Trial of Pedro de Zulueta, jun., on a Charge of Slave Trading, under 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, on Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Monday the 30th of October, 1843, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London: A Full Report from the Short-hand Notes of W. B. Gurney, Esq.Zulueta, Pedro de
History
Trial of Pedro de Zulueta, jun., on a Charge of Slave Trading, under 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, on Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Monday the 30th of October, 1843, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London: A Full Report from the Short-hand Notes of W. B. Gurney, Esq.
Zulueta, Pedro de
Slave trade -- Africa; Slave traders -- Africa; Trial transcripts -- England -- London; Zulueta, Pedro de -- Trials, litigation, etc.
Now after looking at such a picture, drawn from the most unsuspected
sources, we cannot doubt that, whether for the homeless Negro just
rescued from the hold of a Slave Ship, or for the ignorant and
uncivilised African who comes down to our Settlements to pick up a
small pittance by the hardest labour, and to return with it to his
barbarous home, it would be of the highest advantage, it would be the
greatest blessing, to make such an exchange. But how is it with the
Liberated African of Sierra Leone, who has been enjoying perhaps for
years the fostering care of the British Government? Now to that
Government, beyond his rescue from the Slave Ship, and emancipation
from future Slavery, and a temporary sustenance, and his being placed
within the reach of Missionary efforts, to which it has not
contributed, the Liberated African cannot fairly be said to owe much.
To the invaluable exertions of the Church Missionary Society more
especially, and also to a considerable extent, as in all our African
Settlements, to the Wesleyan body, the highest praise is due. The
former expend nearly 7,000_l._, the latter nearly 2,000_l._ annually
upon the Religious Instruction of the Colony. By their efforts nearly
one-fifth of the whole population, a most unusually high proportion in
any country, are at school, and the effects are visible in
considerable intellectual, moral, and religious improvement,--very
considerable under the peculiar circumstances of such a Colony. But a
few ill-supported Schools and one Chaplain is all that has been
contributed by the Government to the religious and moral improvement
of those of whom she has undertaken the protection, and their social
improvement has been unattempted. No Model Farm has been established,
no instruction in Agriculture has been afforded. The rate of wages,
when any are earned, which is chiefly by a few in the neighbourhood of
the towns, is 4_d._ to 7_d._ a day, and with this and a little
cultivation a sufficient subsistence, though nothing more, is gained.
The extent of good soil is limited; the inhabitants wander out of the
Colony for the subsistence which they cannot find within it. There is
little industry, there are small facilities for trade, as the Colony
itself produces little to export save a little arrow-root and ginger,
and the River which it commands is only navigable for 30 or 40 miles
to any useful purpose, and supplies no article but timber and camwood.
With such a climate, therefore, and thus circumstanced, the Colony can
never invite the residence of planters or of merchants of considerable
capital, or become a favourite with officers, either civil or
military, of a higher order. What elements of prosperity, therefore,
can it have? The Government has not done much, but under any
circumstances the Colony must be an artificial creation. The
Government ought to have established a Model Farm, or in some way
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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