my Lord, to the beneficence of
enlightened nations, and how worthy of the magnanimity of a British
government to effect!

In the interim, my Lord, new and accumulated sources of commerce, &c. will
remunerate the parent state in a manner more congenial with the natural
rights of mankind, while a monumental column will be erected to humanity,
which will perpetuate its exalted benevolence, and excite the admiration
of, and be an example to, the civilized world; but if Africa is abandoned
by Great Britain, it will be subject to the rapacity of other nations, who,
_to my personal knowledge_, are _now_ directing their views towards its
commerce in the contemplation of that abandonment, and who will, no doubt,
seize it with avidity, as being highly lucrative and important; while the
African's chains will still clink in the ears of the civilized world, his
fetters be rivetted more closely, and his miserable fate be consigned to
the uncertainty of human events.

Finally, permit me to assure your Lordship, that I am wholly uninfluenced,
and that I am, at this moment, ignorant of the present opinions of men in
Europe upon this interesting subject, as I have just arrived in England,
and have been excluded for some time past from any other scene but that of
personal observation in Africa.

I have considered the subject with deep interest, and finding the momentous
question upon the eve of being agitated by the legislature, I have
conceived it my duty, as a British commercial Subject, to give every
information to your Lordship, within my personal knowledge, and have,
therefore, obtruded my thoughts upon you; and if your Lordship deems a more
detailed and systematic view of my journals of any interest, I am ready to
unfold them with the utmost alacrity. In the interim, I am,

My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient
humble servant,

JOSEPH CORRY.

No. II.

_To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,_
_referred to in the foregoing Letter to Lord Howick._

_Bance Island, River Sierra Leone, Coast of Africa,_
_May 1st, 1806._

MY LORDS,

That consideration which has uniformly distinguished your Lordships for the
safe-guardianship of our commerce, and the property engaged in it,
stimulates me to approach your Lordships with some fe