the remedy.

reader, we will turn aside at this point to preach you a lay sermon, if you will lend an attentive ear. it shall be brief, and straight to the point. our text is,—prevention and cure.

there are at least three great channels by which the life-blood of africa is drained. one trends to the east through the zanzibar dominions, another to the south-east through the portuguese dependencies, and a third to the north through egypt. if the slave-trade is to be effectually checked, the flow through these three channels must be stopped. it is vain to rest content with the stoppage of one leak in our ship if two other leaks are left open.

happily, in regard to the first of these channels, sir bartle frere has been successful in making a grand stride in the way of prevention. if the sultan of zanzibar holds to his treaty engagements, “domestic slavery” in his dominions is at an end. nevertheless, our fleet will be required just as much as ever to prevent the unauthorised, piratical, slave-trade, and this, after all, is but one-third of the preventive work we have to do. domestic slavery remains untouched in the portuguese dependencies, and portugal has decreed that it shall remain untouched until the year 1878! it is well that we should be thoroughly impressed with the fact that so long as slavery in any form is tolerated, the internal—we may say infernal—miseries and horrors which we have attempted to depict will continue to blight the land and brutalise its people. besides this, justice demands that the same constraint which we lay on the sultan of zanzibar should be applied to the king of portugal. we ought to insist that his “domestic slavery” shall cease at once. still further, as sir bartle frere himself has recommended, we should urge upon our government the appointment of efficient consular establishments in the portuguese dependencies, as well as vigilance in securing the observance of the treaties signed by the sultans of zanzibar and muscat.

a recent telegram from sir samuel baker assures us that a great step has been made in the way of checking the tide of slavery in the third—the egyptian—channel, and sir bartle frere bears testimony to the desire of the khedive that slavery should be put down in his dominions. for this we have reason to be thankful; and the appearance of affairs in that quarter is hopeful, but our hope is mingled with anxiety, because mankind is terribly prone to go to sleep on hopeful appearances. our nature is such, that our only chance of success lies, under god, in resolving ceaselessly to energise until our ends be accomplished. we must see to it that the khedive of egypt acts in accordance with his professions, and for this end efficient consular agency is as needful in the north-east as in the south-east.

so much for prevention, but prevention is not cure. in order to accomplish this two things are necessary. there must be points or centres of refuge for the oppressed on the mainland of africa, and there must be the introduction of the bible. the first is essential to the second. where anarchy, murder, injustice, and tyranny are rampant and triumphant, the advance of the missionary is either terribly slow or altogether impossible. the life-giving, soul-softening word of god, is the only remedy for the woes of mankind, and, therefore, the only cure for africa. to introduce it effectually, and along with it civilisation and all the blessings that flow therefrom, it is indispensable that great britain should obtain, by treaty or by purchase, one or more small pieces of land, there to establish free christian negro settlements, and there, with force sufficient to defend them from the savages, and worse than savages,—the arab and portuguese half-caste barbarians and lawless men who infest the land—hold out the hand of friendship to all natives who choose to claim her protection from the man-stealer, and offer to teach them the blessed truths of christianity and the arts of civilisation. many of the men who are best fitted to give an opinion on the point agree in holding that some such centre, or centres, on the mainland are essential to the permanent cure of slavery, although they differ 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 of light and freedom the negroes might see exemplified the blessings of christianity and civilisation, and, thence, trained native missionaries might radiate into all parts of the vast continent armed only with the word of god, the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit in order to 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, are the immediate abolition of the slave-trade in portuguese dependencies; the scrupulous fulfilment of treaty obligations by the sultans of zanzibar and muscat, the shah of persia, and the khedive of egypt; the establishment by our government of efficient consular agencies where such are required; the acquisition of territory on the mainland for the purposes already mentioned, and the united action of all christians in our 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 eastern slave-trade, save equatorial africa, and materially increase the commerce, the riches, and the happiness of the world.