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deck furnishes a new source of difficulty, by the resistance it occasions to the impetuous waves; when the agitated spectators on the shore have more solicitude than judgment; more zeal to aid, than power to use the very means they possess for doing good; can such be the period in which to begin to learn the method of rescuing from impending destruction? When the sight of misery rends the heart; when its expected aggravation agitates the frame; is it then fit to commence the study of what, if delayed one minute, may be to the immediate sufferers for ever useless? Your readers will anticipate the reflection, to consider difficulty as likely to happen, is the best mode to be prepared against its approach; and to have, whilst we ourselves are in safety and at ease, all the implements ready for alleviating those exposed to difficulties and dangers, is a debt we owe to our country, to our religion, and to our God. I would enlarge on these topics, but I have already intruded too much upon the patience of your readers. Should, however, this statement be deemed worthy of their attention, the subject, by your permission, will, in a subsequent number, be again offered to their consideration by,

S. S. H. S.

Captain Manby's method of relieving Ship-wrecked Seamen.

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Reply to "Some Remarks (by George Harrison) on a Com"munication from William Roscoe to the Duke of Gloucester, President of the African Institution, dated "March 20, 1809."

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Ir is now a few months since the Remarks of Mr. George Harrison on a Letter addressed by me to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, and which the African Institution did me the honour to publish in the Appendix to their third annual Report, were first communicated to me. For this I am indebted to a highly respected friend of both Mr. Harrison and myself; but as I did not then understand that such remarks had been, or were intended to be, extensively circulated, I did not think it necessary to give them a public reply. Finding, however, that they are now offered to more general notice in a periodical work,* which both from its professed object, and the ability it displays, deserves to be more fully known, I feel it incumbent on me to offer such a reply as Mr. Harrison's observations seem to me to require, and in the same friendly temper by which he appears to have been

actuated.

It would indeed be impossible for any person feeling the least disposition of kindness and good-will to mankind, not to be highly gratified by the humane and liberal spirit displayed by the author of the remarks, or to avoid partaking in his generous wishes for the improvement and happiness of Africa,

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but in proportion to the strength of this sentiment, is the regret I feel at the apprehension expressed by Mr. Harrison, that my communication to the African Institution "may have "the effect of damping the hopes, and disappointing the expectations, of many warm well-wishers to the cause of civi"lization."I may in this, as in other instances, have proved myself an inefficient, or an unsuccessful advocate; but if I could suppose that I were the author of positive injury to a cause which I venerate, as of the first importance to the interests of the human race, and which I have never ceased to promote to the utmost of my power, it would affect my mind

* See Philanthropist, No. II, for Jan. 1, 1811.

with a feeling similar to that of the guilt of parricide, and embitter every future moment of my life.

Serious, however, as these apprehensions are, it appears, on a closer examination of Mr. Harrison's remarks, that his objections apply rather "to the succession of the steps pro66 posed to be adopted by the institution, than to the plan of "intercourse with Africa in toto;" as I seem to make (as Mr. Harrison asserts) "the spirit of interchange and traffic a "preliminary and indeed primary consideration in the busi"ness of civilization."-How a mere difference of opinion, in point of arrangement, as to the measures to be pursued in promoting the civilization of Africa, provided all such measures are in themselves adviseable, can produce the fatal consequences apprehended by Mr. Harrison, it is not easy to conceive. In order however to justify this remark, he has cited the following passage from my Letter. "Hence it appears, "that one of the first objects of the institution should be to "encourage, as much as possible, a fair and peaceable traffic "with the natives of Africa, by inviting individuals in this country to keep up an intercourse equal to, and if possible "greater than, that which existed under the continuance of "the Slave Trade."

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Convinced as I am, that Mr. Harrison is wholly incapable of intentional misrepresentation, I must, in justice to myself, be allowed to observe, that the above passage does not bear him out in the remark with which he has preceded it-viz. that I have stated" the spirit of interchange and traffic, as a

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PRELIMINARY, and indeed PRIMARY CONSIDERATION, in "the business of civilization." My proposition is, that a fair and peaceable traffic with the natives of Africa should be ONE OF THE FIRST OBJECTS of the institution; which is very different from the statement imputed to me-that it should be, in definite terms, the first object, or what is still stronger "A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION.' The evident purport of my assertion is, that the measure recommended by me should be accompanied by other efforts, acting simultaneously, in promoting the great end which we all have in view; and that whilst proper methods were adopted for civilizing and instructing the inhabitants of Africa, the peaceable and friendly interchange of the necessaries and conveniences of life might assist in rousing their faculties to action, and engaging them, by the most powerful principle in human nature, to contri bute to their own improvement. To have asserted that no other efforts should be employed to civilize and improve the

