Preface . 
xi 
with him when he finds that we differ upon one 
most important point. It is the merchant, not 
the garrison, that causes .African wars. If the 
home authorities would avoid a campaign, let 
them commit their difficulty to a soldier, not 
to a civilian. 
The chronic discontent of the so-called 
“ civilized ” African, the contempt of the rulers 
if not of the rule, and the bitter hatred between 
the three races, white, black, and black-white, 
fomented by many an unprincipled print, which 
fills its pocket with coin of cant and Christian 
charity, will end in even greater scandals than the 
last disreputable war. If the damnosa licentia be 
not suppressed—and where are the strong hands 
to suppress it ?—we may expect to see the scenes 
of Jamaica revived with improvements at Sierra 
Leone. However unwilling I am to cut off any 
part of our great and extended empire, to renew 
anywhere, even in Africa, the process of dis¬ 
memberment—the policy which cast off Corfu— 
it is evident to me that English occupation of the 
West African Coast has but slightly forwarded 
the cause of humanity, and that upon the whole 
it has proved a remarkable failure. 
We can be wise in time. 
Richard F. Burton. 
P.S.—Since these pages were written, a name 
