OUR COMMERCE WITH AFRICA. 399 



a superiority over all others in the application 

 of it. Can there be a nobler or more profitable 

 application of it, than employing it to open up 

 Central Africa? It might have been created for 

 the purpose of affording us facilities for repairing 

 the injury we have inflicted on her. By it the 

 coast of Africa may be brought within a fort- 

 night's sail from this country ; by it her rivers 

 may be explored and navigated in safety ; by it 

 may the mighty Niger be guided in a straight 

 course to the sea, instead of spreading itself into 

 countless and intricate channels ; by this Proteus- 

 like power, will the oil from her palms, the sugar 

 from her canes, the timber from her forests, be 

 rendered more valuable and marketable. 



I cannot conceive my country in a prouder 

 position than thus peaceably calling forth the 

 energies and resources of a continent in one 

 corner of which France is at present carrying on 

 a war of extermination. Let the antagonist prin- 

 ciples of force and persuasion have a fair trial, 

 and there can be no fear as to the result. 



In concluding this outline (for it must be con- 

 sidered merely an outline) of a plan for the civi- 

 lisation and government of Africa, I beg that it 

 may be distinctly understood, that as long as the 



