EXPEDITION AGAINST SENEGAL.

The whole strength of Great Britain, during this campaign, was not exhausted in petty descents upon the coast of France. The continent of America was the great theatre on which her chief vigour was displayed; nor did she fail to exert herself in successful efforts against the French settlements on the coast of Africa. The whole gum trade, from Cape Blanco to the river Gambia, an extent of five hundred miles, had been engrossed by the French, who built Fort Louis within the mouth of the Senegal, extending their factories near three hundred leagues up that river, and on the same coast had fortified the island of Goree, in which they maintained a considerable garrison. The gum senega, of which a great quantity is used by the manufacturers of England, being wholly in the hands of the enemy, the English dealers were obliged to buy it at second-hand from the Dutch, who purchased it of the French, and exacted an exorbitant price for that commodity. This consideration forwarded the plan for annexing the country to the possession of Great Britain. The project was first conceived by Mr. Thomas Gumming, a sensible quaker, who, as a private merchant, had made a voyage to Portenderrick, an adjoining part of the coast, and contracted a personal acquaintance with Amir, the moorish king of Legibelli.*

* The name the natives give to that part of South Barbary,
known to merchants and navigators by that of the Gum Coast,
and called in maps, the Sandy Desert of Sara, and sometimes
Zaia.

He found this African prince extremely well disposed towards the subjects of Great Britain, whom he publicly preferred to all other Europeans, and so exasperated against the French, that he declared he should never be easy till they were exterminated from the river Senegal. At that very time he had commenced hostilities against them, and earnestly desired that the king of England would send out an armament to reduce Fort Louis and Goree, with some ships of force to protect the traders. In that case, he promised to join his Britannic majesty’s forces, and grant an exclusive trade to his subjects. Mr. Gumming not only perceived the advantages that would result from such an exclusive privilege with regard to the gum, but foresaw many other important consequences of an extensive trade in a country, which, over and above the gum senega, contains many valuable articles, such as gold dust, elephants’ teeth, hides, cotton, bees’ wax, slaves, ostrich feathers, indigo, ambergris, and civet. Elevated with a prospect of an acquisition so valuable to his country, this honest quaker was equally minute and indefatigable in his inquiries touching the commerce of the coast, as well as the strength and situation of the French settlements on the river Senegal; and, at his return to England, actually formed the plan of an expedition for the conquest of Fort Louis. This was presented to the board of trade, by whom it was approved, after a severe examination; but it required the patriotic zeal, and invincible perseverance of Cumming, to surmount a variety of obstacles before it was adopted by the ministry; and even then it was not executed in its full extent. He was abridged of one large ship, and in lieu of six hundred land-forces, to be drafted from different regiments, which he in vain demanded, first from the duke of Cumberland, and afterwards from lord Ligonier, the lords of the admiralty allotted two hundred marines only for this service. After repeated solicitation, he, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, obtained an order, that the two annual ships bound to the coast of Guinea should be joined by a sloop and two busses, and make an attempt upon the French settlement in the river Senegal. These ships, however, were detained by contrary winds until the season was too far advanced to admit a probability of success, and therefore the design was postponed. In the beginning of the present year, Mr. Cumming being reinforced with the interest of a considerable merchant in the city, to whom he had communicated the plan, renewed his application to the ministry, and they resolved to hazard the enterprise. A small squadron was equipped for this expedition, under the command of captain Marsh, having on board a body of marines, commanded by major Mason, with a detachment of artillery, ten pieces of cannon, eight mortars, and a considerable quantity of warlike stores and ammunition. Captain Walker was appointed engineer; and Mr. Cumming was concerned as a principal director and promoter of the expedition.*

* On this occasion Mr. Cumming may seem to have acted
directly-contrary to the tenets of his religious profession;
hut he ever declared to the ministry, that he was fully
persuaded his schemes might be accomplished without the
effusion of human blood; and that if he thought otherwise,
he would by no means have concerned himself about them. He
also desired, let the consequence be what it might, his
brethren should not be chargeable with what was his own
single act. If it was the first military scheme of any
quaker, let it be remembered it was also the first
successful expedition of this war, and one of the first that
ever was carried on according to the pacific system of the
quakers, without the loss of a drop of blood on either side.

This little armament sailed in the beginning of March; and in their passage touched at the island of Teneriffe, where, while the ships supplied themselves with wine and water, Mr. Cumming proceeded in the Swan sloop to Portenderrick, being charged with a letter of credence to his old friend the king of that country, who had favoured him in his last visit with an exclusive trade on that coast, by a former charter, written in the Arabic language. This prince was now up the country, engaged in a war with his neighbours, called the Diable Moors;* and the queen-dowager, who remained at Portenderrick, gave Mr. Cumming to understand, that she could not at present spare any troops to join the English in their expedition against Senegal; but she assured him, that, should the French be exterminated, she and their subjects would go thither and settle.

* This is the name by which the subjects of Legibelli
distinguish those of Brackna, who inhabit the country
farther up the river Senegal, and are in constant alliance
with tha French.

In the meantime, one of the chiefs, called prince Amir, despatched a messenger to the king, with advice of their arrival and design. He declared that he would, with all possible diligence, assemble three hundred warriors to join the English troops, and that, in his opinion, the king would reinforce them with a detachment from his army. By this time, captain Marsh, with the rest of the armament, had arrived at Portenderrick, and fearing that the enemy might receive intimation of his design, resolved to proceed on the expedition without waiting for the promised auxiliaries. On the twenty-second clay of April he weighed anchor, and next day, at four o’clock, discovered the French flag flying upon Fort Louis, situated in the midst of a pretty considerable town, which exhibited a very agreeable appearance. The commodore having made prize of a Dutch ship, richly laden with gum, which lay at anchor without the bar, came to anchor in Senegal-road at the mouth of the river; and here he perceived several armed sloops which the enemy had detached to defend the passage of the bar, which is extremely dangerous. All the boats were employed in conveying the stores into the small craft, while three of the sloops continued exchanging fire over a narrow tongue of land with the vessels of the enemy, consisting of one brig and six armed sloops, mounted with great guns and swivels. At length the channel being discovered, and the wind, which generally blows down the river, chopping about, captain Millar, of the London buss, seized that opportunity; and, passing the bar with a flowing sheet, dropped anchor on the inside, where he lay till night exposed to the whole fire of the enemy. Next day he was joined by the other small vessels, and a regular engagement ensued. This was warmly maintained on both sides, until the busses and one dogger running aground, immediately bulged, and were filled with water. Then the troops they contained took to their boats, and with some difficulty reached the shore; when they formed in a body, and were soon joined by their companions from the other vessels; so that now the whole amounted to three hundred and ninety marines, besides the detachment of artillery. As they laid their account with being attacked by the natives who lined the shore at some distance, seemingly determined to oppose the descent, they forthwith threw up an intrench-ment, and began to disembark the stores, great part of which lay under water. While they were employed in raising this occasional defence, the negroes came in great numbers and submitted; and on the succeeding day they were reinforced by three hundred and fifty seamen, who passed the bar in sloops, with their ensigns and colours flying.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760