TOPICS OF THE DAY.

AFRICA AND THE WEST INDIES.

WE are equally aware of the horrors of the slave-trade, and anxious to sec them put an end to—we are equally convinced of the im- portance of obliterating the sense of the relationship of master to slave from the human mind as a step in civilization, with the most ardent Abolitionist. But we could not cooperate with them so long as they remained blind to the inefficacy of the measures for putting an end to slavery and the slave-trade which they advocated; and we can as little cooperate with them now that one of their organs, Mr. ROWELL BUXTON, has demonstrated the inefficiency of these measures, because the measures which it is proposed to sub- stitute arc ludicrously and childishly inadequate. True it is, that Government patronize Mr. BcxTON'S new protect, so far as to propose a vote of 35,0001. of primary outlay and 10,e46/. of annual charge to carry it into effect. And the morning organ of Go- vernment patronizingly says—" The expedition to the Niger may fail to produce all the good results which some expect front it, but it can hardly fail to produce much good." It has, however, been so long apparent that the chance of any project's acceptance with Government is in the inverse ratio of its feasibility ; and the eulogy of the Morning Chic,hiele is so like keeping a door open to slip through, in the event of failure, that not much stress can be laid on either. Let us therefore briefly review Mr. BUXTON'S project, now in part the adopted of her Majesty's Ministers. Mr. liuxeos's plan is thus stated by himself— "1st. Impede and discourage the slave-trattie.

• "2nd. Establish and encourage legitimate commerce. "3rd. Encourage and teach cultivation. "4th. Impart instruction. " To accomplish the first, we must " Increase and concentrate our squadron, and make treaties with the chiefs of the coast, the livers, and the interior.

" To accomplish the second, we mast " Obtain commauding positions; settle factories ; and scud out trading- ships. " To accomplish the third, we must

" Set on toot an agricultural company. Obtain by treaties lands for cul-

tivation, with so much power as may be necessary to keep the slave- trader at a distance.

" To accomplish the fourth, we must " Establish a benevolent institution, somewhat on the plan of the African Institution, and acquire all necessary statistical information for the use of the merchant, the agriculturist, or the teacher."

The portion of this chain of measures which Government hare undertaken to carry into execution, in so far as we can learn from Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S letter to the Lords of the Treasury, (in which he declines to enter into "a full detail of the plan itscif," or "V the ulterior 71,,ItSltreS to which it may lead,") is as follows- " It is proposed to e:-:.1.1ish new commercial relations with those African chiefs or powers within nhose dominions the internal slave-trade of Africa is carried or, and the external slave-trade supplied with its victims. To this end the Queen has directed Lcr Mii.isters to negotiate conventions or agreements with those chiefs and powers, the basis of v. hich conventions would be, first, the abandonment and absolute prohibition of the slave-trade ; and secondly, the admission for et a-umption in this country, on favourable terms, of goods the produce or inanufficture of the territories 'object to them. Of' those chiefs, the most considerable rule over the count:ies adjacent to the Niger mid its great tributary streams. It is therethre proposed to despatch an expedition, which would ascend that river by steam-bat r, as far as the points at which it receives the confluence of some of the princilal rivcrz filling into it from the eastward. At these, or at any °Bur Station IN Lid: may be %Lind more Iiivour- able fbr the promotion of a legitimate commerce, it is proposed to establish British factories, in the hope that the natives may be taught that there are methods of employing the population more profitable to those to whom they arc subject, than that of converting them into slaves, and selling them for exportation to the slave-traders."

