COLONEL NICOLLS ON AFRICA. [Concluded from the Spectator of 3d
October.]
At paragraph 14, beginning "only raise," and ending" Mr. 31'Queen," the writer in the Spectator says, " But how—by introducing the cultivation of those commodities that do not exist ;" if the said writer had been with me and some of my friends in the bights, he would have seen growing in the greatest luxuriance, tirst, cotton, which has been used there for ages ; and if you, with the writer of this article, will do me pleasure of rendering me a visit, von shall dine off a Benin cotton-cloth that has been grown, wove, and coloured in Benin, and has been constantly worn and washed in my house at Fernando Po and here for the last ten years ' • and all that washing and wearing has not tar- nished or dimmed the lustre of its true blue or brilliant scarlet colours ; and I think, Sir, you will also agree with me in thinking that the natives of Africa are not the lazy, stupid creatures that their maligners state them to be, but that they have a fair degree of ingenuity and industry, ; and that although I admit their mode of manufacturing these cloths is tedious; and I should strongly recommend that we should discourage their slow mode of manufacture, and do that work more speedily than they can, encouraging them to raise and sell to us the cotton, indigo, and scarlet dye sent to me. I have grown the best kinds Of sea island cotton and the native cotton : it is as simple and easy as the cultivation of any thing that is grown here or there ; and by encouraging the growth of these things, you get a vast multitude of customers for the pur- chase and wear of your manufactures; but to obtain these useful ends you must have the sovereignty of territory, the acquirement of which is indispen- sably, necessary; and by the judicious and faithful management of it you will be doing good service to God and man. So much for cotton, indigo, and scarlet dye; as to soar, I grew it at Fernando Po in the easiest manner and in the very greatest abundance, for the space used. I had eight horses fed on it that were fat, sleek, and vigorous : it can be grown better in the rich and inexhaustible alluvial lands in I he delta of the Niger, the Calabar, the Cameroon,, the Rio del Rey, and all the fertile banks Of the different rivers from Cape Vent to the latitude of :10 degrees South of the Line. I grew as fine coffee in the lands about one hundred feet above the level of the sea as 1 ever had; it was from the Mocha seed, and better in quantity could be had in the lands higher up, and where the plough could not be in all cases used. Now, Sir, I hope you will be convinced from these practical proofs that the above articles alluded to in this paragraph are produced and do exist already in that part of Africa, and only want the friendly help of capital and common sense to procure good customers and great riches to the natives and ourselves. I have stated all these circumstances more at length to our Society. Your writer goes on to state in this paragraph " by relideriiig a population yet in a savage state, intelligent, wealthy, poses,e11 of a satled and wise government, the process is somewhat roundabout " hear the following, and judge. I took the command at Fer- nando Po in July 1 S.•29 : the population corFisled of about 1,500 people, the majority of whom were recently-liberated Africans, fresh, or I should rather say miserably weak, and naked from the hold of a slave-vessel. As soon as they arrived 1 had them disembarked ; they were taken to the river, washed, and lightly and decently clothed; cavil had a blanket given them, and a good dimmer with a couple of days' rations served out to them : they were then set about erecting huts, in vlich they were helped by the native artificers got from Sierra Leone ; thus ti:(1, clothed, aud lodged, 1" proceeded to tell them the position they now occupied in society ; first, that they were no longer slaves, but free men, that no indivhlual bad any other power over them than that pro- vided by law over all those around them ; that we all performed a portion of labour for time good of time whole community, for which, im it was well and truly executed, certain rations of provisions were.giyen and a certain sum of money paid : in less than two years I beheld with inexpressible pleasure those persons coming to the place of public worship as well and decently clothed and as orderly in their behaviour as time best rural parishioner in this land. I had only funds to pay about seven-hundred persons, so that I changed them mont 11 about, and if the overseers neglected to tale them in regular t urn, they would come aod complain to me, sayieg its very unjust of the overseer not to take them in their fair turn ; thus, Sir, proving that an Africsu is not im lazy wretch that will rather sit down and bask in time sun than work for his livelihood. The moment the African knows he will be _paid for his labour and he justly treated and pro- tected in the enjoyment of his gains, he will act as you or 1 or any other similarly situated people. NI■W Sir, nothing of his kind can he had without territorial sovereignty. I formed these people into a militia corps and put arms into their heeds, of which they never made a bad lisc, and were always ready and ailing to lay down their lives in faithful obedience to our laws; we had fewer thefts than I ever heard of or saw among those who are called civilized Christians; and in five years we had no crime committed that our law would award the punishment of death for, only about six or seven crimes that we !Should transport for seven years for, and about twenty whip-
