The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-20
TIE rAKTIlIoN OF AFRICA.

The continent of Africa is now being
divided between European nations, Great
Britain and Germany taking the largest
horizons. ! he plea If justification for tax
ing possession Of Africa is found il the de-
rlorable condition of the people and their
liability to he seized and sold into slavery
by Arab maIauders.
1t does not appear to be for any ones
benefit, least Of all fer the benefit Of the
native Africans, that equatorial Africa
Should continue to be a hunting ground for
slaye-traders; that the normal growth OF
population should be checked by raids
which Gepopulate whole districts; that
there should be neither stability of prop
erty ownership nor security for life; that
men, women aud children should be car
Tied Ctf year after year, in order that some
one shall make money by selling the rem
naut Of the captives which survives at the
end Of the march in the slave-markets Of
East Africa. These are things 30 shocking
/. the instincts of humanity that any nation
which has the power seems justified i'll in
terieTing to stop them.
For nearly a century ChristeudOm has
been trying to stop the a frican slave trade.
g 1t has succeeded so far as the west coast is
concerned. On the east coast the efforts OF
the English and the Egyptian governments
' have only been partially successful Vast
numbers Of slave caravans and slave dhows
have been captured and the slaves llber-
atcd. But still larger numbers have eluded
pursuit; men and women have been sold
into slavery. Twenty-Five years ago the
kEediye Ismail dispatched Sir Samuel
Baker into the Soudan, with unlimited
powers to crush out the slave trade in its
hest. His success was slender. Following
him Gordon undertook the task; ten years
work satisfied him that be was not strong
enough 10 contend with the slave-traders
q. His death threw the struggle back to the
point at which it had stood in 1869 The
Arabs grew defiant; slave raids became
more numerous than ever; whole provinces
were depopulated. The native chiefs from
choice, foreigners from necessity, dealt on
equal terms with the slave-hunters. Stan
ley made a treaty of blood brotherhood
with TippOo lib, the most infamous of the
hunters; the Sultan of Morocco levied tax
or newly imported slaves which realizes
$4,000 a year.
hat is practically the situation now
These are the phenomena " hich confront
tlilte HdlIuuS-OItdl OtIUldUy anu
france-which are acting in concert to
crush out the slave trade. If they are t.
Cooperate efficiently they must not clash
with each other. Each in its particular
sphere Of action must be free to act without
interference by the others. Hence the I'M
. Outstanding that while Stanley, at the
mead Of Tie Independent sovereign State OF
Congo, takes care of the valleys of that
river and OF its continents, and France is
suffered 10 extend her Algerian dominion
over Morocco and her Senegal colony down
the coast to Dahomey. England is allotted
the region bordering on the Upper Nile and
the great lakes, and Germany is to have a
strip of the eastern coast on which it viii
- perform its share of the joint task. 1t is
quite true that the thought of territorial
aggrandizement is the incentive in the
minds Of the rulers Of these nations