The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-13 00:00:00

FRES EMIORATTON FROM MICA,

In the Coionial Garette of last Wednesday, Mr. MeOgregor
bird furnishes more illustrations of the great question of
free African emigration. The first paper is one showing the
cause of the present condition of Africa, and the proposed
remedy by a statement of undeniable facts, with a comparison
of the productive powers of the negro race under different
circumstances. The second paper, showing the moral and
tangible money gain to the Negro, the West Indies, and
England herself, by the transfer of Sierra Leone to the West
Indies, we give verbatim, and recommend it to the careful
perusal of all parties.

MEMORANDUM ON SIERRA LEONE.
The harbour of Sierra Leone has been in virtual possession
of Great Britain since the commencement of the sixteenth
century. As it is the only harbour properly so called be-
tween Cape Verde and Fernando Po, it is an important point
for any maritime power to hold it. Clarence Cove, in Fer-
nando Po, and Amboisas Harbour, under Cameron's Moun-
tain, are the only ports on the coast that a frigate can enter
at any time of tide ; all other ports are bar and tide harbours.
Our early voyagers saw the advantages it possessed as a
port, and built a fort there in the reign of Charles the First.
Its history as a colony dates from 1787, when an atterdpt
was made to colonise it with American refugee Negroes : out
of 341 landed, only 63 remained in 1791; who were settled
at Granville Town.
In 1792, the Sierra Leone Company sent out 119 Euro-
peans and others as settlers; who were reduced by the cli-
mate, in 1793, to 40 survivors.
In 1792, 1131 Nova Scotians were added to the colony ; of
whom one-tenth died immediately; and in 1826, 578 alone
remained of those people and their descendants.
In 1800, 550 Maroons, of all ages and sexes, were landed
from Jamaica ; who in 1836 had increased to 681: these
people took advantage of the first opportunity of returning
to Jamaica; and in 1841 there were only 70 remaining in the
colony.
In 1819, 85 Negroes concerned in an insurrection in Bar-
bados were transported to Sierra Leone : they have peti-
tioned to be permitted to return to the West Indies.
In 1818, 1222 pensioners from the West Indian and
Royalist Regiments, and their families, were located in the
colony.
In 1826, Major Rowan states the apparent decrease in the
population of the colony to be 8,924.
Up to 1819, the number of liberated Africans located in
the colony was 11,278.
From that time to the 30th June, 1840, 51,524.
The population now is supposed to be 50,000 souls. It is
clear, that making all allowances for the excess of males over
females among the liberated Africans, some powerful cause
has been in operation to prevent a race, above all others
prolific, from increasing and multiplying under the protec-
tion and patronage of the British government, and which
has made so many of its inhabitants eager to escape beyond
its bounds. That cause arose, it is believed, from three
separate sources-
-Ist. From the poverty of the soil, which is incapable of
producing exportable produce, or repaying the labour em-
ployed in its cultivation.
2d. From the non-existence of any national character in
the population ; Maroons, Nova Scotians, and liberated
Africans, from all quarters of the continent, being mixed
together, with no common bond of unity or feeling.
3d. From the unhealthiness of the climate preventing an
efficient European superintendence being established on the
part of the government over these mixed and incongruous
elements ; and deterring capital and skill from flowing into
the colony from Great Britain, as it would naturally have
done under more favourable circumstances.
Any one of these causes would have been sufficient to pre-
vent the colony ever attaining a flourishing state : the three
combined are more than enough to account for its present
melancholy condition.
It is incapable of supplying any exportable produce, from
the poserty of the soil : from the same reason, it is inca-
pable of maintaining its present population, artificially in-
troduced. Its existence depends alone upon the lavish
expenditure of the British government ; as the following
statement shows—

IMPORTS INTO SIERRA LEONE, 1839.... £lOO,OOO 0 0
Expenditure.
Liberated Africans £12,755 14 7
Civil Service
Judicial
Colonial Militia 1,204 1 0
Clergy 530 16 0
Pensions
Contingencies 2,463 14 10
Sundries
£30,658 9 2
Military Service..
Salaries, Mixed Commission Court, and ex-
penses
Commissariat and Victualling 3,096 16 1

