Mr Stanley.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6831, 19 April 1890, Page 2

Mr Stanley.

The announcement that Stanley is tc get £40,000 for his book has set a lot ol idiots sneering at the "philanthropist' Stanley. Nota,* nothing is clearer than thai Stanley has never pretended to be i philanthropist. He has alwayß been at ardent explorer, or a man with a specia definite object, and in each case he hai always been very well paid. About thai he never made any mystery ; neither die anybody else. The fact is that there are i number of people who aro smitten with i desire to talk like Labouchere. Thej quote his paragraphs from Truth, and thej adopt his phrases in pitching into anybody and everybody in the field, of theii limited vision. If they condescended to look at facts they would understand that Stanley began hi3 Afrioar work as a newspaper correspondent, wher he went with Sir Garnet's force tc Cooinassie ; that he was employed at n hi~*h figure by two newspapers to fine Livingstone, and that he found him ; though many worthy people refused tc believe it ; that he was employed by the same newspapers to explore the Congo, and that he did so ; that he wa3 employed by the King of the Belgians and the International Association to found the Congo Free State, and that he did so • that he was selected to find Einin, and that he found him. During every expedition he got good pay, openly ; after every one he wrote a book, which sold well. Whether these labours were or were not benc-fieial to humanity, js one question, That Stanley never made that LIS primary objecb Is not open to question ac all. He went to Africa to do certain work, for which he was well paid ; and he did that work in a way that has never been approached for uniformity of succesß, and has placed him at the head of the list of African explorers. To sneer at him because he has also made money is simply to write one's self down an ass.