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TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



as correct the superficial and contemptuous es- 

 timate of negro character as given by Sir Samuel 

 Baker. With the writings of Livingstone before 

 him, and with numerous admissions in favor of 

 the African from Sir Samuel Baker himself, the 

 reviewer yet makes every available use of Baker's 

 works, not to accept his liberality, but to empha- 

 size the suggestions of what we cannot but char- 

 acterize as his inveterate prejudices. 



The intelligent negro traveler in foreign lands 

 comes across four classes of Europeans : First, 

 the class who are professionally philanthropic. 

 These, at the sight of the negro, go into ecstasies 

 over this " man and brother," and put themselves 

 to all sorts of inconvenience to prove to this un- 

 fortunate member of the human race that they 

 believe God hath made of one blood all nations 

 of men, etc. The second class is composed of 

 those who, at the sight of the negro, have all 

 their feelings of malice, hatred, and all unchari- 

 tableness excited, and who adopt every expedient 

 and avail themselves of every occasion to give 

 exhibitions of their vehement antagonism. The 

 third class regard him with contemptuous indif- 

 ference, and care to exhibit neither favor nor dis- 

 like, whatever his merit or demerit. The fourth 

 class consists of those who treat him as they 

 would a white man of the same degree of culture 

 and behavior, basing their demeanor altogether 

 upon the intellectual or moral qualities of the 

 man. To the cultivated negro, of course, the 

 last class is the most interesting to meet, and, if 

 he had his choice between classes first and sec- 

 ond, he would choose the second. Writers on 

 Africa and the African race may be divided into 

 very much the same classes ; and the race has 

 scarcely suffered more from the violent antago- 

 nism of its foes than from the false and undue 

 admiration of its friends. 



Before pointing out some of the errors of the 

 Westminster Reviewer, we will take a brief survey 

 of the past and present history of the African 

 slave-trade, and see how far it has introduced 

 waste and disorder into Africa, and prevented 

 the progress of the people. Of course we have 

 no detailed account of the proceedings of the 

 slave-hunters who captured the unfortunate creat- 

 ures represented on Egyptian monuments ; but 

 we have pretty full accounts of the origin and 

 character of the modern slave-trade, and we give 

 here a summary from an able and well-informed 

 source : 



"Within two centuries after the suppression 

 of slavery in Europe, the Portuguese, in imitation 

 of those piracies which existed in the uncivilized 



ages of the world, made their descents on Africa, 

 and, committing depredations on the coast, first 

 carried the wretched inhabitants into slavery. 

 This practice, thus inconsiderable at its commence- 

 ment, became general, and our ancestors, together 

 with Spaniards, French, and most of the maritime 

 powers of Europe, soon followed the piratical ex- 

 ample ; and thus did the Europeans revive a cus- 

 tom which their own ancestors had so lately ex- 

 ploded from a consciousness of its impiety. The 

 unfortunate Africans fled from the coast, and 

 sought, in the interior parts of the country, a re- 

 treat from the persecution of their invaders ; but 

 the Europeans still pursued them, entered their 

 rivers, sailed up into the heart of the country, sur- 

 prised the Africans in their recesses, and carried 

 them into slavery. The next step which the Eu- 

 ropeans found it necessary to take was that of set- 

 tling in the country, of securing themselves by 

 fortified posts, of changing their system of force 

 into that of pretended liberality, and of opening 

 by every species of bribery and corruption a com- 

 munication with the natives. Accordingly they 

 erected their forts and factories, landed their mer- 

 chandise, and endeavored by a peaceful deport- 

 ment, by presents, and by every appearance of 

 munificence to allure the attachment and confidence 

 of the Africans. Treaties of peace and commerce 

 were concluded with the chiefs of the country, in 

 which it was agreed that the kings on their part 

 should from this period sentence prisoners of war 

 and convicts to European servitude ; and that the 

 Europeans should supply them in return with the 

 luxuries of Europe." » 



Thus began that horrible traffic which for 

 generations has distracted the African Continent. 

 The discovery of America stimulated the traffic 

 and intensified its horrors : 



"Africans were deported to slaughter virgin 

 forests, to test the capability of virgin soils, and to 

 enrich both hemispheres with sugar, tobacco, cot- 

 ton, and wines. And it is due to the terrors of its 

 harborless coast, the malaria of its mangrove- 

 swamps, its burning deserts, its dangerous beasts 

 and reptiles, its impenetrable jungles, its wary 

 tribes prepared either for fight or flight, that Africa 

 was not entirely depopulated to satisfy the greed 

 of Christian nations for slaves during the last four 

 centuries." 



Though under the pressure of enlightened 

 Christian sentiment the traffic has been abandoned 

 by Christian nations, still the continent is made 

 to bleed at almost every pore. Notwithstanding 

 all that has-been written and said on this subject, 

 those who have seen anything of the horrors of 

 the traffic, which no pen can adequately de- 

 scribe, are solemnly impressed with the necessity 

 1 Iiees*s " New Cyclopaedia," article " Slavery." 



