LETTER FROM PRESIDENT BENSON.

53 MANCHESTER STREET, MANCHESTER SQUAre, LONDON, August 30, 1862. MY DEAR SIR: It has been a couple of months since I communicated with you last, since when I have spent about seven weeks upon the continent, and returned to this city on the 24th instant. My tour upon the continent was very pleasant, and I feel grateful to a gracious Providence that my system, which from public duties and cares had well nigh run down before I left home, is now resuscitated. I hope to be able to leave for Liberia in the October mail packet, so that the extension of my visit to the United States is not at all likely. I hope Mr. Roberts, whom I commissioned in June, has succeeded in adjusting our affairs (accounts with the American Colonization Society.) There seems to be exciting and trying times in the United States just now. I have no doubt that, under the guidance of Providence, matters will converge to the proper point ere long.

I am, sir, with great respect,

STEPHEN A. BENSON.

Rev. R. R. GURLEY, Cor. Sec. A. C. S..

THE COLONIZATION CAUSE.

The Colony of Liberia has opened to our colored brethren fields of enterprise from which, but for it, they would have been excluded. It enabled them to prove to the world their capacity for self-government. It has afforded a home to thousands of re-captured Africans— no less than four thousand having been taken within the last two years. The Colony has long had common schools, and more recently the College of Liberia has been founded.

In a word, it is an independent Christian community, having all the appliances of religion and civilization, and therefore fitted to exert a mighty influence for good on the dark regions of Central Africa.

But it is as yet in its infancy, and calls upon us for help. Rev. Mr. Connelly, Assistant Secretary of the New York State Colonization Society, proposes to lay the claims of Liberia before the people of Middletown in a day or two, and all who feel interested in the subject would do well to attend his lectures. Except the suppression of the rebellion, there is no topic of greater concern now before the American people than this.- Whig Press, Middletown.

THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.

The reply to a letter of inquiry concerning the influence upon the Liberian Republic of Congo importations, Mr. Crummel, a

clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and attached to the African mission under the Rev. Bishop Payne, writes as follows:

I am satisfied that President Benson does not exaggerate in the declaration that we can receive twenty thousand without any detriment to our own civilization. There are one or two provisions to be connected with this, namely, that our Christian Societies may not be harassed by the cry from Missionary Societies in America, "Go preach to the heathen in the interior," when our work is in our own settlements, in our own families, among our own servants and laborers; and when our indirect influence upon the interior tribes will be a deal more powerful than a few feeble attempts at missionary work in the interior; and next that the friends of Liberia sustain our effort to increase our schools and educate the humblest of our citizens, namely, native servants and Congo recaptives. This cannot be pressed too strongly. There is a deficiency of females among the recaptives; there is an excess of females among the colonists; aud just as fast as these new men are civilized they will intermarry among us. This has already, to a small extent, taken place; and the whole process shows the absolute need of an immediate effort for a wide diffusion of education in the Republic.

If the Republic can withstand the influence of twenty thousand recaptured Africans, from the Congo coast, its capacity for receiv ing negroes from the United States, emancipated of free-born, must be many fold greater. Thousands of slaves, especially those who have been household servants, are qualified, by long contact with intelligence and refinement, to aid essentially in that "wide diffusion of education" which the Republic so much needs, and would extend rather than restrict the capacity of Liberia for importations from other sources. So far as we have information, the African Republic is by far the most inviting field for colored emigrants, whether regard be had for their own welfare or that of the people to whom they go. Hayti, Jamaica, the Danish Islands, &c., all present their claims, but it may be reasonably questioned whether American negroes of any class would profit by the change. The Central American scheme is problematical, for it remains to be seen whether the importation of Africans would be submitted to by that Government, without armed opposition.

Emigration to Hayti, which has been in progress for a year or two with very fair success, is interrupted, if not wholly suspended, by difficulties with the agency-Mr. Redpath having resigned, as alleged, because he could not induce the Haytien Government to adopt measures which he deemed essential to success in the emigration movement. The official paper, the Pine and Palm, is suspended. Thus Liberia, as a refuge for the colored man, has no rival worthy of notice. All other experiments at African colonization have proved failures. But no one can say this of the African Republic, now recognized by the United States Government as an independent nation.-N. Y. Journal of Commerce.

