from the beginning showed a tendency toward arrogance and encroachment.
To crown the difficulty, the American Government, under whose auspices
the colony had largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted
in its efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise
altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as the
dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel with slaves
from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it did not hesitate to
take these people to the Liberian coast and leave them there, nearly
dead though they might be from exposure or cramping. It is well for
one to remember such facts as these before he is quick to belittle or
criticize. To the credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the
first they labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in
the body politic.

The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, 1848-1855)
were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native tribes that continued
to give trouble and to the cultivating of friendly relations with
foreign powers. Soon after his inauguration Roberts made a visit to
England, the power from which there was most to fear; and on this
occasion as on several others England varied her arrogance with a rather
excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She presented to
Roberts the _Lark_, a ship with four guns, and sent the President home
on a war-vessel. Some years afteryards, when the _Lark_ was out of
repair, England sent instead a schooner, the _Quail_. Roberts made a
second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders on the
western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis Napoleon, not to be
outdone by England, presented to him a vessel, the _Hirondelle_, and
also guns and uniforms for his soldiers. In general the administrations
of Roberts (we might better say his first series of administrations, for
he was later to be called again to office) made a period of constructive
statesmanship and solid development, and not a little of the respect
that the young republic won was due to the personal influence of its
first president. Roberts, however, happened to be very fair, and
generally successful though his administrations were, the desire on the
part of the people that the highest office in the country be held by a
black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice of his
successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the close of his