HC Deb 29 July 1807 vol 9 cc1002-5

On the motion for the third reading of this bill,

Mr. Dent rose ,

and observed, that the grants made by parliament to the company had been claimed for the purpose of introducing civilization into Africa. The company, however, had failed in their projects The sums granted them amounted in all to about 109,000l. This sum, as they had *13 Edw. III. Rot. Parl.§ 5. c. 13; 14 Edw. III. stat. 1. cap. 21; 14 Edw. III. stat. 2. cap. 1; 17 Edw. III. Rot. Parl. § 28; 21 Edw. III. Rot Parl. § 11, 16; 25 Edw. III. Rot. Parl. § 12; 36 Edw. III. Rot, Parl. § 18; 36 Edw.III. cap. 11. † 50 Edw. III. Rot. Parl. § 20, 28. ‡3 Car. I. cap. 2; 16 Car. I. cap. 8; 12 Car. II cap. 4. II 1 Gul. et Mar. sess. 2. cap. 2. not executed the purpose for which it was granted, ought now to be refunded; for he did not think that parliament should be made to pay for the fanciful notions of any set of men.

Mr. Wilberforce

said, that when gentlemen spoke of the sums of money that had been voted to the Sierra Leone company, they should consider that a great proportion of those sums were paid to support those men whom government must otherwise have been at the expense of supporting. The first class of those men were the blacks, who had served with the British army in the contest with America, and after that contest had been sent into Nova Scotia. Having sent a memorial to the government, complaining of the coldness of the climate to which they were sent, the government applied to the Sierra Leone company, to admit them into a colony much more congenial to their constitutions than the climate of Nova Scotia was. The company then accepted, in the first place, of nearly 1000 Nova-Scotia blacks, which government must, otherwise, have been at the expence of maintaining. Afterwards, when it became an object of policy to expel the Maroons from the island of Jamaica, government again applied to the company to take them, and they most unwillingly accepted of 5 or 6 hundred of these men. Those 1500 men, who otherwise would have been chargeable to the government, had been maintained by the company for a considerable number of years; and he hoped that it would be taken into the account, when the aids were mentioned which the company had received from government. The reason of the failure of the company in its principal objects was the continuance of the slave trade, which they had on the best ground calculated would have been abolished many years ago. Still, however, in the end, he trusted this colony would produce the happiest effects in the civilization of mankind. Like all other colonies, it had great difficulties to encounter in its outset; but he trusted it had taken deep root, and would be the means of civilizing a considerable portion of Africa. These higher objects ought not to be lost sight of Those who thought most highly of the West-India colonies ought to be the best friends of this settlement, for they must be convinced that this country owed a great debt to Africa.

Mr. Eden

allowed that the object of the company had in a great measure failed; but the question was, what was the cheapest Mode of maintaining the Nova-Scotians and Maroons which must be a charge or government? It would be cheaper to Maintain them where they were than to remove them to any other place. He rested his assent to the bill on that ground, for he did not expect much from the project of civilization.

Mr. Huskisson

said, that if his hon. friend would consider the real circumstances of the case, he must be convinced, that if the projects of the company for promting civilization had not been more extensive, it was because the views under which they were formed had been defeated, by parliament not having sooner effected the abolition of the slave trade, and he thought it was highly unreasonable to talk of calling on the company for a reimbursement of the sums advanced to them, without at the same time giving them credit for the maintenance of the Maroons and,Nova- Scotians, entirely defrayed by them, and which otherwise must have been defrayed from the public purse.

Mr. Fuller

said, that he always conceived the sums of money advanced by government to the Sierra Leone company as done entirely with a view to conciliate the support of a certain description of gentlemen within these walls, and he thought it impossible for the committee of finance to overlook so flagrant a waste of the public money, without recommending that the reimbursement should be made by the company, which he thought should be done amongst the wealthy bankers and merchants who composed that company.

Mr. Sheridan

said, that unless the company had taken the Nova-Scotians and Maroons, the country must have paid 6,000l. annually for their maintenance. If, therefore, the money received by the company was to be refunded, they would be entitled to come with their bill for the maintenance of these people.

Lord H. Petty

supported the same principle, and considered the government bound to continue its protection to the black inhabitants of Sierra Leone, whom it would be the most cruel injustice to abandon, after the fidelity and attachment they had manifested to the British government.

Mr. H. Thornton

said, that he wished the house to understand in what sense he considered the undertaking at Sierra Leone to have answered, and in what sense not to have answered; Since it Was important that just sentiments should be entertained in respect to the great subject of African civilization. The company had been instituted at a period, as they had imagined, of profound peace, and strong hopes had been entertained of an early abolition of the slave trade. In both these points they had been remarkably disappointed. Another great cause, however, of the disappointment of their original plans, had been the introduction of a very great and untoward body of Nova-Scotians into this colony, by whom a completely new character had been given to the undertaking. No less than 11 or 1200 colonists being received into the settlement, it had become the primary duty to provide for their maintenance and well-being, and a most heavy charge had been the consequence. The idea of establishing a considerable trade with the interior, which was one part of the original intention, had, partly through the causes which he had mentioned, and partly through a war with the natives, been relinquished; the idea of profit to the proprietors, if entertained by any of them, had vanished; the hope of making great and early progress in civilizing the surrounding natives had also been disappointed; still, however, he had the satisfaction of saying, that both the Nova-Scotians and the Maroons, amounting to 11 or 1200, had gradually improved in character, and that there now, therefore, existed a body of colonists on the coast of Africa, speaking the English language, attached to the English people, advancing in civilization and morals, and increasing in numbers, from whom, undoubtedly, and from whose children, this country might hope to derive substantial advantages, Some foundation at least had been laid, on which the government might build if they should think proper, and if circumstances should favour. The colony, as he thought, in whatever sense it might be said to have failed, had afforded proof of the practicability of civilizing Africa. What were the great impediments to the improvements of a country? Either something, first, in the climate; or, secondly, in the soil; or, thirdly, in the character of the inhabitants. The climate of Sierra Leone had now been shewn by experience to be about as good as that of other tropical countries. The soil had proved in many parts of it highly favourable to tropical produce. A very good and a new species of coffee had been found naturally to grow there, and most other articles, cultivated in the West Indies were indigenous. Natives also had been Willing to work as free labourers, and at reasonable rates. In no one of these respects was there any insuperable obstacle to civilization. This country, moreover, was expressly bound to take charge of the Maroons, and to bear the expense of providing for them, by the terms on which the Sierra Leone company had received them, and the Nova-Scotians had also some claim to consideration. Sierra Leone, indeed, now assumed nearly the same character as various other African forts to which parliament had been used to grant from 20,000l. to 30,000l. per annum. It would be, therefore, for the government to consider how many and which of the several forts they would maintain, and he believed that they would find many circumstances to favour the maintenance among others of the Sierra Leone settlement. He had himself long wished to see this colony transferred to government, having been very unwilling to come annually to parliament for the grant of a sum, of which he, as one of the directors, was to be the dispenser, and of which some gentlemen were every year questioning the propriety. The grant was now about to cease, and it would be for the parliament and the government to act hereafter as might, under all the circumstances, appear expedient.—The bill was then passed.