Morning journal and courier., 1888-12-11
Arab SIaVers 1n Uganda

A communication of quite recent date
 from the Rev. Pere Lourdel, one of the Ro- man Catholic missionaries in Uganda, gives & very vivid picture of how the slave traffic
 is carried on in central Africa, and how the
 Arab slsvers have been melting the weak minded King of Uganda against English and Germans alike. This conduct may to some extent account for the events which have led to the joint action of England and Germany in east Africa. Moreover, Pere Lourdel is able to give news from Emin Pasha up to April last.
 These Arab elavers, the Pere states, reside for part of the year at the Court of Mwan-
 ga, to purchase the slaves which the king causes to be hunted and captured either in his own territoriss or in those of his neigh. bors He often sends out on these slave raids armies of several thousand men. Al too frequent intervals the missionaries, tc their grief, see these victorious armies re- | turning, driving before them troops o | slaves, often three or four thousand at ] single time. The king selects those he ! wants to keep for himself, or to distribute among his great chiefs, and sends the rest to the Moslem slave dealers, who sweep them all off, either to sell them on the coast to the dealers who supply the Ara bian market or to dispose of them in up- per Egypt. It is a profitable business, which enriehes the Arab slavers and at the same time procures for King Mwanga all that he requires for extending his territo- ", confirming his power and multiplying his slaves and his victims-namely, arms
 and powder. These Arabs are of course
 feared and detested by the natives among
 whom they live, but at the same time their
 power over the weak Mwanga is immense.
 The constantly instil into him suspicious as
 to the projects of Europeans and missiona ries, and that with only too much success. When, Pere Lourdel states, MT. Gordon, the successor of MT. Macksy in the Eng- fish mission, arrived, the Arabs translated long letter to the king in Arabic, in which he was informed of the resolution which the European powers had taken to S'eat" up all the country of the blacks. The Germans were to take the whole re- zion between the Zanzibar coast and Un- yanYembe, the English Uganda and all the ueighboring countries. Mir. Gordon, ac- cording to Pere Lourdel, brought present for Bishop Parker, and letter stating that
 he had not come to avenge the death of
 Bishop Huntington, but to instruct his people. Mwanga was extremely irritated, and told Mir. Gordon he would be regard ed as a prisoner and hostage in case of
 the reported design of the Europeans. If
 the English attacked Uganda or assailed
 Mwanga's "merchandiss" on the coast MT.
 Gordon would be killed. He sent letter
 to Bishop Parker demanding guns and
 powder as evidence of his good will; in-
 side the letter he put some ashes as a dec-
 laration of war. Turning to his people, he
 cried, in voice trembling with rage. ''Do
 you see how this white insults me to my
 face? HooE himl Insult himl' And all
 the court hurled the greatest insults in the
 face of poor Mir. Gordon. The intentions
 asoribed by the king to the whites make him
 fear a war as imminent. "Buy guns and
 pc gder," he tells all his people, and his
 chiefs protest they will defend him to the
 last drop of their blood, and that, though
 the whites should come from all quarters,
 they will be exterminated. But the great
 danger at Uganda and in central Africa is
 not from the reported intentions of the
 whites, but from the actual doings of the
 Arabs. Accompanied by all that is worst OF the coast, they are at present Hooking to-
 wards Victoria Nysnza, and especially to-
 wards Uganda. Pere LourGel thinks there is room for believing that these Arabs have
 really some great design for conquest What is certain is that they do everything ir their power to render the whites hated and have them driven from the continent. The first thing, according to Father Lourdel which Europeans will have to do who seri- ously intend the establishment of colonies in Africa will be to make 8 clean sweep of the Arab and coast elements. To succeed it will
 ba necessary to render trade on the coast i'm possible for the Arabs, and interdict them under the severest penalties from importing
 guns and powder. This is 8 step which
 ought to have been taken long ago. Ar enormous number of firearms is at this mo- nent to be founda in the hands of the na- tiyes. In Uganda alone there are many thousands of every type, and it is this which explains the naughty attitude of Mwanga few more years of this traffic and travel ing in Africa will become impossible fol white men, unless accompanied by a well disciplined army. It is this also which aids
 the success of the daily increasing slave traf | fc. All these guns serve to arm the seoun drels who accompany the slave hunters, and | the calsmities which they carry into centra | Africa far beyond Lake Albert are incalcula- ble. It should be said that while Pere Lour l del is absolutely trustworthy, MT. GordoI
 does not speak of any difficulty with Mwan l ga in his most recently published letters.