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* k ? &ral > ly largerthan Great Britain . "This language , which i ^ remarkably simple and easy of acquisition * , has been reduced to writing by the zeal of Mr . JBnmton , who resided for some time as a- roissiojiayy among the Susoos , and who was assisted in his task by some Swsoo youths who had been brought mver % & England for education , and have skice returned to Africa .. The fruit of
3 # r . Branton " ' s labours is a Susoo Grammar and Vocabulary , and several Susoo Tracts , all of which have been printed . " Tfoe present widely-extended war is favourable ta the abolition of the slave
trade . With the return of peace , and *> i She freedom of the seas * there is danger lest the abominable trainc should i > e feoewefl hf ther continental powers . Jt : may , therefore , seem desirable that that the -whole coast of Africa should be
in the possession of Britain ; but we jbrei&bie at the anticipation of such an « v « &t . Brifcon-s arc philanthropists , but fhe British Ooveraiaaselrt is not accustomed to scrupulous justice or excessive iuadtaaskky . Ciod forbid that the enoraakies committed in Asia should be
practised in Africa . I The whole of the -westere * coast is at present in our hand * , excepting the French fort of Senega ] ,. she small Portuguese colony of Bissao , . and two or three Dutch forts * The writer © f a paper in the Appendix to the Repore , suggests that ** the Dutch forts
are bow wholly at our mercy" ( a very significant hint ) ; and that the island of ^ Ezssao naay possibly be ceded to us by the Portuguese . We deprecate these political speculations . Let the African Institution be on its guard . Wietched -will' it be if the benevolence of this
society should only pander to the appetite © f over-gorged ambition . The soie liope © f civilizing- Africa rests on our obtaining a good character in the eyes of her injured sons . If we respect property , display a pacific spirit , and be * - ? omc real benefactors to the Negro tribes , we shall be respected , conscience will 1 > e placeci m ' us , unjl tho slave-trade will graduaftvjjie away , for want of subjects
-pr . cyjupon , ... t ' - ^ \ ' 1 h ' c JfiLtujoft . cpnclude ^ * wkh . a detail vt thcna ^ aiiUi ^ s ^ y / JiVicii ha ^ e . ^ een adoptcd ' y mr « Ytf ' feow ^ akmgy ^ y , ; Gpvemindtxx * y / lt ^\ Jff ^ §§ < ) i f § iQ ^ s&jSSfeT 5 v / hich ib in tfefe hJgKctt Jp ^ Sjj ^ ^ j ^^ ctory , as ; a proof that tne'ISt Jot 'abolishing the slavetrade tVill rv > t be ( as we hoiie ^ tly confess we o ; icc feared ) virtually repealed by
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the inactivity or the partial proceceffng * of the present ministry . " Two ships of war were sent < vat tty the coast in the tttonth of November , with instructions to their Cotnrtianders to prevent the infraction of tfee laW for abolishing the slaye ^ trade , and t 6 take every opportunity Which might ctecurof recopciliag the African chiefs ( ivho , i £ xmrBt be remenaber ^» have very gene-In to
rally been trader ^ ^ laVe ?) this measure , and of explaining to them its beneficial tendency . A commission , consist * ing of three gentlemea , tw& of whort ^ possess considerable local "knoWle ^ g ^ has also been appointed , and wiU proceed m a few months to tfye coast of Africa , for the purpose of minutely investigating the state of the different
British settlements , and pointing out ih what inanner they naay be made subservient to the gr / eat objefct of African civilisation . Much importafit information may also be eaJf > 6 ctdd from tberti respecting the capabilities 6 f Africa in general and the condition of her inhabitants , and the best rheans of improving both , to the mutual advantage of that continent and of Great Britain . .. His
Majesty ' s Government has further resolved to appoint a Court of Vice-Admiralty at Sierra I ^ eone , for the purpose of giving more complete effect to tht Act for abolishing the slave-trade . The appointment of s » ch a Judicature is ]> articularly desirable at » the present moment , as otherwise all the vessels which ma > y be seized under the Abolition Atft must be carried to the West Indies for
adjudication ; " a course which would he attended with a cruel protraction of the confinement < cei ship-board of the captured slaves . At Sierra Leone it would also be much easier than it would be in the West Indies , to dispose of these persons , agreeably to the humane pro-r visions of the Act of Parliament . The
system of free labour being alread y established at Sierra . Leone , the introduction of airy number of Negroes into that colony , whether on the footing of free labourers or as apprentices for a limited period , could be attended with none of those inconveniences which , it is al ?
leged , would flow from it in our Wc ^ t India islands , and which , as the Committee understand , are deemed to be so considerable , . as to make it a question whether many of the persons already liberated in the West Indies under the operation of the Abolition Act shall not
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C 5 Z 4 Intelligence ** — African Institution * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 624, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/48/
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