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Title: The Story of the Congo Free State : Racial, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Belgian System of Government in Central Africa
Author: Wack, Henry Wellington
Language: English
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[Illustration: King Leopold II.]
The Story
of the
Congo Free State
Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the
Belgian System of Government in
Central Africa
By
Henry Wellington Wack, F.R.G.S.
(Member of the New York Bar)
With 125 Illustrations and Maps
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1905
COPYRIGHT, 1905
BY
HENRY WELLINGTON WACK
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PREFACE
As a student of Mid-African affairs for the past seven years, and a
close observer of the rapid progress toward complete civilisation now
being made in that part of the world, I have felt it my duty to lay
before my countrymen the true and complete story of the conception,
formation, and development of the Congo Free State.
At a period of such bitter controversy concerning the government of
the Congo Free State as the present, it is necessary that I should
explain the circumstances under which I add this volume to the
literature of that subject.
During a residence of several years in the United Kingdom, I could
not fail to observe the growth there of an organised campaign against
the Congo Free State. That a small section of the British public,
interested in the rubber trade, should by subtle means seek to delude
or should even succeed in deluding, the great British nation so
completely as to obtain general credence for its stories of cruelty
and oppression alleged against King Leopold’s government failed to
move me. It was not my concern, while enjoying the hospitality of
England, to criticise the way in which her religious organisations
were being used to further the selfish aims of a small _clique_ of
Liverpool merchants. But when, within the past year, I perceived
that the campaign of calumny against the Congo Free State was
being extended to the United States, I could not longer regard the
phenomenon with a merely passive interest. It occurred to me that
my knowledge of Mid-African affairs might enable me to place before
the American people a complete statement of the actual facts of the
Congo Free State, and that my self-imposed task could not fail to be
of value at a time when interested partisans were endeavouring to
deceive them.
Having obtained an introduction to the King of the Belgians, I
informed his Majesty that I believed the American people would much
esteem the true history of the affairs of the Congo written by an
American, and that if his Majesty would grant me access to the
archives of the Administration of the Congo Free State in Brussels,
and leave me free to write the story of his enterprise in my own
way, absolutely without interference or suggestion from any of his
ministers or himself, I would undertake the task on my own account.
His Majesty, having considered my credentials and the nature of my
introduction, in due course informed me that all the documents in
the Congo Administration Office were open to my inspection. His
Majesty added that he had no fear but that the American people,
when informed of the truth about the Congo, would appreciate, as
he did, that the Congolese civilisation movement is the greatest
colonising success in the history of the world. I was admitted
into the offices of the Congo Administration and spent many weeks
there searching for, translating, and copying documents. Those which
had already been translated into English, I adopted in the form in
which I found them. When I left Brussels, I again indicated to his
Majesty’s ministers, and to his Majesty himself, that I should write
the story in my own way. I brought away many boxes of memoranda and
documents and at once began to work upon _The Story of the Congo
Free State_. I have not submitted the manuscript or proofs to any
person connected, either directly or indirectly, with his Majesty,
with the Congo Free State, or with the Belgian Government, neither
have I in any way communicated with his Majesty in reference to what
I have written. For all I know, his Majesty may entirely disapprove
of this history. I should, of course, regret exceedingly to learn
that I had displeased the royal host who had extended to me the
hospitality of his country during a long and interesting visit. But
as I am under no obligation whatever to the Congo officials, nor to
his Majesty, and as my original intention of writing an independent
history of the Congo was made quite clear to both, I regard myself as
absolved from blame should the King of the Belgians disapprove of the
straightforward story here presented.
That this story is true, I have satisfied myself in every particular.
It is the story of a great colonising undertaking founded upon modern
social science. It can hardly fail to interest the reader who admires
the courage and daring which small countries sometimes display in
extending their borders and establishing new markets.
Should this book in any way assist my countrymen in thinking out
the underlying motives in the campaign against the Congo, and bring
them to a knowledge of the real issues at stake, my labour will be
sufficiently rewarded.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge my obligation to the works of
Messrs. Stanley, Descamps, Boulger, Johnston, Cattier, and Wauters,
and to all who have kindly assisted me with information.
H. W. W.
NEW YORK, January 2, 1905.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE iii
I.—GENESIS OF MID-AFRICAN CIVILISATION 1
II.—STANLEY AND KING LEOPOLD II.’S CONCEPTION
OF THE CONGO FREE STATE 14
III.—FOUNDING OF THE CONGO FREE STATE 23
IV.—EARLY BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS 31
V.—THE WATERWAYS OF THE CONGO 42
VI.—THE STATE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 64
VII.—HORRORS OF THE ARAB SLAVE TRADE 83
VIII.—THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 92
IX.—THE ECONOMIC RÉGIME OF THE BERLIN
ACT 104
X.—AN APPEAL TO BELGIUM TO SUPPRESS THE
SLAVE TRADE 126
XI.—THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE 134
XII.—THE CONGO BEQUEATHED TO BELGIUM 145
XIII.—TRIBES OF THE CONGO STATE 151
XIV.—THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE 164
XV.—BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS 177
XVI.—BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS—(_Concluded_) 189
XVII.—THE SUPPRESSION OF SLAVERY 197
XVIII.—FRONTIERS AND DIPLOMATIC SETTLEMENTS 206
XIX.—THE BAHR-EL-GHAZAL AND THE NILE 211
XX.—MUTINIES OF THE BATETELA TRIBE 216
XXI.—DISPLACEMENT OF THE POPULATION 223
XXII.—THE STATE’S ADMINISTRATION: 228
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 231
NATIVE CHIEFTAINCIES 239
XXIII.—THE POSTAL, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE
SERVICE 243
XXIV.—NAVIGATION, RAILWAYS, ROADS 248
XXV.—SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, CIVILISING MEASURES 264
XXVI.—TRADE, REVENUE, AND TAXES 274
XXVII.—MISSIONS AND SCHOOLS 298
XXVIII.—STATE LANDS AND CONCESSIONS 308
XXIX.—THE NEMESIS OF LIBEL 340
XXX.—THE CONGO CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND 366
XXXI.—THE CONGO CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA 385
XXXII.—TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS 397
XXXIII.—TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS—(_Continued_) 411
XXXIV.—TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS—(_Continued_) 418
XXXV.—TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS—(_Concluded_) 424
XXXVI.—THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES 446
XXXVII.—SUMMARY, RETROSPECT, AND PROPHECY 472
APPENDIX
The Treaty of Vivi, 13th June, 1880 487
The Treaty of Manyanga, 12th August, 1882 488
The Treaty of Leopoldville, 29th April, 1883 489
The Treaty of Stephanieville, undated 490
Table of other Treaties, Districts ceded, and Stations
established by the International Association of the
Congo 491
Report from the Committee on Foreign Relations to the
Senate of the United States, March 26, 1884 (Senator
John T. Morgan, of Alabama), recommending
the recognition of the International African Association
as a friendly Government, with citations
from the history of the American colonies 492
An essay on “The Free Navigation of the Congo,” by
Sir Travers Twiss, taken from the _Revue de Droit
International_, 1883 502
An argument by Professor Arntz, citing numerous
authorities, on the question, Can Savage Tribes
cede their territory to Private Persons with the
Sovereign Rights appertaining thereto 516
For Treaty between the International Association of the
Congo and the United States, see Chapter IV.
The General Act of the Berlin Conference 530
Declaration of the General Act of the Brussels Conference,
July 2, 1890 552
Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation between
the United States and the Congo Free State, January
24, 1891 553
Protocol in which the United States ratifies the General
Act of the Brussels Conference, February 2, 1892 559
Dispatch from his Britannic Majesty’s Minister at
Brussels enclosing:
A Decree by the Sovereign of the Congo Free State
providing Settlements for native children orphaned
or abandoned, July 12, 1890 561
A Decree instituting a local Commission of Europeans
for the Protection of Natives, September 18, 1896 562
Official letter of instruction thereon from the Secretary
of State to the Governor-General at Boma, in
the Congo Free State, October 1, 1896 563
Letter of Governor-General Wahis to the Reverend
George Grenfell (British), of the Baptist Missionary
Society at Bolobo, transmitting Decree, December
26, 1896 565
Circular to all District Commissioners, Heads of Zones
and of Posts with regard to barbarous customs
prevailing among the native tribes, February 27,
1897 566
Letter from the Reverend George Grenfell to the
Governor-General, July 13, 1897 568
Co-ordinated text of various instructions respecting
relations between state officials and natives 569
Report of first meeting of Commission for Protection
of Natives, May 17, 1897 571
A Decree appointing additional members upon the
Commission for the Protection of Natives, March
23, 1901 572
The British Dispatch to European Powers calling attention
to charges alleged against the Congo Free
State, and inviting consideration thereof. August
8, 1903 573
Letter from Sir Constantine Phipps, his Britannic
Majesty’s Minister at Brussels, transmitting text of
the Note and its enclosures addressed by the Congo
Government to the Powers parties to the Act of
Berlin, replying to the British Dispatch of August
8, 1903 577
Rejoinder of the Congo Government to the Report,
dated December 11, 1903, of Mr. Roger Casement,
his Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Boma, wherein,
amongst others, charges of maltreatment of natives
are made. March 12, 1904 590
Memorandum on the part of the Congo Government
regretting that the British Foreign Office did not
deem it necessary to communicate to it previous
Consular Reports, the names of persons accused
and generally such specific information as would
enable the Congo Government to prosecute offenders,
etc., together with the remarks of the
Secretary-General of the Congo Free State upon
the debates in the British Parliament as to partitioning
that State between the Powers whose
possessions surround it. May 14, 1904 610
Features of the Land System in the African Colonies of
Germany, Great Britain, France, and Portugal 612
Concessionaires, Firms, and Trading Companies in the
Congo Free State 616
Officials of the Congo Free State 617
INDEX 619
ERRATA
Illustration, page 92, _read_ Basoko _for_ Baneko.
Illustration, page 130, _read_ Turumbus _for_ Barumbus.
Illustration, page 216, _read_ Commissary-General.
Illustration, page 226, _read_ House _for_ Mission.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
His Majesty Leopold II., King of the Belgians _Frontispiece_
(From a painting by Jef Leempoels.)
Native Huts Built of Leaves (Aruwimi) 4
Elephant Farm on the Bomokandi 8
Basongolo Chiefs (Lokandu) 12
House of Governor-General, Boma 14
The Congo at Lokandu 18
View of the Port of Leopoldville (Stanley Pool) 26
Making a Road (175 kilometres) for Automobiles
(Kwango) 30
A Saddle Ox, Kassai 34
European Travelling in the Uelle District 34
Native Employees of the State Waiting for Rations at
Boma 40
SS. _Leopoldville_ Bound for Boma 42
Departure of Commissioner-General Halfeyt, on Board
SS. _Stanley_, Stanleyville, 1899 46
Departure of SS. _Goodwill_ from Upoto 50
Bridge, 80 Metres (Kwilu) 58
State Pilot Barge, Banana 58
Taking Merchandise to the SS. _Leopoldville_ 66
State Post at Yankomi, near Basoko, Surrounded by
Palisade (Aruwimi) 72
Europeans at Stanleyville, 1902 78
Post-Office, Boma 80
Native Boys, Boma 82
Group of Yie-Yie Women (Uelle) 84
Types of Bearers (North Bank of Cataracts) 84
Native Potters at Work (Aruwimi) 88
Making Manioc Flour, Baneko (Aruwimi) 92
Native Musicians at Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai) 98
Market, near Boma 104
Government Park, Boma, 1904 110
Students of the State Technical School, New Antwerp
(Bangala) 118
Hospital, Boma 118
Bridge Made of Cement, Boma 126
Types of Barumbus (Stanley Falls) 130
Government Wagons 132
House of Vice-Governor-General, Stanleyville 134
Postmaster’s House, Suruango, 1904 134
A Street in Coquilhatville, 1896 (Equateur) 138
Camp on Line of Cataracts Railroad, Songololo 142
Return from the Hunt at Bumba (Bangala) 144
Baluba Chiefs 144
The Governor’s House, Ponthierville (Upper Congo) 146
European Houses at Coquilhatville (Equateur) 148
Specimens of Hair-dressing among Women of the Sango
Tribe, Banzyville (Ubanghi) 150
Cicatrised Batetela Woman (Lualaba-Kassai) 150
Funeral at Bumba (Bangala) 152
Women Beating Rice, Uelle 154
Tribunal at Boma. Sentencing a Native to Death for
Cannibalism Committed in the Upper Congo 156
Batetela Women (Lualaba-Kassai) 158
Kassai Women Returning from Market 158
African Belles. Hair-dressing of Sango Women at Banzyville,
1894 (Ubanghi) 160
Bangala Women 162
Bakusu Chiefs, Stanleyville 162
Group of Warriors, Djabbir 164
Coffins for Native Chiefs, Wangata, 1897 (Equateur) 164
Native Making Butter at his Home in Botandana
(Kivu) 166
A Bangala Chief, with his Harem 166
Native Canoes, Lower Congo 170
Fishermen, Uvvia 170
Uelle Chief and his Wives, Van Kerckhovenville 172
Port of Leopoldville. Natives at Work 172
Tailors’ School, New Antwerp (Bangala) 174
Steam Saw-Mill, Boma 176
Camp of Bangalas, Stanleyville 178
Types of Lokélés, Jafungas (Oriental Province) 180
Review of Troops by Governor-General at New Antwerp 184
Soldiers’ Mess, Suruango, 1903 (Uelle) 186
Soldiers’ Wives, Bumba 186
The White Man’s Cemetery, Stanleyville 188
Hospital, New Antwerp 188
An Avenue at Boma 190
Office of Secretary-General, Boma 192
Post-Office on River Bank, Boma 192
Bishop’s Palace, Mission of Our Lady of M’Pala (Tanganyika) 196
Office of Director of Transport, Boma 196
Cattle, Luvungy (Kivu) 200
Various Mounts, Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai) 200
Grand Hotel, Boma 203
Native Ploughing in Botanical Garden at Ealer (Equateur) 206
The Old Covered Market at Boma 210
Commissariat of the District of Banana, 1893 212
King Nekuku and his Suite at Boma 214
Regiment of Commissioner-General Halfeyt, Stanleyville 216
State Officials at Ponthierville 220
Saddle Ox, Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai) 220
Bird’s-eye View of the Station at Basoko, 1893 222
Dutch Mission, Banana 226
Bishop’s Palace at Baudouinville (Oriental Province) 228
Children of the Settlement School, Boma 234
In the State Printing Office at Boma. Natives Laying-on
and Taking-off 238
Natives Working Sewing Machines at Kisantu 242
Children of the Settlement Drilling at New Antwerp,
1896 (Bangala) 246
Zappo-Zapp Musicians, Luluabourg 250
Band of Government Technical School, Boma 256
Coffee Plantation at Yalicombe (Oriental Province) 258
Shelling Coffee, Stanleyville 270
Making Baskets for Transportation of Rubber (Kassai) 272
Collecting Rubber in Forest of Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai) 280
Church and Rectory, Matadi 286
Native Carpenters at Work, Mission of New Antwerp, 1897 294
Orphans Praying at St. Truden (Kassai) 302
Children of the Settlement School at Boma Praying 308
Mission of the White Fathers, Tanganyika 314
The Mission, Moanda 320
Missionary Necropolis, Luluabourg 328
Franciscan Sisters at the Mission of St. Gabriel of the
Falls (Oriental Province) 336
Native Christians of the Village of Our Lady of Lourdes,
near the Mission of Luluabourg, 1897 344
Drying Rubber in the Forest (Kassai) 348
Mission Children at New Antwerp 358
A Beautiful Spot in Mayumbe 366
Interior of Cathedral, Baudouinville (Tanganyika) 374
Sisters of New Antwerp Teaching Natives to Weave 374
Building a Bridge for the Cataracts Railroad, 1897 382
Christian Child, New Antwerp (Bangala) 390
Fetich-Idol, Lower Congo 390
Coffee-Drying Grounds, Coquilhatville (Equateur) 398
Bakusu Woman (Lualaba-Kassai) 398
Village near Coquilhatville. A Native Attempt to Copy
the European Style 406
Melting Latex of Rubber in Forest of Lusambo (Lusambo-Kassai) 412
Soldiers’ Mess at Coquilhatville (Equateur) 420
Public Library, Matadi 420
The Station at Bumba 426
Convent of Franciscans of St. Gabriel of the Falls
(Oriental Province) 434
Prison, with Carpenter’s Shop, at New Antwerp (Bangala) 446
Native Planter’s House, near Stanley Falls 446
Mission of New Antwerp (Bangala) 460
The Sultan Djabbir 482
Father Kisouru of the New Antwerp Mission (Bangala) 482
MAPS.
Outline Map of Africa 1
Map of Central Africa At end
[Illustration: Outline Map of Africa]
THE STORY OF
THE CONGO FREE STATE
CHAPTER I
GENESIS OF MID-AFRICAN CIVILISATION
[Sidenote: An Empire in Embryo.]
The decline and fall of great empires has ever been a fascinating
subject of study, congenial alike to students of widely diverse
opinions and pursuits; yet it must be clear to all that in human
interest the breaking up of an empire is as nothing when compared
with its founding. The reason is, probably, that so little is known
of the origin of great national communities. The United States
is almost alone among nations in respect that its growth, from
its inception to its mature ultimate triumph, has been watched by
keenly observant eyes, and every particular of its perilous progress
carefully recorded. But when the future historian, with comprehensive
appreciation impossible in a contemporary, reviews the events of the
last quarter of the nineteenth century, one fact will stand well
out before him, a unique and very potent fact, fraught with vast
possibilities for the future—none other than the founding, by the
wisdom of a kingly philanthropist, of a humanitarian, civilising,
free political state in the very heart of savage and cannibalistic
Africa.
Consider for a moment how the great Congo Free State has been evolved
out of a group of warring tribes (in part cannibal), and inquire
what manner of man is Leopold II., King of the Belgians, alone
responsible for this wondrous transformation; and who even now, when
weight of years and record of achievement might well entitle him to
repose, works on bravely, through good and through ill report, for
the prosperity and happiness of the twenty-odd million Africans who
acknowledge him for their Sovereign.
Thirty-six years ago, when the present Sovereign of the Congo Free
State succeeded his father as King of the Belgians, and became known
to the world as Leopold II., Africa was generally referred to as the
“Dark Continent.” At that period, and for long after, even the most
optimistic of statesmen failed to perceive in those vast regions any
promising outlet for the congested populations of the Old World, or
possible markets for their manufactures. Diamonds, small in quantity
and of indifferent quality, had, it is true, been discovered in the
southernmost part of that continent, in a region already appropriated
by the British. Gold, also, was thought to exist there, but not in
paying quantities; while the deadliness of the African climate to
Europeans, in all save a few favoured sections, was an universally
accepted article of faith.
Foremost among the small band of thinkers who totally dissented
from this view was Leopold II., King of the Belgians. A young man
of extraordinarily fine physique, an accomplished linguist, widely
read and travelled, and holding advanced liberal views in all matters
pertaining to statecraft and social science, King Leopold had early
the prescience to perceive in Africa the means to uplift some twenty
or more millions of the Negro race from debased savagery to peaceful
civilisation, and at the same time and by the same means—the latter
a necessarily accompanying incident of the former—found a colony
for the surplus population of the small State of which he is King;
Belgium being then, as now, the most densely populated of European
countries, its people almost entirely dependent on the sale abroad of
the products of their industry.
Bold and original ideas rarely find much favour when first presented
to the world. The bulk of mankind is conservative; it thinks of
yesterday, is oppressed by the troubles of to-day, and lets to-morrow
take care of itself. At first, where King Leopold’s ideas for the
regeneration of Africa attracted any attention at all, they were
regarded with bland smiles as utopian visions, more creditable to the
heart than to the head of the princely visionary. But true genius,
though it may be hampered and delayed in its onward march, is not to
be extinguished either by active opposition or cold indifference. Of
such calibre is King Leopold, or there would to-day be no Congo Free
State, nor what some past-masters in the obscuration of the obvious
are sometimes pleased to call “the Congo Question.”
[Sidenote: A Prophetic Sentence.]
[Sidenote: Gladstone’s Choice.]
So long ago as 1860, King Leopold, then Duke of Brabant, in a speech
delivered before the Belgian Senate, said: “I claim for Belgium her
share of the sea,”—apparently a plain and colourless utterance, but
really the expression of a vital interest for his country, for which
no market spells extinction, and no political power but on Belgian
soil means no market for Belgian goods. In 1860 the attention of
mankind was just beginning to turn to Africa. Two years before,
Sir Richard Burton and Captain Speke had startled geographers by
discovering Lake Tanganyika, a revelation to be soon afterwards
eclipsed by the further discovery of the sources of the Nile and
Lake Victoria, by Speke and Grant. About the same time Sir Samuel
Baker, then in the service of the Khedive of Egypt, discovered Lake
Albert. The travellers whose fortune it was to make these important
discoveries had been preceded by the intrepid Dr. Livingstone, whose
marvellous energies on behalf of civilisation and Christianity were,
however, chiefly confined to the Zambesi Valley until the year
1866, when he first entered the Congo region and further enhanced
his already great reputation by discovering the lakes Moero and
Bangweolo. Then came the discovery of Livingstone—himself so long
lost to his anxious countrymen—by Henry M. Stanley. That was in 1871,
when the armed hosts of France and Germany were engaged in a death
struggle, and led Mr. Gladstone to remark:
The eyes of all the world are bent toward the bloody
battle-fields of France; but I prefer to regard those almost
impenetrable African wilds where a small band of men, whose numbers
may be counted on the fingers of one hand, add year by year to our
knowledge of those little-known regions, carrying with them the
blessings of civilisation and of truth, heralding the extinction of
what for so many ages has been the world’s curse—slavery.
[Illustration: Native Huts Built of Leaves (Aruwimi).]
Gladstone was right. To all civilised peoples, but specially to men
of Anglo-Saxon speech—Englishmen, who had given lavishly of their
millions to free the slaves held in their colonies; Americans,
who had poured out their blood like water in a similar cause—the
accounts given by explorers and missionaries of the horrors of the
slave trade, rampant in Central Africa, were as the smell of powder
to the war-horse. Only a few people are interested in geography as
a science. A vastly greater number are affected by a widening of
the area for trade. But the effectual suppression of slavery is
a question that comes home to everybody. No one can stand aside,
indifferent to it. The ghastly horrors of the murderous raids made by
the remorseless Arab slave-traders upon defenceless Central African
villages, so graphically described by travellers, thrilled the
civilised world. No effort was needed now to direct public attention
to Africa. Africa loomed large in men’s minds; and the question of
slavery, fondly thought to be for ever laid at rest by the tremendous
conflict in America in the early sixties, again became a vital
problem.
[Sidenote: King Leopold’s Main Object.]
Of the numerous activities which distinguish the character of
Leopold II., philanthropy has the greater force. Much that is quite
incontrovertible might be urged in support of this statement; but
this is neither the place nor time to argue that matter. Suffice it
to say here that upon no one did the revelations as to the methods
of capture and subsequent treatment of Central African slaves make a
deeper impression than upon King Leopold. As a lifelong student of
Africa, and a geographer of rare attainments, in personal touch with
all the authorities on the subject, his information was as accurate
and complete as it was possible for it to be. Though the great
European governments had compelled the Khedive of Egypt to exert
himself to the utmost to repress slave-trading on the Upper Nile, and
the complaisant Egyptian ruler had appointed first one Englishman and
then another (Sir Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon, the latter being
the ill-fated General of that name) to administer the government of
the Soudan, and some good resulted, it was well known to King Leopold
that south of the Equator to the Zambesi the slave trade continued to
be prosecuted as vigorously as it had ever been in the remote past.
How might the evil be stamped out? Or, if such a consummation were
too much to hope for within the immediate future, how best might the
evil be checked? In considering these questions, King Leopold very
rightly concluded that the more thorough the knowledge of Central
Africa possessed by Europeans the greater the possibility of success
in their efforts to ameliorate the awful misery of its people.
Imbued with these views, King Leopold in 1876 called the attention
of the principal geographical societies throughout the world to the
conditions then prevailing in Central Africa, and invited all expert
geographers of international reputation to confer in Brussels. The
circular letter of King Leopold convening this Conference, though
perfectly explicit in its terms, has, in light of subsequent events,
been so distorted to serve personal interests, that no excuse is
necessary for reproducing its exact words:
In almost every country [wrote King Leopold], a lively interest
is taken in the geographical discoveries recently made in Central
Africa. The English, the Americans, the Germans, the Italians,
and the French have taken part in their different degrees in this
generous movement. These expeditions are the response to an idea
eminently civilising and Christian: to abolish slavery in Africa,
to pierce the darkness that still envelops that part of the world,
while recognising the resources which appear immense—in a word, to
pour into it the treasures of civilisation: such is the object of
this modern crusade. Hitherto the efforts made have been without
accord, and this has given rise to the opinion, held especially
in England, that those who pursue a common object should confer
together to regulate their march, to establish some landmarks, to
delimit the regions to be explored, so that no enterprise may be
done twice over. I have recently ascertained in England that the
principal members of the Geographical Society of London are very
willing to meet at Brussels the Presidents of the Geographical
Societies of the Continent, and those other persons who, by their
travels, studies, philanthropic tastes, and charitable instincts,
are the most closely identified with the efforts to introduce
civilisation into Africa. This reunion will give rise to a sort of
conference, the object of which would be to discuss in common the
actual situation in Africa, to establish the results attained, to
define those which have to be attained.
[Sidenote: An Historic Conference.]
In cordially accepting King Leopold’s invitation, the six great
nations of Europe selected their most distinguished geographers and
travellers to represent them. Great Britain sent five delegates, all
men of distinction in African affairs, Germany sent four, France
three, Austria two, Russia one, and Italy one. Belgium had eleven
representatives, among them the accomplished Baton Lambermont. The
Conference, which lasted three days, was convened in the royal palace
at Brussels on September 12, 1876. It was opened by King Leopold in
person. The speech made by his Majesty on that occasion follows so
naturally his invitation to the assembled gentlemen that it might
almost be mistaken for a continuation of that document. The reason
for quoting the former now applies to the following exact translation
of the King’s speech:
“Gentlemen,” said his Majesty, “permit me to thank you warmly for
the amiable promptness with which you have been kind enough to come
here at my invitation. Besides the satisfaction that I shall have in
hearing you discuss here the problems in the solution of which we are
interested, I experience the liveliest sense of pleasure in meeting
the distinguished men whose works and valorous efforts on behalf of
civilisation I have followed for many years.
[Illustration: Elephant Farm on the Bomokandi.]
“The subject which brings us together to-day is one that deserves
in the highest degree to engage the attention of the friends of
humanity. To open to civilisation the only part of the globe where
it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness enshrouding entire
populations, that is, if I may venture to say so, a crusade worthy of
this century of progress; and I am happy to discover how much public
sentiment is in favour of its accomplishment. The current is with us.
“Gentlemen, among those who have most closely studied Africa, a
good many have been led to think that there would be advantage to
the common object they pursue if they could be brought together for
the purpose of conference with the object of regulating the march,
combining the efforts, deriving some profit from all circumstances,
and from all resources, and finally, in order to avoid doing the same
work twice over.
“It has appeared to me that Belgium, a central and a neutral state,
would be a spot well chosen for such a reunion, and it is this view
which has emboldened me to call you all here, to my home, for the
little Conference that I have the great satisfaction of opening
to-day. Is it necessary for me to say to you that in inviting you I
have not been guided by egotistic views? No, gentlemen; if Belgium
is small, she is happy and satisfied with her lot. I have no other
ambition but to serve her well. But I will not go so far as to
declare that I should be insensible to the honour which would result
for my country if an important forward movement in a question which
will mark our epoch should be dated from Brussels. I should be happy
that Brussels should become in some way the headquarters of this
civilising movement.
“I have, then, allowed myself to believe that it would be convenient
to you to come together to discuss and to specify, with the
authority belonging to you, the means to be employed in order to
plant definitely the standard of civilisation on the soil of Central
Africa, to agree as to what should be done to interest the public
in your noble enterprise, and to induce it to support you with its
money. For, gentlemen, in works of this kind it is the concurrence
of the greater number that makes success; it is the sympathy of the
masses which it is necessary to solicit, and to know how to obtain.
“With what resources should we not, in fact, be endowed if every one
for whom a franc is little or nothing consented to throw it into
the coffers destined for the suppression of the slave trade in the
interior of Africa!
“Great progress has been already accomplished; the unknown has
been attacked from many sides; and if those here present, who have
enriched science with such important discoveries, would describe
for us the principal points, their exposition would afford us all a
powerful encouragement.
“Among the questions which have still to be examined have been cited:
“1. The precise designation of the basis of operation to be acquired
on the coast of Zanzibar, and near the mouth of the Congo, either by
conventions with the chiefs, or by purchase or leases from private
persons.
“2. Designation of the routes to be opened in their order towards
the interior, and of the stations—hospitable, scientific, and
pacifying—to be organised, as the means of abolishing slavery, of
establishing concord among the chiefs, of procuring for them just and
distinguished judges, etc.
“3. The creation—the work being well defined—of an International
and Central Committee, and of National Committees to prosecute the
execution, each in what will directly concern it, by placing the
object before the public of all countries, and by making an appeal to
the charitable that no good cause has ever addressed in vain.
“Such are, gentlemen, the different points which seem to merit your
attention. If there are others, they will appear in the course of
your discussions, and you will not fail to throw light on them.
“My desire is to serve, as you shall point out to me, the great cause
for which you have already done so much. I place myself at your
disposal for this purpose, and offer you a cordial welcome.”
The object of the Conference, thus clearly outlined by the King, was
loyally adhered to by the delegates, their discussions being strictly
confined to geography and philanthropy, nothing political or personal
obtruding itself upon their deliberations. At the close of its three
days’ session the Conference submitted to King Leopold the following
declaration upon its labours:
In order to attain the object of the International Conference of
Brussels—that is to say, to explore scientifically the unknown
parts of Africa, to facilitate the opening of the routes which
shall enable civilisation to penetrate into the interior of the
African Continent, to discover the means for the suppression of the
slave trade among the Negro race in Africa—it is necessary:
(1) To organise on a common international plan the exploration
of the unknown parts of Africa, by limiting the regions to be
explored—on the east and on the west by the two oceans, the Indian
and the Atlantic, on the south by the basin of the Zambesi, on
the north by the frontiers of the new Egyptian territory and the
independent Soudan. The most appropriate mode of effecting this
exploration will be the employment of a sufficient number of
detached travellers, starting from different bases of operation.
(2) To establish, as bases for these operations, a certain number
of scientific and hospitable stations both on the coasts and in the
interior of Africa—for example, at Bagamoyo and Loanda, as well as
at Ujiji, Nyangwe, and other points already known, which it would
be necessary to connect by intermediate stations.
[Sidenote: The Outcome of the Conference.]
In accordance with the recommendation contained in this declaration
of the Brussels Geographical Conference, “The International
Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa”
was formed, consisting of an International Commission sitting in
Brussels, assisted by dependent National Committees in each country.
The executive power of the International Association was vested in an
Executive Committee, of which King Leopold was appointed President.
When the British Government selected Sir Bartle Frere for the
Governorship of the Cape, it became necessary for him to resign his
position as a member of the Executive Committee, the vacancy thus
created being filled by an American, General Sanford, for many
years United States Minister at Brussels.
[Illustration: Basongolo Chiefs, (Lokandu).]
The idea of an International Association for the Exploration and
Civilisation of Central Africa, to which the Brussels Geographical
Conference had given birth, at once began to grow, and flourished
amazingly. Not only were influential committees formed in those
countries which had sent delegates to the Conference, but in other
countries as well, the United States among them.
To show how keen general interest in the civilisation of Central
Africa had now become, it is only necessary to cite a few instances
of the powerful support given to the National Committees. In Spain,
the King; in Austria, the Archduke Rudolph, heir to the Austrian
throne; in Holland, Prince Henry of the Netherlands; in Belgium,
the Count of Flanders, brother of the King; all became Presidents
of their respective National Committees. Philanthropists, men of
science, all who were in any way interested in the world’s progress
towards better things, accorded ungrudging support to the work set in
motion by King Leopold.
The civilisation of Central Africa had now begun in earnest.
CHAPTER II
STANLEY, AND KING LEOPOLD II.’S CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO FREE STATE
[Sidenote: Belgian Enterprise.]
In every case the National Committees of the International
Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa
displayed extraordinary activity; but, as was to be expected, their
rate of progress was measured by the Belgian Committee, which met,
for the first time, on the 6th of November, 1876, in Brussels, just
six weeks after the close of the Brussels Geographical Conference
which had decreed its existence. As was fitting in the circumstances,
King Leopold was present at the meeting, and delivered upon that
occasion a speech which may be regarded as an amplification of his
Majesty’s previous pronouncements on the situation, now in some
measure become political, in Central Africa.
“Gentlemen,” said King Leopold, “the slave trade, which still exists
over a large part of the African Continent, is a plague-spot that
every friend of civilisation would desire to see disappear.”
[Illustration: House of Governor-General, Boma.]
“The horrors of that traffic, the thousands of victims massacred each
year through the slave trade, the still greater number of perfectly
innocent beings who, brutally reduced to captivity, are condemned
_en masse_ to forced labour in perpetuity, have deeply moved all
those who have even partially studied this deplorable situation,
and concerting, in a word, for the founding of an International
Association to put an end to an odious traffic which makes our epoch
blush, and to tear aside the veil of darkness which still enshrouds
Central Africa. The discoveries due to daring explorers permit us
to say from this day that it is one of the most beautiful and the
richest countries created by God.
“The Conference of Brussels has nominated an Executive Committee to
carry into execution its declaration and resolutions.
“The Conference has wished, in order to place itself in closer
relationship with the public, whose sympathy will constitute
our force, to found, in each State, National Committees. These
Committees, after delegating two members from each of them to form
part of the International Committee, will popularise in their
respective countries the adopted programme.
“The work has already obtained in France and Belgium important
subscriptions, which make us indebted to the donors. These acts of
charity, so honourable to those who have rendered them, stimulate our
zeal in the mission we have undertaken. Our first task should be to
touch the hearts of the masses, and, while increasing our numbers,
to gather in a fraternal union, little onerous for each member but
powerful and fruitful by the accumulation of individual efforts and
their results.
“The International Association does not pretend to reserve for
itself all the good that could or ought to be done in Africa. It
ought, especially at the commencement, to forbid itself a too
extensive programme. Sustained by public sympathy, we hold the
conviction that, if we accomplish the opening of the routes, if we
succeed in establishing stations along the routes followed by the
slave merchants, this odious traffic will be wiped out, and that
these routes and these stations, while serving as fulcrums for
travellers, will powerfully contribute towards the evangelisation of
the blacks, and towards the introduction among them of commerce and
modern industry.
“We boldly affirm that all those who desire the enfranchisement of
the black races are interested in our success.
“The Belgian Committee, emanating from the International Committee,
and its representative in Belgium, will exert every means to procure
for the work the greatest number of adherents. It will assist my
countrymen to prove once more that Belgium is not only a hospitable
soil, but that she is also a generous nation, among whom the cause of
humanity finds as many champions as she has citizens.
“I discharge a very agreeable duty in thanking this assembly, and
in warmly congratulating it for having imposed on itself a task the
accomplishment of which will gain for our country another brilliant
page in the annals of charity and progress.”
We have here, in his Majesty’s own words, a very lucid and reiterated
exposition of King Leopold’s main object in concerning himself with
Central African affairs—the suppression of the slave trade, with
consequent moral and material advancement of its peoples. But let it
not be lost sight of that, subsidiary to this lofty mission, King
Leopold has never disavowed—nay, his Majesty had more than once
expressly declared it—his desire to find in Africa new markets for
Belgian manufactures, and a wide field for the surplus population
of overcrowded little Belgium, where his people might live and
where their peculiar genius in the arts and sciences might flourish
unfettered by alien laws.
[Sidenote: Old Beliefs Disproved.]
The experience of recent travellers, and particularly of Livingstone
and Stanley, had demonstrated the truth of what had hitherto always
been disbelieved, viz., that it was possible for the white man to
live and maintain his health in Central Africa. This fact alone was
of vast importance; but when was added to it proof that the country
was fertile, with immense natural sources of wealth, needing only
the brain and hand of civilised man to tap them, a prosperous future
for the country was assured. England, France, and Portugal, but
notably England, had already claimed large sections of Africa for
their own, and Italy and Germany—especially Germany—were feverishly
anxious to follow suit. But it is doubtful if among all the students
of the African problem—and they numbered among them the ablest of
every nation—there was at this period another man with prescience
to foresee, as we now know King Leopold must have foreseen, the
illimitable possibilities of Central Africa. Indeed it is tolerably
certain that had the great nations realised the potential value
of this region, their cupidity would never have permitted them to
allow its sovereignty to become vested in any single individual
with claim to it based upon anything except irresistible material
force. King Leopold’s claim, as we have already partly seen, and
as will presently be fully demonstrated, had for its foundation a
long-cherished and active philanthropic interest in the welfare of
its natives, chiefly in the form of the suppression of slavery;
the expenditure, out of his Majesty’s private purse, of large sums
of money for exploration, establishment of route stations, etc.;
and generally for calling the attention of the civilised world to
a little-known and less-cared-for region commonly thought to be
worthless.
[Illustration: The Congo at Lokandu.]
Bacon asserts, in his _Advancement of Learning_, that “States are
great engines moving slowly,” and from the beginning of the world
until long past the English philosopher’s time, the axiom was true;
but we of the twentieth century inhabit a world as unlike the world
that Bacon lived in as modern New York is unlike the city that
Washington Irving described under that name. The teeming millions
of Europe are ever more and more perplexed by the problem of how to
live, and not a day passes but the cruel competition of life waxes
fiercer and hotter. New lands, new markets, _must_ be found—the
social pressure in the older nations demands it as a prime necessity.
Therefore comes it that States are no longer “engines moving slowly.”
On the contrary, they move very rapidly; and as all the fat lands of
the earth have already been appropriated, future trouble seems not
improbable. John Bull, early in the field, worked hard painting the
map red, and now it is not possible to get far away from one or other
of his frontiers. The British colossus has many imitators; but these
started in the game late, when most of the prizes had been won.
[Sidenote: Universal Land Hunger.]
No sooner was it perceived that the Congo region of Central Africa
is a valuable possession, than France set up her flag on the Congo,
at Brazzaville. The Portuguese, rummaging in their musty archives
for traces of their past glory, set up a claim to the Congo River
because one of her navigators had discovered the mouth of it five
hundred years ago. Germany, too, now exhibited her desire for
huge territories in East Africa, and did not betray any marked
scrupulousness as to whose rights were invaded in obtaining them.
With such neighbours pressing closely upon him, it was no more than
natural that King Leopold should cast about him how best he might
preserve inviolate the great country to which he had so lavishly
devoted his time and money; and he finally conceived the idea of a
Congo Free State, with himself as its Sovereign ruler. Without some
such clear recognition of Congo territory, and of his own personal
rights in respect of it, it was abundantly clear that the first would
be filched and the second ignored. For King Leopold to proclaim
himself Sovereign ruler of the Congo region was, of course, not
sufficient. It would be necessary to secure the assent to that course
of all the great Powers interested.
It was a momentous time. While the French were establishing
themselves on Stanley Pool, Stanley the man was working in the
interests of King Leopold, travelling through the Congo country,
buying land here and there, establishing stations, and making
treaties in the King’s name with native chiefs.
The French regarded Stanley’s proceedings with jealous distrust,
and in France the question was raised whether the International
Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa
ought to be permitted to exercise sovereign rights. That history
furnished examples of corporate bodies exercising sovereign
authority was acknowledged, but there was a large party in France
which insistently asserted that no such right pertained to the
International Association.
The situation was very complicated. If King Leopold recognised the
preposterous claim of Portugal over the mouth of the Congo River, the
entire region in which he was interested would be without a free way
to the sea, a fatal bar to its proper development.
To deal with Portugal in this matter, even supposing her alleged
right to be well founded, would have presented no insuperable
difficulty; poor nations like poor individuals being ever open to
sell their commodities at something more than their market value. But
just at this juncture an unexpected act on the part of Great Britain
added enormously to the difficulty. Lord Granville, at that time
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, after having refused
to recognise any right by Portugal over the mouth of the Congo, in
return for concessions granted by Portugal to Britain elsewhere, now
recognised those claims in an extended form.
This Anglo-Portuguese Convention, made on the 26th of February,
1884, had it been carried out, would have killed at one blow the
International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of
Central Africa, and all King Leopold’s cherished dreams would have
evaporated like mists before the sun.
[Sidenote: John Bull Complaisant.]
But the good work done by King Leopold was not fated to be so
ignominiously extinguished. France and Germany combined to denounce
the Convention; and even with the British public it was very
unpopular, as hard things being said of it in the British Parliament
and press as any uttered in Belgium. King Leopold appealed to the
British Government to suspend the ratification of the Convention,
urging the despatch of a British mission to the West Coast to
examine the validity of the treaties made between his Majesty’s
representatives and native chiefs in that part of the Congo country
which the Convention proposed to acknowledge as Portuguese territory.
The British Government granted the King’s request, and despatched
General Sir Frederic Goldsmid to the Congo. The result was a
complete triumph for King Leopold, General Goldsmid reporting to
his Government that the treaties were in perfect order and that the
allegations of the Portuguese were baseless. That was the end of the
Anglo-Portuguese Convention.
Though the Anglo-Portuguese Convention was dead, and nothing remained
to fear from it, the incident served to emphasise the great and
growing necessity for endowing the Congo region with a clearer and
more definite political status than it yet possessed. There were
not wanting other, and happier, incidents pointing the same moral.
On April 22, 1884, the United States officially recognised the flag
of the International Association as that of a friendly Government,
in which course it was soon after followed by France, though the
latter country made it a condition of its acknowledgment that the
Association would never alienate any of its territory without France
having the right of pre-emption. Germany, entering upon joint action
with France for the first time since the war of 1870, concurred in
recognising the International Association as an independent and
friendly State; and on the very day that she gave her adherence to
it, she invited, through Prince Bismarck, all the Powers interested
in the future of Africa to confer in Berlin with the object of
regulating African affairs. The invitation was accepted by fourteen
nations, whose representatives met under circumstances to be
presently described, and gave reality to the grand idea, conceived
long before by Henry Morton Stanley and Leopold II., King of the
Belgians, of a Congo Free State.
CHAPTER III
FOUNDING OF THE CONGO FREE STATE
[Sidenote: The Great Nations Agree.]
On the 15th day of November, 1884, the International Conference,
convened by Prince Bismarck to regulate what that statesman termed
“the African question,” held its first meeting. It took place in
Berlin, Prince Bismarck presiding. In briefly outlining the object
of the Conference, the distinguished president exhibited in no small
degree that condensation and lucidity for which his utterances were
remarkable.
The Imperial Government [said Prince Bismarck] has been guided
by the conviction that all the Governments invited here share
the desire to associate the natives of Africa with civilisation,
by opening up the interior of that continent to commerce,
by furnishing the natives with the means of instruction, by
encouraging missions and enterprises so that useful knowledge
may be disseminated, and by paving the way to the suppression of
slavery, and especially of the slave trade among the blacks, the
gradual abolition of which was declared to be, as far back as the
Vienna Congress in 1814, the sacred duty of all the Powers. The
interest which all the civilised nations take in the material
development of Africa assures their co-operation in the task of
regulating the commercial relations with that part of the world.
The course followed for a number of years in the relations of
the Western Powers with the countries of Eastern Asia having up
to this moment given the best results by restraining commercial
rivalry within the limits of legitimate competition, the Government
of His Majesty the German Emperor has considered it possible to
recommend to the Powers to apply to Africa, in the form appropriate
to that continent, the same regimen, founded on the equality of the
rights and the solidarity of the interests of all the commercial
nations.
Proceeding, Prince Bismarck declared that the main object of the
Conference was the opening up to all the world of Central Africa.
He rejoiced that France was in perfect accord with Germany in this
matter. The first thing to be considered in this matter was, he
thought, how best to establish freedom of trade at the mouth and
in the basin of the Congo. On that subject the German Government
had formulated a plan, drawn as a declaration, designed to assure
freedom of trade in that region, with equal rights for all
nations,—monopolies and preferential duties for none.
Prince Bismarck was followed by the British representative, Sir
Edward Malet. No other Power in the world, said Sir Edward, had done
so much on behalf of the objects that the German Government affected
to have at heart as Great Britain; and he went on to point out that
the warm support of his country and Government might be relied upon
for proposals which had always formed part of their policy. He hoped
that the attention of the Conference would not be devoted entirely
to commerce, and that the welfare of native races would receive
attention. Freedom of trade should be restricted to legitimate
articles of trade, or the natives would lose more than they gained.
He apprehended that the chief difficulty of the Conference would
be, not to secure its unanimous adherence to general principles,
but to provide means for carrying those principles into effect. It
was certainly desirable to establish the validity of effective new
occupations on the coasts of Africa.
The Portuguese representative claimed for his country the honour of
having introduced the elements of civilisation into Africa, and saw
in an increase of commerce in that part of the world the assurance
of peace and respect for the rights of humanity. The American
representative contented himself by calling attention to the part his
country had taken in the opening of Central Africa, and referred with
pride to the achievements of Stanley, congratulating his countrymen
on being first to recognise the good work accomplished by that great
philanthropist, the King of the Belgians. The practical business,
however, of the sitting, was the question, “What territories
constitute the basin of the Congo and its affluents?” This being a
matter less easily disposed of, it was referred to a Commission of
eight experts selected by the eight Powers chiefly interested in its
solution.
The Commission of eight reported to the Conference at its third
sitting as follows:
The Basin of the Congo is delimited by the crests of the contiguous
basins, to wit, the basins in particular of the Niari, the Ogowe,
the Schari, and the Nile, on the north; by the Lake Tanganyika, on
the east; by the crests of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge,
on the south. It comprises consequently all the territories drained
by the Congo and its affluents, including Lake Tanganyika and its
eastern tributaries.
This report seems as explicit as it well could be, and after
much discussion and some slight modifications it was adopted.
Baron Lambermont (Belgium) presented a report upon the best means
of safeguarding the welfare of the native races, treating with
remarkable ability of slavery, the importation of alcohol into the
Congo country, and other dangers that threaten uncivilised races
at their first contact with civilisation. Count Van der Straeten
Ponthoz (Belgium) spoke even more vigorously to the same effect,
and between them these two Belgian subjects of King Leopold showed
themselves more solicitous for the welfare of the Congo native than
the representative of any other nationality present.
The International Conference held its tenth and last sitting
on the 26th of February, 1885. As on the occasion of its first
sitting, Prince Bismarck presided. The drafting of the final act
of the Conference was ably performed by Baron Lambermont. The
representatives of the Powers assembled at Berlin signed conventions
with the International Association, acknowledging it as a friendly
and sovereign State whose flag—a golden five-pointed star on a blue
banner—they agreed henceforth to recognise.
[Illustration: View of the Port of Leopoldville (Stanley Pool).]
I am sure I am the interpreter [said the President in announcing
the existence of these treaties to the Conference] of the unanimous
sentiment of the Conference in saluting as a happy event the
communication made to us on the subject of the almost completely
unanimous recognition of the International Association of the
Congo. All of us here render justice to the lofty object of the
work to which His Majesty the King of the Belgians has attached his
name; we all know the efforts and the sacrifices by means of which
he has brought it to the point where it is to-day; we all entertain
the wish that the most complete success may crown an enterprise
that must so usefully promote the views which have directed the
Conference.
Thus the great Bismarck. Sir Edward Malet (Great Britain) said:
The part which Queen Victoria’s Government has taken in the
recognition of the flag of the Association as that of a friendly
Government warrants me in expressing the satisfaction with which we
regard the constitution of this new State, due to the initiative
of His Majesty the King of the Belgians. During long years the
King, dominated by a purely philanthropic idea, has spared
nothing, neither personal effort nor pecuniary sacrifice, which
could contribute to the realisation of his object. Yet the world
at large regarded these efforts with an eye of almost complete
indifference. Here and there his Majesty attracted some sympathy,
but it was somehow rather the sympathy of condolence than that
of encouragement. People said that the enterprise was beyond his
resources, that it was too great for him to achieve success. We
now see that the King was right, and that the idea he pursued was
not utopian. He has brought it to a happy conclusion, not without
difficulties, but the very difficulties have made the success all
the more striking. While rendering to his Majesty this homage by
recognising all the difficulties that he has surmounted, we salute
the new-born State with the greatest cordiality, and we express the
sincere desire to see it flourish and grow under his ægis.
Baron de Courcel (France) said: “The new State owes its origin
to the generous aspirations and the enlightened initiation of a
prince surrounded by the respect of Europe.” Other members of the
Conference were as warm as the representatives of Great Britain and
France in their eulogy of the great work achieved by King Leopold,
and their opinions of his Majesty’s life-work were admirably summed
up by Prince Bismarck in his speech closing the Conference, in the
course of which he referred to the consolidation of the Congo Free
State as a “precious service to the cause of humanity.”
Central Africa had now become in all essential respects a State. It
had been recognised as such by the United States on April 22, 1884,
seven months before the opening, and ten months before the close, of
the Berlin Conference, but now its geographical limits were defined,
its political status fixed, its neutrality assured. The large part
played by Leopold, King of the Belgians, in its creation had received
full and complete acknowledgment from the foremost geographers and
statesmen of the world, who had united in lauding the King, not
only for his wonderful achievement, but for the high humanitarian
motive stimulating his Majesty through all the years of its difficult
accomplishment.
[Sidenote: Hard Work Ahead.]
But let no one suppose that it followed, as a necessary consequence
of all this, that the future government of Central Africa was to
be as plain sailing in smooth water. A new State had been created,
it is true, and it had had as its sponsors the great Powers of the
world, who had recognised Leopold II., King of the Belgians, as its
Sovereign ruler. But it is beyond the ability of States, just as
it is beyond the ability of individuals, to exist without money,
and to be entrusted with the government of a territory nearly a
million square miles in extent—about a fifth the size of Europe, or
a third of the United States—inhabited by twenty millions or so of
semi-barbarous tribes, was no light task. The “African Exploration
Fund” of the Geographical Society of London contributed £250, and the
Belgian Committee collected among their countrymen 500,000 francs—a
generous gift, but utterly inadequate for such a colossal task as
the civilisation of Central Africa. Belgians, _as a people_, were
in no degree liable for the expense of the philanthropic colonial
enterprise entered upon by Leopold, their King, _as an individual_.
The magnitude of that expense will be apparent to anybody who gives
the subject a moment’s thought. The payment of explorers,—men of the
first rank in intellectual attainment, such as Stanley,—the cost
of their equipment (stores, carriers, lake steamers, etc.), the
carving out of routes, establishment of stations, purchases of land
from native chiefs, conciliatory gifts, and so forth, had seriously
depleted the large private fortune of King Leopold.
Though all civilised countries were more or less interested in the
opening up of Central Africa, less than twenty thousand dollars
was subscribed outside Belgium for that object. It had, therefore,
some years before the Berlin Conference, become necessary to raise
money for the continuation of the work. On November 25, 1878, the
_Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_ was formed in Brussels, with King
Leopold as honorary president and Colonel Strauch as president. The
_Comité_ was really a company, and it had a capital of a million
francs. Thanks no less to its wise direction than to its sufficient
capital, the operations of the _Comité_ were attended with so much
success that it soon usurped the place of the International African
Association as principal agent of the civilising crusade undertaken
by King Leopold. The work of the _Comité_ was consolidated and
greatly accelerated by the General Act of the Berlin Conference,
assuring the Sovereignty of the Congo State to King Leopold, it being
no more than natural that Belgians should have increased confidence
in a State secure under the rule of their own King, and be disposed
to invest their money therein more freely than when the form of
its government was matter of doubt. Though much still remained to
be done, the Congo Free State had now been founded, and that fact
of itself was sufficient to inspire confidence everywhere, but
particularly among the Belgian people, whose King was its founder.
[Illustration: Making a Road (175 Kilometres) for Automobiles
(Kwango).]
CHAPTER IV
EARLY BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS
[Sidenote: Cartography and Civilisation.]
Having narrated the principal political circumstances which
eventuated in the founding of the Congo Free State, it now becomes
necessary to revert to an earlier period, and sketch briefly the
various Belgian expeditions to whose labours are so largely owing
our knowledge of the geography of Central Africa, the suppression
of the slave trade there, and the establishment of civilising and
humanitarian government by Belgians.
It is hardly necessary to say that so great an enterprise was not
possible of achievement without loss of life, and much personal
sacrifice and suffering; that many men of high intellectual power
and indomitable courage fell by the way, martyrs to disease,
treachery, and the innumerable accidents by flood and field which
ever dog the footsteps of pioneer explorers. The official records
of the expeditions, for the most part vouched for by independent
testimony (chiefly English), establish beyond possibility of dispute
the patient forbearance and humanity of the explorers in their
dealings with the natives. The dignity of truth is lost with too
much protesting, and that some few mistakes were committed here
and there, the result of over-zealousness on the part of particular
individuals, is frankly admitted, such admission in no way detracting
from the confident assertion that no exploration of unknown lands
had ever before been made which occasioned so small an amount of
friction with their indigenous occupiers. A sound discretion is not
so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it.
Mistake, error, is the discipline through which we all advance, and
the greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.
[Sidenote: A Bad Start.]
The first Belgian expedition arrived at Zanzibar in December, 1877,
having been three months on its voyage from Ostend. It was commanded
by Captain Crespel, an officer of the Belgian Army, and included,
besides Lieutenant Cambier, also of the Belgian Army, Dr. Maes,
and M. Marno, an Austrian. Some time was spent by these explorers
in Zanzibar, purchasing supplies and engaging an escort, before
starting for the interior; a task in which they were assisted by the
Sultan, Seyyid Burghash, an enlightened ruler, opposed to slavery
and sympathetic with the expedition and its objects. Unfortunately,
these favourable auspices were not followed by correspondingly happy
events. In less than a month after the arrival of the expedition in
Zanzibar, Dr. Maes was dead of fever; and Captain Crespel, who was
ill from the first moment that he set foot on African soil, survived
Dr. Maes only a few days.
Shortly before these two sad events, Cambier and Marno had started on
their journey into the interior, and at once became the victims of
every sort of misfortune. Their cattle were tormented and destroyed
by the tsetse fly, which in that year assumed the proportions of a
plague, and, their route lying through a marshy region, progress was
rendered impossible. Two months later they returned to Zanzibar worn
out and dispirited, having achieved nothing, only to be greeted by
the melancholy news of the death of Captain Crespel and Dr. Maes.
Command of the expedition now devolved upon Lieutenant Cambier, who
resolved to await reinforcements from Belgium.
It was not until September of the following year that Lieutenant
Cambier, accompanied by Lieutenant Wautier and Dr. Dutrieux, ventured
to move forward. On the occasion of his second attempt he started
from Bagamoyo. His difficulties, if not so great as on his previous
journey, would have daunted any ordinary mortal. His native carriers
gave great trouble, continually deserting or threatening to desert
him, while crossing the Mgonda-Mkali desert. However, after passing
through infinite danger and difficulty, Cambier succeeded in reaching
the territory of Mirambo, and prospered so well in his efforts to
secure the friendship and assistance of that powerful chief that the
two entered into a treaty of alliance, and went through the strangely
barbarous ceremony of taking the oath of blood; after which,
according to African superstition and custom, they became brothers.
This was the first example of a Belgian officer and a native chief
taking the oath of blood. It was entered into by Cambier only after
he had informed himself that it was a ceremony the sanctity of which
the Negro race held to be inviolable, and was therefore exactly
suited to his purpose.
[Illustration: A Saddle Ox, Kassai.]
[Illustration: European Travelling in the Uelle District.]
The object of the expedition was to found a station on the shores of
Lake Tanganyika. Having been provided with some necessary supplies
by his newly made “blood brother,” M. Cambier was about to resume
his journey, of which another hundred and fifty miles remained, when
he learned with consternation of the death of M. Wautier, the able
lieutenant to whom he had entrusted the difficult task of keeping
open his communications with the coast, who had succumbed to the
climate after prolonged exposure to torrential rain. M. Wautier was
the third Belgian who had lost his life in the cause of African
exploration. His place was taken by M. Bryon, a Swiss traveller
of much experience, who rendered good and faithful service. But
though so near to his destination, M. Cambier’s difficulties were
by no means ended. As before, it was his carriers who made the
trouble. They were insubordinate, quarrelled among themselves, and
deserted in great numbers, on the slightest provocation, and often
for none at all. Finally, however, on August 12, 1879, Karema, on
Lake Tanganyika, was reached in safety, and the first station of
the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation
of Central Africa established by the Belgian Committee. The site
chosen for the station was about five thousand acres of land, very
healthfully situated, which Cambier obtained by treaty with a local
chief. Thus through difficulty and danger, by the expenditure
of energy, money, and of life itself, was the object of the first
Belgian expedition successfully accomplished, and M. Cambier set out
to return to Belgium. When he reached the coast he was surprised to
meet a second expedition, of whose existence he knew nothing, which
had just arrived from Belgium. In consequence, M. Cambier decided not
to return to Europe, but to remain in Africa for a while to assist,
so far as he was able, in this second enterprise. The period was May,
1879. The new expedition, under command of Captain Popelin, of the
Headquarters Staff, assisted by Dr. Van den Heuval and Lieutenant
Dutalis, had not completed their arrangements for their inland
journey when the latter fell ill and was obliged to return at once to
Belgium. The expedition had brought with it four Indian elephants,
attended by two English keepers accustomed to the management of those
animals, it having been suggested to King Leopold that elephants were
better adapted for transport purposes in Central Africa than oxen.
The experiment proved a costly failure. All four of the elephants
died before any use could be made of them, and their English keepers
were waylaid by brigands and murdered on their way back to Zanzibar.
Notwithstanding these misfortunes, MM. Cambier and Popelin persevered
bravely with their task, stocked the station at Karema with
provisions, and organised a native guard for its protection.
The third expedition, judged by results, hardly deserves to be called
such. It consisted of only two Belgians (MM. Burdo and Roger), and
the health of the former breaking down immediately on his arrival at
Zanzibar, he was obliged to return home at once. War was now being
waged between the chiefs Mirambo and Simba; but though each of the
contestants was friendly to the Belgians, the conflict rendered their
position very precarious. In the circumstances, MM. Cambier and
Popelin judged it expedient to divide their forces, so as to ensure
efficient protection for the newly founded station at Karema, and the
route thence to the coast.
While matters were standing thus, a fourth expedition arrived, the
strongest and best equipped yet sent out by Belgium, commanded by
Captain Ramaeckers, an experienced African traveller, skilled in
native wiles, who had been more successful in his dealing with
the black man than any other Belgian. Captain Ramaeckers was ably
seconded by MM. Becker and De Leu, lieutenants in the Belgian
Artillery, and an expert photographer. The moment of the arrival of
this expedition was opportune, for the difficulties of MM. Cambier
and Popelin, due to the war between the natives, increased daily, and
they were in a bad way. Captain Ramaeckers made all possible haste
to succour them, and after a perilous journey succeeded in joining
his colleagues on the banks of Lake Tanganyika; but he lost by death
on the way his brave lieutenant, De Leu, a victim of malarial fever,
and the health of the photographer failed so completely that it was
found necessary to send him home. Captain Ramaeckers now took over
the command from Lieutenant Cambier, who had carried on the work in
Central Africa for three years, and was now desirous of returning to
Europe. In that period Cambier had contrived to achieve much valuable
work, of which the worth is more apparent to-day than it was in
December, 1880, when he resigned his command. But in estimating its
value, then or now, the enormous difficulties under which he laboured
should never for a moment be lost sight of. These difficulties were
so great as hardly to admit of exaggeration. Language is inadequate
to convey any just conception of the trackless deserts, impenetrable
forests, and malarial swamps, through which the explorers’ route lay,
complicated by two friendly but warring tribes, each suspicious of
the strangers’ relations with the other.
Popelin and Ramaeckers, unlike Cambier, were not destined to see
their native land again. Eighteen months after the departure of
Cambier, Popelin died of malarial fever, and a short while after
Ramaeckers also, from a like cause. In spite of these terrible
losses, the Belgian station continued to exist, and even prospered in
its work. The command now devolved upon Lieutenant Storms, then on
his way to Central Africa to establish a new station on the western
shore of Lake Tanganyika. When Storms arrived and took command he
chose as the site of the new station a spot called Mpala, immediately
opposite Karema. The chief of the district, who himself bore the name
of Mpala, proved friendly to the expedition, and the new station soon
became as important as Karema itself. So great was the influence
exerted by Storms over Mpala that that chief, when dying, left
the appointment of his successor to be determined by the Belgian
officer. Storms showed himself a clever diplomatist, and during his
two-and-a-half-years’ control did much to consolidate the work of his
predecessors.
So far, we have seen, these expeditions were exclusively Belgian.
They owed their inception to King Leopold, by far the larger part of
the heavy expense they entailed was met out of his Majesty’s private
purse, and the _personnel_ was Belgian almost to a man. Humanitarian
in their object, the expeditions had been conducted so humanely that
no injury had resulted to any one for which the expeditions could
be blamed. With the exception of the two English elephant-keepers,
murdered by Arab brigands, the loss of life was wholly Belgian,
resulting in every case from the trying climate of Equatorial Africa.
[Sidenote: An Intrepid Journalist.]
But before any Belgian expedition had started, Henry M. Stanley, the
great Anglo-American traveller, had penetrated Africa as far as the
mouth of the Congo, and had startled the world by the information
contained in his letters addressed thence to the New York _Herald_
and the London _Daily Telegraph_. In glowing and incisive language
Stanley demonstrated the future commercial importance of the superb
Congo River, and significantly pointed out that, so far, no European
power, except Portugal, had put forth any claim to its control—a
claim which England, France, and the United States had refused to
recognise.
This pregnant statement excited widespread remark, but the King of
the Belgians was alone in acting upon the startling information.
His Majesty invited Mr. Stanley to Brussels to confer with some
distinguished geographers, merchants, and financiers; and out of that
meeting grew the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_, to which reference
has been made in an earlier chapter. Soon after, however, the name of
this body was changed to that of the International Association of the
Congo. Mr. Stanley was invited to enter its service, and to establish
along the Congo a series of stations, designed as bases for future
operations, humanitarian and commercial, _i. e._, suppression of the
slave trade and securing the commerce of the Congo country.
How Stanley accepted that invitation, and carried out the mission
which the King of the Belgians entrusted to him, is almost as well
known as the story of the same intrepid traveller’s discovery of
Dr. Livingstone a few years before. With only ten companions (five
Belgian, two English, two Danish, and one French), Stanley left
Europe in January, 1879. At Zanzibar he hoped to be reinforced by at
least some of those who had been associated with him on his previous
journey. Meanwhile the steamboats _En Avant_ and _Royal_, the
twin-screw steamer _La Belgique_, one-screw barge _Young Africa_, and
two steel lighters, were sent direct from Belgium to the mouth of the
Congo, there to await Stanley’s coming. Stanley recruited a hundred
and forty blacks (Askaris and Kabindas), to say nothing of carriers,
whom he obtained as he required them during his progress along the
Congo.
[Sidenote: Difficult Pioneering.]
The first station to be founded was Vivi, and six months were spent
in fortifying it. Then came the construction of a road from Vivi to
Isanghila—fifty miles higher up the river—required for the conveyance
of the steamers in section, stores, merchandise, etc. This proved
a formidable task and took a whole year to accomplish. But Stanley
and his men proved equal to it, and another station was founded at
Isanghila. At that station, fortunately, the Congo was again found
to be navigable, and Stanley pushed on to Manyanga by boat, where
he founded a third station. It was while at Manyanga that Stanley
first learned of M. de Brazza’s having set up the French flag on the
northern shore of Stanley Pool, and calling it Brazzaville, a fact
previously referred to.
Stanley countered this act by founding, on the plain of Kintamo, near
the lake, a station out of which has grown the modern Leopoldville,
named in honour of the King of the Belgians, and now recognised as
the capital of Central Africa.
The spread of French influence so far as Brazzaville was significant
and ominous. Clearly the nations of Europe were waking up to the
importance and value of Central Africa. Leaving the expedition in
charge of Captain Hanssens, Stanley hurriedly returned to Brussels
to report the circumstance in person. That was in April, 1882;
and by February, 1883, he was back again with the expedition in
Africa, recharged, as it were, with energy, and busied himself in
establishing numerous stations.
[Illustration: Native Employees of the State Waiting for Rations at
Boma.]
In all, Stanley served five years with this expedition, which,
notwithstanding his nationality, must in all fairness be accounted a
Belgian expedition.
Such, then, were the early expeditions in Central Africa undertaken
by Leopold, King of the Belgians. There were other contemporaneous
expeditions in the same region undertaken by France, Germany, and
Russia, or rather by natives of those countries presumably working in
the interest of their respective nations, but their results will not
stand comparison with those achieved by Belgians. At one time it was
the intention of King Leopold to appoint General Gordon to the chief
command on the Congo, and that extraordinary man had agreed to accept
his Majesty’s offer; but the British Government had a prior claim on
Gordon’s services, who went to Khartoum and lost his life there in
tragic circumstances so well known that they need not be recounted
here.
CHAPTER V
THE WATERWAYS OF THE CONGO
[Sidenote: Discovery of the Congo.]
It was Diego Cam, an intrepid Portuguese navigator, who, in 1484,
voyaging towards the mythical East Indies, discovered the Congo.
In the name of his sovereign, King Juan II., he took possession
of the country, though it does not appear that he proceeded far
into the interior. From _n’zadi_, the native name for river, the
Portuguese formed the word Zaire, and it is by this name that the
river was long called. It so appears in the map of Martin of Bohemia,
who accompanied the expedition. The globe prepared by this German
cosmographer is still to be seen in the museum of Nuremberg. It was
not until two centuries later that the river was called Rio de Congo.
[Illustration: Ss. “Leopoldville” Bound for Boma.]
On the south promontory of the Delta the Portuguese erected a pillar
to commemorate their discovery. This promontory is still known as
the Padrão Foreland. It is certain that these Portuguese, who were
missionaries before they were explorers, remained a considerable
time in the Delta; for they converted the King of Ekongo, as the
country was then called, to Christianity. It was to this king that
the sovereigns of Angolo traced descent, and it is significant
that their blue banner with the golden star is to-day the flag of the
Congo Free State.
About seven years after the first expedition a second was sent out
from Portugal, and the ruins of the trading posts then established,
called San Antonio and Salvador, are still to be seen. The old
Kingdom of Ekongo continued a hundred miles into the interior. It was
bounded on the north by N’zadi, the modern Congo, and on the south by
the river Coanza. The accounts of the early traders, some of which
are still preserved in the State archives of Portugal, abound in
fanciful descriptions. To the mediæval mind the forest was peopled
with mythical monsters. It was probably for this reason that the
superstitious Portuguese kept so near the coast.
In 1534 San Salvador, which until the arrival of the Portuguese was
known as Ambassa, became the seat of a bishopric. Here a cathedral
was erected, but later the see was transferred to St. Paul de Loanda,
which thus became the capital of the Portuguese authority.
In 1784, to maintain their occupation of the Congo, the Portuguese
built a fort at Kabinda, about thirty miles north of the mouth of the
river. Several slave stations also were established in the interior.
From this position they were soon driven by the French, though the
latter made no attempt to found a colony.
In 1816 the British Government despatched an expedition to the Congo.
James Kingston Tuckey, the leader, explored the river from its mouth
to a distance of 170 miles into the interior. In his description of
the country Tuckey speaks of the numerous slave stations along the
banks. At this period two thousand slaves were exported annually.
Fifty years later this number had increased to over one hundred
thousand!
The Congo with its multitudinous branches forms a river-basin
unequalled even by that of the Mississippi. This great territory,
over fourteen hundred miles in breadth, covers an area of nearly a
million square miles. Though mere size is not always a measure of
importance, yet this region is unsurpassed, in respect to natural
resources, by any part of the world. Second only to the Amazon in
volume, the Congo precipitates about 2,000,000 cubic feet of water
each second into the Atlantic.
This immense basin has been divided by geographers into three gradual
terraces: the first and lowest is near the coast; the second, in the
region of the Upper Congo; and the highest in the vicinity of the
great lakes. According to the official Act the basin is bounded by
the watersheds of the neighbouring basins of the Niari, the Ogowe,
the Shari, and the Nile on the north; by the eastern watershed
line of the affluents of Lake Tanganyika on the east; and by the
watersheds of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge on the south.
Congoland is about 1,500,000 square miles in extent. From its western
frontage of 400 miles it broadens eastward until at Lake Tanganyika
it has a frontier of about 1500 miles.
The numerous ramifications of the Congo open rapid and economic
channels of communication to the interior. To this magnificent
system of waters the country also owes its unequalled fertility.
Many of the rivers now practically useless can in time be rendered
navigable by the skill of the engineer. Where blasting out channels
is not feasible canals can be built to connect the navigable parts
of the stream. It is obvious, too, that the effects on that torrid
climate of these great rivers, from one to twenty miles in breadth,
must be considerable. Without them the country would be an arid
desert, another Sahara, deadly to life, both animal and vegetable.
We shall first follow the successive stages of the Congo, as the
Chambesi, the Luapula, and the Lualaba, in the huge watershed on the
eastern border between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika.
[Sidenote: Source of the Congo.]
The source of the Congo is in the Chingampo Mountains, in British
territory, and about 50 miles from the western confines of German
East Africa, whence it issues as the Chambesi. It was Livingstone
who, in 1867, discovered the Chambesi. Mistaking it for the
undiscovered source of the Nile, he explored it towards the
south-west—250 miles—as far as Lake Bangweolo. Thence he followed its
gradual curve to the north, first as the Luapula, through Lake Moero,
as far as Ankorro; and then as the Lualaba, in a north-westerly
direction to Nyangwe, 1300 miles from its source. The river assumes
the distinctive name of the Congo first at Nyangwe. It was from this
place that Stanley, in 1876, made his famous descent of the river.
The journey, which covered 1660 miles by water and 140 miles by
land, was accomplished in 281 days.
From Nyangwe the river flows due north 400 miles as far as Stanley
Falls. The country between these two places is peopled by the
cannibal Bakumu. With “these insensate furies of savageland” Stanley
had many bloody encounters. “At every curve of this fearful river,”
he writes in his now famous book, “the yells of the savages broke
loud on our ears, the snake-like canoes dashed forward impetuously to
the attack, while the drums and horns and shouts raised fierce and
deafening uproar.”
From Stanley Falls the river, flowing west and north-west, makes a
huge curve, in the form of a horse-shoe, to Equateurville, where
the junction of the Congo with the Ruki takes place. Throughout
this immense curve, called the Middle Congo, and as far south as
Leopoldville, a distance of 1068 miles, the river is navigable. In
the contiguous territory live the Balolo, or “men of iron,” forgers
of metal instruments. Famous as warriors, they are also noted as
clever craftsmen, and are valuable allies of the State.
From the junction of Lake Matumba with the Congo, the river, flowing
south-west about 450 miles to Manyanga, forms the boundary between
the French and the Belgian possessions. Thence down to Matadi it
pursues a southerly course of about 100 miles through the territory
of the State. From Matadi, whence it flows westward to the sea, it
forms for 30 miles the northern boundary of the Portuguese Congo.
[Illustration: Departure of Commissioner-General Halfeyt, on Board
ss. “Stanley,” Stanleyville, 1899.]
At Stanley Pool the Congo is no longer navigable. Here, gathering
the full force of its waters, the now immense river ploughs its
passage for over 200 miles through the Crystal Mountains, whence by a
succession of plunges it bounds down to Matadi, 1800 feet below.
From Matadi, unobstructed and triumphant, it hurls the overwhelming
volume of its current far into the Atlantic. At its meeting with the
sea, the Congo, now over 3000 miles in length, is fully twenty miles
wide.
Until a few years ago there was considerable controversy as to the
true upper course of the Congo. This has been at last established
by the explorations of Delcommune, Bia, and Brasseur; and it is now
agreed that the upper course is that continuation of the Chambesi
called the Luapula, and not the Lualaba, as was formerly believed.
The Luapula, the boundary between the Congo State and North-Eastern
Rhodesia, and navigable for 340 miles above Kassongo, is longer than
the Lualaba. It is, however, inferior to the latter in size and in
the number and importance of its affluents. The Lualaba rises in
the southern part of the Congo territory, about fifty miles west of
North-Western Rhodesia. The source of this river was discovered by
Lieutenants Derscheid and Francqui.
Along the important tributaries of the Luapula is the Lufupa,
which joins it not far below Nzilo. It is at the Nzilo gorge that
the first cataracts on the Luapula are encountered. They continue
almost uninterruptedly for forty-three miles. Another affluent of
the Luapula is the Lubudi, a considerable river on the left, which,
because of its breadth and volume, was at first mistaken for the main
stream. The next important tributary—the Lufila—empties into the
Luapula at Lake Kassali. It flows through the fertile country of the
Katanga.
This region, noted for its mineral resources, is described by
travellers as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” It was first
explored by that indefatigable pioneer, Delcommune. Until a few years
ago the Katanga was ruled by the truculent tyrant, Msiri. Now that
this despot is dead, the country is developing rapidly. The climate
is far more healthful than in the regions around the Lower or Middle
Congo. The fertility of the soil and the advantageous climate augur a
brilliant future for this section of the State. The conditions are,
in fact, well adapted to the needs of the white race, and here, no
doubt, eventually will be established cities no less important and
flourishing than those of Java. Already a railway to the Katanga is
being constructed. Great deposits of copper are known to exist here,
and it is expected that the development of these resources will begin
a new era in the history of Central Africa. By the railway, Katanga
will be brought within six weeks of the European centres.
[Sidenote: An African Switzerland.]
In this vicinity also are the Kibala Mountains, which will, no doubt,
soon attract tourists from all parts of the world. The beauties of
this section are thus described by their discoverer, Delcommune:
Seated on a rock of sandstone, eagerly scanning all around us,
glancing in every quarter, we were astonished by this picture,
which no pencil could render. None of the loudly vaunted
beauties of Switzerland and the Pyrenees, where charming scenery
nevertheless exists, could rival these lost corners of the Kibala
Mountains, of which the whole effect, in its turn picturesque and
savage, imposing and on a grand scale, seemed softened and rendered
pleasant by the brilliant equatorial vegetation.
We shall now briefly refer to the more important tributaries of the
Congo proper, first taking up those that join the river from the
south.
Of these the Lomami is navigable for nearly 650 miles. Rising in
the Usamba Plateau, 600 miles east of Lake Moero, it runs almost
parallel to the Congo till it joins that stream 150 miles west of
Stanley Falls. The Lomami varies in breadth from 60 to 400 yards. In
places it has a depth of twenty feet, and it is destined to play an
important part in the development of this part of the continent. It
was on the Lomami that one of those entrenched camps was established
which proved so effective in the expulsion of the Arabs and
suppression of the slave trade. The many tributaries of the Lomami,
some of which are navigable, make that river the natural base also of
commercial operations.
The next southern affluent of the Congo is the Lulongo. Rising not
far from the valley of the Lomami it flows for several hundred miles
in a south-westerly direction and empties into the Congo at Uranga.
A northern tributary of the Lulongo is the Lopori. Both of these
streams are rendered more important by the fact that, being free
from obstruction, they are navigable. They water a beautiful and
exceedingly fertile country, some of which is yet unexplored.
South of the Lulongo and almost parallel to it is the Ruki. It has
two upper courses and rises near the great valley of the Lomami. The
Ruki is a wide, open river, nearly six hundred miles in length. It
empties into the Congo at Equateurville, and because of its several
tributaries it renders a large territory easily accessible.
[Illustration: Departure of ss. “Goodwill” from Upoto.]
But the largest of all the southern affluents is the Kassai, which
ranks in importance next to the Congo itself. The exact course of
the Kassai was until recently a matter of considerable speculation.
This has now been definitely determined, and the Sankuru, formerly
thought by some geographers to be the main course of that river,
is now known to be its largest affluent. The Kassai rises nearly
one thousand miles south of where it joins the Congo, near the
Portuguese possessions in the south-western corner of the Congo
State. Its course is north, north-east, and north-west. Navigable
from Wissmann Falls, which is situated about midway its length, it
forms its junction with the Congo not far above Stanley Pool. Joining
the Kassai, near Bokala, is the river Kwango, which, rising in the
Portuguese possessions, flows directly northward for several hundred
miles. The Sankuru, like so many other of the Congo rivers, rises in
the Sambas Plateau. Its course is first due north, then west, and,
at its junction with the Kassai, is an imposing stream, almost as
deep and broad as the Kassai itself. The Lubefu, a northern tributary
of the Sankuru, reaches almost to the valley of the Lomami.
It is intended soon to build a railroad connecting these rivers,
and when this is accomplished a large area not now accessible will
be open to commerce. Necessarily such trading stations will, for a
while at least, need governmental protection. Hence each station will
be in the nature of a military establishment, and will form also
the nucleus for a future city. The Caucasian, observing, of course,
certain necessary precautions, will find the climate of a large
part of this section quite congenial. It is not unlike that of the
tablelands of Java or of the highlands of Ceylon. Moreover, the soil
no less than the forests and the mineral resources of this vicinity
will offer splendid opportunities to the investor.
[Sidenote: The Coming Country.]
Necessarily the future of this part of the Congo, as well as that
of all regions distant from the navigable rivers, is dependent upon
the construction of a railway system which will bring them into
touch with the rest of the world. That such railways cannot be built
without a great expenditure of money is obvious, but the success
of the lines already established and the enormous profits sure in
the end to repay the investors are calculated to attract sooner or
later the necessary capital. All who have visited this part of the
Congo country are agreed that its natural resources are incomparably
greater than those of any part of Europe. When developed they will
excite the wonder of the world. But this result, so devoutly to be
wished, involving as it does the betterment of millions of lives
lately enveloped in densest ignorance, is not to be attained without
some sacrifices. Capital, time, and labour must co-operate to bring
about this result.
[Sidenote: The Congo’s Affluents.]
On the right or northern bank of the Congo are to be found several
large affluents. Of these, one of the most important is the Aruwimi,
which joins the Congo just below Nyangwe. The Aruwimi rises in the
Blue Mountains, not far from Lake Albert Nyanza. Thence flowing
westward about seven hundred miles, and gathering on its way the
waters of its numerous tributaries, it is, when it reaches the Congo,
a copious stream over a mile wide. Above Yambuya the navigation of
the Aruwimi is rendered impossible by a succession of cataracts, that
bane of the African navigator. However, the beauty and the resources
of the surrounding country somewhat compensate for these hindering
conditions. Here is the famous forest of Ituri, the home of a vast
population and the haunt of many species of game. In and around the
Ituri occurred some noted skirmishes with the mutinous Batetelas.
About 150 miles west of the Aruwimi the Rubi reaches the Congo at
Itembo. Rising in the Mabode about 500 miles north of Stanley Falls,
it flows west and south-west for a distance of 600 miles.
Three hundred miles west of the Rubi is the Mongalla. It rises at the
northern boundary of the State and, flowing south-south-west, reaches
the Congo at Molieka. The Mongalla is a fine, open stream, and on its
banks the Government has established a line of important stations. By
these the State maintains control of the surrounding territory and
renders possible commerce with a large population. Similar stations
have been and are being erected along the smaller navigable streams,
and these, when connected with the centres by railroad and by
telegraph, as eventually they will be, will make the whole interior
equally accessible.
Probably no tributary of the Congo is of more importance than the
Ubanghi. It was Van Gele who, in 1886, first explored the Ubanghi
country and demonstrated the strategic value and commercial
possibilities of this mighty river. The Uelle, which flows in a
north-westerly direction, rises in the Blue Mountains. It was
discovered by Dr. Junker, the German explorer, and may be considered
the upper course of the Ubanghi. Above the Panga Falls, the Uelle is
navigable for large vessels as far as Niangara.
After receiving the waters of the Uelle the Ubanghi forms for a
long distance the boundary between the Free State and the French
territory. Beyond Banzyville the river makes a wide curve towards
the north to Waddas, whence it flows almost directly south, joining
the Congo a little above Lake Matumba. The rich valley through which
this splendid stream, over a thousand miles in length, takes its
winding course, comprises an area of 160,000 square miles. Emin Pasha
described it as possessing wonderful productivity—“The Granary of
Equatoria” he called it. Here the natives, who are instinctively
agricultural, raise tobacco, coffee, and sugar-cane in large
quantities. The highways now being constructed will give to the
industry of this region an immediate impetus, and the natives, who
are skilful in the making of brick, will greatly contribute to the
development. It is also proposed to continue the Uelle Railway to the
left bank of the Nile. Such a continuous route, amply justified by
the resources of this section and by commercial considerations, will
be a most desirable consummation.
The Lua, an eastern branch of the Ubanghi, will prove of great
commercial importance. Captain Heymans, who first navigated the
Lua, explored it as far as Bowara. The Dekere, which also has been
partly explored, is probably the upper course of the Lua, and this
continuous stream will prove a convenient route to the Uelle.
In this way the great detour of the Ubanghi, in which are the
impassable cataracts of Zongo and Mokoangi, can be successfully
avoided.
The importance of the Mbomu, a northern ramification of the Ubanghi,
is increased by the fact that it forms for a considerable distance
a natural boundary between the Congo Free State and the French
possessions. Its position, therefore, renders it of considerable
political consequence. The Mbomu, although not yet entirely explored,
is destined therefore to play, with its numerous branches, a large
part in the history of the Congo. The country around is not only of
great fertility, but also very beautiful. Here is to be found one of
the finest forests in the territory.
By means of the Congo and its tributaries an admirable system of
communication is being established, the ramifications of which,
supplemented by the telegraph and the railway, will within a few
years render every part of this vast territory accessible. In
proportion thereto will increase the authority of the State and its
civilising influence. The growth of commerce, and the security and
advancement of the native population, are, in fact, coexpansive with
the extension of the facilities of intercommunication. The larger
rivers—the Kassai, the Kwango, the Lualaba and the Ubanghi—are all
patrolled by government steamers.
[Sidenote: The Congo Lakes.]
Of hardly less importance than the rivers of the Congo are the lakes.
Besides the larger and navigable lakes are hundreds of smaller ones.
There are thousands of shallow pools along the courses of the rivers,
as those along the upper Luapula. It was that keen observer, M.
Delcommune, who foretold that many of these lakes will eventually
disappear. He contended that a combination of causes, chief among
which being the dryness of the equatorial climate and the consequent
evaporation of the water, will gradually bring about this result.
By a succession of experiments, covering a period of more than two
years, he discovered a diminution of the water of the Lualaba. This
process of evaporation, incessantly continued for centuries, will
completely absorb the water in the marshes and pools, and decrease
the volume of the great rivers themselves. However, this need
occasion no alarm. On the contrary, it is believed that it will aid
materially the development of the country. Not only will it dry the
pestiferous marshes, but it will also define the beds of the rivers,
whose courses, because of the contraction of their channels, will
thus be rendered simpler and more definite.
By the disappearance of the pools and lagoons, now to be found
in the vicinity of the rivers, hundreds of thousands of acres of
valuable arable lands will be reclaimed. And as this soil, formed of
alluvial deposits, is exceedingly fertile, the benefits that will
accrue therefrom are incalculable. The famous polders of Holland, and
the lowlands of Egypt near the mouth of the Nile, demonstrate the
possibilities of such a soil.
But it will not be necessary to wait for the slow processes of
nature. Vast areas can be drained by artificial means, and this,
since the sun is for ever assisting, can be done without great cost.
The lands so drained will possess, besides their extraordinary
fertility, other advantages, not the least of which is their
accessibility.
The most important lake in the western part of the State is Lake
Leopold II., discovered by Stanley in 1882. It is broad but shallow,
and is joined to the Congo by the Mfini and the Kassai. On its banks
are several flourishing stations. North-west of Lake Leopold is Lake
Matumba, from which the navigable river, Irebu, flows upwards into
the Congo.
On the north-eastern boundary is Lake Albert Edward, the western
part of which belongs to the State. This lake, the haunt of numerous
hippopotami, is joined to Lake Albert Nyanza, which is about 150
miles north, by the Semlika, the boundary between the Belgian and
British possessions.
Directly south of Lake Albert Edward is Lake Kivu. From this lake,
part of which is yet unexplored, flows the river Rusisi. This
torrential stream dashes through a rocky country, descending 2380
feet in 68 miles. It empties into Lake Tanganyika. On the eastern
shore of the lake are Lubuga and Luahilimta, trading stations,
established by the State. Lake Kivu is dotted with hundreds of
islets, and is situated in the centre of a lofty plateau. Towering
from this plateau rises a range of enormous snow-clad volcanic cones,
from eight to over fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Of these the highest is Kirunga-cha-gongo, which is said to be the
largest inland volcano in the world. It was first ascended by its
discoverer, Count von Gotzen, and later by the English naturalist,
Moore. All around Kivu are inaccessible crags, calcined gorges, and
arid deserts, showing that the whole region is of volcanic origin.
Such is the wonderful clarity of the atmosphere that the outline of
every crag and spur of the mountains is visible sixty miles away. The
forests of Kivu abound in elephants. Travellers report seeing here as
many as a thousand in one day.
Of Lake Kivu Count von Gotzen, its discoverer, has given an excellent
account. I quote the following from his work, _Durf Afrika von Ost
nach West_:
The bed of Lake Kivu, according to my measurement with the
hypsometer, is at an altitude of 4800 feet. Its extent should be
considerable, for on my crossing it I saw the immense sheet of blue
water disappear far off into the clouds. Its general direction
is from North to South.... The appearance of the isles of Lake
Kivu is most picturesque. Their rocky and snow-white banks rise
in peaks and are frequented by herons and cranes. A fresh breeze
ever rustles across the lake and cools the air agreeably.... When
one turns one’s gaze to the north a sort of immense barrier formed
by the Kirunga-cha-gongo and the four other Virunga Mountains is
to be seen.... The neighbourhood of Kivu is extremely fertile in
provisions of every kind.
Directly south of Kivu, and connected with it by the river Rusisi,
is Lake Tanganyika, partitioned equally between the Congo Free State
and German East Africa. It is about four hundred miles in length and
nearly fifty in breadth. It was Stanley who first circumnavigated
Lake Tanganyika, though it had been discovered in 1858, about twenty
years before, by Burton and Speke. It was, in fact, the latter who
first called the attention of the world to the Congo Region. On the
shores of this lake Lieutenant Cambier, in 1879, established, at
Karema, the first station of the International Association of the
Congo. Cambier was so impressed with the possibilities of this region
that, by purchase and treaty, he obtained from its native ruler about
five thousand acres of land, and this tract may be regarded as the
nucleus of King Leopold’s colony. It was this station on Tanganyika
also that afterwards became the basis of operations against the Arab
slave-trade.
[Illustration: State Pilot Barge, Banana.]
[Illustration: Bridge, 80 Metres (Kwilu).]
From Albertville, Baudouinville, and other stations on its western
shore a flotilla of small vessels and several steam-yachts now
navigate this lake, and to these other and larger craft will soon be
added. A telegraph and telephone line, connecting Kassongo on the
Lualaba with Baraka on Lake Tanganyika, was opened in the latter part
of 1903. This line will soon be extended to Lake Kivu.
The region around Tanganyika is noted for its beautiful scenery, and
a large part of it is said to be unusually healthful. Like Kivu, this
lake is situated in an immense plateau, six thousand feet above the
sea. The angular inclination and general configuration of all these
lakes in the eastern part of the Congo is, in fact, very similar;
each lake, however, has its individual scenery, climate, and peculiar
flora. Moore found Tanganyika floored with the shells of millions
of molluscs, the zoölogical remains of a dead sea. He discovered
here also three kinds of sponges. On the eastern shores abound huge
swamps and immense tracts of mimosa. The dark red cliffs on the West
Coast form a brilliant contrast to the blue African sky and the
white clouds. Between Tanganyika and Nyangwe, the old slave-capital
of Tippo Tip, the country is tenanted by the Manyema, famous as
collectors of ivory. Surveys are now being made for a railway from
Beni to Tanganyika. This it is proposed to continue to Stanleyville
on the Middle Congo.
Lake Moero, one hundred miles south-west of Tanganyika and the
south-eastern boundary between British territory and the State,
was discovered by Livingstone. It was first explored, however, by
the Belgian officers, Bia and Francqui. This lake, which is one
hundred miles long and about half as broad, is now patrolled by a
steam-yacht.
[Sidenote: Looking Backward.]
Only a few years ago the immense basin of the Congo was an untamed
wilderness, “a slave-park” Stanley called it, bare to raids of
murderous marauders. Bands of predatory Arabs swooping down upon the
defenceless natives decimated whole tribes, and carried away men,
women, and children by the thousand. The slave-trader stalked like a
pestilence through the land, leaving in his wake the smoking ruins of
a hundred villages and the charred skeletons of his black victims.
It was not only the natives who suffered from the raids of merciless
ravagers; but the Europeans, explorer, merchant, and missionary, were
also subject to their tyrannical impositions. And when, as in the
case of Emin Pasha, they opposed the designs of these despoilers,
they were ruthlessly murdered. Flame and sword, robbery and
massacre,—such, until ten years ago, were the chief episodes in the
epic of the Congo.
To-day this vast region is not only geographically determined,
occupied, and effectually protected, but the power of the Arab
raider has been for ever annihilated. Regions which for ages were
the scene of carnage and holocaust have now been pacified. Where
all was insecurity and turbulence a reign of law and order has been
substituted.
Nature has here been so prodigal of her gifts that her very
extravagance renders in some respects the task of colonisation less
easy. Before roads could be built it was necessary to hew down huge
forests; before stations could be established it was needful to
explore and to conquer the wilderness. The paths that plunged into
the jungle ended in trackless solitudes. The vastnesses bristled with
unknown terrors. There was call for the explorer and the pioneer,
but it seemed as if ages must elapse before there was need of the
carriers of commerce.
To conduct broad highways from the coast to the centre, through a
territory so vast in extent, so dangerous, and so impenetrable, would
seem indeed a task for centuries. Such, too, it is safe to assume,
would still be the situation had it not been for the magnificent
water-system of the region and the great colonising genius who turned
its natural destiny to the civilising course of an onward industry.
Without these splendid flowing highways of commerce, pulsing from the
heart of the continent to the sea, the wonderful progress of the last
quarter of a century would not have been possible. Following the lead
of the Congo and its tributaries, Belgian pioneers have moved through
the great wilderness, planting the plough and the cross, until to-day
Central Africa, so long curtained from the eyes of civilised man,
lies bare to the world.
It was by this instrument that the siege of the great unknown was
prosecuted. It was thus that that citadel of despair, the stronghold
of Darkest Africa, was subjugated. And as we look at the magnificent
results, and at the still more magnificent future which those
results foreshadow, we cannot but conclude that this natural aid to
the efforts of a heroic band of explorers was more than the mere
manifestation of blind chance.
[Sidenote: King and Journalist.]
The campaign of exploration planned by King Leopold, and executed by
his courageous subjects and his able ally, Stanley, was the first
of those remarkable achievements of practical utility that have no
parallel in the history of modern colonisation. In the Congo and its
affluents these State-builders found a providential and generous
auxiliary. These wide rivers, the veins of the civilisation of
the Congo, are the key to a situation of which triumphant Belgian
sacrifice and valour in Central Africa will yet perfect the sequel.
To the existence of these natural allies, then, is largely due
the speedy extirpation of the slave trade, the suppression of
cannibalism, the control of the country, the gradual conversion
of its populations to the saving influences of civilisation, the
effective system of communication between port and port, and the
beginnings of the development of those vast resources which already
excite the cupidity of nations less successful. Indeed, without such
advantage it is doubtful whether the King of the Belgians would have
been equal to the onerous responsibilities he so cheerfully assumed.
[Sidenote: “Change in all Around.”]
But now with more than nine thousand miles of waterways open
to navigation, few sections of this immense domain are to-day
inaccessible. Great areas which but a few years ago were virgin
forests are now under successful cultivation. The jungle, once the
lair of the cannibal, is safe and peaceful. Where the raider ravished
his shrieking victims, the State and the Mission instruct in the
attributes of a useful life. Chaos has at last yielded to order, and
another triumph has been added to civilisation in the short term of
twenty years. It is a great story, and the Prince who wrote it on the
face of Africa need not deign to hear the hiss of envy straining at
the gorge. Let Leopold II. find consolation in that rugged philosophy
of Carlyle which mocked at the timid temper of his own time: “To
subdue mutiny, discord, widespread despair by manfulness, justice,
mercy and wisdom, to let light on chaos and make it instead a green
flowery world, is great beyond all other greatness, work for a God.”
CHAPTER VI
THE STATE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
In view of the confused controversy that has prevailed between the
friends and the enemies of the Congo Free State, concerning its legal
foundation and its existence _de facto_ before the Conference of
the Powers which recognised its statehood at Berlin (November 15,
1884-February 26, 1885), it seems pertinent at this point to examine
the issue at some length.
[Sidenote: Central Africa Reviewed.]
For unknown centuries Central Africa had been peopled with many
millions of savage, semi-savage, and barbarian black men, hidden
from all civilising influence. Their social condition varied. Many
were cannibals, some were living in a rude state of primitive tribal
order, others were at incessant war with hostile tribes, all were
living in the gloom of an interminable night of barbaric existence.
Their only touch with the human family had been through the slave
trade, of which they were the object and the victims. The white man
knew of their lot in this respect many years before he listened
attentively to an appeal for deliverance from the Arab marauders who
enslaved them. The natural law of human solidarity had not as yet
inspired civilised nations with an energetic movement to ameliorate
the condition of the savage black in Mid-Africa. Indeed, Stanley’s
explorations had not gone to completion save for the enlightened and
philanthropic moral and material support of Leopold II. When Great
Britain declined to provide Stanley with the means to further his
brave work, the King of the Belgians, having several years before
openly associated himself with sentiments seeking the organisation
of a consistent civilising movement in Central Africa, sent for this
intrepid explorer and fortified his hopes and plans from his private
purse. It was with the highest motives, from an elevated point of
view, that his Majesty considered the situation of these cannibal
tribes. His solicitude for the Belgians, their economic needs, their
legitimate and necessary expansion, gave point to his consideration
of a distant land, where great natural wealth lay unrevealed and
unused, for the good of the native and his benefactor. A wild life
abounded in those parts which by civilisation might be regenerated
and brought into the sphere of human usefulness. Here opportunity
seemed to throw wide her arms for the Prince with the courage to
dare an undertaking which the great Powers and the small had so far
deftly avoided. “I will pierce barbaric darkness; I will secure to
Central Africa the blessing of civilised government. And I will, if
necessary, undertake this great task alone.” So spake his Majesty,
when, as Duke of Brabant, he electrified Europe with what Europe, in
her narrowed conservatism, regarded as the utopian utterances of an
impractical and effervescing youth. Europe smiled and shrugged her
shoulders at the temerity of him who essayed to analyse the heart of
Africa and prescribe its panacea.
If this great task had fallen upon a man of ordinary natural powers
and acquired means, that part of Darkest Africa which now defies the
organised conspiracy of the despoiler would interest nobody save
the slave-trader who terrorised the land and polluted the sea with
the black man’s blood. To his Majesty’s great initiative in 1876,
and to his prescience of mind, his generous hand, and astonishing
industry in the cause which inspired him are due those two decades
of progress which some regard as a triumph of Colonial civilisation;
while others, from motives which need not be examined with a lens,
stigmatise it as the curse of Central Africa.
Point of view and interest are important elements in all controversy.
Where so much has been charged and refuted, a judicial attitude is
sometimes maintained with difficulty. But against the assertion that
the Congo Free State is a creation of the General Act of the Berlin
Conference, may be arrayed a body of well-settled law which only an
unreasoning enemy or a paid advocate would have the hardihood to
dispute.
[Sidenote: Simple Facts Briefly Told.]
Long before the Berlin Conference had been conceived, acts of
government had been effecting organisation and order in the territory
now known as the “Independent State of the Congo.” Legislation,
one of the later signs of established government, had occurred in
the territory acquired by the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_,
of which King Leopold was honorary president and Colonel Strauch
president.
[Illustration: Taking Merchandise to the ss. “Leopoldville.”]
The conception of the State was that of the King personally; the
character of its governmental manifestations was surcharged with
his personality; its being was crystallised by his own touch and
modelling. It is error to confound the recognition of the State by
the Berlin Conference as the act which created the State. Recognition
presupposes existence, and in the case of the Congo Free State
there had been, for a considerable time before the adoption of
the General Act of the Berlin Conference, a government _de facto_
in the territories under the dominion of the _Comité d’Études du
Haut-Congo_. Indeed, before the Berlin Conference had adopted the
General Act, the State was qualified to announce, and did notify the
Conference, that it had been recognised by all the Powers except
one, which, however, soon thereafter followed the example of the
other signatories. It was as a State, standing on an equality with
the other Powers, that the Congo Free State attended the Berlin
Conference and, under Article 37, adhered to an Act which did not
deal with the sovereignty of States at all, but confined itself to
a consideration of an economic _régime_ applicable throughout the
Congo Basin, including the territories therein of Great Britain,
France, Germany, Portugal, and the Congo Free State. Events anterior
to its introduction to the Conference as a friendly State by Prince
Bismarck do not depend for their quality upon the form of that
introduction. They are not destroyed by the peculiarity of phrase
or the spontaneous honour which accompanied its entrance into the
society of nations. That which does not exist cannot be the object of
recognition. Even without the facts of the recognition by the United
States of the State’s flag (April 22, 1884) as that of a friendly
Government seven months before the Berlin Conference convened, and
its recognition by Germany seven days before the opening of the
Conference (November 8, 1884), the State contends that it was a State
_in esse_, a Government _de facto_, fully organised and qualified
to maintain itself as such within the territory it had acquired by
cession from the native tribal chiefs and by prior occupation.
An examination of competent authorities on this important phase
of Congolese civilisation convinces us that the idle contention
which questions the State’s independence of the Powers signatory
of the General Act of Berlin has been brought forth merely for its
cumulative effect, not for its inherent power to sustain itself.
The subject may be approached by two questions: What is a State? What
is a Government?
“A State ... implies the union of a number of individuals in a fixed
territory, and under one central authority. Austria-Hungary is a
State, but, as Prince Gortchakoff once sarcastically remarked, ‘It is
a Government, and not a nation.’”
The Constitution of the United States defines the term _State_ as
combining the idea of people, territory, and government. Defining
the difference between a government in law and a government in fact,
Montague Bernard says, in _Neutrality of Great Britain during
American Civil War_: “A _de jure_ government is one which, in the
opinion of the person using the phrase, ought to possess the powers
of sovereignty, though at the time it may be deprived of them. A
_de facto_ government is one which is really in possession of them,
although the possession may be wrongful or precarious.”
In Tharington _v._ Smith, 8 Wallace, 8-11, the Court said:
There are several degrees of what is called _de facto_ government.
Such a government in its highest degree assumes a character very
closely resembling that of a lawful government.... There is
another species of _de facto_ government, and it is one which
may be perhaps aptly called a government of paramount force.
Its distinguishing characteristics are: That its existence is
maintained by active military power, within the territories ... etc.
In Wheaton’s _Elements of International Law_, the latest edition of
the leading authority on the subject, the author maintains that:
The recognition of any State by other States, and its admission
into the general society of nations, may depend, or may be made
to depend, at the will of those other States, upon its internal
constitution or form of government, or the choice it may make
of its rulers. But whatever be its internal constitution, or
form of government, or whoever may be its rulers, or even if it
be distracted with anarchy, through a violent contest for the
government between different parties among the people, the State
still subsists in contemplation of law, until its sovereignty is
extinguished by the final dissolution of the social tie, or by some
other cause which puts an end to the being of the State.
... The internal sovereignty of a State does not, in any degree,
depend upon its recognition by other States. A new State, springing
into existence, does not require the recognition of other States to
confirm its internal sovereignty. The existence of the State _de
facto_ is sufficient, in this respect, to establish its sovereignty
_de jure_. It is a State because it exists.
Thus the internal sovereignty of the United States of America was
complete from the time they declared themselves “free, sovereign
and independent States,” on the 4th of July, 1776.... The treaty of
peace of 1782 contained a recognition of their independence, not a
grant of it.
The external sovereignty of any State, on the other hand, may
require recognition by other States in order to render it perfect
and complete. So long, indeed, as the new State confines its action
to its own citizens, and to the limits of its own territory, it may
well dispense with such recognition.
The principles thus indicated would appear to distinguish with marked
certitude the vast difference between the State’s existence and its
recognition. The latter was a political consequence of the former.
At the Berlin Conference no question was raised concerning a fact
so patent, nor did the signatories distinguish between the five
Powers in possession of the Congo Basin in framing the clauses of the
Berlin Act imposing the same obligations on all these Governments.
Those obligations related only to their economic _régime_ in Central
Africa. The articles of the Act concerning the Congo Basin, which
applied to the Independent State of the Congo, were also binding
upon Great Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal. This sign of
equality is inconsistent with the notion that the Congo Free State is
the vassal territory of the Powers signatory of the General Act of
Berlin.
It has been contended by technicians of the law of nations who are
in the service of those who seek to disrupt the Congo Free State,
that a State cannot accrue out of a private association, such, for
instance, as the International African Association or the _Comité
d’Études du Haut-Congo_. But just as events are constantly spoiling
theories, so had the flag of the Belgians confounded that contention
by demonstrating in a practical manner that a State _did_ exist,
and that all the elements of a State government were present in the
neighbourhood of Stanley Pool long before the Berlin Conference.
The identity of a State consists in its having the same origin
or commencement of existence; and its difference from all other
States consists in its having a different origin or commencement
of existence.... The habitual obedience of the members of any
political society to a superior authority must have once existed in
order to constitute a sovereign State.[1]
American writers on the subject are of opinion that the North
American Indian in his aboriginal state was not a political
unit of the United States at the time when the Union declared
its independence. In Johnson _v._ McIntosh, 8 Wheaton, p. 543,
Chief-Justice Marshall described their status in the following
language:
The Indian inhabitants of the United States are to be considered
merely as occupants, to be protected, indeed, while in peace,
in the possession of their lands, but to be deemed incapable
of transferring the absolute title to others independent of
territorial sovereignty.
To this may be added the apposite declaration of Mr. Fish, Secretary
of State, to Mr. Hackett, June 12, 1873:
Aboriginal inhabitants in a savage state have not such a title to
the land where they dwell or roam as entitle them to confer it upon
persons from another country.
[Sidenote: A Strange Fallacy.]
The Congo State law to which the foregoing declaration applies will
be discussed in the chapter on the State Lands and Concessions. The
citation is offered here merely for its general bearing upon the
doctrine put forth by certain writers who contend that barbarous
races living in primitive conditions upon lands over which civilised
government has not been established, attain to the organic level of
political units or citizenship upon the recognition of the government
which dominates them with either its civil or its military power.
That doctrine, it seems to us, is untenable. There is, on the
other hand, no doubt that savage races can, by the symbols and the
operating functions of government, humanely enforced according to
the conditions with which it must cope, be brought to the knowledge
of, and obedience to, an orderly civil community. The instruments
of civilisation must vary with the various character of the life
upon which they are to operate effectively. Yet there are strabismic
monitors of African civilisation who, representing no high moral
standard in themselves, have laid down a rule of conduct for the
Congo Free State which disregards that principle. It has been this
narrow view of a liberal civilising scheme that has caused so much
mischievous mewling in Great Britain concerning alleged misrule in
Central Africa.
[Illustration: State Post at Yankomi, near Basoko, Surrounded by
Palisade (Aruwimi).]
The foundation of the Congo Free State really began with the
organised movement and structures of the _Comité d’Études du
Haut-Congo_ on November 25, 1878. The expedition of Stanley on August
14, 1879, was an earnest of the Committee’s intention to establish
the institutions of a permanent local government with all practicable
speed.
The Belgian post of Vivi was the first monument fixed in the wake
of Stanley. On February 21, 1880, Isanghila was established, and on
May 1, 1881, Manyanga was occupied. In the following December the
expedition arrived at Stanley Pool, and reconstructed the steamboat
_En Avant_, which, having been dismantled, had been carried in small
sections through the forest to this point above the cataracts. In
a short time this pioneer craft bore Stanley up the Congo River to
accomplish the dream of Leopold II.
Many stations were established, steamers began running between them,
treaties were concluded with the chiefs of independent native tribes
to protect the territory so occupied against the claims of subsequent
explorers; administrative and police services were required, and
all the effective essentials of a central authority and an actual
government were then and there established.
At this juncture the Committee changed its name to the International
Congo Association and redoubled its activities. The Niadi Kwilu
Basin was explored; that important factor in late Congo prosperity,
the Upper Kassai, was brought under the influence of Belgian
regeneration, and the Lunda country and districts beyond were taken
within the Government’s sphere.
In five years discoveries of great value had been made in Darkest
Africa, hundreds of tribes had been peacefully visited, over five
hundred treaties of suzerainty had been made with the ruling chiefs,
forty stations had been erected and their complement of officers put
to the work of administering a definite system of local government,
and five steamers on the Upper Congo were regularly communicating
the affairs of a Government which now effectively controlled all the
territory between the East Coast and Stanley Falls, between Bangala
and Luluabourg.[2]
This, then, was the position of the Government in the Congo Basin in
1883, long before the Berlin Conference. The status that Government
acquired as a consequence of its administrative acts in, and dominion
over, the territory it occupied, has been briefly indicated from the
point of view of American authorities on the subject of international
law. Before examining the leading European authorities, whose
approaches to the subject are peculiar to European experience and
learning, it is interesting to observe how consistently the action of
the Government of the United States followed the American view of the
law on the subject.
[Sidenote: A Learned Belgian.]
Baron A. Descamps’ _New Africa_, an excellent essay on government
civilisation in new countries, embodies a concise statement of what
occurred in the fortunes of the infant State early in 1884, when its
progressive work had extended a civilising influence to those regions
of the Congo Basin where the Arab slave trade had not retained its
devastating sway. The writer says:
The practical sympathy speedily accorded to the International Congo
Association by the greatest Power of the New World, the United
States of America, full of life and vigour and ever inclined to
progress, proved that King Leopold’s enterprise had secured public
support and official suffrage far beyond the limits of Europe. On
April 10, 1884, the American Senate, on Mr. Morgan’s remarkable
report,[3] passed a resolution asking the President of the United
States to recognise the Association “as the governing power of the
Congo.” A few days later, on April 22, 1884, that recognition was
an accomplished fact. In officially recalling, at the opening of
the Berlin Conference, the nature and cause of this great Act, Mr.
Kasson, Chief Plenipotentiary of the United States, pointed out
that, following upon Stanley’s explorations, the newly discovered
regions “would be exposed to the dangerous rivalries of conflicting
nationalities. It was the earnest desire of the Government of
the United States that these discoveries should be utilised for
the civilisation of the native races, and for the abolition of
the slave-trade; and that early action should be taken to avoid
international conflicts likely to arise from national rivalry
in the acquisition of special privileges in the vast region so
suddenly exposed to commercial enterprises.” Referring to the work
so effectively performed by the International Congo Association
“under high and philanthropic European patronage,” he said that
those gallant pioneers of civilisation had “obtained concessions
and jurisdiction throughout the basin of the Congo from the
native sovereignties which were the sole authorities existing
there and exercising dominion over the soil or the people. They
immediately proceeded,” added he, “to establish a Government _de
facto_.” Declaring next that the legality of the acts of that
Government should be recognised, under penalty of recognising
“neither law, order, nor justice in all that region,” he concluded
as follows: “The President of the United States, on being duly
informed of this organisation, and of their peacefully acquired
rights, of their means of protecting persons and property, and
of their just purposes towards all foreign nations, recognised
the actual government established, and the flag adopted by this
Association. Their rights were grounded on the consent of the
native inhabitants, in a country actually occupied by them, and
whose routes of commerce and travel were under their actual control
and administration. He believed that in thus recognising the only
dominant flag found in that country he acted in the common interest
of civilised nations.”
“In so far,” said the American Plenipotentiary, “as this neutral
and peaceful zone shall be expanded, so far he foresees the
strengthening of the guarantees of peace, of African civilisation,
and of profitable commerce with the whole family of nations.”[4]
Such was the position taken up by the United States of America
in regard to the recognition of the newly installed government
in Equatorial Africa. Germany was the first European Power to
consider this subject of recognition, and to accord to the new
enterprise marks of its sympathy and the support of its authority.
In acknowledging, by the Convention of _November 8, 1884_,
concluded _before_ the Berlin Conference opened, the flag of the
International Congo Association “as that of a friendly State,”
the German Government clearly indicated that, so far as it was
concerned, the new State ought to take its place from the first
among the Powers called to the Conference.
[Sidenote: Another Learned Belgian.]
M. Ernest Nys, Professor of International Law of the University of
Brussels, Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal (_Conseiller à la
Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles_); member of the Institute of International
Law, a distinguished Belgian, and writer on several branches of
the law, sets forth with greater detail the precise form of the
recognition of the Congo Free State by the Senate of the United
States. M. Nys relates:
In his annual message to Congress the President of the United
States raised the question of the relations which were henceforth
to be established between the Republic and “the inhabitants of the
Congo Valley in Africa.” On 26th May, 1884, Mr. Morgan (Alabama)
reported to the Senate in the name of the Committee on Foreign
Relations.
On 18th January, 1884, a communication from Mr. Frelinghuysen,
Secretary of the State Department, explained to Mr. Morgan how
along the Congo the African International Association had created
important establishments. On 13th March of the same year a further
communication from Mr. Frelinghuysen set forth the opportuneness
and the usefulness of recognising the flag of the Association, and
added that no principle of international law was opposed to the
creation of a State by a philanthropical society.
In his report of 26th March Mr. Morgan recalled the fact that
Stanley had concluded at Vivi on 13th June, 1880, the first
convention with a native chief, and that since that date nearly
a hundred other treaties between tribal chiefs and the agents of
the Association had been concluded, in which important commercial
arrangements and stipulations relative to law, the maintenance of
order, and the delegation of power figured among the provisions.
Consequently two hypotheses presented themselves. “If the local
rulers,” said Mr. Morgan, “were qualified to make the cession
they did, the sovereign power that they conferred on the African
International Association might obtain recognition on the part of
other nations precisely because that Association thus proves its
existence as a Government by law. If,” he added, “there exists any
doubt concerning the sovereignty or the territory or the subjects,
the understanding among the native tribes who conclude treaties
with the Association offers a sufficient guarantee to other peoples
for recognising the Association as a Government in fact.”
The Committee on Foreign Relations made a motion in favour of the
recognition of the Association. It is permissible to affirm that at
this moment a juridical person already existed, which could claim
the principal rights of a State, and which found itself prepared
to fulfil the duties of one. The first direction of the efforts
of the Committee for studying the Upper Congo had been indicated
in July, 1879, in the instructions given to Stanley. “It would
be wise,” wrote Colonel Strauch, “to extend the influence of the
stations over the chiefs and tribes inhabiting the neighbourhood.
There might be made out of them a republican confederation of free
Negroes, an independent confederation under this reservation,
that the King, to whom its conception and creation would be due,
should nominate its President who was to reside in Europe....
A confederacy thus formed might of its own authority grant
concessions to companies for the construction of works of public
utility, or issue loans, as Liberia and Sarawak do, and also itself
execute public works. Our enterprise does not tend to the creation
of a Belgian Colony but to the establishment of a powerful Negro
State.”[5] But the political idea was not slow in taking a precise
form. If in Mr. Morgan’s report there is still question of _the
Free States of the Congo_ the conclusion did not the less relate,
as we have just seen, to the African International Association.
[Illustration: Europeans at Stanleyville, 1902.]
It was it which was [_sic_], according to the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate, in law or in fact a “Government”
qualified to claim international recognition.
Besides, the solution was very soon effected. The Government of
the United States recorded the existence of The International
Association of the Congo, managing the interests of the Free
States established in that region, and gave orders to all United
States officials on sea and on land to recognise the flag of the
International Association as the equal of that of a friendly
Government.
The following is the text of the declarations which were exchanged on
22d April, 1884:
The International Association of the Congo hereby declares that
by Treaties with the legitimate Sovereigns in the basins of the
Congo and of the Niadi Kwilu and in adjacent territories upon the
Atlantic there has been ceded to it territory for the use and
benefit of Free States established and being established under the
care and supervision of the said Association in the said basins and
adjacent territories to which cession the said Free States of right
succeed.
That the said International Association had adopted for itself
and for the said Free States, as their standard, the flag of the
International African Association, being a blue flag with a golden
star in the centre.
That the said Association and the said States have resolved to
levy no custom-house duties upon goods or articles of merchandise
imported into their territories or brought by the route which has
been constructed around the Congo cataracts; this they have done
with a view of enabling commerce to penetrate into Equatorial
Africa.
That they guarantee to foreigners settling in their territories
the right to purchase, sell, or lease lands and buildings situated
therein; to establish commercial houses, and to carry on trade
upon the sole condition that they shall obey the laws. They pledge
themselves, moreover, never to grant to the citizens of one nation
any advantages without immediately extending the same to the
citizens of all other nations, and to do all in their power to
prevent the slave trade.
In testimony whereof, Henry S. Sanford, duly empowered therefor
by the said Association, acting for itself and for the said Free
States, has hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal this 22nd
day of April, 1884, in the City of Washington.
(L. S.) (Signed) H. S. SANFORD.
Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, duly empowered
therefor by the President of the United States of America, and
pursuant to the advice and consent of the Senate, heretofore
given, acknowledges the receipt of the foregoing notification
from the International Association of the Congo, and declares
that, in harmony with the traditional policy of the United States,
which enjoins a proper regard for the commercial interests of
their citizens, while at the same time avoiding interference with
controversies between other Powers as well as alliances with
foreign nations, the Government of the United States announces its
sympathy with, and approval of, the humane and benevolent purposes
of the International Association of the Congo, administering, as it
does, the interests of the Free States there established, and will
order the officers of the United States, both on land and sea, to
recognise the flag of the International African Association as the
flag of a friendly Government.
In testimony whereof, he has hereunto set his hand and affixed his
seal this 22nd day of April, A. D. 1884, in the City of Washington.
(L. S.) (Signed) FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN.
[Sidenote: United States Leads the Way.]
We observe in the spontaneous recognition accorded the youthful
State—whatever its form of government may have been—prompt admission
of its qualification as a member of the society of nations. This
was before the signatory Powers to the General Act of Berlin had
opportunity of indicating that sympathy which they expressed
in substantial terms when they followed the example of the United
States and Germany, and invited the Congo Government to participate
in the Berlin Conference as a friendly State invested with all the
attributes of statehood which their recognition implied.
[Illustration: Post Office, Boma.]
It is contended by the advocates of the Congo Free State that the
form of its government at any time before or after recognition can
not in the slightest degree affect the question of the State’s actual
existence. It matters not, say the European authorities—Barboux,
Picard, Nys, Descamps, Van Berchem, Azcarate, de Martens, and
Pierantoni, whether the earlier Government was composed of “federated
Negro tribes”; a State ruled by monarchy; territorial and tribal
allegiance to an organised central authority; by an autocrat
employing civil and military powers, or any other scheme of equitable
and civilised domination. The right of the Government to _exist_
cannot be destroyed by latter-day technicalities of law adroitly
applied. The point to be noted, says Baron Descamps, is that “the
claim to the occupation of vacant territories and to the acquirement
by cession of sovereign rights was not inferior to the titles relied
upon by European Powers in the course of their colonial expansion.”
All this was an element patent in the State’s foundation, obviously
understood and admitted by the Powers which, while they assumed that
the Congo Basin contained nothing of material or political value
to excite their cupidity, they recognised and treated on a basis
of equality—so far, at least, as the considerations of the Berlin
Conference are concerned.
In the present chapter have been briefly considered the legal and
ethical aspects of the birth and baptism of the Congo Free State,
its romantic evolution from the enlightened forces put into play
by the indomitable personal powers of a Prince of the House of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In a succeeding chapter will be observed how the
obligations imposed by the General Act of Berlin were discharged by
the several Powers which assumed them.[6]
[Illustration: Native Boys, Boma.]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Wheaton’s _International Law_.
[2] _L’État Indépendant du Congo_, M. Wauters, p. 27.
[3] See _Compilation of Reports of Committee on Foreign Relations_.
United States Senate. _Recognition of Congo Free State._ March 26,
1884, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902. Vol. vi., p.
221. The appendices include, among other documents, the notes of Sir
Travers Twiss and Mr. Arntz.
[4] _Protocoles et Acte Général de la Conférence de Berlin_
(1884-85), p. 23 ss.
[5] F. Cattier, _Droit et Administration de l’État Indépendant du
Congo_, 1898, p. 17.
[6] For a full report of the Committee on Foreign Relations to the
Senate of the United States, March 26, 1884, together with the
Treaties of Vivi, Leopoldville, Manyanga, and Stephanieville, see
Appendix.
CHAPTER VII
HORRORS OF THE ARAB SLAVE TRADE
[Sidenote: Slavery Defined.]
Slavery: the absolute, irresponsible ownership of one class of
human beings by another class; a contract in which the only factors
are might on the one side and helplessness on the other; servitude
exacted by force.
Slavery has existed in all countries from the earliest recorded
periods. The most enlightened philosophers of ancient Greece and
Rome were unable to conceive a community of which a section was not
enslaved by the rest.
As a system, slavery, by its long-continued, universal practice,
and the simple solution it affords of what in our modern world is
referred to as the labour difficulty, appeals to two powerful human
instincts: conservatism and cupidity. The ethical unfairness of one
man’s being made wholly subservient to the will of another; forced to
labour for him without reward; his chattel to retain, sell, or slay,
as though he were a horse or a dog, was perceived from the earliest
times. But those most interested in the overthrow of the system,
the slaves themselves, being ignorant, and purposely kept in that
condition by their taskmasters, suffered on, century after century,
finding no champion for their cause until the advent of the Redeemer
of Mankind, preaching universal brotherhood and equal rights for all
men.
But the greater the wrong the longer it takes to right it, and
Christ’s words were but the seed from which has sprung our great
harvest of freedom. It has been a harvest of slow growth. For ages
after the divine words were spoken on behalf of the slave by the
first and greatest of his advocates, slavery was still regarded by
many nations as indispensable to their existence. Indeed, eighteen
centuries elapsed before there was any appreciable awakening to the
deep infamy of slavery. It occurred in England, and was the result of
the unwearied efforts of a small band of enthusiasts, whose labours,
like those of all reformers, were at first derided.
England, though free from the curse of slavery within her own proper
borders, had in the course of history done as much as, nay, more
than, any other nation to enslave the Negro. She had acquired him
in Africa by thousands in exchange for guns, knives, alcohol, and
dry goods; had transported him across the Atlantic to her American
cotton plantations in a manner compared with which a modern steerage
emigrant’s experience may be regarded as a luxurious cruise; and had
then extracted the utmost amount of work from him by the aid of the
lash.
[Illustration: Types of Bearers (North Bank of Cataracts).]
[Illustration: Group of Yie-Yie Women (Uelle).]
[Sidenote: England’s Retribution.]
All the vested interests created by this traffic, long persevered
in, as well as the callousness engendered by its brutality, had to
be fought against and overthrown by a small band of Liberationists,
aided by nothing but their enthusiasm and a just cause.
Nevertheless they daily gathered strength, and finally succeeded in
inducing the British Parliament to vote a hundred million dollars for
the purchase and liberation of every slave in every country where the
British flag flies. This grand event took place in the year·1830.
[Sidenote: The Fight for Right and Union.]
Three decades later came that tremendous convulsion in the United
States, the like of which the world has not seen. It was resolved
by the United States Government to free the slaves, slavery being
a system never deliberately adopted by the United States, but
inherited, as it were, from the English Colonial _régime_, of which
they had by revolution become the successors. The slaveholding
Southern States, resisting the new law, sought to withdraw from the
Union, and civil war ensued, in which the Abolitionists were entirely
successful, but at an appalling cost in men and money.
[Sidenote: A Common Error.]
It has been necessary to refer thus briefly to the history of slavery
because of the strangely prevalent opinion that when peace was
restored within the United States, and slavery finally abolished
there, slavery no longer existed in the world. True, it was known
that there was a sort of domestic service, chiefly of women, akin
to slavery, practised in China, Persia, and some minor Oriental
countries; but that was thought to be all. It came, therefore, as a
rude shock to civilised humanity when travellers of unquestionable
veracity, such as Dr. Livingstone, Sir Samuel Baker, and Henry M.
Stanley, demonstrated that the slave trade not only still existed
throughout vast regions in Africa, but was rampant there in its
most atrocious aspect. At first it was hardly realised that the
labours of Granville Sharpe, Clarkson, and Wilberforce, the monetary
sacrifices of England, and the devastating war in America had, taken
together, fallen so far short of complete triumph. But the evidence
was overwhelming that such was indeed the case, the Soudan, the Upper
Nile, and the basins of the Congo and the great lakes—more than a
third of all Africa, exceeding in area the whole of Europe—being
still the field of the iniquity. The Sultans of petty states in the
Soudan were shown to be, for the most part, chiefs of ferocious Arab
tribes who thrived by raiding Central African villages and carrying
off their inhabitants, whom they sold for slaves. The cruelties
attending their marauding operations were too great to admit of
exaggeration. “All over Africa,” wrote Schweinfurth, a German
traveller, “dried human skeletons show where the slave-trader has
passed.”
[Sidenote: A Picture in Words.]
Acting under heavy pressure brought to bear upon it by the
anti-slavery humanitarians in England the British Government coerced
the Khedive of Egypt into signing a convention having for its object
the suppression of slavery within his dominions. In order to carry
out the engagement into which he had entered, the Khedive appointed
General Gordon Governor of the Soudan, and that remarkable man,
during the six years that he held that office, displayed so much
energy and skill that he succeeded in utterly eradicating the evil
throughout the entire region placed under his control. Nevertheless,
the general result was not so good as had been hoped for; the
slave-traders, despoiled of their hunting-grounds in the Egyptian
Soudan, pursuing their nefarious occupation with redoubled vigour on
Lake Tanganyika and the Upper Congo. With what extremity of horror
they conducted their operations has been so graphically described by
a Belgian merchant, M. Hodister, that we make no apology for quoting
his account in full.
It is four o’clock in the morning [says M. Hodister]. A great calm
prevails, only the soft and melancholy cry of the African owl is to
be heard. The village sentinels are either withdrawn, or squatting
low, asleep; the houses are closed; every one sleeps; all is
repose; the sense of security is absolute. Suddenly the sound of a
gun, then cries of terror are raised, breaking the great silence,
followed by a fusillade, which seems to come from all sides,
piercing the straw walls. The boatmen have fired, leaving their
canoes to their women; they have rushed forward, attacking the
village in front, while the others are assailing it from the rear.
The inhabitants, suddenly roused from their sleep, rush terrified
from their houses. They are panic-stricken, and forget wives,
children, everything. Their one thought is of flight—to conceal
themselves in the wood. The panic is at its height; rifle shots,
horrible cries, resound, mixing with the shrieks of fear from the
women and children. Then follow the stifled noise of a struggle at
close quarters, of falling bodies, a suppressed groan, sharp cries
of agony. The ground shakes under the tread of the combatants and
fugitives. Soon afterwards appears a star in the blackness of the
night, and a dry, crackling sound is heard. It is a detached hut
fired by the enemy to light them in their work without the risk
of burning the whole village. Before doing that, they wish to
pillage it. Meanwhile, a few of the inhabitants have seized their
weapons and attempt some resistance; but in a little time this is
overcome by superior numbers. To the noise of the fight succeed the
cries of the prisoners, of the wounded and the dying. The horizon
lightens; the sun has risen suddenly and illumined this field of
carnage and desolation. Then the Arabs kill the wounded, bind their
prisoners, and begin to plunder the village. Every house is visited
and despoiled of its contents. Where in the evening there had been
a pretty village, surrounded by a plantation like a covering of
verdure, a gay and happy population, there is now a great black,
empty spot; for on the completion of the sack the village had been
set on fire and burned to the ground. Men, women, and children,
tied together promiscuously, corpses strewing the ground, blood
puddles emitting an acrid smell, and the assassins, horrible in
their war paint, which during the struggle has run with their sweat
and blood, complete the picture.
Bound together in groups by stout cords around their waists and
necks, the wretched procession of captives, often two or three
thousand in number, was, after an incident such as this, marched to
the coast. Generally, at least a third of them died by the way. The
sick and the lamed, unable to maintain the desired pace, were weeded
out at each halting-place and ruthlessly butchered by their captors.
[Sidenote: A Herculean Task.]
It will require no very inventive imagination to appreciate the
magnitude of the difficulties confronting the Belgian pioneers in
their effort to suppress slavery, carried on with such ferocious
brutality over an area so vast as Central Africa. Yet that was but
one of several tasks enjoined upon them by their King; but it was
first in order and importance, and until it was accomplished
little or no progress in other respects could be hoped for. “Crime
is not punished as an offence against God, but as prejudicial to
society,” says the historian Froude. King Leopold saw in the crime
of slavery both the offence to God and the prejudice to man, and
was prepared to exert his utmost energy and, if necessary, expend
the last franc of his private fortune, to stamp out the evil. In
this heroic endeavour his Majesty was ably seconded by his minister,
the distinguished Baron Lambermont, who has recorded his opinion of
slavery in these words: “The slave trade is the very denial of every
law, of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high
treason against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be
reached, on land as well as by sea.”
