WE come now to the world-renowned Emin Pasha,
whose career
in Africa for the past few years has awakened the interest
of
both hemispheres. Emin Pasha is the last of the heroes
of
the Soudan, and among the list, including the name of
" Chinese " Gordon, must be reckoned some of the world's
most dazzling names.
Mr. Stanley's last expedition in Africa was planned for
the relief of
Emin Pasha. Emin had been appointed governor of a vast
region, and
with wonderful spirit and courage had undertaken his
work. For a
long period of time it was feared and believed that he
was having a
desperate struggle in his great undertaking, and consequently
the gov-
ernment of Belgium was especially interested in ascertaining
what was
his situation and what could be done for his relief in
case he were in
straits. Of course Henry M. Stanley was the man to plunge
again into
the heart of Africa on such an important mission as this.
It will interest the reader to have some account of the
celebrated
Emin Pasha, who, divested of his Oriental title, is none
other than
Edward Schnitzer. We condense his biography from a history
of him by
his friend and fellow-traveller, Robert W. Felkin, of
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Emin Pasha forms at the present time the central point
around which
all the interest in Central Africa revolves, and now
that it is generally
known that the Arabic name " Emin " is only a cognomen
chosen by a
German, curiosity is aroused, and people are making all
kinds of specu-
lations as to his birthplace.
Edward Schnitzer was born on the 28th of March, 1840,
in Oppeln, in
the Prussian province of Silesia. He is the son of the
late Ludwig
Schnitzer and his wife Pauline. His father was a merchant.
The family-
removed in 1842 from Oppeln to Neisse, where the mother
and a sister
of Emin still reside. After being educated in the Gymnasium
of Neisse,
Edward Schnitzer commenced the study of medicine in 1858
at the
Breslau University. He completed his micdical education
in Berlin,
where he attended the University during 1863 and 1864.
and graduated.
In 1875 Dr. E. Schnitzer paid a visit to his family in
Neisse, and
remained mere for a few months, devoting his leisure
hours to the study
of Natural History. Suddenly, however, the desire for
travel came over
him again ; he went by the nearest route to Egypt, and,
in 1876, we find
this enterprising man entering the Egyptian service as
Dr. Emin Eflendi.
He was ordered to join the Governor-General of the Soudan
at Khar-
toum, and from there was sent to act as chief medical
officer in the
Equatorial Province of Egypt, of which Gordon Pasha was
then
Governor.
Gordon was the very one to value a man like Emin, and
to use to the
full his gifts and powers. He sent, him on tours of inspection
through
the districts which had been annexed to Egypt, and employed
him upon
several diplomatic missions. In March, 187^, after Gordon
Pasha had
been appointed Governor- General of the Soudan, Dr. Emin
Effendi
received from him the appointment of Governor of the
Equatorial
Province, \vhich post he has occupied up to the present
time.
In order to form, to some extent at least, a just estimate
of what Emin
Pasha has accomplished during the past few years, it
is very necessary
to consider briefly his work as a Governor.
When Gordon Pasha left the Equatorial Province of Egypt
to become,
a few months later, the Governor- General of the whole
Soudan, he left it
well organized and peaceful. Its financial position was
not so satis-
factory, for the province labored under an excessive
debt, caused in part
by the initial expenses of its occupation, and also by
sums not justly
belonging to it having been debited to it by various
Governors of the
Soudan, sometimes with the object of freeing their special
province from
inconvenient debts, and sometimes in order to cook their
own accounts,
which were not always in a flourishing condition.
A Beggarly Crowd.
After Gordon Pasha left for the wider sphere of work,
his place was
at first filled by Colonels Prout and Mason, who, however,
only held
office for a few months, as they both had to retire on
account of ill
health. Then followed a succession of incompetent native
Governors,
under whose abominable rule the province rapidly deteriorated
to a piti-
able condition. Oppression, injustice, brutality, and
downright robbery
grew like the upas tree, and it was under these conditions
that Emin
was entrusted by Gordon with the reins of office.
