to the royal African company, their forts and effects were vested by parliament in a company of free traders to Africa, under the direction of a committee, from Port Sallee to the Cape of Good Hope, open to all British subjects; but that part of the western coast which lies between Cape Blanco and Cape Rouge, is, by an act of parliament passed in 1765, vested in the crown; and from Cape Rouge to the Cape of Good Hope, where there are forts, remains under the committee, the members of which are not suffered by law to trade in their joint capacity, neither ought they, 'directly or indirectly, in their distinct capacity. Three of the nine committee men are chosen for London, three for Bristol, and three for Liverpool; the only towns that have a trade to that part of the world, excepting Lancaster-comparatively with the rest scarce worth noticing. The Act of 1749 requires these committee-men to be chosen annually by persons trading, or intending to trade to Africa: 40s. is the qualification necessary by that Act to capacitate a freeman to vote. Through indirect artifices, and venal influence, the real and substantial African traders are deprived of an effective choice. The choice depends on the occasional suffrages of certain corrupt persons, and needy hirelings. Hence, in 1772, no fewer than 1,425 names were on the register of freemen of the London trade to Africa, scarce 100 of which had ever been interested in any African ship or African commodity; and not 50 of that 100 were actually in the least shape concerned in the African trade at the time of voting. In 1771, 194 freemen were added to the list in one day, many of whom were members of parliament, others were East India directors, not a few tavern-keepers, shoe-makers, butchers, barbers, lamplighters, pastrycooks, persons under age, and persons without any known residence or occupation-a most singular and curious medley of commercial adventurers! The trade of the ivory and gold coasts, which is more immediately the object of the committee's administration, has very much decreased of late years, while the general trade of Africa, south of the gold coast, has exceedingly flourished; and about the commencement of the present King's reign, and till 1771, inclusive, improved to a prodigious amount. The African trade gave about that time to Great Britain 2,000,000l. sterling per annum, employed 50,000 ton of shipping communibus annis,

and furnished your colonies with 40,000 labourers: from 1735 to 1763, from the gold coast, at an average, were shipped yearly 13,000 negroes; and in 1752, Liverpool sent 32 large ships to the gold coast, of 58, from that port, fitted out for the whole African trade, and those 32 ships got 8,232 negroes. In 1771, when our trade to Africa was in the greatest height of its prosperity, insomuch that 195 vessels were employed in it from Great Britain, besides between 60 and 70 from the continent of North America, although Liverpool alone counted no fewer than 106 of the number, only 14 could be supplied at the gold coast, and those 14 procured but 3,400 slaves. Six thousand slaves is the utmost calculation of what we now purchase annually on the gold coast, exclusive of the Benin and Callabar negroes, who are frequently moved towards the north west to enhance their value. The quantity of gold brought home to England in the time of the royal African company, amounted to near half a million sterling per annum, reckoning from 120 to 150,000 ounces; an article, which now is so far from being productive, that you are obliged to carry gold to the African markets. And your ivory trade is likewise gone to nothing. In 1749, at the establishment of the committee, gold was estimated under 42s. per ounce on the coast; it is now above double that value. An able male Anamaboe slave was rated at between 9 and 10., and sold in the British West Indies for 291. or 30l. Last year a negro of the same description came, at first cost, to 27. 18s. and fetched in the island of Jamaica, near 50%. sterling. On the gold coast are 11 forts, (between Cape Apolonia and the river Lagos) three of which are, in the opinion of many intelligent persons, utterly unnecessary, except as marks of possession, and two have hitherto most frequently proved hurtful to your commerce; 13,000l. per annum has been usually granted by parliament for several years past, and often 15,000l. to sup port these forts, which still remain, according to the last account given in by captain Cornwallis, in a very ruinous, filthy, and indefensible state, having, some of them, neither artillery nor ammunition, though their maintenance has cost the nation since the dissolution of the last jointstock company, more than 360,000l. sterl ing. Instead of drawing awe and respect from the natives and rival states of Europe, who have garrisons and factories

within gunshot of yours, they only attract insult and ridicule. They have chiefly been used as warehouses for the very worst species of monopoly-a monopoly carried on by public servants under the colour of legislative authority, and rather for the destruction than for the protection and safeguard of the free British trader. I am confidently assured, that the expenditure of little more than 1,000l. per ann. for each fort one with another, amounting to between 7 and 8,000l. for the only forts of real necessity or local strength, would be amply sufficient, according to their present scale of magnitude and establishment. I am disinclined to advance any more money to be vested in goods, and disposed of at the discretion of these monopolists, and to encourage the like abuses. They were not warranted in an anticipation of the annual gift of parliament, which, indeed, ought to have been put in another channel long ago, unless a more satisfactory account could have been produced of prior expenditures. The servants of the committee pretend to have an out-standing demand on a balance of scarcely less by this time than 20,000l.; if you remit the money they are now solicitous to obtain, we can easily conceive to what purposes it will be applied; not a shilling to the forts and settlements. The African committee (I understand by the committee, the directors in general of the African trade, where there have been any forts for these last 26 years, not meaning to criminate, nor to exculpate the present gentlemen individually, whose conduct remains for trial, in consequence of the present report upon your table), I say, Sir, the African committees have acted contrary to the trust reposed in them, they have been certainly abettors of the guilt, if not principals in it; have misconstrued the import and spirit of the Act, which was however very absurdly worded;-they have perverted the true intent of the legislature; have acted diametrically contrary to the real interest of the nation, and nearly annihilated your trade; neither can so destructive a system of folly and mismanagement be too soon abolished.

