A Voyage Round the World Part 4

"He then requested permission to introduce to the a.s.sembly, a stranger whom they were in future to revere, 'King Bey Sherbro;'[16] after which, Bey Sherbro received the homage of his subjects. During this time a number of minstrels played upon their several instruments, some of which were very ingenious and musical. Those in particular, who had come a long distance from the interior, executed with spirit and taste some very beautiful airs; much finer, indeed, than any native music I had yet heard. They accompanied their instruments with extempore recitatives in praise of those chiefs whom they knew. I was, of course, included, as they expected that I would be inclined to reward them handsomely. Each minstrel of any repute had a person attached to him by way of fool or jester, several of whom acted their parts very well, and strongly reminded me of Shakspeare's clowns.

"Dalmahoumedii was in the a.s.sembly, surrounded by a number of followers, but he appeared to feel that he had lost ground. He took no part in the proceedings.

"If it were fair to estimate the character of a people, by their conduct during a period of unbounded license, I should say that they were generally, almost universally, a nation of thieves, idlers, and drunkards. It was with difficulty, indeed, I could preserve my own private stock of wines, &c. I was a.s.sured, however, that such is not their general character, although they are, no doubt, like all Africans, extremely indolent and attached to the old customs of their country. To even the most absurd and superst.i.tious of these, they cling with such tenacity, that it would be a work of incalculable labour, and of many years, to induce them to abandon them altogether, even after they should be made conscious of their absurdity and barbarity. The European Missionaries of the present day would never do it. It was attempted some years ago with much zeal, but there is not at this moment, I believe, a single convert to Christianity in Boollam, to reward the labour, or repay the expense, which was lavished on that object. But a very different success has attended the efforts of the disciples of Mahommed in propagating the doctrines of the crescent. Not only in Boollam, but in all the neighbouring districts; even in the Peninsula of Sierra Leone itself, there are twenty converts to the crescent, for one to the cross; and the reason is obvious; the Christian Missionaries begin at the wrong end; they insist upon first making people Christians, and then morality and civilization, they say, follow as matters of course: and they present Christianity in its most inattractive form, to men accustomed to the uncontrollable indulgence of their pa.s.sions. The Mahommedans know the genius of the people better, and without altering the spirit of their religion, they exhibit it in a manner exactly suited to that genius, as far as regards externals; and in such a form, that the adoption of it even flatters the vanity of the convert. Thus, in the article of dress, the Mahommedans have a peculiar or distinguishing cap; to be ent.i.tled to wear which, is, in itself, a matter very flattering to the vanity of the young worshipper of the crescent; and I am convinced, that were it inc.u.mbent upon Christians to wear in public a red cross on the shoulder or hat, that it would be the means of drawing many to listen to the doctrines of Christianity: and really I can see no sin in the means thus adopted.

"This evening I despatched the barge to Sierra Leone, with an account of our progress, and requesting the Convention to be immediately transmitted, together with the usual presents to be given to the new King and chiefs. In the mean time every measure was taken, and argument used (with occasional presents), to induce the chiefs and headmen to consent to the cession of the sovereignty of the country to Great Britain.

"_Tuesday, March 6th_.--This morning I walked out to make a few observations, and to form some idea of the capabilities of the Boollam country. What struck me, in the first instance, was the great fertility, and natural beauty of the surrounding country, which it was really painful to contrast with the extreme ignorance and indolence of its inhabitants. There is not, perhaps, a country under Heaven more calculated to repay the exertions of industry, from the richness and fertility of the soil; as also from the flatness of the country, which would prevent the soil from being carried away by the rains when cleared of the bush. It is in my opinion far more adapted for agricultural purposes than the Sierra Leone side of the bay.

Spices of almost every description grow naturally and in abundance; and it would require but little capital, with industry, to make the soil produce sugar, coffee, tobacco, and indigo in great plenty. In short, the produce of the Boollam country might, without very great labour be made to rival that of either our East or West India possessions, in fact almost every article imported into Great Britain from either is indigenous to this soil. The indolent and lazy natives, however, cultivate little excepting rice. The articles procured from the British settlement at Sierra Leone, such as fire-arms, gunpowder, tobacco, rum, &c. are got in exchange for timber, and occasionally labour.

