ya a. eee ee 
ewes 
ee et rr aa a - 
a Ee 
ey 
an nals 
ae 
_ 
596 
white fervant of the Company has died in 
the colony in each two years, or, at moft, 
about two fervants in three years, out of 
the twenty, twenty-five, or thirty white- 
fervants who havé been ufually refdent. - 
Out of about fifty foldiers, however, 
who lately were fent thither from Goree, 
the Governor and~Council obferve, not 
without fome furprize as well as concern, 
that no lefs than ten died within fix 
months after their arrival, and that five 
women and two children alfo died. But 
the Governor and Council ttate, that the 
men were, with only one exception, much 
given to liquor ; and that no fmall part 
of the corps to which they belonged had 
been formed from the invalids of other 
regiments. 
On the whole it feems reafonable to af. 
fume, that although the climate of Sierra 
Leone is equal in point of healthinefs to 
that ofthe Weft Indies, and although Bri- — 
tifh fubjeéts are not likely to be deterred 
by it from migrating thither, it muft be 
extremely defirable to limit as much-as 
poffible the number of Britith troops on 
fuch a ftation, 
Fiftkly. Another obftacle to the pro- 
grefs of the colony has been the inexpe- 
rience of the conduétors of it in the earlier 
period of the undertaking; buta maturer, 
and therefore a better judgment, upon al- 
moft ail points may now be fuppoled to 
be exercifed. The Direétors have tio he- 
fitation to admit, that the knowled%e ob- 
tained by their experience has enabled 
them to corre& their ideas on many points, 
on which in the ourfet of the eftablifment 
they could form no precife judgment. 
Six-hly. Another obftacle, which has 
been already briefly noticed, has been the 
too great limitation of the Company’s 
eltablifhment, efpecially fince the year 
3794. It has feldom had in its employ- 
meot in the colony a number of perfons 
fufficient for the various duties of an in- 
fant fettlement ; and the falaries which it 
has given have fcarcely been {efficient to 
reward the heavy labour and the merito- 
rious fervices of many of thofe whom it 
has placed in the higher fituations. 
This topic will again be touched upon 
in {peaking of the expence of maintaining, 
in the time to come, a iuficient efablifh- 
ment, and of piving due encouragement 
to the fet:iement. 
Seventhly. The war has injured the 
Company’s affairs in many important re- 
fpe&s ; namely, by interrupting the com- 
municaiicn between this country and the 
Report refpecting the Colony of Sierra Leone. 
cyte 1} 
colony, and preventing the regular arrival 
of intelligence ; by caufing a frequent 
difaffortment of the trade-goods in the 
fettlement, and an occafional fcarcity of — 
the fupplies neceffary for the colonial con- 
fumption ; by creating an opinion of the 
infecirity of the place, and thus indifpof- 
ing perfons in Great Britain to enter into 
the Company’s fervice ; by augmenting 
the price of Bi itifh articles at Sierra Leone, 
and thus exciting difcontent. both among 
the coloniits and the natives, who impu- 
ted the rife in the coft of European goods 
to the avarice of the Company ; by cauf- 
ing much expence in arming veflels, and 
in providing for military defence ; by ex- 
pofing in a remarkable degree the African 
coaft to the men of war and privateers of 
theenemy, and thus occafioning the cap- 
ture of many valuable cargoes belonging 
to the Sierra Leone Company, and fcme 
of which it was not poflible to infure ; by 
often calling the attention of tbe colony 
from its ordinary purfuits to the duty ef 
providing againft an apprehended attack ; 
and by leading, in the year 1794, to the 
capture and deftruction of the fettle- 
ment. 
E:ghthly. The obftacles which the 
flave-trade has prefented, and which it 
fiill offers, to the progrefs of the fettle- 
ment, are of the following kind : 
It creates a {trong and ative intereft in 
Africa, which is oppofed to that of the 
Sierra Leone Company, and is induftriouf, 
ly employed in mifreprefenting their de- 
figns, and exciting jealouly in every quar- 
ter. To this caufe may be traced much 
of the ill-will, and confequent boftility, of 
the natives, and of the turbulence and in- 
fubordination of the colonifts. It renders 
the European traders in particular the na- 
tural enemies of the Company. It fup- 
plies the chiefs with the means of acquir- 
ing Britith articles, without their being at 
the trouble of collecting produce, or cultt- 
vating the foil. It interefts the leading 
men in the maintenance of thofe fuper- 
ftitious practices, which, while they form 
a great obftacle to civilization, are, on the 
coait, the main-fource from which the 
flave-trade obtains its viétims. It gives 
to the flave-fatories a great fuperiority — 
over the Company, even in the traffic of 
produce, inafmuch as they are able to con- 
duct a trade in both produce and flaves at 
nearly the fame expence at which a trade 
in produce alone can be carried on. It 
affords to the flave- factor an advantage in 
refpcct to the means of recovering debts 
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