sincerity of the Government, by whatever party admin. istered, and the generous compassion of the nation : at the same time, they forced upon me an undoubting conviction, that the evil could never be eradicated by this mode of correction. Ready to abandon all further effort, in despair of being able to effect any practical good, and from an abhorrence of the task of afflicting myself and others by a recital of evils, which I could not cure, and of horrors, which every effort seemed to aggravate, I cast my eyes, in every direction, in order to discover if there yet existed any effectual remedy. It then occurred to me, that Africa, after all, obtains a very inconsiderable revenue from the Slave Trade; while the outlay, so to speak, the desolation, the slaughter, the bloody and diabolical superstition, and the human suffering from all these, are indeed pro. digious: the net profit to Africa (whatever it may be to the civilized ruffians who instigate the trade) is miserably scanty. "Thou sellest thy people for nought; and dost not increase thy wealth by their price." There was something hopeful in the fact that the interests of Africa were not involved in the continuance of the Slave Trade. It gave birth to the inquiry, Is it not possible for us to undersell the slavedealer, and to drive him out of the market, by offering more for the productions of the soil than he ever gave for the bodies of the inhabitants ? This opened a new field of investigation. I eagerly turned to every book of travels which might furnish an insight into the capabilities of that quarter of the globe. There was anything but a dearth of materials : I found evidence, sufficient to fill volumes, that Africa, though now a wilderness, may rank with any portion of the world in natural resources and in the power of production. Travelers, whatever may be the scarcity of other topics, never fail to speak of the exuberance of the soil on the one hand, and the misery of its inhabitants on the other. These two subjects occupy threefourths of the pages of those who have visited Africa. It is sufficient here to say that I rose from that part of the investigation, in possession of incontrovertible proof that nature had provided an abundance of all things which constitute agricultural wealth. The question then arises, Are there hands to till the earth? Africa, notwithstanding the annual and terrible drain of its inhabitants, teems with population: but for the Slave Trade, there is no reason to doubt that it would be as densely peopled as any part of the Globe. Can labor be obtained there as cheaply as in Brazil, Cuba, or the Carolinas? We have some light on this subject. We know that a slave fetches, in Interior Africa, about 31.; in Brazil, at least 701.; when seasoned, as an African is in his own country, 1001. Africa, then, has this advantage over America, that it can be cultivated at one-twentieth of the expense. Why, then, should the inhabitants be torn from Africa, when her native laborers upon her native land might hold successful competition with any Slave State? The soil being equal, a laborer in Africa will raise as much produce as the same laborer transported to America, but at less expense; for you can hire ten laborers in the former at the price that one costs in the latter. Hence I infer, that the labor and produce of Africa, if fairly called forth, would rival the labor employed, and the produce raised in America, throughout the markets of the civilized world. Besides all this, the laborers stolen in Africa are not in fact, carried to America. What the one loses, the other does not gain. Africa loses three laborers; America obtains but one: in no species of mer. chandise is there such a waste of the raw material, as in the merchandise of man. In what other trade do two-thirds of the goods perish, in order that one-third may reach the market ? Apart, then, from all considerations of humanity and Christian principle, and narrowing the question to a mere calculation of pecuniary profit, it would appear a strange kind of economy to carry away the population from their native fields, which need nothing but those hands for their cultivation, in order to plant them in diminished numbers, at a prodigious expense, in another hemisphere, and on land not more productive. But would these men be willing to work for wages? I did not require to be taught that men will work, not only as well but ten times better, for reward, than they were ever made to do by the lash: proof, however, of this truth presented itself. As I shall have to enlarge upon that subject before I close this book, I will only say here, that of all the fictions ever invented by interested parties to quiet their own consciences, or delude the world, there is none so gross as the doctrine, that less labor is to be won by wages, than can be extorted by the whip. Thus, then, the study of the writings of travelers proved to me that Africa possessed all the separate elements necessary for vast production and extensive commerce; but these materials, were, if I may so express myself, asunder: the hands, both able and willing to labor, had never been brought to bear upon the land, so capable of yielding a grateful return. It was not till after I had come to the conclusion that all that was wanting for the deliverance of Africa was that agriculture, commerce, and instruction should have a fair trial, that I discovered that those views were not confined to myself, and that others had arrived, by practical experience, at the same result which I had learnt from the facts, and from reasoning upon them; and I was very well pleased to renounce any little credit which might attach to the discovery, in exchange for the solid encouragement and satisfaction of finding that what was with me but theory, was with them the fruit of experience. I cannot but remember that a poet, who possessed the faculty of combining the closest reasoning with the most flow. ing verse, saw, and availed himself of this species of argument for the defence of Christianity : "Whence, but from Heaven, could men unskill'd in arts, CHAPTER V. PRINCIPLES. "True faith, true policy, united run."-POPE. "If you plant where savages be, do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless." -LORD BACON. "The greatest advantage a Government can possess is to be the one trustworthy Government in the midst of Governments which nobody can trust."-EDINBURGH REVIEW, Jan. 1840.-Life of Clive, p. 330. It appears to me a matter of such peculiar moment that we should distinctly settle and declare the PRINCIPLES on which our whole intercourse with Africa, whether economic or benevolent, whether directed exclusively to her benefit, or mingled (as I think it may most fairly be) with a view to our own, shall be founded, and by which it shall be regulated, that I venture, though at the risk of being tedious, to devote a separate chapter to the consideration of them. The principles, then, which I trust to see adopted by our country, are these, Free Trade. Free Labor. FREE TRADE. Nothing, I apprehend, could be more unfortunate to the continent we wish to befriend, or more discreditable to ourselves, than that Great Britain should give any color to the suspicion of being actuated by mercenary motives; an apology would thus be afforded |