EMIN PASHA, GOVERNOR OF THE SOUDANESE PROVINCES.
Sketch of his Early Life -- His Real Name -- A Silesian by Birth --
Student at the University of Breslau -- Becomes a Physician -- Goes to
Turkey and thence to Antivari and Scutari -- Attached to the Court of
Valis Ismael Pasha Haggi -- Returns home in 1873 -- In 1875 goes to
Egypt -- Enters the Egyptian Service as “Dr. Emin Effendi” -- Meets
with Gordon -- Receives the post of Commander of Lado, together with
the Government of the Equatorial Provinces -- Death of General Gordon
and Retreat of Lord Wolseley’s Army -- Becomes Dependent upon his own
Resources, after all Communication with the Egyptian Government is Cut
Off -- Encompassed by Hostile Tribes, is Lost to the Rest of the World
-- A Resume of what he Effected in his Administration of Public
Affairs -- His Diary -- Extracts sent to Friends -- Insurrection, and
Invasion of the Province by the Mahdi’s Forces -- His Position very
Critical -- Excites the Sympathy of the Whole World.
Mr. Stanley’s return to America at the close of the Congo expedition, in
1886, was his first in thirteen years. But he was not to enjoy the rest
which he had promised himself. His services were even then being called
for, by the course events were shaping themselves in the Egyptian
Soudan. Through the infamous action of the British Ministry, in
abandoning Gordon and his followers to their fate in Central Africa,
public opinion became thoroughly aroused to the necessity of sending an
expedition to their relief. And to Stanley the eyes of the world at once
turned as the man to lead it. To understand fully, however, the
situation, it will be necessary to recount some of the history of Emin
and his career in the Egyptian Soudan.
For a sketch of the early life of Emin Pasha we are indebted to Dr.
Schweinfurth. He tells us that Emin’s right name is Edward Schnitzer,
and that he was born in 1840 at Oppeln, in Silesia. His father, a
merchant, died in 1845, and three years before that date the family
removed to Neisse, where Emin’s mother and sister are still living. When
Edward Schnitzer had passed through the gymnasium at Neisse he devoted
himself to the study of medicine at the University of Breslau. During
the years 1863 and 1864 he pursued his studies at the Berlin Academy.
The desire for adventure and an exceptional taste for natural science
induced the young medical student to seek a field for his calling
abroad. He therefore, at the end of 1864, left Berlin with the intention
of obtaining the post of physician in Turkey. Chance carried him to
Antivari and then to Scutari. Here he soon managed to attract the
attention of Valis Ismael Pasha Haggi, and was received into the
following of that dignitary, who, in his official position, had to
travel through the various provinces of the empire. When, in this way,
Dr. Schnitzer had learned to know Armenians, Syrians, and Arabians, he
finally reached Constantinople, where the Pasha died in 1873. In the
summer of 1875 Dr. Schnitzer returned to his relations in Neisse; but
after a few months the old passion for travel again came over him, and
he betook himself to Egypt, where favorable prospects were opened out to
him. With the beginning of the year 1876 he appears as “Dr. Emin
Effendi,” enters the Egyptian service, and places himself at the
disposal of the Governor-General of the Soudan. In the post there given
him Dr. Emin met with Gordon, who two years before (1874) had been
intrusted with the administration of the newly-created Equatorial
province. Gordon was just the man to respect an Emin, and correctly
estimate his gifts and capabilities. He sent him on tours of inspection
through the territory and on repeated missions to King Mtesa at Uganda.
When Gordon Pasha, two years later, became administrator of all
territory lying outside the narrower limits of Egypt, Dr. Emin Effendi
received the post of commander at Lado, together with the government of
the Equatorial province. With how much fidelity and self-denial he
devoted himself to his task is well known.
During the first three years of his term he drove out the slave-traders
from a populous region of six million inhabitants. He converted a
deficiency of revenues into a surplus. He conducted the government on
the lines marked out by General Gordon, and was equally modest,
disinterested, and conscientious. When the Mahdi’s rebellion broke out a
governor-general of another stamp was at Khartoum. Emin’s warning from
the remote south passed unheeded. Hick’s army, recruited from Arabi’s
demoralized regiments, was massacred; the Egyptian garrisons throughout
the Soudan were abandoned to their fate, atrocious campaigns of
unnecessary bloodshed were fought on the seaboard, and General Gordon
was sent to Khartoum to perish miserably while waiting for a relief
expedition that crawled by slow stages up the Nile, and was too late to
be of practical service. During all these years of stupid misgovernment
and wasted blood Emin remained at his post. When the death of General
Gordon and the retreat of Lord Wolseley’s army wiped out the last
vestige of Egyptian rule in the regions of the upper Nile, the
Equatorial provinces were cut off, neglected, and forgotten.
