He alleges that, where legitimate trade flourished, as in the Kru people's homelands, the slave trade did not exist. An increase in force was needed to coerce the local princes into treaties for the good of themselves and their people. He bases his argument on what had happened after he had removed the enslaved people from Bulama Island in 1838 and fired the barracoons there. He advocates a subsidy to be paid out of colonial funds to African producers for a few years as an encouragement to produce export crops. He regrets that the Courts of Mixed Commission did not have the power to punish the masters and crews of slavers, since it was useless to rely on Spain and Portugal to punish them when their own Governors indulged in the trade. He describes what he himself had seen of official encouragement of the slave trade. He complains that though Buxton had described the horrors of the middle passage in his book, he had not dealt with the condition of the enslaved Africans in the barracoons, alleging that it was as bad if not worse than that of those on the ships. He claims that he had captured the same individuals three times in twelve months engaged in the slave trade, and that loss of wages did not deter them from a trade which was otherwise so profitable. He also states that the slavers were becoming more efficient in their methods so that they could load a vessel and set sail in a few hours; their agents were usually criminals forced to flee their own country. He also notes that, unless the navy were given the extra powers of search by land and sea and those seized were duly punished, any plans to 'civilize Africa', as expressed in Buxton's book, would be frustrated.