Thou wilt be sensible that the undertaking is very important and those concerned to promote it are anxious to receive all the assistance and encouragement they can from the friends of humanity at home and in America. Now if thy concern for the good of the poor untutored people continues and finds thy mind impressed with a sense that any portion of the work is allotted for thee to perform, I hope and trust thou wilt give it thy most serious consideration, and should it ripen to such a degree as to bring thee under an apprehension of religious duty to perform it in such a way as that wisdom which is superior to human may point out, a consultation with thy friends on the occasion may be reasonably useful, tending to thy strength and encouragement.[19] Already assurance had come from Zachariah Macaulay, Governor of Sierra Leone, that if Cuffe should make a voyage to Africa he would receive every encouragement from him. As a director of the African Institution he felt that its views would be advanced if any free blacks from America of good conduct and religious principles should be induced to offer their personal assistance. In June, 1810, therefore, Cuffe, as an "ever well wishing Friend," wrote to Friends in Philadelphia that he planned to make a visit to Africa in the fall. He hoped that some solid Friend would feel called on to accompany him as an adviser. In September he laid his plans for the voyage before a large committee of Westport Friends. He was authorized by this committee to pursue his prospects and was given a letter of recommendation. In this letter his neighbors stated that Cuffe "had lately been received a member of their religious society, that he was highly respected by Friends in Philadelphia, and that he felt a religious concern to assist, as far as in his power, the views of the African Institution. His intention was, provided he met with sufficient encouragement here, to sail from America to Sierra Leone, with a cargo likely to be suitable for the place, and, when there, make such observations as would enable him to judge whether he should do right to encourage some sober families of black people in America to settle among the Africans, and if so, he intended to convey them in his own vessel." They also reported Cuffe as the owner of a vessel and worth five thousand pounds.[20] The lively interest that Cuffe had had in the people of color at Sierra Leone, his wish that they might become established in the truth, and his desire that they might then do missionary work among the African brethren, influenced him to visit his friends on the Guinea coast. He rented his farm and commended his family to his brother John. The latter wrote his sister Freelove in New York that Paul would be gone for a year, possibly two, and that he went for a "religious visit amongst the inhabitants of that land, our own nation."[21]