mulatto or a negro becomes a 'professor.' Niger whispered 'No,' which,
ladylike, meant a distinct 'Yes.' He ended by graciously accepting an
introduction to a Manchester firm, and soon relieved it of 16,000_l_.

No one who knows the West African coast will assert that the influence of
Sá Leone has been in any way for good. All can certify that this colony,
intended as a 'model of policy,' and founded with the object of promoting
African improvement, has been the greatest obstacle to progress. She
fought to keep every advantage to herself, and she succeeded in securing a
monopoly of 'recaptives,' who were more wanted elsewhere. She became an
incubus in 1820, when all British possessions from N. Lat. 20º to S. Lat.
20º were made her dependencies. The snake was scotched in 1844 by the Gold
Coast achieving her independence. Yet Sá Leone raised herself to a
government-general in 1866, and possibly she will do so again.

The Sá Leonite has ever distinguished himself by kicking down, as the
phrase is, the ladder which raised him. No man maltreats his wild brother
so much as the so-called 'civilised' negro: he never addresses his
congener except by 'You jackass!' and tells him ten times a day that he
considers such trash like the dirt beneath his feet. Consequently he is
hated and despised withal, being of the same colour as, while assuming
such excessive superiority over, his former equals. No one also is more
hopeless about the civilisation of Africa than the semi-civilised African
returning to the 'home of his fathers.' He feels how hard has been his
struggle to emerge from savagery; he acknowledges, in his own case, a
selection of species; and he foresees no end to the centuries before there
can be a nation equal even to himself. Yet in England and in books he will
cry up the majesty of African kings,--see, for a specimen, Bishop
Crowther's 'Niger Diary.' He will give his fellow-countrymen, whom he
thoroughly despises, a thousand grand gifts of morals and industry. I have