The Diffusion of the Gospel and of Ardent Spirits

An account of mission work in Old Calabar would be incomplete without some reference to the drink traffic as a hindrance to the progress of Christianity. Mr. Goldie wrote in his Journal, under date Thursday, May 6, 1869 :—

We have now a monthly line of steamers from the Clyde, in addition to the mail line,—another link connecting us with the great world outside, and multiplying the channels of intercourse with home. So far pleasant! It is, however, sad to tell that the chief cargo of the Clyde steamers for the oil rivers, as they are called, is ardent spirits, and I learn that this is fast becoming the chief cargo of the mail line also. The slave-trade formerly wasted poor Africa, and the flood of "firewater" poured amongst her tribes is now carrying on her destruction. Our nation, after taking a leading part in the former traffic for many years, at length awoke to a recognition of its criminality and cruelty, and put an end to it; it has yet to awake to a sense of the criminality and cruelty of the latter. The Hudson's Bay Company, for the protection of the Indian tribes of its widespread territories, prohibits the sale of ardent spirits to them. No such law has been yet enacted, nor perhaps can yet be enacted, for the protection of the poor negro tribes. For this we must look to the more advanced principles of Christian nations.

The chief men of the Union tribe, which lies immediately above us, on the line of the river, when they get a cask of rum into their town, do nothing but keep on daily drinking till they empty it. A young man, a candidate for Church fellowship, was lately at Enyong, another tribe up the river, making market. On his return, I asked him if he read his book or spoke God's word to the people while amongst them. He replied that one or two lads we're willing to hear ; but as for the chief men, it was of no use to talk to them, for they were always drunk. I have not the least doubt that there are those in the membership of the Church who have a far greater capital embarked in this traffic than the capital contributed by the benevolence of the Church for the salvation of these tribes. Our societies and congregations, in their annual reports, enumerate the number of Bibles issued annually, and the number of missionaries sent into the field. A terrible per contra is presented by the Excise and Customhouse returns of the number of gallons of spirits manufactured and issued; and were the share which the membership of the Christian Church has in this manufacture and traffic given separately, our large evangelistic efforts, on which we are apt to plume ourselves, would, I fear, look very small beside it.

It is sometimes alleged that modern missions meet with a very limited success. I do not stop to examine this allegation; but, supposing that it is quite true, there is no ground for surprise, but there is cause for redoubled effort, seeing that Christian nations do more, much more, by pushing, in their traffic, the diffusion of intoxicants throughout the world, for the support of Satan's kingdom, than they do by all their evangelistic efforts for the establishment of Christ's kingdom. The Chinese missionaries have frequently lifted up their testimony against the opium traffic, in support of which we even went to war with China. The following statement occurs in a memorial signed by seventeen chaplains and missionaries, a large number of European merchants and influential natives of various castes, and presented to the Government of Bombay some years ago:—"We believe it to be a lamentable fact in the history of British India, that the transfer of any new territory to the English Government has generally been followed by a speedy and marked increase in the number of liquor-shops, and a removal of restraints to the spread of intemperance among the people. If we mistake not, the revenue from this source, and the prevailing intemperance, have generally soon increased manifold; and it can hardly be doubted that in this respect the territories still under native rule would compare most favourably with the English territories. This fact, so much to the prejudice of the English Government, your memorialists contemplate with pain and regret. In their view, it goes far to counterbalance the benefit which results to the people of this country from the introduction of British rule."

Nay, so great is the evil caused by the use of the "firewater," that, as we learn from Williams' Narrative, and other sources, the rulers of native tribes of various places, when brought to see their true interests, have prohibited traffic therein for the protection of their people. As to my own field of labour, I can bear witness that the use of strong drink is as great a hindrance to the evangelisation of these tribes as the heathenism of the country; and this strong drink is almost entirely supplied by European traders, by far the greater part of our own countrymen. The importation of strong drink is as effectually working against our efforts, and as effectually serving the cause of the kingdom of darkness, as the idol priest, or the juju man with his dark and bloody superstitions.

