THE WESTERN COAST- 
mense edifice of slavery still continued to insult 
the eyes of the sons of freedom ; and, undeterred 
by the groans of anguish, the clanking of chains, 
and the echo of the whip that resounded through 
the pile, free men violated the liberty of which 
they boasted, by assuming the lash of the task- 
master. Who first attempted to demolish the in- 
fernal prison-house, and to raise over its ruins the 
temple of freedom ? Who first attempted to vindi- 
cate insulted humanity, and to burst the chains which 
the sanction of ages had rivetted ? The Swedish 
nation may claim the glory of forming the first 
specific plan for alleviating the evils which the in- 
human man-trade has occasioned in Africa ; and 
the Danes of carrying into execution the first agri- 
cultural establishment, for instructing the negroes 
in the cultivation of their fertile soil, and teaching 
them to avenge their wrongs on the abettors of 
slavery, by rearing a bulwark for freedom in the 
Land of Slaves. 
The Swedish design of establishing a colony in 
Africa, which, by its original organization, might 
exclude every political, financial, and mercantile 
principle, that appeared inconsistent with the hap- 
piness of mankind, though it only terminated in 
exploring a part of that continent, originated in 
the purest and most disinterested motives. In the 
year 1799, some members of a society formed for 
diffusing those principles of civilization which ap- 