I should humbly presume that, the best policy we can now devise at the end of a session, will be to admit a preparatory motion toward annulling next year the Act of 1749, and bringing a new Bill into parliament, for constituting the African trade on better principles of policy, such as may render it as humane and equitable as the

nature of the traffic will allow of towards the natives of the country, advantageous to the British adventurer, tending to the prosperity of your general commerce, and to the support and benefit of your WestIndia islands. I conceive it will be found the most eligible measure to create and establish two distinct companies trading on a joint stock: one company for the northern nations and districts, who chiefly follow the Mahomedan profession, and speak certain Moriscan dialects, derived from the Arabic language, and who occupy an extent of coast of about 2,000 miles; reaching from Port Sallee to the river of St. Paul. The other company of traders, to begin from the said river of St. Paul, and extend to the river Lagos, which takes in all the ivory and gold coast, and includes the southermost of our forts at Widah: this might be made perhaps the richest and most important part of your trade with Africa, and runs nearly from west to east 2,000 miles, the rest of that continent, comprehending Bonny, both Calabars, the lower Guinea in general, and away to the Cape, that is upwards of 4,000 miles further, I would leave entirely open as it is at present. By this policy there would arise a zealous emulation between two companies, and the open trade to the southward might stimulate each to the most active exertion, and serve as a check to either, or to both conjointly, so as to keep their dealings within limits of reasonable gain. I am clear that true policy will direct us either to a mode of reform similar to this, or else to a free trade indiscriminately to all enterprizers, from one extremity of the vast African continent to the other. But, from the present state of the northern regions and countries of Upper Guinea, as well politically as geographically considered, clear I am that nothing but much labour and industry, and great collective resources, as well as national encouragement and support, can restore our African trade to any degree of value. I think that trade would, constitutionally considered, be much safer, much better managed for the public interest, were it under the governance of a company trading with joint funds, than under the commissioners of trade and plantations, or either secretary of state. I cannot allow that they have at all improved or extended your trade in the Senegambia quarter. Heretofore we had stations and warehouses, and open communications for a variety of traffic 600

confinement is not so strict; his discipline not so severe, his sustenance full as good, and his labour, upon the whole, less harsh and burthensome. But, without dwelling longer on that subject, you can have no objection to gold, gums, ivory, wax, dying woods, &c. which may be procured in quantities beyond arithmetical calculation. I have ever comprehended that the African trade takes off a great quantity of your East-India goods, English woollens, and hardware articles, &c. and, at one time, there were circulating in Great Britain 400,000 guineas, made of the gold brought home under the African company, and from whence that coin, I imagine, first took its denomination. These are distinguishable from other current guineas by the figure of an elephant.

miles up the Gambia river, with no less than 17 regular factories. They fell with the last royal African company, and I cannot learn that any one of them has been recovered by the care of the ministers of the crown. The trade of Senegambia is far from that state in which it ought to be at this day, after costing the nation, in its civil and military establishment, extras, ordnance, &c. since 1766, near 180,000l. In the gold coast country, and the interior of those regions, you had in former times roads of communications from 4 to 700 miles in length, chiefly cut through thick woods and defiles; these roads were five in number: and at the end of every day's journey (of about ten or twelve leagues) were store-rooms, houses of repose and refreshment, and British colours flying. These are now mostly choaked up, the buildings deserted and in ruins, the intercourse between Europeans and the inland natives at an end, obstacles still augmenting: but the continual wars that have prevailed for many years past, between the confederate states near the sea coast and the sovereign princes of the interior nations, (wars which have been at times too, not a little promoted and aggravated by the misconduct and bad policy of Dutch and English agents, and settlers) have brought the African trade in such jeopardy, that nothing but a capital joint-stock, properly employed for putting your forts in good order, and re-establishing your power and credit there on such footing as to induce the Dutch cheerfully to go hand in hand with you to open the trade with the Africans, for the mutual benefit of all parties, can avail in the present state of things. Some gentlemen may, indeed, object to the slave trade as inhuman and impious; but let us consider that, if our colonies are to be maintained and cultivated, which can only be done by African -negroes, it is surely better to supply ourselves with those labourers in British bottoms, than purchase them through the medium of French, Dutch, or Danish factors; the numbers must naturally much decline, if you were to trust merely to those who are born in servitude from the blacks already seasoned and established in your sugar islands. Indeed, hard as the case of a negro-slave may appear to a free-born Briton at first view, I conceive him to be far less an object of commiseration (his native state and local birthright taken into the comparison) than a poor, impressed sailor within this island; his [VOL. XIX.]