"During my residence in Boollam, it frequently struck me, that a British Settlement on the Boollam coast would be highly desirable, say at Madina. For the reasons stated above, I am almost certain that practical agriculture would soon become prevalent, inasmuch as it would soon become profitable. Another, and a very strong inducement to settlers would be, that Madina, and indeed the whole range of the Boollam coast, is very healthy. What is called the _country fever_ in Sierra Leone, is scarcely known in Boollam.

"To-day five or six of the mourners came to do service to me, which they performed by bending their heads to the earth, and, in that position, moaning in a low tone the praises of the deceased King, mixed with compliments to myself.

"At midnight I received letters from Sierra Leone, by which I had the satisfaction of learning that His Excellency approved of my measures.

"_Wednesday, March 7th_.--This day I succeeded in removing the numberless evasions and objections urged by the chiefs against the treaty.

"In effecting this measure Mr. S----'s exertions were of the greatest service.

"In the evening we were a good deal amused by the natives fishing on the beach. They caught a great number of fish, such as snappers, cat-fish, soles, sharks, &c.

"_Thursday 8th_.--This day the convention arrived, and the blanks being filled up, and the treaty solemnly signed and ratified, I had the satisfaction on _Friday, March 9th, 1827_, of hoisting the British flag, and of taking possession of Boollam in the name of His Britannic Majesty."

Such is the narrative of Lieutenant Maclean, respecting a people whose habits are as peculiar as his account of them must be interesting to Englishmen.

_September 21st, 1827_.--On this day I attended the Court, to hear the trial to which I have already alluded. It was a case of adultery, and the parties were all free blacks. The action was brought by a carpenter against the Rev. Samuel Thorpe, a preacher at one of the Independent chapels, for criminal conversation with his wife; and, as I have a copy from the records of the Court, I think it will be much more satisfactory to insert the doc.u.ment in full, than to supersede it by any desultory remarks of my own. It will give a clear and characteristic idea of the state of society amongst these people.

The occurrence was so unusual, that it created no small astonishment, that such a case should be brought into Court. The following is the address of the plaintiff's counsel, and the verdict.

BERNARD _v_. THORPE.

"Gentlemen of the Jury,

"I bespeak your attention and indulgence. I am not only this day the advocate of my client, but I am lending my humble efforts to defend, perhaps I ought to say, a.s.sert, the divine right and sacredness of the social compact of marriage, the palladium of every married man's family, happiness and comfort. I will remind you, gentlemen of the jury, that this is the first action of the kind that has been tried on these boards since the colony has been ceded to the British crown.--Among you, gentlemen of the jury, I see fathers, brothers, and husbands, to all I appeal this day on behalf of my client, and of this colony. Shew the world this day, by your verdict, that you will not suffer with impunity the foul crime of adultery to be committed in the face of a rising family; shew the value in which you hold the solemn engagements of your female relatives; let your verdict warn the seducer that he dare not trespa.s.s on any man's honour, or blight with apathy, for one moment, any pleasure or gratification of his conjugal tenderness.

"It has been too common in actions of this kind, for the defendant to treat with contumely the humble situation of the injured prosecutor. I do not apprehend much from any such attempt in this cause. I acknowledge, gentlemen, that my client is a very humble individual, but he is a respectable and an honest man, by trade a carpenter. I see, gentlemen, on your countenances, that his humble lot shall not deprive him from having his happiness considered as dear to him as to any man, and equally inviolate; for you need not be told, that the comforts and happiness of the rich and the poor originate from one source: as it is not necessary to be rich to feel with acuteness the pain to which our weak frames are subject, or to enjoy with zest the most pleasurable sensations, so the poor possess the same advantages; indeed, it is the poor to whom family happiness must be the greatest solace! the rich have various resources to derive comfort from; the poor seldom more than centres in their family. But before I attempt to describe to you the sufferings of my client, I shall enter rather minutely into the actual situation in life in which the plaintiff and defendant in this action are placed: if unnecessary to some of you, yet there may be others who naturally demand this explanation should be given; I trust this will be admitted as my apology.

