Part 6

“That officers were appointed, and leave given to trade (but not with foreigners, except Portuguese, for gold and tobacco) so that they became the regulators of the market. The committee, by the act, are annually to lay before the general meeting of the company of the chambers of London, all resolutions, orders and instructions given their servants previous to such meeting, and copies to be sent to Bristol and Liverpool; but they have not so done.”

“That the committee’s chief agents, instead of regarding the interest of their constituents, have acted opposite thereto, as soon as in power. Instead of assisting the free trader, they entered into a joint stock copartnership, and attempted a monopoly more formidable than any could have been at home, as they were on the spot, and had the whole power.”

“That the merchants of Bristol had advice of the chief proceedings from their commanders, which on their return they found too true; and that by the attempts of the chiefs to engross the trade, the prices of slaves were raised much higher than ever known. Also that the commanders were denied what strangers were always before assisted with, viz. canoes, canoe-men, wood, water, &c.”

“That a memorial was laid before the committee for their relief, but, to their great surprize, they found their complaints were treated as groundless surmizes, and unjust aspersions of the character of their officers, arising only from personal prejudice and party interest; a second and several repeated applications were made, and the committee at last informed the managers, that they had referred the matter to the lords of trade.” Accordingly their lordships heard the matters in dispute between the merchants of Bristol and Liverpool, and that of the committee.

“And were of opinion, that the officers and servants employed by the committee, ought not to be allowed to trade for Negroe-slaves further than the amount of the salaries allowed them by the committee; and that such slaves should be disposed of for ivory, gold, bills of exchange, or other proper returns to England only.”

The committee paid no regard to their lordships opinion, consequently we conjecture, no regulation or orders has since been given by them to their servants; or if there has, the execution of such orders have not been enforced; for it is a truth which cannot be contradicted, that governor Melvil to his death, and the other officers of the committee, during his command, carried on the Negroe trade, and sent them from Africa to America for their own accounts, without the least reserve or restraint; also that governor Senior, and the officers under his command, did the same; and that governor Bell, who commanded at cape Coast Castle, when the last advice came from thence, did carry on a trade for Negroes, and continues to send the Negroes so purchased, to America, in the same manner his predecessors had done; which the gentlemen of the African committee must know was, and is the practice; and also that it is most certainly contrary to the true spirit, meaning and intention of the act of parliament, passed in the 23d year of his late majesty’s reign, for extending and improving the trade to Africa (by which the African company was established) and the opinion of the lords of trade and plantation; for the legislative power could mean no other than to put all his majesty’s subjects upon an equal footing.

But lest the gentlemen of the African committee’s memories should fail, we will remind them of some things that surely could not have happened without their knowledge; (to wit) the committee appointed Mr. Richard Brew in the year 1761, to the command of Annamaboa fortress; although at the same time they could not but know that he had fitted out the Brew, a large ship at Liverpool, and another in the river Thames; the former with a large cargo for Africa; the latter went to Holland for Dutch merchandize, to compleat her cargo, to the manifest disadvantage of this country, because it prevents so much of our manufactures and East India goods being exported; and the Dutch brandy and Geneva interfere with the exportation of British spirits, besides being of great disadvantage to the rum trade from the British colonies to Africa. Said ship returned from Holland, and arrived at Portsmouth in or about the month of July 1761, where Mr. Brew went on board; and also Messrs. Westgate and Flemming, who had been in the committee’s service upon the coast of Africa: but, as we have been informed, they are now gone out in partnership with said Brew. We have also been informed, that the cargoes of the said ships were landed in Africa, and deposited in the fort of Annamaboa; and that Negroes were purchased with said cargoes, and sent from thence to Jamaica for the account of Mr. Brew, and those concerned with him.

It is also as true that Mr. Samuel Smith, merchant, in the Old Jury in London, one of the committee of the company of merchants trading to Africa, was the acting agent for Messrs. Brew, Westgate and Flemming, during their residence in Africa; that he received their consignments from thence, and acted for them by commission after their arrival in England; likewise during their stay there, and since their arrival in Africa; and also that Mr. Smith lately fitted in the river Thames a large ship with a great cargo: and we have reason to believe from good authority, that said ship and cargo was fitted out for the account of Mr. Brew, and others concerned with him; which ship is now on a voyage to Annamaboa; but whether any of the African committee are concerned or interested in said ship, besides Mr. Smith, we cannot take upon us to say.

