A GREAT EXPLORES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 277, 31 December 1909, Page 4

A GREAT EXPLORES

"The Autobiography of Henry Morton Stanley," edited by his wife, was issued | at the end of October. In .an editorial > preface Lady Stanley explains that, the autobiography was left unfinished (the narrative, in fact, docs nut go further than Stanley's experiences as a soldier in the American <.'ivil War), and that , it has been continued by extracts from his journals and notebooks and trora j letters. The story of the life loses nothing in intimacy or in interest by Lady j' Stanley's careful arrangement of the i copious and detailed material from j which she has continued it. As the "best introduction" to the volume is quoted one of Stanley's letters j to his wife, in which he says: "My I African life has been fairly described, but only as it affected those whom J j served or those who might be con- j cerned." The inner existence, the me, | what does anybody know of; Nay, you may well ask, What do I fcnowT" It , is for the "penetrative intelligences and . assimilative organisations'," .Stanley pro- ' ceeds, amongst the poor boys of Great Britain and the Empire that he would "care to have the truthful record" ot his life, believing the story of "the efforts, struggles, sufferings, and failures of the work done and the work hjl't undone" would help others. "The pathos of this autobiography, i Lady Stanley says, "lies in the depriva- ! tions' and denials of those early years, , here recorded for the lirst time. . . I

As a key to Stanley's life, it may be mentioned that one of his earliest" and dearest wishes, often expressed to me in secret, was, by his personal character and the character of his work in every stage of his career, to obliterate Hie stigma of pauperism which had been so deeply branded in his' very soul by the Poor Law methods. ... So that when he achieved fame as an explorer, he craved, far more than this, a recognition by the English and American public of the high endeavor which was the result of a real nobility of character and aim."

Stanley has written with great feeling of the loveless years of his infancy and boyhood among relatives who appear to have made no effort to conceal their regarding him as a burden, and in the workhouse of St. Asaph, where, ne writes, "it took uie some time to learn the unimportance of tears." His escupc from the brutality of the schoolmaster to secure employment in Liverpool, anil his subsequent voyage to New Orleans, his first employment there, and bis adoption by Mr. Stanley (-whose personality is vividly presented), form a remarkable narrative. There is much, too, of keen interest in the descriptions of his experiences in the American War. The journals tell of his adventurous' life between that period and his entrance into journalism, and of the rebuffs which he encountered from his relatives, which produced, says Lady Stanley, "in the reaction an habitual, strong self-suppression." These six years of his life are described by Stanley as a most important period. He had "seen about fifteen fair battles with the military service and three naval bombardments," bad been twice shipwrecked, and "a spectator of mighty events."

"And now, at last, for Africa and Livingstone." Lady Stanley has included in the chapters on "The Finding of Livingstone," "England and Coomassie," and ''Through the Dark Continent" much higherto unpublished material from the journals and from letters which cast new light on these thrilling episodes in Stanley's career. A deeply interesting account of the explorer's audience with Queen Victoria is in eluded, in which Stanley says: ''Th'-rc was an atmosphere of conscious potency about her which would have marked her in any assemblage, even without tie trappings of royalty. . . . What I admired most was the sense of power the eyes revealed, and a quiet hut unmistakable kindly condescension and an inimitable calmness and self-possession.

... I am richer in the niuli-islanding of power and dominion sitting throned on human features." An important chapter describes llic fonndng of the Congo State and tiie apathy which Stanley encountered in regard to his colonisation schemes on the part of the British Government, a conversation with King Leopold of Belgium has exceptional iutCrest. "The Rescue ol Emin," forgetfully related, is supplemented by some "reflections" extracted from private notebooks. An amusing conversation with Gladstone, after Slan--!ey-'B--retu*n--t«sa£urefle~is-*e«oiwicd>—> — Of his marriage in July, IS'JU, Stanley wrote in his journal: "During my long bachelorhood 1 have often wished that 1' had but one tiny child to love; but now, unexpectedly as it seems to me, I possess a wife—my own wife." Much that is entertaining is found in the references to Stanley's lecturing tour and the chapters on the explorer's parliamentary life, which, as Lady Stanley leaves no room to doubt, was embarked upon at her earnest desire in order "to keep him from Hying off again to Africa." His resentment of the "lilthj abuse" of political opponents, his strict i resolve "never to do any silly perso ml canvassing," or to "put myself in any position where I can be bailed like a hull in a ring," indicate Stanley's opinion of electioneering. Many highly entertaining references to parliamentary associates arc recorded in a "Journal of One Week in tin House of Commons." Of the late Sir William Hareourt, for instance, Stanley wrote: "Up rose Sir William Haicourl in a ponderous way, extremely oldfashioned and histrionic. 1 used, in my boyhood, to fancy this style was vcj' grand; but with more mature intelligence I cannot say I admire it. H is so markedly stage-like that 1 feel a resentful contempt for it." References occur also to the late Mr. Willinn Allen, Mr. James J. O'Kclly, Sir Henry lumber, Sir Charles Dilkc rtlis voice is showy, but not so sweet as Balfour's"). Mr. Seton-Karr, Mr. Haldane file is a combatant, and only bides his chance"), Mr. John Redmond, Mr. John Dillon, Mr. Gerald Balfour, "Tay Pay," Mr. "Tommy" Bowles ("He is not a man to be despised"), Mr. Gladstone (who "used to shelter to excess, and circumvented to a weary length"), and several others. j

One of the most remarkable features of the book is Stanley's description of an interview with President Krnger on 24th November, ISO 7. A striking wordportrait of the ex-President is recorded in a letter from Stanley to his wife. After recounting the conversation and the situation generally, Stanley says: "I believe it may come to war. ilut as war is a serious thing, even with such a small State as the Traiinvaal (and who knows whether the Orange Free State may not join ihemr), I would not precipitately engage in it. I would prefer to give Kruger a good excuse to descend from the lofty and unalterable decision not to give, way to anybody or anything." Of the closing scenes' of Stanley's life his wife gives a deeply touching picture. Of his death she' writes: ••'Mien, as six o'clock rang out, Stanley left me and was admitted into the nearer presence of God." Stanley hail said IP f ins burial: 'They will put me beside Livingstone (in Westminster Abbey I. because it is right to do so," and Lady Stanley says that history will remember that it was Dean Robinson "who refused to allow Stanley to be buried there."