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    THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA.*

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    116 The Leader cmd Saturday Ancdyst . [ Feb . 18 G 0

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    I N the year 1856 the Government , for sonic ;• gooana smm : ; reasons thereto moving them , " appointed Mr . Lyons McLeod British Consul at Mozambique , the capital of tire Portuguese dominions on that side of Africa . The Km- of Portugal duly granted his exequatur to this first consular representative ot Great Britain in these parts , and Mr . McLeod left Eng land for his perilous post in December of the above-named year . He did not arrive at Mozambique until the July following :, mid left the place again m May , 1858—driven away , according to Ins own statement , £ y the disgraceful persecution to which he ; was subjected from the 1 ortuwith whose nefarious violtion of the

    guese official slave-dealers , a laws of their own sovereign , and scandalous breach of his treaty engagements with England ,, he had interfered . Many persons who recognise the name of Mr . MclLeod as the British consul who brought about that condemnation of the "Charles et Georges , wlucii imposed upon Portugal the humiliation of abandoning her sovereign rights at the dictation of France , will hear with surmise that he denounces Portugal herself as the great European sinner in this matter of the continuance or startling revival of the slave trade . So he does , however , supporting the charge by a mass of corroborative details in these important and interesting volumes , in which he has recorded the incidents of his sojourn in Africa . ,-... _ .. the t coast of

    The sovereignty which Portugal exercises upon eas Africa is rather nominal than real - Over the whole immense line of territory which extends from Delagoa Bay in the south , to Cape Delgado in the north , her power is confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the few Government establishments . 1 he influence she exercises upon the native tribes is , however , as might be expected , great , and ; it would be in her power to put a complete stop to the slave trade along the coast , and develop greatly the resources of a country which , as described by Mr . McXjeod , are immense . We will name only one product , but that the most important to this country—cotton . Dr . Livingstone lias ¦ . already acquainted the world with the capabilities of this part of Africa to supply cotton ; and Mr . McLeod assures us that it grows almost everywhereand might be cultivated to an extent which would

    , almost supply the requirements of the world . Before , however , commerce and cultivation can spring up in these rich regions , the all-destroying slave trade must be suppressed , The Portuguese officials , however , encourage and participate in the slave trade , and discourage commerce as much as they possibly can . They make the most hypocritical pretences of an abhorrence of slavery , and profess a warm desire to suppress the trade to the British naval officers who visit their ports , arid who too often suffer themselves to be deceived by the false information given them by governors , who are themselves active participators in the traffic , and monopolise as much as possible i ( s advantages . There is , it seems , a regular tariff of allowances to the governors of districts and the governor-mchief for each slave Hold to American or Spanish vessels , or to thfl French Free Labour Emigration agents . Mr . McLeod charges

    fcheLisbon Government with a full knowledge of the abominations exercised by its delegates , and declares its avowed desire to suppress the traffic to be an imposition upon England . If the facts are as he lias stated them , the ' charge appears but too well founded- I no officials sent to Mozambique aro allowed salaries quite insufficient even for their absolute wants , and those salaries are irregularly paid-It was stated to our author that tile soldiers at Mozambique had not been paid for more than four years , and the officers hnd not received a farthing for two . - > Tefc these officials , scantily paid aa they are , return'to Portugal with immense fortunes , and the posts are consequently eagerly struggled for by the relatives of persons possessing 1 Court injlluence . Of course , they make their fortunes by the slave trade . Although the trade ia < abolished by Portuguese laws , domestic slavery ia continued by the pame code for some twenty years longer , and tiiat allows every facility for the traffic , llie masters have absolute power over the slaves , mny use the most inhuman tortures , and no one therefore has a right , to nsk , if indeed any one were disposed to ask , what had become of any number ot slaves who might disappear from any particular estate . The con-JueiiOoa

    dition of these slaves , we may observe , w , according to Mr . , most distressing 1 . They are most scantily fed and cruelly used , beaten to death , and compelled to beat their own relations to doatli j the facility with which they can bo procured and their consequent low price making tho preservation of theiv lives ov health a matter of small con ^ equonco , to the Portuguese master . Such being tno etato of affairs in Mozambique , it will bo readily' conceived that Mr , McLeod *« arrival was fnv from welcome totheGovornor-gonewl and his friends . The Oonanl had already on his way there obtained

