The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-09-06
STANLEY In AFRICA.
Tho Situation on tho Congo.
orresponasooo London Telegraph.

AA0 0stU1tlO0 On tho O00&O.
CorresponAsnoo London Telegraph.
Tho influence Of Stanleyic expedition
over the natives has 80 gained ground
that now white man may travel, % I
have done accompanied by only; three
Zanzibaris,t . distance. Of two hundred
hfty miles beyond Stanley Pool, treated
everywhere with kindness and cordiali-
ty by the pleasant-tempered natives. So
much for what Mr.. Stanley has done un.
der the generous aid of Leopold II. Al
70 De Braz1a and the French, they can
hardly yet be regarded as factors In the
Congo question, for, however much they
may be talked about in Europe, the ma
tives Of the Upper Congo do not read
the European journals, and consequent
~ live in no state of expectation of the
civilization with which France 10 about to
endow them through her apostle, De
Brazza. OF this latter and his tri-colored
fiags there still remains slowly.
1adlng remembrance. They
call him Canadian" or "Camoleno" "a
corruption of "Commandant") }, and dim
~ remember that he once promised to
return; but inasmuch ~ his tri-colored
nag. have proved quite inadequate for
the purpose to which the natives put
them; which was to swathe the loins of
their portly chief, and as their high and
sublime use 10 scarcely understood or
appreciated. and. in short, az Cam
oleno" seemed to have NO more practical
presents to bestow, they are perfectly
Indifferent as to his return. They will
not oppose him unless he enforces his
imagined rights with violence; nor will
Mr.. SANKEY'S expedition do anything
nnloyal toward fellow, white, or indeed
even abstain from helping him, az long
as he puts forward no vain pretensions.
But, meanwhile, as he is struggling up
the Ogowe, he will have t, battle
with all the obstacles and him
ORANGES that first attacked the in
domitable Stanley. First, there is hum
ger-tor he has no gardens and planta-
tons of manioc and bananas of three
years date, such as now belong to the
expedition, aud the countries along the
Congo, however rich their soil may be,
are only made to grow sufficient food to
sustain their indolent inhabitants. Then,
where Stanley had spent five millions of
francs, De Brazza has but small sum
to spend, and when that is gone, he will
find Africa an absorbing soil. At pres
ent, "Brazzaville," or, as it's fifty or sixty
inhabitants still call it, "Mfwa," con-
tains, perhaps, eight native huts, buried
in bananas and thick vegetation, and
lies in q very low-lying and, I should
corner of Stanley Pool: Makoko, who
has been deposed by his tickle sub
jects, and another chief Mpumo,
Ntaba, reigns in his stead; 80 it is DOUBT
full whether the contract will hold good.
Certainly if De Brazza does succeed in
reaching the Congo will, his party fairly
intact. and establishing himself there
with his boats, he Will prove himself to
be really great man not "rivap Of
Stanley, let us hope, but rather his emu
lator in noble toll. l do not believe,
however. that there will ever be q seri-
-otls difficulty between the French and
the African international Association.
It is rather the great Dutch Company
the A. II. ". (the Nieuwe Afrikansche
Handles Vennootschap), that from q
mistaken idea that tn expedition is in
imical to its real interests, tries to act
towards Mr.. Stanely as the ''thresher''
to the whale. I do not mean to say that
personally, between most of it's mem
bers of the expedition and the employees
of the Dutch house, q courteous bearing
anu even an interchange OF hospitality
does not exist, bnt in an
abstract sense the Dutch company
avows itself to be the open enemy OF
the African International association.
When Mr.. Stanley first arrived at the
mouth of the Congo on his second ex-
petition the Dutch may almost be said
to have enjoyed a monopoly of the COM
merce, for the other commercial houses
were practically their subsidiaries. I'm.
agining, enormously, that the expedi-
ton would prove serious rival on their
trade with the interior, or would indeed
cut of the ivory on its wav to the coast,
the Dutch have assumed a decidedly
hostile bearing towards its operations;
md it is to Dutch sources, l fear, thai
we owe SO many of these false and rid
iculous tales Of Mr.. Stanley's doines
which circulate in the European press.
l cannot myself see that they have anv
ground for their emily, or that their
commerce has suffered by the loss of q
penny since Mr.. Stanley explored the
Congo; Nay, rather, if they are loyal
towards him and follow him in the road
he Is opening, if they make one COM
mon cause with him and adopt broader
policy towards the natives, the Dutch
company may enjoy such future pros
per1ty a. it has never known.