£189,468 16 4
Estimated expenditure of religious societies 7,000 0 0
Ditto of men-of-war

£206,468 16 1
Value of exports in 1839 .... £58,440 0 0
Expenses charged, probably
included in imports, and
gold, bills, Sc.c. not included
in exports
106,468 0 0

Neat cost of keeping up Sierra Leone.. £lOO,OOO 0 0
Suppose this expenditure to cease, Sierra Leone would
shrink at once into its natural dimensions, and be restricted
to those advantages which it might derive from its harbour
and position as a kind of depOt for the timber-trade and
other trifling commerce in its neighbourhood.
This £lOO,OOO per annum, therefore, is the balance paid
by Great Britain to bolster up a place from which no advan-
tage can ever be derived ; as, from its situation, on no great
navigable river, it can exercise little influence on the interior
of Africa, and its position operates against communication
with other parts of the coast.
As to the structure of its society, a good deal has been
lately stated about the progress the liberated Africans have
made in civilisation and wealth : but it is to be observed,
that the few instances brought forward are confined to Free
Town, and those engaged in mercantile pursuits; and when
the deadly nature of the climate, which prevents European
competition, and the enormous annual expenditure of the
British government, are taken into consideration, the only
extraordinary thing is, that they have not driven out every
White merchant long ago : as it is, there are not fifty libe-
rated Africans in the colony that have achieved independence,
at the expense of the people of this country ; and, however
amiable their character, all are agreedcountr that no good effect on
the people of the surrounding y has as yet been pro-
duced.
It is possible that an extension of the colony, if a richer
soil is to be found in its neighbourhood, might be useful,
and agriculture might follow to a certain extent; but the
expense would be great, and the impossibility of insuring a
due proportion of Whites of a suitable class, in consequence
of the fatal climate, would cause the experiment to have
little result, as far as the civilisation of the Black race is
concerned. The colony should therefore be abandoned as
the principal station of the British in Africa, and the ex-
penditure proportioned to its real value ; say to £5,000 per
annum.
The withdrawal of the greater portion of its population to
the West Indies would be advantageous to the individuals
concerned ; to the colonies where their labour is required ; to
this country, at whose expense they are supported useless
members of the community ; and inflict a heavy blow and
great discouragement on the Foreign Slave-trade.