When the rum cask and the Bible are presented to a heathen people, which is the more likely to be accepted? And when the former is accepted, what hope is there for the latter? We are sent forth to overthrow the wall of heathenism by the spiritual weapons furnished to us, and this barrier to the spread of the gospel is recognised and allowed for by those who mission us; but there is another bulwark of Satan's kingdom which is not recognised, quite as difficult to overthrow as the former, namely, that of strong drink. The kingdom of darkness is thus doubly protected ; and let the Christian Church know the fact, and calculate on this opposition. If we do so, the wonder will not be that the gospel is making little way, but that it is making way at all. And the sad, melancholy fact remains, that this second wall of protection of Satan's kingdom against the influence of the truth, this double barrier to the spread of the gospel, is reared by men professedly Christian, nay, some of them truly amiable and Christian men. They thus not only pull down with one hand what they build with the other, but they pull down a great deal of what is built by others.

In thus asserting that those who manufacture and diffuse intoxicants throughout heathendom do more— even the Christian men amongst them—for Satan's than for Christ's cause, I do not charge this upon them as their purpose. It is in the way of traffic the)' pour forth this river of death. They could not do so large a business without it; and they have, I daresay, never thought seriously of the matter; [It is pleasant to be able to record instances of merchants who, on thinking seriously of the matter, have given up the traffic. Captain Lugard in his work, The Rise of our East African Empire, says: "Possibly my readers may not know what kind of stuff this gin is which is imported into West Africa? In Nov. 1892 I was staying with a Glasgow merchant, one of the class of men it does one good lo meet—practical, honest, and straightforward. He told me that he had been engaged, not in the manufacture of the liquor, but merely in its transport ; yet, when he discovered Ihe real facts about it, he resigned all connection, however remote, with its exportation, rather than soil his hands in such traffic. A Liverpool merchant, trading with the West Coast of Africa, carried out a similar resolve. The former one day stated lo a friend, that a whole case of ihis stuff, as it stood on the ship's deck, did not cost more than 2s. The friend was incredulous. To prove the truth of his statement, he had the exact details calculated. The tolal cost was 1s. 9½d. This included the wood, the making of the packing-case, the nails, bottles, corks, labels, transport charges, and the liquor. Deducting all the extra items, what was the cost of the actual spirit? He told me it was, absolutely and literally, poison" (vol. i. pp. 214-5). In the Nat. Rev., March 1896, Miss Kingsley gives an analysis of a sample of trade gin, which shows 39.35 per cent, absolute alcohol.] and the evil wrought is far away out of sight. But surely we are accountable for the inevitable consequences of any course of action, whether these have entered into our design or not; and surely the pleas, "It is in the way of business," "Others will do it though we should not," should never be listened to at the bar of Christian conscience. They will not be allowed at the bar of the great Judge of all.

I feel keenly on this matter, and we have a right to remonstrate strongly. We are sent here to bring these tribes to the knowledge and obedience of the truth, and we have given our lives to the undertaking ; but we find our efforts strongly and strangely counteracted by the strong drink imported by professedly Christian men; so that not only are double means required from the benevolence of the Church, but our lives are expended for but half of the result which might otherwise be secured. Oh for the eloquence of a Duff to go through the length and breadth of the land, to awaken the Church to her duty, and, shall I say it, to her sin! When the Church is awakened, she has power to arouse the nation, to bring to an end the curse of Africa.

In a communication to the Record1 Mr. Anderson observes:—

I see that Mr. Goldic's remarks on the rum trade are exciting interest. It is a favourable symptom that attention is paid to such representations. When Mr. Goldie mentioned "members of the Church," I do not suppose that he meant members of the United Presbyterian Church or of any particular denomination, but simply men making a Christian profession. I do not know that the Clyde steamers are greater sinners than their sisterhood from the Mersey, but there can be no doubt of the grand fact, that the strong drinks imported into this country from England and Scotland (with a small quantity from Holland) form one of the chief, if not the chief of the instruments used by the Arch-Enemy for retarding or preventing the civilisation and evangelisation of the people. But for the British rum trade, I feel confident that long ere now the native membership of the church at Duke Town would have been reckoned by hundreds instead of tens.

