The French have captured Timbuctoo, and intend to occupy it
permanently. Somehow, we suppose because children read early travels in Africa, that seems to be an important an- nouncement, but we do not know that it matters. Timbuctoo is only a market-town on an affluent of the Niger, very high up- in the course of that great river, and has been nearly rained of late years by the attacks of the Tuaregs, the fighting tribe of the neighbouring desert, who, by the way, have just wiped out a French exploring party of twenty-five men. If the French like to bold Timbuctoo, and make it safe, the world and Africa will be the gainers ; and as for our countrymen, we have no patience with their unreasoning greed. We have nearly all the trade of the Niger, we have just conquered a great province on the Zambesi, we can hardly digest our new Empire on the Irrawaddy, and we really must consent to let the rest of the world have a bite. We have tribes enough to bother us without undertaking to bridle the Tuaregs, who fight like Arabs, and occupy a country in which even a Chinaman would starve. Moderation is wisdom, even in the attractive work of eating up a continent. We congratulate the French on their energy and self-sacrifice in grasping at such a possession.
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