The Development of British Trade with West Africa, 1750 to 1850 Author(s): Judith Blow Williams Source: Political

Science Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1935), pp. 194-213 Published by: The Academy of Political Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2143749 . Accessed: 16/09/2011 14:25
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THE

between I75o and i850 well illustrates the major changes fromthe era of mercantilism that of aggresto sive free trade. Complex non-economic factors affectedthe development: love of adventure,ardor for scientific discovery, abhorrence of the slave trade, missionary zeal and national rivalry,yet the interplayled finallyto normal commercialrelations with an area once monopolized by the slave dealers, and to solid foundations against the later days of imperialism in Africa. West Africa was attractingmuch attentionin I750, for the older methodsof conductingtrade were being challenged. As a the Royal African Company was in financialdifficulties, committee of the House of Commons debated the continuance of the annual grant for the upkeep of the scattered forts and settlements. It was agreed that the African trade was most advantageous, lucrative, an outlet for British manufactures, and necessaryto that ideal of the mercantilists, commercewith the West Indies. The one problem of national policy was the formof management. Opinion among the London and Bristol merchants was divided on the meritsof regulated and joint-stockcompanies. The usual argumentswere put forward: the greater enterprise of separate traders1 versus the concentratedresponsibility and continuous action of the joint-stockcompany, and its greater resourcesfor exploration.2 A modern note was struckby the
1 C.O. 389/30. In the footnotes, these abbreviationsare used for documents in in the Public Record Office London: Ad., Admiralty; B.T., Board of Trade; C.O., Colonial Office; F.O., Foreign Office; T., Treasury. Class number and volume follow. 2 C.O. 391/5 7.

DEVELOPMENT WEST

OF

BRITISH
I750

TRADE

WITH

AFRICA,

TO i850

HE history England's commerce of with West Africa

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Liverpool group, who advocated complete individualism, but their day was not yet come. The act resultingfrom the discussion was a compromise.3 While any British subject might trade anywhere between Fort Sallee and the Cape of Good Hope, all those who were active south of Cape Blanco must forma body corporate," The Company of Merchants trading to Africa ", admission to which was open upon payment of a moderate fee. Joint-stocktrading was forbidden, and any British subject might use the fortsand buildings,of the Company rent-free. At once the numberof slave-ships out of Liverpool increased from in I75I to 72 in I753 and I49 in I798.4 Theycarried 53 British goods, cloths, lead, shot, glass agates, etc.,5said to be worth?i60,792 in 1749-50, ?345,546 in 1760, ?57I,003 in I 770.Q A few visionaries even then suggested that a trade entirely in goods might be still more profitable. Malachy Postlethwaytwrote as early as I757: If we could so exertour commercial policy amongstthese people,as to bringa fewhundred thousands themto cloath of withour commodities, to erectbuildingsto deck withour and and furniture, to live something the European way, would in not such traffic prove far more lucrativethan the slave-trade or only, thedealingwiththem onlyforthosesmall quantities of gold, and othercommodities whichwe do? 7 Thomas Melvil, the new governor of Cape Coast Castle in saw the possibilityof supplanting,in Africa, Indian textiles with those of Manchester and encouraged the natives to
I751,
3 23 Geo. II, c. 3I. 4 Richard Brooke, Liverpool as It Was .
p. 234.

5775 to I800 (Liverpool, 1853),

5 Correspondence betweenRobert Bostock . . . and others,giving Particulars of the Slave Trading of Liverpool Ships, I789-1792. MS. in the Liverpool Central Library. I Adam Anderson, Historical . . . Deduction

89), vol. IV, pp. 40, 42, 142. Sir {Charles Whitworth, State of the Trade of Great Britain . . . (London, I776), Part II, pp. 1-2. 7 Malachy Postlethwayt, Britain's CommercialInterest . . . (London, 1757), vol. I, p. 218.

of Trade . . . (London,

I787-

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plant indigo and cotton for export.8 This premature experiment was disapproved by the Board of Trade, who feared competition with the colonies.9 Ihey were betterpleased with his treatywith the Fantees, excluding the French.10 His expectationsof intercourseafter his reopeningthe paths into the inland countryof the trading Ashantees proved over-sanguine, for most of the time of the British on the coast was spent in bargaining for slaves at the factories,intriguing against one another, fearing French aggression and fightingindigenous fevers. The war of I756 with France brought new opportunities. The Senegal and Gambia districts alone supplied the gum needed for the printing of cotton and linen goods, yet the French had monopolized the formerregion and disputed the latter with the English. In I 754, Thomas Cumming,a merchant of London, opened trade on a new part of the Gum Coast with some Moors, agents of tribes in the interior. He exchanged several shiploads of manufacturesfor gum Senegal, meanwhile gaining valuable knowledge of the coast. After war began, he suggested to the governmenta joint BritishMoorish attack upon the French." When discouraging delays took place, a curiously Elizabethan episode followed. Cumming sought the assistance of Samuel Touchet, prominentin the African Company, who agreed to fit out privately five small armed vessels. With Pitt's approval,'2 these sailed to join several ships of the navy,"' and in a combinedattack,with Cumming as guide, captured Fort Louis on May i, I758."4 The capture of Goree,'5 off the coast, in December, assured British control of the region.
8 C0 388/45.
" C.O. 391/59. 10 C.O. 389/30. 11 C.O. 388/50. Kate Hotblack, Chatham's Colonial Policy ... (London, I9I7), pp. 34-39. For the episode, see A. P. Wadsworth and J. de L. Mann, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, x6oo-i78o (Manchester, I931), pp. 245-47. 4 Annual Register, I 758, vol. I, p. 75. '5John Lindsay, A Voyage to the Coast of Africa, in 1758 ... (London,
12 '3

