A T R E A T I S E -- .' UPON :rHE T R A D E FRO M Great-Britain to Africa; HumbLy FecemmeffQea to the . ATTENTION o I< G 0 V , ERN MEN T . BY A N A F Ric A N MER C H A N T. .. LON bO N: Printed for R. B A L D WI N, No. 47, Pater-nofter Row. M DCC LXXII. A " T R 'E A T I S E UPON THE T R A D E . F R Q M Gr~at~~ritain to Africa. I N T ROD U C T ION. W HOEVER is thoroughly acquainted with the true in--terefiof Great Britain, mufi know, that to her foreign commerce the is indebted for her prefent greatnefs, it's fupport, and prefervation. The very land of England de- pends upon the fea; to commerce we owe the encreafe of our national treafure, the breed and excellency and plentiful fup- ply of feamen; the fecurity of our public credit; the regular payment of the funded interefi, and in {hart, every advantage which can excite a fpirit of indufiry to acquire the * B 2 comforts [ 4 ] comforts of life, and will at the [arne time rai[e in the po[- - reIfors, a bravery of foul to protect and defend that country,. from which they derive a [Qlid property in [0 many valuable acquititions. It m~fi therefore be all undeniable maxim, that we are bOUhd· i~ prudence and duty to encrea[e. this co£n merce to to the utmofi, efpecially between the mother coun try and her colonies, tince the'reby many mutual advantages will arife to both; and it is equally clear, that it is our intere~ to refl:rain the trade of France, our natural enemy, a3 much ~& we poffibly can; aCtively, by preventing their encroach- ments ; paffively, by encouraging and enabling our OWIl merchants to riv~ and oppofe, if not exceed them at foreign markets . ' CHAP. I. The I MP ORTANCE oj the TRADEfro7n GREAT BRITAIN to AFRICA. I F the. benefits of foreign commerce are fo grea::, ~nd [0 dlennally necdfary to the fupport of Great Bntam and her Colonies, and the improvements t11erein [0 rdhiCtive of our enemies power, if difpo[ed, to hurt us, how yafi is the importance of our trade to Africa~ which is the firfi princi- ple and foundation of all the reft:; the main [pring of the machine, which [ets every wheel in motion: a trade which ari[es almofi entirely from qurfdves, our exports being . chiefly , $, } chiefly our own ma,nufac,'tur-es., or [~ch as an; purchafed with them; and the returns gold, iyory, wax, dyeing woods ~nd negroes: tI-t,e' four firfl: ;rtrid~s' of home confu~tioD, or ~a­ nufaCtured for ~xporting ; the Jafl: affording a mofl: prodi- gious employtnent to OUT people, both by fea and ,lafld: . without whom -our plantatjOFls ';;outd no! be impro'ved or ' carried 011, nor ihould we h~ve ~!1Y {hipping paffing between the colonies, 'and ,mother country; whereas by their la- bour~ our fugars, tobacco, and numberlefs other a·rtides are 'fa.ifed, which employ an incredible number of {hips, and thefe {hips i.n their tum muft employ a much greater num- ber of handicraft trades at home;' and the merchandizes they bring home and carry out, pay fuch confiderable fums to government, that of them conGfI: the mofl: HouriD.1ing branches of the revenue; fo that both for exports and i~­ ports, the impwvement of our national revenue, the en- couragement of indultry at home, the fllpply of our co- lonies abroad, and the increa[e of our navigation; the Af- rican trade is fo very beneficial to Great Britain, fo effen~ tially neceifary to the very being oCher colonies, that ,with~ out it neither could we Homin), nor they)ong fubG.ft ' There is alfo one very peculiar advantage in this tyude, which is this; we need never fear that Africa will rival us, for it praduces no one commodity umilar to the produCtions of Great Britain, and confequently {hould any colonies -be efl:a- bliihed there, they can never through allY oppofition of in- terefl:s be under the neceffity, or have the leafl defre to throw off their fubordination to th.eir mother country: 5 In [ 6 ] In this trade great improvements might be introduced., were we properly to attend to, and encourage them. -Con- fid~r the vafi continent of Africa, the extent of coafi within the limits of our trade by aCt of parliament, (from Port Sallee in Barbary, to the Cape of ,Good Hope, both indufive) an extent of near three thoufand leagues, mofi advantageou!ly {ituated for commerce, the inland parts rich in gold, and other very valuable ,commooities beyond defcription, watered with innumerable rivers navigable for milny leagues up the -country, the foil amazingly fruitful, and the people numerous. 'From a concurrence of fuch circumfiances what, advantages may not be expeCted? The French were - fully fenfible of thls,_anci in the year 1701 prefented a me- morial to their governm~er'ein they aII'e the community, which advantag€s would be totally loft were the !lave trade univerfall'y -given up ; for-as the Afri- cans are naturally thieves, though {lavery is the certain. puniiliment on conviCtion, our breaking up tl1e Dave- trade might indeed alter that puniiliment to that of death, but would not reform them. Shalt we then defl:ror the chief fource of our nationar indnftry and Fiche,s, by ef!:a-- blifhing univerfal freedom OIltheir behalf, who, have forfeited their claim tait, and are in law not even entitled to life?" God fbrbid that a:ny enthuGaftic rant {bowd fo far deprive us of our fenfes, as to drive us to take fuch a defperate and un.- neceiTary f!:ep: a fiep fo unavailing to thofe,_f or whofe be- nefit it iliouid feern to be calculated; for were England to drop · _ ( 13 J "' _ drop the Africa!! tra-de direaJ.y, France and SpairY y.r6"uld a:s : direetly avaihhemfelves of it, and' the po:rj ty,. p_. 80. N~groes t:hou~h under coutraC}: cannet pe rent Gut of the kingdom! yet Engli{hmenagree- i:ng to_ go beyond fea are -cO!J.l~llaQle thereto." I con- gr.atm) '!>te the .Ah i<:;an,s Of} th~ J"-lp~riotity here plan~ed out for J:11eln, bHt. tbe fre~-born Br);tQn will fell Mr. Hllrgrave and the Africal:)s, that tJeither CJlI1 they enjoy, nor he be- {tow fo un?-cc~untab a privilege; th?-J: foreign flavery <.:a!ilJ}0t in tir061lCe .dome{h~, llo-;:-tne-l'fr:tten~ ea~ch~i~ itom the African~, as if it was a contagio;u~ diforder: Mr. Hargrave h?-s proved tOQ nvwch jn one fen fe, and too. little i n thqt which was eff~ntially neceffary to his caufe; for he has miflaken his pqint and fnapped the thing of his argu- ment by over£1nining jt if! endeavouring to prove the unlaw- fuIn.efs of what is ratifiec;1 by aCl:s of parliament, by ancient ufage, by r.eligion, by juflice, an<;l by true humanity. Go- vernment will undoubtedly flill fupport itfelf and its com- me,rce by a timely aCt of parliament, and a {teady n~folution to qdhere to it; and not let flip the advantages flowing from fo extenuve a qade, and fuch an immer;fe length of cOllft, of wh i~h I will now give a iliort d(lfGription, that we may more fully underfland any fubfequent remarks upon it. CHAP. 6 [ 17 } C HAP. III. A brief DEscRIPTro~ of the AFRICAN COAST, within the L imits of our TR ADE. T HE extent of that part of the African Coafl:, to which all fubjeCts of Great Britain are free to trade, reaches from Port Sallee in Barbary thimfelf, or had made-a fl:rok as the term is,; that is, fraudulentl y brought off fome free people, ne wou d neither 'go there again, or give any information to others of what might be done there. Arguin is the next port in about 20 , degrees north latitude, wnere the Dutch once had a , f~rt, which the French took in 1677, >and which was afterwaras c'eded to them, bu~ after fame time they abandoned it, as it was f~ far from their gum foreRs. Port Anderic lies about 20 leagues to the [outl1\vard' of 'Arguin, where great quantities ,' of gum were fometimes bough t, though the riik of getting it on board was very great from the high fea, that rolls at the landing place. The province of Senegambia, now in the h.ands of the ~Britifh government, includes the ri ver SenegaJ, which 5 opens ~ See letter [E.] in the Appendix. [ 19 ] opens into the wdtern ocean in nearly 16 degrees, and the river Gamhia nearly in 13t degrees north latitude; be- tween whiGh near: cape -Yerd@ lies Goree, fiill in the hands of the French. Up the river Senegal is the if1and of the fame name, cal- led alfo St. L01Jis, where the governor of thCl province refides, and from whence we fhip all our gum . At the feafons for purchafing it our traders go up to Podol' and Galam, ' two fettlements made by the French when t he river wa~ in their poiTeffion, the furfi of which is now repair- ing, . and the latter has proved [0 defiructive to Europeans, that probably no fettlement could be made to advantage by them. - The only mean-s, that [cern eligible, are to breed up forne ' young Africans in England, teach them our language and the mechanic arts of mining and other trades, which might turn to great account, if we made a fettlement with thClm at Galam; the country round being eA:eemed rich in gold mines, but the natives not knowing how to work them. In the river Gambia is Fort James in the hands of the government under a l.ieutenant governor, [ubject to the governor of Senegal. This river is navigabJe for vdfels of two hundred ton-s as high up as Fatatenda, which is about fix hundred miles. The trade of both thefe rivers might be greatly improved, and the fociety of merchants, now trad- ing to Africa, have laid before the lords of trade fame par- ticulars, of which no doubt they' will avail themfelves pro- . perly, to the mutual advantage of the priva te fair tf8der and * D 2 the [ 22 ] 011 their rcturn; fpirited up by the fugitive Portl1gueze, and often by I dere! ters frbm our own {hips, which incon- venience a method 'might be pOiilt.ed' out 'to put a f!:op to. There is another river adjoining, called the river St. Ann, iil which coniiderable quantities of x:ice and fome lll:groes may be had'. .. " About thirty leagues fouth eaf!: is -Cutcheo, a Portugueze fettlement, and twenty-five l~agues f~rth~r OD', -another called BiiJeaux belonging to ther. fame people, . whofe 'ind:Ol~nce ' mal~es them rather take a 'profit for let1'ing others dad~, 'tJlan put themfdves to the fatigue of it. . T here ' are feveral other fmall Portllgueze fettlements, and one bf'[onie note at Mit6'mDa; 'a river in ' Slerrli Leon, latitude 8 ~ degrees north. ;'IT'p~~~ie7-l1ere'f c'ali'ed~ort~­ glleze, are principally per[ons bred frolll a m'ixture of the fi rf!: Portugl1eze difcoverers wldl th~ natives, ancI' now become , I'" i ' ' , in their complexion, and woolly quality o'{ the'hair, ' perfeCt negroes, retaining however a :liTiatteri~g of the Portugueze language. , ' , . In, the river Sierra LeoR,is an ;Engli£h [culement, calle4 B-ance i£1and, but under the C'iir~aion 'ofpri:Vat~ 'perfons with exch.ifive privileges. Some trade is f!:ill carried on at Sherbro river, where there are' the ruins of an' Engli01- fort. '.' . Cape M~unt lies nearly in fev~n degrees north latitude, and termimltes the Portugueze t.r;ade of, Sierra Leon: The 1 {I("' J ' negroes on the fouth £ide of Cape Mou!}t c~i~not deal with , l ' thofe t 2 3 J thofe on the north, as they have a different language, reiigion and cuftcims. - , The following~pfaces-of trade and fome others of lds note lie betw'een Cape Mount and Cape Palm as ; the river St, Pauls, Cape Menfurado, river Junk, river Seftos and Ceteracrue. Cape Palmas is about twenty leagues to tJ1e fouthward of Ceteracrue, where a great plenty of Malaguetta pepper, rice and ivory, may be annually purchafecl-. The grain coaft' begins at Cape Mount, and ends here. The rea coaft between Cape Mount and this place is about fixty leagues, where are negroes in tolerable plenty; the inhabitants "are quiet, the inland country unknown to Europeans, as indeed is the whole of the interior parts of Africa, except part of Angola in the hands of the Portugueze. Between this and Cape Lahue are the rivers Cavalle, Durin and the river St. And~ews, where the inhabitan~s are treache- rous, but deal confiderably in Daves and ivory. Cape Lahue is about thirty leagues to t'he eaftward of St. Andre ws, where the Dutch buy great quantities of gold and ivory-: the negroes are fubj eB: to a Deepy difeafe. The ivory coaft begins at the river Cavalle and ends at Cape Lahue. Baffam and Affioee are, the fonner about twenty leagues, the latter thirty-two to the eafl:ward of Cape Lahue, where good negroes, and large quantities of gold and ivory are purchafed by the Dutch ; and even the Engliih are obliged tG give thofe articles to the Dutch general at Elmina, [br Brazil [ 24 ] Brazil tobacco, which he- illegally monopolizes from the Portugueze, contrary to treaty between the United Provinces and Portugal in 164 r. We are now come to Cape Appolonia, which terminates the windward coait, and may be called the beginning of the Gold coait, hnce the committee have ereCted a fort there, and have i·n all between this place and the river Lagos, which termi'nates the Gold coait, eleven forts, Cape Appolonia, Dixcove, Succondee, Cemmenda, Cape Coafi Cafile, Anna- maboe, Tantumquerry, Winncbah, Accra, Prampram and Whidah. This part of the coait, called the Gold coait, has been deemed of fuch importance to England, that hnce the de- cline of the African company, the parli~ment has allowed from ten to thirteen thoufand pounds a year for the fupport of the forts, and added two thoufand extra this year. This is -entirely under the management of what is called the African committee, but it may be added miitakel'lly called fo, as by . indireCt praCtices the real African traders have no effeCtual influence in their choice. There are alfo within this fpace feveral Dutch forts and .fome Danifh; the principal Dutch fort is St. George del Mina. The Englifh forts are poorly kept up; but this is referved for a farther difcuffion, when the conduCt of the committee falls under conhderation. At Whidah, the Englifh, French and Portugueze, have Sorts within gun fhot of each other. 2 JaGquin [ 25 J , , Ja c.quin about three leagues.. t6 the eaIlward of Whidah and Eppee about eight leagues, great marts for negroes, gold and Brazil tobacco,-are -now monopolized by the DutelL The riverf"agos terminates the Gold CoaIl and begins what is called the Bite, which ends at Cape Lopez. The ' river Benin is forty leagu~s earr ofrhe river Lagos, but between them is no place of trade. The entrance of the riv.er Benin is about half a league wide, but a {hip that draws ten feet water cannot enter; al!d unlefs you have a pilot well acquainted with the p!ace, if your veffel draws above nine feet, it IS dangerous ~t it; and there are .a1fo a favage peop~ 1etimes attack [mall veffels ; it is faid, ., go from hence to Bonny, new and o. h are about ninety leagues by rea, to d. ~enin by an inland navigation, and alfo 'he wefl:ward, . but it has never yet beer. Cape Formofa is a\ of Benin. All the inland trade goe v flvers. New Calabar and Bonny riv ues to the eafi- ward of Cape Formofa, ,,\ ,,,,,.p,,rt. __ lay go in and .... I).-"t' ~ - purchafe negroes and iv, ~,<~~,~\~~. !1,(Y --b __'1 and coming out .* are both attended with danger. / Old Calabar river is about twenty leagues' to the eafiward of Bonny, where negroes and ivory are purchafed and large {hips may go in, but the inhabitants, having removed their town from the {hare farther inland, often make exorbitant * See let!er (F ) in the Appendix: *E demands [ 26 j demands and k~ep the captains pri[oners, till they comply with them. The river Cameron is about thirty leagues to the fouth of Old Calabar, but is frequented only by vdfds of about one hun<;lred and £fty tons burthen. The river Gaboon is about eighty leagues to the fouthward ,of the river Cameron, navigable for large veffels four leagues up to Parrot Uland, where they may be careened and re- paired. The Dutch carryon the trade for negroes, wax, ivory, ebony and dyeing woods from feveral fmall rivers to the north of this place down to, Cape Lopez, which is about thirty leagues to the fouthward of it, and where what is called the Bite ends. Cape Lopez furnifhes the fame commodities, but the trade of it is chiefly engroifed by the Du.tch, who often buy negroes he~e and carry them to the Portuguefe at St. Thomas"s iDand, where for difpatch they fell them at 81. a head. ' Majumba is about feventy leagues S. S. E_, of Cape Lopez, where a great deal of redwood is annually purchafcd, though but few fiaves and very little ivory. Loango is about thirty leagues to the fouth ward of Ma- jumba, where the French purchafe more negroes than both the Englifh and Dutch together, and where they are to be had in great plenty. , Malemba is about thirty leagues to the fouthward of . Loango; and Cabenda is about feven leagues to the fouth- ,. ward of Malemba, where the trade is in the fame {tate as at Loango. The [ 27 J "The late Engliili African company had a for t at Cabell- na, ddhoyed by tho: Portugueze in 1723; but great part Df the walls and- mote round it ll:ill remain, and the natives acklilOwledge the ground the fort ll:ood on, and the land round it within cannon- iliot, to belong to the Englilh. The river Congo is about ten leagues to the fouthward of Cabenda, peopled on the north ude with inoffenuve, on the fouth with piratical negroes, who often cut off iliip's boats, and are therefore n0t much re[orted to. To the fouthward of this river no trade is carried on by any Europeans, but the Portugueze ; who have a large city at Loango St. Paul's on the coall: of Angola, ll:rongly forti- fied, in about nine degrees fouth latitude; from which place they have penetrated quite thwugh the country to their fettlements at, and fouth of Mozambique upon the eall:ern coall: of Africa, where they have caravans conll:antly ~oing and returning, and by that means carryon an extenuve and advantageous inland commerce. From this place to the Cape of Good Hope, being a fea- 'Coall: of abou t [even hundred leagues, is but little khown; and the few {hips" who have attempted to make difcoveries, or commence a trade any where near the Cape, have been dri- ven off the coall: by the {hips of the Eall: India company, under pretence of their encroaching upon their limits; whereas, by the aCt: for extending and improving the trade to Africa, palIed in 1749, (the twenty-third of George II.) the limits are exprefsly declared to be from Port Sallee in Bar- . pary to the Cape of Good Hope, both incluuve; thefe li- * E .2 mits [ 28 ] mits are confirmed by another act in 175 r, "together with " all the iIlands adjoining to thofe coafl:s, to all regions, C( territories-, and places reputed part -of any count~y within " the limits aforefaid." The limits granted by the act to fettle the trade to Africa in i 697, were "f'rom Cape Blanco " to the Cape of Good Mope, both ia~lufive." The char- ter was not granted to the Ea£il: India company till the year after, 1698, and thea they were allowed to trade" to aU " places in Afia, Africa, or America, -beyemd the Cape of "Good Hope to the Streights of MagelQan:" fo that they were never to interfere with any traders on this fide of, or at, the Cape. C HAP. IV. A foort HISTORY of the AFRICAN TRADE. T HE limits of ehe Afr-i:ah t'Facie. being fo (}xtenfuve, and _ the advantages re[tlltmg froffi It GOll'feifedly [0 gn'lat, it is 'neccifary towards fully unde-rfl:anding the [ubject) as well -as -interefiing to future adventuFers, 'to inkrt a bri@f a<:G01:mt ,tl'f the trase in generlll, and paFticularly Qf tho[el'Gyal African ·companies, whkh broke one after the other, and ·the manage- ment of their affairs waS in 17 S 0 c~nfigned ovet:to the pre- fent company, or rather their commie-ceo The Portugueze firlt difto-,(lted the coafl: of Africa in 145 '1-> ahd built a fort Coon aft(lr on the illand of Arguin, and rome time after, anbth(ll' -at St. George del Mlna 011 .he _G old Coafl:, and 'a third at Loango St. -P.aul's 011 .he tloafl: df Angola. 6 By [ 2,9 ] By virtue of thefe they claimecl-a'!ld enjoyed for a long time a right to thefe countries, -and Gorr'fi{~ated the {hips -of all ~ther nations -ttxg-t -'lmempted t~ trade -there: No Englifh traders went t nere tili 1544, which was ninety yea·rs after, and then at the rifk of -lofing their-fhips, if ,ta'ken by the Por- tuguez-e : -they traded -then only 'for gold, ivory, &c. btlt not for negfGles, the Engli!h having ~hen no colonies to employ them in. ~een Elizabeth in 1587, being at war with Spain -and P OTtugal, erected a company with excluuve privileges to trade to 'Senegal and Gambia for a certain num ber of -years . In the reigns of James 1. and Charles I. and during the I uforpation, men:hants were encouraged to trade to any 'part I of Africa. Accordingly they built a fort at Cormantine on I the Gold Coa1t, and a-rrother in the river Gambia. I T he Dutch, {enfible of the importance of this trade, erected a Weft India company in 162I, with great privileges ana.. , encomagements, and granted them all the lands they could conquer within ceTtain limits in Africa and America. They gained fev~ral important conquefts in Brazil and Africa, and _ in 1637 took from. the Portugueze the ftrong fortre[s of St. George del Mina, and foon after, all their other fettlements on the Gold Coafl:, which were ceded to them by treaty in . 1641. N-ow, though the Engli!h had a fort at Cormantine, the 'Dutch took the advantage of the diftraCted ftate of :England, .! to feize and confifcate her {hips from Cape Palmas to Cape L'Opez. Soon after the refioration Charles n. formed a com- pany'co oppo[e them, remonfuated to the fiates how unjuft . their pretenfions were, and demanded reparation f~r the da- mages ~[ 30 ] - damages his fubjeCts had fuflained;- budiriding this had nG effeCt, he fitted out a flrong fleet: then they began a treaty~ but in the mean time fent fecret ~rders to their admiral De Ruyter, which he punCtually obeyed; proceeded down th~ African Coafl, confifcated all the-Englifh ve!fels he met with, took the fort at _Corman tine, and put a Dutch gar- . rifon in it. Thefe wrongs and di£honours, meeting with no redrefs, occafioned war to be proclaimed againfl the Dutch in 1664, which lliews ;the value they then fet on the African _ trade, when they ratherchofe to rifk a war with England, than . admit her to any J?are of it . .(n 1667 a peace was concluded, and the Englilli Royal African company had Cape Coafl 'Came initeadof their fort at ,Cormantine, which was left in po!feffion ?fthe Dutch. The great charges theE-nglilli company had been at, were faid 1:0 prevent their trade from fucceeding to their willies; fo they affigned over all their Tights and po!feffions to a New Royal African company, efl:abliihed in 1672, and the king granted them all places in Africa -from Port Sallee in Barbary, to the Cape of Good Hope, inclufive, for the term of one thoufand years, with the fole right of trade. The Dutch were now in po!feffion of St. George del Mina, and feveral other forts on the Gold , Coafl. The Englifh, to flrengthen themfelves, encrcafed their fort at Cape Coafl Caflle, and built others at Accra., Dixcove, Winnebah, Succondee, Commenda, Annamaboe and Whidah. The French Senegal company" was eItablillied in 1673, and in 1678 the French took Arg\lin and Goree from the 4 Dutch1 r 3t ] blitch, which were afterwards ceded to them. In 1685 -the French king erea:ed another company to trade from Sierra Leon to t1~ Ca-pe- of Good Hope, reftraining the former company within Cape Blanco and Sierra Leon. In 1702 the latter of theft:: French African comFanies had the contraCt for furnifhil~g the $panr{h Weft Indies with fo many {laves yearly, which being transferred to Great Britain in I 17 1 3, the French company was abo-!i{hedand the trade ,- laid open to all their fubjeCts. The Englifh company had fufl:ained. many loffes hom the French and Dutch enc.roach-- ments, and in J 695 their foft in the river Gambia was taken by the French, who after the peace claimed an equal right in that river with the Engh{h. In 1697 the parliament laid the African trade open, -and impofeda tax for the.fupport of the forts, which aCt remained in force tiJl 17 1-2, though tlue tax would by no means defray the neceffary expences. Since that time the t rade has been free and open to all Britifh [ubje&s ; for, the company failing, go- _ v,ernmen t, in 17 30, allowed ten thoufa nd pounds to fupport the forts, which were unanimouDy declared abfolu tely neceffary for the prefervation of the African trade: the fame fum, and frequently more, has h nce that been annually allowed by government, and in 1749 and the two following years I the claims of the Royal African Company were enquired into, fatisfaCtion made to them for all their effeCts, and thofe i effeCts and the forts vefted in the com.rany of mercJ~antstr~~h ~ t~ Africa, l~,nder the direction. of a committee, wh~ were\ not aUo~ed to trade in their joint capacity (n o. perhaps {houle, [ 32 ) fhould have been in their feparate) nor officers or fer- vants in Africa to export negroes on their own acwunt. They -have been allowed annually 13,0001. for the f.upport of the forts, befdes frequent grants of [urns "vhich they petitioned for; and this very .year 2,0'001. ext-ra. In 1763 Senegal and its dependenGies were vdled in this company, and in 1765 they were divefled thereof, and it was vefled in his majefly, and the trade laid open to all his majefly's fubjeCts, in which flate it now con!lnues; that is, the whole trade from Port -Sallee in Barbary to the Cape of Good Hope, both inclufve, is free fOJ: all his majefiy's fubjetts ; but that part of it from Port Sallee to Cape Rouge, under the direCtion of government; and the part from · Cape I Rogge to the Cape of Good fIope, wherever there are forts, under the direCtion of the ' committee: and as they have , forts on the Gold eoafi only, tJ.~eir attention is confined to that valuable fpot. 'C HAP. V. The· CONDUCT of the prife11t AFRICAN COMMITTEE. FROM the foregoing brief account of the African trade, it appears that the carrying it on by an exdufve com- pany has .been tried twice without fucce[s; it remai~s now to examine what has been the managementDfthe committee, and whether it improves under their direCtion: Ol'le obfervation is neceffary to be mad~; that the iLl- .fluence of the committee at prefent ·operating no farther than [ 33 ] than the Gold Coafl:, they are accountable for the encreafe or decreafe of trade within thofe limits o~y; for want of which plain direCtion, per[ous w-ho are but little verfed in the Afrio.. can trade are told, with a fort of triumph, of the prodigious encreafe of it, and it is held forth as if entirely owing to the direCtion. ~f the committee. The trade in general indeed is encreafed, but that on the Gold CoaLl: confiderably diminiihed, nay almoLl: ruined ; for f~om 17 50 to 1763 at leaft thirteen thoufand negroes were annually purchafed, but from 1763 to I no not above five hundred at Cape CoaLl: Came, by which we may judge of the reLl:. In 1752 Liverpool fent thirty-two :!hips to the Gold CoaLl: for eight thoufand two hundred and thirty negroes, and in 177 I only fGurteen fhips for three thoufand four hundred. S0me years ago above one hundred thou[and ounces of gold were annually brought home from thence by the fhipping; put now the I committee's fervants get 3:11, and that all is a very trifling quantity in comparifon of what ufed to be colleCted, and the Duteh get moLl: of it for fpirits and Brazil tobacco. But to fhew more clearly how far the committee have eonformed to the aCt of parliament that efl:ab1iihed their power, and hvw far they have anfwered or abufed the pur- pofes for which they were appointed, it is proper to recur to the plain direCtions of the aCt itfe1f. The aCt pailed in 1749, orders that" the committee-men {hall b~· annually " chofen by a majori ty of the merchants trading to Africa; " that they {hall not trade in-their joint capacity; that th~ " governors of forts {hall not {hip negroes 011 their own * E " account,;- [ 34- ] (( account; that the fort s {hall proteCt, nO.t obftruCl, the " private traders, and that the buildings {hall be publick "warehoufes for the fervice of the community and the " proteClion of their efreCls." f With re[peCl to the manner of choofing committee-men, defigning and interefled perfons, who had been. chofen, availed themfelves of a cafual expreiIion in the aCt, "com- " mittee-men £hall be chofen by perfons trading or intending " to trade to Africa ," to llilake that office perpetual, which the . legiflature intended to be annual. The eleClors being com pofed of all fuch .perfons who paid forty ihillings for their freedom in the company, there ddigning men made numbers £ree * wit110ut their knowledge or expence, many of the lowefl clafies of the people, and aid of thep1 fuch as were their fri el'lds or dependeNts. Accordingly thefe forty {hilling voters this tafl J\ !l,ly out-voted the real traders; the poll at the cl0fe flood thms. Bourke 573, Beane 5 I 2, French 507, Smith 23 0. Aird 193, Philpot 196, Cleland 91.