The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919 | Page 7

the proposals to
foreign countries, propositions came from the Danish Island of St.
Croix in the West Indies, the Netherland Colony of St. Swinam, the
British Colony of Guiana, the British Colony of Honduras, the
Republic of Hayti, the Republic of Liberia, New Granada and Ecuador.
The Republics of Central America, Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica,
and Nicaragua, objected to such emigration as undesirable.[20]
Great Britain rejected the proposal as a governmental proposition on
the ground that it might involve the government in some difficulty with
the United States government because of fugitives, and therefore
expressed her disagreement with such a convention. Seward had

asserted that there was no objection to voluntary emigration; the
government of British Honduras and Guiana then appointed
immigration agents who were to promote the immigration of laborers
by using Boston, New York and Philadelphia as emigration ports.
The President came to be of the firm opinion that emigration must be
voluntary and without expense to those who went. This was repeatedly
asserted according to reports of the Cabinet meeting by Gideon
Wells.[21] The Netherlands sought to secure a labor supply for the
colony of Swinan for a term of years, using the freedmen as hired
laborers. Seward objected to the acceptance of such a proposal.
Of all the propositions offered President Lincoln seemed satisfied with
two--one was for the establishment of a colony in the harbor of
Chiriqui in the northeastern section of the State of Panama,[22] near the
republics of New Granada and Costa Rica. The situation seemed
favorable not only because of the ordinary advantages of soil and
climate but also because of its proximity to a proposed canal across the
Isthmus of Darien and because of its reputedly rich coal fields. There
were two objections to this plan. One was the existence of a dispute
over territory between the republics of Costa Rica and Granada. The
other grew out of a specific examination of the coal fields by Professor
Henry of the Smithsonian Institute.[23] His report doubted the value of
the coal bed and advised a more thorough examination before closing
the purchase. Before the project could be examined a more acceptable
proposition appeared. In addition it also developed that there was
opposition to Negro emigration from several of the States of Central
America.[24]
An effort was then made to establish a colony on the island of A'Vache
in the West Indies. This colony was described in a letter to the
President by Bernard Kock, represented to be a business man. This site
was described as the most beautiful, healthy and fertile of all the
islands belonging to the Republic of Hayti, and in size of about one
hundred square miles. "As would be expected," writes Kock, "in a
country like this, soil and climate are adapted for all tropical production,
particularly sugar, coffee, indigo, and more especially cotton which is

indigenous. Attracted by its beauty, the value of its timber, its extreme
fertility and its adaptation for cultivation, I prevailed on President
Geffrard of Hayti to concede to me the island, the documentary
evidence of which has been lodged with the Secretary of the
Interior."[25]
On December 31, 1862, there was signed a contract by which, for a
compensation of $50 per head, Kock agreed to colonize 5,000 Negroes,
binding himself to furnish the colonies with comfortable homes, garden
lots, churches, schools and employ them four years at varying rates. He
further agreed to obtain from the Haytian government a guarantee that
all such emigrants and their posterity should forever remain free, and in
no case be reduced to bondage, slavery or involuntary servitude except
for crimes; and they should specially acquire, hold and transmit
property and all other privileges of persons common to inhabitants of a
country in which they reside. It would be further stipulated that in case
of indigence resulting from injury, sickness or age, any such emigrants
who should become pauperous should not thereupon be suffered to
perish or come to want, but should be supported and cared for as is
customary with similar inhabitants of the country in which they should
be residents.[26]
Kock also proposed a scheme to certain capitalists in New York and
Boston. This had nothing to do with the contract with the President. He
proposed to transport 500 of these emigrants at once, begin work on the
plantations, and by the end of the following September--a period of
eight or nine months--he estimated that this group could raise a crop of
1,000 bales of cotton. It was planned that the colonists should secure
from the island a profit of more than 600 per cent in nine months. Kock
estimated his necessary expenses as $70,000, and all expense incurred
by freighting ships and collecting immigrants was to be borne by the
government. It soon became known