6649. _Chairman._] Will you state the grounds of that opinion?--With regard to Sierra Leone, I have no hesitation in saying, that the slave trade has derived great advantage from it, and that the British influence does not extend there much beyond the limits of the colony as regards this object. The entrance of the Sherboro’ river has on one side of it Sierra Leone, and there is a slave trade carried on there, and that has been owing to the view which the Government took of General Turner’s proceeding in 1826, the consequence of which has been to prevent future governors from attempting similar plans. 6650. What were those plans?--To obtain the sovereignty of the coast down as far as the Boom Kittam river, which lies on the south side of the Sherboro’, and from thence, I believe, to Cape Mount. 6651. Mr. _Forster_.] Had he already entered into treaties for that purpose?--He had already got possession as far as the Boom Kittam, and the Government ordered that that should be relinquished again. 6652. _Chairman._] In what way has Sierra Leone lent assistance to the slave trade?--The slave vessels have been repeatedly purchased there by people, notoriously agents of Pedro Blanco, and others at Gallinas, and they have gone back into his hands. 6653. Mr. _Forster_.] Do you think the settlement of Sierra Leone was so much responsible for that as the system under which the vessels were sold?--I think the individuals who purchased slave vessels for slave dealers were very much to blame, and it is only to be regretted that no punishment could be inflicted upon them. 6654. Sir _R. H. Inglis_.] By the law at present the slave vessels must be broken up?--Not in all cases. Under the British law, the Act of the 5th George the 4th, vessels are not broken up, so that if a vessel is condemned in British waters by the British law, she is sold, and probably goes into a slave dealer’s hands the next day, which is the case also with vessels condemned under the Brazilian treaty. 6655. Mr. _Forster_.] Are you aware that those vessels are sold by auction to the highest bidder?--I am perfectly aware of that; that is according to the treaties under which they are condemned: it is no fault of the authorities of Sierra Leone nor of the Mixed Commission Court; the authorities are compelled to allow her to leave the port afterwards. 6656. If an agent of Pedro Blanco, or even Pedro Blanco himself, went into the auction room and bid the highest price he would get the vessel?--I suppose so. 6657. _Chairman._] It is in that respect that you consider that Sierra Leone has afforded facilities to the slave trade?--It is in that respect; but, at the same time, I cannot conceive Pedro Blanco having the audacity to go into the sale room for such a purpose, or the authorities letting the vessel under such circumstances sail out of port.