Star. — London, England, 1830-04-16 00:00:00

1 ~~ TO THE PROPRIETORS OF EAST INDIA STOCK. lADIEII ass Gsarnsasau, 117 - E beg leave to offer you our grateful acknowledg menu for the honour you have conferred on us. by re electing us into the Direction. Trusting that the Proprietors will ever find us deserving of do confidence they have reposed in us, We have the honour to be, with great respect, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your most obedient and very bumble Servants. JOHN BAILLIE, JAMES RIVETT CARNAC, JAMES LAW LUSHINGTON. JOHN PETTY MUSPRATT, WILLIA II WIGRAM. East India House, 15th April. 11130. • r \qh \ \X c oefffrity 2. 404. ow so THllare. Ilexes sol3llbrili Ust the most part, from the same country, and it can only be ezpLined by the advantages enjoyed by the former in having received some thing of that early Instntction, both moral and religious, which is so necessary to predispose the mind to profit by a more extended education ; trifling indeed as that instruction has been, the happy results are clearly to be observed. This class of children are daily increasing in numbers and in age, many having also noised their tenth year, and with proper cultivadon may be reckoned on as Maly to become useful members of society, for we must not target that the infants of the present race will be the workmen of the next. Colonel Denham then euloglaes the plan diminution adoptid the Rev. Mr. Davy, of the Church Missionary Society, in hi& sett e went at Bathurst, which he observes is particularly adapted to Atri can dispositions, and suggests that six sets of the apparatus for in structing children on the plan of Mr. Wildirspin, u practised iss the Infant schools In London and itsneighbourhood, could be sent out to the colony. "No better plan," he observes, " could. in my opi nion, be devised for the improvement and comfort of the rising it-- aeration in,this as well as others of his Majesty's colonies, th.ot teaching crony upon this principle. I am, from obalrvati..n, convin that children, after they can speak, are never too younto learn. Vice will fructify early in the infant mind, and it is not too much to expect virtue will do the same." Thenext letter contains an account of the annual expenditure from the year 1824 to 1827, and shows a considerable diminution. The statement is u follows FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 16, 18.30. PR(CE 7D. NO. 13,450. COURSING. This Day was published, price Ss. Boards, THEATRICALS.—TO COUNTRY MANAGERS. WANTED TO PURCHASE, a respectable WARDROBE, sufficient to dress the general round of the Drama. Apply (If by letter, post-paid) to Mr. Baoroso, City Pantheon, Militia -street, Crlpplegate. as well as to imitate them in their better garments, which will pro duce more exertion in cultivating their lands in order to procure these." ►I'tHE COURSER'S COMPANION; or a Practical 1 Treatise on the Laws of the Leash, with the Defects of the old Laws considered ; and a New Code proposed, with Explanatory Notes. By an EXPERIENCED COURSER. London :—Published by Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster Row. " Though small in sire, this book is great in value ; the author's name, Mr. Thomas Thacker, of Derby, who is an old Courser, and which is a passport to it, is too modestly kept back. To real Sports. men, who read for solid information, the volume will exhibit un questionable proofs of being thoroughly practical on the subject of Coursing."—Sporting Magazine. STEVENSON'S CATTLE DOCTOR. This day was published, price ss. THE SPORTSMAN'S, FARMER'S, and CATTLE DOCTOR'S VADE MECUM, containing Practical Hints and Receipts for Preventing and Curing the most prevalent Dia emes of BLACK or NEAT CATTLE, SHEEP, I HORSES, DOGS, PIGS, &c. With a very copious List of the most valuable Veterinary Medicines and the manner of preparing them for Animals of every description. By JOHN STEVENSON, Esq. London : Printed for Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Patemos ter.row. DICKSON ON WILLS. This day was published, price ss. 6d. PLAIN INSTRUCTIONS and ADVICE to TES TATORS, EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, and LEGATEES; being a Practical Exposition of the LAW of WILLS, with Observations on the Consequences of Intestacy : to which are added, Directions respecting the Probate of Wills and the tging out of Letters of Administration; Tables of the Stamp-Duties on Probates,Administrations, Legacies, and Residuary Shares ; the Method of obtaining a Return of the Administration and Probate Duty, if overpaid, sr on the ground of Debts ; and forms of inven. tories to be taken by Executers and Administrators; with Precedents of Wills, Codicils, Republications, am By RICHARD DICKSON, Esq. Of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. London : Printed for Sherwood, Hilbert, and Piper, Paternoster.. row. TO HEADS OF FAMILIES = A VALUABLE PRESENT FOR SERVANT MAInS: --- This Day was published, illustrated with Plates, exhibiting the Methods of setting out Dinner Tables, price Ss. THE FEMALE SERVANTS GUIDE AND AD VISER; or THE SERVICE INSTRUCTOR. This work has an emphatical claim to the sanction of Masten and Mistresses u, by its directions and instructions Servants are enabled to perform the various occupations of servic e in an efficient and satisfactory manner, and are informed of the methods of occa sioning large savings in the management and sue of their Boa. player's Household Property and Prorisions.