Up to this time, Emin had been the surgeon-in-chief of
the Equatorial
Province ; he had often travelled throughout its length
and breadth in
company with his chief, Gordon, from whom he had learnt
much, and
whose work he so much admired. During this time he became
inti-
mately acquainted with native character, and was entrusted
by Gordon
with three very difficult diplomatic missions two visits
to Uganda and
one to Unyoro. This, however, was all the experience
he had had when
placed in power, and at first his difficulties were greatly
increased by
want of a definite rank, for, although appointed Governor,
no rank had
been given to him on account of the intrigues of some
Khartoum
officials.
The state of his province in 1878, when he accepted the
post of Gov-
ernor, is difficult to describe in a few words. The population
consisted of
numerous and varied tribes, who, having once experienced
the beneficent
rule of Gordon, had suffered greatly from the oppression
and cruelty of
his successors, and there was also a scattered population
throughout the
country, consisting of former slave-dealers and many
of their late
employes, who were settled in small fortified villages
over the land. The
officials, too, for the most part, were disreputable
men ; the greater num-
ber of them were criminals, who had been banished from
Egypt, and
after undergoing their sentences, had been taken into
Government
employ.
The Egyptian soldiers were very unreliable, and their
acts of oppression
were resented by the natives, and tended to bring about
continual fric-
tion between the Administration and the mass of the population.
Some
of Emin's " regulars " were very irregular. Added to
all this, many of
the stations themselves required rebuilding, and a block
in the Nile pre-
vented all supplies being sent to the Equatorial Province
for the first two
years of Emin's rule. It is not to be wondered at, therefore,
that the
cares of government rested heavily upon him. Constant
journeys had to
be made, daily complaints arrived from all sides of difficulties
between
officials and native chiefs, and a continual round of
stated duties filled up
his time from sunrise to sunset. Many a man would have
shrunk from
undertaking the responsibility of inducing order out
of such chaos. Not
so Emin Pasha.
Wonderful Changes.
Slowly but firmly, and with ever-increasing success, he
became mas-
ter of the situation, and when I passed through his province
the second
time, in 1879, a most wonderful change had taken place.
Stations had
been rebuilt, discontent was changed into loyal' obedience,
corruption had
been put down, taxation was equalized, and he had already
begun the
task of clearing the province from the slave-dealers
who infested it. This
was a difficult and dangerous undertaking, for they had
rooted them-
selves very firmly in the soil, and most of the officials
in Emin's employ
were in full sympathy with them. Emin was entirely alone
; no friend
or helper was near. Indeed, with the exception of a few
months when
Lupton Bey was his second in command, he has been alone
from the day
of his appointment in March, 1878, until the present
time.
By the end of 1882, Emin Bey (for he received that title
at the end of
1879) had the satisfaction of being able to report that
his province was
in a state of peace and contentment. He had got rid of
nearly all the
Egyptian soldiers, replacing, them by natives whom he
had trained to
arms. He had added large districts to his province, not
by the use of the
sword, but by personal negotiation with native chiefs.
To all this must
be added the cultivation of cotton, of indigo, of coffee
and rice, the estab--
tishment of a regular weekly post through his dominions,
the rebuilding
of nearly all his stations, the construction of better
and more permanent
roads, the introduction of camels, and the transport
of goods by oxen ;.
and last, but not least, he was able in that year to
show a net profit of
40,000, whereas on his taking up the reins of government,
there was a
deficit ot 160,000 per annum. The commercial value of
the province
may be estimated by this successful state of affairs,
which was brought
about notwithstanding the fact that during the six years,
1878-84, only-
nine steamers had been sent from Khartoum to Lado, and
only six oi
these had carried supplies.
A Remarkable Character.
From the 8th of October, 1878, the day on which I first
met Emin:
Pasha, up to the present time, my admiration and respect
for him have
steadily increased. It is impossible to become thoroughly
acquainted
with anyone in a very short time, but perhaps the best
chance of getting:
to know a man's character quickly is afforded by a meeting
such as I
experienced with Emin Pasha in the heart of Africa, and
shut off com-
pletely from the civilized world. Under such circumstances,
if they
possess any points in common, men are rapidly drawn together;
and!
there is certainly a wonderful keenness of enjoyment
in such intercourse,,
contrasting as it does so completely with the isolation,
often experienced
for months or years together, by men whose work lies
in such remote
regions as that which Emin Pasha has made his home.
A striking trait of his character which called forth my
admiration was-
his unselfishness. His whole heart seemed to be centred
in the welfare
of his people and the advancement of science, and no
idea of fame appeared
to enter his mind. His interest, too, in the work being
done by others-
seemed to be quite as keen as that he took in his own.
