SIERRA LEONE, 
tain, especially to London. There, indigent and 
idle, despised and forlorn, they were soon vitiated 
by intercourse with their profligate countrymen, 
who, having contrived to convey themselves from 
the West Indies, infest the streets of London. As 
this evil had acquired considerable magnitude, a 
Committee was formed for the relief of the black 
poor, at the head of which appeared the benevo- 
lent Jonas Hanway. With this Committee Mr 
Granville Sharp, the indefatigable benefactor of 
the Africans, and Dr Smeathman, zealously co- 
operated. In 1786, the latter published his 
" Plan of a Settlement to be made near Sierra 
" Leone, on the Grain Coast," for the establish- 
ment of blacks and people of colour, as free men, 
under the direction of the Committee for reliev- 
ing the black poor, and the protection of the 
British Government. To this plan the Commit- 
tee annexed a hand-bill, inviting all persons of 
the said description, who were willing to become 
colonists, to apply to Dr Smeathman, to whom 
they had entrusted the formation of the settle- 
ment. In consequence of this measure, above 
four hundred blacks, with about sixty whites, but 
who were chiefly women of abandoned character, 
debilitated by disease, were embarked on board 
the transports furnished by Government, with 
provisions, arms, and instruments of agriculture, 
and conveyed to Sierra Leone, where they arriv- 
