390 REMARKS ON 



it to private enterprise to take advantage of. 

 This is true to a certain extent. Private enter- 

 prise will do much, but it has a right to demand 

 protection. Let the Government give it that 

 protection by establishing stations upon the 

 Niger, and the enterprise of British merchants 

 will soon develope the resources of the country. 

 British philanthropy will raise by education, 

 the moral standard of the people ; the religion 

 we profess will pour its messengers, declaring 

 *' peace on earth and good will towards men" 

 through the country. The standard of the Cross 

 will be hoisted with the standard of our country ; 

 the blessings of Christianity will be diffused with 

 the advantages of commerce, and a religion of 

 benevolence substituted for one of blood. 



It must be obvious that to carry into execu- 

 tion any such plan would require the system of 

 government on the coast to be entirely changed. 

 It is evident that as long as the present disor- 

 ganised state of the coast of Africa continues, we 

 can have no political relations with the natives of 

 it. Our intercourse is (and long may it continue 

 so !) purely commercial ; and for that a commer- 

 cial government is best fitted. The experiment 

 has been successfully tried at Cape Coast Castle, 