In his Journal, under date Aug. 24, 1870, Mr. Anderson gives an account of a "surprise visit" to a native yard where drinking was going on. The mingled humour and pathos of the scene are vividly brought before us, and Mr. Anderson's readiness of resource and tact in turning the pictorial tract into a text suitable for the occasion cannot but win the admiration even of those who may not like the sermon :—

At Edibe-Edibe, west, in my forenoon rounds, I had what I do not think I ever had before—a tipsy congregation. I entered a large yard unexpectedly, and beheld fourteen or fifteen men, with two or three women, all in a state of great excitement, gulping down rum—I think Glasgow-made rum—with great avidity. When I appeared, jar and glasses vanished in a twinkling; and the headman among them, whose religious susceptibilities seem to have been deeply awakened by the drink, commanded order, asked me if this was God's Sunday, furnished me with two stools, one to be seat, the other to be table, and requested me with shaky politeness to speak to them the word of God. I made no allusion to their condition or to what I had seen, but drew out of my pocket a few copies of a pictorial tract entitled Drink and Death. The illustration presented a view of a man discovered by his friends lying either dead-drunk or drunk-dead, I can hardly say which, for really I have not read the tract; and having given a copy each to a few of the more sober members of the company who could read the picture, it served me as a text from which to enforce "the present truth," viz., that the drink which God provides—water—is good for body, soul, estate; and that the man-made drink—rum—is ruinous to all three. Closed as usual with invitation to all to come to church to hear the gospel.

A missionary looks at the drink traffic from a standpoint different from that of the trader or the administrator; but by an inductive study of all the facts connected with the drink traffic, I think it might be possible for missionary, trader, and administrator to find common ground for arriving at a solution of this difficult problem, which affects so profoundly the civilisation or social well-being as well as the evangelisation of native races.

The recent consular reports from West and East Africa supply valuable data. In his first " Report on the Administration of the Niger Coast Protectorate, Aug. 1891 to Aug. 1S94" (Africa, No. 1, 1895), Sir Claude Macdonald refers to the evils which, he says, are "general throughout the Protectorate,"—cannibalism, twin murder, sacrifice of wives and slaves on the death of a chief, the poison ordeal, etc., many of which, in Old Calabar at least, have been virtually put a stop to wherever mission stations have been established for any length of time. But Sir Claude thinks that "the strong arm of the law of civilisation and right" is needed to "back up" the efforts of religious missions, which, he allows, "have worked persistently and well," in order to put down the evils "arising from the predominant native belief that might is right." It is curious to observe that both Consul-General and native belief, though from different standpoints, identify might or "the strong arm" with right ! Civilisation and heathenism have thus one point of agreement in creed!

I quote Sir Claude's own words on the drink traffic:—

"The evils of the liquor traffic in West Africa have been much spoken of, and the fact that the revenue of this Protectorate, as well as that of all the West African Colonies, is to a great extent dependent upon this traffic, has been considerably commented upon. There is, however, something to be said on the other side. In the first place it must be remembered that this liquor traffic has formed a very considerable part of the import trade of this part, at any rate, of the West Coast for upwards of a century, and that to suddenly put a complete stop to it would very seriously affect the entire conditions of trade, if it did not paralyse them altogether, and would certainly not assist the cause of temperance to an appreciable degree; for the natives manufacture a liquor from the palm tree which is as potent, under certain conditions, of fermentation as anything that has ever been imported into the Protectorate. In the present conditions of trade it would be impossible to substitute any other import duty without altogether ruining the trade of the Protectorate. It must be remembered that at present it is the liquor traffic that supplies a revenue which enables the Administration to deal with the many crying evils on which I have touched but too lightly, as anyone who has dwelt amidst them can testify. . . .