[Illustration: Native Potters at Work (Aruwimi).]
It is not claimed that there is anything original in the sentiment
that animates this well-expressed sentence. Similar views to those
of Baron Lambermont have been held by all great thinkers since the
establishment of the Christian religion; but it is referred to in
this place as an additional proof, if any were needed, of the high
moral purpose underlying the enterprise of the King of the Belgians,
and to show how that moral purpose was sympathised with and shared by
his Majesty’s ministers and the Belgian people.
That every religious sect without exception has denounced slavery as
the blackest spot sullying the fair fame of the nineteenth century
need not be reiterated. In logical sequence, every religious sect
was prepared to assist, morally and materially, in the removal of a
disgrace which was felt to reflect upon every civilised community. In
an encyclical, dated 5th of May, 1888, addressed by Pope Leo XIII.
to the bishops of Brazil, congratulating them upon the abolition of
slavery in their country, his Holiness referred to the deplorable
condition of the Negro in Central Africa, and called upon “all who
wield power, those who sway empires, those who desire that the
rights of nature and humanity be respected, and those who desire the
progress of religion, to unite everywhere to secure the abolition of
this most shameful and criminal traffic.”
[Sidenote: Pope Leo XIII. on Slavery.]
This noble appeal touched the hearts of thousands in every nation of
Europe and in America. For Cardinal Lavigerie, the Belgian prelate,
who had so long laboured on behalf of the oppressed Congolese, it
had a special significance, inspiring him with renewed courage and
energy in his glorious work. When, for the first time in history, a
small band of Christian Negroes from Central Africa was received in
audience by the Pope, a few days after the issue of this encyclical,
Leo XIII., replying to the address of Cardinal Lavigerie, who had
presented them, said:
Since We have been Pope, Our regards have turned towards that
disinherited land, Central Africa. Our heart has been touched at
the thought of the enormous amount of physical and moral misery
that exists there. We have repeatedly urged all those who have
power in their hands to put a stop to the hideous traffic called
the slave trade, and to use all and every means to secure that end.
And, inasmuch as the African continent is the principal scene of
this traffic and, as it were, the house of slavery, We recommend
all missionaries who there preach the Holy Gospel to devote
their whole efforts, their whole life, to this sublime work of
redemption. But it is upon you, Cardinal, that We count especially
for success.
Cardinal Lavigerie’s practical reply to this direct personal appeal
from the head of his Church was the formation in Belgium of the
Anti-Slavery Society. The agitation on behalf of the Negro was not
confined to Catholics. Among the friends of the movement were to be
found the best of every creed as of every nation. Great conventions
were held in Germany and England having for their object the
suppression of slavery in Central Africa, and societies formed in
those countries; and France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain,
and Portugal quickly followed suit. Though “man’s inhumanity to man
makes countless thousands mourn,” it was now shown to be also potent
to arouse some of the best instincts of human nature to assure its
suppression. At last the horrors of the African slave trade were
adequately realised, and the world applauded Leopold, King of the
Belgians, for his arduous labours for its extinction, and was anxious
to strengthen his hands for grappling with the still formidable work
that remained to do.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BERLIN CONFERENCE
A clear view of the position of the State previous to the adoption
of the resolutions known as the General Act of the Berlin Conference
may be had from a summary of the signal events which had marked its
formative period.
[Sidenote: The General Act of Berlin.]
The Congo Free State was born of the Congo International Association
founded by his Majesty, Leopold II. in 1883, while Stanley was in his
service. Prior to the legal foundation of the State, the Association
had obtained recognition of its sovereignty as hereinbefore
indicated. By treaties concluded in 1884 and 1885 with the United
States and with many of the European Powers, it adhered, on the 25th
of February, 1885, to the resolutions of the Berlin Conference,
which, embodied in a General Act, established, amongst other things,
freedom of trade throughout the Congo Basin, and declared free
navigation on the Congo River, its tributaries, and the lakes and
canals connected therewith. The text of the General Act of Berlin, so
far as it relates to the Congo, is fully set forth in an appendix.
The principal subjects contained in the Act which may concern the
reader are briefly stated:
[Illustration: Making Manioc Flour, Basoko (Aruwimi).]
1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the Basin of
the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other
provisions connected therewith.
2. A Declaration relative to the Slave Trade, and the operations by
sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade.
3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories
comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo.
4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard
to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and
the waters in its system (_eaux qui leur sont assimilées_), the
general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII. and CXVI. of the
Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, and intended to regulate, as
between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of
the waterways separating or traversing several States—these said
principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain
rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube, with
the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856), of
Berlin (1878), and of London (of 1871 and 1883).
5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having
regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its
affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII. and
CXVI. of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna.
6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain
uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coasts of
the African Continent.
The treaties which, before the adoption of these resolutions on
February 26, 1885, the Congo Free State had concluded with various
Powers, were those with the United States of America, dated April 22,
1886; Germany, 8th November; Great Britain, 16th December; Italy,
19th December; Spain, 7th January, 1885; France, 5th February; Russia
on the same day; Sweden and Norway, 10th February; Portugal, 14th
February; Denmark and Belgium, 23rd February. These treaties[7] were
notified to the Conference on the 23rd February, and the neutrality
of the State was declared and published on the 1st August in the same
year.
[Sidenote: Praise from Bismarck.]
At the close of the Berlin Conference on 26th February, 1885, Prince
Bismarck offered his tribute of appreciation for the work which,
deriving its inspiration from the King of the Belgians, had, by the
Powers represented, been formulated into an economic code for the
guidance of the four nations, which, besides the Congo Free State,
occupied the great Congo Basin. Prince Bismarck’s address has the
effect of oracular utterance in the light of events since the day
when he wisely said that the work of the Conference would be, like
every human undertaking, susceptible of improvement. The following is
the full text of Prince Bismarck’s closing speech:
GENTLEMEN:—Our Conference, after long and laborious deliberations,
has reached the end of its work, and I am happy to state that,
thanks to your efforts, and to the spirit of conciliation which
has presided at our negotiations, a complete agreement has been
established on all the points of the programme which was submitted
to us.
The resolutions which we are on the point of sanctioning assure
to the commerce of all nations free access to the centre of the
African Continent. The guarantees with which commercial liberty in
the Basin of the Congo will be surrounded, and all the arrangements
made in the Acts of Navigation for the Congo and the Niger, are of
a nature to offer to the commerce and the industry of all nations
the most favourable conditions for their development and security.
By another series of provisions you have shown your solicitude for
the moral and material well-being of the native populations, and
there is room to hope that those principles, dictated by a spirit
of practical wisdom, will bear fruit and will contribute to bestow
on those populations the benefits of civilisation.
The practical conditions under which are placed the vast regions
that you have just opened to commercial enterprise have seemed
to exact special guarantees for the maintenance of peace and
public order. As a matter of fact, the evils of war would assume
a particularly disastrous character if the natives were led to
take part in the conflicts of civilised Powers. Justly preoccupied
with the dangers that such an eventuality would entail in the
interests of commerce and of civilisation, you have sought the
means of withdrawing a great part of the African Continent from the
vicissitudes of general politics, by restraining these national
rivalries to the pacific competition of commerce and industry.
In the same category you have aimed at preventing the
misunderstanding and contests to which new seizures of territory
on the coasts of Africa might give rise. The declaration as to
the formalities to be complied with in order to make acquisitions
of territory effective has introduced into public right a new
regulation, which will contribute in its degree to remove from
international relations causes of dissension and conflict.
The spirit of mutual good understanding which has distinguished
your deliberations has equally presided over the negotiations
which have taken place outside the Conference, with the object of
regulating difficult questions of delimitation between the parties
which exercise sovereign rights in the basin of the Congo, and
which by the nature of their position are called upon to become the
chief guardians of the work which we are about to sanction.
I cannot touch on this subject without rendering my homage to the
noble efforts of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the founder
of a work which is to-day recognised by almost all the Powers, and
which by its consolidation may render precious services to the
cause of humanity.
Gentlemen, I am charged by His Majesty the Emperor and King, my
august master, to express to you his warmest thanks for the part
that each of you has taken in the happy accomplishment of the task
of the Conference.
I fulfil a final duty in making myself the mouthpiece of the
gratitude that the Conference owes those of its members who have
discharged the difficult labours of the Commission, notably the
Baron de Courcel and the Baron Lambermont. I also thank the
delegates for the valuable assistance they have afforded us, and I
associate with the expression of that gratitude the Secretaries of
the Conference, who by the precision of their work have facilitated
our task.
Gentlemen, the work of the Conference will be, like every human
undertaking, susceptible of improvement and perfection; but it will
mark, I hope, a step forward in the development of international
relations, and will form a new link of solidarity between civilised
nations.
[Sidenote: Sir Charles Dilke Astray.]
The brilliant, cordial, and edifying final session of the Berlin
Conference presaged no such campaign of calumny as that which has
proceeded since Sir Charles Dilke, on gross misinformation purveyed
by interested persons, and on what appears to have been his wilful
misreading of a book entitled _The Fall of the Congo Arabs_, attacked
the Congo State by moving in the British Parliament on April 2, 1897,
a measure calling for a new Conference to consider charges which
no one had presented, but which, for some inscrutable reason, this
eminent parliamentarian seemed anxious to dignify by sensational
legislation.
When the Berlin Conference concluded its labours, it was with
manifest sympathy for the King of the Belgians and his voluntary
pledge to an African task which practically all the participating
Powers regarded as impossible of achievement, such were its glaring
difficulties. Now, after twenty years of Belgian sacrifice, there are
those who, jealous of the achievements in a task they were so anxious
to avoid in 1885, must destroy where they cannot reap in 1905. To
men of purpose and brave outlook, this is merely one of the many
incivilities of civilisation. Success begets envy in one’s neighbour;
failure often confirms him in his secret contempt.
In Belgium the completion of the General Act of the Berlin Conference
evoked a patriotic feeling of satisfaction which, in its address to
the King, the Chamber of Representatives voiced in the following
language: “To your Majesty belongs the honour of having conceived
the African work, of having pursued and developed it by persevering
efforts.... We felicitate your Majesty on these important results,
and, as Belgians, we are proud of the solemn homage rendered by the
Powers to the generous and progressive ideas of our Sovereign.”
The Belgian nation, for a long time uncertain of the result of the
philanthropic work of its King in Central Africa, and having observed
that other nations had shrunk from this costly task of civilisation,
now uttered its sentiments of approval in many forms. In his speech
before the Chamber on March 10, 1885, M. Beernaert, then Minister of
Finance, said, amongst other expressions of hope for the new State,
that the merit of the work accomplished “belongs especially to the
initiation, to the persistent energy, and to the sacrifices of our
King.” Then, expressing the hope of extended industries—a hope that
was largely, if not entirely, the incentive which actuated the Powers
Signatory to the Berlin Act—the Minister concluded his address with
the belief that the Congo would offer “to our superabundant activity,
to our industries more and more confined, outlets by which we shall
know how to profit. May the enterprising spirit of our King encourage
our countrymen to seek, even at a distance, new sources of greatness
and prosperity for our dear country.” The Belgian Chamber and Senate
ratified the nation’s participation in the General Act of the Berlin
Conference without a dissentient voice.
To the loyal address of his Parliament, the King of the Belgians made
reply, graciously acknowledging the support his subjects had given
him in his great African work.
[Illustration: Native Musicians at Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai).]
There remained now the making of a Sovereign for the new State,
and, having regard to the universal tribute of praise rendered to
its founder at the Berlin Conference, it was clear enough, in its
opinion, who should continue to direct the destinies of a wild
territory in which so much had been accomplished in so short a
time. Belgium, however, was not prepared, in 1885, to take over
the Congo State as her colony. There were, at that time, many
considerations in Belgium and in the Congo to suggest caution to a
naturally conservative Government. The creation of the Congo State
had involved many risks and great difficulties. It had required
a huge expenditure of money, nearly all of which the King had
personally contributed without the slightest assurance that his
country or his estate would ever recover it, except in so far as
his marvellous foresight assured him in this respect. If there
were many difficulties at the beginning of his Majesty’s African
enterprise, there were still greater obstacles to be surmounted. To
the ultra-conservative section of the Belgian Parliament the whole
project was still enshrouded in doubt. But the King, having so far
borne the risks and the cost of civilising the savage African black
man, had also given his country the written assurance that the
result of his labours—whatever they were when realised—should be at
the disposal, by appropriation or otherwise, of the Belgian nation
“without costing her anything.” As the theory of a purely personal
union between Belgium and the Congo State had found much favour, it
was proposed that the King of the Belgians should be empowered to
become the Sovereign of the Congo Free State without in any respect
involving the Belgian nation.
In this eminently practical proposal the King had taken the
initiative in the following letter to his Council of Ministers:
GENTLEMEN:—The work created in Africa by the International African
Association has greatly developed. A new State has been founded,
its limits are fixed, and its flag is recognised by almost all the
Powers.
There remains to organise a Government and an Administration on the
banks of the Congo.
The plenipotentiaries of the nations represented at the Berlin
Conference have shown themselves favourable to the work
undertaken, and since then the two Legislative Chambers, the
principal towns of the country, and a great number of important
bodies and associations have expressed to me on this subject the
most sympathetic sentiments.
With such encouragement I could not recoil from the prosecution and
achievement of a task in which I had, as a matter of fact, taken an
important part; and since, gentlemen, you consider, as I do, that
it may be useful to the country, I beg of you to demand from the
Legislative Chambers the assent which is necessary to me.
The terms of Article 62 of the Constitution describe by themselves
the situation which has to be established.
King of the Belgians, I should at the same time be the Sovereign of
another State.
That State would be independent, like Belgium, and it would enjoy,
like her, the benefits of neutrality.
It would have to provide for its own needs; and experience based on
the example of the neighbouring colonies justifies me in affirming
that it would dispose of the necessary resources.
For its defence and its police it would rely on African forces
commanded by European volunteers.
There would then be between Belgium and the new State only a
personal bond. I am convinced that this union would be advantageous
for the country, without there being the possibility of imposing
any burdens on it in any case.
If my hopes are realised, I shall find myself sufficiently rewarded
for my efforts. The welfare of Belgium, as you know, gentlemen, is
the object of my whole life.
LEOPOLD.
There were a few obstructionists in the Belgian Parliament who,
impelled by an habitual attitude of opposition to all that the
dominant political party proposed, offered considerable criticism.
They disregarded the similar expedients adopted by Prussia,
Holland, and Great Britain in reference respectively to Neuchatel,
Luxembourg, and Hanover. But the spirit of the Belgian people
favoured the King’s suggestion, and his Majesty’s Ministers stood
firmly by him. When the vote was called on April 28, 1885, the
Chamber passed the following resolution with but one dissentient:
His Majesty, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, is authorised to
be the chief of the State founded in Africa by the International
Association of the Congo. The union between Belgium and the new
State of the Congo shall be exclusively personal.
The Senate two days later having passed a similar resolution, the
King addressed the following acknowledgment to his Ministers:
GENTLEMEN:—The Chambers, by voting almost unanimously the
resolution that you submitted to them, have shown themselves
convinced that at the same time that I was pursuing, in the
general interest, the international African work, I had it at
heart to serve the country, to contribute to the augmentation of
its wealth, and to increase its reputation in the world. I have
asked you to thank, in my name, the Chambers for the mark of high
confidence which they have given me. I also beg of you to accept
for yourselves the expression of my very sincere gratitude. Believe
me, gentlemen, your very affectionate
LEOPOLD.
Leopold II., King of the Belgians, had now become Sovereign of the
Congo Free State, a territory with a population estimated as five
times larger than the Belgium which he had ruled since 1865. Many
foreign bodies, philanthropic, scientific, and commercial, sent their
congratulations; the Lord Mayor of London visited the King in state,
and offered him the felicitations of the British metropolis, and all
the Powers concerned in the Conventional Basin of the Congo expressed
their satisfaction with this happy consummation of his Majesty’s
enlightened undertaking in Mid-Africa.
What, by the Berlin Conference had been sanctioned, now assumed
permanent form, organisation, and well-defined onward movement.
There were still difficulties ahead, some of them with the State’s
neighbours, France and Portugal. Their early exactions may be
regarded as symptomatic of that febrific goading which has now become
the mania of lesser bodies elsewhere. Subsequent conventions with
France and Portugal somewhat assured the Congo State that its onward
march would not be obstructed by these Powers. On the other hand, the
exalted views and edifying principles so generally prevalent at the
Berlin Conference soon became stale and innocuous in the official
mind of the other Powers who had subscribed to precepts which, from
subsequent indifference or self-interest, were disregarded. Not the
least among the pledges of the Powers of the Berlin Conference was
that designed to regulate the importation of alcohol. Consistent with
the Christianising aims of its Sovereign, the Congo Free State has
fulfilled this pledge in a manner to put its neighbours to shame for
the large percentage of revenue they derive from a debasing liquor
traffic.
So if the young State started upon its progressive course in 1885-87,
having paid a heavy price to France and to Portugal for freedom
to develop under the government of the strong personality of its
magnanimous Sovereign, it was perhaps because such a course would
secure the Congo State to the Belgian nation in accordance with the
preconceived purpose of its King. By the Congo-French Convention the
basin of the Kwilu and the left bank of the Congo, from Stanley Pool
as far north-eastward as its explorations had attained, were assigned
to France. On the other hand, it insured to the Congo Free State what
constitutes its outlet to the sea, the possession of the district of
the Cataracts, and the towns of Boma and Banana at the mouth of the
Congo. The Congo-Portuguese Convention assigned to Portugal territory
south of the Congo as far as Noki, and along the parallel of Noki
to its intersection by the river Kwango, which from that point was
designated as the boundary in a southerly direction. The territorial
assignments of these conventions were subsequently modified, and
Germany and Great Britain have since acquired the large areas of the
Congo Basin lying east of Lake Tanganyika and its parallel north and
south.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] For full text of the treaties with Germany, Great Britain,
France, and Portugal, and the Declaration exchanged with Belgium, see
Appendix.
CHAPTER IX
THE ECONOMIC RÉGIME OF THE BERLIN ACT
[Sidenote: Early Colonial Policy.]
THE Berlin Act and the economic, that is, domestic, _régime_ which it
sought to establish in the Congo Basin occupied by Germany, France,
Great Britain, Portugal, and the Free State, were, with various
inadequacies and experimental defects, the logical expression of the
drift that political science as applied to the law of nations had
assumed in Europe as early as 1874. Under the operation of the old
_Pacte Colonial_, the policy which prevailed in the colonies of the
European Powers discriminated greatly against the subjects of all
save the mother country. The commercial policy of such colonies was
that of the Power which governed the colonial territory, whether that
was an extension of the home territory or merely a dependency.
[Illustration: Market, near Boma.]
Some marked theoretics freighted the course of international life
as the time approached when exploration had revealed all the
colonising areas which the known earth contained. Europeans and
their descendants already occupied, under different forms of law, as
states, colonies, protectorates, leaseholds, spheres of influence,
over 82 per cent. of the lands of this planet. Those who followed
the evolution of the law of nations were impressed by an African
situation in 1884 which offered opportunity for experimentation with
new, and perhaps more elastic, economic principles for the regulation
of colonial interests in regions where the character of the country,
its natural features, such as waterways and coastal advantages,
and the juxtaposition of several governments, tended to a conflict
detrimental generally to the civilisation of such possessions and
their contributions to the markets of the world.
In the _Annales de l’Institut de Droit International_, vols. iii. and
vii., are to be found the various resolutions of Prof. Égide Arntz
relative to practical and co-operative jurisdiction in the Congo
Basin. These were offered on September 7, 1883, at the Munich meeting
of the Institute. But long before, namely, in 1878, M. Gustave
Moynier had raised the question of a concerted civilising movement
and the adoption of a scheme of political regulation in the region
of the Congo. M. Emile Laveleye and the late Sir Travers Twiss had,
thereafter, also discussed the question before the Institute. The
essays of Professor Arntz and Sir Travers Twiss, which embody their
respective views on what to them at that time appeared to be a signal
opportunity for applying principles of colonial government as yet
unestablished by tests of practice, are fully set forth in the Report
of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
[Sidenote: Experiments of the Berlin Act.]
The Berlin Conference of November 15, 1884, may be regarded as the
crystallised result of the interest manifested in respect of the
Mid-African situation by the learned bodies and the eminent legal
authorities indicated, and also as the outcome of Germany’s tactful
method of superseding the then imminent treaty between Great Britain
and Portugal signed on February 26, 1884, but thereafter abrogated.
As pointed out in another chapter, the British-Portuguese treaty met
with active opposition in Germany and in England.
[Sidenote: German Astuteness.]
[Sidenote: The Act Praised and Condemned.]
It was during the agitation of this feeling that the Conference
was summoned at the instance of Germany. If one could analyse _in
extenso_ all the essentials which so aptly informed Prince Bismarck
of Germany’s masked advantages in such a Conference, the Iron
Chancellor would stand revealed as an early monument to the German
astuteness of to-day. In creating an Areopagus of the fourteen Powers
assembled at Berlin and referring to it the questions which, if
unsettled, would have led to conflicts, combinations, and confusion
prejudicial to German East Africa, Prince Bismarck’s workmanship
surpassed the materials which his skill employed. As the Prince
said at the final session of the Conference, the lofty aims and
political idealities proclaimed during its earlier sessions would,
when translated into facts, offer opportunity for improvement.
Indeed, time and the practical application of its precepts, so
enthusiastically proclaimed, have revealed the theorist where the
man of practical political sense would better have written certain
clauses of the General Act. As it stood in 1885, it cannot be
regarded with that awe which certain persons manifest when they
misinterpret its inconclusive preachments. Some praise it as “the
inauguration of a truly new era in colonial affairs.” Others,
condemning it without reserve, speak of it as “the work of theorisers
without experimental basis.” A fair estimate of this unique political
palaver, as embodied in its General Act, probably lies somewhere
between the extravagant praise and the untempered condemnation
frequently bestowed upon it. If, from a legal and political point
of view, it can be regarded as only a tissue of the substance it
aimed at, the fact remains that the Berlin Conference has more than
justified itself by guiding, often dispelling commercial rivalries
which, in their unchecked development, might have nullified the
great sacrifices of Belgian blood and money in the cause of
African civilisation. The Conference entered the forum when many
complications, arising from competing expeditions, conflicting
explorations, unregulated trading operations, the advent of evil
adventurers, the devastating slave trade, and a combination of other
causes—commercial and political—had provoked the distrust and avarice
frequently observed when several European peoples occupy in common a
vast and fertile territory inhabited by savage tribes. At a meeting
of a Committee of the Conference held on December 10, 1884, Mr.
Kasson, the Plenipotentiary of the United States, gave utterance, in
retrospect of early American colonisation, to expressions of historic
fact which graphically portray Mid-African conditions twenty years
ago:
The first colonies founded in America [said Mr. Kasson] have been
the work of different nationalities. Even there, where at first
emigration was of a free and peaceful nature, foreign Governments
were soon installed, with military forces to support them. Wars
immediately broke out in Europe. The belligerents had colonies,
and soon the field of battle spread to America. In the heat of
the struggle, each of the belligerents sought allies amongst the
native tribes, where they thus excited their natural inclination
for violence and plunder. Horrible acts of cruelty ensued, and
massacres where neither age nor sex were spared. The knife, the
lance, and the torch transformed peaceful and happy colonies into
deserts.
The present condition of Central Africa reminds one much of that
of America when that continent was first opened up to the European
world. How are we to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate events,
to which I have just alluded, amongst the numerous African tribes?
How are we to guard against exposing our merchants, our colonies,
and their goods to these dangers? How shall we defend the lives of
our missionaries and religion itself against the outburst of savage
customs and barbarous passions?
Finding ourselves in the presence of those whom we are urging
to undertake the work of civilisation in Africa, it is our duty
to save them from such regrettable experiences as marked the
corresponding phase in America.
[Sidenote: The Real Value of the Act.]
[Sidenote: Belgian Dominance.]
Whatever defective novelty may still reside in the Berlin Act, the
Conference which begot it gave an immense impetus to the great work
of African civilisation. It eliminated movements by the various
Powers which were accomplishing little or nothing for lack of
definition and unity. It organised a scramble, so to speak, into an
orderly and intelligently directed set of enterprises, chief among
which were those urged forward by the King of the Belgians and his
diligent subjects. In that amplitude of pledges, which when applied
to them the other Signatory Powers found it convenient to forget,
little Belgium strove mightily not only to discharge her obligations
under the Berlin Act, but to demonstrate her own innate genius for
the work of colony-building and civilisation. It is perhaps in the
inevitable result of this spirit that we find the explanation of
Belgian dominance and Belgian progress far excelling that of its
African neighbours.
[Sidenote: Freedom of Commerce.]
In the United States the Berlin Act has not met with the universal
respect of competent legal authorities. It provided no means for its
own enforcement, and left the national committees, which were to
carry out certain of its provisions, without machinery and without
that central authority essential to its life. It also appears that
the national committees never acted. Each of the Powers, supreme
within the border of its own African territory, pursued a course
which it believed was best calculated to develop the resources and
the civilisation of that region of the Congo Basin in which it ruled.
Nevertheless, the General Act had delimited the territory comprised
in the Conventional Basin of the Congo; defined the domain occupied
therein respectively by Germany, France, Great Britain, Portugal, and
the Free State; applied to the entire Congo Basin the principle of
freedom of commerce and of navigation, and concerted the aims of all
the Powers to the suppression of the iniquitous slave trade and the
horrible practice of cannibalism. It did not deal specifically with
questions of territorial sovereignty, nor with the internal public
and private land system, nor, in fact, with any act or principle of
the civil or military government of a State. It did, however, seek to
restrict the duties upon the Congo and its affluents, and stipulated
that upon these highways there should be open to all nations the
freedom to trade and to navigate. As Baron Descamps aptly says in his
essay on _Government Civilisation in New Countries_:
The broad-minded measures of the Berlin Conference did away with
many of the existing anomalies. Doubtless, the general application
of those measures to all colonies would have been a step in the
right direction; but while their general adoption could have been
justified on the same grounds as their special application to
the Congo, the Conference would not have been able to accomplish
such a gigantic reform of distributive equity. The Conference,
however, did what it could in this direction. It felt that the
impracticability of the complete scheme did not prevent its partial
application; that it was not easy to reform the whole world at
once, especially the colonial world; that the field of experience
on which it could operate was large enough; and that, last but not
least, the nature of the country, where the Government was as yet
more or less insecure, was calculated to induce those concerned to
make exceptional sacrifices.
[Illustration: Government Park, Boma, 1904.]
The Conference therefore made the following regulations for the
Congo Basin:
Art. 1. The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom.
Art. 2. All flags, without distinction of nationality, shall have
free access.
Art. 3, § 2. All differential dues on vessels as well as on
merchandise are forbidden.
Art. 5. No Power which exercises or shall exercise sovereign rights
in the above-mentioned regions shall be allowed to grant therein
a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade.
[Sidenote: Freedom of Commerce Defined.]
The five Powers occupying and governing the Congo Basin have here
assumed certain obligations in reference to the commercial _régime_
which should prevail in their territory. There shall be freedom to
trade, and to navigate in pursuit of commerce; there shall be no
differential duties imposed; there shall be no monopoly _in matters
of trade_. In the fourth protocol of the Berlin Conference, Baron
Lambermont’s report includes a definition of what the Conference
meant by monopoly “in matters of trade.” This statesman declared that:
No doubt whatever exists as to the _strict and literal sense_
which should be assigned to the term _in commercial matters_. It
refers _exclusively to traffic_, to the unlimited power of every
one to sell and to buy, to import and to export, products and
manufactured articles. No privileged situation can be created under
this head, the way remains open without any restrictions to free
competition _in the domain of commerce_, but the obligations of
local Governments do not go beyond that point.
[Sidenote: The Theory of Congo Government.]
Notwithstanding the explicit nature of this definition, those who,
for reasons which it is not the purpose of this volume to expose in
detail, condemn the governmental _system_ of the Congo Free State,
and declare that the General Act of the Berlin Conference aimed at
much more than insuring the common right (freedom) of all nations
to pursue _legitimate_ trade in the Basin of the Congo. How much
more, and precisely what the Act aims at, according to hostile
commentators, varies with the capacity for exaggeration, or the
speciousness in argument, of the critic. Some declare that freedom
in matters of trade means that anybody may invade the Congo Basin
and barter with natives for the produce of the soil and the chase,
laws respecting private property and providing regulations to govern
traffic notwithstanding. In his essay on _Principles of Government
in the Congo Free State_[8] the author briefly indicates the _motif_
of King Leopold’s rule in Central Africa and the cogent reasons for
the system which has made that rule the envy of persons whose faculty
of perception is not as dormant to-day as it was in 1885, when it
was lazily assumed that the salvation of a territory, not worth much
materially, was being imposed upon an enthusiastic and impractical
kingly philanthropist. Amongst other things, this essay contains the
following exposition of the system of internal government by which
the Congo Free State and its people have morally and materially
prospered. It is, in substance, the definition of Congolese policy
stated by his Majesty, King Leopold:
[Sidenote: Respect for Property.]
... The principles of the Congolese system of internal government
appear to be in entire conformity with the General Act of Berlin,
wherein freedom of trade is assured to the subjects of all nations.
This signifies the liberty to sell and to buy in a legitimate way,
not in a way peculiar to the theories of Congo despoilers. It is
repugnant to law, and disturbing to civil order and progress, to
permit the product of the land to be purchased from any person
but its legitimate owner. Congo law represses theft, the insidious
encouragement of which would appear to be the aim of those who
so grossly misinterpret the principle of Freedom of Commerce. A
respect for property is essential to all governments which hope to
endure, and the law of this attitude is universal in all civilised
communities. Trade, whether free or restricted, could not exist on
any other basis. The forces of civilisation are paralysed without
it, and untamed natives are left to savage internecine strife.
[Sidenote: Labour the Great Civiliser.]
The principles of the Congo Government are that the soil shall
maintain those who develop its resources for the betterment of the
sower and the reaper. The civilisation of the native by industry
and other forms of instruction in the attributes of order, civic
life, and all that he may be capable of absorbing of enlightened
freedom. For the privilege of residing within the sphere of a State
so governed, the white man is the most taxed member of society
in the world. Shall savages alone be exempt from labour and just
contribution to organised government? Shall the white man’s rule
teach the black that idleness, craft, animal instincts, predatory
habits in gaining his irregular subsistence, are the foundations of
civilisation? Or shall the white man by precept and example, and by
humane but positive insistence, train the savage in the ways of law
and order, industry and thrift?
[Sidenote: Taxation of the Native.]
Reverting for a moment to the assertion that the Government of the
Congo Free State is primarily responsible for what its detractors
allege to be the enslavement of the native, I fail to find
conviction in unfounded statements often repeated, and arguments
upon wrong premises, varied only in form, not substance. Ignorance
of the _motif_ impelling Congo State method and movement has misled
those who have brought prejudice to a subject worth the attention
only of the broadest minds. The _system_, which is the object of
attack when new stories of atrocities are scarce, is briefly stated
to be to devote the revenue derived from the State’s property as
much as possible to cover the State’s expenses; that is to say,
to the moral and material organisation and regeneration of the
country and its inhabitants; to resort to the imposition of a tax
in _specie_ as rarely as possible; and to exact a few hours’ labour
monthly from the natives, in order to give them the habit of work,
which is the greatest of civilising precepts. In this connection
the Congo Government goes beyond its duty, and pays the natives
for this work, teaching them the relation between labour and its
reward. The habit of work, when formed, will elevate the natives
from the savage instincts which tend to debase them in idleness.
The exaction of, and payment for, forty-odd hours’ work each month
from an able-bodied native, for whose redemption from savagery
millions of money and many lives have been, and are being, spent,
is a lesser tax than the white man pays on his meagre income from
daily toil in the cities of London, New York, Paris, and Berlin.
The county road tax alone, levied upon the farmer in the United
States, is a greater imposition than this. Those who have the
hardihood to argue that the enforced practice of habits of industry
upon savages in an African colony, less than twenty years in the
making, is an unjust and iniquitous burden, can have no conception
of the condition of the white slaves of the Midland counties of
England, no understanding of life and its burdens in the centres of
the world’s highest civilisation.
[Sidenote: The State Lands.]
The Congo Free State, like all other States, acquired possession
of ownerless lands, not by bloody wars which have characterised
the acquisitive and “civilising” methods of its principal mentor
in morals, but only after treaty with the natives who happened to
occupy those lands in their savagery. All lands which the natives
occupy with at least the rudiments of peaceful industry are
guaranteed to them. What for ages had been unused and undeveloped
for the good of mankind, native or foreign, is now being
successfully exploited by the State. Before this industrial, civil,
and moral era, the vast Congo forests were not even traversed
by the indolent native, so long as he could acquire his food
in the sluggard idleness which to this day prevails throughout
neighbouring African colonies.
The Congo Free State is pursuing a policy for the preservation, of
its forests, far in advance of other colonies, by enforcing the
replanting of rubber trees and vines as fast as the old growth has
been sapped, thus ensuring to future generations the results of
Belgian foresight and wisdom.
The Congo Free State does not trade as a State. Like other
governments it is interested in the development of the Government
domain by its inhabitants. The United States first occupied the
wild lands of North America by conquest of, and treaty with, the
Indians. It then threw the land open to the pre-emption of its
citizens under certain restrictions and impositions; for instance,
to improve the land within a certain time, to maintain its yield,
to pay taxes, build roads, and in other ways contribute to the cost
of administering and improving the State.
[Sidenote: The State Develops the Land.]
[Sidenote: The _Concessionaire_ Companies.]
After vainly waiting seven years for the influx of foreign capital
and enterprise to freely enter upon its public lands, and assume
the burdens and enjoy the gain of developing the forests for the
wealth they contained, the Congo Free State proceeded to cause
a part of its lands (one-fourth) to be developed _en régie_ (by
trustees), in order that the land might at least contribute to the
creation and support of the public works to be established within
the State for the benefit and betterment of its native population.
Another part (one-fourth) of the forests have been conceded to
private companies, in harmony with the system followed by France,
England, Germany, and Portugal, whose territories are contiguous
to the Congo Free State. But here again we have an exhibition of
far-seeing statesmanship, almost unparalleled in colonial history.
Instead of doling out the State lands absolutely to favoured
_concessionaires_, which has been the invariable practice in other
colonies, the Belgians have exacted a tremendous guarantee and
a growing revenue from those who exploit the natural resources
of its forests, by retaining in some cases a half interest in
the capital of the concessionary companies. As an example of
practical politics, this admirable system alone constitutes a
material heritage to the future of the Congo. The revenue thus
annually accruing to the support of the Congo budget must play
materially in the development and welfare of the State. Moreover,
while the State has such large influence in the internal affairs
of its concessionary companies, it has a practical power within
the companies in addition to the State law. This dual control
should ensure a commercial policy in harmony with the spirit and
the letter of the underlying principles of the State’s government.
Under this system, the Congo Free State now exports to European
markets 5000 tons of rubber annually, where a few years ago this
great asset lay hidden in a forest upon which none of the Powers
Signatory to the General Act of Berlin desired to spend its means
or its labour.
[Sidenote: Spoliation and Plunder.]
One of the counts in the complaint by certain perfervid
pamphleteers in Great Britain against King Leopold is that there is
no freedom of commerce in that part of the Congo Basin occupied by
the Free State. Freedom of Commerce under the definition of such
persons is the indiscriminate right of traders and adventurers,
and purveyors of arms and spirituous liquors, to swoop down on
the State and private lands of the Congo, incite the native to
invade the forest, steal rubber product and sell it to the trader
at the latter’s price. One need not dwell upon the preposterous
nature of that transparent scheme of commercial freedom. Private
property is nowhere open to unlawful invasion. Public property is
not open to the spoliation of adventurers and vandals. The 5000
tons of rubber gathered by the several industrial forces at work
in the Congo can be purchased by traders as well at Matadi as at
Stanley Pool, at Boma as well as at Antwerp, at a proper price.
If the freedom of commerce defined by Congophobes were permitted
to prevail in any civilised or uncivilised country in the world,
anarchy and tribal wars would ensue, all rights of property would
be violated, and the larcenous proclivities of the African Negro
would be encouraged. In the case of the Congo, a reign of terror
would decimate the native population, and denude the forests which
the wise laws of the State endeavour to preserve. Upon their ruins
the “savagery” of the white man would have succeeded that of the
black.
As already indicated, Congo law very properly forbids invaders of
the State from buying the product of private property from any one
except the owner. In that respect it does not depart from the law
of every other country. The desire of adventurers to buy rubber
and ivory direct from the natives is not sufficient reason for
permitting the latter to trespass upon private property for the
purpose of stealing its product. Once establish a traffic on these
lines, and you put a premium on the crime of theft, and pit the
spear of every native against his brother in their rubber-hunting
areas.
The difference between the Congo system of colonisation and those
of its principal critic is the difference between a definite State
policy which, having the land and its resources for its material
basis, applies humane measures for enforcing its development for
the benefit and civilisation of the native, and the permanent
constitution of the State, and a policy the baneful influence
and unprogressive operation of which can be observed in the
protectorates and colonies of one of its neighbours, where the
budgets are to a large degree sustained by the importation of
alcohol as a beverage—a “civilising influence” which, to the honour
of the Belgians, is almost entirely excluded from the Congo Free
State....
The foregoing exposition of internal policy may be regarded as a
brief statement of the principles which underlie the system of
government in the Congo Free State.
[Sidenote: Treaty between Congo State and United States.]
That the United States did not construe an illogical meaning into
the phrase “freedom of commerce,” and warp it out of all semblance
to its natural character, is evidenced by the terms of its treaty
with the Free State made seven years after the promulgation of the
General Act of the Berlin Conference, during all of which time the
Congo State authorities had acted upon the interpretation of the
phrase indicated in Baron Lambermont’s definition, and in the learned
opinions of Maîtres Barboux, Nys, Van Berchem, and Picard.
Article I. of the treaty of April 2, 1892, between the United States
and the Independent State of the Congo reads:
The citizens and inhabitants of the Independent State of the
Congo in the United States of America and those of the United
States of America in the Independent State of the Congo shall have
reciprocally the right, _on conforming to the laws of the country_,
to enter, travel, and reside in all parts of their respective
territory; to carry on business there; and they shall enjoy in this
respect for the protection of their persons and their property the
same treatment and the same rights as the natives, or the citizens
and inhabitants of the most favoured nation.
[Illustration: Students of the State Technical School, New Antwerp
(Bangala).]
[Illustration: Hospital, Boma.]
In this connection Sir Edward Malet, the British Plenipotentiary
at the Conference, clearly pointed out that “freedom of commerce
unchecked by reasonable control would degenerate into licence.”
Reasonable control is only another name for State law and police
regulation. The Congo Government maintains that, subject to its
internal laws and regulations which affect its own and foreign
subjects alike, the subjects of every nation are free to enter its
territory in pursuit of legitimate trade. _Apropos_ of this phase of
the subject Baron Descamps says:
The power of the State in this connection is incontestable. That
power is derived directly from the primary right and duty to
maintain public order everywhere and under all circumstances.
Nobody can deny the State the right of taking steps, for example,
for the preservation of public safety. Government cannot be carried
on without a judicial and administrative police system, and a State
could not renounce that prerogative without laying itself open to a
charge of incapacity in its primary and essential functions. Hence,
such a renunciation could not be argued from mere presumptions or
inductions.[9]
[Sidenote: The Free-Trade Policy.]
Amongst the innovations attempted by the Berlin Act was that
which sought, by Article IV., to abolish all import and transit
dues. Little serious account appears to have been taken—so far
as the Act reveals—of the practical necessity for erecting and
sustaining works of public utility to commerce, and the equity of
imposing proper charges on the wares upon which the benefits of
such works were bestowed. The absolute prohibition of import duties
created great difficulties for the Free State which, but for the
personal munificence of its Sovereign, would have wrecked a liberal
undertaking, handicapped and fettered by the fanciful legislation
of the Berlin Conference,—“Merchandise imported into those regions
shall remain free from import and transit dues.” Fortunately the
legislators of the Berlin Conference were not to become the practical
governors of the Congo Free
[Sidenote: A Temporary Experiment.]
State, else they might have realised that the gravest body may enact
farce and commit folly. It was the experiment of a new principle in
colonial administrative economy which they aimed at, but there is a
vast difference in substance between a mirage and a mountain. That
there were misgivings in the mind of some members of the Conference
as to the logic of driving traders into the Congo, on the one hand,
utterly untaxed for the support of the Government and the security it
afforded, while on the other the State was charged with the creation
of public works and the maintenance of law and order without revenue,
is manifested by that final clause of Article IV., which provides
that “the Powers reserve to themselves to determine, after the lapse
of twenty years, whether this freedom of import shall be retained or
not.” In this case the Powers did not wait twenty years to revise
their principle of free trade. Five years were sufficient to reveal
its inapplicability to a new country, and the Second Brussels
Conference, assembled in 1890, made of the free-trade clause of 1885
a clause allowing on merchandise other than spirituous liquors an
impost not exceeding ten per cent. “It would never do,” said Baron
de Courcel, at the Conference, “to renew the colonial experience
gained in the sixteenth century, when colonies were brought to ruin
by those who pretended to fix in Europe, from a purely metropolitan
point of view, their financial and administrative system.” The
experiment of prohibiting import duties proved, as already indicated,
a serious hindrance to the economic life of the new State. That
the experiment would not, however, be persisted in by the Powers,
had been foreshadowed by the suggestion of Baron Lambermont at the
Conference when he said: “It is experience which will then inspire
the interested Powers with the most favourable resolutions for the
development and commercial progress in their possessions.” There
were, therefore, after all, men of practical political foresight at
the Conference, whose assent to so radical a policy of free trade
was accorded for the purpose of the moment only, and while the
great question of civilising Central African tribes dominated their
early aims even to the disadvantage of the correlated questions
of commerce. Article III. of the General Act, therefore, provided
that: “Wares of whatever origin, imported into these regions, under
whatsoever flag, by sea or river, or overland, shall be subject to
no other taxes than such as may be levied as fair compensation for
expenditure in the interest of trade, and which for this reason must
be equally borne by the subjects themselves and by foreigners of
all nationalities.” The reasons actuating the Berlin Conference not
to fix the rate of such taxation as it provided for at the Brussels
Conference, are clearly indicated on page 85 of the protocols to the
General Act, from which the following declaration is quoted:
The rate of the taxes of compensation is not fixed in any definite
manner. The support of foreign capital ought to be placed, with
commercial freedom, amongst the most useful aids to the spirit of
enterprise, whether it has reference to the execution of works
of public interest or whether it has in view the development
of the cultivation of the natural products of the African soil.
But capital only goes, in general, to places where the risks are
sufficiently covered by the chances of profit. The Commission
has therefore thought that there would result more disadvantages
than advantages from binding too strictly, by restrictions
arranged in advance, the liberty of action of public powers or of
concessions. If abuses should arise, if the taxes threatened to
attain an excessive rate, the cure would be found in the interest
of the authorities or of the contractors, seeing that commerce,
as experience has more than once proved, would turn away from
establishments the access to, or use of which, had been rendered
too burdensome.
That contribution by traders to the maintenance of the State under
a system of taxation and police regulation is not incompatible with
commercial freedom was forcibly reiterated at the Conference by Count
de Launay and, of course, by other members who at all dwelt upon
a principle so well established. Treating this question with much
erudition, Baron Descamps cites the French law of March 2, 1791,
relating to patents, which, he says, “gave the most emphatic assent
of modern times to the principle of commercial freedom. The very
clause proclaiming freedom of commerce provided for licence dues!
Thus: ‘Everybody shall be free to carry on any business he chooses;
[_sic_] but he must first obtain, and pay for, a licence, and submit
to any regulations of police that may be made.’”[10]
[Sidenote: The Open Door and Chaos.]
Obviously the “freedom of commerce” intended by the General Act
of the Berlin Conference is not the open door with the key thrown
away and chaos prevailing behind it. The State is mistress of her
domain. She is alone responsible for its civil order and the just
regulation of its life, whether social, commercial, or political. Her
attitude upon all fundamental rules of civilised government has two
facets: the one toward her subjects, the other toward the society
of nations which surrounds her. She must conduct her affairs with
due regard for those broad principles of national morality which
civilised communities recognise as a lofty standard of social and
political life. Until she prove herself incompetent in this respect,
her territory cannot become the subject of international partition
or regulation on pretexts of humanitarianism or on any other, nor is
it in the justice of nations or of men to undermine the force of her
authority or to enfeeble the integrity of her Statehood by any agency
whatsoever.
[Sidenote: Conditions in 1895.]
From the latest report of the Vice-Governor-General of the Congo Free
State are quoted below statements which shed light upon the belief
held by the Belgians concerning their own fiscal policy, and the
attitude they offer to the criticisms of its burly neighbour, Great
Britain, in its rule of the Soudan and its other colonial possessions:
In the region of commerce the Congo State, which was the first
to inscribe in its international conventions the principles of
liberty, has not failed, no matter what any one says to the
contrary, in the programme which was drawn up in 1884, and of
which, as has recently been recalled, Stanley was made the
spokesman. The _régime_ of the “open door,” which has just been
claimed by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, at the very moment,
too, when purely philanthropic declarations were being heard in the
House of Commons, is that also of the Congo State; and there cannot
be discovered in our territory the existence of monopolies such as
those of ivory and rubber which the Government of the Soudan has
created for its own profit in some parts of the Soudan.[11]
The traders of all nations may sell on the Congo the objects of
their commerce, and buy the natural produce from the proprietors
of the soil; no limit, no hindrance is placed on this traffic,
and that is really freedom of trade. That this freedom may remain
complete notwithstanding the existence of the domain rights, and
the granting of concessions, has been proved up to the hilt, and
to declare, as has been done in the House of Commons, that trade
does not exist on the Congo is to put oneself in contradiction with
the law and the facts. These statements, by repetition, end by
being considered as axioms, and it is not realised that they still
await proof. The _régime_ of concessions, besides, has not been
established for the exclusive advantage or benefit of the Belgians;
the opening was given to foreign initiative and capital without
distinction to become interested in the development of the country,
and if, by a want of confidence that the event has not justified,
English capital was withdrawn from some Congolese undertakings,
the prosperous condition of which is now made a grievance, it does
not follow therefrom that those who did run the risk inherent in
enterprises in new countries should see to-day the results of their
efforts and their perseverance assailed.
It is to the astonishment, not to say to the general indignation,
of the handful of Europeans who are working, and undergoing
hardships on the spot, that these attempts are made abroad to
represent them all, from the highest place to the most obscure of
the assistants, as associated in an odious work of destruction
and inhumanity. The duty of protesting against this legend is
imposed on whoever has seen with his own eyes these territories,
once disinherited, being opened to civilisation, evangelisation,
and progress; populations, formerly troops of slaves, reborn
to confidence and freedom; the rapid economic equipment, the
railways under exploitation or construction, a flotilla which
covers the river and its affluents, routes which open up the most
distant regions, telegraphic and telephonic lines to the Upper
River, cultivation and plantation gradually extending, cattle
introduced into every district, mission establishments opened
in all parts, vaccine institutions, and services of medical,
sanitary, and hygienic orders. Such are some of the results of
what has been called the _system_ of the State, a system which was
inspired before everything by the vows of the Berlin and Brussels
Conferences, and it could not be explained how it has been possible
for the State’s adversaries to cry it down if it were not known
that their customary tactics are to lay stress on the inevitable
imperfections of a work of that extent still, after all, in the
stage of its beginning....
As concerns cotton, which before the Mahdist invasion was seemingly
cultivated in a sufficiently considerable degree, I hold it on good
authority that in Cairo and Lower Egypt some little disquietude
is being shown on the subject of the activity displayed by the
Belgians on the Upper Nile, and that some apprehension is felt
there of a cotton competition in the near future.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] September, 1904.
[9] _New Africa_, p. 68.
[10] _New Africa_, p. 67.
[11] _Soudan Gazette_, published by authority of the Soudan
Government, No. 47, Khartoum, 1st May, 1903: “It is notified for
information that the following articles are governmental monopolies
in the following districts: Rubber and gutta percha, in the whole
of the Soudan, excepting Kordofan. Ivory, in the Bahr-el-Ghazal and
Fashoda.... (Signed) Reginald Wingate, Governor-General.”
CHAPTER X
AN APPEAL TO BELGIUM TO SUPPRESS THE SLAVE TRADE
Slavery is as ancient as war, and war as old as human nature. Upon
this premise Voltaire philosophised when his thought reverted to
the early inequity of human life. Christian nations were deep in
the slave trade in the sixteenth century. A black cloud of human
flesh, aggregating sixteen million souls, was imported into America
upon Western slave dhows in three centuries, exclusive of the
twenty-odd million Negroes who perished in transit. More atrocious
than the pestilential slave dhow was the slaughter of blacks by the
slave-raider, that fiend incarnate who until a few years ago carried
on his inhuman traffic under the very gaze of Christian Europe.
Indeed, Europe herself was a slave-dealer for centuries. Some of her
Governments sanctioned it in terms unspeakably callous. There was
little pity and less mercy in officially lading “tons of niggers” for
American ports.
[Illustration: Bridge Made of Cement, Boma.]
Late in the eighteenth century, Great Britain had championed the
cause of humanity and sought a remedy for the horrible conditions
which slavery entailed. The movement which, assuming definite
shape about the time of the Declaration of Independence, had found
able and eloquent advocacy in such men as Granville Sharpe, Clarkson,
Wilberforce, and William Pitt. These staunch humanitarians, after
what seemed the hopeless labour of many years, finally triumphed so
far as to impel the Vienna Congress of 1815 and the Verona Congress
of 1822 to forbid any civilised nation to carry on the slave trade.
The next steps, also furthered by the British Government, sought to
abolish the legal status of slavery and to suppress slave markets
and slave dhows. The Western world began to awaken to a sense of
duty. In all directions the noble initiative taken by Great Britain
found earnest agency. The Christian nations, now thoroughly aroused
to the iniquity of the slave trade, exchanged treaties in 1841,
the operation of which was designed to clear the ocean of slave
transports. When shut out of the American market, it was believed
that the infamous slave traffic would subside. But the scourge
continued almost unabated. Driven out of the West, it flourished
the more in the East, where large markets still remained open.
The northern and eastern coasts of Africa continued to supply the
Oriental markets, the Soudan, Upper Nile, and Congo Basin being the
slave-hunter’s Elysium. The Sultans of the Soudan, whose avarice
knew no limit, strove in the cruellest manner to increase their
spoil in this man-hunting chase. Khartoum slavers pressed into the
Bhar-el-Ghazal, while the Arabs from Zanzibar devastated the Manyema
and Tanganyika regions. West-coast raiders had even penetrated as
far inland as the Upper Kassai, and created that wretched condition
of native life in the interior of the Congo Basin which impressed
Livingstone, Stanley, Kirk, Bartle Frere, Nachtigal, Wissmann, Serpa
Pinto, Massaia, and that great exemplar of Christianising work,
Cardinal Lavigerie.
In 1876, nearly ten years before the Berlin Conference, the King of
the Belgians called upon Europe to join in a concerted movement to
suppress the slave traffic in Central Africa. In the same year the
British Government published its _Report of the Royal Commission
on Fugitive Slaves_. The words of Prince Bismarck at the Berlin
Conference of 1885 were an intimation of the legislation which was
thereafter effected by clauses 6 and 9 of the General Act. By clause
6, the Powers agreed “to watch over the preservation of the native
tribes and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their
moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery and
especially the slave trade.” Baron Lambermont stated the distinction
between slavery and the slave trade: “The slave trade,” said the
Baron, “has another character; it is the very denial of every law,
of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high treason
against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be
reached, on land as well as by sea.”
It was with characteristic activity that the Sovereign of the Congo
Free State had taken the initiative in making the suppression of the
slave traffic an essential aim in the civilisation of an African
State which had not only been the source of slave supply for many
markets, but whose territory touched closely upon a number of
slave-dealing countries. In the eighteenth century, the nations of
Europe had partitioned the coast of Africa to the French between
Senegal and Gambia, to the British on the Gold and Ivory coasts, and
to the Portuguese in the Angola and Benguela regions. The object of
this territorial apportionment was to facilitate the slave trade and
render it more profitable! Now, in the nineteenth century, these same
Governments were dividing African territory with the much loftier
purpose of extirpating the slave trade. The march of a hundred years
had raised European morality and justified the Christian influence of
the age.
Undaunted by the material difficulty of realising the excellent
theories which European nations were now offering to carry out in
the very nest of the slave trade, the Congo Free State formally
tackled the problem by promulgating three decrees in November,
1888. The first provided practical means for suppressing the slave
trade, amongst which were measures prohibiting trade in firearms,
gunpowder, and explosives; the second, seeking to protect and
improve the natives, dealt with contracts of service between natives
and foreigners, and enacted laws which guaranteed the former from
imposition. The third decree established a body of volunteer police
to suppress crimes and offences against public order and individual
liberty. Then followed the organisation of the Belgian Anti-Slavery
Society which, creating a special volunteer corps, operated against
the slave-raiders in the Tanganyika district. Reference has elsewhere
been made to the vigorous manner in which these and similar decrees
were enforced, and how the slave-raider was driven from one lair to
another, until, almost unaided and alone, the indomitable energy of
Belgian officers succeeded in uprooting the institution of slave
traffic and opening an immense river basin to the pursuits of
civilisation.
A great wave of sympathy for all enslaved races had spread throughout
the civilised world. Nations heretofore indifferent to the weal of
the black man in the brutal toils of the slave-raider, were actuated
by a desire to co-operate with the practical forces already at work
for emancipating the Dark Continent. All religions combined in
the motherhood of the human race and, now thoroughly alive to the
principle of human liberty, lent their support to the great cause of
African civilisation. The movement, now become general throughout
Europe, gained impetus in 1888 by the abolition of slavery in Brazil.
In that year, Pope Leo XIII. reiterated the appeal made by Leopold
II. in 1876, and besought all nations to unite in purging the page of
history of a further record of the abominable crime of slave-hunting.
In addressing that wonderful engine of missionary work, Cardinal
Lavigerie, His Holiness pointed out the misery of “that disinherited
land,” and urged all who are moved by human impulse to devote their
lives to “this sublime work of redemption.”
[Illustration: Types of Turumbus (Stanley Falls).]
The self-sacrificing work which Cardinal Lavigerie has done for the
salvation of Africa will for ever be a white monument in a black
wilderness. It was his appeal to the peoples of the Christian world
which witnessed the first organised work of Leopold II., and it is
this prelate’s indefatigable industry, and his love for these savage
souls of Africa, which has largely carried that work to its present
fruition.
The world-wide adhesion to the cause of Christianising the Dark
Continent took diplomatic shape soon after a meeting held in London
on July 31, 1888, at which Lord Granville presided. On motion of
Cardinal Manning, the following resolution was adopted:
The time has now fully arrived when the several nations of
Europe who, at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, and again at the
Conference of Verona, in 1822, issued a series of resolutions
strongly denouncing the slave trade, should take the needful steps
for giving them a full and practical effect. And, inasmuch as the
Arab marauders (whose murderous devastations are now depopulating
Africa) are subject to no law, and under no responsible rule,
it devolves on the Powers of Europe to secure their suppression
throughout all territories over which they have any control. This
meeting would, therefore, urge upon Her Majesty’s Government,
in concert with those Powers who now claim either territorial
possession or territorial influence in Africa, to adopt such
measures as shall secure the extinction of the devastating slave
trade which is now carried on by those enemies of the human
race.[12]
On October 27th, an anti-slavery convention was held at Cologne, at
which the following resolutions were passed and sent to the Reichstag:
1—The suppression of slave-hunting with its attendant horrors,
devolves upon Christian States and constitutes the primary
condition of the abolition of the slave trade. 2—While the
Congo Conference obliges all the Signatory Powers to help in the
suppression of slavery and the improvement of the lot of the
natives, at the same time the Congo State, Portugal, Great Britain,
and Germany, as being directly threatened by Arab slave-traders,
are expected to take the initiative in, and to bring to a
successful issue, the struggle against the slave trade.
3—The meeting expresses the conviction that the honour of the
German flag and German interests, which have been violated by Arab
slave-traders in East Africa, will be avenged by the Imperial
Government.
4—It also expresses the hope that the Reichstag will support these
resolutions, as a proof of the perfect agreement of the German
nation without distinction of party or creed.
On November 13, the Cabinets of Berlin, London and Lisbon had agreed
upon coercive measures against slave-traders on the East Coast of
Africa. Meantime, on September 17, 1888, the British Government had
appealed, through the Belgian Foreign Office, to King Leopold to take
the initiative in assembling a Conference at Brussels to consider the
subject. In conveying this invitation to the King of the Belgians,
the British Minister to the Belgian Court stated that:
The change which has occurred in the political condition of the
African Coast to-day calls for common action on the part of the
Powers responsible for the control of that Coast. That action
should tend to close all foreign slave-markets, and should also
result in putting down slave-hunting in the interior.
[Illustration: Government Waggons.]
The great work undertaken by the King of the Belgians, in the
constitution of the Congo State, and the lively interest taken by
His Majesty in all questions affecting the welfare of the African
races, lead Her Majesty’s Government to hope that Belgium will
be disposed to take the initiative in inviting the Powers to meet
in Conference at Brussels, in order to consider the best means
of attaining the gradual suppression of the slave trade on the
Continent of Africa and the immediate closing of all the outside
markets which the slave trade daily continues to supply.
On August 24, 1889, King Leopold deferred to this wish and called a
Conference of the Powers for November 18, 1889, to determine upon
a course of action for the _gradual_ suppression of slave-hunting
on the African Continent and the _immediate_ closing of all markets
supplied from that source, and “to put an end to the crimes and
devastation wrought by the slave trade, and effectively to protect
the native populations in Africa.”
Thus, after thirteen years of arduous labour, and the vicissitudes
which attend the progressive pioneer in savage lands, where the
mission and the plough follow the white man’s trail, the Belgians
were again called upon to lead in a war against the most degrading of
human conditions.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] _Times_, London, August 1, 1888.
CHAPTER XI
THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE
[Sidenote: King and Cardinal.]
The zealous labours of Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers,
who had founded the Mission of the White Fathers in 1878 to convert
the Soudan and the Congo regions to Christianity, had always been
generously supported by the personal munificence of King Leopold.
The rescript issued to this devoted and untiring apostle by Pope Leo
XIII. had inaugurated endeavours on behalf of civilisation unexcelled
in any colony in the world. King Leopold’s earnest and generous
encouragement of this evangelistic work equalled the broad-minded
and hopeful manner in which he supported Stanley and others in their
early expeditions through the unknown forests of the Congo. There
was, therefore, a sympathetic tie between His Holiness, the King, and
the Cardinal in the world’s task in Congoland.
[Sidenote: The Anti-Slavery Crusade.]
Early in 1888 Cardinal Lavigerie visited Belgium, and, being
convinced by his long African experience of the necessity for an
organised anti-slavery crusade, opened a campaign in the Brussels
Cathedral which, by its popular interest, carried him to many parts
of Europe. The eloquence of this truly great prelate was born of
that deep sympathy for the African black derived from his intimate
knowledge of the debasing conditions still prevalent in those parts
of the Congo Basin where, for many practical reasons, the Belgians
had not penetrated with their work and influence. The Cardinal
exhorted the Belgians, first of all, to support and emulate their
King, who, he said, “would open before you a country seventy times as
large as your own—an immense field for the spread of your religion
and for charity.... You have not given to the struggle with barbarism
all the assistance that was incumbent upon you.”
[Illustration: Postmaster’s House, Suruango, 1904.]
[Illustration: House of Vice-Governor-General, Stanleyville.]
To the avowed support given by his Majesty to the movement which the
Cardinal’s numerous sermons inspired, may largely be attributed the
Belgian campaigns against the Arab slave-raiders which the Brussels
Conference of the following year urged upon the interested Powers.
The hundred admirable articles of the General Act of the Conference
do not all concern the reader. Their general purpose, already
indicated in a previous chapter, was the suppression of the slave
trade, the protection of the natives, and the provision of revenue
from import duties wherewith to maintain a practical executive to
accomplish both aims.
The Conference convened on November 18, 1889, and held the last
of its thirty-three sessions on the July 2, 1890. The King of the
Belgians had again welcomed the representatives of all the Powers
party to the Berlin Act. Persia, having meantime adhered to that Act,
was also represented. The Prince de Chimay, Belgian Minister for
Foreign Affairs, presided at the formal opening of the Conference.
At its first session Baron Lambermont was unanimously elected to
preside over its deliberations. His able associate at Berlin, M.
Emile Banning, also represented Belgium at this Conference, while
Baron Van Eetvelde, for many years devoted to its moral and material
development, represented the Congo Free State. Chief among other
distinguished representatives were Count von Alvensleben for Germany,
M. Bourée for France, Lord Vivian and Sir John Kirk for Great
Britain, Mr. Terrell, Minister at Brussels, for the United States,
and Prince Ourroussof and Professor Martens for Russia.
Foremost in the work of framing a proposed Act, under which the Congo
Free State inherited great responsibility and a tremendous task, were
the Belgian representatives. The other interested Powers pledged
themselves to join, each in its own territory, in the anti-slavery
campaign which the Act prescribed. Briefly stated, the signatories to
the General Act of this Conference declared that they were “animated
by the firm intention of putting an end to the crimes and devastation
engendered by the traffic in African slaves, of protecting
effectually the aboriginal populations of Africa, and of insuring for
that vast continent the benefits of peace and civilisation.”
[Sidenote: The General Act.]
The first article, relating to effective methods of suppressing
slave-raiding in the Congo Basin, was divided into seven sections:
The first provided for the progressive organisation of
administrative, judicial, religious, and military services—in
fact, the whole machinery of government. The second remedy was to
be the gradual establishment in the interior of strong protective
and repressive stations. The third clause provided for the
construction of roads and railroads, so that human porterage might
be ended. The fourth, for the placing of steamers on the lakes
and inland waters. The fifth, for the laying down of telegraph
lines. And the sixth, for the organisation of expeditions by
movable columns. While these clauses were of an active character,
the seventh came under the head of prohibition. It provided for
restriction in the import of firearms, and especially of modern
rifles and ammunition, within the whole extent of the territory
affected by the slave trade. The General Act only provided for
the _restriction_ in the import of firearms; but the King, in the
administrative decree, applying its provisions to the Congo State,
interdicted the importation, traffic, and transport of all rifles,
as well as of powder, bullets, and cartridges. The same decree
imposed severe penalties on those who in any way violated these
regulations.
The second article of the Act laid down that “the stations and
the interior cruisers shall have for their object the prevention
of the capture of slaves, and the interception of the routes of
transit. They shall extend their efficacious protection over all
the dependent populations within the range of their authority, by
prohibiting intestine war, and by initiating them into agricultural
labour. They will assist commerce, verifying labour contracts;
they will aid the missions, and they will organise a sanitary
service.”[13]
The second article, recognising the duty of the Powers to prevent
slave-raiding in the territory under their control, adopted, amongst
others, the following prescription:
To support and, if necessary, to serve as a refuge for the native
populations; to place those under their sovereignty in a position
to co-operate for their own defence; to diminish intertribal wars
by means of arbitration; to initiate the natives in agricultural
pursuits and industrial arts, so as to increase their welfare;
to raise them by civilisation and bring about the extinction of
barbarous customs, such as cannibalism and human sacrifices; and,
in giving aid to commercial enterprises, to watch over their
legality, controlling especially the contracts for service entered
into with natives.
The third and fourth articles contained the pledge of all the
interested Powers to assist in enforcing these commendable provisions
for the betterment of the black races in Africa. The succeeding
apathy of the Powers in no wise abated the energy of the Congo Free
State in its heroic effort to realise for civilisation the views
which Belgian statesmen had largely inspired at the Conference. The
Belgian campaigns against the Arabs, briefly narrated in succeeding
chapters, were only one phase of those multiform difficulties which
beset the pioneer in savage lands where the heralds of civilisation
find it necessary to suppress the old and impose a new order of life
upon untutored human beings.
[Sidenote: Alcohol and Civilisation.]
The second chapter referred, amongst other things, to caravan
routes, the transport of slaves by land, and to providing means of
livelihood and education for liberated slaves. The sixth chapter
enumerated the measures to be taken to restrict the trade in
spirituous liquors. The six articles composing this chapter forbid
the importation of distilled drinks “in the regions where they have
not yet penetrated,” and “each Power will determine for itself the
limit of this zone within its own possessions.” It is in reference
to these infirm clauses, as elastic as Congo rubber, that the Free
State has fulfilled promise with performance that puts her neighbours
to shame. Each year of Belgian rule in the Congo has been marked by
a contraction of the area in which alcoholic liquors are legitimate
traffic even in a restricted form. To-day spirituous liquors are
practically excluded from more than four-fifths of the entire
State. The Sovereign of the Congo Free State does not respect that
colonising enthusiasm which is founded on deleterious Scotch whiskey,
Holland gin, and Jamaica rum. He has, therefore, carried out the
spirit as well as the letter of the liquor clauses in the Brussels
Act, and lost revenue for the State from a source which, to a large
degree, supports the budgets of neighbouring colonies.
[Illustration: A Street in Coquilhatville, 1896 (Equateur).]
In the eighth article it is declared that
the experience of all nations who have intercourse with Africa has
shown the pernicious and preponderating part played by firearms
in slave trade operations as well as in intertribal wars, and has
clearly proved that the preservation of the African populations is
a radical impossibility unless restrictive measures against the
trade in firearms and ammunition are established.
It was, therefore, stipulated that in those parts of Africa between
the twentieth parallel of north latitude and the twenty-second
parallel of south latitude the importation of firearms, and
especially of rifles and weapons of precision, powder, balls,
and cartridges, should be greatly restricted, and as far as
possible prohibited. The only exceptions in later articles to
this prescription were made in favour of “measures directly by
governments for arming of a _force publique_ and the organisation of
their defence.”
[Sidenote: Attitude of the Powers.]
To carry out the onerous duties imposed by the Brussels Act upon
all the interested Powers required more than a Conference and its
lofty ideals and appropriate resolutions. By the Berlin Act import
duties had been prohibited in the Congo Basin only as an experiment.
The attitude of the Powers towards this question was now more
enlightened and more reasonable. Experience, and admiration for King
Leopold’s rapid achievements in the development of the new State,
combined, in the face of the slave-raiding enemy, to predispose the
representatives of the Powers to a rational view of the practical
necessities of governments which were called upon to establish order
and a civil community upon the trail of the murderous slave-chaser.
[Sidenote: Import Duties.]
At the thirteenth session of the Conference, held on May 10, 1890,
it was proposed that the stipulation of the Berlin Conference
prohibiting all import duties for twenty years should be withdrawn,
and that the “assenting Powers having possessions or protectorates in
the Conventional Basin of the Congo shall be at liberty, so far as
authority to this end is required, to establish duties on imported
goods, the scale of which shall not exceed a rate equivalent to
ten per cent. _ad valorem_ at the port of entry, always excepting
spirituous liquors.” Applying especially to spirituous liquors are
the provisions of articles 90 to 95 of the General Act.
In supporting this measure, Baron Lambermont said:
Not only has geographical acquaintance with the Congo Basin
revealed the wealth of the vast regions it comprises, but European
commerce, which was blocked at a short distance from the coast,
has penetrated the heart of Africa, in countries hitherto utterly
unknown. Civilisation, in divers forms, has made no less progress,
and has been permanently established in the very centre of Africa.
The rapidity with which this transformation has been accomplished
would seem to make it a duty to hasten the revision of the
free-trade rule temporarily laid down by the Berlin General Act.
The protection due to commerce and missions, the establishment of
systematic justice, the opening up of easier means of communication
with the interior of the continent, the organisation of public
services as auxiliaries to private enterprises, require financial
resources which it is reasonable to obtain, by means of imposts,
from those who profit by the new order of things. While in most
of the African colonies tariffs are among the principal sources
of revenue, the countries situated in the Conventional Basin of
the Congo alone are deprived of the right of levying customs
duties; and yet these are the countries that find themselves at
the front in the crusade against the slave trade! The resolutions
of the Brussels Conference, in imposing on them new tasks, will
also increase the expenses necessary for the carrying out of their
civilising mission. The legitimacy of import duties destined to
meet these expenses cannot be denied.
In the debate which naturally ensued upon such an important measure,
Baron Gericke d’Herwijnen, representing Holland, which has a large
spirit trade along the West Coast of Africa, opposed views for a time
unfavourable to the adoption of this supplementary Declaration[14] to
the General Act. Notwithstanding his views, the Dutch representative
gracefully alluded to “the well-merited homage it [Holland] had
rendered to the work of the King of the Belgians from its very
commencement.”
On the part of Great Britain, Lord Vivian supported the proposition
in words which should sear the few unkindly, astigmatic eyes of those
who regard King Leopold’s rule in Africa with splenetic gaze and
caterwauling. His lordship spoke aptly when he said:
As to the question whether this modification is opportune, the fact
must not be lost sight of that the Berlin Conference never intended
to fix unalterably the economic system of the Free State, which,
as was already then foreseen, would undergo radical modifications
under the influence of progress, nor to establish for an indefinite
period regulations which may hinder, check, and even arrest its
development. Provision was wisely made for the probability of
future changes, which would require a certain latitude in economic
matters in order to secure their easy realisation....
The moment has now come when the marvellous progress made by the
infant State is creating fresh needs, when it would be only in
accordance with wisdom and foresight to revise an economic system
primarily adapted to a creative and transitional period.
_Can we blame the infant State for a progress which, in its
rapidity, has surpassed the most optimistic forecasts? Can we
hinder and arrest this progress in refusing her the means necessary
for her development? Can we condemn the Sovereign who has already
made such great sacrifices to support for an indefinite period a
burden which daily becomes heavier, and at the same time impose
upon him new and heavy expenses necessitated by the suppression of
the slave trade?_
_We are convinced that there will be but one answer to these
questions._
[Illustration: Camp on Line of Cataracts Railroad, Songololo.]
Following the British representative in support of the proposal,
Count von Alvensleben, the German Minister, expressed himself as
follows:
The Imperial Government will be glad to have such an opportunity of
showing its sentiments of sympathy for the Congo Free State, which,
under the wise direction of its august Sovereign, has given such
striking proofs of vitality.
The German Government will willingly lend its help in placing the
Congo Free State in a position to acquire the means which may seem
necessary to assist its development and to enable it to continue
its valuable services to the cause of civilisation and humanity.
[Sidenote: France and the Slave Trade.]
Indeed, the expressions of appreciation of the Belgian work in the
Congo were unanimous and enthusiastic. The Declaration was adopted,
and became part of the General Act of the Brussels Conference by the
ratification of all the Powers—the Dutch Chambers sanctioning the
ratification on the intervention of the Queen Regent, mother of the
present Queen, Wilhelmina. In giving her adhesion France did so with
the reservation that she “would not recognise the articles relating
to the zone of maritime search, jurisprudence, arrest, seizure, and
condemnation of suspected ships.” This has always been regarded as a
flaw in the effort of the Powers to suppress the slave traffic with
unity of force and aim. France’s remarkable reservation has had the
effect of affording to slave-dealers the only existing protection of
a civilised Government on the East African Coast. The motive for this
is revealed in the fact that slave-dealers are still employed in the
French possessions of the Indian Ocean.[15] It is to be regretted
that republican France should stand out from that solid phalanx of
the Powers by which alone the abominable institution of slavery can
be stricken from the calendar of modern crime.
[Illustration: Baluba Chiefs.]
[Illustration: Return from the Hunt at Bumba (Bangala).]
FOOTNOTES:
[13] Boulger, _The Congo State_, 1898.
[14] See Appendix for full text.
[15] Boulger.
CHAPTER XII
THE CONGO BEQUEATHED TO BELGIUM
The Declaration supplemental to the General Act of the Brussels
Conference, referred to in the previous chapter, assured an income to
the Congo Free State, which, however inadequate for its needs at that
time, served, in a degree, to clear its future of the doubt which
had caused Belgium, as a nation, to shrink from incurring financial
responsibility in support of it. The cost of the early undertakings,
from the day in 1876 when Stanley took leave of King Leopold in
Brussels and set out upon his expedition up the Congo River, and
the expenses of the entire enterprise, including those of the
International African Association, had been borne by the King and his
immediate adherents. The amounts so expended each year now aggregated
a sum approximating 100,000,000 francs. On 29th April, 1887, the
Belgian nation had authorised the Congo State to raise a loan of
150,000,000 francs, which, however, it did not guarantee. These funds
were largely employed to found the chartered companies provided
for in the Decree of 27th February, 1887. The time had now again
come when the Belgian Chamber should consider the reasonableness
of asking the assistance of the Belgian nation, especially as the
King’s African enterprise had been undertaken for the benefit of
civilisation and the expansion of Belgian markets.
On the 3rd July, 1890, the day after the General Act of the
Conference had been signed, a Convention was concluded between M.
Beernaert, the Finance Minister, on the part of Belgium, and Baron
Van Eetvelde, on the part of the Congo Free State, by which Belgium
engaged to lend the Congo State 5,000,000 francs at once, and
2,000,000 francs a year for the next ten years—25,000,000 francs in
all, on condition that Belgium should have the option, six months
after the expiration of the ten years, of annexing the Congo Free
State “with all the rights and advantages attached to the sovereignty
of the State ...” provided it also assumed the obligations of the
State to third parties, “_the King-Sovereign expressly refusing
all indemnity on account of the personal sacrifices he had himself
made_.” It was further agreed:
3. From the present time the Belgian State will receive from the
Independent State of the Congo such information as it judges
desirable, on the economical, commercial, and financial situation
of the latter. It may specially ask for communication of the
budgets of receipts and expenses, and of the customs dues both on
imports and exports. This information is to be given, with the sole
object of enlightening the Belgian Government, and the latter will
not in any way interfere in the administration of the Independent
State of the Congo, which will continue to be attached to Belgium
only by the personal union of the two crowns. Nevertheless, the
Congo State engages not to contract any new loan hereafter, without
the assent of the Belgian Government. 4. If at the fixed time
Belgium decides not to accept the annexation of the Congo State,
the sum of twenty-five million francs lent, inscribed in the ledger
of its debt, would not become demandable until after a fresh period
of ten years, but it should bear in the interval interest at the
rate of 3½ per cent., payable every six months, and even before
this term the Independent State of the Congo should devote to
partial repayments all the sums obtained from cessions of land or
the mines of the domain.
[Illustration: The Governor’s House, Ponthierville (Upper Congo).]
Long before the date of the Brussels Conference and the Convention
just concluded, King Leopold had written to his minister, M.
Beernaert, a letter clearly indicating his unselfish purpose in
developing the Congo State. The persons who charge the King of the
Belgians with governing the Congo for his personal benefit might
temper their mendacity by the fact that this letter is dated 5th
August, 1889, nearly a year before the conclusion of the Brussels
Conference. Having regard to the false charges busily purveyed in
respect of his Majesty’s true intentions towards his people and the
Congo State, it seems but just to quote it:
5th August, 1889.
DEAR MINISTER [M. Beernaert].—I have never ceased to call the
attention of my countrymen to the necessity of extending their view
to countries beyond the sea.
History teaches that States of limited size have a moral and
material interest in stretching beyond their narrow frontiers.
Greece founded on the shores of the Mediterranean opulent cities,
centres of art and civilisation. Venice, later on, established
its greatness on the development of its maritime and commercial
relations, not less than on its political successes. Holland
possesses in the Indies thirty millions of subjects, who exchange
the commodities of the tropics for the productions of the mother
country.
It is by serving the cause of humanity and progress that people of
the second rank appear as useful members of the great family of
nations. More than any other, a manufacturing and commercial nation
like ours should strive to secure outlets for all its workers, for
those of thought, capital, and labour.
These patriotic preoccupations have dominated my life. They
determined the creation of the African work.
My labours have not been sterile. A young and vast State, directed
from Brussels, has peacefully taken its place under the sun, thanks
to the benevolent aid of the Powers which have applauded its
beginning. Belgians administer it, whilst others of our countrymen,
every day more numerous, profitably employ their capital in its
development.
The immense river basin of the Upper Congo opens to our efforts
ways of rapid and cheap communication, which permit us to penetrate
direct into the centre of the African Continent. The construction
of the railway of the region of the Cataracts henceforth assured,
thanks to the recent vote of the Legislature, will notably increase
these facilities of access. Under these conditions, a great future
is reserved for the Congo, the immense value of which will soon be
apparent to every eye.
On the morrow of this considerable act, I have thought it my
duty to place Belgium herself, when death shall have struck me,
in a position to profit by my work, as well as by the labour of
those who have aided me in founding and directing it, and whom I
thank here once more. I have therefore made, as Sovereign of the
Independent State of the Congo, the Will that I send you. I ask you
to communicate it to the Legislative Chamber at the moment which
shall appear to you the most opportune.
[Illustration: European Houses at Coquilhatville (Equateur).]
The beginnings of enterprises such as those which have so much
occupied me are difficult and onerous. I have held myself bound to
support the cost. A king, in order to serve his country, ought
not to fear to conceive and to pursue the realisation of a work,
even if it be apparently rash. The wealth of a sovereign consists
in public prosperity; it alone can constitute in his eyes an
enviable treasure, which he should endeavour constantly to increase.
To the day of my death I shall continue, in the same desire of
national interest which has hitherto guided me, to direct and
sustain our African work; but if, without awaiting this term, it
should be agreeable to the country to establish closer links with
my possessions on the Congo, I should not hesitate to place them at
its disposal. I should be happy to see it, during my lifetime, in
the full enjoyment of their possession. Allow me, in the meanwhile,
to say to you how grateful I am towards the Chambers, as well as
towards the Government, for the aid that they have afforded me on
several occasions in that creation. I do not think I deceive myself
by affirming that Belgium will derive important advantages from it,
and that she will see opening before her, on a new continent, happy
and larger prospects.
Believe me, dear Minister, etc.
LEOPOLD.
Accompanying this noble expression of a monarch toward his people
on his sacrificial work in their behalf, was the King’s Will, as
Sovereign of the Congo Free State:
We, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent
State of the Congo:
Wishing to assure to Our well-beloved country the fruits of the
work which for many years We have pursued on the African Continent,
with the generous and devoted co-operation of many Belgians:
Convinced of thus contributing to assure for Belgium, if she wishes
it, the outlets indispensable for her commerce and her industry,
and to open new paths for the activity of her children:
Declare by these presents, that We bequeath and transmit, after
Our death, to Belgium all our sovereign rights over the Independent
State of the Congo, as they are recognised by the Declarations,
Conventions, and Treaties concluded since 1884 between the foreign
Powers on the one side, the International Association of the Congo
and the Independent State of the Congo on the other, as well as all
the benefits, rights, and advantages attached to that sovereignty.
Whilst waiting for the Belgian Legislature to pronounce its
acceptance of Our aforesaid disposition, the sovereignty will be
exercised collectively by the Council of the three administrations
of the Independent State of the Congo, and by the Governor-General.
LEOPOLD.
Done at Brussels the 2nd of August, 1889.
The announcement of the King’s Will, bequeathing the Congo State to
the Belgian people, was received with a demonstration of popular
approval. In 1901 the Convention of 3rd July, 1890, giving Belgium
the right to annex the Congo State, was extended for another term
of ten years. Meantime the great prosperity of the State and the
voice of saner liberalism in the Belgian Chamber are combining to
identify the more intimate support of the Belgian Government with
King Leopold’s progressive African colony. That the Belgian State
will take over that colony in 1910, or on the death of King Leopold,
is hardly within the pale of rational doubt.
[Illustration: Cicatrised Batetela Woman (Lualaba-Kassai).]
[Illustration: Specimens of Hairdressing among Women of the Sango
Tribe, Banzyville (Ubanghi).]
CHAPTER XIII
TRIBES OF THE CONGO STATE
[Sidenote: Population of Congo State.]
The difficulty in arriving at an estimate of the native population
of the Congo Free State that tolerably approximates the truth is
very great. Some authorities place it at as high as 30,000,000, some
as low as 15,000,000, while other observers, equally entitled to
respect, assert that 20,000,000 is about accurate.
This wide divergence of opinion ceases to be matter for surprise when
we reflect that the population of an empire so important as China,
known to white men for centuries, is variously estimated by them at
anything between 300,000,000 and 400,000,000.
Compared with our knowledge of China, our acquaintance with the
countries and peoples comprised within the boundaries of the Congo
Free State is a thing of yesterday. The nomadic habits of the various
semi-savage tribes of which the population of the Congo Free State
consists renders their exact enumeration impossible. Besides, there
can be no doubt but that vast numbers of the dwarf (Pigmy) race
inhabit parts of the great Central African forest not yet penetrated
by the white man.
[Sidenote: Advancing Civilisation.]
It is certain, however, that all the vast region with which this book
is concerned contains no race or tribe that has not come in contact
with the civilising Belgians, or whose barbarous habits and customs
have not, in greater or lesser degree, been modified into some
semblance of conformity with the standard of civilisation exemplified
by their new masters. At present that conformity is far from being
general, and where it is found it is invariably more superficial than
real. To frankly admit so much is in nowise a reflection upon the
extent or value of the civilising influence exerted by the Belgians
upon their King’s dusky subjects. The complete transformation of the
barbarian into the civilised man is not possible in one generation. A
consideration of the principal tribes, their habits and customs, as
they were when the white strangers first appeared among them, and as
to some extent they continue to this day, cannot, therefore, fail in
interest.
[Sidenote: Origin of Congo Races.]
The nomadic habits of the native races inhabiting the Congo region,
discussed at length in another chapter, render an inquiry into their
origin a work of great difficulty and uncertain result. Sir Harry
Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., whose expert opinion upon this subject
is entitled to the utmost respect, believes that the Negro type
which originated in Southern Asia wandered across the peninsula of
Arabia into Eastern Africa, mingling, perhaps, on the way, with
the Caucasians from the north, evolving that negroid race known as
the Hamite, whence sprang the early Egyptians, and to which the
Somali, Gala, Abyssinian, and Nubian owe their origin.
[Illustration: Funeral at Bumba (Bangala).]
From Eastern Africa this primitive race is thought to have spread,
in the course of ages, throughout all Central Africa, and probably
to have penetrated almost to the southern and western coasts of
that continent, changing their physical characteristics according
to their environment, and again modifying those characteristics by
subsequent intermixture. The numerous Central African tribes, as they
exist to-day, exhibit marked differences in height, shape, language,
habits, customs, and even in colour, some being an intense black,
some of a chocolate hue, some reddish brown, and some of a bronze
aspect. The five main divisions, according to Johnston, appear to
be: (1) the forest Pigmy; (2) the Bantu; (3) the Nile Negro; (4) the
Masai, and (5) the Hamite.
The native tribes in the neighbourhood of Leopoldville consist
chiefly of the Musserongés, the Kakongos, the Baoilis, and the
Mayombés.
[Sidenote: Some Tribal Traits.]
The Musserongés are difficult of approach. Not only do they hold
themselves severely aloof from the white man, they are also very shy
and guarded in their intercourse with other native tribes, and are
never known to combine with any of them, even when threatened by a
common enemy. They are tall, strong, and better-looking than most
members of the Negro race, though this commendation must not be taken
for a certificate of beauty. They file their teeth to a point, or
cut them square, or into semicircles, their object being to provide
themselves thereby with a weapon for use as a last resort in a fight,
when they literally throw themselves upon their enemies and seize
them by the throat with their fangs, as a bulldog might do. They
wear their hair short, and indulge in the practice of tattooing, for
purposes of ornament, but not to any great extent. Strange to say,
the women are taller and stronger than the men, which may perhaps be
explained by the fact that all the work of the tribe, except hunting
and fishing, falls to their share.
The Kakongos and Mayombés are less intensely distrustful, but the
Baoilis are markedly hostile to the white man. They have been known
to refuse to barter oysters—their principal diet, of which they
frequently have supplies largely exceeding their requirements—for
European commodities which it has been certain that they ardently
desired to possess.
[Illustration: Women Beating Rice, Uelle.]
[Sidenote: Modes et Robes à la Congo.]
All these four tribes are of cleanly habits; and their practice
of bathing daily, when the proximity of a river or lake puts it
in their power to do so, may put to shame some of the inhabitants
of great cities. The forest tribes, to whom cleanliness by water
is impossible, smear their bodies with palm oil and a kind of red
ochre, which they afterwards scrape off. The original costume of a
few leaves, or an exceedingly small apron made from fibrous bark,
for women, and a loincloth of the same material for men, has yielded
to the superior attraction of common cotton goods, which now reach
them from far-away Manchester or Saxony. These stuffs, ornamented
by large patterns in flaming reds or yellows, delight the eye and
rejoice the heart of the Congolese maid and matron, while such of
the men as desire to stand well with the gentler (?) sex will also
condescend to use them. No time and skill are devoted to making a
garment. A piece of the gaudy stuff wound in loose folds around the
loins suffices both for men and women. In every tribe, children of
both sexes are entirely nude until they reach the age of puberty. In
at least one tribe, neither men nor women wear any covering. In a
few tribes it is customary for the women to remain nude until they
are married. Some women denote their married state by covering their
breasts with strange ornaments, while others secure this object by
elaborately dressing their hair, which they build up to a great
height by aid of palm fibre and gum. Both men and women, of whatever
tribe, ornament themselves with just as many collars, bangles, and
anklets as they can obtain. Without exception, the possession of a
few strings of coloured beads is to them a source of great happiness.
They gaze upon such treasures with delight and guard them with
jealous care. Some of their customs are very peculiar. Men and women
will not eat together. A man guilty of eating in company of his wives
would be hopelessly disgraced. In time past they have eaten one
another, and would doubtless do so again should existing restraint be
removed, but they may not eat together. After their separate repast,
the sexes mingle again freely, and both engage in smoking their
long-stemmed pipes.
[Sidenote: Congo Pigmies.]
All the males of the Congo Pigmies seen by Sir Harry Johnston were
circumcised, and all in both sexes had their upper incisor teeth and
canines sharpened to a point. In their forest homes they go naked,
both men and women; but in presence of strangers the men usually don
a small covering of genet, monkey, or antelope skin, or a wisp of
bark-cloth, and the women leaves or bark-cloth.
The Pigmies [says Johnston] have practically no religion, and no
trace of spirit- or ancestor-worship. They have some idea that
thunder, lightning, and rain are the manifestations of a Power or
Entity in the heavens, but a bad Power, and when (reluctantly)
induced to talk on the subject, they shake their heads and clack
their tongues in disapproval, for the mysterious Something in
the heavens occasionally slays their comrades with his fire
[lightning]. They have little or no belief in a life after death,
but sometimes think vaguely that their dead relations live again in
the form of the red bushpig, whose strange bristles are among the
few brightly coloured objects that attract their attention. They
have no settled government or hereditary chief, merely clustering
round an able hunter or cunning fighter, and accepting him as
law-giver for the time. Marriage is only the purchase of a girl
from her father. Women generally give birth to their offspring in
the forest, severing the navel string with their teeth, and burying
the placenta in the ground. The dead are usually buried in dug
graves, and if men of importance, food, tobacco, and weapons are
buried with the corpse.
[Illustration: Tribunal at Boma. Sentencing a Native to Death for
Cannibalism Committed in the Upper Congo.]
[Sidenote: Cicatrisation.]
The same authority has observed that all the Bantu-speaking forest
folk on the Upper Congo practise cicatrisation. Scores and weals
of skin are raised either by burning or cutting with a knife, and
introducing the irritating juice of a plant into the wound. The
effect of this is to raise on the surface of the body large or small
lumps of skin. Sometimes these raised weals are so small that they
produce almost the effect of tattooing; at other times they are
large, ugly excrescences. The Babira people cicatrise their chests
and stomachs; but in the forest, toward the waters of the Congo,
their faces are hideously scarred. Both men and women of the Bantu
Kavirondo extract the two middle incisor teeth from the lower jaw,
in the belief that if a man retains all his lower incisor teeth he
will be killed in warfare, and that if the wife fails to pull out
her teeth it may cause her husband to perish. For the same reason
of averting ill-fortune, a woman inflicts cuts on the skin of her
forehead, which leave small scars. The women also, as a means of
securing good fortune for themselves and their husbands, make a
number of small incisions, usually in patterns, in the skin of the
abdomen, into which they rub an irritant, so that huge weals rise up
into great lumps of skin. The Kavirondo husband, before setting out
to fight or starting on a journey attended with great risks, usually
makes a few extra incisions on his wife’s body.
[Sidenote: A Gross Fraud.]
The traveller in the Congo will frequently observe repulsive
disfigurements in the natives, and is very liable to attribute to the
cruelty of oppression what are but manifestations of old-time tribal
customs. The danger is accentuated by the organised campaign of
slander now proceeding against the Congo Free State, which does not
scruple to make capital out of such an opportune circumstance.
Almost all the tribes entertain a hazy notion of an invisible Supreme
Being; but they regard themselves as of no account in His estimation,
and direct their petitions for supernatural aid to their fetiches,
which they endeavour to propitiate by gifts through the medium of
their witch doctor or medicine man, a kind of priest who pretends to
possess supernatural powers and abuses the credulity of his followers
to an extraordinary extent.
[Sidenote: Strangling Widows.]
Among the Mangbettus, a dead chief is buried in a sitting posture,
in the centre of a new hut specially built on the banks of a stream.
Five of his widows are strangled and their bodies laid out with their
feet towards their dead husband. The bodies are then covered with
bark-cloth saturated with palm oil, after which the spot is held to
be sacred and must not be approached, under penalty of death, by
anybody but the ruling chief and one attendant.
[Sidenote: The Azandé.]
At the mouth of the Uelle is found the great mass of the Azandé,
a very numerous and important tribe, who range the country from
23 degrees east to 30 degrees west, and from 6 degrees north to
3 degrees south. There are three subdivisions of the Azandé—the
Abandjia, the Avongura, and the Makraka, born fighters all, and
devoted to cannibalism. Some of the Azandé men, however, will eat
only the flesh of their enemies whom they have slain in battle,
declining a diet of human flesh otherwise obtained, though they
all (except such of them as dwell south of the Uelle) forbid their
women and children to touch it.
[Illustration: Kassai Women Returning from Market.]
[Illustration: Batetela Women (Lualaba-Kassai).]
And here arises a curious subject for speculation. The cannibalistic
Azandé are much farther advanced in the arts of peace and war than
many other tribes that are not cannibal—the forest Pigmies, for
instance. Notwithstanding some peculiar customs concerning them, they
hold their women in high regard, and never barter them for goats
and cows, the almost universal practice among other Central African
tribes. Their skill, too, in agriculture, pottery, and in the making
and playing of their musical instruments, seems quite incompatible
with their abhorred anthropophagy.
Each Azandé chief is really a despotic king. His power over his
subjects is absolute, and any one of them who is so unfortunate as
to offend him is simply handed over to the executioner, a procedure
which to the Azandé mind seems the most natural thing in the world.
The courage of the Azandés is beyond praise. They know no fear; and
when assailed by a murderous fire, against which they have no chance
of success, they will rush right up to their enemy and grapple with
him hand to hand, though nine-tenths of their fellows fall by the
way. Their favourite weapons are the lance and light throwing-spear,
and each warrior carries, in addition, a shield.
[Sidenote: Ordeal by Poison.]
Among the Azandé, criminals condemned to death are despatched with
the lance. Occasionally, however, they employ a peculiar method of
trial, known as the ordeal by poison, which precludes this method of
execution. On such occasions the chief acts as judge, and the person
accused is made to drink a cup of poison, the theory being that if
the accusation is baseless the accused survives unharmed. Of course,
the invariable result is that the drinker falls dead within a minute
or so. It is safe to assume that an Azandé chief is sufficiently
intelligent never to subject one of his tribe to this ordeal whose
death he has not previously determined upon.
[Sidenote: Blood-Brotherhood.]
Another singular custom, not peculiar to the Azandé, but common to
all Central African tribes, is the ceremony of blood-brotherhood.
Two men who are in no way related having agreed to become
“blood-brothers,” _i. e._, to live in peace and amity for ever after,
meet in the open air, in the presence of the chiefs and people,
when a small incision is made in the forearm of each “brother,”
sufficiently deep to cause a little blood to flow. Each mutilated one
then licks the blood from the other’s arm, and thenceforth they are
related as brothers.
[Illustration: African Belles. Hairdressing of Sango Women at
Banzyville, 1894 (Ubanghi).]
A slight modification of this ceremony was early conceded by the
various chiefs to accommodate the pardonable squeamishness of
Europeans; and now, instead of licking each other’s blood, the
“brothers” merely rub their incisions together, so that their blood
may mingle. Stanley was made blood-brother to so many African chiefs
that at last his arm was well scored with incisions. Several Belgian
commandants, and a few Englishmen, have submitted to this operation;
always, it is almost needless to remark, from motives of policy,
for it has been proved that Africans regard the rite with real
veneration, and esteem the “brother” they acquire by it at least as
highly as they would a natural brother.
It is not necessary in this place to give the names of all the tribes
of which the native population of the vast Congo region is composed.
They are numerous, and for the most part not easily pronounceable. Of
the tribes not already referred to, the Basundis, Bakuendas, Batekas,
Bayanzis, Bangalas, Batetelas, Mongos, Bantu, and Mombettus are most
prominent. While differing in personal appearance, prowess, habits,
and customs, clearly denoting that they are not descended from a
common stock, there are not wanting certain traits which distinguish
them all. _All_ are polygamous, _nearly all_ are cannibal, and
the morals of the most advanced among them such as shock the
average civilised man upon his first contact with them. Strangely
inconsistent with the low moral sense which prevails among most of
the tribes, some of them punish the crime of adultery with death,
others by horribly mutilating the male offender.
[Sidenote: Cannibalism.]
Cannibalism has long been suppressed by the Congo Government just
as murder is suppressed among civilised communities; but the horrid
practice is still indulged here and there, as opportunity occurs
for evading the vigilance of the authorities. So recently as 1898,
and possibly to the present day, it was necessary to maintain a
constant guard at the cemetery in Leopoldville, the chief station
on the Upper Congo, to prevent the Bangalas unearthing the dead
and carrying them off to feast upon. Several such cases were proved
against them, and capital punishment had to be resorted to in order
to stamp it out. This horrid subject is sickening to contemplate; but
no description, however brief or superficial, of the Congo people,
can ignore a fact which has occasioned, and still presents, such
a tremendous difficulty for civilisation to surmount. This is but
one of many difficulties with which the Congo Free State has had to
contend, and those who sit in judgment upon that State should bear
in mind that the Central African black is not by nature predisposed
to civilisation. Not all the cannibal tribes are so repulsive and
cruel as the Bangalas. Most of them eat no other human flesh but that
of their enemies slain in battle. That source of supply will not
suffice for the Bangalas, who make up its deficiency with prisoners
or slaves. Having broken their victim’s limbs, they place him in a
pool of water, with his head supported just above its surface so that
he may not drown. After having left him in that position for three
days (if he survives so long), he is killed and eaten. Another method
is to behead the victim, singe all the hair from the body over an
ember fire, and then cut it into pieces for cooking. The portions not
immediately eaten are smoke-dried and put aside for another occasion.
The teeth are extracted and made into necklaces by the women.
Sometimes the skin is used for drumheads.
[Illustration: Bakusu Chiefs, Stanleyville.]
[Illustration: Bangala Women.]
[Sidenote: Polygamy.]
It is the general opinion of competent observers that polygamy will
for many years survive the extinction of cannibalism. Nothing but
the spirit of Christianity will overcome that evil. The native mind
cannot be induced by ordinary argument to see any wrong in it. Why a
man should not have just as many wives as he can afford to buy and
keep is too much for his comprehension. He regards woman as created
solely for his pleasure and profit, and trades in her accordingly. He
buys her from her father for one or two goats or a cow; she becomes
the mother of his children, and prepares and cooks his food for him.
That is her career, and she shares it with as many other wives as
her husband’s inclination and resources permit him to buy. When she
dies she is buried—sometimes. Certain Central African tribes regard
burial after death as a superfluous ceremony for women, and place
their bodies where they will be devoured by hyænas and vultures. From
two to three wives is the average _quantum_ of the ordinary Central
African barbarian, and between thirty and forty for a chief.
After their prodigious effort and expense in suppressing the slave
trade, the Belgians set to work to weld into a homogeneous civilised
State a vast region full of warring tribes with attributes such as
these, utterly oblivious to all sense of right and truth as readers
of these pages understand these words.
[Sidenote: A Reflection.]
Looking at the Congolese as they were in 1876, and again as they are
in 1905, who can honestly deny that King Leopold has, so far, well
performed his arduous mission?
CHAPTER XIV
THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE
[Sidenote: To Maintain Order.]
The State’s military organisation is constituted by what is called
the Congo Public Force (_Force Publique_). It had its origin in the
necessities of the International Association before the State had
gone far along its difficult way. It was recruited from the blacks of
Zanzibar and along the West Coast at Lagos, Sierra Leone, Elmira, and
Accra. The first troops were, therefore, foreigners—Zanzibaris and
Haussas. Their foreign origin was, in a sense, an element of security
to the Association when it had to direct repressive measures against
some of the Congolese tribes. The Zanzibaris and the Haussas had
great military aptitude and, lacking sympathy for the Congolese, were
generally loyal to their commanders. They loved an enemy from the
instinct inherent in savage natures.
The maintenance of this early body of troops was exceedingly
expensive for the young State. Besides food, uniform, and medical
attendance, these mercenaries received one franc twenty-five centimes
a day. Moreover, on the expiration of their term of service they were
sent back to their homes at the expense of the Government. As the
term of their engagement was only three years, this obligation formed
an important addition to their cost.
[Illustration: Group of Warriors, Djabbir.]
[Illustration: Coffins for Native Chiefs, Wangata, 1897 (Equateur).]
It was beyond the financial power of the State to provide
an adequate military organisation on such a basis. While the
administrators of the Congo were devising means for the support of an
efficient force at a reduced cost, the British government on the Gold
Coast prohibited further recruiting of Haussas by foreign states.
Barred from getting its soldiers from surrounding British territory,
the Congo Government proceeded to develop its earlier plans for
raising a native local force, the first purpose of which was that it
should supplement the main body of regular troops.
The nucleus of what is the present Public Force were the men of the
Bangala tribe, whom Captain Coquilhat employed as armed police when
he founded Equateurville in 1885. A short time thereafter, Captain
Van Dorpe made the same experiment among the Manyanga. Finding the
men from both tribes fit for a military career, the principle of
employing aboriginal races in the Public Force was followed with
the rapid establishment of the numerous posts and stations erected
at that time. The wisdom of employing natives for the organisation
of such a national force was soon apparent. In 1888 an order was
issued to form eight companies of one hundred and fifty men, with
power to increase the number to two hundred and fifty. It was not,
however, till 1891 that Baron Van Eetvelde and the Governor-General,
M. Camille Janssen, drafted a practical scheme for the foundation
of a permanent Public Force. Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger, whose volume
entitled _The Congo State_ treats at length of the subject up to
1898, describes the scheme which the Sovereign had approved:
The principal features of the scheme were, that the force
should be divided into twelve companies corresponding with the
administrative districts, and that one hundred and twenty European
officers, chiefly Belgians, should be appointed to the command
and disciplining of this force. The different grades of this army
were: one commandant, eleven captains, ten lieutenants, thirty-nine
sub-lieutenants, and sixty sergeants. The new system of recruiting
was of two kinds. The first provided for the engagement of
volunteers for a period not exceeding seven years, and the second
for an enforced levy of militia by order of the Governor-General,
and arranged between the commissary of the district affected and
the local chiefs. The levy was to be made, wherever possible, by
lot, among the men between the ages of fourteen and thirty. The
term of service for the latter was to be five years, with a further
period of two years in the reserve. Each man received, besides food
for himself and his wife (if he had one), a daily pay of twenty-one
centimes, or a sixth of that which had to be paid for the alien
soldier. Moreover, the expense of sending the men back to their
homes was reduced to a minimum. The reduction in the cost meant,
besides a saving to the Government, the possibility of raising
the strength of the force to a figure more in proportion to the
requirements of the State. Of the old alien contingent, it has
never been found possible to maintain more than three thousand men,
and the native contribution to this was about two hundred; but in
1891 the latter was increased to sixteen hundred men, and in 1897,
by which time the alien element had been eliminated, the Public
Force was raised to a grand total of eight thousand militiamen
and four thousand volunteers. The number of companies had been
raised to twenty-two, with a nominal strength of nine thousand five
hundred and forty men at the end of last year (1897), whereas in
1891 the total was only two thousand nine hundred and fifty.
[Illustration: A Bangala Chief, with his Harem.]
[Illustration: Native Making Butter at his Home in Botandana
(Kivu).]
For the purpose of training these forces, seven camps of about five
hundred men each were formed, and the period of training the men
undergo is fixed at eighteen months. The uniform is blue linen, or,
for full uniform, blue cloth, with a scarlet fez. The arm in
general use is the Albini, with a short bayonet. The white officers
carry the Mauser rifle, with a magazine. The greatest pains is
taken in the fire-training and discipline of the men. Competitions
are held every three months among sections of fifty men, and prizes
awarded. A great improvement has been effected in the housing of
the troops, who are now almost entirely accommodated in brick
barracks. The artillery of the force is of considerable strength,
and includes, Krupps, Maxims and Nordenfelts.
The seven camps of instruction are Zambi, for the Lower Congo;
Kinshassa, Bolobo, Irebu, Kassongo, Umangi, La Romee, for the Upper
Congo. The principal armed camps, as they are called (because they
are bases of military power), are those at Lusambo, Bomokandi,
and the Aruwimi; but Vankerckhovenville, Dungu, and Redjaf are
now of equal, if not of greater, importance. At Kinshassa, on
Stanley Pool, a fort with a battery has been constructed for the
protection of Leopoldville and the railway terminus; and here an
experiment has been successfully tried of utilising the services of
prisoners of war. Men selected from the captives of the numerous
expeditions have been passed through a probationary course on the
works of this place, and in this manner a considerable number of
recruits have been obtained for the Public Force on more favourable
terms than the militiamen recruited through the chiefs. Kinshassa
is not the only fortified place within the State territory; for
at Chinkakassa, near Boma, a strong fort has been constructed,
commanding the navigation of the Congo and the approaches from the
ocean. Here Captain Petillon, of the Belgian Engineers, has placed
eight Krupps and a number of smaller guns in an admirably selected
position, while the Mongos tribe, from the Equateurville district,
has supplied an adequate number of skilful and handy gunners. The
authorities of the Congo State will experience no difficulty in
procuring suitable men for this arm of their Public Force.
The first and oldest company of the Public Force deserves a special
notice to itself. This is the auxiliary company of the Congo
Railway, and was founded by royal decree of 9th August, 1890, or
twelve months earlier than the decree constituting the general
force. Its organisation was entrusted to Captain Weyns, an officer
of the Carabiniers. Its strength was first fixed at the modest
total of fifty men; in 1892 it was increased to a hundred men, and
afterwards it received a further addition of fifty men. The task
entrusted to this corps was the protection of the railway works and
of the villages through which the railway passed. As eight thousand
navvies were employed on the line, and as these were composed of
many nationalities, the task was no sinecure, but it was performed
with perfect success and without friction. The auxiliary force was
recruited in a different manner from the rest of the military. It
contained several elements: for instance, twenty-five Senegalese,
and fifty Batetelas from the country between the Sankuru and the
Lualaba. Although of precisely the same race as the mutineers
of the Dhanis column, the latter gave no trouble in 1897. Like
the other militiamen of the State, they serve for five years
with the colours and for two years in the reserve, but the cost
of maintaining this corps is borne by the railway company. It,
however, forms an integral part of the general Public Force, and
can be utilised if any occasion arises. Captain Weyns reported so
favourably of the quickness of the Batetela recruits and their
military aptitude, that all vacancies in this company are now, like
those in the rest of the Public Force, filled up with natives of
the Congo territory.
In the archives of the Congo State’s Administration in Brussels,
there are interesting official reports dealing with the question
of creating a reliable native force from the most civilised of
the Congolese tribes. The problem was not without many peculiar
difficulties. Baron Van Eetvelde, whose lofty aims for Congolese
civilisation were fortified with many wise measures of great utility
to the Government, had formulated plans for the establishment of a
system of military conscription, as to which in January, 1897, he
reported as follows:
The State has set itself to the task of creating a purely national
army, with the view of lightening the budget of the considerable
charges which weighed upon it through having to recruit abroad,
and also with the view of putting an end, in accordance with the
highest dictates of policy, to its dependence in this matter
upon foreigners. It considers, moreover, the period of military
service as a salutary school for the native, where he will learn
respect for authority and the obligations of duty. It is happy,
from this view, to see the number of national militiamen increase,
and, in order that the institution may preserve all its value,
special provisions have been made to prevent abuses, to regulate
the recruiting, to assure the welfare of soldiers on service, and
to provide occupation for those who have served their term. The
decree on the recruiting of the Public Force is not more rigorous
than any other similar act of legislation, and the incorporation
is made under as sure guarantees of human liberty as in the armies
of Europe. As is the case in almost all countries, the recruiting,
independent of voluntary engagements, is made by annual levies, but
“within the limits of the contingent fixed by the King-Sovereign,”
and within these limits “the Governor-General determines the
districts and localities in which the levy is to be made, and
also the proportion to be furnished by each locality.... The mode
according to which the levy operates is determined by the district
commissary in agreement with the native chief; and although the
drawing by lot is recommended, we must recognise that it would be
difficult, in the present circumstances, to have recourse always
and everywhere to this method in each village, and to refuse to
recognise the customary authority of the village chief, when he
designates the militiamen among his own dependants.... The length
of active service is for five years. At the expiration of this
term, the men pass two years in the reserve. The time passed
under the colours, then, cannot exceed seven years—a term which
experience shows not to be excessive; and it is strictly forbidden
to keep under the flags men who are no longer borne on the lists,
or whose term of service has expired, under pain of misdemeanour.
These organic dispositions have been completed by instructions,
which prescribe on the officers ‘to watch carefully that the men
receive a sufficient nourishment, are comfortably housed, that
the sick are well taken care of, that the men are always properly
treated, that their misconduct is dealt with in conformity with the
regulations, and carefully avoiding all excessive severity.
In fact, this system renders light for the native his obligations
as a soldier. We do not desire any other proof than those four
thousand volunteers who are actually enrolled, and those numerous
re-engagements, which show the taste of the native for the
profession of arms. It was not with an army of malcontents that the
State could have carried out its anti-slavery campaign. The State
continues to interest itself in its soldiers after their term has
expired. The time-expired men, sent back to their homes at its
expense, together with their wives and children (if there are any),
are the object of special protection, and receive concessions of
land in a station at their own choice.
[Illustration: Native Canoes, Lower Congo.]
[Illustration: Fishermen, Uvvia.]
The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates
the great improvement to which the Public Force has attained since
the date of Baron Van Eetvelde’s statement of the system which
prevailed in 1897. Local experience in savage lands should be the
foundation of the reforms imposed. In the case of the State’s Public
Force, many local conditions, traits, and prejudices, and much
inaptitude, were encountered to modify or extend those principles of
police control which the State’s earlier administration had adopted
with characteristic hopefulness. M. Fuchs sets forth the present
position of the Force with considerable detail and suggestion:
The Government is aware that the military service of the black race
must be the object of constant watchfulness, in order that it may
be impossible for them to practise the cruelties to which their
primitive instincts might impel them.
The officers and commanders of the troops have been often warned
that they must show themselves inflexible guardians of the
observance of those instructions, which have been issued for the
protection of the natives against any possible abuse on the part
of soldiers left in isolated positions or subject to insufficient
control. Instructions have been given to this effect—and I am
happy to be able to say that they have been almost everywhere
faithfully carried out. Any contravention of the order forbidding
the despatch of armed soldiers under the command of black officers
is also severely punished, and may entail even the dismissal of the
agent in fault. These measures have been completed by the formal
prohibition of the employment of auxiliaries under no matter what
circumstances.
It has also been laid down that direct relations are to be
established between the natives and European agents. In order still
further to strengthen the maintenance of discipline among the
soldiers of the black race, the regulations on the subject have
been completed by the penalty of dismissal from the Public Force.
This is the most severe punishment in the eyes of the soldiers,
for they highly esteem the profession of arms. Dismissal from the
Public Force is inflicted on those soldiers who show themselves
absolutely incorrigible or who are unworthy to remain in the ranks.
In order to surround this rigorous measure with all the necessary
guarantees, the soldiers whom it is wished to dismiss are brought
before a Council of Discipline. The dismissal is pronounced,
at Boma by the Commander of the Public Force; in the districts
by the District Commissioner or by the head of the expedition,
after examining the charge, the evidence, and the decision of the
Council. Chiefs of zones cannot pronounce dismissal.
The Government have just finally decided that, for the future,
the soldiers of the Public Force shall not take part in work at
the stations, and that their time shall be exclusively given up
to their instruction, education, and military service. The former
arrangements which put soldiers, during some hours of the day, at
the disposal of the territorial chiefs, chiefs of zones, and chiefs
of posts, over and above the hours assigned for military duty,
have been modified so as to maintain in a more continuous fashion
the men under the control of their officers. In order to make this
decision of the Government as fruitful as possible, the territorial
chiefs have been ordered to reduce to the effective force strictly
necessary for the assurance of security, the garrisons stationed at
the posts in zones and districts, and to concentrate at the chief
places in the territory garrisons as complete as possible. These
measures are intended to produce the best results from the point of
view of educating and instructing the troops, as well as from that
of assuring military discipline, provided the territorial chiefs
scrupulously carry out the new instructions mentioned above.
It has also been pointed out to them that it will be expressly
recommended to the officials charged with the inspection—and the
Government has decided to increase the inspections throughout
the State territories—to ascertain if all these instructions,
concerning the execution of the new table of daily work for the
public force, have been carried out.
The other measures of organisation which have been passed, the
formal prohibition to establish posts commanded by black officers,
or to confide military operations to them, and finally forbidding
the practice of taking sub-officers from their military duties to
employ them as chiefs of stations, are of a nature to make us hope
that very soon our public force will constitute a body in which we
may have complete confidence.
[Illustration: Uelle Chief and his Wives, Van Kerckhovenville.]
[Illustration: Port of Leopoldville. Natives at Work.]
In February, 1904, I thought it my duty to point out to the
Government the manner in which instruction was given in the camps,
and to draw its attention to the necessity that there would be
to engage quickly a superior officer entrusted more especially
with the mission of seeing to the higher direction and the general
control of all the orders issued concerning the Public Force. The
Government, which had also occupied itself with the question, has
confided this high employment to a superior officer who will be
entrusted with the command of the Public Force.
The Government has resolved to send, at the same time three or four
officers of the grade of commandant to be attached to the staff of
the Public Force, and whom the commander will be able to appoint to
exercise constant control over the companies and camps.
It is right to recall the fact that military service is so far
from constituting a laborious servitude for those subjected to
it, by virtue of the organic law of conscription, that voluntary
engagements increase from year to year. Besides, the instructions
of the Government encourage this state of mind by improving
the well-being of the soldier from the triple point of view of
habitation, food, and clothing. And they are not only natives of
Congolese territory, properly speaking, who seek there military
employment; numerous Africans coming from the English colonies of
the West Coast solicit engagement at Boma.
The table (on page 174) of the engagements of men, natives of the
coast and British subjects, is characteristic in this respect.
The multiplicity of voluntary enrolments will gradually remove,
from the absolutely indispensable law of conscription, what
might seem rigorous, particularly in the eyes of people not yet
thoroughly acquainted with civilisation, and with the idea of the
necessity of public order.
It is nevertheless important to note that the efforts attempted
with the view of nationalising the police forces are being crowned
more and more with success. The State can now renounce the
assistance, elsewhere advantageous, of foreign mercenaries, thanks
to the methodical, extensive, and wise application of the militia
law, and especially to the considerable increase in the number of
national volunteers. But there
Abbreviations: Eng. = Engaged; R-Eng. = Re-Engaged; Offcs. = Officers
—————++——————————————————++—————————————————————++———————————————————
|| ACCRA || HAUSSAS || SIERRA-
|| || (LAGOS) || LEONESE
|| (British) || (British) || (British)
Years||————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
||Eng.|R-eng.|Offcs.|| Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs.||Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs.
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
1883 || — | — | — || 50 | — | — || — | — | —
1884 || — | — | — || 30 | — | — || — | — | —
1885 || — | — | — || 20 | — | 2 || — | — | —
1886 || — | — | — || 5 | — | 2 || — | — | —
1887 || — | — | — || 642 | 20 | 16 || — | — | —
1888 || — | — | — || 300 | 5 | 17 || — | — | —
1889 || — | — | — || 10 | 5 | 4 || 204 | — | —
1890 || — | — | — || 1,200 | 53 | 12 || — | — | —
1891 || — | — | — || 542 | 6 | 11 || 9 | — | —
1892 || — | — | — || 300 | 16 | 9 || 125 | 13 | 3
1893 ||192 | — | 3 || 450 | 13 | 9 || 790 | 3 | 9
1894 ||295 | — | 1 || 760 | 14 | 14 || 710 | 5 | 2
1895 || 36 | — | 2 || 330 | 10 | 11 || 72 | 20 | 2
1896 || 3 | 2 | — || 300 | 28 | 11 || 136 | 40 | 10
1897 || 6 | 6 | — || 70 | 6 | 8 || 55 | 43 | 2
1898 || 8 | 13 | 3 || 200 | 11 | 14 || 200 | 37 | 12
1899 || 19 | 1 | 1 || 71 | 40 | 15 || 76 | 52 | 9
1900 || 1 | 5 | — || 20 | 17 | 5 || 50 | 38 | 8
1901 || 1 | 3 | — || 15 | 26 | 6 || 92 | 43 | 9
1902 || 2 | 6 | 1 || 10 | 50 | 4 || 42 | 70 | 10
1903 || — | 7 | — || 10 | 21 | 7 || 37 | 59 | 6
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
||563 | 43 | 11 || 5,335 | 341 | 177 ||2,598| 423 | 82
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
could be no question of abandoning the system of recruiting by
means of regional conscription. It signifies, indeed, that all
the population throughout the whole extent of the territory
participates in this public charge as much in the interests of the
regular and permanent operation of the recruiting of the national
militia as in that also of the natives who benefit by the lessons
of their military profession (a sense of order, discipline,
cleanliness, clothes, hygiene, habitation, &c.). The stay in the
ranks of the armed force has as its principal advantage their
initiation in civilised life, and their preparation for a regular
life of work.
[Illustration: Tailors’ School, New Antwerp (Bangala).]
The proportion of deaths has become very low among the blacks of
the Public Force and among the labourers. This is due in a great
degree to the improved conditions under which our men live. The
lodgment is well aired and neatly kept. The food is varied as
much as possible, and its careful preparation is provided for.
The camps of the soldiers of the Public Force are well kept up.
Barracks constructed in stone with cemented floors serve in the
Lower Congo as lodgment for our troops. The black officers have
their habitation separate from that of their men.
In the stations on the upper river these prescripts are also well
followed. At Boma the creation of a working city, constructed of
well-chosen materials, is in progress.
It is interesting to quote with regard to the constant and
progressive improvement in the existence of the natives the
following paragraphs from the report of Mr. Casement, His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul:
“Then (in 1887) I had visited most of the places I now revisited,
and I was thus able to institute a comparison between a state of
affairs I had myself seen when the natives lived their own savage
lives in anarchic and disorderly communities, uncontrolled by
Europeans, and that created by more than a decade of very energetic
European intervention. That very much of this intervention has
been called for, no one who formerly knew the Upper Congo could
doubt, and there are to-day widespread proofs of the great energy
displayed by Belgian officials in introducing their methods of rule
over one of the most savage regions of Africa.
“Admirably built and admirably kept stations greet the traveller at
many points.
“The Government station of Leopoldville numbers, I was informed by
its chief, some 130 Europeans, and probably 300 native Government
workmen, who all dwell in well-ordered lines of either very
well-built European houses, or, for the native staff, mud-built
huts.
“On the whole, Government workmen at Leopoldville struck me as
being well cared for, and they were certainly none of them idle.”
In thus taking care of their employés the agents have performed a
duty which has not only resulted in the well-being of the blacks,
but has also allowed of a reduction in the number of the workers,
and accomplishing better and more rapidly executed work.
[Sidenote: Imperfect, but Good.]
It will be observed elsewhere in this volume that some of those
who condemn the State’s _system_ of government point to the _Force
Publique_ as the chief instrument by which the Administration
encompasses the enslavement of the native population. There are
glaring discrepancies in what such persons, either maliciously or in
ignorance, represent as the police system which prevails in the State
at the present time. There does not exist a police system anywhere in
Europe or Africa which has not some inherent defect. To expect the
highest discipline and the utmost control in a police body composed
of the imperfectly civilised Negroes of Equatorial Africa is only one
manifestation of that narrow, unintelligent outlook upon the subject
over which certain persons are agitating themselves into suspicious
frenzy. The report of M. Fuchs denotes that the State’s police
system is founded upon high principles of justice, that discipline
and order are being maintained without the abuse of power, and that,
whatever individuals may have done to transgress in the sphere of
their opportunity, no such extravagant charges of misgovernment as
a few persons have made can be fixed upon a State with the police
laws above indicated. A million square miles of savage territory
are governed with 14,270 natives enrolled in the State’s military
service. This is seven soldiers to about every 625 square miles. Does
this not signify native respect for, and tranquillity in, the State?
What civilised community maintains its authority with such a meagre
force?
[Illustration: Steam Saw-Mill, Boma.]
CHAPTER XV
BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS
[Sidenote: A Fight to the Death.]
IT had long been foreseen, as an inevitable result of the advent of
the Belgians in Central Africa, that a direct conflict between them
and the Arabs, continued to the extinction of one or other of the
belligerents, must sooner or later take place. The chief cause of
the presence of the Belgians in the country being the suppression
of slavery was in itself sufficient to assure this. As shown in
the chapter dealing with that subject, the Belgian pioneers in
establishing posts throughout the country were guided chiefly in
their selection of sites by a desire to obstruct the natural routes
of the slave-traders; and this, as we have seen, had the effect of
frequently bringing Belgians and Arabs into collision.
After the Belgian operations on the Uelle and Lualaba, the Arabs
became seriously alarmed. They perceived not only their nefarious
method of livelihood at stake, but their very existence as a coherent
fighting force was also threatened. In dread at this prospect, the
Arabs resolved to precipitate matters, and took the offensive. It is
not easy to see what other conclusion they could have reached, for
the Belgians had now concerted practical measures which rendered
their raids upon Negro villages no longer possible, while such Negro
chiefs as had hitherto been amenable to Arab influence had been
either alienated or killed off in fair fight. A tax on ivory, too,
imposed by the Congo Government in 1891, though moderate in amount
and perfectly just in its incidence, was bitterly resented by them.
It was clear, therefore, that the only hope for the Arabs lay in
recovering the country which the Belgians had wrested from them; and
as with every day that passed their chances of doing this became more
remote, they resolved to stake all that was left to them upon one
desperate effort.
[Illustration: Camp of Bangalas, Stanleyville.]
The first practical proof of this intention came upon the Belgians
somewhat as a surprise. M. Hodister, acting on behalf of the Belgian
Society of the Upper Congo, a company of merchant adventurers, had
founded two stations on the river Lomami. In this act, M. Hodister
was held by the Congo Administration to have exceeded the range
permitted him, Lieutenant Le Marinel, the Belgian officer commanding
that region, having foreseen danger in pressing so closely upon
the Arabs, a contingency with which he was not as yet prepared to
deal. But the opportunity of striking a blow afforded by Hodister’s
precipitate act was too inviting to be neglected, and the Arabs
promptly seized it. The blow fell March 15, 1892, near Riba Riba, on
the Congo, the Arabs murdering Hodister and his ten white companions.
It was not a fight; it was a massacre. Elated by their success, the
Arabs next proceeded to burn the factories belonging to the Belgian
Society of the Upper Congo, and to kill their inmates; so that,
for the moment, the collapse of Belgian power in that section of the
country was complete.
Another event that occurred about this time served to emphasise the
determination of the Arabs. Rashid,[16] the Arab governor of Stanley
Falls, on being invited by the Belgians to assist in obtaining
the punishment of the murderers of Hodister and his companions,
absolutely refused to have anything to do with the matter, and with
difficulty concealed the satisfaction he felt at that tragic event.
Sefu, a son of Tippo Tip, began now to realise his father’s property,
an ominously significant act. On all sides it was felt that a crisis
was at hand, and Lieut. Le Marinel prepared to meet it by appointing
to the command of the camp at Lusambo Lieut. Francis Dhanis, an
officer who had distinguished himself by founding the camp at Bosoko,
on the Aruwimi, and in many other ways exhibited uncommon energy and
resource.
Immediately upon the arrival of Lieut. Dhanis at Lusambo,
intelligence reached him that Gongo Lutete was on the war-path,
seeking to pass the Sankuru. This Gongo Lutete was a Negro chief who
had allied himself with the Arabs and assisted them in enslaving his
own race. The following is a description of him from the pen of Dr.
Sidney Hinde:
Gongo Lutete was by blood a Bakussu. He had himself been a slave,
having as a child fallen into the hands of the Arabs. While still
a youth, as a reward for his distinguished conduct and pluck on
raiding expeditions, he was given his freedom. Starting with one
gun at eighteen years of age, he gradually collected a band of
brigands round him, whom he ruled with a rod of iron, and before
long became Tippo Tip’s chief slave and ivory hunter. At the time
of his adhesion to the State, Gongo was perhaps thirty years of
age. He was a well-built, intelligent-looking man of about five
feet nine inches in height, with a brown skin, large brown eyes
with very long lashes, a small mouth with thin lips, and a straight
comparatively narrow nose. His hands were his most remarkable
characteristic; they were curiously supple, with long narrow
fingers, which when outstretched had always the top joint slightly
turned back. One or both hands were in constant movement, opening
and shutting restlessly, especially when he was under any strong
influence. His features meanwhile remained absolutely immovable.
One had to see this man on the war-path to realise the different
aspects of his character. The calm, haughty chief, or the genial
and friendly companion, became on the battle-field an enthusiastic
individual with a highly nervous organisation, who hissed out his
orders one after another without a moment’s hesitation. He was
capable of sustaining intense fatigue, and would lead his warriors
through the country at a run for hours together.
[Illustration: Types of Lokélés, Jafungas (Oriental Province).]
With such a redoubtable fighter as Gongo Lutete to contend with, it
was clear to Lieut. Dhanis that no time must be lost. Believing, with
von Moltke, that the best defence against your enemy is to attack
him, Dhanis moved against Lutete without delay, and brought him to
battle on the 23d of April, and again on the 5th and 9th of May. The
first two engagements were undecisive. The third proved a hard fight.
At first the fortunes of the day were all in favour of the Arabs; and
when his native auxiliaries turned and fled it seemed impossible
for Lieut. Dhanis to gain the victory. But that very circumstance, so
disconcerting in itself, saved the Belgians. As the Arabs advanced,
they shouted: “Do not fire! These are natives; make them prisoners.”
It was a fatal command. The Belgians rallied, and received their foes
with such a tremendous fusillade that they were thrown into confusion
and took refuge in flight. Gongo Lutete surrendered unconditionally
to Lieut. Dhanis, and professed himself henceforth a faithful vassal
of the Congo State. He was an able man, probably the most intelligent
of the Negro race in the country, and certainly the best acquainted
with the wily Arab and his ways; so, after some hesitation, his
overtures of friendship were accepted. The force which Gongo Lutete
had commanded being now at the disposal of the Belgians, its first
employment under its new masters was the establishment of a new post
on the Lomami, at Gandu, on the route to Nyangwe and Kassongo.
[Sidenote: Arab Treachery.]
Meanwhile Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had not been inactive. With cunning
worthy of his father, he had no sooner returned from Stanley Falls
to Kassongo than he made war upon the station there and seized it.
Two Belgian officers, Lieutenants Lippens and De Bruyn, were also
captured by him, to whom he confided the comforting assurance that
he only refrained from putting them to death because he hoped to
find them useful as hostages in his negotiations with the Congo
Government. Sefu had for his ally Munie Moharra, chief of Manyema,
a powerful Arab leader. Between them they raised a formidable force,
which they hastened to employ against the Belgians. Before doing so,
however, they stated the terms upon which they would make peace. As
these terms included, among other provisions, handing over to them
Gongo Lutete and the establishment of a new frontier to be indicated
by them, there was really nothing for the Belgians to consider. Their
terms being, of course, refused, the Arabs marched from Nyangwe and
Kassongo in the direction of the Lomami. Their exact numbers are not
known; but notwithstanding the defection of Gongo Lutete and his
following, it is certain that they were very numerous.
The force at the disposal of Lieut. Dhanis, though not so great as
that of the Arabs, was yet a considerable one. His staff consisted of
seven Europeans, and he had three hundred and fifty regular troops
and one 7-5 Krupp gun. The command of the troops acquired by Gongo
Lutete’s defection from the Arabs, numbering several thousands, was
entrusted to Captain Michaux, with Lieut. Duchesne second in command.
