the agency was valued at $18,895. From 1830 to 1840,
nearly $20,000 more were expended, chiefly for the agents' salaries.
About 1840 the appointment of an agent ceased, and the colony became
gradually self-supporting and independent. It was proclaimed as the
Republic of Liberia in 1847.[22]

77. ~Imperfect Application of the Laws.~ In reviewing efforts toward the
suppression of the slave-trade from 1820 to 1850, it must be remembered
that nearly every cabinet had a strong, if not a predominating, Southern
element, and that consequently the efforts of the executive were
powerfully influenced by the changing attitude of the South. Naturally,
under such circumstances, the government displayed little activity and
no enthusiasm in the work. In 1824 a single vessel of the Gulf squadron
was occasionally sent to the African coast to return by the route
usually followed by the slavers; no wonder that "none of these or any
other of our public ships have found vessels engaged in the slave trade
under the flag of the United States, ... although it is known that the
trade still exists to a most lamentable extent."[23] Indeed, all that an
American slaver need do was to run up a Spanish or a Portuguese flag, to
be absolutely secure from all attack or inquiry on the part of United
States vessels. Even this desultory method of suppression was not
regular: in 1826 "no vessel has been despatched to the coast of Africa
for several months,"[24] and from that time until 1839 this country
probably had no slave-trade police upon the seas, except in the Gulf of
Mexico. In 1839 increasing violations led to the sending of two
fast-sailing vessels to the African coast, and these were kept there
more or less regularly;[25] but even after the signing of the treaty of
1842 the Secretary of the Navy reports: "On the coast of Africa we have
_no_ squadron. The small appropriation of the present year was believed
to be scarcely sufficient."[26] Between 1843 and 1850 the coast squadron
varied from two to six vessels, with from thirty to ninety-eight
guns;[27] "but the force habitually and actively engaged in cruizing on
the ground frequented by slavers has probably been less by one-fourth,
if we consider the size of the ships employed and their withdrawal for
purposes of recreation and health, and the movement of the reliefs,
whose arrival does not correspond exactly with the departure of the
vessels whose term of service has expired."[28] The reports of