Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-06
4 TEMPTING SNARE
Which Caught Many of England's
Shrewdest Men of Business,
A SMASH-UP OF THE SLAVE TRADE
offered as Bait to Get Investments in an
African Scheme.
AN IMPERIAL SUBSIDY NOW WANTED
rBY CABLE TO THE DISPATCH,

rBY CABLE TO THE pIsPArcn.l
LONDON, March 5-[Copyright] ]-Th,
British East Africa Company was formed
about six years ago by William Mackinnon
George Mackenzie and some other hard
headed Scotchmen of business who believed
they could establish in Africa an empire a.
great as that which the famous East India
Company carved out of Hindoostan, and a:
profitable to the founders. Other men o.
business soon Joined, among them w. Bur
dett Coutts, M. p, the young man who
married the old Baroness; Edward DAVIS, 6
big ship owner In Indian and African
trades; Sir John Puleston, NJ. P, an ex.
ceptionally shrewd Welshman, and j. f.
Hutton, great Manchester merchant.
Then it was trumpeted forth to the world
that the company intended to smash up the
slave trade, and that bait tempted several
phllanthropists to put money into the busi-
ness. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, for in
stance, took 10000 worth of stock and
Lord Kinnairo e5, 900 worth.
How the Stock Was Taken.
Finally list of SO founders" was made,
and they subscribed between them about
half of the capital, which at present amounts
to e526, 140, in shares of $50, with e12 paid
up. The other half was subscribed by $50
oil the general public, in whose behalf no
claim to disinterested philanthropy has ever
been put forward.
The Mackinnon family, it should be
stated, hold between them over ESQ, GOO
worth of founders" shares, which, il the
company should succeed as commercial
speculation, would be worth millions, and
among the other leading and influential
stockholders are the Marquis of Lorne, the
Queens son-in-law, Lord Brassey, Sir
Charles Tenant, General Sir Donald
Stewart, Major General Sir Francis De-
winton and Sir John Kirk, formerly British
Consul General at Zanzibar
The company from the first enjoyed Gov
eminent favor, thanks to which it obtained
q royal charter and negotiated treaty with
the Sultan of Zanzibar, who, in consdera-
tion of an annual subsidy of $50 600, sur
rendered his sovereign rights on the main
land.
Master Scheme Conceived.
Money was next spent in harbor works
and piers at the coast stations, after which
the company persuaded some phiianthro-
pists to subscribe money for a steamer to
trade on Lake Victoria, of course on the os-
tensible ground that 1t was necessary in Or
der to fight the slave traders But some
time previously Mackinnon, who has since
been made Baronet. conceived the master
scheme of sending Stanley to ''rescue"
Emin Pasha
1t is not now denied by any responsible
or disinterested person that Stanley's expe-
dition was a commercial speculation in the
interest of the British East African Com
pany. Emin's ivory was to have paid ex-
penses and yielded large profit in addi-
-, p lax
handed over to the company. Stanley has
admitted that he carried to Emin tempt
ing offer to enter the company's service.
The expedition turned out a failure, COM
mercially and in other respects, but it gave
Macklnnon reputation tor philanthropy
and the baronetcy before mentioned, and he
is now trading upon both. He succeeded
in persuading the Government that rail-
way from the coast to Victoria Nyanza was
necessary to suppress the slave trade and to
support the Protestant missions in Uganda
An Imperial Subsidy Demanded.
They demanded an imperial subsidy for
the railway On pain of Withdrawing from
Uganda, in which savage country, by the
way, the agent, Captain Lugard, has for
two years past been fighting and killing the
natives for the love of God and the 'pro-
lection OF the missionaries"
The Government promised the subsidy
should the construction of the railway be
shown to be practicable, and last session
asked Parliament to vote money for pre-
liminary survey. The demand was with
drawn in face of the vehement opposition
of the Liberals, but on Thursday the Gov
eminent formally asked the House of Com
mons TO vote 600, 900, and the Ministers in
timated that they meant to stand or fall by
the proposal. The Liberals, headed by Mr..
Gladstone, endeavored to compel the Gov
eminent to give further information, and
the debate, which occupied two sittings of
the House, was the Hveliest that has taken
place this session. Mr.. Gladstone, Sir
William Harcourt and other Liberals urged
with great force that the British Govern
ment would be made partner of a private
corporation and would commit
itself to all sorts of serious responsibilities
by granting the money, while the Tories re-
lied upon the slave trade argument, and
upon obligations assumed Herewith at the
late Brussels conference by England and
other countries
Peculiar Voting on the Bill.
The money was finally voted by the biggest
majority (9S) that the Government has had
for several years, but the division was not
strictly party ore. Mr.. Gladstone aid Sir
William Harcourt, to everybody's surprise,
abstained from voting, after having placed
on record their disavowal of the response
bility, which may prove useful some day.
A large number of Liberals, afraid of mis-
sionary influence which is very strong in
many constituencies, took no part in the di-
vision, and some voted in favor of the
motion.
The effect of all this bother is that the
British Government stands committed to
the policy in Africa which will almost GER
tainly end in the annexation of vast terri
tories The railway from Mombasa to the
Victoria Nyanza, which will cost over e.
900, 600, will have to be built at England's
cost, or by means of q British Government
guarantee. 1t will pass through countries
admittedly fercely hostile to the English,
and consequently working parties will have
to be protected. For many years, too,
mobile force will have to be maintained to
guard most of the line and prevent the ma
lives from pulling it up.
Bearing in mind the history of the philan-
thropic East Africa Company, one may con-
fdently predict that long before the railway
shall have been completed it will be found
necessary sin the interest of civilization"
N send Rritis froonS tn Fast trica