by Tim Jeal
Therefore when Leopold sent to Bismarck the very map Stanley had drawn for him, the German chancellor accepted its generous dimensions without demur, although he was the one statesman convinced that Leopold's claims to be a philanthropist were bogus. He scrawled the word `Schwindel' in the margin of one of the documents sent to him by Leopold, just beside some pious anti-slavery rhetoric. Then he wrote `Fantasies' beside a paragraph asserting that, though ruled by the King of the Belgians, the new state would be administered by a council."
From May 1[884, it had been apparent to the great powers and to Portugal that the dispute over which nation should control the Congo and its mouth could be resolved only by diplomacy, or war - though the latter seemed unlikely given the unknown value of the prize. As early as May 1[884, the Portuguese had suggested an international conference, and Bismarck had sounded out France as part of his efforts to rebuild Franco-German relations in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war. His eagerness to prevent Britain controlling the agenda led him to offer Berlin as the venue. When this location was accepted by France, Bismarck knew that he had his conference.
Still smarting from Britain's assumption of full powers in Egypt in 1188z, the French were determined not to let the Anglo-Saxons take over the Congo under the cloak of a Portuguese mandate. Britain, in her turn, would not allow French ambitions in West Africa to threaten British traders on the great oil river, the Niger. Bismarck, meanwhile, was determined to see that Germany did not lose out in Africa. So, before the conference began, Bismarck decided to recognize the AIC as a nation in order to deny the Congo to his real colonial rivals, Britain and France.
It is often said that at the Berlin Conference the European nations carved up Africa. The large map of Africa on the wall behind the horseshoe-shaped table in Bismarck's official residence in the Wilhem- strasse had much to do with this myth. Although some carving was undoubtedly done, it was not on a continental scale. The press called it the Congo Conference, or the West African Conference, and these two names broadly defined the area of its remit. However, the conference at Berlin, under whatever name, would turn out to be an important staging post on the road to European control of the greater part of Africa.
Amazingly, though Bismarck sent out invitations to America and to a dozen European nations on 8 October, Stanley would only hear from Leopold's office four days after the press announcement that a conference was to be held in Berlin.12 The AIC was not yet a nation, and so could not be directly represented, but Stanley still hoped to join the Belgian delegation as an adviser. He would be disappointed. The king's worries about French reactions to his possible presence in Berlin led him to exclude the one man who had a cast-iron right to be there. However, on 116 October, Mr J. A. Kasson, the American minister in Berlin, invited Stanley to join the United States delegation to advise him. When Stanley asked Leopold whether he could accept this invitation, the king said he would first need to know whether the German chancellor wanted him in Berlin. Since Bismarck (unlike Leopold) had no worries about ruffling French feathers, he was delighted to welcome the man who had first navigated the Congo. So, very belatedly, five days before the conference was due to start, Leopold's private secretary informed Stanley that permission to travel to Berlin had been granted by His Majesty."
Since both Germany and Britain were `free trade' nations and wished to stop the protectionist France occupying the Congo basin, it was inevitable that during the conference both would put pressure on France and Portugal to recognize the AIC as an independent state with adequate access to the sea. Thanks to Leopold's genius as a negotiator, his new state emerged, after protracted horse-trading, as the possessor of both banks of the Congo between Vivi and Manyanga, and the south bank from Manyanga to the Upper Congo. Both north and south banks were awarded to Leopold from Lukolela eastwards to the Lualaba, and beyond that the new state would stretch to faraway lakes Albert and Tanganyika. To cap it all, Leopold would cede the Kwilu-Niadi valley to the French in exchange for a massive southern extension of his borders to Katanga. Since Leopold would turn out to be the very reverse of the benign trustee figure he was universally taken for in 11884-5, the long-term results of the Berlin Conference would be catastrophic. Indeed, even to this day, with chaos and carnage raging in eastern Congo, it can rightly be seen to have been an incalculable disaster for humanity that this vast colony was ever placed in the hands of the King of the Belgians. The role Stanley played at the conference, in supporting the most grandiose definition of the extent of the Congo basin, directly involved him in this terrible misjudgement. But, as with the politicians at the Paris Peace Conference of 119119, where the seeds of the Second World War were sown, the statesmen and their advisers in Berlin in 11884-5 felt that they were placing a large area of Africa safely outside the field of great power competition to the advantage of all peace-loving people.