1759).

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Exaggerated expectationswere aroused by reportsof these successes. Postlethwaytagain came forward to enlightenthe public about " thatpart of the world affording neitherproducts or manufacturesto interferewith our own, but gives us the most estimablecommodities return, in even for great quantities of our toys and baubles." 6 HIis imaginationplayed with the boundless possibilitiesof directsupply of a marketwhich was already reputedto absorb many hundreds of pieces of English broadcloth yearly by the costly caravan routes, from the Barbary coast."7 With public interestaroused, Cumming's hope of an exclusive joint-stockcompanycould hardly be realized. The Board of Trade reflected spiritof the timein opposing a monopoly, the and was supported by the opinion of the law officers the of crown that it would be illegal.'8 For the time being, the governorof Senegal was instructed encourage all Britishtraders to alike, barring foreigners.'9 Agreements had already been made with seven tribes, fixing tariffs,20 and the British merchants renewedthe trade until,in December I 762, twentyships were employed.21 The loss of three expeditions into the interior limited interestto the coast.22 At the Peace of Paris, Senegal was retained,28but Goree was restored to France, thanks to Governor Worge's opinion that it was useless.24 The African Company, foreseeing dangerous extension of French influence fromthis convenientcenter,protestedin vain. The ministersof the momentclung to the old idea of trading posts interspersedwith those of other nations, and the oppor16 Malachy Postlethwayt,The Importance of the African Expedition ... (London, 1758), p. 49.
17 18 CO.

Ibid., pp. oo-gi. 389/30,C.O. 388/50. 388/48,C.O. C. 388/50.

39I/66.

1C.0. 388/5 I.
20 C.O. 21 22 23

C.O. 323/i8.

George Chalmers, A Collection of Treaties . . . (London, I790), vol. I, p. 467. 24 C.O. 323/i8.

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tunityof making a contributionto Chatham's envisaged empire was lost. The vesting of the Senegalese territory the African Comin 25 brought the question of the Company's rule pany in 1764 under discussion, and contradictoryopinions were expressed. John Hippisley, for example, remarkedupon the " astonishing increase of the Guinea traders demands for Woolens, and the manufactures Manchesterand Birmingham; with the prodiof gious exportationto that countryof corn spiritsfromEngland. 26 Others insistedthat business had greatly decreased.27 Charges were made that the roads to the interior had been stopped for years by lack of Britishprotectionto natives wishing to come down to trade, and officials the Company were of accused of using their influenceand the resourcesof the Company for theirprivate advantage as traders.28 It was also said that the Company was dominated by a clique of twelve men.29 The Committeeboth defended their servants80 and reminded them of their responsibility private traders,31 ineffective an to gesture, to judge from later complaints. The investigationconvinced the governmentof the feebleness of a loosely organized English commercial company opposing the great state of France.32 They now tried the innovation, for Africa, of using a colonial governmentto further British economic interests, erecting the Province of Seneby gambia, subject directlyto the crown."3 The governorand his council of nine were royal appointees,but all Britishmerchants and factors, trading to the value of more than ?150, might vote in an open council. At last, legal authoritywas granted to keep the peace, by the first appointmentof justices and conHouse of Commons,Journal, 1764, vol. XXIX, p. 967. 28John Hippisley, Essays . .. (London, I764), pp. iii, iv. 27 T. 70/69.
25 28

Considerations the presentPeace ... on

29Ibid., P. 59.
So C.O. 388/51. 31 T. 70/69.
82 C.O.

(London, i763), pp.

25,

27, 43, 48.

389/3I.

