To the Free Persons of African Descent throughout the United States. GENTLEMEN: In the name and behalf of the Republic of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, we have the honor to address ourselves to you, and cordially to invite you to a home in that small but rising community, agreeably to the following Act, passed by the Legislature of Liberia, during its last session of 1861-'62: It is enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia in Legislature assembled: SEC. 1. That the President be, and he is hereby authorized and requested to appoint suitable Commissioners, citizens of Liberia, to the United States, to present the cause of Liberia to the descendants of Africa in that country, and to lay before them the claims that Africa has upon their sympathies, and the paramount advantages that would accrue to them, their children, and their race, by returning to their fatherland. SEC. 2. That for the furtherance of the above cherished object, the President is hereby authorized and requested to make an earnest appeal to our brethren in the United States especially, and to the exiled sons of Africa in foreign lands generally, embodying the settled policy of the Government of Liberia on the subject from its origin, and the feelings and views of the people of this Republic respecting their mission here, and their earnest wish to have their near kinsmen associated with them. In tendering to you, gentlemen, this invitation, the Government and people of Liberia do not for one moment question your right, as natives of this country, to remain here; on the contrary, they sincerely deprecate and denounce that unholy and wicked prejudice by which, on account of your complexion, you are debarred in this country from privileges and advantages which are so essential to the development of a proper manhood. As, for the most part, natives of this country, who, burdened by the unjust and irrational oppressions here, have fled to Liberia as to an asylum from deep degradation, they thoroughly sympathize with you in your efforts at selfelevation in this country. Though sometimes, under the influence of earnest though incorrect impressions, that Liberia stood in the way of your elevation, some among you have bitterly assailed her reputation, you have still had the good-will and kindest wishes of the people of Liberia, their only prayer being that you might, sooner or later, be brought to see that the interests of the race were everywhere identical; that one portion could not be elevated into respectability and influence without favorably affecting the other. Now they believe that the time has arrived to make a direct appeal to you for your sympathy and co-operation in the work, which, in great weakness and trembling, but with unflinching determination, they began forty years ago in our common and benighted fatherland; and they have conferred upon us the honor of conveying to you the expression of their good-will and cordial invitation to come over and help them. In inviting you to Liberia, we need not tell you that no other country offers you equal inducement. 1. As a permanent home. We have a spacious territory; land sufficient for treble the number of the colored population of the United States, productive of every luxury and necessary of life. We are persuaded that no country in the world furnishes so favorable a theatre for African growth and development as this country, and no other will secure us so effectually from the encroachments of alien races, whose advantages have been superior to ours. 2. As a field of labor. Millions of our brethren in that country are in heathen darkness, whose elevation, we believe, can be effected only through the instrumentality of Africans. White men cannot live in that climate; and the heart of every humane man must recoil from the thought that those millions of human beings must remain in darkness and inefficiency, when they might contribute so important a part to the upbuilding of our race, and to the comfort and well-being of mankind. 3. As to political rights. The Government is republican, formed on the model of that in which we were all born. 4. As to religious freedom. We are generally Protestants of different denominations, having equal rights and privileges. Religious toleration is perfect. 5. As to society. We are not only of the same race, but a part and parcel of yourselves, having the same language and customsthe same feelings and predilections. Many of us have been your acquaintances and neighbors in this our common native land. You are, then, no strangers to us; and we feel that you will understand us, when we say: Come over and help us. Come with us, and we will do you good. The Government of Liberia is yet poor; it can make no brilliant offer. In addition to all the rights and privileges-every thing that can stimulate an honorable ambition guaranteed to every descendant of Africa by our Constitution-the Government gives to each settler ten acres of land* on his arrival, by means of which any man with the least industry may support a family. ALEXANDER CRUMMELL, NEW YORK CITY, June 20, 1862. ·000 LIBERIA. SUGAR MAKING ON THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER. The Liberia Herald of September the 3d, invites all agricultural information. The Editor has determined to set apart a portion of his columns for articles on this subject. He observes : *Any parties wanting more land, can buy as much as needed at fifty cents the acre. Some very profitable talking profitable talking, in the shape of prepared lectures and addresses on agriculture, can now be done; some very profitable actions in the shape of organized associations for discussing and consolidating plans, ways and means for furthering the agriculture of our country; some very profitable writing, what we are now directly aiming to secure, can be done for advancing our agricultural interests. We can do more for ourselves than we do, just as we are, just with the means we have; we know that the want of money is a great, great desideratum among us, but we fear this is, after all, magnified. There is no doubt about it, a slight want of spirit, a want of energetic effort in the right direction. The following article is published from a sugar maker on the St. Paul's: MR. EDITOR: Having considered the questions by you propounded, I herein give answers to them as accurately as circumstances would permit me to ascertain them. 1st. The number of steam mills? Of these there are only two; one of which is rated at twelve and the other six-horse power. There are seven mills worked by oxen and man powerthat is to say, some of them are worked alone by oxen, others by men. is also one water-power mill. There 2d. The quantity of cane each mill takes off in a day? The larger steam mill, on an average, takes off one acre and a half per day; the smaller ones about one acre. As far as I have been able to learn, there has, as yet, been made no estimate of the quantity the smaller oxenpower mills take off per day, but judging from the quantity of sugar they