Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, vol 1 | Page 2

be preposterous to publish descriptions of any
European country from information gathered ten years ago. But Africa
moves slowly, and thus we see that the results of an Abyssinian journey
(M. Antoine d'Abbadie's "Géodésic d'Ethiopie," which took place about
1845, are not considered obsolete in 1873.
After a languid conviction during the last half century of owning some
ground upon the West Coast of Africa, England has been rudely
aroused by a little war which will have large consequences. The causes
that led to the "Ashantee Campaign," a negro copy of the negroid
Abyssinian, may be broadly laid down as general incuriousness, local
mismanagement, and the operation of unprincipled journalism.
It is not a little amusing to hear the complaints of the public that plain
truth about the African has not been told. I could cite more than one
name that has done so. But what was the result? We were all soundly

abused by the negrophile; the multitude cared little about reading
"unpopular opinions;" and then, when the fulness of time came, it
turned upon us, and rent us, and asked why we had not spoken freely
concerning Ashanti and Fanti, and all the herd. My "Wanderings in
West Africa" is a case in point: so little has it been read, that a
President of the Royal Geographical Society (African section of the
Society of Arts Journal, Feb. 6, 1874) could state, "If Fantees are
cowardly and lazy, Krumen are brave;" the latter being the most
notorious poltroons on the West African seaboard.
The hostilities on the Gold Coast might have been averted with honour
to ourselves at any time between 1863 and 1870, by a Colonial Office
mission and a couple of thousand pounds. I need hardly say what has
been the case now. The first steps were taken with needless disasters,
and the effect has been far different from what we intended or what was
advisable. For a score of years we (travellers) have been advising the
English statesman not to despise the cunning of barbarous tribes, never
to attempt finessing with Asiatic or African; to treat these races with
perfect sincerity and truthfulness. I have insisted, and it is now seen
with what reason, that every attempt at deception, at asserting the
"thing which is not," will presently meet with the reward it deserves. I
can only regret that my counsels have not made themselves heard.
Yet this ignoble war between barbarous tribes whom it has long been
the fashion to pet, this poor scuffle between the breechloader and the
Birmingham trade musket, may yet in one sense do good. It must
perforce draw public attention to the West Coast of Africa, and raise
the question, "What shall we do with it?" My humble opinion,
expressed early in 1865 to the Right Honourable Mr. Adderley, has
ever been this. If we are determined not to follow the example of the
French, the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the Spaniards, and not to use the
country as a convict station, resolving to consume, as it were, our crime
at home, we should also resolve to retain only a few ports and forts,
without territory, at points commanding commerce, after the fashion of
the Lusitanians in the old heroic days. The export slave-trade is now
dead and buried; the want of demand must prevent its revival; and free
emigration has yet to be created. As Mr. Bright rightly teaches, strong

places and garrisons are not necessary to foster trade and to promote
the success of missions. The best proof on the West African Coast is to
be found in the so-called Oil Rivers, where we have never held a mile
of ground, and where our commerce prospers most. The great
"Tribune" will forgive my agreeing in opinion 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 dismemberment--the policy which cast
off Corfu--it is evident to me that English occupation of the West
African Coast has