ESTABLISÏÏMENT AT SIEÎIRA LEONE. 
83 
t>us parts near this river, have since formed settlements far greater 
and important than those of the French. The latter in their at- 
tempts were too parsimonious j while the farmer were prodigal 
in their gold. 
In the month of May, i78S, Mr. Granville Sharp sent oïï a ves- 
sel laden with provisions, different materials, and about thirty-nine 
artificers, to establish a colony at Sierra Leone. This colony, 
whose principal settlement was afterwards at Free-town, had for 
its basis principles entirely philanthropic. The colonists were to 
employ themselves in the cultivation of the lands and the civiliza- 
tion of the Africans, while the slave trade was to be totally re- 
nounced amongst them. 
The fortune of an individual was of course insufficient for such 
an undertaking. Mr. Sharp, therefore, in 1790 formed a socie- 
ty of twenty-one j>ersons, which in a few months became still 
more numerous ; and an act of parliament was passed, authoris- 
ing them to make a company, and to enjoy for thirty-one years 
the privileges granted to them by the act. Messrs. Thornton and 
Wilberforce were then the directors, and the members who had 
most influence over the company. The first regulation which it 
made, excluded every individual who was interested in the slave 
trade; and it was not only agreed that they should for ever aban- 
don that traffic, but that there should never be slaves in the 
colony. 
In the month of March, 1791? the company caused 1131 Blacks 
to be brought from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone : they were en-' 
gaged for a certain time, and were to be free when their period 
of servitude expired. Portions of soil were given to them to cul- 
tivate for their own advantage; but it was impossible to keep 
ihem to the spots which had been assigned to them. Being in- 
fluenced by a commercial spirit, and wishing to obtain a portion 
of the money which the company had imprudently introduced in- 
to the colony, these new settlers abandoned their fields^ and 
all came to reside in the chief place, called Free-town. 
The subscription was closed on the 1st of June, 1792; and 
the capital of the company then amounted to the vast sum of 
*243,Bljyi. sterling. This sum was employed in the following man- 
ner : 
The first exnences of the establishment amounted to o£'82,6'20 
The dead stock, that is to say, the ships, soil, and 
articles relative to the defence of the colony, to — 24,685 
Capital employed in commerce — — 27,400 
Capital placed at Interest in the public funds 108,194 
