Emin Pasha

“ We dare not treat these features of a trustful, loving nature like that of Emin Pasha with an insolent levity. He is a man, as I have said, eminently lovable, and were it only for the pleasure we have oftentimes received in his society, he deserves that what may be said of him shall be delivered with charity at least. For the high though impossible hopes entertained by him, and for the strenuous industry with which he endeavoured to{238} realize them, he deserves the greatest honour and respect. ”

“ The Pasha did so, and after a second’s hesitation, during which it was clear that she was measuring the strength of two wills, she walked out, taking the sweet fragrance and loveliness of her presence with her.
“After her, Mohammed! but if you strike her with even a feather, she shall become as a stranger to you until you reach Cairo. Let her scold on, man, even until she faints with weariness. Does a man like you fear wind? Be considerate with her for three or four days. She will come round, never fear.” ”

“ In the instance of Emin Pasha, the newspapers, inspired by travellers who were supposed to know him, described a hero, a second Gordon, a tall, military-looking figure, austere in manners, an amateur in many sciences, who, despite the universal misfortune hovering over a large part of North-Central Africa, maintained evenness of mind, tranquillity of soul, and governed men and things so well that he was able to keep the Mahdi and his furious hordes at bay ”

“ Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer, and a gallant fellow, deserving of a strong effort of relief; but I decline to believe, and I have not been able to gather from any one in England an impression that his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him, would overbalance the lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation of immense tracts of country which an expedition strictly military would naturally cause. ”

“ The retort which we might have given to him was crushed under a silent fuming, for he was still the Pasha! We might have said, “Aye; but, Pasha, you know, you find more interest in insects than in men. You are interested in the anatomy of a man, we in the soul. You know something of his skull, but we can feel the pulse, and we are certain that your faith in these men is misplaced, and that in the excess of this faith lies folly.” ”

“ On the ninth of March, 1892, Emin left the camp, the scene of so many sorrows, still trusting in his people, though he had been expressly warned of their evil designs. But no choice was left him. Alone, he could reach neither the east nor the west coast. Now at the mercy of a hostile Arab, he was traversing that great region which had been visited only by slave hunters, and the thought of his own weakness was a great pain to him. How many years he had unweariedly fought these cruel men-stealers, inspired at that time by the hope that Europe at last would put an end to the infamous business. ”

“ It is for my interest to keep their good-will.”
“It is the evil Abd Rahmann [one of Kabrega’s ministers] who is ruining your country with his pernicious influence.”
“I am the king. I command and do not need instruction from anyone as to my duties.”
“I well understand the truth hurts you, but you cannot prevent it being told to you. Emin Pasha wishes Biri to come. If you do not obey, he will feel compelled to resort to other means.” ”

“ I discover that there is a plot to break away completely from the Pasha’s authority. The number of those actually faithful to-day in camp is nine. I am told that they know the Pasha is so unsuspecting that they have but to kiss his hand, and plead forgiveness, and he becomes pliant to any schemer.
When a man becomes the jest of such rogues authority is weak indeed. ”

“ Whenever they ventured out of the woods to buy sweet potatoes or beans with glass beads, the negroes would drive them off with threats. King Kabrega’s direful orders followed them everywhere. Fortunately, however, they found a friend in this wilderness. A young Dinka woman, who had escaped the brutality of an Egyptian official by Emin Pasha’s interference, brought them by night a great dish of beans and the comforting assurance that Emin would be on the lake, January eleventh, with two steamers. ”

“ In a few months he is again in terrible straits for want of resources, and another call for £30,000 and a new expedition is made to be repeated year after year, at immense cost of life and immense sacrifices; for a land so distant from the sea, and surrounded by warlike peoples and other disadvantages, that were its soil of silver dust it would scarcely pay the transport. Yet if Emin Pasha had expressed his desire to embark upon such an enterprise, and been firm in his resolution, it was not for us to question the wisdom of his proceeding, but to lend the right hand and act with good-will. ”

“ While we may naturally regret that Emin Pasha did not possess that influence over his troops which would have commanded their perfect obedience, confidence and trust, and made them pliable to the laws and customs of civilization, and compelled them to respect natives as fellow-subjects, to be guardians of peace and protectors of property, without which there can be no civilization, many will think that as the Governor was unable to do this, that it is as well that events took the turn they did. ”

“ An empty title, that of Pasha, was all the reward for his exertions.
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They fancied in Egypt that all Emin needed to do was to pack up his effects and go by the coast to Zanzibar. It never occurred to them that the greatest obstacle in Emin’s way was his own Egyptian officers and soldiers. While at Khartoum he had repeatedly notified the government that it ought to change garrisons every two years, but it had never made any reply. The larger part of his people, who had never left the country, wanted to stay at home and live as their ancestors had lived. ”

“ It was Emin’s dearest wish to remain in German East Africa, where he had been so cordially treated, and devote his service to the fatherland. To one of his retiring nature the idea of exhibiting himself in Europe was not attractive. He certainly would have received ovations everywhere. He would have been wined and dined and honors would have been showered upon him. But what did he care for them? His nature revolted against making an exhibition of himself and of becoming a central figure in celebrations. He would rather remain in Africa with his savages and collect beetles and bird skins. ”

“ He has been very just, and good to them all, but the more he allows them to do as they please the further their hearts are from him. They say, ‘Oh, let him go on collecting beetles and birds. We don’t want him.’ The Pasha is very happy when he travels, and is able to collect things, and does not trouble himself about the men. ”

