LETTER XII

FREE TOWN, SIERRA LEONA, June 5th, 1793.

My Dear Madam,

I finished my last by hinting that I had once more enlisted under the banners of Hymen, but made no apology for my hastiness; or in other words for deviating from the usual custom of twelve months widowbood. To be plain, I did not make any because I thought it unnecessary. Narrow minds may censure me, and perhaps the powerful influence of habit might operate against me in your opinion before you reflected upon my situation or well digested the many circumstances which plead in my favour; but having done this, I am mistaken indeed if your heart is not too expanded to sully me with reproach afterwards. My own conscience acquits me from having acted wrong; next to that I wish for the approbation of my friends, and after them, the charitable construction of the world. I know you wish me happy, and no woman can be more so than I am at present, with every expectation of a continuance.

Doesn’t that last sentence sound as though her marriage to Isacc DuBois was a love match—a happy contrast to her experience with Falconbridge?

I must now proceed to give you a summary view of occurrences since the fifteenth of February:

The first thing I shall mention is the universal discontent which has prevailed among the Settlers ever since the altercation they had with Mr. Dawes and the Surveyor on the 7th of February, and it must be confessed by every candid person, their murmurs are not excited without cause. To give you an idea of what their complaints are, I shall state the outlines of a petition which they intend sending to the Court of Directors by two Deputies [Isaac Anderson and Cato Perkins] elected about the middle of March, who for want of an opportunity have not yet sailed, but are just on the eve of embarking in the Amy for England. I have not only seen the petition, but have a copy of it verbatim.¹

It first of all states, "That the Petitioners are sensible of, and thankful for the good intended by sending them from Nova Scotia to this country, and in return assure the Directors, they are well inclined to assist the Company's views, all in their power.

"That they are grieved beyond expression to be forced to complain of hardships and oppressions loaded on them by the managers of the Colony, which they are persuaded the Directors are ignorant of.

"That the promises made by the Company's Agents, in Nova Scotia, were preferable to any ever held out to them before, and trusting the performance of them, with the Almighty's assistance and their own industry, would better their condition, induced them to emigrate here. That none of those promises have been fulfilled, and it has been insinuated to them that Mr. Clarkson had not authority for making any; they therefore beg to be informed whether such is the case or not, and that the Directors will point out on what footing they are considered.

"That health and life is valuable and uncertain; that notwithstanding they labour under the misfortune of wanting education; their feelings are equally acute with those of white men, and they have as great an anxiety to lay a foundation for their children's freedom and happiness as any human being can possess. That they believe the Directors wish to make them happy, and that they think their sufferings are principally due to the conduct of the Company's Agents here, which they suppose has been partially represented to the Directors.

"That Mr. Clarkson had promised in Nova Scotia, among other things, they should be supplied with every necessary of life from the Company's stores, at a moderate advance of ten per cent on the prime cost and charges. That while Mr. Clarkson remained in the Colony they paid no more; but since then they have been charged upwards of 100 per cent. That they would not grumble even at that if the worst of goods were not sold and paltry advantages taken of them, particularly in the article of rum. That they had known, by Mr. Dawes's order, several puncheons filled up with thirty gallons of water each, and even, though thus reduced, sold to them at a more extravagant price than they had ever paid before. (This is perfectly true, but upon investigation, it appeared to proceed from religious motives; Mr. Dawes said he ordered a little water to be put into each puncheon, from a fear the consumers would neglect to dilute the spirit sufficiently. Had such a trick been played at a Slave Factory, how would it be construed?)

"That the only means they have of acquiring those goods is by labouring in the Company's service, and even this they are deprived of at the whim of Mr. Dawes or any other Gentleman in office, which they consider a prodigious hardship as it is the only resource whereby they can provide bread for their families; that out of mere pique several have been discharged from service and not permitted even with their little savings, to purchase provisions from the Company's store-house, the only one here.

"That Mr. Clarkson informed them before he sailed for England [that] the Company had been mistaken in the quantity of land they supposed themselves possessed of, and in consequence only one fifth part of what was originally promised them (the petitioners) could be at present performed; which quantity the Surveyor would deliver them in a fortnight at furthest, but they should have the remainder at a future time.

"That they should have been satisfied had they got one fifth part of their proportion (in good land) [in] time enough to have prepared a crop for the ensuing year, but the rains are now commenced and the Surveyor has not finished laying out the small allotments, which he might have done had he not relinquished the work as soon as Mr. Clarkson sailed; and the greater part of those he has surveyed are so mountainous, barren and rocky, that it will be impossible ever to obtain a living from them."

