New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-07
FNJN THE FAITHFUL.

The latest reports concerning Emln facna
condition fortuna, ely indicate that his skull was
NOT fractured by his fall on Thursday, and that
his chance of recovery is better than was
tboupbt at first. The mishaps which befel
him on the very day Of his ARRIVAL at baga-
moyo recalls wildly to mind the accident which
mt an end to the days of another famous
African explorer, Captain Spoke. The latter,
after spendng in Central Africa many years,
during the course of which he discovered the
Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tanganylka' hnally
came home to England to die at Bath from inc
effects of gun accident while out rabblt-shoot-
inc. Like Emn he passed safely through those
terrible dangers which prevail IN the DARK Con-
tinent only to be stricken down on his return
to civilization by an ordinary, commonplace
mishap. primarily due to careleSsnesS. In the
case of the Pacha, however the carelessnesS
seems to have been rather that OF the persons
about him than Of his own. For his eyes had
suffered so greatly from the effects OF the hard
ships which he had undergone that he had al
most lost his sight. Writing from Ussamblro
on the Victoria Nyanza to Professor Schwein-
furth on August % last, he said: hope in
a few days to write to you more fully although
| am half blind" and in concluding his letter
he once more reiterated: 81 will try to write
again-but my eyes !"
Should the apprehensions as > the fatal issue
Of last Thu sday'S accident At Bagamoyo be
realized. the world would lose in Emin Pacha
one of the most romantic figures OF the century
"a man whose almost medieval heroism is only
to be eQualed by that Of his friend and chief
tain who fell at Khartoum. Like Gordon, he
maintained his post against the onslaught OF
the sayages-a small iset Of civilization and
humanity in the midst of an ocean Of the most
cruel and darkest balbarism. Like Gordon,
too, he declined to abandon his station or to
avail himself of the opportunities of escape
that were offered to him. "TheSe people nave
trusted in me. and | cannot desert them" he
exclaimed to Stanley unconsciouSly using the
very identical words which are found written
in Goldons diary on the date on which that
Inflated General dispatched his two steamers
down tho Nile to meet the advancing British
forces at Matammeh in January, 1885.
1t was only when Emin's people themselves
Ieyolted against him that he finally yielded
reluctant consent to permit himself and the
handful of followers who had remained true to
him to be rescued by Stanley. Indeed, the lat
tcr's chief difficulty seems to have consisted, not
in rescuing the Pacha but in perSu1ding him
to allow himself to be rescued. 1t is impossible
to conceive anything more intensely dramatic
than this almost acrimonious discussion between
the great explorer who had thrice crossed the
most deadly and perilous portions of the African
Continent for the express purpose Of saving
Emin, on the one hand, and on the other the
Ill
fidelity toward his rebelious people, and
anxious only to carry out the work intruSted to
him by Gordon, or die in the attempt, leaving
his bones to bleach in the great African waste.
Gordon had said to him: " | appoint you for
civilizations and PROGRESSES sake" and Emin
regarded his Office and his duties in the light
Of a sacred obligation. 81 remain here, the
last of GordonS lieutenants," he writes. at
is my bounden duty to follow up the road he
showed us. | shall remain here and hold to-
gether as long as possible the remnants of our
work of the last ten years. I can but fall on
the field where my work has been accom-
plishcd" No man ever more thoroughly de-
served to bear the name az " Emin," which is
the Arabic equivalent of Faithful"
At length, betrayed, heartbroken and almost
blind, he gathered together the few of his
former subjects who had remained loyal to
him. and yielded to the pressing entreaties of
Stanley. One can imagine the feelings Of utter
dependency and misery with which he turned
his back TO the scene Of his glorious efforts in
the cause of humanity. To no one can the
prospects of a return to comfort and civilization
have appeared more unwelcOme than to Emin.
And strangely enough, on the very first day of
his reaching civilization once more in the shape
Of German seaport on the Zanzibar coast, he
was overaken by an ACCIDENT which threatens
to end abruptly his well-spent days.