The proposed cession of the Gambia to France was a political issue in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century. It was raised in both 1870 and from 1874 to 1876. Both times it faced significant opposition from both the native population and the British merchants based in the Gambia. It was raised again in the 1890s as a possible exchange for French fishing rights off the Newfoundland coast.
1870 proposal
Initial suggestion and acceptance
In 1868, Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Sierra Leone, acknowledged an inquiry from the French regarding the possibility of the cession of the Gambia to France in return for other French territories in West Africa. In April 1869, Kennedy said that such an arrangement would have obvious commercial, administrative and military benefits. However, he warned that the native population had a "chivalrous attachment to the Queen and Her Government." He also observed that "the natives of the country would regard any negotiations [as a] sale of their country." In February 1870, the British government accepted the proposal in principle. However, it did not want any of the French settlements on offer and proposed to cede the colony in exchange for the French renouncing any claim to the disputed Mellacourie region north of Freetown. This proposal was accepted by the French in March.
Opposition in the Gambia
Opposition of natives
After news of the negotiations reached the Gambia, members of the Liberated African community in Bathurst - specifically J. D. Richards, S. J. Forster, Sr., and W. C. Walcott organised opposition to the proposals. Three petitions against cession were organised between April and October 1870. In London, Joseph Reffles condemned the idea in letters to The African Times.
Opinion of merchants
The opinions of the British merchants in the Gambia on the proposed cession was split. However, a large group of were merchants were opposed to the idea of a cession, led by Thomas Chown, whose firms was one of the oldest in Bathurst having been founded in the 1840s. Thomas Brown (1811-1881), one of the foremost merchants in the Gambia at the time, was strongly opposed to the possibility of the cession. He was the only unofficial member of the Legislative Council in 1870 when the news broke, and made his opposition clear inside and outside the council. He also persuaded the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to oppose the cession. In May 1871, he founded the Gambia's first newspaper, The Bathurst Times, to oppose the cession, although it was short-lived.
Parliamentary debates
On 15 July 1870, in the House of Lords, the Duke of Manchester put a question to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the proposed cession. He said that the matter appeared to involve the "undue exercise of the Prerogative of the Crown." He said that it would be a breach of neutrality to hand over a "seaport of great capacity" that was "advantageously situated" to a nation that was at war with one of the UK's allies. He argued that "if the French thought it desirable to obtain it, it must be equally desirable for us to keep it." He also said that the residents of the Gambia should not be moved to the control of another power without their consent. The Duke said he understood that 600 native inhabitants of the Gambia had, "without instigation on the part of any Englishman", signed a petition that had been sent to the Colonial Office. He said that their main motivation was to avoid the country losing out on trade as a result of being under French control.