-^ The Loan and its Consequence^ 



had shown that Negroes born in America, especially in the 

 temperate climate of the United States, were scarcely less immune 

 from African fevers than a people of European origin. Mulattoes 

 suffered more than full-blooded Negroes, and quadroons more 

 than mulattoes. The result has b'^en the gradual dying out in 

 Liberia of the half-breeds and the proportionate increase of a 

 purely Negro type. Down to 1880 a somewhat foolish spirit 

 of distinction had been kept up between the " civilised " 

 Christian Negro immigrants from America and the " natives." 

 A marriage or an illicit union between an Americo-Liberian 

 man and a native woman (though some of the native women, 

 especially those of Mandingo race, are distinctly comely) was 

 looked upon as a shameful occurrence, at any rate as an episode 

 to bs kept in the shade as much as possible. That these 

 unions did take place in spite of caste prejudices was perhaps 

 fortunate, since they decidedly infused new vigour into the next 

 generation. 



But about the period named (1880) a feeling of dis- 

 appointment as regards the results of Negro repatriation was 

 making itself felt, and public spirit in Liberia was taking — 

 wisely,, perhaps — a more African turn. In spite of the some- 

 what harsh treatment which the country was then receiving 

 from England over frontier questions, an increasing disposition 

 to turn to England for advice was manifested. The constitution 

 of the adjoining colony of Sierra Leone, with its coast population 

 of freed slaves so similar in origin to the fundamental stock of 

 the Americo-Liberian, was a bond of union between the British 

 Empire and Liberia. The United States continued its practical 

 philanthropy on the part of individuals, who sent from time 

 to time donations towards the educational work of the Liberia 

 College ; but this benevolence was also matched by splendid 

 gifts for missionary and educational purposes from the British 



275 



