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LIFE AND WORK OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 IN AFRICA AND EUROPE

Departure for Big-Game Hunting in the African Jungle —Description of a Buffalo Hunt—The Colonel's Vigor and Endurance—Return to Civilisation—Travels in Europe—Honored by Potentates and People—The Incident in Rome—His Return Home—Roosevelt and Taft.
President Roosevelt's elected term in the White House ended on March 4, 1909, when William H. Taft was inaugurated as his successor. On that day Mr. Roosevelt left Washington. His plans were already made for a prolonged hunting trip, in search of big game, in the wilds of Africa.

The nomination and election of Mr. Taft had been undoubtedly due to the initiative and influence of the retiring President. Mr. Taft was his Secretary of War, his friend, and his personal choice for the Presidency. Into the campaign for his election the Colonel had thrown all the weight of his great prestige and popularity, and Mr. Taft was elected by a plurality of 1,269,900 over his Democratic opponent, William J. Bryan. The common expectation therefore was that President Taft would continue Mr. Roosevelt's well-defined policies, particularly in the matter of the conservation of natural resources, and would also retain in office such friends and appointees of Mr. Roosevelt as were especially identified with those policies.
But whether or not any definite agreement existed between the two men as regards the course Mr. Taft should pursue generally in domestic and foreign policies, no person surely knows or knew except the late Colonel Roosevelt and the living ex-President Taft.

It is measurably certain, however, from events that soon developed, that the Colonel was not merely disappointed but actually incensed at Mr. Taft's failure to follow certain Rooseveltian conceptions of policy. It may have been for that reason that Colonel Roosevelt precipitated himself, or was precipitated, into the sensational campaign of the Progressive party in 1912.

Much, however, was to take place in his interesting life before that political explosion shook the forty-eight States. What to do with his abounding energy after leaving the Presidency had been in Colonel Roosevelt's mind for many months. He had talked it over with his famous "Tennis Cabinet," all good friends and good sportsmen, and had come to the decision that his yearning for the relaxation of outdoor adventure and big-game shooting would find its heartiest expression in Africa.

Departure for Africa
After a short period of comparative quiet in preparation for his African trip, he sailed for the Mediterranean on March 23, 1909.
He went to Africa as most men would go on an ordinary vacation hunting trip. Accompanied by his son, Kermit, and a modest entourage, he aimed at the acquisition of specimens of the fauna and flora of the little-known regions of the Dark Continent, as well as the thrills of big-game shooting. Kermit was to act as the photographer of the party.

No time was lost en route to the hunting grounds, the party being joined before going into the interior of Africa by R. J. Cuninghame, the famous hunter of big game.

The expedition was in the wilderness until the middle of the following March, during which time it was almost completely cut off from communication with the outer world. One result was a collection which scientists have said was of unusual value to students of natural history. His experiences have been described by Colonel Roosevelt in his "African Game Trails," published by Charles Scribner's Sons.

Hunting the African Buffalo
One of the experiences he had long been anticipating was the shooting of buffalo. The former President hunted buffalo to his heart's content on Heatley's Ranch, which comprised some 20,000 acres between the Rewero and Kamiti rivers, and was seventeen miles long and four miles wide. The Kamiti was described as a queer little stream, running through a dense, broad swamp of tall papyrus, the home of a buffalo herd numbering one hundred individuals, and was all but impenetrable.

"There is no doubt," Colonel Roosevelt wrote, "that under certain circumstances buffalo, in addition to showing themselves exceedingly dangerous opponents when wounded by hunters, become truculent and inclined to take the offensive themselves. There are places in East Africa where as regards at least certain herds this seems to be the case; and in Uganda the buffalo have caused such loss of life and such damage to the native plantations that they are now ranked as vermin and not as game, and their killing is encouraged in every possible way."

Continuing with his description of a hunt in Heatley's swamp the hunter-naturalist goes on:

"Cautiously threading our way along the edge of the swamp we got within 150 yards of the buffalo before we were perceived. There were four bulls, grazing close by the edge of the swamp, their black bodies glistening in the early sun rays, their massive horns showing white, and the cow herons perched on their backs. They stared sullenly at us with outstretched heads from under their great frontlets of horn.

