The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-27 00:00:00

In this conduct there would be courage, there would
be sense. But to institute a republic, to swear alle-
giance to it, and aver at the same time that they are
is a state of permanent conspiracy against it; to insult
it in the Natioaal Awe mbly, yet tremble before it lithe
council chamber and in the streets--this, we malataia,
is a state of anarchy lire worst than what pre-
vailed under the provieiocal governumnt. It is
the incarnation at ones d trews and of cowardice,
not peening but petpstual I and, at the same
time, a permanent appeal to a state of civil war
through which the °pantry meet pees, whatever
way its faints course may be directed.
Ws mimt own that the sight of all this Ws us
wit=for the fate of France, with disgust for
its and companion for its intellect. Nor
can we have the least oostkitnoe in either the honesty,
sagacity, or courage ?f any one portion of the ruling
party, be it Immoralist, or Legitimist, or Orleanist, or
on the sad combination of all three which constitutes
a tar greater party than any, viz., those of the time-
servers.

Or the two black Christian States in the world,
one, Hayti, is engaged in founding (for the second
time, however), a monarchy ; the other, Liberia, is, it
would seem from the letter of the governor of that
Sable Republic, which we published on Saturday,
anxious to extend its territories. The former might
probably, the latter might certainly, be much better
employed. The great experiment of self-government
and national improvement by the negro nos is not
likely to be mach advanced by constant changes in the
form of government of Hayti ; and the scarcely leis
important experiment of civilising Africa by the re-
turn of its native races from the United States will
eergnue
taisl not be promoted by indulgence in territorial
malt and by the consequent dispersion of
%e American immigrants at Liberia.
The Republic of Liberia founded by the Amorist*
citaos
IColonisation Society as a whence the gradual
expolioa of the slaves the United States from
that republic might confer benefit on their Memel
country, Africa), has, in the course el
twenty been extended from Caps Palms
oa the South to Cape Mount on the North;
it claims along this long line of coast an inland teni-
tl tory of not more than a mean depth of 40 miles; and
the utmost amount of population it has ever pre-
tooled to possess does not exceed 80,000. But, in
reality, the republic exists oily at a very few points
on this line of comae and its subjects do not mewed a
few thousands; all the males of whom are armed to
I the teeth. Hitherto, the republic has been obliged to
fight for its very existence • for as its policy is terri-
torially aggressive it has been almost incessantly en-
gaged in wars—and several of them very sanguinary
wars—with the natives, who regard its extension
with aversion, and resist, whenever they can, its
authority. Unlike the Gold Coast, or even the ad-
joining Ivory Coast, the line of coast now di signated
lon our maps as Liberia was never much plagued with
the slave trade; and, except at New Cestos, the little
that ever existed had almost disappeared before
its invasion by the American Coloeisation Society.
Unlike those coasts in another important particular,
Liberia has never had any legitimate trade of the
slightest consequence; nor has it the materials of
any commerce of importance. Native population is
scarce, and its natural resources are very small ; it is,
consequently, deficient in articles of export, and there
is not in the interior any country of great fertility,
or any constituted state such as the Gold Coasthas at
its back, in Atalanta) and Dahomy. The natural ele-
ments of commercial progress which Liberia possesses
are, therefore, small when comp ,red with most other
portions of the western coast of Africa. The develop-
ment of such as it has is, too, retarded by the con-
tinual disputes and wars which exist between the
colonists and the natives. The coasting trade of
Europe is repelled from its roadsteads by a high rate
of duties which it has imposed on importations, by
the restrictive requirements which it places on vessels
that do visit its seaside villages, and by the barbarous
treatment which they have on more than one occasica
received. And, in point of fa t, its foreign trade is
almost entirely owing to the yearly visits which are
paid it by ships chartered by the American Colonisa-
tion Society.
The success of Liberia, viewed in reference either
to civilisation or to commerce, has been very small
indeed as yet ; it can indeed be hardly said to have
become indigenous, or to be an established state; for
it exists chiefly by means of money and supplies fur-
nished by the parent society in the United States;
and it may be doubted whether it is likely to fulfil the
design of that society, however meritorious and deserv-
ing of encouragement and suocese may be its object.
The policy of its present rulers isnot to push its limits
into the interior, but to extend its already lengthy
line of coast; in its pursuit, they lately, as they
allege, purchased New Cestoe, on the south; they are
now, it appears, anxious to raise funds in this country
to buy the mouths of the River Gallium on the
north ; and for this latter purpose their friends here
are circulating through the press the letter of
I Governor ROBERTS, to which we have already re-
ferred.
This, however, is a line of policy which ought not,
we submit, to be encouraged either by our philan-
thropists or our merchants. For, without denying
that the rulers of this republic may in its exercise be
animated by a siucere de-ire to suppress the slave
trade, it is perfectly obvious that they have no means
st suppression wherewith to gratify their humane
wishes; and that the utmost success of their policy
cannot hare the smallest influence on that traffic.
Whilst, on the other hand, its success is eminently
calculated to increase African wars and to retard
African commerce. For on either side the extension
of Liberian territory has led to hostilities with the
natives, and the tariff of the Liberian republic is
certain to repress nascent legitimate trade wherever
it is applied.
Now if there be one portion of the world to which
peace and free trade are more important than another,
it is the continent of Africa, particularly its western
coast. A constant state of warfare along that coast
is fatal to its improvement; it wrists all intercourse
with the interior, it begets halite of violence in the
waterside tribes, renders all propeety insecure, and
repels European trade. Whilst restrictions on com-1
merce, and duties on imports, in a country where all
interchange of commodities is one of barter, is simply
prohibitory of trade. By far the most flourishing
part of the western coast is that under the influencer,
rather than the rule, of the British forts on the Gold
Coast. There (thanks to the admirable policy intro-
doped by the late President Keel rte) ware and
tariffs are alike unknown; there commerca is
=king strides far outstripping those of eves
tbs Gambia or Sierra Leone. As, thee,
Iraq extension of Liberia has the tendency to begot
ware, and is certain to introduce high duties, it is of
the greatest importance to Africa that no encourage-
ment should be given either by British capitalists or
philanthropists, or by the British government. to the
present attempt to extend the jurisdiction of Liberia
over the mouths of the Gallinas—a river destined to
become as great an emporium of lawful as it has ever
been the seat of unlawful trade. Governor ROBERTS
bar, in the long line of coast ever which he already
claims power, an ample field for the exercise of both
his diplomacy or his humanity, without subjecting
!the Gallinas to his authority.
tust I