So far from expecting the African trade to flourish under the present laws and management, I am confident it cannot, without a complete radical reform, much longer exist at all. The failure of the Joint-stock Companies was not occasioned by the impolicy of their system: the last Royal African Company began with little more than 111,000l. and the after demands were not very considerable; yet they expended in Africa, one way or other, and to the great advancement of their own interests and the interests of Great Britain, above 1,400,000/. sterling; and when the trade, in king William's reign, was made open and free to all adventurers, more perhaps through Dutch interest than with a view to English policy, the Company divided 40 per cent. on their original stock. After the Act of 1697, the company traded to much disadvantage against the free merchant, having a great establishment to maintain at their several settlements, and the communications to keep open at their charge: besides which a number of pirates did terrible mischief on the gold coast. The African trade is too complicated, too weighty and diffuse for the ministers of the crown to wield: besides, a ministerial board of commissioners is eternally fluctuating and changeable, and has already more to answer for than can be fitly administered: the civilized kingdoms of Europe are so differently constituted, that, by means of a central government, acting with energy and dispatch to its several extremities, and where no extraneous, coercive power is allowed to operate in the intercourses of commerce between nation and nation, excepting by secretaries of state, ambassadors, consuls, [X]

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would undertake to bring every article of the charges contained in the report before the House, home to the committee-men.

Mr. Burke replied shortly, but pointedly, to Mr. Gascoyne; and Mr. Devaynes said a few words in his own exculpation, as a member of the African committee; when the Petition on behalf of the said African committee, to be heard at the bar by counsel, was read, and the counsel called in.

The Return of the Board of Trade was read, stating in substance, That application having been made to the Board of Trade from several persons trading to the coast of Africa, application was made to the noble lord who presides at the head of the American department, who, after some days consideration, referred the contents and facts stated in said applications to the Board. The Report then proceeds to state the proceedings of the Board of Trade, from early in the month of February till the month of April, inclusive. By which it appeared, that Mr. Gascoyne, Mr. Greville, and Mr. Keene, principally attended. Each day's deliberation of the Board, the persons who composed it, the names of the witnesses examined, and the time to which they adjourned, are specifically mentioned. The most striking facts that appeared, or were given in evidence to the Board, were to the following effect: That the African trade was considerably diminished since 1749; but more particularly so within the last eight or ten years. The number of sailors, tons of shipping, and supposed value, were enumerated, to prove the diminution. Several causes were stated, as effecting this alarming decrease; such as the power of the governors of the forts and under officers and dependants; the interference of the people of America, who carried on a direct trade on their own account; the purchasing great quantities of goods for the African market in Holland, and from the Dutch governors in the neighbouring settlements; the increased price of negroes and gold dust; the increased value of piece goods; and the partial, oppressive, and interested conduct of the governors, and other people in power on the coast.

To prove the injury the forts and governors were to the trade to Africa, the evidence of several persons was read, which shewed, that cargoes were casier procured, commodities cheaper purchased, and freight, more speedily got, where captains slaved and bartered for themselves, without

any assistance or protection from the forts or governors. The governors being all traders on their own account, or factors for their principals here, monopolized every thing in their respective neighbourhoods; and consequently fixed the market, and set the price at their pleasure. On the other hand, if the captains complained of any bad treatment, and sought redress, the black merchants, and those who assisted them, being generally the direct aggressors or instigators of all outrages committed on British subjects; and being, in fact, the servants or agents of the governors, the parties aggrieved were sure to be denied any redress. Nay, indeed, where no governor or visible protection, was at hand, the British subjects were generally much readier and more completely redressed; and if the black merchants were willing to trade on their own account, they could not do it; the stock they traded with belongs always to the governor; and if they buy two slaves, the money or value with which they are purchased, is generally advanced by the governor, or some person employed under him or the company.

Numerous circumstances appeared in the Report relative to the comparative value of gold and elephants' teeth, the low price of piece goods, the difficulty of getting slaves in exchange for commodities, and a great variety of other instances, every one of which almost was attributed to the abuses which have arisen in the civil government. In this detail, the particular advantages of purchasing slaves with gold, in preference to goods, was insisted upon as a great grievance, and very hurtful to the trade to that country, to individuals, and to the nation at large. Slaves were generally purchased formerly at 10l. apiece upon an average, male and female; whereas now their value was nearly doubled. Narratives were likewise given, of ships sailing from Liverpool and London to Rotterdam, and other ports of Holland, there taking in the greater part of their lading, East India and other goods, and trafficking with them, instead of English, East India, or Manchester goods, of similar fabric. Proofs were given of ships trading ⚫ directly from Virginia, and other parts of America, and disposing of their cargoes, tobaccos and other commodities, the produce of that country, on the coast, and in return purchasing slaves, and returning whence they came, under the sufferance, or rather the open toleration of the gover