I have the honour to address to you the following facts relative to the liberated Africans employed by Government on the Island of Ascension, and which you may be pleased to lay before the African Committee for their information.
The liberated Africans attached to the establishment are 33 in number, and are relieved every three years if they wish it; they are paid in three classes. The first class receive 6d. and the lowest 4d., according to their merits; they receive a full ration of provisions, but no spirits, except the head man, who is paid and victualled as the marines.
I was three years on the island, the last two as adjutant, and as such these people were more immediately under my control; and therefore I am enabled to speak confidently as to their general conduct.
I found them easily managed, especially the last party which arrived in December 1840, who being residents at Sierra Leone for many years, were most useful and intelligent men; most of them had learned to read and write, and several had been brought up to trades and were industrious; whereas the former party, who were sent direct from the slave-yard (as it is commonly termed), were difficult to instruct, owing to their ignorance of the English language.
Each man is permitted to bring his wife.
I have, &c.
To Captain the Honourable
Joseph Denman, R.N.
(signed) Jno. Wade, Lieut. R.N.
7063. Mr. Forster.] As you appear to consider Sierra Leone as a desirable place for landing and locating the liberated Africans, how do you account for so little progress having hitherto been made in agricultural improvement and in carrying civilization into the interior from that part, up to the present time?—I consider that the liberated Africans of Sierra Leone have made a wonderful advance, comparing them with their condition when landed from the slave ships.
7064. Is it not the fact that no progress has been made in cultivation or in planting in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone?—No advance has been made because there has been no inducement held out to them; but the people have made wonderful strides, in my opinion, in civilization, and the condition of the liberated Africans is quite extraordinary, comparing them with the state in which they were landed, considering the very short time that has elapsed since the first Africans were liberated there from the slave ships.