—" By the present of a copy of the Work to each of their Servants, Employers may safely calculate on ensuring the saving of many pounds a year in their expenditure."—Taunton Courier, Aug. 1899. London : Printed for Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster-row. This Day is published, Second Edition, considerably improved, em. bellished with an elegant Frontispiece, painted by S. Aiken, Price 71). cloth, fIIHE GROOMS' ORACLE, and POCKET STA BLE DIRECTORY ; in which the Management of Hones generally, as to Health, Dieting, and Exercise, are considered, in a Series of Familiar Dialogues between two Grooms engaged in Train. IN Hones to their IVork, as well for the Road as the Chase and Turf. With an APPENDIX, including the RECEIPT-BOOK of JOHN HINDS, V.S. Author of the " Veterinary Surgeon." .* This enlarged edition of the "Grooms' Oracle' contains a ~tod number of new points connected with training prime horses ; and the owner of working cattle, also, will find their profit in con. siting the practical remarks that are applicable to their teams ; on principle that health reserved is better than disease remov e d. Printed for Sherwoo d, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster.row ; Hurst, Chance, and Co. St. Paul's Church-Yard ; and Whittaker, :reacher, and Co. Ave.Maria.Lane. Also. just published, OSMERS' TREATISE ON THE HORSE; it. DISEASES, LAMENESS, and IMPROVEMENT; Fifth Edition, by JOHN HINDS, V.S. price Bs. cloth. PLATE GLASS AND FURNITURE MANUFACTORY, No. 93, BISHOPSGATE-STREET WITHIN. ----- H ENRY L. COOPER, in returning his best thanks to the Public for the liberal support and extensive patronage c• rtei red on him at his Old Establishment for Upholstery, Cabinet WOO( and Looking-glasses, for nearly half a century, will en iessour to merit a continuance of their favours, by a selection of !behest Materials, the employment of workmen of the first class, both as to taste and execution, and insuring the superior descrip tions of Furniture, at moderate remunerating prices. Those who honour him with their commands may, by visiting his Agency Office, at No. 57, Conduit -street, Regent-street, mike their selection from all elegant assortment of the most >plenslid Looking Glasses, both as to style and dimensions • also original Desi gns , Plans, &c. of Furnitur e , an d Interior Decora tions an every variety, well worthy the attention of the fashionable wur Id. ENRY'S CALCINED MAGNESIA continues to A be prepared with the most scrupulous Manufacturing Chemist care and attention, by Mows. ' IIIOMAS and WiwAst HILNRY s 1 1 , thiht-ter. It is sold i n b ott l es, P rice 2s. 9d. or with glace ; .toppers at Is. 6d. stamp included, with full directions fir its use, ^,) their various Agents in the Metropolis, and throughout the United Kingdom; but it cannot be genuine, unless their names are sngraved on the Government Stamp, which is fixed over the cork .r stopper of each bottle. Of most of the venders of the Magnesia nay be had, authenticated by a similar Stamp, HRNI.T . II AROMATIC 11411 of VINEGAR, the invention of Mr. Henry, and the only ,anent preparation of that article. V ?MAE is a Mysterious Treasury. It possesses Is\ ionumerable blessings for human kind, and produces an an •idote I,r every disorder incident to the human frame. This trea 'Lay. with all its invaluable riches, is the proper study of Medical Scot ; at. dit requires the most laborious research to discover and icitdiit• all its various mysteries. Fur twenty years has our successful experience been directed to :L s tte t ment of a certain class of disorders, and we pledge ourselves the omoval of Syphilis, from its Incipient symptoms to the re. ,134cS! stages, characterised by every doubt, and whatever malig t4cY. The intricate and much neglected diseases of the Urethra, 'at ht, ti carefully and studiously considered, as have also those Jri:Cale .lid important sympathies which refer to the Female Sex. 114 inhrmities of virility have been especially noticed, whether as .rising twos the debilitating tyranny of a tropical atmosphere—the ii.luralhlaS of constitution—the imprudence