It then became impossible for Emin to communicate with the Egyptian
Government, and he was practically lost to the rest of the world. He was
dependent upon his own resources in a region encompassed by hostile
tribes. He might easily have cut his way out to safety, by the way of
the Congo or Zanzibar, with the best of his troops, leaving the women
and children behind to their fate. But this he scorned to do. He stood
at his post, and bravely upheld the standard of civilization in Africa.
He had with him about four thousand troops at the outset. He organized
auxiliary forces of native soldiers; he was constantly engaged in
warfare with surrounding tribes; he garrisoned a dozen river stations
lying long distances apart; his ammunition ran low, and he lacked the
money needed for paying his small army. But, in the face of manifold
difficulties and dangers, he maintained his position, governed the
country well, and taught the natives how to raise cotton, rice, indigo,
and coffee, and also how to weave cloth, and make shoes, candles, soap,
and many articles of commerce. He vaccinated the natives by the thousand
in order to stamp out small-pox; he opened the first hospital known in
that quarter; he established a regular post-route with forty offices; he
made important geographical discoveries in the basin of the Albert Lake;
and in many ways demonstrated his capacity for governing barbarous races
by the methods and standards of European civilization. The last
European who visited him was Dr. Junker, the German traveller, who
parted from him at Wadelai on January 1st, 1886. His position was then
more favorable, but he had been reduced at one time to extremities, his
soldiers having escaped by a desperate sortie, cutting their way through
the enemy after they had been many days without food, and “when the last
torn leather of the last boot had been eaten.” Letters written by him in
October, 1886, at Wadelai, describing his geographical discoveries, were
received in England in 1887, with a contributed article for a Scotch
scientific journal. The provisions and ammunition sent to him by Dr.
Junker had had a very encouraging effect upon his troops. He wrote: “I
am still holding out here, and will not forsake my people.”
Emin kept a diary of his life and work, and, whenever opportunity
offered, sent extracts from it in the form of letters to friends in
Europe. From these a graphic idea may be formed of his unique career. In
August, 1883, he wrote:
“It seems to me that when disturbances arise among a newly-subdued
people it is chiefly to be attributed to wrong methods of action on the
part of our people, who make exaggerated demands, forgetting that a
newly-captured bird must first become accustomed to its cage.
Intercourse with negroes and their treatment are not so difficult as
often appears to inexperienced travellers, who know their mendacity,
and, where they have the power, their extortion. It only requires
inexhaustible patience and unruffled composure--virtues which are
certainly not often acquired from the brandy-bottle. A sojourn of
nearly eight years here has taught me that, with a little kind
treatment, negroes are tolerably easy to govern. I have also certainly
learnt that for Equatorial Africa temperance is a good habit....
“It is a beautiful characteristic of the Sandeh--the worst anthropophagi
of our country--that they have the greatest affection for their wives
and daughters, and would bear anything rather than their loss....
“From Gambari’s village, four days’ march brought me to Tingasi, our
headquarters in Monbuttu, an hour’s march from Tangara’s residence. To
this place visitors from all sides flocked in such numbers that I was
often quite overwhelmed. From west and south came the chiefs with their
trains--the Sandeh princes Bori, Kanna’s nephew; Mbiltima and Ikva,
Uando’s sons; Mbrú and Massinse, the Monbuttu princes Tangara, Asanga,
Munsa’s brother; Mbala, Munsa’s son; Kadabó, Benda, and others. In
addition to these, the women, often as many as fifty or sixty, seated on
little stools, were grouped round me, all beautifully painted black,
with high chignons; those belonging to the princely houses, such as
Munsa’s and Tangara’s daughters, being crowned with Monbuttu hats. If
only you could have seen the transports of delight which Schweinfurth’s
perfectly accurate drawings excited in this circle, and the interest
with which they looked at my zoological sketches! The Monbuttu are a
very highly-gifted people, and this would be a fertile field for happy
and useful work. If anything is to be made of this richly-endowed
country, here or nowhere is the place for a capable European official,
who must, to be sure, possess some self-denial. If the Government would
give the country over to me, independent of the Equatorial provinces
proper, I should be quite willing to undertake the work at once. The
distance from Lado could be diminished by the opening of new routes....
“I have been twice in Uganda, and believed I should meet with many
persons like those in Monbuttu; but my expectations were not fulfilled.
Monbuttu is very different from all that one is accustomed to see in
Africa, and so different that a comparison can hardly be thought of. I
was always meeting with indescribable splendor and luxuriance of
vegetation--giant trees waving their tops together like a dome, more
sublime and majestic than all the cathedrals in the world. Whoever
wishes to attain a due sense of God’s majesty and power should go into
these forests, and, silent and wondering, confess how miserable and
contemptible are men’s works beside the works of Him who created this
enchanting beauty and splendor.”
[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT PROTECTING HER YOUNG.]
[Illustration: SUPPLIES FOR THE CARAVAN.]
