New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-25
TIE RESCTE OF ENIN.
proyen1ent

THE RESCUE OF ENIN.
The rescue of Emin by Stanley may now DC
assumed with reasonable degree OF certainty!
The positive announcement that both explorers
had arrived in the lower Aruwhimi has been
confirmed by dispatches to the King Of the
Belgians and the Government OF the congo
State. While details are lacking, IL may saleIy
be inferred that the advices received at o.
Thomas are of later date than those from
Zanzibar. Stanleys first message may have
been inaccurately translated by Ilppoo I'D
as we have previously suggested, and Emn
may have departed from Wadelai with him.
The independent account given by the Arab
traders points to this conclusion. Stanley Is
reported to have arrived at Wadelal on jan
uary 20. A fortnight afterward the Mahdl's
pompous summons to surrender was received
by Emin, and toward the middle of April
tidings came of the approach of the hostile eX-
petition in Gordon's steamers This Arab ac-
count breaks off abruptly with the statement
that Stanley was preparing to send detach-
ment in search of his rear guard, and was
urging Emin to accompany him. At the end
of May when he started for the Aruwhim he
may have succeeded in convincing the Aus
Urldn Oh INC nOpcItSSllCSs vi ilidhihS I" oN""N'
against the Nlahdists. In that event they
would have started together, Stanley with the
advance guard and Emin bringing up the rear.
Then, again, it is possible that Stanley left
Wadelai after receiving promise from Emh
that he would follow the same line OF retreat
If the Mahdsts continued their advance up the
river. The explorers may have met few
weeks after Tippoo Tbs carriers set out from
the Falls Station for Zanzibar.
The story of the Arab traders tends strongly
to discredit the moving tale which Osman
Digna related to General Grenfell AT the
end of April Emin is asserted to have been
at Wadelai, and to have ordered the retire
ment of his outposts from Lado and other VII
lagos lying north of his capital. 1t seems In
credible that he should have reversed his tao
tics after Staney's departure late in May and
have advanced to Lado 200 miles down the
river, in order to make stand there. Oman
Saleh's official report of the capture of Emin
and the unknown white traveller on October
IL will not bear serious examination, if Emin
be conceded to have been at Wadeai when
Stanley set out from the Nile, and to have
called in all his outpOsts. 1t was apparently
an ingenious fiction invented for the purpose
of deceiving General Grenfell and delaying, If
not preventing altogether the assault upon the
dervishes. The discrepancies between the earll-
est accounts of Stanley's arrival in the Congo
Valley seemed at first glance to corroborate
partially the willy Arabs story, but there are
now the strongest reasons for believing that
both Emn and Stanley are safe after their
extraordinary adventures and heroic sacrifices
Stanley's well-knOwn aversion to blOCdshed
would undoubtedly have led him to decline
entering into defensive campaign of the
Equatorial Provinces, when fighting could be
avoided by a well-timed retreat. On the eve
of his departure from Cairo Colonel COlborne
suggested the possibility of several battles on
| the road to Emin's capital. He replied that his
mission was purely pacific, and that he would
not endanger the lives of missionaries among
the natives of Equatorial Africa by unnecessary
blood he'd. Fighting is folly if it can be
avoided =" he exclaimed before he left London,
and then added, 81 prefer diplomacy" Pre-
sumably, he employed the strongest arguments
at his command to dissuade Emin from remain
ing at Wadelai and attempting to defend the
Provinces against the MahdStS, who, if re-
PEELED at the outset, would inevitably recruit
their forces and be victorious in the end. He
was in a position to offer a safe escort to the
fifty women and children Of the Cairo Arabs
who were with Emin, or to any other followers
who should desire to retreat. BY diplomacy he
may finally have overcome the AuStrian's re
uctance to leave the Provinces to their fate
Livingston, when found by him in tropical
Africa, refused to return to civilization, but
preferred to die at his post. Emin, strongly
dsinclined at first to accept his reScuers offers
may have proved more reasonable in the end
| The march from the Aruwhimi to Wadelai was
so intrepid and gallant a struggle against seem
| ngly insuperable obstacles that it deserved 70
be justified by Emin's deliverance. Gratitude
alone ght well have induced him to accedo tC
Stanleys solicitations, for his consent to re-
treat with his rescuer was all that was wanting
to crown with complete success one of the
nobest and most chivalrous relief expeditions
| in the annals of adventure.