LL*
 
 , WH.M.U froa 
 
 k>uL _ Jt.J.
 
 THE 
 
 REV. HAMBLE JAMES LEACOCK, 
 
 LEADER OF THE WEST INDIAN MISSION 
 TO WESTERN AFRICA. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 EEV. HENET CASWALL, D.D. 
 
 VICAR OF FIGHELDEAN, WILTS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN CHURCH," &C. &C. 
 
 AND ENGLISH SECRETARY TO THE WEST INDIAN CHURCH 
 
 ASSOCIATION FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE 
 
 GOSPEL IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE. 
 1857.
 
 LONDON : 
 GILBKKT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTKH.*, 
 
 ST. JOHN'S sm'AKE.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 FEW missionary heroes have been more remarkable 
 than the man of God whom the West Indian Church 
 is now lamenting. Seldom has more encouraging 
 success attended so brief a career; seldom has a 
 nobler example of self-devotion adorned the records 
 of the extension of Christianity. 
 
 The history of such a man, if faithfully told, is 
 well adapted to show the elements which form the 
 able missionary, and to exhibit the modes of action 
 by which, with Divine help, the Gospel may, in our 
 own age, be effectually propagated. 
 
 The Author is fully aware of the difficulty of 
 giving due effect to such a history. Yet he has done 
 all that a long and hearty friendship could dictate, to 
 perpetuate the blessed memory of one whom he loved 
 and revered. "With the hope of representing him as 
 A 2
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 he really was, lie lias allowed him to speak for him- 
 self whenever opportunity permitted. He has at- 
 tempted to show the varied connexions and associa- 
 tions of his life, and the origin, as far as it can be 
 traced, of his principles and habits. It is not pre- 
 tended that Hamble Leacock was in all respects per- 
 fect. It is not denied, for example, that he may have 
 been sometimes restless and self-willed, sometimes 
 hasty and over sensitive, and sometimes mistaken. 
 Yet his failings were generally the result of those 
 very qualities which constituted the peculiar emi- 
 nence of his character. His stern and unflinching 
 mind (so tender and holy withal) was doubtless given 
 him that he might dare in a wonderful way, amidst 
 the prejudices of the West Indies, the doctrinal 
 laxity of America, and the heathenism of Africa. 
 
 The reader will not see in Mr. Leacock an un- 
 amiable abstraction destitute of human feelings and 
 sympathies, but a man thoroughly real and un- 
 affected. He will see in him a religion which, 
 though supremely devoted to (rod, still cherished 
 the impulses of affectionate attachment to friends, 
 relatives, and country ; a religion which though pro- 
 foundly adoring the mysteries of Redemption, was
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 by no means blind to the glories of Providence and 
 Creation. There will be found in it no undue esti- 
 mate of spiritual condition, no idea of exclusive 
 sanctity or wisdom, no fondness for loud professions, 
 no habit of displaying frames and feelings. On the 
 other hand, there will be seen a superiority to the 
 world, practically manifesting itself in the surrender 
 of property and prospects, in the readiness to take a 
 secondary place, and in the cheerful willingness to 
 endure any sacrifice required by justice, truth, and 
 duty. 
 
 In the ministry of Christ's Church, it is well that 
 there should be decided varieties of type, and that all 
 should not be formed precisely according to the same 
 model. It is not desirable, for instance, that a clergy 
 designed for service in various nations and climates 
 should be always trained by English Universities 
 and amid the conventionalisms of English society. 
 It will be seen that the man of God whose life is 
 recorded in the following pages, grew up remote from 
 our fashions of thought, and from the traditionary 
 influences of our Colleges and Cathedrals. Yet it 
 cannot be denied that he was not only a worthy re- 
 presentative of our Reformed Church, but a true spe-
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 cimen of the class of men produced in our distant fields 
 of Christian enterprise. Though his early theologi- 
 cal training was, in some respects, defective, he was 
 yet sound in the faith, and inflexible in his adherence 
 to the great bulwarks of orthodoxy. Though firmly 
 attached to the distinctive principles of Episcopacy, 
 he lived in charity with those whose lot had fallen 
 among separatist communities. Believing in the 
 divine origin of the Christian ministry, and uphold- 
 ing a high standard of clerical responsibility, he yet 
 had none of that asceticism which prescribes terms of 
 salvation more severe than are to be found in the 
 Word of God. Faithful in his friendships, firm in 
 his convictions, and sincere in his conversation, he 
 possessed an honest dignity which neither honours 
 nor preferment could have bestowed, and which he 
 maintained throughout all the changes of his event- 
 ful life. 
 
 Those who have done great things in the world 
 have usually been peculiar persons, different from 
 other men. They have shown uncommon fire, 
 energy, and decision, and, at the same time, have 
 tempered these qualities with knowledge and wisdom. 
 Men of this stamp are not only able to accomplish
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 much, but, amidst the difficulties which surround 
 them, they are susceptible of the choicest encourage- 
 ments and consolations. Now a mission, properly 
 understood, is no common thing. Persons of an ordi- 
 nary cast of mind are unfit for such a work. The 
 true missionary cannot be expected to think and feel 
 like those who walk in the beaten track, and, conse- 
 quently, he will often be reproached as an eccentric 
 person or an enthusiast. Yet his enthusiasm, if such 
 it be, is of the same kind which glowed in the bosoms 
 of the Prophets and Apostles. It must be carefully 
 distinguished from that enthusiasm which puffs men 
 up with vain conceit, and makes them arrogant, dic- 
 tatorial, and assuming. Keenly alive to his own 
 personal imperfections, the man who is blessed with 
 this holy fervour looks beyond himself for support, 
 and believing in the power of prayer, habitually and 
 confidently, in all his undertakings, expects strength 
 and succour from above. 
 
 In this sense alone Mr. Leacock possessed enthu- 
 siasm. But in addition to this, he had qualifications 
 not always combined with a fervid temperament. 
 His habits were regular, economical, active, diligent, 
 and persevering. He was brave and intrepid with-
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 out being insensible to the real value of life. His 
 piety was of a vigorous and manly character, and 
 at the same time entirely free from that melan- 
 choly which has hindered the usefulness of many 
 faithful missionaries. While maintaining habitual 
 communion with his Saviour, he exhibited a genial 
 disposition, which, in every place, gained him hearty 
 friends. His practical earnestness led him, not to 
 teach people to say certain things or use a certain 
 formula, but to aim at turning them in reality " from 
 darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God." 
 
 From early life he had shown the spirit of a 
 martyr, and his death was in all respects worthy of 
 his life. He might probably have escaped dying in 
 Africa, but he deliberately chose to face " the last 
 enemy," in the conviction that his decease would be 
 less injurious to his mission than his abandonment 
 of his post. Christians like Hamble Leacock are 
 truly " the chariots of our Israel and the horsemen 
 thereof." By their deaths they bear the strongest 
 possible testimony against the unbelief of a self- 
 indulgent generation, and having themselves " fought 
 the good fight," and encouraged others to follow their
 
 PREFACE, IX 
 
 example, they receive a "crown of glory which 
 fadeth not away." 
 
 Besides exhibiting Mr. Leacock as a missionary, 
 this little work incidentally affords some insight 
 into the widely-extended operations of our Reformed 
 Church. The Episcopate is seen actively engaged 
 in furthering the salvation of men, not only in 
 England and the West Indies, but in Eastern and 
 Western America, and on the pestilential sV>res of 
 Africa. Facilities of intercourse and co-operation 
 are disclosed, which, when more fully employed, will 
 result, with the Divine blessing, in great and per- 
 manent additions to the Redeemer's kingdom. We 
 may behold an augury of happier times in the loving 
 sympathy with which Churchmen of different schools, 
 climates, and nationalities, have cheered the heart of 
 the veteran soldier of Christ on the banks of the 
 
 The brief services of Mr. Leacock in Africa have 
 been far from fruitless, even independently of the 
 good which he saw accomplished in his lifetime. 
 They have paved the way for new labourers in the 
 same field, who, confidently relying on Providence, 
 may now carry on the work so favourably commenced.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 We may hope that our Church will continue to ex- 
 ercise an important influence in the conversion of 
 the people of that great continent, in which part of 
 our Lord's infancy was spent, and out of which God 
 was pleased to call his Son. To the West Indian 
 Church in particular this African mission, so mani- 
 festly favoured by heaven, will probably become a 
 source of many blessings. In "watering" others 
 she will be herself " refreshed." She has in truth 
 offered unto God, for the sake of the Gospel, one of 
 her own beloved children. Believing that the offer- 
 ing is to Him "a sacrifice acceptable and well- 
 pleasing," we have reason to hope that He will 
 " supply all her need according to his riches in glory 
 by Christ Jesus." 
 
 With these prefatory remarks the Author commits 
 this little volume to the blessing of God, and to the 
 favourable consideration of Christia'n people. 
 
 Vicarage, Figheldean, 
 Epiphany, 1857.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Birth and Parentage of Mr. Leacock. Development of his Cha- 
 racter. He becomes decidedly religious. Entrance on a 
 Course of Study at Codrington College. His Ordination. His 
 Firmness in respect to the Slaves. His Character as a Clergy, 
 man. Marriage. Settlement in Nevis. Death of Mrs. Lea- 
 cock. Effect of an Earthquake. Second Marriage. Removal 
 to the United States 1 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Arrival of Mr. Leacock at Lexington, Kentucky. Society in 
 Lexington. Dr Coit. Dr. Cooke. Amos Cleaver. The 
 Bishop of Kentucky. The Professors. The Southern Plan- 
 ters. Efforts for the Promotion of Religion. Christ Church. 
 Instruction of the Slaves. Confirmation of Mr. Leacock. He 
 undertakes the Charge of Pupils. He is elected Rector of St. 
 Paul's . 16 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 A General Scattering of Mr. Leacock's Friends. He removes to 
 Tennessee. Journey with the Bishop of Tennessee. He
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 accepts a Church at Franklin. Anecdote of him by Mrs. Wheat. 
 Letter from Bishop Otey. He purchases an Estate in New 
 Jersey. Brief Connexion with a Church at Louisville. His 
 character as a Preacher and a Pastor. Removal to New Jersey. 
 Settlement during four years at Perth Amboy. Return to 
 the West Indies . 28 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 Reasons for his return. State of Nevis. African Practices. 
 Obeah. Mr. Leacock delivers Lectures against Obeah. Death 
 of the Obeah-man. Effect of Charms on the African. Return 
 to Barbados. Temporary Charge of St. Peter's. Death of 
 Amos Cleaver and of Dr. Cooke. Mr. Leacock is appointed to 
 the Chapel at Bridgetown. Testimonial of the Parishioners of 
 St. Peter's. Commencement of Efforts in Behalf of Africa. 
 Formation of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel. 
 Outbreak of Cholera. Death of Mrs. Leacock . . .50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Leacock volunteers to go as a Missionary to Africa. He is 
 accepted. He is joined by Duport. -His Negro Servant de- 
 sires to accompany him. Letter to Archdeacon Trew. Ar- 
 rival in London. He attends a Meeting of the Church 
 Emigrants' Aid Society. He visits the Crystal Palace. Visit 
 to Wiltshire Stonehenge Salisbury. Meeting of the S. P. G. 
 His Cheerfulness. Conversation with Young Persons. His 
 views of Prophecy, of the Church of Rome, and of the 
 Church of England. His opinion of the Voluntary System. 
 Thankfulness for Mercies. Note on the Effects of Emancipa- 
 tion in the West Indies . . 66
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Providential Preparation in Africa for the West Indian Mission. 
 The Chief Wilkinson introduced. Remarkable Dream in 
 Africa. Mr. Leacock attends various Meetings in the Diocese 
 of Salisbury. He meets with a Portrait of Mrs. Trimmer. 
 Verses by Mr. Marriott. Mr. Leacock 's opinion of the S. P.O. 
 He visits Malvern and the Bishop of Barbados. His Admira- 
 tion of England. His Feelings in Wells Cathedral. He em- 
 barks at Plymouth for Africa ...... 87 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Voyage of the "Ethiope." Dangerous Storm. Arrival at Ma- 
 deira. Warm Reception by a Governor on the African Coast. 
 Arrival at Sierra Leone. Description of Freetown. Various 
 Opinions as to the Site of the Mission. Similarity of Sierra 
 Leone to the West Indies. Joy at the Discovery of Devil- 
 grass. Dr. Bradshaw's Advice as to a House. The Niger consi- 
 dered. Plantain Island and John Newton. Further Delay. 
 Interview with the Spanish Consul. Meeting of the Church 
 Missionary Society . . . . . . . .103 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 When the Episcopate is a Blessing, and when the Reverse. 
 Value of the Episcopate to Sierra Leone. Its Benefits in the 
 West Indies. Rise of the West Indian Church in Conse- 
 quence of the Episcopate. Establishment of the West Indian 
 Mission. Episcopacy acknowledged by Christendom. Greet- 
 ing to the Bishop of Sierra Leone. Prophetic Declaration . 1 20
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Melville Home on the Qualifications of an African Missionary. The 
 Rio Pongas is mentioned to Mr. Leacock. The Governor promises 
 to send Mr. Leacock to the Pongas in a Steamer. Character 
 of Governor Hill. Meeting with a Mohammedan King. Land- 
 ing at Tintima. Palaver with Kennyback Ali and King Katty. 
 Description of the Pongas River. Hut at Tintima. Wretched 
 Character of the People. Deceitfulness of Kennyback Ali. Mr. 
 Leacock visits him. Encounter with a Mohammedan . .132 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Events of St. Thomas's Day. Arrival of Lewis Wilkinson. 
 Interview with the Chief of Fallangia. Mr. Leacock opens his 
 Ministry among the Heathens. Mr. Wilkinson gives him 
 a Site for a Church, &c. The Missionaries are attacked with 
 Fever. Anxiety of Governor Hill on their Account. He sends 
 a Steamer and removes them to Sierra Leone. They return 
 to Fallangia. John Duport begins to teach. Supplies ordered 
 in England . 154 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 American Sympathy towards Mr. Leacock. Dr. Coit and the 
 Editor of the " New York Church Journal." The Parish at 
 Perth Amboy and the Slaves in Tennessee. Joint Offerings 
 from America and England to Africa. Appointment of an Eng- 
 lish Secretary. Account of the martyred French Missionaries . 170 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 The School at Fallangia. Return of Fever. Conversation with 
 Wilkinson. Extent of the Soosoo Language. Need of addi- 
 tional Teachers. Welcome from King Jelloram Fernandez.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Missionaries again taken ill. Continuance of Journal. 
 Duport sent for his Health to Sierra Leone. Resemblance of 
 the Negroes of Fallangia to those of Barbados. Conversation 
 with " old Martha." Witchcraft. Second Conversation with 
 " old Martha." Return of Duport. Death of Kennyback All. 
 Description of neighbouring Chiefs. Agriculture and Animals 181 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Assurance of King Katty. Miseries of the People. Visit from 
 Mr. Columbini de Wasky. Application from Cassini. Excur- 
 sion to the Bangalong River. Domingia. Sangha. Farrangeah. 
 Increase of the Congregation under Duport. Journal con- 
 tinued. Relapse of Mr. Leacock. He visits Sierra Leone, and 
 is ordered to return to England. He determines to remain at 
 his Post . 208 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Mr. Leacock's Friends desire him to escape from Africa. Letters 
 to that Effect to him from Mr. Wilkinson, from the Author, 
 and from the Bishop of Barbados. He appears to recover. 
 His Plans for building. Letter to a Young Person . . 223 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Satisfactory Progress of the Mission under Duport. Report sent 
 by Duport to Mr. Leacock. Mr. Leacock's Remarks upon it. 
 Favourable Opinion of the Bishop of Sierra Leone respecting it. 
 The Lord's Prayer in Soosoo 23 1
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Continued Improvement of Mr. Leacock's Health. Letter to his 
 Son. Letter to the Bishop of Barbados. Mohammedan Oppo- 
 sition. Assistance from Governor Hill. Contest between 
 Christ and Mohammed. Last Letters of Mr. Leacock . . 254 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 Articles despatched from England for the Mission. Shipwreck of 
 the " Ida." Death of Mr. Leacock. Letter from the Rev. F. 
 Pocock. Letter from Mr. Duport. Lamentations at Fallangia 
 and Sierra Leone. Letter from the Bishop of Sierra Leone. 
 The mournful News reaches America and the West Indies. 
 Eulogy in the " Barbadian." Concluding Letter from Mr. 
 Duport. Funeral Anthem ....... 268 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 5, line 10, for Berbuda read Barbuda. 
 
 Pages 6 and 10. Mr. Leacock's Ordination as Deacon and his 
 
 engagement at St. Vincent should be placed in the year 
 
 1 826 instead of 1827.
 
 MEMOIR, 
 
 fyc. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth and Parentage of Mr. Leacock. Development of his Character. 
 He becomes decidedly religious. Entrance on a Course of Study at 
 Codrington College. His Ordination. His Firmness in respect to 
 the Slaves. His Character as a Clergyman. Marriage. Settle- 
 ment in Nevis. Death of Mrs. Leacock. Effect of an Earthquake . 
 Second Marriage. Removal to the United States. 
 
 HAMBLE JAMES LEACOCK was born at duff's Bay, on 
 his father's estate, in the parish of St. Lucy, Bar- 
 bados, on the 4th of February, 1795. He was the 
 second son of John "Wrong Leacock and his wife 
 Rebecca, a sister of Dr. Hudson, of the same parish. 
 He was baptized at home shortly after his birth, but 
 his name did not appear in the parish register at the 
 time, in consequence of the sudden death of the cler- 
 gyman a few hours after the ceremony was performed. 
 His family had resided in Barbados about a century 
 and a half, having emigrated from Great Britain in 
 the reign of Charles I. Their respectability and 
 
 B
 
 A SLAVERY. 
 
 loyalty were always above question, and their ancient 
 plate and coat of arms were retained as badges of 
 tbeir descent from wortby ancestors in the mother 
 country. Mr. Leacock's father was possessed of a 
 sugar plantation and other similar property, in con- 
 sequence of which the subject of our memoir was 
 familiar from his childhood with many practical 
 details respecting the growth and manufacture of 
 West India produce. 
 
 At this time slavery existed in the islands, and 
 produced effects in many respects similar to those 
 described in the romances of Mrs. Beecher Stowe. 
 To slavery, in the abstract, as well as to its abuses, 
 it is needless to say that the spirit of Christianity is 
 decidedly opposed. Yet it must not be forgotten 
 that in the West Indies many temperate and well- 
 considered measures had been adopted, long before 
 emancipation, tending to relieve the system of many 
 of its horrors. The African was becoming an object 
 of much sympathy, and the negro race in general 
 escaped that extreme contempt which in other coun- 
 tries is too often their bitter portion. The slaves in 
 return often showed themselves faithful and attached 
 dependants, and in times of trouble manifested a 
 readiness to suffer or die with their white protectors. 
 Young Leacock grew up in immediate contact with 
 the subject race, and learned by experience the surest 
 methods of influencing their conduct. 
 
 His own character, like that of others, was pro-
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER. 6 
 
 bably developed, as to its main features, at an early 
 age. It may readily be believed that he was always 
 truthful, courageous, and energetic. His temper was 
 no doubt severely tried by the harsh schoolmaster 
 under whose care he was placed, yet perhaps the dis- 
 cipline which he underwent was a blessing to him in 
 after life. He acquired all that was essential to the 
 basis of a good education, and became fond of read- 
 ing useful and instructive books. One of the first of 
 these which made any serious impression on his mind 
 was a volume of Mrs. Trimmer's " Instructive Tales." 
 In the early formation of his character, we must 
 not omit to notice the peculiar circumstances of his 
 West Indian descent and early associations. He had 
 watched the effect of hurricanes as they swept across 
 his native island, prostrating every resisting sub- 
 stance, uprooting trees, and scattering the materials 
 of the strongest edifices. He had known cannon to 
 be blown from the ramparts, and human beings 
 whirled into the sea. The dwelling inhabited by his 
 family he had seen totally demolished, the last 
 inmate barely escaping before the whole fabric was 
 scattered before the winds. He had gone through the 
 terrors of the earthquake, and had seen the ground 
 undulating like the sea, while men, women, and chil- 
 dren were crushed beneath the ruins of their homes. 
 He had seen Barbados covered with the ashes con- 
 veyed by the winds from a volcano which burst forth 
 in one of the neighbouring islands. Such events as 
 B 2
 
 4 A DECIDED CHANGE. 
 
 these had served to predispose his mind to ideas of 
 the grand and terrible, and to fill it with awful 
 thoughts of the dread majesty and irresistible power 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 Through divine grace he was preserved in his 
 youth from the contagion of vice, and always main- 
 tained a high character among his equals. Still he 
 had not become decidedly religious, nor made that 
 complete surrender of himself to the love of Christ 
 which constitutes the essence of a devout life. At 
 length, after the days of boyhood, while on a visit 
 to a neighbouring island, his convictions found at 
 the same time their expression and confirmation in a 
 remarkable dream. The future state of the just was 
 represented to him in all its blessedness, and he 
 seemed to hear the harps of gold and the general 
 chorus of the redeemed. Again he beheld in his 
 dream the miseries of the condemned, and his ear 
 seemed to thrill with their groans of anguish as they 
 endured the never-ending penalty of their trans- 
 gressions. He awoke with the firm conviction that 
 thenceforth he must strive with all his might to 
 enter in at the strait gate, and labour to the utmost 
 of his capacity in promoting upon earth the know- 
 ledge of divine truth. From this period he became 
 a very decided Christian, constantly subordinating 
 time to eternity, and living under the influence of 
 the things which are not seen. 
 
 The same miserable policy which formerly kept
 
 CODRIXGTOX COLLEGE. 
 
 the American colonies without bishops had prevailed 
 up to this period in the West Indies. In conse- 
 quence of the destitution of episcopal superintend- 
 ence, Mr. Leacock had not hitherto received Confir- 
 mation. The means of a good and Christian edu- 
 cation, however, were not wanting, even in Bar- 
 bados. Codrington College had been founded in 
 1710 by the worthy General whose name it bears, 
 and who had given it by will his two plantations 
 in Barbados and part of the island of Berbuda. 
 This property had been held in trust by the Society 
 for Propagating the Gospel " to erect a college 
 in Barbados, and to maintain a convenient number 
 of professors and scholars who are to be obliged 
 to study and practise physic and chirurgery, as 
 well as divinity, that by the apparent usefulness of 
 the former to all mankind, they may both endear 
 themselves to the people, and have the better oppor- 
 tunity of doing good to men's souls whilst they are 
 taking care of their bodies." At this institution, 
 then nothing more than a grammar school, and 
 under the care of the Rev. Mark Nicholson, formerly 
 of Queen's College, Oxford, Mr. Leacock entered as 
 a student. He did not aim at eminence as a classical 
 scholar, but became familiar with English literature 
 and other useful branches of knowledge. 
 On quitting Codrington College he kept a private 
 school in Speightstown for several years, and after- 
 wards the public school of his native parish. Many
 
 6 ORDINATION. 
 
 of his pupils are still living, and continue to love 
 and revere his memory. In the midst of his engage- 
 ments he constantly allotted certain portions of his 
 time to the study of the Scriptures, in which he 
 became a proficient. 
 
 In the year 1824 a happier era dawned on the 
 Barbadian Church. In that year Dr. Coleridge was 
 consecrated bishop of Barbados and the Leeward 
 Islands, and on the 30th of January, 1825, landed 
 in his new diocese. Bishop Coleridge soon after- 
 wards licensed Mr. Leacock as a reader or catechist 
 for his native parish of St. Lucy, of which the Rev. 
 "W. M. Harte was at that time rector. On the 6th 
 of January, 1827, after studying divinity under Mr. 
 Harte, he was ordained a deacon, and on the 18th of 
 October in the same year he was admitted to the 
 priesthood at St. John's Church, in one of the 
 country parishes, his confirmation being still unac- 
 countably neglected. 
 
 While continuing his connexion with Mr. Harte 
 and the parish of St. Lucy, he fully established his 
 character as a zealous and uncompromising Christian. 
 At that time the teaching of the slave population in 
 the West Indies was a most unpopular measure. 
 Mr. Harte was publicly prosecuted because he boldly 
 affirmed his right to instruct all persons, bond as 
 well as free, living within the limits of his parish. 
 He was charged with preaching an offensive sermon 
 on Easter-day, 1827, and " with disgraceful conduct
 
 FIRMNESS IN EESPECT TO THE SLAVES. 7 
 
 while administering the Lord's Supper." The 
 truth was that Mr. Harte permitted a vacant space 
 at the Lord's Table to be occupied by blacks, who 
 knelt down at the same time with some white 
 members of the congregation. In allowing this, 
 Mr. Harte was supposed to be teaching " doctrines of 
 equality, inconsistent with the obedience due to 
 masters and with the policy of the island." The 
 planters resolved to take the matter into their own 
 hands, and expressed their determination to refuse 
 Mr. Harte and Mr. Leacock admission into their 
 estates, and to prevent as much as possible all inter- 
 course between them and their slaves. They desired 
 the bishop to remove Mr. Harte, who they said " had 
 deservedly lost the confidence, respect, and regard of 
 every white inhabitant of the parish." Owing to 
 the admirable wisdom of the bishop, the people were 
 ultimately brought to a better mind, and the imme- 
 diate expulsion of two devoted servants of God was 
 averted. Mr. Leacock never yielded for a moment 
 to the popular prejudice, but acted in full accordance 
 with the views and wishes of his rector, in regarding 
 the humblest negro as a part of his ministerial charge. 
 Those who know not the violence of feeling which 
 then existed on the subject can form no correct 
 opinion of the strength of character required to resist 
 the will and combat the inveterate prejudices of 
 almost all the influential inhabitants of the colony. 
 A venerable divine, who was acquainted with
 
 8 CHARACTER AS A CLERGYMAN. 
 
 Mr. Leacock at this period, still bears admiring testi- 
 mony to the zeal and determination constantly mani- 
 fested by him in his ministerial duties of every kind. 
 Courage and decision were indeed striking points in 
 his character, together with a certain impulsiveness 
 which often led him to act and speak vigorously on 
 the spur of the moment. Like other inhabitants of 
 tropical climates, the earthquake and hurricane 
 seemed, in a manner, to have entered into his consti- 
 tution. In him, however, it was seen that West 
 Indian fervour, when sanctified by divine grace, is as 
 effectual an instrument of good as the coolness of the 
 Englishman, the shrewdness of the Scot, or the 
 enterprise of the American. His religion was of a 
 thoroughly warm and glowing character, far re- 
 moved from the frigid zones of mere formalism and 
 precision. He cared not for verbal subtleties or nice 
 disputations ; but firmly believing the grand central 
 verities of the Christian Faith, he ardently loved the 
 Redeemer on account of what He had done and 
 suffered, and was willing to perish for his sake. 
 When he rebuked vice, he did it with an awful 
 earnestness which made the sinner tremble and turn 
 pale. With a few words -he swept away all his re- 
 fuges of lies and set before him the real horrors of 
 his position. When he comforted the sorrowful or 
 penitent, on the other hand, nothing could exceed 
 the beautiful tenderness with which he applied the 
 promises and encouragements of the Gospel.
 
 CHARACTER AS A CLERGYMAN. 9 
 
 His mode of reading and speaking was vividly 
 dramatic, and often accompanied by expressive ac- 
 tion. The Scriptures, when read by him, became, as 
 it were, a new book. The awful images of Ezekiel 
 and of the Apocalypse were made to appear plain 
 and distinct, so that the hearer perceived depths in 
 the word of God of which he had been previously 
 ignorant. He impressed divine truth on the minds 
 of others because he had first been deeply impressed 
 by it himself. 
 
 His conduct was consistent with his faith and 
 teaching. With a heart fully alive to heavenly things, 
 he was comparatively careless as to worldly interests. 
 Money, luxuries, and even comforts, were lightly 
 esteemed by him, and he regarded all solicitude 
 about such matters unworthy of a candidate for 
 eternal life. Yet he always maintained a respectable 
 appearance, and showed himself sensitively punc- 
 tilious in the discharge of pecuniary obligations. In 
 his worldly transactions he was a model of simplicity 
 and godly sincerity. 
 
 Mr. Leacock had married a distant relation, the 
 only daughter of Dr. Leacock, of Barbados, by whom 
 he became the father of several children. Being the 
 owner of many slaves in right of his wife, he set 
 them all free at a great sacrifice and expense, since 
 the manumissions had to be obtained from England, 
 His uncompromising opposition to slavery was still
 
 10 SETTLEMENT IN NEVIS. 
 
 disapproved of by his countrymen. He therefore left 
 his native isle, and in December, 1827, immediately 
 after his ordination to the Priesthood, was sent by 
 Bishop Coleridge to St. Vincent. Soon afterwards 
 the bishop removed him to Nevis, where he was 
 appointed rural dean, and succeeded the Rev. Mr. 
 Parham at Charlestown as rector of St. Paul's, one of 
 the five parishes of the island. Here he built a 
 house and established his wife and family comfort- 
 ably. After a short time, however, Mrs. Leacock 
 and one of his children died, and he was made to 
 feel the vanity of all earthly consolations. 
 
 Nevis is a beautiful little spot, consisting of a 
 single mountain, rising like a cone in an easy 
 ascent from the sea, the whole circumference not 
 exceeding twenty-four miles. It evidently owes its 
 origin to some volcanic eruption, for near the sum- 
 mit there is a crater which contains a hot spring 
 strongly impregnated with sulphur. The population 
 of the island amounted during Mr. Leacock' s incum- 
 bency to about ten thousand, of whom not more than 
 six hundred were whites. Here Mr. Leacock 
 laboured with characteristic energy, establishing 
 schools and promoting the catechetical instruction 
 of the blacks. The evils with which he contended 
 were of a fearful character, polygamy and other 
 forms of licentiousness being too generally prevalent. 
 In due time, however, he found his labours rewarded
 
 EFFECT OF AN EARTHQUAKE. 11 
 
 by a marked improvement in the religion and morals 
 of the people. The following event contributed to 
 this happy result : 
 
 Nevis, like Barbados, is within the sphere of de- 
 vastating earthquakes, and between the 8th of Febru- 
 ary and the 27th of March, 1833, it was terribly 
 shaken, together with St. Kitt's and others of the 
 Leeward Islands. In Nevis the populace were so 
 alarmed that they flocked to the places of worship at 
 all hours of the day. In Charlestown they suppli- 
 cated Mr. Leacock to -open his church that they 
 might there find the security which was elsewhere 
 denied them. Contrary to the prognostications of 
 some worldly-minded scoffers, the church did not fall. 
 The poor negroes crowded it at all hours of the day, 
 beseeching Mr. Leacock to pray for them. It is a 
 fact, attested by eye-witnesses of the highest credit, 
 that a great and abiding change was wrought upon 
 the inhabitants. They who never went to church 
 before, now attended devoutly, and continued to do 
 so afterwards ; and many whose lives had been any 
 thing but Christian became decidedly religious, 
 under the terror arising from the earthquake, im- 
 proved by the faithful teaching of the man of God. 
 Like the gaoler at Philippi, they asked, "What 
 must we do to be saved?" like Paul and Silas, he 
 answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 thou shalt be saved." One of Mr. Leacock's parish- 
 ioners, a lady of respectability, was reading the 24th
 
 12 EFFECT OF AN EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 chapter of St. Matthew when the first shock was 
 felt. She had just read the 7th verse, " and there 
 shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in 
 divers places," when the house was shaken violently. 
 She immediately fell from her seat, and was taken 
 up insensible, in which condition she remained some 
 time. At St. Kitt's, there were similar instances 
 of violent mental impressions, though a party who 
 were dancing at a public ball, and felt the room 
 tremble from the shock, still continued their dance. 
 So different is the effect of these tremendous visita- 
 tions according to the character of the persons con- 
 cerned and of those who influence them. 
 
 A contemporary writer, after alluding to Mr. Lea- 
 cock's faithful labours at this time, remarked as 
 follows : 
 
 "Whatever the infidel or free-thinker (or rather 
 no-thinker) may say to the contrary about impres- 
 sions on weak minds and so forth, the believer can- 
 not fail to recognize in these narratives a proof of 
 that principle, upon which every operative clergyman 
 (to borrow a cant expression of the day) will sooner 
 or later stumble, viz. that the Almighty seems often- 
 times to send visitations of his power to a mass of 
 people, as well as to an individual, for the purpose of 
 opening a door to the preaching of the Gospel, where, 
 perhaps, sin had closed up every avenue to exhorta- 
 tion and the. common method of teaching." 
 
 While residing in Nevis, Mr. Leacock married
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE. 13 
 
 Mrs. Beard, a most amiable widow lady, wlio admi- 
 rably fulfilled the duties of a mother to his surviving 
 son and daughter. Having no children of her own, 
 she devoted herself to the good and charitable works 
 which lie within the appropriate province of a clergy- 
 man's wife. She did even more, often visiting 
 distant parts of the island with the object of convey- 
 ing relief and good advice to sick persons and others 
 who requested her assistance. She was in all re- 
 spects a help meet for the earnest-minded man who 
 had chosen her as his companion, and by her gentle 
 influence and thoughtful consideration for the wants 
 of others, she greatly increased the sphere of his use- 
 fulness. But their days of labour at Nevis were 
 drawing to a close. 
 
 Some uneasiness had arisen between Bishop Cole- 
 ridge and Mr. Leacock, in consequence of certain 
 public proceedings in which the latter associated 
 himself with members of the Methodist connexion. 
 The bishop had also been annoyed by Mr. Leacock's 
 refusal to sign testimonials in behalf of an applicant 
 whom he conscientiously believed to be unfit for the 
 holy ministry. It is however worthy of note that 
 this person, who was afterwards ordained, wrote a 
 letter at a subsequent time to Mr. Leacock to thank 
 him for his conduct in this respect. 
 
 There were also troubles of a different kind. At 
 this period the negro population in the West Indies 
 was in an unsettled and sometimes in an insurrec-
 
 14 REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tionary state. Discussions were going forward in 
 the British Parliament which held out prospects of 
 emancipation at no distant date. In the meanwhile 
 property of all kinds was rapidly depreciating, and 
 it was generally supposed by respectable white per- 
 sons that the islands would soon cease to be tenable 
 by those of European origin, and must be wholly 
 given over, like St. Domingo, to the African race. 
 Mr. Leacock and his relations generally shared more 
 or less in these anticipations. 
 
 In 1832 his brother, a clergyman of Jamaica, 
 visited the United States, and in the course of his 
 rambles happened to form some acquaintance with 
 the State of Kentucky. His early ideas of the Ken- 
 tuckians were dissipated by the intelligent and 
 polished society among which he was hospitably re- 
 ceived. He was pleased with the agreeable climate 
 of this region, its general salubrity, and its freedom 
 from hurricanes and earthquakes. In addition to all 
 this, he found the slave population quiet and far 
 from dangerous, and felt convinced that he could in 
 Kentucky educate a family in greater security than 
 in the colonies of which he was a native. 
 
 Emancipation, in the unsatisfactory form of an 
 apprenticeship, took place on the 1st of August, 
 1834. In 1835 the two Leacocks, with their wives 
 and children, and other near relations, bade farewell 
 to the West Indies, and after . a favourable voy- 
 age landed in New York. Here their emancipated
 
 REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 15 
 
 negro servants were informed of their freedom, and 
 were reminded that in going to Kentucky they would 
 be returning to a land of slavery. They determined 
 however to proceed, and one old negro woman ex- 
 pressed the feelings of the others, when she said with 
 hearty good feeling, " Wherever massa goes, there I 
 go too." 
 
 Travelling in those days in America was a dif- 
 ferent thing from what it is at present. The whole 
 party proceeded by Philadelphia, and by a tedious 
 journey across the Alleghany mountains to the West. 
 Accustomed to islands generally smaller than the 
 Isle of Wight, they now saw before them a vast and 
 apparently unlimited extent of fertile territory, 
 rapidly filling up with inhabitants. They entered 
 Kentucky, a country as large as Ireland, and con- 
 taining a population at that time of about seven 
 hundred thousand, of whom two hundred and fifty 
 thousand were negro slaves. Finally their land 
 journey of nearly a thousand miles was completed, 
 and they established themselves in the pleasant city 
 of Lexington, where the Church people were pre- 
 pared to give them a hearty welcome.
 
 16 ARRIVAL IN KENTUCKY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Arrival of Mr. Leacock at Lexington, Kentucky. Society in Lexing- 
 ton. Dr. Coit. Dr. Cooke. Amos Cleaver. The Bishop of Ken- 
 tucky. The Professors. The Southern Planters. Efforts for the 
 Promotion of Religion, Christ-Church. Instruction of the Slaves. 
 Confirmation of Mr. Leacock. He undertakes the charge of Pupils. 
 He is elected Rector of St. Paul's. 
 
 ON the 15th. of July, 1835, the Leacocks arrived in 
 Lexington. Although in latitude 38, nearly fifteen 
 degrees from the tropics, they found the heat of the 
 summer intense, and greatly missed the sea-breezes of 
 their native islands. I was, at that time, residing in 
 Lexington, as professor in the Episcopal Theological 
 Seminary, and as minister of Christ-Church during 
 the absence of the Bishop. I lost no time in forming 
 an acquaintance with the new-comers, and on the 
 following Sunday, at my request, Mr. Hamble Lea- 
 cock occupied the pulpit. After hearing his dis- 
 course, I felt persuaded that among the impulsive 
 and warm-hearted people of Kentucky so fervid a 
 preacher would have great opportunities of doing 
 good.
 
 SOCIETY IN LEXINGTON. 17 
 
 At the period of which. I speak there was much of 
 an interesting character in the society of Lexington. 
 As the life of every man is more or less influenced 
 by his associates, it seems proper in this place to give 
 some account of those with whom Mr. Leacock lived 
 for several years on the most intimate terms. 
 
 There is in Lexington an institution founded and 
 amply endowed by the State, and denominated 
 Transylvania University. The principal building 
 occupies an eminence, upon which its spacious 
 Grecian portico shows to considerable advantage. 
 Like other State institutions of the kind in Ame- 
 rica, this university is not attached to any par- 
 ticular religious denomination, and the president 
 and professors are at liberty to exert whatever doc- 
 trinal influences they may individually prefer upon 
 the minds of the students. Sometimes, in the Ken- 
 tucky University, Unitarian influences had predo- 
 minated, and sometimes Presbyterian. During the 
 whole period of Mr. Leacock's residence in Lexington, 
 Churchmanship was in the ascendant, the president 
 of the institution being the Rev. Dr. Coit. Dr. Coit 
 represented that large class of American Episcopalians 
 who have been led into the Church by honest con- 
 viction. Of a family once partly Quaker and partly 
 Puritan, he was himself an able expounder of the 
 peculiar principles which separate us from sectarian 
 bodies. He had already shown himself skilful in 
 polemic theology, and the Puritans in particular had
 
 18 DR. COIT. 
 
 often felt his power in controversial engagements. 
 As a native of New England, he was different in 
 temperament from our West Indian friend, but 
 not less earnest, and probably not less successful, 
 in maintaining the cause which was equally dear 
 to both. 
 
 Connected with the university there was also a 
 Medical College, which boasted an array of distin- 
 guished names, some of which have acquired an 
 European reputation, while all were possessed of at 
 least respectability in the West. Among the medical 
 professors there was one who deserved the peculiar 
 gratitude of all earnest Churchmen. This was Dr. 
 Cooke, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Me- 
 dicine. 
 
 Dr. Cooke, though a native of the United States, 
 was of West Indian origin, his parents having re- 
 moved from the island of Bermuda. He commenced 
 practice as a physician in Virginia, and in 1827 
 removed to Lexington, where his career as a professor 
 is described by his biographer 1 as one great and 
 almost unexampled triumph. Although troubled with 
 a slight impediment of speech, the earnestness of his 
 manner, the depth of his convictions, the singleness 
 of his purpose, the simplicity and comprehensiveness 
 of his views, and his intense devotion to truth, made 
 him the most interesting of companions. 
 
 1 Rev. Dr. Craik, of Louisville.
 
 DR. COOKE. 19 
 
 It was during this active period of his life that 
 Dr. Cooke was called upon to turn his great powers 
 to another and very different field of research. For 
 many years previous to 1829 he had been a zealous 
 member of the Methodist body. The causes that in- 
 duced him to abandon this connexion, and to attach 
 himself to the American Episcopal Church, are before 
 the public in the introduction to his work, republished 
 in England, on the " Invalidity of Presbyterian Ordi- 
 nation." In prosecuting his inquiry he had ran- 
 sacked the University Library, rich in many old 
 books, and all the private libraries within his reach. 
 The examination was begun and prosecuted with all 
 the ardour of a strong and enthusiastic nature. Only 
 four hours were allowed for sleep ; one hour was 
 given to the accustomed lecture before the medical 
 class ; the shortest time possible to meals, and the 
 rest of the twenty-four devoted to the absorbing 
 inquiry upon which he had entered. To relieve the 
 brain from the effects of this intense and unremitted 
 application, and to keep his mind in the highest 
 state of free and vigorous action, he several times 
 bled himself during the six weeks of this remarkable 
 investigation. At the end of that time his convic- 
 tion was complete, and the materials of that con- 
 viction, soon afterwards embodied in the essay above 
 mentioned, were accumulated and ready for future 
 use. He immediately connected himself with the 
 Episcopal Church, and neither he nor his family 
 c 2
 
 20 DR. COOKE. 
 
 ever after attended any other place of worship. 
 With all the force and enthusiasm, of his character, 
 Dr. Cooke then applied himself to the work of 
 raising up the Church in Kentucky. It was in a 
 great measure through his persevering efforts that 
 the Rev. B. B. Smith was consecrated bishop of the 
 diocese in 1832, and the Theological Seminary esta- 
 blished two years afterwards. 
 
 It may readily be imagined that Mr. Leacock 
 found much in Dr. Cooke congenial with his own 
 earnest character. A friendship was formed between 
 them, which was dissolved only by the death of 
 Dr. Cooke in 1853. The intercourse was beneficial 
 to both parties. On the one hand, the fervent piety 
 of the clergyman warmed the heart of the physician ; 
 on the other hand, the physician's researches into 
 ecclesiastical history enlightened the mind of the 
 clergyman on many points which hitherto he had 
 but slightly considered. Mr. Leacock had readily 
 acquiesced in episcopacy, as the established system in 
 that portion of the British dominions in which he 
 had been educated. But now in the United States 
 he was made to perceive that religious institutions, to 
 be permanent, require a foundation deeper than an 
 " establishment" can afford. Dr. Cooke's argument 
 assured him that no ministerial authority can be 
 justly esteemed valid which can be traced to any 
 origin short of Christ's commission to the Apostles. 
 He was thus led to the idea of a regular line of
 
 AMOS CLEAVER AND THE BISHOP. 21 
 
 ecclesiastical descent, which his new friend enabled 
 him to trace as a matter of fact through the his- 
 tory of the Church, from, the earliest institution of 
 Christianity to the present English and American 
 episcopate. 
 
 In addition to Drs. Coit and Cooke, Mr. Lea- 
 cock and myself had another friend in the Rev. 
 Amos Cleaver, once a Baptist minister in England, 
 but then a devoted Churchman, acting as mis- 
 sionary in a town within a moderate distance of 
 Lexington. Mr. Cleaver had found in this place not 
 more than one or two families of Episcopalians ; yet 
 upon this foundation he had resolved to commence 
 operations. He purchased a piece of ground, and 
 with his own hands, assisted by his two sons and a 
 hired negro, began erecting the walls of a church, 
 officiating on Sundays for the benefit of a mere 
 handful of people in the Court House. His private 
 means soon failing, he performed several tours 
 through the United States, and by dint of hard beg- 
 ging succeeded in raising five thousand dollars, with 
 which he erected a handsome place of worship, now 
 occupied by a comparatively large congregation. 
 After seeing this work completed, Mr. Cleaver went 
 as a missionary into Mississippi, where in 1853 he 
 died a martyr to duty, having caught the yellow 
 fever while faithfully attending to his flock during 
 the prevalence of that devastating pestilence. 
 
 The Bishop of the diocese was necessarily often
 
 22 PROFESSORS AND PLANTERS. 
 
 absent, but when at home he contributed greatly to 
 the intellectual society of Lexington. His philoso- 
 phical views on various subjects, combined with con- 
 siderable originality in his style of thought, rendered 
 his conversation as interesting as it was instructive. 
 He had long been an earnest friend of the missionary 
 cause, even in times when the American Church was 
 too negligent of her duty in this respect. 
 
 Besides the above, we were more or less acquainted 
 with the various professors in the university, the 
 medical and theological students, the intelligent 
 citizens of Lexington, and a somewhat diversified 
 selection of Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian 
 ministers. Not unfrequently we met the pastor of 
 the Roman Catholic Church, and his able assistant, 
 the Rev. Mr. McGill, a native Kentuckian, and now 
 the Roman Catholic Bishop of Richmond. 
 
 During the heat of summer the seven thousand 
 inhabitants of Lexington received an annual aug- 
 mentation in the numerous wealthy planters and 
 their families, who came up to escape the still 
 greater heat of the States further south. Among 
 them was always a considerable proportion of refined 
 and cultivated persons, whose minds had been en- 
 larged and improved by foreign travel. Many of these 
 were sincere members of the Church, who strove to 
 do their duty to their negro dependants, and to make 
 them as virtuous and happy as their circumstances 
 would admit.
 
 EFFORTS FOR THE PROMOTION OF RELIGION. 23 
 
 But in Western America there are multitudes 
 who, from the want of a generally accepted system 
 of external as well as internal religion, grow up in 
 practical heathenism, unbaptized and unbelieving. 
 Sectarian divisions augment the tendency to negation 
 of truth ; and it generally happens that a large por- 
 tion of a clergyman's efforts are directed against open 
 infidelity. Our friend Dr. Coit was eminently 
 useful in this particular branch of service. He de- 
 livered from time to time admirable lectures to the 
 medical students and others, in which he proved the 
 divine origin of the Christian religion, the genuine- 
 ness of the Scriptures, and the inspired character of 
 the sacred writers. Dr. Cooke, in his professional 
 instructions, availed himself of frequent opportuni- 
 ties for demonstrating the existence of a Deity, his 
 wisdom, goodness, and power. Mr. Leacock, in his 
 sermons and exhortations, took a different line and 
 addressing himself directly to the heart and con- 
 science, attacked the strongest holds of unbelief. 
 Taking it for granted that Christianity was divine, 
 and divinely adapted to the human soul, his great 
 aim was to present it in all the fulness of its claims 
 and in all the greatness of its sanctions. 
 
 Our church was a spacious building, accommo- 
 dating about six hundred persons. At the time of 
 Mr. Leacock's arrival we were much engaged in 
 promoting the Greek mission-school which Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hill had recently established at Athens, and 
 which has since become a powerful instrument of
 
 24 CHRIST-CHURCH:. 
 
 good. For the advancement of missions in foreign 
 parts as well as in Kentucky itself, we had weekly 
 collections, which amounted to about 135/. in the 
 course of a year. A " Ladies' Sewing Society," in 
 which Mrs. Leacock took an active and efficient part, 
 was one of the means of swelling this fund. The 
 ladies assembled usually at the house of some clergy- 
 man, who, as their work advanced, read to them in- 
 teresting details of missionary progress. 
 
 Mr. Leacock found in Kentucky but few oppor- 
 tunities of doing special service to the negro race. 
 Unlike the West Indies, he found the slaves in this 
 region almost wholly disconnected with the Church, 
 and living under a system necessarily adverse to 
 mental and moral culture. The greater part of them 
 were predestinarian Baptists, and addicted to a noisy 
 and exciting form of religion. Besides this, the au- 
 thorities had been alarmed by the emancipation going 
 forward in the British possessions. Strict measures 
 were now adopted to prevent entirely the somewhat 
 rare practice of teaching slaves to read. With the 
 help of our theological students, we had succeeded 
 in assembling about seventy-five young negroes in a 
 Sunday school. But when it was understood that 
 something more than oral instruction was attempted, 
 the mayor of the city requested us to desist from so 
 dangerous a proceeding, as he felt himself unable 
 to protect us against a mob, which in a moment of 
 excitement might level our seminary with the 
 dust.
 
 INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES. 25 
 
 Meantime Dr. Cooke was augmenting his library 
 by the importation from Europe of the best editions 
 of the Fathers and other theological works of value. 
 He acted in our seminary as professor of the History 
 and Polity of the Church, occasionally delivering 
 lectures on these subjects to our students. On the 
 llth of June, 1835, he was elected by the Diocesan 
 Convention of Kentucky as one of its lay deputies to 
 the General Convention which assembled that year in 
 Philadelphia. Mr. Leacock was much interested in 
 this appointment, and offered up many prayers in 
 regard to the proceedings of the great triennial 
 assembly of the American Church. Dr. Cooke on 
 this occasion startled the quiet conservatism of the 
 members of that body, by introducing a resolution 
 providing for the immediate election and conse- 
 cration of a bishop for each State and Territory 
 in the United States in which there was no bishop. 
 This sweeping and thorough proposition was par- 
 tially acted upon at the time, by the appointment 
 of two missionary bishops for the "West, one of 
 whom, Bishop Kemper, still continues, in a vigorous 
 old age, to perform his apostolic duties throughout a 
 vast extent of territory. Ultimately the Church 
 awoke to a sense of her high calling ; and at present 
 there is no part of the United States without its 
 bishop. 
 
 Soon after Dr. Cooke's retuni from the Convention, 
 the winter set in with its usual severity. Although
 
 26 CONFIRMATION OF MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 we were so far to the southward, the frost was often 
 as sharp as in Canada, the thermometer being forty 
 or fifty degrees below freezing. Our West Indian 
 friends suffered severely, and, for the first time in his 
 life, Mr. Hainble Leacock saw the phenomena of ice 
 and snow. During a part of the winter, sleighs 
 were travelling about as in the northern states and 
 colonies, and Christmas appeared in a garb worthy of 
 its ancient English character. About this time the 
 bishop held a confirmation in Christ-Church. Mr. 
 Leacock resolved to fulfil the duty which had been 
 neglected in his youth, and came forward together 
 with ,a number of young persons to receive the im- 
 position of the bishop's hands. He felt that, in so 
 doing, he was not only setting a valuable example to 
 others, but that he was placing himself in the way 
 of receiving a blessing to his own soul. 
 
