Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised
jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was
trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient
following to enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of
the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African
chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story he decided in
favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, "Having sold your country and
accepted payment, you must take the consequences. Let the Americans
have their land immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you
protection. If these people give you further disturbance, send for me;
and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do
it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old
king George's on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on
the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured.

[Footnote 1: Ashmun: _History of the American Colony in Liberia, from
1821 to 1823_, 8.]

[Footnote 2: Ashmun, 9.]

By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had
been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It was now decided
to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of
Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a
ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised. The advantages
of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the
colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement. By July
the island was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not
been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them
there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season moreover had set
in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually
claimed its victims. Ayres at length became discouraged. He proposed
that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra
Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was
at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the
colonists, stepped forth to fame.

The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken to New
Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the Methodist
ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly embraced the
opportunity to be among the first to come to the new colony. To the
suggestion that t