Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
Mr. Stanley’s despatches to the “Herald” were sent through the London
bureau of that office. The noted telegram printed on the morning of July
2, 1872, announcing his arrival at Zanzibar and the discovery of
Livingstone, created a profound sensation. Followed by other cablegrams
giving reports of his journey towards Europe and of his reception at
Paris and elsewhere, the intelligence was received with almost as much
avidity as the news which came from day to day of the Franco-German war,
or that of the attempted revolution in Paris.
To some, however, the reports of Mr. Stanley’s great success were
incredible. There were those who did not believe he had seen
Livingstone, and who did believe that the story of the meeting--with, of
course, all the correspondence from Zanzibar, Unyanyembe, Ujiji, and
elsewhere--was but an adroitly-devised romance, after the fashion of
that of Ali Moosa, to cover up inglorious failure. It is needless now to
fully state the arguments upon which this incredulity was based.
Perhaps newspaper jealousy had something to do with it. Certainly it was
a matter of deep chagrin to many Englishmen that the British Government,
upon whose soil the sun never sets, should have been totally eclipsed by
the enterprise of private citizens of a rival nationality. Then there
were certain little errors--chiefly misprints and the excusable mistakes
of telegraphing long despatches great distances--which were claimed by
the doubting as showing that the so-called great Special Search
Expedition of the “Herald” was but a magnificent hoax, after all.
Moreover, the universal interest manifested in the subject gave a
splendid opportunity to adventurers, both male and female, to ventilate
themselves and become public characters. Hence, those who had known Mr.
Stanley as a native of Wales, and not of Missouri, or of this, that, or
the other country; who knew that he had not been a correspondent as had
been generally stated; and, in fine, who knew that many assertions in
regard to him were untrue--these adventurers became even more numerous
than the celebrated cow of the crumpled horn which originated the
terrible conflagration of Chicago, and then, with miraculous
self-multiplication, surpassed in number the cattle of a thousand hills,
and, mournfully ruminating over her sad mishap in kicking over the
kerosene lamp, became the observed of all observers in all Christian
lands, and at the same instant of astronomical and clock time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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