We trust that the public will keep its head in
regard to the execution of Stokes, the ex-missionary and African trader. We agree with Mr. Stanley in thinking that Major Lothaire, the Belgian officer, was wrong in hanging him, but, as Mr. Stanley also points out, there was probably a very strong case against Stokes. In any case, the Government may be relied on to investigate the matter and to demand reparation from the Congo Free State, if reparation is due• There is not the slightest reason to suppose that they need be stimulated to action by a newspaper agitation. Mean- time, it is as well to remember that Stokes's African record is not altogether a satisfactory one. His story is given in a very interesting article in the Daily Graphic of Wednesday. He is there described as a "pioneer, King-maker, and blockade- runner," and as "a light-hearted, open-handed Irishman
thoughtless and reckless to the bounds of unscru- pulousness, but still fall of fine qualities." Apparently he held that "diplomatic conventions made in Germany" [i.e., the Berlin Act] could scarcely be expected to bind a man of his daring. Over Mwanga, the King of Uganda, Stokes at one time exercised a predominant influence, and he introduced a large supply of guns into Mengo. Captain Lngard, when he appeared in Uganda, came in contact with Stokes, but by the exercise of that mixture of firmness and tact which he always displays, he contrived to induce him to yield up some 5,000 lb. of powder and three hundred guns,—the possession of which Stokes first denied, but admitted under pressure.
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