"The biggest of the four stood a little out from the other three, and at him I fired, the bullet telling with a smack on the tough hide and going through the lungs. We had been afraid they would at once turn into the papyrus, but instead of this they started straight across our front, directly for the open country.

"This was a piece of huge good luck. Kermit put his first barrel into the second bull and I my second barrel into one of the others, after which it became impossible to say which bullet struck which animal, as the firing became general. They ran a quarter of a mile into the open, and then the big bull I had first shot, and which had no other bullet in him, dropped dead, while the other three, all of which were wounded, halted beside him.

Dropped One at Long Range
"We walked toward them rather expecting a charge, but when we were still over 200 yards away they started back for the swamp and we began firing. The distance being long, I used my Winchester. Aiming well before one bull he dropped to the shot as if poleaxed, falling straight on his back with his legs kicking, but in a moment he was up again and after the others. Later I found that the bullet, a full metal patch, had struck him in the head but did not penetrate the brain, and merely stunned him for the moment.
"All the time we kept running diagonally to their line of flight. They were all three badly wounded, and when they reached the tall rank grass, high as a man's head, which fringed the papyrus swamp, the two foremost lay down, while the last one, the one I had floored with the "Winchester, turned, and with nose outstretched began to come toward us. He was badly crippled, however, and with a soft-nosed bullet from my heavy Holland I knocked him down, this time for good. The other two then rose, and though each was again hit they reached the swamp, one of them to our right, the other to the left, where the papyrus came out in a point."
With Roosevelt in Africa
As well qualified, perhaps, as any other man to give personal reminiscences of Theodore Roosevelt as a hunter is B. M. Newman, the travel-lecturer. He was with the Colonel on the famous hunting trip.

For seven months they were together in Africa. That meant that they were leaders of a large hunting party, consisting of eight white men and 375 savages. Colonel Roosevelt was under contract to his publishers for a series of articles, and Mr. Newman was, of course, seeking material for his subsequent lectures.

"We met," said Mr. Newman, "at Juja farm as the guests of "William Northrup Macmillan of St. Louis. The farm was near Nairobi—and by near I mean a ride of two days by horseback. Nairobi is the capital of British East Africa.

"The Macmillan bungalow was a comfortable place, roughly built, but furnished much as an American home would be, and lighted by its own electric plant. From the porch of that bungalow it was possible to see many scores of wild animals near at hand, but no hunting was permitted in the immediate vicinity.

"Our long trips took us into the wilds and together we penetrated the jungles, the Colonel out walking all the rest and often wearing out the men in attendance. Tired as the other members of the party were at night after one of the arduous days, Colonel Roosevelt was never too weary to sit up far into the night reading or writing. I mention this to show the vigor and endurance of the man. He carried with him to Africa a large number of books, for his reading was extensive and varied.

"In our long talks, continued Mr. Newman, "around the camp fire or on our walks there were some outstanding characteristics that I noted particularly. These were the man's Americanism—his belief in and hope for American ideals and principles; and next to that his joy and pride in his family. I should have called him the ideal father. His views on matrimony and the duty of bringing up children are well known, and these were frequent subjects of conversation between us, the Colonel always maintaining that an unmarried man or woman was an abomination in the sight of the Lord."

"What of the truth of the statement that Colonel Roosevelt was fond of killing and wantonly destroyed life?"

"I should say there was no truth in it," stoutly declared Mr. Newman. "He hunted only in the interest of science, collecting rare animals, and with the exception of lions, which are considered vermin in South Africa, detested by the farmer, he killed only such animals as were needed for his collection. In fact, when I asked him at the beginning of our hunt whether he was a good shot, he answered 'I shoot often.'
"His one stipulation when he formed our party was that the subject of politics should be taboo. The Colonel had just finished his second term as President, and was in need of a complete change. That was the reason he chose lion hunting in Africa. We adhered strictly to our agreement, but sometimes the Colonel would tell of some experience.
"No fight was ever too hot for him, and he admired nothing more than a man who was a good fighter. He had no use for a 'mollycoddle' or a 'quitter.' Many a time he has said of some opponent, 'My! Didn't he give me a bully fight?'