of gaiety, or the more atuni"'t results of a propensity to practices "which shun the net;' the progress of which is marked by a gradual dereliction of Uit rnal powers. .fo all who are thus circumstanced, and more , pecially to such as are aspirants fur connubial pie we satoestly recommend our Commentaries —lit, the " Algot Life," commentary on Sexual Debility; 2d," The Syphillst," a popular ;remise on Cues Veneers, &c. and 3d, " Hygeiana," exclusively to Females; the perusal of whkh must prove beneficial their moral happiness. These Books may be had of Sherwood, Paternoster-row ; and Ll'aPPle, 29, Pall-mall ; Onwyn, Catherine -street, Strand, Lon• ; Sutherland, No. 9, Calton-street, Rdinburgb ; Porter, 72, wattutestrett, Dublin; and of all Booksellers.--(Price 55.) Remedies Call be forwarded to any part of the world; Patient ruing for the same will please to enclose a Bank Notch Attrodanc e at home far consultation as usual. Sil./SS and Cu. M. ICS. Surgeon, No.ll, Bow litset 1. ooduo. t, Fleet• SIERRA LEONE. Some papers relating to the colony of Sierra Leone hare been lately laid before the House of Commons, as a return to an addressof the house of the 19th May, 1829. They are sche duled and dated under different heads. The first paper is an ab stract statement of the expenditure in the colony from the year 1812 to 1825 inclusive s • then follows the correspondence with the suc cessive governors and chief superintendents of the colony, from March 1825, to September, 1829, with the queries to medial officers and their replies. The other papers consist of statements of the num ber of deaths among the troops, and in his Majesty's fleet on the western coast of Africa. The statement of the expenditure from 1812 to 1825 comprises the following items, being the respective totals of those fourteen years : " Disbursements made from the Colonial 4: s. d. Revenue .0f Colonial Contingencies 12,743 16 10 Civil Establishment.. Public Works Disbursements made in the Colony 304,315 2 64 Amount for Stores sent from England 105,803 9 11 Total for captured Negroes 410,118 12 54 .----- General Total. £745,819 1 84 The Correspondence with the colonial Government of Sierra Leone commences with a despatch from the late Major-General Turner to Earl Bathurst, dated the 25th of January, 1828, and is followed by a variety of other despatches and documents (enclosures) relative to the' Liberated African Department" of the colony. We submit the following abstract: The despatch of Major-General Turner complains that the then subsisting arrangements in the colony were inadequate to the Li berated Afiican Establishment, owing to the great increase in the number of captured slaves brought in • and suggests that twelve superintendents from the West India Islands, men of colour, with an assistant overseer to each, should be brought to the colony, for the purpose of instructing the liberated Africans, and for superintending such plantations as might be formed here by ca pitalists. At this time, It appears, mare than 20,000 slaves had been landed in the colony. Under he arrangements then and pre viously existing, they had been disturbed among the villages, of which there were twelve established for the purpose of °civilizing, instructing, and keeping them together ; and they were for yaws supported there in idleness by the government. Blajor General Turner observes, that the establishments, though apparently suitable, are practically very inefficient. " A clergyman, a schoolmaster, and a superintendan; to each village," he continues, " has the ap pearance of meeting every possible purpose; but, unfortunately, t 4 untowardness of the climate, the privations, fatigues, and unconp niality of the situations with the former habits of the people who hold them, and the absence of personal interest, or hope of progres. sive advancement, soon cause a decrease of numbers. At present there are in the colony but one church missionary (Mr. Raban) and three Lutheran clergyman, five schoolmasters, and four superin. tendenu ; amongst these there is not one person who:has the slight est knowledge of agriculture; nor can I learn that there ever has been any person employed in the colony who had any acquaintance either with European or tropical agriculture Under such disadvan tages, it is not to be wondered that cultivation has not made much The Governor at Sierra Leone, who succeeded Major General Turner, was Sir Neil Campbell. The next despatch is from him (Sir Nell), dated the 17th of September, 1826, expressing his opt nion that the villages ought originally to have been formed by coun tries, so that there might have been an easier communication of directions to them from the superintendent and missionary; and enclosing a copy of a letter from Mr. Refill, the chief superinten