- Smith, Ail'@a nd Philpot were nominated and fupjilorted by the traders. Bourke united his interefl with French and Beane, two of thc perfons in the combination, and flood 'upon that intercfl, and that of Rofs and Mill, the latter of whoh1 has a brother govenwr ·of Cape Coafl Cafile. By thefe means they are felf-chofen, and confequent1y inde- pendent of the real Africa11 merchants, unattentive to the pu blick good, and indufirious only to raife fortunes for themfe! yes, by means of that publick money annually al- '. See letter [G.) in the appendix for Beane and French's agreement, &c. lowed [ 35 ] lowed them for the general advantage of the whole trade. They make their owl). dependents the governors of the forts; and carryon th€ir'= trade oy their means, either evading or boldly aCting i~ defian~e of the laws of their country; and having the advantage of houfe and w~rehoufe' room, their {ervants abroad and freight of their goods out at the publick expence, can afforq to overbid the private traders: this naturally raifes a competition; the African articles of trade are enhanced, and the value of their -own commodities leifened: and this has· fiill worfe confequences; for if the Africans c~~ have what they want: for lefs of their article$ than ufual, they will bring the fewer to market, as they \ are indolent in their difpohtions, and crafty in their deal- 1 ings, and know very well how to take the advantage of our mifmanagement. The governors of the forts though to appearance forbid to £hip off {laves for their own ufe on pain of difmiffion, yet . knowing they;can depend:on the committee-men for their pro- teCtion, as they are (ecretly interefie,d in their trade, do it clandeilinely; and when they leave the Coafi, always take care to have a noble cargo of the very befi negroes to carry with them. The poor foldiers are obliged to do all their work and labour for the m, -though miferably fupplied, at the dearefi rates, with the common neceifaries of life. The forts are merely an heap of rubbi£h, overrun with filth and vermin, fo far from being capable of awing the nativ€s, that they cannot proteB: tnemCelves; fo that for thoe advantage of' their private trade, the governOl'S are generally tributary to '" F 2 one: [ 36 ] one, and [ometimes [everal of the African chiefs: by which mcans not only thc rights of the Englifh have been given up, but the very governors thcm[elvcs have been flogged by the ncgrocs in their own forts. Is it to be fuppofed, tl1at the dignity of the Britifh empire can be fupported by thofe, who through private intcrdl tamely fubmit to [uch infulent treat- ment? Or can they protect the traders, who are in [uch ab- ject fubjcction themfelves? Accordingly every trader finds he has only himfelf to depend upon, is obliged to find room where he can for his goods, and thinks himfelf happily off, if the governor of the fort does not openly prevent his trading. This is too common a cafe, and paifes not onlyuncenfured, but is often rewarded by the committee. Mr. Miles, governor of fort .~, Appolonia, not only prevented fevera] captains from trading there, but publicly declared he would not permit one of them to purchafe even an ounce of gold. An afli- .davit being made of this he was recalled, but is now by the favour of the committee reinftated in his government, and ,gone again to take poifeffion of that fort, in which he be- haved in defiance of an abfolute act of parliament, and to the detriment of the fair trader., whom by his duty he was bound to a£lifi. A {hip of Mr. Mill's, one of the committee, carried him out this laft Augufi, and he will doubtlefs ,be true to his benefactor's intereft, and aCt as he did before. T his is the way indeed to encreafe the fpirit of trade in the governors " This fort itfelf was not only tlnnece/fary, but c1ifadvantageolls, having the worll: landing place on the Co.ll:; and indeed of the eleven forts at leail: fIx may be difpcnfed with, and the remaining five anfwer every proper purpofe, for at prefent ther: are merely faCtories to Cape Co all: Came and Aonamaboe. [ 37 J governors of the forts ; though fome have by no means been fo deficient as to want any encouragement, for they have car- ried it fo far as tot raae with the French and the Dutch, when they could reap any advantage by it, in preference to their own countrymen, and _to difpofe of their gunpowder, till they l1ad none left to defend themfe!ves. Dixcove in 1750 by this meaqs was reduced fo t.hat 'it mufi have been taken by the Dutch, had not a French velie! Gome in with an Irifh captain, who afforded them a fupply. In {hart, the committee have in. 'every particular aCted di- rectly contrary to the trnfi repofed in them, and contrary to the true interefi of the nation: and muH, if continued , en- tiFely defiroy that trade on the Gold Coafi, which has been ever judged the mofi important of any on the whole coafi of .Africa, and confequently mofi elientially neceKary to the p.rofperity of the Britifh commerce, and the fupport of her Colonies . From this account- of the prefent management of the committee on the Gold Coafi, "where only their jurifdiction operates through their trufiy ' factors, the governors of the forts, it is very clear that nothing has pre[erved them from the cenfure of the legiflature, but thefe facts not having ap- peared properly before the government. The length of time before complaints can be heard, the deaths of the injured perfons, the evafions of their oppreliors, the fortunes they have raifed as bulwarks round them, there being no magifirate on the Coafi to take cognizance of crimes, or adminifier affidavits, and many other accidents con- tribute to confufe; if not totally fiifle the truth. I t has now [ 38 ] now' appeared pretty plain though by no means exaggerated, as will be manifeft from the many fl:ubborn evidem:es of oblH- nate facts in the Appendix, ~t the letter [H.] and may be further proved by the united tefl:imony of many witneifes of reputation now in England, and ready to declare the whole truth, when properly called upon to do fo. As at the beginning of this enquiry into the management of the committee, an obfervation was made, that the encreafe- of the African trade in general was held forth by their ad- herents, as their fole merit, though that under- their par- ticular care languifhes daily'; fa here a diftinCtion of a :limilar Bature arifes: "Forts, fay they, muft be fupported, for wi th- « ont them we could have no trade: now we fupport the " forts, and therefore fupport your trade there." This fpe- cious plea like the former foon falls to the ground on the bare approach of real information and common underfl:anding. It has indeed been the univerfal maxim of the Britifh legifla- ture, and the unanimous de:G.re of the merchants, that forts and c<1fl:1es fhould be kept up' in thofe parts of Africa, where other nations have forts, but it was always added on a re- , '/peEl die footing, and for the bmejit and proteElion of the free t-raders. The deficiency in the firft particular is abundantly a fumcieht plea to take them out of thofe hands, in which they are contemptible; efpecially when infl:ead of anfwer- ing the fecond requi:lite, they a-re evidently injurious to it. Yet whenever the ccummj,ttee has been cenfured, the neceffity of forts, and the general acity Ciin '61Hy 1).feak "rl]kn fuey &lave bfblre' 'the p'tlb1i~ =t1;at ffipporteQ th'efu; ail:a ,:a [UcfC'€ffi.Ofl '6f htlflgry applibtnts -are ever in!.. fatiaele from ftl~1lt ~rft ,t!ependerky to 1!11eir p1~nit~a~ 'Of powet; \Uariot1% l1ave heery.'i:he a'h:eilipts fu ref&lh i:lle -ab'tifes 'of tM ,- €0mmitte~, flu't ::they -have.all- bee'~ fruitlHs; for the tegff=: lahue.. hiving f&gixr die chain, 'a power -only equal to theirs -cail ' break:ii::- -and :that i~ fincerely \ 0 be wi1hed, lor nothing ,bu!: an entire-alteration' of the prefent management can put the Afrtcan trade on a refpeCl:able footing. , This fs no [<:ratch;, eafJ:ly to b€ healed, as ~ne of. their , {ervants afferted, but 'the whore limb is rotten., and ·m u.rt be lopped off, or a martinc ation muit en[ue, and perhaps reach the 'Vitals of our country. From a monopoly no encrea[e of tra,de (;an be expeCted, and were they once inveited with extra- ordinary powers, and poffeffed of great opuJence~ aJl this would only rai[e their views to eaiier methods of encreafing their revenues. Under the pretence of iaveltigating further [ources . of commerce in the interior parts of Africa, they would b€ aiming at territorial acquiiitiolls, which might rai[e them for a time: hut the natives and their country would [oon have their revenge, ' as their total ruin would be the almolt immediate confequence. By our {hipping therefore is our only eEgible method of car- .. Tying on this trade~ free to all our indufrrious natives; The rea * G 18 U 42 J j.s the only element for Britons, and that makes all the coafl:s th€ir own, whenever they , choofe to claim them. The forts that are neceffary may be gar!ifoned with military g~nt1emen~ .appointed by the conlPany, or a committee fairly cl,lOfen by real African traders, and -afterward~ con- ~~ed by gov~rnment: Let them have ampleJalari~s, but under a total prohibition of entering into any trade, what- roever, either on fhore or on boaFd, which' will 'make them 'impartial judges of any difference that may ilrife between the traders and natives', and by that me'ans they may reftore the . rights, the honour and' dig~ity of the Britifh name. ~et their. appointment 'be for three years only, and though ~his eft~bhfhment would be expenuve" yet the faving that ~ight be made to the publick by taking off improper per..: quiuties, and lefi'ening the number of forts, would rather reduee than encreafe the expences in general, efpecially after - the hrft necefi'ary charges were 'provi~ed. for; t,hat is, whcm' $ve of th~fe now -~~'in<;)l!s forts, which are as many as need be kept up, were properly repaired under the infpection of an enginesr; for dear exper~ence has taught us what. it is to leave it to the difcretion of a governor. One fort ~vith ano- ther might be maintained for about 1,0001. a year, as that calculaticm was made for Annamaboe. The committee with eleven forts have had yearly about 2',0001. 111ore' than that for thefe twelve years paft; fo doubtlefs they have a con- iiderable fum in their hands, ~hi::h they will account for to t!le pubEck, and for which and all other deficiencies what- f?ever, a<;:corciing to the preamble of the laft general Ahican , act; f' 43 J aCt, . I apprehend qll the memb@rs 0f the company are jointly ~nd feverally 'ac(;ou1'ltable. ' The fame fum~g~v~mment now allows would pay aIr ex- penees, and afford to-fix ' the governor of Cape Coafl"s falaTY'" at I ,0001. with 360~. yearly for his table, and' each other , governor's at 5001: ' And how many half-pay officers would: be hapPT to go a three years tour on fuch cond~tions! The. ! only [or1:s that neea be t kep't up, aTe the five fonowing, : Dixcove, Cape Coafl: CafHe, Anna'maboe, ' Winnehlah , and I Accra; "£01; Appolonia ana Whi.clah ' are evident1y injurious, and the refl: 1!mneceffary to the trade : and· a3 to numerOlilS forts to trade at, the ' Brit~fh illipslCtipply their places. They; are !'lOW in {uch ,numbers on that' Coafl:, that there can fcaree, be pro,duced a iingle irrfl:ance Gf any confiderabkmart, where there have not cOPlfl:antly been two or three; and frequently ten, ,twelve and, fourteen: anclthis' fuperiority in {hipping,- added to a' fuperiority alfo in Ollr affortment for trade,- will always prevail with the natives, and enable ' us to out_db- either 'Fr~neh or Dutch, efpecially if we carefully prohibit all contraas with ,Frencll veffe1s for ne-groes to be c!elivered to> them in Africa; which gives then'lan opportunity t6lie upon: the Coafl:,. to acquaint themfelves with that and t!he trade,. and thelil. fup,plant us by their fllPf>lenefs and dexterity. *' The governa.r of Cape Co aft has now as good as 2000r. per- anc. exclufive of trade; and one governor in twO years only carried home 12,0 001. though he· aid not fell five hundred /laves to the !hipping, - +,Perhal's the fame money might afford to fettle a fort at Sierra Leon, ac~ording 1.0 a. propofal' at le~ter [H.] in the appendix• .* G 2 The [ H 1 The 3,dvantage~ the ihip.pillg w"9;uld broke through. Should th.ey not';Vith,~:md.il1g aCl; wrong, <\ cplony \Ipon th~ 'Coafl: would be the proper a,nd; effea~aJ r~lJledy; b..ut if th91t 'was not thought expedient, or tQ 9 e~pen'{ive, the next eligi- ~ble ftep is, that a fifty or fixty gun £hip and a frigate.o r two, 4 with ., e· 4J ' } with fenable fieady officers, aNd. a rpan of reputation it).. th~ law as judge, ~ight c~ll at every place '~f trade olf the COll,fl, and do 'the natives J"af!:ic~, if ill treated bX tl;1e Engli{h there ~ or exact it of them, if they wer<.: .the_ offenders.. Thi~ courfe f!:eadily p"ufued: with a prohibition of ao y- gJ;a~uit¥ being received, or al}y trade carric;..d.on by~he judge,_o r 'com- manders and officers - under fevere penalties, would, retrieve the national charaCter of juflice anc~ power; and the native~ of Africa, when, fure of not being inhred, would not be in- dinable to com~it any injury. C C H ' A P . VII. A new A F RIC AN AC T propofed~ T 0 b~ing aU thefe regulations to a point, the befl: way ~ f(lem.s to throw them together into one \'ie~, in the form of an ACt of Parliament, which properly executed might remedy ev.ery abufe, and fet the _A frican trade on a fair and refpeCtabl.; footing, humane and equitable to the A£r.icans, a.9yantageou.s to every pt:ivate free Britiih trader, ~nd con- d_ucive to the profperity of our cQ.Qlmerce, the benefit and fu..Eport of our colonies. An aCt of p~rliament pa!fed in the'" --- year of his majefty ki,ng George the Third, ' for the regulation and encourage- ment " Alldates_a nd {urns ptinted in Icalick are. humbly fubmitted, as is the wkol~ of thi,s aCt, co c~nfideration of government. - - - - [ 46 J ment of the Britiili trade to Africa, and for the advantage of. the BritiGl commerce and colonies. ~UeteaS, by an aCt pa{fed in the twenty-third year of his late Majefiy, entitled "an aCt for extending and improving " the trade to Africa," it was enaCted, that, "all his Ma- " jefiy's fubjcClls iliall , be frce to trade from Port Sallee in " Barbary, to the Cape of Good Hope, both incluG.ve, and " that all his Majefiy's fubjeCts trading to or from Africa be- « tween Cape Blanco and the Cape of Good Hope, iliould " for ever thereafter be a body corporate and politic, by the " name of The Company of rVIerchants trading to Africa; " and thatanyof his Majefiy'sfubjeCts trading or intending to " trade to Africa, upon payment of the fum of forty-iliillings " each, {bollld have right to vote for the committee-men " of the faid company, in manner and form as is by [aid " aCt direCted;" ;?{nb ~lbr,teIlS, a great number of per- fons, neither trading ilOr intending to trade to or from 'Africa, have become freemen of the faid company, and have thereby obtained a very extenG.ve and undue influence in the eleCtions of committee-men thereof, ,contrary to the true intent and meaning of the faid a'Ct; and have ' ren'dered the faid com- mittee-men, and the gOl'ernors.of forts and other officers em- ployed by or under the faid comp:my, lefs dependent 'Ipon the real traders to and fro~1 Africa free of the faid company, than of right and for the. iFltere1t ~nd wcllfare of the trade- to and from Africa they Ollght to be, jfoc tfmttlr of [uch abufe, and of the evil confeq.uences ,that hilV~ proceeded from it, and for prevention of the like in future;' and for the bet- 3 ter [ 47 ] ter regulation of the faia com,pany, theil' committee-men and officers of what r,ank 'and degree foever; - 2l5e it enatteb, and it-is hereby enaCted, by the king's moA: excellent Maj~fiy, by and with the advice of the lords fpi- ritual and _temporal, and -commons in this prefent parliament affen~bled, thftt fo much of.thefaid·aCt or of any other aCt,-that may fiand in oontradiCtion to this aCt, , be repealed, annulled and made void, and is hereby repealed, annulled and made void; and that any new regulations in thls aCt {hall be efiab- Ji{hed, _a nd in force from and after the refpeCtive dates here- after to be fet forth. ::!ntl be ie ..enllctetJ, and it is enaCted by: the authority aforefaid, that of the ,perfons, who now are or may here- after become freemen of the faid company, only fuch {hall have right to be permitted to vote for or 'in the choice of a committee-man or committee-men Qf the faid company, who were at the time of their aamiffion to the fr,eedom thereof, or a,t fome time thereafter, aCtually and 0011a jide for their own account, and not for ,that of any other perron, in rome one {hip or veifel, and her cargoe. employed in trading to or from the Coafi of Africa within the limits :aforefaid, interefied as owners thereof, and to retain for their ufe, an_d to bear finally. the profit and lofs thereupon, in the full pro- portion of fuch flUn to the whole of the adventure, to the amount of 5001. or upwards; and who {hall give in an account in writing at the office or chamber of the faid com- pany to which they {hall or may refpectively belong, at London, Brifiol or Liverpool, ugned with their names, and m r "48 J 'in their proper' ha-ncl writiflgany ; ~n1) It i~ alfo be~eb!, enatt~ll) the more to facilitate the effeCtual pmlifhment of the frauds, c(i)l1ufiol1's or mi[- reprefentations afore[aid; that the onus probandi !hall lay on the perron or per[oRs' againfl: whom [uch accufation * H ihall [ 50 ] {ball be, and not upon the perfo n accuGng him or fuing for the fame. ::!ntl be it enattetl, and it is enaCted by the authority aforefaid, that it f11all not be permitted to the committee· men to contraCt debts to or with any governor or fervant of the company aforefaid, or for any greater amount, or other purpofes than thore for which the anl!ual 'fupply is granted by parliament ;' and that if any governor, officer, ,or fervant of the faid company f):1all advance aJaY fum or fums for the ufe of the faid company, beyond what the faid anJaual fupply iliall wkllout any anticipation be 'able to dj,[charge, and be diretl:ed by the committee to be fo fupplied for the fervice of the current year, the fame {ball be irrecoverably forfeited and loft. ~n1:l lllbetraS it is highly neceifary for the good and well fare of the African trade, that the governors, chiefs or other fervants, appointed or to be appointed by the com~ mittee-men of the faid company, fhould not be 'conneCted in any way or manner whatfoever with any of the faid committee-men, other than Gmply and diftinCtly as ' fervants of the cOlnpany, 2l5e tt enattetl; and it is enaCted by the authori ty aforefaid, that it {ball not be lawful for any com- mitte'e-man of the faid company during the exercife or pof'- {~ffion of {uch office, by himfelf or in partnerDlip, by means of any third perfon, or in any other ,way whatfoever, tlpOl'l . hfs ' or their own account, 01' upon commi{lion, . or by way of agency, direCtly or indireCtly to ili~p , goods, C?r charter vdfels, ill in any wife trade or have commerce with or for any 6 [ 5 I J any governor, chief, or other fervant employed by or under the faid cbmpany, on pa~!1. of forfeiting for every and each offence the fHll fum of rI-,0001. to be re'covered and applied as heretofore >mentioned. ~nll for the more' effeetual pr,eventing the governors' of the forts from all manner of trade what[oever, ' and for the enoouragement of the {hipping, by cutting off all poffibility of competition between them and the forts, me it emltteb, and it iii enaeted by ' the au~hority aforefaid, that the gover- nors of the . forts {hall be gentlemen bearing his majefl:y's commiD.ion in the-'army or marine forces, a'nd being on half- pay: and that if' they trade the'mfe!ves, or permif any perfo n whatfoever ·in 0r ont of t he fort or forts under their com~ mand, on board or on {hore, direetly or indireetly to trade for them, they {hall ipfo faao be deprived of their command, fent home, and rendered for ever incapable of ferving his maj'ef£y or the c'ompany in any capacity whatfoever, over and above .other penalties hereafter to be fet forth by this ' aet. - , ~nil for the better encouragement of [uch-gentlemen, ~e it enatteb, ~nd it is enaeted by the authority aforefaid, that the governor of Cape Coafl: Cafl:le {hall have I,C OO/. per anmttn falary, aFld be allowed 300/. for a table for him[elf, a commiffioned officer as lieutenant, and ; furgeon to be ap- , pointed under him, which [aid lieutenant alall have 400/. per ' a1Z1Zum falary, and the furgeon 3001: And that the faid governor {hall be commander in chief of aU his majeIty',s forts upon -the Gold -Co~fI: , ~nd between Cape Blanco and . * H 2 the [ 52 ] the Cape of Good Hope, and !hall be !TIoreover vdted with the powers of a jufiice of pt;ace, to enable him to take affidavits and redrefs fmall complaints, as well as give him the greater weight in adjufiing all difputes that mayarife ~etween the {hipping and the natives ; f{)r hi~ good and up- right b@haviour wherein he {hall be acc01mtable to further enquiry: and that the forts called Dixco-ve, Annamaboe, Winnebah and Accra, {baU alfo each have a <:Qmmiilioned officer, in the army or marine forces, beiIl16 On halfpay, as governor, with a falary to each of 5001. per annum, and {hall 'be fubje?t to fuch orders as they {ball receive from the gover- nor of Cape Coafl; Came, and that they, as well as the gover- nor of Cape Coafi Game, {hall have a competent number of fubaltern officers and private men under them, to tender them independent of the natives, and capable of pFotecting . the trade. ~n1) tha,t thefe governors, though beariElg his Majefiy's commiffio\1, may alfo be properly dependent on the com- mittee and company of merchants trading to Africa, 2I!3e it enacteD, and it is enaB:ed by the authority aforefaid, that they {haJl be a,ppoin~ed by the faid company of Merchants at a general meeti8g to be ordered by the committee, giving a fortnight's notice in the Gazette, and {hall then be COIl- firmed by government for fuch time only as they {hall aa cQnformably to their infiruB:ions, and for the benefit of trade; and that no commiffion, for any governor or other officers, {hall eXbeed the fpace of three years; thoLlgh to epcourage the governors of the inferior forts, and the lieu- tenant of Cape Coafi Came, one of them {hall have the pre- 4 ference [ , 53 ] ference oJ [uccc@ding to the command thereof, on the return of the governor to England, or his otherwif~ vacating his go~ vernment; which {u~Geffion, when there are h10re compe- titors than one, ilial! be decided ,by the judge and com" miffioned officers of tJte y@arly {hips, (hereafter to be men- tioned) in confiderati-Gn of the intelligence they may receive on the fpot, l'.elative 'to, their former good bebaviour. ~ntJ be It matteb, and it is enaCted by the authority aforefaid, that the otI'lcr fix forts upon the Gold Coafl:, hav- ing fome of them been found injurious to trade and the others unneceffary, {hall be no longer provided for, but marks of poffeffion with the Engliih arm~ {hall be left, and their ftores, and whatever elfe may be ufeful conveyed to fome of the five remaining forts, which may ftand moft in need of them; which, together with the repair of the [aid remaining forts, {hall be done under the direCtion and by the orders of an engineer or engineers, to be fent out exprefsly for that pur- pofe; and that no governor {hall interfere with, or have any hand in repairing or making any alterations in the fort under his command, upon pain of fufpenfion. ~nl.l l\lb~ra~, though it was enjoined and direCted, by an aCt paffed in the fifth year of his prefent majefty, entitled, " An aCt for repealing the aCt vefting the fort of Senegal " and it's dependencies, in the company of merchants trad- " ing to Africa, &c. &c. " that all the forts, \varehoufes, and buildings under the direCtion of the [aid company, lhould be free and open to all. his Majefty'll fubjeas, for proteCtion ,of their perfons and property to a certain extent, and that it [ 56 l negrQ {hall be free; and if the faid negro dles~ the penon whQ was fhe caufe thereof {han be accountable to the laws, as for t;he Iefs of any othe'r of his majeftj's fubje6ts: and if it appears to any of his majdty's governOl's or magifl:rates abroad, that any planter withhold~ from his negroes proper . cJoathing and (ufficient maintenance, for the nrtt offence he {hall fuffer a nne at the difcre~jon of {ueh 'magifhate, but not exceeding 201. and for the fecond conviCtion, double,. and fo on toties quoties, until he gives them. their proper allowance, fuch as may be fettled by the laws of the colony; _ and' that OIl the other hand, negroes conviCted of idlenefs, negleCting their mafl:er's buiinefs" or abfenting themfelves from the;r fervice, {hall be liable to filch pains and punt{h- ments as the laws of the colony {hall inlliCt; provided a1 ways that the magifl:rates, not planters, {hall oraer and infliCt all punifhments for offences deemed deferving feverity beyond what the planters {hall have the power of ordering, which !haU never exceed forty fl:ripes, under pen-alty of sol. to be forfeited to the magifhate of the place. :lin]) 11ll)ereas, many negroes have been b1'"€mght im,to Eng- laBd, to the detriment of the COlonies and en,creafe, of idle fervants here, 2l!3e it ena(tc1), and' it is enaCted Dy the autho- rity aforefaid, that from and after the firfl day of J uly next enfuing, whatfoever fubjeCt of Great Britain {haU import a negroe here, {hall attead immediately at the Cufl:om-houfe, pay a duty of 101. a head for every negroe f0 impo.rted, ~ad give, i;) fuch negroe's fFce confent and agreement" iigned by him.or her v-oluntal1ily) to,r,etufI1 from wheIolc,e he 011 {he,t;ame, within [ 57 ] . within the Cpace of two years; and ll1all give a boner of 50l. to government for fuch negroe's return within fuch time, and to produce a certi£cat€ thereof llnde~ p<\in of forfeiting the faid bond, in which two reputable houfekeepers {hall alfo _ be joined with the importer, and all three jointly an,d feve- rally {ball be liable to the fame: and whatfoever fubjeCt of Great Britain {hall import a negroe without conforming to the above direCtions, fPall forfeit rool. for every negroe [0 imported, h~lf to the perron who fu es for the fame,and half to the ufe of his majeity; and the negroe {hall be free: Excepting always fuch negr-oes as may be hired to affiit in bringing a {hip home, 'who {hall be reitored to their owners' eitates abroad and fent back by the firit opportunity. ~nD to prevent frauds and colluhons by fuch negroes being called free, 16e It eRacteD, and it is enaCted by the authority aforefaid, that whatfoever negroe comes, or .is brought here under that denomination after the faid fir) day of July ne~t enfuing, {hall pay 501. at the cuitom houfe, to be reitored for his or her ufe on, firit, a certificate of his or her failing from E;gland, and next, another cer- tificate of his or her being landed, and rehdel1t in the colonies abroad; and _that if any negroe on landing does not comply with the above direCtions, fuch negroe fo neglecting {hall forfeit rool. or be fent back to the place from whence he or {be came ,; which faid rool. {hall be recovered and difpofed of as ' above direCted. ~nl) to enfure jufl:ice and good ufage to the nati ves of Africa upon their own Coafl:s, and to deter the maiters of * I vdfels [ 58 ] veITe1s employed in the traae "therefu more -effe&ually :froin uGng any violence to, or forcibly carrying away .