The Arabs having crossed the Lomami at a lower point than where they
had been expected, were met by Captain Michaux and Gongo Lutete at
Chige, and a battle ensued. The Arabs numbered sixteen thousand
men, not more than half of whom were armed with muskets, the rest
carrying bows and spears. Lutete having complained that his men could
not fight because their guns had become wet with the rain, Michaux,
knowing that the Arabs must be labouring under a like difficulty,
ordered a general attack. His men responded nobly and a fierce fight
ensued, but it was of brief duration. Perceiving that they were
out-generalled, the Arabs became confused and rushed madly into the
river which they had recently been at so much pains to cross, only
to find that retreat was impossible. In that situation they were
shot down in great numbers. Twelve hundred Arabs were drowned, more
than half that number lay dead upon the battle-field, and nearly a
thousand prisoners were captured, together with a large quantity of
war material. Thus opened the Arab campaign on November 23, 1892,
with the battle of Chige.
Having re-formed his forces, Lieut. Dhanis now crossed the Lomami,
determined to carry the war into the enemy’s stronghold. His army,
which had been reinforced, was now quite a large one, numbering six
Belgian officers, four hundred regulars, and twenty-five thousand
natives, the latter being commanded in detail by their own chiefs.
Lieut. Scherlink and Dr. Hinde commanded the advance guard. Michaux
and Gongo Lutete marched together, and joined forces with Scherlink
and Hinde at Lusana. On the route, several Negro chiefs made their
submission and strengthened the force with men and provisions.
[Sidenote: A Triple Tragedy.]
On reaching Lusana, the Belgian leaders learned with deep regret
that Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had put to death their brave comrades,
De Bruyn and Lippens, and that he had also executed a native who had
endeavoured to save them, in circumstances at once pathetic and
heroic. Sefu, it now appeared, accompanied by Munie Moharra, was
hurrying to attack Dhanis, and the latter instructed Lieutenants
Delcommune and Francqui, then just returned from Katanga, to
intercept him if possible.
But the second battle of the campaign was to be fought by Dhanis’
force. It took place on December 30th, and opened inauspiciously
for the Belgians, Gongo Lutete’s men being defeated and dispersed.
Fortunately they formed only the advanced guard, and on Dhanis and
Michaux coming up the fortune of the day changed. Dhanis confined
his energies to a frontal attack, while Michaux assailed the Arabs’
flank. What Lutete’s irregulars had been unable to do, the Belgians
accomplished—but not easily. Part of the battle was fought in a swamp.
The Belgians displayed great courage under extraordinary
difficulties, and continued the fight until the Arabs broke and
fled. The honours of the day rested with the Krupp gun, which killed
many and frightened more. The Arabs left two hundred men dead on the
field, the Congo State only eighty, in which number is included the
wounded. When the Belgians captured their enemies’ camp, it was found
that they had slain their own women, that being the barbarous custom
of the Arabs to which they resort whenever there is danger of their
women being made prisoners of war.
[Illustration: Review of Troops by Governor-General at New Antwerp.]
Immediately after this battle, the Congo State force crossed the
Mwadi to a plateau known as the Gois Kapopa, and, having set up
a camp there, rested for a week. At the end of that period
intelligence reached Lieutenant Dhanis that Sefu had gathered about
him a vast following and was again threatening trouble. Slightly
counteracting the danger this implied, the same messenger also
announced that, by order of Lieutenant Delcommune, Lieutenant
Cassart, with a numerous body of men, was then on his way to join
Dhanis.
Cassart came, as announced, but met with a desperate adventure by
the way. He had been entrusted to bring to Dhanis fifty thousand
cartridges, and was provided with an escort of thirty European
soldiers and about two hundred and fifty of Gongo Lutete’s men.
All went well with him until dawn of January 9, 1893, when he was
suddenly attacked by Moharra. A short, sharp fight ensued, as a
result of which Cassart contrived to reach Dhanis’ camp with a loss
of only seven men; he also saved his cartridges, all but the five
thousand or so that he had used during the fight.
The conflict between Moharra and Cassart occurred not far from the
Belgian camp and was heard there, whereupon Dhanis sent a detachment
of his men under Lieutenant De Wouters to join Cassart. De Wouters
failed to effect his object; but he came upon a portion of Moharra’s
men, who mistook his force for a contingent from Sefu coming to their
aid. When within twenty yards of the Arabs, De Wouters undeceived
them by opening a terrific fire upon them. At the first volley
Moharra fell dead. He had been wounded in his fight with Cassart, and
was being carried by his wives when he met his fate.
[Sidenote: A Cannibal Feast.]
The manner in which the news of Moharra’s death was conveyed to Sefu
is a sufficiently striking proof of the debased savagery with which
the Belgian civilisers have had to contend. They “broke the news
gently” to him, thus: “We ate Moharra a few days ago.”
The death of Moharra and defeat of his troops so upset Sefu’s
calculations that he immediately abandoned his strong camp on the
Kipango, and betook himself and his followers behind the Lualaba,
on Nyangwe. But for the unfortunate breaking of a bridge, Dhanis
would have attacked him in his retreat. In consequence of that
accident, Sefu was enabled to cross the river without molestation.
Dhanis, having no canoes, could not come up with him; so the two
forces settled down on either side of the river for five weeks and
occasionally exchanged harmless shots.
[Illustration: Soldiers’ Mess, Suruango, 1903 (Uelle).]
[Illustration: Soldiers’ Wives, Bumba.]
The canoes in which the Arabs had crossed the river belonged to the
Wagenia, a tribe who made their home hereabouts and who lived chiefly
by fishing. Nearly all their canoes were now in the possession of
the Arabs, who evinced no disposition to part from them. Dhanis
exerted all his wit to induce the Wagenia to provide him with canoes,
but they either could not or would not. Professing friendship for
both belligerents, and ready at all times to take bribes from each,
they proved useful go-betweens. One day the Wagenia reported that
the store of provisions in Nyangwe was almost exhausted. “Here,”
said Dhanis to his informant, “take these six fowls to Sefu and
present them to him from me. Tell him that at present I have
plenty, but when my supply runs out I will cross the river.” This
message deceived Sefu, as it was intended to do. As a matter of
fact, the six fowls were the only ones Dhanis had in his camp. The
effect of this strategem was perceived before many days, the Arabs
coming over to the western side of the river, where they began to
build forts, or “bomas,” as they call them, a short distance below
the Belgian camp. Dhanis resolved to attack them at once, and with
this object divided his force into two columns. The engagement that
ensued proved a complete triumph for the State troops. The Arabs
lost nearly a thousand men, many being drowned in an attempt to swim
across the river. The Wagenia, anxious to ally themselves with the
winning side, hastened to produce canoes in abundance. Dhanis was
now able to transport his troops across the Upper Congo, and, that
object achieved, he captured Nyangwe almost without an effort, Sefu
retreating to Kassongo without firing a shot. This event occurred on
4th March, 1893.
Though Dhanis was now master of Nyangwe, his difficulties were not
all surmounted. He had not been installed there many days before it
became necessary to burn down a large part of the town in order to
frustrate an attempt by the Arabs to surprise it. Then other and
worse dangers threatened. Influenza and smallpox broke out among his
men and decimated them. No active prosecution of the campaign was
possible until April, when these plagues abated and reinforcements,
five hundred strong, under Commandant Gillain and Lieutenant Doorme,
arrived.
[Sidenote: Civilisation Triumphant.]
Leaving De Wouters in command at Nyangwe, Dhanis now marched on
Kassongo. It was a bold venture, for while the Arabs had sixty
thousand men, and held four “bomas,” Dhanis disposed of only three
hundred regular troops and two thousand auxiliaries. On April 22,
Doorme had the good fortune, at the beginning of the fight, to rush
an important fort which commanded the Arab rear. The Arabs were
greatly perturbed by this circumstance, and fought with less than
their usual valour. Before two hours had passed, Kassongo was in the
hands of the Congo State troops, with vast quantities of valuable
spoil. The triumph of civilisation over savagery was complete, the
only jarring note in Belgian ears being confirmation of the murder of
Emin Pasha a month before.[17]
[Illustration: Hospital, New Antwerp.]
[Illustration: The White Man’s Cemetery, Stanleyville.]
FOOTNOTES:
[16] A nephew of Hamed-ben-Mohamed, better known as Tippo Tip,—_i.
e._, “winking the eye,”—an Arab slave merchant, invested with the
government of Stanley Falls by King Leopold, at the instance of
Stanley, he having, in consideration of a monthly salary, bound
himself to repress all slave-hunting and slave-dealing below the
Falls.
[17] For amplified accounts of the Arab wars, see _The Congo State_,
by D. C. Boulger; _Le mouvement géographique_, by A. J. Wauters,
1884-1898; _Rapport de Baron Dhanis sur la campagne arabe dans le
Manyéma_, 1895; _The Fall of the Congo Arabs_, by Dr. Sidney L. Hinde.
CHAPTER XVI
BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS (_Concluded_)
[Sidenote: An Arab Traitor.]
While the events described in the preceding chapter were being
enacted, M. Tobback, Resident for the Congo Free State at Stanley
Falls, with his second in command, Lieutenant Van Lindt, and a
small force, occupied a position of imminent danger. Rashid, a
nephew of Tippo Tip and cousin to Sefu, was installed there. This
arch-traitor, while professing the utmost friendship for the State
authorities, and accepting favours at the hands of Belgian officers,
was really a confederate of the Arabs. His character, which had long
been suspected, appeared unmistakably from evidence discovered by
Lieutenant Dhanis at Kassongo, when that place was captured by the
State troops. On May 13th, immediately after he had been informed of
the fall of Kassongo, Rashid openly attacked the State garrison. A
fierce fight ensued, in which three of Tobback’s men were killed and
seven wounded. Nearly a hundred of Rashid’s men were placed _hors de
combat_; but he was better able to stand the loss than Tobback was
his. Four days the struggle continued with varying fortune, but on
the fifth day it became evident to Tobback that it was impossible
for him, with the handful of men at his disposal, to successfully
resist the large force operating against him. He was perfecting his
plans for the evacuation of the station, and had prepared six large
canoes, when the whole situation changed by the opportune arrival
of Commandant Chaltin. The presence of this officer, and the State
troops that accompanied him, justified the experiment of an attack
upon the Arabs, which proved entirely successful. The State troops
captured all the Arab positions, and took fifteen hundred prisoners,
Rashid himself escaping capture in ignominious flight.
At this juncture the Congo State officers came to the conclusion that
the Arab power was effectually broken, and they did not anticipate
further trouble with the slave-traders beyond, possibly, an
occasional skirmish. The State’s progress in its campaign against the
Arabs had, on the whole, been extremely successful, and its Sovereign
had good reason to be satisfied with the work accomplished. When, in
June, 1893, Captain Ponthier came up the Congo with reinforcements
for Dhanis, that event seemed to give emphasis to this optimistic
view. Certainly it so alarmed Sefu that he abandoned the struggle and
fled to German territory.
[Illustration: An Avenue at Boma.]
[Sidenote: A Fatal Blunder.]
Immediately after the flight of Sefu a painful incident occurred
which greatly embarrassed the Congo State authorities. A Belgian
officer, having come to the groundless opinion that Gongo Lutete was
a traitor, ordered him to be court-martialled and shot. It was a
disastrous event, not only wrong in itself, but alienating from
the State the affection of Gongo’s men, and affording its enemies
in Europe an opportunity of reviling the Congo Administration; a
libel which, though it has been many times refuted, they still
industriously disseminate.
[Sidenote: A New Enemy Appears.]
It soon became evident that May, 1893, was not to be recorded in
history as the month in which slave-trading Arabs had been finally
repressed. A chief belonging to Ujiji, named Rumeliza, with a
considerable force of Arabs, now appeared east of Tanganyika. Having
penetrated as far as Kabambari, midway between Kassongo and the
lake, he encamped there, and explained his presence by avowing his
intention to reconquer Manyema.
Rumeliza’s following was so numerous and so well equipped that
October had arrived before Captain (for such he had recently become)
Dhanis thought it expedient to move against him. When he did take the
field, his force consisted of five officers (of whom Ponthier was
one), about four hundred regulars, and three hundred auxiliaries; and
they had with them the Krupp gun which had served them so well in
many a battle. Unfortunately, ammunition for it was all but exhausted.
On reaching the Arabs’ camp at Mwana Mkwanga, they were found to be
very advantageously placed in two large, well-built bomas.[18] The
first efforts to dislodge them met with no success. The Krupp gun
proved of very little service. Of the scanty supply of ammunition, a
large portion was wasted by the native troops through lack of skill
in manipulating the gun, and finally they abandoned it, after which
it was worked by European officers who could be ill spared for the
duty. When one of his officers, De Lange, fell wounded, Captain
Dhanis decided to retire, and a position was taken up scarcely
inferior to that held by the Arabs.
[Illustration: Post Office on River Bank, Boma.]
[Illustration: Office of Secretary-General, Boma.]
Emboldened by what they erroneously regarded as a great victory,
the Arabs lost no time in attacking the State camp. But this time
the tables were turned, and they were repulsed with heavy loss.
The arrival of reinforcements from Kassongo contributed to this
result; but in consequence of some error, Kassongo was left without
sufficient guard. This fact coming to the knowledge of the Arabs,
they hastened to take advantage of it. To avert this calamity, De
Wouters, by order of Captain Dhanis, marched night and day, through
a violent storm, and effectually intercepted them. Not a day passed
without a fight, victory inclining first to one and then to the other
belligerent. On the whole, the Congo State troops continued to hold
their own fairly well against great odds. Wearying of the protracted
struggle, the Arabs decided to make a desperate attack in full force
upon the State camp. They selected a foggy day on which to make their
assault, and were greatly aided thereby. At first they succeeded so
well that they actually entered the State camp and engaged the Congo
troops in a hand-to-hand combat. The struggle lasted five hours. The
State troops lost fifty men, including the brave Captain Ponthier,
notwithstanding which they succeeded in completely repulsing the
Arabs, whom they chased right up to Rumaliza’s boma. The Arab losses
were far heavier than the State’s. Captain Dhanis had every reason to
be satisfied. Leaving De Wouters in active command, he now returned
to Kassongo to reorganise.
After the departure of Dhanis, De Wouters continued the aggressive
policy of his chief. In attacking the boma of Lubukine, Lieutenant
De Heusch was killed, and so hot was the fight that his men fled. De
Wouters lost five men killed (including De Heusch) and ten wounded;
but the Arab loss was far heavier, and included Sefu, the son of
Tippo Tip, who had returned from German territory and was pursuing
his old courses.
It was not until nearly the end of December that Dhanis was again
strong enough to take the offensive. By that time his troops had
been rested and reinforced. They were none too early in taking the
field, for information now came to hand that Rashid had rallied his
forces after their defeat at Stanley Falls and was hastening to join
Rumeliza.
To deal with this combination, Dhanis despatched Commandant Gillain
with one hundred and eighty soldiers and two hundred auxiliaries to
cut off Rumeliza’s retreat, while De Wouters attacked Rumeliza’s
great boma at Bena Kalunga, Dhanis, with two Krupp guns, personally
commanding the reserve. Rumeliza’s boma proved impregnable, the Krupp
guns failing to injure it, and news arrived that fresh forces were on
their way from Tanganyika to aid Rumeliza.
Matters stood badly for the State when the opportune arrival of
Commandant Lothaire, with three hundred men, changed the outlook
entirely. This occurred on January 9, 1894, a day marked by another
singular piece of good fortune. The boma which had so long defied the
best efforts of the besiegers was set on fire and destroyed, a shot
from one of the Krupp guns having blown up the Arab magazine. In
their haste to abandon it, many Arabs were shot, while others were
drowned in a desperate attempt to cross the river. By cutting off
their water supply, the other garrisons were compelled to surrender,
so that within three days over two thousand Arabs were taken
prisoners by the State troops.
The Arab power was now effectually broken. To break it was an
arduous task, expensive both in blood and money, but on the whole
it was conducted as humanely as it is possible to conduct military
operations. The sufferings of the Europeans were fully as great as,
if not greater than, the sufferings of their enemies. Proportionate
to their numbers, their mortality was higher. More succumbed to
disease and the hardships of the campaign than were killed by the
enemy’s bullets, among them the gallant De Wouters, who passed away
in the very hour of his triumph.
[Sidenote: Honours for Dhanis.]
The chief honours of the Belgian campaigns against the Arabs
undoubtedly rest upon Dhanis, who had exhibited foresight, patience,
and skill in his every act. His ability and success were recognised
by King Leopold, who conferred upon him the title of Baron. In his
final report to King Leopold of the Arab campaign, dated December 20,
1894, Baron Dhanis thus tersely sums up the results of that memorable
struggle:
The annihilation of the Arab power has brought about the complete
suppression of the devastating bands which, in order to procure
slaves, had been ravaging the country with fire and sword, from
the Uelle in the north down to the Sankura in the south. With
them the slave trade disappears from the regions they exploited,
and very soon, we may hope, it will no longer exist in the Congo
State. The native chiefs who have submitted have been reinstated
in authority; others who have disappeared have been replaced by
intelligent soldiers of the State; and some of the Arabs, who made
their submission, have been left in enjoyment of their possessions.
All have been disarmed and warned that their authority must be
exercised under the direction of the State’s agents, who are
charged with the pacific settlement of any differences that may
arise.... Large camps will be formed at Kassongo and Kabambari,
and the numerous soldiers instructed there will form the nucleus
of the national army. From this point of view the Arab campaign
has forcibly shown that the natives of the various districts of
the Congo are in no way inferior as soldiers to the blacks of
the coast, who are most famous for their bravery. The Baluba and
others trained and led by Lieut. Doorme, the Bangala under Captain
Lothaire, etc., have been admirable. In the near future we may
expect that it will no longer be necessary to recruit soldiers
abroad at great expense. The country will mainly supply its own
requirements, and the Manyema will be of great importance, alike
from the number of men they can furnish and from the special
aptitude of these men to the profession of arms.
[Illustration: Office of Director of Transport, Boma.]
[Illustration: Bishop’s Palace, Mission of Our Lady of M’ Pala
(Tanganyika).]
FOOTNOTES:
[18] The following description of a boma is from the pen of Dr. Hinde:
“An Arab force on the march employs a large number of its slaves in
cutting down and carrying with them trees and saplings, from about
twelve to fifteen feet in length and up to six feet in diameter. As
soon as a halting place has been fixed on, the slaves plant this
timber in a circle of about fifty yards in diameter, inside which the
chiefs and officers establish themselves. A trench is then dug, and
the earth thrown up against the palisades, in which banana stalks,
pointing in different directions, are laid. Round the centre, and
following the inequalities of the ground, a second line of stakes
is planted, this second circle being perhaps three or four hundred
yards in diameter. Another trench is then dug in the same way, with
bananas planted as before in the earthwork. The interval between the
two lines of fortifications is occupied by the troops. If the boma
is only to be occupied for two or three days, this is all that is
usually done to it; but if it is intended for a longer stay, a trench
is dug outside the palisades. The object of using banana stalks in
this way is ingenious. Within four or five hours they shrink, and
on being withdrawn from the earth leave loopholes, through which
the defenders can fire without exposing themselves. Little huts are
built all over the interior of the fort, and these huts are also very
ingeniously devised, and are, furthermore, bombproof. They consist of
a hole dug a yard and a half deep and covered with wood. This wood
forms a ceiling, over which the earth from the interior is placed
to the depth of a couple of feet, and a thatched roof placed over
all to keep off the rain. In many of the bomas we found that the
defenders had dug holes from the main trenches outwards, in which
they lived, having lined them with straw. The whole fort is often
divided into four or more sections by a palisade and trenches, so
that, if one part of it is stormed, the storming party finds itself
in a cross fire—a worse position than when actually trying to effect
an entrance. We found that the shells from the 7·5 Krupps did little
or no damage to these forts.”
CHAPTER XVII
THE SUPPRESSION OF SLAVERY
[Sidenote: The World Conservative.]
It is an old world-truth, supported by countless historical
instances, that the way of the reformer is hard. When his progress
is not opposed by vested interests, his enthusiasm is regarded
with chilling indifference. However just his cause, he may safely
count upon numerous opponents, every one a giant. Even when he has
succeeded in establishing a clear case for reform, he is merely set
free from one set of difficulties in order to confront other, and
generally more formidable, obstacles.
When it first became known to the world that his Majesty Leopold II.,
King of the Belgians, had seriously determined to suppress the slave
trade in Central Africa, the news provoked but little comment. “Is
there any slave trade carried on in Central Africa?” people asked
one another—for notwithstanding the wide dissemination of records
of travel by Livingstone and Stanley, and the numerous reports from
missionaries belonging to every religious sect, all affirming it,
the great bulk of civilised mankind, too busy to regard them, rested
content in the delusion that the iniquitous traffic was a thing of
the past.
This apathy, if apathy it may be called to be indifferent where the
facts are not properly known, had to be fought and overcome by King
Leopold, first among his own countrymen, and afterwards in the other
countries of Europe and in America. By many the King’s enterprise
was regarded as quixotic, impossible of achievement; some continued
indifferent, and yet others commended the King warmly, and lent their
moral support in furtherance of his scheme. The material support,
however, which was proffered to amplify his Majesty’s own huge outlay
came almost entirely from Belgians. On the whole, it was an uphill
fight; but King Leopold won all along the line. As we have seen,
his Majesty, by his wise initiative, patient labour, and lavish
expenditure, first created the Congo State, and afterwards obtained
from the great powers their recognition of the State so created, and
of his own sovereignty of that State, accompanied by their hearty
approval of what had from the first been King Leopold’s main object
in the founding of the Congo State, viz., the suppression of slavery.
[Sidenote: King Leopold’s Mandate.]
It will be noted that an important epoch had now been reached.
King Leopold’s mandate was clear and irrevocable. If it had been
an arduous struggle to win that mandate, the effort counted for
little when compared with what was needed for the accomplishment
of the task now opening out before him. The King of a small State,
and with a depleted fortune, Leopold II. had, as materials for his
task, his own natural ability, the righteousness of his cause, and
the unswerving loyalty of his people—three grand factors, it is
true, but hardly commensurate with its magnitude. The suppression of
slavery in a region a third as large as the United States, populated
by diverse and hostile tribes, among whom slavery and cannibalism had
prevailed from time immemorial, would have been no light undertaking
for a missionary Crœsus with a huge army at his back. King Leopold
was no such Crœsus, and his pioneers were few in number. But what
they lacked in numbers they made up in geographical knowledge, in
bravery, and in tact in their dealings both with the Negro and his
oppressor, the Arab. Being human, some few mistakes were made; but
they were very few—fewer than has frequently marked the establishment
of a European colony in countries where there has been no question of
slavery awaiting solution, no cannibalism to stamp out, no climatic
dangers to encounter. When the time comes for King Leopold to be
assigned his place in history as an empire builder, the future
historian will probably designate as his Majesty’s most brilliant
work his solution of the problem of the suppression of the slave
trade in Central Africa.
A wrong may be persevered in until its perpetrator comes to
believe it is right. The Arab had for so many centuries harried
the Negro race—and, taking advantage of their tribal disputes,
plundered, enslaved, and sold them, under circumstances of revolting
cruelty—that he had long ago grown to regard the Negro as his natural
prey, and was seriously alarmed at the appearance in Congoland of the
white-faced strangers with their unwelcome creed of liberty for all
men, which they dreaded even more than their weapons of precision. To
the Arabs this was a strange doctrine, inimical, they conceived, to
their vital interests, and it behoved them to resist it to the death.
That their alarm was well founded the sequel will show.
[Sidenote: Congo Free State Laws.]
One of the first acts of the newly recognised Congo Free State was to
forbid trade in firearms, gunpowder, and other explosives. Another
act defined contracts of service between natives and foreigners,
affording the former special protection. A third act created a
volunteer corps whose chief business it was to protect individual
liberty. Before any aggressive action, however, could be taken by
this corps, the consent of the sovereign’s delegate was necessary.
[Illustration: Various Mounts, Lusambo. (Lualaba-Kassai).]
[Illustration: Cattle, Luvungy (Kivu).]
Concurrent with these three acts, the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society
raised another, and quite distinct, volunteer corps for similar
work, but restricted to the neighbourhood of Lake Tanganyika.
In addition, about this period the same Society despatched to
Congoland, in rapid succession, three expeditions of a missionary
and civilising character. In such circumstances, collisions between
the Belgians and Arabs were inevitable. During the first few years
of the existence of the Congo Free State these collisions occurred
chiefly on the Upper Congo and its tributaries, the currents of
the interior slave trade, particularly those from the eastern and
southern provinces, being checked by fixed military posts and flying
columns. For two years—from 1892 to 1894—a continuous campaign
was in progress, having for its object the interception of the
slave caravans accustomed to come from the south and east, which
was entirely successful. In the vast territory known by the name
of Lualuba-Kassai, at a time when the resources of the State were
unequal to the expense of maintaining a line of posts, it was
usual, up to so recently as 1902, on the appearance of a gang of
slave-dealers to despatch a detachment of troops from Lusambo or
Luluabourg to intercept them. Many engagements were thus brought
about between the State volunteers and the slave-dealers. Now
military posts are established on all the principal roads formerly
used by the slave-traders, and the barrier is complete.
In the north, Commandant Chaltin struck a damaging blow to the
Dervishes in February, 1897. After traversing with his force the
whole of the Uelle territory, he encountered the Dervishes at Redjaf
on the Nile. The place was strongly held by four thousand soldiers,
more than half of whom were armed with modern rifles. A severe battle
ensued, lasting nearly all day. Victory lay with the Belgians, the
Dervishes being forced to evacuate Redjaf. They accepted their
beating badly, making several attempts to retake the place, but
without success.
Thus we have seen that it was in the districts of the Lower Congo
that the slave trade was first stamped out; that it was next
eradicated from the Middle Congo; and finally extinguished on the
Upper Congo, where Belgian bravery and military skill succeeded in
effectually crushing the last vestige of Arab power.
[Sidenote: Negro Advancement.]
The Negro was quick to respond to the revivifying influence
of security for life and property, and his rapid progress in
civilisation may be said to date from the day when this essential
primary condition was established. From a report to King Leopold made
by Baron Van Eetvelde, Secretary of State for the Independent State
of the Congo, the following passage is extracted:
Slowly but surely the black is being transformed, his intellectual
horizon is being enlarged, his sentiments are being refined. A
thousand facts, in appearance insignificant, mark the halting-place
left behind. The black to-day has his place marked out where ten
years ago no one thought of using him. He is to be seen, according
to his aptitude, as a clerk in the Administration, as a postman,
as a warehouseman, as a pilot or sailor on the river boats; also
as a smith, mechanic, sawyer, or brickmaker. Porter in the region
of the Cataracts, navvy on the railway, he offers his arms and his
labour when the remuneration satisfies the new needs that have
taken birth in him. Trader above all, he becomes of a more delicate
taste in the acceptance of merchandise in exchange; the stuffs, the
tissues of striking colours but mediocre quality, formerly sought
for, have to-day no demand, and must give place to articles of a
superior kind. He accepts money; he is even acquainted with paper
money, for many purchases are effected by means of bonds, which
are then cashed at the European revenue offices. He is conscious
of his own personality—claims loudly the redress of any wrong
which he conceives himself to have suffered. Grown more sociable,
he receives, without distrust in his house, the stranger and the
traveller. He begins to repudiate his old primitive customs, such
as the _casque_, or the proof of poison. He sends his children
to the missionary schools; and, to encourage him in this, the
State has started a system of colonies of schools, the pupils
of which are rapidly increasing. Fetishism is beginning to lose
adherents, and religious proselytism proceeds not without
success. The legend of the Negro opposed to all improvement can no
longer be maintained in face of this experience. We may consider
it as certain that the native, well conducted and well directed,
is fit to be assimilated with civilisation. Guarding ourselves
against optimism, we do not disguise that there remains much to be
done in order to introduce by successive stages that civilisation
to the farthest frontiers of the State. But the facts warrant our
believing in the possibility of such a result, which is the final
object of the enterprise of your Majesty. The Congo State in the
few years which have elapsed since its creation, has not failed in
its task. Time and perseverance will crown the work, and it will be
to Belgium, if she wishes it, that its accomplishment will belong.
[Illustration: Grand Hotel, Boma.]
In a later report—the last from which it will be necessary to
quote—Baron Van Eetvelde reviews the complete work of the Congo Free
State from its creation to the date of his writing (1897), and very
ably sums up the situation then existing:
The Congo State [says Baron Van Eetvelde] inherited from its birth
the heaviest and most perilous task in the anti-slavery work. The
territories which fell to it had the sad privilege of being in
their greater part handed over to the razzias, and of including the
principal slave centres and the most important markets of human
flesh. However willing were the Powers, who in the Berlin Act
solemnly condemned the slave trade, the most optimistic only dared
to hope for the disappearance of the abominable practices, like
those Stanley had witnessed on the banks of the Upper Congo, in a
distant future.
In truth, the crusade against the slave trade, in some measure
ordered by the Berlin Conference, remained in the following years
in the condition of a mere vow; and the Congo Government, which
on its own account had then already organised a chain of posts of
defence against the invasions of the slave-hunters, was condemned
to deplore that, despite some partial successes, a great part of
its provinces still remained in their power. Such were at that
epoch the horrors and cruelties denounced to the civilised world,
such was the deplorable situation in which the people of Central
Africa, decimated and massacred by their oppressors, passed an
agonising existence, that, struck by a sentiment of legitimate
indignation, the Powers again decided by the Act of Brussels (1890)
to deal a decisive blow at the slave trade.
The Brussels Conference characterised the part reserved to the
Congo State in the anti-slavery campaign, the importance of the
undertakings which devolved upon it, the difficulties of the task
which assigned it the perilous honour of being the advance guard
on the battle-field. The number of enemies to be fought, the
organisation of their bands, their installation from a remote date
in the regions which they terrorised, their supply in firearms and
munitions, the subjection even of the natives, were so many grounds
of apprehension and disquietude as to the final issue of the
struggle undertaken, and as to the fate ultimately reserved for the
African populations. It really seemed, in that encounter between
civilisation and slavery, of which the stake was the life and
liberty of millions of human beings, as if failure would dispel for
ever the hope of a better future. Thus it was that circumstances
had placed in the hands of the Congo State the destiny of Central
Africa and its tribes, and the situation was tersely defined by
an English missionary when, with the experience acquired during a
long residence in Africa, he wrote in 1893, during the progress of
the military campaign: “I am convinced that, unless the Arabs be
annihilated, a general massacre will ensue. This is the moment for
the Europeans to play their last card against the Arabs. Whether
they will carry the day or not, I cannot say.”
Civilisation did carry the day. And has not history to register
that this victory for the Congo State, due to the bravery of
Belgian officers, entitled it to merit well of those interested
in the fate of the native populations? If to-day there opens for
them a new era of liberty and regeneration, if the amelioration of
their material and moral condition can now be pursued, they owe it
to the annihilation of the promoters of slavery.
Elsewhere has been told at the price of what sacrifices of men
and money, at the price of what valour in every case, these
results have been attained. The facts are there to attest that
these sacrifices have not been in vain. The men-hunters reduced
to impotence, their bands dispersed, their chiefs disappeared,
the fortresses of slavery laid level with the ground, the natives
rebuilding their villages under the shadow of the posts of the
State, giving themselves up to the peaceful pursuits of cultivation
of the soil—an era of tranquillity succeeding the sombre and
sanguinary episodes of the old _régime_. Every mail from Africa
brings proof of the progress of this period of pacification, and
shows the natives, delivered from an odious yoke, recovering
confidence, and living peaceably in their own abodes.
[Sidenote: A Gratifying Retrospect.]
That the problem of the suppression of slavery in Central Africa had
now been solved, we have had abundant incontrovertible evidence.
That its solution was effected with a minimum of bloodshed, and in
a marvellously short period of time for the accomplishment of so
gigantic a task, we have also seen. The first and greatest of the
objects for which King Leopold had so long laboured was at length
realised. The applause of all civilised peoples had been justly
earned, and was ungrudgingly given, and substantial reward was soon
to follow.
CHAPTER XVIII
FRONTIERS AND DIPLOMATIC SETTLEMENTS
The Conventional Basin of the Congo contains about 1,500,000
square miles, of which the Free State occupies 1,000,000, and its
neighbours, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Portugal, about
500,000. On the east of the Free State, and divided from it by Lakes
Tanganyika, Kivu, and Albert Edward, is German East Africa, on the
coast of the Indian Ocean; on the south-east lie British possessions;
on the south the Portuguese, and on the east and north-east the
French Congo and Soudan; on the north-east, in the Nile Valley, lie
the Egyptian Soudan and the Uganda Protectorate, the one on the west,
the other on the east bank of the Nile.
[Illustration: Native Ploughing in Botanical Garden at Ealer
(Equateur).]
The Berlin Conference of 1885 had not dealt with questions of
territory except to delimit the area comprised in the Congo Basin.
By the Anglo-German Agreements of 1886 and 1890, the borders of
German East Africa had been generally defined. France, however,
still fostered the hope of acquiring dominion of the Egyptian Soudan
and, perhaps, of nearly all of the northern part of Africa. The
arrangement with the Sovereign of the Congo Free State, giving her
a right of pre-emption of the State over other Powers, would
indicate an ambition in this direction. That France endeavoured to
achieve her aim in this respect was forcibly demonstrated by the
expedition of Captain Marchand and the Fashoda incident. So far as
Germany and Portugal were concerned, the Congo Free State’s boundary
had been well-nigh firmly established, but with France and Great
Britain there was a lack of settlement on this important question
which threatened the State with future insecurity.
The first convention on this subject was concluded with Great
Britain, and concerned the Bahr-el-Ghazal, referred to in the
succeeding chapter.
The Franco-Congolese Convention of 14th August, 1894, was of great
importance to the young State, albeit the price it paid for the
friendly attitude of France may appear greater than the security
afforded. The relations which existed between France and the State,
when the upper course of the Ubanghi became the object of frontier
settlement, were defined by the Convention of 5th February, 1885,
and that of 29th April, 1887. In the first, France agreed, in
return for the right of pre-emption conferred on her in 1884, to
determine her own Congolese limits and those of the Free State, and
to guarantee the latter’s neutrality. In the second, the Belgian
Congo surrendered a considerable territory to France by substituting
the Ubanghi to the 17th degree of east longitude for the boundary
defined in the third article of the treaty of 5th February, 1885, and
the modification of her right of pre-emption in favour of Belgium in
certain contingencies. These negotiations, beginning in 1891, were
not settled until 1894, owing to conflicting views as to the course
of the Ubanghi. Moreover, the French Government had expostulated
vigorously against the British proposal to lease the Bahr-el-Ghazal
to the Congo Free State, while Germany protested against British
possession of the strip of land between Lakes Tanganyika and Albert
Edward, which the Free State intended granting in payment for its
lease of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The article conveying this strip,
manifestly intended for the Cape-to-Cairo railway conceived by
Mr. Cecil Rhodes, was, in fact, withdrawn by arrangement between
the British and Congo Governments on June 22, 1894. Meantime, the
French Government had contended that the river Uelle was the true
upper course of the Ubanghi, and that the State had no rights north
of it, “even though it resulted in moving the State’s frontier
line south of the fourth parallel secured to it by the Convention
of February, 1885.” There were, however, on the part of the Congo
State, the advantages of possession and effective occupation of the
territory north of the Uelle and the right bank of the Mbomu, which
had now been geographically established as the uppermost course of
the Ubanghi. An offer was made by the Congo State to arbitrate the
matter in accordance with the provisions of the Berlin Act. France,
however, declined to submit the case to such tribunal. Finally,
after three years’ delay, a convention between France and the Congo
Free State was signed in Paris on 14th August, 1894, which contained
six articles. The first conceded part of the Belgian claim by
constituting the river Mbomu the upper course of the Ubanghi.
Article 1. The frontier between the Independent State of the Congo
and the colony of the French Congo, after following the thalweg of
the Ubanghi to the confluence of the Mbomu and the Uelle, shall
be formed in the following manner:—First, the thalweg of Mbomu
to its source; second, a straight line joining the crest of the
water-parting between the basins of the Congo and the Nile. From
this point the frontier of the Independent State is constituted by
the said crest of the water-parting to as far as its intersection
with the 30th degree of east longitude (Greenwich).
Article 2. It is understood that France will exercise, under
conditions which shall be determined by a special arrangement,
the right of police on the course of the Mbomu, with the right
of pursuit on the left bank. This right of police will not be
exercisable on the left bank, but exclusively along the course
of the river, and so long as pursuit by the French agents is
indispensable to effect the arrest of the authors of offences
committed on French territory or on the waters of the river. France
shall have, when necessary, a right of passage on the left bank, to
assure her communications along the course of the river.
The third article stipulated for the gradual surrender to the
French of the posts established by the State north of the Uelle;
and the fourth and the final articles “bound the State to renounce
all political action of any kind to the west or north of the
following line—the 30th degree of east longitude, from its point of
intersection with the crest of the water-parting of the basins of the
Congo and the Nile to as far as the point where this meridian meets
the parallel 5° 30´, and thence that parallel to the Nile.”
By these articles, and the good feeling that has since prevailed
between the French and the Belgians, all matters likely to have
caused dispute have been settled. A well-defined boundary has been
laid down between the French possessions and the Congo State from
the Atlantic to the Nile. If the King of the Belgians surrendered
to France what others would have retained, it was so dealt with
because of that wise political foresight which has characterised
his Majesty’s diplomacy in other respects. The friendly relations
between France and the Congo State, the settlement of northern
boundaries along the Mbomu, and the lease of the Bahr-el-Ghazal from
Great Britain, have dispelled much Belgian anxiety. The question
which now appears to forebode difficulty is what the Belgians
believe to be Great Britain’s scheme for a pretext to break the
lease of the Enclave of Lado, a rich and prosperous territory in the
Bahr-el-Ghazal, where the Belgians have established posts along the
Nile as far north as Lado. As to Great Britain’s purpose in this
connection there have been many recent signs.
[Illustration: The Old Covered Market at Boma.]
CHAPTER XIX
THE BAHR-EL-GHAZAL AND THE NILE
In addition to the territories of the Congo Free State proper, the
sovereignty of which is vested in Leopold II., King of the Belgians,
and his successors, King Leopold holds on lease from Great Britain
the Bahr-el-Ghazal up to 10° N. A treaty entered into between the
Congo Free State and Great Britain on 12th May, 1894, determines the
duration of this lease, and the extent of the territory to which
it applies. The conditions are somewhat complicated, partaking in
a measure of the nature of an exchange, the Congo Free State, by
Article III., leasing to Great Britain a strip of territory between
the lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward.
To be more precise: In 1890 the Congo Free State despatched several
missions to its frontiers, some of which penetrated the Nile
region and made various political arrangements with the ruling
chiefs there. It happened also at that period (July, 1890) that
Germany and Great Britain entered into an agreement whereby Germany
acknowledged the paramount influence of Great Britain in the Nile
Basin. This agreement was no sooner concluded than Great Britain
opened negotiations with the Congo Free State, offering to grant
thereto, on lease, certain territories situated west of the Basin
of the Nile, if the Congo Free State would accord to Great Britain’s
presence in the Nile Basin recognition similar to that which it had
just obtained from Germany. Out of this overture grew the treaty of
12th May, 1894, between the Congo Free State and Great Britain, to
which allusion has already been made.
By that treaty, Great Britain leases to Leopold II., King of the
Belgians and Sovereign of the Congo Free State, the territories
limited by a line starting from a point situated on the west bank of
Lake Albert Edward, south of Mahagi, to the point of intersection
of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich, the frontier line of the
territories so assigned following the head of the division of the
Nile and Congo waters to the 25th meridian east of Greenwich; and
along this meridian to its intersection with the 10th north parallel,
and along this parallel direct to a point north of Fashoda; thence
to the west bank of Lake Albert Edward, south of Mahagi. These
territories comprise the entire basin of the Bahr-el-Ghazal River
and its affluents (except the upper portion of the Bahr-el-Arab),
and are generally referred to as the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The treaty
further provides that the lease is to remain operative during the
reign of King Leopold II. only, except as regards that portion of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal west of the 30th meridian, permanently vested in the
Congo Free State.
[Illustration: Commissariat of the District of Banana, 1893.]
France, which had never recognised British influence in the Nile
Basin, at once protested against this arrangement, asserting that
Great Britain had leased territories which did not belong to
her. While this delicate question was _sub judice_ there arose the
celebrated Fashoda incident which brought Great Britain and France
perilously near to war. The circumstances of that incident are too
near our own times, and too remote from the purpose of this book,
to need recounting here. But it is important to refer to it in this
place, because in the settlement of the Fashoda dispute between Great
Britain and France the latter recognises the paramount influence of
the former in the Basin of the Nile.
The only obstacle in the way of the execution of the treaty of 12th
May, 1894, was now removed, Great Britain’s right to dispose of the
territories leased to the Sovereign of the Congo Free State being
everywhere admitted. But now Great Britain herself sought, without
justification, to annul the treaty. Because the Congo State had
made therein certain reservations in regard to France—a perfectly
natural proceeding at a period when the rights of Great Britain over
the Bahr-el-Ghazal were in dispute—Great Britain contended that the
treaty of 12th May, 1894, had practically lapsed. After the battle of
Omdurman, the British even went so far as to give, in part, practical
effect to this extraordinary view of their treaty obligations,
occupying, upon several occasions, Meshra-er-Rek, at the confluence
of the Bahr-Djur and the Bahr-el-Ghazal.
From information which reached Europe and America early in November,
1904, it would appear that Great Britain has resolved to carry this
matter with a high hand. A British expedition was said to be then in
process of formation, composed of 2500 native troops, officered by
Englishmen, to penetrate Central Africa, ostensibly to restore order
among the Niam-Niam tribe.
Now the Niam-Niam tribe inhabit the Bahr-el-Ghazal country. That
is one reason why Great Britain concerns herself with that tribe;
but there is another, and a much stronger, reason. Recently it has
been discovered that vast mineral wealth exists in that region,
and Belgians, Frenchmen, Germans, and particularly natives of that
country which “seeks no gold mines and seeks no territory,” have
busily employed themselves in prospecting it. Trading relations
have been established by small companies supposed to be engaged in
exchanging fire arms and ammunition for ivory, but really prospecting
for ore.
Side by side with this information comes the official announcement
that the British Government has given orders, either directly or
through a subsidised company, for the erection of a permanent
telegraph connecting Khartoum with the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and that
transport for traders up the White Nile is guaranteed as far as
Fashoda. Already a section of the British newspaper press is
advocating the establishment of British military stations and posts
upon ground of which King Leopold holds a perfectly valid lease
granted by Great Britain!
[Illustration: King Nekuku and his Suite at Boma.]
Is it too high a flight of the imagination to suppose that the
patience with which the British Government has listened to the
libellous tirades against the Congo Free State, in the form of
petitions to the House of Commons, is to be explained by its
evident desire to cut loose from its treaty obligations, and forcibly
take away what it voluntarily ceded to the Congo Free State for a
valuable consideration?
CHAPTER XX
MUTINIES OF THE BATETELA TRIBE
[Sidenote: The Batetela Grievance.]
The hasty and ill-advised trial and execution of the chief, Gongo
Lutete, described in another chapter, proved a source of much
danger and tribulation to the Congo Free State. It was the act of
a misguided and over-zealous officer, without doubt undertaken in
good faith, but none the less disastrous upon that account. The
incident has never been defended, but always deplored, by the Congo
Government, to which it occasioned grievous loss in men, money, and
reputation.
Lutete’s men were loyal to their chief and bitterly resented his
execution. So threatening did their attitude become that it was
decided to remove them to some considerable distance from the scene
of the tragedy. At the moment of their departure, they fired upon
the people and vowed complete vengeance whenever opportunity for it
should occur. Later, at Luluabourg, when they accepted an invitation
to enter the _Force Publique_, all danger from them was thought to
have been averted. But the apparent content of the fierce Batetelas
was simulated; they were merely biding their time.
[Illustration: Regiment of Commissary-General Halfeyt,
Stanleyville.]
[Sidenote: The First Revolt.]
It was during the summer of 1895, at Luluabourg, that the Batetelas
openly revolted. After murdering some of their officers, they
attacked the post at Kabinda. Next, they struck out to the north,
with intent to surprise Lusambo. At Gandu, and on the Lomami, they
murdered more Belgian officers, and for a time it was impossible to
foresee a limit to their depredations.
Though the mutineers were less than four hundred in number, in the
circumstances they were potent for a vast amount of mischief. They
were well armed with modern weapons of precision, were abundantly
furnished with ammunition, and had, besides, some military knowledge,
acquired from their Belgian officers, which rendered them almost
the equal of European troops. To these advantages must be added the
natural valour of the Batetela, and the desperation with which men,
knowing that their treason will be punished by death in the event of
their capture, may be expected to fight.
Commandant Lothaire, on hearing of the misfortune that had befallen
the State, hastened with a small force to intercept the Batetelas,
then marching on Nyangwe. He met the mutineers on the 18th of
October, near Gandu, and, notwithstanding that the force he commanded
was much inferior, at once assumed the offensive. A fierce fight
ensued, in which the mutineers were badly defeated, losing many
killed and prisoners, and having finally to fly. Previous to this
engagement another Belgian officer, Lieutenant Gillain, had been
active to retrieve the fortunes of the State. Having gathered
together such remnants of the State’s forces as remained loyal,
and were to be found scattered about the Lomami district, he
boldly attacked the mutineers. The battle opened greatly to his
disadvantage, but ended in his victory. Lieutenant Gillain then added
his forces to those of Commandant Lothaire, and the combination, as
we have seen, was far less in number than that of the mutineers,
though it proved superior to them.
After their defeat on the 18th of October, in which they lost the
greater part of the spoil taken at Luluabourg, Kabinda, and Gandu,
the Batetelas broke up into small bands, and sought refuge in a
forest, into which it was impracticable for the State’s forces to
pursue them. The latter had now become nearly a thousand strong, and
numbered among its officers the brave Michaux, Svensson, De Besche,
Jürgens, Konings, and Droeven—a force sufficient, it was believed, to
deal with any recrudescence of the trouble.
A few days later an incident occurred which rudely dispelled this
notion. The scattered bands of mutineers again united, to make safe
their retreat, and were probably about to march to the Manyema
country, when they accidentally met a Belgian column. Both were
surprised. The Batetelas, by far the more numerous, at once attacked
the Belgians. At the very opening of the fight, the four Belgian
officers who were leading the Congo force were shot dead. The bands
which had to the present refrained from joining the main body of the
Batetelas now hastened to do so.
Perceiving that their power would continue to grow so long as they
were left unmolested, Commandant Lothaire determined to attack the
Batetelas again with all the force at his command. The battle took
place November 6th, at Gongo Machoffe, and resulted in a complete
victory for the State forces. The Batetelas lost heavily in killed
and prisoners, while such of them as survived fled for protection
to various local chiefs, who soon, however, handed them over to
Commandant Lothaire.
Again, notwithstanding their bitter experience, the Congo State and
its advisers, military and civil, permitted themselves to be lulled
into the confidence of security. Nearly two years of quietude on the
part of the Batetelas led the Belgians to believe that that fierce
race had forgiven, if they had not forgotten, the injury unwittingly
inflicted upon them—that the trouble had been fought out, and the
incident from which it originated relegated to its proper place among
the unfortunate happenings of a bygone period.
[Sidenote: The Second Revolt.]
The awakening from this dream came in 1897. Commandant Chaltin had
driven the Dervishes as far as the Nile, and Baron Dhanis, with a
larger force than Chaltin’s, had been sent to take possession of
the Lado territory to found posts there, and to fortify it against
possible Dervish inroads. With a column of more than three thousand
men, a third of whom were Batetelas, Dhanis set out from Avakubi
towards the Nile.
In the second week of February, 1897, Captain Leroi, with two
thousand men, had just reached Dirfi, when the Batetelas, of which
the force was mainly composed, suddenly mutinied. The mutiny began
with the murder of Captain Leroi and his fellow officers, after
which the mutineers retreated upon the Obi. As soon as news of this
event was brought to Dhanis, he threw his force right across the
path of the mutineers, and a desperate battle ensued (March 18,
1897). The pages of history afford few parallels to this singular
conflict. No sooner had the fight begun, than about five hundred of
the Batetelas commanded by Dhanis deserted, and went over to the
enemy, their kinsmen. The result, as may be imagined, was chaos.
With great difficulty Baron Dhanis effected his retreat. His losses
were grievous. Ten Belgian officers fell, among them a brother of
Baron Dhanis. Among those who specially distinguished themselves by
their gallantry upon this occasion was Lieutenant Delecourt, who,
with a miserably small following, covered the retreat, at the cost of
his own life and the lives of every member of his faithful company.
Having at last succeeded in reaching Avakubi, Dhanis entrenched the
handful of men left to him in the little station there, and, leaving
Commandant Henry in command, hurried to Stanley Falls, to report the
disaster and concert measures for regaining what had been lost.
[Illustration: State Officials at Ponthierville.]
[Illustration: Saddle Ox, Lusambo (Lualaba-Kassai).]
Meanwhile the Batetelas were not inactive. Making straight for
Stanley Falls, they destroyed all the stations on their way; but
just before they reached what was thought to be their objective they
struck out eastward. Baron Dhanis at once concluded that they
were bound for their native country, Manyema. The assurance that
they contemplated no invasion of State property was a relief, but
the possibility that so considerable a number of well-armed men,
flushed with victory, reaching their tribe and reporting to it how
they had defeated the redoubtable Baron Dhanis was very disquieting,
for such an event would infallibly have led to the uprising of all
the Batetelas. Baron Dhanis, having returned from Stanley Falls,
placed a body of picked men at Nyangwe and Kassongo, to intercept
the mutineers if they chanced to pass that way, while troops, with
European officers, were sent from Stanley Pool to pursue them.
At this juncture, the Belgian cause was aided by an outbreak of
smallpox among the mutineers, which compelled them to encamp near
Lindi, not far from the British frontier. At that place Commandant
Henry, fresh from Avakubi (which he had found deserted), with seven
hundred men, came upon them and almost succeeded in driving them into
British territory. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Sannaes had successfully
repelled an attack upon his post at Katué (Semliki), which so enraged
the mutineers that the leader of the attacking party, a man named
Malumba, was murdered by one of his own men who held him responsible
for its failure.
June had arrived before Commandant Henry and Lieutenant Sannaes could
join their forces, and then the regular pursuit of the mutineers
began; but another month elapsed before they could be brought to
battle. The result was a great victory for the Congo State forces.
Over four hundred Batetelas were killed, and they lost, besides, five
hundred rifles and ten thousand cartridges. And then ensued what had
happened in like circumstances before—the surviving mutineers broke
up into small bands and dispersed in various directions. Though
victorious, Commandant Henry was exhausted, and fell back upon his
base. Baron Dhanis, who had been guarding the Lualaba to prevent the
mutineers’ crossing it, now found it safe to pursue their scattered
bands.
At last the Batetela revolt was broken. Thereafter some minor
skirmishes occurred here and there; but they were as the feeble
flickerings of an expiring flame—a flame that had seared the growing
Congo State only to enable it to show to the world an admirable
example of discipline and resisting power in circumstances of
extraordinary difficulty.
[Illustration: Bird’s-eye View of the Station at Basoko, 1893.]
CHAPTER XXI
DISPLACEMENT OF THE POPULATION
The instinct of the nomad largely prevails in all savage races, but
in none does it prevail to a greater extent than among the black
tribes of Central Africa. It is one of their marked characteristics,
and a fruitful source of trouble.
[Sidenote: Victims of Superstition.]
Central African tribes are greatly influenced by their superstitions.
Like the North American Indians, they have their medicine men who
conjure up all sorts of occult prognostications of imminent and
mysterious phenomena. With them the fetish doctor is little less
than a god. If this wise man asserts that a village has suffered
ill-luck because the new moon dips to the left or right, his deluded
followers collect their effects, devastate the village, and move into
some region which he may indicate is free from that curse. If rain
has not fallen in sufficient quantity, and the crops surrounding the
village have withered, or if the rain has been too abundant, the
fetish doctor may forthwith present an explanation based upon some
new superstition. Indeed, there are thousands of tribal beliefs in
the Congo Free State which are for ever disturbing the settlement
of the population. Implacable enemies of the Congo Free State, not
wholly ignorant of these tribal beliefs and customs, pretend to
regard the migratory nature of the Central African savage as evidence
of his fear of the State’s government, arising from a feeling of
insecurity. Such persons point to the native’s incorrigible habit
of moving his abode as an unmistakable sign of his desire to escape
from the barbarities practised upon him by officers and soldiers of
the Congo Government. In this way it is sought to deceive those who
are unacquainted with the habits of the black man—the man who, a few
years ago, ate his brother with a relish which civilised white men
can hardly conceive.
The State, however, fully cognisant of the natural habits of its
black subjects, has often considered the question of how to deal
effectually with these displacements of the population. There are
times when neither superstition nor tribal custom causes a large
exodus from a well-established village. Sometimes the fertility and
luxuriant grass of another region attracts the more enterprising
black, who has learned to cultivate his own land. Allured by glowing
accounts of such a nature he gathers about him his friends and
family, and makes off to what he considers to be a new Eldorado. In a
short time, the _diablerie_ of the fetish doctor has again unsettled
him.
Then, again, there have been occasions when the natives have migrated
to avoid payment of the taxes imposed upon them by their own chief
on behalf of the State, taxes which are infinitesimal in value as
compared with the benefits of civilisation which the State confers.
To deal generally with the displacement of the population of the
Congo Free State has been a matter of much concern to the Government.
A case of sleeping-sickness or smallpox has occurred, and away goes
the whole village pell-mell into another region. The movements of
the native tribes are often inscrutable, and afford the State no
clue as to how they may be prevented. Like some species of wild
animals which instinctively avoid certain districts of the forest
at particular seasons, or on account of some unusual phenomena, the
black man will sometimes quit his residence for no apparent reason
at all. Nine times out of ten, however, he migrates on account of
things entirely unconnected with any administrative act of the State.
Entire villages have been removed because a death has occurred there
the cause of which was inexplicable to the black man. Occasionally
the fetish doctor, inspired by some unexplained caprice, will
decree that the tribe shall move—he knows not where. Ignorance and
superstition invariably follow a leader whose pretence is some occult
power. The tribe moves; and another tribe, moving from a similar or
other impulse, may occupy the very village which the first tribe had
abandoned a few weeks before.
These removals along the banks of the river have sometimes created
the impression on a superficial observer that the population of
the Congo Free State has diminished or disappeared. Regardless of
the impression these deserted villages have made upon those who
seek to find opportunity for vilifying the Congo Government, the
inconvenience resulting from the constant removals has been very
great. There is often at one point an aggregation of people too
numerous for their subsistence, and public order and tranquillity are
disturbed, with disastrous results. More strife between village and
village and tribe and tribe has been occasioned by this migratory
habit than by any bloodthirsty instinct inherent in the Congolese
black. This is notoriously true; and it has had a gravely adverse
effect, too, upon the population of the Soudan, with regard to which
the statements in Lord Cromer’s report of 1893 are conclusive.
[Sidenote: Possible Remedies.]
Vice-Governor-General Fuchs, always seeking to improve the
governmental machinery of the Congo Free State, has recently made
the following suggestions, which, if adopted, he believes would tend
to control the migratory nature of the subjects over whom he so
intelligently rules:
I think that it would be opportune to pass the necessary
legislative measures, so that an end may be put to this collective
kind of vagabondage. The administrative authority finds itself at
present unarmed, the Congo courts having declared the absolute
right of the native to move about and to dwell where he likes. But
it appears to me that public order is directly interested in having
these emigrations in a mass, from region to region in the interior
of the country, regulated by law. This regulation would also result
in assured stability for a fair distribution of native taxes. It
would also facilitate the establishment of definite and permanent
means of communication throughout the country.
[Illustration: Dutch House, Banana.]
There is, however, still a special case to be taken into
consideration. Some natives on removing in this way are ready to
establish themselves on the territory of one or other of those
Sultans whose native authority extends beyond, as well as within,
the political frontiers of the State. The determination of the
sovereign power such individuals may wield might, owing to the
silence of our laws, not be without future difficulty, when, for
instance, Sultans, established on foreign territory and dependent
themselves for it on foreign power, are concerned. It would be
well if all doubtful elements were removed by a decree which in
a general manner might establish the principle that every native
of Congolese origin who, by naturalisation or otherwise, shall
endeavour to modify his national status, will still be considered
as a subject of the Congo State, and remain amenable to Congolese
law, so long as he shall reside, in fact, within the limits of the
State territory.
From this it will be observed that in addition to the numerous other
difficulties with which the new State has to contend, it is now
called upon to legislate for the solution of a problem which the
State’s detractors have distorted and misrepresented as a result of
the State’s cruel system of government.
The importance of this question cannot be overstated, as it forms a
great hindrance to the proper organisation of so vast a territory
as the Congo Basin. That the potentialities of King Leopold’s
beneficent rule in Central Africa will eventually legislate wisely,
and permanently abolish this native inconsistency, no one who has
observed the intelligent governmental genius of the State can doubt.
CHAPTER XXII
THE STATE’S ADMINISTRATION
JUSTICE—NATIVE CHIEFTAINCIES
[Sidenote: A Difficult Problem.]
To provide a just and equitable process for giving effect to the
civil laws of a savage country requires an administrant force of
exceptional powers, of rare patience, and of wide sympathies. Highly
civilised communities largely govern themselves by the aggregate
contribution and example of all orderly persons. The very momentum of
their civilisation and the habits and tendencies of a cultured people
conduce to the observance of law and the tranquillity of the social
life to which the law applies. Rules of State and municipal procedure
for the government of European countries have, by use and the
experience of time, long ago attained to an automatic operation. The
social phenomena of all civilised communities are well established,
and they form part of that large body of academic theory called
social science. The development of human society has its constitution
and its philosophy, yet those who are charged, by a duty arising from
exceptional circumstances, to apply social and political principles
to savage tribes distantly situated from all civilising contact
with human beings of superior attainment, are charged with a task
of unknown and multiform difficulty.
[Illustration: Bishop’s Palace at Baudouinville (Oriental Province).]
The characteristic thoroughness with which the Belgians have
established their administrative machinery in the Congo Free State is
apparent in the latest report (July, 1904) of Vice-Governor-General
Fuchs, the acting head of that Government. Monsieur Fuchs has had
twenty years’ experience in Central Africa. He is, perhaps, the
best-qualified living colonial official dealing with the black races
of the African Continent. The great progress of the country he
governs, and the moral and material betterment of the tribes which
thrive under his liberal rule, are astonishingly revealed in the
report from which the following quotations are made:
The development of the State administration is attested in a
general way by the ever-increasing number of Posts of different
kinds that are in operation in its territories.
Thus there are at the present time 233 Posts and Stations, all
of them under the command of white men, scattered over the 14
districts.
The European staff attached to the services of the districts
mentioned is distributed as follows:
Organic Staff 294
Service of Justice 57
Administrative Service 115
Medical Service 27
Service of Public Works 92
Service of Agriculture 89
Service of Finance 74
The Public Force 490
Service of the Marine 166
Various 20
————
Total 1424
The number of blacks attached to the different services of the
districts is about 20,000 men.
I here render justice to the zeal and devotion of the servants of
the State; besides Belgians, who form the great majority, they also
comprise Italians, Swiss, Scandinavians, Germans, English, etc.,
according to the following order:
Belgians, 898; Italians, 197; Swiss, 89; Swedes, 86; Danes, 34;
Germans, 31; Norwegians, 22; Finns, 19; English, 16; Dutch, 9;
Russians, 5; French, 4; Austrians, 3; Americans, 2; Turks, 2;
Luxemburgers, 2; Portuguese, 2; Greeks, 1; Spaniards, 1; Cubans, 1;
total, 1424.
To whatever nationality they belong they vie with each other in
the ardour with which they perform their numerous duties. All
are penetrated with the greatness of their rôle in the heart of
savagery, and impelled by the noblest emulation compete in the
gradual realisation of our civilising work. Numerous are the
testimonies that I have collected during my last official tour of
their fruitful activity exercising itself in all directions, of
their protecting benevolence with regard to the natives; and these
testimonies emanate from missionaries, from learned men, from
travellers, and even from persons inclined rather to criticise than
to praise our works.
In order that this staff may become more experienced, by acquiring
progressively a knowledge of the country, its resources, and its
inhabitants, it has been particularly recommended to the agents
composing it that they should learn the native dialects. Knowledge
of the local idioms is, indeed, indispensable to the European who
seeks to enter into direct relations with the blacks—to study their
manners and customs, and by that means take account of the measures
to employ for the introduction and development of our ideas of
civilisation.
The judicial statistics show the vigilance and impartiality with
which the Parquet (Public Ministry corresponding to our Public
Prosecutor) inquires into breaches of the law, no matter who
their authors may be, and aims at allowing no offence to remain
unpunished. If some faults have been committed by our agents, the
guilty have been prosecuted conformably to the law.
The attention of the members of the service besides has been
frequently called to the consequences which would result for them
from transgressing the laws and instructions of the Government.
In order to ensure their faithful and complete execution, the
Government has just again added to the staff of superior officials
new State Inspectors.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
The magistrates by profession number at the present time 32; they
are assisted by 25 judicial agents properly so called.
The judicial services of Boma, to which are attached seven
magistrates by profession, and a dozen judicial agents, allow of:
1. An _Appeal Court_, composed of a President and two judges, of
the State Prosecutor who occupies the seat of the Public Minister
on this jurisdiction, and of a Registrar;
2. A _Council of War in Appeal_, the presidency of which devolves
on the President of the Appeal Court, of two judges, officers of
the Public Force, of the State Prosecutor, and of a Registrar;
3. A _Court of First Instance_, composed of a professional judge,
of a substitute, a doctor of laws, and of a Registrar;
4. A _Council of War of First Instance_, composed of a judge,
officer of the Public Force, of the substitute attached to the
Court of First Instance, and of a Registrar.
These four jurisdictions are competent in penal cases. Those
occurring under 1 and 3 are competent also in civil and commercial
matters. They sit in such cases without the Public Minister. A
report of the Registrar of the Court of First Instance attached to
this sets forth the order of civil business.
The other professional magistrates are distributed between the
territorial courts and the councils of war.
Territorial courts exist at Matadi, Leopoldville, Popokabaka,
Coquilhatville, New Antwerp, Basoko, Stanleyville, Toa
(Albertville), Lukafu, Kabinda (Katanga), Lusambo, and at the
chief place of the Rusisi-Kivu zone (Uvira), independently of the
councils of war, which will be shortly replaced by ordinary courts
as the number of magistrates is increased. The Parquet attached
to these courts is represented by the substitutes of the State
Prosecutor, all of whom are doctors of laws.
Among the following officials of judicial rank the majority are
Belgians. There are also Italians, Danes, Swiss, and Norwegians.
_President of Court of Appeal_: Baron G. Nisco.
_Judges, Court of Appeal_: M. Horstmans, M. A. Gohr.
_Judge, Court of First Instance_: M. T. Beeckman.
_Prosecuting Attorney_: M. F. Waleffe.
_Director_: M. A. Gohr.
_Magistrates_ (_Territorial Judges and Substitutes_): Ernest
Dupont, Hermann Weber, Iwan Grenade, Louis Rossi, J. Jenniges, P.
Vincart, C. M. B. L. Greban de St. Germain, Stanislas Lefranc,
Martin Rutten, Albert Sweerts, Robert de Meulemeester, Michel
Cuciniello, Angelo Cagginla, Mario Falcetti, Gennaro Bosco,
Frederic Erdrich, Manlio Scarpari, F. J. S. M. Lambin, Torquato
Polimante, Louis Tessaroli, Paul Bossolo, T. C. Lund, H. G.
Moth-Borglüm, C. J. R. Vandekelder, A. A. A. Celletti, C. E. A. M.
Smets, C. L. Gianpetri, Jacob Vogt, Ragnvald Koht, T. Fessante,
Adrien Beeckman.
The administration of justice shows that its representatives are
conscious of the responsibility of their mission. No one has ever
been able to impugn its impartiality and independence, and the
judgments and sentences awarded establish its anxiety to reach all
the guilty, and not to leave unpunished any breach of the laws for
the protection of the natives. I will not mention any other examples
of this than the judgments recently pronounced against the agents
of a trading company, upon whom heavy sentences of penal servitude
were passed for crimes committed upon natives. The tribute which the
Government on that occasion paid to the Courts’ sense of their duties
will be a valuable encouragement for them. I am confident that the
Government’s appeal to the vigilance of the Department of Public
Prosecution to prevent any offence of the kind passing unpunished
will not be in vain.
[Sidenote: The Negro as a Witness.]
The superior administration of Boma is instructed to follow the
principle of bringing before the competent courts all cases of abuses
of natives that are pointed out to it by the authorities, by the
direct complaints of residents in the Congo, or by criticisms in the
press. These last accusations, the frequency of which is found to
coincide with the campaign conducted against the Congo State, are
regularly submitted on the spot to careful examination in detail. The
impression that is left by the investigations that have been made,
and some of which are still unfinished, is that as a general rule
the complaints formulated are wanting in the precision necessary
to fix the responsibility, if any, for them; or that they rest
exclusively on the gossip and statements of natives which have not
been sufficiently verified. In this latter respect a long experience
of African affairs has shown me with what circumspection, not to say
with what distrust, the statements of the blacks must be accepted.
Their peculiar mental characteristic renders them inclined to lie
with an ease that is disconcerting, and magistrates are obliged to
direct their inquiries and questionings with real skill and untiring
patience in order to arrive at the truth amongst the inaccuracies
and omissions of coloured witnesses. That will reveal how much and
how often the stories of sensational facts circulated by natives
are distorted by them, when they are not absolutely invented, and
what disappointments those who accept them too easily prepare for
themselves. A typical case is that of a Protestant missionary who
was accused by natives of having inflicted on the black engineer
of his mission’s steamer blows and wounds that caused his death.
The judicial investigation disposed of this charge, which had been
fabricated in all its details by the natives with the view of
avenging themselves on the missionary, with whom they were engaged
in a dispute on a question of wages. And yet the natives making
the accusation never ceased for a moment, despite the proofs to the
contrary, from maintaining their lying charges with a persistency
which could not fail to create an impression. It is to be regretted
that Mr. Casement[19] was not put on his guard against the statements
of the blacks, and especially by this incident, of which he could not
have been ignorant, since the missionary concerned accompanied him
during the inquiry into the case of Epondo, whom the natives also
represented to have been the victim of a criminal act.
I will, by another example revealed during a recent inquiry, show
how much the charges brought against the Administration of the State
are wanting in prudence. Some correspondence from a missionary
published in England has given rise to violent comments in the press
of that country upon the Congo Free State. When invited by the State
Prosecutor to formulate and present his charges, this missionary did
not allege anything against the State agent, whom, in his writings he
had charged with responsibility for odious crimes. He had invoked,
as corroborating his own statement, the affirmations that other
European agents had made to him; he declared by what follows that
these affirmations were to be kept strictly confidential. “It is
true,” he adds, “that these facts have been published, but as the
publication was made in England I thought that the confidence placed
in my discretion was not betrayed.” He also declares that “before
accepting the responsibility of revealing and specifying in a precise
manner the facts, he desires to consult, and take the opinion of,
if not a barrister, at least some one knowing Congolese law, and
that the extracts published of his letter have not perhaps been made
with strict precision of language.” In short, the want of clearness,
the subterfuges of the examination, attracted the attention of
the State Prosecutor, and left on his mind the most unfavourable
impression as to the good faith of this missionary, and as to his
highly blameworthy manner of recognising the hospitality that he has
hitherto enjoyed in the Congo.
[Illustration: Children of the Settlement School, Boma.]
I have entered into these few details in order to show the
occasionally inconsiderate character of the attacks directed against
our Administration.
[Sidenote: Intrigues against the State.]
And I owe it to truth to make another reproach, not less grave, with
regard to certain foreign elements which do not seem to have an exact
view of their duty in inculcating the natives by their example and
teachings with the respect due to the authority of the State and
to its representatives. It is impossible not to be struck by the
strange rumours in the vicinity of the Protestant missions, which
for some time have been announcing to the population a change in the
established order, and predicting the end of the State. There natives
have been seen to offer insults to the European agents; officers of
the Companies have lodged complaints as to the arrogant attitude of
part of the population subject to certain influences; a tendency to
shake off the duty due to the State, and to repudiate respect for our
laws, has manifested itself among them. It is not doubtful that here
we see the result of the underhand intrigues sapping, more or less
intentionally, the legal authority. The remark inevitably follows
that this position reveals itself solely in the neighbourhood of
some evangelical posts, and it assumes a more significant character
when it is known that the tendency of these establishments is to
exercise over the surrounding population a sort of sovereign power,
in opposition to “Boula Matari,”[20] thereby creating a state of
antagonism between the influence of the mission houses and the
authority of the State agents. I have pointed out for the attention
of the Government this grave position, and the measures that it ought
to take if it continues. Already local agents have been obliged to
act on their own initiative to safeguard the State’s authority, and
if it becomes necessary the Governor-General will consider the
occasion for making use of the means placed at his disposal, by the
decree of 15th September, 1889, for dealing with foreigners who
should employ against the State their influence over the natives.
It would be desirable that an appropriation be provided to carry out
the plan at present under examination, of establishing on the Upper
Congo a number of civil courts and a second Court of Appeal.
In my opinion the Government ought to go farther in the way of
developing our judicial machinery. A point which has not ceased to
attract attention is, in the first place, the recruiting of the
staff. Whatever may be the goodwill of the judicial agents, it is
beyond doubt that some newcomers have not always possessed, before
their entrance into our judiciary, a sufficiently long experience of
judicial practice. I here renew the wish, already expressed, to hear
that judges of Belgian courts and parquets be authorised to obtain
leave of absence to occupy judicial posts in the Congo.
The spirit in which this recommendation by the Vice-Governor-General
was received in Belgium is clearly indicated in the following
announcement on behalf of the Minister of Justice at Brussels:
The Minister of Justice has just authorised Belgian magistrates who
may be desirous to do so, and be accepted by the Congo Free State,
to undertake, by a limited engagement, to serve as judges in the
Congo,—and for that purpose, to obtain leave of absence without
pay, save that their rights of seniority in the Belgian magistracy
are to be reserved....
The Congo has been for us a field of heroism. It has enabled
numerous Belgians, who were smothering within their frontiers, to
prove their value in a much broader sphere, where territorial,
political, and diplomatic conditions permitted some display of
their inborn qualities, and to reveal themselves first-class
pioneers, soldiers, and administrators.
If considered only from an ideal point of view, this advantage is
well worth something. And those of our officers who out there have
put down slavery, pacified the native tribes, opened the ways of
navigation, commerce, and industry, created agricultural stations,
depots, railways, forest exploitations, and roads will surely
from this point of view alone have rendered our little country as
much service as they could have rendered it in the service of our
garrisons.
It has often been said that narrow frontiers mean narrow ideas. To
broaden our horizon, is to broaden our ideas. It seems to us that
without going beyond these considerations, this decision taken by
our Department of Justice deserves to be commended.
Without any burden on our Treasury on that account,—since the
Belgian judges serving in the Congo will, during the term of their
service, cease to draw upon our budget,—our magistracy will be
losing nothing of their value, so justly appreciated, by delegating
a few of their members—selected from the youngest—in those new
regions where their knowledge of law, coming into more direct
contact than at home with nature and practical needs, will acquire
renewed strength at the very springs of equity and juridical
conscience.
At the same time, their authoritative participation in the colonial
undertaking will contribute to do away with the very suspicion
of those abuses which, after being systematically exaggerated
by interested opponents, have been used as a pretence for this
deplorable Congophobe campaign which has led away in England a few
minds more generous than enlightened.
Fortified in this manner, the Congolese magistrates, who even now
worthily bear comparison with any colonial magistracy, will, by the
mode of their recruitment, and their own merit, command respect
from our adversaries.
They will be continually renewed, which is advisable in these
tropical regions, where the conditions of climate very soon exhaust
individuals, and the new and continued relations which will thus
progressively spring up between Belgium at home and its African
extension will contribute to force into our colonial undertaking
the best part of our traditions and of our national spirit.
It would be also useful if the _ambulatory_ character attributed
by Congolese law to the Courts of First Instance were made more
effective, by rendering it an obligation for these courts to move
about periodically throughout the extent of their province, to sit
regularly at important centres, and to betake themselves to all
points to which the necessities of their presence required them to
proceed. This object might be easily attained, if only there were
placed at the disposal of the magistrates the material means—with
regard to transport, provisions, and lodging—that the frequency of
these movements on circuit might call for.
I would also recommend a new measure which would consist in
establishing in the different jurisdictions a corps of special
agents who should be remunerated by the Government, and whose
mission would be to discharge in the interests of the natives the
rôle of barristers. At present it is to the magistrates themselves
that the native addresses himself in order to obtain the necessary
counsel for the protection of his rights. It would be preferable
that those who may be called upon to lay down the law on a conflict
of civil right, should not fill also the post of being counsel to
one of the parties. On the other hand, from the penal point of view
the measure that I propose would permit of professional defenders
being assured to the accused. This institution, which it would
be necessary to render of as general application as possible in
the Upper as in the Lower Congo, would thus place on the spot, at
the disposition of those natives who thought they had ground of
complaint, gratuitous defenders of their interests.
[Illustration: In the State Printing Office at Boma. Natives
Laying-on and Taking-off.]
Indeed it would be useful to constitute in Belgium a Court of
Cassation to which the sentences and definite judgments in penal
matters which might possibly be contrary to the law should be
submitted. Such a court might be composed of members of the Belgian
Court of Cassation, or of the Appeal Courts admitted to the grade
of _emeritus_, or actually practising.
It will certainly seem natural that these different opportunities
of co-operating in the Congolese work should be given to the
Belgian magistracy. Belgium would see therein, as it seems to
me, the occasion of drawing closer the links of a moral nature
which already unite it to its future colony, and the mission not
without distinction which Belgian officers have fulfilled and are
fulfilling in Africa would find its complement in the collaboration
of jurists of merit who can be counted in our country in great
numbers.
NATIVE CHIEFTAINCIES
The institution of native chieftaincies, due to the decree of 6th
October, 1891, realises an idea too just and too politic for it
not to receive all the extension possible. If during the first
days that followed the promulgation of that decree the district
Commissioners displayed praiseworthy emulation in recognising
native chieftaincies, it is not less certain that these have not
rendered, up to the present, all the services which we could
expect, so far as they were called upon to create between the
European authority and the natives a natural intermediary, having
its duties and responsibilities, and calculated to facilitate the
action of the Government.
The cases in which it has been applied still show the advantages
of the system and testify to the greater facility with which the
natives rally to the new order of things when it is personified
in their eyes by the chief whom they have always recognised. It
is proved that respect for the orders of authority, obedience to
the laws, the execution of legal obligations, such as military
recruiting and the payment of taxes,—in a word the principles
of an organised social state, are more easily accepted by the
natives forming part of a chieftaincy than by those who are quite
independent. The chiefs, besides, have generally a real influence
over the population, and thus, as has several times been said, if
they feel themselves supported they will succeed in making our
ideas prevail and in imposing them on the natives through our
support.
Another appeal has just been quite recently made by the local
government to all the chiefs of districts and zones in order to
inspire them with these views, and so that they may increase the
official chieftaincies to a great extent.
The instructions issued are inspired by a double object: _to
maintain and even to extend the authority of the chiefs over their
subjects, to avoid all intervention in the internal affairs of the
tribes_ which would be of a nature to compromise the prestige of
that authority.
“It is the right of the chief,” these instructions declare, “to
assure the execution of his orders according to native rules and
particularly to bring to his decision the sanction demanded by
native custom.”
The only restriction on the authority of the recognised native
chiefs lies in the necessity for them not to run counter, in the
decisions taken, to public order, that is to say, principles
which are at the base of the organisation of society, as it is
comprehended and wished to be by the legislator.
The chief’s authority ceases as soon as the measures taken are
contrary to that public order.
Thus, in matters of private right, the native chief could not
legitimately take any course which would assail the organisation
of families constituted under the _régime_ of the civil Code, and
according to its prescribed form,—in other words, entered on the
European statute.
On the other hand, he could not establish slavery, oppose religious
liberties or commercial liberty, or order acts contrary to the
penal law.
Still it is necessary to remark that he may employ coercive and
repressive measures to ensure, as chief, and within the limits of
his power according to custom, the execution of his orders.
But this sanction itself would be contrary to public order if its
character differed from our ideas of what repression should be,
more especially if it were accompanied by torture, mutilation, or
other acts of cruelty, or if it were surrounded with superstitious
practices, such as the proof by poison; in a word, if it were
really to run counter to our ideas of humanity and the civilising
object of the State.
Corporal punishments, similar to those employed by the State and
in a similar measure to what is employed by it, inflicted by the
native chief according to custom, would evidently not be contrary
to public order.
Such are the regulations set forth in a general way which govern
the 258 recognised native chiefs in their participation with the
political life of the State.
These instructions recommend to the territorial authorities
“continual relations with the native chiefs, incessant instructions
and recommendations, a direction and control without interruption,
and a moral and material support in order to maintain and increase
the chief’s authority with a similar object,” and to the judicial
authorities “an intervention marked by prudence in order not to
diminish uselessly the chief’s authority, and not to destroy, or
even weaken, the influence that he should have, and of which the
Government means to make use for the spread of civilisation.”
The care of maintaining intact and of developing the principle of
the chief’s authority might perhaps one day be carried farther.
It would indeed be permissible to wish that, in the future, all
the decisions of an administrative and judicial character, passed
by the European authorities themselves, should be executed by the
intermediary of the recognised chief; in other words, the native
would receive orders only from his natural chief.
This measure, when it becomes possible, will produce the best
results with regard to order and discipline, the natives being less
inclined to rebel against the orders of the chief whom they have
freely chosen.
In order to avoid the abuse which might result from ignorance of
our laws, and to make the native chief acquainted with his rights,
there should be attached to the _procés verbaux_ of investitute of
the chiefs a protocol setting forth the penalties that it will be
permissible for the local authorities to continue to apply, as in
the past, with a specific mention of the offences subject to their
jurisdiction.
They will be made acquainted with this act on their investiture,
at the same time as they are instructed as to the general
obligations imposed on them by the State, and which should also
figure in the document in question.
All that precedes evidently relates only to native chiefs properly
so-called, and not to the present sultans who, as prescribed by the
Government’s instructions, must not have the authority which they
at present possess increased.
[Illustration: Natives Working Sewing Machines at Kisantu.]
FOOTNOTES:
[19] His Britannic Majesty’s consul, author of the Report referred to
in a succeeding chapter.
[20] The name which the natives applied to Stanley. It is now used to
designate the State.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE POSTAL, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE SERVICE
[Sidenote: Twin Civilisers.]
Moderns regard the post-office and the mission school as substantial
signs of civilisation wherever the two are found in mutual endeavour.
In compliance with Article VII, of the General Act of Berlin, the
Congo Free State joined the Postal Union, and has sent official
representatives to its periodic congresses.
In the Belgian Congo the postal service is very efficient. It already
penetrates to districts most remote from the central office at Boma.
It was effectively established in 1885 when the irregular service was
succeeded by the rudiments of the present system. In 1887 it was,
in fact, a piece of perfect governmental machinery. On the 28th of
February that year it signed a formal Postal Convention with Belgium.
It was soon thereafter apparent that a postal money-order service was
required to facilitate the transit of small sums between Europe and
the Congo. Agreements in this respect were made with Belgium on May
13, 1893, and November 24, 1898. The rapid development of the Congo
Basin already calls for even further extension of the system.
The latest report on the subject is that of Vice-Governor-General
Fuchs, which follows:
POSTAL SERVICE
There are at present on the Congo: 23 post-offices,
sub-post-offices, and depots for stamps.
According to the returns before me, there were transported in 1885
only 33,140 letters and printed objects, whereas for 1902 the
postal movement was represented by 372,007 letters and printed
objects.
Correspondence is conveyed by either railway or steamer; on the
roads it is forwarded to its destination by special native couriers.
The weight of the despatches enclosing letters and printed matter
may not exceed, for transport by land, 10 kilogrammes.[21] The
porters required for this service are furnished by the chiefs of
posts.
The transmission of correspondence into the interior of the
country is, besides, regulated by instructions, to which the
local authorities frequently draw the serious attention of the
territorial chiefs. Thus, in all parts of the State territory, the
couriers must leave on a fixed day, and they have a certain time,
which has been calculated after much experience as sufficient, for
the journey from one point to another.
It is expressly forbidden to the authorities to detain the native
couriers after the date fixed for their departure, or to entrust
them with correspondence not sealed. All postal packages must be
paid for (with the exception that certain officials have the right
to post free) and enclosed in a sealed envelope having the address
clearly shown.
Each postal despatch contains a ticket of advice which is to be
returned to the originating office, dated and signed by the agent
of the office that received it, after he has found the contents
exact. The carrier of the mail is also in possession of a route
ticket which informs him of the number of sacks and envelopes
composing the mail. It must be checked and dated, and must show in
a special column, for the way out and back and for each station,
the hour of the arrival and departure of the couriers.
The sub-controllers of the post-offices must forward each month,
for the purpose of verification, to the Controller of the
post-office at Boma, the route tickets of the couriers sent during
the previous month.
The Director of Finance sends, as often as possible, the Controller
of the Post-Office to examine the accounts of the various offices
which are run by selected agents appointed from the Belgian
administration.
In districts where sub-post-offices are established, the District
Commissioner sees to the strict observance of the instructions
regulating the important postal service.
It has been found that in several districts the services of
soldiers in the garrison have been utilised for the mails. Not
only did these not always render the services which workmen or
other men specially engaged for the service of transports of all
kinds render, but even there was reason to fear that the soldiers,
on account of their uniform and arms, as well as being without
control, sometimes abused their powers to make levies on the
villages through which they passed. But now the strict instructions
of the Government forbid soldiers being taken away from their
garrison and military duties, and require that they should always
remain under the control of their chiefs. It has, therefore, been
positively forbidden to send any mail by soldiers of the Public
Force.
TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE SERVICE
On 27th November, 1893, the State ordered by decree the first
telegraphic line, and in July, 1895, a first wire was stretched
across the river; and on 15th September, 1898, it became possible
to telephone and telegraph from Boma to Leopoldville, or for a
distance of 452 kilometres (282 miles). Later on, and when the
transport of material had been made easier by the opening of the
Matadi-Leopoldville railway, the telegraph line was extended to
Coquilhatville.
At the present moment there are thirteen telephone and telegraph
offices working in the State.
The principal offices and distance separating them from each other
are:
Boma-Matadi 52 kilometres
Matadi-Tumba 185 ”
Tumba-Leopoldville 215 ”
Leopoldville-Kwamouth 233 ”
Kwamouth-Mopolenge-Yumbi 177 ”
Yumbi-Lukolela 121 ”
Lukolela-Irebu 102 ”
Irebu-Coquilhatville 114 ”
—————
Total 1,199 kilometres[22]
(nearly 750 miles) of development. This extensive telegraph and
telephone line is carried on iron posts from Boma to Leopoldville,
and from Leopoldville to Coquilhatville the wire is supported in
some places on steel posts, in others on trees, in the proportion
approximately of 4494 steel posts and 2782 trees.
The line has to make two very important crossings of water, one
across the Congo a little above Underhill Point (Hell’s Kettle),
the other across the Kassai near its mouth.
At the crossing of the river at Underhill the wires are supported
by trellised steel towers, the piers of which are distant 800
metres from each other; and they are placed 73 and 63 (2)
metres[23] respectively above the bed of the river at the highest
flood.
The crossing of the Kassai is made by two casts of the line, one
being 450 and the other 670 metres in length. Fourteen steel
towers, of 36.50 and of 38.50 metres in height, help crossing
the river. One of the towers is placed on an island, and four
conductors ensure the proper working of the telegraph line.
The camps of Lisala and Umangi are also connected by a telephone
line 22 kilometres in length. Besides a strong permanent body of
native workers and European linesmen, the line is maintained by
the natives of the villages through which it passes. The natives
receive ample compensation in monthly payments.
[Illustration: Children of the Settlement Drilling at New Antwerp,
1896 (Bangala).]
Another telegraph and telephone line of about 320 kilometres, which
leaves Kassongo on the Lualaba for Baraka on Lake Tanganyika,
was opened on 5th December, 1903. It connects the telegraph and
telephone offices of Kassongo, Kabambare, Kalembe-Lembe, Baraka.
This line will be extended to Lake Kivu, in the extreme eastern
part of the Free State.
For about two years past experiments have been in progress to
establish communication by wireless telegraphy between Banana and
Ambrizette, so as to connect the Congolese system with the rest of
the world.
Telegrams for Europe are at present brought either by the State
steamers or by ocean steamers from Boma to St. Paul de Loanda, to
San Thome, and to Sierra Leone, whence they are transmitted to
their destination. Telegrams can also be sent from the Congo for
Europe by the French route of the Gaboon by taking them to the
French office of Brazzaville. A convention recently established
between the French Republic and the Government of the Congo
Independent State will allow the telegraphic systems of the two
States to be connected by sinking a cable in Stanley Pool between
Brazzaville and Kinshassa. This work finished, the Congo State will
be connected with the telegraphic system of the globe.
FOOTNOTES:
[21] About 22 lbs.
[22] A kilometre is .621 of a mile.
[23] A metre is 39.37 inches.
CHAPTER XXIV
NAVIGATION, RAILWAYS, ROADS
[Sidenote: The Strenuous Life.]
The Sovereign of the Congo Free State adheres to a gospel of labour
of which he is personally the greatest exemplar in Europe. His
Majesty’s industry is in motion at five o’clock every morning. It
gathers force as the sun rises, and subsides only when his ministers
and attendants have retired. In this respect much might be written
to attract the world’s admiration to a monarch who has the false
reputation in America of toying with time and its tintinnabulation.
Tremendous are the energies which the King’s example inspires, not
only in the Belgium which his rule has beautified, and which he
has made the least-taxed country in Europe, but also in the heart
of blackest Africa. There are, in that vast territory, manifold
monuments to the infectious spirit of endeavour which prevails in the
palace at Laeken, at Brussels, and in the lofty châlet at Ostend.
These monuments, by their nature, appear to confirm Belgian intention
to occupy the future of the Congo State with structures of enduring
substance, whether they be material, political, ethical, or social.
The charge, sometimes uttered against King Leopold, that his interest
in the Congo is merely what it can be made to yield him during his
lifetime, dissolves into the mist of the slander it becomes in the
presence of the physical improvement going on, with mighty strides,
in Congoland.
[Sidenote: Benefits of State Rule.]
When the Congo Free State was founded, communication by water with
Europe was infrequent and uncomfortable. Liverpool and Lisbon sent a
few ships at irregular intervals. Later Germany and Holland followed
their example at a time when Fuka-Fuka was the farthermost settlement
on the Congo coast. No means of transport into the interior existed
except by canoes, or by native carriers. To-day all this has been
altered by Belgian capital, skill, and industry.
The maritime development of the Congo began in 1891, when the
State, joining the commercial companies of the region, concluded
an agreement with certain German and English steamship lines to
establish a monthly service between Antwerp and Matadi. These ships
left Antwerp on the 6th of each month and arrived at Matadi in about
fifteen days.
In 1895, under the auspices of a syndicate composed of the masters
of these ships, there was incorporated at Antwerp La Compagnie Belge
Maritime du Congo, which provided a monthly service of steamers
sailing under the Belgian flag. The success of this enterprise
induced other companies to engage in the Congo trade, among them
being L’Empresa Nacional de Navigaçao, of Lisbon; Les Chargeurs
Réunis, of Bordeaux, related to Fraissinet et Cie., of Marseilles;
The Woerman Line, of Hamburg; The African Steamship Company, combined
with the British and African Steam Navigation Company.
Extensive harbour works have been erected at Banana, Boma, and
Matadi, and several signal lights have been placed at the mouth of
the Congo to indicate the entrance to the channel. The Lower Congo,
from Banana to Matadi, has been charted by buoys, and a pilot service
has been organised at Banana. The river channel is being constantly
improved by dredging, and Matebe, which in the dry season was
inaccessible except to small craft, is now on the line of general
navigation. A regular service of steamers plies the Lower Congo, and
the State boats go regularly to Landana to meet the Portugese mail.
In 1890 the shipping in the ports of Banana and Boma amounted to only
166,028 entries, and 163,716 departures. The present tonnage into and
out of these ports is over 500,000.
On the Upper Congo a large flotilla carries on an excellent service.
The State operates thirty-two of these vessels and the companies
about forty-five, besides which there is a considerable number of
smaller craft belonging to private individuals and to missions. The
tonnage of the Upper Congo flotilla is 1675 tons. The marine service
numbers 166 whites and 1300 blacks.
[Illustration: Zappo-Zapp Musicians, Luluabourg.]
The first steamers launched on the Upper Congo were of only five
tons, their component parts having been carried on men’s backs along
caravan routes long before the construction of the railway of the
Cataracts. Even before the completion of the railway from Matadi to
Stanley Pool the State had launched twelve five-ton boats on the
Upper Congo, each of which had a capacity of nearly 50,000 pounds.
Besides these, the Government launched one steamer of twenty-three
tons and four of forty tons burden.
With the completion of the railway, the necessity for considering the
weight of the loads ceased, and a new type of craft, the stern-wheel,
was chosen. Its system of propulsion offered greater advantages
against the variable conditions of navigability with which the
vessels had to contend. The ports and landings are in a state of
complete organisation at numerous points on the river, and cargoes
are now moved with great facility. At regular intervals along the
watercourse, posts at which Government workmen gather wood, supply
the steamers with this form of fuel. In order that the forests along
the banks may not be denuded, a State law enforces the replanting of
trees as fast as they are cut down.
In 1896 the Government established a regular fortnightly steamship
service between Leopoldville and Stanley Falls. The three steamers,
_Brabant_, _Hainaut_, and _Flandre_, have been assigned to this
service. The dates of their departure from Stanley Pool have been
fixed to correspond with the dates of arrival of European ships. In
order to ensure service on the navigable stretches beyond the Falls,
steamers have been launched on the rivers Lualaba, Itimbiri, and
Ubanghi. A sailing vessel has been launched on Lake Tanganyika and a
steamer on the Nile. Native rowing crews have been organised in many
regions, and their services are often of great value. All in all, the
102 steamers plying the Congo River in the governmental and private
service, the efficient port facilities, the means of transport up the
navigable affluents, and the hydrographic surveys constantly going
on constitute a condition of colonial development which truly merits
the commendation of Herr Von Puttkamer, Governor of the Cameroons, in
which, amongst other things, he says: “The energy and practical sense
displayed here deserve the greatest admiration.”
As the Congo steamboat largely abolished the laborious native
carrier system through the riverain districts of the State, so
has the Congo Railway, popularly known as the Cataracts Railway,
largely contributed to relieve the black man, under Belgian rule,
from lugging fifty-six pounds dead weight through the African
jungle. The iron horse in Central Africa has given great momentum
to the industries of a fertile region. In constructing the railway
from Matadi, near the mouth of the Congo River, to Stanley Pool,
traversing a distance of 260 miles over as tortuous and steep a route
as ever daring engineers ventured to follow; climbing the Pallaballa
Mountains at gradients of 150 feet in the mile, and finally steaming
over a summit 17,000 feet above the sea, Belgian skill has again
manifested its extraordinary quality, a quality observed in all that
it has accomplished in the Congo Basin.
To connect the navigable regions of the Lower and the Upper Congo by
a line over the route just indicated seemed at first to be beyond
the possibility of achievement. On July 6, 1898, after nine years of
unremitting toil and the expenditure of sixty million francs, the
line was in complete and regular operation through a region which, on
account of its picturesque scenery, may be likened to the Simplon
Pass in Switzerland.
Without a railway running round the thirty-two great cataracts which
tumble furiously in their descent of eighty miles to the sea, the
Congo River, in the opinion of Stanley, would not have much value in
the development of the Basin.
The first estimate of the cost of constructing the line was
twenty-five million francs. This was based on the surveys of Major
Cambier for the Compagnie du Congo pour la Commerce et l’Industrie,
which, as early as the year 1887, had been granted certain rights
and privileges if it would undertake to build the railway. On July
29, 1889, the Belgian Chamber agreed to provide ten million francs
of the Company’s first capital, the remaining fifteen million francs
having been subscribed chiefly by Belgian investors. The work so
enthusiastically undertaken met with one setback after another, owing
mainly to the engineering difficulties encountered in the rocky
side of the mountain of Pallaballa, forming a spur of the great
Crystal range, the western rampart of the Central African plateau.
It required four years and indomitable perseverance to construct the
section of the line from Matadi over the summit of Pallaballa, a
distance of only twenty-six miles. In December, 1893, Colonel Wahis
opened this part of the line with appropriate ceremonies, which many
Europeans interested in Congo affairs attended. In the _Mouvement
Géographique_ appeared the following interesting description of this
unique engineering triumph:
The train, on leaving the station of Matadi, passes in front of
the works of the State and the Belgian and Portuguese commercial
establishments, and debouches immediately by the Neck of the Guinea
Fowls (Col des Pintades) into the Leopold Ravine, which it crosses
by a bridge of sixty-five feet. It follows for a few minutes the
right bank of the ravine, and is then on the bank of the Congo,
whose magnificent panorama is suddenly exposed. Here commences the
sensational part of the journey. For four miles, first alongside
the Congo and then alongside the Mpozo, the way is hooked on to
the side of the strong rock of Matadi. It mounts by a gentle
incline, having on its right a perpendicular rocky wall, in some
places seven hundred feet high, and on its left, in the foreground,
the river rolling in rapids; and in the background the grand
landscape of the right bank, with Vivi and Mount Leopold. At the
sixth kilometre, where the Mpozo flows into the Congo, and before
entering the valley of the former river, the view is exceedingly
grand. At this point the railway is two hundred feet above the
river—the Congo, enclosed in a gorge, rolls its tumultuous waters
with extreme rapidity, as they have just made the descent from the
Falls of Yellalla. On the left, to the north-east, the scenery is
quite wild. It is equally so to the south-east, while the water is
closed in in the narrow valley of the Mpozo. It was in these parts,
at the very commencement of the work, that the difficulties were
the greatest. From the Leopold Ravine to the bridge of the Mpozo,
or for over four miles, the platform of the line had to be cut in
terraces on the side of an immense rock of hard stone, through the
thick equatorial vegetation which encumbered every ravine. Beyond
Sleepy Hollow (_Ravin du Sommeil_), and after passing the ancient
camp of Matadi-Mapembe, commences the famous ascent of Pallaballa.
At the tenth kilometre the line attains a height of three hundred
feet, or a rise of six hundred feet in four and a half miles.
Beyond this the line traverses the Devil’s Ravine to reach the
summit of the mountain, one thousand seven hundred feet, and in
the course of this part of the work several bridges have had to
be thrown across the intervening chasms or ravines. The whole of
this part of the journey is really inspiring. The scenery is grand,
works of skill succeed each other every minute, the perspective
modifies itself to each of the numerous curves the road makes
at every passage across the ravines. The railway ever ascends,
hanging on to the mountain, suspended in places from three hundred
to five hundred feet above the bottom of the Devil’s Ravine. The
engine blows with force to the very moment of reaching the station
of Pallaballa. Here the most interesting portion of the journey
is over. The great difficulties, the long slopes of ascent at a
maximum incline, recur no more.
It had now become apparent that the railway would cost more than
double the sum originally estimated. Additional powers having been
granted to the Company and a tripartite convention having provided
the Congo Free State and the Belgian Government with power to buy
the road, capital was raised to bring the total up to sixty million
francs. By an extension of the time when the Congo State and Belgium
may buy the line, the railway Company has possession until 1908.
[Sidenote: A Unique Railroad.]
The Cataracts Railway has some unique characteristics. It maintains
a first- and a second-class car on each train. Trains leave Matadi
every other day. Persons returning from the Congo refer to it as the
strangest as well as the most profitable railway line in the world.
It runs the distance between Matadi and Stanley Pool in twenty-four
hours. First-class passage costs 500 francs, the second-class 50
francs. The former is, therefore, at the rate of 40 cents a mile.
This, it is to be hoped, is at least some compensation for the great
difficulties encountered in the construction of the line. For the
final accomplishment of what is regarded in Europe as one of the
great engineering feats in Africa, the energy and skill of Lieutenant
Thys, the original surveys of Major Cambier, and the support of the
King and the Belgian Parliament are largely to be credited. Outside
assistance was almost entirely lacking.
The Mayumbe Railway is the second which was undertaken in the
development of the Congo Free State. It connects Boma with Lukula,
eighty kilometres (about fifty-four miles) distant, and has been in
operation since 1901. It is narrow gauge (0.60 metre), while the
Cataracts Railway is 0.70 metre.
[Illustration: Band of Government Technical School, Boma.]
On the completion of the Mayumbe Railway, the State inspired the
construction of three lines of one-metre gauge, with a total length
of 1600 kilometres (1080 miles). These lines are being undertaken by
the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs
Africains under an agreement made with the State on January 4, 1902.
The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates
the present stage to which these lines and others have attained:
A route for a railroad from Stanleyville to the Great Lakes
has been surveyed. This survey comprehends a principal trunk
line, Stanleyville-Bafwaboli-Mawambi-Irumu, 762 kilometres in
length. Near Irumu the track branches off in two directions, one,
Irumu-Mahagi, of 358 kilometres, the other, Irumu-Beni, of 135
kilometres. At present the surveys are being made for a track from
Beni to Lake Tanganyika.
In addition, the track has been completely surveyed for a railway
from Dufile to Redjaf, following the left bank of the Nile, which
would be 157 kilometres in length.
This railway would turn the unnavigable part of the river.
At this moment a line is being constructed between Stanleyville
(left bank) and Ponthierville. This line will be 140 kilometres in
length. The rails have been placed over ten kilometres, and the
embankment finished for fifty kilometres. This line will permit of
transports being made on the river above Ponthierville. As soon as
this first line is finished, others will be constructed along the
unnavigable parts of the river.
At the present moment surveys are also being made for a railway
connecting a point on the southern frontier of the Congo
Independent State (Katanga) with a point situated on the Lualaba,
south of the junction of that river with the Lufila.
The approximate length of this line, the survey of which commenced
as far back as 25th April, 1903, will be about 500 kilometres.
Having regard to those articles of the Berlin General Act which
relate to the free navigation of the Congo and its affluents, the
legal status of railways within the Conventional Basin of the Congo
becomes a matter of considerable importance, especially in view of
the growing controversy as to the proper construction of the Act.
Baron Descamps has ably treated this subject in his _New Africa_, a
volume of exceptional interest at this time. After pointing out that
the “freedom of navigation” declared by the Berlin Act must not be
confounded with freedom of railway traffic, inasmuch as the latter
admits of grants of monopoly and the former does not, this eminent
writer on questions of general and special law says:
The idea of considering railways as continuations of water-courses,
or as junctions between water-courses, was quite a new one, as was
pointed out at the Berlin Conference. The Conference realised the
necessity of providing for the logical consequences of such an
idea, and therefore it drew up special regulations which are worthy
of careful examination.
The general legal standing of railways in the Congo, the essential
rights of the authorities as to their construction, their
concession, their running powers, their charges, their position as
public highways, their administrative and judicial policy are the
same as those of railways in other countries.
The Berlin Act, as regards railways destined to provide transport
where the Congo and the Niger become unnavigable, made special
provision in clauses 16 and 23 on the one hand, and 29 and 33 on
the other—the only clauses which are concerned with railways—for
certain details of these communications. After declaring that these
railways, as means of communication, are considered as auxiliaries
of the rivers, the Act dwells on the legal consequences attaching
to the introduction of this new idea, this conventional innovation
in international relations. The consequences are as follows:
1. The obligation of opening the railways to the traffic of all
nations (Art. 16, § 1), and the inviolability at all times of the
lines thus opened to the trade of all nations (Art. 25, § 1).
2. The obligation to refrain from any excessive railway rates, that
is to say, “not calculated on the cost of construction, maintenance
and management, and on the profits due to the promoters.” The
Berlin Act states but these general principles, its object being
to give the basis of calculation rather than a detailed solution
of the problem, since it does not draw up a schedule of rates with
respect to the nature of goods or the scale of the charges.
3. The obligation to observe, in fixing a tariff within these broad
limits, “equality of treatment for the strangers and the subjects
of the respective territories.”
[Illustration: Coffee Plantation at Yalicombe (Oriental Province).]
Thus, equality is sure to be observed as regards the tariff, both
in the case of subjects and foreigners, and especially so in
business which may be called the sphere of private activity, _i.
e._, commerce. Thus also the power of the State to allow exclusive
access to the railways, to impose extra or unfair charges, is
minimised. The Berlin Act goes so far, but does not pass these
limits. Beyond this, it does not affect the sovereign prerogatives
of the State as regards its territory.
According to the usual right of the Powers in all that regards
railways, the State can order the establishment of the same, can
have them constructed, run them itself, and fix their tariff. It
can also, if deemed preferable, authorise a concessionaire to
collect the charges on the contemplated line, on condition that
he shall undertake the construction and maintain the established
tariff.
The Berlin Act respects these fundamental rights. It offers no
opposition against whatever arrangements the State makes with its
concessionaire as regards a schedule of rates with respect to the
nature of goods or the scale of the charges. It does not intrude
upon the internal organisation of the rates, except so far as it
circumscribes them within the following limitations: 1, all are
free to use the railways; 2, no distinction can be based on the
nationality of individuals; 3, and no excessive rates are to be
imposed.
Circumstances may render changes in the tariff advisable, and
the State may modify the rates periodically.[24] It may also
exercise the right of ordering its concessionaire to make certain
modifications and reductions.
This was the course adopted by the Free State in relation to the
Congo Railway in its initial estimates. It also reserved the right
of repurchase. This latter reservation, however, it abandoned
for a time by Act dated November 12, 1901, which also stipulated
in what manner its optional power of reducing rates was to be
exercised. That power it exercised by imposing a comprehensive
system of reduction, and without at the time committing itself to
any declaration as to the specific classes of goods on which the
rates were to be reduced. It does not concern strangers whether it
be exercised in one act or in two, and whether the concessionaire
acts by special agreement with the State or under general powers.
The main consideration is whether the procedure followed for the
attainment of the reductions aimed at is in accordance with the
Berlin Act. In the present case, the procedure certainly was in
accordance with that Act.
From a legal point of view, nothing can be said against the State’s
reducing railway rates, inasmuch as it was invested with the right
of primarily drawing up those rates.
By the same Act of November 12, 1901, the State enjoys certain
special conditions of transport for carrying out works of public
utility. That right is quite legitimate for the Government, and
does not entitle private citizens to demand its application for
their own purposes. The State could have enjoyed these advantages
if it had itself built and worked the line. The mere fact of a
concession by no means robs the State of all its rights in this
respect. These advantages are justified, for the State has made
real sacrifices in ceding a part of its territory and in abandoning
the repurchase clauses. The advantages accruing to the State do
not in any way interfere with the equal treatment of individuals
stipulated for in Article 16, which says: “As regards the rate of
these tolls, foreigners and subjects of the respective territories
shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality.”
No distinction is made on account of nationalities; the only
difference made rests on a service of public utility, regardless
of nationality. Neither subjects nor foreigners can say that their
civil or commercial liberties are endangered.
There are certain authoritative interpretations of the Berlin Act
which confirm our view of this question. The German Government, for
example, considers no breach of equality the exemption of all dues
granted to a German railway concessionaire. Below are two clauses
of the Imperial German decree, dated December 1, 1891, and relating
to the railway in German East Africa (Usambara line).
“_Clause 1._—The Imperial Government shall grant to no other
contractor, either individual or corporation, the right of
constructing or working a railway line joining the said localities
or liable to compete with the line ceded by the present decree or
any parts of same.”
“_Clause 9._—The Imperial Government guarantees to the German East
African Railway Company, subject to compliance with the prescribed
formalities, an exemption from all taxes on materials, engines,
working tools, and all other implements and articles which may be
imported into German East Africa for the construction, repair,
renewal, and running of the railway.”
In drawing up special tariffs with its concessionaire, it may be
asked whether the State can base these rates on the actual working
expenses—that is to say, with neither profit nor loss for the
concessionaire. From an economic point of view, such a tariff is
perfectly justifiable. Transporting operations, _per se_, cannot be
separated from the transactions to which they are related. These
transactions must be considered in view of all the surrounding
circumstances. In negotiating transport operations, which of
themselves entail neither profit nor loss, a contractor is quite
justified in calculating on present or probable advantages which
may result from the whole of the operation; as, for instance,
the opening of new markets and the renunciation to the right of
immediate repurchase of the concern. To forbid him to do this would
be to spoil his chances and deprive him in many cases of a part of
the profit to which he is justly entitled.
Neither can it be argued, in the case of a railway like that of the
Congo, that the contractor should require rates superior to his
actual expenses, in order to realise an immediate profit. Clause
16 states “that there shall be collected only tolls calculated on
the cost of construction, maintenance, and management, and on the
profits due to the promoters.” To argue in the sense indicated
would be against the purport of the clause which aims at forbidding
_excessive_ rates, but which in no way interferes with a gradual
realisation of average profits by the contractors. To arbitrarily
forbid the contractor to make such profits would be to fly in the
face of Clause 16, inasmuch as it refers to the profits _due_ to
the contractor. It is equally fallacious to imagine that because
certain merchandise is carried for a time without profit, the rates
for certain other merchandise must needs be increased. Finally, it
would still have to be shown that the Berlin Act forbids a proper
and reasonable equalisation of contractors’ charges. But the Berlin
Act does not meddle with such arrangements; it does not establish
a detailed and proportional schedule of rates. It only says that
such charges must not be excessive—that is to say, they must not
exceed the comprehensive amount of the necessary expenses and due
profits. The Act, moreover, fixes no maximum for such profits,
neither does it fix any maximum rates on produce. Its intentions in
this respect are shown by its refusal to define, even by means of a
maximum scale, the extent of compensatory rates.
[Sidenote: Africa Unknown to Africans.]
Time was when the native Congolese, lazily living out his torpid life
in a land where Nature in her luxuriance yielded him subsistence
without the ennobling concomitant of his labour, avoided the great
forests, the jungles, and the marshes of Equatorial Africa. He moved
about to regions of easy access where the land afforded his indolence
the greatest pleasure for the least responsibility. Explorers and
the early builders of the Congo Free State often experienced great
difficulty in preventing the desertion of their native carriers over
a trackless course, such, for instance, as Stanley, Wissmann, De
Brazza, cut out on their several expeditions. In short, the African
Negro regarded his feet with such solicitude that he waited for the
white man to show him the thickets and the fastnesses which contained
those natural resources—rubber, oil, gum, ivory, nuts—which certain
library philosophers and untravelled colonisers assert were the
conscious property of the savage who neither knew of, nor cared for,
their existence. Industry was not worth while to him who could supply
his wants in idleness.
The State, on the other hand, has not only taught the native
Congolese the enlightening influence of honest labour, it has set him
an example of colonial industry the like of which can not be found in
the possessions of any other European Power. It built its railways
where the engineering skill of its more powerful neighbours predicted
failure; it sought the hidden treasure of a vast domain with routes
and transport services which, in part, account for prosperity which
others observe with manifest envy. Not content with these, it has
lately penetrated the forests with wide avenues, hundreds of miles
long, upon which to operate an automobile service. On this subject
Vice-Governor-General Fuchs says:
The Government has also given attention to the construction of
routes for motor cars; two chief routes of this kind are being
constructed.
The first in the Uelle between Redjaf and Ibembo. It will be
about 1250 kilometres in length, of which, according to the
latest information furnished, 400 kilometres are now open to use.
Experiments are being made there by means of three steam waggons.
The second starts from Songololo, a station on the railway from
Matadi to the Pool, and proceeds to Popokabaka on the river Kwango.
Routes destined for transport by waggons are, besides, in course of
construction, and in some parts of the territory are sufficiently
advanced to permit of transport by oxen, particularly in the Uelle,
Katanga, and Manyema. The Mahagi-Irumu route is working for a
length of 165 kilometres; eleven large villages are now established
along this route, at distances of from 13 to 16 kilometres from
each other.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] As this volume is going to press, the announcement is made that
the rates have been reduced.
CHAPTER XXV
SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE, CIVILISING MEASURES
[Sidenote: A Marvellous Transformation.]
Within the lifetime of men who may still be accounted young, the
words that stand at the head of this chapter had no application to
any part of Central Africa. Science, in all its forms, was utterly
unknown there; agriculture can hardly be said to have existed, though
a few of the tribes raised scanty crops of a nature that needed
little or no attention; while of civilising measures there were
absolutely none. These concomitants of long-established civilisation
followed naturally the advent of the Belgians; and they have ever
since, year by year, taken root, and spread until there are no two
countries in the world more dissimilar than the Central Africa of
thirty years ago and the Central Africa of to-day.
[Sidenote: The Gospel of Thoroughness.]
Realising to the full that complete success in any undertaking is
only possible where all the conditions affecting it are thoroughly
understood, the Congo State, early in its career, established
nineteen scientific stations, at various points throughout its
territories, for the collection of data relating to anthropology,
botany, ethnography, geology, philology, pisciculture, mineralogy,
zoölogy, etc., and for trigonometrical and astronomical surveys. Each
of these stations is in charge of an expert, with properly qualified
assistants. They have transmitted to Europe a whole literature of
monographs, of great interest and value, upon all sorts of subjects,
and their field of work is still far from being exhausted. The
study of the Congo climate by these _savants_ has proved especially
valuable, their recommendations as to regimen, dress, habitation,
etc., for travellers and settlers, having reduced the death rate
of the whites to six per cent., thus dispelling for ever the old
notion of the deadliness of Central Africa, and showing it to be at
least as healthful as India, and healthier than either German East
Africa, the Cameroons, the Niger Territory, or Cochin China. A small,
but continual and increasing, influx of Europeans and Americans
demonstrates the gradual abandonment of fear of the Congo climate,
and faith in the hygienic system inaugurated by the Belgians,—a
system which maintains sixteen State doctors to watch over and report
upon the health of the various stations, and a permanent Hygienic
Commission, which sits at Boma.
[Sidenote: Museum at Tervueren.]
At the royal palace of Tervueren, near Brussels, now used as a public
museum, are exhibited nearly eight thousand objects illustrating
industry and art among the primitive peoples of Central Africa,
such as costumes, dwellings, musical instruments, and implements
of hunting, fishing, agriculture, river navigation, and war. The
museum also contains several thousand geological, mineralogical,
and zoölogical specimens, and a very comprehensive herbarium, all
collected within the borders of the Congo Free State. The latter
is of particular interest, containing specimens of more than four
hundred new species.
From the first it has been the unswerving policy of the Congo Free
State to promote, by every means at its disposal, the advancement
of science as it affects, and as it is affected by, conditions
prevailing within its territories. Until the Belgians came among
them, smallpox from time to time decimated the natives, and was as
great an evil as the slave trade or their own internecine wars.
They had no conception of its prevention or cure, and submitted to
its ravages with unintelligent dumb passivity as a providential
visitation impossible to resist. The white man with his vaccine was
a revelation to them; and though they at first refused to believe in
its efficacy, and would not accept vaccination, they soon perceived
the error of their disbelief; and now they voluntarily come to the
Belgian medical officers asking to be vaccinated. Both Boma and New
Antwerp have vaccine producing institutions, and vaccine is also
distributed from Coquilhatville and Stanleyville. The results are
most gratifying; for although, unfortunately, smallpox is by no means
stamped out of the Congo State it is far less prevalent and less
virulent than formerly, so that it is not unreasonable to look for
its practical extinction in the near future.
[Sidenote: The Sleeping Sickness.]
To the present, Science has proved powerless to cope with that
strange malady, the sleeping-sickness. The ablest physicians, not
only of Belgium, but of England, France, and Germany, have studied
the disease exhaustively. Though much valuable data relating to
its cause and effect have been collected, the discovery of its
antidote seems as far off to-day as ever. The prevalence of this
fatal sickness among its people makes it a subject of vital concern
to the Congo Government, which is unceasingly vigilant in seeking
to discover the means for its extinction or alleviation. In its
pursuit of this object, all possible facilities have been afforded to
foreign doctors visiting the Congo State. By request of the English
medical faculty, three Congolese patients, suffering from sleeping
sickness, were recently sent to the School of Tropical Medicine at
Liverpool. On another occasion two others were sent to the Charing
Cross Hospital in London. Animals have been infected with the germs
of the disease, and its every symptom, from inception to climax,
noted with minute accuracy. The disease, which is invariably fatal,
appears to be on the increase, and there have been many victims of
it on the Gold Coast as well as in the Congo State. For some obscure
reason this dreadful malady has been strictly confined to individuals
of the black race. Notwithstanding its want of success in combating
the evil, the Congo Government may congratulate itself that it has
neglected no precaution, and spared no expense, in its effort to
mitigate what may conceivably develop into a veritable plague.[25]
In numerous ways has the Congo Government applied modern science
to the uplifting and general betterment of the people over whom it
rules, without distinction of colour or creed. Twenty-seven medical
men, holders of European diplomas, twenty Health Committees scattered
throughout the country, a Bacteriological Institute, and a Hospital
for Natives at Boma not only labour for the cure of disease, but
disseminate as widely as possible among the natives knowledge of
the laws of health. On the whole, the work has been marvellously
productive of good results, and the native is now incomparably
more healthful, cleaner, better fed, and better housed than at any
previous period of his history.
[Sidenote: Progress of Agriculture.]
[Sidenote: Horses and Cattle.]
Thirty years ago what is now the Congo Free State was a wild tangle
of luxuriant tropical growth through which hordes of black savages
roamed, fought, and practised their unspeakable barbarities, living
almost entirely upon the spontaneous products of Nature. The white
magician has waved his wand and the scene is transformed. In, and
far around, each of the numerous governmental stations or posts,
life and property are as secure now as in any part of Europe or
America. The spade and the hoe have displaced the throwing-spear and
poisoned arrow in the hands of the native. Where the shy antelope
or spring-bok browsed, remote from human intrusion, the soil is now
turned up by the plough, and devoted to the growing of coffee, cocoa,
tea (of the Assam variety) and various condiments, cinnamon, pepper,
ginger, nutmegs, cloves, vanilla, etc. The establishments for the
breeding of cattle, horses, and donkeys, particularly in the Enclave
of Lado, in Ruzizi-Kivu, Equateur, Bangala, and Lualaba-Kassai, are
numerous and increasing. Latest accounts to hand state that they
exceed seventy. Many of the natives display considerable aptitude in
learning how to tend herds of cattle. Great expense has been incurred
by the State and by various companies in the purchase and importation
of pedigree horses and cattle. The animals have been selected from
the best European stocks by experts, and assigned to various breeding
establishments throughout the country. The enterprise has proved
extremely successful, the number of cattle of European origin now in
the State being no fewer than 4500, with sixty horses, and nearly as
many donkeys.
In following agricultural employments the natives receive liberal
encouragement from the Government. The State offers rewards for
the cultivation of coffee and cocoa. At all suitable stations is a
coffee and cocoa nursery, established by the State; that is to say,
the State has supplied the necessary seeds, and contracts to allow
an indemnity for each shrub on its attaining two feet in height, and
to pay the native half the value of its produce less the cost of
transport to Europe.
[Sidenote: Coffee.]
Coffee has been found to flourish most in the districts of Equateur
and Aruwimi, and in the zone of Stanley Falls. Liberica, Arabian, and
Guadaloupe are the varieties which have been selected as suited to
the Congo soil and climate. The number of coffee plants has increased
from 61,517 in 1894, to 1,996,200 in 1902. Cocoa plants numbered no
fewer than 298,003 in 1902, an increase of 284,136 in ten years!
In 1899 the State erected a factory for the preparation of coffee
at Kinshassa, and adopted several new methods, improvements upon
the practice in vogue in countries where coffee has been cultivated
for generations. After being dried at the plantations, the coffee
is placed in sacks and sent in State steamers to Stanley Pool, and
thence to the Kinshassa factory. So good is the quality of Congo
coffee that in 1894 it realised no less than 100 francs per 100
kilogrammes in the open market at Antwerp.
Caoutchouc (rubber), for countless ages wholly a spontaneous product
of the forests, every year becomes more and more an object of
cultivation. By a decree dated January 5, 1899, it is provided that
in all the forests of the domain caoutchouc trees shall be planted in
the proportion of 150 feet to the ton of caoutchouc collected during
the same period. By a subsequent decree, dated six months later, the
number of caoutchouc trees to be planted for each ton of caoutchouc
collected was raised from 150 feet to 500 feet. The enforcement of
these decrees is attended to by a staff of foresters, consisting of
eight controllers and twelve sub-controllers, working under a chief
inspector.
[Illustration: Shelling Coffee, Stanleyville.]
[Sidenote: Collecting Rubber.]
Until prohibited by State decree, the method of collecting caoutchouc
practised by the natives was to make an incision in the plant
(_liana_), and allow the fluid to run into a jar. Sometimes they
allowed it to run into their hands, and afterwards smeared it over
their bodies, and in that manner it was conveyed to market, where it
was rubbed off with sand. It was an exceedingly wasteful method, or
rather want of method, for the plant thus drawn from was necessarily
killed. Only the prodigious quantity of plants existing on the
Upper Congo and its tributaries has saved it from extinction. Now
caoutchouc is harvested by extracting the fluid from the stem of
the plant in a way that does it no injury, a scientific yet simple
operation easily performed by women and children. The industry has
assumed enormous proportions. The number of caoutchouc plants put
into the ground by companies and by the State are valued at five
million francs. The rubber annually produced in the world amounts at
present to something over 30,000 tons, of which the Congo Free State
exports 5000 tons.
[Sidenote: The Rubber Plant.]
In the African forests the caoutchouc or rubber-bearing plant grows
to a great height, often exceeding 100 feet. It is commonly about
six inches in diameter at its base, and shoots upward to the light
through a dense mass of tropical growth until, failing to find
further support, it falls upon the branches of the tallest trees, and
spreads itself over them. There are numerous other plants of the same
genus which closely resemble it, but their sap lacks the qualities
of true rubber. For several years past the State has experimented
with these plants, and has sent specimens of them to the authorities
at the Botanical Gardens at Brussels, Kew, Berlin, and Paris, for
investigation. The ever-increasing demand for rubber for use in the
industries stimulates the inquiry as to whether or not it is possible
to so treat what is now regarded as “false rubber” that it shall
serve all the purposes of “true rubber.”
Amongst the true rubber lianas in which the Congo Basin abounds
are the following: _Ficus altissima_, _ficus Eetveldeana_, _ficus
elastica_, _ficus nekbuda_, _ficus religiosa_, _manihot glaziovii_
(French name, _ceara_), _clitandra Arnoldiana_ (native name,
_mondongo_), _funtumia elastica_ (French name, _Ireh_), _landolphia
gentillii_, and the _landolphia owariensis_ (native name, _matofe
mengo_).
Constant experiments are being made, privately and by the State, in
the production of copal, sugar, tobacco, and cotton, with results
that justify the confident expectation that at no distant date they
will be profitably exported. The cultivation of the vine, and of
numerous fruits and grasses, receives also much attention, and is
full of promise.
[Illustration: Making Baskets for Transportation of Rubber (Kassai).]
[Sidenote: Elephants and Ivory.]
African ivory is everywhere esteemed for its superiority in colour
and hardness to the Indian variety. The large herds of elephants
inhabiting the forests of the Congo State provide, at present, an
enormous supply; but the Government wisely takes into account the
possibility of its exhaustion, and has prohibited the shooting of
elephants. Wise laws also regulate the cutting and export of lumber;
and the folly of denuding vast regions of trees, such as we have
been guilty of in America, will not be repeated on the Congo.
[Sidenote: Civilising Influences.]
In every way the State has exerted its utmost influence to effect
the moral improvement of the native races, and its efforts have met
with much success. Their liberty and property are very carefully
guarded. Polygamy is not only discountenanced, it is penalised, no
polygamist being eligible for employment, whether military or civil,
by the State. Christian marriages between natives, which ten years
ago numbered eighty-four, now take place by thousands every year.
Alcohol is prohibited over 2,337,500 square kilometres of Congo
territory, the zone within which its sale is tolerated extending to
only 12,500 square kilometres, where its abuse is guarded against
by carefully devised restrictions, rigidly enforced. The sale of
absinthe is absolutely forbidden in every part of the Congo Free
State.
It thus appears that, as the guardian of the welfare of its people,
the Congo Free State has nothing to learn, either in theory or
practice, from the most enlightened governments of the world.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] In the opinion of scientists, sleeping sickness is due to a
trypanomous microbe, the propagating agent of which is the tsetse fly.
CHAPTER XXVI
TRADE, REVENUE, AND TAXES
Among the earlier trading companies on the West Coast of Africa was
the house of Regis et Cie., established at Banana in 1858, whose
successors, Daumas, Béraud et Cie., were carrying on a considerable
business when Stanley explored inland from the mouth of the Congo in
1878. The old Dutch house, the Afrikaansche Handels-Vennootschap, of
Rotterdam, had a branch at Boma in 1860, and the Portuguese firm of
Valle & Azvedo, and the agents of Hatton & Cookson, of Liverpool,
opened trading depots near by a few years later. These firms had,
however, very little direct trade with the interior of the Congo
Basin, commerce in their early time being confined to the coast.
Trade with the interior is almost entirely due to the Belgians.
Before the Free State was founded the trade of Central Africa was
chiefly in slaves. As a Belgian writer quaintly observes, the slave
was at once the means of labour, the main capital, the vehicle
of transport, the common currency, and the usual tribute given
to satisfy the covetousness of native chiefs. The slave was the
standard of wealth and the element of power. In order to estimate the
influence of the slave trade as an economical factor in barbarous
communities, and compare it with the trade _régime_ of civilisation,
it would be necessary to imagine dealings in some object representing
all these uses in our markets.[26]
To destroy the slave trade creates the problem of substituting a
trade that is legitimate, that is founded upon the natural resources
of the country. It simultaneously creates the problem of _labour_.
The soil depends upon the man in the ratio in which man depends upon
the soil. The Belgians heard from Stanley what vast wealth the Congo
contained; but that wealth lay behind difficulties so great that no
one in Europe ventured to pursue it until the indomitable personality
of one man inspired men with the courage to undertake a seemingly
hopeless task. Without a railway from Matadi to Stanley Pool commerce
could not develop in the Congo Basin. This was Stanley’s opinion. His
judgment that the Congo had little value without such a railway in
the region of the Cataracts has been justified. The Belgians built
the railway at a cost nearly treble that of the original estimate.
In fact, while others have been groaning and droning and musing upon
the ethical theories of ideal colonisation and civilisation, in
pamphlets and innocuous books, the Belgians have followed their own
gospel of work and been at their task throughout the waking hours of
each day. Spontaneous initiative, timely energy, unremitting labour,
these appear to be the characteristics of Belgian dominance in
Congoland. Having regard to the habit Europeans have of considering
Americans the great exemplars of an age of materialism and hustle,
there is almost an element of humour in the fact that one of the
first Congolese companies formed under the ægis of the Free State
was founded by an American, General Henry S. Sanford, sometime
United States Minister at Brussels. This was the Sanford Exploring
Expedition, constituted by General Sanford and M. Georges Brugmann in
1887. Its business was that of dealing directly with the natives for
rubber and ivory, and it and the Mateba Syndicate and the Compagnie
du Congo pour le Commerce et l’Industrie are generally regarded as
the pioneers of organised trade in the interior of Central Africa. It
would seem, therefore, that the accident of a king’s friendship with
an American minister, whose wise counsel he often consulted, might
justify at least sentimental interest in the welfare of a region
where the restless spirit of strenuous American life had manifested
its tendencies nearly twenty years ago. Since the day when General
Sanford set the example, forty-eight Belgian and fourteen foreign
companies, with an original capital of 136,000,000 francs, have
established a commerce in Congoland which is attracting the envy of
some and the admiration of many throughout the world.
Before indicating the practical details of the trade and revenue
of the State, a brief glance at the ten years before the Brussels
Conference enabled it to create its support by levying import duties
will recall the fact that from 1878 to 1890 King Leopold personally
expended upwards of 3,000,000 francs a year for the founding
and maintenance of the State, irrespective of the meagre support
derived from other sources. Indeed, no one felt disposed to support
an African enterprise which promised to yield only “enlightened
niggers.” As Stanley sarcastically said in his lectures in England,
too many of his audience measured “civilisation” by the dividends
it produced. The inability of the Free State to support itself from
enthusiastic humanitarians outside of Belgium was significantly
indicated in 1886, when the _revenue_ of the State was less than
75,000 francs! The exports, chiefly ivory, were only 1,750,000
francs, and the Congo Association, when it was merged in the State,
possessed only thirteen stations. Out of two hundred and fifty-four
foreigners on the Congo in 1885-1886, only forty-six were Belgians.
In fact, nothing looked gloomier than the prospect of the new State
in the African jungle; and yet one man, with a superhuman sense of
the future, continued to pour gold and his labours upon that dark
and distant land with its thirty million unenlightened souls. Now,
when from a wilderness and savagery have been evolved civilisation,
a thriving industry, a prolific field and growing market, religion,
order, and prosperity, all that the early pioneer did is utterly lost
and forgotten in the noisy controversy over a rich spoil.
