says:

that " compacts for the suppression of the Slave Trade have been concluded with the chiefs of several native states, and that those treaties have been faithfully maintained by the native sovereigns." Mr. Rendall, late Governor of the Gambia, also "With respect to the general conduct of the chiefs, I am not aware of our having any just cause to complain of a breach of confidence being committed in the treaties heretofore made with them, nor do I think there is any just cause to fear that they are now more likely to forfeit their words and honor, particularly in cases where their interests are studiously considered."

The reason why greater advantage has not been derived from co-operation with these powers, is, as I have before intimated, that the British Government has discountenanced almost all efforts in that direction. "It has never," says Mr. H. Macaulay, Commissary Judge of Sierra Leone, in his evidence before the Aborigines Committee, in 1837, "been the policy of our government from the first, while it was in the hands of the company, nor since it has been transferred to the crown, to extend our territory in any way. Even when General Turner and Sir Neil Campbell were governors in former years, and acquired by treaty, and other just means, territory in the neighborhood, and paid for it, the government ordered us to give it back. They would not allow us to take possession of it and occupy it as a British territory. And though, in my opinion, it would be desirable to extend our territory as our population increases so much, yet it has not been done." To the question-"Do you think it would be expedient or just to take possession of the territory of these people without their consent?"

He answers, "Certainly not; but we are such good neighbors, and they have such perfect confidence in us, that I think there would be no difficulty in acquiring territory by treaty." "Have you found any difficulty in preserving relations of amity with the surrounding natives?"-"None whatever."

It appears to me well worth while to adopt an entirely new line of policy, and to establish, to the utmost extent possible, a confederacy with the chiefs, from the Gambia on the West, to Begharmi on the East; and from the Desert on the North, to the Gulf of Guinea on the South.

Thus, I have suggested two distinct kinds of preparatory measures.

1st. An augmentation of the naval force employed in the suppression of the Slave Trade, and the concentration of that force on the coast of Africa, thus forming a chain of vessels from Gambia to Angola.

2dly. A corresponding chain of treaties with native powers in the interior, pledging them to act in concert with us; to suppress the Slave Trade in their own territory; to prevent slaves from being carried through their dominions, and, at the same time, to afford all needful facility and protection for the transport of legitimate merchandise. Thus, by creating obstacles which have not heretofore existed, in the conveyance of negroes to the coast, and by increasing the hazard of capture after embarkation, I cannot but anticipate that we shall greatly increase the costs and multiply the risks of the Slave Trade.

If I am asked, whether I expect thus to effect its total abolition, I answer distinctly, No :-such measures may reduce, or even suspend, but they cannot

eradicate the evil. If we succeed in establishing a blockade of the coast, together with a confederacy on shore, and proceed no further, it will still be doubtful, as it has been in our former operations, whether more of good or of evil will be effected ;— good, by the degree of restraint imposed on the traffic, or evil, by rendering what remains concealed and contraband; and when I recur to the fearful aggravation of the sufferings of the slaves, which has already arisen from this cause, I am almost disposed to think that it were better to do nothing than to do only this.

I propose the two measures I have just named, not as a remedy, but as an expedient necessary for a time, in order that the real remedy may be applied in the most effectual manner. For a time, the dangers and difficulties of the slave-trader must be increased, in order that the demand for slaves on the coast may be reduced in the interval that must necessarily elapse before a total suppression can be effected. There was a time, during the last war, when our cruisers were so numerous in the African seas, that it was difficult for a slaver to escape; and it was then observed that the chiefs betook themselves to agriculture and trade.

The greater the impediments that are thrown in the way of obtaining supplies through the accustomed channels, the stronger becomes the inducement to procure them in another and better mode; and thus, the diminution of the Slave Trade will operate as an encouragement to industry, and a stimulus to commerce. And the evil being thus temporarily held in check, time and space, so to speak, will be given for the effectual operation of the remedy.

CHAPTER II.

COMMERCE AND CULTIVATION.

"It was not possible for me to behold the fertility of the soil, the vast herds of cattle, proper both for labor and food, and a variety of other circumstances favorable to colonization and agriculture, and reflect withal. on the means which presented themselves of a vast inland navigation, without lamenting that a country so abundantly gifted and honored by nature, should remain in its present savage and neglected state."-PARK.

"The commercial intercourse of Africa opens an inexhaustible source of wealth to the manufacturing interests of Great Britain-to all which the Slave Trade is a physical obstruction."-GUSTAVUS VASA. Letter to Lord Hawkesbury, 1788.

But what is the true remedy? It cannot be too deeply engraven upon the minds of British statesmen, that it is beyond our power to rescue Africa, if the burthen is to fall wholly and permanently on ourselves. It is not the partial aid, lent by a distant nation, but the natural and healthy exercise of her own energies, which will ensure success. We can

not create a remedy; but, if it be true that this remedy already exists, and that nothing is wanting but its right application—if Africa possesses within herself vast, though as yet undeveloped resources-we may be competent to achieve the much less onerous task of calling forth her powers, and enabling her to stand alone, relying upon the strength of her own. native sinews. The work will be done, when her population shall be sufficiently enlightened to arrive at the conviction, (grounded on what their eyes see,

and their hands handle,) that the wealth readily to be obtained from peaceful industry, surpasses the slender and precarious profits of rapine.

Our system hitherto has been to obtain the co-operation of European powers, while we have paid very little attention to what might be done in Africa itself, for the suppression of the Slave Trade. Our efforts in that direction have been few, faint, and limited to isolated spots, and those by no means well chosen. To me it appears that the converse of this policy would have offered greater probabilities of success; that, while no reasonable expectations can be enter tained of overturning this gigantic evil through the agency and with the concurrence of the civilized world, there is a well-founded hope, amounting almost to a certainty, that this object may be attained through the medium and with the concurrence of Africa herself. If, instead of our expensive and fruitless negotiations with Portugal, we had been, during the last twenty years, engaged in extending our intercourse with the nations of Africa, unfolding to them the capabilities of her soil, and the inexhaustible store of wealth which human labor might derive from its cultivation, and convincing them that the Slave Trade alone debars them from enjoying a vastly more affluent supply of our valuable commodities, and if we had leagued ourselves with them to suppress that baneful traffic, which is their enemy even more than it is ours, there is reason to believe that Africa would not have been what Africa is, in spite of all our exertions—one universal den of desolation, misery, and crime.

Why do I despair of winning the hearty co-opera