~hy1J.aEive . thereof, whether a freeman or 'a {lave, 2l5ett Gna.n:tb, ·andJjt is enaeted by the·aut)1ofityaforeFaid, that any tbmfnand(';ror mafl:er oCa veITd, that {hall by violenc-e or Ifraud carty away , any native of Africa, not purchafed in the fair cou·rfe of , that trade, {hall, ·for every n'ative fo carried away, ;fGFf:'eit the {UITL of 1001. if -fueh n-ative be a {lave, -and 2Dol. if he ·or {he be free, to be ~ec6vered and appli1e to the fame act, by the committee, withi,n one month from the expirati0n of their office annua"lly, and then to lie for the remainder of that month, and the {pace 'of one month more, open for the infpection and' ~bf~rvation 'of the freemen of the faid company at the:ir office in London, immedi~tely after which it is to "he laid before a general meeting of the freemen of the ,{aid company to be had in Londoll, of which fourteen days notice' {hall be given 'in the London Gazette, and fuch meeting {hall ' not be at any time within one month for the general election of com- ;. I 2 mittee- [ 62 ] vernors of the forts are by this aCl: declared to be, which engineers fhall infpeCl: the faid five forts., and give cfu:eCl:ions for putting them in proper and refpeCl:able repair, which direCl:ions the faid governots {haH compjy with and not be permitted to make any alterations; And that the faid . engineers fhall receive and tralifmit home, an account of all the flores and other public effects in the for ts, for the improper deficiencies whereof at the time of taking the inventory, the prefent committee and governors {hall be accou.ntable; as fhall every fu cceeding governor fcir deficiencies in his time, l lpon quitting his command and returning to England . ~ntJ in aid of the fupport of the forts and expences hereby incurred , a tax of one or two jhillings per ton fhall beJevied all all fbips and veffels fitted Gut from Great Britain or her , colonies for the African trade, ftom and after tlle jirfl day Df January, t 773. ~ ~fltJ that thefe ft'lgulations and all future orders of {llC- ceeding committ€:cs Q1all be effectually and confbndy complied with, 2l5& it mactel), and it is enacted by the au- chority afore-faid, that every September in every fl\lcceeding year, a fifty or fixt)' gUll man of war .vith 011e or more fri- gates, and a teElder, {hall fail ,fpom England wit b a prudent perfon of reputation learned in tbe law, who ilia]! aCl: as jiUdge, and the capta,ins ' and commi[fioned officers of the faid I",elfels as jury, who ll1all flop at every plac;e of trade upon tbe Com, and hear and redrefs all grievances and 'abufes comn1itted by tbe Britifb fubj eas ~gainfl the natives arid vice'l}erdj ; for which purpofe they {hall 'be empowered to enU:r into, and fettle fe ttle tTilltties witrh t:he ' na~ives, and that thg ihall have ~power to force all offenders to ·make FIKo~pence fm offences to the paTties injure:d, am1 to order ~r bring fuch perfons home froql off the Coaft, w.ho ih.all be guilty of any enormities; and ihall bring back an account of all their tranfi!Ctions, and of complaints agaillfr maLters of ihips, or governors and officers of the compa? y, who ' ihall be proceeded againft according to the direCtions of the'committee as aut:horifed by this aCt : AHd that upon their return, a frigate .iha-ll cauy out officers to fupply vacancies, or -in the rJ;.05fIl ef fuch ~s ~have b~en brought home, or by their improper b~h.aviour deferved to be fuperf('ded T; which frigate ihall convoy one or more ftore ihips with fu~h things, not artIdes of trade, as ihall be wanted upon ~e Coaft for tfue maintenance of the forts, of which -thereihall conftantly in each be at leaft . four months fupply. ~lU:l'be it ct1actetJ, and it is enacted by the authority afClrefai'd, that all caufes heard· upon the Coaft {hall be with- out any manner of charges upon any preten.ce whatfoever to .either party, and that the judge, officers, fecretary or other perfons whatfoever, conviCted of receiving any fee, gratuity or reward, or of trading in any manner whatfoever, ihall be deprived of his office and of one year's falary thereof, and be rendered incapable of ever holding any civil or military office- under his majefty for the time to come. ;<{ntJ be it enattctJ, and it is enaCted by the authority . aforefaid, that all other regulations and fupplies which the committee ihall think requiiite, and which ihall receive the appro.- approbation of a general meeting of the merchants trading to Africa, free of the faid company, though not in this act expreifed, {hall be fettled and provided for; and that thefe general orders {hall have the force of a law, where they are not contrary to the intent and meaning of the legif1ature, or the general intereft and emolument of the African trade. ::!ntl be tt cnarfel), and it is enacted by the authority afore- faid, that fuch parts of this act as have dates affixed to them {hall be in force according to '[uch dates, and that the whole of the act {hall commence and be in-force from and after the firJt day of July next enfuing. CON C L U S ION. H T only remains to be obferved, that this Treatife is not the reverie of anyone flngle perfon, but the joint fentiments of the beft writers upon trade, and the refult of the united - opinions of the moft capital merchants to Africa, drawn from their long experience and perfect knowledge ot the fubject, and collected by ,A N A F RIC A N MER C HAN T. APPENDIX. A p N I x. [ A. ] T HE Importance of the-Ajrica'tz Trade will appear by the following State of it in the Year I77!. , - . murt gont. No. of Shipr Number of Negroes. Undet 'Ulhofe Diretliof1. Senegambia. - - Cape Blanco to Cape } [ 3,3 I~, and } 43 400 Tons of Gum Governme/lt" Rouge. Gold Coa/t. J. Cape Apollonia to Lagos. 29 7,~2S Committee:., Windward Coa/t . Cape Rouge to Cape S6 11,960 ') Apo/lollia. .} ~ Bite. Lagos to Cape Loptz. 1 63 23,3°1 r Merchants. • Angola. J Cape Lopez to Cape of 4 1,OS() I Good Hope. J Befides feveral {mall Total 19S 47,146 VeH'els. Of thefe 19$ Ships, 107 went from L iverpool for 29,250} 58 went from London for 8 I 6 25 went from Briflol for 8:3~0 Negroes. 5 went from Lancqjler for 95 0 In the Year 1752; 8~ Ships went from England for 2.5,920 Negroes.: B To ). A P P E N D I X [A. J To jhew the State if the 'Trade from LIVERPOOL the following AccoZlnt, from 1709 to 177 r, is inferted. - 1709 - - - . - I Veifel- 176r - 69 VelIds 1730 - 15 Ditto 1762 61 Ditto '737 - 33 Ditto 1763 74 Ditto 1744 -- 34 Ditto 1764 74 Ditto , J75 1 53 Ditto 17 65 80 Ditto and 4 ihallops 1'752 - 58 Ditto 1766 61 Ditto 1753 - 73 DittG - 1767 83 Ditto and 3 ditto 1754, _ - 72 Ditto 1768 81 Ditto and , 3 ditto 1755 - 41 Ditto 1769 96 Ditto 1756 - . 60 Ditto 1770 96 Dit to ~ 1757 47 Ditto 1771 I I 3 DItto, thoCe now fit- 1751$ 51 Ditto ting out included. 1759. - - 58 Ditto N. B .. Authentic lills of thefe wirh the 1760 - 74 Qitto names of 'the commanders and owners are ready for in,fpettion, if defired. Befides thefe ihips, there go annually from North-America and the 'Weff~Indies at leait 60 or 70, 'and they are yearly increafing, and that their numbers now ar~ confiderable will appear by a certificate figned by thirteen Captains of veif"ls in , the road of Annamaboo again it the governors of the forts, added towards the end of this Appendix, lilt of whom came from the colonies. -Cold imported from the Gold Coaft before the committee's time, was annually from 120,000 to 150,000 ounces; and one year 400,000 guineas were coined from what was b.rought from thence; belides 15,0:00q Negroes have been 'purcha[ed-there in a 'year: ' . By a calculation of tlue trade and tpe ihip; employed in it, it appears, that at leaft One Million and an Half of Money is annually remitted to Gf(~at-Britain for Negroes, and that the value of ethelr -articles im- ported, as gold, wax, ivory, malaguetta pepper, rice, ' ebon¥, redwood,' and other dyeing woods, amounts to at leaft half a million more; fa that two millions of money is brought home by this trade in its prefent flate, ApPENDIX A. Rate, and it is univerfaJly allowed, it might be encreafed infinitely more by proper regulations. It-now employs abO!'e SD,eoe ton of (hipping, and is carried ou chiefly .by our own manufactures, -and furni(hes the Colonies with 4 0 ,000 h- hourers yearly. The advantage to the revenue is equal to that of the merchants, and whatfoever is the annual value of the Negroes imported into our Colollies, fo much is the benefi t arifing to government from the duties of the commodities pwduced by their labour: As for example, every Negro is admitted, beiides earning provifions for himfelf, to pro- duce by cultivation an hogihead of fu gar; fuppofing that to weigh IZ Ct. the duty is 31. 16s. od. (being 6s. 4d. per Ct.) and that being con- fidered as all annuity for the Negroe's life is wortlr 38"1. which is abou t the value of a new Negro. The great encreafe of the cultivated lands in our Colonies accounts for fo great a number of Negroes being fent there yearly, and fUGh profits accruing from their cultivation : and ~any are now clearing othe( lands, and will foon make fimilar returns. It has been faid, that the num"' - bers fent arofe from fo many-dying in the ColonIes from ill ufage, but that is by no means trLle : the Planters confider their own intereit, and ufe · them better than they do our own convicts, for this plain reafon, that in the latter they have only a temporary intereft, in the former a permanent one; fo that were o.ur Plantations abroad carried on by indented Jervallfs from England, the fame reafoning would hold good, and the labour they muft undergo being increafed by tne {hort duration of property their mailers had in them, and by their own unfitnefs to work in thofe hot Climates, would be fuch a drain of men as the Parent Country could !lot fupport. See ~etter [I.] at the end of the Appendix .. [ B:l A P PEN D I X " [ B. 1 [ B. ] T H "R E E of the following treatifes, figned Merc~tor, appeared in the papers of June and July lail:, and, tho' they have met with much abufe, have had no rational confutation. In the [econd, Mercator [eems to apprehend m@re perniciolls confequences from Lord Mansfield's decinon, than the generality of Merchants have thought of, who have employed their time on that [l:lbject, which {hall be taken notice of in iis proper place, a"nd {orne further thoughts [ubmitted to the public. '1'houghts upon the Lawfulnifs and Expediency if the SLAVE TRADE, addrdJed to the SOCIETY of MERCHANTS trading to Africa from tbe P ort of London. THE origin of /lavery may perhaps admit of a doubt, but both [acred . and profane hiil:ery concur in allowing it to have been the practice, even from the earlieil: accou;Jt of time. Among the Heathens, con- quell: undou~tedly was their plea for enllaving t~e vanqujihed countries; and I;:Ierodotus, in. his Melpomene, adds, "~ he many cruelties practifed by the Scythians, and other neighbouring nations, on their prifoners of war, whom they looked upon as entirely their property, and whom, if they did not carry away captive, they put to death upon the fpot. The ·Greeks and Romans, in their brighteil: and moll:.1earned reras, had .their" flav~s; both taken in war and purcha[ed with money, and from their times down to the pre[ent it has been the univer[al practice of not only every barbarous, but every civilized nation. I have been obliged to pre- face my f"ntiments with the fanction of profane antiquity to" defend myfelf from the [neers of thofe great geniufes who allow ef no authority drawn from [acred hifiory; but to the fed ate, to the reafcinable, to the Chriftian readers, I a,all more fully ret forti; the lawfulne[s of the Slave . Trade from the exprefs allowance of it in Holy Writ. As to its origin, it APPENDIX [It.] - it may poffibly be derived from that fentence expreifed againll: Canaan (from whom the Africans are defcended) j:ly his father Noah at the hour of his death.-" * Curfed be Canaan, a [ervant of fervaf.lts {halJ he be unto his brethren.'''' Bil t Doth the origin of fiavery, an'd the colour ;bf the' Africans, being incapable of pofitive proof, I !hall leave thefe points for the curious, and proceed to the more exprefs mention of lla- very. When ] ofeph W1S ruler in Egypt, under Pharaoh; in the fecond 'yea~: when the Egyptians had parted with their money and cattle for b read, they came to ]ofeph, and faid, "t There isnot aught lefL in the fi ght of my Lord, but our bodies and our lands: buy ' us and our land for bread, and we a~d our land will be fervants unto Pharaoh." By the Egyptians faying they had nothing left btlt their bodies and their lands, , it is plain that 'both were confidered as property; as abfolute goods and chattels, as their, money and their cattle ; an'd the boors in Ruffia and Poland were, and may be now, in fome places, obliged to till the ground for their Lord's profit; a plain relic of this Egyptian terl'itude in both inftances, bodies and lands. Had this been contrary to the law of God, it would doubtlefs have been forbidden, and probably in the Command- ments from the Mount; but by them their proper treatment only is ex- aCted, not their freedom. They fay, " :I: The feventh day is the fabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou !hall not do any work, nor thy man- (ervant, nor thy maid-fervant." The fouls of their fervants were their own, and were not to be under the dominion of their mafters: they were to have one day allowed them for the fervice of God, but their bodies were their mafter's property, and for them they were to work the other fix days. The law of God allows it poffible even for an H ebrew to' be a fi ave, by eftablill1ing the different treatment he is to receive from ,the hands of his brethren. "\I If thou buy an Hebrew fe rvant, fix years he !hall ferve, and in the feventh he {hall go out free fo r nothing. If he came in by himfel(, he ll1all go out by hi mfelf : if he were mar- ried, then his wife !hall go out with him. If h is mafter have given him a wife, and {be have borne him (pns and daugh ters, _the wife and her chil- · ,Genefl, ix. 25. t Genets xlvi i. IS, ' 9, i Exodus xx. 10. II Exodu. xxi. 2, 3, &~ . ( 6- ' /. P PEN 0 I X t B, 1 chitdren lhal!.he her mail:er's, and he lhall go out boY himCelf. And ~f' the fervant lhall plainly fay, 1 love n:;ly mail:er, my wife, and my chilo -dren, I wi\! not go out free, then his mail:er !hall bring him unto the j.udges; he {hall alCo bring him unto the door-poil:, and his mail:er fhall bore his ear through with an awl, and he fhall ferve him for ever.!' -)3y this exprefs law, as to their own nation, it is as certain they bough~ others. They could give them wives, and retain them and their chilo dren, and if the very Hebrews once pa/fed the firil: opportunity of the ·fabbatical year to affert their freedom, they, like the llaves of other nations, were fixed to the freehold, and continued fervants for ever. Their fix years fervitude was li ke that of fuch of our indented fervants, as ferve fo ,many years for a fum of money laid down, and which in t~at time they may be fuppofed to have earned, and it would be the greateil: abfurdity to imaJ gine, a foreign llave fhould be inil:antly free on touching his mail:er's home, when a native was confined to a fix years fervitude probably for a lefs price. The 'law goes on, "* If a man fell his daughter, fhe fhall not, &c." By this it appelirs, that llavery might arife from the will of the father of the family, fubjeCt neverthelefs to fuch refiriCtiolls as, the law of God laid down. In the 2 Ii!: verf"e it is expreOy faid of the maf· ter, " The fervant is his money;" yet he could 'not be wantonly cruel; - for the froiting a fervant fo as that he loil: an eye or a tooth t made h im free. His neighbour could not injure him if} his property, for if " :t his ox killeth a ronan or maid fervant, he fhaH give unto their mail:er thi.rty fuekels of wlver." Here was the Frice fet on the heam of each, and the mail:er indemnified. Zechariah records the fame price, and this price the malicious mlers of the fynagogue gave the infatuated J Ildas for his faered ' Mai1:er, as if they had been purchafing a common llave.-In the more full declaration of the law in Leviticlls, 25th chapter, after the i1:atutes for fecuring land, houfes, and other po/feffions, in the families on whom they were firi1: beil:owed, and to whom every 50th, or jllbilee year, they were to return, there follows the law of llaves in thefe clear terma • Exodos xx;. 7, &c. t Ibid. nr. %6, Z-7 • .Matthew xxvi. 15:-::Ezek. xxvii. 13- . . A ' P ~ le N' t) r 'x rB. j ' 7'~ termS: " If thy hrother that d welleth by thee he waxen poor and be (old unto thee, thou {h alt nO.t compel him to (erve as a bond·{ervan't, but as an hired (ervant and as a (ojourner he {hall be with thee, and fuall {erve thee un to the year ofJ ubilee : - and then {hall he d ~part fwin thee, both h e and his children with him, and ihall return unto his own family, and unto the poJreffion of his fathers {hall he return. For they are my {ervants, which I brought forth out of the l all ~ of E gypt ; they {h all not be {old as bondmen, Tho,u {h alt not rule over him with rigour', but {halt fear thy God. Both thy bond men and thy bondmaids which thou fil alt h ave, {hall be of the heath C!n th at are rou nd you : of them fi,all ye buy bondmen and hondm aidf. Moreover of the ch ildrm of the {hangers that do {ojourn among ye, of t!lem {Qall ye buy an d of their families that are with you, which they hegat .in your land, and theY: {hall be your polfeffion: And ye {hall take them' as an inheritance for your children after you to inherit them for a poJreffion ; they {hall be your bondmen for ever; but over you r brethren the children of Ifrael ye ' {hall not rule one over another with rigouf. If thy brother {elleth hi m- felf to the firanger or {ojourner by thee, he may be redeemed. again , and if he be not redeemed, then he {hall go out in the year of jubilee; b0tli he and his chil dren with h im . For unto me the children of Ifrael are (ervants, they are my fervan ts, whom 1 brought forth out of the land ~f Egypt ; I am the Lord your God." This is 10 clear as to need no commen t : there is a pofitive order to let the ch ildren of Ifrael go free for this plain reafon, th at they are the fe n 'ants of the Lord their God: he redeemea them, and his they are, and are on ly to perfo rm a reafonable time of fervitude; but of the nations round about, or dwelling among them, they are to purchaCe bond.Cervantg, which are to be their polfeffion, and like other goods and chattels deCcend to their heirs for ever, as was the cafe of the G ibeonites, who were made perpetual * llaves, (being hewers of wood and drawers of water fo r the congregation) and as fuch, exempted from the toll demanded of other free fubjeCts; and though they {eparated themfelves from the cufioms of 4 the . '" JoOlua ix. 21 . Ezra vii . Zf. Nehem. x. IS. A P P F. N D I X [B. J the heathen and walked in the law of God, were yet, under the name of Nethinim, contipued in tne fame ftate of flavery and fervice of the altar as long as the temple itfelf exified. -As to flavery then thus !lands that law, of which Mofes [aid, " Behold I have taught you il:atutes and Judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye ihould do [0 in the land, whither ye go to poifefs it. Keep therefore and do them, for ' this is your wifdom 'and ·you.r underftanding in the fight of the nations wfuich ihallhear all thefe ftatutes, and fay, Surely this great nation is a wife and underftanding people: For what nation is there fo great, who· hath God fo nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things 'that ·we call upon him for? And what nation is there fo great, that h' ever uJi oweu to tuke Ids fl ave by force out of thi" k ingdom, ye t gives no i,, !b nce of o>ny mull er'li ott m pt~ ing it, nnd hia havi ng been prevented. We l11 ull th erefor l oo l~ upon this as a cauCe 'lova rill/wdJi01li.r, and Ilate it ll lOft. An ~ckl\Ow l edged (J ove re(uCe s, whil e in Englnnd, to (el'vo th e monel' who pclrchAfad him . ' CUll th at n)a !l:er cO rl'y h im out of EI1glund , or mull; the r1 :\Ve be d irchl "gfid here I-For as to the words " taking a ll ,lve by for e to be fold "bro'ld," as n J udge cn nn ot be (uppoCed to (r~uk tlt/ llI'uitlilllll, we Iml n fllppolh them n mi !l:a l c, for no m,ln cnn ]3o l1t iv Iy anirlll th e precifo manne,' I 11lall Ji fpo(e or my prope"ty when out of th e kingdom : J mi1y I't lni n my {l,we in my own ferviee, or if I do fell h im , th laws of l h Q Uland, whel'e I then Ill , y be, vi II ~u lho r i (e me fo to do, and no In WR in gng l ~nd will ddtroy thofe law abroad, whic h they have (olemn ly I'tltilieu, Th ~ t porr 01 ti,e qll cllion th en cannot come under co nflde"Atio n, bel t til" who l ~ is l~d l1('~d to thi s ! C~n th e laws of IZ ngbnd di(chnrge tny ;1 J, nowletl gt;d (J av (1'0 1" the (ervice he owes me 1 Fo,', if I have a right to omm ,ln cl hiB (crvi e, I have ;ll'ight to command it in all pa rt ~ or the wo l'l li l aod if he ['e(lI Ces, ~n the law bike my re.ll property away, we (lU(d I endeavoul' to (oree IHlll to a ompliance I or mull: I be compell ed to lodge (l furml,1 omphint Wttl l the Lord C han cell or eve ry time he rerules to Glenn my (]lOes? for (ueh will be my are I ror if r at(c'l1pt to fo ,'ce him, he abfen t" himCd(; if 1 attem pt to f ~nd hi m where he may be ufcfu l, he eOll1pl ainB, Ilild lhe law diCcharges him, giveR hi m hiB lJi)Clly; (0 r h:tve 11 ti li ng to du but be his !!.l VI! , I ~l hill1 do what he plellfcB, and maintain l li111 in wlolenGc \lnd idlcnelR, My hired (ervant I cn n pAy olf, retain part of hi, wa~e, for hiA net le of bulineC6, and otherwi!e puni(]l him for oth:n~e& commit ted. My apprentice r can co niin e, and make him rerve ut 1m lime in Urillc- well, if he ttb(ents hi ll1(clf; but my Ilave mull: be rlU;barg,'rI, and gain his " b"lly at the e)(penee and by th e lofR oCm y property, 'ertain ly, (rue liberty can never exill, where property i6 on /0 tottenng n foundation , 2 Certainly, A P PEN D I X. [B. J Certainly, due attention was not paid to the opinion of thofe great lawyers. for if an "aCtion of trover can lie for a 1lave," a !lave mufl: be property: " if a !lave does not in the leafl: alter his lituation or fiate towards his mafier or owner, either by being chrifiened or coming to England," he mufi obey his mafier's commands, and then _t here can be no need of force. If the !lave offends in the firfi in fiance by not obeying, it would be very hard to punifh the mafl:er for an error in the manner of com- pelling him, and to befl:ow on the !lave fop his difobedience the greatell: reward a !lave can pollibly receive for years worn out in his mall:er's 'fervice, a fl:eady attachment to his interefl: and confl:ant obedience to his commands.-As, after the authority of Sir Philip Yorke and Mr. Talbot. it were prefumptuou s to mention or quote authorities, I 111all only ob- ferve that the infiitutions of Ina, King of the Wefi Saxons, A, D. 692 (with advice and confent . of hi s Father, of the Bi!l10ps, of all the AI- J ermen, an d fage antients of his people, and of the alfembly of the fervants of God)'fet tle the laws of !laves on the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, nor do I find any infiance of !laves being difchargcd from their [ervicc, except th.e following, on which I !eave every perfon to make his own refleCtions; Mahomet, finding the decoy of religion infullicient, added that other concomitant in popular difl:urbances, LIBERTY, pro- ckl iming it to be the will of God that all men iliould Cl'ljoy it, and that he might fet an example of it in his own family, difchargedfrom fervi- tude his 01")1 !lave Zeidi, and entertained him as his equal. Hence !laves from all parts of Arabia forfook their mafiers, and fled to him as their Redeell1 cr; by whofe alliltanec he enjlaved the counnies they came from, alit/ the)' 70al1tol1cd in th e blo.od of th eir fonner maf1:ers. London, July I, 1 772. MER CAT 0 R. From MeJcator's obfervations in this and his preced ing TraCt, it is plain ibat he,apprehended tbe declaring !laves free in England would make them free in the Colonies alfo. In defence of which opinion it has been ob- ferved that the ACt of 7 and 8 Will, III. c. 22. exprefsly declares, ~' .Alllaws, cufioms, &c. practifed it) any of the Plantations, repugnant to I\.. P PEN D I X. [ B. ] I 5~ fo allY laws already here, or to tbis act, or any other law hereafter to be made, relating to th.o(e Plantarions, fhall be null ·and void." Others again a{ligrt th at the Coloni~s , having received their Conftitution from the K ing, are not fub~a to any" laws of the Britilh parliament, but to the acts of their own afremhlies, when once they have received (he royal nffent. It might be dangerou~, it wou ld certainly be indifcreet to at- tempt to deprive them of what muft fo fatally afrect their whole property, and therefore, it is' rather to be fuppofed that Lord Mansfield meant vir- tually to prohibit bringing any neg roes to England, and that, tho' the lenity of our laws could not fuppo(e any abfolute flaves in England, yet they were fiill fl,bjeet to thofe who bought them, and could be employed by no one . eIfe. Summerfet, the negro, was a prifoner, and his judge naturally his adv_ocate, fpeaking for and leaning to the merciful fide of the quefiion; but there is no doubt that the fame judge would punifh. any man feverely, who inveigled a Negro from his mafter under the idle pretence of univerfal liberty: for as this was a civil caufe, and the very Habeas Corpus act (if we allow that to include foreign fl aves, as its object) fays exprefly that "Perfons charged with procefs in any civil caufe {hall be kept in cuftody for fuch fuit," his ord~r of being difchm-ged could only mean ·his reJea(e from fuch imprifonment, as fuppofed him rather a Felon, than a Debtor, In this light his l.or.dChip's decifion will not have the bad effeas with which Mercator charges it. His n ext Tract recapitulates the two former, mentions the enfranchifement of flaves by Mahomet, and the cruel confequences tb.at attended it; and then proceeds, as follows: A due attention to this ]·" Il faCt, and the preceding authorities, might be deemed an adequate bulwark of our own liberties, and a fufficient fecurity of our properties; but to obviate all doubts; I {han reconfider fl avery, as a Chrillian, and as a.Britilh free-born fubject. As aChrifiian, the Epifile of St. Paul to Phi lemon clearly fbews me, that that great. apofrl e allowed fl avery to be legal. Onefimus, the flave of Philemon, had robbed his mailer and fl ed to Rome, where he was cOflvert~(r.to Chrifiianity by St. Paul's preaching. To prove this converfion perfeCt, St. Paul enjoins him to rello re himfelf and his fervices to his mafier, and that he might go with lefs af'prehenfion of punifbment" fends this eHifile- A P PEN D I X. [ B. ] cpii1:le by him, in which np injunctiQn is laid on Philemon to receive him as an abColute free man on account of his having been baptized , but the favours he alb for him are all alked and acknowledged as on his own account: he prom iCes to ' indemnify Philemon for his laCs: he exprdres lij is wi(h that be could have kept Onefimus, but declines it, as not having his confent whofe property he was, and with the greatefi humility befeeches him for love's fake to receive this true COllvert and fincere. Chrifiian, "his fan whom he had begotten in his' bonds," as free, becaule he bad infl:illed fuch principles in him, that he might depend on his being hereafter faithful and ufefu!' Had flavery been contrary to Chrifiianity, would this have been the fii1e of that apollle, wboi@ boldnefs in fpeaking the truth, and zeal in defe.nding it, were as confpicuous as his knowledge and learning. He was bred at the feet of Gamaliel; bis improved abil.ities CQuid llot be impofed upon, and his integrity of heart wouh;l ncv,er have permitted him , to have fent One/lmus back in any degree of uncertainty, had the laws of God enfranchifed him, or efra- blillid ' l"niverfal freedom. In the Acts of the Apofl:les al lo, the chief captain at ]erufalem told St. Paul, on his callirog himfdf a Roman, With a great fum obtain~d I this freedom. St. Paml anfwered, But I was free bow. His birth-rigrot, !lot his religion O'f locality, made him free. As a ChrililiaJn them, I can with a fafe confcience purchafe negro flaves, and whe," they are my property d,iu.pofe of them where I ple~fe by virtue of the r.igblts I am entitled to, a~ a Britilh fce.e-born fubject: for, a,'1ilOFlg th"fe righl.ts fettled by Magna CJ1~rta, and confirmed in the reign of Henry III. are the following :-Magna Charta, cap. !. We have gral'l ted tet all the fr - therefore do not altem pt to !hake off the yoke of flavery under a pretence, that through Chriaianity all are free; but if by j ul1: means you acquire you r liberty, pre[erve it, that no mafler may have power over yo u t() cau[e you to fin; for you are fubjeCt to Chril1:, who· paid down his life to redeem you from lin. Therein conlil1:s the true Chriflian 's liberty ; therefore as I ,faid at lira, remain quietly in that flate of life wherein God h as placed you, as' a duty you owe to him as well as to the com- munity.