 He was at this time engaged in tuition, having re- 
 turned for a brief space to the occupation of his 
 earlier life. His pupils were sincerely attached to 
 him, and his deportment towards them was in all 
 respects that of a father. In the summer of 1836 a 
 new congregation or "parish," denominated St. 
 Paul's, having been commenced in Lexington, Mr. 
 Leacock was elected rector, with a moderate com- 
 pensation. The University Chapel was lent to the 
 new congregation, in view of the possible erection 
 of a church. The instrumental music was led by 
 Mrs. Leacock, the body of the worshippers joining
 
 HIS ELECTION AS RECTOR OF ST. PATJI/S. 27 
 
 in the chants, psalms, and hymns, usual in the 
 American Church. The subject of this memoir 
 seemed again to have found his proper place, and 
 soon showed himself the fervent preacher and the 
 efficient pastor of former times.
 
 28 A SCATTERING OF FRIENDS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A General Scattering of Mr. Leacock's Friends. He removes to Ten- 
 nessee. Journey with the Bishop of Tennessee. He accepts a 
 Church at Franklin. Anecdote of him by Mrs. Wheat. He pur- 
 chases an Estate in New Jersey. Brief connexion with a Church at 
 Louisville. His Character as a Preacher and a Pastor. Removal to 
 New Jersey. Settlement during four years at Perth Amboy. Return 
 to the West Indies. 
 
 OUR pleasant ecclesiastical society in Lexington was 
 not destined to a long duration. Dr. Cooke's bio- 
 grapher remarks with, much justice that " the effort 
 then making for the extension of the Church in 
 Kentucky involved too much centralization. The 
 large ecclesiastical force collected in Lexington was 
 utterly disproportionate to the condition and strength 
 of the diocese. It was an enormous head without a 
 body. If Dr. Cooke and his fellow- Churchmen could 
 have brought from the East a band of itinerant 
 preachers, and sent them with the bishop at their 
 head through the State, gathering up and organizing 
 into congregations the Episcopalian families which 
 were thickly scattered over the whole country, the
 
 A SCATTERING OF FRIENDS. 29 
 
 result would have been different. Unhappily this 
 policy was not pursued in Kentucky, and the conse- 
 quence is that we still mourn over the deplorable 
 weakness of the Church in this diocese." 
 
 Historical veracity makes it necessary to add that 
 difficulties of a peculiar kind had now overshadowed 
 the bright early days of the Church in Kentucky. 
 A controversy involving many personal considera- 
 tions had arisen, which finally involved the clergy 
 and laity together with the Bishop and the Diocesan 
 Convention. The result of the whole was an epis- 
 copal trial, at which Bishops Kemper, Mcllvaine, 
 and McCoskry presided. Throughout the entire 
 course of these painful proceedings the conduct of 
 Mr. Leacock was in complete accordance with the 
 truthfulness and integrity of his character. 
 
 Dr. Coit, meeting with considerable discourage- 
 ment in the management of the State University, 
 resigned his appointment in 1837, and returning to 
 the East became the pastor of a congregation in the 
 pleasant village of New Rochelle, on Long Island 
 Sound, not far from New York. About the same 
 time the admirable position and rapid growth of 
 Louisville induced the majority of the medical pro- 
 fessors to look to that city as the most eligible place 
 in the western country for a great medical school. 
 Accordingly Dr. Cooke removed from Lexington to 
 Louisville, and united with four other scientific 
 gentlemen in founding the medical institute in that
 
 30 A SCATTERING OF FRIENDS. 
 
 city, now known as the Medical Department of the 
 University of Louisville. He continued to teach in 
 this school until its prosperity was placed beyond the 
 reach of competition. Mrs. Polk purchased his valu- 
 able ecclesiastical library, at a price of several thou- 
 sand dollars, and presented it to her husband, the 
 Bishop of Louisiana. 
 
 Although highly respected by those who were in- 
 timately acquainted with him, Dr. Cooke never 
 attained to popularity. He constantly manifested 
 thorough indifference to public opinion, and stern 
 intolerance of error and flippancy. He threw his 
 great truths before the world, and used no further 
 care to commend or introduce them. He took it for 
 granted that every man would be as devout a wor- 
 shipper of truth as himself, and was at little pains to 
 conceal his contempt for those who seemed to make 
 truth a secondary consideration. As a necessary 
 consequence Dr. Cooke had many enemies. 
 
 Mr. Leacock's brother had quitted Lexington, 
 having purchased an estate at some distance in the 
 country. Several of his relations had returned from 
 Kentucky to the West Indies, where they found that 
 notwithstanding the apprenticeship system, it was 
 still possible for white persons to exist. Nearly 
 at the same time with Drs. Coit and Cooke, I 
 quitted the diocese of Bishop Smith, and accepted, 
 at Bishop Kemper's invitation, the charge of a rising 
 congregation in the free State of Indiana. In conse-
 
 REMOVAL TO TENNESSEE. 31 
 
 quence of ill health, I retained this position little 
 more than a year, and in 1838 removed with my 
 family to the healthy North, and took up my resi- 
 dence on British territory, in the loyal colony of 
 Upper Canada. Before parting from Mr. Leacock, 
 I gave him a copy of Thomas a Kempis, with which 
 he was greatly delighted, and which, except his 
 Bible, he valued above all the books in his possession. 
 
 In consequence of these and other removals, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Leacock felt themselves solitary, and 
 having no local ties to bind them to Lexington, 
 began to contemplate another change. Mrs. Lea- 
 cock wrote as follows, in June, 1837 : 
 
 " Another thing which has damped my spirits and 
 rendered me unfit for writing, is that our friend 
 
 J has left us. She went on Monday with Mrs. 
 
 Coit and her little ones. Dr. Cooke and his family 
 haA r e also taken their departure. Mrs. Cooke and 
 the girls went yesterday, in their private carriage, 
 and the good doctor has this instant started in the 
 car with all his servants. Lexington looks deserted. 
 It makes me melancholy whenever I think of the 
 many excellent friends who have left it, and who in 
 all probability we shall never meet again on earth. 
 I almost wish our turn had come ; but it strikes me 
 we shall be the last to move." 
 
 "Within half a year from the date of this letter 
 the expected change had taken place, and Mr. Lea- 
 cock, at Bishop Otey's invitation, removed south-
 
 32 JOURNEY WITH THE BISHOP OF TENNESSEE. 
 
 ward, into the adjoining State of Tennessee. He 
 spent some time in .travelling with the good bishop 
 throughout his extensive diocese, and found in him a 
 cordial friend, a man thoroughly after his own heart, 
 and an edifying and instructive companion. As the 
 two men of God rode together on horseback, they 
 engaged in conversation on noble and elevated sub- 
 jects, and sometimes made the forests echo to the un- 
 wonted sound of their chants and hymns. 
 
 Having taken charge, at the bishop's request, of 
 the parish of Franklin, he found himself again en- 
 gaged in that ministerial work which had always 
 been his delight. Yet his success did not altogether 
 equal his expectations, and certainly fell short of 
 what he had experienced in Nevis. Writing to me 
 on the 5th of February, 1838, he spoke of having 
 innumerable calls on his time, and added as follows : 
 
 " I am getting on tolerably well. Franklin is a 
 charming little place, and if the Lord will bless my 
 labours I shall be happy. The people are friendly 
 and kind; but I want to see grace. I long once 
 more to hear the cry, * What must I do to be saved ?' 
 Remember us affectionately to your dear wife, and 
 may the Lord abundantly bless you in your labours 
 and in your family." 
 
 Mrs. Selina Wheat, the wife of a clergyman then 
 residing in Tennessee, has kindly supplied me with 
 the following interesting sketch of Mr. Leacock : 
 
 " During his residence in Tennessee, Mr. Leacock,
 
 ANECDOTE BY MRS. WHEAT. 33 
 
 as "was generally required of the clergy of that day, 
 had to do much missionary or itinerant work for the 
 Church. After a Sunday's service in Clarksville, he 
 was returning to his home in Franklin, when he was 
 obliged by illness to stop at our house in Nashville. 
 He had travelled all day, on horseback, under an 
 oppressive sun, and having had a severe chill he was 
 now burning with fever. He was unable to dismount 
 without assistance. My husband and son carried 
 him in their arms to his room, and we immediately 
 sent for a physician. As soon as it could be done, a 
 foot-bath, which we knew to be peculiarly refreshing 
 to him, was prepared ; and my husband, himself 
 taking off his shoes and stockings, began to bathe his 
 feet. As I was, at the moment, making a cooling 
 application to his head, I observed Mr. Leacock 
 weeping passionately. Alarmed, I begged to know 
 the cause. 'Was he more ill than we supposed? 
 Should we send for his wife? What was the 
 matter ? Why did he weep ? ' With some effort he 
 became more calm, and confessed would you believe 
 it ? that he wept because my husband was perform- 
 ing so menial an office for him. ' Why ! Mr. Lea- 
 cock,' I said, ' would not you do as much for him ? ' 
 ' Oh yes, certainly/ he replied, and then, no doubt 
 recurring to the incident in the Gospels, he added, 
 ' not bis feet only, but his hands and his head.' 
 
 " A few weeks after this, he was called to be our 
 comforter; for we had been bereaved of a precious 
 
 D
 
 34 ANECDOTE BY MRS. WHEAT. 
 
 child. He remained with us several days after the 
 funeral, taking my husband's duty on the following 
 Sunday, and oh, how well I remember his untiring 
 efforts to console us ! Once in the anguish of my 
 grief, I said to him, 'Oh! Mr. Leacock, we little 
 thought when you left us so lately that you would be 
 called to perform this sad office for us that I should 
 lose my Heber ! ' He was pacing the floor, and sud- 
 denly turning upon me, he said very earnestly, ' Are 
 you a Christian mother, and say that Heber is lost ? 
 Oh, say not lost ; but only gone before. Do not let 
 me hear you use such language again. You shall go 
 to him, if you meekly submit yourself to your hea- 
 venly Father's will but say not again that your 
 child is lost.' I confess his stern rebuke did more to 
 calm my grief than all his previous words of gentle 
 remonstrance. 
 
 " We once again saw him and his model wife, in a 
 great trial of a very different kind, after they had 
 lost the greater part of their property by the failure 
 of a friend. I never can forget their Christian 
 fortitude and magnanimous forbearance towards the 
 wrong-doer, who had so cruelly disappointed them. 
 'God will provide/ they said; 'yes, and He will 
 bring good out of this evil. We can but pray for 
 him who has done us this great wrong.' Not a 
 word of severity, hardly of reproach, did I hear from 
 those holy lips." 
 
 The following letter addressed to me by Bishop
 
 LETTER FROM BISHOP OTEY. 35 
 
 Otey completes the record of Mr. Leacock' s ministry 
 in Tennessee : 
 
 " Ebenezer, near Memphis, Tennessee, 
 
 Dec. 8, 1856. 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 " I feel a melancholy interest in complying with 
 your request to furnish any particulars I may possess 
 connected with the ministry of our late dearly- 
 beloved and lamented brother, the Rev. Hamble J. 
 Leacock, while resident in this diocese. These par- 
 ticulars are not many, being collected chiefly, such 
 as they are, from notices scattered through my 
 annual reports to the Diocesan Convention. 
 
 " He was canonically transferred from the diocese 
 of Kentucky to that of Tennessee on the 5th day of 
 January, 1838. You are yourself aware of the un- 
 happy difficulties which disturbed the peace of the 
 Church in Kentucky for several years previous to 
 this time, in consequence of which Mr. Leacock and 
 his brother were induced to seek situations in this 
 State. Hamble took charge of St. Paul's, Franklin, 
 to the rectorship of which he was formally invited 
 by the Yestry. In his first parochial report, he says 
 with characteristic modesty, ' The rector sees no de- 
 cided testimony that his labours have been success- 
 ful ; yet he hopes that they have not been altogether 
 in vain. He trusts there are a few who maintain, in 
 secret, a faithful adherence to Christ, and like plants 
 in the wilderness blossom unseen, and diffuse their 
 D 2
 
 36 LETTER FROM BISHOP OTEY. 
 
 fragrance unperceived, except by Him who seeth all 
 things.' 
 
 "As evidence of the estimate in which he was 
 held by his brethren, it may be mentioned that, at 
 the Convention held six months after his removal 
 into the diocese, he was elected a member of the 
 Standing Committee and a trustee of the General 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
 " The next notice of him is taken from my annual 
 report for the next year, in these words : ' The Rev. 
 H. J. Leacock preached an effective and impressive 
 sermon on the duties of the ministry, on the occasion 
 of ordaining two deacons to the priesthood and a 
 candidate to the diaconate.' This took place at 
 Clarksville during the session of the Convention. 
 His manner was very impressive and earnest, and 
 few who heard him then, or at other times, are 
 likely to have forgotten the power with which he 
 spake. 
 
 " It was during the years 1838 and 1839 that he 
 accompanied me on a visitation of the greater part 
 of my diocese. Our journeyings together on horse- 
 back gave me good opportunities to learn the cha- 
 racter of this truly great, because he was a truly good, 
 man. It was here that he opened his heart, and un- 
 covered the deep well-springs and fountains of the 
 spiritually-minded man, overflowing with love to 
 Christ, and gushing forth into streams of affection 
 for his fellow-men. The grace of Christ, the sane-
 
 LETTER FROM BISHOP OTEY. 37 
 
 tifying influences of the Holy Spirit, and the neces- 
 sity of faith evidenced by a holy life, were his con- 
 stant themes in public and in private. He would 
 sometimes become so earnest, that, forgetting his 
 manuscript, he would lean over the pulpit, and with 
 his lion-like eye fixed upon some attentive hearer in 
 the congregation, he would seem as if he was reading 
 the very thoughts of the sinner's heart, and arraign- 
 ing him before God for the murder of the soul. He 
 was fond of preaching. He felt that it was an hon- 
 ourable employment, and never declined when asked, 
 unless for some cogent reason, which every one would 
 appreciate when named. 
 
 "But it was not in his pulpit ministrations only 
 that he sought opportunity to preach Christ. When- 
 ever we stopped at night, during a tour of several 
 hundred miles, and sought lodging in the log-cabin 
 of the pioneer settlers, he never failed, either in the 
 evening or morning, to call the members of the 
 family, as well as the sojourners present, around the 
 domestic altar, to read a portion of God's word, com- 
 ment on it, and then invite all to unite with him in 
 prayer. In this way he not only inspired respect 
 for religion, but also for its teachers. 
 
 "I remember very distinctly one of these occa- 
 sions. He was making a running commentary on 
 Romans viii., and had begun to remark on the 3rd 
 verse, when a young woman present interposed a 
 question, which implied that the law of God was de-
 
 38 LETTER FROM BISHOP OTEY. 
 
 fective, and needed to be annulled or set aside, be- 
 cause of its imperfection. He seemed to be aroused 
 as if by an electric shock, and turning round towards 
 the questioner, he said in his own peculiar manner, 
 'Don't you hear the Apostle say that the law was 
 weak through the flesh ?' And then he proceeded to 
 descant in a most lucid manner, and with thrilling 
 effect on his hearers, upon the holiness, justice, and 
 goodness of the law, showing that it was honour- 
 able to God and just to man, and for that very reason 
 rendered the exercise of mercy through Christ glori- 
 ous to God. 
 
 " Naturally of a quick and excitable temperament, 
 he felt very keenly an unprovoked injury or wrong. 
 At the same time, I have met with few men who, I 
 think, were possessed of a more ready disposition to 
 forgive an offender than he was, upon a proper mani- 
 festation of repentance. For two years successively 
 he accompanied me in my visitation of the diocese, 
 relieving me of much of the duty of reading prayers 
 and preaching. In every place the people mani- 
 fested an eager desire to hear him. To this day they 
 retain a very pleasing remembrance of his labours, 
 and the announcement of his death will draw forth 
 many a deep sigh from hundreds who cherish a 
 grateful recollection of his labours for their spiritual 
 and eternal good. 
 
 " I am sorry, my dear Sir, that the time to which 
 I am limited does not allow me to seek for many
 
 CONNEXION WITH LOUISVILLE. 39 
 
 more gratifying reminiscences which. I am sure exist, 
 of one who by his Christian spirit and burning zeal 
 in the cause of our blessed Redeemer, endeared him- 
 self to every Churchman in America who enjoyed 
 the pleasure of his acquaintance. Would that the 
 mantle of his faith, charity, and zeal, might rest upon 
 us all! 
 
 " I remain 
 
 " Your affectionate and faithful brother, 
 "JAMES H. OTEY, 
 
 Bishop of Tennessee. 
 "To the Rev. H. Caswall, D.D., &c." 
 
 The event last mentioned by Mrs. Wheat obliged 
 Mr. and Mrs. Leacock to leave Tennessee, and they 
 soon afterwards went to the warm welcome of their 
 friends in Louisville, Kentucky, under the following 
 circumstances. At Louisville, Dr. Cooke was now 
 settled, together with the Harts, the Andersons, and 
 other families once connected with St. Paul's at Lex- 
 ington. These old acquaintances earnestly desired Mr. 
 Leacock to become again their pastor, and to undertake 
 the laborious task of " building up" a small congre- 
 gation, worshipping in an old and unseemly church. 
 This church had been almost deserted in consequence 
 of the erection of a new and handsome edifice by the 
 people under the charge of the Rev. W. Jackson. 
 Mr. Anderson, aware of the power of Mr. Leacock, 
 and believing that he could persuade him to throw
 
 40 LOUISVILLE. 
 
 himself into the breach, went two hundred miles by 
 the stage-coach to Franklin, and determined to take 
 DO refusal. He seized Mr. Leacock with friendly 
 violence, and actually brought him back with him 
 to Louisville. Mr. Leacock commenced in that city 
 with a kind of forlorn hope, and after some weeks 
 returned to Franklin for. his family. 
 
 Louisville then contained nearly forty thousand 
 inhabitants, and has probably more than doubled 
 that population at the present time. Its situation on 
 the Ohio river renders it a most important com- 
 mercial emporium, while railroads connecting it with 
 the interior of Kentucky bring the produce of that 
 fertile country on board the numerous steamers 
 which perpetually crowd the landing-place. The 
 people, though excitable, are hospitable, warm- 
 hearted, and intelligent. Mr. Leacock already pos- 
 sessed many influential friends among them, and it 
 is probable that if he had decided on a permanent 
 engagement with them, he would have found a wide 
 sphere of usefulness. A handsome stipend was pro- 
 mised to him, but he had determined that his stay 
 should be Ifui brief, and that he would never again 
 live under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical au- 
 thority of Kentucky. 
 
 For six months, however, he laboured most suc- 
 cessfully in augmenting the congregation and in 
 giving the people time, confidence, and opportunity 
 to obtain a permanent minister. The Rev. Dr.
 
 LOUISVILLE. 41 
 
 Craik, of Louisville, thus -writes respecting his minis- 
 trations at this period. "As a preacher, he was 
 fervent, animated, and always interesting. Some- 
 times he ^produced a most startling sensation. 
 Once, referring to the many good and able men who 
 have been the propagators of false doctrine, he said, 
 ' Do you suppose that the devil does not know how 
 to choose his agents?' Another time, 'Do you 
 know who was the first Unitarian? It was the 
 devil.' ' IF thou be the Son of God, &C. 1 ' " 
 
 Mrs. Jackson, widow of the clergyman mentioned 
 on the last page, states that Mr. Leacock's inter- 
 course with her husband was of the most fraternal 
 and agreeable character. She adds, "I remember 
 that he was particularly forcible in his sermons on 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, and though he was in the 
 habit of introducing the most pointed remarks on 
 that subject, the Unitarians went much to hear him, 
 and had a great respect for his character." 
 
 Another lady, Mrs. Field, says, " During his short 
 residence in Louisville he endeared himself to his 
 people by the warmth of his own affections. His visits 
 were like a gleam of sunshine to the sorrowful and 
 the suffering. He seemed to live a life of childlike 
 faith, never doubting his Father's love, ever looking 
 to Him for strength. Once he preached a very 
 solemn sermon on the certain punishment of the 
 
 1 Matt iv. 6.
 
 42 CHARACTER AS A PREACHER, &C. 
 
 
 
 wicked. It was evident that the listeners were 
 almost spell-bound. I said, ' Your sermon produced 
 a great impression.' He looked quite sad, and an- 
 swered, ' Yes, fear stirs up men's souls, but how few 
 hearts would have been melted by the story of the 
 Saviour's dying love ! ' In his visits from house to 
 house he often made stirring appeals to those who 
 stood aloof from the body of Christ. When he found 
 that a heart was touched, he would say, 'Now, my 
 brother, let us kneel down and pray together.' A 
 person very dear to him once said in his presence, 
 * I wish I had never been born.' He seemed much 
 affected, and replied, * What, when you know that 
 Christ died for you?' His constant theme was 
 the Divine love manifested in Christ Jesus. He be- 
 came so dear to us, that to part from him was a 
 great sorrow." 
 
 In April, 1840, I revisited Kentucky from Canada, 
 and after a journey of about nine hundred miles, 
 found myself among my former associates at Louis- 
 ville. I shall never forget the hearty welcome which 
 I received from Mr. and Mrs. Leacock, and from the 
 principal persons of their congregation. Dr. Cooke 
 stated that Mr. Leacock was producing a powerful 
 effect in the place, being distinguished by the bold- 
 ness and decision with which he gave utterance to 
 unpopular and unpalatable truths. Instead of being 
 offended with his plainness, the people had the good 
 sense to perceive the practical worth of such a
 
 CHARACTER AS A PREACHER, &C. 43 
 
 preacher. They respected him for his sincerity, and 
 would have made great sacrifices to retain him among 
 them as a regular pastor. 
 
 Since the general dispersion of his friends at 
 Lexington, he had never felt at home in the West, 
 and had preferred to act only as a missionary. There 
 were no local ties as yet to bind him to any part of 
 the United States, in which he always felt himself in 
 some sense a foreigner. There can be no doubt 
 also that change of place was not wholly unsuited to 
 his character and habits. Wherever he dwelt he 
 was strongly impressed with the conviction that in 
 this life he had no abiding place, and that his only 
 true home was in that Jerusalem which hath foun- 
 dations, whose builder and maker is God. 
 
 A Committee of the House of Bishops in the 
 American General Convention of 1856, made some 
 valuable observations on the best mode of employing 
 the various gifts bestowed on men for the edifying of 
 the Church. " There are men," they state, " whose 
 temperaments incline them to be constantly moving 
 from place to place. Connected with this consti- 
 tutional peculiarity, there is generally a frankness 
 and cordiality of manner which renders such persons 
 favourites wherever they go. They may not possess 
 any great breadth or variety of learning, nor any 
 great powers of thought ; but they have a faculty of 
 correct and close observation, a knowledge of men as 
 individuals and in masses, and perhaps extraordinary
 
 44 REMOVAL TO NEW JERSEY. 
 
 skill and tact in controlling them. In this class will 
 be found those best calculated of all, perhaps, in the 
 Church, to fill the office of evangelists. Such a 
 corps of active labourers seems almost indispensable 
 to the complete organization of the Church according 
 to the primitive model." 
 
 Mr. Leacock's circumstances had been, as before 
 mentioned, considerably straitened while in Frank- 
 lin, and the idea had occurred to him that he might, 
 by the purchase of a farm, secure a competence for 
 his family in the event of his decease. His health 
 was now much impaired, and he wished to obtain a 
 situation in which he might rest himself and recruit 
 his energies. He desired also to enjoy facilities for 
 ready communication with his aged father in Bar- 
 bados. 
 
 Accordingly, with the remnant of his means, he 
 had already purchased a small estate near the sea- 
 shore, and not far from the town of New Brunswick, 
 in New Jersey. His friends in Kentucky greatly 
 disapproved of this step, and assured him that he 
 could never succeed as an agriculturist; but their 
 solicitations and representations were alike fruitless, 
 and he remained in Louisville only to complete his 
 six months as a wayfaring man and a sojourner. 
 The work of God, however, prospered in his hand, 
 and under his successors. The congregation, of 
 which he undertook the charge in its day of weak- 
 ness, has been steadily improving and enlarging
 
 NEW JERSEY. 45 
 
 itself to the present day. The capacity of the 
 church has been several times increased for the ac- 
 commodation of the worshippers. Two new parish 
 churches have also been erected since Mr. Leacock's 
 brief incumbency, and a third is now in progress. 
 
 A letter from Mrs. Leacock, written soon after my 
 visit to Louisville in 1840, showed that the per- 
 severing efforts of the congregation to retain her 
 husband had proved fruitless. "We live," she 
 wrote, " with our kind friends, the Harts, where it 
 is likely we shall remain so long as we stay in Louis- 
 ville. This is a sore subject to the ears of our con- 
 gregation (I mean our leaving Louisville for New 
 Jersey), but Mr. Leacock says he sees no alternative, 
 and that go we must in July." Accordingly in July 
 they proceeded to their destination, and shortly 
 afterwards Mr. Leacock appeared in his new cha- 
 racter of a New Jersey farmer. 
 
 He did not, however, permit agricultural labours 
 to divert his attention from the great work of his 
 ministry. In the autumn of this year he visited 
 Connecticut, where he preached a striking sermon at 
 an ordination held by the bishop of the diocese in 
 the town of Bridgeport. For a few Sundays he con- 
 tinued to officiate in that neighbourhood, but his 
 anchorage in New Jersey compelled him to return, 
 and to confine his ministrations to places in the 
 vicinity of his new home. During the winter he
 
 46 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 supplied the pulpit of Christ Church, New Bruns- 
 wick, the rector being temporarily absent. 
 
 In 1841 he spent some time in the West Indies, 
 endeavouring to recover the property of which he 
 had been deprived, and to which his son would be 
 entitled in right of his mother. In this endeavour 
 he was partially successful. Soon after his return 
 to America, I accidentally met him in Broadway 
 during the session of the General Convention in New 
 York. He was rejoiced to see an old Kentucky 
 friend, and gave me much interesting information 
 respecting his plans and prospects. 
 
 About this time he was visited at his farm by the 
 Rev. Mr. Pitkin, who had succeeded him at Louis- 
 ville. Mr. Pitkin had heard so many things re- 
 ported in his praise, that he longed to form his 
 acquaintance, and went on a kind of pilgrimage to 
 visit him in his rural retreat, eight hundred miles 
 eastward of Kentucky. He found him at work in 
 his barn, and met with a most cordial reception. 
 The two clergymen sat down on the hay, and long 
 remained together in agreeable and Christian con- 
 versation. "I sat there as long as possible," says 
 Mr. Pitkin, " drinking in his sweet speech, and 
 learning how he had held hearts so knit to him. I 
 left him at last, but shall never forget him. He 
 being dead, yet speaketh to us by the noble example 
 of his self-sacrifice."
 
 SETTLEMENT AT PERTH AMBOY. 47 
 
 Shortly after his return from the West Indies, he 
 was desired by Bishop Doane to undertake the 
 charge of two little stations, one five and the other 
 twelve miles distant from his residence. At these 
 places he laboured faithfully and zealously until 
 1843, when he was prevailed upon to part with his 
 farm, and to become rector of St. Peter's, in Perth 
 Amboy. The situation of Perth Amboy is pleasant 
 and healthy. It stands on a neck of land at the 
 head of Raritan river, on the great thoroughfare 
 between New York and Philadelphia. At a very 
 early period in American history it carried on a 
 trade with the West Indies, having one of the best 
 harbours on the continent. The church in this 
 place is of a comparatively ancient date, having 
 been founded in the times anterior to the Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Leacock, as usual, soon made friends in his 
 new parish, and being pleased with the situation 
 became apparently settled for life. During four 
 years he continued in Perth Amboy, and fully main- 
 tained his already high reputation as a faithful 
 minister of the word of God. 
 
 In the summer of 1843, he had the great pleasure 
 of receiving another of his old Kentucky friends. 
 Dr. Coit visited him from New Rochelle, and wrote 
 to me as follows on the 29th of July. "I had a 
 spare Sunday a short time since, and ran down to 
 Perth Amboy to spend it with Hamble Leacock.
 
 48 RETURN TO THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 He is well, and very comfortably situated, and 
 took great delight in talking over old Kentucky 
 times." 
 
 In 1847, the decaying health of his father, and 
 the necessity of looking after the property of his son 
 (now of age), obliged him to revisit his native island 
 of Barbados. He left his parish at Perth Amboy in 
 the charge of a clerical friend, and received the fol- 
 lowing letter from Bishop Doane to Bishop Parry, 
 the successor of Bishop Coleridge : 
 
 "To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of 
 Barbados. 
 
 " This is to commend the Reverend Hamble James 
 Leacock, a Presbyter of this diocese, who is about to 
 visit some of the islands of your Lordship's diocese, 
 as a brother, faithful and beloved, and worthy of all 
 confidence and kindness. 
 
 " Affectionately in the bonds of Jesus Christ, 
 
 " a. W. DOANE. 
 
 " Riverside, Easter Monday, 1847." 
 
 Mr. Leacock expected to return to his duties at . 
 Perth Amboy in the spring of 1848. Being, how- 
 ever, detained longer than he had anticipated, he 
 was informed that his parishioners were somewhat 
 impatiently awaiting his return. He immediately 
 sent over his resignation of the rectorship, and ter-
 
 RETURN TO THE WEST INDIES. 49 
 
 minated his connexion with the diocese of New 
 Jersey. All attempts to induce him to reconsider 
 this decision were fruitless, and in 1849, having 
 settled all his affairs in the United States, he ap- 
 peared once more as a West Indian clergyman.
 
 50 REASONS FOR RETURNING. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Reasons for his Return. State of Nevis. African practices. Obeah. 
 Mr. Leacock delivers Lectures against Obeah. Death of the Obeah- 
 man. Effect of Charms on the African. Return to Barbados. Tem- 
 porary Charge of St. Peter's. Death of Amos Cleaver and Dr. Cooke. 
 Mr. Leacock is appointed to the Chapel at Bridgetown. Testimonial 
 of the Parishioners of St. Peter's. Commencement of Efforts in 
 behalf of Africa. Formation of the Society for the Furtherance of 
 the Gospel. Outbreak of Cholera. Death of Mrs. Leacock. 
 
 IT was not a mere fondness for change, and still less 
 was it the communication from Perth Amboy, which 
 induced Mr. Leacock to attach himself again to the 
 West Indies. His father was now very aged, and 
 indeed died in the following year, after a long and 
 gradual decline. His only daughter, Elizabeth, was 
 about this time married, and happily settled in Bar- 
 bados. The apprenticeship system from which he 
 had justly apprehended evil consequences, had been 
 found inexpedient on trial, and had given way to 
 the complete abolition of negro slavery on the 1st of 
 August, 1838. The relative position of blacks and 
 whites was now fully understood, and, although West 
 Indian property had in many instances become nearly
 
 STATE OF THINGS IN NEVIS. 51 
 
 valueless, it was clear to Mr. Leacock that the two 
 races might now exist together in harmony. He 
 found that old prejudices originating in slavery had 
 in a great measure died away, and the people of 
 Barbados, who had all but ejected him in 1827, 
 gave him a cordial and respectful greeting twenty 
 years afterwards. While engaged on his son's busi- 
 ness in that island he performed for several months 
 the duties of minister of his native parish, during 
 the illness of the rector, to the edification and delight 
 of the congregation. 
 
 Having concluded this brief engagement he re- 
 visited Nevis, where he found a strong affection still 
 subsisting towards him among his old parishioners. 
 When he spoke of the possibility of his returning 
 to the United States, many of them implored him 
 with tears to become once more their pastor. He 
 yielded to their entreaties, and after definitely re- 
 signing the charge of the parish at Perth Amboy, 
 again occupied his former position in the church at 
 Charlestown. 
 
 But twelve or thirteen years had made great 
 changes among the people. Many old friends of 
 the pastor were dead, and others had departed. The 
 negroes had too generally become idle since the ac- 
 quisition of liberty, and with idleness had betaken 
 themselves to the bad habits of former times. African 
 superstitions had been re-introduced by a number of 
 recaptured slaves, and the horrid practice of Obeah, 
 E 2
 
 52 AFRICAN PRACTICES OBEAH. 
 
 as it is called, was spreading terror throughout the 
 island. 
 
 Mr. Leacock, being a man of known energy and 
 courage, was armed by the governor with the autho- 
 rity of a magistrate, and exerted himself in appre- 
 hending and punishing some of the worst criminals. 
 But there was an Obeah-man whose influence had 
 become so extraordinary that he had managed to 
 paralyze even the strong hand of justice. He was 
 believed to possess a certain charm, by which he could 
 at any time cause the death of those who fell under his 
 curse. He was in reality a most accomplished poisoner. 
 He could insinuate the means of destruction into vege- 
 tables, melons, and other fruits as they grew in the 
 field or in the garden. Through the agency of his 
 creatures, presents were conveyed to his enemies which 
 occasioned their speedy death. At length no one dared 
 to receive a gift of any article of food. So deep was 
 the cunning of the " doctor," as he was called, that 
 hitherto it had been impossible to bring legal evi- 
 dence to bear upon him. Besides this, few could be 
 found who possessed the courage to come forward as 
 witnesses against him, or to find him guilty if 
 brought before a jury. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Mr. Leacock announced 
 his intention of delivering a course of public lectures 
 exposing the infamous practice of Obeah. The Obeah- 
 man, on the contrary, declared that if Mr. Leacock 
 should persist in this intention, a curse should rest
 
 EFFECT OF CHARMS. 53 
 
 upon him and that he would certainly die. Nothing 
 daunted, the intrepid pastor proceeded with his lec- 
 tures, though many of his congregation already re- 
 garded him as a dead man. Meantime the " doctor" 
 was engaged in the preparation of the most deadly 
 poisons to secure the fulfilment of his curse. It is 
 supposed that he incautiously tasted some of these 
 in order to assure himself of their potency. Certaio 
 it is that his corpse was found among some sugar- 
 canes, frightfully disfigured, yet without any visible 
 cause of death. 
 
 To show the terrible effect of a curse upon the 
 mind and body of the African, Mr. Leacock related 
 to me the following circumstance as having happened 
 within his own knowledge. Three negro men having 
 stolen a pig from a woman of their own race, were 
 solemnly cursed by her. In their terror they restored 
 the pig, but the woman refused to revoke the curse. 
 She buried a piece of the animal in the ground, and 
 assured the thieves that before it should decay they 
 would all undoubtedly perish. In a short time the 
 three men began to grow weak and became un- 
 able to perform their accustomed work. Their em- 
 ployer went to the woman and entreated her to 
 remove the imprecation. She apparently consented, 
 and seemed to make light of the whole transaction. 
 But nothing could re-assure the three victims, who 
 gradually pined away, and not long afterwards died. 
 
 In 1852 Mr. Leacock returned to Barbados, where 
 in July he took charge of the parish of St. Peter's,
 
 54 RETURN TO BARBADOS. 
 
 Speightstown, in the absence of the Rev. W. Payne, 
 the rector, and retained it to the end of 1853. In 
 the autumn of that year, being resident in England, 
 I was sent with others on a deputation to the Epis- 
 copal Board of Missions, which assembled in October, 
 at New York, during the session of the General Con- 
 vention. On this occasion I had the pleasure of 
 meeting Mr. Leacock's brother, the Rev. Dr. Lea- 
 cock, of New Orleans, who attended the Convention 
 as a clerical deputy from the diocese of Louisiana. I 
 met also Mr. Hamble Leacock's only son, Benjamin, 
 a promising young clergyman of the American 
 Church, who had recently received Holy Orders after 
 completing his studies at the Episcopal Theological 
 Seminary of Virginia. At the same time I heard of 
 the death of Mr. Cleaver, who had fallen a victim to 
 his fidelity to his parishioners in Mississippi during 
 the prevalence of yellow fever. It was during this 
 session of the Convention that Dr. Cooke was re- 
 moved to another life, having attained to the age of 
 seventy-one. A last notice of this remarkable man, 
 as a friend of Mr. Leacock, will hardly be inappro- 
 priate in this place. 
 
 In 1844 Dr. Cooke resigned his medical professor- 
 ship and retired to Woodlawn, a beautiful farm in 
 the neighbourhood of Louisville. A few years later, 
 in 1848, he purchased a large unimproved estate on 
 the southern bank of the Ohio, about thirty miles 
 above Louisville, where his energies were employed 
 in the labours of the farmer and the pioneer. The
 
 DEATH OF DR. COOKE. 55 
 
 wild beauties of nature, which he intensely enjoyed, 
 the love of his family, and the consolations of reli- 
 gion, were here his solace and delight. His biogra- 
 pher says that it was deeply affecting to see that 
 strong old man. weeping at bidding adieu to the 
 Christian minister who from time to time celebrated,* 
 at his secluded home on the Ohio, the solemn offices 
 of the Church. 
 
 For many years he had been subject, upon expo- 
 sure, to violent attacks of inflammation of the lungs. 
 These he had often removed by the prompt applica- 
 tion of his own vigorous treatment. The attacks 
 became so frequent under the exposure incident to 
 his new mode of life on the Ohio, that his strong 
 constitution gave way, and, on the 19th of October, 
 1853, he breathed his last, with a firm trust in the 
 mercy of the Saviour whom he had loved and served 
 for the greater part of a long life. While on his 
 death-bed, for many weeks, and until within a few 
 hours of his death, the Greek Testament was his con- 
 stant companion. All day long, and every day, he 
 pored over its sacred pages with critical attention 
 and devout affection. His mind retained its power 
 and freshness to the last. Truth and love he found 
 embodied in the "Word of the Almighty, and on that 
 his soul rested, in life and death, with satisfied de- 
 light. 
 
 While his old friends in America were thus going 
 the way of all the earth, Mr. Leacock was putting
 
 56 TESTIMONIAL TO MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 forth all his energies in Barbados, and becoming an 
 influential clergyman of the diocese tinder Bishop 
 Parry. In December, 1853, Mr. Payne returning 
 from England, Mr. Leacock resigned into his hands 
 the charge of the parish of St. Peter's. The follow- 
 ing account of the proceedings on this occasion is 
 taken from the "Barbadian" newspaper of December 
 14th: 
 
 "TESTIMONIAL TO MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 " "We have great satisfaction in placing on our 
 page the following handsome address of the pa- 
 rishioners of St. Peter to the Rev. Hamble J. Lea- 
 cock, with the reverend gentleman's grateful reply. 
 This is the second instance which we have had the 
 pleasure of recording in our journal, within the last 
 six years, of the good feeling of the parishioners of 
 St. Peter on the subject of pastoral superintendence, 
 and their just appreciation of the labours of faithful 
 and zealous ministers, who have happened tempo- 
 rarily to perform the responsible duties of parish 
 priest in the absence of the rector, viz., the Rev. H. 
 R. Redwar in 1847, and the Rev. H. J. Leacock, for 
 the last seventeen months. The separation which is 
 now about to take place, we can well imagine will be 
 painful to both parties. 
 
 " The reverend gentleman, who is the subject of 
 the following correspondence, has evinced a generous 
 and disinterested feeling in intimating his intention
 
 TESTIMONIAL. 57 
 
 to appropriate the greater part of the munificent gift 
 of the parishioners to the endowment of a ' Coleridge 
 Scholarship' at Codrington College. We are author 
 rized, however, to state, that it was the unanimous 
 wish of the donors that the whole sum should be laid 
 out in the purchase of a piece of plate, and that 
 Mr. Leacock has yielded to their wish. 
 
 " The deputation of the parishioners waited upon 
 the reverend gentleman at the rectory. 
 
 " ' Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 " ' As parishioners of Saint Peter, and especially 
 as members of the congregation of the parish church, 
 we are unwilling that you should relinquish the trust 
 which has devolved upon you during the temporary 
 absence of our rector in England, without conveying 
 to you the strong sense we entertain of the faithful 
 and efficient manner in which you have discharged 
 your ministerial responsibilities. 
 
 " ' Your earnest and impressive teaching of the 
 truths of the Gospel, the zeal manifested in your un- 
 wearied efforts to promote the spiritual welfare of the 
 people, and your diligent attention to other pastoral 
 relations which exist between the minister and his 
 flock, have endeared you to us, and call for an ex- 
 pression of our gratitude and affectionate regard. In 
 offering, on the eve of our separation, this our testi- 
 mony to your worth, we desire also to present you 
 with a somewhat more substantial, but inadequate
 
 58 TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 mark of our esteem, and beg your acceptance of this 
 purse, containing the sum of three hundred and fifty 
 dollars, which we request you will appropriate to the 
 purchase of a piece of plate, to perpetuate the re- 
 membrance of the connexion which has so happily 
 subsisted between us for the last seventeen months. 
 
 " 'With our sincere wishes that your ministry 
 may be continued to the Church of this island, and 
 that God may in all things bless your labours and 
 devotion to his service, 
 
 " ' "We remain, reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 " ' In behalf of the parishioners of St. Peter, 
 and your late congregation, 
 
 " ' Yours sincerely, 
 
 " ' Sir R. A. Alleyne, Bart., Francis Goding, N. Fo- 
 deringham, Jones Pile (Members of H.M. Coun- 
 cil), Wm. H. Farnum, James D. Bend, Isaac 
 Skinner, Benjamin Norville, J. C. B. Scantle- 
 bury, John D. Emptage, G. R. Challenor, Wil- 
 liam Jordan, Robert Challenor. 
 " ' The Rev. Hamble J. Leacock.' " 
 
 " ' Gentlemen of the Deputation, 
 " ' I cannot decline this honourable testimony 
 which you, and certain parishioners, and especially 
 the congregation of your parish church, have offered 
 me ; and at once I beg to thank you, and to appoint 
 you as the organ through which my grateful ac-
 
 TESTIMONIAL. 59 
 
 knowledgments may be conveyed to every indivi- 
 dual. 
 
 " ' As an expression of thankfulness for my labours 
 during my short residence amongst you, nothing can 
 be more satisfactory to me than your address, since it 
 induces a hope that my labours have not been in vain. 
 But the very circumstance of a general approval, 
 which so augments my sense of obligation, creates in 
 me an anxious fear, lest, in the discharge of my 
 ministerial duties, I may be found to have been un- 
 faithful. You have indeed strongly testified to my 
 earnestness and diligence in endeavouring to promote 
 the spiritual welfare of my charge ; but, gentlemen, 
 I know somewhat of the magnitude of ministerial 
 responsibility ; and the consciousness of my own in- 
 efficiency, humbles me under the conviction that I 
 am utterly unworthy of the favourable opinion so 
 honestly entertained by you. 
 
 " ' You have honoured me with another evidence 
 of your favourable regard, an evidence more weighty 
 indeed, but not more acceptable than the one to which 
 I have already alluded. This purse of gold, this 
 free-will offering of a generous, magnanimous people, 
 shall, with their concurrence, be consecrated to the 
 service of our common Lord and Master, at least 
 the greater portion of it. It is my desire to offer it 
 as a contribution towards 'The Coleridge Scholar- 
 ship,' to be established in Codrington College, there 
 to perpetuate the memory of our connexion and reci-
 
 60 APPOINTMENT TO ST. LEONARD'S. 
 
 procal attachment ; and to afford me the additional 
 satisfaction of anticipating the day in which it will 
 be returned to you all, in abundant showers of the 
 Divine blessing. One of your own sons, educated 
 through that very Scholarship, and moulded and 
 fashioned by the grace of God, may be sent to the 
 inhabitants of this parish, as Paul was to the Gen- 
 tiles,' a minister and a witness, to open 
 
 their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and 
 from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
 receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among 
 them which are sanctified by faith in Christ's name.' 
 
 " ' With the balance of your liberal present, I will 
 purchase a piece of plate, merely to tell my children's 
 children that their grandsire received from his coun- 
 trymen, after fifty-nine suns had rolled o'er his head, 
 the honourable testimony which renders this day one 
 of the brightest and most distinguished of his humble 
 life. 
 
 " ' That the Divine blessing may be ever with you 
 all, to keep you in the ways of holiness, and peace, 
 and usefulness, is the prayer of 
 
 " ' Gentlemen, 
 " ' Your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 " 'H. J. LEACOCK. 
 
 " ' Monday, Dec. 12th, 1853.' " 
 
 In January, 1854, Mr. Leacock was appointed to
 
 EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF AFRICA. 61 
 
 the charge of the chapel of ease of St. Leonard's in 
 Bridgetown. But at this time a cause was gaining 
 ground in the West Indies, which, in process of time, 
 enlisted his entire bodily and mental powers, and led 
 him on to the attainment of the high honour of dying 
 for Christ, the Master whom he had so long and so 
 faithfully served. 
 
 The debased condition of Western Africa had long 
 furnished matter of melancholy reflection to Christian 
 philanthropists. The idea had been suggested that 
 the work of the missions to that country called loudly 
 for the co-operation of the inhabitants of the West 
 Indies, partly on the ground of natural relationship, 
 and partly as a debt of common justice. It was also 
 supposed that from these colonies might be obtained 
 missionaries who were not only accustomed to a tro- 
 pical sun, but who, by reason of African descent, 
 might encounter, with less danger than Europeans, 
 the risks of an African climate. Codrington College 
 had been originally founded, as we have seen, for the 
 education of missionaries, and was made dependent 
 for its support on labour derived originally from 
 Africa. 
 
 Early in 1847, a change in Codrington College 
 placed at its head the Rev. R. Rawle, late Fellow of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, who, from the first, 
 evinced a peculiar interest in Africa, with a strong 
 sense of its claims upon the College. In the follow- 
 ing year Barbados received for its Governor, in the
 
 62 FORMATION OF A SOCIETY. 
 
 person of Sir William Colebrooke, an individual to 
 whom Africa had long been an object of especial 
 concern. Throughout the whole community, too, 
 from various causes, a lively feeling had been excited 
 respecting that unhappy continent. 
 
 At this juncture, the publication by Mr. Rawle of 
 extracts from a parliamentary report, placed in his 
 hands by Sir William Colebrooke, served to show the 
 existence of an encouraging opening for Christian 
 instruction among the natives of Africa, and it was 
 consequently agreed to bring the matter before the 
 public through the medium of the Barbados Church 
 Society. Accordingly, a meeting of that society was 
 convened by Bishop Parry on the 15th of November, 
 1850, at which resolutions were passed to the effect 
 " that a mission to Western Africa would be a work 
 peculiarly suitable to the Church in the West Indies, 
 where the population consists so largely of persons 
 deriving their origin from that country, that the 
 time for such an enterprise had arrived, and that it 
 would especially become Barbados to be forward in 
 this great and good work," inviting at the same time 
 the co-operation of the whole West Indian Church. 
 On the 16th of June, 1851, the Jubilee day of the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel, it was determined 
 to make the African Mission the object of a distinct 
 society, to be called " The West Indian Church Asso- 
 ciation for the Furtherance of the Gospel in Western 
 Africa." It was proposed to direct the efforts of this
 
 FORMATION OF A SOCIETY. 63 
 
 society to parts of Africa unoccupied by the older 
 missions either of the English or of the American 
 Church. 
 
 The society, thus founded, received the cordial ap- 
 proval of the West Indian and English bishops, the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel, and many of the 
 governors of the West Indian islands. The British 
 Government was -also pleased to regard the under- 
 taking with favour, and the Secretary of State, on the 
 24th of February, 1851, promised to give it what- 
 ever countenance and protection could be legitimately 
 ajfforded. 
 
 Contributions now began to flow into the treasury 
 of the Society. The Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel gave 1000/. from its Jubilee Fund. Collec- 
 tions were made in Barbados and other islands, and 
 missionary meetings were attempted with satis- 
 factory results. The widow and sons of the late 
 well-known philanthropist, Sir T. F. Buxton, re- 
 mitted the sum of 135/., and a Committee organized 
 for the purpose in the University of Cambridge 
 obtained in a few days contributions to the amount 
 of 158/. 
 
 Encouraged by the amount of sympathy and aid 
 already received, the Society determined to com- 
 mence work in Africa as soon as practicable. Bishop 
 Parry therefore, as President of the Board, opened a 
 direct communication with Dr. Vidal, the first bishop 
 of Sierra Leone, and received from him two letters
 
 64 OUTBREAK OF CHOLEEA. 
 
 conveying assurances of his interest in the projected 
 mission, as well as valuable advice in regard to the 
 part of Western Africa in which it should be com- 
 menced. As yet, however, no man could be found 
 willing or ready to undertake the certain difficulties 
 and risks which such a mission involved. 
 
 Mr. Leacock was one of those who from the first 
 had taken a lively interest in the design. Sometimes 
 indeed he expressed to Mrs. Leacock his earnest 
 wish to be sent on such a mission himself. She 
 trembled at the thought of so perilous an enterprise, 
 and assured him that if sent to Africa he could not, 
 at his time of life, withstand the malaria of that 
 pestilential climate. He did his best, however, to 
 promote the objects of the mission within his sphere, 
 and in the district of St. Peter's the collections at 
 his missionary meetings, in nine months, amounted 
 to more than twenty-six pounds. The Bishop, in 
 recommending this example to his clergy generally, 
 remarked that "such meetings might add to the 
 labours of the clergy, but the benefits arising from 
 them would be largely shared by the people them- 
 selves, and the piety of the country would gain 
 strength and maturity." In fact, the advantages, 
 direct and indirect, of such meetings are too well 
 known in England to admit of any reasonable 
 doubt. 
 
 In January, 1854 (as I have stated), Mr. Leacock 
 was appointed by the Bishop to the charge of the
 
 DEATH OF MRS. LEACOCK. 65 
 
 chapel of ease of St. Leonard's in Bridgetown. In 
 the spring of the same year the cholera broke out in 
 the island with fearful destructiveness, and at one 
 time more than twenty dead bodies lay unburied in 
 Mr. Leacock's churchyard. Owing to the general 
 terror it was impossible to hire labourers to dig the 
 graves, and Mr. Leacock found himself compelled to 
 apply to the authorities for bands of soldiers and 
 prisoners to aid him in that necessary work. Although 
 Mrs. Leacock had a strong presentiment that her end 
 was at hand, she shared her husband's unremitting 
 exertions in attending upon the sick and dying, 
 without distinction of party, sect, character, or 
 colour. At length, in the month of August, when 
 the disease seemed to have nearly spent its strength, 
 this admirable woman was struck down, and after a 
 period of unspeakable agony, endured with Christian 
 fortitude, breathed her last. Her grave is still 
 tended with watchful affection by the hands of those 
 who loved her while living, and who reverence her 
 memory when dead.
 
 66 MR. LEACOCK OFFERS TO GO TO AFRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Mr. Leacock volunteers to go as a Missionary to Africa. He is ac- 
 cepted, and is joined by Duport. His Negro Servant desires to 
 accompany him. Letter to Archdeacon Trew. Arrival in London. 
 He attends a Meeting of the Church Emigrants' Aid Society. He 
 visits the Crystal Palace. Visit to Wiltshire Stonehenge Salis- 
 bury. Meeting of the S. P. G. His Cheerfulness. Conversation 
 with Young Persons. His views of Prophecy, of the Church of 
 Rome, and of the Church of England. His opinion of the Volun- 
 tary System. Thankfulness for Mercies. Note on the Effects of 
 Emancipation in the West Indies. 
 
