I travelled in the Nile countries from 1863 to 1866, and again from 1868 to 1871; on my first journey I visited all the great markets of the slave-trade, Cairo, Siout, Djiddah, Suakin, Matamma in Gallabat, Khartoom, and Berber; in my second I reached its sources in the lands to the south of Darfoor and Kordofan. Throughout my wanderings I was ever puzzling out schemes for setting bounds to this inhuman traffic. The traveller in these lands is kept in one perpetual state of irritation by what he sees; on every road he meets long troops of slaves; on the sea and round the coasts he comes in contact with Arab boats crammed full of the same miserable creatures.
Whilst exploring the coasts of Nubia and Egypt in 1864 and 1865, I spent eight months on the Red Sea. The slave-trade there was then in a flourishing condition, but the accounts[93] of what I saw attracted no more attention than the complaints made by my predecessors. The consuls in Djiddah and other ports on the Red Sea were afraid to take any measures that were not sanctioned by European policy, and consequently Arabs were allowed to carry on that which amongst Spaniards and Portuguese would have been considered piracy. Not a man-of-war was to be seen cruising on the water, and yet one single gunboat would have sufficed to keep a check upon the intercourse between the opposite coasts, and to make the slave-trade an impossibility. A change has now been effected, and all the Powers that are interested in the matter have done their utmost to remedy the evil; but even on the Red Sea there still remains much to be done, and even now there are far too many secret landing-places and loopholes which escape the vigilance of the authorities.
Many a time, under the consciousness that alone I was utterly powerless as a vindicator of humanity, I have restrained myself from the temptation to rescue slaves with my own hands. Once, between Khartoom and Berber, a lot of slaves was being brought from Kordofan, and I cut in two the leather thongs that bound them to their sheyba; but an ugly squabble was all that resulted from my interference. At other times I have vehemently remonstrated with the slave-dealers, when I have been a witness of any cruelty in their treatment of their property; but all to no purpose. It may therefore be imagined that a traveller in his fury and disgust will be led to devise all manner of schemes for eradicating the system, and although, when weighed in a calmer frame of mind, many of his plans will seem chimerical and even impracticable, yet it may be that their very apparent impracticability at least proves the gravity of the situation, and shows the inadequacy of the present means of suppression. But such as my schemes were, I will venture to indicate them here. They contain no shifts, no compromise, no expectation of better times, no dependence on Egyptian officials, not even a hope of assistance from the Viceroy, who, however good his intentions may be, has not the power to do much. A talent for organisation is not sufficient to rouse whole nations from their apathy; no small hero can do the work, but it would require a powerful reformer like Peter the Great, and a people like the Russians, or the Japanese of the present day, who would easily imbibe the ideas of the West. I beg therefore to submit the following as suggestions towards the suppression of the slave-trade; they embody at least the ideas of one who has been a witness of what transpires at the sources of the slave-trade in Central Africa.
SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPRESSING THE SLAVE-TRADE.
1. To place the country under an Administration formed on the European principle, and to appoint Europeans to fill the highest posts; the French have officials who understand the language, and the English have their experience to show them how Mohammedans may be pressed into the service of a well-regulated State. This plan would please the fellaheen of Egypt, whilst the rest of the people would be indifferent to it, as long as they were not severely taxed.[94]
2. To appoint commissioners of slaves, who should travel about the provinces, and keep watch upon all the highways of the slave-trade; they should be invested with the fullest authority, and rank above the local officials. They should have the power of arresting and imprisoning every slavedealer, of sequestrating his property, and of equipping expeditions for the purpose of conveying the rescued slaves back to their own homes. As these expeditions would have to traverse hostile territory, they must necessarily be armed, and the commissioners of course should be perfectly incorruptible, inasmuch as they would be constantly exposed to the temptation of accepting bribes.
3. To place the negro-countries that suffer most from the slave-trade under the protection of European Governments, by founding States expressly for their defence. The splitting up of African nations into small States has ever been the main hindrance to the introduction of civilisation amongst them; it is only large Powers, and such as are competent to organise themselves, that offer a likely foundation for the establishment of any thriving commerce or traffic.
4. To introduce a Chinese immigration into the Mohammedan countries of Africa, of which the population gives little attention to agriculture. The four millions of Egyptians who are available for agricultural occupations are insufficient to do justice to the richness of the soil; but Chinese labourers would thrive well in Nubia, and would certainly, in the course of a few years, make the culture of the land highly remunerative.
Under existing circumstances there can be no amelioration in the condition of the Egyptian States, until the slave-trade is not only held in check at its sources, but also stopped at its outlets. This can only be effected by the rich people resigning their slaves and replacing them by paid servants; the change would doubtless involve many in a large expense, for they would be still obliged to maintain their former slaves, the greater part of whom would refuse to leave their masters; still a great step would be gained if a law could be passed to give all slaves the right of demanding payment for their services; such a measure would have the effect of putting a limit to the number of slaves that are kept, and by forcing the masters to demand more work from them, would have a tendency to rouse the Orientals from their humdrum ways. As long as a man retains his slaves as such, there is nothing to prevent him from making fresh purchases, so that any other measure than that which I have described would be so much trouble lost.
THE VICEROY OF EGYPT.