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nations of Africa than the promotion of a commercial intercourse on the coast of that country-or, in other words, that this should be "the preliminary consideration in the business of civilization," would indeed justly have subjected its author to the severe censure contained in the remarks ;-but this, it must be observed, is the construction forced upon me by Mr. Harrison, and is not to be found in my letter, in which it is stated, in express terms, that "If, WHILST the Institution "is promoting a friendly intercourse, it should avail itself of "the opportunities which such intercourse will CONTINUALLY 66 afford, to conciliate the dispositions, improve the faculties, "and promote the happiness of the long injured inhabitants of Africa, they will fulfil the laudable and beneficent pur66 poses of their union, and entitle themselves to be ranked amongst the best friends of the human race."

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It will now, I trust, sufficiently appear, that in the statement in my letter which has given rise to Mr. Harrison's observations, I have recommended no one measure to the exclusion of others, and cannot therefore, either in substance or in arrangement, have any thing to retract. Were I disposed to extend this reply beyond my own justification, I should not find it difficult to shew that Mr. Harrison, although actuated by the best motives, has formed a very imperfect and erroneous idea of the subject, and has even confounded with the objects of the society the means to be employed for obtaining those objects. The "conciliating the dispositions of those in 66 power on the continent of Africa; the instruction of the "young;"-the "security of individual property," are indeed allowed on all hands to be highly desirable; but these are the results, and not the means by which the proposed improvement is to be accomplished. The question is, how these objects are most likely to be attained. Were it necessary to determine on some one specific plan, to the exclusion of the rest-a course of proceeding which I trust will never be adopted-it would be necessary to enquire, whether the civilization of Africa is more likely to be effected by sending missionaries and instructors to inform the inhabitants, and impart to them the principles of moral and intellectual improvement, or by encouraging amongst them a spirit of agriculture, and of amicable and liberal commerce. In the consideration of this question, it would have been incumbent on Mr. Har rison to have shewn, from the history of past events, that countries in a state of barbarism have been civilized by per

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sons sent as professed instructors; and to have demonstrated, on the other hand, that the production and interchange of the necessaries of life had no share, or at least a very inferior share, in producing that civilization which has extended over no inconsiderable portion of the globe. On these topics Mr. Harrison is, however, silent; and as it is not the object of either my letter to the Duke of Gloucester, or of this reply, to discourage any mode that may appear likely to contribute towards the desired success, I shall leave it to others to judge, which of these different means of promoting the civilization and happiness of mankind has been found, by experience, to have had the greatest effect.

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There appears to me to be another inconsistency in Mr. Harrison's remarks, which, in the present state of this country with respect to Africa, may possibly lead to errors of practical importance, and which I must therefore beg leave to point out. His objections to my letter appear at first to be confined merely to the order or succession of the steps therein recommended; but in the course of his remarks, he rejects altogether the idea of the encouragement of commerce with the nations of Africa, as not being within the proper limits of the African Institution; conceiving that it may be safely left to the spirit, the enterprize, and the commercial capital "of the country."-Having had the honour of being one of the first select committee for the establishment of the Institution, I have reason to know, that it never was the intention of the society to engage in commercial transactions; but to propose, on the other hand, that the society should be indifferent, or inattentive, to the promotion of a just and lawful traffic with the natives of Africa, would be to deprive it of one of the most powerful means which it possesses for effecting the beneficent purposes of its establishment. Mr. Harrison asks "if the "mercantile adventurers to Africa should EXCEED the limits of what is fair and peaceable, taking care to steer clear of "the Slave Trade, what have they to fear from the controul of the African Institution 2" Undoubtedly they ought to fear the notice, the displeasure, and, if possible, the restraint of a society established for the protection of Africa.-But if the commercial adventurers, in a legitimate commerce with Africa, have nothing to fear from the African Institution, it would appear, from the general tenor of Mr. Harrison's remarks, that they have nothing to hope; and that they ought to be left to themselves, to struggle with all the disadvantages of a new and uncertain traffic, which it is evidently the chief object

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