Troublous times came upon him, and in August, 1884, he was practically
cut off from the rest of the world, and was in daily expectation of
being assailed by the overwhelming hosts of the Mahdi. Under such
circumstances he wrote:
“It will probably appear to you somewhat comical that, notwithstanding
the non-arrival of a steamer, I should again take up my correspondence
with you. It certainly seems as if we were totally deserted and
forgotten by all the world. But I think that the good God, who has up to
the present time protected us from all harm, will in the future also
have us under His protection, and so, perchance, my letter may some day
arrive at its destination. Whilst suffering from the very sorrowful
impression which the surrender of Lupton Bey to the Mahdi’s troops had
made upon me, I concluded my last letter to you in great haste. Dr.
Junker wished to try to get to Zanzibar by the south route, _via_
Uganda, and was so good as to take with him all my correspondence. Since
he left here nearly two months have passed, and as since then all kinds
of curious rumors have reached me, he has decided to wait awhile in
Dufilé and watch the course of events. Up to the present, thank God, the
much-feared invasion of our province by the Mahdi’s troops has not taken
place, and I have been able, by giving up nearly all of my outlying
stations, to concentrate my few soldiers.... I must, however, tell you
that I heard from Lupton that he had been compelled to surrender both
himself and his province into the Mahdi’s hands, and that he thought the
best thing I could do was to follow his example.”
“Well may our friends,” he wrote on New Year’s Day, 1885, “have long
since given up all hope for us. Our own Government has certainly
deserted us. Yet we have managed to hold our own, and to defend our
flag. How long we shall still be able to do so is a mere question of
time, for as soon as the little remaining ammunition which we possess is
expended, it will be all up with us.... We are without news as to the
course of events in Khartoum; in fact, the whole of the outer world
seems to have vanished completely from our ken. We have now begun to
manufacture for ourselves the most indispensable articles--very
passable shoe-work, soap, and more recently still, cotton cloth for
clothes. Candles made of wax prove very useful, and instead of sugar we
use honey. We have not, however, yet succeeded in our endeavor to make
vinegar, but I am not without hope that we shall have success in that
direction. Temperance is naturally compulsory, for the drinks of native
manufacture can only be consumed by children of the soil. Coffee, which
we have long missed, we have at last replaced by roasting the seeds of a
species of hibiscus, and brewing from it a fairly passable drink. Tea
naturally does not exist. I thank God for His protection hitherto, and
hope and have faith enough to believe that He will still protect us, and
at last enable my few poor people to return to their homes in peace.
“_10th January._--Our fate it seems is soon to be decided. We hear that
four hundred armed men from Bahr-el-Ghazal have joined the rebels and
that one thousand five hundred more are on the way. Only a miracle can
save us. I send at once as many as possible of my people to the south,
for the route to Mtesa is still in existence. If I escape I will follow
with my soldiers. But I can hardly expect to escape. It is shameful of
our Government to have abandoned us.
“_12th January._--Dr. Junker goes in the meantime to Anfinas. He takes
with him all my letters. If I see him again, as I hope I may, for I have
some belief in my good star, I will write more. May God preserve you.”
There Emin remained with his body of Egyptian troops throughout all the
disturbance in that region--the appearance of El Mahdi and his success
in wresting some of the adjoining Soudanese provinces from the
Egyptians; Arabi Pasha’s insurrection in Egypt and the subsequent
Mahdist manœuvers. Emin and his small force were surrounded by hostile
tribes. He was heard from but seldom, and at last all communication
ceased. The position in which Emin found himself after Gordon’s death
excited the sympathy of the whole world. He was the Governor of a
province which he had blessed with many of the arts of civilization, but
was without sufficient force to resist the encroachments of the enemy.
He fought the slave trade and the slave dealers with something like the
passion of fanaticism. He was hemmed in by hordes of cut-throats, and
every effort to save himself from the impending fate seemed futile. It
was feared he had fallen, like Gordon.
In reviewing the career of this remarkable man, who has been so
skillfully extricated by Stanley and his expedition, the New York
_Tribune_ has recently said, editorially:
“At his remote post of duty, this modest scientist has done more for the
abolition of African slavery than any other man now living, if we except
only his gallant deliverer. He gave civilization to an empire and the
blessings of freedom to teeming millions. Throughout a territory larger
than all our New England States he destroyed the slave trade,
established government, and founded schools, posts and industries of
varied kinds. His administration was more than self-supporting, and even
after the betrayal of Khartoum and his isolation from the rest of the
world, he was prepared to hold his own, if only he could have some
trifling aid from Europe. That aid he did not get. There seemed to be
neither money nor votes in helping him, so the statesmen of Europe went
by on the other side. He conquered savagery, defied pestilence, and
triumphed over every foe the wilderness could send against him. The one
enemy he could not subdue was the selfish poltroonery of Europe. To that
he has at last yielded. He has marched out in safety with honor upon his
banners. He has left behind him the dismalest wreck in modern history to
be a reproach to the Powers that betrayed him. That the desert was made
to blossom like the rose, is Emin’s glory; that it now relapses into a
worse desert than before, is Europe’s disgrace.”
[Illustration]