It was by the Brussels Act of 1890 that the State acquired the
right to levy taxes and impose customs dues. What Leopold II. had
expended on behalf of the State in its long formative period was
beyond recovery. It will be recalled that the Belgian Parliament
had sanctioned a loan to the State of 25,000,000 francs, 5,000,000
francs to be paid soon after the Brussels Conference, the remainder
at the rate of 2,000,000 francs a year. To this sum the King, having
abandoned all claim to the huge sum he had previously advanced to the
State, now added an annual subsidy of 1,000,000 francs. The State,
therefore, began the development of its resources with an assured
income of 3,000,000 francs a year—not a large sum when compared with
the responsibility of fighting cannibal slave-raiders with one hand
while tilling the soil, constructing railways, creating posts and
missions, and organising the State’s machinery with the other. Beside
the task in Congoland, the early American colonist enjoyed a holiday
in a land of greater security and healthfulness.
The revenues first provided were on the export of rubber and ivory.
These were fixed, after agreement with the neighbouring States of
France and Portugal, at ten per cent. The duty on vegetable products
was fixed at five per cent. Import duties were as follows: On arms,
ammunition, and salt, ten per cent.; merchandise of any kind, six
per cent.; on spirits, fifteen francs per hectolitre[27] at 50° of
the centesimal alcoholmetre; boats, machinery, and articles for
industrial and agricultural use were exempt till May, 1898, and
thereafter paid only three per cent.
The tax on caoutchouc (rubber) was first fixed at twenty-five
centimes a kilogramme (about five cents on two pounds) equivalent to
four per cent. on its value in Europe. When, however, the Cataracts
Railway was finished, and human porterage along the route from
Stanley Pool to Matadi abolished, the tax on rubber was increased to
eight per cent. of its European value. Another decree of the same
date (February, 1898) provided for the payment of a licence of 5000
francs by all persons establishing a rubber factory or depôt in the
domains. Other sources of revenue are coffee, tea, cocoa, gum-copal,
palm oil, palm nuts, rice, tobacco, maize, sugarcane, vegetables,
fruit, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, vanilla, nutmegs, cloves, and spices.
Great credit is due the local administrators of the Free State for
the progress they have made in a long list of cultivated products,
and the growth of the country’s export trade resulting from Belgian
and native co-operation and industry. For instance, in 1887 the total
exports amounted to only 1,980,441 francs[28], in 1891, 5,353,519
francs, and in 1903, 54,597,835.21.
[Illustration: Collecting Rubber in Forest of Lusambo
(Lualaba-Kassai).]
The following tables indicate at a glance the products imported and
exported, their comparison with previous years, and their value:
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTS EXPORTED FROM THE CONGO FREE STATE DURING 1903
———————————+———————————+—————————————+—————————+—————————————
| SPECIAL COMMERCE | GENERAL COMMERCE
EXPORTS +———————————+—————————————+—————————+—————————————
| Quantity | Value |Quantity | Value
———————————+———————————+—————————————+—————————+—————————————
|_Kilog._[29]| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Kilog._|_Frs._ _Cs._
Arachides | 328,463| 65,692.60| 461,652| 92,330.40
Coffee | 136,148| 129,340.60| 172,674| 164,040.30
Rubber | 5,917,983|47,343,864.00|6,594,804|52,758,432.00
White Copal| 341,883| 649,577.70| 342,317| 650,402.30
Palm Oil | 1,647,434| 971,986.06|1,848,092| 1,090,374.28
Ivory | 184,954| 3,791,557.00| 353,679| 7,250,419.50
Palm Nuts | 4,957,635| 1,487,290.50|5,909,900| 1,772,970.00
Cocoa | 89,365| 125,111.00| 89,365| 125,111.00
Beans | 740| 222.00| 740| 222.00
Maize | 4,750| 546.25| 4,750| 546.25
Rough Gold | 5| 15,000.00| 5| 15,000.00
Rice | 33,654| 16,827.00| 33,654| 16,827.00
Sésame | | | 35,810| 17,905.00
Tobacco | 235| 70.50| 235| 70.50
Wood | 5 m. 3| 750.00| 5 m. 3| 750.00
| +—————————————+ +—————————————
Totals | |54,597,835.21| |63,955,400.53
———————————+———————————+—————————————+—————————+—————————————
TOTAL VALUE OF EXPORTS FOR 1903
—————————————————————————+—————————————+——————————————
PLACE OF EXPORT | Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
—————————————————————————+—————————————+——————————————
|_Frs._ _Cs._|_Frs._ _Cs._
Free State | |
(Upper Congo) |51,790,451.05|{
Free State | |{54,597,835.21
(Lower Congo) | 2,807,384.16|{
French Possessions | |
(Upper Congo) | | 6,738,689.35
Portuguese Possessions | |
(Left Bank of the Congo)| | 1,293,043.47
German Possessions | |
(West Coast of Africa) | | 895,611.50
Portuguese Possessions | |
(Basin of the Shiloango)| | 271,840.18
Portuguese Possessions | |
(Sea Coast) | | 158,380.82
—————————————————————————+—————————————+——————————————
Totals |54,597,835.21| 63,955,400.53
—————————————————————————+—————————————+——————————————
COMPARISON OF EXPORTS FOR 1903 WITH THOSE OF PREVIOUS YEARS
——————————————————————————+—————————————————————————————
| VALUES
YEARS +——————————————+——————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
——————————————————————————+——————————————+——————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
Second half-year, 1886[30]| 886,432.03| 3,456,050.41
Year 1887 | 1,980,441.45| 7,667,969.41
” 1888 | 2,609,300.35| 7,392,348.17
” 1889 | 4,297,543.85| 8,572,519.19
” 1890 | 8,242,199.43| 14,109,781.27
” 1891 | 5,353,519.37| 10,535,619.25
” 1892 | 5,487,632.89| 7,529,979.68
” 1893 | 6,106,134.68| 7,514,791.39
” 1894 | 8,761,622.15| 11,031,704.48
” 1895 | 10,943,019.07| 12,135,656.16
” 1896 | 12,389,599.85| 15,091,137.62
” 1897 | 15,146,976.32| 17,457,090.85
” 1898 | 22,163,481.86| 25,396,706.40
” 1899 | 36,061,959.25| 39,138,283.67
” 1900 | 47,377,401.33| 51,775,978.09
” 1901 | 50,488,394.31| 54,007,581.07
” 1902 | 50,069,514.97| 56,962,349.44
” 1903 | 54,597,835.21| 63,955,400.53
——————————————————————————+——————————————+——————————————
—————————————————————————+———————————————+——————————————
DESTINATION | Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
—————————————————————————+———————————————+——————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._ | _Frs._ _Cs._
Belgium | 51,944,628.76 | 60,119,981.46
Portuguese Possessions | |
(Sea Coast) | 1,786,869.55 | 1,872,934.45
Low Countries | 415,558.85 | 1,293,801.56
England | 213,602.45 | 297,676.91
Portuguese Possessions | |
(Left Bank of the Congo)| 66,433.75 | 85,057.75
Portugal | 63,471.62 | 85,823.62
British Possessions | |
(East Coast of Africa) | 50,327.50 | 50,327.50
Germany | 22,074.48 | 103,797.78
French Possessions | |
(Upper Congo) | 16,269.75 | 16,269.75
France | 6,238.00 | 17,369.25
German Possessions | |
(East Coast of Africa) | 7,277.50 | 7,277.50
German Possessions | |
(West Coast of Africa) | 2,500.00 | 2,500.00
Italy | 1,312.00 | 1,312.00
British Possessions | |
(West Coast of Africa) | 820.00 | 820.00
Sweden and Norway | 287.00 | 287.00
United States of America | 164.00 | 164.00
—————————————————————————+———————————————+——————————————
| 54,597,835.21 | 63,995,400.00
—————————————————————————+———————————————+——————————————
STATISTICS OF GOODS IMPORTED INTO THE CONGO FREE STATE DURING 1903
_Summary_
———————————————————————————————————————————+———————————————————————————
| VALUES
GOODS +—————————————+—————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
Matches | 17,367.67 | 21,375.79
{Horned Cattle | 15,360.00 | 15,360.00
{Sheep | 2,197.20 | 2,197.20
Live Animals {Pigs | 48.00 | 48.00
and {Horses | 7,379.48 | 7,379.48
Fodder {Donkeys and Mules | 10,370.40 | 10,370.40
{Others | 227.40 | 227.40
{Fodder | 1,654.08 | 1,654.08
| |
{Cannons | 66,306.18 | 66,306.18
{Piston Guns | 34,788.66 | 48,541.45
{Flint Guns | 26,848.44 | 74,585.18
{Other Guns (Improved | |
{ Systems) | 68,215.97 | 90,044.50
{Pistols and | |
{ Revolvers | 10,295.82 | 12,347.82
Arms, {Charge Pieces | 23,516.53 | 23,834.71
Ammunition, {Side Arms | 1,356.26 | 1,356.26
and belts {Cartridges | 292,323.80 | 308,606.84
{Caps | 8,889.14 | 16,558.34
{Gunpowder | 167,024.44 | 271,145.04
{Ordinary and Blasting | |
{ Powder | 2,046.61 | 2,963.41
{Explosives | 48,183.67 | 48,183.67
{Sundries | 76,749.90 | 79,268.93
{Belts | 33,720.30 | 34,141.26
| |
{Steamers | 845,957.00 | 845,957.00
{Engines and Boilers | 30,920.00 | 56,332.83
{Charge Pieces for Engines | |
Boats, Engines, { and Boilers | 223,517.94 | 302,308.83
and {Boats and Sailing | |
Detached { Vessels | 66,950.00 | 66,950.00
Pieces for {Detached Pieces for Boats| 715,858.90 | 715,858.90
Boats {Canoes | 22,981.20 | 22,981.20
{Sail-Cloth | 5,216.44 | 6,553.18
{Anchors and Chains for | |
{ Navy | 2,585.71 | 2,848.27
{Wood for Masts | 120.60 | 120.60
{Other Rigging and | |
{ Apparatus | 8,781.91 | 9,302.88
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
N. B.—The _Special Commerce_ includes goods for consumption which are
declared directly they arrive, or at the time of their removal from
the warehouse.
_General Commerce_ embraces all goods which enter the territory
of the State that may be declared for consumption, transit, or
warehouse.
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| VALUES
GOODS +—————————————+—————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
Jewelry {Gold and Silver Jewelry | 183.30| 183.30
and {Other Jewelry | 4,806.60| 7,144.68
Clock-work {Watches and Fittings | 11,315.99| 11,635.07
{Clocks and Alarums | 5,819.75| 5,963.75
Carved Wood and Wooden Objects | 287,143.01| 325,245.95
{Beer | 203,181.34| 207,279.72
{Brandy, at 50 Degrees or | |
{ Less | 96,725.40| 116,101.64
Liquors {Brandy, at more than 50 | |
{ Degrees | 113,987.22| 147,452.99
{Other Brandy (including | |
{ Liqueurs) | 85,148.69| 133,834.91
{Wines | 890,618.56| 1,053,073.73
Candles | 39,473.91| 49,133.16
Coffee | 16,041.49| 24,265.51
Camping Equipments | 60,143.52| 66,217.44
{Briquettes of Coal | 220,681.79| 220,681.79
Fuel {Coke | 103.20| 103.20
{Coal | 1,470.36| 1,470.36
{Charcoal | 1,574.83| 1,574.83
Rope, Cord, and Fishing Implements | 49,973.37| 54,429.73
Colours, Varnish, and Painters’ Materials | 90,181.70| 96,694.46
{Canned Meats, Fish, | |
{ Vegetables, Butter, Cheese, | |
{ etc | 2,117,536.81| 2,501,029.49
{Starch, Biscuits, Flour, etc | 378,337.04| 478,102.87
{Seeds (Beans, Oatmeal, | |
Alimentary { Lentils, Barley, etc.) | 8,696.69| 9,331.56
Provisions {Dried Fish | 516,216.60| 547,529.61
{Potatoes and Onions | 67,376.77| 73,211.63
{Rice | 412,772.93| 472,494.35
{Salt | 101,206.70| 132,471.30
{Sundries (Spices, Yeast, | |
{ Tea, etc) | 175,696.59| 220,038.06
Chemicals | 42,450.49| 46,085.27
Pottery and Earthenware | 51,218.48| 58,014.07
Seeds and Berries | 33,491.80| 36,869.80
Clothing and Lingerie | 1,112,571.28| 1,284,929.00
Harness and Saddlery | 35,262.87| 51,670.17
Oils, {Petroleum | 41,865.91| 44,597.69
Grease, and {Oils, Tar, Grease, Resin, | |
Bitumen {etc | 126,940.40| 133,992.10
Tools, Scientific Apparatus, etc | 126,258.93| 134,216.20
Machines, {Engines | 29,400.00| 29,400.00
{Cars | 46,073.88| 46,073.88
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| VALUES
GOODS +—————————————+—————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
Machinery, {Machines and Various | |
Tools, { Machinery | 244,595.21| 291,491.21
Telegraph {Charge Pieces and | |
and { Accessories | 147,997.82| 150,092.90
Telephone {Various Tools | 300,770.38| 322,553.56
Apparatus, {Material and Apparatus for | |
Metallic { Telegraph and Telephone | 32,454.55| 40,776.55
Structures {Various Metallic Structures | 337,512.43| 340,782.43
| |
{Bricks | 2,098.38| 2,098.38
Building {Lime | 13,166.52| 14,541.84
Materials {Cement | 98,351.29| 100,560.41
{Other Material | 116,396.30| 128,908.61
Mercery and Perfumery | 135,047.31| 163,413.99
{Steel Bars | 596.46| 1,681.08
{Steel | 209.52| 2,292.10
{Steel Rails | 378,287.50| 378,287.50
{Steel Plates | 4,941.61| 7,587.61
{Other Steel | 1,335.60| 1,454.40
{Copper and Brass | 479,356.67| 522,850.66
{Other Copper and Brass | 21,452.05| 27,190.16
{Tin | 1,667.14| 1,979.14
Metals {Iron Bars | 885.32| 1,583.24
{Pure Iron | 2,772.24| 2,772.24
{Iron Nails | 55,678.83| 58,704.06
{Iron | 6,544.36| 9,386.68
{Iron Girders | 602.48| 602.48
{Sheet Iron | 68,334.43| 77,021.87
{Other Iron | 32,279.45| 49,102.97
{Mercury | 348.90| 348.90
{Lead | 1,489.99| 2,704.75
{Zinc | 6,792.88| 8,515.78
Furniture and Furnishings | 119,458.27| 133,537.33
Papers, {Account-Books and Papers | 73,873.84| 76,413.49
Cards, {Papers and Cards | 28,598.79| 31,743.82
Office {Office Stationery and | |
Stationery { Printed Matter (Sundry) | 115,664.81| 139,694.47
Chemical Products | 63,644.81| 70,509.15
Pharmaceutical Products | 224,577.48| 248,789.45
Ironmongery (Kitchen Utensils, Household | |
Articles, Sundries such as Copper | |
and Iron Bands, Mirrors, etc.) | 640,032.60| 784,079.20
Soaps | 91,364.23| 106,753.67
Tobacco {Cigars and Cigarettes | 80,874.89| 102,181.71
{Other Tobacco | 72,897.57| 91,313.90
| |
Tissues {Unbleached Cotton | 835,792.11| 895,633.90
{Bleached Cotton | 141,243.69| 180,482.79
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| VALUES
GOODS +—————————————+—————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
{Printed Cotton | 688,813.04| 772,302.83
{Dyes, Cotton | 3,966,602.10| 4,632,076.80
{Other Kinds, Cotton | 123,052.95| 132,819.78
{Raw Wool | ...| 152.06
{Woollen Prints | 446.94| 446.94
{Woollen Dyes | 52,766.94| 54,174.68
Tissues {Woollen Cloth | 1,060.20| 1,060.20
{Other Wool | 48,863.76| 60,844.02
{Hemp and Jute | 190,920.12| 223,715.70
{Silks | 8,914.84| 14,228.44
{Velvet | 6,995.52| 9,330.42
{Shawls | 2,036.26| 7,083.20
{Carpet | 17,685.73| 22,616.82
{Awnings, oil-cloth, and | |
{ Tarpaulin | 58,068.92| 60,320.68
| |
Glassware {Glassware | 50,128.43| 58,606.07
and Fancy {Fancy Glass | 253,278.71| 324,955.06
Glass { | |
+—————————————+—————————————
Totals |20,896,331.02|23,933,375.02
———————————————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
_IMPORTS_
YEAR 1903
RECAPITULATORY TABLE, SHOWING COUNTRIES FROM WHICH PRODUCTS WERE
IMPORTED
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
COUNTRIES | Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
|_Frs._ _Cs._ | _Frs._ _Cs._
Belgium |15,699,535.09|16,524,451.18
England | 2,390,779.79| 2,790,509.07
Germany | 639,098.72| 781,608.72
France | 584,372.36| 1,724,921.27
Low Countries | 491,758.23| 975,031.13
Portuguese Possessions (Sea Coast) | 451,903.78| 478,443.69
Portugal | 155,500.81| 160,004.16
Austria | 110,976.30| 115,275.70
Denmark | 85,195.04| 85,607.06
Italy | 76,616.46| 81,730.76
Switzerland | 69,763.40| 69,857.22
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
COUNTRIES | Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
|_Frs._ _Cs._ | _Frs._ _Cs._
English Possessions (East Coast, | |
Africa) | 59,210.70| 59,210.73
Spain (Canary Isles) | 27,645.02| 27,645.02
Zanzibar | 13,301.28| 13,301.28
Sweden and Norway | 11,790.87| 12,077.07
Portuguese Possessions (Left Bank | |
of the Congo) | 8,245.69| 8,245.69
British Possessions (West Coast, | |
Africa) | 5,467.20| 5,467.20
United States of America | 5,274.33| 9,285.88
Senegal | 4,800.00| 4,800.00
Algeria | 2,647.20| 2,971.20
Spain | 1,141.55| 1,166.03
French Possessions (Upper Congo) | 731.28| 1,121.28
German Possessions (East Coast, | |
Africa) | 434.82| 434.82
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg | 84.00| 148.86
Republic of Liberia | 60.00| 60.00
+—————————————+—————————————
Totals |20,896,331.02|23,933,375.02
———————————————————————————————————+—————————————+—————————————
COMPARISON OF IMPORTS FOR 1903 WITH THOSE OF PRECEDING YEARS
———————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+——————————————
| VALUES
YEARS +——————————————+——————————————
| Special | General
| Commerce | Commerce
———————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+——————————————
| _Frs._ _Cs._| _Frs._ _Cs._
From May 9th to December 31st, 1892[31]| 4,984,455.15| 5,679,195.16
Year 1893 | 9,175,103.34| 10,148,418.26
” 1894 | 11,194,722.96| 11,854,021.72
” 1895 | 10,685,847.99| 11,836,033.76
” 1896 | 15,227,776.44| 16,040,370.80
” 1897 | 22,181,462.49| 23,427,197.83
” 1898 | 23,084,446.65| 25,185,138.66
” 1899 | 22,325,846.71| 27,102,581.18
” 1900 | 24,724,108.91| 31,803,213.96
” 1901 | 23,102,064.07| 26,793,079.37
” 1902 | 18,080,909.25| 20,699,723.98
” 1903 | 20,896,331.02| 23,933,375.02
———————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+——————————————
[Illustration: Church and Rectory, Matadi.]
These tables show what has provided the enemies of the Congo Free
State with a great deal of puerile prattle—an excess of exports over
imports which is more apparent than real. One of the bitter critics
who write from Liverpool repeats the charge in the press that the
Sovereign of the Free State is denuding the Congo of its natural
resources by exporting more than he imports. In this respect a German
writer in _Der Tag_, Berlin, September, 26, 1904, not at all friendly
to the Congo State (because it is diverting the Zanzibar trade of
the Fatherland), has some pertinent things to say of the excess of
exports over imports in the British colonies of South Nigeria and
Lagos. Herr Eberhard von Schkopp discusses the Congolese, British,
French, and German trade statistics in the following concise manner:
In 1901 the Congo State importations reached twenty-three million
francs whilst the exports attained fifty millions, and the transit
trade seven millions. This excess of exports over imports has been
turned to account to support the attacks—justified besides—upon the
Congo State’s system of government.
If that circumstance is of a kind to weigh in the balance, it ought
to be imputed as a ground of complaint against all nations carrying
on a practical colonial policy, and whose possessions export more
than they import. The Congo State is neither the only nor even the
first colony where this excess has been exhibited.
The exports of the English colony of South Nigeria have always
surpassed the imports. Here are the figures:
1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
Imports 750,000 655,000 640,000 732,000 723,000 pounds ster.
Exports 844,000 785,000 750,000 774,000 888,000 pounds ster.
Statistics of the trade of the English colony of Lagos:
1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
Imports 881,000 758,000 892,000 960,000 832,000 pounds ster.
Exports 975,000 810,000 882,000 915,000 885,000 pounds ster.
Here also, except for 1898 and 1899, the total of exports exceeds
that of imports. The case is the same with the commerce of the Gold
Coast and the Gambia.
The French colonies also—Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Guinea, and French
Congo—can also boast of having frequently had their exports higher
than their imports.
No one has ever yet pretended to make that a grievance against the
English and the French, and it must appear astonishing that the
favourable trade statistics of the Congo State should lead to an
attack on the system of its administration.
It would be very desirable if, following the example of the Congo
State, and as we have seen of the English and French colonies,
our possessions [the German] across the sea were to show exports
exceeding their imports. For a commercial firm that is the best
proof of success, and it cannot in any way be concluded from this
fact that the “poor” blacks of Africa are being exploited by
Europeans devoid of conscience.
But let us see if the Congo State exports really do exceed the
imports, and if so, by what sum. The exports of the State are
estimated in the tables at their value in Antwerp, after they have
been harvested, prepared for transport from remote parts of the Congo
Basin, stood charges of porterage, freight, export duties, taxes,
insurance, brokerage at the African and European terminals, and
merchant profits of an indefinite measure—in all, at least half their
European value. The original value of Central African ivory, rubber,
palm oil, gum copal, and other exports is, in fact, less than half
their market value in Europe. In other words, if the exports of the
Congo State were estimated at their value as they left the forests or
the native collector, instead of aggregating 54,597,835.21 francs for
the year 1903, they would show but 27,298,917.16 francs.
On the other hand, the imports, also estimated at their European
value, but having similar distances to undergo and similar charges
to bear, represent when they reach their consumers at least double
their invoiced European cost. On a proper basis of value in their
ultimate African market the imports for the year 1903 would amount to
42,792,662.04 francs. Thus the exports would stand at 27,298,917.16
francs, and the imports at 42,792,662.04 francs for the year 1903.
But even this is not a just comparison with the exports and imports
of the British colonies, inasmuch as in the colony of Lagos, for
instance, the imports include about sixty-five per cent. of alcoholic
liquors,[32] leaving the native the beneficiary of an aggregate
import of really civilising products of only thirty-five per cent. of
the total, while the Congo imports, containing only five per cent.
of alcoholic liquors, bestows upon the native legitimate products
for his civilisation to the extent of ninety-five per cent. of the
total of all the imports of the State. Deducting, therefore, from the
Lagos imports sixty of their sixty-five per cent. of gin, rum, and
whisky, thereby placing them on an equation with the imports of the
Congo, we find in Herr von Schkopp’s figures an arraignment of Lagos
“civilisation” which indicates where the real curse of Central Africa
abides.
The foregoing is an astonishing record of exports and imports for a
country practically developed in the short period which has elapsed
since 1886. Congolese products are largely sent to Antwerp and, as
the tables show, Belgium is by far the largest exporter and importer.
A few years ago England was the chief exporter to the Congo of its
cotton stuffs and other goods, but the same laggard spirit which
caused Englishmen once interested in the Anglo-Belgian India-Rubber
Company (known as the Abir) and other undertakings to abandon their
Congolese enterprises has lost England a large and growing market
in Central Africa. That the Belgians have developed the Mid-African
trade by dint of hard work, organisation, and the risk of capital, is
a state of things intolerable to those who have neglected and lost
it. The awkward English monetary system is alone responsible for a
large percentage of the world-wide diminution of British trade. All
other nations have shown greater adaptability to the characteristics
of foreign markets, and the capabilities and peculiarities of the
peoples who compose those markets. The Germans, French, and Americans
circulate their catalogues and price lists in the language of the
country where they seek a market and quote prices in its coin, giving
the equivalents in francs, marks, and dollars. British merchants, on
the other hand, have adhered to their ancient custom of employing
a monetary system so needlessly cumbersome that it can hardly be
attributed to intelligent origin.
Belgian manufacturers have patiently studied the needs of the natives
and have successfully endeavoured to supply them with the textures
and food stuffs, machinery, agricultural implements, and building
material which, being of simple construction, they are capable of
putting to intelligent use.
The mineral wealth of the country which prospecting during the
last five years has revealed in many sections of the Congo Basin,
it is not the purpose of this volume to more than mention. Fine
outcroppings of gold, coal, and copper have been discovered in
the Katanga district in the south-eastern corner of the State. It
has lately been rumoured in Europe that foreign prospectors have
discovered territory marvellously rich in gold near the borders
of British East Africa in the south, and again in the Enclave of
Lado in the north. On this subject, and the likelihood of early and
interesting mineral developments in that region, the Congo State
authorities appear to have considerable knowledge. They do not,
however, discuss the matter with any degree of candour. When the
secret of certain political phases of Congolese history shall have
been revealed, a connexion may be found between the mining and rubber
industry and the calumnious campaign now proceeding against the
State. But with that story, the present volume has naught to do.
The State’s revenue, consisting of import and export dues, tolls,
excise, and direct personal taxation, is indicated in the following
table:
——————————————+———————————————————————————————————————+—————————————
1902 | | 1903
——————————————+ Nature of Receipts +—————————————
Estimates | | Estimates
——————————————+———————————————————————————————————————+—————————————
_Frs._ | | _Frs._
3,000.00 | Registration Taxes | 3,000.00
70,000.00 | Sale and Letting of Domanial Land, |
| Timber Felling, etc | 20,000.00
|{Customs Duties on Exports, } |
|{ Frs. 4,550,000.00 } |
6,055,000.00 |{Customs Duties on Imports, including} | 6,150,000.00
|{ the Duties on Alcohol, } |
|{ Frs. 1,600,000.00 } |
580,000.00 | Direct Personal Taxation | 600,000.00
1,000.00 | Road Tolls | 1,000.00
125,000.00 | Taxes on Timber Felling | 140,000.00
155,000.00 | Postal Receipts | 155,000.00
55,000.00 | Maritime Rates | 60,000.00
25,000.00 | Judicial Receipts | 25,000.00
8,000.00 | Chancery Duties | 6,000.00
4,160,000.00 | Transport, and Different Services |
| of the State | 3,100,000.00
60,000.00 | Taxes on Portage | 60,000.00
15,452,000.00 | Proceeds from the Private Domain |
| of the State, from Tributes and |
| Taxes Paid in Kind by the Natives |16,440,000.00
1,703,000.00 | Interests and Dividends | 1,100,000.00
122,000.00 | Fees for Licences Granted to |
| Congolese Companies | 105,000.00
135,000.00 | Extra and Casual Receipts | 125,000.00
——————————————+ +—————————————
28,709,000.00 | Total Receipts |28,090,000.00
——————————————+———————————————————————————————————————+—————————————
It will be observed that by far the greater proportion of the State’s
revenue is derived from the State lands (_Domaine privé_), which is
fully considered in a succeeding chapter. Direct personal taxation
is a comparatively small item, being only 600,000 francs, or one
forty-seventh part of the year’s budget. Import duties, including
duties on alcohol, are only 1,600,000 francs, while duties on exports
amount to 4,550,000 francs. These duties were, as hereinbefore
stated, fixed by arrangement with France and Portugal on April 8,
1892, for a term of ten years, and by a protocol dated May 10, 1902,
extended until July 2, 1905.
The export duty collected on India-rubber and ivory under these
tariff agreements between the interested Powers are as follows:
Ivory, in pieces or sticks Frs. 10 per kilo.
Tusks of less weight than 6 kilos ” 16 ” ”
Tusks above 6 kilos in weight ” 21 ” ”
India-rubber ” 4 ” ”
“Personal taxes,” says Descamps, “are levied upon three bases: 1, The
area of inhabited buildings and enclosures; 2, the number of employés
in service; 3, the ships and boats used by tax-payers.” As to the
taxes _en nature_, levied upon the natives and already referred to in
a previous chapter, the Chevalier de Cuvelier, Secretary of State of
the Congo Free State, says in his official capacity in the _Bulletin
Officiel_ for June, 1903, that “it is as legitimate as any other
kind of tax. It does not impose upon the native obligations of a
different nature or heavier than the system of taxation employed in
neighbouring colonies, such, for instance, as the British hut-tax.
It is the native’s contribution to the public charges incurred by
the State in exchange for the protection given him. In the Congo
State this participation in the State’s support is light, seeing
that it represents on an average not more than forty hours of native
labour in a month.” It is the payment of tax in this form that the
State terms _prestation_, which, if literally translated, would mean
enforced labour upon roads.
In 1902 a general reduction of direct taxation was decreed. At the
same time the taxation of all religious, charitable, and scientific
institutions and enterprises was reduced to 50 per cent. of the
rate which prevailed when the State had no revenue from import
dues or from its domain lands. By a decree of 25th June, 1902, all
personal taxes are entitled to one-fifth reduction so long as the
State lands (_domaine_), tributes, and taxes in kind, yield the sum
of 17,000,000 francs annually. In order to develop and extend the
public highways, and works increasing the facilities of commerce,
religion, agriculture, etc., the native _prestations_ and their
proper distribution have formed the subject of numerous decrees,
all seeking to equitably adjust this form of taxation. One of the
later decrees, that of 18th November, 1903, provides, amongst other
measures protective of the native, that “In order to fix the tax
justly and equitably among the natives, the territorial chiefs must
take into account the nature of the work to be done, the age and the
skill of the natives subjected to the _prestation_, and finally the
obligation of the State to remunerate the natives for all work
done by them.”[33]
[Illustration: Native Carpenters at Work, Mission of New Antwerp,
1897.]
The items constituting the State’s annual expenditure throw an
interesting light on the subject of these native _prestations_ in
the Congo State. The State’s enemies found their charges of slavery
largely upon the fact that the State enforces this labour upon the
natives instead of imposing a tax _in specie_. In 1903 the State paid
to its European officials and employés in the Congo _force publique_
the sum of 1,800,000 francs, whereas during the same period the wages
it paid to natives in the same service amounted to 2,050,000 francs.
In developing the State lands at a cost of 6,014,790 francs during
that year, the sum of 2,802,190 francs was paid to natives as wages.
For extending agriculture and replanting India-rubber vines the sum
of 1,373,932 francs was expended in 1903. The following items, taken
from the table of expenditure for the same year, may be interesting:
HOME DEPARTMENT
_Frs._
The Administrative Service of Europe 165,000.00
The Administrative Service of Africa 3,180,310.00
The Army 7,701,765.00
Naval Expenditure 2,023,376.00
Sanitary Department 504,120.00
Public Works 1,081,885.00
Missions and Educational Establishments 121,425.00
Expenses relating to some Transports in Africa, not
Drawn up in the Budget 1,600,000.00
FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT
The Administrative Service of Europe 99,000.00
The Administrative Service of Africa 503,065.00
Agriculture 1,373,932.00
Exploitation of the Domain 6,041,790.00
Savings-Bank, Interest of the Loans and Guaranteed
Stock 1,656,228.00
FOREIGN OFFICE AND JUSTICE
Administrative Service of Europe 227,100.00
Postal Department 66,000.00
Navigation 140,200.00
Justice 910,000.00
Worship 250,000.00
The currency of the Congo Free State consists of copper, silver, and
gold coins and paper notes. The former are issued under a decree
of 27th July, 1887, which established the monetary system upon the
gold standard. The gold coins are of the value of twenty francs; the
silver coins are the five, two, one franc, and the fifty centime
piece. The copper coins are the ten, five, two, and one centime
pieces.
Paper Currency. By a decree of February 7, 1896, with the object
of facilitating business transactions between the different parts
of the State, banknotes of the State, payable to the bearer at the
General Treasury of the Congo Free State, in Brussels, were issued.
This decree sanctioned a first issue of notes to the value of
400,000 francs.
An order of the Secretary of State of February 8, 1896, limited the
value of the issued notes to a sum of 269,850 francs, comprising
2,000 notes of 100 francs each, and 6,985 ten franc notes.
Formerly, in the Lower Congo, agents of the State and merchants
were accustomed to give the natives, in exchange for their
services, a _mokande_ or cheque, which enabled them to purchase
what they required at the factories.
It is evident that silver, copper, and paper currency of the State
have a great advantage over the _mokande_ or cheque system, these
latter often being only payable at a fixed date and by certain
persons. At first the circulation of money was slow and difficult.
It was only with a good deal of trouble that foreign money was
displaced in the Lower Congo, and in the interior there was the
same difficulty in abolishing the custom of barter, and the usage
of the _mitako_, or brass wire.
Finally, to accelerate the introduction of State currency, the
Government decreed:
1. To pay the soldiers and native workmen in cash, and also to pay
in the same manner for all goods bought from the natives by the
State;
2. To stop all payments in kind at the stations of the Lower Congo;
3. To substitute for the rations formerly issued by the State to
the agents, an equivalent in cash, and so forth.
Immediately after the enforcing of these measures the State
currency began to circulate rapidly, and merchants no longer
hesitated to open retail stores, where the natives in the
employment of the State and commercial companies, and other natives
as well, came to exchange their money for European goods.
At the present time, in the region south of Stanley Pool, the
greater part of the commercial transactions between Europeans and
natives is carried on through the medium of the State currency, and
in the native markets it is no longer possible to purchase anything
except with the silver or copper Congolese money—the preference
being given to silver.[34]
The native’s love of tinsel causes a large quantity of the silver and
copper coins put into circulation to disappear from the sphere of
commerce. Congolese vanity manifests itself in many forms. Necklaces,
earrings, bracelets, anklets, and other ornaments are made of the
State coins, and worn by the men and women of all the tribes which
come in touch with the Congo coinage. Powerful chiefs are often
buried with many coins placed upon their bodies.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Descamps.
[27] About twenty-two gallons.
[28] Reported in the _Bulletin Officiel_, 1898.
[29] 1 kilogramme equals 2.20 lbs.
[30] Statistics of exports were not taken until after July 1, 1886.
[31] The collection of import duty commenced May 9, 1892.
[32] The revenue of the British colony of Lagos for the last three
years available was derived as follows:
1898 1899 1900-1
_Fcs._ _Fcs._ _Fcs._
Alcohol 3,386,450.00 3,288,250.00 3,345,850.00
Tobacco 273,250.00 266,125.00 379,150.00
Salt 40,075.00 43,750.00 140,800.00
Cotton Goods 428,075.00 382,850.00 432,450.00
Other Articles 366,650.00 661,350.00 799,775.00
The following is a comparison between the alcoholic liquor imported
into Lagos and the Congo Free State:
_Lagos_ _Congo Free State_
Gin 463,380 gallons
Rum 129,780 ”
Whiskey 8,100 ”
_______
601,260 ” Total consumption = 43,300 gallons.
Thus for every gallon of alcohol imported into the Congo Free State
(1,000,000 square miles in area,) there are imported into British
Lagos (3,460 square miles in area), thirteen and seven-tenths
gallons, or as 5 per cent. is to 68½ per cent. of total revenue.
[33] Report of Vice-Governor-General, July 1904.
[34] Descamps.
CHAPTER XXVII
MISSIONS AND SCHOOLS
[Sidenote: Berlin Act on Missions.]
It will be remembered that clause VI. of the Berlin Act enacts that
“They [the interested Powers] shall, without distinction of creed or
nation, protect and favour all religions, scientific or charitable
institutions, and undertakings created and organised for the above
ends, or which aim at instructing the natives, and bringing home
to them the blessings of civilisation. Christian missionaries,
scientists, and explorers, with their followers, property, and
collections, shall likewise be the object of especial protection.”
For this enlightened enactment the thanks of the world are due to the
Count de Launay, of Italy. In proposing its inclusion in the Berlin
Act, Count de Launay said: “It is to scientific men and explorers
that we owe the marvellous discoveries made during these latter
years in Africa. The missionaries, for their part, lend valuable
assistance in winning these countries over to the civilisation which
is inseparable from religion. It is our duty to encourage them, to
protect them all, both present and future.”
How faithfully the Congo Government has carried out clause VI. of the
Berlin Act, impartially and completely administering it in the spirit
in which it was conceived, is apparent in the number and diversity
of the Christian missions at present existing in the Congo State.
[Sidenote: Protestant Missions.]
Upon Protestants rests the honour of being first in the endeavour
to evangelise the races inhabiting the countries of the Congo Free
State. Of their numerous missions, the Baptist Missionary Society of
London was first in the field, it having been established so long ago
as 1877. It has posts at Matadi, Tumba, Takussu, Bopoto, Monsembe,
Bolobo, Lukolela, Kinshassa, and Gombe Lutete, and its missionaries
are the Messrs. George Grenfell, Ross Phillips, J. H. Weecks, A.
E. Scrivener, Kerend Smiths, Lawson Forfeit, Whitehead, Stapleton,
Bentley, J. Howell, Kirkland, Frame, and Kempton.
Next, in respect of age, comes the American Baptist Missionary
Union, founded in 1883, which now includes the earlier Livingstone
Inland Mission, founded in 1879. It has posts at Matadi, Pallaballa,
Lukungu, Kimpese, Banza, Leopoldville, and Bolengi, and is served by
the Messrs. C. H. Harvey, A. M. D. Sims, W. S. Leslie, J. Clarke, and
Faris.
The Congo Balolo Mission is very active. Though it has but six
posts—Lulangi, Bongandanga, Bonginda, Ikau, Leopoldville, and
Baringa—it has a numerous staff, including Mr. and Mrs. Morgan,
Gilchrist, Whiteside, Armstrong, Ellery, Lawes, Ruskin, Gamman,
Jeffrey, Harris, and Frost; the Messrs. Beale, Bond, Padfield,
Rankin, Boudot, Wallbaum, Steel, McDonald, and Stannard; and the
Misses Padfield, Cork, and Amory.
Other important missions are the Christian and Missionary Alliance,
the Swedish Missionary Society, the Garenganze Evangelical Mission,
the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, and the Bishop Taylor
Self-Supporting Mission.
Each mission owns lands, either absolutely or in tenancy, the Baptist
Missionary Society Corporation heading the list with no fewer than
fifteen, being followed by the American Baptist Missionary Union with
fourteen, and the International Missionary Alliance with thirteen.
The other missions have between one and eight locations each, their
field of action being throughout the Upper, Middle, and Lower Congo.
All these missions are Protestant. Their work is done by between
two and three hundred white missionaries, to say nothing of native
evangelists, and they dispose of a considerable revenue, subscribed,
for the most part, by the Protestants of Great Britain and the United
States.
[Sidenote: Mission Steamers.]
Of the five large missionary steamers in the Congo State, four are
owned by Protestants. The _Peace_ and the _Goodwill_ belong to the
English Baptist Mission, the _Henri Reed_ to the American Baptist
Mission, and the _Pioneer_ to the English Balololand Mission. Roman
Catholics own only one mission steamer, _Our Lady of Perpetual
Help_.[35]
[Sidenote: Roman Catholic Missions.]
As might be expected from its history, the prevailing faith in
Congoland is the Roman Catholic. The Congo Free State tolerates all
religions, no one of them enjoying a privilege denied to the others.
Unfortunately the Protestants are split up into several sects; but
there is no division among the Roman Catholics, and this fact has
resulted largely in favour of the growth of the latter.
The White Fathers began their mission in Congoland in 1878, a year
later than the first Protestant mission. They were followed by the
Scheut Fathers in 1888; the Trappists, 1892; the Jesuits, 1893; the
Priests of the Sacred Heart, 1897; the Prémontré Fathers, 1898;
and the Redemptionists, 1899. There are also the missionaries
of the Ghent Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Notre Dame, the
Trappistines, the Franciscans, and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of
Mary.
The wide-reaching results of the earnest labours of these
self-denying evangelists is apparent in the existence to-day of 59
permanent and 29 temporary posts; 384 missionaries and sisters; 528
farm chapels; 113 churches and chapels; 523 oratories; 3 schools of
the second degree; 75 primary schools; 440 elementary schools (in
which native teachers instruct in the elements of reading, writing,
and arithmetic); 7 hospitals, 71 Christian villages, and 72,383
Christians and catechumens.
From statistics such as these, pregnant as they are with proof of
the onward march of civilisation, it is a relief to turn to records
in words. Here are two extracts from a diary kept by the Rev. Father
Grison, missionary in charge of St. Gabriel’s, Stanley Falls. The
diary from which they are taken was written in odd moments snatched
from an exceptionally busy life in a far-off land, with no idea that
any line of it would ever be given to the world.
Aug. 16, 1902. Yesterday we had 17 baptisms and I administered Holy
Communion to more than 300 people.
HOLY WEEK. If it had not been for the colour of the congregation
kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, you could not have believed
you were in Central Africa. The church was filled with flowers, and
a large number of people kept coming during the whole time.
* * * * *
We did not know exactly how things were going on at Banalya, but
we did hear that our Christians were prosperous and had won over
several catechumens. As soon as we came within a distance of about
one and a half hours from the place, a number of the village people
came out to meet us, laughing, singing, and kneeling in the mud
of the marshes for our benediction. They told us that some little
catechists, who could hardly read themselves, had managed to teach
a number of the others to pray every morning and every evening,
and then to teach them some catechism, so when we came over we
found that a large number of the people had already been converted.
We immediately landed 150 catechumens at Banalya, 80 at Yambuga,
and nearly 200 at Basoko, where a young woman, baptised the year
before,—although she is unable to read,—superintends morning and
evening prayer for the whole village.
[Illustration: Orphans Praying at St. Truden (Kassai).]
The following, from the diary of the Rev. Father Wulfers, written
at Yanonghi (Romee Mission), June 22, 1902, accurately portrays the
hopes and fears, the triumphs and disappointments, which attend the
life of a missionary in Central Africa.
Our Station is flourishing. We have a fine spring of rock water
near the house, and a beautiful vista across the river, about two
miles wide. The coffee groves begin near the house, affording
shaded walks for hours. Within a short distance, we find the Arab
settlements; and, somewhat further away from the river, immense
rice fields. Fruits and agricultural products abound. It is from
here that rice is supplied for a number of stations and missions,
all the way down to the Falls and Leopoldville. The missionary
of Romee supplies our other posts with large quantities of rice,
besides the seeds furnished by the State Agricultural Station, and
a number of articles which we get from the Arabs in exchange for
cotton cloth. Of course everything has to be bought; they will
give nothing for nothing. The railroad—Romee-Ponthierville—will
start from here. The survey is progressing. That branch will help
to avoid the rapids on the river on both sides of Bertha Island
and the Lakes, which frequently interfere with navigation. Our
situation, therefore, is pretty good from the material point
of view; but, of course, we have some troubles. The Arabs are
not peaceful, and the State contemplates the establishment of a
military post here to protect the whites against them and the
Turumbus, who are fierce cannibals. When Monseigneur van Ronslé
was here last year, he wanted to establish a mission at Romee,
because the State maintains there a force of about 600 men to
protect the new rubber plantation. At present there are here about
120 catechumens and 20 Christians. I baptised ten of them last
March and three in May. They come to Mass every Sunday, sometimes
arriving Saturday evening to sleep here. I expect to have a great
many more Christians when the work on the railroad begins. Although
the Turumbus are still very savage, I hope to do a good deal with
them, for they have already helped me to build my house. Yesterday
I gave them some presents. One got a pipe; another a looking-glass;
another some cotton cloth, with some rice for their children. They
went away very happy, saying the Father is a good man. The people
of the neighbouring villages sometimes come to me saying they want
to stay a year and then be baptised. I promise them when the
chapel is built that I will visit them, teach them to read and
write, and then get them to teach the catechism to others. They
seemed very happy. As regards the Arabs, I am afraid they will not
come to the catechism so soon. They sometimes listen to it out of
curiosity. They appear to understand it, and acknowledge that it
is true; but a virtuous life seems hard to them, and they have no
inclination to it. Their Chief often inquires about the beginning
of the world, the origin of the white settlements in Africa, the
story of Christ, etc. He works with me, comes to see my pictures,
and asks for explanations. Some of the Arabs want to learn French.
I shall teach them some in order to gain their confidence. When the
chapel is finished I will see what I can do to Christianise the
Arabs, who are about 200,000 strong.
I have had a disheartening experience at Yafolo, where I found
the community, which had inspired me with so much hope, had gone
over to the Dilwa worship. This is a form of public worship of the
Dilwa. It lasts for two or three months. During that time all the
young men, from seven to twenty years of age, devote themselves to
the Dilwa. Of course I denounced the falsity of that superstition.
I went into the middle of the crowd with a revolver in my pocket,
because I did not know what they might do. They were sorry that I
came, because they thought I was going to drop dead as a punishment
for my temerity. They told me if I touched any of the Dilwa men
my arm would wither and fall off. I touched some of them, and of
course nothing happened; but they kept on, and during the three
months of the Dilwa work I could not do anything for them. I
went again a month ago and learned that about two-thirds of the
catechumens were willing to return to Christianity, but their
parents would not let them come, believing all those who have gone
through the Dilwa to be sacred people and to have no further need
of God. Some old people told me that when the Dilwa is over they
will all come back. I wonder if they will!
The same missionary records yet another of his experiences, which
throws a vivid light upon the horrid subject of cannibalism. It is
dated February 7, 1903.
While the Rev. P. Kohl was staying with me, a young chief named
Kalonda visited us. He told us that he had said to his warriors:
“Come, let us visit our Father. He is such a good man that he is
sure to give us something!” Speaking to the Rev. Kohl, he added,
“He certainly is a very good man. He visits our village and
tells us beautiful things about God. You will see that he loves
us, because he certainly is going to give us something.” In the
meantime he was slapping his stomach, to show what he expected. We
could not help laughing, but he took no offence. Turning to his
warriors, he began again: “Children, here is the Good Father of
whom I have so often spoken to you.” There I stopped him, saying:
“That will do, Kalonda. Look here, now. If you answer my questions
well, I shall give you a present.”
“To be sure, Father, I am going to tell the truth.”
“Are you a great chief?”
“Yes, Father.”
“And you formerly used to go to war very often?”
“Now listen, Father! I used to have a great many more men than I
have now. They were vigorous, and understood war. I went through
all the villages with them as far as Lindi.”
“Then you have killed many people?”
“To be sure.”
“You have carried away and eaten quite a number of women and
children? Of course,” said I, immediately, in order to prevent an
explosion of wrath on his part, “you do not do so any more?”
“No,” said he, very deliberately, “I do not do so at all now; but
formerly we ate a number of men. We used to kill as many as we
wanted at the time and take away the rest to fatten. The flesh of
the women and children is the best.”
“How does it taste?” I asked of the young boy who was standing near
the chief [his father].
He answered quite naturally: “It tastes like boiled rice.”
It is out of material such as Kalonda that Christian missionaries and
just laws carefully administered are evolving a peaceful, pastoral
people. That so large a part of this prodigious task should have been
achieved during the brief period that the Congo State has existed
places its triumphant completion in the near future beyond all doubt.
The patience, skill, and energy of the men who in circumstances so
difficult have achieved so much, if not appreciated at their true
worth now, will assuredly be regarded by posterity as one of the
brightest pages in the history of our time.
There are no harder workers in the world than the Catholic
missionaries of the Congo. The following passage from the diary kept
by the Rev. Father Grison, missionary in charge of St. Gabriel’s,
Stanley Falls, by no means depicts an exceptional experience:
Oct. 19, 1902.—It is Sunday, 9.30 P.M. I have been busy in the
church since 6 A.M. Said Mass at 7, and preached. Had a little
coffee and wanted to retire to my room for a brief rest, when
from 60 to 80 people called. They had come from Vincent yesterday
in order to hear Mass to-day. They complained that they had not
brought enough supplies and they wanted me to give them some
rice; which, of course, I did. Then an important palaver turned
up at Adela, and I was called upon to act as interpreter between
the natives and the State. Then I had to patch up the quarrels
of three or four married couples who had fallen out. Next, I had
to grant about sixty permits to work on account of its being
Sunday; and, finally, I found a little time to do my Breviary. My
brother missionaries are in the same fix. The Rev. Father Kohl,
who has charge of the Sisters’ Convent, gave them a lecture, and
then had to busy himself with the choir boys to whom he teaches
the ceremonies. About noon I received a visit from two gentlemen
from Stanley Falls, who are on their way towards the Great Lakes
surveying for the railroad. Towards one o’clock the blacks warned
us that the boat was coming on, and we knew that in about an hour
we should have news from home. The steamer arrived, bringing some
stores, which we hurriedly landed, deferring until to-morrow to put
them in their proper places in the storerooms. After that we said
the Rosary and gave Benediction. Then came the Catechism lesson and
a Marriage; then a sick call, Breviary again, and then supper. Such
is our Sunday, supposed to be a day of rest!
The Rev. Father Grison is typical of Catholic missionaries in
Congoland. Other missionaries there are, of the Protestant faith,
equally sincere and ardent; but it is an unfortunate fact that among
the latter have been included certain _quasi_-political agents who
believe that they find advantage in depreciating the Government under
which they voluntarily elect to live. Others, again, for the purpose
of increasing the zeal of the congregations of the churches in their
fatherland to provide for them sufficient support, have permitted
themselves to excite the sympathies of the home associations by
exaggerated tales of oppression and cruelty. Acquisitiveness is not
an unknown quality among missionaries. Mr. Stokes, the so-called
martyr, who suffered for supplying arms in time of war to the enemies
of the Congo Free State, was originally a Protestant missionary, but
he abandoned that vocation to become a trader.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] In the French Congo there is only one small launch devoted to
missionary work.
CHAPTER XXVIII
STATE LANDS AND CONCESSIONS
[Sidenote: The State’s Heavy Task.]
It would seem reasonable that practical colonial government should
begin the pursuit of its objects by a policy so flexible that
it might readily conform to the altering conditions upon which
it operates. The exceptional nature of the task imposed upon
the Government of the Congo Free State, its varied and numerous
difficulties, and the uncertainty of the radical principles imposed
upon it, left its administrators no choice of colonial precedent to
follow, no governmental model to adopt. It stood alone, in a unique
enterprise not devoid of new hazards, pitfalls, and strange terrors.
It had been regarded at first as an adventure, then as a serious
experiment. A civil community was to be created of savage hordes;
to maintain itself by its own people led on to civilisation by a
few Europeans with a courage and zeal the equatorial sun should not
subdue. The vast field it occupied and the untamed characteristics
of its large population, the early philanthropic aims of its royal
patron, and a general desire to carry out the principles enunciated
at the Berlin Conference, all contributed to invest the Congo State
Government with a special character, and to saddle it with original
duties supposedly beyond its powers to perform. Thus, in the
midst of an unexplored and barbarous land, with everything before
it unknown, with all behind it seemingly unsuited for employment
here, ways and means and a state system of government had to be
adopted not only for internal regulation and development, but also
to maintain the integrity of its relations with the rival Powers
which surrounded it. The natural problems of the sovereignty of
an unknown land and savage people were difficult enough; but when
these had been intensified and their practical solution hindered by
the fine theories and high ideals of the Berlin Conference, there
appeared reason for the belief that a West African Don Quixote had
been charged to assault a windmill. Colonial traditions appeared to
the men on the spot to be inapplicable to the Congo. There was no
tax-burdened home government to rely upon for support. Nor were the
African forests or the palaces and mansions of Europe crowded with
philanthropists desirous of dedicating their fortunes to the welfare
of the Bantu race in the distant Congo. In popular parlance, the King
and his Congo were left to subsist on fine sentiments and a jug of
water. If in these circumstances a colonial policy of self-support
was adopted and carried out with an economic skill which in its
results excites foreign envy and covetousness to-day, it should
not be attributed to wrong motive, but to that of stern necessity.
Concerning this formative period of early Congolese policy the recent
exposition of Baron Descamps may be aptly quoted:
The problem had to be solved without bringing into conflict
certain elements which are difficult to assimilate, namely, the
exigencies of commercial freedom as recognised by the conventions,
the civilisation of the natives and their material and moral
improvement, the exigencies of the life and progress of the State
itself considered as the organic principle of the new political
society, and finally the exigencies or rather conditions relating
to the personal union of the Free State with Belgium.
In the accomplishment of this complex task, the State was
first inspired with the principle of a scrupulous respect for
international engagements. This principle was never lost sight of,
even at the critical periods of its life following on the Berlin
Conference, when a _régime_ of complete exemption from import
duties weighed heavily upon its economic existence.
The State was also filled with the determination to faithfully
respect the declaration of permanent neutrality which it made
a short time after the Berlin Conference. As we have remarked
elsewhere, this was an honourable action towards the Powers who
were thus reassured concerning the policy and pacific autonomy of
the new State. It was also an act of prudence which protected the
Congo State from the solicitations of other States interested in
influencing its political life.[36]
[Illustration: Children of the Settlement School at Boma Praying.]
[Sidenote: The State’s Policy.]
The policy of the new State was to be “fruitful activity” in peace
and order as soon as the Arab wars had ceased and the slave trade had
been superseded by an agricultural and industrial _régime_. With a
neutralised State this seemed to be a permanent function commendable
alike to its people, its Government, and its international associates
and sponsors. Whether we regard the moral concomitant of an era of
fruitful activity or only the material essentials of a community
so employed, the bald reality called for men and money for its
accomplishment. Of white men there were few in a region where a
tropical sun, and other climatic disadvantages, counted heavily
against their labour. The Negro alone appeared to thrive in
conditions more suited to his physical characteristics. The problem
of creating a State of the Negro population involved social and
material questions of vast import to those who had undertaken to
develop and govern this unknown and savage land. Should the Negro be
taught the nobility of labour—informed of the glorious edifices to
civilisation it had reared and what benefits its pursuit would shower
upon him if he would but follow the white man’s precept and example
in the sphere of honest toil?
The trade in black men had been suppressed by the courageous white
men of Belgium. Trade in the material resources of the country
was now but a phenomenon of the law of self-preservation and the
principle of self-support. It is in the adoption of practical
measures to develop that trade for the greatest good of the greatest
number that the Belgians have shown an executive skill which gives
the character of indolent farce to the droning administration of
certain other African colonies, particularly British Lagos, which
derives sixty-five per cent. of its supporting revenue from traffic
in alcoholic liquor,[37] as compared with five per cent. derived from
the same source by the Congo Free State.
If the Government of the Congo Free State had to deal with a white
population capable of co-operation as independent political units
in the State’s development, it may easily be conceived that measures
perhaps more in consonance with certain European theories might have
been devised. The candour of this suggestion in no wise detracts
from the fitness and happy efficacy of the measures by which the
Government of the Congo State has achieved one of the greatest
colonising successes of modern times.
It is the co-operative principle—so utterly lacking in the
uncivilised native Congolese—which often inspires those governmental
speculations in new countries whereby it is sought to solve the
problem of sustaining the State upon its own undeveloped resources.
There can be little doubt that this principle, now well recognised
in the industrial world and constantly adopted and expanded in the
United States and Great Britain by enlightened labour leaders and
great corporations, unconsciously influenced the Belgian statesmen
who framed the land and taxation laws of the Congo Free State. The
civilisation of Central Africa was, and forsooth, still is, an
immense task, and the State’s early attitude of welcoming _quasi_
private enterprise to co-operate with it in the development of lands
which indolent native races had ravaged—first for their own immediate
wants, later at the behest of adventurers and despoiling traders,
whose coin was alcohol and shoddy tinsel—was not only justified
in a Government seeking rational progress, but it followed the
soundest principles of what the higher socialism terms community of
interest. If more modern in theory, the Congo State has in practice
often followed the most experienced of old-world colonisers—the
Dutch and the British. Where practicable under like conditions “it
imitates these experienced colonisers, without, however, following
them blindly” or attaining at once what it has taken them several
generations to accomplish. “Neither does it persist in methods
which have been recognised as erroneous, but it alters and corrects
them where possible.” Being like all governments, old or new, in
savage lands or civilised, unable to reform its domestic policies at
command, it seeks the betterment of its system with that gradation
of movement which shall not disorganise and disrupt the structure of
its statehood. Those who avowedly speak for the Congo Free State say
that “its policy is essentially a work of _methodical experiment and
practical adaptation_. Even when colonial science is more advanced
than it is to-day, that policy will retain its _raison d’être_ and
its merits.”
Having considered those early causes which evolved a State land
policy largely founded on the principles of co-operation and
self-support, it is pertinent, at this point, to examine the theory
of the State land system which has met with the criticism of
commercial interests in Great Britain.
[Sidenote: The State’s Land System.]
The origin of the land system of the Congo Free State may be said
to have assumed legal form by the official order of Sir Francis de
Winton, who, it will be recalled, was appointed Governor-General of
the State when Henry M. Stanley returned to Europe. The order is
dated Vivi, July 1, 1885.
A Decree of the Sovereign will presently request all non-natives
who now possess, by any right whatever, land situated within
the territory of the Congo Free State, to make an official
declaration, describing the land in question, and submitting their
titles to be examined and approved by the Government. The object
of the said Decree will be to secure, in the prescribed form,
the acknowledgment of acquired rights, and to make the regular
organisation of land property in the said State possible in the
near future.
In the meantime, with a view to avoiding disputes and abuses, the
Governor-General, duly authorised by the Sovereign, orders as
follows:
ARTICLE 1. Dating from the publication of the present proclamation,
no contract or agreement with the natives for the occupation
of portions of the land will be acknowledged or protected by
the Government, unless the said contract or agreement has been
made in the presence of a public official, commissioned by the
Governor-General, and according to the rules laid down by him in
each particular case.
ARTICLE 2. No one has right to occupy without title any vacant
land, nor to dispossess the natives from their land; all vacant
land must be considered as belonging to the State.
[Sidenote: State Protects Lands of Natives.]
This order provided for the official recognition of title to land
appropriated by foreigners before July 1, 1885; land occupied up
to the same date by natives, and land which, having been neither
occupied by natives nor appropriated by foreigners, was declared to
be the property of the State. Particular emphasis was given to the
clause protecting the native in his occupation of land whereon his
industry had created improvement, where he lived in the peaceful
pursuits common to his tribe.
[Illustration: Mission of the White Fathers, Tanganyika.]
As the appropriation by the State of vacant lands in the Congo
has inspired many of the specious arguments which have lately
emanated from England alone and more particularly from the _claque_
of the Congo Reform Association in Liverpool, it may be opportune
to consider first what the Belgians have said in justification of
a course which every student of political history knows has been
followed by all civilised States.
In his essay, _New Africa_, Baron Descamps briefly analyses the
theory of the State’s unquestionable property in all vacant lands
within its territory:
Territory is that part of the globe over which a State exercises
its sovereign rights; it is the material basis of sovereign
influence.
The mere fact of the acquisition of a political sovereignty over
a certain territory does not in itself confer on the Sovereign—at
least according to modern law—the ownership of all property over
which private individuals have acquired rights. But the recognition
of these same rights, the fixing of just titles of acquisition, the
regulation of the legal system relating to property and especially
of the condition of vacant land, all that constitutes an essential
attribute of sovereignty, in conformity with the necessities of
public order and the general welfare of society.
As a sovereign and independent State, the Congo State has been, and
continues to be, invested with that prerogative.
In appropriating vacant and ownerless land, the State has made
lawful use of an indisputable and perfectly legal right, sanctioned
by international custom and acknowledged by the law of nations.
When regularly in possession of vacant land, is it expedient for
the State to appropriate certain portions for public uses; to
transfer other portions gratuitously or for a consideration, with
full rights of ownership or with the right of using them only, to
private individuals; to preserve other parts for revenue purposes,
by means either of direct administration or of tenure, with a view
to employing the revenue according to the needs or convenience of
the State? That is a question of internal administration which may
be discussed theoretically, as we have already observed, but which
must be left, in practice, to the sovereign decision of the State.
[Sidenote: Early European Settlers.]
Before the Congo State was founded, a few European traders and
missionaries in the Lower Congo were occupying certain undefined
lands under agreements—more or less precarious in term and
effect—with native chiefs. These occupations partook largely of the
temporary nature of the native occupations on the banks of the river.
As these occupations ceased and the land was abandoned, it reverted
to the State, precisely as it reverts, under certain conditions, in
other States and colonies throughout the world.
That the Congo State dealt equitably with foreigners who had
seriously squatted upon lands in the basin, is plainly indicated in
its next decree, dated 22 August, 1885:
Considering that it is necessary to take steps to recognise the
rights of non-natives who acquired property situated in the Congo
Free State before the publication of the present Decree:
On proposal of Our Council of General Administrators,
We have decreed and do decree as follows:
ARTICLE 1. Non-natives who have rights to substantiate on land
situated in the Congo Free State, may have them registered by
presenting a request for registration in the form prescribed by the
following regulations:
This request must be presented in duplicate, before April 1, 1886,
to the public officer, who will have to record the deeds of land.
Our Governor-General has the power to authorise the admission,
after this date, of demands for registration, which for some
exceptional reason could not be presented within the prescribed
time.
* * * * *
ARTICLE 8. The manner in which requests for registration will be
controlled shall be settled by Our Governor-General.
When a non-native shall have duly proved his rights over a portion
of land, the Recorder of Deeds shall give him a registration
certificate which shall constitute a legal title of occupation
until such time as the land system has been definitely settled in
the Congo Free State.
Under this decree, practically every land claim presented was
admitted by the Government. Further decrees provided for the
compulsory measurement of land held by private owners; the
Torrens Act system of transferring the title to land was adopted;
rules of survey and its certification were prescribed; deeds
were registered at the office of a Registrar, and generally the
complete and practical machinery of an efficient Land Department
was established for the benefit of natives and foreigners alike.
As the State progressed in its organisation it defined its earlier
improvisations with greater precision, provided laws in regulation
of native “occupations,” private lands and the lands of the State.
Its respect for the equities in property of those who had hazarded
life in that wild region extended also to a scrupulous care for the
native whose lands it guarded from invasion and trespass. By decree
dated September 14, 1886, the State provided that “Lands occupied
by native populations under the authority of their chiefs shall
continue to be governed by local customs and uses,” thus insuring
aboriginal tranquillity in the presence of a scheme of civilisation
which the administrators of the State wisely refrained from imposing
with disturbing rigour. The savage black man at first instinctively
shrinks from the civilised white, and the Belgians, with knowledge of
this almost universal timidity of the African races, offered him a
mild measure of civilising rule as distinguished from the bluff and
peremptory subjugation which has always characterised the decimating
colonial methods of its burly neighbour in the Uganda and Soudan
countries. By the same decree the Government of the Congo State
provided that:
All acts or agreements which might tend to expel the natives from
the territories occupied by them or to deprive them directly or
indirectly of their freedom or means of subsistence, are forbidden.
Where natives occupy, or have moved upon, lands which it is sought to
lease from the State, provision has been made by the decree of April
9, 1893, that:
When native villages are enclosed in the land acquired or let,
the natives may, as long as the official measurements have not
been made, carry on agricultural pursuits without the consent of
landlord or tenant, on the vacant lands surrounding their villages.
All disputes which may arise in the matter between the natives
and the grantee or tenant, shall be finally settled by the
Governor-General or his delegate.
A decree of February 2, 1898, appointed a Land Commission charged
to consider whether certain lands, as to which claims may have
been made, “shall be reserved either on grounds of public utility
or with a view of promoting their cultivation by the natives.”
Reference has already been made to the bounty paid by the State to
natives who cultivate coffee and cocoa plants. Even in the mining
laws of the Congo the State has continued its solicitude for the
native and decreed that he shall not be disturbed in the pursuit of
those rude industries which tend to elevate his moral nature and
provide him with means of self-support. By a decree dated June 8,
1888, the native is exempted from the prohibition, under a previous
decree (July 1, 1885), of working a mine without a concession from
the State. Under this exemption natives are expressly authorized to
“continue to work mines for their own account on lands occupied by
them.” Indeed in all cases where local tribal customs do not directly
conflict with civilising tendencies, the rule of the State has been
to observe them in all their integrity. To facilitate this policy in
its intercourse with natives, the State has dealt with the aboriginal
population largely through the chiefs of the native tribes. This
means of linking the black man to the State which is striving to
civilise him by the gradual substitution of the white man’s methods
for those of the savage, has been attended with much success and
inspired confidence where instinctive distrust might have long
prevailed. Amongst the local customs which are safeguarded by the
State are what are known as _coutumes de rations_, a form of royalty
to which the natives are entitled on the produce of certain land.
So far has the State concerned itself in perpetuating this form of
support to the tribes where the custom prevails that, by an order of
the Governor-General dated November 8, 1886, it has provided that:
The issue of registration certificates does not exempt the
interested parties from observing, in their dealings with the
natives, existing local customs, especially those relative to
royalties known as _coutumes de rations_, although these royalties
may not be mentioned in the certificates, among the encumbrances
affecting the property.
If, in consequence of the non-payment of the rations or _coutumes_,
usual in such cases, disputes occur between the landed proprietor
and the natives, the certificate of registration may be cancelled
by the Courts on the application of the curator of land titles.
[Illustration: The Mission, Moanda.]
From the foregoing and many similar decrees intended to secure the
property and other rights of the natives, it will be observed that
the administrators of the State consistently undertook to carry
out all that was implied in King Leopold’s early declaration of
his aims in Central Africa. If in the execution of the Congo State
laws there has sometimes been laxity, error, and perhaps individual
cases of perversion, the fact remains that the law is sound and the
land system in respect of native possessions an equitable scheme
devised in the interest of their general welfare and protection.
The administration of the Congo Free State should be judged with
due regard to the nature of its savage population, its unexplored
territory of a million square miles, its early lack of organised
governmental forces, the necessary newness and the rudeness of
its civil institutions, and the thousand and one uncatalogued
difficulties which must have beset such ambitious pioneers as that
little band of Belgians which dared venture into an abyss from the
safe walls of which Europe smiled derisively and shouted orders to
the men below.
[Sidenote: State Claims Vacant Lands.]
Having provided laws securing to natives the lands occupied by them,
and regulated the land titles of foreigners, the State declared as
its own all unoccupied lands not subject to the ownership of the
native or the foreigner. This governmental possession of unoccupied
territory is not only sanctioned by the most enlightened laws of the
age, it is the express duty of a State to bring under its care all
territory which, if abandoned, might become the object of dispute,
internecine strife, and sanguinary warfare. The very element of,
and respect for, ownership of lands, chattels, or other objects of
material value, preserves that order which all law seeks to enforce,
for which civil society is organised on foundations of equity and
justice. Was it not the very principle which actuated the Berlin
Conference when, in order to remove the Congo Free State from the
covetous rivalry of the Powers—their disputes and possible wars—it
recognised the occupants of the Congo Basin and neutralised the Congo
State? If, during the twenty years that have elapsed since the Berlin
Conference settled the matter, the Congo Free State had remained
in the position of territory open to the pre-emption, adverse
possession, invasion, and trespass of anybody, the savage European
war of words, of diplomatic missiles, or perhaps of actual arms,
would have been a deadly substitute for the native savagery of the
African black. Civilisation without property vested in the State or
its citizens is inconceivable.
[Sidenote: Various Tenures of Land.]
The categories into which the lands within the borders of the Congo
Free State naturally fall have already been briefly indicated in a
previous chapter. The land system includes, first, a reservation
of land exclusively for the use of the public. Second, lands sold
upon an official scale of prices through a Land Department composed
of five members. Third, concessions of land granted for a certain
term of years, or as freehold, to companies organised to develop
its productivity. Fourth, grants of use extended to those who, by
arrangement with the State, thereby obtain the right to work a
prescribed area for india-rubber. Certain zones of rubber-bearing
territory are not subject to grants of use, the State reserving
therein the exclusive right to work the forests, thereby following
the system in force in the Soudan and in other neighbouring colonies.
Finally, there are leases of three, six, or nine years, of land for
commercial purposes, and leases for twenty to fifty years of lands
for agricultural uses and the establishment of missions, schools, and
churches. The latter possess areas aggregating about six thousand
acres.
The principal concessionary companies, operate over approximately
one-fourth of the State. The lands conceded to such companies are
transmitted under contracts very similar to those employed in the
Soudan,[38] and provide for the improvement of the land by the
erection of buildings, planting rubber vines, coffee, cocoa, breeding
cattle, and collecting rubber in a manner which will not deplete the
growing stock. The Congo State law imposes upon the rubber companies
the duty of planting at least five hundred feet of rubber vines or
trees for every ton of rubber harvested. The forests are safeguarded
in respect of wood and other products, and special inspectors see to
the rigorous enforcement of the law. There appears to be a different
state of things in the rubber-bearing districts of British Lagos,
where reckless destruction of the vines, waste, inattention, and lack
of intelligent organisation have reduced the rubber yield in 1900 to
one-tenth its harvest in 1896, with the decline still continuing.
The same measure of rapid decline is going on in the Gold Coast and
Sierra Leone. “The decrease in the export of rubber from £347,721 in
1896 to £160,315 in 1899 is clearly due to the reckless and unskilful
manner in which rubber was collected.”[39]
This report is corroborated by the statistics of the British Gold
Coast, which in 1899 exported rubber to the value of £555,731, but in
1902 to the value of only £88,602; Lagos, 1896, £347,721, in 1901,
£14,749; Sierra Leone, 1895, £86,940, in 1902, £8,192. Indeed, the
table from which these quotations are made shows that the rubber
exports from eight British colonies have greatly decreased since
1898, despite the increased European value of that product. It would
seem that the care and skill which during these same years caused the
Congo exports to rise from less than a million francs in 1886 to over
fifty-four millions in 1903 were at least worth the emulation of the
Gold Coast, Lagos, and Sierra Leone muddlers hiding defeat behind the
humanitarian pretexts of Liverpool rubber merchants and their agents,
whose conscience is as flexible as their trade product.
Concerning the concessionary scheme which prevails in the French
Congo, and which the Congo Free State Government has so successfully
carried out in its own territory, M. Eugène Etienne, a distinguished
French scholar, Vice-President of the French Chamber of Deputies,
and leader of the French colonial group, has said and written
some pertinent things. The French Congo, lying on the coast west
of the Free State, has been also assailed by the few interested
British merchants and their religious and secular agents and reform
associations for having been forbidden to trespass upon and despoil
Central African territory which has so far escaped the acquisitive
proclivities of John Bull. M. Etienne’s dissertation contains the
following passages as applicable to the Free State as to the French
Congo:
[Sidenote: French and Belgian Systems Compared.]
I stop in the enumeration of the results obtained by the
Independent State of the Congo, and I will not put in the opposite
column the balance sheet which gives little enough to rejoice
over of the progress realised in the neighbouring French colony.
Certainly from the point of view of the exploration of the country,
and the management of the natives, our officials have obtained what
might be called, in a formula borrowed from mechanics, the maximum
of result with the minimum of expense....
The constitution of landed property in the Congo, regulated by the
decree of 28th March, 1899, and the attribution of vacant lands by
important lots to companies bound by a _cahier des charges_, form a
work carefully thought out and elaborated on the advice of eminent
jurists. It does honour to the Minister of the Colonies who took
the initiative in the matter, my eminent colleague in the Chamber
of Deputies, M. Guillain, as well as to the Councillor of State,
M. Cotelle, who gave his active collaboration as President of the
Commission of Concessions.
[Sidenote: Concessions Justified.]
The justification of the large concessions is to substitute a
regular and methodical exploitation of the products of the soil for
the system of trading which destroys the natural riches, leaving
behind it only the exhausted and mutilated bush. Is it a question
of the collection of caoutchouc [rubber],—the native cuts the
lianas, bleeds the producing shrub to complete exhaustion. Is it a
question of ivory,—the precious product disappears rapidly with the
increase of the price, and the easier destruction of the elephants
by means of arms of precision. Left to himself the native destroys,
and does not concern himself to ask the earth to restore what he
has taken from it. At the most he scratches a little of the soil
round the villages he inhabits in order to carry out thereon some
cultivation of food stuffs. Thus has it already been recorded in
our Congo colony that the caoutchouc lianas have nearly disappeared
from the coast, and from the banks of the rivers. It would be the
same in the end in the regions further removed from the sea, if
wise regulations did not put a stop to it.
Quite different would be the value of the soil if new plantations
replaced those exhausted by successive harvests, and added new
products to those which come without cultivation. Coffee trees and
cocoa trees succeed admirably on the Congo. The soil lends itself
to all tropical cultivations. As to the collection of caoutchouc,
which will long remain one of the principal resources of the
country, it demands management and care. It is for this motive
that, according to one of the clauses of the _cahier des charges_
annexed to the decrees of concession, the concessionaire companies
are bound “to plant and to maintain to the termination of the
concession, by replacing those which shall have disappeared, at
least 500 feet of caoutchouc plants per ton of caoutchouc produced.”
The contract signed between the State as the proprietor of vacant
lands and the concessionaire is the following: The concessionaire
is authorised to establish himself on the lands assigned to
him, he exercises there for a period of 30 years all rights of
possession and exploitation (under reservation of lands allotted
to the natives, and of rights of proprietorship previously
acquired by third parties); but this lease of 30 years is to be
changed into definite proprietorship for all lands which shall
have been improved. How is it to be decided whether the lands may
be considered as improved? The _cahier des charges_ answers this
question with precision. Shall be considered as improved:
1. Lands occupied over at least one-tenth of their surface by
buildings;
2. Lands planted over at least one-twentieth of their surface
with rich cultivation such as cocoa, coffee, caoutchouc, vanilla,
indigo, tobacco, etc.;
3. Lands cultivated over at least one-tenth of their surface with
food cultivation such as rice, millet, manioc, etc.;
4. The pasturage on which shall be maintained during at least five
years beasts for breeding and fattening at the rate of two heads of
large beasts or four heads of small beasts per 10 hectares[40];
5. The parts of forests of a superficies of at least 100 hectares
of a single tenancy in which caoutchouc shall have been regularly
collected for at least five years at the rate of at least 20 feet
of trees or lianas as the average per hectare....
In exchange for these advantages the concessionaire assumes charges
which are not defined with less rigour: Fixed annual rents to be
paid to the colony, share of the profits, 15 per cent. of the
company’s receipts going to the local budget, obligation to float
on the watercourses traversing the concession steamboats of a fixed
model, all without prejudice to the payment of a security....
The British merchants[41] complained of being deprived of the
rights which they had exercised during many years of sending their
contractors to collect the caoutchouc on the lands conceded to the
new companies, a dispossession for which they demanded reparation.
The Court, after having ascertained that the English firms did
not claim any permanent establishment on the domain conceded,
non-suited them, objecting with reason that the State as proprietor
of free lands in the Congo had the right to dispose of them, and
that the long tolerance which the merchants had enjoyed for the
collection of the products of the soil could not constitute an
acquired right in their favour. _Beaten in the French courts, the
Liverpool firms lodged an appeal before a tribunal where they were
certain of being heard. They set in movement the English Chambers
of Commerce, interested the press and public opinion in their
cause, and made the British Foreign Office intervene._
I have always admired the ardour and solicitude with which British
diplomacy takes part and cause for the grievances of British
subjects abroad. The British citizen, as formerly the Roman, is
assured of being protected and defended. I know citizens of other
countries who cannot always say as much. The complaints of the
Liverpool merchants furnished in their way a fine platform for
diplomacy. The Congo with the guarantees stipulated by the Berlin
Conference, should it not be the chosen land, the last refuge of
commercial freedom? To the complaints of merchants established in
the French colony were added those of the English merchants and
consuls resident in the Belgian Congo. It was the placing on trial
of the Independent State in its entirety—of its commercial policy,
of its native policy, which formed the subject of inquiry in the
press and before the British Parliament....
Now in no country of the world has freedom of commerce been
considered as interfering with the rights of property. The
proprietor of the soil alone has the right to dispose of the
products of the land which belongs to him. Do people in England
think that freedom of commerce is violated because the first
passer-by of a rich and extensive manorial domain cannot take the
fruits and vegetables, kill the bucks and the hinds, and lay the
axe to the trees? Why should it be otherwise on the Congo? The
whole question is, whether the State, which in the French Congo
(as in the Independent State) has proclaimed itself the proprietor
of vacant and unowned lands, has this right legitimately. If it
has, it can in one form or another alienate the lands belonging to
it. That this exercise of the law of property may inconvenience
those who formerly enjoyed the products of the soil, I do not deny.
_There are countries where hunting is not forbidden, and the game
belongs to the killer. A day arrives when the proprietor reserves
his rights. He forbids hunting, he institutes suits. It is very
disagreeable for those who used to traverse his land freely. But
it does not follow that they have the right to an indemnity. Still
that is the strange suit that England wishes to bring before the
European Areopagus. The Congo has protected its hunting grounds;
the poachers exclaim against the injustice and claim damages!_[42]
[Illustration: Missionary Necropolis, Luluabourg.]
[Sidenote: British Concessions in Canada.]
[Sidenote: Crown Lands in British Colonies.]
Has the State been right in considering itself the legitimate
proprietor of vacant and unowned lands in the Congo? If any
doubt existed on the subject, the luminous opinion given to
our concessionaires by Maître Henri Barboux should suffice to
remove it. After having recalled that in all countries, at all
periods, the exercise of the right of sovereignty implied the
appropriation for the profit of the State of conquered lands,
the eminent advocate shows how England has made use of that
prerogative; in Lower Canada where a single Governor granted
1,425,000 acres to sixty persons; in Upper Canada where in 1825 out
of 17,000,000 measured acres, an extent almost equal to Ireland,
15,000,000 had been given in concession; in Australia where the
distribution of lands to colonists in gratuitous concessions or
by sale was never considered “as in contempt of the rights of
the primitive inhabitants of the country, nor as contrary to the
largest principles of commercial freedom.” In India, Ceylon, at
Hong-Kong, in Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, Bechuanaland), in the
Fiji Islands, Great Britain has always admitted that “the whole
country falls to the Crown, and that the Crown can attribute to
individuals portions of the country, while reserving as its own
domain all which is not given in concession” (Creasy, _The Imperial
and Colonial Constitutions of the Britannic Empire_, p. 66).
Holland applies the same rules. In Germany the Imperial ordinance
of 26th November, 1895, ordains in these terms: “Under reserve of
the rights of property or other real rights that individuals or
juridical persons, native chiefs or communities, can invoke, as
well as of the rights of occupation of third persons resulting from
contracts passed with the Imperial Government, _all the land of
German East Africa is vacant land of the Crown. The proprietorship
of it belongs to the Empire._”
These very same principles have been applied by the European
nations which have shared amongst themselves the Conventional Basin
of the Congo. The reservation of the rights acquired by third
persons, the reservation of the rights of natives are stipulated
for in our contracts of concession with a precision which leaves
nothing to be desired. “The society having the concession cannot
exercise the rights of enjoyment and exploitation which are
accorded to it except outside villages occupied by natives, and
the lands reserved to them for purposes of cultivation, pasturage,
or as forest. The perimeters of these lands if it is a question of
natives with a fixed residence, or the successive perimeters to
be occupied or reserved if it is one of natives with a changeable
residence, shall be fixed by the decisions of the Governor of
the Colony, who shall equally determine the lands over which the
natives shall preserve the rights of hunting and fishing. The
lands and rights thus reserved shall not be ceded by the natives
either to the concessionaire or to third parties except with the
authority of the Governor of the Colony.” (Art. 10 of the decree
of 28th March, 1879, on concessions.) These stipulations are the
most liberal that could be carried out in a country where native
proprietorship is not regularly constituted, where the land
surrounding the villages is alone cultivated, where the villages
are shifted about with extreme ease, what was field or plantation
one year returning to the state of the bush in the following. _As
to lands really occupied by Europeans, they have always been left
outside the new concessions. What it has not been thought proper to
respect is the pretension which some traders have put forward of
being masters of what they never possessed, of trading in what did
not belong to them...._
Up to the present I have spoken only of the concessions given on
French territory. The Independent State has employed the same
system. In a part of its territory it even inaugurated it. All that
may be said to defend our administration from having violated on
the Congo the principle of commercial liberty is, then, applicable
to the Belgian concessions.
[Sidenote: Grievances of Traders.]
The Private Domain (_Domaine Privé_) of the Congo Free State
embraces approximately one-fourth of the unoccupied lands within
its borders. This is the feature of the State’s general scheme of
physical development which excites its enemies to make many foolhardy
assaults and become voluble with fallacy and hollow argument. It was
created by a decree dated December 5, 1892. All the net revenue
derived from the Private Domain is placed in the State’s treasury and
applied to the payment of the cost of its public improvements and
all its undertakings seeking to improve the condition of the native
population, the facilities for their civilisation and the elevation
of their moral nature.
The revenue from the Private Domain is derived from the State’s
direct exploitation of its lands. Rubber and ivory are its chief
products at the present time. Various kinds of wood abound in its
forests, and cocoa and coffee plantations, experimental farms,
live-stock ranches, agricultural areas, all are being developed under
the direct supervision of State agents.
The question which is periodically enlivened concerning this
governmental scheme for acquiring necessary revenue is: Can the
State, in occupation of its own lands in the Congo Basin, develop
the land by direct cultivation, or _en régie_ (by trustees), for the
benefit of the State budget, which, in its integrity, is devoted to
increase the power of the State to civilise and elevate its native
people? There can be no doubt about the State’s right to develop
territory which for lack of private initiative and capital would
produce nothing for the benefit of the society for which the State
has been created. This right has been recognised not only by the
Powers at the Berlin Conference in reference to Central Africa,
but, in varying aspects, by all civilised countries in reference to
other parts of the globe. Belgian, French, English, Russian, Swiss,
and Italian jurists have considered this question at great length.
The opinions of Messrs. Van Berchem, Van Maldeghem, de Paepe, John
Westlake, K.C., Sir Horace Davey, K.C., de Martens, Barboux, Nys,
Pierantoni, and Azcarate, besides the weight of opinion expressed by
United States authorities which have been consulted, all concede the
State’s right to develop its territory for the benefit of a treasury
devoted to the welfare of its people. Moreover, this scheme of
self-development is not peculiar to the Free State. France, Germany,
Great Britain, and Portugal declared unoccupied land to be the
property of the State. The establishment of that principle at once
implies the adoption of that other by which the State may improve
its own property and turn it from a wilderness into a productive
garden. In addition to innumerable earlier decrees by the Governments
surrounding the Congo Free State, many of which are set out in the
_Bulletin Officiel_ of the Independent State of the Congo for June,
1903, new ordinances, amplifying and extending the early decrees,
have been recently (September 20 and October 23, 1904) put into
operation. Their inclusion herein would unduly extend the text of
this volume. A brief indication of their provisions will be found in
the Appendix under the title: _Features of the Land System in the
African Colonies of Germany, Great Britain, France, and Portugal_.[43]
From the _Neue Hamburgische Börsen Halle_, 20 October, 1904, we
quote the following comment upon the German decree of the same date,
inasmuch as it reveals what, in general, is the European opinion of
the British criticism of the Congo State land system:
The decree brings under the designation of forest products the
products from all woodlands, whether fenced in or not, and even
from isolated plantations, from bush and underbrush, bamboo and
elm trees, and from all liquaceous plants, especially the lumber,
the bark, the sap, the rubber, the leaves, the flowers, and the
fruit. In such part of the territories as have, after effective
occupation, been declared forest reservations by a public notice
of the government, it is strictly forbidden to gather any kind of
forest products, for _such harvesting is made an exclusive right of
the Treasury_.
That decree is interesting in many ways. First, it shows that the
German Colonial Office has decided to systematically protect the
forest domain of the Colony in order to prevent indiscriminate
deforestation, which would rapidly bring disaster upon the country.
But it also reminds one of the violent onslaught made by some
English people, and especially by the Liverpool rubber dealers,
against the Congo Free State.
What England unceasingly argues against the Belgian Congo—_for the
humanitarian movement is only a pretext_—namely, the exploitation
by the Government of such parts of the territory as are not private
property of individuals, is actually made a rule by the [German]
decree just referred to. A previous decree of the Government has
still more closely indicated what parts of the territory are
assigned to the Treasury as forest reservations. Added to the
other Treasury lands of various description they cover _more than
nine-tenths of the Colony_.
The conclusion is that in German East Africa, as well as in the
Congo Free State, the rubber harvest, in which the Liverpool
merchants take such lively interest, is gathered from crown-lands
only, and practically constitutes a State monopoly.
Now, a large part of German East Africa comes under the provisions
of the Berlin Act. And, in order to show the extent to which
British hypocrisy will go, it is enough to recall that for years,
both in British East Africa and in Uganda, which also partly come
under the scope of the Berlin Act, the same government rules have
been enforced, declaring india-rubber a State monopoly not only on
the crown-lands, _but even on private estates_.
What is lawful for one party must be lawful for the other, and we
cannot reproach the Congo Free State for upholding against British
would-be interference such rights of the Crown as other governments
maintain in their own colonies.
This example of vigorous Teutonic candour might be repeated from the
columns of many other European journals, but the desire to avoid
passing from the historical to the controversial in the present work
must limit the use of abundant similar material.
To show that the direct exploitation of domanial forests is made a
legitimate source of revenue in Eastern countries, the instance of
Japan may be cited. That brave little country, so heroically engaged
in fighting for the unmolested right to pursue its brilliant course
of modern progress, directly cultivates and harvests for the benefit
of its treasury a State domain equal to seven times the entire area
of Belgium!
When the ministers of his Majesty, King Leopold, were requested
to indicate the principles upon which the _Domaine Privé_ of the
Congo Free State was developed, they stated that, having in view
the necessity for revenue from the soil, the civilising influence
of labour, and the social, physical, and moral condition of the
African black, they had devised that scheme which would attract the
only existing available labour in the country, the co-operation of
the native, for which co-operation the State not only paid him, but
provided him with liberating and enlightening opportunities for
participating in the growth of African civilisation. In its official
reports the Government of the Congo Free State refers to its aims in
this respect:
The object which the Government aims at, is to succeed in turning
the private domain of the State to profit, exclusively by means
of _voluntary contributions_ [of labour] from the natives, and
inducing them to work through the allurement of an earned and
adequate payment. The rate must be sufficiently remunerative to
stimulate in the natives the desire of obtaining it, and, as a
consequence, to induce them to gather in the products of the domain.
Where the attraction of commercial benefit is not sufficient to
assure the working of the private domain, it is necessary to resort
to the tax in kind; but, even in this case, the work is remunerated
in the same manner as the voluntary contributions. The Government’s
orders in this respect are positive. Properly speaking, the tax
in kind is not a real tax, since the local value of the products
brought in by the natives is given to them in exchange.
The Government has never neglected an opportunity to remind its
agents, intrusted with the collection of taxes in kind, that their
part is that of an educator: their mission is to impress on the
mind of the natives the taste for work; and the means available
would fail of their aim if compulsion was changed into violence.
What is called the Domain of the Crown is a limited territory defined
by decrees dated March 8, 1896, and December 23, 1901, lying in
the basins of Lake Leopold II. and of the Lukenie River, in the
basin of the Busira-Momboya River, and between certain boundaries
at the confluence of the Lubefu and Sankuru rivers, to the western
summit-line of the Lukenie basin, and including certain contiguous
areas. These lands include six discovered mines which have so far not
been worked. The Domain of the Crown is a corporate body administered
by a committee of three persons appointed by the Sovereign.
The forests of the Congo are the finest in the world. They contain
a great variety of hard and soft wood, fruit-bearing trees, rubber
trees and vines, and gum trees, and constitute an industrial wealth
which is being preserved by enforcing rigorous laws. A decree dated
July 7, 1898, and orders dated November 22, 1898, and March 21, 1902,
regulate timber cutting. Under these, steamboats may take on supplies
of wood fuel on payment of an annual tax measured according to their
tonnage and speed.
[Illustration: Franciscan Sisters at the Mission of St. Gabriel of
the Falls (Oriental Province).]
The mining laws of the State are embodied in the decrees of June 8,
1888, and March 20, 1893. They provide, amongst other things, that
the purchase of land from the State or from individuals does not
“confer the right of working the mineral riches beneath the surface”;
that “mineral riches remain the property of the State”; that “no
person can work a mine except by virtue of a special concession from
the State”; that “the Government fixes by decree the regions where
mining researches are authorised either in favour of all persons
without distinction, or of the persons specified in the decrees.” A
licence fee of 2500 francs and other fees are imposed upon those who,
having discovered mineral-bearing properties, desire to work them.
A mining concession is limited to an area not exceeding 24,000 acres.
Article 4 of the decree of March 25, 1893, provides that:
Whoever shall discover a mine in the regions where he is authorised
to make researches in conformity with Article 3, can obtain a right
of preference for ten years for the concession of this mine, on
condition that he complies with the regulations laid down in the
present Decree.
All mining concessions are limited to a term of ninety-nine years.
On its expiration the State succeeds to the property as it stands. A
system of royalties on the product of the mine is stipulated in all
concessions. Such royalties shall not be less than one dollar a year
on each 2.47 acres. These fixed annual charges may be commuted by
arrangement with the State.
In commenting upon the criticism which British merchants and their
allies have uttered against the entire land system of the Congo Free
State, an eminent Belgian closely identified with those who support
the Congolese policy has said:
It is an easy matter to point out, in an undertaking such as the
Congolese enterprise, the inherent imperfections and difficulties
of the task, and the accidental defects in the instruments which
the State is called upon to employ.
It is, however, very unfair to hide under a bushel the good results
which have been obtained, and the progress which has been realised,
and to expose on a pinnacle a few exceptional and regrettable
facts, to draw a conclusion from particular cases to the detriment
of the general rule, and to condemn wholesale an institution which
draws forth the admiration even of its enemies, and of which a
witness, certainly to be little suspected, has been able to say:
“_In the whole history of Colonial life, there is no example on
record of such a result obtained in such a short period of time._”
We are far from overlooking the important rôle which criticism
plays in a matter which is as yet so little advanced as the art and
science of colonisation, but in order to play this rôle properly,
the critic must remain impartial.
After all, if these severe criticisms have been at times
formulated, there are ample compensations in many authoritative
comments from abroad. For instance, M. de Lanessan, formerly
Minister of the Admiralty in France, says:
“Belgium has shown that, in matters of colonisation, she possesses
more practical and rational ideas than ourselves, and a better
understanding of the methods of modern colonisation.”
As to the condition of the natives, this is the opinion of Sir
Harry Johnston, speaking from experience of that part of the Congo
which was formerly the most backward:
“This portion of the Congo Free State was inhabited by cheerful
natives who repeatedly, and without solicitation on my part,
compared the good times they were now having, to the misery
and terror which preceded them when the Arabs and Manyema had
established themselves in the country as chiefs and slave-traders.”
As this volume is going to press, advices are to hand that M. Gaston
Doumergue, the French Minister for the Colonies, submitted to the
President of the Republic of France—and on October 23, 1904, procured
his signature to—a decree consolidating the Republic’s legislation
concerning French West Africa. This decree reaffirms that “all vacant
lands in the colonies of French West Africa are the property of the
State”; that the property of the State may be alienated, leased,
or developed according to the methods employed in the Free State;
that concessions may be granted; that property held in common by
tribes under their chiefs may not be sold by them without the State’s
consent, etc. In short, the success of the land _régime_ practised by
the Congo Free State having convinced the Germans and the French of
its wisdom, both countries have now conformed their own laws to it.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Report to the Belgian Senate, July 25, 1893.
[37] For statistics supporting this statement, see page 287.
[38] Sale of Government Land in the Anglo-Egyptian Soudan, _Times_
(London), July 18, 1904.
[39] _Annual Colonial Report_, Lagos, 1899.
[40] Approximately twenty-four and one-half acres.
[41] Two Liverpool firms, Messrs. Hatton & Cookson and John Holt &
Co., have alone figured in the cases brought before the Courts of
Libreville.
[42] Italics by the author.
[43] See Appendix.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE NEMESIS OF LIBEL
On Friday, the 25th of March, 1904, in the King’s Bench Division of
the High Court of Justice, London, the case of Captain Henri Joseph
Leon De Keyser, and his colleagues-in-arms, Commandants Chaltin and
Dubreucq, against Captain Guy Burrows, an Englishman, one time in the
service of the Congo Free State, and his publishers, Messrs. R. A.
Everett & Co., London, came on for trial before Mr. Justice Ridley
and a special jury.
The trial of this action for libel is the first which has, so far,
been determined against those who are charged with traducing the men
whose courage in, and devotion to, the Congo cause has erected a
prosperous State in the heart of savage Africa. The case irradiates
much that has been long proceeding in Great Britain, and that has
recently received significant impetus in the United States through
the action of certain persons operating from the city of Boston.
The author has no acquaintance with any of the parties to this case,
but deems it incumbent upon one who essays to write a full history of
the Congo Free State to include an account of litigation which in its
proceedings and result reveals and explains many things with which
the present work will not otherwise specifically deal.
Belgian officers brought this action against an English officer,
whom they charged with libel and attempted blackmail, before a
British jury. Captain Guy Burrows, the defendant, had published a
book containing false statements of atrocities in the Congo. He had
followed the Liverpool and Boston custom of attributing villainy
to the officers of the Congo State Government. But unlike the
Liverpool and Boston general allegations, Captain Burrows attributed
the wrongful acts to Captain De Keyser and Commandants Chaltin and
Dubreucq. What the Court thought of the case as it sensationally
unfolded itself may be gleaned from the observations and summing up
of Mr. Justice Ridley. What the jury felt is indicated in its verdict
for damages against the defendants in all the cases.
To ensure the fairest statement of this interesting and informing
suit, the following quotations, _verbatim et literatim_, are taken
from a stenographic report of the trial.
There was a fine array of learned counsel on both sides, among whom
Sir Edward Clarke, K.C., Mr. J. Eldon Bankes, K.C., and Mr. Lewis
Thomas (instructed by Messrs. Bird, Strode & Bird, solicitors)
appeared for the plaintiffs; Mr. Crispe, K.C., and Mr. Swanton for
the defendant Burrows; and Mr. Germaine, K.C., and Mr. G. A. Scott
for the defendants, Messrs. R. A. Everett & Co.
Defendants’ counsel opened the case by asking leave of the Court to
withdraw his clients’ plea of justification, by which, in popular
terms, he stated that Captain Burrows was unable to prove any of the
monstrous accusations he had made against Captain De Keyser and his
colleagues, in the book which contained the libels complained of.
After this dramatic collapse of previous pretence, Sir Edward Clarke
proceeded with the case as follows:
May it please your Lordship.—Gentlemen of the Jury, I feel bound
to preface the observations that I have to make to you upon this
case by just a very short reference to what has taken place this
morning. A very sudden transformation has occurred in the condition
of the case, and in the issues which are to be put before you.
In February last year Captain De Keyser, a gentleman who has
served in the Belgian Army, and who has been employed in the Congo
Free State, found himself compelled, by circumstances which I
shall explain to you in a few minutes, to take the opportunity
of bringing this action against Captain Burrows and against some
London publishers in respect of accusations against him of the
gravest possible kind—accusations dishonouring to his character as
a man of honour and as a man of humanity, and dishonouring to him
as an officer in the Belgian Army; and he brought his action in
February last year. Thereupon, in the course of the year, Captain
Burrows puts on a defence in the month of April or May, and Messrs.
Everett & Company put on a defence in the month of August, in
which they say that those accusations against Captain De Keyser
were true; and what were called Particulars, to which, however,
I need not now refer, were put in, in which it was alleged that
Captain De Keyser had been guilty of infamous conduct as a servant
of the Government of the Congo Free State. This case has gone on
month after month. There have been questions as to the time when
it should be tried, and those who were advising Captain De Keyser
and those who are interested in this matter have had the anxious
duty of taking care that it never could possibly be said that the
Defendants did not have a fair opportunity of trial. The case
stood over for a considerable time, and even so lately as when it
was before the Lord Chief Justice there was a practical assent on
the part of the Plaintiffs to the postponement of the case in order
that no one should ever say that the Defendants had not the fullest
opportunity of putting their case before you; and now, at this
moment, when we come into Court to-day, suddenly, the statement
that the accusations are true is absolutely struck out. Not only
do the Defendants say that they are not prepared to call witnesses
to support the allegation that those allegations are true, but
they appear not to be prepared even to challenge Captain De Keyser
himself, or to ask him any questions as to his conduct in the
Congo Free State. I do not know how far I may be allowed to go—how
far it may be possible in the present state of the Pleadings for
me to get any absolute vindication of Captain De Keyser in this
Court. I daresay my Lord will be indulgent with me with regard to
that, looking at the very cruel position in which this gallant
officer has been placed by accusations made against him which
might affect, and, I believe, have affected him, very seriously
in private life—accusations which have come to be known and to
be talked about—accusations, as he was prepared to show, which
were absolutely untrue, and accusations at the very last moment
withdrawn, struck away from the Record, when not only has he been
here prepared to give his evidence, but when we have tried to get,
and succeeded in getting, as many of those as could be possibly
called here who were associated with him in his responsible work
in the Congo Free State to carry to a demonstration the proof that
he could give that there was not a tittle of foundation for the
injurious statements that have been made about him. Now, at the
last moment, it comes to a question of publication, and my learned
friends have taken the position that if I can prove against them
that there was a publication of these libels, then they are without
a defence, and are not able to say that there is any truth in the
statements that they have made, and must submit to such verdict
as you may give in the matter. As to the verdict, I do not know
whether, in the ultimate results, the amount of it will matter
very much, but you may think, when you hear the statement I have to
make to you with regard to the publication of these accusations,
that it is a case in which, whether there is ever any possibility
of recovering the money or not, at all events there should be
a very definite expression of your view with regard to the
conduct that these parties have pursued. I shall prove not only a
publication, but I shall prove an attempt to blackmail the Belgian
authorities, and the authorities of the Congo Free State, by these
people in conjunction, Captain Burrows and Everett & Co. I believe
I shall prove it up to the hilt, and then it will be for you to
say, by your verdict, what you think of the conduct of which they
have been guilty.
Gentlemen, I must limit very closely the observations which I
was going to make to you. My learned friend and I had somewhat
laboriously prepared ourselves for dealing with all the possible
issues of fact that might be raised in this case that were
suggested by the accusations against Captain De Keyser. That has
passed out of the case, and I must treat very shortly the questions
with which I should otherwise have had at some length to deal. It
is essential when you are considering the persons against whom, if
I prove the publication, your verdict must go, for you to consider
who those persons are. The accusations which were made have been
made by Captain Burrows and published by the Everetts, and were
accusations which concerned the course of government in the Congo
Free State, a matter which has attracted great attention from time
to time and with regard to which certain very strong statements
have been made in this country and elsewhere.
[Illustration: Native Christians of the Village of Our Lady of
Lourdes, near the Mission of Luluabourg, 1897.]
Now, Gentlemen, the Congo Free State is a State which, as a
separate and independent State, has not existed very long. It was
in the year 1884 or 1885 that that State was constituted under the
Government of the King of the Belgians, who is called the King
Sovereign of the State, and it has from that time been administered
by Belgian authorities as the authority of the Free State. It has
been a Government in process of construction, and it was not,
perhaps, until the year 1891 that it can be said that there was
an organised system of government extending over the Congo Free
State. It is an enormous area of over 800,000 square miles. It is
an area scantily populated, but populated by savages of almost
the lowest type of existence, savages among whom the practice of
cannibalism, the practice of mutilation of enemies who have been
killed in battle, and of violent punishments as between one tribe
and another, had reigned without check until the representatives
of civilisation came, in the officers of the Congo Free State, and
established some sort of organisation and government throughout
that country. The difficulties have been enormous. The difficulty
of dealing with an area of more than 800,000 square miles with
only a very few hundred white men who were in command of black
troops, drawn from the very tribes whose habits I just now referred
to, has been enormous. It has been one of the most anxious and
difficult tasks that a civilised country ever undertook. That
task has been fulfilled—on the whole with signal success. No set
of men are absolutely free from reproach. The position of the
representatives of the Congo Free State has been an extremely
difficult one. At the time when Captain De Keyser went out, a
captain and seventy-five men had been killed a few weeks before,
very near to the place where he was sent to carry on his work.
Every white man is surrounded by hundreds or thousands of black
men, and is in a position not only of great responsibility but
of great personal danger and of great difficulty, and there may
have been here and there a default on the part of now one and now
another of the officers in the employ of the Congo Free State. It
has not been the fault of that State, for from time to time orders
have been issued to the officers of the Free State, by which it has
been attempted to prevent any sort of misconduct, and there have
been administrative orders by which severe punishments have been
inflicted on the natives for cannibalism or for the mutilation of
persons who have been killed in battle, and this amelioration of
the condition of the people has been going on with great success.
Captain Burrows, who wrote against Captain De Keyser these most
atrocious libels, has been on two occasions in the employment of
the Congo Free State. He was employed there from June, 1894, until
September, 1897. He never had an opportunity of seeing or knowing
the character of the work which Captain De Keyser did, for they
were together only fourteen days in the year 1897. But from 1894
to 1897 Captain Burrows was out in the Congo Free State. He came
back to Europe in 1897, and the first interesting circumstance
about him is that he became at once the champion of the Congo
Free State against allegations made by Captain Salusbury. In 1896
Captain Salusbury had made accusations against certain officers
of the Congo Free State, and one of his allegations had been that
there were mutilations—hand-cutting and the like. Captain Burrows
made himself the defender of the Congo Free State and of its
administration. He had had four years’ experience, and he sought
an interview with the _Étoile Belge_, and had a conversation with
the representative of that newspaper, which was published; and you
will find in a letter from Captain Burrows that he takes to himself
the credit for what he had done in getting rid of, or answering,
the accusations of Captain Salusbury. I will read a line or two
from this statement: “As for his accusations,”—that is, Captain
Salusbury’s accusations against the Congo State and the Belgian
officers who employ him,—“they fail from the outset. It is without
any compulsion that the natives enlist in the public forces. The
harvest of ivory and caoutchouc gives rise to no atrocity. I have
witnessed none of the odious deeds related by Captain Salusbury,
and they certainly would have come to my knowledge if they had
been real. I say this for the simple reason that it is true.” Then
at the end he says as to the action of the Government: “With such
accounts one is silent instead of becoming an accuser. I do not
pretend that all is perfect at Congo. It certainly commits errors
sometimes, but truth compels me to state that the Government seeks
only to redress them, and to punish those who have been guilty of
it. The Belgian officers do not use their men brutally at will
as Captain Salusbury has affirmed. Indeed, the soldiers are much
attached to the greater number of their white chiefs, and the
latter can confidently count on their courage and devotion in time
of war.”
The close of it all was—and this you will find extremely important
when you see what Captain Burrows was saying later: “The tales that
have been told of cut hands are all pure legend. I have never seen
a living native mutilated. As for the cannibal customs of certain
tribes of the Congo, they should not be charged to the whites,
who do what they can to modify them, but who can only succeed in
doing it after lapse of time.” That was as explicit as it was
possible to be. That was published in the year 1898. He came back
in 1897. You will find a reference in the letter which I am going
to read. He published a book. I will read the letter first. The
letter is the 20th November, 1897. “Dear Mr. Liebrechts,—I send
you the last article of Mr. Salusbury.... I do not like asking
anything for myself, but if it were possible for you to obtain
for me the order of the ‘Lion,’ and that I should be named the
Captain Commandant of the first class, Salusbury would know it,
and this would be an absolute denial of his exposures.... I have
an idea of writing a book entitled _The Truth about the Congo_.
It should be dedicated (I do not know if that is the word) to the
King, and an introduction written by Stanley. What do you think of
the idea? Yours always, Burrows.” M. Liebrechts is the Secretary
General of the Congo Free State, resident in Brussels. He has had
the administration of the Congo under the King for years past. He
himself served for six years in the Congo, came back, and has been
Under Secretary for the Congo Free State since 1889. He has been
Secretary General for the State, and has had the responsibility for
the administration of the place, and is at present here in Court.
[Illustration: Drying Rubber in the Forest (Kassai).]
In that letter he refers to an introduction written by Stanley—that
is, Sir Henry M. Stanley. Here is the book that was published. It
was not called _The Truth about Central Africa_; it was called
_The Land of the Pigmies_. It is dedicated to the King of the
Belgians by permission, and it does contain an introduction by
Stanley. It purports to give a full account of the Congo State,
and I need hardly say there is not the smallest reference in it
as to any sort of atrocity. At one page there is a statement of a
man being caught, who had been guilty of inhuman conduct, and of
his being most severely punished, but that is given as an instance
of the untruth of the stories that inhumanity was allowed. This
was the position in 1898. Captain Burrows went back in June,
1898, and was at Basoko from 1898 till February, 1901. Then he
came back to Europe on the 21st of May, 1901. He wrote a letter
to Mr. Liebrechts. You will be interested to note the attitude he
takes with regard to his treatment by the Congo Free State. “Sir,
I have the honour to ask you to have the goodness to request the
Government to permit me to convert into capital (_i. e._, sell) my
allotment of the public debt 4 per cent. Congo Free State, granted
by your letter dated the 19th April, 1901.” The explanation is
that when an officer has served in the Congo for a certain time
and retires from the service there is allotted to him a certain
income from the Public Debt, and he is allowed to take that as
a lump sum, instead of receiving the interest from year to year
upon the proportion which is allotted to him. “The motives which
have decided me to make this request are as follows: It is more
than probable that I shall not return any more to the Congo. I
shall in all probability go to the Transvaal, and in that case
the stock granted to me would be almost useless. It would indeed
be difficult for me to again enter into service with the State
after having been four times passed over for promotion by officers
of shorter terms of service. Moreover, I have never received any
increase of pay during the two years and six months of my last term
of service as Commissioner of the district of Aruwimi. In spite
of services rendered since my arrival in the Congo in July, 1898,
I was the object of unrelenting suspicion on the part of several
functionaries of the State, and I am informed that many of these
gentlemen disparage me to the State. Amongst the services which I
have rendered I can remind you that it was I who silenced Captain
Salusbury. I wrote and published a book distinctly favourable to
the State, for which Sir Henry M. Stanley was pleased to write the
introduction. I regret, Sir, that such circumstances oblige
me to quit the service of the State.... I have the honour to
remain, District Commissioner Burrows.” You see by that that he
was leaving the service. He was stating his grievances: that his
pay had not been properly raised, and that he had not received
sufficient distinction. The next thing that happens is on the 15th
of November, 1901—a note which is the beginning, as you watch from
this point, of the scheme by which it was attempted to blackmail
the Government of the Congo Free State, or anybody else, by the
combination of Captain Burrows and Messrs. Everett, publishers
of his second book. On the 15th of November, 1901, this very
curious note was written: “Dear Monsieur Liebrechts. I should be
very grateful if you would have the kindness to tell me if the
State wishes to employ me again. If so, will you let me know the
conditions? Mr. Canisius is here. He says that he is engaged in
writing a book on the Congo.” That is a very interesting bit of
information. Monsieur Canisius was a gentleman who had been in the
employment of the Congo Free State, and had left that employment
to go into the employment of a private Company, and then had
desired to come back into the employment of the Congo Free State.
He had been refused. It is a rule, I think, with the Congo Free
State not to take back into the State service those who have left
to serve in private companies. Captain Burrows says: “Canisius is
here. He is engaged in writing a book on the Congo.” M. Canisius
was not there; M. Canisius at that time was on the Gold Coast!
It was a very curious notification to send: “Are you going to
have me back into the State service? There is somebody here who
is writing a book.” On the 23rd of November he was answered by
Commandant Liebrechts: “I have duly received your letter of the
15th of November and hasten to thank you for the communication you
have been good enough to make me. I heard Monsieur Canisius was
spreading certain calumnies about the State.” On the 16th December
Captain Burrows writes again: “I presume that your letter is a
refusal on the part of the Free State to re-engage me for a third
term of service. I beg you to enlighten me on this point, then I
shall know whether I am free or not to do what I wish”—another
very interesting suggestion; it is enlightened very much by what
you will hear shortly. On the 21st of December M. Liebrechts writes
thus: “I quite understood at the time of our last conversations,
that you no longer wished to resume service at the Congo, and we
seemed to be agreed that a post suitable to your capabilities
would be very difficult to find in Africa. You must not, however,
conclude that we shall no longer be able to make use of your
services should an occasion arise, for special missions, such as
may arise at any moment in other regions. If you were inclined to
hold yourself at our disposal, I should be obliged if you would let
me know.” On the 31st December Captain Burrows wrote: “I do not
remember the conversation alluded to in your letter of the 21st
December, in which I said quite plainly that I no longer wished to
resume service at the Congo. I understood that it was a question
of the conditions under which it would be impossible to resume
such service. You ask me if I am disposed to hold myself at the
disposal of the State with a view of being employed for special
missions which may arise at any moment in other regions. Am I to
understand that I am still in the service of the State or not? And
if so, under what conditions of remuneration, etc.?” On the 2nd
of January, 1902, Commandant Liebrechts writes: “In reply to your
letter of the 31st December, 1901, I hasten to inform you that your
agreement ended with your return to Europe, and that since then
you have, according to our laws and regulations, ceased to be a
member of our staff. It is precisely for this reason that I asked
you in my last letter if it would suit you to hold yourself at our
disposal for a certain period—let us say two years. You will have
to undertake during that period any mission with which we might
entrust you. Of course, if you accepted this proposal, an annual
salary would be allowed to you for that period of two years. But
before deciding this point I should like to know if, in itself, our
proposal commends itself to you. I should be obliged if you would
reply as soon as possible.”
Gentlemen of the Jury, we have come now to January, 1902. There
was an end of the negotiations, so to speak, between Captain
Burrows and Commandant Liebrechts, and Captain Burrows found
himself, to use his own expression, free to do as he chose.
During the early part of 1902, he began writing some things, and
an advertisement appeared in the _Wide World Magazine_ in which an
announcement was made of “Life in the Congo Free State,” a series
of articles which were to be published, written by Captain Guy
Burrows. The advertisement reads: “Captain Burrows was recently in
the employ of the Congo Free State Government, and in his official
capacity has seen much of the misgovernment which prevails in
that little-known territory. He has a good deal to say about the
atrocities which have taken place in connection with the rubber
industry, and the sworn testimony and photographic evidence which
he holds will no doubt create a sensation in high circles. Captain
Burrows’ articles in the _Wide World_ will be illustrated with
his own snapshots.” That was the advertisement that appeared. Why
there was a mention of atrocities in it appears presently. The
articles appeared in April, May, and June, in the _Wide World_.
They are articles with regard to the Congo State, and there is
not one syllable in them about any atrocity of any sort or kind.
That is what he was doing in the early part or middle of the year
1902. In the latter part of this year an agreement was entered
into between Captain Burrows as author, and E. A. Everett & Co.,
London, as publishers, for the publication of a work then entitled
_The Congo Free State_. This was signed on November 17, 1902. On
the 24th of November, 1902, this letter was written by Everett &
Co. to the Secretary of State of the Congo Free State at Brussels:
“Sir, we have recently concluded a contract with Captain Guy
Burrows, well known to the English public as having served some
years in the service [_sic_] of the Congo Free State, to publish an
important work on the Congo Free State. The information contained
in this book is of such a startling character, and contains so
many revelations concerning the administration of the Congo Free
State of Belgium, that we thought it well to advise you of its
publication beforehand, and at the same time to enquire if we may
have the honour of offering you the Belgian rights for publication
in your country. We are arranging for simultaneous publication in
Italy, Germany, France, Norway, and Sweden, and the United States
of America. We need hardly say that the book will be well got up,
and illustrated with a very large number of valuable and unique
photographs taken on the spot by the author and others. If you
wish to move in the matter of this offer, we should be glad if you
would let us know at your earliest convenience....” That, written
on the 24th to the Secretary General, was followed by a curious
communication sent to the editor of the _Independance Belge_ at
Brussels, on the 27th November by Everett & Co.: “Dear Sir, We
send you the advance notice of the enclosed valuable work, and
trust you may find room to insert the same in your literary column.
If you have an agent here, we could, perhaps, tell him of some
of the marvellous revelations in this book, but which we could
not put on paper.” On the 8th of December Commandant Liebrechts
wrote to him: “I have received your letter of the 24th ulto., in
which you inform me that you have agreed with Captain Guy Burrows
for the publication of a work on the Congo State, and you offer
me the rights of publication in Belgium. Before replying to your
proposition I wish to see the manuscript or a proof of the book.”
On the 9th Messrs. Everett & Co. wrote: “We are in receipt of
your letter of the 8th inst., for which we have to thank you, and
we much regret that we are unable to comply with your request in
sending you the MSS. of this book, as we are under a contract
with the author not to part with the MSS. under any consideration
whatever. We should, however, be happy to send you the title and
contents so as to give you some idea of the nature and scope of
the book, and we should also be willing to show the MSS. to any
of your accredited agents in London (by appointment). The MSS.,
signed documents, and photographs are of such vital importance
that we should not care to put them through the post, for fear of
loss. We understand that the author, Captain Burrows, was lately a
District Commissioner for the Congo Free State, and is a Chevalier
of the Order of the Lion of Belgium.” In consequence of their
offer to show those documents to anybody who was sent over, Mr.
Bigwood came over to this country, and he saw Messrs. Everett. He
met them and had a conversation with them, and then there was shown
to him the document of which this is a copy, called “The Curse of
Central Africa.” It was the same document as had already been sent
to the _Independance Belge_. At the end of chapter xxv., the very
last chapter, there is this: “A Belgian’s treatment of a native
chief—more bestial than human—goes unpunished.” That was afterwards
applied to Captain De Keyser. Then comes a list of illustrations.
At the end there is a list of Belgian officers and officials who,
the author alleged, are responsible for the atrocities mentioned in
this book; and a series of names included the name of Captain De
Keyser.
Captain Burrows was in England on the 16th of December. He had a
conversation with Everett on the 17th of December. This note was
written to Mr. Bigwood at the Hotel Metropole by R. A. Everett:
“With reference to your visit yesterday at my office, I think it
would be to your advantage for you to call upon me at my club. I
shall be here during the evening.” That was the National Liberal
Club, Whitehall Place. On the 17th, Everett was at the National
Liberal Club, and he was there with Captain Burrows and young
Mr. Everett, and then a very interesting agreement was signed
which throws a very clear light indeed upon the correspondence
that had been going on with Brussels. It is witnessed by A. E. C.
Everett, that is, the son, who went over to Brussels and posted
the post cards in bad French. Captain Burrows signs it: “I hereby
agree to pay Mr. John George Leigh the sum of £500, if and when
my publishers, R. A. Everett & Co., 42, Essex Street, Strand,
receive the amount which may be paid by the Belgian Government
for the non-publication of the manuscript written by myself and
him entitled ‘The Curse of Central Africa.’ In case the book
is published I agree to pay Mr. J. G. Leigh one third of the
profits accruing from such publication as per agreement with the
said publishers.” There never was more definite evidence of the
intention with which these communications had been made with
Brussels. If they had succeeded in extorting from the Belgian
Government by any apprehension of the publication of these
documents, a substantial sum of money—£500—was to be paid under
that agreement.
Mr. Leigh is a brother-in-law of Mr. Canisius, and Mr. Leigh
eventually signed the introduction to the book. He is a journalist.
That agreement having been made on the 17th, on the 30th Mr.
Everett writes another letter to the State Secretary: “At the
request of Mr. Bigwood, who called upon us recently on your behalf,
we send you a revise of the title-page, and one or two chapters of
this book” (you will hear from Mr. Bigwood that that is not true;
he did not request them to send anything at all), “and we shall
be glad if you will let us know definitely, and at once, whether
you wish to go any further in this matter. The more important
photographs detailing the cruelties are being enlarged from the
originals, so please do not take the enclosed to be the size.—We
have the honour to remain your obedient servants, R. A. Everett &
Co.”
In the documents you will find the passages to which I have now
come, which are contained in this: “Flogging a native by order of
De Keyser. At Basoko, the headquarters station of the district
of the Aruwimi, where the notorious De Keyser [meaning thereby
the Plaintiff], of hand-cutting fame, was in command, women were
daily flogged for the most trivial offences, etc.” This, you will
notice, is stated to have occurred in November, 1897. It was a
time when Captain Burrows himself was not in the Congo State at
all, but you will hear from Captain De Keyser that there is not
the smallest ground for the allegation of cruelty that was made
against him. It is true that a chief was taken down in the steamer
on which Captain De Keyser was, but the suggestion that he was
treated in that barbarous fashion is entirely untrue. The next
passage which has to be read is with regard to Basoko, and as to
Basoko, what I have told you is that at Basoko, for fourteen days
only, Captain Burrows was at the place where Captain De Keyser
had his command. “At Basoko, the headquarters station of the
district of the Aruwimi, women used to be flogged almost daily
for the most trivial offences. In one case five women were beaten
for daring to go to a village a short way up the river to buy
food without having previously informed the commandant.” Thus,
after six and a half years, during which no breath of accusation
has been made with regard to these matters by Captain Burrows,
there comes this extraordinary attack: “De Keyser, of hand-cutting
fame”; “De Keyser’s massacre”; De Keyser described as walking
about the station where he was employed with his gun, and shooting
with reckless cruelty at the natives—De Keyser, who is accused
of taking a man prisoner and practically roasting him on the
stack-pipe of the boat as he is going down the river. There was
not only that, but the imputation of habitually flogging women
at this place. These odious and appalling accusations, the echo
of which follows a man through his whole life, are made against
him, and made against him by whom? By a man who had been in the
service of the Congo State itself, who, in the year 1897, as I
have shown, made himself the defender of the administration of
the Congo State, and declared in an article which was put in the
interview which he had with _L’Étoile Belge_, that there was no
foundation whatever for the accusations which had been made against
the Belgian officers, and he was able to say so because he knew
the truth. He attacked Captain Salusbury and disposed of that.
This man, who in 1897 was taking that attitude, who afterwards
leaves the service of the Congo State and feels himself aggrieved
because he has not been so highly paid, because he has not had such
distinction conferred upon him as others have had conferred,—he,
seven years afterwards, enters into this—is it too much to call
it a conspiracy? They are grave accusations, accusations which,
if there had been any semblance of truth in them, or if there had
been any honest reason for their being made, would have been made
long before in different circumstances and in a different way. At
the time when they are eventually made, they are made in a way
which will not do public service, but will put money in Captain
Burrows’ pocket and into the pockets of the publishers who are
joining with him in publishing. It is perfectly impossible to
misunderstand the correspondence with Commandant Liebrechts. If
this had been an honest thing, honestly done by Captain Burrows
in the performance of any public duty, do you think there would
have been a going first to a publisher and then a letter from that
publisher inviting the Belgian Government to consider what it would
be worth their while to pay for the suppression of this book? There
is no question as to the meaning of that letter. What do you think
was the object of putting a crowd of names into the revise, some
of which afterwards disappeared? Why, it was because the object
was the illegitimate object of endeavouring to bring pressure
upon the Belgian Government and to induce them to pay money to
buy up this book. It was not for any public object at all, but
because the mention of these names, showing that there was a list
of persons formerly or at present in the Congo Company’s service
against whom accusations might be brought, might make it worth
the while of the Belgian Government to prevent a great scandal by
procuring the suppression of this book. But the Congo Free State or
the Belgian Government was not going to buy up the book in order
to suppress it or in order to prevent its publication. As one of
the witnesses, Commandant Liebrechts, said, “For the first time
we found that we should be in a position to deal with specific
statements.” It is all very well for people to be spreading over
the world—I do not care whether they are in reports or interviews
or anything else—general statements with regard to things that are
done in the Congo Free State. Commandant Liebrechts says there
had been complaints: “I had heard on more than one occasion of
complaints being made as to conduct in the Congo. Whenever it was
known, and found out, it was dealt with and it was punished. These
allegations about maladministration of the Congo Free State had
been spread about from time to time by interviews, suggestions,
newspaper reports, and the like, but here we saw that there was
an opportunity for the men who were personally attacked to come
and vindicate themselves from the charges which were made against
them.” Therefore, there was no attempt to buy this book, and the
conspirators were disappointed who had been preparing this revise,
and cramming it with an enormous amount of material which it was
thought would frighten the Belgian Government from permitting it
to be dealt with. I do not know what the price might have been
which they would have asked for, but that there was a price they
were thinking of you will see in a minute or two. What did they
expect to get for it? We do not know. But we do know this, that
there were two principals in the matter, and there was by way of
being a subordinate. I speak of Mr. Leigh as a subordinate. I do
not suggest in the least that he was associated with the attempt
that was being made in Belgium, but what we know is, that he was
doing a minor part of the work, that the manuscript was said to
have been Captain Burrows’ manuscript, that the materials for this
book were supposed to be Captain Burrows’ materials, and Captain
Burrows therefore was the principal person, and Messrs. Everett
had lent their name and their work, and were acting with Captain
Burrows, and no doubt expected a very large share of the money that
would be got from the Belgian Government. If Mr. Leigh, in his
modest inconspicuous, and irresponsible position, was to get £500
for helping in putting together the materials for this book, what
do you think that Captain Burrows and Mr. Everett thought that they
might be able to extort from the fear of the Belgian Government
that this thing would go all over the world?
The address to the jury of Mr. Crispe, counsel for the Defendant
Burrows, was often eloquent, always adroit, and showed great skill in
defending a cause to which the main defence had been abandoned when
the pleas of justification were withdrawn.
Gentlemen [said Counsel for Everett & Co., one of the defendants],
apart from what Commandant Liebrechts termed “moral damage,” there
is no evidence of actual damage suffered by Captain De Keyser
in this having come to the knowledge of Commandant Liebrechts.
Commandant Liebrechts says that he had investigated these charges
and found out that they were false. If so, the repetition of them
could have no effect upon his mind as regards the complicity
of Captain De Keyser in them, and therefore, so far as that is
concerned, no damage could have been suffered with reference to
Commandant Liebrechts.
Those are the facts on the question. I now ask you to deal with
the printer in this case in the most general and lenient manner
that you can. He has, as I told you in opening, been compelled
to accept the evidence given him by the man who brings him the
material. He safeguards himself to an extent, or at all events his
_bona fides_ [_sic_], he safeguards by obtaining the statement in
that agreement that these allegations are true, and that there is
nothing libellous in the work that he is about to produce. Mr.
Everett has not been able to establish the plea of justification,
and if the statements, as Captain De Keyser says now, in the books
are untrue, Mr. Everett can only express his regret that he should
have accepted from Captain Burrows, on Captain Burrows’ assurance
that they were true, statements which were false, and which have
led Mr. Everett to being made a Defendant in an action for libel.
Gentlemen, I ask you to say that throughout Mr. Everett has
believed in the truth and the proof of these allegations; that
otherwise he would not have published the book, and placed himself
in such a dangerous and perilous condition; and I ask you further
to say that whether the Plaintiff comes here to-day to vindicate
and clear the character of Captain De Keyser, or whether he comes
here to vindicate and clear the character of the Congo Free State
administration, there was no necessity, in order to do that, to try
and blacken the character of the Defendant, Mr. Everett.
[Illustration: Mission Children at New Antwerp.]
Mr. Justice Ridley, in charging the jury, after disposing of several
minor matters, said:
What is the real case here? The action is brought by Captain
De Keyser to clear his character against libels which have been
published. I do not wish to use epithets in a case like this,
but they are certainly libels of a most serious character. It is
charged that he had been guilty of abominable outrages against the
natives, against men and women who were under his government, a
thing which is of an atrocious character, enough to blacken the
good name of any one for the rest of his life. That is what he came
here about; he came to say that this was a libellous statement,
to say that it was untrue, and to ask for a verdict from you. The
answer of the Defendants is that it was true. That has remained
their answer until yesterday morning, when it ceased to be their
answer.
We have been listening this afternoon to statements made by
Counsel, in which it appears that they complain because they cannot
cross-examine, or they cannot examine, or they cannot do something
or other. It seems to me that, upon the other hand, it is the
Plaintiff who has the right of complaint, that he has been brought
here with such a plea on the Record until the very last minute.
That is very late, is it not? It is absolutely untrue that he ever
did any one of those things. There is not one tittle of evidence to
that effect, and nobody dare say so.
It appears that Captain Burrows, who is one of the Defendants,
was out in the Congo at an earlier year. I am not sure when; he
returned to Europe on November 20, 1897. He was at that time a
supporter of the Government in respect of the charges made by
a person named Salusbury. In 1898 he brought out another book,
called “The Land of the Pigmies,” against which I have nothing to
say. It contained nothing at all in the shape of a charge against
anybody in respect of this matter. He then went back again to the
Congo, but he returned in 1901, and then commenced a correspondence
between him and Commandant Liebrechts. There is an earlier letter
in which he states that he is proposing to bring out another book.
Later on there is correspondence as to which I agree, that it
shows that he and the Belgian Government parted on terms not of
dismissal of him, but upon a proposal being made that if he liked
to place himself at their disposal for two years they would pay
him a salary, and that he must be ready to accept any expedition
on which he was asked to go. He declined that service. That was
at the end of 1901. In the following year he published certain
articles in the _Wide World_. They contained nothing at all about
cruelties, as I understand, although they contained articles about
the administration of the Congo Free State. That was in the year
1902; but when we get to the autumn of 1902 a new state of things
commences, because up to that time you will see there is nothing
to indicate that he had taken up a hostile position against either
the administration of the Congo Free State or against any one who
had been concerned in it. But on the 17th November things begin to
assume a somewhat different complexion. There is the Agreement of
the 17th November, 1902, made between Captain Burrows and Messrs.
