]58 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
Mr. Petherick — we ougkt to add, that this Consul (a man of 
intelligence, possessing a knowledge of the Soudan from a long 
experience) has performed the duties of his ofS.ce with an in- 
tegrity and firmness that may well serve as an example to his 
colleagues. In the blow which has deprived Mr. Petherick of 
ofB.ce, that which is the most distressing is the fact that his de- 
position followed quickly upon energetic measures taken by him 
against this traflic, and against that oppression which the local 
authorities endeavoured to bring to bear upon Europeans. I 
repeat, this deposition of Mr. Petherick passes current through 
the country as a disavowal of these measures, and is regarded as 
a censure publicly inflicted upon Mr. Petherick by his superiors 
in consequence of the attitude he assumed. 
‘‘ I am ignorant whether the British Grovernment can now re- 
consider the decision it has taken ; but I do know that the re- 
establishment of a British Consulate at Khartoum would be a. 
measure which all those who have at heart the triumph of the 
principles of civilization in this barbarous country would receive 
with joy. 
“ (Signed) De PEIJTSSENAEBE, 
“ Belriian Resident at Khartoum.'^ 
The recent disclosures by Consul Beade of Cairo, that will be 
fresh in the memory of every one, of the extent to which the slave 
trade is carried on in the heart of Egypt, must surely satisfy the 
public of the desirability of the establishment of a British Consulate 
at Khartoum — the hotbed of the Egyptian slave trade — if not for 
the entire suppression of the trade, at least for its contraction 
within less shocking limits. Its entire abolition, I believe every- 
one with a knowledge of the domestic habits of Mussulmans will 
agree with me is next to an impossibility. Nothing less than the 
subversion of their religion, for the suppression of polygamy and 
