missions. The best proof on the West African Coast is to be found
in the so-called Oil Rivers, where we have never held a mile of
ground, and where our commerce prospers most. The great "Tribune"
will forgive my agreeing in opinion with him when he finds that
we differ upon one most important point. It is the merchant, not
the garrison, that causes African wars. If the home authorities
would avoid a campaign, let them commit their difficulty to a
soldier, not to a civilian.

The chronic discontent of the so-called "civilized" African, the
contempt of the rulers if not of the rule, and the bitter hatred
between the three races, white, black, and black-white, fomented
by many an unprincipled print, which fills its pocket with coin
of cant and Christian charity, will end in even greater scandals
than the last disreputable war. If the damnosa licentia be not
suppressed--and where are the strong hands to suppress it?--we
may expect to see the scenes of Jamaica revived with improvements
at Sierra Leone. However unwilling I am to cut off any part of
our great and extended empire, to renew anywhere, even in Africa,
the process of dismemberment--the policy which cast off Corfu--it
is evident to me that English occupation of the West African
Coast has but slightly forwarded the cause of humanity, and that
upon the whole it has proved a remarkable failure.

We can be wise in time.

Richard F. Burton.

P.S.--Since these pages were written, a name which frequently
occurs in them has become a memory to his friends--I allude to W.