A brief history of the Wesleyan missions on the west coast of Africa : including biographical sketches of all the missionaries who have died in that important field of labour : with some account of the European settlements and of the slave-trade

Front matter

■ ail

;v' !I.!% ii'fflfill ■(:,' iiiisiiitaii

-^1#’ :„„■

Preface

For many generations the name of Africa has produced a kind of talismanic effect upon various parts of the civilized u^orld. It has arrested the attention and awakened the sympathies of mankind ; and brought into action some of the noblest energies — mental, moral, and physical — with which human nature is endowed. The phi]^»nthropist and the philosopher, the man of science and of commerce, the statesman and the Christian, have all alike in their turn directed their attention to that realm of wonder,'’^ to that once bright, but long since (and still) dark, continent. No part of the globe is richer in all the three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral ; and yet, alas ! no part of the world is more deeply degraded, demoralized, and polluted.

The very name of Africa, therefore, prepares us for revolting scenes of wrong, oppression, and cruelty ; for deeds of danger, of desolation, and of death. The following pages will exhibit this unhappy country in some of its darkest features : with its brutal rites and ceremonies, its demon- worship, and its millions of inhabitants slain in battle, and millions more the victims to the sacrificial knife, the instrument of a sanguinary superstition, and still millions more pining away in the horrid holds of the slave-ships ! But without referring to this awful loss of life, which to a great extent occurs annually, what a number of valuable lives have been sacrificed in exploring its unknown regions, in tracing the sources of its mighty rivers, in attempting to mitigate some of its untold miseries, and in scattering, by means of Christian missions, the blessings of a Saviour’s love among some of the numerous tribes skirting that long line of coast !

The present work owes its existence to a desire long felt, on the part of the writer, to see placed upon record some brief memorial of departed worth in connexion with the last class of European agents who have lost their lives in the welfare of Africa. Soon after his arrival in England in the summer of 1843, he was requested by an intelligent gentleman to publish some account of his missionary labours ; but he did not then entertain the proposition. Since that period he has been frequently solicited by other esteemed friends to enter on this undertaking ; but he still declined. However, having attended many missionary meetings,

b

VI

PREFACE.

and liaving not unfrequently referred to the prejudicial effects of the climate of Western Africa on European constitutions, as one of the great drawbacks to the rapid progress of Christianity ; it often occurred to him on those occasions, that a brief history of the Wesleyan missions, with a biographical sketch of those excellent men, and also of honourable women not a few,^^ who have fallen in that land of death, could not but be interesting to the friends of missions in general, and especially to the nearest connexions of the deceased. It is true that the death of each missionary and missionary’s wife, as they have occurred, has been invariably announced in the Missionary Notices,’^ with some suitable and appropriate remarks ; and a further record of each departed missionary has been published in the Obituary department of the Minutes of Conference.” But the writer conceived, that something in a more connected form, with further particulars, was due to that noble and self-denying band of the devoted soldiers of the cross, who have voluntarily rushed into the field, to fill up the breaches made by the last enemy,” or to aid the few standard-bearers who were still remaining, and who have cheerfully laid down their lives, and sacrificed their all, in this hallowed cause. He was, moreover, not without hope that a brief account of their successful labours, their sickness and death, though following each other (as it will be seen they did) in rapid succession, instead of acting as a check to missionary ardour, or deterring young men from venturing on this pestilential clime, would rather tend to fan the flame of missionary zeal, already kindled in many hearts, and that it would induce others to say, Here am I ; send me!” The past history of these missions warrants and encourages this expectation.

The author, having long w'aited for some one more competent to undertake this task, at length resolved to make the attempt himself; and, as soon as he had taken this resolution, he made known his intention to the public, and solicited, from the parents and other friends of deceased missionaries, such interesting incidents connected with their conversion to God, their call to the ministry, and other facts, as they might be able to furnish. To this application many friends in different parts of the kingdom soon responded ; and the substance of those letters are embodied in the biographical sketches found in the following pages ; and the author tenders his grateful acknowledgments for those valuable communications. Some of the memoirs are exceedingly brief when compared with others ; but it must be remembered, that this has arisen from circum-

PREFACE.

