EMIN BEY. The Man Stanley Has Gone to Rescue.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 196, 26 March 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

EMIN BEY. The Man Stanley Has Gone to Rescue.

Beyond tho fact that he is labouring in the cause of civilisation somewhere in the Soudan, very little is known in this country of Emm Bey. Yet he is truly a remarkable man. Ic> is now eight years since General Gordon appointed him Governor-General of the Egyptain Equatoiial Provinces, a die? tried bo large that Great Britain would lie in a corner of ib. Emm Bey, who was an Austrian Doctor, started upon hi 3 work without any flourish of trumpets. His tack looked iike an impossible one, but Gordon was constantly doing "impossible" things himselr, and expected as much of his lieutenants. Wfaen Emm Bey reached the provinces he was to rule over if he could, reduce them to order, he found things about as bad as they could be. That was in 1878. In three years he had swept the elave-trad-ers out of that enormous tract of land, with its 6,000,000 inhabitants, and these gentry have never dared to show their face since. The provinces had so far been governed at a deficit of £33,000 per annum ; by the end of 1881 there was a surplus of £8,000. Although the Governor-General had established several public works in that time 9 the expenses of which were considerable, this surplus waa not obtained by move taxation. The change has been brought about simply by good government, economy and the suppression of abuses. Then came the rumours of troubles in the Soudan. Emm Bey was one of the first to foresee them, and to Buggesthow ttey might be dealt with. His advice was disregarded, and he was told to attend to the affairs of his own provinces, Then came the Sondan war, and being hopelessly beyond relief, Emm Bey was first neglected and then forgotten. It is three years since he had any instructions of any kind from the Egyptian Government, though in 1886 he managed once or twice to communicate with them. As a rule what messages he &ent were intercepted. All that is known of his life during theee three years is derived from a few private letters to a friend in this country. As several letters have been lobS for the one that has reached its destination, the narrative ia not continuous. Emm Bey has more than held his own during these three years. There has been fighting, but he has driven the enemy back, sometimes after terrible struggles. He baa with him some four thousand troops, and this ia how he writes of them, referring to one of theee conflicts when his men were attacked from the North : " Deprived of tho moat necessary things, for a long time without any pay, my men fought valiantly ; and when at last hunger weakened them, wher, after nineteen days of incredible privatiot* and sufferings, their strength was exhausted, and m hen the last torn leather of the lust boot had been eiten then they cut a way through the midst of their enemies and succeeded in saving themselves." Now Ernin Bey ia not a General Gordon, but he is a man of Gordon's stamp ; and when so modest and disinterested a commander writea in this fashion we may be sure that his men have been brave indeed. Now, do not let it be thought that they stay there because they have no option, Had Emm Bey cared to leave the women and children to their fate and the natives to the slavetraders, he could have cut his way with the pick of his men to the Congo. But ifmin Bey never thought of deserting his post because the Government had deserted him. Now, however, he could not withdraw, if he wished to do so. In hia lett£>ra he said ho would endeavour by economising to make his ammunition last out this year. Without ammunition he is at the mercy of the first potentate—such as the King of Uganda-— who makes up his mind to annex the provinces. The brave Austrian makes no demand on the British Government for help, but he sees and saya that if a rebel force could be sent to him it would save his life and save the provinces. In a letter, pathetic in its simplicity, he expresses a hope that perhaps his friends will manage to do something for him yeb. All he needs is ammu* nition. He has worked so hard in his province that it grows for him all else that he needs. Emm Bey has taught the natives of tho. Egyptian equatorial provinces the cultiva*tion of cotton, rice, indigo, coffee, etc. He has made weavers of Borne of them, and bootmakers of others. The soap he uses is of his own manufacture. In his very last letter he told of his attempts to vaccinate his people. The death rate at the provinces has been very high of late, owinsc to an epidemic of small-pox He has built a hospital,. in which he ependa the better part of hia morning. He is a schoolmaster. He has connected the different parts of the provinces by weekly posts, there being forty stations. In short, he baa done so much inso short a space of time that, with a little assistance, there must be a great career of ueefulnees before him, •— "'St. James a Gazette."