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relating to the forming towns and townships, agreeably to a printed plan, (No. 52.)

"I send you also two copies of the Appendix to No. 49, which consists of short forms of prayer; as I believe you will find that much decorum will be added to public meetings on business, if you make a point of requiring that prayer shall precede all public business, but more especially previous to the administration of justice in the courts of law. There are also forms for morning and evening prayer, which, though very short, comprehend the most essential points.

G. S. to William Dawes, Esq.

"I am," &c. &c.

"Dear Sir, "Garden Court, Temple, 13th November, 1800. "I send you two dozen copies of the Extract from Dampier, concerning fruit-trees, and one dozen copies of the tract on Maple Sugar, which I promised, that you may disperse them among such industrious people as will be likely to make a proper use of them. I have likewise sent you a tract on Congregational Courts, wherein the system of frank-pledge is explained; and two more copies of my plan for laying out towns and townships, wherein you will find a remark, in pp. 14, 15, which shows that frank-pledge is so strongly enjoined as a part of the English Constitution by Magna Charta, that it would be illegal to lay it aside in the new colony, now that it has been once re-established by the authority of the Directors. If you establish the ancient watch and ward by a regular rotation of all the inhabitants, making the householders of each tithing and hundred responsible for the neglects of the inferiors whom they respectively pledge, you will soon find an adequate power to restrain and punish the refractory, who are but few in comparison of the whole body of householders. And it will be prudent to make the watch guard the regular supporters of the civil power, and to enforce, under the sheriff, the writs of the court; and never to call out the regular military force unless there be an absolute necessity, but to reserve them as a proper check for the last extremity: their presence in the settlement will encourage the majority of the settlers, whose true interest is peace and quiet, to oppose the refractory with more confidence in the support of Government, if they are not irritated by any military arrangement." &c. &c.

A letter, addressed to the Chairman of the Company, on the subject of adultery and divorce, is also among his papers, designed

for the instruction of the settlers; and two memoranda on subjects of religion and government, sent with the collection of books to Sierra Leone; the whole furnishing additional documents of his unceasing earnestness to spread the light of Christianity and the benefits of useful knowledge over the world*.

* Mr. Sharp appears to have taken a very early charge of the instruction of the Negro settlers. The following letter bears the date of the year in which they first sailed for Sierra Leone. It is evidently the composition of some person better acquainted with the construction of the English language than the poor Negro slaves can be supposed to have been, but probably displays the sentiments of those whose names are subscribed to it, and it proves how earnestly their instructor had endeavoured to instil into their minds the principles of religion.

The Address of Thanks of the Sons of Africa to the Honourable Granville Sharp, Esq. "Honourable and Worthy Sir, "December 15, 1787. "Give us leave to say, that every virtuous man is a truly honourable man; and he that doth good hath the honour to himself: and many blessings are upon the head of the just, and their memory shall be blessed, and their works praise them in the gate.

"And we must say, that we, who are a part, or descendants, of the much-wronged people of Africa, are peculiarly and greatly indebted to you, for the many good and friendly services that you have done towards us, and which are now even out of our power to enumerate.

"Nevertheless, we are truly sensible of your great kindness and humanity; and we cannot do otherwise but endeavour, with the utmost sincerity and thankfulness, to acknowledge our great obligations to you, and, with the most feeling sense of our hearts, on all occasions to express and manifest our gratitude and love for your long, valuable, and indefatigable labours and benevolence towards using every means to rescue our suffering brethren in slavery.

"Your writings, Sir, are not of trivial matters, but of great and essential things of moral and religious importance, worthy the regard of all men; and abound with many great and precious things, of sacred writ, particularly respecting the laws of God, and the duties of men. "Therefore, we wish, for ourselves and others, that these valuable treatises may be collected and preserved, for the benefit and good of all men, and for an enduring memorial of the great learning, piety, and vigilance of our good friend the worthy Author. And we wish that the laws of God, and his ways of righteousness and truth, set forth and described therein, may be as a path for the virtuous and prudent to walk in, and as a clear shining light to the wise in all ages; and that these, and other writings of that nature, may be preserved and established as a monument or beacon to guide and to warn men, lest they should depart from the paths of justice and humanity; and that they may more and more become a means of curbing the vicious violators of God's holy Law, and to restrain the avaricious invaders of the rights and liberties of men, whilever the human race inhabits this earth below.

"And, ever honourable and worthy Sir, may the blessing and peace of Almighty God be with you, and long preserve your valuable life, and make you abundantly useful in every good word and work! And when God's appointed time shall come, may your exit be blessed, and may you arise and for ever shine in the glorious world above, when that Sovereign Voice, speaking with joy, as the sound of many waters, shall be heard, saying, 'Well done, thou good

After Naimbanna's return to his country, the son of another African Chief, who resided in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, visited England for instruction; and, besides the advantages which he reaped in that respect from the bounty of the Company, appears to have received from Mr. Sharp the usual kindness of attention which he was so ready to bestow. A letter from the person here mentioned affords a specimen of African disposition and intellect.

