USELESS PROTECTORATE. 355 



garrisons and vessels of war, cost the nation con- 

 siderably over a million sterling per annum. 



If it were not for the cursed red tape system, 

 the fetish of England, which seems to obscure the 

 eyes and deaden the understanding of our officials 

 in power, such useless appendages to the British 

 Crown, which are only quicksands that swallow up 

 life and treasure, would be at once given up, as 

 sixty forts and trading stations have been in their 

 time. 



We have four seats of government on the Coast, 

 now supposed to be under one control, besides 

 about a dozen subordinate stations. These are, the 

 Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Lagos. 

 Of these, the Gambia is useless, as the greater part 

 of the trade of the surrounding country has been 

 absorbed by the French, who might, perhaps, 

 purchase the settlement, or give us some equivalent 

 for it. Sierra Leone is convenient as a depot for 

 shipping in this part of the world, and as there is 

 elevated land convenient, where Europeans can 

 exist, it might be fortified and kept. The Gold 

 Coast for years has been a source of anxiety and 

 2 A 2 



