The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-21

| oerce-Tne OpouAug Of tho WIGS Ol
Africa to Civilization.
In no other age of the world since the apos-
tolic days has the Church been 80 anxious and
earnest in its endeavors TO bring the blessings
of Christian civilization within the reach of all
men as at the present time. A kind of enthu-
siasm prevails in many lands among Christians
in this direction, and every year the idea IL
gaining ground that nominally Christian coun-
tries should not be treated, as they now are,
as mission fields, but that those s'who know
not God nor regard the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ" and the blessings which always
follow In the wake of this knowledge shall be
taught the way to secure and TO enjoy
the same. Hence missions among the
heather are being enlarged and multiplied,
and the results justify the expenditure of
money and means therein. And as those re-
suits are from time to time spread before the
Church in the various religious papers of this
country and Europe the missionary contribu-
tons correspondingly increase. No invest
ment pays so well as this, either In religious
or commercial point Of view.
prises were in their infancy, India and China
and Burmah and the countries and kingdoms
adjacent thereto were the great points of in
terest. There mainly the Church and mission
airy societies of Europe and America planted
the banner of the Cross and reared their
schools and churches and colleges and Or
phanages. But now that the Christian re-
1srsO tho ~ Cixys1;U xuIi oh
owns and fosters has obtained sure foothold
in Asia, and that regular commercial rela-
tons have been established between it
and Christian lands, the attention of
the Church is directed more especially
toward Africa. This terra incognita has
every form Of civilization save such as could
be maintained along the coasts. But even
this, feeble as it may seem to many persons,
has surrounded that dark land as with net
work of religious and commercial stations,
whose influence and laws are felt and feared
by thousands and millions of savages adjoin-
ing and within them. 1t is said that the little
republic of Liberia, with population Of about
six hundred thousand souls, including savage
and civilized, really controls ten millions of
people. The British settlements in Western
and Southern Africa have similar, If not
greater influence. And how much soever
the natives may fight against an established
and Independent community which builds
railroads and canals and ships and locomo-
tives and thrives and grows great upon
the products of the earth where the
aboriginals starved, or obtained only o meagre
subsistence, the latter must eventually come
to perceive and to understand what it is that
makes the difference and to accept and adopt
it. And thus religion and commerce are con-
tinually acting and reacting, the one upon
toe other, and are mutually blessing and
ennobling mankind.
Less than q generation ago the English
Church Missionary Society established its
agents in Abbeokuta, West Africa, and six
years later cotton presses and gins were in
full blast, and Liverpool and London were
receiving and are yet receiving annually thou
sands of bales of cotton for British manufac-
ture. About a generation ago Liberia, too,
became mission field and mart Of commerce,
and now England and America, Liver
pool and New York, carry on traffic with
that country which amounts in value to mil
lions of dollars annually. And 80 1t is
with the Cape and other African colo
MES of Great Britain. The influence of
civilized men is pressing itself 80
strongly and steadily against the savages
everywhere that the latter are compelled to
admire and then embrace this civilization which
we denomingte Christian.
But the great drawback to the spread of this
religion and this civilization in Africa is the
absence or supposed absence, of communica-
ton between the coast and the interior. No
river, no commerce no railroad or steam
boat, and no water supply can be obtained.
This has been the puzzle of Christian govern
ments and religious associations for quarter
of century at least, as one expedition after
another has been sent to explore the dark
land and to find out whereto its rivers flow. or
if it has any save the Nile and the half dozen
that have long been known along its coasts.
Not in the interest of commerce merely have
these expeditions been undertaken, but rather
in that of religion and science. And
while none of them have furnished us with
anything like complete or satisfactory
account of the whole or of any part of the peo-
pie or of the country traversed; yet each has
given new impetus and inspired fresh hope
in the breast of every succeeding explorer,
and the contest Of religion and science with
physical and physiological difficulties and OPP
ponents is steadily kept up in that land. And
the result is becoming more and more crafty
ing every year, as each succeeding expedition
reaches some new point or reveals some new
fact. Captains Spoke and Grant, Baker aud
/ Burton, Du Chaillu and Dr. Livingstone, the