(AFRICA--LIBERIA.) ALEXANDER, JAMES WADDEL. Autograph Letter Signed, to Rev. Doctor Sprague of the American Colonization Society, regarding aid to a black family being sent to Liberia. Folio leaf, folded to form four pages, written on three. New York, January 25th, 1848
A fascinating letter from Reverend James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859) who writes regarding a debt owed by Mrs. Rice, the owner of a slave family. Alexander had been asked by Dr. Van Renssalaer of the American Colonization Society to make 'a collection towards paying (a) debt of Mrs. Rice which stood in the way of sending her Negroes to Liberia. I very naturally went to Mr. Lenox. To my surprise he told me he had been applied to for the same object and had pledged a given sum.. . .I immediately desisted from any solicitation in regard to the debt, as fearing to embarrass any proceeding in so good a cause.' Alexander then goes on to say that instead of dealing with Mrs. Rice's debt, he would instead provide money 'for the purpose of sending and settling of this black family,' offering two hundred dollars toward that end. He then goes on to praise the late 'Mr. Rice' for having 'subdued a harsh and irascible temper to the meekness and gentleness of Christ.'