Everett & Co., under which the author warrants that the work is
to be an original work. He names the work then as _The Congo Free
State_. The publishers agree to pay him the sum of £250 on account,
and a royalty of 15 per cent. On the 24th November, when that
agreement was in force, a letter was written by Messrs. Everett &
Co. to Commandant Liebrechts. Now the point of this letter is: Was
the action of the Defendants _bona fide_ in this matter? Are they
persons who have unwittingly fallen into a false statement, or have
they done a thing with a purpose regardless of the consequences?
Have they done the thing which is what we commonly call blackmail,
or forcing people to pay over money unless they wish to have a foul
charge made against them?
These are the letters which bear upon this matter. The first is
November 24th: “We have recently concluded a contract with Captain
Guy Burrows, well known to the English public as having served
some years in the service of the Congo Free State, to publish an
important work on the Congo Free State. The information contained
in the book is of such a startling character, and contains so
many revelations concerning the administration of the Congo
Free State by Belgium, that we thought it well to advise you of
its publication beforehand, and at the same time to inquire if
we may have the honour of offering you the Belgian rights for
publication in your country.” That may mean nothing but what it
says, but it may have a sinister meaning in it. It may be that
the fact that “the information contained in the book is of such a
startling character, and contains so many revelations concerning
the administration of the Congo Free State,” that the point which
is meant to be taken by those to whom it is written is: Is it
worth your while to buy it up and stop it; not to publish it, but
to have the right of publication so as to prevent it from being
published in the ordinary way? Is that the meaning of the letter,
or is it merely a _bona fide_ offer of trying to push a book which
is supposed and intended to be innocent, and to get people to push
the sale of it? If that was the object, one is rather at a loss to
understand how it could be to their interest to publish revelations
concerning the administration of the Congo Free State by
themselves, and, of course, contrary to the good faith and to the
proper administration of the Government. That it might be to their
interest to buy it up, and refuse to publish it, I can understand;
the other part I have a difficulty in following. It states: “We are
arranging for a simultaneous publication in Italy, Germany, France,
Norway, Sweden, and the United States of America.” I suppose this
could not also be bought up through some agents of the Government
of Belgium, but if so, it would be a larger sum to come to the
publishers. That is the letter of the 24th. On the 27th, by the
same people is sent to the paper in Brussels an “advance notice of
the enclosed valuable work.” That is the first issue which contains
a list of the persons who are implicated in the atrocities. It does
not contain the chapter which is the subject of this libel, but it
contains a list of Belgian officers and officials responsible for
the atrocities mentioned in this book. That is sent to the leading
paper in Belgium. With what object? Do you think it possible that
they thought that by some means or other it would come to the
knowledge of the Government through the Press, or through some
other means, that there was something which it would be worth their
buying?
Now came Mr. Bigwood. The result upon the Belgian Government was
not that they made an offer; they made nothing of the sort. They
said, We will find out what this is; and they sent Mr. Bigwood
over, whose evidence we heard yesterday, and who says that he
then saw and took back with him not only the first issue, which
is the one I have just been mentioning as containing the names
of the officers, but that he also saw upon the table the second
issue, which is now put forward as the first of the two libels in
the case, but he did not take it with him. It was sent upon the
30th December, as you know. Now, an important thing upon this part
of the case seems to me to be the document of the 17th December.
That is, you see, between the two dates; it is after the 24th and
the 27th November, and it is about the time of the visit of Mr.
Bigwood, or just after he had left. Mr. Bigwood had seen on the
table the second issue, but he had not taken it; it was not sent
until the 30th December. In the interval we have got a document
which is signed by Captain Burrows, and which says: “I hereby agree
to pay to Mr. John George Leigh” (who is the man whose signature
appears in the introduction), “the sum of £500 if and when my
publishers, Messrs. Everett & Co., receive the amount which may be
paid by the Belgian Government.” What for, do you think, gentlemen?
You will say, of course, for the publication of the book. But it is
not so: it is for the non-publication of the book. Therefore he is
to get £500, which is to be paid by the Belgian Government for not
publishing the book; that is to say, for suppressing it. Nothing
could be plainer. “If the Belgian Government think it worth their
while to buy it up, so that it should not be published, I will pay
you £500.” It is under his own hand and signature, and I cannot see
what the answer to it is. To my mind it is absolutely conclusive.
I do not know whether you will consider that the meaning of the
first letter is not that the book should be published broadcast
but that the rights of publishing it should be bought up with
the view of stopping its being published broadcast. He goes on:
“For the non-publication of the manuscripts written by myself and
him, entitled ‘The Curse of Central Africa.’ In case the book is
published, I agree to pay Mr. Leigh one-third of the profits
accruing from such publication as per agreement with the said
publisher.” That, of course, goes for nothing. It is the first
part, and it appears to me to be clear upon that, that the meaning
of such words must be that the object was not to get the Belgian
Government not to publish, but to prevent the publication. Now, if
so, of course I am perfectly aware that that is not the point of
the case, but you cannot keep out of your mind in a case of this
kind what has been the conduct of those who are responsible for the
libels which have been published. Is it a case in which they have
done the thing with a _bona fide_ intention to produce and to bring
to light, and to make to cease outrages and atrocities which have
been committed in any part of the world, or is it, on the other
hand, to make a profit out of something which has been brought to
their knowledge to the detriment of other people? If you think that
this was done to get a profit by forcing the Belgian Government to
buy their silence, it would appear to me that you would deal with
the matter upon a different footing to that on which you would be
willing to deal with it if you thought that the Defendants, from
beginning to end, had done their best to alleviate the mischief
which their published statements might have unfortunately brought
about.
You must also, I think, look at the conduct of those who were
guilty of having published this libel. Have they done the best
they could to alleviate the consequences, or have they, on the
other hand, maintained the fact that it was true until almost
the eleventh hour; and have they also, or have they not, whilst
this matter has been going on, been actuated by other motives,
not merely the motive of bringing to light in the public interest
a scandal that was going on, but by the idea that out of this
business they would make some ugly profit for themselves?
The jury retired at 3.22 o’clock. In ten minutes it returned a
verdict for the plaintiff, Captain De Keyser, awarding him £500
damages and costs. Sir Edward Clarke, plaintiff’s counsel, having
moved the Court to make the preliminary injunction forbidding
publication of the book perpetual, defendant’s counsel gave
expression to the thought that if the Court complied, it would be a
“very hard and cruel proceeding.” In replying to this observation,
Sir Edward Clarke said:
I do not know that the interference with the business of persons
who publish libels like this is a public misfortune; but it would
be very unfortunate indeed if after the Jury have found a verdict
in my favour upon this matter, and awarded substantial damages,
that the Defendant should be free from the Injunction which has
gone on for the last year. I do not ask your Lordship to vary the
Injunction, but I ask your Lordship that the Injunction which
lasted while this matter was in dispute shall be made perpetual.
The terms of the Injunction which was granted by Mr. Justice
Bigham are these: “Ordered that the Defendants, their servants and
agents and each and every of them be restrained and an Injunction
be granted restraining the Defendants, their servants and agents,
and each and every of them, from printing or selling or otherwise
distributing a book entitled ‘The Curse of South Africa’ under that
or any other title, or any portion of the said book under that
title or any other title.” I submit that I am at least entitled to
be continued in the protection which existed while the action was
pending.
I was so protected when it was uncertain whether I had sustained
any grievance or not. Now it has been established, and I have
recovered substantial damages for that grievance, I surely am
entitled to a continuation of that protection.
Mr. Justice Ridley: I shall make it perpetual.
Thereupon counsel for defendants in the remaining cases of Chaltin
_versus_ Captain Burrows and Everett & Co., and Dubreucq _versus_ the
same, agreed to submit to a verdict in favour of the plaintiffs for
£50 damages and costs. The jury returned verdicts for this sum, and
the Court made perpetual the injunction against the publication of
the book.
So resulted the first opportunity Belgian officers in the service of
the Congo Free State have had to vindicate their characters during
the long campaign which certain persons have, from varying motives,
waged against the youngest and most progressive State in Africa.
CHAPTER XXX
THE CONGO CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND
[Sidenote: Some English Traits.]
THE English are an admirable people, who have excelled in every
department of human effort; but the evidence of the more critical
among them, with whom love of fair play counts for as much as pride
of race, has never failed to reveal in the national character (as
of course in the character of every nation) a goodly number of weak
spots whereat the critic and the wit may profitably direct their
shafts. John Bull, the trader, is a keen-eyed, hard-headed bargainer.
Good; it behoves every merchant to be no less. He regards the whole
world as his farm by right divine, and resents his exclusion from any
part of it. When his remonstrance is met by counter-remonstrance, he
points to his home markets and his colonies, and emphasises the fact
that these British markets are open (long after his own trade has
been firmly established therein) to the traders of the world.
[Illustration: A Beautiful Spot in Mayumbe.]
But it is in his ultra-sentimental mood that John Bull is seen at
his worst. Has there been a conflict between some semi-barbarous
tribes in that seething cauldron of discontent, the Balkans, and
the Sultan’s troops have thrashed them indiscriminately and
dispersed them, John Bull, or at least that part of him which wears
white ties and is described as “reverend,” rushes off to Exeter
Hall and demands the prayers of the churches and the forces of his
Government for the suppression of the inhuman atrocities which he
denounces. (Incidentally, but in unmistakable terms, he at the same
time calls the attention of his audience to the joyful fact that it
is their duty and privilege to assist in this good work by giving
liberally of their money.) Of course it is but a section of the
English people which approves and supports this sort of thing, and a
still smaller section that exploits it. But in a country politically
constituted as England is, where the suffrage is almost universal, it
is sufficiently large and influential to influence from time to time
the conduct of the British Government. This is more particularly the
case where the interests of the pseudo-humanitarians and those of the
traders happen to coincide. On such occasions, fortunately somewhat
rare, the spectacle of Cant and Commerce in alliance is enough to
bring a smile to the face of a sphinx.
[Sidenote: A Strange Alliance.]
Protestant missionaries of various sects, in rivalry with each other,
but often alike in being envious of the superior results obtained by
Roman Catholic missionaries in the Congo Free State, denounce the
Congo Government as a gang of barbarous extortioners, oppressors,
murderers. A small but active set of Liverpool merchants, dismayed at
finding that what twenty years ago they regarded as worthless has,
under judicious Belgian administration, become a valuable asset, and
some of whom appear willing to resort to any means by which they may
at least be enabled to share the prize, join their forces to those
of the missionaries. Lies fall as thickly as leaves in Vallombrosa.
No sooner is one mendacious story refuted than ten others take its
place. The Congo campaign multiplies its adherents, it gathers force
daily, its voice becomes more and more thunderous, until at last it
invades the British House of Commons and moves a British minister to
write a puerile dispatch to the Great Powers, which the Great Powers,
in the exercise of their common-sense, politely ignore. Only up to a
certain point does Baron Münchausen triumph. _Verb. sap._
[Sidenote: Why is John Bull Silent?]
What magnificent material for the mouthings of certain English
ultra-humanitarians would be the lynching of Negroes in our own
Southern States! The jail-breakings, the hangings, shootings, and
burnings—could more effective subjects for stereopticon slides and
the perfervid oratory of paid lecturers be devised? And all true and
ready to hand, needing neither lies nor distortions! Alas! nothing
can be made out of that campaign. It will not pay to call our country
to account for its neglect or failure to suppress these things. The
United States own a fleet which, if not as strong as it should be, is
sufficiently powerful to inspire respect; and our President can at
any time call up an army of a million citizen soldiers, volunteers
of proved valour. With the Congo Free State this is not the case.
Caution was ever a prominent characteristic of John Bull, and he
has carefully noted that fact. Neutral little Belgium may safely
be bullied, her King libelled, and his enterprise misrepresented
and held up to the scorn of an undiscriminating world, too busy
to undertake a careful analysis of motives or even to distinguish
between the true and the false.
Judicial consideration of the English campaign against the Congo,
naturally a difficult task, is rendered doubly so by the general
suppression of material evidence favourable to that State. From
motives best known to their proprietors, one or two important London
newspapers, ever ready to afford space for an attack upon the Congo
Government, however violent or by whomsoever made, frequently decline
to publish replies thereto. Indeed, the more complete the refutation,
and the greater the authority of the writer, the less chance of
its acceptance for publication in these newspapers. Upon several
occasions has Major Harrison been refused space for his temperate
letters to the _Morning Post_, and the _Daily News_, the principal
support of the Aborigines Protection Society, is avowedly against
the continued existence of the Congo Free State. A complete answer
to Mr. Roger Casement’s Report, prepared by the Congo Government,
was unanimously rejected by London editors. This most unjust
partisanship extends even to English press reports of proceedings
in the House of Commons, of which one might reasonably expect to
find in English journals a complete record; or where the exigencies
of space necessitate condensation, that at least that editorial
operation should be performed without bias. That expectation meets
with disappointment.
On June 9, 1904, Sir Charles Dilke, with a fine show of virtue which
has not always characterised his conduct, delivered a speech in the
House of Commons wherein he assumes the truth of the various libels
upon the Congo Government prepared by missionaries, merchants, and
dismissed employees. That speech, and the speeches of such other
members of the British House of Commons as for various reasons have
been induced to follow a similar course, have been reported _in
extenso_, while the speech of Mr. John Campbell, member for South
Armagh, has not so much as been referred to. Mr. Campbell derided
the Congophobes’ plea that they have at heart only the interests of
humanity.
The gold [he remarked] of that fine phrase is alloyed with other
arguments. Commercial considerations have also their weight. Some
speakers began by talking of humanity and ended with commerce.
Others began with commerce and ended with humanity. One honourable
member had thrown overboard the humanitarian theme and flatly
talked business. But, in spite of all the ornamental flowers of
philanthropy, the groundwork of all these speeches is—commerce. The
true motive which prompts the Anti-Congo campaign, conducted with
such vigour in this country and within these walls, was exposed in
a few words by Stanley when he said: “_The sentiment that inspires
the charges against the Congo is jealousy. The Congo is succeeding
better than any other State in Africa._”
One would suppose that sentiments such as these, supported by the
authority of Stanley, would at least be as worthy of a few lines in
an English newspaper as the vague charges of cruelty alleged by
some missionaries based upon what they have been told that somebody
else has heard, etc. But, no! such references are rigidly suppressed
in a large section of the English press, just as much of Mr.
Casement’s Report that is favourable to the Congo Government has been
suppressed.[44]
[Illustration: Interior of Cathedral, Baudouinville (Tanganyika).]
[Illustration: Sisters of New Antwerp Teaching Natives to Weave.]
Just as this book is going to press particulars come to hand of an
incident which throws a strong light upon, the methods adopted by the
enemies of the Congo Free State in manufacturing evidence against it.
The paid officers of the Congo Reform Association in Liverpool, the
Aborigines’ Protection Society, and kindred organisations, must find
it increasingly difficult to justify their existence when tactics
such as are here exposed have to be resorted to.[45]
[Sidenote: A Typical Congophobe Method.]
In 1902, on the recommendation of a high official of the Free State,
Mr. Antoine Benedetti, a cultured gentleman belonging to an ancient
and wealthy family in Sicily, was appointed chief commissary—a post
which had never before been conferred on a foreigner on account of
its special responsibilities. This rapid promotion shows in what
esteem Mr. Benedetti was held by his chiefs.
Mr. Benedetti returned to Europe on November 7, 1904, and when
requested to give his chiefs some information on the existing
situation in the Congo, related circumstances which might well be
considered fit for a novel, if their accuracy were not vouched for by
authentic documents.
While at Boma, Mr. Benedetti noticed that a Negro named Shanu, a
British subject from Lagos, was trying to discover his opinions
on Congo policy and administration. Shanu having been at one time
in the employ of the State, Mr. Benedetti suspected nothing; but
in the course of conversation with the Negro, he perceived what
Shanu wanted to get from him. Shanu boasted to Mr. Benedetti of the
humanitarian character of the English campaign against the Congo, and
he further hinted that, if he were correctly informed, Mr. Benedetti
would surely join in the said campaign, a course which would be of
great advantage to him. Mr. Benedetti pretended to share the views
of Shanu, who thereupon pushed the matter home by producing some
letters of Mr. Edmund Deville Morel, Secretary of the Congo Reform
Association.
In one of these letters, Mr. Morel informs Shanu that Mr. Benedetti,
commissary at Boma, has been spoken of to him as one who would be
a valuable acquisition in the English campaign against the Congo.
Mr. Benedetti at once saw what was expected of him; he realised
that efforts were being made to enlist in the anti-Congo campaign
the numerous Italians in the service of the Free State; and, with
the sole desire of protecting the honour of his fellow-countrymen
in the Congo, he resolved to defeat Mr. Morel’s plans. With a view
of gaining Shanu’s confidence, he declared himself to be on the
Negro’s side, and by so doing compromised himself in the eyes of his
official colleagues. He told Shanu—who lost no time in informing
Mr. Morel—that by virtue of his position, he was able to make some
startling revelations. Shanu thereupon suggested that he should
send in his resignation, giving as the reason certain compromising
allegations against the Free State. Shanu then wrote to Mr. Morel to
the effect that he and Mr. Benedetti agreed that the latter was just
the man to lead the campaign against the Congo. On the receipt of Mr.
Morel’s reply, the departure of Mr. Benedetti was decided upon.
Mr. Benedetti was promised his passage money to Europe, as well as
compensation for the loss of his place under the Free State, and,
later, a handsome bonus. Mr. Morel requested Mr. Benedetti to meet
him at the Exchange Station Hotel, Liverpool, on the 19th November,
and to announce his arrival by the following telegram:
“Morel care Jellani arrived Benedetti.”
Under these circumstances, Mr. Benedetti sent in his resignation,
alleging that private business called him to Europe. He left by the
SS. _Philippeville_, and the British Consul at Boma gave him ten
pounds sterling for his travelling expenses. The receipt for this sum
was made out by Mr. Benedetti in the name of Shanu.
Up to the time of his departure, Mr. Benedetti had discharged his
duties so well that he was congratulated by the local authorities.
Having spoken to nobody about the course he was adopting, so little
was his sudden departure understood that his colleagues were
mystified. He could not, of course, enlighten them without showing
his hand. Mr. Benedetti landed at Antwerp on November 7th, and on the
17th arrived at Liverpool, having previously despatched to Mr. Morel
the telegram agreed upon. After some delay Mr. Morel went to see Mr.
Benedetti at the Exchange Station Hotel in that city.
Mr. Morel appeared somewhat distrustful, and asked Mr. Benedetti if
he had authenticating documents. The latter produced some unimportant
papers, which he pretended were valuable, and told the Secretary of
the Congo Reform Association some sensational stories of absolutely
imaginary crimes. In short, Mr. Benedetti played his game so well
that Mr. Morel no longer hesitated to close the affair, but said he
would introduce to him a gentleman who was greatly interested in the
Congo.
In response to a telephonic message from Mr. Morel there arrived
Mr. John Holt, a merchant, of Dale Street, Liverpool. Mr. Holt is
Vice-President of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and a member
of the Congo Reform Association. Mr. Morel told Mr. Holt what Mr.
Benedetti had said, and then certain practical questions were
discussed. It was agreed that Mr. Benedetti should relate in the
_West African Mail_ the stories that he had just invented; but Mr.
Benedetti, wishing to gain time, stated that he would rather publish
them first in Italy, after which the organ of the Congo Reform
Association might reproduce them. It was decided also to issue a
pamphlet, for which Mr. Benedetti was to receive eighty pounds.
Some generous promises were made to Mr. Benedetti: five hundred
pounds as damages and his fare paid to Teneriffe by the Congo Reform
Association. At Teneriffe, it was agreed, he should seek to poison
the minds of Italian officers returning from the Congo. Later, Mr.
Holt was to go to Italy where, together with Mr. Benedetti, he was
to subsidise a newspaper to attack the Congo, and if this newspaper
war resulted in the King of Italy recalling Italian officers serving
in the Congo, Mr. Benedetti was to receive a further sum of four
thousand pounds.
The former commissary of Boma would not accept verbal promises; he
requested a document. He demanded first of all a contract for the
publication of the pamphlet. Mr. Benedetti invited Mr. Morel and Mr.
Holt to dinner, and it was during this dinner on the 19th of November
that the clauses of the contract were discussed. Conversation was
carried on to a late hour and Mr. Holt, in an unguarded moment,
remarked that in England everything was done by and for the sake of
business, and that sentiment was obliged to give way to trade. The
signing of the contract was fixed for eleven o’clock on the morning
of the 21st of November, 1904, when the three gentlemen concerned
attended and the following document was drawn up and signed. The text
is in English and French:
Between Mr. Benedetti and Mr. Morel it is agreed as follows:—Mr.
Benedetti agrees to publish in a special pamphlet all the
statements that he made and proved by means of documents on the
evening of the 19th of November at the Exchange Station Hotel, in
the presence of Mr. Morel and Mr. Holt, as well as various other
facts the evidence of which is in his possession in Italy.
Mr. Benedetti shall first submit to Mr. Morel, before the 5th of
December, a rough copy of his pamphlet in English and Italian. Upon
this rough copy Mr. Morel reserves the right to make corrections,
and to send these corrections to Mr. Benedetti by the 9th of
December, unless prevented by _force majeure_.
As soon as the pamphlet has been approved by Mr. Morel, Mr.
Benedetti shall send to Mr. Morel a corrected copy (if corrections
have been made) in English and Italian, as well as a copy of the
original documents in his possession, certified by the British
Consul on the original text.
Mr. Benedetti undertakes to be ready to publish all by 22nd
December, or by such date as Mr. Morel shall telegraph to him.
In any case, Mr. Benedetti will not publish all or any part of the
pamphlet without previous understanding with Mr. Morel as to the
date.
Mr. Benedetti undertakes to place at Mr. Morel’s disposal, after
the publication of the pamphlet, all original papers referred to
in the said pamphlet, and Mr. Morel undertakes to return them, if
required.
Mr. Morel deposits a thousand francs for Mr. Benedetti’s travelling
expenses from Boma.
Mr. Morel undertakes to pay Mr. Benedetti the sum of two thousand
francs, which sum represents the loss to Mr. Benedetti of his
situation in the Congo State, owing to the publication of
statements made in the said pamphlet, as soon as he receives from
Mr. Benedetti notice that the pamphlet has been published in Italy,
and a copy of the pamphlet.
Mr. Morel undertakes to pay the expenses incurred in publishing
the pamphlet in Italy up to the sum of five hundred francs. Mr.
Benedetti undertakes to send two hundred copies of the pamphlet to
Mr. Morel.
It is understood on both sides that the above entirely covers all
relations between Mr. Benedetti and Mr. Morel.
Mr. Morel undertakes to obtain from Mr. Shanu, of Boma, the receipt
for the two hundred and fifty francs handed by Mr. Benedetti to Mr.
Shanu, and to deduct the sum from the two thousand francs above
mentioned.
Signed the 21st November, 1904, at Liverpool Exchange Station Hotel.
E. D. MOREL.
A. BENEDETTI.
Witness to signatures of A. Benedetti and E. D. Morel:
JOHN HOLT,
merchant,
81 Dale Street,
Liverpool.
It is not without interest to call attention to the final clause,
concerning the receipt for the 250 francs which Mr. Benedetti had
given to Shanu, as a guarantee of the £10 which the British Consul at
Boma had given him before his departure.
[Illustration: Building a Bridge for the Cataracts Railroad, 1897.]
As to the clause concerning the thousand francs which Mr. Morel
undertook to pay Benedetti for his travelling expenses from Boma, it
came about through the fact that his departure from Boma was not in
accord with the regulations. As his engagement was not terminated,
the question of his being sent home at the expense of the Congo Free
State was not settled. Mr. Holt took from his pocket a roll of Bank
of England notes and paid Mr. Benedetti £40.
As soon as he was in possession of this contract, Mr. Benedetti
returned to Brussels, whence he sent Mr. Morel the following letter:
BRUSSELS, 30th November, 1904.
Mr. E. D. MOREL, Liverpool,
I have the pleasure of remitting herewith to you a cheque on the
South Wales Bank, Limited, No. 109,880, to the order of Mr. John
Holt, merchant, Dale Street, Liverpool, for £40, which this latter
gave me in the Exchange Station Hotel, Liverpool, on the 21st of
this month.
I will also send you a sum of £10 in exchange for the receipt of
Shanu, which you promised to procure for me.
You made a mistake, Sir, when you thought I would play into your
hands in your campaign against the Congo, and thus do grievous harm
to my countrymen working in the Congo.
Believe me, my conduct, from my first interview with Shanu, when
acting for you, till my telegram from Paris on the 28th of this
month, was dictated by a sentiment of duty and patriotism.
A. BENEDETTI.
The telegram to which Mr. Benedetti alludes was addressed to Mr.
Morel from Paris, and was to call his attention to an article in
the _Tribuna_ favourable to the Congo, and to ask him for arguments
in answer to this article for publication in an Italian paper. Mr.
Morel replied that he had not had time to get the _Tribuna_ article
translated.
This edifying incident needs no comment. When the denial of its
genuineness, or a qualification of its meaning and purpose, comes, it
is understood that the Congo Administration will publish a facsimile
of Mr. Morel’s contract with Mr. Benedetti, bearing his signature
and the signature of Mr. John Holt, merchant-philanthropist,
Vice-President of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, etc., in order
that intelligent people may form their own conclusions upon it at
first hand.
Mr. Morel writes to the London _Times_ of December 19, 1904,
defending the part he has played in this Benedetti incident.
“You persist,” says Mr. Morel (addressing M. Roland de Marès),
“to make readers believe that I proposed to pay M. Benedetti for
false testimony, whereas my _rôle_ was limited to giving him the
opportunity he asked for (that is to say, to come to Europe and to
publish under his own name, in the interests of truth and of his
fellow-countrymen), by defraying the expenses of his journey and the
positive pecuniary losses which his action would involve, and by
participating in the printing expenses of his pamphlet.”
FOOTNOTES:
[44] The following letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Congo
Reform Association, Liverpool, on December 8, 1904, by the editor
of the _Catholic Herald_ (London), indicates that certain British
journals are sincerely seeking to expose the truth concerning the
Congo and the motives underlying the campaign against the Free
State in England. The writer of the letter is the publisher of the
thirty-odd leading Catholic papers in the United Kingdom. As a
Member of Parliament, and as an editor, his attitude towards public
questions has always been conscientious and fearless.
“SIR,—The following matters so intimately concern your veracity,
and, therefore, deeply concern the public, in connection with your
anti-Congo campaign and your Congo Reform Society, that I draw your
attention to the fact that this letter will be printed in full
in the _Catholic Herald_ of next week, and will also be sent out
broadcast to the newspapers of this country, so that you may have
a full opportunity of defending yourself from the most serious
charges made therein.
“On the 24th of November last, in defending an abusive attack
made by the London _Daily News_ on the Belgian people, in which
it referred to them as ‘barbarians,’ you made a statement to the
effect that fifteen Congo officials were then in prison at Boma for
the grossest outrages upon natives, and that ten more were awaiting
their trial.
“In reply to a communication sent to a member of the Belgian House
of Representatives, a statement is made by the Belgian authorities,
that only two officials are in prison in Boma. This statement
was forwarded to the _Daily News_, which has lent itself to the
disgraceful and lying campaign against the Congo, but, although the
editor has been several times requested to publish it, he has up
till now declined to do so.
“I, therefore, draw your attention to this emphatic contradiction
of your story, and, having every confidence in the honesty and
truthfulness of the statement made by responsible gentlemen in
Brussels, state that your assertion can only be treated as a gross
invention, quite on a par with the other methods of your anti-Congo
campaign.
“But this is not the most serious matter. On the following point,
I charge you with putting forward a statement in the _Daily News_,
with reference to the Congo Reform Society, which you knew to be
untrue, for the purpose of deceiving and misleading the public
of this country. It was stated in a letter which appeared in
the _Daily News_ on November 25th, that Liverpool shippers and
merchants were aiding the Congo Reform Society, and financing it.
On the 29th November a letter appeared from you in the _Daily
News_, in which you denied this, and called upon the writer to
offer an apology for his statement. You proceeded to assert that
you had enclosed (for the private information of the Editor of
the _Daily News_) a list of the subscribers to the Congo Reform
Society, and the editor supported your statement by the assertion
that ‘the list of donors and subscribers supplied does not contain
the names of any British merchants or shippers.’
“The clear purport of your letter was to make it out that there was
no co-operation between the Liverpool shippers and merchants and
this so-called Reform Society, which is nothing more or less than a
bogus name adopted to cover the campaign of falsehood and calumny
which you and your friends have entered upon.
“On November 30th the following statement was published in the
_Daily News_ in answer to your denial:—‘With reference to the
Liverpool merchants I have not seen the “private list” that he (Mr.
Morel) forwards to you. I cannot tell whether it contains the names
of all the subscribers to the Congo Reform Society, but I cannot
accept the denial of the secretary with reference to the Liverpool
merchants, in view of the candid admission of Mr. Fox Bourne that
some of the merchants in Liverpool are working with the Society,
and his further admission that they had helped to finance it. I
believe Mr. Fox Bourne’s statement, and if an apology is required
for perversion of the facts, the secretary of the Congo Reform
Society must make that apology.’
“To that emphatic disproval of your statement, you have up till
now made no reply. In fact you cannot deny Mr. Fox Bourne’s honest
admission, which has already appeared in our columns, and of which
evidently you were entirely ignorant at the time you attempted to
throw dust into the eyes of the readers of the _Daily News_ by your
untruthful denial.
“Now, one of two things: either you are in a position to free
yourself from this charge of deception and untruthful statement put
forward for the purpose of deceiving the public, or you are not.
If you are in a position to do so, come forward immediately, in
the interests of the Congo Reform Society, and of yourself as its
secretary. If you are not in a position to disprove this statement
and to substantiate your words, you stand convicted of flagrant
deception and falsehood on a most important public matter, and
the people of this country will know how to judge a person, or
a society, which descends to such methods for the purpose of
bolstering up selfish and disgraceful designs.
“At the very moment that you were writing this denial in the
columns of the _Daily News_, you were in treaty with a former
Congo official, and bribing him for the purpose of giving evidence
against the Congo State, and as a witness to the document that
passed between you, you called in Mr. John Holt, merchant, 81, Dale
Street, Liverpool, who was associated with you in this attempt
to purchase testimony, and who actually paid, at the Exchange
Hotel, Liverpool, on the 21st November last, a sum of £40 to Mr.
Benedetti, the Congo ex-official referred to, and yet you have the
impudence and the hardihood to assert that the Liverpool shippers
and Liverpool merchants are not associated with the Congo Reform
Society!
“Nor are these all the inventions, perversions, and
misrepresentations which can be proved against you in connection
with this movement.
“The book that you have just written and published is packed with
such lies and suppressions of truth. You print a travesty of the
case of the man Stokes, who was executed in the Congo, and you say
that the charge against him was ‘of trading with natives,’ whereas,
as a matter of fact, he was proved to have supplied the cruel and
barbarous Arab slave raiders of the Congo, who have been put down
by the Congo Government, with guns and ammunition for the purpose
of carrying on their nefarious work.
“These slave raiders evidently receive your warm sympathy, and the
man Stokes, who helped them to carry on their trade, is held up by
you as a martyr! Yet you dare to appear before the people of this
country as a friend of the natives of the Congo, and your present
campaign is ostensibly carried on for the amelioration of their
condition!
“Again, you have ventured to make a most infamous charge against
Catholic missionaries in the Congo. In a letter to the _Times_
you said that ‘they dared not state in public what they have said
in private.’ In other words, you accuse them of double dealing of
the basest character, like Mr. Fox Bourne, who says, ‘they offer
religion to the natives only as a bribe, or to terrorise them into
further enslavement.’
“You have never produced a single iota of evidence in support of
this statement against the Catholic missionaries, who are doing
such splendid work in the Congo territory. We characterise the
statement as a gross and palpable invention, but, in that respect,
it has only been on a par with the general policy of yourself and
the so-called ‘Congo Reform Society’ in connection with these
matters. “It has also been asserted by the secretary of the
Aborigines’ Protection Society—which has been mainly responsible,
with yourself and the Liverpool shippers and merchants, for working
up this campaign of calumny—that the clerical party in Belgium
is supporting the King in his Congo policy, irrespective of any
atrocities that may be committed, because the King has agreed
to support them in Belgium. This is not only a libel on Belgian
Catholics and the Belgian people—who have been insolently referred
to by the _Daily News_ as ‘barbarians’—but is amply disproved
by the fact that the most recent exposure of your tactics, and
the tactics of your society, has been made in the columns of the
well-known anti-clerical paper, _The Independance Belge_, of
Brussels, which has published the disclosures with reference to
your bribing of a Congo official to secure evidence from him, and
has amply exposed, on many occasions, the selfish and dishonest
character of this anti-Congo campaign.
“You have printed the grossest inventions with reference to the
treatment of British natives in Congo territory. You have said that
at Lagos, and in the surrounding district, if the word ‘Congo’ is
mentioned to a native he will make for the bush if he is on land,
and will jump into the water if he happens to be on sea, in order
to escape going to the Congo!
“A full and impartial inquiry made by a number of English gentlemen
at Lagos, and the evidence of one hundred and seventy-five
natives taken on oath, shows how baseless and unscrupulous is
your statement. One English gentleman declares that ‘in a single
week’s time he would undertake to send two thousand natives to the
Congo, if the English Government would permit their enrolment’—the
taxation being so much heavier in British territory than in Congo
territory, that natives have to seek in the latter the means of
earning the taxation which they are compelled to pay to the British
administration.
“Missionaries of all classes, Catholic and non-Catholic, have borne
ample testimony to the humane and civilising influence of the Congo
administration. Englishmen like Lord Mountmorres, Major Harrison,
of Hull, Mr. Grenfell, Mr. Bell, Mr. Holland, Mr. Maguire, as also
Mrs. French-Sheldon, Mrs. Doering, and others, have borne the
most emphatic testimony to the lies and misrepresentations that
have been so sedulously spread by yourself and your friends with
reference to the Congo administration.
“You cannot have failed to notice that in _La Vérité sur le Congo_
for October-November, 1904, page 3, you are accused of actually
having faked certain photographs which appeared in your book—one on
page 49, in which certain natives are represented holding cut-off
hands. The publication referred to says that ‘the hands seem to
have been added afterwards’; and, with regard to a photograph on
page 225 of your book, the same publication says that ‘the chains
around the necks of the natives would also appear to have been
designed on the plate.’
“You have put these photographs forward as real. Will you produce
the negatives and the name of the person who took the actual
photographs? Or will you remain content to rest under the charge of
fabricating evidence of this description to deceive your readers?
“The _Catholic Herald_ denounces, and will denounce, outrages upon
natives and wrongdoing and maladministration of native territories,
whether by Belgians or by any other people. No doubt wrongdoing has
taken place; but is it of such a character as justifies people in
this country taking up arms against those responsible for it?
“Is it not rather inseparable from the administration of native
territories? Let any one responsible for native administration
answer this question, but let not the good cause of fair play
and justice for the natives be disgraced and besmirched by the
recklessness and viciousness that have been displayed in connection
with this Congo agitation.
“The _Catholic Herald_ accepts in full all responsibility for the
statements made herein, and for the publication of them, and for
their circulation broadcast through the Press of this country, and
believes that in doing so it is discharging a public duty, not
only to the Catholic name, which you have foully libelled, but
also to the cause of international peace and goodwill, which this
anti-Congo campaign, based on selfish and sordid motives, has done
so much to impair.
“The administration of the Congo will compare more than favourably
with the administration of native territories under British rule.
There is more consideration shown to the natives, more care evinced
for their interests, and they are less heavily taxed, and more
humanely treated in the Congo, than is the case in any British
territory in Africa to-day.
“Some of the lies sent forth on the wings of the Press are hereby
nailed to the counter, and it is to be hoped that yourself, or your
Society, will at once disprove, by any means at your disposal,
charges which, if not so disproved, clearly show that your evidence
in connection with these matters is discredited and untrustworthy,
and that no one will be justified in paying attention to any
statement of yours, unless supported by evidence that has not been
purchased or invented.
“THE EDITOR,
“The _Catholic Herald_.”
[45] From _The Transvaal Trouble, an Extract from the Biography of
the late Sir Bartle Frere_, by John Martineau (pp. 211, 212):
“During these years, about 1879, a society in London, called the
_Aborigines’ Protection Society_, took upon itself the function
of judging between the white and the black races in South Africa,
and of arraigning the conduct of the white race whenever there was
a question between the two. That a society in London, with paid
officers bound to justify their employment by finding something to
complain of, should take upon itself to pronounce judgment upon
difficult and complex questions between races in South Africa was,
on the face of it, not more reasonable than that a society should
be started at Cape Town, say, to protect women and children in
London. By its constitution, which was practically that of _advocatus
diaboli_ against the white man, such a society must always of
necessity take a one-sided view, from which misapprehension and
mischief could hardly fail to result, however carefully considered
were the methods employed.
“The methods employed by the Aborigines’ Protection Society bore
some resemblance to those of mediæval Venice. The Blue-books of the
time are full of letters from the society to the Secretary of State,
detailing stories of alleged oppression or cruelty, and demanding
an inquiry; or sometimes a question was asked to the same effect in
Parliament. It would be many months before the reply to the inquiry
could come back from the Cape, and, in the meantime, the story was
circulated, and the refutation came too late to be listened to. The
society generally refused to give the name of its informant, or the
particulars of time and place, so that, like the lion’s mouth at
Venice, it offered an opportunity to any one—agitator, place-hunter,
or criminal having a spite against a magistrate or official—to injure
him anonymously.... The fear of being denounced by some scoundrel to
the society in some districts seriously interfered with and often
perverted the administration of justice.... In one instance, a man,
on whose testimony is placed special reliance, was discovered to
be a disfrocked clergyman who had been in custody for swindling
another informant, who in turn was a trader who had been in jail for
gun-running.
* * * * *
“Mr. H. Nixon, writing to Sir Bartle Frere, says:
“‘The lawlessness of the coloured races and their hopeless state
of degradation, their drunkenness, and general dissolute habits
may fairly be laid to the baneful influence of the Aborigines’
Protection Society, which has done everything it possibly could
to paralyse the arm of the law in the execution of justice, and I
consider the demoralisation of the natives is entirely due to their
persistent agitation. The drunkenness in this province is quite
alarming and unprecedented.’”
CHAPTER XXXI
THE CONGO CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA
The interest taken by Americans in the affairs of the Congo Free
State has never been very keen. What little of interest, however, we
do take in that distant region has been sentimental, for the greater
part based upon the national respect for Stanley and his work. The
campaign in England against the Congo, therefore, fails to evoke any
substantial sympathy on this side of the Atlantic. Citizens of the
United States are better employed than in undertaking knight-errantry
at the behest of certain disappointed British merchants and fanatics.
[Sidenote: American Aid Wanted.]
But, inasmuch as it is vital to the enemies of the Congo Free
State that our country should be with them in their crusade, the
Rev. Mr. W. M. Morrison, of Lexington, Virginia, a gentleman whose
Christianity is liberally leavened with business acumen, was brought
to the front and set upon a pedestal. The light of publicity was
turned upon the reverend gentleman, who then proceeded to relate
stories of outrage and oppression, examples of which he had seen and
heard—_chiefly heard_—during six years’ residence in the Congo Free
State as a missionary of the American Presbyterians.
Mr. Morrison’s stories are of the stock variety, and include looted
villages, wholesale deportations, mutilations, burnings, State
slavery, and _refusal of land concessions to missionaries_—in brief,
the whole catalogue of infamies without which, real or alleged, men
such as Mr. Fox Bourne, the Secretary of the Aborigines’ Protection
Society in England, and Mr. Morel, who built the Congo Reform
Association around himself, would find their occupation gone. The
italics are mine. Why I have used them will at once appear.
[Sidenote: A Morrisonian Jeremiad.]
“Concessions or grants of land, however small,” wails Mr. Morrison,
“can now no longer be obtained from the State by other than favoured
individuals or corporations... Not only are concessions refused to
traders, they are also refused to missionaries.” Alas! yes, in the
case of a missionary who demands, as Mr. Morrison did, “that no taxes
shall be levied, and no soldiers drawn from certain populations
around Luebo.”[46]
The refusal of Mr. Morrison’s demand for the creation of an Alsatia
which should be equally attractive to the idle and the thrifty,
from which the State was to receive no support, and which, in the
circumstances, would certainly at once become the most populous
district in all the Congo Free State, seems to have angered the
reverend gentleman, for thereafter followed his discovery of
atrocities committed by State officials against natives. Land was
offered to Mr. Morrison upon equitable terms, identical with those
agreed upon between the State and numerous other missions.
[Sidenote: A Belated Discovery.]
When Mr. Morrison was in Brussels in the spring of 1903, negotiating
with the Congo Government concerning the concession of land, and in
constant touch with officials of that Government, he said not one
word about any atrocities which he had seen or heard of in Congoland;
but a few weeks later, he was in London, associating with the English
Congophobes, and calling upon the Government of the United States to
combine with that of Great Britain to coerce the Congo Government,
though in what manner and to what effect is not quite clear. What,
however, is perfectly clear, is the bad faith of the men who make it
their business to vilify and misrepresent the Congo Administration.
For example, here is Mr. Morrison’s statement about the almost
impossibility of obtaining concessions of land for missions, when
up to May, 1903, there had been fifteen grants of land conceded in
the Congo State to the American Baptist Missionary Union; two to
the American Congo Mission; fifteen to the British Baptist Society
Corporation; seven to the Bishop Taylor’s Self-Supporting Mission;
seven to the Congo Balolo Mission; eleven to the International
Missionary Alliance; nine to the Swedish Missionary Society, and
forty-four to the Roman Catholic Mission.
[Sidenote: Few Facts in Many Words.]
The campaign against the Congo in this country was opened on the 19th
of April, 1904, by the presentation to Congress of a huge inflated
memorial, accompanied by numerous substantiating documents of great
length. It was gotten up by the Rev. Thomas S. Barbour, Chairman of
the Conference of Missionary Societies and Secretary of the American
Baptist Missionary Union, Boston, with the assistance of the Rev. W.
M. Morrison and six other gentlemen interested in missionary work.
Senator Morgan, of Alabama, undertook the work of presentation, and
performed his task with as much moderation and grace as its nature
permitted. The memorial was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations and ordered to be printed.
[Sidenote: Not Uncle Sam’s Affair.]
On the whole, the reception of this strange literary budget—a
_rechauffé_ of oft-refuted fables and adroit distortions of events
that occurred long ago—was decidedly passive. The prevailing
impression among Senators seemed to be that even if all that is
asserted in the memorial be true (a monstrous supposition which
surely its promoters never seriously entertained), to play into
the hands of John Bull’s merchants at the bidding of John Bull’s
missionaries is hardly a suitable rôle for Uncle Sam.
[Sidenote: A Mischievous Busybody.]
The next move in the campaign against the Congo Free State in this
country took place at Washington on the 30th of September, 1904,
when the Secretary of the Congo Reform Association (an English
organisation of which Mr. John Holt, the merchant-philanthropist, of
Liverpool, is one of the pillars) presented a memorial to President
Roosevelt concerning affairs in the Congo Free State, and asking
for his intervention therein. The memorial was politely received,
acknowledged with graceful platitudes, and laid aside. During the
few weeks that the Congo Reform Association’s agitator was in this
country, he talked freely to every newspaper reporter he met, and
disseminated broadcast the old libels which had grown stale with use
in England.
[Sidenote: The Belgian People Speak.]
When the Belgian people learned of the presentation to President
Roosevelt of the second anti-Congo memorial, wherein the agents of
the British merchants strove to make it appear that the United States
ought to do what all the continental powers had, by their silence,
refused to do when the British Foreign Secretary appealed to them
in August, 1903, their leading citizens took a hand in the literary
carnival and sent President Roosevelt their reply to the series of
slanders which were being so widely disseminated in America by the
Liverpool organisation. Although the anti-Congolese resolutions
of the Boston Peace Conference were published _in extenso_ in the
secular and religious press throughout the United States, for some
inscrutable reason the Belgian reply to the second Liverpool memorial
sent to President Roosevelt on October 3, 1904, has so far never had
the advantage of similar publicity. This fact alone would indicate
that his Excellency, Baron Moncheur, Belgian Minister to the United
States, and his talented coadjutor, Professor A. Nerincx, an eminent
Belgian advocate, author, and instructor in the University of
Louvain, were quite indifferent to that campaign of publicity which
the enemies of the Congo Free State began in England and now continue
in America. In justice, however, to the Federation for the Defence
of Belgian Interests Abroad, a Belgian society numbering over fifty
thousand adherents, it is deemed desirable to quote in full the only
communication bearing upon the anti-Congolese campaign which the
official of the Free State or the Belgian people have ever addressed
to the people of the United States:
FÉDÉRATION POUR LE DEFENSE DES INTERETS BELGES A L’ÉTRANGER.
BRUSSELS, October 3, 1904.
_To His Excellency, Theodore Roosevelt,
President of the United States._
MR. PRESIDENT:
The Federation for the Defence of Belgian Interests Abroad presents
its compliments to the President of the United States and begs
leave to state:
That we are loth to impose upon the President of the United
States considerations which are foreign to the interests of his
Government. But inasmuch as certain persons are conducting within
the United States a movement to involve the Government of the
United States in the consideration of their unfounded charges and
interested misrepresentations against the Government of the Congo
Free State, we feel it our duty to present a brief statement of
the objects of the Congo Government to the President of a friendly
Power in order that the unjust methods being employed by the
enemies of the Congo Free State may not mislead the President to
encourage Congressional action prejudicial to our interests before
we shall have been fully heard.
[Illustration: Christian Child, New Antwerp (Bangala).]
[Illustration: Fetich-Idol, Lower Congo.]
Our Association has been formed for the defence of Belgian interests
and possessions abroad. Our people esteem and admire the people of
the United States and we have great respect for their President. The
Belgians desire that they shall not be slandered and vilified in the
midst of the American people. They feel it their duty to assist the
American people to a proper understanding of the lofty purposes which
actuate the Government of the Congo Free State. In this connection
the Belgians recall with pleasure and with pride the fact that
the Government of the United States was the first great nation to
recognise the flag of the International Association of the Congo as
that of an independent State. By its treaties and by its adherence to
the Berlin and Brussels Acts it promised liberty of trade in its part
of the Congo Basin, and it respectfully asserts that it has fulfilled
that promise in spirit and to the letter in so far as the short term
of its existence in a savage country has enabled it to establish an
organisation which, by its prosperity and progress, now excites the
envy of those who seek to disrupt it.
The principles which actuate the Congo Government are tersely set
out in an essay written by a highly qualified American citizen,
which is herewith enclosed. We humbly beg the President of the
United States to honour us by perusing this concise exposition of
the fundamental principles which underlie, and which have given
such progressive momentum to, the Government of the Congo Free
State.
The principles of the Congo Government are devoted to progress and
civilisation. The State’s motto is “Work and Progress.” We have
always felt that to intelligently follow that motto was to firmly
establish in the midst of conditions of savagery the habit of
industry and a respect for property as well as for life, according
to the universal law of nations.
Concerning the term “Freedom of Commerce,” which Congo enemies
are interpreting to mean ungoverned license, we beg to refer the
President to the laws of the United States and penalties concerning
trespass upon and pillage of public lands and their product.
Perhaps no nation in the world has so precisely developed the law
of private and public property, nor administered it with finer
understanding of the principles of equity and justice, than the
United States. The Congo law relating to property is in consonance
with the law of the world’s greatest nations. The great success
which has been attained by the Congo Government for the betterment
of its native inhabitants by the operation of this law, and the
order which exists thereunder, has excited the envy and the
avarice of those whose ulterior motive is being cloaked in the
garb of humanitarianism and questionable philanthropy. On the one
hand it is charged that the Congo Government by its method seeks
to enslave the native in order that he may serve it with his hands
for the benefit of interests whose welfare he does not share. On
the other hand, the libellers of the Congo wilfully utter not
only the unfounded accusation but the inconsistent charge, that
the Government cuts off the hand whose work it seeks to enslave.
Concerning the untruthful character of the testimony in this
respect which has been published against the Congo by the promoters
of the so-called “Congo Reform Association” of Liverpool, we beg
to refer your Excellency to the great mass of genuine and reliable
evidence by Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Americans, Italians,
and Belgians in direct contradiction of the falsehoods which form
the traffic of the Association, whose leading spirit has never been
near the Congo nor the natives who form the pretext of his search
for personal notoriety and aggrandisement.
We also call your Excellency’s attention to the fact that the Congo
Government, when assailed by missionaries at all, is assailed by
a few individual missionaries operating in conjunction with the
Liverpool Association, whose object we shall in due course expose.
The Congo Government has not been assailed by other missionaries
at all. The Catholic missionaries are in reality all seeking the
moral, spiritual, and intellectual betterment of the native races,
while those of a material faith, who have sought from the Congo
Government and been denied personal concessions of material value
solely, are secretly working in directions entirely unconnected
with the spiritual and moral welfare of the Congo population. In
due time and in the proper place the Government of the Congo Free
State will produce its testimony bearing upon this phase of the
campaign begun in England, and now carried to the United States,
against an undertaking which within twenty years has done more to
promote civilisation than was ever before attempted in all the
great continent of Africa.
We beg your Excellency to receive from the hands of our
representative an abundance of carefully prepared matter upon this
subject, and to command him in any further desires which you may
wish to express. A cursory outline, limited to only a few phases of
the questions which the enemies of the Congo so confusedly mince in
their wild condemnation of a State justly founded and intelligently
and humanely governed, is not of course intended as a sufficient
statement of our case. It is merely intended to introduce your
Excellency to the subject on which our representative, and the
evidence and literature he will offer to you, may lead you to those
wise and equitable conclusions which have always characterised the
highest tribunals of the American people.
Your Excellency is too well versed in the science of government
to be influenced by the statement that where individual acts are
committed in violation of enacted penal law the Government should
be primarily charged therewith. If such were the case, penal
institutions for the incarceration of violators of police law would
be no part of a nation’s structure.
It is not infrequent that the cable conveys to us intimation that
in some sections of your own free and glorious country an inflamed
mob seizes upon a black inhabitant and burns him at the stake. Our
governmental experience has taught us that such acts would have
been impossible if your Government had been advised in time to
prevent them. And yet we know that your Government is the subject
of harsh criticism by self-constituted associations formed in the
same country whence come those who accuse the sincere governmental
effort of the Congo Free State. The law of the Congo Free State
is based upon the loftiest ideals of humane control of a vast
territory and undeveloped interests, and every part of the State’s
machinery is employed to ensure equal justice to all.
The “method of the State,” at which Congo accusers hurl their
shafts, cannot be charged with responsibility for lawless acts in
a vast territory of a million square miles where the Government of
that State is vigilantly and earnestly seeking, by the extension
of its organisation and police powers, to suppress and punish crime
and redress wrong. If the subjects of one nation were compelled
to submit to the opinion of its unfriendly neighbours as to the
correctness of their habits and conduct, and obliged to submit
themselves to the penalties that their neighbours would attach to
the alleged misconduct, the subjects of one nation would inhabit
the prisons of another.
We need hardly call the attention of your Government to the great
and humane work which your Government is now so earnestly, and
with so much sacrifice, furthering in the Philippine Islands, to
meet with that broad and sympathetic view of the situation in all
savage countries; which, if fairly and justly applied to the Congo
Free State, would place us upon that plane where co-operation, not
criticism, were the reward of our sacrificial work in the darkest
part of Africa.
It has been the pleasure of our beloved King, Leopold II.,
Sovereign of the Congo Free State, to appoint a Commission,
composed of eminent men, to undertake with the utmost freedom a
judicial investigation upon all and singular the vague charges from
time to time used by the promoters of the Congo Reform Association
in prostituting certain public journals in England. Your Excellency
may be assured of the utmost integrity of the gentlemen who compose
this Commission, and that the Congo Government will afford them all
the help in its power to place the truth before the eyes of the
world.
In this connection Congo reformers pretend that the decisions of
the Congo Courts indicate that the government is bad, when in fact
these very decisions are, in our opinion, proof of unimpeachable
good faith and judicial independence.
Concerning the Congo standing army of 14,000 natives, as to which
some criticism is uttered by the same persons, we need only
indicate that the State Government is so well respected in the
Congo Basin that it is able to control its vast territory with only
seven soldiers to every 625 square miles. We have no doubt that if
the Congo governmental system had not included this meagre police
force for the repression of tribal strife and the maintenance of
order, its critics would have represented the Congo Government as
unprepared to guarantee protection to persons and property, and as
unable to maintain the integrity of its frontiers. The Congo army
is recruited in conformity with the Belgian law of conscription,
which is a restriction of the universal service in Continental
Europe. When the Government enlisted a part of its army in a
neighbouring colony it was requested to desist, the promises of
England to permit such recruiting notwithstanding. Now the Congo
army is characterised as barbarian! Doubtless the Congo Government
would have no objection to recruit its army in China, as miners are
recruited for the Transvaal. But would it thereby escape censure?
We think not. Some things which are right and proper in a British
colony become crimes when done in the Congo Free State.
It is the earnest desire of the Belgian people, and those who are
interested in the welfare and progress of the native population of
Mid-Africa, that the good-will and respect of the people of the
United States and their President may continue, by their sympathy,
to enliven the devotion, energy, and sacrifice which the builders
of the Congo Free State are expending upon races which but a few
years ago were in a state of the wildest savagery.
We are, Mr. President, with great respect,
Your obedient servants,
(Signed) A. DUFOURNY,
_President of the Federation for the
Defence of Belgian Interests Abroad_.
[Sidenote: King Leopold Attacked.]
At the Peace Congress held at Boston in October, 1904, to attend
which was as much the reason of the visit to these shores of the
Secretary of the Congo Reform Association as the presentation of a
memorial to President Roosevelt, he recited his usual tirade against
the Congo Government and the person of King Leopold with somewhat
more than his customary unction; but his contentions were utterly
demolished by the superior information and saner reasoning of his
fellow-countryman, Mr. George Head, and by a letter which was read
from Cardinal Gibbons (_vide_ Chap. xxxiv), warmly defending the aims
and achievements of the Belgians in Central Africa.
The net result of the Peace Conference to the Congophobes is to
expose and appreciably weaken their conspiracy.
[Sidenote: Conspiracy Fails.]
There remains in our country a small section of the press obedient to
the will of anti-Congolese campaigners and their merchant support,
and the eloquent sophistries of Messrs. Morrison and Barbour. But
these forces are surely inadequate to cause the Government of the
United States to forget all of our political traditions, and to
so abate our natural shrewdness, as to become a catspaw for an
avaricious foreign commercial clique.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] The scene of the Rev. Mr. W. M. Morrison’s mission.
CHAPTER XXXII.
TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS
SIR HENRY M. STANLEY
[Sidenote: Knowledge and Truth.]
It will ever be esteemed a fortunate circumstance by all who have
regard for historical accuracy, that the late Sir Henry M. Stanley,
discoverer of the course of the Congo, who assisted so materially
in the creation of the Congo Free State, did not pass away without
recording his opinion of the campaign of calumny against the Congo
Administration. Incomparably the greatest authority of his time upon
this subject, what Stanley had to say about it must be given here in
full. It took the form of an interview with a representative of the
press, and was first published in the _Petit Bleu_ (Brussels), 13th
November, 1903:
I do not believe [said Sir Henry Stanley] in the charges brought
against the Congo, and I do not share the opinions that inspire
them. I do not think that any State will be inclined to step in,
and to spend the money that Belgium and the King of the Belgians
spend to adapt the darkest part of Darkest Africa to the interests
of commerce. King Leopold lately assigned £120,000 a year to the
Congo administration. He thereafter gave £40,000 and Belgium
£80,000. Tell me, what other country would be ready to do as much?
When I consider the limited number of years which have elapsed
since the Congo became a State, I hold that the work which has been
accomplished there does great honour to Belgium, and I am certain
that not one of the countries who are invited by the newspapers to
put itself in its place would have been able to do better.
You can feel certain that the King of the Belgians interests
himself personally in the smallest detail of the administration. I
do not pretend that he can superintend the acts of each individual,
but what Government, what State could do that? But the recitals
of atrocities, and of bad administration which have of late been
spread about are almost all, if not all, pure reports. Naturally,
if it is question of seeking cause for a quarrel there is no
difficulty in finding it; but if the Congo of 1885 is compared with
the Congo of to-day, it must be allowed that its progress has been
remarkable.
The English Note of the month of August is founded, I am convinced,
on reports stamped with partiality. The assertions of a missionary
have been reproduced, according to whom the natives flee at the
approach of the Congo State officials. They fled before me also
when I was there. The mere apparition of a white man, the simple
sight of an unusual being or object, puts them to flight. That is
part of the animal instinct of self-preservation. Whites and blacks
always approach one another for the first time with a general
sentiment of distrust. Little by little they learn to know one
another, and this sentiment disappears.
The Congo was in truth the darkest part of Africa. To-day with
its forests pierced and open, its routes, its stations, it is in
advance of all other African States. Take the French Congo, German
East Africa, Portuguese West Africa, and compare them! The Congo
State prospers in a greater degree than any other part of the black
continent.
[Illustration: Coffee-Drying Grounds, Coquilhatville (Equateur).]
[Illustration: Bakusu Woman (Lualaba-Kassai).]
The Congo State is accused of employing as soldiers cannibal
Negroes. When I was on the Congo, and I accused a tribe of
cannibalism it replied: “We are not cannibals, but our neighbours
are.” The neighbouring tribe said: “It is not we, it is the next
tribe that you will meet”; and that tribe referred us on to the
next, and so on continually. They seemed to be ashamed of
their cannibalism. They concealed it. Yet there was no doubt as
to the existence of this practice. I frequently met with trenches
freshly disturbed, from which corpses had been taken to be eaten.
It was very seldom that I could discover the guilty. How then in
recruiting its troops was the Congo State to distinguish the black
cannibals from those who are not cannibals?
I am convinced that since I left Africa King Leopold has done
his best to prevent all crime on the Congo. But he is no more
responsible for the crimes which may be committed there than for
those occasionally committed on the soil of Belgium itself. There
are on the Congo 300 officials who report to the Governor-General,
who in his turn addresses a summary of these reports to the King.
They discharge their mission under the most difficult conditions,
and I believe that I may assert that from the Governor-General
down to the humblest official there is not one of them guilty of
cruelty. Moreover, it is for those who speak of atrocities to
furnish proof of them.
I know by experience what a large number of stories are put
forward, then refuted, and afterwards resuscitated year after year.
These are legends for travellers. Use is made of them with every
change of the wind in Africa. Those who relate them are often the
prey of climatic maladies.
The Congo has not the most enviable climate in the world. The
maladies contracted there are often debilitating, and things are
seen and things are described through the malady, which distorts
the _morale_ and changes the optic.
I had on the Congo under my orders 300 men—English, Germans, Dutch,
Portuguese, Belgians. There were 80 English, but the majority were
Belgians. I found no difference between them. All did their best,
according to their means. All were, in the course of duty, the
object of some charge. I examined the charges minutely, and always
found them to be without foundation. That did not prevent these
stories reaching Banana, and from there Europe. Well, that is what
happened on the Congo in my time; that is what is happening there
to-day.
The sentiment that inspires the charges against the Congo is
jealousy. The Congo is succeeding better than any other State of
Africa.
I do not think that the Congo State would be administered better by
France, the United States, or Germany. Under French administration
the Congo would retrogress. Germany would content itself with
fortifying it in a military sense. And commerce does not develop
when it is covered with a coat of mail. Germany does not permit and
will not permit the English to penetrate into its territory, except
under certain restrictions. England would not have managed the
Congo better than King Leopold has done if she had been mistress of
it, as she might have become in 1877.
The white man must remain master of the Congo. Drive him out of
it, and you will see war arise anew between one native village
and another, a return to barbarism. It is difficult to govern so
vast a country; yet, in a limited number of years, the King of the
Belgians has put an end to the horrible Arab slave trade. I do not
think there is another sovereign living who has done so much for
humanity as Leopold II.
SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.
About a year previous to the publication of Stanley’s vindication of
the Congo Administration, appeared a remarkable book, entitled _The
Uganda Protectorate_, written by the distinguished English traveller,
Sir Harry Johnston, from which the following passage is taken:
In spite of an element of Arab civilisation which the slave-trader
had certainly implanted in the Congo Forest, he had made himself
notorious for his ravages and cruelties. Numbers of natives had
been horribly mutilated, hands and feet lopped off, and women’s
breasts cut away. These people explained to me that these
mutilations—which, as only a Negro could, they had survived—had
been the work of the Manyema slave-trader and his gang, done
sometimes out of wanton cruelty, sometimes as a punishment for
thieving or absconding. May it not be that many of the mutilated
people of whom we hear so much in the northern and eastern part
of the Congo Free State are also the surviving results of Arab
cruelty? I am aware that it is customary to attribute these
outrages to the native soldiery and police employed by the Belgians
to maintain order or to collect taxes; and though I am fully aware
that these native soldiers and police under imperfect Belgian
administration, _as under imperfect British control_, can commit
all sorts of atrocities (as we know they did in Mashonaland and in
Uganda), every bad deed of this description is not to be laid to
their charge, for many outrages are the work of the Arab traders
and raiders in these countries, and of their apt pupils the
Manyemas. This much I can speak of with certainty and emphasis:
that from the British frontier near Fort George to the limit of my
journeys into the Mbuba country of the Congo Free State, up and
down the Semliki, the natives appeared to be prosperous and happy
under the excellent administration of the late Lieutenant Meura and
his coadjutor, Mr. Karl Eriksson. The extent to which they were
building their villages and cultivating their plantations within
the precincts of Fort Mbeni showed that they had no fear of the
Belgians, while the Dwarfs equally asserted the goodness of the
local white men.
Great value attaches to the evidence of Sir Harry Johnston, it
being impossible to impute to him any particular bias. He travelled
independently, visiting the Congo on three occasions—1882-83,
1891-96, and 1900. In a letter published in the _Daily Chronicle_
(London) of 28th September, 1903, he thus further expresses his
opinion of the Congo Administration:
I was present on the Congo at the birth of the Congo Free State.
In 1882-1883 I paid a prolonged visit of eight months to Stanley.
During the course of this visit I travelled up the Congo nearly
as far as the point where it crosses the Equator. I came into
continual contact with the Belgian officers and officials who had
been sent out on the part of the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_ to
assist Stanley. I may mention that I was “nobody’s” man. I paid my
own travelling expenses, and had no reason to espouse any one cause
more than another. I conceived, however, the highest admiration for
Sir Henry Stanley, personally, and for the work he was doing. I
convinced myself over and over again by constant cross-examination
of the natives of the Congo, and of Zanzibaris and Somalis, that
Sir Henry was always just and never cruel, and that the first
interests he had at heart were those of the natives of Africa. His
memory still lingers in all the regions from the mouth of the Congo
to Zanzibar, and any one who doubts the justice of my opinion has
only to do as I have done through many years—question the natives
as to their impressions of “Bula Matadi” (the Breaker of Stones).
Nor did I at that date see anything to object to in the conduct
of the Belgian officers, for many of whom I entertained feelings
of warm friendship and esteem. The work of such men as Nilis, Van
Gèle, Hanssens, Coquilhat, Braconnier, Janssen, and Roger, not to
mention others, was such as no missionary could or did find fault
with.
And again:
Subsequently when I returned to the vicinity of those regions as
Commissioner for British Central Africa, I came a good deal into
contact with the Belgian officers sent to control those countries.
I never received any complaints from natives or Europeans at that
time which tended to show that the natives were ill-treated by the
Belgians.
Lastly comes this convincing pronouncement:
In 1900, whilst at work in Uganda, I had occasion to visit the
adjoining regions of the Congo Free State along and across the
Semliki River. In this portion of the Congo Forest (into which
my expedition penetrated for about thirty miles west of the
Semliki) I questioned many natives—Pigmies, Babira, Bambuba,
Lendu, Bakonjo, and Basongora. From none of them did I receive the
slightest complaint as regards the treatment they received from
the Belgians, and indeed the sight of their villages, plantations,
and settlements, the fact that they so freely came and talked to
the white man, were sufficient to show that they were perfectly
content with their present lot. The Belgian and Swedish officers
whom I met in this portion of the territory of the Congo Free
State were men of the best character. In short, this portion of
Congo territory left little to be desired, and in some respects
was better organised than the adjoining districts of the British
Protectorate. One Musongora chief complained to me that the native
soldiers in Belgian employ had taken away some of his wives. He
expressed himself so dissatisfied with this treatment that he asked
permission to cross over into British territory. That permission
was given him; but when he found that he had to pay the hut tax on
Uganda soil he returned to his old quarters. In addition to the
foregoing experiences I might say that I took into my employ about
this time natives of many districts along the Upper Congo, from
the country of Bangala on the west to the mouth of the Aruwimi
on the east. I did this with the idea of making studies of their
languages, and they lived with me for about a year, accompanying
me on all my journeys through the Uganda Protectorate. I did not
ask the permission of the Belgians to recruit these people, for
the very good reason that, having apparently complete liberty of
action, they had walked through the Congo Forest to the British
frontier to offer themselves for work. It cannot be said therefore
that the Belgians selected people especially to fill my ears with
pleasing stories as to Belgian administration. I questioned these
natives of villages all along the great northern bend of the Congo.
Not one of them had any complaint to make against the Belgians.
When I was preparing to leave Uganda to return to England I offered
these men (who were accompanied by their wives) plots of land in
the Uganda Protectorate; but they were quite decided in wishing
to return to their homes on the Upper Congo; and so far as I know
they did so, as every facility was given them in that direction.
It strikes one that if these particular people were living under a
reign of terror they would hardly have been so eager to return to
their homes with the wages they had earned.
The absolute impartiality of Sir Harry Johnston’s review of the Congo
Administration well appears in the few following words; in which
it will be noted, that while he claims no immaculate perfection on
behalf of _every_ Belgian official, he compares them _as a body_, and
that not to their disadvantage, with his own countrymen:
There are, no doubt, bad Belgians, as there have been bad, cruel,
and wicked Englishmen and Scotchmen, amongst African pioneers. In
the early days of African enterprise I have seen too many misdeeds
of my own countrymen in Africa to be very keen about denouncing
other nations for similar faults.
MAJOR JAMES HARRISON
This eminent authority on the Congo has recorded his impressions of
the social and economic conditions prevailing in that country, and
of the false statements regarding them disseminated by interested
parties, in the following letter, which appeared in the London
_Times_ of June 10, 1904:
_To the Editor of the “Times”_
SIR,—Having just returned from a shooting trip across the Congo
Free State from the Nile to Boma, on the West Coast, I naturally
feel much interested in the correspondence now going on with
regard to that country. As I came down the Congo River a copy of
Mr. Casement’s report was lent me to read, and I was more than
surprised at the contents of a letter written by Lord Cromer, which
was inserted as a prelude to the more serious indictment following.
Now, Sir, had this letter been published alone it might not have
seemed so serious, but taken in conjunction with what followed it
formed a most damaging article.
As my experience of the Government of the Lado Enclave is so
entirely opposite to the view taken of it by Lord Cromer, I feel
compelled, in fairness to the Belgian officials, to give my
views of the country and its Government. That I am not alone in
discovering so much that is good in the Belgian administration of
the Lado Enclave is vouched for by other English officers who have
hunted and travelled among the natives beyond the waters west of
the Nile.
I assume from Lord Cromer’s report, and from what I was told
at Lado, that he only landed at the Kiro and Lado stations,
so that the greater part of his report must have been founded
on information supplied by others, which, besides being often
incorrect, might possibly have reference to times gone by, when, I
believe, a certain official was promptly dismissed the service for
unfair treatment of the natives.
Lord Cromer compares the deserted appearance of the west banks of
the Nile with the east bank between Kiro and Lado.
My experience of this part was that you could hardly see anything
of the west bank, owing to the channel lying well over to the east,
and endless _sudd_ stretching to the west. The reasons for natives
not living near the bank I give later on.
Again, Lord Cromer contrasts the peaceful, settled state and
the confidence of the tribes under English rule on the Nile as
compared with those on Belgian territory; yet within a few months
of his visit a whole British force was annihilated on the Bahr el
Ghazal, while in the Game Ordinance published last year it stated:
“The whole of the left bank of the Nile is at present closed to
sportsmen, owing to the unsettled state of the natives.”
Since my return I see that yet another British force has been
severely handled by the natives. Through the whole of my Congo
trip, absolutely alone, I wandered about, visiting 50 different
tribes and hundreds of villages, armed as a rule with a camera,
umbrella, and, at times, a collecting gun. Yet I had no unpleasant
experiences; on the contrary, I was received with kindness far
different to any I ever met with when hunting among British African
natives.
As I went up the Nile I heard the same stories Lord Cromer did—as
to how all the natives were flying across the river from the
Belgian country owing, I was told, to ill-treatment. As I spent a
month hunting all the district 40 miles inland from Lado and Kiro,
looked after by the two big Bari chiefs, Kenion and Fariala, I took
great interest in learning all I could, and, owing to my capitow
talking Arabic, the chiefs’ favourite language, I had excellent
chances for finding out all I wanted.
To my question as to whether many of their tribes went over the
river, and why, they replied: “A few boys ran away the other side,
but mostly bad boys who won’t work.” Asked again, if a few good men
went, and, if so, why, they answered: “English pay in money; some
boys, if once had money, like it better than being paid in cloth or
beads,” but no mention of ill-treatment.
Lord Cromer considers because the native villages happen at these
particular posts to be several hours’ distant, that this is also
owing to bad treatment. I wish to point out that the villages must
either be right on the Nile bank, or inland where they are, for
the whole country between is waterless during four months. Another
reason given for not living on the Nile was that in olden days the
few who did so were all killed or taken prisoners by the Dervishes;
hence the survivors kept clear of waterways.
Again, there are no sites for villages near the river, as nearly
all the banks, lying low, are covered with marsh and _sudd_,
harbouring millions of mosquitoes, whereas a few miles inland there
is good water, not a single mosquito, plenty of game, with good
grass and tillage land.
[Illustration: Village near Coquilhatville. A Native Attempt to
Copy the European Style.]
When I visited Gondokoro every one was complaining at having the
station on the Nile, instead of a few miles inland, for similar
reasons.
One of the wisest rules of the Congo is not to allow native
villages adjoining the posts; and I hear we are copying the same on
the West Coast; it means a reduction of 75 per cent. in sickness.
That no natives live near Lado arises from purely natural causes.
Lord Cromer would find plenty of posts in the interior, with
thousands of natives settled as near as they are allowed to.
Another statement, that “the soldiers are allowed full liberty to
plunder the natives,” is by no means correct. During my journey
I saw hundreds of soldiers being sent off on different work—such
as postal, Government despatches, fetching in porters, etc.; but
not one ever left without having received cloth, beads, or wire
sufficient to purchase all necessary food. I quite admit a few of
the soldiers helped themselves now and again, and I found the worst
sinners in this respect were our own Sierra Leone boys, a number of
whom take service in the Congo. Should their acts be reported they
are quickly dealt with.
During my trip I must have employed over 1200 porters. I can only
say I never came across a more cheerful, well-disposed set of men.
I never had the least trouble with them, though asking them to
march 30 and 40 miles a day. How often I thought of my woes and
worries in British Central Africa, never knowing how many porters
would run away each night, though only marching ten miles a day!
Had all the accounts of ill-treatment and non-payment been true,
would men have come in so readily and worked for me as these
carriers did? Many an hour at night I used to spend getting them
to talk about the country, its ways, and any grievances. I found,
naturally, two or three officers who were evidently disliked (no
doubt I will be added to that list after our long marches); but,
on the other hand, they talked of many officers as their “white
fathers.” As for the way in which the Belgians have opened out
the country, it is wonderful. The posts are now all well-built
brick houses, and in a few months’ time most of the barracks will
be similar; excellent roads connect many of the posts, while all
sorts of vegetables and fruit are being grown, cattle and sheep
also being introduced in many parts. Though I was told in Khartoum
by several of our officers who had been stationed on the frontier
how well the Lado Enclave was run, I was quite astonished at such
progress. I am glad to see my views are shared by Major Gibbons and
Captain Bell, both of whom have had chances of seeing life inland
from the Nile.
I met during my wanderings several English and American traders
having concessions both in Uganda and the Congo. These men have to
visit all the villages. They all said the same thing—that there was
nothing wrong with the Government of the Enclave. I also had a long
and interesting talk with Father Maguire, of the Roman Catholic
mission station at Amadi. He spoke most warmly in praise of the
work done by the Belgians in such a few years. He said: “Think of
what this country was only a few years ago, overrun with Dervishes,
decimated by the slave-dealers, the natives all cannibals—and now
you walk in here with only an umbrella as a protection.”
I can only add that I admire the excellent work being done by such
men as Commissioner General George Witerwulge, Commandants Ravello
(Lado), Menwnaer (Redjaf), Wacquez (Buta), Holmes (Dungu), Grazione
(Lodka), and all the many other officers, too numerous to mention,
who are quietly working hard, day after day, opening out those vast
regions to civilisation; and I shall never forget the kindness met
with at the hands of all, from the Nile to Boma.
I must apologise for trespassing on your valuable space, but if I
were to try and refute many of the statements I have seen in print
I should have to trespass considerably more.
Yours truly,
JAMES J. HARRISON.
Bachelors’ Club, London,
June 6th.
P. S.—Since writing the above I see in to-day’s _Morning Post_
quotations from some English trader in Matadi. He says: “From
all I hear, things up country are worse than ever. In the Mayumbe
country, behind Boma even, the State has begun collecting rubber by
force from the natives.”
As I happened to travel home on the same boat as Mr. Ave, an
American missionary, who has for some years been in charge of this
Mayumbe district, his statements to me may be of interest. Mr. Ave
said all these reports were untrue; that the district was governed
by an officer who was most kind and considerate in all his dealings
with the natives; that he had carefully readjusted the taxation
so as to fall as fairly as possible with regard to villages and
population of same; and that the officer was universally respected
by all the natives as a kind and just man. The same _Morning Post_
article seems to be slightly inconsistent. It quotes one Equatorial
missionary as saying that “the white man will be swept out of the
Congo and a revolution will take place within two years,” while
farther on it quotes the Matadi trader “as deprecating the founding
of a new post for 1,000 soldiers at Bomasundi.”
Surely, if the first assumption is correct, the wisdom of the
second is sound. I am glad to find since my return that few people
take notice of or believe those wonderful statements, copied from a
more wonderful paper—the _West African Mail_.
This is the way Major James Harrison a few days later demolishes a
side issue raised by Mr. Morel. The letter is addressed to the Editor
of the _Morning Post_ (London), and appeared in that journal of June
25, 1904:
Mr. Morel in your paper to-day himself answers the question asked
him by others, viz., Why has the Congo Reform Association noticed
my statements? If they were incorrect surely his letter would have
dealt with them, instead of which all he can say is that I am
attacking a man of Mr. Casement’s standing.
While quite ready to take full responsibility for any letter
or interview alluded to by Mr. Morel, I absolutely deny having
attacked the character of our Consul in any way, nor did I find
in Boma Belgian officers “showering abuse” on him. Like myself
they (and most people over here with whom I have discussed it)
did not think it a wise appointment, and certainly it placed Mr.
Casement in an awkward and unenviable position; but after all he
would only carry out his orders. But as to the travelling about on
a mission steamer I most strongly assert it was a most unfortunate
error. It is well known to all natives on which side most of the
Protestant and Baptist missionaries are, and to expect them to
give contradictory evidence in such circumstances was attributing
to them virtues unpossessed. I have noted Mr. Morel places much of
the Belgian evidence (say, the Epondo case) out of court for the
selfsame reasons. After the using of a mission steamer I hardly see
that any work Mr. Casement might have been interested in originally
could make any difference. Still, for his own sake it might be
wise if Mr. Morel stated exactly what occupations or duties he was
interested in, say, between 1885 and 1900. I trust Mr. Morel in his
next letter will deal more fully with my “absurdities” put forward
in my letter, and not have to simply try and find an imaginary
attack on a gentleman for whom, through mutual friends, I have
every respect.
My object in entering this Congo controversy is to try and
place before the English public a more broad-minded view of the
question, and while making allowances for the well-nigh insuperable
difficulties the Congo Government have had to contend with, at the
same time try to help on improvements for the future, rather than
dwell entirely on the past. I can assure Mr. Morel that I am by no
means alone in my “absurd views,” but will be supported by others
who have lately crossed the whole Congo State, blessed with an open
mind.
Yours, &c.,
JAMES J. HARRISON.
Bachelors’ Club, London,
June 24th.
CHAPTER XXXIII
TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS
(_Continued_)
[Sidenote: American Opinion.]
The three authorities whose testimony was given in the preceding
chapter are all distinguished travellers of British nationality.
It is now proposed to lay before the reader the opinions held upon
Belgian Administration in the Congo by three well-known Americans—Mr.
James Gustavus Whiteley of Baltimore, member of the Institute of
International Law, who has represented the United States Government
at several international congresses; the Rev. W. H. Leslie, a
missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union; and Mr. Mohun, a
former United States Consul at Boma.
MR. JAMES G. WHITELEY
It is unfortunate that so many false impressions about the Congo
have been accepted without examination. For example, there is a
popular belief that the King runs the Congo “for revenue only,”
and that he oppresses the natives in order to extort money from
them. The exact opposite is the truth. The King receives no
revenue from the Congo Government; on the contrary the State owes
its very existence to the generosity of the King, who advanced
several million dollars to keep the Government going in its early
struggle for existence. It is true that there are in the Congo
extensive Crown lands, the revenue from which belongs to the King,
but His Majesty refuses to take the receipts from this land and
has turned the money into a fund for the erection of schools, the
encouragement of science, and similar purposes. He does not even
manage the fund himself, but has placed it in the hands of three
trustees.
I have seen the statement in several newspapers that the Congo
State was created by the Berlin Conference in 1885 and placed
in the hands of King Leopold for administration, the Powers
reserving a sort of right of guardianship over it. This is entirely
erroneous. The Congo was a sovereign State before the Berlin
Conference was thought of. The first official acknowledgment of
the new State came from the United States in the spring of 1884.
It was afterwards formally recognised by the other nations, and it
entered the Berlin Conference on an equality with the other Powers.
It has never placed itself under the guardianship of any Power or
collection of Powers. It has no connection with Belgium except the
fact that King Leopold happens to be king of each of them. The two
Governments are entirely independent.
One of the great achievements of the Congo State has been the
suppression of the Arab slave-traders, who were in the habit
of invading Central Africa, carrying off slaves to the eastern
markets, and laying waste the country through which they passed.
It is estimated that 100,000 natives were killed each year in
these slave raids. I recently saw an erroneous statement to the
effect that the slave raids are still carried on, and that they are
encouraged by King Leopold and his agents as a means of revenue. It
is difficult to see how the King or his Government could reap any
profit by encouraging the slave-raiders to destroy the villages,
and kill off a hundred thousand or so of the inhabitants. Such
lack of logic is damaging to the case of the gentlemen who put it
forward as a serious argument. As Lord Westbury once said to a
young English barrister: “Never make a mistake in your logic; the
facts are always at your disposal.”
[Illustration: Melting Latex of Rubber in Forest of Lusambo
(Lusambo-Kassai).]
In this case, however, the anti-Congo critics have availed
themselves of both false logic and false “facts.” The facts are
that the slave-raiders were finally vanquished and driven out by
the Congo forces in the early nineties, after a severe struggle and
at the cost of much Belgian blood. As the present Viceroy of India
said some years ago: “The Congo Free State has done a great work
and by its administration the cruel raids of the Arab slave-dealers
have ceased to exist over many thousand square miles.”
Another prevalent error about the Congo Government is in regard to
the treatment of the natives by the officials. An impression has
got abroad that there are many atrocities committed.
There have been cases in which the natives have been maltreated by
minor officials, but these are isolated cases, and are severely
punished by the authorities. Such cases have occurred in all public
services where an attempt has been made to govern inferior races.
Such things have happened in the Philippines, in British Africa,
and in India. No colonising nation can cast a stone at King Leopold
on that score. Among a large number of officials scattered over
a vast territory there will often be one or two wicked stewards
who despitefully use the natives. All that any State can do is to
keep vigilant watch and to punish the wrongdoers, and this the
Congo State has done. It has even established a Commission for the
protection of the natives. By the decree of 1896, this Commission
consisted of seven members, three being Catholic priests and four
Protestant missionaries.
It has been said, among other things, that the State practically
enslaves the natives by forcing them to pay a tax in labour. The
tax is light. According to a statement made the other day by Baron
de Favereau, it consists of 40 hours’ work per month, and for
this work they are paid at the regular rate of wages obtained in
the district. It is a tax which helps the State and also helps
the native, for it teaches him to work. It is one of the most
civilising influences in African colonisation, for it is only by
teaching habits of industry to the natives that civilisation can
make any progress in the Dark Continent.
The detractors of the Congo administration make a great outcry,
but as Burke said in one of his celebrated speeches: “You must not
think because the crickets make a great noise that they are the
only inhabitants of the field. The cattle browsing in the shade
make less stir, but they are infinitely more important.” Those
who cry out against the Congo are a small band, and generally of
small importance. Their evidence is light in comparison with the
testimony of such men as the Count de Smet de Naeyer, the Baron
van Eetvelde, Baron Wahis, the Chevalier Descamps, and Mr. Nys,
but if these witnesses be considered as in any way prejudiced on
account of their official positions, you have only to look at
the evidence of Sir Harry Johnston, late British Commissioner to
Uganda, as well as the evidence of such men as Cardinal Lavigerie,
Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, the great authority on political economy, Mr.
Pickersgill, the British Consul, besides the missionaries, such as
the Rev. G. Grenfell, of the British Baptist Missionary Society,
Mgr. Augouard, Rev. Holman Bentley, Father van Hencxthoven, Rev.
Herbert S. Smith, Mgr. Streicher, Rev. Lawson Forfeit, Father
Gabriel, and Rev. W. Verner of the American Presbyterian Mission.
The Congo State furnishes a model for civilisation in new
countries. A great work has been accomplished in Equatorial Africa,
and, as a distinguished missionary said, “Posterity will place the
name of Leopold at the head of human benefactors for the princely
enterprise, perseverance, and sacrifices contributed by him in such
a cause.”
THE REV. W. H. LESLIE
In a recent number of the _Missionary Review of the World_, a
magazine published by Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls of New York, there
appeared an article written by the Rev. W. H. Leslie, a missionary
of the American Baptist Missionary Union, stationed in the Congo.
In that article Mr. Leslie refers to the exceeding degradation of
the Congo people twenty years ago. He states that, naturally, not a
little evil remains, that immorality and various heathen practices
are still prevalent. But he speaks with much enthusiasm of the social
and moral uplifting and the industrial development within that twenty
years. He says that the people are learning to work, are learning
to read and write, are clothing themselves, and are building better
houses. In other words, they are gradually adopting the manners and
customs of civilisation.
MR. MOHUN
Of course you must understand that for the moment I am in the
service of the Congo Free State, and a great many people might
consider anything I should say in favour of the Congo as being
biased; but I can assure you that, in my opinion, it would be
impossible for any one to give other than a favourable report
on the work of the Free State in the Eastern province. The
administration is excellent. The country is quite quiet from the
Falls to Tanganyika. The native tribes seem contented and happy,
and are paid by the Government for every stroke of work they do.
The price of rubber has increased, and every man who brings in
rubber receives pay for it. Formerly robbery and murder existed to
a great extent among the native tribes, but are now quite rare;
and the old “Mwavi,” or ordeal by drinking poison, seems to be
disappearing. Justice is administered with an impartial hand, and I
firmly believe the natives are beginning to appreciate the benefits
of good government.
Some months ago a woman was shot dead near my camp. I immediately
sent for the chief, and told him I wanted the murderer arrested
and brought in. Three hours later he returned with him and also
two accessories to the crime, together with all the stuffs they
had stolen from the woman. The principal actor in the crime
was tried and hanged, while the others received long terms of
punishment. This incident is merely cited to show that when the
natives are living in a contented way, and are satisfied with
their surroundings, they will assist the Europeans wherever
possible. I could enumerate a dozen cases where natives have
themselves arrested and brought to justice thieves, ravishers,
&c., of their own accord. They never received a present for these
services. In the Manyema, which is very thickly populated, a great
market has been established at Vieux Kasongo, and this serves as
a meeting-place for thousands twice a week. Caravans come from
Ujiji nearly every month, and the natives journey there by a 15 or
20 days’ march. I never saw a disturbance at the market, either
going or returning. By common consent guns, knives, spears, and
knobkerries are excluded from articles of exchange, and the men
only carry thin walking-sticks. There are no soldiers guarding the
market, but immunity from thieves is guaranteed by some ten or
twelve native policemen, who receive no pay, and are highly pleased
to have an opportunity of showing their authority.
I have been astonished in coming down river from Kasongo to
the coast to see what extraordinary changes have taken place.
First, the administration is now established on a good, firm
basis, and all the officials take an intelligent interest in
their work, with the result that scandals are quite a thing of
the past. The stations are all splendidly and solidly built in
brick, and the grounds are laid out in a very pleasing way. The
transport service by canoe between Kasongo and Stanley Falls goes
without a hitch, and thousands of loads go up river every year,
absolutely unguarded, and the loss by theft is almost _nil_.
The steamer service between the Falls and Pool is good, and an
enormous improvement over the old days, especially in the matter
of messing. The large steamers _Hainaut_ and _Brabant_ are most
imposing-looking craft, and comfortably fitted up. They carry 200
tons of cargo and 600 troops, in addition to 40 white passengers.
The new steamer _La Flandre_, of 250 tons, is on the slip at Leo,
and I think will make her first trip in February next year (1904).
She is to be lighted by electricity. So far as I know, the whole
country is tranquil, with the exception of a small portion of the
Bangala district north of Bumba.
It has been the fashion during the past for travellers who have
been in the Congo State to run it down in every way, but it gives
me the greatest pleasure to be able to affirm that only a most
captious critic would be able to find fault with its administration
to-day.
With regard to specific pronouncement on the alleged murder of
several hundred natives who failed to supply the required quota
of rubber, I can say nothing, it having been out of my district.
Personally, I do not believe it, excepting in a vastly modified
degree; and I must point out that the authorities are taking
such steps as must bring any offenders to summary justice. I
absolutely deny the absurd attempt to fasten responsibilities upon
the authorities for any acts of violence they cannot control from
this side. Such acts committed while I was there would have been
reported, and it is evident they are now taking steps to prevent,
in so far as possible, any recurrence of them. In all human
institutions there are imperfections; here and there _employees_
prove themselves unworthy of the trust reposed in them; but these,
in my opinion, are exceptions rather than the rule.
CHAPTER XXXIV
TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS
(_Continued_)
ALEXANDER DAVIS
THE following valuable testimony is extracted from an interesting
volume written by this gentleman, entitled _The Native Problem in
South Africa_:
The Congo atrocities campaign is fed upon just a sufficient
substratum of truth to make it plausible. But the public in their
administered sentimentality travel very wide of the true case.
After a full career of blood-curdling horrors unhesitatingly placed
at the door of the administration in highest authority irrespective
of conditions of environment or personal responsibility, a Sir
Harry Johnston, accepted authority, in plenitude of personal
knowledge and experience presents a rock of fact which checks the
wave of misrepresentation.
In the Congo Free State in addition to the superior council to
advise the King in Belgium, the Governor General has the assistance
of a similar nominated body at Boma. Local conditions here do
not admit at present of following the French system, but it is
guided largely in its deliberations by the reports and advice of
the district commissioners who with the co-operation of the local
chiefs and their own officials form really limited autonomous
administrations.
Turning to the Congo Free State the general division of the
territory, from an administrative point of view, is based on
the districts at the head of each of which is a district
commissioner representing the State. The commissioner is assisted
by sub-commissioners, but is alone responsible for the good order
of his district. Their principal instructions, on which the State
lays great stress, are to maintain friendly relations with the
natives and wherever possible to prevent or patch up intertribal
disputes; they are also charged with abolishing as far as possible
barbarous customs and especially human sacrifices and cannibalism,
still practised over a large extent of the territory.... In
close co-operation with the district commissioner is the native
chief or chiefs of the district. The institution and recognition
of these are encouraged by the State in order to improve the
relations between it and the natives, to consolidate authority over
individuals, to ameliorate their condition, and to facilitate their
regular contribution to the development of the country. The chiefs
have, as a rule, to be first recognised as such by native custom,
and are then officially recognised by the Government, and receive
a certificate to that effect. They are allowed to exercise their
usual authority according to native usage and custom, provided the
same be not contrary to public order and is in accordance with the
laws of the State. They are held personally responsible for their
tribe’s supply of public labour as notified to them annually. The
acknowledged native chiefs number 258.
The safeguards provided by the co-operation of the chiefs, and
the supervision of the central authority are now on the Congo
supplemented, as far as human action under such conditions can
go, by a very thorough organisation of the judicial side of the
Government. It has pleased many of the critical theorists who have
attacked the Congo Free State to say that this latter has been
established merely as a blind to the actions of the administration.
It may be merely remarked that no infant struggling State is
likely to go to the great expense of such an elaborate and widely
organised system of justice as has now been called into existence
on the Congo _pour rire_, and furthermore that jurists of the
character of those now serving on the Congo are not those capable
of lending themselves to such practices. A certain amount of
latitude must of course be made for the different conditions in
individual countries, especially when in a state of savagery, but
generally speaking the Congo tribunals do their duty as well as
similar ones in British colonies.
The Sovereign and Government of the Congo Free State have stated
over and over again that they desire justice to be rendered
impartially, and that as it is necessary that offences committed
by natives should not remain unpunished, so penal laws must also
be applied to the whites who are guilty of illegal doings. The
mere fact of having constituted a superior court of appeal with
judges of different nationalities and of appointing foreign lawyers
and magistrates as judges and officials of the lower courts in
the interior of the country is a proof, and a more than evident
guarantee, of the impartiality and seriousness of the judicial
administration aimed at. The writer holds no brief for the Congo
Free State; rather the contrary in fact, but in common fairness
after a very lengthy study of its judicial machinery, laws, and
decrees, and the instructions given to its officials, he finds it
difficult to conceive what more King Leopold could have done to
safeguard its internal affairs than has now been done—given the
peculiar conditions of the country. The abuses which have from time
to time arisen in the past have been due, as far as one acquainted
with similar conditions in West Africa can see, to three things,
viz.: (1) to the abuse of power by agents of the concessionaire
companies before the State had fully realised the necessity of
keeping a sharp control over these semi-independent individuals;
(2) to the want of experience of early officials; and (3) to the
lack of trained colonial servants whose known antecedents and
constitutions fitted them for isolated and arduous responsibility
in an unhealthy, tropical, and savage country. It is only right
to add, however, that though isolated misdeeds may still continue
to occur here as everywhere else, the measures now in force guard
as far as possible against a repetition of the former regrettable
occurrences, and where these occur the offenders are brought to
trial without delay.
[Illustration: Public Library, Matadi.]
[Illustration: Soldiers’ Mess at Coquilhatville, (Equateur).]
The native idea represents that of primitive society everywhere
in the world, the European that of latter-day civilisation; and
if this were always borne in mind, less nonsense would be written
by those ill-informed sentimentalists who insist on treating the
former on the lines of the latter.
Nothing is more astounding in regard to the Congo campaign—to take
a very flagrant case in point—than the utter ignorance displayed
by those who, while violently denouncing every detail of Congo
administration, appear to be totally unaware either of the past
history of social evolution, of modern civilisation in Europe,
or of the conditions existing in other African countries at the
present day.
We have here (British Central Africa) admitted, as in Uganda where
we have shown that it has been actually carried out, the right of
the British Crown to assume ownership of “vacant lands,” and the
principle enunciated that the reserves allotted must be sufficient
to allow of the lying fallow of the ground for a period of three
years in addition to allowing a proportion for the natural increase
of the family. Had the same principles set forth above been applied
to the early days to British West Africa that country would be far
more prosperous and advanced than is the case to-day.
Bearing these facts in mind it is possible to understand more
fully the situation on the Congo where the general system has been
pursued of assuming possession of the vacant lands and allotting to
natives reserves throughout the country, though it may be remarked
that on the plea of conquest alone the State has a valid title to a
large part of the country apart from that set forth.
In the case of the Congo Free State, however, the opposite course
has been taken, _i. e._, the State has undertaken the direct
exploitation of its private domains, the profits realised being
allotted to public works and the expenses of administration; and
without stopping to examine the necessities of the case its critics
have eagerly seized on this as a point of attack.
When criticisms, however, are raised against the very complete
system of land tenure now in existence on the Congo as regards
the State, non-natives and natives, it is as well to remember that
the exploitation of the land by the State is an after and separate
act quite unconnected with the assumption of sovereign powers over
the land in the State, which latter is in accord with general
European and universal American custom, though after all whether a
State raises money for public revenues by selling, leasing, or by
personally exploiting the State lands seems to be a mere matter of
detail in which the principle of the action is exactly the same.
_En passant_ it may be remarked that the Royal Niger Company,
though an administration, raised its principal revenue and paid its
dividends by its trade—not by duties or taxes.
Further south, getting down to the Congo again, we find a State
which, sharing these views, has the courage of its convictions and
acts upon them to the great scandal of our own Exeter Hall set,
no doubt, but to the very marked improvement of the native races
affected as well as to the development and opening up of the State.
It will have been observed in what special terms Mr. Davis repudiates
personal interest in championing the Congo Administration against
its detractors. Should any reader be so sceptical as to question the
accuracy of that repudiation, attention is invited to the following
declarations by three English statesmen, two of them of high
political attainment, and all three by social position and actual
record of approved _bona-fides_.
VISCOUNT CURZON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA
It is only fair to remember that the Congo State has done a
great work, and by its administration the cruel raids of Arab
slave-dealers have ceased to exist over many thousands of square
miles.
THE LATE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY, K.G., PREMIER OF THE BRITISH
PARLIAMENT
Look at the Congo State. Everything has not gone there as well as
could be wished, but still a great domination is maintained. There
are two sets of opinions; but what is undoubtedly true is that
Belgium—a very much less powerful country than Great Britain—has
been able to maintain the dominion of her King over a territory
larger than the Sudan.
THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
Lord Cranborne, now Marquess of Salisbury, declared, during the
debate of 20th May, 1903, in the House of Commons, that “There was
no doubt that the administration of the Congo Government had been
marked by a very high degree of a certain kind of administrative
development. There were steamers upon the river, hospitals had been
established, and all the machinery of elaborate judicial and police
systems had been set up.”
CHAPTER XXXV
TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS
(_Concluded_)
Among the denunciators of the Congo Administration a prominent place
must be assigned to
DR. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS
(_English_)
a part medical, part missionary, wholly illogical perverter of
facts. The plunges made by this eccentric individual into the
depths of human credulity would certainly receive no attention in
this place but for the strange circumstance that some people have
actually so far belied their intelligence as to accept them without
investigation. Strange to relate, Mr. Booker Washington (a singular
lapse of sagacity in a man so generally intelligent) is among those
whose credulity has been abused by stories of strings of Negroes’
hands being set to dry in the sun, the said hands having been cut off
from natives by wicked European officials of the Congo Administration
as a punishment for failure to collect a sufficiency of rubber, etc.
In the course of a recent lecture in Scotland, Dr. Guinness said: “To
our knowledge the natives never mutilated their victims by cutting
off their hands. The wild Ngombe never practised the mutilation
referred to. It was reserved for civilisation to introduce this
certificate of death.”
Now it is a matter of history, quite outside the realms of argument,
that punishment by bodily mutilation has been practised by natives of
Central Africa from the earliest times of which we have any record.
Here is a sentence taken from a book entitled _The First Christian
Mission on the Congo_, published before the Congo State came into
existence, written by Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness:
From half a million to a million of lives are annually sacrificed
in the slave trade, and as many more in all probability in
intertribal wars and contests. Physically a land of sunshine and
beauty and redundant life, it is spiritually a land of darkness,
_deformity_, and death.
This evidence, _given by the wife of Dr. Grattan Guinness in 1882_,
is a strange foundation for Dr. Guinness to erect his 1904 statement
upon. Let us hear what other people have to say upon this subject.
COMMANDER LOVETT CAMERON
(_English_)
In Ouroua only two punishments are known, mutilation and the
penalty of death. Both are much in use, but _especially the
former_. For the least offence the chief and his lieutenants cut
off a finger, a lip, a portion of the ear or of the nose. For more
serious offences, they cut off the hands, etc.
DR. WILLIAM JUNKER
(_German_)
Mazindeh wished to punish the man according to A-Zandeh law _by
cutting off a finger_.... I saw a man who had been punished by the
loss of _his finger and of another important member_. A Malingdeh
told me he knew about twenty men who had been similarly punished.
SIR JOHN KIRK
(_English_)
If slavery were abolished, all criminals would probably be put to
death or _mutilated_.
CARDINAL LAVIGERIE
(_Belgian_)
King Wemba, near Tanganyika, finding the wooden drumsticks too
harsh for his ears, cut off the hands of his slaves so that they
might beat the drums with their stumps.
MR. J. A. MALONEY
(_English_)
The offender was lucky if he escaped with instant death, for Msiri
delighted in diabolical refinements of cruelty. Quite minor crimes
were punished by _the lopping off of a hand_ or the docking of an
ear. In fact Msiri practised mutilation almost as extensively as
Kasongo.
MR. FREDERICK STANLEY ARNOT
(_English_)
Mr. Giraud noticed some men whose noses or ears had been cut off.
Mkewe’s six drummers had a thumb on each hand _but no fingers_....
Mr. Giraud says that everywhere the Bemba people practise these
barbarous customs. First the fingers and toes are cut off.
[Illustration: The Station at Bumba.]
These quotations will surely prove that bodily mutilation is
essentially an African barbarity that prevailed more or less
among all the tribes of the Congo region, but is now almost entirely
suppressed, thanks to Belgian civilisation. The charge brought by Dr.
Grattan Guinness against that civilisation, that it introduced and
practises this certificate of death, is a libel so monstrous that it
carries with it its own refutation.
MR. GRENFELL
(_English Missionary_)
The welcome that I have received and the facilities accorded me
everywhere in the course of my journey through the Eastern Province
have made this journey very agreeable. This is now the third day
that I have received the hospitality of this post, and before
leaving it, which I expect to do to-morrow morning, I consider
that I must write and tell you how happy I have been to have had
the opportunity of making this most interesting journey. In the
course of my tour I have been much struck by the order which has
been established, and by the real progress accomplished. When the
position of the country under the Arab domination is recalled, and
when the relatively brief number of years since the termination of
the military operations rendered necessary by the revolts is taken
into account, the progress that has been made is nothing less than
marvellous. If in spite of such numerous difficulties so much has
been done, I am sure that when the railway towards Ponthierville
has been completed the progress will prove more rapid still.—_May
31, 1903._
MR. WILLIAM FORFEIT
(_English Baptist Missionary_)
We arrived to-day at New Antwerp in order to take our farewell
before leaving for England. I much regret that we are not able
to see you. I desire to thank you for the kind interest and
consideration for the mission at Upoto which you[47] have always
displayed.
The condition of the natives is much improved, all the villages
of the district can be visited in absolute safety, and I beg to
congratulate you on the tranquillity of the district of which you
are the Commissary-General.—_March 14, 1903._
MESSRS. ASCENSO AND POLIDORI
(_Italian Physicians_)
The dwellings for soldiers and labourers are numerous in Kabinda.
They are symmetrically arranged and separated from one another
by wide alleys from 10 to 15 metres across. Each black family
has a separate house sufficiently large, divided into two rooms.
Each dwelling is raised half a metre (nearly 20 inches) above the
ground, and surrounded by a verandah one metre broad. The soil
has been well beaten down, and the walls are whitened with lime.
The roofing is without a ceiling, with a large opening admitting
ventilation; each man sleeps on a bed raised one metre. The ground
surrounding the post is formed into separate small gardens in which
each soldier cultivates maize, manioc, etc.
All the villages around Kabinda are united to the post by wide and
long avenues, well kept up and bordered by trees and pineapples.
The natives greatly feel the effects of the neighbourhood of the
white man, and make every effort to rival him in the maintenance,
cleanliness, and prettiness of their villages. The houses are
placed on an elevation, and are built in the same way as those of
the soldiers with truly remarkable care and propriety. Each house
has two or three rooms containing from 12 to 15 cubic metres, with
good verandahs, and meets the prescribed hygienic conditions.
Large free intervals separate the dwellings from one another, and
in them are the vegetable plantations.
A detail worthy of being pointed out is the great cleanliness of
the natives of this region. During the course of my journey from
the West Coast of Africa to Kabinda I remarked many things, and I
ascertained that at Kabinda all the natives, in place of sleeping
on the ground, have a raised bed, formed by means of flexible canes
with coverlets, stuffs, and mosquito nets. There are houses that
contain magnificent sarcophagi of truly artistic work.
Everywhere there are small pieces of furniture coarsely sculptured,
but which reveal the artistic taste of this people and their
progressive march towards civilisation. It must also be said that
they have a marked desire to dress decently. In conclusion, they
are, in my opinion, the first people I met in Africa who, without
being spoilt by money, possess a relatively advanced degree of
civilisation, and an hygienic system beyond dispute.
The fertility of the soil and the abundance of provisions of all
kinds allow of changing the food of the soldier and the native.
Their food generally consists of chickens, goats, wild animals,
manioc, maize, vegetables, and various fruits. They feel the
effects of this good nourishment. They are strong, robust, support
fatigue well, and consequently give little hold to sickness.
On a hill close to the post a hospital has been constructed by the
natives. It contains three large rooms separated from each other
and containing 100 cubic metres.—_February 21, 1904._
MR. MAGUIRE
(_English Missionary_)
Though I have travelled by boat and on foot from Boma to Amadi and
higher up to Surunga, calling at all the State stations; though I
have visited many establishments, both Catholic and non-Catholic,
as well as some stations of independent companies; though I have
passed nights and days in my tent in the forest and in villages of
the natives; though I have had ample opportunities of seeing much
in my journeys as to how the natives are treated, I have never
seen or heard of any of the atrocities with which the agents
of the Free State are charged. On the contrary, one cannot but
admire the wonderful progress that has been made in so short a
time, the commendable way in which the natives are treated, the
little work that is exacted of them, and the manner in which they
are punctually paid for every service rendered or work done. The
little work which is occasionally exacted of them by way of tax in
porterage or otherwise is as nothing when compared with the immense
benefits conferred upon them by the State. In fact the methods of
the Belgian officers drew a highly complimentary eulogium from
the Sirdar during his recent visit to the Enclave of Lado—methods
which, he stated, might be followed with advantage by our English
officers: “Messieurs,” said the Sirdar, “nous avons d’excellentes
leçons devant nos yeux.”—_March 31, 1904._
DR. CHRISTY
(_English Physician_)
I went to the Congo last September as a member of an expedition of
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which was despatched
especially to investigate sleeping sickness in the Congo, the same
disease which so recently, as the public know, broke out in such
virulent epidemic form in Uganda. For a considerable time I was in
Leopoldville, which is the Bombay of the Congo—that is, everybody
throughout the whole of the Congo goes through Leopoldville in
order to reach Europe and the outer world. Hence you can quite
understand that any one, like myself, for instance, stationed for
a time in Leopoldville, must, if he take any trouble at all, come
across all the officials from the whole of the Congo, who, from
various causes, are bound at intervals to be in or passing through
Leopoldville. Thus, whilst there I had excellent opportunities of
finding out exactly what happens in that country, particularly
as these men—that is, the officials of the Congo—are extremely
ready to talk. Besides opportunities of acquiring information in
that way, I have travelled on foot in the Belgian Congo State,
and personally observed the condition of things which prevails
there. I assure you that if I were to tell you all I know against
the Congo Administration it would amount to a very little indeed
compared with what I know in its favour. The credulousness of the
British Government in respect of the Casement report is something
marvellous. Casement travelled up the river in a missionary
steamer, arm in arm with missionaries practically all the time,
and obtained all his information from the river bank instead
of personally investigating the various stories of outrage and
mutilation which he received. It is the most astonishing thing
that the British Government have given the Casement report so much
credence.
The agitation now going on with respect to atrocities in the Congo
is based on things that happened a long time ago. There is no doubt
that in times gone by atrocities have occurred; but, thanks to the
altered methods and conditions of administration, such things are
not likely to recur. The basin of the Congo, mainly the Belgian
Congo, is practically the sole rubber-producing area of the world.
This territory also contains the lowest class of natives in the
whole of Africa. The natives all over the East Coast—the Masai,
the Nandi, the Kaverondo, the Bukedi, the Baris, the Madis, the
Dinkas, the Shiluks, and others—stretching right away up to the
Soudan, are all a magnificent class of Negro, a fighting people,
a manly, upstanding people, who impressed me immensely. I have
been through parts of all their territories, and they are indeed a
magnificent set of people. Then you get towards the West Coast—the
basin of the Niger, where I was for nearly two years, and you see
a lower class of natives. On the Benue, where the present punitive
expedition is operating in Niaiger, you have again a distinctly
lower class of natives. Then, as you go farther South, and get into
the Congo watershed, you come upon a still lower class of natives.
The natives over large areas in the Congo are cannibals to the
present day. They are a very low class of native indeed. That is
the territory which the Belgians have so successfully opened up
for the rubber trade. In that opening-up process they have had,
as I say, to contend with absolutely the lowest class of natives
in Africa at the present day. As you travel through the Congo you
cannot help feeling—at all events any one like myself, who has been
through the British tropical colonies—that the amount of general
advancement and civilisation in the Congo Free State is far ahead
as compared with our own. This is doubtless owing to the fact
that the Belgians have made the natives work. The Belgians have
gone on the principle, to begin with, that the native must be a
participating element in the development and civilisation of the
country—that is, that he must work with and for the white man, and
thereby benefit not only the white man but himself. I was immensely
impressed with the state of government and the advancement and
general opening-up of the Congo, the more so as I can compare it
with other districts under British control in which I have been. We
do not attempt to make the native work, with the result that we do
not get the benefit we should from our Protectorates. Uganda and
British East Africa are far behind the Congo Free State. Not more
than a third of Uganda is opened up to administrative control. I
once spent ten months in Uganda, and visited every station in it,
walking 2300 miles and returning down the Nile. The Belgians have
got stations everywhere in the Congo practically, and most of the
natives, except in one or two areas, are entirely under control.
The Uganda native is a fat, lazy chap, who will do no work. There
is no industry in Uganda. The Belgians pay the Congo natives for
their labour. They realise that the native is a valuable asset in
the country, and treat him accordingly. It is surely obvious that
it is not to the interest of the Congo administrators to maim the
native.
All the mutilations and cruelties which have been spoken of took
place in the early days of the opening-up process to which the
country has been subjected and before the railway was constructed.
The men who have been guilty of the atrocities have not been
Belgians in all cases. In many instances they have been Italians
who have been appointed to the smaller outlying posts, the better
and higher positions being kept for Belgians. These Italians and
other foreigners who have been given the charge of outlying
stations have in some cases perpetrated cruelties in times gone by.
These men were not accustomed to exercise power, and this led them
to ill-use the natives. That is how the atrocities such as these
were originated. But that has all gone now; they are all cleared
out. I have seen nineteen such men, chiefly Italians, in prison
at Boma on charges of cruelty, which proves that the Belgians are
doing their best to put a stop to the kind of thing complained of.
The agitation that is now going on about atrocities is exaggerated
out of all proportion to the amount of the atrocities that
happened at any time. The Belgians are doing everything they can
to supersede the men who have acted improperly in the past; they
have appointed inspectors for different districts, and they have
allowed inspectors appointed by the Italian Government and the
Scandinavian Government to go out into the Congo for the purpose of
keeping an eye on those of their own nationality in positions of
responsibility and control in the Congo Free State. Things in the
Congo now are very different to what they were even two or three
years ago. The King of the Belgians has sent out Baron Dhanis—who
had more to do with opening up the Congo in the early days than
anybody else—to reorganise the whole military system of the Congo
Free State. There are to be two or three large military centres
in the Congo, and the soldiers will be much more highly trained
and be more under control. Hitherto the small posts have recruited
men from the surrounding villages, and given them a bit of uniform
and a rifle, and they have gone about, supposed to be doing their
duty, instead of which they have probably been ill-treating the
natives. The whole thing will be changed now, however, for they
will have a much more highly organised army and a much higher class
of officer. It has been these unscrupulous foreigners—Italians,
etc.—who have been guilty of the cruelties reported. Another proof
of the endeavours to stop any existing abuses of administration is
the fact that a Belgian officer who for many years held a high post
in the Congo has recently been sent out by the King as Royal High
Commissioner, to investigate all questions of maladministration
and, particularly, payment of State employees and the natives for
labour, with power there and then to rectify or alter any existing
rules which he thinks might be amended in any part of the Congo,
the territories of concessionary companies included. With regard to
the mutilations in the Congo, described by Mr. Casement, I may tell
you that only last year in Uganda I saw similar mutilations, which,
it is well known, were done by the natives in Uganda, notably in
King Mtesa’s day. In walking through Toro and Unyoro, I have seen
men without noses, ears, and, frequently, without hands.
With regard to Lord Cromer’s assertion that in the Lado Enclave the
natives have left the banks of the river and the immediate regions
of the Belgian posts,—well, I have walked along the Nile from the
Albert Nyanza into the Soudan, and visited the Belgian stations on
the river, besides having seen a good deal of the natives on both
banks. I feel sure that Lord Cromer is wrong when he states that
the natives are leaving the Belgian side and going over to the
Uganda side. The natives certainly had nothing to complain of, and
certainly are not migrating across the river. As for there being
no villages round Lado Enclave, the explanation is that there is
for several months of the year absolutely no water and, therefore,
necessarily no villages. But at many other places along the banks
in the Lado Enclave there are large villages. I saw several
thousand natives at Wadelai, employed by the Belgians in rebuilding
the old fort of Emin Pasha, preparatory to making a large station
there, and they seemed quite contented and happy, and worked like a
hive of bees. The conclusion to which I am irresistibly driven as
a disinterested observer is that the present administration of the
Congo is not only free from cruelties, but is of the most complete
and efficient description, and counts for the fullest commercial
and industrial development of the Free State. I am sure that that
administration is doing its level best in every way, from the
highest to the lowest officer, to make the country prosperous, and
the native happy and useful.—_June 23, 1904._
[Illustration: Convent of Franciscans of St. Gabriel of the Falls
(Oriental Province).]
MR. GREY
(_English Civil Engineer_)
_From the “Morning Post” (London), January 20, 1903._
Since I returned to England a few weeks ago I have read some
correspondence in the _Morning Post_ on the subject of the
administration in the Congo State. I am an Englishman, and have
during the last two years led an expedition of the Tanganyika
Concessions (Limited), organised in Rhodesia to explore and search
for minerals in the Katanga district of the Congo State. During
the latter part of 1901 and the whole of 1902 sections of this
expedition have explored and settled in the district of Katanga,
and at the same time the representatives of the Special Katanga
Committee have occupied and governed the country. It is almost
impossible for one man to have intimate knowledge of more than a
portion of the territory of the Congo Free State, and I can only
claim to know a small and remote section. Still, seeing that so
much attention has been directed of late to Belgian administration
in the Congo, my experiences in that country may be of interest.
It is, perhaps, necessary to explain that the Special Katanga
Committee, the governing body in Brussels of the territories of
Katanga, is composed of the representatives of an amalgamation
between the separate interests of the Congo Free State Government
and the Katanga Company. The former originally owned two-thirds,
the latter one-third, of that portion of the Congo State. This
administration is entirely Belgian, and the African staff is
composed of a representative of the committee, whose headquarters
are at Lukonzolwa, on Lake Mweru, and who occupies the position of
administrator, and of numerous officials, civil and military, in
charge of the various sections of the district and departments of
the administration. The country is garrisoned by a large force of
native troops, with European officers. My duties have confined me
to the section of the district called the Upper Luapula Section,
which borders on the south and east with Northern Rhodesia. I
have visited the chief of that section, Mr. Vervloet, at his
headquarters at Lukafu, and an officer of the Katanga force with a
few soldiers has been attached to my expedition.
I have, therefore, had considerable opportunity on the spot of
learning the instructions which the Special Committee give their
officials, and how those instructions are carried out. I myself
and many members of my expedition have become fairly intimate with
the native inhabitants of large portions of this district, and
have from time to time employed as carriers and miners several
hundred labourers. That the natives of this country had never
suffered ill-treatment from white men was evident to me from the
time I entered the country. They showed no hesitation in working
for my expedition and in bringing quantities of food to sell, and
always seemed quite confident that fair payment would be given,
both for labour and food. I have lived for many years in parts of
Africa in which the native inhabitants were for the first time
coming under the influence of European government, and where
conditions rendered the aid of such government by native troops
necessary. It is almost impossible constantly to restrain the
tendency to oppress and ill-treat his less powerful countrymen
which is inherent in the native soldier, and I do not believe
that it ever happens that the advent of that form of government
is unaccompanied by acts of injustice and oppression. Generally
there is a constant effort on the part of the European officer to
prevent such acts and punish offenders. My experience is that this
is especially the case in the district of Katanga. The regulations
of the Special Committee provide that no armed parties of soldiers
should travel or patrol without a European officer. Native soldiers
are not allowed to enter villages alone, and weekly markets are
held at which a European official buys food for his soldiers from
the neighbouring villages, so endeavouring to do away as far as
possible with direct dealing between the soldier and the people.
My experience of the last two years has convinced me that in the
district of Katanga at any rate the Belgian officials endeavour to
treat the Central African native with justice and leniency, and in
as great a degree as officials of any other nation look on him
as a human being, with a perfect right to sell his labour and his
food on terms satisfactory to himself. When I first entered the
Congo, at the time that the officials of the Special Committee
were establishing their government, and before I had come into
personal contact with them, I found some armed natives who posed
as soldiers of the Belgian Government, and who lived more or less
the life of robbers, raiding and stealing wherever they went. The
natives believed that these men were the authorised police of the
European Administration, whose white officials they had not yet
seen, and members of my expedition reported to me on the shocking
behaviour of the Belgian Askari. I later learnt the complete
mistake we had made in believing these men to be Government
employees. In a short time they completely disappeared, caught or
driven out by the agents of the committee. The Ba-Luba and Wasanga,
the tribes we have been working among, are, we find, a peaceable,
industrious race, with practically no warlike propensity, an easy
prey to any organised hostile force. I am led to believe that
their numbers have decreased during the last fifty years owing
to a continuous traffic in slaves with the Arabs of the East and
Mambunda of the West. To-day the slave trade has ceased in this
particular district, the traders being afraid to come anywhere
near the Belgian posts. To such an extent have conditions changed
with the advent of Belgian administration that many small chiefs
are now recovering individuals raided from them by their stronger
neighbours and not already sold to the traders when European
control reached the country.
In all discussions and criticism of the mistakes made by European
administration in Central Africa there is one condition which seems
to me to be never taken into account. That is the necessity of
employing officials who have to spend a long time learning how to
do efficiently the work that they have to carry on from the day
they arrive at their posts. There is no school in which to learn
Central African Civil Service except Central Africa, and it is
impossible in Africa to obtain a sufficient number of qualified
officials. Not many go to Central Africa with the idea of making
their permanent homes there. It has been my own good fortune to
settle in a healthy part of Central Africa, but from my knowledge
of the Continent as a whole, I think it is not an exaggeration
to state that two-thirds of the officials who leave Europe are,
within five years of their arrival, either killed by the climate,
invalided home, or have left the country at the termination
of an agreement. All these have to be constantly replaced by
inexperienced men, with their job to learn. What wonder then that
grievous mistakes are sometimes made by some of these untried
men, necessarily placed in responsible positions? In writing this
letter to you, I state only my own experience and opinion of
the spirit and effect of Belgian administration in the district
of Katanga; but it seems natural to me to suppose that the same
spirit extends throughout the whole of the Congo territory; and
it seems almost the duty, at the present time, of any Englishman
who has had opportunity to judge of the general methods of Belgian
administration to give publicity to his knowledge.—Yours, etc.,
G. GREY.
[Sidenote: Cardinal Gibbons Speaks out.]
In presence of testimony such as this, it is not matter for surprise
that His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, should have characterised as
inopportune the consideration by the recent Peace Congress at Boston
of the oft-refuted accusations brought against the Congo Free State.
Where not absolutely false in every particular (as the majority
of these slanderous stories most certainly are), they are grossly
exaggerated, distorted out of all resemblance to the events they are
based upon, and mendaciously attributed to a Government that has
consistently and unswervingly repressed wrongdoing, of whatever kind,
or by whomsoever done, and brought the light of civilisation to a
vast barbarian population more thoroughly and in less time than was
ever done before.
The opinion of Cardinal Gibbons upon this point well appears in a
letter addressed by His Eminence to the Honorary Secretary of the
Congo Reform Association, of which the following is the full text.
HIS EMINENCE, CARDINAL GIBBONS
(_American_)
BALTIMORE, Oct. 21, 1904.
_The Honorary Secretary,
Congo Reform Association._
SIR,—I avail myself of the first opportunity which has presented
itself to acknowledge your letter of the 18th instant. In that
letter you call my attention to certain resolutions adopted by the
Peace Congress at Boston. I fail to see in these resolutions any
vote of censure upon the Congo Free State. They express rather a
desire for information in regard to the international status of
that State.
It appears that those who voted for the resolutions were in need
of enlightenment on the subject, but this information lies near
at hand. There is no need to appeal to any tribunal. Diplomatic
history, diplomatic correspondence concerning the Independent State
of the Congo, and the acts and the protocols of the Conference
of Berlin, as well as of the Conference of Brussels, all prove
conclusively that the Congo Free State is an independent sovereign
State, and that the powers have no right of guardianship or
intervention.
Your letter also refers to certain documents, such as the British
Parliamentary White Book, Africa, No. 7 (1904), which, however, has
not escaped my attention. Permit me to say that this book, instead
of proving your contention, proves the exact contrary, and shows
that both the administration and the courts of the Congo are using
their endeavours to correct such evils as may exist—for no human
government is perfect.
The interpellation in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, to
which you refer, seems to have been simply a fruitless attempt
on the part of the Socialist leader to annoy the Government. The
very fact that the Chamber considered Mr. Vandervelde’s charges
against the Congo, and refused to sympathise with him in his views,
is in itself a significant indication of the baselessness of his
accusations.
In your letter you are also pleased to say that in speaking in
defence of the Congo Government I have spoken “unwittingly,” and
to imply that I have not considered the facts nor weighed the
evidence. I can assure you that I have not spoken without due
consideration. As to the evidence, it is overwhelmingly against
your contention.
It is only some score of discontented men, depending largely on
the untrustworthy hearsay evidence of natives, who have raised an
outcry against the Congo Administration, out of a great band of 500
or 600 missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, who are working
on the Congo, and who give thanks to the Congo Administration for
its support to the missions, and for its successful efforts to
introduce Christianity and civilisation into Central Africa.
Overwhelming evidence in favour of the Congo Government has been
given recently by missionaries and by travellers, and it is not
only Catholic missionaries, like Monsignor Van Ronslé and Father
Van Hencxthoven, who have spoken in praise of the State, but also
the most distinguished Protestant missionaries, such as the Rev.
Mr. Bentley and Dr. Grenfell.
As it is not likely that you will convert me, and as I see no
probability of convincing you, I, for my part, think it best to
consider the correspondence closed.
Very sincerely yours,
(Signed) JAMES, CARDINAL GIBBONS.
_Viscount Mountmorres_
In the summer of 1904, an Irish peer, Lord Mountmorres, began a
journey through the Congo Free State, whence his lordship is sending
an admirable series of letters, descriptive of his experiences and
impressions, to the London _Globe_. The dismal scenes of torture,
desolation, and death, in which the missionary-agents of the
Liverpool merchants assure us that unhappy country abounds, appear
in some way to have escaped the observation of this traveller. “The
further one goes into the interior the more civilised one finds it,
the better organised, and the more developed,” says Lord Mountmorres
at the opening of his second letter:
I was utterly unprepared [he continues] for what I found at Irebu
and at Coquilhatville, buried away there on the equator in the
very heart of the great forest. For what are these stations? Large
haphazard jumbles of native dwellings and white men’s bungalows
in an arid clearing, with ill-kempt roadways, such as one would
find in the Western States? No; here we have great open towns of
really artistic brick houses, with palm-thatched roofs and wide
verandahs, each standing in its own little garden, bright with
roses and hibiscus, Spanish iris and flamboyants, and set well back
along straight, wide avenues shaded by bamboos, mangoes, papayes,
acacias, bread-fruit trees, or one of a dozen other leafy and
ornamental equatorial trees. In spacious grounds will be found the
residence of the local governor, _chef-de-poste_, or commandant,
as the case may be, with its twenty to thirty-foot verandah and
its flagstaff in front, placed usually so as to command the full
view of the river front. Round one or more spacious squares at
the intersections of the principal avenues will be the various
public offices—the Directorate of Transports, the Post Office,
the Magasins de l’État, the headquarters of the Force Publique,
the Office of Agriculture, and the rest. At Bikoro there are 2200
acres overlooking the lovely Lac Tumba, sometimes miscalled Man
Tumba or M’Tumba, a corruption of Mai Na Tumba, water (or lake) of
war. Round Coquilhatville there are little short of 4500 acres of
these plantations, and round Irebu and Imesse something like 1200
acres in each case. Then near to each station will be the extensive
market gardens, where every manner of vegetable, both European and
tropical, is raised in profusion, and also the large, well-kept
farm or farms, which supply the principal officials with beef and
mutton, goat and pork, poultry and ducks, and in which a ceaseless
series of experiments in breeding and raising stock adapted to the
climate is carried on.
And this has been achieved not in one isolated spot near the coast,
where material and transport were ready to hand, but at every
“white post” up here in the very heart of the black continent, cut
off until a few years ago from the capital and the seaboard by that
deadly, costly barrier—the white man’s cemetery of the Cataract
caravan road. How has it been done? Let us take Irebu as a typical
case. Seven years ago a young Belgian lieutenant, Jeuniaux by name,
was sent out to take charge of the military training camp at the
junction of the Ubanghi, the Congo, and the Tumba Canal, on the
site of a former larger and flourishing native village. He came,
and he found an unhealthy and pestilential swamp covered with the
ruins and the filth of the then almost deserted village of Irebu.
Among these unpleasant surroundings was a large group of ill-kempt
and badly constructed mud and thatch huts—the training camp; and
here he was doomed to pass at least three years. But he was young
and energetic, and had passed unscathed along the latter half of
the caravan road in the cataract district, for the railway was then
but half completed. He had seen brick houses in other stations, and
clean, well-kept, well-arranged little townships. He would have
the same. But his first difficulty was that this was a training
camp, whither the raw, untutored savage was drafted in his naked
ignorance to undergo six months’ tuition only; and, so soon as he
had acquired a sufficient training to make him of use to the white
man, he was hurried on elsewhere and a new batch of raw material
took his place. Jeuniaux had but a hazy notion of architecture,
but, unaided, he planned and designed his barracks, and acted as
his own foreman, devising quaint methods to construct weather-proof
walls and roofs from the materials at hand, and instructing his
workers, man by man, in these methods, and that without even the
medium of a common language.
At last his barracks were built, and the old huts destroyed;
coffee, cocoa, maize, sweet potatoes, and bananas grew in
well-ordered plantations, between parallel, palm-lined avenues,
where formerly had been a wilderness of insanitary ruins. Then
came the great feat of all—brick houses for the whites and for the
Departmental offices. Bricks, bricks. He knew that bricks were
made somehow from some sort of clay, and he had a hazy notion
that straw was essential to their composition. So he started on
a series of experiments. In the intervals of his work—with two
sub-lieutenants to help him, he was responsible for training,
feeding, and controlling from 1000 to 1500 soldiers, with their
wives and families, for maintaining order in his district, and
developing its commercial resources, and for ruling the natives in
it; how well he had done this work I will show in a moment—but,
in the intervals, he went on clay-hunting expeditions, and then
sat up at night experimenting on what he had found, and at last he
produced what he recognised as the real red brick—the philosopher’s
stone of his research. And so the first brick house in Irebu was
built in one year from when Jeuniaux first came. And he built other
houses for his lieutenants and white non-coms., and a residency for
himself, and a guest house large and comfortable, and post-office,
state stores, guard-house, pharmacy, armoury, and houses for all
the other whites. One by one they were built, and Jeuniaux, now
Commandant Jeuniaux, and his ever-changing pupils built them all,
until he had realised his ambition, and had constructed a model
station, with its lovely avenues, its riverside promenade, its
fine landing-stage, its parade ground, where 1200 men may, without
crowding, manœuvre in companies at once, and its pretty public
gardens. And when his first term of three years was over he left,
with the sense of work accomplished, for his six months’ holiday.
All the time in Europe he pictured the growth of his plantations
and his palms, and told his friends he should be glad to get back
“home” to Irebu, the town he built with his own hands. And the
night before he reached it he could not sleep for excitement; and
all day he strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of it, and at last
it came in sight. But not the Irebu he knew. The plantations had
reverted into jungle, the avenues had disappeared, lost in the
quick, rank growth; the pleasure gardens were a wilderness; the
finest of the palms had been cut down; and he went through the
coarse, wild vegetation that clogged the entrance to his house, and
into the damp hall-way that was become the home of bats, and of
rats, and of lizards, and he sat down there, and he wept. For so,
in six short months, had an idle officer left in charge during his
absence undone the labour of three years.
