structive or interesting; and that it appeared to them as if they had known nothing of Africa before.'

Whether in consequence, as Mr Bowdich asserts, of an unlucky quarrel with Mr Murray the bookseller, or of some other unexplained cause, it appears that these gentlemen soon began to see the matter in a different light.

In the review of the mission to Ashantee, the following sentence is passed on the conduct of Mr Bowdich and his two associates in Ashantee, who, it will be remembered, took upon themselves to supersede their superior officer Mr James:

"We incline to think that the annals of diplomacy do not furnish such an instance of contempt and disobedience to a superior officer as is here impudently avowed, in the face of the world, by the leader himself. Headed by Mr Bowdich, these gentlemen had evidently formed a conspiracy to get rid of Mr James, well knowing that he had it not in his power to take any steps against them with his wretched guard of two native soldiers. They presumed, no doubt, on the near relationship of Mr Bowdich (nephew, we believe) to the Governor-inChief, and the event justified their confidence." Quar. Rev. Jan. 1820.

A high character of Mr James, written by Sir James Yeo, is then quoted; and it is observed of the treaty which Mr Bowdich concluded with the King of Ashantee, that the two principal articles were, permission for a British officer to reside constantly at Coomassie, and the engagement of the two Kings to commit their children to the care of the Governorin-Chief, for education, at Cape Coast Castle;-that" Mr Hutchison, who had beer. left behind as Resident at Coomassie, finding his situation irksome and useless, soon deemed it prudent to withdraw; and the King's children were never sent."

66

After some farther ridicule of Mr Bowdich's political enterprises, and of his literary efforts, the Reviewer proceeds to his Geography, which he characterizes as wholly contrary to the laws of nature." He then follows Mr Bowdich to England, and thence to France, with unrelenting animosity. On his arrival in England he expected immediately to be appointed to a situation on the coast of Africa of his own carving out a salary of £500 a year, with the appointments of a member of council, commanding officer of the troops at head

quarters, with the brevet rank of captain in Africa, and manager of expeditions for discoveries in the interior, with liberty to publish annual reports of all enterprises. This the Committee did not think fit to

comply with; but told him that L.1000 amissions of discovery, and that he might year would be set apart for the expences of resume his situation, and take his chance with the governor (his uncle) and council as to his appointment to conduct these missions; this did not suit him, and--hinc iræ et lacrymæ ! He sets off for Paris, offers his services to the French Institute, and hurls his vengeance, in the shape of a vituperative pamphlet, at the head of the "African Committee,' giving vent to his spleen against all their establishments. He asserts that the officers of the service have neither character nor ability, that the governors are mere shop-keepers, that the English uniform is disgraced, the flag insulted, the forts impotent, and the offcers in league with the natives of the waterside to cheat those of the inland in trade."-Quar. Rev. Vol. XXII. p. 299. tion of wrath, he attacks him again, And not content with all this ebulliin a note to an article in a subsequent Number. "M. Dupuis (the gentleman appointed by Government as Resident at Coomassie) has at length proceeded to Ashantee, to endeavour to repair the mischief occasioned by the thoughtless conduct of Mr Bowdich and his young companions, and by his famous treaty which was to last for ever."-I. Vol. XXIII. p. 244.

These are hard words; and when it is remembered that they are applied to a young man, who has no other possession than his character, and who had risked his life, in circumstances of imminent danger, in the performance of what he conceived to be a public service to his country, we think no one can approve of their being employed, unless the opinion, so confidently expressed, rests on very firm grounds. But if the facts are correctly stated in the document contained in the paper before us, (and the responsibility, as to the correctness of these statements, rests of course with Mr Bowdich,) we must take the liberty of saying, that they appear to us to have been very incorrectly stated in the Quarterly Review.

Mr Bowdich tells us, that he was himself anxious to reply to the Quarterly Review as soon as it appeared; but he adds, "The generous solici

It should be mentioned that this is only L. 600 Sterling money.

tude of a man venerated, throughout Europe, who condescended to profess himself my admirer, when even the Quarterly Review smiled on me in the first moments of my successful debut as an African traveller, and who hastened to prove himself my friend when it became the fashion to slander and persecute me, influenced my silence by the following note:"

"Je ne sais, mon cher Monsieur, si vos amis d'Angleterre vous ont donné un conseil bien utile en vous engageant à écrire contre le Quart. Review.

"Je verrai avec plaisir citer mon nom chaque fois que je puisse vous donner un temoignage public de mon estime et de l'interét qu'inspire votre noble, et courageux devouement. J'ai retardè ma reponse: j'ai voulu consulter une personne qui vous est sincerement attachée, et qui comme moi, craint que votre reponse pourroit vous arreter dans la carriere utile que vous voulez suivre. M. Cuvier pense, comme moi, que l'on ne gagne jamais rien contre les journaux qui agissent comme les troupes reglées, comme des armées permanentes. Nous desirons votre repos, et des succès, Monsieur, qui doivent recompenser un si genereux devouement, des etudes si laborieuses. Veuillez bien excuser ma franchise et agréer l'expression de ma haute et affectueuse consideration.