MEMORANDUM SHOWING THE COST OF A MONTHLY
COMMUNICATION BY STEAM-VESSELS BETWEEN THE
COAST OF AFRICA AND BRITISH WEST INDIES, THE
COST OF TRANSPORTING PART OF THE POPULATION OF
SIERRA LEONE THITHER, AND THE RESULT THAT MAY
BE EXPECTED.
Two iron steam-ships of 1,000 tons and 250
horse-power, each capable of carrying 1,000
emigrants, (men, women, and children,) on
the plan adopted in her Majesty's transport
service ; 2,000 tons, at £4O per ton .
Twelve voyages of 6,000 miles each, being the
distance from the coast of Africa to the West
Indies and back, equal to a total distance of
72,000 miles per annum; at the cost, as per
statement, of 20s. per mile
12,000 emigrants per annum, at £6 per head .. 72,000
48,000 emigrants in four years . ...
Out of these 48,000 souls, it is presumed that one-fourth,
or 12,000, would be effective labourers—equal to the produc-
tion of 24,000 tons of sugar annually ; which, at the present
duty of 245. per hundredweight, would yield the Exchequer
a revenue of £576,000 ; or at 12s. per hundredweight, to
which it is hoped the duty on colonial sugar will be reduced,
£288,000, or an annual return equal to the whole expense
incurred, supposing the imperial government to undertake
their removal. But as the colony receiving the emigrants
would willingly pay the expense of their transport, the above
sum would be clear gain to this country.
It is proposed the government should supply the steam-
vessels, charging the colony a fair percentage on their value
while so employed, say 12i per cent per annum.
In addition to the revenue thus created by the transfer of
so large a proportion of the liberated Africans from Sierra
Leone to the West Indies, at least three-fourths of the
government expenditure at Sierra Leone, or £75,000 per
annum, would be saved ; the market for British goods would
be increased from 40s. per head, their average consumption
at Sierra Leone, to £7 ss. 4d. per head, the consumption of
the Trinidad population, or in round numbers, £240,000 per
annum; while the increased supply of 24,000 tons of sugar
would reduce the price of the 200,000 tons consumed by the
People of this country to £5 per ton, or a reduction of cost
to the Consumer of £1,000,000 per annum.
appears from the above statement, that the transfer of
these Door
would-he- people from Sierra Leone to the West Indies
it is bleu as profitable in a pecuniary view as in a moral one
what is motet and imperative on us to do it ; proving that
wrong. rally right can never be politically or economically
As to the
ceive, let moral and physical benefit the people would re-
West Indies,ge Compare the Jourual of Gurney in the
the despatches JklIT traveller's account of Sierra Leone, or
Colebrooke, 0,4 Str. H. Light, Sir C. Metcalfe, Sir W.
Doherty, Campberi,n• M`Leod, with those of Governors
that such a measure
Jeremie, or, Finlay ; and all will agree
the liberated Afrieans7°uld be the greatest possible boon to
It will be seen I probe
with their friends and --theit4r remove these people in masses,
rela-
tions : there is ruptinelators, their families and rela-
exists.* The mass of them ao._aay national feeling, for none
-only kept from emighting hy''thaaexious now to go, and are
tions : the instant our lavish expgrd?ssest misrepresenta-
univeriture in the colony is
stopped, that desire will become
the surrounding country. Sierra t_s_al, and extend to all
up.ywill then become
what it ought always to have been,
native African,f instead of repelling them by of refuge for the
alien acts and
religious persecution, as is now the case,
To prove that I have rather under *than over rated the
p. 13/. : where Stipendiary Ma
power of production, I beg to refe,r to Parliamentary Papers
on Antigua, Trinidad,
gistrate A. C. Colquhoun states that a labourer in his apar;
time cultivated canes sufficient to makeolfiour hogsheads of
sugar, only working on Saturdays, h days, and
spare
hours; earning his livelihood besides as a day labourer: to
p. 80, the evidence of R. Darling, Esq:, that an addition of
10,000 labourers to the population of Trinidad would increase
the production of sugar to 30,000 hogshea Walker,
to p. 17, the
evidence of Stipendiary Magistrate W. where be
calculates the earnings of an able-bodied man, his wife and
two children, at £5O per annum, working only five days
a week.
The ultimate result will be the triumph of free over slave
labour, the extension of our commerce, the civilisation of
large masses of the Negro race, the creation by re-ernigra-
tion of a large population in Africa, speaking the English
language and rising gradually in the scale of society : in a
few years Great Britain would be exulting not only over the
extinction of the slave-trade, but also in the annihilation
of slavery itself; and Africa would slowly but surely emerge
from the blackness of darkness which has so long encom-
passed her.

.1, A stanch supporter of Sierra Leone describes the peculiar
character of the population in these words—.. This peculiarity con-
sists in the nature of its population ; a heterogeneous mass, but
mainly composed of the surviving cargoes of captured slave-ships;
men who have undergone a Cleat shock ; uprooted beings ; com-
pelled colonists of a strange is.ad "—Buxton's Remedy, p. 364.
t The Reverend John /term, recommending further settle-
Inent, states—" I am convinced that thousands would lice to such
places of refuge as soon. as they were assured of protection ; and
thus a dense free population woo saw spripg up.—Buxton's
Remedy, p. 387.

