The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-15

be futile. No doubt, too, the slavery itself
was comparatively small evil. The subjec-
ton OF one human creature TO another is not
so shameful phenomenon to the African
mind as to be uncomfortable, when it takes
that patriarchal and domestic character with
which slavery in the East appears to be
more or less invested, and more especially
when the slave continues to enjoy climate
something like his own.
Sir Samuel Baker may, however, be said to
have lifted the veil which concealed the pro-
cess by which the slave markets of Cairo and
Constantinople were recruited.
Barth has given us a graphic If painful ac-
count of the expeditions of the Mohammedan
Sultans of Bornu, Baghirmi, and Sokoto car
ried on even into Adamawa and the regions
of the Binuwa and Eastern Niger; and, still
more recently, nj. Mage has depicted, with
the most striking minuteness, life, as it is on
the Upper Niger and in the vast Pullo-Fela-
tab dominions. That life appears, under the
rude sway of the Mohammedan, to be one
successive, continuous, and incessant war
fare; the enslaving of everything Pagan; re-
prisals, murders, and executions We have
also heard something of the questionable pro-
ceedings of the. Egyptians on the western
frontiers of Abyssinia from Taxa to the upper
regions of the Blue Nile, and we have always
regretted that the costly expedition sent to
that country to liberate the British captives
should have done nothing towards insuring
the immunity of Christian people against
the enslaving propensities of their Egyptian
neighbors. Sir Samuel Baker may be said to
be one of the first to make us acquainted with
the nature of the raids made by Mohamme-
dan slave-d6alers from Gondokoro against
the Obbos and Latukas and other tribes in
the neighborhood and which were so cruel
and reckless in their character, that, il has
been justly observed, one of the worst fea-
lures of Sir Samuers journey must have been
the necessity of witnessing, without the
power of mitigating in even the slightest de-
gree, the atrocities which the slave seekers
committed. Under cover of carrying on an
'ivory trade" armed bands of desperadoes
ascend the river and penetrate into the heart
of some savage country. To be at war with
one another is normal condition of existence
amongst the native tribes. Taking advan-
tage of this, the traders offer their alliance to
the tribe with whom they first come in con-
tact, on the understanding that they may be
at liberty to make prisoners from the enemy.
The African savage is either too SIM
pie to see, or, what is far more likely,
is willing, for the sake of revenge to close
his eyes to the fatal nature of the friendship
offered. Assisted by his Mussulman allies,
he sets forth on the campaign, and, amidst
the reckless slaughter that ensues, a draught
of living captives is secured for the traders
net But very soon the original dupes if
they can be so termed, discover that the
trader is equally ready to turn his arms
against them. In alliance with some other
tribe, he makes war against them in turn and
the friends who assisted him to effect his first
captures fall victims to his whips and chains
in turn. Forced to some extent into associa-
ton with the Ivory traders" Sir Samuel
beheld their proceedings. Very mar
rOwly did he escape a sudden death
at their hands, but his wonderful intre-
pidity carried him through; and he lived
to register a resolution that, if he ever
came back from his wanderings, he would do
something to interfere with the proceedings
which, for the time being, he could only con-
template with secret indignation. The time
for action has now happily arrived. No doubt
it will be a difficult task to persuade the
tribes through which the '"ivory traders" have
passed, that the object of the expedition is
simply the extinction of the slave-trade. 1t
matters however, little whether the Africans
fully understand the expedition at first
The traders of Gondokoro will COM
prehend it readily enough, and they
will soon feel, or be made to feel, that
prompt submission to the new system to
be inaugurated is inevitable This, then, one
of the avowed philanthropic purposes of the
expedition, with the anticipated opening of
Central Africa to the purposes of commerce,
and the Withdrawing of the veil which has so
long hung over so large portion of the earths
surface, fully entitle the projected expedition
to our most earnest hopes of success, and to
anticipate that it will yet constitute one of the
most remarkable pages in the history of our
own times.