Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1892. EMIN PASHA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4142, 18 June 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1892. EMIN PASHA.

Bbino tub extended title of tub Waibabapa Daily, wiih whioh it is IDENTICAL

The news of the death of this remarkable man recalls to us the time when Stanley marched to his relief, The story of that expedition was stranger than fiction in the romance of its realities. In the clever hands of Mr R. Jj, StevenßOti and Mr Bider Haggard, Central Africa has been made to yield us food for wonderment ; but the light thrown upon that mysterious land by the modem novelist is but a magiolantern's gleam compared with the genuine daylight into whioh Stanley dragged its dark secrets when he went to the resoue of Emin Pasha,

The subject of the search was a Prussian medical man, who had bsen appointed Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of the Soudan, holding office under our own General Gordon, who was himself of the whole country; Like everyone j else who was brought intoclose contact with Gordon, this man imbibed something of his superior spirit of singleminded zeal for the work in hand, He was taught that his mission in the Soudan was rather to reclaim its people from the horrors which surrounded their life than to govern the country merely in Egyptian interests. Working in this spirit for the natives over whom he was set, he had already mitigated local misgovernment, dealt serious blows at slavery among them, and won their affeotion for himself, when the victorious Mabdi managed to out him off from the outer world, and left him to starve or to surrender. Emin Pasha did neither. WLen the world awoke to the realisation of what warfhappeuing in the Soudan, an expedition was organised, having Stanley as its leader, with the ohjeot of reaching the imprisoned Governor and bringing him from peril among savages, to honorable safety in a civilised land once more. Bather to the discredit of the Governments most concerned, the expedition was furnished with the sinews of warohwfly through private muniuV 1 cence. At any rate Stanley was able, in February, 1887,' to steam for Zanzibar with ample stores and a following of about 800 persons. Arrived at Zanzibar, he pursued a course wbioh had been kept a profound secret Instead of landing and travels lipg from the north-east coast to the Soudan, be sailed straight on round the (Jape, to West Africa, where he disembarked at the end of March, at th« mouth of the river/Congo, 5000 miles from his anticipated landing place. ■''' From theri he pushed his column inland steaming part of the way, where navigatuja was possible, jn a. little craft, but' chiefly marching through swamp and forest with' a force whos/jnumberg diminished almost daily through treaohery, figjit; iug and disease! We have heard a good deal about the faults wbfoli [ohantcterised Stanley's oondnpt of

jthftttepfiaitioa,ibriiit will be well to;. hew tin Aind; tk indomitable l-conrage; whjoh it requited. When the,patty finally left their rivet steamer and Btarted thei trackless land journey, they expected to reach tbe prisoner of hope in little more than a month. It took them ten months. They were nearly starved, they were a'prey to perils and anxieties every hour, and they lost many precious lives. But Emin Pasha was reaobed.

-Not the least strange part of this strangest of modern stories remains to be told.' The wsbued man exhibited the most marked''reluctance to accompany his resouer. Rather lUngtaoiouely he consented at last to travel with Stanley to the coast; the dangers of a Central African journey were faced again, and the world was thrilled with the news that; Stanley and Emin were'safe;! - • ; ,' :

Yet there was more to happen. Coming unharmed through the "environment of horrors furnished by his life in the wilds of the Soudan, Emin no sooner-reached the comparative civilisation of Zanzibar than he met with a commonplace accident which laid him at death's -door for weeks with conoussion of the brain. As though, this were not sufficiently singular, the world was startled, to learn, with the news,of his recovery, that the man whom Stanley had resoued from danger at. the imminent risk of hie own life had suddenly taken service with the Germans. That is to say, he placed his influence and his> knowledge at the disposal of those who were then doing their utmost to hinder and minimise our English colonisation of those lands. It seemed ungrateful; and we have nover met with any sufficient explanation of this action of Emin's, Prussian patriotism wsb suggested as the motive; and there wore not wanting those who hinted that jealousy of Stanley's superior prestige had something to do with this 6eeming slight to the people who equipped tbe expedition of resoue. ..

History is full of secrets. What it reveals is often exceeded in interest by what it withholds. It gives us a halflight, and we long to see things more clearly as they are.' But in this ease the things wo know are wonderful enough. Stanley's march to Emin has shown us new deeds of heroism, if it has left us marvelling at the complexities of human character; it has enriched the world of science; and it has added much to our knowledge of Equatorial Afrioa.