The Khedive has signed a new Convention with the British
'Government, under which he pledges himself once more to abolish the slave-trade ; and Colonel Gordon, in his recent letters, believes him to be sincere. Nevertheless he fears that small par- ties of slaves will be carried into Egypt, in spite of all that he can do. If Colonel Gordon can suppress the slave-caravans, he will accomplish something, but the slave-trade will never be totally suppressed while Egypt is in Turkish hands. If the Khedive is in earnest in his wish to extinguish slavery, let him follow minutely a very simple and effectual Indian precedent,—issue a decree forbidding any Court or public officer to take note of the status of slavery. He will find that the system will in a few years die wholly out, and that in the interim the ill-treatment of a slave who can walk away at pleasure will become most exceptional. The fact, we presume, is, that the Khedive, like the Southern planters, dislikes the slave-trade, but is none the less determined not to interfere with slavery.
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