CO882-(3-4) — Page 178

MAURITIUS.

FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE, &.

No. 1.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY to the EARL OF CARNARVON.

Church Missionary House, Salisbury Square,

MY LORD,

January 2nd, 1873. I AM requested by the Committee of the Church Missionary Society to transmit to your Lordship the accompanying copy of a letter they have received from Bishop Tozer, of the Universities Central African Mission, respecting the condition of the liberated slaves at the Seychelles Islands and to ask Her Majesty's Government to consider the proposals made by the Bishop.

Your Lordship is no doubt aware of the special interest with which the Church Missionary Society has always regarded the noble efforts of Her Majesty's Government to secure for those whose freedom Great Britain has by treaty guaranteed the full benefits and privileges of true freedom. They remember with gratitude the confidence reposed in the Society by Her Majesty's Government in connexion with the West African Settlements, and they would point with confidence to the condition, both moral and commercial of Sierra Leone, as justifying entirely that confidence. The Committee would therefore plead with Her Majesty's Government on behalf of these poor negroes in the Seychelles Islands, and, without venturing to suggest any measures to be adopted, they would beg that the whole subject be referred, if possible, to Sir Bartle Frere for consideration.

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Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley,

I have, &c.

CHICHESTER,

President.

&c.

&c.

&c.

LAPO

MY DEAR SIR,

Port Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles,

October 18th, 1872.

I AM induced to write to you from these islands, in the hope that the Committee of the Church Missionary Society may be led to adopt some scheme of evangelisation for the poor released Africans who are domiciled here. The circumstances of their case are partly known to the Committee from Mr. Sparshott having resided here for some time and shown much Christian sympathy towards these poor people.

I find that during the last 10 years no less that 2,500 slaves have been landed' at Mahé from the ships of the squadron engaged in suppressing the East African slave

trade.

Th

I can fairly say, from an extended experience in Zanzibar, and the interior of the continent, that the liberated slaves have received no kind of benefit, either social or moral, from having been brought here.

A

Those in the immediate employment of the Local Government are certainly living worse huts than any I have found in native villages in Africa, and there is an impression (shared, I know, by Mr. Sparshott) that their constitutions are heavily taxed by the amount of laborious work imposed on them. You will not, therefore, be surprised to learn that their moral condition has been entirely uncared for. The Government has provided neither schools for the children, nor any sort of instruction for the adults, and in consequence, Seychelles exhibits the strange anomaly of a servile race permanently

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :---

C.O. 882

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