Report of the Naval Committee to the House of Representatives, August, 1850, in Favor of Establishment of a Line of Mail Steamships to the Western Coast of Africa, and Thence via the Mediterranean to London; designed to promote the emigration of free persons of color from the United States to Liberia: also to increase the steam Navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States [cover title: Report of Naval Committee on Establishing a Line of Mail Steamships to the Western Coast of Africa] by UNITED STATES CONGRESS - COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS and the AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY - 1850

Washington DC: Gideon & Co, 1850. First Edition. Octavo (21.5cm.); publisher's light tan wrappers printed within decorative border (removed from larger volume); 79pp. Ex-American Antiquarian Society with their late 19th-century bookplate and internal markings, 20th-century rubberstamp "Removed" to upper cover; wrapper extremities chipped and spine mostly perished. A Good copy only, though internally sound. Remnant of a popular and hare-brained scheme to encourage freedmen to emigrate to the African continent as an alternative to emancipation, here presented in such a way as to ensure the venture would not be a money-losing proposition. A number of ships had already sailed to the colony of Liberia, established by the American Colonization Society, with heavy casualties. When the present pamphlet was issued the Society was well aware that only 40% of those who sailed for Liberia had survived. SABIN 69887.