Tin ruinous effect el the miss duty upon soap is
felt not only in the home trade of the manufacturer
of that article, but in his export trade, whether to
British colonies or foreign nations. This is the more
remarkable because the law allows a drawback of the
excise duty upon all soap exported, expressly with the
view toplace the English manufacturer= an equal foot-
ing with the foreigner. But, unfortuately,it is not the
amount of duty alone which impedes the soap-maker
in the fair field of competition. His efforts are re-
strained by other regulations of tte Excise, which
prevent his meeting the foreign manufacturer with
any prospect of success.
In the first plane, although the Excise, by their
penal enactments, may have forced soap of particular
make and (twenty upon the English, it by no moans
follows that that peculiar mike and quality is pre-
ferred by. other people. All British soap must
be cut into bars not exceeding fifteen inches
long. Foreigners have no especial veneration either
for bars of soap or for our standard fifteen inches. Oa
the contrary, in many countries soap in bars is en-
tirely unknown, and if you placed such a commodity
before the inhabitant, he would not know what to
make of it. So long u our excise law prohibits any
other soap whatever to be made, we cannot hope to
&Alin a market amongst people who dislike the bars
of fifteen inches long.
A3arr. : the regtvatiors of the Exl'irt preclude the
manufseura of any scap which exceeds the legal