After mentioning many more trifling complaints and dwelling greatly on the happiness and prosperity of their children, they conclude with words to this effect:

"We will wait patiently till we hear from you because we are persuaded you will do us justice; and if your Honors will enquire into our sufferings, compassionate us and grant us the priviledges we feel entitled to from Mr. Clarkson's promises. We will continually offer up our prayers for you and endeavour to impress upon the minds of our children the most lasting sense of gratitude, &c. &c."²

This petition is signed by thirty one of the most respectable Settlers in behalf of the whole;³ and they have raised a small subscription for supporting their representatives while in England. ‘Tis to be hoped the Directors will pay attention to them and not suffer themselves to be biassed [sic] by the misrepresentations of one or two plausible individuals, who must of course say all they are able in vindication of their conduct, and who, we have reason to believe from their hipocritical pretensions to religion, have acquired a great ascendency over a few of the leading Directors;—but surely they will not be so forgetful of their own characters and interests as to allow that ascendency to operate against honesty, truth and justice, and ruin the quiet and happiness of a thousand souls:—no! they must be strangely altered indeed, laying aside their partiality for Ethiopians, if they do not possess too much probity to hesitate a moment when it comes before them.

Letters to Thornton from Dawes and Macaulay label all the settler complaints "frivolous and ill-grounded." The directors in London are much happier in reading the praises Pepys, Dawes, and Macaulay heap on each other than in hearing Clarkson’s critical judgment after seven months of governing Freetown. This bias may seem curious, but the three councilllors now in charge in Freetown share with Chairman Thornton and his closest associates an enthusiasm for the evangelical piety of a growing Anglican sect in Clapham. Indeed, Dawes and Macaulay won their appointments because they had joined Thornton’s circle at Clapham.

Thornton was born in Clapham; as a successful banker he bought and enlarged a lovely house there. The business of the Sierra Leone Company is largely conducted in offices next door to Thornton’s bank, where, ensconced in great comfort, the evangelicals plan the future of the penniless freed blacks in Freetown as one segment of their campaign to reform Protestant religion and end the slave trade.⁴

Clarkson arrives in England in February and wastes no time informing the directors of the heavy toll sickness had taken in Freetown, exacerbated by widespread incompetence among the white staff and a shortage of basic supplies. Chairman Thornton, the largest shareholder in the Sierra Leone Company and now a Member of Parliament, takes Clarkson’s criticisms personally, believes they reflect badly on him and the other directors. He is deeply offended. He points out that war in Europe has affected shipping and justifies all actions taken by the board of directors as vital to maintaining a public perception in England that Freetown is thriving.

The directors are not happy when Anderson and Perkins arrive in England to complain in behalf of their fellow settlers. Their reception is decidedly chilly. The two get in touch with John Clarkson, who writes Thornton that he will join Anderson and Perkins for a conference with the directors. Thornton ignores the suggestion. Days stretch into weeks; Anderson and Perkins soon run out of money. They are told to find jobs or mortgage their farms (not yet received) if they want loans. When Anderson and Perkins present Thornton with a letter from John Clarkson, they are told to board the Amy and return to Sierra Leone, where they will receive their answer. When they protest, they are told to put any further complaints in writing.⁵

Besides displeasing the blacks and rendering them uneasy, Mr. Dawes is at constant variance with some one or other of the officers, and since I wrote you last, few days have pass'd over without some fresh feud; one in particular is of so extraordinary a nature I must relate it that you may have a peep into the disposition of our Governor.

Mr. S-----,⁶ a surgeon who came out in the Sierra Leone Packet, was two months here without a room to lodge in on shore, which was attended with great inconvenience to him and interfered considerably with his duty. He after some time interceded with Mr. Dawes to let him have a small room fitted up in our house, which he soon got finished and removed into. The apartment being very comfortable and snug, Mr. Dawes took a fancy to it, and the day after Mr. S----- had taken possession, without any apology or preface, sent his servant to demand the key. Mr. S----- was surprised at so uncouth and arbitrary a proceeding and did not feel inclined to treat it with passive obedience, but gave a positive refusal, as such rudeness merited. In consequence, he was immediately dismissed from the service, and here follows an accurate copy of his dismission.

