THE WAY TO AFRICA	y
gradual encroachment, even the same heroism among
the early settlers, the peculiarly Protestant character-
istic of combining martyrdom with absurdity. There
were, for example, the black Quakers from Pennsyl-
vania, teetotallers and pacifists, who when they were
attacked by Spanish slavers depended on prayer and
were massacred. Only a hundred and twenty escaped
and settled in Grand Bassa.
From the first these American half-caste slaves were
idealists in the American manner. Their Declaration
of Independence, when the Republic was declared,
had the glossy white marble effect of the American.
The-year was 1847, but the phrases were eighteenth
century; they belonged to Washington; they had the
rhetoric of an expensive tomb. The inalienable rights
of life and liberty gravely led off the scroll; but then
one passed to "the right to acquire, possess, enjoy,
and defend property". To-day the Ideals' are still
American, something a little like the American of
Tammany Hall; the descendants of the slaves have
taken to politics withx the enthusiasm of practised
crap players.
"If you desire the prosperity of your people, the
independence of your Government, a place of honour
for the Lone Star among the flags of all nations, you
will support the re-election of President Barclay in
this campaign. ..."
This too attracted me. There seemed to be a seedi-
ness about the place you couldn't get to the same
extent elsewhere, and seediness has a very deep
appeal: even the seediness of civilisation, of the sky-
signs in Leicester Square, the 'tarts' in Bond Street,
the smell of cooking greens off Tottenham Court