ring
the Revolutionary War; and at the same time suggested, if this
could be obtained, some of the Portuguese possessions in South
America, as next most desirable. The subsequent Legislature
approving these ideas, I wrote, the ensuing year, 1802, to Mr.
King, our Minister in London, to endeavor to negotiate with the
Sierra Leone company a reception of such of these people as might
be colonized thither. He opened a correspondence with Mr.
Wedderbourne and Mr. Thornton, secretaries of the company, on the
subject, and, in 1803, I received through Mr. King the result,
which was that the colony was going on, but in a languishing
condition; that the funds of the company were likely to fail, as
they received no returns of profit to keep them up; that they
were, therefore, in treaty with their government to take the
establishment off their hands; but that in no event should they
be willing to receive more of these people from the United
States, as it was exactly that portion of their settlers which
had gone from hence, which, by their idleness and turbulence, had
kept the settlement in constant danger of dissolution, which
could not have been prevented but for the aid of the maroon
negroes from the West Indies, who were more industrious and
orderly than the others, and supported the authority of the
government and its laws ... The effort which I made with
Portugal, to obtain an establishment for them within their claims
in South America, proved also abortive.[56]

In this extract Jefferson goes a step further in presenting a scheme
for financing the project, giving even the exact amount which he
thought would suffice.

In the disposition of these unfortunate people, there are two
rational objects to be distinctly kept in view. First. The
establishment of a colony on the coast of Africa, which may
introduce among the aborigines the arts of cultivated life and
the blessings of civilization and science. By doing this, we may
make to them some retribution for the long course of injuries we
have been committing on their population. And considering that
these blessings will descend to the _nati natorum et qui
nascentur ab illis_, we shall in the long run have rendered them
perhaps more good than evil. To fulfil this object, the colony of
Sierra Leone promises