dent, with certain regulations drawn up by him, for the government of the superintendanu of the villages, to which some Africans landed from a Brazilian slave vessel had been sent. The next paper, in point of date, is communication from the Board of Treasury, dated the 16th of November, 1826, expressirt of the views and wishes of the Lords Commissioners, who, it is stated, had de!ermined to appoint proper persons to proceed to Sierra Leone, for the purpose of superintending and directing the labour of the liberated Africans, with the view of establishing among them habits of industry, so that they might be enabled to maintain them selves without expense to this country. Then follows a letter from Earl Bathurst to Lieut. Colonel Denham, informing him that he had been selected to proceed to the colony for the purpose of assuming the superintendence of the African settlements, and directing him to thither immediately, a salary of 1,5001. per annum b e i ng assigned to him, with a house for his residence, and a salary of 4001. for a chief clerk. Sir Neil Campbell (the Governor) is informed of Colonel Denham's appointment in a despatch from Earl Bathurst, dated the2sth of November, 1826, in which is enclosed a copy of the Treasury communication of the 16th. Earl Bathurst points out the objects to which he wishes Cel. Denham's attention to be directed, and observes, that the only mode of attaching the Africans to their respective locations, is by making them feel the advantages of pro. party, and those which belong to domestic happiness ; and for that purpose his Lordship suggests that marriage should be encouraged as much as possible amongst them. 82 ; Some very important alterations, it appears , were m a d e b Sir Neil Campbell in every branch of this (the liberat e d Af r i can de. pertinent. In a despatch, dated the 19th of Jan ua ry, 1 ,he transmits various documents explanatory of the measures which he had adopted for regulating the expenditure, and he informs Earl Bathurst that he had abandoned the system of issuing rations to such of the Africans as it had been usual and necessary to maintain for a certain time after their arrival in the colony, and instead thereof had ordered the sum of 3d. per day to be paid to each person above the age of 15. This allowance to be continued to the women who should be marriageable, for a period of three months after their land. log, and to the men for six months; and not to be extended beyond the latter period, except in particular cams of sickness, or inability to labour. This despatch contains a statement, showing the ar rangements which commenced on the Ist of January, 1827, from which time the whole expense of the superintendence and education of the liberated African villages was borne by his Majesty's govern ment, without any assistance from the Church Missionary Society. From this statement it appears that the expense paid by the Church Missionary Society prior to the X s. Ist of january, 1827 was . . . 1,680 0 By His Majesty's Government . . . 1,453 2 . 9,149 2 Expenses to be paid by His Majesty's Govern. ment, after the lest January, 1827 . . 2,004 0 Diminution of expense per year . . 1,139 2 Earl Bathurst, in a despatch to Sir Neil Campbell, dated the 23d of March, 1827, admits that the immediate effect of the new system of panting money in lieu of rations will be to save trouble and ex pense, but expresses his doubts whether the people will be benefited by the arrangement. The Governor, Sir Neil Campbell, in a despatch to Earl Bathurst, dated the 7th of March, 1827, encloses a copy of instructions issued for the guidance of Lieutenant-Colonel Denham, who was at that time engaged in making a circuit of the liberated African villages The Governor in this despatch expresses a favourable opinion of the resources of the colony, and expresses generally the advantages which might be expected to arise from the more regular demarca tion of the different villages and locations, and from the opening of communications between them by means of roads and bridges. On the subject of the detached villages, Sir Neil makes the following observations : " One great evil tending to retard the civilisation of a proportion of the liberated Africans in every village, is their having been per. milted to fowl detached villages, where they speak no language but their own. and always continue naked as they were in Africa, with all their former usages, never altering from the state in which they landed from the slave-ship, and having nothing before them to ex cite a desire to do so. Without disturbing them in the possession of their farms they are directed to occupy small additional lots, which arc given to them on the sides of the great roads leading to each of the villages, where they will find it necessary