The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-01-01

1 LuSiduu W Hull VIII rapture, FcaQ,
| dramatise, weep over and memorabilia upon,
were Sloane given the type of the British bar,
or the man who roasted live cat the other day in
| the presence of his wife and a friend, as fair
sample of the middle classes. Thus Cannon, the
! sweep, might represent the feeling of the lower
classes; Mr. Oliveira the dignity of the House of
Commons; Mr.. Prynne should be sample Of our
church; Lord Frankfort of the nobility. In this
manner, what truthful, pleasant novel might be
composed to present English parallel to the SO.
cial phenomena exhibited in such attractive, be-
cause revolving, details, in that most successful
and heart-rending publication, Uncle Toms Cabin.
From La Patrie of Paris, December 8.
View OF the American Expedition to Gem
trail Africa, in France.
One of the New York journals announces that
the Government of the United States ia preparing,
to go and explore Central Afsca, either for the
purpose of seeking there, at certain distance in
the interior place suitable for the establishment
Of a colony of free blacks, for the purpose Of
forming, with the unknown population of this vast
continent, commercial connexions of which PEG
pie so enterprising as the Americans would know
how to avail themselves.
The command of this expedition was to be conf
ded to Commander Lynch, who has already &C
CURED some celebrity by his exploration of the Red
sea- The chip of-war the Constitution, Captain
Mayo was to be placed at the disposal of the chief
OF the expedition, aad would disembar him on
such point of the African coast as he mil hit Judge
sion. r
One of the principal objects recommended to the
attention of Commander Lynch is the search for
the of the Niger that great desderat,.m of
the geographical science, which has already cost
England enormous sums, and-what is still more
precious-the lives Of 80 many enterprising and
devoted travellers.
We are very much deceived, or this important
problem of the entire and methodical rec0nnois
sa'ce OF the African continent will soon be solved
and the second half OF the nineteenth century,
which is just beginning, will not end without hu-
manity having taken possession, at least by sci
ence, of the entire surface of the globe on which
It has been placed.
With respect to that which concerns the African
continent, situated in some manner in the midst
of the living and luminous fire that sheds its RI vs
simultaneously from Europe and America, and
which has remained up to the present time
stranger to all life and to all light, the moment
snd appear to nav arrived when this solitude
Sphynx is about to be forced to reveal her enigma
to the Gdipus of modern science. 1t will not be
in vain that France on the north, England on the
south, America the west, will have sent to.
wards the African centre their travellers, their
earnest men, their artists, their of adventures
and of enterprises. Soon Africa will be open, and
perhaps humanity will there find its primitiveti-
ties, OF which the most ancient known traditions
would only be confused and emblematic remem-
brances.
That which is certain is, that Africa has more
to teach us upon the primitive history of humanity
tudu any OlueF country Oh the globe. ybe EUyD-
tlans, whom we find at the source of our historic
times, and whose ingenious and profound fables
nave remained more advanced than we believe.
In our laws, our manners, and our philosophy
represented themselves only as the children and
the disciples of the Nubians, of the Abyssinians.
and OF the people of the interior of Africa; they
derived their knowledge-on which we still partly
exist-from the very countries in which their Nile
hides Its sources so that in searching again in the
nineteenth century for the mysterious sources of
the great river, we reasoned at the same time to
the primitive source of our laws, of our customs,
OF our dogroas, and of our philosophers
Under another point of view-the commercial
one-he exploration of the interior of Africa offers
an immense interest, and which will be more gem
orally understood than the chronological point of
view, by the eminently unitarian men of our
epoch. Africa has invaluable natural wealth; she
is a California placed at our gates; and that Tim
buctoo, Sakatou, and Kano, might become mar
kets for the precious metals, and for gold in par
t.cular, equal in importance t, the market of San
francisco, it would probably only require sein-
ta Of that spirit of lucre, eager and active which
has deyolved as property to the Anglo American
race.
But few years since, in 1850, the English gov
eminent organized new expedition, the sixtieth,
perhaps, for the exploration of Africa. This expe-
dition was commanded by the celebrated traveller
James Richardson. Two German doctors, Barth
and Overweg, had received commission from
the Prussian government to join Richardson, for
the purpose Of making, in conjunction with him,
scientific observations The principal object of
this voyage was the survey of Lake Schad. Rich
ardson fell a victim to malignant fever before
reaching the end OF the voyage. Doctor Barth
arrived alone on the banks Of Lake Schad, which
is real inland sea; he succeeded in launching on
this lake a boat built at Malta, and which he had
caused to be carried on the backs fcames through
the desert.
The traveller found this inland sea sown with
| numberless islands, filled with hippopotami and
elephants, and visited by hardy and fierce pirates.
The Sultan of Bomon, whose estates border Lake
Soko4 l.
connexions with the Europeans, and Doctor Barth
concluded treaty of commerce with him, in the
name of England That which, above all, aston
ished the Sultan, the sight of the doctors
European boat, and he evinced the most lively
desire OF having a fotila of such vessels on his
lake.
Hippopotamus teeth, ivory, gold dust, dying
plants, gutta percha, and vegetable fat are, up to
the present, the natural riches which Europe might
draw from the still unexplored centre of Africa.
what Will 1t be when a thorough exploration will
have discovered the still unknown wealth of this
continent
the discovery and working of Central Africa, is
immense Indeed, whilst the English and the
Americans must send from distance, at greatex-e
Pense expeditions necessarily insufficient, and de-
prlved OF that sanction of material force ndis-
pensable with barbarous people, France, which is
at home on the north Of the African continent,
may organize at Algiers caravans, to which moth
ing will be wanting-neither the knowledge of ex.
plofers, nor material resources, nor the military
force which might be judged necessary to protect
the expedition.
1t is ON the soil of Africa that General Bonaparte
went to seek in some measure, the investiture Of
the supreme power which he was called to exercise
over France-at fret with the title of First Consul,
afterwards with that of Emperor. This family
tradition will not be abandoned; and Africa tho
roughly explored open to Elropern activity, civil
LIKED as much it may be, is one of the grandest
works which the providence OF nations and the
genius of the French race could offer to the genius
Of another Napoleon
SrEAM NAvIaArIoH has been introduced on the
head waters Of the Rio de u Plata.