But he is not a man to be easily daunted. To-day Irebu is as spick
and span and as beautiful as he first conceived it. The benefit
that accrues to the natives as well as to the whites from so
well-built and arranged a station is shown by the change that has
occurred in the health of Irebu. One of Jeuniaux’s first cares
was to make the place sanitary. Now, since he built the station,
_i. e._, in the five years since summer, 1899, there have been
only two deaths among the whites,—although their number has been
increased,—and of these one was a case of sunstroke, the other
one probably of deliberate intent to die by disobeying orders
during an illness on receipt of bad news. Since 1901 there has
not been one death among Europeans. The mortality rate among the
soldiers has decreased to 14 per 1000 average, and for the current
year to 12 per 1000, or a fraction under. And this despite the
fact that the sudden change in their mode of life when they enter
military service must be a severe strain on the recruits, and also
that Irebu, lying at the junction of waterways, is constantly
having dumped down in it cases of infectious diseases, which are
discovered on the river steamers, and which are put ashore at the
nearest station.
Now, I mention all this about the building of Irebu, not simply
to glorify Commandant Jeuniaux, but because the work that has
been done there, the difficulties he has had to contend with and
has overcome, the result that has been achieved, are identical
with what every commandant has met with in each of the beautiful
stations that you will find in the Middle Congo. Each of these
represents the personal exertion of one individual, and their
existence is eloquent testimony to the ability and devotion with
which the State is served by its servants.
_Mrs. M. French Sheldon_
Mrs. French Sheldon, the traveller and author, returned to Europe in
December, 1904, after a tour through the Congo Free State.
I have witnessed [she says] more atrocities in London streets
than I have seen in the Congo, which remark applies to the rubber
country as well as the rest of the State. I travelled through
every part of the country, and am convinced that the allegations
of maladministration are groundless. Wherever I went I found
the natives treated with kindness and consideration, while the
improvements in the condition of the land and its inhabitants are
almost incredible.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] The Commissary-General of New Antwerp.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
The Congolese kaleidoscope has revolved so swiftly since 1896, that
it is with difficulty the European attitude towards the Congo Free
State notoriety can be completely indicated. It would be unfair
to the English people—that great, sane mass of them which sits
imperturbably serene and looks on—to say that the British attitude
towards the Congo is of that bitter hostility which a few hysterical
Liverpool merchants and writers wish the outside world to believe.
Indeed, it would appear to be part of their plan to make sufficient
noise to induce the Germans, French, and Americans to attribute the
agitation to the entire British public. The fact is that the severest
condemnation of the anti-Congo campaign is being uttered by Britons
against the _clique_ which is striving to entangle British ministers
in an affair that may some day redound to England’s humiliation.
The shifts have been many to which certain Liverpool merchants and
their chief crier have been put to maintain a hubbub which they hope
will, by accident or the logic of events, create an opening for their
ulterior commercial plans.
[Illustration: Native Planter’s House, near Stanley Falls.]
[Illustration: Prison, with Carpenter’s Shop, at New Antwerp
(Bangala).]
In 1897, the services of Sir Charles Dilke were first enlisted
against the Congo State. In that year it was evident to those who had
previously erred in their estimate of the value of the Congo as a
commercial and political asset, that the Free State would more than
fulfil the early expectations of Leopold II. and Henry M. Stanley.
The awakening to this fact is the genesis of the envy which enlivens
Congolese history to-day. So long as Stanley sat in Parliament and
avowed his confidence in the Belgians who are erecting a State
upon the ruins of the slave trade, and so long as he reiterated
to his colleagues on the benches there the truth of the practical
difficulties in Central Africa, the campaign against the Congo State
in England made little serious progress. When Stanley died, when his
voice in defence of the great work which he had shared with the King
of the Belgians could no longer expose the fallacies and the true
motive of the despoiler, the Congophobe epidemic spread to America
and became more virulent than ever.
Early in 1903, a number of British merchants expressed their
grievance against the French Congo in a volume by the author[48]
whose active hostility against the Belgian Congo has given currency
to many false statements and unjust beliefs. In the preface to the
story of the _British Case in the French Congo_, this writer states
that:
The British merchants in the French Congo have been sacrificed to
save the face of certain French politicians—to stave off for a
while the inevitable exposure of a deplorable error of colonial
policy. In the French Congo, rather than admit the overwhelming
body of proof pointing to the Concessions Decree of 1899 being
framed in ignorance, unworkable in practice, monstrously unjust in
its effects upon the merchant and native alike, successive Colonial
Ministers have endeavoured to square the circle, and, of course,
they have lamentably failed. An existing trade has been destroyed,
the colony is practically bankrupt, the revenue is steadily
falling, the natives are either in open rebellion or thoroughly
disaffected, the military expenditure has largely increased, and
the Concessionaires will only last as long as they are allowed to
maintain themselves by the ingenious system of fining the British
firms—that is to say, until a way is graciously found for the
latter to sell their factory depots and their merchandise (which,
of course, is deteriorating steadily); or until, despairing finally
of effectual home support, our merchants themselves destroy or
embark all that remains of their actual possessions, and leave the
country in a body.
The purely commercial considerations upon which this complaint
against the French Congo is founded are quite apparent and need not
form the subject of argument. It may be enlightening, however, to
note the fact that since this impassioned book was hurled at the
heads of Frenchmen across the English Channel, the Anglo-French
_rapprochement_ has been effected, and the _entente cordiale_ of
King Edward’s visit to Paris has likewise intervened to divert the
merchant wrath from the French Congo to the Congo Free State. French
Deputies have visited London and enjoyed that bounteous hospitality
which none can gainsay of a British household; members of Parliament
have gone to Paris and dignified the gaiety of the _quai d’Orsai_.
Not a vestige of the British complaint against the French Congo
now freights the air. Instead, there prevails a friendly persiflage
between those two great powers.
Inasmuch as the concessionaire system adopted in the French Congo
gave new impetus to the British campaign against the Belgian Congo,
it may be profitable to examine what precipitated matters.
The occasion was the organisation in the French Congo of the
system known as the _régime des concessions_. A decree of the
President of the French Republic, dated March 28, 1899, divided
the whole territory of the French Congo Colony between about forty
concessionaire companies, which were to develop it under various
conditions imposed upon them. The companies were granted all the
rights of ownership over the ceded areas.
In 1901, several of these companies prohibited certain English
merchants, who had been established in the country upwards of
twenty-five years, from buying rubber direct from the natives,
alleging that all natural produce belonged to the owner of the soil.
Goods were even seized on their way to the English factories.
The injured traders complained that such action was not in accordance
with the General Act of Berlin, the terms of which insure freedom of
trade in the Congo Basin. They appealed to the French Congo courts,
whose decision was in favour of the companies. Many judgments were
pronounced, all of which held that the agricultural exploitation of
the forests was an exclusive right of the concessionaire companies,
and did not run counter to the provisions of the Berlin Act.
These judgments were rendered by the Council of Appeal at Libreville,
on November 27, 1901, the petitioners being John Holt & Company
(Liverpool) and the defendants the Compagnie Française du Congo
Occidental.
In spite of these judgments, British commercial circles persisted
in the view that the concessions system was a violation of the
free-trade clause of the Berlin Act. The Chamber of Commerce of
Liverpool took the lead in a movement based upon this view. On
September 30, 1901, a memorial was presented to the British Foreign
Office protesting against the concessionaire _régime_ in the French
Congo, petitioning for an inquiry into its legality under the Berlin
and Brussels Acts, and urging the British Government to insist on
these Acts being respected by the French.
A similar memorial was presented on October 22, 1901, by the
Manchester and Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, and in December of
the same year delegates from ten British Chambers of Commerce were
received in audience by Lord Lansdowne, who, according to the Paris
_Temps_, acknowledged that their grievances were well founded and
promised to do all in his power for those interested in the question.
At that time _West Africa_, the journal of the Liverpool Chamber of
Commerce, renewed its campaign against the Congo Free State, accusing
its administrators of being the principal sinners, inasmuch as the
Free State’s land system had been copied in the French Congo and
German East Africa. In its issue of October 26, 1901, _West Africa_
called the Congo State _fons et origo mali_, and declared that it was
the Belgian clique which had drawn France into the economic errors of
its present system.
This campaign quickly assumed large proportions. _West Africa_
continued to wage war against the French system of concessions and
against the Congo Free State, the latter being bitterly denounced as
the evil genius who conceived a land system which supported the State
without the assistance of large revenue from the liquor trade or the
presence of intriguing foreign merchants.
In the hope of putting an end to the Anglo-French difficulties in
the Congo without raising questions of principle, the _Temps_ of
December 29, 1901, suggested that an amicable settlement be arranged
between the French Government and the British traders affected
by the concessionaire system in its West African Colony. By such
arrangement, these traders would have received compensation for their
loss. But, in a letter dated January 7, 1902, the _Temps’_ special
correspondent in Liverpool warned the French that such an expedient
would not put a stop to the agitation, and endeavoured to show in its
true light the campaign which was going on in England.
Meantime the Aborigines’ Protection Society pursued its old course
of agitating something, anything, so long as its secretary, freedom
of speech, and the attention of a Foreign Office combined to afford
opportunity. The purely commercial grievances of British traders who
had been made to conform to Congolese law required new elements of
support. What could be of greater assistance to their commercial
schemes than the tearful work of the Aborigines’ Protection Society
of England, the new Congo Reform Association of Liverpool, and their
peculiar methods of playing upon the credulity, sentimentality, and
the sympathies of susceptible and deluded persons whose leisure
sought occupation and new interests? While the business brigade
of the anti-Congo campaign sought to enlist the aid of the German
Chambers of Commerce, the humanitarian scouts developed the atrocity
theme—not so much against the French Power as against the Belgian
pigmy. Belgium and the Congo Free State cannot resort to the
arbitrament of that force which as a last resort decides the contests
of all nations.
The opportunity for attracting the co-operation of commercial
factions in Germany was greatly propitiated by the unfortunate Stokes
incident. Stokes, a British subject, once a missionary, had become
an itinerant trader, and came into the Congo State from German East
Africa, where he had established headquarters. His caravan was
largely composed of natives from German territory, and the goods
they carried for the purpose of barter were to a large extent of
German manufacture. When Stokes was caught, red-handed, bartering
guns and ammunition with the native enemies of the Free State for
ivory which they had unlawfully acquired, he was tried and executed.
This summary disposal of a trader who had been undermining Belgian
and native security in the Congo met with vehement protests in
Germany as well as in England. Other factors began to operate in
favour of an Anglo-German alliance against the Free State, not the
least of which was the apprehension felt in Hamburg, Bremen, and
Berlin over the remarkable progress the Belgians were making with
their transport facilities, whereby the trade of German East Africa
was being diverted to the Free State. For a time, therefore, the
German press joined the British in decrying the Belgian Government
in Central Africa. German attacks upon the Congo State economic
policy have, however, been largely confined to interested merchants
or enlisted politicians. Herr von Bornhaupt, Prince F. d’Arenberg,
and Consul Vohsen have been actively identified with German criticism
of the Congo State’s policy, notwithstanding that Germany, as shown
in a previous chapter, has inaugurated a land policy founded upon
precisely the same principles as those which prevail in the Belgian
Congo. The statement of Consul Vohsen that “the Congo State’s
methods were diverting trade from the German East African colonies,”
betrays, perhaps, the only pretext upon which the criticism of German
merchants may rest.
Until recently the political attitude of certain German statesmen
toward the Belgian Congo has been to bring about a revision of the
Berlin Act of 1885. In announcing a desire to form an international
league, Consul Vohsen said that its object should be to induce the
Powers party “to revise the Berlin Act and to force the Congo State
to respect its provisions.” Europeans suggest that the gentleman
probably means, by this contradiction in terms, that the real aim
of England, Germany, and France, working in secret combination
against the energetic little fellow with the biggest part of Central
Africa, is to come to an understanding which will on the part of
England realise the prophetic utterance of Mr. Cecil Rhodes[49] and
the ambitions of Lord Cromer and Sir Reginald Wingate in the Cape
to Cairo schemes; on the part of Germany, establish a new western
frontier for German East Africa; and on the part of France, the
final adoption of definite settlements in the Soudan and on the east
and south banks of the Congo River. In short, the million square
miles of immensely rich territory lying within the borders of the
Congo Free State can, when rudely wrested from the heroic pioneers
of little Belgium, be used by the three European Powers dominant in
Africa to enlarge the gouty, the bilious, and the apoplectic tints
of the African continent. That such views are abundant throughout
Europe, and that the humanitarian pretext on the part of Congo
enemies is regarded with derision, is all too evident from the
columns of the leading continental journals. European editors have
referred to the Congo debate in the British Parliament on May 20,
1903, as a “Parliamentary raid,” and likened it to the Jameson Raid
in the Transvaal, which acted on the principle of violating first,
negotiating afterwards, but in the end bringing the whole subject
within the pale of dispute, speculation, and bargain.
As long ago as 1897, Belgian statesmen were convinced that certain
English statesmen, of whom Sir Charles Dilke was foremost, had
espoused the cause of the commercial men of Liverpool and Manchester
with intent to settle upon a purpose of hostility towards the Congo
State. Whatever there may have been lacking to justify the Belgians
in harbouring this belief at that time, intervening events have
unfortunately confirmed them in their impression. Belgians connected
with the Congo administration in Brussels still maintain what they
said in 1897, that “there was a set purpose to create for the Congo
State difficulties both in Africa and in Europe, to discredit it by
magnifying isolated facts, and by preparing, under the colour of
philanthropy, the moment when there could be produced the territorial
and financial designs concealed behind that campaign. The plan
is clearly traced. At the commencement a feint is made that the
sacrificed interests of the native populations of the whole of Africa
is the cause they have at heart, and the idea of a new conference
is put forward. As soon as this idea has appeared to germinate and
public opinion has been baited, it becomes a question of the Congo
State alone, and the division of its territories is boldly spoken of.”
On March 2, 1903, Sir Charles Dilke asked the British Government in
the House of Commons whether it intended taking steps to procure the
co-operation of the principal signatories to the Berlin Act with
a view to suppressing abuses in the Congo Free State. In reply the
British Government stated that it did not then contemplate taking
steps in that direction. On March 3rd, the Associated Chambers of
Commerce of Great Britain met and resolved to press their grievances
against the Congo State upon the British Government. On the 11th of
the same month Viscount Cranbourne declared that no action would be
taken to interfere with the Congo State, as the British Government
had no reason to believe that slavery was tolerated by that State.
Then the Baptist Union threw in its weight on April 30th, and at a
meeting held in London, denounced the concessionaire system of the
Free State and attributed to that system all the cruelties alleged
against the State. Meantime the British press, which reeked with
stories of atrocities in the Belgian Congo, had not a word to say
against the French Congo and that concessionaire system therein
which was the Belgian system carried to extreme. At a meeting held
in London on May 6, 1903, by the Aborigines’ Protection Society, W.
H. Morrison, an American Congo missionary, from Lexington, Virginia,
having returned from a visit to Brussels, where he had asked for and
been refused land concessions to which special advantages should
attach, delivered a series of complaints against the administration
of the Congo Free State, and caused his charges to be telegraphed
to the press of Europe and America. While in Brussels seeking
extraordinary land concessions, Mr. Morrison did not utter one word
of complaint against the local administration of the Congo. On
May 7th, a member of the House of Commons again inquired whether a
petition had been presented from British Chambers of Commerce or
traders complaining that _trading rights_ on the Congo under the
Berlin Act were not respected, and what, if anything, the British
Government intended doing in regard to the matter. Finally on May 20,
1903, the House of Commons, pressed by organised British _commercial_
interests, passed the following resolution:
RESOLVED, That the Government of the Congo Free State having, at
its inception, guaranteed to the Powers that its Native subjects
should be governed with humanity, and that no trading monopoly or
privilege should be permitted within its dominions, this House
requests His Majesty’s Government to confer with the other Powers,
signatories of the Berlin General Act by virtue of which the Congo
Free State exists, in order that measures may be adopted to abate
the evils prevalent in that State.
On August 8, 1903, Lord Lansdowne addressed a dispatch[50] to the
Powers signatory to the Berlin Act, setting forth the grievances
which had been brought to the attention of his Government, and
suggesting that:
In these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government consider that
the time has come when the Powers parties to the Berlin Act
should consider whether the system of trade now prevailing in the
Independent State is in harmony with the provisions of the Act;
and, in particular, whether the system of making grants of vast
areas of territory is permissible under the Act if the effect
of such grants is in practice to create a monopoly of trade by
excluding all persons other than the concession-holder from
trading with the natives in that area. Such a result is inevitable
if the grants are made in favour of persons or Companies who cannot
themselves use the land or collect its produce, but must depend for
obtaining it upon the natives, who are allowed to deal only with
the grantees.
His Majesty’s Government will be glad to receive any suggestions
which the Governments of the Signatory Powers may be disposed to
make in reference to this important question, which might perhaps
constitute, wholly or in part, the subject of a reference to the
Tribunal at The Hague.
Three of the Powers, the United States, Italy, and Turkey, formally
acknowledged receipt of the British dispatch; all maintained silence
in respect of it.
On September 17, 1903, the Government of the Congo Free State
delivered its reply[51] and, pursuing the same course as the British
Government had followed, sent it to all the interested Powers. The
attitude of Europe concerning the issue thus joined may be gathered
from the silence of the Powers signatory to the Berlin Act, and
the press comment which the two dispatches evoked. The _Morning
Advertiser_, London, a conservative organ, referring to the British
dispatch, said:
A weaker official document we do not ever remember to have read....
The use of the word “alleged” in the title of the document gives
the key to its whole tone. The note sets forth various “alleged”
shortcomings of the Congo Government, and then says, lamely:
“His Majesty’s Government do not know precisely to what extent
these accusations may be true.”
Surely this is a very serious matter—to accuse the Administration
of a friendly State of inhumanity and “systematic oppression,” and
then to admit that we do not know whether the accusations are true.
The leading article in the _Times_ (London) of the same day described
the Congo State’s reply as “weak, inconclusive, and confused.” While
Lord Lansdowne’s note had been published in its entirety, the longer
reply on behalf of the Congo Free State was accorded scant space in
the British press.
From _Black and White_ (London), November 21, 1903:
To pile Pelion on Ossa in the way of accusation only to encounter
a rebuff by being non-suited, scarcely recommends itself to the
judgment as a course either dignified or statesmanlike. Yet in the
present instance the fact that the English Note remains without a
_single_ answer from the twelve States to whom it was addressed
three months after it was despatched, shows beyond question the
trend of Continental opinion.
In the _Standard_ (London) of October 24, 1903, the following
utterance would imply a threat:
The Belgian Administration objects to submitting questions of
internal government to arbitration, but it would do well to
remember that there is an alternative of a still more unpleasant
character.
On September 19th the _Morning Advertiser_ (London) has the following
to say by way of insight into British desires in Congoland:
Nearly twenty years have passed since a great Englishman came
through the Dark Continent and down the Congo, and it _has always
seemed a strange thing to other Englishmen that the great river of
Central Africa should have remained ever since under the domination
of the smallest country in Europe_.
The general tone of the British press was in support of Lord
Lansdowne’s Note, and intolerant of the Congo State’s reply. On the
Continent, the weight of opinion favourably acknowledged the force
of the Congo State’s reply. In France, Germany, Austria, and Italy
certain British journals were severely criticised for suppressing the
publication of all evidence favourable to Belgian rule in Congoland,
for dignifying the fulminations of E. D. Morel, the penman of the
merchants and shippers of Liverpool, the self-appointed coroner of
the Congo, sitting in judgment upon the _disjecta membra_ which he
so luridly and so falsely portrays in the books which the anti-Congo
campaign incidentally serves to advertise. Brief quotations from
the arguments of M. Étienne, the French Deputy, have been set forth
in a previous chapter. Criticising the London _Times_ for its
partisanship, the _Dépêche Coloniale_ of October 16, 1903 stated
editorially:
... We invite the great journal [London _Times_] of the city to
cease this chicanery which might discourage men whose task in
Africa demands the co-operation of every one. In this task, in its
success, we are all interested, and the fact of having opened to
commerce the immense territory of the Congo should of itself spare
Belgium the bitterness of misdirected criticism.
In _La Liberté_ (Paris) the editor, referring to the Congo State’s
reply, says:
Now that we have before us the reply of the King of the Belgians,
we may say that we have reason from every point of view to defend
the Congo Free State against accusations as stupid as they are
prejudiced. England may definitely renounce the hope that she had
entertained of increasing her colonial empire by means of puerile
calumnies.
[Illustration: Mission of New Antwerp (Bangala).]
The _Phare de la Loire_:
We should not forget that a similar quarrel has been sought for
with us [the French]. French concessionaires have had much trouble
with two English houses—Holt & Company and Hatton & Cookson
[Liverpool]—_whose agents had turned the natives away from French
factories_ by offering them exorbitant wages.
The _General Anzeiger_, October 30, 1903, is merely quoted to
indicate the violence to which criticism of the British dispatch
attained, not as a specimen of sound Teutonic reasoning nor of
temperate commentary:
Truly, when reading this one hardly credits one’s eyes. Here is
what the English Government, whose officials are almost without
exception discredited by reason of their rude, brutal, and often
inhuman attitude towards natives; here is what is written [_sic_]
on the faith of pure colonial gossip, of unauthenticated rumour. It
is not ashamed to act thus—this very Government whose cruelties in
the last African war are still too fresh in the memory.... It is
impossible to say whether this cynical fashion of acting is more
striking than the hypocrisy which makes us indignant....
The _Chronique_ (Belgium) of November 4, 1903, contains an interview
with M. Edmond Picard, advocate of the Belgian Court of Cassation,
from which the following is quoted:
The reply to the English Note drafted by the Independent State of
the Congo appears to me as nobly simple, and as proud in form
as peremptory in substance. As for convincing the English ogre
desirous of swallowing up the Belgian Congo as it swallowed up
the Transvaal and Orange State—it would be ridiculous to hope for
this. This people is as enthusiastic a brigand as a nation as it is
honest and loyal in the individual.
The Münster _Westphal_, November 3, 1903:
The insatiable English greed claims a new prey. The two Republics
have been happily swallowed and digested. What is to be served up
now? That fine phrase, “British Africa from the Cape to Cairo,”
has been recalled at the right moment, and it is remarked that the
Congo State is still one of the obstacles to the realisation of
that phrase freely quoted by our cousins. And hardly were the two
Boer Republics given up to British domination than commenced, at
first a little timidly, then with more effrontery and brutality,
the chase of the Congo State. A mass of trifles were then put
forward with incredible exaggeration; the pretext for the agitation
against the Congo State was given: “British Africa from the Cape
to Cairo,” that is the objective of the anti-Congolese. No one is
deceived about it.
The _Kleine Journal_ (Berlin), October 21, 1903, contains the
following admonition from the well-known explorer, Eugène Wolf:
“The Germans to the front!” such has always been the cry of the
English when they have need of some one to take the chestnuts out
of the fire for them.
“The Germans to the front!” has also been the cry of the English
in the question of the Independent State of the Congo. And in this
matter also the English have found among us a fool; for the aid
which England has found in this Congolese question quite needlessly
exaggerated cannot come from the heart of the German nation,
but from the mouth of a member of the German Colonial Society,
inhabiting Berlin, making himself of importance, and who, turning
to account a residence many years ago on the east and west coasts
of Africa, invoking his title as retired Consul, and his possession
of a colonial library, gives himself out as the spokesman
authorised by the nation in order to pass himself off on his own
authority as infallible in colonial matters. With the war cry: “The
trade of Germany is intercepted by the agents of the Independent
State of the Congo, and we must settle it!” this gentleman, whose
name is known to everybody, has made an attempt which has evidently
remained unfruitful of stirring up Germany against Belgium and of
disturbing the feelings of good neighbourship and the commercial
relations existing between the two countries. The persons who
have seriously at heart the interests of the German colonies do
not allow themselves to be taken in by this trick. And if the
Congo State is governed in a more profitable fashion than our own
colonies, we must heed their example and imitate it. After all, it
is not only with the object of realising permanent deficits that we
have acquired _our_ colonies.
The _Corriere Toscano_ (Italy), October 31, 1903:
There is on the Congo as in every civilised country only one
justice; blacks and whites are subject to the same laws, and the
State’s motto, _Work and Progress_, is adopted and followed by all
with the greatest ardour.
Finally the views of some of the leading journals of the United
States, manifestly free from bias, founded on self-interest, may be
interesting.
The _Evening Transcript_ (Boston).
The Congo Administration has not waited for any commission of
inquiry to sit. It has already replied fully to the charges brought
against it, but no reply will silence its accusers. They want
the Congo’s riches, not its King’s defence, and will continue
clamouring until the utter futility of their shouting threats at
Leopold is brought home to them. Already they have prepared a map,
a copy of which is before me as I write, of the Free State of the
Congo partitioned out as they wish. The districts to be offered as
bribes to France and Germany are duly marked on it, but they are
small. The plotters do not hide their hands, they show clearly that
England, and England’s puppet Egypt, is to take the lion’s share.
This, which I have related, accounts for the tumult of popular
opinion in England, always easily stirred up by such tales.
Multitudes, misled by the cheap, if genuine, sympathy felt with the
oppressed, join unthinkingly in the cries against the Congo.
From the _New York Press_:
Those missionaries who are urging the United States Government
to interfere in the quarrel between the British and the Congo
Governments doubtless mean well, but they fail to offer any valid
reason why this country should entangle itself in a matter in which
it has no especial interest. The British Government has demanded,
and the Belgian Government has conceded, all reasonable protection
and privileges for the missionaries labouring in Congoland.
The other demands of the British with regard to the basin of
the great African river are not entirely devoid of a tinge of
self-interest, and it would be entirely improper for the United
States to interfere at all in the matter. If an American missionary
in the Congo is oppressed, or his treaty rights as an American
citizen in any way violated, the State Department could and would
interfere in that particular case, but further than that the
missionaries ought not to expect this country to go. Missionaries,
while most excellent and self-sacrificing people, are not perfect,
and one of their imperfections is that in all parts of the world
they are a little too anxious to bring about the interference
of their home Power in the affairs of the Government in whose
territory they are labouring.
The _Public Ledger_ (Philadelphia), October 26, 1903:
The acquisition by Great Britain of the Congo State would not
only join her separate dominions, but would give her an immense
territory of the most wonderful wealth. Not only so, but it would
open to British Central Africa and Rhodesia an outlet to the sea
down the Congo, and give even the Transvaal a chance of trading
with England through a port on that great river, saving 2000 miles
of the sea voyage to London.
English horror at Belgian mismanagement of Congoland is easily
understood in the light of these facts. Does any one imagine that
the British conscience would be so sensitive about cruelties
alleged to have been committed in lands not contiguous to British
territory, and not extremely desirable as annexations? The crime of
King Leopold is that he has developed a colony which England wants.
Sufficient has been quoted to indicate that the silence of the Powers
in regard to the British dispatch of August 8, 1903, was fairly
interpreted by the press of Europe. The meaning of that silence is
unmistakable. British ministers having been misled to undertake a
serious diplomatic act which was admittedly based on commercial
grievance and unproved accusations, it now became necessary to back
up the charges contained in Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch by something
seemingly more tangible than the complaints of persons peculiarly
interested in doing mischief to the Government of the Congo Free
State. It is the British view that the official report of Mr. Roger
Casement, British Consul at Boma, in the Congo Free State, dated
December 11, 1903, _four months after the Powers had been appealed
to_, supplied the necessary confirmation of all that may have been
lacking to justify the precipitate diplomatic act of August 8th which
had met with rebuff.
The report[52] and enclosures of Consul Casement would occupy
approximately one hundred and eighty pages of this volume. It is an
interesting account of a brief journey on the Upper Congo during
a period of two and a half months, most of which was spent in the
Equatorial district. The report contains many paragraphs in praise
of the wonderful changes wrought by the Belgians in the Congo during
the last twenty years. There are other passages in the report which
condemn the land and concessionaire system of the State. Enclosed in
the voluminous document are statements from Protestant missionaries
and certain natives concerning alleged atrocities. As the official
reply of the Government of the Congo Free State, brief as it is,
deals fairly and fully with the essential allegations in Mr.
Casement’s report, it has been set out in full in the Appendix.
In _To-Day_ (London), December 16, 1903, Mr. John Henderson, an
experienced traveller who had visited the Congo to ascertain for his
journal the true state of affairs under Belgian rule in the Free
State, wrote the following amongst other interesting comments on
Consul Casement’s Report:
I suggest that we should be careful in our condemnation of the
methods of the Congo Government. The agents of the State are
subject to perils and dangers unheard of, undreamed of by the
people in comfortable Britain—the climate, the condition of living,
and the natives combine to make life always uncertain, and at
times absolutely terrible. In Europe, or the West Indies, or
Australia, or in any fairly salubrious country, the methods of Free
State agents as pursued in Congoland might be judged barbarous,
but it is impossible to judge the methods of the peoples of all
countries and climates by one standard of ethics.
For my part, I shall hesitate to praise or blame the Congo State by
this report alone. I have little doubt that some of the facts Mr.
Casement will bring forward will be extremely shocking (while in
the Congo I was several times shocked myself), but these reports
of excesses will not prejudice me for or against the State. If Mr.
Casement will furnish us with reports which will show us the exact
conditions prevailing among the other West African districts—the
French Congo, the Portuguese Congo, German West Africa, Nigeria,
and the Gold Coast—then I shall hope to arrive at a more or less
correct understanding of the matter. Cruelty and excess undoubtedly
exist in the Congo Free State, but my experience in Congoland
taught me that those guilty of any crime who come before the notice
of State agents were severely punished.
To carry on the anti-Congo campaign in the United States, the
Congo Reform Association of Liverpool has established headquarters
at Boston. Its organisation includes a secretary, pamphleteers,
press writers, and Protestant missionaries. It prints and sends
broadcast to the press of America a weekly “News Letter,” composed
of articles designed to intensify agitation against the Belgians in
the Congo. It is sagaciously understood by its supporters that one
missionary with imagination and glib speech, turned loose on society
in America or Europe, can make more noise, effect more mischief,
do more to prostitute Christian work in foreign lands, than twenty
earnest, patient, toiling, praying missionaries can accomplish for
humanity by minding God’s work in the dark heart of Africa. That
concession-seeking, commercially-inclined Congo missionaries should
be enabled to gratify their desire for notoriety after the fashion
of the Congo coroner, Mr. Morel, and gain the slightest connection
with American Missionary Societies, is only to be accounted for by
the large financial support which, having prevailed in England,
may be presumed to lie back of the campaign in America. There are
certain phases of the Congolese question since 1897 by which even
a disinterested observer is deeply impressed. The large financial
support and the numerous agencies it employs is one of them.
So far the attitude of the American press has been eminently
disinterested. Its leading journals have shown a keen insight into
the motives which underlie a campaign that has been overdone to the
disgust of all fair-minded observers. There is, in all colonies,
whether under British, German, American, French, or Belgian rule,
ample opportunity for criticism. There is, on the other hand, even
greater opportunity for help and co-operation. The demoralising
story of British Lagos is alone sufficient to make British criticism
of every other nation’s colonies pusillanimous. Acts of cruelty by
natives, foreigners, or by State servants are in violation, not in
consequence, of the Congo State’s system of government. For such
infractions of the law the individual, not the State, is responsible.
But when the support of a British colony is derived from a debasing
traffic in alcohol for whose existence the home Government is
directly responsible, that Government should not assume the grotesque
position of _custos morum_ of Africa.
The Lagos _Standard_, reputed to be favourable to the British
Government, referring to the Colony’s revenue for 1901-1902, says:
It would appear that the chief and ruling tendency of the
successive administrations has been to draw from the Colony the
fullest possible revenue, the greater part of which is spent in
salaries of the officials. Every effort has been made in that
direction, and no resource that ingenuity can appeal to was spared
in order to reach that purpose....
The revenue derived from import duties on spirits, gin, rum,
alcohol, whisky, reached 65.53% of the total revenue of the
Colony.[53] To this add the licences for the sale of spirits,[54]
which brings up the contributive share of spirits in the budget’s
receipts to 67.53%....
Alcohol is the great staple of trade. By visiting Lagos, one would
be inclined to believe that it is practically the only commodity.
Everywhere on the huge quay, extending several miles, where
large business houses are established, on their wharfs, in their
warehouses, are accumulated heaps of green cases and pyramids of
demijohns of gin and rum. All the important stores have the same
signboard, bearing in large letters the words, _Wholesale Spirit
Merchants_, and from morning to night, every day of the week, there
is on the lagoon a continual traffic of large steamers coming in
to discharge their cargo and leaving empty. On the quay there is
a continual movement of black porters carrying cases of spirits
on their heads, which they either pile up by thousands in the
warehouses, or remove them therefrom in order to load the boats,
which are powerful launches of the native traders who spread the
poison all over the markets of the villages alongside the lagoon
and its affluents.
The quality of these horrible goods has been too often described
to render it necessary to revert to the subject. Their price says
sufficient: 4½d. per litre, bottle and packing included! The
Government analyst found them to contain extremely strong poisons
known under the name of fusel oils, in the enormous proportion
of from 1.46 to 4.31% of the weight.[55] Is it to be wondered at
that after absorbing several bottles of this poisonous liquor,
the drinker should be overcome by a sort of madness? Is it to be
wondered at that criminality is on the increase, that the birth
rate is on the decrease, that this magnificent race of Yoruba
agriculturists is speedily degenerating?
Where Europe, whose interests in Africa are material as well as
moral, has not seen fit to join a British traders’ campaign against
a small neutralised State, it would seem that the United States
Government could not be led into action on the pretext that its
recognition of a friendly Government invested it with police powers
over the internal affairs of the State so recognised. “Territory” and
“commerce” are the tightly furled, secretly carried banners of the
raid upon the Congo State. This exaggerated humanitarian solicitude
for the African black is purely pretence. By its hypocrisy,
falsehood, and disputative vulgarisation, the movement, instead of
remedying what evils exist in all African colonies, is made utterly
puerile. By such vituperative fanfaronade as the following, rational
minds are made to turn from the subject in disgust:[56]
Of such is the kingdom of Congo.
* * * * *
The tale is told—the tale of “King Leopold’s rule in Africa.”
A piratical expedition on a scale incredibly colossal. The
perfection of its hypocrisy; the depth of its low cunning; its
pitiable intrigues; the illimitableness of its egotism; its moral
hideousness; the vastness and madness of its crimes—the heart
sickens and the mind rebels at the thought of them. A perpetual
nightmare reeking with vapours of vile ambitions—cynical,
fantastic, appalling. A tragedy which appears unreal, so
unutterably ghastly its concomitants, but the grimness of whose
reality is incapable of superlative treatment. Destroying,
decimating, degrading, its poisonous breath sweeps through the
forests of the Congo. Men fall beneath it as grass beneath the
scythe, by slaughter, famine, torture, sickness, and misery. Women
and children flee from it, but not fast enough, though the mother
destroy the unborn life within her that her feet may drag less
heavily through the bush.
There has been nothing quite comparable with it since the world was
made. The world can never see its like again.
Sufficient that it exists, that each month, each year, the terror
of this Oppression grows, immolating fresh victims, demanding new
offerings to minister to its lusts, spreading in ever wider circles
the area of its abominations.
After that, what can one say or do except to appreciate one’s sense
of humour, and the lack of it in a zealot? A tower of babel on a pile
of words!
FOOTNOTES:
[48] E. D. Morel.
[49] In a speech delivered by Mr. Rhodes, in which he outlined his
scheme for linking Egypt with the Cape, he said that his measures, if
adopted, “will give to England Africa, the whole of it.” (Boulger, p.
373.)
[50] See Appendix.
[51] See Appendix.
[52] _Africa_, No. 1, 1904.
[53] _Message of the Governor to the Legislative Council_, February
26, 1903, p. 9.
[54] _Blue Book_, 1902, p. 21.
[55] _Message of the Governor_, p. 8.
[56] E. D. Morel.
CHAPTER XXXVII
SUMMARY, RETROSPECT, AND PROPHECY
The rise and progress of the Congo Free State marks a unique page in
modern history. The boldness of the State’s conception, the apparent
hopelessness of its early conditions in a region unspeakably savage
and barbarous, its gradual evolution under the magic touch of a
master hand; the horrifying vicissitudes of its bloody redemption
from the accursed slave-raider, and finally its admission into the
society of independent nations, constitute a set of circumstances
unparelleled in the history of the world. The span of its life from
a wilderness to a self-supporting and prosperous State is about
twenty-five years. Its rapid evolution was at first watched with
sneers and derision. During the last ten years it has been the
object of the hostile vigilance of those whose early regard had been
scorn. Young as it is, a considerable literature already exists
descriptive of the infant State. This literature, however, is very
unsatisfactory, being for the most part bitterly partisan, either
perceiving no good point at all in King Leopold’s rule, or regarding
that rule as a perfect thing in which no improvement is possible.
Neither attitude is just. And this may be said not only of the Congo
Free State and its irresolute and disappointing African neighbours,
but of States whose civilisation is the pride of our own times.
There have been error and crime on the Congo as there have been error
and crime on the Thames and the Hudson. Savages left the banks of
the Thames nearly eighteen hundred years ago. The white man came
and refined their cruelties in a thousand ways now practised by
civilisation behind the curtain and the padded door.
The aboriginal black cannibal still occupies the banks of the Congo.
But his nature, so recently in its savage state, is manifesting
great change. He is on his knees in the mission chapel; the song of
the White Fathers and the Sisters of Mercy inspires in him the rude
awakening of new emotions. His own voice abandons the war-cry and
makes its fervid, untaught plea to the white man’s God.
On the Congo, religion is perforce a plain, sincere, and a comforting
thing. It is taught by a small, earnest band of men and women whom
the epithets of the flaccid, arm-chair colonising hero will not
disturb. These rugged Christian teachers pursue their lowly, patient
work to please God—not Liverpool. On the Congo, the gospel knows
nothing of the elaborations of insincerity, sophistry, and cant. It
finds the soul of the black man in a patient and a practical way by
instructing his body in the habits of honest toil, of cleanliness and
decency, and by developing an intelligence to supersede his savage
instinct.
The results of only twenty years’ guidance in this direction are
manifest to-day. They have placed the Negro in the midst of the
uncovered wealth of a vast and fertile country; of waterways teeming
with traffic; of a magnificent forest stored with rubber; timber of
great variety, ivory, oil, and fruit; of promising fields of coffee,
cotton, cocoa, tea, and sugar; deposits of gold, copper, coal, and
iron. This short era of civilisation has created in the Congo over
four hundred commercial houses doing a thriving business with Europe;
built railways over mountain routes where only Belgian engineers
and Belgian capital had the courage and the skill to venture. In
the midst of it all the black man’s hands and acquired energy have
provided him with new value to himself and to the State. He is at
the plough, on the cart and the railway, on the wharf and upon the
road and the farm, in the shop and factory, learning the uses of the
white man’s implements of labour, and imitating his enlightened ways.
Industry and order, Christianity, civilisation, and material progress
have succeeded tribal wars, cannibalism, and the horrible atrocities
of the slave chase. This has been achieved by the brawny men of
Belgium in less than twenty years.
The smug men of the study, untravelled in regions wilder than
Westminster, St. Albans, or Liverpool, are as incompetent to judge
of civilisation in Congoland as are the Manyema of the lack of it
on Park Lane, in London. Their beautiful theories of civilising the
African Negro with illuminated manuscripts, florid dissertations
on the Berlin Act, and freedom of (alcoholic) commerce, constitute
a pyramid of fustian with but a single thought starring its
apex—Empire.
While the English campaign against the Congo Administration was
confined to nebulous libels, proceeding for the greater part from
wrangling missionaries and aggressive traders, it was the policy of
that Administration, conscious of its own rectitude, to ignore the
attacks made upon it. In light of subsequent events, the wisdom of
that course appears open to question. Did not one of England’s poets
observe that a lie seven times repeated without being challenged
acquires the force of truth? Some of the fiction concocted by enemies
of the Congo Free State has been so industriously reiterated by
so many different agents of English traders that, collectively,
the British Government could no longer refuse to give ear to their
vapourings. Whether the British Government did so willingly or
unwillingly is another story. What has been the outcome of that
Government’s acquiescence in the demands of the slanderers of the
Congo Free State the world now knows. Mr. Roger Casement was sent
to the Free State, where he traversed ground carefully mapped out
for him, and interviewed natives specially instructed in their parts
by the persons whose agitation had occasioned his mission. The
result was precisely what might have been expected, and that without
impeachment of Mr. Casement’s integrity—an inaccurate and partial
report. That report, magnified, distorted, garbled, has afforded
material for the enemies of the Congo Free State upon which they have
not yet ceased to work. The refutation of all its more important
pronouncements will probably not disconcert Mr. Casement’s believers
in the least, as they are immune to the logic of facts. Nevertheless,
the Sovereign of the Congo Free State, in order that the world may
not accept as a thing against which no defence can be made the
judgment passed upon his rule by the cliques banded together to
embarrass or overthrow it, in July, 1904, resolved to send a special
commission to the Congo to inquire into the atrocities alleged to
have been committed.
The Committee of Inquiry appointed by King Leopold consists of
the following members: (1) M. Janssens, Advocate-General of the
Supreme Court of Belgium, president; (2) Baron Nisco, Judge of the
Court of Appeal at Boma, and (3) Dr. De Schumacher. M. Janssens,
who as Advocate-General holds the second highest judicial office
in Belgium, is a Belgian; Baron Nisco is an Italian, and Dr.
Schumacher is a Swiss. Assisting these three heads of the mission
are MM. De Neyn and Grégoire and Professor Dupont, all of whom
are Belgians. These gentlemen constitute a Court of Inquiry, and
their instructions are to investigate closely every detail of Congo
administration, and to examine on oath every person who may be
able to give evidence of a nature valuable to the commission. The
testimony of missionaries and traders is now being taken, and the
committee will see to it that they obtain the evidence of the heads
of British and American, as well as of Belgian, French, German, and
Italian missions. The investigations are being held in many parts
of the State. The committee is to travel throughout the country
into all the districts covered by Mr. Casement in his recent tour
of inspection, besides visiting many places Mr. Casement never
saw. In brief, the committee is to hold inquiry wherever evidence
can be obtained. Where native witnesses give evidence of a nature
prejudicial to white men, the committee will see that such witnesses
are protected from the possibility of suffering at the hands of
officials against whom they may bear witness. The Government of the
Congo holds itself responsible for the safety and well-being of such
witnesses. On this latter point King Leopold has expressed himself
in the strongest possible terms. Inquiries are to be held publicly,
open to all. The committee has the right to compel witnesses to
appear before it. A general instruction to the committee asks for a
report laying bare absolutely the condition of the rule in the Congo
to-day, and enjoins it to devote all its efforts to a full and entire
revelation of the truth. The duration of the stay of the Committee
of Inquiry in Congoland is limited only by the exigencies of its
task. The committee sailed from Southampton, in the Belgian SS.
_Philippeville_, on September 16, 1904, and arrived at Boma early in
October.
Such are the constitution, powers, and purpose of the Committee of
Inquiry now at work in the Congo Free State. It is almost unnecessary
to record that the committee has already been denounced by the
enemies of the State on every conceivable ground. “A farcical
commission” and “a bogus inquiry” are two of the descriptions which
have been applied to it. That indefatigable meddler, Mr. H. R. Fox
Bourne, who writes contemptuously of Stanley and his work, objected
to Dr. Schumacher’s presence on the committee on the ground that
he is a brother of King Leopold’s private secretary. On its being
pointed out that Dr. Schumacher is nothing of the kind, Mr. Fox
Bourne retracts his assertion, and substitutes another equally
unfounded. Upon this second statement being questioned, Mr. Fox
Bourne withdraws that also, and falls back upon his complaint
that the members of the Committee of Inquiry will be paid for
their labours. Such contentions are simply fatuous. Does not the
Aborigines’ Protection Society pay Mr. Fox Bourne for his labours?
During the few years in which the Belgians have been criticised for
their progressive rule in the Congo, the Belgian people have heartily
co-operated with their King in his long and arduous work. There has
been, however, a small but active section in the Belgian Chamber
spasmodically opposed to the Congo, and to any other expansion
of territory, influence, or market, on the part of Belgium. This
set of politicians, acting in suspicious harmony with the foreign
enemies of the Congo State, have been exploited by the latter as
representing the attitude of the Belgian people. To carry out this
deception, certain foreign papers, peculiarly interested in the
affairs of Liverpool merchants with African schemes, publish the
speeches of this disloyal minority, and suppress the addresses of
Baron de Favereau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count de Smet de
Naeyer, Minister of Finance and Public Works, and other Belgian
statesmen. In a masterly arraignment of those members of the Chamber
who have been hostile to Belgium in this respect, these gentlemen,
by their speeches in Parliament, inspired the organisation, in July,
1903, of a federation composed of religious, commercial, industrial,
social, and scientific societies throughout Belgium. This large and
representative body is known as The Federation for the Defence of
Belgian Interests Abroad. Its short address, presented to President
Roosevelt in October, 1904, has already been referred to. In a
speech made at a meeting of the societies allied to the Federation,
General Baron Wahis, President of the Brussels African Club, and
Governor-General of the Congo Free State, eloquently contrasted the
condition of the Central African tribes twenty years ago with their
improved state to-day. Baron Wahis and Vice-Governor-General Fuchs
are men on the spot. Their long experience on the Congo invests their
statements with authority. In the address referred to, Baron Wahis
narrated the following graphic picture of Congolese conditions two
decades ago.
Let us see in what position these peoples were before the formation
of the State, and what is their position now.
In the Lower Congo, close to the sea, there was one locality
which already possessed some importance, viz., Boma. Before the
first expedition of the State landed at Boma there were at that
point some commercial houses. For a long period they derived
their profits from the sale of slaves; later, they obtained their
chief profits from the sale of alcohol, and, accessorily, of
the products of the soil. The traders carried on a more or less
prosperous business according to their strength and courage.
They made expeditions into the interior, and frequently burnt
native villages for not bringing in at fixed periods the expected
quantities of palm nuts and other products. Their staff of
labourers was composed of slaves upon whom they inflicted torments
for the least infraction of their orders. These punishments had
no limit. It is related, and the fact is not open to doubt, that
during the time of which I am speaking there were once found in
the waters of Boma the corpses of thirty blacks attached to one
chain. The chain bore the name of “Olivarès,” but it was alleged,
and probably with good reason, that the perpetrator was not
Olivarès, that the chain had been stolen from him. The name of the
person really guilty of this horrible crime was mentioned, and it
was represented as the consequence of a mutiny by the staff of a
factory. That was the kind of administration to which the blacks
were subjected, under the eyes of Europe it may be said, seeing
that ships of war had easy access to Boma.
Higher up, in the present district of the Cataracts, the population
was in part subject to the Negro king of San Salvador. Read the
book of Mr. Bentley, an educated English missionary, who has been
in Africa thirty years, and who saw the administration under
which the natives lived when he arrived there. He expresses his
admiration for the enormous progress which has been made, so far
as the protection of the blacks goes, since they came under the
government of the Congo State. Why are not the statements of this
sterling man, so eminently competent in all questions relating to
the protection of the blacks, quoted?...
But whatever may be said to the contrary, the system adopted by
the Government of the Independent State is more equitable than any
other system whatever, and imposes upon the natives a minimum of
taxes. Each man’s tribute is very small. In certain regions where
the rubber is abundant, he can gather in one day the tax that is
required of him for a month. Besides the work thus performed by the
natives being remunerated, their households find themselves in
possession of some supplementary resources. The desire to add to
their well-being increases each day.
Let us hope that the policy established by the Congo State in this
respect will not be changed. The strong black races which cover
many parts of its territory will acquire the habit of regular
work, in place of their primitive idleness. There will result from
this what has resulted in countries long civilised. The countries
in which people know how to work are strong, and in the van of
progress. Such a future seems to me reserved for the Congo State if
it perseveres in its present course.
The story of the Congo Free State offers great opportunity for
speculation and for prophecy. Taking a broad view of the opinion
prevalent in Europe and the United States, the conclusion that Great
Britain seeks to acquire important territory in Central Africa is
inevitable. This theory of the anti-Congo campaign is strenuously
denied by all unofficial persons engaged in that campaign. And
yet there are unmistakable signs that of the many theories so
industriously exploited, British acquisition of the _keystone of
African territorial possession_ seems to be most in line with the
history of British methods of expansion. The Free State is one-third
the size of the United States. It lies squarely across the heart of
Africa, with an outlet to the sea on the West Coast which brings it
many miles and many days nearer European markets. It separates the
British African Empire,—the Soudan and the Nile country adjoining the
Free State on the north, from the Cape and the Boer war territorial
acquisitions on the south. It is as if the Louisiana Purchase, owned
by a small country, say Portugal, divided the United States. One
might dwell long and interestingly upon the political possibilities
of such a rich country and its great waterways separating the
energies of the east and the west in our country’s social, political,
and strategic solidarity. The British and the Germans appreciate
the vast possibilities of the great African Continent. While the
former expands its territory by costly wars, the latter, by adapting
its methods to suit the native populations, encompasses the African
market. While the former persists in imposing its ancient, crude,
and ineffectual methods of colonial development, the latter, more
modern, more direct, more flexible, is gaining trade and influence
which might belong to intelligent British rule. The palsied arm and
the obsolete method of regeneration, prevalent in the territories
devastated by the Boer war, illustrate the incompetency of the
present generation of British colonisers. Their failures are
multiplying. It is the old story of worship of the Past, confusion in
the Present, misconception of the Future.
[Illustration: Father Kisouru of the New Antwerp Mission (Bangala).]
[Illustration: The Sultan Djabbir.]
The growth of the Congo Free State has from the first been skilfully
directed by clever men of thought and action. Now that the
transformation is complete, and what but three short decades ago
was the very heart of savagery has become a valuable commercial and
political asset, the forcible ejectment from the African Continent
of the authors of all this good is openly discussed! Such is the
reward which it is proposed should be meted out to the gallant,
self-sacrificing little nation which has replaced the horrors
of barbarism by the blessings of civilisation, and incidentally
discovered vast material wealth. After disposing of the Belgian
African possession, that international pigmy, Portugal, occupying
Delagoa Bay to the obvious chagrin of Britain, will be served with
the long-expected writ of ejectment. These little fellows in Africa
will have but one choice of leaving—by the door or by the window.
Will the world tolerate such iniquity?—an iniquity of the baser sort,
veiled with specious pretence. Much depends upon the attitude of the
American people—youngest of the great nations, herself too recently
emerged from the trials and tribulations which beset every newly
created State not to discriminate between greed and hypocritical
pretence on the one hand and conscientious well-doing on the other.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
TREATY OF VIVI
M. August Sparhawk, agent of the International Expedition of the
Upper Congo, acting in the name and for the account of the _Comité
d’Études_, of the Lower Congo, and Vivi Mavungu, Vivi Mku, Ngusu
Mpanda, Benzane Congo, Kapita, have come together the 13th of June,
1880, at the station Vivi, in order to discuss and to decide upon
certain measures of common interest.
After full examination they have arrived at the dispositions and
engagements which are embodied in the present treaty, to wit:
ARTICLE I.—The aforesaid chiefs of the district of Vivi recognise
that it is highly desirable that the _Comité d’Études_ of the Congo
should create and develop in their states establishments calculated
to foster commerce and trade, and to assure to the country and its
inhabitants the advantages which are the consequence thereof.
With this object they cede and abandon, in full property, to the
_Comité d’Études_ the territory comprised within the following
limits: To the west and north and east the left banks of the river
Lulu, and to the south the districts of Kolu and Congo.
ART. II.—The chiefs of the district of Vivi solemnly declare that
these territories form an integral part of their states, and that
they are able freely to dispose of them.
ART. III.—The cession of the territories specified in the last
paragraph of Article I is consented to in consideration of a present
represented by the following articles and goods to each one: A
uniform coat, a cap, a coral necklace, a knife; and a monthly gift
to Vivi Mavungu of two pieces of cloth; to Vivi Mku of one piece of
cloth; to Ngusu Mpanda, one piece of cloth; to Benzane Congo, one
piece of cloth; to Kapita, one piece of cloth.
ART. IV.—The cession of the territory includes the abandonment by
them and the transfer to the _Comité d’Études_ of all sovereign
rights.
ART. V.—The _Comité d’Études_ engages itself expressly to leave
to the natives the free enjoyment of the lands which they now
cultivate to supply their needs. It promises to protect them and
to defend their persons and their property against aggressions and
encroachments, from whatsoever side, which shall attack their
individual liberty or shall seek to take away from them the fruit of
their labours.
ART. VI.—The chiefs of the district of Vivi grant, besides, to the
_Comité d’Études_—
(1) The cession of all the routes of communication now open or to be
opened throughout the whole extent of their states. If the _Comité_
deems it proper it shall have the right to establish and levy for its
own profit tolls upon said routes, to defray the expenses incurred in
their construction. The routes thus opened shall embrace, besides the
routes properly so-called, a breadth of twenty metres right and left
therefrom. This breadth constitutes part of the cession, and shall
be, like the route itself, the property of the _Comité d’Études_.
(2) The right of trading freely with the natives who form part of
their states.
(3) The right of cultivating unoccupied lands; to open up the
forests; to cut trees; to gather india rubber, copal, wax, honey,
and, generally, all the natural productions which are found there;
to fish in the rivers and streams and water-courses, and to work the
mines.
It is understood that the _Comité_ can exercise the several rights
mentioned in the third paragraph throughout the whole extent of the
states of the chiefs of Vivi.
ART. VII.—The chiefs of the district of Vivi undertake to unite their
forces to those of the _Comité_ to repel attacks which may be made by
intruders, no matter of what colour.
The chiefs, not knowing how to sign, have put their marks, in the
presence of the witnesses hereafter designated and who have signed.
[Seal.] AUG. SPARHAWK.
[Seal.] JOHN KICKBRIGHT.
[Seal.] FRANK MAHONEY.
[Seal.] GEOFFREY.
TREATY OF MANYANGA
During the _palabre_ held at Manyanga the 12th of August, 1882, it is
agreed between the members hereinafter designated of the Expedition
of the Upper Congo:
Dr. Edward Pechuel Loesche, chief of the Expedition;
Capt. Edmund Hanssens, chief of the division of Leopold-Manyanga;
Lieut. Arthur Niles, chief of Manyanga;
First Lieut. Orban, deputy chief of Manyanga;
Edward Ceris, assistant of Pechuel, representing the _Comité_ of the
Upper Congo;
and the chiefs hereafter named of Manyanga—
Makito, of Kintamba;
Nkosi, of Kintamba;
Filankuni, of Kintamba;
Maluka, of Kintamba;
Kuakala, of Kintamba;
Mankatula, of Kintamba-Kimbuku;
Luamba, of Kintamba;
In the name of their subjects.
ARTICLE I.—Hereafter the territory of Manyanga, heretofore belonging
to the chiefs before cited, situated north and south of the river,
and bounded on the west by the stream Luseto, and by the stream
Msua Mungua on the east, shall be the sole property of the _Comité
d’Études_ of the Upper Congo.
ART. II.—The chiefs and their subjects, their villages, their
plantations, their domestic animals, and fishing apparatus shall be
placed under the protection of the Expedition.
ART. III.—In all political affairs of the populations of the district
protected and acquired, their quarrels, differences, elections of
chiefs, shall be submitted to the decision of the member of the
Expedition who shall be present at the station.
If the people of Manyanga shall be attacked by neighbouring tribes,
the Expedition shall defend their women and children and their
property by all the means in their power. If the Expedition shall
be attacked by another tribe, the men shall be bound to defend the
station.
ART. IV.—In consequence of the rights acquired and protection
afforded, no stranger whatsoever can build or open a road or carry on
commerce in the territory of Manyanga.
ART. V.—At the request of the chief of the station, the chief of
the district shall put at his disposition the necessary number of
labourers, men or women, for the work of the station and the service
of the caravans.
ART. VI.—Besides the sum stipulated, which has been remitted in goods
to the assembled chiefs in payment for their territories, and for
which they have given a receipt, the chiefs shall receive monthly
presents on condition that they remain true friends and voluntarily
perform the services asked of them.
ART. VII.—The first chief of Manyanga, Makito, residing at Kintamba,
receives the flag of the Expedition, which he will raise in his
village in sign of the protection exercised by the Expedition.
[Here follow the crosses and signatures.]
TREATY OF LEOPOLDVILLE
29th of April, 1883.
We, the undersigned, chiefs of the district of N’Kamo, of Kuiswangi,
of Kimpe, and of all the districts extending from the river Congo
to Leopoldville and to Ntamo, up to the river Lutess and the
mountains of Sama Sankori, have resolved to put ourselves, as well
as our heirs and descendants, under the protection and patronage of
the _Comité d’Études_ of the Upper Congo, and to give power to its
representative at Miamo to regulate all disputes and conflicts that
may arise between us and foreigners of whatsoever colour, residing
out of the district or territory of N’Kamo, in order to prevent
strangers, animated by wicked intentions or ignorant of our customs,
from exciting embarrassments or endangering the peace and security
and independence which we now enjoy.
By the present act we also resolve to adopt the flag of the _Comité
d’Études_ of the Upper Congo, as a sign for each and all of us that
we are under its sole protection.
We also solemnly and truly declare that this is the only contract we
have ever made, and that we will never make any contract with any
European or African without the concurrence and agreement of the
_Comité d’Études_ of the Upper Congo.
To the above resolution we freely put our marks.
NGALIEMA, his X mark.
MAKARI, his X mark.
NUMBI, his X mark.
MANWALE, his X mark.
NYASKO, his X mark.
TREATY WITH THE KING OF NIADI
STEPHANIEVILLE
Between, on the one side, Captain John Grant Elliott, commissioner
and representative of the _Comité d’Études_ of the Upper Congo,
and, on the other hand, M’Wuln M’Boomga, King of Niadi, in his
own name, and in that of his heirs and successors, the following
contract has been made and signed in the presence of the witnesses
whose signatures are below given:
ARTICLE I.—The party first named engages himself to make to the
second party named above an immediate payment of 60 yards of
_savelist_, 20 pieces of superior stuffs, 8 pieces of ratteen stuff,
and a keg of powder. He, moreover, engages to make to the above-named
party of the second part, his heirs and successors, a monthly
payment, which shall commence in four months, with arrears from the
date of this contract, of four pieces of stuffs, and to continue
always this payment, if, in compensation therefor, the party of the
second part, in his name and in that of his heirs and successors,
makes an absolute and immediate sale of a certain portion of
territory sketched further on, described in Art. II., the territory
selected by the first-named party, and over which the flag of the
_Comité d’Études_ of the Upper Congo, that is to say, a blue flag
with a yellow star in the centre, has been raised.
ART. II.—The country ceded by the above-named article is described
below, and accepted by the contracting parties, Captain John Grant
Elliott and the King.
1. Six miles towards the west, from the junction of the Niadi and the
Ludema, and following the banks of the Niadi (Niari).
2. Ten miles from the same confluence, towards the south, and
following the banks of the Ludema.
3. Ten miles towards the east, from the confluence above named, and
following the course of the Niadi (Niari).
4. Ten miles towards the south, from the same confluence, and
following the Ludema.
5. Ten miles to the north of the Niadi (Niari), on each side from
that point of the Niadi opposite the mouth of the Ludema, running
back five miles towards the north.
GRANT ELLIOTT,
WULN M’BOOMGA.
Witnesses:
VON SHAUMANN,
LEGAT,
DESTRAIN.
OTHER TREATIES, DISTRICTS CEDED, AND STATIONS CREATED BY THE
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE CONGO, AND WHICH FORM THE CHIEF
PLACES OF THE STATES POSSESSED BY THIS ASSOCIATION ON THE CONGO AND
ON THE NIADI KWILU IN THE YEAR 1883.
Stations: Vivi, Isanghila, Manyanga, Lutete, Leopoldville, Msuata,
Bolobo, Rudolfstadt, Baudoinville, Franktown, Stanley Niadi,
Stephanieville, Anvers, Gideemba, Lukolela, Equateur, Philippeville,
Bulangungu, Mboka, Mkula, Grantville, Massabe.
Treaties and Districts ceded: Vivi, Yellala, Sala Kidougo, Ganghila,
Sadika Banzi, Ingha, N’Sanda, Kionzo, N’Bambi M’bongo, Talaballa,
Issanghila, Ndambi M’bongo, M’Kelo, Fua na Sondy, Konimovo M’Bongo,
Yanga, Kamsalou, M’binda, Sakali Boadi, Tchouma Ranga, Tombukile,
Ngoma, N’Zadi, Tchincala, Banza ngombi, Manyanga, Bandanga, Banza,
M’bou, Sello, Loufountchou, Kimbanda, Ngombi, Leopoldville, Kimpoko,
Kinshassa, Kintambou, Souvoulou, M’bala, Woutimi (south), Woutimi
(north), Msuata, Bolobo, Matchibouga, Tchissanga, Kitabi, Zientu,
Mengo, Franktown, Goudou, Ganda, Fouindoukifout, Makouba Banga,
Sitambe, Bieba, Moyby, Matalila, N’Zombo, Ganda Kobombo, Mabuka,
Chinnifor, Mudenda, Nyange, Lubu, Zoa, N’Gewlla Chunikonbo, M’Gwella,
Sangha, Charli, Mikasse, Moulangas, Mackanga, Ludema, Ungoonga,
Buconzo, Matenda, Tanga Dibiconga, Licarnga, Bumianga, Chibanda
N’Kuni, Kingi, Anversland, Buda, Towha, Gideemba, Sushwangi.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
_March 26, 1884—Ordered to be printed_
Mr. Morgan, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted the
following
REPORT
(To accompany S. Res. 68 and Mis. Doc. 59)
The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom were referred Senate
Mis. Doc. No. 59 and Senate Joint Resolution 68, relating to the
occupation of the Congo Country, in Africa, have had the same under
consideration, and report a substitute for the same, and recommend
its passage.
The President, in his annual message to this Congress, expresses the
sentiment of the people of the United States on the subject of our
future relations with the inhabitants of the valley of the Congo, in
Africa.
Our attitude towards that country is exceptional, and our interest in
its people is greatly enhanced by the fact that more than one-tenth
of our population is descended from the negro races in Africa.
The people of the United States, with but little assistance from
the Government, have established a free republic in Liberia, with
a constitution modelled after our own, and under the control of
the negro race. Its area is 14,300 square miles; its population is
about 1,200,000 souls; its commerce is valuable; its government is
successful, and its people are prosperous.
The necessity for a negro colony in Liberia was suggested by the
fact that slaves found in vessels captured for violations of the
slave-trade laws and treaties were required to be returned to Africa
when that was practicable, and it was impossible, and it would have
been useless and cruel, to send them back to the localities where
they were first enslaved. Humanity prompted certain private citizens
of the United States to organise the American Colonisation Society
in aid of the return of captured slaves to Africa and to find a
congenial asylum and home for negroes who were emancipated in the
United States.
Henry Clay was, for many years, president of this association,
and assisted it with the influence of his great name and broad
philanthropy.
The success of the Liberian colony has demonstrated the usefulness
of that system of dealing with a social question which is, to the
people of the United States, of the highest importance. It has also
established a recognised precedent in favour of the right of untitled
individuals to found states in the interests of civilisation in
barbarous countries, through the consent of the local authorities,
and it has given confidence to those who look to the justice of the
nations for a restoration of the emancipated Africans to their own
country, if they choose to return to it.
This great duty has, so far, been left entirely to the efforts of
citizens of the United States, and it has been supported almost
exclusively by their personal contributions. The governments of
the world have been slow even to recognise the state thus founded
by the courage and means of private citizens, but it is now firmly
established in the family of nations and is everywhere recognised as
a free and independent nation.
This pleasing history of progress, attended with peace and prosperity
in Liberia, has given rise to a feeling of earnest interest amongst
the people of the United States in the questions which arise from the
recent discovery by their countryman, H. M. Stanley, of the great
river which drains equatorial Africa. They rejoice in the revelation
that this natural highway affords navigation for steamers extending
more than half the distance across the continent, and opens to
civilisation the valley of the Congo, with its 900,000 square miles
of fertile territory and its 50,000,000 of people, who are soon to
become most useful factors in the increase of the productions of the
earth and in swelling the volume of commerce.
The movements of the International African Association which, with
a statement of its purposes, are referred to in the letter of the
Secretary of State, appended to this report, are in the direction of
the civilisation of the negro population of Africa, by opening up
their country to free commercial relations with foreign countries.
As a necessary incident of this praiseworthy work, which is intended,
in the broadest sense, for the equal advantage of all foreign
nations seeking trade and commerce in the Congo country, the African
International Association has acquired, by purchase from the native
chiefs, the right of occupancy of several places for their stations
and depots. The property so acquired is claimed only for the
association, which is composed of persons from various countries, and
it could not, therefore, be placed under the shelter of any single
foreign flag.
From the time when the people of Christian countries began to export
slaves from Africa, the custom grew up of locating “barracoons” or
slave depots along the African coasts and rivers, and they were each
placed under the shelter of the flag of the country to which the
slave merchants belonged. In this way certain settlements were made
along the shores of the Congo River as far inland as Yellalla Falls,
and were claimed and held under the protection of the respective
flags of the countries from which these traders came.
This was, generally, a mere personal adventure, and had no relation
to any governmental authority of those countries over the barracoons.
When this traffic took the shape of legitimate commerce with the
natives, these places were called factories, and they gradually
assumed certain powers of self-government as their necessities
required. Each factory was independent of the control of all others,
and established for itself such regulations, having really the
effect of laws, as were necessary to protect life and property. To
this day those settlements are held in the same way, and while the
governments, whose flags are thus displayed over them, claim no
sovereignty there, they do not recognise the rights of their people
at such places as entitling them to protection, and they require
their flags to be respected.
In some instances the native chiefs sold the lands on which the
factories were situated, with the privileges of trade to foreign
companies, and these in turn sold them to persons of still other
nationalities.
The African International Association established its stations, and
opened roads leading from one to another around the falls of the
Congo in the same way that the older factories had been established,
with the additional fact in their favour that their settlements were
always preceded by an open agreement with the local government in the
form of a treaty. A flag was as necessary for the purposes of their
settlement and as an indication of their right and to designate the
places under their control, as it was to the slave-traders, whose
only advantage is that they have been in possession a long time for
the purposes of nefarious traffic in slaves, while the Association
has been in possession only a short time for the benign purposes of
introducing civilisation into that country.
Having no foreign flag that they could justly claim, they adopted a
flag and displayed it, a golden star in a field of blue, the symbol
of hope to a strong but ignorant people, and of prosperity through
peace. The native people instinctively regarded that as the first
banner they had seen that promised them goodwill and security, and
they readily yielded to it their confidence.
There is no historical record to be found of such a rapid and general
assembling of separate and independent rulers under a banner that
was raised by the hands of strangers, as that which took place
amongst the chiefs and people of the Free States of the Congo.
Within five years from the time the banner of this Association
was first displayed on the Congo, its agents have made nearly one
hundred treaties with the chiefs of the different tribes in the Congo
country. In each of these treaties there are valuable commercial
agreements and regulations touching law and order and certain
delegations of limited powers, all of which are intended for the
better government of the country.
The powers are not ceded to a new and usurping sovereignty seeking to
destroy existing governments, but are delegated to a common agent for
the common welfare. In the language of the first treaty, concluded
at Vivi June 13, 1880, and which is the plan after which nearly one
hundred subsequent treaties have been modelled:
“The aforesaid chiefs of the district of Vivi recognise that it is
highly desirable that the _Comité d’Études_ of the Congo should
create and develop in their states establishments calculated to
foster commerce and trade, and to assure to the country and its
inhabitants the advantages which are the consequence thereof.
“With this object in view they cede and abandon, in full property
(fee-simple) to the _Comité d’Études_, the territory comprised within
the following limits,” etc.
A copy of this treaty is appended to the report of the committee.
If these local governments had the right to make these concessions,
so much sovereign power as they confer upon the African International
Association is entitled to recognition by other nations as justifying
its claim to existence as a government _de jure_. Or, if there
is still a question as to its sovereignty, affecting either its
territorial extent or the subjects as to which it may legislate,
there is still enough of concert amongst the native tribes, in
placing themselves in treaty relations with this Association, to
warrant other nations in recognising its existence as a government
_de facto_. In either case, it is our duty so to recognise it,
because its purposes, as avowed in those treaties, are peaceful, and
commend themselves strongly to the sympathies of our people.
The golden star of the banner of the International Association
represents hospitality to the people and commerce of all nations
in the Free States of the Congo; civilisation, order, peace, and
security to the persons and property of those who visit the Congo
country, as well as to its inhabitants; and if, in the promotion of
these good purposes, it lawfully represents powers ceded or delegated
to the Association by the local governments necessary to make them
effectual, it does not thereby offend against humanity nor unlawfully
usurp authority in derogation of the rights of any nation upon the
earth.
Powers asserted in good faith, and with a reasonable show of ability
to maintain them, even by rebels, within a state that denounces their
assertion as treasonable, are often recognised as being lawful, as
well in the interests of humanity, as to give to the alleged rebels
an opportunity to make good their pretensions by arms.
The history of our recent civil war discloses the recognition of
the belligerent rights of the Confederate States by all nations,
including the United States, which wholly denied the lawfulness of
the acts of secession which led to hostilities and denounced them as
treasonable.
If the flag of the Confederate States could protect its armed
citizens against the penalties of piracy while destroying the ships
and commerce of the United States, it would be difficult to state a
reason why the flag of the International African Association should
not protect its ships from capture and condemnation while carrying on
peaceful commerce on the Congo. It would be still more difficult for
any Christian nation to assign a reason founded in the principles of
international law why it should refuse to recognise this flag. The
Congo River has been for centuries, and is now, the common resort of
the ships and flags of all countries, and it requires a total change
of the political conditions in that country to destroy this right,
and either to declare the waters and shores of the Congo as being
neutral territory or as being under the sovereignty of any one or
more of the foreign nations.
These reasons, and others which appear in the papers appended to this
report, are a just and sufficient foundation for the declaration
by the United States which individualises the flag of the African
International Association as a national flag, entitled to our
recognition and respect.
The precedents in our own history to justify our recognition of
states while in the process of early development are numerous and
conclusive. They are cited in the papers appended to this report, and
are sustained by many other references which show that in Europe,
Asia, and Africa civil power, exerted by commercial associations,
and by religious orders, and by propagandas of civilisation, and by
groups of Hospitallers, has owned large war fleets and raised armies,
fought great battles, levied taxes, and performed every function of
government. They did all this without claiming to possess sovereign
power as organised nations; and they submitted themselves to the
authority of the state after they had prepared the country where they
ruled for that final act of establishment of sovereign power, and
then they ceased to exist.
It is not necessary to go further in order to find a justification
of the action suggested in the message of the President, and of the
resolution which the Committee on Foreign Relations recommend as a
proper means of carrying into effect this policy concerning the Free
States of the Congo.
It is, however, proper to make some examination of the alleged claim
of Portugal to the sovereignty of the mouth of the Congo, and of
the riparian country as far into the interior as the first falls of
Yellalla.
Portugal’s pretensions to this sovereignty are completely refuted by
the fact that it has not been heretofore acknowledged by the five
great powers whose flags have been flying for more than a century in
the country now claimed by that Government. On the contrary, these
powers have constantly refused to make any such concession on all
occasions since 1786, and some of them previous to that time.
The claim of Portugal, based on discovery of the mouth of the Congo
by Diego Cam in 1485, and by his having erected a monument on the
shore to testify to his landing there, only establishes its antiquity
and not its rightfulness under modern interpretations of the laws of
nations.
If the laws of Christian nations give any effect to the discovery
by the subjects of a Christian power, of a country inhabited even
by savages, they also require that discovery shall be followed by
continuous subsequent occupation. If such occupation ceases, it is
justly considered as being abandoned, since the only foundation of
reason or of justice that can support the occupation of an inhabited
country by a foreign power is, that it is better that the savages
should have the advantages of Christian instruction and laws, than
that they should continue in darkness to rule the country in their
own way. If, therefore, the Christian ruler should cease to occupy
the country, it must be considered that he abandons his duty, and,
with it, the sovereignty of the country.
Portugal did not exert continuous or exclusive authority on the
Congo for any great while; her possessions there, as well as those
of the other Christian powers, fluctuated with the supply of slaves,
the capture or purchase of which was the chief inducement to these
settlements. They all followed up the supply of slaves from the
interior of Africa, along the coast, according to its abundance, as
the fishermen visit different localities in search of better fishing
grounds.
In 1786, disputes having arisen between France and Portugal, as to
the sovereignty of the latter over the mouth of the Congo, under the
mediation of the King of Spain, Portugal conceded the point that her
rights in that country were not exclusive. Since that time England
has repeatedly denied, in the most formal and solemn manner, that
Portugal had any sovereignty or suzerainty over the Congo country.
None of the great powers claimed such sovereignty for themselves,
nor have they conceded it to Portugal; their occupancy has not been
such as implied any right to rule the country, but only such as was
necessary to carry on trade. That is equally free to all nations. In
the papers appended to this report, and especially in the valuable
testimony of Earl Mayo, based upon his personal observations in the
Congo country in 1882, we find the most conclusive proof upon all
the points above stated, and unquestionable evidence that Portugal’s
northernmost boundary on the West Coast of Africa, south of the
Equator, for many years past, has been the river Loge.
The attitude of Great Britain towards the pretensions of Portugal
to the sovereignty of the Lower Congo has been that of decided,
frequent, and stern denial, accompanied with distinct orders to her
fleets to repel any advance of Portugal to assert her authority north
of Ambriz. This record, so repeatedly reaffirmed, is by no means
changed by the fact that Great Britain may now be ready to admit
Portugal, in alliance with her, to sovereign rights in the Lower
Congo. Her change of policy cannot change the facts, especially
when Great Britain obtains from Portugal the cession of Wydha in
consideration that she will acknowledge the rights of Portugal to the
sovereignty of the Lower Congo. Great Britain has also made treaties
with fifteen tribes in the Lower Congo country, paying no attention
to Portugal’s claims of sovereignty there.
In like manner France has disregarded these pretensions, and has made
treaties with tribes north of the Congo. De Brazza, an enterprising
explorer, went into that region of Africa as an agent of the African
International Association, and also as an agent of the French
Government, and was supported with money from the French treasury.
He made these treaties in the name of France, and the Chamber of
Deputies has ratified them. In view of these facts it can scarcely be
denied that the native chiefs have the right to make treaties. The
able and exhaustive statements and arguments of Sir Travers Twiss,
the eminent English jurist, and of Professor Arntz, the no less
distinguished Belgian publicist, which are appended to this report,
leave no doubt upon the question of the legal capacity of the African
International Association, in view of the laws of nations, to accept
any powers belonging to these native chiefs and governments which
they may choose to delegate or cede to them.
The practical question to which they give an affirmative answer, for
reasons which appear to be indisputable, is this: Can independent
chiefs of savage tribes cede to private citizens (persons) the whole
or part of their states, with the sovereign rights which pertain to
them, conformably to the traditional customs of the country?
The doctrine advanced in this proposition, and so well sustained by
these writers, accords with that held by the Government of the United
States, that the occupants of a country at the time of its discovery
by other and more powerful nations have the right to make the
treaties for its disposal, and that private persons, when associated
in such country, for self-protection or self-government, may treat
with the inhabitants for any purpose that does not violate the laws
of nations.
The following incidents, mentioned in Bancroft’s _History of the
United States_, show how much we owe, as a people, to the early
recognition of these doctrines:
“MASSACHUSETTS
“One day in March, 1621, Samoset, an Indian, who had learned a
little English of the fishermen at Penobscot, entered the town,
and, passing to the rendezvous, exclaimed in English, ‘Welcome,
Englishmen!’ He was the envoy of Massasoit himself, the greatest
commander of the country, sachem of the tribe possessing the land
north of Narragansett Bay, and between the rivers of Providence and
Taunton. After some little negotiation, in which an Indian who had
been carried to England acted as interpreter, the chieftain came in
person to visit the Pilgrims. With their wives and children they
amounted to no more than fifty. He was received with due ceremonies,
and a treaty of friendship was completed in few and unequivocal
terms. Both parties promised to abstain from mutual injuries, and to
deliver up offenders; the colonists were to receive assistance, if
attacked; to render it, if Massasoit should be attacked unjustly. The
treaty included the confederates of the sachem; it is the oldest act
of diplomacy recorded in New England; it was concluded in a day, and
was sacredly kept for more than half a century.”—(Bancroft’s _History
of the United States_, p. 210.)
“The men of Plymouth exercised self-government without the sanction
of a royal charter, which it was ever impossible for them to
obtain.”—(_Ibid._, p. 213.)
“The attempt to acquire the land on Narragansett Bay was less
deserving of success.... In 1641 a minority of the inhabitants,
wearied with harassing disputes, requested the interference of
the magistrates of Massachusetts, and two sachems near Providence
surrendered the soil to the jurisdiction of that State.”—(_Ibid._, p.
287.)
“PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS AND RHODE ISLAND
“In June (1636) the law-giver of Rhode Island (Roger Williams),
with five companies, embarked on the stream; a frail Indian canoe
contained the founder of an independent State and its earliest
citizens. Tradition has marked the spring of water near which they
landed. To express unbroken confidence in the mercies of God, he
called the place Providence.... The land which he occupied was within
the territory of the Narragansetts. In March, 1636, an Indian deed
from Canonicus and Miantonomoh made him the undisputed possessor of
an extensive domain; but he ‘always stood for liberty and equality
both in land and government.’ The soil became his ‘own as truly
as any man’s coat upon his back’; and he ‘reserved to himself not
one foot of land, not one tittle of political power, more than he
granted to servants and strangers.’ He gave away his lands and other
estates to them that he thought most in want until he gave away
all.”—(_Ibid._, p. 254.)
“Before the month (March, 1638) was at an end, the influence of Roger
Williams and the name of Henry Vane prevailed with Miantonomoh, the
chief of the Narragansetts, to make them a gift of the beautiful
island of Rhode Island.... A patent from England was necessary for
their security; and in September they obtained it through the now
powerful Henry Vane.”—(_Ibid._, p. 263.)
“CONNECTICUT
“In equal independence a Puritan colony sprang up at New Haven, under
the guidance of John Davenport as its pastor, and of his friend the
excellent Theophilus Eaton.... In April, 1638, the colonists held
their first gathering under a branching oak.... A title to lands was
obtained by a treaty with the natives whom they protected against the
Mohawks.”—(_Ibid._, p. 271.)
“NEW HAMPSHIRE
“At the fall of the leaf in 1635, a band of twelve families, toiling
through thickets of ragged bushes and clambering over crossed trees,
made their way along Indian paths to the green meadows of Concord.
A tract of land six miles square was purchased for the planters of
the squaw sachem and a chief, to whom, according to Indian laws of
property, it belonged.”—(_Ibid._, p. 271.)
“NORTH CAROLINA
“In 1660 or 1661 New England men had found their way into the Cape
Fear River, had purchased of the Indian chief a title to the soil,
and had planted a little colony of herdsmen far to the south of any
English settlement on the continent.”—(_Ibid._, p. 409.)
“It is known that in 1662 the chief of a tribe of Indians granted to
George Durant the neck of land which still bears his name.”—(_Ibid._,
p. 410.)
* * * * *
We owe it as a duty to our African population that we should
endeavour to secure to them the right to freely return to their
fatherland, and as freely to agree with their kindred people upon
any concessions they may choose to make to them as individuals or as
associated colonists, looking to their re-establishment in their own
country. The deportation of their ancestors from Africa in slavery
was contrary to the now accepted canons of the laws of nations, and
now they may return under those laws to their natural inheritance. In
exercising this right they should not be obstructed by a power that
had more to do with their enslavement and expulsion, in bondage, from
their own country than any other, and that never held a claim upon
that country for any purpose of advantage to the people there, but
held it chiefly, if not entirely, for the mere purpose of enslaving
them.
It is stated, with the support of strong testimony, that Portugal is
still protecting the slave trade on the West Coast of Africa under
a thin guise of the voluntary emigration of the negroes to other
countries.
Extracts appended to this report, from Earl Mayo’s _De Rebus
Africanus_, in which he gives an account of his personal examination,
in 1882, of the Portuguese trading posts, supported by the report of
M. du Verge, our United States consul at St. Paul de Loando, show
that slavery still exists in the country claimed by Portugal on
the Congo, and is fostered there and at St. Paul de Loando by the
Portuguese residents.
This violation of the slave-trade treaties renders the occupancy by
Portugal of any African territory at the mouth of the Congo dangerous
to all the tribes of the interior, and cannot be sanctioned by the
treaty powers while it is attended with such incidents without an
abandonment of all treaty obligations and duties relating to the
slave trade.
The importance of the Congo River to the continent of Africa as a
channel through which civilisation and all its attendant advantages
will be introduced into a region inhabited by 50,000,000 of people
cannot be too highly estimated.
After Stanley had made his journey of exploration of nearly 7000
miles across the continent of Africa, and had revealed to the world
the extent and importance of this great river Congo, all the great
commercial nations at once began to look earnestly in that direction
for a new and most inviting field of commerce, and with the high and
noble purpose of opening it freely to the equal enjoyment of all
nations alike.
The merchants of Europe and America insist upon this equal and
universal right of free trade with that country, and their Chambers
of Commerce have earnestly pressed upon their respective Governments
the duty and necessity of such international agreements as would
secure these blessings to the people of Africa and of the entire
commercial world.
The enlightened King of the Belgians has supplied the means from his
private purse to inaugurate civilisation in the Congo country under
the authority of its native rulers. He has no thought of extending
the power of his realm over that country, but has engaged in this
movement only as any citizen might.
Its progress is thus further described by an agent of the African
International Association in a letter within the past month:
“BRUSSELS, February 25.
* * * * *
“Our territories are extending now on a very rich coast south and
north of the mouths of the Quillou, a distance of more than 350
kilometres (about 300 miles).
“That coast has given itself to us by unanimous acclamation of the
natives, who hoisted our flag and refused our presents.
“Our territories are going to be divided into three provinces: (1)
Coast and Quillou Madi; (2) Lower Congo, Vivi, Stanley Pool; (3)
Upper Congo.
“Our governmental organisations will then be complete: in Africa, a
head chief and governors administering the country and justice: in
Europe, the association providing for the financial wants of the new
State, and representing the new state and many native sovereigns who
have confederated with us and hoisted our flag.
“This is the present situation and prospects of the enterprise.”
* * * * *
It may be safely asserted that no barbarous people have ever so
readily adopted the fostering care of benevolent enterprise as have
the tribes of the Congo, and never was there a more honest and
practical effort made to increase their knowledge and secure their
welfare.
The people of the Congo country and their benefactors alike deserve
the friendly recognition of the United States in their new national
character.
Your committee, therefore, report a substitute for the resolutions
referred to them by the Senate, and recommend its passage.
(From the _Revue de Droit International_)
THE FREE NAVIGATION OF THE CONGO
BY SIR TRAVERS TWISS
The Congress of Vienna inaugurated a new era in the reciprocal
relations of European states, by laying down the principle that these
relations should be subordinated to the interests of the European
community in case of conflict between the individual interests of
the states and that which is just in an international point of view.
It is a fact, which is apparent to every attentive observer of the
great political evolutions of our century, that it is more and more
perceived that the community of nations create obligations towards
it, and that the empire of this community over the states which
form part of it has several times obtained formal sanction by means
of conferences whose protocols point out to us the considerations
which dominated their counsels. These protocols form declarations
of which all the participants are the sureties. We are proud of
modern civilisation. We congratulate ourselves upon the progress
of international law among civilised nations. We are therefore
justified, it seems to me, in asking of the states which participate
in the European concert of public law, whether it would not be
possible to assert this principle of duty towards the community of
states as a means of solving the question of the Congo, without
awaiting the stern necessity of intervening to put an end to war, or,
at the least, the occasion of offering mediation to avert a recourse
to the sad arbitrament of the sword. The Congo question is in the
condition of a young tropical plant, whose germ has not yet commenced
to develop, but which will perhaps assume suddenly unexpected
proportions.
I have already treated of the free navigation of the Lower Congo,
but I have omitted, or at least only glanced at the idea of an
international protectorate, under the _ægis_ of which a _modus
vivendi_ could be established upon a solid basis of stipulated right,
among the diverse nationalities whose flags float over the factories
of Banana Creek, at the entrance of the Congo, and thus proclaim
the cosmopolitan character of the settlement. Ascending the channel
of the river, Punto da Lenha is reached, where a _pentarchy_, so to
say, of European flags equally affirms the cosmopolitan character of
the port, and gives notification that the individual interests which
prevail there rest under the protection of five states. Formerly, a
common end, the slave trade, was the only bond which united those
diverse nationalities in a kind of commercial fraternity. To-day
there exists between them a law of usage, intended to regulate
their common interests; but this usage leaves much to be desired,
and it does not control the private life of the residents of each
factory, who are free to regulate, according to their own pleasure,
their relations with the natives. In fact, there does not exist
social order, properly so called, among the factories; there is no
collective will among their members, no authority which they are
bound to obey, and one may say, “_Ubi nulla societas, ibi nullum
jus._” The sad truth of this axiom is confirmed by the stories of
frightful cruelties committed upon the natives in the year 1877,
an account of which can be found in the dispatches of the English
consuls to their Government. (_Parliamentary Papers_, Africa, No. 2,
1883.)
M. Moynier, president of the International Committee of the
Red Cross, at Geneva, called the attention of the Institute of
International Law, during its last session at Munich, to the question
of the Congo, and the readers of the _Review_ will remember the
proposition which M. Emile de Laveleye developed thereupon (pp.
254-262), asking, in the interests of humanity, that the waters
of the Congo should be neutralised by European action. M. Moynier
had already treated of this subject at the Institute in Paris, in
September, 1878; but it was not expected at that time that the
majestic course of waters explored by Stanley in 1877 would soon
become the object of dangerous rivalries. The result has proved
that the whites, who have formed many stations upon the Upper Congo
and its affluents, have already run the risk of being engaged in
competitions which may disturb the good feeling between the newcomers
and the natives, to whom European civilisation should bring only
benefits. The arrival at Stanley Pool of a French expedition which
ascended the channel of the river Ogouve, from the affluents of
the Congo, has introduced upon the banks of the Upper Congo the
representative of a European Government, who has taken possession, in
the name of France, of a territory ceded by the native chiefs of the
country.
It is evident from the very nature of things that the question of the
Congo may properly be divided into two parts, for the Lower Congo
is already subjected to an order of things entirely exceptional, in
which five European nations participate. This condition of affairs
was based originally upon a common traffic in slaves, to which has
succeeded a legitimate trade with the natives—a commerce in which the
European nations take part in a perfectly independent manner, each
for itself. In spite of that, there is on the Lower Congo, because
of these nationalities, a certain solidarity of interest which
counsels a common accord upon the subject of the navigation and the
police of the river. But, as I have before said, as far as regards
criminal jurisdiction, the whites of each factory regard themselves
as independent, and not as responsible to any Government whatsoever.
The Upper Congo, on the contrary, bathes the territories of many
native tribes. Their chiefs have granted stations to the agents
of the International Association, which depend upon no European
sovereign, but which are modelled upon certain institutions of
the Middle Ages, to enable the population of barbarous Africa
to participate in the advantages of European civilisation. All
the stations which this Association possesses have been acquired
peaceably by treaties with sovereign chiefs of the country.
It governs them by intelligent men, belonging to all European
nationalities. And, moreover, it has hoisted over these stations a
flag which signifies that they belong to no especial nation, but
that they form part of an International Association founded in
the interests of the natives, and which represents all countries
interested in the progress of humanity. A single European nation has
entered this humanitarian arena, and that is the French Republic,
which, in accepting, as a European State, the cession of territory
made to M. Savorgnan de Brazza, has notified the civilised world that
France has not sought to put private interests in opposition to the
general interests of civilisation, represented in Africa by a flag,
the principal merit of which is precisely that of not being the flag
of any one power. (See Report presented by the Government of the
Republic to the Chamber of Deputies, 20th November, 1882.)
“Neither in the spirit of your Commission [it is there said] nor in
the views of the Government, is there any purpose at this moment
to go upon the banks of the Congo, or upon the neighbouring shores
with military array, but simply to found scientific, hospitable,
and commercial stations, without other military force than may
be strictly necessary for the protection of the establishments
successively created.”
Unfortunately, the appearance of a European national flag upon the
banks of Stanley Pool raised the question whether the agent of
an association which had not the political character of a State,
could, by a cession of the actual Sovereign of the country, acquire
and exercise the sovereignty of a territory situated outside of
Europe. I say _outside of Europe_, because we do not seek to find
the solution of such a problem, as affecting Africa or Asia, in the
existing political condition of affairs in Europe, nor in the fixed
regulations of European society, upon which that condition of things
rests, but in the unwritten law of nations, which should regulate the
relations between free peoples, no matter to what family they belong,
nor what religion they profess. Yet the practice of Europe, while
Christianity was seeking to accomplish the high mission of civilising
the barbarous races on the northern and eastern frontiers, merits
our attention, because of a certain analogy between the condition of
those frontiers in the eleventh century, and the present condition of
Equatorial Africa.
In order, therefore, to appreciate the action of the International
African Association, and to fathom the question whether this action
is without precedent in the action of European peoples, it will be
profitable, in the first place, to study the archives of a period
when Europe was not entirely Christian, and when Christianity made a
propaganda among the native pagan tribes who at that time inhabited
a part of the country which we now call Prussia. This study will
bring to our knowledge the action of an international association
which accomplished the civilisation of a country inhabited by people
who might be called savages, and, at the same time, will furnish a
refutation of the assertion put forth by certain publicists that
States alone can exercise the rights of sovereignty.
M. de Laveleye, before cited, has made allusion to the Teutonic Order
as an institution for the propagation of civilisation, which, in the
Middle Ages, carried civilisation to the populations on the borders
of the Baltic and cemented them to the rest of Europe. The action of
this famous order in regard to the acquisition of the sovereignty of
a barbarous country has an important analogy to the action of the
International African Association.
Thus this order was originally a charitable association of Germans
which the citizens of the free cities of Bremen and Lubeck instituted
at the siege of St. Jean d’Acre, during the Fourth Crusade.
Afterwards, this association constituted itself into an order of
chivalry towards the end of the twelfth century, and, after the
religious enthusiasm to which the Crusades had given birth had ceased
to inflame the nations of Southern Europe, the order established
itself at Culm, in the country which is now called Western Prussia,
where Conrad, Duke of Massovie, of the Polish Dynasty of the Piasts,
ceded to it a territory and assured to it the conquests it might make
over the idolatrous Prussians. The order by gradual steps established
its dominion with Christianity over the whole of Prussia. The city of
Konigsberg, upon the Pregel, was built by it in 1255, and the city of
Marienbourg, upon the Nougat, which became afterwards the capital of
the order, dates its foundation back to the year 1276.[57]
Another order, that of the Chevalier’s Sword-Bearers (_Ensiferri_),
was established in Livonia, where, finding itself too weak to sustain
the attacks of the pagans, it ended by uniting itself to the Teutonic
Order. This union rendered the Teutonic Order so powerful it was able
to establish its authority over the whole of Prussia, Courland,
and Senegal, and from the annalists of that time we learn that in
converting the people to Christianity the Teutonic Order subjected
them to an exceedingly hard yoke. The Teutonic Order maintained
itself in the sovereignty of this country until the middle of the
fifteenth century, when it was subjected to great territorial losses
in a war against Poland, and was compelled to become the vassal of
the King of Poland for East Prussia. It is upon the embers of this
order that the Prussian monarchy was established by the courage of
the descendants of Duke Albert of Brandenbourg, grand master of the
order, the first Duke of Prussia.
It is to be observed that, during all this time that this order was
sovereign, it was not recognised as a State, and that the master of
Livonia was not admitted to a sitting and vote among the States of
the German Empire until after this order had ceased to be sovereign.
The City of Dantzic was, for two centuries, up to 1454, the maritime
capital of the order, and it may be said that the Teutonic Order was
the supreme power during two centuries on the shores of the Eastern
Baltic, without being organised as a State.[58]
On the other hand, in the south of Europe, there was an order of
chivalry whose services to civilisation in defending Christian
countries against the invasions of the Arabs and the Turks are
more famous even than those of the Teutonic Order. I refer to the
sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem. This order, originally
founded for the service of the hospital of St. John at Jerusalem,
quitted the holy city at the commencement of the fourteenth century
and established itself in the island of Rhodes to defend the
frontiers of Christianity against the attacks of the Saracens.
Then it had to give up the island of Rhodes to the Turks, and it
established itself in the island of Malta, of which it obtained the
territorial sovereignty as a gift from the Emperor, Charles V., in
1530. Even this order adopted a territorial title, that of the Order
of Chevaliers of Malta, and maintained its sovereignty over this
island until the year 1798. The English having soon after become
masters of the island by conquest from the French, it was proposed by
the Congress of Amiens, the 27th March, 1802, to restore the fortress
of Malta to the Order of St. John, and to put the independence of the
island under the guarantee of the powers uniting in that congress.
This project failed. At the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, the Order of
Malta demanded to be provided with another sovereign establishment
in the Mediterranean suitable for the institution of the order, and
that its independence and neutrality should be guaranteed by all the
powers. The congress would not listen to this demand.
I have cited these two examples to show that according to the law
of usage of Europe, associations which are not organised as states
can, nevertheless, exercise sovereign rights. But it may be said
that these orders of chivalry were privileged orders, and that they
belong to an epoch when Christian civilisation was propagated at
the sword’s point. Putting aside, then, the military epoch of the
civilising propaganda, let us pass to the commercial era inaugurated
by the discoveries of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama. The
theory of publicists which we have to examine is this, that a
private association cannot exercise sovereign rights in a barbarous
country. A learned _collaborateur_ of the _Revue de géographie_, of
Paris, has formulated it in these terms: “It is a principle of law
that states alone can exercise sovereign rights; that no private
company can have them.”[59] It is evident that this proposition is
affirmed by M. Delavand in too absolute a manner, for the facts of
history contradict it. Among the members who formed the great Union
of the United States of North America there were at least four
which owed their origin to private associations, whose territorial
sovereignty had been established before they received any charter
of incorporation from the Crown of England. Everybody knows that
a commercial company acquired by treaties with the natives the
sovereignty of the English Indies. A similar Dutch company acquired
and exercised sovereign rights in the island of Java and in the
Malaccas. Should there be a different rule in Africa from that
which has prevailed in America and Asia? Or should there be, for
the young republics of the nineteenth century, a law of nations
directly opposed to that which prevailed at the foundation of the
independent States on the shores of North America—States whose
federation gave birth to the parent republic of our age? I do not
think so. Doubtless the national law of a country may prohibit its
citizens from accepting the sovereignty of a barbarous country, but
the international question must not be confounded with the question
of national law, in regard to which we may say, “_Extra territorium
jus dicenti impune non paretur._”
Will it be said that these ideas are superannuated; that they do not
belong to our age? I will reply by a very recent example, which has
been the subject of discussion between the Governments of Spain,
the Netherlands, and Great Britain. It is known that certain native
chiefs on the northern coast of the island of Borneo delegated to
a European, a private individual, rights implying the exercise of
territorial sovereignty; that the person to whom the chiefs of the
country had delegated supreme power, under the title of maharaja,
ceded his rights to a private company, and that that company
obtained from the English Crown a charter of incorporation. It may
be said that the history of the propagation of civilisation in the
seventeenth century in America is renewed in Asia and Africa in the
nineteenth century. The English Government regarded this delegation
of sovereign rights by native chiefs, in return for an annual
subsidy, as a sufficient title to enable the company to exercise
these powers, and sustained this proposition before the House of
Commons. In reply to a question in regard to the granting of the
charter of incorporation, Sir Henry James, Attorney General, said:
“The rights which have been accorded the company have become legally
its property, and it would have been an act of confiscation if the
Government of Her Majesty had attempted to deprive it of them.”
And the prime minister, Mr. Gladstone, also affirmed that the charter
had not granted to the company any power to exercise rights implying
sovereignty which it had not already acquired by delegation from
native chiefs. A correspondent of the _Revue de géographie_ of Paris
has specified these rights according to the contents of the act
of delegation.[60] It is not doubtful that in virtue of this act
the company, without being a state, can exercise sovereign rights
over a considerable territory in the northern part of the island of
Borneo. M. E. de Laveleye, before cited, says that Germany, formally
consulted by the British Government in 1882, did not question the
capacity of private individuals or of companies to obtain from
non-civilised Sovereigns the concession of rights implying the
exercise of rights of sovereignty. The Governments of the Netherlands
and of Spain did not deny such power, but they claimed to have
anterior rights over the northern portion of Borneo; and it was in
virtue of those anterior rights that they protested against the
rights claimed by the British North Borneo Company. It is, therefore,
evident that the obstacles which the establishment of stations by
the International Association upon the Upper Congo might meet with
from European powers are not to be found in the fact that they are in
contravention of any law of nations by virtue of which states alone
can exercise sovereign rights, but solely in the fact that Portugal
pretends, by reason of anterior rights, to deny the capacity of the
native chiefs of the country to cede the sovereignty of a part of
their territories without the consent of Portugal.
It appears, in the meantime, that the British Government did not
yield to the pretensions raised by Holland and Spain concerning the
northern part of the island of Borneo, and that the Government of
the French Republic, in spite of the pretensions of Portugal, has
recognised the supremacy of a native king upon the Upper Congo, and
has accepted the cession of his hereditary rights. This treaty,
concluded by M. Savorgnan de Brazza, as the representative of France,
at Neousa, the 30th October, 1880, ceded to France a territory which
was in the possession of certain chiefs, vassals of the King Makoko;
and said chiefs signed the treaty, whilst the King Makoko, in his
capacity as suzerain of these chiefs, ceded to France, by an act
invested with his mark, his rights of supremacy over this territory.
It seems, therefore, that there is no place for a suzerainty of
Portugal over the regions around Stanley Pool, according to the
opinion of the Government of the French Republic, for the Senate and
the Chamber of Deputies authorised the President of the Republic to
ratify the treaty and act above mentioned, and the President has
promulgated a law to give them full effect.
It might reasonably be asked, if there is any difference in principle
between the right of African chiefs, admitting they are sovereigns of
a territory, and the right of Asiatic chiefs to cede their territory
to a private company. France, at least, has recognised the right of
King Makoko, suzerain of the Batakes, to cede to a European State his
rights of sovereignty, and the right of the chiefs subordinate to his
authority to cede the possession of the parts of the territory they
occupied. Why should it be forbidden to a native chief to cede his
territory to an international European company, which, according to
the law of nations, is perfectly capable of accepting and exercising
such a sovereignty?
The _Comité d’Études_ of the Upper Congo—for it is necessary to
distinguish between the association which occupies the Lower Congo
and the association which occupies the Upper Congo—has made, through
Mr. Stanley, with the native chiefs, treaties, which in regard to
their tenor resemble more closely the treaties concluded by the
British Society with the Sultans of Brunei and Sooloo, in the island
of Borneo, than the treaties concluded by the native chiefs of the
Upper Congo with M. Savorgnan de Brazza. Take for example the treaty
which Captain Eliot, agent of Mr. Stanley, concluded with the Chief
Manipembo, the 20th of May of this year. The first three articles
declare that the Chief Manipembo cedes and abandons to the committee
of the Upper Congo, in full property, certain territories in return
for a present the receipt of which is acknowledged, and he solemnly
declares that these territories form an integral part of his State,
and that he can freely dispose of them. It is clearly evident from
the tenor of these articles that the Chief Manipembo recognises no
superior chief. Article IV. of the treaty states that the cession of
territory carries with it the abandonment by the above-named chief,
and the transfer to the committee of all his sovereign rights.
Was this transmission of sovereign rights to the committee of
the Upper Congo illegal according to the law of nations? It is
indisputable that the Chief Manipembo was legally capable of
concluding treaties with European Powers, for the French Republic,
through M. Cordier, on the 12th of March of this year, concluded with
him and with the King of Loango treaties by which all the left bank
of the river Quillou,[61] which empties into the Bay of Loango, is
placed under the protectorate of France.
Concerning the exercise of sovereign rights by the committee of the
Upper Congo, acquired by treaties with native chiefs, if reliance can
be placed upon an article in the _Journal l’Export_, which professes
to have its facts from good authority, the committee has instructed
its representatives, in case of expeditions from any nation seeking
to establish themselves there, to give them gratuitously the
necessary land. The committee wishes especially to create colonies
at the stations of the Congo, and to see developed there a new kind
of free cities. An idea which may throw some light on the future of
the Upper Congo is this: An International Protectorate of the Lower
Congo, under the presidency of Portugal, and a system of free cities
for the Upper Congo.
History teaches us that the march of the caravans which traverse the
sandy deserts of Northern Africa has been rendered possible by the
existence of certain spots where nature has made provision of water
and vegetation where travellers and camels can rest and refresh
themselves. Why should not a philanthropic association be permitted
to imitate this foresight of nature, and to establish, like these
oases, free cities at certain distances upon the banks of the great
river of Equatorial Africa, to facilitate the progress of a humane
civilisation and the development of a beneficent commerce?
The institution of free cities in Germany greatly accelerated the
progress of the arts and civilisation in Europe, and the rapid
development of these cities in the fourteenth century teaches us
that by means of such an organisation a nearly barbarous country can
be erected into a civilised body upon an industrial and commercial
basis. These cities, either through their origin or by virtue of the
charters granted them by sovereign powers, secured to themselves a
free government, which assured to their citizens personal liberty and
the ownership of their property under the protection of their own
magistrates.
The traveller in the free city of Bremen, on arriving at the
marketplace, will see before him a great stone column which is called
the Rolands Saule. This column supports the colossal figure of a
man, holding in his right hand a sword, and crushing under his feet
the head and hand of a man. This is emblematical of the right of
the city to dispose of the lives and labour of its inhabitants. The
present column was erected in 1412, but it replaced a wooden column
which dated back to the period of the First Crusade, and whose origin
is unknown. Other monuments of analogous character to this are found
in many of the cities of Germany, and they are symbols of the right
which the magistrates of these cities had to exercise both civil
and criminal jurisdiction. They bear witness that these cities were
_sui juris_ in regard to the power to make and execute their laws.
Should an institution which contributed so much to attach the North
of Europe to the civilisation of the South, which rooted itself so
firmly upon the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic that its
vitality withstood the strain of wars and civil dissensions for six
centuries,—should that be regarded as an innovation in the usages of
nations when transplanted into Equatorial Africa?
When the Dutch Provinces of Spain revolted against the Spanish Crown,
and the Prince of Orange granted letters of mark to individuals,
to make reprisals against Spain, the Spanish Government refused to
recognise the legality of these letters of mark, upon the pretext
that a republic could not exercise rights of admiralty which belonged
exclusively to crowned heads. This is the origin of the term of
opprobrium, _quex de mer_, which the Spaniards employed to degrade
the Dutch, but which the Dutch adopted as a title of honour. In the
same way as now, it was then attempted to make it appear that under
the law of nations states alone could exercise sovereign rights. But
the facts contradicted this proposition. The suggestion recalls the
fable of the hare and the tortoise. According to the principles of
pure mathematics the tortoise should never be able to catch the hare,
but the problem is simplified enormously when recourse is had to
the proof of the facts. To use a scholastic expression, “Experience
discovers the truth”—_solvitur ambulando_. For example, the right
of the International African Association to hoist a flag upon its
steamboats upon the Lower Congo cannot be denied, while the English
society, in possession of the rights of the Sultans of Brunei and
Sooloo, implying the exercise of rights of sovereignty, has raised
its flag, and the British admiralty has been authorised to recognise
it.
To return to the objection of certain publicists that a State alone
can exercise sovereign rights. The free cities of ancient Rome and
of the empire of Germany (to distinguish it from the present empire)
were not subjects of the Emperor, but vassals of the empire, and when
the free city of Strasbourg capitulated, in the year 1681, the King
of France received it under his royal protection, and it preserved
all its privileges and its magistrates with civil and criminal
jurisdiction, as a free republic, with a territorial zone, under the
protection of France, until the French Revolution.
What are the obstacles which delay the establishment of a system
of free cities on the banks of the Upper Congo, and which prevent
the powers whose subjects have establishments on the Lower Congo
from coming to an agreement as to an international protectorate of
the river? There is a European power which arrogates to itself, in
virtue of a discovery of the mouth of the river Congo in the year
1484, the sovereignty of all territory watered by this river and its
affluents. I do not speak of the pretensions of this power over all
the territory of the west coast of Africa, between 5°, 12´, and 8°
south latitude—pretensions which have been contested by France, by
Holland, and even by England since the slave trade was abolished by
conventions between the British and Portuguese Governments. So long
as the slave trade existed, everybody hunted Negroes in common in
the regions of the Congo. Since the slave trade was abolished the
maritime powers of Europe have treated the pretensions of Portugal
with courtesy, but not one has admitted them.
I affirm, with all the respect due to the country of Prince Henry
the Navigator, that this is the condition of things upon the Congo,
although the Portuguese Government, in a circular dispatch, written
in reply to a resolution of the Institute of International Law, has
asserted that its rights are not disputed.
In support of this assertion of the Portuguese Government the author
of the dispatch cites an incident of the last Franco-German war.
During the war a French corvette captured a German merchant vessel,
the _Hero_, lying at anchor in Banana Creek, inside the mouths of
the Congo. The circular dispatch states that the German Government
requested the Portuguese Government to demand the rendition of the
prize, as captured in Portuguese waters; but it does not say that the
Portuguese Government took any steps before the French prize courts,
or that the French Government acceded thereto. The statement of facts
stops there. Then, the dispatch says that “the news soon reached
Europe that the French governor of Gaboon, the port into which the
captor had carried his prize, had set at liberty the crew, and caused
the German ship to be taken back to Banana Creek, where it remained
at anchor till the close of the war.”
The author of the dispatch appears to me the victim of the paralogism
described by the phrase _post hoc, propter hoc_, for he attempts to
draw from these facts the “irresistible conclusion” that the Governor
of Gaboon recognised the waters of Banana Creek as Portuguese waters.
It appears, on the contrary, that the ship was set at liberty by
the Governor of Gaboon, _motu suo proprio_, and in no manner on
account of any demand of the Portuguese Government; and the only
legitimate conclusion from the premises is this: The Governor of
Gaboon recognised that the capture of the ship had been effected in
territorial waters, where, whether they belonged to a native King
or to a European power, France had not the right as a belligerent
power to capture the enemy’s ships.[62] The Governor of Gaboon
conducted himself loyally without waiting special instructions from
his Government. This fact, which the author of the dispatch cites as
a proof of Portuguese sovereignty over the territories of the west
coast of Africa, between 5°, 12´, and 8°, south latitude, comprising
the mouths of the Congo, has absolutely no significance as an
argument.
Another event which the dispatch of the Portuguese Government recalls
is that of the 1st of May, 1877, which had previously acquired
considerable notoriety by the publication of the correspondence
between the Portuguese Government and the Government of her Britannic
Majesty. Several old slave-traders, established at Punta da Lenha,
were carrying on a regular and legal commerce with the natives,
but, at the same time, were slave-owners. In consequence of an
incendiary attempt upon a Dutch factory, the residents of Punta da
Lenha made a “_noyade_” (drowning of several persons at the same
time) of Negroes in the river opposite Boma. The British consul, who
resides ordinarily at Saint Paul de Loando, which city is under the
jurisdiction of the Portuguese crown, wished to make inquiries at the
scene of the crime in regard to the summary execution of twenty-nine
Negroes by order of their masters, but he did not dare to disembark
at Punta da Lenha because of the threats of the inhabitants. Under
these circumstances, the Portuguese Government conducted itself in a
very proper manner. At the instance of Consul Hopkins, of Loando, the
governor of the Portuguese province of Angola sent a gunboat to Punta
da Lenha, and arrested a British subject named Scott, implicated in
the _noyade_, and was perfectly willing to try the accused according
to the laws of Portugal with the consent of the English consul;
but the correspondence between the two governments shows that the
English Government was unwilling to admit Portuguese sovereignty
over the banks of the Congo. It is surprising that the author of the
circular dispatch should have cited this incident as indicating the
recognition of Portuguese sovereignty by the English Government, when
the correspondence presented to the British Parliament in regard
to the matter proves precisely the reverse. Here, for example, are
the terms of a dispatch of Sir Julian Pauncefote, under secretary
of state, to the English consul at Loando, which closes the
correspondence:
“The territory in which these outrages have been committed has long
been claimed by the Portuguese Government, and this claim is renewed
in the correspondence with the Portuguese authorities inclosed in
your dispatches. Her Majesty’s Government, however, as you are aware,
have always contested and opposed that claim, and cannot, therefore,
admit the jurisdiction of the Portuguese tribunals to deal with the
case of Scott.”[63]
No one accuses Portugal of wishing to impede the free navigation of
the Congo, but it is to be regretted that, being powerless to insure
that navigation to its own subjects, it is unwilling to consent to
a friendly agreement with the powers whose subjects have factories
upon the north bank, to put the navigation of the river beyond risk
of danger. I have said advisedly that Portugal is powerless to insure
the navigation of the river to _its own subjects_. I have already
spoken of the tribes which inhabit the borders of Pirates’ Bay, upon
the north bank of the river, against whom the English commander,
Hewitt, had to organise an expedition in 1875, because they had
plundered an English merchant ship and massacred the crew. But there
is, on the south bank, a considerable tribe who practise piracy
on a large scale, and do not even respect Portuguese vessels. The
pirates especially infest San Antonio, at the southern extremity of
the mouth, in the immediate neighbourhood of the column of Point del
Padron. The author of a book entitled _Four Years on the Congo_,[64]
published in Paris, describes an attack by these pirates upon a
Portuguese brig. The account is interesting, but I will not now go
into details. What it imports is, the powerlessness of the Portuguese
Government to suppress the piracy of this tribe and to punish the
guilty ones. I cite an extract from this work which gives the history
of the Portuguese expedition sent to punish the Mussorangos who had
attacked the Portuguese brig:
“On the 15th of November two corvettes and the frigate _La Guadiana_
left Loando. The little fleet, commanded by M. Viegas de C——, headed
for the Congo. The commander hoped to surprise the Negroes. Arrived
at a place considered sacred, and which is called the “Stone of the
Fetish,” they anchored, and M. Viegas himself, with one company,
ascended the creek in a steam gunboat and effected a landing, which
the savages endeavoured at first to oppose; but soon afterwards,
dislodged by the showers of grape shot from the frigate, moored a
few cables’ length only from the shore, they retired in good order.
Meanwhile, the little band of whites, finding no serious resistance,
advanced. The corvettes shelled the villages in sight. Some groups
of Mussorangos, who had stood firm till then, feeling themselves
vanquished fled in every direction, returning and stopping, from
time to time, behind trees to discharge their guns at the whites.
The commander burned all the villages he found. That was all that
could be done. It would not have been prudent to march at a venture
into an unknown country in search of an unapproachable enemy, always
fleeing. It was necessary to re-embark; the ships came back to
Banana, where they remained some days, and then returned to Saint
Paul.”
This is a very recent occurrence, which does not very well bear out
the assertions of the Portuguese Government relative to the efficacy
of its jurisdiction as remedy for the disorders of the Congo.
“The Congo [says the author of the circular dispatch] and the
territories bordering its mouth are already the seat of an important
commerce, and of European establishments of diverse nationalities,
but there is no security either for life or property, no police, no
courts, nor any of the institutions so necessary to all civilised
people, and which can only be established under a recognised and
effective jurisdiction. And such jurisdiction can only be exercised
by Portugal, because no other nation possesses or claims any rights
of sovereignty over these territories.”[65]
I repeat, the good intentions of Portugal are not in dispute. What
is wanting is energy and material power; and it is necessary to have
these in order to civilise the country discovered by the agents of
the International Association. Four centuries have elapsed since
Diego Cam, a Portuguese cavalier, erected a column upon the Point
del Padron, the end of the south bank of the river’s mouth, in
commemoration of the fact that a subject of the crown of Portugal
had discovered the great river Congo. This same point is to-day in
the hands of a native tribe, which not only does not recognise the
sovereignty of Portugal, but openly defies it. Nevertheless, the
author of the circular finds much fault with the resolution of the
Institute of International Law, because that resolution implies,
according to him, forgetfulness of the rights of Portugal. What
rights? There exist rights based upon the discovery of the country,
but considering that the fleets of Pharaoh Neco, King of Egypt, made
the circuit of Africa, we cannot admit that the legal discovery of
the Congo was effected by Diego Cam. But rights founded upon the
discovery of the country are only imperfect rights; occupation should
follow, within a reasonable time, to render them perfect; otherwise
the discovery becomes inoperative, like an abandoned title. Has
Portugal occupied both banks of the Congo to acquire possession
of its waters? Have we the proof of it? On the contrary, the very
territory where Cam erected this column is to-day in the power of
a native tribe, who have always resisted Portuguese sovereignty,
and who openly claim to be (a thing almost incredible) the enemies
of the human race (_hostes humani generis_). And, on the other
hand, England, which pretends to no sovereignty over the waters of
the Congo, has been obliged to land a force upon the north bank to
chastise an act of piracy committed by the inhabitants of the creeks
in the neighbourhood of Banana.
It is evident that very soon the problem of the free navigation of
the Congo will assume such proportions that the solution cannot be
longer deferred. Should this solution wait upon a state which up to
now has only demonstrated its powerlessness to civilise the countries
on the south bank of the Lower Congo, its sovereignty over which is
not disputed by any European state?
LONDON, November 21, 1883.
FOOTNOTES:
[57] The Schloss Hauptmann of the Castle of Marienbourg, formerly the
palace of the grand master of the order, is now appointed by the King
of Prussia.
[58] The old Teutonic Order was suppressed in the year 1809 at
the peace of Luneville, when the grand master of the order was
secularised for the archduke to be chosen by the emperor. It may
be said of the Teutonic Order that it was renewed in 1824 and
reorganised in 1840 and 1865, but that it is the shadow of a great
glory—_magni stat nominis umbra_.
[59] Vol. xii. of the _Revue_ above cited, p. 224.
[60] Mr. A. J. Wauters, assistant secretary of the International
Congress of Commercial Geography, 1879. First number of the _Revue_,
July 1, 1883, p. 63.
[61] Niadi-Kwilu.
[62] The _Times_ of the 5th November, 1882, in which an English
translation of the circular dispatch of the Portuguese Government is
published, says: “Unquestionably because the Government _perceived_
that the capture had been made improperly.”
[63] _Parliamentary Papers_, Africa, No. 2, 1882, p. 86.
[64] Paris, G. Charpentier & Co., 1883.
[65] I quote the text of the circular as published in the
_Indpendance Belge_ of the 7th November, 1883.
ARGUMENT OF PROFESSOR ÉGIDE ARNTZ
Can independent chiefs of savage tribes cede to private citizens
the whole or part of their states, with the sovereign rights which
pertain to them, conformably to the traditional customs of the
country?
This question, as it is propounded, presents two aspects. It must be
considered:
I. From the point of view of the right of the one who cedes.
II. From the point of view of the one to whom the cession is made.
I
In examining this question from the standpoint of international law,
we must first ask if the chiefs of savage tribes can, generally, make
treaties, conventions, cessions of territories; in other words, if
the tribes which they represent are considered as states, having the
capacity to make international treaties, which would be respected as
such by all civilised or non-civilised nations.
From the fifteenth century till early in the nineteenth century, the
rules of international law were regarded as being to some extent an
exclusive privilege of Christian peoples, for the establishment of
regular relations between them. With regard to pagan peoples, they
were not considered as participating in the political community which
international law established between Christians; and it was only by
Article VII. of the treaty of Paris of the 30th of March, 1856, that
the Sublime Porte was admitted “to participate in the advantages of
the European concert.”
We can easily understand that Christian nations could not admit to
participation in the advantages of international law the people of
nations who did not recognise this law as binding upon themselves,
and who did not practise its precepts. Publicists and moralists teach
that in their relations with pagan and savage populations, Christian
sovereigns should always conduct themselves honestly, and observe the
rules of justice, equity, and Christian morality.
It would be too long to enter here into the details of the
discussions which the authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries had on the subject of the conduct of European nations in
regard to the Indians. We shall limit ourselves to saying that the
relations of the states of Europe with other nations had no fixed
rules, that they varied much, according to the power and importance
of the foreign nations, according to the communications more or less
numerous which Europeans had with them, and according to the manners
and customs practised by them.[66]
Thanks to the progress of humanitarian ideas, of a better practice
of Christian morality, and the greater influence of principles of
international justice, feeble people, almost savage, although not
possessed of the benefits of civilisation, are no longer considered
in our days, as destined to serve as a mine for civilised nations to
“work.” All those having a human face, turned towards the heavens,
are considered as members of the great human family, children of the
common Father, animated by the same Divine breath, having the same
destiny to accomplish, and meriting the respect due to human dignity.
These ideas have prevailed with jurisconsults and publicists, have
permeated their doctrines, and happily have guided their practices.
Savage tribes, although living in very imperfect communities, as well
as their territories, are no longer regarded to-day as things without
a master, and belonging to the first occupier, that is, to the first
comer stronger than themselves. Want of civilisation can no longer
serve as a pretext to civilised nations to put them under subjection,
or to control them by violence.
The law of nations is a science still imperfectly moulded or
stereotyped, and especially is it a science which ought not to be,
and cannot be, formulated _a priori_. Its fundamental principle is,
no doubt, philosophy, but it has its positive base in the facts of
history and authoritative doctrine.
What are the conditions to enable a state to exist, as such, and to
qualify it to treat?
“A certain number of men and families, who, being united, in a
country, and having fixed their abode there, associate and submit
themselves to a common chief, with the intention of providing for the
safety of all, form a state,” says Klüber,[67] and to the same effect
says G. F. Von Marten.[68]
“Sovereignty [continues Klüber[69]] in this extended sense consists
in the _ensemble_ of rights belonging to a state, independent as
regards its object. It comprises, first, the entire independence of
the state in the face of foreign nations; second, legitimate power
of the Government or of the authority which the purpose of the state
demands.”
The same author says[70]:
“Sovereignty is acquired by a state either at its foundation or when
it separates itself legitimately from the dependence under which it
was. To be valid, it does not need to be _recognised or guaranteed_
by any foreign power whatever, provided its possession is not faulty
(_vicieuse_).”
It is useless to multiply extracts. The principles summarised by
Klüber on the sovereignty, the independence, and the equality of
states, from the legal point of view, are equally professed by all
authors. We will limit ourselves to the following: Heffter, par. 15,
16, pp. 32-34; par. 23, pp. 42, 43; par. 26, 27, pp. 47-49. Wheaton,
vol. i., pp. 32, 43. Vattel, lib. i., chap. i., sec. 4. W. E. Hall,
_International Law_, par. 2, 4, pp. 16-20; par. 6-8, pp. 34-37; par.
9, 10, pp. 39-42. Calvo, _Droit international_, par. 39-41, pp.
143-147.
Tribes inhabiting determined territory, represented by their chiefs,
form, therefore, independent states.
From this the first consequence is that the territories which they
occupy are not things without masters (_res nullius_), and cannot be
occupied by other states. It is only territories _without master_,
that is to say, upon which no sovereign power is yet established,
that can be the object of occupation.
As regards the right of _occupation_, see the following authors:
“Christian people cannot rightfully take possession of lands which
savages already really occupy,” says George Frederick von Marten.[71]
Klüber[72] says: “A state can acquire things which belong to no
one (_res nullius_) by _occupation_ (_original_), and the goods of
others by means of _conventions_ (derivative occupation) ... In order
that the occupation may be legitimate, the thing itself should be
susceptible of exclusive property and belong to no one. (A) The state
should have the intention of acquiring the property thereof.”
In the note (A) the author says: “Property thus is acquired
rightfully by an occupation without flaw; it is preserved by
continuous possession. In consequence no nation is authorised, no
matter what its pretensions, especially if of a higher degree of
culture, to seize upon the property of another nation. It cannot even
take it from savages or nomads.”
The author cites in support of this, Gunther, _Völkerrecht_, vol.
ii., p. 10 _et seq._ See also the beautiful and energetic passage
from Heffter, _Le droit international public_, vol. i., par. 70, pp.
141, 142: “Droit d’Occupation.”
To give validity of occupation it is necessary that the property
should be without master, and that the intention to acquire
the domain should be joined to the fact of an effective taking
possession. Let us examine each of the three conditions:
1. Occupation is only to be applied to property which, although
susceptible of being possessed, has no master. It does not extend
to persons, who can only be the object of a submission, whether
voluntary or forced. Occupation is to be applied notably to countries
and islands uninhabited or not entirely occupied; but no power on
earth has the right to impose its laws upon wandering or even savage
peoples. Its subjects can seek to establish commercial relations with
these latter, can remain among them, in case of necessity can demand
of them indispensable articles of provisions, and even negotiate with
them the voluntary cession of a portion of the territory, with the
object of colonising it. Nature, it is true, does not forbid nations
to extend their empire upon the earth; but it does not give the
right to a single one among them to establish its dominion anywhere
wherever it chooses to do it. The _propaganda_ of civilisation, the
development of commercial and industrial interests, the putting
into activity of unproductive values, do not justify it either. All
that can be accorded on the subject is, that in the interest of
the preservation of the human kind, it may be permitted to nations
to unite in order to open by common accord the ports of a country
hermetically sealed to their commerce.
See, to the same effect, Bluntschli, _Droits des gens, codifié_, par.
20, p. 63.
Similar citations could be multiplied.
Communities of non-civilised tribes, forming according to the law of
nations, as to-day admitted, independent states, the first logical
consequence which follows is that these states cannot be acquired
by reason of occupation by other states. A second consequence
which necessarily follows from the same premises is, that these
states, or their chiefs, can make international _treaties_ of every
kind—treaties which have obligatory force for the contracting
parties, and which should be respected by all other states, if they
do not interfere with existing rights.
We would remark here, with Calvo,[73] that “international treaties
may be concluded, even with nomadic peoples, having no territory of
their own nor fixed domicile, when they have an expressed political
organisation and a common council by the intermediary of their chiefs
or their assemblies.” “In this category [adds the same author] may be
classed the Bedouins, scattered over the deserts of Arabia, Syria,
Egypt, and barbarous Africa, and the Turcomans, who wander over the
plains of Central Asia.”
“There are conglomerated populations which do not compose a state....
But the nomads and the savages have, either among themselves or with
civilised people, an international law which is observed equally with
the international law of civilised nations,” say Funck, Brentano, and
Sorel.[74]
By still stronger reasoning the tribes composing states dwelling in
determined territory can make international treaties. Savage African
tribes, possessing determined territories, _can make all kinds of
treaties_. _Their chiefs_ can therefore _cede territory_, in whole
or in part, _to whom_, we will see under No. 2. This rule, or rather
this consequence, cannot be impeached _in theory_.
“Sovereignty of a state, in the sense of international law [says
Klüber, _Droits des gens moderne de l’Europe_, p. 22], consists
essentially in independence of all foreign control in relation to
the exercise of rights of sovereignty; it ought by its nature even
to be exercised independently of the antiquity of the state, or the
form of its constitution of government, or the order established
for the succession to the throne, or the rank, title, or state of
its sovereign; of the extent of its territory; of its population,
political importance, manners, religion, state of culture in general,
the commerce of its inhabitants,” etc.
And the same author, par. 127, says:
“In regard to public domain, the state has, over the things which
form part thereof, all rights of property, not only of exclusive
possession and the right to enjoy it as owner, but also that of
disposing freely thereof. The conventions or arrangements which
it may make in this respect, whether with its subjects or with
foreigners, are absolutely independent of other Governments. Nothing
forbids it alienating its property, its putting it in pledge, or
abandoning it. It has the capacity to acquire by accession.”[75]
Without going back to antiquity, modern history, since the
seventeenth century up to our own days, furnishes us numerous
examples of treaties, of cessions of territories, etc., concluded
between civilised states on the one hand and savage tribes on the
other. It is sufficient to recall the most noted cases:
In 1620 the English Puritans embarked on board the _Mayflower_, after
establishing themselves in the northern part of Virginia, concluded
with the chief or sachem of the Indians, Massasoit, a treaty of
friendship, the most ancient treaty concluded by New England.[76]
In 1639 the founders of the colony of New Hampshire concluded with
the Indians conventions for the purchase of land situated between
the Piscataqua and the Merrimac, and there established the town of
Exeter.[77]
Later, William Penn made treaties with chiefs of Indians. It is
useless to cite here the numerous treaties between the different
States of New England and the chiefs of Indian tribes.
Wheaton[78] recounts that some of these Indian tribes have recognised
by conventions that they held their existence entirely at the will of
the State within the limits of which they resided, and that others
preserved a limited sovereignty and the absolute dominion of the
territory inhabited by them; and he adds that by two decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, in 1831 and 1832, the Cherokee
Nation, residing within the limits of the State of Georgia, are held
to constitute a distinct political society; that numerous treaties
made by this nation with the United States recognise it as a people
capable of maintaining relations of peace and war; that the English
Government, having preceded the United States, bought their lands by
contracts of sale, freely assented to, and never forced them to make
sale against their will.