to speak the English language to other liberated Africans of the different tribes, In the instructions to Colonel Denham, it is stated that the depu tation of the Church Missionary Society have no longer any con. union with the temporal affairs of the liberated African villages, but are entirely confined to the examination and instruction of the schools (including masters and pupils), their moral and religious duties. Lord Goderich, in a despatch to Sir Neil Campbell, dated the I 6th of June, 1827, approves of the arrangements made, and ob- 1 1 serves, that they are well calculated to bring forth the resources of the colony. Vile next paper is an extract from a letter of Sir Neil Campbell to Viscount Ooderich, dated July 14, 1827, transmitting the first report of Lieutenant-Colonel Denham, and stating that the system of giving money instead of rations was more satisfactory to the Africans themselves. The instructions to Colonel Denham were to institute an Inquiry into the actual condition of the people intrusted to his cheep, and make himself thoroughly acquainted with the situation of their se. veral villages and locations, the numbers of the people inhabiting them, the modes of industry which they pursued, and their habits and the state of their moral and religious feeling; and his attention was particularly directed to the importance of correcting the defects existing in the system of locating the people which at that time existed. Colonel Denham's first report, which is dated the 21st of May, 1827, and addressed to Earl Bathurst, alludes to most of those subjects, and contains various interesting details. It begins with the following observations : '• What this colony, or rather the liberated Africans, have felt the most want of, is instruction, capital, and example. With the very little they have had of either conveyed in a manner likely to benefit them generally, it is to me daily an increasing subject of astonirh. ment that the liberated Africans settled here have done so much for themselves as they have. "' Since the gentlemen of the Church Missionary Society have ceased to have the superintendence of the villages intrusted to them, (except as far as the religious duties were concerned), industrious habits have been very successfully encouraged. " The propensities of the people located in in the different settle. menus are very generally in favour of agriculture ; and were it pos. sible to have an experimental government farm in nearly every vil. lage in this colony, with an intelligent native of the West Indies, accustomed to tropical agriculture, and willing to practice it in charge of such farm, competition would be speedily excited, and I do not think capital would be long wanting to enable the settlers to prove the capability of the soil. The merchants of nee-town would not, I am persuaded, be backward in producing funds to increase its productive powers." The report proceeds to state that no disinclination for volun. tary labour had been manifested in the colony ; that the labourers had worked front six in the morning till five In the afternoon constantly, with the exception of the hour from nine to ten, which they were allowed for breakfast'; and that, although wages had va ried from Is. to 6d. per day, there had never been a deficiency of liberated Africans who were willing to labour for hire. Colonel Denham then observes, that the people bad become sensible of the rewards of industry by being in possession of the profits, and the ad vantage of property had become daily an object of hiereased interest amongst them. " Some of the men," he continues, " have saved (for them) considerable sums of money : and an undone desire to obtain and enjoy the luxuries of life is apparent in every vil.l lage." After observing upon the gradual improvement in the people's dwellings, and the increase in all the villages of frame. houses, with stone ioundatiens, and stone-houses, he proceeds thus "Regent and Wellington are the most populous and the richest of any of the settlements. Regent consists entirely of liberated Africans, no discharged soldiers ever having been located there. The population of Regent exceeds 1,300, and they have from 300 to 400 communicants: the congregations are well-conducted, and particularly neatly dressed in the European fashion. The markets at Free town are supplied with fruit and vegetables, almost exclusively, by the mountain villages, and from 80 to 100 mm, women, boys, and girls, are to be seen daily on the hill leading to Glocester-town, with the produce of their farms and their gardens. This is entirely the reward of their own industry and perseverance, for not the least instruction on this important branch of labour have they ever received. " In the low-lands, to the eastward along the sides of