7486.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
CO.
885
No. 142.
(SIERRA LEONE.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Temple, 19th June 1877. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Bramston's letter of the 14th instant, stating that, with reference to the report which we made to your Lordship on the 29th of May 1877 on the subject of the territory in the neigh- bourhood of Sierra Leone, he was directed by your Lordship to state that, after weighing the various considerations which bore upon the case, you had come to the conclusion that for many reasons, into which it was unnecessary then to enter, it was undesirable to assume territorial jurisdiction, and that, if practicable, the most expedient course to adopt would be to take from the Chiefs who ruled the different portions of territory the right of collecting duties in their rivers and harbours and on the coast line without actually taking possession of any territory along the banks and the beach.
2. That your Lordship therefore proposed to issue to Mr. Rowe, the Governor of Sierra Leone, instructions in the accompanying form; but before doing so your Lordship had directed Mr. Bramston to submit them to us for our consideration.
3. That we would observe that the instructions dealt with three portions of territory: 1st, the Scarcies Rivers; 2nd, the Samoo Bullom country; 3rd, the country north of the Mellicourie River.
(1.) That with respect to the Scarcies, coloured yellow on the accompanying map, an offer of the cession of so much of their territory as Her Majesty might be willing to accept was made to Mr. Rowe, now the Governor of Sierra Leone, by the Chiefs of the country, and was transmitted by him for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure in June 1876. That it was now pro- posed to instruct Mr. Rowe not to signify Her Majesty's acceptance of the offer, but to obtain from the Chiefs a cession of the right to collect Customs duties over the seaboard and in the rivers where they had authority, similar to that granted by the Chiefs of the Ribbee and Bompeh and Cockboro Districts on the 21st and 30th December 1875, the agreements for which were [C. 1402 of therewith enclosed, the only material alteration desired being a power to 1876), levy duties without the restriction that they should be the same as those PP. 52, 53. levied at Freetown.
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(2.) That with respect to the Samoo Bullom country (coloured red on the accompanying map), Mr. Bramston had to observe that a Treaty had more recently been made by the Administrator, without your Lordship's knowledge or approval, with the Chiefs of the country, accepting from them on behalf of Her Majesty a cession of territory. It was proposed to obtain a modi- fication of that Treaty, and to substitute for it a right to collect duties as in the case of the Scarcies; but it was not proposed to take any immediate steps in that direction pending communications which the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs would be requested to make with the French Government, who had established themselves at a place called Benty in that territory. (3.) That with regard to the country north of the Mellicourie River, coloured blue
on the accompanying map, that by a Treaty of 1826 (copy therewith) the Page 305 entire sovereignty over the seas, rivers, harbours, creeks, inlets, and waters Vol. II. of of that country, and over one mile inland from the seaboard, together with S.L. Ordi- the island of Matacong, was ceded to Her Majesty. That that Treaty was nances. nacted on for many years, and in the meantime the French were not opposed in establishing themselves on the Mellicourie River by virtue of Treaties made in 1865 and 1866, the latter of which was, however, repudiated by Alimamy Bokarry, who purported to have made it. The Treaty of 1826 was, however, appealed to by the Foreign Office in diplomatic communications with the French in 1868, and in your Lordship's opinion it was in full force, at any rate with respect to the territory not claimed by the French under their Treaties of 1865 and 1866.
12916-137. 25.-12/84.
12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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