"His versatility was remarkable, anclon nearly every subject he was not only at home, but an authority. This I gathered from the respect with which experts treated his statements. "Whether it was banking, farming or advising the British in the treatment of the natives, his opinions were seriously considered."

Summing up Colonel Roosevelt's virtues, Mr. Newman called him "positive in his views, decided in his principles, but yet tolerant of religious beliefs different from his own; loyal to friends, gentle in his affections, a great companion, a great man.''

Travels in Europe
At the close of the African expedition, Colonel Roosevelt spent the spring and early summer months of 1910 in traveling through Egypt, Continental Europe, and England, accepting many invitations to make public addresses in those countries. Everywhere he was welcomed with popular and official ovations suggestive of royal distinction. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Cairo, Christiania, Berlin, Cambridge and Oxford.
Hobnobbed with the Kaiser
As a former President, his tour through Europe was both triumphant and sensational. He hobnobbed a ith the German Kaiser, lectured at the Sorbonne and at Oxford University, was received with high honors in Sweden and Holland, and roused a storm in London by his speech at the Guildhall. It was in this speech that he lectured England on her duty in Egypt. He displayed an extraordinary familiarity with Egyptian affairs, but brought down upon himself a tempest of criticism by saying:

"Now, either you have the right to be in Egypt or you have not. Either it is or is not your duty to establish and keep order. If you feel you have not the right to be in Egypt, if you do not wish to establish and keep order there, why, then, by all means get out.

"As I hope you feel that your duty to civilized mankind and your fealty to your own great traditions alike bid you to stay, then make the fact and name agree; and show that you are ready to meet in very deed the responsibility which is yours.''

The criticism which this speech brought down on Roosevelt, to do the English justice, did not come from them; it came chiefly from scandalized Americans, who were horrified at the idea of a fellow-American undertaking to lecture a friendly power on its problems. The English took it very well and seemed to like it. France criticized it and Germany was bitter.
Fought on Enemy's Ground
In France, Roosevelt followed his usual policy of intrepidly attacking what he believed to be local evils in their home. It was not in London nor in Berlin that he preached Ms anti-race suicide doctrine; it was in Paris. It was from the same motive that impelled him when during his campaign for the Presidency in 1912 he refrained from attacking the Democratic party until he got into the South, the home and birthplace of the Democratic party, and delivered his blast against it. If there had been anything timorous about him he would have made his attack in Minnesota, where it would have been safe. Instead, he picked out Atlanta, where it is almost treason to say a word against Democracy, and where his audience was made up entirely of Democrats.
His defiant challenge was met by a roar from the audience. Their intention of howling him down and keeping him from having a hearing was manifest from the moment he began his assault. For five minutes the tumult went on. It seemed as if his speaking were at an end. Roosevelt suddenly adopted one of the most unusual weapons ever employed by a stump speaker. There was a table near him, and he leaped upon it. The riotous mob was startled into stillness; they had no idea of his purpose, and they waited to see what he would do. Before they could recover from their surprise he had shot half a dozen sentences at them, and by that time they had come under the spell and were willing to give him a hearing.
This story had nothing to do with Roosevelt's European tour and is told out of its regular order, but it is a good illustration of the way in which the Colonel always showed his courage by picking out the places where he knew any particular doctrine of his would be particularly unpalatable. When he had a message, he tried to deliver it where it would do most good.
Stirred Widespread Comment
The demonstrations of the European countries, the appearance of an American before learned bodies of foreign countries whom he addressed frequently in their own languages, his advice to the young Egyptians, and his Guildhall speech in England awakened a severe analysis of Roosevelt not so much as a statesman, for his administrative achievements were reasonably well known, but as a scholar, reader, student and author.

