November 15th, 1893. I left Manchester yesterday at
noon, and arrived in London at 5 p. m., and found a mild
kind of November fog and damp, cold weather here. After
an anchorite's dinner, with a bottle of Apollinaris, I drove off
to the Smoking-concert at the Lambeth. The programme
consists of comic songs, ballads, and recitations, as usual;
just when the smoke was amounting to asphyxiation, I was
asked to say a few words. I saw that my audience was more
than usually mixed, very boyish young fellows, young girls,
and many, not- very-intellectual-looking, men and women.
The subjects chosen by me were the Matabele War, and the
present Coal-war or Strike. In order to make the Matabele
War comprehensible to the majority, I had to use the vernacu-
lar freely, and describe the state of things in South Africa,
just as I would to a camp of soldiers.
In doing this, I made use of the illustration of an English-
man, living in a rented house, being interfered with in his
domestic government by a burly landlord, who insisted on
coming into his house at all hours of the day, and clubbing his
servants; and who, on the pretence of searching for his lost
dog and cat, in his tenant's house, marched away with the
Englishman's dog and other trifles. You who know the Eng-
lishman, I went on, when in his house, after he has paid his
rent and all just debts; you can best tell what his conduct
would be ! It strikes me, I said, that the average man would
undoubtedly "boot" the landlord, and land him in the street
pretty quickly. Well, just what the Englishman in Lambeth
would do, Cecil Rhodes did in South Africa with Lobengula.
He paid his rent regularly, one thousand two hundred pounds
a year or so, besides many hundreds of rifles, and ammunition
to match, and other gifts, for the right to manage Mashona-land as he saw fit. Now in the concession to Rhodes, Lobengula had reserved no rights to meddle in the territory. Therefore, when, under the plea that his cattle had been stolen
by Rhodes's servants, or subjects, the Mashonas, Lobengula
marched into Rhodes's territory and slaughtered the Mashonas
and took the white man's cattle, besides creating a general
scare among the outlying farmers, and the isolated miners,
Jameson, who was acting as Rhodes's steward, sent the sub-
agent Lendy upon the tracks of the high-handed Matabele,
hence the war. This little exposition took amazingly, and there was not
one dissentient voice.
About the Coal-war I was equally frank, and said, in conclusion, that, if I had any money to spare at the present time,
it would not be given to men who were determined to be
sulky, and who, to spite the coal-owners, preferred to starve,
but to those poor, striving people, who, though they had
nothingto do with the dispute between miners and coal-owners,
had to bear the same misery which the miners were supposed
to suffer from, and who were obliged to pinch and economise
in food, in order not to be without coals. This drew a tre-
mendous burst of cheers, and ' Aye, aye, that is true.'
Some very bad cigars and black coffee were thrust upon
me, and I had to take a cigar, and a teaspoonful of the
coffee; neither, you may rest assured, did me any good!
Yesterday, I read W. T. Stead's last brochure, '2 and 2
make 4.' I think it is very good. Stead aims to be the
4 universal provider for such people as cannot so well provide
for themselves. He is full of ideas, and I marvel how he
manages to find time to write as he does ; he has mortgaged
his life for the benefit of the many sheep in London, who look
to him as to a shepherd.
The 'Daily Paper,' of which I have a specimen, may be
made very useful ; and I hope he will succeed with it ; but
it does not touch the needs of the aristocratic, learned, and
the upper-middle class. Some day, I hope some other type of
Stead will think of
them, and bring out a high-class journal
which shall provide the best and truest news, affecting all
political, commercial, monetary, manufacturing, and indus-
trial questions at home and abroad; not forgetting the very
best books published, not only in England, but in Europe, and
America, and from which 'sport' of all kinds will be banished.
It ought to be printed on good paper, and decent type ; the
editorials should be short; the paper should not be larger
than the 'Spectator' and the pages should be cut. I quite
agree with Stead that it is about time we should get rid of
the big sheets, and the paper-cutter. Wherefore I wish Stead
all success, and that, some day, one may arise who will serve
the higher intelligences in the country, with that same zeal,
brightness, and inventiveness, which Stead devotes to the
masses. Now I have faithfully said my say, and send you
hearty greetings.
Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) was een Welsh-Amerikaans journalist en ontdekkingsreiziger (degeene die dr Livingstone opspoorde). Dagboekfragmenten van zijn hand zijn opgenomen in
The Autobiography Of Sir Henry Morton Stanley (1909).