Vll stances over wliicli the writer had no control ; for in no instance has he extolled the virtues and zeal of one missionary at the expense of those of others^ but has endeavoured to do justice to alb as far as he was enabled from his personal knowledge of them^ and the materials with which he was furnished. For this purpose he has availed himself of all the published documents that were within his reach ; and^ when these failed to satisfy him^ he has written scores of letters to ascertain the correctness of some facb or the precise date of some evenb and has thus tried to elicit further information^ and to insure accuracy.

Bub in sitting’' down to his task^ it was natural to say something of Africa and the Africans. This led him^ almost as naturally^ to speak of Slavery and the Slave-Trade ; and hence the work has swollen to more than twice the bulk he originally intended. This he regrets ; as the size of the book materially affects the price, and he was most anxious to have brought it within the reach of the generality of readers on missionary subjects. He has been cheered and encouraged, however, in his attempt to give to the public some account of Africa, and of the Wesleyan missions in the Western part of that continent, by many valued ministers and intelligent friends, who have written to him, and who have urged him not to be too brief,^^ but to give ample information on the real state of African society, with its scenery and productions, and the progress of the missions. It was almost impossible to touch on West-African affairs, and not refer to that monster foe, the Slave-Trade ; that enemy to the well-being of Africa, which has hitherto laughed to scorn the Acts of the British Legislature, and the noble attempts that have been made by the various philanthropic societies of the land, who have tried in vain to crush the evil.

The authoFs views on this great political question will be found in the following pages ; and he conceives that Western Africa has claims on the whole of Christendom, which no other part of the world can exhibit. If his appeal to all classes of the community meets with a due response, Africa will soon arise, and ^^put on her beautiful garments,'’'’ and that great moral wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose/'’

In the brief history of the missions, a considerable part of the writer’s personal narrative is interwoven with the whole of that period during which he remained in Africa. This could not well be avoided. But he hopes he has not unnecessarily obtruded himself on the notice of the reader. Having thrice sailed to Western Africa direct from England, and six times

b 2 vin

PREFACE.

crossed the Atlantic in connexion with the missions on the River Gambia; and having sailed np and down that magnificent stream between thirty and forty times^ and journeyed by land further into the interior than any European now living ; and having resided there many years ; he, as a matter of course, not only became intimately acquainted with the state of the missions, but gained a tolerable knowledge of the physical, moral, and social condition of the country. This knowledge he has endeavoured to impart to others; sometimes by extracts from his journal written down at the time, with the occasional use of the personal pronoun but in other cases, and as often as he could, he has delivered himself in the third person ; and has thus endeavoured to hide himself while he exhibited the real state of the missions, with concomitant facts and incidents, in their proper character and true colours.

It would have afPorded the writer sincere pleasure to have made more frequent allusion to the labours of kindred institutions which are found in active operation on the Western Coast of Africa ; particularly those of the Church Missionary Society, that for nearly half a century has had missionaries at Sierra- Leone, and of late years on different parts of the Coast. This, however, was found to be impracticable ; and he has, therefore, according to announcement, confined himself to the labours of the Wesleyan missionaries : for, though other missionaries were sent to Sierra-Leone some few years before any regular Wesleyan missionary landed there, yet a small society of Wesleyan Methodists was formed in that colony almost immediately after ifcs establishment.

For two of the illustrations contained in the work the writer is indebted to a kind friend, Mr. Samuel Smith of Nottingham, who has greatly improved the rough draughts which were sent to him. All the views have been reduced to the proper size, and drawn on stone, by that eminent artist, Mr. Walton ; who, with his usual skill, has furnished tasteful representations of the scenes which he was engaged to delineate.

He also embraces this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging his obligations to his numerous subscribers, who have by their warm patronage encouraged him in this undertaking.

His intention was, to have introduced copious remarks on the principal obstructions which the heralds of the Cross, the harbingers of civilization, have to encounter in Western Africa, while attempting to extend the triumphs of Christ, and to

make manifest the sweet savour of His knowledge in every placc/^ These obstacles may be appropriately designated as

PREFACE.

