The anti-slavery crusade in Africa is one of those exceptional schemes of benevolence in which religion and politics do not interfere with the common action of all civilised nations. It is directed not so much against slavery as an institution as against the systematic slavetrade, the necessary accompaniment of slavery, which is carried on in Central Africa with a barbarous cruelty unparalleled in the most savage nations of ancient and modern times. Cardinal Lavigerie has expressly disclaimed any intention of interfering with domestic slavery where it is one of the recognised customs of the country. It would be mere folly to undertake a practically impossible task, and however serious are the evils that slavery of its own nature entails, yet on the one hand self-interest, and on the other general public opinion, not to mention the natural kindliness which exists in a majority of mankind, do much to mitigate the condition of slaves and to keep in check the brutality even of the most hard-hearted and unprincipled of slave-owners. With some marked exceptions the general treatment of slaves all over the world has not been very much below the treatment of ordinary domestic servants and labourers who are free. The bondage of one rational being to another is always one of degree.