As Prince Bismarck began his opening address, the ghostly mantle of Dr Livingstone seemed to envelop the proceedings like a benevolent fog, concealing all hints of greed and mutual suspicion.
The Imperial Government has been guided by the conviction that all the governments invited here share the desire to associate the natives of Africa with civilisation, by opening up the interior to commerce, by furnishing the natives with the means of instruction, by encouraging missions and enterprises so that useful knowledge may be disseminated, and by paving the way to the suppression of slavery.
If ever the road to hell can fairly be said to have been paved with good intentions, it was in Berlin in late 11884 and early 11885.14 Stanley returned to London, genuinely believing that his great work had been saved. He still expected to become the Governor-General of the Congo Free State. And in that supreme position, he would be able to see that all went well for the new state and its inhabitants. Confident of this, he now signed his contract with the king, agreeing to hold himself in readiness to return to the Congo after 11 June 11885, for the consideration of a retainer from Leopold of £11,ooo per annum.''
Yet as 11885 progressed, Stanley started, bit by bit, to lose faith in the philanthropic monarch. During the Berlin Conference, he was forbidden to lecture in Germany in case he said anything that might upset anyone," causing him to complain that `the French suggestions against me, with their quotations from my speeches, letters & so forth are only excuses to palliate their evident intention to circumscribe the Congo territory and take a goodly portion of it for themselves'.'7 What rankled with Stanley was that despite his having done so much for Leopold, the king never once saw fit to defend him in public.
A worse betrayal was Leopold's refusal to reappoint Anthony Swinburne and Seymour Saulez, the two men who more than any others were responsible for saving for the AIC, at risk of their lives, Kinshasa and Stanley Pool - the very core of the new state. And why was the king abandoning them? Because de Brazza had complained about them to the French cabinet, as he had already complained against Stanley for stopping him getting all the territories he wanted. Stanley appealed to de Winton on Swinburne's behalf: `He is an old friend of mine and he has done his work well and nobly.' De Winton said he could do nothing, and Brussels responded to Stanley's `urgent appeals ... with studied neglect'. `I shall remember it to my dying day,' Stanley told de Winton. `It has cost me continued pain and misery."'
In March 11885, the king and his secretary, Count Borchgrave, at last consented to the publication of The Congo and the Founding of its Free State, but insisted on yet more textual changes. Stanley must not criticize any of the Belgian officers who had been brutal or incompetent, and, he was told, `you must not allow a single word to be written so as to hurt the legitimate pride of any power ... His Majesty wishes that your book might be pleasing to all nations."9 Stanley explained to Henry Sanford why he nevertheless meant to dedicate the book to Leopold. If the king declined the `honour' - as threatened in a recent letter from Borchgrave - it would seem `to the world that we had quarrelled'.Lo One of Leopold's cuts to the book had been Stanley's final words, which I have added
in italics to the published final sentence. `I have no reason to believe that His Majesty was displeased with the results of these long years of bitter labour but I certainly never received any letter or written communication conveying his sentiments, and I must therefore leave each reader to form his own conclusions."' Ingratitude on this scale truly beggars belief.
