Letter from William MacKinnon to Henry Shelton Sanford (April 14, 1879)

Letter from William MacKinnon to Henry Shelton Sanford (April 14, 1879)

MacKinnon to Sanford (April 14, 1879)

MacKinnon, William, 1823-1893

Sanford, Henry Shelton, 1823-1891

Letter from Sir William MacKinnon (1823-1893) to Henry Shelton Sanford (1823-1891) dated April 14, 1879. The letter primary discussed various legal and economic matters concerning the Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo, an organization later replaced by the International Association of the Congo on November 17, 1879. In particular, MacKinnon considered the possibility of the new association being a "limited liability" entity. MacKinnon also discussed a scheme to acquire four Indian elephants. The elephants in question were part of a strategy meant to aid the transportation of a Belgian team tasked with exploring East Africa on behalf of King Leopold II of Belgium. The elephants were bought by the Belgian king and shipped from British India. Noting with some urgency, MacKinnon declared that if the elephants "are not got now I fear they would not come in for use by the present expedition." The letter closes with light references to the health of King Leopold and to the weather. One final remark served to intentionally stress MacKinnon's sentiments for the Belgian king. Noting King Leopold's "African schemes," MacKinnon emphasized to say, "I only wish I could do a very great deal more to show him how thoroughly I symphathise in the sentiments which prompt him to express so warmly the cause of poor down trodden Africa." Ultimately, the sentiments and actions described by MacKinnon and undertaken by King Leopold amounted to harsh colonization and exploitation of Central Africa cloaked under the guise of humanitarian aid. MacKinnon's self-conscious statements of flattery about the Belgian king relayed to Sanford reflects Sanford's central place amid the King's inner circle in Brussels.

Sir William MacKinnon was a Scottish ship-owner and businessman who established significant trade networks and commercial interests in British India and later in East Africa. Among other business ventures, he founded the British India Steam Navigation Company and the short-lived Imperial British East Africa Company. During his lifetime, he was one of the leading ship-owners in the British Empire. By the 1880s, he controlled more shipping tonnage than any other individual in Britain.

MacKinnon met Henry Shelton Sanford sometime in the late 1870s and the two began corresponding regularly in 1879. MacKinnon's interest in Sanford stemmed from the former American ambassador's close proximity to Leopold II and the Brussels inner-circle of businessmen, politicians, and diplomats. Sanford, living in a château in Brussels, provided a valuable lifeline for MacKinnon, who sought Belgian business connections to support his expanding commercial ventures, particularly in East Africa. He was a vital factor in the formation of the Florida Land and Colonization Company (FLCC), going so far as to lend Sanford £8,000 in early January 1880. He also played an essential role in helping Sanford court early participants in the investment plan. Many of the board members of the FLCC, like Edwyn Sandys Dawes (1838-1903), were close associates of MacKinnon. With his business ventures strongly tied to British and Belgian development schemes in Africa, MacKinnon had no ostensible interest in Florida land investment. His participation in Sanford's Florida ambitions was thus directly linked to his interest in maintaining strong relations with Sanford and his valuable connections in Belgium.

MacKinnon, William

Original letter from William MacKinnon to Henry Shelton Sanford, April 14, 1879: box 127, folder 2, subfolder 127.2.4, Henry Shelton Sanford Papers, General Henry S. Sanford Memorial Library, Sanford Museum, Sanford, Florida.

1879-04-14

Digital reproduction of original letter from William MacKinnon to Henry Shelton Sanford, April 14, 1879.

Box 127, folder 2, Henry Shelton Sanford Papers, General Henry S. Sanford Memorial Library, Sanford Museum, Sanford, Florida.

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7-page handwritten letter

eng

Text

Paris, France

Donation

History Teacher

Economics Teacher

Originally created by William MacKinnon.

Donated to the Connecticut Historical Society after 1901.

Loaned to the Tennessee State Library and Archives for processing until June 1, 1960.

Acquired by the General Henry S. Sanford Memorial Library, Sanford Museum in 1960.

The displayed collection item is housed at the General Henry S. Sanford Memorial Library, Sanford Museum in Sanford, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from the Sanford Museum to display this item for educational purposes only.

Fedorka, Drew M.

Fry, Joseph A. Henry S. Sanford: Diplomacy and Business in Nineteenth-Century America. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 1982.

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Munro, J. Forbes. Maritime Enterprise and Empire: Sir William MacKinnon and His Business Network, 1823-1893. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2003.

Munro, J. Forbes. “"Shipping Subsidies and Railway Guarantees" The Journal of African History 28, no. 2 (1987): 209-230.

Boulger, Demetrius Charles. The Congo State or, the Growth of Civilization in Central Africa. London: Thacker, 1898.

7-page handwritten letter