residing in it, should be free, and enjoy all the rights
and privileges of citizenship known to the United States of America,
which was taken as the model of the Liberian Constitution in all
respects, except that anomaly, the institution of slavery. It must
always continue to be a matter of surprise and regret, that a country
which expended so much blood on the purchase of its independence, should
sanction within its boundary the existence of slavery as a legal right.
The ermine is said to die if a single stain fall on its spotless skin,
and one would suppose that the giant republic of the new world would be
equally susceptible throughout her mighty frame of the taint of slavery;
but, perhaps, there is a fine moral in the fact, to shew us that the
works of man, even in his most elevated inspirations, must of necessity
be imperfect. The wisdom and power of the Godhead alone can produce
perfection.

The colonists of Liberia resolved to avoid the error of the parent
country. They began by banishing the very name of slave, and they have
persisted in their resolution to keep themselves free. Under the
provisions of their constitution, the Colonization Society is empowered
to make such regulations as may appear requisite for the government of
the colony, until it shall withdraw its superintendence, and leave the
colonists to govern themselves; the common law, as it is in force in the
United States, is applied to the jurisdiction of Liberia. In 1824 a
regular plan for the civil government of the colony was drawn up, and a
digest of laws framed, which have been approved of, and are now in full
operation. By this plan, the Agent is invested with sovereign power,
subject only to the decision of the colonial board; municipal and
judicial officers are appointed; the choice of certain offices is vested
in the colonists, subject to the approval of the Agent; and standing
committees of agriculture, of public works, of colonial militia, and of
health are appointed, whose duties are clearly defined and rigidly
enforced.

The criminal code is singularly mild: the highest degree of punishment
being expulsion from the colony, which is a very beautiful
exemplification of the sense of honour and integrity that the colonists
entertain, when, for the most flagrant violations of civil rights and
good order, they deem it a sufficient disgrace and infliction to cast
out the guilty person from all further communion, the property of the
exile be