In the first place, then, we recommend that the Government of the
British Forts upon the Gold Coast be resumed by the Crown, and that
all dependance on the Government of Sierra Leone should cease.
We fully admit the merits of that Administration, whether we look to
the Officer employed, Captain Maclean, or to the Committee under whom
he has acted, which, with the miserable pittance of between 3,500_l._
and 4,000_l._ a year, has exercised, from the four ill-provided Forts
of Dixcove, Cape Coast, Annamaboe, and British Accra, manned by a few
ill-paid black soldiers, a very wholesome influence over a Coast not
much less than 150 miles in extent, and to a considerable distance
inland; preventing within that range external Slave Trade, maintaining
Peace and Security, and exercising a useful though irregular
Jurisdiction, among the neighbouring Tribes, and much mitigating and
in some cases extinguishing some of the most atrocious practices which
had prevailed among them unchecked before. We would give full weight
to the doubts which Captain Maclean entertained as to his authority,
until specifically so instructed, to prevent vessels, suspected of
being intended for the Slave Trade, but not having Slaves on board,
from trafficking in lawful goods within his jurisdiction; and we do
not infer from that circumstance, that the Government of these Forts
had any partiality for an abominable Traffic, which, on the contrary,
they have done much to check; but we think it desirable, for the sake
of enlarging the sphere of usefulness of these Settlements, and of
giving greater confidence in the character and impartiality of their
Government, that it should be rendered completely independent of all
connexion with Commerce, by a direct emanation of authority from the
Crown, and that it should be placed, with increased resources, in
direct and immediate communication with the general Government of the
Empire.
We recommend, further, the reoccupation of several of the Forts, such
as Apollonia, Winnebah, and Whydah, abandoned in 1828, when the
Government was handed over to the Committee of Merchants, and the
reconstruction of others, on however small a scale, on other similar
points. In some cases the climate will be found to be not worse, in
others better, than on other parts of the coast of Africa; but this
evil may be very much mitigated, if not entirely removed, by the
employment of such Europeans only as are already inured to a tropical
climate, and of British Subjects of African descent, who, we believe,
may now be found, either within our African Settlements or our West
India Colonies, fitted for almost every branch and grade of
service[4]; and we look upon such Establishments as of high
importance, not for the extension of Territory, but of that control
over the Slave Trade, and wholesome moral influence over the
neighbouring Chiefs, which we have described as having been exercised
by the existing Forts, and which is much needed at those places to
which we have particularly alluded, as well as others.
The Judicial Authority at present existing in the Forts is not
altogether in a satisfactory condition; it resides in the Governor and
Council, who act as Magistrates, and whose instructions limit them to
the administration of British Law, and that, as far as the Natives are
concerned, strictly and exclusively within the Forts themselves; but
practically, and necessarily, and usefully, these directions having
been disregarded, a kind of irregular jurisdiction has grown up,
extending itself far beyond the limits of the Forts by the voluntary
submission of the Natives themselves, whether Chiefs or Traders, to
British Equity; and its decisions, owing to the moral influence,
partly of our acknowledged power, and partly of the respect which has
been inspired by the fairness with which it has been exercised by
Captain Maclean and the Magistrates at the other Forts, have
generally, we might almost say, uniformly, been carried into effect
without the interposition of force. The value of this interposition of
an enlightened, though irregular, authority, (which has extended, in
some cases and with advantage to humanity, even to an interference in
capital cases,) is borne witness to, not only by parties connected
with the Government of the Settlements, who might be suspected of a
bias in its favour, but also by the Wesleyan Missionaries, and even by
Dr. Madden, who, objecting to its undefined extent, and to the manner
in which, in some respects, it has been carried out, yet still bears
high testimony to its practical value, to its acknowledged equity, and
to its superiority over the barbarous customs which it tends to
supersede. Even the duration of imprisonment, of which he complains,
has been usually adjudged to offences which would have incurred a
severer penalty in most civilised countries, and would certainly, if
left to the arbitrary decision of native chiefs, or to the “wild
justice” of private revenge, have been punished by death, and that
frequently of the most cruel kind. Still, however, it is desirable
that this jurisdiction should be better defined and understood, and
that a Judicial Officer should be placed at the disposal of the
Governor, to assist, or supersede, partially or entirely, his judicial
functions, and those now exercised by the Council and the several
Commandants in their magisterial capacity; but we would recommend,
that while he follows in his decisions the general principles, he be
not restricted to the technicalities of British Law, and that
altogether he should be allowed a large discretion.
[4] The gentleman lately Acting Governor of Sierra Leone, and the
Queen’s Advocate there, are both gentlemen of colour: and it appears
that an Akoo, lately a liberated African, is now on his way to
England, to be ordained a clergyman of the Church of England, having
been instructed in Greek under the care of the Church Missionary
Society established in the same colony.
It is to be remembered that our compulsory authority is strictly
limited, both by our title and by the instructions of the Colonial
Office to the British Forts, within which no one but the Governor, his
Suite, and the Garrison reside; and that the Magistrates are strictly
prohibited from exercising jurisdiction even over the Natives and
Districts immediately under the influence and protection of the Forts.