-Many other parts ~f Scripture mention bond and freemen , which dil1:inCtion could not have been kept up, h ad--liber-ty, civil liberty arifen from Chri!l:ianity. St. Paul. fays *, " By one fpi rit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free ." And again t, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all, one in ' Chtill: Jefus ." And agai~, :j: ,. Put on· the new rnan, , where there is ; neither Greek nor Jew, circumcilion nor uncircumcilion, barbarian" Scythian, bond nor free, but Chrill: is all and in all. " And again §• . " Whatfoever good thing any man doth, the fame !han he receive of' the Lord, whether he be bond or fiee." St. lohn defcribing the day of' Judgmen~ men tions II " the kings of the earth, and the great men,. and the rich men, and the chief captain~, and every bondman and every free- I man hiding themfelves. In another place **, "free and bond receive a mark." ffi another place they + are enumerated with the k ings<, ric:h men and captains, which evidently !hews, they. were on e of the ora€rs of mankind; and though 10wel1: in the civil· Polity, equal in all {piritual (lQncerns, }ure of a reward after this life, when their great mafl:er began- his dominion, if they behaved virtuou!lJ in the flation allotted, them on earthl . • I Cor. xii. 13 ' t Gal. i ii. 2 8. :t: Col. jii, II . § Eph._vi. S. ... Rc.v. xiii. 16. +. xu. 1I.·Rey• .v i . I i • Rev. 1..8. 22 A P PEN D I X. [B.] earth . Slavery therefore docs not appear to have been forbidd en, but alIowed by the law of ChriA:, as well as that of Mo[es, by the univer[al practice of all former ages and nation s, and by the prbphecies concerning . the day of judgment, fo that there feems rea(on to fuppo(e it will ll.m remain, as long as the world itfelf exiil:s. [ c. ] BE SID E S the legality of carrying on the African tr ade, it may be . proper to hea r the Weil: Indians fpeak for themfelves as to their ncceffi ty of havi ng negroes, and the right and title by which they hold them, when purchafcd. /11/ Extrast ji-oll1 Candid Conliderations on the Judgment lately awarded in the Ncgroe-Caufe , by the Court of King's Bench . By a lFtjl India Mcrcbant. [T his autho r contends that, as Magna. Charta related only to freemen" an d left vil/eim and bondmen in their former fiate of llavery, (infifling limply on th e caufc of imprifollmcnts being (how n, wh en they h appened to be thus puniOled by their lords ) and that, as the law had never any negroes in contemplation, the cou rts of law ought not to have OJOWIl them more favo ur than to vilkills, if any fu ch remained in the kingdom. lIe all-~ rt s , that whites arc incapable of culti va ting our p lanta tions, and, that th erdore llavcs arc neccffill'Y. ] " T Il E natLtI'e of the Wcll. In dia climate, and the impoffibi lity of clea ri ng and cu lti va ting the . fod th ere, by any other tban neg ree labour - ers, <1S it was firll ti,e cca li on of employing them, [0 it Illufl ever J'~n1n in , ns long as our colonies exill:; becnufe, this natu ra l necellity is no t to be C l1r~d by nny "ltern ativc. Some writers h ave alnrh1ed, that the fu gar ifland s were fil'fl cu ltivated by white men, who !hewed no unfitll cf.1 fer labour th ere, bcfore neg roe llaves we re introdu ced I but thefe authors deal in reve ri es, and f~em entirely ignoran t both of th e !llbject and tbe dim.lte lhey treat upon . According to Ligon's account, the A P PEN D I X. the Eogli!h, who firJl: f€t~led at Barbadoes about the year 1625, found the woods Co thick, mgfl: of the t,ees fo large and malEve, that they were unabk.;,to clear the . ground of _t mem;' by which means, he fays, that· t wenty years afterwards he-fauna potatoes, maize"and bonavifis, planted between the' boughs, lying' along upon the fmface. Potatoes, corn, and. P I!ll fe, were all tlley were able to plant for [ubfifience;, an.d theCe, with the wild hogs they. occanolJally fiew, [eLVeS onl? tOl keep life and foul togetheL , Tlue only prucillce they could cultivate. for export, was to- baccd, which (probably for wan~ of fufficient cleaning the ground) nurned out fo worthlefs as to yield no profit at the Englilh market. The prolific quality of the lamd, then fre!h and unimpaired, made fome little amends f0[ want of adequate culture; Or otherwife they would in all likelihood have lJeen defiitute of any vegetable crops for their fupport : yet fewer hands were at tbat time required to cultivate the foil than after- wands; for, om their firfi forming their fugar efiates, one hundred ne- groes could manage the largeft plantation in the illand. Nothing eftec- t1ilai was done , towards a profitable fettlement of the illand, until after tile 'introduction of negroes; by whofe better capacity for field labour, it became fo thriving, that, in 1646, it contained twenty thoufand whites, and the blacks amounted to a far greate& number. The judicious Linde, ipeaki,ng hom his · own experienc~, Temarks, " that there are fome fer~ vices of fuch a nature as cannot well be performed in hot and unhealthy countries by E~ropeans, without imminent danger of their health and li~es. The firft is, that of cutting down woods, or clearing the ground {rom trees, Illrubs, &c." In proof of this alfertion he gives feveral in- fiances; fome of which, I !h" ll repeat after him. "At the conclufion of the late peace, the Captain of a i1lip of war went a!hore at the ifiand of Dominica, with t welve of his men, to cut down the wood, and to clear '! piece of ground which he intended to have purchafed; but in a few days, fickllefs obliged them to defift from this dangerous work; the Captain, and eleven out of his twelve ailifiants, being feized with violent fevers, of which feveral died. The Ludlow-Caftle, a !hip of war ef forty guns, in a late voyage to the coaf\: of Guinea, loll: twenty- five of her men at Sierra Leon,. who were employed in cutting wood for the 2 l1lip, A P PEN D I X. ( c. ] {hip. Whell the Lion, Spence, and fome other {hips of war, were employed at Port Antonio, in Jamaica, in cleariNg Navy Uland of wood, in order to erea: ftorehoufes fo~ the f'iuadroN on that ftation, the men, while cutting it down, were feized with a fever and delirium. The phrenzy attacked a man fo fuddenly, and with fa much fury, that with his hatchet, if not prevented, h.e would have cut tq pieces the perfons who fiood near him ; and thofe who were feized in this manI~er, and were left to remain on ihore, either died, or fuffered a dangerous fit of ficknefs. This is aN occl!lpation (fays the fame au·thor) which has often· proved deftrua:ive to Europeans in thlOfe ·climates, and in which they ought never to be employecl, efpecially in the rainy feafon; there being numberlefs infiances of white perfons, when cutting down the woods at that feafon, who have been taken ill in the morning, and died at Night." He adds (although he is no advocate for flavery) that, "if the purchaling of Begroes on tbe coafi of Guinea can be juftified, it mufi be from the ab- fGlute neceffity there is for empl@yi.ng them, infiead of white perfons, in fuch fervices as thefe." To th.e foregoing I 1\1ay venture to fubjoin ano- ther bifiary, the truth of which is well known to many gentlemen of Jallaaica. I mean the cafe of the Palatines; feveral of whom having cpme over not many years ago, to fettle there under the encouragements gram ted by the a{fembly of that iiland, had tracts of wood, land affigned them; but, for want of Negroes, were utterly incapable of clearing it from the trees, and periflled for the mofl: part in the at~empt. If this example, among others which my memory furniihes, is difregard ed,due c~ed it, I hope, wiI:1 iDe given to the: preceding relation~ publifl!ed by Mr. Linde, aln evidence whoNy diLinterefl:ed in the iilue of this que~ion. if our feal'llen, who are the h ardiefl: of our common people, and the moil: inured to the ch ange of climate, are fa unequal to the talk, much lefs adopled to it are odners of the lo-wer dafs in England, or thG{e who might be moft likely to hire ~hem(e1ves out to Plantation fervice: I have omly meFltioned the felling Clf trees in the Wefl: Indies ((ome of which are fe~eral feet in diauleter, and fo hard as t@ il1iver the beJ1: tempered axe,) in or-der to the forming of new fettlements; hut ~h e labour of br!)aking up, and hoeing the ground, in the manner propeT for Gane-plaFlting, and under A P PEN' D I X. [C. J 25 iinder a full expofure to the fun , is no lefs impracticable to Europeans, whether feafonea or u'nfeafoned to the clinlate. Slave-holding might perhaps be very welljifc.ontinued in every provinoe of the North Arne- can continent, fituatea to, th';North at the Carolinas. The cuftom of in troducing negroes in the northern colon·ies, to perform their field-work, has rendered the labour of the white inhabitants extremely dear . . This high rate has given cau(e to their continuing the employment of negroes there, whofe labour is no further neceJIary than as it is cheaper. This will probably terminate of ';tfdf, whenever the white inhabitants fhall be [0 multiplied, by their natural progrefs of increafe, as to allow a fuitable abundance of them for all employments.. But in the (outhern continental province, and the fu,ga\' illands, this. practice cannot be laid afide, [0 long as we perfia in the cultivation of them for the purpofes of trade; be- cau(e, it is impofllbl e to cultivate them with European labourers; and becau[e the white inhabitants, I prefume, can never increafe there bY' propagation in fufficient numbers. The nati ves, or Creoles, are the only whites who can be fuppofee!, by thofe acquainted with thefe climates, to be capable of being brought. by long habit and ufe, to the laborious oc-· .cu.pations of hufbandry, and forming new fettlements with their own hands: But, unlefs families ill general were poorer, hindered by their' neceffities from removi ng to Europe, and confined to their native fpot. there to breed and multiply, no adequate number could be reafonably ex-' jleCted. In Jamaica alone, we {hould require twenty times the number of white inhabitants we ' now have there. A long fe ries of .time muft .pafs away before fucb a flock of nati¥e whites COQld be acquired. by the ordinary courfeof increafe. Even if we illOuld fuppofe that they married regularly, and .doubled their number, like the North Americans, once in every twenty or lwenty,two years~ it woul d require near one hundred years to fumifh the complement; and then we mu il: further [uppofe .great .part of the whole number fo very indigen t, as to be obliged to toil hard for 'a fubJiil:ance, and ·to prefer the labour of clearing wood- land and digging the earth to any other. If the labouring people; in ..a ny commercial country, are in proportion to the rea of the inhabitan ts ..as four to one, we {hould require a very large aQck, to furniih a conil:an t E 'and 26 A P PEN D I X. L C. J and [uffici@nt number of Plantation labourers; i·ndeed many more than we could hope to gain by natural propagation, lince it is not probable that they could hy any n)eans be brought to ~ncrea(e, grow up, and thrive, in the like rapid manner as we obferve of the North Americans. Molt certain it is, that, without the introduction of negroe Oaves, Great Britain would have been able to fettle no one profitable colony in America. If therefore, following what has been rightly called the Utopian fyfiem of Georgia, which brought that [ettlement to nothing, we ihould inhi- bit the .further profecution of our African trade for labourers, fuch a meafure would probably, if not infallibly, be attended with the hafiy decline of our mofi valuable colonies in the well:; and a lo[s of all the important advantages nGW gained from their cultivatien. A barbarity might be perhaps the more immediate confequence of fuch a prohibition; and of fuch a natl:lfe, as defervedly to excite horror in the mind of eveJ:y humane Briton; I mean, the practice which mull: then be fallen upon, of employing white labourers, when negroes could no longer be procured, to keep up the number anfwerable to our cultivation; an employment in which thoufands and ten thoufands of our countrymen might periih mi- ferably, without producing one lingle benefit to the mother country. Before we entered into the African Oave trade, our firfi fettlers ·had no other than thefe hired [ervants, who preved unequal to the talk, and might literally be [aid to exhaufi themfelves in digging their own graves. It was a complaint in the adminill:ration of Colonel D'Oyley, long be- fore tfue ell:abliihmeht of fugar-works in Jamaica, that the officers of his army harraifed and dell:royed the common foldi-ers (though well feafoned to the climate) by employing them as field labourers. This utter inap..: titude of Europeans to fueh occl:lpations in hot climates, and the impoffi- bility of fupplying them with white labourers from any other fouree than Europe, leave no room for quell:ioning, but that we muft either abandon all tfuefe fettlements, ruin many thoufands of our fellow fubjects, and relign our fortune into the hands of foreign powers, differing from us in fentiments; or we mua conduct: them, as hitherto we. have fuccefsfully dOlle, by the labour of -negroes; whofe eonftitutions being by nature and 2 . ilie A P PEN DI X. [C.)' 27 the Divine Vi!ill applropriated to thefe climates, they are evidently the fi tteft for [uch employments there. In . the firft part o.2f tbis .treati[e on the trade from Great Bri tain to Africa, the fame poinfthis-Author in lifts on was maintained, that Magna Charta related only to freemen, and left villeins and bondmen in their former fiate of flavery. Soon after this Pamphlet the following fenlible TraCt appeared in the papers. ADMITTING the African Trade to be ever fa diabolical, or the means by which tbe negroe's body was firft obtained ever fa unfair, no blame can defervedly reft on the ,Plant.er, who is ignorant ef the means, and innocent of the guilt. That trade bas been carried on by thi s na- tion from time immemorial. King, L ords, and Commons have ihared in its profits, and concurred in various laws, for [upporting, regulating, an d firmly e!l:ablin1ing it. Some of tbefe laws declare to the fubj eCt, tbat be holds a right of property in the negroes he buys; o.\hers tell him. that negroes are chattles, [aleable and convertable like any other goods. for payment of dues to tbe revenue, or otber debts; that tb ey are to be held as money in the hands of a Planter debtor, and received as money by his creditor. L arge fums are gran ted every year by parliament for maintaining forts and garri{ons, and making alliances with the native Slave Merchants in Africa, for the advancement of tbis traffic, to the exprefs intent tbat the Planter may be conftantly and cheaply fupplied : Vaft emoluments are alfo drawn, as well .by tbe mercantile and manu- faCturing fubjeCts relident in Great Britain, and their dependants, as by the. national treafury, from the profits g{!ined on the {ale of negroes to the Weft India Plan ter, and from the produce of their labour. Thus the whole nation may be {aid to be in {orne way or other interefted in the advantages drawn from this trade, and to participate a benefit from the {weat of the negroe's brow. If tb e original contraCt in Africa for th is negroe's Cervices was ille- gal or unfair, or if no colour of a contraCt {ubfified, this furel y is a point to be {ettled between the negroe and the party who fold him there without any right {a to do: or eHe between tbe negroe and that govern- E 2 ment 28 A -P PEN D I X. (C. J ment which by law permitted it's merchants to buy him of one who had flO right to fell. But the Planter refpects no one in this cafe except the Brit i!h merchant; who, under the authority and encouragement of the laws, having brought the neg roe to market overt, the contract is openly made between thefe two. If the Planter has bought afreeman inftead of a perpetual fervan t, he is defrauded; for he paid his money under fanaion of the laws, and purchafed what the laws will in another pl ace arbitrar ily deprive him of. If the property fpoken of is not to be fecured fo him by the laws which permit and invite him to buy it, then is there neither faith, juftice, nor equity in them; they are no better than empty i,I'lufiOI~s, fnar€s to the indui1:rious fubject, and eminently reproachful to the nation. Something more, however, th an the pretended magical touch of the Engli!h Air feems requifite to divei1: him of what has been fo folemnly guarantied Qy the confent of the nation in parliament; for, when he made the purchafe, he was not apprifed of thofe myfteriou9 and invifible emanations of Engliih L iberty, which were to make the bargain void, and, like the pnfto of a juggler, tl1m his gold inta ' counters. By ftat. Lj_ Edw. III. it is enacted, " That all merchants, denizens; ~ and foreigners, except enemies, may, without lett, fafely come into the realm of England with their goods an d merchandizes, and fafely tarry, and fafely return." T his is further and more amply confirmed by the i1:at. 5 Rich . II. in thefe words: " It is accorded and aBen ted in the parliament, that aU manner of merchant i1:rangers" of whatfoever nation or country they be, being of the amity of the King and of hi s realm, !hall be welcome, and freely m'.ly come wi thin the realm of England, and elfewhere within the king's power, as well within franchife as without, and there to be converfan t to merchandize, and tarry as long as them liketh, as thofe whom our faid Lord the King by the tenor hereof taketh into his protection and fafe- guard, with -their goods, merchandizes, and all manne,- if familiars; and for fo much the King willeth and commandeth, tl13t they and every of them be well , friendly, and merchan t-like in treated and demeaned, in all parts. withi n his faid realm and power, with their merchandizes and 6 all A P PEN D I X. 29 all manner of goods, and fuffered to go and come, and into their proper country peaceably to rettun, w ithout difturbance or impeachment of any." So far as aliem are not reftrained . of th is extenfive licenfe to introduce their wares and nego~ate here->- by the fU,bfequent ftatutes of t rade, thefe ancien t acts are ftill unrepealed; and what I conclude from them is, that confidering our Colony-negroes as goods and articles of merchandize, in w hich fenfe the ftatute laws of the realm, as well as the colony laws, efteemed them, the Planters poffeffed of this merchandize, the impor-. tation of which into the .kingdom is not yet prohibited by any l ~w, ap- pear warran table, nor only iF) bringing it hithe r, but in holding it while here, and in peaceably returning with it; for if thefe laws have· granted liberty of ingrefs and egrefs, and defended the good s of m erchants and . denizens reforring to it, furdy the Planters, who are natural- born fub- · jeCts of the realm, are rightfully and lawfully entitled to equal protection, and in th e fu ll el1: ex tent, with refpeCt to their goods. Bu t if this claim of property in Great Britain be really offenfive to the conftitution of the kingdom, and injurious to its welfare, it feems at reaft not improper that; for the fake of commerce, and in jultice to the Planter, . an effective law fhou ld be paffed by parl iamen t, forbidding him ' to introduce his negroes within the realm, under penalty of forfeiting that claim: for. nothing lefs than a po/itive law can prove to every fub-· jeCt's conviction, th at a negroe-flave is entitled to the rights of an En-· gliihman, on the inltant of his inhaling the air of England. Our law, I . gran t, favo urs liberty, and rather indures a particular mifchief than a general inconven ience; but as th e latter is molt likely to .enfne from - this national breach of faith, and repugnancy to the main principles of, commerce, it merits att ention, th at equal jufiice fll 0uld be difpenfed to · the Plan ter purchafer; fo that, in being liberal to the neg roe, no wrong nor damage f110uld be done to an ufeful fubjeCt, who has, at lealt, an , equal pretenfion to be favoured by th e laws of hi s cSJuntry, and to fome indemni ty for the deprivation of wha t thofe laws . affured him was hi& right. II is no lefs jufl: than ho~ourable, that the ft ate, which has re- ceived his money, ihould make him fome requital, and by a fair purchafe, rather than 1" know not what !l:range efficacy of the Ellgli!h air, redeem . his A P PEN D I X, [ C. ] his negroe from bondage. Such a meafure would confirm the freed man in perpetual enjoyment of the boon bellowed upon him, by fuper[eding all future claim of his maller, in any other part of the Briti(b dominion s. The very idea of [uch a local e~ancipation is ridiculous, fince what bet- ter right has a Planter to reclaim a fugitive negroe in the colony than ill Britain? The laws of Meum and Tuum are alike in both; and, as En- gliOlmen, it is the fame as if the lands of both were in one continuity. If a natute (bould openly avow, what [orne of our law interpreters have taken upon them to aifert, the Planters a9road would then kllow the cer- tain confequence of bringing negroes with them into Britain, and con- duet themfelves accordingly; it is due to them and to all others cOllcerned in the Plan tation trade, that a point [0 eifential fhould be explained by pa rliament; or, {}lould the nation incline to put'chafe the negroe's free- dom, it would be no Iefs equitable. A PLANTER. D. T HE legality of the African Trade, and property in purchafed negroes [eerns beyond any doubt, but the declaimers on the other Iide of the quell:ion might think themfelves negleeted, were they to be paired over in Iilence.* At the head of thefe appears the formidable Anthony Benezet, with a co rps of what he calls A uthoTs if Note, in his rear. The thicknefs alone of this Pamphlet can alarm ; for his lirll: principle being defeetive, no reafoning from it can be va lid; his foundation being falfe, his whole fuperllrueture mull: fan to the ground . He alledges that tbe Portuguefe firlf Healing and then purchafing flaves thro' an inordinate celir<=! of ga in', firll: raired the fame ciefire in the negroes, ' and was the origin of flavcry there. To prove this point, • From this mull be excepted fome trifling abufes of Mercator i n the papers,' written io the true flile of thofe inferior Politicians, whore arguments conlift 9( much abu(e, and little meaning j of partial eXlrat'ts, and no general knowledge of the (ubjeCt; who fupply the place of reafon wilh !ow invectives,; who frame a weak argument in their OWI1, infiea<:l of the true one in the Author's words, then auack it, and glory in their imaginary conquell:. A P PEN D I X. [ D. ] 3 I poin t, he gives partial extracts from the hiRory of Africa, and omits wha tever makes agaiofl: him. H e tells you from Cad a Mofl:o, that the . Port uguefe landed ani RQle the nat ives, but he omits, ,hat Cad a Malta himfelf, the firi1 tim'ii he di fcov ered and landed· on that coalt, faw an horfe among the natives that was valued at fift een naves, which were con - fequen tl y an article, perhaps a medium of trade at th at time, which was i n 1454; and th at he then .purchafed fe veral at Sanaga. Benezet reprefents the Africa ns as people endowed wi th grea~ talents and virtue, and yet fuppo{es the Dave trade is kept up by the advan tages we find it our interelt to g ive them . He men tions tha t the Fuli , a nation on the Gambia, fell no naves. What an exact character of the Britilh nation- would an author give, who lhould affert, that we would not fig ht, becaufe one fect among us refufed to bear arms! The Fuli m ay be looked upon in the fame light : they are a particular fea, a'nd the doctrine of not felling naves h olds good with them to this h our, as to their own nation; neither can any price tempt them to (ell you a calf, though they will difpofe of a barren cow fo r two ga llons of brandy. And thus, th ough th ey obfcrve tbeir own laws, as to their ow'n people, yet they w ill fe ll Daves which they h ave purchafed up the country. Benezet alfo omits Captain Jobfon's account of his voyage up the ri ver Gambia in 1621, when women Daves were offered him for goods, but he refuCed them, and [aid the Englilh did not trade in them. So that it is evident, that that trade arofe from the Africans themfelves, and we are not accountable for the origin of it, no\with!l:andil1g thi s Author's affertion. He talks of the naves on the river Gambia being fold only for c rimes; and yet, in another phlce, wants every cargo to be releafed, under pretence, that it is better 500 guil ty Dl 0uld efcape than one innocent perron [uffer. NDI'17 the impuni ty of one villain may do more h urt to [ociety than the lars of more than one hondt m an. All jultice is humanity; for without it no nation could Cubfilt; and as the feverity of the laws of war, flowi ng from political ju!l:ice, cannot be impeached, though in fame cafes, we.. m ight wilh }hem lefs rigorous, fa the cafe is the fame here; one man may h ave been fold for a nave, who was naturally free, but it is furely a mad proj ect, that for fear in a cargo of 500 negroes, I DlOuld have one J2 A P PEN D I X. ( ·D. J 6ne Improperly brought by thofe who fold him to me, therefore I 'am to let loofe 499 thieves and murderers poffibly, to prey 011 the com- munity. To fuch, and fo many flagrant abfurdities will an Author be driven who f@ts up a point;' from which he labours to deduce a fyltem repugnant .to the aJlowed praCtice of Antients and Mod~rns. He brings in Chrifl:ianity as abolilhing navery, but unfortunately can .find no proof. He draws together into one view all the cruelties which n·ave ever been practifed by Capt"ins of !hips to deter their naves from riling; or by the Plant~rs td~e,ep them under fubjectiotl; an.d by followi.ng the ' fame rule, and coll@clil'lg all the inltances of barbarity practifed by individuals in the moli humane and befl: civilized nation upon earth, [ueh a picture might be drawn, that human natul'e would fian at. His account 'of the law is no 'leIs defective, for he attempts to aifert priv}!eges for foreigm. ,llaves, at times. when e\(en our own natural-born fubjects had no claim to them. He humandy advifes :ns tths, and are not' inju.fed 'by the intenfe h@at of the fun. The ·other Writers quoted.in the fame Pamphlet pfOGeed on the fame falfe ,grounds,. and· would perfuade us to ,put an. eod to tbe African trade for fear of buying a few na.ves, who were fraudulently a~d unjultifiably ma~e fo, which f\Jr~ly is·jult as wife as if a man !hould cut off.his kgs for fear of wetting or foiling his feet. Seduced by trois fpeciou~ fide of the ,queition,inflllenced hy humane motives, and miiinformed of the real itate of the naves in o~r, colonies, evem. the BinlOp of Glouce{1er"' war[ls us to .fend them to thei'r nativ\! holl1eS. POQr creatures.! Not· one would ~ccept of the offer, . btl'! would think itthe greatefl: inhumauity to force !'Iheir return. That in the native Africans' fale of negroes to Our !hipping. \larious -0 ~Ste his Sermon Feb. Z I, 1766 . A. P PEN ' D I X. (E. ~ 33 various fr~uds have been comm~tted, and p~r[ons improperly ana unjHl1:Iy fold; tha,! Maihm of iihips have been inhumane, perhaps unnece1T~rly; that Planters have 'been . V\1ln to~ly cruel without caufe, '1lay be fUPFofed fmrn the enormity ;;r 'crimes- among ourl'elv.es. To there a'bl!fes them , l;.t dncacious remedies be. applied 1; aNd t!.e African ,men;hants will OW'll' the higheil: obligations to govemment, t if-by faluta.ry li",w .of laws human. aNd divine, whoevgr attempts to promete it, muil: be declared a {hanger to both ewlefiaftic;:al and ·civil polity, aoo an utter enemy to their eountry. [ E. ] T HE benefits that might 'accrue to England from 'a trade to Pyages to that part of the world, and know thefe things; but it would be impolitic in me to let my name be known a~ prefent, for obvious reaf(}ns; as I purpofe to make another voyage. The people wino now monopolize the cream of the Gold Co all: trade, have the public !lock to trade up@o. The forts w hieh coil: the nation, to the old royal Anriean company, upwards of 100,0001. ferve them as houfes and warehoufes without rent; the fervants, as well whites as blacks, are all employed as their agents, and faCtors, to buy up the !laves, gold, Ike. without wages. By there great advantages they can deal at leall: 20 per cent. on better terms than the merchant adventurer, who has all thefe neceffary conveniences to provide, at a very great e~pence. Nay, I ihall ven ture to fay, the public-money gr:lved, TI)at the memOJ;ial of (he metchan'ts .of Loodon .trading w4 fdca, pre(ented to the R ,t. H .on. t4e Lords Comm,iffiol)ers of Trade a,nd P~anta­ lions on the 17th <;>fl:\1arch laft, be:publiihed for the bytter inforlljlation of the public toucluing the grounds of the [aid bi)l, flnp to preve.ot any future miifeprefentation of them. ':[0 the 'P R I N T E R. SiR, I N compliance with fhe above refolu~ion I take the liberty to indofe you a copy of the memorial therein mentioned, and to requel1:, by order of the fociety, you' will be fo obligi\jg to publiOl the fame, and am, SIR, Your moft humble fervant, NO.3 I, Bread:ftreet. JOHN PETER DEMARIN, 'To the Rigbt Ho7t. the Lords COll1l1Jillionel'S for 'Trad~ and Plantations. The Memorial of the Merchants and Traders to A.Fica from the Port of London, whofe names are hereunto fubfcribed, Humbly Oleweth, THAT by an aCt pafl'ed in the 2 3d year of his late Mnjcl1:y, entitled, «An ACt for exte nding and promoting the trade to Africa," it was among other things enaCted, that ~ ll his Majel1:y's fubjeCts who 01all trade to or from any of the ports or places of Africa, i11all for eve, here- after be a body corporate and politick, in name and in deed, by the name of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa. That the ('lireCtion and management of the ~IFairs of the [.