83 House of Commons,Journal, 1765, vol. XXX, p. 249.

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stables. The new arrangementwas regarded as exceptional, but the governmentcontinued for some time to take an active interestin encouraging trade. Naval shipyards were ordered to prepare materials for swift, shallow boats to be used in of exploring rivers.34 A superintendent trade was appointed " to promoteand extendthe Commerceof Our Subjects. ." 35 He was directedto mediate in disputeswith the natives,prevent aggression by the French at Albreda, encourage the English to set up factories in the Gambia, and to seek " what new Channels of Commercemay be opened, and by what Means." The governor likewise was instructedto try to extend comtask. As Captain Graves of merce,"8but he had a difficult HI. M. S. Edgar had writtenin 1765: In trutheverywhiteman acts here just as his caprice or leads him-Surely a Trade carriedon in this privateInterest and whichis of so greatConnay manner precarious capricious sequenceto the Nation,seemsto call aloud forsomenew regunow thatit is becomean object of conlations, moreespecially tention between and so greata Nation as the French."7 us Even greater rivalry took place farther south, where the alternationof Dutch and English posts caused continual friction. The Dutch claims to the land at Cape Apollonia in I767,3 and to a monopoly of trade with the Portuguese on the Gold Coast,39were firmly resistedby the English government, which actively protected English rights and insisted of upon full freedornt trade. extensionof governmental The time seemed ripe for further control,since an investigationby the Board of Trade revealed considerable basis for the bitter charges of incompetenceand but favoritism against the African Company,40 vigorous denials
84

don, I927), p. 70.

87 388C0.

8 C.O. 389/51. 86 E. C. Martin, Tue British WestAfrian Settlemtents, I750-182r

Annual Register, 1766, vol. IX, p.

52.

. . .

(Lon-

C.O. 388/54. 389/32.

39 C.O. 388/5 I .
40 C.O. 391/84, T. 70/I77. Considerations. . . on thlepresentState of the Trade to Africa . . . (London, 177I), p. 23.

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by the committeecaused the House of Commons to vacillate principlesand and drop the matter.4' The spread of free-trade with the American colonies brought an aversion the difficulties so to additional responsibility, strong that a bill was passed in I783 by which England renouncedher African experimentin to direct governing and gave the Gambia territory the Company.42 By the Treaty of Versailles, she had ceded the Senegal and Goree to France in return for a guarantee of the Gambia.4" As the apparent equity of the agreement promised permahastenedto press the trade. Parry nence,the English merchants and Ludlam, a prominenthouse supplying calicoes and linens to Africa, wrote in November I786 that since the firstof January, I02 ships had sailed to Africa fromLiverpool, laden with English and East Indian manufactures.44 Soon, however, there was anxiety about competitionof the French, especially when appeals for support against them were ignored by the government. Thus when the French began to trade on the Gold Coast, the only weapon of the English merchants in rivalry with them,the Danes, Portuguese and Spaniards, was the weak regulated company. Slaves continuedto be the chief objective of the trade, and the Europeans still clung to the seacoast, exploiting the natives instead of building up sound relationswith the interior. In the later years of the eighteenthcentury, two new factors contributedto alter the course of development. One was the newly aroused social conscience which demanded the abolition of the slave trade, and gradually realized that legitimatecommerce must be fosteredto take its place. The other was the inquiry, now concerned with the interiorof spirit of scientific were made Africa. As the countrywas slowly mapped, efforts to introducetrade along the caravan routesand the river-ways.
4' 42

House of Commons,Journal, 1776-7,vol. XXXVI, pp. 534-38. Ibid., 1782-84,vol. XXXIX, p. 476.

43Annual Register, 1783, vol. XXVI, pp. 325-26. 44 F.O. 72/29.

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In 1786 Dr. Fothergill recommended trying to civilize Africa by colonization.45 With patheticallylittle appreciation of the problems involved, at the instance of Granville Sharp,4" champion of slaves, and Dr. Smeathman,47 who knew the coast, the English government sent to Sierra Leone over threehun48 dred destitutenegro men of London and sixty depraved white women.45 After land had been bought and a settlement begun, they were left leaderless among jealous natives and hostile slave dealers. Their townwas burned,but recruitslater helped to found anotheron a charmingsite overlookingthe best harbor on sixteen hundred miles of coast.50 In spite of malaria and yellow fever,a permanentcolony was thus begun, destined to challenge the whole established system of African social and economic life. The promotersof the colony now formed the Sierra Leone Company,5" although protestsof the merchants foiled theirplan of a monopoly of commerce. The firstreportshows the mixture of its objectives: honorable commercein place of the slave trade, valuable raw materials, increasing markets for Great Britain, civilization of Africa.52 Trade with the interiorwas especially desired, although little was done for it at first. In August I 792 A. Nordenskiold,mineralogist, startedinland with trading goods. He reached the friendlytown of Robanna and a point about twelve miles fromPorto Logo, but on his return journey he was robbed, fell ill and died upon reaching Sierra
45 C. B. Wadstrom, An Essay on Colonization . . . (London, I794-5), Part II, p. 3. 48

(i828),

Prince Hoare, Memoirs of Granville Sharp vol. II, p. 9.

. . .

(London, 1820), 2d ed.