 FOR some time Mr. Leacock continued crushed and 
 almost stupified by the terrible blow which had 
 fallen upon him, and even the thought of Africa 
 seemed to have lost its interest. At length, after 
 the lapse of half a year, the idea of volunteering to 
 lead the projected mission flashed suddenly upon his 
 mind. On the 19th of March, 1855, being then 
 over sixty years of age, he offered himself to his 
 bishop in a letter containing the following charac- 
 teristic sentences : 
 
 "The Church calls, and some one must answer. 
 But few years' service are now before me. I rise 
 therefore to save my brethren in the ministry, the
 
 HIS OFFER IS ACCEPTED. 67 
 
 young who are the hope of the Church, the old who 
 are the stay of large families. Believe me, I do not 
 suppose that my services, unaided by Divine grace, 
 can accomplish any thing. To God alone must we 
 look for any strength, or for any success, whatever 
 may be the character of the instrument employed, 
 whether young or old, learned or unlearned. If 
 the Board concur with your lordship I will go ; 
 but 'I will go in the strength of the Lord (rod; 
 and make mention of his righteousness, and of his 
 only.' My lord, in placing my services at your dis- 
 posal, I have done only my duty, and I shall be satis- 
 fied with the issue, be it what it may." 
 
 It was with deep regret that Mr. Leacock's family 
 learned of his determination to venture on this mis- 
 sion. He seemed, however, so earnest in the cause, 
 and so zealous for the glory of God and the good of 
 souls, that they did not attempt to resist his purpose. 
 The bishop, of course, did not feel himself at liberty 
 to discourage the offer, nor the Mission Board to 
 refuse it. It was accordingly brought before a special 
 meeting of the association held at Bridgetown, Sir 
 "William Colebrooke presiding, on the 16th of May. 
 The offer was unanimously accepted, though not 
 without many painful feelings at the loss of an indi- 
 vidual so generally esteemed and beloved, and as a 
 clergyman so valuable to the diocese. On this occa- 
 sion Mr. Leacock acknowledged his election in a 
 very feeling speech, from the report of which, 
 F 2
 
 68 HE IS JOINED BY DTJPORT. 
 
 printed in the "Barbadian," the following is an ex- 
 tract : 
 
 " It is through the grace of the Son of God that 
 I have not shrunk from engaging in the work ; and 
 I humbly trust, through the same grace to hold on, 
 and to hold out, till a more youthful, enterprising, 
 and efficient champion of the Cross be found to take 
 my place. And, if the example of an old soldier of 
 the Cross can fire with true missionary spirit and 
 Christian zeal the bosoms of some noble, brave, dis- 
 interested, accomplished youth, of our little island, 
 and cause them to rise up, and quit the soft, smooth, 
 downy, attractive elegances of polished life, and pre- 
 pare and arm them for that rugged, perilous war- 
 fare, and to follow me in it, I shall then know 
 that I have not lived in vain, that I have not 
 spent my strength for nought. With hand and 
 heart will I receive them, cheerfully give place to 
 them, or remain and labour with them as ye shall 
 see best. And when my work is done, I will thank- 
 fully go to bed in Afric's dust, and sweetly and 
 quietly rest from the toil and burden and heat of 
 the day, till the bright morning dawn, in which the 
 trumpet shall announce the approach of our great 
 King, and we shall rise up, and mount up to meet 
 Him in the air, and be with Him for ever." 
 
 A young black man, of good character, Mr. John 
 H. A. Duport, readily accepted an invitation to ac- 
 company Mr. Leacock as an industrial help in the
 
 HIS SERVANT WISHES TO GO WITH HTM. 69 
 
 \ 
 
 work of civilization, as well as a subordinate teacher for 
 missionary objects. Mr. Duport had been educated 
 at the Mission House attached to Codrington College. 
 He had been well instructed in the Holy Scriptures, 
 history, geography, mathematics, and arithmetic, 
 besides which he had formed some acquaintance 
 with Latin, and was a good practical mechanic. 
 
 Mr. Leacock now disposed of his worldly goods, in 
 the full expectation of never seeing his native land 
 again. To the very last his old negro female servant 
 continued earnestly imploring him to allow her to 
 bear him company. " Oh, massa," she said, " who 
 will take care of you in Africa, who will nurse you 
 when you are sick, who will attend on you ? Oh, 
 take me with you, dear massa, take me with you 
 to Africa ! " But Mr. Leacock would not permit, this 
 faithful creature to share his perils, and, to her bitter 
 grief, she was left with her friends in Barbados. 
 
 Archdeacon Trew of the Bahamas had been deeply 
 interested in the projected mission, and had furnished 
 Mr. Leacock with an introductory letter to his 
 friend, Governor Hill of Sierra Leone. Mr. Leacock 
 wrote to the archdeacon the following letter on the 
 eve of his departure. 
 
 "Bridgetown, Barbados, July 13, 1855. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Archdeacon, 
 
 "I cannot leave the "West Indies without ac- 
 knowledging the receipt of your letter, forwarded by
 
 70 LETTER TO ARCHDEACON TREW. 
 
 the Rev. T. Clarke. It was very considerate and 
 very kind in you to think of your African missionary 
 at the moment of his departure for the scene of his 
 future labours, and the more so because he is a 
 stranger to you. The letter to Governor Hill is a 
 valuable appendage to my little parcel, and I hope 
 I shall have the pleasure of seeing his Excellency and 
 presenting it myself. 
 
 " I thank you, Rev. and dear Sir, for your -warm- 
 hearted wishes for my success, and also for your 
 promise of assistance. A man who can feel and act 
 as you do will never fail to pray for a blessing on the 
 labours of God's servants. I need not, therefore, beg 
 you to remember me in your prayers. It will be a 
 comfort and an encouragement in my journeyings, 
 labours, and solicitude to know that, in the Bahamas, 
 as well as in this little island, I have Christian 
 friends who sympathize with me, who feel as deeply 
 interested in my work as I do myself, and who will 
 often be found with me at the throne of grace, 
 begging for that help which alone can keep me from 
 the evil of the world, strengthen me for my work, 
 and crown my labours with that success which shall 
 make our hearts ' rejoice in the God of our salvation.'. 
 I have nothing to declare but ' Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified' pardon through his blood, justification 
 through his righteousness, sanctification by his Spirit, 
 I know nothing else, and I am determined to know
 
 DEPARTURE FROM BARBADOS. 71 
 
 I 
 
 nothing else. / This will I teach, and trust in God to 
 give it his blessing. 
 
 " I ajar^very busy getting ready for the steamer 
 which is expected this evening, so I must lay by 
 this. As soon as I can get fairly into my work, and 
 have somewhat to write about, you shall hear from 
 me. May the Lord bless you and your labours, and 
 preserve many years your valuable life for the good 
 of his Church. 
 
 " Yours very sincerely and faithfully," &c. 
 
 The chapelry in Bridgetown having been provided 
 for, Mr. Leacock and his companion embarked on 
 the loth of July on board the steamer for England, 
 there being no direct communication between the West 
 Indies and the African coast. Many tears were shed on 
 this occasion, recallingto mind the departure of St.Paul 
 from Miletus, when the Ephesian elders "wept sore, 
 and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most 
 for the words which he spake, that they should see 
 his face no more." Like St. Paul, the veteran mis- 
 sionary might have said to his mourning friends, 
 " Remember that by the space of three years I ceased 
 not to warn every one night and day with tears; 
 and how I kept back nothing that was profitable to 
 you, but have showed you, and have taught you pub- 
 licly, and from house to house. And now, behold, 
 I go bound in the spirit, not knowing the things 
 that shall befall me. But none of these things move
 
 72 DR. COIT AGAIN. 
 
 me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that 
 I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, 
 which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
 the gospel of the grace of God." 
 
 His native land soon sunk below the western 
 horizon. He lost sight of the island in which he 
 had gone through so many vicissitudes, and in which, 
 " through evil report and good report," he had con- 
 stantly maintained the testimony of. a good con- 
 science in the sight of God. He beheld Barbados no 
 more. 
 
 While Mr. Leacock was on his voyage, the " Bar- 
 badian" newspaper reached his old parishioners in 
 Perth Amboy, informing them of the mission to 
 which he had devoted himself. The intelligence 
 spread itself among his American friends, and, on the 
 28th of July, Dr. Coit wrote me the following letter 
 from his new parish at Troy (New York), enclosing 
 the Barbados paper : 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " I received the enclosed paper a short time since 
 from Perth Amboy, from some one of Hamble's old 
 parishioners. It appears that he is going as a mis- 
 sionary to Africa, and perhaps you can find out his 
 residence and communicate with him. If so, bid him 
 God speed from me, and tell him that if we never 
 meet again in this world I shall never forget him, or 
 cease to esteem and love him. I wrote to him two
 
 LETTER FROM LONDON. 73 
 
 or three times, but perhaps my letters never reached 
 him, \0xrw comes on Convocation, and how do you 
 like yourllew Bishop ? 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " T. W. Con." 
 
 This was the first intimation I had received of the 
 connexion of my old friend with the West African 
 Mission. Immediately on receiving Dr. Coit's letter, 
 I concluded that Mr. Leacock would proceed by way 
 of England, and accordingly requested a friend in 
 London to ascertain whether he had made his appear- 
 ance in this country. The reply informed me that 
 he had already been some time in London, at a lodg- 
 ing in Cecil-street, in the Strand. I wrote to him 
 on the 18th of August, and received the following 
 answer : 
 
 " London, August 23, 1855. 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " Your warm-hearted salutation, ' dear old friend,' 
 sounded in my ears like good news of a dear friend from 
 a far country. I am in London, solitary in the midst of 
 its millions, having found but two acquaintances, who 
 reside so far from me that I seldom see them. The 
 Bishop of Barbados is now in England, and the 
 object of his visit partly, and of mine entirely, is to 
 make known as extensively as possible my mission 
 and its design ; and to enlist in its favour, and
 
 74 MEETING WITH MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 receive the help of as many friends as it shall please 
 God to make for me. 
 
 "In a few days I shall proceed to Bristol and 
 Bath, where I expect some assistance ; but I must 
 endeavour to find out your whereabouts, that so, if 
 possible, I may once more look at you. I have no 
 map of England at hand, and your letter is not suffi- 
 ciently explanatory. But there is a difficulty. I 
 am travelling at our Society's expense, and as your 
 letter dated the 18th has only now reached me, I 
 fear the expense of travelling. You will, I know, 
 pardon this explanation, and not think me capable of 
 a meanness. I am but the servant of a society. If 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel have a 
 meeting near you, and I be required to attend it, it 
 will be a good opportunity to see you. I shall leave 
 England in October with the Bishop of Sierra Leone. 
 
 " Ben is not with me. He is in the ministry, and 
 rector of a church in Mobile, Alabama, with a salary 
 of three thousand dollars. He is a true man and a 
 good son. Elizabeth is married and in comfortable 
 circumstances. They are both dear children ; not- 
 withstanding I am alone and a wanderer, God only 
 being with me. 
 
 " With affectionate remembrances to your dear wife 
 and daughter, believe me," &c. 
 
 On the 27th of August I went to London, and on 
 the next morning visited Mr. Leacock in Cecil- 
 street. I found him in his lodging, sitting at a table,
 
 CHURCH EMIGRAOTS' AID SOCIETY. 75 
 
 making out an account of his expenses, while Duport, 
 an intelligent-looking black' man, was working a 
 problem in algebra. His hair had grown grey, but 
 otherwise, he was little changed since I had last seen 
 him in 1841. Our meeting was extremely gratify- 
 ing, and brought back a flood of old reminiscences. 
 He mentioned, among other things, that he was at 
 this time living on about eighteen-pence a day, in 
 order to avoid putting his society to any unnecessary 
 expense. Instead of ordering a regular dinner, he 
 was in the habit of purchasing a few simple eatables 
 at a shop in the Strand. 
 
 On the following day he attended with me one of 
 the preliminary meetings of the Anglo-American 
 Church Emigrants' Aid Society. He was delighted 
 to be informed that efforts were being made to retain 
 in the fold of the Church the natives of Old Eng- 
 land, who, to the number of about fifty thousand 
 annually, take up their residence within the United 
 States. He rejoiced in the formation of the society, 
 not only on account of the spiritual advantages which 
 it offered to the stranger in a strange land, but 
 because he saw in it a method of fraternal inter- 
 course and Christian co-operation between the 
 Churches of England and America. 
 
 Mr. Leacock being a total stranger in England, I 
 was anxious to show him some of the most interest- 
 ing things connected with the metropolis. On the 
 31st I took him to the Crystal Palace, where we
 
 76 VISIT TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 
 
 spent the greater part of the day. After wandering 
 through the memorials' of ancient nations, Assyria, 
 Egypt, Greece, and Rome, after hearing some effec- 
 tive music, and examining choice and beautiful 
 specimens of the vegetable world, we walked through 
 the gardens, saw the geological models, and finally 
 beheld a grand display of the fountains. As we re- 
 turned, Mr. Leacock said that he had spent a day 
 well worthy of remembrance. He assured me that 
 the whole scene far exceeded any thing which he had 
 expected to behold in this world. It served, he said, 
 in a measure, to carry on his thoughts to the hea- 
 venly city, the New Jerusalem, having the glory of 
 God, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 
 " And the building of the wall of it was of jasper : 
 and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass." 
 
 On the following day I took him home with me to 
 Wiltshire, and, for the first time in his life, he rode 
 on the top of a stage-coach. As we passed through 
 the country, he expressed in the strongest terms his 
 admiration of its beauty, and of the healthy appear- 
 ance of the people. He assured me that he had 
 always been a loyal British subject, like his ances- 
 tors before him, and that his allegiance had never 
 wavered. 
 
 On the 1st of September he preached in my 
 church at Figheldean, taking for his text the words, 
 "My son, give me thine heart." He showed that 
 God required mainly and principally the service of
 
 VISIT TO WILTSHIRE STONEHENGE. 77 
 
 the heart, and that we were bound to give Him not 
 a portion of our hearts, but the whole. The people 
 were deeply impressed by his earnest manner, as well 
 as bv the thoughts to which he gave utterance. 
 
 / 
 
 They saw in him a man going forth with his life in 
 his hand for the sake of that religion which he 
 preached. Every word therefore took effect, and the 
 discourse will not soon be forgotten. In the evening 
 he delivered a missionary address to a concourse of 
 persons, who completely filled the church, and who 
 listened to the speaker with admiration and delight. 
 On the following day I reminded him that Eng- 
 land was formerly a heathen country like Africa, 
 and proposed to show him a vast idolatrous temple 
 which God's providence had preserved to the present 
 time, as if to remind us, in the midst of our boasted 
 civilization, of the " rock whence we were hewn," 
 and the "hole of the pit from whence we were 
 digged." Accordingly we walked about four miles 
 across the open plain, until we arrived at Stone- 
 henge. The good missionary passed with me under 
 the enormous overhanging stones, and when we 
 arrived at the broken altar, near the centre, on 
 which human victims are supposed to have shed 
 their blood, he viewed it with profound emotion anil 
 awe. Through the surrounding colonnade he de- 
 scried in the distance a small point like that of a 
 needle rising above the horizon. On being told that 
 this was the summit of Salisbury Cathedral, he spoke
 
 78 MEETING AT SALISBURY. 
 
 of Gospel times succeeding the dreary ages of 
 idolatry, and expressed his firm belief that Africa, 
 like England, would yet look heavenward, and 
 stretch forth her hands unto God. 
 
 The next day was devoted to Salisbury, where we 
 attended the Cathedral service, and partook of the 
 Holy Communion, Archdeacon Grant preaching on 
 the subject of Missions. The intoning of the service, 
 being altogether new to Mr. Leacock, struck him 
 rather painfully, and he could not at once bring him- 
 'self to regard it as a natural mode of addressing 
 supplications to the Almighty. In the evening we 
 attended a large meeting held at the Council 
 Chamber, in behalf of the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel. The bishop was in the chair, 
 and among the speakers were Lord Nelson, Canon 
 Bickersteth, Archdeacon Grant, and Canon White, 
 of the diocese of Capetown. I was permitted to 
 introduce Mr. Leacock to the assembly, and to make 
 a brief statement respecting the mission in which he 
 was engaged. Having been received in a warm- 
 hearted manner, Mr. Leacock then rose and delivered 
 an address full of pathos, in which he asked the 
 sympathies of his English brethren, and described 
 the wretched condition of the region to which he 
 was proceeding. Every eye was fixed upon him, 
 and when he ceased to speak it was evident that a 
 decided impression had been created. Indepen- 
 dently of the usual collection for the Society for the
 
 RETURN TO LONDON. 79 
 
 Propagation of the Gospel, the kind-hearted bishop 
 set on foot a subscription for the West Indian Mis- 
 sion, which immediately realized a considerable sum. 
 From Salisbury Mr. Leacock returned to London, 
 where he officiated for a few Sundays at the church 
 of St. Clement, in the Strand. 
 
 After his departure I wrote to the Bishop of Bar- 
 bados, then in Malvern, and gave his Lordship a full 
 report of the meeting at Salisbury, and of the excel- 
 lent effect produced by his good missionary. The 
 bishop was much gratified, and replied that he felt it' 
 as a matter for great thankfulness that his valued 
 friend and brother had met with so warm and cordial 
 a reception. He wrote to Mr. Leacock on the sub- 
 ject, who addressed to me on the llth, in reply to a 
 letter of my own, the following note, expressing his 
 lively thanks for an act of common friendship : 
 
 "London, Sept. 11, 1855. 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " Your letter is a great lift by the way. The in- 
 terest which you have manifested in me and my poor 
 labours, while it greatly encourages me, endears you 
 more than ever to my poor heart, and fills it with 
 gratitude imperishable. I see, by the tenor of the 
 bishop's note, what you have written, and I do hope 
 you will consent to its being forwarded to Barbados 
 and published. It will disarm the opponents of our 
 mission, warm and rejoice the hearts of its friends,
 
 80 HIS CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 awake the sleepers, and stir up a lively interest in its 
 favour, and in the cause of missions generally. 
 
 " I am now in great trouble, having much bag- 
 gage to take along with me, and freight- charges 
 which almost cover its real value. In this country it 
 would be hardly worth the cost, in Africa it will be 
 indispensable. I have to submit. 
 
 " I have just returned from the Bishop (of Sierra 
 Leone's) residence, a long, long walk, and back 
 again, all to save our association a few pence. The 
 bishop was with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 I had to leave my papers and a message at his 
 house. 
 
 " Yours sincerely," &c. 
 
 On the 20th Mr. Leacock returned to us from 
 London. Great was our joy when his noble and 
 manly form entered our house, when we heard his 
 cheerful laugh, and received the cordial shake of his 
 hand. 
 
 "It is pleasing to see in experience," remarks a 
 recent writer l , " that oftentimes the men of most 
 depth and seriousness of character, the men who in 
 their closets take the most earnest view of life, and 
 have cultivated heavenly wisdom most largely, have 
 also been men of lively fancy, sprightly and agree- 
 able repartee, seem to have had within them a spring 
 
 1 Goulburn : " The Idle Word," p. 86.
 
 BOOKS. 81 
 
 of joy and merriment bubbling up when the obstruc- 
 tion of serious affairs was removed, and covering with 
 fertility even the leisure hours of their lives. The 
 world's wisest men have mingled mirth with earnest- 
 ness, they have not gone about with starched visage, 
 prim manner, or puritanical grimace." This character 
 applies in every particular to the friend whom it was 
 now our happiness to welcome. 
 
 Speaking, about this time, of books, Mr. Leacock 
 expressed his admiration of Thomas a Kempis, and 
 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He mentioned having 
 parted with the copy of a Kempis, which I had given 
 him in Kentucky, at the earnest solicitation of one of 
 his parishioners in Perth Amboy, who had formed an 
 attachment to the book. I now presented him with 
 another copy, which he received with great delight, 
 and took with him to Africa. 
 
 He was a man of few books. His well-worn Bible 
 was the companion of all his wanderings, and an un- 
 failing source of consolation. During this visit it was 
 delightful to observe the intense enjoyment which he 
 derived from his religion. He seemed to have risen 
 above the murky region of anxieties, apprehensions, 
 doubts, and fears, and to be cheerfully reposing in 
 the calm sunshine of divine love. He had severed 
 most of the ties which bound him to the world, and 
 was already looking forward with happy anticipa- 
 tions to his entrance into rest. 
 
 o
 
 82 CONVERSATION WITH YOUNG PERSONS. 
 
 He would often, at this time, collect around him a 
 party of young persons, and rivet their attention by 
 his conversation and by his dramatic action. Some- 
 times he would talk of hurricanes until his youthful 
 hearers seemed to hear the fury of the wind, and to 
 feel themselves involved in its terrific whirls. He 
 would vividly describe the shaking of an earthquake, 
 representing the concussion of the trees and houses, 
 and the frantic rushing forth of the inhabitants. He 
 would speak of the terrors of the cholera, and show 
 how the people quailed at the approach of the in- 
 visible enemy ; how they attempted to flee, and were 
 arrested in their flight, and miserably perished. In 
 one moment he would weep bitterly when he spoke 
 of his wife's decease, and in another moment he 
 would fix his mind on some glorious prophecy, and 
 speak with rapture of the future triumphs of the 
 Gospel. Then he would talk solemnly of wonderful 
 providences which had fallen within the range of 
 his experience; of the death-beds of pirates, slave- 
 hunters, atheists, and murderers ; and how even such 
 wretches as these had confessed to him their crimes, 
 and thrown themselves on the mercy of God in 
 Christ. Again, changing the subject, he would speak 
 of the beauties of the West Indies ; of the lovely 
 islands reposing on the bosom of the sea, or of the 
 noble forests and rivers of America. From these 
 subjects he would suddenly digress to the many man-
 
 VIEWS OF PROPHECY AND THE CHURCH. 83 
 
 sions prepared for Christians in the house of their 
 Father, the blessedness of Paradise, the trees of life, 
 and the river that makes glad the city of God. 
 
 Like many other earnest Christians, he had paid a 
 large share of attention to the subject of prophecy, 
 and was generally inclined to adopt a literal inter- 
 pretation. As might be expected from his habits and 
 education, he took but little interest in many of our 
 existing controversies. Without manifesting bigotry 
 or prejudice on the subject, he cared little for ques- 
 tions pertaining to ecclesiastical vestments, liturgical 
 minutiae, crosses, candlesticks, or church architecture. 
 As for the Roman Catholic religion, while he greatly 
 admired the writings of saints like Thomas a Kempis, 
 he considered the system of Popery to be clearly con- 
 demned by the Word of (rod. 
 
 He viewed with slight apprehensions the assaults 
 of the enemies of the Church of England, believing 
 her, in her essential parts, to be founded on a rock. 
 He even thought it probable that the downfal of the 
 present establishment in this island would, if per- 
 mitted, be made to result in the lasting good of the 
 English Episcopal Church. He viewed State con- 
 nexion and royal supremacy only as the accidents 
 of a certain portion of our reformed communion. He 
 thought well of the "voluntary system" (so called) 
 as practised by the American Church, believing 
 that under it, as a general rule, clergymen who do 
 their duty faithfully, do not want any thing really 
 G 2
 
 84 OPINION OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 
 
 necessary. He considered self-denial and faith the 
 best endowments of the ministry, and a readiness to 
 endure hardship as better than all tithes or rent- 
 charges. He firmly maintained that if men would 
 honestly seek in the first place the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness, other things would be added 
 unto them. He agreed, in short, with the speaker 
 who said in the American General Convention, " In 
 regard to a clergyman and his support, it is like a 
 man and his shadow in the sun. If he runs to- 
 wards his shadow, it flies before him ; if he goes 
 towards the sun, the shadow will follow close upon 
 his heels." 
 
 It must be recollected that Mr. Leacock had 
 hitherto been a stranger to England, and that many 
 points in our established Church system were en- 
 tirely new to him. Had he remained here longer, 
 it is probable that, in a few respects, he would have 
 found reason to change his mind. He would have 
 seen, for example, that the endowments of the 
 Church of England are but the effects of a voluntary 
 system operating through a long course of ages, and 
 protected by a Christian legislature. 
 
 He thought our clergy were too much subject to 
 routine, and to conventional habits. It grieved him 
 to read in the "Ecclesiastical Gazette" of so many 
 ministers of Christ seeking comfortable benefices at 
 home instead of going forth manfully into the wide 
 Pagan and Mohammedan world with the message of
 
 THANKFULNESS FOR MERCIES. 85 
 
 salvation. He viewed self-renunciation as an essen- 
 tial feature of a truly Christian ministry. In giving 
 up his own home in Barbados, and in going to 
 labour in Africa, he felt that he was doing nothing 
 more than what ought to be reasonably expected of a 
 priest of the true Church. 
 
 He expressed himself unspeakably thankful to Grod 
 for the goodness and mercy which had followed him 
 all the days of his life. In the present instance 
 he viewed it as a great mercy that Providence 
 had sent into England one of his old Kentucky 
 friends to receive him, and to forward the objects 
 of his mission. And I recollect with pleasure 
 that he quoted as a favourite that well-known 
 hymn which forms a part of the American collec- 
 tion : 
 
 " When all thy mercies, O my God, 
 
 My rising soul surveys, 
 Transported with the view I'm lost 
 In wonder, love, and praise. 
 
 " When in the slipp'ry paths of youth 
 
 With heedless steps I ran, 
 Thine arm, unseen, convey 'd me safe, 
 And led me up to man. 
 
 " Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, 
 
 It gently clear'd the way, 
 And through the pleasing snares of vice, 
 More to be fear'd than they.
 
 86 NOTE ON THE EFFECTS OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 " Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 
 
 My daily thanks employ ; 
 Nor is the least a cheerful heart 
 That tastes those gifts with joy. 
 
 " Through all eternity, to Thee 
 
 A joyful song I'll raise ; 
 
 But, oh ! eternity's too short 
 
 To utter all thy praise." 
 
 NOTE TO CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Leacock having expressed himself, while in England, somewhat 
 doubtfully as to the results of slave-emancipation in the West Indies, 
 I wrote to the Bishop of Barbados on the subject, and obtained the 
 following answer, dated at St. Vincent, Dec. 11, 1856. 
 
 " I do not consider Mr. Leacock to have been correct in thinking 
 that emancipation has not advanced the negroes in industry and 
 morals. The effect was to give freer play to both the good and the 
 evil tendencies of the negro. Some became worse, others better. On 
 the whole, the social improvement has been great, especially in Bar- 
 bados. The island never produced so much as it does now : nor were 
 the people, throughout all classes, ever so comfortable, so orderly and 
 civilized, nor, I think, so industrious. There is more crime; all 
 offences against the law coming now under public cognizance, not, as 
 heretofore, under that of the proprietor or his representative ; and 
 though there is much immorality, still it must be remembered that 
 there was scarcely any thing else formerly among the slaves, to say 
 nothing of then- masters. Other colonies have had greater difficulties 
 to contend with than Barbados ; but, in all, the general result in the 
 character of the people has been for good."
 
 PREPARATION IN AFRICA. 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Providential Preparation in Africa for the West Indian Mission. The 
 Chief Wilkinson introduced. Remarkable Dream in Africa. Mr. 
 Leacock attends various Meetings in the Diocese of Salisbury. He 
 meets with a Portrait of Mrs. Trimmer. Verses by Mr. Marriott. 
 Mr. Leacock's opinion of the S.P.G. He visits Malvern and the 
 Bishop of Barbados. His Admiration of England. His Feelings in 
 Wells Cathedral. He embarks at Plymouth for Africa. 
 
 LEAVING Mr. Leacock for a short time in "Wiltshire, 
 it may be well in this place to notice the events 
 which had prepared the way for him in Africa. 
 
 About a hundred and forty miles to the north- 
 ward of Sierra Leone, in the tenth degree of lati- 
 tude, and the fourteenth of longitude, west of 
 Greenwich, the Fattalah river enters the At- 
 lantic Ocean. This beautiful river was long the 
 favourite resort of slave-traders, whose vessels lay 
 concealed among its numerous creeks while the 
 cargoes of wretched Africans were being secretly 
 embarked. The soil of the neighbouring country is 
 exceedingly fertile, and maintains a large popula- 
 tion, though the climate is generally fatal to Euro- 
 peans. The people are, for the most part, idolatrous
 
 88 THE CHIEF WILKINSON. 
 
 heathens, but Mohammedan teachers have much in- 
 fluence over them. As might be expected, the 
 grossest superstitions are prevalent, as well as the 
 most deplorable laxity of morals. The villages con- 
 tain about four or five hundred inhabitants each, the 
 dwelling-houses being constructed in a style of ar- 
 chitecture which gives them the appearance of 
 bee-hives. There is usually a chief over every 
 village, who acts very independently of external 
 control. 
 
 At about four miles from the bar at its mouth, 
 the Fattalah river divides into two streams. The 
 north-eastern of these is denominated, the Big 
 Pongas, or simply the Fattalah, and divides again 
 into the Fattalah proper and the Bangalong. The 
 south-eastern branch of the main stream is called the 
 Rio Pongas, and sometimes the Little Pongas. At 
 the distance of nine miles from the bar, on the 
 northern bank of the Little Pongas, is the village of 
 Tintima. About twelve miles higher up the same 
 stream, and on the northern bank of a small tri- 
 butary creek called the Fallaniah, is Fallangia, a 
 village of five hundred and thirty inhabitants, the 
 present chief of which, although a perfect African, 
 bears the English name of Richard "Wilkinson. 
 
 Wilkinson was born about the year 1795, nearly 
 at the same time with Mr. Leacock. Early in life 
 he was brought to England, where he acquired the 
 rudiments of a Christian education and learned to
 
 REMARKABLE DREAM. 89 
 
 speak and -write the English language. Returning 
 to his native land, he fell back into a state of prac- 
 tical heathenism, and adopted again the customs of 
 his countrymen. It pleased God, however, in the 
 year 1835, to afflict him with a dangerous illness. 
 His recollections of England and of the Christian 
 religion now revived, and his awakened conscience 
 accused him of many offences in the sight of his 
 Maker. He determined, in the event of his recovery, 
 to pray daily to God that a missionary might be sent 
 to teach him and his people the way of salvation. 
 Being raised up from his sick bed he put this resolu- 
 tion in practice, and, in the autumn of 1855, his 
 prayers had continued to ascend during twenty years 
 without any prospect of the long-desired missionary's 
 approach. 
 
 About the beginning of October, however, while 
 Mr. Leacock was in England, a remarkable event 
 occurred which the reader will regard as either a 
 strange coincidence or as a special interposition of Him 
 who wills that all men should come to a knowledge of 
 the truth. A son of the Chief Wilkinson and of a 
 woman called " Old Martha " had a dream, which 
 he mentioned to his parents in the presence of several 
 other persons. He said, "Father, a missionary is 
 coming. I saw him in a dream walking from the 
 landing-place to this house." Like the ancient races 
 of mankind, the people of the Pongas country place 
 great confidence in dreams, and this dream was re-
 
 90 MEETINGS IN WILTSHIRE. 
 
 ceived as an indication from heaven that the 
 prayers of the old chief were about to be answered. 
 
 Meanwhile the missionary, who was destined to 
 fulfil the premonitory dream in every particular, was 
 making known the object of his mission in several 
 places within the diocese of Salisbury. On the 24th 
 of September we were invited by the Rev. F. 
 Bennett to attend a missionary meeting at Madding- 
 ton, where Mr. Leacock spoke with great power and 
 effect. On the following day we proceeded to De- 
 vizes, where he was engaged to address a meeting of 
 the neighbouring gentry convened at the Assembly- 
 room. Several unpleasant circumstances combined 
 to damp his spirits, and his faculty of utterance 
 seemed almost to have forsaken him. He merely 
 spoke a few words and sat down, much distressed, 
 under the apprehension that his failure would inju- 
 riously affect his mission. For some days his spirits 
 continued greatly depressed ; but on the 28th, after 
 much solicitation, he consented to take a part in the 
 annual meeting at Figheldean in behalf of the Society 
 for Propagating the Gospei. The parishioners and 
 the neighbouring clergy evincing a warm interest in 
 Africa, Mr. Leacock felt the genial effect of sym- 
 pathy, and delivered an address which moved every 
 heart by its solemnity and pathetic eloquence. This 
 was followed by a most impressive sermon delivered 
 in Figheldean Church on the 30th, the day appointed 
 for the thanksgiving on account of the capture of
 
 PORTRAIT OF MRS. TRIMMER. 91 
 
 Sebastopol. On this occasion one of the hearers 
 remarked, " Surely the Apostle Paid has revisited the 
 world in the person of Mr. Leacock." 
 
 On the 3rd of October we called at the residence 
 of a lady, Miss Crane, who had erected a monument 
 to the memory of Mrs. Trimmer, by means of a 
 penny subscription. Here Mr. Leacock was shown a 
 picture of the good old authoress, which he kissed 
 with enthusiasm in memory of the little book which 
 had first impressed his mind with ideas of religious 
 duty. The following verses by Mr. Marriott about 
 this time met his eye, and he requested one of my 
 children to copy them, in order that he might take 
 them to Africa. 
 
 " Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." 1 Pet. v. 7- 
 
 " For me ? was it rightly I heard ? 
 
 Oh ! hope too presumptuous, I fear ; 
 Let the sweet, the encouraging word 
 Still dwell on my gratified ear. 
 
 " On my ear, did I say ? little gain, 
 
 Little comfort such gift would impart. 
 Oh ! let its deep impress remain 
 Indelibly stamp'd on my heart. 
 
 " Does God then his creatures invite 
 
 Upon Him to cast every care ? 
 His word does Omnipotence plight 
 Thus freely their burden to bear ? 
 
 " Oh ! let me not baffle such love 
 
 By a thoughtless and cold unbelief; 
 But my love and my gratitude prove 
 By resigning my every grief.
 
 92 VERSES BY MR. MARRIOTT. 
 
 " Does He then his fostering hand 
 In mercy from heaven extend ; 
 And shall / such compassion withstand, 
 And refuse such a bountiful Friend ? 
 
 " Let me rather with rapture embrace 
 
 An offer so gracious and kind, 
 And unlimited confidence place 
 
 In such power and such goodness combined. 
 
 " To the heart truly humbled by woe, 
 
 The anointing of joy shall be given ; 
 To the tears that from penitence flow, 
 The peace that's a foretaste of heaven." 
 
 On the last occasion of his attending family wor- 
 ship with us, the following hymn, from the selection 
 of the late Bishop of Salisbury, was sung at his re- 
 quest, his own voice joining with peculiar fervour : 
 
 " Blest be thy love, good Lord, 
 
 That taught us this sweet way ; 
 Only to love Thee for Thyself, 
 And for that love obey. 
 
 " O Thou, our soul's chief hope, 
 
 We to thy mercy fly ; 
 Where'er we are Thou canst protect, 
 Whate'er we need, supply. 
 
 " Whether we sleep or wake, 
 To Thee we both resign ; 
 By night we see, as well as day, 
 If thy light on us shine. 
 
 " Whether we live or die, 
 
 Both we submit to Thee ; 
 In death we live, as well as life, 
 If thine in death we be."
 
 VISIT TO MALVERN. 93 
 
 On the 5th of October Mr. Leacock left us and 
 went to the Rev. Mr. Bennett's at Maddington. On 
 the 8th I met him at Amesbury, at the hospitable 
 abode of the Rev. Prebendary Fowle. On that even- 
 ing a very interesting missionary meeting took place 
 in which he bore a most effective part. After the 
 conclusion of the meeting he returned to Maddington, 
 and I saw his face no more. 
 
 Mr. Bennett thus expresses his opinion of Mr. 
 Leacock's character : 
 
 " That he was chosen of God, and almost inspired 
 for the work, I fully felt while I had the privilege of 
 receiving him as my guest. I felt persuaded that he 
 was especially fitted for the work of founding a 
 mission, because he was animated by a martyr's 
 spirit, and believed himself moved by the Holy Ghost 
 to go to Africa. 
 
 " Until he came to England he had misunderstood 
 the Church movement of the present day, and his 
 thankfulness was great for being undeceived on this 
 and various other points by what he had seen for 
 himself in this country. It was quite pleasing to 
 hear the cordial gratitude which he expressed to the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel and its officers 
 for the heartiness with which they received him, and 
 the testimony he gave to the entire freedom from 
 any thing approaching to party spirit in their pro- 
 ceedings. Having received his education at the 
 hands of that Society in Codrington College, it was,
 
 94 THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 
 
 he said, a great pleasure to find her members ani- 
 mated, one and all, so far as he had an opportunity 
 of judging from personal observation, by the best 
 and purest spirit of Christian charity, and anxious to 
 know no party but the Church of England." 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Leacock, dated at 
 Bristol, October 17th, is too striking to be omitted : 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " You are perhaps wondering what has become of 
 your old friend ; and well you may, for I have been 
 moving ever since we parted on Monday evening at 
 Amesbury. That may be the last time we shall 
 meet this side of eternity ; and if it should so prove, 
 I am thankful that we parted in the bonds of true 
 Christian love, such as shall be matured in heaven. 
 The next day found me at Norton Bavant, with my 
 honoured and esteemed old archdeacon. I could not 
 long enjoy this happy rest ; but, accompanied by the 
 dear old man and his daughter the next day to War- 
 minster, I took the railway for Bristol, where I 
 arrived in the afternoon, too late for a good oppor- 
 tunity to Worcester. I reached that place next day 
 at twelve o'clock, and Malvern Wells at three P. M., 
 where I passed two days with my good bishop \ I 
 trust he will return to his diocese in May greatly 
 strengthened by his visit to England. 
 
 1 The Bishop of Barbados.
 
 ADMIRATION OF ENGLAND. 95 
 
 " I received letters on Friday which rendered it 
 necessary that I should tarry in Malvern no longer ; 
 and so, instead of two weeks at Malvern "Wells, I 
 passed only two days, engaged partly in business 
 with the bishop, and, when the rain would admit, 
 rambling with him on the neighbouring mountains, 
 and enjoying the most beautiful views of nature not 
 a formal-looking artificial thing on canvas, but the 
 most beautiful views of nature that eye ever beheld. 
 Old England is indeed a personification of all that is 
 now lovely in nature or art to be found on earth. 
 Other places seem to me but copies. I have no 
 doubt, however, that the giant infant in the West 
 will one day or other take off her shine, and perhaps 
 undutifully kick her into the shade. 
 
 " But, as usual, here I am rambling. I must go 
 back to Malvern. On Saturday morning, right early, 
 I was ready to start, when, having taken alone an 
 early breakfast, the bell rang for prayers, and down 
 came the bishop and all his family. We sang a 
 hymn, read a very suitable psalm, and knelt down. 
 The bishop's prayer was most devout and affecting. 
 We all felt it. The postilion's horn sounded just 
 before we had said the last ' Amen ;' and, my hands 
 grasped by each individual, I bid farewell a hur- 
 ried farewell to Malvern, with no expectation of 
 ever beholding it again. 
 
 " We reached Worcester in less than two hours, 
 and, settled on the railway, we puffed, and steamed,
 
 96 FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 and screamed, and raged, and roared, as hard as 
 ever John Bull could go, and reached dirty Bristol 
 in three hours ; and, having got some refreshment, 
 we started again for Somersetshire, and reached Wells 
 at seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 " The next day I attended service at the Cathedral ; 
 and at six o'clock dined, according to invitation, with 
 Mr. Canon Pinder. He seemed rejoiced to see me, 
 and said that he knew me the moment he put his 
 eye on me in the Cathedral. A more cordial wel- 
 come I could not have received from you. He talked 
 till a late hour, deeply interested about every thing 
 Barbadian or West Indian. I would not have missed 
 the interview with him on any account. 
 
 "But one of the most important circumstances 
 connected with this visit was the services of the 
 Cathedral. They have left an impression on my 
 heart which, I believe, can never be entirely ob- 
 literated. To my mind there was a something 
 peculiar in them, which was probably unfelt and 
 unnoticed by any of the congregation present. As 
 in the case of Saul going to Damascus on his bloody 
 purpose, none of his companions saw the vision, or 
 heard the heavenly voice that spoke to him none 
 so impressed as he, or had such cause to remember 
 the events of that day as he so it is possible it may 
 be with me. None could see as I saw, nor hear as I 
 heard, in the Cathedral on that day. The services, 
 I say, were remarkable ; just suited to one going on
 
 FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 97 
 
 my mission, and seeming as if prepared for the occa- 
 sion of my visit, and intended as a farewell. You 
 will say, ' It is all visionary and nonsense, 1 and pro- 
 bably many would say so too ; but if God was pleased 
 to affect my mind in that peculiar manner, I can't 
 help it ; and if He was pleased to comfort and en- 
 courage me in my undertaking by such means, /, at 
 least, cannot regard it as nonsense or visionary. The 
 text in the morning was the 6th of 1 Cor. 20, in 
 which the preacher, one of the Canons, set before us 
 a great duty, viz. to glorify God how it was to be 
 performed, viz. in your body and in your spirit and 
 lastly, the reasons which rendered the performance 
 of the duty absolutely necessary, ' Ye are not your 
 own, ye are bought with a price ; your body and 
 spirit are God's/ He treated the subject in a plain 
 and forcible manner, and concluded with exhorting 
 all to make a surrender of themselves to God, and 
 devote themselves to his service. And he moreover 
 exhorted them not only to give up their bodies and 
 souls to God's service, but also to devote their in- 
 fluence and wealth to Him by sending the Gospel to 
 nations that have it not, and encouraging by their 
 sympathy, and helping by their wealth and prayers, 
 those men who had already gone, or were preparing 
 to go forth, to the dark and cruel places of the earth. 
 I was amazed ; but how much more so when, in the 
 afternoon service, from another Canon, I heard a 
 very plain, affecting, and most profitable sermon 
 
 H
 
 98 FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 
 
 from Dan. vi. 10. The chapter was the first lesson. 
 The preacher not only warned all men of the dangers 
 of the Christian warfare in a civilized country ; but, 
 in a special manner, of the dangers which attend the 
 propagation of the Gospel in heathen lands, where 
 persecution rages openly ; and, pointing to the ex- 
 ample of the noble and upright Daniel, exhorted all 
 Christians to pray continually, for our strength lay 
 only in God, and He could easily shut the lions' 
 mouths. He spoke also of missions, and of the ne- 
 cessity of all Christians, and especially missionaries, 
 to set their face as a flint, and fear nothing ; to- be 
 strong in the Lord and in the power of his might ; 
 to desire life only to serve God and benefit man, 
 and not to fear death ; for while thus engaged, death 
 would be a friend to remove us from the scenes and 
 troubles of this evil world. It was sweet encourage- 
 ment to me it was good for me to be there 
 better a thousand times than if it had been known 
 that I was to be there, or if the services had been 
 appointed as a farewell. I felt that God, not man, 
 had ordered the services, and brought me to hear 
 them. I may be wrong, but I only tell you what 
 I felt. If wrong, I pray that my folly and pre- 
 sumption may be forgiven. 
 
 "But what shall I say of the Psalms for the 
 morning (14th day of the month), every verse teem- 
 ing with something that worked powerfully and 
 variously in me? The 71st setting forth David's
 
 PEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 99 
 
 confidence and prayer for perseverance, and the 
 72nd showing the greatness, goodness, and glory of 
 Christ's kingdom ; all affording great encouragement 
 in the work of missions, as did the sermon in the 
 morning; and the Psalms of the evening service, 
 showing the dangers of the Christian warfare, and 
 the necessity of prayer, as did the sermon at the 
 same service. The Psalms exactly suited to the 
 sermons, or rather the sermons to the Psalms, struck 
 me with power. 
 
 " But the singing. Oh ! the singing was heavenly. 
 The choir was below, not in the gallery, eight men 
 and eight boys. All the parts were well sustained. 
 But there was a voice which penetrated my ear, and 
 sank into my heart. I could distinguish it easily in 
 the chorus; but when it was heard in a solo the 
 book and my hands dropped on the pew. I thought 
 I should have fallen down. But I nerved myself as 
 well as I could. I looked at the sweet cherubic little 
 chorister, and his meek, gentle eyes were fixed upon 
 me, while his soft music flowed sweetly from him 
 without an apparent effort, and was heard pene- 
 trating the wide extent of the great building. The 
 child kept his eyes upon me, and drew tears abun- 
 dantly from mine. It was my own Mary's voice, 
 her own, sweet, impressive mode of singing, as she 
 was wont to sing in her early days when I first 
 knew her. I sat down, hid my tearful eyes in my 
 handkerchief during the rest of the service, and can- 
 H 2
 
 100 LETTER FROM BRISTOL. 
 
 not refrain from tears even now, and whenever that 
 voice rings in my ears. 
 
 "God bless you, my dear friend, and your wife 
 and your children. May your heart never bleed as 
 does mine. 
 
 "Affectionately yours." 
 
 In the mean time, Mrs. Caswall and my family, 
 with the help of our neighbours and parishioners, 
 were preparing a box of articles likely to be use- 
 ful to Mr. Leacock in Africa. On the 18th of 
 October he addressed Mrs. Caswall as follows, from 
 Bristol : 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Caswall, 
 
 " By this time you are so heartily tired of my 
 scribbling that I question whether you will tolerate 
 this letter. You must have received one this morn- 
 ing from me to Caswall, by which you had some 
 account of my journeyings. I cannot say that they 
 have been attended, like Paul's, with ' weariness 
 and painfulness/ for I have had nothing to do but 
 sit down quietly, and be whisked along as fast as 
 steam could do it ; nor can I say, * with hungering 
 and thirsting/ for I have had plenty of good care. 
 
 " I do hope that Providence may yet give me a few 
 months in England after my business is done in 
 Africa. It would afford me much gratification to 
 walk about your village, and talk to the people about
 
 LETTER FROM BRISTOL. 101 
 
 the good things which are prepared for them that 
 love God. But such an event is far, far a-head far 
 below our present horizon, and may never, never 
 rise to our view. But whatever God does will be 
 right, and that is enough for me. He knows, at a 
 glance, all that is before us, and I am quite satisfied 
 to wait the issue of events. 
 
 "It is quite a gratification to me to hear that 
 those good people at Netheravon, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Blandy, have in remembrance me and my mission to 
 Africa. I hope my mission will always be enter- 
 tained by them and all God's people with favourable 
 regard, and that, through the Divine blessing on my 
 labours, I may be enabled to send from Africa such 
 tidings to them as will rejoice their hearts, and re- 
 ward them for the sacrifice they have already offered, 
 and for the further sacrifices which God may incline 
 them to offer. Thanking you, my dear Mrs. Caswall, 
 for your hospitality and kindness to me, and praying 
 God, as I do daily, to bless you and your dear 
 husband, and all your children, and all who show me 
 kindness, 
 
 " I remain, &c." 
 
 From Bristol Mr. Leacock proceeded to Plymouth, 
 where he met his companion Duport, and on the 
 24th of October embarked with him on board the 
 "Ethiope" steamer for Sierra Leone. They were 
 fellow-passengers with Dr. Weeks, the new bishop of
 
 102 EMBARKATION AT PLYMOUTH. 
 
 Sierra Leone, under whose direction and superin- 
 tendence their work was to be commenced and pro- 
 secuted. The Rev. Mr. Pocock, the assistant colonial 
 chaplain of Sierra Leone, was also on board, together 
 with his lady. There were likewise other clergymen 
 connected with the Church Missionary Society, be- 
 sides some candidates for Holy Orders. Just before 
 sailing, Mr. Leacock wrote to me the following 
 note: 
 
 " I have only time to say, I thank you and your 
 dear wife for your letters, for the box, for the pre- 
 cious things which it contains, and for all your good 
 wishes, which I know are sincere. Farewell, my 
 dear brother; may the Lord bless you, your dear 
 wife and your children, and bring us all to meet 
 together before his throne of glory, there to praise 
 and adore Him for ever, through Jesus Christ our 
 Saviour."
 
 VOYAGE OF THE " ETKLOPE." 103 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Voyage of the "Ethiope." Dangerous Storm. Arrival at Madeira. 
 Warm Reception by a Governor on the African Coast. Arrival at 
 Sierra Leone. Description of Freetown. Various Opinions as to 
 the Site of the Mission. Similarity of Sierra Leone to the West 
 Indies. Joy at the Discovery of Devil-grass. Dr. Bradshaw's 
 Advice as to a House. The Niger considered. Plantain Island and 
 John Newton. Further Delay. Interview with the Spanish Consul. 
 Meeting of the Church Missionary Society. 
 
 UPON embarking in the "Ethiope" at Plymouth, Mr. 
 Leacock was far from satisfied with the appearance 
 of the vessel. He remarked to a clergyman who 
 had come on board with him, "This ship is too 
 narrow in the beam for her length, and she is also 
 too deep in the water ; if we encounter a heavy sea, 
 she will be in great danger." The gentleman smiled 
 at this remark, not being aware of Mr. Leacock's 
 long experience in matters of this description. The 
 sequel showed that the veteran missionary was in the 
 right. 
 
 At night, on "Wednesday the 24th, the anchor was 
 weighed, and the vessel, a screw-propeller, advanced 
 for some time rapidly through the smooth water.
 
 104 DANGEROUS STORM. 
 
 On Thursday the wind became contrary, and the 
 ship rolling awfully, almost every person on board 
 suffered from sea-sickness. On Friday, the wind 
 being still adverse and blowing pretty hard, they 
 got abreast of the Bay of Biscay. About four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, while Mr. Leacock was in his 
 berth, a sea struck the ship and broke heavily over 
 her. The water was up to the top of the bulwarks, 
 about five feet deep on the lee-side, and washed away 
 whatever was not well secured. A young sailor was 
 carried overboard and two of the passengers narrowly 
 escaped. The vessel was stopped in the hope of 
 saving the unhappy seaman, but the waves soon 
 covered and engulphed him. At this moment an- 
 other sea struck the vessel on the quarter, and floated 
 away every thing that could float in the saloon and 
 in all the berths. Boots, shoes, slippers, clothes, bags, 
 portmanteaus, &c., were some floating all night, and 
 all perfectly saturated. 
 
 The ship was full of passengers. In Mr. Leacock's 
 state-room there were three. One of these was a 
 German in Holy Orders, a gentle, kind, young man, 
 ready to assist Mr. Leacock to the uttermost of his 
 power. He was going to the African coast in the 
 service of the Church Missionary Society. While 
 Mr. Leacock was confined to his berth by illness, 
 this good brother sat by his side, morning and even- 
 ing, sometimes reading to him and sometimes offer- 
 ing up prayers.
 
 ARRIVAL AT MADEIRA. 105 
 
 Meanwhile the vessel rolled along, but could not 
 make much way. She was unable to carry her usual 
 quantity of steam, which would soon have buried her 
 beneath the waves. The captain was content to lay 
 her to occasionally ; and when proceeding during the 
 gale he did not allow the vessel to make more than 
 a mile or a mile and a half an hour. 
 