• .

lIATIMATE lISPIAAND TO,
Pro Arm Roimeta o' tt u Ripenm of an iron gid4t4'
1441 Of 1,000 lons and 2n horsenpowert, between the !Vest
Indies and the British Colonies on the West Coast of
Africa, making six voyages annually—distance OM
miles out and home
Cost of steamer
Floating Establishment—
Commander
3 Officers
Purser . 200
Surgeon 200
Assistant ditto 100
3 Engineers, £3OO, £250, £200
3 Assistant ditto, at £lOO 300
6 Petty officers, at £6O
80 Kroomen, at 20s. per month 960

99 men.
Provisions, 10 officers at 2s. per diem 365
89 men, at £5 per day
6,000 emigrants, at 15s. 4,500
- 11,060

GOO tons of coals per voyage, for six
voyages, 3,600 tons, at 50s. .......... 9,000
Oil, tallow, and small stores for engines,
at £2OO 1,200
Ship-chandlery, at £2OO per voyage .... 1,200
Wear and tear, 20 per cent. on £40,000.. 8,000
Insurance and interest, 10 per cent 4,000

Second vessel

£34,460
34,460

.C 68,920
Contingencies

Total annual expense ......

£72,000

P.S.—The statements of the population up to 1830 are
taken from Major Rowan's Report ; the exports, imports,
and expenditure, from Dr. Madden's.
That the present state of the Colonies in the West Indies
is fearfully reacting on this country, and forms one of the
principal causes of the present general distress, cannot be
denied, when the additional sum paid for the one article of
sugar is considered. The annexed statement speaks for
itself. I firmly believe that the measures so fully advocated
in this memorandum would be " twice blessed ;" that while
doing our duty in civilising and instructing the African race,
we should be taking a sure step to restore our commercial
prosperity.
- -•-

. .
Statement showing the Additional Price paid for the same
quantities of Sugar the three years before the abolition of
Slavery, and the three years after the termination of the
Apprenticeship—
cwt.
1831 .. 3,781,011 average price 235. Bd.
1832 .. 3,655,534 .... do. 275. Bcl.
1833 .. 3,651,804 .. do. 295. sd.

11,088,349 hundredweight, at 275. per hundred-
weight, the Gazette average of the three years, £14,969,26G.
For the three years ending 1841, the average price was
425. 9d.: 11,088,349 hundredweight, at 425. 9d. per hundred-.
weight—.£3,701,345, or 8,732,879 additional.

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL INTELLIGENCE

OXFORD, SEPT., 10.—The Martyr Memorial is nearly
finished, and shbws to great advantage on entering the city
from Banbury or Woodstock, at the point where the two
roads join, as it there appears in the distance between the
trees which form the much-admired avenue through which
Oxford is entered from the north. The prints of the Memo-
rial do not give a correct idea of its beautiful proportions,
which, in order to be seen to advantage, the spectator should
view at the distance of 100 yards at least from its base. The
scaffold was wholly removed a few days ago, but another has
since been erected for the purpose of executing some elaborate
carved work on the upper part of the first story.
On Wednesday the Rev. Lewis Lewis, of Jesus College,
was elected a Fellow of that society.
Her Majesty the Queen has presented the Rev. J. May-
nard, of Exeter College, to the rectory of Sudborne, with the
curacy of Capella de Oxford, in the county of Suffolk.
The Rev C. Plumptre has been presented to the rectory of
Wickhambreux, in the county of Kent.
The Rev. E. Edwards has been presented to the rectory of
East Winch, in the county of Norfolk.
The Lord Chancellor has presented the Rev. E. Tardy to
the vicarage of Grinton, in the county of York, and the
Rev. I. D. Winslow to the vicarage of Napton-on-the-hill,
Warwickshire.

CAMBRIDGE, SEPT. 10. - The following appointments
have taken place :
Rev. W. Hodgson, M.A., of Sidney Sussex College, to
the incumbency of Brathay, near Ambleside.
Rev. William Brathwaite, 8.A., of Jesus College, to the
curacy of St. Peter's, Jersey.

ORDINATIONS TO BE HOLDEN.
Sunday, September 18, Bishop of Exeter, at Exeter.
Sunday, September 18, Bishop of Llandaff, at Llandaff.
Sunday, September 18, Bishop of Limerick, at Limerick,

The Court Circular says that the Queen and her consort
will not return to Windsor from the North on the 15th, ac.
cording to the original announcement, but on the 19th.

