Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-12-27
IN IA PREDlcAMENT.

The British Ministry In y PredIcament the
the Sequel 20 Which May be the Dis
placement of the Torfes-The Soudau
Question Again the Stumbling Block
An African Explorer's Opinion-The
British Government Not Responsible.
THE PECULIAR PREDIcAMENT OF -HE TORY
MINISTRY.
LONDON, Dec. 1S.-Yesterdav was a bad
day for the government in the House of
Commons, and sside from its harass-
menss with respect to the Sackville in
cIdent, the Canadian fisheries matter ana
presumed agreement with Germany re-
gardlng Samoa, the ministry finds itself
IN even worse predicament, though the
conditions are similar, than the Glad
stone government was when it essayed to
crush the Mahdi and control the trade of
the Soudan. Sir James Ferguson, the
usually astute and always severe Under
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was
piled with questions he could not or
dare not answer directly until he writhed
with mental pain and perspired like man
bending over hot fire in midsummer.
The plain truth of the matter is that the
government has gone so far in the inter-
est OF the Egyptian bondho1ders and the
furtherance Of its own lingo policy, de-
signed to catch and hold votes, that it can
not recede from its position, and nothing
short of a miracle can avert the calamity
which stares England in the face of anoth-
er long and disastrous campaign in the
African desert. If the ministry were
sufficiently bold to announce, unequivocal-
ly, that the first object of the campaign, if
not the only one, was to rescue Stanley
and Emin, probably not a single vote
would be withheld from proposition to
grant immense sums of money and equip
large bodies of troops to carry out that
purpose; but the suspicion that they are
merely sparring to gain time until the
propagation of Parliament shall put it be-
yond the power of their political oppo-
nents to question their actions in advance,
is rapidly growing, and consequently
causing their sincerity to be question
ed on all sides. Mr.. Gladstone survived
the sacrifice of Gordon at khartoum, but
Lord Salisbury is not Mr.. Gladstone. If
any British troops are sent into the in
terror from Suakim without a specific
promise that they will be directed to the
rescue of Stanley, or if they shall be sent
in insufficient force to accomplish that
object, it is predicted that with the re-
sultant downfall of the present govern
ment, England will not witness another
Tory ministry in many years. The
Egyptian bondholders can never direct
another Soudan campaign.
AN AFRICAN EXPLORERS OPINION.
LONDON, Dec. FS.-Mr. Thomson, the
African explorer, writes that it is only too
probable that the Mahdi has captured
Emin Bey. He expresses unhesitatingly
the conviction that Stanley never reached
Emin, but was annihilated with his whole
party in the region to the west of the AL
bert Nyanza. In this region, he says,
there are dense forests and swamps, and
4 L.. III
had to march in single file and
to fight TO. their daily food. The
absence of news, he says, is quite
natural, because there are no slave or
trade routes by which an Arab merchant
could carry news. The disaster was
wholly due to the selection of the Congo
route. Why that route was selected still
requires an explanation.
Mr.. Troup, the transport officer of the
Stanley expedition, writes that there was
not a single Snider rifle nor any ammuni-
ton for that kind of a rifle in the whole
caravan when it left Vambuga.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSE
BILE.
LONDON, Dec. 1S.-The Foreign Office
has made public dispatches bearing dates
from September 8, 1886, to May 5, 1887,
giving detailed history of the Stanley re-
lief expedition. From these documents
positive proof is derived that the Govern
ment of England, from the very first, held
no communication with Stanley direct,
and never officially recognized the expe-
dition. 1t is further shown that of the
10000 which Egypt promised to contrib
ute to the expenses of the expedition the
received only fS.40O, and this
sum was given only on condition that the
amount would be refunded ont of the pro-
ceeds of the sale of ivory which Emin was
known or supposed to have. 1t is note
worthy that the most pessimistic note re-
ceived by the committee from Stanley is |
dated the end of July, 1887, and was writ |
ten at Wadelai.