STANLEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6886, 23 June 1890, Page 1

STANLEY.

THE ROMANCE OF HIS MAREIAGE. A BEBUFF. (Per San Francisco Mail.) [Per Press Association.] Stanley is engaged to be married to Mias Dorothy Tennent, in July next._ The engagement was made previous to his last; departure for Africa. Miss Tennent is the lady who posed for Sir John Millais, when he painted his famous picture " Yes or No." After hia marriage, according to report, Stanley will be appointed GovernorGeneral of the Congo Free State by King Leopold, to rule over an area of 1,056,000 square miles, and a population, white and black, of 27,000,000. The bit of romance in connection with Stanley's marriage is that years ago Miss Tennent refused him because he dyed his hair. "When the Baroness Burdett Coutts welcomed Stanley at her door on his return from Africa, she told him 'Miss Tennent was willing to marry him if the old affection existed. Stanley acted promptly on the information. Just now, according to a London despatch, of May 21, Stanley is full of the idea of transporting negroes from the Southern States of America to Central Africa. The precise site fixed upon is the Upper Congo forest country, 25,000 square miles in extent, which Stanley estimates would provide for each of the negroes of the South something like a quarter of a mile of land for his inheritance. Lord Salisbury has administered a rebuke to Stanley for meddling in matters of British State policy, which do not concern him. . : A despatch of May 23 says the explorer's overbearing manner and assumption of superiority have provoked enmity towards him in English quarters where it was most desirable that he should be regarded with favour. His attempt to introduce African manners into English society, while endeavouring to direct English enterprise into Africa, has proved a lamentable failure. The freedom of the City of London was presented to Stanley at the Guildhall on May 13. It was the grandest demonstration in honour of the explorer since his . arrival in Europe. He was also the recipient of a number of pictures and map 3 of Africa, London, Great Britain and the United States. In an interview he expressed himself wearied with England's pliancy and apathy in regard to the operations of the Germans. "If England continued inactive, Germany, would secure paramount influence in. Africa. The Emperor was backing Major Wiseman, and it was impossible for him to fail in advancing German interests. There was no reason why England should not now be in possession of the Congo country, and all the advantages that Belgium enjoys."