~id company ihould be by a committee of nine perfons, to be chofen annually by [uch of his M ,\jel1:y's fubjeCts, trading or intending to trade to or from Africa, 6 as A: P PEN D · I X. [G. ] 47 as ihould, upon payment of the fum of forty ihillings each, be admitted fr'eemen or members of the faid company, and free thereof for the fpace of one year. The ad al'fo direds three -of the coin mit tee-men to be chofen by the freemen of the faid cOl1'ipany, who ihou·ld be made free at Liverpool; three others by the freemen of the faid company, who {hould be made free at Brifioi; and th ree others by the freemen of the (aid company, who ihould l)e made free at London. ~ncl by Hie (aid aCt, the commiffioners for trade and plantations are avthorized and impo.wered, from t ime to time, in cafe any of the fa id c?mmittee-men {hall be guilty of any miibehaviour, con trary to the t rue intent and meaning of this aCt, to remove any of the faid com mit tee-men, firfi hearing them as to the truth of the charge againi1: them, and to give notice to eleCt others, in the room or fi ead of tho(e fo removed. In conformity to the inten tion of this aCt, moil: of his Majefiy's (ubjeCts then t radi ng to or from Africa, fro m London, Liverpool, and Brifiol, became freemen of the faid company at thore places refpeCt ively, and proceeded to the eleCtion of nine c omm ittee- men, who agreeable to the direCtions of the [aid aCt, in cOI}(eql1ence of fuch choice, became invefied, in behalf of the {aid company, of all the forts, caCl:les, canoe-men , ca{l:!e~ !laves, military i1:ores, &c. polle!fed theretofore 5y the Royal African company of England, together WI th th e power of governing, main- ta ining, and pre(erving the {arne ;. the right of appointing all offi cers, ci vil an d mi li tary, that ihould be neceffary for tho(e purpo(es; ahd of di(pofi ng of (ueh (u ms of money, as , for the purpo(es aforefaid, govern- ment 010uld thi nk fi t to grant, and which it has fince very liberally given. ln th e fucceeding yea rs many more of h is Majei1y's fubjeCls trading to A frica, and among the rei1:, the fa r greater part of your memorialifls became freeme n of the (aid comp~ny, reafonably hoping thereby to have that influence in th e choice of committee -men, tha t it \vas obvioully tlie de1ign of the legi01ture, and neceffary to the good of the African trade" they as traders to Africa 010\11d have . But fo it has happened, through the arts of deligning men , that neither the votes of your memoriali i1s, nor tbo(e of all. bis Majefty's (ubjeCts trading, A P PEN D I X. (G. J trading to Africa from London, would be fufiicient to procure the office of committee7man of that port for any perfon, however fitly qualified; for under a pretence that thefe words of the faid aCt, "Traders or in- tending to trade to or from Africa," prefcribed no limits, but that any perfon, being his Majdl:y's [ubjeCt, might and ought to be made free of the faid company, upon payment of forty [billings each, to the Ule thereof; fuch numbers, without any regard to the dill:inCtion of trading or in- tending to trade to Africa, have been admitted to its freedom, that all oppolition on the papt of the real traders thither, to fuch iniquitous proceedil)gs, can be of no avail; the aCtual traders free oJ the company irl this city not bein15 mor.e, as your .memoriali!h ice well con"inced, 'having careJully examined the lill: of freemen of the Iaid compan¥ for LondDn, publilhed in July laft, than 100 at the moft, although the number 'of per(oos then free thereof appears by the {aid lift to be 1043; and there ·hav.e been .firlce that time (0 mallY more p~rfons made' free, that the total number of perfons pretending to have a right to vote for com- mitte~-men for 'London at the eleCtion for the year enfuing, is nq,w in- creafed to 1425; much the .greater part of whom, fo far from being African traders, are not even known to .your memorialifts; and of thofe who are known to them, great nunobers are evidently by their profeffions, ,fuch as CounfeJlors, Attorneys, Phylicians, Surgeons, Stock-brokers, and Stock-jobbers, not likely to be traders to or from Africa, or to have any inteQtion :to trade -.thither.; others they find to be tradefmen lerving the .company .",;ith the goods .purchafed with the public money; their Secretary., .and even their Porters; perfons not yet of age, and of the ·.very Jo.weft ltations in life, not made free at their own requell:, or at their i,ialatuve, and' fo' i'ujllrioHs to that trade, the protefriom 3Jl1ld ellltCln-il:ofol @f whiGh were te&abJe gel)tlemel,l who have filled that office; and, if we Illay judge from thtjr conduct, woul.d ll,either have expofed therofelves fo rouch, or would have com,nitted filch arrant bluBdefs. But to proceed- This committee is to confill: of three for LOBdon, three for Liverpool, and three ~1 E~iil:01. They are to fuperintend ami manage all the affairs relative to the public forts and fettlements in Africa (Senegambja ex- cepted) and to give fuch diredions and orders to the governors and chiefs, as may ~e conducive to the national i'n.terefis and credit abroad, They, t' in coniequence, are to indent for fnch fio,es a·ad goods as may be thought " " need- A F PEN D I X [H . } 55 needful to he fetHout , dthe, as.fepa irs Of otAef maintenance of rhe forts; but it is an ilH1lifpueabk £acft, fha t thefe comm ittee gen tlemen nave ofteN, flay geBer.a'1.1y, been conne€1!ed wi·th the gov'ernors and chiefs ahroa'd, on (he' trad'iFlg' fyllem ; 41y wJiJic·Q. h1ean~ fucA a nat;rra-l fytr.rpatby has fub- fi{lied between tAem,- ~hanbe ftlpplie~ h ave 'b'een wiif€ly cafcuIated fb'r very particl:lla'r pllfpofes, a-s well as corufid:era&i'e affortI'nents fent over in rhe fame bottoms, for ~J!J'ich tb e- pil&:nem'ies- and! ttwIs the Fren'ch have been affi-ci'uo,l:ls, ornd' have ufetl- every piece of chieane aneL r'O~ CUflOi'ng, whe reby to· wor\u- us' ou·f of ihe trade; by infinuati ng to the natives, that if tney couM by any mean'S get qu-it of the Englilho, they would· put- it on a very advarnt-ag_eol:ls footililg for them. The nativ~'s very i'hrewdly- alilCwer-edl,-tha€-the Engrilh' wete the-moll rikely tID ex"irpa~e ~hem-l'el ves; eeca:ufc, i11 they kept JlJitlding' upon each' other, they would foon over-do themfel·ves. The .African~ a~0 iI'l' general €rafty, cunning,. greM mallers-of diffimu·- ration, fe@:u·lous. in aCG(;)m plilhing their ends) vola~ile and biglDtted iet their opinions, u nllable in their fr-iene'Chips, trea",herous where intereil: illt'erveI'les, @upes to luxury, greaf l~veps ahd·admirers of pomp aona' gau-. dinefs, th0ugh Flatu,rally mean in th:eir @iifpofifei0ns. They are prone to paffi orrs , very refen:t>ful; bUll t1Yey woul fi:erling per roll; ID ut when bought . , with filefias or cowries~ at about thirty. five {billings per roll; and t}le governors of Cape Coaft have by their indents availed them(e!vi's of this circumH:ance, having a Calvo ready in excufe, that there articles were in- tended for the Whydah fettlement, This tobacco, :-vhen it happ~f.ls to be a co~manding arJicle, is Cold to the fervants and {oldiers at two Ihil- Vngs and fix pence per fathom, or fiJ( pounds five illillings per roll, each roll runn ing from fifty to fixty fathoms. This being purc.ha(ed with public [upplies, brough t on iliore by the committee's canoes and [ervants; it would appear but rea(onable, that the public iliould reap the advantage of all {uch bargains. On a [uppofition, that it would require five hun- dred rolls per annum to [upply all the forts, this might be purchaCed (communibus annis) for cowries, ' at thirty-five illillings per roll, which will be about nine hundred pounds fterling for the whole; and as it is retailed to the fervants of every clafs at two iliillings and fix pence the fathom, or fix pounds five iliillings the roll, amounting in the whole to three thoufa nd one hundred and twenty-five pounds, Coaft currency, or two thoufan d two hundred and thirty pounds fterling, it wil l appear that upwards of one thoufand three hundred pounds fterling is annually loft tei the public on this article. ' Befides the-articles of brandy and tobacco, the governors reap no in- confiderable advantages from the long coar[e goods, as fucn are oBly adapted I fur A P PEN D I X. [H.] f@r plIrcful(e of provillons, the prime fortil, as has been pointed out, being fe.Flderea IuMervient to more interefted purpofes. Now fup.pofe we only allow till< ·tum of nve hundred pounds fierling whi.ch migbt be raved, by fending OUt coarfe goods in room of (triped ta/faties, pullicats, &c .where- by they rival and overbid the f.ir tr-ader; this, with the alUlual fum; which a~ before {pecified might be faved on the brandy aBd tobacco, , WQuld :imou~t to upward·s of three th0ufamd pounds per annum raving to the p\lblie; which fum, I ihould humbly prefum€, would be an object w@lI worthy anim-adverfionQo the prefeo! fyfiem. bei.ng, as c.an be proved> founded .on notoriou§ fads, and the calculation under what with truth ;md pr.QpriSlty it might be carri~d to. As I' lJ.luft adopt two different 'methods, whereby to remove the evils fo obviou!ly fet iordi, I ihaG, t-h~ nation's h0filoIH ana re;puotatrl1J.n_ W0I11d app-e~r with more confpicmous ectat, the pelifon;.; ami effects of acl..venture~s wo uld be better fec"r~d a-nd- p~ot-€a,€IlI, a-nd t-hey would-on all occafions ha.ve-the -cmoance of receivilng> 1>10re afl'illa-nce frl1Jni the military gentlemen, than any other. -A military force ,"wuld awe the feamer! and na~iv.es in'f~ a- more neguI-aT and implicit obedi€Oee_t han the pr~fent ci",i-I t>{l:abIHhm~nt c0tt1ld do; afild would prevent mutiny anlll d~fe(.ti0n af.lll1Gl'l-g ~he {.Jjips cre'wS', w,huG:h fo frequ-ently happen, and: prov€ defirmCli¥e to-voyages in t~at coun~ny . His maj,ef}y's N OOPS, from b~ing- well f.o'Pl'lied, wiith Py.~v.i,rn'0 M. well dothed, kept clean, atrd. properly exeroif-edj wotJIllll con"titlUe mort> viJg6rbus and heal~hy, and in ficknefs would be bener fuppli6d' with B)edicifl general wholfome, only the mifcrond'uct before i):lec.ified accounts for the great and fudd ~ n' mortality of the people~ which €atailrophe might in future be much alleviated, a~ tile cGuntr-y' produces excellent fifh, poultry, and other frefh p rovifions, as alfo greens, fruits, and roots of a falubrious and refre01ing nature. Should thefe affection s have any weight, and be adopted, I a,m· convinced. rEahers would be much altered for the better to what th-ey' I ~ no I"/' /)0 A P PEN D I X. (H. J now are, and fome fmall tax on the purchafes of the 111ipping might be laid towards maintaining the forts. All orders fm years pail:, fent from the committee, are not only loofely worded, but they leave their fervants to explain the acts of parliament 'in fuch manner, as may conduce to thei, own private ends and purpofes, confequently they havl:: heen quite difregarded, acts of parliament have , been fet afide, and thefe gentlemen have acted as if fubordinate to no re(l:riCtion, regulation, or controu!' The ruinous fituatioJ1 of the windward trade is obvious, /laves being now purchafed there at upwards of double the price to what they were in the year 1756. N umbers of lives have been loil: by boats and vefTels being cut off, and their crews wantonly butchered by the natives with impunity, aided and afliil:ed by a fet of white renegadoes, who have abandoned their country, and relinqui/l1ed every degree 0f honour. hondly, and order. ' The great and principal bane to the ~indw.ard trade has been the French contracts for neg'roes /ince the peace, as thl:: Englilh contractor was, by the agreement ftipulated, laid under a heavy penalty on de- murrage of the French ihips; by which means he was drove to the neceflity of fending craft into every river and creek in the country, in order to procure l1aves at any; if ever fo extravagant, a price; of whid~ the natives foon difcovered how to avail themfelves. The other ihips ill! the trade were confequently obliged to follow the fame rules, by which> the natives became enriched, of cou,fe haughty and infolent, the ihip- pil'lg made ruinous and deftructive voyages, fometimes fo far as finking the whole; the feamen by going up the rivers, confequently expofed to the fcorching heat' of the (u,n by day, and the chilly ftinking fogs by nighl in thefe unhealthy aI'ld inhofpitable regions, (oon loft their lives, and the nation was deprived of a number of hardy brave fellows, who, if preferved, might have proved of infinite fervice to theif fovereign 'and benefit to their country. This branch of trade, if under proper regulations, might prove very ferviceable and beneficial to the nation. As there are a great mary very populous -empires and kingdoms extended along the coaft, and reaching above fix weeks journey inland, thefe diil:ricts are governed,gy princes of a warlike A P PEN D I X. ( H. 1 6r a warlike and atchieving turn, conCequently a number of negroes and other commodities mull- come to market, and would greatly conduce to the conCumption .of our manufaCtures, at the [arne time tnat, by contraClJ with foreigners beinlf ab&IjJhed, and our trade carried on in our own bottoms, and imported into our own colonies, we !hould Coon bid fair _ for being the principal, if not the only exporters of any note; and foreigners mufi apply to us in a courteous manner, for the African produces of various forts. The contraCts w ith the French employed feveral hundred tons of their !hipping, conCequently, muH: have been very detrimental to this maritime country. The French qfjicers and fiamen became well acquainted 'It·ith all th~ fiw/dings, harbours, and conveniencies if t he country, and by their artful infinuations, tinCe! pre[ents, and ily fcrutinies, they became aGquainted with and favourit es of the nati ves, taking that opportunity to pave the way againfi a' future day, when th ey lhould throw off the maik, and become adventurers themCelves. I ihall here g ive a brief abfiraCt of the ferm s, on which the contraCts were formed, and Cubmit it to public confideration. A. contraCts with B. for (we will Cuppore) fifteen hundred negroes, deliverable in twelve months, at four different periods, and at the ilipu- lated price of 221. fierlin g for every ~lerchantable negro ; two- thirds of thefe to be males, one-third females . On the delivery of three hundred and fifty negroes the aff'ortment will run one hundred and twenty prime men, not to exce.ed twenty-feven years of age, ,as near as can be judg.ed; eighty boys, four feet four inches and upward; thirty-four boys, from .three feet ten inches to four feet three inches; Ceventy women, not to exceed twenty-four years of'age, according to the judgment of the parties; twenty. five women gi rl s, that is, be- tween women and girls; twenty -one g irl s, from fOll r fee t to fou r feet three inches. In cafe A. cannot fulfi l this agreemeqt, he obliges himfelf to pay and account for to B. 91. fi erl ing for every nave he fa lls ihort in the fiipul ated number. The fhip w hich B. {ends to recei 've thefe three hundred and fifty negroes, is by agreement to remain two cl lendar m onths on that part of the coall, where the parties agree to fend her ; du ring w hich time, lhould not B. be able to furni!h the ilip ul ated quanti ty of ne- groes, 62 A P P B N D I X. [H.] g~oes, before the expiration of the two mDnths after the {hip's ·anival, the !hip I;nu!l: lie at tbe rate of 3.0.\, fieLling poP diem demunage: a" and condi,tiOrlsof the agce€ment, bhtl par- ti~s becor;ne bound in the pemaltyo.f 50001. fl:erli>ng . . From this it is obvioLls,. th ·t!}attev; in. the, yea·r 1763, neg,roe" could b€Tpurchafed for u'xty tq. (eventy bars, onan average; ooe cargo in particHlat: was laid in at fifty-four' 0ars" conJi!l:ing of t.wo hUlildred and eighty to tbee hundred and forty flaves :, w.hereas, frOgl the before fpeGified eaufes, they have" fi,nGe chr:0bity apd, worth -amof.lg them. it would be ul1f~ir to Pblt tl~em O,f.l a . I~vel: a'fter th~s; f€f"Utimy, let them be command-e i;! in his, majejly's name, and. ilS 6isJubjeQfs, tf' repair on board nhe l E N D1 X. [H.] months ~race ; but, if not properly releafed in that time, to he confijcated, and their value appropriated to public ufe. Secondly, As it ' is prefumptive, that the_· natives wiJl endeavour to fcreen and protect t1!e white _men in their feveral dill:ri&ts, the white men being (ome of them thei-rpandars in vilJ.any, the men of war mull: in t·hat cafe fiop Come of the natives who are freemen of either that nation or Come nation adjoining, which will procure the delivery of the white men, on telling the natives, that king George bas demanded, a,1d 1i/ujl have hiJ people . Thirdly, It would· be highly neceffary to have a tenable-w ell built fort on cape Sierra Leon , where nature has already done a grea t part of the work, and where woed, fione, and other ma·teria.ls, would with eafy labout be got nea·r at' hand to carryon the works; while the Oyner banks of Com- maranka, but a fmall difiance off, would fupply {hell s whereof to make lime. This fOft mi ght be eafily gar.rifoned by part king's troops and black men trained to arms, and might be (0 con/hueted, as to command the channel in'to the ri ver, as the fhips mull: come within two or three mufque! {hot of it ; at th e fa me tilDe that it would_f cou r the woods, and prevenrthe approach of an en emy on one lide, while the other face and bafrions would prevent any of their {hips from advancing or landing from the fouthward . Fourthly, I wO'uld propofe that this for t -fhould be commanded by a chief governor and deputy, with a fecretary, clerks, and wareho ll fe~ keeper; a proper engineer, wi th mafons, artificers, and labourers, to carry on the works; and the governor and principal officers to have genteel falaries, fufficient to maintain them without t rading. ' The wareha ufes and {]ave-ro~ms {hollld ferve as fafe places fo r th e fhipping, and other adventurers to lodge their goods in; and alJ dif- putes between white people and the natives, ihould be fettled ahd ad- julted, by the interpofltion and mediation of the governor and ofliters or Ihe fort. Fifthly, The governor of the fort fhould be allowed at all times to purch afe rice and other provifion~, and fhonld fell what overplos could be {pared from the ufe of the for t, to the thipping, on being-allowed eithet : a commill.ion or reafon able profit on the fame. Sixthly., 'A P PEN D I X. [H. ) Sixthly, That every !hip trading within one hundred leagues, and every ,Jlher adven turer wit hin that difiriCt, Ihould pay ten Ihillings fterling, on every !lave th ey plirchafe, an d five rhillings on every hundred weight of ivory, whic h !hould alfo go towards the mainten ance of the forts, &c. and Ihould be paid in bills drawn on the !hip's hlliband by the re[peClive cap tains or purfers of the !hips th ere tr ading, to th e order of fome perfon o r pcrfons in England, appointed to rece ive and manage the [arne ; and the captains fo to bargain with th e natives, as to make them allow thi s tax i n th e price of the com modi lies. Bance ifland, being a fortifi ed fettle- men t, to be 'excluded in every refpeer (rom thefe taxes, or other regula- tions, except what may affeCt the prices and police neceifary in trade, which will be the advantage of the place to obferve. Seventhly, That every m afier of a trading velfel, on finirhing his trade, {hall furni!h th e governor with a true account of his purchafe in !laves, ivory, cam wood, &c. fpecifying the time he has lain on the coaft, the average prices every article has coO: him, and the number of men he may h ave lofl: by mortality or otherwife; all which to be tran[mitted, figned by the governor, to the board of trade, and if needful fubmitted t? public infpcerion. The Ihip's name, the port Ihe belongs to, and the i11ip's hu{band's name i110uld al[o be [pecified, and an account Cent home twice every year. By this means, the board of trade, and the nation in general, would h ave it in their power to di[cern, with [orne degree of certainty, what advantage it would be of, and ad venturers would be able to regulate their meafures accordingly. Cape Sierra Leon li es in as healthy and plea[ant a fituation as is to be met wi th in Africa. The river abounds with various kinds of delicious fin1, the forefi s yield great variety of lafiing and ufeful timber, tropical fruits, palm wine and oil; and the oppofite !hore of BulJom furnj!hes rice, poul- t r¥, greens, roots, and fruits in great abundance, fome goats and !heep, as well as plenty of deer, wild hogs, and buffaloes, which are al[o to be found on the mountains of Sierra L eon--Lions, tygers, jackalls, and elephants abound in the woods, but [e1dom prove o[fenfive in the fettlement~. At the fort they might raife hogs, poultry, and cattle in abundance, and jack-aifes might be brought from the Cape de Verd iilands, to A P PEN D f- X [H: J to bring fiene, fand, and materials to the fort . On th e whole, it is a place naturally fituated for a protection to !hipping and trade, which might be extended under a fafeguard m\lchfurther, and to greater advan- tage than it has ev~ye.t- been. In war-time particularly, it would be highly ferviceable, as upwards of two hundred fail of {hipping might an- chor in good ground under tuition of the fort, and be fupplied with good water and other conveniencies from the !hare. As to the province of Senegal1lbia, I !hall only beg leave to make one remark regarding that fettlement, and I think it is ii very {hiking one. The wife fcheme of government to fecure the gum trade, fa ufeful in our manufactures, has been iri a great meafure defeated by the avarice of felf- interefied men, who have fent gum from Senegal directly to foreign mar- kets, and have imported foreign goods from foreign ports, contrary to act of parliament, and to the great detriment of .the fair trader. Thefe are well known facts, and which may be eafily remedied in future. My ob{ervation ~ I have m:l:de from an experience, refulting from al- moil: twenty years connection with that country, fixteen of which, all but three months, a refident in i't. I !hall now conclude with on-Iy obferving, tbat whatever adminil1:ra- tion or body will exert thel~felves in redreffing the fatal inconveniencies to which tbe trade is fubjeCted, will merit the applaufe and good wi!hes of their cotemporaries and fellow fubjeCts, as it will be the means of giving bread to th'ouL1nds, and an advantage to poil:erity. I bope (before I die) to fee fome great man in power, wbo will make tbe immenfc continent of Africa his fiudy; from whence commercial advantages may,arife to Great Britain, far beyond our prefent imagina- tion; but this fubjeCt would be a volume of itfelf. L etters 66 A P PEN D I X [H.] Letters from R ichard Brew, EJq; to Jeveral Merchants at Liverpool, pointing out the ablffes if the Committee and their Servants, and wijhing Jor anotber Eflablilhment. Cajife Brew, Anl1amaboe, July I, 1770," GENTLEMEN, I Am much pleafed to find by your letter of the 28th of February, that the African merchants of London, Brill:ol and Liverpool, have at laft taken the alarm, and feem determined upon fuch alterations as will put this once valuable trade upon a more eligible footing than it has hitherto been. . In my lall: to you upon African "a ffairs, I promifed to furniih you witli fo me more hints, relating to the prefent ell:abliG1ment, and will now en- deavour to iIIu(hate a fe w of the moft Il:riking; to convince you how ne- ce(fary a change in the prefent fyll:e.m is towards preferving this trade to the Briti{h Nation, andputting the forts and fettlements upon a more re- fpeerable footing. From the commencement of the prefent fyll:em of gov:ernment, in the year J750, to Oerober 1763) when Mr. Bell qu itted the Coall:, I dare _venture t Q affi rm, there h as not been lefs than thirteen thoufand naves pur- chafed and fold at Cape Co all: Came, and from Oerober 1763, when Mr. Mutter commenced governor, to the prefent July 1770, I will alfo take upon me to ' fay, the re has not been five hundred il:aves purchaCed at that" place; a melanchol y ci r~umll:ance! that the trade of our principal fettle- ment on the Gold Coall: {bould be fo {hamefully negleered and reduced in fo {hort a Cpace of tim:e, and that, by the Cupinenefs (not to call it by a worCe n'~me) of our late' governors, our Dutch neighbou-rs ihould be Cuf- fered to engrofs fo coniiderable a par t of this valuable trade, As you wi ll be natu rally led to aik why thofe gentlemen ihould neg- leer their own interell:, and not ufe all the means in their power to im- prove their fo,·tun es by fair trade, I will take upon me to give you the on ly and true reafoll . When a gentlem an fucceeds to the government of Cape Coall:, his for- ILwe fe1dom amounts to more than 1500 or 20001. and this fum with his emoluments A P PEN D I -x. [H.] emoluments as governor, he finds barely fufficient to defray the conti ngent expences, and furnifbings of tobacco, rum, &c. for the frrfiyear; and in- deed thofe expences have been [0 enormous for t hefe [even years paft, tb at great as the emolua1'entS.