All jurisdiction over the Natives beyond that point must, therefore,
be considered as optional, and should be made the subject of distinct
agreement, as to its nature and limits, with the Native Chiefs, and it
should be accommodated to the condition of the several Tribes, and to
the completeness of the control over them, which by vicinage or
otherwise we are enabled to exercise. Their relation to the English
Crown should be, not the allegiance of subjects, to which we have no
right to pretend, and which it would entail an inconvenient
responsibility to possess, but the deference of weaker powers to a
stronger and more enlightened neighbour, whose protection and counsel
they seek, and to whom they are bound by certain definite obligations.
These obligations should be varied and extended from time to time, and
should always at least include (as many of the Treaties now in
existence on that Coast already do) the abolition of the external
Slave Trade, the prohibition of human sacrifices, and other barbarous
customs, such as kidnapping, under the name of “panyarring,” and
should keep in view the gradual introduction of further improvements,
as the people become more fitted to admit them.
In this arrangement we should find the solution of our difficulty in
regard to Domestic Slavery, and a modification of it under the name of
“pawns,” which has prevailed within these settlements, not actually
within the Forts, but within their influence, and even in the hands of
British subjects. To them indeed they have been already prohibited;
but although the system of pawns, which is properly an engagement of
service voluntarily entered into for debt, and terminable at any time
by the payment of the debt, is one which “does not seem abstractedly
unjust or unreasonable[5],” yet as liable to much abuse, and much
resembling slavery, it should be the object of our policy to get rid
of it, even among the Natives; and in the places more immediately
within the influence of British authority, we believe there will be no
difficulty in limiting it at once, both in extent and duration, and
probably, ere long, in abolishing it, by arrangements such as we have
above suggested. Some caution, however, must be exercised in this
matter on account of the close intermixture of Dutch and Danish with
the British settlements, though perhaps it might be possible to induce
them to co-operate in such arrangements as might be thought desirable
for the improvement of the neighbouring Tribes; and great facility and
advantage would certainly arise from such co-operation, if it could be
secured.
[5] Despatch of Sir G. Grey, 4. Dec. 1837.
With regard to the judicial arrangements, a plan has been suggested by
which a Supreme Judicial Officer might be placed at Ascension, at
Fernando Po, where no authority of any kind exists, and one is much
needed, or at some other Island off the Coast, visiting, with the aid
of a steamer, the various Settlements on the Gold Coast periodically,
as well as the Trading Stations in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, and
exercising in the latter a very wholesome influence in the adjustment
of disputes with the Natives, which, for want of such interposition,
occasionally lead to consequences injurious to the British character
and to the interests of Commerce. But Your Committee are aware that
difficulties might arise in carrying out this suggestion, more
especially on account of the necessity for prompt decision in most
cases in which the Natives are concerned; and therefore are not
prepared at present to do more than call attention to the suggestion.
We would here acknowledge the great services rendered to religion and
civilisation on this Coast by the Wesleyan body; they have even
established a friendly communication with the barbarous court of
Ashantee, which promises results important in every way; and, indeed,
little in the way of religious instruction would have been done
without them. But we should recommend that further provision should be
made for these objects, by the appointment of a Colonial Chaplain, and
by encouragement to schools of a higher class than any which are found
there at present; to which, among others, the neighbouring Chiefs
should be invited to send their sons to receive an education which
might fit them to be of benefit to their own people directly, if they
returned to their families, or indirectly, if they remained, by
entering into connection with British interests. Some officer also
should be appointed, whose duty should be to take care of the effects
of intestate persons, to verify the character of vessels entering the
ports, and to attend generally to the fiscal regulations of the
Settlements.
We beg also to call attention to the suggestion, that we should
endeavour to secure the co-operation of our Dutch and Danish
neighbours, in licensing the canoes which ply along that coast, as
they seem to afford considerable facilities to such Slave Trade as
still exists along the Leeward Coast.
The Military also should be somewhat increased in number; and their
condition, as recommended by Dr. Madden, should be improved.
A scheme for an establishment such as we have been proposing, will be
found in the evidence of Mr. Hutton, one of the Council of the
Committee of African Merchants, who now govern these settlements. To
the details we do not pretend to give our sanction; but we beg to call
attention to it, as showing that all the objects which we have been
recommending may be attained at an expense far short of that which was
incurred for these settlements when they protected instead of, as now,
controlling the Slave Trade, or even when they were last under the
direct management of the Crown. Indeed in itself it is of but trifling
amount when compared with the objects to be attained, and we are
confident that the increased expense will be well repaid, both
directly by the diminished necessity for naval force upon the Leeward
Station, and indirectly by the increase of commerce, which will be the
certain consequence of extended influence over very important nations,
including the kingdoms of Dahomey and Ashantee, of an improving
population, and of the continued and still more complete suppression
of the Slave Trade on that Coast, once infamous as the principal scene
of its operations.