George Whitefield is said to have declared to Oglethorpe when lamenting his failure to exclude slavery from Georgia, that he was making a mistake: the Africans were much better off as slaves than in their native barbarism, and would receive a training that would enable them ultimately to return and civilize the land of their nativity. In this bold idea he anticipated one of the leading thoughts of the fathers of colonization, and, perhaps prophesied, a great migration which the world is yet to see. But to confine ourselves to the present and the strictly practical--there is to the interior of Liberia, sweeping away beyond the valley of the Niger, a country of teeming population and vast resources. That this territory be opened to the commerce of the world, and the blessings of civilization be conferred upon the people, it is necessary that some impulse of enlightenment come from without. The casual visit of the trader has been proved by experience to do vastly more harm than good. Vice and demoralization have too often followed in his track. The direction and instruction of European agents accomplish little. The best efforts of all men of this class have resulted in an unequal hand-to-hand fight with the deadly climate, in which no white man can work and live. Besides, the natives need more than guidance; they must have before them the example of a civilized settlement. It would be impossible to imagine a more ideal agent for accomplishing this work than Liberia. True, its slow development has prevented it as yet from penetrating to the most fruitful portion of the interior district; but so far as it has gone the work has been wonderful. One after another of the native chiefs has sought, with his people, admission to the privileges of citizenship, agreeing to conform to the laws of the country and abolish inconsistent aboriginal customs. The schools are full of native children, while large numbers are distributed in a sort of apprenticeship among Liberian families for training in the arts of civilized life. The English language has become widely known. More remote tribes, while retaining native customs, have entered into agreements or treaties to abstain from war, to keep open roads and routes of commerce, to protect travellers and missionaries and such Liberians as may settle among them. This is in itself an advance; and in addition various forms of knowledge, improved implements and methods of agriculture must enter in and insensibly raise these tribes to a higher plane. In reclaiming the natives lies a source of great future power for Liberia. When immigration from the United States shall assume such proportions that numbers of interior settlements can be made which shall be radiating centres of civilization, the enormous potential energy of native intelligence and labor will be brought to bear on the development of the country with marvellous results. 4. _As a Missionary Effort_.