Liberia had been recognized for some years by France and England as an Independent Government; President Roberts was too well-bred to add, when Americans were present, "but it had been slighted by the country of which it is the off-shoot."

That there is a great opening for a remunerating trade between Liberia and our country, if the proper exertion be made, there can be no doubt. Some sagacious Americans have endeavored to engage the public sanction to such an enterprise. Four or five years since, the Hon. Mr. Stanton, of Tenn., then the efficient chairman of the Naval Committee, introduced a bill into the House for the establishment of a line of steamers between the United States and the western coast of Africa. His colleagues lacked the prescience which distinguished him, and refused to entertain the proposition. But doubtless the rapidly-increasing commerce between the two countries, and the easy substitution of such steamers for the costly squadron we now maintain on the African coast, as well as the growing necessity for the exportation of the free blacks, will, at no distant day, compel the carrying out of such a proposition. Mr. Webster, in his last great effort in the United States Senate, pronounced himself warmly for a Governmental scheme of this kind, in furtherance of the colonization of the free colored people; to which object, he thought the proceeds of the sales of the public lands should be devoted. The history of Liberia, under President Roberts's administration, conclusively demonstrates that colored people, when removed from the discouraging contact of the whites, can emerge from a subordinate to an independent condition, and cultivate, with perhaps equal success, the various arts of peace.

The English, and Europeans generally, do not enter

PREJUDICE OF COLOR.

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tain the prejudice against the African, which prevails. so generally and naturally among us. From early

youth we are accustomed to look down upon them; social degradation or nature has certainly made them our inferiors. But in Europe, it is otherwise. There, law makes no difference in color; social or political rights are independent of the skin; God's image in ebony is respected equally as in ivory. It may be that a certain peculiarity of the African, offensive to us, is unperceived or unregarded by the European; at least I never heard on the other side any complaint, even in warm weather, of too close proximity to the African. At Lisbon I saw, in the highest society, persons of African extraction, i. e., natives of Portugal, whose ancestors had intermarried with blacks. It is true, they had gained no beauty by the cross; but neither had they lost caste. In Paris, cosmopolite Paris, while the African color found no disfavor any where, in certain places it seemed a recommendation. At the Bal Mabille, not an aristocratic assemblage, it is true but none the less an exponent of public man-I saw no more admired beaux than our "colored brethren."

ners

So President Roberts and suite were lions in Madeira, with foreigners and natives. They would have been feted, had they consented to remain, with perhaps more earnest honors than a representative of a dynastic European throne; and curiosity would have been as eager, as official etiquette ready, to entertain him. The English ladies were particularly anxious to see "the Black Prince," as he was jocularly called. Holding slavery as the worst of curses, and the most degraded of conditions, their desire to behold and estimate a man who had emerged from it, and become the founder of a growing empire, was vehement. But His

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NO WHEELS IN MADEIRA.

Excellency considered it a duty to hasten to his presidency, and turned his back upon their expectations.

The consul did not permit him to depart emptyhanded. He took wherewithal to cheer him on his passage; nor did the ladies go unencumbered.

Should a line of steamers be established between our country and the west coast of Africa, Madeira would be an excellent depôt for coal. Two lines of steamers, from England to other countries, stop at the island for that purpose-the African and the Brazilian lines and carry passengers and cargoes either way. Madeira would be much visited by Americans, not only to see some of the sublimest scenery in the world, but from motives of curiosity, and particularly from a desire of health. Probably no climate holds out greater encouragement to consumptive and rheumatic patients; and few places, better accommodations at moderate prices. At present, the time and money necessary to be consumed in reaching the island viâ England-the regular route-deter many from the undertaking who would joyfully embrace a more direct and cheaper communication. The great deprivation which would be felt by our countrymen in Madeira, is the want of carriages. The hills are so steep, and the roads covered with such smooth flat stones, it would be dangerous, and doubtless often fatal, to use wheels. One does not easily reconcile himself to the substitute of sledges drawn by oxen, and tires of being always in the saddle. -the only other means of riding, except on men's shoulders; still, ox-sledges are safe, if not fast; the horses are sufficiently spirited, and sure-footed, and a palanquin or hammock will allow sleep with progress.

Then there is boating always at command, and plenty of fish always to be caught. There are excur

sions by water, not easily to be foreborne, to Santa Cruz, to Cama de Lobos, Machico, and other marine places worthy to be visited. And perhaps, after all, with such varied means of locomotion, the palanquin, the ox-sledge, the horse, the foot, and the boat, wheels would not be desired but that they can not be used. For I fear that the human heart longs rather for what it can not obtain than is grateful for what it enjoys. Selah.

CHAPTER X.

DOUBTS OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE ISLAND-PLUTARCH'S STORY-THE PHENICIANS THE ROMANCE, PERHAPS TRUE, OF ROBERT MACHIN AND ANNE D'ARFET.

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THE discovery of Madeira rests on conjecture. Plutarch tells us "that Sertorius, flying from before the face of Sylla's legions, met at Gades (Cadiz) some mariners who had lately arrived from the Atlantic Islands." These islands, he says, are two in number, separated only by a narrow channel, and are at the distance of four hundred leagues from the African coast. They are called the Fortunate Islands. Rain seldom falls there, and when it does, it falls moderately; but they generally have soft breezes, which scatter such rich dews that the soil is not only good for sowing and planting, but spontaneously produces the most excellent fruits, and those in such abundance that the inhabitants have nothing more to do than to indulge themselves in the enjoyment of ease. The air is always pleasant and salubrious, through the happy temperature of the seasons, and their insensible transitions into each other. For the north and east winds which blow from our continent, in the immense tract they have to pass, are dissipated and lost; while the sea winds, that is, the south and west, bring with them from the ocean slight and gentle showers, but oftener only a refreshing moisture, which imperceptibly scatter plenty on their plains. So that it is