§ On the resolution, "That 22,549l. be granted to defray the charge of the Civil Establishment of Sierra Leone in the year 1824,"
§ Mr. Humerose, to ask if any certain information could be obtained respecting this colony. There were various reports in circulation as to its utility. He should like to know what benefit the country derived from the establishment? He had heard that the loss of lives in it was very considerable, and the expense, the House saw, was great.
Mr. Wilmot Hortonthought the committee was not a proper place to discuss the question, as to the utility of the establishment at Sierra Leone. That was a question of wide import, and was to be considered not merely in a commercial point of view, but in its tendency, as an experiment to promote the civilization of Africa. The House was called on to vote this sum as a consequence of a certain system, and the hon. member might, if he pleased, bring that system under discussion; but this was not the proper time for so doing.