Note 3 — Chapter XI · INTELLIGENCE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE “HERALD” ENTERPRISE.

It is not believed that anything further is needed to convince the public of what most of the intelligent public is already convinced; but it may be well to place on record the statements of a number of prominent journals of the world, and reference to the action of certain learned societies.

On July 4th, 1872, the London “Morning Post” said:

“Far surpassing everything of local import in interest just now is the information afforded by the New York ‘Herald’ to the London press of the discovery of Dr. Livingstone. Far surpassing everything which has been hitherto achieved by journalistic enterprise is the discovery of the great African explorer—concerning whose fate the peoples of every civilized state in the world have been anxious for many years—by the special correspondent of a daily newspaper commissioned to find him. We are accustomed to laugh on this side of the Atlantic at the rage which prevails for a knowledge of what are classed as ‘big things’ among our American kinsmen; but it is not only with a feeling of satisfaction, but also of kindred pride, that we express our admiration of this wonderful undertaking, which was conceived and has been carried to such a successful issue by the proprietor of our New York contemporary.”

The London “Telegraph” of the same date says:

“Yesterday we, in company with the whole people of Britain, listened to the narration of the outlines of a tale describing the accomplishment of a work as daring in its execution as that of Vasco de Gama, as solitary in its accompaniment as that of Robinson Crusoe, and quite as romantic in its progress as that of Marco Polo. The mind delights to realize, even in imagination, the moment when the gallant and indefatigable Stanley won his way in front of his little band of followers—making up in noise what it lacked in numbers—to the outskirts of Ujiji; and we must, all of us, envy the republic of the United States the fact that the American flag was carried proudly at the head of his force in happy agreement, and that under the banner of the Stars and Stripes he afforded succor to the lonely Briton.”

And thus the London “Daily News”:

“The extraordinary narrative which has just been communicated to the world by the New York ‘Herald,’ supplies one of the most exciting stories which civilization has had since the revelation of the startling truths of Bruce. Mr. Stanley gives to his collation a somewhat picturesque coloring, but the grand fact remains that he found Livingstone notwithstanding, and not, as Sir Henry Rawlinson conjectured lately, that Livingstone found Stanley. It is not easy to imagine an enterprise more full of toil and peril than this strange journey of the lonely American, attended, to be sure, by a small but reluctant escort, in the hitherto trackless wilds of Africa and among people of native tribes of unknown names. It is wholly impossible not to admire the daring and perseverance which the American discovery has crowned with triumph.”

Said the Edinburgh (Scotland) “Courant”:

“It is long since the columns of a newspaper have contained so vividly romantic and so startlingly wonderful a story as that which has just been told to us of the fortunes that befell Mr. Stanley in his quest after Livingstone, and of the most strange circumstances under which the object of that quest was fulfilled. The whole narrative reads, indeed, more like a forgotten episode from the travels of some Marco Polo or Vasco de Gama than, as it is, a truthful and unvarnished extract from the severe chronicle of nineteenth century fact.”

This brief extract from the London “Globe” of July 9:

“The final discovery of Dr. Livingstone would seem to have been a bitter disappointment to a large class of his fellow countrymen. The doubt and mystery which hung around his fate promised to produce a perennial stream of quasi-scientific gossip, and to yield an endless crop of letters to the ‘Times.’ As it is, those ‘interested’ in the matter are reduced to patching the rags of the worn-out controversy.”

The London “Times” of July 15th contained a long letter from Mr. Charles Beke, in which he fully answers a number of criticisms upon the Livingstone-Stanley despatches, the said criticisms having originated in British chagrin, not altogether inexcusable, at the fine success of the American enterprise. That great journal of July 27th editorially says:

“To the enterprise of an American newspaper we are indebted for trustworthy information that Dr. Livingstone still lives and prosecutes his unexampled researches.”

The London “Advertiser” of the date last mentioned also published a long leading article upon the subject, beginning:

“In another column we publish the first letter from Dr. Livingstone which has been received in England. By the energy of the proprietor of the New York ‘Herald’ the great English traveller has been found and succored at a moment when he seemed to be upon his ‘last legs.’ In his own words, when Stanley arrived at Ujiji, ‘he thought he was dying upon his feet.’”