47 Henry Smeathman,Plan of a Settlement. . . near Sierra Leone (London, 1786). 48 Hoare, op. cit., vol. II, p. 17. 49 John Leyden, A Historical . . . Sketch of... Africa . . . (Edinburgh, 5799), p. 178. 60 A. M. Falconbridge, Two Voyages to Sierra Leone . .. (2d ed., London, 1794), p. 67.

51 House of Commons,Journal, 1791, vol. XLVI, pp. 245-46,414, 442, 454, 457, and ParliamentaryHistory, 1791, vol. XXIX, pp. 43I, 651-55. 3I Geo.

III,

C.

55.

52

Sierra Leone Company,Report, I79I,

pp. 64-65.

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Leone.53 His mission had demonstrated the two principal dangers facing African trade beyond the coast: the cupidity of the natives and the deadly fevers. Soon after, undaunted, two young men of the colony, Watt and Winterbottom,54 pressed inland nearly three hundred miles to Timbo,55whence an invitation had come from the powerful Foulahs to open trade. As the king agreed to give up the slave trade if a better one could be substituted, Sierra Leone Company established the a factoryup the river,56 beginning a commercethat has continued to modern times. A second attempt at colonization, this time with white settlers, was a completefailure. A group of young naval and army officers impulsivelyadvertised for subscribersto an association formedto colonize the island of Bulama at the mouth of the Rio Grande.57 They hoped to grow cotton, or possibly tobacco, coffeeor indigo, and a few dreamed of trading for ivory and wax.58 Two hundred and seventy-five adventurers, mostly" a licentious rabble ", sailed in April I 792. Lack of discipline,a massacreby the natives,and sicknessdrove most back to England at once,5"although a small group under Lieutenant Beaver stayed on until November I 793. Years later, Captain Owen, surveying,reportedno trace of the settlement,but a son of one of the members,Mr. Lawrence, had the only commercialhouse in the region.60 The Association for promotingthe Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa now turned its attentionto the West Coast. Founded in I 788 for scientificpurposes,6"it became increasingly enthusiastic about the commercialprospects, its exploras
53 Leyden, op. cit., pp. I88-9I. 54 Parliamentary Reports, First Series, vol. X, p. 737.
55 56

Hoare, op. cit., vol. II, p.

41.

B.T. 6/70. 57 Philip Beaver, African Memoranda . . (London,I805), .

68 C.O. 69 2/I. 22,

p. xiv.

Beaver, op. cit., pp.

49, 79.

1833), vol. II, p. 258. 61 Association for promotingthe Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, Proceedings, 1790, vol. I, p. 8.

60 W. F. W. Owen, Narrative of Voyages to . . . Africa . . . (London,

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ers revealed more and more about the native trade routes. Two failures in the northled to sending Major Houghton to trythe westernapproach to the supposedly rich cities of the Niger.62 Supplied with goods as a trader,he ascended the Gambia River he successfully,but when he reached Moorish territory, was robbed, and perished, in September I79I. His letters home added to the exaggerated stories of wealth and civilization in inner Africa, which he knew only by hearsay. While enthusiastswere paving the way for a distant future, the merchantswere steadily advancing their immediate interests. They sought the help of the governmentagainst encroachmentsof the French in the Gambia and the Bight of Benin,63of the Portuguese at Ambriz,64 and of the Danes at Popo.65 The usual complaintswere made against the African Company's officials."6 The Liverpool Corporation won exemption for African produce from auction duty, as if it were of colonial growth.67 The coasts of Africa were visited freely, but the jealousy of the natives continuedto confineEuropeans to a narrowbelt along the shore.68 The exports fromEngland to Africa were munitions, rum,tobacco, iron-ware,cottoncaps, some broadcloth, some Manchester goods, glass beads and trinkets, and a small amount of cottonsfromIndia.69 The outbreak of European war had serious consequencesfor Africa, except the Gold Coast, where the Dutch tried to W\Test ignore the war. Governor Van der Gryp expressed his hope for " all Harmony en Vrindship", a sentiment which resulted in an informalagreementto avoid hostilities.70 Sierra Leone, however,suffered directlyand indirectly. Over ?50,ooo were
62 63 64

Ibid., vol. II, p. 3. B.T. 5/6. B.T. 3/3. B.T. 6/69. B.T. 3/4.
. . (London,I793), p. xxi. Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa . . . (London,
p. 25. 1/17.

65 B.T. 1/7.
66
67

68 Archibald Dalzel,
69 1799), 70

A History Daltomey . of

B.T.