"I will begin with the defendant; because, indeed, gentlemen, he is the more highly favoured man; I mean, gentlemen, that Providence has blessed him with a much greater share of this world's goods; he is known to man by the solemn designation of the Rev. Samuel Thorpe; yes, gentlemen, the defendant in this action, for criminal conversation with the wife of my client, is, or very lately was, a preacher of morality; an expounder of that divine doctrine which inculcates the precept, 'Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you;' he is a gentleman, who, beholding with horror the degeneracy of the times, and believing, no doubt, it required some extraordinary exertions to recall us unto virtue, has voluntarily, for no idea of gain, or means of livelihood, publicly devoted his talents to the pulpit. Such conduct, if we had not other most opposite circ.u.mstances to disclose, would have called forth our admiration and applause; for, gentlemen, the pulpit, in the sober use of its legitimate peculiar powers, must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand,

"The most important and effectual guard, Support and ornament of virtue's cause.

"The defendant, gentlemen, is also a rich man; he is, to say the least, in very easy circ.u.mstances; we see, in this colony, several valuable possessions of his; and we behold, at one of his houses, a store from which is retailed valuable merchandise. The defendant, gentlemen, I am instructed to say, is verging towards the decline of life; to have arrived at those years, when the hey-day of the blood might well be expected to have gone by, and that, while he preached morality, he would find no const.i.tutional impediment to prevent his practising it. I am persuaded, gentlemen, that, if a cause of the present nature had been brought before you, in which the defendant had been a young unmarried man, you would have made some allowance for the infatuation of his youthful pa.s.sions; but when, as in the present instance, we find experienced age; the well-informed man; the promulger of that divine law, which denounces everlasting punishment to the adulterer, is brought before you, charged, although a married man, with this offence, I feel I must, indeed, commit an act of injustice to you all, if I did not declare, that, in such a case, I am convinced your feeling's cannot be otherwise than aroused to visit such a criminal with your vengeance.

"My instructions suggest to me more than I will utter; yet, I must confess, that I have been struck with the sacred profession of the defendant, and the pertinacity with which it appears he committed the offence against my client, for which you are now called upon to award him the only remuneration the law allows; I cannot refrain from a.s.serting my belief, that the defendant's feelings must have been strangely perverted; he, doubtless, made his full calculation upon his outward profession, and his inward inclinations, and, I believe, I do him no more than justice, when I put into his mouth, and suppose by him uttered in his private moments, the expression used by an arch hypocrite of former days:

"I sigh, and with a piece of scripture, Tell them G.o.d bids us do good for evil: And thus I clothe my naked villany With odds and ends stol'n forth of Holy Writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

"I regret, very much regret, gentlemen of the jury, I am thus obliged as a faithful advocate before you; but I have still another feature to disclose, and here I must declare, that it has astonished me more than I shall attempt to describe. I alluded before, gentlemen, to the circ.u.mstance of the defendant's being a married man. Yes! he has a wife living in Freetown, whom (from fear she should take a right from his substance) he has turned out upon the world! to the generosity--the kindness--of the stranger! surely we may infer that he may be left at home with more ample means to gratify his pa.s.sions. He has also no children; this I am sorry for on his account; surely he would have paused before he would have offered them such an example; before he would systematically set about the seduction of a woman, surrounded even by her grand-children.