Council, FREE TOWN, 26th April, 1793

Sir,

I am desired to transmit the enclosed resolution of Council to you and am Sir, your obedient humble Servant:

(signed) J. STRAND, Secretary.⁷

Resolved, that Mr. S-----, who came out to this Colony as surgeon in the Hon. the Sierra Leone Company's service, has pointedly refused obedience to the commands of the Superintendant, he be dismissed from the service, and that from this day he is no longer considered as a servant of the said company.

JAMES STRAND, Secretary (signed)

Did you ever hear of any thing more ridiculously despotic? but mark the sequel: the day following, Mr. Dawes attended by the Secretary and his (Mr. Dawes's) servant, came to the Hummums, for by this name I must tell you our house is known. I was sitting in the piazza reading. They took no notice of me, but Mr. S----- being present, the Governor address'd him and demanded the key of his room, which of course was not complied with. He then desired his servant to break open the door, who immediately got to work and would have done it, but was slily check'd by Mr. Dawes, who with as little ceremony or preface as he had offended, went up to Mr. S----- and said, "I am much concerned sir for what has passed. If you feel offended, I beg your pardon. I've been unwell, or would not have acted so rudely. I wanted your room because it was retired, that I might be a little quiet. Pray sir return my papers and forget what has passed; you will greatly oblige and make me happy by doing so."

Mr. S----- heard this penitential confession with amazement, and replied, "Had you asked me in a gentlemanlike manner for my room at first, it would have been much at your service. As it is now I bear no malice; here are your papers."

I could fill up twenty pages was I to acquaint you with all the private quarrels of this sort: but as they can neither afford amusement or instruction, it is best to pass them over in silence.

On the 25th of April we heard of the French King being massacred and that England had declared war against the blood thirsty banditti who have usurped the reins of government in France. This account came by the Swift Privateer Cutter of Bristol to the Isles de Loss, where she destroyed a French Factory and made some valuable reprisals.

His Majesty's frigate Orpheus, Captain Newcomb, Sea-flower Cutter, Lieutenant Webber, and the African Queen, a ship chartered by the Company, arrived here the beginning of last month. Captain Newcomb in his way out touched at Senegal and Gorée and captured six French ships, four of which arrived safe at this port and have since been condemned and sold at Bance Island; the other two were lost on the shoals of Grandée. The Orpheus came out to protect the British Trade on this part of the coast of Africa, as did the Sea-flower in some measure; but she is only to run down the Coast, and proceed to the West Indies. After remaining here a few days, they both went to leeward, unfortunately three or four days too late, or they would have intercepted a French Corsair that has scowered the coast from Cape Mount (about fifty leagues from hence) downwards, considerably annoyed our trade, and taken eight valuable ships clear away, it is supposed to Cayenne. She had captured many more, which have been retaken by the Sea-flower and Robust (a Privateer from Liverpool). These two vessels we hear have consorted and gone to Old Calabar, where they expect to fall in with and take a large French Guineaman that has twelve hundred slaves on board and is just ready to sail. One of the ships they re-captured was sent in here. I have seen the master of her, who says he never saw such a savage looking set in his life as were on board the Frenchman. They all had on horsemen's caps (having a tin plate in front with the emblem of Death's head and marrow bones, and underneath inscribed, "Liberty, or Death," a leather belt round their waist with a brace of pistols and a sabre; and they looked so dreadfully ferocious that one would suppose them capable of eating every Englishman they met with without salt or gravy. Unluckily the Orpheus sprung her foremast, which obliged her to give up pursuing those Republican ragamuffins, and returned here.

During her absence, one of the most atrocious infringements on the liberty of British subjects and the most daring extension of arrogated power that has yet occurred among us was practised by our Colonial Tribunal on the persons of three sailors belonging to the African Queen. These thoughtless sons of Neptune came on shore to regale themselves with a walk while their master was away (I believe at Bance Island) and as they strolled through the town, wantonly killed a duck belonging to one of the Settlers. They were immediately apprehended and taken before the Chief Magistrate, who committed them to prison, and the subsequent day they were tried, not by their Peers, but by Judge McAuley, and a Jury of twelve blacks, who, without any evidence or defence from the prisoners, found them guilty of stealing and killing the duck. The self-created Judge then sentenced one of them to receive thirty-nine lashes by the common whipper, fined the other two in a sum of money each and ordered them to be confined in irons on board the York till their fines were paid.

