Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-02-21
THE SAVAGE AFRICAN
Stanley on the Partitioning Of the
Dark Continent.
GREAT EUROPEAN SCRAMBLE
He Justifies the Lust for Territory in
That Region as Necessary and
Inevitable.

Henry M. Stanley, M. p, has written
an article entitled 1.-THE Story of the
Development of Africa" which appears
in the February Century. Recent events
in the Dark Continent give this par
tieular timeliness and Importance. Con-
corning the partitioning of the CONT
nent, Mr.. Stanley says:
Until the Berlin conference no Eur
opean nation appeared to take any spe-
cial interest in the fate of the Dark Con-
tinent; but the three months sitting un-
der the auspices of Bismarck was
splendid school for Europe. The daily
kilograms and editorial comments on
the sayings and doings of many cele-
brities regarding river basins and de-
limitations, and the products and pos
sibilities of Africa, were just what was
wanted to instruct and start into energy
the slumbering ambitions of nations as
we'll as of individuals. What King
Leopold, De Brazza, and the writer had
done, others could do; and the scramble
for Africa was the consequence, with all
its jealousies, spites, newspaper banter,
and menace. Thoughts of the period
from 1885 to 1890 remind me of the way
my black followers used to rush with
cleaning knives for slaughtered game
during our travels.
Foremost among the countries whose
lust for territory was awakened by the
Berlin conference were Germany,
France, and Italy. I do not blame them
at all; on the contrary, think 1t admir-
| able, necessary, and inevitable. The
| starving white man must be satisfied,
or he will become ugly. Before these
| nations was revealed a huge continent
with many millions of square miles un-
| developed. In possession were several
| millions of black men, divided into min
ute fragments of tribes, each of which
| was insulated on its ten-square mile
plot, upholding with tooth, spear, and
| arrow, it's singular African Monroe doc
trine-Ugogo for the Wagogo, Uganda
for the Waganda, Uguhha for the Wa
guhha, Unyora for the Wanyoro, and
so on throughout all the thousands of
ten-square-mile sections of Equatorial
Africa. And a fine mess these tribal
fragments had made of themselves and
their lands after some so centuries or
whereabouts of occupation Murder in
every conceivable shape rioted through
out their territories. Naked and bestial
they had lived from prehistoric time.
1t was death to any unarmed stranger
| to come among them, and death to any
| member of their communities who show
| ed the least sign of capacity or genius.
| From the Hottentot to the Shilluk, the
| Nasal to the Bakongo. they were all
| alike; and so long as they excluded in
fluences they would continue to deterio-
rate morally and physically until they
would become as degraded as the Pyg-
mics and the Bushmen.
Therefore it was not harm, but the
| highest good, that was coming to the
| savage African by the advent of civiliz-
| ing white men among them. He was TO
be protected from the black haired,
yellow faced Arab, who was incapable
of pity. He would be saved from him
self, than whom there was nothing more
deadly. He was to be taught how to be
| human, and how in time he would be-
come the equal of the white. Talk about
the emancipation of the American
negroes and the Russian serfs! They
were mere commonplace compared to
the emancipation of Africa from herself
that dates from 1885.
England was the last European power
to engage in the rush for African ter
ritory. Her effort for some years after
the Berlin conference had been confined
to reserving spheres of influence, rather
than to violate annexation, and tt
moderating the passion for African
land manifested by Germany, Francs
and Italy.
If any power had the moral right t.
interfere with this fierce lust for an
nexation, it must be admitted that, af
ter policing the African coasts for owe
! half a century, exploring the interior
and establishing Christian missions II
East Africa, Nyassa Land, and Uganda
England was fairly entitled to it. Be
tween 1886 and 1890 Englishmen begal
to stir, and succeeded in forming tn
famous South African Company, tn
African Lakes Company, and the 1. 3
? E. A. Company. The Royal Negro Com
pany had obtained a charter in 1885,
and in October, 1889, somewhat SINH
lar one was granted to the South Afri
can, with administrative power owe
, ESQ, 900 square miles. In 1891 1t absorbe
the African Lakes Company, and thu
British Central Africa, with 10000
square miles, was formed To the Brit
ish East African Company was give
authority over 700 600 SQUARE miles