opposers, obtained an extensive circulation, and endeavour, by the exhibition of a few facts, to remove fals impressions which these fictitious reports may have left on the public mind.

any

Since the origin of the Society, two hundred and twenty-five emigrants, exclusive of those now on their passage, in the ship Cyrus, have sailed to Africa under the patronage of the Board. The census received with the last letters from Dr. Ayres, states the number then at the Colony, to be one hundred and forty. Let it not be supposed that this diminution of numbers has resulted from mortality alone. Previous to the purchase of Cape Montserado, several discontented individuals abandoned the Colony and settled at Sierra Leone, others returned to this country. Information of forty-six deaths only has been received by the Board. That more have occurred, the Board have no reason to believe. Twenty-two of these were among the passengers in the Elizabeth, the first vessel sent by the Society to Africa, and occurred soon after her arrival, near the commencement of the rains, through the unhealthiness of the spot on which, for a season, they were compelled to reside, and various other causes, by which future emigrants can never be affected. Four others took place while the colonists were at Sierra Leone, two of them only were the result of fever. Twenty others have taken place at the Colony since its establishment at Cape Montserado early in the spring of 1822; of these, four were killed in the

recent contest with the natives; two were drowned. one died at the age of eighty through gradual deeay, and one perished through his own shness. Four others were children under four years of age. Now, the Board appeal to the candour of their countrymen, and ask, whether, when the difficulties and trials which must for a season, be inevitably experienced by every new settlement on a distant and barbarous shore, are duly considered, the facts just related, furnish reasons to conclude, that the establishment of a Colony in Africa is impracticable?

Mention has been already made of the friendly aid afforded to the Colony, when in circumstances of extreme peril, by the officers and crew of his Britannic Majesty's schooner, the Prince Regent. To secure a compliance on the part of the natives with the terms of the treaty concluded by Captain Laing, the commander of this vessel, Capt. M'Coy, permitted Midshipman Gordon and eleven sailors, belonging to the Driver, who nobly offered themselves to the service, to remain at the Colony until affairs should be finally adjusted.

The purposes of heaven are too dark and deep for the scrutiny of mortals; they frustrate our best concerted measures, and frequently resign the noble-hearted to trials and death, on the very field of honourable and disinterested action. In the midst of his zealous efforts for the benefit of the Colony, Mr. Gordon was attacked by an inflammatory fever, which, on the 25th of December, terminated his life, and by the conclusion of the first

week in January, eight of his companions had shared the same-fate.

"At the time of Mr. Gordon's decease," says Mr. Ashmun, "several vessels, two of which were armed cruizers, were lying at the Cape, and we were enabled on the following day, to pay our last respects to his remains by interring them, shrouded in the British flag, with the honours of war. The procession was composed of guards, a band of musicians, physician, clergyman, pall-bearers, carriers, and nearly every individual of the Colony who was able to walk to the grave. The whole was conducted with that decent solemnity, which bespoke the deep feeling of a large proportion of those who assisted on the occasion, for Mr. Gordon's amiable qualities could not fail to recommend him to all his acquaintance. The language of the Society's Agent, when communicating the intelligence of this melancholy event to Lieut. Rotheray, commander of his Britannic Majesty's brig Snapper, is so pertinent, and accords so entirely with the feelings of the Board, that they beg leave here to introduce it."To express the regret I feel, says this gentleman, that a measure so full of benevolence as the leaving this little force with us should have so disasterous an issue, it is superfluous to at tempt, as I should but wrong my own feelings.

"We have derived from the presence of these unfortunate men a great benefit; it assisted in a powerful manner to allay the warlike spirit of the natives; inspired a fresh spirit of resolution into our

D

people, and relieved them for nearly three weeks from a part of their almost insupportable burthens. I shall rest it, he continues, with the honour of my government, to make such an acknowledgment of the favours rendered by the officers and other agents of yours employed on this coast, as justice and a proper estimate of the beneficial influence of international favours, given and received, plainly dictate."*'

Several children who had been taken captive from the settlement during the war, were, on the return of peace, immediately restored. An advantageous trade was commenced with the tribes in the interiour. and before the arrival of the Oswego, the condition of the Colony was evidently improved. The United States' sloop of war, Cyane, Capt. Spence, had been at the Colony in the month of April, and her officers and crew left there the monuments of their zealous and persevering exertions. It is impossible to estimate too highly the services of Capt. Spence and his generous companions. When informed of the sufferings of the Colony, they immediately repaired to Sierra Leone, fitted for sea the schooner Augusta, belonging to the United States, and hastening to the Colony, offered it most cheerfully, every aid in their power. Though the cruize of the Cyane had been already protracted in an unhealthy climate, Capt. Spence resolved without hesitation to remain so long on the coast as should be necessary to complete a work of defence, and make suitable provision for the approaching rains. He furnished the Colony with supplies and ammunition, built a

*

Appendix, paper marked B.

house for the Agent, and erected a tower of strong mason work, which, though somewhat injured by the subsequent rains, will, it is believed, prove an entire defence against the barbarians. Having nearly accomplished his designs, this efficient officer was interrupted in his exertions by the sickness of his crew, increased, no doubt, by the burning sun of that climate, and he was compelled to leave the Colony on the 15th of April.

The benevolence and zeal of Capt. Spence on this occasion, are the more striking, from the circumstance of his labouring under great debility from a fever contracted during a cruize of several months previous in the West Indies.

Determined, however, to neglect nothing, which might contribute to the results expected by government from an agency on the African coast, Capt. Spence instructed Lieut. Dashiell to take command of the Augusta, with a crew of six white and six coloured men, and to cruize in the vicinity of the Colony, for the purpose of at once subserving its interests and aiding in the suppression of the slave trade.

The Board deeply regret to say that Lieutenant Dashiell died at Sierra Leone, on the 22d of June. This mournful event has deprived the navy of an able officer, and the church of a distinguished christian. Midshipman R. R. M'Mullin succeeded him in the command of the Augusta, which is still on the coast of Africa.*

The duties of the agency being found very ardu* Appendix, paper marked C.