JOHN × GORDEN, preacher WARWICK × FRANCIS JAMES REED JOSEPH BROWN MOSES × WILKINSON S. JONES JOHN × ELLIS ADAM × JONES GEO. × CLARK PETER FRANCIS GEORGE CARREL EDWIN × WILLOUGHBY THOS. × RICHARDS, SEN. ELI AIKEN JNO. × STEVENSON JAS. WISE Two days after he had sent this epistle to his friends in America he wrote a personal note to William Allen in London. He acknowledged the receipt of the license to bring goods to England, called attention to a petition which the inhabitants had presented to Governor Columbine with a request that he lay it before Parliament, and set forth many facts concerning the land and its people. He also announced his intention to keep open a commercial intercourse between America and Sierra Leone in the hope that through such a channel some families might find their way to Africa.[31] The outline of the petition referred to in his letter to William Allen is inserted as follows: 1st. That encouragement may be given to all our brethern, who may come from the British Colonies or from America, in order to become farmers, or to assist us in the cultivation of our land. 2nd. That encouragement may be given to our foreign brethdren who have vessels for the purpose, to establish commerce in Sierra Leone. 3d. That those who may undertake to establish the whale fishery in the colony may be encouraged to persevere in that useful and laudable enterprise. Cuffe states that several of the most respectable inhabitants signed this petition. From its contents and its date one would conclude that its origin can safely be traced to Cuffe himself. Attention is called to a school for adults and the other schools which accommodate about two hundred and thirty children. In his letter to Allen he gives the names of seven teachers. Mention is made of a Society of Sierra Leone and of the places for public worship. Four meetings are held on Sunday and two on other days. In his letter to Allen the churches are enumerated as follows: two Methodists, one Baptist, and one without denominational designation but in charge of "an old woman, Mila Baxton who keeps at her dwelling house." A brief paragraph describes poor relief: "An institution," said he, "was formed on the first of the twelfth month last for the relief of the poor and disabled. It is now regularly held on the first second day in every month, at which time proper persons are appointed to take charge of those under the care of the institution. A general meeting is held once every six months. Everyone can judge of the happy effect of such institutions as these in improving the dispositions and softening the manners of our native brethren."