Clay, I have been working for a number of years on the Clemens-Stanley relationship.  In the process, I have read the MS in the MTP and Stanley’s papers in the archives at Leopold’s former palace in Tervuren, Belgium. The short answer is that the materials that Clemens received from Congo Relief Society for writing what became King Leopold’s Soliloquy contained charges against Stanley. But the story is much more complicated for Stanley and Sam, whose friendship grew after 1894, when Stanley assisted in plans for the Following the Equator tour and became quite close when the Clemenses were living in London in the late 1890s.  Stanley *was* committed to western imperialism as a so-called “civilizing” force, but Leopold pushed him out of the Congo enterprise in 1884, before the Berlin Conference, and did not fund his future expeditions. Sam did not denounce Stanley, but perhaps channeled disappointment over his friend’s involvement with Leopold into KLS.

Judith


Judith Yaross Lee, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emerita

School of Communication Studies • Ohio University  • Schoonover Center 400  • Athens, OH 45701
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My newest book: Seeing Mad: Essays on Mad Magazine’s Humor and Legacy (University of Missouri Press, October 2020)
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On May 15, 2021, at 9:34 AM, Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Twain rightfully hated King Leopold with a purple passion (see "King Leopold's Soliloquy") for his role in the deaths of millions of Africans.
In reading "King Leopold's Ghost : A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa" by Adam Hochschild, I see that Twain's friend Henry Morton Stanley assisted Leopold in his plundering of the Congo and ruthless exploitation of its people.
Was Twain ever aware of this? If not, why not? If he was, is there any record of his ever denouncing his old friend?
- B. Clay Shannon