Thus is immunity
insured to the villanous actors in the trade. Who can prosecute a slave
trader of the White Nile? What legal evidence can be produced from
Central Africa to secure a conviction in an English Court of Law? The
English consul (Mr. Petherick) arrested a Maltese, the nephew of
Debono; - the charge could not be legally supported. Thus are the consuls
fettered, and their acts nullified by the impossibility of producing
reliable evidence; - the facts are patent; but who can prove them
legally?
Stop the White Nile trade; prohibit the departure of any vessels from
Khartoum for the south, and let the Egyptian Government grant a
concession to a company for the White Nile, subject to certain
conditions, and to a special supervision. (There are already four
steamers at Khartoum.) Establish a military post of 200 men at
Gondokoro; an equal number below the Shillook tribe in 13 degrees
latitude, and, with two steamers cruising on the river, not a slave
could descend the White Nile.
Should the slave-trade be suppressed, there will be a good opening for
the ivory trade; the conflicting trading parties being withdrawn, and
the interest of the trade exhibited by a single company, the natives
would no longer be able to barter ivory for cattle; thus they would be
forced to accept other goods in exchange. The newly-discovered Albert
lake opens the centre of Africa to navigation. Steamers ascend from
Khartoum to Gondokoro in latitude 4 degrees 55'. Seven days' march south
from that station the navigable portion of the Nile is reached, where
vessels can ascend direct to the Albert lake - thus an enormous extent
of country is opened to navigation, and Manchester goods and various
other articles would find a ready market in exchange for ivory, at a
prodigious profit, as in those newly-discovered regions ivory has a
merely nominal value. Beyond this commencement of honest trade, I cannot
offer a suggestion, as no produce of the country except ivory could
afford the expense of transport to Europe. IF Africa is to be civilized,
it must be effected by commerce, which, once established, will open the
way for missionary labour; but all ideas of commerce, improvement, and
the advancement of the African race that philanthropy could suggest must
be discarded until the traffic in slaves shall have ceased to exist.
Should the slave-trade be suppressed, a field would be opened, the
extent of which I will not attempt to suggest, as the future would
depend upon the good government of countries now devoted to savage
anarchy and confusion.
Any Government that would insure security would be the greatest
blessing, as the perpetual hostilities among the various tribes prevent
an extension of cultivation.
