Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 1.djvu/265

   

The two younger sons of the reverend head of the English Lefroys were Christopher Edward (born 1785) and Benjamin (born 1791). We first meet with the former in 1803, on the alarm of an invasion from France, as a volunteer officer. In 1804 he was preparing to be a solicitor — a profession which he adopted for a time, but soon relinquished. Under the influence of his pious mother, he fearlessly professed Bible religion in a very irreligious age, and published a very creditable book, entitled, “Are these things so? or, Some Quotations and Remarks in defence of what the world calls Methodism. By Christopher Edward Lefroy, of Chapel Street, Bedford Row.” London, 1809. This was his first appearance as an author; he had edited a volume of verses by his lamented sister-in-law, Mrs. George Lefroy, of whom her brother, Sir Egerton Brydges, said: “She was a great reader, and her rapidity of apprehension was like lightning; she wrote elegant and flowing verses on occasional subjects with great ease.” About the year 1811 he was called to the bar, and then decided to go to Oxford. His college was Magdalen Hall; he became B.A. on 15th January 1814, and M.A. on 6th July 1816. It is probable that, like the majority of barristers, he was not favoured with business; but his gown made him eligible for salaried appointments. He became known as an ardent philanthropist, and both an admirer and an associate of William Wilberforce. When the Governments of the Netherlands and Great Britain entered into a treaty for the suppression of the slave trade in Dutch Guiana, and a bench of five judges was instituted, Mr. Lefroy was selected to be the British Judge or Commissioner. This was in the spring of 1819. The appointment was to be for ten years, and a retiring salary was promised. The only obstacle in Mr. Lefroy’s mind was the fearfully pestilential climate; and he put the question whether, in the event of the failure of his health, he might retire after eight years’ service. The following letter answered his question; it also exhibits the preliminaries of his departure for Surinam, the capital of the Dutch colony:—

“, May 11, 1819. — Sir, — I have the honour to acquaint you that you will be allowed the sum of £400 sterling towards the expenses of your equipment for the situation of His Majesty’s Commissary Judge at Surinam. You will be allowed a salary of £1500 sterling a-year whilst officiating in that character, such salary to commence from the 5th of April last; and should you be desirous of relinquishing the duties of your situation at the expiration of eight years after your arrival at Surinam, you will be allowed a pension of £750 a-year upon your retirement. I have to add for your information that the amount of your outfit will be paid to you by Mr. Bandinel, the agent in this office for the Commission; and you will draw upon him at the expiration of each quarter for the amount of the salary due to you for that quarter; and he will be instructed to answer such bills drawn upon him at sixty days’ sight. — I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

.”

He arrived safely at Surinam, but soon discovered that it was not in Dutch Guiana that men of authority had any desire or intention to suppress the slave trade. Successive Governors were not unfriendly, neither were his brother-commissioners unfaithful; but all the lower officials conspired with the planters to prevent the laying of complaints before the Commissary Court. And there was a criminal court, called the “Court of Policy,” presided over by the planters and their partners in a clandestine slave-trade, which practically reversed the Commissioners’ judgments. Often