Let us pass from America to Africa and Asia. In the course of the
last fifty years England has concluded with the chiefs of countries
adjacent to the Congo thirteen treaties, of which we mention
specially two, one concluded the 11th of February, 1853, with the
King and chiefs of Cabinda, the other concluded the 20th June, 1854,
with divers chiefs of the river Congo.
The treaty concluded by M. Savorgnan de Brazza with the King Makoko
is of public notoriety.
To terminate the series of historical documents in support of the
theory that chiefs of savage tribes can validly make treaties and
cessions of territories in full sovereignty, let us recall further
the recent treaties of the 29th of December, 1877, and the 22nd of
January, 1878, by which the Sultans of Brunei and of Sulu, in the
island of Borneo, ceded a part of their territory to Mr. Alfred Dent
and Baron Overbeck.
If, from the point of view of international law, it is indisputable
that no state, civilised or not, has the right to arbitrarily trouble
the chiefs of savage tribes in the possession of their sovereignty,
the same prohibition applies to those to whom they have conceded,
_whoever they may be_.
The _cessionnaires_ have the same rights as the ceders. Under what
pretext could another state trouble them? Their cession is valid,
and thus all motive, or even all pretext for trouble is wanting; or,
the cession is null, according to the law of nations, and then the
sovereign who made the cession has, _in right_, preserved all his
sovereignty, and no other state has the right to trouble it, or even
to intervene to make good the nullity of the cession.
II
Let us take the second question. Can a cession be made to a _private
citizen_?
We are happy to be able to abridge this part of our work by referring
to the article, “The Free Navigation of the Congo,” published by our
eminent colleague of the Institute, Sir Travers Twiss, in the sixth
number of the _Revue du droit international_ for 1883.
It is true that Sir Travers Twiss occupies himself with the question
whether those associations which are not organised as States can
exercise sovereign rights, rather than whether these rights of
sovereignty can be conceded to private individuals; but the argument
which he invokes in support of his thesis applies in great part to
cessions made to individuals.
When writers establish their point of departure to arrive at a
demonstration they commence often by saying:
“It is an established principle,” etc. Or, “It is a principle of
law,” etc. And they employ this form when their principles are the
most contestable. In the article we have just cited, Sir Travers
Twiss mentions an article in the _Revue de géographie_ of Paris,[79]
in which Mr. Delavand says: “It is a principle of law that states
alone can exercise sovereign rights, and that no private company
can have them.” He (Sir Travers Twiss) adds, with reason, that this
proposition is affirmed in too absolute a manner, and he proves
conclusively by historical facts that his criticism is just.
Doubtless an individual, _as such_, and a private society, _in that
capacity_, are not sovereigns, and exercise no act of sovereignty.
This needs no demonstration. But, in virtue of what principle of
international law is it sought to be shown that one who is a private
citizen to-day cannot become a sovereign to-morrow, and be in
possession of the plenitude of sovereignty? Such a principle does
not exist. No author of international law has ever sustained it, and
all the history of humanity, from the earliest down to modern times,
denies it.
_Individuals can become sovereigns, and exercise the rights of
sovereigns, in two ways_:
First. By creating themselves into a state—that is to say, by
establishing themselves upon a territory which belongs to them, and
forming themselves into a community with a regular government, and
legal organs of public power—in a word, with all the constituent
elements of a state.
Most of the states of antiquity, according to legends and
traditions, or positive historical information, have been created in
no other way.
The states of the Middle Ages had the same origin. The Franks, the
Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Burgundians, and others, were only
nomadic peoples, composed of chiefs who, in the eyes of international
law, were only individuals, but who founded states.
The Italian republics of the Middle Ages were only municipalities
without international sovereignty, and they have become sovereign
states. Simple individuals, poor fishermen, caused the republic of
Venice to rise from the waves of the Adriatic and to become its queen.
Almost all the States of New England, in America, have been founded
by individuals.[80]
States, to _exist_, have no need to be recognised by other states.
Those who have founded them are the _sovereigns_, and therefore have
the right to exercise the rights of sovereignty in so far as this
exercise has not been delegated to an authority instituted under the
constitution of the state.
And a revolution which has for result the detaching from a state
of one of its parts, is it not at the commencement the work of
individuals? And those individuals, if they unite themselves in their
enterprise, can erect a simple province or provinces into a new and
sovereign state, and exercise then sovereign rights.
And if to-day, simple individuals should establish themselves on a
desert island, or on territory unoccupied by another state, they can
establish a new state, with all the rights of sovereignty. We have
seen Texas thus formed.
Second. An individual can become sovereign by succeeding to another
sovereign in the exercise of the sovereignty of a state. From a
private individual he becomes a sovereign.
The question whether a private individual can accept a sovereignty
when the interior laws of his state forbid him is outside of our
subject, and we do not treat of it.
Philip, Duke of Anjou, great-grandson of Louis XIV., was, from the
point of view of international law, a simple individual. After the
death of Charles II., by the treaty of Utrecht the states belonging
to the Crown of Spain were dismembered, and Philip V. was recognised
as the King of Spain, and acquired part of the states of the Spanish
monarchy. Other examples might be cited.
When a prince was elected King of Germany he became a sovereign from
a private individual that he was.
Or, again, when a chief of an African tribe, forming a sovereign
state, cedes to an individual in full sovereignty a part of his
state, does he do other than to call another person to the exercise
of rights of sovereignty over one part of his state, erected into a
new state? What difference is there between the case of a European
prince who is called as sovereign to a state, or part of a state,
and that where an African chief calls upon an individual to exercise
sovereign powers over part of his state? In the _fact_ undoubtedly
there is much difference, but in _law_ there is none; and that is the
question. It is a question of law (_droit_) we have to study here.
It is even possible that an individual may remain _a subject of the
state_ to which he belongs, and may be the _sovereign of another
country_. The sovereign, therefore, can have a double personality.
Thus, Ernest Augustus, and George V., Dukes of Cumberland, were
subjects of Queen Victoria and peers of England and at the same time
Kings of Hanover. In 1787 the sovereign bishop of the principality of
Osnabruck, the Duke of York, sat as a peer of England in the House of
Lords.[81]
The question which has been laid down at the head of this opinion
is a novel one. It has not been foreseen or treated in works of
international law. Many authors treat a question which touches
upon this one, but which differs from it a good deal. They ask if
an individual can make in his own name an act of occupation of a
territory newly discovered without a master. They reply negatively to
this question, and, in their line of ideas, they are right; for those
who discover new territories are almost always navigators, travelling
in a public ship, often public officers or individuals commissioned
by their governments—agents of the government—and they cannot occupy
in their own name.
A recent event furnishes a powerful support to the theory that
rights of sovereignty can be ceded to individuals, namely, the
treaty between the Sultans of Borneo and Sulu and Mr. Dent and
Baron Overbeck, who, in their turn, have ceded their rights to
a private British company, the “British North Borneo Company.”
This fact has importance in itself, as a new event which enlarges
juridical science; but what especially gives strong support to our
thesis is the manner in which this event has been appreciated,
be it inferentially or explicitly, by several governments, by
jurisconsults, and by eminent statesmen whose opinions can be invoked
as having authority.
The opinions of jurisconsults and publicists are ranged among the
sources of international law.[82]
In the first place, the Governments of Holland and of Spain, who
believed themselves most directly affected by the concessions,
accorded by the two Sultans of Borneo, did not deny the principle of
the capacity of individuals or of associations to have ceded to them
rights of sovereignty, but they raised reclamations against these
treaties by invoking rights previously acquired.
Let us reproduce here the passage written by M. de Laveleye upon the
discussion to which the giving of a charter of incorporation to the
British North Borneo Company gave rise in the English Parliament[83]:
“Certain members of the left, adversaries of what is called in
England the imperial policy, that is to say of the policy which seeks
extension of territory and of influence, criticised the measure
because it created a new responsibility for the country; but no one
contested the right of individuals or of the company—rights resulting
from treaties concluded with indigenous chiefs. In the reply made in
the House of Commons by the attorney-general, Sir Henry James, we
read:
“‘These rights were conceded to the company and became legally its
property. The Government of Her Majesty had no power to enter into
a general examination of the propriety of the occupation of Borneo
by a commercial company. It would have been an act of confiscation
if, after what had happened, the Government had interfered, and had
endeavoured to take from it the rights which it had acquired. ... The
only thing the Government had to decide was whether or not it was
necessary to leave the company to act without impediment and entirely
without control.’
“Mr. Gladstone was not less affirmative. Said he, at the same sitting:
“‘The charter has not conferred upon the company a single privilege
above and beyond what it had already acquired by virtue of a title
sufficient to enable it to exercise all these powers.’
* * * * *
“From the explanations given by Lord Granville in the House of Lords,
the 13th March, 1882, it appears that if Holland and Spain have
protested against the rights invoked by the Overbeck-Dent Company,
it was because of anterior rights which these states pretend to have
over the northern part of Borneo; but, no more than Germany, formally
consulted in the matter by the British Government, have they raised
any doubt as to the capacity of individuals and companies to obtain
from non-civilised sovereigns the cession of rights implying the
exercise of sovereignty. This capacity also was not denied by the
members on the opposition side of the House of Commons.”
Thus, the opinion of four Governments, the opinion of two
English ministers, Lord Granville and Mr. Gladstone, and of the
attorney-general, Sir Henry James, that of Sir Travers Twiss, and of
M. de Laveleye, to which we would add the considerations developed in
the open letter addressed, the 23d April, 1883, by a member of the
African International Association to the _Courrier des États-Unis_,
form an assemblage of authorities of a nature to fortify us in our
conviction if we had any doubts.
We conclude with these observations:
1. It is evident that if some powers have raised against similar
concessions, made by chiefs of savage tribes to individuals and
associations, reclamations founded upon rights _previously acquired_,
there would be ground to submit these pretensions to serious
examination, or perhaps they might be submitted to arbitration, as
Great Britain and Portugal, in 1875, submitted to the arbitration of
the President of the French Republic, M. MacMahon, the contest in
regard to certain lands situated on the bay of Delagoa.
2. _New sovereignties, at the head of which are individuals or
associations, the concessionaries of the chiefs of savage tribes,
exist of themselves, of their own right and their own strength,
without having need of the recognition of other States._ (See Klüber,
par. 24; Heffter, par. 23, p. 42, and par. 51, p. 104; Bluntschli,
pars. 28 and 38; and all the authors.)
It depends upon the _convenance_ of other States to recognise or
not to recognise these new sovereignties. But whatever may be their
determination in this respect, the want of recognition does not give
them the right to act as if these sovereignties did not exist, and to
consider their territories susceptible of _occupation_.
3. According to the practice of international law, at this day,
the recognition of one to whom sovereignty has been conceded, as
a sovereign, can even follow of itself, in certain cases. Almost
all governments, especially Great Britain and the United States
of America[84] have adopted the rule of considering _de facto_
governments as legitimate, as far as they themselves are concerned.
(See Heffter, pars. 51, 53, pp. 101-105.)
Let us suppose a European nation had concluded a treaty of
friendship or commerce with the chief of a savage tribe, inhabiting
a fixed territory. This treaty is supposed to be concluded, and is
effectively concluded with the State which the chief represents. The
chief had ceded his rights of sovereignty to a European individual
or a European association, who are put in real possession of the
sovereignty. Could the European nation deny the legitimacy of this
new Government if it was a government _de facto_, according to
international usages? No. At least, Great Britain and the United
States would recognise it, and probably other States also. And if the
preceding chief had been displaced by internal revolution—which can
break out among blacks as among whites—and if the black chief had
ceded his sovereignty to another Negro, a relation or even a stranger
to his family, would that be a reason for refusing recognition
to the new sovereign? And if the chief of the tribe had ceded his
sovereignty to a white man, in place of choosing for his successor
a black man, or an association composed of whites, certainly the
difference of colour could not be a reason for refusing recognition
to the new sovereign.
Thus it is seen that in wandering away from true and simple
principles difficulties of every kind are encountered.
Therefore I am of opinion that independent chiefs of savage tribes
can validly cede to a private individual the whole or part of
their State, with the sovereign rights which belong to them, and
conformably to the traditional customs of the country.
BRUSSELS, December 15, 1883.
OTHER AUTHORITIES CITED
(Extract from the _Droit international codifié_, by M. Bluntschli.)
(Page 68, paragraph 35): A new State has the right to enter into the
international association of States, and to be recognised by other
powers when its existence cannot be put in doubt and is assured. It
has the right because it exists, because international law unites
existing States by common laws and principles based upon justice and
humanity.
Recognition by other sovereign States is a voluntary act on a part of
these latter. It is not, nevertheless, an absolutely arbitrary act,
because international law unites, even against their will, diverse
existing States, and makes of them a kind of political association.
The opinion is frequently advanced by the older publicists that it
depends upon the good pleasure of each State to recognise or not
to recognise another, outside of the necessary and absolute line
of international law. If this law rested solely upon the arbitrary
will of States, it would not be just that it should be simply a
conventional law.
(Page 164): A State has evidently the right to constitute itself
without the ratification of another State. This would be the case
when emigrants, for example, found a State upon an uninhabited
island, as did the Norwegians in Iceland in the middle ages. A number
of new States of North America were founded by individuals; it was
only later that they were recognised by England, and to this day they
proceed in the same manner in the United States. If new states can in
this way constitute themselves, by still stronger reasoning analogous
extensions of territory already existing should be recognised.
ANOTHER MANNER OF ACQUIRING THE SOVEREIGNTY OF A FREE COUNTRY
(From Vattel, _Le droit des gens_, vol. i., page 489, par. 206.)
If free families, scattered over an independent country, unite
to form themselves into a nation or a State, they acquire the
sovereignty over the whole State which they inhabit, for they
possess already the domain; and since they wish to form a political
society and to establish a public authority to which all will owe
obedience, it is quite manifest that their intention is to confer
upon this public authority the right of sovereignty of the whole
country.
(From Heffter, _Le droit international publique de l’Europe_.)
(Pages 32 and 33): The existence of a state supposes the following
conditions, to wit:
I. A society capable of existing by itself and independently.
II. A collective will regularly organised, or a public authority
charged with the direction of society for the end which we have just
indicated.
III. A permanent status of society, the natural base of a free and
permanent development, and which depends essentially on the fixity of
the tenure of real estate and the intellectual and moral tendencies
of its members.
We regard as idle the questions discussed by the schools, such as,
What is the number of persons necessary to form a state? or, If one
or three persons are sufficient? The distinctive characteristics
of a state which we have just indicated sufficiently answer these
questions.
(Page 42): A state exists _de facto_ so soon as it unites the
necessary elements indicated above; that is to say, will, united to
the indispensable means and strength to defend its independence.
(Page 43): The entry of a new state upon the political scene depends
in no wise upon an express preliminary recognition by foreign powers.
It is fully accomplished the day when it commences to exist. On the
other hand, political reasons alone may decide foreign powers to
recognise or enter into direct relations with it. Recognition only
confirms what legally exists by admitting the new member into the
grand European family.
(From the _Commentary upon the Elements of International Law, and
History of the Progress of International Law_, by William Beach
Lawrence.)
(Page 162): It is not necessary that there should be a determined
number of persons to form a state.
(Page 197): Texas was recognised by England in 1839, when its
population was not more than 60,000 souls. Lord Palmerston said on
that occasion to Mr. O’Connell that “the principle of the Government
was to recognise every state which had a _de facto_ independence.”
(Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. Founded A.D. 1768.)
At an adjourned meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, held January 10,
1884, the following resolutions, presented by Mr. A. A. Low, were
adopted:
WHEREAS, the President of the United States has, in his recent
message, called attention to the fact that the rich and populous
valley of the Congo is now being opened to commerce by the
International African Association, and has especially dwelt upon the
interest, for the purposes of trade and commerce, that we have, as a
people, in the neutrality of that valley, free from the interference
or political control of any one nation: Therefore,
_Be it resolved_, As the opinion of this Chamber that it is incumbent
upon the Government of the United States, through its accredited
representative, to apprise the Portuguese Government that it will
not recognise, but denies the right of the latter to interfere with
the free navigation of the Congo; that the discovery of this great
waterway into the interior of Central Africa is not due to Portugal,
but was the discovery of an explorer in the interest of no one
nationality; and that the entry, 400 years ago, into the mouth of the
Congo, by the Portuguese, not having been followed up by actual and
continued occupation, can give that nation no territorial right to
the river, or to the countries upon its banks.
_Resolved_, That the recognition by the Government of the United
States of the flag of the International African Association, now
extending over twenty-two settlements, in the heart of Africa, will
be but an acknowledgment of the fact that that organisation, under
rights ceded to it by African chiefs of independent territories,
is exercising rule and authority over a large part of Africa in
the protection of life and property, the extinguishment of the
slave trade, the facilitating of commercial intercourse, and other
attributes of sovereignty; and that it be recommended to the
President to send an accredited agent of the Government to the Congo,
to confer with that association in the adopting of such measures as
may secure to American citizens free commercial intercourse along the
course of that river, and through the various settlements or stations
established by the association.
A true copy.
JAS. M. BROWN,
_President_.
GEORGE WILSON,
_Secretary_.
(From copy of correspondence of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.)
His Majesty the King of the Belgians has, during the last two years,
incurred considerable expense in an expedition to the Upper Congo
for the purposes of opening roads, establishing stations for trade,
and for communication with the vast tribes inhabiting the interior
of Africa. For the result of this expedition merchants are watching
with interest, believing that this river will ultimately become one
of the great highways for trade in the heart of Africa.
... It is, therefore, both manifest and notorious that the African
tribes who inhabit the coast-line claimed by Portugal, between 5°
12´, and 8th degree south latitude, are in reality independent, and
that the right acquired by Portugal from priority of discovery at
the end of the fifteenth century has for a long time been suffered
to lapse, owing to the Portuguese Government not having occupied
the country so discovered. In the presence of these facts the
undersigned must repeat the declaration of Her Majesty’s Government
that the interests of commerce imperatively required it to maintain
the right of unrestricted intercourse with that part of the coast of
Western Africa extending between 5°, 12´, and the 8th degree of south
latitude....
I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship’s obedient, very
humble servant,
JOHN SLAGG,
_President_.
(From Earl Granville’s reply to Lord Mount Temple in the House of
Lords, March 9, 1883.)
... The labours of men like Livingstone, Stanley, and others have
given us a knowledge of the physical character of Central Africa,
and of the populations which inhabit it, showing that there are
great capabilities for the development of trade, and of the
civilising effects which are the result of commerce. The work of
the philanthropic International Association, in which the King of
the Belgians takes a great interest, the mission of M. de Brazza,
the increasing trade in different degrees, of the English, the
Portuguese, the French, the Germans, the Dutch, and the Belgians, on
the Congo and its banks, are acting as a stimulus and afford grounds
why no reasonable endeavours should be neglected to insure freedom of
commerce and navigation, and to anticipate possible jealousies, which
so easily check trade, and which, under the pretence of securing
peculiar advantages to some, are really injurious to all....
FOOTNOTES:
[66] Heffter, par. 7, p. 14: “With respect to non-Christian states,
which are not yet regularly admitted into the bosom of the European
family, the application of the same law is entirely free, and founded
upon a purely conventional reciprocity. Relations with them are
formed according to the exigencies of policy and morality.”
[67] _Droit de gens moderne_, par. 20.
[68] _Einleitung in das positive europaïsche Völkerrecht_, Gottingen,
1796, p. 1.
[69] _Droit des gens moderne_, par. 21.
[70] _Droit des gens moderne_, par. 23.
[71] _Einleitung in das positive europaïsche Völkerrecht_, par. 31.
[72] _Droit des gens moderne de l’Europe_, par. 25.
[73] See Charles Calvo, _Manuel du droit international public et
privé_, par. 49, p. 85; also his _Droit international theorique et
pratique_, vol. i., p. 320.
[74] _Précis du droit des gens_, Paris, 1877, No. X., p. 23.
[75] See on this point, _International Law_, by Edward W. Hall, M.A.,
barrister-at-law, Oxford, 1880, par. 35, p. 100.
[76] Bancroft’s _History of the United States_, vol. i., pp. 342-350.
[77] Carlier, _History of the American People_, vol i., p. 300.
[78] _Elements of International Law_ (Fr. tr.), vol. i., p. 50.
[79] Vol. xii., p. 12.
[80] See the histories of Bancroft and Carlier.
[81] Heffter, _Le droit international publique_, par. 52, p. 104.
[82] Wheaton, vol. i., par. 12, p. 25; Heffter, par. 8, p. 16.
[83] _Revue de droit international_, vol. xi., pp. 258, 259.
[84] See manifesto of President Monroe, of December 2, 1823.
GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE
In the name of Almighty God,—
His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia; His Majesty the
Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc., and Apostolic King of
Hungary; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His Majesty the King
of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; the President of the
United States of America; the President of the French Republic;
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Empress of India; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Majesty
the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc.; His
Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, etc.; His Majesty
the Emperor of All the Russias; His Majesty the King of Sweden and
Norway, etc.; and His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans,
Wishing, in a spirit of good and mutual accord, to regulate
the conditions most favourable to the development of trade and
civilisation in certain regions of Africa, and to assure to all
nations the advantages of free navigation on the two chief rivers of
Africa flowing into the Atlantic Ocean; being desirous, on the other
hand, to obviate the misunderstandings and disputes which might in
future arise from new acts of occupation (_prises de possession_)
on the coast of Africa; and concerned, at the same time, as to the
means of furthering the moral and material well-being of the native
populations: Have resolved, on the invitation addressed to them by
the Imperial Government of Germany, in agreement with the Government
of the French Republic, to meet for those purposes in Conference at
Berlin, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:—
His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, Otho, Prince von
Bismarck, his President of the Prussian Council of Ministers,
Chancellor of the Empire; Paul, Count von Hatzfeldt, his Minister of
State and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Auguste Busch, his
Acting Privy Councillor of Legation and Under-Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs; and Henri von Kusserow, Privy Councillor of Legation
in the Department for Foreign Affairs;
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc., and
Apostolic King of Hungary, Emeric, Count Széchényi de Sárvári
Felső-Vidék, Chamberlain and Acting Privy Councillor, his Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the
German Emperor, King of Prussia;
His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Gabriel Auguste Count Van der
Straten Ponthoz, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at
the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia; and
Auguste, Baron Lambermont, Minister of State, Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary;
His Majesty the King of Denmark, Emile de Vind, Chamberlain, his
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His
Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia;
His Majesty the King of Spain, Don Francisco Merry y Colom, Count
Benomar, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the
Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia;
The President of the United States of America, John A. Kasson, Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of
America at the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of
Prussia; and Henry S. Sanford, ex-Minister;
The President of the French Republic, Alphonse, Baron de Courcel,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France at the Court
of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia;
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, Empress of India, Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, her Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the
German Emperor, King of Prussia;
His Majesty the King of Italy, Edward, Count de Launay, his
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His
Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia;
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg,
Frederic Philippe, Jonkheer Van der Hoeven, his Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the German
Emperor, King of Prussia;
His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, etc., Da
Serra Gomes, Marquis de Penafiel, Peer of the Realm, his Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His
Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia; and Antoine de Serpa
Pimentel, Councillor of State and Peer of the Realm;
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, Pierre, Count
Kapnist, Privy Councillor, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the King of the
Netherlands;
His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, etc., Gillis, Baron
Bildt, Lieutenant-General, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King
of Prussia;
His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, Méhemed Saïd Pasha, Vézir
and High Dignitary, his Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at
the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia;
Who, being provided with full powers, which have been found in good
and due form, have successively discussed and adopted:—
1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the basin of
the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other
provisions connected therewith.
2. A Declaration relative to the Slave Trade, and the operations by
sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade.
3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories
comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo.
4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard to
local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and the
waters in its system (_eaux qui leur sont assimilées_), the general
principles enunciated in Articles CVIII. and CXVI. of the Final Act
of the Congress of Vienna, and intended to regulate, as between the
Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of the waterways
separating or traversing several States—these said principles having
since then been applied by agreement to certain rivers of Europe
and America, but especially to the Danube, with the modifications
stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856), of Berlin (1878), and of
London (of 1871 and 1883).
5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having
regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its
affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII. and
CXVI. of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna.
6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain
uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coasts of
the African Continent.
And deeming it expedient that all these several documents should be
combined into one single instrument, they (the Signatory Powers)
have collected them into one General Act, composed of the following
Articles:
CHAPTER I.—_Declaration relative to Freedom of Trade in the Basin
of the Congo, its Mouths, and circumjacent Regions, with other
Provisions connected therewith._
ARTICLE 1. The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom—
1. In all the regions forming the basin of the Congo and its outlets.
This basin is bounded by the watersheds (or mountain ridges) of
the adjacent basins, namely, in particular, those of the Niara,
the Ogowé, the Schari, and the Nile, on the north; by the eastern
watershed line of the affluents of Lake Tanganyika, on the east; and
by the watersheds of the basins of the Zambesi and the Logé, on the
south. It therefore comprises all the regions watered by the Congo
and its affluents, including Tanganyika, with its eastern tributaries.
2. In the maritime zone extending along the Atlantic Ocean from the
parallel situated in 2° 30´ of south latitude to the mouth of the
Logé.
The northern boundary will follow the parallel situated in 2° 30´
from the coast to the point where it meets the geographical basin of
the Congo, avoiding the basin of the Ogowé, to which the provisions
of the present Act do not apply.
The southern boundary will follow the course of the Logé to its
source, and thence pass eastwards till it joins the geographical
basin of the Congo.
3. In the zone stretching eastwards from the Congo Basin, as above
defined, to the Indian Ocean from the 5° of north latitude to
the mouth of the Zambesi in the south, from which point the line
of demarcation will ascend the Zambesi to five miles above its
confluence with the Shire, and then follow the watershed between
the affluents of Lake Nyassa and those of the Zambesi, till at last
it reaches the watershed between the waters of the Zambesi and the
Congo.
It is expressly recognised that in extending the principle of free
trade to this eastern zone the Conference Powers only undertake
engagements for themselves, and that in the territories belonging
to an independent Sovereign State this principle shall only be
applicable in so far as it is approved by such State. But the Powers
agree to use their good offices with the Governments established on
the African shore of the Indian Ocean for the purpose of obtaining
such approval, and in any case of securing the most favourable
conditions to the transit (traffic) of all nations.
ARTICLE 2. All flags, without distinction of nationality, shall have
free access to the whole of the coast-line of the territories above
enumerated, to the rivers there running into the sea, to all the
waters of the Congo and its affluents, including the lakes, and to
all the ports situate on the banks of these waters, as well as to
all canals which may in future be constructed with intent to unite
the watercourses or lakes within the entire area of the territories
described in Article 1. Those trading under such flags may engage in
all sorts of transport, and carry on the coasting trade by sea and
river, as well as boat traffic, on the same footing as if they were
subjects.
ARTICLE 3. Wares, of whatever origin, imported into those regions,
under whatsoever flag, by sea or river, or overland, shall be subject
to no other taxes than such as may be levied as fair compensation
for expenditure in the interest of trade, and which for this reason
must be equally borne by the subjects themselves and by foreigners of
all nationalities. All differential dues on vessels, as well as on
merchandise, are forbidden.
ARTICLE 4. Merchandise imported into those regions shall remain free
from import and transit dues.
The Powers reserve to themselves to determine after the lapse of
twenty years whether this freedom of import shall be retained or not.
ARTICLE 5. No Power which exercises or shall exercise sovereign
rights in the above-mentioned regions shall be allowed to grant
therein a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade.
Foreigners, without distinction, shall enjoy protection of their
persons and property, as well as the right of acquiring and
transferring movable and immovable possessions; and national rights
and treatment in the exercise of their professions.
ARTICLE 6. _Provisions relative to Protection of the Natives, of
Missionaries and Travellers, as well as relative to Religious
Liberty._—All the Powers exercising sovereign rights or influence
in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the
preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of
the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help
in suppressing slavery, and especially the Slave Trade. They shall,
without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all
religious, scientific, or charitable institutions, and undertakings
created and organised for the above ends, or which aim at instructing
the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilisation.
Christian missionaries, scientists, and explorers, with their
followers, property, and collections, shall likewise be the objects
of especial protection.
Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly
guaranteed to the natives, no less than to subjects and to
foreigners. The free and public exercise of all forms of Divine
worship, and the right to build edifices for religious purposes, and
to organise religious missions belonging to all creeds, shall not be
limited or fettered in any way whatsoever.
ARTICLE 7. _Postal Régime._—The Convention of the Universal Postal
Union, as revised at Paris the 1st June, 1878, shall be applied to
the Conventional Basin of the Congo.
The Powers who therein do or shall exercise rights of sovereignty
or protectorate engage, as soon as circumstances permit them, to
take the measures necessary for the carrying out of the preceding
provision.
ARTICLE 8. _Right of Surveillance vested in the International
Navigation Commission of the Congo._—In all parts of the territory
had in view by the present Declaration, where no Power shall exercise
rights of sovereignty or protectorate, the International Navigation
Commission of the Congo, instituted in virtue of Article 17, shall be
charged with supervising the application of the principles proclaimed
and perpetuated (_consacrés_) by this Declaration.
In all cases of difference arising relative to the application
of the principles established by the present Declaration, the
Governments concerned may agree to appeal to the good offices of the
International Commission, by submitting to it an examination of the
facts which shall have occasioned these differences.
CHAPTER II.—_Declaration relative to the Slave Trade_
ARTICLE 9. Seeing that trading in slaves is forbidden in conformity
with the principles of international law as recognised by the
Signatory Powers, and seeing also that the operations which by sea
or land furnish slaves to trade ought likewise to be regarded as
forbidden, the Powers which do or shall exercise sovereign rights or
influence in the territories forming the Conventional Basin of the
Congo declare that these territories may not serve as a market or
means of transit for the trade in slaves, of whatever race they may
be. Each of the Powers binds itself to employ all the means at its
disposal for putting an end to this trade and for punishing those who
engage in it.
CHAPTER III.—_Declaration relative to the Neutrality of the
Territories comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo_
ARTICLE 10. In order to give a new guarantee of security to trade
and industry, and to encourage, by the maintenance of peace, the
development of civilisation mentioned in Article 1, and placed under
the free trade system, the High Signatory Parties to the present Act,
and those who shall hereafter adopt it, bind themselves to respect
the neutrality of the territories, or portions of territories,
belonging to the said countries, comprising therein the territorial
waters, so long as the Powers which exercise or shall exercise the
rights of sovereignty or protectorate over those territories, using
their option of proclaiming themselves neutral, shall fulfil the
duties which neutrality requires.
ARTICLE 11. In case a Power exercising rights of sovereignty or
protectorate in the countries mentioned in Article 1, and placed
under the free trade system, shall be involved in a war, then the
High Signatory Parties to the present Act, and those who shall
hereafter adopt it, bind themselves to lend their good offices in
order that the territories belonging to this Power and comprised in
the Conventional free trade zone shall, by the common consent of this
Power and of the other belligerent or belligerents, be placed during
the war under the rule of neutrality, and considered as belonging to
a non-belligerent State, the belligerents thenceforth abstaining from
extending hostilities to the territories thus neutralised, and from
using them as a base for warlike operations.
ARTICLE 12. In case a serious disagreement originating on the subject
of, or in the limits of, the territories mentioned in Article 1 and
placed under the free trade system, shall arise between any Signatory
Powers of the present Act, or the Powers which may become parties to
it, these Powers bind themselves, before appealing to arms, to have
recourse to the mediation of one or more of the friendly Powers.
In a similar case the same Powers reserve to themselves the option of
having recourse to arbitration.
CHAPTER IV.—_Act of Navigation for the Congo_
ARTICLE 13. The navigation of the Congo, without excepting any of
its branches or outlets, is, and shall remain, free for the merchant
ships of all nations equally, whether carrying cargo or ballast, for
the transport of goods or passengers. It shall be regulated by the
provisions of this Act of Navigation, and by the rules to be made in
pursuance thereof.
In the exercise of this navigation the subjects and flags of all
nations shall in all respects be treated on a footing of perfect
equality, not only for the direct navigation from the open sea to the
inland ports of the Congo and _vice versâ_, but also for the great
and small coasting trade, and for boat traffic on the course of the
river.
Consequently, on all the course and mouths of the Congo there will be
no distinction made between the subjects of Riverain States and those
of non-Riverain States, and no exclusive privilege of navigation will
be conceded to companies, corporations, or private persons whatsoever.
These provisions are recognised by the Signatory Powers as becoming
henceforth a part of international law.
ARTICLE 14. The navigation of the Congo shall not be subject to any
restriction or obligation which is not expressly stipulated by the
present Act. It shall not be exposed to any landing dues, to any
station or depôt tax, or to any charge for breaking bulk, or for
compulsory entry into port.
In all the extent of the Congo the ships and goods in process of
transit on the river shall be submitted to no transit dues, whatever
their starting-place or destination.
There shall be levied no maritime or river toll based on the mere
fact of navigation, nor any tax on goods aboard of ships. There shall
only be levied taxes or duties having the character of an equivalent
for services rendered to navigation itself, to wit:
1. Harbour dues on certain local establishments, such as wharves,
warehouses, etc., if actually used.
The tariff of such dues shall be framed according to the cost of
constructing and maintaining the said local establishments; and it
will be applied without regard to whence vessels come or what they
are loaded with.
2. Pilot dues for those stretches of the river where it may be
necessary to establish properly qualified pilots.
The tariff of these dues shall be fixed and calculated in proportion
to the service rendered.
3. Charges raised to cover technical and administrative expenses
incurred in the general interest of navigation, including lighthouse,
beacon, and buoy duties.
The last-mentioned dues shall be based on the tonnage of vessels as
shown by the ship’s papers, and in accordance with the rules adopted
on the Lower Danube.
The tariffs by which the various dues and taxes enumerated in the
three preceding paragraphs shall be levied shall not involve any
differential treatment, and shall be officially published at each
port.
The Powers reserve to themselves to consider, after the lapse of five
years, whether it may be necessary to revise, by common accord, the
above-mentioned tariffs.
ARTICLE 15. The affluents of the Congo shall in all respects be
subject to the same rules as the river of which they are tributaries.
And the same rules shall apply to the streams and river as well as
the lakes and canals in the territories defined in paragraphs 2 and 3
of Article 1.
At the same time the powers of the International Commission of the
Congo will not extend to the said rivers, streams, lakes, and canals
unless with the assent of the States under whose sovereignty they
are placed. It is well understood, also, that with regard to the
territories mentioned in paragraph 3 of Article 1, the consent of the
Sovereign States owning these territories is reserved.
ARTICLE 16. The roads, railways, or lateral canals which may be
constructed with the special object of obviating the innavigability
or correcting the imperfection of the river route on certain sections
of the course of the Congo, its affluents, and other waterways
placed under a similar system, as laid down in Article 15, shall
be considered, in their quality of means of communication, as
dependencies of this river, and as equally open to the traffic of all
nations.
And as on the river itself, so there shall be collected on these
roads, railways, and canals only tolls calculated on the cost of
construction, maintenance, and management, and on the profits due to
the promoters.
As regards the tariff of these tolls, strangers and the natives of
the respective territories shall be treated on a footing of perfect
equality.
ARTICLE 17. There is instituted an International Commission, charged
with the execution of the provisions of the present Act of Navigation.
The Signatory Powers of this Act, as well as those who may
subsequently adhere to it, may always be represented on the said
Commission, each by one Delegate. But no Delegate shall have more
than one vote at his disposal, even in the case of his representing
several Governments.
This Delegate will be directly paid by his Government. As for the
various agents and employees of the International Commission, their
remuneration shall be charged to the amount of the dues collected in
conformity with paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 14.
The particulars of the said remuneration, as well as the number,
grade, and powers of the agents and employees, shall be entered in
the Returns to be sent yearly to the Governments represented on the
International Commission.
ARTICLE 18. The members of the International Commission, as well
as its appointed agents, are invested with the privileges of
inviolability in the exercise of their functions. The same guarantee
shall apply to the offices and archives of the Commission.
ARTICLE 19. The International Commission for the Navigation of the
Congo shall be constituted as soon as five of the Signatory Powers
of the present General Act shall have appointed their Delegates. And
pending the constitution of the Commission the nomination of these
Delegates shall be notified to the Imperial Government of Germany,
which will see to it that the necessary steps are taken to summon the
meeting of the Commission.
The Commission will at once draw up Navigation, River Police, Pilot,
and Quarantine Rules.
These Rules, as well as the tariffs to be framed by the Commission,
shall, before coming into force, be submitted for approval to the
Powers represented on the Commission. The Powers interested will have
to communicate their views with as little delay as possible.
Any infringements of these Rules will be checked by the agents of the
International Commission wherever it exercises direct authority, and
elsewhere by the Riverain Power.
In the case of an abuse of power, or an act of injustice, on the
part of any agent or employee of the International Commission,
the individual who considers himself to be aggrieved in his
person or rights may apply to the Consular Agent of his country.
The latter will examine his complaint, and if he finds it _primâ
facie_ reasonable, he will then be entitled to bring it before the
Commission. At his instance then, the Commission, represented by at
least three of its members, shall in conjunction with him inquire
into the conduct of its agent or employee. Should the Consular Agent
look upon the decision of the Commission as raising questions of
law (_objections de droit_), he will report on the subject to his
Government, which may then have recourse to the Powers represented on
the Commission, and invite them to agree as to the instructions to be
given to the Commission.
ARTICLE 20. The International Commission of the Congo, charged
in terms of Article 17 with the execution of the present Act of
Navigation, shall in particular have power—
1. To decide what works are necessary to assure the navigability of
the Congo in accordance with the needs of international trade.
On those sections of the river where no Power exercises sovereign
rights, the International Commission will itself take the necessary
measures for assuring the navigability of the river.
On those sections of the river held by a Sovereign Power, the
International Commission will concert its action (_s’entendra_) with
the riparian authorities.
2. To fix the pilot tariff and that of the general navigation dues as
provided for by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 14.
The tariffs mentioned in the first paragraph of Article 14 shall be
framed by the territorial authorities within the limits prescribed in
the said Article.
The levying of the various dues shall be seen to by the international
or territorial authorities on whose behalf they are established.
3. To administer the revenue arising from the application of the
preceding paragraph (2).
4. To superintend the quarantine establishment created in virtue of
Article 24.
5. To appoint officials for the general service of navigation, and
also its own proper employees.
It will be for the territorial authorities to appoint Sub-Inspectors
on sections of the river occupied by a Power, and for the
International Commission to do so on the other sections.
The Riverain Power will notify to the International Commission the
appointment of Sub-Inspectors, and this Power will undertake the
payment of their salaries.
In the exercise of its functions as above defined and limited, the
International Commission will be independent of the territorial
authorities.
ARTICLE 21. In the accomplishment of its task the International
Commission may, if need be, have recourse to the war-vessels of the
Signatory Powers of this Act, and of those who may in future accede
to it, under reserve, however, of the instructions which may be given
to the Commanders of their vessels by their respective Governments.
ARTICLE 22. The war vessels of the Signatory Powers of this Act
that may enter the Congo are exempt from payment of the navigation
dues provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 14; but unless their
intervention has been called for by the International Commission or
its agents, in terms of the preceding Article, they shall be liable
to the payment of the pilot or harbour dues which may eventually be
established.
ARTICLE 23. With the view of providing for the technical and
administrative expenses which it may incur, the International
Commission created by Article 17 may, in its own name, negotiate
loans to be exclusively guaranteed by the revenues raised by the said
Commission.
The decisions of the Commission dealing with the conclusion of a loan
must be come to by a majority of two thirds. It is understood that
the Governments represented on the Commission shall not in any case
be held as assuming any guarantee, or as contracting any engagement
or joint liability (_solidarité_) with respect to the said loans,
unless under special Conventions concluded by them to this effect.
The revenue yielded by the dues specified in paragraph 3 of Article
14 shall bear, as a first charge, the payment of the interest and
sinking fund of the said loans, according to agreement with the
lenders.
ARTICLE 24. At the mouth of the Congo there shall be founded, either
on the initiative of the Riverain Powers, or by the intervention of
the International Commission, a quarantine establishment for the
control of vessels passing out of as well as into the river.
Later on, the Powers will decide whether and on what conditions a
sanitary control shall be exercised over vessels engaged in the
navigation of the river itself.
ARTICLE 25. The provisions of the present Act of Navigation shall
remain in force in time of war. Consequently all nations, whether
neutral or belligerent, shall always be free, for the purposes of
trade, to navigate the Congo, its branches, affluents, and mouths, as
well as the territorial waters fronting the embouchure of the river.
Traffic will similarly remain free, despite a state of war, on the
roads, railways, lakes, and canals mentioned in Articles 15 and 16.
There will be no exception to this principle except in so far as
concerns the transport of articles intended for a belligerent and, in
virtue of the law of nations, regarded as contraband of war.
All the works and establishments created in pursuance of the present
Act, especially the tax-collecting offices and their treasuries,
as well as the permanent service staff of these establishments,
shall enjoy the benefits of neutrality (_places sous le régime de
la neutralité_), and shall therefore be respected and protected by
belligerents.
CHAPTER V.—_Act of Navigation for the Niger_
ARTICLE 26. The navigation of the Niger, without excepting any of
its branches and outlets, is and shall remain entirely free for the
merchant-ships of all nations equally, whether with cargo or ballast,
for the transportation of goods and passengers. It shall be regulated
by the provisions of this Act of Navigation, and by the rules to be
made in pursuance of this Act.
In the exercise of this navigation the subjects and flags of all
nations shall be treated, in all circumstances, on a footing of
perfect equality, not only for the direct navigation from the open
sea to the inland ports of the Niger and _vice versâ_, but for the
great and small coasting trade, and for boat trade on the course of
the river.
Consequently, on all the course and mouths of the Niger there will
be no distinction made between the subjects of the Riverain States
and those of non-Riverain States; and no exclusive privilege of
navigation will be conceded to companies, corporations, or private
persons.
These provisions are recognised by the Signatory Powers as forming
henceforth a part of international law.
ARTICLE 27. The navigation of the Niger shall not be subject to any
restriction or obligation based merely on the fact of navigation.
It shall not be exposed to any obligation in regard to landing,
station, or depôt, or for breaking bulk, or for compulsory entry into
port.
In all the extent of the Niger the ships and goods in process of
transit on the river shall be submitted to no transit dues, whatever
their starting-place or destination.
No maritime or river toll shall be levied based on the sole fact
of navigation, nor any tax on goods on board of ships. There shall
only be collected taxes or duties which shall be an equivalent for
services rendered to navigation itself. The tariff of these taxes or
duties shall not warrant any differential treatment.
ARTICLE 28. The affluents of the Niger shall be in all respects
subject to the same rules as the river of which they are tributaries.
ARTICLE 29. The roads, railways, or lateral canals which may be
constructed with the special object of obviating the innavigability
or correcting the imperfections of the river route on certain
sections of the course of the Niger, its affluents, branches,
and outlets, shall be considered, in their quality of means of
communication, as dependencies of this river and as equally open to
the traffic of all nations.
And as on the river itself, so there shall be collected on these
roads, railways, and canals only tolls calculated on the cost of
construction, maintenance, and management, and on the profits due to
the promoters.
As regards the tariff of these tolls, strangers and the natives of
the respective territories shall be treated on a footing of perfect
equality.
ARTICLE 30. Great Britain undertakes to apply the principles of
freedom of navigation enunciated in Articles 26, 27, 28, and 29, on
so much of the waters of the Niger, its affluents, branches, and
outlets, as are or may be under her sovereignty or protection.
The rules which she may establish for the safety and control of
navigation shall be drawn up in a way to facilitate, as far as
possible, the circulation of merchant-ships.
It is understood that nothing in these obligations shall be
interpreted as hindering Great Britain from making any rules of
navigation whatever which shall not be contrary to the spirit of
these engagements.
Great Britain undertakes to protect foreign merchants and all the
trading nationalities on all those portions of the Niger which are or
may be under her sovereignty or protection as if they were her own
subjects, provided always that such merchants conform to the rules
which are or shall be made in virtue of the foregoing.
ARTICLE 31. France accepts, under the same reservations, and in
identical terms, the obligations undertaken in the preceding Articles
in respect of so much of the waters of the Niger, its affluents,
branches, and outlets, as are or may be under her sovereignty or
protection.
ARTICLE 32. Each of the other Signatory Powers binds itself in the
same way, in case it should ever exercise in the future rights of
sovereignty or protection over any portion of the waters of the
Niger, its affluents, branches, or outlets.
ARTICLE 33. The arrangements of the present Act of Navigation will
remain in force in time of war. Consequently, the navigation of all
neutral or belligerent nations will be in all times free for the
usages of commerce on the Niger, its branches, its affluents, its
mouths, and outlets, as well as on the territorial waters opposite
the mouths and outlets of that river.
The traffic will remain equally free in spite of a state of war on
the roads, railways, and canals mentioned in Article 29.
There will be an exception to this principle only in that which
relates to the transport of articles destined for a belligerent
and considered, in virtue of the law of nations, as articles of
contraband of war.
CHAPTER VI.—_Declaration relative to the essential Conditions to be
observed in order that new Occupations on the Coasts of the African
Continent may be held to be effective_
ARTICLE 34. Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of
land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present
possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall
acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a protectorate
there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification
thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act,
in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their
own.
ARTICLE 35. The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognise the
obligation to ensure the establishment of authority in the regions
occupied by them on the coasts of the African Continent sufficient to
protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade
and of transit under the conditions agreed upon.
CHAPTER VII.—_General Dispositions_
ARTICLE 36. The Signatory Powers of the present General Act reserve
to themselves to introduce into it subsequently, and by common
accord, such modifications and improvements as experience may show to
be expedient.
ARTICLE 37. The Powers who have not signed the present General Act
shall be free to adhere to its provisions by a separate instrument.
The adhesion of each Power shall be notified in diplomatic form to
the Government of the German Empire, and by it in turn to all the
other Signatory or adhering Powers.
Such adhesion shall carry with it full acceptance of all the
obligations as well as admission to all the advantages stipulated by
the present General Act.
ARTICLE 38. The present General Act shall be ratified with as little
delay as possible, the same in no case to exceed a year.
It will come into force for each Power from the date of its
ratification by that Power.
Meanwhile, the Signatory Powers of the present General Act bind
themselves not to take any steps contrary to its provisions.
Each Power will address its ratification to the Government of the
German Empire, by which notice of the fact will be given to all the
other Signatory Powers of the present Act.
The ratifications of all the Powers will be deposited in the archives
of the Government of the German Empire. When all the ratifications
shall have been sent in, there will be drawn up a Deposit Act, in
the shape of a Protocol, to be signed by the Representatives of all
the Powers which have taken part in the Conference of Berlin, and of
which a certified copy will be sent to each of those Powers.
In testimony whereof the several Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present General Act and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at Berlin the 26th day of February, 1885.
(Here follow the signatures of the Plenipotentiaries in the order
of their names in the preamble.)
THE TEXT OF THE DECLARATIONS AND TREATIES BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF THE CONGO AND ITS NEIGHBOURS, GERMANY, GREAT
BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND PORTUGAL. ALSO ITS DECLARATION EXCHANGED WITH
BELGIUM.
On 8th November, 1884, a convention was concluded between the
German Empire and the Association. The following are its terms:
ARTICLE 1. The International Association of the Congo engages not
to levy any duty on articles or merchandise imported directly or in
transit into its present or future possessions in the basins of the
Congo and the Niadi-Kwilu, or into its possessions situated on the
Atlantic Ocean. This exemption from duties especially applies to
merchandise and articles of commerce which are carried by the roads
made round the cataracts of the Congo.
ARTICLE 2. The subjects of the German Empire shall have the right
of sojourning and of establishing themselves on the territories of
the Association. They shall be treated on the same footing as the
subjects of the most favoured nation, including the inhabitants of
the country, so far as concerns the protection of their persons and
possessions, the free exercise of their religion, the recognition and
defence of their rights, as well as in matters of navigation, trade,
or manufactures.
Especially, they shall have the right of buying, selling, and leasing
lands and buildings situated in the territories of the Association,
of establishing commercial houses, and carrying on trade or the
coasting trade under the German flag.
ARTICLE 3. The Association engages never to grant any privileges
whatsoever to the subjects of any other nation without their being
immediately extended to German subjects.
ARTICLE 4. In the event of the cession of the present or future
territory of the Association, or of any part of it, the obligations
contracted by the Association towards the German Empire shall be
transferred to the occupier. These obligations and the rights granted
by the Association to the German Empire and its subjects shall remain
in force after every cession as far as regards each new occupier.
ARTICLE 5. The German Empire recognises the flag of the Association—a
blue flag with a golden star in the centre—as that of a friendly
State.
ARTICLE 6. The German Empire is ready on its part to recognise the
frontiers of the territory of the Association and of the new State
which is to be created, as they are shown in the annexed Map.
ARTICLE 7. This Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications
shall be exchanged with the least possible delay.
This Convention shall come into force immediately after the exchange
of the ratifications.
Done at Berlin the 8th November, 1884.
(Signed) Count v. BRANDENBOURG.
STRAUCH.
On 16th December, 1884, Great Britain and the International
Association of the Congo exchanged declarations and concluded a
Convention. The following is the declaration of the Association:
The International Association of the Congo, founded by His
Majesty the King of the Belgians for the purpose of promoting the
civilisation and commerce of Africa, and for other humane and
benevolent purposes, hereby declares as follows:—
ARTICLE 1. That by Treaties with the legitimate Sovereigns in
the basins of the Congo and of the Niadi-Kwilu, and in adjacent
territories upon the Atlantic, there has been ceded to it territory
for the use and benefit of Free States established, and being
established, in the said basins and adjacent territories.
ARTICLE 2. That by virtue of the said Treaties, the administration of
the interests of the said Free States is vested in the Association.
ARTICLE 3. That the Association has adopted as its standard, and that
of the said Free States, a blue flag with a golden star in the centre.
ARTICLE 4. That with a view of enabling commerce to penetrate
into Equatorial Africa, the Association and the said Free States
have resolved to levy no customs duties upon goods or articles of
merchandise imported directly into their territories or brought by
the route which has been constructed around the cataracts of the
Congo.
ARTICLE 5. That the Association and the said Free States guarantee
to foreigners established in their territories the free exercise of
their religion, the rights of navigation, commerce, and industry, and
the right of buying, selling, letting, and hiring lands, buildings,
mines, and forests, on the sole condition that they shall obey the
laws.
ARTICLE 6. That the Association and the said free States will do all
in their power to prevent the Slave Trade and to suppress slavery.
Done at Berlin, the 16th December, 1884.
(On behalf of the Association),
(Signed) STRAUCH.
The declaration of the British Government was as follows:
The Government of Her Britannic Majesty declare their sympathy
with, and approval of, the humane and benevolent purposes of the
Association, and hereby recognise the flag of the Association, and of
the Free States under its administration, as the flag of a friendly
Government.
(On behalf of Her Majesty’s Government),
EDWARD B. MALET.
The Convention itself was couched in the following terms:
Whereas the Government of Her Britannic Majesty have recognised the
flag of the International Association of the Congo, and of the Free
States under its administration, as the flag of a friendly Government;
And whereas it is expedient to regulate and define the rights of
British subjects in the territories of the said Free States, and to
provide for the exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction over
them, in manner hereinafter mentioned, until sufficient provision
shall have been made by the Association for the administration of
justice among foreigners;
It is hereby agreed as follows:—
ARTICLE 1. The International Association of the Congo undertakes not
to levy any duty, import or transit, on articles or merchandise
imported by British subjects into the said territories, or into any
territory which may hereafter come under its government. This freedom
from custom-house duties shall extend to merchandise and articles
of commerce which shall be transported along the roads or canals
constructed, or to be constructed, around the cataracts of the Congo.
ARTICLE 2. British subjects shall have at all times the right of
sojourning and of establishing themselves within the territories
which are or shall be under the Government of the said Association.
They shall enjoy the same protection which is accorded to the
subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation in all matters which
regard their persons, their property, the free exercise of their
religion, and the rights of navigation, commerce, and industry.
Especially they shall have the right of buying, of selling, of
letting, and of hiring lands and buildings, mines, and forests,
situated within the said territories, and of founding houses of
commerce, and of carrying on commerce and a coasting trade under the
British flag.
ARTICLE 3. The Association engages itself not to accord any
advantages whatsoever to the subjects of any other nation without the
same advantages being extended to British subjects.
ARTICLE 4. Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland may
appoint Consuls or other Consular Officers to reside at ports or
stations within the said territories, and the Association engages
itself to protect them.
ARTICLE 5. Every British Consul or Consular Officer within the said
territories, who shall be thereunto duly authorised by Her Britannic
Majesty’s Government, may hold a Consular Court for the district
assigned to him, and shall exercise sole and exclusive jurisdiction,
both civil and criminal, over the persons and property of British
subjects within the same, in accordance with British law.
ARTICLE 6. Nothing in the last preceding Article contained shall be
deemed to relieve any British subject from the obligation to observe
the laws of the said Free States applicable to foreigners, but any
infraction thereof by a British subject shall be justiciable only by
a British Consular Court.
ARTICLE 7. Inhabitants of the said territories who are subject to the
Government of the Association, if they shall commit any wrong against
the person or property of a British subject, shall be arrested and
punished by the authorities of the Association according to the laws
of the said Free States.
Justice shall be equitably and impartially administered on both sides.
ARTICLE 8. A British subject, having reason to complain against an
inhabitant of the said territories, who is subject to the Government
of the Association, must proceed to the British Consulate, and there
state his grievance. The Consul shall inquire into the merits of
the case, and do his utmost to arrange it amicably. In like manner,
if any such inhabitant of the said territories shall have reason to
complain against a British subject, the British Consul shall no less
listen to his complaint and endeavour to settle it in a friendly
manner. If disputes take place of such a nature that the Consul
cannot arrange them amicably, then he shall request the assistance of
the authorities of the Association to examine into the merits of the
case and decide it equitably.
ARTICLE 9. Should any inhabitant of the said territories, who is
subject to the Government of the Association, fail to discharge
any debt incurred to a British subject, the authorities of the
Association will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to
enforce recovery of the said debt; and should any British subject
fail to discharge a debt incurred by him to any such inhabitant, the
British authorities will in like manner do their utmost to bring him
to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debt. No British Consul
nor any authority of the Association is to be held responsible for
the payment of any debt contracted either by a British subject or,
by any inhabitant of the said territories, who is subject to the
Government of the Association.
ARTICLE 10. In case of the Association being desirous to cede any
portion of the territory now or hereafter under its Government, it
shall not cede it otherwise than as subject to all the engagements
contracted by the Association under this Convention. Those
engagements, and the rights thereby accorded to British subjects,
shall continue to be in vigour after every cession made to any new
occupant of any portion of the said territory.
This Convention shall, be ratified, and the ratifications shall be
exchanged with the least possible delay. It shall come into operation
immediately upon the exchange of ratifications.
Done at Berlin the 16th December, 1884.
(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET.
STRAUCH.
On 5th February, 1885, was concluded a Convention with the French
Republic.
ARTICLE 1. The International Association of the Congo hereby
declares that it extends to France the privileges it has conceded
to the United States of America, the German Empire, England, Italy,
Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, and Spain, in virtue of the
Conventions which it concluded with those Powers respectively on the
22nd April, 8th November, 16th, 19th, 24th, and 29th December, 1884,
and 7th January, 1885, the text of which is annexed to the present
Convention.
ARTICLE 2. The Association engages moreover never to grant any
privileges whatever to the subjects of any other nation without their
being immediately extended to French citizens.
ARTICLE 3. The Government of the French Republic and the Association
adopt as frontiers between their possessions:—
The River Chiloango from the ocean to its northernmost source;
The water-parting of the waters of the Niadi Quilloo and the Congo as
far as beyond the meridian of Manyanga;
A line to be settled, which, following as far as possible some
natural division of the land, shall end between the station of
Manyanga and the cataract of the Ntombo Mataka, at a point situated
on the navigable portion of the river;
The Congo up to Stanley Pool;
The centre of Stanley Pool;
The Congo up to a point to be settled above the River Licona-Nkundja;
A line to be settled from that point to the 17th degree of
longitude east of Greenwich, following, as closely as possible, the
water-parting of the basin of the Licona-Nkundja, which is part of
the French possessions;
The 17th degree of longitude east of Greenwich.
ARTICLE 4. A Commission, composed of an equal number on each side
of Representatives of the two parties, shall be intrusted with the
duty of marking out on the spot a frontier-line in conformity with
the preceding stipulations. In case of a difference of opinion, the
question shall be settled by Delegates, who shall be named by the
International Commission of the Congo.
ARTICLE 5. Subject to the arrangements to be made between the
International Association of the Congo and Portugal as to the
territories situated to the south of the Chiloango, the Government of
the French Republic is disposed to recognise the neutrality of the
possessions of the International Association comprised within the
frontiers marked on the annexed Map, conditionally upon discussing
and regulating the conditions of such neutrality in common with the
other Powers represented at the Berlin Conference.
ARTICLE 6. The Government of the French Republic recognises the flag
of the International Association of the Congo—a blue flag with a
golden star in the centre—as the flag of a friendly Government.
In testimony whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present Convention and have affixed thereunto their seals.
Done at Paris the 5th February, 1885.
(L. S.) (Signed) JULES FERRY.
(L. S.) (Signed) Comte PAUL DE BORCHGRAVE D’ALTENA.
The Convention concluded with Portugal is dated 14th February, 1885.
ARTICLE 1. The International Association of the Congo hereby declares
that it extends to Portugal the privileges it has conceded to
the United States of America, the German Empire, England, Italy,
Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, France, and the United
Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, in virtue of the Conventions which
it concluded with the Powers respectively on the 22nd April, 8th
November, 16th, 19th, 24th, and 29th December, 1884, 7th January
and 5th and 10th February, 1885, certified copies of which the
Association engages to transmit to the Government of His Most
Faithful Majesty.
ARTICLE 2. The International Association of the Congo engages
moreover never to grant any privileges whatsoever to the subjects
of any other nation without their being immediately extended to the
subjects of His Most Faithful Majesty.
ARTICLE 3. The International Association of the Congo and His Most
Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves adopt the
following frontiers between their possessions in West Africa, namely:—
To the north of the River Congo (Zaire) the right frontier joining
the mouth of the river which empties itself into the Atlantic
Ocean, to the south of the Bay of Kabinda, near Ponta Vermelha, at
Cabo-Lombo;
The parallel of this latter point prolonged till it intersects the
meridian of the junction of the Culacalla with the Luculla;
The meridian thus fixed until it meets the River Luculla;
The course of the Luculla to its junction with the Chiloango (Luango
Luce);
The course of the Congo (Zaire) from its mouth to its junction with
the little River Uango-Uango;
The meridian which passes by the mouth of the little River
Uango-Uango between the Dutch and Portuguese factories, so as to
leave the latter in Portuguese territory, till this meridian touches
the parallel of Nokki;
The parallel of Nokki till the point where it intersects the River
Kuango (Cuango);
From this point, in a southerly direction, the course of the Kuango
(Cuango).
ARTICLE 4. A Commission, composed of an equal number on each side
of Representatives of the two sides, shall be intrusted with the
duty of marking out on the spot a frontier-line in conformity with
the preceding stipulations. In case of a difference of opinion, the
question shall be settled by Delegates who shall be named by the
International Commission of the Congo.
ARTICLE 5. His Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal and the
Algarves is inclined to recognise the neutrality of the possessions
of the International Association of the Congo, conditionally upon
discussing and regulating the conditions of such neutrality in common
with the other Powers represented at the Berlin Conference.
ARTICLE 6. His Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal and the
Algarves recognises the flag of the International Association of the
Congo—a blue flag with a golden star in the centre—as the flag of a
friendly Government.
ARTICLE 7. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the
ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris within three months, or a
shorter time if possible.
In testimony of which the Plenipotentiaries of the two Contracting
Parties, as well as his Excellency Baron de Courcel, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France at Berlin, as
representing the mediatory Power, have signed and affixed their seal
to the present Convention.
Done in triplicate at Berlin this 14th day of the month of February,
1885.
(Signed) STRAUCH.
Marquis de PÉNAFIEL.
ALPH. DE COURCEL.
Declarations were exchanged between the Belgian Government and the
Association on 25th February, 1885.
The International Association of the Congo declares by these presents
that, by Treaties concluded with the legitimate Sovereigns in the
basin of the Congo and its tributaries, vast territories have been
ceded to it with all the rights of sovereignty, with a view to the
creation of a free and independent State; that Conventions mark off
the frontiers of the territories of the Association from those of
France and Portugal, and that the frontiers of the Association are
shown on the annexed Map;
That the said Association has adopted as the flag of the State
administered by it a blue flag with a golden star in the centre;
That the said Association has resolved not to levy any customs duties
on goods or products imported into its territories or carried by
the road which has been made round the cataracts of the Congo; this
resolution has been adopted to assist commerce to penetrate into
Equatorial Africa;
That it insures foreigners who may establish themselves in its
territories the right of buying, selling, or leasing lands and
buildings therein situated, of establishing commercial houses, and
carrying on trade under the sole condition of obeying the law. It
engages, moreover, never to grant the citizens of one nation any
privilege whatever without immediately extending it to the citizens
of all other nations, and to do all in its power to prevent the Slave
Trade.
In testimony of which the President of the Association, acting in its
behalf, has hereunto affixed his seal and signature.
Berlin, the 23rd day of February, 1885.
(Signed) STRAUCH.
The Belgian Government takes note of the declarations of the
International Association of the Congo, and by these presents
recognises the Association within the limits indicated by it, and
recognises its flag as on an equality with that of a friendly State.
In testimony of which the Undersigned, being duly authorised thereto,
have hereunto affixed their seal and signature.
Berlin, the 23rd day of February, 1885.
(Signed) Comte AUGUSTE VAN DER STRATEN-PONTHOZ.
Baron LAMBERMONT.
DECLARATION OF THE GENERAL ACT OF THE BRUSSELS CONFERENCE, JULY 2,
1890
The Powers assembled in Conference at Brussels, who have ratified the
General Act of Berlin of the 26th February, 1885, or who have acceded
thereto,
After having drawn up and signed in concert, in the General Act of
this day, a collection of measures intended to put an end to the
Negro Slave Trade by land as well as by sea, and to improve the moral
and material conditions of existence of the native races;
Taking into consideration that the execution of the provisions which
they have adopted with this object imposes on some of them who have
possessions or Protectorates in the conventional basin of the Congo
obligations which absolutely demand new resources to meet them;
Have agreed to make the following Declaration:—
The Signatory or adhering Powers who have possessions or
Protectorates in the said conventional basin of the Congo are
authorised, so far as they require any authority for the purpose,
to establish therein duties upon imported goods, the scale of which
shall not exceed a rate equivalent to 10 per cent. “ad valorem” at
the port of entry, always excepting spirituous liquors, which are
regulated by the provisions of Chapter VI. of the General Act of this
day.
After the signature of the said General Act, negotiations shall be
opened between the Powers who have ratified the General Act of Berlin
or who have adhered to it, in order to draw up, within the maximum
limit of 10 per cent. “ad valorem” the conditions of the Customs
system to be established in the conventional basin of the Congo.
Nevertheless, it is understood:—
1. That no differential treatment or transit duty shall be
established;
2. That in applying the Customs system which may be agreed upon, each
Power will undertake to simplify formalities as much as possible, and
to facilitate trade operations;
3. That the arrangement resulting from the proposed negotiations
shall remain in force for fifteen years from the signature of the
present Declaration.
At the expiration of this period, and failing a fresh Agreement,
the Contracting Powers shall return to the conditions provided for
by Article IV. of the General Act of Berlin, retaining the power of
imposing duties up to a maximum of 10 per cent. upon goods imported
into the conventional basin of the Congo.
The ratifications of the present Declaration shall be exchanged at
the same time as those of the General Act of this day.
In witness whereof the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have drawn up
the present Declaration, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at Brussels, the 2nd day of the month of July, 1890.
[L. S.] Vivian, John Kirk, Alvensleben, Göhring, R. Khevenhüller,
Lambermont, E. Banning, Schack de Brockdorff, J. G. de Aguera, Edm.
van Eetvelde, A. van Malgeghem, A. Bourée, G. Cogordan, F. de Renzis,
T. Catalani, L. Gericke, Henrique de Macedo, Pereiro Coutinho, L.
Ouroussoff, Martens, Burenstam, Et Caratheodory.
TREATY OF AMITY, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION
HIS MAJESTY LEOPOLD II., KING OF THE BELGIANS, SOVEREIGN OF THE
INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE CONGO, and
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
desiring to perpetuate, confirm and encourage the relations of
commerce and of good understanding existing already between the
two respective countries, by the conclusion of a treaty of amity,
commerce, navigation and extradition, have for this purpose named as
their respective Plenipotentiaries, viz.:
HIS MAJESTY LEOPOLD II., KING OF THE BELGIANS, SOVEREIGN OF THE
INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE CONGO,
Edm. van Eetvelde, Administrator General of the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Officer of His Order of Leopold, and
HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Edwin H. Terrell, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the United States of America near His Majesty the King of the
Belgians, who, after having communicated to each other their full
powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following
articles:
ARTICLE I.—There shall be full, entire and reciprocal liberty of
commerce, establishment and navigation between the citizens and
inhabitants of the two High contracting Parties.
The citizens and inhabitants of the Independent State of the Congo
in the United States of America and those of the United States of
America in the independent State of the Congo shall have reciprocally
the right, on conforming to the laws of the country, to enter, travel
and reside in all parts of their respective territories; to carry
on business there; and they shall enjoy in this respect for the
protection of their persons and their property the same treatment and
the same rights as the natives, or the citizens and inhabitants of
the most favoured nation.
They can freely exercise their industry or their business, as
well wholesale as retail, in the whole extent of the territories,
without being subjected as to their persons or their property, or by
reason of their business, to any taxes, general or local, imposts
or conditions whatsoever other or more onerous than those which are
imposed or may be imposed upon the natives other than non-civilised
aborigines, or upon the citizens and inhabitants of the most favoured
nation.
In like manner, they will enjoy reciprocally the treatment of the
most favoured nation in all that relates to rights, privileges,
exemptions and immunities whatsoever concerning their persons or
their property and in the matter of commerce, industry and navigation.
ARTICLE II.—In all that concerns the acquisition, succession,
possession and alienation of property, real and personal, the
citizens and inhabitants of each of the High contracting Parties
shall enjoy in the territories of the other all the rights which the
respective laws accord or shall accord in those territories to the
citizens and inhabitants of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE III.—The citizens and inhabitants of each of the High
contracting Parties shall be exempt in the territories of the other
from all personal service in the army, navy, or militia, and from
all pecuniary contributions in lieu of such, as well as from all
obligatory official functions whatever, except the obligation of
sitting, within a radius of one hundred kilometres from the place of
their residence, as a juror in judicial proceedings; furthermore,
their property shall not be taken for the public service without an
ample and sufficient compensation.
They shall have free access to the courts of the other, on conforming
to the laws regulating the matter, as well for the prosecution as
for the defence of their rights, in all the degrees of jurisdiction
established by law. They can be represented by lawyers, and they
shall enjoy, in this respect, and in what concerns domiciliary visits
to their houses, manufactories, stores, warehouses, etc., the same
rights and the same advantages which are or shall be granted to the
citizens and inhabitants of the most favoured nation, or to natives.
ARTICLE IV.—The citizens and inhabitants of the two countries shall
enjoy, in the territory of the other, a full and entire liberty of
conscience. They shall be protected in the free exercise of their
worship; they shall have the right to erect religious edifices and to
organise and maintain missions.
ARTICLE V.—It will be lawful for the two High contracting Parties to
appoint and establish consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls, consular
agents and commercial agents in the territories of the other; but
none of these agents can exercise his functions before having
received the necessary exequatur from the Government to which he is
delegated.
The said agents of each of the two High contracting Parties shall
enjoy, in the territories of the other, upon the footing of a
complete reciprocity, all the privileges, immunities and rights which
are actually granted to those of the most favoured nation or which
may be accorded to them hereafter.
The said agents, citizens or inhabitants of the State by which they
are appointed shall not be subject to preliminary arrest, except
in the case of acts qualified as crimes by the local legislation
and punished as such. They shall be exempt from military billeting
and from service in the army, navy, or militia, as well as from all
direct taxes, unless these should be due on account of real estate,
or, unless the said agents should exercise a profession or business
of any kind.
The said agents can raise their national flag over their offices.
The consular offices shall be at all times inviolable. The local
authorities can not invade them under any pretext. They can not in
any case examine or seize the papers which shall be there deposited.
The consular offices can not, on the other hand, serve as place
of asylum, and if an agent of the consular service is engaged in
business, commercial or other, the papers relating to the consulate
shall be kept separate.
The said agents shall have the right to exercise all the functions
generally appertaining to consuls, especially in what concerns
the legalisation of private and public documents, of invoices and
commercial contracts, the taking of depositions and the right of
authenticating legal acts and documents.
The said agents shall have the right to address the administrative
and judicial authorities of the country in which they exercise their
functions in order to complain of any infraction of the treaties
or conventions existing between the two Governments, and for the
purpose of protecting the rights and interests of the citizens and
inhabitants of their country. They shall have also the right to
settle all differences arising between the captains or the officers
and the sailors of the sea-vessels of their nation. The local
authorities shall abstain from interfering in these cases unless the
maintenance of the public tranquillity requires it, or, unless their
assistance should be asked by the consular authority in order to
assure the execution of its decisions.
The local authorities will give to the said agents and, on their
default, to the captains or their casual representatives, all aid
for the search and arrest of sailor deserters, who shall be kept and
guarded in the prisons of the State upon the requisition and at the
expense of the consuls or of the captains, during a maximum delay of
two months.
ARTICLE VI.—The citizens and inhabitants of each of the High
contracting Parties shall have reciprocally, according to the same
rights and conditions and with the same privileges as those of the
most favoured nation, the right to enter with their vessels and
cargoes into all the ports and to navigate upon all the rivers and
interior waters of the other State.
The vessels of each of the contracting Parties and of its citizens
or inhabitants can freely navigate upon the waters of the territory
of the other, without being subject to any other tolls, charges or
obligations than those which the vessels belonging to the citizens or
inhabitants of the most favoured nation would have to bear.
There will not be imposed by either of the contracting Parties upon
the vessels belonging to the other or to the citizens or inhabitants
of the other, in the matter of tonnage, port charges, pilotage,
lighthouse and quarantine dues, salvage of vessels and other
administrative expenses whatsoever concerning navigation, any taxes
or charges whatever, other or higher than those which are or shall
be imposed upon the public or private vessels of the most favoured
nation.
It is agreed that every vessel belonging to one of the High
contracting Parties or to a citizen or inhabitant of one of them,
having the right to bear the flag of that country and having the
right to its protection, both according to the laws of that country,
shall be considered as a vessel of that nationality.
ARTICLE VII.—In what concerns the freight and facilities of
transportation, and tolls, the merchandise belonging to the citizens
or inhabitants of one of the contracting States transported over the
roads, railroads and waterways of the other State, shall be treated
on the same footing as the merchandise belonging to the citizens or
inhabitants of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE VIII.—In the territories of neither of the High contracting
Parties shall there be established or enforced a prohibition against
the importation, exportation or transit of any article of legal
commerce, produced or manufactured in the territories of the other,
unless this prohibition shall equally and at once be extended to all
other nations.
ARTICLE IX.—Relating to extraction was stricken out by the Senate.
ARTICLE X.—The Republic of the United States of America, recognising
that it is just and necessary to facilitate to the Independent State
of the Congo the accomplishment of the obligations which it has
contracted by virtue of the General Act of Brussels of July 2nd,
1890, admits, so far as it is concerned, that import duties may be
collected upon merchandise imported into the said State.
The tariff of these duties cannot go beyond 10 per cent. of the value
of the merchandise at the port of importation, during fifteen years
to date from July 2nd, 1890, except for spirits, which are regulated
by the provisions of Chapter VI. of the General Act of Brussels.
At the expiration of this term of fifteen years, and in default of
a new accord, the Independent State of the Congo will be placed as
to the United States of America in the situation which existed prior
to July 2nd, 1890; the right to impose import duties to a maximum of
10 per cent. upon merchandise imported into the said State remaining
acquired to it, on the conditions and within the limitations
determined in Articles XI. and XII. of this treaty.
ARTICLE XI.—The United States shall enjoy in the Independent State of
the Congo, as to the import duties, all the advantages accorded to
the most favoured nation.
It has been agreed besides:
1. That no differential treatment nor transit duty can be established;
2. That in the application of the tariff _régime_ which will be
introduced, the Congo State will apply itself to simplify, as far
as possible, the formalities and to facilitate the operations of
commerce.
ARTICLE XII.—Considering the fact that in Article X. of the present
treaty, the United States of America have given their assent to
the establishment of import duties in the Independent State of the
Congo under certain conditions, it is well understood that the said
Independent State of the Congo assures to the flag, to the vessels,
to the commerce and to the citizens and inhabitants of the United
States of America, in all parts of the territories of that State, all
the rights, privileges and immunities concerning import and export
duties, tariff _régime_, interior taxes and charges and, in a general
manner, all commercial interests, which are or shall be accorded to
the Signatory Powers of the Act of Berlin, or to the most favoured
nation.
ARTICLE XIII.—In case a difference should arise between the two
High contracting Parties as to the validity, interpretation,
application or enforcement of any of the provisions contained in the
present treaty, and it could not be arranged amicably by diplomatic
correspondence between the two Governments, these last agree to
submit it to the judgment of an arbitration tribunal, the decision of
which they bind themselves to respect and execute loyally.
The tribunal will be composed of three members. Each of the two High
contracting Parties will designate one of them, selected outside of
the citizens and the inhabitants of either of the contracting States
and of Belgium. The High contracting Parties will ask, by common
accord, a friendly Government to appoint the third arbitrator, to be
selected equally outside of the two contracting States and of Belgium.
If an arbitrator should be unable to sit by reason of death,
resignation, or for any other cause, he shall be replaced by a new
arbitrator whose appointment shall be made in the same manner as that
of the arbitrator whose place he takes.
The majority of arbitrators can act in case of the intentional
absence or formal withdrawal of the minority. The decision of the
majority of the arbitrators will be conclusive upon all questions to
be determined.
The general expenses of the arbitration procedure will be borne, in
equal parts, by the two High contracting Parties; but the expenses
made by either of the parties for preparing and setting forth its
case will be at the cost of that party.
ARTICLE XIV.—It is well understood that if the declaration on the
subject of the import duties, signed July 2nd, 1890, by the Signatory
Powers of the Act of Berlin, should not enter into force, in that
case, the present treaty would be absolutely null and without effect.
ARTICLE XV.—The present treaty shall be subject to the approval and
the ratification, on the one hand, of His Majesty the King of the
Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, and on the
other hand, of His Excellency the President of the United States,
acting by the advice and with the consent of the Senate.
The ratifications of the present treaty shall be exchanged at the
same time as those of the General Act of Brussels of July 2nd, 1890,
and it will enter into force at the same date as the latter.
In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries of the High
contracting Parties have signed the present treaty, in duplicate, in
French and in English, and have attached thereto their seals.
Done at Brussels, the twenty-fourth day of the month of January of
the year eighteen hundred and ninety-one.
[S.] EDM. VAN EETVELDE. [S.] EDWIN H. TERRELL.
RATIFICATION BY THE UNITED STATES
And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and
the ratifications of the two Governments were exchanged in the city
of Brussels, on the 2nd day of February, 1892,
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Benjamin Harrison, President of
the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made
public as amended, to the end that the same and every article and
clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the
United States and the citizens thereof.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this second day of April in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the
Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth.
[SEAL] BENJ. HARRISON.
By the President.
JAMES G. BLAINE,
Secretary of State.
PROTOCOL RECORDING THE RATIFICATION BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
OF THE GENERAL ACT OF BRUSSELS OF JULY 2, 1890—SIGNED AT BRUSSELS,
FEBRUARY 2, 1892
On the 2nd February, 1892, in conformity with Article XCIX. of
the General Act of the 2nd July, 1890, and with the unanimous
decision of the Signatory Powers prolonging till the 2nd February,
1892, in favour of the United States, the period fixed by the said
Article XCIX., the Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, deposited in the
hands of the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs the Ratification by
the President of the United States of the said General Act.
At His Excellency’s request the following Resolution whereby the
Senate of the United States consented to the Ratification of the
President, was inserted in the present Protocol:—
“_Resolved_ (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein),
“That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the
General Act signed at Brussels on the 2nd July, 1890, by the
Plenipotentiaries of the United States and other Powers, for the
suppression of the African Slave Trade, and for other purposes.
“_Resolved_ further: That the Senate advise and consent to the
acceptance of the partial ratification of the said General Act on
the part of the French Republic, and to the stipulations relative
thereto, as set forth in the Protocol signed at Brussels on the 2nd
February, 1892.
“_Resolved_ further, as a part of this act of ratification,
That the United States of America, having neither Possessions
nor Protectorates in Africa, hereby disclaims any intention, in
ratifying this Treaty, to indicate any interest whatsoever in the
Possessions or Protectorates established or claimed on that Continent
by the other Powers, or any approval of the wisdom, expediency, or
lawfulness thereof, and does not join in any expressions in the
said General Act which might be construed as such a declaration or
acknowledgment; and, for this reason, that it is desirable that a
copy of this Resolution be inserted in the Protocol to be drawn up at
the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty on the
part of the United States.”
The above Resolution of the Senate of the United States having been
textually communicated in advance by the Government of Belgium to all
the Signatory Powers of the General Act, the latter have assented to
its insertion in the present Protocol which shall remain annexed to
the Protocol of the 2nd February, 1892.
An official notification to this effect was made to the United States
Minister.
The Ratification of the President of the United States having been
found in good and due form, notification of its deposit was made
to his Excellency Mr. Edwin H. Terrell. It will be retained in the
archives of the Belgian Foreign Office.
On proceeding to the signature of the present Protocol the Minister
for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of the Belgians announced
that the Representative of Russia, in his note expressing the assent
of his Government, expressed the opinion that it was desirable that,
in the Protocol, a French translation should accompany the English
text of the Resolution of the Senate of the United States of America,
and that, in any case, the absence of such translation should not
form a precedent.
A certified copy of the present Protocol will be sent by the Belgian
Government to the Signatory Powers of the General Act.
Done at Brussels the 2nd February, 1892.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs,
(Signed) PRINCE DE CHIMAY.
The Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the
United States of America,
(Signed) EDWIN H. TERRELL.
* * * * *
DISPATCH FROM HIS MAJESTY’S MINISTER AT BRUSSELS RESPECTING THE
COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE NATIVES, INSTITUTED BY THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE INDEPENDENT CONGO STATE UNDER THE DECREE OF
SEPTEMBER 18, 1896
Sir C. Phipps to the Marquess of Lansdowne.—(Received May 19.)
(Extract.)
BRUSSELS, May 18, 1903.
M. DE CUVELIER handed to me this morning the documents herewith
inclosed on the subject of the working of the Commission for the
Protection of the Natives, instituted by the Congo State Government
under the Decree of the 18th September, 1896, which had been
collected and prepared for me in consequence of my request made to
that effect the day before yesterday.
Your Lordship will observe that the Congo Government places at my
disposal, without concealment, the whole correspondence which has
passed in regard to the Commission under discussion, including
dispatches not intended for publication. It undoubtedly leads to the
conclusion that, if the operation of the Commission has not been
so effective as might have been anticipated, the fault has rather
been due to the great extent of territory which it had the duty to
watch, and to the considerable distances by which its members were
separated, and not to any deficiency of conception or absence of
energy on the part of the Central Government.
* * * * *
SETTLEMENTS FOR NATIVE CHILDREN
LEOPOLD II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State
of the Congo,
To all present and to come, greeting:
_Whereas_ it is expedient to make provision for the protection of
those children who have been victims of the Slave Trade; and
_Whereas_ it is the general duty of the State to assume the
guardianship of abandoned children, or of those whose parents do not
fulfil their duties;
Now, therefore, on the proposal of our Administrator-General of the
Foreign Department, we have decreed and do hereby decree:—
ARTICLE 1. The State shall assume the guardianship of children
liberated in consequence of the arrest and dispersal of a convoy of
slaves; of fugitive slaves who demand such protection, of children
forsaken, abandoned, or orphans, and of those whose parents do not
fulfil their duty with regard to maintaining and educating them.
They shall be provided with the means of livelihood and a practical
education, and established in life.
ART. 2. With this object agricultural and professional settlements
shall be established, which shall admit not only such children as
come under the definitions of Article 1, but, as far as may be, those
children who shall ask to be admitted.
ART. 3. From the day of their admission the children shall be placed
exclusively under the guardianship of the State, to which they shall
remain subject, and shall be liable to work, at the discretion of the
Governor-General, up to the expiration of their twenty-fifth year in
return for maintenance, food, lodging, and free medical attendance.
ART. 4. Rules of administration prescribed by our Governor-General
shall decide the mode and conditions of admission to the settlements,
the composition of the directing staff, the programme of manual and
intellectual work, the details of supervision, disciplinary penalties
and their application, and the public services to which the children
shall be attached.
ART. 5. The administration of the guardianship of the children
admitted to the settlements shall, as far as their personal rights
and property are concerned, be regulated by the Civil Code.
ART. 6. Our Administrators-General of the Foreign and Home
Departments are charged, each in so far as it concerns him, with the
execution of this Decree.
Done at Brussels this 12th day of July, 1890.
(Signed) LEOPOLD.
By the King-Sovereign:
The Administrator-General of the Foreign
Department,
(Signed) EDM. VAN EETVELDE.
* * * * *
INSTITUTION OF A COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIVES
Leopold II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State
of the Congo, to all present and to come, greeting:
On the motion of our Secretary of State,
We have decreed and do hereby decree:
A permanent Commission is instituted to watch over the protection of
the natives throughout the territories of the State.
The members of this Commission are nominated by the King-Sovereign
for a period of two years from among the representatives of
philanthropic and religious Associations.
Are named in the first instance:
Mgr. van Ronslé, Bishop of Thymbrium, Vicar Apostolic of the Congo
Independent State, President;
Father van Hencxthoven, J., Superior of the Jesuit Mission at
Leopoldville;
Father de Cleene, of the Congregation of Scheut;
William Holman Bentley, of the Baptist Missionary Society Corporation;
Dr. A. Sims, of the American Baptist Missionary Union;
George Grenfell, of the Baptist Missionary Society Corporation,
Secretary.
The members of the Commission are to inform the Judicial authorities
of any acts of violence of which the natives may be the victims.
Each of the members, individually, may exercise this right of
protection, and communicate directly with the Governor-General.
The Commission shall further indicate to the Government the measures
to be taken to prevent slave-trading, to render more effective the
prohibition or restriction of the trade in spirituous liquors, and
gradually to bring about the abolition of barbarous customs, such as
cannibalism, human sacrifices, ordeal by poison, etc.
Our Secretary of State is charged with the execution of the present
Decree.
Done at Brussels, the 18th September, 1896.
(Signed) LEOPOLD.
By the King-Sovereign:
The Secretary of State,
(Signed) EDM. VAN EETVELDE.
* * * * *
LETTER OF INSTRUCTION FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE
GOVERNOR-GENERAL AT BOMA _IN RE_ PROTECTION OF NATIVES
BRUSSELS, October 1, 1896.
SIR,
I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a certified copy of a
Decree, dated the 18th September, appointing a Commission for the
protection of natives.
It has seemed advisable that selected and impartial men, without
official or administrative connection, should be placed in a position
to form a perfectly independent opinion in regard to any acts of
violence of which the natives may have to complain. Such is the
object of the new Commission which has been appointed to watch over
the protection of natives throughout the country.
Its members are nominated by the King-Sovereign, for a period of two
years, from among the representatives of philanthropic and religious
Associations.
By this expression the Decree pointed specially to the missionaries,
who were, indeed, marked out for nomination in virtue of their office.
The first members nominated are: Mgr. van Ronslé, Fathers van
Hencxthoven and De Cleene, the Protestant missionaries William
Holman Bentley, Dr. A. Sims, and G. Grenfell. The last mentioned is
appointed Secretary; Mgr. van Ronslé is nominated President.
I have to request you to inform them individually of their selection
by the King-Sovereign; the Government are confident that they will
not be appealing in vain to the devotion of these gentlemen in
requesting the assistance of their services in a work of humanity
and protection. One of the authenticated copies of the Decree
hereto annexed is intended for each, and will serve as a letter of
appointment.
The Decree specifies the duty intrusted to them as being that of
notifying to the judicial authorities acts of violence of which the
natives may be the victims. This right of initiative belongs to each
member individually, that is to say, that he can act separately
without any co-operation on the part of the other members of the
Commission. Each member may of his own accord address direct
communications to the Governor-General with regard to any matters
which come within the scope of his mission.
It is the express desire of the Government that the authorities
should act upon the information thus given by the members of the
Commission, and open an inquiry and institute proceedings either
administrative or, in cases of infractions of the law, judicial, in
accordance with the general instructions given to the Department of
Criminal Justice (_le Parquet_).
It will hardly be necessary to call the attention of the members of
the Commission to the fact that, by reason of the great attention
which will be paid to any complaint which they may make, it will
behove them to act with circumspection, and to give the authority of
their support only to those facts of which they may have personal
knowledge, and which are based on trustworthy evidence.
The Decree lastly provides that the Commission may, through the
medium of its Secretary, indicate to the Government the measures
to be taken to prevent slave-trading, to render more effective the
prohibition or restriction of the trade in spirituous liquors, and
gradually to bring about the disappearance of inhuman practices.
The simplest mode of procedure will be for the Secretary of the
Commission—and I am sure that Mr. G. Grenfell will be willing to
accept the duty—to forward to the Governor-General a half-yearly
report on these questions, containing the observations and proposals
of the members of the Commission on the subject. This half-yearly
report would also deal with the working of the Commission, the acts
of violence definitely established by the members, the complaints
made, and the results achieved.
I have to request you to keep me informed of the manner in which
the new Decree is carried out, and to acquaint me with the definite
constitution of the Commission.
The terms of the Decree seem calculated to afford the natives a real
guarantee. In order to strengthen this still more, the Government
have decided that all offences against the persons of natives, and
all attempts against their liberties committed by Europeans, shall
be remitted exclusively to the Court of First Instance at Boma, that
is to say, before a Court sitting under the fullest conditions of
publicity and control. I therefore request that you will instruct
the Public Prosecutors (_Parquet_) to bring offences of the kind
before that Court, instead of sending them to the territorial Courts,
reserving of course the special jurisdiction which the law gives to
military Courts (_Conseils de Guerre_) in the case of soldiers.
Believe, etc.,
The Secretary of State,
(Signed) EDM. VAN EETVELDE.
* * * * *
BOLOBO, December 26, 1896.
REVEREND SIR,
I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a certified copy of
the Decree of the 18th December last appointing a Commission for the
protection of natives, and nominating you to fulfil the duties of
Secretary to the said Commission. This authenticated copy will serve
you as your letter of appointment to the important functions for
the performance of which the King-Sovereign has selected you. The
Government are confident that their appeal for your assistance in a
work of humanity and protection will not be in vain.
Owing to the powers devolving upon you as a member of the Commission,
you will be in a position to form a perfectly independent opinion
in regard to any acts of violence of which the natives may have
to complain, and it will be your duty to notify to the judicial
authorities any improper proceedings of which the natives in
question may be the victims. This right of initiative belongs to you
individually, that is to say, you may act separately, without any
co-operation on the part of the other members of the Commission.
On your information the authorities will open an inquiry, and
will institute proceedings, either administrative or, in cases of
infractions of the law, judicial.
In view of the action which will be taken on any complaint emanating
from you or from the Commission, it is scarcely necessary to remind
you that circumspection is called for, and that you should give the
authority of your support only to those facts of which you may have a
personal knowledge, and which are based on trustworthy evidence.
The Commission will also have the duty of drawing the attention of
the Government to the measures to be taken to prevent slave-trading,
to render more effective the prohibition or restriction of the trade
in spirituous liquors, and gradually to bring about the disappearance
of inhuman practices. The simplest mode of procedure in this matter
would be, in the opinion of the Government, that you, in your
capacity as Secretary—and the Government is convinced that you will
be willing to accept this duty—should send in a half-yearly report
on these questions, containing the observations and proposals of the
members of the Commission on the subject. This half-yearly report
might also deal with the working of the Commission, the acts of
violence definitely established by its members, the complaints made,
and the results achieved.
But in this matter, as in everything which relates to the working of
the Commission, the Government give it full discretion.
In forwarding to each of the members a copy of the new Decree, and in
announcing his nomination to each individually, I am informing them
of your appointment as Secretary. You will be good enough to place
yourself in communication with them in order, if possible, in spite
of distance, to arrange, at Leopoldville, for instance, a meeting of
all the members of the Commission, or of a certain number of them,
or definitely to constitute the Commission by correspondence, and
to settle such measures as should be taken for the execution of the
Decree.
Believe, etc.,
The Governor-General,
(Signed) WAHIS.
* * * * *
To
The Reverend George Grenfell,
Baptist Missionary Society, Bolobo.
CIRCULAR TO ALL THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS, HEADS OF ZONES AND OF
POSTS, WITH REGARD TO BARBAROUS CUSTOMS PREVAILING AMONG THE NATIVE
TRIBES.
BRUSSELS, February 27, 1897.
GENTLEMEN,
As you are aware, the Government have had constantly under their
consideration the barbarous practices, such as cannibalism, ordeal by
poison, and human sacrifices, which prevail among the native tribes,
and the best means of bringing about their disappearance.
In this matter, as in all questions in which allowance must to some
extent be made for long-established custom and social conditions
which it would be impolitic to attack too directly, the Government
have thought it advisable to act at first with prudence and
circumspection, without, however, remaining inactive.
For this reason the first instruction issued to officers did not,
in all cases, prescribe repression by force; they enjoined the
exercise of their influence and authority with a view to deterring
the natives by persuasion from indulging in these inhuman practices.
A further advance has been made: the moment the authority of the
State was sufficiently established in the neighbourhood of its
posts and stations, the toleration of such customs was formally
prohibited within a certain distance round the State stations or
European establishments, and the Penal Law made their repression in
these places possible by its provisions respecting acts of violence
against the person. Outside this limit it lay with the officers of
the Department of Criminal Justice (_Ministère Public_) to prosecute
or not, according as the situation of the district and the forces at
the disposal of the authorities permitted.
These measures have not been without result. Not only have cases
of cannibalism become less frequent in the centres occupied by the
officers of the State, but the native himself has learnt, and now
knows, the horror felt by Europeans for cannibalism, and is no longer
ignorant of the fact that by giving way to it he renders himself
liable to punishment. As a general rule, indeed, it is only in
secret, and out of sight of Europeans, that he still indulges in the
odious custom, for he has become convinced that, save in exceptional
cases in which the white man is powerless to do otherwise, he will
not let him go unpunished.
The Government considers that an even more decisive step should be
taken in the direction of repression. As the State’s occupation of
these districts becomes more and more complete, as its posts are
multiplied all along the Upper Congo, and as regular Courts are
gaining a footing in the interior, the moment seems to have come to
endeavour to reach the evil once for all, and to seek to extirpate it
everywhere where our authority is sufficiently established to enable
us to enforce absolute respect for the Penal Law.
It was with this view that the Decree of the 18th December, 1896,
was drawn up, by which more particularly cases of cannibalism and
ordeal by poison were made special offences. It is the Government’s
intention that these provisions shall be strictly enforced, and it
is the aim of the present Circular to direct all our officers to
bring to justice any offences of this kind which may come to their
knowledge. It will be the duty of the officers of the Department
of Criminal Justice (_Ministère Public_) to institute proceedings
against the delinquents, and in these special cases they will not
be at liberty to apply Article 84 of the Decree of the 27th April,
1889, and to hand them over to the jurisdiction of the local Chief
to be dealt with by native custom. It is, indeed, evident that such
a course is out of the question in dealing with a class of offences
which are contrary to the principles of our civilisation, and which
are the outcome of customs which we are seeking to abolish.
The Government count on general assistance, with a view to insuring
the prompt and certain repression of these offences, and they believe
that a few severe examples will have a powerful effect in inducing
the native to put an end to these reprehensible practices. The
District Commissioners and Heads of Stations are in this connection
expected to police the territories under their administration, and to
take the necessary measures to obtain exact information.
The Director of Justice will forward to the Government every quarter
a Report on the practice of cannibalism, on the cases prosecuted,
and, if necessary, on the new measures which should be taken in order
to check and extirpate this custom.
* * * * *
MISSIONARY GRENFELL ON ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, BOLOBO, July 13, 1897.
SIR,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the
17th May, together with the enclosure, relative to cannibalism, proof
by poison, and human sacrifices, dated Brussels, the 27th February,
1897.
I need hardly say, M. le Gouverneur, that I sympathise most sincerely
with the Government in its desire to eradicate the evils referred
to; and you may rely upon my best efforts in the long and arduous
struggle involved in combating them.
I am glad to recognise the gradual extension of the zone where
justice is administered by regularly constituted Judges, for there
is no doubt that where the administration of the State has been
sufficiently advanced to allow of this, the evils referred to are
very markedly on the decrease. It is not possible, of course, to
complete at a stroke the organisation of distant territory, or at
once to appoint Judges in new districts, but the fact that the
State is persistently pushing the regular administration of justice
towards the interior encourages one in confidently looking forward
to the reducing of the cases of cannibalism, proof by poison, and
human sacrifices in those parts of the Colony that as yet have not
benefited by the ameliorating influences that have done so much for
its western section.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) GEORGE GRENFELL.
M. le Gouverneur-Général,
Boma.
* * * * *
CO-ORDINATED TEXT OF VARIOUS INSTRUCTIONS RESPECTING RELATIONS
BETWEEN CONGO STATE OFFICIALS AND NATIVES
It will be the especial care of Heads of Expeditions and of
District Commissioners to see that their subordinates, of whatever
degree, act, in their dealings with the natives, with the tact
which is necessary to avoid such conflict as might arise from
misunderstandings or from proceedings which run too sharply counter
to native habits and customs.
They will recommend their officers to proceed slowly in reforming the
native, and will draw their serious attention to the danger of trying
to obtain too rapid results. Before using force, they will try to
enter into negotiations with the natives, and they must remember that
it is better to obtain redress for harm done to the State by pacific
means rather than by force of arms.
The Government are aware that energetic measures of repression are
sometimes necessary, but they consider that such measures should be
used only in exceptional cases, and after every means of conciliation
has been exhausted.
In many cases negotiations skilfully conducted and prolonged will
avoid direct hostilities.
It is, for instance, obviously advisable, with a view to avoid
bloodshed, to make use of such Chiefs as are at once devoted to the
State and in friendly relations with the tribes in conflict with the
authorities.
In this way the natives, and especially those who are not in
continuous relations with Europeans, will not misunderstand
the intentions and sentiments of the State towards them, a
misunderstanding which would certainly arise from a too hasty
recourse to extreme measures.
In any case, whenever resort to force has become inevitable, the
Government must receive exact and complete information in regard to
the motives which have led to its employment, and operations must, as
far as possible, be so carried out that only the guilty suffer.
No officer is to engage in hostilities with the natives, unless in
self-defence, or duly authorised by the Commissioner of his district
or the Head of his expedition.
Moreover, the regular and auxiliary troops engaged in warlike
operations must always be commanded by a European. No exception to
this rule will be admitted, and officers who transgress it will
render themselves liable to dismissal as well as to any judicial
proceedings it may be thought advisable to institute against them.
In case of hostilities, the property of natives is not to be
destroyed, and under no pretext may villages be burnt as a means of
repression. The European commissioned and non-commissioned officers
will take especial care that the operations shall be conducted in
such a manner as to avoid all cruelty. Wounded rebels are to receive
careful attention, and the bodies of the dead must be respected.
The barbarous mutilation of dead bodies, as often practised by the
natives among themselves, is to be absolutely forbidden by the
Europeans.
All Europeans at the head of troops engaged in warfare will be held
personally responsible for all such cruelties as they may tolerate;
all guilty persons will be brought before a military Court and dealt
with according to law.
Prisoners of war and hostages are to be treated humanely, and their
ill-usage is strictly forbidden.
Any women and children found among them shall be placed under the
immediate protection of the officer in command of the operations.
Officers of the State must remember that the disciplinary penalties
provided by the Military Regulations are only applicable to such as
are military recruits, and then only for offences against discipline
and in accordance with the special provisions of the said Regulations.
The said penalties can, under no pretence, be put into force against
non-military servants of the State or against the natives, whether
rebels or not.
Those among them who are accused of offences or crimes must be
remitted to the competent Tribunals and tried according to law.
Should officers of the State infringe the Rules laid down respecting
the relations which they are to have with the natives, or tolerate
mutilations and cruelties on the part of their soldiers, they will,
in case of a specified offence, be remitted to a Court of Justice.
They would, in any case, be subjected to disciplinary punishment.
Moreover, the guilty officers, if already decorated with the Service
Star, will lose their right to wear it.
It is equally indispensable that officers should act justly, and in
accordance with the instructions in force, in their dealings with
the servants of the State. They are forbidden to act illegally, _i.
e._, to inflict punishments other than those provided for breaches of
discipline or to disregard legal forms for the purpose of repressing
offences of which the servants of the State, and notably soldiers,
may be guilty. When sentences have been passed, they must be
undergone in accordance with the specified legal conditions.
Any officer departing from these Rules would be guilty of abuse of
authority, and render himself liable to dismissal.
District Commissioners and Heads of expeditions must exercise the
most vigilant control over such detachments of black soldiers as
they may be obliged to place among the natives. These detachments
must on no account be provided with improved firearms. Their task is
exclusively one of protection and supervision.
They are never to intervene in quarrels between natives. They must
confine themselves to informing the nearest station commanded by an
European.
It is the duty of the European officers to make frequent inspections
of such detachments, and to see that they do not in any way
transgress the limits imposed upon them by their orders. They are
to summon the neighbouring native Chiefs on the occasion of these
inspections, and will receive their complaints, should they have any
to make.
The Negro officers of the stations are strictly forbidden themselves
to take any measures of repression against the natives; the duty of
taking measures, when occasion arises, devolves upon the European
officers alone.
The arrangements to be made with the villages must be concluded by a
European.
Any Chief of a Negro station levying exactions on the natives, or
ill-treating them, or in any way abusing his authority over them,
must be prosecuted according to law, and immediately suspended from
his duties.
The Heads of expeditions and Commissioners of Districts are
personally responsible for the conduct of any Negro posts under their
orders. They would be guilty of a very serious offence if they gave
these detachments any duties other than those defined above, and if
they did not constantly supervise them and immediately repress all
abuses coming under their notice.
* * * * *
REPORT OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION
OF NATIVES, HELD AT LEOPOLDVILLE ON MAY 17, 1897. PRESENT, THE
REVEREND FATHER VAN HENCXTHOVEN, DR. SIMS, AND THE SECRETARY, MR.
GRENFELL
In the absence of Mgr. van Ronslé, the Rev. Father van Hencxthoven
was elected President for the sitting.
Seeing that the members of the Commission live far apart, and in view
of the difficulty of all the members meeting, it was decided that
three members should form a quorum.
The members of the Commission found that from the date of the
constitution of the Commission, so far as their personal experience
went, the laws of the State had been duly administered with a view
to the protection of life and property, as well as to the well-being
of the community. They found, further, that every case of injustice
brought to the notice of the authorities had been immediately
followed by measures of the most energetic description.
In the absence of Mr. Bentley, his Report was communicated to
the Secretary. He writes that the Judge of the district where he
resides, had, in each case notified to him, at once taken measures
to punish the guilty, some cases having been settled satisfactorily,
and the others being before the Court. The Judge informed Mr. Bentley
that he would always be ready, on receiving a week’s notice, to go to
Lutete, and try any case.
The members of the Commission, recalling the days of native rule,
take this opportunity of recording their sincere appreciation of, and
their gratitude for, the law and order introduced by the Independent
State into the districts where they reside.
The members of the Commission also record with the deepest
satisfaction their opinion that, as far as they know, the laws
forbidding the introduction of alcoholic liquor for natives to the
east of the River N’Kissi have been satisfactorily enforced. They
consider the restriction of the zone up to the west of the River
Kwilu as a really judicious and beneficent measure, and they trust
that the Government will be as successful within the new limit as
heretofore within the old.
The members of the Commission deeply regret that ordeal by poison
is still practised over so great an extent of the country, and that
its suppression is so difficult. In those districts which are more
completely administered, ordeal by poison is practised in secret,
owing to the penalties of the law, and the members hope that the same
measures of repression will be taken in the interior districts as
soon as the organisation of the Government allows of it.
The Commission desire to call the attention of the Government to the
fact that all its members are chosen from the Stanley Pool district
and below, and that no one has been chosen from the immense districts
which are supposed to furnish the reason for the existence of the
Commission for the protection of the natives.
The members of the Commission, also, seeing that it is only possible
for them to act within the very narrow scope of their personal
experience, venture to hope that the Inspector specially nominated
by His Majesty the King-Sovereign, will soon arrive, seeing that his
powers of observation would be infinitely greater than our own.
(Signed) GEORGE GRENFELL, _Secretary_.
LEOPOLDVILLE, May 17, 1897.
* * * * *
PROTECTION OF NATIVES—COMMISSION
Leopold II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State
of the Congo, to all present and to come, greeting:
On reconsideration of our Decree of the 18th September, 1896,
appointing a Commission for the protection of natives:
On the suggestion of our Secretary of State,
We have decreed and do hereby decree:
Article I. The following are appointed members of this Commission,
for the period of two years mentioned by the said Decree:
Mgr. van Ronslé, Bishop of Thymbrium, Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariat
of Belgian Congo, President.
The Reverend Father van Hencxthoven, J., of the Society of Jesus.
The Reverend Father Cambier, of the Congregation of Scheut.
Mr. William Holman Bentley, of the Baptist Missionary Society
Corporation.
Dr. A. Sims, of the American Baptist Missionary Union.
Mr. George Grenfell, of the Baptist Missionary Society Corporation,
Secretary.
Art. 2. The members of the Commission shall carry out their mandate
in accordance with the terms of the above-mentioned Decree of the
18th September, 1896.
Art. 3. Our Secretary of State is intrusted with the execution of the
present Decree.
Done at Brussels, March 23, 1901.
(Signed) LEOPOLD.
By the King-Sovereign:
In the name of the Secretary of State,
The Secretaries-General,
(Signed) CHEVALIER DE CUVELIER,
H. DROOGMANS,
LIEBRECHTS.
* * * * *
DISPATCH TO CERTAIN OF HIS MAJESTY’S REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD IN
REGARD TO ALLEGED CASES OF ILL-TREATMENT OF NATIVES AND TO THE
EXISTENCE OF TRADE MONOPOLIES IN THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF THE CONGO
_The Marquess of Lansdowne to His Majesty’s Representatives
at Paris, Berlin, Rome, St, Petersburg, Vienna, Madrid,
Constantinople, Brussels, Lisbon, the Hague, Copenhagen, and
Stockholm._
FOREIGN OFFICE, August 8, 1903.
SIR,
The attention of His Majesty’s Government has during recent years
been repeatedly called to alleged cases of ill-treatment of natives
and to the existence of trade monopolies in the Independent State
of the Congo. Representations to this effect are to be found in
memorials from philanthropic societies, in communications from
commercial bodies, in the public press, and in dispatches from His
Majesty’s Consuls.
The same matters formed the subject of a debate in the House of
Commons on the 20th ultimo, when the House passed the Resolution, a
copy of which is inclosed.
In the course of the debate, the official record of which is also
inclosed, it was alleged that the object of the Administration was
not so much the care and government of the natives as the collection
of revenue; that this object was pursued by means of a system of
forced labour, differing only in name from slavery; that the demands
upon each village were exacted with a strictness which constantly
degenerated into great cruelty; and that the men composing the armed
force of the State were in many cases recruited from the most warlike
and savage tribes, who not infrequently terrorised over their own
officers and maltreated the natives without regard to discipline or
fear of punishment.
As regards the ill-treatment of natives, a distinction may be drawn
between isolated acts of cruelty committed by individuals, whether
in the service of the State or not, and a system of administration
involving and accompanied by systematic cruelty or oppression.
The fact that many individual instances of cruelty have taken place
in the Congo State is proved beyond possibility of contradiction by
the occurrence of cases in which white officials have been convicted
of outrages on natives. These white officials must, however, in view
of the vast extent of the territory under their administration, in
most cases be of necessity isolated the one from the other, with
the result that detection becomes additionally difficult. It is
therefore not unfair to assume that the number of convictions falls
considerably short of the number of actual offences committed.
It is, however, with regard to the system of administration that the
most serious allegations are brought against the Independent State.
It is reported that no efforts are made to fit the native by training
for industrial pursuits; that the method of obtaining men for labour
or for military service is often but little different from that
formerly employed to obtain slaves; and that force is now as much
required to take the native to the place of service as it used to
be to convey the captured slave. It is also reported that constant
compulsion has to be exercised in order to exact the collection
of the amount of forest produce allotted to each village as the
equivalent of the number of days’ labour due from the inhabitants,
and that this compulsion is often exercised by irresponsible native
soldiers uncontrolled by any European officer.
His Majesty’s Government do not know precisely to what extent these
accusations may be true; but they have been so repeatedly made, and
have received such wide credence, that it is no longer possible to
ignore them, and the question has now arisen whether the Congo State
can be considered to have fulfilled the special pledges, given under
the Berlin Act, to watch over the preservation of the native tribes,
and to care for their moral and material advancement.
The graver charges against the State relate almost exclusively to the
upper valleys of the Congo and of its affluents. The lands forming
these vast territories are held either by the State itself or by
Companies closely connected with the State, under a system which,
whatever its object, has effectually kept out the independent trader,
as opposed to the owner or to the occupier of the soil, and has
consequently made it difficult to obtain independent testimony.
His Majesty’s Government have further laboured under the disadvantage
that British interests have not justified the maintenance of a large
Consular staff in the Congo territories. It is true that in 1901 His
Majesty’s Government decided to appoint a Consul of wide African
experience to reside permanently in the State, but his time has been
principally occupied in the investigation of complaints preferred by
British subjects, and he has as yet been unable to travel into the
interior and to acquire, by personal inspection, knowledge of the
condition of the enormous territory forming his district.
His reports on the cases of British subjects, which have formed
the basis of representations to the Government of the Independent
State, afford, however, examples of grave maladministration and
ill-treatment. These cases do not concern natives of the Congo
State, and are therefore in themselves alien to the subject of this
dispatch; but as they occurred in the immediate vicinity of Boma, the
seat of the central staff, and in regard to British subjects, most
of whom were under formal engagements, they undoubtedly lead to the
belief that the natives, who have no one in the position of a Consul
to whom they can appeal and have no formal engagements, receive even
less consideration at the hands of the officers of the Government.
Moreover, information which has reached His Majesty’s Government from
British officers in territory adjacent to that of the State tends to
show that, notwithstanding the obligations accepted under Article VI.
of the Berlin Act, no attempt at any administration of the natives
is made, and that the officers of the Government do not apparently
concern themselves with such work, but devote all their energy to the
collection of revenue. The natives are left entirely to themselves,
so far as any assistance in their government or in their affairs is
concerned. The Congo stations are shunned, the only natives seen
being soldiers, prisoners, and men who are brought in to work. The
neighbourhood of stations which are known to have been populous a few
years ago is now uninhabited, and emigration on a large scale takes
place to the territory of neighbouring States, the natives usually
averring that they are driven away from their homes by the tyranny
and exaction of the soldiers.
The sentiments which undoubtedly animated the founders of the Congo
State and the representatives of the Powers at Berlin were such as to
deserve the cordial sympathy of the British Government, who have been
loath to believe either that the beneficent intentions with which the
Congo State was constituted, and of which it gave so solemn a pledge
at Berlin, have in any way been abandoned, or that every effort has
not been made to realise them.
But the fact remains that there is a feeling of grave suspicion,
widely prevalent among the people of this country, in regard to
the condition of affairs in the Congo State, and there is a deep
conviction that the many charges brought against the State’s
administration must be founded on a basis of truth.
In these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government are of opinion
that it is incumbent upon the Powers parties to the Berlin Act to
confer together and to consider whether the obligations undertaken
by the Congo State in regard to the natives have been fulfilled;
and, if not, whether the Signatory Powers are not bound to make such
representations as may secure the due observance of the provisions
contained in the Act.
As indicated at the beginning of this dispatch, His Majesty’s
Government also wish to bring to the notice of the Powers the
question which has arisen in regard to rights of trade in the basin
of the Congo.
Article I. of the Berlin Act provides that the trade of all nations
shall enjoy complete freedom in the basin of the Congo; and Article
V. provides that no Power which exercises sovereign rights in the
basin shall be allowed to grant therein a monopoly or favour of any
kind in matters of trade.
In the opinion of His Majesty’s Government, the system of trade now
existing in the Independent State of the Congo is not in harmony with
these provisions.
With the exception of a relatively small area on the Lower Congo, and
with the further exception of the small plots actually occupied by
the huts and cultivation patches of the natives, the whole territory
is claimed as the private property either of the State or of holders
of land concessions. Within these regions the State or, as the case
may be, the concession-holder alone may trade in the natural produce
of the soil. The fruits gathered by the natives are accounted the
property of the State, or of the concession-holder, and may not be
acquired by others. In such circumstances, His Majesty’s Government
are unable to see that there exists the complete freedom of trade or
absence of monopoly in trade which is required by the Berlin Act. On
the contrary, no one other than the agents of the State or of the
concession-holder has the opportunity to enter into trade relations
with the natives; or, if he does succeed in reaching the natives, he
finds that the only material which the natives can give in exchange
for his trade goods or his money is claimed as having been the
property of the State or of the concession-holder from the moment it
was gathered by the native.
His Majesty’s Government in no way deny either that the State has
the right to partition the State lands among _bona-fide_ occupants,
or that the natives will, as the land is so divided out among
_bona-fide_ occupiers, lose their right of roaming over it and
collecting the natural fruits which it produces. But His Majesty’s
Government maintain that until unoccupied land is reduced into
individual occupation, and so long as the produce can only be
collected by the native, the native should be free to dispose of that
produce as he pleases.
In these circumstances, His Majesty’s Government consider that
the time has come when the Powers parties to the Berlin Act
should consider whether the system of trade now prevailing in the
Independent State is in harmony with the provisions of the Act; and,
in particular, whether the system of making grants of vast areas of
territory is permissible under the Act if the effect of such grants
is in practice to create a monopoly of trade by excluding all persons
other than the concession-holder from trading with the natives in
that area. Such a result is inevitable if the grants are made in
favour of persons or Companies who cannot themselves use the land
or collect its produce, but must depend for obtaining it upon the
natives, who are allowed to deal only with the grantees.
His Majesty’s Government will be glad to receive any suggestions
which the Governments of the Signatory Powers may be disposed to
make in reference to this important question, which might perhaps
constitute, wholly or in part, the subject of a reference to the
Tribunal at the Hague.
I request that you will read this dispatch to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, and leave a copy of it with his Excellency.
I am, etc.,
(Signed) LANSDOWNE.
REPLY OF THE CONGO STATE GOVERNMENT TO THE BRITISH DISPATCH OF
AUGUST 8TH, TO THE POWERS SIGNATORY TO THE BERLIN ACT
BRUSSELS, September 17, 1903.
The Government of the Independent State of the Congo have examined
the dispatch from the Foreign Office, dated the 8th August last,
which was communicated to the Signatory Powers of the Berlin Act,
and declare themselves in agreement with His Majesty’s Government on
two fundamental points, viz., that natives ought to be treated with
humanity and gradually led into the paths of civilisation, and that
freedom of commerce in the Conventional Basin of the Congo ought to
be entire and complete.
They deny, however, that the manner in which the State is
administered involves a systematic _régime_ “of cruelty or
oppression,” and that the principle of commercial freedom would
introduce modifications in the rights of property as universally
understood, seeing that there is not a word to this effect in the
Berlin Act. The Congo State observes that there is in that Act
no provision which would sanction restrictions of any kind on
the exercise of the rights of property, or give to one Signatory
Power the right of intervention in the interior administration of
another. It desires faithfully to observe the Berlin Act, that great
International Act which binds all Signatory or Adhering Powers,
according to the clear grammatical sense of the text, which none has
power either to take from or add to.
The English note observes that it is within the last few years that a
definite shape has been assumed by the campaign conducted in England
against the Congo State, on the two-fold pretext of the ill-treatment
of natives and the existence of commercial monopolies.
It is indeed worthy of remark that this campaign dates from the time
when the prosperity of the State became assured. The State had been
founded for years, and administered in the same way as it is now; its
principles in regard to the State-ownership of vacant lands, and the
manner in which its armed forces were organised and recruited, were
known to the public, without any interest in the matter being shown
by the philanthropists and traders to whose opinion the note begins
by referring. This was the period during which the State Budget could
only be balanced by means of the King-Sovereign’s subsidies and
Belgian loans, and when the commerce of the Congo did not attract
attention. The term “Congo atrocities” was at that time only used
in connection with “the alleged ill-treatment of African natives by
English and other adventurers in the Congo Free State.”[85] After
1895 the trade of the Congo State developed remarkably, and the
amount of its exports shows a progressive increase from ten millions
in 1895 to fifty millions in 1902. It is also about this time that
the anti-Congo movement took shape. As the State gave increased proof
of vitality and progress, the campaign became more active, reliance
being placed on a few individual and isolated cases with a view to
using the interests of humanity as a pretext and concealing the real
object of a covetousness which, in its impatience, has betrayed
itself in the writings of pamphleteers and in the speeches of members
of the House of Commons, in which the abolition and partition of the
Congo State has been clearly put forward.
Such being the object in view, it became necessary to bring a whole
series of charges against the State. So far as the humanitarian side
of the question is concerned, the alleged cases of violence offered
to natives have once more been brought forward and re-edited _ad
infinitum_. For in all the meetings, writings, and speeches which
have latterly been directed against the State, it is always the same
facts which are brought up, and the same evidence which is produced.
With regard to the economic side of the question, the State has been
accused of having violated the Act of Berlin, notwithstanding the
legal opinions of such lawyers as are most qualified to speak to the
point, which afford ample legal justification both for its commercial
and for its land system. With regard to the political side, a heresy
in international law has been imagined, viz., that a State, the
independence and sovereignty of which are absolute, should, at the
same time, owe its position to the intervention of Foreign Powers.
With regard to the cases of ill-treatment of natives, we attach
special importance to those which, according to the note, have been
reported in the dispatches of His Majesty’s Consular Agents. At
the sitting of the House of Commons on the 11th March, 1903, Lord
Cranborne referred to these official documents, and we have requested
through his Excellency Sir C. Phipps that the British Government will
make known to us the facts alluded to. We repeat the request.
The Government of the State have, however, never denied that crimes
and offences are committed in the Congo, as in every other country
or colony. The note itself recognises that these offences have been
brought before the Tribunals, and that the criminals have been
punished. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the State
fulfils its mission; the conclusion actually drawn is that “many
individual instances of cruelty have taken place in the Congo State,”
and that “the number of convictions falls considerably short of the
number of offences actually committed.” This deduction does not
appear necessarily to follow. It would seem more logical to say that
the severe sentences inflicted will serve as a wholesome example,
and that a decrease of crime may on that account be looked for.
If some offences have indeed, in the extensive territories of the
State, escaped the vigilance of the judicial authorities, this is a
circumstance which is not peculiar to the Congo State.
The English note proceeds chiefly on hypotheses and suppositions:
“It was alleged ... It is reported ... It is also reported ...” and
it even says that “His Majesty’s Government do not know precisely to
what extent these accusations may be true.” This is an acknowledgment
that, in the eyes of the British Government themselves, the
accusations in question are neither established nor proved. And,
indeed, the violence, the passion, and the improbability of many of
these accusations must raise doubt in an impartial mind as to their
genuineness. To give but one example:—a great deal has been made
of the statement that, in a train coming down from Leopoldville to
Matadi, three carriages were full of slaves, a dozen of whom were in
chains and guarded by soldiers. The Governor-General was asked for
a report on the case. He replied: “The individuals represented as
composing a convoy of slaves were, the great majority of them (125),
levies proceeding from the district of Lualaba-Kassai, Lake Leopold
II., and the Bangalas to the camp in the Lower Congo. Annexed you
will find lists of these persons. As regards the men in chains, they
were certain individuals on whom sentence had been passed by the
territorial Tribunal at Basoko, and who were on their way to undergo
their sentence at the central prison at Boma. They are Nos. 3642 to
3649 on the prison register at Boma.”
In the same way, quite a recent “interview,” in which the usual
accusations of cruelty were reproduced, is due to a person formerly
in the employ of the State, who was “declared unfit for service,” and
who has failed to persuade the State to accept his proposal to write
for the press articles favourable to the Administration.
The note ignores the replies, contradictions, and corrections which
the attacks on the agents of the State have occasioned at the
various times when they have taken place. It ignores the official
declarations publicly made by the Government of the State in June
last, after the debate in the House of Commons on the 20th May,
the report of which is annexed to the note. We also annex the
text of these declarations which dealt, by anticipation, with the
considerations set forth in the dispatch of the 8th August.
The only fresh cause of complaint which the note brings
forward—doubtless with the object of explaining the not unimportant
fact that the English Consul, who has resided in the Congo since
1901, does not appear to support, by his personal authority, the
accusations of private individuals—is that this agent has been
“principally occupied in the investigation of complaints preferred
by British subjects.” The impression which one would derive from
this is that such complaints have been exceptionally numerous. No
doubt the Consul has, on different occasions, communicated with the
Administration at Boma in the interests of his countrymen, but the
subjects of his representations, if one may judge by such of their
number as the English Legation has had to bring to the notice of the
Central Government at Brussels, do not appear, either in number or
importance, to have been more than matters of everyday administrative
routine: some cases in particular concerned the regulation of
the succession to property in the Congo left by deceased English
subjects; the object in others was to repair errors of judicial
procedure, such as occur elsewhere, and it is not even alleged that
the proper action has not been taken upon these representations. The
same Consul, who was appointed in 1898, wrote to the Governor-General
on the 2nd July, 1901, as follows:
“I pray believe me when I express now, not only for myself,
but for my fellow-countrymen in this part of Africa, our very
sincere appreciation of your efforts on behalf of the general
community—efforts to promote goodwill among all and to bring together
the various elements of our local life.”
Nor do the predecessors of Mr. R. Casement—for English Consuls with
jurisdiction in the Congo were appointed by His Majesty’s Government
as long ago as 1888—appear to have been absorbed in the examination
of innumerable complaints; at all events, that is not the view
taken in the Report (the only one published) by Consul Pickersgill,
who, by the mere fact of giving an account of his journey into the
interior of the Congo as far as Stanley Falls, disproves the alleged
impossibility for the English consular agents to form an opinion _de
visu_ in regard to every part of their district.
With regard to the charges against the administrative system of the
State, the note deals with taxes, public armed forces, and what is
termed forced labour.
It is, at bottom, the contributions made by the Congo natives to the
public charges which are criticised, as if there existed a single
country or colony in which the inhabitants do not, under one form
or another, bear a part in such charges. A State without resources
is inconceivable. On what legitimate grounds could the exemption
of natives from all taxes be based, seeing that they are the first
to benefit by the material and moral advantages introduced into
Africa? As they have no money, a contribution in the shape of labour
is required from them. It has been said that, if Africa is ever
to be redeemed from barbarism, it must be by getting the Negro to
understand the meaning of work by the obligation of paying taxes.
“It is a question [of native labour] which has engaged my most
careful attention in connection with West Africa and other Colonies.
To listen to the right honourable gentlemen, you would almost think
that it would be a good thing for the native to be idle. I think it
is a good thing for him to be industrious; and by every means in our
power we must teach him to work.... No people ever have lived in the
world’s history who would not work. In the interests of the natives
all over Africa, we have to teach them to work.”
Such was the language used by Mr. Chamberlain in the House of Commons
on the 6th August, 1901; and still more recently he expressed himself
as follows:
“We are all of us taxed, and taxed heavily. Is that a system of
forced labour?... To say that because we put a tax on the native
therefore he is reduced to a condition of servitude and of forced
labour is, to my mind, absolutely ridiculous.... It is perfectly fair
to my mind that the native should contribute something towards the
cost of administering the country.”—(House of Commons, 9th March,
1903.)
“If that really is the last word of civilisation, if we are to
proceed on the assumption that the nearer the native or any human
being comes to a pig the more desirable is his condition, of course
I have nothing to say.... I must continue to believe that, at all
events, the progress of the native in civilisation will not be
secured until he has been convinced of the necessity and the dignity
of labour. Therefore, I think that anything we reasonably can do to
induce the native to labour is a desirable thing.”
And he defended the principle of taxing the native on the ground that
“the existence of the tax is an inducement to him to work.”—(House of
Commons, 24th March, 1903.)
Moreover, it is to be observed that in nearly every part of Africa
the natives are taxed. In the Transvaal every native pays a “head
tax” of £2; in the Orange River Colony he is subject to a “poll tax”;
in Southern Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, Basutoland, Uganda, and Natal a
“hut-tax” is levied; in Cape Colony we find a “hut-tax” and a “labour
tax”; in German East Africa also a tax is levied on huts, payable
either in money, in kind, or in labour. This species of tax has also
been applied in the Sierra Leone Protectorate, where payment could be
made “in kind by rice or palm nuts,” and it has been suggested that
work on roads and useful works should be accepted in lieu of payment
in money or produce.
The legality of a tax is, therefore, not affected by the mode of its
payment, whether in money or in kind, so long as the amount is not
excessive. It is certainly not so in the Congo, where the work done
by the native does not represent more than forty hours’ work a month.
Such work, moreover, is paid for, and the tax in kind thus gives the
native as it were some return for his labour.
Payment of taxes is obligatory everywhere; and non-payment involves
measures of compulsion. The regulations under which the hut-tax
is levied impose on the native, for non-payment, such penalties
as imprisonment and forced labour. Nor in the Congo is payment of
taxes optional. Repressive measures have occasionally been rendered
necessary elsewhere by the refusal of natives to conform to the law,
_e. g._, the disturbances at Sierra Leone, in connection with which
an English publicist, speaking of the police force, states:
“Between July, 1894, and February, 1896, no fewer than sixty-two
convictions, admittedly representing a small proportion of offences
actually committed, were recorded against them for flogging,
plundering, and generally maltreating the natives.”
Further instances might be recalled of the opposition encountered
among native populations to the institution of governmental
regulations. Civilisation necessarily comes into collision with
their savage instincts and barbarous customs and habits; and it
can be understood that they submit but impatiently to, and even
try to escape from, a state of society which seems to them to be
restrictive of their licence and excesses. It frequently happens in
Africa that an exodus of natives takes place from one territory to
another, in the hope of finding beyond the frontier a government
less well established or less strong, and of thus freeing themselves
from all obligations and restraints. Natives of the State may
quite well, under the influence of considerations of this kind,
have crossed into neighbouring territories, although no kind of
emigration on a large scale, such as is referred to in the English
note, has ever been reported by the commandants of the frontier
provinces. On the contrary, it is a fact that natives in the Upper
Nile region who had settled in British territory have returned to
the left bank in consequence of the imposition of new taxes by the
English authorities. Besides, if it is these territories which are
alluded to, the information contained in the note would seem to be in
contradiction with other particulars furnished, for instance, by Sir
Harry Johnston.
“This much I can speak of with certainty and emphasis, that from the
British frontier near Fort George to the limit of my journeys into
the Mbuba country of the Congo Free State, up and down the Semliki,
the natives appear to be prosperous and happy.... The extent to which
they were building their villages and cultivating their plantations
within the precincts of Fort Mbeni showed that they had no fear of
the Belgians.”
Major H. H. Gibbons, who was for several months on the Upper Nile,
writes:
“Having had occasion to know many officers, and to visit their
stations in the Congo State, I am convinced that their behaviour has
been much misunderstood by the press. I have quoted as a proof my
experience, which is at variance with an article recently published
in the English press, in which they are accused of great cruelties.”
The declaration of last June, of which a copy is enclosed, has
disposed of the criticisms directed against the public forces of the
State, by pointing out that recruitment for them is regulated by
law, and that it is only one man in every 10,000 who is affected. To
say that “the method of obtaining men for military service is often
but little different from that formerly employed to obtain slaves”
is to misunderstand the carefully drawn regulations which have, on
the contrary, been issued to check abuses. Levies take place in each
district; the District Commissioners settle the mode of conscription
in agreement with the native chiefs. Voluntary enlistment, and
numerous re-enlistments, easily fill up the ranks, which only reach,
all told, the moderate total of 15,000 men.
Those who allege, as the note says, that “the men composing the
armed force of the State were in many cases recruited from the most
warlike and savage tribes” must be unaware that the public forces
are recruited from every province, and from the whole population. It
is inconceivable that the authorities of a State, with due regard to
its interests, should form an army out of undisciplined and savage
elements, and instances are to be found—such as the excesses said
to have been perpetrated by irregular levies in Uganda, and the
revolts which formerly occurred in the Congo—which, on the contrary,
render it necessary that special care should be exercised in raising
armed forces. The European establishment, consisting of Belgian,
Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish officers, maintains strict
discipline, and it would be vain to seek the actual facts alluded to
in the assertion that the soldiers “not infrequently terrorised over
their own officers.” Such an assertion is as unfounded as the one
“that compulsion is often exercised by irresponsible native soldiers
uncontrolled by any European officer.” For a long time past the
authorities have been alive to the danger arising from the existence
of stations of Negro soldiers, who inevitably abuse their authority,
as recognised in the Report of Sir D. Chalmers on the insurrection
in Sierra Leone. In the Congo such stations have been gradually
abolished.
