THE NEW AFRICAN EXPEDITION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 290, 11 August 1855, Page 4

THE NEW AFRICAN EXPEDITION.

(From the " Spectator.")

The Anglo-Saxon will never cease working at the sea-board of Africa with;efforts' to penetrate the interior, until the whole of that continent be subdued to civilization. There is, therefore, before our race. a labour which will take some time to accomplish ; and perhaps it will be brought to a conclusion all the sooner for. breaking1- bulk in several places at once. Already we have attacked Africa in more than half-a-dozen § quarters- —to say nothing of the French colonization of Algeria. We have "friendly relations with Mozambique; colonies of ouwowu at the southernmost point, at Cape Coast Castle, and Sierra Leone; we have successfully penetrated the Niger, probably to the region of a healthier climate ; and now, the new " African Exploration Society " proposes to commence active operations " for exploring and evangelising central Africa," from a station at Tunis. The Society pro ?O ses to explore central Africa, wiihfajview to evaw e liseit: we are inclined however, to regard the K oject as one for evangelising Africa with a vie>, t o explore it; and the Society as much merits t^support of practical geographers on that groih.d as it merits the support of missionary patrons-for ([ ie Ye \[. gious object. There are very remuiv a |}] e e ] e . inents in its plan of action. It proposes^ see ]j its objects chiefly by means of a native Afvu. w agency, specially trained for the purpose in an, African school at Tunis, conducted by medical, scientific, and religious tutors from the United Kingdom. Hitherto, the climate has forbidden any expeditions in force; only men of great courage, and peculiarly robust constitutions with singular devotion to religion or science, have faced the almost certain destruction which has awaited the African explorer since Ledyard began the list of victims in 1788, and has been succeeded by Horneman, Mungo Park, Burckhardt, Ritchie, Bowlitcb, Laing, Clapperton^Davidson, Richardson, Overweg, Barth, and Warring-ton,—a list which rivals in number that of the successful travellers who have survived. Tunis is well as a station, because it is ready of access to the civilised world, and it is not in the same quarter from which other operations upon Africa are proceeding. The agents will push southwards from Tunis even to Timtuiuloo and .Soudaan. Native agents will be trained to circulate the Scriptures, and at the same time to subserve the purposes of honest trade. The Society proposes honest trade as the best means of extinguishing the slave trade; and we are glad that it does not aim at any

direct agitation against that traffic. The propagation of the Scriptures is likely to have a very simple yet effective result. No faith has appeared in the world which has so great a mordant for civilization as Christianity. The humanizing influence of religion will pre---■pare the community to which it is extended for an intercourse with civilization ; but a much greater and more definite effect may also be anticipated. The agents will be at once missionaries and examples of conversion,—able to face the climate, able to converse on a level with those whom they propose to influence : and it is probable that by these simple means a species of Black brotherhood will be extended through the continent,-directly conducive to the spread of religion, incidentally of constructing a machinery for the spread of civilization, of commerce, and of civilized transit. The spirit in which the society 'proceeds is broad and generous; and ii is proved to he s<> by one fact. The promoters, at whose head we find the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Shaftesbuvy, propose to co-operate with the Mussulmans; almost claiming the| Mussulmans as nothing more than a schisinatical sect of Christians. The means of the society to execute this project are partly indicated by the personnel of the chief officers, who lend either their active assistance or their countenance. We have already mentioned some ; we may add more than one of the Consular body at Tunis; Dr. Vogell and Dr. Livingston, the African travellers; Mr. Augustus Peterrnan and Mr. Arrowsmith, the geographers; several Members of Parliament; Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Mr. Layard, the Earl of Rosse, and the President of Liberia. The last name is important; for Liberia is in many respects an example of this particular project: it is the recolonization of Africa by civilized and Christanized members of the African race. The conduct of the local Government has been exceedingly creditable. The influence which President Roberts has acquired, and the manner in which he exercises it, indicate a capacity for making acquisitions from the wilderness which has been the most hopeful sign for Africa that has yet appeared. Instead of regarding this new enterprise as a rival, whether for purely scientific exploration, for missionary purposes, for commerce, or for the building up of political resident institutions, we must welcome the African Exploration Society as a promising assistant in all of these enterprises, if its operation be carried out in anything like the spirit indicated in its first statement to the public. And the character of the men who have been induced to unite in giving it their countenance and assistance makes us regard them as hostages for the honest fulfilment of the really catholic scheme.