After the close of the war, the alluring prospect of "ten acres and a
mule" having failed our freedmen, the Society again received numerous
applications for passage. The M. C. Stevens had been sold during the
period of depression; another and larger vessel, the Golconda, was
therefore purchased and fitted for an emigrant ship. During her first
four voyages she safely carried over 1,684 persons.

In January, 1867, the semi-centennial of the founding of the
Colonization Society was celebrated in Washington. From the review of
the fifty years' work it appeared that the sum of $2,558,907 had been
expended, exclusive of outlay by the Maryland Society, and of the large
sums expended by the United States Government. 11,909 emigrants had been
sent over, in 147 vessels; of these 4,541 were born free, 344 purchased
freedom, and 5,957 were emancipated for the purpose of going to
Liberia.[13] Besides these, 1,227 had been settled by the Maryland
Society, and 5,722 recaptured Africans had been sent back by the United
States Government.

In January, 1868, James S. Payne entered upon the office of President.
He is another example of Liberian training. Born in Richmond, Va., in
1819, he was taken before his tenth year to Monrovia by his father. One
of the leading purposes of his administration was the establishment of
closer intercourse with the great tribes of the interior. These people,
the Mandingoes especially, were much further advanced in civilization
than the coast tribes, who formed a barricade between them and Liberia,
and offered determined opposition to any attempt to penetrate inland.
They feared to lose their advantageous position as middlemen, and
succeeded in keeping anything but the vaguest rumors about the interior
from reaching the colonists. In 1869 Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian
appointed by the Government, and provided with liberal financial aid by