Those who do not refuse to accept patent facts will recognise that,
of the reproaches levelled at the State, the most unjust is the
statement “that no attempt at any administration for the natives
is made, and that the officers of the Government do not apparently
concern themselves with such work.”
It is astonishing to come across such an assertion in a dispatch from
a government, one of whose members, Lord Cranborne, Under-Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, stated on the 20th May last:
“There was no doubt that the administration of the Congo Government
had been marked by a very high degree of a certain kind of
administrative development. There were railways, there were steamers
upon the river, hospitals had been established, and all the machinery
of elaborate judicial and police systems had been set up.”
Another member of the House of Commons acknowledged:
“That the Congo State had done good work in excluding alcoholic
liquor from the greater part of their domain; that they had
established a certain number of hospitals, had diminished smallpox by
means of vaccination, and had suppressed the Arab Slave Trade.”
However limited these admissions, still they contradict the assertion
now made that “the natives are left entirely to themselves, so far as
any assistance in their government or in their affairs is concerned.”
Such does not seem to have been the conclusion at which Mr.
Pickersgill, the English Consul, had arrived as long ago as 1898.
“Has the welfare of the African,” he asks, “been duly cared for in
the Congo State?” He answers: “The State has restricted the liquor
trade.... It is scarcely possible to overestimate the service
which is being rendered by the Congo Government to its subjects
in this matter.... Intertribal wars have been suppressed over a
wide area, and the imposition of European authority being steadily
pursued, the boundaries of peace are constantly extending.... The
State must be congratulated upon the security it has created for all
who live within the shelter of its flag and abide by its laws and
regulations.... Credit is also due to the Congo Government in respect
of the diminution of cannibalism.... The yoke of the notorious Arab
slave-traders has been broken, and traffic in human beings amongst
the natives themselves has been diminished to a considerable degree.”
This Report also showed that the labour of the native was
remunerated, and gave due credit to the State for its efforts to
instruct the young natives, and to open schools.
Since 1898 the general condition of the native has been still further
improved. The system of carriers (_le portage à dos d’homme_),
the hardships of which, so far as the native was concerned, were
specially pointed out by Mr. Pickersgill, has disappeared from those
parts of the country where it was most practised, in consequence of
the opening of railways. Elsewhere motor cars are used as means of
transport. The “sentry,” the station of Negro soldiers which the
Consul criticised, not without reason, no longer exists. Cattle have
been introduced into every district. Sanitary commissions have been
instituted. Schools and workshops have multiplied.
“The native,” says the enclosed document,[86] “is better housed,
better clad, and better fed; he is replacing his huts by better
built and healthier dwelling-places; thanks to existing transport
facilities, he is able to obtain the produce necessary to satisfy
his new wants; workshops have been opened for him, where he learns
handicrafts, such as those of the blacksmith, carpenter, mechanic,
and mason; he extends his plantations and, taking example by the
white man, learns rational modes of agriculture; he is always able
to obtain medical assistance; he sends his children to the State
school-colonies and to the missionary schools.”
As stated in the House of Commons, it is only right to recognise that
the material and moral regeneration of Central Africa cannot be the
work of a day. The results so far obtained have been considerable,
and these we shall try to consolidate and develop, in spite of the
way in which an effort is being made to hamper the action of the
State, which in the real interests of civilisation should rather be
promoted.
The English note does not show that the economic system of the State
is in opposition to the Berlin Act. It does not meet the points
of law and fact by means of which the State has demonstrated the
conformity of its system of land tenure and concessions with the
provisions of that Act. It does not explain either how or why
freedom of trade—a term used at the Conference of Berlin in its
usual, grammatical, and economic sense—is incomplete in the Congo
State because there are landowners there.
The note confuses the utilisation of his property by the owner with
trade. The native who collects on behalf of the owner does not become
the owner of what is so collected, and naturally cannot dispose of
it to a third party, any more than a miner can rob the proprietor of
the produce of the mine and dispose of it himself. These rules are
in accordance with the principles of justice and are explained in
numerous documents, such as legal opinions and judicial decisions,
some of which are annexed. His Majesty’s Government do not deny that
the State is justified in allotting domain lands to _bona-fide_
occupants, or that the native has no longer any right to the
produce of the soil as soon as the “land is reduced into individual
occupation.” The distinction is without legal foundation. If the
State can part with land, it is because the native is not the owner;
by what title could he then retain a right to the produce of property
which has been lawfully acquired by others? Could it be contended,
for instance, that the Lower Congo Railway Company, or the South
Cameroons Company, or the Italian Colonial Trading Company are, on
the ground that they are not at present in occupation, bound to allow
the native to plunder the territories allotted to them? As a matter
of fact, moreover, in the Congo State the appropriation of lands
worked on Government account or by the Concessionary companies is an
accomplished fact. The State and the companies have devoted large
sums, amounting to many millions of francs, to the development of the
lands in question, and more especially to that of the forests. There
can, therefore, be no doubt that throughout the territories of the
Congo the State really and completely works its property, just as the
companies really and completely work their concessions.
The state of affairs then which actually exists, and is established
in the Independent State, is such that there is really no need, as
far as the State itself is concerned, to dwell longer on the theory
set forth in the note which deals in turn with the rights of the
State, with those of _bona-fide_ occupiers, and those of the natives.
Still this theory calls for the attention of the Powers in view of
the serious difficulties which would arise were it to be implicitly
accepted.
The note lays down the three following propositions:
“The State has the right to partition the State lands among
_bona-fide_ occupants.”
“The natives will, as the land is so divided out amongst _bona-fide_
occupiers, lose their right of roaming over it and collecting the
natural fruits which it produces.”
“Until unoccupied land is reduced into individual occupation, and so
long as the produce can only be collected by the native, the native
should be free to dispose of that produce as he pleases.”
There is no single one of these propositions but apparently excludes
the other two, and, as a matter of fact, such contradictions amount
to a denial of the right to grant concessions.
If _bona-fide_ occupiers ever existed they have become proprietors;
occupation, where it can be exercised is, under all legislative
codes, one of the methods by which property can be acquired, and
in the Congo State titles of ownership deriving from it have been
legally registered. If the land has never been legally occupied, it
is without an owner, or, rather the State is the owner; the State can
allot it to a third party, for whom such allotment is a complete and
absolute title. In either case it is hard to see how the fruits of
the soil can be reserved for any but the owner on the pretext that
the latter is not able to collect the produce of his property.
By a curious contradiction it is observed in the note that, as a
consequence of the allotment of lands by the State, the natives “lose
their right of collecting the natural fruits,” and, on the other
hand, that they retain the right of disposing of these fruits “until
unoccupied land is reduced into [_sic_] individual occupation.” It is
difficult to understand what is meant by a right which belongs to the
natives or not according to the action of a third party. Either they
lost their rights on the lands being allotted, and in that case they
have lost them entirely and completely, or else they have retained
them, and are entitled to retain them, although the “land is reduced
into [_sic_] individual occupation.”
Again, what are we to understand by the expressions “_bona-fide_”
occupiers and “individual occupation?” Who is to determine whether
the occupier has brought his lands into a state of individual
occupation, whether he is able to collect their produce, or whether
it is still for the native to do so? In any case, such a question is
essentially one to be settled by municipal law.
The note is, moreover, incomplete in another respect. It states that
where the land has not yet been worked by those who have a right to
it, the option of working should belong to the native. Rights would
thus be given to the natives to the prejudice of the Government or
of white concessionaires, but the note does not explain how nor by
whom the wrong thus caused would be repaired or made good. Though the
system thus advocated cannot be applied in the Congo State, as there
are no longer any unappropriated lands there, attention should be
called to the statement in the interest of white men established in
the Conventional Basin. If it is right to treat the Negro well, it is
none the less just not to despoil the white man, who, in the interest
of all, must remain the dominant race.
From an economic point of view, it would be very regrettable if,
in spite of the rights regularly acquired by white men, the
domain lands were, even temporarily, handed over to the natives.
Such a course would involve a return to their former condition
of abandonment, when the natives left them unproductive; for the
collection of rubber, the plantation of coffee, cocoa, tobacco, etc.,
date from the day when the State itself took the initiative: the
export trade was insignificant before the impetus it received from
Government enterprise. Such a course would furthermore certainly
involve the neglect of rational methods of work, of planting and
of replanting—measures which the State and the Concessionary
companies have assumed as an obligation with a view to securing the
preservation of the natural riches of the country.
Never in the Congo, so far as we know, have requests to buy natural
produce been addressed to the rightful owners. Up to now the only
attempts made have been to buy the produce which has been stolen, and
the State, as was its duty, has had those guilty of these unlawful
attempts prosecuted.
It is not true, as has been asserted, that the policy of the State
has killed trade; it has, on the contrary, created the materials
which trade deals in and keeps up the supply; it is thanks to the
State that, on the Antwerp market—and soon even in the Congo where
the possibility of establishing trade depots is being considered—5000
tons of rubber collected in the Congo can be annually put on sale
to all and sundry without privilege or monopoly, while formerly, in
1887, for instance, the rubber export amounted to hardly 30 tons. It
is the State which, after having created, at its own expense, the
material of trade, carefully preserves the source of it by means of
planting and replanting.
It must not be forgotten either that the Congo State has been obliged
to rely on its own resources. It was forced to utilise its domain
in the public interest. All the receipts of the domain go into the
Treasury, as also the dividends of the shares which the State holds
in exchange for concessions granted. It has only been by utilising
its domain lands, and pledging the greater part of their revenues,
that it has been able to raise loans, and encourage the construction
of railways by guarantees of interest, thus realising one of the
means most advocated by the Brussels Conference for promoting
civilisation in Central Africa. Nor has it hesitated to mortgage its
domain lands with this object.
The Berlin Act is not opposed to such a course, for it never
prescribed the rights of property as there is now an _ex post facto_
attempt to make out, an attempt tending, consciously or not, to the
ruin of the whole Conventional Basin of the Congo.
It will not escape the notice of the Powers that the English note,
by suggesting a reference to the Court at the Hague, tends to bring
into consideration as cases for arbitration questions of sovereignty
and internal administration as questions for arbitration which,
according to prevailing doctrines, are excluded from arbitral
decisions. As far as the present case is concerned, it must be
assumed that the suggestion of referring the matter to the Court at
the Hague has a general meaning, if it is true that, in the opinion
of the English Chambers of Commerce, “the principles and practice
introduced into the administration of the affairs of the French
Congo, the Congo Free State, and other areas in the Conventional
Basin of the Congo being [_sic_] in direct opposition to the Articles
of the Act of Berlin, 1885.” The Government of the Congo State have
never ceased advocating arbitration as a mode of settling questions
which are of an international nature, and can thus be suitably
treated, as, for instance, the divergencies of opinion which have
arisen in connection with the lease of the territories of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal.
The Government of the Congo State, after careful examination of the
English note, remain convinced that, in view of its vagueness, and
the complete lack of evidence, which is implicitly admitted, there
is no tribunal in the world, supposing there were one possessing
competent jurisdiction, which could, far from pronouncing a
condemnation, take any decision other than to refuse action on mere
supposition.
If the Congo State is attacked, England may admit that she, more than
any other nation, has been the object of attacks and accusations of
every kind, and the list would be long of the campaigns which have
at various times, and even quite recently, been directed against her
colonial administration. She has certainly not escaped criticism in
regard to her numerous and bloody wars against native populations,
nor the reproach of oppressing natives and invading their liberty.
Has she not been blamed in regard to the long insurrections in Sierra
Leone; to the disturbed state of Nigeria, where quite recently,
according to the English newspapers, military measures of repression
cost, on one single occasion, the lives of 700 natives, of most of
their Chiefs, and of the Sultan; and to the conflict in Somaliland,
which is being carried on at the cost of many lives, without,
however, exciting expressions of regret in the House of Commons,
except on the score of the heavy expense?
Seeing that these attacks have left England indifferent, it is some
what surprising to find her now attaching such importance to those
made on the Congo State.
There is, however, reason to think that the natives of the Congo
State prefer the Government of a small and pacific nation, whose aims
remain as peaceful as its creation, which was founded on treaties
concluded with the natives.
(Signed) CHR. DR CUVELIER.
ANNEXES[87]
I. _Bulletin Officiel de l’État Indépendant du Congo_, Juin, 1903.
II. Judgments delivered by the Tribunals of French Congo.
III. Opinions of Messrs, van Maldeghem and de Paepe, Van Berchem,
Barboux, and Nys.
FOOTNOTES:
[85] _Transactions of the Aborigines Protection Society_, 1890-1896,
p. 155.
[86] See Annex No. I.
OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CONGO FREE STATE AND GREAT BRITAIN
THE CONGO REJOINER TO CHARGES CONTAINED IN THE REPORT OF CONSUL
CASEMENT
The Appendices on pages 591 to 611 are taken from the official
correspondence[88] sent by Sir Constantine Phipps, his Britannic
Majesty’s Minister at Brussels, to the Marquess of Lansdowne, His
Britannic Majesty’s Foreign Secretary, enclosing the reply of the
Government of the Congo Free State to the Report of Mr. Roger
Casement, British Consul at Boma. Having regard to the voluminous
nature of Consul Casement’s report, and the fact that the Congo
State’s Note (reply) cites its principal charges against that
Government, it is not printed herewith, to expand a volume already
extended beyond practical dimensions.
* * * * *
NO. 1
_Sir C. Phipps to the Marquess of Lansdowne.—(Received March 14)_
BRUSSELS, March 13, 1904.
MY LORD,
I have the honour to enclose the rejoinder on the part of the Congo
Government to the Report of His Majesty’s Consul at Boma on the
condition of the Congo.
In handing these “Notes” to me this afternoon M. de Cuvelier was
instructed to call my attention to the passage where his Government
expresses a desire to be placed in possession of the full Report,
including names, dates, and places referred to. The “Notes” will be
communicated to-morrow to the Representatives of the other Powers.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) CONSTANTINE PHIPPS.
* * * * *
ENCLOSURE IN NO. 1
NOTES BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CONGO FREE STATE ON THE REPORT
OF MR. CASEMENT, CONSUL OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY, OF THE 11TH
DECEMBER, 1903.
(_Translation_)
During the sitting of the House of Commons of the 11th March, 1903,
Lord Cranborne observed:
“We have no reason to think that slavery is recognised by the
authorities of the Congo Free State, but reports of acts of cruelty
and oppression have reached us. Such reports have been received from
our Consular Officers.”
The Government of the Congo State addressed a letter on the 14th
March, 1903, to Sir C. Phipps, requesting him to be good enough to
communicate the facts which had formed the subject of any reports
from British Consuls.
No reply was received to this application.
Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of the 8th August, 1903, contained the
following passage:
“Representations to this effect [alleged cases of ill-treatment of
natives and existence of trade monopolies] are to be found ... in
dispatches from His Majesty’s Consuls.”
The impression was thus created that at that date His Majesty’s
Government were in possession of conclusive evidence furnished by
their Consuls; but none the less it seemed clearly necessary that
Consul Casement should undertake a journey in the Upper Congo. It
would appear, therefore, as if the conclusions contained in the note
of the 8th August were at least premature; it equally follows that,
contrary to what was said in that note, the British Consul was at
liberty to undertake any journey in the interior that he thought
fit. In any case it is to be observed that, in spite of the repeated
applications of the Congo State, the White Paper [_Africa_, No. 1
(1904)] recently presented to Parliament does not contain any of
these former Consular Reports, which nevertheless would have been the
more interesting as dating from a time when the present campaign had
not yet been initiated.
The present Report draws attention to the fact that in certain places
visited by the Consul the population is decreasing. Mr. Casement
does not give the facts on which he bases his comparative figures
for 1887 and 1903. The question arises how, during the course of
his rapid and hasty visits, he was able to get his figures for
this latter year. On what facts, for instance, does he found his
assertion that the riverain population of Lake Mantumba _seems_ to
have diminished from 60 to 70 per cent. in the course of the last
ten years? He states that at a certain place designated as F—— the
population of all the villages together does not at present amount to
more than 500 souls; a few lines farther on these same villages are
spoken of as only containing 240 inhabitants altogether. These are
only details, but they show at once what a lack of precision there
is in certain of the deductions made by the Consul. It is, no doubt,
unfortunately only too true that the population has diminished; but
the diminution is due to other causes than to the exercise on the
native population of a too exacting or oppressive Administration. It
is owing chiefly to the sleeping-sickness, which is decimating the
population throughout Equatorial Africa. The Report itself observes
that “a prominent place must be assigned to this malady,”[89] and
that this malady is “probably one of the principal factors” in the
diminution of the population.[90] It is only necessary to read the
Rev. John Whitehead’s letter, quoted by the Consul (Annex II. to the
Report), to obtain an idea of the ravages of the malady, to which
this missionary attributes half of the deaths which take place in
the riverain parts of the district. In a recent interview Mgr. Van
Ronslé, Vicar Apostolic of the Belgian Congo, who speaks with the
authority of one who has had a large experience of African matters,
and has resided for long periods in many different localities in the
Congo, explained the development of this scourge and the inevitable
decay of the population it attacks, whatever the conditions of their
social existence; mentioning among other cases the terrible loss of
life caused by this disease in Uganda. If to this principal cause
of the depopulation of the Congo are added smallpox epidemics, the
inability of the tribes at the present moment to keep up their
numbers by the purchase of slaves, and the ease with which the
natives can migrate, it can be explained how the Consul and the
missionaries may have been struck with the diminution of the number
of inhabitants in certain centres without that diminution necessarily
being the result of a system of oppression. Annex I. contains the
declarations on the subject made by Mgr. Van Ronslé. His remarks as
to the effect of the suppression of slavery on the numbers of the
population are printed elsewhere:
“The people [slave] are for the most part originally prisoners of
war. Since the Decree of emancipation they have simply returned
to their own distant homes, knowing their owners have no power to
recapture them. This is one reason why some think the population
is decreasing, and another reason is the vast exodus up and down
river.”[91]
“So long as the Slave Trade flourished the Bobangi flourished, but
with its abolition they are tending to disappear, for their towns
were replenished by slaves.”[92]
The Consul mentions cases, the causes of which, however, are unknown
to him, of an exodus of natives of the Congo to the French bank. It
is not quite clear on what grounds he attaches blame to the State
on their account, to judge at least from the motives by which some
of them have been determined—for instance, the examples of such
emigration which are given and explained by the Rev. W. H. Bentley,
an English missionary. One relates to the station at Lukolela:
“The main difficulty has been the shifting of the population. It
appears that the population, when the station was founded in 1886,
was between 5,000 and 6,000 in the riverain colonies. About two years
later the Chief Mpuki did not agree with his neighbours or they with
him. When the tension became acute, Mpuki crossed over with his
people to the opposite [French] side of the river. This exodus took
away a large number of people. In 1890 or 1891 a chief from one of
the lower towns was compelled by the majority of his people to leave
the State side, and several went with him. About 1893 the rest of the
people at the lower towns either went across to the same place as
the deposed chief or took up their residence inland. Towards the end
of 1894 a soldier, who had been sent to cut firewood for the State
steamers on an island off the towns, left his work to make an evil
request in one of the towns. He shot the man who refused him. The
rascal of a soldier was properly dealt with by the State officer in
charge; but this outrage combined with other smaller difficulties to
produce a panic, and nearly all the people left for the French side,
or hid away inland. So the fine township has broken up.”[93]
The other refers to the station at Bolobo:
“It is rare indeed for Bolobo, with its 30,000 or 40,000 people,
divided into some dozen clans, to be at peace for any length of time
together. The loss of life from these petty wars, the number of
those killed for witchcraft, and of those who are buried alive with
the dead, involve, even within our narrow limits here at Bolobo,
an almost daily drain upon the vitality of the country, and an
incalculable amount of sorrow and suffering.... The Government was
not indifferent to these murderous ways.... In 1890, the District
Commissioner called the people together, and warned them against
the burying of slaves alive in the graves of free people, and the
reckless killing of slaves which then obtained. The natives did not
like the rising power of the State.... Our own settlement among them
was not unattended with difficulty.... There was a feeling against
white men generally, and especially so against the State. The people
became insolent and haughty.... Just at this time ... as a force of
soldiers steamed past the Moye towns, the steamers were fired upon.
The soldiers landed and burnt and looted the towns. The natives ran
away into the grass, and great numbers crossed to the French side of
the river. They awoke to the fact that Bula Matadi, the State, was
not the helpless thing they had so long thought. This happened early
in 1891.”[94]
It will be seen that these examples do not attribute the emigration
of the natives to any such causes as
“The methods employed to obtain labour from them by local officials
and the exactions levied on them.”[95]
The Report dwells at length on the existence of native taxes. It
shows how the natives are subject to forced labour of various
kinds, in one district having to furnish the Government posts with
“chikwangues,” or fresh provisions, in another being obliged to
assist in works of public utility, such as the construction of
a jetty at Balolo, or the upkeep of the telegraph line at F——;
elsewhere being obliged to collect the produce of the domain lands.
We maintain that such imposts on the natives are legitimate, in
agreement on this point with His Majesty’s Government, who, in the
Memorandum of the 11th February last, declare that the industry and
development of the British Colonies and Protectorates in Africa show
that His Majesty’s Government have always admitted the necessity of
making the natives contribute to the public charges and of inducing
them to work. We also agree with His Majesty’s Government that, if
abuses occur in this connection—and undoubtedly some have occurred in
all colonies—such abuses call for reform, and that it is the duty of
the authorities to put an end to them, and to reconcile as far as may
be the requirements of the Government with the real interests of the
natives.
But in this matter the Congo State intends to exercise freely its
rights of sovereignty—as, for instance, His Majesty’s Government
explain in their last Memorandum that they themselves did at Sierra
Leone—without regard to external pressure or foreign interference,
which would be an encroachment upon its essential rights.
The Consul, in his Report, obviously endeavours to create the
impression that taxes in the Congo are collected in a violent,
inhuman, and cruel manner, and we are anxious before all to rebut
the accusation, which has so often been brought against the State,
that such collection gives rise to odious acts of mutilation. On this
point a superficial perusal of the Report is calculated to impress by
its easy accumulation not of facts, simple, precise, and verified,
but of the declarations and affirmations of natives.
There is a preliminary remark to be made in regard to the conditions
in which the Consul made his journey.
Whether such was his intention or not, the British Consul appeared to
the inhabitants as the redresser of the wrongs, real or imaginary,
of the natives, and his presence at La Lulonga, coinciding with
the campaign which was being directed against the Congo State, in
a region where the influence of the Protestant missionaries has
long been exercised, necessarily had for the natives a significance
which did not escape them. The Consul made his investigations quite
independently of the Government officials, quite independently
of any action and of any co-operation on the part of the regular
authorities; he was assisted in his proceedings by English Protestant
missionaries; he made his inspection on a steamer belonging to a
Protestant Mission; he was entertained for the most part in the
Protestant Missions; and, in these circumstances, it was inevitable
that he should be considered by the native as the antagonist of the
established authorities.
Other proof is not required than the characteristic fact that while
the Consul was at Bonginda, the natives crowded down to the bank,
as some agents of the La Lulonga Company were going by in a canoe,
and cried out: “Your violence is over, it is passing away; only the
English remain; may you others die!” There is also this significant
admission on the part of a Protestant missionary, who, in alluding to
this incident, remarked:
“The Consul was here at the time, and the people were much excited
and evidently thought themselves on top.... The people have got
this idea [that the rubber work was finished] into their heads of
themselves, consequent, I suppose, upon the Consul’s visit.”
In these circumstances, in view of the state of mind which they show
to exist among the natives, in view of their impressionable character
and of their natural desire to escape taxation, it could not be
doubted that the conclusions at which the Consul would arrive would
not be other than those set forth in his Report.
To bring out this point, and to show how little value is to be
attached to his investigations, it will be sufficient to examine one
case, that on which Mr. Casement principally relies; we allude to the
Epondo case. It is that of the child II., mentioned on pp. 56, 58,
and 78 of the Report.
It is indispensable to enter somewhat at length into the details of
this case, which are significant.
On the 4th September, 1903, the Consul was at the Bonginda station
of the Congo Balolo Mission, having returned from a journey on the
Lopori, during the course of which he had not come across any of
those acts of mutilation which it is the custom to attribute to
officials in the Congo.
At Bonginda, the natives of a neighbouring village (Bossunguma)
came to him and informed him, amongst other things, that a “sentry”
of the La Lulonga Company, named Kalengo,[96] had, at Bossunguma,
cut off the hand of a native called Epondo, whose wounds were still
scarcely healed. The Consul proceeded to Bossunguma, accompanied by
the Rev. W. D. Armstrong and the Rev. D. J. Danielson, and had the
mutilated native brought before him, who, “in answer to the Consul’s
question, charged a sentry named ‘Kalengo’ (placed in the town by the
local agent of the La Lulonga Society to see that the people work
rubber)” with having done it. Such are the Consul’s own words: it was
necessary to establish a relation of cause and effect between the
collection of india-rubber and this alleged case of cruelty.
The Consul proceeded to question the chief and some of the natives of
the village. They replied by accusing Kalengo; most of them asserted
that they were _eye-witnesses_ of the deed. The Consul inquired
through his interpreters if there were other witnesses who saw the
crime committed and accused Kalengo of it. “Nearly all those present,
about forty persons, shouted out with one voice that it was ‘Kalengo’
who did it.”
In order to understand the violence with which the natives accused
Kalengo, and the unanimous manner in which the denials of the accused
were rejected by his accusers, it is necessary to read the whole of
the report of this inquiry, as drawn up by the Consul himself in
a kind of _procès-verbaux_, dated the 7th, 8th, and 9th September
(Annex II.). From all quarters accusers appeared, and the excited
crowd gave vent to all sorts of accusations: he had cut off Epondo’s
hand, chained up women, stolen ducks and a dog! The Consul did not
allow his suspicions to be aroused by the passionate character of
these accusations; without any further guarantee of their sincerity
or further examination into their truth, he looked upon his inquiry
as conclusive, and as he had taken upon himself the duties of the
Public Prosecutor in making preliminary inquiries into the matter,
so he anticipated the decision of the responsible authorities by
declaring to the assembled people that “Kalengo deserved severe
punishment for his illegal and cruel acts.” He proceeded to dramatise
the incident by carrying off the pretended victim, and exhibiting
him on the 10th September to the official in command of the station
at Coquilhatville, to whom he handed a copy of the record of his
inquiry, and on the 12th September he addressed a letter to the
Governor-General which he marked as “personal and private,” and in
which he makes the incident in question among others a text for an
attack on “the system of general exploitation of an entire population
which can only be rendered successful by the employment of arbitrary
and illegal force.” His inquiry terminated, he immediately started on
his return journey to the Lower Congo.
Even if the circumstances had been correctly reported, the
disproportion would still have been striking between them and the
conclusions which the Consul draws when emphasising his general
criticisms of the Congo State. But the facts themselves are
incorrectly represented.
As a matter of fact, no sooner did the Consul’s denunciation reach
the Public Prosecutor’s Department than M. Gennaro Bosco, Acting
Public Prosecutor, proceeded to the spot and held a judicial inquiry
under the usual conditions, free from all outside influences. This
inquiry showed that His Britannic Majesty’s Consul had been the
object of a plot contrived by the natives, who, in the hope of
no longer being obliged to work, had agreed among themselves to
represent Epondo as the victim of the inhuman conduct of one of the
capitas of a commercial company. In reality, Epondo had been the
victim of an accident while out hunting, and had been bitten in
the hand by a wild boar; gangrene had set in and caused the loss
of the member, and this fact had been cleverly turned to account
by the natives when before the Consul. We append (Annex No. III.)
extracts from the inquiry conducted by the Acting Public Prosecutor
into the Epondo case. The evidence is typical, uniform, and without
discrepancies. It leaves no doubt as to the cause of the accident,
makes it clear that the natives lied to the Consul, and reveals
the object which actuated them, namely, the hope that the Consul’s
intervention would relieve them from the necessity of paying taxes.
The inquiry shows how Epondo, at last brought to account, retracted
what he had in the first instance said to the Consul, and confessed
that he had been influenced by the people of his village. He was
questioned as follows:
_Q._ “Do you persist in accusing Kalengo of having cut off your left
hand?”
_A._ “No. I told a lie.”
_Q._ “State, then, how and when you lost your hand.”
_A._ “I was a slave of Monkekola’s at Malele, in the Bangala
district. One day I went out boar-hunting with him. He wounded one
with a spear, and thereupon the animal, enraged, turned on me. I
tried to run off with the others, but falling down, the boar was on
me in a moment and tore off my left hand and [wounded me] in the
stomach and left thigh.”
[The witness exhibits the scars he carries at the places mentioned,
and lying down of his own accord shows the position he was in when
the boar attacked and wounded him.]
_Q._ “How long ago did this accident happen?”
_A._ “I don’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
_Q._ “Why did you accuse Kalengo?”
_A._ “Because Momaketa, one of the Bossunguma Chiefs, told me to, and
afterwards all the inhabitants of my village did so too.”
* * * * *
_Q._ “Did the English photograph you?”
_A._ “Yes, at Bonginda and Lulonga. They told me to put the stump
well forward. There were Nenele, Mongongolo, Torongo, and other
whites whose names I don’t know. They were whites from Lulonga.
Mongongolo took away six photographs.”[97]
Epondo of his own accord repeated his declarations and retractions
to a Protestant missionary, Mr. Faris, who lives at Bolengi. This
gentleman has sent the Commissary-General at Coquilhatville the
following written declaration:
“I, E. E. Faris, missionary, residing at Bolengi, Upper Congo,
declare that I questioned the boy Epondo, of the village of
Bosongoma, who was at my house on the 10th September, 1903, with
Mr. Casement, the British Consul, and whom, in accordance with the
request made to me by Commandant Stevens, of Coquilhatville, I took
to the mission station at Bolengi on the 16th October, 1903; and that
the said boy has this day, the 17th October, 1903, told me that he
lost his hand through the bite of a wild boar.
“He told me at the same time that he informed Mr. Casement that his
hand was cut off either by a soldier or, perhaps, by one of those
working for the white men (_travailleurs de blanc_), who have been
making war in his village with a view to the collection of rubber,
but he asserts that the account which he has given me to-day is the
truth.
“(Signed) E. E. FARIS.
“BOLENGI, October 17, 1903.”
* * * * *
The inquiry resulted in the discharge of the prisoner, which, so far
as it concerned the Epondo question, was in the following terms:
“We, Acting Public Prosecutor of the Court of Coquilhatville:
“Having regard to the notes made by His Britannic Majesty’s Consul,
on the occasion of his visit to the villages of Ikandja and
Bossunguma in the territory of the Ngombe, from which it would appear
that a certain Kalengo, a forest guard in the service of the La
Lulonga Company,
“(_a_) Cut off the left hand of a certain Epondo;
“(_b_) ....;
“(_c_) ....;
“Having regard to the inquiry instituted by Lieutenant Braeckman,
which partly confirms the result of the inquiry instituted by His
Britannic Majesty’s Consul, but also partly contradicts it, and to
the charges already brought against Kalengo adds that of having
killed a native of the name of Baluwa;
“Having regard to the conclusions arrived at by the police employee
in question, which tend to raise grave doubts as to the truth of all
these charges;
“In view of the fact that all the natives who brought these charges
against Kalengo, whether before His Britannic Majesty’s Consul or
Lieutenant Braeckman, on being summoned by us, the Acting Public
Prosecutor, took to flight, and all efforts to find them have been
fruitless; that this flight obviously throws doubt on the truth of
their allegations;
“That all the witnesses whom we have questioned during the course of
our inquiry declare ... that Epondo lost his left hand from the bite
of a wild boar;
“That Epondo confirms these statements, and admits that he told a lie
at the instigation of the natives of Bossunguma and Ikondja who hoped
to escape collecting rubber through the intervention of His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul, whom they considered to be very powerful;
“That the witnesses, almost all inhabitants of the accusing villages,
admit that such was the object of their lie;
“That this version, apart from the unanimous declaration of the
witnesses and the injured parties, is also the most plausible, seeing
that every one knows that the natives dislike work in general and
having to collect rubber, and are, moreover, ready to lie and accuse
people falsely;
“That it is confirmed by the clearly stated opinion of the English
missionary Armstrong, who considers the natives to be “capable of any
plot to escape work, and especially the labour of collecting rubber”;
“That the innocence of Kalengo having been thoroughly established,
there is no reason for proceeding against him;
“On the above-mentioned grounds, we, the Acting Public Prosecutor,
declare that there are no grounds for proceeding against Kalengo,
a forest guard in the service of the La Lulonga Company, for the
offences mentioned in Articles 2, 5, 11, and 19 of the Penal Code.
“(Signed) BOSCO,
“_Acting Public Prosecutor_.
“MAMPOKO, October 9, 1903.”
* * * * *
We have dealt at length with the above case because it is considered
by the Consul himself as being one of the utmost importance, and
because he relies upon this single case for accepting as accurate all
the other declarations made to him by natives.
“In the one case I could alone personally investigate,” he says,[98]
“that of the boy II., I found this accusation proved on the spot
without seemingly a shadow of doubt existing as to the guilt of the
accused sentry.”
And further on:
“I had not time to do more than visit the one village of R——, and
in that village I had only time to investigate the charge brought by
II.”[99]
And elsewhere:
“It was obviously impossible that I should ... verify on the spot, as
in the case of the boy, the statements they made. In that one case
the truth of the charges preferred was amply demonstrated.”[100]
It is also to this case that he alludes in his letter of the 12th
September, 1903, to the Governor-General, where he says:
“When speaking to M. le Commandant Stevens at Coquilhatville on the
10th instant, when the _mutilated boy Epondo stood before us as an
evidence of the deplorable state of affairs_ I reprobated, I said, ‘I
do not accuse an individual, I accuse a system.’”
It is only natural to conclude that if the rest of the evidence in
the Consul’s Report is of the same value as that furnished to him in
this particular, it cannot possibly be regarded as conclusive. And
it is obvious that in those cases in which the Consul, as he himself
admits, did not attempt to verify the assertions of the natives,
these assertions are worth, if possible, still less.
It is doubtless true that the Consul deliberately incurred the
certain risk of being misled owing to the manner in which he
interrogated the natives, which he did, as a matter of fact, through
two interpreters—“through Vinda, speaking in Bobangi, and Bateko,
repeating his utterances ... in the local dialect[101]; so that the
Consul was at the mercy not only of the truthfulness of the native
who was being questioned, but depended also on the correctness of the
translations of two other natives, one of whom was a servant of his
own, and the other apparently the missionaries’ interpreter.[102] But
any one who has ever been in contact with the native knows how much
he is given to lying; the Rev. C. H. Harvey[103] states that:
“The natives of the Congo who surrounded us were contemptible,
perfidious, and cruel, impudent liars, dishonest, and vile.”
It is also important, if one wishes to get a correct idea of
the value of this evidence, to note that while Mr. Casement was
questioning the natives, he was accompanied by two local Protestant
English missionaries, whose presence must alone have necessarily
affected the evidence.[104]
We should ourselves be going too far if from all this we were to
conclude that the whole of the native statements reported by the
Consul ought to be rejected. But it is clearly shown that his proofs
are insufficient as a basis for a deliberate judgment, and that the
particulars in question require to be carefully and impartially
tested.
On examining the Consul’s voluminous Report for other cases which
he _has seen_, and which he sets down as cases of mutilation, it
will be observed that he mentions two as having occurred on Lake
Mantumba[105] “some years ago.”[106] He mentions several others, in
regard to the number of which the particulars given in the Report do
not seem to agree,[107] as having taken place in the neighbourhood of
Bonginda,[108] precisely in the country of the Epondo inquiry, where,
as has been seen, the general feeling was excited and prejudiced.
It is these cases which, he says, he had not time to inquire into
fully,[109] and which, according to the natives, were due to agents
of the La Lulonga Company. Were these instances of victims of the
practice of native customs which the natives would have been careful
not to admit? Were the injuries which the Consul saw due to some
conflict between neighbouring villages or tribes? Or were they
really due to the black subordinates of the Company? This cannot
be determined by a perusal of the Report, as the natives in this
instance, as in every other, were the sole source of the Consul’s
information, and he, for his part, confined himself to taking rapid
notes of their numerous statements for a few hours in the morning
of the 5th September, being pressed for time, in order to reach K——
(Bossunguma) at a reasonable hour.[110]
Notwithstanding the weight which he attached to the “air of
frankness” and the “air of conviction and sincerity”[111] on the part
of the natives, his own experience shows clearly the necessity for
caution, and renders rash his assertion “that it was clear that these
men were stating either what they had actually seen with their eyes
or firmly believed in their hearts.”[112]
Now, however, that the Consul has drawn attention to these few
cases—whether cases of cruelty or not, and they are all that, as a
matter of fact, he has inquired into personally, and even so without
being able to prove sufficiently their real cause—the authorities
will of course look into the matter and cause inquiries to be made.
It is to be regretted that, this being so, all mention of date,
place, and name has been systematically omitted in the copy of the
Report communicated to the Government of the Independent State of the
Congo. It is impossible not to see that these suppressions will place
great difficulties in the way of the magistrates who will have to
inquire into the facts, and the Government of the Congo trust that,
in the interests of truth, they may be placed in possession of the
complete text of the Consul’s Report.
It is not to be wondered at if the Government of the Congo State
take this opportunity of protesting against the proceedings of their
detractors who have thought fit to submit to the public reproductions
of photographs of mutilated natives, and have started the odious
story of hands being cut off with the knowledge and even at the
instigation of Belgians in Africa. The photograph of Epondo, for
instance, mutilated in the manner shown, and who has “twice been
photographed,” is probably one of those which the English pamphlets
are circulating as proof of the execrable administration of the
Belgians in Africa. One English review reproduced the photograph of a
“cannibal surrounded with the skulls of his victims,” and underneath
was written: “In the original photograph the cannibal was naked.
The artist has made him decent by ... covering his breast with
the star of the Congo State. It is now a suggestive emblem of the
Christian-veneered cannibalism on the Congo.”[113] At this rate it
would suffice to throw discredit on the Uganda Administration if the
plates were published illustrating the mutilations which, in a letter
dated Uganda, 16th December, 1902, Dr. Castellani says he saw in the
neighbourhood of Entebbe itself: “It is not difficult to find there
natives without noses or ears, etc.”[114]
The truth is, that in Uganda, as in the Congo, the natives still give
way to their savage instincts. This objection has been anticipated by
Mr. Casement, who remarks:
“It was not a native custom prior to the coming of the white man; it
was not the outcome of the primitive instincts of savages in their
fights between village and village; it was the deliberate act of the
soldiers of a European Administration, and these men themselves never
made any concealment that in committing these acts they were but
obeying the positive orders of their superiors.”[115]
That Mr. Casement should formulate so serious a charge without at
the same time supporting it by absolute proof would seem to justify
those who consider that his previous employment has not altogether
been such as to qualify him for the duties of a Consul. Mr. Casement
remained seventeen days on Lake Mantumba, a lake said to be 25 to 30
miles long and 12 to 15 broad, surrounded by a dense forest.[116]
He scarcely left its shores at all. In these circumstances it is
difficult to see how he could have made any useful researches into
the former habits and customs of the inhabitants. On the contrary,
from the fact that the tribes in question are still very savage,
and addicted to cannibalism,[117] it would seem that they have
not abandoned the practice of those cruelties which throughout
Africa were the usual accompaniments of barbarous habits and
anthropophagy. In one portion of the districts which the Consul
visited, the evidence of the English missionaries on this point is
most instructive. The Rev. McKittrick, in describing the sanguinary
contests between the natives, mentions the efforts to pacify the
country which he formerly made through the chiefs: “... We told
them that for the future we should not let any man carrying spears
or knives pass through our station. Our God was a God of peace, and
we, His children, could not bear to see our black brothers cutting
and stabbing each other.”[118] “While I was going up and down the
river,” says another missionary, “they pointed out to me the King’s
beaches, whence they used to despatch their fighting men to capture
canoes and men. It was heartrending to hear them describe the awful
massacres that used to take place at a great chief’s death. A deep
hole was dug in the ground, into which scores of slaves were thrown
after having their heads cut off; and upon that horrible pile
they laid the chief’s dead body to crown the indescribable human
carnage.”[119] And the missionaries speak of the facility with which
even nowadays the natives return to their old customs. It would seem,
too, the statement made in the Report,[120] that the natives now fly
on the approach of a steamer as they never used to do, is hardly in
accordance with the reports of travellers and explorers.
Be this as it may, it is to be observed that nowhere in the territory
which is the scene of the operations of the A. B. I. R. Company
did the Consul discover any evidence of acts of cruelty for which
the commercial agents might have been considered responsible. The
coincidence is remarkable, since it so happens that the A. B. I. R.
Company is a concessionary company, and that it is the system of
concessions to which are constantly attributed the most disastrous
consequences for the natives.
What it is important to discover from the immense number of questions
touched on by the Consul, and the multiplicity of minor facts which
he has collected, is whether the sort of picture he has drawn of
the wretched existence led by the natives corresponds to the actual
state of affairs. We will take, for instance, the district of the
Lulonga and the Lopori, as the head-stations of the missions of the
Congo Balolo Mission have been established there for years past.
These missions are established in the most distant places in the
interior, at Lulonga, Bonginda, Ikau, Bongandanga, and Baringa, all
of which are situated in the scene of operations of the La Lulonga
and A. B. I. R. Companies. They are in constant communication with
the native populations, and a special monthly review, called _Regions
Beyond_, regularly publishes their letters, notes, and reports. An
examination of a set of these publications reveals no trace, at any
time previous to April, 1903—by that date, it is true, Mr. Herbert
Samuel’s motion had been brought before Parliament—of anything either
to point out or to reveal that the general situation of the native
populations was such as ought to be denounced to the civilised world.
The missionaries congratulate themselves on the active sympathy
shown them by the various official and commercial agents,[121] on
the progress of their work of evangelisation,[122] on the facilities
afforded them by the construction of roads,[123] on the manner in
which the natives are becoming civilised, “owing to the mere presence
of white men in their midst, both missionaries and traders,”[124]
on the disappearance of slavery,[125] on the density of the
population,[126] on the growing number of their pupils, “especially
since the State has issued orders for all children within reach to
attend the mission schools,”[127] on the gradual disappearance of the
primitive customs of the natives,[128] and lastly, on the contrast
between the present and the past.[129] Will it be admitted that these
Christian English missionaries, who, during their journeys, visited
the various factories, and witnessed markets of rubber being held,
would, by keeping silence, make themselves the accomplices of an
inhuman or wrongful system of government? Among the conclusions of
one of the Annual Reports of the Congo Balolo Mission is to be found
the following: “On the whole, the retrospect is encouraging. If there
has been no great advance, there has been no heavy falling off, and
no definite opposition to the work.... There has been much famine
and sickness among the natives, especially at Bonginda.... Apart
from this, there has been no serious hindrance to progress....”[130]
And speaking incidentally of the beneficial effect produced by work
on the social condition of the natives, a missionary writes: “The
greatest obstacle to conversion is polygamy. Many evils have been
put down, _e. g._, idleness, thanks to the State having compelled
the men to work; and fighting, through their not having time enough
to fight.”[131] These opinions of missionaries appear to us to be
more precise than those expressed in a Report on every page of which
it may be said one finds such expressions as: “I was told,” “it was
said,” “I was informed,” “I was assured,” “they said,” “it was
alleged,” “I had no means of verifying,” “it was impossible for me
to verify,” “I have no means of ascertaining,” etc. Within a space
of ten lines, indeed, occur four times the expressions, “appears,”
“would seem,” “do not seem.”[132]
The Consul does not appear to have realised that native taxes in
the Congo are levied in the shape of labour, and that this form of
tax is justified as much by the moral effect which it produces, as
by the impossibility of taxing the native in any other way, seeing
that, as the Consul admits, the native has no money. It is to this
consideration that is due the fact, to give another example, that out
of 56,700 huts which are taxed in North-Eastern Rhodesia 19,653 pay
that tax “in labour,” while 4938 pay it “in produce.”[133] Whether
such labour is furnished direct to the State or to some private
undertaking, and whether it is given in aid of this or that work
as local necessities may dictate, one ground of justification is
always to be found in what the Memorandum of the 11th February last
recognises is the “necessity of the natives being induced to work.”
The Consul shows much anxiety as to how this forced labour should be
described; he is surprised that if it be a tax it is sometimes paid
and recovered by commercial agents. Strictly speaking, of course, it
cannot be denied that the idea of remunerating a person for paying
his taxes is contrary to the ordinary notions of finance; but the
difficulty disappears if it is considered that the object in view
has been to get the natives to acquire the habit of labour, for
which they have always shown a great aversion. And if this notion
of work can more easily be inculcated on the natives under the
form of commercial transactions between them and private persons,
is it necessary to condemn such a mode of procedure, especially in
those parts where the organisation of the Administration is not yet
complete? But it is essential that in the relations of this nature
which they have with the natives, commercial agents, no less than
those of the State, should be kind and humane. In so far as it bears
on this point the Consul’s Report will receive the most careful
consideration, and if the result of investigation be to show that
there are real abuses and that reforms are called for, the heads of
the Administration will act as the circumstances may require.
But no one has ever imagined that the fiscal system in the Congo
attained perfection at once, especially in regard to such matters as
the assessment of taxes and the means for recovering them. The system
of “chieftaincies,” which is recommended by the fact that it enables
the authorities and the native to communicate through the latter’s
natural chief, was based on an idea carried into practice elsewhere:
“The more important Chiefs who helped the Administration have been
paid a certain percentage of the taxes collected in their districts,
and I think that if this policy is adhered to each year, the results
will continue to be satisfactory and will encourage the Chiefs to
work in harmony with the Administration.”[134]
The Decree on the subject of these Chieftaincies[135] laid down
the principle of a tax, and its levy in accordance with “a table
of contributions to be made every year by each village in produce,
forced labour, labourers, or soldiers.” The application of this
Decree has been provided for by deeds of investiture, tables of
statistics, and particulars of contributions, forms of which will be
found in Annex IV. In spite of what is stated in the Report, this
Decree has been carried out so far as has been found compatible
with the social condition of the various tribes; numerous deeds of
investiture have been drawn up, and efforts have been made to draw
up an equitable assessment of the contributions. The Consul might
have found this out at the Commissioners’ offices, especially in the
Stanley Pool and Equator districts which he passed through; but he
neglected as a rule all official sources of information. No doubt
the application of the Decree was at first necessarily limited, and
it is possible that the result has been that for a certain time only
such villages as were within a short distance from stations have been
required to pay taxes; but this state of things has little by little
altered for the better in proportion as the more distant regions have
become included in the areas of influence of the Government posts,
the number of villages subject to taxation has gradually increased,
and it has been found possible to levy taxes on a greater number of
persons. The Government aim at making progress in this direction
continuous, that is to say, that taxation should be more equitably
distributed, and should as much as possible be personal; it was with
this object that the Decree of the 18th November, 1903, provided for
drawing up “lists of native contributions” in such a way that the
obligations of every native should be strictly defined.
“Article 28 of this Decree lays down that within the limits of
Article 2 of the present regulations (that is to say, within the
limit of forty hours’ work per month per native) the District
Commissioners shall draw up annual lists of the taxes to be paid, in
kind or duration of labour, by each of the natives resident in the
territories of their respective districts. And Article 55 punishes
‘whoever, being charged with the levy of taxes, shall have required
of the natives, whether in kind or labour, contributions which shall
exceed in value those prescribed in the tables of taxes.’”
It is matter of common notoriety that the collection of taxes is
occasionally met by opposition, and even refusal to pay. The proofs
of this, which are to be found in the Report of the Consul for the
Congo, are borne out by what has happened, for instance, in Rhodesia:
“The Ba-Unga (Awemba district), inhabitants of the swamps in the
Zambesi delta, gave some trouble on being summoned to pay taxes.”[136]
“Although in many cases whole villages retired into the swamps
on being called upon for the hut-tax, the general result was
satisfactory for the first year (Luapula district).”[137]
“Milala’s people have succeeded in evading taxes.”[138]
“A few natives bordering on the Portuguese territory, who, owing
to the great distance they reside from the native Commissioners’
Stations, are not under the direct supervision of the Native
Commissioners, have so far evaded paying hut-tax, and refused to
submit themselves to the authority of the Government. The rebel
Chief, Mapondera, has upon three occasions successfully eluded
punitive expeditions sent against him. Captain Gilson, of the British
South Africa Police, was successful in coming upon him and a large
following of natives, and inflicting heavy losses upon them. His
kraal and all his crops were destroyed. He is now reported to be in
Portuguese territory. Siji M’Kota, another powerful Chief, living in
the northern parts of the M’toko district, bordering on Portuguese
territory, has also been successful in evading the payment of
hut-tax, and generally pursuing the adoption of an attitude which
is not acceptable to the Government. I am pleased to report that a
patrol is at present on its way to these parts to deal with this
Chief, and to endeavour to obtain his submission. It will be noted
that the above remarks relate solely to those natives who reside
along the borders of our territories, and whose defiant attitude is
materially assisted by reason of this proximity to the Portuguese
border, across which they are well able to proceed whenever they
consider that any meeting or contact with the Native Commissioner
will interfere in any way with their indolent and lazy life. They
possess no movable property which might be attached with a view of
the recovery of hut-tax unpaid for many years, and travel backwards
and forwards with considerable freedom, always placing themselves
totally beyond the reach of the Native Commissioner.”[139]
The above is an instance of those “punitive expeditions” to which
the authorities are occasionally obliged to resort, as also of the
native custom, which is not peculiar to the natives of the Congo, of
moving into a neighbouring territory when they are seeking to evade
the operation of the law. Whether in the process of collecting native
taxes there have been cases in the Congo, amongst those mentioned by
the Consul, in which the limits of a just and reasonable severity
have been overstepped is a question of fact which investigation on
the spot can alone ascertain, and instructions to this effect will be
given to the authorities at Boma.
We are also unable to accept, on the information at present before
us, the conclusions of the Report in regard to the conduct of the
forest guards in the employ of the A. B. I. R. and La Lulonga
Companies. These subordinate officers are represented by the Consul
as being exclusively employed in “compelling by force the collection
of india-rubber or the supplies which each factory needed.”[140]
It is true that another explanation has been given—though not,
indeed, by a native—according to which the business of these same
forest guards is to see that the india-rubber is harvested after
a reasonable fashion, and especially to prevent the natives from
cutting the plants.[141] It is, indeed, well known that the law
has made rigorous provision for preserving the rubber zones, has
regulated the manner in which they are to be worked, and has made
planting and replanting obligatory, with a view to avoiding the
complete exhaustion of the rubber plant, which has occurred, for
instance, in North-Eastern and Western Rhodesia.[142] A heavy
responsibility in this direction lies on the companies and private
persons engaged in developing the country, and it is obvious that
they are bound to exercise the most careful superintendence over the
way in which the harvest is collected. The object for which these
forest guards are employed, therefore, may well be quite different
from that alleged by the Consul; in any case, the complaints which
have been made on this head will form a subject for inquiry in the
Congo, as also the other remark of the Report that the manner in
which these forest guards are armed is excessive, and liable to
abuse. It is here to be observed that in calculating the number of
these forest guards the Consul is obliged to rely on hypothesis,[143]
and that he himself admits “I have no means of ascertaining the
number of this class of armed men employed by the A. B. I. R.
Company.”[144] He mentions that the gun of one of these men was
marked on the butt “Depôt 2210.” But it is evident that such a mark
can only have the significance which the Consul would like to see
in it in so far as it can be proved that it refers to the numbering
of the arms used in the Concession, and such is not the case, since
this particular mark “Depôt” is not used either by the officials of
the State or those of the Company, and it would seem that it is an
old manufactory or store mark. In regard to the manner of arming
the capitas, the Consul can hardly be ignorant that the higher
authorities have always given great attention to the matter, which
is, indeed, one surrounded with difficulties, seeing that while
on the one hand it is necessary to consider the question of the
personal protection of the capita, on the other the possibility of
the arms in question being used for improper purposes must not be
lost sight of. It is not only in the Circular of the 20th October,
1900, which the Consul has reprinted, that this question is dealt
with; there is a whole collection of Circulars on the subject, among
which may be mentioned those of the 12th March, 1897, 31st May and
28th November, 1900, and 30th April, 1901. Copies of them are annexed
as proof of the fixed determination of the Government to see that
the law relating to this question is strictly enforced (Annex V.).
Yet, in spite of all these precautions, the Consul has ascertained
that several capitas were not provided with permits (perhaps they
might have been found at the head office), and that two of them were
furnished with arms of precision.[145] But these few infractions of
the rule are obviously not enough to prove the existence of a sort of
vast armed organisation destined to strike terror into the natives.
On the contrary, the Circular of the 7th September, 1903, printed in
Annex VII. of the Consul’s Report, is a proof of the care taken by
the Government that the regular black troops should always be under
the control of European officers.[146]
Such are the preliminary remarks suggested by Mr. Casement’s Report,
and we reserve to ourselves the right of dealing with it more in
detail as soon as the Government shall be in possession of the
results of the inquiry which the local authorities are about to make.
It will be observed that the Government, in its desire not to seem to
wish to avoid the discussion, has not raised a question in regard to
the manner, surely unusual, in which His Britannic Majesty’s Consul
has acted in a foreign country. It is obviously altogether outside
the duties of a Consul to take upon himself, as Mr. Casement has
done, to institute inquiries, to summon natives, to submit them to
interrogatories as if duly authorised thereto, and to deliver what
may be styled judgments in regard to the guilt of the accused. The
reservations called for by this mode of procedure must be all the
more formal, as the Consul was thus intervening in matters which only
concerned subjects of the Congo State, and which were within the
exclusive jurisdiction of the territorial authorities. Mr. Casement,
indeed, made it his business himself to point out how little
authorised he was to interfere when on the 4th September, 1903, he
wrote to the Governor-General: “I have no right of representation
to your Excellency save where the persons or interests of British
subjects dwelling in this country are affected.” It is thus obvious
that he was aware that he was exceeding his duties by investigating
facts which concerned only the internal administration, and so,
contrary to all laws of Consular jurisdiction, encroaching on the
province of the territorial authorities.
“The grievances of the natives have been made known in this country
by ——, who brought over a petition addressed to the King, praying
for relief from the excessive taxation and oppressive legislation of
which they complain.”
These lines are extracted from the Report for 1903 of the British and
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and the natives referred to are the
natives of the Fiji Isles. The Report goes on:
“The case has been brought before the House of Commons. The
grievances include forced labour on the roads, and restrictions
which practically amount to slavery; natives have been flogged
without trial by magistrate’s orders, and are constantly subject
to imprisonment for frivolous causes. Petitions lodged with the
local Colonial Secretary have been disregarded. Mr. Chamberlain,
in reply to the questions asked in Parliament, threw doubt upon
the information received, but stated that the recently appointed
Governor is conducting an inquiry into the whole situation in the
Fiji Islands, in the course of which the matter will be fully
investigated.”
Such are also our conclusions in regard to Mr. Casement’s Report.
CHR. DE CUVELIER.
BRUSSELS, March 12, 1904.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] Copies have been sent to the Library of each House of Parliament.
[88] See _Africa_, No. 7, 1904, presented to both Houses of
Parliament, June, 1904.
[89] Report, p. 21.
[90] _Idem_, p. 26.
[91] M. Boudot, missionary of the Congo Balolo Mission. _Regions
Beyond_, December, 1901, p. 337.
[92] W. H. Bentley, _Pioneering on the Congo_, ii., p. 229.
[93] _Idem_, p. 243.
[94] _Pioneering on the Congo_, by the Rev. W. Holman Bentley, ii.
pp. 235-236.
[95] Report, p. 29.
[96] K. K. in _Africa_, No. 1 (1904).
[97] See Annex No. III.
[98] _Report_, p. 58.
[99] _Report_, p. 58.
[100] _Idem_, p. 56.
[101] See Annex No. II. (enclosure No. 6 in III.).
[102] _Regions Beyond_, 1900, p. 198.
[103] _Idem._, January-February, 1903, p. 53.
[104] See Annex No. II. “Present: Rev. W. D. Armstrong and Rev. D.
J. Danielson of the Congo Balolo Mission of Bonginda, Vinda Bidilou
(Consul’s head man) and Bateko as interpreters, and His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul.” This passage is omitted in Annex No. 6 of the
Consul’s Report (p. 78).
[105] _Report_, p. 34.
[106] _Idem_, pp. 76 and 77.
[107] Cf. _Idem_, pp. 54 and 55 and p. 58.
[108] _Idem_, pp. 54, 55.
[109] _Idem_, p. 56.
[110] _Idem_, p. 56.
[111] _Idem_, p. 62.
[112] _Idem_, p. 57.
[113] _Review of Reviews_, February 14, 1903.
[114] The _Tribuna_ of Rome.
[115] _Report_, Annex No. IV., p. 77.
[116] _Idem_, p. 30.
[117] _Report_, Annex No. IV., p. 30.
[118] “Ten Years at Bonginda.” D. McKittrick, _Regions Beyond_, 1900,
p. 21.
[119] “Congo Contrasts.” M. Boudot, _Regions Beyond_, 1900, p. 197.
[120] _Report_, p. 34.
[121] _Regions Beyond_, 1900, p. 150; 1902, p. 209.
[122] _Idem, passim._
[123] _Idem_, 1900, p. 150.
[124] _Idem_, 1901, p. 27.
[125] _Idem_, 1900, p. 199.
[126] _Idem_, 1900, pp. 243, 297, 306.
[127] _Idem_, 1901, p. 40; 1902, p. 315.
[128] _Idem_, 1901, p. 40.
[129] _Idem_, 1900, p. 196.
[130] _Idem_, 1901, p. 43.
[131] _Idem_, 1901, p. 60.
[132] _Report_, p. 28.
[133] _Reports on the Administration of Rhodesia_, 1900-1902, p. 408.
[134] _Reports on the Administration of Rhodesia_, 1900-1902, p. 408.
[135] Decree of the 6th October, 1891 (_Bulletin Officiel_, 1891, p.
259).
[136] _Reports on the Administration of Rhodesia_, 1900-1902, p. 409.
[137] _Idem_, p. 410.
[138] _Idem_, p. 410.
[139] _Idem_, 1900-1902, pp. 145, 146.
[140] _Report_, p. 44.
[141] Annex III., p. 26.
[142] _Reports on the Administration of Rhodesia_, 1900-1902, pp.
397, etc.
[143] _Report_, p. 57.
[144] _Idem_, p. 42.
[145] _Report_, p. 43.
[146] The Circular of the 7th September, 1903, has reference to
the “prohibition” to despatch armed soldiers in charge of black
non-commissioned officers, and not, as would appear from the
incorrect copy produced by the Consul, to the “instruction.”—(Annex
VII. of the _Report_, p. 80.)
_Memorandum_
Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of the 19th April, 1904, a copy of
which was handed to the Congo Government on the 27th April by his
Excellency Sir Constantine Phipps, calls for certain remarks.
With regard to the opinion to which this dispatch takes exception,
“that the interests of humanity have been used in this country as a
pretext to conceal designs for the abolition of the Congo State,”
it will be well to remember that a Member of the House of Commons
declared that he would prefer “to see the Valley of the Congo
pass into the hands of a foreign Power,” and that some pamphlets
described the “disruption of the Congo Free State,” the “partition
of the Congo Free State among the Powers,” as absolute and immediate
necessities, and even went so far as to suggest the bases of such a
partition; while the organs of the English press contemplated one of
two alternatives, either that “advocated by the more thorough-going
critics of the present Administration, namely, the disruption of the
Congo Free State,” or “the partition of the Congo territory among the
great Powers whose possessions in Africa border those of the Congo
Free State,” or declared that “what Europe ought to do, under the
leadership of Great Britain, is summarily to sweep the Congo Free
State out of existence.” The Congo State Note of the 17th September
has called attention to these suggestions, of which we merely point
out the tenor in this instance, and which all aimed at despoiling
the Sovereign-King, and at dispossessing him of the State which was
his own creation—suggestions which are entirely incompatible with
respect for rights and treaties, and with the motives of a purely
humanitarian and philanthropic nature by which the enemies of the
State allege themselves to be exclusively animated in the passionate
campaign which they are conducting against it.
In reply to the objections raised by His Majesty’s Government against
the communication of the entire text of Mr. Casement’s Report, the
Government of the Congo State points out that it has asked for the
complete Report precisely with a view to transmitting it to the
competent judicial and administrative authorities, without which
this communication would be purportless. The anxiety to obtain
an impartial inquiry and the rights of the defence render it an
imperative necessity that the men accused should be informed, in a
precise and fully detailed manner, of the acts laid to their charge;
the fear that the persons accused might be able, by means of the
knowledge they would have of the details, to influence or suppress
evidence, does not appear to be justified by the mere fact that the
natives, who, in the Epondo case, had given mendacious information
to the Consul, subsequently avoided presenting themselves before the
Magistrate presiding over the inquiry; the flight of these witnesses
is explained more naturally by the fact that they were conscious of
the grave fault they had committed in wittingly deceiving the English
Consul. If the Congo Government be permitted to give an assurance,
which it does willingly, that any case of suborning witnesses, or
any attempt to do so, would form the subject of a prosecution, it
is evidently not within its power to prejudice or quash such legal
measures as persons who might find themselves wrongfully accused
might consider it necessary to take, either in the interests of their
honour or their dignity.
The Government of the Congo State regrets that His Majesty’s
Government does not deem it necessary to communicate to it the other
previous Consular Reports to which Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of the
8th August, 1903, alluded. As was stated in the notes of the 12th
March last, these reports possessed the interest of having been
written at a date anterior to the inception of the present discussion.
A copy of this Memorandum will be addressed to the Powers to whom
copies of Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of the 19th April last was
transmitted.
ADMINISTRATION, CONGO FREE STATE, BRUSSELS,
May 14, 1904.
FEATURES OF THE LAND SYSTEM IN THE AFRICAN COLONIES OF GERMANY,
GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND PORTUGAL
The following notes are taken from the _Bulletin Officiel_ of June,
1903, reporting to the Sovereign the accounts of the Congo Free State
for the nineteenth year of its existence. The apt comparisons and
pointed remarks upon the land system of the State are the work of
M. le Chevalier de Cuvelier, Secretary of State for the Congo Free
State, an official of great executive ability, to whose tremendous
energy is due much of the later prosperity and progress which the
Congo State enjoys to the chagrin of its detractors. Chevalier de
Cuvelier has been engaged twenty years in the work of creating and
developing the State. His official utterances have the quality of
long experience behind them.
* * * * *
“During the twenty years that the rule of the State possession of
vacant lands has been inscribed in the laws of the Congo State, not
one of the Powers Signatory of the Berlin Act has pointed it out as
being contrary to that International Act, either at the time of the
publication in the _Official Bulletin_ of the regulation of 1885, or
on the occasion of any of the public applications made by the State
on successive occasions either in exploiting _en régie_ certain
lands of the Domain with the object of assuring to the Treasury
indispensable resources, or in granting concessions to certain
societies for the purpose of carrying out works of general utility
and contributing towards the public expenses.
“It can be said on the contrary that the Powers which, together
with the Congo State, are in possession of territory in the zone of
commercial liberty—France, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal—have
followed the same principles, and considered, like it, that the
Berlin Act no more excluded the right of property on the part of the
State than it excluded that of private individuals.
“In German East Africa the regulation of 1st September, 1891, says:
“‘ARTICLE 1.—The Government alone has the right to take possession
of vacant lands in the limits of the German sphere of influence in
East Africa fixed by the Anglo-German Convention of 1st July, 1890,
excepting for the length of the coast strip which was formerly part
of the Zanzibar sultanate, and in the provinces of Usambara, Nguru,
Usegua, Ukami, and the island of Mafia.’
“By the prior arrangement of 20th November, 1890, between the
Imperial Government and the _Deutsch Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft_,
the vacant lands of these latter regions were already found to be
assigned to that Company. The produce of the exploitation of the
forests throughout these territories, in the terms of Article 4 of
the contract of 5th February, 1894, was to be shared in equal halves
between the [German] Government and the Company.
“The [German] regulation of the 26th November, 1895, readmits the
principle:
“‘ARTICLE 1.—Under reserve of the rights of property, or of other
real rights that individuals or judicial persons, native chiefs
or villages, may advance, as well as rights of occupation by
third parties resulting from contracts effected with the Imperial
Government, all vacant land in German East Africa belongs to the
Crown.’
“The circular of the Imperial Governor von Liebert, dated 29th April,
1900, explains that:
“‘By the transference to the Empire of the sovereignty, all
pretensions to landed property derived from the sovereign rights,
real or apparent, of chiefs, sultans, etc., have passed to the
Empire. All land which has not been proved to be the private property
of an individual, or of a community, is to be considered as the
property of the Crown.’
“Under the powers of the regulations of 1895, concessions have
been granted in the terms taken, for example, from the acts of the
concession for the Urangi Society (1896) and the Gold Syndicate of
Usinja (1899):
“‘The Society receives the right to acquire under the prescriptions
of the land regulation of 26th November, 1895, a superficies of 100
square kilometres, either by contract with the natives, or by taking
provisional possession of vacant lands.’
“In the Cameroons, the south-east portion of which forms part of the
zone of liberty of commerce, there exists a regulation of the German
Emperor of 15th June, 1896, the first article of which is identical
with the first article of the regulation of 26th November, 1895, for
German East Africa.
“The Society of the South Cameroons has obtained there, 16th January,
1899, a charter of concession which grants it the property of the
domain lands situated between the 12th degree of West longitude, the
4th degree of North latitude, and the political frontiers of the
Cameroons to the South and to the East.
“In the French Congo, Article 19 of the order of the Government
Commissioner General of 26th September, 1891, decrees:
“‘Waste lands and abandoned lands, to the ownership of which no one
can legitimately lay claim, will be considered as belonging to the
State and will form part of the colonial domain. They can under that
head be alienated or conceded in the terms of the 5th and following
articles. Lands considered waste are those which are neither legally
occupied nor utilised in reality by any one.’
“Decrees passed in 1899 granted a totality of some forty concessions
_embracing almost the whole of the French territory_.
“In British East Africa, the powers given by the Royal Charter, 3d
September, 1888, to the Imperial British East Africa Company, whilst
Article 16 forbids it to grant any commercial monopoly, confer upon
it the right to ‘concede all lands for a period or in perpetuity, by
right of pledging them or otherwise.’
“After the British Protectorate was substituted for the Company,
the question of vacant lands was regulated in the following manner,
in accordance with the terms of the report of Mr. (now Sir) H. H.
Johnston, Her Britannic Majesty’s Special Commissioner, dated 27th
April, 1900:
“‘The land question may now be considered as partially solved over
the greater part of the Uganda Protectorate. Over all the more
thickly-inhabited countries the waste or unoccupied lands belong to
Her Majesty the Queen, having been transferred to the Crown, in most
cases by agreement with the chiefs, after payment of indemnities;
in some other cases, as in Unyoro, as the result of conquest....
By Proclamation it has been forbidden to any foreigner to acquire
land from the natives in any part of the Uganda Protectorate without
the prior assent of the Uganda Administration.... A large area of
the Kingdom of Uganda is guaranteed to the possession of its native
occupants. The rest of the land, including the forests, has now been
transferred by agreement to the Crown on behalf of, and in trust for,
the administration of the Uganda Protectorate.’
“Finally the land _régime_ in the Portuguese Colonies, especially
in Angola, is regulated by the decree of 9th May, 1901, the first
article of which stipulates:
“‘The State domain in the countries beyond the sea are all lands
which at the date of the publication of this law do not constitute
a private property, acquired according to the terms of Portuguese
legislation.’
“The Congolese law protects the natives in the enjoyment of the
lands that they occupy, and in fact not only are they not disturbed
in that enjoyment, but it even extends their cultivation and their
plantations in proportion with their necessities. Manifold are the
measures taken by the Congo State in order to safeguard the natives
against all spoliation:
“‘No one has the right to dispossess the natives of the lands which
they occupy.’ (Order of 1st July, 1885, Article 2.)
“‘The lands occupied by native populations under the authority of
their chiefs shall continue to be governed by local customs and
uses.’ (Decree of 14th September, 1886, Article 2.)
“‘All acts or conventions which would tend to expel the natives
from the lands that they occupy, or to deprive them, directly or
indirectly, of their liberty, or of their means of existence are
forbidden.’ (Decree of 14th September, 1886, Article 2.)
“‘When native villages are surrounded by alienated or leased lands,
the natives shall be able, as soon as the official measurement has
been effected, to extend their cultivation without the consent of the
proprietor, or the lessee, over the vacant lands which surround their
villages.’ (Decree of 9th April, 1893, Article 6.)
“‘The members of the Commission of Lands will specially examine
whether the lands asked for should not be reserved either for
requirements of public utility, or in view of permitting the
development of native cultivation.’ (Decree of 2nd February, 1898,
Article 2.)
“‘The other Powers have not understood otherwise than the Congo State
the obligations which are imposed upon them in this require in favour
of the natives. So the decrees of concessions in the French Congo
contain in the 10th Article the clause that:
“‘The Society having the concession cannot exercise the rights of
enjoyment and exploitation which are accorded to it except outside
villages occupied by natives, and the lands reserved to them for
purposes of cultivation, pasturage, or as forest. The surroundings
of these lands shall be fixed by the decisions of the Governor of
the Colony, which shall equally determine the lands over which the
natives shall preserve the rights of hunting and fishing.’
“In German East Africa, the regulation of the 27th November, 1895,
Article 2, stipulates:
“‘ARTICLE 2.—If on fixed lands, chiefs, villages, or other native
communities assert rights based upon a pretended sovereignty, or
if these rights belong to them, it will be necessary to take them
into account so far as possible, and to endeavour before anything to
arrive at a friendly arrangement in virtue of which the territory
necessary for the existence of the community shall be reserved, and
the remainder placed at the disposal of the Government.
“‘If this arrangement is not brought about, the Governor decides.’
“Commenting upon this arrangement, the circular of 29th April, 1900,
of the Imperial Governor von Liebert [Germany] gives the following
instructions:
“‘In principle there should only be left to the natives the lands of
which they have absolute need for their system of exchange, and for
the existence of their village communities. Nevertheless, in order
not to give rise to political complications, care will be taken
provisionally, in the practical execution of this rule, not to show
too much rigour, and especially is it recommended not to extend the
taking possession of property without an owner except in regions
which are under a strong administration.’
“The Portuguese decree of 9th May, 1901, says:
“‘ARTICLE 2.—The right of natives to lands habitually cultivated
by them, which are comprised in the sphere of the concessions,
is recognised; a certain extent of land shall be reserved for the
habitation and the agricultural work of those residing there.’”
CONCESSIONAIRES, PRIVATE FIRMS, AND COMMERCIAL TRADING COMPANIES IN
THE CONGO FREE STATE
There are at present over four hundred commercial establishments
carrying on trade in the Belgian Congo, among which are the following:
* * * * *
Société Anonyme Belge pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo, 31
establishments; Abir, 28; Nieuwe Afrikaansche Handels Vennootschap,
28; Société Anversoise du Commerce au Congo, 22; Comité Spécial du
Katanga, 21; Hatton & Cookson [Liverpool], 16; Comptoir Commercial
Congolais, 13; Valle & Azevedo, 12; Magasins Généraux, 12; Compagnie
du Congo Portugais, 10; Compagnie du Lomami, 9; Freitas & Barreira,
9; Produits Végétaux du Haut-Kasai, 8; Plantations de la Lukula, 7;
Crédit Commercial Congolais, 7; L’Enterprise Africaine, 7; Société
Isangi, 7; La Helgika, 6; Shanu, 6; L’Equatoriale Congolaise, 5; La
Congolia, 4; La Loanje, 4; Produits du Mayumbe, 4; La Lulonga, 4;
Comptoirs Congolais Velde, 4; Les Produits du Congo, 4; Samuel, 4;
Shanusi Agbabiaka, 4; Les Plantations Lacourt, 3; Société Forestière
et Commerciale du Haut-Congo, 3; Plantations du Lubefu, 3; Ferreira
Viegas, 3; La Djuma, 3; Syndicat Commercial et Agricole du Mayumbe,
3; Mouture et Panification, 2; Ikelemba, 2; Société d’Agriculture
et de Plantations au Congo, 2; Compagnie Agricole du Mayumbe, 2;
Ferreira Frères, 2; Traffic Congolais, 2; Société Africa, 2; Société
l’est du Kwango, 2; Dana Bernabe, 2; Carrico Frères, 2; Ribiero, 2;
Ferreira & Figueiredo, 2; Vicoso & Martins, 2; A. N. Figueiredo, 2;
Plantations Coloniales la Luki, 1; Compagnie Sucrière Européene et
Coloniale, 1; La Mayumbienne, 1; L’Urselia, 1; La Kassaïenne, 1;
Citas, 1; Compagnie Française du Haut-Congo, 1; Compagnie Bruxelloise
pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo, 1; La Centrale Africaine, 1; Harms &
Marcus, 1; D’Heygere, 1; Lemos et Irmôo, 1; Compagnie Franco-Belge,
1; Rocha Santos et Cie., 1; Agme, 1; Docteur Villa, 1; Messageries
Fluviales, 1; Folgosa, 1; Joao da Fonseca, 1; Rebello Luiz, 1;
Felgueiras, 1; Branca da Giovanni, 1; Gomez, 1; Nogueira, 1; Shanu,
1; Sabaï Smith, 1; Thomas, 1; Disu Aremu, 1; Smithe, 1; Adiolo
Balawao, 1; John Andrew, 1; Mana, 1; Somano Fayamo, 1; Radji Ibadan,
1; Davidson Williams, 1; Macole, 1; Georges Southey, 1; Lania, 1;
Abondu Ramano, 1; Mamadu Adejene, 1; Moses Williams, 1; John Sani,
1; J. W. Davis, 1; John David, 1; John Uriah, 1; Toki, 1; Adekule, 1;
Mabadu Vango, 1; N’chiama Lello, 1; Choko Malo, 1; Mafonda N’Baka,
1; Simpson, 1; Sacra Mancoga, 1; Latete Bako, 1; Peto N’Foa, 1;
Malenda Longo, 1; Chioma Moundoungou, 1; Sacra Shimbanda, 1; Hall
Chamberlain, 1.
PRINCIPAL CONGO OFFICIALS IN BRUSSELS, CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
_Ministers of State_: Baron VAN EETVELDE, Chevalier DESCAMPS.
_Treasurer-General_: M. H. POCHEZ.
_Secretaries-General_: M. le Chevalier A. DE CUVELIER, Department of
Foreign Affairs and Justice; M. H. DROOGMANS,
Department of Finances; Commandant C. H.
LIEBRECHTS, Department of the Interior.
_Directors_: M. A. BAERTS, Chef de Cabinet; M. N. ARNOLD,
Auditor; M. ED. KERVYN, Director of the
Department
of Foreign Affairs; M. DE KEUZER,
Director of the Department of Finances; Le
Major LOMBARD, and Commandant F. LEBRUN,
Directors of the Department of the Interior.
_Chief of Division_: M. G. OLYFF, Chief of Division of the
Department of Foreign Affairs.
OFFICIALS OF THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE CONGO FREE STATE
_Governor-General_: Général Baron WAHIS.
_Vice-Governors-General_: FUCHS, WANGERMÉE, COSTERMANS.
_Secretary-General_: VAN DAMME.
_Directors_: Of Justice: A. GOHR.
Of Finance: DELHAYE.
Of Agriculture: BROHÉE.
Of Public Works: ITTEN.
_Court of Appeal_: President, Interior Administration: Baron
G. NISCO.
Judges: HORSTMANS, A. GOHR.
_Court of First Instance_: Judge: T. BEECKMAN.
_Prosecuting Attorney_: F. WALEFFE.
_Magistrates_ (_Territorial Judges and Substitutes_): See Chapter XXII.
_Public Force_: Commander-in-Chief: Major WARNANT.
_Chief of the District_ of Boma, COSTERMANS.
Banana, Dr. CASSÉ.
Matadi, DERACHE.
The Cataracts, DELHAYE.
Stanley Pool, MAHIEU.
Lake Leopold II., STORMS.
The Equateur, STEVENS.
The Bangalas, GÉRARD.
The Ubanghi, BERTRAND.
The Uelle, WACQUEZ.
_Chief of the Zone_: Rubi Uelle, POURBAIX.
Uere Bomu, HOLM.
Bomokandi, SAROLÉA.
Gurba Dungu, SAMAES.
Enclave of Lado, SERESCHE.
_Chief of the District_ of the Aruwimi, PIMPURNIAUX.
Lualaba, CHENOT.
Kwango, DUVIVIER.
Oriental Prov., DE MEULEMEESTER.
_Chief of the Zone_ of Haut-Ituri, ENGH.
Ponthierville, CORDELLA.
Manyema, VERDICK.
Stanley Falls, FEDERSPIEL.
Ruzizi-Kivu, TOMBEUR.
THE BELGIAN MINISTER TO THE UNITED STATES
Baron LUDOVIC MONCHEUR, Belgian Legation, Washington, D.C.
Baron Moncheur graduated at the University of Louvain (Belgium) in
philosophy, letters, and law, with the highest honours. He entered
the diplomatic service of Belgium at the age of twenty-five, and was
successively Attaché to the Belgian Legation at The Hague in 1883;
Second Secretary, Belgian Legation at Vienna, 1885; First Secretary,
Belgian Legation at Berlin, 1887; Counsellor of the Belgian Legation
at Rome, 1892; Chargé d’Affaires at Luxembourg, 1897; Minister
Resident of Belgium to Mexico, 1898; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of Belgium to the United States, 1901. He is a member
of the Geographical Society of Antwerp, and author of _La Terre
chaude Mexicaine_ and _From Tampico to the Pacific_.
The Baroness Moncheur is a daughter of the Hon. Powell Clayton,
United States Minister to Mexico.
INDEX
A
A. B. I. R., 608
Aborigines’ Protection Society, 369, 374;
damaging estimate of its work and methods, _note_, 376 _et seq._,
451 _et seq._, 456, 478
Africa, formerly called the “Dark Continent,” 2;
its value unrecognised, _ibid._;
diamonds in, _ibid._;
its climate once thought to be fatal to Europeans, _ibid._;
portioned by Europe in eighteenth century to facilitate slave
trade, 129
Africa, Central, slavery in, 5;
creation of International Association for its exploration and
civilisation, 12;
its healthfulness insisted upon by Livingstone and Stanley, 17;
large sections claimed by England, France, Portugal, and Germany,
_ibid._;
review of, 64 _et seq._;
nomadic habits of its people, 223;
their superstition, _ibid._;
its consequences, 224;
the iron horse in, 252;
its real curse, 289
African Exploration Fund, 29;
London Geographical Society contributes £250, _ibid._;
Belgian Committee collects 500,000 francs, _ibid._
African explorers, Gladstone’s opinion of, 4
Albert Edward, Lake, 56, 208
Albert Nyanza, Lake, 52, 56
Albertville, 58
Alcohol, in Congo Free State, 138;
its prohibition, 273;
in Lagos, _note_, 289, 311
Alvensleben, Count Von, 136;
speech at second Brussels Conference, 143
American Baptist Missionary Union, 299, 300;
fifteen grants of land to, 387
American Congo Mission, two grants of land to, 387
American Indians, Wheaton on their political status, 71
American Secretary of State (Mr. Fish) on political status of
savages, 72
Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, treaty of, 553 _et seq._;
its ratification by United States, 559
Anglo-Portuguese Convention, 21;
it is quashed, _ibid._
Anti-slavery meeting at Cologne, 131
Anti-Slavery Society, of Belgium, founded by Cardinal Lavigerie, 91
Arab slave-traders, 5
Armstrong, Rev. W. D. _See_ Epondo.
Arnot, Mr. Frederick Stanley, on native punishments, 426
Arntz, Prof. Égide, 105;
argument by, 516
Aruwimi, 52, 179
Ascenso, Signor, Italian physician, remarks on Congo Free State,
428 _et seq._
Askaris, a Congolese tribe employed by Stanley as carriers, 39
Atrocities, Congo, 578, 595 _et seq._
Austria-Hungary, 68
Avakubi, 219, 220, 221
Azandés, 158
B
Bacon on progress of States, 18
Bacteriological Institute, 268
Bahr-Djur, 213
Bahr-el-Ghazal, France objects to Great Britain leasing it to Congo
Free State, 208, 210;
British scheme to break lease, 210, 211, 213;
vast mineral wealth discovered there, 214
Baker, Sir Samuel, employed by Khedive of Egypt, 4;
discovers Lake Albert, _ibid._
Bakumu, cannibal tribe, 46;
Stanley’s encounters with, _ibid._
Balolo, the “men of iron,” 46
Bangala, 74
Bankes, Mr. J. Eldon, K. C., 341
Banning, M. Emile, 136
Bantu race, 309
Banzyville, 53
Baoilis, 153
Baptist Missionary Society of London, 299, 300
Baraka, 59
Barbour, Rev. Thomas S., presents memorial to Congress, 387
_et seq._, 396
Baron A. Descamps. _See_ Descamps, Baron A.
Baron de Courcel. _See_ Courcel.
Baron Dhanis. _See_ Dhanis.
Baron Gericke d’Herwijen. _See_ D’Herwijen.
Baron Lambermont. _See_ Lambermont, Baron.
Baron Nisco. _See_ Nisco, Baron.
Baron Van Eetvelde. _See_ Eetvelde, Baron Van.
Batetelas, 52;
their grievance, 216, 218, 220, 221, 222;
their revolt crushed, 222
Baudouinville, 58, 59
Beernaert, M., Belgian Minister of Finance, speech by, 97
Belgian and French boundary, 46
Belgian Anti-Slavery Society, raises volunteer corps to protect
individual liberty, 200;
despatches three missionary expeditions to Congo, _ibid._
Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, 178
_Belgique, La_, twin-screw steamer employed by Stanley, 39
Bena Kalunga, 194
Benedetti, M. Antoine, 373;
appointed chief commissary of Congo State, 376;
pretends he is opposed to Congo Government, 377
Bergamoyo, 33
Berlin Conference, 23, 26, 94, 308, 309;
the General Act of, its full text, 530 _et seq._
Bernard, Montague, on _de jure_ and _de facto_ governments, 69
Besche, De, 218
Bia, Lieutenant, 47
Bigwood, Mr., 353
Bird, Strode & Bird, Messrs., solicitors, 341
Bishop Taylor Self-Supporting Mission, 300;
seven grants of land to, 387
Bismarck, Prince, convenes International Conference at Berlin to
regulate “African Question,” 23;
speech, _ibid._;
speech, 26;
speech at close of Berlin Conference, 94
_Black and White_ comments upon Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of
August 8, 1903, 459
Blood-brotherhood, 160
Blue Mountains, 52, 53
Bluntschli, M., on the rights of new States, 527
Bokala, 50
Boma, a native fort, 187, 188, _note_;
description of, by Dr. Hinde, 191
Bosco, M. Gennaro, public prosecutor. _See_ Epondo.
Bosoko, 179
Boston Peace Conference, 389
Boula Matari, native name for Stanley, 235
Boulger, Mr. Demetrius C., 165, _note_, 188
Bourée, M., 136
Bourne, Mr. Fox, Secretary Aborigines’ Protection Society, 372, 373,
386
Bowara, 54
Brabant, Duke of (_see_ Leopold II.), 4, 65
Brassem, Lieut., 47
Brazza, De, 262
Britain, Great, recognises Portugal’s claims to Congo River, 20;
declines to aid Stanley, 65;
appeals to King Leopold to call conference at Brussels to concert
measures for suppression of slavery on East Coast of Africa, 132;
land system of its African colonies, 612 _et seq._
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 610
British Baptist Society Corporation, fifteen grants of land to, 387
British colonies, crown lands in, 329;
system of government attacked, 589
British expedition to Congo, 43
Brussels, International Conference of Geographers (1876) at, 7, 134;
Brussels Second Conference (1889-90), declaration of General
Act of, 552 _et seq._;
ratification by United States, 559 _et seq._
Bruyn, De, 181, 183
Bryon, M., 34
Bull, John, paints the map red, 19;
some of his traits, 366 _et seq._;
his missionaries at work for his merchants, 388
Burdo, M., 36
Burrows, Captain Guy, is charged by Belgian officers with libel,
340 _et seq._;
claims to have silenced Captain Salusbury, 348;
is announced to contribute series of articles on Congo Free State
to
_Wide World Magazine_, 351;
agrees with R. A. Everett & Co. as to publication of book about
Congo, _ibid._;
his agreement with Mr. John George Leigh, 353
Burton, Sir Richard, discovers Lake Tanganyika, 4, 58
Busira-Momboya River, 335
C
Cambier, Lieut., 32;
assumes command of Belgian expedition, 33;
reaches Mirambo’s territory, _ibid._;
becomes “blood-brother” of Mirambo, _ibid._;
founds station on Lake Tanganyika, 34;
learns of death of Wautier, _ibid._;
hands over command to Captain Ramaeckers, 36, 253, 256
Cameron, Commander Lovett, on native punishments, 425
Campbell, Mr. John, M.P., derides anti-Congo agitation, 370
Canada, British, concessions in, 328
Canisius, M., 349
Cannibalism, 161;
State circular on repression of, 566 _et seq._
Caoutchouc. _See_ Rubber.
Cape-to-Cairo Railway, 208
Cardinal Lavigerie, 90
Carlyle, Thomas, his philosophy, 63
Carriers, their insubordination, 34
Casement, Mr. Roger, his Britannic Majesty’s consul, 175, 234;
Congo Government’s reply to his report refused publication by
London editors, 369;
suppression of parts of his report favourable to Congo Free State,
371, 465, 475 _et seq._, 477;
notes by Congo Administration on his report, 591 _et seq._
Cassart, Lieut., 185
Cataracts of Mokoangi, 54
Cataracts Railway, 252;
cost of travelling upon, 255
Cataracts of Zongo, 54
_Catholic Herald_, 371 _et seq._
Cattle, 269
Central Africa. _See_ Africa, Central.
Chaltin, Commandant, 190;
strikes severe blow at Dervishes, 201, 219;
his action for libel against Captain Guy Burrows, 340 _et seq._
Charing Cross Hospital, London, 267
Chieftaincies, native, 239
Chige, battle at, 182, 183
Chimay, Prince de, 135
Christian and Missionary Alliance, 300
Christy, Dr., English physician, remarks on Congo Free State,
430 _et seq._
_Chronique_, 461
Cicatrisation, 156
Cinnamon, 268
Clarke, Sir Edward, K.C., 341;
his speech in case against Captain Guy Burrows and Messrs. R. A.
Everett & Co., 342 _et seq._, 363, 364
Cloves, 269
Coal, discovery of, 291
Cocoa, 268;
State reward for native cultivation of, 269
Coffee, 53, 268;
State reward for native cultivation of, 269
Cologne, anti-slavery meeting at, 131
Colonel Strauch. _See_ Strauch.
_Comité d’ Études du Haut-Congo_ formed at Brussels, 29;
its name changed to International Association of the Congo, 39;
Stanley enters its service, _ibid._
Commerce, Chamber of, of Manchester (England), correspondence with
British Secretary for Foreign Affairs _re_ Upper Congo, 529 _et
seq._
Commerce, Chamber of, of State of New York, resolution of, 528 _et
seq._
Concessionary companies, 116;
their contracts with the State and their operations, 322 _et seq._
Congo Bololo Mission, 299;
seven grants of land to, 387
Congo, Conventional Basin of the, its limits, 206
Congo Free State, its evolution, 2;
conceived by King of the Belgians and Stanley, 22;
its flag, 26;
extent, 44;
boundary with North-eastern Rhodesia, 47;
its natural wealth, 51;
early legislation in, 66;
a properly organised government previous to General Act of Berlin
Congress, 67;
recognised as such by Powers previous to that Act, _ibid._;
declaration concerning, by General Sanford, 79;
recognised as a friendly government by American Secretary of State
Frelinghuysen 80;
makes treaties with United States in 1884 and 1885, 92;
freedom of trade established in, by General Act of Berlin
Conference, _ibid._;
treaties with various powers, 93;
attacked by Sir Charles Dilke in British Parliament, 96;
develops land, 115;
_concessionaire_ companies in, 116;
alcohol in, 138;
import duties, 140;
cost of founding the State, 145;
bequeathed by Sovereign to Belgium, 149;
population, 151;
origin of races, 152 _et seq._;
Public Force, 164;
prohibits trade in firearms, gunpowder, and other explosives, 200;
regulates contracts of service, _ibid._;
creates volunteer corps to protect individual liberty, _ibid._;
delimitation of its territory, 206;
its enemies, 223;
displacement of population, 225;
internal administration, 228;
nationality of its servants, 230;
Department of Justice, 231,
intrigues against, 235;
its means of communication with Europe, 249;
scientific stations in, 264;
climate, 265;
influx of Europeans and Americans, _ibid._;
trade and revenue, 277;
receives from King Leopold annual subsidy of 1,000,000 francs, 278;
exports and imports, 280-286;
Herr Eberhard Von Schkopp on trade of, 287;
declining trade with England, 290;
discoveries of gold, coal, and copper in, 291;
revenue, 292;
expenditure, 294 _et seq._;
monetary system, _ibid._;
missions in, 299;
schools, 301;
origin of land system, 313;
unappropriated lands declared property of, 314;
dealings with foreign squatters upon lands in Congo Basin, 316;
adopts Torrens Act system of transferring land titles, 317;
appoints Land Commission, 318;
authorises natives to work mines on own account, 319;
recognises certain local customs as valid, 320;
its various land tenures, 322;
traders’ alleged grievances against, 330 _et seq._;
domain of the crown, its extent, 335 _et seq._;
its forests finest in the world, 336;
its mining laws, _ibid. et seq._;
campaign against, begun in America, 387;
its value generally recognised, 447;
replies to Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of August 8, 1903, 458;
reception of reply by British press, 460;
instructions respecting officials and natives, 569;
text of reply to British dispatch of August 8, 1903, 577 _et seq._;
official correspondence with Great Britain, 590;
notes on Mr. Casement’s report, 591 _et seq._;
concessionaires, private firms, and trading companies therein,
616 _et seq._;
principal officials in Brussels, 617;
principal local officials, _ibid._
Congo, Lower, 201;
charted by buoys, 250, 252
Congo, Middle, 46, 201
Congo Question, 3
Congo Reform Association (of Liverpool), its specious arguments, 315;
letter to, from editor of _Catholic Herald_, _note_, 371, 374, 452;
establishes its American headquarters at Boston, 467
Congo Reform Association, Secretary of, 372;
enters into correspondence with Mr. Benedetti, and requests
interview
with him, 378, 379;
introduces Mr. Benedetti to Mr. John Holt, 380;
his agreement with Mr. Benedetti, 381 _et seq._;
receives letter from Mr. Benedetti, 383, 384, 386;
presents memorial to President Roosevelt, asking for American
intervention in affairs of Congo Free State, 388;
abuses King Leopold at Boston Peace Congress, 395;
is estimated by Major James Harrison, 409 _et seq._;
publishes book attacking government of French Congo, 447 _et seq._;
ceases hostility to French Congo, _ibid._;
the Congo coroner, 468;
specimen of his vituperative fanfaronade, 470 _et seq._
Congo River, its source, 45;
discovered by Livingstone, _ibid._;
its harbours and shipping, 250;
Sir Travers Twiss on free navigation of, 502;
navigation of, as provided for in General Act of Berlin Conference,
536 _et seq._
Congo, Upper, 44, 187;
slavery finally extinguished on, 201, 252
Copal, 272
Copper, discovery of, 291
Coquilhat, Captain, 165
_Corriere Toscano_, 463
Count Van der Straeten Ponthoz. _See_ Ponthoz.
Courcel, Baron de, speech at International Conference, Berlin, 27
Cranborne, Viscount. _See_ Salisbury, Marquess of.
Crespel, Captain, commands first Belgian expedition, 32;
arrives at Zanzibar, _ibid._;
his death, _ibid._
Crispe, Mr., K. C., 341, 357
Cromer, Lord, reports upon migratory habit of Soudan population,
226, 454
Crystal Mountains, 47
_Curse of Central Africa, The_, title of book by Captain Guy
Burrows, 353
Curzon, Viscount, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, his
opinion of the Congo Free State Government, 422
Cuvelier, Chevalier de., Secretary of State of Congo Free State, 293
D
_Daily Chronicle_, letter to, from Sir Harry Johnston, 401 _et seq._
_Daily News_, 369, 371, 372, 373, 374
_Daily Telegraph_ (London), Stanley’s letters to, 38
D’Arenberg, Prince F., 453
Davis, Mr. Alexander, his opinion of the Congo Free State Government,
extracted from his book, _The Native Problem in South Africa_,
418 _et seq._
Defence of Congo Free State, 577 _et seq._
Dekere, 54
De Keyser, Captain Henri Joseph Leon, his action for libel against
Captain Guy Burrows, 340 _et seq._;
is awarded £500 damages and costs, 363
Delcommune, Lieut., 47, 55, 184, 185
Delecourt, Lieut., 220
Derscheid, Lieut., 47
Descamps, Baron A., his work entitled _New Africa_, 74;
exposition of international law, 81;
on _Government Civilisation in New Countries_, 110, 257, 293;
exposition of early Congolese policy, 309;
analysis of theory of State ownership of vacant lands, 315
Dhanis, Lieut. (afterwards Baron), 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185,
186, 187, _note_ 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194;
his final report on Arab campaign, 195, 219, 220, 221, 222
D’Herwijnen, Baron Gericke, 141
Diego Cam, discoverer of the Congo, 42
Dilke, Sir Charles, attacks Congo Free State in British Parliament,
96, 370, 447, 455
Dirfi, 220
Doorme, Lieut., 187
Doumergue, M. Gaston (French Colonial Minister), decree consolidating
legislation for French West Africa, 338 _et seq._
Droeven, 218
Dubreucq, Commandant, his action for libel against Captain Guy
Burrows,
340 _et seq._
Duchesne, Lieut., 182
Dufile, railroad to Redjaf, 256
Dufourny, A., President of the Federation for the Defence of Belgian
Interests Abroad, 395
Dupont, Professor, assistant at Court of Inquiry, 476
Dutalis, Lieut., 35
Dutrieux, Dr., 33
E
Edward, King of England, visits Paris, 448
Eetvelde, Baron Van, 136;
report on conscription, 168;
report on civilisation of native races, 202;
reviews complete work of Congo Free State, 203
Egypt, Khedive of, employs Sir Samuel Baker, 4;
is coerced by Europe to suppress slave-trading on the Upper Nile,
6;
employs Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon to govern the Soudan,
_ibid._
Ekongo, King of, 42;
his conversion to Christianity, _ibid._;
old kingdom of, 43
Elephants, Indian, experiment with, 35;
abundant in Kivu forest, 57, 272
Emin Pasha, 53, 60, 188
Employees, dismissed, misrepresentations by, 580
_En Avant_, steamer employed by Stanley, 39
England, claims large sections of Africa, 17;
decreasing trade with Congo Free State, 290;
its cause, _ibid._
Epondo case, 595 _et seq._
Equateurville, 46, 50
Etienne, M. Eugène, dissertation on the French Congo and Congo Free
State, 324 _et seq._
_Étoile Belge_, 346, 355
_Evening Transcript_, 463 _et seq._
Everett, Messrs. R. A. & Co., London publishers, legal action against
for libel, 340 _et seq._;
letter from, to Secretary of State of Congo Free State, 351 _et
seq._
Expedition, British, to Congo, 43
Exports from Congo Free State, 1903 (statistics of), 280;
value of, _ibid._;
comparison with previous years, 281
F
Fashoda, 212, 213
Favereau, Baron de, 478
Federation for the Defence of Belgian Interests Abroad, 389;
address to President Roosevelt, 390, 479
Fetish doctor, 223, 224, 225
Fiji Islands, 610
_Force Publique_, 216
Foreign Christian Missionary Society, 300
Forfeit, Mr. William, remarks on Congo Free State, 427 _et seq._
Flanders, Count of, becomes President of National Committee of
International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of
Central Africa, 13
France, war with Germany, 4;
claims large sections of Africa, 17;
sets up her flag at Brazzaville, 19;
denounces Anglo-Portuguese Convention, 21;
recognises International Association as a friendly Government, 22;
land system of its African colonies, 612 _et seq._
Franciscans, 301
Francqui, Lieut., 47, 59, 184
Fraud, A gross, 157
Frelinghuysen, F. F., American Secretary of State, recognises Congo
Free State as a friendly Government, 80
French and Belgian boundary, 46
French Sheldon, Mrs., on atrocities in Congo Free State, 445
Frere, Sir Bartle, becomes Governor of the Cape, 12;
letter to, from Mr. H. Nixon, on baneful influence of Aborigines’
Protection Society, 377
Fuchs, M., reports on Public Force, 170;
suggests (in his capacity of Vice-Governor-General) plan to control
migration of natives, 226;
report of July, 1904, 229;
report on routes for motor cars, 263
G
Gandu, 181, 217, 218
Garenganze Evangelical Mission, 300
_General Anzeiger_, 461
Germaine, Mr., K. C., 341
Germany, war with France, 4;
claims large sections of Africa, 17;
wants part of East Africa, 19;
denounces Anglo-Portuguese Convention, 21;
recognises International Association as a friendly Government, 22;
invites Powers to confer in Berlin, _ibid._;
land system of its African colonies, 612 _et seq._
Ghent, Sisters of Charity, 301
Gibbons, Cardinal, 438;
letter to Secretary Congo Reform Association, 439 _et seq._
Gibbons, Major H. H., opinion of Congo State, 583
Gillain, Commandant, 187, 194, 217, 218
Ginger, 268
Gladstone, his opinion of African explorers, 4
_Globe, The_, letter from Lord Mountmorres to, 441 _et seq._
Gois Kapopa, 184
Gold, discovery of, 291
Goldsmid, Sir Frederic, his report on Portuguese claims, 21
Gongo Lutete. _See_ Lutete.
Gongo Machoffe, 219
_Goodwill_, English Baptist mission steamer, 300
Gordon, General, is employed by Khedive of Egypt to govern Soudan, 6;
appointed by King Leopold to chief command on the Congo, 41;
British Government claim his services, _ibid._
Gortchakoff, Prince, 68
Grant discovers sources of the Nile and Lake Victoria, 4
Granville, Lord, 20;
on development of trade in Central Africa, 530
Great Britain. _See_ Britain, Great.
Grégoire, M., assistant at Court of Inquiry, 476
Grenfell, Mr. George, English missionary, remarks on Congo Free State,
427;
on administration of justice in, 568 _et seq._
Grey, Mr., English civil engineer, remarks on Congo Free State,
435 _et seq._
Grison, Rev. Father, missionary in charge of St. Gabriel’s, Stanley
Falls, 301;
extracts from his diary, 302;
his strenuous life, 306, 307
Guinness, Dr. H. Grattan, lectures in Scotland on atrocities in Congo
Free State, 424 _et seq._, 427
Guinness, Mrs. H. Grattan, her testimony different from that of her
husband, 425
H
_Hamburgische Börsen Halle, Neue_, its estimate of British opinion of
Congo Free State, 333 _et seq._
Hamed-ben-Mohamed, _note_, 179
Hanssens, Captain, 40
Harbey, Rev. C. H., testifies as to lying proclivities of natives,
600. _See_ Epondo.
Harrison, Major James, 369, 374;
letter to London _Times_, 404 _et seq._;
remarks upon side issue raised by Secretary of Congo Reform
Association, 409 _et seq._
Head, Mr. George, M.A., demolishes arguments of Secretary of Congo
Reform Association at Boston Peace Congress, 396
Head tax, in British colonies, 582
Health committees, 268
Heffter, his theory of the existence of a State, 528
Henderson, Mr. John, his comments on Consul Casement’s report,
466 _et seq._
Henry, Commandant, 220, 221, 222
Heusch, De, Lieut., 194;
is killed in battle, _ibid._
Heuval, Dr. Van den, 35
Heymans, Captain, 54
Hinde, Dr. Sidney, 179, 183, _note_, 188;
his description of a boma, _note_, 191
Hodister, 178
Holland, Queen of, 143
Holt, Mr. John, Liverpool merchant, 373;
pays Mr. Benedetti £40, 383, 384;
his trading company loses its case against the _Compagnie Française
du Congo Occidental_ before the Council of Appeal at Libreville,
450
Horses, 269
Hospital for Natives, Boma, 268
Humanitarianism, pretext of, 578
Hut tax, in British colonies, 582, 605
Hygienic Commission, Boma, 265
I
Import duties, 140
Imports into Congo Free State, 1903, 282, 283, 284, 286;
compared with imports of previous years, 286
_Independance Belge_, 352, 353, 374
Influenza, 187
International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of
Central Africa, creation of, 12;
General Sanford (United States Minister at Brussels) becomes
member, 13;
receives influential support, _ibid._;
receives report of Commission of Eight, 25;
founds station on Lake Tanganyika, 34;
stations created by, 491;
its recognition by United States as a friendly Government
recommended by Senator Morgan, 492;
treaties with Germany, Great Britain, France, and Portugal,
544 _et seq._;
declaration exchanged with Belgium, _ibid._
International Missionary Alliance, 300;
eleven grants of land to, 387
Irebu, 56
Itembo, 52
Itimbiri, 251
Ituri, forest of, 52
Ivory, tax on, 178, 272;
export duty on, 278
J
Janssen, M. Camille, 165
Janssens, M., president of Committee of Inquiry, 476
Japan, domainal system of, 334
Jesuits, 301
Johnston, Sir Harry, G. C. M. G., 152;
quotation from his book, _The Uganda Protectorate_, 400 _et seq._
Juan II., King of Portugal, 42
Junker, Dr., German explorer, 53;
on native punishments, 425
Jürgens, 218
K
Kabambari, 191
Kabinda, 43;
attacked by Batetelas, 217, 218
Kabindas, a Congolese tribe employed by Stanley as carriers, 39
Kakongos, 153
Kalengo. _See_ Epondo.
Karema, 34
Kassai, 50
Kassali, Lake, 48
Kasson, Mr., United States Plenipotentiary, 107
Kassongo, 47, 181, 182, 187, 188, 189, 191, 193, 221
Katanga, 48;
copper deposits in, _ibid._;
soon to be reached by railroad, 48, 184
Katué, 221
Khartoum, 214
Khedive of Egypt employs Sir Samuel Baker, 4
Kibala Mountains, the African Switzerland, 48
Kiranga-cha-gungo, largest inland volcano in world, 57
Kirk, Sir John, 136, 426
Kipango, 186
Kivu, Lake of, 57
_Kleine_ Journal, 462
Konings, 218
Kwango, 50
L
_La Liberté_, 460
La Lulonga Society. _See_ Epondo, 608
Labour, question of native, 581
Labudi, 47
Lado, Enclave of, 210
Lado territory, 219
Laeken, Brussels, King Leopold’s palace, 248
Lagos, British colony of, its revenue, 1898-1901, _note_, 289;
sixty-five per cent. of revenue derived from alcoholic liquor, 311;
wasteful methods of dealing with rubber and timber, 323;
decline of prosperity in, _ibid._, 374, 468;
its revenue reviewed by the Lagos _Standard_, 469 _et seq._
Lake Albert Edward, 56
Lake Albert Nyanza, 52, 56
Lake Kassali, 48
Lake Kivu, 57
Lake Leopold II., discovered by Stanley, 56
Lake Matumba, 46, 53
Lake Moero, 49
Lake Tanganyika. _See_ Tanganyika.
Lambermont, Baron, attends Brussels Conference (1876), 8;
reports upon safeguards for native races, 26;
drafts final act of International Conference, _ibid._;
on slavery, 89;
his definition of free trade, 111;
presides over Second Brussels Conference, 136
Land system, features of the, in the African colonies of Germany,
Great Britain, France, and Portugal, 612 _et seq._ (_See_ Congo
Free State, 586)
Lange, De, Belgian officer, 192
Lansdowne, Marquess of, 450;
his dispatch to the Powers Signatory to the Berlin Act,
457 _et seq._;
its reception by British press, 460, 465;
dispatch to the Powers Signatory of the General Act of Berlin
respecting alleged cases of ill-treatment of natives and the
existence of trade monopolies in Congo State, 573 _et seq._
Launay, Count de, 298
Laveleye, M. Emile, 105
Lavigerie, Cardinal, 90;
founds Belgian Anti-Slavery Society, 91;
visits Belgium, 134, 426
Lawrence, William Beach, on what constitutes a State, 528
Le Marinel, Lieut., 178, 179
Leigh, Mr. John George, his agreement with Captain Guy Burrows, 353
Leopold II. (King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Congo Free
State), his accession to Belgian throne, 2;
believes Africa promising outlet for surplus European population, 3;
his magnificent physique and personal accomplishments, _ibid._;
perceives opportunity to civilise Central Africans and found Belgian
colony, _ibid._;
his scheme disregarded, _ibid._;
speech before Belgian Senate in 1860, 4;
his philanthropy, 6;
considers how the slave trade in Africa can be abolished, _ibid._;
convenes an international conference of geographers in Brussels
(1876)
to discuss the subject, 7;
his circular letter, _ibid._;
his speech, 8;
becomes President of International Association for the Exploration
and
Civilisation of Central Africa, 12;
speech before National Committee, 14;
his desire for new markets for Belgian manufactures, 17;
his prescience, _ibid._;
spends largely of his private fortune to suppress slavery, 18;
appeal to British Government, 21;
recognised by Powers as Sovereign ruler of Congo Free State, 28;
becomes honorary President of the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_,
29;
invites Stanley to Brussels, 39;
induces him to enter service of International Association of the
Congo
(new name of the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_), _ibid._;
plans campaign of exploration, 60;
a true friend to Stanley, 65;
his early declaration, _ibid._;
letter to his ministers, 99;
authorised by Belgian Chamber to assume sovereignty of Congo Free
State, 101;
his acknowledgment, _ibid._;
receives congratulations and is visited by Lord Mayor of London,
101, 102;
is appealed to by British Government to call conference at Brussels
to concert measures for suppression of slavery on East Coast of
Africa, 132;
letter to M. Beernaert, 147;
bequeaths sovereignty of Congo Free State to Belgium, 149;
_note_, 179;
confers title of Baron on Captain Dhanis, 195;
his plans to suppress slavery excite little interest, 197;
depletes his fortune to achieve his object, 198;
receives scant support outside Belgium, _ibid._;
his Majesty’s mandate, _ibid._;
his first object realised, 205;
his political foresight, 210;
his energy and industry, 248;
Laeken, his palace at Brussels, _ibid._;
his châlet at Ostend, _ibid._;
his immense expenditure on Congo State, 276;
impossible to recover, 277;
grants annual subsidy of 1,000,000 francs to Congo State, 278;
his early declarations consistently carried out, 320;
Captain Guy Burrows dedicates book to, 347;
is abused by Secretary of Congo Reform Association at Boston Peace
Congress, 395;
Congo Free State likely to fulfil his expectations, 447
Leopoldville, 46;
fortnightly communication with Stanley Falls, 251;
treaty of, 489
Leroi, Captain, 219, 220
Leslie, Rev. W. H., of American Baptist Missionary Union, 411;
contributes article on Congo to _Missionary Review of the World_,
414
Liebrechts, Mr., Secretary-General of Congo Free State, letters to
from
Captain Burrows, 347 _et seq._
Lindi, 221
Lindt, Van, Lieut., 189
Lippens, 181, 183
Livingstone, Dr., enters Congo region, 1860, and discovers lakes Moero
and Bangweolo, 4;
found by Stanley in 1871, _ibid._;
says white man can live in Central Africa, 17, 197
Livingstone Inland Mission, 299
Lomami, 49, 50, 51, 181, 182, 183, 217, 218
Lopori, 49
Lothaire, Commandant, 194, 217, 218, 219
Lua, 54
Luahilimta, 57
Lualaba, 47, 177, 186, 251
Lualaba-Kassai, 201
Luapula, 47
Lubefu, 50, 335
Lubuga, 57
Lubukine, 194
Lufila, 47
Lufupa, 47
Lukenie River, 335
Lulongo, 49, 50
Luluabourg, 74, 201;
outbreak of Batetelas at, 216, 218
Lumber, 272
Lunda country, 74
Lusambo, 179, 201, 217
Lusana, 183
Lutete, Gongo, 179;
his personality, 180, 181, 182, 184;
is court-martialled and shot, 190;
disastrous consequences of that event, 191, 216
M
Mabode, 52
Maes, Dr., 32;
his death, _ibid._
Maguire, Dr., English missionary, remarks on Congo Free State,
429 _et seq._
Mahagi, 212
Malet, Sir Edward, attends International Conference at Berlin, 24;
speech, 27
Maloney, Mr. J. A., on native punishments, 426
Malumba, Batetela mutineer, murdered by one of his followers, 221
Manning, Cardinal, 131
Manyema, collectors of ivory, 59, 182;
country of, 191, 218, 221
Marès, M. Roland de, 384
Marno, M., 32
Marriage, Christian, among natives, 273
Martens, Prof., 136
Martin of Bohemia, cosmographer 42
Matadi, 47, 252, 253;
trains from, 255
Matumba, Lake, 46, 53, 56
Mayombés, 153
Mayumbe Railway, 256
Mbomu, 54, 208, 209, 210
Meshra-er-Rek, 213
Mfini, 56
Mgonda-Mkali, 33
Michaux, Captain, 182, 183, 184, 218
Middle Congo, 46, 48
Mirambo, 33;
his conflict with Simba, 36
Missionaries, 299, 300, 301, 385, 387, 411, 424, 425, 427, 429;
deceived by native witnesses, 233
Missions, Protestant, 299
_Modes et Robes à la Congo_, 154
Moero, Lake, 49;
south-eastern boundary between British territory and Congo Free
State, 59
Moharra, Munie, 181, 184, 185, 186
Mohun, Mr., formerly United States Consul at Boma, 411;
his opinion of Congo Free State Government, 415 _et seq._
Mokoangi, Cataracts of, 54
Molieka, 52
Moltke, Von, 180
Moncheur, Baron, Belgian Minister to United States, 389;
career, 618
Mongalla, 52
Moore, English naturalist, 57;
discovers zoölogical remains of a dead sea, 59
Morgan, Senator, of Alabama, presents memorial to Congress, 388;
submits Report from Committee on Foreign Relations recommending
United States to recognise International African Association as
friendly government, 492
_Morning Advertiser_, comments upon Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of
August 8, 1903, 458 _et seq._;
betrays some British desires, 459
_Morning Post_, 369;
letter to from Major James Harrison, 409;
from Mr. Grey, 435 _et seq._
Morrison, Rev. Mr. W. M., of Lexington, Va., 385;
fails to obtain land concessions and special privileges, 386;
his statements compared with facts, 387, 388, 396, 456
Mountains, Blue, 52, 53
Mountains, Crystal, 47
Mountains, Kibala, 48
Mountains, Pallaballa, 252, 253
Mountmorres, Lord, 374;
starts on journey through Congo Free State, 440;
letter from, to London _Globe_, 441 _et seq._
Mpala, 37
Msiri, 48
Münster _Westphal_, 462
Musserongés, 153
Mwadi, 184
Mwana Mkwanga, Arab camp at, 191
N
Natives, Commission for Protection of, report of first meeting,
572 _et seq._;
alleged to be ill-treated, 573 _et seq._
Nerincx, Professor A., coadjutor of Baron Moncheur, 389
Netherlands, Prince Henry of,
becomes President of the National Committee of the International
Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa,
13
_New York Herald_, Stanley’s letters to, 38
_New York Press_, 464
Neyn, M. De, assistant at Court of Inquiry, 476
Niadi Kwilu Basin explored, 73
Niadi, treaty with King of, 490
Niam-Niam, tribe inhabiting Bahr-el-Ghazal country, 214
Niangara, 53
Niger, navigation of the, as provided for in General Act of Berlin
Conference, 541 _et seq._
Nisco, Baron, President of Court of Appeal, 232;
member of Court of Inquiry, 476
Nôtre Dame, Sisters of, 301
Nutmegs, 269
Nyangwe, 45, 52, 59, 181, 182, 186, 187, 188, 217, 221
Nys, M. Ernest, 77
Nzilo, 47
O
Obi, 220
Omdurman, battle of, 213
Ordeal by poison, 159;
State Circular on repression of, 566 _et seq._
Ostend, King Leopold’s châlet at, 248
_Our Lady of Perpetual Help_, Roman Catholic Mission steamer, 300
Ourroussof, Prince, 136
P
Padrão Foreland, 42
Pallaballa Mountains, 252, 253
Palmerston, Lord, on recognition of States by British Government, 528
Panga Falls, 53
Parliament, British, debate in, 580
Partition of Congo State, 578 _et seq._, 610
_Peace_, English Baptist Mission steamer, 300
Pepper, 268
_Petit Bleu_, interview with Stanley published in, 397
_Phare de la Loire_, 461
_Philippeville, SS._, 477
Phipps, Sir Constantine, his Britannic Majesty’s minister at Brussels,
dispatch on protection of natives, 561 _et seq._
Photographs, faking of, 371 _et seq._, 602 _et seq._
Pigmies, 156
Poison, ordeal by, 159
Polidori, Signor, Italian physician, remarks on Congo Free State,
428 _et seq._
Poll tax, in British colonies, 582
Polygamy, 163, 273
Ponthier, Captain, 190, 191, 193
Ponthoz, Count Van der Straeten, on safeguarding native races, 26
Pope Leo XIII., encyclical on abolition of slavery in Brazil, 90;
receives Central African Christian Negroes, _ibid._;
his speech, _ibid._
Popelin, Captain, commands second Belgian expedition, 35;
death of, 37
Population, displacement of, 225;
diminution of, 591 _et seq._
Portugal, claims large sections of Africa, 17;
claims Congo River, 19;
land system of its African colonies, 612 _et seq._
Postal Service, 244
Prémontré Fathers, 301
_Prestation_, natives’ contribution of labour towards support of
State, 294
Public Force, 164
_Public Ledger_, 465
Puttkamer, Herr Von, Governor of the Cameroons, his opinion of the
navigation of the Congo River, 252
Q
Queen of Holland, 143
R
Ramaeckers, Captain, commands fourth Belgian expedition, 36;
joins his colleagues at Tanganyika, _ibid._;
takes over command from Cambier, _ibid._;
death of, 37
Rashid, 179, 189, 190, 194
Redemptionists, 301
Redjaf, 201;
railroad to Dufile, 256
_Reed, Henri_, American Baptist Mission steamer, 300
Rejoinder of Congo State to charges in Consul Casement’s Report,
590 _et seq._
Reply of Congo State to British Dispatch, Aug. 8, 1903, denying that
Administration involves systematic cruelty to natives, 577 _et seq._
Revenue, various sources of, 279
Rhodes, Cecil, 208;
prophetic utterance by, 454
Rhodesia, North-eastern, and Congo Free State boundary, 47;
taxes in, 605 _et seq._
Riba Riba, 178
Ridley, Mr. Justice, tries suit for libel brought by Belgian officers
against Messrs. R. A. Everett & Co. and Captain Guy Burrows, in
London, 340 _et seq._;
his charge to jury, 358
Roger, M., 36
Roman Catholic Mission, forty-four grants of land to, 387
Roosevelt, President, 388, 389
_Royal_, steamer employed by Stanley, 39
Rubber (caoutchouc), its cultivation and collection, 270;
its varieties, 272;
export duty on, 278;
decrease in export of, from eight British colonies, 324 _et seq._
Rubi, 52
Rudolph, Archduke, of Austria, becomes President of National Committee
of International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation
of Central Africa, 13
Ruki, 50
Rumeliza, chief of Ujiji, 191, 193, 194
Rusisi, 57
S
Sacred Heart of Mary, Sisters of the, 301
Sacred Heart, Priests of the, 301
Salisbury, Marquess of, his opinion of the Congo Free State
Government,
423, 456, 584
Salisbury, Marquess of (the late), his opinion of the Congo Free State
Government, 423
Salusbury, Captain, his allegations against Congo Free State denied by
Captain Guy Burrows, 346
Sambas Plateau, 50
Sanford, General (United States Minister at Brussels), becomes member
of International Society for the Exploration and Civilisation of
Central Africa, 13;
declaration by, 79;
founds, with M. Georges Brugmann, Exploring Expedition, 276
Sankuru, 50, 179, 336
Sannaes, Lieut., 221
San Salvador, 43
Scherlink, Lieut., 183
Scheut Fathers, 301
Schkopp, Herr Eberhard Von, his remarks upon Congolese trade, 287
School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, 267
Schumacher, Dr. De, member of Court of Inquiry, 476, 478
Scott, Mr. G. A., 341
Sefu, 179, 181, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 189, 190
Semlika, boundary between British and Belgian possessions, 56
Semliki, 221
Seyyid Burghash, Sultan, 32
Shanu, British subject of Lagos, tries to induce Mr. Benedetti to join
anti-Congo campaign, 377 _et seq._
Sierra Leone, convictions for maltreatment of natives in, 582
Simba, his conflict with Mirambo, 36
Sir Bartle Frere. _See_ Frere, Sir Bartle.
Sir Charles Dilke. _See_ Dilke, Sir Charles.
Sir Frederic Goldsmid. _See_ Goldsmid, Sir Frederic.
Sir Harry Johnston. _See_ Johnston, Sir Harry.
Sir John Kirk. _See_ Kirk, Sir John.
Sir Travers Twiss. _See_ Twiss, Sir Travers.
Slavery in Central Africa, 5;
slavery defined, 83;
antiquity of, _ibid._;
Christ the first liberationist, 84;
first awakening to infamy of slavery, _ibid._;
England’s traffic in slaves, _ibid._;
her retribution, 85;
America’s civil war to abolish, _ibid._;
still extant in some countries, _ibid._;
England’s efforts to suppress, 86;
horrors of, 87;
Baron Lambermont on, 89;
Pope Leo XIII.’s encyclical on, 90;
its strange uses before the founding of Congo Free State, 274;
Congo State accused of, 294;
declaration concerning, in General Act of Berlin Conference,
535 _et seq._
Sleeping sickness, 225;
no known cure for, 266
Smallpox, 187, 221, 225, 266
Smet de Naeyer, Count de, 478
Soudan, migratory habit of its population, 226
South Africa, British punitive expeditions in, for collection of taxes
from natives, 607
Spain, King of, becomes President of National Committee of
International
Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa,
13
Speke, Captain, discovers Lake Tanganyika, and sources of the Nile and
Lake Victoria, 4, 58
St. Paul de Loanda, 43
_Standard, The_, comments upon Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of
August 8, 1903, 459
Stanley Falls, 46, 52, 179, 181, 194, 220, 221;
fortnightly communication with Leopoldville, 251
Stanley, Henry Morton, Sir, discovers Dr. Livingstone, 4;
says white man can live in Central Africa, 17;
visits Congo in interest of King Leopold, 20;
demonstrates importance of Congo River in letters to _New York
Herald_ and London _Daily Telegraph_, 39;
founds and fortifies station at Vivi, 40;
constructs road from Vivi to Isanghila, _ibid._;
founds a station at Manyanga, _ibid._;
learns of French founding Brazzaville, and replies by founding
Leopoldville, _ibid._;
goes to Brussels to report progress, _ibid._;
returns to Central Africa, February, 1883;
his achievements impossible without King Leopold’s aid, 65, 197;
Boula Matari, native name for, _note_, 235;
insists upon necessity of railroad round the thirty-two cataracts,
253, 262, 274, 275;
on a common measure of civilisation, 277;
writes introduction to book by Captain Guy Burrows, 347;
the true motive of the anti-Congo campaign, 370;
his opinion of Congo Free State Government, 397 _et seq._;
Congo Free State likely to fulfil his expectations, 447
Stanley Pool, 50, 252
Stanleyville, railroad from, to Great Lakes, 256
Stephanieville, treaty of, 490
Stokes, executed for selling arms to State’s enemies in time of war,
originally Protestant missionary, 307, 373, 452
Storm, Lieut., founds station at Mpala, 37
Strauch, Colonel, President of the _Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo_,
29, 67
Sugar, 53, 272
Svensson, 218
Swanton, Mr., 341
Swedish Missionary Society, 300;
nine grants of land to, 387
T
Tanganyika, Lake, effort to found station at, 34;
the first station of the International Association for the
Exploration
and Civilisation of Central Africa, _ibid._;
partitioned equally between Congo Free State and German East
Africa, 58;
discovered in 1858 by Burton and Speke, _ibid._;
first circumnavigated by Stanley, _ibid._, 191, 194, 200, 208
Taxation, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain ridicules native exoneration from,
581 _et seq._;
defends theory of, 582
Taxation of natives, 114;
their migration to avoid, 224;
personal, the bases of, 293;
reduction of direct, _ibid._
Telegraph, 59
Telegraph service, 245
Telephone, 59
Telephone service, 245
Terrell, Mr., 136
Tervueren, Brussels, Museum, containing objects illustrating Central
African life, 265
Thomas, Mr. Lewis, 341
Thys, Lieut., 256
_Times, The_, 373, 384;
letter from Major James Harrison, 404 _et seq._, 459;
French criticism of, 460
Tippo Tip, 59, _note_, 179, 180, 181, 183, 189, 194
Tobacco, 53, 272
Tobback, M., resident for Congo Free State at Stanley Falls, 189
_To-Day_, 466
Trappistines, 301
Trappists, 301
Tuckey, James Kingston, British explorer, 43
Twiss, Sir Travers, 105;
on free navigation of the Congo, 502
U
Ubanghi, 53, 208, 251
Uelle, 53, 177, 201, 208, 209
Uelle Railway, proposed extension, 54
Uganda Protectorate. _See_ Harrison, Major.
Ujiji, 191
United States, particulars of their origin recorded, 1;
recognises International Association as a friendly Government, 22;
makes treaties with Congo Free State in 1884 and 1885, 92, 199
Upper Congo, 44;
Belgian Society of the, 178
Uranga, 49
Usamba Plateau, 49
V
Van Dorpe, Captain, 165
Van Gele, 53
Vanilla, 269
Vattel on manner of acquiring sovereignty of free country, 527
Vivi, first station founded by Stanley, 40;
road from, to Isanghila made by Stanley, _ibid._;
treaty of, 487
Vivian, Lord, 136; speech at Second Brussels Conference, 142
Vohsen, Consul, 453
Von Bornhaupt, Herr, 453
Von Gotzen, Count, discoverer of volcano Kiranga-cha-gungo, 57
Von Moltke. _See_ Moltke, Von.
W
Waddas, 53
Wagenia, a riverain tribe, 186, 187
Wahis, Colonel (afterwards General Baron Wahis), 253;
speech describing Congolese conditions twenty years ago, 479 _et
seq._
Washington, Mr. Booker, 424
Wauters, A. J., _note_, 188
Wautier, Lieut., 33;
his death, 34
_West Africa_, journal of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce,
450 _et seq._
Wheaton, on recognition of States, 69;
on political status of American Indians, 71
White Fathers, 301
Whiteley, Mr. James Gustavus, of Baltimore, his opinion of the Congo
Free State Government, 411 _et seq._
Widows, strangling, 158
Wingate, Sir Reginald, 454
Winton, Sir Francis de (Governor-General of Congo during absence of
Stanley), formulates land system, 313
Wissmann, 262
Wissmann Falls, 50
Wolf, Eugène, admonition from, 462
Wouters, De, Lieut., 185, 188, 193, 194;
his death, 195
Wulfers, Rev. Father, of the Romee Mission, Yanonghi, 302;
extracts from his diary, 303-305
Y
Yambuya, 52
_Young Africa_, one-screw barge employed by Stanley, 39
Z
Zanzibar, Englishmen murdered by brigands at, 35
Zongo, Cataracts of, 54
[Illustration: CENTRAL AFRICA
TO ACCOMPANY THE
“STORY OF THE CONGO FREE STATE”
By Henry Wellington Wack]
Transcriber’s Notes
pg xiii Changed: Soldiers’ Mess, Suruango, 1903 (Uelle) 189
to: Soldiers’ Mess, Suruango, 1903 (Uelle) 186
pg vii Changed: Preface v
to: Preface iii
pg 19 Changed: her desire for huge territorities
to: her desire for huge territories
pg 85 Changed: because of the strangely prevalent opinon
to: because of the strangely prevalent opinion
pg 128 Changed: a crime of high treason againt humanity.
to: a crime of high treason against humanity.
pg 140 Changed: King Leopold’s rapid acheivements
to: King Leopold’s rapid achievements
pg 156 Changed illustration: Native to Death for Canibalism
to: Native to Death for Cannibalism
pg 286 Changed: English Possessions (East Coast, Africa) 5,210.079
to: English Possessions (East Coast, Africa) 59,210.73
pg 387 Changed: The campaign against the Cong
to: The campaign against the Congo
pg 425 Changed: written by Mrs. H. Gratten Guinness
to: written by Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness
pg 604 Changed: by work on the social condtion
to: by work on the social condition
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Story of the Congo Free State : Racial, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Belgian System of Government in Central Africa" ***
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