Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-08-01
HENRY N. STANLEY

VSSSSAAO - Ss0sss we uSSsv06
Stanley has realized at last the ambition
Of his period Of cakes and ale, He has
been returned 70 parliament from North
Lambeth.
He has had his eye On parliament ever
since his marriage with Miss Dorothy Ten
nant. That carried him into the most pow
erful 'set" in England-the brilliant, Gym
ical, but most practical group of which Bal
four is exemplar. His sister in law, the
heroine of the .Dodo" book, is the wife Of
Herbert Asquith, the retiring liberal home
secretary so the Tenant family is repre-.
sented among victors as well as among van.
pushed. For of course Stanley is conser-
~vative. That is one advantage of consistent
American training, that it inspires the true
patriot with the most profound respect for
old families of England. We have con-
tributed ere this to the conservative side Of
the house Of Louis Jennings,
after a long career as editor Of the New
York Times, drifted to England and suf-
fered the inevitable change. The most de-
termined, furious, laxative tory-more tory
than the Howards or the Pagets-in the
house of commons is that product of Brook
lyn civilization. Sir Ellis Ashmead. Bartlett,
brother of the young man whom Lady
Burdett- Coutts took to her venerable bosom
not. however, after the generous manner
of the lady in ''Gii Bias" His voice
Sir Ellis Brooklyn VOICES for colonial
peral government, for war with Russia at
Cabul, with France on the Congo. with
anybody anywhere who disputes or intends
to dispute the sentiment that a Briton never,
never, never is a slave. James O'Kelley is
the exception in the roster Of expatrated
Americans in English politics. O'Kelley,
like Stanley. was newspaper writer, ex-
plorer, daredevil adventure in Africa. He
is not a tory. But then he has to spend
part of the year in Ireland.
Stanley goes in as a tory of the tories to
uphold those traditions which Englishmen
(who profit by them) hold dear. He was
beaten at North Lambeth in 1899, beaten
badly, 90. with ballots-and eggs. But
hts mind was made up that he should sit in
parliament. His eye was fixed on West
Minister, and it is not an eye to be denied
light gray, bold, fierce, piercing. Captain
Arson has such an eye-only his is gentler.
Stanley would have made a good baseball
player if he could agree with the umpire.
The cause Of his unpoplarity is not hard
to guess. English principles of fair play
still survive. They manifested themselves
IN the treatment of the Cornell crew at Hen
ley. Staniey's publication against Major
Barttelot and his white companions on the
excursion into darkest Africa excited a
storm of hatred for the adventurer among
the people of England. What if a cannibal
feast had been ordered as a contribution to
the photograph album of an English coun-
try house9 What If lust and murder, pill
lage and rapine attended the course Of this
pioneer of English civilization? De mortuis
Anglorium nil nisi bonum, and Stanley was
put in the pillory not Tor his own sins
though he had enough of them-but for the
sins of his enemies.
But it must be admitted that his unpopu-
larity is not restricted by geographical lines.
His enemies are everywhere. Emln Pasha,
good man, who shared none Of Stanley's
lust for glory, but was philanthropist rather
than explorer, hated, distrusted and even
feared him. The companions of his youth
find no word of favor for him. He is not
admitted to the campfres of the veteran
CORRESPONDENTS. Of the company of whom
he led on his last expedition into the horrors
of Africa not over two were his friends after
six months of the sort of adventure that
binds the hearts of men in wedlock. 1t
may be some dark quality in the mans
nature which raises against him the hand of
every man with whom he comes in touch or
it may be that fierce, overbcaring, obstinate
70 the- point of bloodshed persistence that
shows in every line Of the bulky frame,
coarse, heavy neck, square jaw, and blunt
hands and appears again in the singular
daring of the eyes.
AT any rate, for whatever cause, Stanley
is widely disliked. That he has no reason
to be courteous to a world that has given
him no more than he has wrung from it, is
apparent. q He was a wait, a pauper's child,
bred in a poorhouse. He was christened
John Rowlands, but after coming to America
as 4 cabin boy at IS, he took the name Of
the merchant who adopted him. When he
was barely 40 he enlisted as a private in the
confederate army. He was a simple ad.
~venturer even that early day. He cared
nothing under which flag he fought. His
sword was like Dugald Dalgettys. VIII en-
taken prisoner he became a union man and
enlisted in the navy, where he rose to the
rank Of ensign,
Journalism. made feyerish by the ex-
PLOTS of the BENEFITS, attracted many
ardent souls just after the war, and Stan ey
became a newspaper wr;ter--or rather a
newspaper adventurer. Even 10 this day he
is not quite able to conquer the subtleties Of
the written language; but he had the force
of a catapult in his enterprises. In 1867 he
was marching across Kansas with Hancock
and Custer and interviewing "Wild Bill"
Hickok on his career. At the end of the
same year he started Tor Abyssinia with the
British army. Later he had a land in the
troubles ia Spain-still as a reporter. In
1870 he took the s'assignment"-envied by
every plodding journalist at home-that
brought him everlasting fame. He was sent
to find Livingstone. His accomplishments
of the mission wal as courageous rs the
journalistic motive that inspired it. But