 On All Saints' Day, the 1st of November, they 
 arrived at Funchal in Madeira, from whence Mr. 
 Leacock immediately wrote me a letter containing 
 the above particulars. " You can now thank God," he 
 added, " for having heard your prayers and delivered 
 me from the horrid yawning gulf of Biscay. We 
 have passed through many dangers, but I was kept 
 in perfect peace, knowing Who was at the helm. 
 Now, thank God, we are all safe. The passengers 
 are gone on shore, and I am alone. Whether I 
 shall go or not, I have not yet decided. It is most 
 likely that I shall remain. The same clothes I 
 wore when I came on board I have on still. All 
 were wet, and when dried they looked worse than if 
 they had been worn. In the top of my portmanteau 
 I hoped to find a dry shirt, but when I opened it 
 this morning every thing was wet through, and 
 stained by the leather, which looks very filthy. 
 This then is my present position. I have nothing to 
 state about the prospects of my mission. The bishop 
 says it is likely we shall be able to decide on some 
 place when we are in Sierra Leone. Till then, fare- 
 well."
 
 106 WARM RECEPTION BY A GOVERNOR. 
 
 Leaving Madeira, the "Ethiope" proceeded by Goree 
 to the African coast, and touched in the first place at 
 a settlement considerably northward of Sierra Leone, 
 The English governor of this settlement had married 
 a lady formerly connected with one of Mr. Leacock' s 
 congregations in the West Indies. She had recently 
 died ; but her mention of Mr. Leacock as her good 
 and faithful pastor in former days had made a deep 
 impression on the mind of her husband. While the 
 "Ethiope" was coaling and landing a portion of her 
 cargo, Mr. Leacock was hospitably entertained at the 
 governor's residence, where he was treated with the 
 utmost respect and consideration. After passing a 
 night on shore and leading the family devotions of 
 the worthy governor and his household, he returned 
 on board the vessel and proceeded on his voyage 
 down the coast. 
 
 On the 10th of November Mr. Leacock came in 
 sight of Sierra Leone. The peninsula to which this 
 name is attached appeared like a number of hills 
 irregularly heaped together. On a nearer approach 
 his eye was delighted with the grandeur and beauty 
 of the scenery formed by these hills, and the valleys 
 and prairies discovered in the intervals. Lofty 
 forests clothed the mountains and lent an air of rich- 
 ness and luxuriance to the landscape '. 
 
 Freetown, the capital of the colony, stands about 
 
 1 See the Rev. S. A. Walker's " Church of England Missions in 
 Sierra Leone."
 
 ARRIVAL AT SIERRA LEONE. 107 
 
 five miles from the northern extremity of the penin- 
 sula, on the south side of a noble estuary called the 
 River Sierra Leone. Here the " Ethiope " entered a 
 fine hay, affording excellent anchorage not only for 
 steamers, but for vessels of every class. Mr. Lea- 
 cock perceived that the town was handsomely si- 
 tuated, occupying a piece of ground gradually as- 
 cending for three quarters of a mile from the sea till 
 it reached the foot of the mountains. To the left 
 the shore is broken into a series of little bays with 
 moderate hills, gently rising above and waving with 
 palm-trees. In front the wide Sierra Leone River, 
 bordered by low woods, glitters in the constant sun- 
 shine. Half-way up the side of a hill may be seen 
 the fort, the barracks, the hospital, the government 
 house, and a martello tower, the whole forming a 
 prospect of surpassing beauty. 
 
 The town is regularly laid out with fine streets 
 eighty feet wide, intersecting each other at right 
 angles. Each house has a piazza, with pillars at 
 regular intervals, supporting verandahs which afford 
 a shady walk even when the noon-day sun is shining. 
 The dwellings are surrounded with gardens, and 
 shaded with trees which receive the cool breezes blow- 
 ing from the wide Atlantic. 
 
 At the foot of the rocky heights which suddenly 
 break upon the regularity of the streets, are long 
 suburbs occupied by emancipated slaves, and consti- 
 tuting the most extensive and populous part of Free-
 
 108 DESCRIPTION OP FREETOWN. 
 
 town. These suburbs present an appearance of great 
 meanness and poverty, the huts being formed of a 
 few stakes fixed in the ground, wattled together, and 
 plastered with brown mud. Attached to these huts 
 are small patches of ground in which the papaw, 
 plantain, and banana are cultivated. 
 
 The principal church has been denominated the 
 Cathedral since the consecration of a bishop. It is a 
 spacious building, and was constructed entirely by 
 emancipated negroes and boys under Christian in- 
 struction, superintended by a single European. 
 
 The bishop had faithfully laboured as a missionary 
 in this colony during the early part of his life, and 
 therefore found himself at home among many old 
 associations. Mr. Leacock made his way to the post- 
 office, in order to dispatch to England and the West 
 Indies the news of his safe arrival. The post-mis- 
 tress, on seeing him, at once addressed him by name, 
 and manifested strong emotions of delight. She 
 informed him that while a little child, she had lived 
 in a family at Nevis, which Mr. Leacock had been in 
 the habit of visiting. He had kindly noticed this 
 child a quarter of a century before, and now the 
 same person rejoiced to welcome him to the shores of 
 Africa, and desired to show him every attention in 
 her power. His satisfaction at the unexpected meet- 
 ing was reciprocal, and even in this apparently 
 trivial coincidence he saw the sign of a good provi- 
 dence going before him and preparing his way.
 
 VARIOUS OPINIONS. 109 
 
 The reader is aware that Archdeacon Trew, of the 
 Bahamas, had given Mr. Leacock a letter to Lieut. - 
 Col. Hill, the governor of the colony. Sir William 
 Colebrooke had shown him a similar attention, and 
 in addition to this Her Majesty's Government had 
 faithfully fulfilled the promise given in 1851. One 
 of the latest official acts of the late Secretary of State, 
 Sir William Molesworth, was to recommend Mr. 
 Leacock and his work to the countenance and pro- 
 tection of the several English governors on the coast 
 of Western Africa. 
 
 Col. Hill received the good missionary with the 
 utmost courtesy and respect, and invited him to dine 
 at Government House soon after his arrival. This 
 kindness penetrated his heart, and from that time he 
 recognized in the governor a steady friend and bene- 
 factor. Conversing with his Excellency in regard 
 to the best point for the establishment of the West 
 Indian Mission, Mr. Leacock, in the first instance, 
 was recommended to visit Cape Coast Castle, and to 
 examine the district called El-Mina, in which there 
 is a Dutch settlement, about seven miles north of the 
 fortification just mentioned. In a subsequent con- 
 versation, the governor stated that further considera- 
 tion had induced him to think less favourably of El- 
 Mina, and proceeded to advise Mr. Leacock to remain 
 within British territory. " There is plenty of room," 
 he said, "in our government for another mission, 
 and we want labourers. Why then leave us for a
 
 110 VARIOUS OPINIONS. 
 
 foreign government? Under British influence you 
 may be sure of protection ; and while you are labour- 
 ing for the salvation of a benighted people you may 
 render us an essential service. Plantain Island and 
 all the Sherbro' country down to the Gallinas lie 
 open before you, nearly seventy miles in breadth, 
 and extending far up into the interior. There is no 
 Church mission here. Certain portions of the country 
 are almost depopulated by the slave-hunters and 
 slave-trade, The chiefs are ever at war with each 
 other, and no moral or religious influence has been 
 brought to bear upon them. That, in my mind, 
 seems to be the place for the West Indian Mission, 
 and it will in time fill up the gap between the British 
 and the American settlements." 
 
 This was the substance of his Excellency's remarks, 
 which he offered in the kindest manner, as the result 
 of his mature deliberation. Mr. Leacock imme- 
 diately communicated them to the Bishop of Sierra 
 Leone, who expressed his entire approbation of the 
 governor's views. 
 
 "While awaiting in Freetown an opportunity of 
 visiting the Sherbro' country, Mr. Leacock was far 
 from idle. On the 25th of November he preached 
 to a large congregation of natives who understood a 
 little English. They joined readily in the service, 
 but, in certain parts of it, in such a manner as in- 
 duced him to think it would be lost labour to read a 
 sermon, and accordingly he preached extempore. He
 
 SIEKRA LEONE LIKE THE WEST INDIES. Ill 
 
 easily perceived by the earnest attention of all, and 
 the sighs and groans of many, the deep interest 
 which they took in what was said, and he had the 
 satisfaction afterwards of learning that he was dis- 
 tinctly understood. 
 
 The bishop attended the cathedral in the morning, 
 and during the Litany fell down in a state of insen- 
 sibility, and was carried home immediately. Al- 
 though Mr. Pocock, his chaplain, was ready to offi- 
 ciate, the bishop had preferred to take the entire 
 duty himself, and suffered accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Leacock was at this time disposed to think 
 favourably of Sierra Leone, and his own health and 
 Duport's continued excellent. "I am persuaded," 
 he wrote to the Bishop of Barbados, " that one is not 
 more exposed to disease in Sierra Leone than in the 
 West Indies. The scenery, the trees, the shrubbery, 
 the fruit, the flowers, the climate, the people ; every 
 thing and person, reminds me of home. Even devil- 
 grass (called here Bahama-grass), the pest and 
 plague of our Barbados planters, is here. It was 
 among the first things that attracted my notice, and 
 for the first time in my life I was delighted to 
 behold it. While I am writing, the sun is shining 
 in his strength ; but in the house it is cool and plea- 
 sant. I have seen nothing yet of Africa which I 
 contemplated at home. But Sierra Leone is said to 
 be the garden I will tell you about the wilderness 
 when I get into it.
 
 112 DR. BRADSHAW'S ADVICE. 
 
 "We have here a Dr. Bradshaw, a -worthy son 
 of the ' Green Isle.' He tells me that I must have 
 the floor of my house raised from the ground at least 
 six feet to keep me from the damp, and the roof 
 covered with shingles, and then the only caution 
 necessary for the preservation of my health is, what 
 every prudent man observes in all tropical countries 
 temperanoe and exercise. I hope the committee will 
 be able to assist me in erecting such a building. It 
 will have only four rooms in it, a gallery, an en- 
 trance-room, a parlour, and two bed-rooms. A 
 cottage for the schoolmaster must be separate, two 
 comfortable rooms and a piazza. I beg your lord- 
 ship to inform the committee that their missionaries 
 cannot exist in a low, hot, smoky cottage, such as 
 the natives inhabit, having a damp earthen floor, 
 wattled and mud-plastered walls and partitions, 
 and straw- covered roofs, for the preservation of 
 which fire must be made in the centre of the build- 
 ing to destroy or expel scorpions, and centipedes, 
 and small insects, which generate in the straw and 
 destroy it, making in a few weeks a thousand chan- 
 nels for the rain. Self-preservation will prompt me, 
 in building a house, to consult our missionaries' 
 health, while I have a due regard to the most rigid 
 economy. I trust the management of the means 
 committed by the society to my care has not shaken 
 their confidence in my economy. As soon as I can 
 ascertain where I am to be fixed, and what sum is
 
 THE NIGER CONSIDERED. 113 
 
 necessary for the erection of our cottage, I shall 
 write to my old friend Dr. Caswall and other friends 
 in England for help ; and shall leave your lordship 
 to lay the matter before the Propagation Society and 
 the committee of our association. I shall do what I 
 can to get assistance from the natives on the spot ; 
 and you may rely on it, I shall spend no more in 
 building than is absolutely necessary for the protec- 
 tion of our health. And this I shall do promptly, 
 for, if I resolve to await the arrival of your sanction, 
 I may not live to receive it." 
 
 On the 28th of the same month (November), after 
 a long conversation with a clergyman respecting the 
 Sherbro' country, Mr. Leacock was asked whether he 
 was willing to go up the Niger, as far as the junc- 
 tion of the Chadda, and open his mission there. He 
 replied, that he was at the disposal of the Bishop of 
 Sierra Leone, and that he would most willingly go if 
 the bishop would send him. The bishop, however, 
 strongly dissuaded him from such an undertaking, 
 and said, "Do not entertain such a thought for a 
 moment. All that coast is infested with pirates and 
 murderers, and, without a guard, a man's life is in 
 danger. The river is not open. There is no com- 
 munication but through Fernando Po, and the ex- 
 pense of ascending so high up as the Chadda in 
 canoes would be enormous." 
 
 In the mean time the governor's favourable opinion 
 respecting Sherbro' and Plantain Islands had been
 
 114 PLANTAIN ISLAND AND JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 shaken by a Mr. McCormick, who had recently tra- 
 velled through that district, and accordingly he in- 
 vited Mr. Leacock to meet this gentleman at dinner. 
 In the course of conversation Mr. McCormick said 
 that nothing could be done in Plantain Island. It 
 was a desolation. The fire and sword of the neigh- 
 bouring chiefs, spurred on by the Portuguese slave- 
 hunters, had driven away the inhabitants who had 
 escaped the chains of slavery, and spread ruin 
 throughout the country. 
 
 Plantain Island was a scene in the celebrated John 
 Newton's early life, and is still one of the greatest 
 slave markets on the coast. More than a hundred 
 years have passed since Newton was a wretched 
 wanderer in this island. Old people were, however, 
 living there in 1837 who remembered him, and some 
 aged lime-trees were still growing which had been 
 planted by the hand of this celebrated convert. 
 
 Newton records a curious circumstance respecting 
 his life on Plantain Island. "One thing, though 
 strange, is most true. Though destitute of food and 
 clothing, depressed to a degree beyond common 
 wretchedness, I could sometimes collect my mind to 
 mathematical studies. I had bought Barrow's Euclid 
 at Portsmouth ; it was the only volume I brought on 
 shore ; it was always with me, and I used to take it 
 to remote corners of the island by the sea-side, and 
 draw my diagrams with a long stick upon the 
 sand."
 
 '. 
 
 FURTHER DELAY. 115 
 
 Mr. Leacock, though discouraged by his kind 
 friend the governor, still entertained the idea of 
 visiting this beautiful island, in order to ascertain 
 whether any inhabitants remained. He was now 
 becoming anxious about his prospects, and wrote to 
 the Bishop of Barbados as follows: "The whole 
 accessible ground on the coast is already occupied by 
 missionaries. Nothing, therefore, seems to remain 
 for me but a struggle with the proud, conceited Mo- 
 hammedan, who is also cunning, crafty, malicious, a 
 bitter enemy to Christianity, and indefatigable in his 
 efforts to propagate the dogmas of his creed among 
 the pagans. He gets his living by making gree- 
 grees, amulets, &c., and selling them to the poor 
 deluded creatures, who are greatly influenced by him 
 through witchcraft and other devilments. All that 
 I can do, is to look up for help, whence help alone 
 can come, and wait for the moving of the cloud. 
 Bear with me, then, my lord. Delay is not always 
 inaction, and my delay is the result of prudence, not 
 indolence. The bishop desires me to remain in Free- 
 town till after the annual meeting of the Church 
 Missionary Society, on Wednesday, Dec. 5th." 
 
 The following are extracts from Mr. Leacock's 
 diary, kept by him under these harassing circum- 
 stances, for the information of the Bishop of Bar- 
 bados : 
 
 "Nov. 30th. I was called on to-day by two 
 very respectable-looking men of the Eboe tribe, to 
 i 2
 
 116 INTERVIEW WITH THE SPANISH CONSUL. 
 
 whom Mr. B. lias mentioned my readiness to go up 
 with them to their country on the Niger. You 
 cannot imagine the delight which overspread their 
 countenances when they first addressed me, nor the 
 disappointment they suffered when told that there 
 were no means of transportation. It is a great dis- 
 appointment to me as well as to them. People in 
 the West Indies have no idea of travelling in Africa ; 
 and you must bear this in mind, / am subject to the 
 control of the bishop. 
 
 "Dec. 1st. Another station is suggested, and what 
 sort of one is it? An abandoned outpost of the 
 Church Missionary Society, at which her missionaries 
 laboured for eight years without the least success, 
 and gave it up more than fifteen years since in 
 despair. 
 
 "Dec. 3rd. I had a singular visit this afternoon 
 from the Spanish Consul, a handsome, dashing 
 fellow, covered with civic or military honours. He 
 made some inquiry about the place of my destina- 
 tion, said he had heard of me through some news- 
 papers, and hoped that the mission which had taken 
 me from my native country would prosper., I 
 thanked him and said I had been detained here by 
 the desire of the bishop, but that I should be at 
 liberty after Wednesday to leave Sierra Leone in 
 the first vessel which sailed hence for the Gallinas. 
 He then said there was a good opening in Fernando 
 Po, and he thought if I had not decided on any par-
 
 INTERVIEW WITH THE SPANISH CONSUL. 117 
 
 ticular place, it would be as well to take it into con- 
 sideration. I told him I dared not think of it, 
 because his government would not countenance any 
 mission not Roman Catholic, seeing that it had 
 already expelled a mission which had been some 
 years there. He said, "They were Baptist mis- 
 sionaries, and I ordered them from the island for 
 speaking in a public manner disrespectfully of my 
 sovereign, and also for having the audacity to say 
 that in a short time they would drive every Spaniard 
 into the sea. I then considered it high time to 
 drive them out, and so gave them twelve months to 
 leave. But a mission from your Church would be as 
 acceptable to me as one from my own Church, seeing 
 there are over nine hundred Protestants in the town 
 who speak as good English as any one in this place.' 
 He then recommended me to obtain through the 
 English government a promise of protection from 
 the Spanish government ; and ' it is more than pro- 
 bable/ said he, ' if you decide on going to Fernando 
 Po, that I will go with you.' " 
 
 This interview with the Spaniard encouraged Mr. 
 Leacock to hope that a door of usefulness was about 
 to be opened to him. But Providence had his own 
 purposes of mercy towards the Pongas country, and 
 the old chief Wilkinson, who had now been praying 
 for a missionary through more than twenty years. 
 Obstacles soon appeared in the way of a mission to
 
 118 MEETING OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 Fernando Po, reminding us that when " the man of 
 Macedonia" was about to appear to St. Paul, the 
 Spirit suffered him not to go into Bithynia. The 
 bishop discouraged the scheme, and still advised Mr. 
 Leacock to examine the Sherbro' Island and the 
 neighbouring part of the continent called Gallinas. 
 This he purposed to do at the first opportunity. 
 
 On the 4th of December Mr. Leacock attended a 
 meeting of the assembled Church missionaries. The 
 heat was very oppressive and enervating. In the 
 evening the bishop preached, and alluded to the 
 future conversion, through the Church Missionary 
 Society, of the country through which the Niger and 
 the Chadda roll their waters. On the following 
 evening the public missionary meeting took place, 
 at seven o'clock, in Christ- Church, Freetown, the 
 governor presiding. The secretary stated that a 
 wide field was open to missionaries below and above 
 the junction of the Niger and Chadda, and that the 
 Church Missionary Society was prepared to occupy 
 it as soon as the river should be open. 
 
 Mr. Leacock having been invited to move the 
 third resolution, was introduced to the meeting by 
 his good friend the governor, who said, "This 
 reverend gentleman has come to us with authority 
 from the Church in the West Indies to open a 
 mission on some part of the western coast of Africa. 
 He is highly recommended by my old friend, Sir W.
 
 MEETING OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 119 
 
 Colebrooke, governor of the island of Barbados." 
 The common people received Mr. Leacock with a 
 shout which he vainly endeavoured to check. He 
 then proceeded with the address given in the follow- 
 ing chapter as recorded in a Sierra Leone newspaper, 
 " The African," of December 13th, 1855.
 
 120 WHEN THE EPISCOPATE IS A BLESSING, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 When the Episcopate is a Blessing, and when the Reverse. Value of 
 the Episcopate to Sierra Leone. Its Benefits in the West Indies. 
 Rise of the West Indian Church in consequence of the Episcopate. 
 Establishment of the West Indian Mission. Episcopacy acknow- 
 ledged by Christendom. Greeting to the Bishop of Sierra Leone. 
 Prophetic Declaration. 
 
 "YouR Excellency, Right Rev. Sir, and my 
 Christian friends, 
 
 " The resolution which I have in hand involves 
 very properly one of the most pleasing and delightful 
 of all Christian duties, and consequently meets the 
 full concurrence of my mind and my heart. It is 
 thus expressed : 
 
 " ' That this meeting cannot but view the improved 
 financial position of the Church Missionary Society 
 during a year of unexampled pressure and difficulty, 
 occasioned by the war with Russia, together with the 
 happy appointment at this juncture of the Right 
 Reverend Dr. Weeks to this diocese, as manifest 
 tokens of the Divine favour towards the great work 
 of evangelizing the heathen, and for these mercies
 
 AND WHEN THE REVERSE. 
 
 121 
 
 would unite in ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving 
 to the great Head of the Church.' 
 
 " My friends, to thank God for all his dispensa- 
 tions towards us, even for such as are most contrary 
 to flesh and blood, is a duty which the Christian who 
 has ' tasted and seen that the Lord is good/ feels in- 
 cumbent on him, and which, trusting that God is too 
 wise to err, and too good to afflict unnecessarily, he 
 is ready and willing at all times to fulfil. Now, if 
 it be so with respect to dispensations of an afflictive 
 character, how much more ready should he be to 
 praise God for blessings which are congenial with 
 his sanctified feelings and desires, and which seem to 
 be clear and unmistakable evidences of the Divine 
 favour. And will it not be admitted that the mercies 
 referred to in the resolution come under this cate- 
 gory ? Observe, there are two : the improved con- 
 dition of your Society's revenue ; and the appoint- 
 ment of a bishop for the diocese. 
 
 " With respect to the former, we know indeed 
 that the gift of riches is not always an evidence of the 
 Divine favour ; and as to the latter, experience and 
 observation prove, that the Episcopate, as well as the 
 other orders of the Christian ministry, is a blessing 
 only in proportion as it approaches the high and holy 
 standard of the Gospel. Where it is exercised in a 
 capricious and arbitrary manner to serve selfish or 
 party purposes to gratify the lust of power, and the 
 promptings and goadings of pride and ambition
 
 122 VALUE OF THE EPISCOPATE 
 
 where it seeks not to extend the benign and hum- 
 bling influence of our holy religion, to strengthen 
 the bond of peace, and to promote throughout the 
 whole body unity of spirit, and righteousness of life, 
 it is not a blessing : it is a curse. 
 
 "But, Christian friends, we trust and hope that 
 in neither of the cases before us have we any reason 
 to anticipate evil. Although I have no personal in- 
 terest in the prosperity of your Society, not having 
 any connexion with it, yet it is gratifying to me to 
 contemplate its flourishing condition, and the truly 
 Christian spirit, which, under the Divine influence, 
 has made it so. 
 
 " And why shall not the same power, which has 
 blessed it with an increase of worldly wealth, direct 
 and overrule the application of that wealth, and 
 render it subservient to the furtherance of the Gospel, 
 and the advancement of God's glory? Why shall 
 not the same grace which has provided the means, 
 regulate, and order, and bless, the appropriation of 
 them? 
 
 " Evidently the prosperous condition of your So- 
 ciety's funds, must, at this juncture, in a special 
 manner, be ascribed to the influence of God's grace. 
 At a time when the nation is suffering the bitter 
 effects of one of the most grievous wars that ever 
 scourged a people at a time when the expenses 
 of this war are felt in every part of the empire, nar- 
 rowing the comforts of the rich, and augmenting the
 
 TO SIERRA LEOXE. 123 
 
 miseries of the poor at a time when thousands are 
 weeping over the unconsecrated graves of their slain, 
 with nothing, in numerous instances, to alleviate 
 their sorrows but the shadowy glory which military 
 virtue sheds around the sepulchre of the brave : at 
 such a time, in the midst of such privation and afflic- 
 tion, we might reasonably enough apprehend a great 
 defalcation in missionary funds. But it is not so. Be- 
 hold the people humbling themselves before the God 
 of the armies of heaven and earth, hear them declare 
 that He is worthy to receive all riches, as well as 
 honour and glory see them actually give their 
 riches give what they acknowledge He is so worthy 
 to receive give what they can spare, to advance in 
 the heathen world the glory and honour of his holy 
 Name. Surely, this is God's doing; and might it 
 not reasonably lead us to hope that a work so begun 
 begun in humiliation and prayer, and having such 
 an end in view, God's glory, will be carried on in the 
 same spirit till finally its desired consummation be 
 attained? This, Christian friends, is one of the 
 mercies for which we are called upon in the resolu- 
 tion to render unto God devout thanksgiving and 
 praise. 
 
 " With respect to the other mercy referred to in the 
 resolution, viz., the consecration of a bishop for this 
 diocese, I cannot say much, for a reason which must 
 appear to every delicate and sensible mind. But,
 
 124 ITS BENEFITS IN THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 though a sense of decency, and respect for an honoured 
 individual, check the language of praise, we must not 
 pass by his office in absolute silence. 
 
 " For the appointment of a bishop to this Church, 
 you ought indeed to rejoice and be glad ; and, in this 
 instance, I have great satisfaction in obeying the 
 apostolic injunction, 'Rejoice with them that do 
 rejoice.' Episcopalians have, from time to time, 
 been subjected to the contradiction and ridicule of 
 their opponents, because of this distinctive feature in 
 their Church government ; but, waiving every re- 
 mark respecting its origin, I feel pleasure in saying 
 that whatever may be my opinion of certain bishops, 
 I have never seen any just reason to be ashamed of 
 Episcopacy: on the contrary, I have seen much 
 cause for thankfulness for it. 
 
 "It was my lot to reside in one of the West Indian 
 islands, some thirty years, previous to their con- 
 nexion by the Episcopal form of Christian govern- 
 ment : and I well remember the looseness and irre- 
 gularity which prevailed under so dislocated a state 
 of the Church. There was no visible head to unite 
 and direct the movements of the Clergy none to 
 whom they were responsible ; and the consequence 
 was that each and every rector acted independently 
 of his brother rectors, and was de facto, if not dej-ure, 
 a little bishop in his little diocese. He acted just 
 as he pleased, and gave account to no man for his
 
 ITS BENEFITS IN THE WEST INDIES. 125 
 
 actions. You may easily imagine the working or 
 operation of so defective a system upon the world. 
 The watchmen were many of them ' dumb dogs that 
 could not bark;' and 'the people loved to have it 
 so.' Duties, in many instances, were neglected, or 
 most irreverently performed; and the West Indian 
 Church exhibited a counterpart of Israel of old, 
 ' where,' says the sacred historian, * there was no 
 king, and every man did that which was right in 
 his own eyes.' 
 
 "But no sooner did a bishop appear amongst us 
 than his authority was recognized. The Church 
 suddenly arose as from a state of death, and assumed 
 the appearance of a well-ordered, compact body. 
 Its discipline was instantly established. Its minis- 
 ters began to remember themselves. Its services 
 were regularly and more reverently performed. 
 The stillness of death suddenly disappeared, and was 
 succeeded by a busy, bustling religion, which, if it 
 had not life, had at least the appearance of it. After 
 a while, under the wise and judicious administration 
 of our bishop, every obstacle to order and unity was 
 removed ; and the Church began to take her proper 
 stand, and to gather and to bless her children, and, 
 by her reflex influence, to bless and enrich even those 
 who refused to own Tier authority. Yes, Christian 
 friends, our dissenting brethren felt the salutary 
 change, and thankfully acknowledged it. 'Our 
 work,' said one of them to me, ' our work flourishes
 
 126 RISE OF THE WEST INDIAN CHURCH. 
 
 most when there is a stirring, faithful, devoted minis- 
 try in the parish church ; for then our unruly 
 members, who leave us to go into the Establishment, 
 cannot be easy when they hear the same awakening 
 truths, the same awful sanctions both of Law and 
 Gospel, which oifended them in our chapel ; and they 
 are compelled to cast away their empty profession of 
 religion, and return to our chapel, or become con- 
 sistent members of the Establishment.' 
 
 " Such was the effect, by God's blessing, of Episco- 
 pacy in the "West Indies. The Church has continued 
 to grow and increase under its influences, till, 
 strengthened at home, she is now making efforts to 
 send abroad, to distant heathen nations, the savour 
 of that name, which, as sweet ointment, is poured 
 forth within her own borders. 
 
 " At a meeting of our Barbados Church Society in 
 1850, a proposition was made to open a mission for 
 the furtherance of the Gospel on the western coast 
 of Africa. The proposition was hailed with joy, 
 and carried by acclamation, not one appearing in 
 opposition to it. That part of our population which 
 is of African descent rejoiced at the thought of 
 sending to some benighted portion of their father- 
 land the glad tidings of salvation, and presently a 
 considerable sum of money was raised for the pur- 
 pose. 
 
 "But this excitement was not of long duration. 
 The people of every class and description soon became
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MISSION. 127 
 
 discouraged, on account of what they deemed cul- 
 pable delay ; for year after year passed away, and no 
 one could be found in a position to undertake the 
 work, till it pleased the great Head of the Church to 
 put into the mind of an humble individual, then an 
 acting member of the association, a desire to visit 
 this country, and report what prospect of success 
 there appeared for the establishment of such a 
 mission. That individual's proposal was accepted 
 immediately by the bishop and the committee of the 
 association, and he received forthwith his appoint- 
 ment as missionary to the western coast of Africa. 
 He left the West Indies on the loth day of July ; 
 and here he is, having the honour now to stand 
 before you, and to address you. 
 
 " Christian friends, the West Indian Church has 
 learned by experience to appreciate duly the blessing 
 of Episcopacy ; and when about to open her mission, 
 though she would not intrude in the labours of other 
 men, or build upon their foundation though she 
 desire to send the Gospel afar off to a people sitting 
 in darkness, not having the lamp of life amongst 
 them, yet she will not neglect or exclude from her 
 mission the advantages of Episcopacy when they can 
 be obtained. 
 
 "She sends that mission to your land, not in- 
 vested with any independent or exclusive power. 
 She commits it, under the Great Bishop of souls, to 
 the oversight of the Bishop of Sierra Leone, con-
 
 128 EPISCOPACY ACKNOWLEDGED BY CHRISTENDOM. 
 
 fiding in his generous, impartial, affectionate, foster- 
 ing care. She commits it to the supervision of your 
 bishop, not (let me be distinctly understood) because 
 she has no confidence in the prudence, faithfulness, 
 or integrity of her deputation ; for if she had inti- 
 mated such a thought, you would never have seen 
 me here. She commends her mission to the care of 
 your bishop, because she recognizes in his office a 
 something superior to the ordinance of man, and 
 would honour it as a form of ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment ' most agreeable with the institution of 
 Christ.' 
 
 "It is remarkable that this form of Church go- 
 vernment, Episcopacy, seems to have the consent of 
 Christendom. The English Church; the Eastern 
 and "Western, or the Greek and Roman Churches; 
 the Coptic, Abyssinian, and Armenian Churches, all 
 have bishops. Even our dissenting brethren, the 
 "Wesleyans, have in the United States what they 
 actually call ' The Methodist Episcopal Church ;' 
 and the other branches of that society have forms of 
 government very analogous to ours. Though they 
 recognize as stewards of the mysteries of the Gospel 
 only such as can distinctly and unequivocally declare 
 that they are called and sent by the Holy Ghost, yet 
 they see the wisdom and necessity of setting apart in 
 every district under their influence one as superin- 
 tendent of the district. They do not call this Episco- 
 pacy, as do their American brethren, and they are
 
 GREETING TO THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 129 
 
 certainly correct, but it is something very like it ; 
 and they are fully convinced that without such a 
 form of government, anarchy would soon pervade 
 and disorganize the whole fabric of their well-conso- 
 lidated system. 
 
 " And now, your Excellency, and Christian 
 friends, shall we not admit that the privilege of Epis- 
 copacy, as well as the improvement of your Society's 
 finances, calls for our acknowledgment and thanks- 
 giving ? I trust you are all sensible of its import- 
 ance as a privilege ; and I hope the time is not far 
 distant, when the Church in Sierra Leone will come 
 forth, resplendent in Christian graces, strong in 
 the strength of Omnipotence, and not only sustain 
 itself independently of the fostering care of the 
 Church Missionary Society, but follow its example, 
 in training the youth of Africa for the work of the 
 ministry ; and that she will send them forth, at her 
 own charge, to proclaim the glad tidings of salva- 
 tion in the far east, and south, and north, far 
 beyond the Kong mountains, into the kingdoms 
 of darkness and cruelty which crowd the in- 
 terior of this widely extended and mighty con- 
 tinent. 
 
 " I beg therefore most heartily to congratulate 
 you, my brethren of this diocese, and to be permitted 
 to unite with you in ascriptions of praise and thanks- 
 giving to the great Head of the Church, for the un- 
 it
 
 130 GREETING TO THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 provement of the financial concerns of your Society ; 
 and for the appointment of a gentleman to preside 
 over this portion of the Lord's vineyard as bishop, 
 who is so acceptable to you, whose views of Christian 
 doctrine so entirely accord with your own, and whose 
 experience, wisdom, and Christian character, encou- 
 rage us to hope that peace shall dwell within our 
 border, and that the Lord has yet in store good 
 things for poor, degraded, benighted, bleeding 
 Africa. 
 
 "Right Kev. Sir, in the name of the West 
 Indian Church, which I have the honour to represent 
 here this evening, I bid you God's speed. It is a fre- 
 quent subject of my prayers ; and I shall cease to 
 pray for it when I cease to stand in need of prayer 
 for myself. The world, Sir, is witnessing great 
 events, and the future is pregnant with greater 
 still. 
 
 "That general promise which the Father hath 
 made to the Son, ' Ask of me, and I shall give thee 
 the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
 parts of the earth for thy possession/ must in due 
 time be fully realized ; but, Sir, there is a particular 
 promise on record for our encouragement, which I 
 pray it may be our happy lot, before we go hence, to 
 behold in a course of rapid fulfilment. 
 
 "It is that great event to which the English 
 Church in general, and your Society in particular,
 
 PROPHETIC DECLARATION. 131 
 
 are looking forward with 'earnest expectation' 
 that prophetic declaration of the inspired volume, 
 which stands firmer than the mountains, and as 
 firm as the foundations of high heaven: 'Ethiopia 
 shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.' " 
 
 K 2
 
 132 HORXE OJST MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Melville Home on the Qualifications of an African Missionary. The 
 Rio Pongas is mentioned to Mr. Leacock. The Governor promises 
 to send Mr. Leacock to the Pongas in a Steamer. Character of Go- 
 vernor Hill. Meeting with a Mohammedan King. Landing at Tin- 
 tima. Palaver with Kennyback Ali and King Katty. Description 
 of the Pongas River. Hut at Tintima. Wretched character of the 
 people. Deceitfulness of Kennyback Ali. Mr. Leacock visits him. 
 Encounter with a Mohammedan. 
 
 THE time had now come when the long-continued 
 prayers of the Chief Wilkinson were to receive a 
 gracious answer. A missionary indeed was to be 
 sent to him, not a missionary of the Church of 
 Rome, nor of any separated community, hut a mis- 
 sionary of the reformed Church of England, full of 
 earnest zeal for the salvation of men, devoted to the 
 cause of Africa, abundant in prayer, in faith, in hope, 
 and in charity. 
 
 The Rev. Melville Home, chaplain at Sierra Leone 
 in the early part of this century, published a valuable 
 little book on African missions, from which the fol- 
 lowing extracts are here inserted, with the view of
 
 HOE.NE ON MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 133 
 
 showing Mr. Leacock's fitness for the work which he 
 had undertaken : 
 
 " Piety is the only basis of the missionary cha- 
 racter ; but a tolerable strength and maturity of 
 religion will be as needful as the sincerity of it. 
 Zeal is a qualification of a nature inferior only to 
 piety, and that man will hardly be defective itqfCit 
 who enters upon missions in compliance with he 
 bent of his own inclinations. It is to be wished that 
 the missionary's zeal should not have been lately 
 kindled, but such as having burned for years, pro- 
 mises to continue in its heat. His fire should be 
 moderated by some experience in the ministry. He 
 should have been taught to exercise a good degree 
 of gentleness, patience, and long- sufferance, by being 
 accustomed to wrestle with the unruly will of men, 
 by seeing many of his well-meant efforts frustrated 
 through invincible depravity, and by observing the 
 failure of some of his most sanguine and reasonable 
 expectations. There is an art in managing men's 
 minds which nothing but experience can teach. 
 That man will have little skill in ruling the tempest 
 of the human passions, who has not learned to mode- 
 rate the ardour of his own feelings, and who does 
 not know when to press his point and when to decline 
 it, when to command and when to entreat. 
 
 " There are some pious men who are capable of every 
 thing, and yet do very little in life. They are disor- 
 derly in all their habits and versatile in all their
 
 134 HORNE ON MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 pursuits. Superior to fear, they are, unhappily, duc- 
 tile, and receive the impression of minds inferior to 
 their own. Capable of vast exertions, they are na- 
 turally indolent. With a vivacity which often spar- 
 kles and charms, they unite a morbid melancholy 
 which preys upon the heart. They are amiable, but 
 not venerable. Such men may engage in missions, 
 but will hardly succeed in them. 
 
 " The missionary should possess much self-denial, 
 and be regular in all his habits. He need not have 
 the razor's edge ; but he must be as the blade of a 
 well-tempered knife. He must be a man of discipline 
 and self-command. 
 
 " His character should be divested of sloth, effemi- 
 nacy, and indulgence. Perhaps he should rather be 
 capable of becoming a man of letters than actually 
 be so. All his habits should be active rather than 
 sedentary. A disposition favourable to the feelings 
 of ardent and sublime devotion, and a delight in the 
 exercises of the pulpit and the pastoral care, should 
 preponderate in his character. In a word, he should 
 be more the active man than the contemplative one. 
 A sound constitution, hardened to the vicissitudes of 
 the seasons, and capable of supporting the extremes 
 of suffering, is greatly to be desired ; but a mind 
 superior to suffering is a consideration of far more 
 importance than that corporeal vigour and hardness 
 which is invulnerable to fatigue and want. 
 
 " We require in our missionary a disinterested,
 
 FIKST MENTION OF THE PONGAS. 135 
 
 generous way of thinking and acting, above low 
 cunning, servile compliance, and a presumptuous 
 invasion of powers to which his character does not 
 entitle him. We would have him sincere, open, and 
 affectionate. Instead of authoritative commands, we 
 would arm him with prayers, entreaties, and tears. 
 We expect that he should have learned to bear and 
 forbear. We think that ignorance should excite his 
 pity, and not rouse his contempt. He must be an 
 extempore preacher, and possess a facility of convey- 
 ing to the mind his ideas clear and strong, inde- 
 pendently of those modes of speech which originate 
 in the laws and manners of Europe. 
 
 " Single men are the proper persons for this work ; 
 they have no ties. Private charities will not coun- 
 teract public ones. They can live cheap, fare hard, 
 and are ready for every service. If they have the 
 souls of missionaries in them, they will often, be- 
 tween their charity and their zeal, be placed in cir- 
 cumstances similar to those of St. Paul, in naked- 
 ness, in want, in perils by land, in perils by sea, and 
 in all the varieties of suffering." 
 
 Soon after the missionary meeting in Freetown, 
 Mr. Galbridden, a merchant trading with the Pongas, 
 in conversation with Mr. Leacock, spoke of the in- 
 habitants of that country as presenting an open field 
 to Christian exertions. Mr. Leacock went immediately 
 to the governor, who, as well as the bishop, thought it 
 worthy of further notice. Dining with the governor
 
 136 A STEAMER PROMISED. 
 
 on the 7th, he mentioned to Mrs. Hill his intention 
 of going to the Pongas, in an open canoe, along a 
 hundred and forty miles of coast. The governor's 
 lady referred him for information to Captain Buck, 
 of Her Majesty's steamer " Myrmidon," who was at 
 that moment seated at the table. The captain, who 
 had just arrived from the Pongas, informed Mr. Lea- 
 cock that there would be danger' in travelling in 
 an open canoe, which would expose him to alternate 
 damp and heat during four nights and as many days, 
 in addition to the usual risks of the sea. "But," 
 said he, " if you like it, I will take you there in one 
 day, and wait two days for you, that you may have 
 an interview with some of the chiefs ; but you must 
 have the consent of the governor." " Thank you, 
 my dear captain," replied Mr. Leacock, " if it depend 
 on the governor's consent I shall have it, I know." 
 Accordingly he spoke across the table to the go- 
 vernor : " Colonel, here is an. open way before me, 
 if you do not bar it up." On being informed of his 
 wish, the governor replied, " The captain has my 
 consent with all my heart and soul." 
 
 Mr. Leacock described to the Bishop of Barbados 
 what followed. " Of course," he writes, " I thank- 
 fully accepted this gracious offer ; and so, if no ob- 
 stacle arise, I shall embark the day after to-morrow, 
 Monday. This will save our association about fifteen 
 pounds at least. If I am well received, I shall select 
 a location at once, and return for my baggage."
 
 CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNOR. 137 
 
 " Dec. 8th. I have just seen Mr. Galbridden, who 
 seems to rejoice in the good prospects for the Pongas 
 people, and volunteers to go with me, that he may 
 introduce me to the people, and provide a lodgement 
 for me in this wild wilderness. It is emphatically 
 missionary ground, it has never heen broken ; the 
 Gospel has never been sounded there. I have been 
 baffled hitherto in every attempt, and so I am afraid 
 to say how or in what this new scheme will issue ; 
 but I do not despair. This letter I shall leave with 
 my friend Mr. Pocock, as I fear I shall not return in 
 time for the packet. If it should leave before my 
 return, you may be assured that I have gone to the 
 Pongas in the steamer ' Myrmidon ;' and it would be 
 well, perhaps, if your lordship would write to the 
 Secretary for the Colonies, and express to him our 
 hearty thanks for the great assistance I have re- 
 ceived from Governor Hill and Captain Buck. Go- 
 vernor Hill is a prompt, active, diligent official, very 
 much loved here, and deservedly so ; for his great 
 object seems to be to promote the happiness, spiritual 
 and temporal, of the people over whom he is placed. 
 May the Lord bless him abundantly for his kindness 
 to me. I think an acknowledgment to the Secretary 
 of his kindness is our duty, as no doubt it will be 
 satisfactory to him to know how greatly his influence 
 has helped us. 
 
 " I am invited to luncheon to-day at Government 
 House, to meet a magnificent Mohammedan king, and
 
 138 A MOHAMMEDAN KING. 
 
 to dine this evening with the Honourable the Chief 
 Justice. I am whirled in a round of dissipation, and 
 shall be more than glad of a little quiet duty in the 
 Pongas." 
 
 On Monday, Dec. 10th, the " Myrmidon" left Free- 
 town with Mr. Leacock and Duport on board. The 
 reader will no doubt agree with the writer in think- 
 ing that a British ship of war was never better 
 employed than in thus forwarding the Gospel of the 
 Prince of Peace. In conversation on the way, Captain 
 Buck plainly set before Mr. Leacock the peril which 
 he was incurring in venturing on a residence in the 
 Pongas. The missionary, however, was moved by 
 no such consideration. After a rapid voyage along 
 the coast towards the N.N.W., they arrived at the 
 mouth of the river on Tuesday, the llth. The fol- 
 lowing letter to Governor Hill, written by Mr. Lea- 
 cock on board the " Myrmidon" on the 15th, describes 
 the first interview of the missionary with the people 
 of the country : 
 
 " We came to an anchorage off the mouth of the 
 Eio Pongas on Tuesday, the llth instant, ten miles 
 outside of the bar ; and it being too late for the tide, 
 we had to wait till next morning, when, in two boats, 
 well manned and armed, we commenced our journey 
 at eight o'clock up the river, and arrived at Tintima, 
 the residence of the renowned Kennyback Ali, at 
 about three P.M. I say about, for, as it happened, no 
 one had his watch with him; each supposing that his
 
 LANDING AT TIXTIMA. 139 
 
 would be safer in the ' Myrmidon ' than in Tintima, 
 exposed to the gaze of our distinguished host and his 
 myrmidons. 
 
 " We were soon ushered into the presence of the 
 chief, although we anticipated nought but delay, on 
 account of his health, which is delicate, and which 
 renders an occasional visit in the country necessary. 
 The captain requested me to appear in my gown ; 
 and supported by him on one hand, and Captain 
 Fletcher, of the 1st "West India Regiment, on the 
 other, both in uniform, I was introduced to the noble 
 chief. In long, loose, flowing robes, gracefully de- 
 scending to his naked and unadorned feet, and head 
 crowned with a Kilmarnock cap, he met us, and re- 
 ceived us with every mark of respect. He invited us 
 into the piazza of one of his amplest buildings, and 
 desired us to be seated. Then, after very friendly 
 inquiries respecting your Excellency's health, he 
 wished to know our business wished to ' sabby 
 whether our visit was 'for war-palaver.' Our chief 
 replied, with extraordinary gravity, * No, your 
 Majesty: our visit is altogether friendly, and has 
 for its object the consolidation and advancement of 
 peace.' (Of course we had an interpreter.) He then 
 introduced me as an instrument intended to carry 
 this design into efiect. He told him of my profes- 
 sion, explained whence I had come, and the object 
 of my coming, and stated that Her Britannic Ma- 
 jesty's Government highly approved of my mission,
 
 140 PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 
 
 and requested him to afford me protection and encou- 
 ragement in the work on which I was sent. The man 
 eyed me in my length and breadth, and, as we after- 
 wards heard, had some suspicion of the character of 
 my mission, supposing that it bore upon the slave 
 trade ; but soon he replied, ' Yease, me like him, me 
 like him ; but nutting to-day, nutting to-day ; to- 
 morrow palaver, when de king come.' 
 
 " Instantly an order was issued to man a canoe, 
 and take advantage of the tide. The captain, in full 
 uniform, seemed to command the greatest respect ; 
 but the mention of the governor of Sierra Leone, and 
 especially of our beloved Victoria, acted like a charm. 
 The next day, at 11 o'clock A.M., a herald from the 
 river- side announced the arrival of Matthias Katty, 
 king of the Pongas, accompanied by his suite ; and 
 to his sable Majesty, in the course of an hour, I had 
 the honour of a formal introduction. He was evi- 
 dently prepared for the subject of the palaver ; and 
 when the letter of Her Majesty's representative was 
 put into his hand, he seemed greatly elevated by it, 
 and said, ' Yease, me gib nay children to de ould man 
 to teach dem ; but a a ' 
 
 " The great difficulty which operated against us, 
 was the idea that I required him and all his subjects 
 to submit to my instruction, which the crafty monarch 
 too well knew would reduce the number of inmates in 
 his harem to a solitary unit. This no earthly power 
 could induce him to do ; and, therefore, he urged
 
 PALAVER WITH. THE KINGS. 141 
 
 that he and his ' big people' wanted no teaching, but 
 the children wanted it, and he would send his directly, 
 if the Queen would clothe them. The captain ex- 
 plained that no one would be compelled to attend the 
 ministry of Mr. Leacock ; but he hoped he, the king, 
 would not prevent such as were disposed. This satis- 
 fied him. 
 
 " Soon after, eight chiefs, great landholders, ap- 
 peared, and demanded a private palaver with the two 
 kings. They caused us some difficulty, and for a time 
 shook the decision of the kings. Things now seemed 
 desperate, and nothing was expected by us but an 
 immediate return to Sierra Leone. The eight chiefs 
 were Mandingoes, professed Mohammedans, and, of 
 course, bitterly opposed to Christianity. The kings 
 not yielding to them, they desired five days to con- 
 sider the matter. This, however, was a mere ma- 
 noeuvre, as I learned from my assistant, John Duport, 
 to whom it was hinted that no presents were given 
 to the Mandingoes. The cunning fellows desired to 
 take advantage of an Englishman's promptness in 
 doing business, and his impatience of delay, and 
 therefore demanded such a time for consideration as 
 they knew we should be unwilling to give, and hoped 
 to compromise the matter by receiving a handsome 
 present from us. I knew that yielding to such a 
 desire would only increase their wretched appetite, 
 and entail upon me interminable demands. It was 
 Captain Buck's opinion also, and he united with me
 
 142 PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 
 
 in the objection. I said, in the presence of them all, 
 ' It has been hinted to me that the eight chiefs desire 
 presents to induce them to come at once to a favour- 
 able decision. Now, I will begin as I intend to end. 
 It is not my intention to offer any present, neither at 
 this time nor at any other. I have not come to trade 
 with them, nor to ask of them any favour, but to do 
 them good, if possible ; therefore, the obligation is 
 on their part, not on mine ; and if presents are to be 
 given, / am the person to receive. But I give them 
 all I have, myself, and I ask nothing in return but 
 themselves, that is, a desire on their part to benefit 
 by my presence and teaching. All I have I give, I 
 trust, in the spirit and feeling of an Apostle, who, 
 upon being asked for alms, replied, ' Silver and gold 
 have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee.' 
 If I can be instrumental in bringing them to the 
 great Physician of souls, to heal their spiritual dis- 
 eases, it is all I can do for them. If they choose to 
 receive me with such intentions, here I am, willing 
 to remain with them ; if not, brethren, say at once, 
 and we will be off next tide to Sierra Leone.' This 
 had the desired effect. The Mandingoes sneaked 
 away, and King Katty said to Captain Buck, ' We 
 take um we glad to hab urn/ 
 
 "After the palaver was at an end, I said to 
 Katty in a private conversation, Captain Buck only 
 being present, 'King Katty, I am come to you in 
 God's name, to do you and your people good. I
 
 PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 143 
 
 shall soon be alone with you. My friends, who 
 have come to protect me, will soon leave me, and 
 I shall be then entirely at your mercy. Neverthe- 
 less, I am not afraid of you nor of your Mandingoes. 
 You can do with me what you please. I am not 
 afraid to die, whether it be by fever or by sword. I 
 am come with a message of mercy to you and your 
 people ; if you reject me and cut me off, I do not 
 refuse to die it will be better for me, for then I 
 shall go home,' lifting up my right hand, and look- 
 ing upwards. 
 
 " How astonished was I, as well as Captain Buck, 
 to hear this untutored savage's prompt reply, 'Aye, 
 yease ; but if we reject you and send you off, de gret 
 God will reject we and cut we off.' I replied, ' Cer- 
 tainly, most certainly.' 
 
 " Your Excellency is aware that both Kennyback 
 Ali and Matthias Katty speak a little English, and 
 can understand an Englishman condescending to 
 speak in their 'fashin.' Soon every thing was ar- 
 ranged. King Katty signed a declaration (drawn 
 up hastily and in the last moment, intended for your 
 Excellency), and then we separated. King Katty 
 returned to his friends, and right early next morn- 
 ing, as soon as the tide permitted, we took our boats, 
 and in seven hours reached the ' Myrmidon.' 
 