"From my own experience I can state that the African native would certainly appear to be fully aware of the advantages of temperance. [Sir Claude must have forgotten his experience of the chiefs of Ogrugu, as narrated by his private secretary, Captain Mockler-Ferryman, in his interesting and valuable account of Major Claude Macdonald's mission to the Niger, etc., in 1889, entitled Up the Niger. It is worth quoting. "The chiefs arrived soon after daylight on the following morning lo gel their presents, and when they had received the usual donation of cloth, the old headman thanked the Commissioner profusely, but said that he had forgotten to give them any gin. The Commissioner replied that it was against the principles of the British Government lo encourage the drinking of spirits. The chief, however, was not to be denied his drink thus easily, and, after much coaxing, he and his men were allowed a glass all round lo drink the Queen's health. Better hands at tossing off a tumbler of neat gin I have seldom seen" (pp. 231-2). In a footnote (p. 231) the writer says: "The importation of cheap and vile spirits into the seaboard countries of the Niger Protectorate has, for the past century or more, been the utter ruin of the natives. Most of the people of the Delta have become confirmed drunkards, and, as a consequence of intercourse with Europeans, have gone back instead of advancing in the scale of civilisation. It would be unfair while on the subject not lo mention the philanthropic efforts of the Royal Niger Company in abolishing the liquor traffic in their territories." Sir G. Taubman Goklie, the Governor of the Company, has declared that there is no hope of the civilisation of the natives unless the West African liquor traffic is totally abolished.] I have seen more drunkenness in some of the larger towns of Great Britain in the course of one hour than I have in the eight years I have been connected with Africa, East and West; [To compare the drunkenness to be seen in towns in Great Britai'n with that lo be seen in African native towns is misleading, because the effects of drinking in Great Britain are to be seen chiefly in the streets, whereas in Africa it is to be seen chiefly within the yards (or compounds), though, with the progress of civilisation, as evidenced by the establishment of gin-shops in Duke Town, the effects of drinking may now be seen in the streets. . It is the missionaries, who visit the yards, and take the drinkers by surprise as Mr. Anderson did, and who are acquainted with the habits of the people in a way that the consular agents do not have the same opportunity of becoming acquainted with them, who can give the most reliable testimony to the prevalence of drunkenness and to the quantities of drink, whether European or native, drunk by individuals. See Bishop Tugwell's letter in the London Times, May 4, 1895, in which he gives a few specimen facts out of instances "which would fill columns of The Times were they at my disposal.'' Governor Carter's reply does not disprove the Bishop's statements. It is impossible within brief compass to give the Bishop's and the Governor's facts, and the statements of such bodies as the Afriean Trade Section of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, and the Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee. I can only refer those interested to the file of that invaluable paper, The African Times, which devotes considerable space to the subject, and, while impartially giving the views of all parties, favours what makes for the welfare of the natives. Cf. Miss Kingsley's Art., f.n., p. 449. In a recent interview with a correspondent of the Record (quoted in African Times, Nov. 1896), Bishop Tugwell says of the Colony of Lagos : "I feel that efforts ought to be made to restrict the importation of spirits, especially in view of the opening up of the country by railways. In three years' time we shall have a railway from Lagos, striking northwards through the interior until it eventually joins the Niger; and unless something is done to prevent it . . . the traffic in spirits will increase enormously. It is often said that the evil is exaggerated; that you will see more drunkenness in Liverpool or London on one Saturday night than in a whole month in Lagos, and so forth. Yes, that is true; but you don't look for drunkenness in the streets of African towns, save on the occasion of some feast; people there drink in their houses, and if the critics would inspect the compounds they would tell a different tale. But we want to prevent the evil. The Africans are naturally a sober people, but they are becoming more drunken; and if the natives in the interior are to be saved, something must be done, and done at once." are the most severe. What Sir Claude states in his report is true; but he shows that it is nothing to the purpose, by confessing that the custom-house dues, paid chiefly by strong drink, defray the cost of the government of the Protectorate, and adopts the argument of those who defend the opium traffic, 'We cannot do without the revenue it yields.' "You suggest that we might take action here. At last Presbytery it was agreed that a pamphlet [in Efik] be printed and circulated, giving the opinion of travellers on the evil of the traffic, and the efforts some native tribes have made for their own protection."] this does not go to prove that the liquor traffic is anything but bad, but the evils thereof, I would suggest, are exaggerated; the}' are certainly not to be compared with those which are being suppressed by the help of the money raised by taxing the said traffic " (pp. 7 and 8). [In Mr. Goldie's last letter to me, dated May 30, 1S95, he says:—"I read with much interest your articles in The Woman's Signal (Ap. 11, 18, 25, 1895, on 'The Drink Traffic in the Niger Territories'). They tell of what is done beyond Calabar; and of the words you quote condemnatory of the drink traffic, those of Sir Claude's private secretary [given in the preceding footnote] In his second Report, that for 1894-5 (Africa, No. 9, 1895), Sir Claude returns to the subject, and writes in a tone more favourable to the abolition of the traffic :—

"Could the liquor traffic be entirely and immediately done away with, and a sufficient revenue be obtained from other sources, I for one would be very glad. This much-to-be desired end is at present, and so far as this Protectorate is concerned, I regret to say, not feasible. . . . Were this spirit traffic a thing of yesterday it could be stamped out in a day; it has, unfortunately (together with firearms), formed the staple import trade of these regions for upwards of a century ; to endeavour to do away with it by a stroke of the pen would, I submit, do more harm than good, and defeat the aims of the philanthropically inclined. To do away with it gradually and by slow degrees is, I think, possible and preferable. I may add that the importation of trade spirits for the year 1894-95 shows a decrease when compared with 1893-94, of 836,817 gallons, representing a loss to the revenue of £41,840, 17s." (p. 13).

