Page:A memoir of Granville Sharp.djvu/45

Rh the original purchase, was confirmed by Naimbana, a superior native chieftain, who resided between the English slave factory at Bunce Island and the French one at Gambia, upon the small island of Rohanna. Towards the close of the next year (1789) a new disaster overwhelmed the establishment. The brief history of this is so characteristic of the mode which governments take to repair injuries; and of the fact so disgraceful to civilized people, that they are generally the first aggressors, that it deserves a detail.

An American slave captain had carried off two subjects of King Tom, the native chief residing within half a mile of the English settlement. Tom watched for retaliation. An American boat from another ship passing up the river gave him the opportunity—he attacked and plundered it; putting the crew of three or four men to death, excepting one who made his escape to the slave factory, to which the boat was going. At this time, a British ship of war was lying in the river, and the agent of the factory consulting with the officers, determined upon revenge. They first endeavored to decoy Tom on board; but he knew them too well. They then with a force of sailors and marines, attacked his town, plundered and burnt it. The slave factor soon after left the coast, and the neighboring chiefs holding a council, and finding that two of the settlers of Sierra Leone had aided their enemies, determined upon destroying the settlement. They proceeded legally and deliberately, just as more enlightened people do. A formal notice was solemnly sent of their dreadful purpose to Sierra Leone, and three days were allowed the inhabitants for removal. The settlers had no alternative. They fled; and the judicial sentence was carried into execution at the appointed time. Meanwhile Sharp finding the inadequacy of his own resources, had been endeavoring to form an incorporated company, and to secure the aid of Government in conducting the enterprise. And the company, united and animated by his influence, was induced by the emergency just mentioned, to expedite their measures, even before they had