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    laugh at their abject homage to a consummate quacfeery ! The question of the popedom may be supposed chiefly to concern Italy ; but it concerns the whole -civilized- world . In all religious bodies the priest is inclined to place his privileges and prejudices as , a priest higher than his love for mankind or his eountry . ¦ But the priest of the Boman Catholic Church regards it as his dnty to strangle in his breast all spontaneous impulses , all human emotions . He has con-• lemr . ed himself by his vows to obey without murmur and without examination a foreign authority ; he has surrendered his free will , his tenderest instincts , the freshness and fulness of his nature to a spiritual despotism , irt whose service he is content to be a soldier without glory and a spy without reward . If hd is sincere how tragical is his doom ; if insincere how monstrous is his g-in . lt ! Now , the remoter from Home the sincereris the Roman Catholic priest;—"the nearer to Rome the more the priest is vicious and vile , an .. unbeliever and a charlatan . Our author has skilfully and elaborately traced the growth of popery from the beginning ; but what principally interests us is popery in its actual workings . _ In Rome , and throughout Italy , priest means pollution . If the Italian varies idleness , apathy , effeminacy with unnatural crimes , ¦ v on . may trace whatsoever is weakest or worst in him to the precepts or the example of the priesthood . The yell of protestant bigotry in England against the Vatican finds no echo , produces no effect , simply because it is the yell of bigotry . Instead of that foolish yell we should , like to hear a grand cry of wrath marching 'from nation to nation , proclaiming war not to what offends the dogma of the sectary , but to what is flagrantly unmoral and inhuman . "With the quarrels of rival theologies we do not meddle , let each theology fight for itself . But if we recognise certain principles of everlasting justice , mercy , and truth , and see them ¦ ¦ . systematically-violated ,- , we cease to gaze at either theological frontiers or geographical boundaries ; we only behold an -abomination and nn iniquity which are a curse to man , which contradict the scheme of the universe . What matters it whether the "torturers and the tortured are found in the slave states of North America , or in the slave states of Rome ? Our author demands the annihilation of the Popedom ; he demands it as a Romaiv as an Italian , as a moral and religious reformer , as the prophet of a holier civilization ^ „ Italy free , Italy without a pope , Italy with its tweiity-ftve millions under , a wise , valiant , and patriotic monarch , would be mueh to rejoice at for things far nobler than politics . It-Js the clear moral gain which in revolutions we have always to consider— - gain not confined to one country alone , but extending from realm to realm . The Reformation was a moral triumph ; so was Puritanism ; *> was the- French Revolution . Now it is not enough to say of Italy that it is politically enthralled , writhes urider priestly tyrants , is withered by priestly deceivers . The moral disease is what has to be cured ; the moral taint is what has to be removed ; the moral fetters are what have to be broken ; the mOral results are what we have to contemplate . In reference to Italy , even if the Popedom were overthrown-,, it is not easy to hope . The Italians are , or have been , a people of eunuchs ; but not for the kingdom of Heaven s sake , nor even for their own . but for the sake of the mangy rascals who , in the garb of God ' s servants lounge , and leer and lie in the stupendous city which of old conquered all nations , only in its turn to be conquered by priests . Our author writes admirably , and as the truehearted son of a famous fatherland . But in order that the fatherland may be redeemed , should it not be declared that its sons are as much to blame as the cunning , cruel priests ? In the fate of an individual , in the fate of a people , we must not ascribe too much to the ontward . All complete regeneration in the individual , and in a people , must begin from within , 'The papacy , if an Italian malady , is likewise an Italian creation . Few but Italians have sat on the Papal throne ; few but Italians have taken part in Italy ' s long crucifixion , We would not insult the misfortunes Of a race which seems to be gifted with the genius of antiquity in addition to its own , But may not the idolatry of Art have killed tlie Italian soul , corrupted the Italian bosOm , poisoned the Italian nature r The cheap rhetoric to which Italian tribunes and Italian exiles have treated us , must not lead « s astray on this point . "Whence is it that the sympathies of Engliwlrtnon fro more heartily toward the Hungarians than toward the Ital ' ansP It is because in Italy wo ttaoo the effete ns the thrall of the obsolete and the obstructive , whereas in Hungary we see beautiful valour chained and buffeted by exhausted humbug . Even for tho Italians , redemption lias to come from the Htrongr right arm and from the inspiration of the North . Southern Italy , left to itself , would go on welteririg in filth and in feebleness for e \ er . Italy is called by our author the loveliest land on earth , and vliat has been designated its dendly dowor of beauty has been deplored . But the enchantment of the climnto , and tlie other splendours clothing Italy , did not hinder it from giving birth in amrient days to invincible , incomparable heroes . All victory is tho sweeping 1 awny of circumstances' — -the outburst of an internal fire . Recent revolutions have- nearly all failed through being- imitations . French democracy imitated what it did not understand , the antique : and Germany and Italy have , in their democratic movements , imitated democratic France . It is futile denouncing tho imjintura ) , Vunless wo return to . nature . To denounce , tho unimtui ' , and yet to imjtaito the imitation of an imitation , is tho madness wo both lash and lament . Even , however , if there were no moral forces in the universe , there are certain physical forces which put an end to wi . ekeclnoss . "When tho moral censes to act , the physical becomes tlie mornl . Italy is sopineed at this hour that it must either got rid of

    the Pope , or submit to . be again conquered by the barbarians The primordial difference between Germany and Italy is that the Germans are healthier ; they may submit to medieval mummeries and bureaucratic balderdash , but through their homes blow fresh and balmy breezes . Up ,-Italy ! not because thou detestest the Pope and the rapscailionry around him , but because thou hast in thvself the pith and the purpose to be good and great . Up , Italy " ! poor paltry Pius the Ninth will , perhaps , be the last of the popes ' But the one demon driven out , many other demons may enter in , if thou canst not enshrine the Divine where , the diabolual has been . ITp , Italy ! we love thee well ; but if thou art to be saved , thou must work but thy own salvation .

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    * Travels in JSastvrih AfH < ' <* f with tho Narrative (\ f a Jtesidpitrr In Mosavibiqvo . By 1-vons Mol , « OD , Two volfl . JIurut and Bluckett .

    The East Coast Of Africa.*

    THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 116, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/16/