 " I cannot thank your Excellency too much for 
 committing the management of this affair to Captain 
 Buck. His gentlemanly and kind attention to me
 
 144 DESCRIPTION OF THE PONGAS RIVER. 
 
 is such as might be expected of one in his responsible 
 position. His influence over the savage people of the 
 Pongas seems to be very great, and his diplomatic 
 tact very efficacious. It has secured for me not only 
 a respectful, but a friendly reception amongst them. 
 Kennyback Ali received and entertained us all very 
 hospitably, and offered me the use of one of his houses 
 until I could be better provided for. King Katty 
 said he would build a house for me, and give me a 
 piece of ground for a garden, &c., but I know not how 
 much dependence is to be placed on his word. Even 
 if he duly conform to his promise, it will afford me 
 very little accommodation ; for the houses, built of 
 mud walls, or wattled and dabbed, consist of only one 
 room, and that a circular one, without windows, but 
 with two doors opposite to each other, and afford no 
 privacy, no security, no comfort, but shelter only. 
 This, however, I shall be thankful for, when I get 
 it ; and shall continue to trust that same good Provi- 
 dence which has hitherto been with me, and which 
 will continue to follow me." 
 
 On Monday, the 17th, Mr. Leacock and Duport 
 left their friends in the " Myrmidon," and again 
 proceeded up the Little Pongas to Tintima, relying 
 on the promises of Kennyback Ali and King Katty. 
 Their means of conveyance was a narrow canoe, 
 which appeared far from safe. An upset would be 
 followed by almost certain destruction. If a person 
 thus situated were to escape the sharks, a rapid tide
 
 145 
 
 MAP OF THE PONGAS 
 
 FATTALAH COUNTRY. 
 
 From Two Maps designed by the 
 Rev. H. J. Leacock. 
 
 Estimated Population of the 
 Towns and Village* of the 
 Pongat or Fattalah Country. 
 
 Teah 220 
 
 Domingia 350 
 
 Sarraha 50 
 
 Sangha 600 
 
 Bangalong 300 
 
 Farrangia 1500 
 
 Mirana 50 
 
 Tintima 300 
 
 Doinjah 150 
 
 Giappa 50 
 
 Babria 180 
 
 Fallangia 530 
 
 Confongia 150 
 
 Caningia 150 
 
 Bramiah 3000 
 
 7580
 
 HUT AT TINTIMA. 147 
 
 would be likely to drown him. ; if by any chance he 
 were to reach the river's bank, he would sink in the 
 soft mud ; and if he escaped the mud, he would pro- 
 bably be devoured in the jungle by wild beasts. 
 Alligators conceal themselves in the rank vegetation 
 which borders this beautiful river, and which is so 
 interlaced that, once in it, there is no egress without 
 brawny shoulders and a faithful broad axe. 
 
 Geographers have taken little notice of this river, 
 and it merits greater attention than it has yet re- 
 ceived. It rises probably in the Kong mountains. 
 It is navigable for small craft about twenty miles, 
 and in some places is full three quarters of a mile in 
 breadth. The mouth, where, with the Big Pongas, it 
 enters the sea, is more than two miles broad, but is 
 dangerous to vessels by reason of a sand-bar, over 
 which the sea breaks at all times with great violence, 
 except in a narrow channel on the north side, which 
 is not quite safe to pass even at high tide. As I have 
 already mentioned in the sixth chapter, Tintima is 
 situated on the Little Pongas, about nine miles above 
 the bar. 
 
 On arriving at Tintima, Mr. Leacock and Duport 
 took possession of a wretched cone-shaped hut, which 
 had been awarded to them by Kennyback Ali, ac- 
 cording to agreement. They now had an oppor- 
 tunity of examining the village rather more closely 
 than during their visit of the preceding week. 
 
 They found Tintima very similar to the large 
 L 2
 
 148 WRETCHED CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 negro villages which existed in the West Indies 
 during the days of slavery. There was no street, 
 but the houses appeared as if scattered. They were 
 placed in this irregular manner purposely to avoid 
 the observation of an enemy attacking them sud- 
 denly in the night. The cottages were all miserable 
 affairs, having only one room, generally circular, but 
 sometimes square. The inside of the roof always 
 had a very filthy appearance, having long cobwebs 
 descending, and black from the smoke of a fire made 
 in the centre of the room to destroy insects har- 
 boured in the roof. In such a house the mis- 
 sionaries were for the present established. It was 
 quite open, without a lock to either of the doors, and 
 the men and women of the village were constantly 
 coming in (in purls naturalibus) and carrying off 
 with their nimble fingers whatever was left outside 
 of the trunks and boxes. Mr. Leacock and Duport 
 were compelled to keep watch alternately, to save 
 themselves from being thoroughly plundered. 
 
 The reception which they had met with from 
 Kennyback Ali in the presence of Captains Buck and 
 Fletcher had been kind enough ; but now that the 
 "Myrmidon" had departed they were left entirely at 
 the mercy of his slaves. Cheated and peeled as 
 these people had been by traders, they did not forget 
 to be avenged on the strangers. Provisions were 
 withheld, with the object of extortion, and Mr. 
 Leacock and his companion would have gone with-
 
 149 
 
 A COTTAGE IN TINTIMA, PONGAS COUNTRY, 
 
 Occupied by the Rev. H. J. Leacock and Mr. Duport, Dec. 18, 1855, 
 
 from a sketch by Mr. Leacock. The roof is of grass. 
 
 Interior Structure of the 
 
 Cottage, 
 a. pole supporting the top of 
 
 the roof. 
 b b. wall. 
 c c. pieces of wood thrown across 
 
 the wall, and supporting the 
 
 pole. 
 
 Plan of the Interior of the Cottage. 
 
 1. Mr, Leacock's lodging. 
 
 2. Mr. Duport's. 
 333. baggage. 
 4. table. 
 
 c c. chairs. No window,
 
 150 DECEITFULNESS OF KENNYBACK ALL 
 
 out food on the day of their arrival had they not 
 found in one of their boxes a jar of preserved ginger. 
 They ate the ginger with some biscuits which they 
 had fortunately brought from the " Myrmidon," and 
 drank the syrup mixed with water, after which they 
 finished their repast with water, cup after cup, till 
 they were satisfied. They asked for fowls, usually 
 sold at four or five shillings a dozen ; but now one fowl 
 was offered for two shillings. They asked for eggs, 
 which are sold at a halfpenny each ; a dollar was 
 now asked for twenty. After finding that the mis- 
 sionaries had a supply of biscuit, the natives began 
 to lower their demands. No servant was, however, to 
 be procured, so that they were obliged to wait on 
 themselves. Fortunately they found a woman from. 
 Sierra Leone who could wash clothes, but as there 
 was no smoothing iron in the place, they were com- 
 pelled to wear their clothes rough-dried. Duport 
 was at first much discouraged, but he soon recovered 
 himself, and bore his privations without a murmur, 
 believing that this would be a good discipline and 
 a preparation for future scenes. 
 
 Kennyback Ali had twenty-one wives and religi- 
 ous principles which could be readily accommodated 
 to Mohammedanism, heathenism, or any other doc- 
 trine. His pretended support of Christianity, there- 
 fore, probably originated in the pension awarded 
 him by the British Government for abandoning 
 the slave trade himself, and for engaging to check
 
 VISIT TO KENNYBACK ALL 151 
 
 it in others. All the country was laid waste 
 by wars instigated by slavers. Slaves were still 
 brought from the interior, and stealthily shipped 
 in the river. But for the fear of British ships 
 there would be no check upon the trade. There 
 were barracoons still concealed in various places, for 
 slavers have many stratagems to escape the vigilance 
 of our steamers. Kennyback Ali told Mr. Leacock 
 that he owned many slaves himself, and had no 
 objection to sell them if they were to go into the 
 interior. 
 
 Kennyback Ali being at this time confined to his 
 bed by illness at Doinjah, a village three miles from 
 Tintima, Mr. Leacock walked out to see him on the 
 19th of December, leaving Duport to guard the 
 house. The track lay partly through high grass, 
 and partly through wood, the vegetation on every 
 side being thick and rank. The guide informed 
 Mr. Leacock that the boa constrictor was found every 
 where throughout the neighbourhood, and that the 
 place through which they were passing was infested 
 with venomous snakes. Deer also and wild cattle, 
 tiger-cats and leopards, were often seen there. It 
 was Mr. Leacock's first walk through an African 
 forest, which he found very different from the forests 
 in Tennessee, through which he had travelled with 
 good Bishop Otey. 
 
 On arriving at the sick man's house, he found him 
 lying on a hammock, surrounded by eight of his
 
 152 VISIT TO KENNYBACK ALL 
 
 friends, apparently men of some note. He took the 
 opportunity of addressing them on the subject of his 
 mission, and mentioned salvation through Christ. 
 It happened that one of them spoke English suffi- 
 ciently to act as an interpreter. Most of them 
 seemed little moved by what was said. The sick 
 man appeared to be a little interested, and rose and 
 sat across his hammock when Mr. Leacock began to 
 speak. No one, however, said any thing in reply, 
 beyond expressing surprise on hearing that some of 
 their negro brethren in the West Indies had assisted 
 in sending the missionaries. 
 
 Mr. Leacock returned through the wood with per- 
 fect serenity, notwithstanding the information which 
 he had received respecting its dangerous inhabitants. 
 But every succeeding day showed him that his pros- 
 pects in Tintima were almost hopeless. The conduct 
 of the people became more and more discouraging, 
 for they said that the missionaries had been sent by 
 the British Government to interfere with their 
 slaves. It was evident that the poor wretch, Kenny- 
 back Ali, would not say, " You must leave us," from 
 the fear of losing his pension ; but his actions and 
 the actions of his people spoke out too plainly to be 
 misunderstood. Children were promised Mr. Lea- 
 cock as pupils ; but not a single child was actually 
 sent. Two boys were constantly lounging about the 
 house, and John Duport accordingly began to teach 
 them their letters. But they were immediately or-
 
 ENCOUNTER WITH A MOHAMMEDAN. 153 
 
 dered to " quit book, and not return to de white 
 man." 
 
 About this time Mr. Leacock had a very unsatis- 
 factory encounter with a Mohammedan. He affirmed 
 that Mohammed was a true prophet ; but when asked 
 for his credentials, he was silent. Mr. Leacock told 
 him that Jesus Christ had his credentials, and pro- 
 duced them; and that if they were necessary to 
 prove Him true, Mohammed, who had none, must be 
 false. " Come to-morrow, come to-morrow," said he, 
 laughing, and went away.
 
 154 EVENTS OF ST. THOMAS'S DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Events of St. Thomas's Day. Arrival of Lewis Wilkinson. Inter- 
 view with the Chief of Fallangia. Mr. Leacock opens his Ministry 
 among the Heathens. Mr. Wilkinson gives him a Site for a 
 Church, &c. The .Missionaries are attacked with Fever. Anxiety 
 of Governor Hill on their Account. He sends a Steamer and 
 removes them to Sierra Leone. They return to Fallangia. John 
 Duport begins to teach. Supplies ordered in England. 
 
 IN the midst of these discouragements, Mr. Leacock 
 continued cheerful and confident that Providence 
 would at last open a door for the Gospel. While he 
 was awaiting the issue of events, St. Thomas's Day, 
 Dec. 21st, arrived, and a boat was seen descending 
 the Little Pongas, and approaching Tintima. On 
 arriving at the landing place a young black man 
 stepped ashore and proceeded to the miserable hovel 
 occupied by the two missionaries. On meeting Mr. 
 Leacock, he introduced himself in a most respectful 
 manner, and speaking excellent English, disclosed 
 the object of his errand. 
 
 "Sir," he said, "my name is Lewis Wilkinson, 
 and I am a son of Mr. Wilkinson, the chief of Fal-
 
 ARRIVAL OF LEWIS WILKINSON. 155 
 
 langia, to vhom you forwarded a letter from Mr. 
 Galbridden, of Sierra Leone. I bring an invitation 
 from my father and an apology for his not having 
 called to see you before. He is now very sick, but 
 wishes to know when it will suit you to come to him, 
 that he may send for you." Mr. Leacock was then 
 in a state of great suffering, his hands and face being 
 swollen, and his feet sore from the bites of mos- 
 quitoes. His visitor, seeing this, proceeded : " Sir, 
 my father desires a day or two to make some pre- 
 paration to receive you, but I cannot leave you in 
 this state. You must go to Fallangia with me this 
 evening, and see whether some better accommodation 
 can be made for you than what you have here, for it 
 is very doubtful whether a stranger can live in this 
 place during the wet season/' 
 
 Mr. Leacock thankfully accepted the invitation, 
 believing that he saw in it the hand of Providence. 
 Accordingly, leaving Duport to guard the baggage, 
 he accompanied Lewis Wilkinson on board the boat, 
 and the negro rowers conveyed them up. the Little 
 Pongas. The following remarkable extract from one 
 of Mr. Leacock's letters describes his first interview 
 with the venerable chief of Fallangia : 
 
 " The old man met me, and taking, my hand in 
 both of his hands, pressed it cordially, and, before 
 releasing it, said, 'Welcome, dear Sir, thou servant 
 of the Most High, you are welcome to this humble 
 roof.' I attempted to apologize for having come
 
 156 INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIEF. 
 
 that evening : lie said, ' No apology, Sir : if you will 
 be satisfied with my humble board, you are wel- 
 come;' and he ordered supper immediately. He 
 seemed greatly agitated, and, a few moments after, 
 rising from his chair, broke forth with that incom- 
 parable song of praise, the ' Te Deum Laudamus ;' 
 repeating it with great solemnity and accuracy. At 
 the conclusion, after a short silence, he said: 'Sir, 
 this requires explanation. In my youth I was sent 
 to your country, and placed under the tuition of a 
 respectable clergyman, and through him I imbibed 
 the first principles of Christianity. I returned to 
 my native country in 1813, and fell into many of its 
 ungodly practices. In this state I continued till 
 1835, when it pleased God to visit me with severe 
 illness, from which I with difficulty recovered. 
 From that time I resolved that "I and my house 
 would serve the Lord ;" and I earnestly prayed that 
 God would send a missionary to this Pongas country, 
 whom I might see before I died. I have written to 
 Sierra Leone for a missionary, but could get no 
 answer ; and now the Lord has sent me an answer. 
 You are, Sir, an answer to my prayers for twenty 
 years. You are the first minister of the Gospel I 
 have beheld since 1835. And now I know that God 
 hears prayer, and that a blessing is come to my 
 house. Here you are welcome. I know the misery 
 you must have endured at Tintima, left to the mercy 
 of those creatures. It is the most unfit place for a
 
 MR. LEACOCK OPENS HIS MINISTRY. 157 
 
 stranger in the Pongas; and if you resolve on re- 
 maining there during the wet season, you are a dead 
 man. As you have come to our country, I will find 
 plenty of work for you. The king of this country is 
 Jelloram Fernandez : I am his cousin ; and my son 
 is married to one of his daughters. I know all the 
 chiefs ; and I will go with you to visit them as soon 
 as I am able. There are in Fallangia over thirty 
 children, which will be the beginning of a school for 
 you. You can use my house ; and next fall I will 
 assist you in putting up a house for you to reside in, 
 and a place of worship. In the mean time I will 
 divide my house with you, and not charge you house- 
 rent. You can have a private table, if you prefer it ; 
 and if you should be sick, I will help nurse you.' 
 
 ""Well, well, well, thought I, if this be a true 
 man (and there was too much earnestness in his 
 manner to suppose him false), surely the Lord must 
 have sent me to him, and I have nothing to do but 
 remain." 
 
 It is to be observed that when the son of Mr. "Wil- 
 kinson and old Martha saw Mr. Leacock, he told his 
 parents that he was exactly like the missionary 
 whom he had seen in his dream. Mr. Leacock 
 landed at the same place which the young man had 
 previously indicated. 
 
 " On Sunday, the 23rd/' proceeds Mr. Leacock, 
 " we had Morning Service in Mr. Wilkinson's piazza, 
 a room 132 feet in length, by 12 feet in breadth, and
 
 A SITE GIVEN FOR A CHURCH. 
 
 a room into which it leads 24 feet in breadth. I had 
 it measured. A part of this piazza was pretty well 
 filled by different persons ; some understanding a 
 little English. We sang the 100th Psalm, and I 
 preached from the words, 'My son, give me thy 
 heart.' After the service, the old man explained to 
 those who could not understand me the substance of 
 my sermon. All seemed greatly pleased. 
 
 "I felt unwell, and retired to rest a little. As 
 soon as I was heard stirring, one who was waiting 
 outside at the door came to me, and said that the 
 congregation was waiting to know whether I would 
 have another sermon before they left. Instantly I 
 obeyed the summons; and, after a selection of the 
 prayers, and singing a psalm, I preached from the 
 1st and 2nd verses of the 32nd Psalm, to a serious 
 and attentive little audience. The old man was 
 greatly delighted. Notes are of no use here. Plain, 
 simple exposition of Scripture, and practical applica- 
 tion, are all that is necessary. Here then my minis- 
 try is fully announced." 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson now gave Mr. Leacock a beautiful 
 site for his residence. It was his own garden, com- 
 prising about two acres and a half, enclosed with a 
 physic-nut fence. It contained a number of orange- 
 trees, mangoes and other fruit-trees. He declared 
 that he should write and specify distinctly that this 
 land was given to the West Indian Church Associa- 
 tion, for the use and accommodation of its mission-
 
 AN ATTACK OF FEVER. 159 
 
 aries, as long as the mission should exist amongst his 
 people ; and that, if the mission should be removed, 
 it should revert to him and his heirs. 
 
 The next morning, the 24th, Mr. Leacock em- 
 barked with the ebb tide, and returned to Tintima 
 for his baggage. He had written to Kennyback Ali 
 on the Saturday, informing him of his intention to 
 leave Tintima, thanking him for the small attentions 
 which he had received, and promising to come to 
 him and open a school when requested to do so. He 
 now called again to see him, walking three miles in 
 the middle of the day, under a broiling sun, through 
 the dangerous forest. He was told, on his arrival, 
 that Kennyback Ali was asleep and would not be 
 disturbed. No one offered him a seat or a cup of 
 cold water. After walking back again, he com- 
 menced removing his baggage with the help of 
 Duport and the rowers of the boat, no one coming to 
 their assistance. At a quarter after six on Christmas 
 Eve they left Tintima, and landed at Fallangia at 
 eight. Mr. Leacock felt the dampness of the river 
 severely, and had distressing pains in his back before 
 morning. On Christmas Day he was too unwell to 
 officiate, and it soon appeared that he had been 
 attacked by the dreadful African fever. On the 
 following day Duport was seized in the same way. 
 Mr. Wilkinson attended them with the utmost assi- 
 duity, and proved himself an excellent nurse as well 
 as a kind friend. 
 
 While attending upon them, the swarthy chief
 
 160 ANXIETY OF THE GOVERNOR. 
 
 found time to write the following letter to the Bishop 
 of Barbados, who was still in England : 
 
 " Rio Pongas, Fallangia, 
 Dec. 29th, 1855. 
 
 " My Lord Bishop, 
 
 " I beg to return you many thanks for having sent 
 the Rev. Mr. Leacock out here amongst us, for the 
 purpose of civilizing my country, in carrying on a 
 religious work, and educating our children, &nd such 
 as are willing to come to the true light of Christian 
 knowledge ; and I am always willing to render the 
 said Mr. Leacock all the assistance that lies in my 
 power, and to grant him, or the Society, a land to 
 build a church, &c. 
 
 " And in the interim, my lord, I have to inform 
 you that I am a native of this country, and now one 
 of the chiefs ; but have been educated in England, 
 for which I am greatly indebted to the British 
 nation, and am always happy to render that nation 
 all the assistance I can for the civilization of Africa, 
 my country. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, my lord, and may 
 God bless the efforts you have undertaken. 
 
 " I am yours faithfully, 
 
 " RICHARD WILKINSON." 
 
 Meantime the Governor of Sierra Leone became 
 anxious about the two missionaries. A few days 
 after Mr. Leacock had decided on remaining at Tin-
 
 ARRIVAL OF A STEAMER. 161 
 
 tima, Colonel. Hill was informed by a gentleman 
 acquainted with that place that its inhabitants were 
 the most bigoted of Mohammedans, and extensive 
 slave- dealers, and that, no doubt, they would regard 
 the missionaries as spies of the British Government, 
 and would certainly poison them, if fever did not 
 previously cut them off. He was, moreover, assured 
 that there was not a spot on the banks of the Bio 
 Pongas more marshy and unhealthy, and more in- 
 fested with gnats and mosquitoes, than the village of 
 Tintima and the country immediately surrounding it. 
 Alarmed by this intelligence, the governor requested 
 Lieutenant Grubbe, of H.M.S. " Teazer," to proceed 
 forthwith to the Bio Pongas, and ascertain the state of 
 Mr. Leacock's health, in order that, if not satisfied 
 with the place, he might be brought back imme- 
 diately to Freetown. 
 
 On the 29th of December, an officer arrived at 
 Fallangia with a kind letter from the commander of 
 the "Teazer," which was then lying at anchor off 
 the mouth of the river. Mr. Leacock and Duport 
 at once embraced the opportunity of returning to 
 Freetown, where Dr. Bradshaw's medical advice 
 would be of the highest importance to them. Mr. 
 Leacock could scarcely walk, and Duport was hardly 
 able to rise, but his companion assisted him to stir 
 himself, and they were both placed on mattresses the 
 next day, and taken on board the boat. In less 
 than eight hours, the tide favouring them, they 
 
 M
 
 162 LETTER FROM SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 reached the " Teazer," much refreshed by the sea- 
 breeze, and immediately sailed for Sierra Leone, 
 where they arrived at a late hour on the 31st, 
 thus terminating an eventful year of Mr. Leacock's 
 life. 
 
 On the 2nd of January, 1856, Mr. Leacock wrote 
 to me from Freetown as follows : 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " Although I am hardly able to write much, from 
 the exhaustion which I feel, yet I must tell you I 
 am greatly obliged by your kind letter of Nov. 19. 
 I returned yesterday from the Rio Pongas ; and I 
 believe God saved my life by putting it into the 
 governor's mind to instruct the officer on the station 
 to send up the river and inquire how I was. I was 
 in bed sick; and immediately, on being advised, I 
 made an effort to go on board, and quit for a time 
 the deadly influence of malaria. I was soon revived 
 by the ocean's sweet air, and in forty-eight hours 
 found myself in Sierra Leone. Here I found a 
 package of letters and papers, which had been 
 awaiting an opportunity to be sent to me since the 
 14th of December. And I shall be obliged to leave 
 this for you, as I shall embark to-morrow morning 
 for Rio Pongas. I am twenty miles up that river, 
 140 miles from Sierra Leone, north of it, and out of 
 the reach of any means of rapid communication. 
 Only one man trades regularly with that place in
 
 LETTER FROM SIERRA LEONE. 163 
 
 which I live, and his boat comes to Sierra Leone 
 for merchandise once in eight weeks. Other boats 
 are trading with other places, but they will not take 
 letters for me, fearing that they may develop the 
 secrets of slave-trading. The various officers on the 
 coast tell me that this is the greatest slave country 
 on the whole coast of Africa, and if the curse be ever 
 driven from it, it will linger about Rio Pongas as 
 long as it can. * * * 
 
 " I am recovering from my attack of fever. I am 
 very weak and nervous ; my head swims, and is full 
 of noise to-day, but not so greatly confused as yester- 
 day. I feel as if I had received a tremendous blow 
 on my poor head, from which I am gradually re- 
 covering. * * * At the commencement of my sick- 
 ness, John was very attentive ; but two days after- 
 wards he was taken ill, and there we were, neither 
 could assist the other. But God would not leave us 
 to ourselves. He provided a kind old man to nurse 
 us both, and when he had done all that he could, He 
 sent Her Majesty's ship, the ' Teazer,' to bring us to 
 Sierra Leone. So He takes care of his children. 
 
 " I thank you, dear Caswall, and your friend 
 Mr. Dickinson for the kind resolution you have 
 made to watch my proceedings, and to help me if 
 you can. You shall have a faithful statement of 
 them; and I know, while God gives me grace to 
 seek His honour, and His alone, that He will not 
 turn the hearts of His people from me. * * * 
 M 2
 
 164 RETURN TO FALLANGIA. 
 
 "I want about 50/. more than my Society can 
 give me towards my house and church-building. 
 If the West Indian Church Association send me 
 teachers, it will require of them 500/., but I can pro- 
 vide my own after a while at a cost of about 21 01. 
 I can find occupation for at least six teachers." 
 
 Mr. Leacock allowed himself very little time to re- 
 cruit his health, and when the " Teazer" sailed from 
 Freetown on the 4th of January, for her station near 
 the rivers Pongas and Nunez, he and his assistant re- 
 turned in her. He was able to read the full service 
 and to preach on board the vessel on Sunday, the 6th, 
 and at five o'clock on Tuesday morning the ship 
 was lying at anchor about six miles off the mouth of 
 the Pongas or Fattalah. At that early hour Mr. Lea- 
 cock and Duport embarked in a small boat in order 
 to ascend the stream to Fallangia. The tide was 
 against them the greater part of the way, and the 
 day extremely hot. They did not arrive at Mr. 
 Wilkinson's residence until about six o'clock in the 
 evening, after a fatiguing row of thirteen hours. 
 After this, Duport was for some time very unwell, 
 with symptoms of fever; but Mr. Leacock reported 
 himself " quite well," only feeling weak in the knees 
 and ankles. Though he had a good appetite, he 
 could not obtain the diet suitable to a convalescent. 
 Ground-nut soup and boiled cassava were his or- 
 dinary articles of food, but he felt perfectly satisfied,
 
 JOHN DUPORT BEGIIS r S TO TEACH. 165 
 
 hoping in the course of the year to have his garden, 
 poultry-yard, and easy access to Sierra Leone, where 
 many things necessary for his accommodation could 
 be obtained. 
 
 On Sunday, the 13th of January, he preached in 
 the morning from Philippians ii. 9. 11 (some Moham- 
 medans being present), but was unable to take the 
 duty in the afternoon. Accordingly, at his request, 
 Duport (being now much better) delivered an ad- 
 dress to the people, very much to the satisfaction of 
 his superior. On the following day, just two months 
 after their first arrival in Sierra Leone, they opened 
 their school with twenty children. In the evening 
 Mr. Leacock sat down, and wrote me the following 
 letter : 
 
 "Say to Mrs. Caswall I want clothing for my 
 boys and girls very much. Cast-off garments and 
 the coarsest material, so they be light and cool, will 
 be most acceptable. Except in the houses of the 
 chiefs, children of both sexes are naked, with nothing 
 to cover them but the woolly hair on their head, and 
 a narrow strip of blue baft, two inches broad and two 
 yards long, wrapped about their body, very low 
 down, in a curious manner, and fastened behind, the 
 end hanging down almost to the ground, and giving 
 them very much the appearance of a monkey. This 
 beastly sight, so thoroughly disgusting at first, has 
 now become so familiar that I can look and not be 
 offended.
 
 166 SUPPLIES ORDERED IN ENGLAND. 
 
 " I asked Mr. Wilkinson, ' Is this their own choice ?' 
 ' No, no,' he replied, ' they can do no better. Where 
 can they get cloth ?' A single garment would be 
 sufficient for each. Any sort of cloth, no matter how 
 coarse, whether it be new cloth or old cast-off cloth- 
 ing, with a bit of tape attached to each to tie before, 
 will be very acceptable. Garments will be given only 
 to the children of the school. It will be better to send 
 what materials you can muster, that the garments 
 may be made here in the school. There is a person 
 here whom I can employ to teach the children to 
 work. This will be a great advantage for them, as 
 they may hereafter be profitably employed in making 
 clothes for the older people. They who are able to 
 purchase cloth, cut a hole in the centre of it, large 
 enough to admit their head, and the ends of the cloth 
 hang in equal lengths about their body, to which it 
 is sometimes fastened by a string or band. Some 
 merely wrap it about their body, tucking in the end 
 for security. The boys seem willing to learn the use 
 of carpenters' tools, and the chiefs the right mode of 
 cultivating the soil. Cotton is the indigenous growth 
 of the country, and I know how to cultivate it ; but 
 I want a machine (a gin) to separate the seed. A 
 hand corn-mill, such as is used in the island of 
 Barbados, costing about thirty shillings, would 
 soon turn their attention to the cultivation of Indian 
 corn. 
 
 " 15th. We opened our school yesterday in Fal-
 
 SUPPLIES ORDERED IX ENGLAND. 167 
 
 langia with twenty children. The principal men in 
 the town are sending for their children, who are at a 
 distance with their mothers ; and Mr. Wilkinson 
 assures me that in less than six weeks I shall have 
 more than fifty children in the school. He is encou- 
 raging his slaves to send their children, but he is the 
 only chief that will as yet do this. He is a strong 
 anti-slavery man. His people are called slaves, but 
 they are in reality free. Several men who can speak 
 a little English have asked to be admitted in the 
 school to take their place with the children. Yester- 
 day evening I had several men come to see me. We 
 sat together a long time, and had much conversation, 
 Mr. W. being our interpreter. One said, ' Sir, you 
 are more successful than most missionaries (he has 
 been much in Sierra Leone) ; for they have children 
 only in their schools, but men are coming to be 
 taught by you with their children.' May . our 
 heavenly Father bless and prosper His own work. 
 I know by this that many prayers are offered for us. 
 
 " I have no difficulty here about the instruction of 
 slave children, except it may proceed from their 
 parents, but I fear I shall have to contend with it 
 every where else from the chiefs. I look to God 
 alone for wisdom, discretion, and direction. There 
 are many places on the river in which schools might 
 be established ; but at present slave children will not 
 be admitted. I am now waiting for a boat which I 
 expect this week, to proceed to the other branch of the
 
 168 SUPPLIES ORDERED IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Pongas, called Bangalong, or Big Pongas, and I 
 shall then be able to ascertain fully how far I shall 
 be permitted to go with the slaves. Mr. Wilkin- 
 son accompanies me. I have two young men, na- 
 tives, whom I wish to put in the school, and train 
 for teaching. Knowing the Soosoo language and 
 some English, they will, I trust, in time make useful 
 auxiliaries. These will work for ten dollars a month, 
 and be glad to get it. 
 
 " I have never mentioned the box which Mrs. 
 Caswall sent me, nor the kind, affectionate letter with 
 which Elizabeth favoured me. In truth, till I went 
 to Sierra Leone early this month, I had much doubt 
 about the safety of the box. It could not be found 
 when I left the ' Ethiope' in November ; but on her 
 return to Sierra Leone it was landed in a very shat- 
 tered condition. The accordion would give out eight 
 or ten sounds without touching a key. The potatoes 
 were all rotten, and converted into a most offensive 
 liquid; but every thing else went safe from being 
 well packed. The box was too slight. I beg to 
 offer my best respects to Mr. and Mrs. Blandy, and 
 the other ladies, with my best thanks for their valu- 
 able contributions, hoping that they will not be 
 weary in well-doing, as they know that in due time 
 they shall reap if they faint not. 
 
 " Now I want maps of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
 America, and also a map of the world ; some paint- 
 ings illustrative of sacred history ; twenty- four copies
 
 SUPPLIES ORDERED IN ENGLAND. 169 
 
 of Robert Sullivan's English Grammar (sold by 
 Longman, Brown, Green, and Co., London) ; four 
 pairs of scissors ; six pieces of unbleached cotton, full 
 yard wide, or more (pattern sent) ; six pieces of 
 Indian baft, or, as it is called here, blue baft, which 
 is found in any India warehouse (pattern enclosed) ; 
 some thread assorted ; five hundred needles to suit 
 the cloth ; some dozen pieces of broad and narrow 
 tape ; some dozen black and white buttons. 
 
 "The husband of the woman whom I shall em- 
 ploy to teach the girls to work, has requested me to 
 get for him a flute with four keys. He plays a 
 little, is one that I am desirous to train for a school, 
 and might be useful in getting up a choir. It would 
 have done your heart good to hear the children, after 
 a little teaching, sing one of our chants yesterday. 
 
 " "Whatever report is issued by the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel respecting our mission, send 
 a copy of it to Ben, and another to Miss A. E. Par- 
 ker, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, who will be sure to 
 make it known to my friends there, and save me the 
 trouble of writing. 
 
 " If the servants and friends of our gracious 
 Saviour follow this example, I know I shall have 
 all I want. 
 
 " Believe me yours ever, 
 
 " H. J. LEACOCK."
 
 170 
 
 AMERICAN SYMPATHY. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 American Sympathy towards Mr. Leacock. Dr. Coit and the Editor 
 of the " New York Church Journal." The Parish at Perth Amboy 
 and the Slaves in Tennessee. Joint Offerings from America and 
 England to Africa. Appointment of an English Secretary. Account 
 of the martyred French Missionaries. 
 
 ON receiving the letters quoted in the last chapter, I 
 proceeded to obtain the assistance which Mr. Leacock 
 had requested. He had asked for but little, fifty 
 pounds in money towards erecting his buildings, and 
 various articles absolutely necessary to his mission. 
 I thought it would gratify him if the fifty pounds 
 were to be derived in equal proportions from his 
 friends in America and in England, and accordingly 
 I wrote to our mutual friend Dr. Coit to this effect, 
 on the 14th of February, enclosing extracts from 
 Mr. Leacock's communications. I also wrote, " You 
 perceive that Hamble asks for the trifling sum of 
 50/., in addition to what the West Indian Mis- 
 sionary Society is able to grant. It has occurred to 
 me that perhaps you and I might raise this between 
 us, as a joint offering to Africa from England and
 
 DR. COIT AND THE " CHURCH JOURNAL." 171 
 
 America. A hundred and twenty-five dollars (25/.) 
 from Hamble's old friends in America, including his 
 former congregation at Perth Amboy, would not be 
 much ; and I dare say that Mr. Dickinson and my- 
 self, with a few others, could readily obtain the 
 remainder, without calling on the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel." 
 
 Dr. Coit, on receiving my letter, sent it and its 
 enclosures to the editor of the " New York Church 
 Journal," together with a subscription on his own 
 behalf. The zealous and energetic editor inserted 
 the extracts in his paper, and wrote several spirited 
 leading articles, calling the attention of Aonerican 
 Churchmen to the subject, and asking them to 
 assist the "Leacock Fund." The following are 
 specimens of Transatlantic interest in the under- 
 taking : 
 
 " THE REV. MR. LEACOCK IN AFRICA. We take 
 the opportunity given by another most interesting 
 and instructive letter from Mr. Leacock, to appeal 
 once more for the small balance yet needed to make 
 up the American quota of the 250 dollars, lately 
 asked for by this devoted servant of the Cross. Read 
 this letter, and see how, at his advanced age, he 
 braves the deadly fevers of the marshy river-bottoms, 
 and bitter and sordid opposition of bigoted Moham- 
 medans and devil- worshipping savages. Consider the 
 information conveyed by him concerning the lan- 
 guages and missionary opportunities of Africa. And
 
 172 
 
 THE EDITOR OF THE " CHURCH JOURNAL. 
 
 above all, consider the door which Providence has so 
 wonderfully opened, in the reception given him by 
 that old native who has been praying God for twenty 
 years to send a preacher of the blessed Gospel to 
 himself and his countrymen." 
 
 "THE PONGAS MISSION. Those of our readers 
 who perused the letter given by us some little time 
 ago, from the Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, missionary 
 on the Pongas (sent and maintained there by the 
 Church in the West Indies), will be pleased to see 
 the continuation given in another column. It is a 
 letter addressed by Mr. Leacock to the Bishop of 
 Barbados, and reaches us, as did the other, by the 
 kindness of the Rev. Mr. Caswall, of Figheldean, 
 England, and through the hands of the Rev. Dr. 
 Coit, of Troy. The ladies will be specially interested 
 in Mr. Leacock's house-keeping troubles the living 
 on ginger preserves and water, the high price of 
 fowls, the badness of eggs, and the absence of 
 smoothing-irons. But after all these annoyances, 
 we suppose that no Christian can read the latter 
 part of this graphic epistle without emotion. To 
 find that Mr. Wilkinson, an African negro who had 
 been in England in his youth, and there learned 
 something of Christianity, had now been living 
 alone among his heathen countrymen for twenty 
 years, longing and praying for a preacher of the 
 blessed Gospel to be sent of God to the Pongas 
 country, is of itself enough to move one almost to
 
 PERTH AMBOY AXT) SLAVES. IN" TEXXESSEE. 173 
 
 melting. But when the old man, greeting the mis- 
 sionary with a cordiality agitated by deep feeling, 
 soon after finds his joy irrepressible, and starting up 
 from his chair pours forth his soul in the glorious 
 ' Te Deum Laudamus,' the . glow of heart is con- 
 tagious, and we are almost ready to sing and weep 
 together with him for joy. Surely, to them that sit 
 in darkness and in the shadow of death, light is 
 sprung up ! 
 
 " Any contributions made towards the 125 dollars 
 from this country, if sent to us, we shall forward to 
 Mr. Caswall with pleasure." 
 
 Mr. Leacock's old congregation at Perth Amboy 
 responded to the call, and came forward to help 
 their much-respected friend. From Kentucky and 
 other parts of the West donations were sent, and 
 even the poor slaves in Tennessee sympathized with 
 their brethren on the river Pongas. Mr. Leacock's 
 letters having been read to a congregation of negroes 
 in the State just mentioned, produced an effect which 
 is thus described by their clergyman in a letter to 
 the worthy New York editor : 
 
 " Trinity Church, Sharon, Tipton Co., Tennessee. 
 
 "Messrs. Editors, 
 
 " At a missionary meeting of my coloured congre- 
 gation, last Sunday evening, I took the occasion to 
 lay before them the substance of Mr. Leacock's 
 letters, which have lately appeared in the ' Journal.'
 
 174 SLAVES IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 They were so deeply affected at hearing the con- 
 dition of their people in Africa, and particularly 
 of those destitute children, that they immediately 
 opened a subscription, which promises to clothe from 
 twenty-five to fifty of them. Please inform me what 
 will be the cost in New York of such garments as 
 Mr. Leacock suggested, made of striped Lowell, and 
 also of transportation to Africa. You will confer a 
 favour also by directing and forwarding the enclosed 
 letter to Mr. Leacock by the earliest opportunity, 
 and let me know the amount of postage. 
 " Yery respectfully, 
 
 "J. A. WHEELOCK." 
 
 Mr. Wheelock's letter to Mr. Leacock was as 
 follows : 
 
 " Rev. and dear Brother, 
 
 "At a missionary meeting of the coloured con- 
 gregation (slaves) of my parish on Sunday evening 
 last, I took occasion to lay before them the substance 
 of your letters which have appeared in the ' Church 
 Journal' of New York city. 
 
 " At the close of my remarks, the people were so 
 deeply affected by the condition of their brethren in 
 Africa, and particularly of those destitute children, 
 that they immediately opened a subscription to 
 clothe some of them. The proceeds shall be forth- 
 coming as soon as it is closed.
 
 JOINT OFFERINGS. 175 
 
 " I wish you to write me any incidents or par- 
 ticulars which, would serve to illustrate either the 
 degradation of those people, or the prospect of your 
 being able to do them good. My dear brother, we 
 appreciate your undertaking ; you have our liveliest 
 sympathies and most earnest prayers. 
 
 " Yery respectfully, 
 
 "J. A. WHEELOCK." 
 
 Not long afterwards I received from New York 
 the sums collected by the editor of the " Church 
 Journal," which considerably exceeded the amount 
 for which I had asked. In England also, the contri- 
 butions were equally satisfactory, and I was enabled to 
 write the following letter to the New York editor : 
 
 " I am happy to say that I have been enabled to 
 deposit with Mr. Leacock's banker fifty pounds, 
 contributed by English and American Churchmen 
 towards the mission buildings at Fallangia. I have 
 expended the seven dollars from Tennessee in the 
 purchase of three pieces of Indian baft, which were 
 obtained almost at cost price from the manufactory 
 in Manchester. Ten additional pieces were given 
 by friends in this country, together with ninety- 
 eight articles of clothing, made up in Figheldean 
 and other parishes. From the proceeds of the sub- 
 scriptions in Perth Amboy, and in different parts of
 
 176 JOINT OFFERINGS. 
 
 England, I was enabled to obtain all the articles for 
 which Mr. Leacock has expressed a wish, such as 
 a corn-mill, a quantity of thread, tape, buttons, 
 needles, scissors, trinkets, maps, pictures of Scripture 
 history, books, and school apparatus. Our good 
 friend, Mr. F. H. Dickinson, requested me to pur- 
 chase for Mr. Wilkinson, the native chief, a hand- 
 somely bound octavo Prayer Book at the depo- 
 sitory of the Christian Knowledge Society. Upon 
 this we caused to be stamped" in gold letters the 
 name of the worthy old African, and we iiiserted 
 within, an inscription to the effect that^the 1 book* was 
 presented to him as the friend of missions in the 
 Pongas country. All the above articles were dis- 
 patched for Sierra Leone in the ship 'Ida,' which 
 sailed from London yesterday. Thus the ' Leacock 
 Fund,' in my hands, has taken wings and flown 
 entirely away, soon, I hope, to be replenished." 
 
 While his friends in America and England were 
 thus giving evidence of the unity of the CJiurch in 
 sympathy and in design, Mr. Leacock's countrymen 
 in the West Indies were becoming increasingly alive 
 to their duty in regard to their mission. His letters 
 were read in Barbados with deep interest, and pro- 
 duced a feeling of thankfulness that he had been 
 enabled to commence direct efforts so soon, in a 
 place so eligible for the purpose, in the midst of
 
 APPOINTMENT OF AN ENGLISH SECRETARY. 177 
 
 sheer heathenism, and yet within sight, in a manner, 
 of the British flag. The writer of these memoirs, as 
 an old friend of the missionary, was elected an 
 Associate of the West Indian Church Society, and, 
 with the sanction of Bishop Parry, was appointed its 
 Secretary in England. The bishop being about to 
 return to Barbados, the writer was likewise re- 
 quested to keep up a periodical communication with 
 Mr. Leacock, and to prepare portions of his letters 
 for the press. "Our object," wrote the bishop, "is 
 to have some one more especially to answer for us, 
 and 'attend to our interests in this country. The 
 interest you have awakened in behalf of our mission 
 in New York, is in every way most acceptable as 
 well as valuable. The embarrassments and trials of 
 West India property, and the many claims on the 
 religious charity of Churchmen in the West Indies, 
 and especially those of the immigrants (Hindoos, 
 Africans, Chinese, &c.), forbid us to expect much 
 pecuniary assistance out of Barbados, or very much 
 there ; sp that we are unavoidably thrown in no 
 small measure upon extraneous help, and shall feel 
 much obliged for any from America." 
 
 About the same time I wrote to Mr. Leacock to 
 the following effect : 
 
 " The accounts we receive of your proceedings 
 fill us with joy and thankfulness to God. We are 
 deeply sensible of the wonderful providence which 
 
 N
 
 178 FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 
 
 prepared Mr. Wilkinson to receive you, and to assist 
 you in your mission. Tell him that the eyes of many 
 Christians are upon him ; and that if he continue to 
 persevere, through evil and good report, in sustaining 
 the cause of the Faith, he will hereafter receive a 
 crown of glory. Express also to John Duport the 
 deep interest which is felt in him, both in America 
 and in England, and tell him that many pray that 
 he may become an eminent missionary among the 
 people of his own race. 
 
 " The editor of the ' New York Church Journal ' 
 has done every thing in his power to make your 
 efforts known. If you will keep me definitely in- 
 formed of all your wants, I will publish the facts in 
 such a way as shall, with God's blessing, keep alive 
 the growing interest in your cause, both in the Old 
 World and in the New. 
 
 " I have been spending a few weeks in Paris, 
 looking into the charitable and ecclesiastical institu- 
 tions of the great capital of France. I saw much to 
 admire and much which seemed strange and objec- 
 tionable. The Sisters of Charity are wonderful, 
 and there is a highly interesting establishment 
 of Protestant Deaconesses. At the seminary for 
 foreign Roman Catholic missions, young men are 
 prepared to labour in China, where several of them 
 have died as martyrs within the last few years. Pic- 
 tures of their sufferings, painted by their Chinese
 
 FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 179 
 
 converts, are suspended in the same hall which con- 
 tains their relics and the instruments of their cruel 
 tortures. Their skulls and other bones are kept in 
 little red boxes with glass windows in front, and are 
 objects of great devotion. Over the picture of a 
 missionary suffering decapitation, I noticed a repre- 
 sentation of our Lord holding forth a crown and a 
 palm-branch for the departing spirit. I was shown 
 over the establishment by the student who is next to 
 go to China, a fine, noble-looking fellow, whom you 
 would have admired, Papist as he is. He fully ex- 
 pects to die the same horrible death as his predeces- 
 sors, and says that he shall willingly encounter it 
 ' for the love of Grod.' They talk of sending forth a 
 similar mission to "Western Africa, where I trust and 
 believe that there are self-denying and devoted mis- 
 sionaries of the Church of England who will not 
 suffer by the comparison. 
 
 " I am asked whether the Church of England pro- 
 duces missionary martyrs. I reply, that she has 
 produced many, who, for the love of Christ, have 
 faced death in its most awful forms. It is not indeed 
 our custom, I say, to collect the bones of our deceased 
 missionaries, and to parade them before the eyes of 
 the faithful. We rather prefer to bury them where 
 they die, and, like the body of St. Stephen, to com- 
 mit ' earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' 
 knowing that the souls of the faithful are in the 
 hand of God. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 
 
 " Go on, dear friend Leacock, with your glorious 
 undertaking ; and may He, who so providentially has 
 prepared the way for you, continue to carry forward 
 your great work until it reaches a blessed consumma- 
 tion."
 
 SCHOOL AT FALLANGIA. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The School at Fallangia. Return of Fever. Conversation with Wil- 
 kinson. Extent of the Soosoo Language. Need of additional Teachers. 
 Welcome from King Jelloram Fernandez. The Missionaries again 
 taken ill. Continuance of Journal. Duport sent for his Health to 
 Sierra Leone. Resemblance of the Negroes of Fallangia to those of 
 Barbados. Conversation with " old Martha." Witchcraft. Second 
 Conversation with "old Martha." Return of Duport. Death of 
 Kennyback Ali. Description of neighbouring Chiefs. Agriculture 
 and Animals. 
 
 MR. LEACOCK proceeded with great energy with his 
 work at Fallangia, knowing that his life was preca- 
 rious, and that " whatsoever his hand found to do," 
 he must " do it with all his might." On the 14th of 
 January, two months after his first landing in Africa, 
 he commenced his school, as already mentioned. 
 Twenty children out of the thirty in Fallangia at- 
 tended his instructions, and, with the aid of Duport, 
 he proceeded to lay a good foundation for Chris- 
 tianity in a substantial education. 
 
 On the 17th fever returned, and he had to un- 
 dergo a course of medicine till the 21st, when he 
 found himself relieved. On Sunday, the 20th, he
 
 182 RETURN OF FEVER. 
 
 was unable to officiate, and Duport accordingly acted 
 as his substitute. On the 22nd he was able to leave 
 his bed for an hour and a half. 
 
 On the 23rd poor Duport was suddenly seized with 
 a chill, which compelled him to take to his bed. 
 Mr. Leacock remained in the school all day, but find- 
 ing himself unequal to much exertion, desired one of 
 the elder boys to keep the children together, and 
 teach them the alphabet, and whatever else he could 
 till Monday, the 28th. 
 
 The following is from his journal, addressed to the 
 Bishop of Barbados : 
 
 " 24th. John is better to-day, though he had 
 fever last night. 
 
 " Do not be anxious about us, my lord. I state 
 every little circumstance at your desire, and to pre- 
 pare those who come to us for what they may expect. 
 I think we are passing from the Barbados climate 
 into that of Africa very nicely. As exotics we are 
 doing pretty well. Though we quail and fade a little 
 under this burning sun, we are nevertheless gradually 
 taking root in the soil, and hope presently to be as 
 verdant and flourishing as any of the indigenous 
 plants around us. 
 
 " 25th [Conversion of St. Paul]. I entered Mr. 
 Wilkinson's piazza this morning, and found the old 
 man reading his Bible very intently. As soon as he 
 observed me, he called to me with some appearance 
 of concern, and said, ' Sir, I have been thinking of
 
 CONVERSATION WITH WILKINSON. 183 
 
 you.' Some days previously I had been showing 
 him the likenesses of my children, which seemed to 
 delight him, but he could not understand why I 
 should leave them to come and live among naked 
 savages, but now he thought he had discovered the 
 reason. The place of the Scripture which he read 
 was this : ' He that loveth son or daughter more 
 than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh 
 not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy 
 of me V * Why, Sir/ said he, ' you must have loved 
 the Saviour more than your children, to come to this 
 wretched place of ours, to look for us poor sinners.' 
 I replied, * Certainly, father ; and I can leave my 
 children in the Saviour's hands, for He loves them 
 more than I do. But read on: there is a promise 
 for you here, if you will accept it.' He read the 
 forty-first verse. ' Well,' said I, ' you have received 
 me in the name of a righteous man ; your reward 
 shall be that of a righteous man. But read on.' He 
 read the last verse of the chapter. ' Now,' said I, ' if 
 a cup of cold water given to a disciple shall in no 
 wise lose its reward, what will be the reward of him 
 who, besides the cup of water, gives the disciple, in 
 the Saviour's name, a house to dwell in ? Certainly 
 to him will be given a house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens.' His expression of counte- 
 nance manifested a deepened interest as he replied, 
 
 1 Matt. x. 37, 38.
 
 184 CONVERSATION WITH WILKINSON. 
 
 ' I will do any thing in my power for His sake, and 
 you may rely upon it, Mr. Leacock, I will help you 
 in the fall as far as I can.' Such is his promise. 
 You may live to see whether he will perform it. 
 I have frequent, daily conversations with the old 
 man, and through him with others. We have a 
 little congregation every evening, and very attentive. 
 If the services were performed in a consecrated place 
 of worship, they would be called regular public ser- 
 vices, with a lecture. At present, they must be re- 
 garded as merely acts of family worship. 
 