(Signed) "HUMBOLDT. "Paris, ce 5 Mai 1820."-Reply, p. 3. It was the subsequent note to the Article on the Course of the Niger, therefore, which called forth the reply; of which we propose to state the leading points.

The first charge is, that Mr Bowdich, trusting to the favour of his relation the Governor, formed a conspiracy against his superior officer, Mr James, interfered unnecessarily in the conference at Coomassie, and occasioned much mischief by so doing. Mr Bowdich enters into a long statement regarding the character of Mr Hope Smith, the Governor, and of Messrs Hutchison and Tedlie, his companions, to shew how improbable it is that these gentlemen should have acted the base parts here assigned to them. But what is more to the purpose, he then refers to public documents, which shew, that his conduct at Coomassie was fully approved and sanctioned, and that he was particularly recommended to the African Committee on account of it, not only by the Governor, but by the four other members of the council.

"Extract from the Governor's Dispatch.

"Mr James being ordered to return here as soon as possible, will, deliver you his instructions, and you will immediately on receipt of this letter, take upon yourself the management of the mission. I have every reliance on your prudence and discretion, and still firmly hope, that the termination of the embassy will be attended with success, and that the sanguine expectations which we have entertained as to the result of it will not be disappointed.

"The king has received a very erroneous impression of the affair of the Fantee notes, which I regret to hear was the cause of a serious disturbance. I am glad, how. ever, to find, that by your prompt mode of conduct, you were in some measure able to repress the unfavourable bias it seems to have occasioned.

"T. E. Bowdich, Esq. Coomassie.

"Extract from the Governor's Letter

accompanying the Dispatch.

"The fate of the mission was suspended by a thread; your decisive manner of acting has, I am happy to find, extricated it from the danger with which it was threatened. The zealousness with which you are actuated in this very interesting cause, is highly gratifying to me, and I have every confidence that your exertions will be the means of accomplishing every object of the mission to the utmost of our expectations, and to the honour and credit of yourself. The public letter will inform you of Mr James's recal.

T. E. Bowdich, Esq.

"Dispatch of the Governor and Council of Cape Coast Castle to the African Com mittee.

"We cannot conclude this paragraph without noticing the distinguished manner in which the negotiation with our new allies, the Ashantees, was conducted by Mr Bowdich. By his talents, energy, perseverance, and prudence, obstacles that seemed invincible have been surmounted, and whatever may be the extent of our future intercourse with the interior, the foundation must certainly be attributed to him: to recommend him to your notice, would be a reflection on your judgment.-African Committee, pp. 12-14.

These documents, it must be observed, were printed in the pamphlet on the African Committee, which was in the hands of the Reviewer who accused Mr Bowdich of conspiracy. Mr Bowdich adds,

"To the good opinion of the Vice-President of the Council, who wrote the letter above quoted, I had only a public claim, and the Ex-Governor in Chief, then at Cape Coast, while he cherished the impression that my evidence on the Committee had unjustly tended to his recal, conscientiously declared to my friends, that, if he had been in command, instead of my relative, he would have given me the first vacant fort for my conduct. The other two members of the Council, which unanimously resolved on Mr James's recal from Coomassie, and who signed the dispatch recommending me to the Committee, were known to be my enemies."-Reply, p.

We formerly found fault with Mr Bowdich for "" crowing too much over poor Mr James," when it was unnecessary; but when his own character is called in question, he may be allowed to state, that Mr James," after his recall, 66 was condemned unanimously by these five members of council; that it was resolved unanimously,' so the public document runs, "that Mr James was guilty of all that was laid to his charge" and it was added, "that, in consideration of his state of mind and body at the time, he be displaced from his seat in council for twelve months, retaining his government of Accra."

We do not consider it necessary to enter farther into the character of Mr James, but we think it must be admitted, as a sufficient answer to the charge of contempt and disobedience towards a superior officer, that the colleagues in office of that superior officer themselves, and the persons. who had delegated him on the embassy, considered the offence as justified by the circumstances of the case; and disgraced him, and strongly recommended the junior officers on account of their respective conduct in that affair. And although it be true that the treaty with the King of Ashantee, like many other treaties with more civilized monarchs, has not been productive of perpetual peace and amity, (which, however, so far as the English are concerned, seem to have only been interrupted by one or two

angry messages,) yet it must be observed, first, that the responsibility, in regard to it, does not strictly rest on Mr Bowdich, but on the Governor and Council of Cape Coast Castle, who not only sanctioned and confirmed, but highly applauded it; and, secondly, we must admit that there the following remarks of Mr Bowdich are of some weight.