the Bunce river, and the different creeks from Allen's-town to Waterloo, and from thence to the Calmont-creak, rice might be grown in any quan. tity, had the inhabitants capital, and a certain market lor their pro. duce. The cultivation of rice in any quantity requires continual attention and labour : a few of the most productive rice-grounds that I have seen (the best of them upon a very small scale) were ge• nerally partnership farms. African rice has been considered the best in the world: the consumption here is enormous, probably ex. ceeding 600 tons annually. The profits arising from this are ob. tained by the traders from Blanding% gherbro', Rio Pongos, and Porto Logo, which the merchant at Free-town finds wonde rfully profitable, as they carry off the greater part of the value In all kinds of merchandise from their stores. Cotton might also be cultivated with less labour than rice ; it grows wild, of three kinds ' white, brown, and pink ; the first is excellent. Indigo cannot be kept ander without difficulty, it grows spontaneously, and in great quan tities ; the quality is proverbially good. Ginger has been tried with great success, and large crops may be next year expected; it yields about GO for 1, and is particularly fine and highly flavoured ; but, for want of instruction, they have not yet acquired the art of peeling and preparing it fur European markets. All these articles might, with encouragement, be raised by liberated Africans to any extent." _ _ _ " Markets are established in every village, and the school-muters and managers attend with the liberated Africans on government al. lowance, when their purchases are made of the smaller cultivators, whose wivis attend with the several productions of their farms, and receive payment on the spot in money, when it afterwards circulates in the village, where there is generally from one to four shops, Formerly all the necessaries were supplied by some merchants in Free -town, and often by those who were not merchants, who col lected their stock from small farmers, and paid for it in goods and merchandise ; they then sold to the liberated African department wholesale, with a considerable profit, and the money paid in Free. town in a government bill, or otherwise, was sent out of the colony. Specie, during the last year, was scarcely eves seen in circulation in liberated African villages ; now it is abundant, and a regular me. dium for the exchange of property." The two next despatches relate to the intended experiment of lo cating a number of Africans in the Gambia, and those are followed by three letters from Colonel Denham, dated respectively the 15th of November, the 3d of December, and the 31st of December, 1827. — The first is dated from Kent, the western settlement on Cape Shil. ling, and gives an account of the produce of the western v and the Banana labinds. Speaking of the colony generally, V l ol g on e tll Denham saya—" The produce, however encumbered it (the colony) may be with rock, will certainly furnish the present population with an abundance of food, as they increase in intelligence, and improve the quality as well as the quantity of their crops. • • • The population of the peninsula will, in addition to the trade with the interior, always cause a very great demand for English goods, and all articles of general merchandise.' " I know nothing," he continues, " of what may be the capabi lities of the negro vassal, but I am sure the free negro, either in his own country or in any other where bondage has never existed, is as sensible of rights and privileges, and as ready to defend them, as any white man in existence; and I defy any man to show any in. stance among negroes in this state, of that natural dislike to whites which has been reported and acknowledged as a fact by theorists and West Indians; on the contrary, the white man is always looked up to as their superior, their protector, and their friend, whenever he will allow himself to be so considered." The next letter, written at Chatlotte, gives an account of the buildings and improvements in the mountain district. " The whole of the muur.tain district (observes Col. Denham) is particularly adapted for coffee plantations. We have, probably, within two miles of where I am now writing, in small plantations, 4,000 plants, 2,000 of which bear coffee." . . . Atter remarking that great assistance might be rendered the Whs. bitants of Sierra Leone, by assisting them with tropical plants and seeds for experiment, Colonel Denham proceeds to observe upon the advantages of the system of daily instruction of the children borne in the colony " The attendance of fret children born here (a most interesting part of the population) at daily instruction, has of late greatly in creased. The very striking superiority of intellect possessed by the children born in the colony, when compared with those landed from the slave ships, is as unaccountable as it is manifest to even the most common observer, on entering a school. The parents are, for " Number landed. Expenditure. 