Year: 1865

OSoh ohO WI OF bO
teristic of the good sense which recogni-
zes domestic duties as having the first,
highest, and holiest claim on the energy
and devotion both of men and women,
and Indignantly reprobates those who, mot
finding these duties sufficiently onerous
for their ascetic disposition, or sufficiently
interesting to satisfy their craving for ex.
element, desert the post in which God
has placed them, to find more active,
noisy, and notorious offices elsewhere; so
Characteristic of that national vanity
which seriously supposes that the we'll
being of England and of Englishmen is
the FIRST object for which not merely Eng.
land but the world exists, and which, in
. curiously perverted form, animates that
school Of politicians which would not shed
a drop Of English blood or spend an Eng
liSh sovereign to defend the liberties or
save the lives Of our nearest kindred and
closest allies. And yet the policy of Eng
land affords strange contradiction Of this
peculiarly English doctrine, our charity
as nation seeming to become earnest and
active in proportion to the distance from
home Of the scene in which it is exercis-
ed. We have recognized the rule OF non.
Intervention at least in that stricter sense
in which it refers to the internal affairs OF
foreign nations as the absolute guide of
our European policy. We decline to con-
slider the most atrocious misgovernment,
the most frightful anarchy, as affording
ground for forcible interference in the do.
mestic politics Of any European country.
We allow the Poles to be massacred with
out lifting finger in their defence, how.
ever noisily may wag the tongue Of Exc.
ter Hall, and however busily the pen OF
the Foreign Secretary may cover sheets
Of foolscap with dispatches, which our
determination not to give them practical
effect renders rather worse than useless.
We had words Of commisseration and of
censure for the suiferings Of Pocrio and
the brutal tyranny of King Ferdinand !;
but no English statesman ever dreamed of
sending British feet to enforce humani-
ty and decency upon the King Of Naples.
Greece may fall into utter anarchy, and
we shall give her no help; nor is it at all
likely that We shall send squadron to
Cadiz to extort material guarantees for
the payment Of the Spanish debt. Yet
we are not so scrupulous when other quar-
ters Of the globe present occasions for a
charitable interposition. We sent force
to Mexico to CO operate with France first
in compelling that organized anarchy to
pay the money it had borrowed Of British
subjects, and to refrain from its bad habit
of assassinating and robbing foreign resi-
dents in the course Of domestic broils


and secondly, in establishing there som'
sort of government with which it nigh
be possible for civilized Powers to hole
diplomatic relations. True, We backed
out Of the affair without making an effor
to accomplish the latter object; reflection
having apparently convinced the Cabinet
that Mexico was little too near home, in
a moral and political, if not in geograph.
ical point of view, to be proper scence
for the exercise Of that kind Of political
charity


In Japan VIC were good deal moro
peremptory in our good offices. We un-
dertook TO enforce upon that strange and
exclusive country a proper sense Of the
advantages Of commercial intercourse with
the rest of the world; and in order tc
complete our instructionSwe took it upon
ourselves to punish one refractory Damio
by burning his principal city, and have
just sent squadron to take the batteries
and seize the vessels Of another. In Chi
ma we went still further, and in order to
prevent the triumph of a set of rebels,
who showed singular incapacity for Gov,
ernment, we allied ourselves with the ex-
listing Administration, and enabled it, by
the assistance of British forces at the out.
posts, and of British officers in the intc
rior Of the country, to reaSsert its author
ity, hang and cruelty certain number o
Taepings, and drive their chief to the cx
tremity Of suicide. We have civilized
India by the simple and effectual process
OF conquest; conquest satisfied and just
flied, in our view, by the charity which
has prompted US to use our power for the
benefit and elevation Of the native race.
We have put down infanticidc, suttce and
human sacrifices and while nearer home
we pride ourselves on strict adherence
to the principle Of non-intervcntiou, in
India We never hesitate to annex the do
minions of prince whose tyranny or in
capacity render his subjects more misera.
bic than our conscience will permit US to
leave them.


But it is on the coast of Africa that the
strangest manifestation of our peculiar
policy is to be witnessed. In that quarter
charity-kindness and pity for the savage
races who inhabit that sultry land-has
been undoubtedly the chief if not the sole
actuating motive Of our policy during the
last forty years; and in order to carry out
that policy we have deliberately set aside
every ordinary rule OF national law-have
paid exorbitantly for the right of search
ing ships under the flag OF one nation
have made disadvantageous treaties with
another-have deliberately committed pi-
racy against the third-haVe spent valua-
BILE lives and enormous sums of money
have maintained expensive colonies and a
squadron which costs US yearly some OF
the best officers and seamen in our service
have sent English troops and civilians
to perish in pestilential climate have
run the risk Of war with the United States,
and offended several Of our natural and
most faithful allies. To suppress the
slave trade has been our main purpose ;
to civilize the negroes the second. We
have made and are making great sacrif-
ces for these ends; it is we'll that we
should listen calmly and patiently to men
who are competent and willing to tell us
what have been the result of our efforts.


1t is from the light which they cast on
this question that Captain Burton's works
derive their chief value. That officer is
hard headed, practical man, with ample
information and no preconceived preju.
dices, knowing more about the negro race
than any other English writer, and per.
fectly free from that sentimental affection
for tour cOlOred brethren" which is al,