§ On moving the resolution, "That 43,926l. be granted, to defray the charge of the Civil and Military establishments of the Settlements on the Gold Coast, for the year 1824," Mr. Lushington stated his expectation, that this would be the last year in which it would be necessary for him to ask the House to make this grant.
Mr. Gordonobserved, that in the year 1817 a committee had examined into the state of these settlements, which at that time were under the management of the African Company. Now, as that company had been established for the better promotion of the slave trade, it became matter of consideration with the committee, whether these settlements ought not to be abandoned, seeing that the objects for which they were established had been declared illegal by the legislature. It was, however, determined that they should be kept up, for two reasons; first, because they were calculated to promote com- 963 merce and civilization among the inhabitants of the countries in which they were situate; second, because they afforded the most tangible means of obtaining information regarding the interior of Africa. He wished to know whether these two objects were now attended to.
Mr. Wilmot Hortonobserved, that these objects still attracted the notice of government. He had no hesitation in saying, that, notwithstanding the Ashantee war, the natives in the neighbourhood of these settlements were in a state of slow but progressive improvement. He looked upon these settlements as experiments on a great scale, which ought to be judged of rather by their ultimate results than by their immediate progress from year to year.