CHAPTER IV. 
THE WESTERN COAST. 
Sierra Leone. — Bulama. — Captain Beaver. — The Gold 
Coast. — Whidah. — Dahomey. — Reports of African Institu* 
tion, and Committee on Africa* ; 
The first person in England who proposed a spe- 
cific plan for the colonization of Africa, upon liberal 
and philanthropic principles, wasDr H. Smeathman, 
in his letters to Dr Knowles, in 1783, who conceived 
the design during a residence of some years in that 
country. This plan he originally designed to submit 
to the respectable society of the Quakers, who, in an 
hour of real inspiration, had first emancipated their 
slaves in North America. Before this period, indeed, 
Dr Fothergill had suggested the propriety of cul- 
tivating the sugar-cane in Africa, where it is indi- 
genous, and thrives luxuriantly. In 1784, the 
Rev. James Ramsay published an Essay on the 
Treatment of Slaves in the British Sugar-colonies, 
which alarmed the planters so much, that, by ma- 
liciously endeavouring to ruin the reputation of 
the author, they excited that investigation which 
