STANLEY TO THE RESCUE.
Mr. Stanley arrived in New York, after his thirteen years' absence, on
November 27th, 1886. On December 12th of the same year he was requested
by the King of the Belgians to return immediately to Europe. He did so,
and was commissioned to head the expedition then being formed for the
relief of Emin Pasha. There was much discussion as to the route to be
taken, most authorities favoring that overland from Zanzibar. But Mr.
Stanley determined upon the Congo, and he described the character of the
expedition as follows:
"The expedition is non-military--that is to say, its purpose is not to
fight, destroy, or waste; its purpose is to save, to relieve distress,
to carry comfort. Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer, a
gallant fellow deserving of a strong effort of relief, but I decline to
believe, and I have not been able to gather from any one in England an
impression, that his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him,
would overbalance the lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation
of immense tracts of country which an expedition strictly military
would naturally cause. The expedition is a mere powerful caravan, armed
with rifles for the purpose of insuring the safe conduct of the
ammunition to Emin Pasha, and for the more certain protection of his
people during the retreat home. But it also has means of purchasing the
friendship of tribes and chiefs, of buying food and paying its way
liberally."
Mr. Stanley went from England to Egypt, where he stopped for a time at
Cairo, completing his arrangements with the Egyptian government. On
reaching Zanzibar he found that his agents had already recruited a force
of six hundred men for the expedition, and that Tippu-Tib, who had
escorted his caravan in 1877, when the first descent of the Congo was
made, was waiting for him. Tippu-Tib was the Zobehr of the Upper Congo,
commanding two of the best roads from the river to Wadelai. He agreed to
supply six hundred carriers at thirty dollars a man; and as Emin was
reported by Dr. Junker to have seventy-five tons of ivory, the expenses
of the expedition might be largely defrayed by the return of the
Zanzibaris to the Congo with their precious loads. Tippu-Tib was also
offered the position of governor at Stanley Falls at a regular salary.
He consented to accompany Mr. Stanley on these terms. The steamer set
out on February 25th for the mouth of the Congo with about seven hundred
men of the expedition, reaching its destination in four weeks. He was
then twelve hundred and sixty-six miles from Aruwimi, whence he was to
march four hundred miles through an unknown country to Emin's capital.
It was as late as April 26th before he could leave Leopoldville, on
Stanley Pool, and it was not until the second week in June that the
explorer himself was at Aruwimi, much delay having been caused by
defective transportation.
He left men at Stanley Falls, with instructions to rebuild the
storehouses, to open negotiations with the tribes, and to provide
convoys of provisions for the relief expedition. A rear-guard was left
at Yambouya, and the advance column passed on to the limits of
navigation, whence the overland march was taken up. Few difficulties
were encountered apart from the natural obstacles presented by a country
very difficult to traverse. About July 25th the expedition had ascended
the River Aruwimi as far as an elevated tract of country forming a
portion of the Mabodi district.
Thus, Mr. Stanley and his comrades plunged into the wilderness, and were
lost to the sight of the world. From time to time thereafter countless
rumors came from Africa regarding them, rumors varied in tone as in
number. At one time they had reached Emin in safety. Again they were all
massacred long before they got to Wadelai. Now, Mr. Stanley had put
himself at the head of Emin's army and was marching on Khartoum to
avenge Gordon and overthrow the Mahdi; and then he and Emin were
captured by the Mahdist forces at Lado. Stories came of a mysterious
"White Pasha" who was leading a conquering army through the Bahr Gazelle
country, and it was very generally believed that it was Mr. Stanley, who
had reached Wadelai and was returning to the coast by the way of the
Niger. But on December 15th, 1888, startling news came from Suakim, on
the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Osman Digna, the Frenchman who had turned
Arab and was leader of the Mahdist army there, under a flag of truce
informed the British commander that Emin's province had fallen into Arab
hands, and that Emin and Stanley were prisoners. In proof of this he
sent a copy of a letter just received from a Mahdist officer in the
Soudan, as follows:
"In the name of the Great God, etc. This is from the least among God's
servants to his Master and chief Khalifa, etc. We proceeded with the
steamers and army. Reached the town Lado, where Emin, Mudir of Equator,
is staying. We reached this place 5th Safar, 1306. We must thank
officers and men who made this conquest easy to us before our arrival.
They caught Emin and a traveller staying with him, and put both in
chains. The officers and men refused to go to Egypt with the Turks.
Tewfik sent Emin one of the travellers, whose name is Mr. Stanley. This
Mr. Stanley brought with him a letter from Tewfik to Emin, dated 8th
Jemal Aowal, 1304, No. 81, telling Emin to come with Mr. Stanley, and
gave the rest of the force the option to go to Cairo or remain. The
force refused the Turkish orders, and gladly received us. I found a
great deal of feathers and ivory. I am sending with this, on board the
'Bordain,' the officers and chief clerk. I am also sending the letter
which came to Emin from Tewfik, with the banners we took from the Turks.
I heard that there is another traveller who came to Emin, but I heard
that he returned. I am looking out for him. If he comes back again, I am
sure to catch him. All the chiefs of the province with the inhabitants
were delighted to receive us. I have taken all the arms and ammunition.
Please return the officers and chief clerk when you have seen them and
given the necessary instructions, because they will be of great use to
me."
This was accompanied by what appeared to be a letter written by the
Khedive at Cairo to Emin, which had been intrusted to Mr. Stanley to
deliver, and this convinced many of the truth of Osman Digna's story.
But, as a matter of fact, as will be seen later, it was all an ingenious
lie, concocted for the purpose of frightening the British into
abandoning Suakim to the slave-traders. Meantime there was true news of
actual disasters on the Congo. Major Barttelot, commanding the rear
guard of the expedition, was murdered; and Mr. Jamieson, who succeeded
to the command, died of fever. Under these circumstances, the gloomiest
and most anxious views prevailed regarding Mr. Stanley's fate.
It was in December, 1888, that the dark views concerning Stanley's fate
most prevailed, but ten days later positive and authentic news of Mr.
Stanley's safe arrival at Emin Pasha's capital was received, and on
April 3d, 1889, full details of the campaign, written by Mr. Stanley
himself, were published. His letter to the chairman of the Emin Pasha
Relief Committee was dated at Bungangeta Island, Ituri or Aruwimi River,
August 28th, 1888, and gave full accounts of the varying fortunes of the
expedition, with its disasters and successes.