-♦> The Founding of Liberia 



In the spring of 1823 the American war vessel Cyane 



visited the settlement on Cape Mesurado, and in place of 



the old palisade with the wooden tower built a strong little 



fort of stones, on which six cannon were mounted. About 



the same time Lieutenant Dashiell, of the Cyane, went to Sierra 



Leone, and had the schooner Augusta, which had been used 



by Samuel Bacon, put into proper seaworthy condition and 



rmanned by twelve seamen. Dashiell gave much assistance to the 



iberian community, and then, like so many who helped in this 



isk, died of fever. This also was the fate of Richard Seaton, 



:lerk to the Cyane, who also volunteered for service in Liberia, 



and also died after having done excellent work on the Kru Coast. 



During the first part of 1823 the task of Ashmun was 

 one of peculiar difficulty. Relieved of the dread of attack 

 from the natives, the Negro colonists became unruly. Several 

 of them took to dissolute or drunken habits, others were lazy, 

 and a good many disliked agricultural work. Ashmun for 

 his firmness and courage was detested by the slave-trading 

 chiefs in the vicinity, who called him the "white American devil" 

 of Cape Mesurado. An intrigue was started within the colony 

 against him, and news of it reached the American Colonisation 

 Society. In this body there were some who disapproved of 

 Ashmun's vigorous attacks on the slave trade : it is hard to 

 say from what point of view ; but several of these philan- 

 thropists, though easily moved to tears over the woes of the 

 Negro slaves in America, seem to have had very little sympathy 

 for the indigenous natives of Africa, who might or might not 

 be despoiled by American slave traders, under the eyes of 

 the freed slaves whom the Society was repatriating. Their 

 sympathies apparently were restricted to those Negroes who 

 had embraced the Christian faith, wore the white man's clothes, 

 and talked his language. 



141 



