LIFE OF MUNGO PARK. 
xcv 
the greatest exertions. They are at the same time courage- 
ous and high spirited, feeling a pride and elevation from 
the advantages which they enjoy, and the comparative 
rank to which they have attained ; and they are warmly 
attached to the British Government. 
It is proposed that a proper and well selected detach- 
ment of these troops should form the basis of the intended 
expedition ; and that^ besides the person having the im- 
mediate command, one or two other leading persons should 
be appointed, each properly qualified to assist in the direc- 
tion and management of the principal concerns, and (in 
case of emergency ) to undertake the sole charge of the 
expedition. The number of the troops employed would of 
course be regulated by a due regard to the probable means 
of subsistence; but it is proposed that they should be 
sufficiently numerous to enable the leaders, in cases where 
it might be expedient, to separate with small detachments, 
taking distinct lines of march as local circumstances and 
other occasions might require.* 
* The writer is well aware that, in some of the opinions which he has ex- 
pressed with regard to the black troops of Sierra Leone, he can hardly expect 
the concurrence of several excellent individuals, among the best friends of the 
African cause, who are known to he averse to the employment of Negroes in 
the military service ; and he is ready to admit that the practice which has 
prevailed of enlisting captured Africans is liable to some abuse. Let such 
abuses be anxiously guarded against by all t!ie means which legislative wisdom 
can devise; let every charge of misconduct in this respect be rigorously inves- 
tigated ; and if it should appear to be well founded, let it be pursued with the 
utmost strictness and severity. But let not occasional abuses be urged as valid 
arguments against the practice itself, if it should be -ascertained to be, on the 
whole, beneficial to the Africans. It has been stated by enliglitened and bene- 