(ing flaved off there, and were as well treated as if .they had a fettlement afhore. It is, therefore, my humhle opinion, that if firict orders are not fent to employ the cafl:le-llaves there as carriers for the - A P PEN D I X. [ H . ] 71 th e captains of flli ps, and to allow them liberty to lodge their goods and naves in the fort, and to carry on their trade there, that the committee h ad better fend out a quantity of gunpowder an d blow up the prefent fort, inf1:ead of building a new one ; but if they fho uld think proper to grant tbe above men tioned iffdufgenci es to free-t raders, I would then bumbly p ropofe tbat inf1:ead of buil ding a new fort, ware-boufes and ilave's rooms fhould be added to the prefent build ing, wh ich m ay be done at a very inconfiderable expence, and this fo;t wo uld anfwer every purpofe, as well as one ten tim es larger and J1: ronger : from it's fituation it fe rves only as a m ark of polfeffion , and the l arg~f1: fort you can poffibly build in tbe fame place can do no more. The. bl1ilJ ing a fort at .Cape Appolonia. was another very injudicious J1:ep of the. commi.ttee, as it was from that place pri nci pall y maf1:ers of {hips were fupplied with gold to carry on their t rade at Annamaboe, when the markets here were over f1: ocked with goods. Before a fort was built there, the maf1:ers of {hips fold their goods to the natives at a profi t of at leaft 35 or 40 per cent. on an average the yea r round, and very felLlom failed of procuring gold fufficien t to go thro' with their purchafe of naves at An namaboe, but fi nce the for t was begun and a chief ap poi nted, it is notorious, goods have never . ,'eraged even I 10 per cent . at that place, and very little gold has been purchafed by the {h ipping at any rate. T he chi ef of that fort, -in the abfence of fll ips and long boats, picks up every ounce of gold at the water fide, fo th at when veifels ar-. rive there, the maliers have no re[o urce but to trade w ith hi m upon.llis own terms ; what thefe are, I fhall infert at the end of tb is letter, hav- ing had propofals from the prefen t chief IVlr. Wi ll iams to [end him up goods at tb e pr ices there ment ioned ; , beudes, it is m ore than probable, j f yo u ei ther fiop witb yo ur iliip or fend your boats, tl~e chief bas parted the day before with all the gold he had by him, either to the Du tcb, F rench, or Portugue(e, as there are few vefrels tbat ufe this trade, but wbat f1:op there in their way down the Coa f1: ; you muf1: alfo expeCl: that the gen tl emen in th e commi ttee's fervice (who know the vallle of gold as well 7?- A P PE N D I X. [H.] w~ll ns the private trader) will have the pt'eference ef the chief's trade, whiif.l: they fell their goods at as Iowa rate as they do. 'Wh,en it 'was refol ved to erect a building at Appolonia, a 'block-houfe and not a fort was ordel'ed to be built there; 70001. only was granted by parliament for that purpofe, and Colonel Bramham gave in the plan, which was fent out here by the committee; but inftead of complying with .J the act of p~rliament, and the orders of the -committee, the governor and council here altered the original plan, and inftead of a block-houfe fet about building a fort very nClar if not quite as large as Annamaboe fort, which has already coft the nation double the fum allowed by parli amen t, notwithftanding the committee fent out a fecond order.(o contract it; this is not all, the fort now built mun be flipported at a very confiderable an- nual expenee, altho' it appears that innea{J of being ferviceable to~rade it is of the greateft detriment imaginable. The fort is built in fuch a fituation, that it is almoil as much in the power of the inhabitants as the fort at Whydah, the landing being fa very terrible as not to be approached (without the utmoft hazard) above three months in the year. The number of naves bought there is [0 very -i nconfiderable as not te'> deferve notice, and the quantity of gold purchafed _ at Appolonia annually by Englifh, Dutch, French, and Portuguefe, I am very confident does not amountto 3eool. frerling; admitting therefore, that ,two thirds of this fum falls to the fhare of t·he Englif11, and that they fell their goods at even 25 per cent, profit on an average, it will appear that we are only 5001. pe r annum gainers by that trade; is it not therefore very furpriling, that the committee would put the nation to the expence of r 5 or 20,0001. to build a fort, which mull: be fupported at an annual ex- pehce of 7 or 8001. fterling, wi th out once enquiring into the nature of the trad~, or the advantages that would accrue to the nation from [uch an 1>ndertaking? It will pollibly be objected, that if we had not built a fort at A ppo- Ionia, th ; Dutch would ; bu t this is very unlikdy, as they have a very fine fort at Axim, withiB th ree or four leagues of that place, an d not- withll:anding (as 1 before obferved) all nations who trade to the coan ufed frequently to tOllch at Appolonia, and trade in common with the 5 Dutch, A P PE N D I X. [H..- ] 73 Dutch, they never attempted a fettlement there ; but it happening a few years ago that the gover~ of Al'im quarrelled with the principal man, i&-f t_,.' ;2-'''' or Caboceer at AppolQ!lia, and.Jhe latter (dreading the governor's refen t- p.'"~\..~ ment) app lied for protection to the governor of Cape Coall: at that time, and entreated that he would reprerent his cafe to the committee, and get them, if pollible, to build a fort at A ppolonia for his protection; th is was accordingly done, and th ey, without ever procuring or even de- manding fecurity fo r the Caboceer's allegiance or good behaviour, or ente ring into any commercial trea ty wha tfoever with him, came iJlto all his propofa ls; the conrequence of which has been, tbat as foon as he found the fort was half Ii nirhed, he compromifed matters with the Dutch, and no w carries the greatell: pal t (if not the whole of his trade) to their fo rt at Axim. Till I received your lettet of the 28th of February, inClofing me copy of the committee's letter to the governor and council, we did not hear n fyllable of that affair, thofe gen tlemen are grown fo extremely fecret in all thei r tranfactions; the factory at Agah, ell:ablilhed by Me. Bell, was withdrawn in a very fi len t manner, and I am told, the other factories are or will be foon evacuated . T he committee however forgot, that al- though they prohibited them from fettling factori es on rhore, they may ll:ill employ craft to trade at everyone of thafe places th ey before occupied; you will therefore, I hope, not forget this circumll:ance when once the regulations come under confideration. To fuch a pitch of audacity were the chi~f governor and chiefs of ou t· forts arrived before this order came out, th at Mr. Groae employ~ Me. Gibfon, a factor in the committee's (ervice, and paid by the ppblick, to tranfact his bufinefs near three months at his factory at Mumford. Mr. Drew, the chief of Winnebah, had feld om lefs than t lVO of the committee's fervants at two factories he had ell:ab li (hed; Mr. Trinder, the chief of Tantumquerry, employed the ferjeant of h is fort at a factory he had at Lagoe, and Mr. Williams, chief of Cape Appolooia, [ent his fecond (M r. French) in a long boat of ours all the way to Balram to trade for him. You will, no doubt, be furprifed at the effrontery of thefe gentlemen; firA:, in efiablia1ing factories which they were fenlibJe would not be -allowed; APPENDIX. [ H. ] aiiowed; and fecondly, in employing t he committee's fervants wh0 are paid by the, publick 'to do their bufin efs for them. If the people who are thus employed as faCtors can be {pared from th (! · forts, why is the eftablifhment loaded every year with fuch a number of -u felefs hands? The governors and chiefs are confl:antly complaining that 'the parliamentary allowance is not fullicien t to defray the annual expen~e of the forts, and yet they are racking their brains to find out new em- ployments to gratify their dependa·nts, and thofe gentlemen who tranfaCt their private bufin ef~ for them. I dare aver, th ere is not an Engl'ifh fort upon the Gold Coail: but may be tak en any day in the year by fi x men, the capital not excepted, and yet feconds, ferjeants, gunners, aHd foldiers, can be fpared to go trading fo e their chiefs, and the forts left defl:itute of people for their defence. In the m on th of April, 1769, the governor of Cape Coafi: Cafi:le h ad . not as much gunpowder in the fort as was fufficient to fire the morning- and even ing gun, and was under the neceffity of applying to Commodore Tonyn in his maj.elly's ihip Phcenix for a fupply, notwithil:anding the, C2:cilia fl:ore {hip, Captain Dunn, brought out a very confiderable quantity of gunpowd.er !-he preceding February, for the defence of t-he forts, but, it happening to be an article much wanted in trade at that time, it was. immediately divided and fold out upon !laves. Annamaboe fort was juil: in the fame fituation when Commodore Tonyn. examined it; . there was not a fingle grain of powder in the fort hut what belonged to this houfe, and Ollt of which they took as much as faluted the commodore on his landing and going away ; I having found eight kegs- empty upon withd ra wing our gu npowder from the fort magaz ine, fol" which I never received any refl:itution, and which h as deterred me ever fince from lodging any more there, efpecially as the committee have refufed to order their chiefs to give receipts, or be accountable for any thing lodged by a private trader in . the forts, notwithfianding proper application has been made to them fof this purpo[e; thus are we de- prived of the benefit of the aCt of parliament, which allows us the liberty of lodging gunpowder, gold, ivory, gums, drugs, &c. at all times in the forts. I therefore leave you to judge from the above circumfi:ance, what proteCtion, or affiftance, a private trader has to expect either from the committee A P P -E N D I X. ( H. ] 'committee or their fervants : a committee, fever~1 of whom are fo biaiTed i" favour of their good friends and c~rrefpo lld ents 011 the Coafl, that you m ay depend they wi,J,l always.c firenuouily oppofe all regulations which m ay tend to lay any refln int on thei r trade. As I have' touched UP 'lO the word protection, give me leave to recite an _ affa ir which happened' at Lagoe, (lafi Augufl) a town within range of the guns of Tan tumque rr,y for t; Mr. J ames Lane, a private trader, carried on bufin efs in tluM town for forne years pa{\:; he fupported an excellent characte r, was remarkable for buying good fl aves, which he generally fold to th e Britifl1 D1ipping in Annamaboe Road, to the number of about two hundred and fifty an nually; thi s poor man, for twelve months before he died, enjoyed a very bad {\:ate of health, and at hi s deceare in Augu!!: laft was fuppored by moft people to be worth at lea!!: 20001. l1:erling. A s foon as the tow n's people heard of his death, they immediately broke into hi s houfe, and carryed off the greateft part of his effects; none of which (as far as I can learn) have ever been recovered (rom them, nor any fleps taken to_bring thofe villains to juflice. If fuch outrages as thefe are committed under our fo rts, and the perpetrators fuffered to enjoy un- moldted the fruits of their rapine; we m ay as well have no forts at aIL Can any thing be more glaring than the partiality of the com- mittee in allowing their fervants liberty to lodge their Jlava, goods, and all their ef!ec7s whatfoever in the fo rts, in preference to the private ,and fai r trader; in making them umpires and judges of their necdli ti es, and in winking at - all their .malpractices whatfoever I I dare to fay, th at the committee nover fent an order to their fervants h ere, for thefe feven years paft, tending 'to lay the leo.11: reft raint on them or th eir trade, but wha t they have iliamefully anll fcandaloully infringed; they have 111ipped off flaves in great numbers, in the mo!!: public manner, traded with both French and Dutch, imported from time to time im- menfe quantities of goods, fom e have even been concerned in iliipping, and whenever an opportunity offered of di!!:reffing a private trader, they never let it flip; they have fettled factories wherever there was a pro- fpect of purchafi ng a flave, or an acky of gold, imployed the committee's {ervants who were paid by the public for thefe purpofes, to oppofe and L 2 riv~ A P PEN D I X. [H.] rival th~ private and fair trader, leaving the forts deftitute (as I mentioned before) of people for their defence, and difpofing of the very gunpowder lent out from time to time by the committee for their protection. It may pollibly be objected by the committee and their ffiends, that you have nothing more than my ipCe dixit for what I here advafilce. I have therefore to requeft, tha,t the commander of his majefiy's Ihips on this {!'ation next year be ordered to take my affidavit, refpecting there a,/fairs, fuould my candour at veracity be qud1:ioned, as all p0ft captains are as I am told juftices of peace upon their fiations. I forgot to tell you in its proper place, that the gentlemen, factors, and others in the committee's fervice, indeed all but the chiefs, experience infinitely greater hardlhips than even private traders, for notwithftanding rthe governor trades none himfelf, be aGts the ,dog in the manger, and wllI not fuffer a foul - to buy a fl~ve or fellI-a gallon of rum up0n any a€- count whatever ;if any are hardy enough topeddle a little rum in a negroe's hut in town, and ihould be fo unfortunate as to be difcovered, he may give up at once all thoughts of promotion in the fervice, a~ this is looked upon of all others the moll: unpardonable Gffence a man can be guilty of; an inftance of which happened a few months ago at Cape Coall:, where- the ferjeant of the fmt (having previoufly 0btained his d.ifdaarge) fettled in town, and ttaded upon what little he had faved in the fervice, chiefly_ In rum. When the above circumftance was made known to the g0vernor., two gentleIIl;en were immediately, (lifpatchecl into tQwn, to leI the ferjeant know- that as he was a foreigfiler he had no r-ight to, fettle und "r an Englifh forr, and to demacnd the keys of his ware-houfe, the delivery of which he refufed, u·pon which they immediately broke open the ware-haufe, en. tered and took out two hogfheads of the poor man's rum, which they carried into the caf1:Ie. SGme time after they fent to let the [erjeant know he might have his rum by fending for it, but he refllfed to meddle with it, intending to lay His complaint before Commodore Tonyn on l1is arrival at Cape Coall:. When the commodore arrived, this ,poor mall was ill or from home, I can't recollect which, fo that he had not.. an oppoft"pe for from the committee than myfelf. I have found long fince that 1 road neither p'fOteCtion nor affill:ance to expeCt from them, ~nd immediately fet about building all manner of conveniencies, fuch as Ilave's ro.oms, powder magaz ines, warehouCes, ,lodgings, &c. ·to render my[elf independent of them, and 1 have now _ (I thank God) the heart-felt fatisfaC1:ion to dedare, I doo't know any thing in their power to grant, which I ftand in need of; permit me therefore to a&, what views I can have in taking all this trouble, but to be of fervice to the publick and the trade in gemeraJ, aNd if my endeavours are crowned with fuccefs, I 1l1all think myCeif very fufficiently re- compeNced. . I am with per[eC1: efteem, Gentlemen, Your moft obedient humble fervant, RICHARD BREW, I am juft now infermed, that the Cape Coaft Serjeant got to Win~ebah 't ime enough to fee Commodore Tonyn, before whom he depofed to the truth of what I have inferted, relating to the treatment that poor man ·received from the governor of Cape Coafi, The following is a copy of a letter I received from Mr, Robert Johnfton, a p~iva!e trader at Winnebah., with his depofition. SIR, A P PEN, D I X. [H. ] 81 SIR, Winnebah, June 15th, 1770 . A s I am informed that you are fending home a l1:ate of the Co aft affairs, I mufu requei1:- that you will in(ert a copy of the inclofed depofition, which I did propole taking when Commodore Tonyn was laft at Winnebah, but was prevented by a (evere fit of licknefs; I however intend, plea(e God, to (wear to it before the lirll Captain of a ~an of war tbat arrives on the Coall. I have al(o made bold to trouble you with another relati ng to Mr. Drew's proceedings ,,,,,ith regard to raifiAg the ' price of Daves, &c. you know one in!l:ance of this kind, having turned out one of his predece!fors, the late Mr. Hippifley. I hope this will come to hand before you fend away dilpatches. I have alfo to inform you that, notwithllanding the committee's order, Me!frs. Drew and Trinder ftill continue their . factories. Mr. Drew keeps a white man at Corman tee Accra, (Richard Butler) about four miles to windward of Tantum fort; Mr, Trinder's is at Lagoe, where he kept, a (oldier belonging to the Company till he died there, which happened about three weeks ago, and he l1:ill keeps his factory in charge of a black man in the houle of the late Mr. Lane; and Mr. Bennerman, who is now ' fettled at Lagoe, told me not a week lince, that Mr. Trinder has declared that he would keep poffeffion of that houfe, only to keep others out. Mr. Mill kept his at Shidoe, till I fent down my young man, and fix days after his arrival there, Mr. Mill fent and withdrew his man from that place. I remain with el1:eem, SIR, Your moil: obedient humble fervant, (Signed) ROBERT JOHNSTON. 'The D epqjition of Mr. Robert Johnl1:on, Merchant, at Winnebah, which was to have been taken btjore George Anthony Tonyn, EJq; Captain of his Majtjly's Sbip Phcenix, in April, 1770, but was prevented by jicknefi. T HIS day perfonally appeared before me, Mr. Robert Johnl1:o1) , merchant, at Winnebah, and maketh oath on the Holy Evangelil1:s, that -on or about the loth day of June lal1:, an up country trader came into t{)wn with three nave.:;, and put up at the hou[e of Bundee Cooma, one of M the A P PEN D I X. [H.} the principal inhabitants; that the fdid Bundee Cooma carried the f"id> trading man, with his three flaves, to the fdid Robert }ohnfion,. all of which he p1Jrchaf~d to the entire fatisfadion of {aid trader; that when Mr. Charles Bell, chief of the fort at Winnebah, heard of Bundee Cooma's carrying thole three flilves to Mr. John!l.on, he, the faid Charles Bell, (contrary to ad of parliament, and all laws and regulations eJ1:ablifbed by. the committee of the compal)y of merchants trnding to Africa) did make a palaver upon the faid Bundee Cooma, by brandying him two days fuccdEvely to the foldiers of the town, iu order to make him {pend a great deal of money i and that the [aid (oldiers of the town,. at the infiigation of tlee (aid Charles Bell, did kill [everal 01cep belonging to the inhabitants, all of which the faid Bundee_Cooma was obliged to pay for, befides giving a large quanti ty of liquor to the faid foldiers, in order to pacify them; and he, this deponent, farther fayetb, that the only reafon, he, the faid Ch-z.rles Bell, had for difireffing the [aid Bundee Cooma in the manner before-mentioned was, becau[e he, the faid Bundee Cooma, carried the aforementioned three flaves to the [aid Robert Johnllon in preference to him[elf, and to deter him and all. others of the inhabitants from doing the like in future; and this deponeqt farther [ayeth, that after he, the [aid Charles Bell, had made the [aid Bundee Cooma fpend as much as he could, and dillreffed him as much as was in his power, he, the faid Charles Bell, ordered all the inhabitants of the town to affemble i n th,e public-market-place, and after they were all affembled, he, the faid Charles Bell, fent them a confiderable quantity of liquor out of the fort; . and at the (arne time gave his orders, that in future, every flave brought in to tow.n £bould be firll carried to him into the fort, as they 010uld an(wer it at their perils. The following is a copy of a fecond letter I received from Mr. Robert -Johnl1:on, Merchant, dat~d. Winnebah, June 17to, 1770. _ S r R, W HEN Mr. Thomas Drew came down as chief of Winnebah in October lal1:, the hou[e cullom on each nave was only one acky, and he immediately raifed it to two ackies, which has eyer fince continued; this is a' hardfbip. Mr. Drew has alio introduced another cul1:om; that is, A P PEN D I X [H.] h, after purchafing a ilave, and paying for him, he pays every trader on each Oave he buys two ack ies over th e price of the ilave: tbis obliges me to do the fame, and t~t i ~ a veLY great hard01ip 'upon me; this is a faCt, as I have feen feveral of his -notes to -different traders to thi s effeCt. There are many other cull:oms introduced by the faid gentleman, particularly when he hears of any of' the traders coming into town with il{! ves, fending them- beef or pork and - rum,- they expeCting the fame from m!l; belides a1'1 thefe extravag.ant cuftoms, he gives the trading m an a cloth for every- t wo or three !laves he fells him. I have fiill- another-grievance to: urge againft--Mr. Drew; from my firfl: fettling at W-ir.nebah -I entertained in my- fen'ice one ~alfafoe, a man very intelligent, and one who fpeaks Engllili welt, but Mr. Drew never let the fellow rell: till he inveigled him from -my- ferv ice, which he accompJi01ed-laft -February, with great promifes of making him Company's liBguill:; and the-very day he left me, he gave h im a fine ftriped taffaty cl oth . And th rough this fello w's means they have feduced many traders from me; is not this a hardil1ip? 1 wrote to Mr. Drew upon all thefe heads, fome of wbich he denied, and to others he gave me eva fi ve anfwers; this is all that 1 can recolleCt at preCent regarding that gen tleman. The following is a copy of a letter 1 received from our faCtor at Mumford, dated Augull: 5th , 1769' SIR, SIN C E my laft to you 1 have difpofed of the tobacco, only the two rolls 1 have been obliged to fell at a diCcount, owing to its drying on hand, which is quite anothe r cafe with Mr. Grofsle's faCtory ; for his agent informs me all the bad tobacco, and other goods that will not paCs in trade, are rent to Cape Coall:, and ilfued out to- the Company's fervants; fo tbat he mull: have greaty the advantage of other faCt;ories. I myfelf have {een tobacco Cent up in canoes to Cape Coall: at different times which was unfit for fale, and am ready to take my depofition to the above; his faCtor at Mumford gave me the information. I have only to add that I am with refpeCt, S IR, Your molt obedient humble [ervant, (Signed) THOMAS MILLER. M 2 The A P PEN D r X. [H. J The followiNg are the prices Mr. Williams, chief of Appolonia, wants- goods at, and will not ' exceed, by which you wj;JJ fee the advantages- private traders reap from our baving built a fort there. Aekies Sterling. Green and yellow erls at 10 -each equal to £.2 7 4- Danes guns 3 ditto. 0 14- 2 Half barrels powder - 9 - d·itto· 2 2 6- ~arter barrels ditto - h- - ditto 3 Bejutapauts and negannepauts 5 dit!O' . 3 6 Sefiracu ndees 5 ditto 3 0, Patna chiDts 4- ditto 0 19 0 PuJlicats 10 ditto - 2 7 4- Mixt Fatches 3~ - ditto· 0 16 7 GuiNea Stuffs - ditto 0 4- 6. Blue Bafts ~ - ditt0 ---4- £.14- o · --- Prime eoit of a piece of each of the foregoing goods. } Green elf £. ~ 15 0 I Danes gun - - 0 1-3 6. .1 Half barrel' powder r I.O 0 1 ~arter barrel ditto 0 IS 0 • I Bejutapaut 0.' negannepaut 0 19 0 if Mancheil'er D I 4; 0> I Seftracundee - - 4- o. I Patna Chints 0 16 o· . 1 Pulli€at 3 12 0.. .",. 1 Mixed patch - 0 16 o. 1 Guil'lea {tuff 0 4- 6. I Blue baft I ' 0 £.13 6 0 Add to thi s 7~ per cent. infurance 0 19 (y. £.14 5 n. -" -- By A P PEN D 1 X. [H. J By the foregoing calculation it appears thatifipterefl: of money, freigh t, €ommiffions, !hipping, and all other charges, were particularized, we tr10uld lofe from! 0 ~ 20 I?e~cent. by our Cape Appolonia trade ; it is not however (0 with the governor, who is no~ faddled with anyone ch arge or expence what(oe~·er, and for whofe fole emolumen t it will appear thi.· fort is to be fupported. GENTI.EMEN, SIN CErny lafl: dated: the I ff of July, I have informed my(elf of reveral other abu(es, committed by the committee and their fervan ts here, which I beg leave to tranfmit you Qy this opportunity, and fin - cerely hope they will arrive [afe, and in time to be of (ervice, wh en the regulaticns you propo(e making in our fyfl:ef>1l here (lome under confide-· ration . Upon Mr. Grome's death, Augufl: the 13tll, M r. M ill fucGeeded to the government of Cape Coafr, and at that time had a prodigious quan- . t ity of goods at Accra, the greatefl: part of which his fucceifor, M·r. Drew, has agreed to pay him /laves for, (0 that that fort' and its dependen cies. are neither more nor lees than fact-ories to M:r. Mill, until his ftock th ere' is realized, and we are to (uppo(e the chief is not at liberty. til! then to. difpo[e of a ll'ave to th e {hipping . The forts of Appolonia, Dixcove, Succondee, and Commenda; are' to all intents and purpo(es factories for the governor.s of Cape Coafl: and, Annamaboe, who keep them conflantly. fuppLed with goods, (0 that the' private trader has no chance of getting an y. quantity of gold from thefe places; and as- thofe fl-cntlemen are complim ented by the merchants of London and Briftol with the frei ght of their goods out, in eX'pectation of participating of their favours in trade, they can greatly un derfc ll the pri- vate and fair trader, who is obliged to outfit -[hips at a great expence. September the,8 th, a brig called. the Beggar's Benifon, loaded with rum,. and commanded by D avj d Dunn from Bo(l:on, arriv_ed at Cape Coa fl ; . upon Captain Dunn's . coming down here, he informed me th at Mr. Groille owned the one-third of h is velfel an d cargoe, which he fa id he- would not have mentioned had he (Grome) been alive, and from the affiflance he received from certain gentlemen in London by their fending 3 . him 86 A P PEN D I X. [H.] him letters of credit to Do(lon, althollgh a perfect {hanger to them, We !lave all the reafon imagin.ablc to think another gen tleman or gentlemcn, in high !lations now on th~ Coa(l:, are conneCted alfo with him. Cap tail\ Dunn has difpofcd of his rum immediately amongO: the governor and his depende nt s, and has h ad a cargoe of prime alforted dry goods put 011 boa rd his vdTel at Cape Coall:, on a pretence of bartering them with him for rl1111, and th e vdld difpatch cd down to Mumford to purchafe /laves, where Captain Dunn has taken poiltilion of th e factory which Mr. Grome qccup ied thore, anu has purchaied a great many flaves in oppolition to the (hip's long boats, and the faCl:ories eft ablifllcd by private traders at that phce; but as there is no pollibility of getting a light of the bill of [ale of Captain Dunn's velfel, or otherwifc proving thefe conjectures, I ca nn ot take upon me to aRcrt them as f_ fl,e was ren t off from Accra by M r. Mill with ninety flaves to Pen Cacola. When Captain Howe of the Mafguin of Briftol, and CaptiJ-in G ullen of the R oebuck from the fame port, anchored at A?polonia , the begin - Bing of thi s month, feveral trad ers came off t~ them , bu t upun their feeing Mr. Miles the chief g0ing on bo,u d the Roebuck, the traders in- t rea ted Captain How to hid e them in his hold or between decks, wh ich he was obliged to do, as they told him they were afraid of bei ng fee n by M r. Mil es trad ing on board iliips, ~ nd when C ap tain Howe propofed trad ing wiih Mr. Miles, he an[wered that all the gold he took was for Mr. M il l, as he was fup plyed with good s by him , fo that Captain Howe affured me, he did not take 5 ounces of gold at Cape A ppolon ia th is voy- age, and wh en he touched there in his way down the laft voyage, he. bought up wards of 1 0 0 ounces of gold in 4 days at that place, the chiif being at that time at Cope Coaji. This relatio n I had from Captain Howe, who is ready to atteft it, and who declared the fame at Cape Coaft Table to M r. M ill, and appealed to Captain G ullen who was prefent for the. truth of his affe rtion . I am info rmed by Captain Bold of the Ill ip John of L iverpool, th at on or abo ut the firft of Septem ber he made a propofal to Mr. Green chief of Tanturuquerry, to purchaCe fame llaves from him, and had offered him the fame price he had paid others, viz. 10 ounces, 6 pennyweigh t for men , and 8 ounces, 6 pennyweight fo r women; and that the faid G reen gave hi m for anCwer in writing, and alfo told his officer, that he could ge t a bett er price. from the gentlemen in the forts, and that unlefs he paid ele-vell. A P PEN D I X. ( H. ] ' eleven oun,es-for men, and nine ounces for women, he would not trade with him, notwithilanding I had fold captain Bold one hundred Ilaves at the above price, as did Mr.