The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-06-22
AFRICA AS FARMLAND.
The Text ola Recent Disc"ss'o" w WI
Henry NJ. STANLEY.

ofa Recent Discussion by Mr.
Henry NJ. STANLEY
sis there ANYTHING in. African was 'ne
tex, Of Mr.. stanleys speech 10 MS h''cI'-
can entertainers. Mr.. Stanley meant '"e
question I'm a city sense. lie has eNchaigeu
| for a time the role of hero Tor tne ho' icsS
useful one of glorified Daginan; me hiagnil-
oauent phrase for the serNlceaoie II a'cInl'.
| ~ o',lon IL ..ambassadors OF commerce.
annlied 10 MIR. stanley, the phrase loses It's
mafniloouence and does but state the iaci.
II" H. indeed the ambassador Of commerce
sccrodited TO the Dark Continent; the en-
WOW of civilization holding credentials from
the continent of Europe. We wish nm
overv success We propose 10 consider the
same question in rather different sense, IN
the sense of the old saying which has been
current since the days of the Roman En-
pire. always something new from
| hfrlcaw Civilization has much TO expect
| from the Dark Continent in the substantial
sense: in the imaginative field, in the fresh
ening and broadening influence Of strange
/ ideas upon the mind, il has reaped already,
and is reaping daily a rich harvest.
we are accustomed to hear panegyrics on
the "spaciOus days Of great Elizabeth the
Grand old DAYS OF discovery, when the eyes
/ of men strained towards an ampler horizon
of national advancement, when nothing
seemed too sublime or too dihcult; When
credO quia impossible was guiding rule OF
| life. Not an English captain walked the
deck but fanciod himself a Columbus or a
Raleigh: and every skipper who set sail for
the Western or the Southern seas hoped 10
come upon some Atlantis or EldOradO of
wealth and wonders such as the Old World
! had not vet dreamed Of Things are differ
ent now. when almost every quarter Of this
/ "lukewarm bullet has been mapped out
and marked down like the plan Of an estate.
| A huge vista of possibility has been quite
cut of from the adventurous eye. IL is Il
very sensible loss. In brOadclOth world
Of test-tubes and 3 per cents there is great
need Of a Whit now and then from that
buckram country where other gifts Of a
man are in request besides the crudltlOn Of
the classroom and adrOitncss of the ledger.
II would be Of no little concern if any in
nOcent source were lost Of those emotions Of
pity and terror which are said TO purify the
mind. Here IL is that we find the services
Of Africa 10 the popular Imagination. For
years il has been supplying salt and SAVIOR
10 the ideas of the everyday man in the ON
nibus. and that through the easy humdrum
channels of the newspapers and the maya
zines. In Africa there are still great tracts,
though something cribbcd and confined
since swift first wrote it, where 'geogra-
pliers on trackicss downs place elephants
instead Of towns" In Africa, 1.-THE last
continent" there is still a loOthold for that
unknown which is always the magnificent.
If the spirit of the crusaders in Palestine,
of the DISCOVERIES Of westward liO!'and Of
the priyateers that secured the Spanish
main was but the spirit Of knight crrantry.
! in another shape. what is the spirit which
made two hemispberes hang day by day on
| the moving narratives of those who went 90
rescue Livingstone. Gordon, Emin? How can
We say that the world is too old for fairy tales
Of fairy princes who cut their way through
.briarwOods7 TO free beleaguered maidens,
when sOesscntial an element OF faryland re-
mains intact a. the huge, dim forest through
which Mr.. Stanley hacked his way. and of
/ which Mr.. du Chaiilu tells us again in the
I new FOrtnigh1ly? Science laughs, II Is
true, at the chiliIras dire Of the old roman
I cist. the impossible dragons with which
from Pcrseus 10 Il. George. heroes Of legend
have grapplcd on their path. But science
/ cannot laugh Though at first -Orely fam tOl
| at the roaring gOrilas Of the equatorial for
est, the insects rs much larger than ours
than were the mice on which CULVER drew
| his hanger in BrObdiDgnag, the dreadful
ants which flew upon man and beast by
ambush and sortic, the inhuman little
/ gnOmcs with their magic NcnOms that Stay
at a touch, the snOw-capped mountains OF
the Moon. and all the other monsters tran
scending our vegetable and animal expert
ence.
What can we ask more than this in the
way of "antres vast, and deserts idle, rough
quarries. rocks, and hills. whose heads touch
heaven the AnthrOpopha". and
men, whose heads do grow beneath their
shOuIdersT' Docs not Stanley tell Us of I'M
known despots holding mighty sway over
alien civilizations Prester Johns OfCeniral
Africa: Is there not room, on the shores Of
/ these Occan-lakcs. fO- ''magic easements
opening on the foam of pcrilOus seas in fairy
lands iorlorni" Without going 10 Mash0na-
! land for the real King SOlOmOn's Mines must
not Mr.. Rider IIaggard confess that the h0r-
r0rs Of those who put pots on the heads Of
strangers" are matched 10y the fortunes Of
| Dab0mey that the French Governor makes
us hlanch at il i'm tO-day'- papers? Some
! body'has said that the doom Of triumphant
| democracy is universal mcdiOcriiy. II may
be that the doom Of triumphant civilization
Will he dizziness. In that case the future
Parliament 90 Man will perhaps vote 10
keep a large demcsue Of Africa rs a wild
park and forest plcasance. like the hunting
ground of William Rufus.-Pall-Mall Ga
| Zette.