This decrease, however, was due to special causes—to a bad oil season, combined with universal slackness of trade and the low prices of African produce, which brought about a falling-off in both export and import trade generally. But in the preceding years there was a progressive increase. Gin (geneva) and rum are the liquors most largely imported. The quantity of these imported in the year ending July 31, 1892, was 1,350,751. gallons; March 31, 1893 (eight months), 1,371,517 gallons; and March 31, 1894 (twelve months), 2,609,158 gallons. The Missionary Record (Oct. 1895, p. 276) remarks:—

"The rapid increase in the quantity of ardent spirits poured into the Protectorate is the chief feature of its commerce. Is this the kind of protection which a British Protectorate gives to the native races?"

The views of missionaries and administrators have been given. It is desirable also to give the views of merchants and traders engaged in the traffic. I take from the report in the African Times of October 1895 the remarks of a representative merchant, Mr. Ellis Edwards, who presided at a meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on September 27. He said :—

"To my mind, the West African liquor traffic is a great evil, but it is a most difficult matter to deal with. If the British Government were alone on the West Coast of Africa, questions of quality and supply could be easily dealt with; but this is not so. We have Germans on one side and French on the other, and if we stop the importation of liquor into British colonies the bulk of our trade will pass into the hands of other nations. The business, as you know, is a peculiar one. A trader from the interior demands an assortment of goods in exchange for his produce, and if he cannot get spirits in such an assortment in one place, he will go to another where he can. In the event of such action, we should lose not only the trade in liquor, but the whole of the produce, which our foreign neighbour would get. In such circumstances, in many places on the coast, our stores might as well be closed. Some have suggested increased duties as a remedy, others a Government monopoly; but neither of these, in my view, would cure the evil. The only way of restricting the traffic would be by an international agreement as to a policy, in respect to dealing with liquor, which shall include France, Germany, Portugal, and the Congo Free State. . . . Every unbiassed mind must admit that the importation into West Africa of alcohol in large quantities is calculated to have a most deteriorating influence upon the natives, and that it is most desirable to prevent excessive consumption. . . . The disease is of long standing, and a sudden change of policy might ruin the trade."

A Memorial* from the Native Races and Liquor Traffic United Committee to the Colonial Secretary, dated March 14, 1896, urged the pressing need of the adoption of more stringent measures for the prohibition or restriction of the liquor traffic, and added :—

"While strongly in favour of total prohibition as being the best and wisest course in the interests of the natives of Africa, we are not unaware of the difficulties at present lying in the way of legislation. We would call your attention to the variety of duties imposed in these colonies, which appears to us anomalous and without any apparent justification. The minimum duty imposed under the Brussels Act is 6½d. per gallon, but in the various Crown Colonies and Protectorates on the West Coast this sum has been increased to sums varying from 1s. to 3s. per gallon. In Great Britain, it should be remembered, the duty is 10s. 6d. per gallon. We believe, and in this opinion we are supported by experts, that even the highest of these duties is inadequate to restrict the traffic materially. We would therefore strongly urge that there should be a constantly increasing duty, commencing at not less than 4s. per gallon, and that the duty should be uniform in all the Crown Colonies and Protectorates of the West Coast." The memorialists further called attention to the resolution, passed at the Congress of the International Law Association, held in Brussels last year, appealing to the several European Powers interested in Africa, to take such action as would secure enforcement and adequate extension of the principle established in the Brussels General Act of 1890-91. The co-operation of other Powers—notably France and Germany, portions of whose territories intersected the British territories—was desirable, and the Committee therefore ventured to impress the importance of joint action for the imposition of the higher duty recommended. Should all efforts to obtain such co-operation prove unsuccessful, the Committee asked that H.M.'s Government should take the initiative in the British Crown Colonies and Protectorates, and reminded the Secretary of State that in some cases the appeal for prohibition and restriction came from the natives themselves. Mr. Chamberlain replied on April 17, "that H.M.'s Government are quite ready to agree to the imposition of higher duties, but that no satisfactory settlement ... is possible, unless the French and German Governments are also willing to increase the duties in their possessions to the same extent. H.M.'s Government arc in communication with the French and German Governments, . . . but no agreement has yet been arrived at."

