Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-04-26

of Uganda, that he believed that he had
very sensibly shaken the faith OF the black
monarch in Mohammednnism 1t is not in
vidiousnow to say thatat that time people were
wont to take Mr.. Stanley's statements with
many grains of allowance. With this MtGsa
We had become tolernbly well acquainted
through Speke, who, a dozen yenrs before,
had spent six months with him and it is safe
to say that there could not be found in all
Africa or out of it, n more frivolous and fero-
cious savage than this young King of Ugan-
da and. mor, over, there seemed no reason
to suppose that he had any faith in Moham-
mechanism to be shaken. When Speke was
with him, his only religion was fetichism, ac-
companied by the most bloody rites among
which was the boiling of children alive, in or
der to obtain auguries of the success or fail
urc of any enterprise which lie had in con-
temptation.
No one was more incrtdu as to the ver-
ity of Stanlcy's statement than the only other
white man who had any personal means of
judging as TO the matter. Only nine months
before the dnte of Stanleys letter, Colonel
Long, an American officer high in the service
of the Khedive of Egypt. had spent two
months with Mtesa and what he saw fully
corroboratod the worst of Spcke's accounts of
dozen years before. When, some months
later, Long was writing an account of his
visit to Uganda, he read French translation
of Stanley's letter, and thought it SO incredi-
BILE that he suspected it to be forgery. He
says:
Mr.. Stanley, who has since visited Mtcsa,
as reported in the ErpIOrdtsUr, in a letter
dated the 18th of April, 1875, says that he
flatters himself that he has shaken very sensi-
bly, the faith of the black monarch in MGhom-
mechanism. If (as l can hardly believe pos
sible) such language was really used by Mr..
Stanley. he was either the dupe of the artful
savage, or he appeals to the pseudo -philan-
thropy which in Europe elevates the Afri-
can at the expense of the truth. When | en-
tered the country, King Mtesa had recently
adopted the Mussulman faith. Being sol
dier, not missionary, did not attempt the
work of conversion on this savage, which. in
my opinion, would be utterly useless. Hav-
ing already made one step from fetchism to
Mohammedanism, the attempt to shake the
new faith would only cause him to grope
hopelessly in a confused labyrinth of gods.
Besides. l felt conscientious scruples against
advocating the sending of missionaries into
country which l believe would only devote
them to misery and speedy death. without
any results that could justify their inevitable
martyrdom."
Colonel Long here corroborates one point
in Mr. Stanley's letter-Mtesa had recently
become believer in MohammedAnisln. We
imagine that the time is past when any can
did person will seriously call in question any
a a. l..
of fact. And it is now certain that he was
far within the bounds of fact when he fatter-
ed himself that he had very sensibly shaken
Mtcsa's faith in MohHmmedanism. In this
same letter. which was sent through NJ. Lin
ant de Bellefonds to Colonel Gordon, the
Governor General of the Equatorial Prov
inces of Egypt, by whom it was forwarded to
Europe, Mr.. Stanley urged that AN English
church mission should be established in Ugan-
da When, in December, 1877, Stanley re-
turned to Zanzibar, after his three years
Journey of twelve thousand miles across and
halfway around the Continent of Africa, he
learned something of what had taken place in
Uganda since he had left that country. In a
letter published in the New York Herald of
February l3, 1873, he says;
During the first brief visit which made
to the Emperor of Uganda, i'll April, 1873.
hammedan religion. The month of August
saw me again ut the court of Mtcsa. ! spent
one hundred and ten days on this second visit,
| during which time, with the aid of Mr.. Dar-
| lington, a pupil of the London Mission, at
Zanzibar. l translated the entire Gospel of
| St Luke, the Lords Prayer, the Apostles
| Creed, several chapters of St. Paul's Epstles,
and portion of the book of Revelation, be-
sides the Ten Commandments During all
| this time, | spent from two to six hours each
| day talking with him about the great love for
mankind which the Saviour manifested while
on earth. When he returned to his capital in
the latter part of October, ! directed how
the new church was to be built, and assisted
| the chief Mkwenda to plant the pillars and
posts of the building.
Il arrived in the beginning of April, 1873,
| and had communications with Mtesa until
March, 1876. When he was on the point OF
executing captives, made him to understand
that if lie put to death one person not con-
victed of murder, would publish the fact ia
the whole world and describe him Ms no bet
ter than the lowest savage. This was done in
the presence of all the chiefs, numbering
about two hundred. When he was about ia
sentence great chief of the Wayuma to the
| stake for treason and n long course Of enmi.
ty, | interceded with him, and the chiefs life
| was saved.
Considering the terrible things recorded
in Colonel Longs book and that Long but
cOrroborates Speke in his description OF
Mtesa's characters considering that | saw,
before appearing in his presence, the ashes
| of many victims in the place or execution
that Colonel Linant de Belefonds reports il
his journals that he heard me begin the con
version of the cruel despot that DIR. Sehnit
zer, or Emin Bey, who succeeded me il
| Uganda. reports that what Mr. Stanley stated
about the conversion of Mtesa is correct, and
that his conversion is real; and that the
Church Mission lately reported that the boy
Darlington, left by me to continue the work
in 1875, was still at his post-considering al
these things, surely all right-minded Eng
lishmen will recognize that a great chang,
must have taken place in the character of tn,
Emperor of Uganda, and would it be toe
much for me to claim MtCsa as my convert 2"
The foregoing is, we believe, the fullest ac
count which Stanley has as yet given of tn,
momentous eleven months during which Ii
was in almost constant intercourse with Mtcsa
1t certainly presents Stanley in an aspec
quite different from any in which we have
been accustomed to regard him. Not few
English philanthropists have persistently helt
him up to condemnation-we may even sa,
to execration-as an unscrupulous and Zero
ciOus adyenturer wantOn destroyer of un
offending Africans, who merely objected Il
his armed march through their peaceful terri
tories We fear it will not be easy to recog
nze in him the man who dared over and owe
again to fling himself between the terrible
Mtesa and the objects of his wrath-a thin
which We believe Speke ventured only twice
and Long not ut all. Still harder will it b.
for them to see in him the patient translate
| .Ft - ii Ia,
missionary who daily, for months spent hour
in expatiating before the ferocious mOnarcl
upon the exceeding love of the Saviour o