ABSTRACT
In 1865 an all-party Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended that, ideally, Britain should relinquish all its possessions on the west coast of Africa with the possible exception of the harbour of Freetown in Sierra Leone. [ Doc. 11, p. 110] If this were not immediately practicable, Britain should be careful not to extend its commitments and should prepare the Africans already under its rule for speedy independence. The proposals were generally welcomed.