These sentences were accordingly put in execution. Poor Jack was dreadfully mortified at being whipped by a black man, but his punishment being soon over. I considered it the lightest, for his fellow sufferers were kept ironed in the close hold of a ship, already infested with disease, upwards of three weeks till the Orpheus returned, when the master of the African Queen presented a petition from them to Captain Newcomb, who did not hesitate to interpose his authority. He came on shore, waited on the Governors, and without waiting for compliments or paying any himself, he demanded of them by what authority they tried white men, the subjects of Great Britain, by a Jury of blacks. It was so novel a circumstance that it struck him with astonishment. "By Act of Parliament," answered Mr. McAuley. "Shew me that Act of Parliament," replied Captain Newcomb. The Act for incorporating the Company being produced, Captain Newcomb read it over carefully and finding there was no sanction given for holding any Courts of the kind, exclaimed, "Your Act of Parliament mentions nothing of the sort—your Court is a mere usurpation and a mockery on all law and justice. I desire the prisoners may be released instantly." This, you imagine, was very unpalatable language to our mighty men; but they were forced to stomach it, and comply with the orders of their superior. It is much to be wished [that] a ship of war was always stationed here. The very sight of her would restrain the exercise of similar abuses or any extravagant stretches of undelegated power.

The first Sunday in every month is the day appointed for holding this sham Court, which, withal, serves very well for regulating any internal quarrels or misunderstandings among the Settlers, by whom it is credited; but extending its functions beyond them is most iniquitous presumption.

Letters arrived by the African Queen from Mr. Clarkson saying he was coming out immediately. The joy this news produced was of short continuance and suddenly damped by dispatches from the Directors mentioning Mr. Clarkson being dismissed and succeeded by Mr. Dawes. This cannot in any way be rationally accounted for, but it is universally supposed the Directors have been betrayed into an act so prejudicial to their interests and the welfare of their Colony by listening to some malicious, cowardly representations sent home by certain persons here who are fully capable of assassinating the most immaculate character if thereby they can acquire latitude for their boundless ambition, or, for a moment, quench their unconscionable thirst for power.

What neither Anna Maria nor Clarkson himself grasped was that because William Dawes and Zachary Macaulay had no personal attachment to the American blacks, as Clarkson did, they were more concerned with returns to the Sierra Leone Company stockholders than with the welfare of his fractious settlers.

Mail comes on each arriving ship and is carried to Harmony Hall where it is distributed along with whatever spoken news is available. When Isaac DuBois receives the news of John Clarkson’s dismissal, he surely rushes home to share it with Anna Maria. "The worst possible news! John Clarkson will not be returning to Freetown!"

"What?"

"The directors have dismissed him."

Anna Maria’s mouth falls open. After a moment she says, "I don’t believe it!"

"The captain of the ship just arrived has brought the news."

"Oh—that’s terrible. Just terrible."

"I’m looking for his last letter," Dubois replied. "Yes, here it is."

"Listen to this.⁸ Clarkson wrote that when he arrived in London, he was received ‘with every mark of affection and respect and in short the Directors in private made great Professions to me but took care never to mention in public the services I had rendered them’."

"Oh," Anna Maria exclaims. "Just as they did with Falconbridge—concealing their real intentions. Thornton is ever the cautious banker, protecting his own interests regardless of how much he harms others. He mistrusts Clarkson's popularity with the Nova Scotian settlers. They sent him to Nova Scotia with instructions that the settlers would receive free land in Africa, and changed their minds after he had departed. Now the Company wants to levy quit-rents on the land to recoup their investment."

"Yes—the quit-rents are going to cause all kinds of trouble."

"What else did he say?" Anna Maria asks.

"He said he was ‘impatient with their want of Method and their want of Exertion, with their strict adherence to nonsensical forms, and told them so.’ He says that their general way of doing things is so disgusting that he really could not keep his temper and very often flew out in abuse of their general plans’."

"Oh, dear. That would infuriate Thornton. He would take any criticism personally and be insulted."

"To put it mildly," Isaac replied and continued reading. "They’ve received despatches from Dawes and Macaulay contrasting the success of their own style of government by firmness with Clarkson's lazy style of persuasion and promises."

Anna Maria snorted. "Those two would tell any kind of lie to further their own interests."

"The Directors have believed them. They’ve dismissed Clarkson."

"Surely not."

Dubois nodded his head, folding the letter. "Word today is that Thornton offered him a handsome stipend if he would resign as governor. Clarkson refused, and was promptly dismissed."

"Oh, that’s shocking. The one man who had won the settlers’ trust and affection. I hope Clarkson is going to tell every newspaper in London how he’s been treated."