"I turn now to my client; but, indeed, I have little more to add respecting him. He is poor, because he has many claims on his industry; his wife has born him several children; and some of these children are grown up, and married, and in their turn have children; the connexion between the plaintiff and his wife has therefore been of long standing, in fact on their entrance into life they became attached to each other. The connexion was not for several years sanctioned by the rites of our religion, but it was not less a marriage; the a.s.sent of the heart was complete, and it has been sanctioned by what the parties thought binding; further ceremony could only add more publicity to the engagement. Yet after many years mutual intercourse, they resolved to give that intercourse every tie, and were consequently legally married according to the rites of the Church of England. I mention these particulars because I apprehend my learned friend will set about pulling their family history to pieces, and endeavour to shew that my client and his wife might have had some little family jars; be it so, gentlemen, let him make the endeavour: I will tell him that their jars are the pleasures of the married life; they are the tornadoes of the marriage state, which clear away the mists and fogs, that, alas, will at times intrude themselves, to make the succeeding calm more susceptible of enjoyments; I warn you I speak by experience; and my learned friend Samo, on this sacred subject, can offer nothing but theory; think, gentlemen, how dearly they must have valued each other, when after a lapse of many years--after all their little storms of life--they yet resolve to make their union indissoluble, by adding thereto the celebration of those rites of our church, which has for its maxim 'that those whom G.o.d has thus joined together no man shall put asunder.'

"Contrast this with the conduct of the defendant, his own wife an exile from his bed and board, for no cause, except the lordly will of the defendant. A woman, against whom scandal has not yet dared to whisper; still, (although she has suffered much from the violent conduct of her husband) still, I say, striking for personal attractions and accomplishments; and is avowedly of an unspotted character. Let the defendant, therefore, but attempt to pry further than he has done into the private habits of my client, as regards his wife, and I shall not hesitate still further to tear down the beautiful appearance of adopted sanct.i.ty, simplicity, and innocence of deportment, with which he has hedged himself round.

"My client had been often led to believe that all was not right between his wife and the defendant, even before the time of the criminal conversation now prosecuted for. I am aware that my learned friend may allege that:--

"Trifles light as air, Are to the jealous confirmation strong As proof of holy writ;

"But, gentlemen, can you for a moment believe that there was no art, no perseverance, no continued attention, no working on the pa.s.sions before the criminal moment; but that the victim fell at once into the commission of the adulterous intercourse alleged? Human nature forbids such an idea. The female mind, always timid, would think of her ties--her husband--her children--her grand-children; and prevent her, before, at least, all her fears. I challenge the defendant to name, even in one slight instance, any thing in the conduct of my client's wife, that such a ready compliance could be expected.

"On Thursday night, the 17th of May last, between nine and ten o'clock at night, the defendant sent his lad to call Mrs. Polly Bernard to his house. You must know, gentlemen, that Mr. Samuel Thorpe then lived (and for aught I know does now) in the same street, and within a short distance of the dwelling of my client, but which was then exclusively occupied by his wife. The object of thus sending for Mrs. Bernard by the defendant, is alleged, I am informed, for the simple purpose of making his bed. It is really astonishing that this gentleman could not be content to have his bed made by some of his men servants; that he did not hire a female, considering his ample means. Now the real object for which Mrs. Bernard was thus called to the house of the defendant became soon apparent. After her ingress the light ceased to throw its shade through the cas.e.m.e.nt--the windows and doors were closed upon the guilty pair. Too much cunning generally defeats its own intention: not far distant from this scene of unhallowed pleasure stood the keen eye of jealousy, watching the progress of the night in order to preserve what custom had made her consider as her own. Yes, gentlemen, Mrs. Samuel (another intimate acquaintance of the Rev.

Samuel Thorpe,) some time after Mrs. Bernard had entered the house of the defendant, rushed to the house--knocked at the door and got admittance. On getting inside, the only object she sought was Mrs.

Bernard. Although in the dark she called her by name--what eye so keen as that of a jealous woman: she attacked Mrs. Bernard, as Mrs. B. sat on the bed of Mr. Samuel Thorpe. Both females exerted themselves to the utmost; one to the a.s.sault, the other to repel such violence. Only conceive, gentlemen, what a fine figure for the painter and the moralist was here exhibited; at the dark hour of night, two married women fighting most l.u.s.tily in the bed-chamber of the pious defendant; while he (taken by surprise) kept pacing his piazza, unable to recollect what he had best do, and trembling with fear that the indiscreet uproar would lead to his exposure. I will pa.s.s over the effects of excited pa.s.sion, and merely inform you, that to identify the person so as to leave no subterfuge, Mrs. Samuel carried away as trophies of her resentment, some handkerchiefs and an ear-ring, she had taken from Mrs. Bernard.

