474 



POETUGUESE STATESMEN. 



Chap. XXIII. 



muskets, and whoever possesses access to a seaport has the 

 power of carrying on slaving to any extent ; for on the East 

 Coast there is no restriction in the introduction of arms and 

 ammunition. The laws are quite as stringent against these 

 articles as at the Cape ; but, like the laws for the abolition 

 of slavery, no one obeys them — they are only for quotation 

 and self-glorification in Europe. 



Under all these considerations, with the fact that we 

 had not found the Kovuma so favourable for navigation 

 at the time of our visit as we expected, it was impossible 

 not to coincide in the wisdom of our withdrawal ; but we 

 deeply regretted that we had ever given credit to the Por- 

 tuguese Government for any desire to ameliorate the condition 

 of the African race ; for, with half the labour and expense 

 anywhere else, we should have made an indelible mark of 

 improvement on a section of the Continent. Viewing Por- 

 tuguese statesmen in the light of the laws they have passed 

 for the suppression of slavery and the slave-trade, and by 

 the standard of the high character of our own public men, 

 it cannot be considered weakness to have believed in the 

 sincerity of the anxiety to aid our enterprise, professed 

 by the Lisbon Ministry. We hoped to benefit both Por- 

 tuguese and Africans by introducing free-trade and Christi- 

 anity. Our allies, unfortunately, cannot see the slightest 

 benefit in any measure, that does not imply raising them- 

 selves up by thrusting others down. The official* paper 



* The Portuguese Government 

 lately employed a gentleman named 

 Lacerda to write a series of papers 

 in their official journal, the ' Diario de 

 Lisboa,' to prove that Dr. Livingstone 

 made a great mistake in ascribing any 

 merit to Speke and Grant's discovery 

 of what appears to be the main source 

 of the Nile. The ancient Portuguese 



missionaries, Jeronymo Lobo and Joao 

 dos Santos, and others, it seems, pre- 

 ceded our countrymen. In fact, this 

 clever writer proves to his own satis- 

 faction that the English have dis- 

 covered next to nothing in Africa. As 

 no one out of Portugal requires a 

 refutation of these loose statements, 

 we turn to a question of more import- 