The London “Standard” of July 26th remarked with emphasis:

“All doubts concerning the bona fides of Mr. Stanley’s narratives of his adventures in Africa will now be laid at rest by the arrival of Dr. Livingstone’s letters. We shall, apparently, have to wait a little for the publication of the geographical despatches, as the report of an intended meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday for the purpose of hearing them read is unfounded. But it is satisfactory to feel that even the very faint suspicions cast on the authenticity of Mr. Stanley’s story are dissipated, and that we may absolutely rely upon the information which that gallant and triumphant traveller has brought home.”

The Manchester (England) “Guardian” of July 29th, in an elaborate article in criticism of the English authorities because they had not organized a successful expedition, and had given the great explorer just cause for complaint, says the subject is one “which can be matter of no agreeable examination for any Englishman.” And it concludes:

“Our magnificently equipped expedition did simply nothing; and it was reserved for Mr. Stanley, after his return to the coast, to organize a caravan with stores for Dr. Livingstone. ‘Before we left Zanzibar,’ says Mr. New, ‘a caravan numbering fifty-seven men was packed, signed, sealed, addressed, and despatched, like so many packets of useful commodities, to the service and succor of Dr. Livingstone.’ What says England to all this?”

The Leeds (England) “Mercury” of the date last mentioned remarks:

“The success of Mr. Stanley in his search for Dr. Livingstone is one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of newspaper enterprise. The expedition was an unprecedented one, and when it was first reported in this country there were few who did not laugh at it as a Yankee notion, conceived and started for the glorification of the New York ‘Herald’ and to gratify the vanity of Mr. James Gordon Bennett. The result has shown not only how little there was to laugh at, but how much there was to admire in such a project.”

The journals of continental Europe were not less emphatic in awarding unmixed praise to the successful expedition of the American journal, and Geographical Societies, from Italy to Russia, awarded gold medals to Mr. Stanley in recognition of his services in behalf of geographical knowledge.

Earl Granville, upon the receipt of Dr. Livingstone’s despatches, forwarded from Paris by Mr. Stanley, directed an official acknowledgment, which was as follows:

“Foreign Office, August 1, 1872.

“Sir—I am directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of a package containing letters and despatches from Dr. Livingstone, which you were good enough to deliver to Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Paris for transmission to this department, and I am to convey to you His Lordship’s thanks for taking charge of these interesting documents.

“I am, your most obedient, humble servant,

“ENFIELD.

“Henry M. Stanley, Esq.”

And on the next day Earl Granville himself wrote the following letter.

“August 2, 1872.

“Sir—I was not aware until you mentioned it that there was any doubt as to the authenticity of Dr. Livingstone’s despatches, which you delivered to Lord Lyons on the 31st of July; but, in consequence of what you have said, I have inquired into the matter, and I find that Mr. Hammond, the Under Secretary of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Wyld, the head of the Consular and Slave Trade Department, have not the slightest doubt as to the genuineness of the papers which have been received from Lord Lyons, and which are being printed.

“I cannot omit this opportunity of expressing to you my admiration of the qualities which have enabled you to achieve the object of your mission, and to attain a result which has been hailed with so much enthusiasm both in the United States and in this country.

“I am, sir, your obedient, “GRANVILLE.

“Henry M. Stanley, Esq.”

As if all this were not enough we have the testimony of the Queen’s speech, delivered for Queen Victoria by commission, on the occasion of the prorogation of Parliament, on Saturday, August 10, 1872. The Queen said: “My government has taken steps intended to prepare the way for dealing more effectually with the slave trade on the east coast of Africa.” The London “Times” of the following Monday, in commenting on this portion of Her Majesty’s speech, said:

“This paragraph is the most significant part of the throne speech, and we suppose it is not an error to connect the announcement which has just been made by Her Majesty with the recent discovery of Dr. Livingstone and the despatches to the Foreign Office brought by Mr. Stanley, of the New York ‘Herald,’ from the great traveler.”

It would be impossible, it is believed, to more completely demonstrate the hearty acknowledgment of the British Government of the success of the American enterprise—an acknowledgment which no earthly power but that of unanswerable truth could have compelled that Government to make.