 "26th and 30th. Confined to my room by the 
 sickening intermittent; but when feeling better, 
 coming for an hour into the piazza to get a little 
 fresh air. I know this is injurious, but it is dreadful 
 to be confined to a room, which, for the purpose of 
 reading or writing, is as unavailable at midday as it 
 is at midnight. While seated in a corner of the 
 piazza, examining Arrowsmith's Map of the West- 
 ern Coast of Africa, the old man came in, and 
 looking at the map, said, ' I wonder that so little is 
 known of our country, for the slave trade has made 
 it notorious enough ; and I see countries laid down 
 in which the Soosoo language is spoken as well as in 
 this country.' I may here observe that Mr. Wilkin- 
 son has, for many years, been trading with the 
 people of these countries, and that he is still trading 
 with them. Many of them come from a great dis- 
 tance, probably as great as that travelled by the
 
 EXTENT OF THE SOOSOO LANGUAGE. 185 
 
 Magi in search of the "birth-place of the King of the 
 Jews. Mr. "Wilkinson can speak the Soosoo and 
 Mandingo languages as fluently as the English, in 
 which he is not at all deficient in common conversa- 
 tion, or in any subject with which he is acquainted ; 
 and he speaks the Fullah language sufficiently to 
 enable him to trade with the people of Futa Jallon 
 (the Fullah being their vernacular tongue). 
 
 " I immediately replied, ' What countries ?' And 
 to my surprise and delight, he answered, without 
 looking at the map, ' From Cape Verga to the River 
 Scarcies, and beyond it north-east all the country of 
 Talonkadu, Balega, Sulimana, Timasse, and Tom- 
 brichi, the Soosoo is the native language. Go further 
 south, and in the Timing, North and South Bullom, 
 and in the Sherbro' countries, the Soosoo language is 
 spoken. In Sierra Leone too it is spoken, though in 
 none of these south countries is it the native lan- 
 guage.' 
 
 " Now this gives us an extent of country, which, 
 if not as large as the famed Ashantee, is larger than 
 Dahomey, with this advantage, that missionaries 
 need learn but one language, the Soosoo, to have 
 access to them all. Yet strange to say, these great 
 districts of country to which I have alluded, have 
 hitherto been entirely overlooked by Christian So- 
 cieties, the missionary current setting in strong to- 
 ward the Cape of Good Hope, and now toward Ashantee 
 and Dahomey. Why is this ? Is it that the daring
 
 186 NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 
 
 chivalrous spirit of the age overlooks these poor 
 devil-worshippers, and longs to beard the proud 
 kings, the bloody monsters of Ashantee and Da- 
 homey? If danger be sought for, enough may be 
 found in the climate of the Pongas and back coun- 
 tries, and in the secret machinations of the poisoner 
 and the incendiary. No open opposition may be 
 expected to a teacher as a teacher of religion. Even 
 some Mohammedans here begin to say, ' The white 
 man's religion is true ;' and if asked, ' Why not em- 
 brace it ? ' the answer is ready, ' We have been 
 taught from our youth to believe the Koran, and we 
 cannot change.' The secret is, they dare not 
 change without incurring the deadly animosity of 
 their sect. They want that moral courage to meet 
 the persecution that awaits them, which God alone 
 can give. As to those who worship neither Moham- 
 med nor the devil, already three have displayed a 
 great willingness to learn, asking for books, and 
 coming at night to have conversation with us about 
 the common Salvation, desiring to learn to read, 
 that they might read the Bible. All this is encou- 
 raging enough, as it shows that a spirit of inquiry is 
 awaking in the minds of some of the people. As 
 soon as I can persuade certain influential proprietors, 
 such as King Jelloram Fernandez, of Bramia ; Mrs. 
 Lightburn, of Farrangia, and her son, of a neigh- 
 bouring town ; Mr. Charles Wilkinson, of Domingia ; 
 and Mr. Faber, of Sangha, to have their slaves
 
 NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 187 
 
 taught to read, numerous small proprietors residing 
 amongst them, and at some distance from the river, 
 will instantly follow the example. Fallangia sets a 
 noble example. Mr. Wilkinson tells his people, ' I 
 will not compel any of you to send your children to 
 school, but you are quite at liberty to do so. I send 
 my own, and shall be glad to see yours come.' Yery 
 few, however, have as yet come, for the want of 
 clothes, I believe. They are not ashamed to walk 
 every where else quite naked ; but when they come 
 to the piazza, and see all the children in the school 
 with some sort of garment on, they cannot be per- 
 suaded to enter. 
 
 "Here there will be at least five stations, each 
 requiring a teacher. Let him be sent to our Prin- 
 cipal at Codrington College. It is not necessary 
 that he should be a person of rare scholastic attain- 
 ments. Such, valuable as they are in England and 
 the West Indies, and in every improved state of 
 society, would be lost among these people. But 
 he must be ' not a novice, lest being lifted up with 
 pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.' 
 ' The word of God should dwell in him richly in all 
 wisdom ; enabling him to teach and admonish in 
 psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with 
 grace in his heart to the Lord' He should know the 
 truth, and know what it is to be made free by it *. 
 
 1 John viii. 31, 32. 36.
 
 188 NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 
 
 The love of God should dwell in his heart, and the 
 ruling principle of his life should enable him to ' en- 
 dure hardness as a good soldier of Christ/ and to present 
 himself ' a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto 
 God.' His life here, in an African forest, will have 
 nothing of the ease or comfort of an English 
 drawing-room or parlour ; it will be a soldier's tent. 
 Look for such men (no matter whether they be born 
 Episcopalians, Moravians, or Wesleyans), and after 
 sufficient training, they, with our beloved John, 
 himself once a Moravian, will make the number 
 which may soon be required by your missionary. 
 Such is the qualification with which, I respectfully 
 suggest, the teachers should come to us ; and when 
 they have proved themselves faithful men, and have 
 acquired the language of the people whom they are 
 to teach, let them be admitted into the ministry. 
 
 "With respect to the sum necessary for their 
 maintenance, I cannot yet decide. If they be greedy 
 of * filthy lucre,' they will not answer here, nor any 
 where else. In this place it will not take much to 
 support a man, if he will attend to his garden. 
 Land costs nothing. It is readily given to any 
 extent that may be required ; and a labourer may be 
 obtained at about two dollars fifty cents per month. 
 I have just commenced the cultivation of a garden, 
 and before the end of the year shall be able to 
 ascertain what amount of aid a missionary may 
 derive from it.
 
 KING JELLORAM FERNANDEZ. 189 
 
 " Feb. 1st. To-day I received from Jelloram Fer- 
 nandez, of Bramia, King of the Pongas, a cordial 
 welcome to his country, with an assurance that it 
 affords him pleasure to hear that at last a missionary 
 has been sent to his people ; and, moreover, that he 
 will do what lies in his power to advance the good 
 cause in which we are engaged. He thinks my 
 position in Fallangia a healthy one, and favourable 
 for the establishment of a large school. He intends 
 to send many pupils, and he will assist in getting up 
 such buildings as will be necessary for the accom- 
 modation of pupils and teachers. He concludes with 
 a pressing invitation to come and see him. I hope 
 to see him in a fortnight. I have not the control 
 of a boat, but depend entirely on a neighbouring 
 chief, who, with Mr. Wilkinson, promises to accom- 
 pany me. 
 
 " My lord, the opportunity by which this letter 
 goes to Sierra Leone has offered unexpectedly. I 
 would not let it pass, though with difficulty I sit up 
 to write this note. I have had a severe attack of 
 fever, which has confined me to my bed for several 
 days. To-day I am better, and hope to be out in a 
 few days. I don't know how you will hear from 
 me, or I from you, during the rainy months, for no 
 boats can get to Sierra Leone from April to October, 
 nor to Rio Pongas from Sierra Leone." 
 
 Mr. Leacock rallied a little after writing the 
 above, and proceeded with the labours of his mis-
 
 190 RETURN OF ILLNESS. 
 
 sion. His convalescence, however, was but brief, as 
 the following extract will show : 
 
 " John Duport was taken sick on Monday, the 
 4th; I, on Wednesday, the 6th. He was up and 
 out in a few days ; and I am now only, with tottering 
 limbs and ghastly countenance, endeavouring to move 
 about. Just as I begin to gather strength, John is 
 attacked. He has been in about an hour. Here he 
 is, poor fellow, by my side, with a galloping pulse, 
 which, however, is checked by aconite. His skin is 
 becoming moist, and I expect perspiration will soon 
 follow. Such are our present trials ; but (blessed be 
 God) He gives us power to endure them. They 
 may, I am told, continue three or four months, 
 or longer ; and it is of no use to attempt to 
 flee from them. One who comes to the country to 
 remain any time cannot escape : and caution, tem- 
 perance, moderate exercise, and a strict eye on the 
 enemy, are absolutely necessary, under God's bless- 
 ing, to save from his deadly grasp." * * * 
 
 Mr. Leacock was confined to his little room during 
 seventeen days. On the 27th of February, for the 
 first time since the 6th, he was able to leave his 
 apartment, and return to his school. His account of 
 himself proceeds in the following words : 
 
 "Now for our school. It numbers twenty-four, 
 and improves very much. The little creatures are 
 most of them dwelling in the village. They are up 
 right early every morning, and in school by eight
 
 JOURNAL CONTINUED. 191 
 
 o'clock, frequently before, though it does not open 
 till ten. There they rattle away, not in play, but in 
 right good earnest with their lessons, under the 
 direction of a self- constituted teacher a youth, him- 
 self a pupil, who seems to take great pleasure in 
 teaching the junior classes. Every thing at present 
 promises well. Even our own weak, sickly condition 
 is not unfavourable, painful and disagreeable as it 
 may be. The old man, Mr. Wilkinson, who is an 
 experienced nurse, says it is better to meet and 
 undergo the evil effects of climate at once, than be 
 attacked by them months hence. ' The sooner the 
 better,' is his saying 2 . 
 
 " Sierra Leone is the nearest point of stopping to 
 the Rio Pongas for the African steamer, and an 
 opportunity from one place to the other occurs very 
 rarely, even in the best season of the year. Small 
 open boats are the only means I have of sending 
 letters to Sierra Leone to meet the steamer, and to 
 take up whatever letters my agent has received for 
 me. From May to October the communication by 
 boat is cut off altogether. The south winds then set 
 strongly in- on all this coast, and make a tremendous 
 sea ; and the tornadoes, particularly in May and 
 October, are very dangerous. No small craft can 
 live ; and as to our little boats, it would be madness 
 to attempt crossing the bar, and putting out to sea 
 
 1 This is not the most tempestuous, but the most unhealthy season 
 of the year. The healthy is the rainy season.
 
 192 DUPORT SENT TO SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 in one of them. I mention this, to set your mind at 
 ease, should you not hear from me at the appointed 
 time ; and bear this in mind, I have no knowledge 
 of the matter I hear it from traders and boat- 
 men. 
 
 " March 2nd. John much better to-day. Had a 
 full congregation. Though weak, I ventured out, 
 and read a selection of the prayers, and preached. 
 The people very attentive. You would be greatly 
 pleased to see the old man, Mr. Wilkinson, after the 
 service is over, sit down, while the people are yet in 
 the room, and explain to them, in their own lan- 
 guage, the subject of the sermon. 
 
 "March llth. Your letter of December 21st I 
 had the pleasure of receiving on Sunday, the 9th 
 instant, after first Service. It found me in bed, 
 where I had been confined since Monday, the 3rd, 
 for my imprudence in preaching on the preceding 
 day. I am now very feeble ; hardly able to get out 
 of my room. Yesterday I tried, and failed ; to-day 
 I have succeeded, by which you will perceive how 
 much I have improved in twenty-four hours. Your 
 letter has greatly strengthened me; it is quite a lift 
 by the way. I hope I shall be spared the rest of the 
 sickness, and be enabled to do as well as to suffer the 
 Divine will." 
 
 Supposing that Duport's health would be benefited 
 by a little change, Mr. Leacock sent him to Sierra 
 Leone at the beginning of his Easter vacation, viz.
 
 DTTPORT SENT TO SIERRA LEONE. 193 
 
 on the 18th of March. He commissioned him to 
 select some good materials for the doors and 
 windows of their future residence. He was anxious 
 that the carpenters' work should be done during the 
 rainy season, and so be in readiness when wanted in 
 the next dry season. He knew that it would be lost 
 labour to attempt building mud walls in the rainy 
 season ; for what was put up one day would be 
 levelled the next. Duport was the only carpenter 
 whom he could obtain without sending to Sierra 
 Leone at a considerable charge for passage, board, 
 lodging, and wages. While left alone at Fallangia 
 his account of himself proceeded in the following 
 words : 
 
 " March 31st. I went out a little after sunrise 
 this morning (the first time for many weeks) to see 
 the lot which is appropriated for my garden, and I 
 instructed the people how to lay it out and prepare 
 it for corn, potatoes, yams, beans, &c. : valuable 
 ' flowers' here to me, because not found in any part 
 of the country. They quickly understood me, though 
 I cannot speak a dozen words of their language ; 
 and I left them at work, and returned not a bit the 
 worse for my walk and exertions. The fever left me 
 some days ago, and according to my old friend, 
 not to return again. I am, of course, weak, and a 
 little exercise shakes my knees. 
 
 "As soon as I had an opportunity I called Mr. 
 Wilkinson, and read your letter to him. He heard 
 
 o
 
 194 WILKINSON'S INTENTIONS. 
 
 me very quietly through, and then said, in sub- 
 stance, ' The Bishop desires to know whether I and 
 the other chiefs will render any assistance towards 
 the erection of the buildings. I cannot answer for 
 all the other chiefs, but I can answer for myself and 
 my son Charles. I, a poor old sinner, prayed God to 
 send us a missionary to show us the way of salva- 
 tion. He has heard my prayer, and sent a man; 
 and now shall I turn him out of doors ? The work 
 is intended for God's glory, and He will help us ; I 
 am very confident we shall be able to do all I have 
 promised, which is to build the walls, and roof 
 them. 5 
 
 " ' Mr. Wilkinson,' said I, * the Bishop may think 
 that I have fabricated all this, to cause an impression 
 at home favourable to myself. He does not know the 
 state of things here. He supposes, and all my 
 friends suppose, that there are no educated persons 
 in the country. It is true the number is very, very 
 small ; but they do not understand this. They think 
 you are all savages. In order, then, to certify them 
 that I have stated nothing but truth, will you en- 
 dorse what you have now spoken?' He laughed, 
 and said, ' Certainly ; you write it down, and I will 
 put my name on it.' So, my lord, here is the pro- 
 mise ; you have it as I received it : and you have as 
 much security for the performance of it as /. It is 
 the word of an African, and we shall see whether 
 the hope which it inspires 'maketh ashamed' or not.
 
 APPLICATIONS FOR BAPTISM. 195 
 
 I have mentioned all, from my first conversation 
 with the Governor on the subject of our mission, in 
 order to encourage you to persevere in the good 
 work. Many discouragements we have to encounter. 
 The zeal of the chief of Fallangia may help to 
 counteract them ; but if it fail, and our hope perish, 
 your mortification will never exceed mine. More- 
 over, by stating these circumstances, it will convince 
 you that I have been led, almost dragged, into paths 
 I knew not ; certainly against my will did I come 
 to this place. I had instructions, and in obeying 
 the instructions, I have been turned out of the path 
 which had been marked out for me, and brought to 
 a place of which I had never heard any thing. My 
 lord, continue your prayers and exertions for the 
 prosperity of the work, and it will not fail, though 
 the execution of it be committed to the hands of 
 your weak and unworthy servant." 
 
 In a letter to me, dated March 14th, Mr. Leacock 
 writes : 
 
 " I had almost forgotten one of the most important 
 points, not being willing to speak confidently of a 
 matter in which one may be easily deceived ; I mean 
 the spiritual effect of our labours. We have several 
 applications for baptism, and several serious in- 
 quirers. A venerable- looking old man came to me 
 to-day, while writing this letter, and said, he had 
 come to ask me some questions about God and a 
 o 2
 
 196 RESEMBLANCES TO BARBADOS. 
 
 future state, but lie could not be persuaded to com- 
 mence the conversation, as he saw me engaged. He 
 said he would come again. We have services in our 
 piazza, every sabbath, and generally they are well 
 attended. No opposition to be seen any where in this 
 place, so much for old Wilkinson's example. 
 
 "I know not why the stream of popular favour 
 should run down so rapidly towards the Equator and 
 the Cape of Good Hope. There is good hope, how- 
 ever, in the Pongas country. The place is very little 
 known, except to slavers, to whom it has hitherto 
 afforded a rich harvest. It seems to me that it is 
 the very place to which a mission from Barbados 
 should be sent. There is a striking resemblance 
 between the natives here and the Africans in Bar- 
 bados, or what I remember of them at the time of 
 their importation, and subsequently to the termina- 
 tion of slavery; and even now their amusements, 
 musical instruments, &c., are not without analogy. 
 I have no doubt that a great number of the people 
 imported into our island came from this place. 
 There is a ruined, once a flourishing village, on the 
 Bangalong river, called Liverpool, and there is an 
 impression on my mind that Liverpool took the lead 
 in supplying Barbados with slaves. The musical in- 
 strument used to this day by the negroes in Bar- 
 bados, called the 'pump/ is also used here. The 
 singing of the people here is like the singing of the
 
 RESEMBLANCES TO BARBADOS. 197 
 
 poor- Africans, as I remember it in my youth ; the 
 baskets are made here just as they are now made in 
 Barbados. These circumstances, and others, make it 
 appear to me singular that Providence should close 
 every door on the coast against me, except this. 
 This has been opened to me ; I have entered it, and 
 I am cordially welcomed by every chief I have met. 
 Mohammedans are kind, and say, 'De white man's 
 religion is true.' Many are inquiring for the way, 
 and some are begging for baptism; I am holding 
 them in abeyance, till we get up our church. It 
 may be that their desires are of an ephemeral cha- 
 racter, perhaps without any solid foundation, and 
 that might be injurious to us just in the commence- 
 ment of our labours." 
 
 Under the date of April 9, he writes : 
 " Many parents at a distance from Fallangia are 
 now ready to send their children to us, and nothing 
 but the want of lodging prevents our receiving them. 
 We intend soon to fit up our schoolroom so as to 
 afford ample accommodation, where they will be im- 
 mediately under the eye of the teacher night and 
 day. Mr. Wilkinson will board them. 
 
 " We had last Sunday and the preceding one but 
 a slender congregation. Polygamists, without any 
 direct allusion to their mode of life, see and feel that 
 it is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, and Moham- 
 medans (such as have attended our ministry) are 
 equally convinced of the truth of the Bible and the
 
 198 CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA. 
 
 falsehood of the Koran. The heathen too, are not 
 without conviction of their danger." 
 
 An interesting conversation is mentioned between 
 old Martha, while sick, and Mr. "Wilkinson, respect- 
 ing the missionary. The former said to the chief, 
 "Now you have got the book man. God has sent 
 him to you. You must hear what he says : if you 
 don't it will go hard with you to-morrow." On 
 being asked what she meant by to-morrow, the 
 answer was, " The next world." 
 
 The people treated Mr. Leacock with much respect 
 and said, "This white man does not come to trade 
 with us: he brings the good book to teach us." 
 "But," he remarks, "notwithstanding this persua- 
 sion, very few come for instruction. I have had 
 frequent conversations with those who speak a little 
 English, and they have listened, at times, with 
 intense interest. Others, who do not understand our 
 language, after two or three attempts to keep up a 
 conversation have been discouraged. This points out 
 to us that native teachers are to be preferred. Not- 
 withstanding, I trust the leaven is at work. If some 
 understand, others will learn from them. My hope, 
 under God's blessing, is chiefly in the children. The 
 parents may learn something from them, and talk of 
 it to others ; and so a few may, after a long time, 
 come to the knowledge of the truth." 
 
 " I will now state a circumstance which sometimes 
 occurs in this country, and which proves to my mind
 
 WITCHCRAFT. 199 
 
 that, ignorant and heathenish, as the people generally 
 are, there are some who are not wholly destitute of 
 hitman feeling. 
 
 " In most of the villages witchcraft exists, more or 
 less; but it is far from being encouraged generally 
 by the chiefs, as it is reported of chiefs in other 
 African countries. Here it is held by many in the 
 greatest abhorrence. In some villages it is enough 
 that suspicion only rests on an individual, to cause 
 him severe punishment ; but when the circumstance 
 is proved, the poor wretch, having a weight tied to 
 him, is thrown into the river, to be devoured by alli- 
 gators, or he is tied to a stake and burnt. This, 
 however, is a rather rare occurrence. The masters 
 of those slaves who are convicted of the wicked craft, 
 prefer sending them away into the interior, or selling 
 them to slavers, hoping that by better management 
 they may be cured of their wickedness, or by better 
 government restrained from the practice of it. 
 
 " Does not this look humane ? " 
 
 "April 18th. Several Mohammedans (strangers) 
 came into our school to-day, and seemed pleased 
 with the order and diligence of the children. 
 Having heard the classes recite their lessons to me, 
 one of them remarked, 'The white man has now 
 come to our country, and my master taught me in 
 my youth that when he comes, fourteen years after- 
 wards the leopard shall lie down with the kid' 
 
 " Mr. "Wilkinson said, ' I believe that happy
 
 200 CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA. 
 
 period of the Church is not far distant: but no 
 one can tell the day or the hour in which it shall 
 come. It is a secret, and it will remain a secret, till 
 the sign of the Son of Man is seen in the heavens.' 
 Conversations on the Scriptures almost daily occur 
 between him and strangers, or his own people, in 
 their own language, and I am sometimes called to 
 'help him out of a difficulty. 
 
 " A few evenings ago, Mr. Wilkinson and I were 
 sitting together in my lodging, when old Martha 
 came in. I invited her to be seated, and soon after 
 the following conversation took place, Mr. Wilkinson 
 being our interpreter. 
 
 " ' Martha, you and I are advanced in years, and 
 must expect soon to leave this world, what is your 
 hope for the next ? Do you know to what place you 
 are going ? ' ' No, I know not the place to which I 
 am going ; but my trust is in God. I never trusted 
 in any thing else, never in any greegree, nor in any 
 god, but the great God, from my youth. My father 
 and mother died when I was a child, and from that 
 time I have trusted in God.' 
 
 "'What makes you trust in the great God?' 
 ' He has been good to me in feeding and in taking 
 care of me when I knew it not, and could not take 
 care of myself. He raised up friends for me.' 
 
 " ' But, Martha, this He does for the wicked and 
 ungodly. In Him they all live and move and have 
 their being temporally. He feeds and clothes them,
 
 CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA. 201 
 
 though they know it not. I admit that God is un- 
 speakably good ; but is He not also just ? He pun- 
 ished angels, once bright and glorious, who sinned 
 against Him; and if He act unjustly by saving us 
 who have sinned as well as they, how can He be 
 called good ? Have you always done what He com- 
 mands ? Have you never left undone what He re- 
 quires you to do?' 'I don't know what He com- 
 mands. I never heard that He had given any com- 
 mands ; but I have always endeavoured to do what I 
 thought was right.' 
 
 " ' Well now,' I said, * here is one of His com- 
 mands (1st Commandment) and here is another (4th 
 Commandment), and here another (10th Command- 
 ment), each explained. Have you never broken 
 these commandments ? (No answer.) All these 
 commandments proceed from His goodness, and if 
 you have broken them, how can you trust in Him ? 
 Have you not abused His goodness, and been un- 
 grateful for all He has done for you? The trans- 
 gression of the law is sin; and God hath declared 
 (His truth and justice are involved in the declaration) 
 that death is the wages of sin. How can He deny 
 Himself? Will He violate His truth and justice?' 
 Here poor Martha was at a stand, knew not what to 
 answer and looked sad. I immediately opened the 
 Gospel, and showed her how God could be, just, and 
 good, and true, and yet the Justifier of poor sinners. 
 When she heard that ' God so loved the world that
 
 202 CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA. 
 
 He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life,' that this Son did actually die to bear the 
 punishment of her sins, and wrought out a perfect 
 righteousness for all that believe and trust in Him, 
 I know not what she felt, but she looked inex- 
 pressible things. 'Martha, will you accept Jesus 
 Christ as your Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctifica- 
 tion, and Redemption, and trust in Him to bring 
 you to God ?' ' O yes ; willingly.' ' Then, 
 Martha, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, 
 you must follow and obey Him in all things as your 
 Teacher. You must think how often you have 
 offended God, and pray Him to change your heart. 
 You must be sorry that you have sinned against so 
 good a God : and put away all your idols, and resolve 
 never to return to them, God helping you. You 
 must receive as truth what He has caused to be 
 written for our instruction. Thus walking with 
 Him as your only 'Way' to God, and as the only 
 Teacher of 'Truth,' He will give you 'life,' spi- 
 ritual and eternal life. This, Martha, is the only 
 true ground of hope and trust in God. Are you 
 willing to take Jesus Christ as your only Saviour ? ' 
 ' yes, very willing.' ' Then remember His com- 
 mand to the disciples, 'Go, preach the Gospel to 
 every creature : He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved.' You say you believe, are you will- 
 ing to be baptized ?' ' O yes, I am willing.' '
 
 RETURN OF DUPORT. 203 
 
 " 22nd. Duport has at length, arrived, strong and 
 healthy. I am truly glad to see him, as I do not 
 feel myself equal to the labours of the school in my 
 present weak state, and but for his timely presence, I 
 should be compelled to leave the school to work itself. 
 He is looking well, though he had a week's severe 
 attack of fever in Sierra Leone. He left the day 
 after the steamer's arrival, and, to my great joy, 
 brought your two right welcome letters, accompanied 
 by fourteen others, partly from England, partly from 
 the West Indies, and partly from the United States. 
 I received also the * Mission Field' for March, and a 
 large basket full of newspapers, which I shall never 
 read. 
 
 " I cannot, my lord, express the pleasure I re- 
 ceived in knowing that my poor labours had given 
 you such satisfaction ; for although I seek not honour 
 from man, but from Him only 'whose I am, and 
 whom I serve,' yet it is truly gratifying to find that 
 my labours are acceptable to His dear servants. Such 
 acceptance may be a pledge of His own, for it is He 
 only who giveth us favour with such. Be that, how- 
 ever, as it may, I thank you for your encouraging 
 and friendly epistles ; and I thank you further for 
 making the extracts from my letters, which appear 
 in the ' Mission Field.' I thank you, moreover, for 
 the generous spirit you evince in providing suitable 
 lodging-accommodation for your missionaries. De- 
 pend upon it, my lord, I will not abuse it ; I seek
 
 204 DEATH OF KENNYBACK ALT. 
 
 not luxuries ; I will do no more than what will con- 
 tribute to our health and necessities ; and I trust, if 
 I live to meet you in committee, to be able to render 
 a fair statement of the expenditure of the means 
 committed to me by yourself and other members of 
 our association. 
 
 " Such a house as Dr. Bradshaw of Sierra Leone 
 recommends ', cannot be built in the Pongas country 
 but at a very great expense. We have a fine, 
 slightly elevated site for a house, cool and dry ; and 
 mud for walls will serve any of God's missionaries, 
 and grass is a cool covering for them. If a mis- 
 sionary want marble and cedar, we don't want him. 
 Let him be where he is. I trust, if Satan does not 
 get in and interrupt our work, to erect what build- 
 ings we require at less cost than you imagine. Yet 
 I would not have you to be too sanguine, for I am 
 not. I have been too long engaged with the enemy 
 of souls to be ' ignorant of his devices.' I trust in 
 God alone through Christ for help. He has helped 
 me so far ; it would be ungrateful not to trust in 
 Him to the end. 
 
 "Kennyback All is dead; Katty going fast, is 
 already a dead letter. They both deceived me, but I 
 have nothing to say. They are in other hands. 
 
 " I expect to leave this week for the Bangalong 
 river. On my return, if I return in time, I shall be 
 
 1 Seepage 112.
 
 NEIGHBOURING CHIEFS. 205 
 
 able to inform you what use we have for a second 
 teacher. I wish, if possible, to place Duport at Far- 
 rangeah. The new teacher I would keep with me 
 till I know him, and till he is acclimated." 
 
 Mr. Leacock gives the following interesting sketch 
 of some of his neighbours : 
 
 " Mrs. Lightburn is a native of this country, a 
 black woman, widow of a respectable American white 
 man, who came to this country many years ago, and 
 died here, leaving many sons and daughters, and 
 very considerable property. She has a respectable 
 family. Her eldest son, Styles Lightburn, an edu- 
 cated gentleman, resides on the Fattalah river, a 
 branch of the Bangalong. He is a chief. 
 
 " Mr. Faber is a coloured gentleman, son of an 
 American by a native woman. He is wealthy, and 
 one of the most influential chiefs in the country. 
 
 " I have a new and very interesting chief to intro- 
 duce, Stephen, chief of the Bagoes. He is not edu- 
 cated, but he speaks English fluently. In his youth 
 he was put on board of a British ship of war, where 
 he learned true and wholesome discipline ; and this 
 training now keeps his people in peace and order. 
 He is a wise and inflexible disciplinarian. 
 
 " In all the villages on the river, the English lan- 
 guage is known by a few persons. It was introduced 
 by slavers and factors or storekeepers, who were 
 Englishmen, or Americans, or natives educated in 
 England or America.
 
 206 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 " Agriculture is not much attended to. The sloth 
 and indolence of the natives are unfavourable to the 
 furtherance of any valuable vocation. The chief 
 employment is hunting. Every man has his gun 
 and sword, and is never seen without them. The 
 slaves work a little in their farm-patch, in which 
 they raise rice, coffee, ground-nuts, beneseed, timais 
 or coco, and cassava. This is, as well as I remember, 
 almost the extent of their agricultural pursuits. The 
 cultivation of cotton and sugar is almost out of the 
 question. It requires too much labour for a people 
 who love to lounge in an old hammock all day. 
 They are satisfied with the productions of their farm- 
 patch for food, and a few yards of cotton with which 
 the higher orders cover themselves. The lower class 
 is almost naked. The factors are very successful 
 traders ; they spend very little, almost nothing, living 
 chiefly on rice and vegetables ; they buy cotton cloth 
 and blue baft, as it is called, and exchange it with 
 strangers from the far interior for hides, gold, ivory, 
 rice, &c. 
 
 " I state, on the information of Mr. Wilkinson, 
 that there never was a Christian mission in this part 
 of the Pongas country ; but in the Bangalong division, 
 on the Fattalah river, which I have not yet seen, a 
 missionary from the Church Missionary Society was 
 stationed. He remained there a few years, and was 
 finally burnt out. It is now forty -two years since 
 that event, and the mission has not been renewed.
 
 ANIMALS. 207 
 
 " Tell your dear little daughter I pray God to bless 
 her and her efforts for the "West Indian Church 
 Association. And I hope the little story of old 
 j\Iartha's willingness to be a Christian will repay 
 her for all her exertions. Say, in answer to her in- 
 quiries, there is not a horse in all the Pongas coun- 
 try, not a pig, not a donkey, but here and there a 
 little cow, not half the size of your fine English 
 cows. In Fallangia we have many little cows, and 
 I am fed, like a little baby, on their milk, which is 
 very nice. We have cats for rats, and are compelled 
 to keep dogs to sound an alarm when the tiger-cat or 
 the leopard approaches, the attacks of which are very 
 stealthy, and generally in the dark and rainy nights. 
 The tiger-cat robs us of our poultry, and the leopard 
 of our sheep ; but he has a formidable enemy in the 
 cows. Providence has armed these gentle, grateful 
 creatures with very long and sharp-pointed horns ; 
 and the moment the leopard approaches they must 
 smell him ; at any rate, they all unite and marshal 
 themselves in one solid phalanx, and search for and 
 pursue him till he is quite out of the camp. Woe be 
 to him if they catch him, for they will gore him to 
 death in a few minutes."
 
 208 KING KATTY'S ASSURANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Assurance of King Katty. Miseries of the People. Visit from Mr. 
 Columbini de Wasky. Application from Cassini. Excursion to the 
 Bangalong River. Domingia. Sangha. Farrangeah. Increase of 
 the Congregation under Duport. Journal continued. Relapse of 
 Mr. Leacock. He visits Sierra Leone, and is ordered to return to 
 England. He determines to remain at his Post. 
 
 THE last chapter contained Mr. Leacock's journal 
 down to Tuesday, the 22nd of April, addressed to 
 the Bishop of Barbados. On the following day he 
 commenced a letter to me, which I give almost 
 entire. 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 "I received yesterday your letters for January, 
 February, and March. My assistant I had sent to 
 Sierra Leone on the 18th of March to get some 
 lumber, and he returned yesterday, bringing with 
 him letters from November to March, sixteen in 
 number, and a large package of newspapers, all for 
 the last three months. 
 
 "Your inquiries respecting Kennyback Ali and
 
 KING KATTY'S ASSURANCE. 209 
 
 Katty, have been answered in some of my letters. 
 The former died a few weeks ago, and the latter 
 having come to the funeral and missed me, had the 
 assurance to write and ask me why I had left Tin- 
 tima that I had been consigned to his care, and he 
 was surprised not to find me in Tintima. I replied 
 that I was surprised that he should presume to write 
 to me in that style, when he knew that he had de- 
 serted me, and left me in the hand of creatures, who 
 would have soon destroyed me. I then threatened 
 him with a visit as soon as I was able to go up the 
 Bangalong river, when I would tell him how he and 
 his deceased friend had treated me. 
 
 " In my present weak state, I do not feel able to 
 write to my old friend Dr. Coit. I have too much 
 writing on hand that I cannot neglect. I am afraid 
 the application you speak of will be troublesome to 
 him. 
 
 " I don't know whether I ever mentioned to you 
 any thing about Mr. Wilkinson's baptism. Both he 
 and his son Lewis have been baptized. It is im- 
 possible to say whether the bright prospects before 
 us are an illusion or not. I am not sanguine in my 
 expectations. I have only told you of the favour- 
 able reception I have met with from certain chiefs, 
 and of the prospect they have held out to us. You 
 have it just as I received it, and you have as much 
 security for the performance of their promises as I 
 have. 
 
 p
 
 210 MISERIES OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 "Your last inquiry respects Jelloram Fernandez 
 (King of the Pongas). I have not seen him. I am 
 now hardly able to encounter the sun and rain in 
 going up the river. We have here neither stage- 
 coach nor railway, and a little open boat amidst 
 sandbars and tornadoes, is a shadowy sort of thing. 
 
 " 28th. How greatly am I moved with compassion 
 for the miseries of the people around me. I had 
 heard from Duport of a Mr. Columbini de Wasky, 
 who fell in with him on his return from Sierra 
 Leone, and made many inquiries of him respecting 
 our school and mission. He had heard in his own 
 settlement, Cassini, of our mission ; and his father- 
 in-law,, and all the neighbouring chiefs deputed him 
 to come to me, and to say that they were greatly in 
 want of religious instruction for themselves and their 
 children. Cassini is near the river Componee, which 
 is between the Rio Nunez and the Rio Grande. The 
 people are very poor. They have no money, but 
 they can supply a missionary with fish, rice, and 
 plantains. They will also help to get up a dwelling- 
 house and school-house for him, and do all in their 
 power to make him comfortable. The man seemed 
 to be in good earnest. He bewailed the wretched 
 condition of the young people in his country, all 
 growing up in ignorance and sin, and asked if I 
 could do any thing to help them. He would send 
 over twenty to us immediately; but we have no 
 accommodation for them. We shall not be ready
 
 COLUMBIXI DE WASKY. 211 
 
 before January, 1857. He asked then if we could 
 send them a teacher. He would prefer a married 
 man, as the people wished their daughters to be 
 educated as well as their sons. Here, again, I was 
 unable to give him a satisfactory answer. It was 
 Sunday morning. He came with a Roman Catholic 
 as a guide. I invited them at the hour of prayer 
 (they spoke English a little) to go with us to the 
 Piazza, where we meet for worship. The Roman 
 Catholic declined the invitation, but the other was 
 all attention. After service, he came up to me, 
 offered me his hand, and thanked me heartily. I 
 preached from Matt. xx. 6, 7. The room was 
 crowded, and solemn attention pervaded it. The 
 man told me, ' Sir, I have come from Cassini in an 
 open boat, and had to encounter many tornadoes to 
 seek the word of God for my people.' Cassini is said 
 to be 160 miles from Fallangia. But what renders 
 his case doubly interesting is that lie is a Greek. I 
 could not help thinking that he was sincere in regard 
 to the great object who alone is worthy of our 
 search ; that Friend, who, above all others, is worthy 
 of being known. If our Lord declared that He was 
 glorified by the first-fruits among. the Gentiles, may 
 we not hope that the application of one Greek for the 
 word of God, and the ordinances of His house, in 
 behalf of a great district of country, will bring addi- 
 tional glory to Him ? Oh, then, my dear Caswall, 
 p 2
 
 212 EXCURSION TO THE BANGALOXG. 
 
 apply to your Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel for help ; apply to the friends of Christ for 
 help. Let them send us a good, holy, pious man and 
 his wife, who knows and is competent to teach the 
 truth as it is in Jesus ; who is able to teach sacred 
 music (nothing but psalms and hymns), and who by 
 their example may so adorn the doctrine of God in 
 all things, that others seeing their good works may 
 glorify our heavenly Father. 
 
 " The boat is waiting for me, and I am summoned 
 to prepare for travelling." 
 
 Mr. Leacock was now on the point of setting out 
 on his long-promised excursion to the Bangalong 
 River or Big Pongas. Mr. Wilkinson had dissuaded 
 him hitherto from the attempt, under the impression 
 that he was not strong enough, or sufficiently pre- 
 pared to encounter the sun and damp dews. Now, 
 however, he thought there was no danger, and 
 Duport having returned to take charge of the school 
 and the Sunday services, he himself volunteered to 
 accompany the good missionary, and to visit with 
 him the various chiefs on the river. His son Charles, 
 the chief of Domingia, offered the use of 'his six- 
 oared boat, a very comfortable little vessel, with an 
 awning and a place for Mr. Leacock's mackintosh 
 bed. All this was very encouraging, and as yet 
 there was no shrinking from promises or engage- 
 ments. Mr. Wilkinson, indeed, appeared to long for
 
 DOMINGIA. 213 
 
 the time when he might commence his work, and 
 not only his son, but Gomez, the chief of Backia, 
 was pledged to assist and support him. 
 
 On Monday the 28th of April, Mr. Leacock and 
 his friendly chief left Fallangia in the boat, and 
 were rowed down the beautiful Little Pongas to 
 Mangrove Island, where the streams unite. Hence 
 they ascended the Fattalah to Domingia, where they 
 arrived at ten o'clock at night. Not being able to 
 land, they slept on board of an American schooner 
 which lay off the town, and next day (Charles Wil- 
 kinson not being at home) they again took boat- 
 when the tide served, and in a few hours landed at 
 Sangha, which stands on a creek running into the 
 Bangalong. Here they were received very cordially 
 by Mr. Faber, the semi- American already mentioned, 
 who entertained them with great hospitality. Mr. 
 Leacock was compelled to remain quiet the rest of 
 the day and the whole of the following, in conse- 
 quence of weakness and a slight attack of fever, but 
 on the following day, which was Holy Thursday, 
 May 1st, being greatly refreshed, he was enabled to 
 proceed with Mr. Wilkinson on his journey. They 
 ascended to the source of the Bangalong, where they 
 landed at Farrangeah, the residence of Mrs. Light- 
 burn, the African widow described in a former 
 chapter. They found the old lady a plain, humble- 
 looking person, notwithstanding her great wealth. 
 She and her children owned more than a thousand
 
 214 SANGHA AND FARRANGEAH. 
 
 slaves, and a great tract of country, partly cultivated 
 by her people. They cultivated rice, ground-nuts, 
 Indian corn, fundangia (a very small sort of rice), 
 and Guinea corn, which they exchanged for Euro- 
 pean merchandise. 
 
 After being welcomed and feasted by Mrs. Light- 
 burn, they left her on Saturday, May 3, and returned 
 to Mr. Faber's at Sangha about nine in the evening. 
 On the following day they rested and engaged in the 
 Church services, at which six persons assisted. On 
 the 6th they reached home safe and sound, Mr. Lea- 
 cock feeling himself much stronger and better for his 
 excursion. He then wrote the following report of the 
 results of his investigations : 
 
 "Wherever I have been, our mission is readily 
 received. Mrs. Lightburn consented to my visiting 
 her place for the purpose of preaching, and Mr. Faber 
 told me that he should be glad to see me whenever I 
 could make it convenient to come. They both made 
 me small presents on leaving their residence, and 
 begged that I would accept them as an evidence of 
 their respect, both for me and for the Institution with 
 which I am connected. 
 
 " The chiefs are not yet prepared for the religious 
 instruction of their slaves. They think that such a 
 measure would inevitably lead to emancipation, or to 
 rebellion, and therefore, I have decided to wait till 
 Providence shall open the door by enlightening their 
 minds with respect to the nature and obligations of
 
 INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES. 215 
 
 Christianity and the object of our mission, which is 
 to make masters kind and gentle to their servants, 
 ' giving unto them that which is just and equal,' and 
 ' servants obedient to their masters, in singleness of 
 heart, fearing God.' When they understand our 
 views, I think we shall meet with no more opposi- 
 tion in the country generally than we do in Fal- 
 langia. 
 
 " I have learned more of the country by my visit 
 to the Bangalong river, than I had any idea of before 
 from the vague information of traders and natives. 
 If it take its name from the river, it ought to be 
 called the Fattalah country, for it is properly the 
 Fattalah river, not the Pongas. The Pongas, pro- 
 perly so called, is not navigable more than fifteen 
 miles from its junction with the Fattalah, and be- 
 yond this is nothing but a shallow and rocky brook. 
 The Bangalong is not navigable more than six miles ; 
 but the Fattalah has its source in the Fullah country, 
 and flows for a distance of more than a hundred and 
 fifty miles. It is navigable for thirty miles from the 
 sea, and would be for sixty or seventy, but for the 
 falls or rapids, of which there are four, and beyond 
 which is considerable depth of water (as I am in- 
 formed) for some distance. The Bangalong and 
 Pongas rivers then are only branches of the Fat- 
 talah, the former commencing at Hurl Gate, and 
 flowing up eight miles (uninfluenced by the tides), 
 at the head of which is Farrangeah, the latter at
 
 216 INCREASE OF THE CONGREGATION. 
 
 Mangrove Island, and stretching out some twenty 
 miles, fifteen of which are navigable. I hope I shall 
 not make any serious mistakes, for I am confused by 
 the noise of the school which is held in the next 
 room. 
 
 " On my return to Fallangia, I was much gratified 
 to hear from Duport that, while I had in Sangha 
 only six hearers, he had in Fallangia a large congre- 
 gation on the Sabbath. It seems that during the 
 week he had asked a young man belonging to the 
 school, why the people began to neglect attending 
 public worship ; who replied, ' The people cannot un- 
 derstand what is said, and after service are constantly 
 asking me what is said.' Duport then had a conver- 
 sation with our laundress, who is daughter-in-law of 
 old Martha, mentioned in my last letter, and a con- 
 stant attendant at the public service. He asked her 
 if she understood what was preached on the Sabbath. 
 She said, * No, I do not understand much.' He in- 
 quired of her (as I had of the mother) if she was a 
 sinner, or if she knew any thing of sin. She an- 
 swered, * No : I have never done any thing wrong.' 
 He then went through the commandments, explain- 
 ing them, and she said she had never broken any but 
 ihe fourth. The conversation being ended, she thanked 
 him, and said, ' I understand better now.' On the 
 Sabbath, Duport addressed the people, assisted by an 
 interpreter, and he says ' great solemnity prevailed 
 amongst them.' After the service, one of the con-
 
 JOURNAL CONTINUED. 217 
 
 gregation, an old man, said, ' I like this, I can under- 
 stand this, and would come to hear it every day. As 
 to Mohammed, I never had any thing to do with Mm, 
 and I never will believe him.' The people inquired 
 whether I also would teach them in this way ; and 
 upon being assured I would if they desired it, all 
 seemed much pleased. I am greatly encouraged by 
 this, and am glad that Providence has at length 
 pointed out a plan in which we may get hold of their 
 understanding. I shall adopt it, and use it when- 
 ever I can get an interpreter. 
 
 " May 9th. Mr. Faber from Sangha visited our 
 school yesterday. He is here to-day, and will pro- 
 bably remain till Monday. He is much pleased with 
 the order and improvement of the children, and pro- 
 mises to send two children as soon as he returns 
 home, one a slave ; and as soon as we have accommo- 
 dation he will send the four who are now in Sierra 
 Leone at a private school. He now promises to assist 
 in the erection of our buildings. This is an impor- 
 tant point, as his word is to be trusted, and he has 
 more wealth and influence than any other chief in 
 the country. I write this from Mr. Wilkinson's in- 
 formation, not from any personal knowledge of my 
 own. 
 
 " I have stated circumstances just as they oc- 
 curred ; but if I be disappointed, many will think 
 and say that what I had written had no truth in it, 
 and was only intended to produce an effect at home.
 
 218 RELAPSE OF MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 But there is One who knows the simplicity of my 
 intentions, and the caution which I have used to 
 avoid every thing like exaggeration or embellish- 
 ment. I have read my letters both to Duport and 
 Mr. Wilkinson, and they can see nothing to con- 
 demn ; on the contrary, they declare if I cannot say 
 more, I cannot say less. The letter published (in 
 the 'Mission Field' for March) I have sent to the 
 'African' press, that it might be inserted there, and 
 have publicity in the very place where the circum- 
 stances therein stated have occurred. Surely if I am 
 believed here I shall not be doubted at home." 
 
 At the time of writing the above letter, Mr. Lea- 
 cock thought himself nearly acclimated, and expected 
 his strength to be fully re-established. But the ex- 
 pectation was disappointed. Soon after his return 
 from the Bangalong, distressing symptoms appeared, 
 and he again became unfit for active duty. Fever 
 had left him for some months, but his strength did 
 not return ; on the contrary, he felt himself gradu- 
 ally sinking. He proceeded, therefore, to Sierra 
 Leone, in search of medical aid, and arrived at the 
 house of Mr. Pocock, on the 23rd of May, in a state 
 of great debility. On the following day, he received 
 a letter from the Bishop of Barbados which cheered 
 his spirits greatly. Dr. Bradshaw came to see him, 
 and ordered him to proceed to England in the 
 steamer, which was to sail in a few hours ; but he 
 felt himself unable to endure the voyage in her. She
 
 HE VISITS SIERRA LEONE. 219 
 
 was the " Ethiope," in which he had suffered so 
 much on his outward passage, and which was already 
 crowded with passengers. He begged to be allowed 
 to remain in Sierra Leone and take his chance. Dr. 
 Bradshaw said that his disease was a general relaxa- 
 tion of the system, from which a person so far ad- 
 vanced in years would with difficulty recover. The 
 worthy doctor also signed the following certificate, 
 dated at Sierra Leone, June 7th : 
 
 " I certify that I have been attending the Rev. 
 Mr. Leacock since he returned from the Pongas. 
 He is suffering from extreme debility, consequent on 
 a severe attack of African fever. His constitution 
 seems to be completely broken from his long and 
 severe illness; and I am of opinion that he should 
 not return to the Pongas. And if his recovery is 
 not more permanent and rapid than it has been here- 
 tofore, that he should return to England by the first 
 Packet for the preservation of his life. 
 
 " ROBERT BRADSHAW, 
 Colonial Surgeon." 
 
 " I am now," wrote Mr. Leacock on the 6th to the 
 Bishop of Barbados, " with kind friends, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Pocock, and I feel stronger already. But here 
 I am, and here I must be for the next four months. 
 It makes me feel sad ; but if I were in my sphere of 
 duty, I could do nothing out of Fallangia, in conse-
 
 A RETURN TO ENGLAND ORDERED. 
 
 quence of the winds and rains which prevail at this 
 season. I have requested the doctor to give me a 
 certificate, stating my condition, and his advice based 
 on it. It may be necessary to satisfy the members 
 of the committee. I assure you, my lord, I would 
 not hesitate about returning to Fallangia immedi- 
 ately ; but at this early stage of our mission, were 
 my health to suffer materially, climate would be 
 charged with it, not my age or my imprudence. I 
 see no more difference in the change of climate from 
 Barbados to the coast of Africa, than from Barbados 
 to any other of the West Indian islands. In fact, if 
 strangers will take care of themselves, and avoid the 
 night-damps and the noon-day heats, there is much 
 less danger here than in many of our islands. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Pocock, who were fellow-passengers with 
 me from England, have never been seriously unwell 
 one day since they have been here. But their resi- 
 dence and mine are different. They can get the 
 comforts as well as the necessaries of life, which are 
 not quite so easy of access to me. Missionaries in 
 the Pongas cannot exist comfortably without the 
 command of a boat. Since I have been here I have 
 been told that all missionaries, even from the Gal- 
 linas (which get their supplies from Freetown), keep 
 their own boat, and that we shall not be able to get 
 on comfortably without one. I speak now only for 
 those who are to come after me, not for myself ; for 
 I must not conceal the fact, I am not equal to the
 
 A RETURN TO ENGLAND ORDERED. 221 
 
 duty of the mission, nor indeed to any regular duty 
 any where. The labours of a West Indian curacy I 
 am now entirely unfit for, and I would not take or 
 keep a cure which I am unable to serve faithfully. 
 I mention this to show you the necessity of sending 
 a suitable person early next year to take charge of 
 the missions. By that time, I trust, we shall have 
 got up a house to receive him. I have come hither 
 with the hope of gathering strength sufficient to 
 attend to the erection of buildings in December and 
 January ; and it would injure our mission to keep 
 me at the head of it, when a younger man can supply 
 my place so much better." 
 
 The following letter, addressed to me, came by the 
 same post : 
 
 " Sierra Leone, June lOtb, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Caswall, 
 
 " I have not received any letter from the Bishop 
 (of Barbados) by this packet ; therefore I conclude 
 he must have left England for Barbados. I there- 
 fore send you the letter which I had prepared for 
 him. * * * 
 
 " I thank you heartily for your letter of May 19th. 
 It makes me feel stronger. The money (collected 
 by the editor of the 'Church Journal') which you 
 will probably receive from our dear friend, Dr. Coit, 
 you will forward to me. I will send a receipt for 
 the amount, whatever it may be, and give credit to 
 the Society for it.
 
 222 DETERMINATION TO REMAIN IN AFRICA. 
 
 " I am in Sierra Leone, tinder the medical aid of 
 Dr. Bradshaw. He says, I am suffering from no- 
 thing but debility ; but, ! this weakness, this 
 shortness of breath, trembling of knees, and cough, 
 are almost as distressing as fever. He positively 
 forbids my returning to my duties till the rainy 
 season has passed by, and wishes me to proceed at 
 once to England. This, however, I cannot do, for 
 my absence may cause the zeal of my friends in the 
 Pongas country to cool down, and to postpone the 
 erection of the building in the fall of the year, 
 which would be a greater evil than my death ; so I 
 have gained his consent to remain here, and take my 
 chance. 
 
 " I knew of your appointment as associate member 
 of the West Indian Church Association. The Bishop 
 informed me of it some months ago, and I rejoiced, 
 and do rejoice at it greatly."
 
