terms with the Government of Sierra Leone until his death, which took
place the 19th of May, 1826, at the advanced age, it is said, of
upwards of one hundred years, a point which it would be difficult to
ascertain accurately, as these people are entirely ignorant of their
own ages. Since this period the throne of the Boollams has been vacant;
it being now, however, the intention of the people to proceed to the
choice of a King, according to their custom; and it being deemed of
considerable importance from the vicinity of Boollam to Sierra Leone,
that a person should be elected who was known to be friendly to the
English settlement, it was determined by his Excellency the Governor
that a person should be sent as a commissioner to be present at the
election and coronation; whose duty it should be to support the claims
and secure the election of a person known to the English by the name of
Macaulay Wilson, who, being a near relation of the late King George,
and having been educated in England, being also a man of considerable
abilities, was deemed in every way worthy of the throne.

The election of Macaulay Wilson having been accomplished, it would then
become the duty of the Commissioner, on the part of the English
Government to use every means in his power to induce the new King, with
the numerous chiefs and head men, to accede to, and sign, a convention,
whereby the sovereignty of Boollam was to be ceded to the King of Great
Britain, under certain limitations and restrictions specified in the
treaty. The attainment of this point, would, of course, be attended
with great difficulty; but it had become of the utmost importance for
the suppression of the slave trade that the attempt should be made; for
slave dealers who were actually carrying on their traffic in Freetown,
upon the least alarm, removed to Boollam with their unfortunate
victims, and being then out of British territory were in perfect
security. The following is Lieutenant Maclean's personal narrative of