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lost when the French plundered Freetown in I794.7' Communicationswith home became uncertain and insurance rates as almost prohibitive, ships were oftencapturedby French privateers.72 On the otherhand, local conditionswere increasingly favorable. Although natives seeking the settlement risked enslavementen route, one to two hundred came daily fromas far as a hundred miles to barter African produce for British manufactures.78 In I 798, the town already had threewharves, fifteen retail shops, and I200 inhabitants,twentyor thirtyof natives employedsmall vessels themEuropeans. Ten or fifteen in the coasting trade.74 Yet the Sierra Leone Company,which had been organized partly as a business venture,was discouraged. As the Court of Directors said in I804: " The extension of British trade with Africa must depend chieflyon the creation of new exportable produce, and consequentlyon the introductionof a new spirit of cultivationamong the people. for such long-time planning was . . ." 75 The responsibility too great for a private company, and the British government took over the colony on January I, I808.7B The African Association, meantime,was jubilant over the success of their next explorer. Mungo Park set out from Pisania, a small English factoryon the Gambia, taking only a limitedquantityof beads, amber and tobacco,to pay his way, and hoping to reach the Niger and, if possible,the famed trading centersof Timbuctoo and Houssa. Robbed twice, checked by wars, imprisonedby Moors, he conquered all dangers and hardships,and forced his way to the Niger at Sego in I 796.77 The Association now triedto stir England to take advantage of
the discovery. " . . . a gate is opened to every commercial

nation to enterand trade fromthe west to the easternextremity

71 Annual Register, I802, vol. XLIV, p. 267.
72 I807),

Joseph Corry, Observations upon the Windward Coast . . . (London,

p. I32.

73 Parliamentary Reports, First Series, vol. X, p. 738; B.T. 6/70.

74Annual Register, I802, vol. XLIV, p. 258. 75Sierra Leone Company,Report, I804, p. 2I.
78

B.T. 6/70, B.T. 5/I6, C.O. 324/69.

77 Park, op. cit.,p. 201.

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of Africa."78 Park, and Hornemann, who had been equally successful from the north, adventure will, mercantile have exploredroads which shortly shameindeed and mustenter. In thisnew race of commerce, would it be to our national councils . . . that from default of people our patronageand supportof Government, commercial of may lose the start for a priority factoriesand establishmentsof trade,and permitothernationsto usurpthe vantage
ground which Britishenterprise. . . shall have explored.
. .

Early in I799, the Association had urged a consul for Senegambia and an expeditionto the Niger for a post there.80 of of Such an openingfor the consumption the Manufactures whereMillionsof Nativeswho are now supplied GreatBritain, Sands, by a Land Carriageof near 2000 Miles acrossburning for the Goods and who give Ivory,Drugs & Gold in return Articles a Land by withBritish consume, be furnished may they Carriage of 500 Miles only, across a fertile& well watered
Country. . .81

Later the governmentmade inquiries, in response to which Zachary Macaulay pointed out the dangers with refreshing realism, while Captain Beaver made the prematuresuggestion of using natives as pioneers.82 None the less, Park was sent again in I8o5, with an escortof soldiers and great supplies for barter.6" All were lost when even Park perished after a canoe trip of a thousand miles down the Niger. The natives were antagonized by this incursion,still more by the bewildering abolition of the slave trade. " White man now come among us with new face, talk palaver we do not understand, they bring new fashion, great guns, and soldiers into our country,
78 F. C. Hornemann,The Journal of Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk ... (London, i802), p. Viii. 79Ibid., p. vii.

80 C.O.
81

2/I.

Ibid.
I805. . .

82 Ibid.; Beaver, Op. cit., p. 405. 88 MungoPark,The Journal a Mission. . . in . . . of

(London,

t8I5).

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but they make no trade, . . . thereforewe must make war, and kill these white men." 84 On the coast, gum trade was opened at Portendic, I35 miles northof the Senegal, about 6oo,ooo pounds of gum being obtained annually from nomad Moors.85 Governor Maxwell tried to start activities again up the Senegal River after the Britishhad captured Goree and Fort Louis in I8o8 and i809,88 but, the effortproving unprofitablethanks to Spanish and via American competition the Gambia, the Senegal was restored to France with little reluctanceat the peace. The merchants moved back to the Gambia where they founded Bathurst,87 capital of the permanentcolony. Some interestalso remained in the Gold Coast, soon betterknown throughMeredith's able description.88 The comingof peace in Europe was followed by great activity in Africa. With the support of the African Association, Captain James K. Tuckey, R. N., ascended the Congo River in i8i6. Nearly all of his party died of fever,but at least they learned that the " native merchantsdo not wish Europeans to lest they should interfere with their penetrateinto the country, 89 business." The Senegal was the route chosen by Major James Peddie for an official expedition on a large scale.90 Native wars, the death of one afteranotherof the leaders, unwise plans, necessitated a change of program. By way of the Gambia, a group finallyreached Bondu,9"and the surgeon, Dochard, went on to
84

Corry,op. cit., p.
23,

127.

85 B.T. 1/2I, and Charles Reinhard, Observationson . . . British Commerce

(London, I804), p.
86 C.O.
87

note.
3/I0,

324/69.
5/26.

Also B.T.

B.T.

5/I9,

B.T.

I/I@0. . . .

B.T.

