CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
THE REMEDY.
Reader, we will turn aside at this point to preach you a lay sermon, ifyou will lend an attentive ear. It shall be brief, and straight to thepoint. Our text is,--Prevention and Cure.
There are at least three great channels by which the life-blood ofAfrica is drained. One trends to the east through the Zanzibardominions, another to the south-east through the Portuguesedependencies, and a third to the north through Egypt. If theslave-trade is to be effectually checked, the flow through these threechannels must be stopped. It is vain to rest content with the stoppageof one leak in our ship if two other leaks are left open.
Happily, in regard to the first of these channels, Sir Bartle Frere hasbeen successful in making a grand stride in the way of prevention. Ifthe Sultan of Zanzibar holds to his treaty engagements, "domesticslavery" in his dominions is at an end. Nevertheless, our fleet will berequired just as much as ever to prevent the unauthorised, piratical,slave-trade, and this, after all, is but one-third of the preventivework we have to do. Domestic slavery remains untouched in thePortuguese dependencies, and Portugal has decreed that it shall remainuntouched until the year 1878! It is well that we should be thoroughlyimpressed with the fact that so long as slavery in any form istolerated, the internal--we may say infernal--miseries and horrors whichwe have attempted to depict will continue to blight the land andbrutalise its people. Besides this, justice demands that the sameconstraint which we lay on the Sultan of Zanzibar should be applied tothe King of Portugal. We ought to insist that _his_ "domestic slavery"shall cease at _once_. Still further, as Sir Bartle Frere himself hasrecommended, we should urge upon our Government the appointment ofefficient consular establishments in the Portuguese dependencies, aswell as vigilance in securing the observance of the treaties signed bythe Sultans of Zanzibar and Muscat.
A recent telegram from Sir Samuel Baker assures us that a great step hasbeen made in the way of checking the tide of slavery in the third--theEgyptian--channel, and Sir Bartle Frere bears testimony to the desire ofthe Khedive that slavery should be put down in his dominions. For thiswe have reason to be thankful; and the appearance of affairs in thatquarter is hopeful, but our hope is mingled with anxiety, becausemankind is terribly prone to go to sleep on hopeful appearances. Ournature is such, that our only chance of success lies, under God, inresolving ceaselessly to energise until our ends be accomplished. Wemust see to it that the Khedive of Egypt acts in accordance with hisprofessions, and for this end efficient consular agency is as needful inthe north-east as in the south-east.
So much for prevention, but prevention is not cure. In order toaccomplish this two things are necessary. There must be points orcentres of refuge for the oppressed on the _mainland_ of Africa, andthere must be the introduction of the Bible. The first is essential tothe second. Where anarchy, murder, injustice, and tyranny are rampantand triumphant, the advance of the missionary is either terribly slow oraltogether impossible. The life-giving, soul-softening Word of God, isthe only remedy for the woes of mankind, and, therefore, the only curefor Africa. To introduce it effectually, and along with it civilisationand all the blessings that flow therefrom, it is indispensable thatGreat Britain should obtain, by treaty or by purchase, one or more smallpieces of land, there to establish free Christian negro settlements, andthere, with force sufficient to defend them from the savages, and worsethan savages,--the Arab and Portuguese half-caste barbarians and lawlessmen who infest the land--hold out the hand of friendship to all nativeswho choose to claim her protection from the man-stealer, and offer toteach them the blessed truths of Christianity and the arts ofcivilisation. Many of the men who are best fitted to give an opinion onthe point agree in holding that some such centre, or centres, on themainland are essential to the permanent cure of slavery, although theydiffer a little as to the best localities for them. Take, for instance,Darra Salaam on the coast, the Manganja highlands near the river Shire,and Kartoum on the Nile. Three such centres would, if established,begin at once to dry up the slave-trade at its three fountain-heads,while our cruisers would check it on the coast. In these centres oflight and freedom the negroes might see exemplified the blessings ofChristianity and civilisation, and, thence, trained native missionariesmight radiate into all parts of the vast continent armed only with theWord of God, the shield of Faith, and the sword of the Spirit in orderto preach the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In brief, the great points on which we ought as a nation, to insist, arethe _immediate_ abolition of the slave-trade in Portuguese dependencies;the scrupulous fulfilment of treaty obligations by the Sultans ofZanzibar and Muscat, the Shah of Persia, and the Khedive of Egypt; theestablishment by our Government of efficient consular agencies wheresuch are required; the acquisition of territory on the mainland for thepurposes already mentioned, and the united action of all Christians inour land to raise funds and send men to preach the Gospel to the negro.So doing we shall, with God's blessing, put an end to the Easternslave-trade, save equatorial Africa, and materially increase thecommerce, the riches, and the happiness of the world.