Trustees of Donations in Boston in electing me to the Presidency of Liberia College, gives me the opportunity of appearing before you and this large and respected audience, on this important occasion, to discuss what I conceive to be the work which lies before this institution, and to indicate the manner in which it shall be my endeavor to discharge the responsible duties which the situation imposes. A college in West A frica, for the education of African youth by African instructors, under a Christian government conducted by Negroes, is something so unique in the history of Christian civilization, that wherever, in the civilized world, the intelligence of the existence of such an institution is carried, there will be curiosity if not anxiety as to its character, its work, and its prospects. A college suited in all respects to the exigencies of this nation and to the needs of the race cannot come into existence all at once. It must be the result of years of experience, of trial, of experiment. Every thinking man will allow that all we have been doing in this country so far, whether in church, in state, or in school, (our forms of religion, our politics, our literature such as it is) is only temporary and transitional. When we advance into Africa truly, and become one with the great tribes on the continent, these things will take the form which the genius of the race shall prescribe.

CATEGORY

History, Politics/Political Science