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Anthony Domingo to Granville Sharp, Esq.

"Freetown, June 3, 1797.

Worshipful and dear Sir, "With affectionate gratitude and respect, I beg leave to present you with these few lines. My great and long absence from you makes me very solicitous concerning your welfare. Natural affection inclines me strongly to have you in remembrance, tendering your welfare in every respect very dear to me.

"I have no other way of expressing my gratitude at present, than by my hearty thanks to the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company, for giving me education and bringing me to the knowledge of God. May the blessing of God attend them on every occasion! I shall ever acknowledge with gratitude the obligations I am under to the Divine Being for bestowing on me such pious and virtuous friends.

"The distance at which Providence has placed me from you, has neither

and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!' It will then be the sweetest of all delights for ever, and more melodious than all music! And such honour and felicity will the blessed God and Saviour of his people. bestow upon all the saints and faithful servants who are redeemed from among men, and saved from sin, slavery, misery, pain, and death, and from eternal dishonour and wrath impending upon the heads of all the wicked and rebellious.

"And now, honourable Sir, with the greatest submission, we must beg you to accept this memorial of our thanks for your good and faithful services towards us, and for your humane commiseration of our brethren and countrymen unlawfully held in slavery.

"And we have hereunto subscribed a few of our names, as a mark of our gratitude and love. And we are, with the greatest esteem and veneration, honourable and worthy Sir, your most obliged and most devoted humble servants,

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made me ungrateful nor undutiful. When I left England, I felt a violent struggle in my mind between inclination and duty. I could have wished to have spent my advanced years in that place where I first obtained your acquaintance. But I hope I shall be one of the numbers that shall teach my countrymen; to convince them of the necessity of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; to guard them against temptations, to build them up in most holy faith, and to prepare them for eternal happiness." &c. &c. ANTHONY DOMINGO."

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G. S., in reply.-[EXTRACT.]

"Your letter of June last affords me great satisfaction; for I am confident that the just principles you have expressed, if you are careful to continue in them, will not only secure your own peace and solid satisfaction, but also be serviceable to others; for even bad men will approve a good example in others: so that practical worth, when sincere and unaffected, is more persuasive than the most eloquent language, and affords the best instruction to all around us." &c. &c.

The only remaining documents of Mr. Sharp's action relative to his colony, are such as exhibit him twice pleading in behalf of the unfortunate and misguided settlers.

After the first insurrection had been suppressed (in 1794), he appears as the advocate for those personally, whose cause he condemned, in the concluding part of a letter to the Chairman of the Sierra Leone Company.

G. S. to Henry Thornton, Esq.-[EXTRACT.]

"26th November, 1794.

....." I must likewise request, that, agreeably to the promise in my letter, which you approved, to the Sierra Leone settlers [who were sent prisoners to England], very particular directions may be given to Governor Dawes, or the Government at Sierra Leone, to protect, and also to grant some reasonable allowance to subsist, their wives and families that are left at the settlement.-I have still something more to propose on behalf of these men, but am fearful I shall not easily obtain the general concurrence of the other Directors, who are so

extremely intimidated with the apprehension of a farther insurrection in the colony. But I do not at all conceive that there would be the least occasion to fear the return of these men, provided due caution be taken that the rest of the settlers (and more especially the persons who return in the next ship, and have actually petitioned in their behalf,) shall pledge their future good behaviour, and take care to separate the offenders into several different hundreds at the settlement on their return. It would be a still farther security for their good behaviour, if the Governor would undertake an active part of soliciting their liberation, on condition of their earnestly promising to behave peaceably hereafter. It is magnanimous to forgive injuries; and I should never fear any bad consequences from the performance of this first of Christian duties, under reasonable caution to prevent mischief; but I should have real apprehension from persisting in a refusal to pardon in the present case. Governor Dawes's kind interference in good time, to obtain their pardon from the Company on due promise of submission, and leave to return as soon as their release can be obtained, will remove all difficulties and dangers."

A second letter, of much later date, is of the same nature. It shows him still struggling to preserve the original privileges of the colonists, and solicitous for lenient measures towards them, when they acted under mistaken views of the conduct of their protectors.

It appears, from the Reports of the colony published in March 1814*, that an unpleasant misunderstanding had taken place respecting the militia law, and that, in consequence, many of the Maroons had withdrawn themselves from the settlement.

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G. S. to the Right Hon. General Maxwell, Governor of Sierra Leone. Right Hon. Sir, "Garden Court, Temple, Dec. 22, 1812. "Having been the first proposer of forming the settlement at Sierra Leone, and having also been, for many years, one of the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company, I think it my peculiar duty to represent to you the probable cause of that discontentment which has lately been manifested by the Maroons at Sierra Leone, under your government. But, in the first place, it is necessary for me

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