The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-09-12
TIE sLAvE-TRaDE OF TO-DAY.


a. London A1eetiDg.
London Spectator.
Slavery, fin the proportions that it has now
assumed means the destruction of the tribes of
the interior of Africa Commander Cameron
has declared that 500 900 slaves at the least are
torn from their homes in central Africa every
year and sold into slavery. Cardinal Lavigerie
sonaries. that Cameron's estimate is under the
mark. Consider what drain that single fact
represents on the population OF the interior of
Africa! For it must be remembered that the
number actually sold into slavery is not an exact
equivalent of the depopuation that is going on.
Many perish in the slave hunts and more on the
horrible march to the coast; and Cameron's osti-
mate applies only to those who reach the coast
The aged. the cripplss. the weak-all, in fact,
who cannot walk to the coast or who would
fetch price thers-are ruthlessly siain In the
slave hunts. Yet their fate is more enviable
than that OF those whose lives are spared for the
slave market. The Cardinal gives q narrowing
description Of the march TO the coast To pre-
vent ESCAPE the strongest and most vigorous
"have their hands tied, and sometimes their
feet, in such fashion that walking becomes q
torture TO them, and on their pecks are placed
Jokes which attach several OF them to-
eether, In this way they are made to
walk all day, bearing heavy loads, and
at night q few handfuls of raw rice are
thrown to them. That is their only meal for
the day. few days of these hardships begin
to tell even on the strongest The weakest soon
the women. But terror sometimes nerves even
q weak frame to almost superhuman Efforts and
the Arab slave-driver adopts q summary method
OF striking terror into the hearts OF the iaggards
"in order to strike terror into this miserable
mass OF human beings their conductors, armed
with wooden bar, to economize powder, APP
proach those who appear to be the most exhaust
cd and deal them a terrible blow on the nape OF
the neck. The unfortunate victims utter q cry,
and fall 10 the groand in the commissions OF
M M Adj at e
its march. Terror had imbued even the weakest
with new strength. Each time any one breaks
down the same horrible scene is repeated
This butchery goes on, even in the case of those
who manage TO struggle on, as soon as the ex-
perienced eye of the slave-driver sees that their
strength will not carry them 10 the coast. To
save their food they receive a murdsrous blow
from the mallet, and are left behind TO q lineer-
ing death. The march sometimes extends over
months, and such is the awful carnage. that .'if
q traveller lost the way leading from equatorial
Africa to the town where slaves are sold he
could easily find it again by the skeletons of the
negroes with which il is strewn." This prodi-
gal waste of human lie has. In some districts
thinned the population that the slave hunters
are obliged to use strategem TO catch their prey.
Their bands prowl In the forest aud pounce up
on the helpless women and children VINO 60 by.
Things have reached such a pass near
the great lakes that now, in the
words OF one Of the Cardinals missionaries,
Every woman, every child that strays ten
minutes away from their village has no certainty
of ever returning" And the people who are the
victims OF this cruel oppression are, according
to the Cardinal, kind, industrious. smiable, and
might be made, undsr happier influences, the
means Of making those parts Of Africa one Of
the most prosperous regions OF the globe. The
country 10 very fertile, and abounds in natural
resources 1t possesses three zones-first the
low lands along the seaboard OF the Mediterran-
can. Atlantic and Indian oceans. Toward the
interior are two plateaus one above the other,
rising 1000 and 1000 feet respectively. These
tAblelands attract the rains, which feed the
great lakes out Of which flow the four great
African rivers with their ailments. Under civ
ilizing influences the country might be made one
OF the richest in the world, and II is large enough
to offer room for some time TO come 10 tho sur
plus population of Europe
Bot the first condition is the extinction OF that
power which some scioliso would persuade Us
is the predestined missionary and civilizer of
the population OF Africa-the power Of Islam.
The testimony Of Cardinal Lavigsre on this
point is decisive. "It is this population-numer-
Gus, and happy, and peaceable-which Islam 10
discriminating AZ sbis moment by Of her
slave-hun,ers and by virtue of her daotrlne
that the blacks are an inferior and cursed race,
whom they are at liberty to treat worse than
we treat our animals Nav God pre-
serve me from accusing without compulsion any
man, especially any peoples But can
not resist saying to-day that OF the errors so
fatal to Africa, the sAddest 10 that which teaches
as Islam does, that humanity is made MP of two
dis.inc, species. One that Of believers, destined
to command; the other. that Of
the cursed, es they style them, des-
tined to serve; and in the latter they
think that the negroes constitute the lowest
grade and sre on q par with cattle. Having
reached by their conquests the heart of CONT
nent peoplsd by negroes, the Moslems have,
therefore, betaken themselves TO the work
which II justified by their doctrinesn
So much for the boosted benefits which Islam
has bestowed on Africa. From every point Of
view it has been a curse, and nothing else. nIt
Is highly debatable question" tho Times
thinks, whether Mohammedanism is RESPONSE
BILE TO the degree which the eloquent Cardinal
maintains The Times rests its skspticism on
some passages in the Koran which Recommended
kindness to slaves. 1t Is irrelevant to quote the
Koran in this controversy, for that book, so full
OF contradictions IS not the guide of life for Mos
lens. The vast majority of them cannot read
il, and know little about its teachings, Their
rule OF conduct is the traditional teaching Of
Islam In every modern school and village,
and that is perfectly consistent with all the
horrors Of slavery. Besides, the Koranic pre-
cepts quoted in the Times refer to Moslem
slaves and have no bearing whatever on nom
Moslem, still less on negro slavery. Cardinal
Lavigerie insists-and Cardinal Manning agree s
with him-that the progress OF Islam IN Africa
cannot be effectually resisted except by force
Force IS its own conquering weapon, and by
force IL must DO opposed. We see no REASON TO
question the Cardinals judgment in the matter
But how and by whom is the force to be applied
His experience does not suggest auyspecifc
policy. Like the Crusader that he claims 90 be,
he leaves TO the secular governments OF Chris
tendon the responsibility of devsing scheme
1t 10 plain that cruisers along the cosstdo very
little to stop the nefarious traffic. Cur hope
must lie in establishing centers of civilization
here and there in the interior Of Africa, and
thus organizing the natives, so that. with mod
ern weapons in their hands. they may bS able 20
not only hold their own against the armed en-
isssres of Islam, but in course of time to driye
them out Of the country
:. lbst
The Locomotive Firemeu. ~
ATLANTA, Ca, Sept 11.-Whi,s the question