tions
of the treaty that had been forced upon him, and had not paid the fine
of one thousand dollars, the Acting Governor of Sierra Leone, a
gentleman of colour, determined to take steps for his punishment. On the
21st of May, accordingly, he sent for Captain R. D'Oyley Fletcher, 1st
West India Regiment, who was then in command of the troops, and informed
him that it was his intention to send a force of 150 men, that very day,
to burn the town of Malageah, and, if possible, capture the king. He
added that the troops would proceed in H.M.S. _Teazer_, then lying in
the harbour.

Captain Fletcher, in reply, said that he could not approve of the
proposed arrangements; that since a force of 400 men had been deemed
necessary to extract a promise from the king, it was, to say the least,
injudicious to endeavour to force him to fulfil that promise with only
150 men. He stated that at the last expedition more than 2000 armed
natives had been seen, and he considered it inadvisable to proceed to
actual hostilities without a force proportionate to the duty to be
performed. He further suggested that the expedition should be delayed
for two or three days, so that the detachments of the 2nd West India
Regiment might be brought in from Waterloo and the Banana Islands, and
the whole garrison employed on the duty. The Acting Governor overruled
these objections, insinuated that Captain Fletcher was actuated by fears
for his personal safety, and finally peremptorily ordered the force he
had mentioned to embark.

In consequence, on the evening of May 21st, Captain Fletcher, Lieutenant
Strachan, Lieutenant Wylie, and 69 men of the 1st West India Regiment,
with Lieutenants Keir and Beazley and 79 men of the 3rd West India
Regiment, embarked on board the _Teazer_. Lieutenant Vincent, 2nd West
India Regiment, was attached to the 1st for duty, and
Deputy-Assistant-Commissary-General Frith and Surgeons Marchant and
Bradshaw accompanied the troops.

The _Teazer_ arrived off Benty Point, at the mouth of the Mellicourie
River, on the morning of May 22nd, and, after a delay of a few hours, in
consequence of the difficulty in crossing the bar, the expedition
arrived off Malageah.

Lieutenant-Commander Nicolas, of the _Teazer_, and Mr. Dillet, the
Acting Governor's private secretary, had been appointed commissioners,
and, by their direction, the troops disembarked about 10 a.m. A flag of
truce was flying on the king's house, and, as he showed a di