“10th January.—Our fate it seems is soon to be decided. We hear that four hundred armed men from Bahr-el-Ghazal have joined the rebels and that one thousand five hundred more are on the way. Only a miracle can save us. I send at once as many as possible of my people to the south, for the route to Mtesa is still in existence. If I escape I will follow with my soldiers. But I can hardly expect to escape. It is shameful of our Government to have abandoned us.
“12th January.—Dr. Junker goes in the meantime to Anfinas. He takes with him all my letters. If I see him again, as I hope I may, for I have some belief in my good star, I will write more. May God preserve you.”
There Emin remained with his body of Egyptian troops throughout all the disturbance in that region—the appearance of El Mahdi and his success in wresting some of the adjoining Soudanese provinces from the Egyptians; Arabi Pasha’s insurrection in Egypt and the subsequent Mahdist manœuvers. Emin and his small force were surrounded by hostile tribes. He was heard from but seldom, and at last all communication ceased. The position in which Emin found himself after Gordon’s death excited the sympathy of the whole world. He was the Governor of a province which he had blessed with many of the arts of civilization, but was without sufficient force to resist the encroachments of the enemy. He fought the slave trade and the slave dealers with something like the passion of fanaticism. He was hemmed in by hordes of cut-throats, and every effort to save himself from the impending fate seemed futile. It was feared he had fallen, like Gordon.
In reviewing the career of this remarkable man, who has been so skillfully extricated by Stanley and his expedition, the New York Tribune has recently said, editorially:
“At his remote post of duty, this modest scientist has done more for the abolition of African slavery than any other man now living, if we except only his gallant deliverer. He gave civilization to an empire and the blessings of freedom to teeming millions. Throughout a territory larger than all our New England States he destroyed the slave trade, established government, and founded schools, posts and industries of varied kinds. His administration was more than self-supporting, and even after the betrayal of Khartoum and his isolation from the rest of the world, he was prepared to hold his own, if only he could have some trifling aid from Europe. That aid he did not get. There seemed to be neither money nor votes in helping him, so the statesmen of Europe went by on the other side. He conquered savagery, defied pestilence, and triumphed over every foe the wilderness could send against him. The one enemy he could not subdue was the selfish poltroonery of Europe. To that he has at last yielded. He has marched out in safety with honor upon his banners. He has left behind him the dismalest wreck in modern history to be a reproach to the Powers that betrayed him. That the desert was made to blossom like the rose, is Emin’s glory; that it now relapses into a worse desert than before, is Europe’s disgrace.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE EMIN BEY RELIEF EXPEDITION.
Public Opinion in England — A Relief Committee Organized — Subscription of Funds to Defray Expenses of an Expedition — Henry M. Stanley called to England by Cable — Accepts Command of the Relief Expedition — Stanley’s Opinion as to the Character of the Expedition and the best Route — Reaches Zanzibar — Meets Tippu-Tib — Supplied with 600 Carriers — Consents to Accompany Stanley — Sails for the Mouth of the Congo, February 25th — Reaches the Aruwimi in June — Leaves a Rearguard at Yambuya — Advance towards Albert Nyanza along the Valley of the Aruwimi — Startling Rumors — Stanley and Emin Reported to be in the Hands of the Arabs — A Letter in Proof Received from a Mahdist Officer in the Soudan — News of Disasters on the Congo — Murder of Dr. Barttelot — Death of Mr. Jamieson — The Gloomy News Regarding Stanley’s Fate — The Opinion of Thomson, the African Traveller — News of Stanley’s Arrival at Emin’s Capital received December, 1888 — First News from Stanley Himself, April 3d, 1889 — Full Account of his March, and the Terrible Experiences Suffered from Yambuya to the Albert Nyanza.
The betrayal of Gordon at Khartoum by the British Government, and the consequent sad plight it placed Emin Pasha in, so thoroughly exasperated public opinion in England that immediate steps were taken to form a relief committee, and to raise the necessary funds to defray the expenses of fitting-out a relief expedition, Sir William Mackinnon alone subscribing $100,000. To this the English Government grudgingly added a small appropriation from the Egyptian treasury.