-Johnfon, a private trader at Winnebah, and feveral others. To fueh a pitch of infolence are the natives of this part of the Coall: now arrived (from the ruinous and contemptible fiate of the forts , and the pufillanimity of the wretches who in general govern them) that it is hardly pollible to live upon any tolerable terms with them; fome months ago, the people, living under the proteCtion of our principal fettlement ~t Cape Coall:, catched Mr. Williamfon, furgeon of the came, in the .garden, carried him into the Bulh or Country, firipped him naked, and whipped him in a terrible manner, for which infult he was gratified with a Ilave, which Mr. Grofsle, the then governor, obliged the Caboceer of Cape Coall: to pay him. In a 'little time after, the nativCj; of the Englilll town at Commenda 'Catched Mr. Green (a boy put in as chief of the fort by Mr. Petrie, and who had been guilty of opprefling and maltreating the inhabitants) firipped him, and flogged him in a moo {hocking marmer, afterwards tied him under the walls of the fort, put him into a three hand canoe, and cearried him down to Elmina the principal fettlement of the Dutch, there threw him upon the rocks and left him; after which by the allill:ance of an Enghlll man of war, he was carried back to his fort, and demanded a pecuniary fatisfaCtion for th~ ill treatment he had received, but the town's ;people refufiIlg to comply with pis demands, he immediately fired the town, upon wbich the inhabitants quitted it, (orne, of whom are gone 'over to the Dutch, under whofe proteCtiGln they now live, and others into the country, fo that we have lofi a fine flourilhing, town (con/i(ling Df abol1t 500 inhabitants, who abfolutely faved the Engliili fort in the year 17:58, when it was attacked by the Dutch,) by the indifcretion and rapacity of mafler Green, who inll:ead of being ignominoully difcharged the ferv-ice, which he iliould have been, is now preferred to the command of Tantumquerry fort. About fix weeks ago as Mr. Drew (who is now member of the council and :governor of Accra) was in his way from Winnibah to Cape Co all: (being fent A P p . E N DI X. [H. J lfent for on public b\jfinefs) he was panyared or catched hy the Reop1e Rf Agah, .an Engli(h town ljtuated between Annamaboe and Cormantyhe. and by them confined in Cormantyne fort, be1ol)ging to the Dutch, upo,n pretence that he had 1"illed-~ Caboceer's /on! who was his {ervant; and notwithfianding he proved in. the fullell: manner that the boy died by all . accident (having fiepped upon a piece of glafs, -by which he cut an artery and bled to death) they would nQt enlarge him till he paid th~m five Daves, equal to 1001. fterling; and after he went to Cape Coafi, they made a fecond demand upon him, . which prevented his coming on (hOl:e here in his way down, fe.aring he lhould fall a fecond time into their hands, being well acquainted with the puqllanimjty.of the,P?or creature who governs this fort, .and who he knew would {uffer him to be carried off [r,?murder the walls, or any other indig.nit,)'.> rather than endanger the lofs of his tra<;le, by having any difpute with the natives; indeed.he h as o(ten d~clared Pl!blick]y, he would not upon .any ace.ount whatfoever fa ll, out with them: thus the national honour is facrificed to private in tere!1:, by giving up eyery point to the natives, be it ever fo di(graceful or inj urious. The numberlefs affronts and ,d·(graces. which tht! chiefs , and others in the comr:littee's fervice, dai.ly ;eceive from the natives; their pufillani- mous behaviour on thefe oCCa(101)S; the ruinous fiate and condition of the forts, dell:itute of peopLe and every thing eIfe for their defence, is ftlflicient to deter any man·flpm .fettling in this country, where he has no prot~t1:ion or ailifta.nce tocexpet1: from the forts, aud where he mu!1: lay h is account in enco.untering every fpecies of oppofition, envy, arid iII-will from the commiuee apd lbeir fervants . • I mufi n~t omit ~formilJg xou that it. is reported here, and I believe with good founda.tion, that a {hong wercantile connet1:ion is now forming, or is alrep.dy formed by Meifrs. Rofs and Mill of London, Mr. Petrie late governor of Cape Coa(l:, and Mr. Mill the pre(ent governor; that Petrie propofes coming out if he can as .goyernor a fecond time, and to have the management of the trade, and if he cannot fucceed with the committee, Mr. Mill is. .to have. the diret1:ion of their affairs on the Coall:-; that Petrie in that cafe is to endeavour ~o .get into the committee, in order to back N Mr, A P PEN D I X. H. Mr. Refs upon all oecalions, and that it is already fixed that the year- - Mr. Rofs is out of the committee, his place is to b.e filled up by his ,. partner Mr. Mill. The above report calls to my mind a piece of advice which was given . me ill July 1769, by the late Captain John Stephens, of the Africa, (a great friend and confident of the aforeme!)tioned gentlemen) which was·· immediately to declare myfelf a bankrupt, and deliver up our fettlement h ere, and the· effeCts to Mi-: Smith; that he was authorized ' by a con- fiderable houfe in London, to aifure me if I did fo, I Ihould be backed with 40,000 fierling; that they would purchafe the fettlement here, arui fi,x me in it upon my- own terms. When this advice was given me, I treated it (as every honeft man fhould) with cOl'ltFmpt, at the fame time thought it proceeded from his ' friendlhip for me, imagining from his ignorance of our affairs he thought . them defperate; but it is.now very dear that his and their (ole view was \ to pollefs themfel ves of this houfe, where witB.-tliei'r great interefl: in the ' (lommittee, and conneCtrons with the gentkmen- in- the- fervice, they would, in a very little time, engrofs the whole of the Gold Coaft trade" -:and if a monopoly of this trade was not intended, what could induce Mr. Petrie to C0me out a fecond time, when he carried oWibout eighteen , months ago, a fortune of 14 or 15,0001. how it was acquired I hav.e - before informed you. It may pel'haps be a matter of furprife to the mefchants at home, that I {honJd be the only perfon foch a number of complaints come from; you will pleafe therefore to obferve that 1 am the only private feuler on this Coafi, except Mr. Johnfion at Winnebah, and he has as great a variety of complaints to prefer again.{l: Melfrs. Bell alOld Drew, the late chiefs of - . that fort, upon the arrival of the firft man of war; and if there were ever fo many private traders (though they might experience every kind of oppreffion from the committee and their ·{ervants) yet it would be impoffible for them to point ont a remedy, on account of their diftance from the principal ,government, and their · want of proper information and experience; captains of {hips might certainly inform you of many l!cbufes, did not their fear. of makiri'g enemies 'of thefe gentlemen prevent ' them; A p' PEN D I X. [ H.] them; if they difoblige one, they d;foblige all; therefore in order to make a quick purchafe, every thing the merchants can do in EnglaLd, or th e captains on th~C oai!:, !2 ingratiate themfelves into their favour is done; befides it is imFlOffible for mailers of fbi ps to come to a knowledge of many abufes, committed by the committee's fervants; thefe are (ecrets t o all but thofe who have ferved the commi ttee, and as I am the only man in Africa out of the fervice, that can poffib ly have any knowledge of thde affairs, I am alfo the only man can give you information,. I am this moment informed by Captain.Ritchie of the Difpatch of Liverpool, that fometime after his arrival in Annamaboe Road this voyage, he fent his mate in his long boat to trade at Appolonia for gold ; that as foon as· t he mate went on {hare, Mr. Miles, the prefen t chief, (ent his (ervant into town with his (cales and weights, and to tell the inhabitants that he would fell all his goods as low as the mate, and give them befides a ga110n of rum in a prelent upon every ounce of gold they br.ought him; that the next day the mate L1W him take forty ounces of g.oJd, and that all the time he 'continued at A ppolonia, he did not take fiv~ounces of gold . Captain Ritchie tells me, he propores to get his mate to take his affidav it to the above1circumfiance, when,he ,arrives in the Weft Ind ies. Before this reaches you, a brother of Mr. Mill's will be failed from E ngland for this Coaft; whether he brings out the Ruby of four or five hundred-tons, in which he failed from here laft March full of 1laves, or another fbip I cannot tell, but he is certainly to be out here 1ll0rtly with a large quan tity of goods, and to carry off a cargoe of 1laves. I cannot pofitively fay, if his brother here is concerned with him, but it is more than probable he is; at any rate he can 1llip as many 1laves as he pleafes on freight without fear of difcovery. I am amazed that the African merchants Ihould entertain the fmalleil: doubt of thefe gentlemen's fb·ipping off conftantly great numbers of £laves; if they did not, how is their credit to be fupported in England? and the great cargoes of goods which are frequently fent them to be paid for? as it is notorious ivory fufficient is not to be procur ed on this part of the CoaCt, and gold is the worfi remittance they can poffibly make. N 2 This 92. ~ P PEN D I X [H. . J This. momeht poor Mr. Johnllo.n, who. is· nnw, here, has had a'll<. ex,p.r~fs from Winnebah, giving him ~he melancholy aCCGunt of his , heu(e being de{ho~ed by fire; . wbat his lofs is,. cannot be afc~r.tained till he gets down, but. apprehend it muft. be veny 'collfiderable~ flotwithlt.and- ipg his honfe was within fGrt~ yards- o£ the cafile;. this proves what J.. hav,e all along b~en in(Grming YcOlL of, viz. the inattention of the-· committee to the welfare of wiyate:.traders., in not allGwing' them liberty to lodge their effects in) the.fol:tli'·in C:0mmon , wi~h their fervants; theiL"' diabolical partiality in' this nefp~a deferves tile f6v-€relt cenfure, . and cannot fail to rouk the. inrlignation of" every. good and hOllelt man; but- what can he.el(pefred from a Ie.t'of blunderers, whoca'n have never had.any ' o.ther views in getting into the comrnitteCl, but.to advaflce their. own private. interell,. either by fu pply,ing the Coalt with t·he manuf~aures-they deal in, or· by dillrdIing th.e.pri ... ate traders tG ingratiate themfelves into the favo_ur.- of tj,.eir . ferva.n ts on, the G:mtl1:, in order to procure their confignments ;- figure to YGhlrfeh'es; gentlemw,. the depl0vabl~ fituation of: a· poor ·man,... who hjls, uCed this C.:Ollil-between fifteen and twenty Y ~9 a Ita·t~ of, beggary, whillt< the fervants of the com-" miH~~, are. rio.ting in l ev.ery indulgenoe the >forls oa'l1 ' afford, and whof~ v\>ry,·!la,yes are 'aceommodthf in ~he- differel'll . letters.1 wrote Ivrr. Barber-.on African affil irs; whieh wiU 'be a 'gre!!t in'- ducemen t to me- to comjn.m·e,to ad vif~' you, regu1arly. of ' all occurrehces on • the Coalt, whioh ' may tend iu any .ihapt:: tCil the advanfage· of trade a~d free traders, and expo[e" the mal-praCtices. of the committees (ervaMs wbenever ,they come .und er my obfe rv-ation; at the fame. tillle, I cannot h e-Ip ob(erving to yau, genblemen , that-from my_k nowlBdge of 'the people in power here, tHelmethod tmey have, all: along-and fUll ton~inll(l t@. putf~e, tbeir great conn6c:ti.ooo lwith {everal of, tl1e cemmittee, contra ry to<>t !f.t'e act of-parl i~men t, the length @f time requ ifite t cD prefer complai·ntsr afld-giv(;! t h-em an opportunity to defend themfelves, with the uncer,tain i{f,ae·of thefe complaint>s, toge ther wtllh tlue prodigiou~ way th'ey)are in of fpeecji~y makin.g theinfortuneS; from. thefe oil'Cllrnft-ances, I fay, l ,am {hOf0ughi'y co.nvinced, 4: P PEN D,- I X. [H. jl convinced, ' th'e defired end will never be obtained till' the committee's fervants are totally prohibited from all IDalHler of trade·what·roever: w.hat fuuher fecurity have you now more than former,ly that there gentlemen will conform to any new laws or reg~lations which the committee may fend out? none; and it is as true as the; gofpe! they· will pay no more regard > to, them. than thty ever did, if they tend to lay the leail: refiraint what- > ,{oever on their trade. If you dircourfe with any of the committee's fervants about there affairs on the eoafi, they have the it1!pudence to tell you, that before complaints can be exhibited, their fiory heard, and the affair ·' brought to an iiTue, two or three years \;Vii!. elapfe, belides being allowed fix months time to realize their effects, in cafe the affair Chould ,be given againfi them; in .aU' which time they will have done their bm.finefs, or inotber words will have made their fortunes, and the c.ommittee may di{mifs them their fervice afterwards as foon as they p!ea{c;. ,; the,refore, to root ,out the evil-effectually, you have no remedy left, bu.t to alter \he eHabliChment or prohibit th'e committee's {ervants ,from all trade wl~atfoever, and oblige them to give ample fecurity in . Englamd' fora' punttual performance of all orders and regulations,-which ihal(fr-om- time.to l'fme be fent out by the committee. Some ' time in December lafi, the fia1ermen mf this, town committed ' n moll; horrid murder undcF- the wal'ls of Annamahoe fort, by cutting to pieces a man ·belonging·. to 't-he Fantee town in cold blood; the cufiom of the couhtry in [uch · cales is, ,· -that the chief of ~he fort immediately demaAds-, the murderers, and either delivers ·them 'Up to be dealt with aGcor'ding to' the laws of.tbe~ountry>, '.()r hangs them over one of the guns of ·his [Grt. By. delire of the natives, thefchief of our fort here, Mr. Bell, (when this affair happened) :was {everal times 'preiTed by the Fantee people to d~mand thefe murderers, but they never could prevail upon him to do it; by whi'eh coni;luct, he h as not,only g~ven up one of his mofi valuable privilegss, that of acting as principal mediator in all difputes with the natives, but it has occalioned the Fantees to make war on the fl.Chermen, by which upwards of twenty men have lQfi their lives on both fides, befides f'uuing a fiop to all manner of trade, except what goes from -Cormantyne and Agah. Vegetables and p'rovifions of all kinds are fiopped from F. P; P; END I X. [H.] frem' going off to the {hipping, as well as wood, water" and eve~y other neceffary, which they ured to have in great abundance' from this town; b-y which mean~ tl~y have fuffered feverely, efpecially thofe who have h ad ' any number of ii.av';; 'On board; thi s palaver commenced now almoft fd'ur month s ago, and there is n.o profpect of its being fettled except the r chief interpofes his authority, of wl1ich there is not the fmallell: likelihood, as he has been often heard to d,eclare, he never. wouldinterfere ~ irectJy or indirectly with their p3Iaver... Until within thefe few days pall:, Mr. Bdl .kept the. back gate. of ·his fort conll:antly opoo in the day time to preferve a communication between · . him and the .f,.ihermen, from whom he ufed to g~.t a go~d deal of trade; an.d th is.! ·take to l1ave been th~ reafon (or his not . d,emanding the murde rers or getting the palaver fettled, left by .a cting vigorouily agair:lil them, his trade mightfuffer from lthatquarter . .. · The F antees, however, . foon put a ftop to his trad.e by &Jocking up h is '. avenues· to h is. pri ncipal gate, .and for fix or fev.en days.,[uffered neither prov i [ions nor {]aves to go into the fort >- upon which he .gave them two anchors of rum, aQd a promife to ufe his beft ende3vours to get the palaver fettled, ,provided they .wQuld not moleft the traders and others going to the. fo rt in future;; thus the 'affair refts, and thus the fhippipg and private .trade rs ·fu ffer for the folly and indifcretion ( to give them no wor[e epithets) of.thofe who are too welL paid for protecting, aiding, and ailill:ing them.:'. I leave you to ju.cJge, gertl eme.n,·what f!X teen or eighteen fai l of veffels, wh ich we have now here, mult fuffer from th is man's conduct; and the misfortune is, we don' t know when, or where, this affair will end, or wh ere to apply fo r redrefs ; the captains. remonftrated to the governor and cOl>lncil of Cape Coaft upon the affa ir of the factories, and were treated with the utmoft contempt, they not vouchfafin g even to give them an anfwer~ therefore, to apply to them would anfwer no purpofe, except to render them, if pollible, more infolent. Out of numberlers inftances of the extreme infolence and wantonnefs of our chief here, and h.is natural propenfrty to give offence, I !hall only felect one, which h.ppened th.e 8th inll:ant :. as his majefty's fh ip the Rainbow was ft anding into. . iato the "road e"f Cape CCiJa.tt-, wmich is in fight 0f , t.1~is ~fott, 'Mr.-}3(l>H ' J10il1:ed his ,coI0u-Fs, . which was anlllil' 0n fiag, very ok!, ' ihabby, ' !;,ut nQ't , to be ,difcemtld at, that .c1~ fl.allc~; in a few hours after, ' the Corlican H(;ro of Liver~ool ,- CGptain Smith, was ·feGru ilandi'lilg into this'rCiJad, and as foon ' as "{he was r-ight a-breail: of, t,m·is fOFt, 'Mr.:'Bdl hauled down his El1gliili colours, and h0ifl:ed a £ebtoh jaok, ' that is, a ' bll!le neld ,with a white St. Andrew' s 'erofs; knowilflg, I £uflpo;[e, ' that this was 0ne of tBe two 1l1ips, whofe owners refufed to let Mr. Woedal ih ~pgoods in .1* year for him and M efi'rs ;, Oro!£le and M ill. Abollt a _mon~h ago, ,the. Peggy" Qaptain Hercules MiU,alarge fuip "from London, -arvlved at Cape Appolonia, where IFtters were lodged for hilTI, an'd ' he there delivered , ~he , kept trading to kew.ard fix months for th~Ol , ~nd aft~.r'rarps difpatchedJrom Cape Coaft to the. Well-Indies 'fulr'of /laves. Mr. Tri)1 der' al[6 took' part of a Bolion [cliooner's, cargoe in February Iaft " on condition that the Captain- {hol]ld ' run down to Whydah aDd' Jaod it tl1&re for him" which he did; [0 that let the committee. feno what orders t11 ey wil l, t!iefe people will find metnods te elude them. Captaia. A P PEN D I X [ H.] Captain George Young, of his Majef1:y's iloop Weazle, being juf1: gone on board in order to fail, I am obliged to conc1ude w ith aifuriog you, I null embrace every oppor ~unity t';- advife you how matters are carried 00, on the Coa!l:. anO;';thM 1 am with great eil:eem. GENTLEMEN, Your moil: obedient fervant, RICH ARD BREW. GENTLEMEN, CqJUe Bre~v, Augufl2S, I77!. B y the Cortlcan Hero, late Captain Smith, Mi les Barber, Efq; did me the honour to tr anfm it me a copy of the Afr ican committee's letter to him, dated the 25th of !ail: February, by which I find they have taken great offence:..t my detecting and expofing tl1eir un warrantable proceedings, and the mal-practices of their fervants on the .Coaf1:; a .circumil:ance, however, I am perfeCtly ea[y about. Before I proceed to inform you of fome late tranfactions on the .coaf1:. I beg leave to fay fomething in my own behalf, as the committee have il:a ted matters to you in a very un gen teel, unfair manner. The firf1: thing the commit tee takes notice of in their letter to Mr. Barber is, " that it would be contrary to all rul es of law and juilice to have admi tted my ev,jdence againf1: them and their fervants. In anfwer to whichgive me leave .to a{k you, gentlemen, whether my evidence and oath in a court of juf1:ice, or at the bar of the Houfe of Commons, would not be looked upon as valid as the evidence of any member of the-committee. or the oaths of any maf1:er or mate of a iliip whatfoever. In the year 1753, one of this righteous committee fufpended me from the government of Tantumguerry fort, upon the bare evidence of Mr. David Hamilton of Brif1:ol, · who was then only a mate of a iliip. I was condemned even without the form of a trial, which Ihews that what was law and j uf1:ice in thofe days is not fo now.. In the year 1764, another committee fu(pended me fr.om the govern- ment of Annamaboe, upon the evidence of one Eaf1:on, a maf1:er of a veifel belonging to Liverpool; the -charge was, that I had iliipped off five o 2 hundred 100 A P PEN D I X. [ H. ] hundred and twelve Daves for my own account in the i11ip Duke of Marlborough, of London, in the year 1761; and notVl'ithfianding the complaint was not lodged till the year 1764, ~nd that thofe {laves were {lJipped off long before the aCt of parliament (prohibiting the fervants of the committee to iliip {laves on their own accounts) had paifed, or al'ly [llch orders being fent out by th,e committee; yet they thought proper,. without even the colour of law, juil:ice or equity, to [ufpend me from my government, and to appoint my fucceffor by the farne letters that brought out my fufpenfion; yet thefe gentlemen have the alfurance to talk of the lenity they had {hewn me, and inlinuate that if I had applied to them for red refs I {hould have had it. Pleafe to obferve, gentlemen, that the c0mmittee fay they only fufpended me, but as it takes two or th,ee years before matters of this kind can be properly cleared up" and the iffue (even though they had admitted me to a fair trial) doubtful, that fufpenfion was tantamount to a difcharge from their fer vice, for it cannot be [uppofed that any man. would throw fa much of his time away without a moral certainty of 'being reinil:ated ; and from my own experience, and knowledge of the envy and ill-will of {evera l members of the committee, I could ex- peet no j ufiice from them. - In the year 1767, when Mr, Groffi.e burned tlie town of Ann-amaboe, \ . and killed three or fou'r of the town 's people; I wrote the committee the w hole affair; I even Cent them a diary of the tranfaCtions here during. that palaver, but as I therein refleCted on the conduCt of their governor, they never thought proper to take the frnallett notice whatfoever of my letter; upon w hich I refolved never more to trouble them; befides as I had no complaints to make but what affeCted the publick, and in which they were comprehel'lded with their {ervants, I could not with any pro- priety make application to them . Notwithil:anding my 'Voluminous produ8ioll (3IS the committee are wittily pleafed to call it, confiil:ing of no Ids than fixty paragraphs) contained many accufatiolls again il: them and thei.r {ervants, they ch'ofe to pafs them over, and reil: the whole upon proofs being made of the governor's iliip~ ping off naves on their own accounts. In A P PEN D I X. [H.] 101 In one of my former letters to Mr. Barber, I mentioned what the com. mittee, nor any of their fervants will dare to deny, and what is perfedJy well known to every mafier of a {hip, and fettler on this Coail:, viz. that every fervant of the ""Committ"ee, who has made any money on the Coail: {ince the commencement of this fyil:em,- has realized and !llipped off the whole of their effecl:s in ilaves, and th at it is of no lignification to the Briti!ll merchants, whe ther thofe !laves are !lli'pped off in J llne or January, this year or the next, fo as they are permitted to !llip them off at all; but it feems, if you cannot afcertain the particular time thefe {laves are fent off, you prove nothing. The greateil: part of t.he ilaves fent off this Coail: in a c1andeil: ine -manner for thefe five years pail:, have been fent by the Africa, late Capt. Stephens, in the three voyages he made here. Capt. Stephens kept a book which contained all his tranfaClion'S o~ the Coafi, and at the fame time ferved as a log book; this book he called his church bible ; and as I am certain every ilave he carried off on freight, and the ili ippers names are to be found in this book, I would humbly propoCe when African affairs are brought before the Houfe of Common s, that Mr. Michael Herries (pro- curator for Richard Ofwald, Efq;) be fummoned to the bar of the H ou fe, and ordered to produce this book, which if he does I am pretty confident all your doubts will be cleared up; and if it is not forthcomi ng, depend tlpon it it has been defhoyed to prevent a difcovery;. but as I {aid before, what does it lignify to you if a governor who is worth five hundred !laves {hip fifty or one hundred every year, or if the whole are fent off at once r T he trade for many months pail: has been fo very bad r and the oppo- lition from Cape Coail: Cafile and Annamaboe Fort has been fo great, that the iliipping and priWlte traders have fuff'ered inconceiveably; the il1ip Ingram, Capt. James Painey, has been here now feven months, and has not purchafed half her cargoe of ila-ves, though her complement is but three hu ndred and t wenty; the Corflcan Hero, late S.mith, has been. here upwards of four months, and has not purchafed lixty Haves; the Africa, Capt. Smith. of Briil:ol, has been here four months, and has not purchafed twenty; and the Greenwich, Capt.-Harwood of Brifiol, has been. here u£wards of three months, and has not p.urchafed one Dave from the A -p -p END I X. '[ H. J the natives; ·Capt. Brown, of the Kitty, of Liverpool, and Capt. Fl~t­ wood, of the Swallow, from fame port, have been each nine months at Annamaboe, the one for three hundred and thirty five, the other for two hundred and fifty Daves; indeed the trade is now fa tQtally ruined, thaI we have beem obliged to barter away two Gold.Coall: cargoes, amounting to eight hundred a~d fifty Daves, for Leeward goods, and to fend the lhips Albany and Pembroke down there, as we faw no .profpeCl of getting them flayed off in any reafona'ble time at this place; yet the Peggy, Capt. MilJ, was here and at Cape CoaJl no longer than fou·r months, and carried off from between three hundred and fifty to four hundred flaves; and the Richmond, Capt. Rogers of London, . a [hip ·of three hundred tons, chart.ered and fent out by Meif. Rofs and Mill, has been at Cape Coaa little more than three months, and fails this day with four hundred flaves.; this lhip was rent out here with a £argoe of goods for Meif. Mill and BeH, another cargoe for the general of Elmina, a fourth for the fifcal of .Elmina, a fifth for the .chiefs of Cormantyne>and a fixth for the Dutch ailio!;e the log 'book. or ;J J - 0 1 _ t .cl]\Hch biblebeforremeptioned, and that he had tore out [everal leaves in , whi cl~ were particularized the flaves he had fent on Jreight the preceeding , ,voyage o. voyages; yOI! Vl;'il! theref€lre plea(e to ob(erve when this book -:is prod qcedzo whe;her or not any. (u~h , thing has ' been d)o~e, and. if if ha~. cI th inky o\l ,meed n€l farther proofs., and di\re, ~o fay that Mr. Bell. r:r'r. p",rrie, and M r. Groille will be found al[o.to have ihipped off a good many flaves in the (arne illip. . ~s rj1,\1Ve give!! a Jk~tch ~f, !heJ:i~e~, h-:re if1,'tb~ 'p~11ick letter, there , btlying., r~tlilai~s og'ly to tell you th~t ,.g~l~ COtlilrr:a~Llsth~:!