DuBois shakes his head. "If he does, it will be very detrimental to our settlement here."

"But Freetown is left in the hands of Thornton’s pious evangelicals!"

"Yes." DuBois stares out the door at the tiny lateen-rigged Bullom boats sailing over the estuary. "I thought I could stick it out here until Clarkson returns. But if he’s not coming back . . .."

"Dawes and Pepys are thwarting you every time you turn around, aren’t they?"

DuBois flexes his shoulders in frustration. "I can’t accomplish anything useful here while they are in charge. They won’t let me. They are so intent on building fortifications that they ignore the welfare of the colony."

Anna Maria watches his face as it reflects his dismay at this unexpected crisis. The warm brown eyes, the narrow nose, the full lips that melt her with kisses. "We can always go home to England," she reminds him.

No language can perfectly describe how much the generality of people are chagrined on this occasion. They have added to their petition the most earnest solicitation for Mr. Clarkson to be sent out again. Numbers, hopeless of such an event, are about to quit the Colony, and ever since the news transpired, they have harrassed Mr. Dawes with insults in hopes he may take it in his head to be disgusted and march off. They even went so far as to write a letter reminding him of the recent melancholy fate of Louis XVI and threatning something similar to him if he did not instantly acquiesce with some demand they made relating to provisions, and which I learn he complied with, without hesitation. I should not be surprised after obtaining one demand so easily, if they repeated their threats until all the promises made them were fulfilled. But they say it was the want of provisions that incited them to frighten the Governor, and they will now wait peaceably till their Deputies return from England, or till they know what the Directors mean to do for them.

Meanwhile Clarkson received letters from the settlers informing him that the surveying had stopped, that he is being accused of making drunken promises to the settlers, and that DuBois (whom Clarkson knew to be the most efficient white official in the colony) has in frustration asked to leave Freetown. Isaac Anderson and Luke Jordan write him that "Our present governor allows the Slave Traders to come here & abuse us."⁹

Clarkson recognizes, however, that the Freetown colony is still fragile and would suffer if his views were circulated in England. He restrains his public comments because he knows that the settlement could not survive without British funds and protection. Instead, he writes his black friends in Freetown that they must "be obedient to the laws or else the Colony will be at an end." He assures them of his firm belief that the Sierra Leone Company will do everything in its power to protect them and further their prosperity.

It will be a monstrous pity if this Colony does not succeed after the immense sum of money expended on it; the original theory of its establishment (so generally known) was praise worthy and magnanimous, nor do I suppose such a scheme by any means impracticable; but injudicious management, want of method, anarchy, perpetual cabals and cavils, will thwart the wisest and noblest intentions, which I predict will be the case here unless some speedy salutary alterations are adopted. If the present system is continued, not only the settlers, but the natives will be provoked; all kind of confidence will cease, the Company’s funds will be fruitlessly exausted, and more than probable, before ten years we may hear that the Colony is dwindled into a common slave factory. Some situations make it necessary for superiors to be feared, and all situations require they should be loved; but if the present managers continue here their life-times, they will never experience the pleasure of the latter or the honor of the former; and retire when they like, I very much question whether they will leave one friendly thought towards them behind. For this (tho' an idea well meaning men would blush to foster) must ensue where the seeds of dissention and rancarous¹⁰ jealousy are sowed and encouraged by those whose province should be to suppress their growth.

The Amy tis said will sail in a week; she carries a small cargo of about £1500 value, a laughable return for [expenditures] upwards of £100,000. Being the first remittance, I dare say it will be well puffed off in your news-papers; to see one of those puffs would put me in mind of a persons face, distorted with a forced laugh, when the heart felt nought but emotions of agony: for here is a capital stock of more than £200,000. Half expended, and this first harvest I suppose will barely defray the disbursements of shipping and carrying itself. What is more lamentable, such as it is cannot be often repeated, for the property is mostly sunk in such a way that no probable or real advantages can ever revert from it without the aid of an immense sum most judiciously applyed.

The periodical rains are just commencing and seem to set in very severe, but I am in hopes of escaping its inclemency, being about to turn my back on them and bid adieu to this distracted land, so you may probably hear of our arrival in England very shortly after the receipt of this letter, although we are to take a round about voyage by way of Jamaica. Mr.----- [DuBois] had taken our passage in the Amy, but the Discontents about to leave the Colony are so numerous that she will be greatly crowded, and as the Nassau has excellent accommodations, sails well and immediately, he thinks we will be more comfortable in her¹¹ and less liable to fall in with French Pirates than we should in the former, which is a dull sluggish vessel though it is a prevailing opinion here should she (the Amy) meet with a French man of war, she will be in no danger as the National Convention have offered protection to all the Company's ships. How true this may be I cannot say; but it is probable enough as two of the Directors were some time since nominated Members of the Convention.¹²

We are to sail in a day or two, and I am very much hurried in packing up, and preparing for our voyage, therefore must bid you farewell, &c. &c.

