The Hon. BUSHROD WASHINGTON, President.

Vice-Presidents.

Hon. William H. Crawford, of Georgia.
Hon. Henry Clay, of Kentucky.
Hon. William Philips, of Massachusetts.
Hon. Henry Rutgers, of New-York.
Hon. John E. Howard, of Maryland.
Hon. John C. Herbert, of Maryland.
Hon. Daniel Webster, of Boston.
Isaac M'Kim, Esq. of Maryland.
General R. G. Harper, of Maryland.
General John Hartwell Cocke, of Virginia.
General Charles F. Mercer, of Virginia.
Robert Ralston, Esq. of Pennsylvania.

Right Rev. Bishop White, of Pennsylvania.

Jeremiah Day, D. D. of Yale College.

General John Mason, of the District of Columbia.

Samuel Bayard, Esq. of New-Jersey.

William H. Fitzhugh, Esq. of Virginia.

Managers.

Francis S. Key, Esq.
Walter Jones, Esq.
Rev. Dr. James Laurie,
Rev. Dr. S. B. Balch,

Rev. Obadiah B. Brown,

Rev. Dr. W. H. Wilmer,

Rev. William Hawley,
Jacob Hoffmann, Esq.
William Thornton, Esq.
Joseph Gales, jun. Esq.
Colonel Henry Ashton.

ELIAS B. CALDWELL, Esq. Secretary.
JOHN UNDERWOOD, Esq. Recording Sec'y.
RICHARD SMITH, Esq. Treasurer.

RALPH RANDOLPH GURLEY.

COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

The American Colonization Society held its Annual Meeting at the Supreme Court Room, in the Capitol, on Friday evening, 20th February,

1824.

[We are greatly obliged to Mr. A. J. Stansbury, Reporter of the House of Representatives, for the following account of the proceedings on this occasion.]

After the Hon. Bushrod Washington had taken the Chair, the Report of the Board was read by Mr. Gurley.

General Robert Goodloe Harper then rose and offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to the Board of Managers, for their active and successful attention to the affairs of the Society confided to their care, the prudence, steadiness, and diligence, displayed by them in all their operations, and their very able and satisfactory Report laid before this meeting.

General Harper then rose and addressed the meeting to the following effect:

MR. PRESIDENT,

I will now call the attention of the Society to a matter of some, though not, perhaps, of very great importance. It is to a proposition for giving a name to our African Colony. Names are, at all times, matters of convenience, and sometimes of advantage. Our Colony has at present no name. It is situated, indeed, near a Cape called Montserado, and has hitherto taken its only designation from this circumstance; but that is a name not appropriate to its object, a name that means nothing. In reflecting on this circumstance, I have thought of

a name that is peculiar, short, and familiar, and that expresses the object and nature of the establishment-it is the term LIBERIA; and denotes a settlement of persons made free: for our Colony may with truth be called the home and country of freedmen, in contradistinction to the slaves of whom they once formed a part. This name, if I mistake not, will be found easy and apt; and it certainly has the merit of being very concise.

General Harper then submitted the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That the territory and settlement of the Society, near Cape Montserado, on the southwest coast of Africa, be, and hereby is, named LIBERIA; by which name it shall be called and known in all the acts and writings of the Society and its agents.

General Harper again rose and said,

I will now offer another resolution of a similar character, but with a different object. It is not only to give a name to the principal town in our infant settlement, but at the same time to mark the gratitude of this Society to that venerable and distinguished individual, to whom it is more indebted than to any other single man. It is perfectly wellknown, that but for the favourable use he has been pleased to make of the great powers confided to him, (a use as wise as it was liberal,) all our attempts and efforts must have been unavailing. No means that we possessed, or could have procured, would have proved adequate without his aid. As an acknowledgment of gratitude for his high and useful services, I make the following motion :

Resolved, That the town laid out and established at Liberia, shall, in like manner, be called and known by the name of MONROVIA, as an acknowledgment of the important benefits conferred on the settlement by the present illustrious chief magistrate of the United States.

General Harper then rose and addressed the Society in an able and interesting speech; of which the following very imperfect outline has been preserved:

I have now a proposition to submit of more important import, and, perhaps, of more doubtful character; (I do not

mean in my own opinion, for of its propriety I entertain no doubt; but in the opinion of others.

I hold it perfectly clear, from what has come to my knowledge of the progress of this, and all similar establishments, that no means within the possession of this or of any other private association, are adequate to the attainment of those objects which such an association ought to hold in view. What are these objects? They are in the first place to aid ourselves, by relieving us from a species of population pregnant with future danger and present inconvenience; to advance the interests of the United States by removing a great public evil; to promote the benefit of the individuals removed, as well as of those of the same race that yet remain; and finally, to benefit Africa by spreading the blessings of knowledge and freedom on a continent that now contains 150 millions of people, plunged in all the degradation of idolatry, superstition, and ignorance. All these objects are embraced in the vast enterprise in which we have engaged. To attain these ends, to confer on the sons of Africa and on Africa herself, blessings so great so invaluable as these, requires means beyond the reach of any private individuals to command; all we have yet done, all we can expect to do, is merely to pave the way, to point out the track; and in accomplishing this, we have derived the most essential aid from the chief Executive Officer of the Union. These efforts of the Society have shown that it is practicable to transplant Africans from our shores to those of their native continent, and that when thus transferred, they are capable of enjoying freedom, civilization, and christianity. A few hundreds, at the utmost, a thousand colonists, might be within the reach of our efforts; by such an experiment we shall demonstrate this, and essentially benefit the individuals; but farther we cannot, by our own exertions, hope to go.

;

In the mean while, there exists among us a great social evil a cancer on the body politic, that is gradually eating its way to the vitals of the state:-It is at work while we sleep and when we wake-and it will continue, if not speedily arrested,