William Hutton, A Voyage to Africa

(London,

I821),

p. 25.
88 I8I2). 89 J. K. Tuckey, Narrative of an Expedition to explore the River Zaire (London, i8I8), p. I82. . .

Henry Meredith,An Account of the Gold Coast of Africa ...

(London,

90 C.O. 2/5. 91 C.O. 2/7.

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Sego.92 Hierehe met suspicion and hate, coupled with fear of English occupation of the Niger basin if the outlet were discovered.93 Later there was a change, and the King of Bambarra (at Sego) asked for an alliance and a mission to stop native wars. After a surgeon of Sierra Leone, O'Beirne, had been well received at Timbo,94 several prominentnatives returnedwith him. About one hundred chiefs fromthe interior joined in a general palaver with the English in 182 I. At the suggestion of the Governor of Sierra Leone, in I822 Alexander Gordon Laing was sent from Sierra Leone to Kambia and the Mandingo country,the inhabitantsof which " had shown a rapidly increasing desire to obtain the luxuries of Europeans in exchange for the produce of their labour." " He was directedto advise them about profitableformsof work. Later Laing struggled to Falaba, whence he returnedwith a caravan of traders.96 Afterward, at his suggestion, Kenneth Macaulay tried the routeby the river Rokon, " and the road is now throngedby the trading caravans fromFoulah and Bambarra." " A direct result of Laing's visit was Commander Clapperton's disastrous expedition to Sokoto in i825,98 in response to Sultan Bello's invitationto the English to open trade in goods instead of slaves.99 Such repeated failures brought discouragement,and when Richard Lander, who had accompanied Clapperton, proposed to returnto the Niger to trace it to its source,he receivedslight support. The simplicity of the mission may have been one reason for its success. When the brothers Lander followed the Niger to the sea through the Bight of Benin in I830, the
92 W. Gray and StaffSurgeon Dochard, Travels in Western Africa ... don, I825), p. I36. 93 Gray and Dochard, op. cit., p. 35I. 94 F. W. Butt-Thompson, Sierra Leone . . . (London, I926), p. 2I9.

(Lon-

95 A. G. Laing, Travels . . . in WesternAfrica (London, I825),

p. 2.

96Ibid.,pp.

2II,

420-25.

97 Ibid., p. 30, note.

98 Hugh Clapperton, Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa ... (London, I829), p. x. Richard Lander, Records of Captain Clap. perton'slast Expedition to Africa . . . (London, I830). 99 C.O.

2/I6.

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quest of years was ended."'0 At once a group of merchants, led by Sir JohnTobin and M'Gregor Laird, formedthe African Inland Commercial Company."'0 They sent out two steamers in which Captain Harris, Laird and Lander started up the river. Unsuitable trading goods, sickness and a boycott by the natives preventedsuccess, although treatieswith two tribes gave new hope, soon to be shatteredby the murderof Lander.102 One of the steamerswas left at Fernando Po, and in it Captain tripsup the riversof the region, Becroftbegan his unpretentious of winning the confidence the natives and trading profitably.'08 Along the Gold Coast, mattersfared badly for a time. In i 8I6, only fiveprivate tradersremainedat Cape Coast Castle.'04 two missionswere As the warlike Ashantees cut offthe interior, but divided authoritycaused sordid intrigues, sent to them,'05 from which the natives suffered. Government intervened, abolished the African Company in I82I, and entrustedcontrol to a committeeof merchants,until it was finally realized in was essenof I843 that the full authority a regular government tial. War, which dragged on for years until I83I, was destructiveto trade. Elsewhere, fortunevaried. The merchants at Bathurst did well in spite of the foreign competitionthat followed the refusal to give them a monopoly.'06 Connection with the interior was improved after Lieutenant-Governor
100

plore. .
..

Robert Huish, ed., The Travels of Richard and John Lander (London, I836), p. 746, and ParliamentaryPapers, i834, vol. XIV [478], pp. 56-57. 102 M'Gregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield,Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa ... (London, I837). William Allen, Picturesque Views on the River Niger . . . (London, I840). Huish, op. cit. Sir James E. Alexander, Narrative of a Voyage ... among the Colonies of WesternAfrica ... (London, I837), vOl. I, p. I8I. C.O. 2/19. Ad. I3/182. 103 Royal Geographical Society,Journal, vol. XI, pp. I84-90, vOl. XIV, pp. 26o-83.
104 Parliamentary Papers, I817, vol. VI [43I],
105

2/I9. 101C.O.

C.O. 2/I8. Richard and John Lander, Journal of an Expedition to ex. . theNiger . . . (New York,I832).

p.

5.

John Beecham,Ashantee and the Gold Coast ... (London, I84I). T. E. Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee . . . (London, i8i9). Joseph Dupuis, Journal of a Residence in Ashantee (London, I824). Brodie Cruikshank, Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast ... (London, I853). C.O. 2/II. 108 B.T. i/II8, I49, I56.

