608 EXPEDITIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. Chap. XXIX. 



are nullified by a few convicts and needy Portuguese Gover- 

 nors, who in no case have authority to the extent of their 

 unaided vision from their forts. If East Africa is still to be 

 used only for convicts, why should not the English send 

 theirs thither too? It does not belong to the Portuguese 

 any more than China belongs to them because they possess 

 Macao. Bad as our convicts are, they would be an improve- 

 ment on those already sent. Neither officers nor men would 

 deal in slaves. The climate certainly mollifies and subdues 

 the passions. This we observed at Loando, where every night 

 the whole of the arms of the city are in the hands of men 

 who have once been convicts. The subject deserves con- 

 sideration, in the present difficulty of disposing of our convict 

 population. 



In the able Eeport of Colonel Ord it is stated, that while 

 the presence of the squadron has had some share in suppress- 

 ing the slave-trade, the result is mainly due to the existence 

 of the Settlements. This is supported by the fact that, even 

 in those least visited by men-of-war, it has been as effectually 

 suppressed as in those which have been their most constant 

 resort. We have continually had the conviction in our 

 minds that an expedition or settlement inland would produce 

 greater results than men-of-war on the ocean, and be upheld 

 with half the expense of one of Her Majesty's cruisers. 



THE END. 



LONDON : FKINTED BT TV. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFOKD STREET, 

 AND CHASING CKOSS. 



