onslaught, tireless in
energy, obedient to superiors, and clannish to a fault,--the abilities
of these black soldiers are worthy of a good cause.

On the edge of the Dark Continent, Sierra Leone and Liberia have
sprung up as light-houses on a dark and stormy ocean of lost humanity.
Hundreds of thousands of degraded Negroes have been snatched from the
vile swamps, and Christianity has been received and appreciated by
them. These two Negro settlements have solved two problems; viz., the
Negro's ability to administer a government, and the capacity of the
native for the reception of education and Christian civilization. San
Domingo and Jamaica have their lessons too, but it is not our purpose
to write the history of the Colored people of the world. The task may
be undertaken some time in the future, however.

It must be apparent to the interested friends of languishing Africa,
that there are yet two more problems presented for our solution; and
they are certainly difficult of solution. First, we must solve the
problem of African geography; second, we must redeem by the power of
the gospel, with all its attending blessings, the savage tribes of
Africans who have never heard the beautiful song of the angels:
"_Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward
men_." That this work will be done we do not doubt. We have great
faith in the outcome of the missionary work going on now in Africa;
and we are especially encouraged by the wide and kindly interest
awakened on behalf of Africa by the noble life-work of Dr. David
Livingstone, and the thrilling narrative of Mr. Henry M. Stanley.

It is rather remarkable now, in the light of recent events, that we
should have chosen a topic at the close of both our academic and
theological course that we can see now was in line with this work so
near our heart. The first oration was on "The Footsteps of the
Nation," the second was "Early Christianity in Africa." Dr.
Livingstone had just fallen a martyr to the cause of geography, and
the orators and preachers of enlightened Christendom were busy with
the virtues and worth of the dead. It was on the tenth day of June,
1874, that we delivered the last-named oration; and we can, even at
this distance, recall the magnificent audience that greeted it, and
the feeling with which we delivered it. We were the first Colored man
who had ever taken a diploma from that venerable and world-famed
institution (Newton Seminary, Newton Ce