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

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 being
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 made b Sir
Neil Campbell in every branch of this (the liberated African de.
pertinent. In a despatch, dated the 19th of January, 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
I6th of June, 1827, approves of the arrangements made, and ob-11
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 wonderfully
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 lolgonetll
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.i4
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, 1828,1expresse:
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 derived 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 land 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 for 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 expenditure 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 thegovernment of the 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 they satisfied that they could 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