severally make, I should suppose that they take off not more than the fourth of an acre per day. 3d. The quantity of juice expressed in a day, with the amount of sugar or syrup it would make? I can state as follows, from experiment; in rolling out one acre of cane, I have had two thousand one hundred gallons of juice, and this of 8° (Beaume) density, will, by judicious management through the entire stage of manufacture, produce three thousand pounds of good Muscovado sugar. I do not give this as a standard yield, as some lands will naturally produce more than others: for when the constituent parts of lands accord with the elementary substance of the cane, the product of such cane will be greater than when otherwise. Therefore, with these considerations, as well as our yet imperfect acquaintance with the science both of manufacture and the proper time of cutting the cane, in order to get the greatest quantity of saccharine matter obtainable, I can say that, as a general thing, we do not receive over fifteen hundred pounds to the acre. It has long since been scientifically ascertained that during the rapid vegetation of cane, the saccharine matter is re-absorbed from the cells almost as rapidly as it is deposited in them, and is employed in affording materials for the formation of its new parts. To cut, then, during such time, must be extremely prejudicial to the interest of the planter. In many instances, however, it is done, unknowingly. The smaller mills make, on an average, about a barrel and a half of sugar in one day, (twelve hours.) One acre of cane, cæteris paribus, should make about one thousand gallons of molasses. For every thousand pounds of sugar, we get about sixty gallons of syrup or mother-water, which (if taken before fermentation commences) can be profitably converted into sugar. All the cane was not manufactured for the want of mills in suitable places. The expense of transporting cane by water is great. There is no ready market for the small quantities that the lesser growers produce. this I will speak in future. 4th. The average quantity exported to the United States ? Of During this year there has been shipped to the United States about fifty thousand pounds; to English settlements, below us, two thousand pounds; to our settlements along the coast, twenty thousand pounds, including what has been used in Monrovia. Excluding what has been used among the planters along the river, this still leaves a quantity in store, awaiting opportunity for shipment. To your 5th question— The greatest number of hands employed on my farm during crop time or the rolling season, is seventy-five; though, as soon as the season is through, I dispense with thirty of these, leaving constantly in my employment fortyfive men and boys together. With these I tend my cane and other products of my farm, such as corn, potatoes, cassava, &c., &c., prepare my wood and staves for the next season. Allow me here to digress a little and speak a word for the recent laborers thrown into our midst, (the Congoes by the United States cruisers.) My entire farming operations are carried on with them and some few Golahs. My steam mill has for engineer a Vey boy. My sugar maker, cooper, and fireman are Congoes, and their entire acquaintance with the material parts have been gained by observation. At wood chopping they cannot be excelled. Seven boys or young men have, in three weeks time, cut one hundred and seventy-five cords of wood; and when I tell you how they managed thus to do, it will be but another fact to prove that the hope of reward sweetens labor. These boys are my apprentices, and they cut each, as his week's work, five cords of wood and put it up; for all they can cut and put up over that quantity I pay them fifty cents per cord. So you see in three weeks time they make for themselves twenty-five dollars. My cooper is far in advance of many Americo Liberians, who style themselves such; and likewise my sugar-maker. To your 6th question—— The length of time my mill is run is not more than six hours per day; as in this time she can express much more juice than I can boil off in ten hours, the time we generally work; though, had I two train of kettles, she would easily express as much juice as could be boiled off by them, as she will roll off at least four acres per day, or nine thousand gallons of juice in twelve hours, though in order to work her to this degree, I lack, as do also all my brother farmers, animals, or at least such as would better suit our purposes. Oxen are good in their places, but for expeditious working we need something more fleet upon their feet, and also more hardy, while it seems to be almost an impossibility for us to get anything else. With a few asses we might soon be able to rear for our own use a superior stock of animals. To your 7th question I should think that any one, with ordinary intelligence and desire for farming, having already in his possession a three-roller cylindrical man-power mill, and buildings erected for working, which would not cost much, and the sum of $200 in cash, might, with judicious management, reasonably hope to make something in the sugar business. I deduce as follows: say he commences with two acres of cane. The clearing off land will cost him $10. Five men opening (and planting) with hoe, $9; working cane, $10; cart, $40; yoke of oxen, $30; hauling, &c., to mill, $10, (teamsters,) $—, with 8 men twenty days' cutting cane and working mill, $5 per day for the 8. Sugar maker same of time 75 cents, $15. Allowing that he would make 250 lbs. of sugar per day (and his canes to yield him 5,000 lbs. sugar for two acres, from which he could get 300 gallons molasses) it would take him twenty days to work it off, allowing that he should get six cents per pound for his sugar, and 25 cents for molasses, which can readily be got in this market; deducting from this his $200, his excess would be $175 from his sugar canes; and each year his expenses will be proportionally less, and even on the same two acres of land his yield will increase, and with his mill properly located, (that is, in the centre of his cane fields,) and a proportionate number of hands, he could, with ease, cultivate from five to ten acres of cane; hence you can clearly see his chances of success. Yours, &c., W. S. A. 000 LETTER FROM LIBERIA. The following letter is from one of the most sensible, pious, and benevolent Christian women in Liberia. Her father was the Rev. George M. Erskine, a Presbyterian minister of Tennessee, and an early emigrant to Liberia. She was for many years the wife of Zion Harris, of famous memory in the defence of an early Missionary settlement. Her brother is a preacher and teacher under the Presbyterian Board of Missions. No person has cherished a livelier interest or better hopes for Liberia, or more cheerfully and constautly contributed to its welfare: REV. MR. R. R. GURLEY: CLAY-ASHLAND, Aug. 12, 1862. SIR: With joy I take my pen once more to drop you a line, to inform you that I am yet alive, and family, hoping you and family are well. It has |