I shall conclude with a quotation from a remarkable article on "The Liquor Trade with West African Natives," in the African Times for April 1895. The Times is a commercial and trading chronicle, and in no way identified with temperance reform, so that its testimony is all the more striking:—

"There is no doubt in the minds of experienced and practical men that the supply of intoxicating liquor to the native races is equivalent to the demoralisation and degradation of the races concerned, and that the first condition of progress is to keep alcohol out of their reach. [In his interesting address on "Britain's Work in Central Africa," on Dec. 8, 1896, Sir II. II. Johnston sounds a dissentient note:—"Although I am almost fanatical in my advocation of the white man's abstaining from alcoholic stimulants in tropical countries, I do not range myself among those who assert that great harm has been done in West Africa or in South Africa by the liquor traffic. ... I hold the opinion, strangely enough, that although alcohol is most harmful to the while man, it is in small doses actually beneficial to the negro, if he inhabits hot, low-lying districts of a malarial nature. In tropical America, I believe, the negroes have almost unrestricted access to alcoholic stimulants without any ill results. On the West Coast of Africa and in certain parts of South Africa, I understand it is the same ; yet who can with truth assert that any of these black races have been injured thereby? Where can you find finer physical specimens of humanity than the Kruboys of West Africa or the Kaffirs of Natal? Strange to say, from my own experience, drunkenness among the negroes along the West Coast, where we hear of millions of gallons of spirits being imported, is a much less common incident than in the Protectorate of British Central Africa, where we so rigidly control the importation and sale of alcohol, that I may safely assert the negro inhabitants of this Protectorate get no strong waters from the white man." The Scotsman, Dec. 9, remarks: "He (Sir H. H. J.) has a large body of opinion, including the opinions of African explorers and administrators, adverse to his view that the liquor traffic has not been a serious source of harm to the black races of West and South Africa." "F.R.G.S. Scot.," in Scotsman, Dec. 12, writes: "The Krumen I know little of, but the Natal Kaffirs I do know, and, admitting his fine physique, I say that it is mainly due to his forced abstinence from alcoholic stimulants. ... In the malarial districts of Portuguese tropical Africa I found the natives to be, almost without exception, more weakly and less finely developed than in the southern countries, and in these places the Portuguese place practically no restriction on the sale of drink." With regard to the Kruboys, of whom I have some personal knowledge, it is misleading to class them with the habitual dwellers in "hot, low-lying districts of a malarial nature." So much of their lime is spent in their canoes on the water, or working cargo on board vessels trading on the coast and at trading beaches, that their manner of life is entirely different from those who dwell in the lagoons, or amid the mangrove swamps of the delta of the Niger, or even the estuary of the Old Calabar River. Their manner of life is as different from the other West African river and coast tribes as that of the fishermen on our Scottish coasts from that of salmon-fishers in our rivers. The Kruboys do not need drink to improve their physique, which is magnificent; and whatever be their drinking habits, which depends very much on their opportunities or temptations, I have found the Kruboys employed by our Mission temperate, as a rule, both in eating and drinking.]

This is not a temperance fad or a philanthropic counsel of perfection. It is the judgment of unromantic men of business, that an essential preliminary to successful administration is to prevent the supply of spirits to the natives. A century ago, Adam Smith wrote of the trade in rum which the American Colonies carried on with the Coast of Africa, 'whence they bring back negro slaves in return.' The conscience of the world has since been so far aroused that the return cargo of those days is no longer possible. It is but a step further to realise the fact that to sell a man to a master who has a commercial interest in taking care of him, and who may be even kind, is fraught with consequences less terrible than to sell him to the domination of his own drunkenness, which in the case of the negro is surely merciless " (p. 54).

The facts and opinions which have been given form only a small contribution to that inductive and historical study of a difficult problem which appears to me to be necessary. The missionary, the trader, the administrator, the politician, and the philanthropist have all a right to be heard, and, by carefully sifting the facts and opinions brought forward by all, it will, I think, be possible to arrive at the truth of the matter, and by and by reach a satisfactory solution of the problem. There is already a considerable consensus of opinion as to the need for restriction in the interests of the natives as traders, and in the interest of other trades, such as the cotton and the hardware trade. A consensus of opinion in the interest of the natives as human beings, and in the interest of their social, moral, and spiritual welfare, is still more desirable, and is, I am persuaded, on the increase.