MR JAMESON'S DIARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 32, 7 February 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR JAMESON'S DIARIES.

Stanley Accused of Violent Temper and Language.

The Cannibalism Mystery,

London, Boxing Day, 1890. Interest ia the Stanley rear - guard scandals flagged so completely during the past few weeks that but little attention seems to have been excited by the publica. tion of Mr Jameson's diaries. As a matter of fact (though entertaining enough from a general reader's point of view) this handsome volume, which is admirably illustrated by Mr Herbert Ward, throws no new light on the famous cannibal story and obher points at issue. The version given.of the former is the same Mrs Jameson sent to the " Times," and there are no additional facts whatever. At the same time, the deceased naturalist's diaries throw a new and rather unpleasant light on the breeding and character of Stanley, whose violent outbreaks of temper and tendency to listen to niggers tale-bearing caused constant irritation.

Major Barbbelob appears in these pages in a very different light from thab in which he is;i-presented by Mr Sbanleyand Mr Bonny. This is the entry in Jameson's ([diary on hearing of Major Barttelot's death : — " It is a fearfully sad piece of news to me ; for ever since we were lefb alone together at Yambuya camp, more than a year ago, there has been the closest friendship between us, never so much as a single quarrel. In all difficulties we went to one another for advice, and many a happy picture did we draw of the times at home together after all this unlucky expedition waa over. He was a straightforward, honest English gentleman ; his only fault, being a litblo too quicktempered. He loved plain, straightforward dealing far too much ever to get on well with tho Arabs. He hated their crafty, roundabout way of doing everything, and showed ib to them, and, of course, was disliked in turn. He wa3 far too good a man to loso his life in a miserable way like this, and God knows whab I shall do without him."

That the misfortunes of the rear-column were in great measure due to Mr Stanley's own mistakes is clear enough from Jameson's statements. Mr Stanley "took all the best men with him and left behind the very worst, and only one chief (Munichandi), a man who is utterly ivorthless, as tho men do not care one rush for whab he says. Had Mr Stanley tried, he could not have left a worse man as chief over tho class of men left behind. ... He has taken

ten of the best of the Soudanese and tho bugler, who would have been a great help in camp." Thus Mr Jameson wrote in his diary on the day before Mr Stanley left; but he knew by that time that any remonstrances with the chief of the expedition would be worse than useless.

Perhaps the mosb striking thing in these diaries is the light they throw on Mr Stanley as a comrade and a leader. Before reaching the Congo he informed Air Jameson that he would nob give him a man either to carry his collecting or his big riflo and its ammunition. "This," he very naturally complains," is a bright lookout for me, who came to collect and shoot meat for bhe expedition. Mr Stanley,"_he adds, " was presenb when I was speaking to De Winton aboub my big rifle, and advised me to take shells for it." Bub this was only a specimen of the way in which Mr Stanley treated his colleagues. •' What sickens one of the whole thing," writes Mr Jameson during the voyage up the Conge, "is the utter distrust which Mr Stanley plainly tells us he has of us all; and how long this state of things is going to lasb I cannob bell, bub ib is frighbfully disheartening. . . . The facb is, thi_ is the first time Stanley has ever had gentlemen to deal with on an expedition of this port." A few extracts will suffice to illustrabe his method of treating his subordinate.:— "One day, whilst talking to Dr. Parke, he told him that he had heard that two of the boxes of provisions had been opened by the white men—meaning the officers. Dr. Parke asked him who told him. He replied, some of his Zattzibaris. Parke then told him that the only bwo cases opened were oponed to get out arrowroot and milk for himself (Sbanley), wnen he had dysentery, and thab he could nob understand his listening to tales about the officers from the niggers. He had a row with Stairs in exactly the same way. Stairs' donkey broke his leg, and he had bo shoob ib. I saw the broken leg myself. When he reported the matter, Mr Stanley informed him that he had been told that the leg was not broken, and that he shot ib iv a rage : and when asked who told him, said, 'some of Tippu Tib's people.' Stairs then gave him a real good piece of his mind on the subject. Ib is impossible for anyone calling himself a gentleman, and an officer, to stand this sorb of bhing. . . .

" Mr Stanley here behaved to me in a way which was utberly undeserved, and which I did nob expecb from him. On passing bhe Lulu River he was abbacked wibh acube dysentery, and although he was apparency all righb again in the evening, he was weak, and had bo be carried from the river bo bhe camp. When bhere I went bo bim to reporb thab one of my men had deserted wibh his gun on the march, and ab bhe same time said I was very sorry to hear thab he had been so ill. He turned round very Eharply and said, "No wonder. I have only you to thank for ib. I have had nothing but tea for two days, whilst you have had meat for your breakfatb yesterday, and I consider you are entirely to blame for my illness." I may here state thab I had volunteered to take over the cooking and ration arrangements for a week, as no one else seemed inclined to look after them, and before we really could ofter get nothing to eat. The facts about his having had no meat for bwo days are the following :—The evening before leaving Congo da Lemba I senb a messenger to ask him if I should kill a goat or the four fowls which were in camp, as there was no meat. The message senb back by his own servant, William, was, " Save the goat and kill the four fowl?, if they will be enough for to-nighb." I killed the fowls, and they were quite enough, for some of the other officers had some in the morning. Jephson, Stairs, and 1 breakfasted next morning in my tent on a tin of sardines, the last but one thab I had, so bhab Mr Sbanley _ baunb bhab I had meab when he had none falls bo bhe ground."

Among the specimens of Mr Stanley's pleasant temper and refined manners, is the following letter which he wrote to Mr Jameson on learning of the break-up of the camp at Yambuya : — " I cannot make out why the Major, you, Troup, and Ward have been so demented— demented is the word. You understand English ; an English letter of instructions was given you. You said ib was intelligible —yeb for some reason or another you have not followed one paragraph. You paid £1,000 to go on this expedition ; you have voluntarily thrown your money away by leaving the expedition. Ward is not a whit better; be has acted all through, as I hear, more like an idiot than a sane being. You have left me naked. I have no clothes, no medicine ; I will say nothing of my soap and candles, photograph apparatus and chemicals, bwo silver wabches, a cap, and a score of other trifles."

The rear-column had Suffered all the horrors of starvation, mutiny, and disease. They had struggled till disappointment grew inbo despair. Barbtelob had been murdered, and Jameson, though Stanley did not know it at the time, was dead ; and all they got from their leader was a furious diatribe because they bad nob left him his silver wabches and his soap !

On bhe whole, the conclusion that will be arrived ab from reading bhis volume is very much bhab which we imagine has already gained possession of tbe public mind: to

wib, thab whatever may have been the faulbs of Barbbelot's temperament and character, bhe failure of the rear-guard was in the firsb insbance due bo Mr Stanley's faulty instructions and impossible arrangements. As for Mr Jameson himself, ib is difficult to believe thab he was nob a young genbleman with a kindly disposition and chivalrous devotion to duty. It is a pity bhab his relatives should have chosen to prefix bo an otherwise inberesbing and simply written narrative an extraordinary parody of a passage in the " Light of Asia," which is baa poetry and bad baste.