"Well then, gentlemen of the jury, you see the defendant, detected in connection with the wife of one man, by the wife of another, whose pa.s.sions he had raised to jealousy by prior intercourse--whether criminal, or not, I leave to your judgment--that is not, to-day, my duty to decide.

"Mrs. Samuel, in the excited feelings of the moment, smarting under the seeming neglect and vacillating conduct of the defendant, as regarded herself, flies from house to house, spreading the dishonour of the plaintiff; the news soon reaches the injured husband; his wife has absconded from consciousness of guilt--he seeks her out, charges her with her crime--she confesses it--and now, gentlemen, he is forced to fly to you, to redress his wounded sensibility and affection."

The Jury, having heard counsel on the other side returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages Fifty Pounds.

The schooner Thomas arrived from England this morning after a pa.s.sage of 35 days. By her we heard of the death of Mr. Canning, which caused an extraordinary sensation. A warm discussion sprang up among the Freetown politicians, as to who should form the next Ministry, each person, of course, electing a Prime Minister for himself, and making a Cabinet after his own taste.

---------- [10] Although these men are hired under the denomination of Kroo men, they are generally Kroo, and Fish men, who inhabit the country between Sierra Leone and our settlement of Cape Coast Castle.

[11] There were only nineteen prisoners in the calendar, one of whom was a soldier, Patrick Riley, for a desperate attempt to murder a serjeant with his bayonet. The rest of the prisoners were princ.i.p.ally Kroomcn, and other black fellows, for house-breaking, stealing, &c.

&c.

[12] In these cases the princ.i.p.al felons remained unknown.

[13] King George was the first king of Boollam, that had been allowed to die a natural death, through fear of getting 'a palaver,' as they term it, with Sierra Leone. Previous to this, they always despatched their kings when they considered them about to expire, sacrificing two human victims, whom they buried in the same grave.

[14] Meaning that the late king loved him as a son.

[15] It is but right to state, that the above speech was read over sentence by sentence, to the person who spoke it, and that he deemed it to be almost literally reported, and seemed much astonished that it could have been taken down.

[16] The new appellation of John Macaulay Wilson.

CHAP. IV.

Auction at Sierra Leone--Timber Establishments in the River--Tombo, Bance and Ta.s.so Islands--Explosion of a Vessel at Sea--Liberated Africans--Black Ostlers--Horses Imported--Slave Vessel--Colonial Steam Vessel--Road and Street Repairs--Continued Rains--Suggestion for preserving the Health of European Seamen--General Views of the Colony--Population--Parishes--Supply of Provisions--Description of Freetown--Curious Letter from Black Labourers--Original Settlers-- Present Inhabitants--Trade with the Interior--Strange Customs of Native Merchants--Anecdote of Sailors--Injurious Example of the Royal African Corps--Vaccination of Natives--Medical Opinion--Departure from Sierra Leone

_Monday, Sept. 24th_.--Still stronger signs of the breaking up of the rainy season, more frequent heavy showers, with thunder and lightning for the last two days. A fine morning, but squally and showery in the afternoon. There was an auction held to-day of the effects of the late Tasco Williams, Esq.; one peculiar feature of which is worth noting.

The persons who had a.s.sembled were hospitably entertained with bread and cheese, and abundance of wine and spirits, with a view, no doubt, to increase the animation and excitement of the scene. Whether the bidders became extravagant in consequence, I do not know, but I think it very likely; at all events I suspect that the auctioneer was trying an experiment on the animal spirits of the company. This custom, although by no means familiar to Englishmen, is very generally practised in the north of England. It is probably a relique of ancient manners.

I left Freetown, about five in the afternoon, with Mr. McCormack to visit his timber establishment at the island of Tombo, a distance of twenty miles up the river, which we made, with a slight breeze, in about three hours. We pa.s.sed two similar establishments, the one on Ta.s.so, and the other on Bance Island, of the former of which Messrs.

Babington and Macauley are the proprietors, the latter belonging to Mr.