IX physical, moral, and diabolical, — in reference to tlie prejudicial effects of the climate on the coyistitution of European residents, to the immoral and degraded condition of the natives, and to that egregious evil, the Slave-Trade. These and other collateral topics he purposes to discuss in a pamphlet, which will be pub* lished simultaneously with the present volume.

To his missionary brethren both at home and abroad, many of whom have most cheerfully, and some of them without solicitation, contributed much valuable information, the writer returns his best thanks ; and he will feel obliged to them, and any other friends, for such additions and improvements as may suggest themselves on perusal.

The work has been written amidst numerous other engagements, with frequent and serious interruptions arising from various causes, and without aiming at any thing more than the plain statement of unadorned facts. It is now before the reader; and if the perusal of the volume shall lead the churches of Christ, with the nation at large, to send the Gospel to Africa on a scale commensurate to her wants and woes, the author will consider that his chief object is answered.

WILLIAM FOX.

Pendleton,

Manchester,

CHAPTER I. AFRICA AND THE AFRICANS, Page

Africa — Its Size — Position — Population — Demoralized Condition — Mysterious why so long neglected — Its Inhabitants supposed to he a different Species from other Parts of the human Race — Unjustly and cruelly treated — God hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men — All possess one common Nature and Origin — Objections to this raised on the Ground of Difference of Colour, Configuration, &c. — Climate assigned as the chief Cause for Difference of Colour — Illustrations of this — Particularly in the Case of the Jews — Physiologists are not agreed as to the Colour of the human Race originally — Scripture Quotations — A Supposition — Edinburgh Review — Josephus — The Colour of some of the African Nations corresponds with that of the ancient Egyptians — Dr. Primatt — Colour, after all, only superficial — Not even Skin-deep — Though the Africans are black, the Skin is sleek and soft, and well adapted to the Climate —

The physical Character of the Africans described from personal Observation— Confirmed by other Writers — Extracts from Dr, Prichard’s Researches into the physical History of Mankind — Africans and ourselves of one common Origin, and a Part of the human Family — Supposed by some to he mentally inferior to those of other Portions of the Globe — Personal Intercourse with the native Tribes in Western Africa repudiates this Opinion — Further Extracts from Dr. Prichard’s Mmrk, with Professor Tidemann’s Researches — Rev. Richard Watson — The above Theory proved to be without Foundation — Another Mode of meeting the Charge of mental Inferiority urged against the African is found in the Power of the Gospel — That solves the whole Case — The Africans capable of Improvement — The Negroes supposed to he under the Ban of the Almighty — This Theory also without Foundation — If it ever was so, the Curse has long since been repealed — Africa included in the World’s Redemption, in the Saviour’s Commission to his Disciples, and in the Prophecies referring to the universal Empire of the Son of God — Special Allusions to Africa in the Word of God — Its Conversion predicted — It is destined to rise, and will ultimately he saved 1

II. AFRICA, AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE.

By whom and at what Time Africa was circumnavigated — The Discovery of America, and the Doubling of the Cape of Good Hope — Both these Events proved injurious to Africa — Origin of the African Slave-Trade — Cruelty of the Spaniards towards the Aborigines of America — Las Casas’ Proposal to Cardinal Ximenes, Regent of Spain — The Emperor, Charles V., grants a Patent — Las Casas’ Account of Spanish Cruelty to the native Indians — Heylin’s and Dr. Robertson’s Account of an Indian Nobleman — The Inconsistency of sending to Africa for a Supply of Slaves — Charles V. and Las Casas saw their Error — The Spanish Slave-Trade revived — The English engage in the Slave-Trade — Captain Hawkins — Queen Elizabeth — Contradictory Accounts of the English Slave-Trade cleared up by James Bandinel, Esq. — The English Slave-Trade continued — Thrown open by Act of Parliament — The Trade rapidly increased —

The French actively engage in it — Great Britain, though not the First to embark in it, was soon Foremost — As a Nation we are verily guilty — The Voice of our Brother’s Blood crieth against us from the Ground 29

Contents

XI