1824 1,530 .. .01:179 18 1825 2,337 .. 18.201 12 6 1826 2,727 1827 2,857 In a letter dated Sierra Eseone,l4th of May. 1828. Colonel &sham expresses bis opinion that the system of land ft Ilbszated Africans bed been almost too general, its points s out a new plan adopted by him. He observes also,that the practice of enlistment in the Royal African Corps had become improved. and that the number of deserters had considerably diminished. The next letter (the last from Colonel Denham,) dated the 2Gtai of May, 1828, encloses two medical reports on the state of health of the population, for the period from the Ist of January to the 31st of March, 1828; and states, that the general health of the liberated Africans bad been much improved since Mr. Ferguson had had the medical charge of the hospital and the villages. A despatch from Mr. Smart to Sir G. Murray, dated the 20th of September, 1828, points out the inconvenience arising front t! • want of accommodation for sick slaves brought to Sierra Leone far atljndication ; and another, of the same date, refers to the project.-0 Improvement of the streets of Free-town. Mr. Smart observes, that immense quantities of indigo and other noxious weeds grow so ra pidly in all parts of the town that they produce unwholeso.i.e vapour by the action of the sun, after the prodigious rains fallit.i 4 there during a great part of the year. It appears that the liberate:: Africans, on their first coming into the colony, are employed weeding and clearing the streets, as well as carrying stones ; whils• the boys are employed with hammers in breaking stones ft. crowning the roads. " No measure (observes Mr. Smart) was ever more necessary c: ever gave greater satisfaction. The liberated Africans are then.by taught the use of tools, the manner of cleaning and making streets and roads, during part of the period in which they are allowed pay by his Majesty's Government, and arc relieved by others as they arrive in the colony, so as only to employ each batch of them as they newly arrive, for about two months; they are then sent to the mountains to clear and cultivate such pieces of land as they may Le allowed, and with much greater chance of their doing it to advan. tage than they could possibly be by being sent there without the least instruction or knowledge of the use of tools." Sir George Murray, in a despatch dated the 22d of November, 1828, referring to Mr. Smart's communication respecting the sick. mesa of the people on the arrival of the slave.vessels, desires that Mr. Smart will place himself in communication with the members at the Courts of mixed Commission for the purpose of devising ar. rangements calculated to meet the evil complained of. Mr. Smart, in a letter dated the I ith of October, 1828, 1 expresse: his confidence, that if the measures adopted by the late Lieute nant-Colonel Denham were strictly followed up, great advaneemeer in the grand objects of the Government would be the remit.— " Nothing, (he observes,) an be done without strict adhererce to his suggestions, as to making the liberated Africans feel the benefits to be deri ved from industry andty labour in clearing and cultivating the land." " However unhealthy the colony has hitherto been, and which at times is bad enough to cause great doubts, still I am satisfied that it is more from the localities of the peninsula than from actual climate. The greater portion of the north-west part, as well as other parts of the peninsula, is at present covered with unwholesome jungle and high trees ' • but if the whole of this part of the l an d was at once cleared from bush, trees, and underwood, we should be enjoying in this town (Free.town,) the benefit of a pure north-west sea breeze, which is at present in many pans of the town intercepted." The neat despatch is Prom Sir (leo. Murray to Major Ricketts, the Governor of the colony. It refers to Mr. Smart's communica. dons ; and with reference to the projected improvements of the streets of Free-town, and the clearing of the public lands from jungle, &c. authorises the Governor to avail himself of the labour of a considerable number of the Africans towards the completion of the undertaking which Sir George observes he considers an object of great public utility. Major Ricketts, in a letter dated the 17th of November, 1828. expresses his hope of being able to make the people cultivate ginger and arrow -root; and in another letter, dated the Bth of December, he reports that the necessary measures have been taken fo r carrying into effect the plan