He is mortified at the government's reluctance to order steamers without Parliament's consent, though it was understandable. He suggests that they should be ordered regardless, as there would not be time to equip the expedition if the order had to wait for the next parliamentary session; also, that the contractors should be told of the difficulty, and that sufficient fines should be offered in the case of Parliament not sanctioning the expenditure. He wished to see Russell about this, indigenous peoples, points connected with the slave trade on which he wanted a clear understanding, namely, sovereignty of the land, the sending of Governors in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast (Ghana) to make treaties with their neighbouring people groups, Ferguson's proposed agricultural settlement in Sierra Leone, and a treaty with the King of Kakunda, whose territory grew a great deal of coffee. He asks whether he might show Russell's latest letter, marked private, in confidence to people with whom he was associated over the slave trade. (Copy.)