“ Not a person in the Equatorial Provinces believed the reports of previous defeat or the destruction of Hicks Pasha’s army. So the efforts of Emin to concentrate his entire strength in the Soudan were fruitless. His officers had no intention of leaving Lado. Unfortunately the despatch referring to evacuation was in French. Its genuineness was not only doubted, but it was regarded as an invention of Emin’s. With the intention of going southward and thence to the east coast, Emin sent messengers to Lado to prepare his people for their departure. ”

“ A year later the treacherous Kibonge was made to pay for his infamy, for he was taken prisoner by a European expedition and put to death.
Thus Emin, the quiet, genial man, who never did an injury to anyone, but conferred almost endless benefactions, died as he had lived—alone. The serious, strenuous work of his life brought him little gratitude. He lived to see the collapse of his great creation—the Equatorial Provinces. ”

“ Emin resumed his scientific pursuits and had it not been for his utter seclusion from the world and his lack of ammunition which had been nearly exhausted in subduing the savages in his vicinity, he and his people, who were absolutely loyal to him, might have been glad to remain to the end of their lives in this lost nook of the world. It was imperative, however, to secure the possibility of return, and on this account Casati was sent to King Kabrega at Unjoro, whom Emin had previously known and who had given him many proofs of his friendship. ”

“ Awash Effendi, major of the 2nd Battalion, suggested to the rebels, by a letter which I believe the Pasha still possesses, that he should be made the Mudir instead Emin, yet the Pasha never even reproached him. Azra Effendi declared the Khedive’s letter to be forgery, but never a rebuke passed the lips of the Pasha, and Azra was conducted to the sea safely.
The virtues and noble desires for which we must in{235} strict justice commend the man are as great and as creditable to him as those which we cannot attribute to him. ”

“ On the twenty-ninth of September Emin’s people held a conference with him. They notified him that the greatest dissatisfaction prevailed, that fifteen men had deserted, that the porters could not go any farther, and that they could find nothing to eat. Emin explained to them that they would soon come to a fertile country where there was an abundance of food. He would send out fifty of his most vigorous men, who would quickly return loaded with fruit and lead them safely to that blessed country. ”

“ On the twenty-sixth of April, 1890, Emin left the coast in company with Lieutenant Langheld and Dr. Stuhlmann, a young Hamburg scholar, who assisted the Pasha in his scientific investigations. A hundred soldiers and four hundred armed bearers were with the expedition, which was directing its course for the great Victoria Nyanza. The object of the expedition was kept absolutely secret and the preparations were made very quietly so that the English should not frustrate the German plans. ”

“ On the tenth of December, in the early morning, Stuhlmann departed with a sad heart. “I hope,” said Emin, “to see you again in a month. If I am overcome by force and cannot come, remember me to my child.” Only a handshake, a last wave of the hand, and they parted, never to meet again.
After Stuhlmann’s departure Emin’s health improved somewhat, but many of the sick died. The natives had fled because of the pest and thus supplies could not be procured and there was great suffering from hunger. Dissatisfaction, drunkenness, and disorder prevailed and Emin had to resort to the lash. ”

“ The efforts of the relief expedition had been wasted for a year, a very hell of torment had been endured, and hundreds of lives had been sacrificed, only at last to hasten the doom of Emin, for there is no doubt that the arrival of Stanley with his tattered, hungry people kindled the torch of revolt. The people of the Equatorial Provinces would not leave their country and exchange its comfort for poverty and wretchedness, and deaf to every protest of reason imprisoned their governor, who they believed would take them to strange countries, sell them as slaves, and forsake them. ”

“ Two years elapsed before definite news of Emin’s fate was received, and as nothing was heard of him all that time, it was generally believed that he had been killed by Arabs, and that the truth had been concealed. At last Baron Dhanis, at the head of a Belgian expedition, came to the vicinity of Kinene’s possessions. There by chance Emin’s trunk and diary were found in a cabin, and the discovery led to the arrest of Ismaili and three others, who had participated in the murder, and their confession. The murderers were condemned to be hanged. ”

“ Emin was now a Pasha in name and title only. Government was petrified, order was dead. Some men, in Emin’s place, would have become so disgusted, that after arming themselves with excuses for retreat by overt proofs of contempt of his authority, would have collected a few faithful men, or have retired to some small post like Mswa station at the remote South, reported frankly the events, and have applied for relief and instructions. ”

“ Stuhlmann refused to leave the Pasha, who was sick himself and in need of help, but Emin threw all his authority into the scales. As his superior he must be obeyed and he gave Stuhlmann a written order by which he could justify himself before the world and to his own conscience. So they divided men, weapons, munition, and supplies. Emin kept thirty-eight people, a part of them women and children, while Stuhlmann led one hundred and thirty-three to the coast and as a matter of fact saved them. ”

“ Goodnight, effendi. If you, effendi, are poor, it is well; no man will desire your life. Then you can be a slave, and have quiet nights. If you are rich, effendi, remember my brother. Good-night, effendi. May sacrifices be yours . . . and My Lady says good-night." Kingsley gave her a gold-piece and went down to Foulik Pasha.
As they steamed away Kingsley looked in vain to the house on the shore.
There was no face at window or door, no sign of life about the place.
"Well, my bold bey," said Donovan Pasha to him at last, "what do you think of Egypt now?"
"I'm not thinking of Egypt now." ”

“ The fact is, that these poor down-trodden Arabs had, unknowingly, adopted one of our own texts, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” Gordon Pasha was kind to them, and when he passed his word he would keep it, whether it clashed with the interests of the Khedive or not. He was the only man as a governor whom they trusted as children would their father, and who never forfeited their confidence. All his actions were summed up in the words justice, truth, and duty.
A wit’s a feather,
A chief’s a rod,
An honest man’s the noblest work of God. ”