We conjecture it never was intended by those gentlemen who prepared the act of parliament, which appointed there should be a committee of nine persons, who were to have the care of the forts in Africa, with the charge and application of the monies granted by parliament for their support, that any one of those persons should supply merchandize to be paid for with the public money under their care and management. However, such has been the case, as appears by the committee’s accounts laid before parliament. The following is an abstract of their last account for the year 1761, so far as it relates to any of the committee-men furnishing merchandize; by that our readers may form a judgment on their other annual accounts, they being nearly the same as to the amount of what the African committee supplied the public with. Abstract of the beforementioned account as follows:

Messrs. Touchett and company l. s. d. for Manchester goods 1774 14 9

Smith and company for Irish linen and provisions 796 12 11

Aufere and company for East India goods 349 1 6

Cust and company for ditto ditto 250 2 6

Mr. William Boden for tobacco 39 0 6 ---------------- 3209 12 2 ----------------

The following are clauses of the act of parliament that provides for the election of the African committee.

“Page 550. And it is hereby further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that in all future elections, the said committee of nine persons shall annually, on the third day of July in every year, be nominated and chosen as follows; that is to say, three of the said committee shall be nominated and chosen by the major part of the freemen of the said company, admitted to the freedom of the said company in London, who shall assemble for that purpose at London; three other persons to be of the said committee, shall be chosen and nominated by the major part of the freemen of the said company, admitted to the freedom of the said company in Bristol, who shall assemble for that purpose at Bristol; and three other persons to be of the said committee, shall be chosen and nominated by the major part of the freemen of the said company, admitted to the freedom of the said company in the town of Liverpool, who shall assemble for that purpose at Liverpool.”

“Page 554. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that no person shall be capable of being chosen, or acting as a committee-man above three years successively.”

By the foregoing clauses it was most certainly intended that the election for committee-men should be free and uninfluenced, but that has not happened; for there was great interest made by those who were chosen committee-men the first year after the act passed, for establishing the company of merchants trading to Africa. After which, the several tradesmen employed by the African committee in London, and by their friends in Bristol and Liverpool, took up their freedom of the new company, in order to vote for committee-men; so that, at the expiration of the first year, when the committee-men that had been chosen for London, Bristol and Liverpool for the preceding year, could act no longer, then, or at the expiration of the three years (which we cannot now take upon us to say) three new committee-men were chosen instead of three that went out, which nine committee-men so chosen, continued to act for three years, when the three other were again elected; by which means there are twelve persons who take it by rotation alternatively, to be of the committee or not, as they agree among themselves; on which account it is a folly for any person, not being one of the twelve, to attempt getting elected a committee-man for either London, Bristol, or Liverpool; there having been as great interest made against such persons who have offered themselves, as hath happened on some occasions preceding the election of a member of parliament; therefore we have the greatest reason to believe, there is not any person who will again attempt to stand a candidate in opposition to one of the twelve persons who have had the direction and management so long, of which number those gentlemen are, we have mentioned in the account of the merchandize supplied by the committee-men, page 51.

The several articles of merchandize purchased in Holland, are paid for in money, or bills of exchange, which is very disadvantageous to this country; and such goods may serve to make an assortment with those paid for by the government, and sent to Africa for the support of the forts there; which has been proved to have been the case before, consequently may be so again. That fact being admitted, and indeed it would be folly to think otherwise; what chance can any private traders have, when the committee’s servants have such a glaring emolument, besides so many other advantages over them? Were there any reason to ground the least supposition, that all things in Africa are carried on upon the square, and no methods practiced by the officers that command the several forts to monopolize the trade; can any one think even in such case, that private merchants, or matters of ships, who are obliged to pay customs, house and warehouse rents, servants, and all sorts of other contingent expences, can possibly carry on a trade in any degree of equality with those persons, who are, as hath been before observed, exonerated from every article of expence?

The committee’s servants having such advantages, can it be supposed any private trader can stand any chance in trade with them, as said trader must settle in a negroe town, in a mud house covered with thatch, there being no other sort of dwelling to be got, without carrying tradesmen of all sorts from Europe to build it, which would be attended with too great an expence and risk for any private adventure to undertake? Therefore, on account of the frequent fires that happen in negroe towns, persons well acquainted with them, would not insure any property lodged therein for twenty-five per cent. annually. That alone is sufficient to deter any one from settling, except some of the old or new companies discarded servants, whose narrow circumstances discourage them from returning to Europe, not knowing what else to do with themselves; for there has not one of the young men from Bristol or Liverpool, &c. that were to have been intrusted with cargoes by their relations and friends, to go and settle under the protection of the British forts in Africa, has yet made a single attempt to do it, though that was made use of as an argument, and enforced with great energy by gentlemen, to obtain a dissolution of the late royal African company (and in which they succeeded). But no such boasted consequence has taken place, because the people of those places were not to be lulled on to adventure their property, under the notion of a free trade. They very well knew what hardships must attend those who were necessitated to settle in a negroe town, from a knowledge, as soon as they did, they must become subservient in a manner, and brother citizens with the negroes. It is a joke to think they can make use of the forts to lodge and defend their properties in; for the very persons who (we should imagine) by the spirit and intention of the act of parliament, ought to be their defenders, will take every measure, in proportion as they rival them, and curtail their trade, to exercise their power over the natives, to prevent the private trader succeeding with them, which will create disputes between the officers commanding the forts and the towns people under them, in which every private trader must bear a part; for no man can settle in a negroe town without paying his freedom, and entering into a league to become a native, and partake of that township’s misfortunes, advantages and customs. Is there any difference then between a European trader and an African? None! one is a native black Negroe, and the other is become a white one: so that whenever a dispute happens between the natives and the officers aforesaid, the indenizened European will be under the compulsive necessity of joining his black fellow townsmen against his countrymen and fortress, which the British nation intended for his preservation in time of danger, and last resort.

