THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

Several branches of the Tory Press have been abusing Mr. Buxton, and ridiculing his proposed plan for the abolition of Slavery, by British establishments and influence in Africa.

We are not much surprised at this, for long experience has taught that all schemes and projects which have been proposed of a novel description, and too gigantic to be comprehended by the community, have met with opposition, and their authors abused and called fanatics and enthusiasts. It is not surprising that the success of so vast a project as that of civilizing Africa should be doubted and feared, when the humane intentions of Capt. Maconochie, to reform a few thousand convicts in Botany Bay, are held by very sensible men to be ridiculous, and the author held up as a visionary.

We however observe that there are several talented men who join in Mr. Buxton's views upon the important question, among which appears Mr. Greville Brooke, who has addressed to him the following letter, published in the Sunday times of the 26th November last, which we have no doubt will be read with pleasure by every man who wishes to be free and see an end put to slavery of every sort and description :

TO SIR FOWELL BUXTON.

SIR,-The eminent services you have performed in the cause of humanity, entitle your opinions, every one of them, to the earnest and most respectful consideration of the public. It must, therefore, he with feelings of singular disgust that the people of this religious and enlightened country behold, in the leading Tory print, an attack upon your present plan for the conversion and civilization of Africa. Into the details of this plan I do not, at present, design to enter ; my only object is to establish the principle that nations blest with the light of knowledge have a right to take all steps consistent with humanity to impart that light to those portions of the human family which have the misfortune to be deprived of it. To serve a present purpose, the Tories tacitly revive the paradox of Rousseau, that the cultivation of the sciences has proved injurious to mankind, and must always prove so, since they affirm that all intercommunication between savage and civilized tribes has been detrimental to the former. To expose the absurdity of this crotchet would be lost labour, were it put forward nakedly, and without special application to existing circumstances. But the advocates of ignorance and the West Indian system are not so impolitic as to do this. On the contrary, they only contend that in the particular case of the Africans it would be injurious to attempt the imparting of knowledge, because it could only be done by the establishment of factories, which must lead in the end to the founding of a new British empire in the heart of Africa. Against such a consummation they, of course, protest most earnestly. According to their views the negroes had better by far be sold as slaves into America than be converted to Christianity, and become the subjects of Great Britain. On this point, however, it is probable that few persons will agree with them. The condition of the natives of the African continent, whether in their own homes, or when kidnapped and transported to America, happens to be too well known to allow such a fallacy to obtain general currency. There is, in fact, no European government, however faulty or imperfect its administration may be, under whose sway the negroes would not enjoy a greater amount of happiness than is now their lot under the nefarious despotism of their own chiefs. How incalculable a blessing then would not the enjoyment of British rule con fer upon those unhappy races. Of this the English public may judge, though the negroes cannot, by instituting a comparison between the actual condition of the natives of India, and their wretched state of political and moral degradation under their Mogul and native tyrants.
The fashion, I am aware, is to inveigh against our Indian government, to misrepresent, to criminate, and to disparage it; and from this certain friends of African civilization are not altogether free. But they, above all persons, should beware how they indulge in such a vice, for by libelling the principles on which our government is conducted in Hindostan, they so far excite a prejudice against your most praiseworthy project for bettering the condition of the Africans, the probability being that such as our policy has been in India, such will it be in Africa, if eventually our influence should be extended over that most miserable portion of the globe. I am not so sanguine as to believe that any contrivance can be hit upon that would immediately put a stop to the traffic in slaves, or cause the seeds of civilization to strike root extensively in Africa. But it is, I think, quite manifest that in proportion to the successful establishment of factories along the coast would be the difficulties of the slave trade, which must diminish as the belt of settlements extended, and when it embraced the whole coast, be cut off entirely. That the result would be favourable to the happiness of the negroes must, I suppose, be admitted, or if not, it may be proved ; for the planting of a new settlement, however small, would, in various ways, create a demand for native labour ; and consequently, to a certain extent generate habits of industry. The individuals thus employed, tasting the comforts which the wages of their labour must purchase for them, would experience no temptation to engage in the kidnapping of slaves ; and thus it is clear that so far there would be a diminution in the nefarious traffic.
The establishment of a second settlement on another point of the coast would be attended by similar results, and thus, step by step, in the course of time, not only would the slave trade be cut off by the roots, but the principles of a healthy and vigorous civilisation would be introduced into Africa, whose operation might be further accelerated by commerce, by treaties, by the work of conversion, and by many other means not easy to be enumerated or foreseen. Probably among these would be occasional wars with the native chiefs, whose very defeats and losses would instruct them and urge them to enter upon the career of improvement. In this way, and in this way only, perhaps, can Christianity and the arts of life be rapidly diffused over that division of the world.
It is, no doubt, easy to raise a laugh, or indulge in a sneer, at such projects. All the world laughed at the enterprise of Columbus when he undertook the discovery of a new world. But the springing up of African towns, the construction of harbours and roads and bridges, the erection of churches, the organization of governments, would gradually turn the laugh against the enemies of civilization. It is perfectly true that the climate opposes many obstacles to the practical working of such a scheme. But even these may be surmounted. In the first place, it is well known that temperate and sober men are little liable to casualties, even under an African sky, and that every region becomes more salubrious in proportion to the density of its population. Art also, and experience will soon instruct the settlers in the best means of subduing or avoiding the noxious effects of the climate. They will find that in many, if not in most cases, disease is engendered by sleeping in low cabins, immersed in mephaitic effluvia, which may consequently be entirely escaped by erecting lofty dwellings, and sleeping in the upper apartments. Other means of preserving health would suggest them selves while the clearing and draining of the country should be in progress, after which there would be much less danger to apprehend. But the principal objection to your plan appears not to be so much the difficulty of carrying it into execution, as the apprehension that it might lead to conquest and the enlargement of our foreign possessions, which the antiquated school of politicians are accustomed to regard as an unmixed evil.
But, as I have already, on many occasions, endeavoured to prove, the theory of empire built on the experience of other nations is not strictly applicable to us. We never conquer for the sake of conquest, but merely lay open by our arms a new field for the development of our commerce. It is not the glory of destroying men that we covet, but the glory of clothing, feeding, and enlightening them—the glory of showing how they ought to conduct themselves in this world and prepare their minds for the enjoyment of a better. If we have not always been guided by these views, the exceptions have been where the settlement of colonies has been intrusted to few hands, and carried on as it were in the dark. Wherever and whenever public opinion could he brought to bear upon the undertaking, superior principles of action have been introduced, and the result has been more worthy of a Christian land. I see no danger, therefore, that either England or Africa should suffer detriment from the carrying of your project into execution. Every motive by which the country could be actuated is in some degree praise-worthy, whether the desire be to snatch the African from the fangs of the slave-dealer, or to open a new and vast market for British manufactures. I say this to show that you are able to meet your opponents, and destroy them on their own grounds, and not that I in any way suspect the loftiness or purity of your intentions.

GREVILLE BROOKE,

colonial times 20/4/1841,