THE JAMESON INCIDENT. Nv E have written so strongly on the
moral impossi- bility of the hideous crime of which the late Mr. Jameson stands accused, that we think it necessary to mention prominently the new evidence which has appeared since our last issue. This consists, first of all, in a statement by Saleh ben Osman, a Zanzibari Mussulman in the service of Mr. Stanley ; and secondly, in a defensive letter written by Mr. Jameson himself to the Emin Relief Committee to explain his conduct. The testimony of the Zanzibari is as follows :- " Mr. Jameson was visiting Stanley Falls for the purpose of urging Tippoo Tib to provide the carriers which he had promised Mr. Stanley. When passing through a small village, Mr. Jame- son asked the chief of the Zansibaiis, Hamadi Ben' Dowo, whether it was really true that the native cannibals ate each other. Of course it is perfectly true,' replied the other, whereupon Mr. Jameson gave the man Hamadi some cloth to buy a young slave. Presently Hamadi came back, bringing a young girl, which he had bought. Mr. Jameson then ordered him to hand her over to the natives, and to tell them to kill, cook, and eat her. The Zanzibaris flatly refused to do this, and expressed their disgust by going away. Mr. Jameson himself took the girl by the wrist and handed her over to the savage executioners. She was then stabbed with a knife. While the body was still quivering, the natives cut off the flesh from the bones, and having toasted it on sticks over a ilre, they ate it. During the whole of this ghastly performance
Jameson sat and made sketches. He was accompanied by Mafelia, his boy, Hamadi, and the Zanzibaris."
That straightforward and unmistakable statement, if true, is, of course, final ; but we do not believe it to be true. .It is precisely the account which an African or Asiatic Mussulman, who was disgusted by Mr. Jameson's conduct, and fully believed him to be the author as well as spectator of the scene, would be sure to give. He would want to make his otherwise sincere evidence unanswerable, and would insert just such a touch as the one about Jameson personally conducting the little girl to her executioners. It is a habit of mind which incessantly worries Indian Judges, and frequently leads to the discredit of witnesses who are in substance intending to tell the truth. Mr. Jameson's own account is as follows :- " On my return journey from Cosongo, the day after our arrival at Riba-lliba, the chief sent for me, and on arriving at his house I witnessed a very curious dance, performed by some Woman slaves. He informed me that these people, having had a number of deaths amongst them, had gone away into the bush for two months, where no one had seen them, and returned to-day, having finished their medicine-making. Tippoo Tib, who was at the house, said : This dance is generally followed by a lot of people being eaten,' and told me a lot of cannibal stories. I laughed at him, saying that since I had been in the country I had heard many such stories, but did not believe them. Another Arab present, who had been very kind to me on my way to Cosongo, then told me another horrible story, which I told him flatly I did not believe could happen in any country in the world. He, laughing, said : Give me a bit of cloth and see.' I only thought this another of their plans for getting something out of me, and, having some cloth of my own, as he had been kind to me, sent my boy for a small piece of six handkerchiefs, which I gave him. Then followed the most horrible scene I ever witnessed in my life, and Assad Farran even here cannot help lying. The whole thing happened so quickly that, had I wished, I could not have sketched it, and I had nothing with me to sketch with, they all being in my house. The small sketches I made were done in the evening afterwards in my own house. The girl never looked for help, for she seemed to know it was her fate, and never stirred hand or foot or head, except when she had to move to the place for execs. tion. How the girl was obtained I do not yet know, but will send you all particulars signed by witnesses, as promised."
It is hardly possible for a story to be blacker than that, for it clearly shows that Mr. Jameson saw the murder, and sanctioned it by his presence, when he could have pre- vented it. It is nonsense to say he could not, for his revolver was in his pocket, and every Mussulman with him, —that is, the Arabs and Zanzibaris—the only regularly armed men, would have protected him willingly in such a cause. He was not hated like Major Barttelot. Moreover, ordinary Englishmen in such a, scene would have inter- fered, without considering consequences, if they died the next minute. His countrymen are therefore compelled to rank Mr. Jameson as a thoroughly callous and bad-minded man, on his own showing ; but nevertheless he did not buy the girl in order that she might be killed and cooked. Of that crowning atrocity we still believe him to have been inno- cent. If he had wished to lie about himself, he would have blankly denied everything except his accidental presence after the girl was killed, and no one could have contradicted him. His story we accept as true, and as one more proof that Africa attracts to itself very often men in whom the conscience is practically dead. That is another reason for placing all African explorers under a system which shall make the statute, 24 and 25 Vict., cap. 100, which we had forgotten, and which would have made Jame- son liable to trial, practically operative. If it cannot be done without appointing a Protector of the Negroes in each port with judicial powers, it must be done that way ; but we should think it sufficient to invest each Governor of a settlement and Consul-General with that function. Colonel Euan-Smith, if evidence of the original charge were pro- duced, might be as fully trusted to hang the accused as any London jury.
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