Leone,[80] Lott Cary was adding some few of the
natives to the church. In 1824, he baptized 9. One by the name of John
from Grand Cape Mount, a town about eighty miles distant, proved a
valuable helper by the good influence which he exerted. Some word from
Hector Peters[81] had touched him and he came to the American
settlement for instruction and baptism. Without being asked, he
related his experience to the church.
"When me bin Sa' lone," he began, "me see all man go to church
house--me go too--me be very bad man too--suppose a man can cus
(curse) me--me can cus im too--suppose a man can fight me--me can
fight im too.--Well, me go to church house--the man speak, and one
word catch my heart (and at the same time laying his hand on his
breast)--I go to my home--my heart be very heavy--and trouble me
too--night time come--me fear me can't go to my bed for sleep--my
heart trouble me so--something tell me go pray to God--me fall down to
pray--no--my heart be too bad--I can't pray--I think so--I go die
now--suppose I die--I go to hell--me be very bad man--pass all turrer
(other) man--God be angry with me--soon I die--suppose man cus me this
time--me can't cus him no more--suppose man fight me--me can't fight
him no more--all the time my heart trouble me--all day--all night me
can't sleep--by and by my heart grow too big--me fall down this
time--now me can pray--me say Lord--have massey. Then light come in my
heart--make me glad--make me light--make me love the Son of God--make
me love everybody."
John was baptized the 20th of March, 1825. The church neatly dressed
him, gave him an extra suit, about $10.50, 3 Bibles and 2 hymn books
and sent him on his way rejoicing.[82]
The impetus received by the church was amazing. The membership by 1825
had increased to 60 or 70 and two or three pious emigrants were
assisting in the work. This same year, Lott Cary directed the building
of a substantial meeting house which would have been completed
immediately if nails and boards could have been procured.[83] In a
letter from Monrovia,[84] dated April 24, 1826, he wrote a brother in
Norfolk: "We dedicated our meeting house last October; it was four
weeks from the time we raised it to the time it was dedicated. It is
quite a comfortable house, 30 x 20 feet, and ceiled inside nearly up
to the plates, with a decent pulpit and seats. I feel very grateful to
you for your services, and to the brethren and friends for their
liberal contribution."[85]
This progress of the church might, at first blush, seem to say that
everything was in a state of tranquility and peace. This is far from
being the case. In the face of the record of Lott Cary as a Christian,
a pastor, a representative of the Richmond African Baptist Missionary
Society and a church builder in Africa, it is interesting to note the
invective hurled against him by Governor Ashmun in 1823. The
Governor's phraseology is unique. "Wretched," "morose," "obstinate,"
"soured," "narrow," "disobliging," "moral desert," "a corroding
temper," and "destitute of natural affection," were some of the
epithets used as over against "more obliging," "affectionate husband,"
"display of tenderness," "sweet and profound humility," "promoter of
every commendable and pious design," "every laudable habit," "moral
renovation," "habit of holiness," and "redeemed" when an understanding
was perfected in 1824.[86]
The cause of the misunderstanding was of long standing. Agents of the
American Colonization Society prior to Ashmun's time were accused of
transmitting false reports to the board and of appropriating to their
own use the provisions and supplies of the colonists.[87] It is also
known that a commercial company of Baltimore, whose business it was
to prosecute the African slave trade, was jealous of the Society and
tried to undermine it. In addition, the trials and hardships
incidental to founding the colony had reduced many of the settlers to
want.[88] The most ignorant could thus fathom their condition: "We
suffer: if the Society have means and does not apply them to our
relief, it is without benevolence; if it have not means, it wants
power and in either case is unworthy of our confidence."[89]
This lack of power showed itself in the helplessness of the government
to restrain the first vestiges of insubordination and to enforce the
law. Thereupon, the discontentment of Cary and one or two others
became widespread.[90] Probably the manhood consciousness of Cary
would not have asserted itself so soon had not the occasion arisen
between August 31 and September 25, 1823, when the principal Agent
attempted to redistribute the town lots of the earliest colonists who
alleged that they held them under a former sanction of the Agent and
so refused to have them redistributed. They resolved to appeal to the
board of the American Colonization Society.[91] Moreover, they openly
avowed that they would neither survey nor cultivate any of the lots
(thickly covered with undergrowth) assigned to them nor aid in any
public improvements[92] until they should hear from the board. On the
13th of December, Ashmun published the announcement that there were in
the Colony more than a dozen healthy persons who would not receive any
more provisions out of the public store till they earned them. Six
days later the Agent ordered the rations of the offending persons to
be stopped. Next morning a few[93] of the colonists assembled at the
Agency House and vociferously demanded the Agent to rescind his
order. Ashmun was immovable. The colonists straightway hastened to the
storehouse where rations for the week were then being issued and each
seized a store of provisions and went home.[94] Lott Cary had no small
influence and share in this seditious proceeding.[95] Toward evening,
the Agent addressed a circular "to all the colonists" declaring that
the impropriety of the morning's act would be communicated to the
board. He further exhorted all to go to work and not to commit such an
offence again for their sakes in this world or in the one to come.
