Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-01-29

cruisers the greater the cruelty incident its practice
| by crowdng the slave ships with greater number Of
victims.
/ Such being the case many of those in England who
taken the greatest interest in the suppression of the
traffic have seriously proposed to abandon the system Of
blocksdes and cruisers and resort TO other expedents
and Of these PROFESSIONALLY be compared for eff
hcency with the settlement OF the coast Wherever
ony is founded by England France America the traf
nc is broken up not merely for that extent OF coast but
for the wholeineror which finds outlet through
IT, In this way the traffic has been wholly suppressed for
an extent of at least thousand miles from the northern
extremity of the jurisdiction Of Sierra Leone to the south
bounds OF Liberia 1t is necessary only to look at the
map to what important extent of country has been
rescued in this way from the drest scourge which
afflicted humanity The last of the ancient slave mars
Ganas, has been lately purchased and brought within
the limits Of Liberia Along line of coast not less
ensve than that from Maine Georgia. from every bay
and within the shelter of every headland of which this
traffic was carried within the memory man. the slave
trade has been wholly rooted cut What could not be eff
fected by Congresses of SQyeregns at Vienna AK la
Chapee, by quintuple Treaties by squadrons of war
steamers has been brought about by these feeble colonial
settlements of which that of Liberia has been obliged to
struggle its into permanence of late without the
operation almost without the federation OF the Govern
ment drawing its supplies almost exclusively from the
perennial fountains OF Christian benevolence repeat sir
wherever these settlements have been founded the slave
trade has disappeared and may trust forever 1t
seems to me that if other benefit anticipated
| from their extension this alone would constitute ALE
powerful motive What object in fe in this country
in any country, individual Of African descent pro-
to himself at all to be compared with that of forming
in his person part Of that noble line defence by
which the shores of his native land be forever bar
| red against the desolating traffic?
g. But great the Importance of this object yields
in interest to another connected with it, but far more
comprehensive and momentous; and that is the cyiza
ton of Africa. The condition of the African continent
is reproach to the civilization of the world With
extent nearly three times that of Europe considerable
portion of the known regions of great fertility teemng
with vegetable and animal life traversed by lofty ranges
Of mountains which send down from their sides the rbu
tares OF noble rivers connected by the Mediterranean
the north both with the ancient and modern culture Of
Europethe western shores projecting into the Atlantic
ocean, the great highway of cvzationhe southeastern
| running within near proximity to continent
the eastern coasts spread out to the of India
and the whole Oriental world while the Red and the
Nile throw open the approaches of the Asiatc continent
would that by natural endowments and geograph
cal position it destined to be the emporium and gar
den of the earth. Man only throughout these vast
gons has remained in in the great progress of
humanity; aud instead of keeping pace with his fellow
men in other parts Of the worldhas been so much de-
by various causes Of dgenerac finally to have
come under suspicion of natural ineriorityin which
must own have belief.
| have no doubt that among the numerous races of
Africa as of the other continents there great diver
sites of intelligence; from the warke polite tribes Of
the Central plateau to the broken down. enfeebed hordes
on the banks Of the Congo and the squa scarcely hui
man Hottentot But il may be doubted whether this
difference is greater than between the Laplander the
Gypsy the Calmuc, the hand, and the best and
brightest specimens Of humanity be found in Europe
and. America, on the other.
What then is the of the continued mobilization
of Africa? And without pretending to pry curiousy
into the mysteries of Providence it appears that
sufficient cause may be found in some peculiar crcum
stances IN the history and geography of this continent
seems law of human progress, which, however difficult
to explain is too well sustained by facts be doubted
that the first advances out of barbarsm must be made
under the influence OF culture from abroad. Thus the
germs of improvement brought from Egypt and
Syria to Greece from Greece to Rome; from Rome to
the west and north of Europe from Europe America,
t1nxro t~n..
remoes islands of the Pacific To what extent the abo-
rgnal clement shall be borne down and overpowered by
the foreign influences enter into kindly combination
with them depends upon the moral and intellectual de-
veopment of both parties The native may be so
apt for improvement to harmonic promptly and kind
y with the cultivated strangers This was the case with
the early Greeks Or the disparity may be great that
no kindly union between them is practicable and the
tive tribes slowly and silently before
comers This has been the with the native of
continent who have found it all but impossible
/ to embrace our civilization
Now in reference to this law of social nature the
difficulty in Africa has been wofod first that the other
quarters of the GLOBE who had obtained the start the
of improvement and might have proved the instruc
tors and guides Of the native races all deeply
cerned in traffic with the continent of Africa which, in
stead of tending like other branches Of commerce. to
mutual improvement, and especially to the elevation Of
the inferior party is of oil barbarizng agents the most
poisonous and deadly In this way foreign trade which
has usually been the medium through which the
cultivated foreign race has gradually introduced itself
mutually beneficial intercourse with the less advanced
tribes has been to Africa from the dawn of history
the present day, the apowerul agent of eternal civil
war, anarchy, and social disorganzaon This has been
of her making so little progress in civilization
Another is her climate her mighty equatorial expanse
extensive tract of land between the tropics than
IN all the rest Of the gobe her fervid vertical sum- burn
ing down upon the rank vegetation of her fertile plains
and rendering her shores and pesterous
10 foreign constitution This peculiar geographical char
acter seems again to shut her out from the ordinary APP
proaches OF civilization. Common inducements of
merca gain too weak tempt the foreign merchant
to these feverous districts Nothing but taste for ad
venture approaching mania attracts the traveller and
when Christian benevoence lures the devoted
to this held Of labor IL lures him often his doom
Here, then, see union Of influences which to
seal the fate Of unhappy Africa abomnation of desc
| lation.
But mark and reverence the providence Of God
educng ont of these natural disadvantages Of climate
disadvantages to mans apprehension and this colossal
moral wrong-the African save-trade--out of these
seemingly hopeless elements Of physical and moral evil
after long cycles OF suffering and crime Of violence and
retrbuton such history owhere
cay, from these elements by the blessed alchemy Of
christian charity the Of the ultimate regeneration
| Of Africa
The aroused conscience of Chrisendom denounces the
slave trade but not till it has existed for three centu
res, and filed portion of the hemisphere with
five six millions Of the descendants of Africa Of whom
about million and half, in the islands and the
tnen have from time to time become free; though born
and reared under circumstances unfavorable to mental
culture, yet still partaking in the main Of the COMMON
blessings of civilization and christianity and amply quail
fed Liberia has shown convey those blessings to
the native land Of their fathers Thus at the moment
when the work itself is ready be commenced the cho