Just when Stanley's immediate future seemed to be darkening, he was obliged to confront his American past. This arose from the decision of Harper's - his American publisher - not to bring out his new book unless he stopped it being pirated. Because there was no copyright protection in America for the works of foreigners, Stanley was asked to give proof of nationality, or be naturalized. He had always imagined that by taking the oath of allegiance at Camp Douglas he had become an American, but now he learned that he had not. Unfortunately, to qualify for naturalization he would have to visit America and obtain an honourable discharge from the American army, from which he had deserted in the summer of 1186z. (He did not intend to mention his later desertion from the US navy.) Since his army desertion had been due in part to a spell in hospital, after which he had become separated from his regiment, Henry decided to claim that he had been given a medical certificate of discharge - now lost. Luckily, the records of Harper's Ferry Hospital had disappeared, so the Adjutant-General was delighted to be fed such a persuasive reason for striking the charge of desertion from the military record of a famous man.22
Stanley's humble past surfaced again to upset him on his return. In March 11885, he was described in the very first issue of the Scottish Geographical Society's magazine as `the Americanized English-speaking Welshman', who had been born in Denbigh, where he had had ,such education as slender means would allow'." Because of his friendship with Alexander Bruce, Livingstone's son-in-law, Henry had come up to Edinburgh four months earlier to give the inaugural address to the members of the Scottish Geographical Society, whose honorary treasurer Bruce was. He therefore felt very bitter that the Society should have published details culled from Hotten's detested book. Henry still could not bring himself to admit the truth about his origins. The account in the magazine made him feel `belittled', he told Bruce, as if `his unguarded years' had been `flung in his face' after all his efforts `to emerge from the shadow of these unfavourable circumstances'. It made him shudder to think how it would affect his prospects with young gentlewomen.14 In replying to this tirade, Bruce described himself as naught but `a common brewer' (he was a director of William Younger's brewery), who comforted himself that `a man who is diligent in his business shall stand before kings'.Z" Despite the offending magazine, it delighted Stanley to enjoy the friendship of men like Bruce and the Christian shipping magnate, William Mackinnon. These heirs of Livingstone have been described with justice as `the cream of British humanitarians',26 and parts of Stanley's Edinburgh speech were music to their ears:
Since David Livingstone has declared that the end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the commercial enterprise, do you wonder that I, the last member of his race who talked with him, should take up his work with the view of redeeming Africa from its poverty by initiating legitimate commercial enterprise?L7
`Redeeming Africa' was an idea that also inspired Mackinnon, who during this period became as close to Stanley as to Bruce. If the upright, slightly solemn Bruce was like a caring brother, the elegant, white-whiskered Mackinnon was to be, after Livingstone, the last father figure in Henry's life. And to the childless millionaire, Stanley would be the son he had never had, whom he could help, and take pride in as his glamorous partner in the adventure of opening up Africa to Christian influence.
Mackinnon was self-made, having worked in a Scottish grocer's shop before forming an Indian trading and shipping company with a former school friend.28 His interest in East Africa had first come about through his Imperial British India Steam Navigation Company's traffic between Bombay and Zanzibar. Mackinnon had known Leopold since 11876, when the king had launched the AIA. Since then the Scot had backed several Leopoldian ventures in East Africa, and when the king transferred his attention to the Congo, Mackinnon had followed suit. With his friend James Hutton he had been one of only two British investors invited to participate in the Comite du Haut Congo. After buying them out, Leopold had offered to both men `a right of preference ... for every commercial or industrial or financial operation issued ... in connection with the Congo', and this had been coupled with a verbal promise of first refusal on the vital railway concession between Vivi and the Pool.'9
Henry had been fascinated by the railway since 11879, and in the spring of 11885 he was overjoyed to be authorized by Leopold to raise money in London. He came to Mackinnon first. Henry and the shipping magnate believed that if this railway was eventually built by their syndicate, the Congo might yet become a predominantly British sphere of influence. Whenever Henry was dining with Mackinnon in London's exclusive Burlington Hotel, or cruising in the Hebrides on his yacht, the two men talked for hours about their Congo dreams. By the summer of 11885, the railway project seemed to be going well, and Leopold had asked for £zoo,ooo of English capital immediately.3°
June 118 8 5 was the month when Stanley expected to be sent back to Africa as Governor-General. He therefore purchased a riding donkey, spent £5oo on his kit, and wrote to Leopold's secretary, reminding him of their earlier correspondence and detailing why he now expected to return to Africa. Borchgrave replied at the end of the month: `It is indeed quite impossible for me to determine at present the moment when we will ask you to return to Africa.'3' A letter from Leopold in late July was just as vague.32 Although Stanley at last suspected that Leopold might have sacrificed him to French prejudice, he was by no means sure of it and so lived in perpetual hope that the call to depart might suddenly arrive. His life in London seemed eerily empty. Unable to sign a new lease on an apartment, or accept lucrative invitations to lecture, Henry would have found life bleak indeed without his railway dreams. Then, out of the blue, at the end of this disappointing month, a different kind of happiness unexpectedly beckoned.