Lott Cary was not to perform any of his ministerial functions "till
time and circumstances shall have evidenced the deepness and sincerity
of his repentance."[96] Gurley states that the leaders of the
sedition, led by Lott Cary, almost "immediately confessed and
deplored" their error.[97]
It seemed in 1824 that the affair of the previous year would be
repeated when, on March 17, the rations were reduced one half. The act
was viewed by the colonists as oppression and they openly reproached
Ashmun. Through all of this period, the spirit of disorganization was
working so that the colonists furnished little support towards
developing the government.[98]
In communicating the account of the disturbances to the board, Ashmun
wrote, March 15, that "the services rendered by Lott Cary in the
Colony, who has with very few (and those recent exceptions), done
honor to the selection of the Baptist Missionary Society, under whose
auspices he was sent out to Africa, entitle his agency in this affair,
to the most indulgent construction which it will bear. The hand which
records the lawless transaction, would long since have been cold in
the grave, had it not been for the unwearied and painful attentions of
this individual rendered at all hours--of every description--and
continued several months."[99]
The General Missionary Convention was influenced very little, if any,
by the report, if, indeed, they had received it officially. At the
annual meeting of the Board of Managers, April, 1824, the committee on
the African mission had "no hesitation in recommending a careful
regard to this mission, which though it may seem to slumber for a
moment, in their opinion promises great and extensive usefulness." The
board recommended
That a constant correspondence be kept up with the brethren there
by which their minds will be encouraged, and their hands
strengthened and through which information may be received of the
state of the Colony, the progress of the cause, and of the
earliest opportunities which may offer for introducing the Gospel
more extensively into the heart of Africa.[100]
There is no further account of this misunderstanding other than that
from the pen of Ashmun. Mr. Taylor,[101] the biographer of Lott Cary,
remarks: "He (Cary) was compelled, to some extent, to act the part of
a mediator between the rebellious colonists, who considered themselves
injured, and Mr. Ashmun, the Governor. While for a moment he might
seem to act injudiciously, he possessed too much noble and generous
feeling to be guilty of a dishonorable act." The Rev. G. Winfred
Hervey[102] thinks that "in any controversy between mules and
muledrivers, the latter have several advantages among which one of the
most important is that they have the exclusive use of vocal attack and
defence. Cary was too prudent a man to publish an apology for
constructive sedition; and as he has not left us his own explanation
of any of the facts in the case, we have not all the materials on
which to base an impartial judgment."
The agitation at length had its effect. It was directly responsible
for the establishment, in 1824, of a new form of government which was
approved by Cary and his fellow-citizens and in which the colonists
had a full expression.[103] Gurley[104] and Ashmun both testified that
Cary readily entered into the spirit of the new government.[105] Only
eight days, from August 14 to 22, were needed to organize a government
that should be energetic and feasible.[106] "Beneath the thatched roof
of the first rude house for divine worship ever erected in the Colony
stood the little company of one hundred colored emigrants, who had
ventured all things to gain for themselves and children a home and
inheritance of liberty and before God pledged themselves to maintain
the Constitution of their choice, and prove faithful to the great
trust committed to their hands."[107] Despite the seeming repetition
of the chagrin of past irregularities in September, 1824, however, the
board of the American Colonization Society passed a motion, April 2,
1825, to organize, on the 18th of the next month, a permanent
government for the colony.[108]