Either a voluntary association is to be formed simultaneously with this movement of the British Government, fur the purpose of carrying into effect the two last clauses of Mr. Bivrox's measure, or the portion of it recommended by Lord JOHN RUSSELL is alone to be attempted. In the latter case, the wiser plan will be, to take the money at once and throw it into the sea, for thereby no lives will be lost. The experience acquired by the voyage of Messrs. LAIRD and Oenrieen shows—first, that there is not at present sufficient surplus produce of any kind on the banks of the Niger to furnish trade ; second, that the Datives will not be allowed to trade with the White Wren; third, that the climate where a factory is to be established is even more deadly than that of Sierra Leone. Now, by a factory, we have hitherto understood a Government station fbr the protection of traders ; but why establish a place of security fbr traders where there is no trade, and where traders can- not live' We venture, therefore, to presume that Governmeut takes the step of establishing a factory or factories on the Niger, on the understanding that the two latter branches of Mr. Buxeox's plan —his force-pumps fir raising a trade where none exists—ore to be immediately undertaken by some voluntary association. In this case, we have something more than niece factories : we have terri- torial possessions, " hinds fbr cultivation, (obtained by treaty,) with so much power as may be necessary to keep the slave-trader at a distance., ' Britain must acquire the sovereignty within a district upon the Niger, and the Government functionaries in this new colony must " negotiate" with the "chiefs and powers" of the Niger —must plunge into the inexplicable and inextricable diplomacy of barbarous and broken clans. The issue of this is palpable—either we must retreat with disgrace front the position we have so rashly assumed, or we must play in Africa the saute game we have played in India. The fbrmer is the more probable. In India we had the fragmenta of former institutions out of which to erect our govern- ment, and a people accustomed to a (comparatively speaking) settled government. In India we did not blend the missionary character with that of the ruler. In India we were at a distance from the jealous eyes and interference of European rivals. In India we had a climate which, though trying to the European constitu- tion, was not certain death. In Africa the reverse holds true in every respect. It is barely possible that the plan is susceptible of be- ing carried into effect: but if it be, it will not be by the expenditure of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S trifling estimate. Lord GLENELG'S successor (if he knows what he is about, and is not merely talking in his sleep) proposes that. Britain shall mix itself up in the squabbles of the nomade hordes of the Great Desert, the fresh-water pirates and kidnappers of the Delta of the Niger, and the anarchy, of old governments overthrown without new being substituted in their stead by the conquests of the Felatahs in the Middle regions, and by its " soft sawder" talk them into civilization. Lord Jona flatters himself that be and 111r.13exeoer are to realize in these latter days the mythos of Orpheus: they are more likely to play the part of Don Quixote and Sancho among the galley-slaves.*

While the British Government is preparing to squander the time and money of its subjects on this Quixotic enterprise, it is neglect- ing its duty to those already its subjects, and who have this addi- tional claim upon its attention, that by its legislative interl'erence they have been placed in circumstances of peculiar difficulty. We allude to our West Indian Colonies. Government has there made a bold experiment, and is leaving it half finished. It has revolu- tionized the social organization of the West Indies, and is leaving it to subside into new arrangements as it best may. It is acting towards these settlements like a surgeon who should have recourse to amputation, and leave the wound undressed. Such ladies is unmanly—inhumane. Masters and slaves might not live very com- fortably together, but they did live together : that power which has so suddenly altered their relative situations, should seek to smooth the way to their tranquil adjustment. We owe this to the White race, who are our brethren. We owe this to the Black race, for whatever of civilization it already inherits or may in future attain, must be derived from their late masters.. It is foolish as well as cruel to say, that having purchased the freedom of the Blacks, we have made them happy ; and that the Whites, having received the purchase-money of emancipation, may shift for themselves. The Blacks cannot be made happy by allowing White civilization to disappear from the islands ; but they may he made happy by en- grafting them upon that civilization. There is a selfish view of the question, too, which prompts to the same course of action as the considerations we have been enforcing. We have paid for the liberation of the Blacks, and are entitled to share in the benefits to accrue from the new state of things. If (as we have beets told) the productiveness and happiness of the West India Islands may be increased under a system of free labour, we, whose customers they are, must share ill their increased wealth. We have a tan- gible interest in the experiment of free labour being steadily and judiciously worked out. Flighty senthnentalists, who seek only stimulants to their lethargic emotions, may turn from the practical to the romantic ; rational men will seek to work out to a successful issue an enterprise begun with any show of hope. Lastly comes this consideration, that the emancipation of the slaves in our West Indian Colonies has excited a spirit of angry fear in surrounding slave-owning countries ; and that in them the rigours of slavery have been increased. It is a duty we owe the slave in every coun- try to strain every effort to work out our experiment to at success- ful issue ; for only by establishiug the superiority of free labour in an economical point of view, and inducing other nations to follow our example, can we relieve the slave from that yoke which we have helped to resider heavier and sharper. All these considerations concur to impress upon our minds the importance to this country of' directing towards our old-established West Indian Colonies a portion of that active interest which is now manifesting itself' in the fbundation of new. And the immovable character of the Colonial Office, as well as the proneness of Ministers to run after such will-o'-the-wisp schemes as the " Niger diplomacy," shows that it is only the energies of the West Indians and their friends " at home" that can lie relied upon. The West