 FRIENDS DESIRE HIS ESCAPE. 223 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Mr. Leacock's Friends desire him to escape from Africa. Letters to 
 that Effect from Mr. Wilkinson, from the Author, and from the 
 Bishop of Barbados. He appears to recover. His Plans for build- 
 ing. Letter to a Young Person. 
 
 THE sad intelligence of Mr. Leacock's continued 
 illness found its way, in due time, to his friends in 
 Fallangia, England, America, and the West Indies. 
 All of them, as if by common consent, desired that 
 his escape might be hastened from the malaria which 
 was bringing him down to the grave, and that, if it 
 were possible, his life might be preserved for some 
 years of usefulness in a healthier climate. 
 
 The old chief Wilkinson received the information 
 in the latter end of June, and immediately sat down 
 and wrote to Mr. Leacock the following sensible and 
 encouraging epistle : 
 
 " Fallangia, Rio Pongas, 
 June 26th, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Friend, Brother in the Lord, 
 "I have received your letter respecting the state
 
 224 LETTER FROM WILKINSON. 
 
 of your health. I would advise you to go entirely 
 by the doctor's directions : if he advises you to go 
 off for the benefit of your health, do so ; but I should 
 like to see you before leaving. I have been up to 
 the first falls of the Fattalah river in company with 
 Mr. William Faber. I almost shed tears when I 
 beheld the old ruins of the Missionaries' settlement on 
 that river ; but, thank God, I was kindly received, 
 and treated with all the civilities by the chiefs, more 
 particularly by Foulah Guy ay and Bangua, the two 
 principal chiefs of that part of the country. 
 
 " I am very happy to inform you that our congre- 
 gation is increasing rapidly. Last Sunday we had 
 nearly a hundred. Duport is another man since you 
 left. I believe the finger of God is in this mission. 
 It is astonishing how the children improve, and how 
 eager the people are for learning; those who can- 
 not attend on week-days attend Sunday school. I 
 should wish you to have a sight of this school before 
 you leave. I believe, and I am confirmed, that it is 
 the Lord in his wise Providence who has been 
 pleased to direct you to open a mission at or in 
 Fallangia. May God Almighty bless your Society. 
 Wishing you a speedy recovery, with due respects, 
 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 " Your well-wisher, and respectfully, 
 
 (Signed) " RICHARD WILKINSON." 
 
 The intelligence reached England early in July,
 
 LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR. 
 
 and I wrote to my friend in the following words by 
 the return of the packet : 
 
 " My dear friend Leacoek, 
 
 "Your letter of June 10 from Sierra Leone 
 reached me early in the month, and I forwarded 
 your letter to the Bishop of Barbados by the West 
 India packet of this week, together with Dr. Brad- 
 shaw's official certificate of the state of your health. 
 
 "Earnestly do I hope that you are restored to 
 your usual strength, and that your valuable life may 
 be spared, so that you may place your mission on a 
 satisfactory foundation. But if you continue weak, 
 I must implore you to return at once to England. 
 Here you may recruit, and may possibly be able to 
 return to the Pongas in January to complete your 
 buildings. Besides this, you may awaken a great 
 interest in your mission, and even obtain reinforce- 
 ments of fellow-labourers. Could you have an op- 
 portunity of telling your tale here, you would see the 
 advantage of being in England after having gone 
 over your ground in Africa. 
 
 " Should you feel yourself unfitted for farther work 
 in Africa, you will of course remember what you 
 said about spending the evening of your days with 
 me. Here you would have a bracing climate, and 
 might in various ways, though feeble, promote the 
 great purposes of your life. Even in this neighbour- 
 hood there are people whose spiritual condition is not 
 
 Q
 
 226 FROM THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 
 
 greatly superior to that of the inhabitants of the 
 Pongas country. 
 
 " Since you state that there will be no communi- 
 cation with the Pongas before October, and as it is 
 not expedient that the articles should lie long in a 
 storehouse, I am not in a hurry to send off the 
 things which you desired me to get for you. As the 
 packages will not probably be dispatched before the 
 20th of September, there will be plenty of time for 
 you to add to the order, or make such variations as 
 you may think expedient. 
 
 " I confess, however, that I have great expecta- 
 tions of seeing you here before many days. I think 
 you will, on reflection, feel it to be your duty to 
 comply with Dr. Bradshaw's advice, and I cannot 
 think you will make much real progress towards 
 recovery while you remain in Africa." 
 
 The letter to the Bishop of Barbados reached its 
 destination early in August, and elicited the follow- 
 ing prompt reply : 
 
 " Barbados, Aug. 9, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Leacock, 
 
 " I am not surprised, but very much grieved, at 
 the effect which your trials in the Pongas country 
 have had upon your health. The conclusion to 
 which we must come, you as well as the Board here, 
 seems plainly this, that you have done your part of
 
 FROM THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 227 
 
 the work in opening the way, and laying the foun- 
 dation, which is more than we contemplated when 
 we talked of a mission of inquiry. Even should yon 
 think of going back from England (where I hope 
 you now are) in December, which, however, I would 
 rather dissuade you from, I trust it will not be to 
 reside in the Pongas, but merely to visit it, when 
 necessary, from Sierra Leone. 
 
 " There will be numbers (myself for one) who will 
 be glad enough to see you back again in Barbados, 
 where I hope you may find yourself again strong 
 and fit for work, and where your information and 
 advice would be of the first importance in conduct- 
 ing the affairs of the mission. 
 
 " I humbly trust, and hope, and pray that it may 
 please God to raise up some one to succeed you, and 
 carry on what you have so nobly begun a younger 
 man, and perhaps of African descent. 
 
 " I propose to call a meeting of the Mission Board 
 at an early day, with the view of taking some defi- 
 nite steps in order to make our work and our wants 
 more generally known ; and this may lead, by God's 
 blessing, to some offer of service. 
 
 "Your interesting letter of the 7th of May, 
 giving the account of the Bangalong river, has been 
 published in the ' Barbadian.' 
 
 "The last I have not ventured to publish yet. 
 Something of the kind may be done after the meet- 
 ing of the Board. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 APPARENT RECOVERY. 
 
 " How far is the Bishop of Sierra Leone disposed 
 to ordain Mr. Duport ? and how near is the latter to 
 a state of preparedness for ordination ? 
 
 " I am going now to write to Archdeacon Trew 
 respecting two persons whom he recommends for the 
 mission ; but neither of whom would be able to re- 
 place you, neither being in orders, even if otherwise 
 competent. 
 
 " May God of His mercy in Christ preserve you, 
 and restore you to health, and may He guide and 
 bless us all in our efforts for the furtherance of His 
 Gospel in "Western Africa. 
 
 " Believe me always 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "T.BARBADOS." 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Leacock was regaining a 
 certain degree of health and strength in Sierra 
 Leone. On the 28th of June he wrote to me stating 
 that he was recovering rapidly, and hoped in an- 
 other month to be quite well. Speaking of his mis- 
 sion, he added, " If we had a school-house, there is 
 no doubt that our report, both as to the number of 
 children and their progress, would be satisfactory; 
 but the advantages of a suitable building we cannot 
 expect before February or March, 1857. There is 
 very little intermission to the rain during this 
 season. "When it commences after three or four 
 days' cessation, it comes down at times like a tor-
 
 PLANS FOR BUILDING. 
 
 rent. A few nights ago, such was its force that it 
 seemed as if a water-spout had broken over our 
 house. Now our mud walls and floors, if exposed, 
 could not resist such a torrent. The mud used here 
 in building possesses not, in so great a degree, that 
 property of adhesiveness which is the peculiar cha- 
 racter of the clay employed for similar purposes in 
 Wiltshire ; therefore we are obliged to build only in 
 the dry season, and to cover the walls immediately 
 with a roof projecting some eight or ten feet beyond 
 them '. Even when the walls are cured, were they 
 to be exposed to one or two heavy rains, they would 
 melt to the very foundation. This answers a ques- 
 tion in one of the bishop's last letters, ' Why do you 
 not commence building at once?' In September I 
 hope we shall begin to cut timber, and in January to 
 raise the walls. It would be lost labour to begin 
 earlier. 
 
 " Our American friends are certainly brave fellows, 
 and our dear Coit among the bravest. Your report 
 of the sum raised by them is cheering. Bless that 
 dear good woman, Mrs. Blandy, for the spectacles 
 for my friend Mr. Wilkinson. 
 
 "May our gracious God continue to bless your 
 labours, and abundantly multiply his grace on your 
 dear family, and on all who show mercy to the poor 
 heathens." 
 
 1 See the engraving at page 149.
 
 230 LETTER TO A YOUNG PERSON. 
 
 About the same time he wrote the following letter 
 to my son, a youth of seventeen : 
 
 " My dear Robert, 
 
 " I received your truly interesting and well- written 
 letter on the 24th of May. The preceding day I 
 had reached Freetown in a state of great debility, 
 which when the doctor perceived, he directed me to 
 leave immediately for England; but I did not feel 
 equal to the fatigue of the voyage, and begged him 
 to let me remain here and take my chance till the 
 following steamer. I knew that the timbers in my 
 frame were sound, though they are now old and 
 somewhat shaky, and I thought I could trust them. 
 The doctor says that the fever had quite left me 
 before I left the Pongas, and that my present illness 
 arises from debility only, which he should not much 
 regard in a person twenty, or even ten, years 
 younger; but that when one has passed the meri- 
 dian of life, such debility is hard to overcome. I 
 trust, however, under God's blessing, I shall be able 
 to overcome it, and to weather this storm. But I 
 am told it will require great care. I could get no 
 suitable nourishment in the Pongas for a convales- 
 cent, and he says, had I remained but a few weeks 
 longer, I could never have left it : my bones would 
 have been laid there. I trust a gracious Providence 
 will spare my life till I am enabled to see to what
 
 LETTER TO A YOUNG PERSON. , 231 
 
 extent my expectations respecting the buildings for 
 our missionaries may be realized. 
 
 "When I shall have accomplished this work, I 
 hope to be succeeded immediately by some person who 
 will be able to do the duties of the mission more effec- 
 tually than I can. Then I must look for home. My 
 children are unhappy about me, and long to have 
 me with them; and I must say the desires of my 
 soul are after them. I know not, therefore, if my 
 life is spared, whether I shall be able to be in 
 England longer than a few weeks. Most of this 
 time will, of course, be spent with your dear parents, 
 to whom I cannot express my obligations of grati- 
 tude for past hospitality; but my increasing in- 
 firmities remind me that a quiet and retired home 
 befits me more than any place under heaven. 
 
 " Your account of yourself is very interesting, and 
 I trust, under God's blessing, you will continue to 
 improve in wisdom and knowledge above all, in 
 that wisdom and knowledge which come down from 
 above, and be made a rich blessing to your dear 
 parents and sisters, and to many living and many 
 yet unborn. Do not rely on your own strength. 
 Be diligent in your studies, and at the same time 
 live near to God in prayer, and in the diligent study 
 of his word. You know not how greatly He can 
 and will help you. All his children are taught by 
 Him : it is written, ' They shall all be taught of 
 God;' and unless He teach you, you will never be
 
 232 LETTER TO A YOUNG PERSON. 
 
 able to come to the knowledge of ' the truth as it is 
 in Jesus.' ' Hath not God made foolish the wisdom 
 of this world?' He hath destroyed it: He hath 
 brought it to nought 2 . 
 
 "You know, if a man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ, he will speak ' the words which man's wisdom 
 teacheth,' not those which ' the Holy Ghost teacheth.' 
 And if he make a profession of religion, where can 
 you expect his wisdom will lead him but directly on 
 the quicksands and sunken rocks of apostasy? If 
 the things of God can be discerned spiritually, and in 
 no other way, how can any man discern them who 
 has not the Spirit of God? Be not deceived, my 
 dear young friend. Cast all your cares, temporal 
 and spiritual, upon your heavenly Father. He has 
 commanded you to do so, for ' He careth for you.' 
 He alone can bring you to the experimental know- 
 ledge that Jesus Christ is your wisdom, righteous- 
 ness, sanctification, and redemption. Depend upon 
 it, this ' cometh not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man,' but from God only. 
 Speculative knowledge is one thing, which devils 
 have, and so may wicked men if they will read the 
 Bible; but that knowledge which is experimental, 
 changing the heart and principles, and directing the 
 affections and desires in the way which leads to God 
 through Jesus Christ alone, God's Holy Spirit alone 
 
 1 Cor. i. 19-31.
 
 LETTER TO A YOTJNG PERSON. 233 
 
 can give. Therefore seek it, and never rest till you 
 find it. Then you will know ' what manner of love 
 the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
 called the children of God.' Then you will know 
 experimentally what you now know speculatively, 
 why ' the world knoweth us not V 
 
 " With affectionate remembrances to your father, 
 mother, and sisters, believe me, my dear Robert, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 H. J. LEAG<OCK." 
 
 8 1 Johniii. 12.
 
 234 PROGRESS OF THE MISSION. 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Satisfactory Progress of the Mission under Duport. Report sent by 
 Duport to Mr. Leacock. Mr. Leacock's Remarks upon it. Favour- 
 able Opinion of the Bishop of Sierra Leone respecting it. The 
 Lord's Prayer in Soosoo. 
 
 IN the mean time the mission in Fallangia continued 
 to make satisfactory progress under Duport, whose 
 youth and African descent were in his favour. He 
 rapidly gained strength, and exerted himself in a 
 manner which appears surprising. He sent to Mr. 
 Leacock the following account of his proceedings, 
 which is too interesting to admit of much abridg- 
 ment, and which affords a curious insight into the 
 habits and opinions prevalent in an African village. 
 It appears that, from the urgency of the case, 
 Mr. Duport, although not yet in orders, felt himself 
 called upon (with Mr. Leacock's approbation, and 
 doubtless with the sanction of the Bishop) to dis- 
 charge some of the functions of an ordained mis- 
 sionary. It may be well to add in this place that 
 Mr. Duport was ultimately admitted to Holy Orders 
 on the 12th of October.
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 235 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 "Fallangia, June 9th, 1856. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 " I hope and trust that these few lines may meet 
 your health much improved. I am very happy to 
 inform you that I have been tolerably well since you 
 left. Mr. Wilkinson is not here : he left on Satur- 
 day, May 31st, for Sangha, and he has not yet 
 returned. Mr. Yalentine came to pay you a visit the 
 day after you left. 
 
 "I am happy to state for your information that 
 since Sunday, May 25th (Lectures A.M. and P.M., 
 1 Thess. iv. 13 18), the people have wonderfully 
 increased. At night our parlour was crowded, and 
 we had no room within for those who were standing 
 without. I am now obliged to move the dining- 
 table and my writing-table every night, and yet we 
 cannot make room enough. My bed is occupied, and 
 the mat at the foot of my bedstead is filled with the 
 domestics, who are afraid to show themselves 1 . Every 
 night we have an increased number. I have made a 
 bench with the board which came from Domingia 
 cut ; it is nearly nine feet long. Old Bentra has 
 brought his wives, his sons, and a brother, with 
 three others, to hear for themselves; and .they are 
 now regular attendants. This is like Andrew bring- 
 ing his brother Peter to come and see the promised 
 
 1 Probably from the want of clothing.
 
 236 DUPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 Messiah. Surely the word is making its way by the 
 blessing of God. 
 
 " On Sunday, the 25th, old Bentra told me in broken 
 English (for he knows a few English words), ' Me 
 love what me now hear, and me pray God open me 
 heart to believe what me hear, and me country- 
 men.' I told him that if he prayed from his heart, 
 through Christ, God will surely hear his prayers, 
 for He has promised in His word to do so, and He 
 cannot lie ; and that though He may delay long, yet 
 He will grant his request in his own due time. 
 After the people left, we had a very strong tornado, 
 which unroofed the grass on our residence, and the 
 rains poured into the parlour in torrents. I had to 
 awake the boys, and move my bed and table to the 
 only place which was dry and unoccupied; but 
 Mr. Wilkinson had the grass replaced the next 
 morning. 
 
 "On "Wednesday, the 28th, I had an attack of 
 fever, which lasted two days, during which I was 
 unable to perform the full duties of the school ; but 
 the people flocked at night at the usual time for 
 prayer. I ventured to instruct them as well as I 
 was able, but I could not sing. 
 
 " On Friday, the 29th, I was invited by Mr. Wil- 
 kinson at about eight o'clock A.M. to accompany him 
 and see the Mohammedans make a sacrifice for the 
 free passage of the soul of a woman (who died twelve 
 months ago) into heaven, and its admittance there.
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 237 
 
 I accepted the offer in order to gain information. 
 When we reached the place, the Mohammedans, 
 who, as it appears, were all ready waiting for the 
 chief, arose from their seats, and approaching the 
 cow ready for slaughter, each one laid his hands 
 on the animal, and one of them offered up a short 
 prayer, after which the animal was slain and quar- 
 tered to be distributed among all the people ; but all 
 who attend our meetings refused to touch or have 
 any thing to do with it. On their sending a portion 
 to John Delone, he refused it, adding that he is 
 taught by his ministers not to have any thing to do 
 with such things. They in reply said, ' God bless 
 the missionaries, they tell you true ; it was a blessed 
 day when the missionaries came among you.' This 
 they said because each one, on our people refusing, 
 received a larger portion. It was a day of great 
 festivity with them. 
 
 "Sunday, June 1st. To-day the room was well 
 filled; but since you spoke so strongly against the 
 devil-house and its worshippers and greegrees, * * * 
 has not returned. I have been following up the 
 same discourse, exhibiting the power of Christ by his 
 miracles ; and our labour on this point (thank God) 
 has not been in vain. On Sunday night the parlour 
 was over-crowded. 
 
 " Tuesday, the 3rd. After evening service some of 
 the men remained behind, and while one of them 
 was telling me how he loves to hear God's word,
 
 238 DTTPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 and no one knows his feelings but God, who alone can 
 see the heart, for man cannot open the heart to see 
 what is going on there, he was interrupted by Thomas 
 coming to me with an open letter in his hand, 
 which was sent by King Jelloram to Mr. Wilkinson, 
 to inform him and his daughter Mammy Sue (our 
 washer) of the death of his son and her brother. 
 The letter came (as I was told) three days ago, and 
 the bearer, being anxious to return, was desirous 
 to disclose the melancholy event to Mammy Sue, 
 but was prevented doing so by Thomas and John 
 Delone, who knew what would be the consequence, 
 and therefore they desired him to wait until they 
 took my advice on the subject. I inquired of them 
 what the consequence would be, and I was told the 
 following. According to the country fashion, as soon 
 as she heard the news, she would give an alarm, and 
 all the women in the town would be gathered toge- 
 ther in a moment of time, and would keep a loud and 
 very doleful noise all night and the next day 2 . They 
 said that the women knew of it already, and were 
 only waiting for the signal. I then sent to call 
 Mammy Sue, and the other women who were on the 
 watch congregated themselves at the door. Mother 
 Martha alone came and took a seat. After asking 
 her about her relations, I asked her how she would 
 
 2 "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and 
 all the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there was 
 not a house where there was not one dead." Exodus xii. 30.
 
 DTJPORT'S REPORT. 239 
 
 like to hear that one of her brothers were called 
 away to go into another country. She said she 
 would like it well, if it be a better country. I 
 was here at a stand, for I could not assure her 
 that he was gone to a better country. After speak- 
 ing to her in many parables, all which time she 
 was very serious, and had her eyes fixed on me, I 
 disclosed the event to her, and tried to comfort her 
 by referring to many of God's people, Job parti- 
 cularly. I then urged upon all present the necessity 
 of being the children of God, and from that event I 
 preached unto them Christ. They listened with pro- 
 found silence, and, when I had finished, they thanked 
 me, and each returned to his own home. I did not 
 forbid her weeping, but I exhorted her to weep in 
 silence, and pray unto God to give her spiritual 
 strength to bear this and all other afilictions which 
 God may be pleased to inflict on her with Christian 
 fortitude. 
 
 " On Wednesday, the 4th, we had a very gloomy 
 morning, and during the day lightnings and thun- 
 derings followed each other in rapid succession, and 
 the rain-waters became congealed before they reached 
 the earth. It was a beautiful sight to see the people, 
 old and young, running to and fro to catch the 
 congealed globules, and sip them, some falling down 
 on their faces in trying to catch them. Thomas 
 brought some in a glass to inquire of me what they 
 were.
 
 240 DUPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 " Thursday, the 5th. Wherever you turn you hear 
 the report of guns. It is the Mohammedans' Christ- 
 mas. Last month was the month of their fasting, in 
 which they turned the night into day. In the 
 evening they had a great dance at Lagaba, and our 
 meeting was deprived of some of its attendants. 
 
 " Saturday, the 7th. About five o'clock P.M. I was 
 sitting in the piazza, reading, and I heard the re- 
 ports of muskets, at which I saw most of the people 
 in the yard running to the gateway. One of Charles 
 Wilkinson's wives, who went on a visit to her father, 
 was come. They very soon entered the gate, with 
 music, singing, and dancing 3 . Those of our people 
 who were present, drew back when they saw me. 
 The procession remained at the gate a long time, 
 those at the head continually watching me, as if 
 to say, 'Why do you not go into the house?' 
 I then turned my back to them, and they very 
 soon passed to Eliza's house. About seven o'clock 
 Thomas came to me, and said, 'Sir, you had better 
 keep the meeting soon to-night, because there is to 
 be a great ball outside in honour of Mr. Charles's 
 newly arrived wife ; and most of those who come here 
 intend to go to the dance, for they are making pre- 
 parations, and they would disturb us.' I told him to 
 
 3 " Now his elder son was in the field : and as he came and drew 
 nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of 
 the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto 
 him, Thy brother is come." Luke xv. 25 27.
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 241 
 
 send and call them, as he desired. Never before was 
 there such a crowd, both within the house and before 
 the door. Some present had come from the neigh- 
 bouring villages to attend the dance, and their 
 friends invited them to come with them to pray first, 
 and then all of them should attend the dance after- 
 wards. I took for the subject of the lecture, ' Arise 
 ye, and depart ; for this is not your rest, because it is 
 polluted * ;' and in conclusion, referring to the dance, 
 I told them that those who go and spend the night 
 in frantic mirth, could not serve God as they ought 
 the next day. Moreover, that I did not wish to know 
 who went to the dance, for God knew ; I may not see 
 them, but God saw them. God blessed the latter 
 clause to their hearts ; their plan and scheme were 
 overturned ; they left, and each returned to his own 
 home, wondering how I came to know their secret in- 
 tentions. This was told me on the Sunday morning ; 
 and the chief supporters of the dance told Thomas, 
 that they could not make the dance, as I told them 
 that * although I did not see them, God saw them.' 
 Surely the Lord is in this place, and He hath 
 blessed our feeble efforts with a sign of success. 
 Before they left I invited them to church on Sunday, 
 urging on them the obligation we are under to serve 
 God on the Sabbath, 
 
 " Sunday, the 8th. There were present both at morn- 
 
 * Micah ii. 10. 
 
 R
 
 242 DUPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 ing and evening service sixty-three persons, and at 
 night many more. I again compared the power of 
 Jesus to the power of greegrees (if they have any 
 power at all), taking for my subject the resurrection 
 of Lazarus at the command of Jesus. After evening 
 service old Bentra told me that every thing I said 
 concerning greegrees was very true, for he had 
 proved it himself, and that those that made them 
 were only robbing the people, and deceiving them. 
 Thomas's mother told me that she once had plenty of 
 them, but since we began to speak about them, she 
 has cast them all away, and besides, she herself has 
 proved them to be all lies ; for she had a severe pain 
 in her head, and a greegree was sent her to place on 
 it ; she did so, but it appeared to her that the pain 
 increased; she took it from her head and cast it 
 away. Very similar confessions were made by Eliza, 
 Maria, and Mammy Sue. The latter said that there 
 are a great many in the house where she resides, but 
 they are not hers, they belong to Joanna, who is not 
 here. At night I continued the subject. On Mon- 
 day morning a woman brought a bottle of greegrees 
 and asked me to destroy it, as she was afraid to do 
 so. I took it from her, and have it in my pos- 
 session. 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
 unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and for 
 Thy truth's sake.' 
 
 " But while our prospects are brightening in one 
 way, a cloud is gathering in another. Satan is at
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 243 
 
 work. The Mohammedans begin to be very jealous of 
 us. Some have withdrawn their speech from me. It 
 is truly encouraging to see the young men, who now 
 come to our meeting when they are in the town. 
 Upon these the Mohammedans begin their attack. 
 Yesterday after service they called two of the young 
 men and tried to poison their minds against coming to 
 hear God's word. This they told me through Thomas. 
 They next told the women who have domestic slaves, 
 that we only want to make them free their slaves, 
 and make them as their countrymen in the West 
 Indies. On this subject, by the Divine blessing and 
 guidance, I shall speak this evening, for it is easier 
 to quench the fire when it is first kindled than after 
 it has burnt for some time. John Delone, I believe, 
 is a faithful interpreter; he does not wander away 
 from the subject, but speaks nothing more than what 
 is told him. 
 
 " I only wish you were here to witness the change 
 and to build up the little flock, for all want building 
 up and pastoral advice. What can I, a young and 
 inexperienced lad, the most unworthy of God's 
 creatures, unable to build up myself because of my 
 manifold shortcomings, whose only resource is to 
 believe in the precious promises of the Gospel, which 
 all who pray sincerely are sure to receive through 
 Christ Jesus, do among persons just beginning to 
 embrace the Christian religion ? But knowing that 
 I am not acting by my own power nor by my own 
 B 2
 
 244 DTJPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 might, I take courage and go on my way rejoic- 
 ing, because I have a High Priest who can be 
 touched with the feelings of our infirmities at the 
 right hand of the Father, pleading for me and all 
 who come unto God through Him. I beg that you 
 will remember me in your prayers. I pray that God 
 may bless the change to the benefit of your health. 
 
 " I must also inform you of the peacefulness of the 
 Sabbath here. The people do not beat the rice nor 
 spread it in the sun. You hear no noise whatever. 
 John Delone has told me that if I had known the 
 town before we came here, I should wonder at the 
 change. This is indeed encouraging. Thomas told 
 me of some of the women who are very desirous to 
 learn the Lord's Prayer, and I am teaching them 
 every night. 
 
 " I here remain your humble servant, 
 "J. H. A. DUPORT." 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 " Fallangia, June 17, 1856. 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 " I have written to you up to Tuesday, the 10th ; 
 I shall now give you a few extracts of what occurred 
 since the above date. On "Wednesday, the llth, John 
 Delone brought me twelve greegrees, which he said 
 belonged to a friend and himself ; he further said that 
 he had paid a great deal to the Mohammedans for his, 
 and therefore he believed that his could protect him.
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 245 
 
 I pointed out his error to him as far as I was ahle, 
 and he then destroyed his also. To-day Charles 
 Wilkinson and Gomez visited the school, and the 
 present chief of Tintima with his attendants. They 
 remained for about two hours, and then the Tintima 
 folks departed, expressing their regret (as I was told 
 by Charles) for not keeping us at Tintima when we 
 were there. The rains have commenced in good 
 earnest ; the thunderings and lightnings are indeed 
 fearful. I have seen the people at the report of a 
 loud crash of thunder run to and fro, so terrified are 
 they. On Sunday we had very heavy rains during the 
 day. "We had forty-two persons present, and one of 
 the Mohammedans' missionaries remained during the 
 whole service. He comes from the next town, which 
 belongs to that Mohammedan chief with whom you 
 had some conversation not long ago. He asked to be 
 informed what time the evening service would com- 
 mence, for he would be very glad to attend ; but we 
 had such heavy showers in the evening that I did 
 not see him. I opened Sunday school, and we had 
 twenty-two grown persons, each expressing his de- 
 sire to learn. After prayer at night I was surprised 
 to see old Bentra stop the people as they were re- 
 tiring, and commence to speak to them very loudly. 
 After he had concluded, I inquired of John Delone 
 what he was saying. He told me that he said ' the 
 people must return me thanks for what they had 
 heard, and that they must pray to God for us ; that
 
 246 DTJPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 they must not be enticed by the Mohammedans to 
 stay away from coming to hear what God had sent 
 to them, and that the Mohammedans are only deceiv- 
 ing them ; for the Mohammedans had been among them 
 now many years, and they never heard any thing like 
 what they are now taught. He also told them to pray 
 to God to open their hearts to hear and understand 
 what the missionaries are telling them.' Another 
 person told me that a neighbouring chief was very 
 angry the day after you preached about greegrees 
 and the devil-houses. He said that you meant him, 
 that he knew who told you that he had greegrees and 
 devil-houses in his town, and that he did not intend 
 to pull down the devil-house in his place. Poor 
 man, he deserves to be pitied ; he has never come to 
 service since. 
 
 Old Bentra and John Delone came to school 
 a part of the day (Monday), and the former 
 told the children not to speak any more Soosoo ; 
 that they must open their ears and learn Eng- 
 lish; that he is an old man, yet he is trying to 
 learn to speak English, and many young people 
 laugh at him, but he does not mind them ; that he is 
 old is true, but he is not a fool, and they shall not 
 make him one. He then told me that ere long we 
 shall not find a greegree among the people. He is a 
 firm supporter of our mission, and a man of great 
 influence over the people. 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson has not yet returned. King Jello-
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 247 
 
 ram has sent for Gomez, I am told, to bring some of 
 his children to school. I should be very glad if you 
 could manage to get a bell ir* Sierra Leone, for the 
 people told me that when the boys call one half, the 
 other half know not for a long time, and the first half 
 has to wait for a long time before the other half 
 comes ; and they asked me to get a bell : also we want 
 plenty of books for beginners to learn. They have all 
 applied to me for books, and many have been sent 
 empty away. If you cannot get any books, I think 
 some paper printed would do as well ; I have tried 
 to print some, but my time will not permit me to do 
 much of them. Wherever you turn you hear the 
 people learning the A, B, C ; Mammy Sue has sur- 
 passed all as yet. She is in words of three letters. 
 I teach her myself every night after prayers. All 
 the boys are teachers ; each of them having a cer- 
 tain number of persons to teach. After school, and 
 at night, I cannot find one to do any thing for 
 me; they are all scattered among their relatives 
 and friends. Johnson, Thomas, Richard, and Charles, 
 one of the lower boys, assist me in the Sunday 
 school. I shall form six classes. The Sunday 
 school is between the two services. Charles Wil- 
 kinson has. told me that he has a plenty of nails, 
 which he can let you have at 4d. a pound. I told 
 him I would let you know of it, and he says that 
 his father ought to commence at once to cut the 
 sticks for the building during the rains. I asked
 
 248 DUPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 him to speak to his father about it, and he has pro- 
 mised to do so. Be pleased to remember me to Mr. 
 Pocock and family when you see him. I am quite 
 well at present (thank God). May the Almighty 
 Disposer of all events enable you soon to return to 
 your momentous charge, and strengthen you both in 
 body and soul to perform your arduous duties, is the 
 sincere prayer of your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 "J. H. A. DUPORT." 
 No. 3. 
 
 " Fallangia, June 23, 1856. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, 
 
 " Mr. "Wilkinson returned on the 19th, and brought 
 two boys from Mr. Faber for the school. On Friday 
 night last, Mr. "Wilkinson called his people to him, 
 and enforced a law against Sabbath profanation. 
 They assembled in the piazza, seventy persons in 
 number, and after his asking who made them, the 
 world, and all things which they see, and their 
 answering, he addressed them at large ; after which 
 we had evening services as usual, and the people 
 went away much gratified with what they had heard. 
 On Saturday we had very heavy rains. Yesterday 
 we had eighty-four persons present in the services, 
 and thirty-five grown persons in the Sunday school. 
 At night we had a large congregation, and in the ser- 
 vices profound silence prevailed, and a great earnest- 
 ness seemed to beam in the countenances of the audi-
 
 DUPORT'S REPORT. 249 
 
 ence. In the morning I lectured from Isa. i. 16, 
 * Cease to do evil, learn to do well ;' in the evening, 
 from ' All have sinned and come short of the glory 
 of God.' I shall no\v give you the plan of teaching 
 I have adopted. 
 
 "1st. As I enter the school, the children repeat 
 the morning hymn, then prayer ; after prayer they 
 repeat the psalms in the Prayer Book, which they 
 have learned or are learning, then the Ten Com- 
 mandments and the Creed, with its questions and 
 answers given in the Church Catechism. Then I ex- 
 amine each child from my vocabulary of words, in 
 Soosoo and English. 2nd. Reading and spelling, 
 counting, weights and measures, numeration and the 
 multiplication table up to five times ; then arith- 
 metic : I use mangoes and the fingers to give them 
 some idea of addition. Thomas is in multiplication 
 by four. In reading, every child must give the 
 Soosoo words for the English, and I forbid any child 
 speaking Soosoo in school or in my hearing, on pain 
 of being punished, and it is indeed wonderful to see 
 the change, as Mr. Wilkinson himself expressed to 
 me. Then 3rd. Play hour. 4th. Reading and spell- 
 ing, writing and dictation ; the map of the Holy 
 Land and the many places in it which occur in the 
 New Testament ; the distinction between the globe 
 and the map ; the distribution of land and water, 
 and the effects produced by the rotation of the earth
 
 250 DTTPORT'S REPORT. 
 
 on its own axis. 5th. Evening hymn and other 
 psalms ; then evening prayer. 
 
 "I have translated the Lord's Prayer into the 
 Soosoo, corrected by Mr. Wilkinson ; and I begin to 
 teach it to the children to-day. I open the Sun- 
 day school by prayer, and I teach by rote to ' Gloria 
 Patri,' ' Praise God from whom,' &c. ; then I teach 
 them the letters, after which I explain and teach 
 them many of the words which occur in the Prayer 
 Book ; with the latter they are much delighted. 
 Some of the young men come to school at night, and 
 when they have time, through the day. So anxious 
 are the people to learn, that wherever you turn you 
 hear nothing but A, B, C. Greegrees, I am told, 
 are all nearly abolished. God grant that His word 
 may prosper to the honour and praise of His name. 
 
 "The morning and the evening are very dreary 
 indeed ; the Sunday school and evening school I find 
 very laborious work, but my heart and soul are in the 
 work, and it will soon become easy, I hope. On 
 Sunday, for the first time, I saw some of the women 
 and young men begin to aid our voices in joining us. 
 I have removed the table from the church, and have 
 planted a block of wood in the earth, and nailed a piece 
 of board in the form of an inclined plane in the place 
 where you stood to lecture the last Sunday you were 
 here. I was obliged to make some more benches in 
 order to afford accommodation to the people. Old
 
 MR. LEACOCK'S REMARKS. 251 
 
 Bentra is very anxious to be baptized. I have sent 
 you the Lord's Prayer in Soosoo, which I trust you 
 may be pleased with. I have begun the Creed." 
 
 \_The following was added by Mr. LeacockJ] 
 
 " My catechist's report terminates here. Why it 
 should end so abruptly I know not. It may be that 
 he was in school when the boatman called for the 
 letter, and had not time to proceed with the report. 
 It will now be perceived that my sickness has not 
 been detrimental to the work in Fallangia. For 
 several weeks before I left I had not been able to 
 preach more than once on the Sabbath, and during 
 the week had evening services and conversations 
 occasionally with some of the people. The heathen 
 continued to treat me with uniform respect, but the 
 Mohammedans began to receive my salutations coldly. 
 My absence, it seems, was their opportunity to give 
 vent to angry feeling ; but I trust Duport will be 
 strengthened to suffer that, or any thing else, which 
 may come upon him." 
 
 Speaking of the chief who was angry with the 
 sermon against devil-houses, Mr. Leacock says : 
 
 "He was one that promised much, but I told 
 Mr. Wilkinson he would not fulfil his engagements. 
 He loves his idols, and after them he has gone. I 
 am not, however, without hope that the lost sheep 
 may yet be found and brought to the fold. 'Tis 
 true, * with man this is impossible, but with God all
 
 252 OPINION OF THE BISHOP. 
 
 things are possible/ The bearer of this letter to 
 me gives a fearful account of his perils by sea, and 
 says that he would not for any consideration venture 
 to return to Fallangia during the rest of the wet 
 season." 
 
 The Bishop of Sierra Leone was much pleased on 
 seeing Duport's report, and wrote to Mr. Leacock the 
 following note : 
 
 " Fourah Bay, July 28, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " Many, many thanks to you for sending the en- 
 closed. A more interesting and encouraging account 
 I have never seen. May the Lord bless and prosper 
 the work, and make Duport an instrument of exten- 
 sive usefulness to that interesting people. 
 " I remain, 
 
 "Yours faithfully, 
 
 " J. W. SIERRA LEONE/' 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER IN SOOSOO, TRANSLATED BY 
 
 MR. DUPORT. 
 
 A = AH. 
 
 Woung Fafa, Makangua arreyanna, Ekele Seneyankee. 
 
 Our Father, that is there in heaven, Thy name hallowed be. 
 
 Kkha yamana fa. Esagwananingama donu, anakhena arreyanna. 
 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 
 
 Mookookeeto mokokee loco Ioc5 tarmera Annoo emookoo younoobee 
 Give us to-day our daily bread and our trespasses
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER IN soosoo. 253 
 
 raffaree, mookoofang caffaree mookooloraba. Noo enama mookoora- 
 forgive, as we forgive our neighbours, and lead us not 
 
 soo fakobee Emookooramene lakobee: Etanangba yamanara 
 into temptation, deliver us Jrom evil; For thine the kingdom, 
 
 saimbara annoo daraja Abada annoo abada. Amena. 
 the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
 
 254 IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 Continued Improvement in Mr. Leacock's Health. Letter to his 
 Son. Letters to the Bishop of Barbados. Letter to the Author. 
 Mohammedan Opposition. Assistance from Governor Hill. Con- 
 test between Christ and Mohammed. Last Letters of Mr. Leacock. 
 
 THE report of the proceedings of his assistant in 
 Fallangia relieved Mr. Leacock of a load of care, 
 and encouraged him to hope that even in the event 
 of his own removal, the mission would continue to 
 prosper. But his health was improving, and he 
 looked forward with delight to his return to the 
 Pongas country, and to a renewal of his truly apos- 
 tolic labours. 
 
 The following was written to his son, already 
 known to the reader as a clergyman at Mobile, in 
 Alabama : 
 
 " Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 12th. 
 
 " My dear Ben, 
 
 " Although I have written to your sister, and re- 
 quested her to let you know that I am still alive
 
 LETTER TO HIS SON. 255 
 
 that I am not devoured by sharks or savages, nor 
 consumed by burning fever yet I cannot forbear 
 dropping a line to you to comfort you with the as- 
 surance that God has hitherto heard your prayers for 
 the preservation of my life in the midst of many 
 dangers, and to beg that you will persevere in the 
 discharge of that acceptable duty. 
 
 " I cannot describe to you what the loneliness of 
 my situation would be, if my heart were not in- 
 terested in my work. Except my friend Mr. Wilkin- 
 son, I have no neighbour to associate with when at 
 home. My residence is a mud house covered with 
 grass. The floor and walls are all mud, which 
 gives me a sensation of dampness during wet 
 weather, and coolness during the hot season. As to 
 my bed-room, it is always so dark that in midday it 
 is as useless to me for purposes of reading or study 
 as in midnight. Even when I shave in the morn- 
 ing, or at any other time, I am obliged to resort to 
 the candle or lamp for light; and then I take my 
 solitary walk, or ponder over the blessed Word. 
 But the sacrifice, as many call it, is no sacrifice to 
 me, for I am fully satisfied that God has called me 
 to it. I trust, whatever may happen to me, I am in 
 the right way, and that is enough. 
 
 "I am to remain quietly in Sierra Leone till 
 November. I came hither for the advantage of 
 medical aid and good nourishing food. From the 
 24th of December to the 23rd of May intermittent
 
 256 LETTER TO HIS SON. 
 
 fever had been trying my constitution, and would 
 finally have laid me under the sod, if a gracious 
 Providence had not sent me to this place. I am 
 gathering strength, but cannot return to the Pongas, 
 the ocean being one barrier, and the governor, 
 bishop, and doctor's interdict another. So here I 
 am to be till November. 
 
 " I received letters from you both by the June and 
 July packets. Thank you, my dear son, for them. 
 They are quite a cordial to my soul. I pray God to 
 shed a benign and sacred influence over your heart 
 and over all your labours, and make you a rich 
 blessing wherever you go. 
 
 "Remember me affectionately to your uncle and 
 his family. Congratulate him on the marriage of 
 his daughter, and I earnestly pray that she may 
 enjoy all the happiness which, in this transitory and 
 wretched life, may be good for her. 
 
 " I am, my dear Ben, 
 " Your faithful and affectionate father." 
 
 He enclosed Duport's document to the Bishop of 
 Barbados, together with the following letter : 
 
 " Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 21, 1856. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "I received on the 12th inst. your letter, dated 
 ' Southampton, June 17th/ the day on which you 
 left England for the West Indies. I had written by
 
 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 257 
 
 the May steamer, and enclosed that letter to Dr. 
 Caswall, supposing that, as I had no letter in May 
 from you, you and all your family had embarked for 
 the West Indies. I have nothing now to communi- 
 cate respecting the mission from my own personal 
 knowledge, being far away from it; nor any thing 
 concerning myself, save and except that my health 
 is greatly improved, and that, if wind and sea per- 
 mitted, I would return immediately to my duties. 
 The accompanying report, however [see the previous 
 chapter], will give you a correct view of the general 
 state of the mission. I received it from Duport two 
 days ago. It is not what I wrote to him for. I 
 wished him to give me a statement of the condition 
 and prospects of the school ; for I considered it high 
 time that our committee in Barbados, and friends 
 in England, should know what was actually done. 
 Having heard that our way was so providentially 
 opened and cleared to commence operations, they 
 would naturally expect, as well as desire, to know 
 what we were about. I wished therefore for a sort 
 of schedule, showing the progress of each class in 
 the school, which would not occupy more than a 
 page of this sheet ; instead of which he has sent 
 me a volume of notes from his journal, containing 
 much of what I have long expected, and much that 
 I never expected to see, but cherished the hope that 
 it would be the privilege of my successor. The 
 opposition of the Mohammedans I did expect ; it has
 
 258 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 
 
 long been working in secret against us, and the 
 opportunity only was wanted to spring the mine. 
 The general outburst of zeal among the heathen for 
 the truth, and the destruction of their greegrees, are 
 effects of our ministry which I never expected to 
 see, so stupid and besotted have the people in general 
 appeared. I believe that, under God, all may be 
 attributed to the convictions of two men, Bentra 
 and John Delone, who have great influence in the 
 village, and who have been long under our instruc- 
 tion. The cause of the Mohammedans' opposition is 
 obvious : ' their craft is in danger of being set at 
 nought.' Their chief means of support is making 
 and selling to the heathens charms or amulets, which 
 they call 'greegrees/ Each greegree consists of a 
 few words of the Koran, written in Arabic, and en- 
 closed in a leathern case. The warrior rushes into 
 battle covered with these charms, for each of which 
 he has perhaps given four or five dollars ; and when, 
 notwithstanding, he receives the deadly wound from 
 the adversary's sabre or unerring bullet, the Moham- 
 medan's cry is, ' His time is come.' The preserva- 
 tion of health and life, down to the hour of death, 
 they ascribe to the power of greegrees ; but death, 
 let it come when or how it may, comes at the ap- 
 pointed time. When the heathen see no greegrees 
 in our mission-house or attached to our person, and 
 hear us denounce them in most faithful and un- 
 equivocal terms, I dare say that some of them come
 
 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 259 
 
 over to us in order to save their money. This may 
 not be a correct judgment, but the people are cer- 
 tainly very penurious, and the excitement appears to 
 me too great to be durable. 
 
 " I send you the Report, as I believe it all to be 
 true. There is much in it which I know to be true, 
 and which will confirm my former statements. He 
 calls for elementary school-books: I sent for a 
 supply in March, and I expect it in September. 
 He asks for a bell: I have been enquiring months 
 ago for one, and have only now succeeded. I got 
 a tolerably good one from a condemned slave-ship, 
 which has been recently captured: it cost only 
 21. 2s. 
 
 "The clamour of the Mohammedans does not 
 trouble me. I am glad of it; for if their in- 
 fluence on the poor superstitious heathen were not 
 yielding, we should not hear from them. This is 
 indeed ' a day of small things/ but it is not to be 
 despised. 
 
 " I have not been idle since I have been here. I 
 petitioned the governor and council for help, and I 
 have a promise, but I don't know to what amount. 
 My petition was received most graciously. Mr. 
 Wilkinson is still firm, as you may suppose from a 
 letter which I shall enclose with this. As he seems 
 grateful to the West Indian Church Association, it 
 may not be a compliment thrown away if he be 
 s 2
 
 260 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 
 
 nominated and received as an honorary member of the 
 association. 
 
 "26th. 1; have engaged a young man who has 
 been in the employ of the Church Missionary Society 
 to assist Duport in. the school. I hope that the grant 
 of the Sierra Leone council will be sufficient for his 
 maintenance. I have agreed to give him 30s. a 
 month for the first quarter ; and if I approve of him, 
 21. per month for subsequent services. When he has 
 experience enough to take charge of a school, I shall 
 have to add 10s. per month ; and if the colonial 
 grant be not sufficient to meet the expense, I shall 
 be compelled to draw on the treasurers of the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel. Duport wants 
 help now, and I shall require all his time when en- 
 gaged in building. I trust it will meet your lord- 
 ship's consent, and the consent of the committee. 
 Commending the mission to the favourable considera- 
 tion of all who love the truth, and to their continued 
 supplication and prayer, 
 
 " I remain, my Lord, 
 " Your Lordship's faithful servant, 
 
 " H. J. LEACOCK." 
 
 "Aug. 5th. I have just been informed by a 
 Member of council, that the governor has appro- 
 priated 401. per annum out of money placed by the 
 council at his disposal, for the use of our mission,
 
 LETTER TO THE AUTHOR. 26 L 
 
 subject of course to the approval or otherwise of the 
 Secretary of State. Perhaps a line from your lord- 
 ship to the Secretary will secure, not only a confirma- 
 tion, but an extension of the grant, which might 
 easily be effected by withdrawing from false, treach- 
 erous, horrid chiefs, the many hundred pounds (I 
 believe* over 700/.) which are given to suppress 
 the slave-trade, but which only furnish them with 
 capital to go more deeply into it. Educate and 
 civilize the people, and away goes the whole fabric of 
 Mohammedanism, heathenism, and slavery. 
 
 "7th. The governor informed me this morning 
 that he could give me no more than 30/. this year, 
 but he hopes to increase it next year. He himself is 
 ready with all his heart to help us, and he says there 
 was not one dissenting voice in the council. The re- 
 spectable people in Freetown are favourable to our 
 mission, and one gentleman said to me, ' If you have 
 any great difficulty in getting up your buildings we 
 will help you.' ' 
 
 To myself, Mr. Leacock wrote on the 25th of July. 
 In reference to Duport's statements he said : 
 
 " I do not in the least doubt his statements ; for 
 the condition of things was such when I left the 
 country as led me to believe that an outbreak would 
 somehow and somewhere soon take place. The oppor- 
 tunity only was wanted to enable the Mohamme- 
 dans to throw off the mask. The work is begun, and
 
 262 CONTEST BETWEEN CHRIST AND MOHAMMED. 
 
 I know not where it is to end. A diversion in our 
 favour is, however, wrought in or among the heathen, 
 and I trust, if trouble comes, God will give us 
 grace to ' glorify Him in the fires.' For myself I 
 have no fear, and I should be quite satisfied were 
 I alone. But Mr. Wilkinson is a host in himself, 
 and God who has raised the storm will, I know, be 
 at the helm. The only thing which troubles me 
 is, I am not at my post, nor can I get there till 
 November. 
 
 "This is entirely a contest between Christ and 
 Mohammed, and we know, whatever the consequences 
 may be, who will finally prevail. With conse- 
 quences I have nothing to do ; but my constant 
 prayer is : ' Thy kingdom come ; thy will be done in 
 earth as it is in heaven/ ' 
 
 The last letter to his dear son in Mobile, bears the 
 date of August 12th. 
 
 " My dear Ben, 
 
 "An American vessel leaves this port in a few 
 days for Philadelphia, and I cannot let it depart 
 without a few lines to let you know, first, the state of 
 my health, and, secondly, the state of my mission. 
 
 " My health is almost restored : I have had no 
 return of fever since I came to this place. My appe- 
 tite is good, and my strength is greatly increased. 
 The only thing which retards my entire recovery is 
 the constant heavy rains, which prevent my using
 
 LETTER TO HIS SOX. 263 
 
 such exercise as is necessary either for the restoration 
 or preservation of one's health. I have seen rain 
 fall in the West Indies, and during midsummer in 
 the United States, but I never saw any like what 
 falls sometimes in Africa, either as regards duration 
 or heaviness. When it is accompanied by a tornado, 
 it at first comes rushing down as if it would sweep 
 the house into the ocean, just as when accompanied 
 in the West Indies by a hurricane. Then it rains 
 sometimes for a week with scarce any intermission. 
 Tornadoes occur chiefly in May, September and 
 October, but they have not the power of a West 
 Indian hurricane. They up-root trees, and strip off 
 the covering of thatched houses. Seldom do they 
 leave greater traces of their visits. 
 
 " Now with regard to my mission. It is well for 
 me that the Lord sent me to this place, for I know 
 not what consequences the present excitement in 
 Fallangia would have had on my emaciated state of 
 health, had I remained in the Pongas country. 
 During all my sickness, except indeed when pros- 
 trated by fever, and unable to sit up, I preached 
 every Sabbath, and had an evening service in my 
 room, which was generally crowded. The eyes of 
 the heathen soon became opened to the danger of 
 their state, and to the deceptions practised upon 
 them by the Mohammedans. These deluded crea- 
 tures had been making great gain of them by in- 
 ducing them to purchase what they call ' greegrees '
 
 264 LETTER TO HIS SON. 
 
 or amulets, which they made them believe would 
 preserve them from all injuries and sickness, and 
 from every possible evil, even death. The poor hea- 
 then are so stupid, so besotted, as to believe the fol- 
 lowers of the false prophet, who are regarded by 
 them as the Scribes and Pharisees of old were by the 
 Jews ; and would give for their vanities, four, five, 
 or even six dollars a heavy sum for these poor crea- 
 tures. 
 
