The details which will be given to us by the results of this successful
expedition will, then, not only be of assistance in allying the existing
condition of things with the knowledge of the ancients, but it will
enable us to reduce to a few facts the many contradictory statements
which have originated in the variety of the sources of information, and
the individual and national rivalry which the interest of the question
gave birth to among the geographers of the present day. It will also be
of importance, as it was connected with a great question, as to the
possibility of a large river traversing an extensive continent, or
losing itself in a marsh or lake, or being buried in the extensive sands
of the desert. By laying open the interior of Africa to us, it will
increase our political strength and commercial advantages on those
coasts;--it will enable us to put into practice an amelioration long
contemplated by Mr. Barrow, in the choice of our settlements on those
coasts;--it will place the greatest and most important vent of the
barbarous and inhuman traffic of negroes in our possession; and it will
enable us to diffuse the benefits of superior intelligence among an
ignorant and suffering people.
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