The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-08-22
KING mTesA, fveefcr.
The Most Notable Potentate Produced by
the Dar. Continent.

notable pOIeuJdte Oh phiEiy native VI
iyiE that the dark tontlnent-has pro
duced According 10 thu estimate II
Col. Grant. whe, speke, as-his
guest twenty-three years ago, Mtesa
was probably not more than - years of
age at the time of his death. and. lIay
ing succeeded his father, Suna, in 1897,
he has reigned twenty-eight years.
The Waganda have the names of thirty
five kings who have reigned down TO
the time Of Mtesa in regular succession,
and this, as Col. Grant points" QUIT NAV
probably account for the blue blood
and vanity which certainly ran IN the
veins Of Mtesa:, THIS rauft : eonies<ou t.
in all the narratives We have from for
eign visitors Spoke ana Grant, Stan
= ley, and Wilson and lnlkili.L sii.I S z
Probably, however, no other native
African pr nee, not even the Muata
Janvo him al. ti&A cen able 10 organ
lie state 50 completely o4t make 50
great an advance toward civil ~ ION as
the king who has Just died and Ills pred
ecessors. col. Grant, who knew him
well. speaks of him in terms Of real re
spect and his estimate is e ssentially
supported by such men As Sir samuel
Baker and MIR. Stanley. We have all
read the latter long, interesting and
dramatic account of his many converse
tloio with -tlSSd
Christianity. AS we know, the result of
Stanley visit was that Protestant miss
siOns were established III the country Z
and, according to thasmi s iOnaries owns
reports, have had gratifying success.
But Mtesa was much perplexed when he
learned that there are two Christian re
ligions, the adheTentS Of which are a.
hostile to each other as both are to Mo-
hammedanism or heathenism- As
might Z expected, the missionaries.
from their point of view. do not speak
so favorably Ga tj,,. late king as the cx-
plOrers. certainty ron he european
point of view Mesa was guilty OF great
crueIt;cs, bat, as Col. Grant shows,
these apparently indiscriminate sacri-
fees o human life were really the recog-
nizc,t ANT lrgani ed modes OF admins
term u-.ice III gauda.
Mia himself was evidently a man
governed largely by impulse. It was
good POINT II his character that, when
Col. Grant VISITED him, he made a point
of v:,.t.n.; his mother every two days at
least y. Len-ijakcf, us Col. G5rapt re
minds us, was all but defeated by the
WanyorO, a force from Uganda arriving
in the distance was the cause of the dis
persion OF the enemy. Mesa forwarded
letters from Baker to Livingston by his
swift footed soldiers, who. after q
journey of Geo miles, found the veteran
traveller was dead These and other
facts, which may be read in the pages
of the travellers We have mentioned
show that Mtesa WAS capable of taking a
real interest II. matters far outside the
range of the ordinary savage mind HIS
army, wonderfully organized and diSCi-
plinel, MIR. Stanley estimates at 1875, 00)
men, and his feet at 800 canoes.
lot Ia
probably about 1000, 900, but with
height orinS dependent territories about
1000, GEO. The capital is finely stu
atcd on the slopes ofztne north shore. -of
Lake ictorl1 yam q, from which, "a
Mr. stanley S illustration shows, a broad
path leads up to tire royal .aq aarters. sit
is gratifying to learn that there have
tccn comparatively little violence and
lloodshe4 as the change of mon
archy 1t used to be the Gus
tom ut the coronation for % new Hing
TO sacrifice his brothers, u custom which
the latter evidently regarded as per
fcctiy natural Atesa's brethers, a. the
time OF Col. rant visit. went about
in chains, hut all the same, and though
conscious of their Fate, %copyersed and
attended picnics, and boated, and played
musical instruments. with their brother,
the king. with perfect freedom OF action
and of speech.
1t is to be hoped that, under the
young prince who now succeeds his
father, this native state may be ABOVE:
to develop itself along It's own lines,
without any undue attempt to force il
into europeans grooves; above all things
both prince and people pray to be de
tIvered from European projection. ? -
he far I
For ign Letter 81 F.. Is.
The military desire for fags in China
has developed into q passion. avery
fortress, lntrenched position, camp, city
gate or officers headquarters, has from
one to 100, some OF one bright solid
color, but most are arranged in stripes
the colorS red, white and blue being
preferred Were-but three strires used 1
the resemblance to the frcuCh trIcOlOr
would be almost exact. but as they Ordi-
narilv Use five or six tue similarity of
color becomes Il mere suggestion " hen
blue is not obtainable, black, and rarely
yellow, takes its place.
At the camp of the Tso-tsung fang
regiment, on II pleasant knoll Just out
side the walls of King lriIf- foo more
than 100 large flags were displayed,
ranged with the precision OF the rows
III cOrntield there being one for
nearly every white canvas tent, in
which the soldiers were comfortably in
stalled. The material use is Man
chester cotton, bought white and col
Ored by the Chinese AS each is about
the size of n common bed blanket, and
several thousands must be required for
the 10000 troops stationed in and
about Hollow and King -cllow-foo, the
quantity needed Is immense and the
l.
prepared accordingly. There is no
doubt but that filnir nnnfIler is Often