From what we have before advanced, our readers may naturally wonder if the trade to Africa, where the forts are situated, is carried on so much to the disadvantage of the British traders, and so greatly for the benefit of the officers of the African committee, why said traders do not continue their complaints, in order to have their grievances redressed. We conjecture one reason for their not doing so, is the difficulties they had to encounter when they presented their former complaint to obtain satisfaction, which arose from the opposition raised against them by the African committee, who refused to give their officers such orders, as would have obliged them to put in execution the lords of trade and plantations opinion. Being defeated in their first attempt, it is natural to suppose they were fearful of applying again to the legislative power, lest the methods pursued to carry on that valuable branch of commerce, since it has been under the management of the African committee, should be maturely and attentively enquired into; for there has been, and is now, as much reason for such examination, as there was in the year 1753, 1755, 1756 and 1758. But then it began to become too serious; and if continued fairly, might have been a means of putting the forts upon a new and respectable establishment, such as would have enabled the officers commanding them, to have secured the natives under their protection from the danger they may be in from enemies of their own colour, and the arbitrary injustice often imposed upon them by the officers of our good friends and allies. The Dutch residing in Africa, to have prevented said Dutch officers, by their superior power, from wresting violently and unfairly any part of the territories belonging to the British forts, or detaining and imprisoning any of the natives living under their protection, both which they have illegally done since the decline of the late company’s power, and confined a number of them, notwithstanding all remonstrances made by the British officers, till that noble and gallant commander, the present honourable lord How arrived in his majesty’s ship Glory, with the Swan sloop under his command, upon the Gold Coast, in the year 1751, who soon after his arrival, did examine with the greatest attention, all the original papers relative to the cause of the dispute that happened between the officers of the English and Dutch companies. After such examination, he demanded from the Dutch general the prisoners he had confined during said dispute in the castle of St. George’s D. Elmina, the principal Dutch fort upon the coast of Africa in that noble manner which it has everbeen the invariable rule of that judicious, worthy, and great commander to pursue in the service of his country.

It is to be hoped that the British forts will be put upon such an establishment, that the officers commanding them will be sufficiently empowered to hinder the Dutch officers from exercising that arbitrary power they have done, and continued to do, over the Portugueze upon the Gold Coast of Africa, to prevent their trading at the British settlements, in open violation of a treaty concluded between the English and Dutch principal officers in Africa, and ratified by both companies in Europe.

If the African committee has not represented that affair in a true light to the government, we are surprized they have neglected it, as it is a very valuable commerce now wholly engrossed by the Dutch; who will not suffer the master or supercargo of any Portugueze vessel to trade at the English forts, or with the British subjects, notwithstanding the beforementioned treaty, which, perhaps, might be deemed obsolete, since the dissolution of the late company. If that should be the case, then, in our humble opinion, it ought to be renewed, as well as many other regulations made between the English and Dutch in Africa.

If the British officers should once again obtain that influence and power so essentially necessary for them to have, in order to open the trading roads to the most distant inland countries of Africa, so long stopped, which would be of immense advantage to this country, and, at the same time, to prevent the subjects of France hereafter carrying to their colonies the most valuable Negroes, as we have observed they did before the war, and which will in a great measure be proved, by the extracts of the following letters from the captains Strange and Wyndham, commanders of two of his majesty’s ships war, dated Africa, 20th Sept. 1740, and 30th Aug. 1742.

Capt. Strange writes to the following purport:

“The French, by the advantages of their goods, especially Brandies, occasions a great price they give for their slaves, which has brought the English and Dutch trade to the lowest ebb.”

Capt. Wyndham writes as follows:

“This concludes the present state of the royal African factories; and as to the Dutch factories, they, as far as I can learn, make no great hand of their trade any more than the English; the French, who has ten ships on the coast to our one, seem to flourish and carry all before them.”