REV. MR. LADD’S RETURN FROM AFRICA.
Our readers, who have followed Mr. Ladd’s journey in Africa, as given in his interesting journal, will be glad to know of his safe return and of his excellent and uninterrupted health throughout the entire trip, which extended about 2,500 miles up the Nile to the mouth of the Sobat, which is within the territory designated by Mr. Arthington for the proposed mission.
Persons who have kept themselves informed through the public press of the condition of things in the Upper Nile region will be prepared for Mr. Ladd’s somewhat discouraging report of the state of the country. The Arab leader and prophet, Achmet, of whose successful rebellion the papers have from time to time given brief intimations, Mr. Ladd found to be dominating completely a portion of the very region in which the mission is to be located, and it was by Divine interposition that Mr. Ladd was enabled to explore so much of the territory and return safely. Intelligence of a startling character received at this date (July 8), shows that Achmet has achieved another victory over the Egyptian troops, more decisive than any heretofore won, involving the slaughter of 3,000 of the Egyptian forces, which must for the present, at least, annihilate the authority of the government in that whole region, while the condition of Egypt itself, likely to become the theatre of a terrible war, gives little promise that its authority can be speedily re-established in the remote provinces of the Soudan. A delay, therefore, is inevitable in our movements in Eastern Africa.
In the meantime, as was originally planned, Mr. Ladd is endeavoring to marshal a new recruit of colored missionaries for the Mendi mission, and expects to accompany them thither at the close of the present wet season.