On May 1st in a letter to Clarkson, DuBois mentions that Dawes has dismissed "Mr. Horwood, Mrs. DuBois’s brother, without assigning any reason whatsoever for so doing; and after dismissing him, telling him that he might be re-appointed in the service if he chose. Be assured I did not let it drop in silence, and after some altercation on the subject, I told Mr. Dawes that as Mr. Horwood was appointed by you I certainly should mention the circumstance to you in my first letter; to which I was answered they were not accountable to Mr. Clarkson for their conduct but to the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company only."¹³

An hour or so before they sailed on May 9 DuBois wrote hastily to John Clarkson explaining why they were leaving, sending his letter on the ship that was going direct to England:

Mr dear Sir:

Should this reach you before I arrive, it will just serve to inform you I am on my way. You will not be pleased to hear of my leaving the Colony, but I hope it is for the best; believe me unless the directors will listen to truth their Colony is lost, such conduct—such every thing—you little dream of: two of the Black settlers deputed by the whole, go home in the Amy to represent their Grievances, they have been shamefully trampled on since you went away. I sail in about an hour with Captn Morley. Mr. Afzelius goes home in the Amy who will deliver you this with a large bird.. The Ocean arrived two days ago; why did you not write me by her? As I make no doubt that you are by this time married, let me assure you there is no man in the world who I sincerely wish should enjoy more happiness in that state than your self. — & be pleased to make my best respects to Mrs. Clarkson.

All the ill treatment I have received since you left this I am convinced has been due to my not taking a diabolical part which I shudder at—in poisoning the minds of the people against you—but all their affairs have been in vain. The people cry loudly for your return. Adieu/& believe me/ most sincerely/ & affectionately/yours/ Isaac DuBois.

Mrs. DB begs her best respects to your self & Mrs. Clarkson.

Free Town 9th June 1793

Endnotes:

1. The full text of their petition is included in Christopher Fyfe, Our Cbildren Free and Happy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), pp. 35-40.

2. Fyfe points out in Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 120, that "these extracts from the petition illustrate well how differently the settlers and the directors saw the Colony. The settlers saw it primarily as a new home for themselves and their children. The directors saw it however primarily as a means to enable them to transform West Africa."

3. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 120: The only surviving copy, in the Clarkson papers in the British Library, lacks the signatures.

4. See Wilson, The Loyal Blacks, Chapter 15.

5. Clifford, p. 160.

6. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 121: DuBois in his journal (6 February 1793) gives his name as Sealy.

7. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 122: Strand was another of the Swedenborgian Swedes in the Company’s service. Neither the incident nor the letter is recorded in the minute book of the Governor and Council (PRO, CO 270/2).

8. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 126. British Library, Add. MS 41263. Actually, much of what follows was contained in a letter written by Clarkson to DuBois on 1 July 1793. DuBois left Freetown on June 9th, so the letter did not reach him until much later. It is clear, however, that Anna Maria and Isaac decided to leave Freetown almost immediately after they learned that Clarkson would not be returning.

9. Clarkson Papers, June 28, 1794. British Library Additional Manuscripts, 41, 263.

10. 'rancorous' in the 1802 edition.

11. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 128: The Nassau was the ship commanded by Anna Maria’s brother-in-law Captain Morley, who was taking "a round about voyage by way of Jamaica" to enable him to deliver there the cargo of slaves he had taken on board at Bunce Island.

12. In October 1792, the Convention conferred French citizenship on Clarkson and Wilberforce, together with Tom Paine, Joseph Priestley and George Washington; see Ellen Gibson Wilson, Thomas Clarkson: A Biography (London: Macmillan, 1989; 2nd edn, 1996), p. 79. It is true that there were informal negotiations between the Company and France regarding immunity for the colony, but this did not prevent Freetown from being totally destroyed by the French in late September 1794 (Wilson, Loyal Blacks, pp. 316-17). Coleman, p. 166.

13. Fyfe, Anna Maria Falconbridge, p. 188.

Return to Introduction to Anna Maria's diary