It is impossible to know the actual number of slaves taken from Central Africa annually; but I should imagine that at least fifty thousand are positively either captured and held in the various zareebas (or camps) or are sent via the White Nile and the various routes overland by Darfur and Kordofan. The loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent treatment of the slaves is frightful. The result of this forced emigration, combined with the insecurity of life and property, is the withdrawal of the population from the infested districts. The natives have the option of submission to every insult, to the violation of their women and the pillage of their crops, or they must either desert their homes and seek independence in distant districts, or ally themselves with their oppressors to assist in the oppression of other tribes. Thus the seeds of anarchy are sown throughout Africa, which fall among tribes naturally prone to discord. The result is horrible confusion,—distrust on all sides,—treachery, devastation, and ruin.
This was the state of Central Africa and the White Nile when I was first honoured with the notice of Ismail Pacha, the present Khedive of Egypt.
I had received certain intimations from the Foreign Minister, Nubar Pacha, concerning the Khedive's intentions, a short time previous to an invitation with which I was honoured by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to accompany their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess during their tour in Egypt.
It is almost needless to add that, upon arrival in Egypt, the Prince of Wales, who represented at heart the principles of Great Britain, took the warmest interest in the suppression of the slave trade.
The Khedive, thus supported and encouraged in his ideas of reform, concluded his arrangements for the total abolition of the slave trade, not only throughout his dominions, but he determined to attack that moral cancer by actual cautery at the very root of the evil.
I was accordingly requested to draw up a plan for the proposed expedition to Central Africa.
After some slight modifications, I received from the Khedive the following firman:—
"We, Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, considering the savage condition of the tribes which inhabit the Nile Basin;
"Considering that neither government, nor laws, nor security exists in those countries;
"Considering that humanity enforces the suppression of the slave-hunters who occupy those countries in great numbers;