6

"Recollect the Ashantee army was prepared to butcher the whole of the remaining Fantees when I negotiated my famous treaty,' as the geographer calls it; recollect that the path was opened, and a free trade instituted; that Mr Hutchison was left as resident; that Mr Dupuis still enjoys a salary as such; and it must be allowed that a little was done for humanity : and I will prove in a week or two, if I have not proved it already, that something was done for history and solid geography."Reply, p. 64.

tinues, " for the mischiefs which might Was I to be answerable," he conresult from a system of government on the part of the African Committee, which I had exposed, and entreated my country to reform for the sake of that unhappy continent? Was I to expect that no misunderstanding might arise from substituting Mr Dupuis, a merchant and vice-consul of Mogadore, without doubt an honourable man, but a total stranger to the Ashantees and the country, for Mr Hutchison, the favourite of the king, and an ornament to the cause?"-Reply, p. 66.

In regard to the return of Mr Hutchison from Coomassie, it will be observed, that the Quarterly Review and Mr Bowdich are at issue, the former asserting that Mr Hutchison, “finding his situation irksome and useless, soon deemed it prudent to withdraw;" whereas Mr Bowdich says, that," after fulfilling the arduous duties of Resident, to the admiration of the Governor, industriously acquir

*The cause of these appears from a letter from Cape Coast Castle, quoted in Mr Bowdich's Reply, to have been as follows:

"The bearer of it declared in the public hall, that the King had sworn to attack and destroy Cape Coast Town; that he had no paluver with the inhabitants of the Castle, the King, advised the Governor to add to the yet, if the Castle opened upon his troops, he, height of the walls. The King's plea is, that the Cape Coast people industriously circulated that the King of Buntookeo had been victorious. Such a report, to my knowledge, was in circulation."-Reply, p. 66.

expence of my journey. I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

"WILLIAM HUTCHISON."

After this evidence of the footing on which this gentleman was, as Resident at Coomassie, we cannot find fault with Mr Bowdich's assertion, that "the field for Mr Dupuis's exertions was opened by the labours and sufferings of Tedlie, Hutchison, and himself, and that he had merely to follow in the track which they had beaten." The Quarterly Review does not precisely inform us, nor have we been able to learn, what the mischief was which this gentleman went to Coomassie to repair; but one thing is certain, that the establishment of the office of Resident at Coomassie, which he went to fill, and which the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle (and the Quarterly Review itself, in its moments of good humour) considered to be an object of great importance, and of very difficult attainment, was accomplished by the exertions of Mr Bowdich and his friends.

We do not intend to trouble our

readers with the differences between Mr Bowdich and the Reviewer in geography, understanding that Mr Bowdich is about to publish a small volume on the geography of Africa, in which, of course, he will fight his own battle. Neither shall we meddle with the personal dispute between Mr Bowdich and the African Committee, on which the Quarterly Review has pronounced so summary a judgment; but it does appear to us rather ungenerous to give him no credit for public motives, and to ascribe entirely to malice and revenge, his conduct in laying before the world the proceedings of that Company, when it is remembered, that the justice of his representations is fully admitted by the Reviewer; and that, in consequence of the exposures which he made, and in conformity with the suggestions he threw out, the whole system of the administration of that colony is about to be changed by the government itself, and, of course, with the full approbation of the Quarterly Review. That his publishing statements injurious to the African Committee, was not merely the consequence of the refusal of his demands, is sufficiently obvious from this, that he complains in his second work, (on the African Committee,) and apparently with rea

son, of his demands having been refused in consequence of the exposures made in his previous work. However my conscientions exposures may have incensed the Committee, my conduct and services have been very differently viewed by others."

We conceive it to be but justice to Mr Bowdich to give in his own words his ideas of the best mode of acquiring both commercial advantage and scientific information in Africa, with the material parts of which, it will be observed, that the Quarterly Reviewers themselves "most cordially concur."

the interior of Africa, and to tranquillize "To become intimately acquainted with it, are the first great steps towards conmercial intercourse and civilization.

"To place residents in situations to mediate between the great contending kingdoms, and to originate commerce, is not only the most humane, the most prudent, and the most economical, but the only legitimate method of acquiring political influence and power.

"Assured that benevolence is associated with commerce in the views of the British

government in Africa, it is desirable for the happiness of the natives as well as our own interests, that we should be the first to explore and attach the interior powers; the views of other European settlers on the coast, who would anticipate us, being more selfish, or simply commercial.

"The address of residents would daily extend and strengthen the British influence, induce and preserve peace, originate municate encouraging impressions of the and nurse commercial intercourse, comBritish character to the more distant kingdoms, introduce or improve the arts and habits connected with civilization, and by example and temperate reasoning gradually superinduce a disposition more congenial to humanity, if not to the true religion. Residents would also collect for geographers and naturalists the rare desiderata and novelties unattainable by travellers en passant, and pave the way for missions to more distant countries; by a chain of which, the Committee may not only reach, African Committee, p. 18, 19. but establish themselves on the Niger."

To this we will add what he says in the paper before us, of the possible improvement of the Negroes.

"It appears to me that there are excep tions only to the general character of the inhabitants of this part of Africa, whose minds would afford fruits to cultivation, and whose hearts are sensibly alive to vir. tue and benevolence; but I can assure the