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Rendall forced open the Jataban branch of the Gambia. At once eight or ten boats began regular trips from MacCarthy's Island, and by I837 the trade was growing steadily.l07 The revival of the gum trade at Portendic was less satisfactory. Legislation against importationof gum from France was cirfor by cumvented.""8 Spasmodic contributions the government presents to induce the Moors to come to the coast ceased in I847 when the field was left to the French.'l9 Sierra Leone began to export wood for the navy, ivory,gum copal, pepper, wax, palm oil and rice."0O Palm oil was shipped in quantities at Calabar. Grain was sentto the West Indies fromSeccondee and Accra, and at Gaboon the natives cut dye-wood and ebony."' George Robertson attempted a settlementat Fernando Po in I8I9, but it was broken up when a naval patrol took him for a slave dealer."2 When Clarence Cove was founded there in I827, the ships trading for oil in the Bights of Benin and Biafra had their firstlocal base. At the old posts of the African Company, the rule of Governor George MacLean from I830 to I847 marks a new era. The respectinspired by his charactermade his word law over a great district."8 Commerce was increasing. Depots of goods were placed on the principal paths to the interior. At first,over-generous credit encouraged hosts of peddlers, but gradually a sounder systemgrew up by which the Ashantees came down to the coast to buy. The use of cowries for money impetus and the increasingproductionof palm oil gave further trade."" Small amounts of British goods penetratedas far to as Sokoto and Bornu."5 Everywhere on the coast English
107 Royal Geographical Society,Journal,vol. II, pp. 305-306, vol. III, p. 75; B.T. I/336. 108 B.T. I/I71, 174, i86, 191, 20I. 3 Geo. IV, c. 42. 109 B.T. 1/265, 280, 301, 32I, 327, 336, 343, 344, 357. B.T. 3/26, 27, 28. B.T. 5/45, 55, 56. C.O. 87/14,27, 30, 38. F.O. 97/344.

110 B.T. I/128.

111T. E. Bowdich, The British and French Expeditions to Teembo (Baris, 1821), p. 12. 112 B.T. 5/28.
"1 ParliamentaryReports, I842, vol. XI [55'], p. 5. 4" Cruikshank, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 33, 36, 40, 4I-43.

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vessels collected native produce. In the Niger basin, there were frequentmarketsin the towns,and fairs attractedbrokers from a great distance. The variety of wants is shown in a descriptionof the contentsof a shop in Freetown: beads and necklaces, bottles of rum and ale, umbrellas, soap, iron pots, scissors,knives,hats, handerchiefs,cheeses, tobacco, teacups.110 Missionaries encouraged industryand persuaded the converts to don more garments,at least on Sunday.1'7 A number of firmshad factories along the coast, usually small huts where one or two agents bartered palm oil for British manufactures, supplied by regular visits of the owner's vessels.118 At Fernando Po, the enterprisingBecroftand Oldfield had " several stores containinga littleof everything, which articles theyship offin smaller vessels who barter up the adjoining rivers with the natives for palm oil and ivory." "1 In I834 William M. Hutton and J. B. Rayner reportedto the English government: " The Ships of Great Britain are now dispersingher manufactures from the river Senegal to the furthest limits of Angola -over a vast district,-comprehendingmany navigable rivers -and bringing in return the productions of the African Soil." 120 For the fiveyears ending in I836, the average value of British exports to West Africa was ?34I,ogi a year,'2' and in I840 the average tonnage from Liverpool to the Bight of Benin was one-fourththat to the West Indies.'22 Satisfying as was this growth, restriction the coast was to irksome,especially as the local natives in some places had become rapacious. Trade with the interiorwas impossiblewithout preliminarysurveys of the rivers. Jamieson of Liverpool
115

Laird and Oldfield,op. cit.,vol. I, p.

5I.

116 F. H. Rankin, The White Man's Grave...

117

p. 209.
118

(London, I836), pp. 68-7I. R. M. Macbrair,Sketches of a Missionary's Travels ... (London, 1839), Sir Henry Keppel, A Sailor's Life .
.

119 Ibid., p. 224.

120

. (London, I899), vol. I, p.

205.

B.T. 1/305.

121

p. III.
122

G. R. Porter,The Progress of the Nation ...

. . .

(London, 1836-43), vol. II, against the proposed Niger

Robert Jamieson, A further Appeal Expedition . . . (London, 1841), p. 24.