pings, none of which exceeded thirty-nine stripes for petty thefts. he only serious erimes we had, was robbery of the King's stores by a Creole officer of the AsSican Regiment, who was cashiered, aided by a White man, a dealer,
that I turned off the island; so you see, Sir, it is no such difficult matter to govern Africans : there is no occasion for the Manchester or any other of our manufacturing towns to do more than receive as much cotton as is sold to them from every part of the world; they will of course prefer the cheapest and the best ; and if all sorts are equal in the above respects, I think a freeman will prefer a freeman's labour, the work and the goods of a constitutional fellow subject and customer will be preferred to those of a republican slave-dealer or a Lynch-lawyer, the worst and most cruel of all slave-dealers or slave.. owners; the greatest boaster of liberty on the earth; the cruel man that has passed laws to fetter the mind of his victim ; that has passed a decree that the book of life shall not be opened to the ignorant slave that is gaining him his daily bread by the labour of' his lost liberty. I think, Sir, if I know the good feeling of Englishmen and their brethren of Ireland and Scotland, they would not be long in choosing between their regenerated African fellow subjects and such miscreants as I have described ; and I feel sure the Niger expeditioa expense will be borne by the British public with pleasure. There may be quarrels, and they will be easily made up. I am certain we can procure plenty of territorial possession. As to the nice pickings, I do not agree about them; Africa is not a place at present, whatever it may be in future, where good pickings may be had; he that goes there must be actuated by nobler principles than lucre or gain. 'lime returns of the trade will be satisfactory and fair if he- neatly set about ; and in despite dell interested grumblers, it will have a fair trial, and the trial will be a successful issue; the men who are about to lead and guide that expedition have a just and proper notion of the dangers they will have te encounter ; most of them having bad a severe taste of them already : such are therefore the best so show others how to avoid the dangers that surround them, No threats of deleterious climate can shake the courage of those who accom- pany or conduct the Niger expedition, no "cold faint-hearted doubtings tease then"; they well understand the true meaning of national glory, and will add to it by their spirit of adventure and scientific knowledge to what Mr. M‘QuEEN has said in paragraph 15, beginning "unfold the map of the world,"' and ending " nothing can prevent its.'"ro this I fully, entirely, and jayfully assent. I have seen the British standard in most of those places already, and/ hope to hear of it flying particularly in Africa for a continuance ; for as has been before said, I make no doubt if it is prosecuted with the righteous views of benefiting our fellow creatures, it will fly in peace and happiness, truth and justice, the true emblem of good government. I shall notice the 16th and last paragraph of this paper, only by saying that I think it unbecoming, out of place, and in bad taste, to call the noble and useful exertions of our Society a bubble. I think the bubble is most likely to exist in the brain of the writer iu the Spectator; and I hope when it bursts that it may not hurt his faculties, but teach him to judge charitably- and justly of our exertions in favour of a long-desolated country and its oppressed inhabitants. Sir Fowe.hr. BLATO3 was right when he said that the country ought not to endure the enormous outlay incurred by, I shall say, our late abortive attempts to put down the slave-trade, which only served to increase its atrocity : and it appears clear to, me, that all the steps taken by himself and friends are now abating the evils of Africa, and that the steps about to be taken will effectually and speedily end them, by destroying shivery and the slave-trade in all the earth; and it is thus, and on these grounds, and not in the coinmon acceptation of the word, that we go forth to conquer Africa.
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