THUNDER-STORM.--UP to Wednesday evening last we
bad been free from any of those sudden and violent changes
of the weather which have visited other parts of the country ;
but about 7 o'clock an approaching storm was indicated by
fitful flashes of lightning playing among the clouds at the ex-
tremity of the southern horizon. Before eight o'clock the
storm increased in violence, and the distant sound of thunder
was beard at intervals of short duration. The lightning at
this time was much more brilliant, and the flashes followed
each other in rapid succession. About half-past eight the
effect of the electric fluid was truly magnificent, the whole
expanse of the heavens, momentarily illuminated in the most
beautiful manner, presenting one of the grandest scenes it is
possible to conceive. From Magdalene bridge the whole of
the churches and public buildings of the University within
reach of this position might be clearly distinguished, and were
beauiifully illuminated. As we watched the sudden and quick
returning movements of the sublime element, and its gradual
growth in intensity as it darted to and fro, and higher and
higher among the masses of black clouds amidst which it
seemed to sport, the thunder peals became louder and nearer,
the clouds blacker and denser, and the fast-descending rain,
and the rising winds, gave token that no ordinary storm was
perparing. About nine o'clock it had reached its climax,
and in the course of another half hour had abated consider-
ably of its fury. The chief feature of the storm, as it appear-
ed to us, was the lightning, which we never saw assume such
fantastic shapes, and its brilliancy at the height of the storm
was overpowering. We have not heard of any damage being
done in this city or neighbourhood, beyond the smashing of
numerous panes of glass in greenhouses and hothouses by the
large hailstones which at one time accompanied the storm.—
Oxford Herald.

NOBLE INSTANCE OF SELF-DEVOTION IN A MINER.—
A few weeks ago, two miners, named Verran and Roberts,
were at work in South Caradon new shaft (which is intended
to be sunk perpendicularly, through a granite country, to in-
tersect the lode at the depth of 140 fathoms). The present
depth is about ten fathoms, and they had prepared a hole for
blasting, the fuse inserted, tamped up, and all ready for
firing. On these occasions the men are drawn up by a wind-
lass, and, as they are only three in a core, there is only one
man at the brace, and he can only draw up one at a time—
consequently, after the hole is ready, one man is drawn up,
and the kibble lowered in readiness to receive the last man,
who has to put fire to the fuse, and then both men at the
windlass draw him up with the utmost speed, in order that
all may get out of the way when the explosion takes place,
which is sometimes so violent that large stones are thrown
up to the top, carrying with them part of the roller and wind-
lass to a considerable height. It unfortunately happened
that, as the safety fuse with which the hole was charged, was
longer than necessary, they inconsiderately took a sharp
stone to cut a piece of it off, and ignition instantaneously
commenced ! They both flew to the kibble, and cried out to
the man at the trace to " wind up ;" but, alas ! after trying
with all his might, he could not start them. At this awful
moment (while the furious hissing of the fuse assured them
that their destruction was within half a minute's march of
them) Verran sprung out of the kibble, exclaiming to his
comrade, Roberts, ' go on, brother, I shall be in heaven in
a minute !"—consequently Roberts was drawn up, and Ver-
ran threw himself down, and placed his poor devoted head
under a piece of plank in one corner of the shaft, awaiting
the moment when he should be blown to atoms. Just as
Roberts got to the brace, and was looking down with trem-
bling apprehension on the fate of poor Verran, the hole went
off with a tremendous explosion, and a small stone struck
Roberts severely on the forehead as he was looking down the
shaft. To the inexpressible surprise and joy of the men at
the brace, they heard Verran cry out, " don't be afraid, I
am not hurted ! ' Roberts immediately descended, and found
that the great burden of the blast was thrown in every part
of the shaft except the corner where poor Verran was coiled
up ! This extraordinary circumstance has produced a consi-
derable sensation throughout the district ; not only do they
view the escape as a miraculous interposition of Divine Pro-
vidence, but the conduct of Verran, as a noble instance of
what a real Christian will do in the moment of extremity.—
Mining Journal.
Loss OF THE MONTAGU OF PERTH.—Extract from a
letter dated Macao, the 10th of May :—" Accounts have
just reached us of the total loss of the Montagu. She was
coming on from Bombay, principally laden with cotton, and
was classified as a fine vessel and a fast sailer ; but week after
week passed, however, after she became quite due, and no
Montagu made her appearance. At length, a few days ago,
a letter reached us from the captain. dated Manilla, at which
place he and all the crew had arrived in safety. It seems he
had got through Dampier's Straits, and in the Jillolo Passage
had very thick weather and calms, with strong currents run-
ning. On the morning of the 2d of March, at daylight, they
found themselves within three miles of a reef, with the cur-
rent setting them down right upon it. They got out all the
boats to try and tow her off, but without effect. About three
p.m., she struck, and at four o'clock had entirely disappear-
ed ; the crew being in the boats at the time escaped, but
without clothes of any kind et. provision. They got inside
the reef to a small island with three cocoanut trees, where
they remained for fifteen days, subsisting on fish, birds, &c.,
and after repairing their boats which had been damaged in
crossing the reef, they set out to look for vessels without
compass, chart,-or anything to guide them by. They were
picked up by a London vessel bound for the coast of Japan,
who supplied them with all their wants ; and they again set
sail in their boatsto reach the Dutch settlement of Farwate,
if possible. After being about fifteen days at sea, they were
picked up by a vessel bound for Manilla, where they all ar-
rived in safety the end of last month. She was a fine vessel,
and owned by Thomas Graham and Sons, of the fair city.
The captain, I believe, has sailed for England. Helen's
Shoal is the name of the reef on which she was lost"—
Perthshire Courier.