RECEIPTS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

From the 20th of August to the 20th of September, 1862.

THE

AFRICAN REPOSITORY

Vol. xxxviii.] WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER, 1862.

{No. 11.

PROCEEDINGS

AT THE

INAUGURATION OF LIBERIA COLLEGE, AT MONROVIA, JANUARY 23, 1862.

[Published by order of the Legislature of Liberia.]

The establishment of a College, mainly through benevolent contributions from the friends of Africa in the United States, is a memorable event, and we are not surprised that the dedication of the Institution to the cause for which it is provided should have been celebrated by appropriate ceremonies and addresses, on the 23d of January, 1862. The officers and friends of this College assembled at the house of the President, Hon. J. J. Roberts, on Ashmun street, Monrovia, under the direction of Messrs S. F. McGill and B. V. R. James, the Committee of Arrangements, in the following order:

Band of Music.
The Reverend Clergy.

Members of the House of Representatives.
Members of the Senate.

His Excellency, President of the Republic-Members of the Cabinet.
Representatives of Foreign Governments.
Chief Justice and Associate Judges.
Mayor and City Councilmen.
Trustees of the College.

President of the College and Professors.
Members of the Bar.
Citizens generally.

The procession having arrived at the College Buildings, the exercises of the day began with singing the 100th Psalm, to the tune of Old Hundred. The Rev. J. S. Payne read the 28th chapter of Job, and the 118th Psalm; after which the Rev. B. R. Wilson offered prayer. This was followed by

music from the band. Hon. B. J. Dayton, Chief Justice of the Republic, then delivered the Introductory Address, and concluded by presenting, in behalf of the Trustees, the Keys of the College to President Roberts. In the course of the just and truly eloquent address of Chief Justice Dayton, he "begged leave to introduce to the entire nation, to fathers, mothers, and friends, as well as to the young men of the land, this valuable Institution of learning, which is now being solemnly dedicated, as a Gift from noblehearted friends in the United States of America. It is ours to keep, support, and defend. It will be our own shame and disgrace if it be not appreciated and enlarged. In the name of Heaven we receive it with hearts of gratitude, with the hope that it may be handed down, with others of a similar class, to those of our race yet unborn. This day may be made the epoch from which every public enterprise may be dated; such as asylums, hospitals, charitable institutions, and other monuments setting forth the liberality and greatness of a free people. I am happy, and I am sure every Liberian is glad, that this College can be inaugurated with a Faculty of our own people; men fully qualified to occupy the positions to which they have been called. This is a great deal for our infant Republic; and it is hoped that all vacancies in the Faculty, when required, may be filled by our own people. In the first place, our attention is drawn with pleasure and admiration towards our own Roberts, the able President of the College. That he has been honorable and successful in the past, is our security for the future in this exalted enterprise. We turn with more than ordinary delight toward that youthful giant, Professor Blyden, of whom we ever speak with assurance, that we ever depend on him at home and abroad, as being a qualified representative of the capacity of the black man to occupy the first rank in literature. We can accord to the Rev. Professor Crummell the unfading laurels he has gained in intellectual improvement, than whom Africa cannot have a better representative, for the world has already acknowledged his superior ability." Appropriate and spirited music followed the address and the presentation of the Keys. After the Inaugural Address of President Roberts and that also of Professor Blyden were concluded, Hon. B. D. Warner offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

"Resolved, That the Board of Trustees for Liberia College do recognize, with humble devoutness of heart, the goodness of Almighty God in so ordering and controlling circumstances and events, that this Board of Trustees, after ten years' effort and labor, performed under many disadvantages, and in the face of stern opposition, have succeeded in completing and now occupying Liberia College; and to this end they do record, with emotions of gratitude, their unfeigned thanks to the Great Arbiter of events for his gracious interposition in their behalf, and for crowning their efforts with such abundant success.

"And at the same time, this Board do accord to the Legislature of this Republic much honor and thankfulness for the courtesy it has exercised in hearing the repeated requests made to it by this Board for the furtherance of its cherished objects.

"We unitedly beseech the Common Father of our spirits to sustain and prosper this Institution; to so direct and govern the minds, thoughts, and will of its Professors, Instructors, and Tutors, as that the instruction given