Stanley doesn't merit a statue
The view that Stanley acted in Africa according to the standards of the times is no defence. Even if he didn't know better, we do
Daniel Waweru, Guardian UK

If the north Welsh town of Denbigh's choice of Henry Morton Stanley for a commemorative statue is ironic, given the trouble he took to hide his origins, it's hard to find a word for Tim Butcher's praise in the Telegraph for Stanley's bloody-mindedness, his loyalty to Africans, his loathing of the slave trade and his pioneering journeys.

The inconsistencies come early and often: Stanley is praised for opening the continent to future European exploration, he's praised for the consequences of his travels, but no blame is attached for his part in the disaster that was Leopold's rule in Congo, because it happened after he left. The double standard couldn't be more obvious, especially when one remembers that Stanley didn't just aid in Leopold's establishing his rule over Congo: he continued to defend the king after the scale of the devastation in Congo had been brought to both his and the public's attention by Roger Casement and Edmund Morel.......More