His knowledge of general linguistic law was masterly and he was a scholar of the first rank in the classics. The savants of the Sorbonne heard him address them in as flawless French as they themselves could employ, and he spoke German with all the fluency of a highly-educated native. His knowledge of Spanish made interpreters superfluous on his South American travels, and he was equally familiar with Italian and other tongues.

How the Colonel, in his crowded years, had ever found time to equip himself thus thoroughly in this direction was always a matter of wonderment to his friends.
The Incident in Rome
Colonel Roosevelt's progress through Europe on his return from the jungle was indeed a triumph such as never before had been accorded to an American citizen. He was everywhere t sated as if he were the ruler of a nation making a toui Even General Grant's journey around the world did n t compare with it.

In Home occurred one of the most sensational incidents of Mr. Roosevelt's career, and there have been few which so well illustrate his character. An audience had been arranged for him with the Pope. Some time before the Pope had refused to see former Vice President Fairbanks because that gentleman had made an address to the Methodists in Borne.
A message was conveyed to Colonel Roosevelt through the American Ambassador in the following terms:

'' The Holy Father will be delighted to grant audience to Mr. Roosevelt on April 5 and hopes nothing will arise to prevent, such as the much-regretted incident which made the reception of Mr. Fairbanks impossible."

The Colonel immediately sent the following to Ambassador Leishman:

'' It would be a real pleasure to me to be presented to the Holy Father, for whom I entertain a high respect, both personally and as the head of a great Church. I fully recognize his entire right to receive or not to receive whomsoever he chooses, for any reason that seems good to him, and if he does not receive me I shall not for one moment question the propriety of his action.

"On the other hand, I, in my turn, must decline to' make any conditions which in any way limit my freedom. I trust on April 5 he will find it convenient to receive me."

The answer was conveyed through the Ambassador, that "the audience could not take place except on the understanding expressed in the former message."

Colonel Roosevelt instantly replied: "Proposed presentation is, of course, now impossible."

The Methodists of Rome undertook to make capital out of the incident and issued a statement attacking the Pope. Colonel Roosevelt immediately rebuked them by cancelling an appointment he had made to meet them at a reception at Mr. Leishman's home. He wanted it made clear that he had no sectarian prejudices and had stood simply on his rights as an American citizen.
His Return Home
He came back to his own country, having had a "bully time," almost at the outset of the campaign for Governor in New York State in 1910, and the reception he got from New York City and the nation still stands as the most spontaneous outburst of admiration and respect for a citizen that the country ever showed. No man who participated in it that brilliant day upon the North River, when the former President's yacht passed up a line of saluting warships, when he himself stood upon the bridge, his eyes filled with tears; when all the whistles were blasting a merry salute, and when thousands were weeping from the sheer emotion of a great moment, can ever forget the day.

Becoming at once "contributing editor" of The Outlook, he wrote essays on politics, economics, and social matters until he threw himself with characteristic energy into the campaign in behalf of his old friend and associate in government, Henry L. Stimson, the Republican candidate for Governor. He beat the Republican Old Guard in the convention fight at Syracuse, carrying everything before his electric energy, but he could not elect Stimson, the State turning to the Democracy that year.
Roosevelt and Taft
A coolness that had sprung up between the Colonel and Mr. Taft in the period between the election and the inauguration of the latter, was increased by the reports that reached Colonel Roosevelt as he emerged from the African jungle; and when he reached the United States in June, 1910, he was already an opponent of Taft. The coolness probably had its origin in little things, but was intensified when it became evident that President Taft intended to change the Roosevelt policies in important respects and to remove Colonel Roosevelt's friends from office.

The results of the breach between the two were important and far-reaching, and it was not until they shook hands with each other at a Union League dinner in New York in 1916 that the breach was publicly healed. But many things happened to both Roosevelt and Taft before that day of reconciliation arrived.

The Colonel because once more an active factor in politics in the fall of 1910, after his return from Europe. As Mr. Taft's administration drew toward its close, from every part of the country there came in 1912 a strong demand that Theodore Roosevelt be again a candidate for the Presidency. For a long time the Colonel was silent; then a infinite opportunity was afforded him to decide an 1 speak.