proposed by the late Col. Denham, for the int. provement of a portion of the liberated Africans, by placing front four to twelve lads, as apprentices, to the different trades practised on board his Majesty's ships of war. The next pain.' is a copy of a despatch from Sir George Murray to Major Ricketts, dated the 22d of January, 111X9. It recommends to the attention of the Governor the improvement of the revenue of the colony, and the economical expendi ture of its resources, and suggests that the civil establishment may be reduced to the following scale :—Lieutenant.Governor,ChiefJustice, King's Advocate, Secretary, two writers, and a surgeon. Sir George Murray states, that he considers the coloured subjects of his Majesty as not being intelligible to the last four named situ. ations, if persons of that class are to be found who are qualified to till them with advantage to the public service. With regard to the expenditure and supply of stores, it is ob. served that much doubt hat arisen as to the necessity, or even the utility to the Africans themselves, of so lavish a system as that hi. therto adopted; and it is suggeste.l that it might be worth while to ascertain whether the individuals who are located in the colony, and are able to maintain themselves from their own industry, might not conveniently be made to contribute some assistance towards the re. caption of new comers. " The Africans," emtinues Sir George Murray, " must be led to understand that it is by their own labour and industry that they must provide for their subsistence, and for ward their own improvement ; and in a place where their primary articles of food--palm oil and rice—are as cheap as to have excited the remark, that a man may live at Sierra Leone for 21. a day, you will feel that his Majesty's Government would be no longer justified in applying to Parliament for a contirustion of those liberal grants. which, so long as they were considered neceisary, and supposed to be beneficial, have never been withheld." There is no communication from Major Ricketts referring to this despatch. The letter next following the above is dated Freetown. the 18th of February, 1829. It states that the expenditure of the liberated African department has considerably increased since the period when ho. Ice (Major Ricketts) assumed thegov e rnm ent o f t h e c on ; that no less than 1,232 slaves had been emancipated in the from the 11th of November to that date (the 18th of Fe ); and that lie was endeavouring to relieve the Government of a portion of the expenditure, by apprenticing a number of the Africa's to the European merchants employed in the timber trade in the river. Another letter from 3lajor Ricketts, dated the 27th of Match, 1829, alludes to the disposition in the distant villages to cultivate exportable produce, states that a variety of buildings were being proceeded with, and the villages, particularly Wellington and Wa terloo, were increasing fast in respectability. The next paper, in point of date, is a despatch from Sir George Murray to Major Ricketts. It is dated the 16th of May, 1829, and encloses a copy of a letter from Lieut.• Col. Finlay, suggesting the propriety of selecting a number of Africans to be located in the Gambia. Sir George Murray states, that the suggestion is in ac. cordance with the views of his Majesty's Government, ar.d desires that Major Ricketts will lose no time in making arrangements for removing a small body of the liberated Africans, not exceeding 200. to the river Gambia. Major Ricketts, in a despatch dated the 4th of September, transmits to Sir George 31urray copies of the last annual returns. and four half yearly returns to the 30th of June, 18'.9. with a rt. port of the state of the liberated Atiicans up to titst period. This last docuir.cnt is of considerable length : we have wily room to gibe the substance of its principal details. It begins by stating that the liberated Africans have all tvineed a desire to engage in agricultural pursuits, and would extend con siderably were th ey sati s fi e d t h at t h ey co uld receive money. and not merchandise merely in payment for exportable produce ; coffee, net, ginger, red pep , cotton, and atTOW4OOt, it is observed, could be raised in abt»rdanee were the people properly stimulated by examile and encouragement; and could a certain sum of money be appro. priated for two or three years, for the hire of persons posst-sing knowledge of the culture of that spec . 's of tropical produce which might be exported to the mother moor?, to give instruction to the liberated Arricansr as well as for the purchase of such of the e articles as they might raise. The report then proceeds to state, that the greater portion of tfe land will not, after the first year's use, yields satisfactory crop, r.. 4 • I