Indies are involved in great though not hopeless difficulties : much

insist be done fur them that no Gov't:11111Iva can do ; and what Government alone can do, must be.wrung from it by ceaseless im- portunity. " God helps them who help themselves: " those who have an interest in the West Indian Colonies on both skies of the Atlantic must lay their shoulders to the wheel. It is no child's play :

* Two additional remarks we would make upon Mr. Bcx'ros's " Remedy.'' Imprimis, he has been guilty either of insufficient inquiry, or or suppressio term when the truth told against him. lle quotes Mr. FERGUSON, head of the me- dical department nt Sierra Leone. Did he or did he not ask that gentleman (a medical man of great intelligence and humanity) his opinion regarding the sacrifice of human lito at which an establishment on the Niger could be forma? and for what period of years Ws sacrifice must remain unabated ? Rik omitted to ask, why ? If he did not omit, why not communicate this in- formation ? In like manner, when he quotes the professions of readiness to coOperate in abolishing the Slave-trade made by Sultan Ilta.to and the Sheik of Bornou, why does he suppress the more just appreciation of the real views of these worthies, and the real extent of their power, which results from CLA PPEn- Totes last voyage. Sccundo, Mr. Btecros (hy the aid most probably of his friend Mr, MoniEncacN'ray of the Colonial Office) obtained Lord Joint. ltcssxaa's concurrence to his "Remedy " before the public knew any thing of the negotiations: can he insure to Government the approbation even of the. Aboh- t]oltists for the plan lie has induced it to adopt ? A part of it be admits is distasteful to the Friends." The majority of the Abolitionists ars clamour- ing for cessation of commercial intercourse with slave-owning countries, and the whole of the native African produce will be the result of slave-labour. The end of the "Remedy" forgets the beginning.

dilatoriness and errors in judgment may alike prove fatal. The West Indians must force themselves to view their present condi-

tion in its least flattering light : they must confess the whole ex- tent of their difficulties to themselves ; they must learn to con- form to the necessities which their position in the economy of the British empire impose upon them. Above all, they must lay aside the sin which most easily besets a portion of West Indian society— contempt for self-supporting industry—the habit of regarding the indolent life of a gentleman as alone honourable. The only practien1 course of action we have as yet seen shaped out for them, is that propounded in the number of the Colonial Gazette published on the 1st of January in the present year, under the title " I-low to Save the West Indies and Abolish Negro Slavery." The foundation of this plan is a measure for securing cheap production in our West Indian colonies : for it is only by enabling themselves, through economy in production, to undersell their competitors in the markets of the world, that they can hope to advance in prosperity, or even keep their ground. They cannot now compete with the countries in which slave-labour is still em- ployed, by applying greater quantities of unskilled half-animal labour. But they may, by the economical devices which the em- ployment of intelligent skilled labour enables men to have recourse to. Their interest, therefore, is to raise the character of their labouring class—to encourage an adequate although less numerous population of skilled labourers in preference to one composed of hordes of useless and barbarous squatters. The first step towards this end is to prevent that tidal theility in the acquisition of small patches of land which would inthllibly generate a population of gipsies in the present circumstances of West Indian society ; and in the second place, to afford every encouragement to the immigra- tion of skilled and industrious labourers. The adoption of the WAKEFIELD system of disposing of lands in those colonies where unoccupied lands still exist, is an indispensable item in such a scheme. But additional attractions to a free passage, out of the proceeds of the hind sales, must be held out to that class of labour- ers which, from native constitution, is best suited to the climate, and through habituation to the modes of civilized society, has acquired the qualities necessary for taking a useful part in com- bined skilled labour—the free Negroes of the United States. In the words of the writer whose views we are trying to enforce, " In order to attract any great number of the Negro race to the \Vest Indies, it is absolutely necessary that the principles of emancipa- tion should be followed out to the ends—that the race should be placed on a footing of perfect social equality with the Whites." The persecuted Negro population of the Western world has already evinced a readiness to emigrate to the West Indies. They

are working, and working well, in Trinidad. The concession of political equality would attract to these congenial climates, from the United States, an ample supply of skilled labourers and edu- cated capitalists of the Coloured race. By their means, machinery might be introduced and worked with profit. In all probability, all kinds of tropical produce—bat certainly those finer kinds which are sought in the markets of civilized and luxurious Europe— would, by the combined exertions of enterprising capitalists, in- telligent and industrious artisans, and improved machinery, be brought to market to an amount and with an economical expendi- ture of labour that would defy the rivalry of proud and indolent slave-owners and their half-animal slaves.

