Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/268

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240 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN- by a munificent vote of millions of pounds, emandpated aU the negrocs in the British Colonies, and in Aagust, 183^ 670,000 slaves were declared free men. Ten years latar/m 1848, the Frcnch Republic liberated the slaves in her colonies to the number of 260,000, and in 1859 the war which broke out bctween the Fédérais and Confederates in the United States iinished the work of emancipadon by extcnding it to the whole of North America, Thus, threc great powers hâve accompHshed their tadc of humanity, and at the présent time the slave-trade b carricd on only for the advantage of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, or to supply the requirements of the Turkish or Arab populations of the East. Brazil, althoi]^ shc has not emancipated her former slaves, does not rt- ccive any ncw, and ail negro children are pronounced frec- born. In contrast, howcvcr, to ail thîs, ît is not to be concealed tlîîit, in the intcrior of Africa, as the resuit of wars beti'een chicTtains wagcd for the sole object of making captivesi entire tribcs arc often reduced to slaverv, and are carried off in caravans in two opposite directions, some westwards to the Portuguese colony of Angola, others eastwards to Mozambique. Of thèse misérable créatures, of whom a very small proportion ever rcach their destination, some are des- patchcd to Cuba or Madagascar, others to the Arab or Turkish provinces of Asia, to Mecca or Muscat. The French and English cruiscrs hâve practically ver>" littlc power to control the iniquitovs proccedings, because the extent of coast to bc watched is so large that a strict and adéquate sur-eillance cannot be maintained. The extent of the odîous export is ver>' considérable : no less than J4.000 slaves annually reach the coast, a number that harJ.îv reprcsonts a tenth part of those who are rrassacred or v>:hcrviso pcrish by a déplorable end. After the frîghr- ûil butchcrtes. the tîelds lie devastated, the snioulderi:^ villages are void of inhabitants, the rivers reek v:rh blecdîr^ corpses, and wîld beasts take undisputed possession ce the soil. Livingstone, upon returning to a district, fmmedîately attcr one of thèse ruthless raids, said that he could a^'cr