 "These Mohammedan teachers are the principal 
 opponents of the Gospel. At first they admitted 
 that the white man's religion was true ; and when 
 asked, 'Why then do you not embrace the truth,' 
 they would reply, ' The Koran suffers us not to 
 change.' Then they endeavoured to reconcile the 
 Bible to the Koran ; but finding it impossible, their 
 malice was excited against us. They tried to draw 
 away the young as well as the old from us ; but this 
 failing, and perceiving that 'their craft was in 
 danger to be set at nought,' they were full of 
 wrath, and declared open war against the Bible. 
 The heathen in Fallangia have burned their gree- 
 grees, are resolved to be carried away no longer by 
 these foolish idols, and are calling for the knowledge 
 of our own God. The Sabbath worship is well 
 attended, also the week-night service, and the Sun- 
 day school chiefly by adults. Thus our mission may 
 be said to prosper. The stillness of spiritual death 
 is broken, and although the sword is not yet actually
 
 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 265 
 
 unsheathed, the false peace which prevailed in Fal- 
 langia is banished. ' I came not to send peace on 
 earth/ says our Lord, 'but a sword.' I know not 
 how soon this may be drawn : but / would that I were 
 there. It is, however, impossible that I can leave 
 this place before November. 
 
 " I am delighted to hear that our American bre- 
 thren in the western country are ' coming up to the 
 help of the Lord.' "We want their prayers as well as 
 their liberality. Both will greatly assist us, and call 
 forth the gratitude of our Association. New York is 
 also coming to our help, as Caswall informs me. 
 The Lord our God bless and help all who help us 
 and pray for us." 
 
 The following letter to the Bishop of Barbados, 
 written just before the sailing of the steamer, was 
 probably the last which proceeded from his pen. 
 
 " Freetown, August 13, 1856. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " The steamer leaves at five P.M., and whether it 
 be from the habit of writing to you by every packet 
 during the last nine months or not, I cannot let her 
 now go without a line to your lordship. I have en- 
 closed a letter to you in my heavy despatch to Dr. 
 Caswall, which, in consequence of his having to 
 make extracts for the ' Mission Field,' may not leave
 
 266 ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 
 
 Southampton till next month. Duport writes en- 
 couragingly, and leaves me to hope that the mission 
 is established ; and that too, before a foundation stone 
 is laid for a building. I am not boasting. I have 
 nothing to boast of; for the work has been carried 
 on from the beginning by an agency secret but 
 powerful. 'It is the Lord's doing, and it is mar- 
 vellous in my eyes.' I trust that many will rise up 
 in that benighted country to call Him blessed. All 
 this is, I believe, in answer to prayer. The Father 
 hath said to the Son, ' Ask of me, and I shall give 
 thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
 most parts of the earth for thy possession.' If the 
 Saviour be reminded of this promise, will He not 
 hear the supplication of His people who ask the sal- 
 vation of the poor heathen ? If faith and prayer 
 were in greater exercise, soon would the wilder- 
 ness and the solitary place be glad for them, and the 
 desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.' 
 
 " In my letter to you which you will receive pro- 
 bably by the packet after the one which brings you 
 this, I have stated that the governor and council 
 have given me a small lift for this year, and encour- 
 agement to hope for something better next year. 
 The governor will endorse my draught on the colo- 
 nial treasury immediately for 30/. ; and he hopes to 
 help me to a greater extent next year, but he 
 is very cautious ; and so precarious and unsettled
 
 ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 267 
 
 are things in this colony, that he does not like to 
 bind himself to any sum. I enclose his letters 
 which I received on the occasion. My health is 
 very good. 
 
 " Believe me, my Lord, 
 " Your faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 "H. J. LEACOCK."
 
 268 ARTICLES SENT FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Articles despatched from England for the Mission. Shipwreck of the 
 " Ida." Death of Mr. Leacock. Letter from the Rev. F. Pocock. 
 Letter from Mr. Duport. Lamentations at Fallangia and Sierra 
 Leone. Letter from the Bishop of Sierra Leone. The mournful 
 news reaches America and the West Indies. Eulogy in the " Bar- 
 badian." Concluding Letter from Mr. Duport. Funeral Anthem. 
 
 THE time of year had arrived at which Mr. Lea- 
 cock had desired the articles necessary for his mission 
 to be forwarded to Sierra Leone. Accordingly, early 
 in September, I proceeded to London in order to 
 make the purchases ordered by him, little thinking 
 that the intrepid servant of God was already beyond 
 all earthly wants. The following goods were shipped 
 on board the "Ida," a fine screw steamer, on the 
 15th of September. 
 
 A corn-mill, with fly-wheel. 
 
 Three pieces of grey Indian baft, purchased with 
 the contributions of the Tennessee slaves. 
 
 Nine other pieces of baft. 
 
 Parcel containing tape, cotton, buttons, needles, 
 thread, scissors, &c.
 
 SHIPWRECK OF THE " IDA." 269 
 
 Parcel of Scripture prints. 
 
 Parcel of light clothing for negroes. 
 
 Ninety-eight articles of similar clothing, made up 
 by ladies in Figheldean and the neighbouring 
 parishes. 
 
 Box of trinkets for presents. 
 
 Box containing maps, school-books, prints, cards, 
 and other necessaries for the school, purchased of 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 
 Box containing school apparatus, purchased at the 
 Depository of the National School Society. 
 
 A clock for the school. 
 
 A handsome Prayer Book, presented to Mr. Wil- 
 kinson by Mr. Dickinson. 
 
 The above articles, by Mr. Leacock's directions, 
 were packed in strong wooden cases, not too large or 
 heavy to prevent their being carried to Fallangia in 
 canoes. The insurance and freight having been 
 paid, and the money raised in England and America 
 for the mission buildings having been deposited with 
 a London banker subject to Mr. Leacock's order, I 
 felt satisfied that all had been done which present 
 circumstances seemed to demand. 
 
 Soon after returning from London, I was distressed 
 by the intelligence that the "Ida" had been lost at 
 sea in a dreadful gale, which commenced before the 
 ship had cleared the Channel. I went again to 
 London on the 7th of October, with the view of re- 
 covering the insurance and re-purchasing the arti-
 
 270 DEATH OF MR. LEACOCK. 
 
 cles, without loss of time. While engaged upon this 
 business, I received the following letter from the 
 Rev. Mr. Pocock of Sierra Leone. 
 
 "Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sept. 18, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Caswall, 
 
 " It is my painful task to inform you of the death 
 of your dear friend, Mr. Leacock. When the last 
 mail left for England he appeared in good health, 
 ancl was hoping, after the rains, to resume his work 
 in the Pongas country. How mysterious are the 
 ways of God ! Mr. Leacock came to our house very, 
 very ill, on the 20th of May, but was so far recovered 
 that we all were glad to see him daily gaining his 
 usual health and strength. 
 
 " On the 15th of August he was taken ill and com- 
 plained of his cough, and in a day or two diarrho3a 
 came on, and the poor invalid had not strength to 
 bear such a pull down, and gradually sunk lower and 
 lower. From Sunday to Wednesday he was per- 
 fectly insensible, and on the 20th of August, at 
 twenty minutes to six P.M., he truly fell asleep in 
 Jesus. Every thing was done for him that could be 
 done. Dr. Morphew and Dr. Bradshaw came to him 
 often six times a day, and Mrs. Pocock tended him. 
 He often thanked us, and said God had sent dear 
 children to tend and care for him in his last days ; 
 and I do assure you, my dear sir, it was indeed a
 
 MR. POCOCK'S LETTER. 271 
 
 privilege to have had the dear one with us. Had he 
 been in the Pongas country, we should have feared 
 the aged servant of God had not been cared for. 
 
 "On "Wednesday, August 13, the dear departed 
 for the last time took evening prayer for me, and 
 spoke to us from Rev. ii. 12 to 17. On Thursday he 
 was poorly, but walked out with me, and on Thurs- 
 day evening went to bed in good spirits, but never 
 again was able to leave his room. Although from 
 Thursday he feared the worst, yet we all fancied and 
 hoped, when the cold was better he would be among 
 us again, and I am sure he would have told me many 
 things had he thought he would so soon be taken. 
 The funeral took place on the 21st. The body was 
 taken to the Cathedral, and the bishop read the ser- 
 vice. A procession of all the missionaries in their 
 gowns, attended by the governor and all the officers 
 of the garrison, followed our dear friend's remains to 
 their last long resting-place. 
 
 " Poor Duport, I do so pity him ; but we must do 
 all we can to comfort him. I have sent to inform 
 him, but during such bad weather it is not easy to 
 get communications with the Pongas. I hope he 
 will soon come down, and then our bishop will think 
 about ordaining him. His mission is in a very pros- 
 perous condition, and may the Lord of the harvest 
 for Christ's sake raise up faithful men to labour in 
 His harvest.
 
 272 LETTER FROM MR. DIIPORT. 
 
 "Accept, my dear sir, of my kind Christian re- 
 gards, and believe me to remain, yours very truly, 
 
 " FRANCIS POCOCK. 
 
 " To the Rev. H. Caswall." 
 
 Mr. Pocock's letter to Duport reached him at Fal- 
 langia in the course of a few weeks. Although 
 dreadfully afflicted by the intelligence, he was sup- 
 ported by the hand of God, and wrote to me the fol 
 lowing letter. 
 
 "Fallangia, Sept. 10. 
 
 " Reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 " This will bear to you the painful intelligence of 
 the great loss which this mission has sustained by 
 the removal of your much beloved friend and my 
 pastor, the Rev. H. J. Leacock, from this world of 
 misery and woe, to join the blessed company of the 
 saints in glory a time which he earnestly desired, 
 and often would he say to me, ' John, I long to go 
 home.' Yes, he has fought the good fight, he has 
 finished his course, no more to be tossed on life's 
 tempestuous sea. He had weathered out the storm ; 
 but now life's voyage is over. He laboured for his 
 Lord and Master, and now he is entered into his rest. 
 His threescore years are at an end; he was 'not 
 ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ;' he was a 
 faithful servant of his Master whom he served, and 
 in whose cause he died.
 
 LAMENTATIONS AT FALLANGIA. 273 
 
 "This man of God braved the acclimating fever, 
 and during that period of sufferings, great as they 
 were, he still cast a glance at those of his unworthy 
 assistant, and would strive to encourage him in the 
 good errand on which they were sent. 
 
 " I am very sorry that I cannot do full justice to 
 the labours of the departed; but I trust that some 
 abler pen may undertake the task. I trust his 
 friends in England and America will not grow cold. 
 They could not give him a better memorial than to 
 support the Mission which he has founded. I beg, 
 for the sake of the deceased, your labour of love may 
 not grow cold. Still exercise your efforts, and strive 
 to stir up friends for us. I have not such influence 
 as my reverend father in God had, but I know his 
 desires, and I will strive to carry them out. 
 
 " On Sunday I lectured on the sad event, of which I 
 heard a few days before. We had a large audience, 
 and they listened with deep interest and profound 
 silence, and at the close they burst forth in bitter 
 grief, which would have melted an adamantine 
 heart. Every eye was bathed with the tears of 
 sorrow. In the afternoon I lectured on, 'In my 
 Father's house are many mansions,' &c., a portion of 
 Scripture which was a favourite of the departed." 
 
 It was not Fallangia alone which bewailed the 
 loss of the intrepid man of God. A newspaper (the 
 " New Era," published at Freetown, August 23, 
 
 T
 
 274 SORROW IN SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 contained the following just tribute to his me- 
 mory : 
 
 " In affliction we naturally turn to those who have 
 been similarly visited, and feel that in their hearts 
 we touch a chord that vibrates in unison with our 
 own. We trust, therefore, that it may prove a 
 source of 6onsolation to distant friends to be in- 
 formed, that such has been the sensation in this city, 
 created by the death of that most worthy and faith- 
 ful servant of God, the Rev. H. J. Leacock, that we 
 have not met with one individual capable of com- 
 prehending the sore bereavement the infant mission, 
 of which he was the father, has been called to sus- 
 tain, who does not deeply sympathize with them in 
 the unexpected and deplorable removal of ' a burn- 
 ing and a shining light' from this dark and be- 
 nighted land. 
 
 " The late Rev. Mr. Leacock, accompanied by his very 
 valuable assistant, Mr. Duport, arrived in this colony 
 in the month of November, 1855, and lost no time 
 ere he decided on the theatre of his labours. The 
 large population of the numerous towns and villages 
 on the banks of Rio Pongas appeared to present the 
 most distressing features of spiritual destitution, and 
 to offer an extensive and important field for mis- 
 sionary exertion. Although the difficulties in en- 
 countering a gross superstition in one of its strong- 
 holds, amidst the swamps and morasses of a very 
 pestilential river, trying to most constitutions, and
 
 SORROW IN SIERRA LEONE. 275 
 
 particularly so to that of an old man, amongst a 
 people strongly tinctured with an undying relish 
 for the debasing slave trade, sunk deep in the foulest 
 degradation and the most soul-destroying paganism, 
 were facts well known and duly weighed by Mr. 
 Leacock ; yet that venerable servant had his Master's 
 duty to execute, there was no shrinking on his part, 
 but facing the dangers with the true courage of a 
 faithful soldier of the Cross, he went to his post ; 
 and his own hand has left us a record of his success- 
 ful efforts towards the fulfilment of the work he had 
 undertaken. 
 
 "The rev. gentleman suffered very severely from 
 fever, and was forced to return to this colony, where 
 he had been residing for some weeks, and to all 
 human foresight was rapidly regaining his health 
 indeed, we believe he had so far progressed towards 
 complete recovery as to have contemplated an early 
 return to the Pongas. ' Man proposes, but God dis- 
 poses.' Mr. Leacock was again prostrated, and after 
 a few days of suffering from fever and diarrhoea, on 
 the 20th instant he was summoned to receive that 
 crown made up of glory, honour, and immortality, 
 leaving behind him a son in the ministry of the 
 Church, and ' troops of friends,' with whom we have 
 the sincerest sympathy in their sore bereavement. 
 
 " Few of those whose satisfaction it was to listen 
 to the rev. gentleman's first address to a public 
 assembly in this colony, on the subject of his visit to 
 T 2
 
 276 THE SAD NEWS REACHES NEW YORK. 
 
 Africa, will have forgotten the fervid spirit of devo- 
 tion and nervous energy of purpose which betrayed 
 themselves in every sentence that fell from his lips, 
 and made our hearts thrill with the liveliest emotions 
 of hope for the old man's success. 
 
 " Whether we contemplate the labours of the late 
 Mr. Leacock in the pulpit, on the platform, or in the 
 mud hut on the banks of the Pongas, they all bear 
 the impress of a truly missionary spirit. Mr. L. 
 was very highly respected in this colony ; and if 
 other proof were wanting, we would point to the 
 numerous and respectable attendance, including the 
 governor, the clergy, officers of the garrison, and 
 many of the principal inhabitants, that attended his 
 remains from the cathedral to the grave, where the 
 last rites were suitably performed by the Bishop of 
 Sierra Leone. 
 
 " Mr. Leacock has left us a glorious example, 
 which tells us that to end our earthly pilgrimage as 
 he has done, is to meet him 
 
 " ' Where we may bathe the weary soul 
 
 In seas of heavenly rest, 
 And not a wave of trouble roll 
 Across the peaceful breast.' " 
 
 The intelligence soon reached New York, and the 
 " Church Journal " announced to the American 
 Church that another martyr for Africa had entered 
 into Paradise. Dr. Coit, writing to me from Troy,
 
 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 277 
 
 said of the deceased, "A purer mind and a truer 
 heart than his, has seldom entered into the rest of 
 the people of God. For him I rejoice, that his 
 labours are all over, and that a boundless career of 
 sinlessness and glory is all before him. I should 
 have rejoiced to see his face once more ; but my 
 intimates are fast dropping away, and I must look 
 to the natural end, and for hope and joys far, far 
 beyond it." 
 
 The Bishop of Sierra Leone wrote to the Bishop 
 of Barbados the following letter : 
 
 " Fourah Bay, September 11, 1856. 
 
 " My dear Lord Bishop, 
 
 " Very many circumstances have occurred in pre- 
 venting my writing to you earlier, but I now feel 
 that I am called upon by special circumstances to 
 communicate with you. We have often, on the 
 west coast of Africa, had cause to exercise faith in 
 the Divine procedure inscrutable and mysterious 
 indeed are the ways of God to us. 'Be still, and 
 know that I am God V is a lesson hard to be fully 
 acquired. 
 
 " Your zealous and truly devoted servant, the 
 Rev. H. J. Leacock, his health having failed at the 
 Rio Pongas, came to this colony in May last for 
 medical aid. At the time of his arrival here, I was 
 
 1 Ps, xlvi. 10.
 
 278 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 laid aside by a severe fever, and therefore could not 
 administer to his necessities. Our excellent and 
 truly worthy friend, the Rev. F. Pocock (the 
 assistant colonial chaplain) and his wife most kindly 
 received him into their family, and nursed him as a 
 brother. On my first visit to him on my recovery 
 from the above illness, I was struck with the change 
 which a few months had wrought in his general 
 appearance. Dr. Bradshaw, our colonial surgeon, 
 who was unremitting in his kind attention to Mr. 
 Leacock, strongly advised his removal to Europe. 
 To this step he was most reluctant, and we can well 
 appreciate his motives for remaining on the coast. 
 In the beginning of August we all had good hopes 
 of his recovery, and for several weeks he gradually 
 regained strength. So cheered was he in the pros- 
 pect of once more returning to his dear little charge, 
 that he told me, ' I have been making inquiry for a 
 bell for my church and school, also a good boat, that 
 I may visit the many towns on the banks of the 
 rivers near Fallangia. I feel a degree of impatience, 
 anxiously awaiting the termination of the rainy 
 season, that I may return to my work.' In the 
 mean time his heart was cheered by the receipt of 
 letters from the old chief, Wilkinson, and letters 
 and reports from Mr. Duport, which were of the 
 most encouraging kind. 
 
 " I had promised Mr. Leacock that I would (God 
 willing) pay a visit to his important charge during
 
 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEOXE. 279 
 
 the next dry season, immediately after my return 
 from the Yoruba country. I purpose going there by 
 the November mail ; probably I shall be absent from 
 the colony three months. I hope to gain important 
 information respecting the different tribes between 
 Cape Coast Castle and Lagos, and I shall have sin- 
 cere pleasure in acquainting your lordship with the 
 result of my inquiries. 
 
 " On the 14th of August the Rev. H. J. Leacock 
 was attacked with ague and fever, and on Sunday 
 morning, the 17th, he was seized with severe 
 diarrhoea, and from this time he was scarcely sen- 
 sible. Every attention and kindness were shown 
 him, but he gradually grew weaker until Wednes- 
 day, the 20th, when he fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 " It would appear that this dear devoted servant of 
 God had been for some time past ripening for glory. 
 He expressed, some weeks since, an earnest desire to 
 depart that he might be with Jesus, which he said 
 was far better than remaining in this world of sin 
 and sorrow. There is one circumstance in his case 
 which does, I think, deserve particular attention, 
 inasmuch as it marks the kind condescension of God 
 to his faithful servants. Mr. Leacock had a dread of 
 the last struggle with death, and how mercifully was 
 he dealt with by his being insensible both to suffer- 
 ing and death for several days before his removal 
 from time into eternity ! 
 
 " Thus ends the short career of your first mis-
 
 280 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 sionary to Africa. I feel that this most trying pro- 
 vidence will be a severe blow to yourself and the 
 honoured Committee of the West Indian Church 
 Association for the Furtherance of the Gospel in 
 Western Africa. But be not discouraged, the work 
 is the Lord's ; it is for us to be faithful, it is with 
 the Lord to bless. It will now devolve on your 
 Committee to appoint a successor to him, whom God 
 has thus early called to his reward. It is a great, 
 arduous, and difficult task to carry on missionary 
 work in the Rio Pongas and its neighbourhood. I 
 earnestly pray that the Committee will be directed 
 to the choice of a wise and faithful minister of the 
 Gospel, to direct and superintend the operations of 
 this new and important mission to the poor heathen. 
 
 " Great respect was shown to the memory of our 
 late brother. The governor and staff, the clergy in 
 and near Freetown, many Europeans and natives, 
 followed his remains from the cathedral to the new 
 burial ground, and I performed the last solemn ser- 
 vice. The change to him is a blessed one. 
 
 " I had arranged to see Mr. Duport the end of 
 October or the beginning of November with a view 
 to his ordination. But by Mr. Leacock's unexpected 
 removal from us, I have made new arrangements, 
 and sent to request Mr. Duport to come to the 
 colony at his earliest convenience. I will gladly 
 supply him both with cash for himself and neces- 
 saries for his schools, &c., until I hear from you, or
 
 LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEOXE. 281 
 
 your committee are able to make their own arrange- 
 ments. It is now my intention, should Mr. Duport 
 pass my examination satisfactorily (and I have every 
 hope that he will), to ordain him both deacon and 
 priest before he returns to the Rio Pongas. I quite 
 hope that this plan will meet with the full approba- 
 tion of your lordship, and of the committee. 
 
 " It will be perceived that the great necessity of 
 the case has led me to adopt this resolution, to 
 enable Mr. Duport to exercise the full office of the 
 ministry of our Church among the people now to be 
 placed under his charge, at least for some time to 
 come. 
 
 " Two months since the governor and council 
 voted unanimously 30/. towards a second school in 
 the Rio Pongas ; and I have cheerfully added 10/. 
 for the same object from my diocesan fund. The 
 late Rev. H. J. Leacock told me that he had en- 
 gaged a schoolmaster to teach in this second school ; 
 I shall make further inquiry respecting him. While 
 I am writing, the mail for England has arrived, and 
 as I have many letters to send, you will excuse the 
 abrupt conclusion of this communication. 
 
 "Sincerely praying for the Lord's guidance and 
 blessing, 
 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Yours faithfully in the bonds of the Gospel, 
 
 " JOHN W. SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 " The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Barbados."
 
 282 LETTER FROM MR. WILKINSON. 
 
 Four days after the Bishop of Sierra Leone wrote 
 this letter, the venerable chief of Fallangia, " the 
 man of Macedonia" of our narrative, thus addressed 
 the Bishop of Barbados : 
 
 "Fallangia, September 15th, 1856. 
 
 " My Lord Bishop, 
 
 " After an elapse of time, I have now taken wp my 
 pen with a trembling hand and sorrowful heart to 
 inform your lordship of the great loss we have sus- 
 tained in our beloved champion of the Cross, the 
 Rev. H. J. Leacock ; and may the Great Disposer of 
 all events raise many Leacocks in the West Indies 
 to come over and help us, poor miserable benighted 
 Africans. John Duport has been doing his duty as 
 a faithful steward of his Lord. I am now preparing 
 material for the church and a mission house ; a 
 school also shall be built. Our present congregation 
 exceeds 100 souls, and scholars are offered every 
 where, only a want of accommodation has prevented 
 us from receiving them at the present. The harvest 
 truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few ; many 
 are truly converted, and wish to be baptized, but 
 there is no one here to do so at present. The whole 
 of Fallangia have thrown away their greegrees and 
 other superstitious rites, and many in our neighbour- 
 hood have done the same. They have foregone 
 their follies, and Duport is still persevering in his 
 labours ; but his late imprudence has impaired his
 
 THE SAD INTELLIGENCE REACHES BARBADOS. 283 
 
 health through hard labour, but I have advised him 
 not to overwork himself on any account in future. 
 With due respects to your family, and accept of the 
 same yourself, 
 
 " I remain, Sir, 
 
 " Your Lordship's humble servant, 
 
 " RICHARD WILKINSON." 
 
 When the sad tidings reached Mr. Leacock's 
 native island, the sensation was most profound. The 
 "Barbadian" newspaper appeared in mourning, its 
 columns being lined with black as on the occasion of 
 a public calamity. The following passages appeared 
 under its editorial heading for November 5th and 
 8th: 
 
 "Words are wanting to describe the grief with 
 which we lay before our readers the letters which 
 the packet has this morning brought, and which 
 will carry mourning and lamentation into many a 
 household throughout this land, as well as in various 
 other parts of the world. In the bitterness of our 
 sorrow, however, we can still rejoice (God be praised 
 for it) that our dear departed brother has joined the 
 'noble army of martyrs,' that he has died in the 
 noblest of all causes, that we have given Africa, as a 
 first instalment of the debt we owe her, our best, our 
 bravest, our most well-beloved son. 
 
 " ' The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
 
 284 EULOGY IN THE "BARBADIAN." 
 
 Church.' The man of God who has just ' gone to 
 sleep in Afric's dust ' to quote his own words on the 
 eve of his departure has been privileged, before 
 being called to his long home, to plant the standard 
 of the Cross firmly and, as we trust, immoveably in 
 a corner of the land to whose spiritual welfare he 
 had ardently devoted himself, body, soul, and spirit. 
 The Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, the proto-martyr of 
 the West Indian Church Association for the Further- 
 ance of the Gospel in Western Africa, has gone to 
 glory with a diadem of imperishable lustre on his 
 brow. A more noble instance of self-sacrifice has 
 never graced the annals of missionary enterprise. 
 A more rapid success has hardly ever attended so 
 short a career. If He who came to seek and to save 
 that which was lost, in three short years achieved 
 such incalculable good, that ' the world itself could 
 not contain the books that should be written' con- 
 cerning his mighty deeds, his devoted servant, our 
 Apostle to Africa, has at an humble distance fol- 
 lowed his great Master's steps, and has been pri- 
 vileged in some degree to resemble Him in the 
 astonishing results which attended the first preach- 
 ing of the Cross to the heathens of Fallangia. Who 
 can doubt that our dear departed brother was led by 
 the Spirit into the moral wilderness to be welcomed 
 in his declining years, and in a heathen land, with 
 that noble ' Te Deum,' which burst on his astonished 
 ears from the old chief Wilkinson, who declared
 
 EULOGY IN THE "BARBADIAN." 285 
 
 that the Lord had sent Mr. Leacock in answer to 
 the prayers he had offered for twenty years. 
 
 " Who can doubt that Providence directed our 
 missionary to the very spot where he was to meet 
 with this unexpected encouragement an African 
 chief, himself a Christian in heart, warmly welcom- 
 ing him and seconding his efforts ? Here is an old 
 man, of great influence in the country, lodging and 
 feeding our missionary, at once giving up the spacious 
 piazza of his own abode as a temporary church, 
 acting as interpreter, using his influence and au- 
 thority to get together congregations, introducing 
 neighbouring chiefs, encouraging the catechist's 
 school, procuring pupils for it, and in fact furthering 
 in every way the objects of the mission. Why it 
 was enough to make good old Mr. Leacock respond 
 to the ' Te Deum,' by exclaiming, ' Lord, now lettest 
 thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
 seen thy salvation ! ' Perhaps he did sing this song 
 of triumph. Like Moses on the top of Pisgah, he 
 saw the land which God had promised him; with 
 the eye of faith he realized the progress of the 
 Gospel in the country of his adoption the joy was 
 too great for him, he felt his own nothingness in 
 view of so great a work, of so great a privilege, and 
 he could not help desiring to depart and be with 
 Christ, which was far better ! We learn indeed 
 from the painfully interesting and affecting letter of
 
 286 EULOGY IN THE "BARBADIAN." 
 
 the Bishop of Sierra Leone, that a few days before 
 his death he had expressed a desire of this sort, 
 although he had not long before showed a great 
 eagerness to return to his work. 
 
 " Dreadful as is the blow to us, disappointed as we 
 all are at being denied the privilege of welcoming 
 him back amongst us, and hearing from his own lips 
 the tidings of his mission, the providence of God 
 may, and we trust will overrule the sad event for 
 the ultimate good of the mission ; the very eagerness 
 and liking for the good news, which was manifested 
 so unmistakeably by many, may be stimulated by 
 his removal. We shall be much mistaken if the 
 Joshua who succeeds him, and who promises so 
 worthily to follow his steps, does not soon rally 
 round him a devoted band of followers, whose recep- 
 tion of, and adherence to the Gospel shall gladden 
 his heart, bring peace and happiness to themselves, 
 and encourage those who, in various parts of the 
 world, are joining together to promote this holy 
 work. 
 
 " "We do not grudge Africa our Leacock ; we 
 entertain a holy envy of her for the privilege she 
 enjoys of cherishing his ashes; and if we had a 
 hundred more such sons, we would gladly give them 
 to her ! But she does not need them ; she has sons 
 of her own ; she has her Duports, who can do all 
 that our Leacocks could do for her, and more
 
 CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPORT. 287 
 
 because they can stand the climate better. "We will 
 train and teach them, and send them to her, and 
 then bid her and them God speed ! " 
 
 This memoir cannot, perhaps, be better concluded 
 than by a letter to the writer from Mr. Duport (now 
 the Rev. John Henry A. Duport), written within 
 three weeks after the decease of his friend and 
 pastor : 
 
 " The fields are white already for harvest. There 
 are four places ready now to receive missionary sta- 
 tions. Our congregation has increased to upwards 
 of one hundred attentive hearers. We have no 
 room for the people, and this is during the rains. I 
 am very happy also to inform you that they have 
 cast away all their idolatry and the gods in which 
 they once placed implicit confidence. Many brought 
 theirs to me. They are very anxious to be baptized. 
 They are fully convinced of their errors, and many 
 are striving to become faithful servants of Christ. 
 Some come the distance of four miles through the 
 heavy rains to hear the word of God. I went to see 
 a woman who was very sick indeed, and I sent her 
 some medicine. To my great surprise she attended 
 evening service, and when asked why she ventured 
 out in the damp, she replied, 'I feel little better, 
 and I wanted to come hear what God say.' Mr. 
 Wilkinson has already begun to gather materials for 
 the building. He says nothing shall deter him from
 
 288 CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPORT. 
 
 the work, that he is only waiting until the rains 
 cease. Many of our little congregation attend the 
 Sunday school, who most earnestly wish to read the 
 Bible, ' from which they hear such good things.' 
 
 "The school children number thirty- two at present ; 
 every one is doing well. Two of the boys I took in 
 their pure wild state are now able to read the Prayer 
 Book ; their writing is good, their memory retentive. 
 They know the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command- 
 ments, and the Creed, in English and in their own 
 tongue. I have, with the assistance of Mr. Wilkin- 
 son, translated some of the reading sentences at the 
 commencement of the service, the Lord's Prayer and 
 the prayers after it, the Te Deum, Creed and prayers 
 after, the Ten Commandments and the responses, and 
 a part of the Sunday School Primer. 
 
 " I am very happy to inform you that our labours 
 have not been in vain in this place. Our mission is 
 making rapid progress, and making lasting impres- 
 sions (I hope) on the minds of the people. Many 
 express how they have been deceived by the Moham- 
 medans. They very willingly pay for their books 
 and those of their children, in produce : Mr. "Wilkin- 
 son is a very great help to me. 
 
 " One man who was a zealous attendant, and the 
 first to cast away his greegrees, is now no more. 
 The last night he was permitted to join us, after ser- 
 vice he took his handkerchief and blindfolded his 
 eyes, and said, ' If I had died before the missionaries
 
 CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPORT. 289 
 
 came here, I would have died in darkness, but now I 
 see.' He went home and was never permitted to 
 return. 
 
 " I was called to go and see him very soon, and I 
 met him suffering very much. His appearance was 
 already changed, and I had very poor hopes of his 
 recovery. He was about seventy years of age. I 
 conversed with him, and asked him many questions, 
 to each of which he gave very satisfactory answers. 
 He said his whole trust was in God and in his Son 
 Jesus Christ, and that he had committed himself to 
 his care and protection (I had an interpreter). 
 
 "On the Sunday after, I went to see him, and 
 pointed him to the only way of salvation, Jesus 
 Christ. He replied, ' Da he me a look to, me pray 
 to Him night and day.' I prayed with him, and re- 
 peated the Lord's Prayer in his own tongue. When 
 I was ready to leave, he grasped my hands firmly 
 and most heartily replied, 'Allah etantoo' (Gtod bless 
 you), and ere I reached home he sent presents to me. 
 I never saw his face again. 
 
 " It was a custom of the country, that when the 
 husband dies, the wives and all who are connected 
 with the place are accused of having by witchcraft 
 taken his life. This act the old man prohibited on 
 his death-bed. He said (I was told), ' I am about to 
 die, let no one accuse my people of witchcraft, no 
 one has done me any thing, I die by the hand of
 
 290 CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPORT. 
 
 God.' Many have been the convictions which have 
 taken place, although our mission is in its infant 
 state. A few weeks ago, one evening after service, a 
 man said to Mr. Wilkinson, * Master, this is the gree- 
 gree we want, God's book is the best greegree, gree- 
 gree for all, old and young, this is the best of gree- 
 grees.' 
 
 "The people are very kind, although very poor. 
 They love to hear of Jesus Christ, they love to hear 
 of heaven and learn the way to it. Old and young 
 are desirous of learning to read. They will have 
 nothing to do with the Mohammedans, they look 
 upon them as their enemies. One man who was a 
 greegree worshipper, one day took up the book of 
 another man who belongs to us ; the latter snatched 
 the book from him and said, ' Do not put your hands 
 on my book, because you are a greegree worshipper, 
 and have greegree in your cap.' The former joined 
 us about three weeks since. 
 
 " We keep service every night, and three times on 
 Sundays, with Sunday school. Twenty-two adults 
 attend the Sunday school. The whole Sabbath is 
 dedicated to the Lord. Surely the Lord has visited 
 his people here, and has blessed our labours with 
 abundant success. Surely the deceased has not left 
 his home and comforts for nought. His name will 
 be handed down to posterity for ages yet to come. 
 
 "May God bless you, and grant you long life.
 
 FUNERAL ANTHEM. 291 
 
 That you may do a great deal of good for the cause of 
 missions is the sincere wish of your humble and de- 
 voted servant, 
 
 " JOHN HENRY A. DUPORT." 
 
 FUNERAL ANTHEM. 
 
 Brother, thou art gone before us, and thy saintly soul is flown 
 Where tears are wiped from every eye, and sorrow is unknown ; 
 From the burthen of the flesh, and from care and fear released, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 
 The toilsome way thou'st travelled o'er, and borne the heavy load, 
 But Christ hath taught thy languid feet to reach his blest abode ; 
 Thou'rt sleeping now, like Lazarus, upon his father's breast, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 
 Sin can never taint thee now, nor doubt thy faith assail, 
 
 Nor thy meek faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit fail ; 
 
 And there thou'rt sure to meet the good, whom on earth thou lovedst 
 
 best, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 
 ' Earth to earth,' and ' dust to dust,' the solemn priest hath said, 
 So we lay the turf above thee now, and we seal thy narrow bed : 
 But thy spirit, brother, soars away among the faithful blest, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 
 And when the Lord shall summon us, whom thou hast left behind, 
 May we, untainted by the world, as sure a welcome find ; 
 May each, like thee, depart in peace, to be a glorious guest, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 
 
 u 2
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pos the purpose of assisting Bishop Parry and the " "West 
 Indian Association for the Furtherance of the Gospel in 
 "Western Africa," an Auxiliary Committee has been formed 
 in England, consisting of gentlemen connected more or 
 less with the "West Indies. The Eev. Henry Caswall, 
 Vicar of Pigheldean, Amesbury, "Wilts, appointed Secre- 
 tary in England by the Bishop of Barbados, will be 
 happy to communicate with all who may be disposed to 
 join in the undertaking. Donations and Subscriptions 
 will be received by the Treasurer and Secretary, the 
 Members of the Committee, and at 79, Pall Mall, 
 London, to the account of the "West African Mission. 
 
 Treasurer and Secretary. 
 Eev. Henry Caswall, D.D., Eigheldean, Amesbury, "Wilts. 
 
 Committee. 
 
 Burton, Eev. E. C., Taverham, Norfolk. 
 Caswall, Eev. H., Figheldean, Wilts. 
 Cave, Charles, Esq., Lowndes Place. 
 Colebrooke, Sir William, Bart., Datchet.
 
 294 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dickinson, F. H., Esq., Kingweston, Somerset. 
 Eliot, Ven. Archdeacon, Norton Bavant, Wilts. 
 Grasett, Elliott, Esq., Chesham Street, London. 
 Howell, Eev. Hinds, Dray ton, Norfolk. 
 Finder, Eev. Canon, Wells. 
 Eigaud, Eev. S. J., D.D., Ipswich. 
 Taylor, Simon Watson, Esq., Erchfont, Wilts. 
 Trew, Ven. Archdeacon, Wivenhoe, Colchester. 
 Wall, Eev. Professor, Balliol College, Oxford. 
 Yard, Eev. G. B., East Torrington. 
 
 The Subscriptions and Donations towards the above 
 effort, up to Epiphany 1857, amounted to about 300Z., 
 including an anonymous contribution of 100?.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 i. 
 AMERICA and the AMERICAN CHURCH. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 Price 7*. 
 MOZLEYS, Paternoster Row. 
 
 The CITY of the MORMONS; or, THREE DAYS at 
 
 NAUVOO. With Frontispiece. Second Edition. 
 
 Price 1*. 6d. 
 
 RIVINGTONS. 
 
 HI. 
 
 The PROPHET of the NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 A History of Mormonism. 
 
 To which is appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon. 
 Price 6*. 6d. 
 RIVINGTONS. 
 
 A PILGRIMAGE to CANTERBURY. 
 
 Containing an Account of the Missionary College of St. Augustine. 
 Price 6d. 
 
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 v. 
 
 SCOTLAND and the SCOTTISH CHURCH. 
 
 With Engravings. 
 
 Price 5s. 
 
 J. H. & J. PARKER. 
 
 The WESTERN WORLD REVISITED. 
 
 Containing a Narrative of the Deputation from the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel to the American Church. 
 
 Price 7- 
 J. H. & J. PARKER.
 
 FEBRUARY, 1857. 
 
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 RECENTLY PUBLISHED 
 BY 
 
 MESSES. RIVINGTON, 
 
 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL. 
 
 SERMONS on Texts from the GOSPELS and EPISTLES. 
 By JOHN HAMPDEN GURNEY, M.A., Rector of St. Mary's, 
 Muylebone ; Author of " Historical Sketches," the " Grand 
 Romish Fallacy," &c. In small 8vo. 6s. (Now ready.) 
 
 Lately published, 
 
 SERMONS chiefly on OLD TESTAMENT HISTORIES ; 
 
 from Texts in the SUNDAY LESSONS. 6s. 
 
 II. 
 
 The FOUR GOSPELS and ACTS of the APOSTLES. 
 With EXPLANATORY NOTES hy LORD LYTTELTON. 
 In post 8vo. 8s. 6d. 
 
 III. 
 
 SERMONS on the CHARACTERS of the OLD TESTA- 
 MENT. By the Rev. ISAAC WILLIAMS, B.D., late Fellow 
 of Trinity College, Oxford ; Author of a " Harmony of the Gospels 
 with Reflections," in 8 vols. In small 8vo. 5s. 6d. 
 
 QUEBEC CHAPEL SERMONS, VOL. III.; chiefly on 
 
 Practical Subjects: preached in the Former Half of 1856. By 
 HENRY ALFORD, B.D., Minister of the Chapel ; Editor of a 
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 Also, The FIRST and SECOND SERIES, preached in 1854. In 
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 v. 
 
 The FIRST of JUNE ; or, SCHOOLBOY RIVALRY : a 
 
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 AGONISTES; or, PHILOSOPHICAL STRICTURES, 
 
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 VII. 
 
 SERMONS on CHRISTIAN PRACTICE. By HENRY 
 
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 VIII. 
 
 The THIRD EDITION of a HISTORY of the PROTESTANT 
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 IX. 
 
 The THIRD VOLUME of the GREEK TESTAMENT : with 
 
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 By the Rev. HENRY ALFORD, B.D., Minister of Quebec 
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 In 8vo. 18s. 
 
 Lately published, 
 
 A NEW EDITION of VOLS. I. and II. 
 
 x. 
 The WEEK of DARKNESS ; a SHORT MANUAL for 
 
 the Use and Comfort of MOURNERS in a House where one lies 
 Dead. By the AUTHOR of "Ye MAIDEN and MARRIED LIFE of 
 MARY POWELL." In 18mo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 A COLLECTION of ANTHEMS, used in Her Majesty's 
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 New Edition, with Additions. 8vo. 9s. 
 
 A SECOND EDITION of the HISTORY of the CHURCH of 
 ENGLAND in the COLONIES and FOREIGN DEPEND- 
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 XIII. 
 
 An ILLUSTRATED EDITION of SACRED ALLE- 
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 the Rev. WILLIAM ADAMS, M.A., late Fellow of Merton 
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 %* This NEW EDITION contains numerous Engravings on Wood 
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 A MANUAL of HOUSEHOLD PRAYER, for MORN- 
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 XV. 
 
 LETTERS from CANTERBURY, NEW ZEALAND. 
 By ROBERT BATEMAN PAUL, M.A., Archdeacon of Wai- 
 mea. With a Map of the Province, including a considerable part 
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 XVI. 
 
 A COPIOUS PHRASEOLOGICAL ENGLISH-GREEK 
 
 LEXICON, founded on a Work prepared by J. W. FRADERS- 
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 enlarged, and improved by the late THOMAS KERCHEVER 
 ARNOLD, M.A., formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 and HENRY BROWNE, M.A., Vicar of Pevensey, and Preben- 
 dary of Chichester. In 8vo. 1 Is. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 THE GREEK TESTAMENT; with ENGLISH NOTES. 
 
 By CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, D.D., Canon of West- 
 minster. Part I. (The FOUR GOSPELS.) In imperial 8vo. 21s. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 QUIET MOMENTS: a Four Weeks' Courseof THOUGHTS 
 
 and MEDITATIONS, before Evening Prayer and at Sunset. 
 By LADY CHARLOTTE-MARIA PEPYS. Third Edition. 
 In small 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Lately PublisJied, 
 
 MORNING NOTES of PRAISE, a Companion Volume. 
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 XIX. 
 
 A Second Edition of HOMER'S ILIAD, Books I IV., 
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 NOTES. By the Rev. THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, 
 M. A., late Rector of Lyndon, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. In 12rao. 7s. Gd. 
 
 XX. 
 
 A MEMOIR of the Right Rev. DAVID LOW, D.D., for- 
 
 merly Bishop of the United Dioceses of Ross, MORAY, and AR- 
 GYLE; comprising Sketches of the Principal Events connected 
 with the Scottish Episcopal Church, during the last Seventy Years. 
 By the Rev. WILLIAM BLATCH, Incumbent of St. John's, 
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 XXI. 
 
 FALSE WORSHIP; an Essay. By the Rev. S. R MAIT- 
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 Also, by the same Author ', 
 SUPERSTITION and SCIENCE : an Essay. 2s. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 An INQUIRY concerning the Principles in the Constitu- 
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 EVIL. By a LAYMAN. In small 8vo. 4s. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 SERMONS and ADDRESSES delivered on Various Oc- 
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 SPICILEGIUM SYRIACUM ; or, Remnants of WRITERS 
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 PAROCHIAL SERMONS. By the Rev. GREVILLE 
 
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 XXVI. 
 
 The FOURTH EDITION of the BISHOPRIC of SOULS. 
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 of Valehead." In small 8vo. 5s.
 
 BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The POETICAL WORKS of EDMUND PEEL. In 
 
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 XXVIII. 
 
 DISCOURSES : chiefly deduced from the GOSPELS and 
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 of St. Mary's Hospital Chapel, Great Ilford, Essex. In small 8vo. 
 5s. 6d. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 The DOCTRINE of the GREEK ARTICLE applied to the 
 CRITICISM and ILLUSTRATION of the NEW TESTA- 
 MENT. By the late BISHOP MIDDLETON. With Pre- 
 fatory Observations and Notes, by HUGH JAMES ROSE, B.D., 
 late Principal of King's College, London. New Edition. In 8vo. 
 12s. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 A SERIES of SERMONS on the EPISTLE and COS- 
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 of the CHURCH. By the Rev. ISAAC WILLIAMS, B.D., late 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford ; Author of a " Harmony of 
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 3 vols. small 8vo. 16s. 6rf. 
 
 *,* The Third Volume (on the SAINTS' DAYS and other HOLY 
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 XXXI. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT of the EXTERNAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 and DISCIPLINE of the CHURCH of CHRIST during the 
 FIRST THREE CENTURIES. By JOHN KAYE, D.D., 
 late Lord Bishop of Lincoln. In 8vo. 5s. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 DIVINE LOVE in CREATION and REDEMPTION : 
 a COURSE of SERMONS, from Septuagesima to Trinity. By 
 HENRY ALFORD, B.D., Minister of Quebec Chapel, London; 
 and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. In small 8vo. 5s. 
 
 CHRISTIAN THEISM : the TESTIMONY of REASON 
 and REVELATION to the EXISTENCE and CHARAC- 
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 ANCHOR THOMPSON, M.A. In 2 vols. 8vo. 1 Is. 
 
 V The FIRST BURNETT PRIZE of 1800 was awarded to 
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 XXXIV. 
 
 A DEVOTIONAL COMMENT on the MORNING and 
 
 EVENING SERVICES in the BOOK of COMMON PRAYER, 
 in a Series of PLAIN LECTURES. By JOHN JAMES, D.D., 
 Canon of Peterborough, Author of a " Comment on the Collects," 
 and other Works. Second Edition. In 2 vols. l'2mo. 10s. tid. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 EVANGELICAL LIFE, as seen in the EXAMPLE of our 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST. By JOHN JAMES, D.D., Canon 
 of Peterborough ; Author of a " Comment on the Collects," and 
 other Works. Second Edition. In 12mo. 7s. 6d. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 The CHERRY-STONES; or, the FORCE of CON- 
 SCIENCE : a Tale for Youth. Partly from the MSS. of the 
 Rev. WILLIAM ADAMS, Author of " The Shadow of the 
 Cross," &c. Edited by the Rev. H. C. ADAMS. Fourth 
 Edition. In small 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 SERMONS, preached at St. Mary's, Oxford. By the Rev. 
 CHARLES PAGE EDEN, M.A., Vicar of Aberford, late Fel- 
 low of Oriel College, and Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford. 
 In small 8vo. 5s. 6d. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 ENGLAND'S SACRED SYNODS ; a Constitutional 
 History of the CONVOCATIONS of the CLERGY, from the 
 Earliest Records of Christianity in Britain to the Date of the 
 Promulgation of the Book of Common Prayer. Including a List 
 of all the Councils of the Clergy held in England. By JAMES 
 WAYLAND JOYCE, M.A., formerly Student of Christ Church, 
 Oxford, Rector of Burford (Third Portion). In 8vo. 25s. 
 
 The COMMUNION of the LAITY: an ESSAY, chiefly 
 
 Historical, on the Rule and Practice of the Church with respect to 
 the Reception of the Consecrated Elements, at the Celebration of 
 the HOLY EUCHARIST. By W. E. SCUDAMORE, M.A., 
 Rector of Ditchingham, and late Fellow of St. John's College, 
 Cambridge. In 8vo. 4s. 6d. 
 
 XL. 
 
 The FOURTH EDITION of the FIRST FRENCH BOOK ; 
 
 on the Plan of " Henry's First Latin Book." By the Rev. 
 THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A., late Rector of 
 Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 
 12mo. 5s. 6d.
 
 BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 The THIRD SERIES of PAROCHIAL SERMONS, preached 
 
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 ROBERT WILSON EVANS, B.D., Archdeacon of Westmore- 
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 of " The Rectory of Valehead," and " The Bishopric of Souls." 
 In small 8vo. 5s. 
 
 Also, The FIRST and SECOND VOLUMES. Price 5*. each. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 MEDITATIONS and PRAYERS on the ORDINATION 
 SERVICE for PRIESTS. By the Rev. J. H. PINDER, M.A., 
 
 Principal of Wells Theological College. In small 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Also, by the same Author, lately published, 
 
 MEDITATIONS and PRAYERS on the ORDINATION SER- 
 VICE for DEACONS. 3s. 6d. 
 
 WAYFARINGS in CHRIST; a Selection of SERMONS 
 
 preached in St. Philip's Chapel, Regent Street. By the Rev. 
 G. D. HILL, M.A., Evening Preacher at Grosvenor Chapel, 
 South Audley Street. In 12mo. 4s. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 A READING COMPANION to the FIRST GERMAN 
 
 BOOK ; containing Extracts from the best Authors, with a copious 
 Vocabulary and Explanatory Notes. By the Rev. THOMAS 
 KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A., late Rector of Lyndon, and 
 formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and J. W. 
 FRADERSDORFF, Dr. Phil. Second Edition. In 12mo. 4s. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 A SECOND EDITION of SELECTIONS from CICERO, 
 with ENGLISH NOTES. Part I. : From the ORATIONS ; 
 
 containing the Fourth Book of the Impeachment of Verres, the 
 Four Speeches against Catiline, and the Speech for the Poet 
 Archias. The Notes are taken from several excellent Editions 
 well known in Germany, including those ofOrelli, Zumpt, Matthia, 
 and Klotz. Edited by THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, 
 M.A., late Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge. In 12mo. 4s. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 PAROCHIAL LECTURES on POETRY and other SUB- 
 JKCTS. By the Rev. EDWARD MONRO, Incumbent of 
 Harrow Weald, Middlesex; Author of " Parochial Work," " The 
 Parish," and other Works. In small 8vo. 7- 6d.
 
 8 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON. 
 
 TheTmuD VOLUME of PAROCHIAL SERMONS, preached 
 in the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Dover. By the 
 Rev. JOHN PUCKLE, M.A., Incumbent of the Parish, and 
 Rural Dean. In 8vo. 9s. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 SICKNESS : its TRIALS and BLESSINGS. Fifth Edition. 
 In small 8vo. 5s. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 QUESTIONS illustrating the THIRTY-NINE ARTI- 
 CLES of the CHURCH of ENGLAND: with Proofs from 
 Scripture and the Primitive Church. By the Rev. EDWARD 
 BICKERSTETH, M.A., Archdeacon of Buckingham, and Vicar 
 of Aylesbury. Fourth Edition. In 12mo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 L. 
 
 The GOSPEL NARRATIVE of OUR LORD'S RESUR- 
 RECTION HARMONIZED: with Reflections. By the Rev. 
 ISAAC WILLIAMS, B.D., late Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Oxford. Second Edition. In small 8vo. Is. 
 
 GROTIUS de VERITATE RELIGIONIS CHRISTI- 
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 By the Rev. J. E. MIDDLETON, M.A., of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge ; Lecturer on Theology at St. Bees' College. Second 
 Edition. In 12mo. 6s. 
 
 PRACTICAL RELIGION EXEMPLIFIED, by LETTERS 
 and PASSAGES from the LIFE of the late Rev. ROBERT 
 ANDERSON, of Brighton. By the Hon. Mrs. ANDERSON. 
 Sixth Edition. In small 8vo. 4s. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 The FIFTH EDITION of A MANUAL of the RUDIMENTS 
 
 of THEOLOGY ; containing an Abridgment of Bp. Tomline's 
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 Pearson on the Creed ; and a Brief Exposition of the Thirty-nine 
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 monies, &c. By the Rev. J. B. SMITH, D.D., formerly of 
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