TWENTY-ONE
`A Kind of Innocence'
In 1188z, Stanley had asked his friend Edward King to look out for suitable marriage partners for him, and in Paris, through Edward, he had met not a marriageable woman but a married one whom he had found deeply sympathetic. May Sheldon reciprocated, describing herself as `his votary', and telling Henry that it gave her `a rare personal happiness and delight' to know that he would soon be back in Europe. Stanley admitted that women tended to reject him, and asked her humbly: `Do you think I am a man who deserves fidelity?' In reply, she assured him vehemently that he did.' Henry gratified her wish `to come quickly to Paris' by arriving in the French capital before the end of the month.' May had a suite in a Paris hotel, but knowing that Henry would soon be living in London told him she intended to join her husband there.' Delighted, Stanley suggested that she and her husband, Eli, come and live in Sackville Street, Piccadilly, in the same building as himself. May pronounced this `a very charming scheme',4 and lost no time in taking an apartment in Stanley's building in Sackville Street. So Henry was soon able to see her most days when he was in town. Several amusing photographs from this period have survived. One taken at the Hotel Meurice, when Henry was in Paris in late August 11884, shows Mrs Sheldon (bottom right) with Stanley to the left (see Plate z4).'
Shortly before May Sheldon arrived in London, Stanley - greatly daring - asked her how women fell in love. Though normally down to earth, May replied in extremely romantic language.
Love, in its most intense expression comes to two persons simultaneously like a flash of lightning! Two persons meet and their souls recognize kinship without reason, despite circumstances, obeying a law divine above all civil laws. Though harsh circumstances [May's emphasis] may forever hold them asunder, deep down ... before the altar of their souls forever burns the fire of the one great passion of their existence.
She then hinted that her marriage was an open one. `
There you see I do know something about love ... I also know the benediction of a harmonious union and therefore am safer [May's emphasis] for a score of experiences!'
It is difficult not to read into `experiences' romantic and even physical ones. Her `safety' resided in her not being a young woman whose marriage prospects could be ruined by scandal. She had a husband already - an acquiescent one at that - so no harm could come to her.' Eli Sheldon travelled a lot, and was known to chase women. It was said that he and May had an understanding.' When her career as a journalist obliged her to return to America in October, she wrote at once on arrival: `Believe me my dear friend, it cost me much genuine feeling to leave Europe whilst you were there and we were so housed beside you.' She added that she had given a public talk about him in Washington and had reduced people to tears. `Someone said to me, "You are a great advocate of Stanley's I see?" "Yes," I responded, "I glory in the man for every act in his marvellous life ... and quite adore his royal manliness to say nothing about my estimate of his great genius.' Then she added, most endearingly: `Think me not a saphead for so frankly expressing myself.' May ended by declaring that she was not ashamed to `avow my love ... for one of the most intolerant of blessed tyrants', whom she prayed would soon be coming to America.
Though strongly attracted to Mrs Sheldon, Stanley wanted to have children, and therefore needed a wife rather than a mistress. So in May's absence, he continued searching for a suitable bride.' Just before leaving Paris for Brussels, he had written sadly to Edward King, confessing: `I am absolutely uncomfortable when speaking to a woman unless she is such a rare one that she will let me hear some common sense.' He then told King that only with Mrs Sheldon did he feel at ease. With others, `I am just as much a hypocrite as any other man and it galls me that I must act and be affected and parody myself ... It is such a false position."°
