1804] 
pence of which has beeneftimated at about 
4,000]. per annum; or, if that etablif- 
ment fhould be difcontinued, a jegular 
garrifon mutt be maintained at the con- 
ftant eftablithment of one hundr/d effec- 
tive men, exclafive of the pro/oition of 
artillery men before-mentioned, which, 
confidering the numerous c2fualties in that 
climate, and great expence of fupporting. 
them, would exceed the fum above ftated. 
It not only appears that thefe future 
charges, which muft be confidered as in- 
difpenfable, cannot be defrayed by the 
Sierra Leone Company ia the prefent fate 
of their funds; but that {cme of the mea- 
fures recently adopted, and expences con- 
fequently incurred, have been proceeded 
on in the confident expeétation that the 
parliamentary grant of 10,000]. in the 
year 1802, would be annually renewed, 
Your Committee cannot, however, (tate 
the charges to which the fupport of the 
Colony may in future fubjeé&t this country, 
as objections to the grant now propofed, , 
without, at the fame tinie, adverting to 
the obligations of government towards the 
Maroons and Nova Scotians, eftablifhed 
there under its authority. That the Bri- 
tifh Government is bound by every confi- 
deration of juitice and good faith, to con- 
tinue its proteétion and fupport to this 
numerous defeription of Colonifts, does 
not admit of doubt; and it appears diff, 
cult to calculate the inconvenience and ex- 
pence which would attend their removal; 
to which muft be added that of affording 
them fuch a compenfation, as might be 
deemed equitable tor the houfes and lands 
they would be competied to abandon ; nor 
has any fitvation been fuggetted to your 
Committee where they could be maintain- 
ed with greater facility, and in a manner 
equally confiftent with their former habits 
and occupations. It may be confidered 
therefore as doubtful, in the peculiar cir- 
cumftances under which: the Colony is 
placed, whether its evacuation may not 
lead to expence, as great as that with 
which its fupport will be attended; ard 
where there appears a neceffity in either 
cafe of incurring confiderable expence, it 
may be thought reafonable to prefer that 
fyftem, the toundation of which is alrea- 
dy laid, and connected with the purfuit of 
a diflin& and important object. 
It remairs for your Committee to ftate, 
as far as they are enabled from the evi- 
dence before them, the future profpeés of 
the Colony, and the degiee to which it 
may be expected that the objeéts of its in- 
ftitution will be attained, fhould it receive 
the neceflary Support. : 
MONTHLY Mac, No, 118, 
Prefent State of the Calony at Sierra Leone. 
23 
There appears little room to doubt that 
the Coiony, when placed in a refpectable 
itate of defence, may, by fe:ting an ex- 
ample of induftry, and difplaying the ad. 
vantages of law andjultice, as well as by 
the aftendancy which its government may 
obtain over the minds of the neighbouring 
chiefs, exert a confiderable and beneficial 
influence over the manners 2ud habits of 
many of the firrounding nations. From 
the difpofition to induftry already evinced 
by the Colonifts, it may reafonably be 
hoped, that when fecurity is eftabhihed, 
cultivation will be gradually extended 
throughout the greatelt part-of the territo- 
ry of Sierra Leone. The -faciliiy with 
which free native labourers have been in- 
duced to feek employment in the Colony, 
and the fatisfa¢tion they appear generally 
to have given to their employers, forms a 
“deading and interefling feature in the hif- 
tory of the Colony ; and there is reafon 
to believe, thac to whatever extent culti- 
vation may be carried, this demand will 
always be fupplied. The amount of la- 
bourers of this defcription admitted into 
the Colony, has already, at one period, 
exceeded three hundred, and a greater 
number than that required have generally 
been found to offer themfelves for fer- 
Vice. : 
It appears, notwithRanding, that while 
the traffic in flaves is continued on the 
coat of Africa, however beneficial the 
effects produced by the Colony of Sierra 
Leone on its own immediate neighbour. 
hood, its influence cannat: be expected to 
extend far beyond the limits of its own 
terriory; at the fame time a foundation 
will be laid, from which, fhould events 
lead to any material change in the fyftem 
of African commerce, that influence may ~ 
be more widely and fucce(sfully diffuled. 
Upen the whole, your Committee, from 
a full confideration of the ffate of the 
Company’s funds—of the neceffity of fup- 
plying their deficiency—of the uncertain- 
ty atrending the conitant renewal of the 
parliamentary grants which may hereafter 
be found neceflary—and cf the intereft of 
the Britifh Government in the Colony, as ° 
connected with the maintenance of the 
Maroons and Nova Scotians, who are its 
inhabitants, have been led to conclude, 
that the cbjeéts for which the Colony was 
inftituted, may be more ezfily and effec- 
tually attained, by transferring the civil 
and military authority to the Crown ; for 
which purpofe it may be reafonably ex-. 
pected, that a partial furrender of the 
rights of the Company may he obtained 
from the Proprietors, provided fecurity is 
iE given 