It is the crisis of the fide of the West Indian Colonies. If the present moment is nut seized, no future opportunity will offer. Stsam communication between Europe and the West Indies is on the eve of being established. The rapid advance of Australasia, and the discovery of good and easily-worked coal in New Zealand, must facilitate its extension to these enterprising settlements. It is the interest of the West India Islands, and it is in the power of their inhabitants to make themselves the central depots of new radiations of commercial enterprise. They live in a new rem and must accommodate themselves to it. The chains of their former slaves cannot be reclasped ; but cheaper and more agreeable modes of production may be substituted. They must not hope (we

would be false flatterers, not sincere friends, were we to tell them another story) to preserve discriminating duties in the English market in thvour of their produce. The great East India interest is in motion for their abolition, and the mass of the British popu- lation is in favour of equalization. They must be prepared to relinquish this advantage, (if it be one,) assured that the counter- vailing advantages given to the English purchaser rendered it more eounnal than real. In the opening of their ports to the merchants of all nations they will find an ample recompense. The extension of their intercourse with the United States of America alone would be an ample compensation.* The difficulties of the West Indians do not all originate in a deficient supply of labour ; their origin is not con- temporaneous with Emancipation. The most palmy time ofJamaica was when it was the head-station of the contraband traffic with the Spanish main. A new career lies open to the British islands in the Caribbean Sea : it is by a commerce based upon free labour, radi- ating to New Zealand and Australia, to China, to Mexico and the United States, to Europe and Western Africa, to the States of Southern America, that they are to attract British capital in addi- tion to their own ; and by adding to the attractions, already great, of their society, scenery, and climate, to render themselves (by steam) to Great Britain what Cheltenham and Bath are to London.

The progress made by the settlers of the new States on the Mississippi and Ohio, in thiiming the woods, has let the Northern blasts in upon Louisi- ana, and they are yearly rendering its sugar -crop more precarious.

Lastly, it is thus, and as the writer in the Colonial Gazette Justly remarks, thus only, that Negro slavery is to be abolished. It is truly remarked by Mr. BUXTON—" The power which will

overcome our efforts is the extraordinary profit of the slave-trader. It is, I believe, an axiom at the Customhouse, that no illicit trade can be suppressed where the profits exceed 30 per cent. I will prove that the profits of the slave-trader are nearly five times that amount." It is only by making freedom more profitable than slavery, that we can put an end to slavery. And this is to be done (if at all) in the West Indies, not on the Niger. On the Niger, the materials to be employed are men not emerged from barbarism, occupying a narrow territory, accessible on all sides by uncon- trolled barbarians. In time West Indies are the forms and substance of regular government, which have grown by lapse of years into respect ; isolation from even the civilized countries adjoining ; capital and knowledge, and the rational prospect of intelligent immigrants from the United States. In the latter the materials for working out the experiment exist in a favourable situation. On the Niger is a fit field for " Caciques of Povais," but not for honest enterprise. To neglect our West Indian Colonies, and seek El Dorados in the heart of Africa, with a view to accelerate the extinction of slavery and the slave-trade, is to enact the part of the dog letting go its piece of meat to snap at the shadow in the water.

Most earnestly do we recommend these considerations to the at- tention of the reflecting portion of our West Indian proprietors, and the judicious among our sincere Abolitionists. We would im- press upon the former the disadvantage under which they have la- boured by running counter to the sympathies of the Mother-coun- try on the Slave question, as a reason for yielding to the stream of tendency, and seeking by acquiescence in the growing senti- ments regarding man's rights and unfettered commercial intercourse, to lay the basis of an enduring prosperity. They who will not adapt themselves to the world in which they live, must be content to see themselves elbowed out of it : on the other hand, in any state of society, intelligence, enterprise, and perseverance, com- mand the lion's share of whatever good is going. To the judicious Abolitionists we would say, here is a fair prospect of doing some- thing towards the realization of your benevolent wishes. Surely it is more worthy of rational men to cooperate in such an undertaking, than to waste money in the purchase of graves in Africa for men who might be kept alive at home, or in the paying of lecturers, who will cram and preach at twelve boors' warning on any subject however unknown to them before, and to allow the Slave-trade to go on from year to year increasing in extent and atrocity.