BRUTAL CASE OF STABBING.—On Tuesday evening last,
about half-past 8 o'clock, a most brutal and savage case of
stabbing occurred on the Chesterton-road, attended by cir-
cumstances of a most ruffianly and revengeful nature. The
following are the particulars, as tar as we have been able to
ascertain them :—lt appears that about nine months ago a
quarrel arose at the Wheatsheaf public-house, Chesterton,
between two men of the names of Nightingale and Larkins,
of that village, and after high words had been exchanged be-
tweenen the parties, they stripped and fought for. a long time,
h
and eying
Larkinscrver that ever since he has at times been heard to make use
aindhlsautmng
summoned u
Tuesday last,
Portland Arms
been drinking all'.
between Lark'
language, threatening the life of Nightingale,
eo,rikaseveral occasions followed him home late at night,
another
the
Larkins and
him he had no business
this the three men
veryc
when
rehangwhere
eNe t
(I:,Larkinsg maliciouschatrinr spiritcarry
ai hisea
and
happened
aro
aepwapmate
threats
lens,
dt ho i
temox
out, and proceeded towardsse
far, however, before they
said to settle the matter he,ecbuuttiohnadunntoitl
go into the
named Jolly had
evening. A quarrel had taken place
Nmiagh't it: ghael en, nightingalean d
Jolly,
wtold
t
Chesterton ; they had not gone
beganwo 1 o
would not fight him, but he Nvuo.
, isjatroklnnterfere in the matter. Soon after
quarrel, when Nightingale
fight him ,1 Larkins said he
The other man, Jolly, attempted to riplc phis b— g— out.
his endeavour received a slight stab oneeE' Larkins off, but in
who was now very violent, rushed is left eye. Larkins,
aimed a blow at his thigh, but he onilviao slightlynNightingale and
skin ; he then stabbed him in the arm, and raf grazed the
nearly four inches long and two inches in icted a wound
depth. T
un-
fortunate man, finding he had been stabbed, be , ran back to th
Portland Arms, where the wound was dressed by Mr. Wray, e
and he was conveyed home to Chesterton in •
surgeon, a dan-
gerous state. Larkins has been apprehended, and we 1 mar
will be examined this day at the Town-hall.—
.Cambridge
Chronicle.