Emin's de'alings with the natives are worthy of notice.
He has always-
been patient in the extreme with them ; he has a high
opinion both of
their intelligence and their capabilities ; he respects
their peculiarities,,
their, modes .of thought, and their beliefs, and the
influence which he is
able to exert upon native chiefs is very remarkable.
His dealings with
Mtesa and Kabrega were characterized, not only by a keen
sense of
justice, but also by a thorough appreciation of their
various needs.
Mtesa had the highest respect for him, and on several
occasions he
expressed to me his appreciation of the way in which
Emin had pre-
served his independence, when it was threatened by the
injudicious
action of Nur Bey, who had marched to his (Mtesa's) capital
with three
hundred Egyptian soldiers with the intention of annexing
Uganda to
Egypt.
Peace More Effective than War.
This action of Nur Bey's, by the way, was in direct opposition
to
Gordon Pasha's orders. Emin's power over the natives
may also be
gathered from the fact that he entered into friendly
relationships with so
many of the petty native chiefs whose districts adjoined
his province. One
after another began to trade with him, and sooner or
later, with very
rare exceptions, they asked him to extend Egyptian authority
over their
lands, and without a shot being fired they became tributary
chiefs.
They recognized that it was to their advantage to do
so, for, once having
placed themselves under his beneficent rule, they knew
well that their
district was safe.
I must touch upon one other point. Emin Pasha refers in
many places
to the trouble he suffered from limited authority. Baker
and Gordon
were absolutely independent of any central authority
at Khartoum ; they
had the power of life and death, and were responsible
to the Khedive
alone for their actions. Not so Emin. He was obliged
to report almost
-every detail of administration for the approval of the
Governor-General of
the Soudan, and when one considers that months, sometimes
years,
elapsed before he received an answer to his communications,
it will be
readily understood how greatly his hands were tied, and
how difficult it
was for him both to maintain order and to introduce improvements
into
his province.
With regard to the commercial administration of the province,
it was
the old story over again the Egyptian Government requiring
the bricks
to be made and refusing to provide the straw. Emin could
not obtain
supplies from Khartoum, and even the seeds which he required
for culti-
vation experiments had either to be purchased with his
own money or to
be begged from his numerous friends. What wonder that
the Equatorial
Province did not prove a gold-mine ! The wonder is that,
left to his own
resources, he was able in so few short years to. transform
the finances of
the country, and, instead of holding his province at
a yearly deficit, to
make a net profit.
Emin's Desperate Struggle.
The difficulties and dangers which disturbed the Equatorial
Province in
consequence of the evacuation of the Soudan are described
in Emin's letters.
He was himself unaware of the events which were taking
place north of
his territory, but it was only too evident that the prosperity
of his
province was threatened, and he had a desperate struggle
for its very
existence. At length the Mahdi's hordes began to retire,
and Emin was
subsequently able to recover most of the ground he had
lost.
In October, 1885, temporary aid arrived in the shape of
a caravan from
Uganda with supplies from Dr. Junker. Emin speaks of
the almost
childish joy with which he and his people welcomed this
caravan. Irt
April, 1887, he heard that help was probably coming from
England, and
in a letter written to me then he says : " You can
imagine better than I
can tell you that the heartfelt sympathy which has been
expressed for me
and my people in England have richly repaid me for many
of the sorrows
and hardships I have undergone." Mr. Stanley led the
expedition with,
his usual undaunted courage and perseverance.
It will be noticed how firmly Emin states his intention
of remaining at
his post until the future of the country he has ruled
so long and of the
people in whom he takes so much interest be settled.
He says : " The
work that Gordon paid for with his blood, I will strive
to carry on, if not
with his energy and genius, still according to his intentions
and with his
spirit ; " and, again, his concluding words are : "
All we would ask Eng-
land to do is to bring about a better understanding with
Uganda, and to
provide us Avith a free and safe way to the coast. This
is all we want.
Evacuate our territory? Certainly not! If it is developed
in such a
way that the good of the people be secured, it will form
a centre of
civilization and liberty to the whole of Central Africa."
NEXT: CHAPTER XXX.
EMIN PASHA IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA.
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