THE WEST COAST OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 109 
A few words concerning' the future of this region, and we have 
done. 
A thoughtful writer on the subject* expresses himself com- 
pletely at a loss to devise “ some sort of education to root out 
the fell spirit ” of this people, and thinks that “ ages must pass 
by before any system can produce impressions of amelioration 
on temperaments such as they possess.” 
The formation of these habits has been the work of ages, and 
it is therefore probable that ages would elapse before they could 
be eradicated by any ordinary educational process. 
Long before this can take effect, however, we venture to say 
that the soil will be in possession of the white man. 
Meamvhile all the resources of civilization, trade, science, 
secular education, and religion, well supported by European 
arms, will be needed to reclaim the country and its inhabitants. 
Commerce has been, and will continue to be, the chief in- 
strument of regeneration. The legitimate trade in produce will 
materially aid, as it has done, in suppressing the slave-trade ; 
but before the former can be satisfactorily conducted, improve- 
ments in inland conveyance, by means of railways or tramways, 
elephants, and flat-bottomed boats upon the rivers, will have to 
replace the carrying trade as now conducted on the backs of 
women. 
The monopolies of the coast tribes will also have to be broken 
through ; but, in consequence of the jealousy of these, little 
hope can be entertained of any material improvement until the 
whole of the country has been brought under the subjection of 
Europeans. 
Many of our readers will no doubt be startled at this asser- 
tion, and some, pointing to Liberia as an example of native rule, 
may protest against the theory of conquest. Whether or not 
Liberia is a “ success ” (for there is a great diversity of opinions 
on the subject), we cannot here decide; but certain it is that 
the great wave of progress will never be arrested in order to 
give time for the experiments of philanthropists ; it will con- 
tinue, as it began, to roll onward, preceded by the sword ; but 
no doubt its progress will be characterized by the operation 
of expanding humanity and the appliances of the age. 
Amongst these may be mentioned, as one of the most im- 
portant and efficacious, the influence of the newspaper press. 
Books, however useful they may be, are often written with an 
object, or, as we have seen of late, their contents are open to 
considerable discussion. However such works may please for 
the hour, they lose all practical effect upon the public mind, and 
their garniture familiarizes us with savage life, without inspiring 
* Consul Hutchinson’s “ Ten Years’ Wanderings among the Ethiopians,” 
p. 79. 
