The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-27

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the West.
True Missionary Enterprise.
In the next generation the character and
work of David Livingstone win be better APP
preciated than they are now. We are too
close to him to measure his herculean stature
accurately. The minister that shelters his re-
mains holds not one among the noble dead
who had . larger claim to our admiration
than he whose sterling qualities have endeared
him to both hemispheres. he united in him
self elements of character widely diverse, and
was at once missionary, explorer, philosopher
and Christian. Gentle as q child and brave as
lion, he blazed path through the almost
trackless forests and jungles of Central Africa,
along which some future civilization will tri-
umphantly march. His letter to the HERALD
shows his ability to penetrate the petty and
wreiched schemes Of spectators who would
carry on . contemplate traffic under cover Of
religious protection, and to lay out plans,
large hearted and far reaching, by which that
fertile and important region may be brought
within reach of European craftsmanship and
progress.
He tells US, perhaps a little too plainly for
our conceit, of the folly of that faint-hearted
class of missionaries who dare not penetrate
into the interior, and who waste their time on
the coast population until their health is gone,
and then seek recreation on board British
man-of-war We have long felt that the
money spent on the east and west coasts of
Africa was largely lost. The inhabitants
come in contact with only the worst part Of
our civil life, initiating our vices with great
greediness, but having no taste for our vir-
tues. For generations this part of the popu-
lation of Africa has been subjected, through
the persistent slave trade, to demoralizing
influence from which it can never recover
1t is poor material to work upon, and scarcely
repays in social or moral improvement the
vast sums of money spent The growth Of
Africa must be indigenous. You cannot
change the tree by cutting at its bark; you
must get at its heart. The sea coast pop
ulation is doomed, because it is worth
less. 1t may put on the clothes Of
Europe, but it will never assume its
habits. One vessel, with It's slave captain and
crew, will do more harm than dozen mission
aries can do good The clanking of chains is
heard above the voice of the preacher, and
is more eloquent and persuasive for evil than
o ship load of Bibles and tracts are for good
History repeats herself according to certain
laws easily understood. Those laws predict
the certain destruction of all tribes within o
hundred miles of the Atlantic on the west
and the Indian Ocean on the east; they will
grow weaker and more demoralized, until at
last they will fade away altogether.
Not SO with the very promising nations Of
the interior. They have been untouched by
the combinations of commerce which is
little better than plumber and murder, and can
be readily reached and acted on by mission
aries who are ready to do the Lords work, and
not go into partnership with the devil Liv-
ingtone very evidently draws fair picture of
their domestic and civil life. He describes them
as very confding, hospitable, tractable, teacha-
BILE and brave. Some instances of devotion, re-
lated by him, might we'll put to shame the
average Christian of New York. Their honesty
itably initiated by our own public officials, and
several tribal characteristics might be imported
to Washington without detriment to that
Immaculate city. An exchange of q score
or two Of picked politicians for the
same number of Central Africans would
be safe thing for us and something
of a revelation to them. Livingstone tells US
with o half smile that the people among
whom he labored are not altogether ignorant of
political economy, and cites in proof the fact
that certain chiefs refused to 60 to war because
it would interfere with the ivory market. They
maintain certain intertribal relations in order
to protect trade, and are far-sighted enough to
know that to kill each other is money out of
pocket War does not pay is their motto,
and they honestly say it. We declare that war
is wrong but we mean by it that it costs too
much money. Whatever pays is apt to be
right, among tribes as well as nations, and
whatever drains the pocket is wrong. Civil
cation is largely matter of dollars and cents,
and even Central Africa is near enough to the
nineteenth century to have some faint glim-
mering OF tnat Iact.
The social life of these people is Of
higher order than we have been led
to suppose. If they practise polygamy,
it is for want of . better knowledge
Of the laws Of domestic life The men
are stalwart and brave, with many noble and
admirable qualities The women wear short
hair and use vast deal of pomatum, but
they are generally chaste, and ready to adopt
better ideas. Altogether, it seems to be time
for the British and American missionary So
cieties to enter on new field and to win no.
bier victories than heretofore. 1t is vastly
better to work where work will pay than to
spend useless labor on unproductive ground.
Every dollar that is given to seacoast work il
thrown away, and all moneys which send true