The morning call., 1890-11-08
TIE FATE OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

The squabbles between Stanley and his
officers will have the effect of attracting
crowds to hear the explorer when he begins
his lectures. There is nothing in the con-
troversy over which the public need get eX-
cited. The enterprise in which Stanley
engaged was calculated TO irTitate every one
who took part in it. He undertook to cross
$50 miles Of forest so dense that the sunlight
seldom reached the ground and where the
underbruSh was so thick that a mile was
often a coed days march. He and his CON-
panions endured untold miseries from hun
ger, disease and native attacks. bis orders
to his subordinates were rarely carried out;
sometimes from the imposslbility OF comply
ing with them, but oftener from the sullen
tOrpOr which priyatiOn and disappointment
engender. When, at last, he reached the
object Of his expedition, he met man whose
life hung by thread, and yet WHO in that
supreme moment was more concerned about
catching rare beetles and collecting rare
plants than upon securing his own safety,
and who had actually to be cOerced into sub
hitting to rescue. 1t is but natural that
such an expedition should leave bad taste
in the mouth of every one engaged in it.
Americans who go to hear the famous
eXplorer-he should be here by Christmas
time-will be less interested in the details OF
Major Barttelot's adventures than in Stan
ley's ideas touching the immediate future OF
Equatorial Africa. Egypt appears to have
loosed her hold of the Soudan. No other
nation evinees a disposition to take her
place. North Of the cataracts Of the Nile
England holds the country with firm grasp.
On the Zanzibar coast Germany is preparing
to entreuch with 4 view of permanent occu-
pancy. West of the Lybian Desert France
has a secure footEold. On the west coast of
the Red Sea Italy is planning colonies which
will PROBABLY hold their own. y few de-
grees south of the equator Congo State is
Slowly but surely establishing dominion
over the valley of the Congo and its affluents.
But that large and fertile country which
spreads as far north as the Nile CataractS
and as far south as the great Nyanzas, and
which includes the Upper Nile and the
populous regions of Upyoro and Uganda, is
in the hands of natives who are savage and of
A Tab slave-tTaders who are destitute of
the instincts Of humanity as almost TO range
with the bru es. If these occupants evinced
the smallest capacity Tor improvement, or
the least indication of ability to turn to ac-
count the resources of their country, they
might safely be left to work out their own
destiny without foreign interference But
they seem to be as baI barOus as they were
in tie days W hen the Shepherd Kings made
war upon The PhaIoahs of Egypt. They
starVe in a country whose fertility is uneX-
ampled. They go naked III regions where
cotton ana fax grow wild. They fight with
spears and poisoned arrows. Their normal
condition is one of interDecine war; their
principal products are the spoils OF the
chase. They have no respect for truth or
honor, or the rights of property. They are
on PAR with those prehistoric sayages who
hunted the mammoth in the swamps OF
Missouri, and disi uted holes in the ground
with the bear of the Sierras.
In these days, when men in Christian
countries are searching for piece of land
which they can call their own, it is impos-
sibe that the paradise which i, called Equa-
lorial Africa can long be left in such un-
worthy hands as these. Some nation is
sure to stretch cut long arm to seize it.
We shall expect Mr.. Stanley to tell US
which of the enteIprising nations of the
would this is likely to be. Tie objective
point of an invader can lie reached by sew
eral reads. khartoUm is easily accessible
by the Nile, on the lines followed by Lord
Wolseley in 1854. A sufficient force, under
competent leaders, could strike the river
from Suakim. y small army, following
Stanley's line of march from the Aruwimi,
would meet with 10 difficulty in reaching
the great lakes. Nor would there DE any
absolute impossbility in moving we'll
appointed column from Bagamoyo, oppo-
site Zanzibar, to Victoria Nyanza. Once in
Equatorial Africa, Stanley says, in his new
book, that body Of trained troops 5000
strong would hold its own against all tile
forces which King Mwanga or any one else
could bring against it. From What nation
shall the conquering army hail?