The Southern Press

From the New York Commercial Advertiser.

From Liberia.

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By the courtesy of G. P. Disosway, esq., we are in early possession of a file of the Liberia Herald to the 11th of December inclusive, our own files having not yet come to hand. From these papers we are able to compile a full account of the proceedings of Grando, of whom mention has been already made in our columns, and of the authorities of the republic of Liberia, in suppression of his murderous attack upon their territories.

Grando, of the tribe called Fishmen, it appears, was professedly on terms of friendship with the republic when he commenced his depredations, having previously incorporated himself with the government and people of Liberia, and subjected himself to their laws. He was joined by Prince Boyer, of Trade-town, who also is amenable to the laws of the republic. It is also pretty evident that some foreign traders on the coast were abettors of that attack.

Accounts of the outbreak first reached President Roberts on the afternoon of Sunday, November 23d, by a vessel despatched from Grand Bassa with the intelligence. The cabinet was immediately summoned. The despatches set forth that Grando and his allies had made a fierce attack on the town of Bassa Cove, and had been repulsed with considerable loss; but that the besieged were in need of assistance in men and ammunition. It was resolved to send these without loss of time.

President Roberts, however, fearing that another attack would be made before reinforcements could reach Bassa Cove, applied to Capt. Pearson, of U. S. ship Dale, asking that he might be taken at once to the scene of war in the Dale, the presence of which vessel in the harbor of Grand Bassa would probably act as a check upon Grando and his company. Capt. Pearson promptly complied with the request.

On Monday at noon seventy-five men well armed and equipped were sent on board the government schooner Lark, having with them also an ample supply of the munitions of war.

On the morning of Monday, November 24th, President Roberts issued a proclamation, previous to going on board the Dale, in which he detailed the attack of Grando upon Fishtown, which was sacked and burned, and the attempt upon Bassa Cove, which was repulsed; announced that Grando and the chiefs of Tabaconnee, New Cess and Trade-town were still in arms; that said chief was receiving supplies and munitions of war from vessels trading upon that coast; and concluded by interdicting trade on the coast between Grand Bassa point on the Northwest and Trade-town point on the Southeast.

Commander Pearson and President Roberts, and the government schooner Lark, arrived at Grand Bassa in time to prevent a second attack upon the town of Bassa Cove. Grando and his band fled, as already mentioned in our columns. The President went in the Lark to some other stations and removed the people, for safety's sake.

The details of the insurrection, including the attack on Fishtown as well as on Bassa Cove, are given with much minuteness in the official communications of the Hon. Stephen A. Benson to the President. Mr. Benson resides at Bassa Cove. The attack upon the former place was sudden, and was made on the morning of Wednesday, November 4, at about 8 o'clock, Grando being at the head of three hundred men. They quickly took possession of the garrison, which was entirely unprepared for the attack. There were but five men in the garrison, the others being engaged in working upon houses erecting for recently arrived immigrants. Three of the men escaped. Two were shot, and a boy, two women and four young children were ruthlessly massacred. The enemy then fired the garrison, a lumber yard and ten houses; the whole place was burned to the ground, and all portable property was carried off. The nine persons killed were horribly cut and mangled.

Capt. Preston, in charge of Bassa Cove, had heard during the morning that the Fishmen were moving their property, and that there were other suspicious circumstances about their movements. He went up among them, and receiving no satisfactory answers to his inquiries, became aware of impending danger, and hurried back to send a double guard to the garrison. The enemy, however, had forestalled his movements.

Mr. Benson adds that he has lost by this affair, in oil and goods, exclusive of lumber, about $1500—adding, "But I am inured to losses, and though I am but ill prepared to sustain them, it appears I must, as I have frequently had to do before."

The people of Bassa Cove made nightly excursions among the Fishermen of the neighborhood, which Mr. Benson commends, and indeed urges pretty severe reprisals upon the tribe. He displays also considerable feeling about two men, who we suppose are English traders, Messrs. Lawrence and Murray, who he thinks prompted Grando and Boyer to the attack. He complains much also of the influence which foreign traders have over the natives generally, upon whom their goods, he says, have great effect.

Further communications from Mr. Benson persist in attributing the attack to the instigation of Lawrence, the purpose being so to weaken the power of Liberia that she may be compelled to relax her revenue and navigation laws. Mr. Benson therefore urges the President to have every foreign factory removed to within certain defined distances from Bassa Cove.

On Monday, Nov. 12, an attack was made on Bassa Cove, which, however, was speedily repulsed. On the morning of Wednesday, the 15th of November, a much more serious assault was made on the town, fighting having been going on in all parts of the Bassa country since the attack on Fishtown. The assault, which Mr. Benson says was the fiercest he ever knew the natives to make, commenced at seven o'clock. The assailants were very numerous. The Cove had been fortified to the best of the means at hand, and among their armament were two pieces of cannon. These, however, for awhile, produced little effect, the natives rushing up almost to the mouth of the cannon and firing. At length Grando's principal warrior, Tarplan, was killed. "When he fell and his war horn ceased, there was a general panic, and a few more rounds put them to flight." Mr. Benson says he "has the fellow's head at his farm," and intends to preserve the skull for examination, "for there must have been something extraordinary about the man."

There were about sixty men only in Bassa Cove during the engagement, occupying three stations—one at the beach, one at Fort Hill and the other at Mr. Benson's farm. The enemy were very numerous—supposed nearly a thousand—and in killed and wounded lost from forty to fifty. Of the besieged only three or four were wounded.

The Liberia Herald of December 11th, says:

No further depredations have been committed by Grando and his allies since our last issue. Indeed, from all accounts, they have had enough fighting, and are quite willing to make friends. Grando would have left the country soon after he was repulsed by the Bassacovians, but the Bassa chiefs, whom he had seduced from their allegiance to this government, and who had allied themselves to him, protested strongly against it, and told him that as he had brought them into collision with the Liberians, he must and should remain until they had ascertained how the case would be. He will be narrowly watched by them, and the first attempt he makes to escape from the country will be the warrant for his arrest and delivery to the government.

The legislature is now in session, and it is presumed it will give immediate attention to the condition of affairs in the Bassa country, and adopt stringent measures to restore peace and quietness, and to prevent the recurrence of the lamentable affair caused by the defection and rebellion of Grando.