Liberia 



(^ 



as it can construct a series of roads for wheeled traffic and 

 establish police-stations. 



In 1865 three hundred West Indians (mainly from the 

 British West Indies) emigrated to Liberia. Amongst these 

 was a boy (Arthur Barclay) who is now President of the Liberian 

 Republic. Barclay's father was a free Negro of Barbados who 

 had associated himself with political agitation, and in consequence 

 found himself obliged to leave the island. He emigrated with 

 all his family, who throve greatly in their new home. Ernest 

 Barclay, one of his sons, became a Secretary of State and 

 might have risen to the higher office but for his untimely 

 death in 1894 (see p. 331). He was a very able man and 

 much regretted. The Barclays were of unmixed negro origin 

 and originally came from Little Popo (Dahome). 



American interest in Liberia began to revive when the 

 terrible war between North and South was at an end and when 

 the Negro question was forcing itself on the attention of thought- 

 ful Americans in a new form — namely, the Negro as a free 

 man and a citizen enjoying equal rights with white men. 

 Several abortive attempts were made to start Negro emigration 

 to Liberia on a large scale, and for this purpose information 

 as to the unknown hinterland was desirable. 



Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian (born in 1834^), had 

 received a good education together with some knowledge of 

 surveying. Between 1864 and 1866 he had been Secretary 

 of the Treasury under President Warner. He paid a visit to 

 the. United States when he left office, and there found several 

 American philanthropists who asked why no attempt had been 

 made to fix some limits in the interior for the future bounds 

 of Liberian territory. Anderson professed himself to be able 

 and willing to make a journey through the dense forests to 



^ He was still living at Monrovia in 1905. 

 250 