~;id~ '; , there is. no -a {.lave without one ounce of gold at ,kafi on it" and the windward Coaft ,has beelil {g ranfacked. that there, is- no [ll0h thing as getting gold, even : th'?;ug~ you {ell Y:?UT' goc:ds. fi'c:rri: fqI}y J9 fifty Plf. :qe~~: uncler prime coit ; . thee n.-;x,J J:l.elJ:, jl}\tiS\$: "S fipe; ,b,r.oao p:riyed taffil!s, . jlov;eredcuttane: s. ,., Patna.,~9i!' t~, :wi~ 1 Jma.ll: abla:kllowers,_~!!e wl;ite .grouncls, well chofe , printed linens and (lottons, very large braes pans, fine Silelias. Daniih and birding guns, plain taffatys, fine mixed Romauls,.J;ttin firipes, half pint tankards. G9~*,; ,npt l~n~em'l,l1d. ~s :fellows ~ ' ~~wder; pewter, knives, ,-, - -':. '.:;' 2 '1' ells A · P P I( N* t- X. [H.- ) 'r oS ells of no ki·nd" halffays, Negannepauts, · lil'ejutapalilts, 'checks, cherry- den·jes, and blue bandanoes; there 1s 'at pre~ent no Afuantee trade, which is the reafon powder and 'pewter are 11'Ot ¢a1'I/od· fat } h(),~e"e-r i t will not be pmdent tOl epd iPips 'out wit'hotttthefe article~: I am told Meffrs. Rofs and Mill expect to be called bef6re the Haufe of Commons, and that they are ready prepared for the o·ccaf.ion, but I fancy they will be terribly difconcerted upon hearing the c'hurcn bible called for. Mr. Wallace, who now commands the Africa, was Capt. Stephens's chief mate all the three voyages he made to the Gold Coall: ; he ihould therefore be certainly brought hefore the bar of the haufe, and fworn whether he ever knew or heard of af,JY naves being {hipped on freight all. ·board the Africa. ' I {hall take if as a particular favour if you would tranfmit Mr. Smith a copy of the publick letter, or other letters I may have wr()te you, which I have not fent him copies of. Much about the time this reaches you, Capt. Howe, of the fbip M aifguin, of Brill:ol, will be arrived, and as he has been upwards. of feven months on the Coall:, he can inform you of many particulars whi-ch will correfpond exacHy with my publick letter. Pleafe excu(e this ' hurried e.pi{l:]e ; I nlall be more particul ar in my next, have therefore only to wifb you health and profperity, and to affure you that I am with the greatell: eaeem and refpeCt, . DEAR SIR, Your rna!!: obedient fervant, RICfIARD 'BREW . G EN T L E ME N , CaJlle BrewJ Otlober rfl, 1771. I Did myfelf the honour to write to you the 25 th or lall: A ug ufl:, copy of which goes herewith, but through hurry to get my letter on board the Richmond, I forgot to mention a common praCtice of the com- mittec's gove rnors, M elfrs. M ill and Bell in particular, which is their fel ling great numbers of naves to the general and fifcalof Elmina, for PortugueIe tobacco, whenever that ar tiele is in grcat demand, the confe- P quence lo6 A P PEN D I X. (H.) quence of which is extremely, prejudicial to the lhipping; firft, by getting fupplied with a commodity which commands the trade from the natives, and fecondly, by difpofing of fuch a number of naves to our natural rivals the Dutch, which lhould ce~t~inly circulate amongfl: the Beitin) lhipping; to this it will be objected, that the captains of lhips are at liberty to purchafe tobacco as well as the governors; which is very true, but then parting with prime naves, ilnd naves that are perhaps feafoned and ufed to the lhips, would not only lengthen their voyages, but diihearten ~he reft of their cargoes; and it happens but feldom that the captains can barter goods for tobacco with the Portuguefe, as our wary and induftrious neighbours tne Dutch take care either to fend convoys down with the Portugllefe.: or difpatch them nwa)! in the nigbt, with orders to ftretch out to fea, to prevent the Englilh lhips from dealing with them. I will however do the committee the j'l1ftice_t o fay, they ha\'e formerly fent oU-t pofitiye orders to the governor and c<:uncil, forb idding them or any others of their fervants, to trade directly or indirectly with the Dutch; but the committee's orders are no more regard <:d on this fide the tropick than yours would be, n10uld you ~hink proper to fend any. I am informed the excufe there gentlemen give for felling naves to the Dutch is, to procure tob~cco for ,the payment of the committee's /laves and other expe(lces; but it is a kn.own trut~ that not above one tellth of what they purchafe·is confumed, otherwife than in the purchafe of /laves; however I think many methods may be fallen on to purchafe tobacco befides giving naves for it; for inilance, if the committee' made application to the Weft India company of . Hol)a~d, t~ furnilh them with a fufficient number of rolls annually, to d~fray the expences of the Briti[h forts, at for ty or fifty lhillings, or even at three pound per roll, to be paid by the comm ittee at horne, it would be infinitely better than buying it from their fervants, at fix: pounds five {hillings per roll, and the primeft goods .in the fupplies picked out by them for payment; and even if this method was not adop ted, the committee have ·on ly to rend out cowries and Silefias fu flicient for this purpofe, and tobacco may be always procured from the Portuguefe, under three pound fterling per roll , includi ng the expence 0f " long boat or !hallop to be always kept employed for this purpofe. This A P PEN D r ,X. l H. ] This mornel\!.r reeeived a letter from Capt. John Harwood', of the Snow Greenwich, of Bril1:ol, in which is .the'following paragraph. " I hear ' the chief of Tantumquerry, Mr. Miles, was ffogged in his hall, by a caboce~r (O'ot -Pulfon) al[o Capt. Blundell of the Ccirfican Hero, of Liverpool, and the Second of the fort were [everely beat, and all their cloaths tore off, and were fome time confined in the town ; the Second went to the water fide to efco!'t Blundell up, and upon my boat's appearing in fight, the Tan~um people fent off t wo canoes to take her, thinking ihe belonged to Harwood, but finding their miitak~ neve'r molel1:ed her." I have taken a great deal of pains, gentlemen, in alI my letters upon , African affairs, to prove the inutility of the forts in their prefent ihame- fnlly defencelefs {late. I leave you to judge of their condition, when the natives will dare to itrik€ a governor' in his 'o'wn hall. Can {uch a fort, or {uch a governor, render the {malleit aflill:anc~ or protection to a private trader? can {uch a fort be worth fupporting at the expence of 6, 7 or 800/. per annum? will the committee pretend to fay that fuch a fort is tenable; that it is not conll:antly in the power of the natives; and that iF is not owing more to their good difpofitions, than the coinmittee~ wife regul ations, that you have a fort at all ? The committee will poflibly write out 'to their governor and council to enquire whether it is true or not, that Mr. Miles, Capt. Blundell, and the Second, were flogged in the manner fet forth in Captain Harwood'~ Jetter; but as it is more than probable Capt. Blundell, on his arrival in England, will be able to ihew you he has had ocular demonitration, they may fave themfelves that trouble. A moll: pernicious practice has of late crept into the trade of the Gold Coall:, which is the giving gold upon Daves; and it is greatly to be wiilied that fome methods may be fallen upon to put a timely itop to it, otherwi fe it will be impoflible for any man to continue to trade here with any profpect of fuccefs; Appolonia, the only place from which the ihipping ufed to be fupplied with gold, you are effectually {]1ut ou t from; that fort, Dixtove, Succondee, and Commenda being factories to the governor of Cape Coaf1:, who is fo plentifully fllpplied with gold from P 2 theCe A P P ·E N D I X. [H.] thefe places, tbat be carries every thing before him; for the truth of which I appeal to all the Liverpool and Briaol captains that have been here this ·year. Formerly owne~s of !hips ufed to fend out double cargoes of goods, one for naves, the other for gold; j'f !laves happened to be dearer than ufual, the cargoe for gold was thrown iqto the nave cargoe in order to fill the fhip; on the other hand, if {laves were reafonable the gold cargoe was difpofed of for gold. and ivory, at a profit of thirty, forty, or fifty per emf. which went a great way towards paying the portlige bill in the Wea Indies; as I have frequently known from five to fifteen hundred pounds !l:erling in gold and iV0fY' carried off "from this coafi, over and above a compleat cargoe of !lav(js. H0W firangely things are reverfed now, you have experienced; wefcarce fee a {hip go off with her comple~ ' melH of naves, notwith!l:anding . htl-r cargoe is laid in £rQrn eighteen to twenty pounds !l:edillg p er head on an average, reckoning goods at prime coJ1, without a !hilling charge~ on them; a great part of which. they a,re ob liged to fell where they can for gold, greatly tinder prime co!l:, or li e h ere till their provilions are all expended, and their bottoms e.at out with the worm s. As the committee do not appear illqlih1able to make any regulations ill favour of the private trader, I imagine you will be .under the neceflity of layilJg your grievances before parJian~ennhis next feilnons. I have there- fore only to add once more, gentlemen , that 1 am ready and willing to depofe upon oath (be for~ any perron deputed for that purpofe) to the truth of the following charges exhibited by me againlt tbe committee and their fervants. 1. and principall y, That every gove rno r of Cape C:lail: tince the year .\ 76 3, to the prefe nt governor (M r. Hippifley excepled) have :hipped off great numbers of naves on their own accouuts, contrary to act of parliament and reilrictions of the committee. II. That the fervants of the committee who are paid by the publick, fu ch as doCtors, feconds, {~ Ij eants, gunners, and even foldiers, have been empl oyed as b c.l: ors and traders for the governors of Cape Coa!l: and othel' chiefs of forts. III. A P PEN D I X. [H. ] III. That the governors of the forts, part icu larly Melfrs. Mill and Bell, make a praCtice of felling confiderable numbers of !laves annually to the Dutch, contrary to the laws and regulations of the fer vice. IV. That fevera l"Of ~h_e governors continue to employ floating faCtories, to the great detriment of the !hipping and free traders. V. T hat the governors of the forts ca rryon an extenfive trade with each other, Gontrary to aCt of parliament, and greatly to the prejudice of the Briti!l1 fair trader ; as the governor of Cape Coaft (over and above the advantages he reaps from the publick fupplies) is (0 abundan tly flocked with cargoes from EngEioo, that he can give the chiefs far better alfort- ments than any !l1ip what(oeve r, an d can afford a m uch better price, being complimented with the freight .of his goods out, and not being (addled with any ex'pences incidental to the private and fair trader . VI_ That it is a common practice with Mr. Bell to employ the poor ft arved (oldiers, (erjeant, g unner, and committee's Daves, in his own bufine(s; that he frequently keeps the poor whites going in canoes on board iliipsi n the road to watch his g'ood~ coming on !hore; which (evere {ervice accounts for the great m ortal ity . among them, and by which -a poor (oldier narrowly efcaped drowning a few days ago, being over{et with a canoe-loud of rum coming on !hore. The coopers he employs making ankers, &c . for him, and the other Daves when and wherever they can be any ways (erv iceable to him. As we have no j uflices of the peace in this counq:y, it-could not be expeCted that my accufations againf1: the committee and their ferl'ants could be properly authenticated ; I am, however, deten,nined to 211emble as many captains of (hips as I can, and to (wear before them to the truth 0f the whole; and alfo that on the arrival of a man of war, I will confirm the fame by making a fre!l1 affidavi t befo,e the captain; thi s, as I am fituated, is all in my power, or in the power of any other man to do. By this opportunity, I expeCt to fen d you {uch proofs of .Mr. Mill's hav ing iliipped off between fixty and feventy !laves on freight by the Africa, late Captain Stephens, the laft time he left the Coaft, as will clear up all your doubts. I am, however, extremely concerned, th at the comm ittee's behaviour has obliged me to take this very difagreeable fiep, 5 11 '0 A P PEN D I X [H.) as I never intended to hurt any individu al in the fervicc, particli lady Mr. Mill; my quarrel being intirely to tbe fyfl:em; and although Mr. Mill's ex tt'nlive trade cannot fail to prejudice the fair trade r, yet, he is certainly tbe fittdl: man by much in the committee's fervicc to be at the head of affairs ; therefore the difcarding him will not mend the matter, if he is fucceeded either by Mr. Bell, Mr, Drew, or Mr. Trinder, the prefellt council; you lllay depend upon it, they will tread in his fieps as far as their ilnllow capacities will permit them. Mr. Bell, who is nex t in fucceffion, is a man of the moll: rapacious, avaricious, m ean difpolition of any,in the Cervice; hi s pulillanimity is (uch, that be will give up every point to the natives, be they ever Co diCgraceful or injurious to the honour of the nation; therefore, lhould Mr. Mill be Cuperfeded by him, we {hall be in a mud.1 worCe iituation than we are at prefent; an d as for MelfI'S. Drew and Trinder, they are totally unfit to be at the head of affairs: therefore, it is my humble opinion, that we fiand in need of a total change both of men and mea[ures. Inclo(cd you will receive a certificate *, iigned by Mr. Robert Johnflon, a private trader ; he is a very intel ligent man, and has ferved the com- mittee many years, both on tbi s coua and Senega'l; he is now going off th e Coan, and propofes taki·ng his affidavit to the truth of what he has advanced, on hi s arrival at Barbadoes, and will fend the fame to Sa muel Sm ith, E(q; Old J ewry, London. You will pleafe alfo to receive another certificate·" from Mr. Ifaac Ga rr·ick, who form erly ferved Mr. Mill; and which, with Mr. Johnfl:on's ce rtificate, I hope, will be fufl1cient to convince you, that I have advanced 110th:llg but facts agai nll: the committee's fcrvants. The committee, I find, are labou'ring very hard to find out [omething reprehcnfible in my conduct whila I was in their fervice; I cannot, however, help thinking, it would redound much more to their credit to endeavullr to exculpate themfelves and their [ervants frona the heavy charges brought againll: them, than to attempt to amufe you by fu ch a poor mean fubterfuge; they reprefent me, r am told, as a diCappointed jlcevi[h l1l:lfl, and arc endeavouring to prepoffefs all they can againfi my • Sec lhis lit the end of the lelters. remonarances. A P PEN D I X. [H.) III remonfirances. I am not, however, without hopes, that my conduct will be approved by all unbia!red, unprejudiced men; if I am peeviih and difap pointed, their igoorance and folly, and the fcandalous behaviour of thei r [ervants, has iTelpe.ci greatly to make me fo; I hope, however, it will be granted, that a difappointed peeviih man may be honeft and defpife a falfehood, ' as much as any member whatfoever of their board . It happens very lucky for the committee, that they and I are at fa great a di{hnce from each other, for if I could attend the curlitor baron of the exchequer, when the committee carri their accounts to him to be audited, I dare fay, I could unravel many iniq.uitous [cenes, which you are and muft ftil! remain ignorant of. I have not at prefent to add, but that I am with the greateft efteem and refpect, GEinLE.IVIEN, Your moft obedient humble {ervant, RICHARD BREW. D EAR SIR, Ca.flle Brew, Gaooer IS, 177[ . I NC LOS ED is a duplicate of my letter of the 25th of laft Auguft, fince which I am favoured with yours of the 20th of June laft, by the Barbara, Captain CuHhaw. You will fee by my letters to your committee, dated the 25th of Aug.uft and 15th of October, that I have not been idle,. and t·hat I 'bave rent them two certificates, which muft convince all unbiaffed men tbat my reprefentations are founded. on flubborn facts; but. the [candalous par- tiality of the committee towards their fervants is [uch-, that they would not lill:en to the angel Gabriel if he faid any tbing prejudicial of th em. I hope, howeve r, you will not reft till you ob tain fuch regulations and reflrict ions as will put the trade upon a proper footing. The articles in demand are the fame as wh en I wrote to you laft ;. gold is ftill the greateft oj all articles in this golden country; the prohibition on powder, pewter, &c. as by my lall:, i1:ill continues. Slaves are exceeding, [carce, price ten ounces men, and eight ounces women, to the blacks, and. an ounce advance to the whites. Goods wanted by veffels in this road at prefent ~ the Ingram want;; one hundred and twenty !laves, the Corfican, .HerQ,· I J:;: A P PEN D I X. [ H. ] lIuo fifty- or fixty, the Nancy, Cazneau, forty or fifty, tbe Greenwich one hundred and thirty, the Africa taken up. The N -, Ritchie I . the Barbara, CuI !haw ; the Venus, Goodwin; the F,iend{hip, Cum- mings; the Hannah, Hughes; the CharloHe, Blundell; all new comers; and the John, Bold; the Union, Pole; the Auftin, Wilcox, and Captain Price, (oon expected, be fides rum velfels: I therefore leave you to judge of the !hocking Il:ate of the trade here, and what ~eaCon you have to expect any alteration for the better; had the eight hundred ilaves, that were fen(o/f. 'in the Peggy, Captain Mill, and the Richmond char- tered !hip, circulated amongll: the {hipping, the Ingram, Corfican Hero, Na~cy, Greenwich and Africa, would have been off the Co aft, and would have left a fine opening for thefe new comers; befides., the price would ~1ave continued at nine .and feven ounces. captain CuI !haw haS' had great fuccefs in the time he has been down; he 'tells me, he h{!s put'chaCed fifty-feven !laves; he is a very indufirious man, and -I dare (ay, will make a voyage, if any man makes one this year. The gold trade as well as the ilave 'trade is ruined; Mr. Mill has three long boats to wind'ward and Cape A ppolonia fort, pucchafing gold for him. Seventeen and fixpenriy romauls are now fold for 2';' ackies gold, and moll: other Shiligs in proportion. Indeed the difadvan tages ·trade labours under jull: now are inc-redible, andI am much mill:aken if any iliip this year will get illtere{.l: for her money, except the prices are very high in the WeA:-Tndies, and little or no mortality amongil: the Daves .; be alfure.d, I will acquaint you with every material alt~ration ia t.he trade, !llOjJld aAY hapFen. The letter by Ca ptai n Bold (whi.ch t fear Y0n ha\Te not received) <;ontained a certificate'Oj; ligned by tbirteen captains of lhips, relative to the ri[que merchants in England run, 'by the committee's not allowing ,private traders to lodge their effeCts .in the forts in common with their fervants .; you will, therefore, pkafe to apply to Mr. Smith, for a copy both oJ the letter and certificate, as Mr. Camplin, fecretary to the t:om!n.ittee, .has prevailed on Captain Howe, of Briftol, to fign a recantation of I¥ ~e this at the end of the l'etH'T5 . A P PEN D I X [H.] I13 of a former r~moHll:Fance concerning the faCtories ell:ablilhed by the cOmmiHi:s ROGERS. N. B. Fourteen f~il in the road of Annamaboe this day. A v ery j Zffl and Jenjible L etter if M r . Arbuthnot~ on-the miJerable State if the Forts, addr4fed to L ord Hillfborough, which undoubtedly would have _ 1I1et with the Attention if the Board o/'I'rade, had that Nobleman continued at the Head of that Department • • JljTVLORD, HAVING been perfectly well acquainted with the late Captain Tonyn's intention of laying before your lordfbip, not only the fl:ate of the forts and [ettlements on the Gold Coafi of Africa, (where I had the happinefs of his friendfllip and particular confidence) but alfo [orne ob[er- vations on the trade, the footing the governors are on there, and the mode of paying the people in the committee~s fervice; I have, with the greatefl: diffidence, ventured to addre[s your lordfllip on that [ubject. I have the honour to be a lieutenant in his majefl:y's land [ervice; being upon half~pay, preferred an active to an inactive flate of life; and obtained· leave to accept of a _c ommiffion offered me by the c6mmitt~e of the .company of merchants trading to Africa; where having relided fome time, A P PEN D I X._ [H.] IIg time, I had the opportunity of making the folIowing reIn arks, ~vhich I beg leave to fubmit to your lordlhip's confideration. Th e Dutch forts, my lord, are fo contiguous to the Britifh on th e Gold Coaft of A"frica; that it appears eifentially neceifary the latter 1110uld be kept in a ftate of defence ; but they are, at prefen t, deficient in every particular, conducive to that end: which is not owing, as h as been all edged, to the infufficiency of parliamen tary allowance for the fupport of them, but to the avarice of thofe intrufted by the committee \Yith the direCtion of affairs on that Coaft; w.ho, preferrin g private in tereft to public welfare, not only make a job of t·he repairs of the fort s, but alfo are great gainers by the deficiency of public ftores in general. It has been aife rted, though I am apt to think without foundation, that· unlefs the governors, or chiefs of Britifh forts on that coaft are ~lIowed to trade, the Dutch wo uld engrofs the whole, and entiTely ruin our cOm- mercial intereft there. On the con trary, I have reafon to believe the trade would be carried on to a greater extent, and the forts would be of 1 more p ublic benefit, were the governors ftriCtly proh ibited from trading. If this meafu-re was adop ted, it is beyond a doubt, that many con fi derable v' merchan ts would eftablitb faCtories on that coaft, and fupply them with larger and better aifortm ents of goods than the forts, on the prefen t plan , can be expeCted to be furnifhed with; therefore, the trade would not only be preferved, but greatly extended; the advantageous confequences of which, to this nation and the colonies, are fufficiently confpicuous. The governors then, it is to be hoped, would fuftain, as is their duty, the dignity an d commercial intereft of the na tion in general ; be a f.1lrb to !he Dutch; keep the natives in due fubmiilion; and inll:ead of oppo- flng. and obftruCting, would proteCt, and ailill: the Britilh traders- which falutary purpofes are now facrificed to felf interell:. By th e pre{en t regulations, the com mi ttee's governors are re1hiCl:ed from exporti ng !laves on their own account, but are permitted to deal to what extent th ey plea(e on the Coall:. Their advantage by this is 2 0 pe r cent. which they charge the (hipping over and above what is given to the black traders. This confiderable differenct;:;, in trade il,du ces the governors and mafters of lbips to intrigue with the natives, in oppofi!lon to. 120 A P p.' E N D - I ' X. f H. ] to each other, and fo endeavour by bribes and other arfifices to a.lIure them to their feparate interefts. Thefe diffen/ions, my lord, are manifdlly detrironentaI to ·the trade, and even endanger the [afety of the Briti!h fubje&. For the natives taking advantage of them, not only enhance thl': pri€e 'of Daves, but a,re become fo arrogant and daring, that there ':l're very recent inftances of their feizing and beating the governors themfelves. When they, who affume the particular diftinC1iofl of having the Britilh flag carried before them when- ever they travel, tamely [llffer for their priyate trading interelt [uch difgraceful infl,lts-yom lordlhip may eaHly jhldge how the @ignity of the Briti lh flag is fupported; and what protection the BritiD1 traders (being their rivals) are to expeC't from tfading governors in that diftant part of the world. To explain the method of paying the committee's fervants, it is neceflary to obferve, that the governors, or chiefs of forts, in that [en'ice, have the advantage of, wha t is there called, fhlrnilhing , for their fOIts; t hat if, advancing goods tllf their own for the pay of the garrifon, repairs, and many other charges -aHowed by the committee for the [upport of the forts. Thefe experices they defray", ith rum, tobacco, and coar[e cloth: articles in no de~and, ~nd oflly fit to purcha[e pr0vi/ions; but are repaid - in the very belt trading g00ds, as India /ilks, and oth€!r valuable articles wh ich come out among t~e [up plies ; fo that tbis emolument amounts to double th eir falary, which will evidently appear from the following inltance, viz, a governor iffues on pay, to his garrifon, one gallon of rum at 6s, it coils him but IS. 8d. and is no,w [0 bad all article Oil ' th€ Coalt, that even for - provifions it fcarcily goes for 2S. 6d. 65. is transferred to the governor's credit, for which he draws goods that are really worth what they are charged on pay; [0 for 15, 3d. he gets 65. and the per [on paid with the rum has but 2S. 6d. [or 65. of his pay. By this method of furnifhing, the committee is always in arrears to the governors; who, therefore, upon the arrival of the annual !hip, claim the privilege of [electing for them[elves the very belt goods for trade. Thus they take their falaries, as wel4' as arrears; and by that time th€! governor of Cape Coaft (whofe !hare is by far the greateA:) .and the other governors have choren A P P E Il'rl" IL I X. - \C I-I. r 1'21 , -cho!€f1 out t1~eir qUOMS, (h'; whble annual fuppti tls are nearly €XhlutilrCd : A very good reafon for paying , ~he - rd1: or thee c:o'mm'ittree's (~rvawls with what goods they ple~e. - r 'J • The coufI(:i,1 QfI fhat coaft l~b s., i>l re;;lity, the fal of ·the whole parliamentary allowance (except what is re(erved fo r th.e cornmi'nee's' expences at home;) they make Ou t the annual in dent, which is always implicitly complied with by rlne committee; whereb(y; they:never, fail to h ave out a prime aiTortment of goods fit for trade ; and, to accompliih this private purpofe; they ~renot:only fparing of fi~res for pitb'1i~' l1dliiy, but atfo curtail tilofe articles of the fuppl~es wli ich ~re ~t advantageous : for this laft reafon, they ' do I?ot order above half the quantity of F ngli/h brandy tll'at might be uCed among the forts. In lieu of the oth er half 'they have ,prime goo(ds, 'a~d a ve;y ' fSfeat- advg~tage by fuppl jing th~ deficiency ofthat '£pirit with 'American' rum ~ which, as I'leforein entronea, they oow bay for IS. Sd. and always iiTue on'pay at 6,. per gaHon. It is av~rred, t.hat not lefs thail ~ thoufand gall orls are thus annuaITy fupplied '; if fo, this advance of 4s. {d-.' per'ga:Hon amounts-to a 'conficferable [unl. : . ~ t P'" The chief motive that induced me to gjll'e your l'ord'lhip the 't ro ub-Ie 'Of this a.ddrefs, was to reprefent the unhappy fituari'on of the poor fol'(j,iers in this part of Africa ~ but as a min~td dletail of'their WretChed circum- fiartces wuul\:l tak e t:lP roo' mach of 'tfuat t fine' vv-'hich yo~r lordlhip can fo ill fpare from weightier affairs; pertn il'l h'illf of ID0liIey an.nually, will thew the A£riGan Trame to lYe an 0ojetl: wOHhy the .i1:riCteil: attention, -both of the legi!lat~Fe and the cemm·unity. ERRATA in the TU;ATISE. P. 18. I. 'l.fora, read far. p. ~l . 1, 3' j'qr.di,e1>ioll,'·, dill.inGtio .... ERRATk in ' tine ApPENQq:,. ? 22, l. to . .f or nor r, not. p. 83: I. zS. for greaty t', greatly. j. 104' !. 25. /or buying remains r. rtmai·Q-s. I. 194-. I: l6. fflr a fl.'avor r. buytng .a nave. p. to-¥. l. -~9' fir taWatt r. taffatieh \. ·,c. t;, p "''1 01>/",,,111 ....... ';' If-; -' Ae ~' . ~ I~ "{Ie a-:t --C'f'C r.-t' I~ I~ r~~..;.... ' •