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had sent Becroftup several of them,but not enough could be of aid. The skepticism the Board of done withoutgovernment Trade is shown by a marginal note to an application fromthe merchants: " but I don't believe a trade will spring up C. P. T." 128 The authoritiesyielded, however, to the pressure of who led the philanthropists, by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton,124 had become convincedthat agricultureand commercein Africa were the only means of destroyingthe slave trade, and urged an expedition up the Niger to further their views. The African Civilization Society 125 and the Church Missionary Society 126 cooperated. With mixed philanthropic,scientific and commercial aims, the expedition started in I841 under Captain H. D. Trotter.127 They made several commercial treaties,and had set up a model farm,when feversbroke out with such severitythat the project was abandoned, although not until useful exploration of the Niger and the Cameroon River had been accomplished.128 Baikie's successful expedition in I854 completed the major work of exploration of the Niger. The navy quietly continued its local activities, pursuing slavers, sometimesto the annoyance of legitimate traders,129 and making treaties for the abolition of the slave trade with the chiefs on one river after another, rewarding them with gifts of British manufactures. After I837, the treaties inand the reguof cluded clauses forthe protection the merchants lation of trade. In May I847, CommodoreHotham reported:
12.3

B.T. 1/339Sir T. F. Buxton, The African Slave Trade .. . (London, i839), 2d ed.,

124

pp. '93-95.
125 W. Allen and T. R. H. Thomson,A Narrative of the Expedition . . . to the River Niger . . . (London, 1848), vol. I, p. 38. 126 J. F. Sch6n and S. Crowther, Journals... (London, I842). W. Simpson, A Private Journal kept during the Niger Expedition ... (London, I843). 127 Allen and Thomas, op. cit. Paul Read, Lord John Russell . . . and the Niger Expedition . . . (London, I840). Sir George Stephen,A Letter to . . Russell . . . (London, I840). 128 129

Royal Geographical Society,Journal,I843, vol. XIII, p. 8. B.T. 5/49.

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"We have treatieson almost every part of the Coast." 130 Reports of these agreements reached the interior and the King of Dahomey asked the explorer,John Duncan,3' to secure one for him, offering cede Whydah 132 if the Britishwould reesto tablish themselves there. Intrigues, the death of Duncan,133 who had been appointed vice-consul to Dahomey, and war checked advance in this quarter until, in i86i, England acquired Lagos, later to be second in importance to Sierra Leone among Britishpossessionson the West Coast of Africa.134 In the older districtstrade was being pursued quietly for the most part. Along the river banks and about one third of the coast, there was civilization, of a sort at least, product of industry and the teaching of the missionaries. The days of extraordinaryprofitswere over. Intelligent natives, some of them educated in England, were taking a share in the trade. They lived simply and sold their purchases at retail for cash. Spared the expense of factories,and working in cooperation, oftenpooling their capital, they combinedto buy at low prices. The English local merchantswere hard pressed, especially as groups of natives sometimes placed orders directly in England."35 Commerce gained, though many an individual suffered. A new marketwas developed in Liberia, where fortyBritish factorieswere scatteredalong the coast. As the countryasked recognitionas a nation, Palmerston made a commercialtreaty in i848 with it, which protectedBritishinterests.'36
130

C.O. i3/I82; B.T. I/336; B.T. 5/45,49; Ad. I/4269, 5574, 5589; Ad. I3/
C.O. 87/25, 30, 38.

I8I;

131John Duncan, Travels in Western Africa . . . (London, I847), vol. II,

p. 267.
132 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 268-7I. T. Hutton, of Cape Coast Castle, had two agents there. Ibid., vol. I, p. I84; Royal Geographical Society, Journal, I846, vol.

XVI, p.
113

I47.

F. E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans . . . (London, I85I), vol. I, pp. 43, 94; vol. II, p. i88. 134 A. B. Ellis, The Land of Fetish (London, I883), pp. 66-93. 135T. E. Poole, Life . . . in Sierra Leone and the Gambia (London, I850), vol. II, pp. 6I-62.
136

F.O.

47/I.

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The chief disturbing factor was rivalry with European to powers. Complaintswere made of French attempts exclude other traders. It was reportedthat a French man-of-warhad on to tried unsuccessfully seize territory the Old Calabar River, and that a British merchanthad been debarred by them from freelyused by the English. From the Gaboon River, formerly the Gambia came word that the French were far up the river, although permitted by treaty only at Albreda. When two French warships arrived at the Gambia, the English governor asked for naval protection,which was refused because of the determination the Foreign Officeto maintain cordial relaof tions with France after the Revolution of i848.137 Uncertainties over Belgian intentionson the Rio Nunez led to a clear announcementof British policy. The Belgian plan had been to occupy both banks of the river to a depth of about a mile. England asked whether Belgium intended to respect the freedom of the river,previously " a great highway, free and open to the commerceof the World." 138 Upon receiving a satisfactory answer, England asserted her position that there was room enough for all, and that she was resolutelyopposed to any monopoly. She had shown her attitude also by repeated offered the native chiefs. After refusals to accept territory by the many years of often fumbling experiments,she felt her position secure. Possessed of strategic footholds, and well relied on versed in the ways of Africa, she now confidently freedomof trade and the enterpriseof her merchantsto keep pace with the growing civilization and wants of Africa.
JUDITH BLOW WILLIAMS
WELLESLEY COLLEGE 187 Ad. 1/5589. 188F.O. 10/147.